You will take your Bibles and
turn with me to Acts 2. Acts 2. We'll be looking again
at some of Peter's sermon to the people of Jerusalem on the
day of Pentecost. The title of the lesson this
morning is Christ Approved of God. Christ Approved of God. We're going to look at verses
22-24 and verse 36. Let's go ahead and begin with
verse Verse 36, look at that first. It says, Therefore, let all the
house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Christ. Last week we saw this Sermon
of Peter. We saw first of all the boldness
of Peter in preaching this message. And we know that it was because
of the Spirit of God given to him that he had boldness. And
so therefore we concluded that we should pray to God that He
give us His Spirit so that we too might be bold in witnessing
the things of Christ to others. Secondly, we saw that in this
sermon, the source of Peter's boldness, and it was the Word
of God. If we are to ever stand in the
boldness of witness of Jesus Christ, we must stand with the
authority of the Word of God, or we're not going to have very
much boldness very long. The Word of God is the source. Remember, Pentecost was something
new, but Peter preached something that wasn't new. We don't preach
anything new. No matter what circumstance happened,
no matter what miraculous things happened, we don't preach any
new message. That doesn't change our message. Our message is still
from the same source, the Word of God. And thirdly, we saw that
Peter preached Christ as the subject of his message. The sum
of all gospel witness and preaching is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the sum and substance
of all messages. Any message without the blood
of Christ is not a gospel message, and it's not worthy to be preached,
and no one should have boldness to preach anything other than
Christ. Christ and Him crucified was the message. So then when
we witness, we witness in the Word of God, and we always find
Christ in the Word of God. That's what we do. And that's
what Peter did here before us. But today, I want us to look
at this in verse 36, when it is said of God that He hath made
Christ, made Jesus, made this man whom you crucified, both
Lord and Christ. Christ. God hath made Him. That
word made can be translated declared. God hath declared Him to be the
Christ. God has manifest Him to be the
Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is both Lord
and Christ and God manifested. Well, the word Christ, what does
that mean? I remember when I was a little
kid, somebody said, Jesus Christ. I thought it was His last name.
I thought his last name was Christ. I didn't know anything about
that. I said, well, his name was Jesus Christ. I guess they
called him Mr. Christ. I didn't know. But the word Christ,
it means anointed. It means anointed of God as one
that is anointed. This also is interchangeable
with the word Messiah. These two words are interchangeable
together. They have the same meaning. Anointed. So when we say the Christ, what
we are saying is Jesus was anointed of God. He was not just one that
was anointed. There were many anointed people
in the Old Testament. But this one, Jesus, has been
declared to be THE anointed. THE Christ. THE Christ. Now in the Old Testament, This
word is used in association with the anointing of prophets, of
priests, and of kings. We know that Elisha was anointed
with oil by Elijah in 2 Kings. We know that Samuel anointed
David with oil to be king. And we know that Moses anointed
Aaron and his two sons to be high priests. And if you read
that word anointed, it is the same word for Messiah. It's the
same word for Christ. It means anointed. Now these
were only a picture. These men were only a picture,
a type, a glimpse of the anointed. of God, which was Christ. Moses said of this man, Jesus,
concerning him being prophet, he said, The Lord thy God shall
raise up in the midst of thee a prophet, thee prophet, and
he shall be likened to me, him you shall hear. In Jeremiah 30
it says, But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David
their king, whom I will raise up unto them. David was already
dead. What is he talking about? He
is talking about David's son and David's Lord, Christ the
anointed, the King. God says, I've anointed him King. And He has also anointed him
to be a high priest. Psalm 110 verse 4, The Lord has
sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. This Messiah, this Messiah that
was to come. He was going to be and had to
be the anointed of God. This was a theme throughout all
of the Old Testament. This is what gave the patriarchs
and the prophets and kings of that day hope, is that Messiah
would come. That's what they looked forward
to. They looked forward to one day seeing the Christ, the anointed
of God. And God had from the beginning
chosen One. Only one. To redeem Israel. One that was His elect who would
deliver His people, even the Christ. The Christ. In Psalm
89 verse 20 says, I have found David My servant. With My holy
oil have I anointed him. Again, this is not speaking of
David the man. This is speaking of David's son
and David's Lord, Christ. Now, this is not speaking of
David, but his seed, God found Christ. Now, God has to use terms
that we can understand. When He said God found Christ,
it's not that God had to look somewhere to find Him. No, what
that means is that God found Him by eternal wisdom and eternal
grace, that Christ, His Son, should be the one, that He should
be the anointed of God. God, according to His eternal
purpose, anointed Jesus His Son to be the Christ from all eternity.
In times past, we had types and shadows, pictures and glimpses
of the elect, but now Peter says this. Peter says, the time has
come for all to plainly know that Jesus, He alone is the Christ And he alone is the one that
God has anointed. John the Baptist, when he was
in prison, remember he asked the Lord Jesus a question. He
told his disciples, go ask him, are you the one or should we
seek for another? What did Jesus tell his disciples?
He said, you go tell John what you see in here. You go tell,
John, what you see and hear. And that's what Peter is telling
us. Go back to verse 22 of Acts chapter 2. And he said, you men
of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God. Approved of God. That's what
he's telling us. This is the man that God hath
declared and approved of to be the Christ. This is God's anointing. This
is God's man. This is God's elect. How did
God show His approval? How do we know that Jesus is
the Christ? Because the Christ is very important for us to understand
how we can know that Jesus is the Christ. There have been many
before Him that claim to be Christ. And my friend, there'll be many
after Him that claim to be Christ. But how do we know this is the
one? If God says there's only one Christ, there's only one
anointed, then how do we know that Jesus was the anointed? Because God showed us by His
approval. That's how we know. We know because
God approved of Him. And how did God approve of Him?
Look at our text in verse 22. God approved of God among you,
how? By miracles and wonders and signs. That's how we know God approved
this man Jesus. You cannot read any secular history
book with any person with some authority or some amount of understanding
and not see that even the secular historians confess the miracles
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You read Josephus especially,
he's one of the greatest and closest of the time of Christ.
He does not deny the miracles of Christ. Matter of fact, he
confesses that Christ performed many great miracles in that small region. There's
no dispute. And there's no dispute even among
the enemies of Christ. Jesus told the disciples of John,
go and tell him what you see and hear. What did you see? The
blind receive their sight, the lame are able to walk, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised. Go tell John that. Go tell John
what you see. God approved of him by miracles
and signs that nobody else could do. A man, for a man to be the Christ. You see, he cannot partially
fulfill prophecy, can he? You can't have a man fulfilling
only a portion of the prophecies and claim to be Christ. You see,
if this man Jesus did not fulfill every prophecy, then he is not
the Christ. That's a certain thing. He was not the Christ if He did
not fulfill the prophecies. Yet His miracles manifest to
all that He was approved of God because they themselves were
fulfillment of the prophecies. Isaiah chapter 35 is one illustration
for time's sake. Verse 5 and 6 of that chapter
says, "...then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears
of the deaf will be unstopped. Then shall the lame leap as a
harp, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing." Was that not what
he was doing? Can we not read the Scriptures
and not see that Jesus healed the deaf? Made the mute to speak? Did He not cause the blind to
see? Of course He did. He fulfilled
the prophecies. His miracles were a sign to us
that He was of God. And this was so strong a testimony
that His enemies couldn't deny it. Even the ones that hated
Him, they couldn't deny it. When Nicodemus came to Him by
night, what did He say? He said, we know, the Pharisees,
the rulers, we know that thou art come from God, for no man
can do these things that you do except to be sent from God.
We know that. This is what angered them the
most. They could not trip him up. They
could not disprove his miracles. Yet others of the Pharisees,
Nicodemus, he may confess it with his mouth, and eventually
the Lord saved Nicodemus. But for the others, even when
it was plainly put in front of them, they denied it." Remember
the man who was born blind? Remember him? When he was brought
before the Pharisees, he confessed the truth, and he said this, Has a man that was born blind
been given sight? Never happened before. Read the
Scriptures that you think you know so well. This has never
happened before. And he said, we know that if
a man is a sinner that God doesn't hear him, but hey, God heard
this man. God heard this man and I am... Able to see. I'm able to see. God openly, openly expressed
His approval by the miracles of Christ. Number two, God openly approved
of him by verbal communication. What did God say at His baptism?
This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. What did He
say at the Mount of Transfiguration? This is My beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. God verbally approved
of Him. Verbally approved of Christ.
And that's what Peter says in his epistle. He says, hey, I
remember that. I heard that. I'm a witness that
God approved of Him by verbal communication. Peter says, Now,
these things were done right in front of you. He said, these
things weren't done in a corner. These things weren't done in
some back room somewhere. This was done in the open. God approved of Him openly in
front of everyone. So there's no denying it. By
the miracles, He proved He is the Christ. Number two, it is
manifest that He is the Christ because He was delivered up.
Because He was delivered up. Look at that in verse 23. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken Him by wicked
hands, crucified and slain. We know He is the Christ because
He was delivered up. Now many in the Lord's day as
well as in our day, There is a great contention about this.
They say that we reject Him because He was killed, because He was
slain. The very reason they reject Him
is the very reason I embrace Him. The very reason we embrace
Him is because He was lifted up. And because He was lifted up,
this is manifest that He is the Christ. You see, this was the
purpose of God. The crucifixion of Christ was
the purpose of God. It was the mission of Christ.
God delivered Him up by His determinate counsel and foreknowledge. See,
the death of Christ was according to the eternal counsel of God.
He ordained the death of Christ from the foundation of the world.
Therefore, Christ is said to be the Lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world." You see, God had purposed. God
purposed the death of Christ. Now, Jesus is that Lamb, and
He was in the counsel and purpose of God slain from all eternity,
yet everything God decrees in eternity must come to pass in
time. Isn't that right? In other words,
God will never decree something that doesn't come to pass. If
it doesn't come to pass, know this, God did not decree it.
And I'll explain commands and decrees in the message this morning
in the worship service. But God, when God decrees something,
it has to come to pass. And Christ was decreed to suffer
on the road to Emmaus. What did Christ say to the disciples?
They were sad. You've got these guys, they're
walking, their heads are down. And they said, we believed, we
trusted that this was the One that would redeem Israel. But
now He's dead. It's been three days and He's
dead. What are we going to do? We don't
understand. He must have not been the Christ
because He's dead. And yet there he was walking
with them. He was walking with them. And what did he say? You
fools and slow of heart to believe. Ought not Christ to have suffered? Was it not determined before
that Christ should suffer and enter into His rest? And beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them all the
Scriptures concerning Himself." Concerning Himself. You see,
it is manifest that Jesus is the Christ because He was lifted
up. This was His mission. This is what He determined to
do. He said, shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? For this
hour I came. This is the reason I came. To
be lifted up. This is the Christ Peter declared,
the Christ that is to lift up and to save his people from their
sin. And I declare unto you, as well
as all gospel preachers, that this is the only Christ, Jesus
of Nazareth, who was lifted up, who was lifted up. That's the
only one. A man approved of God. And by His death He has accomplished
redemption for all His people. All of His people. This man Jesus
approved of God and manifested to be the Christ because He by
His blood atoned for all the sins of His people and all His
people. shall come to Him, even as many
as the Lord our God shall call." Look at that in verse 39. "'For
the promise is unto you and unto your children, and to all them
that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.'"
You see, everyone that Christ died for, God will call. God will call. Why? Because Christ was lifted up
and He was successful. He was successful in His accomplishment
of our redemption. If any man is resting in Christ
plus their works or plus their will, they are not called of
God. That's plainly established in
the Scriptures. Any man resting on anything besides
Christ alone is lost and in their sins. We know and are assured that
Jesus is declared by God to be the Christ of God because He
was delivered up for His people. Now, number three, it is manifest
that God approved of Christ because He is raised from the dead. Read
that in our text. Go back to your Scripture. And
he says in verse 24, "...whom God hath raised up, having loose
the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should
be holden of it." You see, if Jesus were still in the tomb,
then He is not the Christ. Why do you think men are trying
so hard to find His body? Because if they can prove that
He is dead and in the tomb, He is not the Christ. Oh, but they
won't find anything there. You see, God approved of Him
and raised Him from the dead and showed Him with many infallible
proofs after His resurrection. He has raised Him from the dead
and approved of Him. This is a comfort to us as believers
in Christ, that He is raised from the dead. Why? Because His
resurrection shows us that God is satisfied with His offering. God is satisfied with His offering. And all that are in Christ, God
is satisfied with you. God is satisfied with you. How
do you know that? Christ is risen from the dead.
God's happy. God's satisfied with all who
are in Christ, all who believe in Christ. You see, He bore our
sins in His own body on the tree. And He died in our stead. Dying
for me, up on the cross, He was dying for me. Now in His death, my redemption
I see. All because He was dying for
me. Risen for me. Risen for me. Up in the skies He was risen
for me. And now He is there interceding
for us in heaven. He's interceding for us. And
because he was successful, a man approved of God, raised from
the dead, because death could not hold him anymore, because
justice was satisfied. What was the penalty for our
sin? It was death. Well, if death is paid, if the
price is paid, how can justice hold him any longer? It was not
possible. It was not possible. You see,
because He is the Christ, the only one that ever satisfied
God. And my friend, if we are to ever
approach unto God, it must be by Him and Him alone. And that gives us great assurance
that this man, being known unto you today, this man, Jesus Christ,
whom you have crucified, God hath made Him both Lord and Christ."
God declared it to be Christ. Do you believe that? I do. With all my heart. And I don't
believe, and I don't love, I don't love the teaching I love
the person. I love the person. A lot of people
love teaching, a lot of people love doctrines, and they love
to indulge themselves in those things. My friends, I love Christ. Doctrines speak of Christ, and
I love them because they speak of Him. I love Him. I love Him. Do you love Him more
than anything else? Yes, I know you do if you believe
in Christ and be assured He is the Christ. There is not another.
Don't look for another. There won't be any. Just Him.
I pray the Lord blesses to us.