That's a good song too. All right, let's turn back to
Acts chapter 2. In chapter 1, our Lord was taken
up into glory. You remember that? That's how
chapter 1 starts out. They watched Him ascend up into
glory right before their eyes. And the disciples returned to
Jerusalem with great joy. Can you imagine how joyful it
would have been to physically watch the Lord be received right
into heaven? And they went back with great
joy. And Peter stood up and preached
to the other disciples that every bit of that had to happen that
the Scriptures might be fulfilled. That's what he told them. He
kept saying it over and over that the Scriptures might be
fulfilled. They called Matthias to replace
Judas as an apostle that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.
Peter quoted that. And then the Holy Ghost came
down and He brought the Word of God to the apostles and they
started preaching the holy inspired word of God. Verse 5 in chapter
2 says, the end of it says, to men out
of every nation under heaven. And that happened that the scripture
might be fulfilled. Chapter 2 verse 16 says, but
this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, the book
of Joel back in the Old Testament. Verse 17 says, And it shall come
to pass, in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit
upon all flesh. That's the goodness of God, that
He would pour out His Spirit on all flesh. And verse 21 says,
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Now, our text tonight is a continuation
of Peter's message. Peter told these men the truth.
That's what he told them. That's what every true servant
of God is called to do. That's what every true servant
of God is called to do. I prepared a radio broadcast
today, and as I was preaching it into my microphone, I thought,
this is a bit hard. But then I thought, it's the
truth. It's the truth. Every true servant of God is
called to tell men and women the truth. That's my calling.
That's my job. The truth about what man has
done and the truth about what God has done. He's not called
to make people feel good about themselves. which I enjoy delivering
good news. And we rejoice in it. But none
of that good news has anything to do with us feeling good about
our own sinful flesh, does it? Not one bit of it. He's not called
to make people feel good about themselves. Actually, our calling
is to do the opposite. Everybody's, you know, trying
to get people saved. Trying to get people saved. One
man said, I'm trying to get people lost. Trying to get people lost. Christ came to seek and to save
that which was lost. A true preacher is not called
to be a motivator. And he's not called to be a counselor. He's called to tell men and women
the truth about what man has done and about what God has done. Let's look at Peter's message
here. Acts chapter 2 verse 22 says, Peter said, You men of Israel,
hear these words. That is what I have been called
to say to men and women. more clearly and more clearly
become into the front of my mind. What am I supposed to do? And
what am I supposed to say? And what is my calling? My calling
is to say to men and women, hear these words. Hear these words. Don't hear me. Don't hear me. Don't hear the
preacher you've been sitting under all your life. Well, I
like him and I trust him and that's great. But don't hear
him when it comes to spiritual matters. Don't hear your conscience. Don't let your conscience be
your guide. Don't hear your religious assumptions. Don't hear tradition. Don't hear any man's opinion.
Hear these words. Hear these words. Hear these
words. Hear these words. These words
are life, and everything other than these words are death. These
are the words of Christ Himself. Hear these words. Why? Because our souls are on
the line. I want to enter into worship
because my soul is on the line. And this world is so quick and
it is so snazzy. And we want it. And it is a distraction. And
I get it. But my soul is on the line. My
soul is on the line. What is the number one thing
that I have got to have in this life? I've got to hear these
words. That's it. That is the evidence
of salvation. Faith cometh by hearing. We know that no man can hear
except he be given ears to hear, right? So the commandment goes
out. The commandment goes out. Hear
these words to everybody. Hear these words, and all who
do are blessed sinners. They are truly blessed sinners.
Verse 22 says, You men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth. What sweet
words. Precious words. Jesus of Nazareth. That phrase is mentioned 17 times
in this Bible. Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth. Do you remember when we were
going through John chapter 1? Do you remember what Nathanael
said about Nazareth? Go with me over to John chapter
1. John 1, look at verse 45. Philip findeth Nathanael, and
said unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law
and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him,
Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Nazareth is a bad place. The worst of the worst are in
Nazareth. There is nothing but sinners
in Nazareth. Here's some amazing news. Hear
these words. The only thing that is good,
there's none good but God. And the only one who is good
made himself of Nazareth. Isn't that something? The most
despised place? the most sinful place? He came
to the worst. Man, that's good news. That is
really good news. He came to the chief of sinners,
the absolute worst ones, and He made Himself of Nazareth. We know, we understand what that
means, don't we? It means He took upon Himself
the likeness of sinful flesh and He was numbered with us transgressors. His love is so condescending. He came so far down. So humbling. We'll go back over
to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 verse 22 says,
Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you, by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by Him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also
know. This one has been proven. He's been proven. Proven by God. Proven to be of God. Proven to
be God. He's been proven. Man has no
excuse for not hearing His Word. He's been proven. Go with me
over to 1 Timothy chapter 3. I love that. 1 Timothy 3 is one of my favorite verses. 1 Timothy 3 verse 16 says, and
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Jesus of Nazareth is God. He's God. Verse 16 says, God
was, the next phrase is, justified in the Spirit. The Spirit descended
from heaven like a dove, and it landed on Him. Jesus of Nazareth
is God. Verse 16 goes on to say, God
was seen of angels. When angels came down and rolled
back the stone from the tomb, Jesus of Nazareth is the one
who walked out. Verse 16 says, God was preached
unto the Gentiles. That's what we're studying tonight.
Peter said, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, right? Understand what we're saying,
Jesus of Nazareth, this is God. This is the judge. Verse 16 goes
on to say, God was believed on in the world. Jesus of Nazareth
was the one standing there when Thomas said, My Lord and my God. Jesus of Nazareth. And verse
16 says, God was received up into glory. Jesus of Nazareth
is God. They said, He's the one we saw,
we just saw Him, we just watched Him ascend right on up into glory. So back over in Acts chapter
2, verse 22 says, You men of Israel, Hear these words, Jesus
of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and
wonders and signs which God did by Him in the midst of you, as
you yourselves also know." He is saying, you saw it. You saw
it. You yourselves also know. And
now Peter is about to tell them the truth about sin. He is about
to tell them what man has done. Verse 23 says, Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Most people have no problem believing
that mankind, men, somebody, crucified Jesus of Nazareth. They have no problem believing
that. But what a sinful heart is absolutely not willing to
accept, will not have it, will not hear it, is I am the man that crucified
Jesus of Nazareth. He said, Ye have taken, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain. The truth that Peter preached
2,000 years ago is the exact same truth today. This is what
I'm called to tell men and women. You. Look at Acts chapter 5 verse
30. It says, The God of our fathers
raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Ye. Me. Somebody's going to hear that,
and I understand why they would say this. It's because our mind
can't figure that out. This is what they're going to
say. I wasn't there. I wasn't there. But here's the fact. My sin was. Here's a greater fact. It better
have been. My sin better have been there. It better have been my sin that
killed him. If it wasn't, I have no hope. I need to have been there. I
need to have been one of the ones crying, crucify Him. Please, crucify Him. It better have been. A true believer
believes that it wasn't just sin that killed Christ. It was
my sin. That's my only hope, is that
my sin killed Him. you have taken. That's the truth
about man. But then Peter said, let me tell
you the truth about God. Verse 23 says, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Peter said all this was done. It was done. It did happen. But
it was all done by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Determinate means fixed. That's what it means. In this
particular verse, counsel means purpose. And foreknowledge means
known before. All this was done by God's fixed
purpose known before. That's comforting, isn't it?
That's the truth about what God has done. Everything God has
done is fixed. It's purposed and it's known
before. I cannot do anything to change
God's mind about my sin. I can't do anything to change
His mind about my sin. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not. I can't do anything to influence
Him in the matter of my salvation. Nothing. Go with me to Romans
chapter 9. Romans 9 verse 9 says, For this
is the word of promise, at this time will I come and Sarah shall
have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works, but of him that calleth, It was said unto her,
The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated." I can't do anything to change my
sin or influence my salvation. So, thanks be to God, Christ was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Thanks be to God, Christ
was purposed to die. I am so grateful for that. Purposed
to die. Look at Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9 verse 27 says, And
as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,
so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for Him
shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. I owed a debt that I could not
pay. So Christ was delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. And He paid a debt that
He did not owe. That's the truth about God. The
whole truth about God. God is not waiting on us to do
anything, is He? Christ has already done it all.
Look at Hebrews 10 verse 4. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifice for sin thou hast had no pleasure. All
through the Old Testament their religion was built on coming
to that altar. You know what? That's what their
religion was built on. Coming to that altar. Coming
to that altar. They just kept coming to that
altar. And God the Son says to God the Father here in verse
6, you have no pleasure in that. Me coming to an altar cannot
put away one sin. Not one sin. Do we know that? The world doesn't. We know a precious truth that
the world doesn't know. Verse 7 says, Then said I, Lo,
I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me to do
thy will. Oh God, what was the Father's
will? that His Son should be delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, and that
He would be taken by wicked hands and crucified and slain. That
was the Father's will. That was the work that He gave
to His Son. Now, either He was successful
or He was not, one of the two. Either there really is nothing
else to be done in salvation, or we better start working our
way to heaven. One of the two. How can we know
which one it is? How can we know which one it
is? How can we be sure? Are we right? How can we know that it is... You know what I'm telling people?
Done. It's done. It's finished. You don't have
to do anything. Your salvation is not dependent
on you straightening up and flying right. Am I telling people wrong? How can we know it has truly
been finished? How can we be certain that He
was successful? Go back over to Acts chapter
2. Verse 24 says, Whom God hath
raised up. When I read that, I thought about
the fact that the Lord called His apostles and His disciples. And they followed Him for three
years, listening to Him preach. Preach on things that pertained
to the Old Testament laws and sacrifices and ordinances. And then he sent out 70 and he
had them preach. But at Pentecost, they started preaching, God raised
him up. He died, he was buried, and he
rose from the grave. Whom God hath raised up. That
is not just one little fact in our doctrine. That is the whole
basis of our belief. It is the whole basis of our
belief. God raised him up. The point of this is, I want
to be raised up. When He comes back, I don't want
to say, rocks, fall on me. I want Him to raise me up. How
can I have a hope that He's going to raise me up? The Father raised
Him up. Whom God hath raised up. Look
at verse 32 in Acts chapter 2, it says, Therefore, being by
the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which
you now see and hear, whom God hath raised up, verse
24 says, having loosed the pains of death. I love the fact that it says
loosed the pains of death. We fear death. If we say we don't,
we're lying. Until the Lord gives us dying
grace, we fear death. And it's because we fear pain. It's unknown. The Lord has revealed
some things, but it's unknown. We fear the pain of death. But
turn with me over to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 54 says, So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ died. Christ suffered. Christ endured
the wrath. He endured the agony, and when
He did that, He loosed the pains of death. And He arose from the
grave alive and victorious and sinless. Sinless. Go back over
to Acts chapter 2, verse 24 says, Whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should
be holding of it. It's not possible. The wages
of sin is death, but where there is no sin, there can be no death. And if He took my sin off of
me, and if it's gone, there can be no death. If I'm in Him because
He can't be holding of it, I can't be holding of it. You can't be
holding of it. That's my comfort. That's our
comfort. Let's hear these words. Hear
these words. These are wonderful words of
life. If the Lord, if His Spirit will quicken them to us, they
are wonderful words of life. I read the word and my flesh
skims over it, doesn't it? You can't enter into it. We're
so dead, we're so cold, but if the Lord will have mercy on us,
they become wonderful words of life. Let's hear these words.
All right, let's stand together.