Acts chapter 2, and last Sunday
we ran out of time before we ran out of words, so we'd like
to just back up a little bit before we get into our lesson
for today. And that's beginning with verse
36 of Acts chapter 2. This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we all are witnesses. The resurrection of Jesus Christ
is going to be a key subject throughout this book of Acts
and also throughout the New Testament. We're going to have the disciples
of the Lord Jesus assaulted, imprisoned, beaten and threatened,
their lives threatened, and eventually many of them would give their
lives for this one subject that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the
dead as promised. That he truly is, and we'll read
that in just a moment, truly is the Christ of God. He is the
Messiah. Some were looking forward to
him, but he identified himself as the Messiah, the promised
one. He's called the Lord Jesus Christ. In Greek, that word Christ is
exactly the same word we find in the Hebrew, which is Messiah.
So he's here, as it goes on, therefore being by the right
hand of God exalted, And having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, He has shed forth this, which ye now see
and hear." God is in charge of this. He has been the author
of this. He has been the presenter of
this. We're going to find out through all the Old Testament,
as we heard, this message is the Messiah is coming to take
care of the problem. For David is not ascended into
the heavens. So those who thought that David
was writing about himself, the Apostle Peter brings up the subject,
he's dead and buried here. We can go to his sepulcher and
if we open it up, we'd find bones if there's anything left. This
is not who he's writing about. He's writing about the Messiah,
the son of David, the one who came through the loins of David.
He said, he has been risen, he has risen, for David has not
ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said
unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thy foes
thy footstool. So the Apostle Peter is continuously
bringing up the Old Testament, Old Testament scriptures that
are fulfilled in Christ Jesus. They were the pictures, the types,
and the shadows. Let me point you to reality,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me point you to the true
Savior. Not any of those Old Testament
sacrifices were effectual. They were only pictures, and
types, and shadows. But they did declare Christ and
Him crucified. That's why it's going to come.
All right, and there's a couple of verses in the book of Hebrews
that I would like to read here about. He has ascended into the
heavens, and it says there in verse 34, sit thou on my right
hand. Know the Lord Jesus is the only
high priest that ever got to sit down. Now there were many
high priests in the Old Testament, and they all could trace their
lineage directly back to Adam. And they all could say, I fell
in Adam. I believe that Aaron confessed
that every time he took that blood into the Holy of Holies.
I fell in Adam, and I need an atonement. I cannot do it myself. I cannot atone for myself. I
must have the atonement, the blood of Christ. So here we have,
in the book of Hebrews chapter eight and verse one, many times
in the New Testament, bringing up the Old Testament, here in
the New Testament, brings up the Old Testament about the promise
being fulfilled in Christ, that he actually, forever, with full
intent, fulfill the requirements of purchase and is able to sit
down. All of those Old Testament priests
and high priests never got to sit down. If you follow the construction
of the tabernacle or the temple, there was never a place that
these priests ever got to sit down. Now, I'm sure when they
got home, they got in their lazy boy. But while they were there
performing their duties, there was no place to sit down. Why? Because the work was never
finished. It was never over. They had to
continue the next day, and the next day, and the next year,
and year after year after year. They continued with those sacrifices.
Now, we have one sacrifice in the end of the world, is what
we read. This is the beginning of the
gospel age in the New Testament era. In the end of the world,
we have one sacrifice. And here in the book of Hebrews
chapter 8, let me read this one verse, chapter 8. and verse 1,
chapter 8, and there in verse 1, we read these words. Now the
things which we have spoken of, this is the sum. You know, we
could just apply that to Daniel chapter 9. The things I've spoken
of, there's lots of math here, but this is the sum. the fulfillment. All right, this is the sum of
the gospel. This is the sum of the sacrifice. This is the sum
of the atonement. This is the sum of what Jesus
Christ came to do. This is the sum. We have such
a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the
majesty in heavens. He finished his work, he completed,
he paid completely for sin. And now by his great work and
the merit that he provides for us, not our merit for him, but
his merit for us, he sat down. Now he'd been there from eternity.
This is not a new place, but he's been welcomed back. All
right, another verse in the book of Hebrews, would you turn with
me to chapter 10. Chapter 10, verse 11 and 12 of
the book of Hebrews, we find this again, how important it
was that it tells us that Jesus Christ sat down at the right
hand of the Father. The work was finished. Salvation
was complete. All that would be necessary now
is the preaching of the gospel and the Holy Spirit coming and
revealing Christ through the preaching of the gospel, giving
the new birth. And there would be a host of
people that we read about in the book of Revelation that no
man can number out of every kindred people and tongue that would
sit at the feet of Jesus because he sat down. All right, here
in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, it tells us in verse 11,
every high priest standeth daily ministry. Underline that word
standeth. That was their position. I don't
know what you feel like after eight hours on your feet, or
10, or 12. or 15, however long it took to
take care of their business. But every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices. Now notice
this, which can never take away sins. I listened to a guy on
TV the other day and he said, in the Old Testament, people
were saved by those sacrifices. Well, the gospel has never been
revealed to a man that believes that if he believes it in his
heart. because nobody was saved by those sacrifices. They were
a picture of it. They were a type of it, they
were a shadow of it. And we find that the law or the
book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all the Old Testament
was a shadow of good things to come, a shadow of good things
to come. But Christ is the reality. Going
on there, it says, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Well, there's
a lot of conjecture about who his enemies are. But there is
only one set of enemies that Jesus Christ ever died for. And
that's who he puts his feet on. And we would love to have him
rest his feet on us. It is demonstrating you are mine. You know, it often we find depicted
through the old world, the ancient world, that if there was a captive
taken and they wanted to demonstrate that he was submissive to them,
they put their foot on their neck. Well, I'm thankful God
in his mercy is very tender about doing that, but he will bring
every one of his enemies to the ground. Every knee shall bow
and every tongue shall confess the Lord Jesus to the glory of
God the Father. Now, the rest, he said, what
if God, willing to show his mercy and then his wrath, those who
pierced him are not everybody. There's only those that Jesus
Christ spoke of as his sheep that pierced him. The rest never
had one scintilla of their sin paid for. There was not one nail
driven into his hands for them. He was not pierced for them.
He was pierced for the church. I had a discussion this last
Friday with a young man and brought up the subject. And I said, I'll
tell you this. There's nowhere in the Bible that Jesus ever
shed one drop of blood for national Israel. He shed his blood for
the church. He shed his blood for the church.
And we find the apostle Paul bringing that up in the book
of Acts when he's talking to the Ephesian elders. Be faithful
to the church which he purchased with his own blood. All right,
let's go back. He's sitting at the right hand
of the father. He's doing that now. He's making intercession
for his people by his very presence. He didn't have to get in an argument
with anybody. He's not arguing with the devil.
He's not arguing with mankind. He is demonstrating what it is
to be there and being an ambassador for his people, being an emissary
for his people by his presence. God the Father is satisfied with
the payment, and by his presence, it's recognized that that's what
it is. All right, going to the book
of Acts chapter 2 again. In the book of Acts chapter 2,
beginning with verse 37, we want to look today for a few minutes,
and we'll not finish again, but we want to look for a few minutes
at the results of preaching the gospel. The apostle Peter has
preached an outstanding message. You know, to a lot of people,
they just say, well, that's not enough. Well, to God it was enough,
to the Holy Spirit it was enough. Here we have the Apostle Peter
being led of the Holy Spirit to preach this gospel message
that we could probably read, what, in five minutes, 10 minutes?
Now, there may have been other things added to it that were
not put in our translation or into the Bible, but it is a relatively
short message. So, whenever we have an opportunity
to have a message, it should be centered around Jesus Christ. and him crucified. That's the
message we have. I don't want to get into eschatology.
I don't want to get into works. I don't want to get into that
stuff. We have one thing and that one thing alone is what
God uses to change us and give us a new heart in regeneration.
So looking here in the book of Acts, chapter two again, and
verse 37, Acts chapter two and verse 37. The scriptures share
this for us. Now, when they heard this, what
did they hear? Jesus of Nazareth. You know,
to this whole group of people, he was the most odious person
that they had ever heard of in their life. He was odious to
the Israel. He was odious to religion. They
could not stand him. They were so jealous of him.
They did not want him around. And that's why we hear, and probably
many of the people that Peter is speaking to this day, stood
in the streets of Jerusalem and said, crucify him, crucify him. He is odious to us. Jesus of
Nazareth. My goodness, can any good thing
come out of Nazareth? That's what a believer said.
What would an unbeliever say? Nothing good can come out of
Nazareth. We have no respect for him. We don't want to be
around him. We don't want to hear about him. We don't want
to hear him. And so when Peter's whole message, it's not a comfort
to Israel. It is a preaching of Christ and
him crucified to this whole group of people. And you can imagine
that there are 11 other messages going on that day that are centered
around the same subject. The other disciples are not preaching
something different. They're preaching the gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And these people, it says, were
pricked when they heard. They were pricked in their heart.
You know, the miracle of the whole thing is they heard something.
They heard something. God, in his mercy, allowed them
to hear something, and they're pricked in our hearts. Now, it
doesn't mean that they've been born again at this time, because
you know most of the time, when we come under the sound of the
gospel, we may have been pricked in our hearts, but we were not
put into the kingdom. We're just sorry we got caught. He brought up the crucifixion
of Christ. Oh no, I never want to hear that
about that. I don't want to be accused of
that. I don't want to hide from that. I'm putting that behind
me. Just like we try to do with our
sin. I'll put that behind, I'll take care of that. I'll plead
for mercy. I'll take care of that myself.
I'll go to the priest. I'll take a sabbatical to Israel.
I'll take care of all of those sin problems that I've had behind
me. I'll take care of it. Well, we're
gonna find that the Apostle Peter's not gonna let that stand. But
it says there that they were pricked in their hearts. What
a wonderful thing it was for God to grant Peter the privilege
to preach the gospel. And what a blessing it was for
some people to hear something. You know, to many, they just
walked away and said, well, I'll go to my church next Sunday,
go back to the temple, go back to religion. Well, turn with
me, if you would, keep your finger there, unless you're like me
and you have an electronic Bible, but turn with me, if you would,
to the book of 2 Timothy, chapter four, for just a moment. The
book of 2 Timothy, chapter four. In 2 Timothy, chapter four, we
find here in verse two, Second Timothy, chapter four,
verse two. What does it say? Preach the
word. That's my instructions, to preach
the word. A young man told me the other
day he's just getting sick and tired of going and hearing stories
told. Stories told. So I encouraged
him to be here. So far he hasn't come. But people
are, they don't want stories if they're interested in eternal
life. We hear here, the apostle Paul writing to Timothy, preach
the word, be in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine. So this is where it comes from.
This is preach the word, make sure you preach the word, keep
the word foremost. And by God's grace, that's what
we'll continue to do is preach the word. Leave the rest alone. All right. And, you know, going
back to the book of Jonah, turn with me to the book of Jonah,
if you would. Oh, I think of Jonah. Oh, he he got swallowed
by a fish and he was disobedient to God. You know, out there in
that boat, he he told those people, I'm a prophet of the Jehovah. even in what I'm doing. And here
in Jonah, chapter three, Jonah chapter three, verse two, it says, God told him in Jonah
chapter three and verse two, the word of the Lord came to
Jonah the second time saying, arise, go unto Nineveh, that
great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. Now, the preaching that I bid
thee is not gonna be contrary to the preaching I've already
given. I don't have a special message for them. I have the
message, and that is our message, and that's the message that the
Apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, and that is
what does effectual work. Stories don't do effectual work.
It is an impossibility. The word is what's used. Turn
with me, going back to the New Testament for just a moment,
in the book of Romans chapter 10. In Romans chapter 10, as
we have a group of people that have been assembled under the
preaching of the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost, and
they have heard the message that Peter brought to them about Christ
and him crucified, that he is the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. I know you've hated him. You
know, I'm convinced that Peter hated him at one time, too. He's
just a natural-born individual, and the natural-born individual
it is written about is at enmity, is enmity with God. Peter was
enmity with God. No wonder Jesus asked him the
question, who do you say that I am? You know, by nature, he
would not, he could not, and he never would have confessed
that he is the Messiah, the Christ of God. It was not in his nature
to do that. He didn't want to do that. But
when God saved him by his grace, that's all he could do was confess. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. What does that mean? He had been
moved miles from where he started. He had been brought miles, I
mean an eternity, from where he once was in his beliefs about
the Messiah. He believed the Messiah was coming,
but he didn't believe that this was the Messiah until he heard
the gospel and it was revealed unto him, and now he could say,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the
Messiah, you the promised one. Okay, here in the book of Romans
chapter 10, beginning with verse 13, the scripture says, for whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now we're
gonna run into that in the book of Acts too. And if we drop down
there just a little bit, and I don't think we'll get there
today, but it's in chapter two, it says, to whomsoever the Lord
shall call. There's gonna be a call. That's
going to be. Now, whomsoever, if we just leave
it at that, you and I, by nature, would never come. If you have
one inkling that there is one good part of you that was able
to call out to God without falling in Adam, you've made a terrible
mistake because there's nothing within us that didn't fall in
Adam. We are sinners by nature, sinners
by practice, sinners by choice, and our heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. We will not come. So, whosoever
I've had to work with them, Turn me and I shall be turned. Bring
me and I shall be brought. Love me and I shall be loved.
Give me the new birth and I shall have the new birth, but no other
way. In verse 14, how then shall they call on him whom they have
not believed? You know, I know that people
are thinking they're doing a good thing, but you see these big
billboards, trust Jesus. Who is that? Who is that? How am I supposed
to trust somebody I don't even know? Trust Jesus, a waste of
money, because it is the preaching of the gospel that God uses to
bring in his sheep. Goes on to tell us here, and
how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? Oh
my goodness, I knew a man who used to go down to the fair and
he'd have a booth down there and he'd pull little kids, young
people, into that booth and says, first question out of his mouth
to them was, you don't want to go to hell, do you? Well, no,
no, I don't want to go to hell. Well then, let me tell you, you've
sinned, haven't you? Yes, I have. Well, you want to
be forgiven? I said, yes, I do. Well, ask
Jesus into your heart. Okay, now you're saved. See you
sometime later. My goodness, that's such a travesty. That is some of the worst child
abuse you could ever have, is doing stuff just like that. It's
Christ and him crucified. All right, goes on here, how
shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how
beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace
and bring glad tidings of good things. Who is that? Jesus Christ
the righteous. Oh, worship at his feet, worship
at his feet. He's the one that came with the
good news and he has passed it on to his people. So we have
here, preach the gospel, preach the gospel. And that's what he
asked the Apostle Peter to do, and that's exactly what he did.
So how shall they hear without a preacher? The next great blessing
of grace they heard, and they heard the message of Christ and
him crucified. They heard because of the grace
of God. Now there is a wonderful verse
of scripture in the book of Proverbs chapter 20. Would you turn there
with me, Proverbs chapter 20? This verse of scripture explains
so, so very much about the activity of God in us and on us. This is how they could hear something. In the book of Acts, excuse me,
book of Proverbs chapter 20, and there in verse 20, verse
12, verse 12. Notice this with me. The hearing
ear and the seeing eye. Now we could say that about our
natural seeing too, couldn't we? And our natural hearing,
couldn't we? It is God that gives us sight
and hearing. Now, whether it's in our birth
or whether we have a repair or a problem that we had, I'm so
thankful that I can go to a person today and they can take a test
of my eyes and give me these so I can read. But that's not
what he's talking about here. It says, the hearing ear and
the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them. Oh, What a blessing it is that
Almighty God in Christ Jesus can give us a hearing ear about
the gospel and a seeing eye about the gospel. That whereas we were
blind, now we can see, and whereas we were deaf, we can now hear.
We can hear the wonderful blessings of the grace of God as it's declared
here. Going back with me, would you
turn with me again to the Book of Acts? It is our text place. Book of Acts chapter 2 again.
Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 and verse 37. What had they realized? Peter brought it out to their
attention. You with wicked hands have crucified and slain. He's talking to a group of murderers, accomplices to murder. He said, you have crucified the
Lord of glory. You crucified the Messiah. Now
we know exactly that that all worked out to God's eternal purpose.
But here's a group of people that could look at each other
and say, he's right. I was there. I raised my fist against him.
I cried out, crucify him. I was happy when they nailed
him to the cross. I walked by him and wagged my
head and see if thou be the Christ. Get down off of there. If you
be the Savior, as the priest said, come off of the cross.
Well, you know, that's an impossibility for Jesus Christ to come off
the cross because he must be there and pay the price of our
sin. But they said things like that. They cast it into his teeth.
You know, those two thieves, they're not the only ones that
cast things into the teeth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here
we have an assembly of them around the apostle Peter on the day
of Pentecost. And he has brought it to their
attention. He's not accusing them. He's telling them. This
is what you have been about. They were pricked in their heart.
They had been pierced by the word. They saw themselves guilty
of the crime laid at their charge. They felt pain in their hearts,
guilty sinners. Many had no doubt joined the
rabble to crucify the Lord. And you know, and I believe it
would be hard pressed to ever find someone who has not repented
in the sense of being sorry for getting caught. We're all been in that boat.
And we could go in every generation, in every society and culture,
and we would find people that no doubt have repented in the
sense, I am sorry I got caught. Now, I wouldn't have this conversation
with you if I hadn't got caught. I used to take a group of students
down to the Oregon State Penitentiary, and there was a lifers group
down there. And the only way you could get into the lifers
group is you had been convicted of murder. And we'd get in with
that group. Now there were guards around
us, but we get in that group. You know what? Not one of them
was guilty of a thing. My lawyer, it was my lawyer or
the police or my mother or my dad or someone else. That's why
I'm here, but never for the crime that I'm accused of. There's
only one group that ever understands. that they're guilty of the crime
they were convicted of. And that's the church. I am the
chiefest of sinners. You don't have to tell me anything.
I know about it. It's part of me. But I'm thankful
for the forgiveness of sin that came through the blood of Jesus
Christ. It is a natural to attempt to make amends if we get caught,
yet this is not godly repentance. Being guilty of getting caught
and saying, I'm sorry for getting caught is not repentance. Now notice over here, as we follow
this through, we find there in verse 37, this is as normal as
breathing, their comment. Their comment is as normal as
breathing. What do they say? when the apostle
Peter brings the subject to them and convinces them that they
crucified the Lord. Well, in verse 37, they were
pricked in their hearts and sent them to Peter and the rest of
the apostles. So this is not just this group
of Jews. There are some other people that
are having trouble. There are some other people that
have been pricked in their hearts. There are some other people that
have heard something, and many of them said, I wish I'd have
never heard that. Now we may say that before we were born
again, but after we're born again, we say, thank you, Lord, for
bringing me to that place. Because my life changed as a
result of it. You are God, you are the Savior,
you are sovereign, you are king, and I bow to you. What did they
say? Men and brethren, What shall
we do? Now those words are just as natural
as breathing. And I will tell you right up
front that there are people who don't know a thing about the
gospel that pray on words just like that. They can't wait till
someone gets to the point, what must I do? And then they have
a great line of things you must do. They are going to convince
you of things you must do. We find that the Lord Jesus dealt
with a man in Matthew chapter 19. Turn with me, if you would,
to the book of Matthew chapter 19. In Matthew chapter 19, we
find this brought up to the Lord Jesus. Matthew chapter 19, and
he brought up some things, and you know what? He didn't want
to do those. Go sell all you have. Give to the poor. Oh my
gosh. I don't want that. Well, you're
the one that asked what needs to be done. In Matthew chapter
19, verse 13, the scriptures share this. Chapter 19, verse
13. And there were brought... Is it 14? Maybe it's chapter 14. Verse 13. 19, 20. Thank you. It was right. Chapter 19 of Matthew and verse
20. There we go. Well, verse 16. And behold, one came
and said unto him, good master, what good thing shall I do that
I may have eternal life? What good thing may I do? that
I may have eternal life. And he said unto him, why callest
thou me good? You know, to some people, Jesus would be saying,
well, I'm really not God. Why would you call me good? That's
not what he means. This guy doesn't know who he
is. There's only one good, that's God. If I am good, then I am
God. So why do you call me that? There
is none good but one, that is God. But if thou will enter into
the life, keep the commandments. And he said unto him, which Jesus
saith, thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honor
thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. And the guy lies through his
teeth. He is lying and lying and lying. The young man said unto him,
all these things have I kept from my youth up, what lack I
yet? And Jesus said unto him, if thou
will be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the
poor that thou have treasure in heaven and come follow me.
But when the young man heard that saying, now Jesus is not
saying by selling all your stuff, you're going to be saved. He's
just sharing with him, you're not here. You're just asking
a question, but you have no interest at all. Oh, how often the Lord
was assaulted with stupid questions by people who tried to trick
him. I love questions, but if you already know the answer,
please hold it. All right, it goes on, but when
the young man did that, he was sorrowful, he had great possessions,
and he said unto him, his disciples, verily I say unto you, that rich
man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And you know
what? He goes on to illustrate, it's
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. You know,
you can say all you want to about that, but that's that little
thing like this with a hole right there that you put thread in.
It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
it is for a rich man. And you can look at that at all
kinds of riches, and most importantly, riches in self-righteousness.
It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. The
disciples said, who then can be saved? He said, with man,
it is impossible. But with God, everything is possible. All right, he preached Christ
in him crucified. They came to him, pricked in
their hearts, said, what must I do? And the next thing he's
gonna mention to them, repent. Now he's gonna use a word for
repentance that really means something. It's not sorry that
you got caught. That word is used with Judas.
He repented. He was sorry he got caught. But
this word means altogether differently. And Lord, help us. Would you
come and join us next Sunday? And we'll speak on that subject
some more.