Acts chapter 2 I want to read
two verses beginning in verse 36 Peter here is preaching on the
day of Pentecost and he says in verse 36 therefore Let all
the house of Israel know assuredly That God hath made that same
Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now when
they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. And they said
unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren,
what shall we do? I was thinking this morning,
I usually come over to the study early to read over my notes and
to pray and ask God's blessing upon our services. And I remember
this morning, thinking and praying that God would enable me this
morning and every time that I preach for that matter to speak to men
and women's hearts. There are many preachers today
with great oratory skills. The words just flow from their
mouths like butter, but they don't speak the truth of love
to the hearts of sinners. This is a heart matter, this
thing of the gospel, not the head. It's not how many facts
you know about Christ, how many truths that you've committed
to memorization. Not that you can stand in a crowd
of people and impress them by the facts of Scripture that you
know. Salvation is knowing Him. Salvation is knowing Christ. having a personal relationship
with him. And beloved, if God Almighty
does not bless and anoint the words that we preach, they will
do nothing, absolutely nothing for the good of men and women's
souls. So I ask you, I beg you please,
pray for me and every called preacher that God might touch
their lips and cause them to speak His words that penetrate
the heart. I need to hear with my heart.
Now the text that we have before us today is the first public
preaching of the gospel after our Lord ascended up into glory.
And it was preached on what is commonly known as the day of
Pentecost. And it occurred while followers
of Christ were all in one accord begging and crying for a blessing. If you look at verse 1 in Acts
Chapter 2 and when the day of Pentecost was fully come They
were all with one accord in one place They had one thing on their
mind They had seen the Lord Jesus ascend and they were waiting
for the promise of God Which was the Holy Ghost and let me
ask you this morning Are you seeking a blessing from God these
folks were they were seeking a blessing from God? Maybe it'd
be better to say it this way. Are you seeking the blessing
of God? The blessing of God is the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, all other blessings
are found in Him. And if you know and love and
trust the Lord Jesus Christ, beloved, you shall receive all
the blessings. For they are all in Him. Every
blessing. This morning we talked again
about our God supplying all our need. Immediately men's mind
runs to finances, money, bigger houses, bigger cars. It doesn't
say God shall supply all your greed. Need. Our need is a spiritual
need. Our need is that God would touch
our hearts and cause us to see our need of Christ. That's God supplying our needs
by His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Are you seeking the blessing
of God? Oh, I pray that you are. Now,
it's very important for us to understand that Peter did not
use words of man's wisdom or eloquence. It was not a display
of his worldly education, because we're told right from the beginning
that the apostles, for the most part, were Unlearned fishermen
and the Lord put that word unlearned in there for a purpose because
that's what they were. They weren't educated in Theology,
they weren't like the Apostle Paul who had studied at the feet
of one of the greatest teachers of Jewish religion. They were
fishermen, fishermen, unlearned fishermen, but Christ made them
fishermen of men. And thank God that he did. And
that's what Peter was doing this day. He was fishing. He was fishing
for the souls of men. And this message he preached
this day was a heart-moving word from God. That's our only hope
that God would cause the words that we speak to be effectual
to your heart. Those men that preached for me
in my absence, by the way, thank you very much. I heard nothing
but good things. I don't want you to get too good
because I like my job, okay? Shouldn't even call it a job.
But anyway, and each one of these men will tell you, and this is
the truth, when we step down and feel as though we've done
a good job, that's usually when we fail. But when we step down
and want to just crawl under the pew or head right out the
back door, that seems to be when God blesses. Isn't that right?
Isn't that right, Glenn? You see, it's not us. It's not
us. If you come this morning with
a desire to hear a man, then you won't be blessed. But if
you come desiring to hear from God, a word from God, a message
from God, that's when the Lord And this is what believing and
unbelieving sinners alike must have. We not only need, but we
must have a simple, easy to understand declaration of the gospel. Now
let me tell you again how that was driven home to me in Mexico.
In our preaching, we often add flowery adjectives. You know,
we want to make it appealing to the ear. So we add things
like wonderful, amazing adjectives, you know, flowery adjectives. Well, I noticed as I was preaching
and doing that, Cody was interpreting. I gave what I thought were three
just wonderful adjectives. The word in Spanish was the same
word. He just said the same word three different times. I thought
to myself, he must not have heard what I said. My point is this. Preach the gospel simply. We
don't need to flower it up. It's the power of God unto salvation. To those that believe, simply
preach the truth. Tell folks about Christ and what
he's done for wretched, no good sinners. You don't have to make
it flowery. That was a real eye-opening experience
to me. Don't add all the adjectives.
Just speak plainly and truthfully. Declare what God's Word says. We're all guilty of it. There's
enough pride in every preacher to send them to hell a hundred
times over if we would but simply preach the Gospel. it would do
us and our hearers good. Peter gave his hearers simple
scriptural teaching that included personal experience. And every
passage of his message pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
that's a must. That's a must. Our preaching
isn't about a person, because salvation is in a person. And his sermon this day was just
a model of what a sermon ought to be. His plea was personally
addressed to the people who stood before him. We're speaking to
men and women. Some have already seen the mercy
and grace of God in Christ and trust Him, but others haven't.
So we address our message to the people who stand before us. And it was done in a way that
all understood. That is my greatest desire. Just preach simply. In Peter's
message, it was aimed not at the head, but at the heart. And
I've told you many times what Brother Mahan told me early on. It's worthy of repeating. He
said, preach to men and women's hearts. And that's still my prayer. I want to preach to your heart.
I want to show you Christ from the scriptures. I want you to
see your desperate need of Him. I want you to see that if you
leave this world without Him, you'll be eternally condemned,
damned forever. Every word of Peter's message
on this day was directed to the need of the hearts of those that
heard it. So again, I say that we need
just a simple declaration of God's Word. We need to hear the
message of God providing life. for dead sinners by the wonderful
and the simple words of life contained in this book, which
is the power of God and the salvation. Christ and what He did for His
chosen people. That's what should be proclaimed
in a way, as I said, that even young boys and girls can understand. There's power in the Word of
God. We don't need to add anything to it. No wonder the Apostle
Paul wrote in Romans 1.16 and said, I'm not ashamed of the
Gospel of Christ. I am not ashamed. For it is the
power of God. It's the power of God unto salvation. Unto salvation to everyone that
believes. But friends, this day Peter could
not have spoken any other way for he was moved to speak by
God's divine Spirit. And unless men with a word from
God, and men and women hear it as a word from God Almighty,
by the sovereign direction of God's Spirit, they will not be
moved, changed, or saved. May it ever be the preacher's
one desire to convince men to repentance towards God and faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ by the means of simple preaching. May no man who has been called
to preach wish to be admired, but may he always long that his
Lord and Master may be exalted and sought after. I want you
this morning to see your desperate need of Christ. I want that more
than anything. And I want you to see that you
must have Him. You must. God in mercy and grace
has shown some of you your desperate need of Christ. And my prayer
is this morning that He might show to you who are yet without
Christ that to have Christ is life and not to have Him is eternal
death. Oh, I love that verse in 1 John
chapter 5 where the beloved John simply said it this way. There's
no one that can misunderstand this simple verse. He that hath
the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
hath not life. That's how we should preach.
Friends, if you have Christ, you have life. If you don't have
Christ, You don't have life. Isn't that simple? Simple but
true. That verse simply declares that
men and women must have Christ in order to have life. The hearing
of preaching is absolutely the most important thing in our lives. It is. And I know it's so easy
because I've been there. I know from experience, oh, it's
so easy to get wrapped up in the cares of this world, you
know, carving out a living, you know, paying the bills. We have
to pay the bills. We have to provide for our families,
put food on the table. But the most important thing
in your life and in mine is hearing the preaching of the gospel. Why? Because it's the means that
God uses to save those that believe. What good does it do for a man
to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? God's means of
saving sinners is the preaching of the gospel. Let me tell you
something. You won't find God in the beautiful
rainforest in Brazil. You won't find God in the majestic
mountains. Men think that. Oh, go someplace
and see the creation of God. You'll find God there. No, you
won't. God reveals himself to sinners
by the preaching of his gospel. You won't be redeemed watching
a breathtaking sunset. I've seen plenty of them and
just as lost as I was the day before. You won't see redemption
in a star-filled night. You know, when sometimes you
get out in the country and it just seems like the whole sky
is lit up with stars and occasionally you see one that flashes and
falls to the ground. There's no salvation in that.
God uses the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. Oh
friends, I beg you, attend the preaching of the Gospel. Preaching
is a declaration. It's a message of grace and mercy
concerning what Christ has done for sinners. And the success
of Peter's message on the day of Pentecost is traced back to
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And if God's gospel, now listen,
if God's gospel is to be heard by an unregenerate heart today,
this day, it must be by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Just the
same as it was on the day of Pentecost. God's Spirit must
attend the preaching of the Gospel. And that's the only message that
He does attend. The Holy Spirit doesn't attend
false preaching. May God be pleased to send the
Holy Spirit with His power. I want to give you three quick
things and I'm done. First, I would have you notice
that Peter's gospel message, first and foremost, deals with
the evil treating of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter does not
sugarcoat the way the nation of Israel dealt with God's beloved
Son. And neither will God's messengers.
You know, men stand today who've been trained in the seminary. First thing they're taught, from
what I understand, is, oh, you don't want to offend nobody.
Because, see, you're trying to build numbers, you're building
finances, you know, so you can build bigger churches. God's
preachers, that's the last thing on their mind. Their desire is
that men and women might know Christ. All God's sheep have
been lifted from the same deep mire clay, dug from the same
pit of destruction. And every single believing child
of God has treated God's Son evilly. And God's preachers are
going to tell men that. You're sinners. Undeserving,
wretched, depraved. Brother, you can run people off.
If you're a child of God, you won't be run off. You can't run
a child of God off. The child of God will say, that's
exactly what I am. I'm no good, wretched, depraved,
evil. We're told that our Lord came
unto His own and His own received Him not. We're told that men
love darkness rather than light. That Christ Jesus is the light
of the world and men love darkness rather than light. That says
something about our souls, our fallen nature. And the child
of God who was given to Christ by the Father before the foundation
of the world, Christ came unto His own and we didn't receive
Him either. We just didn't. And as a nation, Israel had rejected
God's Son whom He had sent. And they'd gone even further.
They hated Him without a cause. They hated Him. And they crucified
Him as the worst of criminals. So Peter here charges them, and
you know what? They can't deny it. They can't
deny it. Look at verse 36, Therefore let
all the house of Israel know assuredly, there's assurance
that accompanies this message, that God hath made that same
Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, I
know we weren't in Jerusalem, and I know the death of our Lord
happened more than 2,000 years ago. I know that. But we have
crucified Him. We've rejected Him. We've said
in our hearts that we do not desire for Him to rule over us. And it will be profitable for
us to consider how guilty we are of sins against the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, to whom much is forgiven,
there's much love. There's much love. Can't help
but to think about the woman who laid at Christ's feet, washed
His feet with her tears, dried them with her hair. Simon said,
he knew what kind of woman this was. He knew. He knew. Matter of fact, he knew her before
the foundation of the world. And he set his affection upon
her and called her by His grace. And he said, Simon, did you wash
my feet? When I came in, did you? He couldn't
answer. He's guilty. He said, she has
not ceased. She hasn't stopped since the
moment she came in to wash my feet with her tears and dry them
with her hair. Every one of us have been guilty. Guilty. We've rejected him. We've been guilty of neglecting
Him, ignoring His Word and the claims that He made concerning
Himself in the Scriptures. Our Lord claimed, there again,
very plainly, the day that He stood and said, I am the way. The way, not just a way. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. And men said,
well, He makes Himself out to be God. No, he didn't. He was God. He was God. Christ is the way, dear friends. He's the way. He is that narrow
road, that straight and narrow road that leads to life that
few travel. Does the way of God, which is
Christ, interest you? Seriously, I ask you, does it
interest you? Christ is the truth. He's the
Word of Life in whom men and women must trust and believe.
Do you trust and believe Him? Do you? Oh, don't go out and
meet God without Christ. Don't do it. Don't. It seems that very few really
care. The Lord Jesus Christ is life,
and there is life in no other. And it's sad but true that people
are so consumed with their own lives, insignificant lives. Let me add that. I will use that
adjective. that they have no interest in
Christ, who is life. He is the life. And I say this
as sincerely as I can. Some of you, some of you, still
remain lost, postponing faith in Him. I know how men do. I
did it myself. Will there be time for that later
on? I still got some living to do.
Maybe you don't. Maybe you don't. You've heard
the gospel time and time again and you still won't bow to it
and you still won't believe it. What's it going to take? I know
what it's going to take. It's going to take a divine intervention
from God Almighty. You're no less guilty than those
who nailed our Lord to the cursed tree and mocked Him even in His
death. And you know what? I'm not excluded. For more than
half my life I ignored and gave no thought to God's precious
Son who was made sin and took my eternal punishment." Now listen
to me. To ignore a man or a woman completely
is in a certain sense to deny the existence of that person.
If you treat them as though they were nothing, as though they
did not exist, then in one sense of the word, you've killed them
for they're dead to you. You see what I'm saying? You
just don't even acknowledge them. Every time you see them, you
look the other way. They don't exist as far as you're concerned.
That's what many do even now to the Lord of Glory, who made
the world in which they live, who sends the rain, who causes
the sun to shine, He who gives increase to the food which we
eat. To ignore the very one who gives
you your next breath and causes your heart to beat is to kill
him. For to you he's dead and sadly
all, every one of us. have committed these grievous
sins and have done nothing less than crucify Him. It's just a
fact. And unless, as I said a moment
ago, He divinely intervenes, I mean bust that door down to
our heart, in our lives we will perish eternally. To those of
you that know Christ, oh, thank and praise Him, for He's revealed
Himself to you. and you have the Son and you
have life. Oh, there's no better news than
that. Therefore, let all those who are without Christ know assuredly
If you're without Christ, you can be assured of this very thing. That God hath made that same
Jesus, that one that you neglect, that one that you have no interest
in. He made Him, both Lord and Christ. Second thing, Peter declares
the great exaltation God the Father has given the very one
whom men neglect. And I again desire to speak to
your hearts and tell you the truth. Whatever you may think
of the Lord Jesus Christ, God thinks everything of Him. He
may not mean anything to you, but He means everything to God.
To you, He may be dead and buried, but God has raised Him from the
dead. To God, He is ever-living, well-beloved, God's Son who makes
atonement for the sin of His people. And you cannot destroy
the Lord Jesus Christ. You can ignore Him, you can reject
Him, and you'll go to hell. But you can't destroy the Lord
Jesus Christ or His cause. God's going to save every single
one that the Father gave Him. Every one. He'll lose nothing,
He said. There's no doubt that men try.
Now listen, if you and I by nature could do everything that the
most malicious Deceitful desperately wicked heart could think or suggest
we could in no way shape or form Change what God has already done
and it's gonna do he's God You just die in your sin with a hateful
deceitful heart Peter said to his listeners that they had reaped
their havoc and vengeance on him They'd murdered him as a
felon. They crucified him. They laid
him in a grave. They sealed the stone and he
rose again God cannot die. Divine justice would not allow
a perfectly holy and righteous man to die. And He was the God-man. Whatever you do, you can't change
the truth of the Gospel. Why do men try? You can't rob
the Lord Jesus Christ of one single beam of His glory, for
He's perfectly holy and righteous. He lives and He rules all things,
and He will live and reign regardless of what becomes of us. You may
refuse His salvation, but He's still a Savior, and He's a great
one. That and your denial of that
great truth has no eternal effect on anyone But you, if you do
not bow to Christ the Lord, you do it at your own destruction.
I can't tell you any simpler than that. And it will not change
a thing concerning the will and purpose of Him who works all
things after the counsel of His own will. We might as well hope
to extinguish the light of the sun, or snatch the moon from
its orbit. than to overthrow the cause and
kingdom of the Lord Jesus. It cannot be done. God is on
His side and His throne is established forever. And God hath raised
His Son from the dead and taken Him up to sit at His right hand. And there He will remain until
He has made all His enemies His footstool. And then one day we'll
lay at His feet saying, Glory is the Lamb. Holy, holy, holy
is He that died for sinners. All the evil and darkness that
we see when men and women do not desire Christ's rule in their
lives and the horrible realization that they will one day know that
it was God's beloved Son in whom they have neglected, refused,
and forsaken. They're going to know it. That
rich man that Lazarus said at his gate. He did, didn't he?
He knew. I know it's too late for me,
but if you'd send Lazarus just to my brothers, he knew forever
and ever for eternity. You will be conscious of the
fact. that you rejected God's only means of salvation. Oh my! We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, Paul said. Brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. You
may ask, how do I know that God has chosen me from the beginning?
Do you love Christ? Do you see He's the only way
that you can be redeemed? Well, that's a good sign. And
regardless of the popular opinion, our Lord makes it known unto
His people that we've not chosen Him, but He's chosen us. Men
say, I chose Jesus. No, you didn't. No, you didn't. He chose you, and He called you
by His grace. What a gracious, merciful, and
loving, sovereign God His people serve, for we would have chosen
eternal damnation if He had not divinely intervened. So let me
say again to you who are yet without Christ, do you not yet
see your need of Him? To see and feel your need of
Him is all that the Father requires. He doesn't expect you to keep
God's law, because He knows you can't. The law was our schoolmaster
to do what? Bring us to Christ! Come to Christ! How do I do that? let his feet in your heart. Beg
him to have mercy on you. That's how you come. It's not
moving your feet, it's moving your heart. It's God moving your
heart. Let me go to my third point and
try to wrap this up. What is the result of knowing
these things assuredly? Peter said plainly, therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly. You can be assured
of this. that God hath made that same
Jesus, that same man that you hated without a cause, that same
man that you mocked, that you hired false witnesses against,
that you yelled in the courtroom of justice, crucifying, let go
Barabbas, that no good, unworthy criminal. You let him go and
you deliver Jesus, you crucify him. God hath made that same
Jesus that you crucify. Both Lord and Christ. Oh my! I wish that could sink into my
heart. Manhood and Godhood are in Him
united in one wondrous person. And this glorious person is both
Lord and Christ. Has God shown you that He's both
Lord and Christ? The Savior of sinners. Do you
believe that it is a truth of the utmost importance to you?
Does it mean anything to you? Will you assuredly believe it?
That the man of Nazareth who died on Calvary is today both
Lord and Christ? If you do, then what is your
feeling as you review your past hatred of him? I know what mine
was. It was pricked in my heart. I
was. Pricked in my heart. If you do
not believe, it is of little use for me to describe what the
result of such belief would be, for that result will not take
place in you if you believe not. But if you believe that Jesus
of Nazareth is to you both Lord and Christ, you'll look on him
whom you have pierced with great repentance." Great sorrow. Observe that as a result of Peter's
sermon, his hearers felt a mortal sting. They were pricked in their
heart. The truth had pierced their soul.
As the truth pierced their soul. And when a man or woman finds
out that he's done a horrible and wicked thing against one
who loved them, they grow sick at heart. and view their own
conduct with hatred and disgust. That's what a child of God does.
We hate ourselves. We abhor ourselves. Job said,
I abhor myself. We read that they were pricked
in their heart. We see it in a way of change
in our hearts and a movement of love and a stirring of emotion
to Him. God changes us. Only He can. Now let me say this in finishing,
those to whom Peter preached were not merely convinced of
their fault and were grieved, but their desires and affections
went out towards the offended one. And they cried, what shall
we do? Now they weren't crying out,
what can I do to be saved? They were crying out, oh my goodness,
what have I done? You see that? What shall we do?
We know we're guilty of this thing. We know that we have with
our wicked hands taken and crucified the Lord of Glory. What are we
going to do? Believe. Believe that this same
Jesus is both Lord and Christ. Have you seen the God-man as
your Lord and Christ? If you have, you'll repent, you'll
change, and you'll be sorry. You'll be grieved in your heart.
If you look at verse 38, I just feel like I have to mention this.
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and
you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Believers confess
Christ in baptism. Now we don't put people's name
on a roll, on a membership, but a child of God, whom Christ has
been revealed, wants to be baptized. They want to publicly profess
and confess their burial, their death, their burial, and their
resurrection with Him. They just do. And you won't have
to pressure or browbeat anybody to be baptized. I'm not going
to do it. It's between you and your Lord.
But if God has shown you Christ, you'll want to publicly confess
Him. You'll willingly do so. You'll
gladly do so. So has God shown you the truth
of the gospel? If He has, then profess Him.
profess Him publicly in baptism. That's what believers do, in
obedience to our Lord's command. May the Lord add His blessings
to the preaching of His Word.