Okay, now turn again in your
Bible to Acts chapter 2. I'm taking the title all the
way down from verse 36. I hope to bring a message from
verse 22 down to verse 36, and this is the preaching of Peter. But he concludes by this statement
found in verse 36, and the title is taken, the last part, he's
Lord and Christ. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God had made that same Jesus,
the one you just killed, you've crucified him. He is both Lord
and Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the man, 22, approved of God, and that word we know, approved,
means set forth of God, as the Lord of lords and King of kings. Furthermore, He is the promised
Messiah. He is the Christ. When it says
there He's both Lord and Christ, He is the promised Messiah. He is not Lord by our will or
our acceptance or by our doing. Now, people in religion say,
make Jesus your Lord. Don't they? You can't do that. That's impossible. How are you
going to make Him Lord? God made Him Lord and Christ
from all eternity. He is not the Lord by anything
we do, nor is He the Christ of God by anything we do or anything
we bring or add. He is the Lord. He is the Christ
by the determinant. Infinite, unchangeable decree
of God. He said, I've set my king upon
my holy hill Zion. Now, you don't have a thing to
do with making him Lord, do you? What can a poor, dead, vile,
wicked sinner do? And what could he bring? to enable
Jesus Christ to be Lord. It's absurd to think that anybody
could make Him Lord. We acknowledge His Lordship,
we bow and submit to His Lordship, but we do not make Him Lord. Because He works with all things
after the counsel of His own will. Now, Peter's message And
this is the preaching of Peter. You men of Israel, hear these
words, verse 22. Peter's message on this Jewish
feast day, known as Pentecost. Someone said this is truly Pentecostal
preaching. You want to know what Pentecostal
preaching really is? Read Peter's sermon. But his
sermon was simple. It was straightforward. It was
a message right from the Word of God. It was not shrouded or
steeped with human logic or philosophy, but rather was full of scriptural
truth declaring that Jesus Christ had accomplished salvation just
as the Old Testament prophets said that He would. To Him give
all the prophets testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ, and just
as He said He would. Remember back, turn to Luke 24.
Luke 24. The risen Lord declared to his
disciples that day, these, and he said unto them, these are
the word, Luke 24, 44. These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. What are the 150 Psalms all
about? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, just as he said that he would
fulfill all things, just as all the Old Testament prophets said
that he would fulfill all things, he did. Peter in his sermon presents
three different scriptural references, Psalm 16, Psalm 132, and Psalm
110. and declared that Jesus Christ
crucified, resurrected, and enthroned is the fulfillment of those Psalms. The Lord blessed the preaching
of Simon Peter, and 3,000 sinners were given ears to hear that
message, 3,000 sinners were granted faith and repentance, repentance
toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and publicly confessed
Christ in believers' baptism, and were added to the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 39 in Acts chapter
2, "...for the promise is done to you and to your children,
to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall
call." You remember from Joel chapter 2, "...the remnant shall
be called, Now, Peter doesn't bring it in back over here in
verse 16, but he includes it here in verse 39. As many as
the Lord our God shall call. And with many of the word did
he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward
or this perverted religious generation. Then they that gladly received
the word were baptized. Who was baptized? Believers.
Were they baptized to be saved? No. They were baptized because
they did believe. And the same day, there were
added unto them about 3,000 souls. Look down to verse 47, Acts 2,
and the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. Remember, as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed the gospel. Now, Peter declares the
message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and raised up again
the third day." And verse 22, 23, and 24. Verse 22, Jesus said,
Nazareth, a man approved of God, you hear these words, these are
the words you need to hear, among you by miracles and wonders and
signs which God did by Him in the midst of you all. You know
these things to be true, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel. I love this language. This is
the way God speaks. Determined counsel for the nation
of God. You have taken by wicked hands
the crucified and slain, whom God raised up, having loosed
the pains of death, because it was not possible that it should
hold him down. Jesus Christ is the only Savior
approved of God. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. He is the only Savior sent of
God. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman. Simeon said it right in Luke
chapter 2. Mine eyes, when he behold the
Lord Jesus Christ, even as an infant, eight days old or forty
days old, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Mary said it right. When she rejoiced in the Lord
and she said, my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. John and Peter said it right,
turn to Acts chapter 4 verse 11. This is the stone which was
said at Nod of you builders, which has become the head of
the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, or there
is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must
be saved." He is the only one Son of God. Verse 23 of Acts
2, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only sacrifice for sin. This is God's Lamb dying at God's
appointed time, God's appointed way, for God's appointed people
to accomplish His appointed end. That's a whole lot, is it not?
Salvations of the Lord. This is God's Lamb. Jesus Christ
is the only sacrifice for sin. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. Whom God raised up. Verse 24. We're going to see this repeated
statement all through the preaching of the book of Acts. God raised
Him up. Jesus Christ is the only satisfaction
to the holy law of God. Both precept and penalty was
honored by Christ. We read of that in Isaiah 42.
He said, I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to honor it.
But in Isaiah 42 it says, the Lord is well pleased for His
righteousness sake, He will magnify the law, He will honor it for
us. The Lord our God demonstrates
that He magnified the law, that He honored the law of God. By
this blessed truth, that Christ made full atonement for our sin,
to the satisfaction of God's law and justice, to the satisfaction
of God, how do we know God's satisfied? How do we know that
God's satisfied with the atonement of Christ? With the redemption
of the people for whom was given to the Lord Jesus Christ? How
do we know God was satisfied? What does it say? Whom God raised
up from the dead. It says that again over in verse
32. This Jesus had God raised up
whereof we are witnesses. In Acts chapter 3 verse 15 says,
You killed the Prince of life whom God raised from the dead. What is all that saying to us?
What does this resurrection mean? It means that His redeeming work
and His blood atonement was completely accepted of God and satisfying
unto God. And we, as we're one with Him,
we are accepted in the Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. Matter
of fact, when God raised Him from the dead, do you know who
else was raised from the dead? every believer in Christ. We're
one with Him. The Lord our God demonstrates
that His atonement was complete and full and accepted of God
in that God raised Him from the dead. He said, I am He that liveth
and was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore. Because He lives, we live and
move and have our being. In him. Verse 25 down through
verse 31, Peter also declared that the Lord Jesus Christ came
to fulfill Scripture. Now we just read a moment ago
in Luke 24, the Lord said, I came to fulfill Moses, the prophets,
and the psalm. But in John chapter 5 verse 39,
our Lord said to those Pharisees, you are they which search the
Scriptures, And in them you think you have eternal life, but they
are they which testify, he says, of me." The Scriptures tell us
about the Lord Jesus Christ. What are all the Psalms about?
Christ. Turn back to Acts chapter 1 verse
16. David speaks by the Spirit of
God, and he speaks of the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 1, verse 16. Men and brethren,
the Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy
Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas. David spake by the power of God
the Holy Spirit. Holy men of old spake as they
were moved by God. Now, in verse 25, for David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for
he is on my right hand, I shall not be moved. Verse 25, this
was true of David, but much truer, much more true of the greater
David, the Lord Jesus Christ. The God-man mediator was always
about the father's business, even as a 12-year-old boy in
the temple. Remember, he said to those people,
I must be about my father's business. Always before his father's presence,
always blessed and sustained in his human nature by the absolute
power of God. In the garden, when he's suffering
so because of our sin and his body sweats out great drops of
blood, And he prayed, not my will, but thy will be done. You
remember the angels of God came and strengthened him, left to
himself. His humanity would have collapsed
and died, but we know that cannot be. The angels came and strengthened
Him. The Father giveth Him the Spirit
without measure, because the Father loveth the Son, and has
given all things into His hand. Two other scriptures, Isaiah
50, let me just quote these to you, talking about how the Lord
was always at my right hand, and I shall not be moved. The
Lord God will help me. Isaiah 50 verse 7, Therefore
shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint. I know I shall not be ashamed,
shall not be moved. And then in Psalm 89, Then thou
spakest in a vision to the Holy One and said, I have laid help
upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. I found David my servant. With
my holy oil have I anointed him. So all those scriptures speak
about the Lord Jesus Christ. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face. He is on my right hand. I shall
not be moved. The Lord Jesus Christ and His
humanity was assisted, aided in all things in accomplishing
our salvation. Look at verse 26. Peter goes
on. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking, and my tongue was glad,
moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope." Three things are
given here about our Lord and our Savior, who came not to do
His own will, but the will of Him that sent me. His heart and
mind was to do the will of God. He set His heart on things above. Our Lord said this, In that hour,
the Lord Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank Thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth. Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babe, even
so, Father, it seemed good in Thy sight. My heart did rejoice. The Lord Jesus Christ always
joys in doing the will of God. And then He says, secondly, my
tongue was glad. His tongue did speak, that is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke absolute truth with
gladness. It was not a burden or grievous
to him to declare the word of God. He said in John 7, my doctrine
is not mine, but his that sent me. We know as God, it was impossible
for him to lie. That's why Peter said that his
tongue was glad. Why? Because he spoke absolute
truth. Thirdly, it says, and my flesh
shall rest in hope. Now, every believer can join
in with the Lord Jesus Christ here. Our flesh shall rest in
hope. But his body was buried after
his crucifixion. He was buried. He died according
to the will of God, was buried and raised again the third day.
His flesh shall rest in hope, but His body was raised again
the third day. You remember our Lord said in
John 2, destroy this temple and I'll raise it up again in three
days. Now His resurrection is a guarantee
of our resurrection. If He be not raised up, We're
yet in our sin, and we have no hope of salvation. Now look at
verse 27, because Acts 2.27, "...Thou wilt not leave my soul
in the grave, neither wilt Thou suffer the Holy One to see corruption."
Not at all. He says again, verse 31, He's
saying this before, speaking of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in the grave, neither did his flesh
see corruption. Our Lord speaks through David
many years before his incarnation, before his sacrifice for our
sin, and declared that his body would die because our sin was
laid upon him, but his body would not remain in the grave, his
body would not see corruption. Because He made what? Full atonement
for our sin. Completely putting away the sin
of God's elect. Sin, death, and the grave had
no claim on Him. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification. Sin, death, hell, and the grave
had no claim on Him, nor on us as we are one with Him. God said
their sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. Let's go to verse 28. Peter continues
in his ministry, in his preaching, and I'm just repeating what Peter
said. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life, thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance."
Now I like the way it's written in Psalm 16, that will show me
the path of life, in thy presence is the fullness of joy, at thy
right hand are pleasures forevermore. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
first fruit from the dead, the guarantee of our resurrection.
He has already experienced the path of life. He is the way,
the truth, and the life. In His resurrection from the
dead, He is now the fullness of joy and pleasure at the right
hand of God. You remember Hebrews 12? For
the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising
the shame and now is sat down at the right hand of God. Being
in glory at the right hand of God are pleasures forevermore. This too is what every believer
shall experience like the dying thief who is now in paradise
with the risen Lord, the God-man mediator. Today thou shalt be
with me in paradise. Verse 29, men and brethren, let
me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David. David is dead
and buried. So this scripture is not talking
about David who died, He said that David's grave, David's body,
his bones are right over there. We can visit his grave. We can
dig up his grave and we'll find the bones of David. You cannot
find the bones of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not here. He is
risen from the dead. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David. Now, he gives honor to
David. David, a man after God's own
heart. David, the anointed king of Israel, that he's both dead
and he is buried, and his grave is with us this day. Now, David's
body is in the grave, but where's David? Our Lord said to David the same
thing He said to that dying thief, today you'll be with me in paradise. to be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord Jesus Christ. This psalm that Peter
quotes from is not about David, but rather the greater David,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is right now seated in the heavenlies
on the right hand of God, on the throne of God, there he ever
lived to make intercession for us. Verse 30, Acts 2 verse 30,
therefore being a prophet of God, and knowing that God has
sworn unto him with an oath that of the fruit of his loins, according
to the flesh, that he would raise up the Messiah, raise up the
Christ to sit on the throne. Now here we quote another Psalm,
notice the reference there to Psalm 132 verse 11. Psalm 132, verse 11. And here's
what that verse said, "...the Lord hath sworn in truth unto
David, he will not turn from it, of the fruit of thy body
will I set upon thy throne." Now, you can trace out the genealogy
that's given in Matthew and in Luke. The humanity of the Lord
Jesus Christ is exactly as God promised it would be. He is from
the tribe of Judah. You remember Jacob prophesied
concerning him where he talked about Shiloh coming. The scepter will not depart from
Judah until Shiloh comes. And then John calls him in the
Revelation the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And then he's of the
house of Jesse. Who was Jesse? Jesse was David's
father. You remember when he told Samuel,
Go down to the house of Jesse, 1 Samuel 16, I will send to thee
Jesse the Bethlehemite, I send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite,
for I have provided me a king among his sons." And Jesse had
eight sons. Seven of them came before Samuel,
and God said, that's not the one, that's not the one, that's
not the one, do you have any left? I got one little runt. He's a runt. He's a ruddy boy. He's out there in the shepherd's
field tending the sheep. You know, he's not even a candidate. God said, that's my king. That's
my king. Now, we know the Lord Jesus Christ,
the tribe of Judah, the house of Jesse, the son of David. Remember
from Romans chapter 3, He's made of the seed of David according
to the flesh, declared to be the Son of God on the absolute
throne of dominion. He's made of the seed of David,
but He's not made the Son of God. He declared to be the Son
of God. Big difference. But if you trace
His genealogy all the way back to David. Verse 31, so the Lord
fulfilled that scripture in that the humanity of the Lord Jesus
Christ came through David. Verse 31, he seeing this before,
that is David, spake. David spoke of the resurrection
of Christ, that his soul was not left in the grave, Neither
did his flesh see corruption." Verse 31. David, by way of the
Holy Spirit revelation, saw the coming of Christ. He saw Him
and wrote of Him. Psalm 22 is about Christ crucified. Psalm 69 is about Christ crucified. Psalm 16 is of His resurrection. Psalm 110 speaks about His ascending
glory. David, like Abraham and Moses,
saw the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation accomplished
by Him. Our Lord said, had you believed
Moses, you would have believed Me. Moses wrote about Me. And
then He said of Abraham, your father Abraham rejoiced to see
My day. He saw it and was glad. Abraham,
David, Moses all rejoiced in the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 32. This Jesus, not another, this
same Jesus whom you crucified, this one approved of God, God
raised Him up, whereof we are all witnesses." Peter and the
other apostles declare what they have seen. Now, if you're called
to be a witness, say it was a murder trial, And you were called to
be a witness by the prosecution, to be a witness, maybe the star
witness. And you go that day, and they
bring you up on the up front, and the judge swears you in. You're a witness for the prosecution
in this case of murder. Now, you swear to tell what? The truth, the whole truth. Nothing but the truth, so help
you God. And what if you don't? What if
you find out that you've committed perjury? You're going to jail
too. You see, these witnesses sent
of God told the absolute truth. They were eyewitnesses to His
majesty. We've seen the Lord. He's risen
from the dead. See what He's saying there? We
are witnesses to this glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 33, being by the right hand of God,
exalted. Not only is he raised from the
dead, but he ascended to glory forty days later, having received
of the Father this promise of the Holy Ghost, based upon full
atonement, based upon the law being honored, based upon Righteousness
being established, God had shed forth this which you now see
and hear." What did He shed forth? Salvation in Christ Jesus. Salvation in Christ Jesus. Verse 34, The forerunner for
us is entered, even Jesus made a high priest forever. after
the council, after the order of Melchizedek rather, by the
right hand of God. We cannot make too much about
that, the right hand of God. Verse 34, for David is not ascended,
David is not ascended to the throne of God. Now he's
talking here about the body of David. David is not ascended
into the heavens. Now his body didn't, but his
soul did. But he saith himself, The Lord
said unto my Lord, this is Psalm 110, Sit thou on my right hand,
verse 35, until I make thy enemies thy footstool. Peter again goes to the Word
of God to set forth the Lordship of Christ. The Lordship of Christ. David is still dead and in the
grave, his body, But the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, He
is risen from the dead, and the God-man mediator sits upon the
throne of glory, and every enemy, every foe will be made to submit
to His rule, His reign, His righteousness. Every knee will bow, every tongue
will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord through the glory of
God the Father. Therefore, verse 33, being exalted
by the right hand of God. Verse 36, therefore, I love that
word, don't you? Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know. This is not a secret. This is
not a secret to be kept. Let's declare it on the housetop. Let all the house of Israel know.
Let all men know everywhere. He said, go and preach this gospel
to every creature in all the world. Let all the house of Israel
know assuredly that God made that same Jesus whom you crucified. God has made him both Lord and
Christ. He's Lord and Christ. This same one that you with wicked
hands have crucified and slain. You despised him, you hated him,
you crucified him. You said away with him, we have
no king but Caesar. Now he is your Lord and the only
Christ of God. He is Lord of all. This message was preached to
the Jews, but turned to Acts chapter 10. This message was
also preached by Peter to a Gentile named Cornelius. Same message. Verse 36 of Acts 10. The Word
which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by
Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. What do the Jews need to hear?
Jesus Christ is Lord of all. What do the Gentiles need to
hear? Same message. He is Lord of all. He is the Lord of all things. He is Lord by decree. God had made Him Lord in Christ.
He is Lord by purchase. He bought us with His own blood.
Romans 14, Paul writes for this end, for this purpose. Christ
both died and rose revived that He might be Lord both of the
dead and of the living. He's Lord of all by decree. He's
Lord of all by purchase. He's Lord of all by enthronement. Sit thou at my right hand until
I make thine enemies thy footstool. Psalm 110. He is both Lord and
Christ. He is the Anointed of God. Now we come full circle back
to our title. He is both Lord and Christ. Believers not only confess and
own His Lordship over them, but they also confess He is the Christ
of God. Now you remember Peter in Matthew
chapter 16 where the Lord said, Peter, whom did you say that
I am? Remember what he said? What did
he confess? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Again,
Peter said in John 6, when many walked away from the Lord, when
he declared the sovereignty of God in salvation, and then he
turned to the twelve and said, will you also go away? And Peter
said, to whom shall we go? We know that you have the Word
of the eternal life. We believe and we're sure thou
art that Christ of God. So we confess His Lordship, we
own His Lordship, but we also confess that He is the Anointed,
the Messiah, the Christ of God. And we know the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Anointed in all of His office. What's His threefold
office? Remember? I've given this to
you. How many times? Someone said you need to hear
something seven times before you remember it. Seven times.
Okay? I've given this to you at least
700 times. He's prophet, priest, and king. He's anointed in all
of His office as the Messiah of God. No one in the Old Testament
ever held all three offices. David was a king, and David was
a prophet, but he was not a priest. Moses was a prophet, but he was
not a priest. Samuel was a prophet, but he
was not a king. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
prophet that God would raise up to reveal the truth of God.
He's that priest to redeem us with His own blood, and He is
a potentate. Prophet, priest, and potentate.
What does potentate mean? It means He's king. It means
He's Lord. It means He owns all things.
All power is given in heaven and earth. He is a prophet to
reveal the truth of God, to preach to redeem us, and He's a potentate
to reign over us. And that's what He does. He reigns
as the Christ of God. Now, that was a great sermon. Now, I didn't say I preached
a great sermon. I'd never say that. But I can tell you upon
the basis of what's written here and what we've just read, Peter
preached a great sermon. What was the result of that?
God blessed His word to 3,000 people, and when they heard this,
they were pricked in their heart and said to Peter and the rest
of the apostles, men and brethren, we're guilty. Yeah, what you
said of us is true. We killed him. We're guilty. We're caught red-handed. How
are we going to fix this? Well, we'll see next week. Many, as the Lord our God called,
gladly received the Word and were baptized the same day. and about 3,000 souls were added. What was the effect of true gospel
preaching? And we can say this was Pentecostal
preaching. What is Pentecostal preaching
all about? Telling the truth. What was the effect of true gospel
preaching? The elect of God were convicted
in their heart, they received the word of the Lord, and they
confessed Christ in Believer's Baptism. May God be pleased to
do the same for us right now in our heart.