Both Lord and Christ

Q: What does the Bible say about Jesus as both Lord and Christ?

The Bible declares Jesus as both Lord and Christ, affirming His divinity and messianic role as the Savior. In Acts 2:36, Peter proclaims that God has made Jesus, whom the people crucified, both Lord and Christ. This statement emphasizes the dual nature of Jesus: His lordship refers to His authority and sovereignty over all things, while His title as Christ signifies His role as the anointed Messiah sent to redeem humanity. Recognizing Jesus in both capacities is crucial for understanding the full scope of His work and mission. The acknowledgment of Jesus as both Lord and Christ is foundational to the Christian faith, as it underscores His authority in our lives and His role in our salvation.

Q: How do we know that Jesus was approved by God?

Jesus was approved by God through miracles, signs, and His resurrection, affirming His divine mission. Peter's sermon in Acts 2:22 confirms that Jesus was a man approved by God through miracles, signs, and wonders that He performed. These divine attestations were not merely sensational but served to validate Jesus as the Messiah. Moreover, His resurrection from the dead, as stated in verse 24, stands as a definitive proof of His divine approval and mission. The resurrection is a cornerstone of Christian faith because it confirms that Jesus' sacrifice was accepted by God, thereby providing assurance of salvation to all who believe in Him. Thus, the evidence of His life, ministry, death, and resurrection firmly establishes Jesus as God's appointed Savior.

Q: Why is the resurrection of Jesus important for Christians?

The resurrection of Jesus is vital as it confirms His victory over sin and death, ensuring eternal life for believers. The resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, as articulated by Peter in Acts 2:24. It signifies Jesus' victory over sin, death, and hell, validating His claims and teachings. If Jesus did not rise, the faith of believers would be in vain, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14. The resurrection assures Christians of their own resurrection and eternal life. It not only proves that Jesus is who He claimed to be—the Son of God—but also assures believers of the effectiveness of His atoning sacrifice. In this sense, the resurrection is not just a historical event; it is the foundation of hope and assurance for all who place their trust in Christ.

Now we're going to open our Bibles
today to the Book of Acts, Acts of the Apostles. And I'll be
speaking from Chapter 2 of the Book of Acts. And the title of
this message is Lord and Christ, both Lord and Christ. Now I want you to listen very
carefully to me. I'm going to show you some things
from God's Word that are most critical. and most important. Now here's our text, Acts chapter
2, a very familiar passage of scripture, one you've read many
times, one you've heard read many times. Acts 2, 36. Therefore,
Peter said, let all the house of Israel know that God hath
made that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. God hath made that same Jesus
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard
this, when they heard that God had made Jesus of Nazareth Lord
and Christ, then when they heard this, they were pricked in their
hearts and they cried out, men and brethren, what shall we do?
Now, most of today's religion, now listen to me and let's think
for a moment. Most of today's religion is emotional,
demonstrative, and charismatic. That's what they call it, charismatic
religion. It's taking the country. People
are meeting together for worship, and it's just bedlam. Singing, clapping, chanting,
hand-waving, excitement, emotionalism, charismatic. And a name that
it goes by is Pentecostalism. Pentecostalism. And the preachers
who promote this enthusiasm and excitement and entertainment
in the name of God, in the name of religion, they use the second
chapter of the book of Acts, the one that I'm using today
for my text. They use it to promote this excitement
and promote this enthusiasm and this charismatic style of what
they call worship. Well, let's look at verse 1 of
Acts chapter 2. Let's go back up to verse 1 of
this second chapter. I want you to listen to me and
I want you to think with me. Verse 1 says this, And when the
day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one place, and
there was a rushing mighty wind, and cloven tongues of fire, and
the Holy Spirit came down. Now, when you hear the word Pentecost,
When you hear the word Pentecost, what do you think about? Well,
first thing you think about is the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord told His disciples before He ascended back to the Father,
He said, now you tarry at Jerusalem until you be endued with power.
He told them the Holy Ghost will come upon you and the power of
God will come upon you. Then you'll go out and preach
the gospel. And when you think of Pentecost, many people think
of the coming of the Holy Spirit. cloven tongues of fire rested
upon these apostles, the rushing mighty wind, and they were all
filled with the Holy Spirit. When our Lord Jesus came to the
earth in the flesh, when He came in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago,
His coming also was accompanied by unusual signs. First of all,
God hung a star over the manger where He was born. These wise
men followed that star. And then the angels of God came
down to earth. When our Lord came here to this
earth, was born of a woman, the angels came down. And the heavenly
host appeared to the shepherds on those Judean hillsides, and
they sang, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
goodwill toward men. And told the shepherds, they
appeared to these shepherds, angels of God, and told them
not to be afraid. For unto them was born this day
in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And
just that way, when the Holy Spirit came, when the Holy Spirit
came upon the church and dwelled the people of God, His coming
was accompanied by unusual wonders and signs, just like the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I don't need a star to worship
God. I don't need angels coming down
to announce to me that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
to know that He's come. In other words, every time we
come together, we don't need a star over the meeting house
and we don't need angels to remind us Christ has come. And neither
do I need tongues and rushing wind and cloven tongues of fire
to know that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer. And
the Holy Spirit is our comforter and our teacher and our guide
and reveals Christ to us and infills us and enables us to
preach. So when men think of Pentecost,
they think of the coming of the Spirit of God. And secondly,
many people think of the gift of tongues. And they say, that's
always associated with Pentecostalism, is tongues. Well, what are these
tongues? Right here in the second chapter
of Acts, what are these tongues? Well, it tells you in verse 8. See, there were people gathered
at that feast of Pentecost from all over that part of the world. They'd come from different nations.
They weren't all Jews. They'd come from different nations.
They weren't all local people. They were from Greece and they
were from other places. They spoke other languages. And
they said this in verse 8, How hear we every man in our own
tongues? So these disciples who were speaking
in tongues were speaking in tongues that could be understood. languages
that people spoke. These people were there from
everywhere who spoke different languages and they were hearing
the disciples preach the gospel in their own language. Listen
to verse 11. We do hear them speak in our
tongues the wonderful works of God. I'll tell you another thing
you may think of when you think of Pentecost, the coming of the
Holy Spirit accompanied by signs and wonders. the gift of tongues
or speaking, preaching the gospel in other languages. You may also
think of great revival and the success of the gospel because
3,000 people were brought to a knowledge of Christ and the
gospel at that time. You know, we used to sing a song
when I was a boy, Lord send the old time power, the Pentecostal
power. the floodgates of mercy on us
open wide, Pentecostal power. Well, what exactly is Pentecost? If I were to ask you right now,
sitting right there listening to me, Pentecost, what does it
mean? What is Pentecost? Well, if you
look at Leviticus chapter 23, you can do it later if you want
to, there were three feasts given to the Jews, three prominent
feasts. The first one's the Passover.
You know about the Passover, where the Passover lamb is slain.
Secondly, there was the feast of the waving of the sheep, the
waving of the sheep. Now, the first day, Sunday, after
the Passover, the Passover was the first feast. Then after that
Passover Sabbath, the first day is Sunday, the first day of the
week. Israel brought the first fruits. the first fruits that
they gathered from the field, the barley, the wheat, the corn,
or whatever. They brought the first fruits,
it's called the Feast of the First Fruits, the waving of the
sheep. And they brought the first fruits and waved them before
the Lord. What they were saying was this, every product of the
soil, everything we have to eat, everything that is ours is of
the Lord, the waving of sheep. Christ is the first fruits of
those risen from the dead. He arose the first fruits of
them that slept. Now, thirdly, watch this. Pentecost,
that's the third feast, Pentecost. And it means 50, 50, the 50th. And here's how it gets its name.
After the Passover, at the end of the harvest, after the Passover,
you number 50 days, seven Sabbaths and the 50th day. And that's
the Feast of the Harvest, the Feast of Praise and the Feast
of Thanksgiving. So that's Pentecost. And all
of these people were in Jerusalem to celebrate. They'd celebrated
the Passover, the Feast of the First Fruits, and now the 50th
day, they celebrated the Feast of Pentecost. And they were all
there. And that's when God the Holy
Spirit came and indwelt the believers and they preached the first sermon.
After our Lord arose from the grave and ascended back to the
Father, Peter preached the first sermon. Now, let me ask you this.
When we talk about Pentecost and Pentecostalism, what's the
chief issue raised here at Pentecost? The chief issue, the chief subject
and issue raised at Pentecost. Well, you ask, was it the coming
of the Holy Spirit? It was at first. They heard the
rushing mighty wind. They saw the cloven tongues of
fire, the filling of the disciples, the Holy Spirit came, the great
signs and wonders, the coming of the Holy Spirit. Yes, first,
that was the issue. People marveled. Well, what was
the issue at Pentecost? The gift of tongues? Well, it
was for time. They heard these disciples speak
the gospel in their own tongue, in their own language. And the
people marveled. They said, wonderful works of
God in our own tongue. Well, they marveled. They said,
this is what they said, are not these men Galileans? How do they
speak these other languages if they were Galileans? So the thing
that they marveled at first was the rushing mighty wind and the
fire and then the tongues. And then they marveled at these
Galileans, these unlearned men. preaching the gospel in their
language and they were in amazement and they were in wonder. Strange
and supernatural things had occurred right before their eyes. But
then Peter stood and having explained what this
was, he said, this is a fulfillment of that which was spoken by the
prophet Joel. In the last days your sons and
daughters shall prophesy and so forth. He said, that's what
this is. And then listen, look at verse 22, Acts 1, Acts 2,
22. Acts 2, 22, listen to Peter.
Then he stood, and he said, Men of Israel, ye men of Israel,
hear these words. Now he didn't say, hear this
wind. Wouldn't have accomplished a thing. He didn't say, hear
the wind. They had heard the rushing mighty
wind. They marveled at it. But Peter said, I want you to
hear some words now. I want you to hear some words.
He didn't say, hear the tongues, hear the tongues. They heard
those and they marveled, they were amazed, they were taken
up with them, astounded at them. But Peter stood and said, now
I want you to hear some words, not the tongues. He didn't say,
hear these Galileans. These Galileans, it's immaterial
whether you, what you think of them, totally immaterial. What
he said was, hear these words I'm about to speak. You see,
my friend, it's by hearing the Word of God that men are saved. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Not hearing the music, or hearing
the wind, or hearing the tongues, or hearing the Galileans. It's
hearing these words. It says, Off his own will begat
he us with the word of truth. The scripture says, In whom you
trusted after you heard the word of truth, gospel of your salvation. Now He says, hear these words,
hear these words. Verse 22, Jesus of Nazareth,
hear the words now, Jesus of Nazareth, a man, a man. Yes, He's God, very God of very
God, but He's a man, a man, born of a woman, bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh, In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son
into the world, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might
redeem us from the curse of the law. A man, Jesus of Nazareth,
a man. Let that be established, these
words. Who is He? He's a man. The man. Behold,
the man. The Scripture says, a man shall
be a hiding place in the time of storm, a shelter, a rock in
a weary land. Hear these words, a man. Now
watch the next word. A man approved of God. That's
what makes the difference. A man anointed of God, approved
of God. No ordinary man, but a man God
has set forth and sent. Here, this is my beloved son,
God said. Hear him. Hear him. He's my beloved Son in whom I'm
well pleased." Now listen to me, Peter said, hear these words,
these words, a man, Jesus of Nazareth, a man, anointed, approved
of God, approved of God by miracles and signs and wonders, he said,
which you yourselves know. Our Lord Jesus Christ in John
5 talked about the four witnesses. He said, John the Baptist bore
witness of me. The Father bear witness of me.
The works I do bear witness of me. That's what Peter's saying
here. Jesus of Nazareth, a man, approved, anointed, sent of God
by miracles and wonders and signs which he did among you, which
you know. Nicodemus said, we know, we know
you came from God. No man could do these miracles
except God be with him. One of them said, one day has
it ever been heard that a man restored sight to a blind man.
Has it ever been heard? Has it ever been seen? It was
when Jesus of Nazareth came. And you know that, he said. You
yourselves know that. Now look at verse 23. You men
of Israel, now they're not listening to the wind anymore. They're
not listening to the tongues. They're not even listening to
the Galileans. They're listening to this anointed preacher. And
he's talking about a man, the Son of God. anointed of God,
approved of God. And Him, Him, that man being
delivered, delivered over into your hands, delivered by the
determinant counsel and foreknowledge or foreordination of God. Him. That's what the gospel is all
about. The gospel is a Him. H-I-M. Him, the seed of woman. Him, the covenant surety. Him,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the Him, the prophet, priest,
and king. Him. Him. You have crucified
and slain Him. God delivered Him into your hands. God Almighty delivered Him by
His determinant, by His determined, predestinated, predetermined
will and counsel and full knowledge or full ordination. God delivered
Him into your hands and you, doing what your wicked hearts
devised, crucified him. But you did what God determined
before to be done. You did what God said you would
do. You did what God willed to be done. That's what Acts 4.26
says. All the kings and rulers and
Jews and Gentiles of this earth were gathered together against
the Lord and against His Christ to do whatsoever God determined
before to be done. His death was the will of evil
men. that his death was the will of
a merciful, sovereign Lord. It pleased God to bruise him.
It pleased God to put him to shame. All right, verse 24. Now listen. Hear these words. Oh, I tell you, we need to calm
down. Put your hands down. Quit clapping and yelling and
screaming and carrying on and calling it worship and listen
to His Word. Hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God among you by miracles and signs, which
you yourselves also know. Him, that man, being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. Whom," listen to verse
24, "...whom God raised from the dead." This was the doctrine. Oh, this was the doctrine. The
Pharisees and religious leaders hated above all doctrines. They
tried their best to discount the resurrection. They went to
Pilate and they went to the governor. They said they paid the soldiers. They did everything to keep them
from admitting that Jesus Christ had risen from the tomb. They
said, say his disciples stole his body. Say anything, we'll
cover up for you. We'll cover for you. Don't tell
them he arose from the grave. If Jesus arose, he's who he claimed
to be. He said, you destroy this temple
and in three days I'll raise it up. They thought he was talking
about that Solomon's temple. He's talking about his body.
I'll raise it up. He's God. If Jesus arose, they
knew this, that all that he said about himself and what he said
about them was true. And what he said about the way
of life was true because here he's living. He arose. He's victorious
over sin, death, and hell and the grave. If He arose, all that
He did is accepted of God. If He arose, all of His people
will rise with Him. He said, because I live, you
live. I go away, but if I go, I'll prepare a place for you
and I'll come again and receive you unto myself. And when the
disciples talked about the resurrection of the dead, The resurrection
of Christ, they put him in prison. Don't you preach this resurrection. Don't you preach this doctrine
of resurrection. Don't you preach this man's name. You want to bring his blood on
us? Him God raised from the dead. All right, look at verse 25.
Now he said, you people have a lot of confidence in David,
King David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the son of Jesse,
David. The people loved David. They
spoke of Abraham, Moses, and David. Well, he says, David said,
Thou wilt not abandon my soul, nor leave my body in the grave
to seek corruption. That's what David wrote. Thou
wilt not abandon my soul. Thou wilt not suffer thy holy
one to seek corruption in the grave. Now, he said, David did
not speak of himself, because he says, David is dead and buried.
His sepulcher, His grave's right here where we are. And we know
it. So when David said, Thou wilt
not abandon my soul, or suffer thy holy one to seek corruption,
David wasn't talking about himself. When he said, The Lord said to
my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, he wasn't talking about
himself. He was talking about the Son of David. And he went
on, he said, David's not ascending into the heavens. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ that has risen from the grave and ascended unto heaven
to whom the Father said, Sit thou at my right hand till I
make thine enemies thy footstool. Amen of Israel. Boy, they've
forgotten the wind now. They've forgotten the tongues. They've forgotten who's speaking
to them. Their eyes and attention and thought is on this man, Jesus
of Nazareth. This crowd's a crowd that crucified
Him 52 days ago. They stood and watched Him die
52 days ago. They heard about His resurrection,
and He said, I'm gonna tell you, this man, Jesus of Nazareth,
who was delivered into your hands, whom you crucified, God raised
Him from the dead. And that's when He said in verse
36, Therefore let every one of you, the house of Israel, know
that God hath made this same Jesus whom you crucified. God hath made him Lord, King
of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Christ, both Lord and Christ,
the Lord of salvation, the sovereign Lord of mercy, and Redeemer,
Christ, the anointed. He's the only Savior. He's the
sufficient Savior. He's the sovereign Savior. He's
the Savior of sinners. He's the Lord And He's the Christ. Now, when they heard this, now
when they heard this, and oh, I tell you, not when they heard
the wind, not when they heard the wind. They could have heard
the wind. You talk about you wish that the Russian mighty
wind would blow again. Not me. I've heard the wind a
lot of times. It doesn't do anything to the
heart. Miracles and signs and wonders don't convince men of
sin and bring them to Christ. It's not when they heard the
wind. It's not when they heard the tongues. It's not when they
heard the disciples. It was when they heard this,
these words that Peter spoke about this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. When they heard this, Peter declared
four things to these people. He declared who Jesus Christ
is. He said he's the man, the God-man. He's the God-man. That man that's a shelter from
the storm and a hiding place from the wind and a rock in a
weary land, that man, who is? He's the God-man. Secondly, what
he did? He died on a cross. You crucified
him. But he didn't die accidentally. God Almighty decreed his death,
determined his death, designed his death, And you did what God
determined to be done. You were the instrument that
God used to nail His Son to the cross to die for sinners. That's
right. That's right. That's right. What He did? He died on that
cross. What He did? He arose again. He arose again. God raised Him from the dead.
He lives. He lives. And seated Him at His right hand.
Why did He die? He died that God may be just
and justifiable, that the law might be satisfied and justice
might be honored. Where is he now? Peter told them
where he is now. He's at the right hand of the
majesty on high. He's seated. He's crowned. He's enthroned. He's on a sovereign
throne. That's where he is. And they
heard these words. Have you heard them? No, we're
too busy with the wind. We're too busy with the good
quartets. We're too busy with the whoop-de-doo. We're too busy
waving our hands and clapping to hear anything. We don't hear
anything. All we hear is preachers stomping and raving and whatever
they do. We're not hearing these words.
They heard these words. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake to our fathers by the prophets, hath
in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed
heir of all things. by whom he made the worlds, who
being the brightness of his glory, and the exact image of his person,
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he by himself
purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. When
they heard these words, they said, men and brethren, what
are we going to do? What must we do? What shall we
do? And Peter said, repent, repent,
change your mind about who God is, and who you are, and who
Christ is. Bow at the feet of Christ. Believe
on Him. Look to Him. Commit yourself
to Him. Confess Him in baptism. Repent and be baptized, every
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you'll receive the Holy Spirit
and be saved. All right. Would you like to
have this message on a tape to pass along to someone else to
listen to again? Write for it. Here's the address to be given
to you by the announcer. And you write and ask for this
tape, both Lord and Christ. Both Lord and Christ. And next
week, the Lord willing, I'm going to speak to you on conversion.
And both of these messages will be on this tape. You can receive
it for $2. Send $2 and we'll mail you the
tape. Until next Lord's Day, God bless you, everyone.

Both Lord and Christ

What does the Bible say about Jesus as both Lord and Christ?

How do we know that Jesus was approved by God?

Why is the resurrection of Jesus important for Christians?

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About Henry Mahan

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Both Lord and Christ

What does the Bible say about Jesus as both Lord and Christ?

How do we know that Jesus was approved by God?

Why is the resurrection of Jesus important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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