Transcript

Death Was Powerless

Acts 2:22-32
Resurrection Sunday, April 5, 2015
Pastor Randy Smith

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Let's transport ourselves back to the dawn of the first century. With your brother Andrew, you've grown up as a hard-working fisherman. Your personality is direct and brash at times. Your life is rather simple and somewhat mundane. You are an Israelite. Your name is Simon.

One day you meet a traveling Rabbi named Jesus. You've grown up in the culture of Judaism, synagogues, the Torah, stories of God's deliverance and teachers of the law, but there is something very unique about this Man. He spoke with authority. He performed miracles in your midst. He calls you to be one of His disciples. You agree. He even changes your name from Simon to Peter.

Over the next three years, your life was a whirlwind. From spellbound, admiring crowds to others who wanted Him and His followers executed. You saw things beyond explanation. You heard promises beyond belief. You even were one of the first to confess that this man named Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. The multitudes praised Jesus when He rode into Jerusalem as you following close by His side.

Then almost instantly, everything changed. The same crowds were soon demanding His death by crucifixion. The religious leaders wanted Him gone. The Roman authorities complied. You were so confused that you even denied knowing Him. They nailed Him to a cross. He suffered and died and was buried in a grave. You remained in hiding. You second-guessed your allegiance to Him. Confusion engulfed you and your fellow disciples as well. You were convinced that everything was over as you feared losing your own life.

But the story doesn't end there. When we continue reading in the Bible, we see that you, Peter, become one of the greatest and most outspoken preachers of the early church. You continue to serve Jesus Christ with great faithfulness. You write two letters in the Bible that bear your name. And you also die as a martyr in His name.

So I need to ask you, Peter, what accounted for the change? From cowardice to courage? From doubt to devotion? From hopelessness to happiness?

The book of Acts in the Bible follows on the heels of the four Gospels. Acts is an inspired historical book that chronicles the actions of the initial years of the early church. This morning we will take a look at Peter's first sermon found in the book of Acts.

As for a timeline: Jesus had ascended. A replacement for Judas was chosen. The church was meeting. And while thousands of people had gathered during a festival called Pentecost, mainly of them unbelievers of Jesus, the Apostle Peter gives an incredible sermon that is very fitting for us today on Resurrection Sunday. Let's take a look at it together.

1. THE INCARNATION (verse 22)

The first point I am calling "The Incarnation." Incarnation is just a fancy word meaning "taking on flesh." We know what the Bible teaches us about Jesus Christ. Being the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, He is fully God. However, there was a point in time (the Christmas story) when Jesus took on flesh. We could say He retained all of His divinity, yet He also became fully man as well.

In verse 22, Peter calls out to all the people gathered, "Men of Israel, listen to these words." Then immediately the subject of his sermon is introduced: "Jesus of Nazareth." Only later did He become known as Jesus who is the Christ or Jesus Christ for short. "Jesus of Nazareth" was how people knew Him at the time. Again, the focus here is the humanity, the incarnation, a man named Jesus from a town named Nazareth.

And how did they know this Man named Jesus? Peter continues in verse 22, "A man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know."

Miracles are supernatural deeds of power. Wonders are the effects the miracles produced on people. Signs are spiritual truth the miracles signified. When we read the stories about Jesus from the Bible, it's unmistakable that He did many miracles. There is no human explanation for what He accomplished. And there was no shortage of witnesses who experienced His mighty deeds. Peter says here the miracles were performed "in [their] midst." The power Jesus demonstrated was undeniable. Peter testifies to this when he says, "As you yourselves know."

Also in verse 22, Peter claims that God performed the miracles through Him. This is a significant line because if God was indeed working through Jesus with the miracles giving undeniable proof, to resist Jesus was to resist God. Even some of the top Jewish religious leaders of the day struggled when they came to the same conclusion (that is, the ones that didn't attribute his miracles to Satan). Remember the great Pharisee named, Nicodemus? When He came to Jesus by night he said, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him" (Jn. 3:2).

Working the supernatural, something most if not all of this audience either heard about or personally experienced, was great evidence that the man named "Jesus of Nazareth" was indeed sent from God to be the Messiah. It spoke of His submission to the Father. It spoke of the fact that He was the Instrument the Father was using to reach the world. The miracles the people witnessed were sufficient to make the case, yet the vast majority of the people who saw them rejected Him with vehement hatred. Jesus made this point as well when He said, "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'" (Jn. 15:24-25).

So did the Jews in general really hate Jesus? That takes us to our second point, "The Crucifixion."

2. THE CRUCIFIXION (verse 23)

Look with me at the second half of verse 23. "You nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death." Peter does not beat around the bush. Addressing the "Men of Israel," He looks them directly in the eye while delivering this sermon and says, "You killed Him!" Jesus Messiah came to confront sin and bring salvation to the Gentiles as well and die as a suffering servant. Those things did not fit their expectations of the Messiah. There was no overthrowing of the Romans and praise for Jewish exceptionalism and immediate kingdom of God on earth. They found no place for this kind of a Messiah. They demanded His death.

The Jews were the instigators, the Romans (or as verse 23 states, "godless men") carried out the execution. According to verse 23, He was "put to death" and not any old kind of death, but death by being "nailed to a cross."

Crucifixion was one of the worst ways to go. After being flogged, which exposed your inner organs, as the sharp instruments that were tied to a whip ripped through the skin on your back; an act that often resulted in death itself, Jesus was nailed to a wooden cross. Death by crucifixion resulted in hours, at times days of humiliating and painful suffocation. The Bible recorded how hundreds gathered only to mock Jesus during His most painful hours. The traumatic event was only seven to eight weeks earlier for Peter's audience. It was still fresh in their memory. No doubt many were even present at Calvary themselves. It's almost as if Peter was saying, "You 'Men of Israel' waited centuries for your Messiah. He came showing Himself with undeniable miracles and you killed Him!"

But lest the people think they somehow foiled the plans of God with their evil actions, Peter starts off verse 23 saying, "This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God." So in the age-old debate, we can point the finger and say Jesus was murdered by the Jews and the Romans . We can even get spiritual and say it was my sins that put Jesus on the cross. All of these are true. But the ultimate one that put Jesus on the cross was the Father. According to Peter, it was "the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God" (cf. Ac. 4:26-28).

In Luke 22:22 Jesus even said this before the cross. "For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!" Humans were responsible for not only executing an innocent man, moreover for killing the Messiah, but in doing their evil, they were unwittingly operating as tools of God to accomplish His purposes.

You see , God knew that the human race would fall into sin. The only hope of removing their sin and declaring them holy in His sight would be for Him to make atonement. The wages of sin would have to be overcome. Justice would need to be accomplished. But who could be the sacrificial lamb to pay the price? Enter Jesus. As fully God, only He could live the perfect life necessary to qualify as the unblemished Lamb of God. As fully man, He could represent us as a fellow human.

The Jews knew that anyone who hung on a cross was cursed by God . They were right. Jesus was indeed cursed by God. What they couldn't understand was that Jesus was cursed because He was bearing the sins of the world as a substitute for their transgressions and thus receiving the wrath of God upon Himself that we deserved. Complete salvation for all who will receive Jesus by faith. The most popular verse in the Bible, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Though fully responsible for their sin, Peter wants his audience to know that Jesus wasn't a victim at the hands of Judas, Pilate, the angry mob or the religious leaders. The plan was predetermined from the foundation of the world and it unfolded in God's sovereign timetable to perfection.

3. THE RESURRECTION (verses 24-32)

Let move to the third point, "The Resurrection."

Jesus predicted His death and gave reasons why it was necessary. His entire life was one that focused on the cross. Making atonement for our sin and saving us from the punishment of our sins in hell as the sacrificial Lamb of God was the purpose of His coming. He went to the cross and died on the cross. No one was denying that. However, here is where the doubt remained. How do we know that the Father accepted His sacrifice? How can we be certain that He conquered sin and the grave?

The answer? Though He died and was buried, Peter says in verse 24, "But God raised Him up again." The Resurrection is the foundation of our faith and was the central teaching of the apostles. Peter in Acts 10 said, "We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible" (Ac. 10:39-40). Paul said in Acts 13, "When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead" (Ac. 13:29-30). The faith stands or falls with the Resurrection.

The Resurrection is our hope that we too who are aligned with Jesus can have the promise of rising from the dead and living forever with God. The Resurrection sets Jesus apart from all the other religious leaders throughout history. Our Savior is risen . He is alive. He is victorious.

Peter says at the end of verse 24 that the Father "put an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power." Why was it impossible for death to have mastery over Jesus? First of all, because as Jesus said in John 11:25, He is "the resurrection and the life." "Resurrection" and "life" can't be contained in a grave! Second, Jesus made the promise that He would conquer death. Before His death He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John in his gospel adds, "But He was speaking of the temple of His body" (Jn. 2:19, 21). After His death He reminded people of the prophecy: "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Lk. 24:46).

And the avenue of prophecy is where Peter now goes with his sermon. He quotes from the Jewish Bible, a source that would have been readily accepted by his original audience. The passage is Psalm 16, which was written by the great king of Israel, David, a Psalm in which he spoke of the upcoming Messiah hundreds of years before Jesus came on the scene.

Starting in verse 25 we read, "For David says of Him, 'I saw the Lord always in my presence; for He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; moreover my flesh also will live in hope; because You will not abandon my soul to hades, nor allow your Holy One to undergo decay. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence."

Then in verse 29 Peter logically asks, "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day." So obviously when David spoke of one rising from the dead, he wasn't talking about himself. David, though a tremendous man of God, had his body still in the grave. His tomb was local at a place in which this audience was familiar.

In speaking of a bodily resurrection, David could not have been talking about himself. Rather as verse 30 says, David was speaking as a "prophet." He knew God's promise that one greater than him, one of his descendants from the line of Judah, would sit on his throne. It would be the great shepherd of Israel, the Messiah, the Christ, the one to whom his kingship pointed. This was God's promise, verse 30, sworn with an "oath." And therefore, verse 31, "[David] looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay."

Peter concludes in verse 32, "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses."

I remember hearing a story many years ago about a man that was driving in the car with his younger son. While the windows were down, a bee managed to find its way into the car. As the insect buzzed around their heads, the child became very fearful. The father reached over in an effort to remove the bee, but it appeared to the son to be of no avail. The bee kept circling around the car. When the child began crying, the father reassured the son that the bee, though still active, could no longer harm him. He showed the side of his hand where the bee's stinger was embedded in his skin.

In the Bible we read, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15:55-57).

On the cross, Jesus took the sting of death that we deserved upon Himself . He died in the place of the believer. Satan still threatens, the grave still intimidates and death still looms large, but the sting of these foes has been removed. As Christ overcame through the Resurrection, we too, if we are united to Him by faith, are now and in a greater way in the future will be victorious as well. The grave can't hold us either. As He rose, we will rise. Death no longer holds any power over us. What tremendous hope we have as believers in Christ!

When the Apostle Peter finished this sermon, the Bible says in verse 37 of Acts 2 that the crowd was "pierced to the heart." They asked, "What shall we do?" To which Peter replied, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, if you not have believed upon Him and given Him your life, you have an opportunity to do that right now. Without Christ you are still dead in your sins. With Christ you can be forgiven, saved from hell and given the promise of everlasting life with Him. Jesus went to the cross to purchase salvation. It is a gift. Will you receive God's gift on the basis of faith?

It was the Resurrection that transformed Peter from a doubting coward to a bold proclaimer of the faith. He saw the risen Lord (Ac. 2:32; cf. Lk. 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5). How has the Resurrection changed your life?