Acts 2:22-33

True evangelism is genuine persuasion.

! You make reasonable arguments from God's Word

! and ask the Holy Spirit to apply His Word to the person's heart.

! And so, He proves, by the Scriptures, and by the resurrection, and other things in this time that Jesus was the Messiah.

And then at the end of this, 3,000 people are saved and added to the church.

So, we're going to pick up today in verse 22 of chapter 2.

After explaining Pentecost, Peter then moves on.

Verse 22, he says,

Men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God,

with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst,

as you yourselves know.

This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death,

because it was not possible for Him to be held by it.

For David says concerning Him,

now he's going back to Scripture again,

I saw the Lord always before me,

for He is in my right hand,

that I may not be shaken.

Therefore, my heart was glad,

and my tongue rejoiced.

My flesh also will dwell in hope,

for You will not abandon my soul to Hades,

or let Your Holy One see corruption.

You have made known to me the path of life.

You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.

Brothers, I must say to you with confidence about the patriarch David,

that he both died and was buried,

and in his tomb is with us to this day.

Being therefore a prophet,

and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him,

that he would set one of his descendants on the throne,

he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ,

that he was not abandoned to Hades,

nor did his flesh see corruption.

This Jesus God raised up,

and that we all are witnesses,

being therefore exalted at the right hand of God,

and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit,

he has poured out this,

that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

We'll stop there.

So, just join me in a word of prayer before we go further.

Father, we have come to worship You tonight,

today, this morning, Lord,

and I pray that we would do so in spirit and in truth.

We are gathered this morning,

not for any other reason.

We are wasting our time, Lord,

if we are not here to see Jesus lifted up,

and to be transformed by His presence in our lives.

I pray that we would listen to Your Word as an act of worship,

that we would be ready to apply it in our lives.

Lord, we love it,

and we respect it.

And God, we bow to what You say this morning.

So, encourage our hearts,

meet each one of us where we are,

those who are broken and battered and beaten down,

as well as those who are full of joy and gladness now.

Lord, I pray You would be glorified in Christ's name.

Amen.

So,

I had a hard time trimming this down.

I got it down to barely over four pages,

so I'm going to do my best.

to move through this.

But,

we're going to move through our text today

with four points.

And they're all about,

like, who the Messiah was.

Like, who is Jesus as the Messiah?

Because that's what Peter's trying to do.

He's trying to preach and persuade

and show this gathered crowd

that Jesus was the long-expected Messiah,

not only for Israel,

but of the whole world,

of all the nations that He came to save.

And so,

so,

so,

three or four things about the Messiah.

And we'll see them very clearly in our text,

but,

number one is,

the identity of the Messiah.

The identity of the Messiah.

Verse 22,

it says,

men of Israel,

hear these words,

Jesus of Nazareth,

a man attested to you by God.

So,

he uses the phrase,

men of Israel.

And,

that is a gracious title for Peter to use with this crowd.

Such incredibly kind words to address this crowd with.

Why?

Because,

this is the most guilty people

in the most guilty city on earth at this point.

God manifested Himself to the nation of Israel

like no other nation.

He had a whole,

they had a whole history with God.

They had the prophets.

They had the law.

They had God revealing Himself to them

by divine revelation.

And at this point,

they even had the scriptures of Moses

and the prophets and others.

They had so much given to them.

And they were to be a light for all the nations

to know God.

And in many ways,

they failed to do so.

So,

yet,

though they had all this revelation,

they constantly turned against God,

constantly rebelled against God

and worshipped idols,

killed the prophets

who were calling them to turn back to God,

and the prophets who foretold of the Messiah

to come.

And then finally,

when the Messiah came,

when Jesus came,

they rejected Him as well.

They cursed Him,

they spat on Him,

and eventually they crucified Him.

So they killed the very Messiah

that God had promised to send.

That's what's going on here.

And so you would think that Peter

would address all the non-Jews in the crowd

and say like,

people of Israel,

you've lost,

you know,

your chance is over.

If you're not a Jew,

listen to me.

But that's not what he says.

Instead of cursing them

and cutting them off

from God's salvation,

Peter speaks immense grace to them

by calling them

men of Israel.

It's as if he's saying,

draw close to me,

listen carefully to what I'm saying,

you descendants of Abraham,

Isaac,

Jacob,

you children of the covenant,

those whom God has bound Himself to

in covenant love,

who constantly rebel,

but God is always faithful,

you guys,

you descendants of Jacob,

of Israel,

listen to me.

And that's such amazing grace

offered to this crowd

that he addresses them in that way.

And that should encourage us.

Are you encouraged

that God offers such this?

This is the very crowd

that crucified the Lord.

He's offering them

a chance

to believe and repent.

Men of Israel,

grace upon grace,

to those people in the crowd.

Then he goes on,

he says,

Jesus of Nazareth.

This is the identity

of the Messiah.

He,

all throughout the book of Acts,

Peter loved to use

the title

Jesus of Nazareth.

It's used multiple times

throughout the book of Acts,

specifically by Peter.

And you may ask,

why that title

when Jesus has

so many other titles?

But,

if you think about it,

many days before this,

this was the name

that they hung

above Jesus

on the cross

to scorn him

and mock him

and make fun of him.

And now,

it's like,

Peter's saying,

that Jesus of Nazareth

that you guys

rejected and killed,

he was

the long-expected Messiah.

Yeah,

you know,

Jesus,

from that no-name,

dirty little town

of Nazareth

in Galilee.

Yeah,

he is God's Messiah.

So,

he's taking that name

that they used

to keep scorn upon Jesus

and pushing it

right back in their face

in a way.

And so,

it goes on,

he says,

this was a man

attested to you

by God.

And last week,

we talked about

how the word attested

is implied in a lot of ways,

but it means

to put something

on display.

To put something

on exhibition.

To give evidence

to something

and to proclaim something.

That's like what

this means.

And Jesus,

he did this.

God took Jesus

and presented him

like nothing,

trying to hide nothing.

Here he is.

Look at him.

He put Jesus

on exhibition

as the true Messiah.

The true and living Messiah.

His birth,

his life,

his death,

and his resurrection

overwhelmingly prove

that he is

who he said he was.

He was their Messiah

and he is our Messiah

today.

So how did

God lift him up?

How did God

put him on exhibition?

And a lot of this

is the rest of the message.

But it goes

to the second point.

Number two

is,

so the first one

was the identity

of the Messiah.

Number two

is the life

of the Messiah.

verse 22 again.

Jesus of Nazareth,

a man attested

to you by God

with mighty works

and wonders

and signs

that God did

through him

in your midst.

You yourselves

know.

So,

a massive amount

of proof

or evidence

to show that

Jesus was

the true Messiah.

God validated him.

his life

was no

ordinary life

at all.

Even compared

to other great men.

If you just

Google at some point,

like,

I'm a big history nerd

but like,

I love studying

military history,

but

Napoleon Bonaparte,

an incredible guy

but also

a little crazy,

who conquered

a lot of Europe

and

set the hearts

of his country

men on fire,

he recognizes

something very

unique about Jesus.

You just Google

Jesus Christ,

Napoleon Bonaparte

and this long

extended quote

about how

Jesus was far

greater than him

and any other

great military leader

ever.

So,

something that

just stands out

about Jesus,

no one can really

escape that reality.

Jesus is not

ordinary at all.

He's not just

a prophet.

He's not just

a good moral teacher.

Jesus made claims

and said things

that you just

do not say

unless

either he was crazy

or he was telling

you the truth.

Alright,

so,

Jesus claimed

to be the only

Son of God

and that he alone

had descended

from the Father.

Very big deal.

He also claimed

to be God

in human flesh

and that to see him

was to see

the Father.

And he allowed

people to worship

him as God.

As God

is only worthy

to be worshipped.

Jesus also claimed

to be the only

Savior of the world

and the only way

to God.

And he had the power

to forgive sins.

He claimed

to possess authority

in heaven

and on earth.

Right?

So many things

he said.

He claimed

that he would,

one of the most

outrageous ones,

was not,

he predicted

his own death

but then he also

said that death

would not keep

his hold on him.

That he would

rise from

the dead.

Yet,

those highly

exclusive claims

that he made

don't subtract

from his compassion,

his wisdom,

his mercy,

his humility

to a broken

world.

So,

on your bulletin

there's a quote

by a historian

named Philip Schaaf.

If you want to look

at it,

it says,

Jesus of Nazareth

without money

and arms

conquered more

millions

than Alexander

the Great,

Caesar,

Muhammad,

and Napoleon.

Without science

and learning,

he shed more

light on things

human and divine

than all philosophers

and scholars

combined.

He spoke such

words of life

as were never

spoken before

or since

and produced effects

which lie beyond

the reach of an

orator or poet.

Without writing

a single line,

he set more

pins in motion

and furnished

themes for more

sermons,

orations,

discussions,

learned volumes,

works of art,

songs of praise

than the whole

army of great men

of the ancient

and modern times.

It's true.

Even people who

hate Jesus,

they can't escape

him.

He's always there

haunting their

memories and

their minds.

His was no

ordinary life.

And so God

held him up

and put him

on exhibition.

We have nothing

to hide as

believers,

okay?

Jesus,

when he was

here,

he used terms

like,

come,

look,

see,

listen to me,

follow me.

He wasn't

trying to hide

anything.

He was always

inviting people

to check out

who he was.

Right?

So he offered

them in this

text for three

years.

Jesus taught

from the

scriptures.

He explained

who he was

from the Old

Testament

scriptures,

displayed great

acts of

kindness and

compassion.

And so,

but in our

text here,

as we just

read,

it says

there were

some specific

things that gave

insight to who

the Messiah

was.

He used

the term

mighty works.

And this

just means

that they

were miraculous

in nature

and appearance.

Like,

they were not

normal.

They were

miraculous in

their nature

and appearance.

Then he

used the

word wonders.

And this

word speaks

of something

that's shocking,

startling,

that catches

your attention

and is

completely out

of the

ordinary.

This is

what wonders

means.

And then

later on,

so what's

the intention,

what's the

purpose of

wonders?

And it's

to point

to signs.

Okay?

Signs that

are pointing

to a

spiritual

reality of

who Jesus

claimed to

be.

And all

we know,

like he

healed the

sick,

he,

all throughout

the Old

Testament

Levitical

laws,

like it

was,

it made

someone

unclean

to touch

a leopard,

to touch

someone who

had a bodily

discharge.

If you

touched

them,

you were

considered

unclean,

and then

you were

kicked out

of the

camp.

But Jesus

came,

and he

touched

the leopard,

touched

the people

who were

untouchable,

and they

were healed.

Pretty

incredible.

He walked

on the

water,

he calmed

storms,

and unlike

anything else,

he raised

the dead.

Right?

All of

this,

Jesus did,

if you

notice this,

a lot of

people have

this idea

that Jesus

was using

his divinity,

to kind

of prove

who he

was.

Jesus

was fully

divine,

but when

he came

here,

he yielded

that to

the power

of the

Father.

He came

to show

us what

a life

was like

yielded

to the

Holy Spirit.

That's why

he was

baptized,

and the

Holy Spirit

came down.

And as

John says,

the Spirit

rested on

Jesus without

measure.

But do you

see that in

the text?

It said all

these things

that God

did through

him to

validate who

he was.

These

miraculous

manifestations

of God's

power,

they created

wonder.

So just

so you

know,

Scripture

does teach

that even

forces of

evil can

perform some

sorts of

miracles.

But one

major difference

is they can't

raise people

from the

dead.

Only God

has that

power.

And as we

see,

Jesus went

further,

and he was

the one

who was

raised from

dead.

And so

all these

things

proclaimed,

proved,

and pointed

to Jesus

being the

Messiah.

And he

was like,

you yourselves

know this

happened.

You guys

were here.

You saw

this.

You saw

this.

You saw

Jesus do

these things.

And you

still harden

your heart.

Seeing is

not believing.

Okay?

That's not what

the Bible

teaches.

Seeing is

not believing.

These people

saw this,

and they

still denied

it.

Okay?

So number

three,

the third

point that

he used to

talk about

the Messiah

is the

death of

the Messiah.

The death

of the

Messiah.

Verse 23.

Check this

one out.

This is a

big one.

It says,

This Jesus

delivered up

according to

the definite

plan and

foreknowledge

of God.

You crucified

and killed

by the hands

of lawless

men.

So just as

Jesus of

Nazareth

was no

ordinary

man.

His death

was no

ordinary

death.

The death

of the

Son of

God and

the resurrection

are the

two most

important

events in

human history.

And they

demand your

attention.

They do.

To miss

this is

pretty

dangerous to

your soul.

It's an

event of

cosmic

proportions

throughout all

eternity.

It demands

your reverent

attention.

So Jesus

came to

die on

the cross

to honor

his father,

to glorify

his father,

but also to

meet our

greatest need,

which was to

be redeemed,

to be saved,

to be reconciled

to God.

Okay, so

our entire

being before

Christ,

okay,

BC,

your entire

being is

enslaved to

sin.

Your mind,

your heart,

are corrupted

by evil.

This is what

scripture teaches,

and your

will is in

bondage to

sin.

Ever since

Eden, man

has been a

fugitive running

from the

presence of

God.

That's why

when we

commit sin,

that's why

we like to

do it in

private.

That's why

we don't

like things

like the

holiness of

God,

because it

exposes

who we

are.

As John

said,

men love

darkness,

and they

hate the

light,

because they

don't want

themselves to

be seen.

Right?

So we

run.

We are

cosmic

fugitives

from the

presence of

the Lord

God Almighty.

But Peter's

words here

beg a

question.

Okay?

It leads us

to ask this

question.

Did God

see the

disaster that

was coming in

the Garden of

Eden?

Was He

totally cut

off guard

by our sin?

Did God

begin to

devise a

plan after

the fall?

Like He

created the

world,

and then

after Eden

He was

like,

oh no,

I'm in

trouble.

Some people

believe in

the church,

even some

good people

just misled.

They believe

that redemption

was a plan

that was conceived

in the Garden

of Eden.

And that goes

against everything

we know about

God.

You know,

you've got the

little drama

teams performing

a skit of the

Garden of Eden,

and they're

playing,

you know,

Total Eclipse

of the Heart

in the

background,

and God

is like,

the whole

time like,

no,

don't do

that.

And it

portrays this

idea that God

was just

caught off

guard.

What happened?

So many in

the church,

many people

will say

that God

does not,

they believe

that God

is sovereign,

but He does

not ordain

and know

every single

event that's

going to

happen.

but He

leaves it

open to

a lot of

the stuff

in the future

to be determined

by man's

will,

man's choices,

or Satan's,

and God

is reactionary

to those

events.

He reacts,

but He

didn't plan.

So,

this is a

theological

idea called

open theism,

and it's

completely

untrue

and unbiblical,

that it

implies like

God has a

plan A,

and if that

doesn't work

out,

He has a

plan B,

and a

plan C,

and then

that's what

just goes on

the whole

time.

So,

you should

know this,

guys,

bad doctrine

hurts people

and it

dishonors God.

Alright,

it goes against

everything we

know about

the person

of God

to believe

that that's

true.

our God

is by

very nature

a planning

God.

What we

know about

God,

Scripture

teaches,

He's

omniscient,

He literally

knows all

things,

He has

perfect

knowledge

set before

Him.

He's

omnipotent,

He possesses

all the

power to

carry out

His perfect

will.

It's not

that He

has a lot

of power

and there's

some other

powers out

there,

like all

the power

that they

have is

delegated

by God

that He

could take

at any

moment.

God is

immutable,

He is

unchanging

in His

person,

in His

character,

He does

not change.

He's

unaffected

by things

we do.

So,

nothing sneaks

up on Him

or catches

Him off

guard.

So,

in one way,

the answer

is no,

God was

not caught

off guard

because it

goes against

what we

know about

the very

nature

of God

Himself.

It's

not there.

So,

I know

that as a

whole,

our church

rejoices in

and embraces

the sovereignty

of God

over all

things,

but I

know that

with a

crowd this

big,

it might

not sit

right with

some of

you,

but I'm

going to

tell you,

you can

kick and

punch and

hate that

truth that

God literally

reigns over

everything,

including the

air you breathe

and the grass

that grows,

or you can

embrace it and

let it be your

biggest joy and

your biggest

comfort.

my mom's

here today,

and we

all have

walked through

some very

difficult trials

in our lives,

most of them

my fault,

being sick and

being in the

hospital,

and right now

my dad is in

the hospital,

and she will

tell you,

I will tell you

that this

has been the

number one

truth that

has comforted

us throughout

all that time,

and so you

can mock that

or you can

embrace it and

experience the

same reality.

So, it's no

different in the

language used of

the death of

Christ.

Here it is

before us.

After the

disaster in

Eden, God

did not begin

devising a

plan, saying

darn, I

messed up,

oh I know

what I'll do,

I'll send

Jesus, Jesus

are you cool

with that?

Okay, I'll

go.

That's not

what happened.

God has

written the

pages of

history according

to His

plan, and

including, this

should give you

chills, like

including the

cross of

Christ.

It says in

23, Jesus

delivered up

according to

the definite

plan and

foreknowledge of

God.

The word

definite means

predetermined,

appointed,

designed,

decreed.

It literally

means to set

out boundaries

for which

something is

going to

happen.

And so the

word foreknowledge,

I don't know

why maybe some

other guys here

who have been

seminaried and

studied Greek

can explain

better than

me, like

why our

English

translations

really use

the word

foreknowledge.

Because most

of us think

it means to

look down

throughout

history and

observe something

that's going

to happen.

We look down

and we see

what's going

to happen,

and then we

react accordingly.

But it's not

really how the

Bible uses it

at all.

It means to

be foreknown

or foreordained.

So certainly

God knows

what's going to

happen in the

future.

He certainly

knows that,

but that's not

what this is

saying.

Foreknowledge

is in Bible

terms means

that in

eternity past,

God looked

down and

decided what

He was going

to do.

He planned

it.

He executed

it.

It means that

God planned

before, but

not that He

observed before.

So later on,

you see down in

where is it?

Let me find this.

It just came to

my mind.

It says that

David foresaw.

See that in

our text?

This is a

different word.

It does mean

that David in

his finite

human way

could look

ahead and see

what was going

to happen,

knowing that

the Christ

would come.

That's not

the same word

as foreknowledge.

God had a

plan before

the foundation

of the world.

Read Ephesians

1.

It says before

the foundation

of the world

this was planned.

Before reading,

Christ was

foreordained to

come before

the foundation

of the world

to be the

sacrifice for

our sins.

But wait a

minute.

In our text,

it says that

men crucified

him.

Men killed

him.

Okay, well

whose plan

was it?

Was it man's

plan to kill

Christ or was

it God's

plan?

The answer

is yes.

Alright?

So here's

something so

chilling.

Hold your

hand in Acts

2, but look

over two

chapters to

Acts 4.

I'm going to

show you

something here.

And I'm

going to take

a sip of

water.

Alright, so

Peter, he

says that

Christ's death

was planned,

it was

foreordained

by Almighty

God.

But then he

adds, you

crucified him

and you

killed him

by the

hands of

lawless

men.

What?

Okay, so

which one

is it?

God or

man?

The answer

is yes.

Jesus was

killed by

lawless,

wicked,

sinful men

who hated

him and

rejected him

as the

Messiah.

The very

crowd that

Peter is

addressing are

those men.

At the

same time

though,

Peter tells

them that

what they

did was in

the boundaries

of what God

had accomplished

and preordained

to bring

salvation.

Here's another

parallel text.

This one's

even more

startling to

me.

Acts 4

Acts 4:24

verse 24.

It says,

and when they

heard it,

they lifted

their voices

together to

God and

said,

Sovereign

Lord,

who made

the heaven

and the

earth,

the sea,

and everything

is in

them.

Alright,

so he

begins by

saying God

is sovereign.

He is

Lord over

all.

But we're

trying to

communicate

now.

He says,

Who threw

the mouth

of our

father David,

your servant,

said by the

Holy Spirit,

and he quotes

Psalm 2,

the second

Psalm,

Why did

the Gentiles

rage in

the people's

plot in

vain?

The kings

of the earth

set themselves

and their

rulers were

gathered together

against the

Lord and

against his

anointed.

That's

Jesus.

For

truly in

this city

they were

gathered

together

against

your

holy

servant

Jesus,

whom you

appointed,

both Herod

and Pontius

Pilate,

along with

the Gentiles

and the

peoples of

Israel,

and here

it is,

to do

whatever

your hand

and your

plan

had

predestined

to take

place.

Startling

words.

The

American

Standard

Version

says,

to do

whatever

thy

hand

and thy

counsel

foreordained

to come

to pass.

So do you

hear that?

Like,

Herod,

Pontius Pilate,

the Gentiles,

the people of

Israel,

they all

gather together.

He was

fulfilling this

prophecy in

the second

psalm.

They gather

together to

put an end

to God's

Messiah.

Like,

this is not

going to

happen.

He is not

going to

rule over

us.

and their

vile

actions,

literally

they know,

fulfilling

prophecy.

Right?

They were

fulfilling

what God

had planned

before creation

and predestined

to take

place to

accomplish

salvation

for His

people.

So the

cross was

not an

emergency

reactionary

plan of

God to

save man.

That would

scare you.

Can you

imagine walking

throughout your

life not

knowing that

God was in

control?

That anybody

could come

and do

something to

you and

God was

like,

oh,

I'm sorry,

I was too

late to

fix this.

It's not

true.

In Ephesians

1 it says

God works

all things

after the

counsel of

His will.

All things

after the

counsel of

His will.

Job later

on says,

I know

that no

purpose of

yours can

be thwarted.

This is

God.

So here's

an insight

into this

event that

we're talking

about,

the death

of Christ.

One of

the books

that I've

read in

the past

and facing

stuff I've

faced is a

book by

John Piper

called

Suffering and

the Sovereignty

of God.

And he

uses this

text and

the ones

that we're

looking at

to describe

the cross

and what

happened at

the cross

to give

people who

are reading

that

encouragement.

But he

says,

this is a

quote,

he says,

God did

not just

overcome evil

at the

cross.

He made

evil serve

the overcoming

of evil.

He made

evil commit

suicide in

doing its

worst evil.

In the death

of Christ,

the powers of

darkness did

their best to

destroy the

glory of the

Son of God.

But this is

the apex of

evil.

evil.

Instead,

they found

themselves

quoting the

script of

ancient

prophecy and

acting their

part assigned

by God.

Precisely in

putting Christ

to death,

they put his

glory on

display.

The very

glory that

they aimed

to destroy.

The apex of

evil achieved

the apex of

the glory of

Christ,

the glory of

his grace.

So do you

hear that?

Like, I'll

summarize it.

Yes, Jesus

was brutally

killed by

lawless,

sinful men

who hated

him.

And they

did it

freely.

They acted

in accordance

to their

own will,

which was

evil.

They put

him to

death.

They designed

that to

destroy Christ.

And there's

no greater

evil than

crucifying the

innocent Son

of God.

Okay?

So do you

hear what he's

saying,

though?

Man killed

him, but

listen to

this.

700 years

before this

happened, God

spoke to

Isaiah and

it says,

it was the

will of

the Lord

to crush

him and

to put him

to grief.

They were

fulfilling

prophecy.

This was

God's plan.

So here it

is.

Listen carefully.

Scripture

clearly,

unashamedly,

irrevocably,

says that

God

sovereignly

uses,

okay, all

these things.

He even

uses the

free and

willful acts

of evil

men to

play right

into what

he wants

every time.

Like the

Psalms say,

or the

Proverbs,

the wicked

fall into

their own

traps.

God uses

their evil

to accomplish

good.

It echoes

of Genesis,

right, with

Joseph and

his brothers.

You meant

this, you

designed this

for evil,

but God

designed this

and meant

this for

good.

That's the

story of

the Scripture.

It's not

God had a

plan B,

this was

plan A,

and he

used these

free and

willful evil

actions of

men to

commit the

greatest good.

That should

just bring us

chills.

All right,

in doing

this, the

greatest act

of evil

destroyed evil.

That's what

Piper's saying.

And God

uses the

greatest sin

ever in

crucifying the

Son of

God as

the means

for overcoming

sin forever.

So how

great is

our God?

How glorious

is He?

Christ was

delivered to

death because

God planned

it, God

ordained it,

and He did

it to bring

salvation to

His people

and to

display the

infinite majesty

and glory of

Christ.

God uses

evil to

destroy evil.

And that

was, this

is it, this

was the apex

of that.