The Resurrection in Peter's Pentecost Sermon

so let's let's let's ask God to be with us before we look at his word our father in heaven we

simply pray that you would be here by your spirit this morning as we look at your word and study it

and meditate on it together thank you for the great and awesome truths it contains in Jesus name

so we have a relatively lengthy passage this is gonna bother me um so we're acts chapter two

and we're going to be reading verses 14 through 41 um i wonder if i might get a couple of volunteers

to maybe break that up and and read um read the entire passage for us any volunteers

okay so tyler why don't you start and then stop where it seems about a third way laurie you pick up

uh and do the same and then brian you finish this off nice and loud though okay because

yeah acts chapter two verse 14 uh but peter standing with the eleven lifted up his voice

and addressed them men of judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem let this be known to you and give

the ears to my words for these people are not drunk as you suppose it is only the third hour of the day

but this is what was uttered through the prophet joel and in the last days it shall be what god

declares that i will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your son and your daughter shall prophesy

and your young men shall have visions and your old men shall dream dreams even on my male servants

and female servants in those days i will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy i will show wonders

in the heavens above and signs on the earth below blood and fire and vapor of snow the sun shall be

turned to darkness in the moon's blood before the day of the lord comes the great and magnificent day

and it shall come to pass if everyone who calls upon the name of the lord shall be saved

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 loose loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be

held by it for david says concerning him i saw the lord always before me for he is at 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 may say to you with

confidence about the patriarch david that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this

day being therefore a prophet and knowing that god had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of

his descendants on his 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 of that we are all 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 for david did not descend into the heavens but he himself says the lord said to my lord sit at

my right hand until i make your enemies your footstool but all the house of israel therefore know

for certain that god has made him both lord and christ this jesus whom you crucified now when they heard

this they were cut to the heart and said to peter and to the rest of the apostles brothers what shall we

do and peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the

forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit for the promise is for you

and for your children and for all who are far off everyone whom the lord our god calls to himself

and with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying save yourselves from the

crooked generation from this crooked generation so those who received his word were baptized and there

were at that day about three thousand souls okay great thank you so we can see that there's a summary

verse um if you look at verse 36 and peter says let all the house of israel therefore know for certain

that god has made him both lord and christ this jesus whom you crucified and then shortly after

after in verse 38 he says therefore repent okay so if we're going to understand i think the weight of

what's going on we have to think about the context that peter's speaking into um

we have the expectations of the people for what the messiah is going to be and um i want to read a couple

passages for you to just put a little flavor on the the uh uh may you of what peter's speaking into

um just after the resurrection happened okay so this is matthew chapter 27 this is the scene at the

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

crucifixion it's going to be familiar passage uh let me read a few verses for us

and over his head they put a charge against him which read this is jesus the king of the jews

then two robbers were crucified with him one on the right and one on the left and those who passed by

derided him wagging their heads and saying you would just you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it

in three days save yourself if you are the son of god come down from the cross

so also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him saying he saved others he cannot

save himself he is the king of israel let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him

he trusts in god let god deliver him if he desires him for he said i am the son of god

god so basically what's happening is jesus is in his ministry claiming to be uh the messiah to which

the jewish people perceive to be um a military ruler right who's going to come and liberate them from the

romans and that is part um being king of course is part of what the prediction of the messiah was to

be but there's also another side to being messiah which was which was what

right so uh the suffering servant uh motif which the people um weren't prepared for right so

um even people within jesus circle so i want to read another passage to to continue to flesh this out

just a little bit so this is um a few verses from the emmaus road account so familiar with jesus has

died he's been resurrected he's now encounters these two men on the emmaus road and this again is familiar

but let me read these verses for us and jesus said to them what is this conversation that you are holding

with each other as you walk and they stood still looking sad then one of them named cleopas answered

him are you the only visitor to jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these

days and he said to them what things and they said to him concerning jesus of nazareth a man who was a

prophet mighty indeed and word before god and all the people and how our chief priests and rulers

delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him but we had hoped that he was the one to redeem

israel and he said to them oh foolish ones and slow and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets that

had spoken was it not necessary that the christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory

and beginning with moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things

concerning himself okay so what we have is jesus himself

explaining that there was a multi-dimensional facet to being messiah right there was this suffering

servant who was to be the high priest the ultimate high priest of god's people who was going to suffer

and pay for sins and make a way for forgiveness of sins but also a whole on the other side there's a

whole nother dimension of christ which is his kingship his lordship over all and the people

could not really conceive of those two things blending together and so they had a a pretty

um narrow expectation of what messiah was going to be so that's if we if we have that in our backdrop

and then we go back again and look at verse 36 so peter says let all the house of israel therefore

know for certain that god has made jesus both lord and christ

this jesus whom you crucified so what do you think is our possible ways we could render

peter putting these two things out there side by side and saying there's a and b and jesus was actually

both a and b what what would those what are possibilities for those two things well what does he mean by lord

this is not a trick question but what does he mean by lord

god

what what category for what we were just talking about

if peter says yes this jesus who you said if you really are

king of the jews come on down from the cross by the way i hope we feel

i hope we can existentially feel the weight of

that moment where jesus is hanging on a cross and human beings are at the foot of the cross and

saying you said you were you said you were king we doubted you this whole time now we've pinned you onto a tree

let's see you prove it now which is interesting as we talk about the resurrection right because

there's a big proof is coming um anyways lord is master lord is

king when peter says jesus is lord it almost goes beyond the conception right of earthly king it is

lord so what do you think might he mean then when he uses the word christ

as a both and it it would be odd i think if those were synonyms that he would

put them side by side like that in that phraseology

so christ means messiah

uh but you know looking at it this way you might say ah the other picture of the messiah the suffering

sir

yes so that's what i think is happening i think peter is trying to expand in the mind of his audience

that messiah by god's determination is a much broader um role and because if you think about it

the people all all saw jesus um get crucified this is just just happened and now the resurrection has

also happened and there's accounts of it floating all around and so the part of messiahship which is the

payment for sins is um in the background almost visually for these people at this time right

it's the kingship of jesus frankly that is even at this point

um jesus kingship has not been visually um

uh well we well let's ask the question um what type of proof

was offered the people that jesus was the king

um and i'll even i'll even expand the question to prior to his prior to his crucifixion and

resurrection what proofs did the people have that jesus was the messiah

um and what proofs were they not given so i want to think about that together what what what

were they shown and what were they not shown um the voice from heaven bearing him back to them

good yes

talk and the transfiguration they heard the voice again but only three three of the disciples heard

that right yes good and all the miracles but um a lot of people did miracles so that wasn't really what

they were looking for they were looking for they were looking for something

they carried the voice

right yes

right

they were

they were afraid so

they couldn't obey to a human being right

so jesus said be calm to the storm and the calm and the storm was calm so we could we could

roughly have a category that with that we would call signs and wonders

and within signs and wonders or miracles or maybe even the voice of god coming down in affirmation of jesus

um so there's there's there's that whole category of proofs if you want to if we want to

term it that way um what else though there's another big category

um we talk with authority and it's authority that

other religious leaders sometimes felt threatened by yes

yes so for example we do have we do have accounts where jesus took out the scroll and

read about the messiah and then rolled the scroll back up and says something like

this person that was just spoken of is here and you're misreading the scroll team

um that kind of thing um and

i think that would fall into your category of that he spoke in a in a in a way but that

i don't know that that's evidence right he could have been just

yes okay so we have the and this is where peter goes as part of his sermon here um to the old

testament predictions um and prophecies about the messiah which jesus uh fulfilled

but what types of proofs

were not given to the people

military and political conflict

okay the the kingship that they were expecting

there was very very little evidence of that humanly speaking right

um

um

we're gonna we're gonna think through that a little bit here coming up but i just want to put that on the table for us to think about

um

he raised people from the dead that's pretty

signs and wonders

which by the way

signs and wonders were also predicted as proofs of the messiah so they're kind of that's kind of in both categories

um

uh i'm i'm gonna argue that

what was done was enough to be in the category that should have trumped the people's

misunderstanding of

of what messiah was going to be

ben

yes so uh good point and so that's that's a whole nother part of the discussion is is um

i mean jesus says well even if a man were to come back from the dead

people still aren't going to believe which is ironic because who came back from the dead and who

so you're you're getting into

sort of

what does it

all these evidences at the end of the day

are not

the heart changing

power

right

but for now for this discussion i'm

for us to understand what's going on with what peter's saying

um

i want to i want to think about

um

these proofs that are shown and and not shown so

um

you know even if we go back to acts chapter one even the believers

um

are still sort of even the people who are with peter and who are who have

who have repented and are on are who are believing jesus even they are saying

they say

uh so

when they had come together they asked him jesus lord

will you at this time restore the kingdom to israel

it's like as if they're saying

all right it's it's go time now like we were we're all with you you're resurrected

but now you're really going to come and do what we thought you were going to do in the first place

our agenda

so let's start seeing some fireworks you know

and jesus said to them it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his

own authority

in other words

jesus is a real king

the real king determines

which threats are the real threats to the people and he goes regardless of what the masses are saying in the in the brew houses

right and deals with the real threats

and you can see the masses are still like hey it's time to it's time to pick pick up your kingship and

crush our immediate enemies

um

so

i'd like to think together about what what were the error what errors were the people making with regard to their

um belief

paradigm

they were thinking entirely in human times

yes

just what they could experience right there in that moment in that work

yes

they were taking the evidence

and

weighing the evidence

the evidence is

wrong wrongly by the way

i'm just gonna show one of my cards here what i'm actually trying

trying to do

we are the they

uh

so

right exactly thank you

i don't need to elaborate on that

um

what else what other what other errors clay

there's this sort of preconceived notion of what the savior would look like

and who the savior would associate with

instead of then when you have

somebody that comes and says they're the savior and now they're associating

cleaning prostitutes fee and

helping the lowest although that doesn't exactly fit their description instead

uh

right

that's

true

and

what's behind do you think

what's the heart attitude behind

people determining what their savior should look like for themselves

how much of them benefit them

i'm sorry what

how much of them benefit them

right but i'm after more of um

a diagnosis has to be made

for internally for people then they prescribe their own medicine and then they look for their medicine to come

and if it doesn't look like what they prescribe for themselves

their god ship

just got questioned

okay so

this goes all the way back to the garden

right which is

we want to be

our own boss

and we want to determine for ourselves even what we need to get out of a big hole like we're

being oppressed by the romans and

we need a military leader to come

where were the people that are like we've got a huge sin problem between us and a holy god

and if god's telling us that his savior is going to save on the level of ultimate spiritual reality

we we need to submit to that

right

now

this idea

that god knows what we need

is a is a huge lesson that i think

this this

proclamation of the resurrection

hammers home and i'm going to try to show that here in a second

um

so in light of this the significance of the resurrection

let's let's shift into that and talk about that

i think

that the resurrection is god's way

of shouting

um

a divine affirmation from heaven

that jesus is

the priestly sacrifice

for sins that is acceptable

and

that jesus is

the victorious king

that has triumphed over his and our

true

greatest enemies

and eventually all enemies

and it's god's way

and this is the part i really want to emphasize because we're all from

of course

everyone here who's a believer is familiar with

the idea of the resurrection and that

jesus died

for sins and god said yes

this was adequate i raise you to validate it

or we might even connect it directly to those people at the foot of the cross saying

if you really are the king

prove it

come on down and god proved it

by not only having

if he had come down from the cross in the middle of all that

that would have been one thing but to be

to be dead and buried and then come down off the cross as it were

is

a much louder declaration

of affirmation of jesus right

but what i want to emphasize is the shouting part of it this is g this is god the

father declaring

declaring to the world

that jesus is who he says that he is in all of his dimensions

and that

frankly

the things that are getting debated on ground level between human beings

should be getting drowned out

by the shouting of you know i like that that you brought up um this verbal affirmation of god on jesus

um

you know uh this is like that

times a million that god would bring him back from the dead

um

and

and

here's

why i'm saying that

were the people actually given the proofs that they wanted

prior to i mean they're they're there with their hands on their hips saying okay

you don't look like a king to us we're going to crucify you

then when he was resurrected he still hasn't shifted into consummation of his

kingship right

visibly to the people

and it's almost as if peter's saying here's this great reality

to reorder how you're how you're measuring everything

now

how is that relevant to us i think this is so relevant to us

um

when we are

wrestling with our own doubts for example

or when we have circumstances in our life

that that if we were to just use the circumstances as the rubric

for let's just take let's just say is god loving does god love me

if we were to use this human circumstances only

kind of like the people did at the time jesus showed up

on earth

what we're what conclusions might we be tempted to draw

again this is not a trick question

question

i would be

one of the worst person at that time

because

every day in the situation

i look at the situation

as a human being

yes

um

you know for that matter

um

um

we could say well what proofs do we have right now that jesus is king of the universe

ourselves

um

jesus is absolutely

on the throne reigning

uh

what proofs do we have humanly speaking

uh

for that

so

what's the what's the christian answer to this

if if i if i have a brother that comes to me and he says man

i've got this going on in my life

i've got this going on in my life

i just read this book that

really makes me wonder if

god's loving at all you know what's our answer to that

where are we pointed

to

by the new testament authors

romans 5 god's demonstrated his love for us that while we were still yet sinners he died for us and then

the resurrection proves that it's the objective evidence so we look to the cross when

we

doubt

god's loving god at all

why would loving god send his own son to die for

sinners if he's not

yes and

so what i'm trying to argue is that

that reality is in a whole different category it is not

a counter argument that comes along against your

doubts and it's like oh you know that it that it just sort of edges them out

this is more like

god saying this is ultimate reality

and

if we're just gonna be honest for a moment we are not given answers to every single one of our

questions and i think that the passage from acts one has that flavor right it is not for you to know every

thing that god's doing god is god god is king kings

do things that they are free

this is

and so

i think for us

the question kind of swings around on us

it's do we have that paradigm are we living out our christian life

with that paradigm

that this declaration and demonstration

of what God has done in raising Jesus from the dead

and validating his priestly role

as a substitute sacrifice for us

and also validating his kingly role

as having authority over us.

Are we holding that in the proper category of our heart

so that these smaller issues

are held in the proper perspective

and considered by us to be smaller issues?

Does that make sense?

I always have appreciated when I hear sermons

or when I hear someone read passages

that are along the lines of,

what more could God do

than to send his own son to us

and then put a seal on it

by raising him from the dead?

Now, some people might answer,

I'll tell you what he could do.

He could walk in this room right now

and he could answer all of our questions

and he could stop all the suffering in the world.

But really, if we say that,

then what we're saying is,

well, we demand God to jump through our hoops

and not be the king that he says he needs to be.

And we now have made the same error

where we've elevated ourselves

to try to put ourselves back up

on the board of directors.

Jeff, I think no matter how far you dig into this,

at some point you reach the limit of human understanding.

Yes.

And that's why we call it faith.

Because there are some, like the Bible says,

faith is belief and things unseen.

If God did everything that we wanted him to do

to prove that he was God,

he would no longer be God

because he would not be requiring faith

from us to believe in him.

So we're not believing,

it's not blinding.

Each one of us in our lives

have had experience where we know personally

that God expressed his Godship

to us and through us

and through other people around us.

And some of those experiences

have been very traumatic and very painful.

And we know that without the divinity of God,

the grace of God,

we wouldn't have made it through that.

But I can't write that out mathematically

and prove it sometimes.

If someone comes to me,

as you said earlier,

and said,

I got this problem,

I got that problem,

and I read the Bible,

and I want to know what God's going to do

to solve my problems,

my answer is,

I can't answer that question for you.

I don't know what God's going to do

about your financial situation

or your relationship situation.

I don't know what God is going to do

about each one of these specific,

real human problems that you have.

And if I could explain that to you,

then there would be no more mystery left in God.

There would be no more requirement for our faith.

I think at some point,

we have to understand

that we can't explain everything to everybody

for their satisfaction.

And that's what happened

when Jesus was hanging on the cross.

Even after he rose from the dead,

people were still trying to get him

to explain things to them

in terms that they could understand

rather than getting them to understand

that if you took an act of faith on their part

in response to the grace of God,

there are a lot of people

and I've had conversations with people

that have challenged me to prove that God exists

because they don't believe God exists.

I don't have an answer to prove that God exists

because there is a point where

human understanding stops

and we can't fully understand God.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think that

another way of sort of articulating

what you said is that

Keller says this.

I think it's a nice formulation.

You know, God,

he doesn't give us all the answers

to all of our questions.

He doesn't give us a perfect argument,

but he does give us a perfect person.

And

the embodiment of that person

is like God's way of saying,

this is the way home to me,

but you don't get to invent your own way.

So you have to accept

this on my terms.

And I think

this sermon,

we see a lot,

we see some people

that God wakes up

through this sermon

that says,

I will accept your terms.

We crucified

the Son of God.

And I don't think

they understood everything.

Obviously,

they didn't

because we have so much evidence

of what

the true believers

are saying to Jesus

after the fact.

You know,

they didn't get

all their doubts answered.

They didn't get

everything resolved.

This greater light

shone on them

and they're like,

they just said,

we're jumping off,

we're jumping into this.

We don't have to have

all the answers.

Now,

I think a lot of answers

can be had.

So I don't want to say

that I think this is a cop-out

where we

don't have to get serious

about looking at what

God has given us

by way of certain arguments

and all that.

But having walked along

with God for a good long while now,

being 47 years old,

I am ready to say

the person of Jesus

has to trump my doubts.

It's the simplest way

to say it.

The resurrected Jesus

as Savior and Lord

is sufficient for me

or he's not.

And

I am thankful

to report,

just from my own

personal witness to you,

that

God has really met me

personally in that way.

I mean,

I feel

whenever I

start tilting my head,

I'm like,

man,

what do I do

with this

thing over here?

What do I do

with this poor girl

that was born

into a ghetto

and

had no chance

it seems like

and then died

some horrible death

and in my heart,

I'm like,

how is God fair

and how is that right

and how is he loving?

It's just this one little example

of a rock I get

in my shoe

from time to time.

But then I look to Jesus

and I say,

well,

wait a minute.

It can't be

that God's not loving

because

I have this greater truth

that drowns that out.

But I don't have my answer.

I can't write

a pamphlet on it

that's going to make

someone that hates God

in their heart

not hate him

if they're not going

to look to the person

of Jesus

to let that trump

the other things

they don't understand.

I had written down here

to discuss together

some,

to kind of drill

into

this next,

so Peter says,

repent.

So there's this call

to these folks

to repent.

repent.

And it's a command

and it's a call

and there is the promise

that God will forgive

whoever repents

right on the heels

of this command

to repent.

But I thought

it would be helpful

for us to think about,

let's say you were

one of the people

there listening

to that sermon.

And let's say,

it is probably likely

that some of those people

were at the crucifixion scene.

I mean,

Peter says,

you crucified him.

I think that's probably

literal for a lot

of the folks

that were listening

to this sermon.

Now when Peter says,

you've got to repent

and receive this forgiveness

that your high priest

Jesus has done for you.

If you imagine

these folks

actually repenting

for individual sins,

what do you think

would be

on the top

of the list?

Because sometimes

I think we,

we,

we're like,

okay,

yeah,

repent from my sins.

So it's like,

it's sort of,

you know,

so I just walked up

and I'm like,

I'm sorry,

you know,

everything I've sinned

is terrible

and I need forgiveness.

But,

you know,

if we take Peter

as a case,

Peter denied Jesus,

right?

He denied Jesus,

he denied Jesus.

Then Jesus came back

and pulled him aside

and forgave Peter

in a personal way

and Jesus knew

what was going on

in Peter's heart.

I think that's true

of all of us

when we come,

when we come to repent.

We're not repenting

generically,

right?

So,

what do you think

was on the top

three bullets

of the typical person

that was one

of the 3,000

that turned

and said,

yeah,

I'm in,

I want it?

No super right

or wrong answer here.

I just want to think

together about it.

Maybe some of them

have been in the crowd

cheering on the crucifixion

or witnessing it

and agreeing with it

and needed to repent

for that level

of participation.

because,

because they had it wrong,

right?

So,

that repentance means

I was cheering

but I had it wrong

but what part,

what parts do you think

they're like,

well,

we had this wrong,

I had this specific

thing wrong?

going my own way,

choosing to do

what I think

is right

instead of

listening for God's

will and plan.

And it sort of goes

to Satan

offering Christ

the kingdom

and that's

what everybody wants,

the whole kingdom

of the world.

mindless.

Yes.

Yes.

And related to it

as somebody's already said,

you know,

my theological

understanding

of the Messiah

which,

you know,

was a true part

of the picture

for most Jews,

you know,

the conquering king

he will be.

But,

repenting from

my theology

to saying

okay,

now I get it.

Jesus

was right

and

things he was

calling me

to understand

differently.

That's right.

Now,

I'm ready to

believe.

Yes.

Certainly there

would have been

more concrete sins.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

In the

Israelite

society.

Yes.

Yes.

nationalistic pride

sense of superiority. We are the Jews

and

Romans shouldn't be ruling over us. This isn't

right, but just the sort of superiority

complex that they all have.

Yep.

Yep, because

right after

you repent and get brought

into the community of

believers, right after that

Jesus, well

in the passage that we just read, Jesus

gets asked, so when are we going to start

really kicking some

bottom

and

he's like

you don't worry about that. I've got a

job for you to do. And job number one

is to go to the Samaritans

and

preach the gospel to them and then many

of them receive the gospel.

The Samaritans. It's like

that would have been

that's a huge

evidence to them that their whole world

their whole system, their whole paradigm

is they've got to

and I think the point that I think is so

helpful for us to see is that

they had to receive that

from God. They had to be willing to

say, okay, teach us

because that

didn't happen. I don't think that happened

overnight. I think that

happened over

time. It's like

and the key

thing is the trust and faith

to not come off the

when God

says, okay, now accept this.

Now accept that these dietary laws are not

everything.

Now accept this. Now accept that

circumcision, this thing that you thought was just

baked in

is not going to be

absolutely necessary. It's hard for us to feel

the weight of some of these things,

but

the underlying

heart disposition

is

that we are willing to

receive

what God has

for us both in

the forgiveness

of our own sins and the establishing us

as children, but also in

God's call on us

and the mission that he gives us

that I feel

sure folks did not understand

or

it just required

submission to God.

I do think the more

to your point, Peter, I do think that

there was a way that

that Jewish folks typically were

viewing their own

standing before God

with regard to their moral

to the law

and that

this outpouring of the spirit

brought much more of a

sermon on the mount

style

verdict

where people

were waking up to the fact that

oh, wait a minute, I need a divine

savior

to bridge a divine gap

that's caused by my

by my sin

which was yet another

thing that had to be received by faith

by

by people

okay, so

I do want to

make sure that we

hit and observe

this sort of good news

that some

Peter mentions here

at the tail end of the passage

if you look at me

back in verse

let's go back to verse 38

Peter said to them

repent and be baptized

every one of you

in the name of

Jesus Christ

for the forgiveness

of your sins

and you will receive

the gift of the Holy Spirit

and then he says

for the promise

is for you

and for your children

and for all

who are far off

everyone

whom the Lord

our God

calls to himself

so what's the promise?

why that terminology?

yes

I'm sorry

a son

to become a son

to become

a child of God

okay

do we see

any specifics

here in the text

that we might

hang on

the

that terminology

of promise

forgiveness

of sins

and the Holy Spirit

if the forgiveness

of sins

and receiving

the Holy Spirit

does not come

by God's promise

to give it to us

if we repent

what are some

other channels

that we might

imagine

that getting right

with God

would come through?

yes

okay

so

this is not

you know

this is Christianity 101

but

Christianity 101

is pretty crazy

awesome

and profound

yes

I think

that

we don't

want to

lose

the impact

of Peter

saying

right here

right after

he told

right after

he told

people

you literally

crucified

the son

of God

I mean

could you

imagine

the weight

of that

if you

had seen

that

with your

own

eyes

and then

he says

this forgiveness

that's being

offered to you

is being offered

to you

by God's

promise to

deliver it

by

in the name

of Jesus

and it's another

way of saying

free of charge

to you

because

you could

never

make yourself

right with God

and that's the

whole point

of why

Jesus

had to

be crucified

and be

the high

priest

right

yes

yes

yes

yep

and so

this is

the

new covenant

this is

one of the

first things

of the new

covenant

that was the

old covenant

you might

long

I will

be your

God

and the

covenant

if you

remember

there's

the animal

that was

split

and the

participants

of the

covenant

had to

clean

and let

it be

to me

like this

animal

that

break the

covenant

well

they had

written

covenant

they had

been

but this

is the

this is

the new

covenant

so

when

people

hear this

the promise

was

was it

it was

to the

Hebrews

it was

to my

children

it was

to

you

people

the people

who might

choose to

draw

the promise

and now

it says

it's for

you

and your

children

and all

who are

far off

Samaritans

yes

so this

is another

breaking of

that political

paradigm

that identification

of wait

we are

God's

people

oh

now

who is

the other

party

of the

house

Jesus

established

it

and the

other party

is you

and for

those who

believe

your children

and all

who are

far off

yes

yes

yes

thank you for

bringing that

up because

um

the that

language of

the promise

i think would

absolutely have

been

a

i think his

peter's hearers

would absolutely

have picked up

on and

connected that

promise back

to the

messiah

and um

it's

it's uh

they were

expecting a new

covenant

right of course

they had like the

deal that they

had an old

covenant

they keep

their part

yes

they thought

that that

was it

and then

it would be

that

and they

would be

you know

yes

whatever it

would be

this is the

right order

of God

and us

and oh

wait

there's

this is

different

and it's

not just

for

Hebrew

blood

yes

and never

and really

it never

was

um

uh

but

but no

that's a

great point

um

any other

thoughts or

questions

peter

i just

um

i think

complimented

that idea

it was

really good

really key

point

um

i think

um

the promise

there's a

promised land

associated with

the promise

right there's

still a

an earthly

inheritance

i think

that

doesn't

it seems

doesn't seem

like it's

totally being

being um

dismissed

by peter

right so

peter is

peter

peter is not

saying

peter is not

spiritualizing

the promised

land right

and he's

actually not

not

saying

there is

no promised

land here

anymore

because i

think very

much present

in their

minds is

is there's

a there's

a

to the

land

flowing with

milking

honey

you know

this is

the this

is the

inheritance

that we

have as

sons

right

um

this is

this is

part of

the promises

this thing

this this

shalom

this heavenly

kingdom

that is

coming

and is

given to

us

right

so i

just think

it's

important

to notice

that peter

is not

debunking

that or

saying no

that's not

a real

thing we're

not we're

not moving

there he's

just saying

that promised

land is

for everyone

yes um

and i do

think in the

context of

talking about

the resurrection

talking about

who jesus is

in these

these different

roles and

then having

the the

reality of

the resurrection

just flat

out preached

you know to

affirm who

jesus is

and then

connecting

that to

forgiveness

of sins

and then

referring to

the promise

i do think

the promise

is multi-dimensional

so i i i

would say

um that

um that's

that topic

is like

obviously

a large

topic um

and that

i would agree

that it's not

an abrogation

of older

promises but

but the c

but there's a

pointing going

on that

the promised

land ultimately

is going to

be all

of god's

people restored

with god

forever in

in heaven

right um

so um

other thoughts

or questions

i don't know

if um

what

whatever heaven

means right

what was the

understanding

and we

do we need

to get

back to

what the

situation

is

doing

or even

what ours

is

we don't

know

yeah

go ahead

we're going

there all

right let's

open it up

heaven is a

christian

president

oh my

goodness

yes it's

already

passed we

had jimmy

quarter

so heaven

uh the bible

tells us some

things about

it but it

is beyond

our clear

comprehension

what that

would be like

the picture is

so much bigger

than we

realized the

plan is so

much bigger

than we

realized um

but what i

really wanted

to say

uh uh you

talked about

the shout

yes um and

i believe for

you know the

women at the

tomb and the

disciples you

know and

thomas you

know seeing

the wounds of

jesus and his

hands inside

you know that

came across as

a big shout

um often in

our lives we

hear the we

only hear the

echoes yes

of the

shell um

and jesus i

think maybe

made reference

to that when

he said

blessed are

you thomas

you know you

believe see

but more

blessed are

those you

know who

won't see

and who

won't hear

the full

volume shout

you know but

just echoes

yes of that

um and so

as people just

hear echoes we

really do

the you

know the

full

church and

and all the

things god

has provided

you know since

the shout

you know to

reinforce those

echoes for us

and to help

us at those

tough times

um

um what i was

saying before

about not being

clear i think

two pictures

of where god

wants us to

be by the

time this

life is over

is like

joe who

you know

was really

struggling with

his theology

and what he

expected to

happen in

life and

his this

great

disappointment

uh and

god apparently

never gives

him an

answer as

i read it

you know why

this has

happened to

him joe

certainly there's

no hint that

joe learns

about satan

you know

conversation with

god and

their bet

so to speak

on whether

somebody

would be

good

even when it

doesn't seem

good for him

to be good

anymore you

know good for

goodness sake

uh

but he does

like you said

get the person

of jesus or

get the person

of god at the

end and that's

enough for him

even though he

doesn't get the

explanation he

has some idea

that there's so

much more going

on here that i

have a clue

about so i

just have to

trust the

lord uh and

jesus in in

his life on

earth you know

as far as his

first life you

know he ends

up dead on the

cross uh

but as a human

being those

difficult times

transformed him

with regard to

his human nature

i believe

and to the

man you know

god wanted him

to be and the

kind of person

he wants us to

be so we

have to live

uh knowing

there's so much

more to the

picture we just

see a little bit

of it and we

just have to

trust god to

do a time

plan

we have to

yeah we have

to tune our

we have to tune

our heart to

the places where

god is shouting

the loudest

um we have

two sacraments

in protestant

christianity one

is baptism and

one is

communion communion

is a picture

of the broken

body of jesus

and it is a

food that if

you go without

you will starve

and die and

it is also a

picture of the

blood of god

himself that

has been shed

for us

and here's

maybe we'll

just close with

this i think

this is god

has raised jesus

from the dead

he has established

and affirmed him

in every way

possible and

then he's given

us a tangible

method to say

don't forget

this thing

let it be the

thing that

trumps

and drowns out

some of these

other things

i know

that you're on

a pilgrimage

i didn't give

everyone else the

answers

you're not having

all the answers

frankly i might

just add

it's impossible

that we would

have all the

answers

it's ridiculous

i mean even

with human

reason we could

take a step

back and go

who do we

how could we

possibly imagine

that we're going

to understand

god's sovereignty

and man's free

will

how could we

even possibly

think that if

god tried to

explain the dual

nature of christ

to us

that we would

understand it

instead what

he's given us

is a shout

from heaven

that these

things are true

and you need

to trust me

and you need

to rest in

that

and you need

to prioritize

the conversations

inside your

heart along

the lines of

what i've said

is most important

i'm not saying

that's easy

but that's

what i think

is a good

takeaway from

for us from

this um

from looking

at the

resurrection

in this

passage

so

let's close

there

um

and i'll

pray for us

our father

in heaven

we

praise you

for

your mighty

acts of

salvation

that you

have clearly

demonstrated

there is

no

confusion

salvation

about your

gospel

help us

to believe

and help us

to receive

what you have

for us

in jesus

help us to

receive jesus

as merciful

savior that

paid for all

of our sins

and help us

to enthrone him

on our hearts

and to submit

and to submit

to him as

king

and help us

to see this

world rightly

and to not

be rattled

by all

the

small

things of

this life

that sometimes

bring into

question

um

your character

but father

may we fix

our eyes

on jesus

and may we

be filled

with his

love

by your

spirit

and father

we pray

for all

the work

that you've

given us

to do

and what

you've

called us

to do

we pray

that you

would

fill us

and give

us everything

that we need

to step

out and

to serve

you and

to love

you and

to love

other people

and I

thank you

for this

time that

we've had

together

this morning

in jesus

name

amen

see you