Acts 2:14-41: The First Christian Sermon

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful

that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,

either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all,

would you pray for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people

like yourself? The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,

we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the

Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We

will do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're

non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't

hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know as I'm preaching how to deal with the types

of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

Please bow your heads in prayer.

Father, Father, it's very easy for the habits of thought of the world to intimidate us, to form us.

And we're not always aware of it, Father. Or if we are aware of it, we sort of try to put it away

and pretend it's not nothing. We ask, Father, that you would do a gentle but wonderful work in each

of our lives this morning, that you would bring your word deeply into our hearts so that your word

will form how we think and our affections and our will and our imaginations and our creativity

and our wisdom, that your word will form and direct and guide all of these things. And we ask this in the

name of Jesus, your name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So I've mentioned before many times that I became a Christian in grade 12.

And from the time shortly after I became a Christian, probably for about the next 15 years,

I had different seasons of quite profound doubt about whether or not Christianity was true.

And came close in many of those times to considering giving up the Christian faith altogether,

becoming something else. I struggled with things like how Christianity could be true and evolution

and given that evolution seemed to be true. I struggled with questions about science and Christianity.

I struggled with questions about Christianity being true in a world with lots of different religions.

I struggled with questions about hell and sexuality and Jesus being the only way.

I struggled with the idea of the universe being really big and earth is very small, so how could God care about us?

I struggled with apparent contradictions in the New Testament and the Old Testament,

with what the Bible taught about, or appeared to teach about slavery and women.

And then, of course, interwoven throughout all those types of things were times when I was just struggling with,

frankly, my own unworthiness and guilt about some of the things I had done and were failing to do as a Christian.

And so for about 15 years, this, by the way, includes when I was ordained.

You know, like things like the things in the Bible and the contradictions in the Bible

and other apparent contradictions in the Bible, like when you're studying the text very closely,

you become aware of things which are there which you'd never noticed before,

or teachings which had never struck you that, you know, that way before.

And then I said my own feelings often of unworthiness and not really having the gospel in my heart.

There have been many times over that.

It wasn't like I was just one mess for 15 years,

but there'd be seasons where these things would be very powerful.

And I'm not boasting or anything like that.

And by the way, I'll find out in heaven probably that the reason I got through most of those times,

in fact, all of them was probably because somebody was praying for me,

and that's what got me through them.

It's one of the reasons why it's really important for us to pray for each other,

especially pray for those of us who are in positions of leadership.

And in every case, I come to understand better how these different things worked,

understand better what the Bible actually said about slavery,

and whether in fact there were contradictions,

and how to understand Christianity and science.

I've come to think these things through.

God gave me wisdom, and I'm sure I'll find out in heaven it was because of people praying.

But there was one other consistent thing that kept giving me pause before I gave up on the Christian faith.

And that one consistent thing that kept giving me pause before I gave up on the Christian faith

is what's talked about in the text that we're going to look at today.

And it wasn't that it was the Bible that said it.

It wasn't as if I just said, oh, well, the Bible says it, so therefore I'm just going to accept it.

But by the way, I think if the Bible, if you're a Christian and the Bible does say it, you should accept it.

I think that's just the case.

But when you're in a period of doubt, just because the Bible says it doesn't always necessarily cut it.

But what I came back to time and time and time again that helped to ground my search for other answers

was what, like, the text that we see today, which is an ancient historical biography,

an ancient eyewitness-based history of the early, the first 30 years of the Christian movement,

the Jesus movement, there was no other way to account for what happened in Jerusalem

and what happened in the ancient world.

There was no better way to account for it than what Peter is going to tell us about right in a couple of minutes.

I just kept coming back to that, that once you've studied it and looked into it,

there's just no better account.

Everything else just doesn't work.

And if it, dang it, if Jesus really did rise from the dead,

if he really, if the grave really was empty,

and he really did rise from the dead, and he really did appear to people,

then there is going to be an answer to those other questions.

And I'm just, this is just my personal testimony, that time and time and time again,

and I'm sure in heaven I'll find out that in the midst of my depression

and some person was praying for me and that, you know, God put that thought in me,

just reminded me that's just the truth.

Like, there's just no better account for it.

So let's look at this today.

If you would take your Bibles, some of you, if you have these,

I think there's still some of them left if you don't have one.

These are a journal, Acts of the Apostles.

And we're going to look at Acts chapter 2, verses 14,

Acts 2:14

to the end of this sermon, or this sort of witness, so to speak.

And just before we start reading it, I mean, I always feel funny when I talk to people and I quote the Bible.

I mean, I don't feel funny.

I have to re-say that.

But there'd be really good ways to take little clips of what I said

and make me look like I'm saying the opposite of what I'm saying,

is when I have the opportunity to talk to a person outside the Christian faith about the Bible,

or about why I'm a Christian, one of the things I tell them is I said,

you know, it looks like this.

It looks like, obviously, a holy book and, you know, and all of that.

And this one looks obviously like a very, very, you know, it's like artsy type of thing,

nice paper and all of that.

But what you need to understand is that what we're looking at today is an eyewitness-based history

that talks about...

So he wrote one book, an eyewitness-based biography of who Jesus was and what he did.

And then he immediately wrote another book,

which describes approximately the first 30 years of the Jesus movement.

And this eyewitness-based history,

and not only is the writer interviewing eyewitnesses,

but he himself was an eyewitness for some of the stuff that happens in this history.

And he completed it probably within months of the end of the book.

So at the most, it's 30 years away from these early events.

But at the smallest, it's just maybe a month or two after the last event in the book.

And so this is first recognized as...

This was first recognized as a really good, true history.

And then Christians came to give it an extra status, which is that it's the Bible.

So if you're watching this, or if you're struggling with whether you're not...

You're going to walk away from the Christian faith.

You're sort of going through a period of deconstruction.

Or if you're watching this and you're sort of curious from the outside,

that's...

Just begin by that.

A very simple thing, that it's an ancient history,

eyewitness-based, and in many cases, eyewitness history.

And what's just happened before this in the story is...

And last week, I gave the actual dates.

There's so many historical references in both Luke and what we now call the Book of Acts

that they can date a lot of events in it.

So we know that Jesus was probably born the year 4 or 5 BC, for instance.

And we know either that he rose...

He was crucified and rose from the dead either the 7th of April, the year 30,

or the 3rd of April, 33.

And I think it was the year 33, but it could be either one of them.

And so this...

What we just saw is what happened a little bit between Jesus' resurrection

and his...

Well, the end of that time when he was on earth.

And this book gives eyewitness testimony

that Jesus had really physically risen from the dead.

And then it talks about Jesus ascending into heaven

and making particular promises.

And then it describes the 10-day period where they're praying

and they make some decisions.

And then what we just looked at last week was a very remarkable event.

It's a very public miracle.

It had four particular aspects to it.

I mean, that would be eight.

So four.

Four particular aspects to it.

First of all, they're in a room, maybe like this,

obviously a bit smaller.

And as they're sitting and praying,

all of a sudden they hear a mighty...

It sounds like a tornado is in the room.

And not only does it sound like there's a tornado in the room,

the sound is coming from above down here.

Now, it was...

I was thinking about this this week a lot.

If that happened to us right now,

we'd all be looking at Andrew and think,

what's Andrew doing to mess with us?

Because there's a sound system.

And that just is a bit of a joke.

He figured out some way to rig the sound system

so it could sound like there's a rushing mighty wind

that comes from up to down.

But there's no sound systems back then.

And so this sound, which is going to be so loud

that it's going to draw a huge crowd from outside of the room,

there's no reason to understand.

The other thing, which I've really been thinking about it this week,

is that there was no movement of air in the room.

So it sounded like there's this huge rushing wind

coming from above into the room.

It's very, very loud.

It's so loud that it's going to attract a huge crowd of people

to come and try to figure out what's going on.

And they would have also seen that there's no wind.

It sounds like there's a tornado or something,

or a huge storm, but there's no wind.

And that would have been unbelievably puzzling.

And the second aspect of the miracle,

which the outside crowd can't see,

but the inside, 120-so people,

they could have seen one fire appear in the room,

and then that one fire separate into individual flames of fire

and descend on each person and rest on them.

And then they obviously start to burst out of the room.

It's as if these two aspects of the one miracle

push them outside of the room.

And when they're pushed outside of the room,

the third aspect of the miracle is there,

that even though they still speak

with working-class Galilean accents,

they're speaking dozens and dozens and dozens

of languages fluently.

And the whole crowd that's gathered by this point in time,

that's the second thing they see.

They don't see the thing with the fire,

but they see the second thing.

And then the fourth thing,

the fourth aspect of the miracle,

is not only are they speaking

in all of these different languages,

but they're declaring God's praises

with quite great clarity and confidence,

a type of clarity and confidence

that you would not normally expect

for people of their socioeconomic status,

which is how we would talk about it today.

And so there's been a big crowd gathered,

and they ask the question,

what does this mean?

Like, what on earth is going on,

and what does it mean?

And so now our story takes up.

Peter answers that question,

what does it mean?

And here's how it begins in verse 14.

But Peter, standing with the 11,

lifted up his voice and addressed them.

So what it is,

there's been about 120 people

that this has happened to,

and they're all sort of there,

and there's a huge crowd all around them,

but Peter and the 11 others,

apostles, they sort of step forward,

and as they step forward,

Peter's going to be the one

who's going to speak.

And here's what he says,

men of Judea,

and all who dwell in Jerusalem,

let this be known to you

and give ear to my words.

For these people are not drunk,

as you suppose,

since it is only the third hour of the day.

So just sort of pause there.

What I left out in the event before is,

so you have the sound of the wind,

without any wind.

You have these Galileans

speaking other languages

with Galilean accents.

You have them declaring God's praises.

And people are saying,

what on earth does it mean?

And some people said,

well, they're just drunk.

Now, so Peter now just dismisses that.

It's a really interesting feature there,

and it's actually something

that should be very hopeful to us,

is there are some people

who are just flippant.

They're clever with words.

They're quick with words.

But they're unserious and flippant.

And they'll say things

in an unserious, flippant type of way

to try to knock you off your feet.

They've been around for 2,000 years,

and they're still around today.

Not everybody's serious.

They might look very serious,

and they might have a serious list of degrees,

and they might, you know,

have everything about them.

You know, they might have,

in our day, you know,

the right type of beard

and the right type of tattoos

and the right type of seriousness

and the right type of hair

and all of that type of stuff.

But underneath all those appearances

of seriousness,

they're flippant and unserious.

I mean, really?

Being drunk accounts for the noise?

Like that.

So it would be rude to say

to such flippant people

and laugh at them,

although maybe that's what they need

is a belly laugh at their expense

because they're trying to undercut you.

But it's an unserious explanation

of what they've all seen.

And so Peter continues then

in verse 13, verse 16.

So he said,

I'm going to tell you the explanation.

I'm going to tell you the meaning

and the significance

of what you've just all seen.

They haven't seen the fire,

but they've seen the other three things.

In verse 16, it goes like this.

But this was what was uttered

through the prophet Joel.

So now he's quoting somebody who wrote,

nobody knows exactly when Joel was written,

but let's say 600 years earlier.

And, you know, once again,

if you're a skeptic

or somebody deconstructing your faith,

well, just remember what's going on.

Now, it's not as if Joel,

Peter just got up one day.

You have just 120 people.

And all of a sudden,

they just seem to start saying

to the bystanders,

by the way, did you know

that the Holy Spirit just fell on us?

And why do I think that?

Well, here's this text in Joel.

And they go, well,

that doesn't really follow.

Like, why should we believe that

just because you said it?

See, here's the thing,

and here's where it's easy

to become flippant and unserious.

Something has to account

for what just happened.

Something has to account for it.

So Peter's giving an account.

There was a flippant, unserious response.

Now Peter's going to give an account.

And he begins,

he begins by talking about

a promise that was made by,

Peter's going to say,

God made a promise.

Over 600 years ago.

And that promise that he made

600 years ago

explains what we just saw.

Listen to how he goes.

So verse 16,

but this was what was uttered

through the prophet Joel.

And in the last days it shall be,

God declares,

that I will pour out my spirit

on all flesh.

And your sons and your daughters

shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

and your old men shall dream dreams.

Even on my male servants

and female servants.

And in those days I will pour out

my spirit,

and they shall prophesy.

And just pause before I go any further.

The language pour out is,

it would be as if,

it's not just so you pour out

a little bit of,

it's not like if you,

you know what it's like?

It's as if you're three-year-old

and you're two-year-old,

or you're one-and-a-half-year-old,

they come and they ask for some milk.

And you get them their sippy cup,

and you very carefully,

because you're a good mom

or a good dad,

you know that if you pour this much

in the sippy cup,

they're just going to throw

most of it out.

So you pour this much

in their sippy cup.

And that's not what

it's being talked about.

What it's being talked about

is when the three-year-old

pours the milk

for the one-and-a-half-year-old

in the sippy cup.

That's what it's being talked about.

And then they pour it,

and you know what?

It's really fun and cool

to see the milk keep filling

and falling out of the cup.

Like, that's a cool, fun thing

for a three-year-old to see.

See, in some way,

you know, it was G.K. Chesterton

who said that one of the problems

that we have understanding

the true and living God

is that he's too young for us.

We get old and grumpy,

but God takes delight.

God is the three-year-old

who just says,

I'm going to pour out the Holy Spirit.

I'm just going to keep filling

that little sippy cup.

It's just going to keep spilling out.

That's how I fill up the cup.

And we think God has to have

all this dignity and everything,

and he's like a three-year-old.

He's like a young kid.

And so that's the image here.

And so that's going to fit,

by the way,

because the word spirit

is also the word for wind and breath.

And so there's an automatic tie-in.

They've just heard

this unbelievable windstorm,

but not seen any wind.

The only thing they've seen

other than the sound

is that all of a sudden,

ordinary Galilean working class

and peasant people

are speaking in other languages

and praising God.

And Peter's going to say,

this story,

this poem 600 years ago

is explaining what has just happened.

That's what Peter's saying.

And one of the things,

just as another aside,

that's so glorious about this

is look at it.

It says, listen,

it doesn't matter

if you're a slave or free.

It doesn't matter

if you're young or old.

It doesn't matter

if you're rich or poor.

It doesn't matter

if you're a male or a female.

This is not a promise

that's based on social class

or skin color

or ethnicity

or education.

This is something

which God is giving to anybody.

Now, he's going to give

the criteria for it,

but it's just this massively,

massively generous

gift

that has nothing to do

with the normal ways

that we in our culture

and every culture

value human worth.

And he continues,

verse 19,

and I will show wonders

in the heavens above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire

and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned

to darkness,

the moon to blood.

Before the day of the Lord

comes,

the great and magnificent day.

And here's how the quote ends.

And it shall come to pass

that everyone who calls upon

the name of the Lord

shall be saved.

Everyone who calls upon

the name of the Lord

shall be saved.

And all of the people

who are there,

they would know

that when that quote is made,

we don't know

when Jewish people

stop saying Yahweh.

Now, maybe they do.

I have a guy here

studying at Cambridge.

He's an apologist.

Maybe he'll say afterwards,

by the way, George,

they figured that out one.

And I'll correct it next time.

But that's what he's saying.

The I am, Yahweh,

the great Lord,

all who call upon him

will be saved.

That's what he's saying.

And it's really interesting,

by the way.

You know,

some of the people

that you read

who are skeptics

will say that you have

to understand

all of these ancient stories

of Jesus

and things like

the Book of Acts

as just a type of poetry

or metaphor.

They're not meant

to be literal.

Well, that might be

very convincing,

except for the fact

that Luke understands

the difference

between what we see here

when he quotes poetry.

He knows that we're

to understand words

like the moon

and the sun

and all these things

being done

in a very, very different way

than trying to account

for the phenomenon

that just happened

and also to account

for what we're going

to get to in a moment.

So Luke,

so Peter gives

this explanation,

but the question then

is in a sense,

well, why did it happen now?

Like, what's so special

about now?

Or is there anything

special about now

that God would do

something like that now?

And so Peter continues,

verse 32.

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.

Now just sort of

pause here for a second.

Some of you probably

remember the story,

the ancient story.

It's recorded

in three

of the eyewitness biographies

of a group of men

who want to bring

their paralyzed friend

to be healed by Jesus

and they can't get

through the crowd.

And so they go up

onto the roof

of the building

and probably

to the great dismay,

I mean,

hopefully some of these men

who make a hole

in the roof

were expert roof builders

and could fix it later.

We never find that out

in this story.

But they make a hole

in the roof,

they lower the man

right into where Jesus is

for Jesus to heal the man.

And Jesus begins by saying,

Son, your sins are forgiven.

And of course,

that shocks the whole crowd

because only God

can forgive sins.

I can't tell you

all of your sins

are forgiven on my authority.

That's like a complete,

that's a crazy talk.

That should get you locked up

in the Royal Ottawa Hospital.

And so Jesus turns to them

and says,

I'm just going to ask you

a question.

Which is easier to say

to the paralyzed man,

get up and walk,

or your sins are forgiven?

Well, the answer is

that both are impossible.

And so Jesus says,

to show you,

to show you

that I have the authority

to forgive sins.

And he says to the man,

Son, pick up your bed and go.

And he heals the man.

So what Peter is saying here,

there's obviously no logical

or scientific connection

between being able

to instantly heal a man

of paralysis

and being able

to forgive sins.

But we all understand

at a very, very significant level

this whole idea

of attestation

or authority

or evidence.

And so what Jesus is saying

is the evidence

that I have,

that I in fact have

the authority

to forgive sins,

is that I can say to this man,

pick up your bed and walk.

I can heal you instantly

of your paralysis.

And he does.

See, the same thing

is going to be true

of the fact that Jesus

rose from the dead.

If Jesus really did rise

from the dead,

see, I'm touching now

on what helped me

in my moments

of darkest doubt.

If Jesus really did rise

from the dead,

if the grave really was empty,

then Christianity is true.

I might not know

in the instant

how to connect

the Christian faith

to evolution

or to science

or dealing with issues

of slavery

or the Bible talks

about women or hell.

I might not know

in the moment

how to solve

those particular questions.

But if Jesus really

did rise from the dead,

then it's true.

And there's going to be

an answer to those things

because Christianity

is true.

And it's not just true

in a way

that it now tickles

my imagination

and my intellect

and I can think

different things.

It's true

in a very, very different,

a very, very powerful way

that, well,

Peter's going to get

to it in a moment.

It's not just a matter

of having different types

of thoughts.

It's a truth

that's addressed to us

to completely

and utterly

change your life.

Well, let's see how,

so, you know,

so when he says

in verse 22,

you know,

that we all know,

you guys all knew

that Jesus did

these miracles.

Some of you even saw

the miracles that he did.

But then verse 23,

this Jesus,

the one he just talked about,

delivered up according

to the definite plan

and foreknowledge of God.

you crucified

and killed

by the hands

of lawless men.

So just sort of pause.

Everybody knows

that Jesus was crucified

in that crowd.

As I mentioned last week,

when, you know,

nowadays,

I think there was just

a man in Oklahoma

that was put to death

by lethal injection

a short while ago,

and a very small number

of people get to witness

that that happens

in the bowels

of the prison.

But the Romans,

when they crucified,

they wanted to make it

as public as possible,

and they did it

in a public place,

and so everybody knows

that Jesus was crucified.

And they know

that the Jewish rulers

and the Romans

were at work in it.

But Jesus,

Peter adds this other thing.

Sort of in the background,

the easiest way

to understand

what Peter's referring to

is what happens,

some of you might know

the story of Joseph

and his brothers,

Joseph in the many-colored coat.

And so Joseph had this,

he was like his father's favorite.

He had this many-colored coat,

and his brothers,

his ten brothers in particular,

really resented him.

And so one day,

they were out, you know,

looking after their sheep

and doing other types of stuff,

and they just got sick

and tired of Joseph.

So they actually made

this terrible decision.

They were going to kill Joseph,

and then they decided,

why should we kill him?

We get no money.

We might as well get rid of him

and get some money.

So they sold Joseph as a slave

to wandering nomads.

Well, in the providence of God,

Joseph ends up becoming

the second most powerful person

in the country of Egypt,

which is a huge, powerful empire

at that time.

And circumstances,

or God's hand,

the brothers all eventually

have to come to Egypt,

and Joseph reveals himself to them,

and Joseph reveals that,

you know,

there's going to be

these years of famine

and all of that.

And anyway,

that Joseph's father

and the brothers' father

eventually die.

And so now Joseph's ten brothers

are very worried.

The dad has died.

Joseph's the second most powerful person

in Egypt.

He might just be pissed off

that his brothers

sold him into slavery.

might just be pissed off

and might just want

to take some vengeance.

So the ten brothers

cook up a lie

that their dad

wanted to make sure

that Joseph forgave them.

And they go to speak to Joseph.

And Joseph sees through the lie.

And then Joseph,

it's in Genesis chapter 50,

Genesis 50 · chapter mention

he gives this very powerful line.

He said,

listen,

I know you meant it for ill.

I know you meant to hurt me

and do it for ill.

But I know that God

used your ill will

ultimately for your good.

God made something good

come out of that.

And that's,

Joseph decided

he would focus on the good,

not the ill.

Peter's making the same type

of comment here.

He's saying,

listen,

you folks all were complicit

in the death of Jesus

upon the cross.

But when he says

the foreknowledge of God,

he's saying,

but God knew that

and was doing something

for your good,

even though you meant

something terribly evil for him.

So you did mean

something evil for Jesus,

but God and Jesus

meant something good for you.

and they were using

the evil that you did

for something good for you.

You see within this

the mystery

of God's great love

and compassion.

And then it continues,

verse 24.

I have to watch the time.

God raised Jesus up,

loosing the pangs of death

because it was not possible

for him to be held by it.

Now,

David wants to bring this

all home

and he wants to bring

home to them.

Well,

let's see what he does.

He quotes a psalm.

For David says concerning him,

I saw the Lord always before me,

for he is at my right hand

that I might 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 paths of life.

You will make me full of gladness

with your presence.

And so,

Peter's going to point out

that this psalm of David

implies that David

dies

but doesn't die.

He ends up being alive.

And so,

Peter continues,

verse 29.

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.

In other words,

his body did see corruption.

David can't be talking

about himself.

Being therefore a prophet,

verse 30,

and knowing that God

had 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 the Christ,

that he was not abandoned

to Hades,

nor did his flesh

see corruption.

This Jesus,

God raised up,

and of that,

we all are witnesses.

Now,

pause.

What's happening

is that Peter

is explaining

what just happened

with the sound

and the speaking

in tongues.

But he's now saying

the reason this all happened

is because of some horrendous event

that had happened

50 days earlier,

53 days earlier,

when Jesus died

upon the cross.

But 50 days ago,

three days after that,

he appears alive.

Now,

we're going to see

in a moment

that 3,000 people

give their life

to Christ

at the end

of this talk.

And this was the thing

which I came back to

time and time

and time

and time again.

How can you explain,

like,

if they were to go ahead

and said,

we're going to say

in a moment,

God raised Jesus

from the dead.

And they could all

just laugh and say,

listen,

it's going to really

stink after 50 days,

but we can show you

where the body is.

Like,

we can open up the tomb.

We can show you

where the body is.

Or we can tell you,

yeah,

it was stolen.

Some of you

who go to Jerusalem

at that time of the year,

you know that the ground's

all very,

very,

very hard.

And the town

is crowded.

You just can't get rid

of a body

that's going to stink

to high heaven

and not have anybody

notice it.

And all they have to do

is just show you

where the corpse is.

And then they can just

laugh at these people

and say,

you guys are moronic fools

to believe anything

like that.

But the grave is empty

and they can't find

the body.

And 3,000 people

give their lives

to Christ.

3,000 people.

Because you see,

what Peter is doing here

is he's showing

that the death

and resurrection

of Jesus

isn't just this

sort of weird

one-off thing

that God did,

but it's connected

to these larger stories

and these larger promises.

And these larger stories

and these larger promises

are true.

And if Jesus really

did die upon the cross

and he really did rise

from the dead,

then these larger

overarching stories

are true.

It means there is a God

who does exist.

It means that if you

call upon the name

of the Lord,

you will be saved.

That you can know that.

that the language

of calling upon

the name of the Lord

to be saved

means there is going

to be a final judgment.

You will be judged

for what you've done

and if you've spent

your entire life

turning your back

on God,

at the end of the age,

God will say,

well, your will be done

and your will has been

to completely

and utterly disregard God

and as I've talked about

in other places,

the result is that,

well, that you spend

an eternity away from God.

It means that death

becomes your shepherd.

It means that in a sense

an eternal decomposition

and falling apart

of yourself,

that that's your fate

and you can be saved by it

not because of anything good,

not because you're upper class,

not because you're male,

not because you're female,

not because you're African

or Jewish

or heterosexual

or homosexual

or trans

or none of those things

are of any virtue.

The only thing that works

is you call upon

the name of the Lord

and you will be saved.

And who is the Lord?

It's the Lord Jesus Christ.

This man

that you crucified

because at the end of the day,

who cares about one guy?

We're just like,

and you do something evil,

but God takes that evil

that you do

and he does this remarkable thing

that you can be saved

and he's going to describe

what that means.

Look at verse 33.

I'm just going to skip down

to verse 36.

There's another scripture quote

about the exaltation of Jesus.

Peter goes,

let all the house of Israel

therefore know for certain

that God has made him

both Lord and Christ,

this Jesus whom you crucified.

Remember he quoted from Joel,

all who call upon the name

of the Lord will be saved.

So the crowd,

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 give,

you will receive the gift

of the Holy Spirit

for the promises 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 this crooked generation.

So those who received

his word were baptized

and there were added that day

about 3,000 souls.

What else can account

for the fact

that within 30 years

of the death

and resurrection of Jesus,

there were tens and tens

of thousands of Christians

and there were Christians

even in Europe

and throughout the Middle East

and what we now know of

as Northern Africa.

What else can account

for this remarkable thing

other than the true death

and resurrection of Jesus,

that the grave really was empty

and that something like

what is just also here

being accounted for,

the gift of the Holy Spirit,

is true.

And it's not just something now

that means I have to change

how I think,

but it does mean

you have to change

how you think.

It's going to change

how you think

about human beings

and human values

and justice

and right and wrong.

And I could go into this story

about there's something

in this story

which profoundly critiques

critical race theory.

That would be

a whole other talk.

It's a profound rejection

of critical race theory

at a very significant level.

Not the...

It actually subverts

critical race theory

but fulfills it.

The fulfillment

of critical race theory

is this profound equality.

That's what critical race theory

desires.

and you get that desire

in the description of Joel

that it's for slaves

and it's for the...

and for slave owners

and it's...

and it's for people

of all different language groups

and all of these things

that critical race theory

longs for

is fulfilled in this

but there's a profound rejection

of the whole understanding

of race

and power structures

which are all here

and on and on

and on and on and on.

There's all these things

that are going to change...

have to change

the way you think

or start to change

the way you think

but the bottom line

is this.

We human beings

struggle with

whether or not

when we do wrong

we all have

this intrinsic sense

that there's not just

something that we've done wrong

but there's some...

and maybe the other person

will forgive us

but there's this other sense

that there's something

more to forgiveness

and...

and what that is

is an echo

an intuition

that there is a God

who's involved

in every wrongdoing

that when you do

something wrong

it's not just

against the person

it's not just

against the animal

you can do wrong

things to animals

it's not just

the creation

because you can do

wrong things

to the creation

that there's...

that God is involved

in that act of wrongness

and what we crave

is forgiveness

to be free

but we also

ultimately crave

forgiveness from God

and that's why

Jesus died on the cross

it's not just

so we can think

about science

and evolution

and critical race theory

and the dignity

and the worth

of women

and children

and the unborn

in a different way

and understand

their full dignity

and worth

it's this profound

message

that you can be saved

that when you're

in periods of darkness

and depression

and despair

that's not going to be

the final word about you

when you put your faith

and trust in Jesus

the final word about you

is that you've been saved

that God has forgiven

all your sins

that he's given you

the Holy Spirit

to live within you

that you have been made new

you might not feel it

but from God's perspective

you've been made new

he's received you

to himself

you now belong

and own to him

and he will never

let you go

you've been saved

and it's true

it's not like Santa Claus

or the great pumpkin

it's true

it happened in history

and you can be flippant

and clever

and give

unserious

incurious

answers

to all of these things

but if you press into it

you'll see

that this is the truth

and it's the truth

for you

and so the question

to each of us

as I bring this

to the close

is are you saved?

are you saved?

and if you're not

there's no better time

than now

to call upon

the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ

and ask him

to be your Lord

and Savior

and baptism

symbolizes

what he does

it's a public act

but it symbolizes

what he does

there's three senses

of the word baptized

one sense is

it's a washing

you know

when

in one of the accounts

when there's a woman

who

who wets Jesus'

feet with her tears

the word for

that is

there is baptized

she baptizes

his feet

with her tears

there's a sense

of washing

there's also

a sense of immersion

and which is going

to symbolize

it's that

you know

when Jesus

washes you away

you're clean

the image

of being immersed

is going to be

an image

of identification

with Jesus

so he dies

your death

and he gives you

his life

and the third image

is infusing

and that's

also the image

that this is something

that goes in the very center

of who you are

it's this

receiving this news

goes right into the center

of who you are

Christ through the Holy Spirit

infuses

all that makes you

you

and takes

all that makes you

you

your sexuality

your money

your intellect

your creativity

your imagination

all that makes you

you

is infused

by the Holy Spirit

and you are saved

and he will never

ever

ever

ever

let you

go

so are you saved

if you aren't

call in the name

of the Lord

and he will say

yes

and make you his own

but stand

bow our heads

in prayer

father

first of all

we confess

before you

that we don't even

like using the word

saved

we know that

that's

the world

makes fun of us

if we use that word

but father

it's a bible word

it's a precious word

help us to know

father

how to talk

to people

who are curious

about the Christian faith

or are skeptical

and help us

to know wise ways

to talk

but father

help us to cling

to this profound

and beautiful truth

that when we put our faith

and trust in Jesus

that we are saved

that I am saved

that the final word

about me

in Christ

is not

you know

be gone

but

enter in

and welcome

father

help this truth

to be

true for me

and father

if there are any

here listening

or

present

may your Holy Spirit

nudge them

to call out

to Jesus

the Lord Jesus Christ

that he will be

their Lord and Savior

so that they might

be saved

and we ask

all these things

and thank all these things

in the name of Jesus

your Son

and our Savior

Amen

thank you

you

for so much

this is

ever

sem