"The Gospel Proclaimed"

Today's readings from the book of acts chapter 2 verses 14 to 41. You'll find that on page 1 0 9 3 from your Bible. Then Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice and addressed their proud. Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem Let me explain this to you. Listen carefully to what I say.

These people are not drunk as you suppose. It's only 9 in the morning. Now this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. In the last days, god said, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

Your young man will see visions. Your old man will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below blood and fire and pillows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the lord.

And everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved, fellow israelites. Listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by god to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which god did amount you through him. As you yourself know, this man was handed over to you by god's deliberate plan and for knowledge. And you with the help of wicked man put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

I got raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep him keep its hole on him. David said about him. I saw the lord always before me because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will rest in hope because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead.

You will not let your holy 1 CDK. You have made known to me the paths of life? And you'll fill me with joy in your presence. Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that this patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that god had promised him on oath that he would place 1 of his descendants on his throne.

Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead nor did his body CDK. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of god. He has received from the father the promised Holy Spirit and has pulled out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven and yet he said, The lord said to my lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies for a footstool for your feet.

Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus. Whom you crucified, both lord and Messiah. When people heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the other apostles. Brothers, what shall we do?

Peter replied, repent and be baptized every 1 of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our god will call. With many other words, he warned them, and he pleaded with them. Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3000 were added to their numbers that day.

Morning, everyone. I'm Bart. I'm pastor here at Hope Church, and it's great to have you here. If you're new, if you're visiting, it's particularly good to have you here. Do open up your bibles if you've closed them or grab a bible if there's 1 near you.

And turn to that passage, acts chapter 2, and let me pray for us, as we come to that passage. Emily father, we, praise you again for your words. We thank you that you speak to us as we read the Bible. And we pray that you would help us to understand this passage, father. There's so much in it that you are saying to us, please teach us, help us to be ready to listen, help us to concentrate, and help us to respond to your words, amen.

So we're starting a new series, this morning, a series in the book of acts we're gonna go through over till the end of August, acts chapters 2 to 5. Now the book of acts is a book that follows on from the gospels. The gospels tell us about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the book of acts follows on and shows us the explosive growth of the church. Jesus' followers were in Jerusalem. At the beginning of book, the book of acts, they're in Jerusalem, They meet with the risen Jesus.

Jesus commissions them, tells them to wait in Jerusalem until the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, then once the Holy Spirit is poured out, they go from there, they go out from Jerusalem, and you see it through the rest of acts, they go from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And the good news of Jesus goes out and spreads explosively. It's amazing. And we're just focusing in on the beginning of this while they're still in Jerusalem. Peter here is preaching to a big crowd.

And it's the day when the Holy Spirit has been poured out. And that has been seen. The evidence of that has been seen. You've got tongues of fire that looked like they were on top of Jesus' followers, and Jesus' followers are speaking in tongues, speaking in different languages. And so the crowd gathers to see what is going on here, and Peter preaches his first sermon.

To this crowd, it is the first preaching of the gospel after Jesus' resurrection and ascension. This is where it begins. Now why are we looking at this over these, summer weeks? Well, recently, we've been looking at a series on gospel community, how we're to relate to 1 another. We've looked at some of the 1 anothers, love 1 another, forgive 1 another, build 1 another up those sorts of things.

And we've done that because we've been setting up our Gospel communities, our small groups. And so we thought, actually, it'd be good having done that to come to these chapters in act because here is the first gospel community. You have the gospel preached. That's what we've just read out to us. Peter preaching the gospel.

And then as you go through these chapters, you also see the community that is formed. And you see it's a community that doesn't just meet on Sundays. They do a whole load more. So that's why we're coming to these chapters. Well, we focus in as we start on this sermon that Peter preaches.

And he's preaching it to a crowd that have gathered, as I said, because The Holy Spirit has been poured out. Now, Peter, the apostle, Peter, when it comes to speaking, so far, if you've read any of the gospels, you'll see that Peter's track record of speaking has not been great. Generally, he speaks. He opens his mouth wide enough to put his foot in it. And yet here, the Holy Spirit is given, and him filled with the Holy Spirit preaches an incredible sermon.

It's an incredible sermon that transforms the crowd in front of him. This crowd that have gathered begin by ridiculing Jesus' followers. And they ridicule them, say, oh, maybe these people are drunk. Because they hear them speaking in other languages. Now it's a strange kind of drunkenness, isn't it?

That ends up with people being fluent in other languages. Normally, drunk people may think they can speak other languages. But actually speaking another language. I mean, they barely speak any language. And yet here, these are Jesus' followers speaking fluently another language, and they gather going, what's going on?

Maybe these people are drunk. And yet by the end of this sermon, it says they are cut to the heart, and thousands of them become Christians. What happens? Why this transformation What does Peter say that turns this crowd around? What we're going to see?

Now there is a lot in this sermon as it was read. As, Yasmin read it, I thought, man, we we have got a lot here. And now we're not gonna spend all day on this. There is so much in this, and you could spend I realized as I was preparing, you could have a whole sermon series just on this sermon. So we can't get into all the details.

We're gonna have to go a bit more broad brush. We're gonna have to sort of dip in and there'll be plenty of places where you're gonna go, yeah, but what about that? What about that? And we're just gonna have to skip over it, or we'd be here all day. But we'll see the big points, and we're gonna see, as we go through, that Peter says to this crowd, they are heading for a crash.

They're heading for a crash. 1 of the biggest road crashes in UK history, happened at the Chevy. It was the Shepard Crossing crash in September 20 13. The visibility was terrible because the fog was so bad. And a hundred and 30 cars crashed.

Amazingly, no 1 was killed. But the driver's told of 10 minutes of hearing more and more cars just crash it. Peter says the big thing that he says to them actually, to this crowd, who've gathered to hear the gospel is you are heading for a big crash. A bigger crash than that car crash. The biggest crash that there has ever been, and you are heading towards it.

Peter tells them. How has he convinced them of this? Okay. He goes for he tells them about 3 events, 3 recent events that have happened, and he explains them. He comes to 1 devastating conclusion, and then he tells them how to respond.

3 events, 1 conclusion, how to respond. That's where we go. The 3 events that he explains are events that have happened in their recent past that people have witnessed, And Peter says if you're going to understand these events, I'm gonna have to explain them from the old testament. That's the scriptures that were written before this time. He says, we're gonna have to go back into that to explain these events and then he comes to his conclusion.

So what are the 3 events? The first 1 is the pouring out of the spirit. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit shows what time it is. Peter begins, with what has happened right there and then, that day, the giving of the Holy Spirit, which has caused people to speak in different languages. And Peter says, look, this isn't drunkenness.

Now it's far too early in the day for that, he says. He says, let's see what the Bible says about this. What does the old testament say about this pouring out of the Holy Spirit? And so he goes for this quote in the book of Joel. And if you've got your Bible open in front of you, you can see it there before you.

Verse 16, Peter says, no, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. And see how the quote sort of begins and ends. First 17, Peter says, in the last days, god says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. And then he says certain things that will happen. And then he says verse 20, the sun will be turned to darkness the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the lord.

So what we see here is Peter is saying in the book of Joel, as you go back to the, there is a timeline that is presented to you. There is a timeline of history. There is the last days and there is the great and glorious day of the lord. In other words, judgment day. And if you read the book of Joel that he's quoting from, you see that the great and glorious day of the lord is a terrifying day, a frightening day.

And over and over again, in the book of Joel, it says that day will come. It is coming. It is coming. And the things in the middle of that quote from the prophet Joel are signs that you have entered the last days before the great and glorious day of the lord. Which includes verse 17, I will pour out my spirit on all people.

Now, it's possible that you could get lost in the details of the quote from the book of Joel. You could be asking, should we be experiencing all these things? Should we have young men seeing visions and old men dreaming dreams? Maybe by the end of this sermon, there will be old men dreaming dreams. But should we be seeing all these things?

And you could go through each 1 and say, should we be seeing that now if that that's what this is? And I think if you do that, I mean, it's worth going into it, and I would encourage you to do so, but we're not gonna do it right now because I don't think that's Peter's big point. I think his big point is to say, you see what's going on now, you see this pouring out of the spirit, that is this from Joel. And therefore, We are in the last days before the great and glorious day of the lord. Peter is saying here is, it's like a a big sort of countdown is going on.

You know, those big countdowns like you get for New Year, and you're all joining in the 10, 9, 8, and Peter is saying, it's like that with the Bible. There is a timeline, and we're building up to the great and glorious day of the lord. And there are various big events that need to happen in the Bible. Various big things that need to happen, and Peter is saying, but when you see the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, you know that you're in the last days before the great and glorious day of the lord. Peter's saying to this crowd, do you see what's happened?

Do you know? Do you understand what's happening? Do you see that we're on this timeline? And we are almost there. We are in the last days.

Now you might think that was quite a long time ago. 2000 years have passed. It sounds like they were expecting judgment day very, very soon. What happened? But we do need to see, actually, the Bible does teach that there would be a gap.

Jesus in his parables, when he talks about, the kingdom of god, sometimes he talks about it in terms of someone going away, the master or a king going away, and there being a gap. It's such a big gap that the servants left behind start to misbehave because they think the master has been away a long time. So Jesus taught there would be a gap after his ascension and before judgment day. So it's not totally surprising. But while we're still in this time, we are still in what the Bible calls the last days.

Now, it's important that we see the world, the way the Bible does. History and where the world is heading is not cyclical. It's not that things just go round and round. It's not sort of the circle of life, kind of Lion King style that everything just goes round and round and would always will. No.

The Bible is saying there is a timeline. We are heading towards a destination, and that destination is the great and glorious day of the lord. Are you ready for that? Are you ready for that day? How can you be ready?

Well, we'll think about that in a moment. It's not a bad thing to ask people. Are you ready? Are you ready to meet your maker? Sometimes people say, It's a good thing to ask people who are dying, but actually, of course, we need to ask that sooner.

We need to ask it today. Are you ready to meet your make? Because judgment day is coming. It may have been 2000 years since the pouring out of the spirit that we're still in those last days. The next big Bible event is judgment day.

That's our first event that Peter explains. Second event. The resurrection shows that Jesus is the Christ. Peter now talks of Jesus. He moves straight into talking about Jesus.

First 22 fellow Israelites, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by god, and the rest of the sermon is really all about Jesus. That's what Peter talks about. He talks about Jesus' life verse 22. He says, Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by god you by miracles, wonders and signs.

So This is Jesus' life, his miracles, the incredible things he did. Then verse 23 talks about Jesus' death. This man was handed over to you by god's deliberate plan and foreknowledge and you with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross. So it talks about Jesus' death as god's plan and mankind's Wicked Act. Then lays the emphasis mainly on Jesus' resurrection.

So verse 24. But god raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Peter says, those are the facts. We witnessed them. We saw them.

You saw them, he says to the crowd. You saw these things. Jesus's life, his amazing miracles. You saw them. His death and his resurrection, and it's the resurrection he focuses in on.

And Peter's point is, sorry, Peter then says, in order to understand the resurrection, you've gotta go back to the old testament again. You've gotta see what the old testament says about this. And he points to Psalm 16, and he quotes from it in verse 25 onwards. Now we're just gonna look at verse, 27 and 28. Just turn over the page.

In this quote from the Psalm, Peter says, he quotes from David hundreds of years before, where David in Psal 16 says, first 27, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead You will not let your Holy 1 Sea decay. You have made known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence. Now, Peter is saying, that quote from the Old Testament, David is saying, You won't abandon me to the dead. My body won't see decay.

And Peter says, who was David talking about then? Who was he talking about? He can't have been talking about himself, first 29, fellow Israelites. I can tell you confidently, the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. Do you see what he's saying?

He's saying, look, David was saying you won't abandon me to the grave. My body won't decay, but David did die. He's dead. His tomb is like Peter is saying, look, his tomb is over there. If you wanted to, you could join the queue, pay your money and have your tour around the tomb.

You could see it. And if you opened it up, you could see David's bones. He clearly wasn't talking about himself. Who was David talking about? Verse 30.

He was a prophet and knew that god had promised him on oath that he would place 1 of his descendants on the throne, seeing what was to come. He spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah or Christ. That he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life. We are all witnesses of it.

He's saying David wasn't talking about himself. But knew there would be a greater king. 1 of his descendants who would be the Christ, the Messiah. He would be the 1 death would not be able to hold on to. The Christ who was to come would be 1 who death would because when we die, death has its vice like grip on us, doesn't it?

But he's saying this 1, death won't be able to hold it. And therefore, Peter says it's a bit like a ridiculous game of guess who. Have you ever played guess who? You know, the game where you have a you pick a card and you're you, you know, the the other person picks a car, the, face of someone. And then you've got the flip down things, you know, where you and you say, well, how do I work out what this person is?

I've got to give yes, no questions. They'll say, does your person wear glasses? And they say, no. So you knock down all the ones with glasses, and you're left with all the non glass if they do they wear a beard? You know, that kind of thing.

It's like Peter is saying, look, the old testament was doing a great big game of guess who. Guess who the Messiah is? Who is the Christ? Does he wear glasses? That's completely irrelevant.

Does he have a beard? Who cares? But you can spot him because he'll be the 1 who death cannot hold. Okay. Well, let's see.

Who is that? In history, whom death could not hold. Who rose to life again, never to die again while we knocked down everyone in history apart from. 1, Jesus Christ. He is the Christ.

And the people listening to Peter would have known this Christ figure spoken of a lot in the old testament. In Psalm too, he's talking about he's talked about as being a king who will rule over all nations. And Peter is saying the resurrection shows, from that old testament quote, The resurrection shows Jesus is that king over all kings ruler over all rulers. That is who Jesus is. Now, notice, will you.

The resurrection tells us far more than we tend to think it does. If you're a Christian, you probably think, well, okay, what does the resurrection show? We would probably take somewhere whether it shows Jesus defeated death. True. It shows that Jesus has dealt with sin because that's why he died.

True. But Peter is saying actually, it also shows us something very important about the identity of Jesus. That he is the Christ, the Messiah, the king overall kings. That is who Jesus is, and the resurrection shows it. Third event.

And we're gonna pull them all together in just a moment. Third event, the ascension shows Jesus is lord. Next event is the ascension. Verse 33. Exalted to the right hand of god.

He has received from the father the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, the lord said to my lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Okay. After Jesus' resurrection, he ascended to heaven. And sat at god's right hand.

That's what they declared. And this time, Peter turns to Psalm 110, and says verse 35, verse 34, sorry, The lord said to my lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Now, this is confusing. Because David is talking about he's saying, the lord said to my lord, sit at my right hand. Who is David talking about?

You've got the lord, who is god, and then this my lord figure, who's that? That god says he will sit at my right hand until all his enemies are put under his feet. Who is this my lord figure? Well, Peter says he can't have been David because David didn't ascend to sit at god's right hand. Who is it?

Well, again, you play guess who again, didn't you? He says it's the 1 who ascended. Jesus. And what will he do? What will happen to him?

This lord, first 35, I will make your enemies a foot stall for your feet. This lord will be won before whom everyone will bow, and all his enemies will be brought to submission under him. And Peter is saying the Ascension shows Jesus is that lord. So let's pull them together. Peter is saying 3 events that have happened that were witnessed, people saw them, and you can draw the right conclusions from them by looking at the old testament.

He says, the spirit shows you what the time it is that we are almost at judgment day. The resurrection shows Jesus is the Christ, the king overall. The ascension shows Jesus is lord, and before him, all his enemies will bow. Now, just this may be a slightly different gospel presentation from the 1 you were thinking would happen. The day of pentecost, this crowd before him, and Peter is talking about these things.

Would you expect that? Maybe you'd expect him to say something different. It sounds a bit different from what we were saying last week, didn't it? Where I was speaking about Jesus as being the 1 who fulfills your life. Who can give you living water, sort of, but notice, the Bible expresses the gospel in different ways, but it's still the same gospel.

Because at the heart of it all, it still come to Jesus. Jesus is lord. It may be a case of presenting Jesus in a way that says, come to him for what he can do for you, or it may be a case of presenting him in a way that says, be warned if you don't come to him. Remember who he is? But it's still the same gospel because it's still bringing you to Jesus and saying respond to him.

Now do you see why the crowd were cut to the heart? Can you see why? From what he said so far? Maybe you're thinking, I can't see it at all. Okay.

Let me share it. There is a devastating conclusion in verse 36. Here is the conclusion. You can see that Peter's bringing together bringing things together. He says, therefore, let all Israel be assured of this.

God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both lord and Messiah, lord and Christ. Do you see that's bringing those 2 things together about Jesus? He's lord. He's Christ. There you go.

There's the conclusion. Now do you see why they were cut to the heart? First 36 isn't written. The translation that you've got here is not the best because they've changed the order of it. Let me give it to you in the order in the original, and you will see the devastating conclusion far more clearly.

Here is what it should be. Here's the original order. Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus lord and Christ whom you crucified. That is the heart sinking moment.

You killed him. Of all people in history, and all people around the globe you could have picked on, you killed the 1 who will 1 day stand in judgment over you. That's what Peter is saying. You killed the 1. God's showed is the Christ, king over all kings, the lord, the 1 before whom all his enemies will bow, and you, where do you stand crowd?

You killed him. You are 1 of those enemies. You are heading for a great crash. Peter is saying. A huge crash.

And we need to see how this hit home for us because, of course, we weren't there. We weren't part of the crowd who weeks before had been shouting for Jesus' death. You and I, we weren't there. We didn't bang the nails in. We didn't shout in the crowd.

And yet, do you know what kept Jesus on the cross? It wasn't the nails that kept him there. He could have easily come down with the power that he had. Son of god, he could have easily come down. It wasn't the soldiers that kept him there.

No. He could have easily defeated them. He could have called on the armies of heaven and defeated them. It would have been easy. What kept him on the cross was the willingness to take your and my sin, our wrongdoing.

If we weren't sinners, he wouldn't have needed to have gone to the cross. And therefore, we can say It was my sin that kept him there until it was accomplished. We can sing, 1 of the songs we sing, ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among, among the scoffers. And we should be cut to the heart. Our sin is not just a concept.

It's not just an abstract thing out there. It should hit home because 1 day we will stand before Jesus. With all our wrongdoing on us, unless we come to him, all our sin on us. And that should cut us to the heart. George Whitfield was a preacher in the eighteenth century.

He wanted to preach the gospel to people. He was barred from speaking in churches because he had said he could produce 2 cobblers who knew more of true Christianity than all the clergy in Bristol. So he preached in the open air. And he preached to coal miners as they were coming out of the mines covered in black soot. He preached to them about hell and judgment and the love of god.

And suddenly, he noticed on the cheeks of the young men who who had come out of the coal mines, white streaks down their faces. And he saw it on more and more of those listening as he spoke of Jesus. And he says he saw white gutters made by their tears down their black cheeks. That is the work of God's spirit that we see our guilt and a cut to the heart. Have you felt that?

Maybe you feel it now, that you're laid bare before god. You see you've lived as a rebel against Jesus, the lord. In Christ. And so the crowd cry out. Brothers, what shall we do?

What can we do? We killed the Christ. The lord, what can we do? And Peter says, first 38, repent, and be baptized every 1 of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the prom the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promise is for you and your children.

And for all who are far off, for all whom the lord, our god will call. Isn't that incredible? This is wonderful news. Can you imagine the crowd? Go, what do we do?

And Peter says, turn to the lord? Repent. That's what it means. Turn to the lord. Turn away from what you did before.

Turn away from that rebellion against god, turn away from that act of killing god's son, and turn to the lord, and he will forgive you. Which is exactly the opposite of what you wanna do, isn't it? I mean, it If you've upset someone, you know someone's upset with you, the last thing you wanna do is turn to them, but that's what Peter says you need to do. Turn to god. And you can be forgiven.

Go towards the storm. Not away from it. You'll never run away from Jesus. Judge day is coming. But turn to him and all who do find forgiveness.

Because that's what he died to achieve on the cross. And he says, and be baptized an outward washing to symbolize the washing that god can do for you because of the cross of Jesus, to be washed clean of that rebellion. There is absolute forgiveness, even for those who killed Jesus and certainly for you and me. No 1 is too bad to come to Jesus and make clean. His love, his death can wash the most depraved of sin those who shouted for his death, coal miners from Bristol, and it can even wash you.

And he promises the giving of the Holy Spirit. God come to live in you and me to empower us to live for Jesus. And the spirit given that we too may go and call others to repent to come to Jesus. The reports of that road crash, that sheppy road crossing road crash, where there were those hundred and 30 cars piled up, says that there was a driver, I think his name was Martin Stammers. He and his son ran to warn other drivers.

And warn cars to slow down. And a a woman later came and said, thank you. Thank you. You saved my life. Those who have themselves known this wonderful forgiveness that we can have through Jesus.

This brokenness and joy of forgiveness will want to run to tell others. That is what god's spirit empowers us to do. Have you responded yet? We're heading towards the same day, the great and glorious day of the law. We're in the last days.

What's stopping you? The passage urges us now, to respond, to repent, turn to god, such a business, and be baptized, be washed, of all your sin. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we praise you for this message that Peter explained so well what had happened. That the pouring out of the spirit means we are in the last days, that the resurrection shows who Jesus is, that he's the Christ.

That the ascension shows he is lord. And father, we need to see that before you, we, too, are sinners, and it would be a dreadful day to come before you. With our sins still on us, cut us to the heart father for our rebellion, but don't leave us there. Bring us to Jesus. Help us to turn to him.

And to find forgiveness through his death, to be washed of our sin, and to be able to come to you.