- We witnessed God's POWER in Jesus' life. (Acts 2:22)
- We witnessed God's SOVEREIGNTY in Jesus' death. (Acts 2:23)
- We witnessed God's VICTORY in Jesus' resurrection. (Acts 2:24-32)
- We witnessed God's PROMISE in Jesus' exaltation. (Acts 2:33-36)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above with your cursor for answers
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Open up your Bibles to Acts chapter 2.
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Acts chapter 2, just a quick review from where we left off last time in our study through the book of Acts.
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Everything this year that we're going to be talking about hinges really on one verse, and it's Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, when Jesus, before he ascended back to heaven, He told His disciples, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, even the ends of the earth." And that's what we're talking about this year.
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These two amazing truths that first of all, we receive the power of the Holy Spirit.
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God personally indwells His people.
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And the reason that he puts his power in us is because he wants us to be witnesses to the world, in our communities, in our world.
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God wants his light to shine through us so that people would know who he is.
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So Jesus made that promise to his disciples and we saw on Pentecost the Holy Spirit came.
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Remember?
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Holy Spirit came with this sound of a rushing wind.
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And the crowds who were in town for the Jewish feasts.
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I heard the noise and came out and they heard the disciples preaching.
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To all these different people groups, but in their own language, and there were people that were saying, what in the world is going on here?
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We're we're hearing all these different languages.
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Everybody's hearing the message in their own language.
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How is this possible?
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And then you had a group of people that said, they're they're just drunk.
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And Peter gets up and he preaches.
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And this is where we left off last time.
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He starts with a prophecy from Joel, chapter two.
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And his point was even back in the Old Testament, God promised that he would pour out his Holy Spirit into people.
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And that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord would be saved.
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That last statement is a pretty intense statement, isn't it?
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Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
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Like, how's that even how's that even possible?
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The answer is in one person and that person is Jesus Christ.
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That's where Peter's headed.
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Before we look at the text, I wanted to tell you this story, you know, when.
02:34-02:39
When I was eight, there is that there is this kid that I went to elementary school with.
02:41-03:23
Don't judge me. I was eight. Okay, don't judge him either because he was eight too. All right, don't miss the point of the story But this this kid was going through this He's going through a phase. We'll call it that right parents. He was going through a phase He just kept bragging about this Indian heritage that he had and it was Every day at school. It was well, you know, I'm 67.3% "Yeah, good for you." And, "Well, you know what that means?" He goes, "That means I'm stronger than anybody else in this class." And I'm just like, "Yeah, good for you." He goes, "You know what else that means?
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It means I'm faster than anybody else in this class because I'm 67.3% Cherokee Indian.
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So I'm stronger and I'm faster and I'm smarter and I have better skin complexion." He was just going on and on and on and on.
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I'm thinking this whole time, there's no way.
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There's no way.
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I don't know what I am.
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I'm a mutt.
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But I know that there's no way that that guy's stronger and faster than me.
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I know it.
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So finally, one day at lunch, he was going on and on about his heritage again.
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And I said, I want to race you at recess.
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We're going to race.
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OK?
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We're going to settle this.
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There's no way you're faster than me.
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And he said, oh, OK, it's on.
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So recess, we get out to the blacktop.
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We were in the one corner of the blacktop.
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We said, OK, here's what we're going to do.
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We're going to run down to the other corner of the blacktop, and we're going to run back to this spot.
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OK?
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On your mark, get set, go.
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And I was down and back before he was halfway down.
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So I was like, what now?
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I thought you were, you know, 60, 67.3% Cherokee better than me or whatever.
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Like what now?
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What's your explanation now?
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I smoked you!
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I was like the flash!
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He said to me, "Well, it wasn't a fair race." I said, "Why wasn't it a fair race?" He goes, "Because I'm wearing my cowboy boots today." And I said, why is an Indian wearing cowboy boots?
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You know what, we became best of friends after that.
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And where are you going with this story?
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That's a good question.
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He was setting out to prove something about himself.
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And he failed miserably.
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And what we're looking at in this text today, what we're looking at is Peter is setting out to prove something not about himself, but Peter is setting out to prove something about Jesus Christ. And we'll see that Peter's results were much different than my friends from elementary school. You know, his point. This is what we're looking at today in God's Word. Peter is setting out to prove to these Jews that have assembled. Peter wants to prove one thing to them, and it's this. Jesus And that's the point today.
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And what is the Messiah?
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Well, if you go through the Old Testament, you can't miss all through Israel's history.
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God promised that the Messiah, this Christ, this anointed one, this this special and unique person was going to be.
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to come to save His people and rule over His people.
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You see it clear back in Genesis 3.
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You see it in the life of Abraham.
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God promised Abraham that through his offspring there will be a blessing for the whole earth.
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God made a promise to Moses that He was going to raise up a prophet like him, but much greater than him.
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The promise was made to David.
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And you go through the major prophets minor prophets all through the Old Testament is this ringing promise that this anointed one, this Messiah is coming.
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To save and rule over.
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The Israelites and ultimately the whole world and Peter in this point of his sermon, it got up and he's saying the Messiah is here, you know, this Messiah that we've been looking for as a people, the Messiah is here, the Messiah has come and the Messiah is Jesus of Nazareth.
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But there's a problem.
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Because to the crowd, they were like, yeah, didn't didn't we just crucify him for making that claim?
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So how can it be that this this Nazarene, this this carpenters kid, how can it be that he's the Messiah?
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And in this passage, Peter's giving evidence.
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Of Jesus credentials, he's giving Jesus resume that proves that he is the Christ.
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So on your outline today, I encourage you to jot some things down.
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For proofs that Jesus is the Christ.
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Or why is Jesus such a big deal?
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For proofs, first of all, write this down, Peter says, we witness God's power in Jesus life.
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Look at verse 22, Peter says, men of Israel.
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Hear these words.
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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.
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Let's stop there.
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The first thing Peter mentions.
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As we witness God's power in Jesus life.
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He talks, first of all, about mighty works.
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That's the power that was on display.
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He talks about wonders.
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That's the reaction of people to the things that Jesus did.
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But understand, when Jesus was on the earth performing miracles, Jesus wasn't being David Copperfield.
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OK, Jesus wasn't like, hey, you guys want to see a trick?
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Yeah. Ta-da.
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Like, wasn't that cool?
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That was not the purpose of the miracles.
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In fact, Jesus made it very clear why he performed the miracles.
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It was to authenticate that the father sent him.
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And it was to authenticate that the father empowered Jesus Christ.
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John, chapter five, verse 36, Jesus said, the very works that I'm doing bear witness about me, that the father has sent me.
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John, chapter 10, verses 37, 38, Jesus said.
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If I'm not doing the works of my father, then do not believe me.
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But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, you may know and understand that the father is in me and I am in the father.
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You see, Jesus point was to say, look, these miracles are to authenticate.
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That I'm the Christ, that I'm the Messiah, that the father has sent me.
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And Peter points out, he says that God did these things in your midst, as you yourselves know, you know, remember the exchange with Nicodemus in John chapter three, Nicodemus said to Jesus, we know that you're from God because no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him.
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So these miracles weren't done in a corner, it wasn't like Jesus just had a couple of people in the corners, I'm going to I'm going to show you these really awesome works.
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And we walk through the Gospel of Mark.
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Jesus performed these miracles in front of crowds of thousands, whether it was healing someone or feeding multitudes.
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And Peter says, you guys were there, you saw it, you saw it, you know, the power that Jesus had. You were there.
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But notice the other word that he uses, this is this is important, he says, there might works and wonders, and he also calls them signs.
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So I want you to notice that these works that Jesus performed, they weren't meaningless, they weren't random.
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They were actually called signs.
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And what does a sign do?
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Well, a sign just simply points to something, right?
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Notice Jesus' miracles were very specific in that it wasn't like, "Well, I'm going to prove that I'm God, so let me see, I'm going to pull a rabbit out of a hat.
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that'll prove that I'm God. It wasn't some meaningless gesture.
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The miracles that Jesus performed were pointing out some very important spiritual truths.
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For example, after feeding a multitude of thousands of people with two fish and five loaves and John chapter six and verse 48, Jesus turns to the crowd and he says, I am the bread of life.
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See the connection?
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Right before Jesus resurrected Lazarus in John, chapter 11, verse 25, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.
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You see, Jesus miracles were a very graphic display of this deeper spiritual truth about himself.
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Peter points out that, you know, you guys can't claim ignorance.
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In church, I would point out that you can't claim ignorance.
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Because, like the Israelites that Peter was preaching to here, you also today have the facts that God's Word records for us that you either have to reject or believe.
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On the way back from Thailand at the airport, I was sitting with Pastor Ben at the airport in Chiang Mai, and this girl just comes up and sits with us.
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talking to us and she was American. She was from, I think, from Wyoming. Her name was Michaela. I think she was just so excited to see other Americans. She just came and sat down and acted like we've known each other for years. I was sharing the gospel with her and she said that she has no religious background. She had no religious background whatsoever. I said, "Well, let me tell you what the Bible says about Jesus." And I shared the gospel with her about who Jesus is and what he's done and what he did for her. So And she said, "What if you're wrong about all this stuff?" She said, "What if you're wrong about what you believe?" And I said, "That's a really good question.
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What if I am wrong?
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If I'm wrong, what have I lost?" I said, "I have a great marriage.
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I have a great church family back in the Pittsburgh area that I just love and are such an encouragement to me.
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we promote a morality that benefits our fellow man. If I'm wrong and you're just looking at this from a purely objective standpoint, right? That we're people that try to do good to other people and we have good relationships with each other.
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I said if I'm wrong, that's worst-case scenario for me, and I said what if you're all. What if.
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Eternity hinges on what you do with Jesus Christ. What have you lost?
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So you can't dismiss Jesus as some moral teacher and that's what some people want to do. It's like you know we got we get these moral teachers we got you know we got the Buddha and we got we got Gandhi and we got like all you know Mohammed and we got all these moral teachers And Jesus doesn't fit into that category because moral teachers don't heal blind people or raise people from the dead.
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See, the first piece of evidence that Jesus is the Christ, Peter points out, look at the power of God in his life.
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We witness God's power through Jesus life.
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Secondly. Your second evidence, Peter's going to give you, he says, we witness God's sovereignty in Jesus death.
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Look at verse 23.
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He says, "This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God." I'm going to read that again.
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This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.
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You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
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We witness God's sovereignty in Jesus' death.
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This word for "delivered up," this is the only place I believe in the New Testament that this word is used.
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It literally means "surrendering to enemies." Meaning this was no accident.
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I shared with you before when I was sharing the gospel with this woman in my old neighborhood, she just got very sad.
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And she said, you know, the worst thing that's ever happened was Jesus Christ was on the earth and he was doing all these good things and they got him.
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They killed him.
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And oh, what a shame.
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If only they hadn't gotten him, if only they hadn't killed him.
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Think of all the good that he could have done.
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Cut down so young.
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What a tragedy.
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She had it completely wrong.
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The death of Jesus Christ wasn't an accident.
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It wasn't like Jesus was going along and he had this plan when suddenly his plan was interrupted by his death because understand that the plan was his death.
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Jesus said in John chapter 10, before the events of the crucifixion, before his arrest and trial and all of that, well before any of that, Jesus said in John chapter 10, "I'm the good shepherd.
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I lay down my life for the sheep.
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No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord.
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Jesus said I have the authority to lay it down and I have the authority to take it up again.
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This charge I received from my father.
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So it wasn't a surprise, it wasn't an accident, according to Peter here, it was according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.
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And when it talks about God's foreknowledge, this means so much more than just simply God knew ahead of time.
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OK, it's more than that.
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This is saying that somehow.
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God used men.
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To accomplish his purposes, but he never violated their will.
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These men weren't puppets.
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And they were somehow also guilty.
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And God knew about this from eternity past.
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And you're like, OK, Pastor Jeff, can you explain that?
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And the answer is I can't.
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I can't explain that.
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God lives outside of time and space.
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I do not.
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I'm a finite speck of dust and water on this earth.
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And God is transcendent and sovereign and omniscient.
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And I don't understand how these things work.
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But you see in the same verse.
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Peter's like, yeah, this was part of God's plan and you killed him.
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And that verse right there is just a head scratcher, isn't it?
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Isn't that verse a head scratcher? Like.
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Like, are they guilty or not?
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And they were, but it was according to God's plan, but.
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They weren't puppets.
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All of that just goes into one big bucket that we just slap a label on and we call it sovereignty. God is sovereign, meaning he solely reigns.
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over every detail in every event.
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And somehow God used the lawless acts of these sinful men who crucified his son in order to accomplish.
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His eternal purpose.
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That's why Paul tells us in Romans 828, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.
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I was thinking about the verse this week, usually we apply it to ourselves.
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I was thinking about it applying to Jesus.
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Did Jesus love God?
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Obviously. Was Jesus called according to God's purpose?
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Obviously. So Romans 828 does apply to Jesus.
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The parenthetically, I just want to insert that this verse was written for you, too.
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Because of God.
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If God can take the worst thing that's ever happened in history.
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And use that to become the best thing that's ever happened in history.
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God can do the same for whatever trial you're going through right now.
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I mean, think about it, the worst thing that ever happened in history.
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God Almighty comes and dwells among us.
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You know, the God who created us, the God who loves us, the God who wants a relationship with us, takes the form of man and comes and lives with us and we we beat him and we spit on him and we publicly execute him.
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I can't think of anything worse than that.
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That's the very thing that God used to purchase our redemption.
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Again, it all falls under his sovereignty.
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So, Church, if God can take something so horrible and make something so beautiful out of it, I want you to think of the trial that you're going through right now.
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Can God take whatever it is that you're going through right now and in His sovereignty, use it to accomplish some glorious purpose in your life?
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The answer is absolutely yes, He can.
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Yes He will.
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Because nothing, nothing is by accident.
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These people didn't get Jesus.
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Nor was this Jesus committing suicide.
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All of this falls under God's sovereignty.
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And this is Peter's second piece of evidence.
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He said we witness God's sovereignty in Jesus' death.
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God sovereignly used the actions of men to accomplish his purpose in Christ being crucified.
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We saw it in his life and we saw it in his death.
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Thirdly, the third proof, this is the biggest one, we witness God's victory in Jesus' resurrection.
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We witness God's victory in Jesus' resurrection.
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Peter gives us one verse about the life of Jesus and one verse about the death of Jesus and gives us nine verses on the resurrection of Jesus.
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Look at verse 24.
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Verse 24 says God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
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The proof, the ultimate proof of the deity of Christ, the proof of our resurrection from the dead, The proof that God the Father accepted the sacrifice of God the Son, the ultimate proof that Jesus is the Christ.
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Is found in his resurrection.
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Because think about it, if Jesus was crucified and killed and put in a tomb and he stayed in the tomb, we wouldn't really have much purpose to celebrate today, would we?
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For what purpose would we gather to celebrate some dead teacher that came and was doing some good things and made some claims about himself?
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but he's been dead and gone for 2000 years and there's no victory in that.
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See, the reason we're so fired up, the reason we're celebrating is because there is victory over sin and over shame, over death, over the curse of sin itself.
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There's victory because Jesus rose from the dead.
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And for Peter to make such a claim of the significance of the resurrection, he's going to have to back it up with some scripture, right?
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And that's exactly what he does.
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In fact, Peter cites Israel's favorite superhero.
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And that was King David.
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To the Israelites, like, who's a better hero in your history than David?
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And that's exactly where Peter takes the crowd.
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He says that David prophesied and was told about Jesus.
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How so? Well, look at verse 25.
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He says, "For David says concerning him," he quotes, this is from Psalm 16, "I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
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Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced.
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My flesh also will dwell in hope.
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For you will not abandon my soul to Hades.
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Or let your Holy One see corruption.
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You have made known to me the paths of life.
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You will make me full of gladness with your presence.
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Then Peter says, brothers.
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I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch, David, he died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day.
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So concerning David, first of all, Peter says David prophesied that the Messiah would raise from the dead.
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Psalm 16 is the prophecy.
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You should know this.
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He will not abandon my soul to Hades, the word Hades in the Old Testament, you see the word Sheol, it just means the grave.
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There is still some mystery about what happens when we die.
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Where do we go?
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What's what's beyond the grave?
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And to the Israelites, they called that Sheol, the grave.
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And he says the prophecy says my soul is not going to be abandoned.
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The Hades, he says, or let your holy one see corruption.
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That phrase holy one refers to the Messiah specifically.
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Literally what that verse means is you're not going to let your Messiah rot in the grave.
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The flesh is not going to rot away in the grave.
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It's a promise of resurrection.
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So David wrote, Peter says, not of himself because David's dead.
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Here's his tomb right here.
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David was speaking of the Messiah.
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So first of all, David prophesied that the Messiah would resurrect from the dead.
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Secondly.
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David was told that one of his descendants would be an eternal king.
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Look at verse 30, he says, being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne.
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Let's pause there. David was told one of his descendants would be an eternal king.
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This reference is from 2 Samuel, chapter seven.
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The God promised David that one of his descendants would reign on the throne forever.
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And again, Peter's like, well, that's not talking about David, right?
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David's dead and gone.
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There's prophecies about one of David's descendants who we know.
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As Jesus of Nazareth.
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This is David still dead.
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Verse 31.
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He says he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
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This Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witnesses.
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So Peter's really driving the point home here, isn't he?
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He says that Jesus Christ is the Savior and he's the king.
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Not only is he this Savior that didn't rot in the grave, that resurrected from the dead, promising our resurrection, but Peter also throws in here, remember, the Messiah was also going to be an eternal king.
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And if you're going to receive Jesus Christ, church, you have to receive him for who he is.
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You can't pick and choose what you like about Jesus and embrace that and the parts about Jesus that you're not really keen, reject that.
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You don't have that option.
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When I was in Thailand.
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The food was really good for the first few days.
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But being a fat American, after a while, I wanted something more than rice and vegetables.
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I'm not complaining.
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But you know, sometimes you just want a taste of the familiar, right?
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Well, on the last day, we did some touristy things, and the one place we went, they had a buffet.
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And I went to the buffet, and they had fried rice, and they had steamed rice, and they you know, these steamed vegetables and they had, you know, these, you know, pork dishes and things like that and Then at the end of the buffet Glowing with an otherworldly glow was a pan of fried chicken wings And I can unashamedly say That was all that I ate. I that I was like, I just want the chicken wings.
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And I made like three trips up chicken wings on the plate every time.
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My point is, sometimes people try to do that with with the Bible.
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People try to do that with Jesus, because we like this idea that that we have this we have this pass into heaven because of the work that God did on our behalf.
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We like this idea of of I have a savior that died for me.
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But then when we talk about he's not just the savior, He's also the King of kings.
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He's the Lord of all.
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He deserves to sit on the throne of your heart, so you better get off and let Jesus Christ have the rightful place reigning in your life.
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All of a sudden, we don't like that part.
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Can we just talk about the Savior thing again?
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Because there's still some selfishness in us that we don't want somebody telling us what to do. We don't want this thought of somebody reigning over us.
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We want to be king of our own lives.
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What I'm telling you is this ain't the buffet in Thailand.
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We can't pick and choose what we want.
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If we're going to embrace Jesus Christ, we have to embrace him for who he is.
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Can't I just have Jesus as my savior, but not as my king?
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That's not an option.
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And I believe that's why Peter reemphasized that point concerning David, that one of his descendants, he would set one of his descendants on his throne. Verse 30, remind us that Jesus isn't just the Savior, he's also the King. So the third evidence, the greatest evidence that Jesus is the Messiah. This King showed ultimate proof that he is the King of Kings in his victory over the grave.
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And in Jesus exaltation.
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We witness God's promise in Jesus' exaltation.
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Verse 33, "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 hearing when Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God, he received the promise that God made that when Jesus finished his work, the father would pour out the Holy Spirit on his people.
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That's in John 14, 26.
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That's in John 16, verse seven.
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God promised Jesus, when your work's done, I'm sending the spirit.
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We poured out.
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And that's what Peter's highlighting here.
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He says, God made a promise.
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and see how he circled it back to Pentecost.
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When I was studying this, I was like, "Wait a minute." The crowd's like, "What's up with the Holy Spirit? What's up with...
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There's this outpouring of God's power. What's up with that?" And Peter's like, "Well, let me tell you all about Jesus." And I'm like, "Well, what exactly is the connection between talking about the life, death, resurrection, exaltation of Jesus and the Holy Spirit?" Well, here it is.
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He says this is this is part of the plan.
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What you're seeing is the ultimate culmination, the fulfillment of what God promised through Jesus Christ.
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Verse 34. He says, for David did not ascend 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.
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So concerning the exaltation of Jesus Christ, Peter again goes to David's writing, this is Psalm 110.
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Again, this was by David, but not about David.
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Concerning the exaltation of Jesus Christ, as I'd like to remind you.
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That the enemies of the Christ, the enemies of the Messiah are ultimately going to be under his feet.
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We totally get that picture, don't we?
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It's a picture of total domination.
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Every enemy that would exalt themselves over Jesus Christ is ultimately going to find themselves conquered under him.
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You know, these past couple of weeks, you can't turn on the news, get online, turn on the radio without hearing things about ISIS.
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ISIS and you know even this morning there were more rumors about the next target of ISIS.
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At the end of the day ISIS is just one more enemy that's going down.
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So the exaltation of Jesus Christ brought promises, promise of the Holy Spirit, the promise of triumph over his enemies.
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But I want you to look at verse 36.
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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." Peter says, "You need to know this for certain." It is again, Lord and Christ again pointing to his authority.
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And Peter turning to the crowd.
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And saying, what's your verdict?
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You crucified him.
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Would you like to rethink your original assessment of Jesus Christ?
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And I would like to say to you, church, that maybe there's someone here who has rejected Christ.
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Maybe there's someone here has rejected Christ for years.
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Maybe now you're thinking that maybe that's not the right decision.
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Because Christ's enemies.
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Are ultimately going to be destroyed.
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And somebody here might say, that sounds so that sounds so cold, that sounds so calloused To say something like that.
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Why would you preach that?
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Why would Peter talk about?
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This, why would Peter bring this portion of his sermon to a close, talking about Christ's enemies being under his feet, why would you bring your sermon to a close talking about Christ's enemies?
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Being under his feet, it just sounds so just sounds so unloving.
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So calloused.
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But let me paint another picture for you.
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So you have you have this guy, you have this this man that that God created.
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To have a relationship. With him.
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But this man is a rebellious sinner by birth and by choice.
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So God would have been justified the first time this guy said to say.
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Off to hell with you, you have rejected your creator.
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God would have been justified to do that, but.
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Instead of just wiping the man off the map, God instead says, I'm going to offer him grace.
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God says, I'm going to let my son die.
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So that this man can be forgiven of his sins.
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And God goes through with that plan.
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God sends his son to die for the sins of this man.
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And the man's response to God is, I don't want anything to do with you, even though you created me. I don't need your son even though he died for me. Listen God, your son's death is meaningless to me.
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I don't want your love. I don't need your grace. I don't want your mercy. I don't want your people. I just want to live my own life, leave me alone.
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And my question is.
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What should be done with a guy like that?
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A guy who can look.
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Into the love and grace of a God who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all.
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And just spit in his face again.
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Now does it seem so callous that when a man wants nothing to do with God, God would grant him that request and say, OK.
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I extended my gift and you've rejected my gift.
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You don't want anything to do with me.
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And I created this place.
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Or I can send you or you'll be apart from me for eternity, because ultimately.
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You made the decision that that's what you want.
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Right now.
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It's not too late for you.
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And even if you're sitting here today and you've rejected, you've been rejecting Christ for 10 years or for 50 years, you can make a different decision today.
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Because here's the good news.
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God wants you saved.
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God wants to have a relationship with you.
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God wants to give you every spiritual blessing that can be had.
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And he wants it for you so much.
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That he gave up the most precious thing that he had.
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He let his son die so that that relationship could be restored.
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Just now we're going to gather around the Lord's table by receiving communion.
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You see, just as in this sermon, Peter's focus was on Jesus Christ as a church when we come to the Lord's table.
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The Lord's Supper brings us back to that.
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The Lord's Supper brings us back to the truth that Jesus Christ.
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Is the central figure of history.
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And he is the central figure in this church.
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Just as I preached a sermon to you, the Bible says this is your sermon that you're going to preach. As the Bible says that when you receive the Lord's Supper, you are proclaiming his death. Receiving the Lord's Supper is your way of professing this. I believe that Jesus Christ is who he said he is. Peter gave us some very convincing proofs that Jesus is the Messiah and by receiving the Lord's supper, you're saying, "I believe that He's not just the Messiah. He's my Messiah.
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He's my Savior. He's my King. You bow your heads with me. Father in heaven, the proof is undeniable.
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Father, we realize that rejecting this proof isn't a matter of stupidity.
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It's a matter lack of intelligence or just being thick-headed.
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It's a sin issue.
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Your word tells us that man suppresses the truth in unrighteousness.
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Father, we see some very convincing evidences in your word today that Jesus wasn't just some guy, some teacher, some really nice Jew that lived 2000 years ago, that maybe we can learn some things from.
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Jesus is the Christ.
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Jesus is the most important person to ever step foot on this planet because he is God in the flesh.
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Father, we see it in his life and the miracles that he performed.
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We see it in his death, the way you sovereignly orchestrated those events and used people to accomplish your purposes.
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We see it, most of all, Father, in his resurrection.
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It was not possible for the grave to hold him.
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Just as you promised through David in Psalm 16 you were not going to let your Holy One see corruption, we see Jesus Christ bursting forth from the grave, conquering sin and death.
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Father, we see it in his exaltation because it was after his exaltation that you sent your Holy Spirit.
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Of whom we are still witnesses today.
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The father, I pray for the person here.
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Who may still be suppressing the truth and unrighteousness, the person here that sees the evidence staring them in the face, but for some reason.
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Has not received Christ by faith, I pray that today is the day.
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That they're done playing games, and they're done trying to justify, and they're done trying to take Jesus as Savior, but not Lord, because that was never an option.
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Let today be the day, Father, that that person falls on their knees, says, "I need you.
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I need your salvation.
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I need your lordship.
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I need your presence in my life.
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Father, we thank you that the promise stands today just as it did when Peter originally preached this, just as it did when Joel originally said, "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Glorify your name.
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We pray in Jesus' name.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 2:22-36
Explain Acts 2:23. If this was God's plan, according to His foreknowledge, can those men who crucified Jesus be held guilty? Why or why not?
Why does Peter spend so little time on Jesus life and death, and so much time on Jesus' resurrection?
The original purpose of Peter's sermon was to explain the coming of the Holy Spirit. Why, then, did Peter preach about Jesus?
What promises are attached to the exaltation of Christ (Acts 2:33-36)? What do these promises mean for you and the church?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.