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,
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,
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
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