so let's let's let's ask God to be with us before we look at his word our father in heaven we
simply pray that you would be here by your spirit this morning as we look at your word and study it
and meditate on it together thank you for the great and awesome truths it contains in Jesus name
so we have a relatively lengthy passage this is gonna bother me um so we're acts chapter two
and we're going to be reading verses 14 through 41 um i wonder if i might get a couple of volunteers
to maybe break that up and and read um read the entire passage for us any volunteers
okay so tyler why don't you start and then stop where it seems about a third way laurie you pick up
uh and do the same and then brian you finish this off nice and loud though okay because
yeah acts chapter two verse 14 uh but peter standing with the eleven lifted up his voice
and addressed them men of judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem let this be known to you and give
the ears to my words for these people are not drunk as you suppose it is only the third hour of the day
but this is what was uttered through the prophet joel and in the last days it shall be what god
declares that i will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your son and your daughter shall prophesy
and your young men shall have visions and your old men shall dream dreams even on my male servants
and female servants in those days i will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy i will show wonders
in the heavens above and signs on the earth below blood and fire and vapor of snow the sun shall be
turned to darkness in the moon's blood before the day of the lord comes the great and magnificent day
and it shall come to pass if everyone who calls upon the name of the lord shall be saved
men of israel hear these words jesus of nazareth a man attested to you by god with mighty works and
wonders and signs that god did through him in your midst as you yourselves know this jesus delivered up
according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of god you crucified and killed by the hands of
lawless men god raised him up loose loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be
held by it for david says concerning him i saw the lord always before me for he is at my right hand that
i may not be shaken therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced my flesh also will dwell in hope
for you will not abandon my soul to hades or let your holy one see corruption you have made known to me
the path of life you will make me full of gladness with your presence brothers i may say to you with
confidence about the patriarch david that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this
day being therefore a prophet and knowing that god had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of
his descendants on his throne he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of christ that he was not
abandoned to hades nor did his flesh see corruption this jesus god raised up
and of that we are all witnesses being therefore exalted at the right hand of god and having received
from the father the promise of the holy spirit he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing
and hearing for david did not descend into the heavens but he himself says the lord said to my lord sit at
my right hand until i make your enemies your footstool but all the house of israel therefore know
for certain that god has made him both lord and christ this jesus whom you crucified now when they heard
this they were cut to the heart and said to peter and to the rest of the apostles brothers what shall we
do and peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the
forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit for the promise is for you
and for your children and for all who are far off everyone whom the lord our god calls to himself
and with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying save yourselves from the
crooked generation from this crooked generation so those who received his word were baptized and there
were at that day about three thousand souls okay great thank you so we can see that there's a summary
verse um if you look at verse 36 and peter says let all the house of israel therefore know for certain
that god has made him both lord and christ this jesus whom you crucified and then shortly after
after in verse 38 he says therefore repent okay so if we're going to understand i think the weight of
what's going on we have to think about the context that peter's speaking into um
we have the expectations of the people for what the messiah is going to be and um i want to read a couple
passages for you to just put a little flavor on the the uh uh may you of what peter's speaking into
um just after the resurrection happened okay so this is matthew chapter 27 this is the scene at the
crucifixion it's going to be familiar passage uh let me read a few verses for us
and over his head they put a charge against him which read this is jesus the king of the jews
then two robbers were crucified with him one on the right and one on the left and those who passed by
derided him wagging their heads and saying you would just you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it
in three days save yourself if you are the son of god come down from the cross
so also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him saying he saved others he cannot
save himself he is the king of israel let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him
he trusts in god let god deliver him if he desires him for he said i am the son of god
god so basically what's happening is jesus is in his ministry claiming to be uh the messiah to which
the jewish people perceive to be um a military ruler right who's going to come and liberate them from the
romans and that is part um being king of course is part of what the prediction of the messiah was to
be but there's also another side to being messiah which was which was what
right so uh the suffering servant uh motif which the people um weren't prepared for right so
um even people within jesus circle so i want to read another passage to to continue to flesh this out
just a little bit so this is um a few verses from the emmaus road account so familiar with jesus has
died he's been resurrected he's now encounters these two men on the emmaus road and this again is familiar
but let me read these verses for us and jesus said to them what is this conversation that you are holding
with each other as you walk and they stood still looking sad then one of them named cleopas answered
him are you the only visitor to jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these
days and he said to them what things and they said to him concerning jesus of nazareth a man who was a
prophet mighty indeed and word before god and all the people and how our chief priests and rulers
delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him but we had hoped that he was the one to redeem
israel and he said to them oh foolish ones and slow and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets that
had spoken was it not necessary that the christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory
and beginning with moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things
concerning himself okay so what we have is jesus himself
explaining that there was a multi-dimensional facet to being messiah right there was this suffering
servant who was to be the high priest the ultimate high priest of god's people who was going to suffer
and pay for sins and make a way for forgiveness of sins but also a whole on the other side there's a
whole nother dimension of christ which is his kingship his lordship over all and the people
could not really conceive of those two things blending together and so they had a a pretty
um narrow expectation of what messiah was going to be so that's if we if we have that in our backdrop
and then we go back again and look at verse 36 so peter says let all the house of israel therefore
know for certain that god has made jesus both lord and christ
this jesus whom you crucified so what do you think is our possible ways we could render
peter putting these two things out there side by side and saying there's a and b and jesus was actually
both a and b what what would those what are possibilities for those two things well what does he mean by lord
this is not a trick question but what does he mean by lord
god
what what category for what we were just talking about
if peter says yes this jesus who you said if you really are
king of the jews come on down from the cross by the way i hope we feel
i hope we can existentially feel the weight of
that moment where jesus is hanging on a cross and human beings are at the foot of the cross and
saying you said you were you said you were king we doubted you this whole time now we've pinned you onto a tree
let's see you prove it now which is interesting as we talk about the resurrection right because
there's a big proof is coming um anyways lord is master lord is
king when peter says jesus is lord it almost goes beyond the conception right of earthly king it is
lord so what do you think might he mean then when he uses the word christ
as a both and it it would be odd i think if those were synonyms that he would
put them side by side like that in that phraseology
so christ means messiah
uh but you know looking at it this way you might say ah the other picture of the messiah the suffering
sir
yes so that's what i think is happening i think peter is trying to expand in the mind of his audience
that messiah by god's determination is a much broader um role and because if you think about it
the people all all saw jesus um get crucified this is just just happened and now the resurrection has
also happened and there's accounts of it floating all around and so the part of messiahship which is the
payment for sins is um in the background almost visually for these people at this time right
it's the kingship of jesus frankly that is even at this point
um jesus kingship has not been visually um
uh well we well let's ask the question um what type of proof
was offered the people that jesus was the king
um and i'll even i'll even expand the question to prior to his prior to his crucifixion and
resurrection what proofs did the people have that jesus was the messiah
um and what proofs were they not given so i want to think about that together what what what
were they shown and what were they not shown um the voice from heaven bearing him back to them
good yes
talk and the transfiguration they heard the voice again but only three three of the disciples heard
that right yes good and all the miracles but um a lot of people did miracles so that wasn't really what
they were looking for they were looking for they were looking for something
they carried the voice
right yes
right
they were
they were afraid so
they couldn't obey to a human being right
so jesus said be calm to the storm and the calm and the storm was calm so we could we could
roughly have a category that with that we would call signs and wonders
and within signs and wonders or miracles or maybe even the voice of god coming down in affirmation of jesus
um so there's there's there's that whole category of proofs if you want to if we want to
term it that way um what else though there's another big category
um we talk with authority and it's authority that
other religious leaders sometimes felt threatened by yes
yes so for example we do have we do have accounts where jesus took out the scroll and
read about the messiah and then rolled the scroll back up and says something like
this person that was just spoken of is here and you're misreading the scroll team
um that kind of thing um and
i think that would fall into your category of that he spoke in a in a in a way but that
i don't know that that's evidence right he could have been just
yes okay so we have the and this is where peter goes as part of his sermon here um to the old
testament predictions um and prophecies about the messiah which jesus uh fulfilled
but what types of proofs
were not given to the people
military and political conflict
okay the the kingship that they were expecting
there was very very little evidence of that humanly speaking right
um
we're gonna we're gonna think through that a little bit here coming up but i just want to put that on the table for us to think about
um
he raised people from the dead that's pretty
signs and wonders
which by the way
signs and wonders were also predicted as proofs of the messiah so they're kind of that's kind of in both categories
um
uh i'm i'm gonna argue that
what was done was enough to be in the category that should have trumped the people's
misunderstanding of
of what messiah was going to be
ben
yes so uh good point and so that's that's a whole nother part of the discussion is is um
i mean jesus says well even if a man were to come back from the dead
people still aren't going to believe which is ironic because who came back from the dead and who
so you're you're getting into
sort of
what does it
all these evidences at the end of the day
are not
the heart changing
power
right
but for now for this discussion i'm
for us to understand what's going on with what peter's saying
um
i want to i want to think about
um
these proofs that are shown and and not shown so
um
you know even if we go back to acts chapter one even the believers
um
are still sort of even the people who are with peter and who are who have
who have repented and are on are who are believing jesus even they are saying
they say
uh so
when they had come together they asked him jesus lord
will you at this time restore the kingdom to israel
it's like as if they're saying
all right it's it's go time now like we were we're all with you you're resurrected
but now you're really going to come and do what we thought you were going to do in the first place
our agenda
so let's start seeing some fireworks you know
and jesus said to them it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his
own authority
in other words
jesus is a real king
the real king determines
which threats are the real threats to the people and he goes regardless of what the masses are saying in the in the brew houses
right and deals with the real threats
and you can see the masses are still like hey it's time to it's time to pick pick up your kingship and
crush our immediate enemies
um
so
i'd like to think together about what what were the error what errors were the people making with regard to their
um belief
paradigm
they were thinking entirely in human times
yes
just what they could experience right there in that moment in that work
yes
they were taking the evidence
and
weighing the evidence
the evidence is
wrong wrongly by the way
i'm just gonna show one of my cards here what i'm actually trying
trying to do
we are the they
uh
so
right exactly thank you
i don't need to elaborate on that
um
what else what other what other errors clay
there's this sort of preconceived notion of what the savior would look like
and who the savior would associate with
instead of then when you have
somebody that comes and says they're the savior and now they're associating
cleaning prostitutes fee and
helping the lowest although that doesn't exactly fit their description instead
uh
right
that's
true
and
what's behind do you think
what's the heart attitude behind
people determining what their savior should look like for themselves
how much of them benefit them
i'm sorry what
how much of them benefit them
right but i'm after more of um
a diagnosis has to be made
for internally for people then they prescribe their own medicine and then they look for their medicine to come
and if it doesn't look like what they prescribe for themselves
their god ship
just got questioned
okay so
this goes all the way back to the garden
right which is
we want to be
our own boss
and we want to determine for ourselves even what we need to get out of a big hole like we're
being oppressed by the romans and
we need a military leader to come
where were the people that are like we've got a huge sin problem between us and a holy god
and if god's telling us that his savior is going to save on the level of ultimate spiritual reality
we we need to submit to that
right
now
this idea
that god knows what we need
is a is a huge lesson that i think
this this
proclamation of the resurrection
hammers home and i'm going to try to show that here in a second
um
so in light of this the significance of the resurrection
let's let's shift into that and talk about that
i think
that the resurrection is god's way
of shouting
um
a divine affirmation from heaven
that jesus is
the priestly sacrifice
for sins that is acceptable
and
that jesus is
the victorious king
that has triumphed over his and our
true
greatest enemies
and eventually all enemies
and it's god's way
and this is the part i really want to emphasize because we're all from
of course
everyone here who's a believer is familiar with
the idea of the resurrection and that
jesus died
for sins and god said yes
this was adequate i raise you to validate it
or we might even connect it directly to those people at the foot of the cross saying
if you really are the king
prove it
come on down and god proved it
by not only having
if he had come down from the cross in the middle of all that
that would have been one thing but to be
to be dead and buried and then come down off the cross as it were
is
a much louder declaration
of affirmation of jesus right
but what i want to emphasize is the shouting part of it this is g this is god the
father declaring
declaring to the world
that jesus is who he says that he is in all of his dimensions
and that
frankly
the things that are getting debated on ground level between human beings
should be getting drowned out
by the shouting of you know i like that that you brought up um this verbal affirmation of god on jesus
um
you know uh this is like that
times a million that god would bring him back from the dead
um
and
here's
why i'm saying that
were the people actually given the proofs that they wanted
prior to i mean they're they're there with their hands on their hips saying okay
you don't look like a king to us we're going to crucify you
then when he was resurrected he still hasn't shifted into consummation of his
kingship right
visibly to the people
and it's almost as if peter's saying here's this great reality
to reorder how you're how you're measuring everything
now
how is that relevant to us i think this is so relevant to us
um
when we are
wrestling with our own doubts for example
or when we have circumstances in our life
that that if we were to just use the circumstances as the rubric
for let's just take let's just say is god loving does god love me
if we were to use this human circumstances only
kind of like the people did at the time jesus showed up
on earth
what we're what conclusions might we be tempted to draw
again this is not a trick question
question
i would be
one of the worst person at that time
because
every day in the situation
i look at the situation
as a human being
yes
um
you know for that matter
um
we could say well what proofs do we have right now that jesus is king of the universe
ourselves
um
jesus is absolutely
on the throne reigning
uh
what proofs do we have humanly speaking
uh
for that
so
what's the what's the christian answer to this
if if i if i have a brother that comes to me and he says man
i've got this going on in my life
i just read this book that
really makes me wonder if
god's loving at all you know what's our answer to that
where are we pointed
to
by the new testament authors
romans 5 god's demonstrated his love for us that while we were still yet sinners he died for us and then
the resurrection proves that it's the objective evidence so we look to the cross when
we
doubt
god's loving god at all
why would loving god send his own son to die for
sinners if he's not
yes and
so what i'm trying to argue is that
that reality is in a whole different category it is not
a counter argument that comes along against your
doubts and it's like oh you know that it that it just sort of edges them out
this is more like
god saying this is ultimate reality
and
if we're just gonna be honest for a moment we are not given answers to every single one of our
questions and i think that the passage from acts one has that flavor right it is not for you to know every
thing that god's doing god is god god is king kings
do things that they are free
this is
and so
i think for us
the question kind of swings around on us
it's do we have that paradigm are we living out our christian life
with that paradigm
that this declaration and demonstration
of what God has done in raising Jesus from the dead
and validating his priestly role
as a substitute sacrifice for us
and also validating his kingly role
as having authority over us.
Are we holding that in the proper category of our heart
so that these smaller issues
are held in the proper perspective
and considered by us to be smaller issues?
Does that make sense?
I always have appreciated when I hear sermons
or when I hear someone read passages
that are along the lines of,
what more could God do
than to send his own son to us
and then put a seal on it
by raising him from the dead?
Now, some people might answer,
I'll tell you what he could do.
He could walk in this room right now
and he could answer all of our questions
and he could stop all the suffering in the world.
But really, if we say that,
then what we're saying is,
well, we demand God to jump through our hoops
and not be the king that he says he needs to be.
And we now have made the same error
where we've elevated ourselves
to try to put ourselves back up
on the board of directors.
Jeff, I think no matter how far you dig into this,
at some point you reach the limit of human understanding.
Yes.
And that's why we call it faith.
Because there are some, like the Bible says,
faith is belief and things unseen.
If God did everything that we wanted him to do
to prove that he was God,
he would no longer be God
because he would not be requiring faith
from us to believe in him.
So we're not believing,
it's not blinding.
Each one of us in our lives
have had experience where we know personally
that God expressed his Godship
to us and through us
and through other people around us.
And some of those experiences
have been very traumatic and very painful.
And we know that without the divinity of God,
the grace of God,
we wouldn't have made it through that.
But I can't write that out mathematically
and prove it sometimes.
If someone comes to me,
as you said earlier,
and said,
I got this problem,
I got that problem,
and I read the Bible,
and I want to know what God's going to do
to solve my problems,
my answer is,
I can't answer that question for you.
I don't know what God's going to do
about your financial situation
or your relationship situation.
I don't know what God is going to do
about each one of these specific,
real human problems that you have.
And if I could explain that to you,
then there would be no more mystery left in God.
There would be no more requirement for our faith.
I think at some point,
we have to understand
that we can't explain everything to everybody
for their satisfaction.
And that's what happened
when Jesus was hanging on the cross.
Even after he rose from the dead,
people were still trying to get him
to explain things to them
in terms that they could understand
rather than getting them to understand
that if you took an act of faith on their part
in response to the grace of God,
there are a lot of people
and I've had conversations with people
that have challenged me to prove that God exists
because they don't believe God exists.
I don't have an answer to prove that God exists
because there is a point where
human understanding stops
and we can't fully understand God.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that
another way of sort of articulating
what you said is that
Keller says this.
I think it's a nice formulation.
You know, God,
he doesn't give us all the answers
to all of our questions.
He doesn't give us a perfect argument,
but he does give us a perfect person.
And
the embodiment of that person
is like God's way of saying,
this is the way home to me,
but you don't get to invent your own way.
So you have to accept
this on my terms.
And I think
this sermon,
we see a lot,
we see some people
that God wakes up
through this sermon
that says,
I will accept your terms.
We crucified
the Son of God.
And I don't think
they understood everything.
Obviously,
they didn't
because we have so much evidence
of what
the true believers
are saying to Jesus
after the fact.
You know,
they didn't get
all their doubts answered.
They didn't get
everything resolved.
This greater light
shone on them
and they're like,
they just said,
we're jumping off,
we're jumping into this.
We don't have to have
all the answers.
Now,
I think a lot of answers
can be had.
So I don't want to say
that I think this is a cop-out
where we
don't have to get serious
about looking at what
God has given us
by way of certain arguments
and all that.
But having walked along
with God for a good long while now,
being 47 years old,
I am ready to say
the person of Jesus
has to trump my doubts.
It's the simplest way
to say it.
The resurrected Jesus
as Savior and Lord
is sufficient for me
or he's not.
And
I am thankful
to report,
just from my own
personal witness to you,
that
God has really met me
personally in that way.
I mean,
I feel
whenever I
start tilting my head,
I'm like,
man,
what do I do
with this
thing over here?
What do I do
with this poor girl
that was born
into a ghetto
and
had no chance
it seems like
and then died
some horrible death
and in my heart,
I'm like,
how is God fair
and how is that right
and how is he loving?
It's just this one little example
of a rock I get
in my shoe
from time to time.
But then I look to Jesus
and I say,
well,
wait a minute.
It can't be
that God's not loving
because
I have this greater truth
that drowns that out.
But I don't have my answer.
I can't write
a pamphlet on it
that's going to make
someone that hates God
in their heart
not hate him
if they're not going
to look to the person
of Jesus
to let that trump
the other things
they don't understand.
I had written down here
to discuss together
some,
to kind of drill
into
this next,
so Peter says,
repent.
So there's this call
to these folks
to repent.
repent.
And it's a command
and it's a call
and there is the promise
that God will forgive
whoever repents
right on the heels
of this command
to repent.
But I thought
it would be helpful
for us to think about,
let's say you were
one of the people
there listening
to that sermon.
And let's say,
it is probably likely
that some of those people
were at the crucifixion scene.
I mean,
Peter says,
you crucified him.
I think that's probably
literal for a lot
of the folks
that were listening
to this sermon.
Now when Peter says,
you've got to repent
and receive this forgiveness
that your high priest
Jesus has done for you.
If you imagine
these folks
actually repenting
for individual sins,
what do you think
would be
on the top
of the list?
Because sometimes
I think we,
we,
we're like,
okay,
yeah,
repent from my sins.
So it's like,
it's sort of,
you know,
so I just walked up
and I'm like,
I'm sorry,
you know,
everything I've sinned
is terrible
and I need forgiveness.
But,
you know,
if we take Peter
as a case,
Peter denied Jesus,
right?
He denied Jesus,
he denied Jesus.
Then Jesus came back
and pulled him aside
and forgave Peter
in a personal way
and Jesus knew
what was going on
in Peter's heart.
I think that's true
of all of us
when we come,
when we come to repent.
We're not repenting
generically,
right?
So,
what do you think
was on the top
three bullets
of the typical person
that was one
of the 3,000
that turned
and said,
yeah,
I'm in,
I want it?
No super right
or wrong answer here.
I just want to think
together about it.
Maybe some of them
have been in the crowd
cheering on the crucifixion
or witnessing it
and agreeing with it
and needed to repent
for that level
of participation.
because,
because they had it wrong,
right?
So,
that repentance means
I was cheering
but I had it wrong
but what part,
what parts do you think
they're like,
well,
we had this wrong,
I had this specific
thing wrong?
going my own way,
choosing to do
what I think
is right
instead of
listening for God's
will and plan.
And it sort of goes
to Satan
offering Christ
the kingdom
and that's
what everybody wants,
the whole kingdom
of the world.
mindless.
Yes.
And related to it
as somebody's already said,
you know,
my theological
understanding
of the Messiah
which,
you know,
was a true part
of the picture
for most Jews,
you know,
the conquering king
he will be.
But,
repenting from
my theology
to saying
okay,
now I get it.
Jesus
was right
and
things he was
calling me
to understand
differently.
That's right.
Now,
I'm ready to
believe.
Yes.
Certainly there
would have been
more concrete sins.
Yes.
In the
Israelite
society.
Yes.
nationalistic pride
sense of superiority. We are the Jews
and
Romans shouldn't be ruling over us. This isn't
right, but just the sort of superiority
complex that they all have.
Yep.
Yep, because
right after
you repent and get brought
into the community of
believers, right after that
Jesus, well
in the passage that we just read, Jesus
gets asked, so when are we going to start
really kicking some
bottom
and
he's like
you don't worry about that. I've got a
job for you to do. And job number one
is to go to the Samaritans
and
preach the gospel to them and then many
of them receive the gospel.
The Samaritans. It's like
that would have been
that's a huge
evidence to them that their whole world
their whole system, their whole paradigm
is they've got to
and I think the point that I think is so
helpful for us to see is that
they had to receive that
from God. They had to be willing to
say, okay, teach us
because that
didn't happen. I don't think that happened
overnight. I think that
happened over
time. It's like
and the key
thing is the trust and faith
to not come off the
when God
says, okay, now accept this.
Now accept that these dietary laws are not
everything.
Now accept this. Now accept that
circumcision, this thing that you thought was just
baked in
is not going to be
absolutely necessary. It's hard for us to feel
the weight of some of these things,
but
the underlying
heart disposition
is
that we are willing to
receive
what God has
for us both in
the forgiveness
of our own sins and the establishing us
as children, but also in
God's call on us
and the mission that he gives us
that I feel
sure folks did not understand
or
it just required
submission to God.
I do think the more
to your point, Peter, I do think that
there was a way that
that Jewish folks typically were
viewing their own
standing before God
with regard to their moral
to the law
and that
this outpouring of the spirit
brought much more of a
sermon on the mount
style
verdict
where people
were waking up to the fact that
oh, wait a minute, I need a divine
savior
to bridge a divine gap
that's caused by my
by my sin
which was yet another
thing that had to be received by faith
by
by people
okay, so
I do want to
make sure that we
hit and observe
this sort of good news
that some
Peter mentions here
at the tail end of the passage
if you look at me
back in verse
let's go back to verse 38
Peter said to them
repent and be baptized
every one of you
in the name of
Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness
of your sins
and you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit
and then he says
for the promise
is for you
and for your children
and for all
who are far off
everyone
whom the Lord
our God
calls to himself
so what's the promise?
why that terminology?
yes
I'm sorry
a son
to become a son
to become
a child of God
okay
do we see
any specifics
here in the text
that we might
hang on
the
that terminology
of promise
forgiveness
of sins
and the Holy Spirit
if the forgiveness
of sins
and receiving
the Holy Spirit
does not come
by God's promise
to give it to us
if we repent
what are some
other channels
that we might
imagine
that getting right
with God
would come through?
yes
okay
so
this is not
you know
this is Christianity 101
but
Christianity 101
is pretty crazy
awesome
and profound
yes
I think
that
we don't
want to
lose
the impact
of Peter
saying
right here
right after
he told
right after
he told
people
you literally
crucified
the son
of God
I mean
could you
imagine
the weight
of that
if you
had seen
that
with your
own
eyes
and then
he says
this forgiveness
that's being
offered to you
is being offered
to you
by God's
promise to
deliver it
by
in the name
of Jesus
and it's another
way of saying
free of charge
to you
because
you could
never
make yourself
right with God
and that's the
whole point
of why
Jesus
had to
be crucified
and be
the high
priest
right
yes
yep
and so
this is
the
new covenant
this is
one of the
first things
of the new
covenant
that was the
old covenant
you might
long
I will
be your
God
and the
covenant
if you
remember
there's
the animal
that was
split
and the
participants
of the
covenant
had to
clean
and let
it be
to me
like this
animal
that
break the
covenant
well
they had
written
covenant
they had
been
but this
is the
this is
the new
covenant
so
when
people
hear this
the promise
was
was it
it was
to the
Hebrews
it was
to my
children
it was
to
you
people
the people
who might
choose to
draw
the promise
and now
it says
it's for
you
and your
children
and all
who are
far off
Samaritans
yes
so this
is another
breaking of
that political
paradigm
that identification
of wait
we are
God's
people
oh
now
who is
the other
party
of the
house
Jesus
established
it
and the
other party
is you
and for
those who
believe
your children
and all
who are
far off
yes
thank you for
bringing that
up because
um
the that
language of
the promise
i think would
absolutely have
been
a
i think his
peter's hearers
would absolutely
have picked up
on and
connected that
promise back
to the
messiah
and um
it's
it's uh
they were
expecting a new
covenant
right of course
they had like the
deal that they
had an old
covenant
they keep
their part
yes
they thought
that that
was it
and then
it would be
that
and they
would be
you know
yes
whatever it
would be
this is the
right order
of God
and us
and oh
wait
there's
this is
different
and it's
not just
for
Hebrew
blood
yes
and never
and really
it never
was
um
uh
but
but no
that's a
great point
um
any other
thoughts or
questions
peter
i just
um
i think
complimented
that idea
it was
really good
really key
point
um
i think
um
the promise
there's a
promised land
associated with
the promise
right there's
still a
an earthly
inheritance
i think
that
doesn't
it seems
doesn't seem
like it's
totally being
being um
dismissed
by peter
right so
peter is
peter
peter is not
saying
peter is not
spiritualizing
the promised
land right
and he's
actually not
not
saying
there is
no promised
land here
anymore
because i
think very
much present
in their
minds is
is there's
a there's
a
to the
land
flowing with
milking
honey
you know
this is
the this
is the
inheritance
that we
have as
sons
right
um
this is
part of
the promises
this thing
this this
shalom
this heavenly
kingdom
that is
coming
and is
given to
us
right
so i
just think
it's
important
to notice
that peter
is not
debunking
that or
saying no
that's not
a real
thing we're
not we're
not moving
there he's
just saying
that promised
land is
for everyone
yes um
and i do
think in the
context of
talking about
the resurrection
talking about
who jesus is
in these
these different
roles and
then having
the the
reality of
the resurrection
just flat
out preached
you know to
affirm who
jesus is
and then
connecting
that to
forgiveness
of sins
and then
referring to
the promise
i do think
the promise
is multi-dimensional
so i i i
would say
um that
um that's
that topic
is like
obviously
a large
topic um
and that
i would agree
that it's not
an abrogation
of older
promises but
but the c
but there's a
pointing going
on that
the promised
land ultimately
is going to
be all
of god's
people restored
with god
forever in
in heaven
right um
so um
other thoughts
or questions
i don't know
if um
what
whatever heaven
means right
what was the
understanding
and we
do we need
to get
back to
what the
situation
is
doing
or even
what ours
is
we don't
know
yeah
go ahead
we're going
there all
right let's
open it up
heaven is a
christian
president
oh my
goodness
yes it's
already
passed we
had jimmy
quarter
so heaven
uh the bible
tells us some
things about
it but it
is beyond
our clear
comprehension
what that
would be like
the picture is
so much bigger
than we
realized the
plan is so
much bigger
than we
realized um
but what i
really wanted
to say
uh uh you
talked about
the shout
yes um and
i believe for
you know the
women at the
tomb and the
disciples you
know and
thomas you
know seeing
the wounds of
jesus and his
hands inside
you know that
came across as
a big shout
um often in
our lives we
hear the we
only hear the
echoes yes
of the
shell um
and jesus i
think maybe
made reference
to that when
he said
blessed are
you thomas
you know you
believe see
but more
blessed are
those you
know who
won't see
and who
won't hear
the full
volume shout
you know but
just echoes
yes of that
um and so
as people just
hear echoes we
really do
the you
know the
full
church and
and all the
things god
has provided
you know since
the shout
you know to
reinforce those
echoes for us
and to help
us at those
tough times
um
um what i was
saying before
about not being
clear i think
two pictures
of where god
wants us to
be by the
time this
life is over
is like
joe who
you know
was really
struggling with
his theology
and what he
expected to
happen in
life and
his this
great
disappointment
uh and
god apparently
never gives
him an
answer as
i read it
you know why
this has
happened to
him joe
certainly there's
no hint that
joe learns
about satan
you know
conversation with
god and
their bet
so to speak
on whether
somebody
would be
good
even when it
doesn't seem
good for him
to be good
anymore you
know good for
goodness sake
uh
but he does
like you said
get the person
of jesus or
get the person
of god at the
end and that's
enough for him
even though he
doesn't get the
explanation he
has some idea
that there's so
much more going
on here that i
have a clue
about so i
just have to
trust the
lord uh and
jesus in in
his life on
earth you know
as far as his
first life you
know he ends
up dead on the
cross uh
but as a human
being those
difficult times
transformed him
with regard to
his human nature
i believe
and to the
man you know
god wanted him
to be and the
kind of person
he wants us to
be so we
have to live
uh knowing
there's so much
more to the
picture we just
see a little bit
of it and we
just have to
trust god to
do a time
plan
we have to
yeah we have
to tune our
we have to tune
our heart to
the places where
god is shouting
the loudest
um we have
two sacraments
in protestant
christianity one
is baptism and
one is
communion communion
is a picture
of the broken
body of jesus
and it is a
food that if
you go without
you will starve
and die and
it is also a
picture of the
blood of god
himself that
has been shed
for us
and here's
maybe we'll
just close with
this i think
this is god
has raised jesus
from the dead
he has established
and affirmed him
in every way
possible and
then he's given
us a tangible
method to say
don't forget
this thing
let it be the
thing that
trumps
and drowns out
some of these
other things
i know
that you're on
a pilgrimage
i didn't give
everyone else the
answers
you're not having
all the answers
frankly i might
just add
it's impossible
that we would
have all the
answers
it's ridiculous
i mean even
with human
reason we could
take a step
back and go
who do we
how could we
possibly imagine
that we're going
to understand
god's sovereignty
and man's free
will
how could we
even possibly
think that if
god tried to
explain the dual
nature of christ
to us
that we would
understand it
instead what
he's given us
is a shout
from heaven
that these
things are true
and you need
to trust me
and you need
to rest in
that
and you need
to prioritize
the conversations
inside your
heart along
the lines of
what i've said
is most important
i'm not saying
that's easy
but that's
what i think
is a good
takeaway from
for us from
this um
from looking
at the
resurrection
in this
passage
so
let's close
there
um
and i'll
pray for us
our father
in heaven
we
praise you
for
your mighty
acts of
salvation
that you
have clearly
demonstrated
there is
no
confusion
salvation
about your
gospel
help us
to believe
and help us
to receive
what you have
for us
in jesus
help us to
receive jesus
as merciful
savior that
paid for all
of our sins
and help us
to enthrone him
on our hearts
and to submit
to him as
king
and help us
to see this
world rightly
and to not
be rattled
by all
the
small
things of
this life
that sometimes
bring into
question
um
your character
but father
may we fix
our eyes
on jesus
and may we
be filled
with his
love
by your
spirit
and father
we pray
for all
the work
that you've
given us
to do
and what
you've
called us
to do
we pray
that you
would
fill us
and give
us everything
that we need
to step
out and
to serve
you and
to love
you and
to love
other people
and I
thank you
for this
time that
we've had
together
this morning
in jesus
name
amen
see you