Sunday September 12 - Acts 2:22-28 - Death Destroyed

22 "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.

Years ago, I had a friend in Glasgow, Scotland, who lived his life for the gospel and Christ’s Church. Every day he was doing something connected to the work of Jesus, whether it was preaching or teaching, leading youth to Christ, or praying and praising God. In fact, one of my other friends once truly remarked: “If Robert didn’t have Jesus and the Church in his life, he would have nothing left.”

That’s almost like saying “If Knoxville didn’t have a university, it would be nothing,” or “If America had not cherished life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it would never have become independent.”

With regard to today’s passage, Peter’s first message could also be characterized in a similar way: 

(i)      That without the miracles of God in his life, the gospels of Christ would never have been written       

(ii) that without the Crucifixion and Christ’s Death on the Cross our sins could never be forgiven      and

(iii) that without the Resurrection of Christ, we could never hope for everlasting life.

With no miracles in His life, Jesus just becomes a Galilean itinerant preacher.

Without the Cross, Jesus would have lived to an old age and died in obscurity.

Without the Resurrection, Christ’s bones would have turned to dust long ago, leaving no mark upon the history of the world.

So without the miracles, without the Cross, and without the Resurrection, there would be no Gospels, no churches, and no faith called Christianity.

When Peter preaches about the miracles, wonders, and signs that Christ accomplished, Luke uses three important Greek words to describe them;

Dunamis = powerful works revealing the supernatural character of God …dynamic

Teras = deeds that inspire amazement, marvel, and awe…terror, terrifying

Semeion= signs that point to the spiritual truth about God and Christ…sermon

23 This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

So, as Peter preaches his message, he emphasizes the miracles of Christ first and foremost in order to connect with his listeners because for the past three years the people of Jerusalem have all been hearing and talking about this miracle worker from the North, Jesus of Nazareth.

The Big Fisherman then talks about the Cross of Christ and His manner of death. He doesn’t mince his words, so he puts the blame for Jesus’ execution into their hands, as well as the Roman authorities. This is either a very brave or an entirely foolish thing to do. Peter is identifying himself with Jesus, who was politically executed by the Roman militia. He could have been arrested on the spot for insurrection, open defiance, and inciting the crowds. Peter was also associating himself with a detested, defeated, and dead religious fanatic. The crowd could have turned upon him at any moment and stoned him to death.

But Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit and he speaks with undeniable authority. Perhaps some of the gathered crowd had also been part of the mob that shouted for Christ to be crucified. Most of them, perhaps, had not raised their voices against Jesus, but when He walked through the streets of Jerusalem painfully carrying His Cross, they indifferent and uncaring. As John Calvin stated centuries ago,

“All of them had defiled themselves either with their silence, or else through their carelessness.”

Because Jesus died on the Cross, many Jews did not believe that He was the Messiah, the anointed King from God. This is why Peter preaches to them that Christ’s Death on the Cross was pre-ordained, pre-determined, and pre-destined by God. The Messiah had to suffer death in order to sacrifice Himself for the sins of the people. Jesus had to die to save them all from God’s wrath. Remember, without the miracles, there is no Gospel. Without the Cross, there is no salvation.

And this brings me to a very important teaching moment. Moslems refuse to accept that Jesus died on the Cross. Instead, they falsely believe that God whisked Christ away into heaven and that either Judas Iscariot or Simon of Cyrene took His place. They deny that Jesus died at Calvary and, in so doing, they deny His capacity to sacrifice Himself for our sins. That is why we as Christians should not and cannot worship with Muslims. Without Christ’s sacrificial death, there is no salvation.

24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 

Without the miracles, there is no Gospel.

Without the Cross, there is no salvation.

Without the Resurrection, there is no hope of eternal life.

The third main point that Peter makes to the gathered crowd is that Jesus rose from the dead. “Death could not keep its hold on Him,” said Peter. To some of his listeners, this would have been absurd. Even today, more than 2/3rds of the world’s population cannot accept that Jesus rose from the grave. As one commentator once wrote:

“No religion stands or falls with a claim about the resurrection of its founder in the way that Christianity does.”

Or as John MacArthur, one of America’s best living preachers said, “The resurrection is the crowning proof that God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Without it, His death becomes the heroic death of a noble martyr, the pathetic death of a madman, or the execution of a fraud.”

Peter’s own people could not accept that Jesus was their Messiah because He died. The Messiah was meant to rescue the Jewish nation from their enemies and re-establish their exalted place as the premier people on earth, the holy Chosen Ones of God. What they didn’t realize was that their greatest enemy was not the Romans or the Greeks, Herod or Caesar. Their greatest and most fearful foe was death which meant eternal separation from God. The death rate then, as it is now, and as it shall be until Christ returns, is one hundred percent. Everyone who ever lived in the past is dead. Everyone who lives today will almost certainly die. And everyone who has still to come into the world will also experience death, unless Christ comes back in our and their lifetime.

The Messiah delivers His people eternally by destroying the power of death. He liberates them to everlasting life through His supreme sacrifice. The greatest miracle, the greatest wonder, the greatest sign of God’s love is this – the Resurrection of Jesus.

So, to once again sum up Peter’s sermon: Without the miracles, there is no Gospel.   Without the Cross, there is no salvation.        And without the Resurrection, there is no hope of eternal life.

Hallelujah! In Christ alone, we have all three…J