5/7/23 The First Christian Sermon
The First Christian Sermon
Acts 2:22-36
If you perform an internet search for “Famous Speeches that Shaped the History of the World”, you will land on a few websites that will list a variety of impactful speeches from days gone by.
Many of the speeches you uncover will be military-related, such as Winston Churchill’s famous WWII speech from 1940 entitled “We Shall Fight On The Beaches.” You will find General Douglas MacArthur’s inspirational words in his 1962 speech “Duty, Honor, Country.” You will even find references to a speech from 326 BC given by Alexander the Great before going off to war.
Some speeches on the list will be humanitarian in nature, such as Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” masterpiece from 1963, or Nelson Mandela’s speech entitled “I Am The First Accused” delivered in 1964.
There have been inspirational speeches from American politicians such as Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy, FDR, Ronald Reagan, and George Washington.
If you search specifically for ancient speeches, you will see numerous manuscripts from Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Cicero, and Plato.
On a few websites, you may actually find a biblical speech or two such as the Sermon on the Mount, or the speech that Moses delivers to the Israelites when he descends from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments.
In all of my searching for historically impactful speeches, however, I never once came across Peter’s speech at Pentecost. Personally, I find this to be unbelievable given the fact that this speech/sermon is recognized as the inception point of the church – the most influential entity the world has ever witnessed.
To put it another way, if God lit the pilot light at Pentecost with the flame of the Holy Spirit, then Peter’s sermon turned up the gas!
Personally, I believe that Peter’s sermon easily belongs on the “Mt. Rushmore of the most impactful Speeches of all time.”
In fact, In terms of impact, I would rank Peter’s speech at Pentecost as second only to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
Think about it. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Peter delivers a message that God used to instantly changes the hearts of 3,000 people, resulting in the inception of a religious movement that would alter the course of human history over the next 2,000 years – and continues to do so today.
This movement, of course, was the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Even Wikipedia reveals that “Christianity has been intricately intertwined with the history and formation of Western society. Throughout its long history, the church has been a major source of social services like schooling and medical care, an inspiration for art, culture and philosophy, and an influential player in politics and religion.”
It goes on to say that Christianity has been instrumental in the founding of many of our institutions of higher learning and, until just recently in human history, has served as the basis for scientific inquiry. The church has also had a huge impact upon the advancement of human rights as well as the elevation of the status of women and minorities in society.
And If all of that were not enough to convince someone of the enormous impact of Christianity upon the world, the life of Jesus was so important that the world calendar itself is based upon (and measured from) the date of Jesus’ birth.
This institution known as the Church has become the single most important entity over the last 2,000 years of human history – and it all started in Acts chapter 2.
Last week, we looked at the awesome and miraculous coming of the Holy Spirit to the believers who were in Jerusalem celebrating the Jewish festival known as Pentecost.
We saw how the Holy Spirit visually came to rest on people through what seemed to be tongues of fire, indwelling each of the 120 believers assembled that day.
After this, the Holy Spirit enabled these individuals to speak in human languages that were unknown to them, exhibiting & proclaiming to others that this was indeed a miraculous event of God that was taking place.
It is immediately after this that a Spirit-filled Peter boldly stands up and begins to address the crowd of thousands who had become curious as to what was happening.
In verse 14 of Acts chapter 2, Peter begins his sermon for the ages – the very First Christian sermon.
They say that every good sermon begins with something that grabs people’s attention. Well, the Holy Spirit definitely accomplished that for Peter in a way that has never, nor ever will be, matched by any pastor or speaker.…don’t ever expect me to begin a sermon by generating the sound of a hurricane or miraculous non-burning fire – that would be setting the bar way too high...Unfortunately, you’re stuck with stories about my family and numerous trips to Culver’s! 😊
Peter begins by explaining to those in attendance that the sights and sounds they were witnessing were not alcohol-induced, but rather, a Holy Spirit induced moment of spiritual joy and ecstasy. Everything was brand new…the Holy Spirit would now be ministering in the hearts of men in a way that it never had before.
Everyone loves a new car smell, right? When a new car comes off the assembly line, it smells amazing! (Marlene, does your new car smell amazing?)
Here in Acts chapter 2, the Church is just coming off the assembly line and people are overflowing with joyful praise through the Holy Spirit – so much so that onlookers couldn’t comprehend their exuberant behavior.
How about you? Does your life in Christ cause people to wonder how you can be so joyful and content – even when you are going through a difficult circumstance or challenging season of life?
In verses 17-21, Peter references the writings of the prophet Joel as he prophecies about the coming messiah. The specific passage is from Joel 2:28-32.
Joel uses the term “The Last Days” to describe the coming of the Messiah. In fact, theologically speaking, we are in “The Last Days” right now as it encompasses the time between the two comings of the Messiah.
Not having the full messianic picture in view, Joel and the other prophets would occasionally intertwine events surrounding the first and second coming of Christ.
For instance, in chapter 53 of Isaiah, the prophet teaches that the Messiah would come as a suffering servant to die for the sins of the world (Jesus’ first coming)
Earlier, in Isaiah chapter 9, Isaiah describes the Messiah as coming in glory to set up his eternal kingdom (Jesus’ second coming)
These prophetic accounts are both true as they describe how Jesus first came to earth as a suffering servant and will one day come again as the victorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Our passage for today begins with verse 22. (Acts 2:22)
Peter transitions from Joel’s prophecy to the events surrounding the life and ministry of Jesus. His listeners are reminded of the numerous miracles, wonders, and signs that many of them had witnessed firsthand, and how they provide irrefutable evidence that Jesus was indeed the long-awaited messiah.
Peter moves from prophecy about Jesus written centuries earlier, to his listener’s own experience surrounding the miraculous events in Jesus’ life.
Do any of you drive the same road every day?...maybe you drive it to and from work?
Isn’t it interesting how we seldom notice road signs when a particular stretch of highway is extremely familiar to us? For 20 years straight, I drove the same road from Rock Springs to Baraboo every day. Now that I don’t drive it all the time, I’ve begun to notice road signs that I had not noticed before….familiarity with my surroundings had “blinded” me from seeing them.
I believe this is similar to how many of Peter’s listeners would have viewed the prophecies concerning the coming messiah. First Century Jews would have known these prophecies like the back of their hand…like a very familiar road.
The Jews knew about the messianic prophecies from Isaiah, Joel, Daniel, The Psalms, etc. but nothing new had happened for over 400 years and the road was getting very, very familiar…so familiar that they didn’t equate the messianic signs with the life & ministry of Jesus until after they had sent him to the cross.
Peter was telling his listener’s that the prophetic signs all point to Jesus – and the Jews had been blinded by over 400 years of spiritual stagnancy.
In verse 23 (Acts 2:23) Peter delivers the truth dagger of the sermon. It is in verse 23 when Peter informs his listeners that they had done the unthinkable – they had sent their long-awaited messiah to the cross to die a painful and humiliating death.
Peter also reminds the predominantly Jewish audience that even though it was God’s plan for the Messiah to suffer and die at the hands of men, it did not excuse them from sending Jesus to the cross…Judas had free will, as did the Jewish religious leaders who were instrumental in sending Jesus to his death.
One of the deepest paradoxical truths of scripture is the fact that God is timelessly sovereign over His creation and yet at the same time, man has free will - and we are held responsible for our actions.
Our human minds cannot fully grasp how these truths coexist, we’ve tried to articulate them through fancy doctrinal paradigms such as Calvinism and Arminianism – but each of these theological frameworks ends up ignoring certain scriptural passages, or at the very least, we end up emphasizing certain passages of scripture over others.
When I was younger, I so wanted to try to understand the mind of God when it came to sovereignty and free will. Throughout my 20’s, I was a loyal Arminian. In my 30’s my pendulum swung over to a Calvinistic stance.
These days, I just look at the passages of scripture that seem to be a contradiction and I smile – I smile because it reminds me that I serve a God far above my feeble thoughts. In fact, I would not want to serve a God that I could completely understand!
Someone once said: “On days when I’m spiritually victorious, I’m an Arminian – and on days when I’m spiritually defeated, I’m a Calvinist!”…bad joke?...Well, I suppose only some of you were predestined to laugh at it anyway.
Verse 24 (Acts 2:24) of our text describes how God the Father brings eternal blessing – eternal good - from an eternally evil decision on the part of man.
The text says that God the Father raised him (Jesus) from the dead – that death was not able to keep its grasp upon the savior.
Hopefully all of us find great comfort in this particular passage. We ought to be comforted because the resurrection of Christ demonstrates that God accepted his shed blood as an atonement for sin.
Therefore, if the Father has accepted Jesus’ sacrifice, and you are ‘In Christ’, scripture says that He will accept you as well. Is it any wonder that the central theme of all Apostolic teaching and preaching was the resurrection!
The resurrection of Jesus was physical proof of a spiritual truth!
The next few verses of our passage (Acts 2:25-28) are a quotation from Psalm 16:8-11
This is an amazing passage of prophetic scripture because even though it was written by David, it is from the perspective of Jesus (the Messiah) – a thousand years before Jesus would be born to the virgin Mary in a lowly stable in Bethlehem.
There are several truths to be learned from this passage of scripture.
First, Jesus wholeheartedly trusts God the Father because God is faithful (v.25)
Secondly, Jesus is filled with joy, praise, and hope (v.26)
Thirdly, Jesus understands that God the Father will redeem him (v.27)
Fourthly, Jesus is filled with wisdom from the Father (v.28)
How about you this morning? Does your relationship with God elicit this kind of response?
Does knowing God fill you with joy, praise, and hope?
Do you trust Him in every situation?
Are you comforted by the knowledge that you are secure in your salvation?
Do you thank God for discernment & wisdom administered through the Holy Spirit?
In verses 29 & 30, Peter masterfully contrasts David with Jesus.
He begins by reminding his audience that King David – the highly revered man of God - died and was buried like any other man….David did not rise from the grave like Jesus…David was not the Messiah.
Then verse 30 (Acts 2:30) references the famous Davidic Covenant in which God promises David that a descendent of his will rise to be a ruler over an eternal Kingdom. Unlike earthly Kingdoms that come and go, this kingdom would be different, this kingdom would last forever!
In verses 31 - 33 (Acts 2:31-33) Peter makes the connection between the Messiah who David spoke of, and that of Jesus.
Remember the old “Connect the Dots” puzzles? These puzzles contained a sequence of numbered dots and when a line is drawn connecting the dots the outline of an object is revealed. What originally was a paper full of random numbers now makes sense to the viewer.
Peter connects the dots for his audience to understand that Jesus is indeed the long-awaited Messiah – The “Shoot from the Stump of Jesse”, as Isaiah prophesies in Isaiah 11:1
Peter then quotes another Davidic Psalm (Psalm 110) to prove Jesus’ Messianic ascension and exaltation.
Verse 34 (Acts 2:34) is very inciteful as we see David quote Psalm 110:1 “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
David’s prophecy here actually involves the trinity: The Holy Spirit inspires David to write these words: The Lord and My Lord. ‘The’ Lord is God the Father and ‘My’ Lord is God the Son, Jesus Christ.
This prophecy is a proclamation that Jesus, The Messiah, will return one day in victory over everyone and everything that will oppose him. David undoubtedly did not understand everything the Holy Spirit was inspiring him to write – but we do.
We have the blessing of having the full canon of scripture at our disposal. What was once a mystery to David and everyone else living before the time of Christ, has now been fully revealed to us.
Peter articulates that revelation in our final verse this morning: “Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” (Acts 2:36)
Peter’s sermon proved beyond a shadow of a doubt to his audience that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
Peter provided overwhelming evidence from Old Testament prophecy as well as from the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, that the Messiah had come – and that he had been put to death by his own people.
Just as in a trial when the jury reveals their verdict to the courtroom, Peter reveals the guilty verdict to the audience of thousands who gathered to hear him preach.
The very first Christian sermon was filled with power, truth, and conviction – as it revealed in vivid detail the great spiritual chasm between God and man.
The righteousness of God is contrasted with the depravity of man.
It revealed man’s need for a savior – It reveals our need for a savior.
And that savior’s name is Jesus.
Let’s Pray.