Acts 3:12-16
Are You Listening
We are reading the beginning of Peter’s second recorded sermon. It
goes through to the end of the chapter, \\#26\\. The results of the
sermon are given in \\#Acts 4:4\\, 5,000 souls will be saved.
Even so, don’t think it was easy for Peter to preach Jesus to the
crowd standing before him. Why? Because that crowd was distinctly
Jewish. In fact, you could not get a more Jewish crowd together if
you tried. Peter, himself a Jew, was standing in the midst of Israel,
the Jewish land, inside of Jerusalem, the Jewish capitol, at the
Jewish center of worship, the temple, preaching to the Jewish people.
On top of that, his topic was the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. You talk
about an ethnically pure crowd. That was one!
Why did that make it difficult for Peter to preach to them? Because
just over 50 days from this, some of these same Jewish people had
crucified Jesus.
Something had changed. At least some of the crowd was attentive.
Peter’s first sermon was recorded in the last chapter and the altar
call results were given \\#Acts 2:41\\. 3,000 souls had been saved. I
believe the change was mostly on God’s part. The Holy Ghost had come
and with His coming, God worked on and softened the Jewish heart, but
that would only last for a short time. Soon, the Jews would be right
back to stoning and killing the Christians.
But for that moment in time, Peter had the floor and the people
wanted to know about Jesus and God’s plan.
This morning, let’s look at Peter’s sermon with three thoughts. Peter
preached on:
I. The Person of Jesus
A. Even though Jesus had lived among the Jews for 33 years and
walked among them for 3 1/2 years, most of the Jews did NOT
know who Jesus was.
1. You might think that to be ridiculous. After all, Jesus
had been born and reared among them. He had probably
walked and taught on every road and inside of every
village in the country of Israel. He had healed their
sick and feed their bellies. Still, most Jews did NOT
know who Jesus was.
2. If you think that is absurd, remember that same Jesus has
been preached in virtually every city and hamlet in
America for more than 200 years. The message has been
beamed across this country both via radio and television;
and even now, is available to literally ever American
by means of the internet; but I would dare say that most
Americans do NOT know who Jesus is.
3. How is that possible? The answer is that for people to
know who Jesus is, they not only have to be told the
message; but they also have to listen to the message. The
people in America are not listening any more than the
Jews in Jesus’ day had been listening.
B. So who is Jesus?
1. Peter declared Jesus’s identity. He is God’s Son.
Acts 3:13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and
of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified
his Son Jesus….
a. Peter identified Jesus as the son of the Living God.
(1) That sounds like a pretty impressive title—and
it can be.
(2) However, to say that Someone is God’s Son really
does not mean much if they do not have the right
Father.
b. Did you know that most everyone worships the same God?
(1) The Muslims worship god, just not our God.
(2) The Hindus worship god, just not our God.
(3) The Mormons and the Catholics worship god, just
not our God.
(4) Of course, there is only one God. All of the
others are made-up gods, figments of someone’s
imagination.
(5) If that sounds hard, I will tell you that it is
easier to hear that now from me than to hear it
in eternity from God Himself.
c. How can everyone worship god but it not be the same
God as we worship?
(1) God is a title.
(2) Like the word king or president or pastor are
titles so is God.
(3) \\#13\\ So Peter wanted to identify who Jesus
was, but there was a problem.
(4) But God did not introduce Himself by a name until
\\#Exodus 3:14\\.
(a) Before that, God was identified by those who
worshipped Him.
(b) Peter goes back to that old way of speaking
about God in this message.
(c) \\#13\\ Peter called God by the way He was
known in the beginning, the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.
d. So Peter was saying that the Old Testament God of the
Bible has a Son. His name is Jesus.
(1) That would make Jesus the Son of the Creator.
(2) That would make Jesus the Son of the God who
called, blessed, and multiplied Abraham and his
seed.
(3) That would make Jesus the Son of the Law Giver.
(4) And that would make Jesus the Son of the God who
judged the Jews for disobeying His laws.
e. Every human being must make a choice. Is that the God
you want to serve?
(1) As I already said, man likes to make up his own
gods.
(2) They always have.
(3) Mark it down. Man-made gods don’t mind sin as
much as the one true God does.
(a) People who are lying make a god that doesn’t
mind lying so much.
(b) People who don’t want to go to church make
up a god who doesn’t mind you skipping
church so much.
(c) People who want to blaspheme make up a god
who doesn’t mind blasphemy so much.
(d) People who want to sin to be happy make up a
god who doesn’t mind your sin as long as it
makes you happy.
(4) The problem is that man-made gods don’t really
exist anywhere but in your mind.
f. Question: What kind of God have you made up?
2. Peter declared Jesus’ nature, the Holy One.
Acts 3:14 But ye denied the Holy One….
a. Here Peter pointed out the difference between the God
of the Bible and man’s made-up God’s.
b. The God of the Bible is "the Holy One."
(1) Peter didn’t just say the Bible God is holy.
(2) Peter said He is "the Holy One;" that is, the
God of the Bible is the embodiment of holiness.
(a) Holiness is not what God is like. Holiness
is what God is.
(b) To be "the Holy One" means God does not
compromise His holiness for anything or for
anyone.
c. Is there a difference in having holiness and being the
holy?
(1) Yes and the difference can be seen between us and
God.
(2) Christians have holiness but we are not holy;
therefore, we often find wiggle room for our
sins.
(3) We are very quick with the answers:
(a) Everyone is doing it.
(b) No one is getting hurt.
(c) No one cares.
(d) It is no big deal.
(e) It’s no one else’s’ business.
d. The Big Bubble Buster - God’s priority is not on what
what makes us happy. His priority is on what makes
us holy.
3. Peter declared Jesus’ behavior, the Just.
a. Again, Peter did not say that Jesus was just. He said
that Jesus is "the Just."
b. "Just" is short for "Justice."
c. It means that God will always be true to His nature by
executing justice on sin.
d. I know. No one likes to be reminded that God judges
sin; but He not only does so, Peter said God’s name
is "the Just."
II. The Payment of Sin
A. Jesus was killed.
Acts 3:15 And killed the Prince of life….
1. Killed?
a. Why was Jesus killed? Because the wages of sin is
death.
b. Why do the wages of sin have to be death? To show us
how severe sin is.
(1) God could have sent us to time out, some place on
the earth that is hard and difficult.
(2) God could have sent us to the bottomless pit.
That is where he will send the devil for 1,000
years.
(3) God could have even dropped us in hell for a few
hundred years.
c. But none of those would have taught us just how awful
rebellion against God really is.
d. We don’t comprehend and maybe cannot comprehend, but
the reason Jesus died was to show it to us.
2. You talk about a tough preacher, Peter was one.
a. He did not just say Jesus was killed.
b. He said the people to whom he was preaching killed
Jesus.
Acts 3:14 But YE denied the Holy One…
Acts 3:15 And killed the Prince of life…
c. Why did Peter say that?
(1) Because they had.
(a) The men and women to whom Peter was preaching
likely lived in and near Jerusalem.
(b) They were required by the law to be at
Jerusalem for the Unleavened Bread and
Passover—when Jesus was killed.
(c) Peter was literally talking to some of the
people who had shouted to Pilate, "Crucify
Him, crucify Him!"
(2) Because their sin (and ours) killed Jesus.
(a) If there had been no sin, there would have
been no death.
(b) Our hands may not have touched the crown,
the scourge, or the hammer, but we put
Jesus on that cross the same as they did.
3. The good news? God wasn’t finished.
B. Jesus was raised from the dead. God raised Jesus from the
dead because God has a plan.
Acts 3:15 …whom God hath raised from the
dead….
III. The Plan of God
A. All are to believe this message by faith.
Acts 3:16 And his name through faith in his name
hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know:
yea, the faith which is by him hath given him
this perfect soundness in the presence of you
all.
B. All are to repent.
Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore….
C. When those are done, all will experience three things:
Acts 3:19 …and be converted, that your sins
may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord;
1. You will be converted.
2. Your sins will be blotted out.
3. God’s refreshing will come from the Lord.
D. Then, all are to be God’s witnesses:
Acts 3:15 …whereof we are witnesses.
E. And all who reject this message will face an awful end.
Acts 3:23 And it shall come to pass, that every
soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be
destroyed from among the people.
Friend, you have some choices to make today. Will you believe in the
God of the Bible or some man-made God? Will you trust in the God of
the Bible’s salvation or will you follow your own? I pray that you
will trust in Jesus.
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