Peter, taking his stand

Good morning. I have been strongly anticipating and with real enthusiasm anticipating going through this passage. This is just an exciting passage in very many ways. And so if we can just kind of step our way through it, this is Acts chapter 2 is what's called the Day of Pentecost event. It is the event where the Holy Spirit was given. We see the evidence of that in the passage that we read through last week Acts 2 1 through 13 and So as we look Look at this. This is now the second part of this very same day when they're in Jerusalem and The Holy Spirit was given to all the believers gathered.

It is possible, not abundantly clear, but it is possible that the gift of tongues that was demonstrated here, and that is earthly languages, it is possible that that gift was given to just the twelve apostles, and this would have included Matthias. here at this event.

Nonetheless, one of the things that people observed before Peter began speaking is that these men who are speaking with a Galilean accent are speaking the language that we know from different parts of the Roman Empire and even outside the Roman Empire. and that we recognize it. And so it's rather easy for Peter to dismiss the idea that these, as one or more joked, that these guys are simply drunk. No, they're speaking intelligibly in a language I understand, but with a Galilean accent.

And so Peter here takes his stand and that's what the passage here begins. It had begun with the sound of the noise of a violent rushing wind. Now I make that distinction because it is the noise of this violent rushing wind, not that it was a windy day, but this inexplicable noise is what drew people to listen to the apostles at that point, then they recognize, hey, wait a minute, something extraordinary is going on with these recognizable languages, a number of them. like I say scattered throughout the Roman Empire and on into the Parthian Empire to the east and now Peter then takes up his stand and So that's where we're beginning in this passage. This is the day when the church is begun the church that we are a part of the body of Christ and And so it is astounding, we'll see on several levels, what takes place in this passage.

So here's Acts 2.14.

But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them, Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. So first, let's take a look at this. Men of Judea, all who live in Jerusalem. What is that saying? He wouldn't end his address with simply addressing those who live in Jerusalem, but he would at least start here. So I think that's one thing. He's ultimately addressing all of them, including those who don't live there.

The men of Judea would mean those who lived in that general area. Judea was not that large of a place, and so it would include those who lived in the area around Jerusalem. So all who lived in Jerusalem were those who are settled dwellers. And I think that's when you hear this word lived, the Greek sense here is that it is a lived, settled down living. It's a long time dweller there. This is not somebody just visiting. And so these are people he is at least beginning to address as those who actually live in Jerusalem. Now he's not going to end there and we're going to see it a little bit.

So he says, let this be known and give heed. So the let this be known part, it means that Peter is going to reveal something. He's going to reveal something he had not been known before. And so these people need to listen up, that's the next part, because this is not something you've heard before. The events that you have seen here this morning, this loud, rushing, windy noise, this speaking of tongues, of known tongues scattered about the then known earth, and what you're about to hear, these are all new things. So, give heed means pay attention. You need to pay attention because this is brand new stuff.

Peter said both of these things as imperatives. It was not a matter of, you know, hey, if you'd sort of like to, if you're so inclined, listen up. So here's Acts 2, 15 and 16. For these men are not drunk as you suppose, but it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel. So Peter told them all that these men are not drunk, as had been claimed by some there.

We saw that in the previous passage in Acts 2.13. Especially since it was about, as Peter said, nine o'clock in the morning. That's the term for the third hour. The zero hour would be about six o'clock in the morning, right?

So the others there had also observed that the disciples were speaking foreign, earthly languages that those men who knew the languages could recognize, and that they were people with Galilean accents. So then he says, but, and notice this is a word that means a sharp contrast.

In sharp contrast to that that you proposed, Peter then said this, what is happening and what is being expressed, and these men speaking in known languages, that is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel. Prophet Joel in the Old Testament would have said this. Now, Joel is a short book. It is one that if they had any familiarity, and many of them did, it's one you can't mistake it. It's got some very recognizable words in it. He was an Old Testament prophet. These Jews typically would have known quite well. As a matter of fact, we're going to make a discovery here shortly. So this book of Joel was short, but very, very potent. Here's Acts 2, 17 and 18.

It shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth my Spirit on all mankind. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. So here's Peter's next words, and what he's saying essentially is this is similar to that. The Holy Spirit is capable of these kinds of things. We have 120 Jews and possibly less speaking in foreign language.

And this was not a fulfillment of prophecy. Notice that Peter does not use the word fulfillment. where he's not saying this is fulfilled this day, because in fact it is not, but rather than being fulfilled, this is similar to that. This is like that. This is similar to what is going to take place when it is fulfilled. So there were some similarities between Joel's prophecy and the events of the Day of Pentecost here in Acts chapter 2. But that doesn't mean that this is the fulfillment and it's done. It just means it's similar.

So Joel's prophecy was actually designed for end times. We'll take a look at that in a little bit more detail about what is called the tribulation period. And this was not that time. This is about a time that is still yet future to us, perhaps not that far into the future.

There are some in our day who will make a point of Peter's quote of the book of Joel to justify ongoing prophecy, visions, and dreams, and that sort of thing. That's not Peter's point here. First of all, what was going on there was the gift of spoken foreign languages, existing earthly languages. and there were no prophecies, visions, or dreams added. So he's not simply saying, you know, this is a fulfillment of that. He only says that this is similar to Joel's prophecy in order to get the Jews' attention. Think about what happened there that day.

What initially got their attention? A mighty rushing wind noise. Was there a mighty rushing wind? No. It was a mighty rushing wind noise that first got their attention. Next, what did they notice? They noticed that these men were speaking in languages that were recognized by various people among the group gathered. That would get their attention. And then the next thing here is this prophecy is similar. And you need to know that too. And that's intended to get your attention. So the next part of the passage in Joel is going to do exactly that and then some.

Now, as I read this, I want you to recall that these men would have understood this passage as predicting scary, frightening, horrifying things. And so when Peter quotes this passage, these men are going to be terrified that this has anything to do with what's going on there that day. Here's Acts 2, 19 and 20, and I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come."

And at this point, these guys are terrified. Oh no, do you mean it might be that kind of time? Is it that kind of time? So this is really getting these guys' attention. Not only the noise of the rushing wind, not only the spoken earthly voices, but here, here to be talking about judgments to come. Do you mean we're on the brink of that? So these celestial and terrestrial wonders of the tribulation period are detailed in the book of Revelation, chapters 16-19.

But Joel describes here in Joel 2.30-32a, that's a sampling of these things. These celestial things up in the sky and terrestrial sites and events would get the Jews attention just long enough to tell them about the salvation offered to the Jews at the end of the tribulation period.

He also uses the day of the Lord. Now, he throws some extra words in there, the day of the Lord and then the great and glorious or the great and awesome, as it's sometimes translated, day of the Lord. That day of the Lord in the largest sense, if you look at where does this term day of the Lord show up in the Bible, it starts at the beginning of this, again, seven year tribulation period. And we'll take a somewhat closer look at that.

And it continues all the way to the present heavens and earth. But the usual use of this term, the day of the Lord, even if they throw some adjectives in there, the usual use of this term is the seven year tribulation period that is still yet future and could begin soon.

So that tribulation, starting in Revelation 6-19, will begin with what are called the Four Horses of the Apocalypse. These come out of the first four seals in the book of Revelation. Christ is the one who opens those seals, so that's the beginning of that tribulation period. And at the end of it, in Revelation 19, is the second coming of Christ to the earth, and judgment upon the earth. So Joel makes a quick outline of those events of the tribulation period, and that's what Peter chooses to quote.

Can you imagine these men? These men are terrified. These men are really, really scared. The Jews believed, and Orthodox Jews still believe, that there is coming a seven-year tribulation period upon the earth. The Jews believe this. A seven-year tribulation period upon the earth. The name for the Antichrist is Armilus. They say it will be the most horrible time upon the earth and then Messiah will come. And by talking some years ago with a Jewish rabbi here locally, he said, when Messiah comes, we will ask him the question, is this your first or your second time?

Right? The reality is they won't get that chance. Right? That question needs to be answered right now and in this lifetime. And scripture clearly teaches this is the second time for Christ to come. This is that time, and even the Jews now, who are Orthodox, anticipate this time yet to come. Can you imagine the Jews in Peter's time, when Peter starts quoting this?

They are really scared. They are frightened deeply. And so this is not something, they just had a chuckle when somebody said, these guys are drunk. That was their last chuckle. Because at this point, they are scared for their lives. with what Peter is saying. So we have to get that sense. Peter is really grabbing these guys. And we don't get the picture that any of them are taking it lightly. They're taking it very seriously. This Day of the Lord is used in the book of Joel and in many Old Testament prophets. The Day of the Lord refers to the tribulation, that seven-year tribulation period of God's judgment on the earth.

I've given the examples here from Joel, and there's several of them, and I've put in brackets 231 that Peter just quoted from. But I put it in brackets only because the Day of the Lord is in there. It's not included because it has the words, the great and glorious, or the great and awesome Day of the Lord, right? Otherwise, that would have been another on the list, and there are other instances of that. By the way, there are 22 different Old Testament terms for the day of the Lord.

So this is only one of them. It is a very, very common theme in the Old Testament, especially the prophets. So as these Jews heard this for the first time, they were very, very frightened. Let's take a look at the outline here. We have Christ's first coming. And this is the time Christ came, had his earthly ministry. He was crucified, buried, raised, and ascended and seated. Now we are in today's passage, we're looking at Acts chapter 2, which is the beginning of the church age, which followed. That day will end with the day of Christ, which is otherwise known as the rapture.

Then the tribulation period, which begins the day of the Lord term, begins and that continues all the way to the new heavens and new earth, which begins eternity or the eternal state, the new heavens and new earth, the end of this present heavens and earth. The end of this present heavens and earth is the end of the day of the Lord. So the day of the Lord is used for the start of this seven-year tribulation period at the end of this present heavens and earth, but mostly for the tribulation, even though it sometimes is used for later times. The predominant use is for this seven-year tribulation period.

Okay, Acts 2.21, and it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

So, ooh, wow, okay. So they're saved and then they're saved. Okay, can you handle that? They're saved and then they're saved. When we see the word and hear the word saved in the biblical context, we're often inclined to think of someone's spiritual and eternal salvation. And if that's what your thought was, good. You ought to.

And that's the sense in which we commonly think of it. We'll come up to somebody and we'll say, are you saved? And that's what we mean. We'll ask the question, well, is that person saved? And that's what we mean. And by the way, how are they saved? Saved by believing that Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. That's how you're saved. That's what must be believed in order to be saved.

Here is Romans 1.16. Paul writes, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek. That's the spiritual salvation, the eternal salvation that we often think of. In some ancient contexts, the word saved, however, often meant a rescue from one or more of a perilous situation. To be rescued out of something was more the sense among the youth by some people.

And we would have, for example, Romans 5.9 is an instance of a verse that speaks of that. much more than having now been justified by His blood." That's your eternal salvation, right? We shall be saved, that is, rescued from the wrath of God through Him. We shall be rescued from the wrath of God through Him.

So, what does that mean? The wrath of God is this coming tribulation period. Are you and I going to be there? No. Why? Because we're going to be rescued from that. Christ will come for us. The Father will tell the Son, go get your bride. And then we're out of here. I hope it's today. Here's an instance of where saved is used in a more physical sense. Paul has been through a shipwreck. He survived the shipwreck. He lands at the island of Malta.

The natives there are, and Luke writes, extraordinarily kind. And it says, showed us. So Luke is included there. So because of the rain that set in, because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all. So that was very good. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. Ah, this is tough. Okay? All right. So, here it is.

When the natives saw that the creature hanging from his hand, they went, They began saying to one another, undoubtedly this man is a murderer, he's getting justice, right? And although he's been saved from the sea, see that physical salvation? He's saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live, so he's certainly going to die. So he lived through this shipwreck and he's saved from the sea physically, But justice is going to come back, and this is kind of the old version of karma or something, and it's going to take him out. However, he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. And then on they went on to develop other crazy ideas about him being a god, etc. So let's look at this, all Israel will be saved.

Peter's quote of Joel 2.28.32 was intended to cause these men who were gathered to be alarmed by Peter's reference to Joel's end time scenario. First of all, Peter's got their attention by multiple means, including the Lord's intervention that day. But Peter's also got their attention because they're thinking, I'm on the brink of a horrific judgment, the most horrific judgment in the whole world, And he makes reference there. Why does he quote this passage in Joel?

Because in the end, it references being saved, and it is a reference that includes both physical salvation as well as spiritual. It's a quote of the passage that has a physical sense of salvation and salvation in the spiritual sense together. It will happen to Israel at the end time of this seven-year tribulation period that's coming.

This matches also with Paul when he wrote Romans 11.26, all Israel will be saved.

So here is, and you have this, I apologize for kind of jumping from page to page here. The pages wouldn't allow me to do otherwise. So here you are on page three on the top. And you have this campaign of Armageddon. People will sometimes use the term the Battle of Armageddon. Initially, actually, that's the first of an eight-stage campaign of Armageddon. So, and we won't go into the detail, you're certainly free to look at it yourself, and I'd be very happy to try to answer questions, because there's certainly much more detail than we have time for today.

But notice the quote there, Joel 2.28-32, that's the national regeneration of Israel. All the survivors of Israel will come to believe in the Lord.

Now, if you have read anything or happen to have visited in Israel, one of the things to make note of, about 90% of the Jews today in Israel are atheists or agnostic. They are not believers. About less than 10% are actually observant Jews who believe in Judaism. A very tiny amount. are actually Christians.

But what's going to happen? The Messiah, the one who died for our sins, who was buried and rose again, was ascended and seated, will come again, and He's going to come again with you and me. These Jews are going to recognize only God can save us. And yet, you know what? They're going to believe it! And that's a good thing. They're going to believe only God can save us. And in fact, what happens? He does. You and I will be there.

To put it in modern terms, we'll have front row seats. It doesn't get any better than that. Isn't that great? We will have front row seats to the Second Coming. We will come with Him and see these things. We'll see the Lord's rescue of Israel. at that point, this will be an exciting moment, one anticipated for thousands of years, and one that will be talked about for many years to come.

Romans 11.25-27 is also included in that, which is the one that talks about all Israel will be saved.

Here's Acts 2.22, made of Israel, listen to these words, Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst just as you yourselves know.

So Peter uses an address with these men. Now previously, remember, those who live in Israel? Now he's including all the men of Israel, and that would include those who dwell there as well as those who are traveling from some great distance. And apparently a number of them were. That would be typical. So what he's just referred to was from the gospel of the kingdom. That's Joel. That's the gospel of the kingdom.

It's the gospel about what's coming. the coming kingdom. He is about to shift, however, his topic from the gospel of the kingdom towards the gospel of substitution. Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. So which of the two gospels is he going to tell them? Both. Gospel of the kingdom, Christ is coming again, and there will be a coming kingdom preceded by seven years of awful times. And he's going to tell them now about The gospel of substitution. Christ died for your sins. He is your substitute. He was buried and rose again. That's about to happen here in this next passage.

He refers to Jesus the Nazarene. That is one used several times in Mark. It is the question Jesus asked there at the Garden of Gethsemane at his arrest. Whom are you seeking? and they responded, Jesus the Nazarene. So that's a term that was used then. Peter's going to use it here. Paul is going to use it in chapter 22, verse 8. The term keeps being used a number of times.

So Jesus even used these words as His identity was Saul who became the Apostle Paul. Imagine, here's the Apostle Paul, and he has this blinding light, and the Lord asks him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Right? And then Saul's asking, Who are you, Lord?

Jesus of Nazarene. Jesus of Nazarene. Christ had done miracles in Israel, especially in Galilee, and also there in Jerusalem and nearby, in public places, all within walking distance. And this is key in what's going to occupy us pretty soon here. attested to you by God.

Jesus performed, as Peter put it here, wonders and signs and miracles, so he used three different terms, as performed by God the Father through Christ. Who did the miracles? God the Father through Christ. Isn't that amazing? Okay. So all these miracles and wonders and signs were done by God the Father as testimony of who Christ was among them and that God The Father was its source.

Jesus was not performing miracles in order to put on a good show. Have you guys paid for your tickets at the entrance? You can go ahead and get them online if you like. He didn't do that, did he? This was not just to show, are you impressed yet? This was designed to authenticate His message and for any thinking person to come to recognize this is no ordinary man. Ah, this is really, really big.

Peter appealed to these Jews, many of them who lived as settled dwellers in Jerusalem, that Christ had done these miracles and signs and wonders among them. Christ had done them right there in Jerusalem. Now, much of Jesus' ministry, of course, was in Galilee, but he did many things also in Jerusalem. And this is the key thing. Peter even says, as you yourselves know. He appeals with these things, not just, you know, hey, believe me, Jesus did some stuff. But he appeals to many of them knowing about the things that Christ did.

They either saw it directly themselves, and they had plenty of opportunity to do so, or The other possibility is that they had heard from somebody reliable, and there was a lot of that. For those who didn't see it directly, there were people saying, yeah, he just healed this guy that's been blind and deaf and lame for years and years. I know this guy who was healed, and he's completely healed, and it happened instantly. So many of these witnesses to these events had known, or they'd either been at these events or known people who'd been at those events. Plenty of evidence about Jesus Christ right where these Jews lived and walked as visitors as well. If you were visiting in town, Jesus also did things during feast times when there were lots of visitors. So you have this on page 3. Again, I apologize for the hopping. I'd like you to track through this with me because I think this is really, really, really cool. Alright, so here's this map on page 3.

Jesus healed a lame man. That's John 5, 1-47. Okay? John 5, 1-47. Jesus healed a lame man. And it was here at the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed a lame man. That's the place, right there. Oh, that's also Courtney and Ingrid, too. But this is the place, and so right here at the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus healed a lame man.

And it was interesting, Jesus, you know, the man had been brought there on some sort of a little piece of portable furniture that, pick up your mat, You know, it's what Jesus told him. Now, here's the interesting part of the Jewish law. Two men could bring that man to this pool of Bethesda, and that was okay by the rabbis. But for Jesus to tell the man, once he was healed, to pick up his mat and walk, that was work, and it was against the law to do that on the Sabbath. So Jesus violated by healing on the Sabbath, and then he told the man to pick up his bed and walk, because that was a violation of the Sabbath. So the Jews were very upset. We've got something very strange going on here.

The next one, this is the Garden of Gethsemane, and this had only happened the month before this event, a little over a month. before this event, Jesus healed Malchus' ear. Malchus, as John tells us, was the servant whose ear was cut off. And by the way, I go like this, I'm left-handed. It's the right ear, right? So we know which ear, and we know the name of the guy, and it was right there at the Garden of Gethsemane. where Peter decided that this guy needs to have a little bit less weight. This is a weight loss program, right? Slice, right?

And so anyway, and Jesus heals it. So Jesus healed the ear, and how many men were gathered together at Jesus' arrest? You had all the disciples, right? Were there. And roughly 600 people coming to arrest Jesus. Here's this healing. Again, left-handed, okay? So he puts his right ear back on and heals him up. And we know the detail that it is a relative of Malchus, that guy, a relative of Malchus, that in the courtyard of Annas, the high priest, that he recognized, hey Peter, you're one of them. So the interconnections there are fascinating. We know where these places are. We have specific identification.

These are genuine, real, historical events that actually happened. By the way, I was just talking earlier with someone that the Muslim teaching is that it wasn't Christ who died on the cross. It was somebody else. So they just lay aside the whole thing. Let's ask this question.

Are the high priests going to be happy with anybody but Jesus getting killed? Why did they hire Judas to make specifically sure arresting the right guy. Would Peter have pulled the sword and started after Malchus' ear if they had arrested somebody other than Jesus? No. Now, these guys, they take him up to the house of Annas. Are all the guys who are at the trial going to be happy with anybody but Jesus at the trial? No. Well, one other thing. Here's John who is at that house. Here is Peter who is several times denying Christ. And at one point, he meets eyes with Jesus, the one they've arrested. Would Peter not have said, Oh!

It's not Jesus! Woo! I'm cool! I can get out of here! So the Muslim idea that it's not Jesus is crazy. Crazy! Neither the Jews... well, the Jews would not have been happy with somebody else and none of the disciples would have been distressed if it was somebody else. So the Muslim idea that it wasn't Jesus is bogus. It's a lie. It doesn't work.

Here's the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the place. That's the place where Jesus was arrested. That's the place where Malchus had his ear cut off and Jesus healed it. 600 plus were present. So here's the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter cuts, Jesus heals. Next one, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

Now this was one It was greatly witnessed. It was in the village of Bethany. By the way, there's Lazarus and Mary and Martha, right? And, you know, right near Bethany, they've found these bone boxes, ossuary boxes, with those names on them. We don't know if it's exactly the right ones, but it's amazing, the correspondence. Jesus resurrects Lazarus at Bethany.

A great many Jews are there. And the Jewish leaders, when they hear about it, They don't say, oh, that was just bogus. They say, now we need to kill him. Instead of understanding, hey, this was a miracle, but a great many were present, a great many heard about this firsthand.

Here is Lazarus' tomb, at least as tradition, and I think it has fair reliability. Here's the steps down into the tomb. I have other pictures we won't go into inside the tomb. This is a real event, a real place with probably hundreds present at Lazarus' resurrection.

Next, Jesus healed the blind and the lame in the temple. And he healed the blind and the lame in the temple when there were a great many Jews present. He healed right out in the open, multiple times, multiple events. A great many saw this. Next, Jesus healed a blind man. That's John 5, 1-47. The pool of Siloam where Jesus healed a blind man. This is the pool here. This was a picture of Nancy taking a picture of me, right? So that's the pool of Siloam.

And by the way, this is only half of it. The other part, you see this. Here, let's get this. So he heals a blind man here at this pool. And you see that little embankment there? That's the other half of the pool. The owners there have an orchard on top of it, and they don't want to get rid of their orchard. But someday, probably, that embankment will be peeled off, and you'll see the rest of this pool.

The whole pool is there. A whole pool is there. It's a real place. It actually happened. It was an event. And by the way, people would gather at this pool of Siloam. Why? It was a great place to kind of lay around. It had plenty of water, running water. So it was a great place. So a lot of people probably saw this event. And these are all, again, real places, all in different parts of Jerusalem, all close by, you can walk between them.

Here's Acts 2.23, this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, oh get this, oh this is potent, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. Now, one thing, this is phenomenal. I read this and I'm like, woo! This is cool. The plan and foreknowledge of God. This verse is absolutely amazing.

Christ's crucifixion was not an accident. Christ didn't go screaming, oh no, you're making a terrible mistake, you know, I'm not your guy. Instead, it was the plan of God. It was part of the eternal covenant before God said, let there be light. God was not surprised in any way by any part of it. Think about Peter. I want us to think about Peter. On April 2nd, possibly very early on April 3rd, 33 AD, Peter comes in and he's ready to stop Christ from being crucified.

How? Get the sword out. Start attacking 600 men. I'm not sure what he thought. But anyway, what was he thinking? So start attacking 600 men. We're going to start with the servant. and just the right ear, right? What a plan. What a strategy. So anyway, he's going to cut.

But you get Peter's mindset, I'm going to keep this from happening. This is a horrible event. I'm going to keep this from happening. It should never happen. Not to Christ. In the high priest's courtyard, he multiple times denies that he even knows Christ.

And at one point in time, he and Christ meet eyes, and that's what cuts him to the heart. He's torn to shreds. because Christ had told him only hours before, you're going to deny me. Peter didn't believe Christ was raised until he saw him. Peter didn't think, oh, it's okay, he's getting crucified, being put in the tomb, that's okay, he's going to be resurrected. He didn't believe that, did he? He didn't believe that.

1 Corinthians 15.5, Peter saw Christ resurrected for the first time. We have to imagine that he was overwhelmingly stunned by this.

So, the plan and foreknowledge of God is what he's telling these people, even though last month, even though last month, he had tried to keep Christ from being crucified. Last month. He had denied that he knew Christ. Today, on this day, the day of Pentecost, he tells them all, this day, the plan and foreknowledge of God.

God knew it all along. Just I didn't, right? I, Peter, did not, but God knew it. All three persons of the Trinity knew in eternity past Christ's death on the cross was going to happen in time, at a time when there was no time in eternity past. As a matter of fact, let's ask this, was it the right time? Yes, at the right time God sent his son.

And yes, you nailed him to a cross. Now he could say that because even though it was the Romans, the godless men that he refers to, they were the ones who physically put the nails in And that day was April 3rd, 33 AD, by all the gathering evidence that we have. But the Romans wouldn't have done that had it not been for the powerful manipulations of the Jews, putting pressure upon Pontius Pilate, who tried every way he could to get out of it. But in the end, he couldn't endure the political pressure.

We must crucify Christ. So looking again, this is on page 4 of the map, Golgotha, where Christ was crucified. The evidence is stacking up over in this location here, in this corner of the map. And then right there He was crucified alongside the two thieves there at Golgotha. The tomb was nearby, John 19 tells us, across the garden from Golgotha. So Jesus was buried and raised from the tomb. And one of the things that we recognize from this, any of these things, the miracles, which you yourselves know, Peter says, the place where Christ was crucified, where He was buried, where He was resurrected, if you want to take a little walk, let's go to all these places. It's only a little walk, and we can go there today. Nobody said, That tomb still has Jesus' body. Let's go take a little walk and I'll show you.

Here's Acts 2.24, but God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.

So Peter said God raised Him up again, and he was in fact correct in saying that. That's underscored multiple times in Scripture, including these passages we have in Acts. In Acts 3, He's going to say it again. God raised him up and he's going to continue with that message and that's going to continue on into the message of the Apostle Paul later in Acts. God raised him up again as multiple times testified to and never denied by anyone who could have been a witness.

Now let's look at this idea of putting an end to the agony of death. The word translated agony here means actually birth pangs. So that's kind of interesting. Christ's death and burial weren't final, but they were productive, resulting in life. Isn't that amazing? Christ's death and burial were not final, they were productive. Can you think of a productive death and burial? Does that hit you as productive? That's exactly what Peter said. This is a productive death and burial resulting in life.

One more thing, Peter uses the word here, impossible. Human beings would be inclined from a human perspective to think of Christ being raised from the dead as completely impossible. As a matter of fact, none of the disciples expected it. None of them. From God's perspective, for Christ to remain dead was an impossibility. It's the opposite of our thinking. We think, raise somebody from the dead, not happening. No way. But for God's perspective on this, it was impossible that he remained there. Couldn't happen. And eternal covenant assured Christ's resurrection.

So the only possibility, to use the term here, was that Christ would be raised from the dead and nothing was more sure. So Peter is not done here, however. We've got one more passage to go to finish out the chapter. So we've examined Acts 2, 1-24 last Sunday and then here today, taking a look at the events here and Peter's words on that day of Pentecost when the church was begun. He's going to tell this gathering of Jews that they had crucified God's appointed Lord and the Christ and the Messiah. You know the Messiah that you guys have all been looking for? You killed Him! That's how it hits them. Oh Christ, the Messiah, yeah, we believe in the Messiah, Messiah come, yeah. You killed him. Oh. Oh. That's the impact of his words. They wouldn't be apathetic or unfazed by Peter's words.

As we're going to find out, they're going to be desperate seeing the situation that they're in. having been terrified by the description from Joel of what they might be on the brink of, that this is similar to that, what you've just seen today. And then, you killed him. You did it. They're going to respond, not just casually, not nonchalantly, what shall we do? And they don't have the answer.

But Peter does. And that's a great thing. So where's this going to end? Peter's telling them all of these things because they need to believe that Christ, the Son of God, died for their sins, was buried and rose again in order for those people that day to be saved. Peter's telling them ultimately they crucified the Messiah, as did in fact we. We did too, you know. He wouldn't have been up there except for you and for me. Christ died for my sins.

He's going to tell them to believe what God has revealed. He started off there saying, you guys listen up, I'm going to reveal some things and pay attention. And believe me, there are. Peter's going to use the R word, repent. I'm going to talk about what that means. It's very important to know.

Peter's not going to hear one single objection to the things that he claimed. Not one. Nobody's going to say, hey, wait a minute. Something you claim just isn't true. No evidence that anybody said any of that. No apostle, no skeptic, no hard-hearted unbelieving Jew would bring up even one single objection. These facts were irrefutable. The evidence that we have is that thousands were gathered there that day. We have no evidence that anybody tried to refute anything. The evidence is irrefutable.

In the end, these Jews are going to have some very strong feelings. They're already terrified. They're desperate. We've killed the Messiah. So that was the day. that Peter had in mind for these Jews on that day in which the church began. So these revealed facts, he says, you guys are witnesses to these things. You have seen where Christ performed these miracles. We are witnesses to His resurrection. He's going to take these men's minds and hearts.

You need to believe in the spiritually, and in their case, historically and evidentially revealed facts. As we put it, similar for us in our walk as believers. Here are the facts, like the train in the tracks, right? We are to put our faith in the spiritually revealed facts of Scripture. And the feelings follow. That's contrary to the culture, but critical here. He's going to ask them, here are the facts, guys. Here are the facts, guys.

You've seen the places where Christ carried out miracles. You've seen where he was resurrected after being crucified and buried. You've seen those places. Now, put your faith in those things. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for what you have given us here because it is just astounding to see the facts being laid out so clearly. It is astounding to see the radical change in this man called Peter. And it is astounding to see your work among these believers and in those who would come to believe that day. And so we give you thanks for that. We ask that our own hearts would be deeply impressed by the import of these things. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.