Please open your Bibles this morning to the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2, verse 22. Some of you may be thinking, this isn't Pentecost Sunday, why are we going to Acts chapter 2? But there's a reason. Put a marker there, we're going to come back to that, that's where we're going to give our consideration to the text. but I do want to have you now turn to the Gospel according to Luke. The Gospel according to Luke chapter 24, where I will begin by reading from Luke's account of the resurrection of Jesus, where the groundwork is laid for that which Peter testifies to in Acts chapter 2, which we will consider this morning. So Luke chapter 24, we take up the reading of God at verse 1. I will read down through verse 16 and then skip down to verse 30 to finish out the chapter, finish out the book. Hear now the word of God. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood before them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen. Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee. The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men to be crucified and on the third day be raised again. Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away wondering to himself what had happened. On that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing him. And now down to verse 30. When he was at table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us? They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven and those with them assembled together and saying, It is true, the Lord has risen and appeared to Simon. And the two told what had happened on the way and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. And while they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. Then when he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, Do you have anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so that they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, This is what is written. The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. And when he had led them out of the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And while he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. So now we turn over to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, which is Luke's account of what happened on Pentecost 50 days later where the apostles were still waiting for this power from on high to come and this is the day that it came. The Holy Spirit was poured out with great noise and great miracles and a crowd gathered around the disciples, some asking, what does this mean? And others mocking and charging them with drunkenness. In chapter 2 of Acts, Peter stands up in verse 14 along with the 11 with him and he raises his voice and he addresses the crowd and he delivers the first Holy Spirit-inspired sermon, the first Holy Spirit apostolic sermon, the first apostolic message about Jesus Christ, the highlights of which continue through verse 36. I don't think this is everything that he said. It's the heart of what he said. It's been recorded for us by Luke. And he began by explaining that the Spirit of God was being poured out even as Joel the prophet had said would come. And it signified that the last days were upon the people of God. The countdown had begun until the last day when the Lord would come in judgment. And therefore the promise was set before them that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved from that judgment. And it is that promise that Peter turns his attention and he addresses the question, Well, who is this Lord that can save people from the wrath of God? And of course, we know that the Lord was the long-expected Messiah, the Christ of God, who was promised to come and save His people. And we remember from Sunday ago when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, they praised Him as the Christ. They praised Him as the one who had come to save them. from the Romans. So when Jesus went to the temple to judge the corruption of Israel instead of to the palace to seize the throne, they rejected him and they demanded that Pilate crucify him. And in verses 22 through 36, Peter makes the case that this Jesus, this Jesus whom they crucified, was in fact and is in fact the Christ they were expecting. The Lord over all. And so that's where Peter's going here. We're going to read Acts chapter 2, verses 22 through 36, where he makes the twin case that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is the Lord. And we're going to give our attention only to the first part of that, his proclamation that Jesus is the Christ. Hear now the word of God from Acts chapter 2, taken up at verse 22. Hear now the word of God. 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. 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. 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. David said about him here he's quoting Psalm 16 I saw the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I will not be shaken therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices my body also will live in hope because you will not abandon me to the grave nor will you let your Holy One see decay you have made known to me the paths of life you will fill me with joy in your presence brothers i can tell you confidently that the patriarch david died and was buried and his tomb is here to this day but he was a prophet and knew that god had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne seeing what was ahead he spoke of the resurrection of the christ that he was not abandoned to the grave nor did his body see decay god has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. That's where we'll stop considering today, but I want to read the rest of this point. Exalted to the right hand of God, you have received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this, God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Here ends the reading of God's Word. Again, we limit our attention this morning to verses 22 through 32, where Peter proclaimed that Jesus of Nazareth is the one and only Christ. In support of this proclamation, he offers three proofs, three lines of evidence. the first proof that Jesus of Nazareth is the one and only Christ is that he has been ratified by God. He has been certified and approved by God. We read in verse 22, 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. Peter begins his message by reminding the Jews of what they already knew. They knew Jesus of Nazareth. They knew where he was raised and how insignificant he was. They knew that he'd been baptized by John. And the word had got around, as it's recorded in the Gospel of Luke, that the heavens had opened, the Holy Spirit had descended upon him, and a voice from heaven, the Father, had spoken to Jesus, You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased. They knew that he was anointed by God. From that moment on throughout Jesus' ministry, God the Father publicly demonstrated among the Jews His approval of His Son by performing miracles, wonders, and signs through Him, Peter says. Now, we may wonder why Peter says God was working through Jesus. Wasn't it Jesus who cast out evil spirits? Wasn't it Jesus who caused the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear? Wasn't it Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead? It was. It was Jesus by His divine nature, by His union with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. His divinity is what Peter is pointing out here. Jesus Himself said this in John 5, verse 19, I tell you the truth. The Son, speaking of Himself, the Son can do nothing by Himself. He can do only what He sees His Father doing. Because whatever the Father does, the Son does also. So in Christ, God is at work, working these miracles. You see, Jesus, as the Christ, had to be accredited by God for his ministry. This work of his would not be done in the corner, as Paul would say. It was done in the open. And God's accreditation of him, God's approval of him, was ratified to the people, was certified, publicized, broadcast, however you want to say it, That this is my Christ through these miracles, wonders, and signs. And they testified that God authorized Jesus to accomplish the salvation for his people. Jesus says as much in John chapter 5 verse 36. Jesus said, the very work that the Father has given me to fulfill. This very work that I am doing testifies that the Father has sent me. By these miracles, wonders and signs, what Jesus said was backed up by what Jesus did. He had the authority to say what he said. He had the power to do what he did because he was certified, he was ratified to the people by God. Now Peter was preaching to the Jews in particular on this day, addressing them as men of Israel, as all the house of Israel. And he reminds them that these miracles, wonders, and signs were done among them. And he calls them to account. He says, as you yourselves know. They not only knew about Jesus, they understood the significance of what he said and the significance of what he did. According to John chapter 3, Nicodemus, a member of the ruling council of the Jews, came to Jesus by night and speaking for himself, to be sure, but also speaking as a representative of the Jews, he said, Rabbi, we know. We know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him. We know. And when John the Baptist sent two disciples to ask Jesus that he was the one who was to come, asking, was he the Christ? How did Jesus answer? He says, go back and report to John what you've seen and heard. Look at my credentials. Look at my certification. Look at what God is doing through me. Fulfilling, of course, the prophecy in Isaiah. See, these miracles, wonders, and signs were sufficient to establish who Jesus is, that he is the Christ. They were sufficient then and they are sufficient now. they continue to ratify to all who will hear that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. He is the Savior. The Apostle John tells us this at the end of his Gospel. A Gospel full of wonders and signs. He says at the end, I could have written more, I could have filled lots of books, but I've recorded these, he says, so that you might believe. Believe what? Believe that Jesus was a miracle worker? Well, yes, but that's not the point. The point is that you would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name. That's Peter's point. That's John's point. The miracles performed through Christ testify that He is the Christ. And of course, the ultimate miracle, the ultimate sign that would be given to the Jews was the sign of Jonah, as you remember, that just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days before he was spewed out, Jesus prophesied, the only sign this age will get is that I will be the sign of Jonah, indicating his death, his burial, for three days and his resurrection to life. That's the ultimate sign, which we will consider in just a bit. Peter moves to a second proof that Jesus of Nazareth is the one and only Christ when he reveals that Jesus was killed because he was relinquished by God. He was turned over by God. Peter continues in verse 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. See, Peter's answering unwritten questions here, unspoken questions. We don't know whether they were asked or he just anticipated them in the mind. The questions were this, if Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, as you say he is, as these miracles say he is, how is it that he died? Not only how is it that he died, this anointed one of God, the one who was equal with God, how is it possible that he died? But how is it that he died a death that marked him as a cursed man? It's not possible. That's the logic. Jesus' death by crucifixion seemed to indicate that he could not be the Christ of God. Well, there's no earthly explanation for this seeming impossibility. There's no earthly way to reconcile this apparent contradiction. The explanation and the reconciliation are found only in the mind of God, and Peter reveals that mind in this verse. He tells us that the Christ of God did die by crucifixion. That's a fact. But he died that way only because it was according to God's set purpose and foreknowledge. God not only knew it would happen, God determined it must happen. From eternity, before the foundation of the world, it's been God's plan to send the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, into the world to save his people and to save them through dying that he might gain life for them. According to God's set purpose and foreknowledge, the Son of God became a man, like us in every way except for sin. According to the set purpose and foreknowledge of God, He continually and completely obeyed the will of God, earning the eternal life that He grants to His people. According to God's set purpose and foreknowledge, he willingly sacrificed himself on the cross. The sinless one became sin for his people. Satisfying the justice of God against us and turning to himself the wrath of God that we deserve. Everything about the life and the death of Christ was predetermined and orchestrated by God, including the sinful acts of sinful men. Men who had neither the authority nor the power to kill the Christ in themselves. Therefore, Jesus had to be relinquished by God. He had to be turned over. He had to be handed over like the NIV says. He had to be delivered up as the ESV says. He had to be given into their hands by God. This man was handed over to you. And you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. Just a brief sidebar here. When Peter speaks of wicked men, he's speaking of the Gentiles. Lawless men is the literal translation. He's speaking about those who lived outside of the law of Moses. So here's what he's saying. This man was handed over to you and you, with the help of Gentiles, the Romans, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. He's not giving the Jews a pass here that they weren't wicked. They were just as wicked in this act. You see, by God's set purpose and foreknowledge, Jesus was relinquished by God into the hands of sinful men to be crucified for sinners like me and like you. That's God's purpose. His predetermined plan. And like the Jews to whom Peter preached, we need to know that it is our sin that put Jesus on that cross. And like those Jews to whom Peter was preaching, calling to repentance, we need to repent of that sin. The sin that we are born with, the sin that we commit day by day. That's why Jesus went to the cross. And we are called to repentance today, but we're also called to faith. Because at the same time, we're called to put our trust in this Jesus, this Christ, who has already satisfied for the sins of the world on that cross and has earned the eternal life that he will give to all who will call on him to be saved. Jesus of Nazareth, the one and only Christ, ratified by God and relinquished by God. When we consider him, we are called to repent of our sin and to believe in him and his work for us. I must not neglect one further application from this text that really is not what Peter's focused on here. When Peter was speaking to the Jews, what he had to say here to them made perfect sense. They didn't have any problem with it. But in our day, we have trouble with it. So I want to take just a moment to deal with the reality that's presented in verse 23 about the paradox, the mystery of how God is sovereign over all things and men are responsible. This is the touchstone text in the New Testament where that comes together. We read that Jesus was handed over by God's set purpose and foreknowledge, God's sovereign. It was his determination that this would happen. And at the same time, we read that it was men who put Jesus to death by nailing him to the cross. Men, we know from the rest of this sermon, Peter was calling to repent for that sin. Both are true. God is sovereign. We're responsible. We don't like that. It goes against our thinking. And so men will try to reconcile this in our own minds and go one way or the other. Either God is so sovereign that we're just stocks and blocks. We don't make any decisions. That's not true. Or we go the other way. I have the freedom to choose and God can't do a thing about it. That's not true. Both are true. As we see in this text. This is a mystery that's solved only in the mind of God whose ways are higher than our ways, whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts. It's one of the secret things that belongs to God, but it's been revealed here in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ that God is sovereign and men are responsible. And that's the fact that we, by faith, can submit to and that's the fact that we, by faith, can find comfort in. For this sovereign God is also our Heavenly Father through faith in Christ. So that we can know that these things that happen in our life that are by His sovereign design and control, the sufferings that I know the people of God will face and do face, they come from His hand, but they come for a purpose. They come for our good. And we can confess with Paul in Romans 8.28 that in all things He works together for the good of those who love Him, those who are called according to His purpose. The Jewish mind didn't have any problem with this. We have a problem with it and I needed to address it. But now I want to return to the main point of Peter's sermon. Focusing on Christ. He was ratified by God. He was relinquished by God. And now Peter moves to his third proof. His ultimate proof that Jesus of Nazareth is the one and only Christ. And he does so as Paul Harvey used to say by telling them the rest of the story. Yes, they had killed Jesus. But Jesus did not stay dead. He's alive. He's been resurrected by God. Men had done all they could do to accomplish their purposes. But God had greater purposes and He accomplished them. Peter opens and closes this proof with the fact of the resurrection. He begins in verse 24. He says, But God raised him from the dead. And he concludes in verse 32, God has raised this Jesus to life. This is the fact of the matter. This is what has been done. Jesus of Nazareth, the man you put to death, is no longer dead. He is alive. And then in verse 24, Peter adds that through Christ's resurrection, God was freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. And there I just would caution against misunderstanding that verse to say that somehow for the three days that Jesus was in the grave, he was in agony. That's not what Peter's saying. The word here, agony, is literally the word for birth pains. And it seems to me, along with one 19th century commentator, that Peter is using the birth of a child as a metaphor for the resurrection of Christ. This is the picture we should have. And he paints it this way that just as it is impossible for a mother in labor to hold back the birth of a child, when the time for birth has come, there's nothing she can do but go with the flow. And when the birth happens, her birth pains end. So just as it's impossible for the mother to hold back the birth of a child, it's impossible for death to hold back the resurrection of Jesus. It was imminent. It was undeniable. It was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon. And why was it impossible? Because just as everything about the life and death of Christ was according to God's set purpose and foreknowledge, so was his resurrection. According to God's set purpose and foreknowledge, that Christ not only would be resurrected, he must be resurrected, and there was nothing death could do to stop it. And Peter backs this fact with the testimony of witnesses. his first witness is a particular scripture that must be fulfilled one of these set purposes of God that must be fulfilled and in verses 25 to 31 he gives us the Holy Spirit inspired interpretation of Psalm 16 making it clear that what David said there and David is the one who wrote it David said about another David said about him he says the Christ Jesus of Nazareth and the crucial point is found in verse 27 spoken to the Lord God you will not abandon me to the grave nor will you let your holy ones see decay and then Peter in these verses makes the case that David could not have been speaking about himself why not? because David had died and David had been buried and David's tomb was still in the city you could go visit it he was still there His body had seen decay. He could not have been speaking about himself. No, David spoke as King David, who knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on the throne. So even though David said the words are recorded in Psalm 16, he was speaking for the heir. He was speaking for the promised one. He was speaking for the greater son, the Christ. And in speaking for him, David spoke as a prophet, Peter says. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ. That he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. If you want to know who the Messiah is, Peter is saying, according to David, he's not in the tomb. And then Peter brings the second witness. He himself comes forward with the eleven flanking him. They all are standing there together. They come to confirm that Christ is the one of whom David spoke, Jesus of Nazareth, because his tomb is empty. And we are witnesses to the fact. A jury box full. We are witnesses to the fact. And it was for this purpose that each of those twelve apostles was commissioned and appointed by Christ. This was their purpose in life and that was to proclaim the tomb was empty. Jesus is the Christ. They were commissioned and empowered by the Holy Spirit to bear witness to this Jesus that He is Christ of God. They were eyewitnesses. They saw everything from the time of His baptism through His life, His death, His resurrection and even into His ascension as we heard from Luke 24. And their testimony has been preserved for us in the books of the New Testament. That's what we have. It began on Pentecost Sunday. It began with this sermon of Peter. And every time it's been proclaimed, every time it's brought forward, every time we encounter it, we are reminded that Jesus is alive. Jesus is the Christ. so it is through the scripture the new testament that the apostles bring which refers to the old testament as Peter did in this sermon and explained how it points to Christ as well when the scriptures come to us the prophets and the apostles continue to bear witness to us that Jesus of Nazareth the one and only Christ was ratified by God relinquished by God and ultimately resurrected by God for the salvation of his people, for every one of you, including myself, who will repent of our sins and trust that his accomplished work is our only way to be saved. That's the news of Easter. That's the good news of the resurrection. Repent and believe. Jesus of Nazareth is the one and only Savior. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we come before you thankful for the witness that you bear to your Son in the Scriptures. We thank you that you have condescended to our need to know who He is and what He's done, why He's done it and how He did it. For He is the Son of God who came in the flesh. we thank you for this day that we celebrate Easter Sunday Resurrection Day when we remember in a very particular and prominent way of this unique act in human history when Jesus of Nazareth was resurrected from the grave gaining life defeating death that all who will believe on him will be saved and will know this very life that he has earned a life that can never end we pray Father that many will hear the word of Jesus, the testimony of his resurrection Lord and be convinced that it was their sin that put him on the cross and that it is his life alone that can redeem them, that you would grant faith to your people and nurture the faith of those who have confessed the name of Christ, to be encouraged for the life that is before us, the life that continues until He returns. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.