Peter’s Christ-Centered Sermon
Who likes listening to sermons? (Ok, the ones who didn’t raise their hands are going to have a really hard time today.) This morning you are not only going to hear a sermon, but you are going to hear a sermon about a sermon.
The Bible tells us to be ready in season and out of season. That’s what we are going to see with Peter. He took the opportunity God placed before Him, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, He delivered a powerful sermon…a sermon with an outcome the likes I have never seen. From a sermon by the rock upon which Christ would build the church, three thousand people were added to the church. So let’s dig in and see the reasoning behind the sermon, the content that’s within it, and let’s listen with open ears and open hearts as if we are the very ones in the crowd hearing it from Peter himself.
Defend the truth. (14-15) Though it sounds funny to us, this introduction sets the stage for the rest of the sermon. Peter is about to defend the actions that all the people are witnessing—the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. So, before he gets to defending the main point, he has to squash some of the doubts of the crowd. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:18, “do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” What the crowd is witnessing right now (the visible expression of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples), from their past experiences, they can’t comprehend what they’re seeing. When have you seen someone speaking incoherently? Well, when someone has drunk a little too much…if you know what I’m saying…they will blabber incoherently. The crowd thinks they must be drunk! And they are laughing and mocking them.
Before Peter can get to the real reason why they are acting this way, he must put their doubts to rest. He must defend the truth. They must see that their thinking is wrong before they come to realize the truth. In his case, he says, “It’s only 9am! They’re not drunk!” You see, people mainly had wine at meals, and they wouldn’t have even had their first meal yet at this time. Now, how’s that for a sermon intro! It was actually a great sermon intro, because he set the stage for them to be able to hear the truth. And what he was going to say next was the truth. He was going to preach the gospel.
You know, we often must do the same thing. We must clear the way for the gospel to be able to take root. Now, we have seen that it is the Holy Spirit that draws people to believe in Christ. But God does often use us as His means of drawing people to Christ. People have many misperceptions about God that are barriers to their belief in Him and the salvation that is offered through Jesus. Their minds and their hearts are darkened and hardened to the truth.[1] They suppress the truth.[2] But do you know how God softens hearts and leads people to the Truth? It’s through 1) the Holy Spirit drawing them, and 2) the Word of God being illuminated to them.
Be saturated with scripture. (16-21) Peter uses three texts for his sermon. That’s awesome! In many churches today you will be lucky if the sermon is based on one text. What’s even more inspiring is that Peter wasn’t prepared to preach this day. But, you know what? Peter was prepared to preach this day. He was so saturated with scripture that it came out naturally. He was able to interpret the events happening around them in light of scripture and he was ready and able to communicate that with others. Kent Hughes says it like this: “Peter was full of scripture! Peter was not preaching with notes. He did not even know he was going to preach…The point is, he knew Joel’s messianic prophecy by heart.”[3] “As we fill ourselves with God’s Word and yield to it, we make ourselves available for the filling of the Spirit.”[4] Can you say the same about yourself? Are you so saturated with Scripture that it just comes out? What you fill yourself with is what naturally comes out. It’s like a sponge.
“Three major texts form the framework of the speech: Joel 2:28-32; Psalm 16:8-11; 110:1. The sermon falls into three main divisions. First, the full citation of the Joel text serves to connect the sermon with the immediate occasion of the Spirit-filled Christians (2:14-21). The central section of the speech establishes that Jesus is the Messiah, with Psalm 16:8-11 pointing to his resurrection and Psalm 110:1 to his exaltation (2:22-36). Finally, there is a call to repentance, with a final allusion to the text of Joel to “round off” the sermon and a report of the response of the Jewish crowd (2:37-41).”[5] So let’s dive in and hear this scripture-saturated sermon for ourselves.
Jesus is LORD. (21-23) Verse 21 was the most important verse for Peter: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” For Peter the “Lord” in the context of this sermon was Jesus Christ. Everything that followed in the sermon—Christ’s death, his resurrection, his exaltation—pointed in the same direction. Whoever calls on his name, whoever confesses him as Lord will be saved.[6] Jesus! Is He your Lord?
What does this mean for us? It’s of utmost importance that we grasp this. What does it mean that Jesus is Lord? He’s not just Savior, He’s Lord. He’s not just the lover of our soul, He’s Lord. He’s not just a friend of sinners, He’s Lord.
It means that He requires utmost allegiance. It means that He is sovereign over all. That Jesus is sovereign doesn’t just mean he is in control. It means He has all the say. A sovereign is a ruler of a kingdom. You know what we are apart from Christ? We are rebels against the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth. We are lawbreakers, and we deserve the just judgment that is due for our lawbreaking.
We have to realize that. We are not the victims in this grand story of redemptive history. We are the victimizers. We so focus on God’s love that we often fail to see his just judgment. Yes, it is the love of Jesus that drove Him to the cross. But it’s also our sin that nailed Him there. We are the cause. We are not victims of sin. “Oh, poor us. Satan tricked us. I fell again.” NO! You rebelled against the sovereign King of the cosmos! That’s what you are doing not just with that big sin of your past, but that’s what you are doing every single time you sin! You are rebelling against God!
When we call Jesus Lord, it doesn’t just mean that we accept his salvation. It means we live under His rule. And we wake up every day grateful that His mercies are new every morning. As Peter shares the gospel with this crowd, you have to notice this thrust within his message. They are guilty. We must see that we are guilty before we will ever call out to the Lord to be saved.[7] Peter says to them in verse 23, “This Jesus…you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”
Since Peter has laid this groundwork, he could now share not just who Jesus is as Lord, but what He did that brings about the salvation of any who believe. And as he does it, again, he does it by giving proofs so they know what he is speaking is the truth. Remember, the crowd gathered there are Jews. They are steeped in the Old Testament and knew the prophecies of the Messiah. So, Peter uses their own beliefs to show them that it actually points to Jesus. He starts with the resurrection.
Jesus’s tomb is empty. (24-31) Peter quotes Psalm 16:8-11 here. Here is his apologetic intention: “Psalm 16:8-11 could not have been fulfilled by David because it speaks of someone whom the grave could not hold and who did not undergo decay. David’s body remained in its grave and deteriorated.”[8] But you know what everyone in attendance knew? They knew that there was no body of Jesus in a grave. They had heard the rumors and excuses as to why there was no body in a grave,[9] but they did know for certain that the tomb of Jesus was empty. Here Peter shows them from their own beliefs how and why the tomb of Jesus was empty. It’s because He is the promised Messiah and rose from the dead. Not only was His tomb empty, though.
Jesus was seen alive. (32)
Peter himself was an eyewitness to the resurrected Jesus. He jumped off a boat and swam to see him.[10] Peter, who denied Jesus before His crucifixion, was given a second chance to show Jesus that he loved Him.[11] Peter is speaking of what he saw for himself and knew with certainty to be true. Our faith in Christ is built off multiple eyewitness testimony.[12] And Peter is here speaking as one who was a direct eyewitness. He would later die for his belief of what he knew to be true. As did all the other eyewitness-apostles as well. But Jesus didn’t just rise from the dead. He is still alive. And that matters for us right now.
Jesus reigns in heaven. (33-35)
Here is Peter’s apologetic: “Psalm 110:1 cannot be applied to David because he did not ascend to Heaven; therefore, it must apply to the resurrected Messiah.”[13] Here’s his kingdom meaning: Jesus is the victorious King over all His enemies…that includes, especially, those Peter is preaching to.
Hear how John Wesley explains the ancient custom this verse Peter quoted alludes to.
“In this…verse is an allusion to two ancient customs, one, to the highest honor that used to be paid to persons by placing them on the right hand, as Solomon did Bathsheba when sitting on his throne (1 Kings 2:19) and the other, to the custom of conquerors, who used to tread on the necks of their vanquished enemies as a token of their entire victory and triumph over them.”[14]
Here’s the deal…those Peter is preaching to are Jews. They are part of those that king David lovingly ruled. They longed for the day another just like David would come to rule and reign. And when He did come, Jesus, they missed Him. Not only did they miss Him, but they killed Him. No longer are they on right side of this King. They are His enemy. They aren’t the ones sitting at His right hand. They are the ones trampled under His feet.
This is the pivotal moment in the sermon. This may be perhaps the point they first really heard it. This is a great sermon by Peter, for so many reasons. But here’s the deal...it doesn’t matter. This sermon doesn’t matter at all. And any sermon, no matter how great, doesn’t matter at all unless it is heard…and I mean really heard. “It is…better to hear a sermon that is great because of what it does to us. It is entirely possible to hear good teaching or preaching for years and never personally hear it in the great way the three thousand did.”[15]
When Peter said this next line, it brought it all home for them. (vs 36). What would you do if you were a part of this crowd? My heart would sink to my stomach. You know the feeling you get when the phone rings and it is a loved one you are not expecting, and you just know something terrible has happened? And when you answer, your worst fears come true. That’s what has happened here. They killed the very Messiah they had been waiting centuries for.
What is left to do? Is there any hope for them at all? It’s the same for you and me. Remember, it is not just for us that Jesus died, but it is because of us. There is one thing each of us must do.
Respond to Jesus. (37-41) Tony Merida says it like this:
“They were pierced because they realized they were objects of God’s wrath. They longed to be free from condemnation. Notice that they don’t wait for Peter to offer an invitation. They ask him how they should respond to his message.”[16]
I want to ask you a few questions. Please really consider these. When was the last time you were convicted for your sin? Are you perfect? Do you know all things perfectly? Is your way always right? Do you always follow God? Are you without sin? If you answered no to any of those questions, if your heart’s not hardened, conviction should accompany you. And the thing is, if you are in Christ, conviction doesn’t lead to condemnation.[17] It leads to acquittal. You must be convicted of your sin before Jesus will become your Lord.
Earlier, we saw that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Here, as Craig Keener says, “Peter instructs the people how to call on the Lord’s name: be baptized in Jesus’ name. Because baptism was a sign of conversion to Judaism normally reserved for pagans, Peter’s demand would offend his Jewish hearers and cost them respectability. He calls for a public, radical testimony of conversion, not a private, noncommittal request for salvation with no conditions. “In the name of Jesus” distinguishes this sort of baptism, requiring faith in Christ, from other ancient baptisms; this phrase simply means that the person being baptized confesses Christ.”[18]
And we see the outcome of the Holy Spirit speaking through a willing and ready vessel specifically to the hearts of rebels at war against God. They repent and believe…three thousand of them. Three thousand individuals.
This message is the same for you. We are no different than that crowd. It is not just for our sin, but because of our sin that Jesus died. But there is hope. Jesus is alive. And He offers you life. So, turn from your sins which wage war against God, and turn to Christ, who died in your place and rose victorious from the grave.
I want you to notice one last thing. These Jews, now turned believers, didn’t just inwardly believe. It says, “Those who received his word were baptized…” They followed through with their belief even at risk of losing respectability. They followed through with their commitment. Jesus was their Lord. Their internal commitment was evident because it bore the fruit of outward expression. What inward commitment do you need to make? And what outward expression do you need to accompany your inward commitment today?
[3] R. Kent Hughes, Acts, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1996), 40.
[4] Hughes, Acts, 41.
[5] John B. Polhill, Acts, The New American Commentary (Nashville: B&H, 1992), 107.
[6] Polhill, Acts, 110.
[8] Hughes, Acts, 41.
[12] If you want to dig deeper into how we know the resurrection is based upon true eyewitness testimony, see Jesus and the Eyewitnesses by Richard Bauckham.
[13] Hughes, Acts, 42.
[14] John Wesley, Wesley’s Explanatory Notes.
[15] Hughes, Acts, 42.
[16] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Acts, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville: B&H, 2017), 31.
[18] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 324-5.
