The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at New Georgia

Tim Johnson, editor

December 26, 2004

 
In This Issue:
A Classic Sermon
by Tim Johnson

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A Classic Sermon -- Acts 2

  We are all gathered here to day to worship God in song, in prayer, in giving of our means as we have been prospered, and in observance of the Lord's Supper commemorating the death of our Lord. We are also gathered together to be edified and built up in the faith by the Word of God presented to us in a gospel sermon. We expect that sermon to be needful, thought provoking, and one that will do us a lot of good. We know that Bro. Steve is very capable of presenting such a sermon unto us. We also know that, in the pages of the Bible, there are other gospel preachers that were very capable of presenting good gospel sermons - men such as Peter, Philip, and Paul. We have recorded for us in the Bible the entire context of the first gospel sermon, which was presented by Peter. We can read this context in Acts 2, along with the results of the sermon. Truly, this was a sermon that was very much needed, very thought provoking, and did a lot of good. It was a classic sermon!

  There were five things that contributed to making Peter's sermon a classic sermon:

  1. A special day - Acts 2:1 speaks of the disciples being "with one accord in one place" on the day of Pentecost. Leviticus 23 covers in detail the different feasts that God commanded the Israelites to observe. Each of these was special, and was to be observed properly. The Feast of Pentecost was called so because it came 50 days after the Passover. For this reason, it was regarded by later Jewish authorities as the conclusion of the Passover celebrations. It lasted for only one day, and was a joyous occasion when the entire nation gave thanks to God for His abundant gifts of food.

  2. A large number of people - "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5.) We don't know how many people, but, if you'll allow me to take a sneak peak at the results of this sermon, we know that there were at least 3000 people there, because this number of people reacted positively to the sermon that was presented. Now there was probably much more than this, but we're not given a number. On the annual observance of the Feast of Pentecost, Jewish people from throughout the Roman Empire were gathered in the city of Jerusalem to participate in the observance. In short, they were there to worship God. Also notice, it is said that these were devout men. Vines defines devout as "taking hold well", "careful as to the realization of the presence and claims of God, reverencing God..." These Jews were very religious, thinking that they were faithful children of God. They were people from many different places (every nation under heaven.), and of many different languages - "Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians," (Acts 2:9-11).

  3. The Word was spoken so that all could understand - "... because that every man heard them speak in his own language.... we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God "(Acts 2: 11). Truly, a miracle was performed in this. These Jews were of many different nations and, therefore, spoke many different languages. Now each of them heard the Word being spoken in his own language. God accomplished two things with this: (1) he made it possible for all to completely understand what was being said, and (2) he confirmed the Word being spoken with this miracle.

  4. The interest of the crowd had been sparked - This was accomplished through (a) the things that happened - "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance&ldots; we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God" (Acts 2:2-4,11), and (b) through some of the explanations that were being given - "And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, 'What meaneth this?' Others mocking said, 'These men are full of new wine'" (Acts 2: 13). Indeed, the crowd was interested!

  5. Sermon content - Explanation was given for the apostles' actions using common sense -  "seeing it is but the third hour of the day" - and scripture reference - "but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel&ldots;" (Acts 2:16-17). Accusation was made against the men of Israel (Peter had their attention, so he delivered the first punch) - "&ldots;Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God&ldots; ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:22-23).  Peter points out that Jesus had been proved among them as a man of God by the miracles and wonders that he did in their midst. Even the Jews themselves had admitted this before they crucified Him. Now, Peter says that the crucifixion of Jesus by these Jews was a wicked act.

  A fact was then stated that none of them wanted to accept - "Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it" (Acts 2:24). These devout Jews had done away with Jesus because, in their misled opinion, he was a blasphemous Son of Beelzebub. They felt that they had done the will of God. But the events surrounding his crucifixion were fresh on their minds - the darkness over the land in the middle of the day of his crucifixion, the veil of the temple was torn in two, the earth quaked, the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints arose and went into the city and appeared unto many (Mt 27:45-53), the disappearance of the body of Christ (Mt. 28: 11-15). Now it had been fifty days since the event, and they were witnessing still more miraculous events with the name of Jesus attached to it.

  The fact stated (the resurrection of Christ) was reinforced with scripture, words from David, a forefather that these devout Jews greatly respected: "For David speaketh concerning him, 'I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance'" (Acts 2:25-28).

  Pointing out eyewitnesses further reinforced the resurrection of Christ. The Jews were very big on witnesses, i.e. they sought false witness against Christ. The fact there were witnesses to His resurrection was news to these devout Jews and, as it turned out, this was very convincing news.

  A proclamation was then made that Jesus is exalted to God's right hand - "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted" (Acts 2:33). This proclamation was also reinforced by scripture - "For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, 'The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool'" (Acts 2:34-35). Again, Peter references scripture, this time from Ps. 110: 1, but he still uses the words of David, possibly because his name carried such weight among these devout Jews.

  The knock out punch was then delivered - "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). The house of Israel was these very Jews. Peter let them know that, although they had wickedly crucified Jesus, God had raised him up to be Lord and Christ!

  We are all very familiar with the results of this sermon - "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?'" (Acts 2:37) Peter wasted no time in giving these devout Jews the plan God had set up for their obedience. He laid it out plainly before them. "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38).

  We are also very familiar with the obedience that resulted - "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized&ldots;" (Acts 2:41). Because these were devout people, who stood in awe of God and reverenced him, they obeyed the commandments that Peter laid out before them. There was no hesitation, waiting, putting it off, etc. They obeyed, immediately!

  From this study, we can see that this really was a "classic sermon". And this is just the kind of sermon we expect to hear today. We hope and pray that the results of our sermon today will be similar to those of that classic sermon so long ago.

.By Tim Johnson