Acts 2 - It's ALL About Christ!

Hello all!  This week we will be looking at Acts 2 again.  We have looked at it one or two other times, and it is a very rich chapter.  As with many Biblical passages, we could come back to this one many times, maybe every week, and find something new each time.  This time, while preparing this week’s reading, I actually started putting the outline together expecting to expand on one topic, and ended up on a different topic.  I thought I was going to address the fact that our sin, as much as the sin of the Jews, is the reason Christ was crucified, which is true.  But as I was listening to the chapter via MP3 over and over again while I was at work, something struck me.  The central focus of the passage was not merely what Christ did, but Christ Himself!

Jesus Christ should be everything to the Christian.  As I have spent time studying God’s word, I have become more and more convinced that the nature and character of God, and of Jesus Christ in particular, must be the beginning and end of all our evangelism, and of everything else in our lives for that matter.  Every foundation we have for truth, creation, morality, salvation, and finally our eternal hope, has its genesis in who God is, and its completion in who Jesus Christ is.  But it can be so easy to get distracted from that truth.  I have found myself in witnessing encounters where I have spent huge amounts dealing with apologetics, philosophy, scientific probabilities, social issues, and a host of other things.  None of those things are bad in themselves, but they truly are secondary.  I’ve also let conversations become about me, and about showing my intelligence or protecting my pride.  Every time I head out to the streets one of my first prayers is that those thoughts will die, so when I speak Christ will be preeminent, and all that I do will be about God’s glory, not mine.  It’s a struggle, and I’m sure it always will be, but I will keep praying, as I hope you will, that Jesus Christ and HIS glory will be the focus.  I also pray that this outline will help encourage you in that direction.

All for His glory,

Dan

READ ACTS 2

Peter telling the Jews about Jesus, we are telling you the same

Why does Jesus matter?  What’s the big deal?

Everything is about Jesus

Not just a good teacher, not just a good example to follow, although His is both

He is the center point of history

Everything in past looks toward Him, everything since looks back

This passage shows who He is and why He matters so much

The expected one.  The prophesied Messiah.  Emanuel, God with us

John 1 – In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.  And the word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us.

The creator of all humbled Himself and lived among His creation

David foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ

Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God

YOU MIGHT CONSIDER INCLUDING OTHER EXAMPLES OF PROPHECIES FULFILLED IN JESUS.

The risen one

Some say no one knows what happens after death.  Jesus knows

Jesus died and rose, and tells us what comes next

God raised Him up.  Not possible that death could hold Him

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.

Jesus raised up, we are all witnesses

Proved who He was, and demonstrated His power over death

John 10:18 - No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Our advocate

We need an advocate because we are law breakers, deserving of punishment

1 Cor 6:9-10 - Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Revelation 21:8 - But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

               

DISCUSS THESE SINS.  MAKE THEM PERSONAL, NOT GENERAL.  IT’S EASY FOR PEOPLE TO SAY “EVERYBODY SINS,” AND TREAT SIN LIGHTLY.  BUT THAT FACT DOESN’T MEAN EVERYBODY IS OK, IT MEANS EVERYONE IS GUILTY!  SO ASK WHAT WILL THEY DO WITH THEIR GUILT, AND THE SUBSEQUENT PUNISHMENT THEY DESERVE.

We are rebels

Know the truth about God and our sin, and deny it, thus bringing God’s wrath

Romans 1:18 - For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

And God is holy.  Will not allow evil in His presence

Revelation 21 says nothing unclean will be allowed into heaven.

Hab 1:13 - You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong,

We are unclean because of our sin

We can be made clean through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross

You and I are the reason Christ was crucified

Through the cross, the punishment we deserve was placed on Christ, and we can be made free

Isaiah 1:18 - Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Colossians 1:19-22 - For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him

God has made Jesus, who you crucified, both Lord and Christ

He is now sitting at God’s right hand

Our one and only hope

               

Acts 4:12 - And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

               

1 Tim 2:5 - For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

               

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved

Acknowledge your sin, call on His name

Turn from your sin, and to Christ alone

Fix your eyes on Christ. 

John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Do you know Him?  Call out to Him today, and He will make Himself known to you

Call on the name of the Lord, and you will be saved!