Peter Preaches Christ

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2016 · 31 January 2016

Peter preaches in Acts 3 and this is a marvelous sermon. And he is going to talk about the names of Jesus. Peter preached in Acts 2 on the first day of the church's birth; he preaches again a few days later in Acts 3; and in Acts 4, he preaches again. Peter is commissioned by God to be the apostle to the Jews, to the circumcised ones, to Israel, to declare Jesus Christ of Nazareth as the Messiah.

And the results are exciting as the church is born and at the conclusion of his first sermon there are 3,000 who come to Christ. After his second sermon there are 5,000 men numbered among believers, in addition to women and children. And so under the ministry of Peter the church is born and begins to grow rapidly. His sermons are about Jesus Christ and they are about sin.

But in this sermon in Acts 3, he focusses on the name of Jesus Christ. In Acts 3:6, he said to the lame man, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." And then in verse 16, he tells the Jews who are now listening to his sermon, “And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.”

This is the subject of his preaching. That name of which God says is above every name. He is the theme of every sermon preached by the apostles and the theme of every gospel message and of every messenger of God throughout the history of the church. And in fact, Peter said boldly and specifically in 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.” Thirty-three times in Acts reference is made to “that name”.

Jesus is the single most important figure in the history of the universe. All blessings are found in His name. You may think that the human names are important and they might be if you are sent to go ask a favor of somebody and you tell them that Joe, Mr. Important, sent you, you will probably get what you want. But that does not work with God. God responds only to one name, Jesus Christ who said in John 14:6, "No man comes to the Father but by Me." That is the only name that gives you access to God.

As we have seen the Holy Spirit confirmed the preaching of Peter by miracles and signs to prove that the message was indeed divine. In Acts 2 first of all, the Spirit of God designed that miracle of languages when they all began to speak about the wonderful works of God in the native languages of the listeners. And because of that the crowd gathered together shocked at the divine nature of such a miracle. And it was in that against that backdrop that Peter preached the name of Jesus Christ.

Then in Acts 3, the Holy Spirit does the same thing again. Before Peter begins to preach and announce the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit allows them to bless that lame man with the gift of healing in the name of Jesus Christ. Again this act of God gathers the crowd in wonder and amazement. Peter then preaches his message that was confirmed as divine by that astounding miracle.

And this is exactly what Hebrews 2:4 says, “God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit.” So as we come to Acts 3:12-26, which is the message itself, we must be aware that all that happened in Acts 3 is a testimony of the work of the Holy Spirit. He makes the miracle happen and He gives Peter every word that Peter speaks. Peter and John are simply around to be used.

Now with that as the backdrop we then begin to see the sermon. Verse 11, “While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.” Now, before we come to the sermon in verse 12, let's look at the introduction. Well, the Holy Spirit has already provided the living illustration of the lame man who followed Peter and John.

Verse 12, “And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?” They were aware that the crowd was staring at them thinking those two are just a couple of fishermen from Galilee. Peter now is about to change their focus to Christ because he had said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

Peter said we didn't do it, this is all God's doing. This is hard for them to understand because they did not believe that Jesus was of God. Yet it was obviously done in Jesus' name wasn't it? Peter calls them "Men of Israel," which is the most courteous way you can address the Jewish people. And in fact, he even tells them in verse 25, you are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant. God is not yet through with Israel. They are only temporarily blinded as Paul says in Romans 9, 10, and 11.

And then Peter indicts them for their bad attitude toward Jesus. This is the main theme in Acts 3:13-18. He is presenting Jesus by six names, six different titles of the 208 titles that He has. And as he presents these six names, at the same time he presents six statements about each name. Peter calls Jesus first Servant, then Jesus, the Holy One, the Righteous One, Author of Life, and then in verse 18, Christ. Those are the six names.

The first statement and the last statement are by God and the middle four are how men treated him. First the Servant dignified and then lastly Christ declared. God dignified Him and declared Him to be Christ. But in the middle, look what men did. Jesus was delivered up. The Holy One denied. The Righteous desired not. The Prince of Life destroyed. So while Peter is presenting Jesus as Messiah, he at the same time is indicting Israel for being opposed to God and for denying and rejecting their own Messiah.

Let us begin in verse 13, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus.” Peter is tying it all into Israel. This is our God. And so he uses all the right terms. God is also the God of all men, but God is especially the God of covenant promise with Israel.

And Peter wants them to know that he is in continuity with all the Old Testament prophets. He is declaring the same God they serve. Now look at the term ‘servant’ for just a moment and see what it says about Jesus. The term servant is a reference to an ambassador. Jesus serves God as an ambassador commissioned from heaven to earth to represent him. That's exactly what the Messiah is.

And when He came into the world, He repeatedly declared that He was indeed a servant of God. Now let me just pull two passages. Isaiah 42:1 says, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” And in Isaiah 52:13 it says, “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.”

Jesus also claimed to be the servant of Isaiah's prophecy. Matthew 12:15-18 says, “Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.” The Word of God says Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.

Jesus was serving God. He came to die because that was God's plan. John 6:38 says, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” But you know He was in service to us as well. In John 13:4-5, He teaches all of us how to serve, “He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”

And afterwards Jesus says in verse 13-16, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.”

All right, let's look at the second name, Jesus. In Matthew 1:21 the angel said, “And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” The word Jesus comes from the Old Testament name Joshua. It means salvation of the Lord or it means Jehovah Savior. Joshua caused the people to serve the Lord in all his days, but he couldn't save them. But our Jesus preserves His people in holiness forever and is able to keep them from falling and present them faultless.

He is the Savior God, the deliverer and yet men delivered Him, that's how twisted they were. The one God dignified as their deliverer, they denied and killed as an imposter. In verse 13 Peter continues, “whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.” You did it. Five times Pilate didn't find any fault in Him. Matthew 27:25 says, “And all the people answered, “Let His blood be on us and on our children!”

Verse 14, “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.” The term the Holy One describes Jesus and it means ‘separated unto God’. Israel didn't want to know that He was the Holy One. But there is somebody in the Bible who did know it. Luke 4:33-34 says, “And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” Wow, the demon knew what Israel didn't want to know.

Peter's approach is very direct. He says: your sin is that you denied the Holy One. He could have talked about the hypocrisy. He could have talked about their lying and cheating. He could have talked about a lot of things, but it would have all been surface issues. What he talked about was them living in open rebellion against God because they rejected Christ.

It was true, but you denied it. And so their denial remained. He was Holy, but they desired Him killed as if He were unholy. He was the servant whom God glorified, but they debased Him. You see all the way through they're in contrast to God and to Christ. And every man without Jesus Christ is living in rebellion against God. And to those people judgment comes.

So the servant is dignified, Jesus was delivered, the Holy One denied, and now number four the Righteous One not desired, they desired the unrighteous. They had a choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Jesus was righteous and innocent of any crime. And Peter says, you killed the innocent and turned loose the guilty one. Barabbas was unrighteous and a convicted criminal. That shows you where you are.

Verse 15, “And you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.” This is a powerful indictment. Now He is called the Author of Life. It is also used in Hebrews 12:2 and translated “the author and finisher of our faith”. To every Jew, only God was the author of life. Psalm 36 reflects the feeling of every Jew, "For with You is the fountain of life."

Jesus made that claim in John 1:3-4, “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In Him was life.” And in John 11:25, He says to Mary and Martha at the home of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He is the life giver.

Look at verse 16, “And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.” Do not misunderstand. It is not because of that lame man's faith, it is because of Peter and John's faith. The gift of healing does not operate based on the faith of the one who got healed, it operates based on the faith of the healer who depends on God.

And so Peter presents Christ as the Messiah and ties Him into this marvelous miracle. And he says you have seen this happen right in front of your eyes and it is by faith in Jesus, the One that God has glorified, and you have denied and delivered, and not desired and destroyed. You stand with the crucifiers, you agree with their judgment of Him, and you live in that open rebellion against God and you are just as guilty as they.

And then gently Peter in verse 17-18 says, “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.” He says, now I know you did it through ignorance. Jesus in Luke 23:34 said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” God in His grace is accounting it as manslaughter not first degree murder.

Look at verse 19, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” Come on, just turn around. The door's open, come on in and your sins will be erased. The last name that is mentioned in verse 18, is Christ. Christ simply means Messiah. And Peter ends by saying, "He is your Messiah by all the fulfilled prophesies regarding His suffering.” Let us pray.