The Birth of the Church - Ben Stuart

Well, hey family, we are filming this on a Friday So if you were watching this that means we were unable to gather on Sunday because of weather and let me say I am grateful for the internet as a tool for Evangelism and spiritual formation, but I like gathering in person. So in the absence of the ideal I'm grateful for this alternative not out of preference, but necessity, but let me say this I know it can be hard sometimes to focus on just a talking head for a few minutes But I want you to really zero in on us here. Not so much because of me, but because of this We are at today ground zero of the most influential moment in human history Tom Holland the historian not spider-man called this moment. We're about to look at the depth charge When there's an explosion under the ocean, you may not see that event But the ripples will go for miles and miles and he called this historic moment that event that you may not see But we are all living in the wake Historically and socially of this great event you're living in it Whether you know it or not what we're witnessing today is the birth of the Christian Church Now some you go. Is that the most important thing? Well Christianity is so common right now people think it's normal and it is certainly not normal One church history book entitled the history of the early church the triumph of the meek Which if you think about that triumphing is not something that meek people normally do but that's what's so wild about Christianity Jesus was not a warlord. He never took up a sword But today billions on planet Earth follow him. He never took up a scepter He was not a political king in that sense, but his kingdom endures to this day He was lifted up on a cross a symbol of humiliation in ancient Rome a scandal How did a crucified carpenter from Nazareth become the object of worship as God particularly in Jerusalem a city where men and women gladly died to oppose Caesar's claims to be related to deity and yet now art history philosophy Government most of our modern assumptions about women's rights and human rights the importance of education humanitarian aid they all come from this the movement birthed by Jesus that bifurcated history of BC and AD we are at the epicenter today of the beginning of a new era

Rodney Starks a sociologist from the University of Washington and he wrote a book the rise of Christianity and his question was how was it done? He said how did a tiny and obscure messianic movement from the edge of the Roman Empire? Dislodge classic paganism and become dumb the dominant faith of Western civilization And I would say not just the West now more people worship Jesus in Africa in Asia than in Europe I want to show you over the next few minutes the birth of the most powerful moment in human history But this is not just a history lesson of what happened back then we are going to observe Essential elements of the DNA of the movement of God because they're still the essential elements of his movement today That impacts us But it begins and we're just gonna move through this passage. It's a lot of verses 41 next week We'll cover five verses so, you know, we don't always go full tilt, but this is a story so it won't feel too bad But it begins not with dynamic personality or preacher But it begins with the power of God and I'll say this before we jump into verse 1 Jesus's ministry has been building to this One commentator called this passage Acts chapter 2 the fulcrum of Luke and Acts John the Baptist at the beginning of Luke said hey, I'm baptizing you with water But he who is mightier than I he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire That was at the outset of Jesus ministry after Jesus was resurrected for the dead in Luke 24 Jesus said to his disciples behold I am sending to you the promise of the Holy of my father upon you Stay in the city until you're clothed with power from on high And when acts picks up as the sequel of Luke Jesus says it again You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem I'll Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth So it started at the beginning and at the end The Messiah is bringing the Spirit and things are about to change and now we're at the critical moment So when I asked chapter 2 verse 1 it says when the day of Pentecost arrived they were all together in one place Now they all at this point was about a hundred and twenty people who were followers of Jesus about ten percent of what would fit In the Lincoln Theatre, they could all fit in one upper room in a large house and they're in Jerusalem And it says they're there at Pentecost Pentecost was one of the three major Jewish pilgrimage feasts to Jerusalem where people would come in to worship

You can read about all three in Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy Will explain why that would it would explain why there's so many people in the city at this point from different nations But Pentecost was held 50 days after the first first Sabbath after Passover Passover was the first major festival meal in Jerusalem. It was in a sense a reenactment and remembrance of God's rescue of his people from their bondage in Egypt and they would celebrate what happened in Egypt that God told his people to Slay an innocent lamb and put its blood on the doorposts and as God's judgment goes by The wrath will pass over them because they are under the blood of an innocent one who shed their blood for them And then they were liberated and set free Jesus his Last Supper was having a Passover meal with his disciples. He says that imagery of that lamb. That was about me. I Am the true Passover lamb who will shed his blood that when you come and put faith in me God's judgment for sin will pass by you and I'll set you free And so Jesus associated his crucifixion with the Passover and then 50 days later the next feast was Pentecost Pentecost is also called the Feast of Weeks or the day of first fruits First fruits if you know anything about harvesting they're the first fruits that come in that means that all the Uncertainty of whether my crops will grow is over now The land has produced the food that will keep you alive. So first fruits is exciting. You're like, hey, this is coming Fruit is coming the blessing God gave us this land where we could farm here comes the food And so they would throw a party and celebrate because yes Here we are being blessed by God and because these are the first fruits they get build all this expectation that a whole harvest is coming right and so God likes symbolism and Here in this moment after the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ He says wait until you're clothed with power on high and then my kingdom will spread to the nations and here 50 days later at Pentecost we see the first fruits of the movement of God the new era is beginning that will spread into the whole world that's your first point incidentally about Christianity the DNA of the movement that we are a part of is that it's historic and You're gonna see it all throughout this passage This is a new era God is inaugurating, but it's not novel It has deep roots in Old Testament pictures and prophecies

This is just the next stage in God's historic plan. We're gonna see that all throughout this passage It's a new movement with ancient roots and those roots were in the promises of the Old Testament. It's interesting We're not time to go into all this but in numbers there's a moment where Moses is leading the people and it's super stressful and He says at one time God, I need help and God says I'm gonna take some of the spirit I gave you and put it on some of these other leaders so they can be empowered by my spirit and lead and Joshua gets a little jealous for Moses. Hey, who are these other guys? Speaking with divine prerogatives and Moses told him in numbers 11 Oh would that the Lord's people were all prophets and the Lord would put his spirit on all of them Moses long for that day the spirit would fill all of God's people and the prophet Isaiah Said hundreds of years before this moment that day will come where the spirit is poured out on us from on high and the wilderness will become like a fruitful field and Ezekiel said God said I will put my spirit on you and he'll move you to obey my decrees so the promise of God the hope of Moses the Declaration of the prophets for generations is about to come to pass right here This is a historic moment with deep roots and it's a spiritual movement We're a part of something that's rooted in history, but deeply spiritual they're gonna need a power source not of this world and that's what you see happen in verse 2 and Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting This imagery that we're gonna see here is reminiscent of all kinds of times where God came near to his people And the first indication that heavens on the move is that is a sound like the rushing of wind that fills the house in Genesis 1 the spirit of God and the word spirit and breath and wind are all the same word the spirit of God moves over the surface of the water and God makes chaos into order cosmos in Genesis chapter 2 The breath of God breathes into the dust and makes us alive you see the spirit of God moving Bringing life. That's what Jesus told Nicodemus. He said you must be born Or, and again, you must become something new. And Nicodemus says, how? And Jesus says, it's like the wind that blows where it will. So are those born of the Spirit of God.

The Spirit moves like the wind. You can't see it, but you will see the effects of it. And here in this moment where Jesus said, wait until my Spirit comes, you see our spiritual movement begins. The wind begins to blow. And they don't just hear the sound, they see tongues of fire. You see in verse three, and divided tongues of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. Fire is also associated often with God's appearance with his people. Moses at the burning bush, the pillar of fire leading them through the wilderness. At Mount Sinai, as the law of the old covenant is given, there's fire upon the mountain. Now with the new covenant, here comes God like a fire. And yet notice the fire splits, and literally it says it splits and sits on each one. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God would sometimes empower particular leaders for particular moments and tasks, right? And yet here in this moment, something new is happening. The Spirit of God is splitting and it's distributed to all the people, each one. And verse four says, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

So here at the outset, you see God's Spirit empowers God's people, specifically here to speak in other tongues and other languages. It's fascinating to imagine. I mean, Jesus' disciples were uneducated Galileans, right? And I can't imagine the moment where Jesus looked at them and said, hey, you are gonna lead a global worldwide movement. I'm sure these uneducated, good old boys were like, huh, us, how are we gonna do that? And here Jesus is letting them know because you will get divine enablement for my purposes. That's what's happening here. When the wind begins to blow, God will empower you for God's purposes. It's interesting, in 1914, Sir Edmund Shackleton set sail for Antarctica and his goal was to lead an expedition across the entire continent, pretty ambitious goal. Never even got started because on their way there, their ship, the Endurance, became trapped and then got crushed in the ice. And so their mission suddenly became this fight for survival and they were able to make it to this small inhospitable island, but with desperate cold and a shortage of food, they were all gonna die without rescue. So in a last ditch effort, Shackleton and a few of his men

piled into this tiny little boat and they attempted what was honestly an impossible mission of traveling 800 miles across the sea in the hopes of arriving in a shipping lane where there might find help. And so they got out on this boat and began to row their oars and they were at an agonizing slow pace. It was about one mile every half hour or so. No hope of survival. But then they crossed the 60th parallel of latitude called the Drake's Passage. This is an area where the low atmospheric pressure around the Antarctic Circle draws in high pressure from the north and that produces wind that the U.S. Navy sailing directions call hurricane intensity with gust velocities attaining 150 to 200 miles per hour. Only other place you find wind like that is in a cyclone. And here these haggard and helpless men in their little tiny boat raise their little bitty sail and shoot out like they're out of a cannon. And in less than two days, this little boat covers 280, excuse me, 238 miles of ocean and shows up at a whaling station where they're able to get boats to save their crew. We are stuck unless the wind blows. And here Jesus told his disciples, I'm doing something global and historic to save people.

Don't try to do this on your own. Wait till you're clothed with power from on high and the wind begins to blow and the spirit moves and it says they are filled with the spirit of God. Now there's a lot we need to say about what does it mean to be truly spiritual. It's interesting, you can look at Pew Research and the majority of Americans will say they are spiritual or want to be spiritual. Interesting thing is in the same Pew documents, when they say what does it mean to be spiritual, most people say, I don't know. I don't know what it means. You're like, well, that's tough. What spirits are we talking about and what are you doing with them? I like what Lewis Barry Chafer said, to be truly spiritual is to be rightly related to the spirit of God. And so we need to talk about that. What does it mean to be filled with the spirit of God? And we'll look at that more throughout the book of Acts, but I will say this, there seems to be a distinguishing in the New Testament between being indwelt by the Holy Spirit and filled by the Holy Spirit. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit. where he makes his home with you is true of all believers. You see in Ephesians, Paul said that in Jesus also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him,

you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who's a guarantee of our inheritance. He says you were marked with a seal. When you put your faith in Jesus, Jesus puts his very spirit in you and it marks you and guarantees the inheritance you have to come. If the life of God lives in you, you will live your life with God forever. It's a seal guaranteeing what's to come. In Romans, Paul says, if you do not have the spirit of Christ, you don't belong to Christ. So it's when we put our faith in Jesus, the very spirit of God dwells with us. That's the great promise and encouragement to every believer. And yet you see all through the book of Acts, we'll see this filling of the Holy Spirit, which seems to be a bit different. It's the idea of empowering divine enablement for divine purpose. And so you're gonna see it all through the book of Acts. You're gonna see it here in a moment that Peter will be filled with the spirit a couple of different times as he preaches the gospel, same with Paul. People will be filled with the spirit to proclaim God's name. That it seems to be this activating of the power of spirit to accomplish God's actions.

It would be like indwelling his potential energy and filling his actualized energy. That if you're a believer, the spirit of God dwells in you, but are you walking in step with the spirit is what Paul will tell the Ephesians to do and the Galatians to do. Paul will tell the Ephesians, hey, the spirit dwells in you, but be filled with the spirit, directed and empowered by the spirit of God for God's purposes. That as believers, we are meant to speak and to serve with the spirit God provides. I'm praying that's true of our day, that what we do when we worship together would spill out into the streets. And that's what happens here. God's spirit arrives and rests on his people and it empowers them to move. And I want you to notice what the spirit empowers. He empowers them to speak in different languages. That's the next piece of what the DNA of Christianity. It's a historic movement with ancient roots. That it's a spiritual movement empowered by the very spirit of God. This isn't just a club. And it's universal in its scope. What started with just a small group of people in one room, it won't be that for long. And the spirit's first act is to give supernatural capacity

for what purpose? To communicate in other languages. Rodney Stark, that sociologist I mentioned before, said most religious movements fail because they quickly become closed or semi-closed little networks. And so they don't find a way to form and sustain attachment with outsiders. And you see the opposite here. The moment God births his community, he wants them to have a view outside just them. So he gives them the ability to speak all these different languages so they can pronounce the gospel, the good news of Jesus to all kinds of people. And so look in verses five through 13. It says, now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together and they were bewildered. Each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished saying, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us his own native language? Parthenians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus in Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytites,

Cretans and Arabians. We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed saying to one another, what does this mean? But others mocking said they're filled with new wine. So this initial movement is not across ethnic lines, but geographic Jews from every nation. Later it will go to all different nations, but this Jews from every nation, this is talking about what's often called the diaspora. That after the exile in the Old Testament, where you see things like Daniel and Esther living in Babylon, some of God's people in the Old Testament returned to this region, but many scattered. And so their native tongue was some other nation. And yet here it says pious, meaning they had an interest in religion that drew them to Jerusalem at this feast day. They were interested in God. And as the pilgrims descended at Pentecost, suddenly they hear this burst of multilingual praise and it surprises them. And you notice the pile up of words, surprised, bewildered, amazed. What surprised them was two things. Number one is that I'm hearing my own language, the language I was born speaking. They didn't expect to hear their native tongue

as they were traveling abroad. That stands out. The other thing that amazed them was it was Galileans speaking it. And you go, why is that amazing? Well, because Galileans kind of had a history of being sort of rural and uneducated. Educated and you go. Well, how did they know they were that? Well, Matthew will tell us that's their accent gives them away How do you know someone's from Boston or someone's from New Orleans? You can tell by their accent and so here these guys are just surprised like I just didn't expect to hear Arabic with an Arkansas accent. This is bizarre. Like if you were From Galilee, you could speak Greek. That was the language of trade and you spoke Aramaic every day But why are you suddenly speaking all these different languages which incidentally why would God let them do that? If everyone knew Greek, why didn't God just use the trade language? Everybody knew I think God's reason was this Number one is he wanted to show them. This is supernatural. This is not normal This is a movement of God and the movement of God is universal. It's bigger than one subset of people I want to reach the world. I'm building a kingdom of every tribe and tongue in nation But notice it's not just universal it's also individual So I'm gonna speak to you in your heart language in the language that you understand Because I want to reach all people and I want to reach every individual I care about you So I'm gonna whisper to you in your own language So they hear this and Luke gives this whole list of nations We won't go through all this Rome at the time loved to brag that they had leadership over all these different nations And so here in this little table of nations It shows this even goes beyond the borders of Rome that Jesus's kingdom is bigger than Rome's kingdom on day one, right? And so here you see it basically moves from east to west it goes from Parthia modern-day Iran Really at the edges of the Roman Empire Through Judea where they were located modern Turkey North Africa and then it ends all the way in Rome

So this is clearly a global movement in scope on day one Which just incidentally if you've ever heard people say well Christianity is a white man's religion There's no white men here. So the barbarians aren't gonna come into the fold till later and so There are more believers now in Asia and in Africa. So someone says Christianity is a white man's religion That's really an ignorance of ancient history and modern data But if you notice in this moment, they're amazed they're bewildered but they also don't understand what it means What is going on here? And so the cynics in the room go I know what this is. They're drunk And you notice it says they're drunk on a sweet wine It's literally the Greek word glucose If you wanted fully fermented wine, you had to wait till the end of summer in August. This was in the springtime So the good wine wasn't ready yet. And so these literally these guys are saying they're drunk on the cheap stuff as They see this little group of people spill out onto the streets praising God in a multitude of languages They go. Yeah, they probably uncapped a couple boxes of wine in that upper room and they're hammered Which just a little note The Spirit of God is changing history in this moment and there will be a growth group that makes fun of them and claims They're drunk. There will always be critics. Just get used to it, right and yet here they spill out onto the streets and At this moment Peter says hey, they're seeing the power of God, but they need to understand what it means and so Peter's gonna give a speech and His speech has three simple points. The Spirit of God is here Because the Savior's here and you need to respond. That's really his sermon and we'll read it It's kind of long, but I'll summarize so we'll make it out of here on time But I want to give you your next point about our movement because of this that the mood the DNA of Christianity is that it's a focused message that true spirituality Centers on Jesus and that's what you're gonna see Peter do when a movement of God is filled with the Spirit of God It turns the spotlight on the Savior The spotlight is not primarily on the Spirit and it's not on Peter and I want you to know that How do you know you're part of a truly spiritual movement? It's not all about the leader It's people pointing to Jesus. So be careful if you're a part of a spiritual movement

We're really there's some singular leader that says if you want to hear from God, you can only come from me there are people gifted by the Spirit to teach and teachers are worthy of honor and yet the Spotlight shines on Jesus and as Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit That's where he'll turn right and so we are focused in our message and our focus is on the Savior So his sermon here has three parts and the first part is he's explaining what they see They're watching all these Galileans speak in a multitude of languages. How do I understand this? And so first he starts with let me explain what this is and he starts with this is not that this is that that's really part one Part one is what you are seeing is the arrival of the Spirit So in verse 15, he says these people are not drunk as you suppose since it's only the third hour of the day He says this ecstatic worship is not us drunk. And his reason is it's too early. That doesn't mean that they're gonna get drunk later, it means that this wine didn't have a particularly high alcohol content in that day. And he says, it's only 9 a.m., it's just not possible that we got that hammered this early. It's not a very feasible hypothesis. So rather, he says, this is actually that. What you're seeing, this spiritual movement, is in verse 16, what was uttered through the prophet Joel, that in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old shall dream dreams, even on my male servants and female servants. And those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy, and I will show wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire, vapor and smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. He says, what you're seeing now is what Joel prophesied, and not just Joel, several other prophets too, hundreds of years ago. He says, what you're seeing is the arrival of the Holy Spirit, that we were told by God through the prophets, is the ushering in of a new era. These are, did you notice, he calls them the last days. This is the beginning of a new age. This is part of God's long-awaited fulfillment of a new covenant hope, that the spirit would come. And it inaugurates the last days, the dawning of the final stage of God's plan in history. And so it's inaugurated now, and did you notice at the end, it will end in judgment, that this is the beginning of the day of the Lord, and that day will end on a day of judgment. But that's not the moment now. We're in a moment of grace. The moment of justice is coming. And he says, this is the pouring out of the spirit. That's the language of a torrential downpour on parched earth. And notice, also, the distribution of the spirit.

Did you notice he says, it'll come to your sons and your daughters, to old men and young, male servants and female servants. He's like, what's different about today is the spirit's being poured out on all kinds of people. It's not just for a special group for special enablement. This is men and women, young and old, rich and poor. We're not bound by gender, age, or class. What God is doing here is for everybody, through everybody. This is what Protestants call the priesthood of all believers. That there are preachers who are there to preach the word of God, and yet the spirit of God is meant to fill all of God's people and enable all of God's people to proclaim God's purposes. This is football, not baseball. And I love baseball, and there's a lot of great baseball guys, but if you're watching a baseball game, most of the action is the pitcher and the catcher. And a lot of other people watching and waiting for their critical moment to show up. Football, everyone's gotta roll every play. That lineman's gotta block. That receiver's gotta get open. That quarterback has to deliver the ball. And that's Christianity, that it's a spiritual movement, and it's a universal movement. The spirit fills all, young and old, rich and poor,

every person, so that they can be a part of what God's doing in the world. And so that's what he says. What you're seeing now is what God promised back then, that we've talked about the last two weeks, the spirit arriving now, the spirit of God descending on the people of God, proclaiming the kingdom of God, so that the world may know him. These are the days of proclamation. Jesus' arrival inaugurated the kingdom. The spirit's arrival is for proclamation of the kingdom. Then Jesus will come again for the consummation of the kingdom. And that's what he talks about with all the heavenly signs of God's judgment coming. And he says, but that day's not here yet. These are the days of grace, right? Notice too, he ends by just kind of, as he lands that quote, it talks about the day of the Lord is coming, but if you call upon the Lord, you will be saved. And Joel, that's clearly Yahweh. And here Peter will say, this is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the second part. The spirit is here because the Savior's here. And you see that all through the Old Testament. It's when the seed of David, the Messiah, the hero, the Savior shows up,

he'll bring the spirit with him. That's what John the Baptist said too and it's all through the book of Acts. That's what we're waiting for. And so Peter's second point in his sermon is, hey, the spirit's here because the Savior is here. And he makes it with several Old Testament citations. It's an exegetical sermon. I'll just read it and comment on it really fast. But he says in verse 22, men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know. He says God accredited Jesus. That means showed Jesus's value and worth. How? By empowering him to do mighty works. It's interesting, Josephus, the historian, even talks about that. Extra biblical. A Christian says, hey, at this time, there was a man, Jesus, known as a doer of wonderful works. People knew that. And he says, hey, you guys knew that. Jesus could do things that weren't normal. And then he says in verse 23, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. He says, Jesus died and you all knew that.

This happened in this very town a month and a half ago. But here he's saying, and that was part of God's plan, that Jesus was delivered up according to God's plan and foreknowledge. Jesus wasn't surprised. You see all through his ministry, he was telling his disciples, I must suffer. I have to die for your sin. God didn't just make the best out of a bad situation. God purposed it this way, that the son of man must suffer as our representative to take away our sin so the spirit can come, right? And here Peter says, you guys did it. You killed him at the hands of lawless men, meaning the Romans. He says, so God attested to him. You killed him. That's a bad deal. But then in verse 24, but God raised him up, loosening the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. He says, y'all killed him, but God raised him because the cords of death could not hold him. And he uses the word pangs there, which is often used of a childbirth. And the same way a pregnant woman can't hold that baby, death could not hold Jesus in its womb. It had to give him up and he came forth. And here he quotes David to kind of show the Old Testament roots of this idea. Verse 25, for David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me for he's at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy one see corruption. You've made known to me the paths of life and you will make me full of gladness with your presence.

This was called a confident psalm. This is the king saying, hey, I can be confident because I know the Lord's with me. He won't abandon me to death. And it's first person from David, but then he switches and says, you won't abandon me to Hades, the place of the dead. And then he says, you won't let your holy one see corruption. And that's where it got a little confusing. You're like, okay, your holy one seems to lift off from David and corruption is talking about decomposition of your body. And so the people of God would use this as a worship song because they're like, okay, as the king goes, so goes his people. If God is going to give the king a hope and a future beyond the grave, we have one too. So it was a worship song, but there was always a bit of a mystery of, is this just symbolic that God will let our souls live on beyond? But here, Peter interprets it in verse 29, he says, brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch, David, that he both died and was buried in his tombs with us to this day. It was actually right over there. He says, being there for a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on the throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up and of that were all witnesses. He said, hey, you recall in 2 Samuel 7, God told David, one of your kids, the seed, the root from the stem of Jesse, that the seed of David will one day sit on the throne forever. And he says, so David, when he was saying this psalm, wasn't talking about himself. He was saying one of my line, what you promised me in 2 Samuel, that a Davidic king would sit forever. It led you to the song that, hey, the holy one won't see corruption. He'll live forever. He said, so David wasn't talking about himself.

He was talking about someone in his line who would live forever. And what he's saying here is, hey, the Messiah will rise from the dead. God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus is the Messiah. He is the seed of David. He is the holy one. He's the hero we've been waiting for. That's his argument. So in verse 33, he says, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father, the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. This is all through the Old Testament we talked about a couple of weeks ago that you see it particularly in Isaiah. When the Messiah comes, the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent's head, the seed of David who will sit on the throne forever, the seed of David will bring the Spirit of God with him, right? Like John the Baptist said, the one who is mightier than I will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And this is Peter's argument. The Spirit's here because the Savior's here. Jesus was the Messiah. And because you're seeing the spiritual power, it's because he unleashed it on us. Verse 34, for David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you've crucified. This psalm is one of the most quoted by the New Testament church. Fathers don't call their sons Lord. Jesus pointed this out in one of his last sermons in the temple. Who is the Messiah?

They said, the son of David. He said, then why did David call him Lord? I'm a bigger deal than David. David was a great king, but there's a greater king coming, and it's me. And so he says, hey, it's about Jesus, died, raised, ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of God. This exalted Lord Jesus Christ is who we're talking about. He has divine prerogatives, and he's unleashed divine spirit. And so what you're seeing is the spirit of God, because the Savior has come. The Messiah you were waiting for, Jesus, has arrived. His whole sermon's about Jesus. You then notice he ends, this Jesus that God exalted, you crucified. It's a tough spot to end the sermon. He's going to say, Jesus is on team God. God is on team Jesus. You are on the wrong team. And so in our last point about Christianity, it's transformative, is our last piece. You see in verse 37, he calls them to respond. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent, be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who received his word were baptized and they were added that day about 3,000 souls. So they are convicted, oh no, Jesus was God's man and we rejected him. What do we do now? And notice they were cut to the heart.

There's deep conviction, which is my prayer for you, that you would see history revolves around this man, Jesus. Why? Not because he was just an exciting preacher, it's because he is the very son of God helping us reconnect with the very spirit of God. And they realized we don't know him. And so the good news always starts with bad news. You're not okay. And some of us feel that, we just don't know how to solve it. And so they look at Peter and say, oh no, we're cut to the heart. We did reject him. What now? And God does not bring judgment, God brings mercy. And notice he says, repent and be baptized. Repent means to change your mind, I see things differently, and the change the direction of your life. He's been telling him, God's going this way, you were going that way. Realize I am not going in a godly way in my life and I want to change. That's where Christianity starts. I'm out of step with God and yet God's spirit is changing people. I want to be in on that. God would you change me, right? And it centers on the person of Jesus. He says repent and be baptized, immersed, dunked. There were mikvahs, little pools all around where Peter was preaching. He says be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Associate yourself with the person of Jesus, and then he says, and two things will happen. Your sins will be forgiven, that you will no longer be bound by your tragedies and failures. And you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's not just about God forgiving us about what we've done, it's about moving your sin

out of the way so the very spirit of God can live with you both now and forever. That's the promise of the Bible, right? And so he tells them to do that. And then I love it. Luke cuts him off. It says, and with many other words, he was saying very similar things, but the point's already been made. Save yourselves. And so those who received his word were baptized and they were added that day about 3,000 souls. Now do you have to be physically baptized in order to be saved? It's interesting. He says here, repent and be baptized and you'll be forgiven. Later he'll preach the gospel and Cornelius receives the Holy Spirit and then gets baptized. So if you're trying to get the order right, Peter doesn't follow the same order, but the essential pieces are the same. I have to realize I'm out of step with God. And yet this historic movement, this spiritual movement that's centered on the person of Jesus is on the move and it's transformative. It can change me from the inside out. And when you realize that, you say, well, then I want to change. I want to be a part of what God's doing. It says, okay, then acknowledge that. God, I'm a sinner separated from you, but Jesus Christ came and he lived the perfect life I could not, died the death I deserved, was raised victorious, and is now forgiving sin and sending the Spirit. I want to be associated with him. And it's by faith that you're saved. And then go physically get baptized. Symbol of i'm associated with him. That's what they did and what's powerful about christianity both back then and today is it's transformative Peter was scared of a young girl a month and a half before in this town scared to speak of jesus before the crowd

Here he stands boldly and addressed to the very crowd that crucified jesus. They saw peter change Paul later will hate christianity and will suddenly become its most ardent supporter Christianity changes people Augustine was proud arrogant and a sexual addict and became one of the leaders of the christian church One of the reasons why the gospel keeps advancing through history is because it's the power to change lives And we see it here at passion We've had people baptized on our stage that have said in front of a crowd of people in dc The first time I ever showed up at this church. I was drunk I thought this was the next bar as I was making my way down u street And I got in that room and realized i'm not okay. I kind of knew it now They're saying it and I was cut to the heart. What do I do? And I realized these are not the days of judgment. These are the days of mercy that jesus can forgive my sin And put a spirit in me that i'm going with him and they were proudly baptized on our stage That's my hope for you that you would be a part of this historic Spiritual movement of jesus spanning history that's universal in scope and ends in victory that I get to go with him On this first day. They went from 120 to 3000 God is on the move It's beautiful and it's going to create some real problems later I don't know if you know this but 3 000 people and now you got a logistical issue but You're going to watch the gospel spread like a flame to cover every tribe and tongue and nation in their day And it's happening in our day, too So i'm praying with you church praying for you Let's pray that god would move in power like this in our day That those of us who are indwelled by the spirit may be filled by the spirit to proclaim the purposes of the savior Until the day we see his face