Well, good morning to everyone. Good to see you all this morning. Nice warm morning in the Northwoods. Appreciate the little reprieve from the snow and the really cold. They'll be back, so it'll be okay.

We've been studying together the message of Peter on the day of Pentecost and his great sermon about Jesus of Nazareth. Last week we focused on the life and the death of Christ in verses 22-23 and began to see the focus on the resurrection of Jesus in the remainder of the passage down to verse 41. 

We see that God attested to who Jesus was in the course of his life and ministry by many miracles and signs and wonders which God did through him. God was showing who Jesus was in his life on this earth as the works he did testified to the words that he spoke, that he was sent by God and that he was indeed the promised Messiah of Israel. 

We also saw in verse 23 that the sovereign plan of God determined in eternity past was for Jesus, the Son of God, to come to this earth, to take on flesh, and to die on a cross as a substitute, as a sacrifice for our sins. This verse makes clear that it was God who designed and implemented this plan by his sovereign will and grace for ordaining the death of Jesus on the cross. 

But as we learned in the second half of verse 23, this was not independent of man's will and choice to reject and crucify their Lord and Messiah. It says, "...him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death." The incarnation of Jesus, his life, and his death were all part of the sovereign plan of God, and evil men participated in this plan by their own will to bring about the death of Christ. 

This is what we see in the first two verses of the main part of Peter's sermon. But what I want you to notice this morning is that he only spends two verses on these truths. It's not that they're not crucial to our understanding of the gospel, but it's interesting that Peter spends two verses on Jesus' life and death and then the whole rest of his sermon on the resurrection. 

We're going to see in our text today that the resurrection is the central focus of the preaching of the apostles beginning with this first sermon on the day of Pentecost. Who Jesus is and what he has done is proven. It's made manifest. It's declared by his resurrection from the dead. I'd like for you to begin by turning to Romans 1, please. 

Romans 1 at verse 1. Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. 

Paul gives us the same message here in Romans 1. God promised in the Old Testament the coming of the Messiah to save us from our sins. This is the gospel. Concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. 

Now look at this. He's declared, pronounced, manifested to be the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. The resurrection is the proof. It's the declaration with power that Jesus is God, that he is the Messiah, that he is the Savior, that he is who he claimed to be, and he has victory over sin and hell and death, and he alone is Lord and Christ. 

This is really the message of Peter in our text this morning. Let's read this together in Acts 2:22. We'll read this long passage again as Peter emphasizes the powerful truth of Jesus' resurrection in his sermon. 

Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. 

For David says concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover, my flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. 

Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 

This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. 

Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 

Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the Lord our God will call. 

And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. 

Well, we have three points on our outline this morning. First, the centrality of his resurrection. Second, the promise of his resurrection. And third, the surety of his return. 

Peter here preaching to this Jewish audience goes to the Old Testament scriptures and quotes David in Psalm 16, verses 8 to 11. This psalm is all about resurrection, the promise of the resurrection of the Messiah, of Jesus Christ, as Peter explains. And it's also about hope. He says, My soul will rest in hope. We need to see the centrality of his resurrection to the gospel message, and we also need to see the centrality of the gospel to our Christian life because it's so closely tied to our hope as believers in Jesus Christ. 

I remember Adrian Rogers telling a story about when he and his wife Joyce visited Russia. And while they were there, they went to see the tomb of Lenin. Adrian said, Lenin is sealed in a crystal case. You can see his waxen face and his trimmed beard, and on that tomb, these words are written. He was the greatest leader of all peoples, of all countries, of all times. He was the Lord of the new humanity. He was the Savior of the world. Adrian said, notice that it's all in past tense. 

Adrian continued to explain that when he and his wife walked past the tomb, there were these stoic soldiers standing there as guards, not moving a muscle, staring forward, and his wife Joyce leaned into one of the soldiers and she said, Our Savior is alive. 

You see, my friends, Lenin is dead in his tomb. Muhammad is dead in his tomb. Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, is dead in his tomb. All the leaders of the world religions are dead. But Jesus is alive. He is risen and He lives as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the only Savior, the only way. Lenin is no Savior at all. He is dead. But as Peter says in verse 36, God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. 

The resurrection of Christ declares Him to be the Son of God, to be the Savior of the world, the only way to life, and the only way of life. He lives, and therefore we who know Him live as well. In John 14:6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me. We'll see in Acts 4:12 when we get there, that Peter said, Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. 

Jesus is the only way to life. In John 17:3, it says, This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. Eternal life is knowing the Father and knowing Jesus Christ, and this only comes through faith in Him. He is, because of His death, burial, and resurrection, because of God's predetermined plan for redemption, the only way to life, the only way to be saved from our sins, to be born again, to be raised to newness of life. 

And my brothers and sisters, Jesus is the only way of life. The resurrection is central to the gospel because it proves that God was satisfied with Jesus' full payment for our sins, taking His wrath in our place, and it proves that Jesus is the Son of God, that He is the Savior, that He is who He said He is, and that He did what He said He would do. 

And a living Savior, our living Lord, is the only way of life for each of us every single day. This is the promise of the resurrection, not only justification and redemption, but also sanctification and abundant life and glorification to come. Jesus is my salvation. He's my redemption. He's my justification. But He is also my life, every day, one day at a time, abiding in Him through faith in Him. 

Not only was the resurrection promised in the Old Testament, as we see in the Psalms that Peter quoted that day and others, such as Psalm 49:15, which says, but God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me. But we also see this truth in the promises in the prophets, as Jesus told us, such as Isaiah 25 and 53 and Ezekiel and Hosea. 

And listen to these words in Job 19:25. He said, for I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another, how my heart yearns within me. The Old Testament promises the resurrection of the dead. 

And the doctrine is much more fully developed in the New Testament, in the New Covenant. Jesus made a profound statement, a promise, in John 14:19. He said, a little while longer, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me, because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 

And down in verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home within him. The resurrection of Jesus means salvation. It means justification for those who believe Him. But it also, in this New Covenant in which we now live, means new life, abundant life today, because the living Lord, the risen Christ, lives in us, my friends. And He lives His life out through us. 

John 15, such a familiar passage. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, He prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 

Now listen to Jesus' instruction, His description of the Christian life. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. 

We love this doctrine. We love this truth. Because it explains the Christian life, the Christ life. It explains the way of life for those who believe. And it depends entirely upon a living Savior and Lord, Jesus the Christ. In Galatians 2:20, He says, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.

Even in the Psalm of David quoted here, we see this truth. Verse 28, you have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. So we see the centrality of the resurrection to the gospel and to our lives in Christ. And we see the promise of the resurrection throughout the Scriptures. 

We also see all through this text in Acts 2, the surety of His return. Peter makes a powerful argument to the Jews in this text from their own Scriptures. He points to Daniel. David. David was one of the most respected and beloved fathers of Israel, the great king of Israel, and to whom the promise was made that of his seed would come the Messiah. And he would sit on the throne of David and reign forever. 

Peter points them to David in the psalm that promises resurrection, but then shows them that this psalm cannot be talking about David. For David died and went to the grave, and in his flesh he did see corruption. No one ever taught that David rose from the dead. In fact, his tomb was with them to that day. They could go there and see it. David remained in Sheol, in the grave, in the flesh. So Peter's point is that this psalm has to be talking about someone else. It must be a prophecy concerning David's seed, specifically the Messiah. 

Look at verses 29 to 32 with me, please. Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 

In verse 34, Peter follows up with Psalm 68 and 110 in the truth of the ascension. The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. 

David was not raised from the dead. David did not ascend into heaven bodily. These scriptures cannot be talking about David. Rather, they are talking about Jesus, the one that you crucified, Peter said. You crucified him, you crucified your Messiah, and God raised him up. The one that ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the one that God has made Lord and Christ, the one that you will have to give account to on the day of judgment. 

That's what Peter's telling them today. Do you see the power of Peter's preaching here? The clarity with which he preaches Jesus. And woven throughout this is the surety of his return, his second coming, hope for those who believe him. 

In verse 26, Peter quotes David saying, My flesh will rest in hope, hope of the resurrection. In verses 34-35, we see the second scripture promising a day when God will make all the enemies of Jesus subject, subordinate to Him as His footstool. In the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, we find hope and promise of His coming again, of His return to raise us up and take us to be with Him forever. This is our hope. 

The resurrected Jesus, Christ living in us, the promise of His coming to take us to be with Him, this is our hope. In John 14, Jesus said to His scared, afraid apostles, who didn't know what to think, who didn't know where He was going, He said to them, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 

One of the greatest chapters explaining this hope, this promise in Christ is 1 Corinthians 15. And I want to go back to that passage in 1 Corinthians 15 and have you follow with me, beginning at verse 1, and see the flow of Paul's argument concerning our hope of glory. He starts with the gospel. 

1 Corinthians 15:1. He says, Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 

For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve, and that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that, He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 

Then, last of all, He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 

Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. Now, if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty. 

Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up, if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. 

Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 

But each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits. Afterward, those who are Christ's at His coming. Watch this now, verse 24. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 

For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death, for He has put all things under His feet. When He says all things are put under Him, it is evident that He who put all things under Him is accepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. 

Now look down to verse 51. Paul says, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." It's not in vain because He's risen from the dead. It's our hope. 

Paul makes so abundantly clear in this chapter that Jesus' resurrection is our hope. It's our promise, our guarantee of resurrection when He comes to catch us up to be with Him forever. We see this promise in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18 as well. I've had several people come to me recently talking about they aren't sure about the rapture, if there's a rapture. And they've all said the word rapture is not in the Bible. 

I said, well, the word Trinity is not in the Bible either. Raptura, the Latin, is not in this text. It's catch up, you know, it's the word catch up. How can you say there's not a rapture when you look at 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18? I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you as sorrow as others who have no hope. 

It's like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ hasn't risen, if we aren't going to rise, if we aren't going to be caught up, then all those who have perished, who have died, who have fallen asleep, they're destroyed, they're no more. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means perceive those who are asleep, for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 

Then we who are alive and remain shall be raptured, we shall be caught up together with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." It wouldn't be much of a comfort if Jesus hadn't risen, if Jesus hadn't been the firstfruits guaranteeing our resurrection, and if Jesus hadn't promised to come back and get us and take us to be with Him. 

"'If it were not so, I would have told you,' He said." Jesus is the firstfruits. His resurrection guarantees our resurrection to glorification. And this is our hope, this is our surety, this is our salvation, even today and every day, my brothers and sisters. 

I want you to look at one more passage with me in Romans 8. Paul is explaining our relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ down to verse 18, and then he writes in Romans 8:18, "'For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 

For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now, and not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.'" 

Look what verse 24 says, "'For we were saved in this hope, the hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.'" 

The promise of deliverance, of resurrection, of glorification, and a release from sin and death and corruption. We are saved in this hope. Even today, my friends, and every day of life, as we so greatly long for this time, as we eagerly wait for it with perseverance, saved from fears, from doubts, and discouragement, by this hope, this promise of resurrection and deliverance from this world and from this flesh to a glorified body to be with Jesus in heaven forever. 

This new covenant life, the new covenant promise, based on the resurrection of Jesus, the living Savior, is Christ in you, the hope of glory. For the church, we have the promise of the rapture, the imminent hope of His coming to take us to be with Him forever. And as we saw in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul said, "'Then comes the kingdom.' After the tribulation of those days, Jesus will come again in His second coming and fulfill His promises to Israel. 

And they will look on the one whom they pierced. They will turn to their Messiah in faith in those years of tribulation and the 144,000 witnesses and the two great witnesses. And at His appearing, Paul says, all Israel will be saved." 

Those men who heard Peter's sermon that day could not fathom what was going on. They had no clue about the church and the age of grace that they had just entered and the great hope that was set before them in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But Peter's sermon was abundantly clear, and the message was this, Jesus is the Messiah. You crucified Him, and God raised Him from the dead. 

Think about what that meant to each individual there hearing this powerful, Spirit-filled sermon that day. I want to just close by looking at their reaction in verses 37 to 41. It says, "'Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' 

Then Peter said to them, "'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.' 

And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ''Be saved from this perverse generation.' And then those who gladly received His word," that is, they believed Jesus, those who gladly received His word were baptized, and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them." 

The gospel, my friends, is a promise. It's a good news promise. I love what Peter said in verse 39, "'For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.'" It is a promise of salvation, of deliverance from this perverse generation, of new life, eternal life, and of resurrection from the dead and life eternal in heaven. 

And the only way to obtain this promise, to take it for yourself, is to gladly receive the word. John defines for us what that means in the first chapter of his gospel, in John 1:12. He says, "...but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God to those who believe in His name." 

Those who believe in His name. His name is about all that He has done, all that He is. The truth that He's the Son of God, the Messiah, God's anointed, that He took on flesh and became a man and dwelt on this earth, sinless and perfect, living in total trust and dependence on the Father, always doing His will. 

And that He accomplished the purpose for which He came, death on the cross, in our place, for our sins, to finish the work of our salvation, to spend three days in the heart of the earth in Sheol. But you see, my friend, death could not hold Him. It was not possible that He should be held by the grave. No, God raised Him up and He did not see corruption. He ascended into heaven and now is seated at the right hand of God. Jesus, the Messiah, is the Savior. God has made Him both Lord and Christ. 

And my friends, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord, who receives Him by faith, will be saved. And this means hope. This means hope for today, every day, a peace that surpasses understanding and a sure promise of His coming to raise us up and to take us to be with Him forever. 

Those who gladly received His Word were baptized and 3,000 souls were added to their number on the day of Pentecost. Have you gladly received the Word, the Gospel, the Good News? Have you believed on His name, on Jesus? Would you like to be added to the number today, to the church, to the body, to the Bride of Christ? Because John says, as many as received Him, to them He gave the power, the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name. 

It's a promise, my friends. A promise for all. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for Your Word, Your truth. We're thankful for Your promises. Thank You that You've made us ministers of the Gospel, given to us the Word of reconciliation. And I just pray that You would help us to preach that message clearly and boldly to every creature, every opportunity You give us, that men might believe and be saved, Lord. Thank You for the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. It's in His name we pray. Amen.