Jesus - Who is he Really?
Sermon preached in St Salvator's Chapel, St Andrews on the 11th May, 2008 by Rev Ian Watson
Readings: Acts 2: 1 - 28 & Acts 2: 29 - 41
Sermon
It's always a good idea to know who you're speaking to before you say something you might regret. There was an American doing some post-doctorate studies at St.Mary's when I was a student there. She was very unhappy. She found it difficult to adjust to the clash of cultures and regarded her colleagues as rather old fashioned.
At a party she was pouring out her heart to a stranger, a woman, and was particularly scathing of one colleague in particular. It turned out she was speaking to the man's wife. It¿s always a good idea to know who you're dealing with.
Most people don't really know who Jesus Christ is. It's ironic. He's the most famous man in the world. More books have been written about Jesus than anyone else in history. And yet most people don't really know him.
They have heard of him.
They may have read about him, and been impressed by him.
But they don't know him, they don't really understand him.
That really ought not to surprise us. It was just the same when he lived on earth 2000 years ago. Most people didn't realize who they were dealing with.
They'd heard about Jesus. Word about him spread like wild-fire. People came from miles around to hear him preach. They brought their sick friends and relatives to him to be healed. At one point his enemies were in despair: The whole world is going after him, they said. That's how it seemed. It seemed as if the whole world had jumped on the Jesus band-wagon.
Yet these crowds of apparent followers didn¿t appreciate who he was or what he was about. In the end they deserted him, they gave up on him, because what he was saying was just too bizarre; what he demanded was just too much.
But on the Day of Pentecost 3000 people realized who Jesus really is.
On the Day of Pentecost, 3000 Jews from all over the world believed (in the words of v.36) that God has made this Jesus'both Lord and Christ.
It dawned on them that everything Jesus had said about himself was in fact true. He was indeed the Son of God. And therefore they did the only thing that they could do, the only appropriate response when you realize who Jesus is: they repented of their sins, and proved their sincerity by being baptized. And they received two things - they received forgiveness of sins, and they received the Holy Spirit.
My question to you today is: do you know Jesus? Do you know him really? Do you know who you are dealing with? Do you know who you will deal with when you face him as your judge on the Last Day.
Let's look more closely at what happened on that momentous day.
In v.1 we're told that the apostles and others were all together in one place, presumably the upstairs room referred to in 1:13. We're not told what they were doing but since 1:14 tells us that they were constantly in prayer, it's a fair assumption that they were praying.
What happens next is that they hear a sound like the rush of a violent wind sweeping through the house, and v.3 says that they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire resting on them.
It's the language of analogy. Luke doesn't say that a wind blew through the house upsetting the furniture; or that flames of fire actually rested on their heads and singed their hair. What they saw they couldn't say, but it seemed like fire.
v.4: All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability.
That was for real. They didn't just feel that the Spirit filled them, they didn't just make sounds that resembled other languages. That really happened. Other languages, that is, languages other than their native tongue.
This wasn't something that could be kept hushed up behind closed doors. The disciples spilled out onto the streets, praising God in all these different languages. The result is that that they drew attention to themselves. Here are these pilgrims from all over the known world. They say (v.8,11):
how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language - we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power.
Naturally, they are intrigued. They ask (v.12): What does this mean?
It's a diverse crowd, and not just because they come from different countries. Some of them are devout, God-fearing, pious. Others are mockers. v.13:
But others sneered and said, They are filled with new wine.
They don't understand what they are seeing and hearing, so in the time honoured fashion they mock, they laugh, the write the disciples off as drunks.
Two kinds of people who don't know what's going on.
Two kinds of people who don not know who Jesus is.
Some are religious, some are mockers.
Some want to know more, some think it's a big joke.
It's not just the irreligious who are ignorant. You can be religious in your ignorance.
The Apostle Peter stands up and addresses the crowd, the whole crowd, the genuinely curious and the mockers alike.
You ask what they this means, he says. I'll tell you what it means.
To those who were laughing at them he says: we're not drunk, it's only nine o'clock in the morning, it's far too early to be drinking.
No, he says in v.16: this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters will prophesy.
This is something the prophets of old had predicted, something pious Jews had been awaiting for centuries. In the past the gift of God's Spirit had been restricted to special people - kings, priests, prophets. But no longer. The Spirit is for all people, all kinds of people. No matter where they are from, be they religious, be they doubters, be they sceptics.
What Peter does is to set about answering the question: What does this mean?
What does all this mean, this giving of the Spirit?
It means something about the Lord Jesus.
Peter starts in v.22 by talking about Jesus of Nazareth who was a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders and signs.
Jesus was famous for his miracles. What most people didn't realize then, and now, is that his miracles weren't mere displays of power, they were signs. They were sign-posts pointing to who he really was, that he was the Son of God.
In v.23 Peter tells them that this man was crucified. Listen to how starkly he puts it:
this man you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. (ie. the Romans)
But, v.24: God raised him up, having freed him from death
Peter now refers his fellow Jews to their own scriptures, the Old Testament, to show that it was prophesied that the Messiah, God's Anointed One, would die but be raised to life. He quotes a psalm of David (v.27):
because you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One experience corruption.
Peter points out with irrefutable logic that David could not have been referring to himself since his grave was there in Jerusalem. v.31:
Foreseeing this David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah.
Figure it out, says Peter. Do the math. The Messiah would not be left to rot in his grave; Jesus was not left to rot in his grave. You can't say that about anyone else. We are witnesses. We've seen him.
More than that, not only did God raise Jesus to life, Peter says in v.33:
Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear.
It's not just that Jesus is in heaven. It's where he is in heaven than counts. He is in the position of power and authority. He is at the Father's right hand.
And how do we know this? After all none of us have seen him. Even the disciples, who watched him ascend and disappear from view, didn't see him enter heaven. So how do we know?
We know because the Lord Jesus has poured out his Holy Spirit on believing men and women. We know because of what happened on the Day of Pentecost:
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 both see and hear.
What did it all mean?
What did it mean, that sound of a rushing wind?
What did it mean, those tongues of fire?
What did it mean, this praising of God in other languages?
It means, says Peter, as he reaches the climax of his sermon (v.36):
Therefore, let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.
It all points to who Jesus really is. He is both Lord and Christ. He is the one, the only one, who is worthy of our worship, the only one worth following, the only Saviour, the only King who deserves our allegiance. He is both Lord and Christ.
Look at how the crowd react (v.37):
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, Brothers, what should we do?
That¿s an interesting reaction. We could understand if there were in that crowd who had also been in the mob which bayed for our Lord's blood. We can imagine them feeling the cold shiver of fear running down their spine. Any one of them would have been cut to the heart when they realized that the one they had crucified was both Lord and Christ.
But the others could have said: It was nothing to do with us. We're not from Jerusalem. We weren't here. We were back home in Egypt and Libya and Rome and Crete and Arabia. We're innocent of this man's blood.
But they don't. They realize their collective responsibility. They realize that they are sinful men and women just like those who had screamed for Jesus to be crucified, who climbed up the hill to enjoy the spectacle of a public execution.
They too were cut to the heart. They too were horrified at what they had done to Jesus. And they knew that they were as guilty as the solider who hammered home the nails through our Saviour's wrists. They knew they would have done the same.
Now they knew who Jesus really was.
Now they knew who they were dealing with.
And so they ask Peter what they should do.
Peter tells them in v.38:
Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Repent. Change your mind.
Change your mind about Jesus - he is no longer someone you can chose to take or leave as the mood takes you; he is Lord of your life.
Change your mind about yourself - that you are not a law unto yourself, that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness. Realize that it was your sins that nailed our Lord to the cross.
Repent - confess to God, not merely listing off the sins in your life, but admitting that unless he saves you then you are lost for all eternity.
And make the inward confession pubic - be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
That's what Peter told the crowd. And what he says to them he says to us. v.39:
For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.
We are heirs of that promise both in terms of chronology and geography. We are their children, their descendants. We are those who live far away from Jerusalem.
One day every single one of us will the Lord Jesus Christ as our King. The Bible tells us that every knee will bow before him, every tongue confess that he is Lord.
For many people it is going to come as a huge shock. They are gong to be ushered into the throne room of heaven, and there they will come face to face with the Lord Jesus. They are going to have that sinking feeling when you realize that you've made a complete fool of yourself.
All their days they had treated our Lord with contempt. If they had thought of him at all it was as a some dim and distant figure from the past. They had certainly never thought of him as Lord. They had never placed him at the centre of their lives. And yet that is exactly where he should be.
What about you? Is Jesus Christ your Lord and your God? If he is anything else he is nothing at all. Be sure you know who you are dealing with when you deal with Jesus.