March 31, 2013

Don't Call It a Comeback (Acts 2:22-32)

Preacher: Bryce Morgan Series: Misc. Messages Topic: Acts Scripture: Acts 2:22–2:32

Easter Sunday 2013

Don’t Call It a Comeback
Acts 2:22-32
March 31st, 2013
(One Lord: So Great a Salvation)

 

I. What is and is Not Possible

Think about this: we live in a period of time in which we have accomplished things that people, less than 200 years ago, would have considered impossible: the electric light bulb, flight, space-travel, robotics, cloning, heart transplants, the digital revolution…and the list could go on. In just the last 100 years we have pushed out the walls on what is possible.

But at the same time, some of us are starting to see as possibly ‘impossible’ what people less than 200 years ago would have considered very possible: civil political discourse, enduring marriages, contentment in terms of our possessions, abstinence until marriage, emotional stability apart from medication, respectful children, happiness.

How about you this morning? What would you consider impossible? What would you consider possible?

Keep that in mind and turn with me in the Bible to Acts 2:22-32 (page 910, blue bibles).

 

II. The Passage: “It Was Not Possible” (2:22-32)

Let me just briefly set this passage up, so we can understand the context in which these words were spoken. We know from 2:1 that the setting is the day of Pentecost, which is the Greek name for the Jewish Feast of Weeks. We know from the Old Testament that this Feast or Festival took place exactly 50 days after the Passover. So what we see here is taking place about seven weeks after the death of Jesus.

And since it is a Feast day, we read in the opening verses of this chapter that Jewish pilgrims from all over the world had come to celebrate in Jerusalem. Given the setting and the reality of thousands of pilgrims in Jerusalem, it’s not surprising that God, as we read in verses 2-4, sent His Holy Spirit on the followers of Jesus, with the result being that these disciples began to praise God in different languages; the very languages of the pilgrims who had come to the city. Talk about God getting their attention!

And when He had their attention, He used Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, to explain to the crowd what was taking place. This is the heart of what Peter tells them (v. 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—[23] this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. [24] God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
[25] For David says concerning him,
“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
[26] therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
[27] For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
[28] You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
[29] “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. [30] Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, [31] he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. [32] This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

Now, even though Peter explains a lot in this message (which runs from 14-26), the verses we just looked at are really the heart of his address. But here's what I want you to notice about this section: notice that the majority of this passage has to do with Easter! Do you see that? The lion's share of these verses are talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter mentions it explicitly in verses 24 and 32: “God raised him up” (24), “This Jesus God raised up” (32).

But here's what I really want us to focus on this morning. Look back at verse 24 and listen to this astounding statement: God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

Isn't that amazing? But in terms of what is and is not possible, isn't that backwards? All of us know people who have died, right? All of us have been to at least one funeral, at least one memorial service. But in any of those cases, did the deceased ever cease to be deceased? Did that person come back from the dead? No, because it was not possible for him or her NOT to be held the power of death.

But in the case of Jesus, it was impossible for him TO BE held by that power. Death could kill Him, but it could not keep Him. But how is the “not possible” of verse 24...possible? How could Peter make such a statement? Well, according to God's word, there are a number of explanations for this. Let's look together at three. First of all, we could say...

 

1. This “Not Possible” was Possible Because of Jesus' Innocence.

Listen to what Peter himself would go on to write years later about why Jesus died:

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. [23] When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. [24] He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:22-24)

So according to Peter, Jesus died, not because He had done anything wrong, but in order to pay for our wrongdoing; in order to accept God's verdict against people like us, people who try to live me-centered lives in a God-centered universe.

And so, if Jesus sufficiently paid THAT, paid OUR debt, a debt HE did not owe, did the “pangs of death”, did the “agony or anguish of death” have any basis for holding him down?

But I think the Bible gives us another reason. Number two...

 

2. This “Not Possible” was Possible Because of Jesus' Identity.

Now what exactly do I mean by that? Well, look over at the next chapter, Acts 3. Starting in verse 12, we see that Peter is preaching again; and the message he's proclaiming here is very similar to his message in chapter 2. Look at what he tells us in verses 13-15:

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. [14] But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, [15] and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. (Acts 3:13-15)

Does the end of verse 15 sound familiar? It should. It's almost exactly the same as 2:32! Peter wants these people to know that he and hundreds of others actually saw the resurrected Jesus...with their own eyes. But look at the title Peter gives to Jesus at the beginning of verse 15. He calls him “the author of life”.

Peter reminds them that the crowd who stood before Pilate on the Friday before the Passover demanded that he release Barabbas, a murderer, a taker of life. But that wasn't the end of the story. That crowd, stirred up by most of the Jewish leaders, also demanded that Jesus be crucified...Jesus, the giver of life, the author of life.

What does it mean that Jesus is the “author of life”? Well, maybe Peter is thinking along the same lines as his companion here in chapter 3, the Apostle John. John would go on to write these words in John 1:1-4:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. [4] In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

But in Acts 3, Peter might also be thinking of what John would later write in John 5:21: For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.

So maybe Peter is telling the crowd in Acts 2 that it was not possible for death to keep Jesus because, just as the darkness cannot overpower even the smallest flame, the power of death cannot hold back the One who is Life itself. Don't call it a comeback. Don't call it a new chapter. Don't call it Jesus' second act. No, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was simply the continuation of the life of God himself, a life that can never be extinguished.

But I think there is another explanation for Peter's astounding statement. And I think this third explanation is at the heart of what Peter is saying in Acts 2. I think we could say...

 

3. This “Not Possible” was Possible Because of God’s Integrity .

Let me explain what I mean by that. If you look back at verse 24 of chapter 2, you will see that right before verse 24, in verse 23, AND right after verse 24, beginning in verse 25, Peter gives us two very clear statements about the plan or, we might say, the agenda of God.

In verse 24, Peter, without denying the responsibility of the Jewish leaders, or the crowds, or Pilate, or the Roman centurions, Peter declares that Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God”. The cross was not an unexpected 'speed bump' in God's plan. It was actually at the very center of His agenda.

And in verse 25, Peter emphasizes that same point by pointing out that King David, a thousand years before the birth of Christ, David predicted in Psalm 16 that the Messiah would not “be abandoned to the grave”, that God would not “let [his] Holy One see corruption”. And in verses 29-31, Peter wants to make sure that his listeners understand that David could not ultmately be speaking about himself in Psalm 16, because he DID die. His grave was right there in the city of Jerusalem.

But if David was speaking about his descendant, about THE King who would come from his family line, if David was speaking about THE Messiah, and if Jesus was, in fact, THE Messiah, then it was NOT POSSIBLE for Jesus to be held by the power of death because God's word, because God's plan said otherwise.

God’s integrity stands behind God’s word. If God said a thousand earlier that the Messiah would not stay in the grave, then you better bet that it was NOT POSSIBLE for the Messiah to stay in the grave.

And so this astounding statement, this statement that goes against everything we know to be true from our everyday experience of life and death, this statement, according to the Bible is grounded not only in Jesus' innocence and Jesus' identity, but in this passage, it is primarily grounded in the inviolable, the invincible, the inexhaustible word of God.

 

III. Flipping “Not Possible” on Its Head

This morning, your being here is no accident. Whether you know it or not, whether you believe it or not, God has you here for a reason. And here’s the reason God has you here. He wants you to understand and embrace this truth:

The hope of Easter is the hope that, in your life, God can flip “not possible” on its head through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (2x)

Think about that for a minute. In our experience, it is “not possible” for people to rise from the dead. But here, with Jesus, we see just the opposite; it was “not possible” for Jesus to stay dead. And if that’s true, what other “not possibles” does God want to flip?


Listen, everything we’ve already talked about this morning is pointing to the reality that Jesus did what He did for us. For you; for me. “He died to sin that we might live to righteousness” (I Peter 2:24). “By His wound [we] have been healed” (I Peter 2:24). “The Son GIVES life to whom He will” (John 5:21). You see, Jesus’ stood in our place in order to take our the justice we deserved, IN ORDER THAT we, by grace, through faith, might stand in His place and enjoy HIS victory, a victory we could never deserve.

The hope of Easter is the hope that just as Jesus lives, we too can live forever and fully because of the power of God. And if we simply trust that Jesus did what the Bible says He did, if we simply trust that our condition is as bad as the Bible says it is, if we simply trust that Jesus Christ is our only hope, than God will “make us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5).

And if we are spiritually alive through faith alone, by God’s grace alone, then He WILL begin to turn our world upside down in a glorious way. Because of His integrity, that is, because of His faithfulness; because He always keeps His word…we can be assured that when we die with Jesus through faith, and then live again with Jesus, through faith, then…

It is “not possible” for us to ever be alone again (Hebrews 13:5).
It is “not possible” for you to be unloved (Romans 8:39).
It is “not possible” for you to NOT belong (I John 3:1).
It is “not possible” for you to be tempted beyond what you can handle (I Corinthians 10:13).
It is “not possible” for your needs NOT to be taken care of (Matthew 6:33).
It is “not possible” for you to be taken out of the hand of the Good Shepherd (John 10:28).
It is “not possible” for you to be condemned for your sins (Romans 8:1).
It is “not possible” for even the worst circumstances in your life NOT to work for your good (Romans 8:28).
It is “not possible” for you NOT to become like Jesus (Romans 8:29).
It is “not possible” for God NOT to complete the work He has begun in you (Philippians 1:6).
It is “not possible” for death to be a ‘dead end’ (II Corinthians 5:1).
It is “not possible” for us to be lacking in all that we need to live for Him and not for ourselves. (II Peter 1:3, 4…which says…)

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, [4] by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Did you come here this morning expecting that God would change your life? If you didn’t, you should have; because He wants to do just that. The “divine power” that Peter speaks of there in II Peter 1 is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, which is the same power that God wants to pour into your life…to forgive you, to cleanse you, to restore, to strengthen you, to guide you, to transform you, to give you joy, comfort, peace, and love forever and ever.

But you have to want your life to be turned ‘upside down’. If you like it the way it is, then you won’t need what Jesus is offering you; or I should say, you won’t recognize what you truly need. But if you know you need God and His grace, then reach out in faith this morning. Reach out and let him turn things upside-down in your life. And if you do, you will find that things are actually right-side up, for the very first time. Christ is risen! That is the hope of Easter. 

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