God has made Jesus, whom Israel crucified, both Lord and Christ, a central truth of the gospel message preached on Pentecost. Peter's sermon in Acts 2:36 highlights Jesus' identity as both Savior and Messiah, connecting his birth, crucifixion, and resurrection with the coming of the Holy Spirit. This divine plan bridges the gulf created by sin, alienation, condemnation, and spiritual forces, offering reconciliation and regeneration through Christ's work. The sermon concludes by emphasizing that Jesus' exaltation to Lord and Christ, proven by his resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit, necessitates a personal response of faith and confession for salvation.
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Now for our message today, I am directing your attention to the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. In that chapter we have the record of a great sermon that was preached by the Apostle Peter. He preached that sermon on a very important day. Acts chapter two gives to us the record of Peter's sermon on what was called the day of Pentecost, when the day of Pentecost was fully come.
It was an important day in world history. It was the day when the Holy Spirit came to this earth. to continue the work that Christ had commenced during his lifetime. But since the Lord had been rejected and died and gone back to the glory, the Holy Spirit is sent down. And under the power of that Holy Spirit, the church is formed, and Peter preached the first great gospel message, and it's to that sermon I now draw... your attention.
Acts two verse thirty-six. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. Let us bow for a moment of prayer. Our Father We thank thee for the words of Holy Scripture. The Scriptures which are like a two-edged sword. And, O God, we do pray that today that sword may pierce every heart, every conscience.
May we be searched and tried in thy presence. Grant that those who know the Lord shall be edified and encouraged. And those who are struggling for the truth, may be led at this time to exercise faith in thy beloved Son, we ask it in his precious name. Amen. Now I suggest to you that the verse we have read gives to us a summary of the main truths that Peter made known on the day of Pentecost in this great sermon. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God have made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ.
At the first reading perhaps that doesn't mean very much to some of my listeners. To others it may be that already they are rising up in rebellion at the very truth that's made known here. Do you recognize what is said in this verse? It refers to a person who was called Jesus, that same Jesus. But it presents him to us as the Lord, Jehovah, and as the Christ, the anointed, the Messiah.
And so he has made that same Jesus, both Lord and Christ. It's a remarkable thing. that prior to his birth there were two announcements made by the angel of the Lord. There was an announcement made to Joseph, and what was said to Joseph is found in the Gospel according to Matthew and chapter one. And what was said there runs like this, And she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
Notice now the connection of the name Jesus. He shall save his people from their sins. But there was another announcement made, and that announcement was made by the angel again. And that was made to the shepherds. And this time here is what was said to the shepherds who were watching the sheep on the plains of Bethlehem. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ. the Lord. You see, the angel said to Joseph, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from the sins. The angel said to the shepherds that this Savior who was born was Christ the Lord. Now when Peter was preaching that great sermon on the day of Pentecost, he seems to combine these ideas together And he says, Therefore might all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ.
That's why I claim for it that it's one of the great texts of the Christian gospel, that this person who's called Jesus, who would be the Savior, the one who was rejected and crucified on Calvary's cross, is Jesus Christ. the Lord, and around these titles there is woven the mighty truths of the Christian Gospel. For example now, you realize this, there are certain barriers that rest between men and their God, a great gulf that man by his own effort cannot cross. Men need to be saved, but there are barriers between them and their salvation.
For example, man is in alienation from God. Sin has alienated man. It has created that gulf. And man has become lawless in his disposition. Plain words, his back has been turned upon God. He's at a distance from God and he cannot cross the gulf. More than that, sinful man is under condemnation, condemned because of his sin. He stands guilty before God. So there is this great barrier of alienation. But then more than that, some people have never come to grips with the fact that there are mighty spiritual forces that are against men and women getting saved.
The mighty hosts of fallen angels under the leadership of Satan seem to be controlling fallen man, keeping him... from God, using the powers of the world and the lust of the flesh to prevent men from even seeking after God's salvation. You see here, first of all, he has blinded the mind, lest the light of the gospel should shine in. That again creates a great barrier, preventing man from being saved. But then there is also the bondage of corruption which seems to hold the body and the spirit under its sway.
Man seems to have corrupt thoughts, corrupt ideas, corrupt ambitions. You know, God looked down on the earth in Noah's day and he said all flesh was corrupted and the earth was filled with violence. And the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was here in the earth, said, As it was, so shall it be. Here we are, we're living again in days when the human race has reached the point of corruption and the earth is filled with violence. Wherever you have internal corruption, you'll have external violence. Now these three things seem to stand in the way like barriers, preventing man from being saved.
being brought back into the state of justification with God. However, the man who is alienated from God needs to be reconciled. There is a need for reconciliation. But then he also needs a power within him to overcome the great power of the enemy that surrounds him. That in plain words, to come to the Bible, the man needs to be regenerated. There needs to be the work of regeneration. That's what the Lord said to Nicodemus. She must be born again. That's regeneration. More than that, as long as we're here in the body, we're traveling around in weakness, and we'll have the weakness and the lusts of the body with us as long as we're here in this earth.
There needs to be a reconstruction. The Bible said if any man being Christ is a new creature, But we're still waiting for the final redemption. That is the redemption of the body. There's to be a reconstruction. Now these three things take us to the three great events. Set forth in the word of God. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. That takes you to Calvary. For he shall save his people from their sins. And the Lord Jesus Christ could never save anyone. Unless first of all he went to Calvary. But then if he went to Calvary and died, and that was all, then our hope or our faith is in a vain thing.
If Christ be not raised from the dead, we believed a vain thing. Now faith is vain. And so we must go on from there and realize there was such a thing as Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, that was proof that God approved of his Son, that God approved of the work he had accomplished at Calvary. and that Christ was no longer on the cross and no longer in the tomb, had been raised from the dead, and in triumph went back to the glory and was given his seat rightfully at the right hand of the Father on high, there crowned with glory and with honor, and was able to pray the Father, and the prayer was answered, and the Holy Spirit was given.
And on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down to this earth, It was the advent of the Spirit of God. And apart from the Spirit of God, there can be no such thing as regeneration. You cannot have the new birth apart from the Spirit of God. Ye must be born again. Nicodemus said, How can these things be? The Lord said, Except the man be born of the Spirit. He cannot see or he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. It requires the work of the Holy Spirit. That takes us. to Pentecost, but remember, if the person who went to the cross was looked upon as Jesus, for over the cross they said, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, and because he is called Jesus, it meant Jehovah is Savior, and he must needs go to the cross.
He couldn't save a soul without dying. When he was on the cross, they taunted him. His enemies stood around and sneered at him. And some of them said, that's him. He saved others. Himself he cannot save. And you know, there's a measure of truth in that. If he had tried to save himself and had come down from the cross, he would have been unable to save anyone else. This was God's plan. This was God's purpose. That his son should go to Calvary. and there give satisfaction to the claims of God's holy throne and thus provide salvation for poor, fallen, sinful men.
There had to be the work of reconciliation. Man could not cross the Gulf, and God as God could not cross the Gulf unless, by this great plan, that he who was the eternal son of the eternal God, from his lofty throne in heaven, came down to this earth, and became a man amongst men. Here we have the unique Son of God, the God-man. He who is the only one of his kind, he never ceased to be God when he became man, and he has never ceased to be man since he went back to heaven.
He is the God-man. Great is the mystery of godliness, says the Word of God. that God was manifested in the flesh. Here is the one who could bridge the gulf. Here is the one who could stand in the breach. Being God, the eternal Son of the eternal God, he could take God as it were in one hand and becoming man. He was able to take man in the other hand and thereby by becoming the mediator between God and men. Going to Calvary's cross was competent, able to effect the great work of reconciliation whereby the guilty sinner need not be expelled, but could be reconciled to an offended God.
Oh, you need to be reconciled, my friend. The sinner needs to be brought back to God. But then he said he has made this Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord, and Christ. You see, if he was Jesus, the Savior going to the cross, then remember this, he is the anointed one in heaven above. He has been anointed above his fellows. He is God's fellow. He has been anointed and given a name which is above every other name. He's been given the highest place in heaven.
And never again shall cruel sinners, said it not, our glorious Lord. Oh, he's the Christ, all right. He is the promised Messiah, the Anointed One, while the nation rejected him, thank God, there have been individuals from that nation who have recognized him and have trusted him. He is the Anointed One today, God's right hand, and because of that the Holy Spirit has been given, and you and I are living today. in that era of time where we have the administration of the Holy Spirit of God that works conviction in the hearts of men and women. But then, that's not all.
This Jesus has been made both Lord and Christ. Remember this, they treated him as a nobody when he was here in Ass. He grew up as a tender plant, like a root out of a dry ground. He was despised and rejected of men. He was a man of sorrows, acquainting himself with grief. But remember this, the day will come, but he will come forth from the glory, and he will come as king of kings and lord of lords. God has decreed this, that the day will come when every knee shall bow to him, and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord to the glory of the glory of the glory.
of God the Father. You know, there's a lot of even religious people today. They have a kind of form of religion, but they will not acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. Yet the Bible distinctly says this, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus is Lord, and thou shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You see how essential it is then that this man who was called Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, how essential it is for us to recognize that he is the Christ, the chosen of God, and that he is the Lord, having a name above every other name, occupying a place above every other place.
And man will someday have to bow the knee to him and acknowledge him as Lord, and when he comes in power, and the glory. They shall look on him whom they peace. They shall recognize him. Some shall wail because of him. But every knee shall have to bow to him then. My friend, why don't you bow to him now in the age of God's grace? You see, after all, he is the Lord. Now, Peter sets this before us here as a kind of summary of what he said about him. recognize this. Issage of the gospel then centers and revolves around a person.
Here's what he says about this person. Ye men of Israel hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as ye yourselves also know. What we realize is this. that the gospel is the presentation of the person of Christ. And when we consider the person of Christ, we realize he was a man approved of God. God put his stamp of approval upon him. He says he was approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs.
After all, didn't God himself rend the heavens? and declare at the time when his son was baptized by John in the River Jordan, he said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Again on the Mount of Transfiguration he spoke from the cloud and said, This is my beloved son, hear him. And on the day that men put him on a cross, God caused that the very sun would refuse to shine. And there was a great phenomenon that day. A three hours of dense darkness, when the sun should have been at its meridian height, the very sun refused to shine.
He was a man approved, approved of God among you. Think of the miracles he performed. Think of the wonders. Think of the signs. He says, which God did by him in your midst, as ye yourselves also know, she this thing was not done in a corner. This was open and above board. Men were able to see those things. They should have been able to have understood those things. Yet they're ejected. And you today, my friend, you must face up to this, that the Lord Jesus Christ, was a man who lived here on earth, has been approved of God. Even further than by the signs, he's been approved of God by his resurrection.
But look what he says about him in verse twenty-three. He relates the person of Christ now to the purposes of God. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Ye have taken him by wicked hands, have crucified and slain. He takes you now to the purposes of God in connection with the death of Christ. You say, yes, but it was Judas that betrayed him. That's perfectly true. And the religious leaders that condemned him, handed him over to Pilate, the Roman governor, and Pilate. that poor, weak, inoffensive man had he tried to be, to carry favour with the crowd.
He willingly handed him over to be crucified. Oh, my friend, listen to what the great preacher said on that day, the day of Pentecost. Him being delivered by the deterministic counsel and foreknowledge of God, do you realize? It was God's predetermined plan that his son should die on Calvary's cross to be the savior of sinners. Sinners like you and me. And so it was. He says he had to die. So the message of the gospel centers around a person. and the purposes of God relative to that person and his death. But think of the power of God, whom God have raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it.
You see, here is the power of God in the message of the gospel. It presents Jesus Christ, not only dying on the cross, but being raised again from the dead. He's a living Savior. And so therefore he is the power to overthrow all his enemies. Then from verse at twenty-five right on to the end, he shows us now the prophecies of God. And these prophecies had to do with what would take place at Calvary and what would take place afterwards. And so he comes down quoting the Old Testament prophecies. And then he comes again to the verse we gave you at the very beginning, the verse that gives to us the summary of the great gospel message.
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. You see, my friend, the man who was called Jesus of Nazareth came in order to save sinners. That was his work. To save his people from their sins, they had to be reconciled. And in order to create the reconciliation, he had to go to Calvary. But in order for men and women to be convicted and to be converted, Pentecost had to take place and the Holy Spirit had to come down and to carry on the work. And then he must come again.
And when he comes, then they that have died in Christ shall be raised. that which has been buried and has gone to corruption shall be raised in corruption. We who are alive and remain at that time shall be changed, and together will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, with bodies fashioned like unto his glorified body. May I quote to you the words from the Epistle of John chapter three, verse two, beloved. Now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
My friend, as you listen to this broadcast, let me ask you, do you know this, friend? Do you know the Savior? Are you sure of your salvation? If not, why don't you repent? Turn to God now. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ. You can be saved now just where you are in your own home or in your car. Turn and believe this very hour. Trust in the Savior's grace and power. Then shall your final answer be saved for a long eternity.