please turn with me to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two. And you'll see in your bulletins that tonight we're gonna be looking at verses 14 through 24. But on the outset here, what I want to do is to read through the entirety of Peter's sermon, and then we're gonna look at those verses, and then next week, or the next time I preach, and then maybe the time after that, we'll finish the sermon. So please look there at verse 14, Acts 2, 14. It says, But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice, and declared to them, men of Judea, and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. For these men are not drunk as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel. And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth my spirit on all mankind. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. But it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know, this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says of him, I saw the Lord always in my presence, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue exalted. Moreover, my flesh also will live in hope. because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow your Holy One to undergo decay. You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on this throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent, and each of you be baptized 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 your children and for those who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself. And with many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, be saved from this perverse generation. So then those who had received his word were baptized. And that day, there were added about 3,000 souls. He who has ears, let him hear the word of God. There's such a glorious sermon that I just read. This evening we're going to be looking here at the first New Testament sermon ever preached, and certainly one of the greatest and most effective sermons ever preached. This recorded sermon here of Peter led to the conversion of nearly 3,000 souls. Now, at the outset here, I want to pose a question to you. What is preaching? And of what does it consist? So tonight we're going to be looking at preaching in general, and I'm going to take from that verses 14 and 15. And then the prophecy foretold by Joel in verses 16 through 21. And then finally, prophecy fulfilled by Jesus in verses 22 through 24. As we begin to look at our text tonight, notice what Peter does here in this first verse, verse 14. It says, but Peter, taking his stand with the 11, raised his voice and declared to them, men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. Peter begins by calling the crowds to attention. He stands with the 11. He has unity with the 11. And he raises his voice. And he issues a divine imperative. And we see here Peter beginning his first sermon. That is, he begins to preach. He begins to tell them the mighty deeds of God. And notice what is not happening as we go through this passage. You know, preaching is not a conversation between people. It's not talking to each other. It's not what preaching is. Preaching is a form of entertainment, though it can sometimes be entertaining. So much of what passes for preaching today in the contemporary church and the evangelical world is entertainment. And essentially, it's basically nursery for adults. That it's child's play. It's something that lacks substance. It has nothing in it, or it has nothing to it. Sermons have been replaced with self-help talks. And there's nothing for the soul to grab onto, only to stimulate the eye, to tickle the ear. There is no depth. There is no foundation. There is no conviction of sin. Many famous pastors will outright tell you, well, I don't really talk about sin. It's just not something I do. I just want to talk about God's love. That's what preaching is today. So there is no conviction of sin because there is no preaching against sin. And many times there is no gospel. There is no preaching. There is no sound theology to be found, but you can find heresies abounding. The Puritan Richard Baxter once said that preachers are dying men preaching to dying men. That's what a preacher is. He is a dying man preaching to dying men, telling people what they must know before they die. That's what preaching is. Preaching isn't a guy with a microphone speaking from a stage trying to sell his latest book or give you some sort of insight into his life. Preaching is not Bible story hour, or even worse, anecdotal story hour. It's not a lecture. That's what preaching isn't. So what is it? What is preaching? Well, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones defined preaching as logic on fire. And by logic, what he meant was preaching that is theological. And it comes from a man that's on fire, one who believes what he's proclaiming, one who believes what he's saying is true. And he's pleading for others to believe it, too. Preaching consists of a pulpit of flame that's on fire for God and on fire for his word. Preaching is the teaching of the Word of God that comes to bear on those who hear. It's the proclamation of the whole counsel of God, whether it's to the person in the pew or in the street. That's what preaching is. There is no doctrine of scripture left untouched. The doctrine of God, creation, the fall, sin, the person and work of Jesus Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification. All of these great doctrines and many more are taught, they are preached. Preaching really is the sword of the Spirit drawn out, piercing hearts, destroying pride. That's what preaching is. It's bringing men and women face to face with the living, holy, holy, holy God. That's what preaching is. What about the central message of the preacher? What does the preacher say? Again, it's nothing short of the full counsel of God, centrally focused upon the person and work of Jesus Christ. The truths of scripture are expounded clearly and the gospel is made plain. There is no questioning, what was it exactly that he said? I'm kind of confused on what he's saying. There is no confusion in what is meant. The gospel message is clear and it's orthodox. I want you to think of Paul's warning to the people of Galatia. But as he said to them, even if we, or an angel from heaven, should what? Preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed, anathema, damned to hell. Preaching is proclaiming the Savior. Paul says, if anyone preaches to you something that is false, he is to be cut off from heaven. So preaching is the proclamation of truth. You know, when we gather for church, like as we're gathered here tonight, we do so expecting to hear God through his word. We expect to hear from God through his word. It was the reformer Martin Luther who called the pulpit the throne of the word of God. It is the pulpit where the word of God is enthroned. The primacy of the preached word is the business of the preacher in the church, the preaching of the word of God. Now, some of you may know that Pastor Hines will sometimes film himself playing piano and he will post it online. And one evening I was watching his video and Everly comes up and she's listening to it and she said, is that Pastor Hines? And I said, yeah, that's him. Well, where is he? I said, he's at church. And she said, well, why is he not preaching? All right? So from that, I gather that she understands the promise of preaching, hopefully. But it really is this idea that the house of God is where the word of God is preached to the people of God. That is what church is. When Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones became pastor of the Westminster Chapel in London, The first thing on his docket, because he saw the drift to liberalism. The very first thing that he did, he took a hammer and some nails, and he nailed down the pulpit to the floor so that the platform could not be used for anything else other than the preached Word of God. It's the preached Word of God that is central, yet so many forsake it in our day for things so less important and utterly useless. It is the scriptures proclaimed that God uses to draw forth his people. Question 88 of our Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, how is the word made effectual to salvation? Answer, the spirit of God making the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. It is the preached word that God uses to bring about the regeneration of souls. First Corinthians 124, for since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. It's for this reason that Paul commands Timothy. He doesn't suggest to Timothy. He doesn't say, Timothy, it would be a good idea if you did this. He commands Timothy, preach the word. That is what you are to do, Timothy. Preach the word. Be ready in season, out of season, which means whether it's popular or not. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. Timothy, that is what you are to do. You are to preach the word of God. I want to tell you where you have a weak pulpit, you have a weak church. I'm so thankful that we have a very strong pulpit at Bridwell Heights. But when the preacher forsakes his duty to expound the word of God, you cease to have a church. There is no church where there is no word preached. So in our text, we see Peter giving a divine imperative. Again, he doesn't suggest, he says, you must heed this. You must listen. And this is a theme that we're going to see throughout every single recorded sermon in Acts. These are not mere suggestions. This is something the audience must hear. This is something every person must hear. Therefore, he declared to them, to the crowd, he declared, you must hear this. Let it be known to you. Let you know this truth. And give heed to my words. Again, let this be known to you. Give heed to my words, imperatives. He will not leave them ignorant of the truth. He will not shy away from telling them the things of God. This is something that they must know, and that they must heed. And likewise, we must know, we must heed. They must listen, and we must listen. Now I want you to think about the scene here. Where are they? They're still in Jerusalem, right? the place where they watched Jesus be crucified. Just some weeks prior to this event, they saw their Lord Jesus nailed to a cross and die. So you have to think, was there any part in their minds thinking, is this gonna be our lot? Are we gonna face this same thing? Would Peter, too, be crucified for proclaiming Christ? It's certainly a real possibility. And as Peter stood and declared the mighty deeds of God, it was very likely that he could have been taken captive, tortured, and led to Golgotha just as his master. Yet the boldness and the courage of Peter is utterly astonishing. And it's so unlike Peter. We've already seen Peter deny the Lord Jesus in front of a few. But now, he stands up in front of a very large crowd and proclaims him. This is really astonishing. His boldness and his courage. but it is only through the Spirit giving him strength. Well, look at Acts 2.15 there. Peter starts off, he says, I declare to you, you must heed this, for these men are not drunk as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day. He rebukes the crowd here who accuses them of drunkenness. Well, previously we saw at the coming of the Holy Spirit, there were those in the upper room They had begun to speak in different languages, declaring the mighty works of God in every language. These were known languages. And they were speaking these languages. They did not know them ahead of time. They were proclaiming the mighty deeds of God. So some in the crowd accused them of drunkenness. And Peter says to them, we're not drunk, as you've accused us of being. It's only the third hour of the day, which is roughly 9 a.m. And Pentecost was a feast day. And it was customary to fast until at least the fourth hour, which would have been noon. So they were fasting. They weren't drunk. But moreover, what did we learn about the upper room? The upper room was not a place of debauchery and drunkenness. It was a place of prayer, a place of searching the scriptures, a place of loving one another, of being united with one another. So this wasn't a place of drunkenness, debauchery. This was a sacred place where they gathered together to search the scriptures, to pray in unity. Well, Peter goes on in verses 16 through 21, and this is the prophecy foretold by Joel. Peter says, but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel. And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth of my spirit on all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall see dreams. even on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth my spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above and on the signs of earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So he says to them, this is the reason why you are seeing what you see. We're not drunk, we're not involved in debauchery. This is actually the fulfillment of prophecy. And you would think some among the crowds, especially those who made a living searching the scriptures, would be able to see that this was not a drunken occasion, that this was something that was foretold. But Peter says this is actually the fulfillment of prophecy. It was the prophet Joel who foretold of this day. But it wasn't just Joel. Peter quotes Joel, but it wasn't just Joel. It was Jonah and many other prophets who foretold of these last days when the fulfillment of God's purpose would be revealed to human history, namely the person and work of Jesus. That's what this is about, the person and the work of Jesus. In 1 Peter 1, Peter describes how the Old Testament prophets sought to understand this grand mystery of which they were speaking. In 1 Timothy 1, verses 10 through 11, says, as to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. So Peter says, those prophets that foretold this, they were inquiring and searching of the time when the mystery would be revealed. It was something that they expected, but that they could only see in part. And what has been revealed, according to Peter, later on in verse 20, 1 Peter 1 verse 20, for he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. This great revealing has taken place, which was spoken of the prophets of old, that what the prophets knew in part, now is the time that the mystery has been revealed. And it was the mystery of God's plan of salvation through the person and work of Jesus. This was something they knew in part. We are blessed to know in whole. And it should be our deepest treasure that we know this truth. It's in the last days that Isaiah proclaimed in Isaiah two, verse two. Now what will come about in the last days the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills, and all the nations will stream to it. It's in these last days that the king will reign on the highest of the highest of the highest of hills, and the nations will stream to the city of God. Men and women from every tribe, tongue, people and nation will flow to Zion, where God has established His King, who is Jesus, and they will pay homage to Him. The prophet Hosea says in chapter 3, verse 5, that the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in these last days. In Peter's sermon, he quotes the prophet Joel to make his case that the last days have come, which were spoken of by Joel and the prophets. In Joel 2, you have the prophet Joel announcing the coming of the day of the Lord. And on that day, Joel says that the Lord God will act in righteousness and mercy. Righteousness and mercy. That is that he will demonstrate both his righteousness and his mercy on the day of the Lord. There is a day coming, says the prophet Joel, when the dread of the Lord will be upon you, and at his coming, there will be great dread to those who oppose him. The heavens will tremble, and the sun and moon will grow dark. The stars will lose their brightness. The day of the Lord will be great." It'll be a great day. So Joel says, the day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome. Who can endure it? who can endure the coming of the Lord in righteousness? Who can stand on that day? Who can endure the wrath of God when he visits in his judgment? In verses 28 through 30 of Joel 2, we see the verses used by Peter. What is the sign of the age to come? How can we know that we are in the last days? It is the coming of the spirit accompanied by great signs and wonders through the people, through all people. Pentecost, the coming of the spirit upon the upper room, was accompanied by the gift of tongues and of visible manifestations of a fiery spirit which entered into each of them. And the spirit entered into all that was gathered. Everyone that was gathered, the spirit went into. There was no distinction between any of them. They all received the spirit. All who believe in the name of the Lord share in the same spirit. 1 Corinthians 12 verse 13, for by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit. There is but one Holy Spirit. Or in Galatians 3.28, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are one in Christ Jesus. So, at Pentecost, the Spirit of God indwelled all of them. They were all indwelled by the Holy Spirit. And they will be a holy people, redeemed by the Lamb, by his offering of himself on their behalf. And indeed, if you have believed upon him, you too, indwelling in you, is the Holy Spirit. If you have believed upon Christ, if you are of his fold, if you are of his flock, if you are his sheep and he is your shepherd, he has given you the Holy Spirit. Now at Pentecost, there were no distinctions between those who believed. in receiving the Spirit, but there were distinctions between those who had special revelatory offices, such as apostles and prophets. These were people that the Spirit had chosen to make known the mysteries of God and to record them in sacred Scripture, to move them along as they recorded Scripture. And those two offices have ceased today because we have all that we need. It was Hebrews 1, that everything has been revealed in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit that regenerates, that sanctifies, that bears forth fruit, that gives assurance, and all the rest that we looked at last time. It is the Holy Spirit that does these things. But Peter, by quoting Joel, not Joe, Joel, says of that coming day of the Lord, wonders will be in the sky and on the earth. Now, as Peter's preaching this just some few weeks earlier in the early afternoon on Good Friday, Luke records in Luke 23 verses 44 and 45, It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell on the whole land until the ninth hour. And because the sun was obscured, and the veil of the temple was torn in two, that as Jesus was on the cross, the sky grew dark, he breathed his last, and the veil was torn. You know what happened on that day? I think we truly, truly undervalue the cross. It wasn't that Jesus was just nailed to the cross by wicked men. He bore the wrath of Almighty God. On that day, the great judgment of the Father fell onto his only begotten Son. That was the great day of the Lord. And I believe it is here where the great prophecy of Joel is made known. The day of the Lord is a day of dread because it is God exacting justice on the sins of men and women. That is what the day of the Lord is. It is God exacting justice, giving men and women what they have earned. That is the day of the Lord. but it was also the day that mercy was made known. The day of the Lord is the day where God made known his righteousness and also his mercy. Do you remember, Joel said, righteousness and mercy. On which day do we see God showing forth in full display of his righteousness and his mercy? Where does the righteousness and the justice of God meet the grace and the mercy of God? It is at the cross of Jesus Christ. It is at the cross. How did God demonstrate His righteousness at the cross? The Apostle Paul takes up that subject in Romans 3, 21 through 26, which may be some of the most beautiful words recorded in Scripture. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested. There's the righteousness of God. It has been shown. It has been revealed. Being witnessed by the law and the prophets. The law and the prophets foretold of this righteousness. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction. all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness. because in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed for the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. At the cross, beloved, God displayed his righteousness by the death of the Lamb on our behalf. And he showed his grace in not crushing us who deserve it. He did not give us what we deserve. Christ bore what we deserve. We were given grace. We were given a righteous robe of another to wear. Well then Peter says in concluding Joel's prophecy, he says, and it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That's emphatic. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord, so there you have anyone who calls on who? The Lord will be saved, not may be saved, will be saved. There is a definitiveness to that statement. It shall be. Let it be so. This will happen. Let it be assured that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. If you have called upon the name of the Lord, you will be saved. Well, now, Peter, in quoting Joel, says that the prophecy said of Joel by Joel is fulfilled in Jesus. So to the people gathered around, he gives this declaration. He said, give heed, you must know this. This is something you must hear. This is what the prophet Joel said. Now it is in Jesus that this has been fulfilled. To the people gathered around, you must hear this. You must hear the words of Peter. They must know the prophecy by Joel has been fulfilled. He says in verses 22 through 24, men of Israel, listen to these words. And there again, that's an imperative. Listen. You must listen to this. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know, this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you knelt to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held by its power." Again, listen. You must hear this. Here is the fulfillment. And I love what he said. Here's the fulfillment. Jesus the Nazarene, that is the fulfillment. Jesus the Nazarene is the mystery revealed. It was through him that you saw with your eyes and heard with your ears the works of God. Well, Peter says that Jesus did the works of God, the miracles and the wonders and the signs which he performed attested to his claim that he was who he said he was, that he was Messiah. That's what the signs and wonders pointed to. It attested to that truth that he was who he said he was. Those signs and wonders bore witness to the truth of his claim. And it was evident to all that the works that Jesus did, no mere man could do. Even his staunchest opponents saw the works, saw the wonders that Jesus was doing, and the only thing they could say is, it has to be the power of Satan. He's really doing things. These things are really happening. It has to be by the power of Beelzebul that he does these things. They all bore witness to what Christ had done during the time of his earthly ministry. Jesus did not perform sleight-of-hand parlor tricks. It was not all smoke and mirrors. He healed at his own pleasure. He raised the dead. He commanded the very forces of nature to obey him, and they did. He commanded the demons to leave, and they did. And the miracles that men try to produce today are parlor tricks. They are sleight-of-hand tricks. Jesus did not slightly lengthen legs. He didn't lay anyone down and measure the legs. Yeah, we've got you about a quarter of an inch there. Your walk should be much better. That's not what Jesus did. Jesus restored, he revived, and he resurrected. And of these things, Peter says, you yourselves know. So the crowd that's gathered, he says, you know this, this is something that you know to be true. Jesus the Nazarene did these things, and you saw them. Many that were gathered here were eyewitnesses of Jesus. And those who saw the mighty works of Jesus recognized that God had visited his people. That's what they said, God has visited us through this man, Jesus. And then Peter says, this man, Jesus, Jesus the Nazarene, was delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. Now this could be its own sermon in and of itself, the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. That is to say that the death of Christ was within the sovereign determination of God, that the death of Jesus was ordained, it was planned. This wasn't an event that just happened to happen. This isn't God calling an audible, saying, oh, things are really turning south for me down there, I'm going to change up my plan a bit and make sure that I can get some people into heaven. This was the predetermined plan of God and the foreknowledge of God. This is the plan of redemption. But lest anyone think that they won't be accountable for this murder of the prince of life, what does Peter say to them? He says, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. So though it was predetermined, though it was foreordained, you did it. Though the death of Jesus was ordained by God, The means in which this was accomplished by a wicked man who despised every prophet that God ever sent and even the Son who is the Savior for all who will trust in Him. It's your fault. You nailed Him to a cross. But what the wicked man who put Him to death meant for evil, God meant for good. God not only ordains all that comes to pass, he too ordains the means in which they come to pass. And the blame of the death of Jesus was laid upon those who delivered him to be put to death. The Jews could not pass the buck. They could not say, oh well, but God predetermined that this would happen, so it's not me, you made me do it. No. It was you who nailed him to a cross. After seeing all that Jesus had done on this earth, after hearing all of the claims that he had made, it can really be astonishing that these men and women betrayed him so quickly. It's utterly astonishing that these men and women could see the works of God through Jesus and betray him so quickly. but do not think too little of the depravity of the human heart. Men and women are capable of horrors unimaginable. Then Peter says, but God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. Though you crucified him, though you put him to death, Though you committed the greatest sin that has ever been committed in human history, God has raised him from the dead. Now one commentator said, and I love this, that the sentence passed on Jesus by an earthly court and executed by Roman soldiers has been reversed, Peter asserts, by a higher court. You put him to death, but a higher court raised him to life. Jesus, though innocent of any wrongdoing, was found guilty by the hands of wicked men, yet he was raised up from the dead. And having been raised, Peter tells us and tells the crowd, the agony of death is gone. That phrase there translated in the NASB as putting an end to has been translated also as loosened or released, that our Lord Jesus certainly felt the pains of death, but it is here said that death was loosened, released, or ended because death had no power over him. He is the living one, not subject. to death. And it was prophesied that we'll look at next week that he will see no corruption, that he will taste death, that he will die, but death shall not hold him. It cannot hold him. And the prophet Isaiah said of the death and resurrection of Jesus that he will swallow up death for all time The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and he will remove the reproach of his people from all the earth. The raising Jesus through Jesus. And the certainty of that truth of what Isaiah said, that God will, that Jesus will swallow up death for all time, that he will wipe away every tear, every tear that you have ever cried, that he will wipe those away, Isaiah concludes, the Lord has spoken. Can we have any greater assurance than the Lord has spoken? And the Lord has spoken to us, his people. If we are in him, beloved, if we are of his flock, if we have already died and we now live in Him, we can say with Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We can say that if we are in Him. It is through Christ who has tasted death for us that we live. And though we too will die physically, we are already marked as dead men, dead to sin, alive to Christ. We have been made alive in him who is the living one who will live forever. The living one is not among the dead. He is not defeated. He was not the victim. He gave himself. He is the victor. and he is not in bondage to the grave. He lives, and just as surely as he lives, you will live if you are in him. In conclusion, throughout this sermon by Peter and every sermon and Acts, I want you to notice what we witness. We witness awakening and revival. Every sermon preached, we witness awakening and revival. And I want you to notice carefully what brings an awakening about, what brings about a revival. It was not the miracles that Jesus performed in his life. The things which Jesus did in his life did not bring about a revival. It was not the gifts of the apostles displayed to testify the truth of the message. It wasn't the tongues, the gift of tongues that awakened and revived 3,000 on this day. It was not knocking people over with a coat or slaying them in the spirit. It was not planning a certain day to have a revival or an awakening. It was this. Men and women were awakened by the preaching of Christ, who he is and what he has done. It is this central message that brings about revival. You will never have revival unless you preach Christ and Christ crucified. You will never have revival unless you tell others of the good news, the gospel, who is the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is the preaching of Christ that brings dead men to life. And I talked about that last week, the valley of dry bones of Ezekiel. It is the preaching of the gospel that brings forth dead, dry bones and gives them life. That's why Paul determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. That was his message to give to people so that they would live. It is the gospel and the gospel alone that has the power. It is the power of God unto salvation. And it is through the message of the gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, but the just shall live by faith. That is the message that will bring about an awakening or revival. But beloved, we must be awakened. We must not think these things to be trivial. Do we see these truths for what they are? Yes, we may be living by faith, but have we become somewhat dull? You know, it's so much easier when you're first converted, you have such a fire and a zeal for God, and you want to proclaim Jesus, the message of the gospel to all that's around you, but then what typically happens, God sees fit to bring trials and sorrows into your life and they can weigh us down. But do we see the truth of the gospel as central in our lives? Do we see that this is needed in every life around us? Do you see that your works are as nothing but rags and will not count for you anything on the day of judgment. Do you have peace with God knowing that you have been justified by faith, not by your works? And I love how Pastor Hines describes justification. He says it is the eschatological verdict brought back and applied to the believer. If you were in Christ, your verdict was rendered on him while he was on the cross. Your Day of Judgment happened on the cross. There is nothing left for you to pay. There is nothing left for you to do. The Day of Judgment has visited your house and was laid upon the cross of Christ. He endured the judgment that you deserved. He bore that for you if you were in Him. So I want to ask you, in closing, do you really believe that there is no more condemnation for you. If you are in Christ Jesus, do you believe that? Do you believe that there is nothing left for you to pay in this life? Beloved, if you believe it, do you understand how freeing that is? That there is nothing left for you to pay, that it has been paid by another, and that he has given you his robes of righteousness. Oh, what a wonderful grace, beloved, that we've been given. If you have believed in Him, your judgment has already been exacted, just not upon you. You have peace with God. If you have believed in Him, you have peace with God. If you have been justified by faith, you have peace with God. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Shalom, peace. No condemnation, no hostility. The arms of warfare have been laid down, and there is only grace and mercy toward you. But I want to conclude with the prophet Joel. If you have not believed, and if you do not have peace with God, Joel 2, verses 12 and 13. Yet even now declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart and with fasting, weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Your heart, not your outer works. Rend your heart and return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, and relenting of evil. This is for you. If you have no peace with God, you can have peace with God, and it is an eternal peace. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Oh, Father, we thank you for this great truth. We thank you that you have revealed to us your mystery, and that is the person and the work of Jesus Christ, that he lived for us, that he died for us, that he was raised for us, and that he ascended for us, that he is our prophet, that he is our priest, that he is our king, that he is our everything. And Father, we know we need to be more sanctified, but we will never be any more justified because you have given us your son.