Gateway Baptist Church
October 12, 2025

      • 2 Chronicles 7:14LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

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  • Victory in Jesus
  • Love Is the Theme
  • The Lily Of The Valley
  • Nothing But The Blood (Plainfield)

  • Acts 2:22-36

    Why is Jesus important? How do we answer this question? For the early Church, His power was through the power of the Holy Spirit, which allowed them to persevere.  During persecution, it was this power and the knowledge of what Jesus had done for them, meant to them, and was waiting for them. They knew how to use the tools that He had left them to not only preach the Gospel but to live out the Gospel. So, why is it important to know Jesus? He is the Only Way to truth, joy, and everlasting life.
    I have read this passage and see the beauty of the Gospel in its simplicity. I can see the power to not only transform lives, but to raise them from the dead. It has convicted me in the way I live and approach others. Peter was being used like a survival kit. I just received my survival kit, bug-out bag, from my wife yesterday. Going through it, there are tools to not only survive but to help others survive. Is that not what the Power of Jesus does?
    The issue is that we do not have a survival bag, and if we do, it is not used. What good is a survival bag while you are hiking, hunting, fishing, or camping, and you leave it at home? It helps nobody. The same is true if we keep leaving the Power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit at home. What good is a survival bag if you do not know how to use it? The same is true with the Word of God, the Power of the Holy Spirit, and the Power of Jesus.
    I want us to look at Peter’s sermon as a survival bag that we take with us. It allows us to survive but also to help others. Peter, through Luke’s writing, points us to the Gospel in three elements. The first element of the Power of Jesus is His incarnation. The second element of the Power of Jesus is His crucifixion. The last element of the Power of Jesus is His resurrection.

    Incarnation:

    Peter has guided them through the Power of the Spirit; now, he will demonstrate to them the Power of Jesus. His incarnation from God to human through a virgin birth is a miraculous event. Peter explains how Jesus was confirmed to them by God through miracles, wonders, and signs.
    The Greek term for miracles is ‘δὐναμις’ (dunamis), which signifies power, mighty deed, miracle, or ability. (When the Power of the Spirit descended and filled them, the term Luke employs is ‘dunamis’.) The numerous miracles provided by the Lord constitute compelling evidence that He is who He professed to be. Wonders is the plural form of teras. It describes the marveling that takes place in the mind of the one who witnesses a miracle.
    Signs derive from “semeion” and give the intent of God’s miraculous works: to point to spiritual truth. Jesus’ miracles showed both His deity and the Father’s approval of Him. They could not claim ignorance, but rejection of Christ is based on hatred and love of sin. John 10:37-39. Note that, although they rejected His claims, they did not deny the works He did.
    John 10:37–39 LSB
    “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and continue knowing that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.
    Peter explains to the crowd that the evidence from Jesus’ life and works that He was the Messiah of God was conclusive and undeniable. Peter now leads them to the next element, which is Christ’s crucifixion.

    Crucifixion:

    But because “men loved darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil, John 3:19, they committed the greatest sin that can be committed-they rejected Jesus Christ.
    John 3:19 LSB
    “And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
    Peter clearly states that what they did was exactly what God predetermined and foreknew. This reply was to the unspoken objection that Jesus was no victim, John 19:10-11.
    John 19:10–11 LSB
    So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
    The word predetermine comes from the Greek word ‘horizo’, from which we get our English word “horizon.” It means “to mark out with a boundary,” or “to determine.” Plan is from boule and refers to God’s will, design, or purpose. Taken together, they indicate that Jesus Christ was delivered to death because God planned and ordained it (Acts 4:27-28; 13:27-29) from all eternity (2 Timothy 1:9; Revelation 13:8).
    Acts 4:27–28 LSB
    “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.
    Acts 13:27–29 LSB
    “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning Him. “And though they found no ground for death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. “And when they had finished all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.
    2 Timothy 1:9 LSB
    who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,
    Revelation 13:8 LSB
    And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
    Foreknowledge translates prognosis, an important and often misunderstood New Testament word.  Proginoskein and prognōsis in the New Testament … do not denote simple intellectual foresight or prescience, the mere taking knowledge of something beforehand, but rather a selective knowledge which regards one with favor and makes one an object of love, and thus approaches the idea of foreordination, Acts 2:23; Rom. 8:29; 11:2; 1 Peter 1:2. These passages simply lose their meaning, if the words be taken in the sense of simply taking knowledge of one in advance, for God foreknows all men in that sense. Even Arminians feel constrained to give the words a more determinative meaning, namely, to foreknow one with absolute assurance in a certain state or condition. This includes the absolute certainty of that future state, and for that very reason, comes very close to the idea of predestination.
    Acts 2:23 LSB
    this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death.
    Romans 8:29 LSB
    Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers;
    Romans 11:2 LSB
    God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?
    1 Peter 1:2 LSB
    according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
    Jesus’ mission was to die; it was part of God’s sovereign plan for Him to die for our sins. The providence of God was in no way frustrated by the death of the Son. Here we must affirm the mysterious sovereign power and purpose of God. His ways are higher than our ways, and here we see perhaps the greatest example of how God can intend good while others intend evil (Genesis 50:20). The Son was not an unwilling victim suffering under an abusive Father. There is no division in the will of the Triune God. And yet humans are held responsible for the wicked things they do. It is no less wicked because it was all part of God’s sovereign plan. This is one of the greatest mysteries- divine sovereignty and human responsibility. The Bible teaches both, and so we must hold on to both in reverent humility.
    Genesis 50:20 LSB
    “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to do what has happened on this day, to keep many people alive.
    Peter states that they “nailed Him to the Cross by lawless men….” What was the purpose of the Cross? It was the instrument that God had predetermined to use to free all those in bondage from sin unto Him through His Son’s death. He was not a victim but was the Savior of all mankind, if they call upon His name. God used evil men to accomplish HIs purpose, yet never violated their will or removed their culpability by doing so. Peter thus presents the total sovereignty of God alongside the complete responsibility of man.
    And even though your evil generation thought you had put Him to death, surprise, God raised Him! This leads us to the last element, resurrection.

    Resurrection:

    Peter used a verse each for the incarnation and the crucifixion. But he uses nine verses for the resurrection. Why? Because without the resurrection, there is zero power in Christ. Peter also talked about the agony of death. What is that? The agony of death was the separation of God’s creation from Him because of sin. Jesus defeated and became the Way to the relationship that Adam had with God in the Garden of Eden. For those in Christ, we will not truly understand what this agony is. Why? Because Christ paid that price for us. He experienced this agony so that we would never experience it. My saints, do you not grasp what Peter is saying here?  Because of the Cross, you and I, who have called on the Name of the Lord as Peter instructed through the prophet Joel, and Paul writes to the Roman believers, we will never taste the agony of death! Praise Jesus! The resurrection removed this agony from all believers.
    The resurrection of Jesus Christ was not only the central theme of apostolic preaching but also is without question, the climax of redemptive history. It proves beyond doubt the deity of Jesus Christ and establishes His messianic credentials. It is also the guarantee of our own resurrection (John 14:19; Romans 6:4-5). The resurrection is the crowning proof that God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Romans 4:25. Without it, His death becomes the heroic death of a noble martyr, the pathetic death of a madman, or the execution of a fraud. The greatest proof that Jesus is the Messiah, then, is not His teaching, His miracles, or even His death. It is His resurrection! That became the theme of Peter’s sermon; he spent one verse on Christ’s life and death, but nine verses on His resurrection.  
    John 14:19 LSB
    “After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.
    Romans 6:4–5 LSB
    Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
    Romans 4:25 LSB
    He who was delivered over on account of our transgressions, and was raised on account of our justification.
    The Power of Jesus is His ability and only His ability to wash away sins and make you and me acceptable to our Father. In three verses, Peter clearly states the Gospel to all those who are listening. Such simplicity but so profound!

    Application:

    Can we see how, if we trust in Christ and the Power that comes from Him, we too can proclaim with conviction? But, for us to be able, we must become His disciples. We won’t be able to use or truly grasp the Power of Jesus until we set aside our own desires and pick up His. We can do this. Peter is a great example of someone who stumbled, but Christ restored him.
    Devoted to God.
    Inspired by the Holy Spirit.
    Servant to Christ, alone.
    Christ-like in all we do.
    Instruct others with the Gospel.
    People first mentality.
    Love everyone, not our job to condemn.
    Encourage each other with His Word.

      • John 10:37–39LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • John 3:19LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • John 19:10–11LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • Acts 4:27–28LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • Acts 13:27–29LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • 2 Timothy 1:9LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • Revelation 13:8LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • Acts 2:23LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • Romans 8:29LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • Romans 11:2LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • 1 Peter 1:2LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • Genesis 50:20LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • John 14:19LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • Romans 6:4–5LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

      • Romans 4:25LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

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Gateway Baptist Church
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