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The Power of the name of Jesus Christ (2)
Acts 3:12-26 (Pastor Heo)
12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
17 “Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you–even Jesus. 21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’
24 “Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ 26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
In this book Acts, there are 14 sermons by 4 preachers.
- 6 from Peter,
- 6 from Paul,
- 1 from Stephen,
- 1 from James.
Last Sunday, we saw Pentecost. So many people gathered in Jerusalem at that time, and the HS came down. And about 3,000 people were added to the church that day.
At this time, during the time of prayer, at the temple, Peter and John healed a lame man. So many people saw it and rushed to them to see how this was possible. This setting gave Peter another opportunity to preach the gospel.
Just like the first sermon, this one is:
- Full of the HS
- Full of the Word of God
- Focused on Jesus
v. 12-16
“12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 *By faith in the name of Jesus*, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.”
First, the final purpose of this miracle = to bring glory to Christ. v.13 makes this clear. The final purpose was not to heal this man and make him strong, but to bring glory to Christ.
Also, the crucifixion is not only for the sins of the whole world, but also the greatest crime in human history. This is the meeting of God’s absolute justice and unconditional love. This is also the meeting place of God’s mercy and man’s rebellion.
The resurrection is proof that Jesus is indestructible and Lord of life and death. This is ironic – he gave life, they killed the author of life. But this – the resurrection – is final proof that Jesus is God.
We have no power – but we may be a channel of the power of the risen Christ. As long as we think only of what we can do and be, there is only failure and fear. But when we think of “not I but Christ in me” (Gal 2:20) there is the power of Christ in me.
So, how can we be channels of this power of Christ? By believing and using the name of Christ.
Peter said, “In the name of Jesus Christ” in his first sermon. In this sermon also, “silver and gold I have not, but I will give what I have – in the name of Christ, stand up and walk.”
What does a name mean / carry with it? It carries with it the full authority of the one to whom it belongs.
Matt 1:21 “He will save his people from his sins.”
Let me introduce some of the names of Christ. (The Bible is full of names of Christ.)
- Matt 1:21 “He will save his people from his sins.”
- “Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, there am I with them.”
- Luke “Forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations in the name of Christ.”
- John “To those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
- Jesus “I will do whatever you ask in my name.” (in the book of John 4 times)
- “The Father will send the Counselor (Holy Spirit) in my name.”
- John: The Bible is written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ and that we may have life in his name.
- Acts: “Repent and be baptized every one of you and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
- Peter “Repentance and forgiveness will be given to you in his name… There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
- Joel, Acts, Romans: “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
- Phil 2:9-10 “Therefore, God super-exalted Jesus Christ and gave him the name that is above every name – that at his name every knee should bow, in / on / under the earth.”
- Col 3:17 “Whatever you do, whether word or deed, eat or drink, do it all in the name of Christ – giving thanks to God through him.”
- 1 John 3:15 “I write this book so that you may know that you have eternal life in the name of Christ.”
Last Sunday, I encouraged / challenged you: we cannot give what we do not have. We can give only what we have. If you have the name of Christ really in you, you can give to this world – healing to those who need it, salvation to those who need it, peace to those who need it, life solutions to those who need them. This is the power of the name of Christ.
God bless us so that we may believe and enjoy and use this name.
v. 17
“”Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.”
They crucified the Author of Life in ignorance (they didn’t realize what they were doing).
In the history of Israel, the Jews had NEVER expected a “suffering Messiah” – but had anticipated a “super hero Messiah” – politically, physically, etc strong. So, when Christ came as a carpenter and died on the cross, they missed it.
In the OT, there is a difference between deliberate and unintentional sins.
- If someone sinned deliberately, he was cut off from the tribe / God, etc.
- But if it was unintentional, he was given an opportunity to repent.
Intentionality does not mitigate guilt, but changes the circumstances.
In this case, the people committed sin unintentionally – so there was not immediate condemnation, but rather the Holy Spirit was sent to convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness, judgment, etc and call all men to repentance.
Remember, nowadays in our times, because the HS came and is convicting us of sin, we have no more opportunity to say, “I rejected Christ in ignorance.” – The HS is witnessing, convicting, testifying about Christ.
Romans 1:18-20 “We have no more excuse…”
Like Peter’s 1st sermon, this second one is full of the Word of God (OT).
Peter’s 1st sermon: quoted Joel and Psalms
v. 18-24
“18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you–even Jesus. 21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’ 24 “Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days.”
The point: even the OT is full of Jesus’ story. From Genesis to Malachi – 39 books – are full of Jesus’ story.
Ex: introduces Moses, Samuel, and all the prophets. Next verse we will read v. 25: Abraham as well
Moses
v. 22 ” ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.'”
This is foreshadowing Christ and quoted from Deuteronomy 18:15, 18:18 (word-for-word quotations).
Moses prophesied the Messiah.
Jesus says in John, “If you believed in Moses, you would believe in me, because Moses wrote about me.”
Moses wrote the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible).
When Philip found Nathaniel he said, “We have found the one Moses wrote about.”
Also, Hebrews 11:26 (the faith chapter) – in the human calendar, Moses lived 1500 years before Christ. But in Hebrews it says, “Moses considered all this pain, suffering, etc for Christ more than all the treasures in Egypt.”
Samuel
v. 24 “Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days.”
Samuel was the first in the succession of the prophets – he anointed David as king and spoke clearly of the establishment of David’s kingdom. “God will establish the throne of David FOREVER.” (2 Samuel)
Is there actually the physical, human throne of David today? No. But the king is Christ. This was a prophecy of the Messiah to come. “All the prophets” testified about this. “That everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
v. 19 “Repent, then, and turn to God,”
Peter also mentioned repentance in his first sermon. This is a change of mind about sin and reorientation of the self toward God.
John the Baptist also prepared the way for Christ by preaching the message of repentance. This is acknowledging person sin and turning from it TO God.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
When we repent, God promises to wipe out our sins and also to bring spiritual refreshment.
Yes, at first, repentance seems painful – because it is hard to give up some sins – but God will give us a better way. Do you feel a need to be refreshed? Forgiveness is available for everybody today at the foot of the cross.
1 John 1:7 “The blood of Christ purifies us from all sin.”
v. 22
“‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; [we] must listen to everything he tells you.”
This is a very serious question. Are you listening to everything Jesus is telling you? Even at the Transfiguration (mountain), God pointed at Christ and said, “This is my son in whom I’m well pleased, LISTEN to him.”
Question: What is your posture when the Word of God is preached?
- Do you HEAR it only? Coming in one ear and out the other?
- Or do you listen with INTENTION of being a DOER of the Word of God.
“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” – and change the way you live.
Please listen (and obey) every word in the Word of God.
v. 25
“And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring [seed] all peoples on earth will be blessed.'”
“offspring” = “seed”
There is another amazing story:
Yes, Abraham lived 2,000 years before Christ – he lived FOR Christ and testified about Christ through his life and story.
- One day (Genesis 12:2-3), God called Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation – and I will bless you. You will be a blessing, I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you – and ALL peoples on earth will be blessed (saved) through you.”
- Genesis 22:18, 26:4 “Through your seed, all nations on earth will be blessed.”
The point is: seed (singular – not plural). There is only ONE seed.
Gal 3:14-16 makes it clear: This seed is Jesus Christ.
This is very important.
Gal 3:14-16
“14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. … 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.”
- “Who is Christ!”
- “The conclusion is Christ!”
v. 26
“When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.””
God sent Christ to bless us, not curse us. God is good all the time, but Satan tempts us all the time about God’s goodness and faithfulness. Please do not allow Satan to tempt us of this.
- John 3:16.
- John 3:17 “God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
God is the same yesterday, today, forever. He is able to do immeasurably more than we can imagine.
Let’s pray.
