Sermon 138    Acts 3

    After Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and after the Day of Pentecost we come to Acts chapter 3.  Let us read together Acts chapter 3.

    We have read what the apostle Peter said to the people of Israel in the temple  of  God in the city of Jerusalem.  Peter used  the scriptures, the Tanakh, to prove what he was saying.  Notice what he said in Acts 3:l8:  
    “But those things which God foretod by the mouth of all His prophets, that the 
    Messiah would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.  Acts 3:l8.
Where in the scriiptures did God foretell that His Messiah would suffer?
The whole 53rd chapter of Isaiah foretold the suffering of the Servant God, Messiah.
Listen to:
    Isaiah 53:5:  But He was wounded for our transgressions,
    He was bruised for our iniquities.;
    The chastisement for our peace was upon Him.
     And by His stripes we are healed.  Isaiah 53:5.

Please read all of Isaiah chapter 53 for yourself.  It is about the suffering of one person for the sins of God’s people.
    The suffering of Messiah was also foretold in the 22nd Psalm.  Listen to:
    Psalm 22:l4-l6:  I am poured out like water,
        And all My bones are out of joint;
    My heart is like wax;  It has melted within Me.
    My  strength is dried up like a potsherd,
    And My tongue clingts to My jaws;
    You have brought Me to the dust of death. . . . 
    They pierced My hands and My feet.  Psalm 22:l4-l6.

The suiffering of Messiah was also foretold in Daniel 9:26:
    “And after the sixtyi-two weeks Messiah shall be cut of,
    but not for Himself;  . . .  Daniel 9:26.

Yes, in Daniel 9:26, God foretold that Messiah would be cut off.
    God foretold that Messiah would be pierced.  Listen to:
    Zechariah l2:lO:  “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of 
    Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and supplication;  then they will look on Me whom
    they have pierced;  Zechariah l2:lO.
Yes, God foretold by His prophets that Messiah  would suffer.  We have looked at just four of these prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus Messiah.  

    Then the apostle Peter quoted what Moses wrote about Messiah.    Let us  read that again:
    Acts 3:22,23:  “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The LORD your God will raised up     
    for you a prophet like me from your brethren.  Him you shall hear in all things, 
    whatever  He says to you.   And it  shall come to pass that every soul who will not
    hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’  Acts 3:22,23.
The aposlte Peter quoted what Moses wrote in the fifth book of the Bible,  
Deuteronomy l8:l5,l8,l9.   Yes, God foretold through Moses that God would raise up a prophet like Moses, the Messiah.

    Then Peter said to the people of Israel in the temple:
    “You are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our
    fathers, saying to Abraham, “And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be
    blessed.”  Acts 3:25.
Peter what God had told Abraham, which was recorded in Genesis 22:l8.
Yes, God had told Abraham that in  his seed all the families of the earth, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.  All the nations of the earth have been blessed in the seed of Abraham.   The seed of Abraham is singular, one person, which is Messiah Jesus.  You can read in  the first book of the Bible for yourself, Genesis 22:l8.
God said to Abraham:
    “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice .”  Genesis 22:l8.
Jesus Messiah died for our sins, for the sins of the people of all nations.  He is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
    Peter then said to the people of Israel in the temple in Jerusalem:
    Acts 3:26:  “To you first, God, having raiseds up His Servan Jesus, sent Him to bless 
    you , in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”  Acts 3:26.
Will you turn away from your sins?  Repent now while you can.  Surely you want the blessing of God.  Surely you want the forgiveness of your sins in Messiah Jesus.
Listen to  what Peter said on the Day of Pentecost:
    Acts 2:38:  Then Peter said to them,  “Repent, and  let every one of you be baptized 
    in the name of Jesus Messiah for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the
    gift of the Holy Spirit.  Acts 2:38.
Baptism in the name of Jesus Messiah is a burial in water into Messiah, into death to sin, for the forgiveness of sins.  Then you are resurrected up out of the water to a new life in Messiah.  Romans 6:4.   Listen to what the apostle Peter wrote by the Holy Spirit, in:
    1 Peter 3:21:  There is also an antitype which now saves us, namely baptism 
    (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience 
    toward God),  through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  l Peter 3:21.