“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. (14) But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, (15) And killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. (16) And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. (17) Yet now brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. (18) But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. (19) Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

The Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke, physician, historian of the early church, writer of the gospel and frequent fellow traveler of the apostle Paul. In our verses today we study the second sermon of the apostle Peter, delivered just 50 days after the crucifixion of Christ Jesus at which time the disciples had fled in terror for their lives, and were leaderless and without understanding of what had just happened to Jesus. In this short interval Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to them all – and to a man they believed. They were told by the Christ to remain in Jerusalem until the Spirit would be sent to them and this happened on Pentecost Sunday. On that day, with the arrival of the Spirit there was a huge noise and accompanying wind that drew a large audience to the place where the disciples were and Peter made his historic, second recorded address to the crowds – Peter preached the gospel which is Christ exalted. Peter tells his audience who the Christ is – the Servant sent by God as promised by God to Abraham, Moses and David – the fulfillment of the Old Testament messianic prophecies – the promised Savior of man and the Prince of life. Peter tells his Jewish audience that they killed Jesus even though He laid down His life willingly; that even though Pilate was clearly ready to release Him they were responsible for His death.

The cross is central to salvation and though it is foolishness to those who are perishing, it is the power of God to those being saved. The death of Jesus shows us we are not our own savior – that we are lost and alienated to God, unable to do anything to save ourselves: Christ saved us from our sin. Peter says further that Christ was raised from the dead and that “we are witnesses”. There was no body to refute this claim and more than 3000 people believed that day. The resurrection is the central fact of Christianity. Without Christ we are all guilty and under God’s wrath and judgment. Every sin we live in rather than in Christ will lead to death and eternal judgment. Our proper relationship to God is only by accepting Jesus, resulting in forgiveness of sin.

This apostolic sermon is how God chose to present His message of salvation; Jesus Christ incarnate, Christ crucified, Christ risen and Christ glorified. There were no abstract doctrines and no theological problems. Salvation full and complete is offered to the Jew and the Gentile – all who will turn in repentance to our Lord Jesus Christ.