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Acts 2:36, 38-39 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. … 38 … Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Our message today is part of a larger sermon preached by the Apostle Peter. On the first day of the Church, this first of the Apostles preached the first sermon the Church ever heard foillowing the ascention of Jesus. Three words stand out in this sermon Peter preached, three very important words, the basis of the Gospel of salvation. The first word is ..

Lord

Peter said:

God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified,
both Lord and Christ

The heart of the Gospel is found in the truth that Jesus is Lord. That word “Lord” is very interesting. The word LORD is used 7836 times in our KJV Bible – and it’s first use is for God, the Creator of all. When we speak of “God” we are speaking of the Creator of all. But when we say “Lord” we are recognizing that God created all things and is Ruler above everything. In the creation account we read in …

Genesis 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens …

Creation was made by God. It did not evolve as an accident,
but was made on purpose by
the God Who yet rules it.

God made everything, both seen and unseen.

Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

It is the Word of God that spoke all things into existence. It is the Word of God that created the Angels. The Angels were made beautiful, servants of God. The chief Angel was called Lucifer which means “The Bright and Shining One”. Lucifer rejected God because of his own pride. We are told by the Prophet …

Isaiah 14:12-14 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, … I will be like the most High.

It was the Love of God that made Lucifer. Lucifer rejected the lordship of God. Falling from his place as Chief Angel he led a third of the angels of Heaven in a senseless revolt against God. You see, Lucifer like many of us don’t mind God as long as He is NOT LORD. He is Lord.

And God is love (1 John 4:7). The Lord God created the heavens and the earth, and in the midst of this planet, in the most perfect of places, the Lord placed Adam and his wife Eve. Hear God’s love:

Genesis 1:27 God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

The Lord made all perfect, and turned the Lordship of earth over to Adam and Eve. But the Bible tells us that Lucifer crept into Eden.

Ezekiel 28:13 … Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God;

In that wonderful Paradise Lucifer whispered to our foreparents:

Genesis 3:4-5 … Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Oh, how we must break the heart of God! He made us, He gave us, and we wanted more. Adam was made in God’s image, and given the earth to rule. Adam listened to Lucifer and, trying to take the place of the Lord, plunged us all into sin. This is the human condition.

Romans 3:9 … they are all under sin

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Ecclesiastes 7:20 For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

At one point humanity grew so far from God that the Lord decided to destroy it by flood. Yet even then God was not willing to totally erase all.

Genesis 6:5-8 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

When I think of the Flood my heart hurts, but then I praise the Lord, for …

Psalm 145:8-9 The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. 9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Psalm 113:1-8 Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. 2 Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. 3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’S name is to be praised. 4 The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. 5 Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, 6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! 7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; 8 That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.

Our God is Lord! Think of the blasphemies perpetrated on the Lord our God every day in this nation, and all over the world. And yet He in love humbles Himself to watch over us. Our Creator, our God, our Lord did not reward evil for evil, but tolerated mankind another day, and another day, and another day. Why did He do this? This brings us to our second word:

Christ

Though Adam rejected the Lord our God and obeyed Lucifer, and though he brought sin and death and thorns and thistles into the world, the Lord God from the beginning decided to save us. Lucifer led willing humanity into rebellion against God. In the Garden of Eden God promised a Redeemer.

Genesis 3:14-15 the LORD God said unto the serpent … I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The LORD God promised that one day the seed of the woman would come forth and crush Lucifer’s power (his head). God would one day send a Christ, someone Who was anointed, chosen of God, to overthrow Lucifer and rescue those enslaved to sin. God told Lucifer that it would be “the SEED of the woman”, an interesting phrase, because women carry the egg of fertilization, not the seed. Man carries the seed. Yet God spoke of “the seed of the woman” coming as Christ, as God’s anointed, to destroy the works of the devil:

1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

God promised in Eden that the “Seed of the woman” would come forth to destroy the works of the devil. Further along in human history the Lord God in love sought out a man called Abram.

Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

God promised Abraham – that out of him would come a great nation (Israel) and a great blessing to all the nations (Christ). The Christ – the Messiah – would be a man from the lineage of Abraham. But how would He be the “Seed of the woman”? The Prophet said:

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

The miraculous Child, the Messiah, would be “Immanuel” or “God with us”. He would be virgin born. Further, the Christ would be born in Bethlehem:

Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Furthermore God decreed that the Christ – when He came among humanity – would not only be from the lineage of Abraham, but He would come from the Jewish Tribe of Judah, from the lineage of King David. The Prophet said:

Jeremiah 23:5-6 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

God had promised a Christ – a Messiah would come. That this Messiah would bless the nations while destroying the works of the devil. This Messiah would be virgin born, born in Bethlehem, and born of the line of King David. This Messiah would be “God with us”, God in the flesh. Who is this wonderful Messiah? This brings us to our third word:

Jesus

The Lordship of God and the promise of the Christ
meets in the name of Jesus!

The name “Jesus” literally means “The Lord our Savior”. Before Jesus entered into this world the Angel Gabriel told Mary:

Luke 1:30-33 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Jesus would be born of a virgin, and would be “God with us”. He would rule an eternal kingdom (of His kingdom there shall be no end). How would Christ enter this world? The Angel told Mary:

Luke 1:35 … The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Christ would be God. He would be God in the flesh. Why was Christ coming? The Angel Gabriel told Joseph:

Matthew 1:20-23 Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Prophet that God promised. As Peter preached in Jeruisalem he clearly stated that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Acts 3:19-26 … Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. 22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. 24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. 25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. 26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

Peter saw Jesus as the One Whom God through Moses prophesied:

Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Jesus is both Lord and Christ. He alone is both Lord and Christ. Many false prophets declare “there are many ways unto God” to which I reply, WHICH GOD? If you are speaking of the God of the Bible then there is but one way to read Him, and that is THROUGH JESUS.

Jesus is God the Son, Co-Creator with the Triune God.

Colossians 1:16-17 For by {Jesus} were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Jesus is the Only One sent to redeem us. There is no other but JESUS!

Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

As Russell Moore wrote:

“In Jesus, all the promises of God find their “yes” and “amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Jesus is the heir of God’s promises to Abraham, and if we are hidden in Him, those promises become fully ours (Galatians 3:29). Those of us who were outsiders to God’s promises are now, in Him, by the Blood of His Cross, “brought near” to God (Ephesians 2:13). We are all now, in Jesus, “no longer strangers and aliens”, but “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). …

We are saved to be a people.”

As we come to the Lord’s Table this Sunday we recognize Jesus as more than just a man.

God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified,
both Lord and Christ.

There is no other Savior but Jesus. If you would be saved, you need to recognize Him as Lord. If you would be saved you need to recognize Jesus as Christ. If you would be saved then do as Peter said:

Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Do your part and God will do His part. Repent, turn to Jesus and Jesus alone. Follow Him as Lord. Revere Him as Christ. When you do, you will be saved! Blessed be the Name of the Lord forever!

May God touch your hearts with His Word!