Sunday, November 27, 2022 AM

So that by the good that you do in us, you will bring to yourself great things.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I invite you to open your

Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 3. And we'll be reading verses 17 through 26 in a moment.

Acts chapter 3, verses 17 through 26.

It's been an interesting last couple and a half years, hasn't it? It was interesting, you know, back a couple of years or more, when the various agencies of civil governments were shutting everybody down, sending people home, ending businesses, telling churches they couldn't gather, and so on.

It was all a little bit confusing. It didn't feel right, and it was difficult to kind of put your finger on exactly what was wrong with it all.

I was reminded about that this last week as I was listening to an interview with James Coates and Tim Stevens, two pastors in Canada who were thrown into maximum security prison for leading their church to gather on a

Sunday. And I was thinking about that, and I was recalling several of the so -called nuanced approaches that were being made by a variety of our brothers in Christ who were saying that our real issue with wanting to gather when the state told us not to is that we were just being rebellious, and it's a sin nature to rebel against authority.

We just don't like people telling us what to do. Which is true. That's true.

But there's a difference between being sinfully rebellious when authority tells you what to do, and then if some man comes into my home and starts ordering my wife and my children around.

If I resist that, that's not me being sinfully rebellious against authority, is it? There's no jurisdiction there.

Right? You don't belong there. And there's no jurisdiction for Caesar to tell the church how to worship

God, how to worship Christ. Now we have an interesting situation going on in Acts chapter 3.

Peter has come into the temple. Peter and John are in the temple of the Lord.

And it's great to have the excitement for the man who was born lame to be healed, and he's rejoicing in the

Lord. But Peter's preaching and explaining what it is that they're seeing. He doesn't want the

Jews who have gathered there for the hour of prayer and the evening sacrifice to look at Peter and John as if they're some sort of miracle workers, or, you know, here are some people who are very impressive.

And he very quickly disabuses them of that opinion. He says, look, this is not about us.

This is about Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the one and the same whom you are covenantally guilty of crucifying.

You killed the Prince of Life. You killed the Lord of Glory. The Messiah came and you had him put to death by Roman hands.

And Peter says, but you know, God had always planned to use this particularly heinous event to bring about something very good.

And he begins to preach to them the good news of Jesus Christ and tells these very devout, faithful Jews in the temple that they need to repent and convert from their temple religion and trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins.

Now, Peter and John stay there for a few hours, at least three hours, because they were arrested at the end of the business day in the temple.

And they were thrown into the temple jail overnight. And then they are brought before the

Sanhedrin the next morning. And you know what the number one issue that the

Sanhedrin had with Peter and John? That they didn't have the authority to be saying those things, least of all in the temple.

By what authority? Remember that they challenged Jesus in the same way when he cleansed the temple.

By what authority are you doing these things trying to cleanse the temple? By what authority are you challenging the temple authority?

That's a legitimate question. That needs to be answered. And when Peter preaches, he tells them from the get -go, by what authority?

He tells them that this was prophesied. This was what God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And in our text this morning, we're going to hear him say to these temple worshippers at the hour of the evening sacrifices, he tells them, what

I am telling to you today is on the authority of Moses.

How's that? Why had they gathered to the temple? Why did they worship in the way that they worshipped?

They would have said, well, because of, you know, Moses. And now Peter is preaching to them

Christ. And he's telling them on the basis of the authority of God's holiest scripture and his prophets who were inspired by the

Holy Spirit, by that authority, the very authority that they would themselves claim, that they need to repent of their sins and be converted unto

Christ. So that's what we're going to see in our text this morning. I invite you to stand with me as I read.

I'll begin in verse 17. And I'll read to the end of the chapter. Acts chapter 3, beginning in verse 17. This is the word of the

Lord. Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that the Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled.

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, and that he may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which

God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

For Moses truly said to the fathers, The Lord your God will raise 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 be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.

Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.

You are 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.

To you first, God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Well, Christ is

King of kings, and he is Lord of lords. And the variety of authority structures that we experience in our lives, whether it be the authority of the state to punish evil doers, or the authority within the church from elders, and accountability within church membership, or the authority that one would find in the home, in one's own economy of the family.

Whatever authority we encounter in this world, we understand that Christ is King over that authority and Lord over that authority.

And that we should be thinking in those terms and letting Christ through his word sort out what is legitimate and what is not legitimate.

Something that we've had to begin to think through these last couple of years. But when we say we live under Christ's lordship, and we eagerly give an amen to the scriptures that say that his name is above every name, that every knee should bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of God the Father, as we rejoice in those truths, just how is

Christ's authority made manifest in our lives? Well, we should instinctively turn to scriptures, recognize this as the scepter of Christ's authority in our lives.

So if somebody says, Jesus is my Lord, well then just how does his scepter work in your life?

How is that authority made manifest in your life? Jesus said many will say to him in that day,

Lord, Lord. He will say, depart from me, workers of iniquity, I never knew you.

Meaning, it's not simply about the bare confession, about saying some sort of superstitious amalgamation of words in the right order.

If I know the secret code and the mantra and the spell, and I say it just right, then

I'm saved. But it is an actual faith in Christ, a repentance away from self and sin, giving up and making a pile of all of your bad deeds and making a pile of all of your good deeds and fleeing them both for Christ and Christ alone, to bow the knee to him, recognizing him as your authority, as your king.

That is manifest in how we respond to his authoritative word.

We are made in God's image, and thus we are made for his word. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

And Jesus Christ, of course, is the word of God. And we are to be the people of the word.

Scripture is our standard, and not simply in terms of whatever we think it means, or whatever some important person thinks it means, but Scripture is our standard wielded entirely by Christ.

All things are reconciled in Christ, including the word.

He is the light of the world, and he is also the light of the word. If he is chief and king over everything in this world, certainly that includes his word, what does he have to say about it?

How do we understand God's word in the light of Jesus Christ? That's where we find his authority being made manifest in our lives.

Well, this is important because Peter is preaching to these Jews, and he's telling them they need to change, they need to give up on some things, they need to believe some new things, they need to turn away from some old, and turn to some new.

He doesn't want them to find hope, and peace, and comfort, in the land being slaughtered there at the evening sacrifice.

He wants them to turn to Christ. And he's appealing to nothing less than the word of God, the

Scriptures, proclaimed by the prophets. And he's turned his attention to Moses.

What he asks of them is a huge ask. What he's telling them to do is very big for them, to believe in Jesus of Nazareth as the

Messiah, and turn away from the temple system. By what authority does he say these things?

By the same authority that the man who was born lame is walking? By the authority of Jesus Christ.

And so he turns to Moses. He says in verse 22, after saying in verse 21 that all this was spoken by the holy prophets, so who's the first prophet that would come to the mind of a

Jew? Moses. He says, verse 22, For Moses truly said to the fathers,

The Lord your God will raise 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 be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.

And it wasn't just Moses, right? So verse 24, Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.

So we need to remember the Scripture and consider Christ. When he says that all the prophets have spoken of these days, the days in which

God will bring about the new covenant and bring to an end the old covenant, the nature of Christ's sacrifice and his resurrection, the nature of his ascension and his glory, he says all the prophets, all the prophets since the beginning of the world or the beginning of the age has said this.

First example, Moses. What did Moses say? Well, he said a lot, but particularly in Deuteronomy 18, chapter 18 of Deuteronomy, he had some things to say.

In verse 15, he says, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren.

That's what Peter is quoting. Him you shall hear, according to all you desire to the

Lord your God, and Horeb in the day of the assembly saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the

Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die. So when

God was revealing his holiness and power and the giving of the law and fire was upon the mountain and the storms and the thundering and the lightning and the people were so scared of God's manifestation, they said we can't stand this anymore.

Moses, we can't stand this. We have got to get away. We're all going to perish. We're going to die. We need somebody to go up for us,

Moses. And Moses played that role, if only as a picture.

And God says what they said was good. Their fear was good.

Their understanding of their peril, the difficulty of their situation, he says that was good.

Verse 17, The Lord said to me what they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren.

Moses filled the role on that day, but God says you're not the guy. What they desired is good, but you really don't fit the bill,

Moses. Now there's someone like you who's going to come, someone who's going to have some similarities.

I will indeed fulfill this request. What they need is correct. They need a mediator, and I will raise up a prophet for them, just like you,

Moses. I will raise him up from among them, among their brethren.

I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

And it shall be whoever will not hear my words which he speaks in my name, I will require it of him.

Now let's think about that for a little bit. Again, Peter is preaching, and he's saying that they need to repent, they need to convert, and they need to turn to Jesus of Nazareth, who is the

Christ, the Son of the living God. Moses himself prophesied of Jesus of Nazareth and said, this is the prophet.

Jesus Christ is the great prophet to whom all the people must turn, believe him, and do whatever he says.

That's what Peter is saying by quoting this passage. When it says that God will raise up a prophet, we immediately think of, you know, raising children.

Somebody, and again, we're getting close to Christmas, we're thinking of someone who would be raised up from among the

Jews, and indeed that is the case. But this term that Peter uses here is the exact same term used elsewhere to talk about the resurrection from the dead.

The Greek word he's using is the same that covers the old Hebrew word in the Greek translation of the

Old Testament. So what's the promise? God will resurrect for his people a prophet, somebody who was raised from the dead.

Well, that fits who Christ is. And he's a prophet like Moses, a prophet like Moses.

Well, what kind of a prophet was Moses? Well, he was so foundational, wasn't he? He was there in the founding of the covenant at Mount Sinai.

So important. He was there leading the people out of bondage and slavery in Egypt, there for the

Passover, for that critical moment of redemption. Moses was a prophet who met with God as one meets with a man face to face.

That's the kind of prophet that Moses was. Well, who succeeded

Moses? Who came after Moses? Moses has already been told he cannot enter into the promised land.

He's going to die before he enters in. He can only see it from Mount Pisgah's lofty heights, as the hymn reminds us.

The guy who followed Moses was a guy by the name originally of Hosea. And then his name was changed to Yeshua.

And he led not the first generation who was rebellious into the promised land, but he led the second generation who came after that first rebellious generation.

He led that second generation into the promised land. And do you know that Joshua was somebody who met with God face to face?

He was kind of like Moses, wasn't he? He spent time and communed with the Lord in the tabernacle of meeting.

And Joshua led the people of Israel into the land and led them through successful military campaigns.

And at the end of it, at the end of the book of Joshua, you can look it up for yourself in Joshua chapter 24, it says that all of God's promises that God promised to Israel were kept.

Not a single one was missing. So what kind of a leader was Joshua? He's somebody who led the people into the land and God used him to bring about the fulfillment of the promises that God was shown as faithful in keeping his promises.

What kind of a leader was Joshua who came after Moses? He was somebody who oversaw the inheritance, the allotment, the giving of the land, the great inheritance that was given to all the people who were brought into that promised land.

But you know, Joshua really wasn't greater than Moses. Moses was still a bigger deal than Joshua.

Moses was still more foundational. Moses remains still more important. So this leader who came after Moses, even though he was like Moses, he was not greater than Moses, was he?

But yet again, the way that he acted, the what he accomplished was like the one who was to come, the one who truly succeeded

Moses. Who is it who from all of eternity was face to face with God?

Who was it who brought the very word of God and the supreme revelation of all that God has said?

Who is it in whom all of the promises of God are yes? Who is it who brings all the people of God into the promised inheritance that God gives?

Well, it's the one who was born to the Virgin Mary, who was said, you shall name him

Yeshua, for he will save his people from their sins.

And so it is when you look back at Deuteronomy 18 and you know the story, you kind of see maybe

Moses was talking about Joshua there in chapter 18. But no, in fact, Peter clarifies, no, he was preaching of Jesus.

He was preaching of Jesus of Nazareth. He was preaching of the Christ, the one to whom Peter wants these

Jewish men, these devout Jewish men to convert. He wants them to repent of their old ways and turn to Christ.

Because clearly, he's the one. He's the one. Well, there's a great deal we could think about in that context.

I would only point you to John chapter 1, verses 14 through 18, as we think about the

Christmas season and have about a month of meditation on the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the advent of our

Savior into the world. John chapter 1, verses 14 through 18. It says, And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the

Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of him and cried out, saying, This was he of whom

I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, because he is before me.

And of his fullness we have all received, in grace for grace. Now listen. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

There's a comparison and a contrast. One like Moses, but greater.

How did Jesus put it time and time again? Someone greater than Solomon is here. Someone greater than Jonah is here.

Something greater than the temple is here. That's how he kept on putting it. Verse 18,

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.

So where should the Jews look who've been raised on Moses? Heard Moses read every week at synagogue and worship singing the

Psalms and heard what the prophets had to say about what Moses said. How are they to respond?

They are to turn to the word who became flesh and dwelt among us, Jesus himself. He's the one who reveals

God. He's the one who shows us who God really is. He's the superior, supreme revelation of God.

That's who they should turn to. And that's what Peter is preaching now on these very temple grounds.

Now it's not simply a matter of Christ being a superior way of knowing who God is. He's just that much better.

But in fact, with his superior revelation comes all of the authority of God. For it says,

Peter is preaching Moses and he says, him you shall hear, verse 22, right there in the middle, him you shall hear in all things whatever he says to you.

So not only do we have the Messiah's clear ancestry that he came from the Jews, that he was born of the

Virgin Mary, he was born under the law, he was like his brethren in all things, born a

Jew. Yes, indeed. But also, this prophet that Moses preached about, the people are to hear this great prophet.

They are to hear Jesus of Nazareth in all things whatever he says to you. And that's comprehensive authority.

It's comprehensive authority. It's important to remember that in Deuteronomy 18, where Moses is preaching about the prophet, just prior to that, he talked about the priests and how they were to function.

And just prior to that, he was talking about kings and how they were to function. You know what's interesting? The king was to write for himself a copy of God's law to keep it by him so that he would submit himself to God's authority.

So that whatever authority he bore, he was only mediating that authority from God himself.

And don't we find in the story of Israel how the prophets had to continually come back to the kings and say,

Thus sayeth the Lord. Because the kings were under the authority of God and they needed the word of God to guide them on how they were to act.

And the priests themselves were given instructions. They were to follow God's word and how they were to serve.

And so when you read Deuteronomy 17 and 18, you get the idea that the prophet, again the prophets are told they must preach the word of God only, never preaching on their own terms, else they should be executed.

But you get the idea that the king and the priest and the prophet are all bound to the word of God.

Kings were anointed. Priests were anointed. Prophets were anointed.

They were all Messiah. Little M. But then one was promised who would come who was king of kings, who was the great high priest, who was the great prophet, all in one.

That's why we call him the Messiah. It's the Hebrew word for the anointed one. The Greek word is Christ.

That's his title. He is the prophet, priest, and king all in one. And not only that, he is the word of God in human flesh.

Everything Jesus said, he said exactly as the Father desired him to say. Everything that Jesus did, he did in perfect obedience to God the

Father. And so he is proven the anointed one. He is proven the

Christ. And in his capacity as the prophet, the great prophet, whatever he says goes.

Whatever he says goes. Do you remember the story of the

Mount of Transfiguration? Where Jesus went up the mountain with three of his closest disciples,

Peter, James, and John. And there he was transfigured before them, and they saw him in radiant glory, hard for them to describe.

They also saw two other figures in conversation with him. There was

Elijah and there was Moses. Now you talk about an impressive group.

Moses is very impressive. Elijah is very impressive.

The Gospel of Luke tells us that they were there discussing with Jesus his coming exodus.

Remember what Moses did? He brought the people out by the power of God after the

Passover, out of bondage into Egypt. He brought them out. There was redemption there.

And now Moses and Elijah are with Jesus of Nazareth, who has been glorified in the sight of his disciples.

And they're talking to him about the kind of exodus he is about to achieve, which is far more impressive when you think about saving people from their sins and bringing them out of death into life.

That kind of exodus. The kind of Passover that was about to happen where Christ as the

Lamb of God would die suspended between heaven and earth. The Lamb of God satisfying the righteous standards of God and satisfying us who need a

Savior. That kind of exodus. You know, when Peter saw what he saw, he ran on at the mouth again.

And he saw them as equals, all standing there together on the mountain, Jesus and Elijah and Moses.

And he said, what we really need here is to build three tabernacles. We're going to pitch three tents, and one will be for Jesus, and one will be for Elijah, and one will be for Moses.

And God interrupted Peter and shut him down, and God said, this is my beloved son, hear him.

Hear him. Not hear him alongside with Moses as competing voices. Not hear him and Elijah and Moses, and you know, one of the three will get it right.

Or that they will reveal God's truth by consensus. But Peter, overwhelmed by the power, the shekinah glory, cloud of God, and the voice of God trembling on his face, hears

God say, this is my beloved son, hear him. This is the one with whom

God is well pleased, hear him. And when the disciples come to and they look up,

Matthew is very specific. It says they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

He's our authority. What he says goes. And this is why

Peter is preaching this way to the Jews in front of him. You want to know how this lame man was healed by the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

And you need to repent of your sins and you need to follow him because he is God's authority.

What he declares must go. You are no longer to be following Moses, you are to follow Christ. Why?

Well, probably because Moses preached Christ. And if Moses was preaching

Christ, then you should pay attention to what Moses said and trust in Jesus.

That's Messiah's comprehensive authority, but also we see that his call is absolute.

Peter says in verse 23, and it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.

You know, they lived in a time and in a culture where they were ready to kill people for not, for apparently not hearing and following Moses.

What accusations did they level at Christ when they crucified him? That he was against Moses. Why did they stone

Stephen? Because he was, they thought he was against Moses. But that's not what

Moses said. Moses said, One is coming after me, a prophet to whom you must pay attention and listen to what he says.

John the Baptist was the greatest of all the old covenant prophets and he said the same thing. One is coming after me who was greater than I.

I'm not even, I'm not even worthy to untie his sandals. So, Peter's audience was very concerned with whether or not you were paying attention to Moses.

If you never, if you never came to the temple, if you never followed the sacrifices, if you never followed the ceremonial laws, what happens if you're against Moses?

Well, they would say, well then that would mean that you are totally without God.

You're under the judgment of God because you do not align yourself and submit yourself to Moses. Now they're being addressed by Peter who's preaching

Moses to them and saying, no, it's about Christ. The old covenant consideration, the old covenant concern was whether or not you were in Israel.

Are you in Israel or are you out of Israel? We rejoice when we read about Ruth coming in.

We recognize the danger of one who's being cast out. But in the new covenant, the question is, as usual, in light of the fulfillment of the old by the new, not whether or not you are in Israel, but whether or not you are in Christ.

Paul's always concerned. Are you in Christ or are you out of Christ? And Peter is saying, you need to be converted.

You need to repent. You need to be in Christ. You may be in the temple. You may be here at the hour of prayer. You may be here at the hour of the evening sacrifice.

But unless you're born again, you can't even see the kingdom of God. You need to be in Christ.

So repent and believe. Israel did not listen and so they are under the judgment of God.

And Peter's been preaching, be saved from this wicked and perverse generation. There is nothing for Israel and nothing for anyone made in God's image outside of Christ.

There is only death. There is only destruction. There is only misery. There is only slavery.

There's nothing outside of him for anyone. He is, in this sense, absolutely, utterly unique.

And he speaks to everyone about everything and his word is not to be frustrated in any way.

He is king of kings and lord of lords. Now, Peter says, he has said in verse 21 that all the holy prophets had said this and now he quotes

Moses in a very key text and then he follows that up with a cascading amen of the prophets in verse 24.

He says, Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.

Now, you really need to take it for what he says it is. Don't try to correct Peter who's preaching under the inspiration of the

Holy Spirit his sermon being faithfully recorded by Luke who's under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

So don't try to correct Peter. It really is the fact. All the prophets from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.

Jesus put it this way that the law and the prophets and the writings testify of him.

He says, Of the holy scriptures it is these that testify of me. He is the light of the word as he is the light of the world.

And so there's this cascading amen. It's not just Moses but it's also Samuel and David and Nathan and Gad and Elijah and Elisha and Micaiah and Jeremiah and Isaiah and Daniel.

It's the twelve from Hosea to Malachi. The prophets. All of them prophesied of this.

They preached about Christ who is the fulfillment of all of God's promises.

They preached about Christ who is the true son and the true servant and the true Israel. They preached about Christ that's who they were declaring and at Christ's enthronement the prophets all stand with one voice and give a full -throated barrel -chested lung -roaring amen.

That's what we were talking about. All the applause to Christ.

Everything that they had to say. So this is important for us as we consider who it is that we're rejoicing in this season.

Who was it who was born? Why is this good news? It's important for us as we gather at the

Lord's table. Just whose table are we gathering at?

We're like Mephibosheth being brought to the king's table. And there are many who would clamor for our allegiance.

Many who would desire for us to switch our loyalties even as Mephibosheth faced.

But he did not abandon his loyalty to David for Absalom. And he was willing to lose all of his land and riches and wealth just for the sake of being welcomed to the table of David.

Remember that story. There are many false claimants upon our loyalties today.

What will it cost us to be faithful to Christ? I don't know. What will we gain from being faithful to Christ?

I don't know. But those things are in the hands of a good and righteous king. Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for the time you've given to us. I pray that you would bless us as we commune together reflecting upon, remembering and declaring the atoning, sacrificial, substitutionary death of our

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I pray that we would joyfully submit to the reign of your

Son, Jesus Christ, and give you all the glory. I pray these things in his name. Amen.