²² “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— ²³ this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. ²⁴ But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”

ACTS 2:22–24

The book of Acts tells us the beginning of the church. We are picking up from our last discussion on Acts 2, and this time we are going to look into the first sermon of Peter.

As promised by Jesus, His disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and were given power to fulfill God’s ultimate purpose for them — that is, to point people to a saving knowledge of who JESUS is and what He has done. Peter preached the GOSPEL — the good news — and 3,000 trusted in Jesus that marked the beginning of what is known today as Christianity.

What is this gospel? In a time when so many false gospels arise, how can we determine what the true gospel is?

1. CENTERED ON JESUS CHRIST

The first quality of the true gospel is that it is focused on Jesus and His ministry. As Peter began his sermon, he quoted the prophet Joel about Jesus, a familiar prophecy for the Jews who were listening. It showed that Jesus was the fulfillment of the promises made by God from long ago.

Peter preached about Jesus — His death and His resurrection — to prove the message of the hope we have in Him (Acts 2:22-24).

We know that later on, after this, Paul delivered a similar message to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17-19, 20) containing the same main point of Peter in Acts: That Christ has been raised from the dead, and as such, the anchor of our faith is truly not in vain!

2. PLANNED BY GOD

Acts 2:23 clearly indicates that the whole gospel story is predetermined and ordained by GOD. Jesus suffered and died not by accident, but by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. The prophecies of the Old Testament, even tracing as far as Genesis 3:15, point us to what the Savior Jesus Christ will do. God assures us that He is sovereign, He knows, and His plans transcend our own understanding.

The Jews thought that the promised Messiah was a Conquering King. But the truth is that many prophesies have been told — and have been fulfilled regarding the Messiah — in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As both Genesis 50:20 and Romans 8:28 prove to us, God ultimately has the power to produce something good and beneficial from something that is bad and tragic. He turns things for good, and for a purpose much bigger than what we could expect.

3. PRODUCES REPENTANCE

Acts 2:36 gives us the punchline of this sermon: The true gospel pierced their hearts. When you hear it, you will have great conviction of SIN. Sin is rebellion against God. It is dishonoring to God. And sin is what we are breaking free from when we draw to God through Jesus Christ.

John 16:8 tells us that it is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of our sins. This is the piercing of the heart that leads us to admit we are sinners. What is repentance? It is a change of mind leading to a change in behavior. It is turning away from sin and turning towards God. More importantly, the power of temptation is overcome by the Holy Spirit.

It is true also that repentance from our sins will only come when we realize that it is our sins that nailed Jesus on the cross.

4. PROMISES SALVATION

Ultimately, the purpose of the first sermon is to share the good news to people and let them receive the promised Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ — believing in what Christ has done, repenting of sins, and being baptized (identified) into Christ (Romans 6:4).

The concept of baptism is done as an act of humility and furthermore, identification that we have died to ourselves and the life we now live we live for and by HIM (Galatians 2:20).

You see, the TRUE GOSPEL brings us to a point of surrendering to the LORD and receiving the Holy Spirit and His power to live our lives to please Him. It will be a constant battle, and we fight on until we hear Him say “well done good and faithful servant”, and we are not, and should not be on the losing end. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37).

As we live in this world, we ought to be light to others and live out the gospel so that people will desire to see, hear, and experience the promise of eternal life made available to us through Jesus Christ!

- from 4W's