The Best Sermon Ever

I'm not promising that my sermon will be the best ever instead I want to talk about the best sermon ever preached. The sermon that had the largest single response in church history. 

I have read that the number one fear that people have is the fear of speaking in public. It ranks ahead of the fear of death!  The fear of speaking in public would increase if a person knew that he would be speaking to a hostile audience.  Add to that the fact that the audience is not just a small group, but at least five to ten thou- sand hostile people and you must address them without a public address system!  To make matters worse, you have made a fool out of yourself just weeks before in such a manner that many in your audience would have heard about it.   And, you have no time to prepare your message.  The opportunity presents itself and you’re on—without any notes!

Such was the situation facing Peter on the Day of Pentecost. The sound of the rushing wind from heaven had drawn a large crowd, which then heard all the believers speaking of the great deeds of God in the many different native languages of the crowd. This perplexed them as they asked, “What does this mean?” (2:12). But others in the crowd were mocking and accusing the believers of being drunk.  It was to this Jewish crowd in the city of Jerusalem, where Jesus had been killed just over seven weeks ago, that Peter delivered the sermon that launched the church.  In terms of results—about 3,000 got saved that day—it was one of the greatest sermons ever preached.

Luke here only gives us the gist of that great sermon (2:40). But even so, there is far more here than I can deal with in the time allotted to me.  Thus I plan to give an overview of the whole sermon today and then go back in future weeks and look more in depth at certain parts of it. I want to walk you through this sermon, explaining the flow of thought so that you grasp Peter’s method and argument.  Even though you may never be called on to preach to a crowd, you will have opportunities to bear witness for Christ. Studying Peter’s sermon can help you be ready.

First Peter begins (2:14-21) with the questions that the crowd was asking about the phenomena of Pentecost, linking what they saw and heard to the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32.   He then (2:22-36) rather abruptly shifts to the person of Jesus, arguing as his bottom line that God authenticated Jesus as Lord and Christ, “this Jesus whom you crucified” (2:36).   

But he builds his argument inductively (a good method with hostile audiences), building his case point by point, but not giving the main point until last. When his audience responds with conviction of sin, asking, “What shall we do?” Peter tells them to repent and be baptized, and 3,000 did so. 

Let’s work through his sermon in more detail: 

1. Peter Relates to The People.

Peter was relatable and didn’t have his nose stuck in a book.

Peter goes on to make three points about Joel’s prophecy.

a. In the last days… 

This phrase refers to the present era between the resurrection of Christ and His return. Peter was led by the Spirit to announce that this was the day when God would pour out his Spirit to all people. An announcement like this would have completely shocked all those who heard it; because, there understanding of God was that His spirit was only given to an elect group of people.  Up until now God’s Spirit was reserved and mankind was separated from the presence of God because of their sins. Joel prophesied that one day, after the resurrection of Christ, that God would pour out his spirit and it would no longer be reserved. 

 

b. Judgment will come…

c. Salvation is offered to everyone who asks…

2. Peter pointed to God’s Authentication Of Jesus.

By this time everyone within an earshot of Jerusalem knew of the High profile trial and crucifixion of Jesus. Many had heard the official announcements that His followers had stolen His body in order to make everyone think that Jesus kept his word and truly was raised from the dead.

Peter insisted that that Jesus had indeed been raised from the dead supernaturally and not by any work of their own. They had dismissed the resurrection themselves. He gave them four proofs that Jesus was the Son of God:

1. God proved Jesus to be divine by miracles and wonders

2. God proved Jesus to be the Messiah by His death.

3. God proved Jesus to be the Messiah by his resurrection.

4. God proved Jesus to be the Messiah by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

3. Peter offers a chance for response.

In evangelism we must deal with sin! Sin is the reason Jesus came. He came to redeem us from sin our former master. Sin is what separates us from the love of God and heaven. Much of modern evangelism deals with God’s mercy but never addresses the Sin problem in the life of a person.

Those who argue that you must be baptized to be saved use this verse as their proof text.  But they ignore both the context of this verse and the overwhelming testimony of Scripture, that salvation is by grace through faith, and that good works (such as baptism) are the result of salvation (Eph. 2:8-10).  Granted, the notion of an unbaptized believer was foreign to the apostles, since it was assumed that saving faith would result in prompt obedience to Jesus Christ.  But, in the next chapter (3:19), Peter calls his audience to repent “so that your sins may be wiped away,” but he never mentions baptism.   When Peter called upon these people to be baptized, he was calling them to make a radical break with their culture and religion that had crucified the Messiah, and to be publicly identified with Jesus Christ. This outward symbol would prove the reality of their inward repentance and faith, and the fact that God had forgiven their sins.

Since God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ who will judge the world, sinners must repent.