THE FIRST GOSPEL SERMON (2)

Another major point Peter made about Jesus in the first gospel sermon ever preached—on the Day of Pentecost, in Jerusalem, in the year A.D. 33, at about 9:00 in the morning—is that Jesus was murdered for no reason. “Him you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23). In other words, you unlawfully executed this man when he had done nothing wrong.

This refers, of course, to his death on the cross. While it is true that the religious leaders in Jerusalem did not actually execute him, they would have if they had that authority. So what they did was  fabricate charges and pressured Pontius Pilate into doing their dirty work for them. So while the Romans actually executed Jesus, the religious leaders and those who listened to them were held accountable because they are the ones who arrested him, put him through an illegal trial in the middle of the night, and then lied about him to Pilate.

To preach Jesus to sinners is to preach his death. The death of Jesus Christ is the most significant death in history. What makes it so? The fact that he died for others. The fact that he died to save sinners from the the wrath of God. Why did Jesus die? Because people are evil. We needed a Savior. Why did Jesus die? Because people are evil. They murdered him for no reason. Why did Jesus die? There is another reason.

He was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). He died because of God’s love. The death of Jesus was the eternal plan of salvation that God had designed and foreordained (Ephesians 3:11).

Dewayne Dunaway