The Message

Jack Graham: You can be effective and used by God in proclaiming the Gospel. And if you will do these things that Simon Peter did, you can be effective in communicating the message to the world.
Guest (Female): On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how you can boldly share the only message that can transform the world. Now here's Dr. Graham with his message, "The Message."
Jack Graham: Take God's word and turn with me to the second chapter of Acts. The Holy Spirit poured out on the day of Pentecost resulted in men and women proclaiming the wonderful works of God, sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And in the midst of this conversation and communication of the message of Christ, one man stood up and gave the first sermon, the inaugural message of the church. And when we read this message in Acts chapter two, delivered by the big fisherman, Simon Peter, we're taken by the heart of this message and the simplicity of this message, and yet the powerful effect, the dramatic effect and impact of this simple message: Jesus saves. It is the message that changed the world. It is the message that changed my life. It is the message that has changed the lives of countless men and women throughout the ages and this very day. In the context, in the atmosphere of the work and witness of the Holy Spirit, one man delivered the message, but it was the voice of the church praying and praising God together that accomplished the goal. When you read this message in Acts chapter two, it's just 22 verses. Of course, what we have in these 22 verses comprising this sermon is really a summary that the Spirit of God has given us of the message declared that day. And the message that we hear in this passage of scripture is God-conceived, it is full of the scriptures, it is full of God's Spirit, it is Christ-centered and it is Spirit-controlled. And it brought the congregation listening that day face to face with the living Lord. So looking at verse 14, chapter two of Acts, but Peter, standing with the 11, lifted up his voice and addressed them. Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words. For these men are not drunk as you suppose, since it's only the third hour of the day. You see, those who were speaking the wonderful works of God in the languages of the nations who had gathered around on the day of Pentecost were accused now of being drunken. But they were not drunk, except that they had had a drink at Joel's place. Joel the prophet had prophesied the coming of the Holy Spirit and that is what is happening. He said in verse 16, this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. And then verse 21, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Men of Israel, hear these words, verse 22, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Then skip down and look at verse 37. And now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are afar off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." Note what happened in verse 41. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. Simon Peter took a text from the word of God, he proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God activated in the lives of God's people. And their witness then connected with those who heard, and on the very first day of the church, 3,000 souls were born into the kingdom of God. This message, like all Gospel messages, like all messages that are effective and successful in reaching the hearer, is very simple. You don't have to go down deep and stay down long and come up dry in order to be successful. No, proclaim the message of Christ and all of its content and know that the Gospel and its power will change lives, whether it is in your public witness, as I am sharing Christ publicly right now, or it is in your personal witness. Because remember this, the message was delivered in the context of all of the believers spreading out into the streets and sharing the message of Christ. So coming together is this personal witness and now this public message of hope as Peter is drawing the net. I know many of us have fears concerning sharing our faith, but if you understand the message that God has given you, you can be effective and used by God in proclaiming the Gospel. And if you will do these things that Simon Peter did, that we all can do, you can be effective in communicating the message to the world. And the message is simply this: it is the explaining of the scriptures, it is the exaltation of the Savior, and it is the exhortation to the sinner. And let's look at that briefly today. First, there is the explaining of the scriptures. That's what this man did on that day. Of course, this is the same man who melted like butter on a hot day before the cross of Christ. He denied Christ three times. Simon Peter, who was often so bold in his faith, was a weakling when it came to standing up for Christ at the cross. But now this same man, full of the Holy Spirit in all of his humanity, God did not change this man in terms of his personality, but used his personality and transformed his life from the inside out and now he is not a coward, he is a courageous witness of the Gospel. He's not wimping out, he's standing up and he says, "Men of Israel, listen unto me." I love the authority that we see in his voice. I love the passion and the heart that we see as this man shares. And this message is just full of God's word. It has both content and intent, it is powerful, it is practical, it is personal and it is persuasive. You know, real preaching is truth shared through personality. It is truth through personality. And it is aimed at the heart, it goes for the heart and not just the head. And with all of his energy, he pressed the truth home that Jesus is Lord and that every person can know Christ and can be saved by receiving the Lord Jesus, repenting of their sin and believing in him. This should always be the passion of the man of God. This should always be the passion of the preacher of the Gospel. Not to impress people with our eloquence, not to entertain people with our theatrics, not to persuade people with our human personality, but to simply, courageously, boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because in that message, hope is given. There is the humanity of this preacher as he delivers the scriptures. And then there's the spirituality of this preacher, because remember, he's now anointed and appointed for this moment. There's fire, there's conviction, there's power in what is said. And remember, this is all done in the context and the atmosphere of prayer. God's people had waited, as Jesus had instructed them. Those 120 who gathered in an upstairs room, and the Spirit of God came and they were full of God's Spirit. So Peter was not alone when he stood that day. He stood in the midst of the other disciples, he stood on the wings of believing prayer. He was the voice of the praying church. And so moving from scripture to scripture, as you read these words, it is chalk full of the word of God. He is simply explaining the scriptures. There's no doubt here regarding the infallibility and the inerrancy of the word of God, the validity of miracles, the deity of Christ, the need for people, all people, everywhere to be saved. Several days previous, Simon Peter had drawn a sword in the Garden of Gethsemane to defend Christ. He failed miserably in that case and was rebuked by the Lord Jesus. But now he bears a sword of a different kind. He now stands full of the Spirit and is bearing the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And you know, it's not great preaching that God blesses, but it is a great witness to Jesus that God blesses. And may our witness be of Christ, may our witness be of Jesus himself. And that brings us to the second point really of this message, and this ought to be included in all of our witnesses: as we are explaining the scriptures and as we are exalting the Savior. As you read this message, it is a Jesus-filled message. He speaks of a recognizable Savior. Look at verse 22: men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God through did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. The word attested there means proven or demonstrated. Attested to you by God. God said of his own son at his baptism, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." He is the fulfillment of prophecy. And what Peter does is to make a case for Christ. And he says Jesus, his miraculous life is demonstrable. You can know it, you can see it. He is living proof of who he is. You see, the Christian faith, unlike any of the world religions, is totally dependent upon one person: Jesus Christ.
Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message "The Message." Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotional? It's a study of God's word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life. To sign up, text DEVO to 59789 and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVO to 59789. We want to tell you about an exciting opportunity available this month. Right now, every gift you give to PowerPoint Ministries will be doubled through a generous $150,000 matching grant, helping reach even more people with the hope and truth of Jesus Christ. Every day, people burdened by fear, anxiety and uncertainty are discovering the peace found in God's word through this ministry. Your support helps make that possible. As our thanks for your gift of $10 or more, we'll send you Dr. Graham's brand-new book, *The Lord is my Shepherd*. Text SEPTEMBER to 59789 to have your gift doubled and receive your copy today. Again, text SEPTEMBER to 59789. Now let's get back to today's message, "The Message."
Jack Graham: The miracle life of Jesus. His virgin birth, his virtuous life, his vicarious death upon the cross, his victorious resurrection and his visible return. It is all about him. And of course, when he came and walked upon the earth, he attested to his deity by signs and wonders and miracles. He demonstrated power over disease and over death and over darkness. And the miracle-working power of Jesus Christ is still active today. We have seen the miracle hand of God in our lives. Most personally, most deeply, the miracle of the new life, the new birth in Christ. But our God is still alive and our God, the Lord Jesus, is still performing miracles in people's lives today. You say, "I don't believe in miracles," then explain the life of Jesus Christ. There's no explanation of his life apart from his miracles. And these who watched and listened that day, they knew it was true. They had seen the miracles. They had seen him heal the sick. They had seen him touch the leper and make the leper clean. They had known of his raising Lazarus from the dead. As you yourselves know. You must come face to face with the reality of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, that he lived a miracle life, no one ever lived like this one. But not only is he a recognizable Savior, but he is a rejected Savior. And Peter took the message right to the cross. And he pointed a long finger in the faces of those who were listening there that day, those who participated in the very death and crucifixion of Jesus and said, "You have crucified the Lord of Glory." You did it. He said God planned it. Don't ever think that the cross was just an accident or an afterthought in the mind of God. No, the lamb of God, the Lord Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world. This was God's plan from the very beginning. So it was foreplanned, it was ordained by God himself. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. But know that Jesus was not a victim. He delivered his life, he offered his life. He said, "Greater love hath no man than this, but that a man lay down his life for his friends." He laid down his life. But thank God it wasn't the end of the story, because then he speaks of a risen Savior. Verse 24: God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. You say a resurrection is impossible? No, it is impossible for death to hold the Lord of Glory. Jesus is alive, and that is the heart of the Christian message. That is the hope of what we share. If Christ is still in the grave, we have no message, but because he lives, because Christ is Lord, we have a message of everlasting life. He is alive, and that's the Gospel: the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ. And we're not preaching the Gospel until we deliver that message. But not only a rejected Christ, a risen Christ, a recognizable Savior, but a reigning Savior. Because in this passage, he goes on to say, verse 32, this Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the promise of the Father the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. Christ is alive. He is reigning. Angels adore him, the saints are worshipping him. Hurl your accusations at him, blaspheme his name, deny him, but you cannot stop him because he is Lord. He is unchangeable. He is unstoppable because he is reigning. That's why the scriptures says that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. Well, Peter gets to the close of this message and that is exhorting the sinner. When they came running up and said, cut to the heart, the Bible says they were cut to the heart, word which means stabbed to the heart. It just ripped them wide open. And they said, "What shall we do?" And Peter said repent and believe, repent and be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. There was conviction of sin. Conviction of sin. And where there is a true witness of the Gospel and true conversion, there will always be conviction. And the instrument of conviction is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has come, according to John 16, to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. And when Jesus is preached, when the Gospel is delivered, people come face to face with their own sin in view of a cross of God's love. There was conviction of sin, there was conversion of life. Three things have to take place, there are three marks that identify a converted person. One is repentance. Conversion means repentance. The word repentance means that you are going in one direction, your back is towards God, you're walking away from God, living your own life, doing your own thing, and then you come face to face with Christ and his claim upon your life. You come face to face with your own sin and the judgment of God against sin in your life, and you repent of your sin, which means you turn around, you do an about face. And now you are following Christ, you are walking towards God, you are living in the forgiveness of sin and in the power of Jesus Christ. And repentance is the missing word in the contemporary church. And yet Jesus said, "Unless you repent, you will all perish." So there is conviction of sin, there is conversion of life through repentance, and then remission, which is the forgiveness of sin. That's what remission is: the forgiveness of sin through personal faith in Jesus Christ, in the shed blood of Christ which cleanses us. We are saved. It's unfortunate that some use Acts chapter two verse 38 to teach that baptism somehow saves. Peter never mentioned baptism in his other message as being the saving instrument of God. Water baptism does not save, nor does it help to save. You say, "Well why does it say this then: repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin?" That little word "for" there is a Greek preposition, a small preposition, *eis*. It is translated in various ways in the New Testament: in, on, at, by, with, for or because of. That was fast, wasn't it? And in this case, no doubt about it, it means because of. Be baptized in lieu of, because of the forgiveness of sins, because Christ has cleansed you. It is the blood of Christ, God's Son, that cleanses us from every sin. And baptism in water signifies that and symbolizes that wonderful truth. You say, "How do you know that?" Read the rest of the New Testament. The New Testament does not teach baptismal regeneration, in other words, that baptism saves or helps to save. No, Christ and Christ alone. When it says baptized for the remission of sin, we use it in the same way in the English language, the word "for." If you read a poster on a wall that says, "Man wanted for murder," you don't go and apply for the job. No, you know that "for" in that case means because of. And so the remission of sins: we are forgiven and baptism then is the outward sign and visible symbol of that inner cleansing. And then simultaneous with repentance and remission of sin is regeneration, or receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. No one is converted apart from the incoming and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I'd like to say more about that, especially the fact that when the Holy Spirit is in us and regenerates us, that is the confidence that we have in Christ. He is the witness of God's Spirit in us. And that is why we can say we know that we know that we know that Christ is living in us. So there is the conviction of sin, there's the conversion of life and then the confession of faith. For on that day, they confessed Christ as Lord and Savior and made a costly act of commitment. These Jews who heard the Gospel that day publicly followed Christ. It was obedience to God's son and allegiance to God's church. They were added that day, verse 41, added that day to the believers were 3,000. On the first day, the message changed lives. And then verse 47, look at it, that the people were praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the number to their number day by day those who were being saved. Do a little math with me. In Acts chapter one, 120 believers were in the upper room praying. The Spirit came down and the church went out sharing Christ. So in Acts chapter two verse 41, 3,000 were added when the Gospel was first preached. Then in Acts chapter two verse 47, we just read it, people were added to the church daily. Their witness was in the streets and in the temple and from house to house, and every day evangelism was taking place. And then in Acts chapter four and verse four, we read again that 4,000 men—no doubt others were added, the women, the children who came to Christ—but noted were the 4,000 men who were added in Acts chapter four. The church is now growing at an unprecedented pace. Acts chapter five verse 28, the church has filled the entire city with the Gospel. They were accused of filling the city with this message of Jesus Christ. They captured the hearts of the people in that city with the message of Christ. And then in Acts chapter six and verse seven, the church multiplied greatly. Now they've moved from addition to multiplication, and ultimately, in describing the church in Jerusalem, it was known as a multitude of people who believed. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people came into the kingdom of God with this simple message: Jesus saves.
Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message "The Message." Right now, every gift you give to PowerPoint Ministries will be doubled through a generous $150,000 matching grant, helping reach even more people with the hope and truth of Jesus Christ. Every day, people burdened by fear, anxiety and uncertainty are discovering the peace found in God's word through this ministry. Your support helps make that possible. As our thanks for your gift of $10 or more, we'll send you Dr. Graham's brand-new book, *The Lord is my Shepherd*. In this encouraging study of Psalm 23, Dr. Graham shows how the Good Shepherd provides, guides, and stays with you, even through life's darkest valleys. Text SEPTEMBER to 59789 to have your gift doubled and receive your copy today. Again, text SEPTEMBER to 59789. Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotional? It's a study of God's word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life. To sign up, text DEVO to 59789 and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text DEVO to 59789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?
Jack Graham: Peter was a man that was certainly acquainted with fear. The night before Christ was crucified, he had been so frightened that he wouldn't even associate with Jesus and he denied the Lord three times. Yet in Peter's first sermon in Acts chapter two, we see a different man. We now see a courageous Peter, a man empowered. We see a man who we could truly say of him, he is as bold as a lion. Peter was known in the past as being brash, but now he is bold for the Lord. And the same courage, empowerment, and boldness that we see in his life can be the courage, the empowerment, and the boldness that we can have in our lives because of the work of the Holy Spirit. It's true. When Peter shared the good news of Jesus, he relied upon the work and the witness of the Spirit in him, not on his oratorical skills or the powers of his persuasion. And when he spoke, he aimed at the heart, not at the head. And then it's also important to remember that when Peter shared with people, he was practical. He was down to earth. He proclaimed the facts and with the force of the Gospel, he delivered on the message. And then thirdly, when Peter preached, he was personal. He met people where they were and he professed that Jesus was Lord. And the last thing is, when Peter spoke and shared his faith in the Lord Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, he was persuasive. With passion, he proclaimed that everyone, all people, must repent and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. And as a result, many, many people were moved by the Spirit working through Peter and they came to faith in Christ. It's my prayer, as you look at the example of this bold believer today, that you will realize the tremendous potential that you have to touch people at the point of their need with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Allow the Spirit of God to fill you and flood your life and overflow. Be a bold witness for Christ, bold as a lion to proclaim the good news that Jesus saves.
Guest (Female): And that is today's PowerPoint. And join us again next time when Dr. Graham brings a message about how you can tap into the work of Jesus through your church. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.