by Fernando Vangioni
Bible Reading: Acts 2:14-36; 1 Peter 1:12
Whenever Christians have sought to return to the first century they have hoped
to search out once again the source and origin of Christianity, its purity of
doctrine and simplicity of practice. Here they hope to discover the secret that
enabled the early Christians, in less than a hundred years, to proclaim the
Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world powers of that age - the Roman Empire with
its materialistic paganism, illustrious Greece with its philosophy, and Jerusalem
with its religion.
Bursting upon every milieu like an avalanche that carries everything before
it, that new and simple message revealed the moral rottenness of the times,
and laid bare the powerlessness of inconsistent religions and philosophies to
apply moral and ethical principles to daily life.
Coming into a corrupt and decadent society overrun with religious and philosophical
doctrines based on pompous language, ancient moral codes, human traditions,
and gross practices and superstitions, the Gospel message arrived at a point
in history when humanity was completely impotent. Only a few choice souls, sickened
by the corruption around them and disquieted by spiritual thirst and hunger
to find the truth, gathered together, often secretly to protect their families
and preserve their homes and customs. Others looked to religion and philosophy
for comfort, light and guidance. The great multitude, however, insensitive to
spiritual problems, drifted along in the wide stream of humanity, indulging
in vices and pleasures. Only a few, having a premonition of great things to
come, devoted themselves to meditation, all the while alert to signs that pointed
to some providential person, significant event, or transcendental solution.
The Gospel message contained but these three elements: first, the doctrine of
a. Person, the Son of God, manifest in the flesh, who should come into the world
to seek lost man in order to save, dignify and transform him; second, the unprecedented
event of His death on a Roman cross between two malefactors at the end of a
sinless life of incomparable ministry in word and deed; and finally, the effective,
immediate solution wrought by the saving and keeping power of the crucified
and risen Lord. His Gospel was the divine dynamite that destroyed the power
of enslaving sin and brought the freedom, honor and happiness of abundant spiritual
life and of a glorious and radiant hope. This is the secret of early primitive
Christianity whose purity and authentic glory can inspire us in this day whose
social, moral and spiritual conditions are so like that of the first century.
Actually, with the passing of time, evils have increased, the night has become
darker, resources are more limited and the end is nearer.
Let us return then to the beginnings of Christianity, to the day of Pentecost.
Let us listen to the first Gospel sermon and analyze it briefly. Let us notice
its effect on the motley crowd who heard it that first time. Let us see what
spiritual reactions it produced; let us gain inspiration, be strengthened in
heart and apply its message to our own age with the same urgency, authority
and passion as was done in the first century. On that day the Apostle Peter
preached Christ. Because Christ was a contemporary of those who were listening,
the events were current and. the conclusions were logical: prophecy and history
met and coincided perfectly at the foot of the cross. This, in my opinion, is
the relevant character of the Gospel that we preach after so many centuries
- we “upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Cor. 10:11).
The Person of Jesus Christ does not belong to a remote past, is not a product
of traditions or carefully preserved legends, is not something surrounded by
a halo of mysticism. Christ the Son of God is as much a contemporary of today’s
men and women as He was of those on the first day of Pentecost. His life, His
teachings, His death on the cross, His shed blood are now as then the only basis
of redemption, the unshakeable rock on which the soul rests for salvation.
God’s message has not changed. His method of salvation has not varied
nor has He altered the way of access for the repentant sinner to God and the
Saviour. The Lord is as contemporary as the solution He presents to mankind.
Only Christ has the answer to man’s tremendous problems; today, as then,
He is the only hope, the true light, the way, the truth and the life. No one
- whatever his religious or irreligious state, whatever his academic prowess,
his economic or social status - can find God apart from Jesus Christ. It was
this Gospel, preached by men some of whom were considered ignorant, that produced
one of the greatest commotions in history. In fact, it made Greek mythology
look ridiculous, reduced to impotence the ancestral Hebrew religion and gave
a death blow to the paganism whose center was Rome.
The Bible passage previously read speaks of the Gospel preached by the Holy
Spirit sent from heaven. The question arises immediately: What kind of Gospel
was this? What is the content of the message? What power attends it? How could
the glorious Spirit of God, an invisible Person, be the preacher of the Gospel?
To answer these questions, we have only to turn to the Book of the Acts of the
Apostles and analyze the apostles sermons. They have something distinctive:
They preached Christ - Christ in His Person and in His work was pre—eminent,
was central in all respects. The apostles did not waste time on human reasoning
nor lower the high level of their preaching to dialectics. They knew that their
audience represented the three great cultures of that age, Roman, Greek and
Hebrew; yet evident behind the outline of their message was the perfect harmony
between history and prophecy. His tory was so recent that many had known Jesus
personally. Prophecy was centuries old and therefore when quoted was given special
emphasis.
If we take as an example Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, we see that of twenty-two
verses, twelve refer exclusively to the Old Testament. Other verses refer to
the application of these prophecies. The remainder of the great Pentecost message
is but two verses: one of these is a Bible quotation from the Old Testament
and the other’ is an exhortation. That is to say, this great sermon, the
first apostolic sermon recorded in the New Testament, and which constitutes
the first great spiritual “fishing” in the dawn of the primitive
church, is fifty per cent Bible quotations and fifty per cent personal exhortation.
Across the years homiletics, hermeneutics and rules of pulpit procedure have
gradually replaced the Bible saying: “Thus saith the Lord,” and
offer merely man’s words which as a rule have very little reference to
or connection with the Bible passage that is read. Thus the Word of God which
alone can create faith in the heart has been replaced by human words that please
the intellect, tickle our sentiments, can even produce a superficial emotion,
but certainly can never create faith. Only the Word of God, quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, can pierce the soul and disarm man’s
rational intentions and create faith.
We do not mean to say that Peter’s sermon eliminates the rules of construction
or riches of content demanded by modern homiletics. Note the introduction, for
example (verses 14 to 21), the body (verses 22 to 24), the application (verses
25 to 28), the illustration (verses 29 to 35), the appeal (verses 36to 39),
the exhortation and call (verse 40). To these principles of structure in the
sermon we must add its elevated tone. It refers to the saddest day in human
history, to a juridical error and an injustice without parallel, to a most ignominious
death, to what from the human point of view was defeat, tragedy, the end. Nevertheless,
Peter presents all this in such a way that his words could aptly be called a
sermon of victory. First, he presents Christ’s victory in life (v. 22).
From the humble manger of Bethlehem to the hour of Calvary, His life was transparent
to both friend and foe. He spent His first thirty years in a village where He
became known as “the carpenter’s son.” From Nazareth where
He had spent those years after His baptism by John the Baptist and the temptation
in the wilderness, He starts a public ministry which reveals divine approval
and attracts great multitudes. His wonders, miracles and signs bring Him popularity
and an audience, and while giving him fame, arouse the worst sentiments of jealousy
and hate among the religious classes.
He lives a natural life - so human, so simple, so humble, yet so victorious.
His triumph is more than a mere victory of truth over error, of God, over the
works of Satan, of health over disease. It is a triumph over temptation, over
sin and its chains, over false prejudices, over inconsistent human traditions,
over a tacit admission of sin, corruption, bribery, vested interests, injustice,
outrage, hypocrisy, avarice. This triumph of Christ established a pattern for
presenting a clear interpretation of the law, bringing heaven closer to the
sinner, revealing God the Father in His infinite heavenly love in order to show
the way of salvation, the opportunity of regeneration, and the reality of individual
renewal and transformation through the power of the Gospel.
Moreover, Christ lived what He preached, and preached what He lived. Nobody
could point a finger of accusation against Him; even His worst enemies recognized
that “never man spake like this man,” that His works were unequalled.
Most important of all, Christ’s victory in life was shown by the victory
of holiness, purity and truth, compassion, grace, love, tolerance, kindness,
understanding, faith, meekness.
The apostle refers secondly to Christ’s victory in death (v. 23). Once
again, from the human perspective, the cross does not appear to be a symbol
of victory. The multitudes who followed our Lord have abandoned Him and have
returned to their towns and villages. The crowd that on His triumphal entry
into Jerusalem sang hosannas and fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah now on
the day of His crucifixion join His enemies in demanding His death. Not even
the sight of “the Man of Sorrows, despised and rejected of men,”
crowned with thorns, dressed in a scarlet robe with His hands tied and showing
His wounds and shedding His blood in silence like a meek lamb, excites sympathy.
In payment for such love He receives the worst of all tortures; in exchange
for the riches and glory He left behind, He accepts the opprobrious poverty
of Calvary; insults and taunts are the only echo of His wonderful teaching.
Finally nailed to the cross, He is denied water for His thirst, and comfort
for His affliction. At the cross, all of man’s hate and all of God’s
wrath seem to converge. Only a few followers at the foot of the cross stand
out against the overwhelming rejection and despisal. Christ is heard to cry
“It is finished.” Does He mean merely that He has finished His teaching,
His miracles, His works of love, and that He is now leaving the earth as He
found it - plunged in darkness and in the power of the Evil One? Has He failed
in the work His Father entrusted to Him? Has the glory of the night of Bethlehem
ended in another night of misery and pain? Has He who walked on the sea and
with His voice calmed the wind and the waves now Himself plunged into the cold
waters of death? Is He who freed the captives from the power of Satan, from
the pain of their wounds and the inertia of paralysis, now to die, now to bleed
from His own wounds, now to be powerless to descend from the cross and to save
Himself? Is He who could have worn a king’s crown and crushed the power
of human empires to wear a crown of thorns and die without honor?
Seen in this light, in the way that men distort the dimension of things, persons
and events, Christ’s death on the cross was indeed a tragedy and a defeat.
But from God’s point of view, from the perspective of the Holy Scriptures,
from the experience of millions throughout the centuries, seen from all facets
of history, Christ’s death on the cross crowned Him with a distinctive,
unique transcendental glory. This is the glory that He communicates and shares
with those who believe on Him and have received Him.
His victory on the cross is the victory over death, sin and hell. In dying,
He gives life, pardon and liberty. In shedding his blood, He has opened a way
which reconciles the sinner to God. It draws to God’s throne the sinner
who, disinherited by sin and weakened by his experience, can now call himself
a son of God, an heir of God and joint heir with Christ. In the cross, the eye
of faith perceives a death, a sacrifice, so necessary that if Christ had not
died, man would never have found the road to God, reconciliation with the Father,
forgiveness of sins and peace of soul.
In the third place, Peter’s sermon is a sermon of victory because its
climax is the victory of Christ in His resurrection and ascension (v.24). He
who lived a victorious life ended His earthly ministry by a victorious death.
Risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, He is exalted and seated at the
right hand of God and has poured out upon men and women the gifts of His Spirit,
thereby sharing the trophies of His victory and the power that He Himself possessed.
Because He lives, our lives are more than a mere existence. By His Spirit He
gives us a new and abundant life, and enables us to live as He lived, for when
we receive Him as Saviour and Lord He goes on living and manifesting Himself
through us. While the Almighty Victor is glorified in the supreme place of authority
and power, He lives in His own and through them transmits His life and manifests
His presence everywhere. His ascension into heaven not only confirms the supernatural
even of His resurrection from the dead and destroys the power of the tomb forever
and takes away the fear of death; it also demonstrates that when His Son rose
from the dead, God accepted His sacrifice for sin. His offering for our sins,
His payment of our debt, His perfect righteousness, His infinite merit, are
sufficient to atone for our iniquity. We are reconciled by His death and saved
through His life. He who died to save us, lives to keep us, makes intercession
always for us, and occupies the undisputed place of High Priest of His people.
He who “was tempted in all points” is powerful to succour those
who are tempted. His throne is a throne of grace to which we can draw near in
every circumstance of life to obtain mercy and find “grace to help in
time of need.
Finally, Peter’s sermon at Pentecost is a sermon of victory because Christ’s
victory was a complete victory with eternal consequences. While not all people
on this planet of His vast universe, have experienced Christ’s victory,
yet God “has made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile
all things unto himself... whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.”
One of the Gospel’s main characteristics is its personal nature. “What
shall we do?” ask the multitudes. The apostle’s answer is likewise
personal: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
“Every one of you,” says the text. As we analyze the Gospel preached
by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, we discover the emphasis is on man’s
lost condition. This is shown in Jesus’ teachings concerning the man who
fell among robbers on the road to Jericho; the woman who was a sinner in the
house of Simon; Zacchaeus who climbed into the sycamore tree. It is seen in
the story of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son; in that of the
publican in the temple, the man with the withered hand in the synagogue, the
paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda, the blind man by the wayside, the dead man
whose soul had crossed the boundaries of life, the thief who died on a cross.
Each case reveals man’s lost condition, his spiritual ruin, and separation
from God. Jesus, the Christ, this greatest preacher, not only spoke as no man
had ever spoken, but He did so with such power and so winningly that multitudes
followed Him for days, forgetting even to eat. It is He, this Son of God, who
is willing to spend hours with Nicodemus, the woman of Samaria, the blind man
of Jerusalem, with Lazarus and Martha and Mary. It is He who after His resurrection
personally looks for Peter and Thomas ad Mary Magdalene. Not one was overlooked
or lost; for each: one Christ died on the cross and shed His blood. He would
have gone to the cross for even just one soul.
Thus, after pointing out man’s ruined state, the Gospel preached by the
Holy Spirit sent from heaven indicates that God’s day of judgment will
come to pass in which the Supreme Judge and inflexible arbiter will be none
other than He who was once judged unjustly, betrayed, slandered by false witnesses,
beaten without compassion. He who appeared before the mob and was condemned
to die on a cross will be Judge. At the Great White Throne He will judge the
dead for their words, their deeds, their failure to use their privileges and
opportunities. Those whose names are not written in the Book of Life, says God’s
Word, will be cast into the lake of fire; this is the second death.
Moreover, the Gospel preached by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven looks to Christ
as Saviour. So complete is this message that it contains not only the solution
for all present ills and sins through God’s gracious salvation bestowed
by faith to everyone who believes, but also looks to the future. This same Jesus
who died to save us, who lives to keep us and is interested in every one of
His own, is coming again. He will not come to Bethlehem in poverty, nor return
to be scorned, wounded and crucified by the world. His second and glorious coming
will be in the clouds to take His Church from this world to the Father’s
house where He is now preparing a place for each of those who believe on Him.
The Gospel preached by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven looks toward a future
day when all human problems will be forever ended, sin will have been removed
from the earth and death will be no more.
The Gospel, in other words, announces the definite triumph of good over evil.
Heaven and earth as they now exist will give place to God’s world of tomorrow,
a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness will reign. This glorious
order of things, this sublime ending to the story of man’s miserable and
sad history, will not come through the efforts of men or nations but by the
will of God who said concerning that day: “Behold, I make all things new.”
Let me emphasize that :when the Gospel is preached, however eloquent and complete
its presentation may be from the doctrinal point of view, and however simple
its appeal, it will not accomplish the desired effect unless it is accompanied
by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Genuine preaching always produces effective
results when it is accompanied by the power of heaven. Without the heavenly
power of the glorious Spirit of God, preaching will be like sounding brass or
tinkling cymbal, something merely formal and enclosed in a liturgical mould;
a brilliant display of oratory may please the ear but will not reach the heart,
nor speak to the conscience, nor meet an individual’s spiritual needs.
The apostle Peter speaks of “the Gospel preached with the Holy Ghost sent
down from heaven.” This statement he made toward the end of his fruitful
ministry, a statement illustrated by what happened on the day of Pentecost.
God’s seal to Peter’s preaching was the Holy Spirit which came down
from heaven and. fell on all those who were listening to his sermon. It was
not intended to create a psychological or emotional state; the power of the
Holy Spirit was first displayed in deep conviction of sin by repentant hearts
that suddenly, in the divine light of the Gospel, saw the magnitude of their
errors, the wickedness of their conduct toward Jesus, the seriousness of their
sins, and the punishment they deserved. This same power of the Holy. Spirit
created the faith which when placed in Jesus for salvation brought pardon and
peace as fruits of Calvary. Thus empty and sad hearts were filled with joy.
Baptism followed as a sign of obedience and identification with Him who died,
was buried and rose again.
Once the new Christians were incorporated into the new Church they were not
satisfied with mere membership and participation in all the activities, privileges
and, blessings of their new spiritual state. Faith had to manifest itself in
a changed life full of good works, the fruits of righteousness. The eyes Of
the world that for thirty—three years had observed the most admirable
and perfect life, that of the Lord Jesus, were now fixed on them. They had to
live Christ, or rather, Christ lived in them and made Himself manifest to the
world through them.
Among the many dangers which at present threaten the Christian pulpit are two
that are particularly common. One danger is that of presenting a Gospel without
a biblical basis, without the cross of Christ. Such a message pretends to be
modern by adapting itself to the spirit of the times, to a menta1ity that has
departed from the divine purpose both in language and in spirit; although pretending
to fill a present need, it has lost authority and spiritual power, influence
and impact on lives and hearts. It is an empty, hollow message, the product
of a sophisticated age; while professing to be relevant, it cannot be because
the deep prob1ms, the acute crisis, the incurable ills and desperate spiritual
state of humanity cry out for and require the true Word of the Gospel.
Another serious danger today is a Gospel which, though rich in Bible quotations,
presents the way of salvation as something very easy and asks that one only
believe. It is true, of course, that the Scriptures say, “Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt, be saved.” “Only believe”
is not merely a slogan, but a blessed reality. The grace of God has made it
possible for a sinner to receive eternal life, the gift of God, by means of
personal faith. But we must not forget that the sane Scriptures underline the
fact so often illustrated in the gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles that
genuine faith is followed by a life of works, but a profound change, an undeniable
transformation. The sinner becomes a saint, the miser a generous man, the cruel
become gentle, the proud humble. This is what happened to those who heard and
heeded the first Pentecost sermon. They believed in Jesus Christ.
The closing part of Acts 2 tells of those blessed days of heaven on earth. While
divine power accompanied the apostles, those who believed had something more
than a creed. They had brotherly love; they showed a spirit of self sacrifice
and generosity. Their hearts abounded with works of mercy, with faithfulness
to doctrine, perseverance in worship fullness of joy. They were simple and sincere.
Their lives were lives of continuous praise to the God they called their Heavenly
Father. Furthermore, they were very well thought of by the public. Meanwhile,
God gave an astounding but normal growth to the mystical body of Christ, His
Church.
While this pattern is many centuries old, it is not an impossible utopia. What
God did then He can do now. God has not changed. His Gospel has not lost its
efficacy nor its power. The Holy Spirit of God is still in the world convicting
of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. Human need has grown immensely. There
have never been so many destroyed homes, so many broken hearts, so many young
people drifting as slaves to vice and sin, so much corruption, crime and hate,
so much international unrest, so many social problems. There is no peace and
even less hope. Only the Gospel has the solution for so much evil, the answer
to so many questions, for only the Lord Jesus Christ, the Desire of all nations,
can put an end to this tragic state of affairs. While, generally speaking, the
Gospel is still being preached, and there is still popular interest in hearing
it, in most churches of the world nothing extraordinary is happening and we
must, admit that the message lacks the spiritual power to reach hearts. There
should be deep heart-searching in all of us who preach the Gospel. Of what worth
is the best sermon if the Holy Spirit does not confirm it in the heart? Is it
necessary to insist that every preacher aspire to be filled with the Holy Ghost?
That every message be received from God and delivered with fresh unction?
Nothing effective can come of a message that has lost spiritual sensitivity,
that lacks the life of rivers of living water. We preachers need continually
to come to the Fountain which is Christ, to feel His compassion and agony of
soul toward those that perish, to know a love which consumes us to the point
where, we would give our lives for them; we must reach the point of preferring
to die rather than to have a ministry without fruit and without power.
It is time to make a sincere and profound self-analysis before God. Many preachers
continue to occupy the pulpit without realizing the tragedy of their own souls,
without realizing that God has departed with His blessing, that they are living
on past glories. Our ministry is supernatural, to fulfill it we need supernatural
power every day, at every opportunity. May God grant that in this critical hour
of great decisions we may make our own personal decision, namely, not to be
satisfied with ourselves or with our audiences or with our results. May the
Holy Spirit of God awaken in us a living spiritual perception, a deep thirst
for God Himself that will lead us brokenhearted to His feet where, emptied of
ourselves, He may cleanse us, fill us and use us for His glory.
Let us preach the Gospel and nothing else, and may our lives, totally surrendered
to the Holy Spirit, demonstrate what we preach. Then the Spirit will accompany
the Word of God with His power. And only then will the world hear what it needs:
“The voice of God and not of man.”