What Is the Real Gospel? (Acts 2:22-36)

Today we’ll answer a basic, yet important question: What is the real gospel? The true gospel has been hijacked by televangelists, secularist, and political parties, but to rediscover it we simply need to re-read the first sermon ever preached in the church age.

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What is the “Good News” that the church should offer to the world?

• Churches have corrupted it since the beginning!
• Galatians 1:6-7 (NLT) I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.
• These were the Judaizers in Paul’s day, already corrupting the simple message of Jesus.
• Said you had to become a Jew first, and then a Christian
• Works gospel = God wants you to save yourself
• Today there are too many false gospels to count, but I’ll mention a few:
• Prosperity gospel = God wants you to be healthy and wealthy
• Woke gospel = God wants you to be YOU 
• Red/Blue gospel = God wants you to be a Republican/Democrat
• The true gospel has been hijacked by televangelists, secular humanists, and political parties, but to rediscover it we simply need to re-read the first sermon ever preached in the church age. 
• That’s what we’ll do today.

Let’s turn to Acts 2.

Last week we saw part one of Peter’s sermon

• The day Moses longed for and Joel predicted had finally come! 
• Now the HS was available to everyone
• That’s what they were seeing in real time - historic!

Today we’re looking at the second part of the sermon

• This is the first time we see the bare essentials of the Christian message
• Peter didn’t sit down days earlier and write this out, but…
• His mind was opened to understanding the Scriptures (Luke 24:45)
• He had been trained by Jesus for 40 days on the “Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3)
• He had just been “baptized with the Holy Spirit” and empowered! (Acts 1:8)
• These three things combined to produce the first sermon ever preached
• And the basic elements of Peter’s message will be repeated throughout Acts
• See 3:13-26; 4:10-12; 5:30-2; 10:36-43; 13:23-41
• And these bare essentials have never changed.

The gospel is all about Jesus.

Acts 2:22-24 (NLT) 22 People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know.

• First part of Peter’s sermon was about HS (last week)
• But the meat of the sermon was about Jesus; already the false gospels get it wrong
• Works gospel: Jesus + works
• LDS: “We are saved by grace after all we can do.”
• Galatians 3:2 (NLT) 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ.
• Prosperity gospel: Jesus + stuff (what’s in it for me)
• Benny Hinn: "God will begin to prosper you, for money always follows righteousness."
• In other words, to become a Christian, in this way of seeing things, is to have all the same desires you had as an unregenerate person—only you get them from a new source, Jesus. And He feels so loving when you do. (Piper, John. Brothers, We Are Not Professionals (p. 25). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.)
• Philippians 3:9-11 (NLT) For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
• Woke gospel: Jesus + affirmation
• Matthew Vines: "God created you and loves you just as you are. Your sexual orientation is not a sin, and you are not broken. God’s love for you is not contingent on you becoming someone else, but on you embracing who you truly are."
• This is a corrupted view of Jesus: Jesus loves you just as you are
• That sounds nice, but to come to him requires repentance
• The opposite of sin: trusting and acting on your own opinions and feelings instead of on God’s truth
• we’ll see this next week when we look at the response to the gospel
• Acts 2:38 (NLT) 38 Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God…”
• For now let’s summarize Peter’s, gospel = Jesus + nothing
• You’re not going to see any of these things endorsed in Peter’s sermon
• Saved by works 
• Motivated by prosperity
• Affirming of sinful lifestyles
• Just this: “God publicly endorsed Jesus”
• No other endorsement needed!

But let’s zoom in a little more:

The gospel requires the cross.

Acts 2:23 (NLT) But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him.

• Jesus had to suffer and die.
• Some churches try to minimize this
• Temptation to whitewash the gruesome details
• But it was required to absorb the wrath of God
• Who was behind the crucifixion? Peter gives 3 answers:
• Lawless Gentiles
• Religious Jews
• “Christ is King” controversy with Candace Owens
• I don’t know how Owens meant it, but…
• It’s not anti-semitic to make that claim 
• The truth: Jews and Gentiles put Jesus on the cross
• That includes you and me. Our sin put him there. 
• But look back at the text for the biggest insight…
• God himself (this was God’s plan all along)
• 1 Peter 1: (NLT) 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began…

The gospel is proven by the resurrection.

Acts 2:24 (NLT) But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.

• Without the resurrection, there is no gospel (good news)
• 1 Corinthians 15:14 (NLT) And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.
• Jesus was raised to life first; His followers will be next
• In the next verses, Peter proves the resurrection in two ways
• It was prophesied in the OT (v25-31)
• Acts 2:31 (NLT) 31 David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave.
• The apostles saw it for themselves
• Acts 2 (NLT) 32 “God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this.”
• The resurrection proves the supernatural plan of God
• It defies logic and the laws of nature
• If you can’t believe this ultimate miracle, you can’t be saved
• 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NLT) 18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

The gospel declares Jesus is Lord

Acts 2 (NLT) 33 Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. 

• His Kingdom is already established, and Jesus is already on the throne!
• It’s not an earthly kingdom like you thought it would be; it’s better than that!
• Oh yeah and it comes with a gift: the promised HS!
• When you make Jesus Lord of your life, the you get the HS as a permanent gift!
• We talked about this last week, but many gospel presentations miss it.

36 “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”

• Jesus is Messiah - we’ll see that preached to Jewish audiences
• Jesus is Lord - preached to both Jews and Gentiles
• Bold statement to Jews
• He’s more than you thought the Messiah would be!
• (Expositor's Bible Commentary: Abridged Edition (2 Volumes)) The title "Lord" was also proclaimed christologically in Jewish circles, with evident intent to apply to Jesus all that was said of God in the OT
• This is Peter’s summary statement, makes most sense in context of earlier verse:
• Acts 2:21 (NLT) 21 But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.

Close: 

The gospel is an invitation.

• Will you call on the name of the Lord? His identity is no longer secret. It’s Jesus! 
• Who died on the cross for our sins
• Who rose from the dead to prove he’s the Messiah
• Who reigns even now at the right hand of the Father
• Every other “gospel” is a cheap fake
• Trying to sell you something that won’t satisfy
• And won’t save
• The real gospel is all about Jesus
• Have you accepted the invitation to make him Lord of your life?