Evidence is so important.
How about irrefutable evidence? That's today's topic on the Bible-based teaching program with Dr. Don Wilton. As we open the Word together, I pray you'll consider opening our website as well at www.tewonline.org. You'll find this program and others like it to encourage you with biblical Bible teaching from Dr. Wilton.
Now, Dr. Don Wilton teaches today. I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Acts in chapter 2 and verse 22. I'm going to be reading from verse 22 through verse 25 this morning, even though I'm going to be referring to the whole of the passage all the way through to the end of verse 35, really. But Acts chapter 2. Now, before I read God's Word to you, I want to share a couple of stories with you this morning. You see, friends, I want to speak to you about irrefutable evidence. And I want you to just imagine if you were one of these people at the time that these events took place in the book of Acts.
Just think about it. Here's the beginning of the New Testament church. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. He lived on the earth, did all kinds of miraculous things. And then there came the time that He was crucified on a cruel Roman cross and He died.
On the third day, He rose again. He appeared to many people, over 500, the Bible tells us. And then the day came that He ascended from the Mount of Olives to be seated at the right hand of the Father. And then came Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, and we've been looking at that over these past weeks. And Pentecost was a time of unprecedented power. That's the time when the Holy Spirit came down. We're going to discover that the whole of the book of Acts describes the coming of the Holy Spirit.
You need to see the book of Acts in one whole unit because it describes the coming of the Holy Spirit and the power that accompanied the coming of the Holy Spirit. And we know that in Acts chapter 2, in fact the words are used many times, bewilderment and amazement. And people gathered around, they were staggered to their very roots.
They just couldn't believe what was going on and I don't blame them. And we're also going to discover in the book of Acts that there were skeptics everywhere. We're going to read about them in Acts chapter 3 and 4 and 5 and 6. We're going to read about all the opposition to Jesus Christ and people who just really struggled to accept what was going on and they refused to believe in Jesus Christ.
And right after Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, people were looking around saying, what in the world is all of this? Amazing! Incredible!
Unbelievable! I mean they were just using all kinds of things. We're going to discover later on in Acts chapter 3 that in Acts chapter 2 that they were filled with awe.
I mean it was almost overwhelming. Have you ever had anything happen to you, and I'm sure you have, that when you tell some other people about it they look at you and they say, mm-hmm. Now that happens to me every time I get a hole in one when I'm playing golf. I mean just time after time after time. I know when you get a hole in one and you go to tell somebody and they say, mm-hmm.
I just want to set the record straight. I have never got a hole in one. I just want to let you know that right now, but it's going to happen one of these days. But have you ever had something that has happened to you and you know that it's happened to you, you know that it's true, and you go and share it with somebody else and it is so amazing that you know when you're telling them they look at you and say, mm-hmm, yeah, I've heard this one before.
Let me tell you one of those. I went to Alaska about 12 years ago. I was preaching there for the Alaska Baptist Convention, and I was in a place called Kenai, K-E-N-A-I, on the Kenai Peninsula. And we were having a wonderful ministry, and I had with me a very good friend of mine by the name of Robert Simmons. And Robert Simmons is from Columbia, Mississippi, which is on Highway 49 just between Hattiesburg and Macomb.
I'm telling you all of this for a reason. His telephone number is 601-736-4001. That's his phone number, 601-736-4001. Is that right, June? All right. Robert Simmons, his wife's name is Dana.
He has two children, Michael and Maury. I just want, if any of you are writing, you're going to need to write this down. Well, Robert Simmons was with me. And one afternoon, one of the men in that association came to me and he said to me, Don, would you like to take a plane ride over the mountains of Alaska? I said, are you dealing with me?
I said, you're telling me I'd like to do that. Now, folks, I want to tell you something right now. Aeroplanes are very safe, good things to fly in.
I just want you to know that. We got out to this airport at the Kenai Airport, and this pilot who looked like he grew up in Alaska, he looked like a grizzly bear himself. We got out there and the snow was coming down. I couldn't see any sky. We went out, there was the tiniest little aeroplane I've ever seen in my life. It had two seats, the pilot and the passenger. It didn't have a back seat.
It had a little kind of thing that looked like a cubby hole. And the pilot announced to me that that's where I would be, because Robert was a pilot himself. And so we got out there and the pilot said, look, before we do anything, we've got to get all the ice off the wings.
Come for that. And for about an hour or so, there we were, folks, in the snow, scraping ice off these wings. Then we all got into the plane, all three of us, me and the cubby hole under these moose skins and everything else. And he starts cranking the plane. It goes... And it wouldn't crank.
He said, no problem. Robert, go and get my motor car. It was like a Jeep. So right there next to the plane was his motor car.
We drove it up. Folks, he got out jumper cables. And there I am jumping an aeroplane. And I'm losing weight at the same time.
And I'm saying to myself, don't do this. And boy, we jumped that. He said, we've got it on that little prop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. And it starts going the whole plane. Listen, folks, he had his equipment stuck on the ceiling of the plane with Velcro. And at least twice it just dropped off, kaboom, right there. Well, finally we get started.
Robert gets in. I get in the little cubby hole in the back and we start the next thing. It doesn't have wheels. It's got skis on it. No wheels.
I've never been in an aeroplane with no wheels. So we start going down the runway. I couldn't see any runway, but he obviously knew where it was. And there's a wind and it blows us off the runway into a snowbank.
It's kind of sideways like that. He says, oh, let's get out. So we get out in all this weather here and walk around and we get the plane and we push it back onto the runway. Then he turns to Robert and he says, Robert, what I need you to do is I need you to go to the back of the plane and hold that flap.
I don't know what it's called, but you know the flap on the back of the plane. I want you to hold that and we're going to taxi down the runway. We're going to leave the door open.
We're going to leave the door open. And he said, as soon as the plane starts to take off or think about taking off, we're going to holler at you. You run and you get your leg over this iron bar here like that. Hold on.
Don will pull you in. Well, folks, I'm here to tell you that I've actually gone down a runway with skis on with Robert Simmons jogging behind the plane, keeping us on track. And when that thing started to take off, you've never heard me holler before. I'm telling you, Robert, Robert, get it, Robert.
No, come, Robert. And to see this man running next to me like that, trying to keep up with the plane, he put his leg over that bar that went up to the wing, grabbed the door. I grabbed him by the coat, the collar, the hair and the ears all at the same time. And friends, as I yanked Robert Simmons into that, that plane, it's not like a Boeing 747 that does it great. It just took off. I mean, it just went straight up.
And Robert's dangling out there like... I said, boy, am I glad my wife can't see me right now. Folks, we got up there over the mountains of Alaska and we'd been flying for about 30 minutes. And all of a sudden the engine went...
I sat up in my little cubby hole. Robert kind of twitched a little bit. And about two minutes later, it did it again. Robert turned to the pilot and said, excuse me. What was that noise? And the pilot said, oh, I don't know.
I've been having all kinds of problems with this engine. I'm telling you, I didn't need to go to the Nautilus Fitness Center, folks. The weight was just coming off me just like that. Well, we flew around up there and landed on a lake. It was beautiful. One of the most gorgeous things I've done and God willing, obviously, we got back safely. Incredible story. You know what, folks? I've got irrefutable evidence that that's exactly what happened.
I've got Robert Simmons. In fact, Steve, sitting right here, my wife, others have sat and heard Robert Simmons tell the same story. The pilot who flew the plane. I've got some photographs to provide evidence. Do you know that when Pentecost took place, there were so many people who stood around with arms folded and said, amazing. Uh-huh. I don't even know if this actually happened. And how do we know that Jesus is who he says he is?
Bring us that kind of stuff. There were the skeptics, the critics. There were the blasphemers. There were even believers who were like doubting Thomas, for whom Jesus had to literally show his pierced hands to. And here in Acts chapter two, God, through his servant Peter, provides the church with irrefutable evidence. We are given a picture of who Jesus Christ is that puts everything that he did and everything that happened at Pentecost beyond question.
In a sense, Peter stood up there on that day and he said, I'm looking into your faces. Some of you are smirking. Some of you are belittling. Some of you are questioning. Some of you are making light of. Some of you are doubting. Some of you are wondering.
Some of you are struck dumb. You're so awe inspired by what has happened. And Jesus Christ is now gone.
And you're turning around and saying, you know, I wonder if that really did happen or whether I was just dreaming. Let's read together the book of Acts chapter two in verse 22. Men of Israel, Peter said, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him and you yourselves know it. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge. And you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said this about him. I saw the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand.
I will not be shaken. And so he goes on and describes who Jesus Christ is. This past week we were with our senior adults, ministering in prisons and institutions. And God moved in an incredible way. Every occasion as Steve sang and as yesterday's teens presented Daniel and as we saw the power and presence of the Spirit of God come upon these people in such an incredible way. There were so many times that I said if only the whole church could be here to witness this. How difficult it is to describe something so amazing and so wonderful. Well, Peter stood up inspired by the Spirit of God and presented to this group of people comprising of every kind of person that one could imagine with irrefutable evidence, evidence that cannot be contradicted. It is a postcard.
It is a picture. He drew upon all the resources that God had given to them. And he said, listen, I want you to know that Jesus is who he says he is. And everything that had happened is genuine because of who God is. Let me tell you how you know that. Number one, Peter said first bit of irrefutable evidence. Jesus was from Nazareth.
And you know it. Look right there in verse 22. Men of Israel, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth. What he was saying here is, listen, my friends, you may be skeptical about Jesus Christ, but let's get beyond all the skepticism and present you with some irrefutable evidence. Number one, Jesus was from Nazareth and you know it.
It is an undeniable fact. Right throughout Scripture, Jesus was called Jesus of Nazareth. Matthew 21, 11, Mark 10, 41, Mark 14, 67, Mark 16, 6, Luke 24, 14, John 18, 3 and 5 and 7. Jesus of Nazareth. And when Peter stood and made this proclamation presenting this irrefutable evidence, he was pointing to identification, to recognition, to association. Remember the inscription on the cross? In John chapter 19 and verse 19, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, Peter spoke about him many times. Paul spoke about him.
Acts 26 and verse 4, Jesus of Nazareth. They knew the skeptics, those who belittled him, the blasphemers, the Jews, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the believers, old and young, all knew that Jesus came from Nazareth. He was giving them irrefutable evidence. This wasn't a figment of their imagination. Number two, Jesus was a man and you know it.
Now just think about this for a minute. Here these people are struggling to understand things like ascensions coming back from the dead. Some people had said he was a Messiah and the Jews were looking for a Messiah who was going to deliver them from the Roman oppression. What kind of Messiah would allow himself to be murdered and put on a Roman cross and die? And so what Peter does at this point is he bypasses all these other things for the time being and he says, let me give you irrefutable evidence.
Number one, Jesus was from Nazareth and you know it. How did this happen? The Bible says God did it.
Then he moves on and he says, Jesus was a man and you know it. How did this happen? God did it.
Forgive the interruption. As we discover how God did it, Dr. Don wants me to let you know we're here for you 24 hours a day. Our phone number is 866-899-WORD. Jot the number down.
Store it in your cell. It's available 24 hours a day, 866-899-9673 or online at www.tewonline.org. As a matter of fact, right now both the book by Dr. Charles Stanley, Courageous Faith and Dr. Don's new book about Dr. Billy Graham are both available If you haven't gotten a copy, they are both remarkable blessings.
That's all online at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilson. God did it. He talks about his manhood.
Listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man. Down in verse 23, this man was handed over to you. And he turns and he looks at the crowd and he said, you know he's a man, he was a man's man. He ate like a man, slept like a man, talked like a man, sang like a man, paddled a canoe like a man, related to people like a man. He was a man in every sense of the word and you know it.
Irrefutable evidence. You saw him. You walked around with him. You were touched by him. You communicated with him. You ate with him. You fellowshiped with him. He was a man.
How did this happen? Some of you are saying, well, how could he be a man? You've said he's the son of God. He tells us right there, God did it. And in fact, the Apostle Peter, under the inspiration of the Spirit, uses the word right there in verse 22. He says, he was a man accredited by God to you.
What does it mean to be accredited? A better word there is to be attested. And that means that he is God's exhibit. It means that Jesus Christ became a man as God's proof to mankind as to who he is. That word there was accredited to him. It doesn't only mean that he was God's exhibit and he was the proof of God to man that Jesus Christ was who he said he was, but the word exhibit there means literally that he was presented or proclaimed to be the royal one of God. That's what Jesus is all about. Look at that verse again.
Men of Israel, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God, exhibited, proof of, and proclaimed to be by God to you as a man. I can just see Peter getting up there and getting rather fired up in the pulpit.
He was looking out across the congregation of these masses of people who had gathered in the aftermath of Pentecost. And boy, there must have been some talking going on. Or there must have been some skeptics, the comments that one could just imagine. He says, let me give you some irrefutable evidence.
Let me try and settle this. Number one, Jesus was from Nazareth and you know it. How did it happen? God did it.
Number two, Jesus was a man and you know it. How did that happen? God did it.
Number three, Jesus performed miracles and you know it. And how did that happen? God did it. Well, look here with me, folks. This is incredible. Verse 22, Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs.
Here it is. You ready for this? Which God did among you through him as you yourselves know. He said, you want irrefutable evidence? God in Christ Jesus and through his Son by the Spirit performed miracles in your presence. Remember, remember Lazarus? You all remember Lazarus? Remember how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead?
He said. Remember the feeding of the 5,000? You remember the talk that happened that day?
He talked to the believers and the non-believers. He said, believers, remember when Jesus went on the boat and the storm came up and Jesus said, peace be still and the winds even obeyed his voice? Remember that? You remember how he took care of this situation? Remember how he made that person see? Remember how he brought sanity and saneness into the mind of the demoniac who was out of his mind and Jesus Christ performed a miracle in your presence?
And you know it. Well, he talks about three things. He talks about miracles, wonders and signs.
I wonder why. Well, if you go and do your research, you'll know that the miracles comes from the Greek word dunamis, which is like dynamite. It speaks to the powerful supernatural act of God. Wonders is the plural form of the word teras, which literally means that which takes place in someone who witnesses miracles. That's what signs are in the Scriptures and at least that's what wonders are. Signs are Simonian, which points to the spiritual truth that God is illustrating through the activity of the miracles that he is performing. You see, folks, we throw up our hands and we say, well, there are three separate things. There are miracles, signs and wonders. God said, listen, you don't understand me.
These are all three of the same part. God does miracles, signs and wonders because he's pointing everything to himself. Why does he do these things? Number one, to get people's attention and number two, to point people to the spiritual truth he's trying to illustrate. And you know that he's done that. Peter points out across that congregation, he moves amongst those people and he says, listen, critics and skeptics and believers alike, I'm going to give you some irrefutable evidence.
I'm going to help you to understand this incredible thing that has been taking place. Number one, Jesus was from Nazareth and you know it. You were there.
Everybody says it. That's where he was born. He was from Nazareth. You know it. How could that happen to Jesus?
God did it. Number two, Jesus was a man. You know it. You walked with him, fellowshiped with him, ate with him.
You know it. How could Jesus be a man? God did it. Then he says third, third bit of irrefutable evidence, Jesus performed miracles among you and you know it. Some of you are the beneficiaries of the miracles God performed among you. You know it.
You've seen it. How did this happen in a man from Nazareth? God did it. God did it. Indeed God did it and God's ready to do something remarkable in your life as well.
You've been listening to Dr. Don Wilton as he's been teaching from the pulpit. Now open your heart to him as he steps into the studio with our final message of the day. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart in Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.
This is exciting news. If the Lord has spoken to you, perhaps praying along with Dr. Don Wilton moments ago to give your life to Jesus Christ or rededicate your life, please know we would love to rejoice with you and put free resources in your hands that Dr. Don wants you to have. It's 866-899 word to call and let us know about your decision.
866-899-9673. Or Dr. Don would love to hear about it and pray for you. His email is Don at T-E-W online dot O-R-G. It really is our joy as a team to pray with you and for you. That's one way to connect Don, D-O-N, at T-E-W online dot O-R-G. It's our prayer that in these next few days we'll have the opportunity to encourage you in a number of ways, both online and on the phone. That's T-E-W online dot O-R-G or 866-899-9673. The Encouraging Word is sponsored by the Encouraging Word Ministries and your generous financial support.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-12 20:01:10 / 2023-09-12 20:11:19 / 10