Hey podcast listeners. Thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. And right now your generous gift will have twice the impact thanks to the Proclaim the Gospel matching challenge active right now through December 31st. To give a special year-end gift, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click the donate button or follow the link in our show notes. Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. This is Robert Jeffress. In response to the horrific attack on Israel, I've written a brand new book called Are We Living in the End Times?
Go to ptv.org to order your copy. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. I'm sure most people would agree it's better to be hopeful than pessimistic.
But there's a big difference between true hope and wishful thinking. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shows us why Jesus Christ is the only one who's worthy of our hope, faith, and praise. Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress? Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Just before we begin today's study in Acts chapter 2, let me remind you about the wonderful matching challenge that's active right now.
A generous group of friends has banded together and designated $500,000 to match your financial giving this December. And we're asking God to stir in the hearts of people like you to expand our reach in 2024. As we think about the year behind us, I can affirm that we're already making tremendous strides together. This year, through your prayers and giving, Pathway to Victory is reaching more people than ever before, transforming lives every single day.
But we believe God wants us to do more, to reach more people, and courageously bring God's truth to bear on our nation. And because of this matching challenge, any gift you give today will be doubled until we reach the goal. So your gift of $100 becomes $200. A $500 gift becomes $1,000.
A $5,000 gift would become $10,000. Whatever the amount, you can have twice the impact, leveraging your gift to reach more people with the truth of God's word. Plus, we're saying thanks for your generous gift today by providing the all-new 2024 Daily Devotional. This is a large book, in fact more than 500 pages, that includes chapters for every weekday of the year. Now, let's get started with today's teaching.
As part of my series called The Incomparable Christ, today's message is called This Man, Jesus. Faith can sometimes be harmful. In fact, faith can actually destroy you. If you don't believe that, ask the victims of the seven people who were killed in Chicago in 1982. You may remember the story. Killer, randomly laced Tylenol caplets with cyanide. And these seven unsuspecting victims purchased the caplets. And believing that these caplets would actually help them feel better, they took those caplets in good faith, not realizing that in fact they were ingesting poison. They had faith in that Tylenol pill, but it was a misplaced faith.
And the results were catastrophic. You see, our faith is only as good and as trustworthy as the object of our faith is good and trustworthy. Let me ask you this morning, what are you trusting in? What do you have faith in to lead you through the dark tunnel of your death one day? You know, it's inevitable, the Bible says, Hebrews 9.27, we are all going to die. No one gets out of this world alive. Have you come to grips with that fact, that you are going to die? We need to understand that truth. If you don't believe we're all going to die, I encourage you just to think about people you know who were here this time last year, who are no longer alive today.
How many of you know someone who has died in the past year, who is no longer here? The fact is we are all going to die, but not only that, Hebrews 9.27 says, it's not only appointed every man wants to die, but also to face God's judgment. We are all going to have God evaluate our lives, and the result of God's judgment is either going to end in eternal heaven or in eternal separation from God in hell. Where is your faith? What are you trusting in to survive God's holy judgment of your life? Some people are trusting in their relative goodness. They say, I may not be perfect, but I'm not a murderer or rapist or a drug dealer. I keep the Ten Commandments as best as I can.
I'm a pretty good person. That is a misplaced faith. Because Romans 3.10 says, there is not one righteous among us, no not even one. Some people are trusting in the fact that they grew up in a Christian home. I had a Christian mother, a Christian father, my granddaddy was a pastor.
I'm trusting in my Christian heritage. That is a misplaced faith. John 3.3 says, unless we are born again, individually we cannot enter the kingdom of God. I like what evangelist Luis Palau says, he says God has no grandchildren. There's only one way to be in God's family. There's only one way to be rightly related to God.
It's not through another person, it is by being a child of God yourself. Some people are trusting that they're going to make it through God's judgment because of their church membership. Or because they were baptized one day. But that is a misplaced faith.
Titus 3.5 says we are saved not by the washing of water, but by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. Some people are actually trusting in the fact that well maybe God is different than we've been taught He is. Maybe in the end He can't send anybody to hell and He's going to say, y'all come on up here and we'll spend eternity together. Maybe God's going to change His mind. That's a misplaced faith if you think God is going to contradict His word.
God says He cannot allow the guilty to go unpunished and we are all guilty. What are you trusting in? Where is your faith? What is the object of your faith to survive death and God's judgment? In the passage we're going to look at today the Apostle Peter tells us that the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ make Jesus alone the object worthy of our faith for life and for eternity. If you have your Bibles today I want you to turn to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 as we look at this man Jesus. Now Acts 2 records the events at Pentecost.
Let me set up the scene here so you can understand exactly what is going on. Pentecost was one of the three feasts that the Jews celebrated in Jerusalem every year. And hundreds of thousands of people, Jews from all over the world would come to Pentecost.
Penti meaning 50. It occurred 50 days after the first fruits sacrifice. And so you had these hundreds of thousands of people coming to Jerusalem as they had every year for hundreds of years.
But this was no ordinary Pentecostal celebration. Because all of Jerusalem was still abuzz with what had happened in the city just a few weeks earlier. Everyone was chattering about this man Jesus.
Jesus of Nazareth. They were talking about His death. They were talking about His resurrection. They were talking about His ascension into heaven that had just happened a week and a half earlier before this. Everybody was talking about Jesus. Meanwhile the apostles were obeying Christ's instruction.
He had given them a week and a half earlier. Remember before Jesus ascended into heaven on the Mount of Olives? He told His disciples, now you go wait in the upper room. And while you're waiting there, wait for the Holy Spirit to come. And when the Holy Spirit comes, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit of God and you will be empowered to go take the gospel throughout the entire world. And so when we come to Acts chapter 2, we have the Jews at the temple getting ready to celebrate the festival of Pentecost. You have the disciples in the upper room awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit. And the first 11 verses of Acts chapter 2 tell us that the Holy Spirit of God came just like He promised. When He filled the apostles, He empowered them. And when they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, they left the upper room and made that short journey to the steps of the temple. Most likely they were standing at the southern steps where people entered the temple.
Hundreds of thousands of people were there getting ready to celebrate the day of Pentecost. Just a few weeks ago, those of us who were in Israel were standing there on those southern steps where Peter stood up to preach the very first sermon that was ever preached in the history of the church. This is what the sermon was about. It was a sermon about Jesus.
Just think of it. The very first sermon that was ever preached in the history of the church was preached about Jesus Christ. That's what Peter did. He preached about Jesus. But interestingly, I want you to notice what he talked about. He didn't talk about the words of Jesus. He talked about the works of Jesus. That Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. Look at the heart of the message beginning in verse 22.
Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know, this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and you put him to death.
But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death since it is impossible for him to be held in its power. The very first sermon in the history of the church that was preached was not about the words of Jesus but the works of Jesus. It was not a sermon about Jesus, the great teacher. Peter didn't stand before the people and said to y'all be nice to one another.
Be nice and kind and loving to one another. Why didn't he talk about that? Because he was talking to unbelievers. He was talking to unregenerate people.
They didn't have the power to live by the words of Jesus. He didn't talk about Jesus the great teacher. He talked about Jesus the savior of the world. He said this man Jesus, the one you are talking about, the one who just weeks ago died and rose again and you all saw a sin into heaven. You've got to make a decision about who this Jesus is. Was he just some self-deluded teacher who thought he was the Messiah? Was he the greatest religious charlatan in the history of mankind? Or was he who he said he was, the long awaited Messiah who came and died and rose again that we might have eternal life?
It's time, Peter said, for you to make a decision. And he said before you make that decision, I want you to consider three things about this man Jesus. First of all, look at his miraculous life. Look at verse 22.
Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst just as you yourselves know. Think about his miraculous works. Notice how he refers to Jesus. Jesus the Nazarene. Now Jesus grew up in Nazareth. He was the son of Joseph.
Not the biological son of Joseph, but Joseph was his adopted father. And everybody knew Jesus as being Jesus from Nazareth. Remember when Philip went to Nathanael and said, we have finally found him, of whom Moses the prophet wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And remember Nathanael's response? He said to Philip, Nazareth?
Can anything good come out of that two-bit dusty town known as Nazareth? But that's how Jesus was known. He was a man. He was 100% man, but he was also 100% deity. And that's why Peter says, even though he was human, Jesus the Nazarene, he was no ordinary man. He was a man attested to you by God. And that word attested means he was proven to you as being the son of God. How? By his miracles, by his wonders, by his signs that God performed through him in your very midst. Just as you yourselves know.
You know I have to confess. I think the audience to whom Peter preached was in some ways an easier audience to preach to than those of us today who try to share the gospel with someone 2,000 years later. Peter was saying to these people, look at his signs, look at his miracles, look at his wonders, the feeding of the 5,000 which was really 25,000 when you put the women and children in there.
The healing of the lame and the blind, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Do you realize Israel is such a small country that when you think about it, thousands of people saw those miracles and about everybody Peter was preaching to either saw one of those miracles themselves or they at least knew someone who had seen one of those miracles. Jesus didn't perform those miracles in a closet somewhere. And that's why Peter reminded them, remember his miraculous life, remember all of the things that he did. 2,000 years later, not everybody is so sure that Jesus has done these things. They're not sure about his miracles.
They want to accept the words of Jesus, but they don't accept the miracles of Jesus. I saw that illustrated again just this week. The cover story of Newsweek is called Rediscovering Jesus. And it is written by Andrew Sullivan. He says we need to rediscover the original Jesus and get back to his words and teachings instead of concentrating on all this superfluous stuff that has been added to the Jesus story.
All of these miracles and all of these other things have been added. And then Sullivan says, he says we need to remember that the Gospels were no more than copies of copies of copies of copies of books written by fallible men with fallible memories. I read that article and my blood pressure went through the roof. I fired off a letter to Newsweek magazine this week. And I said, I said to Newsweek, I said Mr. Sullivan says we need to go back to the words of Jesus. But if the works of Jesus can't be trusted as recorded in the New Testament, how does he propose we get back to the words of Jesus if they were written by fallible men with fallible memories? I said apparently Andrew Sullivan embraces the leopard view of biblical inspiration. You know what the leopard view of biblical inspiration is? The Bible is inspired in spots and I'm inspired to spot the spots. That is ludicrous. Either it's all true or none of it's true.
You can't pick and choose. Now, the great news is, the great news is it's all true. You can trust every word in this book. Do you realize that there are more copies of the New Testament, 25,000 parts or complete parts of the New Testament, there are more copies of the New Testament than any other work of antiquity? Do you realize there is more literary support for the life of Jesus, all of the life of Jesus, there is more literary support for the life of Jesus than there is for the existence of Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great?
You can trust this book. But the fact and perhaps the greatest proof that it's all true is we're still talking about it 2,000 years later. We still have it on the cover of our magazine 2,000 years later. Dallas Willard writes about the centrality of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to listen to what he says about the centrality of Christ. Yet today from countless paintings, statues and buildings, from literature and history, from profanity, popular song and entertainment media, from confession and controversy, from legend and ritual, Jesus stands at the center of the contemporary world as he himself predicted.
He so graced the ugly instrument on which he died that the cross has become the most widely exhibited and recognized symbol on earth. Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot ignore the miraculous life of Jesus. But Peter says just don't recognize his miraculous life. Remember his atoning death.
Look at verse 23. This man, Jesus, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and you put him to death. Now you know that took guts for Peter to say because Peter was looking into the eyes of the very people who weeks earlier had cried out crucify him, crucify him. It was that group to whom Peter was preaching and he said you are sinful, angry men, you nailed him to the cross.
But he said this was no accident. Jesus Christ was no victim. Jesus was delivered up.
That word delivered means surrendered. That is God voluntarily surrendered Jesus to be executed. He not only surrendered him to be executed, he planned for his own son's death. The Bible says in verse 23 here Christ's death was no accident.
Jesus was no victim. All of this was according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. People say well foreknowledge means God just knew ahead of time what was going to happen. No, it doesn't mean he knew what was going to happen. It means he planned what was going to happen.
All of this was according to the predetermined plan of God. In fact the evidence of that is in the hundreds of prophecies about the life and death and resurrection of Christ that you find written hundreds of years earlier in the Old Testament. Just consider, just consider some of the prophecies in the Old Testament about the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
For example, Zechariah 11, 12 written 500 and some odd years before the birth of Christ. Zechariah 11, 12 says Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. Or Psalm 22 verse 16 says when he died Messiah would have his hands and his feet pierced. Describing crucifixion.
You say well what's the big deal about that? Psalm 22 was written 1,000 years before Jesus lived, before crucifixion had even been invented. And yet the Psalmist under inspiration predicted the manner in which Christ would die. In Psalm 22 verse 18 it says that his clothes would be divided up and the soldiers would cast lots for it. All of that 1,000 years before Christ died. Psalm 34 verse 20 says no body, no bone in his body would be broken. Isaiah 53 verse 12 says he would be crucified between two thieves.
Think about that. Isaiah was written 740 years before Christ was born. And yet Isaiah prophesied he would be crucified between two thieves. Amos 8 verse 9 says that when he died a great darkness would envelop the earth. And of course Isaiah 53 verse 9 says that he would be buried in a rich man's tomb 700 years before the fact.
This was no accident. The death of Jesus Christ was God's plan. Not just for the salvation of the world but for your salvation as well. And that's the heart of the Gospel ladies and gentlemen. The Bible says all of us have sinned.
You don't need me to tell you that do you? We've all sinned. We've all fallen short of God's plan. We all deserve God's eternal judgment but Romans 5-8 says God demonstrated his love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners he sent Christ to die for us.
In some inexplicable way when Jesus hung on the cross. He took the punishment, the wrath of God that you and I deserve. And that's why the Scripture says in Isaiah 53 for he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was wounded for our iniquities. The chastening of our well-being fell upon him. By his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned every one of us into his own way. But the Lord has laid upon him, Jesus, the iniquity, the sin of us all. When I believe except the fact that Jesus died for me.
When I quit trusting in my own righteousness, my church membership, my relative goodness. But put my full faith and trust in him. I no longer have to fear the judgment of God. For all the judgment of God that I deserve, Jesus Christ endured for me. Isn't our Lord Jesus Christ amazing?
He took upon himself the judgment of our sins so that we become free in him. Well, there's much more I want to show you about this man called Jesus. And so I hope you'll be listening every day to Pathway to Victory as we continue this special series about the incomparable Christ.
But that's not all. I'm truly hoping you'll take advantage of the amazing matching challenge that's active right now because this is your opportunity to leverage the impact of your special year-end gift. Friends of Pathway to Victory have designated $500,000 for the sole purpose of inspiring friends like you to join them in generosity.
Now, here's what that means. Today, your generous gift of $100 would be matched until it became $200. A $500 gift would be multiplied by two and becomes $1,000.
A $5,000 gift would become $10,000. Any gift you give between now and December 31st will be matched and doubled in impact. And when you respond today, I'm going to say thanks by sending you our brand-new 2024 Pathway to Victory daily devotional. This is an exclusive resource from Pathway to Victory.
Its leather-bound cover is forest green and more than 500 pages in length. When you respond today, you'll receive this in time to give away at Christmas. The most important thing is that by responding today, you're giving to a cause that is much larger than any one of us. Your gift will be multiplied by two and channeled directly into proclaiming the gospel of Christ here in North America and around our world. And I can't think of a better time during the Christmas season to introduce men and women to the incomparable Christ.
David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you give a generous year-end gift towards our Proclaim the Gospel matching challenge, we'll say thanks by sending you the brand-new Pathway to Victory daily devotional for 2024. To request your copy, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. And when your gift is $100 or more, we'll also include the complete CD and DVD sets for the incomparable Christ teaching series. Plus, you'll also receive Celebrate the Savior Volume 2, a brand-new music CD filled with beautiful Christmas performances from the First Baptist Dallas Choir and Orchestra.
Remember, because of our Proclaim the Gospel matching challenge, your gift will be doubled in impact by another generous donor. So request your copy of these resources today. Call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. If you'd prefer to write, then be sure to jot down this mailing address, P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
That's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins, inviting you to join us again next time for Part 2 of the message, This Man Jesus, right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Even though we don't know the date when Jesus will return, we need to have our finger on the pulse of what's happening today. So, in response to the war in Israel, Dr. Robert Jeffress has written a brand-new book. It's called, Are We Living in the End Times?
In light of increasing chaos, division, and warfare in our world, this really is a fair question. Request your copy of Are We Living in the End Times by going to ptv.org. You've made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
We're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. And right now, your special year-end gift will be matched and therefore doubled in impact thanks to the Proclaim the Gospel Matching Challenge. Take advantage of this opportunity to double your impact before the deadline on December 31st. To give toward the matching challenge, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click on the donate button or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
