Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

There are many ways of looking at Acts 2. One of the most important is to see that it describes the activities of the risen Jesus and several of them are mentioned in this chapter. Those actions reveal the fact that he has been highly exalted on the throne of heaven, having ascended there ten days previously. No doubt, heaven was expectant, as well as the disciples on earth, of what the newly-crowned and exalted King would do on behalf of his kingdom. The listeners The first action of a king is usually symbolic. He may pardon some criminals or give some help to those in need. Here in Acts 2, we have the first public act of the Lord Jesus as far as earth is concerned, and what an amazing action it was. Because as Peter makes clear in verse 23 his listeners on this occasion had participated in putting Jesus to death fifty days earlier. Who were his listeners? Luke tells us who they were – they were Jews from different parts of the world who had come to Jerusalem for their feasts. Since t...

​Peter here reminds the recipients that this is his second letter to them. Presumably, he is referring to what we call 1 Peter as his first letter. We might think that they are different in content: for example, 1 Peter says a lot about suffering and 2 Peter says a lot about false teachers. Nevertheless, there is a common purpose in why he wrote, which is that his readers should remember the writings of what we call the Old Testament and the New Testament. What they are to remember from the Old Testament is the predictions it contains about the coming of Jesus and his work; what they are to remember from the New Testament is the instructions of the apostles. It is interesting that he uses a single term for what the apostles taught, which could be an allusion to the Great Commission in which Jesus instructed the apostles to pass on all that Jesus had taught them. Why do they need to remember those things? Peter proceeds to give four reasons. Presence of scoffers (vv. 1-7) The fi...

The Book of Acts can be approached from numerous angles and no doubt you can think of some of them. Yet I would suggest that the title of this sermon is as good an approach as any. It is good for us to know why we do things, and one of the reasons for doing them must be that Jesus is alive. From the first chapter of the Book of Acts, we can consider four ways in which the fact that Jesus is alive is important. 1. The kingdom has come The first detail to observe is that the fact that Jesus is alive means that the kingdom of God has come. We can see that from verse 3: the Saviour had spoken about the kingdom during the previous forty days. What can we say about this kingdom? First, it is not the only kingdom that will exist. Second, it will exist over those other kingdoms. Third, it will exist within those other kingdoms. Fourth, its ruler will be invisible. Fifth, it will be a kingdom of grace. We can expand on those points briefly. The kingdom of God is not the only kingdom. Indeed, wh...

This chapter is very similar to the Book of Jude, with perhaps the difference between them being that in Jude’s case the false teachers have already appeared whereas in Peter’s case their arrival is still future. It is not only Jude and Peter, however, who warned about this development in the church. Paul informed the elders of Ephesus that false teachers would come, some from outside the church and some from among the elders themselves. John also mentions false teachers who claimed to have no sin. And he also refers to some false teachers who had left the church; if they had been true teachers, they would have stayed. The fact that God, by the Holy Spirit, guided biblical writers to refer to this danger should make us alert to its presence, because the danger is always around. And Jesus also said that many false prophets would come with messages that would deceive many, with some of them even claiming to be the Messiah. Presence of false teachers (vv. 1-2) Peter says that it is inevit...

Peter has described what a holy life looks like in the previous verses. Did he think that his readers would recall what he had written? Whether he did or not, he did not want to make any assumptions that they would. So he proceeded to give them an explanation of how they would remember his words. The method of repetition (v. 12) Sometimes people imagine that to hear something once is sufficient. Yet is that the case? Apparently, people only retain one third of what they hear in an address, which may explain the advice that says a preacher in a sermon should follow the method of (1) an introduction in which he tells the audience what he is going to say, (2) the substance of his address, (3) followed by a summary of what he has said. Whether Peter would have approved of that method is impossible to say, but he did approve of repetition even to those who already knew the doctrines of the faith, which here meant him focussing on aspects of the doctrine of sanctification (the qualities that...

It is common to say that holiness is the need of the hour, that the church would be more salty if it was more holy, that a decline in holiness is a major issue for the church to deal with. Such statements raise the obvious question: ‘what is holiness?’ That question is not confined to today. It has frequently been a focus throughout church history. The issue of holiness was a concern of Peter as well, as we can see from references to holiness in his first letter. And here, in his second letter, he deals with the need of it again. The challenge (vv. 5-7) Peter begins his challenge to live in certain ways by referring to a reason that he had mentioned, which I take to be what he had said in verse 3 about God by his power giving to his people all that they need for living a godly life. The possession of that provision has to be realised by faith because it is only discerned when it is practised. Peter is not describing a spiritual ladder here with a set of steps up to a higher plane...