This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

    “‘The Lord said to my Lord,
    “Sit at my right hand,
        until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
    Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
    Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.—Acts 2:32–41

Introduction

Can Easter Deal With the Real Problem?

What is Easter? If you look at Easter bunnies and Easter egg hunts, you may be tempted to conclude that it all boils down to kids having fun with candy. Now don’t get me wrong. We like to celebrate with candy and Easter baskets, but we try to not confuse the two. If Easter boils down to nothing but candy, then it has nothing to say to all the problems of our day, except sugar is the savior. We obviously don’t believe that. We tried to combine sugar with the Savior one year by buying chocolate crosses for Easter. It seems like a strange thing to Christianize candy. It felt so awkward, and so we stopped doing it. My kids were lamenting the fact this year that we don’t get chocolate crosses anymore. I explained to them that people are not sinning if they eat chocolate crosses, but it is a little strange to eat a chocolate version of a torture device. We don’t eat chocolate electric chairs, after all. While I was waxing eloquently to my kids about this, my wife whispered in my ear and told me she bought chocolate crosses for them this Easter. Cara and I had a good laugh about it. So I conclude that it is not sinful to eat chocolate crosses, just strange. So, go ahead and celebrate Easter with candy, just don’t confuse Easter with candy.

My question is whether or not Easter is relevant for the really hard issues of life. The answer is yes, but we have to understand the real problem first. What is wrong with our world? Why do we see problems everywhere? The tragedy of what happened in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, left everyone wondering one question: “Why?” Why did Alex Hribal do it? Investigators are still looking for the reason. One of them is quoted as saying that there is “some deep-rooted problem somewhere that caused him to do this.” Everyone looks for the problem on the outside. They thought it might be that Alex was bullied, but that solution has been discounted. Some looked at the parents, but they are saying that their family was a good family, almost a “Brady Bunch” type of family. They are still looking for where the “deep-rooted problem” is.

It reminded me of the questions raised at the Columbine school tragedy. Dave Cullen wrote the definitive book on Columbine. He tried to figure out what happened. What was the trigger that would make Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold do what they did? People looked first at possible bullying. But that motive was eventually proven wrong. People took a long hard look at the parents to see if they did anything wrong. Dave Cullen gets to the end of his investigation and concludes that Eric Harris was just plain bad. Eric Harris said the same thing to his parents. He made a homemade video for his parents and assured them that they could not have stopped him. He quoted Shakespeare: “Good wombs have borne bad sons.”

There is the “deep-rooted problem.” It is a good thing to look for the trigger, but what is beneath it that gets triggered? I found it interesting that Eric Harris basically gave the same answer as one of the most famous people in Israel’s history, King David. After committing adultery and murder, David confesses the reason it happened: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). He said, “I was bad from the beginning. I did bad things because I was born bad.” Society did not make him do it. So if our “deep-rooted problem” is that we are born bad, what hope do we have? We need to be born again.

But how can that happen? We can’t make ourselves new. The problem is in us and so the solution has to come from outside of us. Easter is the answer. Let’s see it in our text.

The Cause and Effect in Acts 2

Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost. Miraculous signs were being done. People were wondering what was happening. Peter stands up and gives a sermon to interpret what is going on. He says the Spirit has been poured out. Peter then interprets the outpouring of the Spirit. Why has the Spirit been poured out? The Spirit has been sent because Jesus is resurrected and reigning. Jesus sent the Spirit. Look at the passage:

"This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
    “‘The Lord said to my Lord,
    “Sit at my right hand,
        until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

    Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”—Acts 2:32–36

It is really a simple argument. Jesus could not send the Spirit if he was still dead. The resurrection is the only thing that can explain the outpouring of the Spirit. So verses 32–36 explain what happened in what came before. But those verses also explain what happens next.

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.—Acts 2:37–42

How do you explain the fact that the crowd was “cut to the heart”? How do explain the fact that 3,000 people received the word and were forgiven and saved? Remember that these 3,000 people were really dead people. Physically alive, but spiritually dead. We sometimes forget that. Listen to what Paul says:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.—Ephesians 2:1–3

So we were all born bad as children of wrath. We were all born physically living, but spiritually dead. So how can someone who is spiritually dead have spiritual life? Spiritual resurrection! Paul continues,

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…—Ephesians 2:4–6

The solution comes from the outside (the grace of God), but he does his work inside of us. He doesn’t just throw a life-saver called salvation right within our ability to reach. We are stone cold dead at the bottom of the lake. He doesn’t throw a life saver—he is the life saver—the life giver. It is not merely the offer of life, but the giving of life. Grace is amazing because it has the power to make the dead come alive!

Paul says that this “life from the dead power” is the same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead. That is, “the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:19–20). Do you see it? We can only be raised from the dead with Christ and seated above with Christ if Christ really rose from the dead and is really seated above.

Jesus promised that the power for spiritually dead people to come to life could only come from the Spirit. That is why Jesus told his disciples it would be better for them when he went away, because he would send them the Spirit. What would the Spirit do? The Spirit would do what we also just read in Acts: “convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).

We can come alive only because Jesus is alive. We come alive by the power of the Spirit because Jesus is alive and sends the Spirit. Many people try to explain the resurrection as a fabrication of the church. Some say the church created the hoax of the resurrection. If you read the history of the church, you have to conclude that the church did not create the resurrection. The resurrection created the church.

Here is the point. Christians don’t just believe in miracles; we are miracles. We do not just give arguments for the resurrection; we are arguments for the resurrection. Therefore, we have no right to be believed if we can be explained. We cannot be explained by psychology or family background or physical factors. We are the recipients of a supernatural spiritual change. Conversion is a miracle. But the resurrection is the miracle that explains the miracle of our resurrection. You are about to hear the testimony of three people. They were spiritually dead and have come to life. What has happened in their lives can only be explained by the miracle of the resurrection. They aren’t just going to give arguments; they are arguments.

Illustrating the Point: Three Witnesses (David, Bita, and Brad)

Video testimonies

Conclusion

The Danger of Deception: Two Ditches of False Assurance and False Guilt

Most people that have been around Bethlehem long enough know that I believe our sin often distorts the truth in two ways. Sometimes sticking to the truth means avoiding two ugly ditches. In fact, I knew this pattern was starting to stick when someone came up to me for prayer and said, “Now, I am sure there are a couple of ditches that I need to avoid here.” The assurance of forgiveness that comes from the truth of the resurrection is a middle road between two ugly ditches called false assurance and false guilt.

The Bible says, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). If you are a born again believer in Jesus’s death and resurrection, you are no longer in your sins. But Satan has two sinister deceptions to distort this truth. I call them False Assurance and False Guilt.

False Guilt means that you are born again as a believer in Jesus’s death and resurrection. So, you are forgiven and no longer in your sins, but you struggle to feel forgiven. You walk around with a load of guilt. You feel guilty, even though you are no longer guilty. You have been washed whiter than snow, but you feel blacker than coal. Do not confuse conviction of sin with condemnation for sin. God brings conviction for the sake of repentance and forgiveness. He doesn’t bring conviction so that you will constantly feel condemned. 

False Assurance is by far the worst deception. It believes that you are forgiven and will go to heaven, even though you are not forgiven and are not going to heaven. Here is the lie: Some believe you can have eternal life without a changed life. In other words, they believe that they can have the second resurrection (physical) without the first (spiritual new birth). How does that make sense? Can you be spiritually raised from the dead and have no one notice a difference? Paul addressed that lie head on when he spoke to those who had the signs of spiritual death, but believed they would still go to heaven.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.—1 Corinthians 6:9–11

We have a culture that believes this deception that people can’t really change. They are born with it or society has tainted them. People say, “Once a homosexual, always a homosexual. Once a thief, always a thief. Once a drunkard, always a drunkard.” This view is nothing less than a denial of the power of the Resurrection.

Challenging people or challenging things in your life are only secondary problems, not the primary problem. Paul Tripp sometimes uses this example. He takes a water bottle, removes the cap, and shakes it all around so that water spills all over the floor. Then he asks, “Why is there water on the floor?” There is water on the floor “because you shook the water bottle.” Yes, that is true. But why is there water on the floor? There is water on the floor because there was water in the bottle. Shaking the water bottle did not create the water in the bottle, it just revealed what was already in the bottle. When sinners get shaken, it doesn’t put sin in us, it simply triggers our sin and produces a response that reveals the sin that was already in us. As sinners, we can’t defeat death. The Bible calls death the “last enemy.” So many people go through life trying to conquer many different struggles with mixed success. How sad to fight your whole life to try to overcome various opponents and then realize you couldn’t possibly defeat the last enemy of death. What a waste! Death is not the real tragedy; not being prepared for death is the tragedy. Not receiving the one who defeated death is the real tragedy!

Everyone in this room has this problem called sin. But do you have the Savior? Are your sins forgiven? How can you have real assurance instead of false assurance? False assurance is cavalier about sin; real forgiveness is convicted about sin. That is the key difference. Everyone who is a saved, forgiven sinner reached a point in which they came under conviction for their sin. That is the phrase from our text. They were cut to the heart (Acts 2:37). There is nothing causal about being cut to the heart. 

They realized that they were guilty in the sight of the Judge of the universe. They were condemned. They even knew that they deserved it! God would be just to send them to hell. That is conviction. That is being cut to the heart. You come to realize what the end should be. I have been in revolt—in rebellion against God. I have refused to live for him and I have been living for myself. I cannot pay for my sins. O, but then how you see Jesus in a new light. You cry out, “What must I do to be saved? I don’t just need a loan! I don’t need a little more time to pay my debt. I come to realize that I can’t! I can’t pay it at all, and I need him to pay it all! Take all of me and pay for all of me!”

Then you see that he did. Run to him. We are amazed that he paid it all and amazed that he wanted us at all. The new birth creates a change so that you love him more than you love anything else, and you enjoy him more than you enjoy anything else. Are you cut to the heart? Receive all the eternal life that Jesus bought for you. He will receive you with all of his heart! Are you a Christian? Praise the One who paid your debt and raised your life up from the dead.

Closing Song: “Jesus Paid It All"

Discussion Questions

• What is Easter? What typically comes to mind when you hear the word Easter? Why? 
• What answer do Christians give to the existence of evil in the world? How is our answer different than the answer the world gives?
• Christians not only believe in miracles; they are miracles. We don’t just give arguments for the resurrection of Jesus; we are an argument for his resurrection. In what ways is your life an argument for the Resurrection? How is God glorified in your life? 
• The fact of the Resurrection gives real assurance of guilt forgiven. How do you avoid the ditches of false assurance or false guilt? Do you have real assurance?
• God does not call the equipped; he equips the called. How do you see God equipping the disciples to testify of Christ? How is God equipping you? 

Application Questions

• Easter is about Jesus’ victory over sin and death. How would you explain the meaning of Easter to someone who does not know Christ? Take time right now to practice sharing the gospel with those in your group.
• The disciples were dramatically changed from hopeless, fearful, and doubtful before the resurrection to hopeful, fearless, and faithful witnesses after the Resurrection. Even their opponents noticed the change. Reflect on your own life and how God brought you from death to life. What change do you see? How might you share this evidence of change with others to encourage them in their faith or to challenge them to the faith? 
• You once were dead, but now you are alive in Christ (see Ephesians 2:1–10). Who do you know who is currently spiritually dead, who needs to hear about Jesus? Write down the names of those who  come to mind, pray for them, and seek to share the gospel with them.