The following is Part 3 of the transcript of the sermon by Pastor Paul White titled “Between the Pieces: What Really Happened at the Cross”. Check back each day as we continue to post the transcript to this exciting sermon.
14: But you denied the Holy One and the Just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.
Now, before I go any further, this verse always kind of amuses me because, let me ask you a question – Go back to Sunday School 101 – The night Jesus is on trial, which was a sham of a trial by the way, you call no jury in the middle of the night and bring in with no witnesses and convict a man to death. That’s a pretty pitiful trial. Jesus brought on “trial” before Pontius Pilate, standing outside warming his hands over a fire is which disciple? Peter. Who is the guy talking right here? Ok, keep that in mind.
Peter – that night someone says to him, “Aren’t you one of those men that follow the Galilean? Your voice betrays you, it sounds like you’re one of the Galileans. What does Peter say? “That’s not me, I don’t know him…. I don’t know who you’re talking about.” That happens twice, it happens three times, thus fulfilling a prophecy Jesus made just a few hours earlier when He said, “Peter, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. (You will what? Deny me.” Now, where does Peter get the gall to use in his sermon, “You denied the Holy One and the Just.”
If I were to say to you – who denied Jesus? What would your answer be? Peter. Then why does Peter turn the tables and say, “You denied the Holy One?” I think this is one of the most under-preached, beautiful scriptures about the New Covenant right here. Whenever you realize what has happened in you, you stop living in the guilt of the past, worried about being the guy that denied and you start standing up for the New Covenant of God’s grace and God’s peace. Peter is the one who denied Jesus, yet he stands there that day as if he never has. Man, I’m telling you, when you know how much God loves you, I want you to take your stand as if you’ve never sinned. I want you to walk through this world as if you’ve never failed. Why? Because when your sins were placed into Jesus, they were placed there past, present, and future once and for all, and you have the right to be like Peter. Not one person had the nerve in that crowd to go, “Wait a minute, we denied Him? You’re the one that denied Him!” Because he stood with the power of the Holy Ghost in the knowledge of forgiveness and preached this message. Now, Peter is identifying who Jesus is, “You denied the Holy One and the Just.”
By saying this, Peter is saying, “You guys denied that Jesus was everything He said He was.”
Let me introduce to you today a thought that we know but sometimes we forget –
The Jews did not put Jesus on the cross because He walked on water. They did not put Jesus on the cross because He fed the hungry, or he raised the dead, or he healed the sick. They put Him on the cross for one reason – Because He claimed that He and the Father were the same person.
Now, if you’re a good Jew, that’s blasphemy talk. A guy comes along and says – and I’ll tell you something else that got Him there: In John chapter 8, he said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” And do you know what words He used in the Hebrew? The exact same words that God used on Moses in the Land of Egypt when He said, “You go tell the people the I am has sent you.” And Jesus stands in John 8 and says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” And the fury came up in their eyes and they said, “How dare this guy say He’s the same as Our Father?” And Jesus said, “When you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. I and the Father are one. Whatever I see the Father do, that’s what I do.” Let me tell you, that’s why He went to the cross. They had to eliminate this man that they thought was blaspheming their God.
And Peter says, “You have denied the Holy One. You’ve denied the Just One.” Now, let me present this to you, Peter is claiming in this verse that God and Jesus are one in the same. How do we know? Because when the Apostle Paul qualifies the message of grace in that powerful book of Romans, the most complete, thorough picture of grace the world has ever seen. If you’ve never unveiled (?) yourself to those sixteen chapters, they’re worth every second they’ll take you to walk through Paul’s journey through the message of grace. When he arrives at the third chapter, he’s trying to prove to you that you’ve been justified. He’ll work hard in that third and fourth chapter of Romans proving to you that you are justified. He makes one of the most powerful, poignant statements about the justice system of God in Romans Chapter 3.
We will jump out of Acts real quick, and we’ll come back.
Abundant Grace Daily Devotional 