Following
Pastor David Jang’s sermon on Acts 3, this article reflects on Peter’s
accusation—“You killed the Author of life”—and traces the gospel from the cross
and resurrection to repentance, the joy of forgiveness, and the Church’s hope
for the restoration of all things. It invites readers to look beyond miracles
and rediscover faith centered on Jesus Christ.
In
Caravaggio’s The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, the light that
pierces the darkness reveals the wounds remaining on the risen Christ’s body
even before it illuminates His face. The resurrection is not a miracle that
pretends the wounds never existed. It is God’s great reversal, revealing that
life has triumphed while still bearing the marks of death.
Pastor
David Jang, founder of Olivet University in the United States, likewise does
not bypass the marks of sin in his sermon on Acts 3. Only after passing
directly through Peter’s accusation—“You killed the Author of life”—does the
gospel of the resurrection shine in its fullness: “But God raised Him from the
dead.”
The
message begins with the astonishing healing of a man. Born unable to walk, he
had spent forty years sitting in helplessness. Yet in the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, he rises, walks, leaps, and praises God. When the crowd begins to
stare at Peter and John, however, Peter immediately redirects their attention.
The center of this event is neither human power nor human godliness, but the
name of Jesus Christ, who conquered death.
At
that moment, Peter’s sermon becomes more than an explanation of a miracle. It
becomes a declaration of the gospel, revealing what the Church is called to
proclaim. The visible restoration of one man opens toward the invisible reality
of salvation. A story that begins with one man’s restored feet expands into the
news of resurrection for all humanity held under the power of sin and death.
When
the Door of a Miracle Opens, the Gospel Points Beyond It
People
easily stop at what they can see. The moment a man who had never walked rises
to his feet is overwhelming, and attention naturally turns toward those through
whom the miracle occurred. Yet Peter asks, “Why do you stare at us?” He refuses
to receive the miracle as light shining upon himself. Instead, he restores it
to its proper place—as a sign pointing toward Christ, the true source of that
light.
Through
this scene, Pastor David Jang emphasizes the proper self-understanding required
of a person led by the Holy Spirit. Those who proclaim the gospel must never
forget that they are not the owners of the message but its witnesses. No matter
how large a church’s organization, programs, finances, or ministries may
become, when they obscure the name of Jesus, the means displace the center.
What
the Church uniquely possesses is not an achievement that astonishes people. It
is the news that the Author of life died for sinners and rose again.
This
is also why Peter asks, “Why does this surprise you?” The healing of a man who
had been unable to walk for forty years was undoubtedly remarkable. Yet the
greater miracle was the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, together with
the birth of the Church through the coming of the Holy Spirit. When a smaller
miracle leads people to behold the greater work of salvation, the sign returns
to its rightful place. A miracle does not replace the gospel; it reveals the
One toward whom the gospel directs us.
The
Church today stands before the same question. Where do our words and ministries
cause people to fix their attention? Do they lead people to look at us, or do
they enable people to look through us and behold Christ?
Spiritual
humility is not the act of belittling oneself. It is the clear sense of
direction that returns to the Author of life every fragment of glory that tries
to remain with us.
The
Resurrection’s “But” at the End of the Sentence of Sin
Peter’s
sermon does not avoid the truth that makes his listeners uncomfortable. They
denied the Holy and Righteous One, asked for a murderer to be released, and
ultimately killed the Author of life.
Were
this accusation directed only at the crowds of ancient Jerusalem, the cross
would remain a distant historical event with little connection to us. Yet the
sermon brings that sentence into the life of every believer today, compelling
us to recognize that our own sin is not unrelated to the crucifixion of Christ.
When
grace is proclaimed without confronting sin, the gospel can easily be reduced
to cheap consolation. On the other hand, when only the weight of sin is
emphasized without proclaiming Christ’s resurrection, faith becomes imprisoned
in condemnation and despair.
Peter’s
sermon moves beyond both extremes through a single word: “But.” This
conjunction does not diminish the seriousness of human sin, yet it refuses to
allow sin to become the final sentence.
Humanity
killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead.
Human
beings believed they had closed the door with the cross, but God opened it
again through the resurrection. This reversal is not an accidental conclusion
added to the story. It is the fulfillment in Jesus Christ of God’s promise of
salvation, carried through Abraham, Moses, Samuel, and the prophets. Peter
proclaims that Jesus, who came as the suffering Servant, passed through death
and was glorified.
The
gospel does not conceal human sin, but neither does it declare that sin is
greater than God’s salvation.
Faith
is not an optimism that denies failure. It is the act of trusting the path of
resurrection that God has opened even in the deepest place of failure. Honesty
before the cross and hope in the resurrection, therefore, can never be
separated from one another.
When
Repentance Blossoms into the Joy of Forgiveness
Peter
says, “You acted in ignorance,” but he does not turn ignorance into a license
for sin. Now that they have come to know the truth, he calls them to repent and
turn back.
Understanding
is not knowledge that allows people to escape responsibility. It is light that
changes the direction of life. Repentance is not an act of endlessly condemning
oneself. It is the event in which a person who had turned away from the Author
of life turns back toward Him with heart, mind, and body.
At
the end of this turning stands the forgiveness of sins. The “times of
refreshing” proclaimed by Peter do not refer to a momentary emotional high or a
form of religious excitement that helps people forget reality. They describe
the profound liberation that comes from knowing that an unpayable debt of sin
has been forgiven and that a path of new life has opened for someone once bound
to the order of death.
Just
as the man who could not walk rose and began praising God, a soul that has
received forgiveness begins to walk in a new way.
In
this sermon, repentance and grace do not stand on opposite sides. Repentance is
not a price paid in order to earn grace, nor does grace make repentance
unnecessary. Only when a person realizes, “I am the sinner who killed the
Author of life,” does the love of the cross—where Christ bore that sin in our
place—become a deeply personal gospel.
Because
sin is not treated lightly, forgiveness becomes profound. Because forgiveness
is real, repentance leads not to despair but to joy.
This
is the order of the gospel that Pastor David Jang’s sermon presents once again
to the Church. We must not obscure sin merely to gain people’s approval, and we
must not delay the proclamation of the resurrection in order to crush sinners
beneath condemnation.
When
the exposure of sin, the atonement of the cross, the resurrection, the
forgiveness of sins, and the joy of new life are proclaimed as one continuous
movement, the Word pierces the soul and raises it to life at the same time.
The
Church’s Hope as It Awaits the Restoration of All Things
Peter’s
vision extends beyond the healing of one man and the forgiveness of an
individual’s sins. It looks toward the time of “the restoration of all things.”
Jesus
Christ has already come and opened the door of salvation through His cross and
resurrection, yet the fullness of restoration has not been completed. Believers
live within the tension of enjoying the grace of salvation that has already
come while waiting for the returning Lord to bring all things to completion.
This
waiting is not a passive attitude that turns away from reality. The Church is a
community of witnesses called to proclaim repentance, announce the life found
in the name of Jesus, and help those who have received forgiveness walk in
newness of life.
The
love, obedience, service, and mission practiced by the Church in this world are
not human attempts to accomplish the restoration of all things by our own
strength. They are faithful responses that bear advance witness to the kingdom
the Lord Himself will one day bring to fulfillment.
The
sermon views this history of salvation through Jesus Christ, the new Adam.
Within the order of sin and death inherited from Adam, humanity cannot save
itself. In Christ, however, the way of life and new creation has been opened.
Salvation
is not merely an ethical improvement through which people become slightly
better versions of themselves. It is a fundamental transfer from the realm
where sin and death rule into the kingdom governed by the Author of life.
The
Church’s mission, therefore, always returns to one center: we do not conceal
the truth that we are sinners who killed the Author of life; we boldly testify
that God raised Him from the dead; and we proclaim the forgiveness and hope of
restoration opened to all who repent.
Every
other ministry finds its proper direction only when it reveals this gospel.
What
astonishes us today, and upon whom have we fixed our attention? Are we
lingering over visible achievements and human abilities, or are we looking
beyond them toward the Lord of the cross and resurrection?
And
when we truly believe the divine “But” that God has placed
after the sentence of our sin, in what direction must our lives now turn?
Perhaps
the deepest place of biblical reflection is not where answers are given too
quickly, but where we remain before these questions and look once again to the
Author of life.
David Jang Sermon Video:
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