Look with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter three and verse 15. We'll begin with this scripture as we continue our study through the different titles of Christ. And in this message, we're going to consider the Lord Jesus as the Prince of Life. who he's called here, the Prince of Life. Acts 3 and verse 15, this is Peter who's preaching and he's doing so before the Sanhedrin. They called him into question because they had healed a lame man who had sat there at the door of the temple and The religious people of the day could do nothing for him, but give him alms. But when Peter and John passed that way and he looked upon them, well, it says there in verse four of Acts three, actually Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John said, look on us. Now, he may well have expected that what he received would be some more alms, because that's what the lame and halt did. They sat by the temple waiting and begging. But he gave heed unto them, in verse five, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have given, that I have, I give thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That was that detested name. He didn't say in the name of Jehovah God, although he would have been right in doing so, but that detested name, Jesus of Nazareth, he says, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him. and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up, stood and walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. So this was more than just a physical healing. Otherwise he wouldn't have been praising God. And so when people knew it, they knew it that he had been the one who sat for alms at what's called the Gate Beautiful. which is a beautiful term as well, because each one of those gates represented the Lord Jesus Christ, even though the people didn't acknowledge it in the day. How beautiful is he? Every aspect of that temple pertained to his glory, and they were filled with wonder and amazement. And then as the lame man, which was healed, held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto him in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering, And then this is where Peter then speaks. When Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? For why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go." Here it is, but ye denied the Holy One and the just, all those are descriptions of the Lord Jesus Christ, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you. But even that is a picture of substitution. that Christ should be the one who would lay down his life and a murderer be set free. Well, that could be said of any one of us for whom Christ paid the debt, we're no different. But what happened? Verse 15, and killed the prince of life whom God hath raised up from the dead whereof we are witnesses. And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." Where'd the faith originate? Well, Peter's taking it back to Jesus of Nazareth, the Prince of Life. So there's a lot that we want to consider here just on this title of Christ, the Prince of Life. Number one, it identifies the Lord Jesus as the author of life. When you see Prince of Life, that Greek word for prince means a leader or an originator, an initiator or the author. just like we read over here in Hebrews, where it says to run the race there in Hebrews 12, having your eyes set upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the one who initiates it and the one who sees it through to the end. It's not that he just gives life, gives faith, and then you're on your own. No, from beginning to end, He is the author and preserver of life. If we're the Lords today, we know that it's only because we were given life in the Lord Jesus Christ and He continues to sustain that life in us all the way until the end of this physical life. And so here we see that for Christ to be the Prince of life, He's the author. over in John chapter one and verse four. We'll just look at a couple of these references as we go down through here. This is confirmed by the apostle John, who by the way, was there, Peter and John, when this lame man was healed. Same John, but over here in John one, he describes the Lord Jesus as being God in the flesh. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. That is, he was always one with God and all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. And here it is verse four, in him was life and the life was the light of man. Once a person is given life by the Lord Jesus Christ, then they're given light to see. I know there are some blind men walking that have never been given eyes to see, and it doesn't matter how close you bring them to the light, they can't see unless they're given eyes. Here's describing that life that Christ gives as being the light of men. And over in Colossians 1, 16, Paul says, all things were created through him and for him. When you think of created, you go all the way back to Genesis 1, when it says, God spoke and there was light. Well, who spoke? It was Christ. He was there with his father, even before he came to this earth. And so all things are by him. He's the author of life. It's what it means there, but also he's the giver of eternal life. It's not just that, okay, here's life and it's in Jesus, but now you've got to make your way to him in order to get that life. If a dead person could make his way to The Lord on his own, he wouldn't need life. But the problem is we're dead in trespasses and sins as we're born in this world. And therefore we need the Lord to come to us and to give us life and cause us to live abundantly. And that's why he came into this world in order to give life unto those sheep, which represent those elect sinners that God purposed should be saved and sent his son to save. Over in John, again, the same John that we see here in Acts along with Peter is the one who wrote this in John chapter 10, verse 10. It's not that he just came to give life. In other words, resuscitate just enough so someone can start breathing on their own and then removes himself. Here in John chapter 10 and verse 10, It speaks of him that has come and says the thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. Who's he talking about there, but false preachers that speak to people and tell them, well, if you'll just do this or you'll just do that, they get them to make a false profession. But ultimately all that is, is to kill and to destroy. Cause there's no life in man's doings or commands. But the Lord says here, I am come that they might have life, which means had he not come, there would not be life. There's physical life. He created the world, but then he entered into this world to give spiritual life, everlasting life, eternal life unto as many as the father had given him. And notice it says, and that they might have it more abundantly. That means that just like these lungs are what sustain us and cause us to breathe in and out, get oxygen through our bodies. Christ is the author and he's a sustainer of this life and he never withdraws from any for whom he paid the debt. That's what it means for him to be the Prince of life. So here, Peter coming back to this message in Acts three. In verse 13 particularly, he goes all the way back to the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. There's not one God for the Old Testament and another for the New. So by opening with this reference to God, Peter is making it clear that he was speaking to them about Jehovah God. When he says that it's by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, that this man was healed, he's saying that it was by Jehovah God. That's who he is, this Jesus of Nazareth that you have rejected. He's the same God represented all the way throughout the Old Testament scriptures. People tend to reason, well, there's a God of the Old Testament, a God of the New. No, there's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. But here he's described as being the servant, his servant, Jesus. It says in verse 13, God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers hath glorified his son, Jesus, whom he delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. That's why Christ came. He came to serve his father. And I believe the greatness here of Peter's message or sermon is that it was all about Jesus. It wasn't about the lame man. It wasn't about how you can have miracles too, or healing too, if you'll just do this or that. The focus of his entire message wasn't even upon Peter or anything he did, but all about the Lord Jesus. That's why up there in verse 12, he made it clear. Why are you staring at us? And you stop and think about it. If Christ is the creator of all things, is it any great thing for him to heal a lame man? He who created the universe? Not at all. But Peter's immediately turning the focus back on the Lord Jesus. Why marvel ye at this and why look ye so earnestly on us? A lot of preachers like that attention on them, thinking somehow they have some power. as though by our own power or what holiness, they didn't have any in themselves. Christ was their holiness. We had made this man to walk. So the first thing that Peter said about the Lord Jesus in this message was to draw attention to the truth that the Lord Jesus was that perfect servant of Jehovah God. and even in the Hebrew scriptures, that's how he set forth. If you look back in Isaiah chapter 42, Isaiah 42, he was God in the flesh, but he was God's servant to accomplish the salvation of those sinners that the father gave him. Here in Isaiah 42, God the father says, behold my servant in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him." That's what it means to be anointed. The anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. And certainly that's how we see him portrayed here in the New Testament. The concept of him being the servant of the Lord. was something that we see in the Old Testament, particularly by Isaiah. Remember Isaiah 53, that's all about him coming to do the will of his father to lay down his life. That's what was required in order for God to be just and justify. Salvation was not accomplished from heaven. It was accomplished on earth. It was decreed from heaven. but it was decreed that his son should come as his servant to work out that salvation necessary for God to be just and declare righteous those centers that he had given to his son. That's the only way that any could be saved. So you can see why he's called the Prince of Life. He is the leader, he's the originator, he's the author. But then we see coming back to my text here, the rejection and death of the Prince of Life. Really an irony when you stop and think about it, the Jews and Romans crucified the very one who gives life. When you're blind and can't see, then you're gonna kill the one who alone gives you life. I remember reading or when we grew up, reading about the goose that laid the golden eggs and every day there was a golden egg and pretty soon somebody got curious and thought, well if we'd rather just wait for one a day, let's go ahead and open them up. So they killed the goose that laid the golden egg and in the end, that was it. I don't mean to imply that somehow Christ in any way can be compared to that, but it's an illustration that shows us that here was the very one whose hand life was to give it and yet they rejected him, they despised his work and his way, everything about him. Back here in Acts chapter 2, though we see where all of this was again according to God's purpose. Look what Peter preached even before this message here in Acts chapter 3. He says in verse 22, ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. They didn't do one thing more to Christ than what had been determined by God the Father. And what it says, and for knowledge of God, when you see that word, a lot of people think, well, that was God just looking down and seeing what men would do to his son. No, for knowledge is God's prior knowledge of what he had determined. You can't separate the determinant counsel and for knowledge of God, it's all one. that God's foreknowledge, why does God have foreknowledge? Because he knows what he has decreed. He knows those he has purpose to save and he has foreknowledge of them. It's not that he saw that they would believe and so he says, okay, I'm gonna choose them. No, that's not in man's power even to believe or to choose Christ. It takes the work of God from beginning to end. But this is where Peter boldly puts the guilt of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ squarely where it belonged. Yes, Pilate, the Roman governor, it says there was determined to let him go, but the Jewish mob insisted on the crucifixion, that he not let him go. So you've got this tension. And even though in the end, those that crucified him did their will, They didn't do one thing more than what was God's will. And that's how we're to see this particular outworking of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and how it was he the Prince of life, the giver of life should ironically be put to death. That wasn't his end, but that was how God had purposed that life be given. There could be no satisfaction of God's law and justice unless Christ laid down his life as a sacrificial lamb. But once he had, then there was life in that death. That when he raised him from the grave, it was that he might give life unto everyone for whom he paid the debt. So he's called here the son of Jesus, whom ye delivered up, verse 13. And when he was determined to let him go, he couldn't, but ye denied the Holy One. Here, Peter exalts again, the Lord Jesus as God, when he calls him the Holy One, that's who he is. That term is used more than 40 times in the Old Testament as a high and glorious title of Jehovah God, So there's no question when Peter was preaching this that he was declaring it, declaring him for who he is as none other than God himself, the very covenant God with whom God himself had established that covenant whereby he would save that people that he gave to his son. When you talk about God's eternal decree, it was that upon condition, Christ's coming and paying the debt, he should justify his people. The condition was on Christ, it's not with man, it's on Christ and yet he says here and the just, so you see the Holy One and just, he had to be, he had to be the perfect lamb without blemish and without spot in order to be the representative but he says you desired a murderer to be granted unto you. That's one of the ironies of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, in that while the crowd rejected him, they embraced a criminal and a murderer named Barabbas. And you can read about that over in Luke 23, 13 to 25. But that's how Peter boldly confronted the audience. He preferred a murderer to the just one, and yet As I said before, this is a type and picture of substitution. This is how God's purpose that Christ should take the place of the worst of sinners. And when Peter spoke here of sin, he used the word you several times in this context here. It says in desire to murder, to be granted unto you and killed the Prince of life whom God hath raised from the dead. Whereas we are witnesses. And so there's no question, it was these that had delivered him up and denied him. It was these that had delivered him up and denied his righteousness and his justice, that it should be that which would give them standing with God. But now wait a minute, if we say that Christ died for our sin, That means then that these were our representatives who delivered him up and killed the Prince of life. If I believe that Christ paid my sin debt, then I must take the blame. I must say that I killed the Prince of life. I raised my fist against God and I deserve nothing but condemnation. But there again, we see even in that irony, they killed the very one who gives life. I'm thankful that nothing in my sin could keep Christ from paying the debt and God justifying me even though I deserve to be the one to die. And then it says there that God raised him from the dead in verse 15. So you've got killed, all that's related to the prince of life, That assumes a death, but then you've got, God raised him from the dead where of we are witnesses. The death of Christ is not the end of the story. And I know we say that we believe that it's in the cross of Christ that salvation was procured. It is, but the cross was not the end. It required Christ dying, but had he not raised again from the grave, then we would just be following today a martyr, that's all. The fact that God raised him from the grave, you see that in verse 15? I know Christ said, no man takes my life. I lay it down of myself and I take it again, such as the commandment that I've received of my father. Well that's true, he laid down his life but it's God who raised him from the dead. Why did God raise him from the dead? Well it's because satisfaction had been made and that's how we know that when Christ died, the justification was accomplished. It's not that he died and now he's waiting for those for whom Christ died now to be born and then in time Turn to Christ, any for whom he died, no matter how many years after that death, that they're born in this world in the fullness of the time, just like Christ came into the world in the fullness of time, God sends forth his spirit into the hearts of those and reveals unto them that when Christ died, that death was their justification. They're given eyes to look back to the cross, not just the death, but the resurrection of Christ and find hope and confidence that in that death, that was all of their salvation. The resurrection did not accomplish justification. It was the proof of justification. If you come over here to Romans chapter four, you'll see how Paul wrote about this. Romans chapter 4 verse 25, who was delivered for our offenses. That word for means because of, and then what? Was raised again for or because of our justification. He wasn't raised in order to justify them but because they'd already been justified. It's like They may have had a wanted poster or one of the worst murderers of the day and wanted for murder is what it says on the poster. Well, it doesn't mean wanted in order to murder. It's wanted because they'd already murdered. And the same here who was delivered for, or because of our offenses. So when he died, it was to pay that sin debt. And when he was raised again, it was for or because of our justification. The raising again from the dead was the proof that God had indeed justified everyone for whom Christ had paid the debt. And Peter says of whom we are eyewitnesses. That's what he boldly declares there in Acts 3.15. What we're believing here in this word is not just some made up fables, but eyewitnesses. You say, well, I've never seen the Lord Jesus. I haven't either. I didn't see all of this taking place, but here's this word that is written whereby Peter declares where of we are witnesses. Whenever there's an incident and police are investigating, The first thing they'll see, ask somebody, well, did you see what happened? And if they said, no, I just happened to be standing here, well, then they're gonna move on. They're gonna find somebody that was an eyewitness in order to put together a case. And that's what Peter's declaring here, that as an eyewitness, not just of his life, because he did, he was one of those disciples that was called out by Christ, left his nets to go follow Christ, not only an eyewitness of his death, but also an eyewitness of his resurrection. The resurrection of Christ validates everything that he said he came to do. And that's why the resurrection is every bit as much a part of the gospel as Christ's death. You can't separate the two. Over in 1 Corinthians 15, that's what Paul declared when there were those that were denying the resurrection. They were saying that it didn't happen. And Paul is saying very plainly, well, if it didn't happen, then your faith is vain. Now here in verse one of first Corinthians 15, he says, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and wherein you stand by which also ye are what saved. There's salvation in this gospel that pertains to the death of Christ. If you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain, unless you're just one of those that just intellectually embraces it, but there's never been any faith granted to you to believe in your heart. But he says, I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also receive, how that Christ died for our sins, note, according to the scriptures." Some people want to just say, well, all we have to do is just believe he died for sin. No, there's a way and a manner he died and for whom he died and why he died. It's according to the scriptures. And that he was buried, that was the proof that indeed he was dead. And during that time, he was three days and three nights in Sheol, revealing himself unto those that from Adam all the way forward had been there waiting for this Redeemer to come. Their souls were there and they were to be taken with him when he ascended on high. That's Ephesians 2. But that's why he was buried three days and three nights and that he arose again the third day according to the scriptures. If you count the days of the week, People say, well, you know, good Friday. He died on Friday. Well, how do you get three days and three nights between Friday night and Sunday morning? Because by the time the ladies came to the tomb, he was already risen. So it wasn't Friday. All that tradition just needs to go by the wayside. Likely he was, he died midweek. That's what Daniel said. He was cut off in the middle of the week. It had been a Wednesday. buried Wednesday night, he would have been in the grave Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night. Three days would have been Thursday, Friday and all day Saturday. So that leaves open Saturday night. Was he still in the grave Saturday night? No. What was Saturday? It was the Sabbath. That was the day that Christ rose from the grave and that's why he's the Lord of the Sabbath. He fulfilled everything pertaining to those Old Testament days his work so that when the women came first dawning of the day, it wasn't then that he arose but they found the tomb empty. So all of this is according to the scriptures, that's what is important there, according to the scriptures and that he was seen of Cephas then of the twelve. So what does this all elicit from those who heard Peter? Are we just giving information out to people? He's not given an invitation here. That's what most preachers say. Well, now it's time to give an invitation and see how many want to accept Jesus. He didn't come for that purpose. Over in Acts 3, 19, actually he gives a command. The gospel is not an invitation, it's a command. And when he says, repent ye therefore and be converted. Repentance and conversion are one and the same. What is repentance? Over in Acts 2 and 21, it says it's a turning toward God, even faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who gives that? That's the spirit. And it says that your sins may be blotted out, that the evidence of your sins having been blotted out is what he's saying. How do we know that Christ died for us? Well, our sins have been blotted out and therefore we're granted repentance to be converted. There are none turning to Christ whose sins have not already been blotted out. When the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. It's the Lord that grants that forgiveness and that newness of life to those that he turns to himself and for whom he died and rose again and ascended on high. That's why Paul declared there in Galatians 2 20, I'm crucified with Christ. That means in his death, that was the death of everyone that he came to save. And yet he says, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life, which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith, not in the son of God, but the faith of the son of God, the one who grants faith. and thereby we live. So even as Peter and John were eyewitnesses, as we go forth, we're witnesses if the Lord has given us life to this testimony, because Christ has been pleased to grant us eyes to see and ears to hear. He's the sovereign Lord. And therefore, when we hear that word repent, it's a command and to turn to him We so do by His will. Prince of Life, what a title that is.