May the Lord help us this evening
to continue our meditation in the Acts of the Apostles, and
it's chapter 13, and tonight we'll read from verse 31 to verse
37. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter
13, and reading from verse 31 to verse 37. And he was seen many days of
them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. who are
his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he
has raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second
Psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And
as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no
more to return to corruption, he said, on this wise, I will
give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore, he saith also
in another psalm, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to
see corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep. and was laid unto his fathers
and saw corruption. But he whom God raised again
saw no corruption." Well, I expect most of you will
remember that Paul is addressing the people in the synagogue at
Antioch in Pisidia. And he's been tracing out the
history of Israel and more specifically with regards to the late days,
the latter days concerning the life and the death and now the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have observed
that the apostle so many times refers them to the truth of God's
word recorded in the Old Testament. Those texts which no doubt the
Hebrew people would have been familiar with and therefore the
Apostle is able to emphasize and to explain how now that those
things which were prophesied had now come to pass and surely
to the true Church of God this must have been wonderfully encouraging
and a great strength to direct them to the truth that the Lord
Jesus Christ was indeed the Savior Well, now we live many days after
that, but nonetheless, these considerations are still very
relevant to us today, because there must be times in the Christian's
experience when there are those questions raised, are these things
really true? Or are they just imagination,
or they have just developed? Well, it is a wonderful strength
to be able to refer to the word of God, Old Testament prophecies
and to see how wonderfully and how accurately they have come
to pass after so many years. It would not have been possible
for just natural man to have predicted the situations which
developed. And so may we tonight be really
thankful for the truth we have in the Word of God. And so last
Friday we finished with those words, but God raised him from
the dead. Yes, the Lord Jesus was laid
in the sepulcher, but he was raised from the dead. And it
was God that raised him from the dead. And so you read, and
he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee
to Jerusalem who are his witnesses unto his people and the Apostle
Paul tells us when he wrote to the Corinthians of the situation
of which existed and how he directed them to that which had occurred
and the revelation that had been granted to a large number of
people he tells us in the 15th chapter and that he was seen
of Cephas that's Peter then of the twelve and after that he
was seen of about 500 brethren at once of whom the greatest
part remain unto this present but some are fallen asleep and
after that he was seen of James then of all the apostles and
last of all he was seen of me also as of one born out of due
time. For I am not the least of the
apostles that are not meets to be called an apostle because
I persecuted the church of God. So we know that the Lord Jesus
appeared for those 40 days after his resurrection to a number
of people. A confirmation, they were able
as witnesses to be able to declare that the Lord Jesus Christ had
been raised from the dead, and it would seem the Lord only appeared
to those who were believers, those who were chosen of God
before time began. And so we have this statement,
and we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise
which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto
us, their children. You see, these were the promises
which the Word of God had spoke of. These are the promises which
the Church of God were relying upon. We today, we rely upon
the Word of God. But the Old Testament people,
they relied upon the promises of God in the Old Testament.
And so how wonderful it was for them when they observed the fulfillment
of those promises. And so as the Apostle tells us
here, and we declare unto you glad tidings. It was good news,
wasn't it? Glad tidings, how the promise
which was made unto the fathers, God has fulfilled the same unto
us, their children. In that he has raised up Jesus
again. And particularly now he references
this to the truth of God's word, as it is written in the second
psalm thou art my son this day have I begotten thee and we read
that second psalm this evening and how true it was and how we
have and see the fulfillment of that as the apostle directs
these people who are gathered in this synagogue as you know
the apostle was invited to address them and he grasped the opportunity
and stood up and spoke the great truths to them and he goes on
and says and as concerning that he raised him up from the dead
no more to return to corruption he said on this wise I will give
you the sure mercies of David never before, apart of course
from Elijah and the other Old Testament person that didn't
die. Otherwise everybody else had
died and had really seen corruption. But the Lord Jesus Christ He
saw no corruption. He was raised from the dead. And as the apostle says, no more
to return to corruption. He said, on this wise, I will
give you the sure mercies of David. Well, there are many prophetical
truths in the Psalms and we have not time tonight to go through
them all, but you might go through the Psalms and read the Psalms
of David And notice how many references there are really to
the truth of God, the risen savior. And perhaps just particularly
this one that we read in the 16th Psalm and the 10th verse
where the Psalmist David records, wherefore he saith also in another
Psalm, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Now, of course, try and imagine
ourselves back in those days It would have been hard, surely,
when David wrote such statement to think, well, how can a person
die? How can a person be raised from
the dead? How can a person in that situation
have no corruption? But here we have then now the
fulfillment of this great and wonderful truth, this great and
wonderful fact, that here was a human, a man, a real man, who
did not suffer corruption and the truth of God was being fulfilled
and it had been fulfilled and the Apostle Paul is now telling
these Jews that that truth which they'd read and no doubt had
believed but probably hadn't understood had now been fulfilled
before their eyes and what a truth it was and the Apostle you see
is endeavoring to drive home the truth that the Lord Jesus
Christ was the Savior. He was the one who had come to
save his people from their sins, and here he was proving the truth
to them. And so he says, he brings this
psalm to their attention, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one
to seek corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep. and was laid unto his fathers,
and saw corruption." Now, there's two things here, really. You
see, David, he died. His body saw corruption. His soul did not see corruption. His soul went immediately to
be in the presence of Almighty God. And although he fell asleep,
and that's how the Word of God explains it, when we die, We
sleep, we die, but we will be raised again. And to think of
the glory of that occasion, to be raised incorruptible. We will die, our bodies will
be corrupted. Like all those people which we
read of in the word of God, all their bodies were corrupted.
But this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who the apostle is exalting,
saw no corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep and was
laid unto his fathers and saw corruption. And then the apostle
says, but he whom God raised again saw no corruption. And please let us note that here
again, the apostle tells us so clearly, it was God that raised
up the Lord Jesus Christ. that he saw no corruption. And of course it will be God
that will raise us up on that great resurrection day. It'll
be the power of God. We of course will not be able
to raise ourselves from the dead. No, it'll be the great and blessed
work of almighty God. And what a wonderful thought
it is to think that a day will come no doubt a day will come
when all of us perhaps will die and our bodies will see corruption
but then there will be that great and glorious day when we shall
be raised incorruptible yes and our souls will be united then
to our body and thus we shall be then forever with the Lord."
Well, these are wonderful truths and great things to consider
and how wonderful that the Apostle Paul was able to come and speak
to these people in Antioch, in Pisidia, a long way from Jerusalem. But nonetheless, the Lord had
a work for him to do and he went there and he preached the gospel.
And now we're privileged today to be able to read these truths
that the Apostle spoke so many years ago that our faith might
be strengthened as we see the fulfillment of those prophecies
brought to pass they have come to pass there are those things
still of course which will come to pass but these things that
concern our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ how precious and needful
they are for our faith today to recognize the faithfulness
of our God in fulfilling those promises which have been recorded
by those patriarchs many years ago and yet they came to pass
and so tonight may we rejoice in these truths to realize we
tonight can come to this risen Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who now sits in glory at the Father's right hand with a body
that did not see corruption. And thankful to say that by the
word of God, we can believe these things as the Spirit of God gives
us that faith to believe. And he whom God raised again
saw no corruption. Amen.