I want us to turn again to the
account that we have of Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost
here in Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. We were considering
something of the content of this chapter last Lord's Day evening
and we turn now to read from verse 22 through to verse 28. part of the sermon that was preached
on that auspicious day of the glorious descent of the Spirit
of God upon the apostles. Verse 22, following, Ye men of
Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, the 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. Whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning
him. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover,
also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell. Neither wilt thou suffer thine
Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance. I want, as we consider this particular
portion of the sermon, to really center what I say around the
opening part of the 22nd verse, where Peter addresses his congregation
and says, ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God. And to say something then with
regards to the man, Christ Jesus. He is of course that one that
the other apostle Paul speaks of in 1 Timothy 2.5 when he declares
that there is one God. and one mediator between God
and men, the man, Christ Jesus. It is the same man that all the
apostles would speak of and preach of. Now, last Lord's Day evening,
we were considering then the former parts of the chapter. In fact, we took for our text
the very first verse concerning the day of Pentecost, when the
day of Pentecost was fully come. They, that is all the Lord's
apostles and disciples, were with one accord in one place.
And then there is that account that follows the descent of the
Spirit of the Lord God upon them. And it's interesting what Luke,
who's the author, the human author, of course, of this Book of Acts,
under the inspiration of the Spirit, he says, when the day
of Pentecost was fully come, and that expression, fully come,
the verb that's used here literally means to be completed, to be
fulfilled. Here we have the fulfillment
of what was the day of Pentecost in the Old Testament. It was
the 50th day after the Feast of the Passover. They were to
measure some seven weeks, a week of weeks. And Pentecost is referred
to in the Old Testament as the Feast of Weeks. And it marked
the firstfruits of the harvest that they were to gather in and
of course here we have its fulfillment and the fulfillment is that there
is to be the firstfruits of a great spiritual harvest as a consequence
of what had been accomplished on the day of Passover when the
great fulfillment the Lord Jesus the Paschal Lamb had made that
great sin atoning sacrifice And so as the consequence of that
work that Christ had completed by his obedience unto the death
of the cross, the Spirit comes and here we have the first fruits
of that great spiritual harvest. There will be a great in-gathering
of sinners to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And how Peter
begins his sermon, There in verse 16 he says, this
is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And as it were,
he then announces his text, because what we have from verse 17 through
to 21 is actually a quotation from the closing verses of Joel
chapter 2. But as he makes reference to
that particular scripture, so he also interprets that scripture. What it actually says there in
Joel 2.28 is that it shall come to pass afterward. Afterward. But Peter says it shall come
to pass in the last days. The afterward is the last days.
This day in which we're living, this day of grace, this gospel
day. this dispensation of the Holy
Spirit, a day that is marked really by the events that are
recorded in this particular chapter, the descent of the Spirit of
God. But we observed, we said last
time, that the amazing thing is that as Peter quotes that
passage from Joel, he then goes on to preach, and the sermon
that he preaches is one that is full of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not that he speaks so much
of the Spirit. The Spirit is upon him. He is
under that gracious influence, the unction of the Spirit of
God. And yet he speaks so much of the Lord Jesus. Isn't that
the mark of the Spirit-filled man? Because the Spirit comes
in this day as the Spirit of Christ. That is his office in
the outworking of the great covenant of grace to come as the Spirit
of Christ. And so the sermon very much centers
in the Lord Jesus, his person, and his work. And here is the
test, you see, whereby we are to try every sermon that we ever
hear. If the preacher has nothing to
say about Christ, that is not a true sermon. whether he preached
from the Old Testament or the New Testament. The task of that
faithful servant of the Lord Jesus is to make much of Christ
and to speak of Him. And this is what Peter is doing. And he uses great gospel words
really. As he comes to the end of his
quotation from Joel, in verse 21, he says, He shall come to
pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved." In these last days, in this Gospel day, it shall
come to pass. More literally, it shall be. It shall be that whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. These are great
Gospel words. That expression, it shall be. It's a gospel word, the sureness,
the certainty of that salvation that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ask, says Christ, and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye
shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. The gospel is full of shalls
and of wills. It shall be then. that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord." And here is another great
gospel word, this word, whosoever, because this salvation is not
only for the Jew, this is a salvation that is to go to the ends of
the world. It's a salvation for sinners of the Gentiles, as well
as for the Jews. And right at the end of Scripture,
there in Revelation 22, 17, the Spirit and the Bride say come,
and let him that heareth say come, and let him that is a thirst
come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life
freely." What a blessing it is to have these great Gospel words,
the whosoever. Oh, no limitations here. The
fullness and the freeness of the preaching of the gospel of
the grace of God. And it all centers in this man
that we're going to consider something more of this morning.
As the Apostle moves on in his preachings
he says at verse 22, Ye men of Israel hear these words, Jesus
of Nazareth, a man approved of God. I want to say something
then again with regards to the doctrine of the person of the
Lord Jesus. What a blessed truth it is, the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The great mystery of those two
natures He is man and He is God, two natures in that one blessed
person. And how we need to remember the
reality of that human nature. We rightly make much of the fact
that He is God. But He is also truly human, as
human as any one of us present in this chapel today. Jesus is
a man. And here we are reminded of that
great truth of his humanity. And I want, as we come to consider
this portion of scripture this morning, I want to divide what
I say into some three parts. First of all, to say something
with regards to Christ, the man approved of God, Then secondly,
Christ the man who was delivered unto death. And thirdly, Christ
as the man who is raised again from the dead. These three great
truths concerning this particular man. First of all, Christ the
man approved, owned of God, acknowledged, by God. And how is He acknowledged? Well, we have it here, don't
we, in this verse, this 22nd verse. 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 you yourselves also
know. How He is by all these remarkable
works, one who is being acknowledged and approved by God as the Eternal
Son of God. It's that mystery you see, that
great mystery of godliness that God was manifest in the flesh. Yes, he is a man, but at the
same time he is also the Eternal Son of God. And look at the words
that he used here to mark the way in which he has been approved.
Miracles, wonders, signs. The Godhead of the Lord Jesus
Christ is revealed in these works of great power. And we see it
in the course of his ministry when we read through the Gospels.
He raises men to life again, not only Lazarus, but think of
another event recorded there in Luke 7, the widow of Nain's
son, this poor widow, there she is, it's the funeral of her son,
and the Lord Jesus is there, and he goes to the bar, he goes
to the coffin and he touches, and the young man is raised to
life again, and what was the outcome? Well, we're told in
that chapter, Luke 7, 16, "...there came fear on all, and they glorified
God, saying that the great prophets had risen up, and that God hath
visited his people." Oh, it's a visitation from God. This is
God. who is there to perform this
great miracle. This is God manifest in the flesh,
this is the fulfillment of the prophetic office, the great prophet
of the Lord. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and we read of him of course doing many,
many miracles. But we also have mention here
of wonders. It's miracles and wonders and
signs. They're all synonyms of course.
They're all referring to one and the same thing. The mighty
deeds that the Lord Jesus performs. But each of the words indicates
something different about those works. They're miracles. They're
also wonders. And As we see previously in the
chapter, when the Spirit comes upon these men who in the May
were unlearned men, and now they're speaking in known languages to
all that are gathered there at Jerusalem for this great feast
of weeks, Pentecost. And there are many Jews from
different parts and proselytes, gentile converts to the Jewish
religion who speak many different languages. And what do we read
at the end of verse 11? We do hear them speak in our
tongues the wonderful works of God. The wonderful works. And the Lord Jesus is that one
who was approved of God by wonders. Oh, is he not himself a great
wonder? For unto us a child is born,
and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful. Oh, that's
the first name that we have there in Isaiah 9, 6. He's Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. he is a wonder himself because
he's a man and yet he's never anything less than God and isn't
that the promise that we have there back in Isaiah 9 a child
is born but a son is given or the son is not born you see he
is the eternal son of the eternal father but what was conceived
in the womb of his mother That holy thing, when the Holy Ghost
comes upon the Virgin, that holy thing that shall be born of thee,
shall be called the Son of God. What is conceived is a human
nature, a body, a soul, that is joined to the person of God's
eternal Son. That's a wonder. That's a wonder. Miracles, wonders, and signs,
it says. And you know, we've mentioned
it many, many a time, that throughout John's Gospel he uses a particular
word that we know in our authorized version as miracle, but in fact
it's the Greek word that really means a sign. That's the basic
meaning of the word that he's used. It is a miracle, but the
word is actually the Greek word for sign, this beginning of signs. did Jesus incarnate of Galilee,
and manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed on
Him." The miracles, the wonders, are signs. And what do signs
do? They point. And these all point to the man who is performing these great
deeds. Who is this man? Oh, he is marked
out, you see. That it is God Himself who is
marking him out. He's approved of God. God is
doing them by him in the midst of the people and they can't
dispute that fact. All of these things actually
happened. And some did acknowledge it.
Why? We read of Nicodemus, the teacher of the Jews. We know
that thou art a teacher come from God, he says to the Lord
Jesus. No man No man can do these works that thou doest except
God be with him. Oh, how many were brought to
acknowledge these things. These things, you see, they're
not done in a corner. God is doing these things openly
before the people. Again, in chapter 10 where we
have another record of a sermon preached by this man Peter in
the house of Cornelius when the gospel comes to the Gentiles,
the Gentile Pentecost we might say there in Acts chapter 10.
What does Peter say in the course of his preaching? There at verse 4, to him God
raised up the third day and showed him openly God shows him openly,
openly to the people. These things are not done in
a corner. These things are done, you see,
God is approving of this man. But what of this man who is owned
and acknowledged and approved of God? Well, it's the same man
who is then delivered unto death. He's delivered unto death. Him. being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain." How strange it is that this man
who so singularly really is marked out, is marked out as that one
who is truly the Messiah of God and yet This is the very one
who by God's decree must suffer and bleed and die. We notice
two things in what is being said concerning this man here in verse
23. We have the deeds of men. What
did men do to him? They have taken. and by wicked hands and crucified
and slain. How very personal Peter is in
his preaching as he addresses his congregation. Who is it that
he's preaching to in the first place? We're told, aren't we,
in verse 5 there, we're dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men,
out of every nation under heaven. or they were those of the Old
Testament religion really. They were Jews. You only have
I known of all the families of the earth, God says to them,
by His servant the prophet Amos. God did not know any other nation.
He had chosen this nation, not because they were great and numerous,
but because in His sovereignty He set His love upon their father
Abraham. and Isaac and Jacob and all the
patriots and they're there gathering together at Jerusalem for a great
feast and now we read of them again you see here at the end
of verse 10 they're Jews and they're proselytes that's Jewish
converts and when Peter begins his sermon in verse 14 how he
addresses them ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem
all they are Jews and so when we come to this middle section
of the sermon in verse 22 following ye men of Israel he says ye men
of Israel hear these words this man was approved of God
among you among you Jews But what happened? Well, he came
unto his own. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. What was the language of these
people just 50 days previously? The time of the Passover, what
were they saying then concerning this Jesus of Nazareth? They were saying, away with him. That's what they said to Pontius
Pilate when Pilate would release him. Away with him! Crucify him! Crucify him! Or they would choose
Barabbas before Jesus. Barabbas was the one to be released. And their demand was that they
crucify this Jesus of Nazareth, the man approved of God among
them. And you see here something of
the greatness really of the gospel of the grace of God. Who is this
gospel of the grace of God first preached to? It's preached to
those who were the very crucifiers of the Lord Jesus. It all begins at Jerusalem. It all begins at
Jerusalem. As I said, it's Luke who is the
author of Acts and of course also the author of the Gospel
that bears his name. And what does Luke say there
at the end of his Gospel? He's recording really the words
of the Lord Jesus. As Christ is speaking to his
disciples in the upper room, verse 45 there we read, Christ
opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures,
and said unto them, Thus it is written, Thus it beholds Christ
to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that
repentance, and remission of sin should be preached in his
name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." It all begins,
the proclamation of this great gospel of the grace of God, salvation
in the Lord Jesus, it all begins at Jerusalem, the very place
where they had crucified the Lord of glory. And what Luke says there at the
end, in a sense, he reaffirms the same, doesn't he, here in
the opening chapter? The words of the Lord Jesus at
his ascension. He had shown himself amongst
them for 40 days, we're told there in verse 3 of chapter 1.
For 40 days they'd seen him risen from the dead. and then he says
at verse 8 there you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost
is come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost
parts of the earth is to go out this gospel but he begins at
Jerusalem and it's 10 days later of course he'd shown himself
for 40 days another 10 days that's a 50 days it's the day of Pentecost
and here it is you see just as the Lord had said the gospel
is being preached first to those who were guilty of this terrible
dastardly deed they had crucified the Lord of glory how wicked
it was how wicked it was ye have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain the Lord Jesus but there are two things
we have to observe you see with regards to this man this man
who's delivered unto death It's the deeds of wicked men, but
it's also the decree of God. Isn't that the amazing thing? It's what God has purposed. It was what God predestinated
from before time. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. And it is interesting here
that we have this pronoun right at the beginning of the verse. And it also stands first in the
Greek New Testament. That's the interesting thing.
Of course, when translating from one language to another, sometimes
the syntax is changed. The way in which the words are
expressed in the translation, the order of the words might
be different in the translation to what's there in the original.
But here, it's this word, this simple pronoun, this masculine
pronoun, him, that stands at the front of the verse. And that is significant. The
first word is always the foremost word and the most important word.
certainly in the Greek New Testament. And so we see, you see, the importance
of this person. Who is this him? Well, it is
that man who is approved of God. It's that man who is at the very
center of all God's great purpose. He is the head of the body, the
church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
he might have the preeminence. He has the preeminence in all
things. God's decree always centers in
his Son, in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is he not God's first elect?
Is he not God's first elect? What does he say back in Isaiah
42? Behold, my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my Spirit upon him. He is God's first elect. He is
that one upon whom the Spirit of God has come. O God, give
us not the Spirit by measure unto him, of course, What an
effusion of the Spirit when he was baptized, the heavens opening
and the Spirit descending upon him in the form of a dove. He
is the Anointed One. He is the Christ of God. And he stands there, as I said,
at the very center of God's purpose. And so we have the outworking.
The outworking of that great purpose of God it was in the
fullness of the time that God sent forth his son made of a
woman made under the law Galatians 4.4 and how emphatic the language
is it's the fullness of the time two definite articles in that
statement this is the time that God had ordained and it concerns
the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. God sends forth His Son and He's
made of a woman and He's made under the law of God. It's a
fulfillment of course of that great promise that we have right
at the beginning even in the very chapter that records the
entrance of sin, Genesis chapter 3, the account of the fall of
our first parents and the promise that is given as the Lord God
addresses even the serpent, the instrument of Satan concerning
the seed of the woman or the seed of the woman will come and
bruise Satan's head even as Satan bruises his heel the seed of
the woman made of a woman made under the law to come and to
stand in that very law place for his people that law that
condemns them and to honor and magnify that Lord in His life
and in His death, magnifying it in terms of all its precepts,
its commandments, fulfilling all righteousness, the glorious
robe of righteousness, woven by the obedience of His sinless
life, and then answering that same Lord in terms of all its
dreadful penalties, as He has made sin. He who knew no sin. made sin for his people that
they might be made the righteousness of God in him. It's all God's determinate counsel
and foreknowledge the time that he was to be born the fullness
of the time and so also when it comes to his death there were
those occasions in the course of his ministry when the Jews
would have stoned him to death we have it in John 7 verse 13
again in chapter 8 and verse 20 they would have stoned him
but says the evangelist John his hour was not yet come his
hour was not yet come they couldn't touch him As there was a time
foreordained for His coming into the world, His birth, so there
was a time also foreordained for Him dying. It's all under
the sovereign hand of God. This is God's absolute sovereignty,
isn't it? When the time was come that he should be received up,
we read there in Luke 9.51, when the time was come that he should
be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Oh, we will accomplish all that
will of the Father. He comes, you see, not to do
His own will, but the will of Him who has sent Him to finish
His work. He steadfastly sets His face. To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under heaven, a time to be born, and
a time to die. And so it was for this man, as
it is for every man and woman. Tis so for you, tis so for me,
a time to be born, a time to die. Oh, it's appointed unto men once
to die, then the judgment. There is a time coming, you see.
we've had a birthday there will come also that solemn day of
our dying and departing out of time into eternity as solemn
it is and God's word you see is so faithful and so true because
all these things are spoken of in the Old Testament God's purpose
what he has predestinated he has been pleased to reveal so
much to us concerning the Lord Jesus. And how the Lord speaks
of these things to his own disciples there at the end of Luke. Remember the two on the road
to Emmaus and this stranger comes and it's the Lord, the risen
Christ and their eyes are holden, they don't recognize him and
he speaks to them by the way and their hearts are burning
within them but they don't know who this man is because their
eyes were so Holden. What do we read there at verse
25 in that 24th chapter? He says unto them, O fools, and
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
his glory? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the
things concerning Himself. He expounds unto them all the
things concerning Himself from Moses right through to the prophets. And then later, you see, when
they realize, as He departs from them, that this is the risen
Christ, they hurry back to Jerusalem and there are the others gathered
together and again the Lord appears to them. And what does He say
to them? Verse 44 there, These are the
words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you, that
all these things must be fulfilled which were written in the Lord
of Moses. and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms. We have the
threefold division of the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible is divided
into three parts. There's the Law of Moses, the
first five books of Scripture, there's the Prophets, and there's
a portion also known as the Writings. And that third portion always
opens with the book of Psalms. So the Lord here is clearly referring
to the whole contents of the Old Testament, written in the
law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, the writings
concerning man. Then openly their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures. We read it just now.
and said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it beholds
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day."
The Word of God must have its fulfillment. It had its fulfillment
in the Lord Jesus Christ. In His birth and in His death
He is delivered by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of
God. Now that doesn't excuse these
God killers. That's the mystery, isn't it?
Although God is sovereign, man is accountable for all that he
does. We're all accountable to God
for what we do in the body. And there will be that day of
reckoning in Christ who died is the same Christ who is now
risen and isn't that resurrection of Christ the very guarantee
of the general resurrection? He is the first fruits of the
resurrection as we read in 1 Corinthians 15 and there will be a great
harvest, a general resurrection in the last day of the just and
of the unjust and then the great day of judgment comes But consider
in the third place how this man is also raised from the dead. That's what he goes on to say,
doesn't it, in verse 24. Whom God hath raised up having
loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. And then after that, verse 25
through to 28, He quotes another portion from
the Old Testament. He's already quoted the end of
Joel 2 as a significant portion that's having its fulfillment
in what is happening on this day. And there, at verse 24 following,
he quotes another portion from Psalm 16, the Psalm that we read.
The Psalm that we read. And that psalm speaks of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a remarkable portion
of scripture, isn't it? We'll come to it presently. But
as we remember that this man was raised from the dead, we
have to think of the significance of that in regard to the ministry
of these apostles. they were to be witnesses of
the resurrection. Now we see that so clearly in
what is told previously here in chapter 1. Remember how there
was the son of perdition, there was one amongst the twelve who
would betray the Lord, Judas Iscariot, and so one must now
be chosen as it were to fill his place and that's what they're about
there in the latter part of chapter 1 verse 21 wherefore of these
men which have accompanied with us
all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning
from the baptism of John unto that same day that he was taken
up from us must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his
resurrection And they appointed two Joseph, called Barsabbas,
whose surname was Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and
said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether
of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this
ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression
fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth
their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered
with the eleven apostles." So here is one of the marks of an
apostle, you see. They are witnesses, as it says
there at verse 22, to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And really, what we have in the
course of of the sermon that Peter is preaching we have the
first witnessing of these apostles to the truth of the resurrection
and we see it then subsequently right through the Acts. This is so much part and parcel
of their ministry testifying to the truth that Christ is not
dead He is risen again from the dead. Look at the opening part
of chapter 4. It's Peter and John. They spake unto the people. The
priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came
upon them, being grieved that they taught the people and preached
through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. So as they're speaking, you see,
as they're proclaiming this message, the resurrection of Christ, the
Jewish authorities are upon them. But they will persist and persevere
in this ministry. Again, that same 4th chapter
later, verse 33, "...with great power gave the apostles witness
of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon
them all." this is the message that they are continually proclaiming
always preaching the blessed truth of the resurrection and
we read another sermon Paul's sermon there in Acts 13 and it's
the same sort of message really that Peter had preached that
Paul will also preach in the course of his sermon at Antioch
in Pisidia verse 30 of that 13th chapter speaks of how God raised
him, that is the Lord Jesus, from the dead and he was seen
many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem
who are his witnesses. They are his witnesses unto the
people. Oh, this is the message that
they are always preaching and again in the course of Paul's
ministry, we find him in chapter 17 of this book, there in Athens. And what does he preach amongst
the Athenians? He preaches the same truth of
the resurrection of Christ amongst all these philosophers. Verse
18 of that chapter, certain philosophers, the Epicureans, and of the Stoics
encountered him. And some said, what will this
babbler say? Others some, he seemeth to be
a set forth of strange gods. Why? Because he preached unto
them Jesus and the resurrection. He preached unto them Jesus and
the resurrection. or when Paul has to defend himself
and defend his ministry to the Corinthians because of those
false teachers who were undermining him all the time. We were looking
recently at the ways in which he defends himself amongst them.
But how he asserts the truth of his apostleship. Am I not
an apostle, he says. Have I not seen Jesus Christ
our Lord? there in chapter 9 and verse
1 of the first letter to the Corinthians. Here is the mark
of my apostleship, I can bear testimony to the resurrection.
Why he sees a resurrected Christ when he appears to him here in
chapter 9 of the Acts. And it's Paul, isn't it, who
in the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 15 gives us a great catalogue
of those who were the witnesses. to the truth of the resurrection
of Christ and so here in verse 24 this
is what the Apostle Peter proclaims God hath raised up having loosed
the pains of death because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it and then as I say he goes on to refer to the words
of David in Psalm 16 there in verse 25 through to verse 28. David speaketh concerning him. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face. for he is on my right hand that
I should not be moved therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue
was glad moreover also my flair shall rest in hope because thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine
holy one to see corruption thou hast made known to me the ways
of life thou shalt make me full of joy with thy gladness and
then he says doesn't he the patriarch David is dead and buried but
he's a prophet knowing that God has sworn with an oath that of
the fruit of his loins according to the flesh he would raise up
Christ he's seeing this before says Peter he's speaking of the
Lord Jesus that great long quotation from verse 25 through to 28 then
as its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's interesting
because again in that portion that we read in the 13th chapter
we see how Paul appeals to the very same Psalm. He refers to
Psalm 2, does Paul, he refers to Isaiah, 55, but he also refers
to the 16th Psalm, there at verse 35
of that chapter. He said 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 father and saw corruption But he whom
God raised again saw no corruption." And it's significant. It is most
significant, the language that we have there in the Psalms,
and we have this two-fold testimony to that significance here in
the book of Acts. The Lord Jesus Christ saw no
corruption. He could not see any corruption. It's that human nature. that
holy thing that was conceived by the Holy Ghost, the perfection
of it, the impeccability of Christ's human nature, it was not possible. It was not possible that he could
ever see that holy thing. It was not possible that his
body could see any corruption. There was an immortality, you
see, to that very human nature. The first man is of the earth,
earth they were told. The second man, the second man
is the Lord from heaven, and this is the man. Oh, this is
the man that the apostle is very much preaching. It's the man
Christ Jesus, as the text says. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you. how God approves of him the last man the last Adam who has come and
brought with him greater blessings than ever were lost in the first
man Adam that's the wonder of it and remember how even at that
awful mockery of a trial that he has to endure because his
death is a judicial death and there is poor pathetic Pontius
Pilate he doesn't know what to do with this man he brings him
before the Jews and he says behold the man I find no fault in him
I find no fault in him oh he is that one who is altogether
faultless And so, he could never die really. He was a sinless man. The wages
of sin is death. The soul that sinneth dies. How
could he die? He could only die by a voluntary
death. No man taketh it from them. He
says of his life, I lay it down of myself. No man is able to take it from
them. I have authority to lay it down. I have authority to take it again.
This is the commandment that I have received of the Father.
It's all voluntary. And yet, this man who is innocent,
sinless, pure, willingly goes that way of the cross, and makes
that great sin-atoning sacrifice. Why? Why? because of that love
that He bore towards those that the Father had given to Him.
And they were sinners. Loving them? Oh, loving them,
He loved them to the end. He loved them to the bitter death
of the cross. He loved the Father. He would
do all the Father's goodwill and pleasure, this man. And this
man is also, of course, never anything less than God. God's Son Jesus Christ, our Lord,
made of the seed of David according to the flesh, declared to be
the Son of God, with power according to the spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead. And now, constantly here in this
book of Acts, we see the apostles bearing their testimony to him,
directing sinners to the man Christ Jesus. I'll close with
some more words spoken by Peter in chapter 5 and verse 30 it
says the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged
on a tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince
and a saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins and we are His witnesses of these things and so is also
the Holy Ghost whom God has given to them that obey Him it's not
just a witness of the Apostles or it's a witness of the Holy
Ghost and if we know anything of Holy Ghost religion we must
look to this man and we must trust in this man or that we
might know then that blessed ministry as the Spirit of Christ
comes and opens our understandings and quickens our hearts and instructs us and establishes
us in all the truths of the Gospel of the grace of God. Oh the Lord
be pleased to bless these few words to us concerning Jesus
of Nazareth, a man approved of God. Mighty be approved then
of you and of me. Amen.