Would you join me this morning
in the book of Acts chapter 2? The book of Acts chapter 2. We're going to start reading
with verse 22 of the book of Acts chapter 2. And we want to
say a few words here about Peter's message. Peter's message. He had been led to draw from
a passage of scripture found in the only Bible he had at the
time. And that was the Old Testament. And it was the book of Joel,
chapter 2, that he was led to, to say, this is what's happening
right here today. And then we find that he was
blessed to bring a message about Christ and Him crucified. Remember the congregation that
he is dealing with. They are those who have lived
in Jerusalem and in Judea. They are Jews, and not one of
these Jews believed that Jesus was the Messiah. It was not that
long ago they took a great vote and cried in the streets of Jerusalem,
crucify him, crucify him. And now we have some of that
gathering gathered in front of Peter on this day of Pentecost,
and he is going to preach a message to them, and he's going to preach
Jesus the Messiah to them. Jesus the Messiah. The only hope
of Israel and the only hope for the world is Jesus Christ, the
message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is Peter's first
printed message. No doubt he's preached another
number of other messages because he was sent out with the 12 and
then he was sent out with the 70. And he was to preach to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. But we don't have any record
of those messages, but I can imagine what he preached. Same
thing he's going to preach here. And this is the first time that
we have record of a message by Peter. Now, it was going to be
some time before this message was put into printed form. When
the book of Acts was completed, the Holy Spirit had given the
book of Acts to Luke, and it was in completed form. But that
message has been carried down to this very day. And in this
message of Peter's preaching of this hour, we find the the
very heart and core of faithful preaching today, not to deviate
from the message that Peter preached. He found an obscure passage of
scripture in the book of Joel and began at the same place and
preached unto them Jesus. You know, that's just the way
it must go. Wherever we are, we are looking
for this one, the Savior of His people, the Lord Jesus. In the
book of Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2, beginning with verse
22, ye men of Israel, hear these words, pay attention. 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."
You know about this. You know about the miracles that
he did, and you know about the signs that he performed. But
he tells us here, he's speaking about someone in particular,
and it's Jesus of Nazareth. You know, there are about 17
times in the New Testament that we have the Lord Jesus called
by that name, Jesus of Nazareth. Now, the Jews in the Bible usually
had one name. Sometimes we have Simon Peter,
he had a surname. But most of the time we find
that they had one name and sometimes we find that they would take
their father's last name or father's name. There is a, in the book
of Acts chapter 13, there's a sorcerer by the name of Bargesus, which
means son of Jesus. And we have an account of blind
Bartimaeus. He was Timaeus, the son of Yes,
he's Bart the son of Timaeus. Anyway, we'll look at that in
just a moment. So we have this very careful statement made by
the Apostle Peter on this day so that they could identify exactly
the Jesus that he's talking about. He's Jesus of Nazareth. We don't
find him Jesus of Bethlehem. That's where he was born, but
we find him Jesus of Nazareth because That's where he grew
up and that's where he had his history. Jesus of Nazareth, because
the name is generally known, and we find that Nathanael said,
can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And you know what? He said that honestly because
the Lord said, here is a Jew without any guile. He's making
a statement of what this person was like. Turn with me, if you
would, to the book of Mark chapter 10. Here are the words of Jesus,
about Jesus of Nazareth. This man's name is used often
in the scriptures, and a few of them are worthy of our looking
at this morning. In the book of Mark, chapter
10, we have this, blind Bartimaeus. Now blind Bartimaeus has been
given some information, just like the Apostle Peter is sharing
on that great day that he's preaching Christ and Him crucified, We
find here in the book of Mark chapter 10 and verse 46, And
they came to Jericho. And as he went out of Jericho
with his disciples, a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when
he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, Someone has informed
him, but someone has also informed him that Jesus of Nazareth has
a very important place to play. Here in the book of Mark chapter
10 and verse 47, when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, can
you see here? There's a correlation between
Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus, the son of David. We have this
application given to us to cause us to understand that this one,
Jesus of Nazareth, is the son of David by the flesh, through
the flesh, but he's also the son of God. Have mercy on me. Now, You know, when we cry for
mercy, it means we have a problem. We're in trouble or something,
and this blind Bartimaeus has a problem. And many charged him
that he should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great
deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood
still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind
man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth for
thee. And he, casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind man
said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said
unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately
he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry, have mercy upon me. In the book of Luke, chapter
24, would you turn there with me? The book of Luke, chapter
24, as we find the identification of this one that the Apostle
Peter is speaking of on this day of Pentecost, ye men of Israel,
I want to talk to you about Jesus of Nazareth. You've known about
him in Luke, chapter 24, verse 19. We read this. On the road to Emmaus, they said
unto them, what things? Jesus asked them. He said, and
they said unto him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was
a prophet mighty indeed in word before God and all the people,
and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be
condemned to death and have crucified him, we trusted that it had been
him. Well, he goes on to explain that
it is truly him that was brought there Crucified by Pilate and
the Romans it is Jesus of Nazareth over here Backing or going ahead
to the book of John if you would John chapter John chapter 19 John chapter 19 verse 19 we read
this I This is the accusation that was
placed on the cross. This is the accusement. This
is what he's been charged with. This is what part of it, if you
compare all of the Gospels, you get the whole, but Pilate wrote
a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of
Nazareth, King of the Jews. Now that's who Peter is going
to declare. He's going to bring this subject
up about Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth, the King of
the Jews. We find that Nathaniel's brother
says, we have found him of whom the prophets wrote about, Jesus
of Nazareth. So that's who we have over here
in the book of Acts chapter 2. So would you join me back over
there in the book of Acts chapter 2 as Peter begins his message.
He wants to be very clear on who he's speaking about. He wants
them to understand that this one, Jesus of Nazareth, is the
one that they have already heard about. In Acts chapter 2, there,
beginning with verse 23, or verse 22, excuse me, chapter 2, verse
22, the scriptures share this. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth. Now, Peter makes a step here.
He wants them to know with all clarity. He wants them to know
with all sincerity. He wants them to know that this
one, Jesus of Nazareth, this is the one that was approved
of by God. God the Father has approved of
him. He has marked him out. He has
identified him. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. This is my beloved son, hear
ye him, Jesus of Nazareth, approved of by God. And it goes on to
tell us in that, among you by miracles and wonders and signs. You know, as we follow this out,
we find that Jesus performed about 37 different miracles while
he was upon this earth. Some of those were immense and
some of them were very private. I mentioned to a young man the
other day, I said, you know, it's amazing that Jesus would
go into the pool of Bethesda with hundreds of people around
there waiting to get into that pool. And he would come to one
person and talk to that one person and heal that one person and
leave. He was approved of God, he had
a very special ministry to perform, and he did exactly that. He is
demonstrating, I have a people here, I will find my people,
and I will deliver them from sin. Here this one, Jesus of
Nazareth, he performed about 37 miracles, and one of them
tells us in the book of Matthew chapter 14, Matthew chapter 14,
There is an untold number of people that Jesus healed at this
very one time. Sometimes it's singly. Sometimes
there are ten that were healed. And then we find him saying,
didn't I heal ten? Where are the nine? One man came
back and thanked the Lord Jesus for being healed of leprosy.
The ten went on their way. He healed many people, performed
many miracles. He showed that he's in charge
of time, he's in charge of weather, he's in charge of man, he's in
charge of animals. One of those that's so interesting
to me also is that Jesus would send his disciple down to find
a fish, catch a fish, pull the coin out of its mouth, and you
could pay your taxes for us. What a miracle. Another time
he went down and told his disciples, cast out into the deep and catch
a drop. And you hear Peter saying, you
know, we fished all night, but nevertheless, according to your
word, we'll do that. And they caught so many, it break
their nets. He's in charge of everything
and everybody. Here in the book of Matthew,
there in chapter 14 and verse 34, we read this. report about this one, the Lord
Jesus. And when they were gone over,
they came into the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place
had knowledge of him, they sent out into all the country round
about and brought unto him all that were diseased. And besought
him that he might only touch the hem of his garment. And as
many as touched were made perfectly whole. How many? There's no way
of knowing. But he was approved of God and
demonstrated this approval by the acts that he performed. And
you know, as we follow the miracles of the Lord Jesus, there's subtly
behind every one of them a statement about what it is to be healed
spiritually. He's not going around and saying,
that's my ministry. He's declaring to people that
he healed and those around him, I do this to show what I do spiritually
for people. I take away their spiritual blindness. I take away their spiritual deafness. I cause them to spiritually speak
for me. I cause them to rise from the
dead spiritually. I heal their legs spiritually.
I heal their hands spiritually. I take care of this. I put away
demons. And he does that, and he does
that when he saves us by his grace. It is a spiritual work
that God does in us, but he demonstrated it so often by what he did physically. And so he is a man approved of
God. You know the words of Nicodemus
when he came to him? No man does the things that you
do except God be with him. Now whether he believed that
or not, it doesn't matter, but he spoke the truth. No man can
do what you're doing except God be with him. And so the Apostle
Peter brings up here, this man was approved of God. Now as he
begins to nail the nails in through this board, it just constantly
brings up the place where everyone that is hearing him has been
on this subject. Everyone that he is preaching
to has been on this subject, I do not believe it. That's what they have declared
by their life and by their statement and by their doings prior to
this time. I do not believe that he is a
man sent from God. I do not believe that he is God's
messenger. This is an evidence to them as
the Apostle Peter brings this up, but in the end, We're going
to have that whole crowd saying something that natural man, when
they have a little pinch in their life, says, what must I do? And Peter's gonna go on and say,
this isn't something we do, it's a spiritual thing. Well, let's
follow this out just a little further, as we find that the
Lord Jesus is spoken of here, and he's a man approved of God.
They shall call his name Emmanuel, what's being interpreted is God
with us. We have God in our midst. The
Lord Jesus is God in our midst. And we have, as it's mentioned
over there in Genesis chapter three and verse 15, that the
seed of the serpent will bruise his heel, but the seed of the
woman, this man, is going to bruise his head. He's going to
take care of sin and everything about sin. No man can do these
things except God be with him. And as we move through here,
going back to the book of Acts chapter 2, We find these words
recorded for our benefit and for the benefit of those that
were hearing the apostle Peter that day. They're in Acts chapter
two and in verse 22, as we finish that verse up, it says, he was
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you. Now, everyone that he's
preaching to would say, I believe in God. They were Jews. They had their history. We all
believe in God. But they didn't believe this
God. They didn't believe on the Lord Jesus, as ye yourselves
also know Him. Now we're directing our attention
to this one Jesus of Nazareth. There's something happened in
the covenant of grace before the foundation of the world that
when they were in conversation, Now, it's hard for me to just
get my head around what took place before the world was created. It's hard enough for me to get
around how God created the heavens and the earth and all the rest
of that we find in the book of Genesis chapter one and two.
It's hard to get my head around it. I'm finite and He's infinite. But before the world was created,
there was a conversation that went on in old eternity that
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit determined
before man was ever created and ever fell, that they were going
to get involved with some of that host. And they were going
to get so involved with some of that host that God was going
to create through Adam, that they were going to determine
to save some of those and take them out of the condition that
they would be in after the fall. They were so involved, in fact,
that God wrote their names down ahead of time. Now, Nancy and
I have four children, but we never wrote their names down
ahead of time. We didn't know what their names were going to
be until after they were born. All the baby books you go through.
Well, we found that God is not like that. He's infinite. He's
all wise, infinite in power, infinite in his grace. And he
wrote the names down of everyone that was going to be saved out
of that host of fallen Adam's race. And the son said, I will
take the penalty of their sin. Now there wasn't even sin in
the world. There was no world to have sin
in. But God in His infinite wisdom and power said, I will take their
sin. So He is going to be delivered. He's going to be delivered by
the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. He is going to be given
over. To the will and purpose of humanity,
this whole group of people that Peter is speaking to have just
40 days earlier than this, have been at a scene where they called
on Rome to crucify this one that they accused of being an imposter
and not the Messiah. While Peter is preaching unto
them, this one is the Messiah. He is not an imposter. And he
was delivered by the God you say you believe before the foundation
of the world. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. God in his wisdom and grace
before the world ever began, they delivered this one. And
I've mentioned in the past when they had a council meeting, it
wasn't a vote that two against one. It was completely voluntary
on his part that he would be the Messiah, that he would be
the Christ. He would be the one to take the
shame of sin upon himself and deliver his people. So he has
been delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. You know, there are several times in the scriptures we find
out that Jesus was delivered, but one of them that is so important
is Jesus delivered himself to this. He was not taken by wicked
hands and forced to do this. He was taken by wicked hands
and crucified, but he delivered himself to this. It tells us
the Lord Jesus said, No man takes my life from me. I lay it down
on myself. I'm delivering myself for this
purpose. In the covenant of grace, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, as we know Him, was determined to give His life a ransom for
many, so He delivered Himself for that purpose. But you know,
behind that, we find the Father delivered him. Turn with me,
if you would, over to the Book of Romans, Chapter 8. The Book
of Romans, Chapter 8. He was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. But in time, we find that
he has been delivered by several. And foremost, most important,
we find he did it for himself. He delivered himself to the counsel. He gave himself over to the crucifixion,
just like it was written in old times in the Old Testament, but
also before the world began. This is what must happen. Someone
must take their sin and someone must pay for that sin by their
life. And the only way God could do
that is that God became a man. And we have him in Jesus Christ
the Lord. All right, over here in the book
of Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, and there in verse 32, we
read these words, Romans chapter 8 and verse 32, it says, he spared
not his own son. This is God the Father. He spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? If He would spare
not His Son, but deliver Him up to the cross, just like the
covenant of grace demanded, if He would give His Son and deliver
Him up, why is He going to hold back anything else? He's given
the most important, most valuable. So he's gonna give us all spiritual
blessings as a result of that. He's gonna give us all grace,
all hope, all mercy, all justification, all sanctification, all redemption,
all that can be given. He's gonna give it because he's
already given his son. He spared not his own son, but
delivered him up. for all his people. Now, we find
in the process of time, there's another person that was used
by God to deliver him up, and that is Judas. Judas delivered
him up. Judas gave him over. Judas identified
him. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Matthew, chapter 26. He's been delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, but he has been delivered
by his father. He's delivered himself. And here
we find the process that God's going to use in delivering his
people. All right, here in the book of
Matthew chapter 26, and there in verse 18, the scriptures share
this, and he said, That's not the verse I wanted.
Verse 15. Thank you. And he said unto them, well,
in verse 14, and one of the 12 called Judas Iscariot went unto
the chief priests and said unto them, what will you give me? And I will deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with him
or made an agreement for 30 pieces of silver. He says, I want 50. They said, 20. Well, I'll take
40. No, we'll give you 30. And they
agreed on a price. And they agreed for 30 pieces
of silver that Judas Iscariot, who was written about in the
Psalms, One that would deliver my own familiar friend will give
me over There's someone that has been chosen and Jesus shared
that when he chose the twelve all of you I've chosen one of
you's the devil He shares that with his disciples two or three
times during the ministry that he had with them. And here we
find that he told Judas to go out and what you do, do quickly.
And he went out and he said, what will you give me? Now, if
we drop down to chapter 26 and verse, join me in John chapter 18 first. Verse 12, Judas has betrayed Him, has given
Him over, has delivered Him. In verse 5, Judas also, which
betrayed him, stood with them. As soon as he had said unto them,
I am he, they went backward and fell on the ground. And we find
out he's still in control of everything that was happening. He had control over them by the
very word of his mouth. And then it tells us there in
verses 12 and 13, then the band and the captain and officers
of the Jews took Jesus and bound him and led him away to Annas
first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, which was the high
priest that same year. And Caiaphas was which gave counsel
to the Jews that it was expedient that one should die for the people.
So we have a host of rabble taking the Lord Jesus to the council
and delivering him over to them. And then in Matthew chapter 27,
if you join me there in Matthew chapter 27, He is being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. But God
used this process to accomplish that. There were a number of
people that were involved in delivering the Lord Jesus Christ. Foremost, Jesus delivered himself. The Father delivered Him over. Judas delivered Him over. The
crowd delivered Him over. And finally, here in the book
of Matthew chapter 27, we find that this is recorded. Matthew
chapter 27 and verse 26. This is recorded about Him. This
is being delivered. And they then released a Barabbas
unto them and When they had scourged Jesus, He delivered Him to be
crucified. So He's been delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, and this is the process
that God used to deliver Him, and He is delivered to be crucified. The Old Testament verified the
way, the manner that Jesus Christ would give his life a ransom
for many, and that was by crucifixion. So he was crucified on a cross,
and he didn't last near as long as other people that were crucified. It was a day that they must get
him down quickly because they have a very high day, the next
day, and they cannot have them on the cross. So we find out
they were surprised when he was already dead. He had spoken seven
times from that cross. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? is the one that strikes me the
most because he gave his life a ransom for sinful people. He became sin for us. It was
imputed to him in such a fashion that he suffered the death of
deaths for all those that he had come to save to begin with. So behind it all, there was the
eternal purpose of God There the Lord Jesus, truly be delivered
by God, was delivered to sinful men, and he was crucified. And
when was he delivered? In old eternity. When was it
carried out? At the end of his life. Throughout the Old Testament,
there are many statements by the prophets about the Messiah
giving his life a ransom. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. 1 Corinthians, chapter 15,
we find that the Apostle Paul shares, I'm going to share with
you the gospel. I want to share you the gospel, the good news
about this one, Jesus of Nazareth, whom you know, that's what we
read about Peter. But in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, we have the Apostle Paul writing to the saints at Corinth
and having this to say unto them. This is important. You know,
there are a lot of problems in Corinth. Peter or Paul was there. He spent two years there. And
when he left, he got word that there's a lot of problems. And
you know, the solution to every one of those problems was Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ. I've been in churches
where they use the book of 1 Corinthians to beat the flock almost to death. And the whole message was preach
Christ and Him crucified. They'll take care of the issue.
All right. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. Now, that's what Peter's doing
on that day. He has a whole bunch of people that are absolutely
adamantly against what he has to say about Christ because they've
never, ever had a positive thought that Jesus was the Messiah. He's
an imposter. even though he did all these
things. He's an imposter. He surely cannot be the Messiah. If he was the Messiah, our religious
leaders would have identified him as such, and we'd have gone
along with them. Well, the religious leaders of
the day, like so many religious leaders in every age, have no
concept whatsoever of the God of heaven and his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. They are not spiritually quickened
or born again. They're going on it from a fleshly
standpoint, and they have false ideas about this one. Well, Paul
is saying, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto
you, which also you have received and wherein you stand, by which
also you are saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto
you. And then he brings this caveat, unless you have believed
in vain. unless you just got religious,
unless you just went with the crowd, unless it was just a fad,
unless you just went and everybody else was doing it, so you'll
do it. He said, unless you believed in vain. By which also ye are
saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye
believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received." You know, the reason he could
be so plain and careful with the gospel is that's what was
brought to Him, and when God saved Him by His grace, that's
what He's going to share with people. He had been given the
information. He had been given the Holy Word.
He'd been given Christ in Him crucified there when He was born
again, and here He said, I'm only delivering what I have heard.
I have delivered unto you first of all that which I also received.
I know something about it. Now, I know I'm speaking to a
whole bunch of people that don't believe it. But I'm just telling
you, I didn't know this before. All the stuff that I was involved
in and all the religious stuff I was involved in, I counted
as done. There's all the pins I was awarded
and all the special awards I was awarded. They went into the garbage
can because they meant nothing. And here, this means something,
the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus.
I delivered unto you all that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Now, if we
go to the end of the book of Acts and we get there sometime
in a couple of years, maybe. Paul was asked, Who spoke to
you? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And the answer was, I'm Jesus
of Nazareth, whom you have persecuted. The same one we're reading about,
Jesus of Nazareth. I determined, I delivered unto
you, verse three, that first of all I have received how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. All they had
at the time was the Old Testament, and they preached Christ in him,
crucified out of him. Every sacrifice that was ever
given was a picture in the type and a shadow of the Lord Jesus
Christ giving His life for ransom for His people. It was required
that that sacrifice be completely consumed. Fire fell from heaven
and consumed the sacrifice, which is a picture, a type and a shadow
of Jesus Christ on the cross becoming sin for us and God's
great wrath being poured out on him as it were fire from heaven
to consume the sacrifice. And when it was over and all
the sins had been paid for completely, Jesus was able to say finally,
It is finished. Haman has been made. He died
according to the scriptures. He was buried and he rose again
the third day. according to the scriptures.
The Old Testament testifies of this one, the Lord Jesus, that
the Apostle Peter is preaching on this day. Going back to the
book of Acts, chapter 2 if you would with me, Acts chapter 2.
We find here as Peter continues in this message, great message
on the day of Pentecost to this great host of Jews that were
gathered before him. And just remember, on the sideline
somewhere are 11 other messages going on, preaching the same
gospel to 11 other people of different nationalities. Peter
had been given the responsibility of preaching to his home folks. to his national folks, his nationality. He knew about them. You know
what Jesus told Peter about Peter's confession of Jesus Christ? Flesh
and blood did not give this unto you, but my Father which is in
heaven. So he knew what it was to have that revelation of Jesus
Christ and to be reminded of it by the Master, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And now he's preaching about
this in the book of Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, there it says,
He was delivered by the determined counsel of foreknowledge of God.
Ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. There
wasn�t a clean hand that delivered the Lord Jesus to be crucified.
They were sinners by nature, and sinners by practice, and
sinners by choice. Their heart was sinful. In their
very heart, they wanted rid of this man. Whatever it took to
get rid of this man that was causing such consternation in
the nation, they agreed with it. And when they cried out,
ìCrucify him, crucify him, crucify him,î they meant it in their
heart. They hated him. They hated Him because they were
told to hate Him, but they hated Him by nature too. He was delivered,
He was crucified and slain by wicked hands. Now verse 24, whom
God hath raised up, having loose the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should be holden to it. In God's great
covenant of grace, he said, yes, he is going to be delivered by
the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. He is going to be crucified. He is going to bear the wrath
of God for the sins of his people. He will be taken off of that
cross and he will be buried. And the Old Testament says he's
buried in a borrowed tomb. Another man said, I've got a
tomb over here. It's never been used. Let's put
him in there. And three days later, according
to prophecy, Jesus said, an evil and adulterous
generation seek after a sign, and there shall no sign be given
but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and
three nights in the great fish's belly, so shall the Son of Man
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jonah
didn't know what he was doing in the bottom of the ocean in
a great fish's belly that he would be the sign of the fulfillment
of God's prophecy about his son coming out of the earth. Well,
he came out. He says he was not possible.
If he made the payment properly, it was not possible. If he paid
for sin properly, it was not possible that he should be whole
into it. Now the only reason that other
people don't come out of the tomb is that they're sinners
by nature and practice and choice. And that's the thing about the
Lord Jesus Christ. He had no sin of his own. He was not a sinner. And when
he paid for sin and it was over and he cried, it is finished,
it was finished. And they put a perfect body in
that tomb. They wrapped a perfect body in
that cloth. They put spices around a perfect
body, a perfect being, a holy son of God was placed inside
of that tomb. Now he had died and he had given
up the ghost and he's placed in there and he is deposited
for three days and three nights. And it is for us to see the great
miracle of grace that God was satisfied with that sacrifice
so much that after three days, He would cause that body to rise
out of that tomb and stand before people that he died for, and
that's what we read about in the book of Acts chapter 1 there. For 40 days he instructed the
people, his disciples, about his ministry and mission. He
came out the perfect son of God. He walked on this earth the perfect
son of God. Yes, he had the marks of the
nails in his hands and his feet, and he had the mark in his side.
But he is the perfect son of God. And so it says, God raised
up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that he should be holding to it. Nobody can hold him in that
tomb. For David speaketh concerning
him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face. or he is on the
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. Did you see
that personal pronoun there? Not leave my soul in hell. I
have the promise in the covenant of grace The work is completed,
it's finished, it's accomplished. Thou will not leave my soul in
Sheol, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.
That thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt
make me full of joy with my countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and
buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore,
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn an oath unto
him, that the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he should
raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he seeing this before
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption. David prophesied
of the resurrection of Christ, the promise fulfilled, and here
we have the Apostle Peter declaring that thing. This Jesus hath God
raised up, whereof we're all witnesses. Verse 33. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Spirit, he has shed forth this, which you now see
and hear. Raised up. Well, we could spend
some time on that, but our time is up. He is the great high priest
that sits at the right hand of the Father. He's the only high
priest that ever got to sit down. All the rest of them, their work
was never finished. Day to day to day to day. But
this high priest sat down, and that's where we'll pick up this
message next week. Nathan, if you'll come.