22 through verse 32 for our verses,
"'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 you yourselves also
know. him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you 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
beholden of it." For David spoke 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,
my tongue was glad, moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope,
because thou wilt not leave 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 hast made me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David. that he is both dead and
buried, and his supplicator is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, knowing
that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his
loins, according to the flesh, he would 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. This Jesus as God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses. Now twice we have mentioned in
this that our Lord would be raised without seeing corruption. I
think as we look on this event, we could say that with the exception
of the Incarnation, the death of our Lord upon the tree, the
resurrection and the ascension of our Lord back into heaven,
that Pentecost may be the next great important thing in the
Scripture for the church and for the spread of the Word and
the bringing in of the New Covenant and a better hope and a new and
living way. But few things are more misunderstood,
I fear, and misapplied than the events at Pentecost, and some
do not understand how it fits in with the festivals that Israel
celebrated in the Old Testament. It answered one of the three
major feasts which were kept annually by the Jews during the
old economy. There were three days very important. There was the Day of Atonement. There was the Feast of Weeks. And then there was the Feast
of Tabernacles. Now, the Feast of Weeks corresponds
with Pentecost in its distance from the Day of Atonement because
it was kept 50 days after the day of the Passover, and thus
it came to be known as Pentecostus, or the fiftieth, for that's what
the word actually means. We read in Acts 2 and verse 1,
when the day of Pentecost was come, that is, on the fiftieth
day after Christ who is our Passover, was sacrificed after Christ made
the great atonement, and died upon the cross or upon the tree. And under the old economy, This
being the fiftieth day after the atonement, it celebrated
the final in-gathering of the crop, or the great harvest was
brought in. And John Gill said on this day
that were offered two-way loafs as a thanksgiving to God that
the harvest had been gathered in. safely and that the Lord
God had blessed them. Now we see these festivals, and
we won't go there, in Leviticus the 23rd chapter and verse 10
and 11. But on this particular day, that
is, fifty days after the death of Christ, the prophecy of Joel,
chapter 2, verse 28 through verse 32, was fulfilled and is recorded
in the second chapter of the book of Acts, and that is that
the Spirit of God was poured out upon all men exactly as Joel
had predicted. And before we get into our text
proper, let's take the time to show that the outpouring of the
Spirit of God, what happened at Pentecost, the pouring out
of the Divine and Holy Spirit had a very close relation and
a very close connection to the atonement or the death of our
Savior Jesus Christ. First of all, we remember that
our Lord made several promises offending unto his disciples
the Holy Spirit. John 14 and 16 is one place. Another comforter, he called
him. And in John 14, 26, he identifies
it as the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. And he calls it the
spirit of truth in John 15 and verse 26. who he would go away,
but he would send unto them another Comforter, apparently one who
would come and stand beside them. So the Lord promised to send
another Comforter and a Spirit upon his people. Then take that
passage in John chapter 7. I think we might miss the importance
of it sometime, verse 37 to verse 39, it basically said that the
Holy Spirit would be given in its fullness what Jesus was glorified. C. George Smeaton, who said,
the spirit's presence and operation could only be consequent, that
is, be the effect or the result of Christ's vicarious death on
the cross and his exaltation to the mediatorial throne." That
is, the Spirit of God would not come in the manner that it did
at Pentecost until our Lord had died, had ascended, and had ascended
the throne of mediatorial glory. Because, you see, the death of
Christ is that which secured for us and merited for the people
of God the Holy Spirit for the Christian church to have and
to worship under. Now, come to the first chapter
of Acts, and the last instruction of our Lord unto his disciples
before he went away, as seen in the last act of verse 4, chapter
1. Don't depart, says the Lord. Don't depart, but wait for the
promise of the Father which I told you about. Carry that. Stay. Don't depart. Then we look at verse 5 of chapter
1, for John truly baptized with water, so ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Then look at the
8th verse, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost
is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in
Jerusalem, Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of
the earth." Now, the capstone, I believe, of the words of Peter
are found in the second chapter and the thirty-third verse. Let me read that. We didn't read
it, but here is proof that our Lord procured and sent the Holy
Spirit." Verse 33, Act 2, "...therefore, being by the right hand of God
exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and
hear." It is clear here that the apostle is saying that it
is the resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus that has received
of the Father the promise and the gift of the Spirit of God,
and has poured it out," or poured him out, upon his people. For comparison, you might check
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 8 through verse 10. speaking of our Lord
offending and giving gifts unto men. Coming now to Acts 2 and
verse 22, this begins the second half of Peter's Pentecostal sermon. And he has a specific aim here,
and that aim is to declare that Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that
though he died upon the cross, yet he rose again without seeing
any corruption, and not only rose, but is ascended yonder
to sit down on the right hand of God. And not just that, but
that he is made Lord, and he is made Christ, and he is the
author of the recent phenomenon that they had witnessed. Now
his subject, that is Peter's, is Jesus of Nazareth. In verse 22, his audience is
ye men of Israel, or people of Israel. And he keeps the focus
on them, if you may notice. You men of Israel hear these
words and in verse 22, you see you, you, you and yourselves
in that verse. Verse 23, you have taken that
is the son of God. And in verse 36, let all the
house of Israel know assuredly what he is about to say. He charges
them very explicitly with being the killers and the murderers
of the one approved of God among them, even Jesus. Even though
he was delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, as we read in verse 23, even though God delivered him
up to become a sacrifice Yet the house of Israel must know
assuredly that their hands are stained with the blood of God's
holy one." Now notice that the apostle holds a double emphasis
before the ears and the eyes of all of the Jews. And that
double emphasis is this, you killed him, God raised him up. Number one, you killed the Prince
of Light. Number two, God has raised him
up unto life again. This is a recurring theme in
the book of Acts, particularly in the preaching of the apostle
Peter. If I may go ahead a bit, Acts
chapter 3, and look at verse 14 and verse 15 of Acts chapter
3. I'll read it. You denied the
Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto
you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God has raised from
the dead, whereof we are witnesses." Then jump over to Acts chapter
5, verse 30 and 31, and you see it again. The God of our Father
raised up Jesus, whom you flew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and remission of sin." You would find it again in Acts
chapter 10. and verse 39 and verse 40. Peter very clearly lays before
the Jews their part and their guilt in the killing of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He says down at Carnetus' house,
when they, that is the Jews, flew and hanged him on a tree,
him God raised up the third day, and showed openly. You find it again in Acts chapter
13, verse 32. Do you remember quite a few years
ago, many years ago now, when the Pope at the present time
put out an in-situ letter forgiving and absolving the Jews of any
guilt in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. But according to
the Scripture and according to the Apostle Peter, himself a
Jew, they were the main perpetrators in putting Christ to death. in
such a shameful way. They were the first to call for
him to be put to death. They carried the crusade to the
Romans to have him put to death by the Romans. They involved
Pilate and they involved the Romans, that is, the Gentiles,
to carry out their wicked desire to have the Lord put to death.
and yet it did fulfill the will of God. Acts chapter 2, 23, Acts
4 and verse 28, and yes, they acted in ignorance. Acts 3, And verse 17, in killing
the Lord, that Peter holds them accountable. They kill the prince
of life, even though Pilate found no fault in him and nothing in
him worthy of death. And Pilate was determined to
set Jesus free, but the Jews would have none of it. But in
Acts 2 and verse 24, God has raised him up. They killed him,
God raised him. They called him a blasphemer. God owned him as his only begotten
and precious son. They crucified him in the most
shameful way. God glorified him to his right
hand in glory. When God delivered him up for
them to do whatsoever thy counsel and will had determined to be
done, they crucified him. When they crucified him, they
put a seal upon his tomb and a guard about his tomb, but God
raised him up again. Watch the middle of verse 24,
Acts chapter 2. having loosed the pangs of death. He raised him up by loosening,
cutting, breaking, snapping the cords of death, by breaking or
untying or loosening from him the cords of death. that bound
him. Some translated the pangs of
death as being like unto the birth pangs of a lady about to
bring to birth, just as Jesus broke the cords of death for
his friend Lazarus in John chapter 11. And yet the death and the
resurrection of Lazarus was not exactly the same in every sense
as were those of the Lord Jesus himself. For Lazarus got sick
and lingered and died. Jesus yielded up his life and
that freely. Lazarus was dead four days. Jesus was dead three days. Lazarus was raised up as a private
citizen to continue his physical life. Jesus was raised up as
a federal head of the Iraq and the head of the church in eternal
glory. Now, there was a limit on the
time that the Lord Jesus would be held yonder in the grave,
which was fixed before he ever died, the set time appointed
before our Lord ever died upon the cross. And you remember that
our Lord mentioned it during his ministry. He said it was
typified by the three days and three nights of Jonah in the
belly of the great whale. Matthew 12 and 40, Jesus said
this, as Jonah while three days and three nights in the whale's
belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth. You see that in Jonah chapter
1 and verse 17 in the Old Testament. And it says there that the Lord
spoke to that great fish or whale or monster, whatever you want
to call it. The Lord spoke to that fish and
that it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." Jonah 2 and verse
10. Again, in John 2 and verse 19,
the Lord said this, "...destroy this temple, and in three days
I'll raise it up again." And the Jews thought, oh my, what
blasphemy! Forty-something years was this
temple in the building. But in verse 21, we learn that
he spoke of the temple of his body, of his death and his resurrection. In Luke 9 and verse 22, where
following Peter's confession, the Lord tells him that he must
suffer such things and be rejected of the elders and the chief priests
and the scribes, and be slain and raised again on the third
day." Even after the transfiguration of the Lord in Matthew chapter
17, verse 20 through verse 22, the Lord said this, "'The son
of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men. They shall
kill him, and the third day he shall rise again. Now these claims and these sayings
of Jesus became known throughout all of Jerusalem, Jewry, and
the country round about. That's why the Jews set a watch
on the Lord's tomb because of his claims. 27 and 63, that he had claimed that
he would rise again on the third day. And so they set a seal and
a watch. Consider the two walking forlorn
on Emmaus Road. They mention in Luke 24 and verse
21, as they are sorrowful and downcast, they say to the Lord,
not knowing yet that it was him, They say to him today is the
third day since all these things were done. The third day expecting
something to happen. Especially after Jesus was crucified
and buried was there an interest in his promise and his prediction
that he would rise again after three days in the grave. His claims of divinity depended
on his resurrection. He claimed to be the Son of God.
If he rises not, his claims all die with him. His claims of divinity
depended on the resurrection, and they were confirmed by it. Remember Romans 1 and verse 4? declared to be the son of God
with power by the resurrection from the dead. Let's go back
to Acts 2 and verse 24. God raised him up, having loosed
the pains of death. God raised him up losing the
pains of death because it was not possible for him to be holden
by it. Now, there is a great double
truth here concerning the time of the Lord in the grave. Number one, it was restricted
or limited to three days. No more, and of course no less. But it was limited to three days
and nights in the grave. The second thing about him being
in the grave is that he would not see corruption. He would not putrefy. The grave would not hold him
under that end. Death and the grave would not
be allowed to hold our Lord in its grasp beyond that appointed
time, not to putrefy his fleshly body, not to cause it to waste
away in the grave like do the bodies of other men, not allowing
its flesh to be consumed as is the case with others. The sister
of Lazarus Do you remember what she feared when Jesus said, show
me where he is? She feared corruption had tread
in. Lord, by this time he stinketh. John 11 and verse 39. But Peter mentions here an impossibility
concerning Jesus. the impossibility of death holding
him beyond the appointed time, saying it is not possible for
him to be holden of it. So he was held by three days.
and 49, but it cannot keep its hold on him beyond that, cannot
lock him in the grave, cannot swallow him up in the grave beyond
that appointed time. Now perhaps we ought to raise
an interesting question. And that is wherein lies the
impossibility of death holding him. What makes it impossible? Why is it impossible? How or why is he exempt from
the common lot of other men? How can the Lord's time there
in the grave be limited to only three days? What made it impossible
that God's Messiah should be held under death beyond the appointed
time, which was three days and three nights? Was it because
the time was appointed? That might be. That God who had
appointed the circumstances of his death also appointed the
time or the period that he would be in the grave. Was it because
of the dignity? and they honor the glory, the
holiness of the person himself, him being the holy eternal son
of the living God, having put on flesh. Was it because his
one death and a short time in the grave? was sufficient to
make satisfaction for the sins of the elect. No more is required
than the one death, and no more than the three days and the three
nights in the grave. Our Lord fulfilled his surety
ship, and our surety was let go out of the grave. Was it because
the Father had promised to deliver him? Now, was it any or all of
these lumped together? They might provide a satisfactory
answer. But upon these grounds, it was
not possible for Christ to stay in the grave beyond the time. However, the apostles in our
tax grounds, the impossibility on some prophecies that David
made which concerned the Holy One of God. Verse 25, of one
on the right hand of God. Verse 26 and 27, of one who exhibited
confidence that his soul would not be left in death and the
Holy One would not see corruption. In case you missed it, the reference
here is to Psalms chapter 16, verse 8 through verse 11. is
the passage that Peter has in his mind. Peter emphasizes that
in that passage, David is speaking of Christ, our Messiah. Verse 25, David speaks concerning
him. You see it again in verse 31,
and seeing as how David was a prophet in verse 30, and wrote under
inspiration and knowing that God had sworn unto him that of
the fruit of his loins he would raise up one out of the house
of David. Now there may be no doubt, there
may no doubt be some who would insist that David was speaking
of himself in that passage in Psalm 16. 8 through 11, they
want to be rid of the truth concerning the Messiah. Because he speaks
so frequently, though, in the first person in that passage
in Psalm 16, I foresaw I should not be moved, my heart, my tongue,
my flesh, my soul. All of that in the first person. But there is something in that
which cannot be applied unto David in any reasonable way or
manner. Neither will you abandon me in
the grave, nor suffer, that is, allow or permit thy holy one
to see corruption." Peter seems to clearly understand that the
word of David could be misapplied by some, and so he cuts off all
occasion for any to do so. And in verse 29, he asks to be
allowed that he might speak freely and with due boldness unto them
the truth concerning David, who wrote these things. Notice this,
let me speak freely. hear me, give me leave, don't
interrupt, let me speak freely and boldly of what David has
said. And the point that he thinks
will stumble them is that David spoke of one other than himself
and the apostle makes Two strong points, then, concerning the
passage out of David. Number one, David spoke of the
Holy One that would not see corruption. He would not be swallowed up
by the grave or by death. He would not be left under the
power of it. And yet Peter reminds them in
verse 29, look at it carefully, David was dead and buried. Not
only died, but was buried, and that in a grave which they could
still identify on the outskirts of the city of David. Nehemiah
3.13, there's a mention of the sepulcher of David when they
came back to rebuild the city. The Jews did not deny that David
died, and they did not deny that David was buried, for they had
his sepulcher. But in 1 Kings 2 and verse 10
we read, David slept with his father and was buried in the
city of David." And that, Peter says, is David is both dead and
buried. But Paul, using the same text
and basically to the same end, preaching in Antioch over in
Acts chapter 13, also makes mention of this passage. using the same
text from the Psalms. And in verse 35 of Acts 13, Thou
will not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. And then he
says in verse 36 and verse 37 of Acts 13, watch it carefully,
David, after he had served his own generation by the will of
God, fell on sleep. That is, he died and was buried,
and Paul says, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised up saw
no corruption. That would be the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul uses the word corruption in connection with David. Now
the second thing about it, David spoke of one who in verse 25
is on my right hand. And in Acts 2.34, notice, the
Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make
thine enemies your footstool. Who is this exalted one who sits
at the right hand of God? Who is it that is gone yonder
to sit down on the right hand of the throne of God? Well, Peter's
point is, it's not David. It cannot be David. David is
not ascended into the heaven. Thus these two prophecies were
never fulfilled in David. He saw corruption and he did
not ascend into heaven. So that this holy one of whom
David has spoken, if not the patriarch and king of Israel,
who then is it? that David speaks about. David
died and was buried, never rose again. Corruption consumed him. He did not ascend into heaven. Who then did, as mentioned in
that prophet? The apostle quoting at large
from David shows that all of David's prophecies, which he
quotes, had their fulfillment not in David personally, but
in the greater David, in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yes, he was crucified and he
was slain like a great criminal. He died a criminal's death and
he died a cursed death. He was the stone rejected by
the builders and set aside. His death was with great, great
shame, as well as with great pain and agony. They condemned
him as a blasphemer, a mocker, an enemy of Moses, and mocked
the claims of his kingship. But God raised him up after three
days without seeing corruption. God raised him up, and he did
so without him seeing any corruption like David saw corruption. Now the word seeing here is a
euphemism for experiencing. He did not see or experience
corruption. But if Jesus of Nazareth was
raised from the dead, if he lives again, then where is he? The Jews might ask, where is
he? Has he just simply resumed his
earthly life in a secret place? Is he in the city? Is he out
yonder somewhere in the desert? Has he gone back to Nazareth? Is he in hiding? Nay, because
in accordance with the inspired prophecy of David, he is exalted
to the right hand of God and sits on the right hand of the
throne of God. So you see, God not only delivered
him from death and brought him up out of the grave, but verse
38, being by the right hand of God the Exalted." Do you remember
that great text in Philippians 2 and verses 8 and 9? or being
obedient unto the death of the cross, God has highly exalted
him, given him a name that is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess
in earth and in heaven. In heaven our Lord functions
as our great High Priest. on the right hand of God. Not
only is He our Great High Priest, He's our Mediator, He's our Advocate,
He is our Interceptor. The Bible teaches us all of that. Jesus has not returned to heaven
simply to be inactive. But He is exalted to mediatorial
glory. And He is given a sovereign lordship
at the right hand of God. Remember in Titus, Joseph was
made the prime minister over the land of Egypt. His advance
was great. He was advanced from the dungeon
where he was condemned to be the second in command and ride
in the chariot behind the Pharaoh. He had the keys to the storehouse. He had authority over the people. He had been brought from the
dungeon up to be the prime minister of the land of Egypt. And as
Joseph passed out among the people, the command was given, bow the
knee, bow the knee, as he went out and among the people. Yes,
he was made ruler over all of the land of Egypt, and Pharaoh
even decreed Genesis 41-44, no man could act even in the smallest
matter to move a hand or a foot or a tongue without Joseph's
express permission. That's how sovereign he was.
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted to the right hand
of God, and he has mediatorial sovereignty. He has power, authority
over all flesh. Let's go back to Acts 2. David
predicted the exaltation of the Christ, and the apostle Peter
declares in verse 36 that all the house of Israel no assurity
that God has made that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord
and Christ. You killed him, God raised him
up and exalted him, as sovereign over all things. Imagine the
sting of the message of Peter when he says to them, the one
you killed is now your sovereign Lord. Remember that the one you
killed now has all power in heaven and in earth. I like to use my
patented examples that I've used a few times, of three men who
kill another, and when they're arrested and brought into court
to be tried, the man they killed is sitting on the bench as the
judge over the court. And that's kind of the picture
here. The man they killed is the sovereign Lord over all things. They killed Him, but He is the
sitting judge and has power in heaven and in earth. Even so, the Lord, whom the Jews
crucified, never saw corruption, raised up again after those three
days, and then made Lord and Christ. He sits as Lord over
all. He has authority and power in
heaven and in earth. He is the only name in heaven
and earth. whereby a sinner might be saved. And let me say it like this.
He has the absolute power to save or to damn. It resides in
the hands of our Lord and Savior. He has power over all flesh. All power is His. None can come to God. except
by him. He has the keys of death and
of hell, we read in Revelation. There's a parallel truth to go
with the impossibility of death holding the Lord Jesus Christ,
in that it is also impossible for spiritual death to hold the
elect beyond the appointed time. that the Father has set for them. It is impossible for the elect
of God to remain in spiritual death because of the decree and
the work of our Savior. No more can spiritual death hold
the elect beyond God's appointed time than the grave could hold
Christ beyond the appointed time, three days and three nights. I wanted to say all of that in
the end because in light of our minions preaching what they say
about the Lord Jesus Christ, I wanted us to know that the
Lord Jesus Christ is not a 97 pound weakling that so many make
him out to be in Arminianism today. He is not at the sinner's
disposal. The sinner is at his disposal. The sinner is at the Lord's disposal. John 17, 1 and 2. You have given him authority
over all flesh. that he may give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given unto him. Impossible to hold
him, to see corruption, he has been raised and he is ascended
to the right hand of God, and there he acts as the sovereign,
administering the things of God. And he has poured out this, which
you see and which you hear. It is evidence that our Lord
is glorified, that the Spirit is poured out as it was on Pentecost. Now, Pentecost was not the result
of a bunch of people praying real, real big. Pentecost was
the orderly procedure of the work of God because of the fiftieth