Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. Last week we
looked at how Jews had by wicked hands crucified and slain the
Lord Jesus Christ, but it was all by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God that this occurred. Because our God
is absolutely sovereign in all things and over all things. If
he's not God, then he's not sovereign, but he is sovereign. And he is
God. And he is over all. So much so
that not a speck of dust floats in the air that he doesn't know
where it is. And as one person said, there's not a maverick
molecule in this whole universe, is there? He is in full control. And by him, all things consist. Right? My is wonderful. I'll tell you why. That's our
Savior, Brother Dave. That's our Savior. That's our
Lord. He's the one who rules over everything,
reigns over everything. My, and we do come to Him just
as we are. We come to Him empty-handed,
don't we? Sinners in a desperate need for a Savior. And by the
mercy and grace of God, He saves us. And the reason we come to
him just as we are as sinners with nothing but our sin is because
he makes us will in the day of his power, beloved. By his sovereign mercy in hand,
according to his sovereign will and purpose. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. So the death
of Christ was an act of God. He was foreordained and predestinated
to be our substitutionary sacrifice. And the only way that a sinner
can be saved is by the satisfaction of God's justice and God's law.
And I'll tell you why. There's not one person on this
earth who can satisfy God's law and God's justice. Not one person. There's only one man who walked
this earth. And he was God incarnate in the flesh that absolutely
satisfied God's law and absolutely satisfied God's justice. And
his name is the Lord Jesus Christ, the only savior of sinners. The
only one. My. And how did he do it? Well, he's a sinless son of God.
He walked perfectly according to God's law and God's justice. He's absolutely sinless, and
how could He redeem us? How did He come to redeem us?
Well, the scripture tells us that Christ came to save His
people from their sins. And He shall do what He came
to do, won't He, Brother Dan? He will, and He did. See, salvation's
accomplished. I preach a finished salvation.
It's already accomplished. There's nothing for you and I
to do. It's already accomplished, and it's being accomplished by
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's being accomplished by the
God man, isn't it? And that's what gives us our hope, because
we're sinners who can't save ourselves. We're sinners who
can't satisfy God's law or justice, but we look to the one who's
done it all for us. He's done it as our substitute.
He's the Lamb of God. He's the great Passover lamb.
He's God's Passover lamb. Sent by the Father. Remember
when we saw delivered there in the Greek? When it says he was
delivered according to the foreknowledge of God, that's surrendered in
the Greek. I was talking to Brother Marcus this week. We were talking
about this. Not only did Christ surrender himself to God's will
to come to this earth and to redeem us, but God the Father
surrendered his son as well. He delivered Christ. My, in the Holy Spirit we know
in the everlasting eternal covenant was in full agreement with the
Father and the Son. So he surrendered him up too. And Christ to fulfill his covenant
obligations that he agreed to in the everlasting covenant in
eternity comes to this earth and bleeds and dies for the sins
of his people. My. And last week we looked at
the person and the work of Christ and how he bled and died to redeem
his people. And he was redeeming the people
that were given to him by God from before the foundation of
the world. We don't know who they are. We have no clue at
all. So we preach the gospel to everyone,
right, to all. My oh my, and God does the saving. God does the saving. Listen to
this. Look at verse 21 in chapter two.
And it shall come to pass that whosoever, see, we don't shorten
it, whosoever, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Well, we know as God's people that the whosoever
is God's elect, right? But I don't know who they are.
So I preach the gospel to everyone, and the gospel goes out of here
into the internet. We've seen it go into hundreds
of countries. And we don't know what God's
accomplishing with it, but we know his word won't return unto
him void. And we just rejoice, don't we? We just rejoice. Do you know that Christ abolished
death's power, its terror, and its fears for all who believe
on him? Death has no sting now. In the resurrection of Christ,
which is what we're gonna look at today,
was God's public declaration that his perfect law and his
perfect justice had been satisfied fully for the sins of those he gave
to Christ. Let's read verses 22 to 35 of
Acts chapter two. Peter stands up. And proclaims
these words, ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth,
the man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and
signs. So those miracles and wonders and signs prove that
he was God in the flesh. They prove that he was God in
the flesh. Which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves
also know. Him being delivered up, that's
Christ being surrendered, remember in the Greek, by the determinate
counsel. And for knowledge of God, ye
have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Whom
God hath raised up, oh, he raised him from the grave, having loosed
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. And now Peter's gonna quote Psalm
16. He says here, 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." There's that little word, shall,
again. Shall rest in hope. Who's our hope? I ask you, who's
our hope? Christ. Amen, sister. Christ. That's
right. The Lord Jesus Christ. He's our
hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt
thou suffer thy unholy one to seek corruption. You notice that's
capitalized, the Holy One, that's Christ Jesus. Thou hast made
known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make 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 sepulcher is with us unto this day. He's dead,
he's buried. They could point out where his
sepulcher was then. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing
that God had sworn with an oath to him that the fruit of his
loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit
on his throne, Christ there being the Messiah. He seen this before
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell, neither shall his flesh see corruption. We're going
to look at that portion in Psalm 16, and it's David's words, but
he's speaking, he's prophesying about Christ Jesus our Lord. He seen before spake of the resurrection
of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his
flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore being by the right
hand of God, this is where he is now, exalted in heaven received
of the Father, the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth
this which ye now shall hear. Do you know Christ is not waiting
to reign? Do you know he's reigning right now? He's not waiting to
reign in the future. He's king right now. Right now.
He's king of kings and lord of lords. And he's seated with the
right hand of the father. You know what he's doing? He's interceding
for us. Oh, it makes our hearts sing, doesn't it, brother Tom?
My. He's interceding for you and
I, brother. My, it's wonderful. That's just
so wonderful. He's so good to us. And look
at this. 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 seek corruption.
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make
me full of joy with thy countenance. Verse 29, Men and brethren, let
me freely speak unto you of the patriot 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 to
him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to his 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 had God raised up, where we are all witnesses. Therefore,
being by the right hand of God, exalted in heaven, received from
the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost." Now it's come, remember
the Holy Ghost was sent down and they were filled with power.
He hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, Jehovah
said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thy
foes thy footstools. My, oh, my. What comfort and
hope is here in these verses for us. Our God, our King, our
Savior, our Lord, our Redeemer, is at the right hand of God right
now. Reigning and ruling. And we know from our study in
John 17, remember our study in John 17, He has all power. He
gives eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him. He's
the disposer of eternal life. It's not in man's hands, it's
in God's hands. It's in God's hands. We're but
receivers of this mercy and grace. When we're made willing in the
day of God's power, we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God
and given faith to believe, we run to Christ. We flee to Christ. And think of this. Brother Brian,
we can now approach the throne of grace through Christ Jesus
our Lord. We can come boldly before the
throne of grace. We can put our needs before Christ. And I'll tell you, you know how
I always say, be specific, right? Bring every single little thing. Nothing is too small for the
Lord. And nothing is too big for the
Lord, is it? Nothing at all. He can do whatever
he pleases. Whatever he pleases. And he can
take care of anything, he's got all power. Now, he may say no,
he may say yes, and he may make us wait. And all those are answers to
our prayers. But isn't it comforting, sister, that we can take whatever
cares we have in our heart, we can come to the Lord with them? It's wonderful. Nothing's too
small and nothing's too big for him. People say, well God, I
don't want to bring such a small thing to God. Bring it to him. Bring it to him. He cares for
us. He cares for us. So what a hope
we have. Marvel at this wonderful work
of the Lord Jesus Christ set before us in verses 22 to 24
too. As the Lord Jesus Christ is delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification, so happy
is the born again believer. How happy are we? We can be joyful,
beloved. Right? We Baptists don't want
to get too excited. Come on. This is something to
get excited about, isn't it? Oh my, this is wonderful, isn't
it? This is wonderful. My oh my, the Lord Jesus Christ
was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification
so that we can now be in the presence of God. This is incredible. This is the greatest news we're
ever hearing in this world. It's the most important news
that we're ever hearing in this world. My, in the midst of the indwelling
corruption which is in us, right? Remember we looked today at the
works of the flesh in Sunday school? The works of the flesh,
and we said, oh man, we're saved, and those are all in us still.
Yeah, they are. The inward corruption that's still in us. But as Sister
Kathy said, praise be to God, the blood, the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. All sin, beloved. All sin. And we say hallelujah,
don't we? Praise be to God for his mercy
and his grace. So amidst the inward corruptions
and in the ungodly world outside, and in the demands of God's law
and the demands of God's justice, and all the accusations of Satan,
right? And all the temptations that
we go through. We, as the born-again blood-washed
believers, can rejoice in the freedom that we have in Christ.
What do we have? A full pardon. All our sins, now here we go,
past, present, and future are forgiven. Someone said, how can
you say all your future sins are forgiven? Oh, my. My, oh, my. Brother Neil, all our sins were
future 2,000 years ago, weren't they? When Christ died on the
cross. Every single one of them, right? And if he paid for our
sins, if he paid for all of them, that means they're all covered
under the blood, isn't it? Yeah, that's right. Doesn't give us
a license to go crazy though, does it? Well, we're not antinomians,
but I'll tell you what. I'm fully pardoned, are you?
Rejoice, beloved. Rejoice, beloved. It's wonderful,
isn't it? Oh, my. That's good news, isn't
it, brother Dan? That's good news for sinners like us. It's
wonderful news. My. And how was this pardon secured? By the blood and righteousness
of Christ Jesus our Lord. That's how. And that's the only
way. That's the only way. by the blood and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're mere receivers of this
mercy and grace in Christ. I'll tell you, it just gets better
and better. It just gets better and better. And when Christ was raised from
the grave, it shows us that God was satisfied with the great
sacrifice of Christ. So much so that it says he was
raised for our justification. In Isaiah, at the end of Isaiah
53, it says, he shall see the travail of his soul, that being
God will see the travail of Christ's soul and shall be satisfied.
Satisfied for what? Satisfied for the work he did,
which is redeeming us from all our sins. It's absolutely amazing. Now that's the security of everlasting
salvation. In Psalm 84, verse 9, it says,
Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
That's speaking of Christ. Where does God see us as redeemed, blood-washed believers? He sees us in Christ, doesn't
he? He sees us in Christ. In Acts chapter two, we see that
Peter, and remember, these words are by inspiration of the Holy
Spirit of God. Peter's not just popping words off. These are
words that have been inspired by the Holy Spirit of God and
recorded for our learning. In Acts chapter 2 verse 26, Peter
proclaims the words of David which says, I foresaw the Lord
always before my face. So the Lord Jesus Christ is set
before men and women and people of all ages through the preaching
of the gospel. Today I'm setting forth Christ
before you. And I will tell you to look to
Christ. to look and live because that's
the only way that a sinner can be saved is by looking to Christ.
There's no other way. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but it's according to God's mercy and
grace in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. There's no other way
to be saved. Christ himself said, I'm the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. So there's no other way. There's no other avenue. And we see here When David proclaimed
these words, he was actually speaking of Christ. And he says,
I foresaw the Lord always before my face. So we're told to look to Christ
in the preaching of the gospel as the only object of hope and
faith, and to trust in him and depend upon him for life and
salvation. And we see here that Jehovah
is the object of Christ. The whole reason that he was
here was to save his people from their sins, and in doing so,
he's glorifying God the Father. And while he's on this earth,
his mind and his eyes are set upon Christ, or set upon the
Father, set upon the Father. He's here to do the will of the
Father, isn't he? He's not here to do his own will. He's here
to please the Father. Christ Jesus our Lord always
had an eye to God's glory in everything he did. He had an
eye to God's glory as the ultimate end of all his actions, his will,
his purpose, and his commands. And he came to fulfill the covenant
obligations of the everlasting covenant, which was to save his
people from their sins by the shedding of his blood and by
the giving of his life and by being raised from the dead. I ask you, is there any way we
could have been saved other than Christ dying for us? No. There's no other way. I can't
save myself. I can't save you. Who's the first
people, if we had the power to save, who's the first people
that we would save? Our children. We can't do that,
though. We can't save ourselves. We can't
save our children. We can't even help anyone. God
must save. And God sends his son, surrenders
his son. And Christ surrenders his life
willingly. Right? Didn't he give his life?
Right? Says he gave up the ghost. He
willingly surrendered his life. And he cried, it is finished. The work's complete. It's done.
It's absolutely finished. All that a sinner needs is found
in Christ. And our Lord Jesus Christ always
has an eye to the glory of God and everything he did. And he
followed God's will and purpose and his counsel. Oh my. Turn if you would to Psalm chapter
16. Psalm chapter 16, and we see
here David's words, which again are speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ, where he says here, I have set the Lord always before me.
So Christ always had the Father before him, just as we walk in
Christ and have Christ before us. Before I get in this pulpit,
I always pray, Lord Jesus, go before me. Don't let me go anywhere
where you don't go before me. We should pray that all the time
in our lives, right? In decisions. Don't let me go. Don't let me go forth on my own,
Lord, please. I know I'm making a mess of everything. But if you go before me, Lord,
all shall be well. All shall be well. Look at this,
in Psalm 16, we're starting in verse 8, he says, I have set
the Lord always before me. This is David's words, but he's
speaking of Christ. I have set Jehovah, in the Hebrew,
always before me, because he is at my right hand, I shall
not be moved. Look at that. So his focus, Christ's
focus, was the Father. Was the Father. My, oh, my. And then look at
these words. I, and there it is again, Dave, I shall not be
moved. Now we pray, Lord, keep me or
I'll be moved, right? But this is Christ. These are
Christ's words. I shall not be moved. You remember
in Isaiah, and tie these words in with Isaiah where it says,
he shall not fail. He came to save His people from
their sins. He shall not fail. He won't be moved. Scripture
says He set His face like a flint to Jerusalem because He knew
He must give His life for we sinners. He must. Christ came to save His people
from their sins. He shall not be moved. He shall not be moved. He will not be moved from that
duty and He will not be moved for the execution of it either.
He shall not be moved. He shall not be moved from the
worship of God. He won't be moved. He won't be
moved from the service of God. He won't be moved by all the
temptations of Satan or any threats or dangers from men. Christ shall
not be moved. He shall not be moved by all
the terrors of death. Remember I've said in the past, he came
here to die. We were born in this world to
live. He was born in this world to
die. He knew exactly what he was doing.
He's the Word of God from eternity, becoming a man. He's the God-man,
God incarnated in the flesh. He shall not be moved. My, he
shall not be moved from the worship of God, nope. He not be moved
by all the terrors of death or even by the flame and sword of
God's wrath and justice that was unsleeved and plunged into
him for us. He not be moved. He not be moved. Through all those things that
occurred in his life, he stood unshaken and unmoved. Remember
last week, I mentioned those weeping ladies at Jerusalem?
And he looked at them. He's carrying the cross. And
he looked at them. He's all whipped and beaten. He looks at them
and says, weep not for me. Don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves. Weep for your children. And as he's saying there, I'm
a conquering king. I'm going to accomplish that
which I was sent to do. Don't weep for me. People say,
oh, poor little Jesus. He's born to die. That's what
he came here to do. That's why he came, beloved,
to save his people from their sins. What a great God we have. What a great God we have. And
he looked to the Father in all circumstances, all circumstances,
to assist him and encourage him through all the trials in this
world. Look at Psalm 16, verse 9. Therefore, my heart is glad,
and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest in hope.
The Lord Jesus Christ's heart was always glad because he had
the Father in his view. Now, he's a man of souls and
acquainted with grief, but he's got the joy of the cross
set before him. Do you know the scripture says it was the joy
of the cross? He joyfully went to the cross. You know why? He's going to redeem his bride.
He's going to accomplish that which he was sent to do. My, my oh my, what a Savior. And think of this, what this
scripture brings out is the fact that he rested and rejoiced in
the Father always. See, we can't do that, right?
He's loving the Lord God with all his heart, mind, and soul,
which we can't do. But the law commands that, doesn't
it? He's doing it for us, brother. My, what a Savior. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ
our Lord. Is there anyone like Him? There's
no one like Him, is there? There's no one like Him. My,
and God the Father raised our King from the dead. And He rejoiced,
the Lord Jesus Christ rejoiced in God's providence. He rejoiced
in God's wisdom. Yeah, it's according to the wisdom
of God that we're saved. God purposed and planned this,
didn't He? All according to His wisdom and His divine providence.
And for the believer in Christ, our faith gives us a living joy.
Now we have a living joy. Remember as I said in Sunday
school, the fruit of the spirit is all things that naturally
people have love and joy, but this fruit of the spirit is an
unnatural love. It's a love for God, it's a love
for the brethren, it's a love for the gospel, it's a love for
Christ. It's not a natural love. It's a foreign love. And so is
the joy and the peace. Those are all different joys
than we've experienced in life before. Because they're all centered
in Christ. They're all centered in Him. My, oh, my. And look at this. He says, my flesh also shall
rest in hope. I pray by the grace of God we
can say that. We can say that. And then verse
10, it says, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer, thine holy one, to see corruption. Our great
God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ, died and was buried,
but death could not hold him. It could not hold him. Couldn't
hold him, beloved. And he was raised from the dead
on the third day, according to the scriptures, before the time
the body begins to corrupt. And God the Father raised Christ
from the dead. is he would not suffer his body to be corrupted,
because he's the Holy One. He's the Holy One, beloved. Remember
them demons? And that Gadarene demonic? They
said, we know who thou art, thou Holy One of God. We know who
you are. Oh my. And they said, you come
to cast us into the deep before the time? That's paraphrase,
but they said, you come to cast us into the deep, that's the
abyss in the Greek, before the time? They were terrified. There's a King of Kings and Lord
of Lords in the flesh, the Holy One of God. And they identified
them. And they feared and trembled.
Oh my. And God the Father raised Christ
from the dead. Again, he did not suffer his
body to be corrupted. He's holy. He's sinless. And he was God's holy one. Think of this, there's no moral
corruption in him and there's no natural corruption in him
as he's the seed of the woman. He's bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh. But Adam's not his dad. He's conceived of the Holy Spirit
of God. And then look at verse 11. And think of this too, that
couldn't be said of any other man or woman. And that couldn't
be said of David even, could it? David's dead in his grave,
corrupted. So this is speaking of Christ.
Verse 11, thou will show me the path of life, in thy presence
is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
Look at that, thou will show me the path of life. This is
not the way of life and salvation for lost sinners, because that's
only in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is speaking of Christ's
resurrection from the dead. His resurrection from the dead,
which is a passing from death to life. And now we see he's
at the right hand of the Father. He's at the right hand of the
Father. He's our mediator. He's entered heaven. He sat down.
The work's done. And he's reigning right now.
He's not waiting to reign in the future. He's reigning right
now. I heard some fella yesterday,
oh my gosh, took a little break in between doing some sermon
work and this fella on sermon audio, I just was glancing along
and it said, he said the whole thing that happened with Israel
yesterday. And he said, well, if this is God's will, then this
is open to a whole can of worms. I got news for him. Whatever
the headlines are, that's God's will. Right? That's what he allowed to happen
that day. Now, he's not the cause of it.
Right? He's not the cause of evil. No. That's us. All he got to do is leave us
alone. We kill each other. We murder each other. We do the
worst things to each other. But to say that? Thinking, this
fellow doesn't even know the Lord. How can you make a statement
like that? God is sovereign. He rules over
all. My oh my. And look at this too. Look at this in verse 11 there.
The Lord is infinitely delighted with being in the presence of
God. He's delighted in being in heaven.
He's delighted being in the company of angels. He's delighted in
being in the company of the Father. And the father sees the travail
of his soul and his seed, sinners, called by grace. And this is
another thing too. Christ sees us, the redeemed,
and he's delighted. Let that soak in your heart today
and this week. God is delighted with those he's
redeemed. He's delighted with them. I know what I am, and I know
what I was. And I just marvel at the fact that he delights
in this old sinner here. I'm just a sinner saved by grace,
and he delights in me. So for you, too, if you're one
of his people. That's amazing, isn't it? That's grace. That's
mercy. That's mercy. And you know, he's delighted.
With all our dear brethren who've gone before us, I was thinking
about Brother Newell, Sister Kathy, Sister Callie Jo,
Brother Calvin, Brother Richard, Sister Irene, Sister Denise,
Sister Louise, Sister Marge, Brother Wayne Carrick, my oh
my, Brother Jim, these are people who passed since
I've been here, too. Brother Joel, my, oh, my. Sister Sylvia, I heard about
her. I never got to meet her. I'm going to meet her one day.
But I heard of how she was such a testimony going through cancer,
to the glory of God. And you guys know, I've only
been here eight years, you guys know many other brothers and
sisters who have gone home to glory right now. And you know
what they're doing now? They're delighting in the Savior. And we will too soon, because
our life is just like a vapor. Because Christ was resurrected,
we're going to be resurrected. Isn't that wonderful? My oh my. My oh my. One day we who are
the redeemed of the Lord will see him face to face. Let's go
back to the book of Acts now and we'll see the apostle Peter
brings forth that David's words were the prophecy of Christ's
death, resurrection, and exaltation. And God our Father, by his life-given
power, loosed his darling son from the pains of death. And
Jesus Christ, who is the power of God, raised himself from the
grave and tells us in his word that he has the power to lay
down his life and he had the power to raise it up again, didn't
he? And by the sovereign power of
God, the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus Christ was loosed from the pains
of death. All three divine persons of the
majestic Trinity were involved in the glorious resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. By the supreme sacrifice of himself,
Jesus Christ sanctified and perfected forever all who were represented
by Him. And by His perfect obedience to the will of God the Father,
Jesus Christ obtained eternal salvation for us. He obtained
it for us. We have it. We have it as believers. Let's go back here and look at
verse 25. It says, For David speaketh concerning
himself, I foresaw the Lord always before my face. For he is on
my right hand, that I should not be moved. So he's taking
what we just read in Psalm 16, he's applying it now to Christ's
words. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh shall
rest in hope, because that will not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer, thine Holy One, to seek corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life, Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance. Now the Jews, when they read
Psalm 16, they looked at it as the words of David. But we see
here that Peter, and by our reading already in Psalm 16, that Peter
is equating those words to Christ. So it's actually the Holy Spirit,
because he's preserved these words, equating these words to
Jesus Christ our Lord. Peter's filled with the Holy
Spirit of God, and he draws the attention of his hearers to all
of God, and actually all of us, too. He's preaching to us right
now, isn't he? Through his word, through the
word. To every saint in every generation that Jesus Christ
was raised from the dead, and that these words apply to Christ
and Christ alone. David was prophesying of the
coming of the Messiah, who would be made of his seed, and he was,
he was from the lineage of David, the promised Messiah, that he
would suffer, that he would die, and that he would be raised again. The grave could not hold him,
and he also said he won't see corruption. But he would raise the crucified
Christ from the grave, God would do that, and sit him on his sovereign
throne with great joy. It's wonderful. And where's our
savior right now? Is he affected by all the troubles
in this world? Do they interrupt his plans?
Nope, not one. That's why I always say, don't
get caught too much up in the news and all that. I've noticed
something. I've noticed something in my
59 years here on this earth that the news is full of fear. They make money on fear. They
report the news, but they sure sensationalize it, don't they?
And they did the same in Canada when I was up there, and they
do the same here, beloved. They run on that. But what does
the scripture say? God has not given us what? The spirit of
fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And then
Paul writes in Colossians chapter three, he says, set your mind
on things above. That's Christ. In that mind there
is your heart and your affections. Set them on Christ. Set them
upon him. Oh my. In Jesus Christ our Lord
was a man sustained, strengthened in his work by the assurance
of the Father's presence. And he is on my right hand. And
I shall not be moved, Isaiah 50 verses five to seven. Our
Savior faced his greatest trial with joyful confidence. With
joyful confidence that he would, by his obedience unto death,
both obtain the place of highest glory to save his people and
that he would save his people from their sins by his perfect,
complete, sin atoning work, and he did it. He did it. He accomplished it. See, I preach
a finished work. And I tell sinners like myself
to look to Christ. He's the only hope for sinners.
There's no hope outside of Christ. There's absolutely none. There's
none. There's just eternal death. Now,
Psalm 16, spoke, we see spoke of Christ, not of David. Let's
look at Acts chapter two, verses 29 to 32 now. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the Patriarch David, and he is both dead and
buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore,
being a prophet, and knowing that God has 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 had God raised up, where we all are witnesses. So Peter
gives proof positive that David could not have been speaking
of himself because he's in his grave. His body did see corruption,
right? So he's not speaking of himself. He's prophesying about
Christ. So Psalm 16 there in that portion
we read can only be speaking of Christ who was raised from
the dead in the third day according to the power of God and the will
of God. In verse 30, Verse 30 there, we see, therefore, being
a prophet and 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. My, oh, my. God has sworn an oath with David
that the Messiah would come from his lineage. Romans chapter one,
if you want, yeah, let's turn there, Romans chapter one, let's
turn there. Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one, and we'll
read verses one to four. Excuse me. Paul preaching, speaking of the
preaching of the gospel, worded it this way here. Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the
gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the
holy scriptures, concerning his son, Christ Jesus our Lord, which
was made, what, of the seed of David according to the flesh.
See, there it is. And declared, look what he's,
he's declared to be the son of God. He is the son of God, but
he's also declared to be the son of God with power. He has
all power, beloved. The Father has given all power
into his hands. All power. According to the spirit
of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, let's read verse
five, too, by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience
to the faith among all nations for his name. And verse six,
among whom are ye also the call of Jesus Christ. So the same
power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that
raised us from our natural state being dead in trespasses and
sins, and that's how we were born. We're born into this world
dead in trespasses and sins. We cannot please God by anything
we do. Can't save ourselves, can't please
God in our natural state, we're dead. Dead spiritually. Alive physically,
but dead spiritually. And then when we're born again,
now we have a new nature within us, right? We're new creatures
in Christ, and now the battle begins, doesn't it? Like we looked
at in the Galatians study a couple weeks ago about the war between
the flesh and spirit that's within every single one of us now. You have trouble with sin before
the Lord saved us? Nope, didn't have trouble at all, did we?
Didn't even bother us, did it? Now it bugs us, doesn't it? Oh
my, now we hate it now. Oh my. See, now we love the things
that we once hated, which is God, and we hate the things that
we once loved, which is sin, and many other things too, of
course. My. Ever since Christ's resurrection
from the grave, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, he's king
of kings and Lord of lords. You know he was king before he
came to this world? He was born king. He's king currently. And he'll be king forever. His kingship has never changed.
He's the Word of God incarnate. The second person of the Trinity.
And he's not waiting for a day when he'll sit upon the throne.
He's on it right now. He rules and reigns in majesty.
over this earth. And the fulfilling of David's
prophecy from Psalm 16 occurred when our Lord Jesus Christ was
resurrected from the grave. And Peter, speaking for all of
God's saints, he says, this Lord Jesus Christ hath God raised
up, whereof we are all witnesses. Now, they were witnesses of it,
but we are also witnesses of it in the sense that we proclaim
it. And it's the bedrock of what
we believe, isn't it? Without the resurrection of Christ,
there's no justification before God. The resurrection of Christ
is absolutely vital to what we believe. I think it was Paul that said,
if Christ's not raised, then what we believe is in vain. But our Lord lives. He's a living
God. He's a living Savior. He's raised
from the dead by God's power. And we've embraced that truth,
haven't we, as born-again blood-washed believers. Oh my. All those in every generation
who are taught by God the Holy Spirit believe this glorious
and God-honoring truth of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we've embraced those truths by the gift of faith.
We believe that Jesus Christ is our righteousness, don't we? That's what we believe. We believe
that Jesus Christ is the only righteousness that God will accept. We believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ walked on this earth in perfect obedience to his father's
will and that at that time we were in him. We were in Christ. I was listening to a preacher
from down south a couple weeks ago. It blew my mind. I knew
this, but it's just the way he phrased it. He said, do you know
that we were in Christ from before the foundation of the world? Because we were chosen in Christ
from before the foundation of the world? Even though we were born in Adam? There's a fizz job, Dave. Just
makes your mind fizz. But it's truth, beloved. My oh
my. But we were in Christ when he
walked in obedience. He's our substitute, isn't he?
Just like we were in Adam when we fell, we were in Christ. He's the federal head. Christ
is our, he's the second Adam. He's the second Adam, beloved. My oh my. When Christ obeyed
the Father, we obeyed the Father in Christ. And God the Father
saw us in his Son. All those he gave to Christ were
in him as he obeyed God's law perfectly. Remember Paul says,
I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. It's amazing. And we believe
by God-given faith that we were in Christ when he suffered the
unmitigated wrath of God for us. It fell upon him. We believe
that all our iniquities and sins were laid upon Christ Jesus our
Savior, and God poured out his wrath against our sins in Christ. So much so, so much so, beloved,
that God says, your sins and iniquities, I don't even remember
them. We remember them, Brother Dave.
We remember our crazy days. The Lord saved us late in life. My, oh, my. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. You're a believer? When I see
the blood, God says, I'll pass over you. Oh, my. That's what we say. Hallelujah. Praise be to our
great God. He's wonderful, isn't he? Isn't
he wonderful? Oh, my. So God must punish our
sins so he does it in Christ Jesus our Lord. Oh, my. And he can't demand payment twice,
can he? No, he demanded the price for
our sins at our surest hand, didn't he? Remember Moses struck
that rock twice? And he wasn't allowed to go in
the Promised Land. You know why? Because that rock represented
Christ, and it's only been smoked once. For the sins of God's people.
So God won't smite us for our sins. He already did it in Christ. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. So rejoice, beloved of God, our
Lord Jesus Christ hath borne all the wrath of God that was
against us. And you know what the scripture
says? He extinguished it. And he extinguished it. I remember
hearing an old English preacher saying, God the Father extinguished
the wrath of God against us so much so that it's like a fire
that's finished and there ain't even a wisp of smoke rising up. Full pardon, when I see the blood. Remember? The death angel passed
by, won't he? When I see the blood. Are you
under the blood of Christ? Praise be to his mighty name. My, oh my, it's wonderful. And
let us consider lastly one truth. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
buried, All of God's elect, along with
all our sins, were buried with Him. They're buried. All our sins
were buried with Christ, past, present, and future. Now all
my sins, and I know everyone in this room, all of our sins
were future when Christ died. And they were buried with Him.
Now, I still committed them, didn't I, to my shame. But I
heard one day, I heard a preacher speaking about the Lord Jesus
Christ who'd done this great work. And by the power of God, the
Holy Spirit, I was born again and made well in the day of his
power to look to Christ. And now I stand before you a
man fully forgiven, all because of the mercy and grace of God.
And I see you smiling, Brother Brian, because it's serious for
all of us who believe, isn't it? All of us. I love that. I
love it when you smile. I love it because it's so true.
Does it not fill us with joy? To know that all our sins are
gone and God's word clearly states that all the sins of his chosen
people have been removed from his sight forever. We remember him, but God don't
remember him. So if God don't remember him, should we remember
him? Nope. But the flesh, the flesh, the
flesh, right? Oh my. He remembers them no more. I am so thankful that God doesn't
remember my sins. I am so thankful. So rejoice. Let us leave here
rejoicing, beloved of God, that all our sins were buried with
Christ. And they were so buried that it's like they're in the
sea of God's forgetfulness. I know God don't forget nothing,
but he's forgotten our sins, hasn't he? Because they've been
bought and paid for. They're washed away. He says,
I don't remember them. This is God who remembers everything.
And he says of our sins, I don't remember the sins of my beloved
ones in Christ. May we leave here this week rejoicing
in this wondrous salvation that we have in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And rejoice, God forgives us
for Christ's sake. That's the whole reason we're
forgiven, is for Christ's sake. And we say amen and amen, right?
My, what a Savior. O gracious Heavenly Father, we
come before Thee, so thankful that You, so thankful that You
saved Your people from their sins, so thankful for Your grace
and mercy. We were, we were so dead in trespasses
and sins, loving our sin, rejoicing in our sin, but You, You turned
us, O Lord. Born again by Thee, Holy Spirit,
And we thank Thee. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for sending
Your Holy Spirit to regenerate us, to give us faith to believe,
and to teach us and guide us in all truth and all things about
You, Lord Jesus. Thank You, Father, for Your wondrous
plan of salvation. Thank You for choosing the people.
Otherwise, there'd no one be saved. We thank Thee that You
chose the people, and we thank Thee, we who are Your people,
thank Thee that we're in that number. We pray that as this
message goes forth, oh, that you'd use it for your glory,
your honor, and your praise. Lord, that you would awake your
sleeping lack, Lord, who do not know thee. Oh, that you'd gather
your people under the preaching of your word. We know your word
will not return unto you void. We just pray as it goes out and
forth in the internet that you would bless the message, Lord,
for your glory and honor and praise. And we seek to glorify
you. We seek to magnify you in our
lives. Thank you for your great love
for us and thank you for loving us. And the only reason we love
you is because you loved us first, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray,
amen.