Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 2. Again, where Brother Travis read
is where we're going to be. We'll be looking at verses 21
to 24 today. The name of the message is, The
Person and Work of Christ. The Person and Work of Christ. And take note, again, that that
which Peter preached is often called Pentecostal preaching,
but you will notice that it's the same message that all gospel
preachers preach. And it was Pentecostal preaching,
because on that day, 3,000 souls were added to the church, as
we saw at the end of that reading in verse 41. 3,000 souls! My goodness. My goodness. And note, again, the message
is the same message that St. Gospel Preachers preach today.
It is the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. Christ rising
from the grave, Christ redeeming His people with His precious,
precious blood, shed for the remission of our sins. And he
saved all those he came to redeem. He saved them. And shall, shall
save his people from their sins. And we're living proof of that,
aren't we? We're living proof of that, shall. That binding
word for the covenant of grace is amazing. We're living proof. So this is the same message that
God sent preachers preach today. And what do we say? Glory be
to God, most high. Glory to the Lord for allowing
us to have the privilege of hearing this message and for giving us
ears to hear when so many do not have ears to hear. So many
have no desire to hear this wonderful message of God's grace. And yet
here we desire it. We love it. Oh, it's so good. God's so good. So today I pray
God the Holy Spirit will give us an understanding, illuminating
the scriptures for us, and teaching us, and giving us an understanding
of these verses that we're going to look at. Verses 21 to 24 of
Acts chapter 2. Peter is set forth in these verses
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read
verses 21 to 24. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
There's that little word again, shall. Isn't it wonderful? There's
no doubt there, is it? Whosoever will come to Christ
shall be saved. No ifs, no buts, no doubts. They shall be saved. All who
the Holy Spirit regenerates and draws to Christ shall be saved. My, that's wonderful. Ye men
of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God, look at that, among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also
know. So he's not saying anything new.
He's saying that this man is approved of God, and the very
miracles that he did before them, in the midst of them, prove that
he is the son of God. Proved it. That he was a man
approved by God. Because look at this. Which God
did by him in the midst of you. Who did the miracles? God did
them. God did them. Through Christ. As you yourselves
also know. Him, that being Christ, being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, he have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up." See,
the grave's not the end, is it? No. Death couldn't hold our king. He's sinless. He's sinless in
his life and he's sinless in his death. Death can't hold him.
Look at this. Whom God, all by the power of
God, hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should be holding of it. See, death's
got a grip on us. It's got a claim on us. The soul
that sinneth it shall die, right? Christ died in our ruined place.
And death couldn't hold him. Remember he said in the book
of John, he said, Satan cometh and hath nothing in me. No claim. He's the sinless one. He's the
perfect spotless lamb of God. And he's completed that work
perfectly of the redemption of our souls. And God raises him
from the dead. And let us remember that Peter
is preaching with boldness from the Holy Spirit of God. The Lord
gave him that boldness. It's not natural to us. Every
preacher will say it's not natural for us to get up and brag on
Christ. And every preacher will say,
who's sufficient for these things? It's a calling. And it's God
who empowers us. God who gives us the ability
to do it. We can't do it on our own. And
we don't want to. We don't want to. And notice
that Peter seems to anticipate a question which the Jews whose
hands were freshly stained with the blood of Christ, might ask,
if this Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God, if he established
his kingdom, how do you explain the fact that we nailed him to
the cross? See, he's... And think of this, too. The Holy
Spirit knows the hearts and minds of everybody, right? This isn't something new. He
knows man. So, for man to do that, man would
say, well, how can he be God? And we crucify him. we're going
to find the answer in our text because it was by the determinate
foreknowledge and counsel of God. So this is an answer to that
question even if it wasn't asked. My oh my. In verse 22 Peter's addressing
it's the men who are assembled at the area where Peter's located
also and he's addressing them to hear these words in verse
22 And he's going to speak to them by inspiration of the Holy
Spirit of God about the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
how do we know that these words are inspired by the Holy Spirit
of God? Because they're preserved in
the Word of God. Right? This is for our learning,
beloved. And this is for our edification.
And this is to grow our faith, to walk out of here knowing that
our God is God, that our Savior saved us. And he who saved us
is the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. By the power of the Holy
Spirit of God, we've been redeemed. And Peter's going to testify
who the Lord Jesus Christ is. The person and work of our wonderful
Savior. Look at verse 22. Ye men of Israel. So he's addressing
Israelites. Remember it's the feast day and
so there's all kinds of people there in the morning sacrifice.
They're going to be giving the morning sacrifice. Gil said there's
probably thousands of them there. Well we know 3,000 were saved.
So there's a whole bunch of people there. And Peter stands up and
says, you men of Israel, hear these words. Hearken to 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. So Peter here, who is he preaching
to? He's preaching to ungodly men, religious men, unsafe men,
men who are dead in trespasses and sins. Now they're gonna do
their religious rights, they're gonna do their religious duties,
but they're not born again. They're not born again, beloved.
My oh my. And so he's preaching to these
ungodly men who not many days before, right, murdered the Lord
Jesus Christ. And if it wasn't for the restraining
grace of God, they'd have murdered all the apostles too. And all
the followers of Christ. How do we know that? What did
Paul do? He was going and wasting the church, which is murdering
the church in the Greek. Destroying the church. His goal
was to wipe out Christianity. Little did he know, he's a trophy
of God's grace. He's a chosen vessel. that would
preach the gospel. And remember what our dear brothers
and sisters said? They heard that he destroyed
the faith, the faith, now preaches it. And they glorified God. Isn't that amazing? Oh, that
gets you so excited. My, my oh my. So here he's preaching to these
men, And God the Holy Spirit restrained them from having harmed
any of the followers of Christ. And we see in verse 23 that the
apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ boldly declares that it was by
their wicked hands that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. It
says this, him, being Christ, being delivered up by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. And note in verse 22 the words,
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God. Approved of God. This is speaking of none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And this
speaks of his divinity, beloved. This speaks of his divinity.
He claimed to be divine. He claimed to be divine, which
we see in our text, which was proved by His miracles. Look
at verse 22 again. 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 ye yourselves also know. Turn if you would to John
chapter 8. John chapter 8. Our Lord proclaims His divinity
in John chapter 8. So even in the midst of these
Israelites, he proclaimed that he was God. Who is the great
I Am? God, right? The great I Am who
appeared to Moses in the burning bush, that's God. That's God. Look what he says. This is one of my favorite portions
in the book of John. I have all kinds, I always say
that, but this is just incredible what he says to these Jews. It's
just absolutely amazing what he says. Look at this. John chapter
8, starting in verse 54. And remember our text, right?
Jesus announces a man approved of God by the miracles that he
did. So his miracles showed that he was God. Look at verse 54, Jesus answered,
if I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that
honoreth me, of whom you say that he's your God. So he's talking
to the Jews here and he's saying, I honor my father. I honor the
one that you say you serve. It says, yet you have not known
him. Look at that. These are some of the most religious
people in the world, beloved. They follow things to the letter,
don't they? And even more, because the Pharisees
have yoked them with all these other things. And look what he
says. Despite all their religious doings,
the Lord Jesus Christ says, you don't know my father. Isn't that amazing? Look at that. He says, you've
not known him, but I know him. I know him. I have that intimate
relationship with him. And if I should say I know him
not, I shall be a liar like unto you. Look at that. These are
strong words. He's saying, if I say I don't
know him, then I'd be lying like you're saying you know him. My. This is God in a flask full of
it. This is our Redeemer right here. This is our Savior. And he's proclaiming who he is.
Watch this. But I know him and keep his sayings.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. When did Abraham
see his day? When did Abraham see his day? Well, remember who appeared to
him with the two angels? Remember who appeared to Abraham
when they were going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? And one of
them stayed behind? And the two angels? Well, that
man was a Christophany. That's a pre-incarnate appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like when Joshua turns around
and he sees this man of war standing before him. before Jericho, the
walls of Jericho, and this man of war standing before him. And
he says, Who art thou? Art thou for us or against us?
And he says, Loose your shoes, for you stand in unholy ground. My, I like what Spurgeon said.
The Lord appears to our beloved brethren in the Old Testament
as they are. To Abraham, he appeared as a
sojourner. To Joshua, he appeared as a man
of war. My. He's bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh. And he says right there, he says,
with Joshua, he says, I am the captain of the Lord's host. Now
you talk about, now I get, I love military stuff. Now this is the
captain of the captain, so all the, this is the, this is the
top of the tier. He is in charge. He is sovereign. Our God, he's a warrior. My oh
my. Remember, he said, I could call
twelve legions of angels. How can he call them? Because
they're at his beck and command. That's how. Because he's the
captain of the Lord's host. So Abraham rejoiced to see him.
He saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him,
Thou art not fifty years old, yet fifty years old, and hast
thou seen Abraham. How can you say, how can you
say, You've seen Abraham, and you're not even 50 years old.
They have no clue who they're talking to, do they? And look
at this next verse. This is absolutely mountaintop
scripture. Look at this. Jesus said unto
them, verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto you, before
Abraham was, I am. I am. He is proclaiming who he
is right there. He's saying, I'm the great I
am. See, they didn't realize that
God himself had become a man. Because that's the only way we
could be saved. That's the only way. I've told
you many times, you've heard me say, first time he came as
a lamb. His return, he comes as a lion. He came as a Lamb to give His
life, to redeem us. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. He shall. My, and listen to what Paul says
in Romans chapter 9. This is just amazing. So our
Lord here, He's now speaking to them of His pre-existence,
isn't He? He's saying to them, before Abraham was, I am. He's
now talking to them about His pre-existence. They don't know
who he is. They pick up stones and try to
kill him. But if you read on, he just walks right through the
midst of them. They can't touch him, beloved. He's God. They
can't touch. He can't die until his appointed
time. Isn't that amazing? They wanted
to kill him right on the spot. Nope. Can't do it. Remember,
he gives his life freely, willingly. He's the one who gives his life.
So here's the everlasting eternal I am speaking to them and they
don't have any idea. This is the one who is or was
and is and is to come. This is the ancient of days.
This is the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.
This is the one who's called wonderful, counselor, prince
of peace. This is the great I am. In Romans 9.5, Paul writes this,
whose are the fathers and of whom is concerning the flesh,
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever, amen. That's who Christ is, God blessed
forever, amen, Romans 9.5. He's the great I am. God himself saved us, beloved.
God himself redeemed us. And his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's who Peter's speaking of. My, that's one of the most distinct
statements, who is over all, God blessed forever, in Romans
9, 5. But over in 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, it says this, and without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. Manifest, God was manifest in
the flesh. Justified in the spirit, seen
of angels. Angels watched while he was upon
this earth. Preached unto the Gentiles. I'm
preaching the same Jesus this morning, aren't I? Preached unto
the Gentiles, believed on in the world. We're proof of that.
The world being all, and it goes in the world, and who believes?
Only those who God sends the spirit of a son into his hearts.
But we don't know who they are, so we preach the gospel to everyone.
And whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Shall be. My, my oh my. Then he was received up to glory,
like we saw in our text. My, this rock upon which Christ
builds his church is himself. He's the rock we're built upon.
He's the rock, beloved. He's the one who's redeemed us
with his precious blood. So rejoice, beloved of God. It's
God who saved us. We're saved by God himself. And
you know what? Sister Carolyn, it's God who
keeps us. He saved us and He keeps us. And is God going to
take us home? He's going to take us home, beloved.
God Himself, the very One who redeemed us. So I ask you, can
any who the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed be lost? Can any of
them be lost? Not a one, brother, amen. He's
going to get all His sheep, isn't He? All of them. Man, now he's still got some
sheep to gather, don't he? Because we're still here. But
when it's over, when he gets that last sheep, beloved, it's
all finished. No man knows the hour of the
day, and no man don't even know the season, right? Don't even
know the season. Well, I know the season. No,
you don't. You're lying. No man, we saw that in Acts chapter,
the first chapter, didn't we? So clearly, no man knows the
hour of the day, no man knows the season. Only the Father knows
when Christ is coming back. And we know though, he's coming
back. How do we know? Them two angels said, this man
that you see going up, he gonna come back again. Oh, praise God. Praise God. Man, whether that
be in our life or in our death, Praise God, our souls are His,
right? Sink or swim, right? Spurgeon
used to say, what'd he say, I think it was, sink or swim, I'll trust
in Him. Right? Whether I sink or whether
I swim, I'm gonna trust Him. By the grace and mercy of God,
we're gonna trust Him. So, none who the Lord redeemed
can be lost. My, oh my. Can any who the Lord,
now think of this too, can any who the Lord redeemed be lost?
No. Can any who the Lord keeps be lost? If God himself keeps
us, can any of us be lost? God forbid, yeah. That'd be a
blossoming God. That would be a disgrace to his
honor. Right? My. My, oh, my. No, He'll save everyone. He'll
save everyone whom He died for. Every single, every single saint
of God who He died for will be saved. His people shall be saved. Because at Calvary's Cross, He
saved us from our sins. My, oh, my. And in God, the Father
sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts, whereby now we cry, Abba,
Father. Because we're sons, remember?
Because we're sons, God sends the Spirit of His Son into our
hearts. My, it's just incredible. Just incredible, beloved. So
let's read verse 22 again with that in mind. The 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. Peter referred to Christ
here as the exalted Christ of God. Jesus of Nazareth. He identified Christ to his hearers
by proclaiming that he's Jesus of Nazareth. So they'd know.
They'd heard about him probably. Some of them might have even
seen him in the past. Some of them might have even been there
when they crucified our king. Some of them might have been
part of the group that said crucify him, crucify him. My oh my. So, Peter says this, that there's
no doubt who he's talking about. There's absolutely no doubt who
Peter's preaching. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, a man
approved of God. And it's very important for all
of God's preachers to identify the Jesus we're preaching. As
way back in the apostolic age, Paul said there's another Jesus.
and another spirit. So it's important who we identify
as the Lord Jesus Christ. We identify Christ as the risen
savior who finished completely the work of salvation for his
people. And we are saved based upon his work and his merits.
Nothing in us. Nothing in us. Brother Travis,
when you were preaching that last week, I was thinking, no
merit, no merit, no merit. No merit in us at all. None. Nothing, nothing at all. My, no merit. All our merit is wrapped up in
Christ, beloved. My, what a great Savior. What
a great Savior. And we know that it's important
to identify the true Christ because even the Galatians, churches
that were established in the Roman province of Galatia, were
being influenced by Judaizers at the time of Paul's living.
False teachers had already crept in. And we're telling the Galatians,
well, you gotta be circumcised and believe on Christ to be saved.
And so the whole book of Galatians is written to the Galatian churches
to refute that and to bring forth that justification before God
is in Christ and Christ alone, by faith in Christ alone, right? And that there's only one gospel,
the gospel that gives all the glory to God. the gospel of salvation
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. We are redeemed by His blood,
not by anything we do. Oh my! And in every generation
since our Lord ascended to glory, self-righteous religious folks
have preferred and embraced a phony Jesus that doesn't even exist.
He has no power He has no power. But our God, our Savior, the
Christ I preach, has all power and all might to save whomever
He wills, when He wills. And we say, glory be to God. Praise His mighty name. Christ
didn't try to save us. He saved us. He saved us by the
redeeming of His precious blood. He didn't make us savable. He
saved us. Oh my! My oh my oh my. He paid the ransom price in full. It's paid in full. Stamped with
the blood of Christ. Remember we used to put it in
ink and stamp it. It's rolled in the blood of Christ
and says paid in full. Paid in full with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. My oh my, cleansing us from all
our sin. So much so, beloved, that not
one thing can be laid to the charge of God's elect. Not one
thing. Brethren, we're fully and freely
forgiven and no one can lay any charge against us. It's wonderful.
This salvation is absolutely incredible. And it's all in Christ. It's all in Him. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. And this is who
Peter's proclaiming. He's setting the Lord Jesus Christ
before his hearers. And our Savior, our Savior, He's
seated on the throne in heaven. He's Lord over all. He's working
everything according to His counsel and His will. Making sure that
all things, all things are working for our good and for His glory. Even when we don't understand
it, it's all happening. all those who are called according
to his purpose. Let's read verse 22 again. Ye
man of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, man approved
to God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. We see in our text that the Lord
Jesus Christ deity was proved by his miracles, which God did
by him in the midst of these people, in the midst of Israel.
These miracles performed by Christ were indisputable facts of his
deity, because only God could do them. Only God could do them. And they were public record,
weren't they? They were public record of what our king has done.
They could not be disputed even by his murderers. They couldn't
dispute them. The Lord Jesus Christ had turned
water into wine. He made a blind man see. He cleansed
the man full of leprosy. That means he was at near the
end part of the leprosy and made him whiter than snow. My, he raised a little girl from
the dead. He raised a widow's son as he's
being carried to the grave. He fed 5,000 men. not including
women and children, with a few loaves and some fishes. He was sleeping in a boat while
the boat's being tossed. It's one of my favorite narratives.
The boat's being tossed to and fro by this great storm. And
he comes up and he says, oh, ye of little faith, peace, be
still. And it was like glass. After
it had just been like a hurricane. I remember reading, studying
for that. And they said that these storms
would rise up on that parcel, that lake, and it would be like
hurricanes. They would just rage. Peace be
still. Poof. Just like glass. not even a ripple. And they said,
what manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves
obey him? Oh my, he gave sight to the blind,
he fed the multitude, cleansed lepers, raised the dead, and
he who did all that is God incarnate in the flesh. So his miracles
were public record. And they showed that He was God. And all those miracles done by
Christ. Here Peter's preaching the truth
about who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He says He did all those
by God. By the power of God. This is what we preachers proclaim.
The Lord Jesus Christ. Who He is. He's God. He's the
only Savior of sinners. There's no other Savior of sinners. except for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we are saved. Salvation comes to us in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him alone, by God's sovereign
grace, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
acknowledge that, don't we? We never used to acknowledge
it. And now we say, glory be to God. He's the only way. I've been redeemed! I've been
redeemed! Oh my! And Adam represented the
whole of mankind. When he fell, we fell in him.
Plunge us into sinful condemnation. My! So we come into this world
with a fallen nature, dead in trespasses and sins. But then
God reveals himself to us because we'll never see our need of Christ
unless he reveals to us who he is in our desperate need. And when he reveals to a sinner
that we need Christ, he's drawn us to him. Oh my. I remember Donnie Bell
telling me, When someone starts to get a real interest in Christ,
and I don't mean just a fleeting interest, I mean like a real
interest, God's doing something. He's doing something. Just stand
back and watch. My, oh my. So these miracles, think of this
too, these miracles which the Lord Jesus Christ did, they weren't
done in secret, were they? They were very public. They were
done in public. He didn't hide. The one with,
when he raised Jairus's daughter, he sent some out, but there was
still some in the room with him. And then they came out, and here's
this girl walking along. Do you imagine what all those
wailing ladies were when they saw? Because they had just laughed
at him, right? When he said, oh, she's just
sleeping. They mocked him. See, that's what we all would
do. Except for the grace of God, though. Now we praise him. Now
we praise him. Remember what John the Baptist
said? All these miracles were done in public. And they proved
that he was the promised Messiah, who the writers prophesied in
the Old Testament. Remember when John the Baptist
was in prison, he sent two of his disciples to the Lord Jesus
Christ? And it says this, they come to
Christ and say, are thou he that should come, or did we look for
another? Jesus answered and said to them, go and show John Again, these things, which you
do here. The blind receive their sight. This was done in public. The lame walk. This was done
in public. The lepers are cleansed. Done
in public. The deaf hear. Done in public. The dead are raised up. Done
in public. And the poor have the gospel
preached to them. That's the poor in spirit. And blessed is
he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Matthew 11, 2-6. So his miracles proved who he
was. He's God incarnated in the flesh.
And they were a fulfillment. They were a fulfillment of many
of Isaiah's prophecies concerning the Messiah. So Jesus was very open and did
his miracles in public. And so here's Peter proclaiming,
Christ did these in your midst. He didn't hide. He did this in your midst. My oh my. And the miracles he
did amongst them proved that he was a man approved of God. Now, how did The Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man, come to die the painful, shameful death of the
cross? Well, He did it willingly. He was sent to die. He was born to die. We're born
to live. And we will eventually die. He
was born to die. Remember, He's sinless. He could have hung on that cross.
Death had no claim on Him. Right? Oh my! The sinless, spotless
Lamb of God is our substitute and dies in our room and place,
burying our sins. Oh, having the justice of God
poured out upon Him instead of us. Redeeming us with His precious,
precious blood. Look at verse 23. Him, that's
Christ, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain." See the word delivered there in the Greek? You know
what that means? It means to surrender. Him being, him surrendering
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. He surrendered
himself. We know that he surrendered himself
to the will of God, didn't he? He said, not my will but thy
will be done. See the word determinant there?
In the Greek it means boundary, limit. To mark out definitely. To determine or appoint. He surrendered himself by that
which was determined, appointed to be. And then see the word counsel
in the Greek? Council, we think of a group
getting together and counseling, right? Council in the Greek here means
will and purpose, intention, as a result of reflection, council
or decree. This is bringing forth the will
and purpose of God was for Christ to die. See, when I see the word council,
I think, well, we'll get a group of people together in the council.
You start talking about, that's not what this is. Oh, it's a
will and purpose. Attention as a result of reflection. That which was planned and purposed
in eternity by God shall come to pass in time and space. Then
see the word foreknowledge in our in our text in the Greek
it means to know beforehand. He knows the end from the beginning,
doesn't he? He already knows. Do you know
the Lord already knows everything that's going to happen? Do you know the Lord, now let
this be, do you know Dave, brother Dave, the Lord knows everything
that's going to happen in our life tomorrow when we don't even
know what it is? And the next day if he allows us to, however
long he allows us to live, he knows every day and everything
that's going to happen in our life. And he's already made provision
for it. Amen. Amen. Praise His mighty
name. And that's true for every one
of His saints. Every single one of His saints.
My, how that makes my heart sing. It's wonderful. So no matter
what we go through, He's already made provision for us. Even though
it catches us by surprise, it never catches Him by surprise.
He's already made provision for us. So all this happened. By God's knowledge, by God's
will, by God's purpose, they delivered. Christ surrendered
himself to the will of God, surrendered himself to God's will, right? And went to the cross and redeemed
us, beloved. redeemed us with his precious
blood. Listen to this. I took out Acts 22 and 23 in
the Greek literal Bible. I'd like to read it to you. It
says, Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man
having been set forth by God to you by miracles and wonders
and signs which God did by him in your midst, as ye yourselves
know, him delivered up by the determinate plan and foreknowledge
of God, ye have put to death, having crucified him by lawless
hands. My. God's plan for Christ to
die. So if you hear somebody says,
oh, poor little Jesus, he went to the cross, and no. Remember,
another portion of scripture that just makes me, my mind just,
is when he's on his way to the cross, and he looks at those
Jewish women, and he says, weep not for me. Don't weep for me. You know why? He surrendered to the will of
God. He's a lamb being led to the slaughter. He knows he must
go there and must die to redeem our souls. And so he says, weep
not for me, weep for your children. Don't weep. Christ didn't want
people weeping for him when he's going to cross. He's on a mission.
Remember, he's born to die. Now, we weep. We weep when we
when we see him in our minds at the cross, dying and bleeding
for our sins. And that's perfectly normal.
Because what a great sacrifice. He died for us. And oh, my, he
says, weep not. He told them, weep not for me.
So we have here set before us in scripture that the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ was all according to the plan and purpose
of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The covenant
in eternity came, made a covenant to redeem a people. A people
given by the Father to Christ. A people who the Holy Spirit
will regenerate. A people who Christ redeemed by his precious
blood. My, all according to the purpose
of God. And the only way a sinner can
be saved is by satisfying God's justice, right? Against us. Christ did it all for us. He
satisfied God's law and justice for us in our place. My, he was
foreordained, he was predestinated to be our substitutionary sacrifice
by God. And God did that for you and
I, beloved. all according to His will and purpose, sent His
own Son to die in our ruined place." Now that's great love,
isn't it? That's great love. And the only way we could be
redeemed was by the death of the cross, the death of Christ
on the cross. And yet we see here Christ died
by the hands of wicked men, acting according to... You want to see
free will? There's man's free will. They hate God. That's it
right there. Natural state, natural man. Hates
God. Hates God. My, if anything should
convince us of the abhorrence of free will doctrine, this should.
Free will crucify the Lord of glory. My, oh my. And by the Lord Jesus Christ,
resurrection from the dead, our Savior abolished death. It has
no more sting for the believer. He abolished the penal aspect
of it for his people. He abolished its power. He abolished
its terror. I was talking to Charlie, he
said, this morning, Sunday school, he said, before Sunday school,
he said, all my friends, they're so terrified of death. He goes,
I have such a peace. I have such a peace. Well, that
only comes from the Lord. My. He's abolished the fear of
death for his people. And marvel at this wondrous truth,
beloved of God, The sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus Christ
of Nazareth were purposed and executed by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God, all according to His plan. And when
was that plan set? Before the foundation of the
world. This was a fixed resolution,
that Christ would come into this world and redeem His people from
their sins, all by the wise, determinate counsel of God. And this in no way excused Judas
from betraying him. It in no way excused those who
said crucify him, crucify him. In no way did it excuse them.
We are guilty. The law shows that we're all
guilty before God. And there's no other way to appease
God's wrath against our sin and to satisfy his holy justice,
but by the death of his son. which was by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Oh, how thankful we should be.
How thankful we should be. This is wondrous that God planned
and purposed our salvation before the world was. And the only way
to do it was by the death of the word of God, the son of God,
the second person of the Trinity. And he willingly surrendered
himself to God's will. Look at Acts chapter two, verse
24. Oh, our Lord, our infinitely
wise sovereign Lord chose us to be recipients of his sovereign
mercy, placing us in the body of Christ, who is the one and
only way for sinners to be forgiven. And look at this, Christ died
on the cross, and look at this, Acts 2.24, whom God hath raised
up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that he should be holding of it. How important is it to believe
in the resurrection of Christ? It's vital. It's absolutely vital
to believe in the resurrection of Christ. We read in 1 Corinthians
15, 14, it says, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching
in vain and your faith is in vain. That's how important the
resurrection is. My. If Christ be not raised,
your faith is in vain, and ye are yet in your sins, the scripture
also says. So it's vital to believe in the
resurrection. It's absolutely vital to believe
in it. The gospel proclaims the death
and burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And God
the Father, by his life-given power, loosed the pains of death,
loosed his darling son, the son of his love, loosed Him from
the pains of death. And Jesus, who is the power of
God, raised Himself also from the grave, as He tells us in
His Word, that He has the power to lay down His life, and He
has the power to raise it. Why? Because He's God Almighty.
Do you know He's just as much God as the Father, and He's just
as much God as the Holy Spirit? The three are one, beloved. My, it's wonderful. And all three
covenanted for our salvation in eternity? And all three are
active in our salvation? It's wonderful. That's why we
say salvation's of the Lord. It's all Him. It's all Him. My. Job said this about God,
he said, but He is one mind. So the Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit, they're one mind. He said, but He is one mind,
and who can turn Him? You see, people think they can
gang up on God. Right? Well, if we just start praying
about this, God will do this! Only if it's His will. Right? Only if it's his will. I think I told you about a friend
of mine across the road. He's one of them Pentecostal guys. And
he believes in the healing and that God will heal and must heal.
Well, he was despairing for his... He said, I'm doubting God. And I said, what do you mean?
He goes, well, he's not healing my wife. See how these religions
just destroy people? And I said, Gary, I'll pray for
your bride, and I hope the Lord will heal her. But if it's up
to him, it's up to him. Well, the Lord had some medical
things being able to take care of it, and now he's back up in
the mountain. But I thought, see, because God wasn't doing
what he thought God should do, we trust God no matter what we
think. Right? By the grace of God. When
we're down low, and when we're up high, we have dear brothers
and sisters going through cancer. And I'll tell you why. Through
it all, they're just like that. Just trusting the Lord. Just
hanging on to Him. Talk to Sister Kathy. Just hanging
on to the Lord, Wayne. Just resting in Him, Brother
Wayne. And it's so for all of us who have any kind of medical
things, right? We're just trusting the Lord, aren't we? If He sees
fit to heal us, that's His will. If He sees fit not to heal us,
that's His will as well. And sometimes it's His will just
to take us home. Then we won't have no problems.
Right? Oh my. My oh my. So the death, burial, and resurrection
of Lord Jesus Christ was purposed by God and agreed upon by the
Divine Trinity. And Jesus Christ, the second
person of the Blessed Trinity, that he would be made of a woman
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law
that we might receive the adoption of sons. How did he do that?
He became a man. And Peter said, whom God hath
raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was
not possible that he should be holden of it. That's what he
said here in verse 24. And just before our Savior laid
down his life for his sheep, he said, it is finished. Oh my. It is finished. And then he gave up the ghost.
It says he gave up the ghost. He gave willingly, surrendered. Because he must die, right? Even
though he's sinless, he must die to be our substitute. For
us to have the forgiveness of sins, he's been our substitute
his whole life. Again, he's born even as our
substitute. Think of that. How do we get into heaven? We
gotta be perfect, right? We gotta be perfect as God, right? So God himself becomes a man
and lives from conception to death, to resurrection, he's
perfect. Perfect. No sin thought. No. I can't. Can you imagine?
I can't even imagine. But it's true. No sin thought. No sin in word. No sin in deed. Nothing. Perfectly surrendered
to the will and purpose of God. And he's doing that as our substitute,
beloved. And just before he gave his life,
he said, it is finished. The work's done. It's complete. His perfect obedience to God
as our substitute is finished. And death couldn't hold him.
He's raised for our justification. My oh my, marvel at this. Marvel
at this, that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was
agreed upon by one perfect mind, the Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit in eternity. They all agreed upon it. They
all agreed upon it. My, our sovereign, majestic God
who works all things after the counsel of His own perfect will,
I ask you, can anyone possibly turn God from what He desires
to do? Can anybody turn God from what
He desires to do? No one. No one. No one. Absolutely no one. And
our God is a covenant God. And His sheep are a covenant
people. Do you know we're a covenant people? We're the sheep of His
hands, Psalm says. We're His by possession. We're
His by purchase. We're His by creation. We're His by regeneration. were his because salvation's
of the Lord. Oh, it's wonderful. I'll tell
you why. Christ our Savior purchased His promised people with His
own precious blood. And His blood is the blood of
the everlasting covenant. His blood ratified the everlasting
covenant. The covenant that God made with
the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit to save a people. It was
ratified by the blood of Christ. Ratified by Him. In other words,
Christ met all the conditions of God's everlasting covenant.
So much so, so much so, that none can lay any charge to God's
left. Hallelujah. What a Savior is
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Brother Dave, can you close us
in prayer?