Let's turn in our Bibles to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. Most of you are familiar with this chapter because it's the Apostle Peter's message at Pentecost. And of course, this Pentecost here was the setting forth in time of the New Covenant, the Gospel Covenant, the New Testament, you can say. A lot of people don't understand, you know, our Bible is divided into, in literary terms, the Old Testament and the New Testament. And that word testament and covenant in the Bible is virtually the same word. But you have the Old Covenant, which is the law covenant, the covenant of Moses, which takes up most of the Old Testament in literary terms. It started in the book of Exodus and lasted about 1,500 years up until the time of the arrival of the Lord on this earth, his incarnation, and his work, his public ministry, and this old covenant historically ended at his death on the cross.

You remember he said it's finished. He's not just speaking of the old covenant, he's talking about all of the conditions of the salvation of his people. What he was saying there, understand now, it is finished, which is really one word in the original language, He was saying that on that cross when He giving up the ghost, dying, His spirit separating from His body, that He completed every condition that God the Father required to save His people, His sheep, His church, His elect from their sins. It's finished.

Nothing left to do as far as the ground of attaining and maintaining salvation. Now there was a lot left to do. The establishment of that new covenant, the calling of the sheep in the New Testament, all of that. There's still work to be done there. The last sheep hasn't been called in yet. How do I know that? Because we're sitting here. Because if the last sheep has been called in, the Lord would come on back. That's when he's coming back. I don't know when that is. You don't either. Nobody does, except the Father. But anyway, this Pentecost, the establishment of the new covenant was the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

And that was indicated when he said it's finished and when the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And of course you do know they tried, they sewed it back up because they didn't believe him. They rejected his word and rejected him as the Messiah. And it didn't get destroyed completely until AD 70 when the Roman Empire came in and just leveled it.

But they had the veil. Somebody asked me one time, where was the Ark of the Covenant? I don't know. All they had back there I heard was a big rock. But it was sham religion is what it was. But he said it's finished. So he gave up the ghost. And then he was buried in the tomb for three days and three nights.

People argue. You know what? I heard a couple of preachers debating about that. And I thought, oh, you fools. Why do you waste your time? Whatever time he was there, he was there. I believe it was three days and three nights, because that's what the Bible said. Now, you can figure it out however you want to. Go get your pencil out and do your math. All right. Go ahead. But it doesn't matter to me, I know he was there, I believe three days and three nights, and then he came out of the tomb.

So you have in the death, burial, and resurrection, and the ascension of Christ, you have the establishment of the new covenant. And the new covenant is the establishment in time of the everlasting covenant of grace made before time. That's what it is. It was all about Christ. It was before the foundation of the world.

And Peter says that in his sermon here in Acts chapter 2. If you look at verse 22 of Acts chapter 2, he says, You men of Israel, hear these words of Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God. God approved of him. He's not approved of anybody else without Christ. Did you know that? That's what the Bible means when it says that we who believe, we who are saved by grace, we're accepted in the beloved. There's no acceptance with God outside of Christ. But God approved of him in his glorious person as God manifest in the flesh and in the beautiful, powerful, acceptable, work that he did, the successful work that he did. And of course, how do we know that God accepted the word?

Because he didn't stay in the grave, he came out of the grave, he was resurrected from the grave and received up into glory. But he says here, he said, a man approved unto God, God said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. among you by miracles and wonders and signs those were those were signs and wonders that proved him to be who he said he was and is which God did by him in the midst of you as you yourselves also know now listen to verse 23 he says him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God Remember Isaiah 53 verse 10 says, it pleased the Lord to bruise him, to crush him. You do realize that Pilate, the Romans, the unbelieving Jews could not have laid, could not have harmed one hair on his head without the Father doing this? You need to understand that.

This is a work of God. So he says, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now somebody says, well, if this is God's work, then how can we hold them accountable? Look at the next line. You have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Now that's a mystery of the ages that people have wrestled with for time immemorial. And a lot of people use it to deny the sovereignty of God. They say, well, how can he hold them accountable? Well, here's what he says. You with wicked hands have crucified. What you did was wicked. That's what fallen humanity did.

When we, essentially, in the persons of those evil people, which is what we are by nature God brings us around. And when we crucified the Son of Glory. And you know that issue is really dealt with back in Genesis. Genesis 50, remember Joseph confronting his brothers when he was second in command to Pharaoh.

Brought his brothers before him. They didn't recognize him. And then he revealed himself to him. to his brothers, and they thought he was going to kill them. And he said, no, he said, I'm not going to do that. He said, what you did, he said, you did it with wicked hands. You meant it for evil, and you're to be held accountable. But God meant it for good to save much people alive. And that's the same thing right here. Fallen humanity meant this for evil, wicked hands. But God meant it for His glory and the good of His people. Isn't that something? Now to me, that just sends a feeling of comfort over me. Well, can I figure it out in my own puty mind? No. No, but I know it's true.

And so you with wicked hands have crucified and slain. And he says in verse 24, whom God hath raised up having loose the pains of death, because it's not possible that he should be holding of it." The grave could not hold him. That's what he's saying there. So what happened there?

Christ established the New Covenant, the New Testament, and this sermon, this episode at Pentecost, which was prophesied by the prophet Joel, remember in Joel chapter 2, and how the Spirit will descend, and all that. And this is happening here. This is what I call the inauguration of the New Testament. Christ established it, and this episode where the Spirit came down in a special way, they began to speak in languages.

I say languages because when you say tongues, people think it's some kind of religious gibberish, and it's not. These people heard, there were people here from different countries during this time of feast, and they heard the gospel that Peter preached in their own tongue. If I would have been a Frenchman, I would have heard it in French. If I'd have been a Spaniard, I'd have heard it in Spanish.

That's what happened. They understood it, but they didn't understand all the languages that was going on, so they thought they were drunk, and that's what Peter said, we're not drunk. It's filled with the Spirit. So here's the establishment of the new covenant. And it begins and ends with Jesus Christ.

Who He is. What He did. Why He did it. Where He is now. And that's what it's all about. He is God, manifest in the flesh. Emmanuel, God with us, God-man, that's what it took to save us from our sins, one who is both God and man and one person, no mixture of the natures of deity and humanity, but a union. And that's what it took.

You see, the righteousness that is revealed in the Gospel that God requires and we need to be saved and kept eternally is called the righteousness of God. And the reason it's called the righteousness of God is because He's the God-man. And it involves the entire value and worthiness and merit of His whole work of keeping the law, satisfying the law by his death, all of it in his obedience unto death.

So the meritorious work that saves a sinner is not something that he did, that sinner did, or did not do, not even his believing. Now we do believe, that's a gift from God. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Because without the grace of God and the power of God and the goodness of God, we wouldn't believe. We'd be just like those who don't believe.

But all of the meritorious work of saving us and keeping us and bringing us to glory is the righteousness of God, the righteousness of Christ. He took our sins, our sins were laid on Him, they were imputed to Him, they were accounted to Him, they were put to His account. Like Paul told Philemon about the slave Onesimus, he said, if he done you any wrong, put it on my account, I'll pay for it. That's what Christ did as our Redeemer, as our surety and substitute and Redeemer. that's what he did. This is what Peter's talking about, and his righteousness laid to the account of his people. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. That's what we need. So when Peter's preaching this, he says, you took him and with wicked hands you've crucified.

In verse 24 he says, whom God hath raised up He arose, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. Now I read that from Psalm 16. The grave couldn't hold him. Verse 25, here's what Peter does. He uses that verse. He cites the Old Testament Psalm 16. He says, for David speaketh concerning him. Here's what Peter said.

When David penned Psalm 16, he was talking about Jesus Christ. Prophecy, type and picture. 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 will not leave my soul in hell. Won't leave my soul in the grave. Neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.

That's what David wrote. Peter goes on, he says, now thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Well, what is the way of life? Well, Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That's why the resurrection is part and parcel of the gospel. You can't preach the true gospel and not preach the obedience unto death of Christ. The burial means that he really died. This was no hoax. One of those movies says it was a hoax. No, it wasn't a hoax. He died. And then his resurrection. And without any element, it all falls apart.

You've shown me the ways of life, thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance." His countenance is his glory. And what is his glory? Turn to John chapter 17. We've got by the power of the Holy Spirit, according to the sovereign work of God, we've got to see his countenance. Now, we think of somebody's countenance as the beauty of their face. Well, his countenance is the beauty of his face, but it's his glory. And if you look at John 17, listen to this.

This is the high priestly prayer of Christ for his people. In fact, I call this the Lord's Prayer. I don't call Matthew 6 the Lord's Prayer. I call it the model prayer. Here's the Lord's Prayer. Look at verse one. These words spoke Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy Son that thy Son also may glorify thee. You see, glorify the Father, you must glorify the Son. To glorify the Son, you must glorify the Father. It has to do with seeing the beauty of the glory of God and seeing the value Paul wrote, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. That's boast. Boast. I'm going to brag this morning, but not on me. Not on you. I'm going to brag on Christ. And that's what this is about.

And he says, he says, he lifted up his eyes and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. Verse two. as thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should what? Look at it, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Now when did the father give him to him?

Before the foundation of the world. And he says, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. There it is. That's something. Verse five, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had, with thee before the world was. That's His glory. That's His countenance. So who is Jesus Christ?

You know, the Bible says that in the last days one of the biggest problems that the devil will cause in his work to bring all that he can to hell with him is to deceive them with a false Christ. You can read about it in 2 Thessalonians 2, 2 Corinthians 11, other places. In other words, it's through preachers who will tell you things about Jesus Christ and about God and about you that are not true according to the Scriptures. And that's why we have to beware. Counterfeit Christ. He said, told his disciples, he said, they'll come, they'll say, well here's Jesus, there's Jesus, over there. He said, don't believe them. Search the scriptures.

What does it say about His countenance, His glory, His nature, His person, His work, His death, His burial, His resurrection? You see, believing the gospel is not simply believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Because those are historical events, and they are true, and you cannot believe the gospel without believing them, but they mean something.

He did die, but why did He die? What was his death for? It was to save his people from their sins by establishing the justice of God in paying their debt in full by his blood. In establishing a perfect righteousness whereby God could be both a just God and a merciful Savior. That's why he died. Yes, he was buried, and yes, he arose again. Why was he raised again? Because of our justification. It's because he did the deed.

He finished it. He worked it out. He didn't come here to try to save you and me. He didn't come here to make salvation possible if we would cooperate, because we were nothing close to cooperation in our nature. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, they're spiritually discerned. There's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that doeth good. There's none that seeketh after God. And that verse in Romans 10 doesn't say there's none that seeketh after a God. There's none that seeketh after the God. You see, man loves to seek gods. But the gods he seeks and finds are likened to himself. Read Romans chapter 1 verse 18 on. You think I'm one likened to yourselves, God said. My thoughts aren't your thoughts. My ways aren't your ways.

The only way you're going to find the true God is through his word. What he says about himself. And one of the most important concepts of truth that identifies the glory of God is in the question that Job and his friends wrestled with. How can a holy God show mercy and love and grace to a sinner like me and still be righteous and true and just? A just God. How can that happen?

And the answer is in this person, through this work, Jesus Christ. Look at verse 29 of Acts chapter 2. He says, men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David. Now remember David was the one, the human instrument who wrote Psalm 16. And he said, thou wilt not suffer my soul to see corruption.

Let's understand this one. Our human bodies, our fleshly bodies, they're going to see corruption. In fact, they've already started, haven't they? My back hasn't always been this way. And I used to have black hair. Didn't have these wrinkles. But I'm saying that to ram it home that we're gonna see corruption in this fleshly body.

Now our spirits will never die. Our souls will go on to, if we're believers now, if we're sinners saved by grace, our souls will go on to be with the Lord. And we'll receive, thank God, a new body. You know what the Bible tells us? Body that's this corruptible must put on incorruption. But now David, his body saw corruption. And so it says, verse 29, 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. Verse 30, therefore being a prophet, what he's saying is when David wrote Psalm 16, he was acting the role of a prophet.

And knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, that's the humanity of Christ, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He's seen this before, David, spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, in the grave, neither his flesh did see corruption.

This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses, and therefore being by the right hand of God." Where is Jesus Christ? He's by the right hand of God, as God-man. in his resurrected body as God-man, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, that is the spirit of the new birth, the spirit of life, the spirit of regeneration, who had already been working throughout the Old Testament to bring God's people to faith and repentance. But that was all based upon what happened here in time. And he says, therefore being by their right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which you now see and hear. What's happening there at Pentecost, the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit to take those whom God chose before the world began, whom Christ redeemed by His obedience unto death, to take them and bring them from spiritual death to spiritual life, from unbelief to faith in Christ, from lack of repentance to repentance of dead works, to make them His sheep. They've been His sheep all along, but they were lost sheep, but now they've been found. And that's what the new birth is all about.

So he says in verse 34, for David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes, thine enemies, thy footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now what does that mean? Somebody said, well wasn't he Lord before he did all this?

Because he's the second person of the Trinity? In his deity he was, but now, now he's the Savior, the Redeemer, the surety, the preserver, the intercessor. Now, now he's the Christ. God-man in glory, reigning and ruling to save all whom the Father gave him before the world began.

Didn't he say in John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me? And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Where is he? He's in glory at the right hand of the Father. ever living and make intercession. He resides within His people by His Spirit and by His Word. In that sense, you can say He's everywhere because He's with His people.

He said, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I'll be also in spirit and in truth. But as God-man, the Bible says there's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. The God-man. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ. It's Christ who died on that cross, put away our sins, and seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us. We have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. Now there's a lot of mind-boggling things about all that.

And you can spend your time trying to figure it out in human terms, and you'll fail. But if I were you, I'd spend my time looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, resting in Him, resting Him as my Sabbath, as my Savior, as my righteousness, as my surety, comfort, all of that. You know, I've never been to Israel, Jerusalem, or any place. I really don't want to go today.

But I know people make pilgrimages to there. And I'm sure there's a lot of religious ho-ho going on over there. I've heard they sell pieces of the cross. I doubt very seriously if they have those, if they're real. There may be a place over there, they call that, that was Jesus's tomb, is there? Some of y'all may have been there, I don't know.

I don't want to embarrass you. But you know, if they could find, truly, his tomb, there's only one significant thing that could come for a true believer out of that. And you know what it is? He's not there. The rest of it, you know, they may sanctify it, they may worship around it, they may make it a...

It's nothing. It's just an empty grave. He's not there. Where is he? That's where I want to be. I'll tell you right now, he's here. right now with his people in spirit and in truth. And I'd rather be here than standing before the real tomb over there. Because he's not there. You know what I'm saying. All right.