Death Could Not Hold Him

Q: What does the Bible say about the sovereignty of God?

The Bible teaches that God's sovereignty means He controls all events according to His divine counsel. The sovereignty of God is a central theme in Scripture, demonstrating that He is in control of all things, including the events surrounding Christ's crucifixion. In Acts 2:23, Peter states that Jesus was delivered 'by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,' indicating that even the wicked actions of men were foreordained by God for His purpose. Throughout the Bible, we see that God’s sovereignty encompasses not just salvation, but all aspects of creation and history, asserting that everything happens according to His sovereign will and plan.

Q: How do we know Christ's resurrection is true?

The resurrection of Christ is affirmed by multiple witnesses and Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by God. The truth of Christ's resurrection is supported by Scripture and eyewitness accounts. Acts 2:24 states that God raised Him up, showing that it was impossible for death to hold Him. This resurrection fulfills numerous prophecies from the Old Testament that foretold the Messiah's victory over death. Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 15:55, Paul exclaims the triumph over death through Christ, providing evidence of the resurrection's significance in God's redemptive plan. The combined witness of these accounts establishes the historical and theological confirmation of Christ's victory over death.

Q: Why is the doctrine of depravity important for Christians?

The doctrine of depravity highlights humanity's total inability to save themselves, underscoring the need for a Savior. The doctrine of depravity teaches that all humanity is fundamentally flawed due to sin, leading to total inability to seek God or contribute to salvation. As stated in Acts 2:23, mankind acted out of wickedness, fully responsible for the crucifixion of Christ, yet all was according to God's sovereign plan. This understanding is crucial for Christians as it emphasizes the grace and mercy needed for salvation. Without recognizing our depraved nature, we cannot fully appreciate the grace of God in sending Christ to redeem us from sin, affirming our reliance on Him for salvation.

All right, brethren, let's turn to Acts 2. I'm interested in the message that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, because the Lord saved 3,000 people that day. I think that'd be a pretty good message to preach. Whatever Peter's subject was, seemed like that'd be what we should be preaching. It's the grace of God that he used Peter to preach this.

Peter's the one who denied knowing the Lord, like the Lord told him he would. He went out and wept bitterly. But you see the grace of God. As soon as the Lord arose, and he sent word to his apostles and his disciples that he was risen, and he said, and go tell Peter. And he came and restored Peter.

They fled, and they were trying to get away, and I don't blame them. They just saw the viciousness of the religious host at Jerusalem, what they did to the Savior. And the Lord told them, go back and wait. And by His grace, that's what they did. He assembled them. He assembled with them. They watched him arise. And then he poured out the spirit, baptized the church in the spirit like he said he would. Now here's Peter, standing up, boldly preaching the gospel.

He says in verse 22, ye men of Israel, Acts 2.22, 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, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should beholden of it." Peter preached Christ this day. He preached Christ.

And he declared that Christ accomplished conquering death. He conquered death. It was not possible death could hold him. And God, being pleased, raised him, and he arose. And because he conquered death, it's not possible that death can hold his people.

Christ sent them a preacher, and he sent that preacher preaching Christ and what Christ accomplished. And we're going to see here the Lord sent the Spirit, and He gave life to 3,000 souls. It was not possible they could remain in death. He gave them Christ the life, quickened them, convicted them, brought them to confess Christ. That's what Christ did. And that's what he's doing to this day for everybody for whom he died. And I pray that's what he'll do today. He sent this message today.

I'm not the one, it's Christ that preaches the gospel. He's the one that makes his people hear the gospel. Anytime the gospel goes forth where the gospel's preached in truth, It is Christ present, it's Christ preaching, where he sent the preacher, where he's assembled his people, it's Christ there.

I don't wanna miss Christ. I don't wanna miss what he's declaring. I wanna be where he is and hear what he has to say. And that's what's happening here on this day of Pentecost. That's Christ speaking. That's Christ working. And that's what he does where he sends his gospel. Death could not hold him, and death can't hold anybody for whom Christ died. They must be born from above and brought to glory.

Now, let's see what Peter preached. First, he began by declaring the Lord's person. He began by declaring the Lord's person. He said, you men of Israel, hear these words. This is a pointed message, the gospel sent to somebody in particular. God's Israel, true Israel. You 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. Jesus of Nazareth, that's what he begins with. Jesus of Nazareth, He's really a man. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? That's what the people said. Don't judge by these eyes. Don't judge by the carnal ear. Jesus of Nazareth, really a man, the perfect holy man.

That's who He is. And He's really God. He said there, He's a man approved of God. came into our midst, right here among you, approved of God by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you as you yourselves also know." He's really a man and He's really God. He's God and He's man. He's a man approved of God. God was in Christ.

He said, the works I do, I do by the Father. He said, I don't do them, the Father does them. God was in Christ reconciling his people to himself. The miracles and the wonders and the signs that our Lord worked proved that he was a man of God, approved of God, that he was God's man, the Son of God. God worked those miracles by him.

Nicodemus thought he was only a preacher, just a teacher. But he recognized, he said, no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. The Lord Jesus is more than a man, though. He's the fullness of God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is in the Lord Jesus bodily. And these miracles and signs and wonders he did declares he was a man approved of God.

That's what they declared. They were miracles and signs and wonders which God did by him. And they knew it. The Pharisees kept saying, we would see a sign from you. He did a bunch of miracles and signs and wonders. Men today know the same. They can read these things. But even if a sinner won't admit it, the miracles that Christ worked declare he was approved of God. They declare God did those things by him, with him, in him.

He turned water into wine. First miracle he did, he turned water into wine. He healed the sick. He made the lame to walk. He gave the deaf Hearing he gave the blind sight He spoke Lazarus come forth and Lazarus came out of the grave He is God the God-man approved of God God was in him. He was sent to be the representative of God's people God sent him to represent God's elect To save his people from our sin. That's how Peter began the message Jesus of Nazareth Let me tell you about him. That's what Peter did. And then Peter gets very pointed. He gets very direct.

He declares, number one, the sovereignty of God and the depravity of man. He says in verse 23, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, the foreordination of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. We see God's sovereignty ruling all things. No sinner took Christ's life, no sinner took his life, he laid it down. He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreordination of God.

God determined the end from the beginning, the beginning before the beginning, In the beginning was God, well before that. God and His Son. And God chose a people and trusted them to His Son. And His Son entered covenant to save His people and glorify God in doing so. God's determinate counsel, what God determined to be done in His eternal counsel. God foreordained that Christ would have all preeminence and all fullness would dwell in His Son, that His Son would come and work the works that give God all the glory and save His people. Look at Acts 4 and look at verse 25. Peter quotes Psalm 2 right here. He said, by the mouth of thy servant David thou hast said, why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? He's quoting Psalm 2.

The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done."

God determined this before there was time, before there was an earth, before there was anything created. God determined exactly what would happen when the Lord Jesus came forth. God determined what men would do. He foreordained it. And then God declared what he would do. God declared what he would do, and he declared what sinners would do.

He purposed it, he determined it, he foreordained it, then he declared it in the first five books of the Bible. He used Moses to write what he would do. and give pictures and types all in the law of what Christ would do. And he used Moses to write those books. Then he used David to pen the Psalms and some others to pen the Psalms. And he declared beforehand what he would do, just like Psalm 2. And then he used the prophets and he declared what he would do. So he determined it before the world was made, And then He declared it all in the Scriptures and had men write it down. And then He brought it all to pass.

Men did what was in their heart. They did what was in their heart because God took His hand off of them and let them do what was in their heart, what they were willing to do. God let them do it. And the remainder that they could have done, God restrained them from doing it. Because it wasn't according to His determinant counsel and His foreordination. So everything God determined, everything God foreordained is exactly what came to pass. That's sovereign God. That's sovereign God. So many times we read in the scripture that such and such happened according to the scripture. that the scripture might be fulfilled. Let me show you John 19. Go with me to John 19. John 19 in verse 33. This is just one example.

It says, when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was dead already, and they break not his legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and for with came there out blood and water. Now look at verse 36. For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled. Way back in Psalm 34 20, God said a bone of him shall not be broken. So they didn't break his bone. Then verse 37, and again, another scripture said, way back in Zechariah 12, 10, they shall look on him whom they have pierced. You see that?

God determined this before the world was made. Then he wrote it in the scripture. Then he brought it to pass. God's work, he works all things together for his elect people. And he does it exactly according to his determinant counsel and his foreordination. Everything, nothing is coming to pass in this world but what God determined before to be done, what God ordained. Now, we see here also the complete and total ruin of mankind. the complete and total ruin of sinners. Men did exactly what was in their wicked heart to do.

It says back in Acts 2.23, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

God came among us. God came down and came among us. And he did all these miracles and signs and wonders showing he's a man approved of God, undeniable. And despite God doing all these signs and wonders, despite God the Father speaking from heaven and saying, this is my son, hear him.

Despite all of that, sinners took the Lord Jesus and by wicked hands, crucified him, and slew him. Now they only did what God determined. They only did what God ordained. Christ was in full control. But God let them have their will. Man's always boasting about his will. I have a free will. There's your free will right there. A will in bondage to a wicked nature will only do wickedness. And that's what we did. We crucified God. We killed God. That's what's in our heart.

Every man by nature. That's exactly what man would do to him today. If Christ came today and did all the same miracles and signs and wonders, that's exactly what man would do to him today because man's depravity has not changed. It's just getting worse and worse.

And here's what God makes his people know. That's what is in the heart, the sinful nature of all God's elect. That's exactly what we did till God saved us. We were crucifying him. Every time we heard the gospel preached and rejected the gospel, we were crucifying him afresh, putting him to an open shame. Depravity hasn't changed. Our sin nature's still the same.

That's what we did with God. That's why the world hates the Lord's people, like we saw this morning. He said, if they've rejected me, they'll reject you. If they believe me, they'll believe you. It's only by the Spirit of God that any sinner believes on the Lord Jesus. Without the Spirit of God creating a new spirit and giving us faith and repentance, and without Him doing the work in us, that's exactly what men will do.

Crucifying. Crucifying. Hebrews 6, 6 says, they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. That's what men do. Every time the gospel goes forth, Christ is evidently set forth among you, just as if he was crucified among you in the preaching of the gospel, and men reject it, they crucify him afresh and put him to an open shame.

That's how God says it is. Now, let's see what he says next. Verse, Acts 22, 24. He declares what Christ accomplished. Now this is what should be preached. He began with telling who he is, who the God-man is. He declared God's determinate counsel and foreordination. He declared the total ruin of sinners. And now he's gonna tell what Christ accomplished. Look here in verse 24.

Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of death. It was not possible. That means the Lord Jesus succeeded exactly as God declared He would throughout the prophets. He succeeded. God raised Him up. God loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that He should be held of death. There was no way death could hold the Savior. No way.

Go with me to 1 Corinthians 15. And I want you to hold your place here in 1 Corinthians 15. We'll come back. 1 Corinthians 15. And look here in verse 55. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Now listen to these next words. The sting of death is sin. The thing, the stinger that inflicted the deadly venom that caused death is sin. And the strength of sin is the law. Now let's think about that. Man's sin is what caused death. Man's sin.

Romans 5.12 says, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Wherefore, death has passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Let me ask everybody sitting here today, are you going to die physically? Do you believe that? Are you aging? You aging. Do you get sick? Every one of those declares you are a sinner. Every one of those.

God's not the author of sin. Sin entered by man. It was according to the determinate counsel and foreordination of God, but man did it by his own wicked hands. Now you think about this. Men want to talk about working their way to God and earning God's favor. God put a perfect man in a perfect garden where there was no sin, perfection. And God let Adam do what was in his heart. And Adam sinned. God gave him one law, just one. You can have all the fruit in this garden, Adam, except for that one tree right there. Adam said, I'll take that one, and broke God's law.

One law, and death entered. Now do you think in a sinful world, with a nature that's nothing but sin, with 615 laws, that demand the wages of sin as death, eternal death under the justice of God, do you think any sinner's gonna keep that law and be able to come to God? No way, no way. We need a savior, and that savior is the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's the only way you can come to God. The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

So the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came down and took the place of guilty, wretched sinners. He came down and took their place. He went before the Father spotless, holy, undefiled, separate from sinners. Holy as God is holy. Righteous as God is righteous. He went before God, so he's the only man that was fit to do what he did, the only one. And here's the perfect holy love of his heart. He went before God who he loved, for the people that he loved, and willingly gave himself to be made sin for us.

Don't charge them. Put all their sin on me. Load me with all the sin of this people. Put all their sin on me. Everybody God gave to him from eternity, he said, I agreed to come and save them. Now take all their sin and make me bear it. And he made him sin for us who knew no sin.

And the Lord said that the strength of sin is the law, not only is sin caused death, but now the strength of sin is the law. That means the law says the soul that sinneth must die. You have to pay the second death. You have to die that eternal death that never dies. Christ said, I'll die that death in their place. With all the sin of his people on him now, he says to the Father, give me the curse. And God poured out on the Savior that, that unmitigated, perfect fury of God's wrath, that hell is.

That's what Christ bore on that cross. Now that's love, brethren. Loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. Loving God and loving his people. That's what he did. And completely paid for, honored God's law, magnified God's law, magnified God, declared God just, and in the process justified all his people. And that's why God said, death could not hold him. He conquered death. He completely conquered death. He put away sin, he satisfied the law, death could not hold the Savior. And God is so pleased with him, he raised him from the grave.

Go with me back there to 1 Corinthians 15 and look at verse 21. Here's why God did it this way. 1 Corinthians 15, 21. He said, for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam, all who Adam represented, all who would be born of Adam, died. And so in Christ, all shall, all who he represented, all that shall be born of him, they shall all be made alive by him.

Look at verse 55 again. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, those Christ was representing, when he came out of that grave, they came out of that grave in him. When he sat down at God's right hand, they sat down at God's right hand in him. Now, death couldn't hold him, and death can't hold them either. Because he did that for a particular people. Death has no claim on that people. He conquered them. He conquered death. He won the victory. But they're all spiritually dead. Every one of them are dead.

There's 3,000 people sitting there that day, some of whom were right there in the crowd cursing Him and crying crucify Him. And because death can't hold them, the risen Lord Jesus filled Peter with the Spirit of the Lord and gave him the message to preach and sent Peter there that day preaching this good news to them.

And then the Lord Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and regenerated them to life and convicted them in their heart that they had crucified the Lord Jesus. And he gave them repentance to quit looking to themselves and trusting themselves and put confidence in their works. He gave them faith to believe on the Lord Jesus and believe He really is the Son of God, the man of God approved of God, that He really conquered death, that He is the Savior. And He really did convince them that they are the ruined sinners who with their own wicked hands have been crucifying Him and slaying Him afresh ever since He laid down His life. He convicted them of that. And look what he says here, verse 33.

Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, Acts 2.33, being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this which you now see and hear. Christ was doing all that. Verse 37, now when they heard this, He's going to make His people hear.

And they heard. They were pricked in their heart. Who did that? Christ did that by the Spirit. He pricked them in their heart. Death can't hold them. They gotta hear this message. And they can't hear it unless he does the work in them. So he did it. And look, they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, repent. Turn from trusting you. Turn from looking to you for anything.

And be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ because of the remission of sin. Be baptized confessing that you believe Christ put your sin away. He remitted your sin by his blood. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost is that eternal promise that inheritance awaits, that he's gonna give us that inheritance with God. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Brethren, there's people that use that to baptize infants. He's not saying that because you're physical children are yours, that they're part of a covenant. That's not what he's saying. The spiritual children are the children of the fathers, not physical children. The spiritual children, those born of God, are our children.

But here's the key. He's saying, whether it's you or it's your children, it's as many as the Lord God shall call. It's as many as Christ shall send this gospel and call by his grace. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this untoward generation.

What's an untoward? That's a wicked generation. You know what they do? They were all there going through God's ceremonies and trying to keep God's law, and every one of them looking to themselves and patting themselves on the back. That's an untoward generation, a wicked generation.

And he said, and the same day there were added about three, oh, and then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. And look, down at verse 47 at the end, and the Lord continued, the Lord added to the church daily such as should be said.

Now listen. The Lord Jesus has done for you that believe exactly what he did that day. He sent you a preacher with the gospel. He sent the spirit, and he quickened you to life, and he gave you a heart to hear him, and he gave you repentance from trusting you, and he brought you to confession and baptism. And the Lord's been doing the same thing since that day.

Because death couldn't hold him, death can't hold anybody he died for. He's been sending the gospel to his people, calling them to life, bringing them to faith in Christ, making them unashamed to confess him, and adding to the church daily such as should be saved. They should be, because death can't hold them. He that hath the Son hath life, and he's gonna give himself to everybody he died for through faith.

Now listen, he's done that for you today. Christ sent a preacher to you with his gospel, and Christ has been declaring to you this whole 30 minutes what he did. He's declared that this was by the determinate counsel of God, by his foreordination. He declared that you are the sinner who by wicked hands crucify and slew him, and you that have been rejecting this gospel, you have been crucifying him every time you have walked out of here without believing his gospel. And I pray today's the day that he speaks this effectually into somebody's heart and pricks you in your heart and brings you to cry out, oh, I have crucified the Lord of glory.

I'll tell you this, if he does that, he's gonna grant you repentance to see you can't save you. There's nothing you can do. And he'll bring you to cast it all into his hand. And when He does that, He'll fill you with so much joy over Him giving you eternal life that you won't be ashamed to confess Him. You'll say, if your mama, your daddy, your cousins, and your uncles are saying, don't, don't fall for that, don't go after that, you'll say, I don't care what you say.

I gotta confess Him. This is my Lord. This is my Savior. He is life to me. And he will do that for everybody he died for because it's not possible that death could hold him. Because he's conquered death. Oh, thanks be unto God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's who we're remembering at this table. You can't remember somebody you don't know. If you don't know him, you can't discern the Lord's body. This table's not for you. But for you that do believe him, and you that do trust him, he said, do this in remembrance of me. We're remembering his broken body, broken for us. We're remembering his shed blood, shed for us, that remitted all our sin. We're remembering our Savior.

Death couldn't hold him, and death can't hold us now. Listen, we got a brother that's sick, that's in the hospital, gonna have a serious heart surgery tomorrow. That heart surgery is not going to make him live forever. At best, he's going to live a few more days. But the Lord did a heart surgery on him and gave him a new heart.

And he that hath a son hath life. And Christ said, when you come to the place where you draw your last breath, you're not going to die. You're going to be with Christ immediately. No harm can come. to somebody Christ died for. You have life. You have the Son. You have life. And that's our comfort. That's our consolation. No matter what the Lord's pleased to do with our brother, this is what we know. He already has life. He has Christ. And Christ is going to have all his people together in glory with him and not lose one of them. That's a victorious Savior. That's who our Savior is. All right. We're going to remember him. Brother Ravi, I need you to pass the elements out.

Death Could Not Hold Him

What does the Bible say about the sovereignty of God?

How do we know Christ's resurrection is true?

Why is the doctrine of depravity important for Christians?

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Death Could Not Hold Him

What does the Bible say about the sovereignty of God?

How do we know Christ's resurrection is true?

Why is the doctrine of depravity important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Clay Curtis

Comments

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