I want to pick up here in verse
twenty-two. Last week we saw where the Holy
Ghost was poured out upon them, on the apostles. They spoke in
tongues, other languages, and it gives a whole list of people
that were there that could understand them because they were speaking
in their language. And then there were some that mocked and said
that these men are drunk. They're drunk. And Peter set
them straight. He said that they were not drunk,
but that the promise of the Father was being fulfilled in pouring
out His Spirit upon all flesh. And after doing that, he gets
right to the heart of the message. He began to preach Christ. And
did you notice as I read from verse 22 down through the rest
of that chapter how simple that was? I thought that was one of the
most simple messages that I've ever read. There was no great
oratory skill going on. There was not even any miracles
at this time that he was doing in front of him. He was just
simply stating the truth. Just telling the truth on God,
that's what he was doing. I titled this message, A Man
Approved of God. He says, Ye men of Israel, hear
these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you as you yourself also know. Peter
begins, with the man Christ Jesus. They knew who he was talking
about when he said, Jesus of Nazareth. They knew who he was
talking about. There was no doubt. And Peter
used his name that the angel said that he would be called.
That angel said, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. He used his name Some writers
call it his name of humiliation. But I thought as I read that
passage again this week, we must never overlook the fact and the
truth and the necessity that he is a real man. He must be
a real, real man. He has a real soul just like
I have. He has a real body, real skin,
and real bones, real blood. He's a real man. I heard it said
before, he was as much a man as if he were not God, and as
much God as if he were not a man. As God, he knew all things, infinite
in knowledge. And yet, as a man, he had to
learn everything. That's amazing. That's amazing. He's a real man. And I'll tell
you why this is necessary. The same nature that sin must
also suffer for sin and render satisfaction to God's law. A
goat can't render satisfaction for something I've done. God
cannot find satisfaction in the death of an animal for the sins
of a man. It must be the same nature of
sin that renders satisfaction. Therefore, it's necessary that
he really is a man in every way, in every way. And then it says
here, he is a man approved of God. He is approved of God. Another translation is this.
He is a man sent of God. God sent this man. He said that
so many times in the gospel. God sent him. He is God's man. This is God's man we're talking
about here. God provided this man for himself
and for us. A body, he said, hast thou prepared
me. God provided this man for himself
and for us. And God provided himself in this
man. This man is God. He's God. Jesus of Nazareth. He's no ordinary man. He's God
manifested in the flesh. You've seen me. You've seen the
Father. You've seen the Father. You've seen me. And this man,
he said, was approved of God by miracles and signs. They saw
him perform many miracles. They saw him raise the dead.
They saw him give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf. They saw this man do many miracles.
And the miracles that he did were signs that God sent him
and God was with him. He was not trying to impress
us, but show us who he is. Nicodemus said this, Thou art
a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles
except God be with him. Nobody can do this except God's
with him. No ordinary man can do this,
not at all. And then he says here in verse
23, and note his courage. Note the courage that Peter has
here. He denied our Lord before a maid. before a maid, he denied. He
said, I don't know him. She said, you're one of his disciples. I don't know him to the point
where he cussed. He said, I don't know him. He was afraid to be
identified at that time. But here he stands before this
crowd. And there's a crowd there that's also mocking. And he stands
before them. He says, he had been delivered
by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God. You have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Well, the
first thing he points out to this crowd is this. His death
was an act of God. The first thing Peter points
out here to this crowd is the death of this Jesus of Nazareth
is an act of God Almighty. He is said to be the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. Before there was a sinner,
there was a Savior. We've heard that so many times,
and it's so. Before God ever created the heavens
and the earth, This was already taken care of. Our salvation
was already taken care of. It was already settled. He was
a lamb slain before the foundation of the world. His death on the
cross was foreordained before the world was created. It was
foreordained. It was predestinated. It's going
to happen. This is the way God's going to save sinners. God's
going to create a human race. And there's going to be some
people out of that race that he's going to populate heaven
with. And they're going to be just like his son. He's going
to redeem them. through the blood of His Son. Then it says here, Him being
delivered, God delivered Him up. God sent Him into the world. God sent Him to do this. God
delivered Him up. He delivered Himself up. He willingly
came. He was a willing substitute.
Judas, along with the Jews, delivered Him up. He was delivered up. The substitute must die that
He might deliver us. up to God. He must be delivered
up that we might be delivered up, that He might deliver us
up to God Almighty, holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. And this was all according to
God's counsel. God brought this into counsel.
You know, I do things a lot of times off the cuff. I mean, I
do this a lot. I make decisions a lot of times
off the cuff. I mean, after the shot, And it
proves it sometimes that I do that, that I just do it this
way. But everything God Almighty has ever done, everything that
He will ever do, has been taken into an infinite counsel of wisdom
and knowledge. And that's what Peter is saying,
that He is being delivered by the determinate counsel of God.
God has counseled this. This is infinite wisdom behind
this. This is not just an afterthought with God, this is infinite wisdom
behind this. God delivered him up according
to his determinate counsel of foreknowledge. But he says this,
this does not excuse the sin of rejecting and slaying him,
you have by wicked hands. He lays the charge where it belongs. You've taken him by wicked hands
and crucified him. God gave what he purposed to
do. And you did what you wanted to do. You did what you wanted
to do. And this is a good example of
free will. You want to talk about free will. Men want free will. I don't want
it. Well, we don't want it by the
grace of God. But men talk about free will. When God lets men
do what they want to do, this is the outcome. This is the outcome. But I thank God he controls the
outcome. He controls the outcome. And
then he says here, that him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and poor knowledge of God, he hath taken him by wicked
hands, hath crucified and slain, but God raised him up. God raised
this man up. This same man that was crucified
and buried is not dead. We do not worship and serve a
dead Christ. We serve and worship a risen
Lord. He's not dead. Having loosed
the pains, oh, it's like birth pains. It really compares to
birth pains that a woman goes through giving birth. We caused
Him great pains. The death that He died in order
to set us free was full full of agony, full of torment, full
of pain that you and I can't comprehend, we can't describe,
we can't enter into the wrath of God against our sins. But
Christ bore every bit of it. He took every blow that I deserved. But having loosed Him from the
pains of death because it was not possible that He should be
holding of it, all the pain, and the suffering that he went
through in order to save us is over. He's loose from it. It's over. Unshackled. That's what it's to say. It's
unshackled. Our sins laid hold on him. When
he became our surety, our advocate, our mediator, our substitute,
our sins were like cords. They just bound him. But like
Samson. You remember when he was bound
with those cords? They had got him with those three strong cords,
and he just broke them. They just broke them with such
ease. He's loose from it. He's unshackled. Cut him loose. Our sins had a hold of him, but
not now. Not now. They're gone. They're gone. He
has abolished the power of death. He has abolished the penalty
of death. He has taken the sting out of
death, He has taken the pain out of death. Now we may, I may
come up to the end of my life and it may be painful in this
body, but my death, my dying in Christ will not have any pain
in it because He took it away. He took it away, the sting, He
took the sting out of it. God who raised Christ from the
dead has declared that His justice is satisfied. Now, if you're
a criminal, if you know what it is to be guilty of something,
you know what that means. You know what a joyful sound
that is to be justified. His resurrection is a declaration
of God's satisfaction. That's what it is. It's a declaration
of God's satisfaction. Therefore, it was not possible
that he should be holden of it. It says it's not possible that
he should be kept by it. It had no more claims on him.
The law, death, and the grave could not hold that innocent
man. It couldn't hold him. The law would never lock up an
innocent man. This man's innocent. After he
died, he said, it's finished. He cried, it's finished. Satisfaction
rendered. The ransom price paid. Let him
go. Let him loose him and let him
go. Now he says, for David speaketh
concerning him. David was a prophet and David
spoke concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, I foresaw
the Lord always before my face for he is on my right hand and
I should not be moved. And this is Christ speaking in
the person of David. This is our Lord speaking back
there in David when he was made I spoke this song. This is the
Lord speaking through David. And he says, I foresaw the Lord
always before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should
not be moved. The will of His Father was always
before Him. Always. Always. Christ said, My meat is to do
the will of Him that sent me. Every waking hour, His thoughts,
his mind was on the will and doing of the will of his father. And you know what? That's laid
to me. That's charged to my account. Because I can't say that. I can't
say that. Most of my waking hours are spent
thinking about business or this or that, but his was always about
his father. He knew that his sufferings also,
he knew this, he knew that his sufferings would be for the glory
of God and the salvation of his people. He knew he would not
fail. He knew that. Going into it,
he knew he would not fail. He knew that. He knew that his
Father would strengthen him. He is at my right hand. Oh, we
ought to have the same courage. We ought to have the same courage
that he had, but we're still in this old... we have... there's
so much sin left in his flesh. But he said, he's at my right
hand, I shall not be moved. And this is like, when he's saying
here, he's at my right hand, it's like an advocate standing
at the right hand of his defendant. There's the advocate. He said,
my father's at my right hand to defend me. He's at my right
hand and I'm not afraid. I shall not be moved. That word
really means quake, shake, be moved out of place. I'm not afraid."
Even though it was a dread of what he was about to undergo,
the wrath of God, yet he said, I'm not afraid. Why? I know I'm not going to fail.
My Father's with me. I know I'm not going to fail. And because
of this, because of this courage, and because he knew that his
Father was at his right hand, he said, therefore did my heart
rejoice. And my tongue was glad. Moreover,
also my flesh shall rest in hope, it shall dwell in hope." When God is with a man, he can
rejoice in the face of the most severe trials. When God's with
him, when God's with a man, he can do that. Our Lord knew that
there was an end to his sufferings. You know, that's one of the things
that encourages me. In different trials I've experienced
in life, This thought has always, always been with me. There's
an end to it. There's an end to every heartache.
There's an end to every trial. Our Father ceased to. He knew
that there was an end to His sufferings and that He would
not be left in the grave. He would not be left among the
dead. He knew that. Because He says in verse 27,
Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, Neither wilt thou
suffer thy holy one to see corruption. God will not leave his innocent
man in the grave. He will not leave him among the
dead, nor will he allow his holy one to see corruption. He said,
My flesh won't even see corruption. Dost thou art, the scripture
says, and unto dust shalt thou return, was a sentence pronounced
on man after the fall. But this man, This man, he said,
I'll see no corruption. This body will see no decay.
He will see no decay. Lazarus lay in the grave for
four days and it says he stinketh. He stinketh. Christ lay in the
grave for three days and he still smelled like the rose of Sharon.
That's the best I could think of when I was reading that. I
thought Gladius was there for four days and he stinketh. Christ
was there for three days and he still smelled like the rose
of Sharon. He saw no decay. No decay set
in on him because sin was gone. Sin brings decay. He put it away. He put it away. And then he says in verse 28,
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make
me full of joy with thy counsel. Just as he was put to death,
he tasted death. He's saying this, I will also
be restored to life again. I will be resurrected. That's
what he's talking about, resurrection. I'll be brought back again. No
more to die. Christ will die no more. He died
one death and he'll die no more. He shall know life itself. He's saying the man Christ Jesus. shall know life itself." Just
as he tasted death, he's going to taste life. He's going to
be raised from the dead. And that which sustained him
was his father's favor. That's what sustained him. Thou
shalt make me full of joy. How? With thy presence. You know, God can make us full
of joy this morning just with his presence. He doesn't have
to give me a new job, a better job, or more. It's just His presence. And that's what our Lord is saying
here. Thou shalt make me full of joy. Why? With thy what? Counseling. What did He crown
on the cross? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? But He knew this. He knew this.
He knew that He would still be with His Father when it was over.
He knew He would be with Him when it was all over. Just as
we know as we go through this life and these trials and these
heartaches, I know this, when it's all over, we're going to
be with our Lord. And our joy is going to be His
presence. It's going to be His presence.
Now he said, men and brethren, verse 29, 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. When David spoke
these words, it's evident that he was speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's who he's speaking of.
For David's bones are still in the grave. You go over there
and roll the stone away from David's grave and you'll find
his bones. That's what he's saying. You'll
find his bones in that grave. Go to the grave where our Lord
was, the tomb where he was put. You won't find it. You'll find
it empty. You will find it empty. It's empty. He said, 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, the Messiah, the Savior, to sit on
his throne. David knew this was going to
happen. Therefore, the one that he was speaking of was Christ.
He was speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God gave him of
the fruit of his loins. of His lineage and is seated
right now at God's right hand. Right now there is a man of the
lineage of David seated at God's right hand who is both Lord and
Christ. He is exalted. God has fulfilled
His promise. The Messiah has come and He has
come the way God said He would come, through the lineage of
David. And this Messiah is the the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's
seated at God's right hand. And David, being a prophet, foresaw
this, and he foretold it. Now, he says here in verse 31,
he's seen this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ.
David, he said, spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah,
that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see
corruption. David's speaking here, he said,
of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. That's who he's talking about.
And this Jesus, this Jesus, see there was a lot of them in that
day named Jesus. So he identified this Jesus,
this one from Nazareth, this one who was despised and rejected,
this Jesus hath God raised up. Whereof we all are witnesses,
we all have seen him, all the apostles, 120 of them, we have
seen him, we ate with him, We talked with him. He's alive.
There was 120 people gathered around at one time when he appeared
to them. And he said, we are all witnesses.
What we are telling you is the truth. He's alive. He's exalted. He's at God's right hand. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he's the one. He's the one who has shed forth
this which you now see and hear. He's the reason of this pouring
out of the Spirit of God on all flesh. He's the reason. He was
raised by omnipotence to the highest dignity in the realms
of glory, seated at God's right hand. And He's the one who administers
the laws of both worlds, this world and in heaven. He's the
one who does it. He's exalted at God's right hand. and the promise of the Holy Ghost
being poured out of all flesh is evidence," he said, this is
evidence, that the Messiah has come and is now exalted. It's
evidence of it. For David, he says in verse thirty-four,
David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself,
the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand. David's
not the cause of what you're witnessing. He is. The Lord Jesus
Christ is. But Christ is the reason for
the outpouring as He promised after He had sent it back to
the Father. He said, when I go back to the Father, I'll give
you another comforter. He's the reason for it. He's
the one who sent it. And then He says here, sit on
my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Now listen. This is a very sobering statement
here. Seeing that everything else has happened that David
spoke of, everything that's come to pass that David spoke of.
Even so, would this happen to Christ's enemies? If you remain
an enemy of Christ, this is what Peter is saying, if you remain
an enemy of Christ, he's going to put his foot on your neck
and break it. That's what he's saying. He's
going to put his foot on your neck and break it. This is what
they used to do back in that country. When they would conquer
a king or an enemy, they would come out, the king would come
out, and he would put his foot on the enemy's neck as a symbol
of power and conquering his enemies. And he said, if you remain like
this, this is what's going to happen to you. He's going to
put his foot on your neck. That's what he's going to do.
Therefore, in verse 36, let all the house of Israel know assuredly,
without a doubt, that God Almighty hath made that same Jesus whom
you crucified, both Lord and Christ, that same Jesus whom
you rejected, that same Jesus whom you despised, that same
Jesus whom you made nothing of and you crucified Him, He is
now the Supreme Governor of all things, all persons, of all creation. There's a man seated at God's
right hand right now who rules and reigns over everything that
exists, and he's our Lord and he's our Savior. That's who he
is. He said, let him know this. Let
all the house of Israel know this assuredly. Peter told them
who Christ was. He told them what they did to
Him and that God raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His
own right hand. And if He dealt with them as
His enemies, they would be made His footstool. And this message,
this plain, simple, straightforward message pricked their heart,
stabbed them in the heart. The truth, God took that two-edged
sword and plunged it into the heart. heart. Now when they heard this,
the scripture says, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. It doesn't come by hearing a
lie. It comes by hearing the word of God. Now when they heard
this, they were pricked in their heart, and they said unto Peter
and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall
we do? How shall we appease God for
killing his son? We're in trouble. And that's
the logical conclusion, and that's the only conclusion you can draw
when you hear the gospel as it is. I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble
if I do not bow down to Christ. If I do not bow down and kiss
the Son, I'm in trouble. How shall we appease God? This
powerful gospel message, supported everywhere by prophecies and
facts, Peter used the Scriptures, left them without reply, without
an excuse, and they plainly saw, as every sinner will if God convicts
him of sin, they plainly saw that they had no hope but in
the mercy of the One whom they crucified. The One that we crucified
is the only One that we can hope in. He's the only One we can
hope in. Then Peter said to them, here's
what he said, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. Humble yourselves, change your
mind, your attitude and deeply deplore the sins you've committed
and pray for his mercy. Fall down at his feet for mercy. Sue for mercy. Like a beggar. Like a hopeless beggar who has
absolutely nothing. Seek Him for mercy. For mercy. And then He says, and be baptized.
And here's why He's saying it. Publicly confess Him whom you
rejected. At one time they turned thumbs
down on Him. They rejected Him. They despised Him. Now He's saying
this. You publicly confess Him whom you despised. in whom you
rejected. Take on you the public confession
of Christ by being baptized in his name and acknowledge yourself
to be his disciples and servants. There are no secret disciples. There are none. Even that woman
with the issue of blood, when she touched the end of his garment,
she tried to slip out, wasn't she? She was going to slip back
out just like she slipped in. But he stopped her. He said,
who touched me? She probably thought, oh, I got
caught. Who touched me? And she had to
confess before all the people why she touched him and what
had happened. There are no secret disciples. That's why it says,
repent and be baptized. Openly confess the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now we know that baptism does
not put away sin. We are baptized because our sins
have been put away. Because they have been put away.
And we publicly confess that we died with Christ, that we
are risen with Christ, and that we are His servants, and we walk
in newness of life. We don't walk after that old
way no more. Not at all. And he says here, For the promise
is unto you and to your children, and to all that are far off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call. That's who it's
to, as many as the Lord our God shall call. This promise of salvation
is to all God's elect on all the corners of the earth. Do
you know who they are? Sinners. Sinners. They come as begging sinners. That's what they are. Begging
sinners. Then let me close with this. I want you to notice the
effect the message had on him. And it says, And with many other
words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves. from
this untoward generation. Look to Christ. He said, look
to Christ. Don't follow that old tradition
and those old ways and what mama used to do and daddy. He said,
look to Christ. Look to Him and Him only. Then they that gladly received
His word were baptized. And the same day there were added
unto them about three thousand souls, sinners, I know this,
sinners gladly receive the gospel. They don't argue with it. They
don't kick it around like a football. Sinners, broken, broken sinners
gladly receive Christ. They gladly bow at His feet and
they are glad that He is Lord and Christ and Savior. They are
glad of that. And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of
bread and in prayers. What unity, what unity the gospel
brought among these people. What unity here. They were in
fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers together. The gospel,
the gospel, the only gospel unites God's family. It will unite God's
family, the gospel does. And fear came upon every soul,
godly fear, true godly fear came upon every one of them. And many
wonders and signs were done by the apostles to confirm their
message. And all that believed were together and had all things
common. As I said, the gospel is the
great equalizer. It will bring proud men down
and it will lift low men up. It's the great equalizer. It'll
allow the rich and the poor, the educated and uneducated to
sit at the same table and feast. They had all things common, common
faith, common salvation, all things common. And so their possessions
and goods, now this really had an effect on them, didn't it?
Could you imagine going out here today and selling all your possessions,
make sure everybody else had what you had? That's an effective
message. Sold their possessions and goods
and parted them to all men as every man had need. I know this. I wrote this down last night.
A gospel that doesn't reach the pocketbook won't reach the heart
either. If it doesn't reach my pocketbook, it won't reach my
heart either. They had all things common. They really looked after each
other, didn't they? God's people do. God's people look after each
other. That's what they do. And they,
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and
singleness of heart, God's glory. God's glory. And praising God,
and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to
the church daily, such as should be saved." If the Lord adds to
the church, you have a church. But if men do it, they're going
to come and go. And that's what we want. We want
the Lord to add to the church. I don't want to go out here and
just try to get numbers. This is not a numbers game. This
is the Lord saving people and adding to the church daily such
as should be saved. The gospel makes a real difference
in men and women when it comes in power. When it comes in power,
when it comes in truth, when God pricks the heart with it,
when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness, and
judgment, there's a difference. God makes a difference.