If you will, let us open our
Bibles today to the book of Acts, chapter 2. We're going to read
that part of Peter's sermon that is recorded, the message that
he preached on the day of Pentecost, beginning with verse 14. Acts chapter 2. But Peter, standing
up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them,
You men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this
known unto you, and hearken to my words. For these are not drunken,
as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall
come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord. I will pour out
of my spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions.
Your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my
handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit. And
they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven
above and signs in the earth beneath. blood and fire and vapor
of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness and the moon into blood before that great and notable
day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. 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 yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up having
loose the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
beholden of it. For David speaketh concerning
him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on
my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my
heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh
shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to seek
corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with Thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and
buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore,
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath
to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, He seeing this
before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption. This
Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore
being by the right hand of God, exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed
forth this, which you now see and hear. 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 thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom
you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. We're going to consider primarily
the Apostle Peter's statement in verse 24 of an impossibility. An impossibility. The impossibility
was that death could hold the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that
in verse 24, the last part of the verse. Because it was not
possible. It was impossible, in other words.
It was not possible that death, that he should be holden of it. As verse 23 states, he was crucified
and slain, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was crucified and slain by
both. Hear me now. He was crucified
and slain by both. First of all, the determinant. counsel of God, the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, and secondly, by the wicked
hands of men. God determined the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ in eternity. His death was foreordained of
God. The scriptures speak of him as
a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. But men with wicked
hands moved by their wicked, deceitful hearts nailed him to
a tree. God determined it should be done. Men of their own will crucified
the Lord Jesus Christ. God, the God of the Bible, the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is such a God, my
friends, that he works all things after the counsel of his own
will. Nothing happens in time that
was not foreordained of God from old eternity. Nothing ever takes
God by surprise. He never learns anything. He
knows all things. And the word counsel speaks to
us of his wisdom. In the multitude of counselors,
there's a proverb which says, there wanteth not wisdom. And
when God speaks of himself as doing something in counsel, it
is to convey to you and I the wisdom of God and what he has
done. The wisdom of God in the crucifixion
of his son. that God might be both just and
justifier. That the God who has declared
that He will by no means, hear me now, this is what He said,
He will by no means clear the guilty. And yet all of us are
guilty. God, in His infinite wisdom,
He has brought forth His plan of redemption And it was that
his son should come into this world as a man, and he should
bear the sins of his people in his own body on the tree. That
yes, God's justice would be satisfied in punishing his son for the
sins of his people, that his people might be set free, might
be delivered, might be saved. And yet God foreordained this,
but men acted out of the hatred and evil in their hearts. It's impossible for you and I
to fully appreciate the truth about God. He is such a great
God. I hear people use that term awesome,
awesome God. When the King James translation
was made, he is declared to be a terrible God, a terrible God. He's due reverence and worship
by all of his creatures. But I want to speak to us this
morning, primarily, as I said, on those words of Peter that
are found in verse 24, where he tells us of an impossibility. He says, because it was not possible
that he should be holding of it. And I want to give us this
morning four reasons. I'm sure there are many others,
but I want us to leave this building today convinced in our hearts
by the Spirit of God from the Word of God of four reasons why. It was impossible for death to
hold the Lord Jesus Christ. No one denies that he died, and
no one should deny that he arose. It was impossible for death to
hold him. The first reason is this, the
glory of his person. The glory of his person. It was
an impossibility that death could hold him because of the glory
of his person. No person like this had ever
before experienced death because there is no other person like
him. Let me say that again. No person
like this had ever experienced death because there is no other
person like him. What should surprise us, I believe,
is more that he could die than that he arose. That's a miracle,
that he who is the prince of life could lay down his life,
but that he should rise, that shouldn't surprise us, because
of the glory of his person. Look over just a few pages to
Romans, Romans chapter 1. In these first few verses of
this epistle, the apostle is declaring the gospel that he
preached, that he had been separated. God separated him to this gospel. And I'm so thankful today that
God separated me to this same gospel. There's only one gospel. I've heard people use different
adjectives to describe the gospel, but be sure of this, there's
only one gospel. Paul said that in Galatians chapter
1. He said there's other messages
which may be called gospels, but there's only one gospel. And notice what he says about
this gospel. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle. separated unto the gospel of
God, which he had promised to for by his prophets in the Holy
Scriptures. In other words, from the very
beginning, all the prophets spoke of him. All the prophets had
promised the Messiah was coming. Concerning his son, now if you
leave out verse 2, read this leaving out verse 2, because
that's in parentheses. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated under the gospel of God concerning
his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. The gospel is a message of Christ. It's a message of Christ. When does a person hear the gospel? When it pleases God. That's what Paul said, when it
pleases God. How do you know when you hear
the gospel? When you hear it as good news. When you, you yourself, when
you hear this message of Christ as good news, this is good news
to me. It's the best news I've ever
heard. When you hear the gospel as good
news, you've heard the gospel. If you just hear it and it goes
off your back, like through your mind, like going in one ear and
out the other ear, it doesn't mean anything to you. But I tell
you something, when you hear the Gospel is good news. That's
the message I need. That's the message I must have. Because it speaks to me of a
Savior. Not a Savior, but the Savior. The Gospel of God concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now watch this. Which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh. He was a descendant
of David according to the flesh, his mother Mary. She was of the
tribe of Judah. He was made. Notice that made. The word was made flesh. But
here's the important thing to see in the next verse. He was
not made the son of God. He's always been the Son of God.
You see that? He was declared, declared, manifested,
shown forth to be the Son of God. How? With power according
to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. The gospel concerns God's Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh, but by the power of the resurrection,
he's declared or manifested to be the Son of God with power. He was not made the Son of God,
but declared to be God's Son. I began by saying no person like
this had ever experienced death. There is no other person like
this. who is both God and man in one
person, the God-man, Jesus Christ. In the beginning of his public
ministry, he said this, he said, destroy this temple, and in three
days, I will raise it up again. Of course, he was speaking of
the temple of his body. And on the third day, he was
manifested to be the Son of God. to be whom he had declared himself
to be by speaking of himself as I am. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. I am the good shepherd. I am
the resurrection and the life. All of those I am passages, he
was confessing himself to be the eternal God, Jehovah. I am. And he said, destroy this
temple and in three days I will raise it up again. Now if he
was a fake, if he was a fraud, if he really wasn't who he said
he was, you may be sure somewhere over there in that part of the
world you could find what's left of his remains. But because he
is the Son of God, it was not possible It was not possible
that he should be held of death. Someone might say, well, why
then does our text, if you look back in our text this morning,
why does it say that God would raise him up? Well, that's the
point, my friends. He is God. He is God. And no matter if we read that
he was raised by the Father or if he was raised by the Holy
Spirit, Or if he raised himself up, he was raised up by God because
he is God. Number two, the truth of God's
word made it impossible for him to be held by death. It was an
impossibility that death could hold him because of the truth
of God's word. Now, I know all of us here today,
we try to speak the truth. We do our best, I'm sure, to
speak the truth most of the time. But I'm speaking about the word
of God that's always true. It's always true. His word, the
scripture says, is settled in the heavens. God's Word is settled
in the heavens, and to question the truthfulness of God's Word,
and make no mistake about it, these so-called friends of Christ,
profess to be friends of Christ, to be preachers of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who deny the Word of God, when they question the truthfulness
of the written Word of God, they're questioning the truthfulness
of God Almighty. I believe without a doubt, without
a question, everything in this book is the truth. Why? Because it's the Word of
Him who is the truth. And it's not the truth because
I believe it, and it's not the truth if you believe it. It's
the truth of God if no one believes it. The Apostle Paul said, let
all men be liars. But God is faithful. God is the truth. And notice
what Peter begins to quote in this passage here in Acts chapter
2. Our text is verse 24. He said,
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible that he should beholden of it for David. And
he begins to quote from Psalm 16. Someone would say, well, David's
speaking about himself. Oh, no. Peter makes it very clear
David was not speaking about himself, because if you notice
in verse 29, he said, Men and brethren, let me freely speak
unto you of the patriarch David. He's both dead and buried, and
his sepulchre, there was a tomb, there was something there in
Jerusalem where his bones, what was left, was lying. No, he's not speaking of David. David in this psalm is speaking
by prophecy, by inspiration of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And these are his words. These are Christ's words here.
I foresaw the Lord always before my face. When he came into this
world, He always saw the Lord. He always did that which pleased
the Lord. He always looked unto the Lord
as to what He should do. His will, I foresaw the Lord
always before my face. For He's on my right hand, that
I should not be moved. And Christ, remember that one
scripture, it says He set His face like a flint. Like a flint. His disciples, they tried to
dissuade Him from going to Jerusalem. No, no. He set His face like
a flint. He would do God's will, even
knowing, and he did know, he told his disciples, we're going
to go up into Jerusalem and the Son of Man shall be betrayed
and crucified. Remember one time when he told
them, Peter took him aside and tried to rebuke him. Not so. What did the Lord say
to Peter? Get thee behind me, Satan, for
thou savest not the things that be of God. Oh no. He set his face like a flint
to go up to Jerusalem to give his life a ransom for many. Notice
he says, therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall
rest in hope. His body was laid there in the
grave. Yes, he was dead, but his body,
his flesh was resting in hope. Hope of what? He had God's Word. He had God's Word. He had the
truth. And God's Word is not going to
fail. It's not going to fail. You say,
preacher, why are you making an issue out of this? Because
I want you and I want myself to see this. We have God's word
and God's word is the truth. Notice what Peter said there
in verse 21, when he said, the day shall come and it's already
come when whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. This is God's Word. It's God's
Word for you this morning. If you're here without Christ,
if you've never been saved, whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. That's His Word. You say, well,
preacher, I'm not saved. Well, have you asked the Lord
to save you? Have you? What did He say? What does He say? Call upon Him. How shall they call upon Him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
whom of they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And God sent a preacher here this morning to you, and
you're hearing the gospel. The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth, the word of faith which we preach, that if thou
shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from
the dead, and confess him with thy mouth, thou shalt be saved."
God's Word. Oh, this is a foundation. The
Word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, He had
that Word. That's the reason it says here,
his flesh should rest in hope. Thou shalt not leave my soul
in hell. Now, don't fall for that deception
that somehow Christ went into hell during that time, the three
days. That's not true. That's from
a misunderstanding of a passage of scripture in 2 Peter. The
Lord's soul, he said, into thy hands I commend my spirit. He told the thief, today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. It was his body that was left
in the grave in Sheol, the place of the dead. But it wasn't left
there. Oh no, thou shalt not leave my
soul in hell. And we know on that third day,
he came out of that grave. Number three, while it was impossible that
he be held of death, the surety had satisfied all demands. The surety. It was an impossibility
that death could hold him because as the surety, he satisfied all
demands. The only reason he was dead,
is because he was a surety of the better covenant. That's the
only reason he was dead. He was a surety for all of those
who were given unto him by the Father. The Bible teaches us that before
the world ever began, God chose a people. God chose a people. They're called His elect. a remnant
according to the election of grace. He gave those people to
Christ as his sheep. He's a shepherd. How could you
be a shepherd and not have sheep? He is a good shepherd. And his
sheep were given unto him by the Father. And in his prayer
in John chapter 17, six times he declares, all, all, that the Father giveth me." He
mentions the fact that they were given unto Him. And in that covenant
in which His people were given unto Him, He stood as a surety. And that means that He agreed
to come and to pay whatever His people owed, whatever the sin
debt was, whatever the offense was. He would come and He would
satisfy God's justice, pay the sin debt. Well, did He pay it? You know He did. He was raised
again for our justification. There's no question, there's
no doubt that He paid the debt, that He satisfied God's justice
because He came out of the grave. You know, in the Old Testament,
we're only given one example of a surety, and that was Judah,
one of Jacob's 12 sons. You remember they sold their
brother Joseph away. He was down in Egypt and he became
the prime minister in the providence of God. And 10 of those brothers
went down there and they told Joseph, they didn't recognize
Joseph, but they told him that they had another brother. And
that was Joseph's only full brother, Benjamin. And Joseph told them,
you're not going to see my face again unless you bring Benjamin
with you. Well, Jacob, their dad, loved
Benjamin. And he said, there's no way.
There's no way. You're going to take my son,
Benjamin, down into Egypt. And finally, the starvation.
They had no corn. They had no grain. They're all
going to starve, and so Judah came, and Judah promised his
dad, Jacob. He said, I'll be a surety for
Benjamin. But I want you to notice what
he said in that. He said, I will bear the blame
forever if I do not bring him and set him before thee. The point I want to make is this.
Judah, as a surety for Benjamin, he not only promised his dad,
and he did that on the authority of Joseph's word. He believed
Joseph had told them the truth. And if he brought Benjamin down
there, they could buy corn again and come back home. But Judah
fully believed and told his dad, Not going to be just Benjamin
that's coming back. I'm going to bring him and set
him before thee. In other words, Judah said, I'm
going to be the surety and I'm going to bring Benjamin and I'm
going to be here and he's going to be here. And the Lord Jesus
Christ as a surety of his people. He guaranteed His Father that
He would bring each and every one of those given unto Him and
He would set them with Himself before the Father. Now that couldn't
be possible. That wouldn't be possible if
He had remained in the grave. No, death could not hold Him. And you know, we have a verse
in Hebrews chapter two that tells us that one day the Lord is going
to stand before his father and he's going to say, Father, here
are the children which thou has given me. And let me tell you
something, not one is going to be missing. Not one is going
to be missing. Why? because he paid the sin
debt for his people. Here's the fourth and last thing.
The king of Terahs was vanquished. It was not possible. It was an
impossibility that death could hold him because the king of
Terahs was vanquished. You say, preacher, who are you
calling the king of Terahs? Well, I'm quoting Bildad, one
of Job's friends, the King of Terrors. That is death, death
that has reigned like a mighty monarch throughout the ages. Reigned over everyone from Adam
to Moses, from Moses to Christ. Reigned over all, rich and poor. young and old, until death met
its match. Death met its match. This king of terror that had
reigned over all unto this time was destroyed. How was it destroyed? It was destroyed by the Lord
Jesus Christ coming out of that grave. You know, one of the types
of Christ in the Old Testament is a judge by the name of Samson.
Now, he's a poor pitcher in many ways. But one time, remember,
they had him tied up, had his hands tied. And Delilah said,
the Philistines be upon thee, the Philistines be upon thee.
And he just broke those ropes like it was straw. Christ, on
that third day, he broke the bands of death. He destroyed
death by his life, by his death. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
15 and we'll close. 1 Corinthians 15. You might say,
well, what does the fact that it was an impossibility for death
to hold him, what does that mean to me? What does that mean to
us? Well, I'm glad you asked. Look at verse 21, 15. 1 Corinthians
15, 21. For since by man came death,
that is Adam the first man, that's how death came into this world,
sin, death by sin. By man came also the resurrection
of the dead, the second man, the second Adam, Christ. For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own ardor
Christ, the first fruits. 2,000 plus years ago when Christ
came out of that grave, he was the first fruit. But the first
fruit means there's a whole lot more out there in the field.
A whole lot more out there in the cemeteries. The bodies been
buried. Some of them been burned. Some
of them been scattered to the wind. So what? There's coming a day when Christ
is going to come again and the dead in Christ shall rise first. And those who are alive and remain
until the coming of Christ, we shall be changed and we shall
be caught up with him in the air to meet the Lord in the air. O death, look down to verse 50,
55. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The grave won a victory over
every one until Christ. But he vanquished death. He conquered
death. The sting of death is sin. That's
the reason people like to believe that there's not a hell. There's
not a judgment, you know. They know they're going to die.
They can't convince themselves they're not going to die. But
it's not death. It's what happens after death.
It's appointed unto men wants to die. But after death, judgment. And because we've sinned, man's
afraid. He's fearful. of death, and so
he does everything he can to deny the truth of eternity, to
deny that he has a soul that's going to live somewhere, it's
going to exist somewhere. Your dog dies, put him in a grave,
that's the end. You're not like a dog. When God
created man, he breathed into him the breath of life. And man has an eternal soul that's
going to exist somewhere forever. Those who are in Christ will
be with Christ. Those who do not know Christ
will be in eternal torment. You say, well, why will that
suffering be eternally? Because you can never pay the
debt. How could Christ pay the debt
in three hours of suffering? Because of who he is, the God-man. God manifests in the flesh. But if you go out into eternity
lost and end up in hell, and you will if you go out into eternity
lost, Ages, ages, ages, but you will never be able by your suffering
to satisfy God's holy justice. Oh, my friend, if you're here
today without Christ, don't wait, don't say tomorrow. Boast not
thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth. Run! Run! Be like Pilgrim. when he left
the city of destruction and put his fingers in his ears and ran,
crying, life, life! And when he came to the cross
and looked up, that burden of sin fell off his back and rolled
down into that empty sepulchre. Look to Christ. As one old preacher
said, without moving a hair, I'm not talking about running
down some church aisle. I'm not talking about praying
some sinner's prayer. I'm talking about right now in
your heart, looking to Christ, laying your soul's weight, your
salvation upon him and upon him alone. I pray that God will bless these
words to all of us here today. I want to sing a hymn before
we're dismissed. Hymn number 463. If you want
to turn and sing with us, we'll stand as we sing. All that thrills
my soul is Jesus. Number 463.