The 1st Sermon-Proofs of the Resurrection
Acts 2:25-36
Lessons From The Early Church
Ill-Four hundred years before the birth of Christ, Socrates, the renowned Greek Philosopher, drank the poison hemlock and lay down to die. “Shall we live again?” his friends asked. The dying philosopher could only reply, “I hope so, but no man can know.”
Ill-When that great Christian and scientist, Sir Michael Faraday, was dying, some journalists questioned him as to his speculations for a life after death. “Speculations!” said he, “I know nothing about speculations. I’m resting on certainties. “I know that my redeemer liveth,” and because He lives, I shall live also.”
Last week we began to look at this first sermon every preached by Peter which happened right after Pentecost.
Acts 2:25-36
1) Proof 1: The Prophecy of David-vs. 25-28
a) Once again Peter is going to go back to the OT
b) To share with this crowd about who Jesus really is
c) This time he goes to Psalm 16:8-11
d) Paul is also going to use this text in Acts 13:35
e) This was a Psalm written by David
f) To Jews David was the man
g) He had been a great king and
h) So Peter is going to use this text written by David to show them that even David knew that one day Christ would come and would conquer death and the grave
i) Many times the OT saints must have been puzzled over Psalm 16 and these verse here with a reference to death and the preservation from corruption in the grave.
j) Ill-As a young man, D. L. Moody was called upon suddenly to preach a funeral sermon. He hunted all through the Four Gospels trying to find one of Christ’s funeral sermons, but searched in vain. He found that Christ broke up every funeral He ever attended. Death could not exist where He was. When the dead heard His voice they sprang to life. Jesus said, I am the resurrection, and the life (
k) How could Messiah possibly die and how could he possibly escape the inevitable corruption of the grave if He did
l) But the recent resurrection of Christ fulfilled the prophecy to the letter.
m) It was probably a stunning blow to the now quickened consciences of this group
n) As Peter is sharing David’s prophecy we see the joy of David’s heart
o) Vs. 25-
p) There is nothing like a glimpse of heaven’s viewpoint to put a hallelujah in the heart
q) To know that in Christ God not only conquered sin and Satan but also death
r) David’s prophecy concerned Jesus’ conviction that He could be delivered from death
s) The word “leave”- a soul can be utterly forsaken and abandoned, doomed permanently in hell. But Christ was absolutely sure that His soul would not be left and abandoned in hell
t) At death Jesus committed His spirit to His Father in Heaven. His body touched now by loving hands was laid to rest in a borrowed tomb. His soul went down into hell
u) The word “hell”- Christ said emphatically that His soul would not be left in Hades, that is the realm of the dead. That He would arise and live forever
v) Jesus did not go there however as a victim of death but as a victor
w) Matt 12:40—“for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”
x) And then on the third day as he had so repeatedly proclaimed, He came forth in triumph
y) He would declare
z) Rev 1:18—“and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”
aa) The word “corruption”- means to decay. In no place does Christ promise a new body to the unbeliever to the unsaved or the lost.
bb) Gal. 6:8—“For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
cc) Gen 3:19—“By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return”
dd) The title Jesus used of himself “God’s Holy One”- Jesus was holy, righteous and pure.
ee) He was without sin and totally devoted to God.
ff) He was perfectly acceptable to God.
gg) 2 Cor. 5:21—“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”
hh) Heb 4:15—“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin”
ii) Maybe you have heard it said this way—born once, die twice; born twice, die once
jj) Vs. 28
kk) David’s prophecy concerned Jesus’ revealing the way of life and God’s presence
ll) In the Psalm it original reads “the path of life”
mm) God revealed the path of life to Christ and He revealed it to us.
nn) The path of life, the way to escape death is to live in the countenance and presence of God
oo) God will never abandon a man, never allow a man to see corruption if that man lives and walks in His presence
pp) Jesus knew the path: it was God’s presence
qq) John 14:6—“Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through me”
rr) There is the proof from the prophecy of David, but there is also Peter’s Testimony
2) Proof 2: Peter’s Testimony-vs. 29-31
a) Peter is now coming to the crux of his argument
b) Addressing them once again as brethren, he confidently reminds them that
c) That David died, he had been buried and you can still visit his tomb
d) Ill.-Kennedys tomb, Elvis’s tomb, tomb’s of the popes
e) These Jewish leaders would have known where David’s tomb was
f) Maybe they made pilgrimages to the tomb
g) Peter tells them that David was not talking about himself
h) David was looking ahead to Christ coming
i) He looked ahead and poke of the resurrection of Christ
j) Peter’s argument from Psalm 16 in these verses can be summarized as follows:
k) The psalm speaks of a resurrection
l) Since David, however, was not resurrected, it cannot speak of him.
m) Thus, David speaks in the psalm of the Messiah.
n) So, the Messiah will rise from the dead.
o) There is the proof from the prophecy of David, there is Peter’s Testimony, and the proof from the eye witnesses
3) Proof 3: The Eye Witnesses-vs. 32
a) Peter comes to the end of his argument by concluding that Christ is resurrected we are all witnesses
b) The argument is conclusive. Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah
c) Remember this is all happening 50 days after the resurrection happened
d) Acts 1:8
e) There is the proof from the prophecy of David, Peter’s Testimony, the eye witnesses but also the proof of the Ascension
4) Proof 4: The Ascension-vs. 33-36
a) Once again using David Peter is quoting from Psalm 110
b) Peter says that Christ was exalted to the right hand of God
c) Phil 2:9-11—“For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
d) Sitting on the right hand was a place of honor and glory
e) And that it was Christ who poured out what you have witnessed
f) Acts 2
g) He brings them full circle back to the reason they came to this place where they are listening to Peter
h) He tells them that what they had just seen resulted from God’s promise to send the Spirit to inaugurate the messianic age
i) And now that Christ was risen and glorified, God fulfilled that promise
j) Peter quoting Psalm 110
k) David could not have been speaking of himself for he never arose from the dead
l) David was not exalted to God’s right hand, but Jesus was
m) The proof of that was the outpouring of the Spirit that the crowd had just witnessed
n) Peter has provided overwhelming evidence from Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and exaltation that He is indeed Israel’s long awaited Messiah.
o) He now draws his sermon to a powerful conclusion with these ringing words
p) Vs. 36
q) Certain speaks of that which was known beyond a doubt.
r) The same Jesus whom God attested as Messiah through his life, death, resurrection, and exaltation was the same one that they crucified
s) The verdict was in and they were on the wrong side, guilty of opposing God and rejecting their Messiah.
t) As Peter will later put it in Acts 4:11—“He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone.”
u)
