PROMISE FULFILLED
Text: Acts 13:24-43
Introduction
1. Illustration: On God’s promises, C.H. Spurgeon said; “God never gives his children a promise which he does not intend them to use. There are some promises in the Bible which I have never yet used, but I am well assured that there will come times of trial and trouble when I shall find that poor despised promise, which I thought was never meant for me, will be the only one on which I can float”. (Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sermons, vol. 2, 404.)
2. The Old Testament contains over 300 references to the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus. What chance did Jesus or any other man have of fulfilling these prophecies? The mathematical laws of probability can give us a clue. In his book Evidence That Demands A Verdict, Josh McDowell mentions the work of the mathematician, Peter Stoner, on just eight of the 300 prophecies: "We find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is one in ten (to the seventeenth power). That would be one in 100,000,000, 000,000,000.
3. But Jesus didn’t fulfill 8 prophesies – he fulfilled all 300!
4. Read Acts 13:24-43
Transition: The first way that Scripture shows the promises of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ is they are…
I. Verified By a Witness (24-25).
A. John the Baptist
1. As Paul continues his sermon, he shifts his focus from the promise of Jesus in the OT to the fulfillment of Jesus in the NT. In v. 24 he says, “Before he came, John the Baptist preached that all the people of Israel needed to repent of their sins and turn to God and be baptized.”
a. John the Baptist was the prophet that connected the OT with the NT.
b. He was the one called to prepare the way for the Lord.
c. “Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the LORD! Make a straight highway through the waste land for our God!4 Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. 5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The LORD has spoken!” (Is. 40:3-5).
d. Once again, a promise from the OT is fulfilled in the NT.
e. John came to get people to prepare their hearts before God for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
2. But Paul makes it clear, as John himself did, that John was not the Messiah. In v. 25 he says, “As John was finishing his ministry he asked, ‘Do you think I am the Messiah? No, I am not! But he is coming soon—and I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the sandals on his feet.’”
a. Even though John was a great prophet, he did not even consider himself worthy to be Jesus’ slave.
b. His whole point was to turn Israel towards the Messiah, Jesus, by telling them to repent, turn from their sins, and be baptized.
c. Turning away from sin to God was an about-face from a sinful life to a life lived for God.
d. However, he made it clear that he was not the promised Messiah, but just a messenger to prepare the way.
e. “John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. 27 Though his ministry follows mine, I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.” (Jn 1:26-27).
f. He made it clear that he was not the One, but rather that there was one coming that he, John, was not even worthy to be his slave and untie his shoes.
B. Voice Shouting in the Wilderness
1. Illustration: What do John the Baptist and Winnie the Pooh have in common? Same middle name.
2. John came not to be the one, but to testify about the One!
a. “God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” (Jn. 1:6-9).
b. We live in a world filled with people who want all the attention and notoriety.
c. But what this world needs are more John the Baptist’s.
d. People who are willing to fill their roles with gusto.
e. People who are willing to play the second fiddle.
f. An old friend of mine used to sing a song that said, “no one wants to play rhythm guitar behind Jesus.”
g. John the Baptist was willing to play rhythm guitar behind Jesus. To not be the one, but to testify about the One to come.
h. Let’s fill our roles and tell people about the one who came and died on the cross and rose again so that we could live!
Transition: Next, Paul talks about Jesus being…
II. Verified By God’s Actions (26-37).
A. By Raising Jesus
1. Now, Paul tells how the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus. In vv. 26-28 it says, “Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also you God-fearing Gentiles—this message of salvation has been sent to us! 27 The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath. 28 They found no legal reason to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway.”
a. The Jews were the one group of people on earth who should have known and recognized Jesus as the Messiah.
b. Instead, they rejected him, condemned him, and asked for him to be executed by the Romans.
c. The fact that they rejected him was compounded by the fact that the words of the prophets about Jesus were read every Sabbath day.
d. They should have known, but they chose to ignore it because it didn’t fit in with their agenda.
e. Even though they couldn’t find anything wrong in him, they still took him to Pilate to be executed.
f. Even Pilate knew that Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong, but he gave into the Jewish leaders demands because of their persistence.
2. Paul now shows that God demonstrated his approval of Jesus as Messiah by what he did. In vv. 29-31 it says, “When they had done all that the prophecies said about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead! 31 And over a period of many days he appeared to those who had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to the people of Israel.”
a. Ironically, the Jewish leaders should have known what the OT Scriptures had to say about the Messiah and his sacrificial death.
b. In putting him to death on the cross, they cleared the way for all of the prophesies concerning the Messiah’s death to be fulfilled.
c. After his death, Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb, but that is not how the story would end!
d. Paul illustrates that God verified Jesus as Messiah by raising him from the dead.
e. Without the resurrection, nothing else would have any meaning. His birth, life, and death wouldn’t mean anything.
f. Without the resurrection Jesus was just another religious fanatic.
g. However, the resurrection proved Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
h. Furthermore, to show that his resurrection wasn’t just a wild story that someone made up, Jesus appeared to his disciples.
i. In fact, there were over 500 witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection! There’s nothing more verifiable than an eyewitness!
3. Then Paul proclaims the truth about Jesus when he says in vv. 32-33, “And now we are here to bring you this Good News. The promise was made to our ancestors, 33 and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about Jesus: ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.’”
a. Paul brings his entire message together by telling them that he was bringing them the Good News.
b. He verifies that the promise that was made to their ancestors had now come true.
c. After generations of waiting for the promised Messiah, they could rejoice in the fact that he had come, and his name is Jesus!
d. To support his statement, Paul uses three verses from the OT, that most Jews already considered to be about the Messiah.
e. First, he quotes from Ps. 2:7, “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father.”
f. The fact that Jesus was the Son of God had already been testified by God himself on the day of Jesus’ baptism.
4. The next verse that Paul uses is from Is. 55:3, “For God had promised to raise him from the dead, not leaving him to rot in the grave. He said, ‘I will give you the sacred blessings I promised to David.’”
a. This prophecy from Isaiah refers back to 2 Sam. 7:6-16, where the prophet Nathan tells David that one of his sons would always sit on the throne.
b. In Jesus Christ, who God raised from the dead, is a King who will reign forever!
5. The third Scripture reference that Paul uses is from Ps. 16:10, “Another psalm explains it more fully: ‘You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’ 36 This is not a reference to David, for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed. 37 No, it was a reference to someone else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.”
a. This verse declares that the Messiah would not be allowed to rot in the grave.
b. This was the same argument used by Peter on the day of Pentecost.
c. The argument is that this verse must be talking about the Messiah because David’s body did see decay because he was still in his grave.
d. It must be talking about Jesus because Jesus was alive!
B. Actions Speak
1. Illustration: The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most provable fact in all of history! There is more evidence that Christ rose from the grave than any other fact in history. Today followers of the Islamic faith can visit the tomb of their leader Mohammed. Today followers of the Buddhist religion can go to the grave of their founder, Buddha. You can visit the graves of past presidents and historical figures, you can visit the graves of past loved ones, but you cannot visit the burial place of the greatest man that ever lived, Jesus Christ, because he rose from the dead and lives even today.
2. God accredited Jesus as Savior and Lord when he raided him from the dead.
a. “God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. 3 The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, 4 and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 1:2-4).
b. God showed his acceptance of Jesus in many ways, but none more important than the resurrection.
c. In raising Jesus from the dead, he showed that Jesus was more than a man.
d. In raising Jesus from the dead, he showed that Jesus was more than a prophet.
e. In raising Jesus from the dead, he showed that Jesus was more than a teacher.
f. In raising Jesus from the dead, he showed that Jesus was more than a holy man.
g. In raising Jesus from the dead, he showed that Jesus was who he said he was, the Son of God and Savior of the world!
Transition: Jesus was also…
III. Verified By Proclamation (38-43).
A. There Is Forgiveness
1. Finally, Paul proclaims, “Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. 39 Everyone who believes in him is made right in God’s sight—something the law of Moses could never do.”
a. Because God had shown his approval by raising Jesus from the dead, we are able to receive forgiveness of our sins.
b. We receive this forgiveness by believing and being declared right in God’s sight.
c. The law couldn’t do this because of God’s holiness.
d. The only way for forgiveness to be made available is for someone worthy enough to die in our place.
e. Jesus is the only one who could do this, and thankfully, he did, and made us right with God again!
2. Paul concludes by giving them a warning, “Be careful! Don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said, 41 ‘Look, you mockers, be amazed and die! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe
even if someone told you about it.’”
a. Paul warned his audience in much the same way that the prophets of old had done.
b. He quotes Habakkuk 1:5, where the prophet had warned Judah of its coming doom.
c. Paul warned them not to miss God’s grace and be faced with God’s judgment.
d. God was giving them the opportunity to be forgiven, and if they didn’t respond they would be lost.
B. Made Right with God
1. Illustration: “Jeremiah made the right decision and as a result became one of the most unpopular prophets in Jewish history. Measured by human standards, his ministry was a failure, but measured by the will of God, he was a great success. It isn’t easy to stand alone, to resist the crowd, and to be out of step with the philosophies and values of the times. Jeremiah lived like that for 40 years.” (Warren Wiersbe).
2. Have you made the right decision to be made right with God?
a. “But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)” (Eph. 2:4-5).
b. God has done the work, and all we must do is accept his gift of salvation.
c. Jesus is standing at the door of your heart, knocking, and asking that you let him in. What will you do?
Conclusion
1. The promise that Jesus fulfilled was verified by…
a. Witness
b. God’s Actions
c. Proclamation
2. What’s the point preacher? God has made a promise to save you from your sins and fulfilled that promise in Jesus Christ. Will you accept what he has done for you?
