The Superior King Series

Jesus: The Superior King: Acts 2:25-41

OUTLINE: (note: Acts 2:25-36 quotes From PSALM 16:8-11, 68:18 and 110:1)

Peter’s Pentecost message from God is to an unsaved world and, like all of scripture, the spotlight is on the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

1. The Superior and Eternal King spoke 1,000 years before His death about His Death through David.

2. The Superior King Jesus is LORD and Christ, RULER over ALL and SAVIOR.

3. The Message of the Superior King Jesus cuts through STONE-HARD HEARTS.

4. There is only one OPTION to the Message of The Superior King:

a. Repent (Turn from sinful unbelief to gratefully serving God with mind, with heart, with life.)

b. As an act of obedience, confession and intent, we receive water baptism- Acknowledge Jesus as YOUR ONLY Savior and Lord.

c. Receive the Spirit (You will never be alone; you receive the Promised Seal of the Spirit when you turn to Christ.)

We have been studying the Birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit of God, promised by God the Father through the prophet Joel some 500 years before Christ and also promised by Jesus the Messiah is poured out on the Church gathered in Jerusalem. Peter’s message from God is to an unsaved world and, like all of scripture, the spotlight is on the LORD JESUS CHRIST, who carried out the plan of God the Father, and who sent the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Today we look at Acts 2:25-28 (Peter quotes from God’s written and God-breathed Word from Psalm 16:8-11) but I am going to begin at verse 22: "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know-- 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it:”

In History (for REAL) Jesus was delivered to death by lawless hands, not by accident but by the determined purpose of God …and raised up by God… Jesus is Savior God, ordained from all eternity to accomplish the saving work of the Messiah, to live a perfect life and die as the sacrifice for sinful man.

Are you certain Jesus was the one? Peter says: “Consider the evidence: Use your minds and logic!” Look at Verse 25 “For David says concerning Him: (King David said about Jesus of Nazareth! David trusted in the LORD for everything in his life, but Peter says, “In this Psalm, David is speaking as a prophet: He is speaking about Jesus.): "I foresaw the Lord always before my face, (Gr. Kyrios- title of God the Messiah, in OT Heb- YHWH from Ps. 16:8-11; it is the name God gave HIMSELF as the everlasting, self-existent God! ) Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. 27 For You (LORD, understood) will not leave my soul in Hades, (Sheol, in the OT; NOT HELL but the grave, the place of the dead.) nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. (Jesus is referring to Himself, the Holy One; I will not rot in the grave.) 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; (All that the Father has been made known to the Son!) You will make me full of joy in Your presence.'

The point Peter is making here from Psalm 16 is that David not only had predicted that Jesus would rise from the dead, but David also declared that the resurrection was necessary in view of the HOLY life Jesus would live. David foresaw Jesus saying, 'I foresaw the Lord ALWAYS before my face, because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." For David, a life lived in continual dependence upon the power and authority of the Father results in hope at death. Faith and trust RESTS UPON God, my Savior. That’s the prediction of David for himself as a human being who is would die physically but still have life, but Peter tells us: The Superior and Eternal King Jesus spoke 1,000 years BEFORE His own death ABOUT His own Death through David. Jesus HAD TO BE God, from everlasting to everlasting, IN ORDER TO DO WHAT HE DID!

Human, sinful but SAVED human beings, like you and me, find a whole new basis for living when we receive NEW LIFE IN Christ. – Through the Holy Spirit and the Gospel we have what Jesus earned, applied to US so that we can begin to BE what HE WAS and IS: We receive HIS WORK, His Holiness, the benefit of His shed blood to cover our filthy sinful lives. We LIVE in GRACE each day, DELIGHTING in serving our God. We follow THE HOLY ONE, knowing that JESUS will not allow His Holy Ones (Saints) to stay in the grave either! He makes them FULL of Joy in His Presence. Didn’t David, “a man after God’s own heart” live that way?