The New Testament Church Part G
Taped by John Greene, transcribed by Mary Kay Lynd
Bible quotes are from NKJV unless otherwise stated.
We're in Acts Chapter 2 and we're going to begin with Peter's quoting of David, the psalmist the sweet psalmist as he is called sometimes. David, a man after God's own heart. Starting in verse 25 it says, "For David says concerning Him: "I foresaw the LORD always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.' "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day." Peter is making a very excellent point as he's quoting one of the psalms that David wrote. You can go back and take a look at that in Psalms Chapter 16. This quotation sounds so unusual from David's perspective that it can't be applied to David and that's the point that Peter's making. David is not speaking as David because David had a tomb. David was buried in that tomb and every good Israelite knew where the tomb of David was located. David decayed and went as the flesh of all men go from dust to dust. We're created out of dust so to speak, and we revert back to dust as the decaying process continues. "Therefore, being a prophet." So now David is being called a prophet by Peter. "30Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear." Notice that Peter ties in again the fact that the Holy Spirit was poured out to the 120. Notice that he ties in again some of these specific details. Because God's Word always does that, it always confirms itself. If you study the Word of God, if you read the Word of God and allow it to say what it says, you'll find out that when you read it, if you do not have understanding you can ask God for understanding.
If you find a passage of Scripture that seemingly contradicts another passage of Scripture, then we don't have the understanding, because God's Word does not contradict itself. We have to look at each and every context. We have to look at what is being asked of in that particular passage, and we have to apply it appropriately. When we use sound hermeneutical skills we will arrive always at a sound understanding. Does that mean that I know it all? Not at all. Far from it. But what it does mean is there are certain ways that we look at Scripture, certain things that we can understand from the Holy Lord that we serve, certain things that we can know based on His character so that when we start looking at Scripture we can realize that all we've got to do is get closer to the Lord for more understanding, to continue to pray, and to continue to study, and to continue to be in meditation about His Word, thinking about these things. Peter is applying this. He is saying that what is being poured out today seeing it here is from God. It's the promise of the Holy Spirit that the Father promised. And it goes on now to say about the resurrection as he quoted David about prophesying. It says, "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: "The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."' "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."" That's Peter's sermon. And I'm sure that there were perhaps more words than that. I don't know. But Luke saw fit to record this passage as Peter's sermon on Pentecost. A powerful sermon that showed that the Christ was to rise from the dead. That is a principle that must be understood because the practice today in most cults is to take away from things that are simply part of the character of God as it pertains to Jesus Christ. Because if we don't have Jesus Christ right then other things that we believe are going to be wrong. Because keeping Jesus Christ right, keeping him as God the Son, keeping him as fully God and fully man, will allow us to see the rest of the Scriptures in an appropriate and right manner because the Holy Spirit is going to be more involved. But when we try to twist, when we take away the deity from Christ, when we take away the power of God from Christ, when we twist Him and say He's something that He is not, then the rest of the things that we believe are going to be affected by that simple belief. And that belief is a heretical belief. It's a heresy. And anytime we find that we have heresy in our lives we need to get it out, we need to correct it.
As the Holy Spirit shines the truth Peter is revealing that David foresaw all of these things happening and as a prophet of God he was used to pen a couple of passages of scripture. And the Psalms show us clearly that David himself said, "The Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool." I remember a couple of years ago when some Jehovah witnesses stopped by the house and I was able to invite them in as I usually do to partake and do a little bit of Bible study. And I brought them to this very passage of Scripture and I said, "How can David say Jehovah said to Jehovah? Now how can David say that, if it's not the Lord God saying to the Lord God? What Lord is sitting at the right hand? Is it a mere man? I don't think so. It's Jesus the Christ, the one who rose from the dead. He wasn't left in hell."
Now there's a group of Pentecostals out there, they will teach you that Jesus had to die for His own sins, and they'll teach you that Jesus had to go into Hell to pay and suffer and die for His own sins, and that while he was in Hell he suffered all these things. And I get called on the carpet sometimes from some of these people that believe that garbage because I say, "Well look, Peter is quoting David and it's clear, He didn't see any corruption. He didn't suffer. As a matter of fact, in the Epistles of Peter you'll find out that Jesus preached to those souls in hell when he was down there. His whole reason for going into hell was to preach and to take Abraham's bosom, every single saint of God who died before Jesus' blood was shed on Calvary, every one of those Old Testament saints like Noah and Moses. We know those names. We know all of those names. Every one of them was in Abraham's bosom. Elijah. And so when Jesus went down to hell and took Abraham's bosom to heaven, Jesus did not suffer anything! Jesus was sinless and perfect. and He didn't have to pay for any sins because he committed no sins. So the faith movement that puts out that trash, don't you believe it!! Believe what the Scriptures say, and not what they twist them to believe and to tell you. I'm ashamed to say that the faith movement comes from a heretical segment. They call themselves Pentecostals but they are not. All they want to preach on is name-it-and-claim-it. All they want to preach on is here, have your money, put it into your pocket, and the more you get the more of God you are. Such heresy!!