Jesus: A Death Predicted #2

Beloved, believe it. Pay attention to what Scripture is saying on these points. Jesus was predicted to die. Jesus was predicted to rise again.

These are things that are considered basic matters that we are to know and to understand. Thanks for joining us on the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hi, I'm Bill Wright. As Don continues to teach God's people God's Word, he'll be concluding a message titled, Jesus, a death predicted, as we delve further into our series, The Wonder of Jesus. Last time, Don directed our attention to the prophecies of our Savior's death and showed us their New Testament fulfillment. He also introduced the prophecies of his resurrection, and we'll look more closely at those verses and their fulfillment on today's program. Have your Bible open and ready as we join Don Green now in the Truth Pulpit. The truth of fulfilled prophecy shows that it was the fulfillment of a plan that God had all along.

History and the career of Christ were working out exactly as God planned, not in some kind of random manner without a guiding force, a guiding purpose being at work in the midst of it. And so, the question is, have you believed in Christ in response to this truth of the gospel? This is absolute truth.

This is certain. There is no doubt to any of these things. Have you believed in Christ? Well, as you know, Jesus wasn't simply crucified. He didn't simply die, but he was resurrected as well. And let's look at the resurrection of Christ predicted. Point number three, the resurrection of Christ predicted. And in that we see that it was said that Jesus would not undergo decay.

He would not undergo the decaying process of death as ordinary humans who died do. Look at Psalm 16 with me. Psalm 16 verse 10, I will bless the Lord who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the Lord continually before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell securely.

Now watch this. David says, I am praising God as I'm writing right now. My heart is glad and my glory rejoices and I dwell in security. Why was David so joyful and why was there such security in his heart? Why is it that you as a Christian can sit here today in that same position of blessing in confidence in Christ saying I will not be shaken and my heart will be glad?

Is that beloved? Is that your present spiritual experience no matter what your present circumstances of life are? Is there something inside your heart that says I will not be shaken? Is there something inside you that says I have an overriding confidence despite the circumstances around me? Is there something in your heart that says I rejoice and I am glad even though there are dark circumstances pressing upon me? Well, for the true Christian, that's their testimony of life. That's the mark of a true Christian that there's something of that being animated in your heart.

That's what's true. That's the nature of faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the confidence of things not seen. And so it's a worthwhile question to say is that my present experience or do I just collapse in darkness and abandon all hope? Well, David's saying I'm not shaken, I rejoice, I'm dwelling in security.

All that to say what was the basis of that? Why was he rejoicing like that? Look at verse 10 and he states it clearly, looking forward to the triumph of the future redeemer, in verse 10 he says, you will not abandon my soul to Sheol nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay. He says, I am confident that you are not going to simply abandon my soul to death.

Why? Because you are Yahweh, because you are a God of loving kindness, of loyal love, of great faithfulness. I can take refuge in you and know that it will be well with my soul.

Because of who you are, God, I trust you to be like that. And one aspect, one great surpassing aspect of your faithfulness is you're not going to abandon me and leave me alone in death. And along with that, he says at the end of verse 10, you won't allow your Holy One to undergo decay. Looking beyond himself, looking forward to its fulfillment in Christ. Now, along with that, not only would Jesus not undergo decay, Scripture in the Old Testament points us to the fact that he would ascend to God's right hand.

He would ascend to God's right hand. Look at Psalm 68 with me. I realize we're doing a survey of several different Scriptures here and that's okay. Psalm 68 verse 18. Psalm 68 verse 18 says, You have ascended on high. You have led captive your captives. You have received gifts among men even among the rebellious also that the Lord God may dwell there.

He says you have ascended on high. Now, what we want to do having set forth these prophecies of the resurrection of Christ is look to the New Testament to see how the New Testament testifies to their fulfillment. And so point number four, the resurrection of Christ fulfilled. The resurrection of Christ fulfilled. Now, turn first of all to Luke 24 just by way of a kind of an introduction to this part of the message. Luke 24, after his resurrection, after his resurrection, Jesus stated plainly that the things of the Old Testament pointed to him for their fulfillment. In Luke 24 verse 25, let's say something that is true of people still today that I trust will not be true of any of you as I read these words. Jesus said to the men on the road to Emmaus, he said, O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. They were struggling to understand.

They didn't get it. And Jesus said, you foolish men, you are so slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. At his resurrection, he makes a point of pointing back to the prophets saying the prophets said this would happen.

Why are you struggling to believe it? Verse 26, he says, was it not necessary? Was it not a divine appointment for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Verse 27, then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. Beloved, mark it. Beloved, believe it. Beloved, pay attention.

I say this reverently. For the sake of Christ, pay attention to what Scripture is saying on these points. Jesus was predicted to die. Jesus was predicted to rise again.

These are things that are considered basic matters that we are to know and to understand. Jesus said all of these things were necessary to happen because the prophets had said that they would be so. Now look over at verse 44 of Luke 24. In verse 44 of Luke 24, he said to them, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. And so, Jesus points them back to the Old Testament, to the threefold division of the Old Testament, Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms and says everything that was written about me back there had to be fulfilled. Let's see how these two aspects that we highlighted that we chose were fulfilled. First of all, Moses' body, it did not decay.

It did not decay. Look at Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, beginning in verse 32. And notice how it calls attention to the Scriptures that we have read and speaks to their fulfillment. Let's start in verse 26. Let's start in verse 26. Brethren, sons of Abraham's family and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, recognizing neither him nor the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning him. Do you see how the early apostolic preaching was pointing to prophecy and saying it was fulfilled in the events of the life and death of Christ?

That's all we're saying. We are following an apostolic pattern in the things that we are saying. Verse 28.

Though they found no ground for putting him to death, they asked Pilate that he be executed. And when they had carried out all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now his witnesses to the people. What does Paul draw from that? Paul says in verse 32, and we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that he raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second Psalm, you are my son, today I've begotten you. Verse 34. As for the fact that he raised him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay he has spoken in this way, I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. Therefore, he also says in another Psalm, you will not allow your holy one to undergo decay.

There is the fulfillment of it. Verse 36. For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay, but he whom God raised up did not undergo decay. Paul makes a long point out of emphasizing that the resurrection of Christ fulfilled and vindicated that prophecy that was made of David by David some 1,000 years earlier. That prophecy couldn't have been talking about David because he died and he was buried and he was still in his grave. Therefore, it had to be speaking to someone greater than David.

The one greater than David was the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Scripture also makes a point that Jesus ascended to God's right hand. You're in Acts, let's glance back at Acts chapter 1.

Acts chapter 1 in verse 9, it says, Acts chapter 1 verse 9. After he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on and a cloud received him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. And they also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven.

He ascended to God's right hand. Now look at Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 7.

Ephesians chapter 4 verse 7 says, to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. That is a quotation of Psalm 68 verse 18, which we read earlier. Psalm 68 verse 18 spoke of the ascension of Christ.

Acts records the historical event. Ephesians declares the ascension of Christ to have fulfilled that prophecy. So, beloved, we see the death of Christ predicted. We see it fulfilled. We see the resurrection of Christ predicted. We see the resurrection of Christ fulfilled. Centuries beforehand, centuries later, it comes to pass in history in a way that was utterly beyond the control of the prophets to bring to pass and which also, if you think about it, the aspects of this were things that Christ was not controlling to make happen in the sense that he manipulated his earthly circumstances to make it happen.

He had already expired on the cross when the Roman soldiers pierced him. This is a mark of the work of God working providentially through the unforced actions of men in order to bring to pass what he had prophesied. What shall we say?

What shall we say? The prophets pointed to Christ ahead of time and the life and the death and the resurrection of Christ centuries later fulfilled them and Scripture declares it to be so. This aspect of fulfilled prophecy is one sign among many about the truth of the gospel. Fulfilled prophecy is a proof positive of the truth of the gospel that when it is declared to you that Jesus Christ is the only name by which you can be saved from your sin, you should believe it because there is fulfilled prophecy that undergirds the truth of that statement. Now, the prophets also help us understand why all of this matters. They help us understand why Jesus came.

You don't need to turn there. The verse is familiar. Isaiah 53 verse 6 says this. It says, All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. You have gone astray. You have sinned against God. You have fallen short of his glory. By nature, in your natural state, you are perverse.

You are wicked. Your heart is desperately sick. It is evil. It is wicked and all sorts of sinful things come out of your mind and your imaginations as shown by the testimony of your own conscience. You fall short of the glory of God and that is simply a recognition of what the prophet is saying. All of us like sheep have gone astray.

We do not have the ability to find our way back. If you are to be saved, if you are to go to heaven, if you are to have your sins forgiven, it must be because God acts from outside of you, upon you, in order to save you because you cannot save yourself. You are not good enough to go to heaven. In fact, the only thing that you're good enough for is good enough for judgment in hell. That's what we're good enough for because each of us has turned to his own way. In the words of Romans 1, we see the testimony of God, we see him displayed, and yet we do not give thanks.

We turn to our own ways. But the prophet goes on and says, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. That at the death of Christ, the Lord placed and imputed the sins of men upon Christ and then slew him and then punished him and Christ suffered for sins on the cross. That's why he came. That's why he died in the manner that he did, that he might be the Lamb of God offered up as a sacrifice to pay the price for the sins of those who would believe in him. The only question at that point is, have you believed in him? Have you turned to Christ because God inflicted the punishment for sin on his own son at the cross?

And here's the point. How is it that you can go to heaven? It's not by anything that you do. It couldn't be that because all of your righteousness, Scripture says, is like a filthy rag. No, God doesn't show mercy on people who are good enough because no one's good enough. Do you understand that, my friends? Is that clear in your mind?

Is that anchored in your heart? God shows mercy. God grants forgiveness.

God bestows grace on one condition. It's on those who believe in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is God's appointed means to approach him, not by what you do but by believing in this Christ whose death and resurrection was predicted by the prophets. He accepts the death of Christ as payment for your sin when you believe in him. He accepts the righteousness of Christ on your behalf.

He accepts you in his son. Rather than punishing you, he punished Christ. Rather than requiring new righteousness from you, he accepts the righteousness of Christ on your behalf.

You come to heaven, you come to God based on the righteousness and the punishment that another one provided on your behalf. That's the gospel. So, my friends, do you believe in Christ? Do you know Christ? It's only his shed blood that can reconcile you to a holy God. Only his blood can do that, but my friend, those of you that have dwelt in darkness, those of you that wonder if there's any purpose in life, oh my friend, I am presenting Christ to you now and telling you this is what you've been missing, this is what you're looking for. That in Christ, in Christ you can find your reconciliation to God. In Christ you find the forgiveness of your sins. In Christ he offers you the full blessing of God if you would come and believe in him. Christ is sufficient to save you to the uttermost. And for those of us that have believed in him, what a sweet remembrance that is. That in Christ, not just your sins before your salvation are forgiven and washed away, but that all of your iniquity is laid upon him.

The sins of this day were laid upon him. That there's not a new working up of righteousness that you have to do. Christ has already satisfied it all on your behalf. Acts 13, if you would look at that with me please, Acts 13 verse 38. After Paul had rehearsed the way that Christ fulfilled the prophecies in his resurrection, he pronounces these great and inspired words of hope.

And my unsaved friend, I read these words with the prayer that God would impart them with power to your heart that you might turn to Christ and be saved right here, right now. Because Christ is able and willing to do that. Scripture says in verse 38, therefore let it be known to you brethren that through him, that is through Christ, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And through him, everyone who believes, not who works, everyone who believes is freed from all things, freed from all guilt, free from all condemnation, free from all future expectations, freed from all things from which you could not be freed through the law of Moses. Paul's saying you could not obey Moses into heaven, but what you could not do on your own through Moses, Christ has done and you can receive all of these things through believing in Christ. That is why Christ came.

That's why his predicted death is so crucial. That's why his predicted resurrection is so vital. It's because that is the one and only appointed means by which any man can be saved from his sins. For those of us that know him, we are brought once again to wonder, love, and praise, are we not? That God has done such a gracious act on our behalf. And for those of you that are here in the chains and in the darkness of sin, here's your hope.

Here's your only hope. Christ invites you to come. Christ calls you to come. Nay, Christ commands you to come. As he says, repent and believe in the gospel. He will save you this moment if you come to him in repentance and faith.

Will you do that? The fulfilled prophecies concerning the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ should leave no doubt as to his true identity, the Messiah who would die for our sins and whose resurrection would prove his righteousness as acceptable to the Father. That, in turn, is our hope of eventual resurrection to eternal life. Pastor Don Green will continue our series, The Wonder of Jesus, next time here on The Truth Pulpit, so plan now to be with us. Right now, though, Don's back in studio with some closing thoughts. Well, friend, if you have enjoyed this broadcast today, let me encourage you to do something that would be an encouragement to the partners who help make it happen. Drop a note, if you would, to the radio station that you've heard this broadcast on. They would love to hear that they have ministered to you because they love to share God's Word with you, and also it will help them know that they're reaching people with God's Word through the ministry of The Truth Pulpit. So drop them a note and give them thanks, and be sure to tell them that you heard The Truth Pulpit on this station. Thanks, Don. And friend, remember also to visit TheTruthPulpit.com, where you can learn more about podcasts and free CDs of Don's teaching. That's TheTruthPulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright, inviting you back next time as Don Green continues to teach God's people God's Word from The Truth Pulpit.