The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 2, verses 25 through 35.

Tony Clark: God is not some merchant at a swap meet or some flea market that he has a giant scale in the sky, and you're hoping your good deeds will outweigh your bad deeds. No, our hope needs to be in Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:27 says Christ in you, the hope of glory. And 1 Timothy 1, verse 1, Paul says, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope."

It is not on the screen, but Romans 15:13 calls God the God of all hope. So if you're resting in anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ as your hope for heaven, then you will be lost for all eternity. No matter how many people write on your social media page after you're gone, "Rest in heaven," or "God needed his angel back." All kind of dumb stuff I read on social media. "Well, now they got their wings." Where you get this stuff from?

People are so biblically illiterate that the dumbest things are being said after people die. It is just mind-boggling to me. The things I read, and I am just like, where did this folklore, these old wives' fables, where does this stuff come from? People just think what they want to think. The Bible says in the last days, there will be a famine, not of food or drink, but of the word of God.

Because people are biblically illiterate, they're saying stuff like, "Tell my grandmama I said hi," or "I know you're wearing them out up there because you worried us here on the earth." Cut it out. Cut it out with that kind of stuff. That stuff is not in the Bible. I constantly just tell myself, don't respond. Don't respond. Don't respond.

Because I know people are just biblically illiterate. And so they think all because we live on this earth, and they heard about something called heaven, and that that's a good place people go, then we just assume because you lived on this earth or you were an earthling, you automatically go there. That's not how any of this goes. Your hope must be in Jesus Christ and the finished work on the cross. That's where your hope is.

You don't get to go there just because you lived on the earth, or you pay God a guest appearance every now and then, or you are a CEO when it comes to the church—Christmas, Easter, and other—maybe Mother's Day, or funeral, or wedding. That's not how any of this goes. I don't know why people think that.

I get weary of it sometimes, and I've learned over the years that I don't have to get in every fight. And I just said, Lord help us. Lord help us. This is why I believe that God has raised us up for such a time as this. Because if anyone sits under the verse-by-verse teaching of the word of God from Genesis to Revelation, you're going to know what God's word has to say. And you won't be out there saying dumb things like that.

Dumb things! I'm just like, where did you get that from? "Well, you got your wings now." Where is that? "God needed his angel back." The God who created all things needed something? He needed you? He needed me? Are you kidding me? God doesn't need anything. And because we don't know, we say dumb things. "He needed him more than we do." Cut that out!

Now, if anybody in here, I see it on social media, I'm going to point it out to you. I'm just going to write, "Sermon: Acts 2:25-35." Quit fooling around with that stuff.

So Jesus said that he could rejoice also because he said in verse 27, "For you will not leave my soul in Hades." Now, Hades is the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament Hebrew word, Sheol. And although Jesus used this word specifically to refer to hell in Matthew 11 and verse 23, David used it in more of a broad sense of referring to the place of the dead.

Notice how Jesus could rejoice because he knew that God the Father would not leave his soul in Hades. Please take note on how God doesn't leave us in hellish situations. In what is commonly called the Lord's Prayer, in the part where it says, "and lead us not into temptation," that word "lead" there in the Greek means to lead for the purpose of leaving. God will never leave us in hellish situations.

I bring this up because there are many of you here and your earthly fathers have left the family in a hellish situation. And you and your siblings and your mom struggled, and you have anger, you have bitterness, and even hatred towards him for doing this. God the Father will never do this. He promises in Hebrews 13 and verse 5, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." As you heard me say many times, in the Greek language it is more emphatic. It says, "I will never no never no never leave you nor forsake you."

And this is why Jesus said that his heart could rejoice and his tongue was glad because he knew that the Father would never leave his soul in Hades. Let me just say this: if you're here and your father's done that to you, your walk with God will never progress to where it needs to progress until you deal with that in your heart.

You deal with the anger, you deal with the bitterness. The Bible says for us, we are called to be different. It says, pray for those who spitefully use us. Pray for our enemies. See, that person is an enemy to you. Pray for our enemies. Why does God tell us that? Because prayer keeps bitterness from entering our heart and corrupting us. Because it's hard to be angry and bitter and hate someone you're praying for.

This is why he tells us this. We're called to be different as believers. And this is one way that we show we're different when we're praying for our enemies and not out to get our enemies. Oh, somebody need to hear that. Somebody need to hear that today. Because you're plotting right now. You're plotting. You're plotting. You just waiting.

Please understand, Satan will always open up a door for you to get somebody back. When you walk through, you think that you're going to receive a sense of satisfaction. You won't get it. Instead, a hardness will enter your soul, and you'll start to become a bitter, angry person. You think you'll be a satisfied person. No.

And that's always the indication that you're over something or over someone or over the hurt is when you can get them back and you don't do it. You're over it. If you can get them back and you do it, you're not over that thing. I don't care if it's been five years. I don't care. If you see that door open, "Ooh, I've been waiting five years for this," and you walk through it, you're not over it.

Oh, some of you sitting here, you're not over it. You're not over it because you're waiting for that opportune day to come to get somebody back. Somebody needs to hear this today. God is speaking to someone's heart. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. Somebody needs to hear that. It's not worth it. Let it go. Lord wants you to let it go. Let it go. Because that satisfaction you're looking to get, you won't have it. It won't be there. And that'll make you angrier because then you'll be plotting on part two of your revenge, because part one didn't do it for you. Oh boy, I already always know when God is speaking. Just let it go.

So here the Lord is saying very clearly he knew that he can be his tongue could rejoice and be glad because he knew that the Father would never leave his soul in Hades nor allow your Holy One to see corruption, which means to see decay. And during the three days that the body of Jesus was in the tomb, it didn't see decay.

And if you are a father and you have children out there somewhere and you see them facing corruption and decaying spiritually, go after them. Because a real father doesn't allow his children to face corruption and see decay. And this is what Jesus is saying about God the Father. He didn't allow him to see corruption. He resurrected him. And you, if you have children out there, you need to resurrect that relationship with them. Now, somebody need to hear that too. How about that? Yeah. Need to resurrect that relationship with them. Yeah, you need to do that. I know what you're thinking, I'm about to address that in a few minutes, but I know what you're thinking. But you need to resurrect that relationship with them.

Jesus also rejoiced because he said in verse 28, "You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence." And this part of Psalm 16 verse 11, Jesus is once again rejoicing in the fact of the resurrection when he said, "You have made known to me the ways of life," referring to the resurrection. "And you will make me full of joy in your presence." Not in Hades, not in the grave, but in your presence.

Oh, this is a word for men, single parents. This is a word for us. It is our job to, number one, make known to our families the ways of life. That's our job. That's what we're called to do as men, as leaders of our home. Not only to bring home the bacon, but to bring the Bible. Make known the ways of God to our families. And number two, make them full of joy when they are in our presence.

All our families want is to be in our presence. I just wonder if our families are full of joy when they are in our presence. I wonder if our children are full of joy when they're in our presence, or whenever they're in our presence they're full of sadness because all we're doing is talking about what they're not doing, how they're not like this, or not like their brother or their sister, or not like the kid down the road. "And why can't you? And why aren't you?"

I wonder how they are in our presence. Are they full of joy, or are they constantly full of reprimand? Oh, we need to correct our children, don't get me wrong when I say that. But they just want to be in our presence. And I just wonder, are they in our presence with anger because once again we have brought them down again and told them this and that about this and that and the other?

You know, I always I'm blown away when I hear adults make a huge issue out of children and teens and stuff, the way they dress, or their pants sagging. And I just listen to them. It's a sign of old-fogy-itis. That's it, that you're smitten with it. Because I remember sagging in the '70s. I remember that. You know, we didn't have the baggy then; we had the little tight little things that they're wearing today. But we sagged and had our belt loose, and we sagged. We had afros, we had platforms. Everybody was 6'5", and we did that.

It's just a style. It's just a style. I mean, you tell them pull up their pants, is that going to lead them to heaven? No. "Can I come to heaven, Jesus?" "No." "Why?" "Because you sagged." Really? Okay, really? Cut it out, old fogies! Cut it out! It is not going to lead them to the Lord. And you get all upset, "Well, you got to know that..." Stop! Stop it! Cut it out! It just shows that you're old and that you forgot the fashions that was in when you were that age.

Oh, nobody want to talk about that Jheri curl that you wet up your every shirt. That Jheri curl that was dripping all over everything. Nobody—you don't want to talk about that, huh? "Comb your hair! Get a haircut!" Well, they—your parents was telling you folks telling you the same thing. Jheri curl, you still got that stain on that couch, you know, from curl activator and stuff. It's just a style. Let's cut it out!

People quit fooling around. We want to lead people to Christ. I never heard someone you told to pull up their pants and all of a sudden, "What must I do to be saved?" No! That's not it. We didn't lead people to Christ. Cut it out! Oh, I can't do it with y'all sometime. Really, I can't. I try. Lord got to give me strength too. But I try.

But the thing is, is that we have to lead people to the Lord. And we want our children and our families to have joy by being in our presence. I just wonder when they leave our presence, are they full of that joy? Are they full of anger and anxiety and "There they go again"? And they're in our presence with their eyes up like this and "Oh, okay, what is it that I did wrong this time?" I just wonder.

I wonder. Now, keep in mind we need to reprimand them. We need to correct them. But do they get any joy? Is there anything good that they're doing? Do you compliment them? Are you the type of parent they got all A's and a C, and you focus on that C? That's you. I know that's you. That's you. Fooling around. That's you. "Oh, but the C, what's that C? And the C and you do the C? And you wasn't paying attention, and you had time to study and..."

It's like, really? Okay, hey, you know what? You see the C there. Okay, we got some improvement we got to do. But look at those A's there. Do they leave encouraged? Because they want to be in our presence. Oh, even the teenager that says, "Get away, I don't want to be..." they want to be in our presence. And may they leave our presence with joy.

Jesus said this is what this is how he was able to rejoice because he was rejoicing in the Father's presence. In his presence is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore. Look at verses 29 to 35 as we as we wrap it up.

It says, "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. Therefore, 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 Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

"This Jesus God 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. 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."'"

Now, in these verses we see Peter comes to the climax of his argument. He says, seeing that David wrote Psalm 16 that speaks of the resurrection, he is both dead and buried, and his tomb that we have is a visible evidence that he wasn't referring to himself in this psalm, according to verse 29.

And then he said in verse 30 that David was also a prophet. Oh, we we don't really look at David as a prophet. But David, we look at David as the sweet psalmist of Israel. Oh, he was that. And the guy who killed Goliath—he was that too. But David was a prophet. And that God told him that of the fruit of his body, or one of his descendants, would be the Messiah. The reference to this is in 2 Samuel chapter 7, in verses 11 through 16.

Then Peter says in verse 30 that Christ is the fulfillment of this prophecy when he raised him up. His soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption, according to verse 31. And then he said in verse 32, "This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses."

I want you to notice how Peter constantly kept bringing up the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the resurrection is the cornerstone of Christianity. Oh, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verses 17 through 19, it says without the resurrection we are still in our sins and we are all men most to be pitied. Why? Because we're claiming that Jesus was resurrected. If he didn't, if he didn't do it.

And so the resurrection is the cornerstone of Christianity and sets it apart from all other religions. All the founders of religions—they lived, they died, and you can go see where they were buried. Jesus is the only one who lived, died, and was resurrected. And if you go see where he was buried, it is empty.

And Peter said in verse 32, "We are all witnesses." Oh, even Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 6, he says that at one time Jesus appeared to over 500 people after his resurrection. And then Peter said in verse 33, after Jesus was resurrected, he was 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.

Oh, we see Peter bring his listeners full circle back to what took place on the day of Pentecost. He is saying because of the resurrection and Jesus being exalted to the right hand of God, he poured out his Holy Spirit, which you now see and hear. Oh, Jesus told his disciples—you remember when we were in John—in John 16, verse 7, it says, "It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper," referring to the Holy Spirit, "will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you."

So Peter is saying Pentecost is the fulfillment of what Jesus said he would do when he go away to go back to the right hand of the Father. And Peter confirms that Psalm 16 was not referring to David himself in verse 34, when he says, "For David did not ascend into the heavens." But then he quotes Psalm 110, verse 1, in verses 34 and 35, to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. And he said, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.'"

And David did not or could not fulfill these verses, so Jesus is the Messiah. A brilliant argument that Peter brings up. And the "making your enemies your footstool" is a figure of speech that speaks of total submission. And I believe the same thing can and will happen in our lives when we sit at the Lord's right hand; he will make our enemies be a footstool for us.