What Shall We Do? Acts 2 & God's Foreknowledge Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, now let's just pick right up where we left off in our last class, which would be last week for those on television, and again, we like to always invite our television audience, and we like to always make you aware that this is just an informal Bible class. That's why you see the coffee cups, and we're not trying to impress anybody with anything except the book, and we're always so appreciative of the studio audience because, as I've said so often, I just couldn't do this without them, and not only their prayer support and everything else, but just the fact that it gives the classroom setting, and I think this is what helps everybody, even in television, to sort of take part of it, that we're not here to preach at anybody, we're not here to scream and holler at you, we're just hopefully just teach the book, and we're non-denominational in our approach. Sometimes I probably even cross those from my own background, but I can't help that, because I have to go by what the book says, and not what someone has taught me to say that it says. Again for those of you who are just recently tuning in, remember that all the past lessons from Genesis 1 on up now through as far as we've come in Acts, are available in video. We can get you the audio if you desire, we don't inventory them because we have so little demand for the audios, but we can give you the audio, and now Jerry and his family have gotten up through twelve, ready for the printer. We have ten in our hands, so we'd love to have you give us a call, and we'll mail them out to you. Okay, Acts chapter 2, we were in verse 23 when I took off, and I always run out of time of course. But I want you to look at the two words in the middle of that verse. He was delivered by the determinate counsel, now that word counsel is spelled with an SE, so it denotes a meeting of minds, doesn't it? Because when you have that kind of a counsel, that's what you're doing. Now the determinate counsel, and the foreknowledge of God. Now what does this mean? Well Peter has just accused Israel of having killed their Messiah, but was God taken by surprise? No! Long before anything was ever created, the Godhead, oh it didn't take them a 30 minute meeting, but nevertheless the Godhead determined in a split second decision, if I may call it that, that they would create, and that they would bring the human race on the scene. Knowing the human race would sin and need a Redeemer, it was all pre-planned. Now those of you who have heard me teach for the last four years, you have probably raised your eyebrows when I'm making reference to the fact that when Christ came, the first time Israel was given the opportunity to have the King in the Kingdom. But in the foreknowledge of God, what did He know? That they'd reject it. And of course it had to be that way in order to bring about the crucifixion, because that too was in the predeterminate counsel of God. And so the whole Godhead is involved in this tremendous work of redemption. But the other word I'd like to point out is His foreknowledge. Way back in eternity past, they put the whole plan together, and the reason they could put it together was the foreknowledge. Now let me show you what I'm talking about. Now, come back to the little letters of Peter. First Peter I think it is, if I can find it. Second Peter. No, first Peter. I'll write the first time. First Peter chapter 1. First Peter chapter 1, we'll start right with verse 1. First Peter chapter 1, verse 1, where Peter starts out, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to the stranger. Now here's another point I always like to make. Always realize to whom is a particular scripture addressed. So now Peter is not writing to Gentiles particularly, he's writing to Jews who are out in the dispersion. And so Peter to the stranger scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Verse 2, the elect, the believing end of the Jews, elect not according to predestination, but according to foreknowledge. And see that makes all the difference in the world. God in His foreknowledge knew what every one of us, every one that's watching tonight on television, every person on this whole world who has ever lived or ever will live, God knew what they would do with His offer of salvation. It's that simple, complex as it is, but He knows, He knew what Israel would do. He knew as He brought the little nation on the scene by way of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He knew what they were going to do. And in His foreknowledge, you see, everything would come together according to His plan. But it wasn't that He took away their choice, it was that He knew what they were going to do with their choice. And that makes all the difference in the world on this whole idea of election and so forth. Yes, God knew which one of these Jews that Peter was writing to would be believers in His foreknowledge. He knew you and I would be a believer in His foreknowledge. And knowing that we'd be a believer, He could reserve a place in the body, a place of service. And all of this is based on His foreknowledge. Now come back to Acts chapter 2. So Peter says, even this, you didn't take God by surprise when you rejected Him and you crucified Him. He knew, and it was all decided before anything ever happened. And so all of this that he's addressing now, was according to verse 23 again, the Determinant Consul, the full agreement of the Godhead, and foreknowledge of God, you, the nation of Israel, have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Now I made the point in the last program, how would you like to sit under that kind of accusation Sunday after Sunday? I trust none of you do. I don't think any of you sit under preaching that says, you killed the Son of God. But Peter does. He's accusing Him, point blank, you killed Him. Alright, verse 24, "...whom God hath raised up, having loose the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it." He couldn't be, He was God. But Peter is making the point that even though they had killed their King, their Messiah, they didn't thwart God, because God raised Him from the dead. And they knew from Psalms 110 verse 1 that God had called Him back to heaven, ready to yet return, and still able to give them the Kingdom. Now this is what you have to understand as you study these early chapters of Acts. Peter is absolutely going to confirm his death, burial, and resurrection. But I maintain, and there may be those who disagree with me, but they can't disagree with me unless they can prove to me from the Scriptures that I'm wrong. But nowhere in here does Peter ascribe salvation to his death, burial, and resurrection. He merely states it as a fact, that this Messiah that came to them, they killed Him. But that didn't stop God, because God raised Him from the dead, and He's alive. Okay, now keep that thought in mind as we move on. Verse 25, for David, see, he goes right back into the Psalms again. "...David speaketh concerning Him, that is, Christ. I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope." Now be careful here, Peter is not talking himself, nor is David. David is not referring to himself, he is quoting Christ, had he been in those situations. And I'll show that to you here in just a moment. So he quotes the Psalms where David says, "...because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer, or permit thy holy one to seek corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance." Now Peter comes back to his own first person speaking, and he says, "...men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried." David wasn't saying that death couldn't hold him, because David is dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us to this day. But verse 30 says, "...therefore being a prophet." Now most people don't think of prophecy coming out of the Psalms. They're loaded with prophecy, just as much as Isaiah, and Daniel, and the rest of them. It's a book of prophecy as well as a psalm. And so he says, "...being a prophet, and knowing that God hath sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, that is through the line of the house of David," and we've taught all that in the past, "...he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne." Now who sits on a throne? A king. And so what is Peter driving at? Their king that they crucified, they killed, God raised Him from the dead, and what can He still be? Their king. See? All right, now move on. Verse 31, "...he," David, "...seeing this before, spoke of the," what? "...the resurrection of Christ." Do you see that? David wasn't speaking concerning himself, he was speaking concerning Christ, that death couldn't hold Him, hell couldn't hold Him, because God was going to raise Him from the dead. So again, verse 31, "...seeing this before, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul," the Lord Jesus Christ, "...was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption." Now this throws a curve at some people. Why on that resurrection morning didn't Mary Magdalene recognize Him? And they say, well, you know, He must have been a ghost or a spirit, and even the disciples thought that at first. But listen, the only reason Mary couldn't recognize Him, He was in the pre-dawn darkness, for one thing, and secondly, all Mary could remember was the horrible disfiguration that He had experienced on that cross. As the blood had been streaming down, He had been whipped, you remember, the 39 lashes. The load of sin had been laid upon Him, and Isaiah says it so plain, that He was more disfigured than any human being in history. And that was the last picture that Mary had of Jesus. And yet on that resurrection morning, as He stands there and she thinks He's the gardener, He had simply been healed of all that abuse, He now looked more or less normal, He still has the nail prints, of course, and Mary just couldn't put that all together. But it was the same Christ that was crucified and buried, albeit now in a resurrected body instead of the pre-resurrected, but it's the same Person, it's the same Christ. All right, now then verse 32, "...this Jesus," the one you killed, the one whom God raised from the dead, "...this Jesus God has raised up, whereof we are all witnesses." Now remember I made the comment several programs ago, that if there is one proof of resurrection I think that stands above all others, is the man Peter himself. Peter, you see, at the night of the arrest and conviction, what does he do? Oh, he betrays Him, he swears even with an oath that he doesn't know Him, and the leaven scattered in fear for their lives, and I can't blame them. But do you see that after the resurrection? They have a boldness that no one can shake, and why? The proof of resurrection. I see every one of us, and I told my class last night, we're living in a time where I'm afraid, and I hate to say it, but I think it's true, that even here in our beloved America it could happen a lot faster than a lot of us like to think, that all of a sudden we as Bible believing believers could find ourselves under a lot of pressure. We could find ourselves under a lot of persecution, and it can come awfully fast. Are we ready? Are you so bound in the hope and the power of resurrection that you're not afraid of what they can do to this body of flesh? That's where we should be. We should have no fear of death, because after all, death is only going to be so temporary because of resurrection power, and that's where these 12 men are now. Nothing scares them. Rome doesn't scare them, the Jews don't scare them, why? Resurrection power, the proof of it. Now then move on. Verse 33. Again referring to this Jesus in verse 32, and verse 33, he says, "...therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit," see it goes back to John 14, where He says, "...I'll send you a Comforter, and having now received the promise of the Father of the Holy Spirit, He has shed forth this which you now see and hear." What are they seeing and hearing? The power and the manifestation of the descended Holy Spirit, that these uneducated Galileans can speak every language and dialect in the then known world, and that was only part of it of course. They are going to continue on with many of the other signs and wonders that Jesus performed, again to prove that God was in all this. Verse 34. He says, "...for David is not ascended," the Psalms wasn't referring to David, it was referring to Christ, "...for David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself," now he quotes Psalms 110, verse 1, "...the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, until," now stop a second, what kind of a word is until? Time word, oh you're learning. That's a time word. He's not going to sit at the Father's right hand forever and ever and ever. There's coming a day when He's going to arise from that seated position. Why? He's going to leave heaven, He's going to come back to this planet, and He's yet going to be the King of that promised kingdom. So the time word, He will sit there until I make thy foes thy footstool. Now we're getting close to a portion of Scripture that has been so totally confused by almost all and sundry groups, and we're just going to take it for what it says. We're not going to spiritualize it, we're not going to allegorize it, we're just going to leave it right where it sits, and we're going to take it for what it says. Verse 36, "...therefore because of all that has just taken place, Israel has had the Messiah for three years, performing signs, and wonders, and miracles, they crucified Him, God raised Him from the dead, and now according to His promise He has sent the Holy Spirit, everything is falling into place. Now whatever you see there for, what do you think of? What is it there for? What has just happened? Because of what Peter has just rehearsed, therefore, now watch it, "...let all the house of Israel," who is that? Jews! He's not talking to Gentiles, He's talking to Jews, and He's still on covenant ground. Everything through those Gospels that I've been teaching for the last several months, over and over, it's so obvious that it's the fulfilling of the covenant which God made with Abraham. Oh, jump ahead, chapter 3, we're not going to get that far today anyway, I don't think. Go to Acts chapter 3, and drop all the way down for sake of time again, to verse 24-25, so that you'll know what I'm talking about. I'm not pulling any rabbits out of the hat. It's right here in print, Acts 3, verse 24, and again Peter is preaching to a Jewish crowd, and he says, "...Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." What days? Everything that has just taken place. The crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, the coming of the Holy Spirit, everything was prophesied, Peter says. Now look at verse 25, "...you," his Jewish crowd, "...you are the children of the prophets." And hey, what did I tell you in the first program this afternoon? To whom was all prophecy directed? The nation of Israel. See? All of prophecy is directed to the nation of Israel, because they're going to be at the core of all these prophetic events, even the Book of Revelation. All of those horrible things that are back there in the Book of Revelation, to whom are they going to be primarily directed? To the nation of Israel. Oh, the whole world is going to come along with it, but it's primarily as we're at Jeremiah 30. It's the time of Jacob's trouble. All prophecy is directed to the nation of Israel. All right, come on down to verse 25. "...so you are the children of the prophets," and again, just put the subject back in front, "...you are the children of the covenant," what covenant? "...which God made with our fathers, when He said unto Abraham, saying, In thy seed," that is the seed of Abraham, "...through the nation of Israel, all the kindreds of the earth would be blessed." So that's where I get the statement, Peter is on what kind of ground? Covenant ground. He's still on the same basis that everything that has been since Abraham, and that is, the nation of Israel was to receive the Redeemer, the Messiah, the King, and the Kingdom, and it would be through Israel that God would gather the Gentiles. See I never like to leave people the idea that God had cast off the Gentiles. Oh, not at all. But He was going to use the nation of Israel on covenant ground, and this hasn't been abrogated. God has not said a word yet to anybody that He's setting the covenant promises aside for a while. He hasn't told anybody yet, now you no longer have to keep temple worship, you don't have to keep the Law, that hasn't been said yet. He is merely establishing that everything has taken place, but He hasn't told anybody yet, well now you're not under Law, you believe in the Crucified, Resurrected Christ, now for salvation. You can't find that here yet. See, and that's what I try to tell people to understand. Don't take my word for it, search the Scriptures, but be sure that you understand that the Scripture is putting salvation on His death, burial, and resurrection, and if it isn't, then don't force it. I mean, you can't put a square peg in a round hole, not without doing a lot of damage you can. So here Peter is still on covenant ground. Back to chapter 2, verse 36. So therefore let all the house of Israel, and not anyone else is included, He's talking to Jew only, like I showed you in the last program. They went everywhere preaching the Word to none but Jew only. Well, this is sure Jew only, that God hath made that same Jesus whom you did what? Crucified! You see that? Now for comparison, this is what we have to do, and I think I've got a moment. Turn with me to Galatians, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, and just look at the difference in the language. Just set Peter up over here, accusing the nation of Israel, you killed your Messiah. Now set Paul's writings up over on this side, and just look at the vast difference. And you can't mix them, it won't work, but you keep them separate, and then your Bible just opens up beautifully. All right, Galatians chapter 1, verse 3, Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us. Who's going to deliver us? He would, not we ourselves, that He might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. Do you see what I'm driving at? What does Paul say? He gave Himself, He died for us. What does Romans say? He commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, He died for us. And that's Paul's theme. And what is Peter saying? You killed Him. Do you see the difference? Oh, it's as different as daylight and dark. And oh, why can't people see that? Peter's sermon just doesn't fit Paul's doctrine at all, and it wasn't supposed to. God hadn't revealed Paul's message yet. It's still a secret kept in the mind of God. All right, I'm not going to have time to carry it as far as I want, but we'll go until the time is gone, and we'll pick it up next week. Two minutes. So verse 36, "...and therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now what's the other word for Christ in the Greek? Messiah! See? He's still claiming that Israel crucified their promised Messiah, and indeed they had. All right. Verse 37, "...now when they heard this," heard what? That they had crucified their Messiah. Now you want to remember, Peter isn't just talking to 40, 50 people. He's probably got thousands out there in front of him in that whole temple complex. Remember this is the Feast of Pentecost. They've come from every nation under heaven. And now it says, "...when they heard this," that they were guilty, "...they were pricked in their heart, and they said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles," that is what's the pronoun? We. What shall we do? Now I haven't got time in the few seconds that are left to go on from here and make the comparison. We'll do that now in the next half hour. But just remember what we've talked about in this last 30 minutes. Peter is addressing this great crowd of Jews on covenant ground. He has accused them of having killed and murdered their Messiah, and now they're so convicted that I suppose in some way or another the Word gets up to Peter as he's speaking. Well Peter, what in the world are we, and I want you to remember that pronoun, what are we supposed to do?