A SONG OF VICTORY

A SONG OF VICTORY

Psalm 16; Acts 2:22-41

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

April 16, 2006 Easter Sunday

Someone might at one time have called him just a big talker - all talk and no action. Full of pride and presumption, he boasted of his own deep commitment. Others might run away and flee, but not him; oh, no, not Peter! But when it came time to prove his commitment, Peter ran away in the Garden of Gethsemane with all the rest. In fact, he even denied knowing Jesus out of fear to a mere servant girl.

But the Peter we see on the Day of Pentecost is most definitely a far different person. Here, now, is a man preaching to up to 3,000 people at a time, without any hint whatsoever of the fear that once consumed and constrained him.

What might be the reason for all this change? The reason is that the presence and power of the Holy Spirit had come, enabling such a bold witness in Peter. But just as importantly, he was no longer a follower of a crucified Jesus, but was now an apostle for a Risen Lord.

Peter drew strength from the power of the Holy Spirit, and from the power of personal experience. He also drew strength from the witness of Scripture, including a prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection found in a psalm of David – Psalm 16. He quoted this psalm in reference to Jesus,

whose body would not be abandoned to the grave.

Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that He would place one of his descendents on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did His body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.

Psalm 16 is, in one sense as Peter used it, a prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection. David’s body decayed naturally in the process of time. Such, of course, is the way of all of us. But the body of Jesus did not decay … supernaturally. God the Father preserved the body of Christ from corruption while it was lying in that tomb, from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. On that morning, life was breathed into Him again by God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. [i]

A SONG OF VICTORY.

In David’s day, David had complete confidence that God would not abandon him in death. The whole psalm expresses his deep conviction that those who love God will not be left in the grave, and that their bodies will not be left to suffer permanent decay, forever.

Today, by believing the Good News of the Gospel, we may have the same confidence … in fact, we may have even more! This “song of victory” may be said and sung by us even more confidently, because of the certainty of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

Lee Strobel, a former journalist for the Chicago Tribune, has this kind of confidence, but it wasn’t always so. In his book, The Case for Easter, Strobel tells us of the time when he was deeply moved by the death of a young, 19 year old woman.

Her father had believed that she was “not much more than an innocent child.” But when the truth was discovered, she had been found to have been anything but “an innocent child.” She had been engaged in criminal activity, had been a gang member, a prostitute, and she had died of a heroin overdose. Perhaps because of the father’s love for his daughter, he had simply been blind to all this.

At that time, Strobel was an atheist, and he thought that Christians were just as blind and just as misguided and misinformed as that father. Strobel hoped to set the record straight once and for all, and for all Christians, one of whom was his wife!

Strobel used all his investigative skills to look at all the circumstances regarding Jesus’ death and resurrection. He was determined to be quite thorough. He first looked at the medical evidence, to see if Jesus death was nothing more than a mere sham. He consulted Dr. Robert Stein, one of the world’s foremost forensic pathologists. Dr. Stein had been the medical examiner for Cook County, Illinois for a lengthy period of time. Among other cases, it was his expertise that helped convict Wayne Gacy of 33 gruesome murders.

Lee Strobel consulted many other professionals, and he reviewed many theories directed at

disproving the bodily resurrection of Christ. He was as thorough as any motivated, seasoned and experienced journalist could be. He was not the first to do this, of course, as many before him have done the very same – and so very often arriving at the conclusion that the resurrection is fact, not fiction.

In the case of Lee Strobel, he came to the ultimate conviction that the resurrection of Jesus is all true. And if it is all true, then there were certain implications to consider. As he tells it:

As soon as I reached that monumental verdict, the implications were obvious. If Jesus overcame the grave, he’s still alive and available for me to personally encounter. If Jesus conquered death, he can open the door to eternal life for me too. If he has divine power, he has the supernatural ability to guide and transform me as I follow him. As my Creator who has my best interests at heart, he rightfully deserves my allegiance and worship. [ii]

Lee Strobel came to a living faith in a Living Lord. And when this happens, life is never the same again, having come to know the One who is uniquely and ultimately “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” In fact, Strobel had changed so much from being self-described as “profane, angry, verbally harsh, drunken, and all too often absent” – that, after a few months his 5 year old daughter walked up to his wife and said, “Mommy, I want God to do for me what he’s done for Daddy.” [iii]

There is indeed an undeniable change in those who belong to Christ. “You shall now them by their fruit,” Jesus said, by the nature and character of their lives.

PART OF THIS FRUIT OR CHARACTER

IS HAVING THIS SONG OF VICTORY IN THE HEART.

“You have made known to me the path of life,” said David. But then he continued: “You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (v.11)

Having this song of victory in the heart includes the anticipation that the same God who loves us in this earthly life will be dwelling in the very midst of His people in our heavenly existence, in a way that exceeds even the most intimate fellowship we have with Him on earth.

Having this song of victory in the heart includes the expectation that the joy of heaven is far different from that of earth. The Hebrew literally says, “In your presence there is fullness of joy …” The Hebrew has the sense of abundance and even completeness.

One commentator elaborates for us on the nature of this ultimate joy:

Not partial joy; not imperfect joy; not joy intermingled with pain and sorrow; not joy which, though in itself real, does not satisfy the desires of the soul, as in the case with much of the happiness which we experience in this life – but joy, full, satisfying, unalloyed, unclouded, unmingled with anything that would diminish its fullness or its brightness; joy that will not be diminished, as all earthly joys must be, by the feeling that it must soon come to an end. [iv]

Here, we can affirm what I believe C.S. Lewis once stated, that as wonderful as the “joys of life” can be, they are but temporal and are but a mere a foretaste of heaven. In his book, Mere Christianity, Lewis put it this way:

Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that can offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. [v]

Having this song of victory in the heart includes the anticipation of being with the Lord in the most intimate sense, and of experiencing the “fullness of joy” in the absence of earth’s woes and in the presence of “eternal pleasures.”

But it also assuredly includes the fellowship of the faithful, those who have gone before us in the Lord, including our believing family members and friends. As for the fellowship in the faith, David wrote: “As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight” (v.3). How much greater delight will there be when we are all together, there in heaven, never ever to be separated again!

Leighton Ford sings this song of victory in the book he wrote about his son, Sandy, entitled Sandy: A Heart for God. Sandy was quite an impressive young man, proving himself in academics, sports and in leadership. He was a devoted follower of Christ, with a growing passion, day by day.

But Sandy also had a very rare heart condition, one that ended his life at the young age of only 21. Now, without this song of victory, such a loss leads only to depression, desperation and despair. But the song of victory was being sung.

Weeks after Sandy died, the Fords received a letter from a missionary with whom Sandy worked while serving in France the previous summer. He wrote to the Fords:

We are so earthbound. We assume that the main part of God’s will and work is here on earth. I believe that not only the best is yet to come, but the highest will also be there … God never wastes anything … rather than being the end, this is the Beginning!

Being a man of faith, and singing the song of victory, Leighton Ford writes ever so revealingly:

Sometimes in my mind, I whisper, “What is it like, son?” And I hear him say, “I can think so deeply and every thought is clear. I can speak and express exactly what I mean. I can run and never get tired. I am so surefooted in the paths of glory.”

So a son leaves a legacy for a father. I have determined to run my race for Christ to the end. And when that time comes maybe our Savior will let him come running to meet me. Then with all sons and daughters of the resurrection, our hearts will beat and run for God forever. [vi]

Oh, sing the song of victory, dear friends! Sing the song of David and of Peter and of all the sons and daughters of the resurrection.

For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!