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Acts 13:31-39  PROMISES ABOUT THE SAVIOR FULFILLED

Introduction:  

	In this text the Apostle Paul is in a Jewish synagogue in the city of 
Antioch in a country that is now called “Turkey.”  He has reminded them that in 
olden days God had promised that He would send a Savior.  Paul told that 
congregation that Jesus is the Savior whom God had promised.  He reminded them 
that the Jewish leaders at Jerusalem had rejected Jesus as the promised Savior 
and had crucified Him.  But Paul declared to them very positively that Jesus is 
the Savior in spite of the fact that He had been crucified.  He said that God 
the Father had raised Jesus from the dead.  These people had probably heard 
rumors to the effect that the disciples of Jesus claimed that Jesus had arisen 
from the grave, but up to this point they had put little stock in the rumor.  
	In our text today Paul cites some of the Old Testament promises concerning 
the coming of the Savior and he will show that those prophecies reveal that the 
Promised Savior would be put to death and that then He would arise from the 
dead, just as the disciples of Jesus have claimed.  Paul focuses chiefly upon 
prophecies which foretell the resurrection of Christ, the Savior.                     

I.  About the disciples of Jesus saying that Jesus has risen from the grave

	Paul said that what the disciples had said about Jesus being resurrected 
from the dead was exactly right.  It was not just rumor.  V. 31, “ And he was 
seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are 
his witnesses unto the people.”  Paul said that the disciples of Jesus had not 
made up the story about the resurrection of Jesus, but that they were actually 
eyewitnesses to His resurrection.  He was not saying that the disciples had 
actually seen Jesus as He came out of the grave.  Rather he was saying that they 
had seen Him after He came from the grave.  
	Paul did not include himself in that group of witnesses because at the 
time that Jesus was making His appearances to His disciples, Paul was not a 
disciple.  Rather he was an enemy of the disciples at that time.  He had not 
become a disciple of Jesus until His experience with the Lord on the Road to 
Damascus.  It was then that he saw Jesus in heaven sitting on the throne of God.  
There was no mistaken identity.  He had inquired, “Who art thou, Lord?”  And 
Jesus had answered, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.”  But Paul 
does not mention His experience with Jesus at this time.  
	What Paul does point out is that all of those disciples of Jesus who had 
come with Him form Galilee had all seen Jesus after He arose.  Paul does not go 
into any detail in his statement, but he could have pointed out that the 
disciples had an opportunity to touch Him and see Him as He ate food.  They 
could verify that they had not seen a ghost or spirit.  They had actually seen 
Jesus in His resurrected body.  One of the disciples had been especially hard to 
convince.  Thomas had said, “I will not believe it until I am able to thrust my 
hand into His side.”  He was talking about the hole in His side left by the 
soldier’s spear.  Jesus made it a point of inviting Thomas to thrust his hand 
into the hole in His.  It was only then that Thomas had been persuaded that 
Jesus has risen from the dead.  But even Doubting Thomas had been convinced.  
This great number of people who had seen Jesus after He arose were solidly 
convinced.  
		Paul said that there were numerous such appearances to the 
disciples.  He said that they had seen Him many days.  It was not just a one 
time experience about which folks had become so confused that they imagined that 
something took place which in reality did not take place.  It could not have 
been a dream which they thought was real, but wasn’t.  They repeatedly saw Him 
and each time that they saw Him just re-enforced the certainty in their minds 
that they had actually seen the risen Lord. These were good, honest, sane, 
solid, sensible people who were absolutely positive about what they had seen.   
	
II.  A re-affirmation by Paul that the promise of a Savior had now been 
fulfilled 
      and Old Testament Scriptures which support his claim

	Before Paul began to cite Old Testament Scripture in support of his claim 
that Jesus is the promised Savior, Paul first re-affirmed his statement that 
Jesus is the promised Christ.  V. 32-33, “And we declare unto you glad tidings, 
how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the 
same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again...”  Paul had 
already declared unto them back in verse 23 that God had promised to send a 
Savior and that this Savior is Jesus.  He was talking about Jesus of Nazareth, 
who had been crucified.  He had already said in verse 30 that God had raised 
Jesus from the dead.  He has already stated that there were many eyewitnesses 
who had already testified abundantly that they had seen Jesus after He arose 
from the grave. 
	Paul now says that this is good news.  The nation of Israel had long 
looked for the coming of the Christ.  It was good news that God’s promise had 
been fulfilled within their own lifetime.  
	In support of his claim that the promise of a Savior has been fulfilled 
and that the Savior is Jesus, Paul cites several Old Testament Scriptures which 
show that the promised Savior would be put to death and that He would be raised 
from the dead.  Paul was not trying to prove to them that Jesus had been put to 
death.  They already knew that.  They also already knew that the disciples of 
Jesus claim that Jesus had risen from the dead.  What Paul was trying to do now 
was to show them Scripture which teaches that the Christ would be risen from the 
dead.  If he could convince them that the Scriptures teach that the Christ would 
arise from the dead, that would go a long way toward convincing some of them 
that the disciples of Jesus were telling the truth and that Jesus did rise from 
the grave.  If the Scriptures teach that the Promised Savior would arise from 
the grave this would certainly mean that they should consider the possibility 
that Jesus did arise from the grave.  If they would believe that Jesus arose 
from the grave, they would surely believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior 
and that, indeed, would be good news.    
	In support of his contention that Jesus is the Christ, Paul cited Psalm 
2:7.  (V. 33), “...as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, 
this day have I begotten thee.”  The key word in this verse is the word which is 
translated “begotten.”  In the King James translation the meaning is, “I have 
begotten thee.”  This same Hebrew word could also be correctly translated, “I 
have brought thee forth.”  In other words, Paul is saying that this verse in the 
psalm is not referring to the bringing the Christ forth in His birth.  Paul said 
that this verse is talking about bringing Him forth in the resurrection.  
Therefore, what God the Father was saying to His Son is, “This day I have 
brought thee forth from the grave.  I have brought thee forth from the dead.”   
It was a prophecy that the Christ would first be put to death and then brought 
forth from the dead.  Read again this part of verse 33 and see if that is not 
what Paul is saying.  
	Now connect it with the thought which follows in verse 34 and see if that 
is not what Paul was talking about in this verse.  V. 34, “And as concerning 
that he raised him up from the dead, [now] no more to return to corruption, he 
said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.”  In this verse 
Paul is referring to Psalm 89:28-29.  Those verses read, “My mercy will keep for 
him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.  His seed also will 
I make to endure forever, and his throne as he days of heaven.”  God had made 
this commitment to David, but God was not talking about David.  God was talking 
about the Promised Savior.  God was talking about the promised Seed of David, 
the descendant of David who would be the Savior.  In the 53 chapter of Isaiah, 
which I read to you last Sunday, God had predicted that the Savior would die.  
It would be by His stripes what we could be healed.  He would make His grave 
with the rich and with the wicked.  But in Psalm 89:28-29 God promises that He 
would give Him the throne of David and that His reign on that throne would be as 
the days of heaven.  This surely meant that the Savior would be put to death, 
but it also meant that He would be raised from the dead.  Paul is saying, “What 
the prophets foretold is just exactly what has happened to Jesus.  He was first 
put to death by crucifixion.  Then God raised Him from the dead.  Jesus is the 
fulfillment of the promise of the Savior.  Jesus is the Savior whom God 
promised.”  
	Paul cited yet another Old Testament Scripture to show that the Christ was 
to go to the grave and then come forth from the grave.  V. 35-37, “Wherefore he 
saith also in another [psalm], Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see 
corruption.  For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of 
God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:  But he, 
whom God raised again, saw no corruption.”  Here Paul cites Psalm 16:10.  In 
this verse God promised that He would not leave the soul of the Christ in hell.  
He would not allow His physical body to endure corruption.  That is, God would 
not allow it to deteriorate --- to decay --- to rot.  Instead God would return 
His Spirit to His body and His body would come out of the grave.  Paul was 
saying, “Listen, friends, what this Scripture is talking about is that God has 
promised to raise His Son, the Christ, from the grave.  His body would go to the 
grave, but it would never rot or decay.  Instead, God would raise Him from the 
grave.  Paul said, “Listen, please do not get the idea that God was talking 
about raising the body of David from the grave.  Paul said that David’s body did 
endure corruption.  It did decay. It was still in the grave even as Paul was 
speaking.    
	Paul said, that God was talking about Jesus.  God was talking about the 
body of Jesus would arise from the grave.  Paul said that the body of Jesus did 
arise from the grave.  Paul said that Jesus is the Promised Christ, the Promised 
Savior.  

III.  Paul’s message to the people in that Jewish synagogue

	Paul said, V. 38-39, “Be it known unto you therefore, men [and] brethren, 
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him 
all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be 
justified by the law of Moses.”  Paul said, “Listen, brethren, let me tell you 
some good news.  If you if you want your sins to be forgiven you must turn to 
Jesus and call upon Him and ask Him to forgive you of your sins and Jesus will 
forgive your sins.”  
	Paul said, “Brethren, if you want to be made just so that you will stand 
before God without one sin then you must turn to Jesus and call upon Him to be 
your Savior.  You must trust in Him to be your Savior.  He will take away all 
your sins so that you will stand perfectly just in the eyes of God.  There will 
be no sentence of hell for you if you put your faith and your trust in Jesus.  
	Paul said, “Brethren, you cannot be justified in the sight of God by 
trying to keep the law of Moses.  The Law of Moses was never intended to save 
the soul.  It was intended to make you aware that you are a sinner in the sight 
of God so that you will repent of your sin and trust in Jesus Christ the 
Promised Savior.”  

III.  My message to you today 

	Listen, by brethren, my message to you today is the same as that which the 
Apostle Paul declared to those people at Antioch of Pisidia.  My message to you 
today is the good news that God has fulfilled the promises that He made to the 
prophets of old saying that He would send a Savior to the world through the 
lineage of King David.  
	My message to you is that God had foretold in the days of old that the 
Savior, the Christ, the Savior, would be rejected by His own people and that He 
would be crucified.  The message of God from olden times is that the physical 
body of the Christ would never stay in the grave.  God foretold that the Savior, 
the Christ,  would come forth from the grave to some day sit upon the throne of 
David and rule the world.  
	My message to you today is that Jesus of Nazareth is the Savior whom God 
promised to this world.  He did come to the world as the virgin born Son of God.  
He lived a completely sinless life.  He died upon the cross of Calvary, the 
perfect, sinless sacrifice for the sins of sinful men.  He died as the Lamb of 
God to take away the sin of the world.  He died on the cross so that every one 
of us can have opportunity to repent of our sin and be saved.  He died in 
fulfillment of Old Testament promises.  
	He arose from the grave and ascended to heaven where He now sits on the 
throne of God in heaven.  He arose from the dead in fulfillment of Old Testament 
promises.  He looks down today and waits for men, women, boys and girls to call 
upon Him and ask Him to save their souls.  I assure you today that if you will 
repent of your sins and call on Jesus asking Him to save you --- trusting Him to 
save you, that Jesus will save you.  He will save your soul.  He will cleanse 
your soul of every sin.  He will make certain that you go to heaven when you 
die.  
	You cannot be saved by keeping the law.  You cannot get saved by joining 
the church.  You cannot get saved by being baptized.  You cannot get saved by 
turning over a new leaf and doing good deeds.  You cannot get saved by taking 
the Lord’s Supper.  You cannot get saved any other way under heaven.  But if you 
will call upon Jesus and trust Him to save your soul, I can assure that Jesus 
will save you.  V. 38-39, “Be it known unto you therefore, men [and] brethren, 
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him 
all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be 
justified by the law of Moses.”  

Conclusion:  

	Do you want to be saved?  Then come and trust Jesus to save you.  If you 
have been saved, but have not been Scripturally baptized then you need to be 
baptized.  The question is, “Do you want to come and be baptized?  If you are 
saved I can assure you that it would please the Lord for you to be baptized.  
The Lord will bless you for doing what He wants you to do and He wants you to be 
baptized.  If you are saved He wants you to live for Him and being baptized is a 
part of living for Him.  
	If you are saved and already have Scriptural baptism and you wish to unite 
with this church to serve the Lord, we invite you to come and place your 
membership here on promise of church letter, will you come?