Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2243
“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.” Acts 13:36.
*This sermon was preached on the Lord’s-Day evening after Mr. William Olney “fell on sleep.” Long before the beloved preacher was “called Home,” it was selected for publication this week. Mrs. Spurgeon feels that her dear husband could not have delivered a more suitable discourse for “his own funeral sermon.” She has, therefore, given it that title in the hope that many will be blessed by the message which “he, being dead, yet speaks.” Believing that many friends will wish to have this sermon for widespread circulation, the publishers will, at once, issue it, in book form. Price one penny.
IT is remarkable that David should say, in the 16th Psalm, “You will not leave My soul in Hell; neither will you suffer Your Holy One to see corruption,” and yet that Paul should say concerning him, when preaching at Antioch, that he “saw corruption.” The key to this apparent contradiction is the fact that David did not speak of himself, but of his Lord. Peter, in his memorable sermon on the day of Pentecost, quotes the words of the Psalmist, applies them to his risen Redeemer and distinctly affirms that, in the Psalm, “David speaks concerning Him.”
It is worthy of notice that Peter and Paul both use the same argument about this statement of David. These two Apostles did not always agree, but however much they might differ about other matters, they were of one mind about the Resurrection of Christ! I hope that whatever differences there may be among true preachers of the Gospel, they will always be one in declaring the Resurrection of our Lord. This cornerstone of the Gospel must never be displaced or dishonored. The good news we are commissioned to declare is the same that Paul received and delivered—“that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” Chief among the Scriptures fulfilled by the Resurrection of Christ stands this Word of God which David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote so long before the event—“You will not leave My soul in Hell; neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption.” The Resurrection of Christ is the top stone of our faith! Because, “He, whom God raised again, saw no corruption,” Paul was able to say this to his hearers, “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 before are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses.”
The argument of the Apostle is this—David could not have meant himself when he said, “You will not suffer Your Holy One to see corruption,” because David died and his body was buried—and it did see corruption. He must, therefore, have referred to Christ, who is, indeed, God’s “Holy One.” Of Him the prophetic word was true, for God did not suffer Him “to see corruption.” He died and was laid in the grave, but He rose again on the third day. In that climate there was, while Christ lay in the grave, plenty of time for His body to become corrupt. The spices with which they perfumed the precious body would not have sufficed to keep back corruption—they would have helped conceal the unpleasant odor which putrefaction brings, but they would not have stopped the process of decay.
But Christ rose again and no corruption had come to His body, for that body was a holy Thing—it had no defect, nor taint of sin, as our bodies have. Begotten of the Holy Spirit, it was a pure Thing. Though born of the Virgin Mary, it was united to the Godhead and not separated from it even in death—it saw no corruption. There is the Apostle’s argu-
ment, then—David speaking not of himself, but of Someone else, says that the Lord will not suffer Him to see corruption—and this he spoke by the Spirit of the very Christ whom we preach to you as the Author and Finisher of salvation. He is living and reigning today, King of Kings and Lord of Lords! He that believes in Him, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and live forever with his risen, reigning Redeemer!
While Paul was speaking in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, he incidentally used the words of our text— “David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.” That is to be my subject on this occasion. Forgetting, for the present, the main argument, I would only look at this eddy in the current and draw your attention to the expression which dropped from Paul’s lips concerning David. Let us ask, first, What is it to serve our own generation? Secondly, What parts of our generation can we serve? And lastly, with tender memories of many who have gone from us, let us ask, What will happen to us when our service is done? Even that which happened to David—we shall, like he, “fall on sleep.”