If you would, turn back to Acts chapter 13 with me. Here we have Paul and his company, Barnabas. They departed from Perga and they came to Antioch and Pisidia. And this was their, in reading the book of Acts, seems to be their thing is they always went to the synagogue first, which is what the Lord had sent them to do, was to preach to the Jews first and then the Gentiles. And there was Gentiles in these synagogues with the Jews. That's what, say it was in verse Verse 46, it said, Paul of Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, speaking of the Jews. But seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, we turn to the Gentiles. The Lord sent it first. He chose the nation of Israel. Those were his people as a picture of his chosen people that he will lead. into the promised land, into heaven, by his son. But these people, he came to the synagogue as it was done, and after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, telling them that if they had any words of exhortation, to say on. These men knew the Apostle Paul, they knew Saul of Tarsus, He had been a ruler. He had been educated in the school of Gamaliel. They knew him. And he stood up, beckoning with his hands, telling everybody to listen. Listen to what he had to say. I pray that that's what everyone in here will do this morning, is listen. Listen to what the Apostle Paul had to say concerning God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter told us in, our pastor gave this to me, one of the first messages I brought. 1 Peter 4.11, he said, Peter said, If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. that God send, all men that stand up to declare this gospel, that's what they want to do, speak of God, honoring God in all things. And the Apostle Paul here, he met them right where they were at. They had read the law and the prophets. They were concerned. They were looking for the Messiah. They were still looking for the Messiah. The Messiah had been here. They were still looking for the Messiah. That's what Paul came to tell them. And he met them right where they was at. The first thing he said to them, the God of this people of Israel chose our fathers. First thing he did was he preached the God of election. He chose his people. He chose these people. He chose them. He exalted them. He did everything for them. They dwelled as strangers in the land of Egypt. With a high arm, he brought them out. The Lord brought them out. He used Moses as his mouthpiece on this earth. But it was the Lord that did all this. That's the first thing that the Apostle Paul declared. He spoke to them of God's sovereignty. God's election and God's redemption. The Lord raised up Moses. He spoke to him, spoke through him to deliver Egypt through Abraham. He chose Abraham. He chose Isaac. He chose Jacob. He chose Joseph. He chose to put Joseph in Egypt and allow these, all of Jacob's family, all his sons to live there in Egypt, and they lived a good life for a long time. And then a Pharaoh came along that didn't know, didn't remember Joseph, and he got concerned at the number of the Hebrews. And at that point, he decided to kill off the male children. He did what God purposed to be done to raise up Moses. Moses, he had Pharaoh raise Moses. That was God's purpose was for Pharaoh to raise Moses and then Moses and he called him back to be the deliverer and to speak to Pharaoh and take his people out of that land and lead them. It was the Lord doing the leading through Moses. Moses had nothing but what God told him to do. I told some of this in Deuteronomy chapter 7. Turn with me there. And stay there for a minute because I want to look at something else in there. This is what the Lord had to say about His people. In verses 6 through 8, He said, For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself. The Lord chose them. He chose those people to be a special people unto himself. That's what he does. Everyone chosen that Christ came and died for will be saved. Will be saved. And he chose them. He put them above all the people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of people. They weren't a great nation. But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, a bondman, from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. The Lord did all that. That's the first thing that Paul told them was that the Lord did that. And then in verse 18, after about the time of 40 years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. The next thing he did was told them of their sinfulness. Told them of their sinfulness. Man is totally depraved. A man come preaching the gospel, first thing he's going to do is declare, God is sovereign, man is totally depraved. Totally depraved. There's no salvation in anything that a man can do. Our best is stench in front of the Lord. But God was long-suffering. He's long-suffering to his people. I know just in my instance, for 40 years, I rebelled against a God that ended up, he made me willing. I am so thankful. But he was long-suffering to his people in the wilderness. Every time, I mean, they had no more than come out from the Egyptians. The Egyptians were following him. They got scared. They wanted to go back. They just wanted to go back and be where they were at. They complained when they were there. Now they're complaining because they're out. But the Lord hid them. The Lord did all of it. He hid them from the Egyptians. He put a cloud between them, which was Christ. He sent them through the Red Sea. The Red Sea was salvation. The parting of the Red Sea was salvation for the Israelites. But it was the wrath of God for the Egyptians. He closed them waters up on them. But he brought them out. And at every turn, they turned against Aaron and Moses, two men that God had raised up that were set there to be a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in verse 19, when he had destroyed seven nations, the Lord destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan. He divided their land to them by lot. told us this, and I told you to stay in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 7, 1. It said, When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land, whither thou goest, possess it. The Lord has given this to them. He shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, the Gergesites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hittites, and the Jebusites. seven nations greater and mightier than thou. The Lord had to cast those nations out and allow Israel to have the land. He cast them out. It was all of the Lord's doing. The Lord did this. And then after that, in verse 20, he gave them judges about the space of 450 years until the prophet Esmanuel. Judges 2, 18 tells us that the Lord raised up the judges, and the Lord was with the judge, and delivered the people from their enemies. The Lord kept sending men to protect his people. We have one that has been our protector, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, he came to do a work that only he could do. to satisfy a God that only the Lord Jesus Christ could do and putting away our sin and paying our sin debt. That's why he says later, which is going to be hopefully the focal point of this message is through this man we preach the forgiveness of sins. But all through this he's telling that God was in control. God did everything. He did it for his people. And he raised up Samuel, a prophet. And then afterwards, in verse 21, they desired a king. They desired a king. They had had Moses and Aaron. They had had Joshua. They had had all these judges. God was their king through it all. God was their king and they desired to have a human be a king. Desired to put somebody over them like all the other nations of the world. That's what the Lord told Samuel. Samuel went to the Lord about it when they asked and he said, these people have not rejected you, they've rejected me. They rejected the Lord God that had sent and done everything for them. The Lord was in control and these people were not satisfied. They wanted something more. They wanted something they could see, something they could touch, something they could do. All we need is the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And after, by the space of 40 years, he removed Saul. The Lord removed Saul. And he raised up unto them David to be their king. This was God's chosen, David. David, he said of David, he said that he'd found David. Psalm 89, 20, I have found my servant and anointed him. He was a man after his own heart. That's what he said in 1 Samuel 13. He had told Samuel, he said, this is a man after my own heart. And he was of David's seed that verse 23, of this man's seed have God, according to his promise raised unto Israel, a savior, Jesus. This seed was the Lord Jesus Christ. This was God sending his son. It was God manifesting the flesh to take on, live a perfect life, and then be put on a cross, brutally taken on our sins to justify a holy God. Job asked, how can man be just with God? But one way, the Lord Jesus Christ in his blood, but one way. And then after this, when John had first preached before his coming of Christ, speaking of Christ, the baptism of repentance to all the people. I found this interesting. I remember studying this whenever I had the class downstairs with our young people. And I remember this when I started looking at it again. Matthew 3, verse 2, speaking of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, he came saying, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He was the forerunner of Christ. He'd come to tell about Christ. He told the people he wasn't the Christ. He came to tell about the Christ. He was just a preacher, just like Paul, Peter, John, all the others. He was just a preacher. But then the Lord came after, in chapter 4, verse 17 of Matthew, After John was cast into prison, it says, from that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Our Lord came as a preacher. The Lord Jesus Christ came as a preacher. And he is the kingdom of God. And it is at hand. The Lord may or may not keep this world for very much longer. The days are numbered, that's for sure. And only the Lord knows the end. But judging by his scripture and things that we see in this world, it's got to be close. It's got to be close. And then he goes on in verse, let's see where I'm at, verse 26, he said, Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sin. For everyone that God saves, that God does a work in, God shows their sinfulness and their need of the Savior, they will fear the Lord. Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, which is Christ. It's the beginning of knowledge, which is Christ. In all things, truth, knowledge, wisdom, it's all found in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. All of it is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verses 27 and 28, he said, for they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. The Lord Jesus Christ came, walked among these men, that he had chosen their fathers to bring out of Israel, to give them this land, they read the scripture without understanding. They read the scriptures religiously. I mean, they were very religious people. And if you had asked them, they had a fear of God, but it was without knowledge. They were going about to establish their own righteousness. But the Lord Jesus Christ came and fulfilled all scriptures. He, the Lord, used the people to fulfill all of the scriptures. He let them do what their hearts desired. Because that's what Peter's message was. Peter's message was, he said that according to the determinate counsel of God, But you, with wicked hands, have taken and put him on the cross." God did it. God put him on the cross. God killed the Lord Jesus Christ. He laid that sin on him and God had to punish him for the sin. But he was not a sinner. In verse 29 it says, And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher. The Lord Jesus Christ rested in that tomb in verse 30. But God raised him from the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ said that he would lay down his life. No man would take it, that he would lay it down. And he did. And he said he had power to lay it down and power to take it again. This says God raised him from the dead. So Lord Jesus Christ saying that he had power to lay it down and take it again. That's God. That's God manifest in the flesh. It was by his power that he was able to save his people. And this was God's public decoration that he is the son of God. By raising him from the dead, he was seen of many witnesses. That's what it says in the next verse. He was seen of many witnesses, we're told, through the end of the Gospels. And the first part of Acts was about 40 days or so that he was with. his people here on this earth. He was their witness. They witnessed him, and then they went about telling about him. And the Lord guided them everywhere they went through the book of Acts, establishing the early church. It was all according to the providence of God himself that he did all this. And all these promises were fulfilled. in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what it goes on to tell us here now is in verse 33. See, God has fulfilled the same under this their children in that he has raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm and Psalm two, it says thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. God always was. The Lord Jesus Christ was always with God from the beginning. They set this, they purposed everything, chose a people. But the Lord declaring this, he made him, God became flesh and walked this earth, bled and died for our sins. All that the Father had given him shall come to him. And then in verse 34 he speaks of the, he tells the men, he says, 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. All of David's mercy was in the Lord Jesus Christ. David didn't know him by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he knew that that was his salvation, that he would send one The Lord showed Abraham that in Genesis 22 when he had told him to take his son and sacrifice him. And then he gave him a substitute in the place of his son. The Lord, or God, preached the gospel to Abraham that day. Showed him that it's not by our doings. We have to have a lamb. Bring the blood. Bring the blood before God. That's the only way he will accept a sinner. And that's the sure mercies of David. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 35 he says, Wherefore, he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to seek corruption. Our Lord Jesus Christ was laid in the tomb and was raised from the dead. He saw no corruption. In Genesis 3, 19, God told Adam, man is made of dust. From the dust we're made, until the dust we shall return. We shall see corruption. That's what he told. That's why he said in verse 36, he said, and after David passed, he saw corruption. His body deteriorated. If we're laid in the ground, these bodies we have will deteriorate. Not our Lord Jesus Christ. He was holy. He was laid in a tomb. He rested that day. And he was raised from the dead. He raised himself. God raised him. He was all of God. Man had nothing to do with that. And then in verse 38, Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. That's what a sinner needs, is forgiveness of sins. We need to be forgiven of our sins. Romans 10, 15 tells us this, and Paul, he's the one that wrote this. He said, how shall they preach except they be sent? This is what every preacher is going to preach, is that this man, through this man, is preached the forgiveness of sins. We need a Savior. We're all sinners. Whether the Lord has showed us we're sinners, whether we think there's some good in us, we're all sinners. And until the Lord shows us our total gravity, we won't look for a Savior. But once He shows us, breaks our souls, breaks our hearts, we'll look. We'll look for a Savior. And He'll show us one. If He's broken our hearts to that point, He will show us a Savior. Turn with me to Romans 3. I was looking for things that gave some hope of being this forgiveness of sin. Starting in verse 24, it says, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, he covered our sins. through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness that he might be just and justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." This right here, he covers And it's to declare His righteousness that is the remission of our sins. 1 Timothy 1.15 tells us, Paul, the Apostle Paul wrote this, it is, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I say that with the Apostle Paul, of whom I am chief. We need a Savior that can forgive us of our sins. That's what I remember. I don't remember the passage now, but I remember one of the people that the Lord Jesus Christ healed. That was a question. He healed him, and he said, which is easier, to heal a man or to save him from his sins? God can only do both. God does both. God does both. With man, that's impossible. But with God, all things are possible. And to all of this, we're only told to believe. By Him, all that believe are justified from all things. To believe. We have a Savior that forgives sins. And we're told to believe. That's on us. We are told to believe. We won't unless the Lord does something to us. But we are told to believe. I want to look at a few verses here. John 6. To do with believing and our forgiveness of sins. Starting in verse 35, and Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. That sounds like Isaiah 55. Come to me, don't bring anything, but come to me. It's all for you. He says, but I said unto you that you have also seen me and believe not. Those men saw the Lord Jesus Christ and didn't believe Him. And all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. This says that God does it all. God chooses His people. He brings them to Him. And Christ will not cast them out. He came to do a work. He came to forgive His people's sins. He's not going to cast out His people. He will not cast His people out. It says, For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me. This is God's will, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. All that the Father has given him, he will raise up again. He done the work. He lived the life. Perfection. He paid the sin debt that we can't pay. And he's sitting beside the Father right now. And He will raise up every one of His chosen. Every one that He died for, every one that that blood covereth, every one that He's given forgiveness of sins will be saved. We're told to believe it. Believe. John 3, 35 and 36 gives a warning. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things unto His hand. The Father loves the Son. And he said, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Then say anything about anything else other than believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. But he that believeth not the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth on him. Oh, that's a fearful thought. Fearful thought that the wrath of the Lord would be upon someone. But we're told to believe. It's all in Christ. All we need to believe is that Christ did it all. He paid it all. It's his righteousness by which we're saved. And that's it. End of discussion. There is no other way to put that. Romans 4. In here, he speaks about believing. He speaks about forgiveness of sins. He's been speaking in three about the guilty, the sinners, the righteousness of God. And he says here in verse 104 says, what shall we then say that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath word of the glory. but not before God, but not before God. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can glory before God because he is God and he did the work. Jehovah Jireh, he will provide himself a lamb and he did, he was the lamb. For the scriptures, for sayeth the scriptures, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. He believed God. God told him to go kill his son. OK. He took him up, believing that he could raise him from the dead. He took him up. He did what he said. He believed. He believed God. God told him. He did it. is now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt. If we can do something to save ourselves, which we can't, if we give ourselves any honor, it's just a debt. It's not by grace. By grace are you saved through faith and that's not of yourselves. It's all of the Lord Jesus Christ. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Believe, and it will be counted for righteousness. Even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth not righteousness without works, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. We need a Savior that can forgive us of our sins. We need the Lord Jesus Christ that can save us from our sins and cover our sins. Not to be seen again, not to be looked upon. We'll stand in glory one of two ways. We'll stand in ourselves or we'll stand in Christ. All those in Christ, God won't see their sins. All those outside of Christ will be like Noah in the ark. They will be destroyed in his wrath. And in verse eight, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. I pray that the Lord, Jesus Christ, has done it all for me. And there's nothing that I'm resting on for myself. Because I certainly don't want the Lord to impute sin to me. I don't want any of my sins to be revealed. None whatsoever. Back in our text, and I'll wrap this up, at the end, after he's told them about the forgiveness of the sins told him to believe told us to believe that's all we're ever told is to come to the Lord and to believe the Lord believe God and we can't do either without him bringing us bringing us and showing us our need to believe that he is God apparently some of these hurt a little bit of what Paul said because In 42, it says, when the Jews were come out of the synagogue, after the Jewish people had left, the Gentiles that were left behind, they thought, after them, that they might preach again to them the next Sabbath. Hey, come back. We want to hear this again. That's exactly. They heard something different. They wanted to hear it again. It's like the Peter message. The Lord pricked their hearts and they asked what they must do. Repent and be baptized. Repent and be baptized. A man that believes God will repent of his sins. Be repentant of his sins. He will get in the water for believers baptism. To confess the Lord Jesus Christ like he confessed his people. So when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barabbas. When they were speaking to them, Paul and Barabbas, they persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. They need to continue in the grace of God. It has nothing to do with man. It's a sovereign, free grace that man is saved by. Noah said, it said in Noah's day, it said that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Doesn't say that Noah did anything special. That's exactly the opposite of what scripture tells us. We've done nothing special to be chosen. It's all of the Lord's grace and mercy that he would have anything to do with man. What is man that thou art mindful of him? May the Lord be exalted on this. Thank you.