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Don Bell

"Cornelius the centurion's salvation"

Acts 10:34-48
Don Bell March, 22 2023 Video & Audio
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Don Bell
Don Bell March, 22 2023

Sermon Transcript

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And together we'll sing hymn
number 46. Number 46. For a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer's praise The glories of my God and King The
triumphs of His grace My gracious Master and my God Assist me to
proclaim to spread through all the earth abroad the honors of
thy name. Jesus, the name that charms our
fears, that bids our sorrows cease, tis music in the sinners'
ears. to his life and health and peace. He breaks the vow of canceled
sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest
clean. His blood availed for me. Hear Him ye deaf, His praise
ye dumb, Your lucent tongues implore. Ye blind, behold your
Savior come, And weep, ye lame, for joy. Glory to God, and praise and
love Be ever, ever giv'n. By saints below and saints above,
big church in earth and heaven. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
six. Hymn number six. Come Thou Almighty King, Help
us Thy name to sing, Help us to praise. Father all-glorious,
Lord all-victorious, Come and reign over us, ancient of days. Come Thou incarnate Word, gird
on Thy mighty sword our prayer attend. Come and Thy people bless
and give Thy word success, Spirit of holiness on us descend. Come Holy Comforter Thy sacred
witness bear In this glad hour Thou who've almighty art Now
rule in every heart And there from us depart Spirit of power
? To the great one in three ? Eternal praises be ? It's evermore ?
His sovereign majesty ? May we in glory sing ? And to eternity
love and adore Acts chapter 10, Acts chapter
10. Start reading here in verse 34
and go to the end of the chapter, finish up Acts chapter 10. Then Peter opened his mouth and
said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respect of persons,
but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto
the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is
Lord of all. That word, I say, you know, which
was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil,
for God was with him. and we are witnesses of all things
which he did in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem, whom
they slew, and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day,
and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses,
chosen before of God, us to us who did eat and drink with him
after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach
unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained
of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. To him give
all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake
these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished
as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak
with tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any
man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they
him to tarry certain days. Our blessed Lord, our blessed
God, great and glorious in power and majesty, Lord, we've already
sung hymns to praise you and bless you, offer our thanks unto
you through the words that we sung this evening. But we do
pray, come thou almighty King, come among us. Oh Lord, come
down and visit us, visit this plantation, visit this vine,
renew it, strengthen it, give it life. meet the needs of every
heart, every home, and Lord Jesus, move in the midst of this body
of believers. Stir up hearts, stir up minds,
create a hunger and a thirst. Oh Lord, that doesn't seem to
exist, but in a few. But Lord, if they belong to you,
if they're truly your sheep, Lord, create in them a hunger,
create in them a thirst, create in them responsibility that they
have to the gospel, to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's not a
responsibility, it's just a privilege, it's such a blessing. And Lord,
I thank you for those that's gathered out tonight. Please
enable me to speak and be a blessing to them. And our blessed Savior,
be mindful of those among us who are sick. who are weak, who
are frail, not with us through your providence. And our Lord
Jesus, pray for my dear preacher brethren, pray for our families
lost and undone without you, without God, without Christ,
and without hope in this world. Oh, God, please, for Christ's
sake, meet their needs. Amen and amen. Hymn number 388. Have thine own way, Lord, have
thine own way. Thou art the Goddard, I am the
clay. Hold me and make me after Thy
will While I am waiting, yielded and still Have thine own way, Lord, have
thine own way Search me and try me, Master, today Whiter than snow, Lord, wash
me just now, As in Thy presence humbly I bow. Have thine own way, Lord Have
thine own way Wounded and weary Help me, I pray Power of power Touch me and heal me, Savior
divine Have Thine own way, Lord Have
Thine own way O Lord, my being, absolute strength with thy spirit, till all shall
see Christ only, always living in thee. All right, look back here with
me, and what I want to preach this evening is the message that
Peter preached to Cornelius. You remember the description
of Cornelius, how he was a centurion of the Italian band. God gave
him a vision for Simon Peter to come, and he waited for him
to come so he could hear what this man, God commanded him to
say to him. And you know, they both had to
be prepared. Peter had to be prepared to go
to preach to Gentile. Cornelius had to be prepared
to hear the gospel, to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you
know, when you look at his description, that's not why God saved him.
He saved him because he believed the gospel. And Peter said there
in verse 34, he said, I know this now, I know of a truth,
and I perceive and understand clearly that God is no respect
of persons. I thought the only people he
respected before was Jews. You know, salvation was other
Jews. That's why he had to have this great vision given to him
to make him go. He said, You know it's not lawful
for he that's a Jew to go unto another man of another nature,
much less in his house. And he said, Now I see God's
no respective person. And He is. He does not respect
anybody's person. The person He respects is His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you want to be accepted of
God, that's where you're going to have to go. And I tell you,
remember our Lord told Simon Peter, I give thee the keys.
Here he is, he's using them, and now he's going to come and
preach to Cornelius, and Cornelius is glad to see him, he's waiting
for him, he's got a house full of people to come and wait for
him. And he saw him coming, he ran out there and met him, fell
down before him, and Peter made him stand up, and he talked with
him, talked with him outside a while, and then the scripture
said they went in together, they went in the house, they went
in the house. So here Peter starts preaching
to him, starts preaching the gospel to him, and here's what
happens. You know, and here's the thing
about Cornelius, you know, Simon Peter's gospel, Cornelius' salvation. Look what it says here in verse
36, The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, God has
to send His word. And he had to send it to Israel.
He's preached peace by Jesus Christ, he's Lord of all. And
if God's got to send the word to them, he's got to send the
word to everybody. I mean, if he's gonna have it,
God's gotta be the one to send the word. You can't go get the
word, the word's gotta come where you are. And that's what's happening
here. And look what it says here now,
what he talks about. Here he starts preaching the
gospel. And he says, the word, verse 37. Now I want you to notice
this. The word, that word that God
sent under the children of Israel, preaching peace. How are you
gonna have peace with God? Through the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is Lord over all. That word, I say, you know, was
published. Where'd it start at? Where'd
it start at? Out in Judea. But it began in Galilee where
our Lord Jesus Christ was raised up. Our Lord preached His first
message. You can find it in Luke chapter
4. And our Lord preached His first
message and entered the public ministry in Galilee when He went
into a synagogue. And He quoted Isaiah 61, 1 through
3. And He quoted that and said,
This day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears. He started in Galilee
when Christ began to preach. That's when the word began to
be published. And how Christ published that
word. And oh my, look what else he went on to say now. And it
began after the baptism John preached. And John preached that
there's coming one after me. We'll deal with that Sunday morning.
And here's what he preached. Here's the message that he preached
to me. how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost
and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that
were oppressed of the devil. For God was with him." First
of all, I want you to notice what he said. God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth. God anointed You know, when our
Lord Jesus Christ was baptized, the scripture says that the heavens
opened, and the Holy Spirit came down on Him in the form of a
dove. So at that baptism, the Holy Ghost came down upon Him.
God anointed Him. Now, He anointed Jesus Christ.
Now, I want you to see something. You keep Acts chapter 10. Look
with me in Exodus 29. You know, when you talk about
anointing someone, When Aaron was anointed priest over Israel,
when they first started, the first thing they done, they poured
oil over his head. He had all of his garments on,
everything. That's why he said, you know, he said the oil anointing
went down over his beard. And so the anointing is head,
but when he anointed Christ, anointment means signifying,
anointing for someone for an office, anointing for an office.
And I'll tell you what, here in Acts, excuse me, Exodus 29
and verse 20, look what it says here. Well, I'm in the wrong place
myself. I'm in 28. I'll get there. And look what it says, Thou shalt
kill the ram, and take of his blood, now listen to this now,
and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon
the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of the
right hand, and upon the great toe of the right foot. And why does He do that? Well,
you've got to have an ear, your ear's got to be annoyed if you're
going to hear anything. If God's going to speak to you, you've
got to have anointed ear. You know, deaf ears can't hear. You've
got to be anointed ear. And Christ was anointed. He said,
I came down from heaven, and the only voice I listen to is
the voice of my Father. And then He says, put it on his
right thumb. You know, if you lose your thumb,
you lose your grip. And I tell you what, that anointed
thumb represents your whole hand, and all you do is anoint it. Without anointing, what you do
ain't worth nothing. And he said Christ's arm and
hand is anointed so that everything he did was perfect and absolutely
acceptable for God. And then on his right toe, You've
got to be anointed to walk before God. And Christ was anointed,
and He walked before God Almighty perfect. So that said that God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth. He anointed Him. And oil poured
upon His head. And over in Deuteronomy, and
I won't have you look over there, but you know what God said? Thou
shalt not anoint thyself. A lot of folks wanna do that,
you know, get the oil out and anoint themselves and all that,
you know, pour water over their own head or something, whatever,
but I tell you what, God said, don't do that, don't do that.
And then He says, you know, Jesus, and that word anointed, anointed
Him with His ear, His thumb, and His toe, oil poured on His
head. And anointed means, Christ means,
and the Messiah means the anointed one. And over in John, our Lord
Jesus Christ, it says, him God the Father hath sealed. Sealed. And what does it mean to be sealed?
Christ was sealed. That means he set his approval
on him. He sealed him to his office.
Sealed him to the work that he was gonna do. Sealed him, set
his approval upon him. And the Lord Jesus Christ, that
God anointed him that Peter was preaching, He said, He's the
Messiah. He's the Christ. He is the anointed
one. He's the one that God sealed.
He's the one that God approved of. He's the eternal son. And listen, God sealed him exclusively,
exclusively as the only savior of sinners. There's not another
savior. There's no other way for a man
to be saved than through Jesus Christ and Him alone. And God
will hear not, He won't even let God, let a man speak to Him
apart from Christ. And He certainly won't speak
to a man apart from Christ. And that's what He said, you
know, He's the Eternal Son. He exclusively sealed Him to
be the Savior. Sealed Him with glory. ABOVE
ALL OTHER GLORY, HE GETS ALL THE GLORY. WHOLE MAN DESERVES
NO GLORY WHATSOEVER. TO GOD BE THE GLORY THROUGH JESUS
CHRIST, THE SON. THEN LOOK WHAT ELSE IT SAYS THERE
IN VERSE 38, THEN HE ANOINTED HIM WITH THE HOLY GHOST, THE
HOLY GHOST. LIKE I ALREADY TOLD YOU, IT SAYS,
YOU KNOW, WHEN OUR LORD WAS BAPTIZED, THE SPIRIT OF GOD CAME DOWN IN
THE FORM OF A DOVE AND LIGHTED UPON HIM. Lie it upon him. And
I'll tell you what, and John said, there's coming one after
me, he's gonna, I'll baptize you with water, but he'll baptize
you with the Holy Ghost. And John 3 says this, that God
gave Christ the Spirit without measure. Everybody else just
had a measure of the Holy Spirit. All the prophets just had a measure.
John the Baptist just had a measure. Elijah just had a measure. Elisha
just had a measure. BUT WHEN GOD GAVE CHRIST THE
HOLY GHOST, HE GAVE IT TO HIM WITHOUT MEASURE. ALL THE POWER
OF GOD HIMSELF DWELT UPON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. AND IF WE,
IT WAS EVERYTHING OUR LORD DID, HE DID BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY
GHOST. AND OH MY, LOOK WHAT ELSE IT
SAYS NOW HERE. ANOINTED HIM WITH HOLY GHOST,
AND LISTEN TO THIS, WITH POWER. I was listening to Paul Mahan
to say today, preaching today, and he got off on this, Christ
having all power. That means all authority. When
we talk about power, that fellow right there has got some real
power. They say that means he's got
some authority. And you know who's got all authority and all
power in heaven and earth? God gave him all power in heaven. He gave him power over all flesh,
all flesh, lost flesh, saved flesh, dead flesh, living flesh,
rotten flesh, corrupt flesh, baby flesh, old man's flesh,
old woman's flesh, all flesh. Why? That if he gives eternal
life, he's the only one that's got the power to give it. That's
what he's talking about, huh? He gave him all power and all
authority over death. Ain't you glad of that? Oh my,
I was reading about a little dear sister today, and her woman
and her mother done gone and said, boy, mama entered into
life, real life. Mama did. And I tell you what,
and that's what happens. He said, He's got power over
death. I don't have it, but He does.
He has power over diseases, over creation, but I tell you
the most blessed power He has, and that's over sin. Huh? Oh, he has all power over sin. That's the most powerful thing
that works in our life is sin. And ain't you grateful that he's
got the power over sin. Power to put it away. Power to
keep it away. Power to forget it. We can't
forget it, but he does. So he was anointed. This is what
he's preaching to Cornelius now. Then look what he says down in the last part of the verse. He
said he was compassionate. And he says there in verse 38,
who went about doing good? He went about doing good. Oh
my. Oh, you know the only good, God
is the only one that's good, and if there's any good in man,
God put it in him. Oh, God is good. Do you have
any idea how good God is? People, you know, as a byword,
they say the good Lord, but oh my, God is good unto Israel. Our Lord went about, went about
while he was on this earth doing good. Doing good. And he's not on the earth now,
but by the Holy Spirit. And you know what he's still
doing? He's still doing good. He's still doing good. He's doing
good for me right now. I feel how good he is for me
right now. Felt good to get up this morning. I mean, I'm so
thankful. But oh, our Lord was moved. I want you to keep Acts
10. Look over here in Matthew 9 with
me. Oh, our Lord, you're talking about a so good, so good. Oh, what a blessed Savior we
have. Oh, our Lord was moved. I mean, He went about doing good.
Oh, so good. Look what it says here down in
verse 36. Matthew 9, 36. But when he saw
the multitudes, looked down and saw a big crowd, he was moved,
moved with compassion. Do you ever get your heart moved,
moved? No, it's moved. He is moved with
compassion. Oh, my. because they fainted."
And you look in the margin, you know what it says? They were
so tired, they laid down. So tired, so weary, they laid
down. And they were scattered abroad
as sheep having no shepherd. Our Lord looked at these people
and He was moved. He was moved in His heart of
hearts with tenderness because they were They were distressed. They were a prostate. They were
scattered abroad. And our Lord was moved, His heart. You know, we saw a family the other night.
It's miserable cold. And there's a man, I guess it's
his wife and a little boy and a child in a, in a, in a, what
them things called? Stroller? Put a baby in and push
him around. But I felt so sorry for him.
And if God helpin' us, if we see him again, we gotta stop
and say, listen, y'all need a place to go stay. Get out of this old
cold. You ever get to see somebody
and just get so moved? Well, that's the way our Lord
done. He looks at us. He looked at
us in our distress. No ability to get up. scattered
all over the world, scattered in our sin, scattered in our
corruption. And our Lord Jesus Christ looked
on us and was moved. Moved, bless his name, moved
with tenderness, with pity, with kindness, with compassion. And if he has compassion and
he's moved, he's got the ability to do something about it. sheep scattered abroad. He said,
I'll gather them. They won't be scattered anymore.
I'll gather them. I'll gather them. Oh my, we can
never, never fully comprehend the depth of the goodness that
was in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us he was touched. He's touched with the feelings
of our infirmity. And you know how you can best
describe that, how it was in the scripture? That woman with
issue of blood touched him. He felt that. Felt her infirmity. And just by touching him, her
infirmity was healed. Lepers came to him and touched
him. And they were healed. Oh, he
was touched with the feelings of our infirmity. You know what? Misery, misery is the object
of mercy. Object of mercy. Oh, his whole
life was one of doing good. Doing good. Sinless. Seeing the sinfulest. Touching
the sinfulness, healing the sinfulness, saving the sinfulness. Open the
eyes of the blind. Clearing the heads of people
in confusion. Giving new hearts to people that
had old dead hearts. Giving hands that loves to reach
out and touch the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, then look what
else it says here in verse 38. healing all that were oppressed
of the devil. He was the mighty one, healing
all that was possessed, oppressed of the devil. You know what 1
John 3 says? He was manifest, manifest, this
is why he was manifest, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3. And this he was manifest
to destroy the works of the devil. And you know, he did destroy
his work. He did destroy his work, comforted
him, comforted, comforted him and defeated him. You know, it
said in Genesis 3, 15, God said, I'm going to take, said, you
know, the seed of the woman is going to crush your head, crush
your head. And you're gonna bruise his heel.
He gonna crush the head of Satan. Christ gonna be bruised on the
cross. But oh my. And I tell you, beloved, the
devil, the devil is the cruelest, cruelest oppressor. Oh, what
an oppressor he is. He oppresses men with darkness. Oh, such darkness. doubts, hopelessness,
deceitfulness. He deceives men into thinking
that they're right when they're absolutely wrong. He deceives
men into a false righteousness, a false hope, a false idea of
what sin is, a false idea of what works is, a false idea,
a deception of the love of God and the goodness of God. And
I tell you what, he affects the mind. Affects the heart, he affects
man's future. But our Lord not only delivers
him, but heals him a staggering, staggering blow. Remember that Gadarian maniac? Crazy, I mean crazy. If he had
lived today, they'd had him in a nuthouse somewhere, chained
up in a room. He'd still been trying to be
chained. But our Lord, he lived out in the graveyard. Lived among the dead. And our
Lord Jesus Christ came up there one day and saw that maniac.
I mean, he was a maniac. Crazy, crazy nuts. Our Lord went up there and walked
right up to him. Nobody else wouldn't even get
close to him. Then they said, well, let's sneak up on him while
he's asleep and let's chain him up. He'd go back the next morning,
all them chains would be broken, he'd be still running around.
Run naked all the time, just awful. And our Lord walked right
up to him. Cast out them devils, and the
scripture said, clothed him in his right mind, closed him in
his right mind. Anybody that ain't trusting Christ
just don't have a right mind, I'm telling you. They don't have
a right mind. And Lord, he said he put him
in his right mind and then he was closed and in his right mind. And you know where the next place
you see him at? Sitting beside Christ. That's the way I was. That's
the way I was. That's the way the Lord had to
do me. He had to come and had to close me in my right mind. Close me in my right mind. Oh
my. And you all know the story very,
very wrong. He said a strong man's arm keeps
his goods and keeps his goods until a stronger man comes upon
him. And as strong man armed is the
devil, and he's got all his goods, his lies, and all his deception,
and all of his deceits, and all of the things that he uses, lies,
and false messages. And the stronger man comes up
on him and defeats him, and takes all of his spoils. Takes all
of his spoils. And then look what it says there
in the last part of verse 38. God was with him. God was with him. Nicodemus says,
Lord, no man can do the things you do except God be with him.
And that's what Peter said in the next verse. He said, and
we are witnesses. And what did he say? Witnesses
of all things which he did. We just didn't see him, but we
witnessed everything he did. We witnessed what he did when
he was in the land of the Jews, when he was in Jerusalem, in
Nazareth, in Galilee, in Capernaum, in Tyre, wherever he was at.
He said, we saw what he did. We witnessed it. We witnessed
it. And oh my. Then look what it
says then. Then in verse 39, it said, not
only was he the mighty one, but he was the suffering one. Oh,
he healed all the predest of the devil. He had the might and
the power to do it. But he was also the suffering
one. There in verse, we're witnesses of all things what he did both
in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. Listen to this, whom
they slew and hanged on a tree. See, you can't preach Christ
without preaching his cross. You can't preach Christ without
preaching his word. You can't preach Christ without
preaching that he's Jesus of Nazareth, the anointed one of
God. But he was the suffering. They
slew him. You talking about plain, brutal language. Watch what it
says there. They slew him. Slew him. Here's a man alive. A man alive. Can't find a fault in him. Sinless
perfection. Went about doing good. And all
of a sudden they said, I want him dead. I'm gonna kill
him. I'm gonna kill him. They slew him. Oh, my brutal
anguish. He had compassion on others.
But no one showed any compassion to him. He delivered others. But he could not be delivered
himself. Why was he slain? Peter said
he was once offered for our sins, the just for the unjust, and
this is why that he might bring us to God. Why did he suffer? As a corn of wheat falls into
the ground and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies, it brings
forth much fruit. And our Lord Jesus Christ, why
did he suffer? God laid on him the iniquity
of us all. He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquity. The Lord made his soul an offering
for sin. And I'll tell you something about
wicked men. Tell you something about wicked men. And I could
identify with this, till God in his sovereign mercy saved
me. Wicked men began to slay our Lord Jesus Christ in their
hearts, in their words, by their actions, long, long, long before
they actually put him on the tree. In their hearts and in their
minds, they already killed him. Their words already killed him.
You know, our Lord said, if you have hatred in your heart, it's
like murdering a man. It's like murdering a man. I
certainly don't want to murder anybody, do you? And then, oh, look what else
it says about him. Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, the risen one. Look what
it says. Verse 40, him God raised up the
third day. It showed him openly. They slew him, they hung him
on a tree, but it was not possible that death should hold him. Oh,
God raised him up, raised him up the third day. You know, when
a judge sentences a man to prison, and the law sentences him to
prison, When he served that sentence, then they got to let him go.
Well, our Lord Jesus Christ served the sentence, the sentence of
death for our sin, for our shame, for our guilt, for our rebellion,
for everything that we was, Christ, the judge of all the earth, sentenced
him by the law to death. But because it was not for anything
he done in six hours on that cross, our Lord Jesus Christ
was able, able, able to bear the weight of all of our sin,
all of our guilt, all of our shame, all of our punishment,
and the eternity of our sin of every one since Adam to the end
of this world. Oh my. You know, because of the
worth of His blessed person, because how precious He was in
His sinless perfection, by the virtue of how glorious He was,
in six hours He was able to endure everything, every sin that He
died for, He's able to bear it and the punishment for it in
six hours. that would took eternity. You know why he could do it in
six hours? Because of who he was. I mean, you couldn't even
bear your own sin, but he bore all of it. Oh my, I want you
to look over here in Romans 8 with me. Look in Romans 8. You're
gonna love this. You're gonna love this. Oh my. That's why God raised him because
he'd done everything that God required for him. Look down in
verse 832. Down in verse 32. He that spared not his own son
did not spare him, never had any mercy on him, never gave
him anything when he was on that cross. God didn't spare his son. BUT DELIVERED HIM UP, DELIVERED
HIM TO THE CROSS, DELIVERED HIM TO SINFUL MEN'S HANDS, DELIVERED
HIM UP TO JUSTICE, DELIVERED HIM UP TO WRATH, FOR US ALL,
NOW LISTEN TO THIS, IF HE DELIVERED HIM UP, HOW SHALL HE NOT WITH
HIM ALSO FREELY, FREELY, FREELY GIVE US ALL THINGS? NOW THIS
IS WHAT I, SO SINCE CHRIST, GOD DIDN'T SPARE HIM, And He delivered
Him up for us all. Since He raised Him from the
dead, why is He not going to give us freely? The next verse
says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God justifies. Do you know where
He justified them at? When He raised Christ from the
dead. He was delivered for our offenses, raised for our justification. The judge of all the earth came,
came, and raised him up. You serve the sentence, you're
free to go and everybody you represent is free to go. Oh my,
what will he do? How shall he treat those who
refuse his son and his salvation? Because the scripture said he
showed him openly. And look what it says now in
verse 44, not to everybody, not to everybody, but under witnesses
chosen. We're witnesses now. We were
chosen. Oh my. Chosen before of God. Oh my. Eat and drink with Him. And he
commanded us to preach the gospel, preach to the people and testify.
This is what he's talking about. Testify that the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's the exalted one. God raised him up and testified
that he's ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and
the dead. Now, what does that mean? That means, and what I
think it means, is those that are living, he has to quicken
us, those that he's given life to, and those that are dead,
dead in trespass and sin, he's judge over both of them. He's
the one that, he's only one that can quick us, and he's the judge
of those that he gave life to, and he's the judge of those that
he hasn't. He's judge over all, judge over the whole earth. And
I tell you what, be thankful that he's got the, he's the one
with all the power and all the authority. Oh, we don't see one
at God's right hand who is weak, helpless, or mean, or hard, or
cruel. When we see Him on His throne
and the end comes, He'll be seen as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
And then look what else He says, last of all. He's the only, only
Savior, the universal Savior. Verse 43, to Him, TO HIM ALL THE PROPHETS' WITNESS,
GIVE ALL THE PROPHETS' WITNESS THAT THROUGH HIS NAME, THAT THROUGH
HIS NAME, WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL RECEIVE REMISSION
OF SINS. WHO BELIEVES ON HIM? FAITH IS
NOT AN ISOLATED ACT OR AN EXPERIENCE, BUT IT'S UNAVOIDABLE. IF YOU
BELIEVE ON CHRIST, IT'S Your sins are gonna be gone. Remission means annulment. It
means forgiveness. Payment's been made. The debt's
discharged. Oh my. And that's what all the
prophets witnessed too. And this is the gospel of all
ages. To him, they give witnesses.
And then Peter went on to say, let me hurry up and quit. While
Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them which
heard the word. This never happened before to
Gentiles. And they of the circumcision,
they heard the word, and faith come with that word, and the
Holy Ghost fell on them. Salvation come, and they which
are of the circumcision, the Jews that were with Peter, were
astonished. This is unbelievable! Because on the Gentiles, all
wars were poured out the GIFT of the Holy Ghost. And how did
they know? For they heard them speak with
tongues. What language do you reckon they heard them speak?
Well, these are Gentiles. They start speaking Hebrew. You
know, they had to speak something them other fellows understood.
They don't speak in tongues that people can't understand. EVERYBODY
HEARD THEM SPEAK IN TONGUES ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST, EVERYBODY
HEARD THEM SPEAK IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE. THESE FELLAS HEARD
THESE FELLAS, THEY UNDERSTOOD WHAT THESE FELLAS WERE SAYING.
THIS WASN'T NO ONE GIBBERISH OR JABBERISH. NO, NO. AND I TELL YOU WHAT, AND THEN
HE SAYS, AND THEY HEARD THEM SPEAK WITH TONGUES AND MAGNIFY
GOD. THAT'S WHAT THEY DID WITH THEIR
TONGUES, THEY PRAISED GOD ALMIGHTY. AND PETER SAID, LISTEN, WOULD
ANYBODY HERE DARE TO SAY THESE FELLAS IS NOT Fit to be baptized? Anybody here want to forbid them
being baptized? That's what he said. Oh my. And he commanded them to be baptized.
They said, here, stay with us for just a little while. Stay
with us for just a little while. Oh, the gospel don't ever change.
Starts with Jesus Christ, whom God anointed. Oh, our blessed, blessed Savior,
thank you for meeting with us tonight. Thank you for your gospel.
Thank you for your word. Your word is so powerful for
me, to me, so real, so vital, life-giving, life-giving. It
stirs up our hearts, stirs up our mind. And Lord, bless this
word to the hearts and minds of them that's gathered out here
tonight. Please use it to your glory. Use it to your glory and
as seemeth good in your sight. Keep these dear saints and bless
them as they go their way. And those that are listening,
please have mercy on them and bless them for Christ's sake.
Amen. Amen. Reach out and touch the
Lord as he passes by. You'll find Too busy to hear
your heart's cry. He's passing by this moment,
your needs to supply. Reach out and touch the Lord
as he goes by. See you Sunday, God willing.
Don Bell
About Don Bell
Don Bell is the current pastor of Lantana Grace Church in Crossville, TN.
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