Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 16. The name of the message is God's
Heart Surgery. God's Heart Surgery. My oh my,
I think you know where I'm going, don't you? Isn't it wonderful? Oh my. Acts chapter 16, let's stand
up and read verses six to 10. This will be the setting of what
we're gonna look at, which is Lydia's conversion. And the Lord
opened her heart. He gave her heart surgery, beloved.
He gave her heart surgery. Oh, spiritual heart surgery.
Okay, let's stand up and read verses six to 10. And please,
before, forgive me if I mispronounce some of these cities, okay? Now when they had gone through
Pergia, in the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy
Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mycenae,
they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them
not. And they, passing Mycenae, came down to Troas, And a vision
appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia,
and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help
us. And after he had seen the vision,
immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called for us to preach the gospel unto
them. Oh, my. Yeah, he said, Come help
us. What does Paul take to them,
beloved? The gospel. That's the only, that's the one
needful thing, isn't it? You know, people go here and
they do all these programs and they do all these things and
all these, they do puppet shows and all this stuff. What's the
one thing needful? The gospel. The gospel. My, oh my. And I'm all for helping
people, like you help them build something, that's fine. But don't
take the gospel and make it into a puppet show. Oh my, come on. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. And I try to preach the gospel
like Henry Mahan said. And I'll never forget what you
told me Connor said when I first got here. He said, I can understand
him. I try to preach on a level that
even a little kid will understand what I'm saying. That's what Henry did, and it
was amazing. He just preached the gospel so
clearly and plainly, and that's what I strive to do every time
I preach a message. Now, I'll hit some things that'll
feed everyone, Lord willing, but even if I don't, the gospel's
what's most important. Right? The gospel. And we need
to hear it over and over again, don't we? Now, I'd like to stress
the God-honoring truth once again, before we get into this message
that God, our God, is sovereign over all, whether people believe
it or not. People say, well, I don't believe
God's sovereign. It don't matter, He's sovereign. What we think
don't matter, does it? Like in our opinions. Our opinions
don't matter. What does the scripture say?
It says Jesus Christ is the King of King and Lord of Lords. He's
God over all, right? over all. It says God created
the heaven and the earth, period. God did that. There wasn't some
asteroid that hit the earth, and God created the heaven and
the earth. That's it. And look at how complex we are
as human beings. When you look into the human
body and see the complexities of the human body, or even what
you told me, Brother Tom, when you look into a beehive, you
see intelligent design. In our eye alone, they say, our
eye alone is a wonder. There's intelligent design. It's
absolutely incredible. Our God, first and foremost,
it's a God honoring truth, is sovereign over all. He's sovereign. So I'd like to lay that out.
He's sovereign and he's in control. This world's not spinning around
and things in the world aren't spinning according to the devil's
will or according, it's happening according to God's will. People I remember when I was
in religion say, oh, tornado hit. Oh, Satan must have just
let that thing fly. No. He's not in control of those
things. God is. God is in control. Satan is on the leash. You know
that? How do we know that? Remember
Pilgrim's Progress? You ever read that? If you're
not read it, I'll tell you a story. There's a time when Pilgrim,
he's walking, he's walking on this path, and he comes up, and
there's these two lions. And he don't know they're chained.
And as he's walking, they go, rah! They try to get him, and
whoop! They're on a chain. Now, we're
no match for the enemy, but our God is sovereign. I like what
Henry used to say, he's God's devil, right? Our King is in control,
beloved. So let us keep this in mind as
we see what happens here. There's some pretty incredible
things that are gonna happen here. And remember, our God,
the same sovereign God calls and equips his people to either
be preachers or teachers, just believers too, right? We are
all ultimately just believers. We've talked about it. There's
no hierarchy in this church. I'm called the preach, but I'm
a servant first and foremost. Do you know that? A preacher
is a servant of the church. So are the deacons. We're all
servants of Christ, aren't we? But first and foremost, the preacher
is a servant to the body. Right? And we serve God by preaching
the gospel, by being with you, going through trials and tribulations
with you. bearing one another's burdens.
It's a labor of love, beloved. It's a labor, but it's a labor
of love. It's amazing. So God calls and
equips men for preaching the gospel of the risen, exalted
God-man. And remember this too, God holds
the keys to every door that he opens for us to tell people about
Christ. Boy, that takes the pressure
off, doesn't it? It does. God opens the door for
us to proclaim Christ. God opened the door for me to
come here. You ever think of that? He moved Bill back to Georgia,
he moved Jim to 13th Street, and he moved me from Oregon out
to here. And here we are 10 years later
almost. But it's all by God's will. And we're gonna see in
this portion, God moving Paul and Silas to where he wants them
to be. We just know now Timothy's with
them, right? We found that out in our previous
studies. Now Timothy's with them. And
by his divine providence, he opens and closes doors. He places
his people where he wants to place them. He sends his preachers
to where he wants them to be. And he sends them there when
it pleases him to do so. So let us rejoice over the fact
that God has an appointed time for his chosen people, too, to
hear the gospel. It's called in the Old Testament,
the time of love. We find out that God's loved
us with an everlasting love. That's amazing. And we find out our salvation's
not dependent upon us. It's all dependent upon Christ
and his perfect, perfect, perfect sin-atoning work. His death on Calvary was a perfect
work. He fulfilled the law in the room
and place of his people. He didn't abolish the law, but
he sure fulfilled it, didn't he? Every jot and tittle. It doesn't condemn us anymore
because Christ died in our room and place. We were married to the law at
one time, slaves to it. Now we're married to Christ. Married to another, the scripture
says. Oh, my. Now, after the church's He went
back through, remember he went, last week we saw he went back
to the place he was stoned, he went back to Lystia and Derbe,
and he preached the gospel. And Paul and Sias went through
Pergaea in the region of Galatia, preaching the grace of God in
Christ. We see that in verse six. Now
when they had gone through Pergaea in the region of Galatia, and
look at this, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the
word in Asia. Hmm. That's incredible. They wanted to carry the good
news of the gospel into Asia, but it wasn't time. It wasn't God's timing. Now, you know who God did send
there? Hudson Taylor. Sent him to China. And there
was a great revival. And did you know Hudson Taylor
and George Mueller and C.H. Spurgeon were all friends? And
whenever Hudson Taylor came back from furlough, they would get
together. Oh, it's amazing, beloved. But
at this time, we see they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to
preach the word in Asia. My, oh my. The Holy Spirit didn't
give them the liberty to do so. So, they traveled to Malaysia,
or Mycenae, and they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit
of God closed the door again. We see that in verse 7, look
at this. After they were come to Mycenae, they escaped to go
into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not again. It wasn't God's time. It wasn't God's time. And following
the direction of God's providence and the leadership of the Holy
Spirit, Paul and his companions, we see in verse 8, came down
to Troyes, all according to the will of
God. And in the evening, as Paul was seeking God's direction for
his ministry, a vision was given to him. He saw a man from Macedonia
standing before him, saying, come over into Macedonia and
help us. Well, how can a preacher help folks by preaching the gospel? Right? And Paul took this call to be
from God, which it was. In Acts 16.10, Paul earnestly
sought the will of God, and now he knew it. God had called him
to preach the gospel to the perishing men and women of Macedonia. And we see in verses 11 and 12
of Acts 16 that immediately, immediately, he went to Philippi,
which was the first city he could get to in Macedonia. Remember,
the first European city, as we've seen in our study in the book
of Philippians. Look at, let's read verse 11
and 12. Therefore, loosing from Troyes, We came with a straight
course to Samothyrrhachia, and the next day to Neapolis. And from thence to Philippi,
which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony,
and we were in that city abiding certain days. And remember the
history of Philippi that we saw at the beginning of our study?
It was a Roman city. It was a Roman city. When Paul
talks to the Philippians about citizenship, they would have
understood that because Roman citizenship was a privilege,
high privilege. Now remember, we have an even
higher citizenship than our country that we live in. It's in heaven. We're citizens of heaven, beloved.
Scripture says we seek a better country. Now, to have U.S. citizenship is very much a privilege,
isn't it? And all the privileges of that
citizenship are yours. Mine is Canadian. Now, as a permanent resident,
I have some of the rights that you guys have, but not all of
them. I can't vote. And I can be sent home This is
your home. My oh my, this is my home now
too. Oh my, but you guys have the
privileges of citizenship. So Rome, this was the first Roman
city that he's going to. The first city of, not Roman
city, the first city in Europe. Philippi. And it was called Little
Rome because it was a very influential city. And look at that. It was a colony.
It was a colony of Rome. And we were in that city abiding
certain days. Now, when Paul was there, he
then went to a certain place in that city. where he was most
likely to get a hearing, and God led him there, didn't he?
Well, we see in verse 13 that there's a gathering of women.
Oh, this is wonderful. The gathering of women, look
at verse 13. And on the Sabbath, we went out
of the city by a riverside. where prayer was wont to be made,
and we sat down and spake unto the woman that resorted to thither.
Now, did they know, when they planned this meeting, did they
know that Paul was gonna be there? They didn't have a clue, did
they? When they planned this meeting,
were they thinking, oh, someone's gonna preach the gospel to us? No, but one of God's sheep is
there, isn't it? Her name is Lydia. And she must hear the gospel,
right? Because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God. She must be born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, and the instrument that he uses to bring people
to Christ, his lost sheep, is the preaching of the word by
his almighty power. So she must, did Lydia wake up
that morning and go, oh, I'm gonna be saved, I'm gonna pray
a prayer. Nope. She thought, oh, she probably
thought, oh, there's a meeting, we're going to go together, they
planned something to get together, I'm going to go there, and we're
going to have a wonderful time. She didn't know it was her time
of love, did she? She didn't know that God from
eternity had planned and purposed the salvation of her soul. My oh my. She had no idea that
that little prayer meeting was her divine appointment. To hear
the gospel. Isn't it amazing how God works?
Do you notice God sent a preacher, didn't he? God sent a preacher. Not to tell
her 50 ways how to live a better Christian life. But God sent her a preacher to
preach the gospel to her. It's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. And notice, too, that Paul didn't
stop in Philippi and do deputation work and say, oh, I need to raise
money. I'm on a mission trip, and I need to raise money, or
I'm going to continue going here. I need some more money. You know,
oh, yuck, you know, we need this. He didn't do any of that. He
didn't hold an event, a tent event, and try to get all these
people to come. He's a tent maker. He could have
made a big tent, couldn't he? He didn't do any of that. Oh my. Eric was telling me that
there's a missionary he wants to support, but they're so tied
up in all these board things that they gotta do and all that. This guy just wants to preach
the gospel. Preach? Let it fly. Let it fly, beloved. My, oh my. Oh my. Yeah, he didn't get approval
from a mission board, did he? He's sent by God, beloved. To
what? To preach the gospel. That's what's most important.
The church at Antioch had sent him out. Where do missionaries get sent
out from biblically? From the church. Out they go. I remember when
we first met Don and Donny, and first time we met them at rescue,
Don Fortner and Donny Bell and Milton Howard and Gene Harmon. And we had just started a work
in Oregon, Central Point, Oregon. And they said, is there anything
you need? Do you need a paper or anything to make anybody happy?
And I said, no. We've got a little group gathering
together. And they said, well, you have our blessing. And so
they really sent us out. Sent out by the church. Sent
out by God's people. My oh my. And when Paul got to that place, he knew it was his responsibility
to preach the gospel to perishing sinners, right? In Macedonia. And that's the one thing he knew.
He says this in 1 Corinthians 9, 16. He says, for though I
preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory in. For necessity is
laid upon me, yea, woe unto me if I preach not the gospel. He
had to preach Christ. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
2. Paul, again by inspiration of
the Holy Spirit of God, pens these words in 1 Corinthians
2, verses 2 to 5. And I love this. And nobody says
I'm, he didn't say I'm determined to go out and do these things
in the community, which we should be involved in the community,
right? The community should get to know
us. I love, I go over to McDonald's and they're all, hey Wayne, how
you going? Hey Wayne! But it's taken years, right? To be talking
to people, to be part of the community. It's wonderful, I
love it. But that's how it's supposed
to be. And look at this. Look at this.
Look what Paul says here. This is incredible. For I am
determined not to know anything among you. Now remember, I think
Paul was a genius. I really do. I think his mind
was, remember he had studied the law of Moses. He knew the
law of Moses better than the Jews did. He was a Pharisee of
Pharisees. But he said, I count all that
but done. But now he's got all that information. He can turn
it around now, can't he? And I think, I really do, I think
he had an incredible mind. But think of this, this man,
he could have went toe-to-toe with, I think, with anyone. About
debating and all that stuff. And I love talking, I love talking
theology. But theology, you know, theology
is about God, but, but I can't come up here and
preach to you in theological words that I might have to look
up or you might not understand. Paul said, and notice Paul, he
spoke very plainly. Even our Lord, the Lord, the
King of kings and the Lord of lords spoke in one and two syllable
words. I'm the way, the truth and the
life. My, I'm not saying that we shouldn't
study that stuff. I'm just saying that sometimes
it's hard for people to understand. Like the hypostatic union. I
love the, I love the hypostatic union. You know what it is? It's
God and man. So why can't we just say the
God-man? Right? First time I heard hypostatic
union, I had to go look it up. I didn't know what the fellow
was talking about. I'm gonna be honest with you.
Just tell me about Christ. Tell me about my Redeemer. Tell
me about my King. And look what Paul says here.
I am determined. He's determined. This means he's
set. He's set. He's set to do this. This man could talk about anything.
Look at this. For I am determined among you.
not to know anything among you, saved Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear." He's just like us. He struggles the same things
we struggle with, beloved. See, these characters aren't
super-Christians. They're fellow sinners saved
by the grace of God. I was with you in weakness and
fear and in much trembling. And my speech, look at this.
Now this is amazing. Oh my. We were at a church before
I was called to preach. And this fella, he could have
been like a seminary professor. But we had to go home and look
up half the things he was talking about. Bring it to my level. Tell me
about Christ. I love hearing that stuff, but
tell me about Christ first and foremost. And look, here's my
example. As a preacher, look at this.
You don't have to worry about my speech being high-minded,
because I'm just a Canadian boy. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. He didn't use all
this stuff. Look at this, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power, that your face should not stand in
the wisdom of man. Look at that. Remember when we went to lunch
with those fellas and those young kids, we went to dinner with
the pastor and they had these young kids that they were discipling. Young adults, yeah, young adults.
And they were trying to outdo each other with what they knew.
And Vicki and I were sitting there just going, yeah, we knew what they were
talking about, but just the bravado and the, I know more than you. What do we always say? Humility
leads to unity. Let this mind be in you that
was in Christ. God became a man and humbled
himself and spoke in two- and three-syllable words to us. Isn't that amazing? Look at this. It goes on, that
your face should not stand in wisdom of man, but in the power
of God. Oh my. Like again, I'm not talking
down the people who want to use those things. I just look at
Paul and I rejoice that he bought it home. He bought it to where
we could understand it. And here's the Macedonian call,
beloved. Come over and help us. What's the one thing needful
for men and women? Christ. Christ. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. When Adam fell, we fell with
him. We need to be saved. We need a redeemer. We can't
save ourselves from any of our sins. I ask you, can you pay
for one of your sins? Just one. I can't. I'm bankrupt. But in Christ, I have everything.
I'm the richest man in the world. Do you know if you're in Christ,
you're richer than Bill Gates and all those other guys out
there with all that money? We are richer individually in
Christ than anyone else in this world who's not saved. Oh, it's wonderful. But here's
the Macedonian call. Come over and help us. And Paul's
response, I'm going to preach the gospel. I'm going to preach
the gospel. And Paul and those who were traveling
with him were men filled with the Holy Spirit of God. They
were born again by the power of God the Holy Spirit. They
were washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
their sins were forgiven because of the sacrifice of Christ. And
we see that their desire was to go and preach Him to a lost
and dying world. He says, I'm determined not to
preach anything among you but Christ. My oh my, that gets me excited. It's wonderful. My oh my. And he opened the door, didn't
he? God opened the door, right? God opened the door for him to
go to Macedonia. They had attempted to go into
Asia, but the Holy Spirit closed the door. Oh my. Then they went to Mycenae,
and then they attempted to go into Bithynia. Again, the Holy
Spirit closed the door. But he opened the door into Macedonia,
didn't he? We're going to see later on in
our studies, I've mentioned this a few times, I'm going to mention
it again. We're going to see later on in the book of Acts,
that before Paul even preaches, the Lord tells him, go into that
city, because I have much people in that city. He's got a lost sheep, doesn't
he, Brother Brian, in Macedonia, in Philippi, who must hear the
gospel preached because she was redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ
when he died on Calvary's cross. And it's her time of love. It's
not the time of love for the saints in Asia at this time,
but there will. The gospel will go there. Oh, my beloved. Remember, out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, God has a people.
Isn't that exciting? That's exciting, I'll tell you.
So it was God's will for him to go to Philippi, and there
he goes. There he goes. The will of God's
been made known to Paul and his fellow companions. And what do
we do? When we have a situation that
we're uncertain of things, what are we to do? We're to wait on
the Lord. We're to wait on the Lord. We waited a year, remember,
before we came. Because the Lord hadn't opened
the door yet. Hadn't opened. But when he opened
the door, we were here. Isn't that amazing? And when Paul and his company
came down to Troas, God revealed his will, and in he went. Look at verses 11 to 12 again.
Therefore, loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course
to Samothyricia, and the next day to Neapolis, and from thence
to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia,
and a colony, and we were in that city abiding certain days. My, oh my. Troyes was a city
that had been built on the coast of a narrow sea that divided Asia from Europe. We see these faithful servants
of the Most High God, having had God's will revealed to them,
made manifest to them, took a ship that took them on a straight
course to Samothyricia, and they spent the night there. But again, they're not on a sightseeing
mission, are they? They're not saying, well, we're
here, let's go see the city. Let's go look around. Let's stay
a few days. No, they're on a mission, aren't
they? They're sent by God. They're sent by God. God was sending them to the place
where he wanted them to preach the gospel. So the next day they
went to Neapolis, and from there they went to Philippi, which
again is the chief city of that part of Macedonia. It was a colony of Rome, and
they were in that city certain days. We're not told how long,
but certain days. And you know what? Those certain days, every
day was according to God's will and purpose. And think of that,
they were in there to the exact time that they would go to the
river. You ever think of that? You see how God, every minute
little thing is purposed by God. They didn't leave 10 minutes
early or 10 minutes late. They left and they didn't even
know it, but they left on God's perfect timing. And they arrived at the destination
that God had sent them to. And they waited for the Lord
to open the right doors. Look at verse 13 again. And on
the Sabbath day, we went out of the city by a riverside, where
prayer was wont to be made. And we sat down and spake unto
the woman which resorted, We see in verse 13 that Paul
and those traveling with him waited until the Sabbath day. Oh my. And all of them were led
by God the Holy Spirit to go out of the city where some Jewish
women were assembled together having a prayer meeting. And what did they do when they
got there? They preached the gospel, didn't
they, Brother Brian? They preached the gospel. Oh my. They began to preach the
gospel, and it was at this place where the minds of the women,
they were already thinking on spiritual things, weren't they? You know, God's, the soil of
God's people's heart is tilled. It's a prepared soil. Remember
in the scripture, and the seed fell on the prepared ground.
Who prepares it? God, the Holy Spirit. Prepares it to receive the word. Which is the gospel of salvation
in and through Christ alone. Lydia's heart was prepared by
the Holy Spirit. even before she heard the gospel
preached. We're gonna find out. She's from
Thyatira. She's from Asia. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Do you think
she's going to go back eventually to Thyatira and tell people about
Christ? She is, isn't she, Brother Tom?
She sure is. Oh my goodness. At the appointed
time of God's love, Jesus Christ our Lord was about to be revealed
to this lady. And you notice too in the text,
a certain woman in verse 14, a certain distinction. There's
a distinction there. God doesn't save everybody, but
he saves his people for whom Christ died. A certain, and haven't
we been seeing that word through the book of Acts? A certain man.
Isn't that a certain woman now? And sometimes we don't even get
the name, but here we get the name. Lydia. Oh my. God's going to do spiritual
heart surgery on her. Yes. She going to that river dead
in trespasses and sins, but having an interest in things, spiritual
things. And she's gonna leave born again by the Holy Spirit
of God with a new heart that hungers and thirsts after righteousness.
And that new heart comes about by the circumcision made without
hands. We're gonna see it's an operation
of God, not of man. Oh my, put your finger in Colossians
chapter two, but stay right here where we are for now though.
Put your finger in Colossians two. Because we're gonna go right
there after. I'm gonna read Acts 16, 14, and
then we're gonna go to Colossians 2 after that. And we're gonna
see what's gonna happen to Lydia. Look at verse 14. And a certain
woman named Lydia, a certain woman, she wanted God's lost
sheep. She doesn't know it. She's just
got an interest in spiritual things now. She's a heathen. She was. right here. All right? Oh my. My oh my. Look at verse 14. And a certain
woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, that's how she makes
her living, that's how she survives, of the city of Thyatira, which
again is in Asia, which worshiped God heard us. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. How shall they hear without a
preacher? Well, God sends a preacher, doesn't
he? Oh my, I love this. One second,
she's not hearing. She's religious. And the next
second, she's hearing something. That's why I get excited when
someone starts to show an interest in Christ. Donny Bell and I always
just say, in Norm 2 we say, they heard something. They heard something. Oh my. Look at this. Who heard
us, now she did hear him through her ears, but now she's hearing
the message with spiritual ears. Look at this. Whose heart the
Lord opened. Born again. Just like, did she walk an aisle? I had friends of mine over across
the road, I see them at McDonald's in the morning, and I've asked
several of them, I've said, if you can find me anywhere, where
the apostle Paul or any of the disciples in the book of Acts
says to someone, bow your head and repeat this prayer and now
you're saved. It's not in the scriptures. Now,
do we cry out to God? Of course we do. We confess Christ,
don't we? But there's not a formula that
man follows. Notice God opened her heart. If we're born-again, blood-washed
believers, God opened our hearts, beloved. And I'm so thankful
he did. I'm so thankful that he revealed
himself to us and to me. Oh, I'm so thankful. My, oh my. Whose heart the Lord opened,
and then what? That she attended unto the things which were spoken
of. She believed. Why do we rejoice? Why do we
rejoice? Why, beloved, when we hear the
gospel, Sister Karen, when we hear the gospel in Brother Travis,
why do we get so excited? Why does it warm our hearts?
Because God's given heart surgery. We've had heart surgery done
to us. Sister Mercy, there was a time we didn't want nothing
to do with the gospel. Now, tell me, tell me more. We're new creatures, aren't we,
sister? We're new creatures in Christ. Isn't it amazing? Isn't it incredible? God saved us. Sister Barb, God saved us from
all our sins. We're redeemed and washed in
the precious blood of Christ. And God opened our hearts, just
like He opened Lydia's heart. My. All by His, I love it how it
says here, and God opened her heart. Not mad, she didn't make
a decision. Now, Vicki and I were talking
about this today, and I love this, or not, it was this week
we were talking about how we don't deny that we run to Christ. We don't deny that we willingly
come to Christ. Just God's got to open our hearts.
Now, someone says, someone says to me, well, I'm worried about
that I'm not one of the elect of God. Do you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ? Is He your Savior? Is He your
all in all? Well, that's a good indication,
if you can say yes, that you're one of the elect of God. Did we believe like that? Did we have faith in Christ before
we were saved? No. It's all about us, wasn't
it? Now it's all about Him. God takes rebels, I'm one of
them. God takes rebels who cursed his name and turns us into sinner
saints who praise his name. That's a miracle. Do you know
every one of us, I was reading a commentator this week, I think
it was Gil again, and he said, we are all trophies of the grace
of God. Every believer is a trophy of
God's grace. We don't feel that way, but we
are. Oh, it's wonderful. Now I'll turn over to Colossians.
Here we go. Here's the heart surgery. Colossians
chapter two, starting in verse 10. I had to put chapter 10 in
there. I had to because chapter 10 is absolutely incredible.
The word complete in the Greek, it has a meaning of you can't
add another drop. A friend of mine who reads and
writes Greek, he was telling me, I asked him about this word.
And he said, it has a meaning of, if you add a drop, it's gonna
overflow. It's absolutely filled to capacity. And ye, being God's people who
Paul's writing to, are complete in Christ. We add nothing to our salvation. Where Scott said, I did the sin
and God did the saving. Oh my. Isn't that amazing? Complete in Christ. Look at this. and ye are complete in him, that's
Christ, which is the head of all principality and power, he's
in control of everything, in whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands, that's to be born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, in putting off the body of the sins
of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in
baptism, wherein ye also are risen with him through the faith,
look at this, of the operation of God. Remember? And God opened Lydia's
heart. Through the faith of the operation
of God, which hath raised him from the dead. The same power
that raised Christ from the dead raises us from our dead natural
state, beloved. And we're translated. It's incredible,
isn't it? We're translated from the kingdom of darkness to the
kingdom of God's dear son. Just like that. Look at this. And you, being
dead, that was our natural state, in your sins, in the uncircumcision
of your flesh, Hath he quickened? Now he's writing to Gentiles,
so he adds in the uncircumcision of your flesh. Hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you some? A few? Past sins, but not yet
present, and not yet future? No, it doesn't say that, does
it, beloved? It says, having forgiven you
all trespasses. And I love this. Do you know
that the Romans used to have ordinances that they would hammer
to the door of a jail, and it would be ordinances that was
against the prisoner? Things that he had broken, laws
that he had broken. Well, imagine how long ours would
have been? Blotten out. In the Greek, it means to whitewash.
It's gone! The ordinances that was against
us. Why? Because the law had a lot against
us, didn't it? He done no more. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinance that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Praise his mighty
name. I'll tell you, I get excited
about this. God's done that for me. And if
you're a believer, God's done that for you. Oh my goodness. Let's go back
to Acts 16, 14. Let's read once again. Let's read once again. Notice
a certain woman again. A certain woman. A certain woman
named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which
worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she
attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." Now turn,
if you would, to John chapter 5. Note the distinguishing grace
of God when God points out a certain woman. That's pointing out the
distinguishing grace of God, right? God's grace is distinguishing. It's not for everyone. Someone,
as I said last week, someone says, well, that's not fair.
I don't want fair. I deserve to go to hell. But God's had
mercy on me in Christ. Who made you to differ? Differ
there who distinguished you in the Greek, right? So we saw God's
distinguishing grace there. Lydia's heart was opened. Oh my, and she's called a certain
woman. She's called a certain woman to distinguish her from
the other women that are with her. Our Lord uses that term
in several passages of the Holy Scripture, but I want us to look
at this here in John chapter 5. It's really brought forth
here again. There was a certain impotent
man who lay among a multitude of impotent folks. Now this is
a multitude. We don't know how many, there's
probably hundreds of them. And notice the Lord heals one man and leaves everyone else. Think of this, we who are believers,
the Lord saved us and may have left some of our family members
dead in trespasses and sins, left some of our friends dead
in trespasses and sins. Oh my, I'm so thankful for God's
grace. I'm so thankful. That leper that
Brother Tom read about, he was thankful, I bet you. I love that. I love that. I didn't comment
on it right away, but I love that. He says, Lord, if thou
will, thou can make me whole. And listen to the words of the
Master, I will be thou whole. Or be thou clean. Be thou clean. And immediately, he was made
whole. Lydia, born again. Immediately,
all her sins, they've already been bought and paid for at Calvary's
cross. Now it comes real to her, doesn't it? Oh my beloved. Look at this though, look at
this. Take note of God's eye of redeeming love upon his sheep. And it was only on a certain
man with all this multitude. John chapter five, verses two
to nine. Now there was at Jerusalem, by
the sheep market, a pool, which in the Hebrew tongue called,
tongue besedia, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude
of impotent folks, a blind halt withered, waiting for the moving
of the water. For an angel came down at a certain
season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first,
after the troubling of the water, stepped in was made whole. of
whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man, look at this,
which had an infirmity 38 years. 38 years he'd been in this situation. Now look at this. Notice that?
A certain man. And look at this. When Jesus
saw him. He looked to him, he said, you're
one of my sheep. He saw him. I love that story,
we heard it this week with our audio Bible, when that fellow,
blind Bartimaeus, Jesus, thou son of God, have mercy on me.
And it says, and the Lord stopped, stood still. man a certain there's one of
his sheep that he died he's going to die for there's one of the
ones the father gave him from eternity when jesus saw him lie lying
there he couldn't move and knew look at this he already knows
all about him and knew how long he and and knew that he had now
a long time in that case, he saith unto him, wilt thou be
made whole? He don't know who's talking to
him, does he? It's the Son of God. It's God incarnated in the
flesh speaking to him. And he says what natural man
would say. The impotent man answered him, saying, Sir, I have no man
when the water is troubled to put me in the pool. But while
I'm coming, another step down before me. Jesus saying to them,
Rise. This man. Now again, the miracle
of God. I've told you that I was in a
cask for six months when I was 12 years old. And when they took
the cast off, I had to learn how to walk, literally had to
learn how to walk again. My legs were like jello. The muscles had deteriorated.
This man has been in this condition for 38 years. His muscles are gone practically. And think of this, when we have
surgery, we need physical therapy, don't we? There's something we have to
do later on, right? You see? There's something we
have to do later on. Well, when God heals his people
spiritually, there's nothing we have to do. We just look to
him. And we spend a life looking to
him. He says to this man, rise. Rise. He's never walked. For 38 years, he ain't walked.
Rise. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. He says, rise. Oh my. Take up thy bed and walk. And immediately, look at that,
immediately. That's how fast we're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. Immediately, the man was made
whole. Just like that. Is that not a picture of us? And took up his bed and walked,
and on the same day was the Sabbath. Who's our rest? Who's our Sabbath?
Somebody tell me who our Sabbath is. Christ is our Sabbath. We can worship Christ any day,
can't we? Every day we can worship Christ.
Every day. Hebrews, it says Christ is our
Sabbath. Zane and I were talking this
week about how free we are in Christ. I don't think we realize
how free we are. We are free, beloved. If the
Son shall set you free, you're what? Free indeed, amen. Again, doesn't give us a license
to go crazy, and none of us want to do that. No preacher would
ever say that. Because now we're constrained by the love of Christ. And you know God restrains us,
even as believers? I was talking to Zane this week,
and I said, Zane, you almost saw the old man. We were talking
about something. I won't get into it. And right,
Zane, right away, I put my hands on my mouth. And I said, you almost saw the
old man. How quickly that stuff comes
up. God restrains us, doesn't he? He restrains us. It's wonderful. Now, an interesting note again
is that Lydia was of the city of Thyatira, which is Asia, is
in Asia Minor. It's a city in Asia Minor, exactly
where we read that God had forbidden Paul to go to. But Lydia wasn't in Asia Minor
at that time, was she? Lydia was in Philippi. And all this was arranged by
God. All this was arranged by God.
His will and purpose we see is unfolding before us. God did
not allow them to go in those two places because there's a
lost sheep over here that must hear the gospel and they must
go there and preach the gospel. And by the power of God alone,
God opened her heart and she attended. She is born again,
given faith to believe, just the same faith we have, to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ.