Fits right in with the message,
too. The message is called Through This Man. Turn, if you would,
to Acts chapter 13. Through this man. During the
last study, we looked at verses 23 to 33 of Acts chapter 13,
and we left off at verse 31, and we looked at the first part
of verse 32, which says, and we declare unto you glad tidings.
That's the gospel. The gospel's glad tidings, isn't
it? Glad tidings. Is it not the best news we've
ever heard? That Christ saved sinners. And we find out, as
Sister Linda sang, that we're of His choosing. And we're born
again by the Almighty Holy Spirit of God, all because we're God's
chosen, because Christ redeemed us at Calvary's Cross. It's wonderful. So let's stand up together. We're
going to read verses 32 to 39. This will be our text today.
Look at this. Let's read this together. Start
in verse 32. And we declare unto you, glad
tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, and that
he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is written in the second
Psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. 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. Wherefore, he saith in
another psalm, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to seek
corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on asleep, and was
laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised
again saw no corruption. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe,
look at this, are justified from all things, from which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses. Oh, my, this is exciting
today. It's always exciting, but this
is wonderful, too. Now, God's remaining preachers,
we must declare the true gospel. We dare not water it down. We dare not make it palatable
to man's ears. We are sent to preach what the
gospel declares, the glad tidings of salvation for sinners in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we declare Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, the only Savior of sinners. And we must declare
who Christ is. Who is he? Well, he's a sovereign
creator, isn't he? He's Lord of all. He spoke all
things into existence. I had the privilege and the honor
this week, and this happens very little, I mentioned this in Sunday
school, of talking to a man about Christ who had never heard that
Christ was the God-man. I said, you've never heard that?
He goes, I've never heard that Jesus Christ was God. Oh my,
we had a wonderful time. We had, and we got into, I was
telling him, first, we first started talking about spiritual
things, he was talking about ghosts and all that stuff. And
this is just how the Lord, he opened the door. I didn't open
the door, he opened the door. We got talking about that, and
I said, well, you know who's above all them? And he says,
well, who? And I said, Jesus, and he's God. It just exploded. And he had
never heard it. He'd never heard the gospel.
He'd heard the gospel from us chatting around there, but he
had never heard that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. So he really
hadn't heard the gospel. And he sat there. I'd never heard
this happen. You know, because usually everybody
has an idea. He goes, I've never heard of that. Well, praise God. You're going to hear now by the
grace of God and by the mercy of God. See, that's God just
putting someone in your place, right, where you are. You know,
and all witnessing is, I'll tell you, witnessing, it's not beating
people down, it's just proclaiming Christ. This is, and he listened
as I proclaimed, and he went his way after that. Well, I pray
the Lord will use it, right? For his glory and his honor and
his praise. But what a blessing. So Paul here, they declared who
Christ is, he's God. He's God in the flesh, he's the
creator. He came to this earth. He was born of a virgin and became
a man to do the will of the Father, which is to save us from our
sins. He's on a mission, isn't he?
He's on a mission. And in doing that, he lives a
perfect life for us, and then he dies as our substitute. So
he lives as our substitute and dies as our substitute. It's
beautiful. And he's in perfect obedience to the Father's will,
100%. And remember this, God will only
accept us in Christ. Outside of Christ, we are not
acceptable to God. But in Christ, he accepts us. Because he said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. Are you in Christ? And he's well
pleased with you. And me too. Isn't that amazing?
That's amazing, isn't it? It's true, though. It's true.
And let us never forget that Christ willfully laid down his
life, right? No one took it from him. He willingly
laid down his life. He knew exactly what he was doing. You know, people hear sweet little
baby Jesus and people crying for him on the way. He's going
to the cross and the daughters of Jerusalem are crying. He says,
weep not for me. Don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves
and for your children. He's sinless. He's going to redeem
us, beloved. He's willingly a lamb being led
to the slaughter to save us from our sins. It's magnificent. Oh, my. And he's not just some
ordinary man carrying a cross. He's God in the flesh. As he's
walking, he has all power and might, beloved. And even in his death, in his death, in his weakest
point, our dear brother the thief was
saved. is a brand plucked from the fire.
If he did that in his weakest point, well, he's now exalted,
isn't he? High above all principality and
power and given a name that's above every name. And who exalted
him? God exalted him, didn't he? Now, think of this. He laid in that grave, right?
Who raised him from the grave? God raised him from the grave,
right? He was lifeless, wasn't he? He was lifeless. God gave him life. God raised
him from the grave. We were lifeless spiritually,
weren't we? Oh yeah, we were. Who raised us from our spiritual
deadness? God raised us from our spiritual
deadness, didn't he? He did it all, beloved. Isn't
that wonderful? As Sister Lynn said, we were
born again. That's what that means. Born again. by God's almighty power. God
raised us from our spiritual death. And he laid down his life. He's a supreme sacrifice for
sinners. And he paid the ransom price
for all his people in full. He represented us. And he sealed
our pardon with his blood. He ratified our pardon with his
blood. He ratified the everlasting covenant
with his blood. Oh my, it's wonderful. And he
willingly did this. Can we preach any other? No.
We have to preach Christ as God's preachers. And we preach, we
can only preach Christ if he saved us. Right? Oh yeah. We all must be born again. And
every one of God's sheep will be. It's amazing. And where is he
right now? Oh, he's far above everything. You know, I mentioned this in
Sunday School, all the carers in this world down here, so many
carers, and he's so far above it all. He's being highly exalted
to a position in the Greek when it says highly exalted, it's
to a place of supreme majesty. He's in a place above everything,
visible and invisible. And it's all under his authority. Let us remember that, eh? It's
all under his authority. And that's our God. That's our
King. That's our Savior. The Lord Jesus
Christ being highly exalted. Oh my. And he's seated at the
throne of glory right now as our blessed Savior and Redeemer.
He's our high priest, he's our surety, but he's glorified by
God. And he's glorified God by his
work, hasn't he? by his perfect sin-atoning work.
And you know, he's in the presence of God, interceding for all of
his blood-washed children. Isn't that amazing? He's interceding
for you and I right now, if we're a believer. Oh my, if God's interceding for
us, isn't that incredible? God's interceding to God. The
Son is interceding to the Father for us. He just has to show him
his blood, doesn't he? And when God sees that blood,
what? What'd he tell Moses? Amen. I'll pass over you. He sees us in the blood of Christ,
he did pass right over us. Safe under the blood of Christ.
Safe and secure. Oh my, let's read verses 32 to
34. This is why we must preach the
gospel, beloved, because it's the only, Christ is the only
one who can save us. He's the sovereign monarch. He's
the king of kings and the lord of lords. He rules over everything. Oh my. And we who are God's preachers,
we believe not only what is plainly taught in scriptures, but from
experience as well, too, don't we? All of us. We've seen how
he's delivered us, haven't we, Brother Tom? We've seen him time
and time deliver us from situations. You ever find yourself confronted
with sin and confronted, which happens all the time, right,
in temptation? Just ask the Lord. Say, Lord,
please help me. I'm so weak. Please help me. Please help me. And he does.
He helps us. I know. I got experience in that.
Do you? Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's our great God,
isn't he? Oh, my. Look at this in verse
32 to 34. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, how that the promise which was made unto our fathers,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us as their children, in that
he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is written in the second
Psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And
it is 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. So Paul's preaching in
the Jewish synagogue here, and it's a mixed crowd. There's Jewish
folks there, and there's Gentile proselytes, and he said the promise
was made unto the fathers. He's referring to the promise
that God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the promise to all
the 12 tribes of Israel, that they should have been looking
for. And this was the promise of the Messiah coming. This is
the promise of the one who's coming. Paul was telling those
who were in the Jewish synagogue that the promised Messiah, he'd
already come. He'd already come. What's his
name? Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's why Paul said, we preach
Christ and him crucified. Got nothing else. Right? Oh my. He's the promised Messiah. And
we see in verses 33 and 34 that Paul plainly declares that God
has fulfilled his promise in the fact that Jesus Christ had
come. He'd come. He's the Messiah.
And he saved his people from their sins. And then God raised
him from the grave. which we know from learning by
the teaching of God the Holy Spirit that he was raised for
our justification. Oh my. So we see Paul goes on
to explain God's promise concerning the coming Messiah sitting on
the throne of David by declaring the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he said God fulfilled his promise to us.
God sent the Messiah, didn't he? He fulfilled his promise to his
people, didn't he? Who are we? Spiritual Israel. That's who
all believe, our spiritual Israel. We might come in different denominations
and things, but all who truly are born again and believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean truly born again. Right? We're called the universal body
of Christ. Right? Oh my. It's wonderful. So, the Messiah's coming. Look at this. He says, Thou art
my son, this day have I begotten thee. So he's pointing to them,
the Messiah's already come. The Old Testament proclaimed
he was coming. And they should have been familiar with that,
right? And yet their eyes are blind. How were we before the
Lord saved us? Our eyes were blind, weren't
they? To Christ and who he was. See, that's the natural state
of man. We can be religious as all gecko and not know Christ. We can know doctrine. We can
know the five points of Calvinism and not know Christ. If we can
and have no grace, Salvation, and I love, I love theology. I love the five points. It's
wonderful. They point to Christ, right? But it's Christ who saves us.
And Christ alone who saves us. And those doctrines exalt him.
But I was one of them, and I know other preachers. We were five-point
Calvinists. We could have told you back and
forth what we believe, and we'd had no grace at all. Didn't know
Christ. Didn't know him. Until one day
he revealed himself and oh my goodness gracious. It was amazing. Oh my. My oh my. So they didn't see
him. They didn't see him, beloved.
And Paul's preaching from the Old Testament Scriptures, right?
That's all they had. He's preaching from the Old Testament
Scriptures. They could have taken the time to look up Psalm 2,
and they probably had read it before. They didn't see Him. They didn't
see Christ. God hadn't, as Brother Tom, we
talked about, God hadn't revealed Himself to them yet. I hope and
pray that before some of them died, He did. We won't know the
sight of eternity, Oh my. Paul's preaching to everyone
too, isn't he? You notice that? He don't know who God's people
are. He's preaching, that's what we do. We preach to everyone.
Oh yeah, that's called the general call, let it fly. Oh my, it's
wonderful. Oh my. So they heard Paul speak
out and preach Christ, and we're gonna see later on in this chapter,
some of them contradict him. They don't believe what he's
saying, but then there's others. And I love this. I can't wait
till we get this portion. As many were ordained to eternal
life believed. Oh my. That's what Sister Linda
was singing about when she said that God chose us. Look at verse
48 of this chapter. Look at this. There's a bunch
of Gentiles. I love this. I could just, I could sit in
this verse for the rest of my life. And we wouldn't exhaust
it. Look at this. And when the Gentiles
heard this, they heard the preaching of Christ, and they heard that
it was for them too. What did they do? Oh, they were
glad. You mean there's a savior for
us Gentile sinners? Yes, there is. We're all a bunch of Gentiles,
aren't we? Aren't you glad Christ saved Gentiles, too? Look at
this. Oh, I love this. I love this. And when the Gentiles heard,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Man, why do we believe? Why do
we believe and others don't? Because God ordained us to eternal
life. Again, we don't know who they are, so we preach the gospel
to everyone, don't we? But he will get his sheep. I
remember our old preacher of ours, Henry Mann. He says, we're
on the trail of God's sheep. God knows who they are. We just
proclaim them. Oh my. He'll get every one of
them, beloved. There won't be one missing. There
won't be one missing. And so here's a point that needs
to be stressed from this portion of scripture. It's the responsibility
of God's sent preachers to take our hearers right into the word
of God to prove what we're preaching. To prove what we're preaching
from the word of God, not our opinion, right? My opinion doesn't matter. I preach what the word says,
right? Because we've all, have you ever
experienced this? Someone says, you'll be talking
to someone about Christ. You'll be talking to someone
about the scripture. And they go, well, I think. And I usually
stop the folks. And I try not to be rude. I don't
want to be rude with them. I say, it doesn't matter what
you think. And I always put myself in there. Because you don't want
to just be pointing them out, right? I said, it doesn't matter
what you or I think. What does the scripture say?
Right? You know, there'd be a lot of
things cleared up in the religious world if we just looked at what
the scripture said and said, OK, it says that. OK. But, you
know, everybody, well, I think. And I can't. I know better because
before the Lord saved me, someone told me about an election. I
went, I don't think that's right. Well, I was sure wrong, wasn't
I? Oh, my. And I was a professing Christian
then. Imagine that. Oh my, it don't
matter what we think. What does the scripture say?
And this is the point here. It's
the responsibility of we who preach and it's the responsibility
of you all who hear us preach. It's a responsibility for both
of us or all of us to be Bereans. To look at the word and say,
it doesn't say that. Or, yeah, that's what the word
of God says. And just measure it on what the
word of God says. In context, context, context.
Do not let people rip scriptures out of context on you. People
do that all the time. All the time. Context, context,
context is so important, beloved. Even if you have to read two
or three chapters before or after it. Context. Context is so important. So important. So let us be Bereans. Like Tom said, you know, we pray
the Holy Spirit will illuminate the scriptures and give us hearing
ears and open hearts to receive the gospel. Each time I listen to a message
by a preacher, I'm ready to learn. Whether they're a young preacher.
I had this new young preacher yesterday who preached at Donny Bell's
church. Just a young fellow in his 30s. Man, what a blessing
the message was. What a blessing. This is listening
for Christ. Tell me about Christ. And he told me about Christ all
right. It was wonderful. Vicki and I were on our way down
to see the Kirkpatrick's yesterday. We listened to those two podcasters
I've been telling you guys about. Man, they just talked about Christ. We have received a blessing from
that. You see? What does the scripture say?
Let us be believers too, though. Let us look and see. Okay, yeah,
it says that. Oh. And remember this, no scripture
is a private interpretation. That's where the I think comes
in. But no scripture is a private
interpretation. You know what I do when I think I've seen something
in the scriptures? I look at the other commentators
to see if they got that too. And I never run with something
that I just see. Because if I'm getting light
on it, surely someone else is going to get light on it. My, oh my. Travis and I have
talked about that stuff. Check it out. Check it out. Pray. Take it to God. And so
it's not only the responsibility of the preacher to proclaim what
the scriptures say, it's the responsibility of the hearers
to make sure that the preacher is saying what it says. That's
just being a Berean. Paul commended, remember he commended
the Bereans. He said, good for you. Good for you. There's the
Apostle Paul they're checking out. I love it. I think it's great.
So one thing that we gospel preachers are to do too, and you probably
know this as you've heard me now for almost nine years, and
the one thing that I always try to do is to shut up our hearers
to Christ. To head you into Christ. Because,
you know, we go through this well, right? We have trials and
tribulations in this well, right? We can go through some days and
it's really tough. It's really hard, isn't it? Like,
I mean, it's really hard. Who do we need? We need Christ,
don't we, brother? Yeah. Yeah. And to know that
he's always with us, to know that he'll never leave us, to
know that he's ever watching over us, what a blessing for
the believer. To know that he's there all the
time. That there's not one second of our life that passes that
he's not watching. Not one second. And his eternal
love is set upon us the whole time. He's not looking at us
going, oh, there's Wayne. He's messing up all the time
again. That fellow, I'm going to have
to put a hook on him. He already did put a hook on
us, didn't he? With his love. with his love. And I'll tell
you what, if our standing before God was based upon what we do,
even as believers, we would be in a world of trouble. But praise
God is not. Now, why do we desire to serve
God? Why do we desire to glorify him? Because we're born again. Because
we're new creatures in Christ. We've been saved from our sins.
They're bought and paid for. And when we realize that it was
our sins that nailed Christ to the cross, then the love of Christ constrains
us from sin. Doesn't it? And we can walk through this
world messing up like we do, and we don't like it when we
mess up, because we do it all the time, don't we? But we know
that we're secure in Christ. How much joy does that bring
you? To know that our salvation does not depend on anything we
do. The scripture says he keeps us from falling. If he didn't
keep us from falling, what would happen to us? Somebody tell me. There you go. Just like that, wouldn't we?
And then, one day, he's going to present us, those who are
born again, blood-washed saints of God, he's gonna present us,
and we're already, in God's eyes, we're already this. Now, marvel
at that. We're already blameless in God's eyes. We already are. You can't preach that way, and
people go, people go do whatever they want. No, they won't. No,
they won't. Because the love of Christ constrains
us now. And we do not want to be like
we were. We're new creatures now. New
people in Christ. You look back, I look back my
life, that's like another man was living, but I know it was
me. But it's like a whole different
person. I didn't do anything to become this person. It's a
work of God. I still struggle with this body
of death. Do you? Every day, don't we? But praise God, we're saved. We're saved. What if we get Alzheimer's
and forget who God is? Does God forgive us? What if we lose our minds and
start saying things that we would never say? Has God left us? I'll tell you, this salvation
is so amazing, so incredible. It's wholly dependent upon Jesus
Christ our Lord. 100%. We are receivers. Do you know
when you get a gift, you receive that gift, don't you? You didn't
buy it, you didn't earn it, you didn't merit it. Right? It's given to you. Because the giver delights to
give it to you. Now think about that. God delights
to save us. And his son accomplished the
work 2,000 years ago. It's already done. But Jane,
like we talk about in time and space, that occurs now. We're
born again. We've been justified by Christ. It's magnificent, I'm telling
you. It's magnificent. It's magnificent. So the gospel
preacher is to shut up the hearers to Christ. And I'm a hearer too,
don't forget. I'm putting the message together,
I'm preaching to myself. When I'm preaching to you, I'm preaching
to myself. When I listen to other preachers,
I have a responsibility to be a Berean too. I've listened to
some folks and went, eh, gong, that doesn't sound like a ring.
Like that fellow I told you that said Noah was justified by, what
did I say? Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord because he was obedient. That's another gospel. That was
a big gong. That wasn't that musical tuning
fork of beauty going ting Christ, ting Christ, right? That was
a gong. Remember the gong show? Gong.
Right? That was what that was like.
Oh my. My oh my. And only the Holy Spirit
of God pricks our hearts. It's him who does that. And he
pricks our hearts and we're born again and pricks our hearts and
shows us we're sinners. And we run to Christ. Run to
Christ. Did you willingly come to Christ?
You made willing. When God made you willing, did
you willingly come to him? Didn't come to your own free
will, did you? came because God made you willing. See? Who gets the glory? Well, if
man says, I came of my own free will, then man's getting all
the glory, isn't he? But if we say, God made me willing,
and I willingly came because God made me willing, who gets
all the glory? God gets it all. See, you've
got to differentiate it with that. Because folks out there,
when you say, oh yeah, God made me willing, they think, your
free will. No it's not. My will was dead and tied to
a dead nature and I had to be born again just like all of God's
people. And then we willingly flee to
Christ. It's wonderful. It's so God-honoring and so God-glorifying
that it's incredible. It's incredible, beloved. Look
at verse 34. And it's concerning that he raised
him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption.
He said, I'm this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David. So Paul's declaring that God fulfilled his promise in
sending the Messiah. He came. He's came and he's gone. He's accomplished the work. Remember
they thought he was gonna come and take over and be a ruler?
Well, he is a king, isn't he? Over a kingdom. The kingdom of God's dear son.
It's a spiritual kingdom, isn't it? And it consists, we saw in
verse 48, of Jews and Gentiles. Praise the mighty hand of God. It's wonderful. Now look at verse
35. Look at this. It says, wherefore
he saith in another psalm, also in another psalm, thou shalt
not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. And then let's
read verses 36 to 37. So look what he says, for David,
after he had served his own generation by the will of God, notice that.
David served his generation by the will of God. We serve our
generation, beloved, by the will of God. Isn't that amazing? served his own generation by
the will of God, fell on sleep, that means he died, but he went
to glory, and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption. His
body rotted and he turned to worms, right? The worms ate up
his body and he turned to dust. But he whom God raised saw no
corruption. Oh my, that's talking about Christ,
isn't it? So we see here, Paul wisely pointed
out that David saw corruption after he died, but the promised
Messiah, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, was assured by God, the
Father, he would see no corruption. God raised him from the dead.
God raised him from the dead. Think of this, God brought David
into the world by his will, and David served his generation,
which we see at his appointed time, he passed away, he died.
I was talking to that same fellow that I mentioned about Christ
being the God-man. And I said, do you know every one of us have
a time of our conception and a time of our death? He'd never
heard that either. I said, yeah. I said, you have
a date and I have a date that we never miss. And after this,
the judgment. Oh my. But if you're safe in
Christ, there'll be no judgment for us, will there? We'll stand
at the great white judgment. But none of God's wrath will
ever fall upon us. Oh, it's amazing, I'll tell you. And we see here that David's
body was laid in the grave and saw corruption. But like all
of God's saints, David was delivered from the body of death and went
right to glory. As soon as he breathed his last
breath, his soul went up to glory. His body went into the ground,
didn't it? And turned to dust. Oh my, but his soul went right
to glory. And this is a God honoring truth
that applies to all of God's people. One day we are going
to be laid in the ground. But to be absent from the body
is what? To be present with the Lord. Amen. Yeah, we're going
to be with beloved and see him face to face. It's going to be
magnificent. So we come into this world, and
do you know that we come into this world at God's appointed
time? We are conceived at God's appointed
time. You ever think of that? At the exact time that God wants
us to come into this world, we come into this world. The exact
time that we're to come out of our mother's womb, whether it
be, you know, people say, oh, they were born early or they
were born prematurely. No, that was God's exact timing.
Isn't that amazing to think that? And you know, even then, when
we were born and dead in trespasses and sins as that little wee baby,
God's love was set upon us, we who are his people. Even then,
when we were conceived, his love was set upon us. And his love is set upon us right
this second. And you know, his love will be set upon us forever.
He's, what, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Therefore, the love that He has
for us is the same yesterday. Were we on Christ's heart 2,000
years ago? Did He, out of His love for us,
give His life for us on the cross? Was God's love manifested that
we know is from eternity? Was it manifest when He sent
Christ into this world to die for us? Was God's love manifested when
the Holy Spirit found us dead in trespasses and sins and regenerated
us just like that and gave us faith to believe? Was it not
manifested then? Is it not manifested every day
in the daily mercies that we receive from the Lord? And will
it not be manifested in eternity when we're going to give Him
all the glory, honor, and praise forever, saying, Thou has redeemed
us with Thy precious blood? Oh, my. There's never a time
when God hasn't loved us, beloved. Never! See, we can't fathom that
with our little finite minds, can we? But it's true. He chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's in love.
He sent His Son in love to redeem us. And Christ sends His Spirit
to regenerate us in love. And one day, we're going to see
the one we love. Isn't that amazing? Oh, my. Never
gets old, does it? Never gets old. Tell me more.
Tell me more. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. So look at this. Let's read those
verses again. For David, verse 36 to 37, for David, after he
had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep
and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom
God raised from again saw no corruption. Oh my. So we came into this world at
God's appointed time, our lives, and we are here, we serve our
generation according to the will of God, right? Oh my. And we will one day depart. We
will one day depart. and be with our great God and
King. My, oh, my. Now, look here. Look here in... Where is that? Oh, look at verse
34. And it was concerning that he
raised him from the dead, now no more to return. He said, on
this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Well,
the sure mercies of David, oh my, my, oh my. He had assured the promised Messiah
that the blessings of the sure and well-ordained covenant of
grace, that covenant of grace was ratified by the precious
blood of Christ. We are saved according to the
sure mercies of David and by the will of God, beloved, by
the will of God. The sure mercies of David assured
the Messiah, Christ, that his obedience unto death and the
death of the cross would secure the salvation of his people.
For him, he did it. He did it all, didn't he? And
we're secure in him. That it would secure the salvation
of his promised children. And that promise was made to
Christ by God the Father in eternity before we ever were. Before we
ever were. And again, it was ratified by
the precious blood of Christ. Look it over and turn, if you
would, to Titus chapter one. Titus chapter one. You see, God
promised, God promised that he would send the Messiah. And he's
given a people, a promised people to Christ, hasn't he? Whom Christ
will redeem. And he's gonna redeem them by
his precious blood. They're his bride, they're given
to him. Look at this in Titus chapter one, verses one to three. Oh my, remember this promise
was made by God the Father to his beloved son before the world
began. Did we have anything to do with
that? Nope. Oh, this is amazing. Look at
this. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ
according to the faith of God's elect. That's a faith that's
given to us. And you notice that word elect
again? It's not a scary word, is it? It's not a scary word. It's a Bible word. It means to
be chosen. Exactly what our sister is saying
about it. It means to be chosen. And the
acknowledging of the truth, that's the truth that salvation's in
Christ and Him alone, which is after godliness. In the hope
of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before when. Who did he make the promise to? Christ. I'll give you a people. Oh my. Look at this. But hath
in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed
unto me to the commandment of God our Savior. We can only preach
Christ, beloved. In him are all the sure mercies
of David found. They're only found in him, and
God will make sure that his promise is fulfilled, right? He promised
to send a Messiah. What'd he do? He sent a Messiah.
He sent his own son. He sent the word of God, the
second person of the Trinity. And this was all planned and
purposed before the world began. Before the world began. And think of this. He will make sure that this promise
is fulfilled, which he did by sending Christ, and by the power
of God, the Holy Spirit, under the preaching of the gospel,
those precious truths that God give to his darling son, right? That's his darling son. That's
the son of his Lord. He loves Christ. All the glory that was due him,
and according to that promise, those who are taught of God shall
come to Christ, listen to these words, no man can come to me. Does no man mean no man? Well,
I don't think it says that. Don't matter what you think,
it don't matter what I think, what does the word of God say?
It says no man. Well, I think, you know, we got,
we got, are you sure? There's a spark of goodness in
us, surely. No, there's none good, no, not one. None that
seek it after God, so it says no man. That's no man or woman
can come to me. Why? Because we're not willing. That's why we gotta be made willing,
beloved. No man can come to me except the Father which has sent
me draw him. You know in the Greek the word draw means drag?
Did you feel like you got dragged to Christ? I didn't. I know I got dragged to him,
but I sure don't feel like I got dragged, do you? And if, Lord, thank you for dragging
me. Oh, it's wonderful. The Father
would send me, draw him, and I will raise him up to the last
day. There's a promise from our King. As is written in the prophets,
they shall all be taught of God. God, the Holy Spirit, teaches
us. Every man, therefore, that hath heard and learned of the
Father cometh unto me, cometh unto me. So the sure mercies
of David assured the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
that he would be the blessed surety of his people. He is the
only savior for sinners, that for his blood-bought children,
it was God the Father, now think of this, it was God the Father
who first trusted us to Christ. Isn't that amazing? He gave us
to Christ, didn't he? And I remember in our John 17
study, he gave them to Christ, Christ redeems us, and then in
John 17, he gives them back to the Father. As he's going to the cross, he
says, I'll put them, they're in your hands. They'll always be his bride,
right? And then he can present us one day faultless. This is
my blessed bride, Father, that I bought with my blood. That's
magnificent, isn't it? Oh, it just gets better and better.
I'll tell you why. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 1.
Ephesians chapter 1. I've got to wrap this up. Ephesians
chapter 1. We'll read verses 10 to 14. Oh, my. And he gave us to Christ, knowing
that Christ would come to this earth and save us from our sins,
beloved. That he's the blessed redeemer.
Remember, he's the lamb slain from before the foundation of
the world. Right? Look at this. That in dispensation
of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on
earth. Verse 10, verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an
inheritance. In who? In Christ. Because we can't obtain it on
our own, not by praying a prayer or doing this or doing that.
But God gave it to us, beloved. It's a gift, right? Being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. God works all things according
to the counsel of his own will, period. And it was according to, now,
beloved, let us marvel at this, we who are the born-again blood-washed
saints. We are saved. We are saved because it's according
and after the counsel of his will. Just let that sink in this
week. Woo, my. And then it says that
we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in
Christ, in whom he also trusted after that you heard the word
of truth, we were given ears to hear. The gospel of your salvation
is personal, In whom also after that ye believed, you were sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise. That sealed there is, do you
know we're already marked? You know that Greek word means
marked. We're already marked. It's a
seal of ownership. You guys have heard me say that
before. When merchants used to put all their cargo together,
three or four different merchants in a ship, they would each seal
it with their own mark. We're marked. We're already sealed. Isn't that beautiful? Sealed
by the Holy Spirit of promise. With that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession and to the praise of his glory. So it was God the
Son who trusted that his Father would
give him the sure mercies of David. We know that, according
to the scriptures, he didn't see corruption either, did he?
Christ didn't see corruption, no. He's raised from the grave.
And as Messiah, he has power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as the Father had given him.
And when God's born again by our saints, hear the word of
truth, the gospel of our salvation, we once again hear the glad tidings
of salvation in and through Christ alone. who is the very one who
has received the sure mercies of David, according to the eternal
purpose of our great majestic sovereign triune God, all according
to his purpose. Now let's read verses 38 and
39. Be it known to you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, look at that, this
man, not the gods of Rome, not the Greek gods, not Buddha, not
Muhammad, not Mary, right? Not any other name. Through this
man, one man, this man, singular, this man is preaching to you the forgiveness
of sins. This is why we must preach Christ. This is why only
through the Lord Jesus Christ can be found the forgiveness
of sins. We've experienced that, haven't we? It's wonderful, we
who are his people. And then it goes on, and look
at this. And by him, all that believe are justified from all
things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now look up, look up in this
text here. Look up to verse 26. Now look at this. So Paul's telling
them, I love this. He says, Be it known unto you,
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are
justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified
by the law of most. Look at verse 26. This is magnificent. Men and brethren, children of
the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you
is the word of this salvation sent. God sent this Word to us. Why do so many people in this
world not care and perish in their sins? Number one, because we're sinners. Marvel that this Word was sent
to us. Who sent it? God sent it. And that ties right into Galatians
in our study, remember? The Spirit of the Son is sent
to us whereby we now cry, Abba, Father. And so with that in mind, look
at this. With that in mind, verse 26 and line, let's read verse
39 again. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, Paul sent to preach
there. Paul sent for them to hear this.
It's preaching to you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that
believe are justified from all things, which ye could not be
justified by the law of Moses. Look at what we see here. We
find in these verses that salvation's only in Christ, only in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's in no other. God said this. Who's the true author of these
words? God, the Holy Spirit, right? God is telling us. That there's no salvation outside
of Christ. None. Rejoice if you're one of
his. Rejoice if that word was sent
to you and it's effectual. Oh my. Oh my. And what's preached? The
forgiveness of sins. Oh, Brother Wayne, my sins are
many. All who come to Christ, all their
sins and iniquities are forgiven. Every single one of them. You
mean those dark ones that no one knows but me and God? Absolutely. You mean the things that sometimes
I think and I go, oh my Lord, why am I thinking this? Lord,
please take these thoughts from me. Do you mean they're all forgiven?
Every single one of them. Those thoughts didn't bother
us before, did they? My, oh my. Wonder of wonder,
God forgives sinners of all their sins. And then, verse 39. Oh my, and by him, that's Christ,
all that believe. Now that's all who will believe,
right? All the elect of all the ages are justified from all things Remember, who
can bring any charge against God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Oh, from all things from which
ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beloved, we
are justified in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in him
alone. The law could never justify us.
The law could never make us worthy to stand in the presence
of God, the law kills. The law shows us we can't save
ourselves. And that's the lawful use of
the law, is to show us, to show us that we are totally unworthy
of salvation and that there's no way that we can save ourselves
or anyone else. And it does, remember I said
earlier about shutting up the hearers to Christ? The law shuts
us up to Christ. You can't go nowhere else. Condemnation,
death, eternal life, or eternal death, eternal life, forgiveness
of all sins. Peace with God. Justified through
Christ Jesus our Lord. See, the Holy Spirit shuts us
up through the preaching of the gospel. And then gives us faith
to believe. We're born again, given faith
to believe on Christ. It's magnificent, I'll tell you.
But we see here that none of us could justify ourselves by
the law. And I mean by any point of the
law. We know folks are trying to justify
themselves or gain merit and favor with God by doing certain
things. It does absolutely nothing. I mean nothing. Now, do we want to be obedient
to God? Of course we do. Of course we do. But those things
that we do, We do from a redeemed heart now, don't we? To glorify
God. We don't ever think that it can
gain us favor with God. All the favor of God is in Christ. So you've got multitudes of people
out there doing things, and I mean all kinds of things. Look at
the Amish, man. They think that by living the
old life and living away with no electricity and power, that
they're gaining merit and favor with God. They're not gaining
nothing. They're actually heaping condemnation upon themselves. Pretty eye-opening for us, isn't
it? Salvation's in Christ plus no other. I'll tell you. I'm gonna sound like a broken
record, but that's all it is. There's no other, and absolutely
nothing we do can gain merit with God and favor with God.
This is, I'm gonna say it again, this is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased, God says. And if you're in Christ, he's
well pleased with you. Praise his mighty name. Oh, he's
so good, he's so good. So may we who are the people
of God ponder, ponder the distinguishing grace of God that's being shown
to us. Being shown to us. God in his grace sent salvation
to us. Did we deserve it? Nope. Did
we merit it? Nope. And think of this, I mentioned
this in Sunday school and I want to repeat it again. The glory
that God The glory that the Lord Jesus Christ brought to God the
Father, right, far exceeds, far exceeds the dishonor, the dishonor before God by our
sins. Our sins are dishonoring to God,
isn't it? Absolutely dishonoring to God.
Christ's merit, Christ's work, Christ's glory exceeds it all. So much so that
when the scripture says he blotted out the handwriting of ordinances
of workers against us, and I'll tell you, it was long, wasn't
it, against me? And against you too, if you're
a believer. And it says he blotted it out in Colossians. That means
he whitewashed it in the Greek. He's gone. There's nothing against
us anymore. Rejoice, beloved of God. What
a Savior, what a Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. He's so,
so good. Brother Dan, can you close us
in prayer today?