Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 9, where we continue our study in this wonderful book,
preserved and authored by God the Holy Spirit through the pen
of Luke. Our previous lessons from the book of Acts have brought
us down to verse 31 of chapter 9, and in today's lesson, we'll
see the Holy Spirit has moved Luke now to pin about what is
going on with the Apostle Peter. And this will be for, I believe,
about a chapter and a half, we'll be looking at what's going on
with Peter in his life during this time. So we've been looking
at Paul, we've been looking at, first we were looking at the
early part of the church, right, and then we've, the New Testament
church, and then we've Then we transition to Paul, Saul of Tartus
with Stephen. And now we're seeing a transition
again by the Holy Spirit of God to bring us to where Peter's
going. We're going to see what Peter's
doing around the same time. Oh my. And isn't it amazing that
God has all these things going on all at the same time? The
gospel being preached all over the world. My oh my. It's absolutely incredible. I'll
tell you what. So now we're gonna start journeying
with Peter through Acts chapter 11 verse 18, all the way through
to Acts. So it'll be two chapters, almost
two chapters. And we're also gonna look at
the Christians at Antioch too after that. The Holy Spirit's
going to have Luke pick up with Paul and Barnabas in Antioch
in Acts chapter 11. So we'll switch back again to
Paul and Barnabas. Let's stand together and read
verses 31 to 35 of Acts chapter 9. This will be our text today,
but let's stand together and read this together. Acts 9, starting in verse 31,
and we'll go to verse 35. Then had the churches rest throughout
all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified, and walking
in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost,
were multiplied. And it came to pass, as Peter
passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints
which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a man named
Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years and was sick of the
policy. And Peter said unto Aeneas, Jesus
Christ maketh thee whole, arise and make thy bed, and he rose
immediately. And all that dwell at Lyda and
Sharon, thanks, saw him and turned to the Lord. My, oh, my. Okay. I had to listen to some fellow
read Acts to get that Aeneas. Right? And Lida, I thought it
was a different pronunciation, but it's Lida. Okay, let's read verses 31 and
32 to start our message today. It says, Then had the churches
rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were
edified, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort
of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied. So Saul the persecutor was no
longer persecuting the church, And so the church had rest during
this time. And we see it multiplied. It
multiplied too during this time. And it says, and it came to pass,
as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down to the
saints at Lydda. So in verse 13, we see the words,
it came to pass. Now that's not by chance or by
luck, as the world says. This is by divine providence.
Peter has brought down to the city of Lila by the providence
of God. Do you know why? There's a lost
sheep there. God will send a preacher to preach
to just one of his sheep. Isn't that wonderful? You've
heard the model for my is just one sheep. If there's just one
sheep, I'm going to preach the gospel. Right? There's just one
of you show up. I'm going to still preach the
gospel like there's a thousand people here. Right? That's how it should be. But
God sends Peter down for one sheep. One sheep. Look at this. And it came to pass, as Peter
passed through all quarters, he came down to the saints which
dwelled at Lyda. all according to the divine providence
of God. And we see Peter pass through
all the quarters, that is, through all the areas of Judea, Galilee,
and Samaria, going from one established church to the other, preaching
Christ, edifying the saints, preaching Christ to them. And he's on a preaching mission,
beloved. He's visiting the churches of Judea that had been recently
established. He's visiting the churches in
Galilee that's been recently established. And he's visiting
the churches in Samaria that had recently been established.
And this is what the Lord Jesus Christ sent him to do, right?
What? To preach the gospel. Go ye in
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Do you notice
he didn't say, go ye in the world and teach how to live a better
life? How to make money? Like them lion preachers on TV.
Put your money in, and God's going to bless it and give you
even more. That's just a bunch of hogwash. That's what that
is. It's just lies. That fellow's
lying in his pockets with people's money. But see, gospel preachers,
we come preaching Christ. Christ is the only way a sinner
can be saved. That's what I have. Salvation
and Christ alone. I preach Christ. I'm just a mouthpiece. He does the saving, doesn't he?
He does the sending. So now Peter's sent to this city. And we're going to see for just
one sheep. Now, there's going to be more that believe. But
initially, he's sent to Aeneas. One sheep, sister. Just one. And what's he do? He obeys, doesn't
he? He goes. See, God's preachers, we go where
we're sent. God sent me from Canada to Oregon
to here. And I'm praying this will be
it. No more moving. I told Vicki again, I'm so content
here. It's wonderful. But see, God's done that, right?
He's knit our hearts together. Isn't that amazing? That's what
he does. It's wonderful. Now, Peter, he's just going through
all these places. And he's just going and preaching
Christ. But we see in the text here,
his ultimate destination is Lyla. Because there's a sheep there
that doesn't know Christ. But he was redeemed when Christ
died on the cross. You see, we trust in one who
died for us and finished the work 2,000 years ago. There's
nothing for us to do to gain salvation. We just look to Christ. If you're trying to get to heaven
by something you do, cease. Stop from it. The only way for
us to get to be in the presence of God the Father is through
Christ. And I'll tell you, this is joyous. The work's already
done. I preach a finished work. Our king cried, the Lord Jesus
Christ, God in the flesh, cried, it is finished. Salvation's complete. Now as Brother Zinner and I have
talked about, that which God purposed and planned and executed
by sending Christ here, now becomes real to the believer in time
and space, right? And Christ said to come into
time and space, remember he's God, he came from heaven into
this earth. into time and space to redeem
us, and where is he now? He's right back out of time and
space and seated at the right hand of the Father now. Someone
says, well, how can you believe that? Because he's God. He's
not just a mere man. He's God in the flesh. He's God in the flesh. And you
see, I can't tell you about him unless he's revealed himself
to me, right? And praise God, he saved my soul.
So I'm going to tell anyone who will listen, and even just, I'll
just put it out there. Christ died for sinners. Are
you a sinner? Has God shown you a sinner? Because
not everybody believes they're sinners. I didn't believe I was
a sinner. Sister Anne, we didn't believe
we were sinners before the Lord saved us. We thought we were
pretty good people. I'm pretty good. I'm not an axe
murderer. I'm pretty good. Then you come
to find out that we've broken all of God's laws. And the scripture
says there's none good nor not one. The only one who was perfect
was Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, who shed his blood
to purchase the souls of his people, all those the Father
gave him. Now again, we don't know who
they are, so we preach the gospel to everyone. God does the saving, doesn't
he? Brother Travis, when we teach and preach, we don't, we can't
do nothing. We just proclaim. Just proclaim
Christ. My, so Peter was sent to this
specific man. It's amazing. Do you know when
God saved you, the Holy Spirit was sent to you? There may be
someone sitting beside you that didn't hear. that the Lord just
left. There may even be people, you
can look back in your life, there'd be people coming to this church
and other churches like Katie, who were there and never heard
the gospel. But you did. That's called effectual calling. Isn't that amazing? And the only
one who made you and I to differ is Christ. That's all. And when you get a hold of that,
Oh my! It doesn't make us feel holier
now, because I'll tell you what, I ain't holier now, are you?
We're a bunch of sinners saved by grace, aren't we? Yeah. Paul at the end of his
ministry, Zane and I were talking about this week, the end of his
ministry, hey brother, I'm the chief of sinners. My, oh my. And you know, the
only time we're stopped sinning is when we get to glory. Then we won't sin no more. What
a blessing that'll be. Oh my. So here's Peter, he's
on a preaching mission. He traveled from church to church
preaching Christ, the gospel of Christ, establishing the saints
in the faith, and in the truth of what God said in his word,
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah sent to save his
people from their sins. And our text tells us that Peter
came down to the Saints, which dwelt at Lydda, a town, I found
out, which is about 35 miles from Jerusalem. Quite a long
walk. Remember, they walked and rode. They didn't have the bus system
like we have now. Right? They either got a ride
on a camel, or they walked, or got a ride in a cart. But the
Lord got him there, didn't he? 35 miles. I don't know how long it'd take
to walk 35 miles, but at least a few days, right? So as he's
walking there, he's going through all these different places preaching
Christ. And it's all by the hand of God, all by the divine providence
of God. And so now he comes, he comes
to the city of Lydda, 35 miles from Jerusalem. And we're gonna
see our great God's gonna be pleased to raise the church up
in Lydda. Isn't that wonderful? All by his sovereign hand. Let's
read verse 32 again. And it came to pass, as Peter
passed through all quarters, he came down also to the saints
which dwelt at Nida. So, saints, it says. Do you know saints in the Bible
are not people who are made saints by any human being? We can't make people saints,
can we? We cannot do that. We don't have that power. No
one has that. No one, no religious figure in this world has the
power to do that. No church has the power to do
that. Only God can make sinners saints. And then even after we're
saints, we're saved saints, aren't we? Oh my, sinners saved by the grace
and mercy of God. So the word saints, you know
what it means in the Greek? It means sanctified ones. See,
we're unholy by nature, right? We're born into this world dead
in trespasses and sins. We're unholy by nature, and Christ
makes us holy. We're sanctified in Christ, and
only through his precious blood and his sacrifice. So I look
out, and I see saints of God. I remember telling my mom that.
She said, oh, don't say that, Wayne. Don't say you're a saint.
I said, why not? The Bible says it. Why not? See, we came out of
Catholicism. And in that system, the church
makes saints. Well, that's not scriptural.
I didn't know that, but that's not scriptural. Only God can
make a person a saint. Only God can do that. And it's
only in Christ. So I'm looking at a bunch of
blood-washed, born-again saints of God. Isn't that marvelous?
Sanctified ones. And I'm one too. Do you marvel
at that? My, it makes us just shake our
head down at Brother Travis. We're just in awe. We're just
in awe that this is true. Sanctified by the electing grace
of God the Father, sanctified by the redeeming grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ the Son, and sanctified by the life-given
power of God the Holy Spirit. The whole Trinity's involved
in our sanctification, beloved. Ah, it's wonderful, I'll tell
you. We were sanctified by God the Father in elect and grace
before the world began. It's He that set us apart from
the rest of mankind. We didn't even know. Did we have
any part of that in eternity? We had no part of that, did we?
It was God that did that. And He did it for His own holy
purposes and according to His will. Listen to Jude. Jude 1,
verse 1. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. My oh my. Turn if you would to Hebrews
chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. So we just saw there, we just
heard there, that we're sanctified by God the Father in Christ.
Do you know we're sanctified by the Son too? We're sanctified by God the Son.
Hebrews chapter 10. Verses 10 to 14. Look at this. By the witch will we are sanctified.
That's according to God's will. That's God's will that we're
sanctified. Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. You see, we're not sanctified outside of Christ. We're sanctified
in Christ and by his offering of his body, right, as the Lamb
of God, to die for our sins. That's wonderful. We can't sanctify
ourselves. Now we grow in grace, but even
that we don't have nothing to do with, because we saw in Colossians
chapter 1, it's God the Holy Spirit that works in us. And
so then what can we, the only thing we can say is, to God be
the glory. You see? See how we're hedged
in to give all glory to God? Because by nature we want glory,
by nature. It's still in even us as believers,
I'm telling you that. We still struggle with pride,
don't we? We still struggle with sin just like everybody else.
Oh yeah. It's in us, I'm telling you.
But look it, we can't boast about nothing in our salvation. All
we can do is give glory to God. Look what he's done. And then
I love, I love, I absolutely love the commission that the
Lord gave to the demoniac. Go and tell the great things
the Lord hath done for you. Because remember that demoniac
after the Lord had, he was in his right mind, he was clothed,
which pictures being the right mind, the mind of Christ, clothed,
being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And he wanted to go
with Christ. He wanted to go with him. And
the Lord said, no, you go and tell the folks the great things
the Lord has done for you. There's one of the Lord's evangelists.
And he went and he told everybody he could tell. Remember me? I was in chains. I was mad. I was breaking chains. I was
cutting myself. I was. And the Lord saved me. Saved
me. Man, what a testimony, eh? But
see, we all, we, you know, Look where we were. I was in darkness. We can say I was in darkness.
I had no idea. I loved sin. I drank it like
water. I drank it like water. But the
Lord saved my soul. Now I'm a saved sinner, but I'm
saved by the grace and mercy of God. I'm washed in the precious
blood of Christ. And now, I'm a saint. I don't
go around telling people I'm a saint, because they'll look
at me like, we know you, Boyd. My old friends, if I told them
they were saints, the guys I hung around with in high school, they'd
probably fall over almost dead. But it's true, isn't it? I'm not going to lie to them.
We're saints of God, in Christ. My. You see, it's funny how religious
people get so worked up about titles and names and things,
isn't it? This is what God calls his people. The saints at Leida. The born-again, blood-washed
Christians at Leida. Oh my. They used to call each
other saints back in the old days. Don't hear about it much
anymore. That's what they, we see it.
Brothers and sisters, they greeted each other by names. It's wonderful. Look at this in Hebrews chapter
10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once. Once. He only offered himself
once and it was sufficient to save all the elect. Isn't that
amazing? Isn't that amazing? And every
priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which could never take away sins. That's talking
about the Old Testament sacrifices, which they offered daily, but
could never take away sin. Because they were pictures. They
were pointing to Christ. They were the shadow. He's the
substance. Remember? In our study in Colossians? They were the shadow. He's the
substance. He's what they represented. But
they could never take away sin. But Christ is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world. Oh my. John the Baptist proclaimed that,
didn't he? Oh my. It's amazing. Look at this. But this man, this
being Christ, after he offered one sacrifice for sins, just
one, This one, he offered himself for the sins of his people. The
sinless one, offering himself up for sinners. The just one,
offering himself up for the unjust. My oh my. After he offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of the
God, it's done, it's finished. from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstools. For by him, look at this, for
by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That means that God won't count
our sin against us. Now, we know we're far from perfect
and we still sin, don't we? But there's coming a day when
we'll never sin again. Oh my, isn't that wonderful? And in Christ, God looks at us
and he doesn't see our sin. He sees the blood and righteousness
of Christ. Blessed is the man or woman whom
God will not impute a sin. Right? Our sins were imputed to Christ.
His righteousness was imputed to us. My, what a great transaction. It's amazing. Then turn, if you
would, to 2 Thessalonians. So we've seen God the Father
sanctifies us in Christ. God the Son sanctifies us by
his offering of his shed precious blood. And here we're going to
see that the Holy Spirit sanctifies us as well. And again, all believers
are saints. You know why? Because they've
all been sanctified, which is what it means. That's what saints
means, to be sanctified. That's all it means. It's amazing. It's not some special thing and
some special, well it's special of course because God sanctifies
us, but it's not something the church can bestow upon us. It's
only Christ. Only Christ can do that. Again,
only Christ can make a rebel and turn him into a saint. I
know, he did it with me. Did he do it with you? It's wonderful. He did it for us, didn't he?
It's wonderful. Look at this in 2 Thessalonians
2, verses 13 and 14. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you. When's the beginning there? Somebody tell me, when's the
beginning? Yeah, before time, before the foundation of the
world. Before there ever was anything, before there was ever
even any angels. It says here, God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of what? The Spirit. He makes us holy. God, the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit are all involved in this sanctification. It's amazing. through sanctification
and belief in the truth. Now there, we will not be sanctified
unless we believe the truth. We will not believe the truth
unless we're born again. It all goes back to God, to whom
be all glory and honor and praise. You see? It's absolutely incredible. Then it says, whereunto he called
you by our gospel. We were called by the gospel,
with a holy calling, by God the Holy Spirit, to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So now God's providence,
it's at work at all times. I love that song, sisters, that
our dear sister sang, because she had no idea I was gonna preach
on this text. That happens all the time. Sister
Kathy had no idea I was gonna preach on this text. And when
she's talking about that, they're nothing by accident. No. This isn't by accident. This
isn't by chance that Peter sent down Delilah. Let's read verses
33 to 35 now of Acts chapter 9. And there he found a certain
man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years and was sick
of a palsy. So he couldn't, he was incapacitated. He couldn't walk. Somebody had
to carry him there and put him down there. Right? He had no way to get out of the
condition that he was in. He was hopeless and helpless. Could you imagine some Word of
Faith guy saying, get up and walk! And he'd still be laying
there. Like I said, those guys are a
bunch of fraudsters. Oh, my. Does God still do miracles? Yep. Every time a sinner is saved,
that's a miracle. I'm telling you. It's a miracle
of grace, isn't it? Oh, my. It's amazing. And Peter said to him, Aeneas,
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Arise and make thy bed. Look
at this. And immediately. I love the healings
of Christ and the apostles. And the apostles are doing it
through Christ. We know the power of God. But
I love the healings are immediate. Just like that. Instantaneous. See, it would
be criminal. It would be criminal if anyone
had the gift of healing to not go to hospitals, the children's
hospitals, and the cancer wards, and any hospital. It would be
criminal for them not to do that, wouldn't it? And I'll tell you
what, they wouldn't have no trouble with money. Because people would
just give it to them, wouldn't they? They wouldn't even say,
I don't need it. People would still give it to
them. See, that's again. I'm getting on those guys on TV a
little bit today. I don't normally do that, but
they're just fake. All they're doing is robbing people. But
see, this healing was immediate. Now think of this. I went through
operation, I told you guys, when I was 12 years old. And I had
a cast from the top of my hips to my ankles. And my legs were
split out like that with a rod in between them. And they took
those off. I was in that cast for six months.
They took that off. My legs were like jelly. I was
in a wheelchair. They had to put me in a wheelchair
for about three weeks. And then I had to learn how to
walk all over again by those walking step things and poles. I forgot how to walk. My legs
had no strength immediately. See, when I see this stuff, I'm
just, because I've experienced that before. And so I'm amazed
at this. This is immediately, immediately,
his legs are full of strength, his muscles are perfect, and
he's walking. You talk to anyone that's had
any kind of leg stuff and been in casts for a long time, you
come out, your muscles are done. That's why you have to do all
that rehab again. There's no rehab going on here
at all, is there? Remember the leper? Lord, if
thou wilt, thou can make me clean. He says, be thou clean. And immediately
the leprosy was gone. We see the same thing here with
Peter. Look at this. Let's read that again. And Peter
said unto him, Anais, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Arise and
make thy bed. And he rose immediately. And
all that dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
Well, there was a revival, wasn't there? Oh my. And did you know that Peter arrived
at the exact time that he found Anais at the spot he was at?
God orchestrated all that so that they would meet together.
Isn't that amazing? He arrived, he found, notice
the text, a certain man. And this is all according to
the working of our sovereign God, his will and his providence. This was not an accidental discovery. It was our Lord Jesus Christ
who had sent Peter to one of his helpless, hopeless, lost
sheep. And it was Aeneas' time of love,
wasn't it? It was a time that he would hear
the gospel. It was a time that he'd be made
whole, not only physically, but spiritually. See, we look at
the physical, but not just physical, but spiritually as well. Oh my. And it was his appointed time
to hear and believe the gospel. Now this blessed truth about
God's providence with Aeneas being saved by the Lord Jesus
Christ applies to all God's born-again blood-washed saints. It does. There was a time when
you heard the gospel from a faithful preacher, and God used that preaching,
and the Holy Spirit used that, applied it to your heart, and
said, you need Christ. And what did you do? You ran
to him, didn't you? You were made willing in the
day of God's power. You were born again first by
the Holy Spirit of God, given faith to believe, and now he's
the desire of your soul, isn't he? He's the object of your love. And we'll never be the same.
A bunch of rebel sinners like us,
saved by the grace of God. Oh, my, it's amazing. And we see here that Aeneas is termed a certain man. That distinguishes him from all
others in that area. A certain man. A certain man. distinguishes
him from all others in the area who were suffering with the same
disease. Turn, if you would, to John, Chapter 5. We're going
to look at something here in John, Chapter 5. This is amazing. This is absolutely amazing, what
occurs here. John, Chapter 5. We read here
of how there was many important folk at a pool called Bethsaida. Bethsaida. I was talking to Zane about the
message this week, and he goes, you're going on John chapter
5. I said, yep, I sure am. You were thinking about that
while I was telling you about it. And here we are, John chapter
5, look at this. Now remember, this is the Lord
Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. And he's in Jerusalem. And it
says here, after this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem. Again, there's a lost sheep up
there. And he's the great shepherd,
isn't he? And he's going to seek one sheep and leave all the rest
behind. Remember Peter sent to Aeneas? You don't hear of him healing
any other folks in that town. We hear that the people turned
to Christ, but we don't hear of any other healings that went
on. Look at this. Now there is a Jerusalem by the
sheep market, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue,
beseda, having five porches. In those days lay a great multitude. That's a lot of people. hundreds or maybe even thousands,
a great multitude of impotent folk, a blind, halt, withered,
waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down
at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water.
Whosoever then first after had troubled the water stepped in
this was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And what? Certain man. This distinguishes them from
all the others. A certain man was there, which
has an infirmity thirty and eight years. Now think of this. Jesus is walking through the
midst of them, right? I just thought of this as I read
that. Jesus is walking through the midst of them. Where's their
eyes? It's on the pool, isn't it? No one's looking at Christ. They're
all looking at that pool. Can I get in there first? Can
you imagine the poor fellow in the very back? Maybe a bunch
of folks will trip before I get there. Because they had to be
carried in by their friends, some of them. So no one's looking
at Christ who's walking amongst the myths of them. They're all
looking at the pool. They're all looking at the pool.
In a certain man that distinguishes him from all the others, which
had an infirmity thirty and eight years, when Jesus saw him lie and knew
that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him,
Wilt thou be made whole? Now look at this, look what this
text says in verse 6, when Jesus saw him lie and knew that he
had been now a long time in that case. As far as we know, our
Lord had never talked to that man. He knew him because he's
one of his sheep, didn't he sister? He knew him because he's one
of his from eternity that the Father gave him in love. He knows
his name, even though that fellow has no clue who Christ is. But
Christ knew him. That's what's most important,
isn't it? Oh, does Christ know us? Oh. My, and this is in an intimate
way because this is one of his sheep. Now he knows everyone
because he made everyone. He knows all our thoughts, he
knows all our ways, but he knows his sheep with an intimate love,
doesn't he? An everlasting, unchanging love. The important man answered him,
sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the
pool, but while I am coming, another step down before me.
Jesus saith unto him, rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately. Now here's the
great physician, isn't he? Here's the great shepherd of
our souls. Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. Now this man had
not walked, I think it was it said for 38 years, didn't it?
38 years. 38 years. 38 years, his legs have never held
him up. For 38 years. There's no strength
left. They're probably withered. Because that's one thing, when
they took the cast off, I noticed my legs had shrunk. Because the
muscles. So imagine, he'd just have two
sticks probably, right? Pretty much for legs. And immediately. No rehab, no physical therapy,
no doctors involved. Immediately, he picked up his bed and he walked. And the same day,
the same day was the Sabbath. Look at that. Now, here we go. I didn't have it in my notes,
but I want to read a little bit more about this. Look at this.
And immediately the man was made whole, just like that, whole. And took up his bed and walked,
and on the same day was the Sabbath. Now, not only was he made whole
physically, but he was also made whole spiritually, which is more
important. That's more important. The Jews, therefore, said unto
him, Now it's a Sabbath day and he's carrying his bed. I love
what he says here. The Jews therefore said unto
him that was cured. It is the Sabbath day. It's not
lawful for thee to carry thy bed. Now here's a bunch of religious
folks. This man is just being miraculously healed. And the
religious folks just start chewing on him. You're not doing, why
are you doing that on the Sabbath? Why are you doing this? They
don't know that Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath, do they? Oh my. I love his answer. He answered,
he said, he that made me whole in the same said, take up thy
bed and walk. Well, he made me whole and said,
take your bed and go ahead and walk. So what's he going to do? All of a sudden he's going to
take his bed up and walk. And notice the Lord didn't heal
anybody else. But he healed that certain man.
That certain man. Each one of us is a certain man
and certain woman who God saved. Isn't that amazing? Oh, it's
amazing. Look at this. They ask him, what
man is that which sat under the take-up-by-bed and why? We want
to deal with this fella. See these religious hypocrites?
Bunch of religious hypocrites. Oh, my. And he that was healed
wished not who it was. He didn't know who Christ. Remember,
Christ didn't say, I'm the Lord Jesus Christ. He just said, you
want to be made whole? He said, well, I can't. And notice
the Lord didn't say, well, I didn't ask you that. I already know your condition.
And he said, rise, take up thy bed, and walk. He didn't even give him his name.
Look at this. And he that was healed was not who it was, for
Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.
He only healed one person. One person. Afterward, Jesus
findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art
made whole. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which
had made him whole. And look at this. Here's these religious
hypocrites, man, I'll tell you. And therefore did the Jews persecute
Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things
on the Sabbath day. He's Lord of the Sabbath, isn't
he? He healed a certain man. And the Jews are all upset. Oh,
he did it on the Sabbath. I'll tell you why. When God saves
a sinner, I praise God whether it's a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Right? We're just giving glory
to God. My, oh my. Religious people are
the worst, I'll tell you. They're the worst. All men. It was God the Father who had
sent his son to do his will. And that's exactly what we just
saw Christ doing. Because it was God the Father's
will that that man would be saved. And notice how then he went to
the Jews and he said, Jesus did this. He wasn't concerned about
any repercussions, was he? He proclaimed Christ did this.
What do we proclaim that Christ done? He saved my soul. And he
did it all. And I just look to him and live. And that's what I say. Sinner
friend, look to Christ and live. He's the only hope for sinners.
There's no other hope but Christ in our King. And that's it. So
in our text, along with Aeneas, it was the will of God that Peter
would go to him. A certain man. A certain man. And he would be
healed. All according to God's will. But what this shows us is God's
sovereign, distinguishing grace. It shows us that God has a people
and he will save them. We don't know who they are, again,
so we preach the gospel to everyone, but God will give his sheep,
won't he? He will, and he'll be glorified. He'll be glorified
in saving their souls. And I love when Peter says to
him, Anais, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Arise, and immediately,
He took his bed. He rose immediately and took
his bed. How did Peter know Aeneas' name? Aeneas' name? He'd never met him, had he? You
ever think of that, too? God must have revealed it to
him. It's all we can say. As far as we know, they never
met before. Never met before. But you know, Jesus Christ knows
the names of all his born-again, blood-washed saints. He knows
the name of every one of them. Turn, if you would, to John,
chapter 10, and then put your finger in Revelation, chapter
21. John, chapter 10, and Revelation,
chapter 21. Oh my. Our great King knows his sheep.
He knows them all by name. Look at this, John chapter 10,
verses 2 to 4. He knows all his blood-washed
children. Even before he's redeemed them from eternity, he knows
them. Look at this, it says, John chapter 10, verses 2 to
4. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the
sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice.
And he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
God calls each of his sheep by name. He knows every one of us
by name. A multitude that no man can number.
He knows every one of them. And it says, and when he put
forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow
him. For what? They know his voice. They know
who he is. Now turn, if you would, to Revelation
chapter 21. You know, there are the Lord's
people, Our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life from
before the foundation of the world. That's amazing. That's absolutely amazing. Look
at Revelation chapter 21 verses 22 to 27. And I saw no temple therein,
for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon,
to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the
Lamb is the light thereof. No night in heaven, and the light
is from the light of the Lamb. Oh my. And the nations of them
which are saved shall walk in the light of it. And the kings
of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates
of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no
night there." Perpetual day. My, oh, my. And they shall bring
the glory and honor of the nations unto it. And there shall no wise
enter into it anything that defiles, neither worketh abomination or
maketh lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of
life. The Lamb's Book of Life. I remember reading a track one
time and it said, I couldn't believe this, but it said this.
It said, now that you disbelieve your name has just been penned
in the Lamb's Book of Life. No, God's people's names are
put in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the
world. Now, just meditate on that this week. Meditate on that
this week. Just let that swirl around in
our brains this week. Now, my name was written in the
Lamb's Book of Life from eternity. And the hymn writers say, with
indelible grace, or with indelible ink. You can't erase it. God
will never erase it. Indelible ink. Oh my goodness. So God's distinguished his people.
He's distinguished his people. He sent a preacher to this man,
didn't he? Let's read verses 33 to 35 again. And he found
a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years
and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Aeneas,
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole, arise and make thy bed. And he
arose immediately. And all that dwelt at Lyla and
Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. Oh my. He proclaimed that only
Christ can make a sinner whole. Only Christ. And when Aeneas heard these words,
Jesus Christ make thee whole, the gospel truths he had already
heard were made effectual in his heart by God the Holy Spirit,
who also gave him faith to believe and healed him. What did our
Lord say to Nicodemus? He must be born again. I'm going to use that word again,
Zane. Notice this, ye must. I was talking to Zane about this
and Zane brought forth that that word must is similar to that
word shall. It has the same connotation. Must, ye must be born again.
And that's a work of the Spirit, not a work of man. He must be
born again. My oh my. Must be. And note that Aeneas rose immediately. He was healed immediately from
his physical sickness and he was healed from his spiritual
sickness. Beloved, if we If we, by God-given faith, believe the
biblical record that God has given us of his son, if we believe
the glorious truths of salvation only in and through Christ alone,
then we know that it's only Jesus Christ who saved us. It's only
Christ who saved us. And he did it eternally according
to his purpose, too, his own purpose. This was purposed and
planned in eternity by God. My, what grace was shown us even
before we were in Christ. What mercy was shown to us from
eternity as Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. It's God, you see, who's distinguished
us. We had no part of him choosing us. He didn't look down through
time and say, oh, Zane's going to choose me, or Wayne's going to choose me,
or Dan, or Jim, or Neil. He saw that they're going to
reject me, because we're all dead. But in His mercy and grace,
He said, you're mine, you're mine, you're mine, you're mine. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, my. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. And that which was purposed in
time, or in eternity, and the sacrifice that was made 2,000
years ago by Christ shedding his blood in time experimentally
for us, right? Under the preaching of the Lord's
gospel, we're raised from a state of spiritual deadness by God
the Holy Spirit to life in Christ. That's amazing, and God orchestrates
all that. Not just in our lives, but in
all the elect of all the ages. Oh, what a great God we have.
And any doctrine that promotes salvation by the will and works
of man is a false gospel. It's a false salvation. You know
why? Because it robs God of all the
glory. That's why, it actually robs
God of the glory. Because if you know that salvation
is all the Lord and all His doing, you're going to give Him all
the glory, aren't you? Oh my! We don't want any of it. Look at this in the last verse.
And all that dwelt in Lydda and Sharon saw Him and turned to
the Lord. They saw Him. They saw the man that had been
eight years. Eight years with the policy. And Sharon was a large country. It was full of fruitful fields.
It was close to the city of Leida, which again was 35 miles from
Jerusalem. And so it's obvious that Aeneas
was a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He arose and immediately
separated himself from those who were still lying on their
sickbeds. And in verse 35, we see that
Aeneas wasn't a silent believer either, was he? He's going around
telling everybody about what happened. Christ made me whole. Christ made me whole. Oh, my. And they'd seen him there.
He's the fellow. He'd been eight years he was
on that bed. Eight years? Yeah. Suffering from the palsy. And
when they saw that helpless and potent man who was miraculously
healed by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, and heard Aeneas
giving his new master all the praise and glory, giving all
the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ for what he'd done, for his sovereign
amazing grace, sovereign mercy, says, many of them by the power
of God turned to the Lord. And remember, it's only by the
power of God, isn't it? Isn't that wonderful? So marvel at this wondrous truth
that's set before us. He arises immediately. He's no
longer laying upon his bed. He's no longer among his former
companions. He's been made new. He's born
again. He's a new creature in Christ. Now he goes over the
whole towns telling everyone about Christ. Telling people
just like that, gathering demonia, oh, look the great thing the
Lord done for me. Not only did he make me physically whole,
but he made me spiritually whole. I'm born again by his almighty
power. I'm given faith to look to Christ. And Christ already
did all the work. There's nothing for me to do
but look. And then keep looking. And that we do by the power of
God, right? We're kept by the power of God.
Brother Zane reminded me of something I preached in Peter about when
it's being kept there is like being surrounded by an army of
men and you can't go anywhere. You're protected. You're protected. We're kept. Isn't that marvelous? Kept by
the power of God. That's wondrous. Oh, my. And all who experience the saving
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we're all called to be faithful
witnesses, aren't we? And as God opens up the door,
we proclaim Christ, don't we? Don't shove your foot through
the door. I've done that many times. It doesn't do nothing.
Wait for the Lord to open the door. And you'll know it. You'll
know it when it happens. You'll know it. It'll be so easy.
And then you might face a little opposition after that, but don't
worry about that. That's normal. But when God opens the door,
I'll tell you, just proclaim him. Just tell people what he's
done. He's obtained eternal redemption
for me. He's redeemed me by his precious blood. He's justified
me. He's sanctified me. He turned
this rebel into a saint. My, oh, my. And if anyone should
ask us of our blessed hope, will be quick to give the right answer.
The Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself to me. He revealed himself
to me. Oh, he sent a spirit in my heart,
whereby now I cry, Abba, Father, that I might know the gospel
of his amazing grace and salvation through his precious, precious
blood alone, and that the work is already finished. My, what
a relief, isn't it? What a relief. We cast aside
our religious works and our thinking that we're good. He said, come
unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. You know, thinking
yourself to be a good person, thinking yourself good enough
to be to heaven, that's labor, man. Christ said, come unto me,
all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is
light. I recently saw a yoke. Those
old wooden things they used to put on those oxen, they're so
heavy I couldn't even lift the thing up. Man, you'd be like this little.
See, this is us in religion. Did I do enough? Nope, never. Look to Christ. He finished the
work of our salvation. Look to him and live. Look to Him and live. Brother
Dan, can you close us in prayer?