Oh my. Open your Bibles if you
would to Acts chapter 3, right where Dave was there. We'll continue
our study in the book of Acts. Starting a new chapter today,
which is chapter 3 of this wonderful book. The name of the message
is, For the Glory of Christ. For the Glory of Christ. Now
the last verse of chapter 2 of the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit
has Luke penned these words, and the Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved. And as a brief review on some of those thoughts, of
the Holy Spirit's inspired words as we study this book, or as
we go through this book, we will have brought before us the Lord
adding to the church, such as he's pleased to do. It's absolutely
amazing. He's still adding people today. And here add people until the
last sheep is saved, and then it's all over. Then it's all
over. My oh my, and it's he who adds
to the church. It's God who does that. And he's pleased to do that.
And it's because of the long suffering of the Lord towards
his people that he's not yet returned. He's, as I said in
Sunday school, he's on his timetable. Some people say, well, he's delayed
this coming. No, he's not delayed nothing. He's right on time.
He will come at that perfect ordained time that only the Father
knows, right? No man knows the hour or the
day or the seasons we saw in the first chapter. People say,
wow, we're in the season. We don't even know that. How
can you say that we don't even know it? The scripture declares
we don't have any clue. But we know he's coming back,
don't we? Because the angel said this same Jesus, he can come
back in like manner. Well, we can take that to the
bank, right? He's coming back. We believe that. We lay a hold
of that. We just don't know when it is.
But we're trusting them. Oh my. And look at these words
here. Do you know here, not let one
of his sheep perish. Bought that fourth in Sunday
school. That the reason he's not coming back yet is because
the last sheep hasn't been saved. That's the only reason he's not
come back yet. And look at the words at the
end of chapter two. Such as should be saved. You know, that has
nothing to do with our works. That has nothing to do with man's
works. No. But it has everything to do with
God and God alone. Salvation is a gift from God,
not of works, lest any man should boast. And it's all in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ, plus nothing we do. Right? Such as should be saved, all
those who were chosen in Christ shall be saved. They're not gonna
be one left behind. Such as should be saved, all
who are sanctified and perfected forever, even though we still
sin, in God's eyes, he looks at us and sees Christ. He sees
the believer in Christ. All that are sanctified and perfected
forever by the supreme sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
was made of a woman, Right? Made of a woman. Made under the
law. Why? So that he could redeem
his people from their sins. Such, such as should be saved,
shall be saved. Oh my. Such as should be saved,
as many as receive the Lord Jesus Christ, there be saved. There
be saved. My. Such as shall be saved, as
many as the Lord our God calls, shall be saved. Such as shall
be saved. My, as many as received Christ
Jesus, those who are born again by the will of God shall be saved,
shall be saved. All those who Christ shed his
blood for shall be saved, shall be saved. My, it's wonderful. Such as should be saved are those
who are called with the Holy Covenant, not according to our
works, but according to God's own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 2 Timothy
1.9. They shall be saved, beloved. We're living proof of that. And
you know why we're saved? You know why we're saved, beloved?
For the glory of God, for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why we're saved. That's, we're saved for the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then now what do we do? Who
do we give glory to? We give glory to the Lord, don't
we? We're saved for His glory, and then we just give it back
to Him, because He's the only one worthy. Oh, He's so worthy
of our praise. He saved our souls, beloved,
by the shedding of His own precious blood. Oh my, it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
those he saves, he shall keep, won't he? He shall keep them.
What our Lord said. He said, I will build my church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. My, those
are such as shall be saved. My, oh my. The Lord's church
is a spiritual house made up of living stones. And these living
stones, who are the living stones? There is chosen, born again,
blood-washed children. We're living stones, beloved.
We're living stones. And remember, we're being made
ready here, right? And we're gonna fit right in when we get
to heaven. Oh my. We're gonna fit right
in with all those other stones made ready. They're already fitted
right in where they're supposed to be. And we're gonna join that
heavenly choir, beloved. Oh, we're gonna sing praises
to the king. forever and ever and ever. And we will know in
glory that we were created for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to know that. And
that's true. We don't feel that, do we? But you know that? Do you know that every believer,
all the elect of God, do you know we were created for the
glory of Christ? Just let that sink in. Just let
that sink in. God had chosen us before the
foundation of the world. And there was a time when we
were created. And we were created for His glory. We're going to
see that today. This man who's lame, he never
walked. Why was he created? For the glory
of Christ, beloved. For the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This, what he was born with being
lame, couldn't walk. But Christ's power would be manifested
in his life. He had no clue. He wasn't looking
for Jesus. Do you notice he's placed on
the outside of the temple and not inside? If he wanted to worship, he'd
be placed inside, wouldn't he? He's just thinking, this is a
good spot to get some money. There's lots of people gonna
pass by here. They're gonna go into the temple. I might make
some money. He's got to sustain himself somehow,
right? He can't work, so he's a beggar. He's a beggar. Do you know what Tom Harden calls
we who are the people of God? I love this. Mercy beggars. That's
what we are, aren't we? God, have mercy on me, please,
Lord. Please have mercy on me. We're
mercy beggars. We're mercy beggars. Before we're
saved and we don't know it, we need to beg for mercy. And then
after the Lord saves us, we continuously beg for mercy, don't we? I love
that title. I never heard that until I heard
Tom say that. Man, I heard him about 15 years ago. He said,
just bless my soul. I'm just a mercy beggar, Brother
Dave. That's all I am. I know you are too. We're just
mercy beggars. Hey, look, we found some bread.
Praise be to God. And that bread is Christ, right?
That bread is Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. So every time the Lord Jesus
Christ calls one of his lost sheep out of darkness, He calls
them to the assembly of the saints, right? We're his body. We're
his body. And he's building his born-again,
blood-washed church, his bride, which he purchased with his precious
blood. And therefore, there are those who such as shall be saved.
They will be. There's no doubt. They will be
saved. Because he came to save his people
from their sins, right? And the scripture says he shall
save his people from their sins. He will. He will. So there's
a lot of instruction in this section here for the poor and
again blood-washed child of God. And all of this is recorded for
our learning, beloved. Remember that. The scripture's
recorded for our learning. It reveals to us who Christ is. It reveals to us God. And the
only way we know that, again, is by the power of God, the Holy
Spirit. You've heard me say I read parts
of the Bible before the Lord saved me, and it was just paper
and ink. I didn't get nothing out of it. It just was paper
and ink. But after the Lord saved me,
I said, my gosh, this book's alive. Right? Oh my. And as I said in Sunday
school, if you read a portion of scripture and you don't understand
it, right? Don't wrestle it. Just say, I
don't understand that. And when it's time, if God is
pleased, when it's time, He'll reveal that to you. Right? And he usually does that when
we're going through a time when we need to hear what's written
in the Word of God. And as I said in Scandi School,
that's when we go, I've never seen that before. Or I heard
a preacher preach something, I've never heard that before.
That's why I was jumping up and down about this, we're created
for the glory of God the Father. Old grace preacher I know put
it down and I was like, oh my gosh. That's so true. Bless my soul. My, oh my. So let's read the first three
verses here of Acts chapter three. Look at this. Now Peter and John
went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being
the ninth hour, which is 3 p.m. like Brother Dave said. And a
certain lame man from his mother's womb, notice his name's not mentioned,
it just says a certain lame man. His name's not important, beloved. That could be said of us, right? The Lord saved a certain person.
The name's not important. What's important is what the
Lord's gonna do. And this certain, now there's
all kinds of other lame people in Israel, isn't there? But this
is a certain lame man. Notice that? Certain lame man. A certain man lame from his mother's
womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple,
which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered
the temple. Who's seen Peter and John about to go into the
temple, asking alms? He's asking for money. We see
in verse one that the events of this passage shows us the
blessedness of public worship. They're going at the appointed
hour of prayer, John and Peter, they come to the temple, the
appointed place of worship, to worship God. And now the lame
man, he only comes for carnal reasons. And again, he doesn't
even go inside the temple. He's placed on the outside of
the temple, isn't he? If he wanted to hear what's going
on, he'd say, put me inside the building. But he's only there
for one reason, to get money. He's not thinking about God,
right? He's just thinking of himself. Yeah, you know what's going on,
brother. He's not thinking of himself. Is he looking for God? He's not looking for God at all,
is he? As a matter of fact, I was pondering this, is he even looking
to be healed? He's just looking for money,
isn't he? He's just looking for money.
Says he's there and asking alms. My, oh, my. So the lame man came
for carnal reasons, but they placed him outside, but he's
real close to where he needs to be, isn't he? Oh, my. My, oh, my. And at this spot,
God himself will make himself known. Will make himself known,
both to his servants and to a certain lame man from his mother's womb.
He's gonna make himself known. What did he do for us, David?
When you prayed, I was like, man, was he reading my notes? Because this guy, he couldn't
do nothing. He is lame, and as we're gonna
see, he's such a picture of us in our natural state. We're lame
from a fall, aren't we? We fell an item. We're lame from
a fall. We can't fix ourselves, we can't
heal ourselves, right? We're just beggars. That's all
we are, spiritually beggars. Oh my. So let every needy soul
cherish the house of God and attend the assembly of worship
and give thanks to God for the privilege. You know it's a privilege
for us to come here? This is a privilege. It's amazing. It's an honor. So many around
us have no care. And here you are gathered together
to hear the gospel preached and proclaimed. And it's a privilege
for me to preach the gospel. Privilege for me to put the messages
together. It's wonderful, it's an honor. And here we are, out
of all the people in Almonte, out of all the people in Detroit
area, here we are sitting in the Grace Church, listening to
the gospel being preached. Isn't that wonderful? And desiring
to be here. What a privilege, what an honor
God's given us. And here we can meet, and we
can meet here together, and we have a hope, We have a hope that
sinners will hear about Christ. We bring our family members and
our friends. We invite them to come, hoping, if they do not
know Christ, that he'll manifest himself to them, and that he'll
save their souls. Right? Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God, right? How shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall a preacher preach
if he's not been sent? Well, you have a sent preacher.
Here I am, sent by God. And I only have one gospel. It's
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to preach it as God gives me the ability.
Because if God don't give me the ability, I'm just going to
go right on my face, beloved. Right? Oh, my. If he doesn't make it effectual,
from my mouth to your ears and to your heart, right? If he don't
make it effectual, then it's just words. Oh, I pray God will
make it effectual. I pray, bless your heart. with
the message. Oh my, now let's take another
verse too, look at this. And a certain man, lame from his
mother's womb, never walked, never ever walked, never walked
in his life, lame from his mother's womb. Come out of the womb lame.
Some people say, oh my gosh, your child's lame. Or maybe when
he got bigger, they think, oh my, I'm so sorry your child's
lame. how a man looks on the outside,
right? That man's born that way for
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're gonna see why, how we know
that. He's born that way. You guys know I was born disabled.
People always used to ask me, they used to say, did you hurt
your leg? No, didn't hurt my leg, I was born this way. And
they'd say, oh, I'm so sorry. I said, don't be sorry, God made
me this way. And I wouldn't even save them.
God made me this way, and that's how I feel still. A child's born,
however they're born, that's the way God had them born. Made
perfect, yeah. Fearfully and wonderfully made,
the scripture says. We're thankful if they've got
all 10, I almost said 10 fingers, eight fingers and two thumbs.
But however they're made, God makes them that way, right? That's
right, my oh my. It's incredible. Look at this.
He's laying from his mother's womb. And look at this. He had to be
carried every single day. Whom they laid daily at the gates
of the temple. Now, he just wasn't going there
on Saturday, on the Sabbath. He was there daily. Because there'd
be people going in and out of there. Probably thought, man,
that's a pretty good lucrative corner. Right? Out west there's a lot of homeless
fellows and they do a lot of begging for money in the towns
we were living in. And you'd see them. They'd have
their corners. And they'd get in fights. Somebody tried to
take their corner, man, they'd look out. They'd be fighting
over it. Well, this guy, he found him a spot. And it says here,
he was daily laid at the gate of the temple, which is called
beautiful, to ask alms of all of them that entered into the
temple. And this lame man, beloved, he was one of God's elect, and
he didn't even know it. He didn't even have a clue. He didn't have
a clue. Did Peter and John know he was
one of God's elect? Didn't have a clue. They had no idea. They just see this lame man,
We're going to see what Peter says later. Silver and gold have
I not, but such as I have I give thee in the name of Jesus Christ.
Rise up and walk! Now he didn't just rise up because
of Peter's words, did he? He rose up because of the power
of God, beloved. Just like we rise up from our
dead, lame state that we're in to life in Christ. It's by the
power of God, isn't it? Oh, it's by the power of God.
Preacher just gets up and preaches the gospel. By the power of God,
a life-giving, do you know our God's a life-giving God? Huh? Man, when I was in Catholicism,
they said that they had the Jesus still on the cross. He ain't
on the cross anymore. He's in glory. He's risen. He's in glory, beloved. Not on no cross. My, Donny Bell
said, you find that cross, you turn it into toothpicks because
somebody will worship it if you ever bought it out. And it's true, isn't it? It's
true. My, oh, my. The cross has no
power itself. It's Christ who died on the cross,
isn't it? He's the one with the power. But you ever think of
this? You ever think of this? God ordained
the very tree that Christ, that Christ was, that was hewn to
be his cross, God himself ordained that tree to grow. And those men, whoever it was,
they didn't know they weren't there. They chopped down that
thing and it was made into a cross. And he ordained that tree to
grow. and then he was hung on that tree, and then he died for
our sins. Isn't that amazing? What a merciful
God. Do you see how everything glorifies
God? It's here for his glory. Even
that tree, think of that, that tree, just a tree growing, was
used to glorify Christ, wasn't it? That little acorn or whatever
it was fell on the ground, That tree grew all according to the
will and purpose of God. And it was hewed down, chopped,
made into a cross, and Christ hung on it for the glory of God.
Oh my, isn't it wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful. Absolutely
wonderful. My oh my. Now this lame man didn't
know it, but he was one of God's elect from before the foundation
of the world. Didn't have any idea. He was one of those whom
Christ had redeemed. Remember, Christ is already up
in glory. He redeemed him. He didn't even know it. He didn't
even know it. He was one for whom Christ laid
down his life and purged his sins, and he didn't have any
clue. What a picture of us, right? Before the Lord saves us, we
don't have no clue that the Lord died for us. Oh my, watch and
see though, that he is one who is added to the church by the
life-given power of God the Holy Spirit. Because he should be
saved. Remember in Acts? He should,
such as should be saved. Right here before us. Such as
should be saved. Lord's adding to his church.
Here's a lame man. I'll tell you what. He didn't
die lame, no did he? Isn't that amazing? Born from
his mother's womb lame. My. Watch in awe. Watch in awe as the Holy Spirit.
delivers this man from the current state that he's in. And watch
that he will be fully healed and made whole. And then he will
worship God. Next week we're going to see,
he's going to go in that temple and he's leaping. He's leaping. He never walked before. He ain't
just walking. He's leaping, beloved. He's so
full of joy. Oh, my goodness. He got, you
know, and I've told you before, I had an operation when I was
12 years old, right? And when they took me, I was
in a cast from here to my toes with my legs spread and with
a bar in between. And I was in that for, I think,
I think it was about eight months I was in that, just laying down.
My mom had to roll me and, you know, all this stuff. But when
they took me out of that, my legs were like rubber. They put
me on, and my legs were just shaking. And I put it on the
ground. It was just like, down I went. There was no strength
in my muscles, right? This man has had no strength
in his muscles from birth. And he gets up. No physical therapy. Right? No physical therapy, and
he's leaping. See, God's healing is a whole
healing, isn't it? Spiritually. And he's a picture of us, dead
in trespasses and sins. God's people made whole. We're
made whole, beloved. My oh my. So this is, here we
are. This helpless, hopeless, lame
man, beggar, at the gate called beautiful, he's a picture of
all of God's elect. We see our text tells us he's
a certain man. He's singled out. He's singled
out, isn't he? He's not just a man, he's a certain
man. God's got his eye on him. Why has he got his eye on him?
He's one of his sheep, isn't he, Brother Zane? He's one of
his sheep. Oh, my! And you remember, there
was also a certain man who was at the pool of Bessadia, who said, Lord, I tried to get
in, but I can't get in. He was called a certain man,
too. See, the name doesn't matter, does it? Remember the woman at
the well? We don't know her name. But she
was a woman of the well, wasn't she? Oh my. And think of this. This certain
man is included in the number that no man can number, whom
the Father gave to Christ. And he's here in our text called
a certain man. A certain man. And as we looked at in Sunday
school, God's made vessels of mercy and God's made vessels
of destruction, right? Vessels of honor and vessels
of dishonor. It's just Romans chapter 9. If
you read it, it's, it's, that's how God's done it. Oh my. And this man was a vessel
of honor. He was created, he was created
for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and he had no clue at
all. No clue at all. He may have complained
about his state growing up, he may have complained about this,
but little did he know that one day he would meet Peter and John
and by the power of God, he would rise up and walk. And not just
walk, but he would leap down the aisle. Isn't that amazing? And as you were reading that
day, we saw the people were astonished. This is the fellow that we've
seen for however many years at the gate, daily. And he's leaping
and walking and praising God? Yep. What happens to us after the
Lord saves us? We're praising God, aren't we?
We're leaping for joy in our hearts, aren't we? Oh my, it's
wonderful. If you're a child of God, praise
be to God for His mercy and His grace which is being bestowed
upon you. So this man, beloved, this man was created for the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you this, every
one of God's elect, every one of us, was created for the glory
of Christ. We might not feel that way. As
I was putting the message together, I thought, me? Yep. Because this man's a picture
of all of us in our last days. If you have a down day or a down
week, just let this bless your soul. And this isn't being presumptuous. This is just truth. I was created
for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what he's done
in my life. And look how he's being glorified
now by my lips and by my heart of love that he's put in me now. My, oh my. What comfort that
can bring us. Everything we go through is ordained
and ordered by the Lord. That which is hard and hurts
and that which is good in our eyes. My oh my. You ever found that
you grow more in the valley than you do on the mountain? In the sense that you draw closer
to Christ? in the valley than you do in the mountain. When
everything's going all right, life can be a little bit easy
then, can't it? But when the rubber hits the
road and we start going through things, oh God be merciful to
me. And those are just, sister you
said a long time ago to me, that God, we go through those things.
Sister Barbara said this a long time ago. We go through these
things to wean us from this world. And I agree, that's a great statement,
a great way to look at things. God is weaning us from this world. It doesn't have the allure that
it had once for us anymore. It just doesn't. We're slowly
being, slowly being weaned from this world. Now think of this
man. He's a certain man, the scripture
says. Little does he know he was created for the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's born lame. That's the last
thing he would think, right? The last thing he would think
was, I'm born for the glory of God, and here I am lame from
my mother's womb. Well, number one, he didn't know
Christ. He didn't know God. He didn't love God, right? He's sitting at this gate right
by the temple, right? Right where the scriptures being
read and everything. He's just there begging. And
it says in the text, he's lame from his mother's womb. Do you
know that was purposed by God? For the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Isn't that amazing? Purposed
by God for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look back on your
life and see things from a perspective. beloved of Christ being glorified. There's some times we look and
we're so dark, but oh God took us through all that even before
we were saved. There's even been some dark times
after the Lord saved us, isn't there? He took us right through
all of them too, didn't he? Just keep looking forward. Just
keep looking forward. Oh my. Man, just keep looking to Christ. Just keep looking to Him. And
this man was created, though. He was lame from his mother's
womb. It was purposed by God, again,
for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let us not miss this
picture set before us. This is us, spiritually speaking,
we're lame. We have no ability to do anything
to save ourselves. We just can't. Scripture says
there's no man that seeketh after God. Right? We don't have any
understanding of God or who he is. Right? None at all. My oh my. And from our mother's
womb until we're regenerated by the power of God the Holy
Spirit, do you know we never took a step that pleased God? Do you know that? How do we know
that? Well, it says this in Hebrews
11, 6, but without faith it's impossible to please Him. We
walked in total disobedience to Him before we were regenerated.
We walked displeasing to Him before we were saved. Isn't that
amazing? Isn't He long-suffering, patient
with us? But His everlasting love is set
upon us even though, think of this, Remember our kids when they were
just little? They'd do something. You'd either
have to walk away because you were laughing so hard because
you did it yourself, right? When you were their age. Or you'd
get really mad sometimes, right? And you never want to discipline
in anger, right? So you always take time and cool down and then. But sometimes they do things
that you're just like, what? You're just banging your head against
the wall, right? How many things have I done before
the Lord saved me and after that would give him a right to just
cast me away? But he says, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. You're created for my son's glory. Just let
that sink in. Without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. So we walked in total disobedience until we were
regenerated, right? And it says the steps of a good
man are ordered by the Lord. He orders our steps, beloved.
He orders our steps. You know why? For the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. For His glory. So here's this
lame man. Here's this lame man. He has no faith, it's impossible
to please God, but without faith it's impossible to please him,
not being God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
And oh, how we've been rewarded in Christ. If Christ is our reward, we don't
need nothing else, do we? Oh my, yeah, he sure is. He sure is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him, because we're in Christ. Oh my. So marvel, and let us learn how
God purposes all things. This man was born in this state
for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. That the power of God
might be manifest in his life. Think of that with us. Here we
are. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. We don't know we're born for the glory of Christ,
and then he saves us. And how does he do it? By his
almighty power. He takes us, and just like that
lame man, he causes us to leap for joy. We're dead in trespasses,
and he makes us alive. I'll tell you what. We don't
stop praising the Lord now, do we? My, oh, my. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. So marvel that this man's totally
depraved, sinful, helpless, hopeless condition, just like us, is a
result of Adam's fall. But it was also purposed by God,
why? To bring glory to Christ. You
ever think of that? We fell, so we can't save ourselves. Now, what brings glory to Christ?
The fact that he saves us from our sins. The fact that he redeemed
us from under the law of God, which had a claim upon us. It's
amazing. His grace is incredible. And
marvel as we see God's sovereign wise purpose unfold before us
with this certain man who was not seeking Christ. He was not
seeking Christ. But Jesus Christ was seeking
him, wasn't he? Oh, yeah. which is true of every one of
us in our unregenerate state, this certain lame man was a chosen
vessel of God, a vessel of mercy. That's what
every one of God's peoples called, a vessel of mercy. a vessel of
God's sovereign mercy. And this vessel of God's sovereign
mercy, who didn't know he was, was carried daily to this gate
we saw in the text, and placed before the gate so that he could
beg for money. You see how God's providing for
him? In his hopeless, helpless state even? Isn't that amazing? He don't
have a clue. He thinks people are just giving
him money. Do you remember Gomer and Hosea. And here he is. He's given her all these gifts
and she thinks they're all from her lovers. That's how Christ
was with us before we were saved. He was taking care of us and
watching over us. And we were lovers of self and
lovers of pleasure and lovers of sin. And we thought, oh, look at all
I got from my own strength. Meanwhile, God's just given it
to us. That's pretty amazing. Dave,
you got that job you were telling me about before the Lord saved
you? Because God just gave it to you. You didn't have a clue
about that? Well, I got myself a job. Right? God gave it to you. And each one of us can look back
on our lives before we were saved and even after we're saved. Everything
comes from Him. What did Scott used to say again? As it always, yeah, it came to
pass, and then he'd say, as it always does. Isn't that so true? Everything
comes to pass as God is pleased for it to come to pass. You're
saved because it pleased God for it to come to pass that way.
I'm saved, same thing, because it pleased God to save us. And
it will always come to pass that way for God's people. It always
will. Oh my, it's wonderful. Wonderful. So marvel too, that here's this
man, he's begging for his worldly needs to be taken care of. He's
a feeble, lame beggar, hoping that people will have mercy upon
him and give him some money. And how this applies to us, even
as God's people, God's chosen vessels of mercy, whatever worldly
means and reason we have had for coming to church before,
maybe, where the true gospel was being preached, it was all
purposed by God. Brother Travis, you ended up
in Scott's church to be with Sister Karen, but it was all
purposed by God that you'd be there to hear the gospel. Isn't
that amazing? Isn't that amazing? It's wonderful. That's amazing. Same with Irene. Remember Irene
and Dan? Oh gosh. Irene and Dan's dad,
and Richard, he's like, I like that girl. And he goes to church,
Lord ends up saving him, he becomes a deacon of a church, man, he's,
oh my gosh. Faithful servant of the Lord,
and a dear wife who loves Christ too. My, all purposed and planned
by God. Isn't that amazing? all purpose
and plan by God. We might have come in this church
building at one time unregenerate in our state, without Christ,
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from
the covenant of promise having no hope and without God in this
world, and then marvel that you might have left here one day
when the Lord saved you, saved and regenerated. Or you could
be driving home and contemplating about the message that you listened
to, Brother Brian, and the Lord saved you just like that. Ask
Brother Brian what the Lord did for him. It's amazing. It's amazing. I'm not going to say much. I
want folks to ask you about that, because that's just such a testimony
to the Lord's goodness and His grace and mercy. And I guess
Linda and their daughter was talking, and Brian said, I didn't
even have a clue what they were talking about, man. I was just
thinking about the Lord in my mind. Stacy and you were talking,
Linda, and he told me, he said, I didn't even hear a word they
were saying. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
incredible, beloved? Oh, my. My oh my. So marvel, this is one of the
reasons why this certain man was placed there was for the
glory of Christ. He didn't, you know, he might
have picked the area out when he was younger, but he was actually
placed there for the glory of God, for the glory of Christ. That's exactly where he was supposed
to be. And God ordained that Peter and John would come in.
How many people passed him by all them years? Gave him, dropped
some money, maybe walked by, lame guys here again, right? Some people might cuss them out.
You don't know. We just don't know. If they didn't say it verbally,
they might have said it in their heart. My oh my. And on this particular
day, a miracle was about to be performed. A miracle was about
to be performed. This man wasn't looking for it.
All he was looking for was money. And this miracle was going to
happen for the glory of Christ to draw attention to the Lord
Jesus Christ in Him alone. My oh my. And this also applies to God's
born-again blood-washed people, right? Who have experienced the
miracle of the new birth, born again by the power of God. And
like Peter and John, We have a sincere desire to be at the
appointed place of God's worship, right? We have a desire to be
here. And that comes from God too.
It's wonderful. My oh my. And we who are the
redeemed of the Lord are being brought out of the hopeless condition
we were in. We were dead in trespasses and sins. We did not love God. We did not care about God. All
we cared about was self. And that was manifest in how
we lived. Right? Oh my. How do we know that? How do we
know that? How do we know? How do we know that our friends
and families are without Christ, are in spiritual darkness? How
do we know that? Well, because we were there. We were groping around in the
dark, weren't we spiritually? We may have heard a gospel preacher,
but we didn't know We didn't understand what he was saying.
We may have gave lip service, oh yeah, I'm a believer, but
not been born again. My oh my. We may have been like
I was doing, working all these religious works, trying to gain
merit and favor with God, thinking I was better than everybody else,
and yet here I was in darkness, in bitterness, in sin, dead in
trespasses and sins. until God saved me. My oh my. So we've been delivered. We have
liberty. We have freedom. Do you know
we've been set free from the prison house of sin? And you
who unlocked the door and has the key and is the only key,
the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. We were locked up in the
prison house of unbelief, beloved. We were locked up, man, we were
in chains. There was nothing we could do.
And marvel, that same darkness we once loved, our friends and
our unsaved family members are in that. But praise be to God,
God delivered us, so there's hope for them too, isn't there?
There's hope for them. Oh my, the preaching of the true
gospel is the ordained instrument that our sovereign Lord uses
to save his people from their sins. May we be prayerful for
the services we have here and for the messages that goes out
into the world. May we be prayerful for it. God,
use it for your glory and honor and praise, please. Please. So marvel so far the biblical
truth that's been set before us. which is our gracious God
who bought about 3,000 men to the Lord Jesus Christ when they
heard the truth preached by the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost. And our gracious God, the same
gracious God, now brings Peter and John into this man's presence. My oh my. Again, he's not looking
for God, he's just looking for a handout. That's all he's looking
for. You know, it's God who who brings
all his chosen blood-bought children to Jesus Christ, he does it all. Through the merits of Christ
alone, by the blood and righteousness of Christ, God from the beginning
chosen unto salvation through sanctification of spirit and
belief in the truth, whom he calls by the gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Acts chapter
3 verses 1 to 3 again. Now Peter and John went up together
into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour,
and a certain lame man from his mother's womb was carried, whom
they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful,
to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. When seeing
Peter and John about to go into the temple, asking alms, look
at that, right away, oh, can you give me some money? You got
a dollar? Got a shekel? Right? Oh, he's asking Peter and John,
who are about to go into the temple. Peter fastened his eyes
upon him with John, said, look on us. Look at verses 3 to 5. He's seeing Peter and John about
to go into the temple asking alms, and Peter fastened his
eyes upon him with John, said, look on us. Who are we to look
upon? Who are we called in the scripture to look upon? The Lord
Jesus Christ. Look unto me and live, saith
the Lord, right? Look unto him and live. Look
unto Christ and live. Come unto me, all ye that are
weary and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Spirit and
the bride, say, come! Come. Come to Christ. Oh, my. And he, giving heed unto them,
expecting to receive something. He's like, okay, I'll look at
you, I'll give you some money. He's expecting to get some money,
isn't he? He's going to get something far
more valuable, isn't he? Did you know we received a gift that
is so priceless? that you can't put a price on
it. And it's called salvation in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. He's so wonderful. I'll tell
you. He's the most wonderful gift
you ever receive in your life. Oh my. And it's obvious this
man was lame from his mother's womb. He didn't have saving faith. His mind was not thinking about
spiritual things. He's just thinking about money. He's not seeking Christ. He don't
even know who Peter and John are. You ever think of that?
You just think, two more people coming in, I can ask them, hey,
you got any money? Man, Brother Brian, he didn't
know who he was talking to, did he? Here's two apostles of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he didn't even know that
he's born to glorify God. He's born to glorify Christ.
He has no clue. Oh my, he wasn't, and notice
he wasn't expecting healing. Oh, he's expecting a hand up,
right? Last thing he's thinking about
getting healed. He probably thinks, well there's
no one who can heal me. I'm born this way. Oh, so he wasn't expecting a
physical healing or a spiritual healing. Was he praising God
before he got there? We don't see that, do we? He's
sure praising God afterwards, wasn't he? Oh, my. Oh, my. And also, he was a Jew. He was a descendant of the nation
that God chose. He probably thought, well, I'm
already in. Not by the will of the flesh, right? Not by the
will of man. We're not saved because of our
pedigree, because of who we came from. Not at all. We're only
saved by the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. He also didn't see himself as
a hell-deserving sinner. No. He didn't see himself as
undeserved in God's mercy. Not at all. This applies to all
of us, doesn't it, in our natural state. That's how we are. And
left in the darkness of our natural state, we'll go through life
thinking we're good. And thinking we can work our
way to heaven. Or we're going to get to heaven because we're
a supposedly good person. When it'll take us straight to
hell. My oh my. Now take note here. Look at this.
Look at verses 6 to 8, beloved. This is just amazing. Then Peter
said, silver and gold have I none. See, we're not redeemed by silver
and gold, are we? But by the precious blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Silver and gold have I none,
but such as I have, I give thee, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Rise up and walk. And he took him by the right
hand. Oh, he stressed out his hand to him. Took him by the
right hand. Now remember I told you, when
they took my cast off, I ended up in a wheelchair for close
to a month doing physical therapy. What happens with this man? Now
he's never, I walked before I had my operation. He never walked.
He's never walked. And Peter puts down his hands. Brother Gene Harmon said, he'd
been given a new pair of legs. Look at this. Now, think of this. The muscles were all, he couldn't
walk. The muscles wouldn't sustain
him walking. The ankles would just crush. But not by the power of God.
Look at this. He took him by the right hand and lifted him
up. And immediately, I'll tell you, right away, right away,
look at that, what happens when we turn to Christ? Right away
we're healed, aren't we? Right away we're forgiven, because
we've been born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Oh my, look
at this, and immediately his feet and his ankle bones receive
strength just like that. Remember that leper? Lord, if
thou will, thou can make me clean. I will, be thou clean. Whoosh,
it's gone right away. All that leprosy just gone, just
like that, remember? Loose, and immediately, his feet
and ankle bones, he's safe. Now, what's he doing? Just going,
oh, wow, this is amazing. No, he's doing what every one
of us would have done. I'm telling you. Look at this. And he leaping, he leaped right
up, beloved. Man, I got a new dog. He leaps
right up. When I say up, he just leaps right up. This guy left
the ground, beloved. He leaped right up. And he leaping up stood and walked
and entered with them in the temple. Now, did he just stop
walking or stop leaping? No, it says he's walking and
he's leaping. Could you imagine those folks?
Their jaws had hit the floor. That's the guy at the gate. And he's walking and he's leaping. And he's praising God, beloved. You remember when a believer's
first saved, he wants to tell or she wants everybody about
Christ. We think in that first state,
we think everybody wants to hear what we have to say. And so we're just like this,
we're leaping and jumping and praising God. Oh my. Look at this. And he leaping
up, stood and walked and entered with them in the temple, walking
and leaping and praising God. Oh, now our Lord endowed the
apostles with power. This is the miracle by God. And
our Lord endowed the apostles with power to perform miracles
for this very reason. For the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. For the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And just like this lame man's
healed, beloved, we're healed for the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ, right? By his stripes, we shall be healed,
right? Cleansed from all our sin by
the precious, precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, for
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, beloved. That's why. Oh my, Peter
and John didn't have any alms to give him. Oh, and these apostles,
just remember this too, the apostles were just instruments in his
hands. That's what we are, beloved. You know, you go into the doctor
and he uses instruments, right? That's all we are to God. We're
instruments that he uses, but we're not just instruments. We're
the children of his love. He loves us. He gave us to the,
but he uses us too, right? God uses means, doesn't he? The
gospel's a means. He uses, and he uses sinful men
to preach to sinful people. He uses a saved sinner to preach
to saved and lost people, doesn't he? Right? Yeah. And we stand up and say, come
to Christ, come to Christ, and he makes it effectual by his
power. Right? It's amazing. And I'll
tell you why. Once you start leaping and praising
God, and I don't mean no charismatic way, I mean in your heart, and
you're just full of joy, you never stop being like that, will
you? Now we'll have valleys, yeah, we'll have valleys, we
will. But there'll be that constant joy and that constant peace and
that constant love. That again, as we look at it
in Sunday school, is the fruit of the Spirit being worked in
us by the Holy Spirit of God as he conforms us to the image
of Christ. You know God, now this verse
has been misused. It says, God shall supply all
your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. And
I look at that as people take that and say, well see, health,
wealth, prosperity. No, that means God provides all
our needs, right? Exactly what we need to survive.
Sometimes a little bit more, but oftentimes if we have a little
bit more, then something breaks. Okay, then I can fix that, right?
And that something we had packed away goes down to nothing, right? But he always provides what we
need, doesn't he? But more so, more so than that, more importantly
than that, he provides all we need spiritually in Christ. Everything we need as sinners
is found in Christ. All that a sinner needs is the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why today we're going
to have communion. We're going to have communion and remembrance
of what he's done for us. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, it's
wonderful. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk. And here he is. He's going into that temple.
I'll tell you what. He's, let's read that again.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up, walk. He took
him by the right hand, lifted him up, and immediately his feet
and ankle bones received strength. And he, leaping up, stood and
walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and
leaping and praising God. Oh my. Isn't that wonderful? Look at that. And look at verse
10. Or 9 and 10. And all the people saw him walking
and praising God. So they could see him with their
eyes. And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the
beautiful gate of the temple. And they were filled with wonder
and amazement at that which had happened unto him. Look at verse 11. And as the
man which was healed held Peter and John, he wouldn't let him
go. He wouldn't. He's hanging on to him. Oh man,
I love you. He's just hanging on to him.
Don't go nowhere. You're going to be walking around
with him on your leg, right? But no, he's just so thankful,
isn't he? He's so thankful. He's so grateful, beloved. Look
at that. And as the lame man, which was
healed, helped Peter and John, all the people ran together unto
them in the ports, that is called Solomon's Greatly Wondering. And next week, we're gonna start
in verse 11 and 12, and Peter's gonna preach to them. And you
know who he's gonna preach to them? Christ. My, oh my, what a wondrous thing
we've seen here. So let us think upon this this
week. This man was created for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In every single one of God's elect, we're created for the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all we can say is praise
his mighty name. Right? Leaves you in awe, doesn't
it? Leaves you in awe. Oh, how great
our God is. Brother Brian, would you close
us?