if you would, to Acts chapter
13. Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. Message is called, Why We Must
Preach the Gospel. Why We Must Preach the Gospel. Acts chapter 13. We'll start
reading in verse 26. And we'll go all the way down
to verse 39. Acts chapter 13, verse 26 to 39. Men and brethren, children of
the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you
is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem
and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices
of the prophets, which are read every sabbath day, they have
fulfilled them in condemning him. Though they found no cause
of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be
slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, They took him down from the tree and
laid him in the sepulcher. God raised him from the dead.
But God raised him from the dead, and he was seen many days of
them, which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who
are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad
tidings. Oh, how the gospel is glad tidings, isn't it? Good,
good news for sinners. Glad tidings. How that the promise
which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto
us, their children. Remember we looked at this morning
how faithful in Sunday school, how faithful our God is. He promises,
and then he fulfills that which he promises, because he's faithful. He's faithful. He hath raised
up Jesus again, as it is also 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 the wise I will give
you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another
psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will
of God, Now look at that too. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God. Remember we looked at
a little bit today too, how God's people, they're a chosen generation,
aren't we? Chosen out of our generation, what? To serve our
God, eh? To serve our God. Fell on sleep and was laid unto
his fathers and saw corruption. But on whom God raised again,
saw no corruption. Here's our verse. Be it known
unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Through this man, Christ
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, all that
believe are justified from all things, from which he could not
be justified by the law of Moses. Paul has been in the synagogue
in Antioch since verse 14 of the same chapter. Antioch was
the capital of the Greek kings of Syria, and afterwards the
residence of the Roman governors of the province which bore the
same name. It's connected, it has a rich connection with the
history of the apostolic church. Jews were settled there, first
in large numbers, and they were governed by their own leadership.
And they were allowed to have the same political privileges
with the Greeks. The chief connection with Antioch is connected with
the spread of Christianity among the heathen. And here the first
Gentile church was founded, if you would, to Acts chapter 11.
And we'll look at verses 20 and 21. Acts chapter 11, verses 20
and 21. It says here, and some of them
were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which were which when they were
come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord
Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number
believed, and turned unto the Lord. And then look at verse
26, here also the disciples were first called Christians. And
when he had found them, he brought him unto Antioch, and it came
to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the
church, and taught much people. And the disciples were first
called Christians, or the disciples were called Christians first
in Antioch. Verse 26. Let's go back to Acts
chapter 13. So it was from Antioch that Paul
started on his three missionary journeys also. Acts chapter 13,
verse 38, let's look at this verse here. Be it known unto
you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins, the forgiveness of sins. We see
in our text. that this is plainly stated before
us that salvation is only found through this man. Through this
man. And this man being the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's plainly stated here. Be
it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man, Christ, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Through no one else. Only through
Christ and Christ alone. No one else. And verse 23 makes
it very clear Very clear that this is the Lord Jesus Christ.
It says, of this man's seed hath God according to his purpose
raised unto Israel's Savior, Jesus. Jesus. So it's made very
clear who this man is. Very clear. There's no other
way of salvation except through Christ and Christ alone. Very plainly stated in scripture.
And there's no need of any other way of salvation. Because there's
only one way of salvation. That's through Christ and Christ
alone. Now men have cooked up thousands away. They supposedly
think they're going to make their way to God. And they're all false. They're all man-centered and
they're all man-made. This is God's way of salvation
right here before us. And it's only in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ who is God, who is God incarnate in
the flesh. This man, the man Christ Jesus,
he was fully man. and yet fully God. This man satisfied
all the requirements of God for the salvation of God's people. All of them. All of them. Everything
that a man is supposed to do for salvation, he did it. He
did it. He did it as his people substitute.
Because he's perfect, spotless, seamless, the Lamb of God. So
I can say, as a believer, and if you're a believer, you can
say, the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled everything that God demanded
for me. He did it all. That's amazing.
When we ponder that, every single thing that had to be satisfied for God to accept us, Christ
did it all. He lived the perfect life. I
was talking to a dear friend of mine who lives out west this
week. And he just loves the gospel
of God's free grace. I got him a hawker devotional
and gave it to him and New Testament commentary. He is just loving
it. He says, this is just absolutely
amazing. It's wonderful to read this. And he said, praise God
for the righteousness of Christ, both in his life and that He
lived perfectly for me, and in His death that it's imputed to
me. And I said, Amen. It's wonderful, isn't it? It's
absolutely wonderful. We don't deserve this, but yet
this is what the Lord's done for us. Everything that God's
required for our salvation, Christ did it all. He did it all. Everything. That's why there's salvation
only in Him. And there's never been a man such as He is. There's
never been any man such as He is. And there never will be again. There never will be again, because
we're all sinners. We're all born sinners. He was
born sinless. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
So our Redeemer is not in the ordinary man. He's the God man.
He's the God man. He's the brightness of the Father's
glory. He's the express image of his person. This man, the
King of kings and the Lord of lords is the crucified man too,
isn't he? He went to Calvary's cross and
he died. But he's also the risen man.
He's risen from the grave to prove that God is absolutely
satisfied with his sacrifice. It's wonderful. And the God man. Came to this earth knowing that
he must die. Knowing that he must die to accomplish
that which he came to do. to save His people from their
sins. And God's ordained preachers, who do we preach? Christ. We
proclaim this one. We proclaim the one. Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, that's
the Lord Jesus Christ, is preached the forgiveness of sins. And
only through Him. Only through Him. No other way.
You and I can't work enough or can't do enough to have the forgiveness
of sins. It's impossible. Because we're
sinners. We fall short, but the great
substitute through this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, through
this man, the Lord Jesus Christ is preached unto you right now,
tonight, the forgiveness of sins, the forgiveness of sins. And I like what verse 39 says
too, and by him, that's Christ, all that believe are what? Justified
from all things. Do you believe on Christ? If
you do, you're justified from all things. That's good news.
That's good news. We're justified from all things,
things that we couldn't be justified from. Our sins. Oh, how? And it says, which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses. People like this, they
say, well, I'm lived by the law. You're going to hell. Because
all the law can do is condemn you. But praise God, there's
salvation through this man. Through this man, through the
Lord Jesus Christ, there's salvation. And it's only in him. It's only
in him. And he's being declared right
now, tonight. And he's being declared unto you, to everyone
who's here. He's being declared that through this man, through
this man has preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Only
through Christ. And God's preachers declare the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We declare the Lord Jesus Christ,
who he is. He's our sovereign God. He's
our sovereign God. We declare what He's done. God,
our Creator, laid aside His glory, beloved. Laid aside His glory. Think of this. God, the Creator,
laid aside His glory and came to this earth. And what did He lay aside? He
had angels bowing down before Him. What condescension. He laid aside
His glory. He came to this earth and was
born of a virgin. and became a man, what? To do
the will of the Father. To do the will of the Father,
who sent him. And as a man, what was? He was
obedient. Totally fulfilling the law of
God. Totally obedient. Obedient to the Father's will,
even to the death on the cross. Even to the death on the cross.
And by his perfect obedience, by his perfect obedience, to
the Father's will, the Lord Jesus Christ established a righteousness,
didn't he? He established a righteousness,
beloved, for all his promised children, for all his promised
children. And the only righteousness our
Heavenly Father will accept is the righteousness of Christ,
is the righteousness, and he established that. That's why
he came to this earth. To live is the perfect substitute
to see you and I could never satisfy the law of God. No one
can. But the God man can. And he did. And he perfectly obeyed the will
of the father as the substitute of his people. I I marvel at
this love. I marvel at this, don't you?
And he did it willingly, beloved. He did it willingly. And then He willingly laid down
His life. Willingly. Willingly became the
supreme sacrifice for the sins of His chosen people. He who
is the sinless, spotless Lamb of God offers Himself up. And our sins were imputed to
Him. And he bore them all and paid the price, everything. And
in doing so, he paid the ransom in full, the ransom price for
our souls. He paid it in full, beloved.
There's nothing left to be paid. Because he represented all his
people. He died for all his people, just as in his life he lived
that perfect life which we could never live for every one of his
elect. Just so he died upon the cross as a representative of
his people, a ransom being made, paying everything that God demanded
for us. What a Savior. And then he sealed our pardon,
how? With his blood. He sealed our pardon with his
blood, beloved. He purchased us. When I see the
blood, remember, I'll pass over you. So now God passes over us,
because he sees the precious blood of Christ. Sealed our pardon
with his blood. What a savior. And he's risen
from the grave, beloved. He's risen from the grave. He's
ascended to glory. He's there right now. Right now,
he appears in the presence of God for us. For we who are his
people, right now. He's our mediator. Oh, what a
savior. And he appears there for every
single one of his blood-bought children. Every one. And if you're
one of his children, we can say, that's for me. This is wonderful
news. Wonderful news. Be it known unto
you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. Only through Christ. And by Him
all that believe are justified from all things from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses. This is good news. Right now he's seated. Right
now. on the throne in glory. Not only is our blessed Redeemer,
which He is, not only is our great High Priest, which He is,
not only is our blessed Charity, which He is, but also is the
glorified God-man, the sovereign ruler, the master over all we
looked at this morning, the master over all who rules this whole
universe and everything in it. Be it no one unto you, be it
no one unto you, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins. Christ
must be preached, beloved. He must be preached because be
it no one 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. We
must preach Christ. We must preach Christ. We must
preach the Lord Jesus Christ. The preacher only has one message.
We only have one message, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Now we come at that from all
different scriptures, don't we? But really, he's the central
theme of the message, just as he's the central theme of this
book. That's what you want to hear,
and that's what I want to hear. That's what I study, to learn and glean
more and more about the Lord so I can bring it forth and tell
you the things. See, I've learned in the study
and I'm getting all excited in the study. I get the privilege
of bringing it forth. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
2. Oh, we preach Christ and Him crucified. And Paul was determined. Now think of who Paul is, too.
We've looked at this before. Paul's a studious man. He was
sat under some of the supposed greatest teachers of his time.
But we know he counted all that as nothing. He counted it all
as dung, he said, nothing. It just was worthless. What now
is Paul after conversion? What is he determined to do?
Well, the scriptures tell us here in 1 Corinthians 2. verses
one and three, and I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not
with excellency of speech or wisdom. Now remember, he's trained,
he's a well-educated man. He could have probably used fancy
words, but he doesn't. He doesn't come with excellency
of speech or of wisdom. He comes declaring unto you the
testimony of God in normal words, in normal words. For I am determined,
look at this, not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ,
in Him crucified. Look at that. For I am determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, in Him crucified. Christ was everything. Christ
was his life. Christ is his redeem. And I was
with you in weakness and in fear and in much trouble. He's just
like us, beloved. See, people sometimes make the
apostles and Paul to be these super, super Christians. They're
just like us. They were men just like us and
people just like us. All the saints were men and women
who were just like us of ages ago. Just like us. With fear
and trembling. Sometimes they tremble. Yeah,
sometimes they got fearful. Yeah, we shouldn't, but we do.
We do. Oh my, but now remember Tudor,
he's also in fear and trembling in the awe of the Word of God.
And he doesn't want to say something that's wrong. And that's what
every grace preacher, you talk to every grace preacher, we don't
want to say anything wrong. That's one of our fears. That's why
we just stick to what the text says and we preach what the Bible
says. We're scared to death to say something wrong. I'm determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
That's the gospel preacher's message, isn't it? Preaching
Christ and him crucified. We have one message. I remember
hearing a story one time of Scott Richardson. Somebody said, all
you do is preach Christ. He said, can you put that on
my tombstone? All he did was preach Christ. That's what he
wanted on his tombstone. All he did was preach Christ.
He goes, that's a high praise for a gospel preacher. because
that's all we want. We want to preach Christ and
Him crucified. So may we ponder the distinguishing
nature of this blessing of this salvation. Let's go back to Acts
chapter 13 again and look at verse 26 here. It says, men and
brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among
you feareth God, to you is this word of salvation sent. Now notice
that. What is the word of salvation
sent? Well, be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
Men and brethren, look at verse 26 again. Children of the stock
of Abraham, whosoever among you feareth God, to you is this word
of salvation sent. Sent. Now, Robert Hawker brings
forth about this verse 26. In his commentary, he comments
this. The substance of Paul's preaching,
he himself sums up in what he calleth the word of salvation.
Now note he says here, to you is this word of salvation sent.
So he says the substance of his preaching is summed up in that,
the word of salvation, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
every point of view corresponds to this character. For it is
the power of God to salvation to everyone that believeth, Romans
116. and whosoever has made the happy partaker of it hath a blessed
apprehension in his own heart of the blissful consequences.
He finds it to be a salvation from death to life, which it
is, isn't it? We're brought from death to life.
From sin to righteousness. We're sinners and we're made
righteous. It's amazing. From darkness to light. We're
brought from darkness to light. And from the power of Satan,
to the living God. We're delivered. We're delivered. What a statement by a hawker.
So he says that the gospel that Paul preaches is summed up in
this is the word of salvation sent the word of salvation. That's
the gospel. It's another name for the gospel,
the word of salvation. And think of this. It says here
this word of salvation is sent. And every time a gospel preacher
gets up and proclaims the gospel, it's by divine appointment. It's
by divine appointment. You are here tonight by divine
appointment to hear this message. I am here by divine appointment
to preach the message. It's by God's divine appointment.
And it's by God's divine appointment, again, that you're hearing the
gospel. It's by divine appointment that the message goes all out
via the internet or wherever it goes to. It's all by divine
appointment. It's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. And that's for every gospel preacher
that's getting up and preaching the gospel. It's all by God's
divine appointment. Jean-Claude goes to Africa, preaches
the gospel, it's all by God's divine appointment. Lance Heller
down in Papua New Guinea, he's out there preaching the gospel
in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, it's all by God's divine appointment.
Brother Jim's down in Kentucky preaching the gospel, it's all
by the, Brother Tim, Brother Gary, it's just all by the appointment
of God, beloved. All by divine appointment. And
everyone who's there to hear it is by divine appointment too.
It's amazing. Like Brother John said, what
a privilege it is just to hear the gospel. And it really is.
Because there's a lot of people who don't even get a chance to
hear it. They don't want to hear it. They don't want to hear it.
And then some hear that don't hear. But some hear, and we hear. Oh my. And it's melodious. It's
wonderful. But the only reason we hear is
because God's given us ear and ears, eh? That's the only reason
we hear. And we praise God for that. We praise him for that.
So the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ comes
to us by divine appointment. by divine appointment. It's sent
by divine direction. So think of that. When the word
of God came to you and it was effectual, when you heard, when
by the Holy Spirit of God you were born again, that's all by
divine appointment. I think we need to ponder that
and stop and think about that. And even as we grow in the grace,
like John was mentioning, we grow in grace and we grow by
hearing the gospel preached, that's all by divine appointment
as well. It's wonderful. It's all appointed by God. And
what also distinguishes this is it's not based upon man's
deserving either. We don't deserve this salvation.
This word of salvation is sent to us and we don't even deserve
it. Yet it's sent to us by the grace of God. By the grace of
God, by the mercy of God. Oh my. Man does not come into
this world in the state of grace. No, we're actually absolutely
void of any grace. We come into this world dead
in trespasses and sins. And if the Lord has to wait until
a man had prepared himself to receive this wondrous salvation,
no one would be saved. No one would be saved. How can
one expect the dead to come to life? They don't, do they? When
someone dies, they don't reanimate. They're dead. They're dead. So how can one who is dead spiritually
be made spiritually alive? They can't make themselves alive.
But God can. God's people are born again by
the Holy Spirit of God. Only by the regenerating power
of the Holy Spirit of God. The Lord said he must be born
again. That's the work of God. That's the work of God. Turn,
if you would, to John chapter 11. John chapter 11. Our great
King said, I am come that they might have life. And that they
might have life more abundantly. Look at this in John chapter
11. Verses 26 or 25 to 26. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the life. Now think of that in light to
you is this word of salvation sent. We who were dead in trespasses
and sins, right? Look at this, John 11, 25. Jesus
said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Oh my. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall what? Never die. There be saved for
eternity. There be in glory with him for
eternity. And now, here's the question for all of us. Believest
thou this? Here's the question. Lord, I believe by thy mercy
and thy grace. Oh, my. And then what did we
do? There was a time when we didn't
believe that. There was a time when we didn't we could say,
believe us all this and we would say no. But God had mercy on us, didn't.
We're like that publican. We cried out and begged for mercy,
didn't we? Oh God, have mercy on me. I'm a sinner. But who revealed that to us?
God the Holy Spirit. He revealed that. And now when
we see that, believest thou me, we say amen. Oh Lord, I believe. But only by thy grace and by
thy mercy. Only because you've made it so.
Oh my. John chapter 5 says this, verse
25, it says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live. That's speaking of regeneration. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. And we heard the voice of the Son of God, didn't we?
Oh my. Scripture says my sheep hear
my voice and they what? Follow me. They follow me. Oh, that it might be today that
you, if there's anyone here who's lost, who's dead spiritually,
oh, that today might be the day that you're made alive by the
power of God. And the gospel preacher, we don't
preach ourselves because that would help no one. It wouldn't
even help me. No, we preach Christ. We preach Christ and Him crucified.
Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Christ
and Christ alone. And then we preach through Christ,
it's in our text here, the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins. Turn, if you would, to Proverbs
chapter 5. Proverbs chapter 5. Do you know that our sins are
like cords and they have us bound? Do you know that the lost sinner
is like a prisoner to their sins? You ever hear preachers say,
I've said it before too, that before the Lord saved us, we
were in the prison house of sin. That's where we were. We're on
the slave bach. We're slaves to our sin. And
we didn't even know it. We didn't even know it. Look
at this in Proverbs chapter 5. Look at verses 21 and 22. For the ways of man are before
the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings. Look at this.
His own iniquity shall take the wicked himself and he shall be
holding with the cords of his sins. I remember when I first
saw that verse. I sat there and went, that was
me before the Lord saved me. Look at that. He should be holding
with the cords of his sins. Bound up. Sin, our own sin, before
the Lord saved us had us bound up. We're prisoners. And man has become a slave of
sin because of the fall of Adam. And our captivity is not only
due to the fall of Adam, but to our own sins. Because we're
all born sinners. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter five. Romans chapter five. And then put your finger
in Isaiah 61, Romans chapter 5, in Isaiah 61. In our fallen state we're presented
as prisoners too. We saw that, his own iniquity
shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holding with
the cords of his sins, Proverbs 5, 22. Look at this in Romans
5, verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world. When Adam fell, sin entered into
the world. And death by sin. And look at
this, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. See, we're all the children of
Adam. Therefore, we're all sinners. We're all sinners. Now turn,
if you would, to Isaiah, chapter 61. But praise be to God, there's
hope for we who are held prisoner by sin. There's hope. There's
hope. There's hope for the hopeless, right? Because in that state
we're absolutely hopeless, aren't we? We're helpless, we don't
have any ability to cut the cords of sin. We're slaves to our own
sin and our natural state. But look at this in Isaiah 61.
Look at this. This is beautiful. Verses 1 to
3. And remember our text. And be
it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you, the forgiveness of sins. And
remember that this word of salvation is sent, isn't it? It's sent.
And by him all that believe are justified from all things from
which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now look
at this in Isaiah 61 verses 1 to 3. And remember the prisoner
aspect, being held prisoner by our own sin. The spirit of the
Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach
good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to what? To who? The captives. What are they captive to? Sin.
Bound up by the cords of our own sin. Liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Well
look, you mean the prison house of sin is opened and the believer
is free? Yes. Stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made you free. Oh my. Beloved, we're free to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn. Do you mourn over your sin? Yeah,
we do all the time, even after we're saved, don't we? We mourn
more after we're saved than we do before. But when God's convicted
us, when we're first being convicted and we're regenerated by the
Holy Spirit of God, we mourn over our sin, don't we? We see
ourselves for what we are. Oh, I'm a sinner before a holy
God. And look at this, to a point unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they
may be called trees of righteousness. Look at this, the planting of
the Lord. See, salvation's of the Lord. That's why it says
the planting of the Lord, because it's the Lord's doing. It's the
Lord's doing. Why? That He might be glorified. We give Him all the glory, don't
we? For what He's done. We give Him all the glory. So
through this man tonight, to all of us, is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins. Through
His dying on Calvary's cross in the place of all His people,
His elect. Now God does not, He will not,
He cannot forgive sinners based upon what they have done, or what they are doing, or what
they might yet do in the future. God forgives sinners for Christ's
sake. Period. Period. Those who are trying
to justify themselves by the keeping of the Law of Moses,
or by any other works, or by any other works, for that matter,
any other works, they do not believe that God forgives sinners
for Christ's sake, because they're trying to work their own way
to heaven. Jesus Christ, by the supreme sacrifice of Himself,
took care of the sin debt of what? All his chosen people. And we can just reflect personally
about our own sin debt, can't we? Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
what? The forgiveness of sins. That means the payment of the
sin debt that we owe. How many sins are forgiven? All our sins. Past, present,
and future. When you say future, some people
get all, they get all worked up. Well, if anyone gets worked
up around you, you just tell them that all your sins are future
at Calvary's Cross. Every single one. And Christ
paid it all. He paid it all. He paid it all. He paid the ransom
price demanded for the souls of His people. He paid the ransom
price demanded for my sin and for the sins of all the elect
of all the ages by the shedding of His own precious blood. And who did Jesus Christ pay
the ransom price to? Well, who had we sinned against? God. God the Father. That's who we sinned against.
And that's who Christ paid the ransom price to. That's who his
blood was offered up to. To satisfy God's holy law. To
satisfy God's holy justice. And he bore, don't forget the
wrath of God must be satisfied too, right? And he bore it all.
I love that verse that talks about him being a rock and we
being in the hiding place, beloved, because every time I see that,
and I think of a storm rising up and just pounding on that
rock, or even the ark and all that, all that outside the rain
and everything pounding on that ark, that pictures the wrath
of God. And everybody who was in that
ark was safe, eh? Just like whoever's behind in
the cleft of that rock is safe. Safe. Think of this, not a drop
of that wrath fell upon anybody in that ark, did it? They didn't
even get wet. Not a drop fell inside. Oh my,
what a Savior! What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ
our Lord, beloved. He paid it all. The gospel of the free grace
of God in Christ is a message of redemption that's accomplished
by the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, and by Him all that believe
are justified from all things which could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man has preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. This word of salvation that's
sent is a proclamation of free forgiveness of sins and complete
justification for all who believe on the grounds of justice satisfied
and righteousness imputed by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a result of the divine
act, and remember this, it's a result of the divine act of
justification of God's elect in Christ. And it's all God's
doing. And He does it because it pleases
Him to do so. And we who are undeserving sinners
marvel at the mercy that's been shown us in Christ. We just marvel. Does it not leave you in awe?
It sure leaves me in awe. because I know I don't deserve
this and beloved this isn't this this what what's preached here
be it no one under you therefore men and brethren that through
this man is preaching to you the forgiveness of sins this
is an absolute forgiveness I am I when I think of how I
was and how I am and to know that I am absolutely forgiven
it makes me want to leap and shout for joy Be it known unto
you, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness. And that forgiveness
is an absolute forgiveness. Somebody says, well, you don't
know what I've done, Wayne, you don't. Well, you don't know what I've
done either. We don't know what Paul did.
We know what Paul did, what we're told. And he's a forgiven man.
We know what David did. And he's a forgiven man. Oh, that's the wondrous thing
about this salvation, is it's an absolute forgiveness. Everything
that God required of his elect for the salvation of our souls,
as I said earlier, the Lord Jesus Christ did. He did it. He did it. This man in our text,
the God-man, died in the place of his people for their sins.
This forgiveness of sins in Christ is gracious, free from cost for
us. It's a blessed gift given to
us. This forgiveness of sins in Christ is what? Complete.
Complete. And ye are complete in Him. In Christ. That's good news for
sinners, isn't it? That's real good news. Oh, that's
wonderful news. And this forgiveness of sins
in Christ makes a man holy as well as safe because we're sanctified
by Christ. We're made holy by Christ. And
we're safe, just like Noah and his family were safe in that
ark. We are safe in Christ. And this forgiveness of sins
in Christ makes us fit for heaven. See, in our natural state, we're
not fit for heaven, are we? No. No, we're sinners. Now, I'm a saved sinner, and
so are you who are saved, but if you're saved, you're clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. You're made fit for glory. Isn't
that wonderful? That's absolutely wonderful.
Clothed in the righteousness of Christ. That's, again, and
I know I say it all the time. I'm gonna keep saying it all
the time. It's the wedding garment, beloved. That's the wedding garment. That's the best robe. That's
what that is. You don't have the wedding garment
on, you can't be in the presence of the Father. And the bride
has the wedding garment on. Because God puts it on us. Because
God puts it on us. Turn, if you would, to Ezekiel.
Ezekiel chapter 36. This forgiveness of sins in Christ
was a transaction made once for all the elect between the Father
and the Son. Ezekiel chapter 36, keep your
finger on Acts 13, because we'll be going right back there. Ezekiel
chapter 36, and again we'll be going back to Acts chapter 13,
and then we'll be finishing up. Then shall you remember your
own evil ways, verse 31, and your doings that were not good,
and shall loathe yourself in your own sight for your iniquities
and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this,
saith the Lord, be it no one unto you, and be ashamed and
confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. So that's
when we see ourselves for what we are, beloved. We loathe ourselves. Thus saith the Lord God, in the
day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities.
Oh, look at that in verse 33. Ezekiel 36, 33. Thus saith the Lord God, in the
day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities,
I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes
shall be builded. Look at that, though. Cleanse
you from how many of your iniquities? A-L-L. All your iniquities. The blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, doesn't it? See, let's
go back to our text there. In Acts 13, 38, we'll read verses
38 and 39. Look at this. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, that being Christ,
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Remember what we just
read over there in Ezekiel, chapter 36, verse 33, that I have cleansed
you from all your iniquities. Oh, look at this. It's an absolute
forgiveness. Be it known unto you, men and brethren, that through
this man, being Christ again, is preached is preached unto
you the forgiveness of sins. And that's an absolute forgiveness.
And then look at verse 39. And by him, all that believe
are justified from all things from which he could not be justified
by the law of Moses. All who believe, all who believe
are justified from all things. What wonderful words we have
here. Which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. See, the law of Moses could never
justify anyone. All it does is condemn us. All
it does is show us our sinfulness. But it can never justify anyone.
Justification before God can never be found in the law. It
can only be found in Christ. It can only be found in Christ.
Here before us, we have the responsibility of men, all who believe. All
who believe. Do you believe? We preach to
all. and God does the saving. Men and brethren, children of
the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you
is this word of salvation sent. God commands all men to repent,
doesn't He? And all men are commanded to believe. And if you do believe,
if you do trust the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be forgiven
of all your sins. and you will live forever with
Him. If you refuse to believe and if you reject the gospel
and despise the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll perish in your sins and
spend eternity in hell. Look at verses 40 and 41. Beware,
therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the
prophets. Behold, he despises and wonder and perish for our
work work in your days, a work which he shall no wise believe,
though a man declare it unto you. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren. that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins and by him, by Christ and Christ alone
all that believe are justified from all things from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses. Glory be to God. Glory be to God. Heavenly Father
we thank thee for the time that you've appointed for us to be
here together. Oh we thank thee for thy word and how it speaks
to our hearts as believers. Oh we thank thee Oh, for this
wondrous word that's been sent and how it goes out, oh, Lord,
how it goes out. You send it by divine appointment
and by your divine will. Oh, Lord, we pray that if there's
any of your lost sheep, that you'd make it effectual for them,
that this would be the day of salvation for them or that there's
a message goes forth, Lord, that you'd use it for your glory and
honor and praise to build up your saints or to draw in thy
lost sheep. We just give you all the glory and honor and praise
in Jesus name. Amen.