Blessed assurance, Jesus is Lord. Oh, what a Savior of glory divine. He is salvation, our substitute. Born of the Spirit, faithful
and true. This is His story. This is His song. Praising my
Savior for the work He has done. This is His story. This is His song. Pleasing our Father Work he has
done. Perfect obedience. Law satisfied. Justice demanded. Our savior should die. It is finished. Christ Jesus cried. Precious
blood offered. God satisfied. This is his story. This is his song. Praising my savior for the work
he has done. This is his story. This is his song. ? Praising
our Father ? With the work He has done ? Our Savior is risen
? He sits on His throne ? Interceding for His chosen below ? God's
Spirit is calling ? All sinners will hear O merciful Savior,
have mercy on me. This is His story. This is His song. Praising my
Savior for the work He has done. This is His story. This is His song. Pleasing our
Father with the work He has done. Blessed assurance, elected of
God. Glory and honor, His name we
adore. O weary sinner, be of good cheer. Our blessed Redeemer Draweth
so near This is His story This is His song Praising my Savior
For the work He has done This is His story This is his song,
praising our father for the work he has done. Thank you, Adam. What a blessed assurance we have. in the work that the Lord Jesus
accomplished on behalf of his people. He satisfied all the
demands of God's holy law. He fulfilled justice. He established
a perfect righteousness. Sean, thank you. The Lord being
our shepherd, we're in need of nothing. Everything that God
requires for us to stand in his holy presence, the Lord Jesus
provides. I shall not want. Christ is all,
and he's in all. Eric Lutter pastors church in
Springfield, Missouri. Actually, just outside of Springfield. Nixa, I think, right? Eric? And
Eric's mom lives here locally. So we're thankful that they were
able to come and visit with her. and preach for us. So, Eric,
you come and share the message the Lord's put on your heart.
Good evening. Returning to Acts 28, While you're turning there, the
brethren in Nixa send their greetings, and I want to thank you for inviting
me here to preach the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, to you. It's an honor. Paul, at this time, was in Rome,
waiting for his trial to speak to Caesar. And while he was there,
he contacted the chief Jews and said that he'd like to speak
to them of this way, this way which is spoken against in all
the world. And the Jews agreed. They said,
yes, we'd like to come and hear about this sect. And that word
is also translated in the scriptures as heresy. We'd like to hear
your opinion on these things, what you think. We're willing
to hear you speak. I want to speak to you tonight
about these things which Paul declared to these men who gathered
to hear this word. And I'm going to make four points
from what he said here. First, what Paul preached. Second,
how he preached it. The difference, third, the difference
that we see that God makes in his people in the preaching of
the word. and the blessing of God in the
word preached. So let's read in verse 23. And when they had appointed Paul
a day, there came many to him into his
lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of
God. persuading them concerning Jesus,
both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets, from
morning till evening. First thing we notice here is
what Paul declared to his hearers. He expounded unto them and testified
the kingdom of God. He was declaring how that God
has a people that he gathers in graciously apart from their
works by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ builds his
house and he assembles his people by grace, by grace. He's making known to these hearers
the gospel, the gospel. He expounded and testified the
kingdom of God persuading them concerning Jesus. He spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is all. He is the good news who we preach. He's the one that delights the
weary, troubled sinner's soul. The Lord Jesus Christ, on the
front page of the bulletin that this church publishes, you declare,
we preach Christ crucified. And I know that, because I've
heard your pastor preach, and he preaches Christ crucified. Now, we're told that there came
many to Paul into his lodging to hear what he had to say concerning
these things. and the one of whom Paul spake
to them was Jesus Christ. Many are gathered here tonight
to hear these things, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a very good reason for
that. There's a very good reason why many of you cleared your
schedules, many of you came out here tonight putting off various
things that you could do otherwise, because Christ is the one thing
needful. He is the one whom the father
has given to save his people from their sins. Every one of
us here, I know this without question, every one of us here
is sick, sick with the disease of sin. Each and every one of
us here is a sinner. We have the disease of fearsome
disease of sin for which we, by our works, by our doing, by
our striving, spending, and laboring in religion, have no cure. We have nothing by ourselves,
by our works, to save ourselves, to remove this deadly condition
from us. The scriptures declare that in
Adam, of whom we come, all die, all die. Everyone we know dies,
and it's because of sin. We die because of sin. Now, in
the parable of, well, there's a certain man spoken of in a
parable, that man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and
he fell among thieves that stole everything from him, and he's
described as being left half dead, half dead. And you think about that, half
dead? We know this is speaking of us. We're that one who was
left half dead. How are we half dead? It speaks
to the fact that each one of us is here upright physically,
but spiritually, spiritually, we are dead in trespasses and
sins. We have no means by our works,
our ideas, our ways to make ourselves acceptable unto God. We are dead spiritually in trespasses
and sins. And except we be healed of this
sickness, we cannot stand in the presence of holy God and
be accepted of him nor worship him. Except this disease, except
we be cleansed of our sin and this sin, the stain of our sin
be removed, we cannot stand in the presence of holy God and
be accepted of him. But for this cause, For this
cause, the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, taking
upon him the likeness of this flesh, the Father, sending his
only begotten Son and sparing him not, but he delivered him
up for us. His lost sheep, his broken people,
his ruined people in sin, he delivered him up for us who have
no cure. who are enemies of the true and
living God by nature, he delivered his son up to put away our sins
and to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He turned him over to the hands
of wicked men who took him and would put him to death, and they
did that very thing. They put him on a tree and slew
him. But it was according to the will
of God, the Father, who sent his son for that very purpose,
by that very means, to bear our sin as our sin-bearer, as our
substitute, and to die in our place to deliver us from the
just wrath of God, to take us out of the hand of justice, that
we might go free for the sins that we had committed because
he paid the price, and we might go free and live unto him now
by his grace, power, and spirit. Jesus Christ, is the salvation
of God for sinners. He is the savior. And he gives
his people his spirit whereby we are born again, made new creatures. We come forth in Adam, dead in
trespasses and sins. We were generated by Adam, but
we are regenerated by the spirit of God, born again by the grace
of God. And so through this man, through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. That's good news to the sinner. Through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which ye could not be justified
by the law of Moses. That's how wonderful the grace
of God is in Christ. That's how wonderful our faithful
shepherd is. That's how wonderful, how marvelous
his blood is. He saved us from our sins. He saves his people from their
sins. When our Lord was sending out
70 of his disciples, he told his preachers in Luke 10, verses
8 and 9, he said, into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive
you, eat such things as are set before you. I thought about that. It's because they're going to
eat what you set before them in the preaching of the gospel.
You go and declare Christ. So you eat what they set before
you because they're going to hear you and feed upon him whom
you preach and heal the sick that are therein and say unto
them the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you. There's a revealed simplicity
in those verses and it speaks to the nature of this ministry
which the Father hath given unto us, which our Lord has given
unto us to declare unto you. It's a simple message. We are
dying men preaching to dying men. We're sinners saved by the
grace of God declaring unto you what the Lord has declared to
us and shown unto us how that he is our savior, he is our salvation. You cannot save yourselves by
your own works even your religious works, for this cause Christ
Jesus came into the world to save his people from their sins
by his sacrifice, by his labor, by what he has done for us. And through him is preached unto
you the forgiveness of sins. We're sick, sick with sin. We have an incurable disease
that we cannot save ourselves from. Our Lord told the Pharisees,
they that are whole, here's the good news, they that are whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You here that
are sinners, this is good news for you because that's who Christ
came to save. You that are good, You that are
clean and washed by your own works, this is not good news
for you, because Christ came for sinners. Beg God to make
you to know what a sinner you are and your need of Christ,
that you might hear Christ and believe him. And so the repentance
that our Lord declares here, that he calls sinners to, that
repentance, oftentimes religion teaches us that that's Put away
those wicked works that you're doing and clean up your lives
and get yourselves fixed up that you may come to God. That's not
what Christ is calling us to repent of. What he's saying is
repent of those works that you're trusting in. Repent of your religion
that you think is your goodness and your acceptance with holy
God. Be turned from those dead works that cannot save and be
turned to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to Christ and live. He is the very salvation whom
the Father has sent. He is the very righteousness
of God for his people. He is the healing of our death
and destruction. He's the healing of our sin.
He is the life of the Father. He's the life of God's people.
He's our salvation. He's our reconciliation unto
holy God. Christ Jesus, our Lord, came
into this world, took upon him the likeness of this flesh, that
he would go to the cross and die on that cross, bearing his
people and their sin in his own body as our substitute on the
tree. And by that sacrifice, when he
offered himself up to the Father, he delivered us once and for
all from all our sins and assured our salvation, assured that In
the day of his grace, we would hear his word. We would hear
his voice and follow him. We would hear his voice and believe
him. Seeing then that we have such
hope, we use great plainness of speech. That really is the
substance of our message, declaring unto you all that Christ has
done. That's why when the hearers came
to hear Paul, he preached unto them the Lord Jesus Christ, whosoever
believeth in him shall not perish, but hath everlasting life. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. The second thing we see here
is how Paul preached this word. He spake to the many that came
to him concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out
of the prophets from morning till evening. He spoke from the
law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening. With
the time that he had, he sang one song the whole time. He preached
Christ crucified the whole time. That's the one song he sang was
the song of the redeemed. It's the one song or the one
message he preached was the song of the redeemed, him whom we
delight in, him whom we rejoice in, him who is our salvation,
the hope of sinners. That's why we read of the saints
in heaven singing this song of the redeemed, saying, thou art
worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou
wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation. This entire
book is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why
Brother Sean in the last hour preached Christ. And by God's
grace, I preach Christ to you. And by God's grace, Brother Todd
and Brother Angus will preach Christ to you and will feed upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. As you said, we'll banquet upon
Christ. I like that. upon him we feed
upon him who is the bread of heaven and we see him whether
you're in the first books of Moses you know when we're looking
at creation in the very first chapter of the Bible I delight
to see Christ being declared in in creation because it's an
outline of his redemption it speaks to what he would accomplish
by the death of himself for his people and giving us life we
see Christ when we're in in these scriptures, or if we go to the
Psalms, we see his suffering and his joy and our being made
partakers of his grace, of his light, of his mercy. Or we're
in the prophets, we see them prophesying of him from the beginning
and throughout this word to the time of his coming. And since
he's come, we continue to speak of him. It's the testimony of
the Lord Jesus Christ, but naturally, When we are, we're in death and
in darkness and what the natural man still sees when he looks
at this book, he sees a how-to manual, how to get himself saved,
what he's supposed to be doing, what he should start, what he
should stop, what he has to do to save himself. And in so doing,
we miss the one of whom it testifies, which is Christ and what he has
done and accomplished for us. And then when we see him, what
a delight it is, what a joy it is when our eyes are taken off
of this flesh and what we're striving and spending and laboring
to do, and it's put, our eyes are put on Christ who has finished
the work. And he drives out that fear and
the doubts and the worries because our eyes are fixed upon him. And when our eyes go off of him
by his grace and power, Through the preaching of the word, he
puts our eyes back on him. And this word is speaking of
Christ. Paul wrote of us and our religion,
saying, I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. In religion, we were very zealous. And men and women are still very
zealous in religion because that's their hope. the righteousness
that they're working and building up for themselves. But we were
very zealous for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. And it's this ignorance
and this sin disease that we are thinking that we're tinkering
and laboring and improving upon ourselves. It's that foolishness
that the Lord must save us from and deliver us from that wicked,
those wicked works, Paul calls them. Wicked works, but they're
religious works. They're wicked works because
it's our boast by nature that we would stand before holy God
and say, look what I've done. And it's that death that Christ
saves his people from through the preaching of Christ. to turn
us from those dead works that cannot save. Christ saves the
sinner not by works, but by grace. In Galatians 3.22, it says, but
the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. When you read this word, and
you're honest about what you're reading, you come away thinking,
we are messed up because these men and women are sinners. And
it's me. It's me. I'm a filthy, wretched
sinner. And that's what we see. The scriptures
are testifying, concluding that all are under sin, that we're
all dead with this filthy disease. from which we cannot save ourselves,
but it's a gracious thing that the Lord does that, why he does
that, that we might hear, that we should hear of the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ and believe him, to turn us from
thinking that we do it ourselves and that we can do it ourselves,
that we might hear him. Our Lord testified of this saying
in John 5.39, search the scriptures For in them ye think ye have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me, of me. And ye will not come unto me
that ye might have life. If God leaves us to ourselves,
we will be but Esau's, good people, industrious men and women in
the world, but dead in trespasses and sins and having no knowledge
of the true and living God. We will not come to him, but
by the grace of God, revealed unto us, made known unto us by
his grace and power through the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ,
revealing him to our hearts. Then we'll see him. Then we'll
hear. Then he reveals faith, gives
faith in us. Then he gives life and light
to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, not by our works, but him. Let
him hear the Lord Jesus Christ. Third, it's through the preaching
of Jesus Christ that the grace of our God is manifest in them
which are called of God. In that preaching of Christ,
staying upon the Lord Jesus Christ from morning till evening, whether
you're in Moses or the prophets or the Psalms or the New Testament,
wherever you are, Staying upon Christ, that will manifest and
reveal those that are the Lord's people and those that are in
it just for their own religion and their own satisfaction. It'll
be made known. It'll manifest itself effectually
by the Lord, our God. In Acts 28, 24, it says, and
some believed the things which were spoken and some believed
not. Some believed and some believed
not. Through the preaching of Christ, our Lord divides the
people. He puts his sheep on his right
hand, and he puts the goats on his left hand, and it's done
through the preaching of Christ. That's how he separates it. The
more we preach, the more you preach a risen Savior, the more
you give him all the glory, the more a man is going to know whether
he loves that Christ or he gets angry and starts to wonder, well,
where is your word for me? What am I supposed to be doing?
When are you going to talk about what I need to be doing? When
are you going to give me something to boast of? Just by preaching
Christ, just by staying on him from morning till evening, wherever
you are, preach him and it'll manifest itself, them who are
called of God and them who remain in darkness trusting themselves.
Another way to say that is what Paul said, for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, foolishness. But to us, which are saved, it's
the power of God. And we rejoice in it because
it is our hope. It is our joy and it is our rejoicing
to hear of him, to hear of that finished work. Not being whipped
and beaten with the law and being told what we must do. We confess
our sin. We are all sinners. And we need
the blood of Christ. We need Christ to save us. Not
walk out of here with a yoke of bondage of what we need to
do better. Because we all could do better, I guess, if we put
our minds to it and tried. But it would never, ever, ever
be enough to stand in the presence of holy God being accepted of
him. all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We preach Christ. Either Christ
is all your righteousness or we're trusting our flesh to work
a righteousness for ourselves. And it's the preaching of Christ
that reveals that in us. It makes that plain. And if you're
made angry and despise that Christ, beg God, beg God to give you
a hearing ear and a believing heart cry out for him because
he is salvation. He is salvation. Paul had something
to say to those when they were getting ready to leave, those
that did not believe Christ. It says in verse 25, so Acts
28, verse 25, and when they agreed not among themselves, they departed
after that Paul had spoken one word. And here is what he said,
Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers,
saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear,
and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and not
perceive. For the heart of this people
is waxed gross. It's fat, and just dripping with
fat so that they cannot hear. Their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes, had they closed, lest they should see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,
and should be converted, and I should heal them. These men
were content in their unbelief, content in their darkness, And
the Lord shows us this. He's demonstrating to his sheep. He's showing us how great, how
necessary his grace is because left to ourselves, we remain
in darkness. And that's right where we'd stay
being content in our ignorance until that day of judgment when
we stand before the Lord. He's showing us that without
His grace, without His Spirit, without what Christ has done
to give us these things, to give us light and life in Him, we
remain dead in trespasses and sins, and we cannot hear these
things, and we will not believe these things, and we will not
turn from these things, except God be gracious. And he does
that, he declares his grace, he declares his sovereignty,
he declares his power to shake this flesh, to reduce in his
people that hope that we would have, that trust that we would
have, so that we wouldn't keep trusting these things. That's
how he works that repentance in us, because we need to be
turned from trusting our filthy works, works of wickedness that
we would trust in and to turn us from them and to turn us to
the Lord Jesus Christ and so he gathers us here to hear Christ
to see him who saves his people from their sins by his grace
and power and he makes Christ to be all to us otherwise he'd
be just a token idol of part of our religion. This is something
that we give lip service to, but have no real hope in or confidence
in. For many are called, but few
are chosen. And so God makes the difference. Beg him. This word makes his
people tremble. The people that should be trembling
don't tremble, but the people who are called of him do tremble
under his word when he's calling us and showing us we're trusting,
that which cannot save. Look to Christ and believe him. He's our rest, our comfort, our
hope, our all. Now fourth, here's the blessing. There will be a hearing of this
word. He will reveal faith in his people. They shall hear this word and
believe Christ because our Lord Jesus Christ did not fail. He is the successful savior. There is none in hell for whom
Christ shed his blood. All for whom Christ died, they
are delivered from death. They are brought out of death
and darkness into the light of Christ. They hear that word and
are turned from dead things and rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts 28, verse 28, be it known
therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles
and that they will hear it. Our God has a people. He has
a church and he's calling his church out. He's assembling his
body in the preaching of Christ. Christ assembles his church,
his body, his bride through the preaching of the gospel and he
reveals faith in his people. Faith is not of this flesh, it
is the work of the Spirit. It is the work of the Spirit.
He gives His Holy Spirit who bears fruits of righteousness
in the hearing of His people to hear Christ. The Spirit takes
the things of Christ in the preaching of the Word and shows them unto
His people, making His people to see, lifting that veil of
blindness and darkness off our hearts and eyes that we might
see the light of men, the Lord Jesus Christ, him who alone is
the salvation, the savior of his people, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what the Lord is showing
us is that though men don't believe, though men refuse him, though
men won't hear him, the grace of God is never frustrated. You keep coming and hear Christ
week after week. You keep praying for yourselves
and your loved ones week after week. because Christ is able,
he does not fail, and he will save all his sheep. He will bring
them out. Though he bear long with them,
for a long time, he bore long with me, and he bore long with
many of you for many years. In folly, in foolishness, in
darkness, in sin, the Lord is very patient, and he's very gracious. And he draws his people sweetly
by his grace and power with his word, and he reveals and manifests
Christ to his people. He has a people. It's according
as God hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will. We're so confident that Christ
is the Savior that each one who stands up here this weekend declares
the Lord Jesus Christ to you, because we know that He is the
very salvation of God for His people. Through this man, through
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who took upon Him flesh,
through this man is preached unto you, the forgiveness of
sins. Paul said it this way, such trust
have we through Christ to Godward. So confident are we in the Lord
Jesus Christ that we preach him. From morning till evening, from
Moses to Revelation, we preach Christ crucified. And that's
what it says there at the very end, the last verse in Acts 28,
the last verse of the book, Paul was there for two years in that
house and received all that came unto him, preaching the kingdom
of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus
Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him. I pray the
Lord bless that word to your hearts. Let's stand together and we'll
sing hymn number 186 from your hardback hymnal, 186. The church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her, and for her life he died. Elect from every nation, yet
one for all the earth, ? Her charter of salvation ? One Lord,
one faith, one birth ? One holy name she blesses ? Partakes one
holy food ? And to one hope she presses ? With every grace endued
? ? Mid toil and tribulation ? ? And tumult of her war ? ?
She waits the consummation ? ? Of peace for evermore ? Till with
a vision glorious her longing eyes are blessed, And the great
church victorious shall be the church at rest. Yet she on earth hath union with
God the three in one, and mystic sweet communion with those O happy ones and holy, Lord,
give us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly, on high may
dwell with Thee. Eric, thank you for that message. That was so clear and simple
and full of truth and Christ. My heart's full. It's been good
to be here tonight. Angus Fisher from Australia got
off the plane the other day sick. And so we've got him quarantined
right now. And he's on meds. Hopefully he'll be here with
us, but we'll just have to wait and see how he does. So we've
got some other men on standby ready to preach tomorrow. Todd
will be preaching, Lord willing, tomorrow. And probably Sean in
Angus' place tomorrow. So we'll see where that goes.
But tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. And let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father. We thank
you for the accomplished work of thy dear son, for the hope
of salvation that we have in knowing that he fulfilled all
that you required for us to stand before thee. Lord, we thank you that he's
seated at thy right hand, ever living to make intercession on
behalf of his people. Lord, we pray that your spirit
would cause us to remember the things that we've heard and to
reflect on them. And most importantly, we pray
that your Holy Spirit would give us faith to believe. Lord, we pray for our brother
Angus and ask for your hand of strength to be upon him and give
him recovery quick. We pray it in Christ's name. Amen.