Good morning. That is our hope
this morning that the Lord will be pleased to show us his love,
his mercy and his grace all in Christ. Here in his love, not
that we love God, but that he loved us and gave his son as
a propitiation for our sins. Greater love hath no man than
this, that he lay down his life for his friends. There's no way
for us to fully comprehend the love that our Lord has for his
people. But we see the fulfillment of
it in his willingness to lay down his life for his friends. The condescension that our Lord
did to come into this world, you think about it. The Lord
Jesus Christ, the God of glory, the creator and sustainer of
all of life, for all eternity, Had the seraphim hovering over
his throne, crying, holy, holy, holy, all creation worshiping
him. And then he becomes a man and
becomes a worm and is obedient to his father, even unto death.
What condescension, what love, what love. Turn with me if you will, to
Ephesians chapter three. Here's our hope today, Ephesians
chapter 3, beginning at verse 18, that we may be able to comprehend
with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the
depth and the height, and to know the love of God, which passes
knowledge, to know it experientially, to
believe it, to rest in his finished work of redemption. To know the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness
of God. That's a good hymn. That's our
need. Our need is to know his love,
to know him. We're going to be in Acts chapter
11 this morning, continuing our study in that book. And by way
of introduction, I want you to open your Bibles, if you will,
to Hosea chapter 14. So Acts chapter 11 and Hosea
chapter 14, I've titled this message, Take With You Words. Take With You Words. Let's go to the Lord together
in prayer and ask his blessings. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we come before thy throne of grace, thanking you that it is
all of grace, not of works of righteousness which we have done,
but by thy mercy thou hast saved us. For by grace we are saved
through faith, and that not of ourselves. It is a gift of God,
not of our works, lest any of us should boast. Lord, we come
before you with nothing to boast of in and of ourselves. We come
before you as sinners in need of your grace and in need of
your mercy, in need of Christ, in need of salvation, in need
of forgiveness. Lord, we pray that for Christ's
sake, you would be pleased to to shed forth your love in our
hearts in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ and give us hope
in him. Lord, surely there is no hope
outside of Christ. Thank you for your word and we
pray that you would bless it and make it as it is alive and
sharper than any two edged sword. Or might it Expose the thoughts
and the intents of our hearts We ask it in Christ's name Amen
We've been looking for the last couple of weeks that Paul's returned
from Caesarea after having brought the gospel to Cornelius and now
he's Explaining to the Apostles what the Lord has done in bringing
faith and salvation to this Gentile's home and consequently to the
Gentile world. Aren't we thankful for that?
And you remember when the Lord let down that sheet with those
unclean animals and And Peter, I said, Paul, Peter said, nothing
unclean has ever come into these lips. And the Lord responded
by saying to him, do not call that unclean or common, that
which I've called clean. And then he describes to the
other apostles that he brought words to Nicodemus to explain
and declare the gospel of God's free grace in the finished work
and glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he communicated
that message by words. We had that old adage that says,
a picture tells 1,000 words. it's more true to say that a
word tells a thousand pictures. If I spoke one word right now,
say the word fire. I don't know how many folks we
have here right now, but that's how many pictures of fire we
have just from that one word. The gospel is not communicated
with pictures. It's not communicated with drama
or with outward symbols. It was at one time. In the Old
Testament, the Lord used the tabernacle, he used the temple
and all the different aspects of that physical building and
the Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat and the elaborate
dress of Aaron, all for the purpose of giving physical pictures to
the gospel. But now that era is over, and
now what we have is God's word. we have God's word. And God's
word blessed by God's spirit to the hearts of God's people
through faith is sufficient to reveal to us the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ and give to us faith to put our hope and
rest in him. So I've titled this This message,
take with you words. Take with you words. That's how
we come to God. We take with us words. What words? His word. We just
repeat back to God the very words that he's given to us. When we
declare the gospel, what I'm trying to do right now is express
to you with words the meaning of the word of God. That the
living word, the Lord Jesus himself, who is the word that was made
flesh, would be made known to us. All of this happens by words. You have your Bible open to Hosea
chapter 14. Look with me, if you will, at
verses one through four. Oh Israel, that's the church,
that's the called out ones, that's the elect of God. Oh Israel,
return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine
iniquity." Oh, such iniquity in us. When we're always in need
of being lifted up from our fallen state, we never recover from
this need to return to the Lord. We're always returning. Sometimes
we have farther to return from, but we're always returning unto
Lord. We're so quick to look away from
him. Take, look at verse two, take
with you words. You return to the Lord. Don't
bring the works of your hands. Don't bring it. Well, let's look
at these verses. Take with you words and turn
to the Lord. Say unto him, take away all iniquity
and receive us graciously. Lord, that's my need, that you
would take away my sin. And if there's any grounds upon
which you would receive me, it would be the grounds of your
grace. That's the only claim I have. Your free grace. And so will we render the calves
of our lips. Don't you love that phrase? The
calves of our lips. In the Old Testament, they sacrificed
calves as a sacrifice. Now the sacrifice of God are
the calves of our lips offering to him praise and honor and glory
and worship. for his mercy and for his grace. Asher, you see verse three, Asher,
and the word Asher, Asher was a nation, but Asher by definition
means steps. Steps. And all religions, man-made
religions, have steps that you have to go through in order to
achieve access to God. You have to do this and do that
and do the next, and they're like those They're like those
temples down in Mexico where the priest would climb up one
step at a time, cutting himself and making sacrifice until he
got to the top of the temple. It's Babel, isn't it? That's the tower that they built
at Babel. It's taking steps. If you do
this and do that and do the next step, then you can you can work
your way into favor with God. And what does the Lord say? Asher, step shall not save us. We're not going to be able to
do anything to work our way into God's favor. We will not ride upon horses.
We can't We can't ride upon the strength of a horse, neither
will we say any more to the work of our hands, you are our gods,
for in thee the fatherless find it mercy. Lord, we can't bring
to you the works of our hands, we can't bring to you the strength
and speed of our efforts, we cannot bring to you the steps
that we go through. And God says, well, we can bring
to him words. We can bring to him words. Lord,
forgive me. Lord, have mercy upon me. Lord,
for Christ's sake, save me. And that's how we come, isn't
it? And so the Lord says in verse four, I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely. Freely. Justified freely. by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, not by our works, freely. I will love them freely for mine
anger is turned away from him. All the fury and wrath of God's
anger for sin, for the sins of his people, was poured out on
the Lord Jesus Christ as the sin bearer, as our substitute
on Calvary's cross. And the Lord Jesus quenched that
fire of God's wrath so that he says, now you bring with you
words. What is the word that we bring?
We bring with him the word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the one we have acceptance with God in Christ and only in Christ. So we dare not try to come into
the presence of God based on anything than the living word
of God. the Lord Jesus himself, bring
with you his word. I will heal your backsliding
and you'll have the hope of knowing that all of my wrath has been
turned away. No fear of judgment, no fear
of wrath, only his love, only his mercy, only his grace. That's what sinners are in need
of. That's what I'm in need of. I hope that's what you're in
need of. Let's turn with me, if you will, to Acts chapter
11. Ever since the coming of the
Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the completion of the written
word of God, we have the full revelation given to us of the
Lord Jesus Christ. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. So we don't look to God's word
as a book that's gonna give us steps to take or works to perform
in order to work our way into God's favor. No, we look to God's
word looking for the Lord Jesus. And here's what the Lord said
in Hebrews chapter 4. He said, the word of God, the
written, we don't separate the written word from the living
word. The word of God is quick. It's alive. That's what that
word quick means. It's a living word. It's not
just a cold doctrine or theology. It's not a rabbit's foot that
we pull out of our pocket and rub in hopes of getting something
out of it. No, it's the living word of God.
The word of God is quick, and it is powerful, and it is sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing, even dividing asunder the soul
from the spirit. the joints and the marrow and
is a discerner. It is a discerner of the thoughts
and the intents of our hearts. That's what we hope. Our hope
is that God will speak his word effectually to our hearts. It'll
go far beyond just the hearing of the ear, but that we will
hear God's word in our hearts and believe. How do we know if
we've heard his word? We'll believe his word. We'll
rejoice in his word. We delight in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ who is revealed by the word of God. Look at Acts chapter 11 verse
8, but I said not so Lord. This was after The Lord told
Peter, take and eat. When Peter saw all these unclean
animals and Peter said, not so Lord. I mean, you think about
it. Here's Peter telling God, no. Oh, Peter, stop and think now.
Don't say that to God. The Lord is merciful towards
Peter. And he explains to him why he
was to take and eat. Peter said, not so, Lord, for
nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
It is not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him. It is
what comes out of his mouth. That's what the Lord said. Peter. These animals I'm telling
you to eat are not defiling you, but for you to say to me, no,
that will defile you. But for my mercy, but for my
forgiving grace, but for the shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What did Peter say just not long
before this? He cursed, he spoke with his
mouth. He said, I do not know the man.
And the third time he spoke it with cursing. And the scripture says, by your
words, you shall be justified. And by your words, you shall
be condemned. Well, we all speak a lot of vain
words, don't we? We all say a lot of things we
wish we could take back. Here's the point. What think
ye of Christ? What do you say about him? Whose
son is he? Whose son is he? Is the son of
God? If we ask most people in the world, is Jesus Christ of
Nazareth the Son of God, most of the people in the world would
say no. Most of the people in the world are not identified
with what we would call Christianity. Most of them would say no. He was a prophet, he was a good
man, but he certainly wasn't the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He certainly wasn't God in the
flesh, no. by their words about who Jesus
Christ is, they shall be condemned. And then there's a whole lot
of people, a whole lot of people who call themselves Christians,
who would say, oh yes, Jesus is God. And he's the sovereign,
omnipotent creator and sustainer of life. And without him, we
cannot be saved. But without me and my cooperation,
he cannot save. And they change the definition
of the word. Words change their definitions,
don't they? We have lots of words in our
vocabulary that change their definition over time. Well, they've
changed the very definition of God. They call him God. They honor him with their lips,
the scripture says, but their hearts are far from him. They
deny the very essence of deity when they say that he's not capable
of saving anybody unless that person is willing to let him
save them. You see that, don't you? You
see that. And so the Lord says, with your words, you shall be
justified. And with your words, you shall
be condemned. Who do you say Jesus Christ is? Oh, he is the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is the savior of sinners. He's the successful sovereign
who actually put away the sins of his people on Calvary's cross.
Yes, we don't believe in a God who's hamstrung, a God whose
hands are tied, a God who can't get his way done until man, who
has put himself on the throne of God, gives God permission. That doesn't even make sense,
does it? But that's what the world says. And so the Lord says
to Peter, Peter is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a
man, it's what comes out of his mouth. What comes out of his
mouth. Turn to me, if you will, to Romans
chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. This passage begins with Paul
talking about the Jewish nation and saying they have a zeal for
God, but not according to knowledge. Ignorant of God's righteousness,
they go about trying to establish their own righteousness, for
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. We're going
to come before God, we've got to bring to him words. We've
got to bring to him the word of God, the living word, and
cry out for mercy for Christ's sake. Lord, it's not by steps
of Asher. It's not by the strength of a
horse. It's not by the works of my hands. It is by your word
that I'm saved, and only by your word that I'm saved. But the
religious man goes about with his steps and with his horses
and with the works of his hands, trying to establish righteousness
with God. And the scripture is clear, for
they, verse three, for they being ignorant, they just don't know.
They're ignorant of God's righteousness. That's what we're doing right
now. We're speaking words in hopes that the Lord will take
away our ignorance and give us the knowledge of God in Christ
for here in his life eternal, that they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. We must
know him according to knowledge, not our opinion. Not the opinions
of men. They'd be an ignorant of God's
righteousness, go about to establish their own righteousness, and
they've not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
They've not bowed to Christ. They've not looked to Christ
alone for all their righteousness. It's Christ plus something that
they do. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The Lord Jesus
Christ satisfied every jot and tittle of God's law. He said,
I did not come to do away with the law, I came to fulfill it.
And that's what he did. He fulfilled the law of God.
He satisfied God's divine justice. So how do we come? We come into
the presence of God with words. We speak the word of God about
the living word and we look to the Lord Jesus Christ alone,
not being ignorant of God's righteousness, but believing that Christ Jesus
the Lord is all my righteousness before God. I have no righteousness
outside of him. Skip down with me to, um, Verse six, but the righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Here we got speaking
again, we've got words. Say not in thine heart who shall
ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above.
Perish the thought, don't even entertain the idea. What can
I do to make what Christ did work for me? What can I do to
bring God down from above? Don't even think that way. Or, who shall descend into the
deep? That is, to bring up Christ again
from the dead. What can I do? What can I say
to make what Christ did work for me? But what saith it? The word is
nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thine heart. That is the
word of faith which we preach. The word of faith. And so we're
not talking about speaking something into existence. I know there's
a there's a big religious community that pride themselves in the
word of faith. They said, well, you just speak
and it'll happen. No, this is this is bringing to God words,
bringing to God the word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
our faith, that if you shall confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from
the dead, Thou shalt be saved with the heart man believeth
under righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For thus saith the scripture,
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, shall not fear. Oh, that's how we come. When
God puts faith in the heart, we speak back to him the very
same thing he spoke to us. And we confirm his promises and
his word. So the Lord says to, to go back
with me to Acts chapter 11. Look at verse 10, and this was
done three times and all were drawn up into heaven. The Lord just continues to repeat
the same glorious truth about who Christ is. There are some
who would say, well, you all just preach the same thing over
and over again. Yeah, yeah, because we're slow
of heart to believe. And we're so prone to wander
and to leave the God that we love. We need to hear about Christ
again. We need to know what God says. And the Lord just keeps repeating
the same message three times. This message, this sheep came
down, the animals were on it. Peter said, not so, Lord. The
Lord said, don't call that unclean, which I have called clean. Peter,
it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, it's what
comes out of his mouth. For by your words you shall be
justified. What do you say about Christ?
What do you believe about the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you believe
he's all your righteousness? Do you believe he's the end of
the law? Or are you still looking at Asher and horses and the works
of your hands for your acceptance before God? Do you believe that
only acceptance you have is in Christ? that if Christ doesn't
stand in your stead, if Christ is not your sin bearer, if Christ
is not your substitute, if he's not all that God requires, then
you have nothing. You have nothing. That's where the believer is.
And those are the words we speak. Lord have mercy upon me for thy Be gracious unto me. And that
will be read in Hosea chapter 14, be gracious unto me. So three times, why three times? Well, let me show you a passage
of scripture. Turn with me to Philippians chapter three. Philippians
chapter three. This is the inspired penman of
scripture writing the word of God. And here's all I need to
know. Look what he says, verse one
of Philippians chapter three. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. Rejoice in Him. Rest in Him. Rely upon Him. Look to Christ. Rejoice in the Lord. He said,
I know I've said this to you many, many times. I keep saying
it. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again,
I say rejoice. The Lord is at hand. And look,
but look what he, look at the explanation that he gives. To
write the same thing to you, to me indeed is not grievous. Now you can look that word grievous
up. It means to be slothful. It means to be backwards. Some
might say, well, you know, a preacher just keeps saying the same thing.
He's just, does he not prepare new messages? Is he being slothful? Is he being
backwards? You know, he's just Bible thumping
Neanderthals or they're just backwards people that don't have
anything to do, but just, just preach God's word. You know,
what about, you know, what about something more relevant? Well,
there is nothing more relevant. Paul said for me to preach the
same thing unto you, it's not backwards. It's not slothful. It's not grievous unto me. I
don't have a guilty conscience for doing this. Look at the rest
of this verse. But for you, it is safe. And that word safe means sure
or confirmed. Do you need the gospel to be
confirmed to your heart? Do you need Christ to be your
surety? Do you need to be certain that
what you believe is true to the word of God? That's why we keep
preaching Christ. Paul said, for me, it's not grievous.
For you, it's safe. It's the only certainty that
you have. It's the only hope you have. It's the only comfort
that we have. And the child of God says, amen, preacher. Keep
telling me about Christ. Just tell me about Christ. You can't preach him high enough
and you can't tell me enough about him. Oh, he's infinitely
glorious, isn't he? We, we're just scratching the
surface. It's like one of those, one of
those little birds, you know, that they fly along the surface
of the water and they pick up little bugs on the water and,
and uh, That's where we are, we're just picking up little
bits and pieces of nourishment, but the depth of his grace and
glory is unfathomable. Everything in this world and
everything in our flesh either flat out denies the Lord Jesus
Christ or will distract us from Him. That's why Paul said, I
determined, I determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. See, most folks don't come to
church to hear about Christ. Well, I already know Him. I got
all that worked out. You know, I need some I need some practical
advice on how to live my life. You don't get any more practical
than Christ. The truth is that the Lord Jesus Christ is our
life. He is our life. We're looking
to him. We're following to him, following
him. We're believing on him. We're loving him. Christ is our
life. We have no life outside of Christ. whatever our need, whatever our
circumstances, whatever our problem. And I don't say this, this is not an exaggerated statement
at all. Whatever our need, whatever our
problem, whatever our circumstances, Christ is the answer. He is all
and He's in all. Just tell me about Christ. He's
the one I need. He's the one I need. His person, His power, His glory,
His work, His worth. He's everything. Everything. Turn to me, if you will, to Colossians
chapter one. Colossians chapter one. You believe that, don't you?
I know you do. And yet there's something in
every one of us that would look in other places for the answer
to our needs other than Christ. And that's why, for me, it is
not grievous For you, it is safe, it is safe. Colossians chapter three, verse
one, if ye then be risen with Christ. Seek those things which
are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set
your affections on things above, not on the things of the earth.
Is this not exactly what the Lord said when he said, seeking
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these
other things will be added unto you? What I need is Christ. He's who I need. And he'll work
out everything else. For you are dead. You are dead. We died in Christ as the lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. We died with him when
he was crucified on Calvary's cross. I am crucified with Christ. Isn't that what Paul said? We
die to ourselves when we come. to rest our hope and faith in
the Lord Jesus. We die to our righteousness,
and we die daily. We die daily, for you are dead.
You are dead. Could that be any more clear? That doesn't require a lot of
explanation, does it? You're dead. Christ is your life. You're dead. And your life is
hid with Christ in God. That's why we don't try to find
some practical trinkets to make life easier. We're looking at
Christ as our life. He's our life. Mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry. For which things sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience? Here's the only,
we see the seeds of these things in our flesh, don't we? And when
we and when we acknowledge that Christ is our life, then we then
we acknowledge those things as the pathway to death. Lord, I've got to have Christ
if I'm going to if I'm going to have life, otherwise my flesh
would lead me down that road. For which things sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience. in the which
also you walked for some time when you lived in them. But now
you have put off these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy
communication out of your mouth. Lie not to one another, seeing
that you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put
on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free, but Christ is all and he's in all. Is Christ everything
to you? If you believe on him, he is.
He's everything. He's everything. So the Lord just keeps repeating
the same message over and over. And they're all in agreement. Go back with me while I'm gonna
finish up one more verse and then we'll take a break. We're
in Acts chapter 11. After he says in verse 10, this
was done three times and all were drawn up again into heaven.
And behold, immediately there were three men already coming
to the house where I was sent from Caesarea unto me. And the
spirit bade me to go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these
six brethren accompanied me and we entered into the man's house.
And notice verse 14. Well, in verse 13,
and he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which
stood and said unto him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon,
whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou
and all thy house shall be saved. If we're not expounding this
word, to reveal Christ the Lord, then there are no words that
are sufficient to save us. Peter went with six men and they
were all in agreement. Isn't that wonderful? What a
testimony to the world it is when all of God's people believe
the same thing. about christ we do whatever other
differences we have are not only not only insignificant they're
irrelevant they really are they're relevant they don't matter culture,
language, politics, personality what do they matter no not when
we're not when we're believing on christ we have such glorious
union with him that he's our life. All these other things
are irrelevant, irrelevant. He brought with them words. We
bring with us the word of God, declaring the word of God, the
Lord Jesus, who is our life. All right, let's take a break.