We did not pass out the bulletins,
but I think they're on the back table if somebody wants to grab
one real quick before we start back if you haven't gotten a
bulletin and Got announced this Wednesday, I don't were you guys
here last Sunday Okay, Seth and Kaylee Hardman are now part of
our fellowship here. So we're so very happy that they're
here. Seth is Ryan's brother. And Seth
and Kaylee, when was your, August? Yeah, went up to Tennessee last
August and had the joy of participating in their wedding. So they are
now here. So we're glad you guys are here.
Bulletin, let's see, was there something else? Okay. Bert? Let's turn to number 296 in the
blue. Number 296, if you could please
stand. All the way my Shepherd leads
me, what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heav'nly peace, divinest
comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell. For I know whate'er
befall me, Jesus, do it all things well. For I know whate'er befall
me, Jesus, do it all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each widening path I tread, gives me grace for every trial,
feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
and my soul a thirst may be, gushing from the rock before
me, lo, a spring of joy I see, gushing from the rock before
me, lo, a spring the joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above, when my spirit, clothed immortal,
wings its flight to realms of day. This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. ABC. Good morning. Let's turn to the
Book of Psalms. We're going to be reading Psalm
115, which is the next one we're going to hope is like a preview
for next week. Psalm 115. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory. All the world's religions, their
glory is for themselves and not for God. Only when the gospel
is preached do we give true glory to who deserves it, which is
our Lord. For thy mercy and thy truth's
sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? That's what they say. Where is
their God? Because they have idols. They
have physical idols. But unto our God is in the heavens. And by that, we mean that he's
in charge, that he's sovereign, because he says he has done whatever
he has pleased. He's sovereign. He does what
he wants to do. He has the power to do so. The
idols, are silver and gold, the work of man's hands." And this
is the gods of these worlds today still, especially the work of
man's hands, whatever they do, their good
works, their righteousness. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes, But they see not. This is reference both to their
idols and to themselves. They don't have eyes to see the
Lord Jesus Christ for his glory. They have ears, but they hear
not. Noses, they have, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle
not. They have, but they walk not. See, they claim to walk in God's
law, and they do not. They do not walk in God's ways.
Neither speak they through their throat, but they make them all like unto
them. This is saying that these things
that the Lord was saying regarding their idols, this is true about
themselves too. All these things are true about
themselves. So that everyone that's trusting
them, everyone that trusts in other gods are like these things
that they said. Oh Israel, and when he's talking
about Israel and Aaron, that's us, that's the church of God.
who's the new Israel, and we are because now we are priests
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust thou in the Lord. He is their hope and their shield. This is the hope for the Christian,
and the Lord is our shield as well. The Lord Jesus Christ is
our shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the
Lord. He is their hope and their shield. Ye that fear the Lord, trust
in the Lord. He is their hope and their shield.
The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. will bless them that fear the
Lord, both small and great. The Lord shall increase you more
and more, you and your children. You are blessed of the Lord,
which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens
are the Lord's. but the earth he has given to
the children of men. That's what he did with Adam,
remember? He gave the earth, he named the animals, and he
told them to do them. The dead praised not the Lord. All that do not praise the Lord,
all that are not chosen of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are dead
in their trespasses and sins. Neither any that go down into
silence. but he will bless the Lord from
this time forth forevermore. Praise the Lord. Father God,
we come before you this morning by the merits of the Lord Jesus
Christ, by his life, his death, his resurrection. We trust in
that by your grace. Father, we come, we give you
praise, and we thank you, Father, for your wonderful grace, your
wonderful blessings that are all in Christ, Father. We thank
you for this privilege that we have here to listen to God's
word, Father God, We pray, Father, that you will teach us, that
your Holy Spirit will come down and both be with the preacher,
with Pastor Greg, and with us, Father, that we may see Christ
for his glory, that we might be able to see, that we may not
be blind, but that you might open our eyes, open our ears,
that we may see more of the glory of Christ that we had before.
And for that, we confess that we need you to do that for us,
Father. We pray also for all the other
churches that preach the gospel. We pray the same, that the gospel
may be clear, that we may give glory to you and not to ourselves,
Father. In Jesus' name, we pray this
for us. Amen. We're going to sing to him now
in the back of the bulletin. You can remain seated. To him in
the back of the bulletin. Father of heaven, whose love
profound, A ransom for our souls hath found, Before thy throne
we sinners bend, To us thy pardon, love extend. Almighty Son, Incarnate Word,
Our Prophet, Priest, Redeemer, Lord, Before Thy throne we sinners
bend, To us Thy saving grace extend. Eternal Spirit, by whose breath
the soul is raised from sin and death, before thy throne we sinners
bend. To us thy quickening ? Jehovah, Father, Spirit, Son
? ? Mysterious Godhead, three in one ? ? Before thy throne
we sinners bend ? ? Grace, pardon, life to us extend ? And if my way, when sorrows like
sea billows roll Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well
with my soul. With my soul It is well It is
well With my soul Though Satan should buffet Though
trials should come Let this thirst assurance control Christ hath regarded my helpless
estate, and hath shed his own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul. With my soul, it is well, it
is well with my soul. My sin, oh the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole. is nailed to the cross and I
bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. It is well with my soul. with my soul. It is well, it
is well with my soul. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ,
tends to live in Jordan of ? No pain shall be mine ? For in
death as in life ? Thou wilt whisper thy peace to my soul
? It is well ? It is well ? With my soul ? With my soul ? It is
well It is well with my soul. But Lord, tis for thee, for thy
coming we wait. The sky, not the grave. O trump of the angel, O voice
of the Lord, blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul. It is well, it is well, with
my soul, with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. And Lord, haste the day when
thy faith shall be sighed. The clouds be rolled back as
a scroll. The trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall descend, even so it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well, with
my soul, with my soul. Love that hymn. Thank you, Caleb and Lacey. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3. We'll fix this in our new building.
So that thing don't walk around. We got a little padding back
here behind the pulpit and that thing's got legs. I hope. And I pray that the Lord
will enable us to leave this place today. With that thought
and song on our hearts, Lord is well. It's well with my soul. I'm I'm I'm content with Christ. I'm satisfied. With what you're
satisfied with, or I don't understand it all. Oh, we don't. We don't
understand a fraction of it, do we? I don't feel it as I ought. The Lord doesn't call on us to
feel or to understand those experiences belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He felt the full burden of sin. You and I can't. He understood
the fullness of grace. You and I can't. We're called
on to believe. Believe, believe that Jesus is
the Christ. the son of the living God, and
that he alone was able to satisfy the demands of God's holy law,
and that his sacrifice on Calvary's cross is the only thing that
God's pleased with for the atoning of our sins. That's what we believe. That's who we believe. And Peter
is preaching to these Jews in Jerusalem and he's saying to
them, you're no longer ignorant. You're no longer ignorant. Now
to be ignorant is to be without knowledge, without knowledge. And the majority of the world
is ignorant when it comes to who the Lord Jesus Christ is
and what it is he's accomplished. They just don't know. But here's
what our Lord said in John chapter 17. He said, this is life eternal. That they might know thee. We know who God is. Do we know
the fullness of his glory? Obviously not. But we know that
he's God. the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent. We know that Jesus is the Christ,
the anointed one, the one sent of the Father to accomplish the
salvation of God's people. We know, we're not ignorant of
that. We believe that. We're resting all the hope of
our salvation on that. Without faith, It is impossible
to please God for they that come to him must believe that he is
that he is God. Now I know that every denomination
and every church has a statement of faith and a creed. And one
of the very first things that they declare is that Jesus is
the son of God. And then they turn right around
and strip him of the essence of deity by denying him his glory
in salvation. And we're not gonna do that. We believe that he is God. Look at, you have your Bibles
open to Acts chapter three. Look at verse 17. And now brethren, I want that. Now that word what
means no. I, it's just an old English word. I know that through ignorance,
you did it as also our rulers. You were ignorant of who it was
that you were crucifying. And the whole world is ignorant
of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. They are, they're ignorant
of him. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1, beginning of verse 17. This is
Paul's prayer for the church at Ephesus. This is our prayer
for our church. That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Ephesians 1 verse 17. That's
our prayer that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ would give
unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know him that
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may
know that you may know what is the hope of His calling. What
is the hope of His calling? What is the hope of your calling? To see Him as He is and be made
like Him. Isn't that our hope? To see Him
in the fullness of His glory and to be without sin. That's the hope of His calling. and what the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the saints and the exceeding greatness of
his power to us word who believe. Believe. Now to believe we have
to have some something to believe. They that call upon the Lord
shall how can they call upon him in whom they've not believed
and how can they believe on him and whom they've not heard and
how can they hear without a preacher so when God is pleased to declare
who the Lord Jesus Christ is and that's what we want to do
every time we preach and what he's accomplished then we can
say I'm no longer ignorant God has given to me the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him now If men knew
who the Lord Jesus Christ really was, they would all believe on
him. Let me show you that. Turn to
me to 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2. If they knew who
he was, you remember, well, let's read
this passage first. 1 Corinthians 2, look with me
at verse Seven, but we speak the wisdom of God. Now, what
is the wisdom of God? Well, it'd be better to ask,
who is the wisdom of God? God has made him to be unto us
all our wisdom. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
wisdom of God. So Paul saying, we speak of Christ,
which is a mystery. Doesn't mean that it's strange
or mysterious, it means that it's hidden to the natural man. That's why Paul said, I pray
that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that the spirit
of wisdom and revelation be given to you from God, that the scales
will be taken away, that you could see who Christ is. And
we see who he is through the preaching of the gospel. And
the Lord said, look at, but we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the
world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world
knew. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. If they knew, What did the Lord
say to that woman at the well in John chapter four, when she,
when he asked her to give him a drink, you know, you don't.
And, and, and the Lord said, Oh, if you knew who it is that
sayeth unto you, give me to drink, you would ask it of him. And
he would give unto you living water. If you only knew who you
were standing here talking to. You would fall in worship? You would believe on me? You
see, that's when God takes the ignorance away and gives us the
knowledge of who Christ is. Everybody that is given that
knowledge believes. They just believe the revelation,
the hidden wisdom that's been known through the preach of the
gospel. Salvation is believing what God has said. Is it feeling
how needy we are and how poor we are? No, that experience belongs
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one that ever felt
like we ought. Does it mean understanding the
depth of this mystery and the fullness of his glory? No, that's
reserved for when we no longer have to have faith. Right now
we walk by faith. We have faith, hope, and charity. The greatest of these is charity.
Why? Because that's the only one we're going to have in glory.
We're not going to need faith in heaven. Not gonna need hope
in heaven. Faith will be our sight. Hope
will be our experience. The only thing we're gonna have
in glory is hearts overwhelmed with love and affection for the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that'll be enough. That'll
be enough. That's the hope of our glory,
isn't it? And what Peter's saying to them is, You've been ignorant,
and your rulers were ignorant. Had they known who it was that
they were crucifying, they wouldn't have done it. And we can say
to that of every man in the world, if they knew who the Lord Jesus
Christ was, they would believe on him. And men today are doing the exact
same thing that men did 2,000 years ago. For what good work
do you, do you crucify me? The Lord asks, or do you, do
you want to kill me? And what did they say for good
works? No, we like your good works. Keep doing them. But because
you being a man, make yourself out to be God. That's it's blasphemy
that we're, that we're, that we're persecuting you and crucifying
you. And that was the only charge
they had against him. Nothing's changed. When we talk about the
sovereignty of our God, when we talk about His omnipotence
in election and His power in redeeming His elect, what do
they say? No, that's not fair. They deny.
What are men doing today? They're doing exactly the same
thing that they've always done. They're denying the deity of
the Lord Jesus Christ. What do we believe? That he is
God. He is God. What did that centurion
say? I'm a man under authority. I
say to this man, go. And he goes, I say to another,
come and he comes. And if I can speak to men like
that and authority, you have all authority. I'm not worried
that you should come into my house. Only speak the word and
my servant will be healed. I believe that you have that
kind of power and that kind of authority. And what'd the Lord
Jesus say? He was amazed. He said, I've never seen, I've
not seen such faith. No, not in all of Israel. This
man believes that I'm God. What did the Lord Jesus say to
Jairus when he began to fear after the terror gripped his
heart when he heard of the death of his little girl? And the Lord
said, be not afraid, only believe, only believe. Believe what? Believe that I'm able, believe
that I'm God, believe that I'm the Christ. When Martha was speaking
with the Lord in John chapter 11, and he said, the Lord asked
her, do you believe in the resurrection? She said, Lord, I know that in
the resurrection, my brother will be risen. And what'd the
Lord say? Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. Believest thou
this? You see, we believe because we're
not ignorant anymore. We believe because the mystery
of the gospel has been revealed through the preaching of Christ.
And we just, we hear of who Christ is and we say, amen. He's my hope. He's my life. He's my salvation. Do I love
him as I ought? Shamefully, no. Do I see the
fullness of His glory? Not even a splinter of it, a
sliver of His glory. Do I feel the fullness? No, but
I do believe. If thou believest with all thy
heart is what Philip said when the Ethiopian said, what doth
hinder me to be baptized? And what did that Ethiopian say? I believe that that one you just
preached to me from Isaiah chapter 53, he revealed himself. And
I believe that that is the Christ, the son of the living God. Either you're ignorant or you
believe people that don't believe are
ignorant. What is, what is Peter saying? What do we believe? We believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and that we are complete in Him. Everything that God requires
from me, He looks to the Lord Jesus Christ for. He's my, He's
all my salvation. 1 John chapter 5, we want to be
overcomers, don't we? The scripture speaks of being
an overcomer, and I know there's a lot of self-righteous religious
people that push out their chest and hold up their nose, and in
their own self-righteousness, speak of themselves as if they're
overcomers. Overcoming is believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ till your dying breath. That's what it is to
overcome. Let me read that to you. 1 John
5, verse 4. Whosoever is born of God overcometh
the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Peter's preaching to this Jewish
group of people that had just crucified the Son of God. And he's saying to them, you
were ignorant. You didn't know what you were doing. Your rulers were
ignorant. Caiaphas was ignorant. Pilate
was ignorant. If they knew, if they knew who
it was, if thou knewest who it was that saith unto me, you would
ask him, you would ask him, Lord, give me to drink. I'm so thankful. That the Lord
takes away the ignorance and reveals himself and causes
us to say, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. I'm not ignorant.
I'm not ignorant to the fact that I have no righteousness
before thee. I'm not ignorant that I need a savior. I'm not
ignorant that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I'm not ignorant
anymore that God is fully pleased with everything the Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished. I'm not ignorant of that. I know
that's true. What did Paul say when he was
talking about his life before the Lord called him? He said,
I was an injurious man. I persecuted the church, but
I did it in ignorance and the Lord has forgiven me. I'm not
ignorant anymore. I want us to leave here saying
I'm not ignorant. The Lord shown me and I do believe
what he's revealed. I believe on Christ. Verse 17. Of Acts chapter 3 and
now brethren. I know I'll just change that
word what we don't use that word. I know. That through ignorance. You did it as did also your rulers. But those things which God before
had shown by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should
suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Turn back with me just a few
pages to Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. In verse 30, and it came to pass
as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it
and break and gave to them. What's that symbolic of? That's what we're doing right
now. We're taking the bread of life and we're breaking it open.
And we're asking for God to bless it to our understanding. And their eyes were opened and
they knew him. And he vanished out of their
sight. How often does that happen to you? Happens to me all the
time. I mean, I feel like as soon as
the Lord gives me a glimpse of his glory, just that quick, he's
taken away and I'm constantly pursuing him. We've not yet apprehended
that which has apprehended us, but this one thing we do, forgetting
those things which are behind, we press towards the mark for
the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Oh, it's a,
this gospel's slippery, isn't it? I don't know how else to
put it. We believe it with all of our hearts. And yet, as soon
as we think we've got a grip on it, it starts fading away.
And it's the way the Lord keeps us pursuing him. And they said one to another,
and here's what every child of God says, did not our hearts
burn within us as he spake with us along the way. Oh, we knew
we, we, we heard something. Verse 44, and he said unto them,
these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written
in the law of Moses and in the prophets and the Psalms concerning
me, then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the
scriptures. First Corinthians chapter 15, the gospel, Paul
defines it as The death, the burial, and the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that happened according
to the scriptures. Now what the Lord is saying to
these, this is what I've been telling you. I came to fulfill
all that the scriptures revealed. The testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy. And the gospel is how that Christ
died according to the scriptures. When Philip found Nathanael,
he said, he said, we have found him. You know, Phil is a brand
new believer. He said, we found him. He didn't
know the Lord had found him, but he said, we have found him
of whom Moses in the law and all the prophets speak. Everything in this book is to
reveal the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in the volume of
the book it is written of me. Paul said in Romans chapter three,
but now, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. in the Lord Jesus Christ being
witnessed by the law and the prophets. The law is not our schoolmaster
to lead us to Christ. I've heard people say, well,
you know, you need to preach the law so you can get people feeling
really guilty and then they'll see their need for Christ. No. The law reveals the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ and it shows me that everything about
me falls short of that. That's what the law does. It
shows us the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in seeing
Him, we come to the obvious conclusion. There's nothing in me like that. I'm a sinner. And if I'm going
to stand in the presence of God, He's going to have to stand in
my stead. I've got to believe on Him. Peter
said, you've been ignorant. You've been calling him Lord,
we would say today, but you're ignorant of who he is. If you
knew who he was, your rulers didn't know. And you didn't know
that all of scripture, this whole book, reveals the mystery of who Christ
is and what he's accomplished. That's why we just keep going
back to the book, don't we? And what sayeth the scriptures?
What sayeth the scriptures? It's the only source of authority
that I have. I can't trust in my opinions.
I can't trust in the words of man, but we have the word of
God. Look, go back with me to our
text. And now brethren, I know that through ignorance you did
it, as did also your rulers, but you're without excuse now.
You don't have any ignorance anymore because I've told you
the truth. What have I told you? That everything written in the
scriptures was about the Lord Jesus Christ. What did the Lord
say to those Pharisees? The same thing he says to Pharisees
today. You search the scriptures, you're
diligent student of the Bible because you think that in learning
Bible stories and scriptures and things that you have eternal
life. That's what the Lord said. You
search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal
life. But these are they which testify
of me. The Bible's not gonna give you
eternal life. Christ is gonna give you eternal life. The Bible
is what leads us to Christ. And so what does the Lord say?
Look at verse 19. You're not ignorant anymore.
You're without excuse. The truth's been spoken, it's
been revealed. Therefore, repent. Now that word repent means to
have a changed mind. It means to have a changed mind.
Is that my contribution to God? My repenting and my believing? If I do that, will God reward
me? Everything that God requires
of us, God must provide. Repentance is a work of grace. How many times the Lord told
a blind man, look. How can I look? I'm blind. He's
telling those who have a natural mind, an unbelieving heart to
repent, to change their mind. Lazarus, come forth. But Lord,
he's dead, he's been in the grave three days, four days, he stinks. Lazarus, come forth. Did Lazarus
hear the voice of God and say, okay, I'm gonna pull myself up
and waddle out of this tomb? No. What God demanded, what God
called for, God had to provide. When he says repent, Lord, turn
me and I shall be turned. Give me the faith to believe
and I'll believe. The Lord came up to a man who
had a withered hand. I don't know if he kept hitting
his palm. It was crippled. It was atrophied
completely. And he was hiding. The Lord said,
stretch forth thy hand. The Lord, I can't. Stretch it. And he stretched it forth. We
saw Peter and John talking to the man at the gate called Beautiful,
Sunday or two ago. Silver and gold have we none,
but such as we have in the name of Jesus, standing with this
man who'd never walked in his life. He's 40 years old. He'd
never stood on his feet in his entire life. And the scripture
says, he jumped up, he leapt, and he began to do jumping jacks. And you know, I mean, What God requires and what God
calls on us to do. God must provide and he only
accepts that which he provides and everything he provides. He
provides in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when God
says for you to do something, obey me. Follow me. Lord, you're going to give me
grace. Trust me. The Lord says to the Deaf man,
listen to me. Why is that so important? So that we get no credit whatsoever
for our salvation. You see, when men talk about
I will pursue and I will overtake and I will pull out my sword,
And I'll make this decision and I'll do that. And they tell you
about when they got saved and when what they did, what are
they doing? They're robbing the Lord Jesus
Christ of his deity. And they're setting themselves
up on the throne of God because they're ignorant of who he is.
They're ignorant of who he is. Faith is to know him, to know,
to believe who he is. Repent ye therefore, and be converted. Be turned. That's what that word
converted means. Be turned away from your ignorance. Lord, you're gonna have to give
me the mind of Christ. You're gonna have to turn me. That your sins may be blotted
out. Now that's what we have a need of. Everybody in this
room and everybody listening to this message. Everybody's
got needs. Some of them are very serious.
Some of a very heart wrenching, some of very particular. And. And and and we don't look. We don't look at our own lives
and think, well, you know, nobody's got the problems I've got. Don't
think that way. There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to all men. God is faithful. God is faithful. He will not
suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but
will provide with the temptation the way of escape that you might
be able to bear it. People hear that verse and they
say, well, God's not going to put more on you than you can bear.
If he doesn't, you don't need him. He provides in the things that
He puts on us the way of escape. What is that? Christ. Oh, I've
got to have Christ. Whatever my needs are. But you
know, there's one need that I especially have to have the Lord Jesus Christ
for. Because it ain't going away unless He takes it away. These
other problems I have, You know, they come and go and they change
along the way, don't they? But I've got one problem. I've
got one problem that if I stand before God and I've got one mark
of sin on me, I'll go to hell for it. And that's what this
word blotted out means. You get a stain on a garment,
you maybe spray a little stain remover on it, maybe put a little
powder on it, maybe scrub it and you wash it and it comes
out and it's still stained there. And sometimes it's blotted out. And you think, man, it looks
like new. That's the point. He blots out the stain. He takes
away, and what's he do it with? He does it with his own blood.
These are they which have, when John saw those, those saints
in heaven with the white robes of righteousness, and he asked,
who are they? And the angel said, these are
they which have washed their robes white in the blood of the
lamb. He's blotted out the stain. They're
without sin. They're perfect before God. How
are we going to get rid of our sin? How are we gonna change? You know, that's what men do.
They take a stain, they scrub on it until they scrub a hole
in the fabric. And then they sew a patch on
top of that, trying to fix the problem. That's what religion's
all about. Repent and be converted that
your sins might be blotted out. And if we say that word blotted
out means to erase or eradicate completely do away with. If we
say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us. But if we confess. If we agree
with God that we are sinners, he is faithful and just to forgive
us of all our sins, cleanse us of all of our unrighteousness. You've heard the definition of
sin, and it's true, the word sin means to miss the mark. God's mark is perfection, and
we've not even come close Not even come close. It's to transgress the law. It's
to come short of the glory of God. The conscience of all men that
God has given to all men is sufficient to convict a person of sins. but only the Holy Spirit can
convict a person of sin. You don't have to have the Holy
Spirit to feel guilty when you do something wrong. Everybody has that experience.
That's not confession of sin. But what you do have to have
the Holy Spirit for is to acknowledge before God that everything about
you is sinful before God. A natural man doesn't believe
that. See, he's ignorant of that, isn't he? He's ignorant of it. He's ignorant of the fact that,
that the very best thing he's ever done is filthy rags in the
sight of God. He's ignorant of the fact that
the things that he's proud of and the decisions he's made and
the good works that he's done would be sufficient to send him
to hell. He doesn't know that he's got to have Aaron as his
high priest to bear the iniquity of the holy things. He thinks
when he goes to church and when he prays and when he reads the
Bible and when he does something good for somebody that God's,
you know, that's a good thing. He doesn't know that there's
the infection of sin and everything he does, but when the spirit
of truth comes, he will convict the world of sin because they
believe not on me. There's the root of sin and the
sin that does so easily beset us is the sin of unbelief or
to help that mine unbelief. The new man believes everything,
the old man believes nothing. Repent ye therefore. What's Peter saying? You no longer
have, you no longer can use the excuse of ignorance. The gospel's
been preached, Christ has been revealed. The word of God has
been fulfilled. Everything that God required
through all the, all the promises of God are yay and amen in Christ. All the prophecies are fulfilled
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Peter's saying, you're
no longer ignorant. I know you did this because you didn't know
who he was. Your rulers didn't know who he was. If they had
known who he was, they wouldn't have crucified him. Repent ye. You see that look
at verse, look at verse 19, repent ye. And we're constantly in need
of being turned. Aren't we? We're constantly being,
we're constantly in need of having our minds changed. That's what
this word means. And our minds go in some awful
places. Don't they? Now what's the Lord
saying? Repent, change your mind, be
turned, be converted, that your sins be blotted out. When the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord and what a time of
refreshing it is. When the Lord shows you all my
sin, the things I feel bad about and the things I've never even
thought about and the things that I felt good about. They've
all been put away by the sacrifice of Christ. And he shall send Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive
until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world
began. Since the very beginning, right after the fall, when God
said to Adam and Eve, the seed of the woman will crush the head
of the serpent. That was the prophecy that Christ
fulfilled when he bowed his head on Calvary's cross. He got the
victory over Satan and over the grave and over death and put
away sin. And everything that God said
all throughout the Old Testament was pointing to Christ. And that's
what Peter's saying. He's saying this is the fulfilling
of prophecy. For Moses truly said unto the
fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto your
brethren like unto me. Him shall you hear in all things
whatsoever he shall say unto you. Moses told you that God
was gonna raise up another prophet after me that's gonna be like
me. And the first hour this morning, we looked at Moses bringing the
children of Israel out of Egypt. And that's what Peter's saying,
just as Moses brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, so the
Lord Jesus Christ brought his people out from under the bondage
of sin and the law. And it shall come to pass that
every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed
among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from
Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken,
have likewise foretold of these things." You're not ignorant. All of Scripture speaks of Him.
Everything in God's Word reveals Christ. But men go to the Bible,
they don't look for Christ. They're looking for something
to do. Why? Because they're ignorant of who He is. They're ignorant
to the fact that He's the fulfillment of all these prophecies. He's
the one that this book's all about. He's the one that they've
got to have. They think somehow I can make
up for the bad things I've done. You know, they feel guilty. A
natural man feels guilty when he does something wrong. You
don't need the Spirit of God for that. You've got a conscience. You can sear your conscience.
Keep doing the same thing long enough, and all of a sudden you
don't feel guilty. We live in a world of seared
conscience, don't we? Men celebrate things that they
used to feel guilty about. And men can do that. But the
point is that men are ignorant. They're
ignorant. Ye, you, are the children of
the prophets and of the covenant, the promise which God hath made
with our father, Satan and Abraham, and in thy seed shall all the
kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first, God, having raised
up his son, Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every
one of you from his iniquities. The word iniquities comes from
the word that means full of labor. Full of labor. Iniquity is what
men do when they try to work their way to heaven. And what Peter's saying to this
crowd is, Christ Jesus, the Lord, has been raised from the dead,
and God has proven, God has proven by his resurrection that he is
the Christ, that he has been successful in accomplishing your
salvation, and you're no longer ignorant. Repent and be converted that
your sins might be blotted out, and believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because those who don't believe
on Him will have no hope. That's a clear message, isn't
it? That's so simple. Our merciful Heavenly Father, give us the spirit of wisdom
and understanding that we might cast all our care upon Him who
careth for us. We ask it in the name of thy
dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. The bird number 42 in your
spiral hymnal. Let's stand together. Let us praise the name of Jesus,
Prophet, Priest, and Sovereign King. To Him render adoration,
love and homage to Him bring. Let us praise the name of Jesus
God incarnate from above Came to save His covenant people Set
by God in covenant love Let us praise the name of Jesus, Who
upon Mount Calvary Shed His blood and sealed our pardon, Died from
sin to set us free. Let us praise the name of Jesus,
Risen, conquering, gracious Friend, Advocate and Mediator, All our
hopes on Him depend. Let us praise the name of Jesus,
for he brought us to this hope. Come, exalt his name and worship,
may the Savior be extolled. Let us praise the name of Jesus,
Till we see Him face to face, Then throughout the endless ages,
Praise Him for His love and grace. Okay.