Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 22 from your Spiral hymn book, number
22, For the Glory of His Grace. Let's stand together. That didn't
work. We were ruined by the fall. Adam's sin defiles us all. By our deed, as by our birth,
we deserve the law's great curse. Helpless, hopeless sinners we,
never can our souls retrieve. But the blessed Son of God Came
as man in flesh and blood He fulfilled the law's demands And
in death stretched out his hands On the cross of Calvary Christ
redeemed and set us free In the time which God had set The Spirit
came for His elect To regenerate and call From the ruin of the
fall By His power and by His grace We were born for God's
own praise ? Now your purpose we fulfill ? ? Saved according
to your will ? ? Sing this song of joyful praise ? ? For the
glory of your grace ? ? Blessed Holy Triune God ? ? Hear our
praise through Christ our Lord ? Please be seated. Good evening. I'd like to read
from Revelation chapter 5 for our call to worship tonight.
If you could turn with me there in your Bibles to Revelation
chapter 5. We'll begin reading in verse
1. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne
a book written within and on the backside sealed with seven
seals. This book was full and it was
sealed. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in
earth, nor under the earth, was able to open the book, neither
to look thereon. And I wept much because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. If the book's not open, no one's
saved. And one of the elders said unto
me, weep not, behold, look, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the
root of David, hath prevailed. to open the book and to loose
the seven seals thereof. And I beheld and low in the midst
of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the
elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns
and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth
into all the earth. And he came and he took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and
20 elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them
harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers
of the saints. And they sang a new song saying,
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,
for thou what slain and hast, hast, past tense, redeemed us. Thou hast redeemed us. to God
by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation
and has made us unto our God, kings and priests. He's made
us part of his family and he's given us access to the throne
of grace. And we shall reign on the earth.
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about
the throne, and the beast, and the elders, and the number of
them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands, saying
with a loud voice, here's the message, worthy is the Lamb.
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing
in every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and
unto the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are
in them, heard I saying, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power,
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb,
forever and ever. And the four beasts said, amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. That's a picture
of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ gathered around the throne
of God, worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. And acknowledging their
presence there to his glory and by his shed blood. Let's, let's pray together. Our glorious and merciful heavenly
father. We come into thy Holy presence,
thanking you that we have an advocate. We have a surety. We have a sin bearer. We have
a savior in whom we have all our righteousness and all our
boldness and all our acceptance before the. Lord, in these uncertain times,
we pray that you would settle our hearts and increase our faith
and enable us, Lord, to rest our hope in the accomplished
work of the Lamb, the Lamb who hath prevailed, the Lamb who
hath redeemed us with his blood. the lamb that hath made us to
be both kings and priests in the presence of our God. Lord,
we pray that your Holy Spirit, those seven spirits of God we
just read about, the perfection and the fullness and the power
of thy Holy Spirit would go out and take thy word, apply it to
the hearts of thy people, cause it, Lord, to Accomplish that
for which you send it. We take great hope and comfort
in knowing, Lord, that your word will not return unto you void.
The living word did not return into thy presence void. And Lord,
the word that goes out now, by whatever means you've provided
for us, will not return unto you void. For that we're grateful. May
it be effectual in our hearts tonight. We ask it in Christ's
name, Amen. We'll just remain seated. We're
going to sing that hymn that I emailed out today. If you've
got the soft back, Tim knows number 77. Your word, O God, I love to read,
or hear the Bible read to me. Earth's greatest privilege, indeed,
to have the book declared to me. The word is like a fire to
melt My heart so cold and make me groan Its power is like a
hammer felt And breaks this stubborn heart of stone God speaks again,
His Word reveals The substitute for sinners slain Forgiveness
by His blood it tells A balm to heal my heart's great pain
Spirit of God, my teacher be, give eyes of faith always to
see the Word's great truth and mystery in every line show Christ
to me. Dear Lord, my thanks I give to
you for your inspired and holy word. My reverence and allegiance
to it claims the mighty word of God. So how we long for the Lord to
bring us back together soon. I've spoken to some pastors,
not only around the country, but around the world. And I don't know of any congregations
anywhere in the world of God's people that are able to meet
right now. And this is a a very, very difficult time for people
of God in that regard. And I pray that what the Lord
sent, that the Lord will remove and enable us to get back together. If you'll turn with me in your
Bibles to Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2, I've titled this message
The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. And my title comes from verse
36 of Acts chapter two. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus
whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ. God has made him to be both Lord
and Christ. There's not much that we can
be sure of these days in terms of the things of this world.
It appears that the Lord is removing those things which can be shaken.
And in order to show us that those things which cannot be
shaken might remain, we have a kingdom, we have a hope, we
have a an assurance based on the authority of God's word and
the blessing of his spirit and the faith that he's given to
his people, that in all the uncertainties of this life, as we know it,
the believers are not to be fatalistic, neither are they to be afraid. A fool doesn't look both ways
before he crosses a road. Of course, we should take whatever
precautions we can in the trials and troubles that we're experiencing
these days, but we're not to live in fear. David said in Psalm
27 verse one, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Of whom shall I fear? The Lord
is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Spirit of fear. It's not come
from the Lord. David said in Psalm 90 Lord teach
us to number our days that we might apply our hearts to wisdom. It's a good thing for the Lord
to shake those things which are made those things which are that
which can be shaken in order to establish the the certainty
of those things which he has made sure and steadfast. And that's the hope that we have.
And that's the comfort that we have from God's word. He has
spoken to us some assurances that in spite of all the uncertainties
of, of this world, uh, we have, uh, we have a word from God that
cannot be moved. Notice. in our text in verse
36 in Acts chapter 2. Therefore, therefore, in light
of all the things that Peter has spoken about the Lord Jesus
Christ prior to this verse, what are those things about? They're
about his resurrection. Go back with me to verse 24.
Peter, makes it clear that the Jews
with their wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the God has raised him up
having loose the pains of death because it was not possible that
he should be holden by it. Now the language here is that
of childbirth as we saw Sunday. And as a, as a child reaches
its, its peak, most mature state in the womb of its mother, the
mother can no longer bear that child. And so the contractions
of birth are the reasons are the causes of that child coming
forth. And that's what, that's what
the Lord saying. He said, the earth had contractions, even
as, even as Jonah was vomited forth by the whale. So the, the
word, the earth could not hold the Lord. He could not be held
by it. Look, look at. Look at verse
25, for David speaking concerning him, for I foresaw the Lord always
before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not
be moved. So the hope that David is expressing
is that the Lord Jesus Christ is at his right hand and the
Lord Jesus Christ is that the right hand of God and there I
stand. and I shall not be moved. Therefore, did my heart rejoice
and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh shall
rest in hope." There's our hope, brethren. We can rest knowing
that the pains of death could not hold the Lord Jesus Christ.
He conquered the grave. He conquered death. He conquered
Satan. He conquered hell. He came forth
victorious. And what David's saying is, I
can rest there. I can find assurance there. I
can find hope there. And, uh, and David speaking prophetically
of the Lord, Jesus Christ, these things apply in both regards
and day. And Peter goes on to say that
David's not speaking of himself. David, David speaking of, of
Christ and the Lord, Jesus Christ is expressing his confidence
in the father, the Lord, Jesus Christ, when he bowed his head. On Calvary's cross said father
into thy hands, I commend my spirit confident that he could
go into the grave and rest knowing that the Lord, that the father
would reward him for his work and deliver him from the pains
of death. Notice verse 27, because thou
will not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thy
holy one to see corruption. Now all God's people are holy.
He that sanctifyeth, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words,
he that makes us holy, and they which are sanctified, those who
are in Christ, found in him, not having their own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that perfect righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They're all holy. That's why
the people of God are called saints. But there's but one holy
one. Holy one, the Holy one of Israel
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have no holiness and we
have no righteousness outside of him. And so Peter is declaring
the Lord Jesus Christ as the Holy one. He said, he could not
remain in the grave. The grave couldn't hold him.
Death couldn't hold him. He conquered all of that by his
shed blood and he redeemed unto God. by his shed blood, all of
his saints, all of his elect. Thou hast made known unto me
the ways of life, verse 28. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with my countenance. Now, men and brethren, Peter's
preaching on the day of Pentecost to all these Jews that are gathered
in Israel, in Jerusalem. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David. That is it both dead and
buried and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. The grave,
I'm sure as Peter's preaching, he's probably pointing in the
direction of where David's tomb was and they, and they, and it
was making clear to all the men that David's still there. This
couldn't refer to David. David's body is corrupted. David's
been dead for a thousand years. There's dust in his tomb as the
remains of his body. So David is not talking about
himself. Verse 30, therefore being a prophet
and knowing that God had sworn unto him an oath, that of the
fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise
up Christ to sit on his throne. So Peter is identifying this
prophecy in Psalm 16 that David spoke about Christ to the fulfillment
of the Lord Jesus. He said, Peter, he said, David's
talking about Christ. He's the one that could not be
held by death. He's the one that God was obligated
to raise from the dead. He's the one who has power over
the grave and over death. And here's our hope, brethren.
Here's our hope. Whatever this life we experience
and whatever the Lord brings to us in this life, we have the
hope of knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is the firstborn
among many brethren. And as he conquered death, all
those that were in him on Calvary's cross, all those that went in
the tomb with him, all those that are raised with him are
seated in the heavenlies in Christ right now. Hebrews chapter two says that
he came to destroy the works of the devil and deliver them
who all their lives were in fear of death. Deliver them from the
bondage of fear. We're going to die physically,
but we have the hope of knowing that death's been conquered.
Christ has ascended. And looking to him in faith,
we have the hope of eternal life. What a glorious day. Paul put
it like this. He said, for me to live is Christ. And to die is gain, to die is
gain. And as painful and difficult
as death is, for the child of God, it'll be gain. Why? Because it'll be the time
when we'll look into his face and see the fullness of his glory
and be made like him and shed all the unbelief and all the
sin that remains in this old man will be gone. And so that's
what Peter's preaching and that's what I'm preaching and that's
what we're to deliver to dying, a dying man preaching to dying
men. We're all dying. This current situation that we're
in might make it a little more evident than perhaps it was before. That's a good thing. That's a
good thing. If we all live to be a hundred
years old, we're going to die. I mean, that's, you know, that's
just, that's just the truth of it. And, um, and there's our
hope. Uh, Paul put it like this. He
said, he said, if in this life only, uh, we have hope we are
of all men, most miserable. If there is no resurrection,
if there is no hope of life after death, if we're not going to,
if we're not going to be with the Lord and be made like him,
then let's eat, drink, and be married for tomorrow we shall
die. And, uh, first Corinthians chapter 15, Paul speaks of that,
of that hope that we have when the corruptible is made incorruptible
and the mortal is made immortal. And, uh, we're, we're, we're
made perfect in Christ. Um, that's, that ought to be
our hope all the time. It really should. Uh, we, we
get so. Distracted and presumptuous.
Don't worry about the things of, of life, but crisis our life. And, and this is the, this is
the message of the gospel. There is no hope outside of this.
Look at, look at, uh, what, what Peter goes on to say in verse
31 and seeing this before before spake of the resurrection of
Christ, that his soul was not left in hell. Neither his flesh
did see corruption. So Peter's making it clear that
prophecy, you thought he was talking about himself. And I'm
sure that most of the audience there would have thought that
David was talking about himself, but he wasn't, he was talking
about Christ. And so this Jesus, verse 32,
hath God raised up whereof we are all witnesses. Peter said,
We didn't bring you cunningly devised fables. We handled the
word of God. We witnessed him and he's appeared
to us. Now there's been, there's been
about, about 30 days, 40 days between well, there's, there's
50 days full between, um, uh, Passover and Pentecost. And. So the Lord, three days after
Passover rose from the dead. He appeared unto the disciples
and he appeared and just, and now they've spent about 10 days
waiting for him. So for about 40 days, the Lord
appeared to the disciples off and on and spoke to them and
revealed things to them. And so Peter saying, we witnessed
this. We, we handled the word of truth. Verse 33, therefore
being by the right hand of God, exalted. Peter's making it clear. The Lord Jesus has ascended into
heaven. He seated at the right hand of
the majesty on high and having received of the father, the promise
of the Holy ghost, he hath shed force. This, which you now see
in here, these men are not drunk. As you presume, this is the fulfillment
of the prophecy of Joel. This is the pouring out of the
spirit of God that you're hearing. And God is, this was the promise. The promise of the sending of
the spirit that the Lord Jesus Christ received after having
ascended into glory. And this is our hope that the
spirit of God would open the eyes of our understanding and
enable us give to us faith to rest our hope in Christ. For David. Verse 34 is not ascended
into heaven. But he saith himself, the Lord
said unto my Lord, sit thou here at my right hand until I make
thy foes thy footstool. Now, all men by nature are enemies
of God. We come into this world at enmity
with God. We'll not have this man reign
over us. And the Lord makes all of his
enemies his footstool. Some sit at his footstool and
listen anxiously like you are for the things that he has to
say and have their hope in his word. Others, he will have his
foot on their neck, but all men, all men will be at the feet of
Christ. Some as, as willing servants,
others. spending all eternity, gritting
their teeth and raising their fists in opposition to the things
of God. So the father is saying to the
Lord Jesus Christ, sit down here at my right hand until I make
all my enemies, thy footstool. Therefore, you see now this is
what, this is what all these, all these things, Let all the
house of Israel know assuredly. Now who's the house of Israel?
It's the church. It's the people of God. It's
God's elect. It's the ones who, it's the true
Jew who's been circumcised by the spirit in his heart. That's
the house of Israel, the children of God. God's chosen people. It's the believer. You have to
be made a believer before you can believe. You hear that? No, God's not speaking to the
world. He's speaking to his people.
He's giving his word to those who have the faith to believe
him. And he has to make us believers before we can believe. And when
he makes us believers, we believe everything he says. And so here's
our hope. Let all the house of Israel,
and all the house of Israel does believe, every single one of
them, they believe everything God says. No ifs, ands, or buts
about it. Let all the house of Israel know
assuredly. Here's what we need in our day,
don't we? We need something that's sure.
We need something that we can have absolute confidence in,
no question about it. There's not a model. The experts
today are putting together a lot of models of what may be and
what may not be in the days to come, but that's all they are
is models. We're not sure what's gonna happen, but this we can
be sure of. Here's my message tonight. Let
all the house of Israel know assuredly You can stand here,
whatever else might be shaken. This is sure. And this is steadfast. This is on the authority of God's
word that God hath made this same Jesus whom you have crucified,
both Lord and Christ. Now that's, that's sure. This one who went into the grave,
this one who took our sins and put them away by the sacrifice
of himself, God has raised him from the dead. Let all the house
of Israel know for certain, certain. We saw Sunday that there are
certain things that are impossible. Well, this is impossible. It's
impossible for the Lord Jesus Christ to be other than anything
other than what God has made him to be. Let all the house
of Israel know with absolute confidence, know with absolute
assurance, without any question, without any possibility of it
being changed that God, God has made this same Jesus. both Lord and Christ. What God made, he was the author
of it. This word made in verse 36, you
see it where it says, God hath made, not will make, not hopes
to make, not is planning on making, but he hath made. This word made
means that he's the author of it. And it also means that he
made something out of nothing. You say, now, wait a minute,
preacher, how could, how could you say that the Lord Jesus Christ
was ever nothing? Well, the scripture says that
man at his very best state is altogether vanity. Now we understand
that as being that the best thing that we can produce is empty. of its righteousness before God,
and that's certainly true. But who is the man who was at
his very best state? And who is the man who emptied
himself, and according to Philippians chapter 2, verse 7, made of himself
no reputation. That means he made of himself
void. He was empty. He hung on Calvary's
cross as our sin bearer, as our substitute. and burying our sins,
he was empty of anything before God. He was hopeful and trusting
in the Father's mercy to deliver him from death. And that's what's
being said here, God hath made. He was the author of it. He authored
it in eternity past in the covenant of grace when the Lord Jesus
Christ entered into a covenant relationship with his father
and promised to be the sin bearer. He's called the lamb that was
slain before the foundation of the world. And so God, the father
is the author. He's the one who elected the
people of God. He's the one who executed this
purpose of redemption for God's people, and the Lord Jesus Christ
is the one who was made nothing. He was made empty, vain before
God in order that he might satisfy the demands of God's justice,
bearing our sins on the cross. And so God hath made this same
Jesus. You know when Joseph had revealed
himself to his brothers in Egypt. He said, go back and tell my
father that God has made me Lord over all Egypt. And Joseph is
clearly a type of Christ in that regard. And he's the one that
had the keys to the storehouse. He's the one who who provided
and saved all the house of Israel. And he said, go tell my father
that the Lord, God has made me to be Lord over all Egypt. And that's what Peter is telling
us now. That's what the Lord is saying
to us. God, let all the house of Israel know with absolute
assurance that whatever else might be going on, God has made
this same Jesus whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ. Now I want you to think with
me for a moment about the word same. I'm sure that Jesus was probably
a pretty common name back then. A lot of Jesus is walking around
and, uh, I would say that there's a whole lot more now than there
were back then. There's a, there's a lot of Jesus's in the world.
There's only one who is the same as the one Peter's preaching.
There's only one that is successful, sovereign savior. Only one who
is the center substitute. Only one who is the surety who
satisfied all the demands of God's holy justice. This same
Jesus, this Jesus, not another Jesus. Now I hear people perhaps
may be listening and they say, well, I, you know, I thought
there was just one Jesus. No. There's a Jesus with a small
J who loves everybody, but can't get them to love him back. That's
not the Jesus that Peter's preaching. There's another Jesus who died
for everybody who, but can't get the people that he died for
to believe on him. That's not the Jesus that Peter's
preaching. He said this same Jesus, the
one I'm preaching to you, the one that God has made with all
assurance, both Lord and Christ. There's an unthreatening baby
Jesus that makes everybody feel warm and fuzzy. There's a, a
Jesus who's still on the cross who wants everybody to feel sorry
for him. Uh, there's lots of Jesus's in this world. There's
a Jesus that makes whole congregations raise their hands like fools
and sing Kumbaya and do all sorts of foolish things in the name
of Jesus. That's not the Jesus that Peter's preaching. And that's
not the one I'm preaching. Let me show you that from scripture.
Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11. Verse two, for I put Peter's
talking to the church at Corinth, speaking to the Lord, speaking
to us, okay? For I am jealous over you with
a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband,
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear,
lest by any means," and you can be sure that Satan's got lots
of means, lots of deceptions. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. This same
Jesus is all. And in all, he is the sovereign
second person of the triune Godhead. He is the one to whom the father
has given all power in heaven and in earth. He is the one who
was successful in his redemptive work. And, and now Paul says,
I fear, I fear like Eve was deceived in the garden that you should
be, that you should be taken away from. or corrupted from
the simplicity that is in Christ for look at verse four, for if
he, that cometh preacheth another Jesus, and there's a whole lot
of other Jesus is being preached today. Whom we have not preached. You
see Paul still carrying on the same message that Peter preached
when he said this same Jesus, not another Jesus, this same
Jesus. And if you receive another spirit
is lots of spirits out there in there. Lots of spirits. There's only one Holy spirit.
How do we know if we've experienced the Holy spirit?
Cause he's led us to this same Jesus, this one who is both Lord
and Christ. Well, if you receive another
Jesus, which you have, which you have not received or another
gospel, which, which you have not accepted, you might well
bear with me. He said, Paul's comparing himself
to these other preachers. He said, you know, I hate to,
I'm not promoting myself. Just bear with me a minute. I'm
telling you that the one I'm preaching. It's not another gospel. It's not another spirit. It's
not another Jesus. There's one gospel. There's one
spirit and there's one Jesus. And Peter said this same Jesus
go back with me to our text, whom you have crucified. If I have any hope of my sin
being put away, then they had to be on the Lord Jesus Christ.
If I have any hope of salvation, any hope of standing in the presence
of God, I've got to be found in him. My sins have to be on
him, all my sins. If God's going to be satisfying,
I've got to be crucified with Christ. And being crucified with
Christ means that God made him who knew no sin to be sin for
us. He bore our sins. And Zechariah
said, when the spirit of grace and supplication is poured out
on the house of David, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they
will look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn after
him, desire after him as one desires after his only son. So
the spirit of grace and supplication is poured out. We see that Christ,
that if I have any hope of being saved, My sins had to be on Christ. So when the Lord says to us, all you house of Israel know
assuredly with absolute confidence that this same Jesus, God had
made him to be both Lord and Christ. The one whom you crucified Now I hear people say sometimes,
won't you make Jesus Lord of your life. That's nothing more than man
trying to be God because the scripture is clear right here
that God has made him Lord. You can't do something. God's
already done. You see the Lord, Jesus Christ, he's Lord over
the living. That's the believer. And he's
Lord over the dead. That's the unbeliever. He reigns
sovereign over all men, the inhabitants of the earth, all the inhabitants
of the earth and all the angels in heaven. He reigns at God's
given him preeminence. He reigns sovereign overall.
You can't make him Lord. Jesus is Lord. God has made him
to be Lord. God has set him. We just read
that Peter's preaching where he is right now. Where is he?
He's seated at the right hand of God. And the father says to
him, sit down here at my right hand until I make all your enemies,
your footstool. Some of them are going to bow
willingly. Others are going to be broken
by the judgment of God. but the Lord Jesus Christ reigns
as Lord. We don't make him Lord. We don't
make him Lord. Now, why will men not bow to
Christ? Why do men raise their fists
to the Lord Jesus Christ and say, I will not have that man
reign over me. Well, let me show you John chapter
three. Turn with me back to John chapter three, the Lord's clear. Scriptures are very simple as
to why men won't bow. And I want somebody under the
sound of my voice tonight to be honest with themselves. I
hope that will happen. We've declared unto you the certainty
of who Jesus is, of where he is, of what he did and what God
rewarded him for. He is the successful reigning
sovereign God of the universe. God has made him. We know that
for sure that God has made him Lord. And there's people making
excuses as to why they won't, why they won't bow to Christ.
And I hope tonight that somebody. will be honest with themselves
and admit why they're not bowing. Look at, look at John chapter
three and we'll begin reading at verse 18. He that believeth
on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not, he that
refuses to bow to Jesus Christ as Lord He that refuses to cast
his hope on Christ and believe on him is condemned already because
he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.
And this is the condemnation that life has come into the world.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world.
And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. That's why men won't come. That's
what they will not. They will not come to the light
because the light exposes them for what they are. It exposes
the religious. for being unrighteous in all
their presumed self-righteousness. It exposes the irreligious for
being unrighteous in all the wickedness of sin that they refuse
to repent from. The gospel reveals men for what
they are. It reveals them as being unrighteous
and men won't come to Christ. The Lord said, you will not come,
look at verse 20. For everyone that doeth evil,
and that could be, what is it to do evil? You know, it's to refuse to bow to Christ
as Lord. It's to say, I will not have
this man reign over me. is to hold on to your own righteousness
and your own sin and not come to Christ. Everyone that doeth
evil, hateth the light. Neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be exposed. The religious won't come to the
light because it exposes what they're hoping in for their salvation
for what it is, rebellion against God. The irreligious won't come
to Christ because they don't want to bow to him. But he that doeth the truth,
what is it to do the truth is to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He that doeth the truth cometh to the light that his
deeds might be made manifest that they were wrought in God.
What is the deed of he that cometh to Christ? It's the deed of faith.
It's believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And they that come to
the Lord Jesus Christ confessed that their deeds were wrought
in God. God gave them faith. They're
not professing to be any more righteous than anyone else in
and of themselves. To the contrary, they're believing
themselves to be the chief of all centers, but they're confessing
that the faith that they have in Christ was given to them by
God. And that their, that their hope
for all their wicked deeds has been covered by the shed blood
and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the Lord. Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus
here in John chapter three, and he makes it clear why men won't
come to him. Look at, look over just a page
or two to John chapter five. Oh, house of Israel. No, with
absolute assurance. that this Jesus, this same Jesus,
whom you have crucified, God has made to be both Lord and
Christ. Look at John chapter five at
verse 40. Well, the Lord's speaking to
the... The other thing we get out of this message that Peter's
preaching is that Peter's using what we use every time we preach. He's using scripture as his authority. What sayeth the scriptures? That's
the only thing that matters. It's not what I think about.
It's not what my church says about it. It's not what the denominational
creed or confession says about it. It's what does God say about
it? That's the only thing that matters. And Peter's just going
to scripture and saying, this is what scripture says. And we're
not here to prove that the Bible is the word of God. Every believer
is going to believe that. We're just here to declare what
God has said. And the Lord says here in John
chapter five, search the scriptures. He's talking to these self-righteous
Pharisees, these biblical scholars. I just cleaned out my study this
week and I threw away about half of my books. And I thumbed through
a few of them and I thought, well, this might be a good book.
And I, nah, dumpster out here has got a whole bunch of books
in it if anybody wants them. I wouldn't recommend them, but,
Search the scriptures. There's a lot of biblical scholars
for in them, you think that you have eternal life. You know,
if I could just, if I could just, you know, parse the verbs of
the Greek language, somehow I'll be able to figure out what, you
know, no, no, no. No, you missed the message of
the, what, what, when Peter quotes scripture, he points them to
Christ. He said, David was talking about
Christ. And so it is with all scripture.
All scripture points to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord
says, you search the scriptures because you think in them, you
have eternal life. And they are, they was testified me. The whole
canon of scripture is a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
volume of the book. It is written of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. Now we're answering that question.
Why won't men bow? Jesus is Lord of them. God has
made him to be Lord over the unbeliever, but they won't bow.
Why won't they bow? And you will not come to me that
you might have life. I receive not honor from men,
but I know you that you have not the love of God in you. That's
why, that's why you won't bow. You have no love for God. I am
come in my father's name and you receive me not. If another
shall come in his own name, you shall receive him. You'll, you'll
follow anybody but me. That's what the Lord saying.
And we see that don't we? How can you believe which receive
honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only. You love, here's what the Lord's
saying, and here's what I want those who have heard the gospel,
not confessed Christ, not followed after him to be honest, be honest
with yourself. Men love the praise of men more
than the praise of God. They won't come to the light
because the light exposes their deeds for what they are, evil,
unrighteous. They will not come to Christ
because they love the honor of men. I hear people say, well,
you know, the gospel is just too confusing. The gospel is
not confusing. The gospel says I have no righteousness,
I'm hell deserving, and apart from the Lord Jesus Christ buried
my sins in his body on Calvary's tree and presenting himself to
God on my behalf for all my righteousness before God, I have no hope of
salvation. I've got to rest my hope in Christ. That's that simple. We just read
that passage where Paul said, I fear lest as Eve was deceived
by the serpent that you should be, your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
is God. God has made him both Lord and
Christ. That's simple enough. It's not,
people say, well, it's confusing. No, that's a smoke screen. That's
a smokescreen. It's only confusing to those
who are trying to reconcile it to error. But, you know, the
rich man wasn't confused when the Lord said to him, sell all
that you have and give to the poor and follow me. He knew exactly
that. There's no confusion about that.
So I would say, sell all that you have Get rid of everything
that you thought you knew about God and believe the gospel, believe
Christ. It's not confusing. Men say, well, you know, I've
got to go bury my father. No, let the dead bear the bid.
You follow after me. That's not confusing. Nicodemus
was confused at the beginning when the Lord said, you accept
a man, be born again. You cannot enter the, but when
the Lord said that, which is the flesh is flesh, Nicodemus,
and that which is the spirit of spirit and the flesh proper
to nothing, you got to be born in the spirit of God. There was
no questions after that. He knew exactly what the Lord
was saying. The gospel is not confusing people to say, well,
I'm not coming to Christ because I, because it's too confusing.
That's not true. You're not coming to Christ because
you refuse to bow. That's it. Now I hear people say, well,
you know, I'm just going to, I'm just, I hear about election
and I'm just going to wait, you know, I'm just going to sit and
they become fatalistic. And that's not, that's not true. That's not true. They're saying,
I would not have this man run over me." The Lord said, you
will not come to me that you might have life. You love the
praise of men more than the praise of God. This is the condemnation. Light has come into the world
and men love darkness rather than light because the light
reproves their deeds for what they are. When the Lord Jesus Christ passed
the tax collector, Levi, and said, follow me, Levi looked
around and said, well, you know, I'm not sure for sure if he's
talking to me or not. Maybe I'm not one of God's elect. No, he
got up and he followed Christ. And here's our warrant for coming.
Don't worry about election, whether or not you're elect or not elect.
God calls us to come to Christ and to say, well, I'm waiting
to see if I'm elect That's, that's just really not,
not true. The people in Nazareth, now I
can understand an election making someone angry like it did the
people in Nazareth when the Lord said there were many lepers in
the day of the prophet Elijah, but God showed mercy on none,
but Naaman. And there were many widows in the day of Elisha,
but God showed none except to the woman of Sarepta and they
got angry and they wanted to kill him. I can understand people
getting angry over election. That makes sense to me. Uh, but
To use election as a fatalistic view of salvation and say, well,
you know, I just, I don't know if I can come or not because
God hadn't, hadn't, you know, I don't know if he's elected
me. That's, that's a smokescreen. That's just not true. That's
a person who refuses to bow to Christ because they either love
the praise of men more than the praise of God, or they don't
want their deeds to be reproved. I'm hoping somebody, God has
made this same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and
Christ. He is Lord. Go back with me to our texts
very quickly. I'll, I'll, I'll close. Someone says, well, I'm too sinful
to come to Christ. Truth is you're not sinful enough.
If you haven't come to Christ, that's the truth. You know, we,
we, we see the symptoms of our sin. We have no idea what the
nature of sin really is. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only
one who experienced that we couldn't bear the burden of sin. If we knew what it really was,
our conscience convicts us when we, when we sin and. And usually
we get most convicted when we get caught in our sin, but the
nature of sin is something only the Lord Jesus Christ can, can
bear. And that's the only thing he's
the only one that really understood it. You and I don't have a clue
what sin is. Um, and to say, to have some sort of false humility
about, you know, being so burdened for sin, uh, thinking that I'm
too sinful for God to save. It's just, it's just not true.
It's not true. I'm going to come one day, one
day I'm going to come. That's what Agrippa said to Paul
in Acts chapter 26. He said, he said, Paul almost
now persuaded me to become a Christian. And he got up and left and no
evidence, no evidence. No, today is the day of salvation.
Now is the accepted time. No men don't come to Christ because
coming to Christ is either going to expose their deeds for what
they are. It's going to have to cause them
to bow to Christ and it's going to cost them in their relationships
with men. Verse 37. in our text, Acts chapter
two. Now, when they heard this, they
were pricked in their hearts. Oh, that the Lord would prick
us in our hearts. The same Jesus, not another Jesus,
the same Jesus whom you crucified. God has made both Lord and Christ. And they said unto Peter and
the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?
What hope do we have? Peter said unto them, repent
and be baptized. Every one of you, every one of
you confess the Lord Jesus Christ,
come to Christ, bow to Christ. And you see that little, now
the word for can be a preposition. or it can be a conjunction. Here
it is a conjunction. We use the word for as a preposition. If I was to say to you, Jesse
James is wanted for murder, okay, it's a preposition if that murder
is something that we want Jesse James to commit. Okay, we want
him to, or Jesse James, I guess he was known more as a robber,
as a thief. So Jesse James is wanted for robbery. It would
be a preposition if we wanted to hire Jesse James to commit
a robbery. But that's not what it means.
It's a conjunction when it means what it obviously means. Jesse
James is wanted for robbery. And that's the meaning here.
People make a preposition out of this. They say, well, if I
do this, then it will result in the remission of my sins.
You see that? If I repent and be baptized in
the name of Jesus Christ, then I will have the remission of
our sins, of my sins. That's not what it means at all.
It means because. It's a conjunction. You can just
change the word to because. It's what means the same thing.
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ because of the remission of your sins. The Lord Jesus
Christ has remitted our sins by the sacrifice of himself on
Calvary's cross. Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God, the father. Might he give us grace to bow
to him? Our merciful heavenly father,
we thank you for your word and know how we hope that you would
speak truth to our hearts and comfort us in thy dear son. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. Number 62 in the hardback teminal.
Let's stand. Crown Him with many crowns, the
Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing. of Him who died for thee, and
hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity. Crown him the Lord of love, behold
his hands and side. Rich wounds yet visible above,
in beauty glorified. No angel in the sky, Can fully
bear that sight But downward bends his wandering eye At mysteries
so bright Crown Him the Lord of life, Who triumphed o'er the
grave, Who rose victorious to the strife, For those He came
to save. His glories now we sing, Who
died and rose on high, Who died eternal life to bring, And lives
that death may die. ? Crown him the Lord of heaven
? One with the Father known ? One with the Spirit through him given
? From yonder glorious throne ? To thee be endless praise ?
For thou for us hast died Be thou, O Lord, through endless
days adored and magnified.