As often or as long as we're
able, we're going to try to broadcast our services even if I have to
come down here by myself or do it from home. And we will email
the bulletin to everybody however long we have to do that. And
so the back of the bulletin usually has a hymn on it. And perhaps by next Sunday, and
I'm speaking to, of the folks that are watching right now.
Perhaps by next Sunday we'll be able to send out by email
the hymns that we're gonna sing if we are able to meet here again
next week. And we'll just have to take it
one day at a time and see what, but we want to provide the gospel
to God's people as much as we're possibly able. Let's stand together. Tom's going to come lead us in
the hymn on the back of your bulletin. As on the cross of Christ I thought,
it seemed I heard one cry. Is all this nothing in your eyes,
you who this day pass by? Is not such suffering greater
than that which you've seen before? And was there ever any man who
grieved or suffered more? I looked again, and what I saw
I cannot fully tell. It seemed within his very bones
there What caused you grief? I asked the man. What crimes could you have done? That God, Jehovah, struck you
down and left you all alone. His answer cut my heart like
steel and left me void of breath. Tis for your sins this pain I
feel, for you I go to death. Your soul before my Father's
throne Could find no place to hide This is the way God can
be just And you'll be justified Jehovah's mercies never fail,
each morning they are new. Great is His faithfulness and
love, therefore we're not consumed. Jehovah God in Christ the Son
shall all my portion be. My soul shall therefore wait
for Him and live eternally. Please be seated. Would you turn to the book of
Matthew, chapter 14. Book of Matthew, chapter 14.
It's our call to worship. The Lord impresses upon my heart,
for this is the gospel of our blessed Lord and Savior. Again,
you'll see the gospel through this whole reading. I trust it
will encourage your heart. Let's begin in verse 22, Matthew
14, verse 22. And straightway or immediately,
Jesus constrained or compelled his disciples to get into a ship
and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the
multitudes away. And I know if you're a child
of God this morning, you say, oh Lord, constrain me. Don't
send me away as you did the multitude, but constrain me to get into
the ship. And when he had sent the multitudes
away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. There is Jesus
Christ, the righteous one, whoever intercedes for his people. And
when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship
was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind
was contrary. Now in Mark 6, verse 48, his
account was the Lord Jesus Christ saw them toiling and rowing And
that word contrary is against. That's our nature when we come
in here. The Lord sees us going against everything that's holy,
everything that's right with our works, toiling and rowing. And there is no way for us to
get any help or go to him, but he'll come to us right here.
And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them. walking on the sea, and when
disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled,
saying, it is a spirit, and they cried out for fear. And so it
is, believer, when we tremble at his word for the very first
time hearing the God who's holy, who's just, And we do fear, trembling,
but be of good cheer. Verse 27, the God-man speaks. And immediately, Jesus spake
unto them, saying, be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. Is that not your heart's desire
every time we're together? I want so much for him to say
that to me. It is I. Don't fear. Don't fear. And Peter answered him and said,
Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water. And that's always our prayer.
Lord bid us to come. And he said, come. And when Peter
was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go
to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous,
he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried saying, Lord,
save me. And immediately, immediately
Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto
him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And
when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship
came and worshipped him. Only Jesus Christ is worthy of
all praise and worship because He is God. And God is the only
one that is worthy of worship. Worshipped Him, saying of a truth,
Thou art the Son of God. And when they were gone over,
they came into the land of Gennesareth. And like Carl and I, one day
very soon, the Lord is going to carry us across that Jordan
River to the other side, to where we will see him face to face.
Let's pray. Lord, that is our prayer this
morning, that you would save us for only you have the power
and authority to do so. We're thankful that though you
are holy and just and right, that you are gracious and merciful. And Lord, you poured out your
love on Calvary's cross for what we did to thy dear son. How thankful we are that you
are satisfied in him and that he is our sin bearer, he's our
substitute. Lord, would you drive that home
once again to our hearts as your word is about to be preached,
and Lord, that we would just see nothing but the Lord Jesus
Christ. And by your spirit, enable us
to worship him, to lift him up, to exalt him. For truly, now
and most especially in that great and terrible day, may we be found
in him. Lord, keep us safe in thy shelter,
under the shadows of thy wings. Thankful, Lord, for the technology
of the internet. Lord, I pray that you'd bless
your word in this message. Bless our brother once again,
Lord, as you always have. Faithful to provide for him all
he needs to speak about thy dear son. Give us ears again. Bless your word for Christ's
name and for his sake. Amen. Number 239 from the hardback
teminal. Number 239, Art Thou Weary. Let's stand. Art thou weary, art thou languid,
art thou sore distressed? Come to me, saith one, and coming
thee at rest. Hath he marks to lead me to him
if he be my guide? In his feet and hands are wound
prints and his side. Is there diadem as monarch that
his brow adorns? Yea, a crown in very surety,
but of thorns. If I still hold closely to him,
what hath he at last? Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan passed. If I ask him to receive me, will
he say me nay? Not till earth and not till heaven
pass away. Finding, following, keeping,
struggling, is he sure to bless? Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
answer yes. Adam Charon will now bring special
music. Please be seated. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord. A wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock Where rivers of pleasure I see He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock That shadows a dry thirsty land He hideth
my life in the depths of His love And covers me there with
His hand And covers me there with His hand A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord He taketh my burden away He holdeth me up and I shall
not be moved He giveth me strength as my day He hideth my soul in
the cleft of the rock That shadows a dry, thirsty land He hideth
my life in the depths of His love And covers me there with
His hand And covers me there with His hand With numberless
blessings each moment he crowns And filled with his fullness
divine I sing in my rapture, O glory
to God For such a redeemer as mine He hieth my soul in the
cleft of the rock That shadows a dry, thirsty land He hideth
my life in the depths of His love And covers me there with
His hand And covers me there with His hand When clothed in
His brightness transported I rise To meet him in clouds of the
sky His perfect salvation, his wonderful love I'll shout with
the millions on high He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
that shadows a dry thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love and covers me there with his hand and covers me there
with his hand. Will you open your Bibles with
me again to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. There is no way
for us to overestimate the urgency of the gospel. It seems like
the whole world is on edge right now considering the urgency of
this plague that we're in. I trust that it will remind all
of us of our own weakness and of our dependence upon God. But these things that we experience
in this world do not compare to the urgency of the gospel.
And even as I say that, I'm also reminded, particularly as a preacher,
that there's no way for me to understand the urgency of the
gospel. I don't feel it as I ought. I
can't express it as I ought. But I know it's true. I know
it's true. And I can say with Peter on the
day of Pentecost, as he stood up, you men of Judea, and all
ye that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hear,
hear my words." Now the other thing we see in this passage
of scripture is not just the urgency of the gospel for the
salvation of our souls, but we see the necessity of preaching. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
comes by the word of God. We're going to see in this passage
of scripture a call from God that is repeated oftentimes in
the scriptures that whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. We're commanded to call upon
his name. And yet the scripture also makes
it clear that we can not call upon him and whom we've not believed
and we cannot believe in him and who we've not heard and we
can't hear without a preacher. When Philip went up to that Ethiopian
eunuch in Acts chapter eight and asked him, he said, understand
us what thou readest. What did the eunuch say? How
can I accept a man should guide me? And, uh, This matter of preaching,
you know, of all the disciples that could have brought this
first glorious message of the gospel on the day of Pentecost,
Peter, I take some comfort in that. You know, what, why wouldn't
the Lord himself have appeared publicly and preached the gospel
to that city? He could have. No, he chose that
one who had fallen the hardest and he lifted him up and he told
him to be the one to speak. Why is that? No one was more
humbled at this moment than Peter. No one saw their inability more
than Peter. No one was more dependent upon
the Lord than Peter. And so it is with any man that
God calls to stand and preach the gospel. What I'm saying to
you is that the gospel preached by a sinner to sinners is God's
means of saving his people because it humbles everybody. Most of
all, it humbles the man who stands to try to speak. If you've ever
done it, you understand what I'm talking about. If you haven't,
you can't understand it. You showed me a man is able to
get in the pulpit proud, and I'll show you a man God's hand's
not on. God's hand's not on him. And it's humbling for those in
the pew, isn't it? It gives the listener nothing
to do. It's very passive. hearing the
gospel, isn't it? You sit and you, and you listen
to what God has to say. And, and, and by humbling man,
Christ is honored as we're all humbled through this means of
preaching the gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ has lifted up. And
he said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to me. As the serpent
was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted
up. What'd John say? I must decrease. He must increase. There's the gospel. There's the
gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ gets all
the glory and preaching is such a glorious means to accomplish
that end. Paul said in first Corinthians
chapter one, he said, he said, where is the wise? Where's the
prudent? Hath God not made foolish the
wisdom of this world? That by the foolishness of preaching,
he's pleased to save them which believe. Peter is standing up. And he's
declaring the gospel with words. And he's quoting God's word to
declare the truth of who Christ is and what he's done. And we
see in this the urgency of the gospel. We see in this the necessity
of preaching. Nothing is more urgent to our
souls than to know Christ. to know Him. This is life, eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. And we're not going to know Him
unless the Spirit of God gives us ears to hear, unless the Lord
opens the eyes of our understanding and reveals things to us from
His Word. from his words. So when Peter
stands to preach, he's preaching from scripture. He's saying,
these men are not drunk as some of you suppose. This is the fulfillment
of the prophecy given by Joel. This is the fulfillment of everything
that God ordained to be. And so after he quotes the prophecy
of Joel, which we saw in the first hour, He says in verse 21, and it shall
come to pass that whosoever, whosoever, I like that word. If my name was in the Bible, as strange as my name might be
in this world, I wouldn't find much comfort in it. Because I'm
sure there's probably lots of others that have my name. But whosoever, that's all of
us, isn't it? That's pretty broad. This gospel
is broad enough to save anyone. Narrow enough to accomplish the
salvation of everyone of God's people. What a, what whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord Bartimaeus blind beggar
heard the Lord Jesus Christ coming. And what'd he say? He cried out
son of David, Jesus of Nazareth, son of David, have mercy upon
me. Have mercy upon me. And the Lord
stopped. He stopped and he always does. When he gives one of his children
the grace to call, he always stops. He always hearkens unto
that call. They wouldn't have called had
he not given them the grace to call. Now, as we've seen over
and over again, don't misunderstand the difference between cause
and effect. We know that this calling out
for grace is the work of grace in the heart, isn't it? Faith
is the gift of God. To call out is to express our
faith. And the Lord has to give faith. He has to be the one to cause
us to call out. That's what he did with Nicodemus,
with Bartimaeus. And yet we see that there's no
hope of salvation without calling. There's no hope. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. As we've seen over and over again,
faith is not the cause of our salvation. It is the evidence
of it. And the clearest we see that
in the natural world is the birth of a child. The child breathes
because it's alive. It doesn't breathe in order to
be alive. If a child is born alive, it's
going to breathe. It's going to breathe. And so
it is in the new birth. Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must be born of the spirit,
except a man be born of water and of blood. Now, what is that
a picture of? That's the picture of the water
is the washing of the water of the word of God. Unless a man
has ears to hear what God has said, and unless the blood of
Christ is applied to him, unless his robe has been washed white
in the blood of the lamb, and he should not enter into the
kingdom of God. Faith is the evidence of our
salvation. It's the new birth, except a
man be born again. We've got to be born of the Spirit.
And if the Lord enables us to be born of the Spirit, then We
will believe. And in believing, we will call. We will call. That's what the
Lord said. Everyone that he foreknew, he
foreknew. You know what that fore, you
know, the word foreknow is, is the word prognosis. That's what
the word is. It's the word prognosis. We use
that word, don't we? And yet, for us, the word prognosis
is an educated guess. When God says he foreknew something,
that means that it was not an educated guess. He foreknew it. He caused it to be. And all that
he foreknew, he did call. And all that he called, he justified. And all that he justified, he
glorified. This work of grace is towards
all of God's people. And the God says to me and you,
whosoever shall call. Lord, I'm calling. Lord, I know
I'm calling because you called me, but I'm calling Lord. I'm
crying out. When in Acts chapter 16, when Paul and Silas were chained into
that Roman dungeon and the Lord delivered them by miraculously
sending an earthquake and opening the doors of the prison. The
prison guard, the scripture says, saw that the doors were open.
The prisoners were there. We couldn't see the prisoners.
He was about to kill himself. And Paul stopped him. He said,
we're all here. Don't hurt yourself. We're all
here. And what did that, what that Philippian jailer say? Sirs,
sirs, what must I do to be saved? What did Paul say? He didn't
say, nothing you can do, just go home and hope that the Lord
does something for you. No, he said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt, that's what the Lord's saying.
That's what Peter's saying to this crowd. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The Lord is commanding
us to come. We know in coming, what he commanded
he provided. We're issuing the outward call,
aren't we? The spirit of God has to make
effectual the inward call. And our hope is that when we
call men to come to Christ, that the spirit of God will anoint
that call and give them faith to come. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord. I looked up that word name in
the New Testament and it's often translated surname. Surname. And it's It's Simon, whose surname
was Peter. And we see that many times. John,
whose surname was Mark. It's the name that they went
by. It was the name that everybody knew them by. And here the Lord is telling
us what his name is. Whosoever shall call upon the
surname of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who, what is his, what is his
name? His name is Jesus. That's what he said. Look at,
look at. So have a call, call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Look at, look at the next verse.
Ye men of Israel. Now here's another thing we see
in the necessity of preaching and the urgency of the gospel
is only men of Israel going to hear. That's it. They're the
only ones who are going to hear. We don't know who they are. But
we know that only a true Israelite's gonna respond in faith to the
gospel. We're calling men of Israel to
come and to call upon the name of the Lord. And so here again,
Peter says, ye men of Israel, hear these words. Hear these words. That's the
means by which God saves. It's his word. And all scripture
is given by inspiration of God. Of his own will, begat he us
with the word of truth. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the, well, he's the personification of the word of God, isn't he?
And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is the word.
He's the one who calls us to himself, men of Israel, hear
these words. And what is the first word that
comes out of Peter's mouth? Jesus, Jesus. This is not some wimpy Jesus
who's trying to get folks say this is the Jesus whose name
is Jesus or Joshua, because he has the power to save. He has
the power. You shall call his name, Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. When Joshua
was bringing the children of Israel across the Jordan, there
was a tribe, half the tribe of Manasseh wanted to stay on the
other side. He said, no, you're all coming. He didn't leave anybody
on the Eastern side of the Jordan. He brought every single Israelite
across that river, didn't he? Into the promised land. They
all had to go to battle. for the land of Israel. They all had to cross, and the
Lord Jesus Christ, he's our Joshua, he's divided the sea of death,
and he's brought us safely across into the promised land. Every
single one, Jesus, ye men of Israel, we're talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ, and oh, what a name he has. He's given him
a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord. He's Lord. He's the sovereign
reigning King who accomplishes everything he sets out to do.
Everything he purposes will be done by his, by his power and
for his glory. Jesus. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 1, Paul called to be an
apostle, a messenger of Jesus Christ through the will of God
and Sosthenes, our brother, unto the church of God. That's what
Peter's saying. Ye men of Israel. We're not,
we're not begging men to let God have his way. We're calling,
we're issuing the call to the gospel to the men of Israel. This is to the church of God,
which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ. We're sanctified. We're holy. Sin's been put away. We're able
to come boldly into the, before the throne of grace. Sanctified in Christ Jesus called
saints. Notice the verb to be is not
there. We're called saints or Holy ones with all that in every
place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs
and ours. Now, how do I know I've heard
the call? Because I've called. You see,
that's the evidence of God calling you. The evidence that God has
called you effectually is that you, this is to everyone who
calls upon the name of the Lord, both ours and theirs. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
successful savior. He is our sin bearer. He is our
substitute. He is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. He is the son of God who has
sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having finished
his work. Go back with me to our text in
Acts chapter two. Peter's preaching the gospel,
that's what we're trying to do. Though the necessity of the gospel,
the urgency of the gospel, the necessity of preaching, to call
on men to believe on Christ, knowing that the Israelites will
hear, those whom God has called will come. And he calls everyone
that he has foreknown and everyone that he has predestinated, he
calls. You men of Israel, hear these
words, Jesus of Nazareth. How oftentimes we read of this
description of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. You remember when Philip went
and found his brother Nathanael and he said, we have found the
one who Moses and the Psalms and David and the prophets spoke
of, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And what did Nathanael
say? Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? Nazareth that humble, insignificant,
Poor little town up there in Galilee? Was the Messiah not
prophesied to be born in Bethlehem, the city of David? Yes, he was. And the Jews even in John chapter
seven assumed that because the Lord grew up in Nazareth that
he was born there. They said that the scriptures
never prophesied the Messiah coming out of Nazareth. Well,
he came out of Bethlehem, didn't he? The Lord had him grow up
in Nazareth for a reason. What was the reason? Well, you
know what Nazareth means. It comes from the word Nazarene.
And if you go to Numbers chapter 6, the Lord gave a consecration
that any Jew could commit himself to, generally it was for a short
period of time. We think of Samson being made
a Nazirite from birth, but most oftentimes in the Old Testament,
a Jew who wanted to separate himself or devote himself for
a period of time or consecrate himself would take on a vow of
the Nazirite. And in Numbers chapter 6, it
tells us what that vow is. First of all, the vow involved
three things. You could not touch alcohol,
you could not cut your hair, and you could not touch a dead
body. Those were three things that the Nazirite vow. There's
only one who consecrated himself perfectly to the father. There's
only one who never looked to the pleasures of this world for
any of his comfort. It's a matter of alcohol. Drinking
alcohol, drinking wine makes the heart merry, right? The Lord
Jesus Christ never had to do that. He never had to entertain
him. He never depended upon any of
the worldly fleshly pleasures that you and I depend upon for
his comfort or for his happiness. He derived all of that from the
anointing of the Spirit of God. He's the Christ. He's the anointed
one. He's the Messiah. He never depended
upon anything other than his union with the Father and the
anointing of his spirit, the perfect union that the Lord Jesus
Christ and the Spirit of God and the Father had in the triune
Godhead. That was his happiness. He was consecrated. This is why
he grew up in Nazareth. And now Peter is declaring him
as a Nazarite. The second thing that a Nazirite
couldn't do is cut their hair. Now you know what hair is a picture
of in the scripture. It's a picture of strength and
glory. You know when Samson had his hair cut is when he lost
his strength. And a woman's hair is called her crown of glory.
And we see the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation as
having hair like wool. And in the psalms, he's spoken
of as having a hair black like a raven in his beauty. and His glory and His strength. The Lord Jesus Christ was the
perfect Nazarite possessing the fullness of the glory of God
and the full power of God in order to accomplish the purpose
of God which is the salvation of His people. He's the one we're
calling on. And then the third vow of the
Nazirite was to touch a dead body. Numbers chapter 6, one
touch a dead body. Remember Samson touched the dead
bodies and broke his vow as a Nazirite. You and I, by the virtue of the
fact that we are in a dead body, are never out of touch with a
dead body. Paul said, Oh, wretched man that
I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death. I've got a dead corpse strapped
to my back all the time. And the scripture says that the
Lord Jesus Christ was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. The scripture says that though
he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet he humbled
himself to be made unto the likeness of man. And he never had a dead
body. His body wasn't corrupted like
your body and my body. He's called holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sinners. There was nothing dead about
Him like there is with us. You see, He was perfectly consecrated
from sin until He bore in His body the sins of His people.
He's the one we're to call on. Jesus, our Joshua, who brought
us successfully and saved his people fully by the sacrifice
of himself on Calvary's cross. He's the consecrated one. He's
the devoted one. He's the Nazarite. Until he took death upon himself and conquered death and conquered
the grave. And that's what Peter's whole
sermon is about. Peter's whole sermon is about
the resurrection. He's saying this Nazarite who
was consecrated, this Jesus of Nazareth, the one on whom we
must cast all our hope, the one on whom we must call, God raised him from the dead.
He conquered death. He conquered the grave. He conquered
hell. He conquered sin. He put it away. Oh, ye men of Israel, this is
an urgent message. Hear ye these words. This message must be preached
and it must be heard and it must be believed on and we must call
upon His surname to save us. Lord, if you don't The scripture
says if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth Jesus
is Lord, we shall be saved. And they asked, man, what should
we do there? We're pricked in our hearts after they heard the
message. We just read that. And they asked the disciples,
what are we going to do? Repent. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and be baptized. Every one of you confess him
and you shall be saved. You see, we're not fatalists.
We believe that God is sovereign. We believe that God has called
us to come. Notice in our text, verse 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Let him who has ears to hear,
hear what the Spirit hath to saith unto the churches. And
all men of Israel will hear, and they will discern. And they
will believe. And they will call. And they'll
keep calling. They'll keep calling. Child of
God, what do you do every day? Lord, save me. Lord, I'm calling
upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my urgent need
more than anything else that this world might have to have
a need for. I need Christ. Jesus of Nazareth A man. A man. Oh, he's the God man. But he's a man. We have one mediator
between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. And he's the only
man. He's the only man. That is so
holy. that he can touch God without
being destroyed and so full of mercy and grace that he can touch
a leper and not be defiled. He's the one mediator. That's
what the Lord was telling us in Philippians chapter 2, that
being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but he made of himself no reputation and he
took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness
of a man. Born of a woman. born under the
law to redeem them that are cursed by the law. God had to become
man. Why? Well, a man had to fulfill
the law. The Lord told Eve that the man
would crush the head of the serpent And when she had her first child,
she thought the promise had been fulfilled, didn't she? Cain came
into the world, God has given me the man. The man's here, now
we're gonna be delivered. Cain turned out to be just like
the rest of us, a murderer, a murderer. They will look upon him whom
they have pierced and mourn after him as one mourneth after his
only son. No, that promise was of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he crushed the head of the
serpent, though his heel was bruised at Calvary's tree. He
got the victory. He defeated Satan. He delivered
his people. He is the man. A man had to bear our sins in
his body. A man had to go into glory and
intercede for us. The Lord Jesus Christ. That's
who's Peter's preaching. Peter say, you men of Israel,
hear these words, Jesus, the Nazarite, Jesus, the perfect
one, Jesus, the one who has consecrated himself to the father. He's the
man. And what has he done? He was
approved of God and he's the only one approved of God. The only one. This is my beloved
son. In him, I'm well pleased. I've
approved of him. How do we know that the father
approved of him? Well, Peter tells us approved of God among
you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in
the midst of you, as you yourselves also know. Peter said they are willingly
ignorant, willingly ignorant. And that's the way men are. They'll
not, they'll not bow. They'll, you see, unless the
Lord, unless the Lord makes us willing in the day of our power
and day of his power, we're going to be willingly. That Lord, Peter's
saying to these men, you saw him. You knew what God did. Why? When the Lord raised Lazarus
from the dead, some of them went back into Jerusalem and reported
what had happened. And they got the Sanhedrin together.
They said, what are we going to do? I mean, we've got clear
evidence that this man raised someone from the dead who'd been
dead three days. If we allow him to remain, the
Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. And that's why men won't believe
on Christ. They are protecting their place and their nation.
I'll not have that man reign over me and I will willingly
ignore all the clear evidence of who he is in order to maintain
my power and my position. Isn't that what unbelief is?
And when God brings you to Christ and causes you to call upon him,
he makes you to, to beat your, your swords into plowshares and
your spears into pruning forks. And you put down your weapons
and you bow and you say, Lord, what would you have me to do?
What would you have me to do? I saw Peter saying this man,
this Jesus, the Nazarite approved of God among you. That's what Nicodemus, Nicodemus
in John chapter three, when he came to the Lord and he asked
the Lord, he said, he said, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
sent of God for no man can do the things which thou doest except
God be with him. The evidence is clear that you've
been son of God. No person could do what you do.
The Lord fed 5,000 people miraculously with, with three loaves of bread,
two fishes. They walked away. They didn't
believe. And men are the same today. They say, I want to see evidence.
You've got all the evidence you need. All the evidence you're
going to get. If they believe not Moses and
the prophets, they will need them. Neither will they believe
though one be raised from the dead. Listen, here's how miraculous
salvation is. And it's the clearest evidence
I can think of. If that rich man, remember the rich man, Lazarus,
who wanted to Drop of water put on his tongue, he wanted some
relief from his torment. He didn't want Christ. If he
came here today and sat right here this morning and listened
to this gospel, he would die and go back to hell before he
would believe apart from the grace of God. If a person came back from hell,
they would not believe the gospel. That experience would not convince
them. It wouldn't convince them. Only
the Holy Spirit can convince you. The men of Israel, if you've
called, it's because he called. It's because he called. And you
have believed on Jesus, the Nazarite. A man approved of God, a man
who's got all the approval of God that you need. Turn over
a page to John, Acts chapter four, verse 27. This was Peter's
declaration sermon to the Sanhedrin later. Look at verse 27. For
of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together. Now, but Peter's praying to the
Lord after he meets with the Sanhedrin and they threatened
him to stop preaching. You remember what he said? He
said that no other name has been given under heaven whereby men
must be saved. We, you, you, you decide what
you think is right. We're going to do what God's
called us to do. We're going to preach. We're going to preach
Christ. And so he says now of a truth by holy child, Jesus,
whom thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. You see what
the Lord is, what Peter's saying there in his prayer is exactly
what he's about to say in verse 23 of chapter two. Look what
he says. This man who's approved of God,
he's the one that was promised of the father. God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners spake unto our fathers by the prophets
in times past. But he hath now in these last
days spoken unto us by his son, who is the express image of his
person, the fullness of his glory. He's the man approved of God. And in verse 23, we see the clearest declaration
of sovereignty and responsibility that you'll find in one verse
in all the word of God. You say, how do you reconcile
sovereignty and responsibility? I like what I heard one brother
say, responsibility is my response to his ability. And that's true. That's, you know, but here we,
in other words, if, if God, you know, people say, well, if God's
sovereign, then man's without excuse, man doesn't can't be
charged. And that's just not the way the scriptures say it. God is sovereign. God is sovereign. Him being determined by the foreknowledge
and the determinant council, the determinant council and the
foreknowledge of God. Now there, we've got that nor
for knowledge. Again, it's the word prognosis.
It's the word prognosis. And it's not an educated guess,
him being delivered by the determinant counsel and for knowledge of
God. This was determined by God before
time ever began. In the covenant of grace, when
the Lord Jesus Christ became our surety, when he was slain
as the lamb before the foundation of the world, when he agreed
with the father, to come and redeem his people. It was determined
then. Nothing can change that. And
that's true of everything in this life, isn't it? Everything
in this world is delivered by the determinant counsel and for
knowledge of God. Brethren, our God has never had
a new thought. He's never learned anything.
No one's ever taught him anything. He's never had a plan B. He's
never caught off guard. He is in sovereign control of
all things. Everything happens by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God and most especially the cross. Everything else serves to point
back to that, doesn't it? Everything in Providence is for
the purpose of glorifying that which is done in salvation accomplished
by Christ. His life was not taken from him.
He laid it down willingly. I love thinking about something
I brought out a few weeks ago. Those Roman soldiers didn't have
to pry the fingers back of the Lord Jesus to drive those nails
into his hands. He laid down on that cross willingly.
They'd never seen a man like that before. They'd never seen
a man die like that before. To where that one soldier said,
surely this is the son of God. No, he willingly laid down his
life. Why? Because it was already determined
in the counsel and foreknowledge of God to do so. He was fulfilling
what the father had sent him to do, the salvation of his people. And he accomplished it. He accomplished
it. You have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain." We don't have any question about
why Christ died, do we? We know. My sin. I'm the guilty one. He took on the sins of his people. He died on Calvary's cross to
put away our shame and our guilt. And it was by our wicked hands
that we've taken and slain the son of God. And when the spirit
of grace and supplication has poured out on the house of Israel,
the children of God, They look upon him whom they have pierced
and they mourn after him. Lord, I've got to have Christ. I don't know what's going to
happen in this world. But I've got to, I've got to have Christ.
I'm a sinner. I need a savior. I need one who
has consecrated himself perfectly to the father. One who fulfilled
all the vows of the Nazarite. The God-man who bore my sins
in his body and stood in my stead before, I've got to have an advocate
with the Father. I've got to have a righteousness
outside of myself. I've got to have Christ. And
the fact that you have called upon him is the evidence that the Lord
called you. Isn't that true? Faith. That's what you said. What I'm saying is that we calling
is not a decision that you've made, but it's an expression
of faith and faith is the evidence of things hoped for and the substance
of things not saying that's how we know God has given me faith
to call upon Christ and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
is my, my face, not my hope. Christ is my hope. Let's pray together. Our merciful
heavenly father. We know that you reign sovereign
over all the affairs of men. We ask Lord that you would give our leaders the
knowledge that they need to, um, deal with the troubles of
this world. We know, Lord, that you are on
your throne. We trust that all things are
happening according to the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
our God. Lord, we are so very thankful
that you've been pleased to reveal to us the glory of Christ and
bring us in faith to him. We ask that you bless your word.
Increase our faith, forgive us of our sin. And our unbelief. We ask it in Christ's name, Amen. Let's stand together. The Tom
number 26 in the spiral hymnal number 26. you Thank God for love, His sovereign
love, Unchanging is God's sovereign love, Which predestined that
I should be One of the chosen family. Thank God for grace, His matchless
grace. Amazing, free, eternal grace. Grace chose me and devised a
way to save me and put sin away. Thank God for blood, His Son's
own blood, effectual sin, atoning blood. The blood of Christ poured
out for me, obtained, redeemed. Thank God for power, His Spirit's
power, regenerating, saving power. The Spirit's power caused me
to live and made me willing to believe. Thank God for peace, His perfect
peace. The blood of Christ has brought
me peace. My conscience free, my heart
at ease. I am redeemed and I have peace.