I want you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Acts. Chapter one. Acts chapter one. As you're turning, I'm absolutely convinced that
this message that I plan to preach, well both of them, but this message
that I'm about to preach, has been born to my heart through
some struggles that I've gone through over the last weeks,
month, two months. Struggles that I'm convinced
every pastor has. But this message this morning,
is a message that first of all, let me say this, I desperately
need to hear. And if I need to hear it, I'm
convinced you need to hear it. And I pray that as I preach this
message, and you'll, I'm not gonna, just listen to it. I pray that God bless it to our
hearts and teach us and remind us and renew us, because we all
desperately need to be reminded. In the book of Acts, I'd like
to read the first eight verses. And I'm going to actually take
the scripture from which this message will come out of the
eighth verse. The Spirit of God moved upon
Luke to write these words, the former treatise message. Have I made, O Theophilus, of
all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day in which
he was taken up, after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given
commandments unto the apostles, whom he had chosen to whom also
he showed himself alive after his passion, and by many infallible
proofs being seen of them 40 days, and speaking of the things
pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together
with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye've
heard of me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be
baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. And when
they therefore were come together, they asked of him saying, Lord,
wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times
or seasons which the father hath put in his own power, But ye
shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.
Here's the scripture right here, this part. And ye shall be witnesses
unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth. I've entitled this
message this morning, Ye Shall Be Witnesses Unto Me. Now, there's a fundamental truth
concerning what a sinner must hear when it comes to the salvation
of his soul. Now, you're not going to hear
me say anything any differently than what you've heard before. But I want to remind us of something. There is that truth set forth
by Almighty God concerning what a sinner must hear. Romans 1, 16 and 17. The Apostle
Paul was moved by the Spirit of God to say this, for I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, the good news of Christ
Jesus the Lord. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth. to the Jew first and also to
the Greek, for therein in the preaching of the gospel of Christ
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, from faith
that's given from above. Faith is a gift. All men have
not faith, but faith given from above Acts in faith. It continues to walk in faith.
It's from faith, it's from faith given to faith. You walk by faith.
For the just, it's written, the just shall live by faith. So
I'm convinced of this. The message of the gospel of
Christ is essential, imperative, necessary. What this means is
that we faithfully are to declare the gospel of God's free grace
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, that's the only message
that the Lord blesses. It doesn't matter what men think,
what my opinion is, it doesn't matter. Here's what matters. What sayeth the scriptures? What
sayeth the scriptures? What does the Lord say? Second
Thessalonians 2, 13, 14. You've heard me quote this so
many times. But we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God, to
take the message of the gospel that Paul said, I'm not ashamed.
I'm not ashamed. The sanctifying, setting apart
work, power of the Spirit of God, and belief of the truth. God's been pleased. We're bound
to give thanks to God for you because God has, from the beginning,
chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And turn to Galatians 1. There's a judgment that God has
set forth. There is a judgment. that the
Lord God has set forth concerning the failure to preach this gospel. Galatians chapter 1 verse 6 to
8, Paul says, but I marvel that you're so soon removed from him
that called you unto the grace of Christ unto another gospel,
which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and
would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we are an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which you
preached unto you, let him be accursed. Let him be anathema. Let God's judgment fall upon
him. So there is a truth of the necessity
of the gospel. We must preach the gospel. Now, how does one know when they're
truly hearing the gospel. Turn to Acts 20 and verse 24. Acts chapter 20 and verse 24. Acts 20. I read this passage description.
I thought, you know what? That sums it up right there. Acts 20, 24. in his charge to the elders at
Ephesus, he said, but none of these things move me, neither
count I my life dear unto me, so that I might finish my course
with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus,
now listen to this, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Now the reason I wanted to read
that passage of scripture is because man by nature will try
to twist or rest the scripture and say, now we believe in, we
believe in, we're saved by grace. But what that means is that God
graciously offers the message of life and all man has to do
is Accept it. Well now, that's confusing. That's
confusing. There's something wrong with
that statement. What's wrong with it? You're using grace and
works in the same sentence. And you're trying to mingle them.
And they don't mingle. Turn with me to Romans 11. Romans
chapter 11, when I say the grace of God, what do I mean? What am I saying? The grace of
God, am I saying that God graciously offers something and then man
has to accept it in order to make it real? Look at Romans
chapter 11, verses one through six. Paul, preaching, said, I
say then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid. He said,
for I am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe
of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew.
What she not, or know ye not what the scripture says of Elias
or Elijah? How he maketh intercession to
God against Israel, saying, Lord, they've killed thy prophets.
dig down thine altars, and I'm left alone, and they seek my
life. But what sayeth the answer of God unto him? I have reserved
to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image
of Baal. Even so, at this present time
also there is a remnant according to the election of grace, and
if by grace, now listen to this, then it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
What he's saying is this. You can't say grace and then
add your effort to it. You cannot do that. If you say
grace, then it is all of grace without any act of man's work
added to it to make it effectual. Now does a man or a woman react
to the moving power of God's Spirit? Yes. Do they believe?
Yes. But is that belief or that faith,
does that make their salvation then effectual? No. It's the
effect of it. It's the evidence of it. I'm
breathing because I'm alive. I didn't start breathing in order
to become alive, I was dead. I had to have life in order for
me to breathe. A sinner believes because God
makes him alive and gives him faith to believe and then he
believes. His belief added nothing to it. So when we say that we're
saved by grace, then that means that it's no more work. Work
and grace don't mix. It's not that. So, there's a
fundamental truth. We must hear the gospel. The
gospel of free grace. If you add man's works into it,
Paul says that's confusing. That's what he said in Galatians
1. No. No, no, no, no. You can't add works to man's
salvation, to make him alive. You can't. That is not salvation
by the grace of God. Well, Peter said over in, if
you want to turn to 2 Peter 3.1, I'm just going to read a scripture
to you, and I'm going to show you where I'm going with this.
2 Peter chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. Peter said, this second epistle,
beloved, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye may be mindful of the
words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and the
commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Peter said, I want to stir your
minds up about something. I want to stir your minds up
about a truth that has been set forth by the Lord, set forth
as he spoke to his prophets, as he spoke to his apostles.
There's something that we all need to be reminded of. And here's
now. Now I'm going to get into the
heart. Establish the necessity of the gospel. That's a fact. That's a given fact. That's a
foundational truth that we all are in agreement. And here's
another thing, a foundational truth that we all need to be
reminded of. Almighty God is going to save
his people. That's a fact. He's going to
save them through the preaching of the gospel. That's a fact. Now, Almighty God has also set
forth in his word that he's been pleased to use means through
which he's going to accomplish his purpose. And here's what
God has set forth that he's going to do. He's going to use witnesses. Witnesses. That's what he told
his apostles on the mount before he ascended into heaven. on the
Mount of Olives. He said, you're going to be witnesses.
You're going to be witnesses of me. You're going to be my
witnesses. Romans 10, 13 to 15 says this. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him
in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things. The Lord has been pleased to
sovereignly save his people. which he shall do. All that the
Father giveth me, the Lord said, shall come to me. But let me
tell you how he's been pleased to do it. He's been pleased to
do it through the mouths of his people. He's been pleased to
do it. Well, couldn't the Lord do, the
Lord can do anything the Lord wants to do. And the Lord has
revealed that he's got means. In the book of Luke, turn over
to Luke 14, Luke 14, the Lord was speaking to a group of people,
Luke 14, and he gave a parable concerning the calling out of
his people. And here's how the parable went,
Luke 14, verse 15 through 24. And when one of them that sat
at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, blessed
is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said
he unto him, this is the Lord speaking, he said, a certain
man made a great supper and bade many and sent his servant at
suppertime to say to them that were bidden, come, for all things
are now ready. And they all with one consent
began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I bought
a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee
have me excused. And another said, I bought five
yoke of oxen. I go to prove them. I pray thee
have me excused. Another said, I married a wife,
and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed
the Lord these things. Then the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly. into the streets,
the lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed,
and the haught, and the blind, and the servant, said, Lord,
it's done, as thou hast commanded, and yet there's room. And the
Lord said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges,
and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I
say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste
of my supper. The Lord has declared in this
parable there's a great supper. There's a great supper that God
Almighty has prepared. And it's a feast. It's a feast
of God's provision wherein all that's needed of needy sinners
Christ supplies. There's a supper. It's a supper
that man by nature despises and finds countless excuses to avoid. Let me tell you what this supper
is right here. Right here. Right here. Here we are. This
is a great, well, you said this is a great marriage supper. No,
there's a lot of people invited to this supper right here, and
they're finding excuses not to come. I tell you what, all that
eats of that feast, that great day when the Lord's with his
people, all God's people will be there. No, this is right now. Here's a great feast. This is
a blessed supper. of the proclamation of the glorious
gospel of God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what did
the Lord say to His servant concerning this supper? Well, verse 17,
He sent His servant at supper time to say to them that were
bidden, Come, all things are ready. Come eat. And many that heard him, what
did a lot of them do? Well, I just don't be honest
with you. Oh, I'd love to. You know what? I bought some cattle. I need
to go prove them, be honest with you. You know what? You ain't going to believe this.
I just got married. And I got my wife, and I wish I could. You know, I bought 40 acres over
here and I need to go over there. Could you have me excused? And the scripture says that the
master of this supper, he was angry. Now, ultimately, you know
this is talking about the proclamation of the gospel to the Jews first. The Lord providentially, after
by and large it was refused by the Jews, according to God's
everlasting purpose and will, he sent through Paul preaching,
he said, I go to the Gentiles now, you refused it. I go, God
eternally planned that. But were the Jews that refused
to hear, were they with that excuse? No. No. Why did they
refuse? Because they wanted to. And the
Lord providentially sent the gospel to Gentiles. Here we are. Here's a great supper set forth. Everything that's needed. Everything
that's needed for the spiritual well-being of our soul is right
here in this book. And that's what we set forth.
The best, the best. The Lamb Himself. The glorious
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. What did the Lord commission
his disciples to do before he left? He had come to preach the
gospel first to the Jews. They refused. What happened?
He told his disciples in Mark 16, 15, you go into all the world
and you preach the gospel to every creature. Every creature. Those in our parable that refused.
The Lord said, I want you to go, you preach to the maim. the
haught, those that are blind, we invite spiritually, poor,
maimed, haught, people that are blind to their need. What do
we say to them? You come and you buy without
money, without price, you look to Christ and live. What are
we doing? We're telling men, we tell them,
you know, we tell them the truth of the glorious gospel. Is the
Lord going to save his people? Yes! Is He going to sovereignly
save them? Yes. Are any of them going to
be lost? No. How many of them are going
to come that He's everlastingly loved in Christ, chosen in Christ,
that Christ redeemed? How many are going to come? All
of them. All of them. What do we do? You tell them. You tell them. Is my telling
them going to make it more effectual? No. Absolutely not. Not in the
least. Does it matter whether I tell
them or not? Yes. Why? Because he commanded
it. There was a woman in the gospel
of John chapter 4 that was crossed. Her path was crossed. It was
a woman of Sychar. And the Lord needs to go through
Samaria because this woman was there. You know the story. There was a woman he was going
to meet. He was going to meet her about noon at a well. And this woman came and he began
to talk to her. And here's the Lord of glory.
And he told her of himself and told her of herself. He told
her who he was. He said, I said, the water that
I give, he said, you'll never thirst again. He said, give me
this water. And then the spirit of God moved
upon the Apostle John in that account to write something that
we all need to hear. Here was the sovereign God of
this universe speaking to this woman. The fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And he was going to cross this
woman's path, one woman, at Sychar, at a well. And he crossed it.
And he talked to her. And then the Spirit of God told
John, you write this down right here. In John 4, 39, 42, she
left her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to
the men, here's what she did. Come see a man which told me
all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Is not this the Christ? The Lord moved upon John to write
those scriptures. And then the scripture says concerning
the movement of God's Spirit, upon those men that heard him. Here's what they did. After they
heard, they came, they heard the Lord. Now, the Lord spoke
to one woman. Spirit of God moved her, you
go back and tell some men in that city. And she did. And it
says concerning that woman going back, and many of the Samaritans
of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman,
which testified, He told me all that I ever did. So when the
Samaritans were coming to him, they besought him that he would
tarry with them, and he abode there two days. And many more
believed because of his own word, and said unto the woman, now
we believe, not because of thy saying, for we've heard him ourselves,
and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the
world." Did it matter whether or not that woman would go Talk
to those men? Absolutely. Did God purpose it? Absolutely. Who did the Lord
speak to? One woman. What did the Spirit
of God move on her to do? I'm going to tell somebody. I'm
going to tell them. In Mark chapter 5, there was
a man possessed with a legion of demons and he dwelt among
the tombs and nobody could bind him and the Lord crossed his
path. And that man possessed with demons,
the Lord cast those demons out. Cast them as swine. They ran
and drowned in a sea. People of the city came and they
found this man. He was sitting clothed in his
right mind. And they were afraid. And they
told the Lord, we don't want you here. We want you to leave. And he did. He was leaving. And
when he got ready to leave, this man that was delivered by the
Lord of those demons, he wanted to go with the Lord. I want to
go with you. He said, no, no, no. Here's what he said to him.
Mark chapter 5, verse 1920. He said, you go home. Now this
is very significant. To your friends. Go home to your
friends. and tell them how great things
the Lord hath done for thee. And hath had compassion on thee.
And he departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great
things Jesus had done for him. And all men did marvel. They marveled at him. You go tell your friends. You
know the significance of that? They knew him. They knew him. You're that crazy man. Out there in the tombs, cut yourself. Rocks and cry and howl and scares
everybody. I don't know. They marvel. You go home and you tell your
friends what great things. Again, brethren. God's got a
people that he's everlastingly loved. They're going to hear
the message of God's free and sovereign grace. They're going
to hear it. There's no doubt about it. And God has means that
he has graciously set forth in these scriptures. Now, again,
I'm going to tell you something. This message is for me, primarily
for me. This is something that I've been
dealing with. I've struggled with. Almighty God has chosen
to call out his elect through the hearing of the gospel. Here's
my exhortation to myself and to all of you and to all that
hear this message on the internet. Invite somebody to come. Please, Lord, keep me with this
remembrance Number one, you've commanded us to do this. You
shall be witnesses unto me. There is no telling. I'm just
going to bare my heart to you. There is no telling what God
might be pleased to do. Here's a little congregation
here. of precious, precious people. Precious to the Lord and precious
to God's people. There's no telling what God might
be pleased to do. If Almighty God might bless a
word spoken somebody else. Now, first of all, let me tell
you this. I know what we all think. Well,
they're not going to come. That's not our call. That's not
my call. How many of you would have picked
a Saul of Tarsus to try to talk to? None of us, none of us. Oh, they're so steeped in their
religion. God saves men out of false religion. Believe me, you're
looking at one. God saves his people from themselves
out of their ignorance. This is the only hope. I just,
you know, well, I just watched my mom take her last breath just
a few weeks ago. I watched her. I watched her.
You did too. You saw. I watched her. You know, the first thing I thought,
I wonder what she sees right now. I wonder what she sees. Oh, what she knows right now.
We're talking about eternity bound sinners. I'm not trying
to play on my emotions, your emotions. I'm trying to be truthful.
I'm telling you, we're leaving this world. We're going to leave
this world. And I know that the gospel is
the power of God unto salvation. And I know that God has said,
you're going to be witnesses unto me. I know that the Lord
sent His disciples and all the world preached the gospel. I
know that there was a woman at Sychar who went and told somebody.
I know that the Lord told a delivered demoniac, you go home and you
tell your friends. You tell them. You go tell them.
And he did. May the Lord keep us from the
fear of thinking, well, what are they going to think? They're
going to die. They're going to die. Yeah, I
don't know. I don't want to act stupid. I'm
going to act stupid regardless. But God, keep me from my stupidity. Lord, help me. How many people? These people that you know, you
know people, I know people. Now this is a stirring up, as
people say. Peter said, I'm gonna stir you
up to your remembrance. I need to be stirred up to what
the Lord has called me to do, and you to do, you that know
it. Invite somebody. Whenever somebody got to a point,
I know with my mom, I told you this, my mom's sister, I'll never
forget what my mom said. She told me one time she invited
her, invited her, invited her, invited her. One time she told,
she said, Marion, don't ever say that to me again. And she
never did. But I tell you one thing, she
did invite her. May the Lord help us today to
remind us We're witnesses unto the Lord. We are the Lord's witnesses. We got a message. We got a heart
for Christ. May God help us to be obedient
for his glory and our good. Amen. All right.