I'm going to ask you once again
to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Acts,
chapter 9. Acts, chapter 9. We went through the book of Acts.
It's been 11 years ago. It's hard to believe. Going through the book of Acts,
we've considered this passage of Scripture, and I'd like for
us to look at it once again this morning. Acts chapter 9, I'd like to look at verses 36
to 43. Acts 9, verse 36. Now there was at Joppa a certain
disciple named Tabitha. which by interpretation is called
Dorcas. This woman was full of good works
and alms deeds which she did. And it came to pass in those
days that she was sick and died, whom when they had washed they
laid her in an upper chamber. And for as much as Lydda was
not a Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there,
they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to
come to them. Then Peter arose and went with
them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber,
and all the widows stood by him weeping and showing the coats
and garments which Dorcas made while she was with him. But Peter
put them all forth and kneeled down and prayed. And turning
him to the body, said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat
up. And he gave her his hand and
lifted her up. And when he had called the saints
and widows, presented her alive. And it was known throughout all
Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And it came to pass that
he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon, a tanner." Now,
we know this, that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. And this morning, I'd like for
us to look at this passage of scripture, realizing that this
scripture is concerning the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
salvation, redemption and salvation of his people. Now, as I've said
before, if we don't see the gospel, That is the proclamation of that
which Almighty God has eternally purposed to do. Not to try to
do, to do. If we don't see the glory of
Christ in this passage of Scripture, then it's nothing more than just
history. It's just a story. And if it's
just a story, then there's no profit to us today. But if we
see the glory of Christ in it, then we'll profit from it. Now
this passage of scripture deals with a woman named Tabitha. And in it, we're going to behold
the glory of God in saving His people. Now there's three things
in this passage of scripture, there's three things that are
distinctly taught. in this passage of scripture
that deals with every one of the objects of God's mercy. Every
one of us. Right here, you're going to see
every one that Almighty God has eternally purposed to show mercy. You're going to see you in this
passage of scripture. It's the way it's going to be.
We're going to see three things. Number one, we're going to see
the evidence. of being found in Christ. Number two, we're
going to see the result of being born in Adam. And number three,
we're going to see the distinguishing grace of God to His people. Now, let's just, I'm going to
just take these scriptures and just deal with them one by one
and just, let's see what God has to say here. First of all,
let's consider the evidence of being found in Christ. Now when
I say the evidence, the manifestation of being found, let's consider
what the Lord had done for this woman. Here's what we know, verse
36. at Joppa a certain disciple named
Tabitha. Now the word that we want to
focus first of all on is that word disciple. That particular
word it means a female learner, an imitator. One who follows
one's teaching. That's what that word means.
It means there was a certain woman and her name was Tabitha. Now the name Tabitha is the Hebrew
And the name Dorcas, it's Greek, that's Greek. It's the same name,
but it's just the Hebrew called her Tabitha, and the Greek's
name for this woman was Dorcas. And what it meant, what that
word meant was a deer, a gazelle, a doe. But it also means one
known for its beauty and grace. And we see here a description
of this woman. The Spirit of God moved upon
that woman's parents to name her Tabitha. You call her Tabitha. You call
her Dorcas. That's your name. That one that
is beautiful. That one that is a dear. That
gazelle known for its grace and beauty. Now, beautiful. That name set forth the beauty
of this woman. Not necessarily. She may have
been a beautiful woman. I don't know. I don't know. But
beautiful, number one, in the sight of the Father. who chose
her in Christ eternally and saw her in his Son. Beautiful! From before the foundation
of the world, she was one in my Son. Beautiful! This woman, that according to
God's everlasting purpose, would be found to be holy and without
blame before the Father in Christ. So she was beautiful to the Father.
I know because just looking at the word, the way she's described,
that word that is used. She was a certain disciple. She was beautiful to the Son.
who betrothed her unto Himself in righteousness, in judgment,
and in loving kindness, and in mercies. So she's beautiful to
the Father, she's beautiful to the Son, but she's beautiful
also to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God that teaches
and guides and comforts and seals the Lord's own. The Spirit of
God had revealed this woman to be the bride of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The one that He had taken to
Himself. And her beauty that was bestowed
upon her was the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this is the one that Song of Solomon describes the Lord speaking
to His bride. And He said, you have ravished
me with one of your eyes. What He meant was this. One look
from you to me. One look of the bride in faith. to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, you've stolen my heart. He said, you are beautiful to
me. You're beautiful. I think about the beauty of God's
people. I heard Brother Henry say this
in a message years ago. He was talking. He'd been there
a long time at 13th Street. And he said, I'm looking upon
you. He said, those of you men and women that God has called
out of darkness and kept you here all these years. And he
said, you're more beautiful to me now than when I first met
you. He said, because of the beauty
that Christ has bestowed upon you. This woman was a beautiful
woman spiritually. Beautiful to the Father, beautiful
to the Son, beautiful, to the Holy Spirit who blows upon her
because she is the garden of the Lord. And the Spirit of God
blows upon her in correcting and comforting grace and mercy
that the love, that the spices might flow out from her. What
spices? Well, the fruit of God's Spirit
that the Spirit of God's given her. Here's the spices that when
the Spirit of God glows upon the garden of the Lord, here's
the spices that flow out from God's people. Love, love for
the Lord and love for God's people. Joy, joy in the Lord, and long-suffering,
and goodness, and faith, and meekness, and temperance, peace,
peace with God, peace that God has wrought for His people in
Christ. They didn't establish any peace.
God established the peace for them. So here's the character
of this woman spiritually. She's a beautiful woman. But
here's what the scripture says also about her. This woman, Dorcas
Tabitha, this woman was full of good works and alms deeds
which she did. Now, here's a good description
of her too. This woman, she was full of good
works. Now, because of that which the
Spirit of God had done for her, He had given her the fruits of
God's Spirit. And it manifested itself in that
which she did, not for salvation, but because of salvation. Good works. Same word that's
used in the Scriptures concerning the good tree. And the sower
that went forth to sow, there was four different kinds of ground.
There was stony ground, thorny ground, wayside here, but there
was some good ground. Good, not in us, you know that,
but good and made so by the grace of God. The faith that God Almighty
had given her manifested itself. Here again, not for, but because
of that salvation that God has shown her. That which is recorded
concerning this woman set forth that the gospel had come to her
not in word only. She didn't just have it here. I told you this. I can quote
to you the five points of Calvinism. But if the gospel of God's grace
has only come to me, and I kind of got it up here and it's kind
of a take it and leave it thing. I can argue with you if you want
to argue about it, but I don't want to argue about it. The Lord
has given me something in my heart. The Spirit of God reveals
that the gospel had come to her not in word only, but in power. And in the Holy Ghost, And in
much assurance, what do you mean much assurance? Here's what she
was assured of, as all God's sheep are in regeneration. They're
assured that salvation is of the Lord. They're assured that
salvation is all of grace, not of works. Why? Because every
man is going to boast. She believed God. She believed the Lord. How beautiful to behold a believer. walking by faith and all the
while absolutely putting no confidence in what they do. The Lord has called me to pastor
here. I want to be faithful to that calling. I want to be found
studying. I want to be found asking the
Lord for God's messages. But I'm going to tell you something. If I think that my standing before
God is based upon my faithfulness to do that which the Lord has
called me, then I've missed it. He called me to pastor. He called
you to whatever he's called you to. But don't put any confidence
in it. Do what you do as unto the Lord,
whether you eat, drink, whatever you do, do it to the glory of
God. Do it because God's done something for you. But I'm going
to tell you something, God forbid that we should boast in ourself. So here's what I know, considering
who this woman is in Christ, I just, you know, she was a beautiful
woman, Dorcas, Tabitha, full of good deeds and alms deeds,
which she did. The Lord had saved her. And she
manifested, she absolutely adorned the gospel that she believed.
She adorned it. The profession of her faith was
manifested in her walk. Secondly though, I want you to
consider her condition as being born in Adam. Verse 37 says,
it came to pass in those days that she was sick and she died. whom when they
had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber." Now, here's
what I know about this woman. And this is, you that believe
that first point right there, being found in Christ, the Lord
done something for you, I'm going to tell you, you're going to
believe in God. You're going to do what you can, and you're
not going to put any confidence in it. But secondly, here's what
I know as far as being born in Adam. We're sinners. That's the way we are. We're
sinners. And being found a sinner dead in trespasses and sins,
being found, being born in Adam by one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. When the Lord told Adam, He said,
in the day you eat Adam, you're going to die. This is the way
every sinner is born in this world. They're born spiritually
dead. They're dead, spiritually dead. Now don't confuse walking around
and moving like this. Don't try to confuse being dead
spiritually. Morally dead, just no ability
whatsoever. Dust we are, and to dust we're
going to return. Man born in Adam is going, he's
going to die physically, And but for the grace of God, he's
going to die eternally. Because he's already dead spiritually. He's without spiritual discernment. He's dead, dead. Without Almighty
God coming to that man, that woman and regenerating grace,
he's going to face God in judgment. A believer will die just like
an unbeliever is going to die. We're going to all die physically. An unbeliever is going to die
and stand before God in judgment. And a believer is going to die
physically too, but he's going to die in the faith. That death for the believer.
This woman was a believer. That's according to the wording
of this scripture. And this woman, she died. Believers
die. But she died the death of the
righteous. What do you mean she died in
Christ? Immediately in the presence of
the Lord. John on the Isle of Patmos was
commanded to write of the blessing of being found in Christ. at physical death. This is what
he said, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
Yea, saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and
their works do follow them. So this woman died. She died
a physical death. And that physical death that
she died was a declaration, it was a picture, a revelation of
every man's spiritual condition. She was a sinner. A sinner. So in this woman, Tabitha, we
see that she was an object of God's mercy. That's who she is
in Christ. And we see who she is in Adam. She's a sinner. But now, I want
us to consider what is the only hope This is what we've beheld. Who she is in Christ, who she
is in Adam. But what is the only hope of
being found in regenerating grace in Christ? If Almighty God has eternally
loved a man, loved a woman, I'm going to tell you something.
The Spirit of God is going to get them unto the Gospel. You
say, well, what if He can't? He will. He will. And He's going
to teach them by power and grace the truth concerning Christ. And He's going to call them out
of darkness. Now, how does that happen? How does that happen? Well, Thirdly, I want us to behold
in the raising of this woman, Tabitha, from the dead, the miracle
of God's power and grace in regeneration. Alright, look at verse 38. And
for as much as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had
heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring
him that he would not delay to come to them, And when Peter
arose and went with them, when he was come, they brought him
into the upper chamber. So here was Peter. Peter was
at a place called Lydda. And Tabitha was in Joppa, and
Lydon was near to Joppa, and the disciples that were in Joppa,
they heard that Peter was over in this other town. Now, what
they did was, they sent for him. Sent for him and asked him to
come over. Tabitha is dead. She's dead physically. She died physically. A picture,
a picture of all that's dead spiritually, unable to do anything
for themselves. What is Tabitha going to do? What can a dead person do? I mean, just think of this for
a second. They can't believe. You tell
a dead man, if you'll just believe, if you'll just exercise your
free will, if you'll just respond, if you'll
just walk down the aisle, what can a dead person do? They can't help themselves. And
no one in that state, the state that they're in, can help them
either. Just hold your place. Let me read this, John 1. Listen
to what God says concerning regeneration. The Scripture declares, John
1, 11-13. Speaking of the Lord, He came
unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received
Him, as many as believed Him. To them gave He the power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."
What the Spirit of God is saying to this, if man or woman believes
God, it's because God Almighty has done something for them that
they couldn't do for themselves. Which for born, born again, not
of blood, I've said before, salvation doesn't run through bloodlines.
Just because my mom or dad, that doesn't mean anything. Not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh. I said, well, everybody
has a free will. Spirit of God says they don't.
Nor of the will of man. I told you before, I want God
to save I want Him to save me. I want Him to save my kids. I
want Him to have mercy here. I want Him to save you. Which
were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the
will of man, but of God. Almighty God must show mercy. Well, she died. And she's dead. She's laying
up in an upper chamber. She's up there in a corpse. And so they sinned for Peter.
And they said, Peter, come on over. Well, verse 39, Peter arose
and went with them. And when he was come, they brought
him into the upper chamber, and all the widows stood by him,
weeping, showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while
she was with him. Here was a faithful preacher.
Peter was a preacher. The Lord had called him. called
his disciples, and this is what the Lord told him before he left.
He said, I want you to go in all the world and preach the
gospel. This is what God's called me
to do. This is the only calling that I have. Preach the gospel. And so, Peter, he got up and
he went with them. And he came to this place. It's
not told that He went there to heal her, to raise her. The Spirit of God moved upon
Peter to do just exactly what he did. And he came into that
chamber where the body of Tabitha was laying. And Peter looked
around, and all the widows stood by him, weeping, showing the
coats and garments, what they had made, and he noticed They
were grieving. They're hurting. It was showing
him, you know, she made this for me. She was such a sweet
lady. She made this coat. She made this garment. But Peter
knew that all the human sympathy and care and love that they had
for their departed friend couldn't do anything for her. What could
they do? They were grieving. They were
hurting. But remember what we're looking at right here. With all
Scripture being inspired of God to the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ, never lose sight of that fact. Take your eyes off of Him
and it's becoming just a nice story. Never lose sight of the
fact of whose glory we're talking about right here. And here's
what happens. In verse 40, Peter put them all
forth, kneeled down, and he prayed. By faith, he knew life was in
the hands of God Almighty. Salvation was of the Lord. He knew that God Almighty has
mercy and compassion on whomsoever He will. And therefore, what
could Peter do? Peter didn't have any power in
himself. The Lord told him, He said, without
Me you can do nothing. So what did he do? He put everybody
else out. And he knelt down and humbled
himself before the great physician. the great physician of men's
souls, and sought the Lord in this matter. And he was moved
by the Spirit of God to do exactly what the Lord had done. He witnessed something. Again,
hold your place right there. I'll just turn to Luke 8.51. Luke 8.51. Peter had watched
this before. Luke 8, 51-55, there was a man
named Jairus, and his daughter was sick, and before the Lord
got there, the Lord tarried. That's when Jairus had come to
him and said, my daughter's sick, she's right upon the death. Would
you come? Would you come help me? Would you come help me? And
the Lord's going, and before he got there, by the grace of
God, the good providence of God, there was a woman that had an
issue of blood. before the Lord got to Jairus' house. And she
said, if I can touch the hem of his garment, I'm going to
be made clean, I'm going to be made whole. And she came and
she touched him. The Lord stopped. You know the
story. And He told her, He said, Thy
faith, the object of your faith, the object of your faith, the
one in whom you're trusting, thy faith, him, he made you whole. About that time, some of the
servants from Jairus' house came up. She told Jairus, who was
with the Lord, he said, don't bother the master anymore. She's
dead. And the Lord looked at Jairus
and he says, never fear, don't fear, only believe. And the Lord
went to Jairus' house and this is what it says right here, Luke
8, 51 to 55. And when he came into the house,
he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, James, John, the
father and mother of the maiden. All wept and bewailed her, but
he said, Weep not, she's not dead, but sleepeth. And they
laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And what did
he do to those that laughed at him? He put them all out, and
took her by the hand, and he called and said to J. Ivers'
daughter, arise. And her spirit came again and
she arose straightway and he commanded to give her meat."
Now here's Peter, and he's come into this place. And here's Tabitha,
and she's dead. And Peter, by the Spirit of God,
did exactly what the Lord had done, obviously by faith. This is what the Lord did. The
scripture says in verse 40, it says, and turning him to the
body, he turned to the corpse. And this is what he said, Tabitha,
arise. Here was the servant of the Lord,
assured that if Almighty God was pleased to raise this girl,
God was going to do it. He said what the Lord said. And that's what we do as preachers.
We say what He said. and trust Him, Lord, if you be
pleased." He called her by name. He wasn't speaking to everybody.
He said, Tabitha, the scripture declares the Lord, He says, I
know my sheep and I call them by name. Tabitha, Lazarus, Marvin, arise. You know, the scripture declares
here that Peter did exactly what the Lord had commanded Ezekiel
to do. Remember Ezekiel, Ezekiel 37,
verses 1 to 4, the scripture says, the hand of the Lord was
upon me, and carried me in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me
in the midst of a valley which was full of dry bones, and caused
me to pass by them round about. And behold, there were very many
in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. And he said unto
me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord
God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy
unto these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the
word of the Lord. Somebody would say here in Acts
9 chapter 40, Peter turned to the body and said to the body,
said to a corpse, Tabitha, arise. Somebody said, that's
ridiculous. He's talking to a corpse. Let me ask you this. Is that
not what every one of God's preachers is commanded to do when we preach? Until one of God's elect is called
out of spiritual darkness, you know what they are? They are
a spiritual corpse. They're dead. They're dead. They cannot hear. They cannot
see. They cannot believe. They cannot
lie. But Almighty God has declared
here, in this, that Almighty God, through the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the dead will hear the voice of the Lord. Ezekiel, You preach to these
dry bones and you say to them, oh you dry bones, and I say this
morning, oh you dry bones, Tabithas, arise. And if the Spirit of God
be pleased to bless those words in regenerating grace, let me
tell you what's going to happen. The Scripture says, He said,
Tabitha arise, and here's what happened. She opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat
up. Almighty God had given her life. And she did, physically, what
every object of God's mercy does spiritually. When the Spirit
of God comes in regenerating grace, one moment she was dead. And the next moment, God opened
her heart like He did Lydia's. Lydia was sitting there listening
to Paul preach. And she was a religious woman,
that's what Scripture says. And God opened her heart. And she attended to the words
that were spoken to Paul. She believed God. She believed
God. And God gave her life. And she
said to Paul, would you come to my house tonight? She believed
and she was baptized in her family. Tabitha opened her eyes. Peter had said to her, Tabitha
arise. And she got up. She sat up. She was able, willing in the
day of God's power to do something that formerly she couldn't do.
She couldn't open her eyes. God had given her eyes. Seeing
eyes and hearing ears. And she sat up. Here's what the
Lord says, John 10, 27, 28, My sheep hear my voice, and I know
them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life.
They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand. Nobody's going to take them away
from me. I tell you, when a sinner is
called out of spiritual darkness in the glorious light of the
Lord Jesus, that sinner has heard the voice of God. And He gave her His hand, lifted
her up, and when He called the saints and widows, He presented
her alive. And it was known throughout all
Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. He presented her alive. It kind of reminds me of that
parable of the lost sheep. Remember the lost sheep? A man
had a hundred sheep and he lost one. He left the ninety and nine
in the wilderness to go find the one he had lost. He found
it. He came home. He called his friends together
and he said this, rejoice with me. I found the sheep that was
lost. The raising of Tabitha from the
dead, that was a miracle. Peter was a preacher. And it
says here that many believed. It was known throughout Joppa.
Many believed in the Lord. I can tell you this from the
authority of Scripture. It wasn't because they saw the
miracle. The miracle that was performed right here was a confirmation
from God that Peter was a God called preacher. And the message
The gospel is the power of God, not seeing miracles. Let me prove
that. You remember the rich man and
Lazarus? The rich man died, went to hell, lifted himself up out
of the torments of hell, and he asked Father Abraham, would
you send Lazarus back to my house? I've got five brothers. Would
you tell Lazarus to go back and tell my five brothers, don't
come here. And the Lord says, he says, no. He says they have
Moses and the prophets. And he says, if they hear not,
if they hear not, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word
of God, the gospel of God's grace. If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from
the dead. It wasn't the raising of Tabitha
from the dead. It was the message that Peter
preached. He was a preacher of the gospel and God confirmed
it by miracles and signs and wonders. This is God's man. And the scripture says, and it
came to pass that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon,
a tanner. Well, in closing, The scripture
reveals here that Peter had been used of God to perform a mighty
miracle. Surely the governor may come
down, maybe the governor let him come stay at his house, or
maybe the mayor, I mean somebody. No, he went over to a man named
Simon who was a tanner, one of the lowest of society. He handled dead animals. You
know, just tanned hides is what he did. But through that man
right there, God sustained his preacher. Just like Elijah was
when Elijah was sent. God put him by a brook. Sent
the ravens, remember that? Morning and evening they'd bring
bread and meat. Morning and evening, bread and
meat. Then God sent Him over there to that woman that was
a widow in Zarephath. All she had was a little bit
of oil and a little bit of meal. She said, me and my boy, I'm
going to make this, we're going to eat this little biscuit and
we're going to die. And Elijah said, make me one first. And
the scripture says, until the day it rained. The meal and the
oil never stayed, never stopped. It was always enough for one
more biscuit, one more biscuit. He was a man mightily used of
God, and God sustained him through a tanner, Simon the tanner. God has chosen the foolish things. of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. May the Lord bless this word,
our hearts, for Christ's sake. Amen.