The Prince of Life is a just
God and a Saviour. The Prince of Life is received. Heaven must receive Him, says
Acts 3. The Prince of Life gives life. The Prince of Life raises the
dead. The Prince of Life not only gives
physical life, but the Prince of Life gives spiritual life. It's amazing isn't it, as you
think, as I've often reminded you when we look at the letters
of the New Testament and the epistles and all of the declarations
there of the glories of Christ and the emptiness of everything
other than Him. I reminded you when we were doing
Galatians In terms of chronology, obviously the Gospels come first
and the letters come later. But in terms of the history of
the Church, what happened was the letters came first and the
Gospel accounts came later. And so when we read the New Testament
epistles, it's wonderful to go back into the Gospels and see
pictures again. And the pictures are the pictures
that reveal our Saviour in His glory. And they reveal His dealings
with people, just like this cripple, His dealings with the helpless
and the hopeless. dealings with those who have
no need, seemingly no understanding of the great need of their souls,
and yet He comes again and again. And the wonder of our Saviour
is how He meets with the needy. He meets with the needy. One
of the remarkable verses in Acts, in this Sermon of Acts, if you
look down with me, we're going to look at faith, but I wanted
to look We looked last week, the week before, at the healing
of this man and we looked at the declaration of the Gospel
that's in these remarkable verses. He says, Repent ye therefore
and be converted that your sins, verse 19, that your sins may
be blotted out. It means that they might be erased
completely, they might be obliterated, cancelled, destroyed. When the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
And what does he do? What is the promise? And he shall
send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you. What a
remarkable declaration. The same Lord Jesus, the same
Lord Jesus who came as a baby, the same Lord Jesus who did all
those wonderful works, that same Lord Jesus who was taken up before
the apostles into Heaven's glory, that same Lord Jesus, that same
Jesus is now sent to His people. It is remarkable, isn't it? I
hope, I hope as we read and look at some of these words this morning
in Acts chapter 3 verse 16, we'll be just caught up in the wonder,
the wonder of what it is. As Colossians 1.29 says, it's
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, the same Christ. And the miracle of course is
a miracle which just speaks of Him, it speaks of Him coming
in power, it speaks of Him coming to someone who was helpless and
hopeless. And as I think of Simon's situation,
a situation that so many are confronted with when we think
of those that we love and care for deeply and those that we
encounter. We are constantly in situations
like the cripple where we need to be raised again to newness
of life. Like the Shulamite, we wander
away and wander away through our own deceitfulness of sin
and the wickedness of the world and the wiles of Satan and yet
we are drawn back. We are drawn back to Him. We're drawn back by Him, to Him,
into His presence and into His fellowship. This man walked into
that temple, didn't he? He was leaping and walking and
praising God. And all the people saw him praising
God. Let's read our text today. We'll
start with Peter's sermon. This is what's all happened,
hasn't it? The God of Abraham, verse 13, the God of Abraham
and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified
his son Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence
of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But you denied
the Holy One and just, and the just, and desired a murderer
be granted to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of
Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And His Name, through faith in
His Name, has made this man strong. Whom you see and know, yea, the
faith which is by Him hath given Him this perfect soundness in
the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I know, I
watch, that through ignorance you did it, as did also your
rulers. But those things which God before
had shown by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should
suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send
Jesus Christ, which was before preached unto you, whom heaven
must receive until the times of the restitution of all things,
with which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets
since the world began. I want to spend some time looking
at verse 16 this morning. It's a remarkable verse and I
want to come before the Lord and ask His guidance on our deliberations. Heavenly Father, we thank You
that You You must send your spirit to reveal these words to us,
to show us the glories of your dear son in England, the wonders
of our triune God, who reigns over all things. a God who came
in human flesh to save His people from their sins, to raise us
from the darkness of this world, to translate us into the Kingdom
of His dear Son. We pray, Heavenly Father, that
as we leave here we might know something of the joy and comfort
of believing. We pray that that might be our
portion to serve Heavenly Father this morning as we speak of Your
Son. And we want to acknowledge that You alone can cause Him
to be lifted up before us and in our hearts. For we commit
ourselves into Your hands, Our Father, looking expectantly for
You to do what You have promised. Amen. So this is the first mention
of faith after the the beginning of the Church, and so it's a
verse that is full of remarkable things. I wanted to look at several
aspects of faith this morning. I wanted to look at the necessity
of faith and the source of faith, the objects of faith, the object
of faith, its entrance, its outworking and its sustenance. Our faith
is sustained by God, and most of them are here. clearly laid
out before us in these sermons of Peter's and in this remarkable
story. It's very interesting isn't it,
it's one of those sentences that seems a bit convoluted. and maybe even confusing, but
God's repetitions are special repetitions. And when God gives
us verses like these, they are verses that we will profit much,
I trust, from pondering deeply. In fact, in the original it says
that on the basis of the faith, and faith here is a noun, faith
is a noun, on the basis of the faith, so it's the faith in the
name of Him. It's the faith that declares
Him as He really is. It's the faith that declares
Him as Peter has outlined Him before these Jewish crowds. And on the basis of a faith in
the name of Him, this one whom you now see and know is made
strong. The name of Him and the faith
through Him, and once again it's a noun, the faith through Him
gave to Him this wholeness before you all. Obviously Peter wants to make
sure that there is, in all of what is done, and all of what
the Church bears witness to, there is a very, very clear definition
of who has done this, and who our God is. Faith has synonyms
that are used much throughout the Scripture, and really it's
believing, it's trusting, it's relying upon. In fact, I love
to use the word believers these days rather than the word Christian. I don't dislike the word Christian,
but like so many common words like church and other words like
that, and even like the word faith, it has become so messed
around with by all sorts of things in this world. But believing
is a great word, isn't it? It's a great word that the scriptures
use to describe God's people. They actually believe. They just
believe. They believe what God says about
God. They believe what God says about
us. They believe what God says about
the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe what God says about
salvation. They believe what God says about
this world. They believe. And when people
don't believe, then they need another name, don't they? And
it's called unbelief, isn't it? It's not meant to be complicated.
Believers just believe, don't we? When we talk about a God
who is absolutely sovereign, believers believe. When we talk
about a Lord Jesus Christ who really died for all of the sins
of all these people on Calvary Street and put them away forever,
and because of that activity He is a just God and a Saviour,
believers believe. And it's the joy, what's Romans
15 say? It's the joy and peace of believing. Now the God of hope fill you
with all the joy and peace in believing, Romans 15, 13. That you may abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost. As we've seen in these previous
sermons and we'll see in this one, Peter leaves them in absolutely
no doubt whatsoever about what they have done. They have murdered
God. Simple as that. They have murdered
the Messiah. They have murdered. They have
put him to death. You've killed the Prince of Life
and those to whom this faith that we're talking about comes
are those who are pricked in the heart by that. And they cry
out, what must we do to be saved? They cry out like the publican
at the temple, God be merciful to me, the sinner, the sinner. He wasn't worried about the sins
of anyone else in the world. There was only one sin that was
concerning him and that was the sin that he was. God be merciful
to me, the sinner. And true faith, true saving faith,
causes God's people to willingly bow to Christ's absolute sovereignty
and His Lordship. They gladly received His Word. They gladly received the Word
that He is now seated at the right hand of God in Heaven until
God has all His enemies His footstool. They received His Word. But true faith looks to Christ
alone. Peter wants there to be no doubt
that it's on the basis of the faith in the name of this one.
What you see and you see now and you know, and he'll parade
this man before the Sanhedrin in the next chapter, this is
the one that you see and you know, it's by God, by the Lord
Jesus Christ has made him whole. Christ is the author, as we saw
last week, He is the author and the finisher, He is the author
and the perfecter of faith. Faith just looks to Him, always
looks to Him. It finds its rest and it finds
its peace and it finds its joy in looking to Him. The circumstances
that Simon outlined should grieve our hearts enormously. I met
one of the old men's shed fellows down the road. One of the problems
of gathering a bunch of old pensioners together is that they often meet
all sorts of grievous things in little groups. And he told
me about three or four of them that are seriously, seriously
unwell. And one old fellow who he knew
quite well, his son is in his 60s and just been diagnosed,
early 60s, still working, diagnosed with cancer and is about to die. God's children. We'll find that in the Lord Jesus
Christ there is just that one place to look, isn't it? There
is no place else. There is nowhere else to go.
We'll see as we go on that true faith perseveres. And true faith,
as we've seen in these chapters already, it produces a sincere
heart-love for the children of God. He went together with them
into the temple, praising God. Peter and John there going to
witness. But all of those people were
gathered together, as we saw in Acts chapter 2, they were
gathered together of one accord. They continued daily with one
accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, and
did eat their meat with gladness and with singleness of heart,
praising God. I wanted to have a talk briefly
about the necessity of faith. Why is faith so vital? Faith
is vital, of course, because faith, true saving faith, gives
all the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. which is why when Peter
says in 1 Peter 1.9, you receive in the end of your faith, the
goal of your faith, the terminus of your faith, is the salvation
of your souls. You are saved by grace, you are
saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. It's to have life, isn't it?
It's to have real life. If you believe not that I am,
says the Lord Jesus Christ to those people in John 8, then
you will die in your sins. So it's the absolutely vital
necessity, isn't it? Without faith it is impossible
to live, impossible to please God. Without faith there is no
justification. The just shall live by faith. the just shall live by faith. People believe to the saving
of their souls. We often go to Hebrews 11. It's
good to go back a few verses. He says in verse 38, Now the
just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him. If any man lets down the sails,
as it were, but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition,
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. He goes on to say, doesn't it,
now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. For by the elders obtained a
good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. God made it
from nothing and God made it. By faith we understand that.
Any faith that doesn't understand that is not the faith of God,
is it? What nonsense evolution is. Fancy thinking that we're
getting better. Is there any evidence whatsoever
that you have ever encountered that you're improving? I agree
with Spurgeon, he said it would be wonderful if revolution were
true and we were improving. Dear oh dear, brothers and sisters,
what nonsense. By faith we understand. We understand. By faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which
he obtained witness that he was righteous. He obtained a witness
just outside of the garden that he was righteous. God testifying
of his gifts. And by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated
that he should not see death, and was not found because God
had translated him. For before his translation he
had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is
impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is. and that He is the rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him. What a great encouragement to
be diligently seeking Him, brothers and sisters. Diligently seek
Him. give every effort by faith, now
being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear,
prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he
condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which
is by faith." The righteousness of God is by faith. the righteousness
of God is by faith, the justification of God is by faith. Now that
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. I love how when the law workers
brought that challenge, didn't they, and Peter stood up before
that council in Acts chapter 15, and he spoke so amazingly
of faith, didn't he? And he spoke of the Gentiles,
us, except Colin, us. He put no difference between
us and them. What did he say? Purifying their
hearts by faith. If you know anything of your
heart that you received from your father Adam, brothers and
sisters, you will be amazed to know that purified hearts are
the work of God. We're justified by faith. How
do you establish the law? We are told again and again,
you go back to the Ten Commandments, or 12 as we are told, or sometimes
50, or however many more these churches that want to put people
under covenants get them to do, and then have someone go around
and tick the list on how well John Newell is doing at home.
How do we establish the law of God? Romans 3.31. Do then we make void the law
through faith? God forbid that you make the
law void. Yay, we established the law. That's how you establish the
law, brothers and sisters. Faith in the only one who ever,
ever kept it at all and kept it perfectly. The necessity of faith, as I
said at the beginning, the necessity of faith is that it gives glory
to God. I love the story of old Abraham,
taken to a place, like so many of the people saved by the Lord
in the New Testament, taken to a place where he had no hope
whatsoever. There he was a hundred years
old, Sarah ninety years old, but what did he have? He had
a body that was useless and unproductive, a wife whose body was useless
and unproductive. He had something, brothers and
sisters. His body was like our bodies, pretty jolly hopeless
basically, falling apart. But he had something much bigger
than that, didn't he? He had a promise from God. Verse 20 of Romans, he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. And what does he say? He's describing
faith, isn't he? Being fully persuaded, being
fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also
to perform. So that was his faith, wasn't
it? He just believed God. He believed God and was credited
to him for righteousness. He believed God and had a son. Faith is necessary because, as
Romans 5 says, we have access. We have access to God through
faith. Romans 5, just read there with
me. Therefore being justified, and you can move the comma in
your Bibles, that comma has done so much damage. to the people
of God for centuries. Therefore being justified, comma,
by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We have
access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. Whatever is
not of faith is sin. The believing children are the
children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. The children of God live
in this world. We through the Spirit, we wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. We wait, don't we? In faith we are waiting for God
to reveal all things. See, faith is absolutely vital,
isn't it? It's vital for the salvation
of your soul. It's vital for your acceptance
with God. It's vital for the glory of God.
No wonder the apostles cried out, Lord, increase our faith. No wonder we can cry out, Lord,
I believe, help thou my unbelief. Help thou my unbelief. It's vital,
isn't it? It's vital because it reveals
the vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's vital because
it looks to Him. It looks away from ourselves.
It looks to Him for everything. And faith reminds us again and
again that it is God's work. It is God's work to bring the
Gospel to us. It's God's work to bring us to
a place of just simple reliance on Him. As Paul said, I know
whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I've entrusted unto Him. What have you entrusted
unto Him, brothers and sisters? I hope it's absolutely everything.
One of the problems of the wealth of this world is that we have
so, and the comforts that this western world has that most of
the world has never seen throughout its history, is that we've got
so many other things that we can cling on to. and we will
cling on to them until God takes them away from us, either physically
takes them away from us or takes away their power. He has overcome
the world. How do you overcome the world?
By faith you overcome the world. One of the best, clearest descriptions
of faith is in 1 John 5. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Who is he, 1 John 5.5, who is
he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. This is He that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it's the Spirit that bears
witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that
bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood,
and these three agree in one, if we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God
which he has testified of his Son. But he that believeth on
the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son hath not life. So at the end of the day, it
is God's testimony. It's God's testimony about His
Son. That's what Peter was declaring,
wasn't he? He was declaring who the Lord
Jesus Christ was, a man approved of God by His miracles and His
wonders, a man attested of God by all the things that He did.
God declares him to be Lord and Christ. God declares that he
is now sitting at the right hand of God in heaven. God declares
these things about him. God declares that he is the just
and holy one. God declares him to be the Prince
of Life. It's God's testimony about his
Son. that is the foundation of faith.
That's why faith so often is a noun, isn't it? It's a description.
It's a description of Him according to the Scriptures, which is why
the people of God are instructed and the people of God will contend
for the faith which was once delivered for the sakes. We'll
just stand and defend it. we will be made by God to defend
the truth of Him. And we will be repulsed, the
children of God will be repulsed by the things that offend Him.
It was repulsion and attraction that drove us out of religion.
And that's my story, I'm not sure of yours, but that was mine,
wasn't it? I was drawn to Him and saw Him as wonderful and
then I saw Him treated with contempt by the words that were said about
Him. that man was exalted to a throne and he was dethroned.
He was dishonoured as if somehow he tried his very best to save
humanity and is still doing it. Our God reigns, brothers and
sisters, our God reigns. So the faith, that's why in our
verse before us, it's the faith which is by Him, it's the faith
which is through Him, it's the faith which declares who He is. See, it's Source. It's Source
is from Him. It's the faith that comes from
Him. Faith is a gift of God, brothers
and sisters. It is the gift of God. 1 Peter talks about the Lord Jesus
Christ and He talks about His precious blood in 1 Peter 1.19. As a Lamb without blemish, without
spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, what was manifest in these last times for you, and listen
to what He says in verse 21, who by Him believe in God. By Him we believe in God. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. We're born again. The source
of this faith is His, isn't it? It's a vital necessity, but it's
His to give. He will not see any of His blood-bought
children lacking something that is so absolutely vital to their
well-being. They're born again, not of incorruptible
seed, but incorruptible, by the Word of God which liveth and
abideth forever. 1 Peter 1.24, for all flesh is
as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. Isn't
it lovely to see what the glory of man really is? Just the flower
of the grass. Go and have a look at them out
there. They've gone in a heartbeat, haven't they? The grass withereth and the flower
thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. You're born again by the word
of God. You're born again by the preaching
of the gospel. And this word, and this is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you, 1 Peter 1.25. It's
only preached where the gospel is preached. You wonder why there
is so much unbelief and so much wickedness and silliness in churches
that don't have the Gospel. If they haven't got the Gospel,
they've got absolutely everything else. If they haven't got the
Gospel, they must appeal to the flesh of men, they must be doing
party tricks, they must turn it into a concert, they must
be doing those things to attract people. Like jolly moths to a
light, aren't they? But if you have the Gospel, you
don't need anything other than the Gospel, brothers and sisters.
We've seen how important it is. It's the faith. When Paul is
called upon for the third time to give his testimony, he speaks
of the Lord Jesus coming to him, and he was talking about how
he was going to protect him and deliver him, and he's going to
send him to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to
light. And from the power of Satan under
God, he was sending Paul to do this. What power did Paul have?
He would have told you in a heartbeat, this is all the work of God,
isn't it? That they might receive the forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified, made
holy by faith that is in me. It's the faith in Him. He's the author of faith. He's
the finisher of faith. I do like to quote Galatians
chapter 2 and I don't get embarrassed about doing it again and again
because it's so beautiful, isn't it? It is so remarkable. It is
so powerful and powerfully descriptive of life in this world, isn't
it? I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. for if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in thine." He lives by the faith
of the Son of God. It comes from him, doesn't it?
It was his to give. It was his to sustain. Faith is his, isn't it? Peace be unto
the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is that beginning, isn't it,
that he spoke of in Philippians 1 and 6. Having this confidence
that the work, he knows that he who began that good work among
them, that's where his confidence was. That's where His rest was. That's where His hope for this
Philippian church was. Confident of this very thing
that He which began a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. The faith is an activity of Christ
in you, the hope of glory. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith. When those Pharisees came to
the Lord Jesus and said, what must we do to do the works of
God? Jesus' answer is a glorious answer,
isn't it? He says so much in so few words. Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God. You think it's the work of men?
This is the work of God. This is God's work. That you
believe on Him that He has sent. We've seen the vital necessity
of faith and the source of faith and as we've gone through these
sermons and as we go through more in Acts we will see that
the object of faith is just defined again and again with great, great
clarity. He is God with us. He is that anchor for the soul. It is the declaration of who
He is. It's the great God our Jehovah,
Emmanuel, God with us. To believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ is to believe that He is the Christ, the Redeemer.
And to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is to believe that He
is just the fulfilment of all things that were written in the
law. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is to believe that all
things that happened to Him were foreordained by God, that God
was in perfect control. that the God of our fathers has
raised up the Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Him
hath God exalted to his right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour,
for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." He's
seated now, isn't he? He's seated in Heaven's glory,
having purged us from our sins. He's seated there. His last days He spoke unto us
by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, by whom He
also made the world, who being the brightness of His glory,
and the express image of His person, and upholding all things
by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our
sins, He sat down at the majesty on high. He is the Prince of
Life. as Peter described. He is the
Living Lord. And when we are calling on people
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, they are being confronted
in the preaching of the Gospel with a Living Sovereign Lord
who holds their life in His hands and holds the reins of this universe
in His hands. He sustains all things. He rules
over all things. His enemies are being made his
footstool. He'll tread them under his feet. He is exalted. But to believe
is to believe a person, isn't it? Abraham believed God. Paul
said, I know whom I have believed. Peter was left in no doubt about
who he had met. It was the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith's believing a person. That's
why so often it's a noun, isn't it? It's just a description of
Him. Living faith trusts a living
Lord. And I like what Todd Knight has
said so often, and I've repeated it here. He said, what we believe
is determined by who we believe. What we believe is determined
by who we believe. If we believe Him, what we believe
will be settled. And as he goes on to say, it's
impossible to believe Him and to not believe in Sovereign Grace. People have been critical of
us for being strict about issues of doctrine, and I trust and
continue to do so. We remind people that you don't
come to Christ through doctrine, but if you come to Christ, You
come to the true and living Christ, you'll come to true doctrine,
because it's just a description of Him. It's just outlining His
characters, His characteristics. That's why Peter repeated in
the verse before us, that and His name and through faith in
His name, it is just a description of Him. The character of God,
the character of God is the comfort of God's people. He is faithful,
isn't He? Therefore know that the Lord
thy God, He is God, the faithful God, said Moses in Deuteronomy
7.9. If we believe not, He abideth
faithful, yet He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself. He cannot
be anything other than faithful. He's surrounded, He wears faithfulness
like a cloak. O Lord God of hosts, who is a
strong Lord like unto Thee, or to Thy faithfulness round about
Thee? Everywhere you look at God you
see faithfulness. No wonder we sing that hymn out
of Lamentations 3, Great is thy faithfulness, O God our Father. He's not a man that should lie. He's faithful in everything he
says. He's faithful in everything he
does. He's perfectly faithful to his covenant, faithful to
his promises. His promises of blessing and
his promises of warnings, his promises of threatenings, he's
faithful to all. And all of this is wrapped up.
Everyone in all creation will declare that God is faithful
and God is just and God is holy. The purpose of all of this creation
is the glory of God in the salvation of His people. It's faith through
His name. This faith through His name has
made this man strong whom you see and know. This faith has
given him this perfect sound, this wholeness in the presence
of you all, says Peter. It's faith in His name. It's
remarkable, isn't it, what confidence the apostles had. All their eggs
were in one basket, weren't they? There they were at that temple
in the midst of all of the enemies of God, people, those who had
crucified the Lord Jesus just six weeks before and were about
to start persecuting them. And what would have happened
if they had said to that man, rise, get up and walk? Then nothing
had happened. We wouldn't be here, brothers
and sisters. He's faithful. He's faithful to his people.
He's faithful to his people's faithfulness that he gives them. We speak much of his name. One
of the joys of going to visit some of our friends in America
is that we come to meet with, and trust that you will in time
meet with as well, that we meet more of his watchmen. And they
do exactly as I said. When they come here, they declare
the same Lord Jesus Christ that you've heard from me. When I
go there, I hear the same Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because God
is faithful. He said, Thy watchmen, for Isaiah
52, Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice, they'll lift up the
Word of God, the spoken Word of God, they'll lift up the Son
of God, with the voice they shall sing, for they shall see eye
to eye. God's servants have always seen
eye to eye about the big things of Christian faith. It hasn't
been an issue of disputation amongst them. They see eye to
eye. when the Lord shall bring again
Zion. We've seen this necessity. It's
an absolutely vital necessity. We've seen something of its source.
We speak much of the object of faith. It's about Him. And how
does it come? How does it come into the lives
of these people? Faith comes how? What did Peter do for 3,000 souls
to be saved on that day? He just simply declared who the
Lord Jesus Christ is and what He's done and where He is now.
He simply declared what men is, that they're wicked. When they
gather together and make religion, it's just wickedness, more wickedness. And in their religious wickedness,
they have crucified the Lord of glory. And he simply declares
those two things, and he simply declares that the Lord Jesus
Christ came with a purpose, that in his life and in his death
and his resurrection there was a purpose from God. He just preached
the good news that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing short of
the omnipotent power of our sovereign God can bring people to faith.
We long for it. We grieve when we don't see it.
We grieve when we see it abused. We long for it. We long for our
brothers and sisters to have the joy and peace of believing. But again and again we're made
deeply aware of the fact that this is God's work. And as much
as I long for faith in my family and the people I love, I'm aware
of more and more and more as time goes on, I'm aware that
this is impossible with man. But it's not impossible with
God. I trust, like me, you are drawn to much prayer. Much prayer. Because He does. The entrance of His words giveth
life. and giveth light and gives understanding
to the simple. Quite simply, it's by the Gospel. It's by the Gospel, which is
why it's so vital for us to be kept by God, to maintain a Gospel
witness. It's by the Gospel that people
are saved. "'Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved,' says Romans 10.13. How then shall
I call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall I
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall I hear
without a preacher? And how shall I preach unless
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. It comes through the preaching
of the Gospel. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. The Word enters into the heart. So these hearts were wounded,
weren't they? They were pricked hearts. They were wounded. They
were cut in the heart. Not just to the heart, they were
cut in the heart. God begets His children. His children are born. His children
are born by the Word of God. That's exactly what he says.
In James 1.18 he says, of his own will, in God's sovereign
purposes, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth,
that we should be a kind of first fruits of all his creatures.
It didn't matter how religious you were. Nicodemus had to be
born again. You must be born again. You cannot
see the Kingdom of God. You don't have a clue who the
Kingdom of God is. He was standing right in front
of him and there was the religious teacher of Israel. He knew the
Old Testament probably off by heart and didn't have a clue.
didn't have a clue. You must be born again to see. There was a lady who complained
about George Whitfield. She kept saying to him, why do
you keep telling us we must be born again? Because the Lord
Jesus Christ said, you must be born again to see, you must be
born again to enter. In 1 Peter he says, We are born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God which liveth and abideth for ever. It comes, this faith that he's
speaking of, this faith comes through the preaching of the
Gospel. And this faith works out in people's lives. This faith
motivates and energises This man went into the temple walking
and leaping and praising God. Peter proclaimed the Gospel and
proclaimed the Gospel and had more opposition and he proclaimed
the Gospel and they locked him up in jail and they let him out
and he proclaimed the Gospel and he proclaimed the Gospel
and Paul went everywhere throughout the world and he proclaimed the
Gospel. It works out in activities, brothers and sisters, doesn't
it? We pray and we long for others. We believe what God says. And
we act on faith. We act on faith. So many of God's
saints have at times had to put themselves in places where all
it does is hurt. All it does is hurt. Our friend
down the coast has gone through a similar circumstance. It's
like putting a hand in the vice and winding the handle. You know
it is going to hurt. But the Lord has promised, hasn't
he, that he that honoureth me, he will honour. It's simply trusting
our souls and all the well-being of our existence in his hands. It acts and it hurts. I know who I am to believe and
I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have entrusted
unto Him. It entrusts things into His hands,
entrusts everything for our soul's well-being. We entrust ourselves
into His hands. We are called upon and will,
in a sense, have to forsake all sorts of things in this world,
be forsaken of family, and God's children will gladly confess
Him. The Church grew under intense
persecution. Tintaglian said that the blood
of the saints is the seed of the Church. The Church grew in
amazing ways under the most intense persecution. It works out. Faith
believes, and faith looks to Him, but without faith, and we
read it earlier in Hebrews 11.6, but without faith it is impossible
to please Him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder. You see,
His presence, His presence with you for a few milliseconds, brothers
and sisters, is a greater reward than all the gold of this universe. His presence with you. As I've
often said, if we had known what presence the Lord brought to
his dying saints in time and to his martyred children, we
would be envious of what they experienced. We need to prepare
ourselves because it's been the path of God's children throughout
this world and will continue to be so. It is in our land a
peaceful time for a season in some sense. But it won't always
be so, it hasn't been so in the past. Saving faith trusts the
Lord Jesus Christ, and saving faith causes God's children to
act. And lastly, but not least, I'd
like to think about the sustenance of faith, how it's sustained.
We've seen that it comes from God. It's the faith that is in
Him, the faith that works out in the lives of the apostles,
proclaiming the Gospel, performing these miracles that give more
entrance to more proclamation of the Gospel. Peter and the church were about
to undergo more persecution and it never stops. And they were,
as their lives went on, persecution turned from being a persecution
of the Jews and the Romans on the outside to being a battle
with false teaching from within the church, which is far more
insidious and often far more hurtful and far more painful. But God's children persevere. I don't know if you remember
Pilgrim's Progress, but it is worth reading if you don't. But
Christian is taken into the interpreter's house and he's shown a lot of
what will befall him. He's taken into a room and there's
a wall, and there's a fire burning on the wall, and there's a person
throwing water on, continually pouring water on the fire. And
Christian asked the interpreter, well, what's going on here? And
he said, that's Satan continually pouring water on the flames of
faith. And he said, I'll tell you around
the back of the wall. Come around the back of the wall.
And there's another one pouring oil on the fire. And the interpreter
said, well, who's that? He said, that's the Lord Jesus
Christ. No matter what Satan does to
hinder the work of faith in the lives of his saints, our Lord
Jesus is where right now, brothers and sisters? He's sitting on
the throne of this universe. He's where right now, brothers
and sisters? He's indwelling his people. He's where? Where is he? He's here with his
people. The one that is in you is greater
than the one that is in the world. Of all the discouragements that
come along, he's bigger than all of that. Dear oh dear, he's
bigger than all of that. It's God's devil. He can't do
anything to harm the spiritual well-being of people. And he's
overcome this world which so bears down on us. See, faith
perseveres. it perseveres because it's the
faith that's in me. If it's come from Him, and it's
sustained by Him, and it rebounds with glory to Him, then He'll
maintain it. He'll take you. I don't know
about you brothers and sisters, but He takes you through a situation
where you just go down and down and down, and you feel like it's
all just gone too much, and then somehow By a miraculous hand
like the hand that picked up this lame man and brought him
into the temple, you find yourself walking and leaping and praising
God, and your circumstances often haven't changed at all. It's
God. It's God's work, isn't it? He
gets all the glory. He alone raises the dead. He alone has the words of eternal
life, and we have nowhere else to go. He raises the dead and
quickens them, and the Son gives life to whom He will. Ezekiel said, can these dead
barns live? Can these dead barns live? They
can in the hands of our great Redeemer. That's why Acts 3 20
is remarkable. And he shall send Jesus Christ,
which was preached to you. You believe in Him, He comes
because He said. What did Paul say of his conversion
in Galatians 1? He says, but I've got all of
my other life, it's all done, look absolutely polished and
fancy and the world thought I was wonderful and so did I. I was
patted on the back from morn till evening. All of that he
counted done. But when he pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son. He revealed His Son to him, but
that's not what Paul says, is it? He revealed His Son in me,
that I might preach Him among the heathen. He reveals His Son
in His people. It's Christ in you, the hope
and glory. It's Christ sustaining faith
which gives us faith. And just as I finish, which is
why in the scriptures so often it is called your faith. It is
yours, brothers and sisters in Christ, as a personal possession,
isn't it? It's your faith. It's remarkable,
isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ performed
these remarkable miracles. That lady who came, having been
bleeding for 12 years, she came and touched his garment. She said, if I just touch him,
if I touch his garment, I'll be healed. And what did the Lord
Jesus say to her? He said, daughter, thy faith
has made thee whole. Now when she went home to her
rejoicing family that evening, what would she have said? Look
what I have done by my faith. See, true faith, true faith is
owned by the children of God. It's the possession of the children
of God. It's a precious possession. It's
a possession that looks outside of itself and looks to Him. She
wouldn't have said that, would she? She would have said it was
the Lord Jesus Christ. He was amazing. I touched Him and He
healed me. Again and again He describes
it as your faith. He describes the trial of your
faith is much more precious and gold. You are receiving the end
of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Who by Him do
you believe? In God. Believe in the God that
has been declared in these Gospel sermons by Peter. By Him do you
believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him
glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.