I feel like the only thing I
need to do is stand up here and just say amen and sit back down. That was an outstanding message. Turn to Acts chapter 3. Acts
chapter 3. I preached from this last Sunday,
this portion of scripture. Doug was there, Rhonda was there. And I thought of a situation
when I was at 13th Street and Henry was preaching. And at the
end of the message, I went back and told him how much I appreciated
the message, how much I got out of it. And there was a gentleman
came back and he said to Henry, he said, I heard you preach that
before. Henry said, no, you haven't. He said, yes, I heard you preach
that message once before. Henry said, no, you haven't.
This is the first time I've preached that message to this crowd at
this time. So no matter how many times we preach from a certain
portion of scripture, every time is the first time. There's something
always different. Every time I go to the well of
the scriptures, the same scriptures, I find more and more and more. So it's never just the same exact
message. It'll be from this portion of
scripture, it'll be for this hour, and it'll be for you. So
let's look at this. Now I titled this, A Beautiful
Story and a Beautiful Gate with a Beautiful Ending. That's the
title of it. Now we know that throughout the
word of God, we have many examples of God's saving mercy, grace,
power. Is anything too hard for God?
No. Not our God. Not our God. Not the God of the scriptures.
Not the God of heaven and earth. Nothing is too powerful that
he can't overcome it. Nothing at all. Here in Acts
chapter 3 we have such an example of God's power to save, God's
mercy. You know, when you read the gospels,
and you read where the Lord gave sight to the blind, he made the
deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, the lame to walk, and the dead
to rise, all of these have spiritual implications. This is what he
does to us spiritually when he raises us from the dead. When
he gives us life, he gives us eyes of faith to see him. We see him, the world can't,
he said, the world will see me no more, but you see me. You
see me, you see Jesus Christ, don't you? He's as real to you
as you are to yourself. But the world can't see him.
The world sees him as a historical figure. We don't see him as a
historical figure, we see him as our living Lord. He's alive
right now. He's seated at God's right hand.
And you see him by faith, you see him. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for. Real faith, real God-given faith
gives substance to the things that we hope for. Now let's look
at this. Here in verse one, Peter and
John. You know, grace can make opposites
walk together. There couldn't be two more opposite
characters and personalities than John and Peter. Peter was
all out. He was all out. And John was
more reserved and quiet. And when you read the scriptures,
this is the image you get of them. And here they are. Walking
together, it's like Mary Magdalene, whom the Lord cast out seven
devils. Then you got Mary, who's called the mother of Jesus. What
is gonna make those two walk together? I'll tell you what'll
make them walk together, the grace of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. They have one love, the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only thing that's
gonna make those two Marys walk together. And the only thing that's gonna make
a John and a Peter walk together is the grace of God. That's the
only thing that can make us walk together in harmony, who have
such different personalities. But here they are walking up
to the temple at the hour of prayer. Now what are they doing
going up to the temple? Why is John and Peter going up
there? They have nothing to do with
their ceremonies anymore. Those things are over with. I'll tell
you why they're going up there. They're looking for the opportunity
to preach the gospel. They're going up there at this
hour of prayer, and no doubt their prayer is that the Lord
will open the door because Peter was the apostle to the Jews.
And they're asking the Lord in prayer to open that door. And
lo and behold, he does. He does. He opens that door.
And as they go up, in verse two, there's laying by this gate,
this beautiful, it's called a beautiful gate, there's a lame man. A man,
listen, he's laying from his mother's womb. He's never walked. So you can imagine his legs have
no, they've never even developed. There's no muscular strength
whatsoever in this man's legs. He's never used them. He's laying
from his mother's womb. Now listen here. Here's a man
who's laying through no fault of his own. He's laying. He's never walked
through no fault of his own. It's a birth defect. It's something
from his birth. Something he inherited. It's
a birth defect. Here's a man who is a beggar
because of his lameness, because of his birth, because of what
happened to him at birth, he's now a beggar. And he has to beg
for a living. He's hoping upon the mercy of
those who go into the temple. They lay him at this gate every
day, every day. Is this not a picture of everyone
whom the Lord saves? Is it not a picture of us? I did not become a sinner at
a certain age. I did not reach the age of accountability
and I became a sinner. I was born one. I was born a
sinner through no fault of my own. Adam made me a sinner. I fell in Adam. I received the
nature of my father Adam. And because of that nature I
received, I am a sinful man. And I sin because I want to.
I fell in Adam, I sinned in Adam, I sinned through a representative,
but thank God I am also saved in a representative. Don't you
see the wisdom of God in representation? God views this whole human race
in two people. Adam, the first Adam, and Christ,
the second Adam. In the first man we died, Adam. In the second man, Christ, we
are made alive. Those whom He saves. Adam represented
the whole human race. Christ represents the whole heavenly
race. And God sees us in these two
men. And I was made a sinner in Adam. And because of that,
I was made a beggar. In other words, here's what I'm
saying. I don't deserve mercy. Does this
beggar deserve what he asked for? Does he deserve the alms
that he's begging for? I and you do not deserve what
we asked for. That's why it's called mercy.
And not a debt that God, God does not owe me salvation. God
does not owe anyone salvation. God saved because of his, he
loved me. Why did God love me? Because
he loved me. That's all I know. Because of
who he is. It's just like him to do so.
God loved me, chose me, called me, put me in Christ. I'm a mercy
beggar. That's what Cecil Roach used
to call us all the time there at 13th Street, mercy beggars. Just mercy, that's all we are,
mercy beggars. Lord have mercy on me. And this beggar here, he saw
Peter and John about to go into the temple, and he asked alms
from them. And Peter, along with John, stopped. They stopped. You know, usually when you see
a beggar, you kind of go around them. That's usually what happens. But they didn't. They didn't. They didn't ignore him. Being
under the power of the Holy Spirit, they stopped. And they looked
on him. just like I'm looking on you
with seriousness. Because Darwin said it last night,
preaching is serious business. This, I'm telling you, this is
a matter of life and death. The glory of God's attached to
the messages we preach. Eternal salvation is attached
to the message. because Christ is the message.
He's the message. I'm not just up here giving my
opinion. I'm up here preaching Christ,
as we heard just a few minutes ago. Well, they stopped and they looked
on him. They looked on him seriously. And Peter said, now, look on
us. They looked on him. He said,
now, you look. Give us your attention. I sat in that pew, and I was
sitting in it a little while ago. You have to keep a rest
in your mind, don't you? You know, you're sitting there,
you're listening, you're gripped with it, and then all of a sudden
your mind starts to drift, and you gotta get your mind back.
And he says, this man, you look on us. Pay attention to us. Look on us. Give us your full
attention. Because Peter is about to give a command. He's not going to invite this
man to do anything. He's going to command this man to stand
up in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It's like Ezekiel. He didn't invite the bones to
come together. You don't go to a graveyard and invite the dead
to rise. Here's a man that needs mercy. Here's a man laying from his
mother's womb and Peter's about to give him a command in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ to stand up and walk. And he does. He does. I'm sure this beggar, this beggar,
he was looking for some silver and some gold. He's looking for
some money. But he got a whole lot more than he was looking
for. I was found of them that sought me not. I was made known
unto them that asked not for me. I was not looking for Jesus
Christ when I found Him. I was not asking for Him. I was
not interested in Jesus Christ when Christ called me. But I
found Him. You know why? Because He found
me. He made Himself known to me. You see, at first we think
we found Him, then we find out later on, no, He found us. the shepherd found the lost sheep
is what happened. That's what happened. Now Peter
says this, he says, silver and gold have I none. They were not,
you know, they were not rich. They were not religious hooksters
like we have today on television who live in mansions and they
fleeced the sheep. They did not fleece the sheep,
they preached to the sheep. But they didn't fleece the sheep. And what that man needed though,
listen, what that man needed And what he received could not
and cannot be bought with silver and gold. You cannot buy salvation. You cannot buy life. You cannot
buy forgiveness. You know, Catholicism, you can
just throw some money in there and get you out of purgatory
or get you forgiven or go save a bunch of Hail Marys. That's
not going to get you anywhere. just deeper in, deeper in darkness
where it's gonna get you. But what this man needed and
what he received can't be bought with silver and gold. But Peter
said, but such as I have, I give thee. In the name, here's what
I have. I have the message, I have the
person, And in the authority of His name, of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, rise up and walk. I tell you what, in the power
of His name, you and I can be forgiven. In the power of His
name, we can spiritually walk and praise God, and in the power
of His name, we can know God. We can come to God in the power
of His name. What name do we pray in? His
name. Whatsoever you ask in my name.
You know, every time God the Father answers prayer, he's glorifying
his son. Every time God the Father saves
a sinner, he's glorifying his son. That's what he's doing. And Peter says here, he said,
in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Something dawned on
me when I was studying this last week. Over in chapter 4, it says
in verse 22, it says, for the man was above 40 years old on
whom this miracle of healing was shown. Never dawned on me
before until I've read it. That's what I'm saying. You can
read the same scriptures over and over and over. How many times
you reckon Jesus Christ of Nazareth passed by that man? He was laid
there every day. How many times you reckon that
man heard of Jesus Christ healing that? He healed a man with a
withered hand. He healed the other lame. He
healed the blind. He raised the dead. How many
times? And the Lord has already, now listen, the Lord has already
died and gone back to glory. How many times has he heard of
the stories of Jesus Christ of Nazareth? So when Peter said,
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I'm confident this man knew who he
was talking about. This man had saw him walk by
him. How many times did the Lord go
to the temple? How many times did he go there and preach? This man knew who he was talking
about. Because he was over 40 years
of age and he was laid there every day to beg alms and watch
the Lord walk by. He watched and heard all those
stories. So when Peter said, in the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, he knew who he was talking about. He knew. But Peter
used that name so that there'd be no doubt as to who performed
this miracle. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He
used that name that the Jews counted as a reproach. He used
that name that they said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
He used a name, that name that they knew, they knew. And he
said of Nazareth, because there was, Christ said, there'll be
many coming in my name. Paul said, they will come preaching
another Jesus. Make sure that Jesus Christ you
believe is the one in the Scripture, because there are many of them
preached. There are many Jesus preached, but there's only one
that's of God. And there's only one this Bible
reveals. So make sure that the one that
you believe, that I believe, is the Christ of this book. Now
how would I know that? Well, first of all, is He the
sovereign Christ? Is He the Christ who gives life
to whom He will? Not the one who wants to save
you if you will. Salvation has nothing to do with
my will. God makes me willing in the day of His power. He made
you willing in the day of His power. But it's because He willed
so according to the good pleasure of His will. He's the sovereign Christ, He's
the reigning Christ, He's the conquering Christ, He's the omnipotent
Christ, He's the omniscient Christ, He is the eternal Christ from
the beginning. Jesus Christ, the Son, has no
beginning in the days. The man The man was created 2,000
years ago. The human flesh, nature, the
body of Christ was created. The son was given. Isaiah said,
a son is given unto us. A son is given unto us. A child
is born. The son is given. The child is
born. Because God, as God Almighty,
can't bleed. God can't die. But God, as a
man, can. And so when Peter speaks of Christ
here, he's making sure they know who he's talking about. He says
over there in chapter four, verse 10 and 11, be it known unto you
all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from
the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole. That's who he is. This is the
stone which was set at night of you builders, which has become
the head of the corner. This is the Christ. He's saying
this is the Christ you've been looking for. This is Him. This
is the seed of the woman. This is the promised Messiah.
And you crucified Him. You crucified Him. Peter makes
sure that they know that The power that healed him wasn't
of Peter. It was in the name of Jesus Christ. You know, a name reveals a person. If I give you a name of someone
that you know, automatically the character of that person
comes to your mind. I mean, you can visualize the
person's size and his personality. Whenever we talk about the name
of Christ, we're not talking about just using a name. We're
talking about the one that name reveals. You can go through Jehovah-Jireh. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can go through the names of God that's revealed in the
Old Testament scriptures. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord will provide. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord our righteousness, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
in His name that you and I are saved. There's no other name
given under heaven whereby we must be saved. But there is a
name, and that name is Jesus Christ. Now it says in verse 7 that Peter,
Peter took him by the hand and lifted him up. When he gave him
that command, he took him by the hand and lifted him up. The
Holy Spirit, in the saving of a sinner, he lifts that beggar
off the dunghill, sets his feet upon the rock, Christ Jesus,
and establishes his going. He lifts us up. What's that song
we sing? He lifted me up out of the deep
miry clay. He does that. He does that. You know, salvation is not a
cooperative effort between me and the Lord. It's not a cooperative
effort. It's the Lord saving me from
my sins. It's not the Lord saving me as
Arminianism would have you to believe. It's a matter of being
saved from hell. No, it's not. It's a matter of
being saved from your sins and being made one with God. That's
what salvation is. It has nothing to do with the
place. It has everything to do with the person. It has everything
to do with God saving me from my sins, that I may be one with
Him in Jesus Christ. That's what salvation is. Now notice here in verse 8. After Peter gave him that command,
he stands up, he leaped. He didn't just stand up, he leaped.
He's leaping. He's leaving with joy. You know,
I've never seen anyone whom the Lord has saved get upset about
it. I've never seen anyone get mad
because the Lord saved them. Now I had a man say to me one
time, my friend, years ago, he said to me, I wish the Lord hadn't
saved you, because he and I didn't run together no more. We didn't
do the things we were doing together no more. Because it's going to
change your company. It's going to change the people
you run with. And that's why he said, but it didn't make me
mad. It didn't upset me. I've never made anyone upset
because God saved them. Never. This man leaped. He was leaping with joy, but
I noticed something else here. He entered the temple. He was
sitting outside the gate, he couldn't go anywhere. He was
laying, but now he's in the temple. He's in the temple leaping and
praising God. In Christ, we have entered right
into the Holy of Holies, where you and I were not allowed before.
But in Christ, we have entered into the Holy of Holies, into
the presence of God, that's where we have entered. Oh, I wouldn't
have, God, we'd get a hold of that. The access, think about
this now, you and I are, well, maybe I shouldn't, maybe I should
just say me. I feel so dull when I realize
the access to the one of the universe. I literally have access
to the one who said, let there be light. I have access to the
one who commands, who gives a command and it happens, who commands
the angels and they do his bidding. I have access to him. And how
little I make use of that access. And I feel so, like I said, I
feel so dull in my thinking, in my feelings, when I realize
that I have access to him. I have access, you know, I don't
have access to the president of the United States. I can't
go there and just knock on the door. I can't go there and just
walk right in. I can't do it. But yet I can
go into the presence of God Almighty in the name of Christ at any
given time. That's amazing. And the very
fact that we're so dull in that, just, aren't you glad salvation's
all of grace? We'd all be in hell. And ought
to. And ought to. Amazing grace. Henry said one time, when grace
quits being amazing, it's not grace no more. And it quits being
amazing. And all the people, listen, all
the people saw him walking and praising God, you know, people
just like my friend, they recognize a difference. Now if the world
doesn't recognize a difference, there's a problem. Beware when
all men speak well of you. If the world doesn't recognize
the difference, there's a problem. They saw him walking and praising
God. He was leaping. You know, our
God doesn't do anything in a corner. He doesn't save. This is not
a secret society. When God saves someone, He saves
them openly. Like that woman with the issue
of blood. Remember how she came to Him and she just wanted to
touch the hem of His garment? And then He turned around and
He said, Who touched me? Now He knew who touched Him. But He's
going to draw her out because He has no secret disciples. But
the Lord said, you're going to confess Christ. You're going
to confess Him in baptism, and you're going to confess Him openly
before the church and before the world. You're going to own
Him. You're going to own Him. And this man, he's leaping and
praising God. He's not ashamed of that name.
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. There's
not a believer in this room that's ashamed of Jesus Christ. You
and I are the ones that ought to be ashamed. of what we are
and what we've done and still what we do. Even after the Lord
saves us, we sin against light, grace, and yet He's still gracious
and merciful and kind and forgiving my soul. In verse 10, they couldn't
deny that a miracle had been done. They couldn't deny it. Here's a lesson in providence.
It was not by chance that the man was laying at that gate for
all those years. It wasn't by chance. God had
his eye on this man before the world began. This man for 40
years, for over 40 years, now listen, he's crippled. He's got
a miserable life, especially back then. They didn't have what
we have now. He had a miserable life, but yet that's one of God's
children. That one with issue blood, all
those years. She spent all of her living upon
all these physicians. And it says, it was none the
better, but rather grew worse. But she was God's child. And God has allowed many of you
to go through a lot of things. He's allowed you to go through
some hard things. But you're His. And now you can look and
you can see the mercy of God has followed you all the days
of your life. Hasn't it? From birth I can look
back on my life and I can point out at two different times that
I should be in the grave. And yet the Lord is merciful
to me. Merciful to me. He crossed my path just like
here. It's not by chance. It's not
by chance. You don't hear the gospel by
chance. You never hear the gospel by chance. You're not here by
the chance this morning. Everyone here this morning is
here because you're supposed to be here. And God has a word
for you, every one of you. God's gonna cross the path of
his sheep at the appointed time with the appointed preacher,
Philip. Leave some area. Got a successful ministry going
there. People are listening. You know,
you got a big crowd. I want you to go to the desert.
Why would you want to go preach in the desert? Because there's
one sheep, a eunuch. And I want you to go there. And
you're going to preach to him. And you know what he was doing?
He was reading the Word of God. He was reading the word of God,
and God sent him a preacher. God prepared him, like that woman
with the issue of blood, that woman at the well, he said, I
gotta go through Samaria, must go through Samaria. The disciples
didn't know why, but the Lord did. There was a sheep there.
And this lame man was so overjoyed, in verse 11, that he couldn't
let Peter and John go. As I was telling the congregation
last Sunday, the man whom God uses to bring the gospel to you
will always be special. Henry Mayhem will always be special
to me in a way that nobody else will. Because I heard the gospel
through him. And that person will always be
special. But I'll tell you something else. He held on to them because
they had the message. They had the message. The religion
going on at that time didn't have the message, but they did.
They did. And now here comes the sermon.
I'll keep this brief. In verse 12, the first thing
Peter does is he disclaims all the credit for this man's healing.
They thought Peter and John had this special power. Peter said,
oh, no, no, no, no. Don't look at us. I'm just a voice. John the Baptist
said, I'm just a voice. That's all I am. If God were
to save someone this morning, we're just a voice, aren't we,
Darwin? That's all we are. We're just ministers, Paul said,
by which you have believed. That's all we are, ministers. John the Baptist said this. He
must increase, I must decrease. Sometimes I wish as I preached,
and if I could preach under the power of the Holy Spirit, that
I could be going like this during my preaching. You know, and I
could just go outside, and all you could hear would be me preaching. And all you could hear would
be my voice. And when I finished, all you could think of is the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's our goal in preaching,
isn't it? That we could just shrink out
of sight, and all you're left with is Jesus Christ. That's
all. And Peter says, why are you marveling
at this miracle? Why should we marvel at such
a miracle? All things are possible with God. You know, the Lord
said one time, he said to the disciples, when he was talking
about that rich man, he said how hard it is for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of God. He said it's easier for a camel
to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of heaven. You know what he did? The next
chapter, he saved a rich man. Zacchaeus. He saved Zacchaeus,
a rich man. Showing them that all things
with God are possible. Because they said, well, if it's
hard for a rich man to be saved, who can be saved? I'll tell you who can be saved.
Those whom he saves. That's who can be saved. And
nobody else. No one else. And Peter said,
the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers,
they knew exactly who he's talking about. He's saying this, he's
the one, he's the one, the one we claim to worship, the one
we claim to be our God, he is the one who raised him from the
dead, which shows his approval of him. He said His approval
of Him by raising Him from the dead. He said, God of our fathers
is the one who raised Him from the dead. Boy, you imagine. This
crowd that He's preaching to, they saw Jesus Christ hanging
on a cross. They saw Him. I've never seen him with my eyes.
I just see him through the scriptures. I see him through the eyes of
faith. But they literally watched him hang on that cross. And they
said, God, the God whom we claim to worship, raised that man from
the dead. Oh, he's alive. He's alive. Now what are we going
to do? Now what? He says, God hath glorified him. God's glorified him. And here's
the charge, whom you delivered up. So you see, sin must be brought
home to the heart. We can't just talk about sin
in generalities. Sin is against God. Now listen,
God may use a particular sin that you have done to bring you
to see what a wretch you are by nature. He may take a particular
sin, but I tell you what, if God's saving you, here's what
it's gonna lead to. You will mourn when you look
on him whom you've pierced. The power of repentance is this,
against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil on
thy side. It's not that I've just stolen something. It's not
what I did that's so bad, it's the one I did it against. Yes,
what I did is bad, but I did what I did because of what I
am. But David said, against thee and thee only have I sinned and
done this evil. What? With God looking on in
thy sight. I did this right in the face
of God. Right in the face of the one who's given me mercy.
Right in the face of one who's given me life. Right in the face
of one who gives me my food, my breath, my everything. I sinned
right in his face. Boy, you talking about, you talking
about being wretched, a stupid wretch. I was trying to be polite,
but that's what it is. To do this right in the face
of God, that's the offense of sin. It's who it's against. It's against God. And he says
here, you delivered him up, you denied him in the presence of
Pilate. Pilate was determined to let
him go. You had the opportunity to let him go, and you said no,
crucify him. They are just an example of the
whole human race. God doesn't have to make an example
of everybody. He just gives an example right here. This is the
human race. This is what we think of God.
Crucify. The opportunity was given to
let him go. You said no. Crucify. Put him
to death. That's what we think of God.
If we could, now, if we could, we would kill God. We would cut
his throat and drag him off the throne, if that were possible.
Every last one of us. And it was proven at Calvary.
It was proven. And you denied, he says here
in verse 14, you denied the Holy One and the Judge. You didn't
just deny a man. He's more than a man. You denied
the Holy One and a judge. You denied God. And you desired a murderer to
be granted unto you. Give man his way. Give him his will. And this is
what he'll do. He'll choose evil every time. He will choose it
every time. Like a kid would choose candy
over a steak. Every time. Man drinks iniquity like water. And you killed, he said there
in verse 50, you killed the prince of life, you killed the author
of life, but God raised him from the dead. You killed him, but
God raised him. Well, I'll tell you what, thank
God it doesn't stop there. Now comes the good news. And
His name, through faith in His name, hath made this man strong,
whom ye see and know. Yea, the faith which is by Him,
the faith which is by the Lord Jesus Christ, by His... Faith
is a gift of God, do you know that? I know you know that. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that's not of yourself, it's the gift of God. That faith,
that saving faith, is a work of God. It's a work of God. That faith is by Him. That righteousness
which we are saved by is by Him. It's by His faithfulness. You
know Jesus Christ believed God perfectly. As a man, He believed
God. He's God, and yet as a man, He
believed God. You remember when Peter said,
Lord, if it's You, bid me to come out on the water. And the Lord said, well, come
on. And he stepped out on that water. Peter actually walked
on water for a few steps. And he started to sink. I never saw this before, I'd
seen this about a year ago. But there's one man standing
on that water whose faith never failed. That man, Jesus Christ. And it's his righteousness and
his faithfulness by which we are saved. And by the work of
God, he enables us to believe him and receive him and lay hold
of him. Peter said, the faith which is
by him has given this man his perfect soundness. And now brethren, I know you
did it through ignorance. Listen, this had to happen. This
had to happen. This had to happen. He had to
die. He had to die. But those things which God, he
said before, has showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that
Christ should suffer, he has so fulfilled. It's had to happen
for God to be a just God and a Savior. Now he says in verse
19, repent ye. They just crucified the Son of
God. And what's the verdict? He says, repent. It's like when
Adam fell in the garden. When Adam fell and sinned against
God, what happened? He heard the voice of God walking
in the garden in the cool of the day, not hellfire and brimstone. You know why? Because the matter
had already been taken care of. It had already been taken care
of. Just like Nathan said to David
concerning Bathsheba, he said, God hath put away your sin. Christ
is a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It's already taken
care of. So repent ye and be converted
that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord. Now I want you to
get this. Now get this, listen to me, this
is important. Because here's what he's saying.
The same blood that you shed is the same blood that can wash
away your sin of shedding it. What are we going to do? We killed
the author of life. We crucified the Son of God.
What are we going to do? Repent. Repent and believe Him. Look
to Him. Sue for mercy. Because the same blood that you
shed can cleanse you from the sin of shedding it. That's amazing. That's amazing. And He shall send Jesus, which
before was preached unto you. He's coming again. He said He's not dead. He's coming
again. Jesus Christ is coming again. You believe that? Are
your bags packed? Are your backs packed? That's
like I heard a story, I think it was Henry's. We've heard a
lot of stories from Henry Goodwin. But he's talking about a man
taking his little girl and they were going to pray for rain because
it hadn't rained for forever. Hadn't rained for a long time.
And so he's, and the little girl said, where we going? She said,
he said, we're gonna go down to the church and we're gonna
pray that it rains. And the little girl went and
she got her umbrella. And the father said, what are you bringing
your umbrella for? He said, you said you were going to pray for
rain. He didn't believe what he was
praying for, but she did. She took him at his word. Take him
at his word. He that comes to me, I'll never
cast out. Take him at his word. And He's
going to send Jesus Christ, who before was a priest to you, whom
the heaven must receive until the times of restitution or restoring. I told you last night, that's
what's going on. Jesus Christ is restoring all
things. Jesus Christ is going to restore
all things and deliver all things up to the Father. That's what's
going on. That's what's going on. He's going to restore all things
which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since
the world began. You know, the interesting thing about the
believers, we know the future. We know the
future. People go and they try to get
their palms read and they get, you know, all these stupid things. By the word of God, we know the
future. There's going to be a new heaven
and new earth. We're going to dwell in righteousness, no more
crying, no more death. That's going to happen. We have
a good end. I'm going to end on this note.
We have a good end. We have a good future coming.
We ought to be the happiest people on earth. We ought to rejoice. All right, I got to quit. Don't until next time.