Acts 16. Now, last time, our first point
was that a true confession of Christ is produced by Christ
Jesus the Lord. In verse 35 it says, And when
it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, Let those
men go. They had a change of heart, and
they decided to let Paul and Silas go. And in this we noted
that natural causes may produce a change of heart, but a mere
change of heart produced by natural causes is not a true confession
of Christ. The new heart is created within
a sinner by Christ through the Holy Spirit. Repentance and faith
are of God. And so from the heart, the mouth
confesses what God's done in the heart. And it's of God. Christ has to create the confession
that the mouth speaks. And then secondly, we looked
at confessing Christ means that we'll stand for the glory of
God our Savior. But we'll do that only by the
sufficiency of God's grace, of Christ sustaining us to stand
for Him and confess Him. In verse 36, the keeper of the
prison told Paul that the magistrates, he said, they've sent to let
you go, now therefore depart and go in peace. But Paul said
unto them, They've beaten us openly, uncondemned, being Romans,
and have cast us into prison. Now do they thrust us out privily? Nay, verily, but let them come
themselves and fetch us out." Paul believed God from the heart,
and so Paul, he wouldn't leave that prison privately. For the
honor and glory of Christ, he wouldn't leave that prison privately
when what had been the shameful treatment that he and Silas had
encountered at the hands of these men had been done publicly. And
he wouldn't leave them opportunity to say they were right and falsely
charge Paul and Silas. And we saw that this came from
the sufficiency of God's grace. We saw Stephen, we looked at
Stephen and how in the face of opposition, his face was shining
like an angel. And he said, I looked up into
heaven and I beheld, he beheld Christ standing. And that's an
example of what the Lord promised. He said, when they bring you
before the rulers, don't worry about what you'll speak. I'll
give you the words to speak. And He gives us the grace to
stand. And then thirdly, we saw that
confessing Christ, therefore, is a public confession. It's
a public thing. We're going to be brought to
confess Christ publicly. We do it from the beginning of
our profession to the end. And these magistrates, they were
claiming that, or well, they were doing what many do when
they confess, claim to confess Christ. They were trying to do
it privately, do something privately that they had The error was public,
but they were trying to confess so-called error and Paul's rightness
privately, which is sort of the same principle as somebody that
would try to confess Christ but keep it a secret and not come
out in public and say, I'm guilty and Christ is righteous. He's
all my hope and all my stay. And so we saw that. Now, after the message, Scott
brought up an observation that I thought was a good observation,
and I want to address it tonight before we go any further. Scott
had said that, you know, it's going to be on folks' mind that
what about Peter and when Peter denied the Lord? That supports what we looked
at in these three points. The confession is the result
of what God has done in the heart, and we stand for Christ because
of the sufficiency of God's grace in the heart, and that we do
publicly. Look with me over at Matthew
26. What happened with Peter was that the Lord Jesus Christ
was teaching him He was teaching him what we have looked at here
in these points. That confession of Christ and
that boldness to stand in the face of opposition is only by
the sufficiency of God's grace. It's not something we have in
ourselves. And we have to be taught that
just like Peter had to be taught that. But look with me in Matthew
26, verse 31. Jesus saith unto them all ye shall be offended
because of me this night For it is written This is written
in the scripture. There's no doubt that you're
not going to be offended at me this night It's written. I will
smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad But after I'm risen again, I will go before you into Galilee
Peter answered and said unto him though all shall be offended
because of thee yet will I never be offended Jesus said unto him
verily I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow thou
shalt deny me thrice and Peter said unto him again Though I
should die with thee yet will I not deny thee and likewise
also said all the disciples the wise man said pride goeth before
destruction and a haughty spirit before fall and He that trusteth
in his own heart is a fool, but whoso walketh wisely, he shall
be delivered. It says, a man's pride shall
bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.
What does Scripture teach us? Give honor to whom honor is due.
Honor upholds the humble in spirit. Give honor to whom honor... Christ
is the one that's going to sustain us, not we ourselves. So, then
in verse 52, That carnal nature hates to be denied, and I think
that here in this passage that Peter, in the way of our flesh,
that we will do when we're lifted up with pride, I think Peter
probably thought that by cutting off the soldier's ear, he was
proving to Christ that he wasn't going to deny him. He just wasn't
going to deny it. But what the Lord said to Peter
right here is what we have to be taught in the heart and what
Peter was being taught in the heart. Look at verse 52. Then said Jesus unto him, Put
up again thy sword into his place, for all they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword. You know what that sword represented?
That sword represented the strength of man's hand. That sword represented
our own power and our own might. That's what it represented. And
the Lord said, Put that up. Put it up. Thinkest thou that
I cannot now pray to my Father? He shall presently give me more
than 12 legions of angels But how then shall the scriptures
be filled we fulfilled that thus it must be you remember what
we saw there in Zechariah the Lord said unto Zerubbabel not
by might nor by power But by my spirit said the Lord of hosts.
That's what the Lord is teaching Peter and teaching us It's not
gonna be by your power and your might but by my spirit that this
is gonna be done. I And this was truly the instruction
the Lord was teaching Peter when he said, do you not think that
I could pray to my Father and He would give me these things?
And truly, if we want the strength, we want the sufficiency, we want
the wisdom, we want... Go to Christ our High Priest
for help in time of need. This is not going to be by our
might, not by our power. It's going to be by the sufficiency
of His grace. Paul said, who's sufficient for
these things? None of us are sufficient for
the things that Christ has put into our hands. The sufficiency
is all of Him. So Peter was taught, and we're
taught by him. Now look down at verse 69. Matthew
26, 69. This is what we'll do without
Christ strengthening us. And Christ left Peter to himself
to experience this. Look at verse 69. Now Peter sat
without in the palace, And a damsel came unto it. A damsel, a young
girl, came to it, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But Peter denied before them
all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And you know what's
remarkable about this to me is that it didn't dawn on him, I
don't guess, that he was denying the Lord in this. And when he
was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him and said
unto them that were there, this fellow was also with Jesus of
Nazareth. And again, he denied with an
oath and said, I don't know the man. And after a while came unto
him, they that stood by and said to Peter, surely thou also are
one of them, for thy speech betrayeth thee. And then began he to curse
and to swear, saying, I know not the man, and immediately
the cock crowed. And Peter remembered. He remembered
then the word of Jesus which said unto him before the cock
crowed, Thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. That's why we read in 1 Corinthians,
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he
fall. The Lord said, I am the vine,
ye are the branches. I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit." This standing for the glory of Christ and confessing
Christ is the fruit Christ that he brings for he said he that
abides in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit
for without me you can do nothing now keep in mind here how Peter
wept bitterly and this will go well with our subject tonight
but let me give you an illustration here what what what the Lord's
teaching us have you ever driven a car that's out of line The
wheels are all out of balance and it's out of line You have
to hold on to the steering wheel of that car To keep it going
down the road because if you take your hand off of it, it'll
go straight into the ditch Every sinner saved by God's grace is
just like that Christ keeps his hand on us and he keeps us going
in the way we should go if he takes his hand off of us brethren
This is what we'll do right here, what Peter did. That's why we
saw that last week. Now our subject this time is
Holy Spirit conviction. What I want you to see here is
a true, back in our text there, Acts 16, a true confession of
Christ arises from true Holy Spirit conviction. Now what's
conviction? Well, I'm probably not going
to say this to the satisfaction of scholars and what have you
who would divide and dissect everything but I'm just going
to tell you what I see it to be in scripture. Holy Spirit
conviction convinces a sinner that we are sinners. We're without strength. Not just
that we have sinned, but that we are sinners. That we are without
strength. And that sin is all we do. And
it also convinces us, is a conviction that Christ is Lord, and that
Christ is the Savior, and that Christ is all-sufficiency, that
He, in fact, is all. And I'll show you what I mean
by that. Here in verse 38, a conviction that somebody falls under when
they've been caught and they fear punishment, that's a legal
conviction is all it is. And it will result in a false
confession. The magistrates, we see a demonstration
of this. Look here now in verse 37 there
when Paul mentioned this that he was a Roman he says they've
beaten us openly Uncondemned being Romans, and they've cast
us into prison now that they do thrust us out privily Nay,
verily, but let them come themselves and fetch us out verse 38 says
and the sergeants told these words unto the magistrates and
they feared when they heard that they were Romans and they couldn't do anything to
a Roman citizen. Because if they did anything
to a Roman, what they had done to Paul and Silas, being Romans,
could mean death for these men. It could mean capital punishment
for these fellows. It could mean they would lose
everything. But notice what it says, they feared when they heard
that they were Romans. They didn't fear because they
had done this against the true and living God. They didn't fear
because they had done this against His Christ. They didn't fear
because they had done this against the Lord's ambassadors. They
didn't fear because they had done this against those babes
in Christ who had been called out right there at Philippi.
They didn't fear for any of those reasons. The magistrates feared
out of a total selfish, legalistic, reason, for a selfish legalistic
reason. They feared the punishment that was going to happen to them.
They feared losing their seats of respect before the people. They feared losing their seat
of power. They were in a panic to somehow
right their wrong immediately before this thing got out and
they got in trouble. That was what this was. And this
is a mere fleshly legalistic conviction is what this is. Now
look back at the jailer and you'll see the difference that grace
makes. Look back up at verse 29. Remember what we saw here? He called for a light and sprang
in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and
brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? You
know, the jailer didn't know how to say what he felt. He didn't
know how to put it in proper terms. All he knew how to say
was to say it the way that old fleshy nature thinks you ought
to say it. And he said, what must I do to
be saved? This statement is one who's beheld something of just
how holy God is and what a sinner he is. And a true Holy Spirit
conviction cries out and says, how can a God so holy have anything
to do with a wretch like me? How can I be saved? How can I
be just with God? So, true conviction, first of
all, has something to do with seeing our sin in light of the
revelation that God is holy and just and good. True conviction
has something to do with seeing our sin in light of God who is
holy and just and good. And true conviction is not only
that I've sinned, but that I've sinned against God. been given a true fear of God
in the new heart when we take sides with God. We take sides
with God and His holy justice and His goodness against ourselves. Turn over to Psalm 51. Psalm
51. You're familiar with this, but
I want you to read it. Psalm 51, verse 4. Psalm 51 for listen to what David
said against thee and thee only Have I sinned and done this evil
in thy sight You see it's not just it's not just the evil.
He's done. It's just not his sin that he's
concerned about It's that he's done this against God against
God only This is done in God's sight it's a it's a in a sense
that that might as be justified when i speak is to be clear when
now judges so this thing is more than just uh... cn and fearful
that among it punished it's happened in it's it's something about
seeing my cn but seeing how holy just in good god is in realizing
i've not just cn i'm not just i'm just not seeing uh... and
some Something out here in space. I've sinned against God. I've
sinned against my father I've sinned against the son of God
against the spirit of God I've sinned against a thrice holy
just and good God That has does nothing but good and I've done
this in his sight That's that's what this thing of conviction
has to do with and then here's the second thing. I want you
to see I Unless God has wrought the work which lays a sinner
prostrate before God, prostrate before God, a sinner will desire
to be saved only on his own terms. Until this has happened, we'll
want to be saved on our terms. We can see that illustrated here
with these magistrates as well. Look at verse 39. The magistrates
came and besought them and brought them out and desired them to
depart out of the city. You see, they went through the
motions. They did what Paul said do. They came to Paul. That was exactly
what Paul said. Let them come. They came to him.
They besought Paul and Silas. They even brought them out of
the prison. And you might note that that was enough for Paul
and Silas that the honor of Christ was upheld for them to go on
their way. But the fact is they did the
things Paul said do. But by their beseeching, we see
this same principle which is at work in a false conviction,
a false repentance, a false faith, a false confession. That is,
the magistrates pleaded for Paul to do things their way. They desired Paul and Silas to
leave. Get out of this city. We don't
want you here. That's what a mere conviction
of sin... I could stand here and paint
a picture of hell for you and harp on it bad enough that you
kids would go home tonight and want to sleep with your mom and
dad, you'd be so scared. You might even come up here and
say, Clay, I want to confess Christ. I'm scared to death.
I don't want to go to that place. But that wouldn't be confessing
Christ because you don't want to go to hell. These men didn't
want to be punished, and they would do whatever Paul said do
to keep from getting punished. But the heart of the matter was,
they really were beseeching Paul and Silas, we want you all away
from us. We just want you away from us
is what we want. And the man who's convicted in
a legal conviction like that, he just fears hell, he just wants
to be spared from hell, it's the same thing. He'll jump through
all the hoops he's got to jump through. He'll do everything
that Simon says do, that he has to do, but he's doing it because
the heart of the matter is, I want to get this thing settled and
get Christ out of my way so I can go on doing my thing and have
a clear conscience and put Him out of my midst. This shows us
that there can be much sincerity, but there's no true conviction,
no true repentance, no true faith, no true confession of Christ.
Now let me show you another example. Turn over to Hebrews 12, verse
17. Hebrews 12, verse 17. Now let's start reading verse
15. Now verse 14, follow peace with all and holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord. Now bear in mind in context what
he's talking about here. Looking diligently lest any man
fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing
up trouble you and thereby many be defiled, lest there be any
fornicator or profane person. Now he gives us an example of
what he's talking about. As Esau who for one morsel of
meat, for a bowl of beans, he sold his birthright. For you
know how that afterward, now watch this sincerity, watch this
outward, which you look at and think, man, that man is just
repentant. Look at this. Afterward, when
he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. He was rejected. For he found no place of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears. Esau's tears fell
because he had given away his inheritance for this morsel of
meat, just to satisfy his belly. And he later changed his mind.
He had a change of heart and would have the blessing, it says. In other words, he desired with
all the lust of the carnal flesh to have what he had given up
prior. That's what he wanted. He wanted
the inheritance. He wanted it bad. He lusted after
that inheritance. But he was rejected by Isaac,
his father. Because Esau found no place of
repentance and Isaac found no place of repentance in Esau.
The place of repentance is in the heart made new by Christ. But here's what was different
between him and the jailer, between Paul and the magistrates, between
a true confession and a false confession. Here's the difference.
A new heart repents not to have my father's inheritance. but
repents to have my Father. That's all the difference in
the world. Not merely to have my sins forgiven even, or to
escape hell, but to know that my Father whom I have sinned
against forgives me. You see the difference there?
This thing's not about just a doctrine of sin and you've got to be forgiven
from sin. It's not just about the doctrine
of repentance and you've got to go through an act of repentance.
It's not just about the doctrine of faith and you've got to believe.
It's not just about a doctrine. It's a person. It's a person. I don't want to just escape hell.
I want to know my God that I've sinned against has forgiven me. You see, it becomes a, you know,
whenever you and your spouse get into an argument over something,
y'all probably know, y'all probably have just perfect, perfect, it
looks like June and Ward Cleaver at your house, don't it? Well,
it's not always that way at my house, but when we have a disagreement
on something, And you know, you get all bent out of shape and
one of you goes one way and one of you goes the other way. Well,
what it is, it brings you back together. It's not so much that
you want to be forgiven for the thing you did or said or acted
up or whatever. It's that you want that one you
love to be at peace with. You want that one you love to
know that she's reconciled to you and you're reconciled to
her. That's the thing. You know, the actual transgression
is really secondary. And that's really, sin is not
just something that, some random thing we've done. Sin's against
our God. Sin is transgression against
our God. And so it's not just, I want
my sin put away. I want to be reconciled to my
God. Well, that was the difference
here. Esau just wanted the blessing. He just wanted the inheritance.
He just wanted what he had given up when he saw how much he had
given up. He didn't really want his father. He didn't want his
father to forgive him. Well, now let's see an example
of this true conviction, of true repentance, true faith. Look
at Luke 7. Luke 7. And I want you to catch
something here. Catch this now. Luke 7, verse
36, and I'll just read the whole thing to you. One of the Pharisees
desired the Lord Jesus Christ that he would eat with him. And
he went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. And behold,
a woman in the city which was a sinner." Everybody there knew
she was a sinner. Everybody there knew this woman
was a sinner. They knew it. They could tell
you things about her that would make you turn red as that fire
engine down there. But they didn't know she was
a sinner like she knew she was a sinner. They didn't know things
about her like she knew things about her. She knew she was a
sinner. And when she knew that Jesus
sat at meet in a Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster box
of ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and
began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs
of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisees, which had bidden him, saw it, he spake
within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would
have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth
him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, said unto
him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he said, Master,
say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors the one owed 500 pence and the other
50 and when they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them
both Tell me therefore which of them would love him most Simon
answered and said I suppose That he to whom he forgave most and
he said unto him thou has rightly judged and he turned to the woman
and said unto Simon Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine
house. Thou gavest me no water for my
feet. But she hath washed my feet with
tears, and wiped my feet with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest
me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased
to kiss my feet. My head withal thou didst not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore
I say unto thee, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she
cried a lot." Because she did what you Pharisees think repentance
looks like. Because she did what you Pharisees
say faith looks like. Because she went through all
the outward motions that religion says you ought to go through.
No. Because she loved much. She loved Christ. She loved a
person. She loved the one whom she had
sinned against. Because the one she had sinned
against forgave her of her sin. She loved much. You see the difference
between her and Esau? You see the difference between
her and that jailer? Between her and that those magistrates. Now, A repentant sinner, he will
be sincere. A repentant sinner, he will beseech
the Lord. But he'll do it from a heart
that rejoices in God's way. And when you're brought to that
place, brethren, when you're like this woman and you're kissing
the feet, you just want to kiss the feet of the Savior. You realize
that my sins are against thee and thee only. And you cry out,
how can I be just with God? When you're to the point that
you can't even, you don't even have the pride and the haughtiness
about you that you can lift your eyes up to God. When you can
just stand afar off and when you can just weep bitterly in
your heart, in your chest, in your soul, in your crown, God
be merciful to me a sinner. That's when God makes Christ
wisdom unto a sinner. When He makes us to behold that
Christ has fulfilled the will of God. that he has fulfilled
the law of God on my behalf, that he indeed is the power and
the wisdom of God in working salvation for his people, and
working in the hearts of his people, and handling vile, wretched,
God-hating sinners who would have killed him, and of dealing
with Satan, our enemy, and that he is the one that has done all
this and wrought all this. God has made him wisdom unto
us. And then when we behold that
in Him is the very righteousness, we don't even know what righteousness
is. Rightness. For God to be just
and the justifier. And we behold that in Christ,
God just declares boldly that He is just in saving sinners. Because He Himself has justified
the sinner. Christ becomes righteousness
to us. He's made unto us righteousness
by God. When we behold that we not only
have to be declared righteous, that we not only have to be righteous
in God's courts, but that we have to be holy in character
to enter into God, to God's presence. We have to be holy in character,
in person to be accepted of God. And that's something that just
can't be imputed to us, brethren. That has to be wrought in us. And that can't be by our might
and our power. That can only be by the Spirit
of grace, by the Spirit of Christ. And when we behold that Christ
truly is that holiness, whenever God makes Christ unto us sanctification,
it is because God, through the Holy Spirit, has formed Christ
in you. And now you can enter into God's
presence. Because you Christ is your sanctification
you have been made the holiness God requires to be able to enter
into him Not because of something I did not because of something
inherent in me But because Christ enters in me and Christ lives
and abides in me and I live and abide in him and now I can come
into God's presence Because I'm holy in him I'm holy in him Now
I have a desire to follow after holiness, not because I want
to try to get more holy, but because I am. Because I am. You know, I'm getting sidetracked
here, but Romans chapter 6. If you look at Romans chapter
6, whenever Paul gives this example, he says, brethren, I speak to
you out of the infirmity of the flesh. I'm giving you an earthly
analogy. But he said, when you were slaves
to sin, He said, you sinned unto... Let's look it up. Romans
6. Let me show it to you. Romans
6. Verse 19. Romans 6.19. I speak after the manner of men
because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded
your members, servants, slaves, to uncleanness and to iniquity
unto iniquity. Now you see that word unto right
there? That word can mean one of two things. That word can
either mean in order to become iniquity or it can mean because
you are iniquity. Now let me ask you a question.
Did you yield your members, servants, to uncleanness and to iniquity
in order to become iniquity? or because you were iniquity.
He says, even so now, yield your members servants to righteousness
because you are holiness. And if you'll go through and
read this chapter, it's not saying to become, to become, to become.
Start back up here. Verse 2, how shall we that are
dead to sin live any longer therein? We were baptized into His death. Verse 4, we are buried with Him
by baptism into death. Look at verse 6. Our old man
is crucified with him. The body of sin might be destroyed. It's destroyed. He that is dead
is freed from sin. You see what he's saying? He's
not saying the whole context of it is not to become something.
It is because you are something. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, because ye are not under the law, but ye are under grace."
Do you see that? And so he says, now as you sinned
like you did because you were slaves, because you were sinned,
now give yourself to righteousness not to be righteous or to behold
because you are and that's when christ has become sanctification
unto us when i stopped trying to be my own sanctifier and i
realized that he's the sanctifier he gonna get the glory for that
too and i'm not and then When we behold that, that this was
wrought when He purchased us with His own blood, and He bought
us, and that we are now the rightful purchased possession of Him,
God's made Him redemption unto us. And then, now we glory in
God on God's terms. And you know what God's terms
are? He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now we're
kissing his feet. Now we're breaking open that
alabaster box of ointment and crying over his feet for what
he's done because we loved him much by God's grace. You see
that? Well, let me finish it up here. I just have to come back to Peter.
I've got to show you this about Peter. Now go to John 21, 18
with me. Well, look at two different places
here, but I think you'll get a blessing from this. I did today
when I saw this. This is why Peter went out and
wept bitterly. But that same power and that
same grace kept Peter, taught Peter his constant need of Christ,
and this grace came and recovered Peter. Now listen to this. You
know before, the Lord told Peter, you're going to deny me tonight,
right? And Peter said, no, no, no, no, I won't deny you. Well,
after he came back this time and he recovers Peter, listen
to what he tells Peter is going to happen to Peter next. Look
at John 21, verse 18. Verily, verily, I say unto thee. He's talking to Peter. When thou
wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest.
But when thou shalt be old, Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands,
and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest
not. He's saying you're going to be
taken prisoner, Peter. And you're going to be bound.
And they're going to carry you someplace you don't want to go.
They're going to kill you, Peter. This spake he, signifying by
what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he saith unto him, Follow me. Peter didn't say a word. Peter
didn't say a word. Before, he just said, you're
going to deny me, Peter. A little damsel is going to come
and stand beside you and you're going to deny her. Now he says,
you're going to stretch forth your hands and be bound and tied
and killed, Peter. Follow me. Peter didn't say a
word. Not right here, but he said it somewhere else. Turn
to 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4, verse 11. Verse 11, he says this, If any
man speak, let him speak as to oracles of God. If any man minister, let him
do it as of the ability which God giveth. that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. Now look at one more place. Chapter five, verse five. Chapter
five, verse five. Have I got you in the right place?
And look at the end of verse 5. Listen to what he says now
as he's giving this important, important exhortation. How to
conduct ourselves. Listen to him now. Peter knew what he's talking
about here. Listen now. And be clothed with humility,
for God resisteth the proud. He knew that, didn't he? And
giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cared for you. Now
look at it. Be sober and be vigilant. Because your adversary the devil
as a roaring lion walketh about just waiting on you to say, I
won't ever deny you. I'll stand for you. He's just
jumping at the chance for you to say that. And he'll come to
your side and say, yes you will. You will. You don't need him.
You don't need Christ. Go on, you can stand by yourself.
He said, be sober and be vigilant therefore. Verse 9, Whom resist
steadfast, how? In the faith. What did the Lord
say to him? Follow me, Peter. Knowing that
the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world, but the God of all grace, who hath called us unto
His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, by that same grace, after that
you've suffered a while, He'll make you perfect. He'll establish
you. He'll strengthen you. He'll settle you. And to Him
be glory, and there's that word again, and dominion forever and
ever. Amen. Big change, wasn't it? Big change from that first time
when He said, I want tonight, to that second time when He didn't
say a word. He just said, He'll do what He
said. Trust Him. He'll do what He said.
Well, as for the magistrates, you know what they did? They
went through the motions. They used their own hand to vainly
make amends for the sin of their own hand. And the whole matter
was an attempt to save themselves from confessing their unrighteousness
and putting Christ and His witnesses out of their midst. And they
walked out of that prison right back into their chief seats.
But the truth of the matter is, they never left the prison of
sin and death and hell. And on the other hand, by grace,
Paul and Silas stood for Christ's honor and His glory, and they
confessed Him publicly. And of a truth, verse 40 says,
and they went out of the prison. And they went out of the prison.
The Lord said, whosoever will save his life shall lose it,
and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. I
hear a lot of folks say, well, you know, when I listen to the
messages, I really don't have to keep listening to them over
and over because what I get from it is if you don't have Christ
in your life, you're doing without. Well, that's not the message.
The message is you don't have a life. The message is you're
dead. The message is, and if you don't
lose what you think is your life, you'll never discover that Christ
is life. I pray God will make you discover
you have no life, that you might lose what you think is life,
that you might find Christ who is life.