Alright, we'll be in Acts chapter
14. And I want you to turn with me
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I want to read a passage from
here first of all, and then we'll go to Acts 14. In Acts chapter 5, in verse 17, Paul says, therefore, if any
man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed
away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things, these new things,
are of God. who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation,
to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him
sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now look at chapter 6 and verse
16. And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be My people. Wherefore, seeing that we are
made the righteousness of God in Him, seeing that He has said
He will dwell in us, walk in us. Wherefore, come out from
among them, and be ye separate, be ye sanctified, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean. And I will receive you, and I
will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Let us wash our hands and be
done with trying to be the righteousness of God in any other way but in
Christ. Be separate from every other
vain imagination that we can be made the righteousness of
God any other way. We have these promises. So, dearly
beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh
and spirit, perfecting holiness, in the fear of God. Believe in
God. Trust in Christ. And therefore,
we're perfected in holiness in Him. Now, back to Acts 14. I'll make a few comments here.
Sanctification is the work of the triune God. Sanctification
means to be separated from unbelief into that faith which believes
Christ alone, which trusts that all spiritual blessings are from
God and are freely ours and we are complete in Christ Jesus
the Lord. In the season of God's love,
God the Holy Spirit separates each of his children from unbelief
to the belief of the truth with the divine conception called
the new birth. And through the gospel of Christ,
he converts his children from unbelief to faith in Christ Jesus,
the Son of God. The gospel by which his children
are sanctified declares that our separation from our sin and
unbelief is totally in and by the Son of God, Christ Jesus
the Lord. That's the gospel whereby the
Holy Spirit sanctifies us. That's the truth whereunto we're
sanctified in which we believe. Faith believes that God the Father
separated His children from all others by His sovereign will
when He chose them and put them in Christ Jesus before time began. Faith believes that we were perfected
forever by one offering of Christ Jesus when He was made sin for
us and paid the wages of death on our behalf, and thus He fully
satisfied the justice of God for us. The gospel, that truth
which all believe who have been sanctified, that gospel which
is preached whereby all are kept from the evil is this, Christ
Jesus is all my salvation. Christ Jesus is all my salvation. It's not God-given faith. if
it does not believe that Christ Jesus is A-L-L. It's just not. Faith believes
that all the requirements we need to enter into God's presence
are now ours in Christ our Savior. Faith believes that in Christ
we are holy. There are not degrees of holiness. You either are holy or you are
not holy. In Christ, the believer is holy. He's holy. Faith believes that
in Christ we are justified before God. There are not degrees of
justification. We are either justified or we
are not justified. We are either under the condemnation
of God or we are not under the condemnation of God. Romans 8.1
says, therefore now, There is no condemnation to them who are
in Christ Jesus, who walk after the Spirit. This is the belief
of the truth through which the Holy Spirit sanctifies us so
that we rest in God who has separated us by sovereign election and
in Christ the Son who perfected forever them that are being sanctified. Being sanctified? What does that
mean? Hebrews 10, He hath by one offering
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Them that are being
sanctified. What does that mean? It means
two things. It means that there are yet children
whom God chose, whom Christ perfected by His one offering, that are
now being called out and separated through the Holy Spirit unto
belief of the truth. They're being sanctified. And
it means that those who have already been separated through
the Holy Spirit unto belief of the truth are continually being
kept from the evil of unbelief and sin through the Holy Spirit
by Christ continually testifying of His word of grace in our inner
man. That's what it means. We're continually
being kept from the evil by Christ through the word of His grace.
And thereby, he keeps the believer from turning from him back to
the filth of unbelief. That filth of imagining that
we ourselves make ourselves gradually more sanctified by obedience
to the Ten Commandments. He saves us, keeps us from that
filth of our flesh. And that filth of enjoying the
sins that we so easily commit. We still sin, but He keeps us
from enjoying it. He keeps us from joying in it
and wanting to do it. By God, by Christ, the Holy Spirit,
through the word of grace, all God's children are set apart
to trust Him alone. And by His continual abiding
in our hearts through the word of His grace, we're kept separated
in Christ our sanctuary. You know what happens when you're
in a sanctuary? You are completely surrounded by protective walls
that will not allow any enemy to get to you or you to get out
of that area of sanctuary. That's sanctification. You're
separated. You're kept from the evil. Now,
we saw this in the last message from the passage in Acts 14,
verses 1 through 4. And let's read it together, and
I'll make a few comments to remind you. Now, the key to the passage,
you remember, is in verse 3, Acts 14, 3. A long time, therefore,
abode Paul and Barnabas speaking boldly in the Lord. The word
boldly there, Paul calls it in another place, great plainness
of speech. That's exactly what it is. They
spoke with unmistakable clarity, declaring that in Christ Jesus
the Lord dwells all fullness. All fullness of God and all fullness
of what holy God requires of all whom He accepts. All fullness
dwells in Him. Not only this, but the Lord Jesus
Christ spoke boldly, plainly, through Paul and Barnabas into
the hearts of those who heard them speak. That's what the next
phrase declares to us. It says, which, the word is who. Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly
in the Lord and through them the Lord, Jesus himself, through
the Spirit, gave testimony unto the word of his grace and granted
signs and wonders to be done by their hands. It was by the
Lord witnessing of his word of grace in Paul and Barnabas that
Paul and Barnabas so spake the word of his grace. You understand? It was by the Lord's testifying
in their hearts that they were able to speak plainly the word
of His grace. And not only that, but it was
by the Lord testifying of His word of grace in the hearts of
those that were present that a great multitude believed Him.
That's what we read in verse 1. Look there, Acts 14. It came
to pass in Iconium that they went both together into the synagogue
of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude, both of the
Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. They couldn't do otherwise. By the new heart given them through
the Spirit of Christ, they willingly had no desire to do otherwise.
They wanted to believe on Christ. They did what they had been made. They'd been made believers and
therefore they believed. And then verse 2 says, But the
unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds
evil-affected against the brethren. The Lord Jesus didn't do anything.
He didn't have to do one thing in those folks to make them respond
that way. Not one thing. In fact, this
was the same heart from which those Jews and Greeks who believed
were sanctified. The Jews refused to stop attempting
to establish a righteousness of their own by the works of
the law. That's what they were mad about. That's why they got
upset and got angry, the unbelieving Jews and Greeks. And this reaction,
unbelief, stirring up the unbelieving Gentiles, making their minds
evil-affected, and against the brethren, against those that
believe. It's simply the natural, governing, dominating spirit
of all unregenerate sinners, especially those who are religious. So you see, it's God's election
of this multitude separating them in Christ. It's Christ shedding
His blood for them, perfecting them forever by His one offering.
And it's through the Spirit of Christ testifying in their hearts
that they were separated from this unbelief to belief of the
truth. And they trusted Christ. They
believed Him. And not only this, but it was
all of the same. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, through the Word, that kept them separated. This is what we saw last time.
Verse 3 says, Long time, therefore, bode Paul and Barnabas speaking
plainly in the Lord, and the Lord continuing to give testimony
unto His Word of grace in their hearts. And the result was this,
they continued to be separated, and they continued to wash their
hands of that former way they walked in. That's what verse
4 tells us. The multitude of the city was
divided, and part who didn't believe held with the Jews, but
part held with the apostles. They continued with the apostles.
They believed him. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to set forth Christ Jesus the Lord in whom his children
are perfected forever. And it pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching to send forth His Spirit into the hearts
of His children and separate them from everything that separated
us from God." Now here's the definition of sanctification.
It's Him separating us from everything that kept us separated from God.
And He did that to faith in Christ Jesus. And it pleased God through
the foolishness of preaching to keep us separated from the
evil and stayed on Christ in whom we are complete. And that's
what the scripture says. That's what Paul declares to
the Corinthians when he said it pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. He separates us in the
beginning through the gospel of Christ. He keeps us separated
through the gospel of Christ. That's the gospel. Now, the reason
why the gospel of Christ, Christ himself is all our sanctification,
is due to the power, the power he exercises when he takes dominion
in the hearts of his saints. When he says, I will dwell in
them and I will walk in them, the power, the power The power
that he exercises when he takes dominion of his people is what
keeps us separated and sanctified. The reason some don't believe
that this is all there is to sanctification is because they
don't believe the power of God, our sanctifier. And therefore, because it's such
power and it's such an exercise of His dominion and His power,
right after this, the Lord Jesus Christ sovereignly directs Paul
and Barnabas to a man whom He uses to illustrate this great
power which He performs in sanctifying His people to faith in Him and
the power He exercises in keeping them separate. Let's see it. And as we look at this, I want
to look at three things that manifest this power. First of
all, we're going to see that every sinner God saves is incurable
by man. Secondly, we're going to see
that that which is impossible with man is accomplished by God
alone. And thirdly, we're going to see
that God's work is always successful. It's always successful. Let's
read this passage beginning in Acts 14 5. And when there was an assault
made, both of the Gentiles and also the Jews with their rulers,
to use them despitefully and to stone them, they were aware
of it, and fled unto Lystra, and Derbe, and cities of Lyconia,
and unto the region that lieth round about. And therefore, in
there they preached the gospel. And there sat a man at Lystra,
impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never
had walked. The same heard Paul speak who
steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had faith
to be healed, said with a loud voice, stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. Have
you ever noticed, have you ever noticed just how thoroughly incurable
the people were whom Christ and his apostles worked miracles
for? Every sinner God saves is absolutely,
thoroughly incurable by man. Verse 8 says, There sat a certain
man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his
mother's womb, who never had walked. Do you understand his
condition? Impotent, cripple in his feet,
from his mother's womb, who never had walked. Let's consider a
few others. Look back at Acts 3, verse 2. This is where Peter did a similar
work through Christ, who actually did the work. It says in Acts
3, 2, a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried,
whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called
Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple.
None of his friends could do anything to cure him of his lameness. The only thing they could do
for this man was carry him to the gate called Beautiful. The
only thing he could do for himself was to beg. That's it. I can't cure you. I can't cure
you. The only thing I can do for you
is carry you to the gate called beautiful by telling you about
him who is altogether lovely. That's it. And the only thing
you can do is cast yourself on God's mercy and beg him to have
mercy on you. This man was totally incurable
by man. Look at Mark 5 verse 25. Mark 5 verse 25 says, And a certain
woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered
many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had,
and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. See, the problem
is an issue of blood. We received it from our father,
and our father received it from his father, and we all received
it from our father, Adam. There are many religious medicine
men who will try to make you believe they've got the cure.
They've got the cure. But all they'll do is cause you
to suffer. They'll cause you to suffer just
like this woman had suffered many things of many physicians. And she spent everything she
had and they gladly took it. But she was not bettered but
made worse. This issue of blood is so bad
that we have the deception of our own hearts is so incurably
evil that after we have jumped through all the hoops in religion,
spent everything we've had, our deceitful hearts fool us into
thinking we're healed when in fact we're nothing better. But
in fact, we've gotten worse. Through Isaiah, the Lord calls
it adding sin to sin. He calls it covering with a covering,
but not by me. That's what He calls it. Look
at John 5, verse 1. John 5, verse 1. After this, there was a feast
of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at
Jerusalem, by the sheep market, a pool, which is called in the
Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a
great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting
for the moving of the water in this pool. For an angel went
down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water.
Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped
in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain
man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. And when Jesus saw him lie and
knew that he had been a long time in that case, he saith unto
him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him,
Sir, I have no man. When the water is troubled, to
put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another
steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take
up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made
whole, and took up his bed, and walked. There seemed to be a
cure in the waters, but this man was too lame to put himself
into the pool before somebody else stepped into the pool ahead
of him. The physical condition of every one of the people who
are cured in the Scriptures is an illustration of the spiritual
condition of God's children prior to His work of grace in the heart. No man could cure us. We couldn't
cure ourselves. None but the great physician
can cure sinners of their sin, of our spiritual death, and make
us whole in him. The man to whom Paul came was
impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb who never
had walked. But this man, just like these
others here that we see, is set before us to teach us that this
is the condition of all whom Christ saves. This is the condition
of all whom Christ saves. And this brings us to the second
point. That which is impossible with man is accomplished by God
alone. Look with me back in our text
in Acts 14.8. There said a certain man at Lystra,
impotent at his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never
had walked. The same heard Paul speak. The same heard Paul speak. Proof, proof that only Christ
alone saves his people from their sins is that God sent him into
the world to do just that. to do that very thing. Look back
at John 9 with me. John 9. That's what these miracles are
teaching us. And that's why this impotent
man is set forth here before us right after the Lord healed
a multitude in the synagogue at Iconium, is to show us the
power and the working of His marvelous grace. That's what
he said in John 9.1. Jesus passed by. He saw a man
which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him,
saying, Master, who did sin? This man or his parents that
he was born blind? Now both of them had sinned.
The man had sinned and his parents had sinned. But listen to the
answer. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his
parents. He said that's not the reason
he was born blind. Now here's the reason he was
born blind, but that the works of God should be made manifest
in him. Now listen, I must work the works
of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when
no man can work. He's saying, I must redeem my
people. I must purge them of their sins.
I must accomplish their eternal redemption. I must do that. Because when my work is done,
there's no man that can do this work. No man that can do this
work. This impotent man is set before
us as one who heard Paul speak to teach us Only the gospel,
which declares Christ to be all, is the gospel whereby Christ
saves all whom He saves from their sins. What is our sin? What is the sin we have to be
saved from? What is it? To put it simply,
our sins are what separates us from God. Sanctification is God
separating his people from the sin which separated us from our
God. Sin is what we are in the heart
by virtue of our birth in Adam. What we do, or let me say it
like this, we do what we are. We may stop doing on the outside,
but it doesn't change what we are on the inside. And that's true whether a man
is an unregenerate sinner or a regenerated saint. Whether
we're one with this world or whether we've been separated
through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the truth.
The Lord said, a good man out of the good treasure of the heart
bringeth forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil
treasure bringeth forth evil things. You know, that's what
Paul was saying in Romans 6, 16, when he said, Know ye not
that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants
ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. But God bethanked that you were
the servants of sin. You were the servants of sin.
Sin is what you were, so sin is what you did. But you've obeyed
from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being
then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.
Righteous is what you are. Righteous is the captain of your
salvation. Righteous is the one who has
dominion over you, so righteousness is what you do. Now, it's the sin that we are
that separated us from our God. Turn with me to Isaiah 59.1.
And I want you to hold your place in Isaiah 59. I want to compare
this with our text. Isaiah 59.1. Behold, the Lord's
hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither His ear
heavy that it cannot hear. The problem does not lie with
God. He's merciful to all them that
call upon Him. The problem is, until He does
a work of grace in our heart, we won't call upon Him. Not in
truth. Not in truth. We may say the
name, but we won't say it in truth. From a heart that's been
made new. But look here, but your iniquities
have separated between you and your God, and your sins have
hid His face from you that He will not hear. Now you hold your
place here and listen just a minute. Because of this separation from
God, because of our sin, the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God. It is this separation that makes
the things of God foolishness to a man. It makes it foolish to him for
you to tell him that Christ is indeed all of our separation,
that he can't do anything to make himself perfect in his flesh. That's foolishness to the natural
man. It's this separation in sin that
makes it so he cannot know the things that are freely given
in Christ Jesus. And it's this sin that makes
him to where he cannot subject himself, submit himself to God
until God does something in his heart. And until God does something
in his heart, all he'll bring forth is dead, corrupt fruit
of his heart, just like his heart. In our text we're shown this
very thing by the fact that this impotent man was unable to walk
from birth. His not being able to walk illustrates
for us why those unbelieving Jews and Gentiles would not and
could not believe the gospel which Paul preached. Because
they were impotent spiritually from their birth and they could
not walk. They could not walk after Christ.
They could not separate themselves, be done with the falsehood of
religion and of their own vain imagination and of taking the
things of God and corrupting them and bending them into the very things wherein they
gloried in their own flesh. They couldn't separate themselves
from that. Bear that in mind now as we read these next verses
in Isaiah 59. This is a description of what
they did and why they did it. And this is what we did until
God worked a work of grace in our heart. This is exactly what
we did. And He leaves us with that old nature so that we can
constantly see that if He left us and doesn't keep us sanctified
and separated from it, we'd go right back to it like a dog to
his vomit. Right back to it. Look now at
the description, Isaiah 59-3. This is the sin that separated
us, divided us from Him. And this is the sin that divided
those unbelieving Jews and Gentiles from those folks who believe.
Look, for your hands are defiled with blood. Whose blood? The
blood of God. of murder, a murder of God in
our hearts, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have
spoken lies. Your tongue has muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor
any pleadeth for truth. They trust in vanity and speak
lies. They conceive mischief and bring
forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice eggs and
weave the spider's web. He that eateth of their eggs
dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. and they die. They're twice dead,
Scripture says. But when it's crushed, it breaks
out into a viper. They start biting everybody else
with the same falsehood and poisoning everybody else with the same
deceit. What did the unbelieving Jews do in defense of their trying
to earn a righteousness by their obedience to the law? They evil
affected the minds of the Gentiles. They stirred them up and evil
affected them. Let's read on. Their webs shall
not become garments. They're finely spun. You ever
see a spider's web? Sometimes you look at it in the
light, in the morning light with a dew on it. Man, it's beautiful.
It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Would you
put it on when you're cold? Would you put it on, wrap yourself
up in it, think it would keep you from being, from freezing
to death? It's not a covering, is it? That's what all these
works, self-sanctifying, self-justifying works are. Neither shall they
cover themselves with their works, he said. Their works are works
of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet
run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their
thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and destruction are in
their past. The way of peace they know not. Now you see, now we come to something
that's deeper than the hands. This goes to the heart, to the
understanding. It issues from the heart. And
so we read next, because it issues from the heart, there's no judgment
in their goings. They've made them crooked paths. Whosoever goeth therein shall
not know peace either. In transgressing and lying against
the Lord, and departing away from our God, and speaking oppression
and revolt, conceiving and uttering, listen, from the heart words
of falsehood. Calling it sanctification. Calling
it growing more holy in the Lord. To go to Mount Sinai and take
the law. And telling folks that now, by
so much obedience to this law, you'll become more perfect and
more perfect and more perfect in your flesh. That, my friends,
is not bringing us closer to God. He says that's departing
away from God. And judgment is turned away backward. And justice standeth afar off. There's no justice in that. Because
justice and judgment and truth, grace, mercy, it's all in Christ
Jesus. Yea, truth faileth. Oh, have
a seat. Go back up. Verse 14. And judgments
turn away backward, and justice standeth far off, for truth is
fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth,
and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. He's like
a little rabbit before a tiger. When he departs from it, when
he leaves it behind, what happened to the believing Jews and Gentiles?
The unbelieving Jews, who were saying that the way that you're
sanctified is by obedience to the law, said, let's kill them. Let's kill them. Let's kick them
out. Let's whip them. Let's chain them. Let's put an
assault on them. Let's stone them to death. That sounds like
sanctification. Oh, that's the sanctification
of the flesh, that's for sure. Well, this is the sin we are
and the sins we bring forth because of what we are. Those who believed
made themselves a prey simply because they departed. They were
separated by God's power and grace and they cleansed themselves.
They washed their hands from that former way and said, we're
done with it, fellas. And now in this impotent man,
we're given an illustration. It's just right after that happened
and the Lord sends him straight to this impotent man. And he
shows us right here that the only way sinners are sanctified
from the evil of our own flesh, that very evil, is through this
power of God's grace, the power of Christ testifying in the hearts
of His people through the word of truth. Now, keep your place
here. Keep your place here in Isaiah. So how are we separated from
the sin which separates us from our God? Back in Acts 14. And there said a certain man
at Lystra, and I've told you before, and you noticed when
I was reading while ago, that most of all those folks that
were cured of miracles were called certain people, certain ones.
That's God separating us by His sovereign election in Christ.
Here He is. He's empty in His feet. He's
been a cripple from His mother's womb. He's never walked. How
is He going to be separated from the sin and evil of His own flesh
that's kept Him from being able to walk physically walk, which
is a picture of being able to spiritually walk and know God
and be joined together with Him. What's it going to take? The
same heard Paul speak. That's it. A word. A word. But not just any word. There's
much more to this word that he heard than just the natural ear. He heard with an ear made new
by the Holy Spirit. What did he hear? He heard the
word of God's grace. Let me just read, turn back,
Isaiah 59, 16. Let me go through this with you.
He heard Paul in plainness of speech preach the word of his
grace, the word of God's grace. It said he preached the gospel.
That's what he did in the synagogue at Iconium, was preach the word
of His grace. What is it? What is it? Verse
16. And the Lord saw that there was
no man. That's a description. All that
description that he gave of what we are, with some substance of
that is, is we're no man. were no man. He saw that there
was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore
his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness it
sustained him. For he put on righteousness as
a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head, and
he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with
zeal as a cloak. Now look down at verse 21. This
is the word that he speaks in the heart of his people through
the gospel that declares Christ Jesus is the intercessor. He
is the one who sustained his own righteousness. He is the
one that had to cure this disease in the hearts of his people and
separate them from everything that kept them from God. He alone
can do it. And here's what he speaks into
the hearts of his people through the word of his grace when he
testifies into their hearts. Verse 21, As for me, this is
my covenant with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is upon
thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart
out of thy mouth. He's talking to Christ right
there, but then he says this, nor out of the mouth of thy seed,
thy children, nor out of the mouth of thy children's children
saith the Lord from henceforth and forever. That means when
I sanctify you, I'm not going to let you ever become unsanctified. Never let you become separated
from me ever again. Now, The word whereby we're sanctified
in the first hour we believed is the same word whereby we're
kept separated the rest of our days. What did Moses say? Wherein shall it be known? Hear
that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight. How's it
going to be known? Is it not in that thou goest
with us? So, in thou going with us, so
shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people
that are upon the face of the earth. This impotent man began
hearing with an ear that was like his feet, it was impotent.
But by the power of grace working in him, he heard by the Spirit
of Christ testifying in his heart. How do I know that? How do I
know that? Because the verse says he had faith to be healed.
That's the only kind of faith there is. Faith to be healed. That's the kind of faith that
God gives. Faith to be healed. And just
like it happened when Paul spoke in the synagogue, just like it
happens every time Christ sends forth His gospel through one
of His messengers. Through the gospel of His grace,
as this impotent man heard Paul speak the word of Christ's grace,
the Lord gave testimony unto the word of His grace and granted
signs and wonders to be done by their hands, by Paul's hands. When the Lord Jesus Christ testifies
in the heart, He gives faith to believe His testimony. If
He testifies in the heart, it's because He's entered in. You know what happened when the
glory of God entered into the tabernacle in the wilderness?
Sanctified it. Sanctified the whole place by
His presence there. When He testifies in the heart,
it's because He's entered into the heart. It's because He has
formed Himself in you. And when He testifies, He gives
faith to hear His testimony. Now, it's that faith, it's that testimony, that fact that He
had testified in the heart of this man and given him faith.
that Paul was given the perception to behold my God. It said there
in Acts 3 that the Lord gave testimony unto the word of his
grace and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. Maybe
it's like this, maybe it's like this, maybe the Lord Jesus is
illustrating to us what we are in our sin, impotence. And he's
illustrating here for us what we are by His grace. Whole. Whole. And so after he testified
in the heart of this impotent man and given him faith in order
to finish the illustration of what he does for the believer
in spirit, it's as if the Lord told Paul, now tell him to rise
up, Walt. I want this to be very clear
of what I've done in his heart. And I tell him to rise up and
walk. So I can show what I've done for him inside. What I've
done for him outside is what I've done for him inside. And
verse 9 says, Who steadfastly beholding him, perceiving that
he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright
on thy feet. Now here's the third point. God's
work is always successful. Always successful. Look at verse
10. And he leaped and walked. And
he leaped and walked. We do what we are. What he did
on the outside proved what God made him on the inside. Now look
back up at Acts 14.1. And it came to pass in Iconium
that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews,
and so spake that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of
the Greeks, believed. That's what Christ made them
on the inside. Stop believing, Brother Pete.
You can't. But you know why? Because you
are a believer. Stop living. I can't. Because I am alive. It's what
I am. Therefore, it's what I do. And therefore, through the word
of His grace, the Lord continued to testify in their hearts, and
no matter how the unbelieving Jews would have them depart from
Christ back to the law, to observing days and months, they threatened
them, they conspired to assault them and stone them and all these
things, and yet we still read in verse 4, they held with the
apostles. They did on the outside what
they were on the inside. Being separated from the sin
which separated us from God is by God the Father putting us
in Christ, by Christ purging our sin and making us the righteousness
of God in Him, and through sanctification of the Holy Spirit and belief
of the word of truth. That word that says to look anywhere
else for justification and sanctification, but Christ who sanctifies is
as filthy a fornication as the physical act itself. And a believer
is not going to depart from Christ. And if he does the latter, God
won't allow him to joy, he'll mourn over his sin and flee to
Christ begging for mercy. That's how he keeps us separated.
I've done that for you. Then you'll do what you are by
continuing to leap and walk with joy in Christ alone. You'll do
what you are. You'll do what you are.