Now, we've seen in Acts chapter
13, when the Apostle Paul stood up to preach in the synagogue
at Antioch, Pisidia, he's speaking to Jew and Gentile, the natural
descendants of Abraham, considered themselves the people of Israel
because of natural ancestry. The Gentiles considered themselves
the people of Israel because they had converted to the Jews'
religion. And so everybody that he's speaking
to considers themselves truly to be this people of Israel.
They had just read the Law and the Prophets, which concerns
this people of Israel. And so Paul stands up and says,
the God of this people of Israel, That's how he begins this sermon.
And everything that he said about the God of this people of Israel,
exalted God, our King and our Savior, an abased man. When he said, God chose our fathers,
Paul was saying, God chose our fathers. Our fathers didn't choose
God. When He said He multiplied Israel into a nation, He was
saying He birthed them into His nation. They didn't make themselves
their nation. They were the smallest of all
the nations. Went down into Egypt and He multiplied them when they
were under the dominion of Pharaoh. He redeemed them out of Egypt. They didn't redeem themselves.
They didn't free themselves from bondage. He brought them out
through the blood of a lamb. They murmured against Him in the wilderness.
and but for the long-suffering of God, but for a mediator who
came to God on their behalf, they would have perished in the
wilderness. He delivered them into the land of Canaan according
to promise. He divided their inheritance
to them by lot. They couldn't overcome the enemies
in the land of Canaan. He did that for them. And He
gave them the land He promised. He did it all according to promise,
Paul said. And then he said, then he gave
them judges. And about the space of 450 years
from the time he brought them out of Egypt to the time he brought
them into Canaan, he gave them judges. And we pick up here in
Acts 13.20, and it says, and after about the space of 450
years, he gave unto them judges until Samuel the prophet. And
afterward, they desired a king. And God gave unto them Saul,
the son of Sis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space
of forty years. And when God had removed him,
he raised up unto them David to be their king, to whom also
he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse,
a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Paul continually shows us man's
sinful choice. And if there's something that
is being conveyed here to the folks in the synagogue, it'd
be this right here. Everybody wants to escape hell.
Everybody wants to be considered a child of heaven. But nobody wants to take the
place of the sinner, the kind of sinner that God saves. Nobody
by nature wants to say, I'm the kind of sinner that God saves. Over and over, Paul's repeatedly
pointed out the choice of sinful man. If you would be the kind
of sinner God saves, if you truly be of God's true Israel, then
Paul says, this is the kind of sinner you are, the kind that
we see here when we look at this people of Israel. And more importantly,
this is the kind of sinner that you must be brought to see yourself
as and to confess yourself as that you are. What kind of sinner
is that? What is that? What kind of sinner is it? It's
a God rejecter. That's the only kind of sinner
God saves, is the sinner who rejects Him. Everybody He's ever saved has
rejected Him. And He saved them in spite of
their rejection. The people of Israel rejected
God, and that's what Paul's declaring in this survey of the history
of the people of Israel. Look here in verse 20. He gave
unto them judges until Samuel the prophet, and afterward they
desired a king. God raised up judges who served
as they were saviors, and they served as a kind of a king. Out
of their midst, from among them, these judges were saviors which
delivered them out of the hand of their enemy. We looked at
this last time, and for a more in-depth look at this, go back
and look at that message just prior to this one. But these
judges also served as a kind of a king in the midst of Israel,
though they didn't go by that direct title. But they served
as saviors and as kings in the regard that they bore witness
to the people that God was their savior and their king. And as long as they had a judge,
the people worshiped God. But when God removed the judge
through physical death, the people turned from God and went back
to their idolatry. Read the whole book of Judges
and you'll see it. Whenever He removed a judge,
they did that which they thought was right in their own eyes.
The point being, teaching us, teaching the believer that we
must have Christ our King and our Savior. We must have Him
before us continually because without Him, we'll go right back
to idolatry. We'll go right back to the sin
that we were saved from if He doesn't keep us. And then God
also raised up Samuel the prophet. And this is equally important
because the prophet declared the Word of God. Samuel came
preaching the Word of God. This prophet is mentioned here
in direct connection with the Savior and the King because Samuel,
like all God's messengers, came forth with one message for the
people and that message was, God is your King and God is your
Savior. He's the King over the whole
earth and if you're going to be saved, it's going to be through
Him alone. And it says here that the sinful
heart of man, afterward they desired a king. Now understand,
in the Judges we see a king and a savior. And in this prophet,
he came forth declaring a king and a savior. And then it comes
here and it says, and afterward they desired a king. Let's see
what they desired. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 8. 1st Samuel chapter 8 verse 1,
And it came to pass, 1st Samuel chapter 8 verse 1,
And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons
judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn
was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah. They were judges
in Beersheba. And his sons walked not in his
ways, but turned aside after Lucre, and took bribes and perverted
judgment." They were just in the office they were filling
for their own personal gain, just to make money. That's the
only reason they were there. Then all the elders of Israel
gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah. Now Paul said to the Corinthians,
there must be also heresies among you that they which are approved
may be made manifest among you. These elders gathered themselves
together. They exalted themselves and pumped
up one another in their cause. They gathered themselves together. And they got to talking about
this thing and said now, What do we need to do about it? And
they decided that the heresy of Samuel's sons was all the
proof they needed that Samuel needed to step aside. But the
fact of the matter is the king and savior of this world gave
them Samuel's sons to make known the rebellion of their inward
hearts toward God. They could care less about how
Samuel's sons acted. truthfully. They could care less
because in their own hearts they felt the same about God as Samuel's
sons did. But they saw the rebellion of
his sons as a way to get rid of this gospel of the King and
the Savior. A way to get rid of Samuel who
preached the truth of the King and Savior and to look as if
all the while they were being pious and doing it for holy reasons.
Now listen to what they really wanted. Verse 5. And they said
unto Samuel, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in
thy ways. Now make us a king to judge. A king and a savior. Make us
a king and a savior like all the nations. The king and judge
in heaven didn't satisfy them. And that's the only one Samuel
preached. They considered Samuel, whose
gospel was to them to trust the king and the judge of heaven
alone. They said, Samuel, you're old
now. And truthfully, what they were
saying was, your gospel's old. That's an old, tired out gospel
you're preaching. And they used the unbelief of
Samuel's sons as their proof that the gospel he preached,
moreover the king and savior whom Samuel preached, was unable
to save and reign among his people. They did it because they wanted
a man to rule them and not God. That's exactly what God says
they wanted. Look here in verse 6. But the
thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to
judge us. What we're looking at in Acts
is dealing with a king and a judge. A king and a savior. It displeased
Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord.
And the Lord said unto Samuel. Now the Lord's going to tell
Samuel, Here's the heart of the matter, Samuel. Hearken unto
the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee. For
they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that
I should reign over them. This has nothing, Samuel, to
do with your sons. They just see this as an excuse
to come to you and dethrone you, get you out of that pulpit, get
you away from preaching the King and the Judge, because they've
rejected the King and the Judge. They don't want Him ruling over
them. They want a man. They want to
be their own King and their own Savior. According to all the
works which they've done since the day that I brought them up
out of Egypt, even unto this day wherewith they have forsaken
Me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. That's
the heart of the matter, Samuel. They serve another God. Now,
Paul says here, Hold your place there in 1 Samuel 8. Look back
there at Acts 13, verse 21. Paul declares here that God showed
them, and He shows His true sons and daughters, He shows the believer
just the kind of King and Savior we have when we look to ourselves
to govern and save ourselves. He says here in Acts 13.21, And
afterward they desired a king. And God gave unto them Saul,
the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space
of forty years. Now look back there at 1 Samuel
8. The king and savior gave them a king like the other nations
had, like they wanted. And He tells you and I just like
He told them what we can expect if we look to man, if we look
to ourselves to be our king and our savior. Here's what He said,
He said, you want a king? You want a man to rule over you?
I'll give it to you. Verse 9, 1 Samuel 8, 9. Now therefore
hearken unto their voice. Howbeit, yet protest solemnly
unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall
reign over them. And Samuel told all the words
of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said,
this will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you.
He will take your sons and appoint them for himself. for his chariots
and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots.
And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captain over
fifties, and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his
harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his
chariots. And he will take your daughters
to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And
he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive
yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards
and give to his officers and to his servants. And he will
take your men's servants and your maid's servants and your
goodliest young men and your asses and put them to his work.
He will take the tenth of your sheep and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that
day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you. and
the Lord will not hear you in that day. That's the gospel I
try to preach to you every single time we come into this place.
If you and I look to ourselves to be our own king and our own
savior, to our wisdom, to our will, to our way, to our obedience,
to anything that we've done to bring ourselves to God, rather
than just simply turning from ourselves, repenting from ourselves,
from this world, from this world's religion of kingship and saviorship
that they preach amongst themselves, exalting one another. If we turn
from that to faith in God alone, to trust Christ our King and
our Savior alone, because if you do not turn to Him and trust
Him alone, that's the kind of King you'll have. If you're your
own king and you're your own savior, everything will be lost. Everything will be taken from
you. Everything. And you'll be brought into bondage
and servitude. And you'll cry out in your oppression
and desire for God to save you. And God says, and in that day,
I won't hear you because you've rejected your king and your savior. But now look at this. choice
of man if left to ourselves. Verse 19, nevertheless the people
refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, Nay, but
we will have a king over us, that we may also be like all
the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before
us, and fight our battles. And Samuel heard all the words
of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord.
And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and
make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men
of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city. Now Scripture tells
us that in our sin and our rebellion, in man's sin and rebellion, the
thoughts of our hearts, God looked down and He saw the thoughts
of man's heart was only evil continually. Scripture says in
our natural condition, we've gone away backwards. This is
a perfect example of it. You know where the world is right
now? Where the world is right now, the world you and I live
in right now, is in the same place it's always been. It's
in the same place it was in Samuel's day when they said Samuel's old.
Look at his sons. They don't walk in his ways.
We don't want that old prophet, that old message, that old King
and Savior. Look at all the evil in the world. If your God was King and Savior,
wouldn't He do something about all this evil in the world? We
are smarter than that. We've got a solution. Because
there's so much evil in the world and that's what we're using to
base our argument on, that your God and your King's not worthy
to save, then we'll turn to these same evil men and look to them
to save us and be our King. Now, is that not going away backwards?
looking at the evil in the world of men who exalt themselves to
be kings and saviors in this world and saying, look at the
evil in this world. If your God was King and Savior,
wouldn't He do something about this? We're rejecting Him. Instead,
we're going to turn to this evil and expect to save ourselves
by it. That's what it is to be gone
away backward. Completely gone away backward.
We've got to have the true King and Savior or else We'll perish. We'll perish. Well, now let's
see the mercy and grace of God towards His people. Acts 13.22. And when He had removed him,
when God had removed Saul, He raised up unto them David to
be their king. to whom also God gave testimony,
and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after
mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Paul said to those
folks in the synagogue, every time the people asked for something,
it was for death instead of life. It was to be like the world and
not like God. They wanted to be conformed to
the men of the world, not conformed to God. That's the flesh if God
leaves us to ourselves. That's the case with the unbeliever
and with the believer. We need him as much today as
we needed him when we were in our rebellion against him. But
Paul says, God removed Saul and he raised up to them David to
be their king. When our King and Savior comes
to chosen sinners, We have our own king worked out in our mind.
We have our own savior worked out in our mind. And he looks
exactly like us because we're him in our own mind. And he removes
that king. He dethrones that king. And he
sets up his king. And he says to us in our hearts,
behold, my king, David, Christ Jesus the Lord, my son. I found
he shall do all my will. He'll fulfill my will. I'm well
pleased with him. He's got to remove the king that's
on the throne and raise up his king. And this is Paul's gospel
to the folks in the synagogue. Christ Jesus is the true King
and Savior. This is where Paul's been working
to this whole time that he went through this history, this survey,
and these points of this outline we've seen here in Acts 13. And
he comes here to verse 23, and he says, "...of this man's seed
hath God, according to His promise, raised unto Israel a Savior,
Jesus." He begins here, He's going to say He's a King and
a Savior, and He starts out with Savior. And He says, Of this
man's seed, of David's lineage according to the flesh. Matthew
1.1 says, The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David,
the Son of Abraham. Big gap in there, isn't it? But
when God said Abraham, in thy seed." He's looking at Christ.
When he said, David, I'm raising up one. He's looking at Christ.
Of this man's seed hath God according to promise, according to the
everlasting covenant. Just as God promised Abraham.
Just as God promised David. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2
Samuel 7 verse 8. Now therefore, so shalt thou
say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took
thee from the sheep coat, from following the sheep, to be ruler
over my people, over Israel. And I was with thee, whithersoever
thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy
sight, and have made thee a great name, likened to the name of
the great men that are in the earth. Moreover, I will appoint
a place for my people Israel. You know where that place is?
It's in Christ the King and Savior that He's promising to David.
And I will plant them that they may dwell in a place of their
own and move no more. Neither shall the children of
wickedness afflict them any more as before time. And as since
the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel,
and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies, also
the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee a house. And when
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,
I will set up thy seed after thee." Who's that? Who's he talking
about? He's not talking about Solomon.
He's talking about Christ. This is the promise he made.
which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish
his kingdom. He shall build a house for my
name. Christ, the one that's coming of the stock of Abraham,
of the house of David, He'll build a house for my name, and
I'll establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And I'll
be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity,
I'll chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of
the children of men. But my mercy shall not depart away from him,
as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine
house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee.
Thy throne shall be established forever." According to all these
words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto
David. And now Paul says, according
to the promise, God hath raised unto Israel, they which are the
children of the flesh. These are not the children of
God. but the children of the promise are counted for the sea.
God hath according to promise raised unto Israel. He's not
a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision
which is in the flesh, but he's a Jew which is one inwardly.
Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not of man, not
in the letter, but of God. According to the everlasting
covenant God has raised to his chosen everlastingly loved Israel
a Savior Jesus a judge Typified in those judges he raised up
back back in in Amongst the people of Israel from among their brethren
out of their midst he raised up a Savior his name shall be
called Jesus why? Savior, He shall save His people
from their sin. And then Paul moves on to declare
Him Christ as the King. He said He gave them judges,
and then He gave them a prophet who said, God's your King and
your judge. And he said, but they wanted
a King like the nations had. But he said, but He raised up
a Savior and a King anyway. Look here, verse 24, Acts 13,
24. when John had first preached
before his coming, before Christ came, the baptism of repentance
to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course,
he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But behold, there
cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
loose. He said, John placed himself
in the submissive position of a servant who wasn't even fit
to loose the shoe of his king, much less wash his feet. He said,
John came preaching the King, this one who is King over Israel. That's who John came preaching.
And he said, this is the one we have to bow
to. This is what Paul is declaring to the people. Until we're made
to behold that Christ is the King and the Savior over His
people. We make everything else the issue
but the issue. I'm amazed at the questions that
folks have when they want to know what you believe. I'm amazed
at the questions they have. Questions about everything but
the issue. How many questions did the Pharisees
and the Sadducees and the scribes, how many questions did they come
and ask Christ? They just kept coming and asking
Him questions. And He asked them a question
one day. He said this, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He? And they said, He's the son of
David. They said, He's a man. They said, He's not the King
and Savior over Israel. And he said, how then does David
call him Lord? And they didn't ask him any more
questions. He couldn't figure that one out. When the angel
came to Mary, he said, He shall be great and shall be called
the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto Him
the throne of His father David. He said, He's going to be the
Son of God and the Son of Man. He's going to be the King of
Israel and the Savior of His people until we behold Him as
He is. We talked Sunday some about how
is it that this King and this Savior, how is it that He really
governs His church? How is it He really He really
does this. He sends forth His messenger
just like He sent forth Paul. What's the greatest, the greatest,
most miraculous, most amazing achievement you can ever think
of that a sinner ever does in obedience to God? What would
be the chief one you could think of? Repentance from dead works
to trust in Christ alone. How did that happen in the beginning?
How did that happen? A man stood up because God raised
him up, and he preached the message because Christ the King gave
him the message to preach. And Christ the King came in the
midst of his people as the message was preached and entered into
the hearts of you who know him. And he created life in you, and
he created faith in you, and he granted repentance to you,
and he caused you to turn from yourself, and he caused you to
believe on him and trust him alone. How do you think every other
act of obedience is going to be accomplished? The same way. He's going to have a man preach
this gospel and he's going to come in power and rebuke those
that need to be rebuked. He's going to lift up those that
need to be lifted up. He's going to bring down those
that need to be brought down. He's going to lighten those that
are in darkness. work this work of grace in His
people. You know why? You know why He does that? He
does it because just as Isaiah beheld His glory, he said, I
saw His train, His dominion, and it filled His temple. It
wasn't just around His throne in heaven. It went from heaven
all the way throughout His church, all the way in the midst of His
people, all over the world. His dominion filled it. What
I'm trying to tell you, brethren, is Christ Jesus the Lord, wherever His gospel is preached,
He is there in the midst of His people, teaching His people,
turning His people, correcting His people. And the way that
it happens, the way that it happened the very first time you ever
turned to Him, how did it happen? Somebody exalted Christ before
you. I was thinking today, I was trying
to think of an analogy of this. If I wanted you to cross a street,
I could build a forest fire behind you, a big blazing fire, and
you'd probably run across the street to escape it. Nobody wants
to go to hell. Everybody wants to escape the
fires of hell. You could preach hell to somebody,
and the law to somebody, and yoke somebody, and you can constrain
them to do anything you want them to do. But believe God,
you can't make them do that. But. If I preach Christ to you,
Christ to you, Christ to you, and He opens up the way to you,
and in loving kindness draws you to Himself, and loving kindness
turns you from whatever it is that's drawing you out into the
world away from Him, and He brings you to Himself. He has shackled
you. He has constrained you. He has
yoked you in love, and He has yoked it easy and light to bear,
and He's done it, brethren, in your heart. And there's no yoking,
no constraining. You could shackle a man. You
can shackle a man in bondage and yoke him with the law all
you want to, just like you physically can yoke a man in shackles and
chains. But you know what you can't do? You can't stop that
man from rejoicing in Christ, his Redeemer, in the heart. Because you can't touch his heart.
And by the same token, You can't make a man cry out to God from
the heart and believe on Him even though outwardly he may
be doing everything that you think he should do. Now, just
like he does this through the preaching of the gospel. when
he is blessing the hearts of his brethren. He said, I put
you together. Michelle, just because you're
not an arm, doesn't mean you're not part of the body. Just because,
Scott, you're not the foot, doesn't mean you're not part. Every part
of the body is yoked together. And he gives the measure in every
part so that if Scott's having a problem and he goes to Jaime,
God will have the problem. He'll go through the problem
exactly as this King and this Savior has predestinated the
problem to come upon him and he will lift up Jaime and give
him a heart of rejoicing in Christ Jesus and he will bring them
together at the same time so that all that's on Jaime's mind
at that time is to wonder glorious beauty of Christ and the excellency
of his person and his finished work and how he is the fullness
of our salvation. And he'll bring Scott to him,
and Scott will say, boy, I'm struggling with this and that.
And Jaime will be able to say, in loving kindness. he'll be able to lift him up.
And he'll do it by saying, let me tell you about what I've been
looking at today. Let me tell you what I've been
thinking about today. And he'll start talking to him about it.
And Scott's problems and his chains of this world and this
sinful flesh will be gone. And he'll be turned from it.
And he will behold Christ Jesus his Lord. And there is one brother
lifting up another brother in the spirit of meekness, considering
himself so that he's not brought into the same sin by trying to
point the finger and point the yoke, but he's helped him by
preaching the gospel to him. And what I'm saying to you is,
is when you behold this King and this Savior, it's not about,
well, what do you believe about evangelism? Well, I believe if
you don't preach Christ, you'll make a man a twofold more child
of hell than when you found him. That's what I believe. If you
go out there, I don't care if you're preaching on a train track
or you're preaching in the Madison Square Garden, if you're not
preaching Christ, you're not going to help the man. But if
you're preaching Christ, if you're preaching Christ, Brethren, just
like Christ at first hour turned you from yourself and your sin
and this world and pointed you to Him and said, I've put away
your sin. I have totally purged you of
your sin. I didn't make atonement possible.
I didn't make salvation possible. I didn't make you savable. I
saved you. Just by that same way. This same
King and Savior is so powerful and His dominion is so vast over
His people and over this world that He can predestinate every
step that you go through and every trouble you go to and uplift
another one and bring you both together at the right time so
that He uses one to lift the other one up through His name. We could set a bunch of rules
and say, well, now, but this is how you do it, this is how
you do it, and this is how you do it. Can you explain to me how to
love your wife? But you do it, don't you? Because
it's something that's there in spirit. You can't explain it.
All you can tell you is, I just... I don't know. When the love bug
bit, I don't know how it bit or where it bit or how to explain
it, but it bit and I got the bug. And I just love her. I just do. Well, I can't really
explain to you. I can't really tell you how this
thing happened. All I can tell you is this King and this Savior
is so sovereign and His salvation is so thorough and so sure and
so ordered. that He gives His people one
message. He gave Samuel one message. Our
God is King and Savior. He gave the judges one message.
He gave Paul, stand up here and preach, one message to these
people. And through that one message,
He saves His people. And if we start going anywhere,
any other direction, As some of the old fellows say, if you
step one step to the left or one step to the right, you might
as well take a million steps because you've gone away from
Christ. That's the issue. That's the issue. You want to
know what I think about faith? I think that we have to be brought
to believe on Christ Jesus alone. You want to know what I think
about repentance? I think the gift of faith and repentance
are simultaneous. I think that if we're going to
turn from the evil, we've got to behold the good. And the good
is Christ. And the evil is us and everything
in this world. You want to know what I think
about any Any doctrine any anything I'll tell you this is the key
start with Christ how I would love to have somebody Call me
up or email me or ask me a question and it be this What do you preach
about Christ? Now I'll talk to you I got We
got something in common. We're looking for the same one.
Let me tell tell you about what I think about it But you know
what folks are saying when they say, what do you think about
A, B, C, D, E, F, whatever it is. You know what they're saying?
This is going to be my point of contention. This is going
to be what I'm going to use not to agree with you. That's what
they're saying. And that's always the case. OK,
I can't agree with you now because that's my law. That's what I'm
putting my trust in right there, that point of doctrine. If it
don't put us squarely at the feet of Christ, it don't matter
what it is. It don't matter what it is. All
it is is, it could be, thou shalt not kill, that we're putting
our trust in, or it could be, well, I believe we ought to go
out and evangelize this way. Okay. All that is is just your
law. That's just another system of
law. If Christ is not all, if Christ is not the issue, if we
haven't beheld Him, but when we behold Him by His grace as
King and Savior, that other stuff goes out the window. The issue
becomes Christ, King and Savior. And that's what Paul says to
them here. Verse 26, he says, "...men and brethren, children
of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God,
to you is the word of this salvation sent. You who count yourselves
among the true children of Israel, you who come to the Lord's house
every Sabbath, you who read the Law and the Prophets without
ceasing, you who count yourselves as judges able to tell right
from wrong by your own ability, you who count yourselves as rulers
and kings able to govern and rule yourselves, To you is the
word of Christ the King and Savior come. You have beheld what happened
in the past and how men chose themselves and rejected God.
Now Paul says, Has the natural heart in man changed at all since
those days? Has it? Verse 27, For they that
dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him
not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every
Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him, and though
they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate
that he should be slain. Paul had pointed back to how
the children of Israel rejected God by rejecting his prophets,
his priests and his kings. And then he says, and when God,
the Prince of Life, came in person, we rejected him in person. And
he says this, they reject him because they knew him not. Can
you ask him? Can you ask him, who is Christ
that I might believe on him? That's a question too hard. for the majority of religious
people to ask. Who are you, Lord, that I might
believe on you? That poor, blind, begging nobody
that got thrown out of the synagogue that Christ had given sight,
when Christ came to him, because he had sight, because he had
been given light, what did he say? Lord, who is he that I might
believe on him? Who is Christ that I might believe
on him? They knew not the Gospel of the
Prophets, though they knew the letter which they read every
Sabbath day. They came into that synagogue
and read about Him every single day. But when He came in person,
they didn't know it. He said, you just read the Law
and the Prophets. You just did the same thing that your rulers
and elders did at Jerusalem. You just read the Law and the
Prophets. Do you hear who the Law and the Prophets talk about? When they read that He would
be rejected by men who would condemn Him to death, they never
considered themselves to be the ones who would do it. Paul said
they fulfilled those various scriptures in condemning Him.
Came in there and read them every Sabbath day. And read how that
a people was going to reject the Messiah. And never, because
they were too religious, because they were too enamored with their
own religious devotion, because their eyes were too full of themselves,
never, ever thought, is it I? What did the Lord's apostles
say? The Lord's people, the Lord's people keep asking, Lord, who
are you that I might believe? The Lord's people keep saying,
Lord, is it I? Because we know what we are.
We know what we've been saved from. And we know we need this
King and this Savior continually. And he said they didn't find
any cause of death in Christ, yet they desired Pilate that
he should be slain. They dealt with Christ just like
they dealt with Samuel. Jew and Gentile, religious and
otherwise, moral and immoral. Behold what enmity against God
he is. When God's Christ came, behold
how well man judged for himself and how well man governed for
himself. When the King and the Savior
of the whole world came and we rejected Him for this vile scum
called man. What about this Barabbas? What do you want me to do with
this vile murderer? that could come into your house
and kill your sons and your daughters, that could lead them astray,
that could do any type of immoral behavior to them. What do you
want me to do with him? Set him free and kill the Prince
of Life. Did the unbelief of those in
the past hinder God from sending forth His Son? Did the unbelief
of those who crucified Him hinder God from raising up His King
and His Savior even from the dead? Look at verse 29. And when
they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him
down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulcher, but God raised
Him from the dead. What if some did not believe?
Shall their unbelief make the faith of God non-effectual? Can
God save His people in spite of the sin and rebellion of His
people? Look at verse 31. And He was seen many days of
them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are
His witnesses unto the people. He's able to raise up witnesses
to the people, even in spite of our rebellion and this world's
rejection of Him. Will the rejection and denial
of God stop the King and Savior from sending forth His Gospel
to His people? Look at verse 32. And we declare
unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto
the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children,
in that he hath raised up Jesus again. As it is also written
in the second Psalm, Thou art my son this day, have I forgotten
thee? Will the obstinate rebellion
of his people leave the King and Savior frustrated, or will
God the Father give him all the people promised him in the eternal
covenant of grace? Look at verse 34. And as concerning
that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to
corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies
of David. Wherefore he saith also in another
psalm, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will
of God, fell on sleep and was laid unto his fathers and saw
corruption. But he whom God raised again
saw no corruption. So what is this Paul's declaring
to us? What is this Paul's declaring to us? Verse 38, Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sin. When Christ was made sin
for us, he was made sin for every elect child of God and for them
alone. When Christ purged our sin, he
purged the sin of every elect child of God and theirs alone. When Christ rose again for our
justification, he rose again for the justification of every
child of God and for their justification alone. He gives repentance to
every elect child who makes up his Israel, for they make up
his body of which he is head. He gives forgiveness of sins
to every elect child who makes up his Israel, for he has reconciled
them to God, made atonement for them, and by his life they must
and shall live forever. He didn't make forgiveness possible.
He didn't make the remission of sins a possibility. It's not
by your act of believing that you are justified. But look at
the verse here now, verse 39. By Him, by Him, by Him, by His
obedience to the precepts of the law of Moses as the representative
of His people, and by His obedience to the law of Moses as the substitute
of His people on the cross, All that believe are justified from
all things from which you could not be justified by your obedience
to the law of Moses. If there's one thing Paul's made
clear in his history of the people of Israel, it's this. Man cannot
please God. Man is guilty before God. Man
chooses death and not life. And therefore, no amount of religious
posturing can make us right with God. Only Christ can. Are you
a true son or true daughter of Abraham? If so, you confess that
in your flesh is nothing good, that you're chief of sinners,
and we don't stop confessing that. Are you truly a son of
Abraham? If so, you behold and submit
in faith to Christ, your King and your Savior. You bow to the
King and confess your dire need of Him. seeing that the unbelief
of those who rejected Him was not frustrated, or didn't frustrate
God's promise, but that He hath raised unto His people a King
and a Savior. Do you think if you go on in unbelief, if any
man goes on in unbelief, do you think it will hinder God from
saving His people? Do you think that the unbeliever
who rears back and spits as hard as he can in God's face, do you
think he does anything but glorify God Listen now verse 40 beware
therefore lest that come upon you which is spoken of by God
before by his prophets Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish
For I work a work in your days a work which you shall in no
wise believe though a man declare it unto you The man that doesn't
believe, God already said he won't believe. He won't believe
me. Everybody wants a king and a
savior like the other nations have until the king and the savior
comes. If you're His, because He put
you in Christ, He'll turn you from yourself. He'll take away
the King and the Savior you desire. And He'll raise up to you Christ
the King and Savior of His people. That'll happen for you and for
me. That'll happen for your children.
He can do that. He can do that. That little girl
will walk in there thinking it's just another day. She's just
going to church because she ought to, because mom and daddy wants
her to. And God will bring forth the dynamite. Form Christ in
her and she'll be the king and savior. And there'll be a new king and
a new savior. A whole happy day. It's a happy day. Alright.