I'd like to direct your attention
to the 17th chapter of Acts, if you would please. Acts chapter
17. Not long ago, someone who has
attended this church for years, longer than I have, that's been
30, But they told a relative of mine that I preach the same
message every week. This relative of mine said, oh
my, the same message every week? I think my friend made it clear,
but he said, yep, the same message every week. We have but one message. There is but one gospel. There
is but one salvation. There is but one Christ. And
sometimes we talk about this one glorious subject. We talk
about this subject out of the Old Testament Scriptures. And
sometimes we look at the writings of men that God inspired by the
Holy Spirit in the New Testament. But the message is the same.
And the God that this book declares, He never changes. This book declares
that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So we preach
and we declare this gospel, the one message that is to a real
sinner's ears, good news. How your sin can be forever put
away and how you who have been alienated from God can be reconciled
once again to Him. So my message this morning is
no different. It's more of the same. And oftentimes,
when I consider this matter of preaching and look over my notes,
I'm like, that's the same thing I said last week. And that's
the same thing I said the week before that. And you think to
yourself, well, folks grow tired of hearing these things time
and time again. And it's then that I remember
that I, the sinner I am, never grow tired of hearing how Christ
came into the world to save sinners. John the Baptist. The Lord Jesus,
speaking of him, said, among those born of women, there's
not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. John the Baptist
was a preacher. John the Baptist preached Jesus
Christ. Well, he was the one who God
sent to bear witness of Him. He's the one who cried in the
wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. He's the one that
preached and said, there's one coming who is mightier than I. The latched of whose shoes I'm
not worthy to stoop down and unload. But as it is with all
God's people, one time or another, when trouble and adversity came
John's way, he began to doubt. John the Baptist was thrown into
prison, and his mind begins to wander, and his heart begins
to doubt. And he sends two of his disciples
to the Lord Jesus with this question, Are thou he that should come?
Or should we look for another? The very man that had just not
long ago said and pointed to Christ and said, Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Now with weak faith
ask this question. Are you Him? Or do we look for
another? And I love the answer that the
Lord gave John's disciples to give Him. I have taken it for
myself many times in times of doubt. He said, go and show John
again. Go show him again those things
which you do here and see. You tell him again and again
if you must. He knows these things. Go and
show John again and remind him of the things that he once saw.
Go and show him again the things that you hear and see. That's
what preaching is. It's often been described, preaching
that is, as one sinner telling another sinner where they got
bread. That's a good definition. You
go and tell John one more time what you hear and see. And then
the Lord gets specific. He says, you tell him that the
blind received their sight. And you tell him that the lame
walk. And you tell him that lepers
are cleansed. You tell him that the dead are
raised. You tell John that the poor have what? They have the
gospel preached to them. That's what we're doing here
this morning. We're preaching the gospel. We're here to hear
the gospel. May God enable me to preach it.
You're in Acts chapter 17, right? Look at verse 1. Now when they
had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,
and there was a synagogue of the Jews. as his manner was,
went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the Scriptures." Now it's here that I would like for us
to make our first observation. If and when, and I ask this question
this way purposely, if and when God reveals the Gospel to a chosen
sinner, it will be through preaching. I say if and when because it's
God that does the saving, and saving the lost is His prerogative,
and crossing your path with the Gospel is His also. There's no
mistake that you're here this morning, hearing this Gospel.
There's no mistake that God has crossed your path with the hearing
of this Word. Did you notice in our text that
Paul passed through two other cities to come to Thessalonica? It seems that the main reason,
by the way the verses read anyway, was because Thessalonica had
a synagogue. The synagogue was where the Jews
gathered to hear the Old Testament Scriptures read. And Paul knew
he'd be given an ear there. So, verse 2 tells us that He
went in unto them. And we're told that this was
Paul's manner. This was Paul's custom. This
was Paul's way of life. Paul was a preacher. And he said
of himself, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in
me, that I might preach Him among the brethren. Paul knew that
God had called him to preach. He didn't put himself in the
ministry. And that's what Paul is doing here in our text. Matter
of fact, that's exactly what the word interpreted, reasoned
here in verse 2 means in the original Greek. It means to thoroughly
discuss or to fervently or passionately preach. Verse 3 says opening
and alleging. That's preaching. The word opening
means rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Paul made the Scriptures
simple to understand. Every preacher ought to. We ought
to preach like we're preaching to children. We are, aren't we,
the children of God? Paul made the Scripture simple.
He preached in a way that you could understand what he meant.
And then the word alleging means to place near. It's to sit near
a person as you would a plate of food for them to eat. That's
what we strive to do in preaching. Show sinners how palatable and
how fruitful God's Word and the Gospel is. Paul was preaching
Christ and Him crucified. Paul's manner in preaching was
to be persistent. Did you notice that? Why, he
went into them for three Sabbath days. And as long as they'd hear
him, as long as they'd give him ear, Paul preached the Gospel
to them. Our Lord said in Matthew chapter
7 verse 6, give not that which is holy unto the dogs, and neither
cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under
their feet, and turn again and rend you. Men and women are responsible
for what they hear and what they don't hear. I remember Ms. Coleman
saying that so many times. Miss Coleman, you're 80, 90 years
old. If anyone has an excuse to miss
church at you, oh, I'm responsible for what I don't hear. The same
as what I hear. And we are. And we are. The Lord himself said, and whosoever
shall not receive you nor hear your words when you depart out
of their house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily
I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." We see that
Paul preached, he reasoned with them, and he did so out of the
Scriptures it says. The Word of God is the final
authority in all spiritual matters, especially in salvation. It's
the Bible that shows us how that Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. You can be convinced that one
named Jesus died for your sins, but if you don't know how Jesus
Christ died for your sin according to the Scriptures, it won't profit
you anything. It's in knowing how Christ died
that we truly see who it was that died. It was the just dying
for the unjust. It was God dying for the sinner. It had to be because God's the
only one who can fulfill His own holy law and satisfy His
own holy justice. When God shows us that our sin
is so horrific and He is so holy that when our sin is put upon
His Son, God had to kill Him. Now that's how holy God is and
that's how sinful we are. God must kill him in order to
keep His law and satisfy His justice. How Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures. Some claim salvation to be a
cooperative effort between God and the sinner. Others claim
to let go and let God have His way in their life enabling Him
to save them. Some believe that they exercised
their free will and gave their heart to Jesus. Some claim to
walk to salvation. Some claim to pray their way
there. There's others who cast their
own deciding vote, determining the difference. But there are
some who know that only God makes them to differ. And they know
that all that they have is what God gave them in Christ, and
at the same time, that is all that they need. Christ is made
unto them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And everything's okay between them and God. They received all
these things as a gift. A gift's free, isn't it? Have
you ever had anyone give you a gift and then say, that was
$12? A gift's free. Freely given. Freely, freely given. We can't
glory in it as if we didn't receive it. That's what Paul said. He
said, if you received it, how do you glory in it? Faith is
God's gift to us. God gives us life, and then God
gives us faith. Don't get that out of Calcutta
there. Faith comes after life is given.
Life is never given because faith is found in the sinner. No, no,
no. Perish the thought. I'm telling
you, if that were so, if faith came first, then sinners would
be saved by their faith and not by God. So what was Paul doing
here in Acts chapter 17? He was preaching. He was reasoning
with those in the synagogue out of the Scriptures. Now listen
to me on this. It does not matter what your
ideas of God are. And it does not matter what your
opinion of God is. It really doesn't. All that really
matters is what this book says. Do you agree? What does God say
about you? What does God say about me, the
sinners that we are? What does God say about Himself,
the thrice holy God that He is? What does God say about these
wretched sinners and a holy God being reconciled together? All
that matters is what God says in His Word about these things.
Over 30 times in the New Testament Scriptures alone, we read as
it is written. God's Word never returns unto
Him void. Never. It shall always accomplish
that which I please, God said. And it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it. God cannot fail. His Word cannot
fail. The Holy Spirit tells us for
whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for what? Our learning. that we through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Oh, I have great
hope this morning. And my hope is not in me or in
anything that I've done. Again, verse 3, Paul was opening
and alleging What was he preaching? What was he passionately telling
these lost folks in the Jewish synagogue at Thessalonica? Well, first, his message had
to do with the fact that Christ's must needs have suffered. Did
you notice that? This takes us back to that imperative
question that we must find the true and the spiritual answer
to. And that again is how Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. How did Christ
die for our sins? Over sixteen times in three gospel
accounts it's recorded that Christ must suffer many things. Christ must needs. Well, let's
get the obvious out of the way. In order to suffer as a man,
God had to become a man. That's a great condescension
and a great stoop as we saw in the first step. Scripture says
in being found in fashion or in the form or figure as a man,
a man without sin though, the God-man, He, Christ, humbled
Himself and became obedient unto death. Now have you ever stopped
to think about that little phrase, obedient unto death? I think
we say those words without ever giving them much thought. Christ
became obedient unto death. What does that actually mean?
What does it mean that Christ became obedient unto death? It's
crucial and urgent to know. So let's see if I can answer.
Death is sin's wages. The wages of sin is death. Death
is what you and I deserve. The law of God requires our death. The justice of God demands our
execution. The soul that sins it shall die.
So, that's for certain. It has to. Because God is just
and can by no means what? Clear the guilty. His justice
won't allow Him to clear the guilty. But neither will God's
justice allow Him to condemn the innocent. Our Lord became
obedient unto death. He humbled Himself to do so,
the Scriptures say. He voluntarily agreed to take
the punishment and take the sentence of death in the place of those
that God gave Him before time ever was instituted. And that's
why Christ must need suffer. Not just any suffering, but the
suffering of death. Even the death of the cross,
the Scripture says. Wherefore God also highly exalted
Him and given Him a name which is above every name. And hear
me on this, if Christ is to be the only sacrifice and the only
substitute for the sin and the salvation of His elect people,
He must by the sacrifice of Himself, perfectly paid for every single
sin. All of them. Every sin. All the sin of all God's elect
throughout all time. Every single one of them has
got to be paid in full. The law of God demands it. The
justice of God requires it. That being so, Christ must suffer. He's the only one who could suffer
and pay the debt. It's not an option. No other
way. He must die the just for the unjust if he is ever to bring
sinners to God. That's just the way it is. That's the way God ordained it.
That's the way God purposed it. The Lord said to those men of
weak faith on the road to Emmaus, He said, Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things, and enter in His glory? Oh, there's
got to be suffering before there's glory. has to be suffering before
there's glory. He must needs have suffered these
things. My eternal suffering wouldn't
pay or satisfy the first sin, and neither would yours. The
only thing that God will accept for the payment of sin is what?
Perfection. So the perfect God Himself, in
the person of His Son, came in the likeness of sinful flesh,
yet without sin, lived a perfect life of righteousness. He died
in the chosen sinner's place. He kept the law of God for them,
satisfied God's justice in their room instead, and God's work
of redemption is finished and it's accomplished. What's left
for you to do, Lou Ann? Rest! And then secondly, we see also
in verse three of our text that Paul's gospel declares that Christ
must need also be risen again from the dead. You know what? God's justice demands that also. This is one of the most profound
things my ears have ever heard. When justice is satisfied, the
holy law and justice of God must release the one who's satisfied. And that's why death in the grave
could not hold the Lord Jesus Christ. He satisfied God's will. He satisfied God's justice. And according to God's divine
justice, by the means of Christ being our substitute, and through
His covenant promises, all who are found in Christ must be released. Got to be released from the law's
demands because divine justice makes it so. And this is how
Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. He died according
to the justice of God, according as described in the Old Testament
Scriptures. Christ is the seed of the woman.
He is the Messiah, Satan's conqueror. He is Abel's Lamb. He's the propitiation
for our sins. Christ is Noah's Ark. He's our
place of safety and security. Christ is our Passover lamb.
God passes over our sins when it sees His blood. Christ is
the man in the wilderness. He's our bread of life. He is
the smitten rock. He's the fountain which flows
with living water. He is the serpent high and lifted
up. He is the mercy seat where God
meets His people. He is the ark wherein the law
of God is not broken. Christ is truly made to me all
I need. And then here is the third beautiful
truth, so tucked away here in this single verse of Scripture,
so beautiful. Verse 3, Paul says, This Jesus
whom I preach unto you is Christ. He's Christ. Paul says, This
Jesus. Paul is saying, My Jesus. My Christ. My Lord. The Jesus
I preach. Oh, He's particular. He's distinguishing
from all others. This Jesus. You know, in our
Lord's day, there were hundreds, if not thousands in the nation
of Israel with the name of Jesus or Joshua. Or some small variance. But Paul distinguishes his Savior
here as this Jesus. This Jesus whom I preach. He's
the Christ. A Jesus who wants to save you.
A Jesus who's trying to save you. That's another Jesus. A
Jesus that can die for you and you still be lost. I'm telling
you, that's another Jesus. A Jesus that only makes salvation
possible. A Jesus who can not save a sinner
without the help or the assistance of the sinner. That's another
Jesus. Jesus Christ is God the Son and He needs no help or no
assistance to save. Paul said, this Jesus, the Jesus
whom I preach, He's the Christ. He's the Anointed One. He's the
Messiah. He's the one promised who would
save His people from their sin. Jesus Christ is Emmanuel. That
means God with us. Friends, God has visited us. Only one who is God and only
one who is man can mediate between God and man. And that's the man,
Christ Jesus. And He's all God and He's all
man. What do you think of Christ? What do you think of Emmanuel?
Do you believe that He's God with us? Are you putting your
trust in the Christ of the Scriptures? There are some qualifications
that the Christ of God alone can meet. He must be perfectly
holy, righteous, and just. He must be holy as God is. That's not a problem, because
He is God. And only a perfect sacrifice
is a qualified sacrifice. Jesus Christ is qualified to
put your sin away. And though Christ is able, He
must also be willing. Christ is both able and willing. I know because that old leper,
he came, he said, Lord, if You will. He said, I know You can. But if You will, You can make
me clean. He wanted to know if the Lord
would. And you know what the Lord said?
I will. I will. I most certainly will. Now that's
the Jesus that I preach. And He's Christ. That's why I
don't like to just call Him Jesus. I don't. To each their own, but
a lot of folks talk about Jesus. But He don't sound like Jesus
Christ. He really doesn't. And I'm not
trying to be different or difficult, but the Jesus that most people
describe is not the Lord Jesus Christ. In most cases, when you
hear them talk, it seems and sounds as though they are Lord
over Him. Paul said, I worship and I love
and I trust and I preach. I preach a man named Jesus who
is Christ. Not just a man, no. He's the
God-man. He's Christ. He's the man and
He's God. So let me ask you, in closing,
is that who you're trusting in? Is it? He suffered, he must. He must suffer death, he must
suffer all that physical abuse, and he must suffer all that anguish
of soul. He must suffer the abandonment
of all his friends, but more so the forsaking of his Father.
Then comes the suffering of mockery and ridicule and hatred followed
by death and the coldness of the grave. The Lord must suffer
and He must die. Why? Because that's what we deserve.
And that's what our sin did to Him. And He took His people's
place and He paid His people's sin debt. And you know who that
means something to? To those who owe so much that
they can't pay it. Isn't that what the Lord said
to Simon? He said, to whom much is forgiven, there's much love.
To whom little is forgiven, the same up at the little. All my
sin put away. Which person are you? One who
loves much or one who loves little? Which one are you? Have you been
forgiven much or have you been forgiven little? Oh, may God
enable us to believe