If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to Acts. Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter
8. And I've entitled this message,
A Heart Problem. A Heart Problem. The Scripture
here says, And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time
there was great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem,
and they were all scattered abroad throughout the region of Judea
and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen
to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for
Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and
hauling men and women committed them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down
to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them." Now, remember
what is taking place here. The church had had great prosperity. The Lord had risen, Pentecost
had come, and there were thousands of people at one time being called
by the gospel. There were thousands of people
joining the church, true believers in Christ. It was a prosperous
time for the church. But then, Trouble came. Stephen had stood up to preach
the gospel, and he had preached such a powerful gospel. He had
preached the gospel of Christ throughout the whole Scripture,
and he came to these Jews who had forsaken and abandoned Christ
and crucified Him, and he called them stiff-necked. He said, you
stiff-necked... generation. You're the one that
did away with the just and holy one. And you remember what happened.
They rushed on him. They gnashed on him with their
teeth and they stoned him to death. They stoned him to death. And here at the beginning of
chapter 8 we read of this man Saul. Saul of Tarsus who would
become Paul, the apostle. This man Saul was consenting.
He was glad for the death of this man Stephen. This act This
act of martyrdom here ignited this man Saul to go into all
the region and persecute the church. Scripture said he wreaked
havoc upon the church and hauling men and women into prison, going
into their homes, dragging them out of their homes and hauling
them to prison. This was going from a prosperous
time to a time of great trouble. But what was the result of this?
The result of this was found in verse 4. Therefore, because of this persecution,
therefore they were scattered abroad and went everywhere preaching
the word. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. You see, remember what the Lord's
directive for the church was. go you into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. But what was happening with the
church was they were staying in Jerusalem. They weren't going
into all the world. And God brought this persecution,
this havoc He wreaked on His own people for the sole purpose
of spreading the gospel so that His people should be scattered
abroad. And I want us to consider tonight
our own trial right now that we are facing as a church. This
pandemic that has spread throughout this country has caused us to
have to meet in this way. But consider what it's done.
It's gotten us out of our own little comfort zone. It's gotten
us out of our own little group. Remember, the church is not just
to meet together, but to go out into all the world and preach
the gospel. That's our mission. Consider
what this thing is doing. We have been blessed in this
country for so long that meeting together has become just routine. It's become just another thing
we do. I do think that this will give
God's people a greater appreciation. A greater appreciation for fellowship
you know I know this when I sat at home for the first time I
did this when this thing started we didn't have streaming audio
I sat at home and I watched brother Todd and I ever preach a wonderful
message it was a beautiful message and I thought to myself this
there's something missing here and what it was was God's people. I missed the fellowship, the
union that we have. And consider what God is doing
with this thing. He is causing us to appreciate
worship. And we should appreciate this.
It is a very great blessing. But at the same time now, we
are not together. What are we to be doing? The
same thing we should have been doing all along. Preaching the
gospel to others. This is what happened. They went
everywhere abroad. What? Preaching the Word. Now
that word, preaching, has to do with, like, gossiping or just
speaking together. You know, when you talk to a
friend. That's what that word means. Like, everyone in the
church wasn't called to be preachers, but yet they preached the Gospel
simply by witnessing to everyone they knew. Well, in this time,
can we not do that? Can we not witness to people
that we know, our family members, that we're having to stay with.
We're having to huddle together. Can we not witness to them? Yes,
we can. And then this word here in verse
5, Philip. He went down to Samaria and preached. Now that's a totally different
word. That word means herald. He went down to herald the gospel. This is what I am doing. I am
a heralder. I am one, a crier, one that stands
and cries out, proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this
is what the mission of the church is, to preach the gospel, to
tell others of the blood and righteousness of Christ given
for sinners. Sinners. You know, this gospel. Scripture said, Jesus came not
to call the righteous, but who? Sinners. So who are we to witness
to? Sinners. Now listen, if I'm talking
to sinners, then I got my people. I got the people, the audience
that I'm looking for. I'm looking for sinners. Because
Christ came to save sinners. And that's good for me because
I'm a sinner. I know what I am. I know what
He's done. He came to save me. We must warn
men of their sinful condition. You know, you see it on every
day, everybody warning about this virus. Every day people,
and it's good they be warned because this is serious. It's
a serious thing to get this thing. But how much more serious is
sin? And yet every man, woman, boy and girl are born with this
disease of sin. We must tell men, we must tell
them of their nature, their standing and how God will come and judge
all men. We must tell them of God's grace
as well. It's not enough to just condemn
a man and walk away. We must tell them of God's mercy,
of God's grace toward who? Sinners. Sinners. And this grace is found only
in Jesus Christ, that He came not for the righteous, but for
sinners. This is God's chosen means to
save His people. Now, there's only one chosen
means. You got that? This is preaching the Gospel.
It's not plays. It's not entertainment. It's
not singing. It's not any of those things
that the modern church is doing. Not playing basketball. It's
not doing video games. That's not how it's done. Not
movies. That's not how this is done. God uses preaching and
only preaching. It's in 1 Corinthians chapter
1. I'll read it for you. I don't
want to mess it up. I don't have it written down. 1 Corinthians
1, verse 21, it says, For after that the wisdom of God, the world
by wisdom knew not God, listen, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Paul said, I was not
sent to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Why? This is the
means. This is the only means by which God has chosen. Now
men say, well, I don't believe that. Well, kick against God
if you will. But the Word is very plain. I
know of a man who told me recently, he said, I was saved without
hearing a preacher. I don't know. You justify that.
God says you can't. Faith cometh by what? Hearing. And hearing by the Word of God. So this is how God has chosen
to save sinners, to bring them to faith and repentance. And
what is the result of preaching the gospel? Twofold. There's
always two things that are going to happen here. One, you will
believe, or two, you will not. That's simple. You will go away
believing, or you will go away the same way you came in, unbelieving. It's always the same result.
When Philip here preached the gospel to the Samaritans, it
says in verse 6, And the people with one accord gave heed unto
the things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles
he did. For unclean spirits crying with
a loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them,
and many taken with the palsy, and that were lame were healed.
And what happened? And there was great joy in the
city. These people gave heed. Now listen,
you should give heed to what I'm saying, not because of who
I am. Who I am has nothing to do with this. Andrew, I'm your father, but
it has nothing to do with me being your father at all. You should hear
me because this is what God says. You should hear me because this
is God's Word. It's not my word. It's God's Word. These people
gave heed. They heard what He said. They
had a need. And when He spoke, He spoke to
their need. And what was their need? Their
need, they had sin and they had need of forgiveness. They had
need of healing. Not just in the body, but they
had need of healing in their souls. And what was this? When
they heard, they said, ìThereís great joy.î I know this. When I preach the
Gospel, I know that some will be indifferent, some will not
hear, but I know this, some will. And thatís why I preach. If I
wasnít sure of this, I wouldnít preach. I just wouldnít. I know
this. God has a people, and every one
of them shall hear. Every one of them shall hear.
We are sure that when this gospel is preached that some will hear
the gospel and be quickened by the Spirit of God. In Acts chapter
13 and verse 48 it says, And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as
many as were ordained to eternal life, guess what, believed. As
many as, not one more, not one less, but as many as. And so
as I'm preaching the gospel to you tonight, I know this, as
many as. That's how many is going to hear me. As many as the Lord
has ordained to eternal life. They shall hear, they shall believe,
and you know what? They'll be glad. They're glad
at what? The Word of the Lord. That's
what it says in Acts 13. It says they were glad for the
Word of the Lord. Now what does that mean? Christ.
He is the Word of the Lord. They were glad for Christ. And
everyone who hears this gospel and believes are glad for Christ.
Now these Samaritans in our text who took heed to Philip as he
preached, they were glad and they did so because they were
ordained. They were ordained to eternal
life. Even so it is now we preach. And I'll tell you this, I'm not
preaching anything different than Philip preached. You know,
he had miracles and things, but he only used those miracles as
evidence of the authority of the risen Christ. Now, why don't
we have miracles today? Because there's no need. Philip
had miracles. Why should I need them? I don't
need them. Philip had them. Philip was given these miracles
so he could prove the authority of the risen Christ. Why should
I have to have them? I don't. They were already proven.
There's no more need for these. He had them. But then He preached
the Word of Christ to them. That's what it says in verse
5. It says He preached Christ unto
them. He preached Christ. And so, those who are ordained
to eternal life, they will believe. God will give them life. He will
give them faith. And they will all believe. Isn't
that what Jesus said in John 6? He said in John chapter 6,
And verse 38, John 6 and verse 38, let me read it to you. Our
Lord Jesus Christ preaching to these people, He was the bread
of life. And it says, For I came down
from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me. And this is the Father's will which is sent me, that of
all he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on him
may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. Our Lord Jesus Christ said this is the will of God. Why
do you believe? This is the will of God. Scott, why do you believe?
It's the will of God. It's the will of God. That's the only
reason I believe. It is the will of God. And when
God willed it, guess what? I believed. And everyone of His
elect will do this. But on the other hand, some will
not hear this Word. They won't believe it at all.
That's seed that fell on the wayside. It's going to hit the
ground, bounce off, ain't going to do anything. But I don't want
to talk about those people who don't believe. There's another
group of people, and I want to talk specifically about this
group of people who will hear the Word of God and believe it,
but were not ordained of God to eternal life. There are a
group of people, now listen to this, that will believe, but
were not ordained to eternal life. They will believe only
in a fleshly nature. They will believe only with a
fleshly heart and a fleshly mind, but not with the faith that is
given of the Holy Spirit of God. Now what's the difference between
these two? What's the difference between one that believes and
is ordained to eternal life and one that believes and is not
ordained to eternal life? What's the difference? The difference
is in the elect who believe the faith of the elect and the faith
of the unregenerate. The faith of the elect is a gift
of God. And the faith of the unregenerate is a product of
his own will and making. That's the difference. We may
see that this is an example of this in our text. Now I want
to give you an example of one that believed that was not ordained
to eternal life. Look back in your text. He preached
to those in Samaria, and many of them believed. That whole
city had great joy, but, verse 9, there was a certain man called
Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched
the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was someone,
some great one, to whom they all gave heed from the least
to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because
of that long time he had bewitched them with sorceries." Now this
man, Simon, he was a trickster. He was a magician. An illusionist. And he was one said of great
power in Samaria. Notice this, he was one of self-promotion. He promoted himself. He was his
own PR guy. He went around telling everybody
that he was a man of great power. And that word got around and
he did some tricks and some sorcery and some magic. And this had
this whole town duped and bewitched. to think he had great power.
Now this one in verse 10, it says that he is, look at that,
from the least of them great, saying this man is of great power,
the great power of God. Some commentators say that he
was confessing himself to be the Son of God. He was confessing
himself to be the Son of God. But now comes Philip. Philip
has a message, though. He's saying, look, that man's
not the Son of God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And not only did he testify with his lips, he proved it in power
by real miracles. This guy was tricking people,
but these were real miracles that testified of his Word. He
preached in the power of the Holy Spirit the works of God,
these true miracles. These were not tricks or illusions.
And so the people began to hear this true word of God and they
believed on Christ. They followed after Christ and
rejected Simon. Now when he saw this great awakening,
you know, Simon was not one like the Pharisees and got mad. The
Pharisees, they were angry. This guy, he saw something moving
and he like, he jumped on the bandwagon. That's what he did.
Look at this in verse Verse 11. I'm sorry, verse 12. But when they believed Philip's
preaching, the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name
of Jesus Christ, the authority of Jesus Christ, were baptized,
both men and women, then Simon himself believed also and was
baptized. He continued with Philip and
wondered, beholding the miracles and signs that were done." This
man believed also. It seems to conclude that this
man was caught up into this movement. He seemed to be just like the
rest. He seemed to be saved. The Scripture says he believed
and was baptized and continued with Philip. Isn't that what
it says in the early church? That they continued with the
apostles and their doctrines? Isn't this guy? He's doing exactly
what true believers were doing. They were continuing to hear. By all outward appearances, there
was no difference between Simon and the rest of Samaria. So Philip
baptized him, and he continued hearing the Gospel. But you want
to see what the Holy Spirit added here. He wondered. Now, but He
did not wonder at the Word of God. What did He wonder at? He
wondered beholding the miracles and signs. He was attracted by the miracles
and signs that accompanied the Gospel, but He was not attracted
by the Gospel. How many people go to church
just for the attractions? You go to church just for the
attractions, the music, the whatever? That's nothing more than what
Simon was doing. He was going for the entertainment. He was
going after that which he could see. He was not interested in
Christ. He had no affection. He had no
heart. He had no love for the gospel. And we know that he was not saved.
We know this. Why? Because he was an apostate. He was not a genuine believer.
And it was not manifest until the apostles came and began to
give out the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 14. Now,
when the apostles were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received
the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who when
they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive
the Holy Ghost. For as yet, He had not fallen
upon them, only they which were baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Then laid their hands on them, and they received the
Holy Ghost. Now, a word about this. Philip could not convey the power
of the Holy Spirit to the people that were saved. These people
believed. Whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. These people
had the Holy Spirit in them. No man is saved apart from having
the Holy Spirit. Scripture says if you have not
the Spirit of Christ, you are what? None of His. We have this
Spirit given to us at the new birth. What is this then the
Holy Spirit had not yet fallen? He's talking about this gift
of the Spirit whereby they are able to do signs and wonders. These miracles that Philip was
able to do, the apostles had the power to convey that gift
to believers. And so they were not yet had
this power until they came. And so, you see, He could not
convey that only to apostles. Now, what does this mean? I mean,
people run around telling about miracles and stuff. Don't buy
into that. We don't need those things anymore.
We have them in Scripture. God performs miracles all the
time. If you ever get a cold and you ever could recover, it's
a miracle. That's a work of God. That's not a work of science.
It's a work of God. If you're breathing right now, it is a
miracle of God that you can breathe in and breathe out and all of
your body functions properly. It's a miracle of God. But no one can convey miracles
like they did the apostles. And so when Simon saw this, In
verses 18 and 19, he proceeded to offer money to have this power. Look at that. He said, When Simon
saw the laying on of the hands of the apostles' hands, the Holy
Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also
this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the
Holy Ghost. This man tried to bribe his way into an apostleship.
He tried to buy something that was only given by Jesus Christ. The apostleships were offices
given by God. No one can have an apostleship
except God give it to them. Nobody can call themselves a
preacher except they be sent of God. These are offices that
God gives to men. They're not bought. You can't
buy this office. You can't go to college and get
a degree and become a preacher. No, God sends preachers. College
doesn't make a preacher. God does. This man tried to buy
something that God, only God gave. He tried to buy this office. Listen, this is no different.
Some men are selling salvation. Some false prophets are selling
salvation. What do they say? If you will
give this, then God will give you this. Isn't that it? If you
do this, you can buy this from God. Isn't that the way we buy
things? You give somebody some money
and then in exchange they give you the product. And that's exactly
how men view salvation. If you give God enough works,
if you give God enough sincerity, if you give God enough obedience,
if you give God enough money alone, which is what? A gift
of God. Salvation is free, friends. Matter
of fact, it's the only really free thing there is. It is a free gift of God. It comes only by the power and
the grace of God. It can't be bought. It can't
be merited. It can't be earned. And Peter,
he sees something in verse 20, he says this, But Peter said
unto him, Your money perish with you. Because thou hast thought
that the gift of God may be purchased with money, thou hast neither
part nor lot in this matter, in this salvation. For thy heart
is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this
thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine
heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art
in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." Having
the power of the Spirit, Peter can see these things. I can't.
I can't look out there and see if you believe or not. That's
not given to me. But this was given to Peter to
see what this man really was inside. And Peter confesses that
these gifts of the Spirit are not for sale. No man can bribe
God. And how many times have men said,
Well, if I can just give God this, then God will give me that.
That's just what man thinks by nature. Over in Ezekiel chapter 13, I
read this this afternoon. I thought this was a good illustration
of this. These women were in Ezekiel.
Remember God said they should surrender to Babylonian kingdom. He said, look, I'm taking you
to captivity. You surrender, you live. If you don't, you'll
die. And yet these women were coming
out and they were prophesying, saying, no, no, no. If you go
to Babylon, you'll die. If you stay, you'll live. Exactly
opposite of what God says. Now, let's say, listen, what
God says, salvation is by grace. And man says, oh, no, no. Salvation
is by grace plus works. Well, see, that's exactly what
they say. You know what God says? He said this about these women.
Ezekiel 13 and verse 18. He said, And say, Thus saith
the Lord God to the women that sew pillows to all armholes,
and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hurt souls. Will you hunt the souls of My
people? Will you save the souls alive
that come unto you? He's saying, look, can you save
He's saying, you're making my people comfortable, and I'm not
making them comfortable. That's why those arm pillows.
He said, make some peace, peace. They're saying peace, peace,
but there is no peace. He said, will you pollute among my people
for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread? Slay the souls
that should not die and save the souls alive that should not
live. That wasn't false religion. False religion wants the people,
wants to save the people God don't want to save. They want
to save the work mongers. They want to save the legalists.
God said, I'm not there to save legalists. I'm not there to call
the righteous. And yet, what do legalists do?
They condemn the sinner. They put down the sinner. Well,
that's the person God wants to, that's the person God's going
to save, is the sinner. And they do it for what? Money,
for barley, for profit. They sell men's souls. Salvation cannot be bought. It
cannot be sold. It is something that God alone
can give, is salvation. Listen, is there anything you
possess that isn't owned of God already? What could you give
God? Do you do any work? Well, who
gives you strength to do that work? It's God. It's not your
work anyway. God does it. Nothing we own is
ours. All things are His. What could
you give for redemption? What price could you pay? What if I sacrifice my children?
Would that buy me redemption? No. You see, it takes precious
blood, holy blood, righteous blood. That is the only thing
that redeems and that is only the blood of Jesus Christ alone. He alone has purchased redemption. And so what's the difference
between true believers and this man Simon? You see, true believers,
we come to God with nothing. Simon comes with his money trying
to buy it. What do we come with, believer?
We come bankrupt. We come empty. We come with nothing
but our sin. We come for mercy. We come for
grace. We come for the righteousness
and the redemption that is only in the perfect offering of Jesus
Christ. This man believed his money had
value. But Peter said, Look, your money
perish with you. And I say to anybody who brings
their works, your work perish with you. Your work perish with you. Your sincerity perish with you.
Whatever it is you bring, whatever it is you add to Christ, let
that perish with you. Remember when those men, and
Jesus said in that day, when I come to judge men, I'll divide
them. And those on his right hand, he said, come you blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. And they said,
you've done this, you've fed me, you've clothed me. He said,
Lord, when do we do any of that? And he said, you did it when
I did it. When I did it, you did it. And the others, on the
left hand, they said, Lord, when did we not do those things for
you? And what does he say to them? Depart from me, you that
work iniquity. I never knew you. And Peter gets right to the heart
in verse 21. What does he say? He said, for thy heart is not
right with God. You know what man's problem is?
It's a heart problem. It's not an environment problem.
It's not a relationship problem. It's a heart problem. We are born with a vile and wicked
heart that can only sin. That's it. You cannot not sin. Sin, even in the believer, we
confess that sin is still mixed with all that we do. This man Simon, as does all false
professors believe, only by assent to the truth. Now this man who, he believed,
but his belief was nothing more than an acknowledgment that it's
true. I can ask my children theological
questions and show them in Scripture and then they can nod their head
and say, yeah, that's true. That's not faith. That's not faith. Acknowledging something in your
head is not faith. What men need is a... new heart. This man, he believed outwardly. He was baptized outwardly. He followed Philip and heard
the gospel outwardly. How many people today joined?
No, no bowing down to Christ. True faith bows to Christ. It's not a mere outward thing.
Friends, I'm not playing church. We don't play church. Not true.
This is serious business. This is serious. You know why? Because I know what it is to
be a sinner. Because I am one. God shows us that we are sinners. But in an act of sovereign love,
He shows us salvation in Christ. And by grace, we receive Him. We receive Him. Now, just a simple
illustration about head knowledge. You know, there could be a drug
that cures cancer. Now, you could read the pathology
reports, read all of the information, and you could acknowledge that
drug cures cancer. But I'll tell you this, you would
never experience it unless you had cancer and you took the drug. Only then would you be able to
say, yes, that works, that works. And so it is with faith. Faith
is not just something academic. It's an experimental thing. It's something God gives you. It's new life. It's a new heart.
No man wants to go to hell, isn't that right? Who wants to go to
hell? Nobody. But listen, that's not
faith in Christ. They say, you want to go to hell?
No. Then believe on Christ. Okay. See, that's the way most
religion does. Well, did you just say okay?
Well, then you're all right. Liar. That's not true faith. See, a man may keep up this kind
of faith, false faith for a while, Pretty soon he will not continue
to hear and believe and trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pretty soon the gospel will become wearisome, become a burden. Preaching that same message over
and over and over again gets boring. It is to a man that doesn't
have Christ. It's horrible. But sooner or
later, all false professors will be exposed just like Simon was.
This man was a stony ground hearer. He heard so long until he was
offended. Until the sun came up and tested
his faith, what did it find? It found him to be without faith. This man Simon, he endured for
a while, but he was not able to Possessed the office that he
wanted and then by and by he left. This happened to many men
who professed faith and then seek the preeminence. Isn't that
right? You know true believers seek
no preeminence. You know who has the preeminence?
Christ. I'm your pastor. I don't have
any preeminence. Christ is your master. Christ
is your Lord. All I am is a messenger, a vessel. And so men seeking preeminence
will soon be exposed and they'll go away. This is not due to a
lack of determination or lack of sincerity, but rather a lack
of a new heart. You see, the sinner believes
in his head, but he's not been given a new heart. That man is
not born of God. But one born of God, God promises
this. In a covenant of grace, He said
this, I will give you a new heart. A new heart. When God comes in
power, He gives us a new heart. The Lord declares to all He will
save that He will give us a new heart because Our heart is full
of sin, it is cold and indifferent to the things of God, it is at
enmity against God, it is not subject to God's law, neither
indeed can be. Therefore, by nature, all we
can do is sin and are unrighteous. Man's heart is defiled and cold,
and all if he has the facts and robotic ceremony and calls that
faith. That's not faith. If you're doing
this just out of a duty, out of a sense of duty, there's something
wrong with that kind of faith. True faith comes from a true
heart of repentance and reverence and love of God through Jesus
Christ. To have a new heart is to be
given a new life by the Spirit of God, so that we were once cold and
indifferent, now our hearts are warmed to hear of Jesus Christ. Is there anything else you want
to hear? When I stand to preach, is there anybody else you want
me to preach about? You want me to preach about you? You want
me to preach about the world and politics? No. Why? Because none of that saves.
True faith has one object, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We are humbled before God and
see Christ as all our refuge, all our salvation, and our friend. God is one that is gracious to
His people and gives us a repentant and prayerful heart. Simon was
not such a man. He was a man in bondage to his
sin, full of enmity, and Peter says, repent and pray. But notice
what Simon says in verse 24. He says this, And Simon answered,
Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which you
have spoken come upon me. Simon obviously was the first
Catholic. He wanted Peter to be his priest.
He wanted Peter to pray for him. You see, this man had no idea
of his sin. A man that has any idea of his
sin is like that Did the publican ask the Pharisee to pray for
him? No. What did he pray? Lord, be merciful
to me, the sinner. When a man is exposed of his
sin, he will pray. Listen, I can pray for you, but
if you don't believe in Christ, you should pray for yourselves.
You should repent. I do pray for you. But I tell
you this, you'll never be saved except you pray. Except you go
to God. Except you find Christ. Go to Him. Sue for Him. If you
don't believe, believe now. Why wait? Believe now. Trust
now. Come to Him now. If God give
you grace to do so, repent of your sins. Don't ask someone
else to do it for you. They can't do it for you. I can't
do it. I can't do it for you. I can't
save you. Only He can save you. This man did not sue God for
mercy. He did not go himself. Let me
ask you this before I close. Do you have a right heart? How do you know? Well, preacher,
all I see is my sin. That's good. That's one sign that you have
a new heart. is if you can see your sin. But I tell you this,
that's not enough. Seeing your sin is not enough.
Seeing Christ is not enough. You know those people that were
told to look to the serpent, the brazen serpent. It was not
enough that they knew the serpent was there. It was not enough
for them to know the serpent could heal them. They had to
look. Have you looked? If you've looked,
that's because you have a new heart. Faith, friends, is the
evidence of a new heart. Faith in what? In Christ. And
what do we say? We're not trying to buy anything.
Jesus what? Paid it all. All to Him. That's faith, isn't it? That's
true faith. That's a true heart that only
God can give.