Acts chapter 14. I believe I have a message tonight. I have been believing that since
Monday. I almost do not say that because
it took me so long to know how I wanted to tell you the message,
what the words were for the message. I knew what I wanted to say,
but I didn't know how to say it. But I believe that the Lord
has given me those words, and I hope and pray this will be
a blessing. I hope that This will be used by the Lord
and it will help us. This was such an encouragement
to me. It was just so encouraging. Two weeks ago, we looked at the
first seven verses in this chapter. And what struck me two weeks
ago was one particular phrase in verse one, right in the middle
of it, three words, And so spake. And I believe this is coming
off of that. Paul and Barnabas so spake in
a way that many believed. Something has been pressed on
me tonight in this portion we're going to look at. Verses 8 through
10. Paul and Barnabas, they preached
in this city called Iconium. And they so spake, so that a
great multitude of people believed. They believed. But, like there
is always the case when the Gospels are preached, an assault was
made on them. All right? Verse 6 says, They
were aware of it, they were made aware of it, and they fled unto
Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia and unto the region that lieth
round about, and there they preached the gospel." They didn't get
out of there and say, man, we are not doing that again. They
preached the gospel. The Lord gave them grace. He
gave them the ability to preach this gospel. And while they preached
the gospel, verse 8 says, there sat a certain man at Lystra,
impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never
had walked." Never. This gospel is sent to certain
men and women, right? We know that. It is sent to certain
men and women. We're commanded to preach this
unto all the world. But it's sent to certain people.
Many are called, few are chosen. And that's who it's sent to,
those who are chosen. Verse 8 says, There sat a certain
man at Lystra, impotent in his feet. That means he couldn't
come. That means that there was no
life there, dead. Verse 8 says, Being a cripple
from his mother's womb who never had walked. He came forth this
way. He was born dead. And we see
the spiritual significance, don't we? We see this as we read through
it. We see what's going on. God chooses
certain individuals who were born into this world dead in
their trespasses and sins with no ability in them, right? Verse
9 says, the same herd Paul speaks. Life comes through the preaching
of the gospel. I am starting, and we are confirmed
with every page we turn on, but every page that I turn to, I
become more and more confirmed that God uses this message. God
uses preaching, the gospel, to save them that believe. He uses
this message. Faith comes by hearing. And that was an eye-opening thing
to me. Faith comes by hearing. We need
more faith. We just do. We need more faith. It's something that God gives.
Now, those who believe and those that He has called, they believe. That man said, Lord, I believe.
Help thou my unbelief. He said, if you had faith as
a grain of a mustard seed, you could say to that mountain, be
removed and cast into the sea. We do believe, but we need more
faith. And it became very clear to me
that faith comes by hearing, and we say, Lord, increase our
faith. Okay, how does he do that? by
hearing, every time I am not able to hear God's message, that
is some faith that I have missed. And I need the faith of Christ. I need God's faith. So, verse
9 says, the same heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him. That's not this crippled man
beholding Paul. That's Paul beholding this crippled
man. He's preaching the gospel to
him and he's looking right at him. Verse 9 says, who steadfastly
beholding him and perceiving that he had faith to be healed. Paul perceived that God was at
work. Faith is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. In just
a minute, we're going to talk about faith. And we know this,
and I'm not going to take the time that I have before to really
set up that it's not of ourselves. It has to be given by God. It's
the faith of Christ. But I'm saying it right now.
It's not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. Paul could
perceive that God was giving this sinner something. What he
was giving him was his Holy Spirit. He was sending his Holy Spirit.
And we are constantly praying, Lord, send us your Spirit. Right? Send us your Spirit. The Spirit
that brings this faith to a sinner. And it's a precious thing. I'll
just tell you, I've got the best vantage point in the service.
It is a precious thing to see the Lord God send His Spirit
to a sinner. open blind eyes, watch faith
come. Over time, that doesn't happen
all at once, but Henry has always told stories
of different ones. Hannah's great-grandmother was
one who came to the service, and the whole time he preached,
she did her head like this, and he said one day it stopped. And
then after a few months, it started going like this. That's a wonderful
thing to see. You know what I mean? And when
that's happening there, you all have no idea. But it's a wonderful
thing to perceive. The work of God in a sinner,
putting his spirit in a sinner. Verse 9 says that this man heard
Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had
faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on
thy feet. The call of the gospel is this,
come to Christ. That's what it is. Come to Christ. We tell sinners, you need to
come to Christ. We tell sinners, it's time. Today is the day of salvation. Don't put it off till tomorrow.
And all the while we're telling sinners who can't come. Sinner
who is physically crippled, I know you're crippled. And if God opens
your eyes, you'll know you're crippled. You who are dead in
your flesh, bound to your bed of iniquity, the gospel call
is rise, get up, stand upright on thy feet. Don't move a muscle,
do it in the heart and come to Jesus Christ. Now is that not
strange? Is that not strange? If we could
put this in physical terms, if there was a person in a wheelchair
and I from this pulpit said, get out of the wheelchair. Now
I know religion is doing that all the time and I don't know
what that is and I don't even care, but this is strange. This is very strange. You know
what it is though? It's called faith. That's what
it's called. Faith. This gospel call is the
call of God's Holy Spirit through the declaring of God's Word. And when this call goes to the
one that it was sent to, it goes to the one it was sent to individually. This is what happens every single
time. Verse 10 says, and he leaped
and walked. He came. He responded. This, this gospel that we preach
is so powerful. It is so dogmatic. You declare
it. And when God's spirit moves,
they come, they get up. And it's a miracle. It's a miracle. It happens every time. Now something
about this has impacted me. Seeing into the faith of this,
I have really, this has been a very eye-opening and very encouraging
week for me. Paul perceived faith in this
man. But it was great faith that caused,
and I want to emphasize the word caused, Paul to say what he said. What if the guy wouldn't have
got up? This man was crippled. He said,
stand up. That's what he said. Stand upright.
The impossible. That's what he was declaring.
The impossible. That's faith. That's faith. This whole thing was the work
of faith, meaning God's spirit. The one who brings and produces
and works faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith. All of us know that sentence.
We all know that verse. Let's see if we can unknow it
for just one second. This is the very first time we've
ever heard it. It says, for by grace, free gift, are you saved
through faith? Through faith. Faith in what? Was this crippled man looking
to Paul? And was Paul looking to Paul?
You remember that time that this man brought his son who was possessed
with a demon to the apostles and they couldn't cast him out?
The reason is because they came to the Lord and they said, why
couldn't we cast him out? He said, it's because of your
lack of faith. You were all proud of yourselves for being given
this miracle and being put in that position. And the next thing
you know, everything you were doing was worthless. It was not
in the power of God's Holy spirit, because you thought you were
going to do it. Paul didn't stand up there. And right before he
said it thinking his mind, I'm going to make this man stand up. Faith
looks to Christ and faith trusts Christ and faith believes Christ. Now here's one of the things
I want to impress on us. God honors, faith is not of ourselves,
it doesn't start here and all of that. It's a gift from God,
He gives it and He does it. And then God honors the faith
that He gives. He honors and He blesses His
faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith. He honors and He blesses His
faith. Now, how vital is faith? How vital is faith? What that
means is, how vital is it to believe Christ? The only thing
that we can believe about Christ is what He said, what He's written
right here. How vital is it to trust Christ and be assured of
what He has told us? Our Lord said to His disciples,
He was constantly saying this, how is it that you have no faith? How is it that you have no faith?
Thomas doubted, didn't he? After three and a half years,
God fed 5,000. How many people did he see him
raise from the dead? That boy in the coffin, Lazarus. He turned water into wine. He told him exactly what he was
going to do over and over and over and over. This is what I'm
doing. Third day, I'm going to rise
again. Thomas doubted. And we look at Thomas and think,
what's wrong with him? Well, look at me. I got it right
here too. He told me just like he told
Thomas. Peter could not continue walking on the water. Peter started
walking on the water. and halfway into it, he quit
looking to Christ. Halfway into this message and
halfway into this ministry, I don't want to stop looking to Christ.
You know that. Well, I'm going to get out there
and save me some souls. I think that's what I'm going to do.
No. Peter denied the Lord. All of
the apostles went back to fishing. Every single one of them. They
all said, I'm done. This thing's over anyway. I'm
just done. Right after that, Pentecost took
place. Right after that. And then God
used those men to spread the gospel all over the world. Now, what was the difference?
There was a big change right there. A big difference. God calls those men to say this. They said, Lord, increase our
faith. It has just hit me that we all
have got to start asking our Lord this when we talk to Him. We have to increase our faith. This is what God told him. He
said, I'm leaving. I'm going back to you're going
to see me ascend. And he said, I'm going to send my Holy ghost
down to you. I'm going to put my spirit on
you. I'm going to put my spirit in
you and he's going to bring my message to you. And then you're
going to preach it like you believe it. That's what's going to happen. Verse 9, The same heard Paul
speak, who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had
faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on
thy feet. And he leaped and walked. Now do we give Paul the glory
for that? Absolutely not. God did it. God did every bit of it, start
to finish. Now why am I bringing all this
up? Why am I going into that here in this text? The reason
is because it has been impressed on me this week that I and we
think too little of our God. I have made that statement before,
but every now and then the Lord impresses it back on me I think
too little of my God." That's not a good thing, is it? The goal of this message is for
us to think higher of our God. That's a good thing. My prayer
is that God will send His Spirit and cause us to think much more
highly of our God than we ever have before. That's my prayer. I pray that when we walk out
of this door, we're very confident in our God.
That's my prayer. I'm talking to me. May God increase
our faith, my faith. Now let me ask us this question.
Let's examine ourselves. Do we believe that God has changed? The initial answer is no, but
let's examine ourselves. Do we believe that God has changed? Well, you know, we just read
those three verses. That was then. This is now. Let me quote two verses of scripture
to us. Malachi 3 verse 6 says, I am
the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The only reason we are not consumed
is because God is the same God right here. He performed a miracle
on this cripple. That's the reason. Hebrews 13
verse 8 says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and
forever. He does not change. Whatever we learn of him in his
word, he does not change. He is the same today. Charles
Spurgeon said, and this is to our shame, my shame, but I believe
that he was right. He said, nowadays, my brethren,
We have not faith in the gospel we preach. Our brother Paul right here,
he believed what he was preaching, didn't he? He believed what he
was preaching. Now this is from one of Spurgeon's
messages. I want to read you something
that he said, and I'm hoping and praying that God will show
us the object of what he is saying. The object and the focus of what
He is saying. The object is not Spurgeon. And
the object is not me. The object is Jesus Christ and
His will and His Holy Spirit and His ability. That's the object
of what He is saying, His ability. This is what Spurgeon said in
one of his messages. He said, I see no reason whatsoever
Why, this morning, if God willed it, and that's the key right
there, if God willed it, He said, I see no reason whatsoever why
I should not stand up and preach a sermon which should be the
means of converting every soul in the place. You know what the
flesh says as soon as it hears that? That wouldn't happen. You know what you call that?
No faith. And I'll show you why in just
a second. He went on to say, I see no reason why I should
not tomorrow preach a sermon which should be the means of
the salvation of all who heard it if God the Spirit were poured
out. Now God poured His Spirit out
in the beginning of Acts. We saw it and He's going to do
it again. But do we see the true object
of what he's saying here? This is not about church growth.
It's not about getting a bunch of people. This is about God's
ability. This is about Christ's ability. He said, the Word is able to
convert just as extensively as God the Spirit pleases to apply
it. And I can see no reason why if
converts come in by ones and twos now, There should not be
a time when hundreds and thousands shall come to God. He's saying,
I don't see why that would be a problem for God. The same sermon
which God blesses to ten, if He pleased, He could bless to
a hundred. I know not, but that in the latter
days when Christ shall come and shall begin to take the kingdom
to himself, if every minister of God shall be as successful
as Peter on the day of Pentecost." He said, who's to say that every
man that God has called to preach doesn't have the same result
Peter had on the day of Pentecost when Christ comes back? Is he
saying that that's what God is going to do? No. What he's saying
is, God is able to do that if that's what God wants to do.
That's faith. That is faith. It has nothing
to do with the result. To hear, you know, a message
is going to be preached and everybody's going to be saved. Forget about
the everybody's going to be saved part. Faith does not look to
the result. Faith does not look to the effect. Faith looks to Christ. And it
stays on Christ and His ability. And I want me and I want you
to have this same faith. Not just in this is about preaching,
but in everything. In everything. Don't look to
the result. Don't worry about the result.
Look to Christ and His ability. He is able. The Apostle Paul
thought very highly of his God, and he thought very highly of
his God's ability, and so should we. Alright, now because of all
that, here's my title. Here's what I want us to walk
out of this building believing, truly believing. He is able. He is able. I just want to show
you a few scriptures And my prayer is that the Lord will convince
us of the same thing He convinced these apostles of. He is able. Go with me over to Daniel chapter
3. Right after Ezekiel, Daniel chapter
3. Daniel 3, look at verse 13, it
says, Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded
to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these
men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said
unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not
ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have
set up? Now if you be ready that at what time you hear the sound
of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all
kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I
have made well. But if you worship not, you shall
be cast the same hour into the midst of the burning fiery furnace,
and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,
O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not full of care. We're not careful
to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God, whom we
serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace,
and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. Do you believe God delivered
them out of that fiery furnace? Now here's the first thing I
thought about. He did not deliver them before they went into the
burning fiery furnace. Boy, I'm so glad we didn't have
to go into that thing. No, they went in. All the fear
that went with it, I'm sure He gave them courage and faith because
His grace is sufficient in the time of need, but they went in. But do you believe that God did
actually deliver them out of that burning fiery furnace? Do
I believe that God actually delivered them out of that burning fiery
furnace? My answer is yes, I believe it. Well then why don't I believe
that God will deliver me out of my burning fiery furnace?
Whatever that furnace is that I'm in. I believe beyond any
shadow of a doubt that He delivered them. Well, He doesn't change,
and He's the same. So why don't I believe He'll
deliver me? Whatever furnace is put in front
of us, and they come every day, I mean, they literally come every
day. And could you imagine knowing I've got to go into a furnace?
I mean, it would just ruin your whole day. It would ruin your
being. Well, that happens to us every
day. We get so distraught. We get so worried. We just can't
eat. We cannot sleep. May God give us the faith to
say He is able. And somehow or another, he said,
when I walk through the fire, I'm not going to be burned. And
he said, when I pass through the waters, it's not going to
overflow me. And he said, he'll never leave me. He said, he's
my shield and my buckler. He said, I'm under his wings.
He said, he'll carry me to my gray hairs. He's able. He's able. David said, Why art thou cast
down, O my soul? Hope thou in God. Do you know
that we cannot hope in God unless God sends His Spirit with that
faith? Lord, increase our faith. Increase
our faith. Cause me to be under the hearing
of Christ and Him crucified and speak to my soul and take that
message and increase my faith. Please. Look at Daniel 4. Daniel chapter 4. God dealt with
Nebuchadnezzar. He made all those accusations
and threats against God's children. And God dealt with him, look
at verse 33, the same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar
and he was driven from men and did eat grass as oxen and his
body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown
like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws. And
at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven,
and my understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing, and He doeth according to His
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest
Thou?" Sounds like God taught him something. Sounds like God
sent some faith to this man. Verse 36, At the same time my
reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom,
mine honor and brightness returned unto me, and my counselors and
my lords sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom,
and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, All whose works
are truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride
he is able to abase. That's what Nebuchadnezzar finally
said. Every sinner that walks in pride against God, you trust
me, he is able to abase. Do you have a loved one that
you wish God would save? We all do. We all do. He is able to abase. He is able to abase. Let's get
that set in our minds. If God will, he or she shall
be brought down. Well, no, not this one. This
one's gone too far. I don't believe God can save
this one. Well, we're thinking too little of our God, aren't
we? We're just thinking too little
of our God. Our God is not only able to save you, if He saved
you, and if He saved me, He can save anybody. And not only is
He able to save our house, and not only is He able to save our
family tree, but He can save Kingsport. That's crazy. There's 55,000 people in Kingsport. I know. But heaven is made up
of a number no man can number. And I know trillion. And I don't
know if there's anything after trillion. We used to, when we
were kids, say bajillion and gazillion until we finally said
infinity. And then somebody had to say
infinity plus one. It's a number that no man can number. What's
another 55,000? That's nothing. That is nothing. Do I really
believe He'll do it? What difference does it make?
Faith doesn't look to the result, it looks to Christ and His ability. If He wants to, He will. Not only can He, He will. And if He doesn't, He won't.
And it's not my business. My business is to just preach
the gospel. My business is to preach that he's able, and then
he'll do whatever he wants to do. The best thing that we can do
for our loved ones is this, and I want us to hopefully really
enter into this. Here's the best thing we can
do for them. It's bring them before the Lord in prayer and
acknowledge to our Lord. Talk to him and say this, I am
not worthy that you should come under my roof, but if you just
speak the word, if you would just speak the word,
if you will, you can make them clean. He's able and God honors and
He blesses the faith that He puts in His people. He just does. We just have too much scripture
on it. He just does. Ephesians 3. Go with me to Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3 verse 20 says, Now
unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. Do
you know what that means? It means we think way too little
of our God. That's what it means. He's able. He's able. Oh, I wish the Lord would save
my family. He's able. He's able to bring them to Him
just like those men climbed up on that roof and ripped it off
and dropped them down, bring them to Him in prayer. 2 Timothy 1, go with me to 2 Timothy
1. 2 Timothy 1 verse 12 says, For the witch calls, I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed
for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. What have we committed unto him?
What have we committed unto him? We have committed our life unto
him. You know how they say don't put
all your eggs in one basket? We have one basket. I mean we
have one. We're putting our soul, we're
putting our all, we're committing everything to His work. All of my hope is in His death
and His blood and His resurrection and His life, that's where all
of my hope is, every single bit of it. And He is able, Lord give
me the faith to believe that He is able to keep my life and
yours. Hebrews 7, I'm almost finished,
go to Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7 verse 25 says, Wherefore,
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. He is able to save to the uttermost. There's an old song that was
written in the early 1900s and it says this, dark the stain
that soiled man's nature, long the distance that he fell, far
removed from hope in heaven into deep despair in hell. But there
was a fountain opened, and the blood of God's own Son purifies
the soul and reaches deeper than the stain has gone. Praise the
Lord for full salvation. God still reigns upon His throne. And I know the blood still reaches
deeper than the stain has gone. He is able to save to the uttermost. To the uttermost. He's able to
save you. He's able to save me. He's able
to save all that come to God by Christ. That's what Paul preached
to this crippled man. That's what he was preaching
to him. He preached the gospel. Come to God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's able. That man heard that
and God's Spirit opened his ears and he gave him faith to believe
it and he leaped and he walked. May God do that again. Here. May God do that again in here.
He's able. Lord, you can bless me. You can make me leap and
walk. He's able. All right, let's stand
together.