Alright, turn back with me to
Acts chapter 3. And I want to start reading with
the last verse of the text. Chapter 4, verse 4. It says, Many of them which heard
the word believed. And the number of the men was
about 5,000. I love that. I've been dwelling
on that this week. 5,000. It is so clear that it has pleased
the Lord by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. You see it says, how be it many
of them which heard the word. Heard the word. Many of them has heard the word,
believed, and the number of the men was about five thousand. Now turn with me back to chapter
two. Chapter two, verse forty-one
says, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added
unto them about three thousand souls. As soon as the Lord left, you
know all of, you got the end of Luke, and the end of John,
and the end of all the Gospels that talk about the Lord saying
some things to His apostles, and then He ascended up into
glory, and they watched Him go, and they all went back to the
upper room, and the Holy Spirit came down, and Peter started
preaching. All this is within days. It's all right now. Peter just
started preaching in chapter 1. And then he preached again. I guess this was his second message.
3,000 were saved. And then I believe by his third
message, 5,000 were saved. As soon as the Lord left, he
sent the Holy Ghost with this message of truth. And God saved
8,000 souls right off the bat. Our Lord is good. You know that? Our Lord is merciful. What that
means is He is full of mercy. He is full of mercy. Well, you know, these are wonderful
moments in history to look back on. But that couldn't happen
today. Really? Why not? God did it, right? Not Peter. God did it. Is God really not
able to do that again? Or is our faith just so weak?
With man, it's impossible. Our God said, I am the Lord,
I change not. And our God is able. He's able. He can do that again if He purposes
to. He really can. When He came, you know, we looked
at Moses, the type of Christ. When Moses came, the Lord saved
a slew of people. And when Christ came, He saved
a slew of people. And when Christ comes back, what
do you think is going to happen? He's going to save a slew of
people. A couple of years ago, it was
before you called me here, I was traveling quite a bit and preaching,
but I was sitting over with Brother Henry in his kitchen and he was
telling me about his experience, some of his experiences. some
of the things that happened in preaching and travels and people
he ran across and the way the Lord used his word and blessed
his word and different men that heard it and churches that were
raised up from it. And I told him, I said, man,
I wish I would have been around back then. I wish I could have
experienced that firsthand. I wish I could have gone out
two by two. And he looked at me and he said,
God is not out of business. And at that moment, I had a new
outlook on things. Are you saying you believe God's
going to save 8,000 people in Kingsport? Well, by God's grace,
I wouldn't be so foolish as to assume on his purpose. But by
God's grace, I also won't be so foolish as to limit his saving
hand. Lord, as many as you will. May we preach this message as
though 8,000 souls are going to hear it and fall on their
knees and beg God for mercy. Elijah thought he was alone.
He told the Lord, I'm alone. And the Lord said, I have 7,000
right now in Israel that you don't even know about. 7,000. Revelation 7 says there's going
to be a number of souls in glory which no man could number. And I had the thought, not even
with an iPhone. not even with our smartest technology. No man
could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues. May we never limit the ability
of our God's saving hand. But, if He only chooses to save
one, even if He only purposes to save
one, May we preach this message as though 8,000 souls are going
to hear it and fall on their knees and beg their God for mercy. We don't preach for the results
that we expect to receive. And I mean that in the opposite
way that you think. True gospel preachers, their
expectations are not that high. They're really not. It's common
for a false doctrine church to have 2,000 members, 3,000 members. That's pretty common. How many
of you guys have down there? 30. We have 30. I'm thrilled to have
30. 30 people who show up. I see the cars parked there and
I think, really? Still? 30. But we don't preach for results
at all. We preach for God's glory. We
preach for God's honor. We preach God's truth. We preach
God's message. And the Lord will add daily to
the church such as should be saved. We just leave it in His
hands. Now look at chapter 3 with me. Chapter 3, verse 24. Chapter 3, verse 24, it says,
Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow
after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these
days. These days. Samuel is considered
to be the beginning of the prophets in the Old Testament. We have
the law and the prophets, and Samuel is considered the beginning
of the prophets. Go with me to 1 Samuel, chapter
3. 1st Samuel chapter 3. Verse 1 says, And the child Samuel
ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord
was precious in those days. There was no open vision. Just
like today. Just like these days, there's
no open vision. And it says the word of the Lord
was precious in those days. The word of the Lord is always
precious. It's always precious. It's always
dear. But this word precious right
here means valuable. By being rare. The Word of the
Lord was rare in those days, just like today. It's rare. It's very rare. When Peter was
preaching there at Pentecost, 8,000 souls were saved because
God sent His Holy Spirit with the Word of the Lord. That's
the only reason. The Word of the Lord. The only
thing. that will open men and women's
eyes is the word of the Lord. That's it. The only thing that's
going to break a sinful heart is the word of the Lord. That's
it. The only thing that's going to
cause men and women to believe and call on the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the Word of the Lord. That's it. That's all we
have. That's all we preach. The Word
of the Lord. Our Lord is not promised to bless our speaking
ability, our personalities. He has not promised to bless
our clever, well put together outlines. You know, we work on
them and we try to put them together and try to start here and build
it up. Our Lord is not promised to bless
our illustrations. He's promised to bless His Word. He's promised to bless His Word. Our Lord speaks through His Word. And if we're going to hear His
voice, we're going to hear it through His Word. That's it.
Now go with me over to Psalm 29. Psalm 29 verse 3 says, The voice of the Lord is upon
the waters. And that's this world. That's
the people of this world. The God of glory thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh
the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars
of Lebanon. And that's me and that's you.
Man is so proud he thinks he's a cedar of Lebanon. And the voice
of the Lord will knock him right down. Verse 6 says, He maketh
them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Syrian like a young
unicorn. The voice of the Lord divideth
the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh
the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness
of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh
the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forest, and in his temple
doth every one speak of his glory. The Lord sitteth upon the flood. Yea, the Lord sitteth king forever. The voice of the Lord is so mighty.
The voice of our Lord is so powerful. But look at verse 11. The Lord
will give strength unto His people. The Lord will bless His people
with peace. The voice of the Lord is so loving.
to His people. It's so loving. It's so relieving. It is so restful, so peaceful. Now go with me back over to Acts
chapter 3. Verse 24 says, Yea, and all the
prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as
have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. These days right
here. All who have spoken the word
of the Lord have told of these days. The word of the Lord, the
word of the Lord that's powerful. The Word of the Lord that accomplishes
whatever He sent it to do. This Word is all talking about
one thing. What happened right here at these
days. All of the Old Testament were saying somebody is coming. All of this New Testament says
somebody came. And somebody is coming again.
All of the Word of the Lord points to these days. These days of
Jesus Christ. These days of His person. I was
thinking about the fact that our Lord revealed to us His person. He revealed Himself to us. And we have right now what nobody
in the Old Testament had. Who He is. His person. A person will come. Sunday night, we're going to
go up to Brother Tom's, Lord willing, and we're going to confess
a person. A person. A person will come. That's what
our Lord is saying in this New Testament to us. This is what
we're waiting on. A person will come. I'm waiting on a person. All who have spoken the word
of the Lord have been talking about him, talking about his
office. That prophet will come. The priest,
he's going to make that sacrifice. All of that Old Testament kept
saying, there's a priest coming who's going to make one sacrifice.
And after this one sacrifice, a sacrifice will never have to
be made ever again. The king, will reign forever. He's coming. All who have spoken
the word of the Lord have told of His deity. This man is God. They told of His manifestation.
This man is man. They told of His obedience, of
His suffering, of His death, of His resurrection, of His ascension,
of the pouring down of His Spirit. That's what it said right here
in chapter 3. of the times of refreshing." And they said He's going to gather
all of His saints together. They're all going to be gathered
together in Him. Verse 24 says, "...Yea, and all the prophets
from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken,
have likewise foretold of these days." Now here comes the gospel
to these sinners, okay? Here it comes. Verse 25 says,
Ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God
made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed
shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first,
God having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you
in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Peter
was standing there telling the very ones, if we remember right
back over in verse 13 and verse 14 and verse 15, he was telling
the very ones that grabbed hold of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
actual ones, that grabbed hold of the Lord Jesus Christ and
thrust him in front of Pilate and said, crucify this man, we
do not want him anymore. Give us Barabbas. We're finished
with him. Peter told the very ones who
wagged their heads. And mocked him saying, prove
it. If you're the Christ, come down
off that cross, save yourself, prove it. He saved others himself,
he cannot say. Amen. If he's going to save others,
himself he cannot save. Peter told the very ones who
denied him and cursed him and killed the prince of life. This
is what he told them. You are a blessed people. You're in a covenant. You're
in the one you killed. God raised him up to bless you. All your iniquities are covered.
That's what Peter told him. Now here's a real honest question.
Why would Peter tell them that? Why would Peter tell them that?
Turn with me over to Mark 14. Mark 14, and let's look at verse 66. And as Peter was beneath in the
palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest. And
when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said,
And thou also was with Jesus of Nazareth, but he denied. He denied the Holy One and the
just. Verse 68 says, but he denied
saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went
out into the porch and the cock crew. And a maid saw him again,
and began to say to him that stood by, This is one of them.
And he denied it again. And a little after, they that
stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them,
for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeth thereto. But he began to curse." Who was
he cursing? God. He began to curse and to swear,
saying, I know not this man of whom you speak. I'm quite sure
he said, kill him. I don't care. Go ahead and kill him. Do whatever you want with him,
but don't accuse me of being on his side. Verse 72, And the second time
the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the
word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou
shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon,
he wept. Oh, man, he wept. I have denied the Lord. I have
cursed him. I have killed him in my heart. I've killed him in my word. I've
killed him in my action. God should have killed Peter
for that. You know it. But not only did God not kill
Peter, He raised him up to be the instrument used to save thousands
of souls. So you know what Peter realized?
This Lord is merciful. This Lord is merciful. Look at
the goodness and mercy of our Lord to Peter. Go over to Mark
16. Mark 16 verse 1, it says, And
when the sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother
of James and Salome had brought sweet spices that they might
come and anoint him. And very early in the morning,
the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher, and
at the rising of the sun, and they said among themselves, Who
shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher?
And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away,
for it was very great. And entering into the sepulcher,
they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in
a long white garment, and they were affrighted. And he saith
unto them, Be not affrighted, ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which
was crucified, he is risen." He's not here. Behold the place
where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples,
and make sure you tell Peter. that he goeth before you into
Galilee, and there shall you see him as he said unto you."
You tell Peter, it's all taken care of. Thy sins are all taken
away. Great mercy was shown to Peter.
So back over in Acts chapter 3, Peter said to those sinners,
he said, let me tell you from first-hand experience. the sweet
promises of forgiveness in Christ. He told them the good news of
the gospel, the good news. Chapter 3, verse 25, he said,
You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God
made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed,
that's Jesus Christ. In thy seed shall all the kindreds
of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised
up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every
one of you from his iniquities. Oh man, the multitude of God's
tender mercies. Precious, more precious than
gold. But look at chapter 4, verse
1. It says, And as they spake unto the people, the priest and
the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them,
being grieved that they taught the people and preached through
Jesus the resurrection from the dead. It doesn't matter how sweet
and how precious this gospel is, if God does not give a man
or a woman a heart to believe it and love it. This message is a saver of death
unto death. That's what this message is.
Verse 1, As they spake unto the people, the priest and the captain
of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, being grieved
that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection
from the dead. The Sadducees believed people
ought to live right. And that is all they believed.
The Sadducees, I never knew that. But that's all they believed.
They didn't believe that there was a resurrection of any kind.
They didn't believe in angels. They didn't believe in the Spirit.
They don't believe in anything. But that you ought to live right.
Obey the law. So the Sadducees were grieved
that they were preaching the resurrection. Everybody else
was grieved because they preached the resurrection through Jesus
Christ. I got a better, I want another
way. I don't want that way. So verse 3 says, they laid hands
on them and put them in hold unto the next day for it was
now even tied. Can you imagine how discouraged
Peter and the other apostles were? Really, at that moment in time,
can you imagine how broken hearted they were? They came and got
them right in the middle of the message. Put him in prison. And they know
this time the Lord is gone. We watched him go up. All those
other times they knew in the back of their mind, well, the
Lord is with us. He's gone. I'm on my own now. And they put me in prison now.
Can you imagine the opposite? When somebody came
to the prison and said, Peter, you're not going to believe this,
5,000 of them believed and repented of their sins and have confessed
the Lord Jesus Christ. 5,000 of them. I believe Peter looked at John
and said, it's worth it. It's worth it. Whatever we have
to go through, whatever God's purpose for us is, if God will
save a soul, It's worth it. It's absolutely worth it. They were sitting in that cell
saying, you know what? All things really do work together for good.
They really do. I pray the Lord will have mercy
on our souls. Lord, have mercy on my soul.
Save my soul. Save our souls, we pray. All
right, let's stand together.