Well, I'm delighted to be back
with you. I really am. I would have rather
have heard Brother Gade preach, honestly. But he, as Paul said,
necessities laid upon me, and Gade kind of made it sound like
it wasn't an option, me not preaching. I appreciate it, I do. Coming
here several years ago when you all first started meeting, I
never thought it would turn out this way. The Lord's ways are
not our ways. He moves in mysterious ways,
doesn't He? There's wonders to perform. But I'm thankful. I am very thankful. It was a
sacrifice. I need not tell you the sacrifice, but
if we had to lose our loved ones for anything, it'd be for the
cause of the gospel and for you people that we've grown to love
over the years. If I was you, here, I'd have
wanted him, too. I really would have. I'm honored
to be here. And numbers don't bother me. We have more than the required
number, two or three, don't we? I remember my dad telling this
story one time. He was on TV years ago. Some
of you first heard the gospel that way. being on TV, some people think
you're famous. If you're on TV, you're one of
these televangelists, you know. And Dad was on TV and some country
preacher up in West Virginia called him and asked him if he'd
come preach for him. And the man said, thinking Dad
was some big highfalutin preacher, you know, he said, how many people
does it take for you to come preach to us? Thinking he needed
a big crowd. And Dad said, two. You to hear
and me to preach. So he went. So this is, as one
wise old preacher told a young man that was kind of bemoaning
the few that he had to preach to, the old man wisely said to
him, that's more people than you want to give an account for
in judgment. So who is sufficient for these things, whether it
be 2 or 2,000? Go with me to Acts chapter three,
book of Acts chapter three. It's amazing, isn't it, Gabe,
that anybody would come to hear us preach anyway. It's of the
Lord, that's for sure. Acts chapter three, this is a
story of a lame man leaping, a man who could not walk if he
wanted to. and two gospel preachers come
along. And this day, this fellow not
only gets up and walks, but leaps and praises God and goes in the
temple where he's never been before. This is my story. This
is a story of every child of God and what God does for every
child of God. And you know, one way you know
that this is God's word is how wonderful Every word is. Every word is significant. Every
word is vital. And I'm not making a play on
any words here. The Lord wrote it just like it
is. And it's just wonderful. This is how you know it's an
inspired word. All right, look at the story
here in verse one. Now, Peter and John went up together into
the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. Peter and
John, they was two men together, together. It says they went up
together. You know, the scripture says
much about being together. What we're doing tonight is a
wonderful thing. We've been gathered together
to worship the Lord. And this is not our doing, this
is the Lord. It says, he hath raised us up together, made us
sit together in heavenly places. Where we're at right now is a
heavenly place. It's a foretaste of glory divine.
Someday we're all gonna be gathered together in the fullness of time,
all things in earth and heaven in one in Christ. Gathered together
to do what we're doing right now with a perfect heart. And this is the Lord's doing,
this is marvelous in our eye. Where would you be if the Lord
hadn't gathered you here? What would you be doing if we
were not gathered together? So these men, and wherever you
find two or three gathered together in Christ's name, something wonderful
is gonna happen. Every time, our Lord said, where
two or three are gathered, every time, He's there, He's there. So these two men, Peter and John,
they were together a lot, weren't they? They were constant companions. And the Lord was always showing
them glory, wasn't it? Take them up on the mountain,
show them his glory. Well, Peter and John went up
together to the temple. That's significant. They went
up to the temple. The temple was actually situated
on a mountain, Mount Zion. That's where it was built. The
temple was up. So you had to actually ascend
to get up to it. When we come to the house of
God to worship God, God is truly raising us up out of the miry
clays. He is getting the beggar off the dung
hill to sit among princes. This world is a dung heap. The
children of Israel in Exodus, you're going through Exodus.
What chapter are you in right now? Three, okay. Well, that
one verse you probably got on it where it says, the Lord said,
I am come down to deliver you out, out of Egypt, out of the
slime pits. They were in the slime pits.
And the Lord said, I am come down. The Lord condescended to
bring them out. He said, to bring you up. And
when the Lord brought us here tonight, He's brought us up. We have ascended to a heavenly
place to hear of the heavenly spiritual blessings that we have
in Christ. The temple here, they went up
to the temple at the hour of prayer. The temple was a place
chosen by God. put His name there. Over in Deuteronomy,
it says that many times. From chapter 12 through 17, the
place that God has chosen to put His name there, the temple
of the Lord. It was a special place. It's
where God met with His people, where the Shekinah glory of God
was seen, where the word of God was read, where the people of
God worshiped God. That's where the blessings of
the Lord were, always were. And We don't have a temple like
Solomon had, but you are the temple of God. The church is
the temple of God. We don't go to church. We are
the church. We're the temple of God. This
is where God meets. the temple of God, and it's called
a house of prayer. Our Lord said that, didn't He?
My house shall be called a house of prayer. So that's what they
went to do, to worship the Lord, the place that God had chosen
to worship the Lord and to call on His name. Well, in verse 2,
look at it. There was a certain man there,
a certain man. And I know your pastor, I've
heard him preach many times now, and I know he's drawn that to
your attention. And Brother Tom, a certain man. How many times the scriptures
talk about certain men and certain women? Certain, the Lord saves
certain individual. He has his chosen people, his
elect that he chose before the foundation of the world. Certain
ones out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven.
and he chose them and they will most certainly come to hear his
voice and believe and repent and he will most certainly save
them. Of that you can be certain. Certain man, he was there. He
was not there by his own will. He was not there by his own choice.
He was there by the will of God as we are tonight. The lot is
cast into the lap. You may, we decided to come down
here and visit, and Gabe decided I was to preach, but the whole
disposing thereof is of the Lord. We may think that we're deciding
something, but not knowing that the Lord arranged it a long time
before. long time before. But a lot is cast in the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. And it said this
certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried there. He was
carried to that temple. And they laid him down at the
gate of that temple every day. Every day they brought this lame
man to the temple. Somebody carried him there. Okay? Listen to these verses in Isaiah
46. The Lord said, hearken unto me,
O house of Jacob, you remnant of the house of Israel, which
are born, that is carried by me from the belly, or carried
from the womb. He says, to your old age, I am
he, to your hoary hairs, that's you Dwight, hoary hair. You,
Tony, I will carry you, he said. I will carry you, I've made you,
I will bear you, I will carry you and deliver you. It's not like that silly saying
that you see footprints in the sand, you know? You've seen that,
haven't you? footprints in the sand, and all of a sudden there
were, what was it, two sets of footprints, and then all of a
sudden there was one, and the person was complaining, why did
you leave me? When I got in trouble, why did you leave me? He said,
oh, I didn't leave you, I started carrying you. Well, there's always
been one set. He's carried us, he said. Carried
us from day one. Like we do our own children,
don't we? We carry them from the womb,
we carry them. And they carried this man to
the gate of the temple. He was not there by accident,
he was brought there. He was brought there. And you
know, we all come to church, we all come to worship the first
time for the wrong reasons. Everybody, I did. I did. I was the prodigal son, and I
came back and tried to clean up my act a little bit. And I
wanted to please my parents. I knew the church was their life. Now I know Christ is their life.
But I thought if I can just please them, they'll be happy with me,
and they'll be pleased if I come to worship, come to church. So I did. And also, I needed
a job. And there were some influential
men at the church and contractors who had businesses, and I thought,
well, I'll get a job. Well, that's why I came. That's
exactly why I came. And I did. I got a job, got a
good job, because those men loved my father. So they were doing me a favor.
And then I saw a girl. I saw a girl. So that's why I
went, not knowing. The Lord had brought me there
on purpose, not knowing that I didn't know him, but he knew
me. Four knew me, for whom he did
foreknow. He did predestinate, predetermined destiny. And there's
nothing by accident, all by purpose. God brings us here on purpose. All are brought by the Spirit
of God and on purpose. So this man, was laid at the
gate of the temple. Says he, verse two, was lame
from his mother's womb. He was lame. Go over to Acts
14 with me. There were many lame men healed
in scripture, many lame men. We've been going through Matthew,
and the first man the Lord healed in chapter nine was that man
sick of the palsy, remember? And they brought him on a bed.
laid him down through the roof. But many lame men, but the Lord
saved certain ones. This man was lame from birth,
we believe. And here's another fellow, look
at verse eight of chapter 14. There sat a certain man, there
it is again, a certain man at Lystra, just happened to be there,
impotent in his feet. That is, he had feet, but they
didn't work. No power, couldn't walk. A cripple from his mother's
womb. He was born that way. He never
had walked. The Lord makes it very plain,
doesn't he, that this man could not walk. He could not walk. Now, we walk by faith, don't
we? Not by sight. When the Lord does
something for somebody, they begin to walk with God, not with
the world. They don't walk with the sinners. They don't stand in the way of
sin. They don't walk with the ungodly anymore. They don't stand
in the way of sinners. They don't sit in the seat of
the scornful. They once walked according to the course of this
world, the prince of the power of the air. But when God does
a work, they begin to walk with God. But that's not naturalism. That's a work of God. Make a
man begin to walk by faith. Believe in God he's never seen.
Walk by faith. Walk with God. Walk with the
people of God. Not with the people of this world.
You know, we have minds. We're born with a mind. And many
people in this world have brilliant minds. Brilliant minds. There's no denying that, is there? Although they deny God. But there's
no denying that a brilliant creator created the brilliant minds of
human beings. Men have minds, but they're not
on God. They don't think on God. God is not in all their thoughts.
They got a lot of thoughts, but God's not in them. Can you imagine
that? How ignorant a person can be? Think about everything, but their
creator. Men have hearts. We have a heart. But it's not
set on God, not set on things above and on things of the earth. We have a will, but it ain't
free. It's bound by sin, by this world. We have eyes, but we can't see
the truth. Can't see ourself. We have ears,
but we can't hear the word. Must be born from above, must
be born of God, new creature, born of God, be thinking on God,
born of God to have desires set on God, born of God to hear his
voice. Well, this man was, look at verse
two, it says he was carried, he was laying from his mother's
womb. And they laid him daily at the gate of the temple, which
is called beautiful. He was at the gate, but he was
not inside. He was right at the door, but he was not inside. He was
on the outside. And they brought him every day. Do you think he
could have gone into that temple? Don't you think? That temple
was free, open to anyone. Anyone could go in there if they
wanted to. He could have told whoever brought him, take me
on the inside, go in there. You know what's going on on the
inside of that temple? Huh? That's where Peter and John are
gonna go. That's where the gospel's gonna be preached. That's where
the glory of God is seen. That's where the word of God
is preached. That's where the worship of God takes place. Beautiful. That place is called beautiful,
isn't it? Well, he didn't want to go inside. Apparently, he
did. He said, lay me right here. I
don't want to go in there. He was right at the door, but
he wasn't inside. Remember what the Lord told that
rich young ruler? He said, you're not far from the kingdom of God, but you're not in it. Either
in or you're out, don't you? Either in Christ or you're not.
This man was laid gaily at the gate of that temple, at the door,
and it was a beautiful, it was called beautiful, but there was
no beauty in it that he should desire. No beauty in that place. He just wanted some money. That's
all this fellow wanted. We're going to see that in a
minute. That's all he wanted. He could have gone in if he wanted
to, but he didn't want to. He just wanted to stay on the
outside and get a little spare change. Can you imagine that? Our Lord said, what will a man
give in exchange for his soul? Just about anything. That's how
dumb, that's how dead men and women are. Anything, anything. Ticket to Bristol Motor Speedway. Anything, anything. There was
any place he'd rather be out there on the gutter than on the
inside worshiping God. at the gate to the temple called
beautiful, not inside. I remember as a young man, and
I said, I'm the prodigal son. But I remember long before that, I had some interest in the word. I was taught the scriptures from
a child. I'm thankful for that. But it didn't last. I played
the prodigal. But I do remember as a teenager,
I remember thinking, if I could just have a pocketful of money
and a tank of gas, man, I am happy. And back then when I was
16, a pocketful of money was $5. And a tank of gas, I had
a Volkswagen, 10 gallons. Gas was 25 cents a gallon. $2.50
would fill that up. I could drive all week. And $5,
man, I could do about anything on $5. And I thought, I've got
it made, $5 and a tank of gas. You'll have nothing. Nothing. That's what I live for. Well,
he was laying there in the gutter outside that beautiful temple,
and Peter and John were about to go in, and he called beautiful,
asked alms of them that entered into the temple. And he saw Peter
and John about to go into the temple. Verse three. He saw Peter
and John walking into that temple, and he asked them an alms. He
saw Peter and John. He didn't know who they were.
He had no clue who they were. These were two apostles. There
weren't many apostles. Twelve, at this time, eleven. These were men called of God.
These were God's messengers. They were the Word of God. They
were the Word of God that this man desperately needed and didn't
know it. He didn't know who they were.
He had no interest in them. All he wanted was what they could
get out of them. And he saw these men walking in there. He didn't
see anything special. No, they weren't dressed any
way special. They weren't dressed differently.
They didn't have on a ecclesiastical robe. They didn't have a collar
turned around backward and all that. They didn't have a funny
hat on their head. They were like men. They looked like men.
And they acted like men, because that's what they were. They weren't
always apostles. They were fishermen. They were
fishermen. Well, this man didn't see anything
different in them, and I'm glad. I'm glad. You know, God's men
that he calls are men. They're men. But they're sent by God with
a message from God, a message of life. Only one hope for a
lame man like that, that's in the message that those fellas
have. But he didn't see that. All he saw was two ordinary men.
And this man walks around the community, And they don't know
who he is. Somebody may say, well, he's
a preacher. That's worse if they hear that. Oh, my. My, my. Not knowing that he has the message
of life. It's hard to find. There aren't
many true preachers in Kingsport. I guarantee you that. As far
as I know. But I'm gonna say it, because
I don't know. There's one. I know there's one. I don't know
of any other. Maybe somebody else. But with
a message of life, a message that can make a lame man walk,
a blind man see, people don't know it. The Lord had to bring
them to hear it one. Well, he asked alms of Peter
and John. Asked them to give him something.
Give him something. And look at verse 4. As I said,
every word is significant. It says, Peter stopped and he
turned around. Now he saw that fellow when he
was walking in there. We were down in Mexico just a
few weeks ago, and there's lots of beggars down there, lots of
them. We walked by many of them. There's so many of them, you
just have to walk on by. You feel for them. You wish you
could do something, but there's too many, aren't there, guys?
There's too many. But this man spoke to them, okay,
and Peter stopped. And it says, look at verse four,
fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, look at us. They
were going in, they were going into worship, the house of prayer,
and they stopped what they were doing. Remind me of our Lord,
he stopped them for one blind beggar, he stopped. And they
stopped, both of them, and looked at that man and saw his sad plight
and heard his sad plea, you know, just can you spare a little change? You need change. It says Peter fastened his eyes
on her. Look at us. Look at us. Can you
hear the seriousness in his voice, John? Look at us, not look at
us, to us, but listen to them. Would you go with me to 2 Corinthians
2. You know one way that you know,
well, a couple of ways you know a true preacher sent by God,
and you have one. A couple of ways you know them
is their manner, the way they act, serious, serious. In other words, Peter and John
said, listen to us. Listen to me. I looked him right
in the eye. This is serious. This is life
and death, isn't it? Life and death. Not playing games
here. This man's life hung on the balance.
Peter and John have what he needs. Nobody else has it, did they?
This is an opportunity. What's he gonna do? It's serious,
isn't it? A man's manner and his message.
This is how you know a man is sent by God. His manner, his
spirit, and his message. He's got one message, like they
did. Well, look here at 2 Corinthians 2. I never forget when I first
read this. Verse 17. Paul said this. He said, well, up in verse 16. To one we're a saver of death
unto death, the other a saver of life unto life. Who is sufficient
for these things? God's Word doesn't return void.
Whenever a man preaches God's Word, whenever you witness God's
Word, it doesn't return void. Something takes place. Either
that person's condemnation or that Word is planted. That's
true. It's an incorruptible seed. And whenever this man preaches
the Gospel, something's taking place. Look at verse 6, we're
a saver of death or life. This is a life or death message,
isn't it? And so that man is serious about it. He's serious
about it. He's not a clown. This is not
a joke, is it? Verse 17, he says, we're not
as many which corrupt the Word of God. But as of sincerity. We're sincere about this. Sincere
for the glory of God. Sincere for the good of me and
their soul. As of God. As though God did
beseech you by that. In the sight of God. God's listening.
God's watching. What are you doing? Speaking
of Christ. He said, this is the message.
You've got one opportunity. So we'll go back to our text.
So, and you know, Mindy and I were with another couple, a brother
and sister, in a restaurant not long ago. And, you know, preachers
are a laughingstock this world, aren't they? They're a laughingstock. And I know Gabe feels this way
now. I certainly have. I'm almost embarrassed to be
introduced as a preacher because preachers are such clowns, aren't
they? And I've heard every joke, you
know, they love to joke about preachers. Preachers themselves
tell jokes on themselves, false preachers. But this ain't a joke. And we were sitting in a restaurant
the other day and a fellow, a waiter found out I was a preacher. trying
to talk to him about coming to hear me, to hear the message.
And he started to tell a joke. I said, I don't want to hear
it. I don't want to hear it. I said, this is not a joke to
me. I said, most preachers are a joke. But the message we preach
is life or death. It's not a joke. And you be thankful
you've got a man that's not a, it's not a joke to him, it's
serious. He left everything to come here to preach this message. Well, look at our text. It says,
Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on
us. And the man gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something
of them. Oh, he's going to give me a handout.
He's going to give me a handout. And Peter said, Silver and gold
have I known. These men didn't carry any money.
The Lord told them, don't carry any money, didn't he? Go out,
don't carry any money with you. They didn't have any money. They
didn't give any money away. They didn't have a health and
wealth gospel, like so-called preachers have today. You know,
our Lord, Our Lord owns all the silver
and gold and all the mines, the scripture said, but when he was
here on the earth, he never gave anybody one dime. Ever. Not one. What does that tell
you? He himself didn't have any. What does that tell you? The
things that men and women think will make them happy. If I can
just have lots of money, it'll make me happy. Oh no, there's
he that hath much that hath nothing. There's he that hath little that
hath everything. Blessed are the poor. The poor
in spirit. The poor have the gospel preached
to them. Those people down in Mexico, they have very little,
don't they? They live on dirt floors with grass roots. Our
brethren, they have very little. It's a daily struggle to survive
in. It's a daily struggle for their
next meal. But God provides it. He always
has. But they're happy people. Those that know the Lord are
happy. They're content. Our Lord said, the son of man
hath not where to lay his head. Was he happy? He's a blessed
man. He's content. The things that
we think make us happy really make us miserable. They don't have silver and gold
for you. I used to get a lot of calls
over to, you've been getting people stop by here yet that
ask for a handout? Lots of people do that. That's
all they want is a handout. And invariably I would tell them,
well, I'll give you what I got, but that's not what you need.
And I began to tell them, what you need is what we preach here.
You come here, and there's been many times I tell them, you're
down and out, you have no help, you need help. I said, these
people are merciful and gracious. You come, what you need is the
gospel. You come and hear this gospel. This is the thing you
really need. If you come and these people find out you are
really in need, they'll help you. They'll give you the shirt
off their back. I never had one person show up. Not one person. Don't need that.
Just give me a little change. Give me a little change. Well,
look at what Peter said. Peter said, silver and gold have
I none, but such as I have, give I thee. Here's what I have. The unsearchable riches of Christ.
The gospel of Christ. He said, in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Now, Peter just preached
that, didn't he? At Pentecost. the name of Christ,
the person, the work, the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what he preached. And that's what the Lord used
to convict 3000 people. Look over there in chapter two
quickly. It says in verse 22, Peter stood up to preach, you
men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man, yes,
but approved of God, a righteous man, the God man among you by
miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him, God was
in Christ. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself. God was manifest in the flesh.
You know this man, Jesus of Nazareth, but he's not just a man, he's
the God-man. And he was delivered, verse 23,
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Yes, you
took him and by wicked hands crucified and slew him. You didn't
care anything about him, you hated him, but God delivered
him up. God's the one that sent him,
on purpose, to do a work. And God raised him up, look down
at verse 32. He said, this Jesus, this one
you think's just Jesus, God hath raised him up. We're all witnesses.
We saw him, we beheld his glory. He's by the right hand of God
exalted. And he said in verse 35, he's
gonna make his foes his footstool. Let all the house of Israel know
this assuredly, that God hath made that Jesus, yes of Nazareth,
whom you crucified, Lord, sovereign King, reigning and ruling over
all flesh, heaven and hell, demons and devils, men and elements
and diseases and everything's in his hand. He's sovereign Lord,
reigning and ruling and you're in his hand. You're in His hand,
which struck fear in their heart. The fear of the Lord is beginning
to win. And Christ, He's made Him Lord, and He's made Him Christ. The covenant head, the surety
of His people, the redeemer of His people, the days man. God
has made Him Christ. This is the one. You want accepted
by God? He's the one. He's the only one.
The only name, like he said in another place, he said, neither
is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name on
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. That is the
name of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ,
in the person, the work of Jesus Christ, he said, you rise up
and walk. Look at me. We've got a message, and it's
a person. The Lord Jesus Christ. And we preach him. He said, if
I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to me. I'll open blind eyes. I'll open deaf ear. I'll make
the lame to walk. I'll make them leap. We preach this message. Son of
man, can these bones live? I don't see how. How will they? How can dead people
live? Preach. Preach! Yes, preach. And he did. And they did. Rise
up and walk. And look at that in our text.
It says that he took him by the hand, by the right hand, verse
7, and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and his ankle bones
received strength. Received strength. This man can
receive nothing except to be given him from above. As many
as received him. People argue all the time, don't
they? You know, you've got to accept Jesus. Well, it doesn't
say that in the Bible. Nowhere does it say except Jesus
in the back. It does say as many as received
Him. There's a difference in receiving. Receiving is somebody
bestowing something on you. It's just there. You receive
it. Like if I had a glass and I poured
water into it, that glass can't glory in receiving water. It's
just an empty vessel. I'm the one that poured it in
there, and it received it. It's not like it accepted it.
It received it. Accept implies that you have
the ability to accept. I might or might not. No, not
if you're dead, you don't. Receive it. As many as received
him, and a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above.
But as many as did, he gave the right, the power, the glorious
privilege to become the sons of God, which were what? Why
did they receive him? They were born of God. Born of
God. And he received strength. We repent because we receive
the gift of repentance. We call because we receive a
call. We believe because we receive
the gift of faith. To God be the glory. God be with
you. He received strength. And Christ
is our strength. And look at it, verse eight,
it says, he leaping up, stood, leaping up. I'll never forget
when I first heard the gospel. My heart leapt. I was sitting
down and I was leaping on the inside. Leaping, leaping. He read in Isaiah 35, the lame
man shall leap as a heart. Leaping like a heart. You ever
seen a deer jump? We were someplace and there was
a couple of does in a fenced-in garden. And that fence was about
10 feet high, Dwight. And they were on the inside.
Those things can leap, can't they? Well, they saw us coming,
jumped over like it was nothing. Oh, there's a scripture that
talks about, by him we've run through a troop and leaped over
a wall. Barriers, things have gotten
away, leaping, leaping. stood, he leaped up, read verse
8, it says, verse 8, yeah, he leaping up and walked. He never
had walked before and now he's walking, walking by faith, walking
with God, walking with the people of God. He once walked with the
world, now he's walking with, look where he went. As soon as
he's able to walk, where's he going? He was on the outside,
where does he want to be now? He went right into that temple,
right into that temple. What's he doing? Praising God.
He never had done that before. He never had done that before.
He lived for spare change. Now he's praising God. Praising
God. Lord, thank you for calling me
by your grace. Thank you for coming to me. Thank
you for sending these men to preach the gospel to me. Thank
you, Lord. Oh, praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord,
for sending the gospel to me and raising me up, opening my
blind eye, my deaf ears, and making me willing in the day
of your power. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. He
never had to thank God for anything. He's thanking him now for everything.
in the temple with the people of God, praising God. And they
knew it was him, verse 10. They knew it was him, but he
was different, wasn't he? Like that man in John 9, you
remember that blind man that was healed? They said, well,
it looks like him, but he sure is different. That's him, but he's changed.
He's changed, he's not like he was. He never would have come
in this place before. They saw him, Chris, they saw
him. Look who's walking in the temple. Oh, lame Larry or whatever his
name was. Look at him. Well, lo and behold, this is
a miracle. It is. It is a miracle to make a man
love what he once hated, to see what he could not see, to hear
what he... You're looking at somebody that's
heard more preaching than anybody. Gabe is running a close second. He's preacher's kids. We heard
so many messages, but I didn't hear a thing for a year. I didn't
hear a thing. Heard message after message,
didn't hear a thing. One day, like this man, there
was a day, there came a day, I heard. It's like my ears were
open for the first time. He's talking straight to me.
Same man, same message, and now I hear. And that's now where
I've been ever since. That's a miracle. Salvation's
a miracle of God's grace. And look at this, and I close.
It says, they were filled with wonder and amazement at what
had happened to him. Religion, you know, everybody
makes over a fellow accepting Jesus and joining the church
and doing this and that and the other. We're so glad to have
you. Church can't be church without you, old baloney. Boy, they're
praising God for what happened to him, what the Lord did for
him. All of God's people know. that all of God's people were
brought by Him, taught by Him, saved by Him. Everybody in glory
knows why they were there. He redeemed them. He saved them.
He called them by His grace. They all know what happened to
them. And verse 11 says, The lame man
was healed. He held Peter and John. In other words, he had hold of
them. He had his arms around them. These two fellas, they
walked by him before and he didn't know who they were. He didn't
care. Somebody could have told him those are apostles. Well,
so what? Now he has his arms around them.
Now he has hold of them. Now he's found him a preacher,
Tony, and he doesn't want to let go of them. He loved this man that brought
him the gospel. Don't leave. Y'all don't leave.
And like old Paul, Saul of Tarsus, when the Lord saved him over
in Acts 9, it says that he hated the other apostles before. Hated
them. Wanted to kill them all. And
when the Lord saved him, he said, just let me hang around. And
it says he's with them coming and going. Wherever they went,
coming and going, he was with them all the time. And this fella
had a hold of them. Don't leave. How beautiful are
the feet of them that preach the gospel of glad tiding. What
a gift they are. What a gift salvation is. Thank
God for it. Thank God for you. And may he
use that message for your good. Okay, guys. Let's turn to number 158 and
stand together. 158. With heavenly love, with all
thy quickening powers, Kindle a flame of sacred love in these
cold hearts of ours. Look how we grovel here below, I.