the book of Acts chapter 2, and
for the sake of time we'll just read part of this. This is what
we're going to look at this morning, Acts chapter 2, Pentecost. Let's
begin with verse 22 at the end of the chapter, Acts 2, 22. Simon Peter's preaching says,
You men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by him in the midst of you. As you yourselves also
know him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death.
because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. For
David speaketh concerning him, Psalm 16, I foresaw the Lord
always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should
not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall
rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. Neither wilt thou suffer thine
Holy One to seek corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance." End of quote. And Simon goes on, Amen. And brethren, let me freely speak
unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried,
and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore, being
a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him
that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, that
God would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. David, seeing
this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption. This
Jesus hath God raised up. whereof we all are witnesses,
speaking of the apostles. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which you now see
and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith
himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus
whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now, when they
heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto
Peter, the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall
we do? And Peter said unto them, Repent,
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ,
for the remission of sins. And ye shall receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and
to your children, to all that are far off, even as many as
the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did
he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves. from this untoward
generation. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized. The same day were added unto
them about 3,000 souls, and they continued steadfastly in the
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers.
Fear came upon every soul. Many wonders and signs were done
by the apostles, and all that believed were together. had all
things common, sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to
all as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with
one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, did
eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising
God, having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to
the church daily, such as should be said. Pray with me. Our God and our Father, we thank
you, as our brother has already said. We thank you for this day. We thank you for this hour. What a glad hour it is. What
a high honor and privilege it is to be gathered together with
the saints. We're brought here by the Spirit
of God to hear your word read, hear it preached. Oh, how blessed
our They who have the word of God, who read it, who hear it,
who believe it. My, my, what a blessing. How
blessed we are to be brought out of this world into this place
to hear the blessed truth, the gospel of Christ. Oh, Lord, we
ask that you would bless your word again. Bless us with a double
portion on this, the Lord's Day. Let us go in the strength of
this meeting, days to come. Let's think on these things.
Let this be a well springing up in us just when we need it.
Bless your word, O Lord. Call out your people into the
fold, into Christ. Get glory to your name. Get glory
to thy son. Let us see Christ again this
morning. Lord, you've done great things
for us. We're glad, and we ask that you do it for others, those
who don't know you, our children, our grandchildren, neighbors,
our brothers and sisters, our spouses, our parents, Lord, send
the word in power here or wherever you're pleased. Send it forth
in power and the Holy Spirit and give much assurance. We ask these things. We ask your
forgiveness of our sins. We ask for your blessings upon
your people going through trials and troubles. Be with them. Give
them a good testimony. And that's why you send these
things. Lord, forgive us of our sins, and we do all this, pray
all these things for Christ's sake, in His name, for His honor,
His glory. Amen. Majesty, worship His majesty. Unto Jesus may all glory, honor,
and praise. Majesty, kingdom authority, flows
from his throne unto his own, his anthem raise. So exalt, lift up on high the
name of Jesus. Magnify, come glorify Christ
Jesus our King. Majesty, worship his majesty. Jesus who died now glorified
King of all kings Majesty Worship his majesty He has saved us and
given such mercy and grace Majesty His is our destiny. He saves His own. He saves alone. Lift up our song. So rejoice. Lift up your voice to Christ
our Savior. Magnify Come glorify Christ Jesus
our King. Majesty, worship his majesty. Jesus who died, now glorified,
King of all kings. Thank you, Sister Peggy. A woman died recently that people
called Her Majesty. And they will soon be crowning
a man whom they will call His Majesty, won't they? Simon Peter said that Christ received, he said,
we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He's the only one that deserves
that title, his majesty. Man has no majesty. Men, women are lowly, worthless
sinners. One alone deserves the title
of His Majesty, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Thank you. That was a blessing.
Acts chapter 2. Go back there. Acts chapter 2. I want to try to do some Pentecostal
preaching this morning. You didn't know that your pastor
was a Pentecostal preacher, did you? Only true preachers of the
gospel are Pentecostal preachers. What happened here at Pentecost? By the way, Pentecost means 50
days. Christ was on this. Christ made
his sacrifice. It was 50 days after the Passover.
That's what Pentecost meant, 50 days after the Passover. He was going to have a outpouring
of the Holy Spirit 50 days after the Passover. Well, Christ, our
Passover, was crucified on Calvary's tree. He stayed on this earth
40 days, and then 10 days later, the disciples were together,
and this happened. Christ was exalted. Christ was
seen. God saved 3,000 souls. Pentecost. So many so-called Pentecostal
people that don't have a clue what it means. Pentecost. And everybody fakes all this
tongue talking and all that. It's fake. It's phony. It's foolishness. And people that fall for it are
fools. It's not the Spirit of God. It's another spirit. It's
an evil spirit. Pentecostal preaching, I'm going
to show you, hope to, is preaching Christ high and lifted up. and
people hear the gospel of Christ and they repent and they believe
and they confess Him and they're added to the church. After this
happened, nobody went away talking about tongues. Nobody went away
talking about tongues. By the way, tongues means a language. It means a language. There's
no such thing as an unknown There are languages throughout the
earth, none of them without signification, as Scripture said. And God gave
these apostles this immediate gift to preach the truth, to
preach Christ in the language of all those people that were
meeting there that day at Pentecost, okay? To preach Christ. So each
one of them heard the gospel in their language. They didn't have time to go to
school and learn those languages. God miraculously gave them this
ability to preach the gospel in all these languages of these
people, and they heard the gospel. And nobody went away talking
about those languages. Nobody went away talking about
all the miracles and signs and the cloven tongues and the fire
and all that. Everybody went away talking about
Jesus Christ. Everybody went away talking about
God's mercy to them, God's grace to them, God's salvation, how
God saved their souls, how God had mercy on them. So all this stuff that talks
about the Spirit so much, it talks about tongues, it dwells
on that, and all this Holy Ghost fire, and all people acting like
blooming idiots, that's of the devil, that's not of the Lord. Day of Pentecost came, verse
1 says, they were all together of one accord, one Lord, one
faith, one hope of your calling, and His disciples were gathered
together by the Lord, 11, 12 counting Matthias, like we're
here today, this morning. Now I'm bringing this message
in hopes that the Lord will do what he did at Pentecost for
someone here this morning. This is how every single sinner
is saved by God. Every single sinner is saved
the exact same way these 3,000 people were saved at Pentecost.
They heard the gospel, they believed Christ, they repented, they confessed
Him in believer's baptism, and God joined them in the church,
and they stayed there from then on. And I hope, I hope and I pray
that God does it for someone. He hasn't done it yet for someone.
He'd do it for them. I hope He does it for me. But so they were together, and
speaking of these fiery tongues, you've got a fiery preacher,
don't you? He's a fiery preacher. What's the fire of the Spirit
of God? When he baptizes by fire, what's that? That's the gospel.
Gospel preached in power. Power, holy ghost, power, much
assurance of who Christ is. It says they all began, verse
four, they all began to speak with other languages as the Spirit
gave them utterance. What does the Spirit do? What
does the Spirit say? What is the Holy Spirit? What
did Christ say that the Holy Spirit would say? He said in
John 15, He said, I'll send the Holy Spirit and He'll take the
things of mine. John 16, He'll convict you of
sin, righteousness, and judgment concerning Christ. Isn't that
right? You know these scriptures, don't you? Isn't that how blessed
we are? People everywhere are taken by
all this foolishness. But we hear Christ. We hear Christ
Sunday after Thursday, Sunday after Thursday. We hear Christ. He's this book. He's salvation.
He's everything. Holy Ghost fire is God taking
the gospel and burning up your religion, burning up your work,
burning up everything it has to do with you, and showing you
Christ the burnt offering. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
That's what happened here. The Holy Spirit, through the
preaching of the gospel, Convicted everybody of their sin against
God and their rejection of Jesus Christ and 3,000 people Confessed
Jesus Christ and they went away talking about him nothing else They said down in verse 12 when
they heard this going on what's the meaning of this what's the
meaning of this What's the meaning of this we're doing this morning
What mean ye by this service? Why are we here? People all over
the world gathering together on so-called Sabbath or Sunday
and for various reasons and God's people meet together for one
reason, to worship God in spirit. It says, God the Father seeketh
us to worship him. He's here to worship God. You
got anything to worship him about? What? What is it? Why do you
worship God and praise God? Why do you want to come here
and sing these songs and hear the gospel? Why do you worship
God? Why do you give praise and thank
to God? What's it all about? Salvation. Most people don't
think they need saving, don't need saving. It's all about fun
and family and all this stuff. God's people meet together now
on this earth to talk about so great salvation that God did
for them in Jesus Christ. And they're meeting together
right now, everybody in glory right now, talking about so great
a salvation that Christ did for them in glory. Forever, that's
what we're talking about. Worship God, rejoice in Christ.
No confidence in the flesh. Those are the marks of God's
true people, his true history. Worship God in the Spirit. for
all he did for us, chose us and gave us to Christ, rejoicing
Christ Jesus because he did it all. Christ did it all and put
no confidence in the flesh. If I start talking in some other
language right now, get up quick and leave this place. You hear
me? But now if I preach Christ, you
sit, you listen carefully. And this was a prophecy from
Joel chapter 2. I want you to turn back there. Can you find it real quick? Can
I find it? Joel chapter 2. I didn't mark it. I hope I can
find it. Daniel, Hosea, Joel. Book of Joel chapter 2. This
was a prophecy from Joel chapter 2. And oh, how modern religion,
Pentecostal, holy, Tongue-talking people like to bring this up.
Sons of your daughters are prophesying. Well, here's what it said. Joel chapter 2, the last verse,
and Paul quoted this in Romans 10. It shall come to pass, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord, not Jesus, the Lord, shall be delivered,
saved. Or in Mount Zion, that's his
church, in Jerusalem shall be deliverance. What? From sin. From this present evil world.
As the Lord hath said, and the remnant whom the Lord shall call. You read that with me? For whom
he did foreknow, he did predestinate. Whom he did predestinate. Do
you know how few people know that scripture? They know Romans
28, 28, they don't know verse 29. All things work together for
good to them that love God. We know that. What? Called according
to his what? Purpose. For whom he did foreknow
that his love before the world began. He did predestinate. You like that word? Want to hear
it again? Predetermined, predetermined
destiny, that God purposed your eternal destiny if he chose you
and put you in Christ. I love that. Don't let me have
my will my way. Predestined, whom he predestined,
he called by our gospel. Whom he called, he justified
by faith. Now yourselves, get together.
Whom he justified, he glorified. Mike sounds like it's all past
tense, doesn't it? It is. where the world is. I love that. I love that. That
sounds like our salvation was complete when God said it. Sounds
like our salvation was complete when Christ did it. It sounds
like salvation is of the Lord. I'm so glad. Well, this happened
at Pentecost. Go back here. And Simon Peter
is preaching. And he said this happened according
to the prophecy of the prophet Joel, verse 16. And down in verse
21, Simon Peter said it had come to pass, whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now listen, nobody feared Jesus
back then. Nobody feared Jesus. They hated
Jesus. They thought they'd killed Jesus.
Right? We know that Jesus of Nazareth.
That's Joseph's son. That's Mary's boy. That's the
carpenter. He ain't nothing. He's just a
man. He pretends to be God, they say. Boy, they're going to find
out, aren't they, Tommy? And so is everybody in this world.
Nobody fears Jesus. Well, he's outside your heart.
You can't get in unless you let him. Please let him in. That's not the Lord Jesus Christ. And nobody is saved by accepting
that fellow. I tell our people all the time,
if some fellow named Jesus is standing outside your heart's
door once again, don't let him. Don't let him in. Scripture talks about the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the door. The God in whose
hands our breath is in all our ways. Lord, this is what the
people heard. They believed that Jesus was
just a man and nobody feared Jesus. But when it's all over,
after Simon Peter preached, they're all going to hit their knees
before a sovereign on the throne. That he might save them or he
might not. That their souls are in the hands
of the one they rejected. Every single person at Pentecost
feared the Lord Jesus Christ and they saw him. And they called
on him for mercy. And God answered. And this whole world, this whole
religious world, not just Pentecostal, but free will, Arminian, Southern
Baptist religious people think that Jesus is somebody. Helpless
martyr who died loves everybody so much it died for everybody
and made some kind of Offer if you'd accept it that God will
be so happy with you. He just want and that's blasphemy. That's not the gospel That's
another gospel. Nobody is saved by believing
that not one single person is ever saved believe in that false
gospel Anybody that says that is a false preacher Simon Peter
and all these preachers and your preacher you got a preacher named
John and That's a good name, isn't it? John. John came preaching
what? John the Baptist. Repent. You
never hear that anymore. You don't hear that word. Men
don't have anything to repent of. God loves you. Jesus died
for you. He loves you just like you are.
No, he doesn't. He loves you if you're in Jesus
Christ. That's the only reason. The only reason. God is angry
with the wicked. And the wrath of God, Romans
118, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven every day. Floods,
tornadoes, earthquakes, famines, disasters, droughts, and all
that disease is pestilent. Plague after plague after plague,
like it was in Egypt that time. And none of the Egyptians saw
it. Plagues of God because of sin, because of unbelief, because
of God's anger. And that's this world that hasn't
changed. God sent a plague a few years ago. Anybody calling on
God? Lord, God, forgive us for our
sin and our unbelief. Please have mercy on us all.
Anybody? God's people. Just a few. Like the Israelites
of old, they saw those plagues, every one of them, as the hand
of God against the sinful world. And those believers, those few
believers, those Israelites saw that it was only the blood of
that Passover lamb that kept God from killing them. Every one of them, same thing.
There is no other way. There is no other truth. There
is no other gospel. The only way God's gonna have
mercy and grace on anybody is through Jesus Christ. And they all heard this Christ,
and look at what he said in verse 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words of Jesus of Nazareth. Yes, a man, a man approved of
God that's never been said before. or sins. A man approved of God. A man whom God is pleased with. Isaiah 42, it says, he well pleased
for his righteousness sake. He's not pleased with man. It says a man approved of God
by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him. Because
God was in Christ reconciling a world of people. out of every
kindred nation and tongue under heaven unto himself in Jesus
Christ. In verse 23, Simon says, him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, the eternal purpose and covenant of salvation that God
made with his son before the world began to send Jesus Christ
into this earth to die for the people whom he gave to Christ.
To put away their sin by the sacrifice of himself? Do you
know how few people notice that? Do you know how few people care? How blessed we are. We hear this
over and over again. There is no other gospel. Determinate for knowledge of
God. God, that God would love you
before the world began. People don't think anything about
the love of God. People don't care about the love of God. Pastors,
preachers, so-called, are throwing that love out there, and it doesn't
mean anything to anybody. And if you're an unlovely, hell-deserving,
wretched, vile, no-good sinner whom God ought to send to hell,
that's what you really think, mate. And you hear that God loved
you and gave you to Christ, and Christ came to die for you, to
die unto the wrath and judgment of God for you, you'll sing that song. How can
it be that God would love a soul like that? Well, he said, he said, him delivered,
you have taken with wicked hands and crucified and slain. Now,
None of us were there when Christ died. Was there ever a time in your
life that you didn't care about this gospel? Was there ever a
time when you didn't care? I'll just tell you my experience,
okay? You know who I am, a preacher's
kid, and I heard the gospels for so many years, and I rejected
it. I couldn't wait to leave. I didn't care. I didn't care
about God and Christ. I just went out of here. Like
the prodigal, I left. I couldn't wait to get out of
here. And for several years there, I didn't care if Jesus Christ
lived or died. You know, if you don't care if
somebody lives or dies, you might as well kill them. To ignore
somebody, they say, I don't care if you're alive or dead. You know, people, Catholics and
all, mass and all that's killing Christ over again. So, yeah, we're guilty. We're
all guilty. That's what God holds the whole
world accountable for. Rejecting his son. And it says
here, look at this in verse 24, but God has raised him up. God
sent Christ to this, the scriptures call this present evil world,
to save a people that aren't worth saving. People that he loved that aren't
worth loving. A people that he chose that rejected him. people he gave to Christ that
didn't give a flip for him but God. They're going to, everyone
of them. They're going to hear and they're
going to believe and they're going to be so thankful and they're
going to rejoice and all the rest of their life they're going
to be praising God to high heaven for everything he's done for
them in Christ. That's right. And God raised Christ from the
dead And it says, look down in verse 32, this Jesus hath God
raised up, wherever we're all witnessing. In verse 33, Simon
Peter said, him being by the right hand of God, exalted, having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. He's the one
doing this. That's what he said, Thomas.
He's the one controlling this whole thing right now. The Lord
Jesus Christ sitting on the circle of the earth, sitting at the
right hand of the majesty on high is controlling everything.
Barnabas used to say that rides the wriggles, that God has given
him all authority and all power over all flesh, principalities
and powers, spiritual wickedness and high pleasure. Jesus Christ
runs it all from the worms to the devils. He's doing it all. That's what this book says. And
man's doing nothing, but he's doing it all. What do you think
about that? I'm glad. Because if I'm in him, oh, I'm
in good shape. Go on, he says in verse 33, Therefore,
being by the right hand of God, exalted, received of the Father,
the promise of the Holy Ghost, he's the one that did this. David's
not ascended. that the Lord Jesus Christ is
in verse 36 he said in verse 35 I'm going to make all your
foes thy footstool under the feet of Jesus Christ verse 36
let all the house of Israel know assuredly God hath made that
same Jesus whom you crucified Lord and Christ and Simon Peter
sat down. That's it. He didn't ask anybody anything,
did he? Did he? Did they have a, now while the
organ's playing, while the music's playing something, nobody moved,
upset the Holy Spirit. Won't you come, won't you come?
That's, that's, see the gospel's the power of God on Saturday.
Christ is the power of God. It's all in His, it's His prerogative,
it's His power, it's not us. God saves whom he will, when
he will, how he will, one way, the gospel of God. Simon Peter
sat down, didn't ask anybody anything except Jesus, not in
the Bible. He sat down and the Holy Spirit
took this fear of the Lord Jesus Christ He just preached what
they heard, that Christ is high and lifted up, and that every
one of them had rejected this sovereign Lord and put the fear
of the Lord in them. And look at verse 37, when they
heard this, they heard the truth, they heard the gospel of Christ
pricked in their heart and said unto Peter, what are we going
to do? We rejected God. Peter said unto them, repent.
What does repent mean? It means godly sorrow. Here's
repentance. David said, have mercy on me,
O God. According to your loving kindness, according to your multitude,
your tender mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me truly
from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge
my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. Against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
You're going to be justified when you speak. You're going
to be clear if you send me to hell. I was shaped in iniquity,
I was born that way, I've lived that way, and sin did my mother
conceive me. Purge me with hyssop, I'll be
clean. Wash me in the blood of the Lamb,
and I'll be whiter than snow. Make me hear this joy and gladness,
make me hear the gospel, make me hear. Say unto my soul that
you're my salvation. Hide your face from my sin, blot
out my transgressions. That's repentance. And they did. Look at it with
me. Every eye, look at verse 38.
Look at it with me. It says, Repent and be baptized,
every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission
of sin, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Repent. No salvation without
repentance. No salvation apart from hearing
the gospel, the true gospel. No salvation without repentance. And the Holy Spirit gives repentance
and faith. Repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the center substitute. And every
single person that believes Christ, every single person that actually
trusts Jesus Christ, hopes in Jesus Christ, needs Jesus Christ,
their sin offering is baptized. There were 3,000 people here. 3,000 people were baptized. Not one
of them was not baptized. Not one person said, well, the
thief on the cross wasn't baptized. No. Why? Because God gave them
such a relief, such comfort, such peace that when you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. Believe and
you'll You'll receive remission of sin. Your sins will be gone.
You'll see Christ crucified. Your sin offering, your burnt
offering, your salvation. You'll believe on the Christ
and there's peace and there's joy and there's comfort. You
mean my sins are gone? You mean God is not angry with
me? No, He's not. Not in Christ.
You mean my past is wiped out? There's some things, my sin is
ever before me. There's some things I've done
that I can't get out of my head. It's ever before me. You mean
that's gone? Gone! How? Christ, covered under
the blood. Really? Really? You've got to confess somebody's
done that to you. Our Lord says, well, how could
you be ashamed of me? When I bore your shame? That's
not possible. Every one of them. Look at it. They that gladly received Simon's
preaching were baptized. He went on to say many other
words. Verse 40, save yourselves from
this untoward generation, this false gospel. All these people,
most of these people were religious. They'd never heard the truth
of who Christ is and what they were. The truth of who God is
and Now they have, and they believe. Now look at it. Let's just close. We're only going to be in 25
minutes. Read on with it. All 3,000 people heard the truth. All 3,000 people repented. All 3,000 people believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ. All 3,000 were baptized. That's
a lot of baptism, isn't it? And they continued, verse 42,
continued steadfastly. That means we're not going anywhere.
In the apostles doctrine, what's that, Craig? They all, good man, Craig said,
they came back next Sunday and said, Simon, would you preach
that same message? You want to hear it again? Yes. That's all you want to hear?
Yes. Contingent steadfastly in fellowship. What is this fellowship? It's
fellowship around Christ. Fellowship of his suffering.
Fellowship around the gospel. That's what our fellowship is.
It's not about family. It's not about fun. It's about
Jesus Christ. Fellowship, breaking of bread.
That means the Lord's table. And the Lord's table is for baptized
believers. That's the order. In the New
Testament, you were baptized. Baptism is confessing Christ
publicly. That's what the Lord said. He
that believes and is baptized shall be saved. What's that mean?
Exactly what He said. No exceptions. No exceptions. And everybody, they believed
Christ. And they couldn't wait to get
in that baptismal pool. And they confessed Him. And the
Lord, the Holy Spirit bore witness with their spirit. If you don't
confess Christ, you're going to wander for a long time. If you confess, he said, he that
confesses me before men, I'll confess. I'll confess. I'll give you that witness within
your sin. That's right. And they did. And then they broke bread. That means they took the Lord's
table. I'll never forget that before, you know, when the Lord
started dealing with me, preaching the gospel, the Lord brought
this prodigal back. And I started sitting and listening
and the Lord was dealing with me, convicted me, and I believed
the truth. I believed Christ. But I hadn't
confessed Him yet. I don't know why. You know, some
people wait. They think, well, if I get, I'll
wait till I feel just right. I'll wait till I feel like I've
got enough faith. I'll wait till I feel like I've
got enough repentance. You'll never, you'll be waiting
a long time to wait. It's not, you're not confessing you, you're
confessing Him. What you're doing in confessing
Him is saying, I don't feel anything like I ought to feel. I don't
do anything like I ought to do. I'm not what I ought to be, what
I want to be, but Jesus Christ is my hope. I believe Him. I look to Him. I trust Him. That's
it. Confessing Him. With all my hopes in Him, what
do you do? That's confessing Him. But I remember that I wanted
to take the Lord's table. Couldn't take it yet. I remember
them passing that plate, and they passed me by. I wanted to do that so bad. I'd
see people doing that, and I wanted to do it so bad. Oh, my. And
the Lord convinced me. He didn't confess me yet, and
I did. And buddy, I remember the next
time I had the Lord's table. Boy. Give me that. Yes. Give it bread. Oh man. This is wonderful. I remember thinking that wine
was the best I've ever put in my mouth. That bread was the
best thing. This is wonderful. Communion. That's what that is.
And fear. Look at verse 43. Fear came upon
every soul. Many wonders and signs were done
by the apostles. Wonders and signs are done here.
People just don't know it. Wonders and signs. You know,
the blinds receive their sight. Anybody blind before receive
your sight in this place? Anybody? Anybody hear that here
you were deaf and you heard the Lord's voice? Anybody? The lame walk. Anybody walk the
course, according to the course of this world and one day He
preached the gospel to you through Christ and now you're walking
by faith. That's a miracle. You mean those Parker boys are
in church? Yeah, look at her walking through
that front door, seated, clothed in their right minds, worshiping
God and rejoicing in Jesus Christ. That's a miracle. Never thought
I'd see that. It won't last. That's what they
said about me. That's what her brother said.
He won't ask. He said that 30 some years ago. He won't ask. Buddy, what Jesus Christ does
lasts. It's real. It's forever. And
they did. They continued together daily,
ate their meat. Christ said, I'm meat. Indeed,
gladness, singleness of heart, praising God, having favor with
all the people. Oh, man. You know what? You're
my favorite people. Y'all are my favorite people. Tommy, you're one of my favorite
people. Oh, yeah, Johnny, you too. Your
dad, that's a fond memory. We're God's favorite people. We found favor in the eyes of
the Lord. Why? Are we better than anybody
else? It's all because of Jesus Christ. You see that? You see that? You see that? Favor. God added to the church. We don't
join the church. God joins us to the church. He
puts us in the church. Somebody said, you don't go to
church. You are the church. You are the church, and Christ
is your life. That's what he's saying. Everybody
there, they believe, they heard, they believe, they confess Christ,
and now Christ is their life. He's their life. Is he your life?
Oh, I believe he is for many, if not most of you. And my hope
and my prayer is that he'll do the same for somebody else in
this very room. And this is how he does it. Lord bless you. May the Lord
use his words.