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Eric Floyd

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

Acts 16:19-34
Eric Floyd January, 16 2022 Audio
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Eric Floyd
Eric Floyd January, 16 2022

In the sermon "What Must I Do To Be Saved?" Eric Floyd addresses the doctrine of salvation, particularly how it is delivered to those who are in spiritual bondage. He emphasizes that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ, as exemplified by the prison guard’s question in Acts 16:30-31. Floyd articulates that the jailer's awareness of his condition and his subsequent inquiry leads to the proclamation of the gospel: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." He references key Scripture passages, including Romans 5:12 and Acts 9, to illustrate humanity's fallen state and the transformative power of God's intervention through the gospel. The practical significance of these truths lies in the assurance that grace is available to all, including the most unlikely individuals, demonstrating the depth of God's mercy and the necessity of faith for salvation.

Key Quotes

“If there's mercy for this man, there's mercy for me.”

“Nothing is impossible with God.”

“What is it to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Well listen, it's to come to Christ.”

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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I'd ask you to open your Bibles
with me to Acts chapter 16. We'll read beginning with verse
19 down through verse 34. This will serve as our text. We read here, "...when her masters
saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and
Silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
and brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men being Jews
do exceedingly trouble our city." I believe this is something commonly
said about God's true messengers. They exceedingly trouble our
city, and they teach customs which are not lawful for us. And receive neither to observe,
being Romans. And the multitude rose up together
against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded
to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to
keep them safely. who having received such a charge
thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the
stocks and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises
unto God and the prisoners heard them and suddenly there was a
great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were
shaken and immediately all the doors were opened everyone's
bands were loosed And the keeper of the prison, waking out of
his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword
and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners
had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice
saying, do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called
for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down
before Paul and Silas. and brought them out and said,
Sirs, listen to his question, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord. and to all that were in his house,
and he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their
stripes, and was baptized, he in all his straight way. And
when he brought them into his house, he sent meat before them,
and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." Now, the title of the message
this morning is What must I do? This jailer's question, what
must I do to be saved? And I have to tell you, and I
probably say this often, but I believe this is one of my favorite
accounts of Scripture. This jailer, you know, I spent a little time
working in a juvenile prison, and I met some men that would
have been considered keepers of the prison. And I know this, that typically,
I wouldn't say this just across the board without exception,
but most men that are put in charge of keeping a prison, they
take that pretty seriously. They're typically not the men
that you would come to and ask for mercy. Their job is to keep
everything in that prison and keep everybody outside of it
safe. And I can't help but think this.
If there's mercy for this man, there's mercy for me. If there's
mercy for this man, there's mercy for me. Let's look at this together this
morning. Because in this passage of Scripture, we see deliverance
for a sinner, salvation for an old prison guard, the keeper
of the prison. Maybe that should have been the
title of the message, huh? Salvation for a prison guard. Listen, this
man, he likely lived in this prison. Okay, that was His work,
that was His home. And how is it? How is it? As we sat here this
morning, how is it that this Gospel is going to reach a man
that likely never leaves the prison? Huh? Is that possible? Nothing is impossible with God,
is it? How's the Gospel gonna reach a man who never leaves
prison? And yet, here in this text, we
read that God sends forth His messengers into the prison. Huh? Isn't that true throughout
Scripture? God either brings that man or
that woman to His messenger, or He sends His messenger to
them. Remember that Ethiopian eunuch?
He was returning for some kind of prayer meeting. I don't know
what it was. What did God do? God sent one of His messengers.
He said, you go up to that chariot. He was up there reading from
the Old Testament. Philip said, do you understand
what you're reading? He said, how can I? How can I except some
man should guide me? What did he do? He went to that
same scripture and he preached unto him the gospel. God sends
his messengers. He brings his people to the Word
or he sends forth his messengers to preach the gospel. How is
it? How is it that a man that lives
all the way out in New Jersey ends up on the other end of the
country to be your pastor? God brought him here. He brings his messenger to his
people. And listen, he sends Paul and
Silas into this prison to a most miserable man. How miserable
is he? What do we read there? He was
to the... I can't imagine more misery than
this. He was willing to take his own life. That's what the
Gospel says here. And I want us to look at this
passage here just for a few minutes this morning. A few points here. Listen, this jailer, consider
this. He was given one charge. He's given one thing to do. You
see that? To keep Paul and Silas. Isn't that what the magistrates
charged him with? They beat him and they took him to him and
they said, you keep him safe. You keep him in the prison here.
Verse 24, look at that again. It says here, "...who having
received such a charge..." He took that serious. "...who received
such a charge thrust them into the inner prison and he made
their feet fast in the stocks." One charge, one responsibility. Let me ask you, does that sound...
does that sound familiar? Go back, go back to the garden. Go back to the fall. Adam was given one thing. Don't eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat thereof,
thou shalt surely die. And what happened? What happened
back there? Eve was deceived by Satan. But
listen, Adam, he willingly took of that fruit. Willingly and
knowingly he disobeyed God. He raised his hands against God
and said this, whether he said it out loud or not, I'll not
have this man to reign over me by one man. by Adam, by his disobedience,
by his rebellion, by his failure to keep God's command. What do
we read? By one man, sin entered into
the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. Do we understand that word? All have sinned. Death passed
upon all men as a result of One transgression. Adam's transgression. Adam's sin. Because of the weakness
of this flesh. In Romans 8-3 we read, "...for
what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending His Son, His own Son, in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh." Adam's failure, Adam's disobedience,
listen, Adam's sin. We're all guilty of it, every
last one of us. This jailer, he had one charge,
keep these thieves bound. And at some point in the night,
look at verse 26, we read, there was a great earthquake. The foundation of the prison
were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened Everyone's
bands were loose. He failed to keep this prison
guard. He failed to keep the law. He
failed to do what he was charged with. And then, listen, verse
27, next we see more of this keeper of the prison's condition. Do you have verse 27? awaking
out of his sleep." And in verse 29 we read that he called for
light. This is a spirit of slumber, a spirit of darkness. In Proverbs
6 we read about the sluggard and it says this, it says, "...How
long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou rise out of thy
sleep?" He had a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding
of the hands to sleep. Listen, how long will we lay
in darkness." That's where this prison guard was. In darkness.
In slumber. How long? How long will we lay
there in darkness? One answer. Until God is pleased
to wake us. Huh? Until God is pleased. How long in darkness? Until He's
pleased to send forth His light. Huh? Let me ask you this. How
long did Lazarus lay there in the grave? I know we don't know
the exact time, but we know that the Scriptures say that he'd
lay there long enough that his body began to stink. How long
did he lay there? Until Christ, in love and in
mercy, came to him and He said this. He said this, "...Lazarus,
come forth." And what do we read? He that
was dead. Has that ever been told before?
That a dead man could be risen from the grave? Me and Brady,
we mow a cemetery. There's a lot of graves out there.
I promise you, we could sit out there all day long and say, come
forth, come forth, come forth. And you know what would happen?
Eventually, somebody would come forth, but it'd probably be the
police or somebody arresting us, taking us away, right? And
you know what? We kind of giggle about that.
But you know what men are doing in places all across this country
right now? They're pretending that a dead
man can come out of the grave in his own power. It just ain't so. Only God, only
God can speak in power. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can
speak in power and say, Lazarus, come forth. And we know what happens, right? He calls His sheep, He constantly
calls His sheep, dead in trespasses and sin, to come forth. And not
under any power of their own, but under His power and His might. He brings them out of the grave,
and He draws them to Himself. How long? How long will we lay
dead in the grave? Turn over to Luke, Luke chapter
2. Luke chapter 2, beginning with verse 29. How long? How long did Simeon,
Luke chapter 2, how long did Simeon wander around in that
temple? Look at verse 28, or look back
at verse 27. Simeon, he came by the Spirit
into the temple. The Lord brought him there. And
when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after
the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms and he
blessed God and he said, Lord, now let thy servant depart in
peace according to thy word. How's that? For mine eyes have
seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face
of all the people and a light to lighten the Gentiles and the
glory of thy people Israel." How long? Until Christ is pleased
to reveal Himself. Christ who is. When do we come
out of darkness? When that light appears. Almighty God sends forth His
Spirit giving, listen, sight to the blind, eyes that can see,
ears that can hear, giving life, giving life where it never existed
before. I have you stop for just a minute,
okay, and consider this man, this man's condition, this prison
guard. Listen, he failed to keep the
magistrate's command. He dwelt in darkness, he dwelt
in slumber, and he's in prison. And listen, even if he was the
keeper of the prison, even if that was his job, it still don't
change the fact that's where he was. He's in prison. He's in bondage. And listen,
deserving of death and condemnation. Deserving of death and hell.
Oh, that the Lord would be pleased to let us see that of our condition. Huh? No doubt. No doubt this had been this man's
case for many years. But listen, there's something
different. It's now revealed to him. Huh? How long God's people
are in darkness until He's pleased to just turn on the light and
let us see something, not the whole of our condition. We could
never bear to see how sinful we truly are, how wicked this
heart is. but he's pleased to give us a
glimpse of it. Paul, writing to the Romans in
Romans 7-18, he said this, he said, I know, I don't know a lot, but I know
this, I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. For the will is present with
me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. You know, there was a time, there
was a time that Paul didn't know that about himself, wasn't there?
Remember that? Remember when he went about,
he sought basically letters to go and come into a place like
this and arrest people and cast them into prison. But then there came a time, there
came a time that that was revealed to him. Paul referred to... Listen, God
crossed His... God crossed His path. Look at
Acts chapter 9. Just turn back a few pages from
our text. Acts chapter 9. Beginning with verse 1. and Saul, Acts chapter 9, and
Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went to the high priest. And he desired of him
letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound
unto Jerusalem. But the Lord did something for
him, didn't He? Huh? That was his desire. Here's a
way that seems right unto man. The end there of the ways of
death. That was Paul's desire, but listen,
look here. Verse 3, As he journeyed, he
came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him
a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth, and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I'm Jesus, whom thou persecuted. It's hard
for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and
astonished, said unto the Lord, What would thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise
and go into the city, and it shall be told unto thee what
thou must do. The Lord didn't leave him to
himself, did he? Huh? He's pleased to visit him in
mercy. Is it any wonder that Paul referred
to himself as... and I bet if you wanted to pick
a fight over Paul, you'd say, I'm a bigger sinner than you,
Paul. No. No, I'm the chief. I'm the chief
of sinners. How about that publican? Remember
that public, his cry, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Let me ask you, has God in His
mercy been pleased to reveal that to you? That that's what
we are. That's what, not what we, that's
what I am. You've got to speak for yourself
in this matter, right? I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. Oh, I pray would, because listen,
listen, I don't hear of hope for a self-righteous man. I hear
of hope for a sinner. Listen to this, huh? What did the publicans call our
Lord? They said He's a friend of publicans
and sinners. Now they thought they were insulting
him by saying that. Boy, that's not an insult for
us, is it? Aren't we thankful that he's a friend of publicans
and sinners? We read this, that Jesus Christ
came into... Almighty God, robed in human
flesh, He came into the world. Why? To save sinners. That gives a man hope, doesn't
it? Huh? It gives a sinner hope. We read
this, we read this, the Scriptures declare, call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin. Now back in our
text, look at verse 28. This man was about to to take his life. Look back at
verse 27. It says here, "...the keeper
of the prison, awaking out of his sleep, seeing the prison
doors open, he drew out his sword, and he would have killed himself,
supposing that the prisoners had been fled." See, the judgment that was due
them, if He let them out of there, it was now due Him. But Paul... I kind of feel like
Paul had some experience in this matter, hadn't he? Paul knew
that about himself. And Paul cried with a loud voice,
and he said, do thyself no harm. We're all here. Do thyself no
harm. I'd ask you to consider this,
the tenderness and love of God's messenger. Listen, this one that
they were speaking to, this one Paul and Silas were talking to, hadn't been that much time past that he'd beaten them. He had
cast them into the innermost part of the prison. Listen, let's
not get any false idea of what that word cast into the prison
meant. It meant that he basically picked
them up and he threw them in. He didn't handle them. I'm just
certain that the keeper of the prison didn't handle them with
kid gloves. But how often, truly how often
are God's servants mistreated? Back in the Old Testament, we
read about that this morning, how the people murmured and complained
about God's servants. It must just be our nature to
do that, isn't it? His servants often are reproached
Not for any really doings of their own, but listen, for the
sake of the gospel. Paul said this, he said, I was
in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prison more
frequent, in death often. Why? All these things for the
sake of the gospel. Huh? This message of God's mercy
to sinners. Our Lord in the book of John,
look at John 15. John chapter 15. Look what He said. Our Lord said
this, He said that, He said, if the world hates you, He said,
you know this, that it hated me before it hated you. If you
were of the world, the world would love you. The world loves
its own. But because you're not of this world, but I've chosen
you out of the world, therefore the world hated you. But yet
Paul... I tell you what, sometimes when
we're mistreated, it's I don't say difficult to show mercy.
I say we probably seldom show mercy. It would be easy to just
kind of turn the head, right? What's Paul do here? Or just
say, do thyself no harm. I tried. No. Paul cried out,
do thyself no harm. Walking, that can be described
as nothing other than walking in love. to this man. Acts 16 verse 29, "...he came
trembling." This man came trembling. You reckon Paul recognized that
look? Isn't that what we read about
him just a little bit earlier? When God was pleased to cross
his path, he came trembling. and fell down. Maybe with a terrible
sense. Maybe with a revelation of His
own sin. The conviction of sin. I tell
you what, that wasn't there before, was it? We didn't see that in
this man before. Think about those two thieves
on the cross. You go back and read that account.
Those two thieves, we read that initially, they both railed on
Him. Oh, they were just carrying on
like everyone else was that day at Calvary. But at some point,
at some point, something happened. Something happened to one of
those thieves. And he said this, he said this, he said, he said, we receive, we receive
the due reward of what we done. We're getting, we're getting
what we deserve, but this man, this man hath done." He ain't
done nothing wrong. He's done nothing. He's done
nothing amiss. We're getting what we deserve. And if the Lord would leave us
to ourselves, we'd get what we deserve, wouldn't
we? Acts 16 verse 29, He called for a light and sprang in, and
came trembling, and he fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought
them out, and he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Suddenly, there's an interest
there, isn't there? A desire there for something
that didn't exist before. What must I do to be saved? Listen, an awareness of my condition,
an awareness of my need. Didn't Paul ask the same question? What must I do to be saved? And
listen to the response. Look at verse 31. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved in thy house. What is it What is it to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? Just a few points here this morning.
What is it to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Well listen,
it's to come to Christ. It's to come to Him. Listen, not to the preacher,
not to the priest, Not to the front of the building.
You're no more likely to find salvation up here than you are
out in the parking lot. We don't come to a place. We come to a person to come to
Christ. We don't listen. We don't need
a little bench up here for somebody to kneel down and pray, right? We don't need somebody to recite
some sinner's prayer that man made up. No. It's coming to Christ. It's coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever you are, it's coming. It's coming to Him. Turn to Matthew
15. Matthew chapter 15. Let me begin with verse 21. Matthew 15, verse 21. Jesus went
thence and departed in the coast of Tyre, Sidon. And behold, a
woman of Canaan, a cursed Gentile, she came out of the same coast,
and she cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou
Son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. But He answered her. He didn't even answer. He
answered her, not a word, and His disciples came and besought
Him, and they said, Lord, even if you're not going to say nothing,
send her away, for she crieth after us. But He answered and
said, He said, I'm not sent to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. That's who I'm... I'm not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. And then came she and worshipped
Him, and she said, Lord, help me! Help me! And he answered
and said, it's not meat. It's not right to take the children's
bread and cast it unto dogs. Now you think about that. Think
about what... He's saying, you're a dog. You're
a dog. Now let me ask you, would you
be offended if someone called you a dog? It's not meat to take
the children's bread and cast it to the dog. Listen to her
response. Is her response, well that's not fair. I don't think
you ought to be able to do that. That's not right. Oh, she said
this, she said truth. That's what I am. You know, we've
got this, we've got this thing, we've got this thing messed up.
We've got ourselves elevated. That's what man, that's what,
that's what religion, that's what it elevates man. And it
puts the Lord Jesus Christ somewhere down here. That's not so. Huh? The Gospel exalts God and
it puts man on the floor. Huh? On his knees, begging for
mercy. Truth, Lord. All that's true. Yet, all yet, dogs eat the crumbs
which fall from their master's table. And Jesus said unto her,
O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour." This Canaanite woman, she came to Christ. She came to the Lord Jesus. Somewhere
she'd heard about Him. She came to Him. And listen,
her need exceeded anything man could do. She couldn't do nothing
for herself and man couldn't do nothing for her. Only one,
only one could. She came knowing her unworthiness.
Shall I take my bread and cast it to dogs? Truth, Lord, but
I'm a dog. I'm a dog. Even the dogs eat
from their master's table. She cried. She cried for mercy. She knew something of who she
was coming to as well. What did she call Him? Lord.
Lord. She came to Him, listen, believing
Christ. It's coming to Christ. It's coming
to Him. Believing Christ is receiving
Christ. We read in John 1, 12, as many
as what? As received Him. As many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
them that believe on his name." He asked Peter, he said, Peter,
do you love me? Do you love me, Peter? Peter
said, Lord, you know. You know I love you. And he asked
him that three times, didn't he? And what did Peter say? He
said, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love
thee. come to Christ is to receive
Him. To receive Him, listen, in love
and in thankfulness. To receive Him willingly as God's
gift of love, in grace, as He's revealed in His Word. Coming
to Christ is looking to Christ. We looked at that this morning,
didn't we? Listen, John said the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we beheld His glory. We looked at it. We saw that
we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. We beheld His glory, beholding,
looking to, Isn't that what we read this morning? Right? Looking
unto Jesus. Look unto Me. Look unto Me and
be ye saved all the ends of the earth. I'm God and there is none
else. We read that throughout Scripture.
That's what Jonah said, the same thing. Now you think about that. Jonah in the belly of that fish,
passed out there in the deep. He can't see nothing. He's, listen,
compassed by the floods, compassed by whatever the inside of that
great fish looked like. And He said this, He said, I'm
cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. All the way down in that deep,
however far that was, inside that fish, He's looking to Christ,
looking to Him. I'll look knowing this." Jonah
also said this, what? Salvation is of the Lord. It's all of Him. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. So listen, believe
in Christ. It's coming to Christ. It's receiving Christ. We read
of Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's looking to Christ. And listen, it's committing to
Christ. Committing to Him. 2 Timothy
1 verse 12. Listen, a man or a woman or a
young person who believes Christ will commit to Him. committing to Him. Paul writing
to Timothy, he said, "...I'm not ashamed, for I know whom
I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I have committed to him." What did he commit to Him? Everything! Huh? All of his hope, all of
his salvation was committed to Christ. What does it mean to
commit? Think about that. I thought about
this. Mike, I couldn't use you for an illustration here because
I'd already met you. But three or four years ago,
Don Fortner, he called me one night. He said, would you consider
going out to San Diego and preaching to a group of people out there?
Mike, I told you this last night. There's a lot of things I'm afraid
of. And flying's one of them. But I've been more afraid to
say no to Don Fortner than jump on an airplane. Right? You all
know. But listen, come out here and
preach. And other than a few details,
my papa was out here during World War II. He was in the Navy. And
he told a few stories about being in San Diego, but other than
that and seeing it on a map, I really didn't know a whole
lot about it. But Don told me this. He said,
there's a fella named Cass and his wife, Deanne. And he said,
listen, he said they'll pick you up at the airport. He said,
they're going to keep you in their home. And he said, they'll
get you back and forth to wherever you need to go. Well, I'd never
met Cass and DM before. Never met them. Didn't really recognize them.
I remember Cass told me what car he was driving, so I'd recognize
him pulling up there at the airport. But listen, I didn't know anything
about them other than what Don Fortner had told me. I had my oldest son with me.
He was probably, Isaac had been I guess 17. So we hopped on an
airplane and we flew out to San Diego and we got off the plane
and we come out there to the front gate. I was in a place
I didn't know nothing about. Nothing. I'll tell you what I
didn't do. I didn't rent a car just in case
Cass didn't show up. I didn't feel the need to make
a reservation at a hotel. I didn't pack some extra food
with me just so me and Isaac wouldn't starve to death. Why is that? I committed my care to some people that somebody
told me about. and I didn't have any doubts
or fears or concerns otherwise. I believed what I had been told. I believed that that which Don
had told me was true about them. And listen, to say they were
true and faithful to provide every need is an understatement. Believing Christ is committing
to Him. Don't need no backup plan. I
don't need to rely on something else. I'm committed to Him and
to His care. No confidence in anything or
anyone else, including myself. Right? Not my works. Not my way, not this world. I'm trusting Christ and Christ
alone. Just like old Abraham back there.
What did it say about Abraham? Abraham believed God. Oh, He'd give us faith to believe
Him, to rest in Him, to commit to Him every care. Now quickly, back to our text.
Here in Acts 16, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Look at verse 32. They spake
the word of the Lord to him in all his house. They spoke to
him the gospel. We must have his gospel. We must
have him. We must hear the truth about
man. Isn't that what we're taught
in Scriptures? The truth about man, dead, dead in trespasses
and sin. The truth about God, God who's
holy and just and sovereign in all that He does. The truth about
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Listen, there's no hope Any other
hopes of false hope. There's no hope to be found anywhere
else but in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we read this. He was baptized. This man and
his family, they were baptized. They confessed Christ. Listen,
this is what I believe. And I want to confess Him publicly. I want everybody else to know.
This is what I believe. This is what's been revealed
to me. And then we read this, that he brought them. Listen,
he brought, can you imagine this? This fellow that had laid stripes
on them, this man that had threw them in the innermost part of
the prison, he'd made them fast in the stocks. I picture that
as that, you know, where they got your hands in there and probably
your feet in there, maybe your neck in there. You ain't going
nowhere. That's what he had done to them. But now, is this the
same man? Huh? He brought him in the house and
he set meat before him. Rejoicing. Rejoicing. Believing God. It's a new man,
isn't it? Listen, we got a house across the road
from us. And I can tell you every time a new person comes in that
house, I don't even have to see them. I can look at the yard,
I can look at the driveway. If Christ dwells in a man, you're
going to see him. You're going to see. This is
a new man, made a new creature, new spirit, a new attitude. He's
been made the very righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that what we read in 2
Corinthians 5.21? Christ was made sin. God made
Him to be sin for us that we might be made the very righteousness
of God in Him. Sinner. I hope I can speak to
everyone in this room when I say that, including me. Sinner. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. One of the older hymn writers
wrote this, he said, the vilest offender, oh, the worst of them,
the worst of them, the most vile of offenders that truly believes
that moment, that very moment of pardon from Jesus receives. Aren't we thankful for His Word?
I pray God would impress that on our hearts. I pray that He
calls us, just as that old prison guard, that we leave this place
today rejoicing. Not in anything of ourselves. We're sinners. But that the Lord
Jesus Christ is pleased to save sinners. Is there a greater reason
to rejoice? Rejoice in Him? Alright.

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Joshua

Joshua

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