What happens when the Lord saves
someone? The same thing happens to all of His people. All of
His people are saved the same way. The exact same way. One
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one hope of your calling. One.
One way. It's through the preaching of
the gospel. It's through the preaching of Christ the imperial crucifix.
It's not seeing anything. It's hearing. Faith comes by
hearing. I couldn't get this off my mind
after thinking about, I mean, it reminded me of something that's
about to take place today. I couldn't get this off my mind.
In New Jersey today, the church where Brother Clay Curtis is
the pastor, there's a couple that's going to be baptized,
a man and his wife. And we've known them for years.
Years, we've stayed in their home. I preached to him before
they started attending there with the club. Other men preached. And we believe the Lord revealed
himself to this man and his wife. We love them dearly. Cyril and Lenore Reynolds is
their name. Well, they, the Lord joined them
to the church in Or Clay has. The Lord brought Clay up there
and started a church. So Cyril and Remora came over
there and just love and rejoice and just love. They're going
to be baptized today. This man and his wife. They were
in religion. They didn't know Christ. God sent a preacher, preacher
after preacher after preacher. They heard Christ preach. The
Lord joined them to this church and there they are. And Cyril
told me when I saw him recently, he said, Now, whole life has
brought me right here. In Kingsport, Tennessee today,
this evening, there's a couple, a man and his wife, going to
confess Christ in baptism, William and Regina. Now, they heard the
gospel. They were in a Southern Baptist
church down below Kingsport. False religion. And that's false
religion. That's what my dad came out of.
That's what so many of you came out of. You know, free will religion.
Accept Jesus, you know. Believe on Jesus. Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus. Accept Jesus. Free will, you
know. Exercise your God wants to. God loves you. Jesus died
for you. Won't you accept Him as your
personal Savior? That's not the gospel. Did you read any of that
here? Did you hear Simon Peter say
that to anybody? He didn't ask anybody to do anything.
They were begging Him. What do we do? We've heard Christ! Now that's my message. Alright? God sent preachers down there
to that little Southern Baptist. They heard that without a pastor,
they didn't have a pastor. And God sent Marvin Stoniker
down there. See the first or maybe the second.
Tom Hardy. Tom Hardy. There's a faithful
man. No less so than Simon Peter. Alright? Tom Hardy went down
there to preach. You know who he preached. You
know how he preached. You've heard him preach. He preached
just what the time of day. And boy, it caused a rift. And
then Marvin went down. They had scheduled several of
us because somebody said, well, we've got some preachers we'll
send down here. Not the kind of preachers they
wanted to hear, you know. They all thought, we're going to hear
just what we've been hearing, free will and accept Jesus and
all. God loves you so much. And what a wonderful life we
can all have together as good Christians. No, he sent preachers
down there. Marvin was one of the next. And
he preached. And after that, they told him,
don't send any more preachers like you down here. Didn't they? Don't send any back. We don't
want any more of this. Two people, a man and his wife,
William and Sabrina, said, we've got to get out of here. And they
said, well, there's a young man up in Kingsport preaching this.
They said, we're going. And they came, didn't they? And
they've been there ever since. And this was a few years ago,
OK? And today, they said, we've got to confess this Christ. We
were both baptized in that false religion. That wasn't the Jesus
Christ of Scripture. This is. This is the gospel.
This is our people. This is our church. This is who
we want to confess. And they're being baptized today.
Just like 3,000 people. Four are going to do it today. 3,000 did it back then. They'd
heard of Jesus. Didn't Simon say that? You've
heard of him. A man approved of God by miracles
and signs and wonders. You've seen Him. You've heard
of Him. Everybody heard of Him. They were impressed with Him.
Our Lord asked them, what do you think of... What do men think
of Me? They say, you're a prophet. You're
a healer. You're a good man. You're a friend.
You're a friend of people. Our Lord turned to who did you
say today? Simon Peter. All of them. To a man. All that
knew him. Believed in all that he chose,
all that he came to, all that he revealed himself to. They
said, Thou art the Christ. What does that mean? The propitiation,
the bloody sacrifice, the mediator, the covenant head, the only one
that God will accept. It's not, will you accept Jesus?
It's, will God accept him? That's not the question. Will
you accept Jesus? God doesn't ask anybody that.
That's not in the Bible. If that's the one you accepted,
if that's the one you heard years ago, if that's what happened
to you, you accepted Jesus, you're yet in your sin. You're lost.
You haven't heard the truth. These people heard the truth
as it is in Jesus. Who is He? He's not just a man
to accept or reject. He's a Lord seated on a throne.
And you're the one that needs to be accepted or rejected. And
it ain't up to you. It's up to Him. And He might. And all that Peter did say was,
Call. Not on Jesus. In the name of
the Lord. Fear. These people were struck
with fear. This one that we rejected, this
one that we thought was ours to do with as we plead, this
one that we could take Him or leave Him, He's the one that
can take us or leave us. He doesn't have to hear us. I sure hope He will. Every one
of them, to a man, to a woman, to a young person thought, we
didn't know this Jesus. We didn't know who He was. Now
we do. Now we do. But what are we going
to do? You see that? Look at verse...
What happens when God saves a sinner? Well, the gospel is preached.
And the gospel is a person. The gospel starts with a sovereign
God. Look at verse 23. Him, Christ, that is, being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You cannot
preach the truth if you don't preach a sovereign God. It starts
with a sovereign God. The whole thing of salvation
started with God's will, God's purpose, for whom he did foreknow,
he did predestinate. And whom he did predestinate,
he called by the gospel. And whom he called, he justified. Why? Because they believed that
gospel. Because he gave them that faith. And whom he justified,
he glorified. Sounds like he did it all, didn't
he? He did. Salvation is of the Lord. The
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. God doesn't have a plan. That's words not in the Bible.
God has a plan. You and I make plans, OK? We
hope they are fulfilled. God has a purpose. God has a
determinate counsel. God has a covenant that he made
before the world began. God made a covenant with his
son and with the Holy Spirit before there was a human being,
before there was an earth. Right? That's what this book's
in. All right, I'll show you that. First Timothy, chapter
two. First Timothy, chapter two. Go
over there. This is the verse of Scripture.
This is the truth that tore old Donny Bell's world up. Donny
Bell was a Pentecostal preacher. I mean, a chandelier swinging,
pew jump hopping, tongue talking preacher, Donny Bell. But God
sent him a preacher named Henry Mahan, tore him up. Just tore his world up. Made
him realize, I don't even know God. Made him reject every message
he's ever preached. Reject all his experiences. This
is it. This is what God used. Right
here. He'll tell you. 2 Timothy 1, verse 8 says, Don't,
to Timothy, Paul is writing, don't be ashamed. Be thou not
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of
me, his prisoner. You see, brethren, we're preaching
something the world doesn't preach. The world doesn't believe. Religion
doesn't believe this. Religion doesn't preach this.
Preachers, there's... I don't know of another preacher
in Franklin County this morning that's standing up preaching
what I'm preaching. I've been here 30 years. I've listened
to them. Do you? Somebody tell me. He said, don't be ashamed of
this. Read verse 8 now. Be a partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. You see, the gospel
is the power of God and salvation. Not the preacher's ability to
win souls. Not the preacher's eloquence
or power to convince people and bring, it's God's power, it's
God's prerogative, it's God's will, it's God's choice. Read
on. God who hath saved us. Who saved who? God does the saving. Not you and God. God's done all
he can do, now it's up to you. No, God hath saved us. Read on. And called us. Brenton, I can't preach without getting
excited. I'm sorry. If Donnie were here
right now, boy, he'd be real excited to tell you this story.
But this is my story. I wasn't calling on God when
I first heard His voice, when I first heard the preacher for
the first time ever. It's my dad. It's just my dad.
I told you my story. It's just my dad. It's just my
dad. It's just my dad. But one day, He called me. I thought I was the only one
there. Talking to me. Salvation of the
Lord. He saved us. He called us. Read
on. Verse 9. With a holy calling.
A heavenly calling. A high calling it's called. Not
according to our works. Well, he's a good little boy.
I think I'll save him. No! God doesn't save good little
boys. He saves sinners. Sinners. No good, rotten, prodigal
sinners, buddy. They're going to give him all
the glory. Like Solitarsis. I hated God. I hated Christ.
I hated the truth. Solitarsis. He said, I love free
will. I love my choice. I love my ability. I love my
power. I hated all this talk about a sovereign Jesus Christ.
I hated that. Thank God He loved me. Thank
God He chose me. Thank God He called me. Solitarsis
would tell you that. Thank God He called me. I wasn't
calling on Him. I hated this way. Now I love it. It's the way he
saved me. He called me, read on, verse
9, according to his own purpose and grace. Oh, his own purpose and grace. God does all things on purpose. He wrote a book before the world
began. and put every single name in it. It's called the Lamb's
Book of Life. Put every single name of every single person He
chose and purposed to save before the world began. And brethren,
He sealed that book, and it's not going to be opened until
the last day. And there's not one person coming out of it,
and not one person being put into it. But every single one
He purposed to save before the world began. You say, I don't
like that. Then you must not be in it. Either that or I hope you'll
like it after this message, don't you? Because that's the truth,
is it not? He purposed. Now, I don't like
that. I do. Boy, do I ever. If he hadn't purposed to save
me, I wouldn't come. I wouldn't be here. I might be
dead. Man, I ain't preaching doctrine here.
We're preaching the glory of God. The mercy of God. Was this how you were saved?
Huh? This is how every person at Pentecost
was saved. Every single one of them. This
is how Saul was saved. Mary Magdalene. Thief on the cross. That's the
thief on the cross. Everybody's saved just like the
thief on the cross. Yes, they are. He rejected Christ. He rejected
Christ. They had chosen him. To do what? To see his son. To hear his voice. And he said, I'm going to hell
right now if you don't remember me. If you don't have mercy on
me. That blood you're shedding right
now, let it be the propitiation for my sinful soul. Right now.
Please, Lord. Would you remember me? Lord said,
I will. I have. I will. In fact, I purpose to save you
for the world. Or it wouldn't have happened. How about you? What happens when
God, how God saves people, and what happens? They hear the gospel
preached. Every one of these persons, people at Pentecost
heard Christ high and lifted up. He said, you men are brethren. Verse 33. Listen, being by the
right hand of God, exalted, having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost. He's the one. He shed forth this
which you hear. David's not in the heavens, but
the Lord said unto my Lord Christ, 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 crucified, both Lord and Christ. David didn't say,
won't you make Jesus Lord? Did he? I mean, Simon, he didn't
say that, did he? Who did make him Lord? God did. He preached Christ highly, preached
a sovereign God on a throne that sent his Son down here to be
a propitiation, a bloody sacrifice, a sin offering for his people.
And Christ came and did that according to the eternal purpose
for knowledge of God to predetermine The predetermined counsel of
God, they took and we reject Him too. The God who is rich in love and
mercy and grace chose a people, some of these God-haters, some
of these Christ-haters, and in time, He sends the gospel like
Simon Peter was preaching to these people. None of these people
deserve to hear this message. They killed the Christ. They
rejected the Christ. They were saved and sure for heaven if
they were already there, but they were going to hell. But
God. Three thousand, imagine that. And every one of them, to a man,
heard of this Christ that had been crucified, that they hated
and they rejected, not accepted, hated and rejected this true
Christ. And Peter went on to say, but
God made his soul an offering for sin, and so God put him through
hell on Calvary's tree, a substitute for sinners. And God, His soul
was made an offering for sin and it buried Him. The soul that
sins must surely die. Christ was made sin. He died. But proof that God accepted what
He had done, that He's not just a man. God raised Him from the
dead. Accepted. Accepted. Accepted the offering. Accepted
the sacrifice. Accepted the atonement. Like
the high priest who went into the Holy of Holies. with veils
and pomegranates. And the veil was closed there. And he's within there making
an offering, making a blood atonement on the mercy seat. Is God accepting
this for us worthless Israelites? Is He? How do we know? How do
we know God's not angry? How do we know He's not through
with us? That high priest came out of that veil with a smile
on his face. Accepted. Why? Blood. Mercy seat. When Christ was hanging
on the tree, the veil of the temple was written to him. The
way into the Holy of Holies, made clear. The blood of Jesus
Christ. I'm not asking anybody to accept
it. I'm just preaching it. Then Christ died, buried. Scripture
says, took the sins of his people with him and separated them from
them as far as the east is from the west. And then God would
not leave his soul in hell. This is what Simon prays. raised
him from the grave, accepted, set him at the right hand of
the majesty on high, and there he sits, waiting till it's all
over, till every single soul for whom he died, whom God chose,
whom the Holy Spirit sent, whom he sends the Holy Spirit to,
to preach this gospel, this gospel, this gospel. They're all going
to hear it. And they all will believe. What?
God's on the throne? I need to be in hell. But Christ
died. He's my only hope. What shall
we do? Every one of us. What are we
going to do? And here's what Simon Peter said. Look at verse
38. Repents. You know, they actually
already had. They actually already had. They're pricked in the heart.
Repents. What does repent mean? It means
turn. Everyone of them religious, turn
from that. It's all wrong. Turn from that
false profession you made. Turn from that experience you
used to have. Turn from that. Turn from that
sin, from the world. Turn from it. Turn. Repent means godless sorrow. I've rejected God. I've rejected
Christ. I've rejected the truth. I thought
I was somebody. I thought God needed me. I thought
God was pleased. I was all wrong. I'm wrong. Everything
about me is wrong. That's repentance. Everything
about me is wrong. I don't know anything. I can't do anything.
I don't have anything. I have no goodness. I have no
righteousness. I have no nothing. I'm a nobody.
I'm a nothing from nowhere. God says, that's repentance. No, the church is not a place
where God needs you. It's a place where hell-deserving
sinners come because they need Him. Repent, Peter said, and
be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. Go together. What happened when people were
saved? What happens when anyone is saved?
Gospels preach. Sovereign God. Sovereign Son. Man's guilt. Risen in throne. Sovereign Lord on the throne.
And that person whom God chose hears that. They're convicted.
Their heart is broken over sin. They call on the name of the
Lord. Repents. And they confessed Christ. They confessed Christ in the
Lever's Baptism. Every one of them. Peter said,
every one of them. Every one of them. Now, if you
confess that other Jesus, you have not confessed Jesus Christ
as Christ. I had a man write me the other
day, and he was in real trouble. He said, I came up in Presbyterian
religion, and he said, I was baptized as a child, infant baptism. That's all wrong. It's all wrong. The man made that up, didn't
he? Our Lord's One says, go into all the world and preach the
gospel, and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Right? Infants can't believe
it came here. Alright, so this man wrote me
and said, He said, but now I've heard the truth. Dad, me, other
men. He said, I'm just wondering if
I should be re-baptized. I wrote him back and I said,
no, you won't be re-baptized because you've never been baptized.
Baptism is for believers. Believe the truth. Believe the
God of Scripture. This is life eternal that they
might know thee the only The true God and Jesus Christ whom
He sent. The truth about God. The truth
about us. The truth about Christ. He seemed so relieved. He said,
well, I'll gladly do it then. Gladly. And they gladly received
it. Look at verse 41. Then they that
gladly received His Word were baptized. Gladly received it. Put it mildly. Gladly. All of them. They were baptized.
You know, baptism is a funeral and a marriage. It's like a funeral
and a marriage. It's the death of us and the
union of us with Christ. A funeral is saying, I am crucified
with Christ. I deserve to die. Everything
about me deserves to be just put away forever, never be seen
again. Oh, but I want to rise to walk
in newness of life. I want to be with Christ now.
It's a marriage. Like when you fall in love with
somebody, you want the world to know. And so you go before
God and men and you make this profession of love for this person
that you now love and you're one with and you're union with.
You say, I want everybody to know that this is the person
that I love and want to be with. And they love me and I love them.
And that's baptism. This is the Christ. This is the
one. Listen, Ruth. This is what Ruth
said to Naomi. Remember what Ruth said to Naomi? What Ruth said to Naomi is what
every believer says to Christ. Ruth was in false religion with
her sister-in-law. Naomi, who knew the truth, and
you know she taught them both. And she said to Ruth, your sister's
gone back to her people and her gods. Go back with your sister-in-law. You can't do that. She said, entreat me not to leave
you. This is what every believer says.
Christ, Lord, I don't want to leave you. I don't want to return
from following after you. I've heard you before. What have
I to do with idols, Ephraim said? I've heard you. She said, I'll
go wherever you go. Where you lodge, I'll lodge.
Your people are my people. Your God is my God. That was
not my... That was my God before, but I
found out He's not God at all. Naomi, you're God's God. And
I believe that God. And your people are God's people.
Your church is my church. Your people are my people. Please don't... I don't want
to leave. He said, where you die, I'll die. Christ, I want
to be crucified with you, buried with you. Where you'll be buried,
I'll be buried. The Lord do to me, and more also, anything but
death, pardon me. I want to be found in you when
you come, Lord. Oh, and treat me not to leave. I'm not going anywhere. That's
what happened to these people, says in verse 42. They continued
steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship. I guarantee you,
one of them said to Simon Peter, would you preach that exact same
message you preached last week? Would you please? Simon said,
I've got many more messages where that came from. In fact, I can
turn anywhere in this Bible and it will be the same. Well, fine
then, preach it. Preach it. Steadfastly. We're not going anywhere. To
whom shall we go? Now going down here, they're
not preaching that. The apostles doctrine, teaching, fellowship.
I can't, you know, sinners can only have fellowship with sinners.
Right? I'm uncomfortable around law
people. Aren't you? I'm uncomfortable around self-righteous
people. Sinners. He said, they continued
steadfastly, the apostles, doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread,
the Lord's table. I'll never forget the first time
I was able to take the Lord's table. You know, it's for baptized
believers. I put the Scriptures. As many
as were baptized, gladly received the Word, were baptized, then
they start taking the Lord's table. You can't commune with
somebody you don't know. And that's what it is, communion.
Just a memory of Him. You can't remember somebody you
don't know. You can't rejoice in sins forgiven if you're not
a sinner. I'll never forget. I always wanted to take part
in that. I saw people taking part in it. And I knew that I
didn't really believe yet. Then when the Lord dealt with
it, I believed. I was so glad. And I remember
hearing, we're going to take the Lord's table. Good! I get
to do it! It wasn't a show. It was just fellowship. Isn't
this wonderful? And there may have been people
that have been doing it for years and grown a little bit lethargic
to it, a little careless to it. Not me, buddy. I was so happy. Oh, I get to partake of this. Read on, it says, in breaking
of bread and prayers. Prayers. I've never prayed before. I've been praying ever since. I've been praying ever since.
Haven't you? Not like you want to, not like
you ought to, but you have. There was a time I did not pray
at all. But God. Read on in fear. Fear? You want me to tell you
what the difference is between people where the gospel is being
preached and people that believe the truth? One word? Let me give you a small one word.
It'll tell you the difference between false religion and true
religion? Fear. Fear. And all that I see around
me and hear around me, what people are saying about God, about Jesus,
and about man, and what man must do, and how God loves a hell-deserving
sinner, tells me there's no fear of God. They wouldn't tell people
that hate God that God loves them if they feared Him. They
wouldn't have His name on their bumper if they feared Him. No
fear. Buddy, when God saves you, you
fear. There is forgiveness with thee,
that thou mayest be feared. Wonders and signs. What about
these wonders and signs? You've seen them? Haven't you? You've seen them? The blind see. The deaf hear. That's that there? There they are. Right there's
one. Death. Death done. One day, I hear. Singing praises. Oh yeah. And they continued.
Verse 46. They continued daily with one
accord and a tip. They couldn't get enough of this.
Well, you're here on Wednesday night. This is not the Lord's
Day. No, but I hear you're going to
preach that gospel again. Yeah, I are. Well, good. I've
got to be there. Why? Christ is their life. Christ is their life. It's a
new creature. With gladness, verse 46, singlets
of heart praising God. Having favor with all the people.
Favor. Oh, my. Don't we appreciate and love
one another? Is there one single person in
this room that we can do without? Not me. God can. Not me. I don't want to do without an
empty. And the Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved. Who did it? Who did the saving? How did he
do it? Did anybody do anything? Did Simon ask you about it that
time? No, he didn't. He just preached Christ. And
3,000 souls. In a moment, the twinkling of an
eye, we're changed. Become Christ-lovers. Christ-worshippers. Huh? Is that how you were set? Everybody in here knows that's
how you were set. No it wasn't. Okay, Brother John,
you come later. Alright, let's all stand and
turn to number 449. 449.