It's truly a joy for me to be
here. I consider it such a privilege. I was thinking on some things that
happened, statements that's been made. a while ago as she prayed, talking
about an oasis, being able to come and to worship. What a joy. I spoke just a moment ago and told
Brother Paul, I said, the thing I hate, I can somewhat
relate for what a joy it is to be able to come. But I see so
dimly. I just, I know how thankful I
ought to be, how appreciative I ought to be
that I can Truly, there's not a person in
here, some more than others, realize it. I know that. But
there's not a person in here that truthfully would admit,
I'm as thankful as I ought to be. I'm as appreciative as I
can be. Because we're not. Well, I'm
thankful. I'm thankful for this place. Turn with me to the book of Acts,
chapter 3. I spoke out of this passage there in Franklin. For those of you that are here
from there, I'll say to you, I certainly didn't exhaust it
the first time, and I won't this time. You bet that. Let the Lord be pleased to bless
this to our heart. The scripture says, Now Peter
and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer,
being the ninth hour. And a certain man, lame from
his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate
of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them
that entered into the temple, who, seeing Peter and John about
to go into the temple, asked an alms. And Peter, fastening
his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave
heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold
have I none. but such as I have, if I be in
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.' And he took
him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet
and ankle bones received strength." I'm convinced a believer read a passage of Scripture like
that, and they immediately begin to see. They see something more than
that which is generally obvious only to the natural eye. Men are Taken up, I'm talking
about self-righteous religious men and women, taken up today
with miracles and signs and wonders, striving after. I heard someone
say one day that there was going to be a healing service over
in some city over there, you know, going. And I thought, how
do you know? How do you know? How do you know? The events that are described
in this passage reveal blessings that are so easily and generally
overlooked. The first one I thought about,
Peter and John went up together into the temple, the hour of
prayer being the ninth hour, there was a lame man, a certain
lame man, who was carried daily to this certain spot. And I thought, what a blessing it
was to this man that God had ordained that there would be
public worship. How many sitting here today that
can think back how Almighty God has ordained? He ordained. What a blessing it was. The Lord
used His means. I'm going to say something about
that in a minute, but what a blessing that He's ordained public worship. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together, as the manner of some is. It's a blessing that
you can be here today. It's a blessing that Almighty
God would give a man or woman a heart. What a blessing! Oh, my! I was thinking about
what you said this morning. I think back. Oh, my! How easily. I just thought, I
don't want to go there. I don't have a heart for that.
Why should I go? Oh, I'll go to, you know, maybe
to please my mama. I don't want to hurt her feelings. I'll get it over with. But to think how God would ordain. What a blessing for this lame
man that the Lord ordained, and that these two men had been given
a heart to want to come. May we from the heart give thanks. And by the grace
of God, we have the privilege to attend where the gospel is
preached in so few places. Truly idiotic, Bob, I'm no racist. I think to myself, it's like
a breath of fresh air just to be here, just like a drink of
cold water. Be able to just drink and just
be thankful. Faithful men that God has raised
up and put them in places where the gospel is preached. Where the Lord Jesus Christ is
honored. And where needy sinners, those
made to hold their need of Him, God crosses them, cross paths with the Master. Men, just earthen vessels, but
Almighty God give them a heart after Him. Preach, set forth
that gospel. And those men This is the characteristic
of those that I've had the privilege to sit on and listen to over
and over. The more I hear what these men
say, the more I behold them speaking
of Him. When it comes to themselves,
they're just embarrassed. where two or three gather together
in my name, I am in the midst of them." Think, what a privilege. Folks
making claim all over this country, we're meeting together in his
name, you know, we're doing this. But there's no truth. They that
worship him, worship him in spirit and truth, and where you find
not the truth, the truth of the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ
set forth, as He has set forth in His scriptures. What say the
scriptures? That's the bottom line. He's not set forth in scripture,
as He's revealed in scripture, in truth. There's no gospel there. They're not meeting together
in His name. Where two or three are gathered in my name, This is where God has ordained
that he's going to meet with his people in Rocky Mountain,
Virginia, right here. If you're going to hear from
God, it's going to be right here. Oh, the kindness of these
two men. That's another blessing. I remember it. I made this statement.
I remember Brother Scott Richardson. You know, most of you know Brother
Scott. He's got such a way of saying
things. I can't even say it the way he
says it. He says it. He was talking one day about
a beggar. He got to talking about it. He said, what if a beggar came
up to your house? You looked out the front window
and you saw him. He's just dirty and he's just
standing there. You think about maybe if I just
don't answer the door. Maybe he'll go away. And finally,
he just keeps knocking. I just, you know, you'd have
to open the door. And he's standing there and he
wanted to ask you, you know, do you have anything to eat?
And you'd think, well, if you'll stand right there, let me go
see if I can find something. He said, but what if he wanted
a glass of water? And you had to get one of your
glasses, you know, and let him drink out of it. He said, or
worse than that, what if he ask you if he could just come inside,
want to sit down on your, you know, your sofa or something. Or he said, what if he wanted
to go to your restaurant? You think, oh, I just, it'd be
so easy. Just look the other way. I'd rather, I'd rather you go
next door if you don't mind. You know, why did you have to
come here? We just, we are so prone to, you know, things that
just don't appeal to us. Here's this lame man. I don't
know exactly what he looked like. I can imagine somewhat. Just an old, lame beggar. I don't know how long it had
been since he'd had a bath. I'm sure he wasn't cleaned up,
you know. He was just glad to be there. Consider the graciousness of
these two men, made gracious. Those that the Lord has been
gracious to and shown some mercy to, that is a characteristic
of a new heart. God's people are gracious. They could have looked the other
way, but as the Lord has shown mercy to us, let us be merciful. Colossians 3.12, put on therefore
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowers of mercy, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, and longsuffering." These men
were gracious men. What a blessing to this beggar. But of all the observations,
of all the things that we might see in this passage, If we fail
to see the gospel of free and sovereign
grace, if we fail to see this passage of Scripture, how God
saves a sinner, then we've missed it. We've missed it. If all that this man received
that day was having his legs and ankles
strengthened, That's all that happened. And this man is, at this moment,
most miserable. Because if Almighty God did not do something for this
sinner, give him a heart, a new heart. If all that men receive in this
life is just being healed, I heard I'll pass it to you to
talk about it. Brother Henry Mahan made this
statement. He said, Folks, you've taken
up today with being healed. He said, But one of these days,
he said, God's not going to heal them the last time. Pointed unto
men wants to die. And one of these days, all men,
all women, bless the Lord, and receives them unto himself, and
they're caught up that, by and large, we're all going to die. And if that's the only thing
that we've received in this life, we're miserable people. We're
going to be hopelessly lost. This lame beggar, he truly was
healed physically. There's no doubt about that. healings during this time, and
I'm not going to deal with this issue, but you know this. Mark
16, 20 says that these healings, these signs, that these apostles
had been given the ability by Almighty God to confirm not only
that they were of God, but confirmed the message itself, confirmed
the message and the messengers, that they were of God. But the
miracle itself set forth the miracle of the gospel. Men's
ears were opened, saying that men by nature do not hear They
don't hear the gospel. Mouths were open, saying that
men by nature do not speak honorably, consistently. Legs were healed,
meaning men do not walk before Almighty God aright. The dead
were raised. We all are dead in trespasses
and sin. These miracles set forth more
than just a physical healing. Well, in these verses that we
just read, there's four things that I just want to see set forth. Just a minute. Four indisputable
lessons concerning God's salvation, God's sovereign, saving grace. Number one, all men by nature
are spiritually impotent. This was a certain man, the Scripture
says, laying from his mother's womb, defective from birth. His problem was from birth. Sin is that incurable disease
of our heart. All men were conceived in sin. We come forth from our mother's
womb, speaking lies. Men do not believe that. They hear that and think about
how many times I've heard that passage of Scripture. I didn't.
I say I believe it. I said I did. We're dead, but
I still believed. Well, I may be dead, but whatever
that means, but I still have the ability. I still have a free
will, which means I still have a right, you know. I've shared this with a few of
you. I know I've called it for once. I had someone ask me one
day, talking about this thing of sovereign, free grace. They told me that man's got a
free will. He's got the right to choose. And my question was this. Then
who has, if the Lord God Almighty has done everything he can do?
He's done everything He can do. He went to the cross and made
salvation possible. Who's got the last, final, indisputable
word? Who's got the last word then?
If God's done all He can do, man's got a free will, and now
it's up to man. Who's got the last word? They
said, man. If the Lord doesn't deliver you
from that thought, you'll perish. You will perish. Man by nature,
this man is a picture of all men, all women, by nature, laying
for my mother's womb. Cannot walk, cannot help herself,
cannot get up, cannot come to Christ. cannot, no man can come. Man's heart is deceitful, above
all things deceitful, lying. Man is totally depraved. He cannot come and he will not
come. The Lord Jesus Christ in John
5.40, ye will not come to me. that you might have life. And
in John 6, verse 44, no man can come to me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him by power, his power. No man can come, no man will
come. If this man could get up, he
would have gotten up. Men cannot and they will not. How then can a man come if his
heart is dead? How can? You've heard this so many times.
You take someone and they're dead. They're dead. They're in a casket. They're dead. If you were to
come up to them and speak to them and say, Get up. You've got the ability
to. I know you've got the free will
to do it. Do it. Just do it. You're thinking. You say, that's ridiculous. Why won't they get up? You say,
well, they're dead. Do you think they have a will
to do so? They don't have a will. They
don't have a will to do that. They can't come, and they won't
come. Why? Because they're dead. I'm telling
you, that corpse right there will get up before a man dead
in his trespasses and sins will come to Christ. It would be more possible. Psalm 65. Turn with me. Psalm 65, 4. How then? Here's a man lame from his mother's
womb, cannot get up, carried there every day. How can? Psalm 65, 4. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest. and causeth to approach unto
thee, that he may dwell in thy courts, we shall be satisfied
with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Blessed is the man that God chooses." God's grace is selective. Blessed is the
man, blessed is the woman that God chooses. He has the right
to do what he will with his own. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. That's what he told Moses. I have the right to make one
vessel under honor and another vessel under dishonor. Nebuchadnezzar
said he does as he will in the armies of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and no man stays his hand or questions
him. This was a certain man, a certain,
there was a certain man. You think about that and you
I thought about that this morning. I was thinking about that word,
certain. If I were to tell you, I'm going
over in town here, there's a certain person that I've got to see. The lady's going to go, and I
was over at the dress shop the other day, you're saying, and
there was a certain dress that I saw. Now, what are you thinking? You're thinking, are you just
generally speaking, you just, you know, there was a certain
dress, you want to send me to go get it? There was a certain
dress, Marvin, that I want you to, you go over there and there's
a, there's a certain person I want you to go pick up. Well, I'll
just drive over to him first person I see, I'll just pick
him up. What's that word certain? What does it insinuate? What
does it tell you? certain, selective. There was a certain man. I do not doubt that there were
many in the same condition that he was in at that temple. But God had purposed, determined,
that he was going to be gracious to this certain man. Just a moment. May God grant
us thought. Realize, oh, how thankful that
He'd be merciful to this certain man. Just removes, oh, that arrogant
pride of thinking Well, it was me. I was the one that kind of
helped him out. You're not going to find a believer
speaking like that. Believers, I've said this many
times, I've thought about this. Believers, they talk like believers. They have an honorable speech
toward him. to themselves. Well, I'm just a sinner. Almighty God, I'm so thankful.
Just a certain man. Second Thessalonians. Turn with
me. This is people that refute. And I realize how easily carnal
my... Second Thessalonians 2. Look
at verses 13 and 14, 2 Thessalonians 2, 13-14. Paul says, But we are bound to
give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel to the attaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bound, we're bound to give thanks
for Him. God, from the beginning, chose
you to salvation. Through sanctification of the
Spirit, belief in the truth, bound, just a certain man, just speaking,
helpless beggar, sitting there. That's a picture of all that
Almighty God, by His good providence, His choice, His will, chose. Unsalvaged. Paul said, we're
bound to give thanks for Secondly, I see how God's providence
overrules even in our ignorance. Boy, there's something we ought
to be thankful for, how ignorant we really are. We think ourselves to be so wise
and so cunning and so able. We absolutely We have no idea. We've got that
breath we just took. What's going to happen? Someone
in this room is closer to leaving this world than anybody else. Who is it? I don't know. I'm thinking to myself right
now, this may be the last time that
I ever meet, I don't know, one of my kids maybe. rules about his providence, this
old beggar in a place that, in his thinking, is probably about
the best place for me to be. I'm going to go to a church.
I'm going to show up at a church. I've got some neighbors there
in Franklin who made a statement one time to me. He said, you
know, well, we're thinking about it. We're going to be doing church
here. His friends probably thought,
most advantageous place of religion. Brought him to this gate, a gate
called Beautiful. Set him down there. If anybody's
going to be nice to him, it'll be religious people. You know,
religious people. You know, self-righteous religious
people. meanest people this world's ever
seen. Self-righteous religious. They're
mean. They're mean. That's the way we are all by
nature. We're just mean. We want what
we want. Are you not like that? I am. They say, oh, surely not. Yeah, I am. Yes, I am. That's
my children. I tell you. laying daily at that beautiful gate. I see in that beautiful gate,
that beautiful temple that was there, a place of just religion,
self-righteous. It's a mockery. It's a mockery
to men's souls. Men stand in pulpits They have one purpose. They want
to just tickle somebody's ears, make a name for themselves. Scripture
says they're making merchandise. That's all they're doing. They don't buy clothes and sell
clothes. They're just buying and selling
men's souls. That's what they're doing. Beautiful! The Jewish historian Josephus
said that this particular gate was made of Corinthian gold or
brass, and the walls of this temple were white polished marble, but there was nothing there.
The place where they used to have those sacrifices wasn't there. The veil had been
ripped. Christ had been crucified. God's
Lamb had been slain. There was nothing there. It was
ritual. Peter and John had come that
day, not to attend the offering of sacrifice, but they were there
to preach the gospel. They had been given a command
by their Lord, Go in all the world and preach the gospel. I thought about that this morning.
radio broadcast that's provided by this church. That's your broadcast. And your pastor and I were talking
about this and said, you know, by and large, I know that someone
says, well, have you ever seen any, have you seen any results? That's what they'll ask you,
you know. Seen any fruit? Do you know that's not the issue?
The issue is, going to all the world to preach the gospel. Obedience
to him, that's the issue. Whether or not anyone ever comes,
whether or not anyone showed up and said, Oh, I heard that
radio broadcast and, boy, I tell you, it just thrilled my heart.
Just throngs of people are coming to preach the gospel, and that's
enough. These men were coming to preach
the gospel to this place. That temple, that gate, is just
a sad picture of modern religion. Self-righteous religion, it impresses
the flesh. It looks like influence. It's like talent. It's like wealth. like blessing, entertainment. It was just a form of godliness. No power, no gospel, no grace,
no Christ, no life. He was sitting there in a place
that, in his mind, this would be the place to be. Anybody that's
going to give me any help right here is where it's going to be.
I'm going to sit right here. Oh, how gracious. Lord is, not
to leave us in ignorance. By and large, and I believe most
of you will agree, those of you that know him, did not Almighty
God take us out of religion, save us out of religion? Religion. That epitome of death is cloaked
in Thirdly, God uses means to call
out His elect. He has chosen to call His people
out, save His people, by the hearing of the word of God, the
gospel. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
it, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. not methods and stuff and programs. Had a lady, she and her husband
had been coming for three or four months now. And she made
a statement to me that I had to really, I knew it, I guess
I knew it, but she made a statement after about the second or third
time that she came. This is what she said. She said,
you know what amazes me about this place? She said, every time
you have stood, you have taken the Bible and you've spoken out
of the scriptures. And my question was, where, what do y'all do? Where
do you go? And her answer was this, surveys,
statistics, and articles that people wrote. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. The gospel. That is the power
of God unto salvation. God has chosen to use means. Preachers. urban vessels, those
of you that stand and preach consistently, consistently, that
have no, in your mind, no honor to yourself, embarrassed in yourself. But that message, it's His message,
it's the gospel, it's the word of life. all things in providence that
the objects of his mercy will cross paths with that gospel. They will. They're going to be at a place
where they're going to hear. He's going to cause his people
to cross paths by his direction. This certain man, lain from his
mother's womb, was laid at a certain gate. Well, they just happened
to pick that spot. No, they didn't. Almighty God directed that that
man was going to be right there at that moment, and two servants
were going to walk up that he had given a heart to want to
be obedient, and God's people are. They're willing, made willing
in the day of his power. They came up there to preach
the gospel, and they crossed paths with this old lame beggar. Oh, how beautiful are the feet! Them that bring good tidings,
great joy, preach the gospel. Aren't you thankful? For those
that you've heard the gospel, I am. Almighty God would give
a man a heart to preach the gospel that he'd give me a heart, move
that heart of stone and give me a heart to want to hear, make
me willing in the day of his power. These two servants were at this
spot by divine constraint. This man asked them, asked them
for alms. Peter and John, about to go into
the temple, heard this man asking Peter, fastening his eyes upon
him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them,
expecting to receive something of them. Wanted something just right now.
Got a little money, got a little something to eat, spare dime. Look on us. Here's a picture of true conversion. He looked at him and he said,
Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee
in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. He didn't ask that fellow to
raise his hand, sign a pledge card, walk down to the front. That wouldn't have been a mockery.
You just come down here to the front, pray this sinner's prayer. This man lame. Can't get up. Helpless. Look on us. When Almighty God
is pleased to call out his people. He does so. My sheep hear my voice, and they
come. Think about that when he walked
past Matthew. Matthew, that publican, you know,
that you know they hated him, that turncoat, that traitor. Here's a Jew, you know, on Romans,
you know, working for the Romans, you know, collecting taxes, you
know, kind of kicking himself in a little bit there, too. Sitting
there at the receipt of customs, just, you know, and the Lord
walked by him and what did he say? Follow me. What did you do when he in power
said, follow me? You know what you did? That's
exactly it. Irresistible grace. My sheep
come. They follow me. I call them out.
They hear my voice. I call them by name. And they come. And those that come,
I will in no wise cast them out. Father, praying not for the world, those
that you gave me out of the world. Thine they were, thou gavest
them me. I kept them." No appeal to that beggar's free
will, no pleading, but command. That's the way God saves sinners.
He commands them, and they come. That's what God does to His people,
to cause them to have a willingness to hear that gospel. They want
to hear it. And they hear it like they've
never heard it before. I'm not telling you anything
that your pastor hadn't preached before, told you the same thing. And it's the most amazing thing. Every time you hear it, it's
like, you know, I don't know if I heard it like that last
time. I think to myself, I was a few weeks ago, had the privilege
to be in Ashland, go to that Bible school. I've heard, you
know, they have it and have it this year. By God's grace, I
was able to go. And I listened to, I think I
heard, I think I heard about 20 messages that week. And I'm
telling you, if you were to ask me, well, how many different
messages were there? None. They all preached the same
thing, every one of them. Took different passages, preached
out of different passages, and every one of them said the same
thing. Like old brother Tim James said,
it's a strange thing. Men will hear the same message
over and over and over, and they hear it like they've never heard
it before. I think that's... Gave heed to them. And with that
command went the power to accomplish. Turn with me to Ezekiel 11. Look
on us. Silver and gold have I none but
such as I have. Give I thee in the name of Jesus
of Nazareth. Rise up. Ezekiel 11, verse 19
and 20. Why do men, why, why do they
come? Here it is, right here. And I
will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within
you, and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and
give them in heart a flesh that they may walk. I read that the
other day, and I thought, you know what? God's people have
got the privilege. They may. Privileged to walk. in my statutes, and keep mine
ordinances, and do them, and they shall be my people, and
I will be their God." I'm His and He's mine. My God. He's not just, well, there's a God, I would
imagine. This is the attitude of God's
people. He's my God. He's my hope. He's my Redeemer. You want to talk about some a
comforting thought that when he died, he was dying with me
on his heart, thinking only with my guilt imputed to him, charged
to him. He was made to be sinned for
me, that he wasn't just dying as a martyr or an example of
something, he was dying as a substitute. He died with my guilt, he put
away my sin. And the righteousness by which
I would stand before his law is his righteousness, not by
works of righteousness that I've done. According to his mercy,
he saved me. The gospel of Christ always accomplishes
its purpose. This is a blessed man. Almighty
God ordered this man to be sitting in that spot. These two preachers
walk up. Almighty God, give them a heart.
Speak to this man. Give this man a heart. Listen
to what they say. They spoke to him, and the Spirit
of God made that word effectual to that man. rise up and walk. That's how God saves sinners.
That's how he calls out his people. Man stands up and preaches the
gospel, and in due season, in time, the Spirit of God takes that
message and he says to that elect sinner, you come, you come. And they hear. And they come. They want to come. God's people
are made willing in the day of His power. Not one of God's sheep
ever come. I mean, you have to. You've heard
people say, well, you're just God making robots out of men.
They're just doing things against their will. No, they're not.
He gives them a will to come to Him. But before they had no
will to come, I will not come to Him. I will not have that
man rule over me. You give them a heart after Him,
and they come. And this gospel gives honor unto
Almighty God for saving a sinner by Christ. In the name of Jesus
of Nazareth, rise up and walk. This is how God saves sinners.
by purpose, saves them by grace, saves them in his mercy. He does
save them, and he makes them willing to come. Sing number 441. I hope this
is a good hymn to sing. It goes with that message. Love lifted me. Number 441. Stand
with me. 441. I was sinking deep in sin, far
from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained with sin, sinking
to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard my despairing
cry. From the waters lifted me, now
safe am I. Lord lifted me, Lord lifted me. When thou didst put me to death,
Lord lifted me, Lord lifted me. I'm going to sing the last verse. Why don't you change your words?
On the last line of the last verse, it says, He, the Master
of the sea, billows his will, obey. He, your Savior, changed
wants to be. Say that to died to be. He, your Savior, died to be.
If he did, you'll be saved today. In the chorus, we're going to
change the word love to Christ. We're going to say, Christ lifted
me. All right? The last verse. So. Rise with me. Rise with me. When no one else
could help, rise with me. Rise with me. Rise with me. When no one else could help, All right, here it is again.