You'll note that I entitled this
message, Bible Salvation. I think that's what's in the
book. I don't have one. Bible Salvation. Because there's so much going on today
that it's called salvation. And there's only one way. It's only
one way God saves people. It's only one true way. One kind of salvation. These
people here at Acts, we're saved the same way they were. The same
thing happens to all of God's people. It happened here at Acts. And religion today tries to recreate
what happened here. And they make up all sorts of
fantastic things happening today, you know. But don't make this
out to be more than what it was. Let me tell you what's going
on here. Tell you what happened. The apostles
were at Jerusalem for this religious feast called Pentecost. Our Lord told them to go there.
Do you remember? He said, you go to Jerusalem and I'm going
to send the Holy Spirit. Our Lord is building his church and it's
going to just have an amazing beginning because it's going
to have huge opposition you say. And Brother Ben, he's going to
just immediately save thousands. I mean, right like that. At one time. And send them out
throughout all the world. Until this thing just spreads
like wildfire. But not wildfire, but spreads.
Until this thing spreads all over the world. Well, the apostles
were at Jerusalem like the Lord told them to. He said, I'm going
to send my Holy Spirit. And people from all over the
world came to this particular feast at this particular time
of year. Jews, that is. You remember reading
that Jews from all over Egypt, all over the world, came to this
feast of Pentecost. And they heard, or at least they
heard noise. Where'd that fly go? They heard somebody say that
there's some fellas over here in one place. Something's happened. We don't know what's going on,
but they're speaking all different kinds of languages, and they heard them talking to
people in their own language, preaching to the wonderful works
of God, scriptures and so forth. All right? Until finally this
whole crowd gathered wherever they were. I think it was probably
an open-air place somewhere. All right, now Peter, here they
were, thousands of people gathered to these twelve men. And Peter got up. Peter's a spokesman. This is just one preacher, you
see. Not many voices, but one voice. That's the way God speaks. Not through a bunch of people
talking at the same time and talking a bunch of gibberish. These fellows weren't speaking
in an unknown tongue, because every one of these people heard
them in their own language. You understand? And all this
stuff going on today that's called tongues is false. They were speaking in languages
known by various people. so that these people could hear
the gospel. That's why. And Peter got up. He's the spokesman now. And how
they all heard him speak this in their language, God only knows. But they did. I don't know if
he said this 28 times in 28 languages. I don't know, but they all heard
him, Peter, what he had to say about him. And this is what they
heard. And every one God saves, they're
going to hear what Peter had to preach. All right, let's look
at it. Beginning with verse 22. Peter
stood up. He said, You men of Israel, hear
these words. Jesus of Nazareth. He says, Jesus of Nazareth, because
he's talking about a man. Yes, Jesus. Now, everybody knew
who Jesus of Nazareth was. This was the talk all over the
world at the time, that Jesus of Nazareth, who he was and what he said and
what happened to him, crucified. This was a conversation all over
the world. Jesus. And Peter stood up and the first
thing out of his mouth was, listen to this, Jesus of Nazareth. And they all, they knew who he
was talking about. He's a man, or he don't. He's a man approved of God by
miracles and wonders and signs. A man, yes, but approved of God. God never approved of any man. But God approved of this man.
We heard him out loud say from heaven, yes, God spoke from heaven
twice and said, this is my son. is a man approved of God, a man
justified by God, a man accepted by God, a man declared by God,
a man testified by God from heaven, a man declared to be the Son of
God by God Himself. Listen up now. Jesus of Nazareth
is a man approved of God. And it's obvious because of the
miracles and the signs and the wonders that he did. It's obvious
that he wasn't any mere man, because he healed lepers. I mean
lepers. He healed those that were born
blind. I don't mean cataracts. I don't
mean nearsighted. I mean blind. He healed those
that were born blind. He raised the dead. I don't mean
healed arthritis. I mean he raised the dead, four
days dead. It's obvious that this Jesus
of Nazareth is no mere man at all, but he's come from God. And I might add to that, it's
obvious to me that this Jesus being preached today is just
a man. All he can heal is arthritis
and bum knees. You follow me? But now this Jesus
of Nazareth is a man approved of God, evident by what he did.
You all know this, he said. Verse 22. He did all this in
the midst of you, as you yourselves know. Many of the persons that
were there listening to this had been there and watched Christ
do these things. All right, read on. Verse 23,
Peter said, Him. See who Peter's preaching? You
see what Peter's preaching? Person. You men of Israel, hear
these words. These are saving words. You men
of Franklin County, hear these words. You women, you young people. Hey, I'm talking to every one
of you. You hear these words. God's going to save you. You're
going to hear these words. Not with just your ears. You're going
to hear them with your heart. There's a man that walked this
planet named Jesus. Not just a man. He made you. It's evident that he's not just
a man, but what he did and what he said. Him. That's who we're
talking about this morning. Not just preaching doctrine here,
not just preaching another message, not just a Sunday morning sermon.
This is life. This is death. You listen up.
Him. This Jesus of Nazareth that came
here. Him. He was delivered. Him being delivered,
read on, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Peter's
saying, I know what, I know that the Jews delivered him. to the
Roman rulers. I know that the Pharisees delivered
him to the Roman rulers. I know that the Roman soldiers
took him. But he was delivered by God.
Him delivered by the determinant. That is, God, before the world
began, determined this. God Almighty determined all this.
It's not all happening by chance. Listen up. You men of Israel,
hear these words now. This man that came here, came
on purpose. God sent him on purpose. To accomplish
his purpose. And that purpose was to save
some folks. Now whether or not it's you,
I don't know. If it is, you're going to hear
what's said today, gladly. Like these people. If you're
one of his, you're going to hear these words. that God, before
the world began, delivered him, determined to deliver him, the foreknowledge of God, sent
him to this world. Verse 23, And you have taken,
and by wicked hands have crucified and flung. So here Peter is saying,
God Almighty is absolutely sovereign in all things. that God Almighty
determined and purposed this whole thing before the world
began, that this is not in man's hands, nothing is. God, by his
determinate will and foreknowledge and purpose, predestinated all
things, chiefly this thing of salvation that's in his Son. God has a particular people that
he sent his Son to this earth to particularly say, of the determinate
will of God, purpose of God. And now he's talking about their
guilt. You, with wicked hands, have taken and crucified the
Lord of Lord. How about us? I wasn't there. I didn't nail
those nails in his hand. Did you? How does this apply to us? Well, I'll tell you this. 18,
19, 20, 21 years that I didn't give a flip
about Jesus Christ. I lived 18, 19, 20, 21 years
where the only time I used God's name was in vain. I lived 18,
19, 20, 21 years where I didn't give God one word of thanks.
I might as well have killed him. Huh? Yeah, I killed him. This is what Paul said in Hebrews
when he said that those that have trodden underfoot the blood
of the Son of God and counted it an unworthy thing. That's
what that means. That's what Jeremiah meant when
he said, Tell me, O ye that pass by, is it nothing to you? That's what that means. Fall
asleep? Yeah, you killed him. You better hear these words.
Man of Israel, hear these words. You have been taken and crucified,
the Lord of glory. And if we're saved, it's going
to be by this one that we don't care anything about. It's going
to be by this one we're not interested in. If you're saved. Read on. Okay? Verse 24. He was crucified and slain, yes,
but he's not dead. He says God has raised him up. He's loosed the pangs of death.
It's not possible that he should be holding on. And he goes on
to quote, and I won't read this for sake of time. He quotes Psalm
16, in which it says that he won't leave his Holy One in hell
or allow him to suffer corruption. That is, he's not going to die. like mortal man dies, his body
is not going to rot. I'm going to raise him from the
grave. And that proves who he is. That proves that he's a son. He's declared to be the son of
God by the resurrection from the grave. This was no mere mortal
man. He walked out of that grave three
days after they killed him. Now, this was getting the attention
of these people. This was getting the attention
of those that heard him. This Jesus of Nazareth, you saw him
dead, you killed him, you see. You killed him. He's not dead. We saw him alive. He talked to
us. All of us here talked to him. He talked to us. And he's
seen of over 500 men at one time. He's not dead. He's alive. This is not mere doctrine here.
This is a person. It's not just a sermon on Sunday
morning. We're talking about somebody that we're breathing
because he says, breathe. He said, this is a person in
whose hands our breath is. And the rest of our days is determined
by his will. He's going to decide who we marry
or if we marry or how long we live or where we go or what we
have or what we don't have when we die. Him! You haven't carried a thing about.
Listen up. And Peter said in his message,
to sum it all up, he's sitting on the throne. Right now. Sitting
on the throne. Look at it. Verse 32. God hath raised up, whereof we
are all witnesses, verse 33, 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 that
you are now seeing and hearing." In other words, Peter is saying,
where all is going on here? He's doing it. You hear all these men speaking
different languages? They didn't go to school. They
didn't. Jesus Christ gave them this life. You see all this going on right
now. Jesus of Nazareth, yep, who was
dead but is not dead now, sitting right now at the right hand of
God Almighty, reigning and ruling over every human being that breathes
his air, and he's doing everything you're watching right now, everything
you're hearing right now. I mean, right now. Right now. 2001. Because he said,
my sheep hear my voice. And I don't know if it'd be in
here this morning, it'd just thrill me to death. But it'd
be somewhere. I know somewhere there's a sheep
going to hear his bullet right now. The Holy Spirit is going
to move, and that person who never heard the gospel before
is going to hear it, who never saw anything about this Christ,
about this gospel, about this business of worshiping God ever
before, maybe some 19, 20-year-old boy or girl, or 40, 50, 60-year-old
man who never gave a flip about God, right now is going to hear
from the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit is going to go, Believe. Yes, sir. He's doing it right
now. And it would just thrill me if
he'd do it right here. He said he's right now at the
right hand of God. And Peter brought up David. Everybody
knew who David was. All these Jews, they loved David.
They venerated David. They extolled and honored David. He said, in a word, Peter said,
people, David is dead. His bones are in the grave. But Jesus, no bones. He's controlling life itself. God, look at it. Verse 36, verse
34, David said this, The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right
hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Christ has got two
types of people everywhere in every congregation. Right now,
here this morning, friend or foe. Friend or foe. A lover and a
believer in Christ or an enemy. No middle of the ground. No middle
of the ground yet. Believers or unbelievers. Read
on. that foe is going to be his footstool,
and they'll let all the house of Israel know assuredly. Now
remember this, that God had made this same Jesus. Now, he's not knocking at anybody's
heart's door. Listen up now. Listen up now,
please. He's not knocking at anybody's
heart's door. He's not trying to get anybody to listen to him. He's not trying to save anybody.
He's not hoping you or me or anybody will make any decision.
No, sir. That's not Jesus of Nazareth.
But he is right now, sitting on the throne, reigning
and ruling over all things, and he's And our salvation will be when
we realize it and bow and submit and believe. And Christ, the
only way God will have anything to do with us human beings, is
through this man. Now that's it. That's it. That's the gospel. Did you hear those words? Now when they heard this. When they heard this. Look at
verse 37. They were pricked in their heart. They were pricked in their heart.
Heart. This thing of salvation is a
heart work. If there's any disadvantage to
growing up. Under the gospel. It's this. He got all the doctrine straight.
He believed the truth. But that's not salvation. Thank
God. We've known the scriptures from
a child, but that's it's things of heart. It's things when God
Almighty. brings the truth into the heart. The truth of who God is. The
truth of what we are. The truth of the matter is that
I really haven't carried anything by Christ. I really haven't. I really am unworthy. That's
the heart matter. They were pricked in their heart. And look at what they say. All of them said, men and brethren,
what shall we do? You see, these preachers, they
didn't make any altar call, did they? Huh? Did you hear Peter
make any altar call? Did you hear Peter Ask anybody
anything? Did you hear Peter say, now if
you'll just accept him as your Lord? Did you hear Peter say,
now if you'll come down front as a choir saint? Huh? Did you
hear Peter say, now God wants to save you. Did you hear Peter
say, ask anybody anything? Did you hear Peter tell anybody
to do anything? Did you hear Peter say, now Jesus
wants, let God, he's done it? Did you hear any of that? Nothing.
What did he do? Declared God on the throne. Declared
who Jesus Christ is. Declared our utter guilt before
him. Declared us in his sovereign hands to do with as he pleases,
and that's it. Now, he sat down. That's it. That's what preaching
is, brother Stan. Now, when they heard this, not
a plea, not a begging, not a nothing, Roger, when they heard who Christ
is, who God is, what they were, when they heard this, what happened? God did something. Not the preacher,
not the choir, not the soul. God did something. The Holy Spirit
began to move. The Holy Spirit. Convicting them
of sin. Telling them who God is. Convincing
them who God is. And what happened? Now, Peter
didn't tell anybody to do anything. But they did something. When God does something, when
God acts, there's a reaction. When God does it, this is the
reason I say, I hear this all the time, really, and I'm not
making fun or making light of or diminishing. When I hear talk about so-and-so's
interested or this person is seeking the Lord, I don't believe that. When God works, it's pretty quick
and it's pretty obvious. See, this gives people an excuse
to keep on at a convenient time or keep on just... It gives them
an excuse when we say that. You just need to sell it like
it. You're lost. They're lost. No,
they're not interested. So-and-so is really seeking the
Lord. Well, where were they Wednesday?
So-and-so is really seeking the Lord. Well, where were they Sunday?
Well, so-and-so was there. Well, he can't listen to three
messages straight. Come on. When they heard this, they said
something. They cried out. They cried out. What shall we do? But out of the abundance of the
hearts, the mouth speaketh. People come to me all the time
and talk to me on the phone about troubles and spiritual things
and all that, and I listen. I tell them what I can, but I
don't put much stock in it. You know, when I put stock in
what people are saying, That's when they get in that
pool right there. What shall we do? What shall we do? What do we
do? We believe what you're saying.
We believe who God is. We believe what we are. We're
guilty. We believe who Christ is right
now. We say He's our only hope. We're in his hands. What are
we going to do? What can we do? Would you tell me what to do?
Now, the preacher is telling us. You see, he's not doing the
begging. The people needing salvation
are doing the begging. Please, would you please tell
me what to do? Brother Henry, I believe Peter
got down off that pulpit and started walking off. He wasn't waiting around to see
what, no, no, no. I believe they're all packing
their bags and leaving. And the people laid hold, don't leave, what
are we going to do? Look at this. Here's what happened. Peter said, verse 38, repent
and be baptized. Who? Every one of you. in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sin. If you do that, the Holy Spirit
will come on you. You will receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit. Repent. What does this mean? Listen very carefully. Repentance
is to confess your guilt. That's what it is in a word. to God, not to me, not to somebody
else. It's between God and the sinner,
and they come to God and say, I'm guilty. Everything you say, I'm guilty.
Hell, have mercy on me. Repentance is to confess what
you are. Repentance is to confess your
unbelief. Lord, I haven't been interested. I want to be interested. Lord,
help. Repentance. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Ask for salvation. Baptism. What's
baptism? Repent and be baptized. Every
one of you. No exceptions. What's baptism? Well, baptism
is a public confession before all men of your belief in the
Lord Jesus Christ, of who Christ is. It's publicly saying, I believe,
I believe. Now listen very carefully and
see if this doesn't make sense to you, okay? You repent of the
fact that you lived 20, 30, 40, 50 years and didn't care about
God. You lived your whole life and
didn't care about God. But now, you get in that pool
and say, hey, Christ is my Lord now. When everybody sees it,
you see, does that make sense? That's why baptism, that's why
the Lord instituted baptism, because we live all our lives
acting like we don't even know God exists before all the world. And then when he actually reveals
himself to a person, they get in front of the whole world.
That's the only way, that's the way they do it. And they get
in a pool of water, and it's a humiliating thing. Another
man takes a person and just, this old rotten sinner needs
to be buried. He comes up, oh, he doesn't look
like much now, but he's all wet, all washed up. Yeah, in the blood. And now it's a new person. It's
symbolic. Nothing happens in that water.
It's just water. It happens before you get in
it. Baptism by fire and the heart
burning. What shall we do? Repent to God. Confess before man. You see? Public confession. Public confession. And then he
said, verse 39, now look at this, this is very important, the promise
is unto you and your children, all that are far off, as many
as the Lord our God shall call. As many as the Lord calls, they'll
do this, every one of them, without exception. There are no exceptions. The promise, peace, comfort,
assurance, faith for those who confess him. And let me just
say this, one more thing on this thing of baptism, because it's
so important, it really is. Don't expect a believer, a person,
well, who was it that said, why tarry a staff? Arise and be baptized.
What are you waiting on? Who said that? One of the apostles,
I forget who. Why I tell you is that the rise
will be back. Do you believe? Well, if Christ
said confess Him, that's it. And I can say this honestly,
don't expect any peace, joy, comfort if you don't confess
Him. It's a commitment. It's like a marriage, a vow. You can't expect any assurance
of His love if you don't confess it, your love for Him. Does that
make sense? There will be doubts and fears.
You understand? There will be doubts and fears
of the one you love until you make the commitment. And by you. And then you can have peace and
rest. It's the answer of a good conscience,
Peter said. You believe? Yes, I believe.
Show it. Show it. Before everybody. You tell everybody. I believe. I love Christ. Tell everybody.
How? You can't go on the radio. You
can't get in the booth. Oh, boy. Now read on. Verse 40,
and with many other words, he testifies in Jordan, saying,
Save yourselves from this untoward generation, but don't die with
the rest of this world. Don't die with them. Listen to
me. You men of Franklin County, women,
young people, don't die with the rest of this world. Don't
go down with the ship. Huh? Okay. Did you hear these
words? God help so-and-so to hear these
words. Don't. Why die? Why will you
die when the gospel is being preached to you every Sunday? Repeat. Be baptized. Verse 40. And many words he did. In verse
41, they that gladly received his word, What do they do? Where's water? They were baptized. When? The same day. You see what I'm talking about?
When the Lord moves, it's obvious. What do we do? Repent and be
baptized. They that gladly... We like what
you... No, not like. We love what you're
saying. We love this gospel. We love,
we believe who Christ is. We believe what we are. We believe
this is the word of the truth of the gospel. Fill that tub
up. I'm getting in it. I am too! I am too! I am too! I am too! Three thousand! Don't leave me! Did I hear something? Yeah, don't leave
me! Save the winner! I believe! Who is it? He's 12
years old. Doesn't matter. What a service this must have
been, huh? 3,000 souls. And look at
what happened to it, continuing on. They continued steadfastly
in apostles' doctrine and fellowship. What's that mean? Whenever the
gospel was being preached, they were there. That's what it means. How do you know they believed?
They gladly received the word. How do you know they believed?
They got in the pool. How do you know they believed?
They started preaching. They were there. Freedom. And breaking of bread
and prayers. I knew a man who attended this
service a long time. These services rarely, never
came on Wednesday. never came on Sunday night. We
attend on Sunday morning, his duty. I never, ever saw that
man partake of the Lord's table, ever. This is generally why we
used to have it on Sunday nights, now on Wednesday nights. Why?
People make a special effort to get there. That man, never. I never saw
him, ever. And he's not here now. And they did. They were at the
Lord's table, and it says, fear came on them, wonder, signs. We've been seeing some signs
and wonders here, haven't we? Haven't we? I mean, I don't mean
visions. I mean right here, haven't we?
Wonderful things. Open mine eyes that I might behold
wondrous things from thy word, David said. Okay. God said, Okay,
David. Okay, Jeanette. Okay, Barbara,
here you go. Signs and wonders. Huh? Have you seen them? We've seen them, you said. Read
on. Signs and wonders, fear, And
all that believed were together and had all things common, sold
their possession, a good part of them, to every man as he had
need. What does that mean? It just means somebody had a
need, they met it. They helped one another. By this
shall all men know you're my disciple. You're not selfish
anymore. Don't think about old me, old
me, anymore. No, no, no. It's my brethren,
my family. Me comes last. from then on. That's how you know God does.
That's really how you know, Nancy, when God does something. When
old me is old nothing. That's everybody else. That's
of God, Nancy. That's not, that's just man,
that's not of man. That's of God. Take an old selfish,
you know, and have them start thinking about other people. Read on. And they continued daily. with one accord in the temple.
See that? Breaking bread, house to house,
eat their meat with gold. Here, gladness and singleness
of heart. Praising God, having favor with
all the people. And the Lord added to the church
daily. This just went on. I don't know
how long it went on, but daily. such as should be said, or I
want to be such as should be said, don't you? I tell you who
will be saying such as should be saying such as God determined,
such as God had led, such as God purpose, such as God sanctified,
such as God called, such as God predestined, such as hear the
gospel, the word of truth, that hear it with gladness, such as confessing such as can't
get enough of hearing it such as love the brethren. That's
it. Oh, no. I repent. I repent. Forgive me. Save me. I say that right now. Right now. Save me all over again. And I
confess you. All right. In closing, sing number
314. 314. 314. Let's sing the first and second
verses, okay? First two verses. Stand with
me. 314. I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard
Thy voice, and in hope I love to be. But I long to rise in
the arms of faith. and be closer drawn to Thee. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed
Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer,
nearer, blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. Consecrate me now to thy service,
Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit.