Look at Acts chapter seventeen
now. Acts seventeen. Entitled this message, Reactions
to Preaching Christ. And I know that many people claim
to preach Christ. Just the other day I was reading
the newspaper, and Billy Graham's letter is
called My Answer, answers to questions that people write in.
He claimed in that letter to preach Christ. You'll notice it's on the front
of our bulletin every week. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ. He preached Christ, 2 Corinthians
4 and 5. What does it mean to preach Christ? Everybody at least uses the name,
don't they? At least sometimes. Look here in Acts 17. We've been going through the
book of Acts, and we've seen a lot of preaching. And here
in Acts 17, is the story of Paul the Apostle
coming down in this town of Thessalonica and preaching. Look at it. When
they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,
where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner
was, went in unto them three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must
needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that
this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ." It says there
in verse 2, Paul, as his manner was. or the manner of someone
is their habitual practice, a thing that they commonly do. And the
habitual practice of the Apostle Paul and Silas, who was with
him, and Timothy, as well as every other true preacher of
the gospel, minister of the gospel, his habitual manner, what he
is prone to do when standing up to preach, is preach Christ
as his matter walk. Peter, I'll give you some examples. Peter at Pentecost, when he had
that vast multitude before him, thousands, three thousand people
were saved that day. What was his message? Peter preached
Christ, didn't he? He preached Christ. Stephen,
when he had that vast crowd standing before him, Jerusalem, what did
Stephen preach? He preached Christ. Philip, when
he had the opportunity to speak to that eunuch in the desert,
what did he preach? He preached Christ, didn't he?
Paul, every opportunity that was afforded him, every city
that he went into. He had but one message, and he
said it in 1 Corinthians 2. He said, I am determined, I am
determined not to know anything among you, not to be taken up
with, not to be sidetracked into, not to be led astray into the
right hand of the left. I am determined not to know anything
among you, not to preach anything. Not to really study anything,
but Jesus Christ and him crucified. One message. One message. And every time, and in every
place, and all the time, and in every town, to all people,
there was one message. And it's still the same. Jesus
Christ. Christ crucified. And here arriving
at Thessalonica, Paul did no different. He's no different,
as you'll see. Now, I ask you the question,
what is it to preach Christ? Many say they do. What is it
to preach Christ? Look at verse 2, and you'll see
it very clearly from the text. What is it to preach Christ?
Verse 2, it says that three Sabbath days Paul reasoned with them
out of the scriptures. opening and alleging that Christ. To preach Christ is to preach
the word of God. Now, I know many say that also,
don't they? What does your preacher preach?
He preaches the Bible. He preaches the Bible. You've
heard that so many times, haven't you? We believe the Bible. We
believe in the blood and the book and the blessed hope. Well,
what is it to preach the word of God? What is it to preach
out of the scriptures, reason with them out of the scriptures? Well, let me ask you first, which
scriptures he's talking about? Which ones are you thinking about?
The world, you've heard it, haven't you? People say today, well,
there's an old Bible and there's a new Bible. Right? You know, the Old Testament and
the New Testament, it's unfortunate that it says that. They all just
say, God's Word. The translators added that. God
didn't. It's one Bible, old and new.
But the scriptures he's talking about here, Brother Charles,
the scriptures he reasoned with them out of here is not the New
Testament, is it? It's the Old Testament, the old,
old story, the old, old scripture. Some talk of an old Bible and
a new. There's just one Bible. And if
you don't preach, listen to me. You remember when Paul said to
the Ephesians, I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole
counsel of God. Brother Joe, if you don't preach
the Old Testament, if you don't preach from the Old Testament,
you're not preaching the whole counsel of God, are you? Over and over, listen to me,
over and over again, it says this. I'm laying the foundation
of this message here. This is important. You've got
to catch this point. Over and over again it says,
it is written, that Christ did this, Christ did that, Christ
said this, Christ said that, Christ was this way or Christ
was that way, according to the scriptures. Which ones? Old Testament. Over and over again it says that
the scriptures might be fulfilled. Old Testament scripture. You
see, unless you know something of the Old Testament scripture,
unless you know something of what the Old Testament scriptures
say concerning Christ, concerning God, the same God then, the same
Christ then, you might be worshiping the wrong one. You with me? Unless you know
something of the God of the Old Testament, that he's the same,
the Christ of the Old Testament. You say, Christ lived back then?
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Unless you know something of
the Old Testament scriptures concerning Christ, concerning
God, you might have the wrong one. That's why, Pete, that's
why the Old Testament was written, to tell us about the one who
was coming, so we'd know for sure we had the right one. Because
Christ said there will come, in the latter days, many that
will say, I'm Christ, I'm Christ. Well, here's Christ, there's
Christ. How are you going to know? How are you going to know? Sound good? Looks good? Feels
good? No. It's written. It's written. The God of the New Testament,
as I said, is the same God as the old, as he said. Malachi
3 says, I am the Lord. I change not. If you have a different
God, if men have a different God today in the news, if they
think God is different now than he was in the Old Testament,
wrong God. They are idolaters, worshiping a God of their imagination.
Is this important? Oh, it's fundamental. If anybody
is going to be a fundamentalist, this is where you start. God,
the same God yesterday. The Christ of the New Testament
is the same Christ of the old. Hebrews 13 says that, doesn't
it? Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Same one,
same one. Men and women were saved in the
Old Testament the same way as in the New and as now, right? What way is that? The law? They were saved this way and
we're saved that way? No, there's only one way. Christ
said, I'm the way, didn't he? No man, that includes Adam. the first man ever made, cometh
unto the Father." How? By me. He's got to get by me. He's got to come to me. He's
got to get through me, get there through me. One way. He said
in Ephesians 4, Henry, one faith, didn't he? One Lord, one faith,
one baptism. The same way. And you know, the
same God of the Old Testament that destroyed the world by flood
is the same God that some day is
going to destroy the world by fire. The overflowing scourge
of his wrath, it talks about. Men don't believe in a judge
like that today. He's changed, and he's changed. He's all good
to survive. No, he's not. He hadn't changed. Same God. Still hates sin. The people of the Old Testament,
as I said, were saved the same way as people of the New. They
were saved by faith in Christ. Someone may say, Well, he hadn't
come yet, had he? Christ hadn't come. And these
people didn't know Christ. They hadn't seen Christ. Have
you ever met him? Have you ever seen it? How do
you know he came? Huh? According to Scripture? No. Christ said, you mean Christ
hadn't come yet? They didn't know Christ? He said,
Moses knew me. Didn't he? He said, Moses wrote
a book about me. Five of them. Moses wrote a book. I knew one man that knew Christ.
Moses. Well, he said the Old Testament
saints didn't know him. Abraham knew him. You know what
he said, John? He said, Abraham rejoiced to
see my day. He saw it. I think he saw it when he was
coming down from Mount Moriah, don't you? After that lamb was
caught in the thicket, he saw Christ just as clearly as if
he was standing there looking at him. I see him the same way.
I've never met him, I've never heard his voice, I've never seen
him with his eyes, but I have met him in the heart, I have
heard his voice with the ears of faith, I have seen him with
the eyes of faith. You see, the Old Testament saints
were saved by looking to the coming Christ. And New Testament
saints now, just putting it in people's language, they're saved
by looking to the one who has already come. And they're all
looking forward to his coming again. Saints in heaven, saints
in earth. And God Almighty has never left
himself without a witness, the Scripture says, testifying of
his Son. From Genesis 1 all the way through,
it testifies of Christ. They are they which testify of
me, don't they? From the blood of Abel, which
speaketh a better thing. Blood, blood, blood, and God
talks about blood, blood, blood, blood, blood, blood, blood, all
the way through the Old Testament scriptures. Messiah, Christ,
Lamb, Ark, Tabernacle, Atonement, Substitute. They don't talk of
Christ? Huh? Old Bible? Picture after picture after story
after story of the coming Christ and the Messiah, the sin and
sacrifice of the Substitute and the Redeemer. Here's the point I want you to
know, and we must know, that the Christ must be revealed to
us from the scriptures. We've got to know the Christ
of the scriptures. If we don't, we'll have the wrong
law. Is that important? We'd be idolaters
if we don't have the right one. You see, the Jews, you remember
when Christ said, you do err, you don't know the Scripture.
Well, they studied it. They read it. Some Pharisees
could quote it. The scribes spent their whole
lives translating it. He's doing the same thing today.
We've got Bible scholars. We've got people who are masters
of divinity. Doctors of divinity. experts
on the scriptures, but they were not knowing the scriptures. The
Jews of old didn't know the scriptures. Why do you say that? How do you
know that? They didn't know Christ. He came to his own, but they
didn't receive him. Why? They didn't know him. They
didn't know the scriptures. What scripture? The Old Testament.
It was clear, Joe. It was clear all the way through. Zechariah Malachi said where
he was going to be born, who he was going to be born by. Born
by a virgin, born in Bethlehem. Born of the seed of David, born
in the house of Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, grew up in Galilee. Everything about
his life, everything he said, everything he would do, every
characteristic of him. They didn't recognize him. They
didn't know the scripture. You see how important this is?
It's the same with people today. They're worshiping a god of their
imagination. They're worshiping another Jesus who doesn't resemble
the Christ prophesied in the Old Testament. Doesn't even come
close. Like a candle to the sun. No
resemblance. Just name. Name only. He's not the one revealed in
scripture. Let's look at him from the scripture. Do you know
him? You've got to know him from the
scripture. Isaiah chapter 7. Quickly, I've got several scriptures
I want you to look at. Isaiah 7. We have one service
today. I think you can hold out. Just one. So hang on until you
see. Get your toothpicks out, pop
up your eyelids. I joke, but this is the words
of life, the words of life. You've got to know this Christ,
to whom to know is to have eternal life. You've got to know him,
you've got to have the right one. Isaiah 7. Christ said, All
things must be fulfilled in the law of Moses, in the prophets,
in the Psalms concerning me. Isn't it? All things. I could
go through the books of Moses. I'm starting here in one of the
Prophets. Christ said, All things must be fulfilled which are written
in the books of Moses, Pentateuch, verse 5, in the law and the Prophets. The Prophets is the rest of the
scripture and the Psalms. That's all the Old Testament,
isn't it? There's nothing It must be fulfilled concerning
me. And I could go through, oh, couldn't
we go through Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and
Deuteronomy and talk about the types and pictures of Christ,
couldn't we? Spend all day here. But let's just start in Isaiah
and look at what it says about the coming Christ. Isaiah 7,
verse 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive. bear a son, and shall call his
name Immanuel." O Jehovah Witnesses! O anyone! What does the name
Immanuel mean? What does it mean? How does it
interpret? God with us. It doesn't say the
Son. It says, God with me. Who is he? He's going to be very
God of very God. God was manifest in the flesh. That's who the Christ is going
to be, not just a man. God robed in human flesh. Look over at Isaiah chapter 9.
It says this again. And unless you're worshiping
Jesus Christ as the very Creator and Ruler of all, God No less
than very God. You got the wrong one. You're
yet in your sin. Didn't he say that, Henry? I
point at you all the time, but I know you love that verse in
John 8.24. He said, If you believe not that I am, you'll die in
your sins. That you are who? That I am that
I am. The Pharisees said, Who can forgive
sins but God? If you believe not that I am,
you'll die of your sins. That's right, only God can forgive.
Look at verse 6 of Isaiah 9. Under us a child is born, a son
is given, and they like to go through the motions on Christmas,
don't they? This precious little baby. Sweet little Jesus! Don't we love that baby we can
manipulate, who is in our hands to do with as we please? He ain't
no baby anymore. As a matter of fact, he never
was in our hands, even when he was a baby. The child is the
father of the mother. Explain that, would you? The
mother was in the hands of the child who was in her arms. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders, as Scripture says. Government of what? Israel? The universe. Universal governor. His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father. Any doubts that Jesus Christ
is God. The Father, not just the Son.
The Father. Didn't he say to Philip, Philip,
if you've seen me, Well, you've seen the thought there. The Prince of Peace, of the increase
of his government and peace, there shall be no end. And upon
the throne of David, upon his kingdom to order it, to establish
it, with judgment, with justice, from henceforth, even forever,
the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this! Oh, how I
like that! Mighty God, the Father, the Governor,
the King, the Judge. Look at Isaiah 40. You got the right Jesus? Huh? Is that yours? I think it is. Look at Isaiah 40. Is it the
world's Jesus, the one they're talking about? I think not. Look
at Isaiah 40, verses 9 through 11. Oh, how I like this. Oh,
Zion! Isaiah 40, verse 9. Oh, Zion!
That's the Church. That brings, or the one that
preaches to the church, me, that brings us good tidings, that
preaches to God. Get up into the high mountain,
or if you've got a pulpit, use that. Say to Jerusalem, you who
bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it
up. Be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
the city of Rocky Mount, Behold your God, who Jesus Christ is
God. Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his
reward is with him, and his work before him. There's that verse,
isn't it, John? Feed his flock like a shepherd,
gather his lambs, he's looking for his sheep, he's going to
find them all and pick them up and carry them all the way, all
the way to heaven. He shall rule, it says, and gather. He shall rule, he shall reign,
he shall gather, he shall save. Look at Isaiah 42. Look over
there. This is my Christ. This is the
Christ of Scripture. This is the one we worship. Isaiah
42, look at it. Isaiah 42, look at verse 1. Salvation
is to behold God's servant, God's Christ, God's Messiah, God's
Anointed, God's Savior, God's King, God's Son, God's Lamb. John said, Behold the Lamb, behold,
and be held by him. Behold my servant whom I uphold. Scripture says, God sent him
forth, God holds him up. Set him forth. Mine elect, God's
chosen. He's exalted, one chosen, elect
out of the people. Christ. Mine elect, in whom my
soul delighteth. Only one man has ever been said
about. Christ, a man approved of God. Delight, my son, I'm
well pleased with. I've put my Spirit upon him,
my Holy Spirit's in his hands to give to whom he will. He shall
bring forth judgment to the Gentile. Did you hear that, Gentile? He
shall bring forth judgment, justice for you. He'll be judged for
you. Therefore, now, no condemnation,
no judgment to them that are in Christ. He shall not cry,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. In other words,
Christ didn't run around the streets saying, I'm Christ, I'm
Christ. He didn't commit himself to all men. He was coming to
his sheep. And he says quietly, privately,
with a still, small voice in their heart, by saying, I'm Christ.
They say he's Christ. But to the general multitude,
they say, we don't see any beauty in him. But his people do. He's
altogether, he's the Christ. Didn't Mary say that? Didn't
Philip say that? Come see a man. He's not just
the Christ. The people said, no, we don't
see it. Why'd they say it? He spoke to them. He didn't cry
or lift up his voice in the street. A bruised wreath, these bruised
wreaths, these nothings, he's nobody. Do you see you're calling
Bradley? Huh? Oh, get a hold of this, somebody
that's a nothing, that's a nobody, that's despised. Huh? He's passed by the wise and the
prudent and revealed unto the vain. Nobody's nothings. Common folks heard him gladly
joke. You common? You hear this gladly. a bruised wreath, he won't break. Don't you feel like that? Smoking
flax? Your prayers, your worship doesn't feel like sometimes just
nothing but smoke? Do you know how putrefying and
obnoxious a smoking candle is, or a smoldering fire? God said,
if there's any fire at all, I'll put it there. Where there's smoke,
there's fire. And that smoke, he said, he'll
not quench, he'll bring forth judgment. Here's the verse. He
shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he hath set judgment in
the earth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged. Boy, does that tell you he's
sovereign? Does that tell you he does all
things according to his will? Does that tell you he came to
do a job and he got it done? Does that tell you that he came
to be the Savior and having obtained eternal redemption? Is that your
Christ? Tara Kinsley, is that your Christ?
It better be. Is it? You got the right one. You got the right one. And anybody
who says he tried and failed, got the wrong one. The wrong
one. This is the Christ of the Scripture,
isn't it? He'll be revealed from the Scripture. The Old Testament
says, He shall not fail, nor ever be discouraged. He'll never
lean over to the manifestation of heaven and say, I wish, oh,
I hope, I want, I want, let God. He never will say that. He will
do according to his will, and the armies of heaven among the
inhabitants of the earth. He shall not fail. He shall set
judgment in the earth. He shall save his people from
their sin. He shall reign forever. That's
my Christ. Open up the door and let the
community hear it. Unless they've got this one,
they've got the wrong one. How important is what I'm saying?
Read on. Look at the psalm. He said at
the beginning in the book of Moses and the And the prophets
and the Psalms, he expanded unto them things concerning himself.
Look over at Psalm 2. Look at this. Oh, I keep referring
to this, don't I? But I like it. This is God's
decree. If I never had another message,
this would be it. Psalm 2. Put this on my tombstone, would
you? Psalm 2. Psalm 2, look at it. Psalm 2, let's read on down through
there, verse 1 through 6. Why do the heathen rage, and
the people imagine a vain thing? To get mad at God because he's
God is a spoil, isn't it? It's like an ant in my yard saying,
You can't, you can't do this. I can. I can and I do. Like one man,
Barnard, said to Barnard, he said, You're God, you're God,
this God that elects and passes by, this God that does what he
will here regardless of—he said, You're God's a monster. And Barnard
said, Prepare to meet a monster. Now, I don't see him as a monster,
I just see him as God. I like him as God, I love him
as God, I worship him as God. If he's not, he's not worth worshiping.
If he's no stronger than I am, he's not God. Right? Why do the
heathen rage? Why do people get mad at God
being God? Because they want to be God. The people imagine a vain thing.
Why would anybody try to be saved any other way but blood? When
God says it from Genesis 1 on through, blood, blood, blood,
blood, blood. Not your righteousness, Christ's righteousness. Why?
A vain thing. There's vanity in there. If you'd
be circumcised, Christ died in vain. If righteousness come by
the law, Christ died in vain. He didn't need to come. The kings of the earth set themselves,
rulers take counsel together, all the leaders of all religions,
of all people and nations, against the Lord, against the Godhood
of God, against the Lordship of Christ, against his anointed,
saying, Let's break this band of sons. Let's get rid of this
bunch of gracers, this sovereign grace religion. We'll have anything
but that, what one man said to me at work. I'll believe anything
but that. And they do, don't they? Don't
say, hey, that leaves me anything. But that's what? Well, Paul said,
after the way they call heresy. That's the way I worship the
God of my Father, and believe everything that it says about
him. How about you, John? Huh? Let
us break there, but he that sitteth in the heavens, what's God's
doing? Oh, he's disappointed, he's crying. Jesus weeps and
loves us still. No, he's laughing! Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha. You know what it says there?
He that sits in the heavens, what's God think about all these
peony grasshoppers licking their fist in his face? We won't have
this man rain on. Ha, ha, ha, ha. He won't, will you? Well, I do,
and you'll find out sooner or later. Scripture said over in Ecclesiastes
8, because sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed,
therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to
do evil. Because God doesn't strike a man dead because he
cusses him, right then and there he thinks, The thing they need to know is
that there's no time with God. He heard it, but he's just too
busy, and he's not concerned. He's already seen their end. And he will. He that sits in
the heavens shall last. The Lord shall have him in derision.
Doesn't he say that in Job 1? He says, I called, you refused,
and he says, there's going to come a day when you're going
to call. And what does it say he's going
to do? Job 1? He's going to laugh. Proverbs 1. He's going to laugh.
Proverbs 1. And he'll speak unto them in
his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. And what is
it that vexes? What is it that makes God more
angry than anything else, huh? When you talk about his Son.
Isn't that right? My father-in-law
overheard him say this one day. He said, if somebody is kind
to your children, they're kind to you, and you'll be kind to
them. But if somebody does something to your children, hmm? What about God's altogether lovely
Son? the way they're bringing his name down. Brother John,
the way they're making his work to be of no effects. Brother
Sam, the way they're making the blood of Christ out to be an
unholy and unnecessary thing. Brother William, the way that
they're making the righteousness of Christ out to be not necessary. You can have your own. What do
you think God thinks about that? He says he'll vex them in his
sore displeasure. And here's what he says. What
do you think about people who say you must make him Lord? What
do you think God thinks about this blasphemous generation when
they say about his Son, won't you please do this with Jesus? Won't you accept him? Won't you
make him Lord? He wants and can. What do you
think God thinks about that? Here's the decree, and this is
what vexes men, it's what blesses my heart. He says, I'll declare the decree, the
Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. Ask of me, I'll give thee to
the heathen for thine heir. They utter most parts of the
earth, and you'll break them with a rod of iron, dash them
to pieces like a potter's vessel." Oh, my! Be wise now, therefore,
O ye kings, and remember and recognize that there's a one
king. and Lord of Lords. And God hath
made this same Jesus whom men crucified, both to be Lord and
Christ. We don't make him that. God made
him that a long time ago, and hath committed into his hands
power over all flesh, judgment over all flesh. It's not up to
us. It's not up to our decision.
It's not in our hands. It's not for us to make judgment
on him, except to reject him. We're there before the judgment
seats, right? You say, why are you getting
excited, Peter? David said in Psalm 45, My heart
is indicted in a good manner, I speak of things that touch
him to tears. This country, this nation, this
world, for that matter, has forgotten what monarchy is. You see, it's
so far removed from this country. We've had such a peanut government
all these years, with pinhead presidents. Pardon me. that they've
forgotten what it's like for people to be under a king. You
see, a king, a sovereign. That's what they used to call
the king. Oh, sovereign. The monarch does as he will. He doesn't consult anybody. He
doesn't ask anybody. He does as he will, with whom
he will, when he will, how he will. He's the king. He's the
king. Huh? Is Jesus Christ absolute
King? Is it? Is he King? Look over
at Psalm 24. Hurry! Psalm 24. Look over there. Is he King? If he's not, you've got the wrong
one. If he doesn't do with everyone
as he will, according to his will, irregardless of anything,
he's not King. Look at Psalm 24, look at verses
6 through 10. This is a generation of them
that seek him, that seek thy face, O God of Jacob. Lift up
your heads, O ye gates, be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory. shall come in. Who is this King
of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle. Lift
up your heads over your gate, lift them up, you everlasting
door. The King of Glory shall come
in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts is the King
of Glory. Selah. That means, think about
it, he's King. He's King. And he came the first
time on a donkey. Remember that? You see, the Jews
of old were looking for a king to ride into town on a white
horse. He will, but that's later. The first time, the scripture
says, Behold, thy King cometh. If they had just known this scripture,
Henry, he's lowly. He's just and lowly, having salvation. riding on a colt, the foal of
an ass. And the children know, wisdom
is justified of our children, the children in the marketplace,
the people, the lowly, the nobodies, the nothings, they were catching
their garments and garlands and palm leaves. Who is this? The Jews and the Pharisees said,
Well, who does that say he is? Who is he? Scripture says the
King is coming, riding on a donkey. Here he is. Don't you see it? Do you see it? He's coming. Next time he comes, there will
be no doubt. Will there? Will there be any
doubt in anybody's mind? Will anybody? Now, nobody will
say, Well, who's that? Will they? It says, Every eye
shall behold him. He says, "...as the lightning
strikes from the east to the west, every eye shall behold
him. They shall look upon him whom
they have pierced. They shall wail because of him,"
the scripture says. Who is it? Poor little Jesus? Sweet little Jesus? The Lord,
the King of glory. That's who he is, coming for
his people. And as I've said before, some
people will say, Oh, my Lord, he's here. But God's people say,
Oh, my Lord is here. There's a difference. My King
is here. Every knee will bow and every
tongue will confess them, won't they? They wouldn't then. They
wouldn't when he first came. They will then. He said, didn't
he say that, Joe, in Isaiah 45? Then unto me every knee will
bow, and every tongue will confess his Lord." Salvation is to bow
now. Salvation is for God Almighty
to break a human being and make them bow now and see who he is
now and worship him now. Right now, before it's ever too
late. Back in our text, and I'll close
with these two points. Acts 17. You judge for yourselves. Have
you ever heard anybody on TV or radio or out in the world
preach like this? I ain't nothing. I ain't nobody.
I ain't a preacher. I never confess to be. But I'm saying the message that
I'm bringing, the scriptures that I'm declaring with boldness,
dogmatic. He said, lift up your voice.
Isaiah was a nobody from nowhere. He said, be not afraid, say it
loud, say it clear, say it proud, behold your God. Have you ever
heard anybody preach like this? on TV or radio. You judge for
yourselves, are they preaching Christ? Billy Graham ever preached
like this? If he hasn't, he's not preaching
Christ. He's not preaching the Christ of Scripture. The first
thing Christ is, is God. He's King. He's the successful
Savior. He's Lord. Right? Right. Right. Somebody say, Right. Paul preached in verse 3, opening
and alleging that Christ's must needs have suffered. If you're going to preach Christ,
you've got to preach Christ, his person, who he is, Lord,
King, Sovereign, Majesty, Christ-God. They bypassed first and talk
about poor Jesus, don't they? Suffering Christ. Who is Jesus
Christ? I already told you, he's God
in human flesh. He's Christ who was to come,
the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Conqueror, the Savior, that prophet,
the Christ. How will he save? Savior. How
will he save? By suffering. This is what threw
the Jews for a loop, wasn't Remember what they said? Well, we thought it was him that
would be the one who should deliver us from . . . Oh, he did. He
did. Oh, deliver us from oppression.
Oh, he did. Deliver us from tyranny. Oh, he did. Deliver us from these
enemies. Oh, he did. We thought that it
was he who should restore the kingdom. Oh, he did! He giveth
it to whomsoever he will. The kingdom is not an earthly
one, but a heavenly one. Blessed are the meek, they shall
inherit the kingdom. It didn't seem as if that. Christ
must need to suffer. Suffer. Why did he suffer? Isaiah 53 says this, and you
don't have to turn. I'll turn for you. Why did Christ
suffer? That he might know how we feel? No, he does. We have not a high priest who
cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. He knows.
So he can sympathize with us? Oh, he sympathizes. He empathizes. He's been there. There's nobody
who's been any poorer than him. There's nobody more lonely. Nobody
been more rejected and despised. No one has been more eagerly
treated. No one who's been more, who's
suffered more, gone through more tribulation and trial than he.
He knows. That's not why he came. Just so he'd know. He knew that
before he came. And he was tempted and suffered
in all points, with a feeling of our infirmities, yet without
sin, pain, sorrow, and so forth. But the reason he came, Isaiah
53 says this, that God Almighty was pleased to bruise him, to
put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin. That's why he came. He was made
a sin offering. A sin offering. Do you understand
that? Blessed are your eyes and ears
if they do. Your heart if you do. People,
I'm telling you, there's not one in a million out there that
understands it. It's the heart and soul, if you will, of the
gospel. His soul was made an offering
for sin. Why? Well, because the soul that
sinneth must surely die. What is it to die? Everybody's
going to die, you say. Everybody's going to die. To
die is to be cut off from God. God is life. To be cut off from
God is true death, spiritual death. Soul death is true death. To be separated from a holy God
that hates sin, that can have no part of it, that must punish
See, Christ came to live, to establish that holy life I told
you about, fulfill the law, be accepted by God for some, and
he came to die. He came to suffer punishment
against the sins of God's people, which is separation from God,
death. That's the reason that on the
cross, why do you think on the cross he hollered out? Why do
you think he sweat blood in the garden, thinking about the fact
they were going to pluck his beard out and all that? No, he
could take that. Sweat blood. And he said he cried
out in prayer to God, if it be possible that this cup pass. What cup? Separation from God. But it's not possible. If he's
going to save others, himself, he can't save. If we're going
to be spared separation from God, he's going to have to be
separated. If we're going to have mercy shown to us, he's
going to have to be made guilty. If we're going to be declared
sinless, he's going to have to be made sin for us. He's sweating
blood thinking about it. And he went to the cross that
day, and in six hours he went through hell. What's hell? Separation
from God. And turning in the course of
that thing, he said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Didn't he? Separated from God. Why? Doesn't he? I deserve for God to turn his
back totally on me. How about you? But if he left
forever, he said, I've brought up a people, I've nourished a
people who have rebelled against me all the days of their life.
I've done this, done that. They've done nothing but rebel
against me. very seldom acknowledge me. I deserve to have God say,
That's enough! Don't you? I've had enough of
you! Christ came and said, Let me
take that. Turn your back on me. Not reverse
the word. Turn your back on me. be separated
from me, not her, so that you receive her in everlasting habitation." And that's what Christ did. He
must suffer! He must! Why? The soul that sinned
must surely die. I sinned, Christ didn't. If I'm
going to live, Christ's got to die. You understand that? Oh, that's the Christ of Scripture.
That's the gospel of scripture. That's why he came. That's what
he did. Now, Terry, is God going to someday,
when the judgment's coming up and here I am standing before
God and to be judged by him, is he going to say, well, you
didn't hold out and you weren't faithful enough, you weren't
good enough and all that, and so cast him into hell? I've already been there, and
I've already been judged. I've already been separated. I'm joined, I'm in Christ. You can't separate me now. We're
Siamese twins. I've been created and conformed
to the image of Christ, bonded together by wounds in his side. I came out of his side. He came to suffer that punishment
against sin. The reason he sweat, like I said,
sweat blood, cried on the cross, my God, he's made sin. And it says, by his knowledge
he'll justify many. He poured out his soul unto death.
And lastly, it says he made intercession for the transgressors. Look in
our text. Paul preached Christ's reason
to them from the scriptures. opening the legend that Christ's
must needs have suffered and risen again. Risen again, like
that high priest with the bells on his garment. I've said this
many times, but I love this. If you'd have been standing outside
that carpet, I think you'd have loved it. Huh? Those rebellious
children of Israel, standing outside that little tent in the
wilderness, who'd sinned against God when Moses said, You're going
to die because you sinned against God. And the high priest had
to go within the veil of blood and say, If God accepts this,
we're all right. If He doesn't, we're gone! And
he had bells on his garment, bells and pomegranates, fruit
and truth. Ring the bell of truth. And he
went in there, and he's doing things, people standing up there,
I'm going to die if God doesn't accept this lamb. Is it good
enough? Is it enough blood? Is the high
priest sinless? Where is his garment spotless?
Hell! He's got to go in... And they
heard bells. They're still ringing. They're
still ringing. We're hearing bells. Are you
hearing the bells? I'm ringing the bells! He accepted it! God accepted it! And one day,
he came out of that place. He came out! That high priest
came out. It's okay! It's okay! You're accepted in the sacrifice.
Huh? God smells his sweet-smelling
savor. Huh? And Christ came out of that
tomb one day, three days later, and said, It's okay. And I tell
you, some bells were ringing in heaven, weren't they? Bells
ringing. in heaven. He's okay. It's okay,
and the King of glory comes walking into heaven. Here he is, opening
the gates. Who's this? The King, the Conqueror, the
Savior! He did the job. And one of these days, it says,
his train is going to fill that temple. Who's his train? It's everybody tagging along
behind. The whole line of children. Here they are. Look at that.
Look at that string of kids, wouldn't you? Look at them. They all look just like you.
Yeah, let them in. Let them all in. Let them all
in. Is that your Christ? That's the
Christ of Scripture. And Paul said, That's the Christ
I preach unto you. That this Jesus is Christ. I entitled it, Reactions to the
Gospel, because those next couple of verses says, well, the Greeks,
or some of the Greeks, received it gladly. He said, the Jews, the religious,
the religious, I don't need that. We're not sinners. What's your reaction to all this? Well, let's sing a song. I just thought
of a song. What's the name of that? May
Jesus Christ be praised. That's the name of it. I hope
you know it, Jerry. I don't know it too well, but it's awful good.
It's number 73. Number 73. It says this in here. It's just great. When morning
gilds the sky, and someday the day spring is going to arise,
the Son of God is going to rise again. He's seated right now.
Scripture says he's seated to ride into the majesty on high.
Someday he's getting up. Brother Scott said, when he's
seated, everybody wants God to come. The next time he comes,
it's going to be a judgment. He's seated, but one day he's
going to get up. He's going to come for his people. The day
is spring. Christ, the one that looked for
him, shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. The morning is going to gild
the skies. It's going to be a golden sky. When the Son comes, my heart
awake in Christ. This old dead heart's going to
be alive forever. And what am I going to say? Make
Jesus Christ be praised. Let's stand and sing this. I'll
lead it, Brother Joe, if you want to. All right? When morning gives us rest, my
heart awakening cries, May Jesus Christ be praised. Now you know it. Let's sing it. Verse 3. Eternal bliss, the loveliest
strain is this, Jesus Christ be praised. The powers of darkness flee when this sweet chant I hear. May
Jesus, while life is mine, my catechol divine, May Jesus Christ be praised.
Be this eternal song through all the ages long. May Jesus Christ be praised.