Acts chapter fourteen now. Acts chapter fourteen. Paul and Barnabas were now on
a missionary journey preaching the gospel in various places And having been run out of several
different towns and run out of Iconium, they went down the road
to a town called Lystra there in verse eight or verse six. They fled to a town called Lystra. And when the opportunity arose,
when the door opened, they preached one day. in the
marketplace or perhaps in the open air or in a meeting place
or in the streets, they began to preach. And a crowd of people
gathered around, a large crowd of people, as happened everywhere
they went. And among the crowd there was
a little crippled man. who sat over at the side, out
of the way of the people, a little crippled man sat over on the
curb or something. And of all the people, this little
man listened with great attention, great attention, as the apostle
preached. And as Paul preached, he looked
at the people. He tried to establish eye contact,
not as some do, who preach upward or look at the back wall. No,
he looked at the people because he was endeavoring to say something
to people. He wanted to communicate a message.
He wanted people to hear what he was saying, and he was trying
to gauge their reaction. He wanted a reaction. He wanted
to see something. in their faces. As he looked
around the audience, the people who were listening to him, he
spotted that little crippled man sitting over there. And he continued to preach, but
his eye had caught that crippled fellow, and he continued to preach. And all of a sudden, as he was
preaching, he stopped and looked at that man right in the eye
and hollered, it says, with a loud voice, stand upright on your
feet. And the little man jumped up
and walked. Well, the crowd witnessed this.
Now, they all knew the little fellow. They'd seen him for years.
He was born this way. they do with lame people such
as down in Mexico. They bring them into the marketplace
at the early part of the day and sit them on a curb or something
and let them beg for money. It's the only way they can support
themselves. And the people had seen this fellow for years now
sitting on a curb. They knew he was lame. And he all of a sudden jumped
up and began to walk around. And it caused no He was to say,
no small stir among the people. And so some of these people ran
to the temple. Now this was a pagan idol-worshipping
town of Lystra where they worshipped this god Jupiter and Mercurius. They had priests who made sacrifices
to this Jupiter, this mythical god. And they ran to the temple
and the priests came back and they started to make sacrifices
to Paul and to Barnabas. They said that gods are here,
Jupiter has come, and Mercurius, his speaker. And they began to
start to offer sacrifices to them. And Paul and Barnabas,
seeing what they were going to do, as a sign of utter dismay and They ripped their
clothes. That was a Jewish sign of being
utterly detesting something that was going on. Ripped their clothes.
And they said, don't do this, men. We're people. We're just
men like you are. We're just men. Just men. And then some Jews came down. Some religious people came to
see what all the commotion was. They had a Jewish temple in the
town, just like every other town. in that part of the world. And
the Jews, these religious leaders, came down to see what all the
commotion was. And they came down and they turned,
after seeing who it was, they'd heard of Paul and Barnabas, and
they began to talk to the people and tell them, hey, these are
just men. They're just men. They're not gods. They're just
men. And they're blasphemous men at that. They're preaching
a false message and all. Did you hear what they were saying?
And they began to turn the people against Paul and Barnabas, and
pretty soon this crowd of people go from being worshipers of Paul
and Barnabas to a lynch mob, an angry crowd, and they get
Paul. I don't know how Barnabas escaped,
but they all got rocks and beat Paul to death with rocks, stoned
him, bashed his brain. his head rocked and left him
there, and the scriptures indicate that he actually died. 2 Corinthians
12 talks about a man going up to heaven, and that was Paul.
Well, a great commotion started, a big stir, a big citywide meeting
happened in this place, a big so-called revival, you know.
A lot of emotion and carry-ins on and go-ins on and all that.
And when it was all over, it was a disaster, wasn't it? The
whole thing was a disaster. It ended up in failure, didn't
it? It wasn't a success at all, was
it? To hear Paul, the apostle, laying there dead and all the
people angry and running off, not quite. Not quite. It was a big crowd, a lot of
people. Everybody but one little crippled fellow. One little crippled
fellow. And I can't help but believe
that he was one of those in verse 20 there that stood round about
Paul, was standing over Paul. Paul and Barnabas. That might
have been about the extent of it at this time. Paul and Barnabas
standing over Paul. I mean Barnabas and this little
crippled fellow. Standing over the dead body of
Paul. And they were probably both weeping at this time. And
all of a sudden, Paul jumps out. and walks, and they walk on down
the road to Derby. All right? What's this all about,
this story? Huh? A notable miracle? Just something to, I just told
you the story. It's a fantastic one, isn't it?
Huh? And I still have everybody's attention. Surprisingly. Five minutes into the message,
still got your attention. Is it all about this notable
miracle, this fantastic story? Is that the reason God put it
in there? No, it's something much deeper
than that. This is a story of salvation. Christ said, My words are spirit. This is a story with a spiritual
meaning about it, how a dead sinner is brought to life. Got any sinners in here? I mean
sinners. And if you're interested, this
may be for you. I hope so. All right, look at
verse 9 in our text. And this is the title of the
text. It says in verse 9, he heard
Paul speak, this man, this crippled man, and Paul steadfastly beholding
or looking on him, perceiving that this man had faith to be
healed. He perceived that this man had
faith to be healed. What does that mean? He had faith
to be healed. And this world of charismatic,
so-called Pentecostal preachers and people just delight in that. But they've missed the true meaning
of it. Two points to this message. Let's
see what preceded this man's faith. OK, let's see what came
before his faith. And secondly, let's see what
his faith, his faith is. All right. What preceded this
man's faith? Was it the miracle? No, it hadn't
happened yet. You see, no miracle had happened
yet. He hadn't been healed yet. That wasn't what made him believe,
was it? No. It wasn't a miracle. It wasn't a sign that made him
believe. None of that had happened yet.
The Scripture says that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing. This
man heard something. All right, what did he hear to
make him believe? What did he hear? You know, a great many signs
and wonders are being performed today, aren't they? A lot of
this so-called healing is going on today, being performed today. And a lot of people are hearing
some things preachers are saying and they're believing. What are
they hearing? What are they believing today?
What's going on? What is being heard and what
is being believed today? Well, mostly what they're hearing
is about miracles. What they're believing is, they're
believing in miracles. Right? This forms the basis of
most preaching today. You can have your miracle. Claim
it. It's yours. Listen to this story
of a miracle. Do you believe that, this miracle?
We believe. Did you hear that? Yes, we heard
it. Do you believe miracles? We believe. That's what is being
heard today. That's what's being preached,
isn't it? And that's what they're believing in. What are they believing
in? Miracles. Miracles. That's not what this
man heard. That's not what this man heard. This man heard, look at verse
6 and 7. It says that when Paul and Barnabas fled to Lystra and
Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round
about, verse 7 says, there they preached the gospel. They preached the gospel. Peter
said in 1 Peter 1, verses 23 and 25, he said, we're born again
by the Word of God. That God gives spiritual birth
to people by His Word. And Peter said in verse 25, this
is the Word that we preach unto you. Not just Bible stories.
Not just truths in the Word. This is the word which by the
gospel was preached unto you. That's how you're born again.
That's how you're saved. That's where faith comes from.
Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. And Peter
said that word is the gospel which we preached unto you. The
gospel. The gospel, Paul said in Romans
1.16, is the power, the dynamite of God Almighty unto salvation. to everyone that believed. It
was the dynamite, the power in the God's hand to make them,
to cause them to believe. The gospel is the means that
God the Holy Spirit uses to call a dead sinner, one who's dead
and trespassed in sin, to call them to life and to grant repentance. It's
the gospel that gives a man repentance. It's the gospel that gives a
man faith. It's the gospel that changes a man's life, a woman's
life, a young person's life. Not signs, not wonders, not miracles,
not gimmicks, not methods, not emotional singing, not charismatic
services, but the gospel is what God uses. The gospel. The word
of truth. And I might I might define that
a little more carefully, the gospel concerning God's Son. That's what Paul said, isn't
it, in Romans chapter 3, I believe it is. The gospel concerning
God's Son, his person and his work. This is what God used in
the days of the apostles, and this is what God uses now. Nothing
more, nothing less than the gospel. Same thing, because man's the
same, his needs are the same, God's the same, the gospel's
the same, the way of salvation's the same, right? Same thing,
same old story, every time, every place. This is what God uses.
And he says you go into all the world and do what? Use gimmicks, use methods. Use
your craftiness. Go into all the world and try
to win friends and influence people. Go into all the world
and come up with whatever tactics you can to get church members. Go into all the world and try
fundraising methods. And this—preach the gospel, he
said. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel and stand back and watch me work. Preach the gospel, get out of
the way, and watch me work." Same gospel. The Apostle Paul went to Antioch.
Now, Antioch was a city of great learning and wisdom and so forth.
What did he preach? Well, did he preach with words
of man's wisdom? Did he preach an intellectual
sermon to the people? No, he preached the gospel. Well,
then he went on down to the road to this little town called Lystra,
which was a pagan city full of superstition and idolatry. What
did he preach on? The philosophies of the gods
and so forth? No, he preached the gospel. Well,
he went on down the road to Rome, all right? Rome, the seat of
government, the seat of government of the then known world. What
did he preach on? Politics. The social ills of
the day? The need for reform in government? No, he preached the gospel. He
went on down the road to Athens. Now, Athens was the center of
all intellect and learning and a seat of learning and philosophy
and oratory. And what did Paul do? Did he
stand up and give an eloquent speech? In man's eloquence and Ability
to speak? No, he preached as plain and
as base and as simple a gospel message as he could preach. Well,
he went to Corinth, okay? Corinth was the seat of vice.
The sin city, about like San Francisco or somewhere, Detroit,
Los Angeles, he went to sin city itself. Corinth, the seat of
vice, the seat of sin. What did he do? What did he preach
on? Smoking and drinking and homosexuality and all that. No,
he preached the gospel. One message. Same message to
people everywhere. Same message. The one message
which meets everyone's need, which everyone needs, is the
gospel. The gospel. Go ye in all the
world and preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. That's what
I'll use. That's what God uses. More specifically, the gospel.
Not all of this other stuff, but the word, the gospel. There
was a man over here visiting, not visiting, but working on
something for us here at the church. Hired a man to work on
something here and he came over to work on it. And as they are
usually prone to do, they want to tell me how religious they
are. And so he did. He told me where
he went to church and so forth. And he said he couldn't think
of anything else to say. So he said, he said, have you
heard of this Carmen fellow? Now, some of you may have heard
he's a he's a religious entertainer today. He's a fellow who goes
about doing big things and clown shows and puppet shows and what
have you just a big religious entertainer mostly appealing
to the children he said our church is going to take our kids to
see Carmen he said he's really good with the kids and and he's
and he said you know he's he's doing a good work and so forth
and he said he's going to get a petition up to bring prayer
back in the school and he's going to take the president Clinton
when he gets so many millions of signatures and all and I was
listening to him And I let him have his say, you know. And he
quit talking. And after a little while, I said,
come here, let me show you something. And I took him back into first,
I went in Deborah's classroom, went in there, I said, this is
our, I went in Vicki's classroom. I said, this is our little preschooler. This is where they go. I showed
some of the things there. I went in Deborah's classroom
and And I said, this is the secondary ones, a certain age group. And
I went into Mindy's classroom and said, this is our youth junior
high and so forth. I said, this is what we do for
our kids here. I said, this is what God uses
to the saving of souls, not clown shows, not puppet shows, not
religious entertainment. I said, God, I said, Paul thanked
God that Timothy knew the Scriptures from a child that were able to
make him wise unto salvation. I said the Scripture are the
power of God. The Word, the Gospel, is the
power of God unto salvation. This is what we're doing for
our children. This is what we're trying to do, trying to teach
them the Gospel. That'll do it. I said this is
the only thing God uses. Not gimmicks, not tricks, not
methods. We're not trying to entertain our children. We want
you to enjoy yourself, young people. We're not trying to make
you miserable. We're not trying to entertain
you, per se. We're trying to teach you the
Word of God. We're trying to keep your souls
out of hell. Now, only one way for that to
happen is for you to know Jesus Christ someday. And it's done
through the preaching of the gospel. So the Lord said, you go down
and you declare the gospel. He said, my sheep will hear my
voice. Don't add anything to it. Don't do anything with it. Just preach it. My sheep will
hear my voice. Well, you say, well, don't we
have to get people in to hear? How do we do that? Same word. Not gimmicks, not tactics, not
trickery, not bribery. Huh? The word. He said, a word in season. My
word won't return void, it'll accomplish something. We go out
there, we speak a word of God's word in season, God takes it,
pricks a heart, creates an interest, brings him in to hear the gospel.
That's the way he does it. You see, that way he gets all
the glory. His word gets the glory, not some soul winner.
Right? He gets the glory. not some witness
who won so many souls to Jesus. The Word of God gets the glory.
God gets the glory. Okay, what was this gospel then? I told you Paul preached the
gospel, and that's what this crippled fellow heard. What was
the gospel that he heard? You've got to hear it. What was
the gospel that this little crippled man heard? Well, it's not recorded
here. Look back at chapter 13. The message he preached was not
recorded there in chapter 14. It says, verse 49 and 50, chapter
13, 49 and 50, it says, The word of the Lord was published throughout
all the region. The Jews stirred up the devout
and honorable women and so forth, and they kicked Paul and Barnabas
out. Well, they went on down the road and came to Iconium. All right, look at verse 1 of
chapter 14. It says, They came to Iconium, and so spake. You see that? Into the synagogue
of the Jews and so spake. What did they speak? Same message
that they got kicked out of Antioch for preaching. All right? And then it says in verse 6 through
9, it says that after they heard that somebody was going to kill
them, they went down the road to Lystra, verse 7, and there
they preached the gospel to them. And then it tells a story about
this crippled man hearing the gospel and believing. All right. All right. What was the gospel?
Well, the message is recorded back in chapter 13, so run run
back there real quickly with. Chapter 13 is the message that
Paul preached at Antioch, same one he preached at Iconium, same
one he preached at Lystra, same one I'm trying to preach right
now. Acts 13, look at verse 16 and 17, and this is the recorded
message. Paul stood up, beckoning with
his hand, Like me right here, I'm standing before you, beckoning
with my hand. Men of Israel, men of Rocky Mount, men of Henry,
men of wherever, Sontag, men of Boone's Mill, women of Boone's
Mill, Pharaoh, listen to me. Ye that fear God, don't you know
you ought to fear God? You ought to fear God. First
thing he said, Terry, fear God. You need to fear God. Ye that
fear God, Listen to me. Verse 17. God chose a people. The God of this people of Israel,
your God, my God, chose a people. He preached election. He preached
that God is sovereign, God is holy, God is to be feared, and
God chose a people. God elected a people. Man needs
saving. God chose to save some. God elected
a people. They're sinful, they're unworthy
people, they don't There's nothing in them deserving of salvation,
but God chose a people. And he put up with them. Verse
18. About 40 years he suffered with them. He put up with them. God just puts up with people.
Until someday he's going to do something with them, right? The
whole world, he's putting up with the world. Until someday
he's going to destroy this maggot infested planet. Now his people,
he's long suffering with them. for their salvation. He considers
them in Christ, he said. He still puts up with them, doesn't
he, John? Because they're in Christ. He chose them. Put them
in Christ. All right? Look on down. It says,
To whom God sent a king, verse 18. Verse 18. He put up with
them. And God sent a king, verse 22.
Look at it. Verse 22. When God raised up
a king unto them, David, to be their king. to whom also he gave
testimony. And God said, I found David,
the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fulfill
all my will. All right, Paul preaching David
here. Now, this David is a type of David's son, God's son, more
specifically. The son of David he's called.
The son of God he's called. Jesus Christ is his name. the
only man after God's own heart who shall fulfill the will of
God. This is who Paul was preaching. That's who I'm preaching. That's
what the gospel is. It's a person. God sent his son. God elected a people, sent them
down here to save these unworthy, wretched sinners, the man after
his own heart, a holy, sinless, spotless man who shall fulfill
the will of his of his father shall fulfill the will of God
to save those people. God's son, verse 23, of this
man's seed, David, God according to his promise, according to
the scriptures, raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus Christ, sent
by God a Savior. And it says in verse 27 that
people didn't know him. Verse 27, they didn't know him. Nor did they know the Word of
God that was talking about him. The voice of the prophets, which
are read every Sabbath. And it happens today, people.
Everybody's standing up today, reading from the Word of God.
A great many people professing to believe some Jesus, but they
don't know him. They don't know what the Scriptures
is talking about. They don't know the Christ of the Bible.
It's evident. They're not trusting him and him alone. I'm telling
you, I'm preaching you from the Word this morning. that Jesus
Christ is the whole counsel, the will, the purpose of God
Almighty, that God chose a people in Christ, and salvation is to
know Him, to know Him, who He is, not only about Him, but to
become acquainted with Him, see Him, learn of Him, know Him,
get to actually one day say, I know this person. and fall
down before Him and worship Him and call upon Him to ask Him
to save you and for Him to tell you, yes, I'll save you. And God sent His Son and says
that He fulfilled them. They fulfilled the Scripture,
verse 27, in condemning Him. Christ came and lived and died
and rose again, all according to the Scripture. Christ fulfilled
all the law of God for these people according to the Scripture.
And man fulfilled the Scriptures in killing him. They did what
they wanted to do, but did what God determined before to be done—kill
the son. So God's Son came. He came to
live, establish the life of a man, perfect, and give that to these
people. He came to die. He came to make
a full, final blood offering, atonement. to pay the penalty,
to pay for the sins, the broken law against these people. And
he finished that work. He finished that work. He did
it. He paid for them all, got rid
of all the sins of God's people. Verse 30, it says that he died,
but, verse 30, God raised him from the dead. It's like that
Old Testament who went in the Holy of Holies
with a blood atonement. All right? He went in the Holy
of Holies with a blood offering. And the people stood out, and
while the man offered the blood, and they thought, Will God accept
it? We've seen it. Will He accept it? Well, whenever
that priest came out of that Holy of Holies with a smile on
his face and no more blood in his hand, they rejoiced. a cheer went up. God hath accepted
the sacrifice. Well, Jesus Christ entered in
once in the holy place, not made with hand and not without blood,
but with his own precious blood. He entered in the holy of holies,
and all the sinners stand outside. Will God accept the sacrifice?
Christ went into the tomb, buried The transaction's done. Sin's
gone. God's accepted it in the blood. God raised him from the dead. And this is what we declare unto
you, verse thirty-two. And we declare unto you, good
news sinners. Got any sinners out there? Huh? Sinners against God Almighty.
You know it. You feel it. You agonize over
it. You repent of it. Huh? Any sinners
out there? Good news! Glad tidings! I got
a declaration this morning. Tis done, tis done. The great
transaction is done. We declare unto you, I say, His
righteousness at this time, His righteousness for the forbearance
of sins that are past. We declare, I say, His righteousness,
that God accepts His righteousness, His blood, His offering, and
will accept you in Him. Come now, just relate, just relate.
We declare that, glad tidings, God fulfilled the promises. But
to the rest, verse 38 and 39, he said, Now be it known unto
you, brethren, that through this man, through Jesus Christ and
him alone, is forgiveness of sin, not by your works, not by
your religion, not by your morality, not by your own righteousness,
but by his alone. You are forgiven," verse 39,
"...by Him all that believe." Just believe now, not do anything.
Just believe. Just trust. Just rest. Just believe
Christ. Just believe Christ. Right now,
all that believe are justified from all things. Clearly. God's not angry. He loves, He
accepts, He justifies. There's no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus. Now. Now. By him, all that believe
are justified from all things from which you cannot be justified
by the law." Did you hear that? Anybody hear that, sinners? Did
you hear what Jesus Christ said right there? They're all taken
away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. But to
the rest, he said, Paul said, verse 40, beware. Those of you
who are not interested in it, you beware. You're not interested in God's
Son. You need his salvation. You need it desperately. You're
a sinner against a holy God. He's angry with you right now
as you sit here. And he says, you beware, you're
not interested in my Son. When it comes time for the judgment
and you're interested then, he said, I'm not interested in you.
I'm not at all interested in you. Beware lest that come upon
you which is spoken of by the prophets, you despisers, you
wonder and perish. I work a work in your days which
you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto
you. And I declare it unto you this morning what you desperately
need, desperately need before a holy God. And if you are not
interested, God's not interested in you. But there was one little man
sitting there who was mighty interested. One little man sitting
there. Chapter 14. He was sitting there,
and Paul preached this same message to this same crowd, and the big
crowd attended, and a lot of commotion went on and all that,
you know. Nobody heard but one little man. One little man sitting
there on the curb, one little crippled man heard that message,
and it says he believed. Now, that's what happened before
he believed. That's what happened. Paul preached
the gospel, and that little fellow believed. He believed. All right,
what was this man's faith? What was his faith? It says,
verse 9, and this may throw you here, verse 9, listen to me,
all right, would you listen? This same little fellow heard
Paul speak, heard him preach the gospel. And it says that
Paul steadfastly looked on that fellow, looked right at him,
and perceived that he had faith to be healed, looked at him,
and perceived that he had faith to be healed, faith to be healed. Now, you
remember the story of the man sick of the palsy, don't you?
They let him down through the roof, and you remember what happened? They let him down there to be
healed. Do you remember what happened there? Christ, it says,
when he perceived their faith, he said to the man sick of the
palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Well, the Jews and the
Pharisees said, what is going on here? What's he talking about?
Sins be forgiven thee. None can forgive sins but God,
right? That's right. God was standing
there. They didn't know him. God was
standing there. Well, this man, what are you talking about sin?
He's never been able to walk, much less sin. He can't sin just
laying there. He's never committed adultery,
just nothing. He's just laying there. Oh, yes, he has. That's
what he needs more than anything. Sins forgiven. Sins botted out. Sins. I have a feeling that fellow
laying there on that cot knew what he was saying. Huh? Son,
be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven. Really? And then he said, and oh, by
the way, Get up and walk. He took care of the real problem
first, and then he healed him temporarily. See, the man's going
to get sick later on and die, right? So really, the palsy wasn't
his real need, was it? He's going to die one way or
another, whether it be of the palsy or whether it be of a heart
attack. He's going to die. He sure needed his sins taken
away. Because he's going to go face God when he dies. And what's
he going to need? He's going to need full justification
from those who pardoned him. The Scripture says, Seek ye first
the kingdom of God. The rest of this stuff will be
after you. Huh? Kingdom of God. I didn't quote
it all, did I? The kingdom of God and his righteousness. That's Christ and his salvation,
what they're talking about. And the rest of this will be
added to you. See, there's a whole world of people out there seeking
health and wealth, and this and that and the other. They're not
seeking the one thing they need. Huh? Kingdom of God and His righteousness,
by which no man shall see the Lord, and without which no man
shall see the Lord. Huh? That's the one thing needed. That's the healing we really
need. Heal from our sins. Now, count on it, people. Count
on it. This man heard this gospel. This crippled man heard this
gospel. You can count on that. He heard this gospel. He was
convicted. That's what the Lord said in
John 16. He said, When the Holy Spirit
comes, he shall convince the world of sin, righteousness,
judgment, all in reference to Christ. Count on it. This man
heard the gospel, and he was convicted. He was convinced of
sin, of his need for Christ's righteousness, and a judgment
to face someday. He heard this gospel. He saw
his need of Christ's blood and Christ's righteousness. He saw
that, and he believed. And here's what happened. I'm
not speculating. This is what happened. He believed that the
all-powerful Christ that he heard Paul talk about, he heard of
this sin-cleansing power. And after believing that gospel,
he thought, you know, He said, I believe. I believe Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God. I believe that. I believe He's
Lord. I believe He's the all-powerful, sovereign Savior. Yes, I believe
that. Yes. Yes, I believe that. I believe this message. I see
my need of Christ. And if it's His will, and I believe
it is, He said it was, He'll save me. And maybe He already
has. I believe that, the man thought.
Yes. You know what? He's as powerful
as Paul says he is. And maybe Paul said something
about somebody, a blind man, or somebody being healed or whatever,
or quoted Isaiah 61, a healing of the lost. He said maybe if
he's powerful enough to get rid of sin, surely he can take care
of his overlying legs and mind. I believe that, yes, I believe
he can heal me if he's willing. I believe he can if he's willing.
But maybe he will. And in a minute, it wasn't a
few minutes later, until Paul looked right at him and said,
stand up right on your feet. And he leaped up. And what? He had faith to be healed. All right? Now, there are many
bogus miracles going on today in the name of Jesus. Bogus,
I mean, fake miracles going on in the name of Jesus today, aren't
there? You see them. They're on your
TV. You'll see them. Many of them
taking place and most of the time, listen to me now, most
of the time, and some of these news media people have checked
up on this, most of the time this preacher, this charlatan
standing up there who has made contact with those people that
they're supposed to heal. Right? You've seen some of those
exposés of this? Most of the time, they've made
contact. Listen up now. Most of the time,
they've made contact with these fellas or people that are supposed
to have been healed. Right? They've made contact with them.
These people are supposed to be lame or hard of hearing. They're
really not, but they're faking it. And they made this little
agreement together, and they'd come up in a wheelchair, and
this fellow would say, get up. Well, the only contact that Paul
made with this fellow was eye contact. The only contact he had made
with this fellow before. And I believe it's by direct
revelation of God. God Almighty spoke right to Paul's
heart and said, that little fellow right there is hearing what you're
saying. That lame man, you see him right
there? Yeah, I see him. I've noticed
that, Lord. I've noticed that as I was preaching.
And by wise experience and discernment after having preached the gospel
in a lot of places and beholding a lot of faces, Paul saw that
God was doing something to that fellow. He looked on his face
and he saw that God was doing something to this fellow. in
this man's heart, and as he preached, he could see it in his countenance.
As he began to preach, he could see it in his countenance. A
change coming up. Now, as I preach, I look at you
and I call names a lot of times, much to your chagrin, is that
the word for it? Because I'm trying to get people's
attention. I'm talking to people here. I'm
not talking to nameless faces in the crowd. You know, I think
most people think they are. I wish you could see what I see
sometimes in preaching. I think people think that they're
being lost in the faces in the crowd, that I'm just beholding
a sea of people, and I'm preaching to this monster or something,
you know, not people. And I see people, all sorts of
reactions to the gospel, or non-reactions. That's a reaction. I see some
people, I don't see their faces. Some people have. I'm serious. Some people, they've got their
heads directly behind the fellow in front of them because they
don't want me to see their face. It's obvious. So be it. I'm not preaching to them then. And I see many faces, none without
significance. I see blank stares. And some
of you, I've known you so long, and I can tell when, hey, I've
lost her. You know, I've lost her. I don't know where she is.
She's cooking dinner or something. She's at work. I've lost her. Hey, blank stare. I used to be
real good at that, you know. I never fell asleep in church.
I wouldn't dream of it. That's the height of rudeness,
by the way. At any rate, I used to be real good at it. Just looking
wouldn't take my eye out, but I wasn't there. I was gone a
thousand miles away. Blank stares. I see that. I see
indifference. I see people looking like...
just indifferent. I hear you, but... And then I
see boredom, particularly on the young people. Boy, I'll be glad when this is
over. This ain't funny. I'm not trying to be funny. I'm
talking about your life, I'm talking about your soul here.
I'm talking about the word of life as being preached. It just
ain't a preacher you're hearing from this morning, it's the word
of God. And it could be a saver of life on you this morning,
or it could be your death. It could be a condemnation once
and for all. We've heard it so many times. I see curiosity on
some people. We get some visitors in here,
Kay, and I see curiosity. Never heard that before. I see
critical faces. I see some people looking at
me like, well, you sure are a vain babbler. I think I could do a
better job. What'd you say? I don't look that up, Blazer.
I don't think that's right. You're not a very good preacher.
So-and-so's a better preacher than you. I see that. I see critical
looks on the face. I see distracted ones. I see
sleeping faces. Eyes closed, just out of it,
gone occasionally. Occasionally, I see somebody
on the edge of their seats with a tear in their eye and a smile
on their face and a nod on their head, and they're right there
with me. Yeah, yeah, I like that. Some more. Give me some more.
This fellow over here is sleeping. This fellow over here is weeping.
Huh? That fella has faith to be healed. That's what I'm talking about.
He has faith to be saved. You say, faith to be saved? Wait
a minute, faith comes after being saved. I know that. You're born
again by the Word of God. Life comes after breath, speech,
sight comes after life. But some people are saved and
don't know it. And they have faith to know it. Now, I don't know who this applies
to. I hope somebody. I hope somebody. I hope it's
someone in here right now who, after hearing this word, will
stand upright on your feet, will stand on Christ right now and
say, I believe that. I believe Him. I believe I'm
saved. All right, here it is. You believe
God's word, don't you? Do you? Yes, I do. I do. I believe God's word. You believe
God's gospel. You believe this is the gospel. What I preach
this morning is the gospel. Do you believe that? It's the
gospel, huh? There is no other. You believe
that? Yeah, I sure do. This is the
only gospel that meets my needs. The only gospel there is. You
believe God's son? You believe God's Son is his
righteousness, his life, his shed blood? Huh? It's the only
thing that'll save an old rotten sinner like you. You believe
that? Huh? That it's sufficient to say that he can save, that
he will save. You believe that? Yes, I do.
I believe he can. I believe he will if he's willing.
I believe he's the only Savior there is. You believe he came
for old sinners? Yeah, that's what the Scripture
says. He came for sinners. He came to save the worst, the
worst sinners. Chief of sinners. You believe
that? You believe you're a sinner? Oh, I don't believe it. I know
it. I know I'm a sinner. Huh? Well, there's no place else
to trust, sister. There's no place else to go,
is there? But to Jesus Christ? Huh? Just to believe Him? No
one else? Nothing else? Not your works?
There's nothing in you, is there? No? In my flesh? Well, it's no good thing. Nowhere
else to go but Christ, huh? Is there? No, preacher, there's
not. I see that. I see that. There's no place,
nothing to depend upon but Jesus Christ. You believe that? Jesus'
blood and righteousness is your hope built on nothing less than
Jesus' blood and his righteousness? Yes, preacher! Now really? You hope in him and him alone
that he's able, if he's willing, that he can save you? And sometimes
you think you're saved? And if it wasn't for these old
lame legs called sin that you would just know you're saved
because you trust Christ, you believe Christ, huh? You believe
that? Stand up right on Jesus Christ right now. You've got faith to be saved. That's all there is to it. Believe to the saving of yourself. Stand on the promises of Christ,
my Lord. Stand on the rock, Christ Jesus.
Huh? It's holding this old boy up
right now. Huh? I feel the same way you
do, about my sin, about my own lame legs, everything. I'm standing
right now, not on me, not on my preaching, not on my work,
not on anything, nothing. But Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Right now, that's where I'm standing.
Joe, he'll hold you up, won't he? Huh? Stand right there. Trust Christ. I'm here to tell
you on the authority of God Almighty's Word, you trust Jesus Christ.
You're a saved person. I didn't say that. Jesus Christ
said it. Do you believe that? Huh? Well, you know, there's some
people waiting on feelings. What if that fellow says, well, wait
till I get a little tingling in my legs? Or, wait a minute, I just
don't know. Some are waiting on feelings. I don't even feel. You know,
sometimes, most of the time when you feel the most rotten and
sinful and all that, you're not here. You're not here under the
sound of the gospel. And you think about just there
right now, I don't even feel sinful enough. I don't feel this
way, that way. Faith is not to be based on feelings.
It's to be based on the Word of God. Based on the Word of
God. Well, if I just had more faith.
That's what I've been talking about all morning. What is faith? It's just trusting God. It's
just believing in the record. Huh? Believing in Christ. Believing
in Him. Some people are waiting a more
convenient season. Well, today's the day of salvation. Huh? Right now. Right now. Come unto me, all you that labor
and heavy labor. Right now, as you are. Come,
you sinner, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus
Christ ready, stands to save you, full of pity, love, and
power. At the risk of sounding like
an invitation, it's not. I'm just telling you, on the
Word of God, right now, if you trust Christ, you're a saved person. Huh? Now leap up and tell somebody. And walk by faith. Walk by faith
in Christ. Just stand up and walk by faith
in Christ. And let us know about it. We
will join in with you now. In baptism, that's the way you
confess him. That's the way he said, he that
believeth in his baptized shall be saved. And he'll just come,
he says, come. Come to Christ. Let's see if we can sing this
song, Sherry. What number is it? I can't find it. 242. 242. All
right? Center stand upright on Christ
the Lord. You're set. 242. So Joe, would
you come up here please and help me out? Help me sing this. 242. Let's stand as we sing it.
A couple of verses. Let's sing the first and second
verses, alright? 242, let's sing. Have my bondage, sorrow and pride. Jesus, I come. Jesus, I come. With my freedom, weapons and
pride. Jesus, I come to Thee. ♪ Out of my senses, into my will
♪ Out of my bones, and into thy will ♪ Out of my sin, I give
to thyself ♪ Jesus, I want to be Have mercy, Lord, here and now. Jesus, I will. Jesus, I will. Jesus, I come to Thee. How my
heart will lift to Thy praise. How my soul will enter Thy courts. Thank you for listening.