Now let's turn over to Acts chapter
9 with me, and we'll get there in a minute. I heard a story one time, a true
story, of a family physician who had had a long day in his,
at his office. He saw patient after patient
after patient all day long. Most of them, most of his patients
had very minor complaints and no real problems at all. And
he'd been seeing those people all day long, people with very
minor problems and so forth. And finally, after a while, he
was weary and tired and wanted to go home. And he went out into
the waiting room Out in the waiting room, he said, is there anybody
out here really sick? He said, if so, I'll see you
now. If not, I'm going home. Anybody
really sick, he said, then come on in. And our Lord said the
same thing long before that. He said, the well don't need
a physician but the sick. And righteous, he said, I'm not
coming to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And I've got some real good news
for sinners this morning. Real good news for sinners this
morning. And you know, your reaction to
this message will reveal the state of your heart, whether
you're sick or not. It will. It will reveal that. Now, I don't have to preach. I don't have to preach. There's
a lot of other things I can do. I can dig ditches with the best
of them. I can go get me a job digging ditches. I've done that. It's fresh on my mind in a minute.
You know, you sometimes get what you ask for. Not too long ago, I said, I was
down at the paint store, Deborah's husband, where he works, getting
some paint. I said to him, I said, you know, I was getting ready
to paint my basement. I said, I'd rather dig a ditch
than paint. I said, really, I'd rather dig
a ditch, get out and dig a ditch, than paint. There's something
about painting I don't like. You know, that day my water line
burst, and I had to get out and dig a ditch. And I wish I was
painting. But what I was trying to say
is I don't have to get up here and preach. I can go dig ditches.
I can drive a truck. I used to drive a truck, Joe.
A little dump. You wouldn't call it a truck, but a dump truck. I drove forklift, Stan, for a
while. I can do that now. Build houses. Give me enough time, Rick. I
could do it. I believe I could do it. I can
work on cars. So I'm not up here this morning
because this is my job. And I didn't come down here to
Rocky Mount because it was a promotion. And I'm not up here this morning
to go through the motions of preaching a sermon. I suppose the way that I've talked
this morning and the way I'm feeling right now is in part
madness, getting mad at myself. Because I just told somebody
the other day, I said, you know, I get tired of standing up in
front of everybody. Day in and day out, I get tired
of it. And, you know, your every move,
your every word being scrutinized. Living in a glass house. Everything
being either approved or disapproved about you. Get tired of it. My
pastor said that in an article. You remember? He said that one
thing that's going to make me get out of the ministry someday
is having to become all things to all people. I just said the other day, you
know, I get tired of standing up there. I get tired of opening
my mouth. I get tired of it. And it's not
the same as working a regular job, because you don't have to
be in a good frame of mind to go over to the mill or the plant. You know, you can just keep what
you've got. You've got to fit. This thing has got to get a hold
of you. And I'm not here. I'm not here. Because it's the
only thing I can do. That's what I'm trying to say. I just buried my heart a little
bit to you. I'm not here just to get something
said and be done with it. I'm mad at myself for that. There
are times when I prepare messages to say, well, I'll be glad when
this is over with. I'm due to preach in a conference this week,
and I don't want to go. I don't want to go. But I've
got to go. But I'm here to tell you something
this morning. I want you to hear something. I'm here to tell you
something that I believe very strongly in. Something you need. I've got something you need this
morning. Nobody needs sermon, but I got
something you need. I got some good news. It'll help
somebody. And that's why I want to deliver
it. That's why I want somebody to receive it. Peter said, you
know, I said, I don't have to preach and I don't. If I preach,
I have to preach the gospel. I know that. Paul said, Necessity
is laid upon me. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. He didn't say, Woe is unto me
if I don't preach. But if I preach, I must preach
the gospel. And I'm here to tell you this
morning about a person. His name is Jesus Christ. His
name is Jesus Christ. And I can't get you to believe
on him. This is another thing that's
so exasperating about this thing. What if you did a job during
the day and you never could get it done? You know what I mean? What if you had a job to do and
you did it and you failed? Every time you felt like, I didn't
get the job done. It's never complete. It'd be
so exasperating. And there are people in here
that listen to me time and time again. I've heard you say, I
want to tell you the same thing I've told you a hundred times
and more, who obviously don't believe it yet. And I can't make
you believe it. God must decide to reveal Christ
to you. He must decide. He tells me,
priest to the bones, but Lord, Thank God, some bones do live.
And the preacher witnesses it, and he says, well, this preach
is not futile after all, is it? But I can't get you to believe
this. I tell you what I'm going to
make you do this morning, though. I'm going to make you face the facts.
I can't do that. I'm going to make you face the
facts. The existence of a man named
Jesus in history is absolutely undeniable. There was a man named
Jesus who walked the planet. He lived in a place called Nazareth.
Now, all that has been written about him, the world could not
contain the books. All the songs that have been
written concerning him are more than all the hymns and songs
of other things put together. His existence in history is absolutely
undeniable. There was a man who walked this
planet named Jesus. And some said, He's the Christ.
And some even said that God Almighty, that voice from heaven said,
This is the Son of God. And many say the scriptures bear
witness, talk about Him over and over, thousands of years
before He came, saying, This is God coming. God in the human
flesh. His name, and I'm not trying
to prove Him to you this morning. I'm not trying to prove that
Jesus Christ is real to anybody. I'm not going to subject. He's
not up for acceptance. He's not up for approval. He's
not on trial here. I'm trying to tell you from the
bottom of my heart, we are. And even right now as we listen,
our hearing is on track as to whether or not we'll believe
the record God has made concerning his Son. He said, I sent my Son. What do you think about it? That's how serious this thing
is. Some believe, and it's unto eternal life. Some don't, and
it's unto eternal condemnation. And so the reason we don't fear
God is because we don't believe any of that. But He is the Son of God. I'm
not here to approve Him to anybody. Jesus, this one named Jesus who
walked over in Nazareth nearly 2,000 years ago, is God Almighty. He walked the planet. God, who
made you, who made me, who made the planet, walked this planet
one day. He says, I'm going to go down and I'm going to walk
on the earth I made. I've got something in mind, God
said. I've got a purpose in mind. I've got something to do. He
came with a purpose in mind. He came to live a life as a man.
Why? To try to get people to do better? God doesn't try anything. God doesn't try anything. God
does things. He came down to live a life as
a man. Why? Because he said, men are sinners,
and I won't have anything to do with sinners. I'm holy. And
if I'm going to have men with me in heaven, they're not going
to mess my heaven up like they did my earth. They're going to
be holy. I mean, they're not going to
think an evil thought. They're not going to do an evil
deed. They're going to be holy like me. They're going to be
holy because I'm holy. If men are going to be with God,
God says, they're going to have to be holy like me. I won't walk
with them. I don't want anything to do with
these maggots. We won't dwell with maggots. God said, I won't
either. So God came down here as a man. He said, now I'm going to live
a life as a man that a man ought to live. God says, I'm going
to come down and not just show you how it's done. He did. But I'm not just going to show
you how to do it. I'm doing it for some of you. He didn't have to do this. Nobody
said, now you ought to do it. He didn't. There was nothing
in us that compelled him to do it. Of his own free will and
mind, he just decided to do so, and he came down here and he
did that. The Scriptures call it establishing a righteousness.
living a holy life that God demands. And he did that for thirty-three
years. Thirty-three years. Barbara,
every hour of his life was spent for those people. He chose a
people, you see. And he lived a life for thirty-three
years as a man without one sinful thought or word or deed. One
or one. Not one. This is inconceivable.
But he didn't. And God Almighty acknowledged
him and said, Now there's a man, there is a man that I approve
of. I will accept that man. That
man can walk right into heaven and I'll accept him on the basis
of his life. He was well pleasing to God,
but he didn't do that for himself. He didn't have to. He didn't
have to come at all for himself. or try to prove anything. He
did it on behalf of some people, some people he chose to save
before the world began. He chose them to save them, to
do that for them, to live that life for them, and he did it.
He lived that life for them. And somehow, he took that life
he lived, and what the Scriptures call imputed it, or charged it
to. It made it appear as if they
lived that perfect life that he lived. I can't explain that. It's just so. That God Almighty
accounted everything Jesus Christ did, every holy thought, word,
deed, his whole life, thirty-three years, as if I did it, this man,
and all who believe. as if they did. And God looks
at all those people as being just like Jesus Christ. Accept
it. In the beloved. Accept it. God approves of them. God said,
now there's a holy man. Right there, that Henry Stewart,
he's a holy man. Henry said, no, I'm not. I'm
a sinner. God says, who is he that condemns? I've justified
you. Because of Christ. Because Christ
lived for you, Henry. Because he lived that life for
you. And God accepts you because of him. And then Christ, but
wait a minute. You're a sinner. I'm a sinner.
Everything we've done from the cradle till now has been a sin,
rebellion against God. And God says the soul that sins
must surely die. He said, I can't acquit sin or
I'd be thought of as an unjust God, wouldn't I? An unholy God,
God says you're going to pay for your sin. Either you're going
to pay for them in hell or somebody else is going to do it for you.
But not anybody can, not just anybody can. Christ can and did. And God made him sin, took all
the sins of all God's chosen people and laid them on him,
the iniquity of us all, and he went to a cross. And in six hours'
time, he bore the punishment, the wrath of God Almighty, equivalent
to an eternity of hatred against sin, punishment, bore the punishment
These people were dead. He bore it all on Calvary's tree
and God killed him. God said, this is what I think
is sin. He found it on his son and killed him. Slew him. Butchered his body into a bloody
piece of meat. That's what I think is sin. And
he died. And all those people died in
him. Died in him. But he didn't stay dead. He didn't stay dead. If he had,
he didn't do anybody a bit of good, did he? Huh? Those lambs,
those bullocks, those turtledoves stayed dead, didn't they? That
they were sacrificed? That's the reason none of them
could put away sin. Nobody knows if God is pleased. But God raised
his Son from the dead, proving he accepted what he did. He died,
but yet now he lives. And finally, forty days he walked
on the planet. Forty days after he died, he
arose again, and forty days people saw him walk around the earth.
Seen at one time of over four hundred people. One time, over
four hundred people saw him alive, after he'd been obviously dead. That proves who he is right there,
doesn't it? And after forty days, he just
walked off. a cloud came down and he just
stepped on it and and walked out. You believe that? And those he died for and right
now he went back to the spirit world. What was that preacher?
I don't know. He went back to the spirit world and sat down
at the right hand of God but the spirit world, and now he
is interceding, mediating, praying for, being an advocate, representative,
making certain the salvation of all those people he did that
for. Everyone. And for the rest of those people,
the rest who don't believe this, he's coming back. He's coming back to judge them.
Like I said, I'm giving you the facts. This is just the facts.
Only God can make this real to you. I'm giving you the facts.
He's coming back and everybody who doesn't believe Him, trust
Him, receive Him, love Him, He's going to wipe them out. You may not believe this. Some of you in here may be indifferent
to it, but be assured these are the facts, and someday you will
realize them. They will be realized upon you.
Now, to our text. Now, I said his name means Savior. It means Savior. He came to save
the lost. He came to save sinners from
their sin. If you're not a sinner, then he didn't come for you.
That's just a fact. He didn't die for you. I'm not talking
to you this morning. If there's a sinner in here, if there are
any sinners in here this morning, I'm here to tell you about the
Savior of sinners. Look at this story here. This is a perfect
illustration. Acts 9, verse 32. It says, And
it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came
down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. And there he
found a certain man. Amen. A certain man. Oh, I've preached on that before.
A certain man. It says all the way through the
Scripture, a certain woman, a certain man. You know, God chooses certain
individuals. And this is glorious. If a gospel has come to you,
and you believe it, and you trust Christ, and He's borne witness
with your spirit, you're a certain woman. You're a certain man. You're a certain person that
God thought on and chose before the world began. and put your
name in a book and did everything he did for you, a certain person. Not your brother, not your sister,
not your husband, not your wife, not your father, you. That ought to make somebody.
Anybody that gets a hold of it, that ought to make them shout.
Me? Yeah, a certain man. It made
this man shout later on. A certain man, and Angus said
that he was in bed eight years. See, that kept his bed eight
years, was sick of the palsy, eight years. Now, this man was
sick, people. He was sick. He was not like
you see on these healing crusades. You know, a fellow is in a wheelchair,
and nobody's seen him before that time, and they won't see
him after. You know, a plant, he's been
planted by oil or somebody. You know, this man was sick.
People had seen him for eight years, lying on a bed, paralyzed. That's what palsy means. Paralyzed. Couldn't move. A certain man.
Truly sick. No doubt to anybody. He was sick.
Eight years. A very real sickness. A very
real sickness. And he needed a real cure. He
didn't need a man to just blow on him or spit on him or touch
him or, you know, shout at him. He needed to be cured. A real
cure. And I'm telling you, we've got
a real problem. All of us by nature have real
sickness. We're dead. Dead to God. Dead in trespasses and sin. We're
sick with sin. God said it in Isaiah 1, the
whole head is sick. He said the heart is faint. The
heart doesn't think about God or doesn't have any affection
to God. It has affection for trash. The heart loves this world. And it ought to love God. It's
faint. And the head's sick. The head
doesn't think about God. Doesn't think about God. Thinks
about foolishness all the time. Sick. We're sick. You ever said
that about something? Man, he's sick. It could be said
about all of us by nature. We're sick. Man is sick. His affections, he's turned upside
down. One preacher said his feet are
where his head ought to be. His head is where his feet ought
to be. His head's down here on earth. His feet are pointed up
toward heaven. He's upside down. We're sick. And you know there's no need
for great grace unless there's great sin. There's no need for
a great price to be paid unless we've got a bad sickness. Right?
Now this man was a long time sick. He said he was eight years
sick with a palsy. Eight years. Eight years. That didn't matter, did it? It
didn't matter to the Lord. It wasn't difficult. It was just
harder for Christ to heal than somebody who'd been sick two
years or eight months. Was it harder? Well, it takes the same power
to cure a man sick twenty-eight years as eight years. And there's
many, there's some in here who, you know the older, The old saying
is that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well, God Almighty
can teach an old sinner the gospel, the good news. And it doesn't
matter. I'm here to tell you that some
have been sitting under this gospel for a long time now. It's
sick, obviously to me, sick. It's no effect on you. And you
could be 20 years old, 30 years old, 40, 70, 80, it doesn't matter. God can heal you just the same,
just the same. And we've greatly sinned for
a great number of years, too. Scripture says he's able to save
the uttermost. It doesn't matter how long you've
lived in sin. It doesn't matter. He's able.
Well, this fellow had an incurable disease, too. Sick of the palsy. Has anybody ever heard of somebody
being cured of cerebral palsy? It's never happened yet. Well,
that's cerebral. That's brain paralysis. What about polio? Anybody ever been totally cured
of polio once they contacted it? No. What about a quadriplegic
being healed? Never. He had a great sickness,
didn't he? An incurable sickness. Beyond
human power. Wasn't it? With man, it was impossible.
But with God, all things are possible. With God, all things
are possible. What about you? Do you feel your
sin to be incurable? I'd love to find a sinner, somebody
coming in. And I've seen somebody that's
just absolutely weeping. Brother Barnard told this story
one time. He said he went to a meeting. preach somewhere and. And he a lady and her husband
had a daughter who was quite rebellious quite. While and they
asked him to talk to her and he did reluctantly but he did
he talked to her and he said young lady finally he said I
dare you used to say things like yes I double dog there he. He
said, I double-dog dare you, young lady, to get in your closet
tonight, and you ask God to reveal yourself to you. You ask God
to show you what you really are. And he left. And a year, well,
sometime later, he came back to this same town, and here that
girl was in the service, and she was beside herself with grief,
trouble, pain written all over her face. And the parrot said,
Brother Barnard, would you talk to her? She's troubled. She's
never been the same since you left. And he said, OK. And he
talked to her and said, what's wrong, honey? She said, I'm a
sinner. I'm a wretch. God's not going
to save me. I've lived such a horrible life.
I've been tempted to end my life. I don't know what to do. I'm
a wit's end. Barnard said, well, I double-dog dare you to go home
and get in your closet tonight. And you ask the Lord to show
you Himself, show you Christ, show you His Son. How dare you? And he said he came back through
town a little while later, and that girl was on the front row
with the biggest smile on her face there was. A real sinner
had met a real Savior. And I'd love to find a few of
you. You know, that's the reason the Gospel
loses its preciousness to us. We get all puffed up, pride,
knowledge, self-righteousness. Well, you know, I've been believing
on Christ for years now, and I'm a Calvinist, and I'm a theologian,
and all this. You're a sinner, and you need
the same Savior. He takes the same power day in
and day out to forgive you of your daily sins, and you need
this gospel, and it ought to be sweet to you. It ought to
be. We've got an incurable disease.
Our whole nature is paralyzed with it. Does anybody feel that
way? Huh? I still feel paralysis of time, palsy of the mind, of
the affection, of the thoughts, of the walk. My feet won't go
where they're supposed to go. Huh? How about you? My head won't
think what it's supposed to think. My eyes look on things it ought
not to. Huh? My ears won't hear what they
ought to, and they hear what they ought not. That's what Paul
said in Romans 7. Why am I thus? The things that
I would do, I don't. I'm paralyzed with sin. Anybody
in there? They're out there? Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.
This is what Peter said to this man. That's all he said. Peter had one five-word message. That's it. Jesus Christ maketh
thee whole. Now this tells, look at it, look
at it, verse 34. He had the palsy for eight years,
and Peter said unto him, Annas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.
Arise, make your bed. And he arose immediately. And everybody saw him and recognized
him. This man believed Christ. This
is important here. Now, this point is important.
Peter said, Jesus Christ makes you whole, Angus. The man believed
and he was healed. He believed what? Peter didn't
say much else here. He didn't say much, but Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ makes you whole.
Is that enough? Why, he's all. Huh? Peter didn't say anything about
himself. As the head of the church, I do now, and by the authority
vested in me as the Pope, I do absolve thee of all..." He didn't
say that. Peter didn't appoint the man to himself. Now, if you'll
just be sinful enough, if you'll just go through a certain amount
of penance, he didn't appoint him to anybody or anything but
Jesus Christ. Spurgeon said the purest gospel
has the least man in it and the most Christ. That's about the
purest gospel message you'll ever hear. Pure Christ. And the purest gospel has the
least man in it and the most Christ in it. And I warn everybody
here this morning not to listen to preaching which puts a man
between you and Jesus Christ. Don't listen to preaching which
puts a man between you and Christ, Joe. And if you're to be saved,
let me say this, if you're going to be saved, Jesus Christ is
going to do it. I can't do it. No man can do it. Jesus Christ
make it the hope. And it's going to be between
you and Jesus Christ. Your mama's not going to do it.
Your daddy's not going to do it. The preacher's not going
to do it. I can preach the best message you've ever heard in
your life. But unless you and Jesus Christ get together, you're
not going to be saved. Now, I know it's up to him, but
I'm telling you right now, if you want to be saved—this is
why I'm saying, is there a sinner in here? If there's anybody hungry
in here, there's bread to be had. Go get it. Now, Peter didn't say—now, if
you feel a certain way in yourself, then you'll—he didn't say anything
about feelings, did he? You have the will and the power.
You can help yourself. God helps those who help themselves.
Now, he said, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. And I know God has to make a
man, has to convict a man of his sin, a woman of her sins,
and so forth, and bring them to the point where they see their
need of Christ. And this is my next point. He can do it immediately. He can do it immediately. This
man was healed. Look at that. Do you hear that?
Do you see that? It says, Jesus Christ maketh
thee whole. The man arose, ariseth, maketh
thy bed, and he arose immediately. Immediately. Immediately upon
hearing the news, the man arose and made his bed. Salvation is
to be had immediately upon looking to Christ. Immediately. This is an error that a lot of
people have gotten into. We've got to go through so long
a period of time of suffering and mourning and feeling guilt
and doing penance and so forth. Immediately, Spurgeon told this
story one time. He said he met a young American
girl. He was preaching. Spurgeon never came to America,
but a lot of people from America went over to hear him preach.
He was widely known all over the world. And he met an American
girl out in the the foyer before he went in to preach, and he
told about this girl how that she was real troubled about herself. She was real troubled, and this
young lady was concerned about her soul and her way of salvation.
And Spurgeon simply said this to her. This is all he said.
You trust Christ. You trust Christ. And you're
a saved person. Based upon the authority of God's
Word, you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you trust Christ
right now, you're a saved person. And you know that he said that
she, he said her countless chains? He said her tears dried up? She said you just trust Christ?
He said trust Christ and you'll be saved. She said, well I do,
I trust Christ, I believe Christ. He said, now you're getting on
the rock. That was his very English word. Now you're getting on the
rock. And she said, well I do. I trust Christ. She said, you
know I feel better already. She said, I can't explain it.
I just trust Christ. Believe Christ, depend upon Christ
to save me, he'll save me." Yeah, that's right. Wahoo! She said,
well, praise God. Now, trust him, I feel she said,
and she went on to tell about her granddad. She said, you know,
I got this from my granddad. She said, my granddad was an
old hard-line Presbyterian, and he said that he went through,
went six years without any peace, and said they finally put him
in the insane asylum. You don't have to get it. That doesn't have to happen,
people. I'm telling you, based upon the authority of my text
right this moment, you trust Christ. Jesus Christ makes you
whole. The Word is now you, even in
your heart. Spurgeon was a young boy one
time. About Kevin Berry's age, and he stumbled in a church house
one day, and an old simpleton preacher about like me, you know,
had trouble expressing himself. He finally looked at the young
man and said, You look miserable, young man. He said, Look to Jesus
Christ. Look! And be saved. Do it now. Don't wait a minute. Look! The virgin said, Peace flooded
his soul. say it's not consistent with
Calvinistic doctrine. Who said it had to be? Huh? Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. And that man was made whole. He didn't go out with a limp.
Well, thank you for that much, at least. Whole. Scripture says you're complete
in Christ and lacking nothing. Well, I believe that Jesus died
for my sins and all that, but I've got to live from here on
out. I've got to live the best I can or God won't accept me.
That's not whole, is it? That's not a whole salvation,
is it? Huh? That's me, that's Christ plus
me, plus my works, isn't it? Huh? Well, if I just believe,
you know, if I believe strongly enough, if I believe hard enough,
if my faith is perfect then, then I'll be safe. Who said anything
about your faith? Jesus Christ make it the whole
whole whole whole. This man was really he miraculous
what if he hadn't been cured. Hypothetically what if this man
had not been cured. What if Peter had said. And if
Jesus Christ make it the whole get up and make your bed and
he didn't he couldn't. Peter would've been a false witness,
wouldn't he? Huh? Jesus Christ would've been
dishonored and brought upon the name of Christ. The power of
God would've been brought into disrepute. I'm here to tell you
the truth, people. I'm telling you the truth. Jesus
Christ really, really saves. He really does. He changes people. There are just some people in
here who can attest to that. Believe and trust Jesus Christ
and Him alone. Well, say, how? I don't know. Do it anyway. There's
some people in here who have done just that, the impossible.
Believe, trust in Christ and Him alone, who have been radically
changed. Anybody? Don't do something that's
never been done in the history of the Sovereign Grace Movement.
I'm asking you to raise your hand. Huh? Is there anybody that
this has really happened to? I'll raise my hand. I'll lift
up holy hands to God. Don't go out and tell anybody
we did this, but I will. And edit this Terry off the tape,
but I will. This is real. Like I said before,
I don't have to be here this morning, but something real has
happened. And it wasn't an emotional thing.
I went through an emotional time before as a 12-year-old boy,
and I heard of it, and I went down and baptized. That didn't
mean a thing. It didn't change me. As a matter
of fact, from then on, I became the biggest rebel ever what.
But later on, as a young man, 20, 21, God started really working
with me, really working with me, revealing the gospel to me.
And it comes through the mind, and into the heart, and the affection,
and a real change. I am not what? And something's
happening. Christ said it. He said, you're
going to be a new creature. And I'm not playing games here
this morning, people. I'm just not interested in playing.
Are you interested in playing a game? Is that why you're here? Because Mama wants you to come
to church, or your husband, or your wife, huh? I won't do that. You can't make me go somewhere
I don't want to go. I'm too old for that. Henry,
aren't you too old for that? Huh? I know you are. You're too
old for about most everything. But you're not going to church
because you have to. I hope not. Because you want
to. Well, there was a time when you
didn't want to, wasn't there? There was a time when I didn't want
to. Now this is what I want to do
more than anything. Explain that to me," Scott would
say. Explain that. And you can't really
except to say, God, Jesus Christ made me whole. And they're not playing church
here, not having choir practice. Let's see how many people we
can get in, how many we can baptize. You know, we baptized two people,
was it last Sunday? I don't even remember. I'm not
notching my belt. I didn't tell anybody about that.
You know, I haven't called anybody and told them how many we baptized.
I bet you 13th Street didn't baptize two people last week.
We were ahead, weren't we? I didn't call anybody and say
that. I didn't call anybody. God is my witness. And tell them,
hey, look what was happening here. But just a bunch of old sinners
here, coming out to hear the gospel we need so badly. Somebody
confesses Christ, we'll rejoice. Somebody asks us, we'll tell
them and we'll rejoice about it. But that's not why we're
here. See how many we can baptize or get church members. I'd like
to see a few still, but not with church members. I don't want
any church members. Church members give you problems. Sinners Sinners are just absolutely
in subjection and just love to hear the gospel. That's all they're
interested in, is preach the gospel to me. Do whatever you
think's best. Just preach the gospel to me.
I don't want church members. What I'm trying to say is Christ
really changes people. He really does. Old things pass
away, desires truly change. You want the things you once
despised, you despise the things you once loved. Really? Does that happen to you?
Really now, your goals, your principles,
your thoughts are transformed, you think on things above, whereas
before you didn't think on them at all. Your affection, you love
the things of Christ, the gospel, well, really. And it says, and it's,
now look at this, this is important, and it's acted like he was healed
up too. He did change. Verse 34, Peter
said, Yes, get up, make your bed. I started to title this message,
Arise and Make Your Bed. But I thought somebody getting
that tape would wonder what in the world that message is about. He says he arose immediately
and made his bed and everybody saw it. Some say about when something
happens to, when God deals with somebody, somebody will say,
oh, so-and-so changed his ways. Ever heard that? Or he got religion.
Now say that about you. He got religion. She got religion. Or he changed his ways. No. There
are a lot of outward reformations that people make, quit their
drinking and all that, get religion, start going to church. That's
not salvation. That's not it. But, you know,
real salvation is when God changes your heart. God changes your
heart. And, yes, He changes your ways. Yeah, He does. He changes your
way. And, yes, Amos was through with
lying on that bed, wasn't he? Now, he had lain, English teachers
help me, lain, lain, He was laying on the bed for eight years. And after eight years, and the
Lord said, Jesus Christ makes you whole, get up off that bed. He said, I'm through with that
old bed, isn't it? I've had enough of that thing.
Right? After it was over, did he get
it out on occasion and say, well, let's see, and wallow it? I'm
through with that, and bless God, by God's grace, I'm through
with my past life, too. As much as God gives me the grace
and so forth, that filthy, stinking life I once lived, huh? How about
you? I'm not saying that we don't,
and you come out tonight and we're going to show you how that
a believer can fall terribly into sin. But he don't stay down,
you know. Maybe Amos did get on that bed
every now and then. But he didn't stay there for
eight years. He got up and he thought, why am I doing lying
here? This thing smells. Phew! I'm going to lay elsewhere. I'm going to walk elsewhere.
And by God's grace, you know, I'm still plagued by my evil
thoughts and desires and sometimes actual filthy deeds. And let
me ask you that you have the same problem, don't you? Sure
you do. But do you love them? Do you go back and wallow in
them? Do they rule over you as they once did, huh? Do you mourn
over them? Do you repent over them immediately?
Do you repent and endeavor to turn from them? Lord, I don't
want that. And you endeavor to turn from
them, huh? Turn, the Lord says. That's what repent means, do
you? That's a real change, isn't it? Isn't it? Well, someone may
say this in closing. Someone may say, well, I wish
I had Christ like that. I don't feel. I wish I had Christ. Why don't you? Will God head and sovereignly
come? That's a cop-out, isn't it? Well,
I'm going to wait on the Lord to sovereignly call me. Well,
indeed, He will, He must sovereignly call you. And I'm here to tell
you, if you really, it's the reason I said, when I heard about
a fellow one time saying, well, I'm just not saved, that's my
problem. The reason I said, he doesn't believe that. He doesn't
believe that. If he believed that, he'd do
something about it. Huh? What if you thought, I'm going
to die tomorrow. Oh, I'm going to die tomorrow. You'd do something
about it, wouldn't you? Man, I worked with one time,
said, well, I know if I die, I'll go to hell. I said, no,
you don't. You don't believe that. If you believe you burn
for eternity in a place where the worm dies not, unspeakable
agony and pain and separation from everything good, you wouldn't
sit here and be telling me that. You'd be at home begging God
to save you. Right? You know, somebody says,
I wish I had Christ like that. No, you don't. If he did, you would. Right?
He's as hungry and thirsty as the righteousness. What? Be filled! Well, I don't feel fed. I don't
feel worried. I don't. You never will. What's this stammerer going to
say? All the fitness he requires is to feel your need. What's
fitness for washing? He said, I don't have to take
a bath. I'm too dirty. That's what somebody's saying. I don't
feel sinful enough. I don't come to cry. I don't
feel sinful enough. What is fitness for washing? Being dirty. You should be dirty. What about
being fed? What's always required of being
fed is being hungry. What about being cured? You've
got to be sick. What about getting grace? I wish
I had grace. I wish God would be a beggar,
be a beggar. Christ's salvation is free for
the asking. Boy, I tell you, if this is the
only message anybody ever heard, they'd think. But I'm here to
tell you now. Salvation is free for the asking.
Anybody, everybody that asks him will be saved. You like that? Hey Calvinist, you like that?
I love it. I love it. I do. We're not trying to exclude anybody
from being saved. Huh? But let me tell you this
now, it's free for the asking, but it's not to be bought. It's
not to be bought. Can't pay a thing for it. You
don't earn it. And you're never worthy of it.
You can't do it. Your works, your deeds, your
repentance is never good enough. Repentance is never good enough
to earn salvation. It's just for the asking. Lord
save me or I'll perish. I read of a woman, this is a
true story, years ago, who Who this is years and years ago
back when they used to use home remedies to heal with. And this woman she her son was
deathly sick and she needed she had heard of a remedy that had
been used for this sickness of a certain strain of grapes. A certain strain of grapes had
been used in some sort of. Mixture to help in this particular
ailment. Well she was desperate and she
went to this and the only one in the country who had this particular
strain of grapes was a prince. It's a true story a prince. had this, he had a little garden
or greenhouse type place, and he was the only one who grew
this strain of grapes. He'd gone a long distance to
get it and brought it over and cultivated it, and it had this
healing power. And this woman came to him and
she'd scraped up all the money she could, and she came to this
prince and said, Sir, my son is deathly ill. Would you please
sell me some of those grapes? And the prince became indignant.
I know. So I will not. And he said to
these his courtesan he said get this woman out of here get her
out of my sight. And she was shocked and she left
they took her out there a little while later she came back She
was desperate, and she came back and said, Prince, I need these
grapes. Please let me buy these grapes
off of you. I'll give you all that I have.
And the fellow was indignant. He said, I most certainly will
not get this woman out of my presence. And they drug her off
again. And a little while later she
came back, and she was desperate by this time. She said, But sir,
I've got to have those grapes. How can I get those grapes? He
said, woman, I'm no common marketer. I don't grow these things to
sell for a profit. I'm the prince. I grow them for
my pleasure. I grow them to give out. They're
not for sale. But do you want some? Oh yes,
I need them badly. Take them. They're free. But don't insult me. by trying
to, I don't need your money. Do you see the point here? Christ
is not for sale. Byron used to say about these
preachers today, modern preachers, they're trying to sell Jesus
on people. People that don't want him. Trying to offer them a big dowry.
Joe Terrell said it's like trying to offer a big dowry for an ugly
bride. Nobody wants him. But they're
promising, you know, heaven, be free from disease, and a Cadillac
in your driveway. Come on, please take Jesus, would
you please? Huh? Send him as your partner.
I don't want him. Please? And Barnard said if they
can't sell him for a dollar, they'll take a dime. Jesus Christ
is not for sale. He said we've sold ourselves.
into iniquity, though. We've been sold out, and he's
going to have to buy us. It's going to take a great price,
the price of his blood. And the only thing that will
get us that blood is what? Asphalt. Not our good deeds,
not our repentance, not our faith. Lord, please. I'm telling you
right now, I couldn't preach a better message to you. Somebody
that's troubled is Vacillating on this thing? I can't make you
believe, I can't make you feel you need a Christ, but I'm telling
you right now, if you feel you need a Christ, if you just trust
Christ right now. Jesus Christ makes you whole.
He really saves people. Joe, come on up now, let's sing
that. What verse is that? Or what number
did I tell you? 310. Here's a fitting hymn for that
too. Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly
whole.