Now open your Bibles back to
Acts chapter 4. Back in chapter 3, verse 23,
Peter was preaching to a large group of people. in or around Jerusalem. He said
in verse 23, It shall come to pass that every soul which will
not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.
Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow
after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these
days. He said in verse 26, Unto you
first God raised up his Son, Jesus. sent him to bless you."
Peter was preaching the Lord Jesus Christ to this crowd of
people, and he said there in verse 23, if you do not believe
everything Jesus Christ said, if you do not believe him, trust
him, if you do not heed him, what he says, who he is. you will be destroyed by God
Almighty." Now, that's strong language, isn't it? Peter was
very bold to speak in his God. That's very dogmatic language. Some of the people may have left
after hearing Peter preach and say, That's very narrow. It's
very narrow, very bigoted, very dogmatic. Surely there's a lot
of sincere people out there who believe what they believe or
who they believe very sincerely and very sincerely going about
what they're doing. And surely those people will
be saved in the end, will get to heaven or wherever. Look at verse 1 of chapter 4.
And as they were speaking unto the people, the priests—now,
this is a Sunday-go-to-meeting crowd here. This is like the
elders and deacons and deaconesses even, and leaders of a large religious organization, so-called
church, coming together. and apprehending these men for
what they are preaching. Look at verse 1. Read on down
through verse 4. And as Peter, as the apostles
spake unto the people, the priests and the captain of the temple,
ruler of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being
grieved that they taught the people, or what they taught the
people, and preached through Jesus, the resurrection from
the dead. And so they laid hands on them,
grabbed ahold of Peter and the apostles, and put them in hold,
or rather, put them in some temporary jail until the next day, because
it was evening. Howbeit, verse 4, many of them
which heard the word, or many who had been standing around
listening to Peter and them believed. And the number of the men was
about 5,000. It says there, verse 2, some were grieved. Verse 4
says some believed. Some were grieved, but some believed. And it's the same way today.
The same thing takes place today. If you preach God on the throne
holy, sovereign, just, saving whom he will. If you preach man
as a helpless creature in the dust at God's disposal, not vice
versa, but man at God's disposal, not God at man's disposal. If
you preach Christ as the discriminating, sovereign Lord and Savior giving
salvation to whoever he will, saving everyone he died for and
those only. Some will grieve at that and
even gnash their teeth and cry out against it. And if it were
lawful, they would lay hands upon you and put you away. But, thank God, some believe. Some are grieved with this message,
but some believe. because some see God as God. Simple as that may sound, it's
a profound statement. Some people believe and see God
as God, not as some weakling that men let do whatever they
want him to do or disallow him from doing what he wanted to
do. And some people see God, as God, doing all things according
to his own will and purpose, and nobody can stay his hand.
And God purposing and planning all things, and everything he
purposes and plans will come to pass exactly the way he purposed
it. Some do see him by God's grace,
and some do see their sinfulness. They see their helplessness before
God, their inability to do anything for themselves. They see their
sin and they grieve over their sin. Some do see Christ, too,
as their only hope, as their only way to get into the presence
of this holy God. Some see Christ. They see him. He is personal in work and they
believe. So the same thing takes place today whenever the gospel
is proclaimed. Some grieve at it. They don't
like what they're hearing. But yet some believe, thank God,
some believe. Paul said this in 2 Thessalonians
2, verses 13 and 14. In consideration that some people
do believe this, he said, We are bound to thank God. Brethren,
beloved of the Lord, to thank God for you, beloved of the Lord,
because if you do believe, God hath from the beginning chosen
you to believe. God has caused you to believe,
or else you'd be like the rest of the people. You'd grieve at
this and not believe it. But we're bound to thank God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you. Yes, election. Thank God for
his electing. Grace has chosen you to salvation. Election is not salvation. That's
the doctrine that explains that it's unto salvation. But God
has chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit.
We thank God. We're bound to thank God, the
Holy Spirit, for culling you out of the herd, out of the mass
of sinful humanity that's headed toward hell just as fast as they
can go. loving every minute of it. The mass, the majority of
people, most people believe error. Most people believe wrongly,
and they are all headed the wrong way. They are all headed this
broad road, the Scripture says, that leads to destruction. But
we are bound to thank God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God has chosen He said, as it were, there's
Joe Parks, he's headed the same place everybody else is headed.
He's following the crowd, too. And I hope I can say this about
one of you young people someday who's following the crowd, who's
just doing what your peers are doing, who's just doing what
everybody else is doing, and it's going to destroy you. You're
going to go the way of the world, and you're going to be destroyed
with the world. And as it were, God said, there's
Joe Parks. He's headed the same way everybody
else is headed. He's walking the same way everybody
else is headed, away from God. We've all gone astray. Every
man has gone his own way, not God's way. And God said, there's
Joe Parks. I've loved him. I've chosen him
from before the foundation of the world. He's going to be mine.
And he sent the Holy Spirit down and said, now arrest that man.
Lasso him. Put a cord around his neck. Draw
him with that cord, cords of love. Draw him out of that mass
of people. Set him over to the side. Sanctify
him over here. Get him out of that mess. Let
him hear the message. Bound to give thanks to God for
you, Joe Parks, beloved of the Lord. Oh, if you put your own
name there, it makes it a little more special, doesn't it? Because God sanctified you, sanctification
of spirit, belief of the truth. You don't believe a lie. Most
people do. You believe the truth. Whereunto
there are two salvations. He called you by our gospel. That's what makes the gospel
stay precious to you, isn't it, buddy? That's what he called
you by the first time. It's what perked up your deaf
ears the first time, wasn't it? He heard the gospel. And it's
what you want. It's what perks your ears up
even still to the obtaining of glory, the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I can't expound on that much.
We haven't experienced it yet. A little bit, a little bit. Well, these angry church folks
here in this story, these angry Sunday go to meeting crowd, it
was the Sunday go to meeting church members that crucified
Christ. You know, it wasn't the harlots
and the publicans and the drunks and the guttersnipes. It was
good church folk. Good church folk. They're the
ones who crucified Christ. They hated it. They didn't want
anything to do with it. And they're the ones that hate this message
more than anybody today. Well, these angry church folk,
religionists, grabbed hold of Peter. They came in where he
was preaching. Think about it. It would be like me preaching
before you right now, this morning. And the doors burst open. And
all of a sudden, the elders and deacons and head of the Sunday
school departments and deaconesses, they'd be at the head of the
line, I guarantee you. If it was lawful, they'd come in here
and, heresy, heresy, and grab hold of me and jerk me out of
here. And Joe, Joe standing up here
preaching or whoever up here, Rick, reading the scriptures
and grab us and take us out of here. Now commotion going on,
you know, and jerk us out of here and take us somewhere and
throw us in a room. That's what happened here. That's
what happened through the Peter and the boys in jail. All right,
let's look at verses five through seven. And it came to pass the
next day on the morrow or tomorrow that their rulers and elders
and scribes, the rulers of these people. I feel sorry for most of these
people that are in the so-called churches out here. I feel sorry
for the masses of people that are being led astray. They are
to be blamed because they have heaped to themselves these teachers,
but nevertheless I feel sorry for them. I get angry at these
wolves in sheep's clothing. I get mad at it. That's what
our Lord did, didn't he? Didn't he have compassion upon
the multitude, but didn't he have nothing but harsh words
for these religious leaders, these wolves in sheep's clothing?
Yeah, he did. And I don't say that you should
pray for these dudes unless it is that the Lord reveal the truth
to them, make them stop preaching their heresy. I feel like the
disciples every now and then say, Lord, call down fire on call down fire on them, open
up the ground, and swallow these sons of Korah." Well, they grabbed
them, and it came to pass all these rulers and elders and scribes
and Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander,
as many as were the kindred of the high priest. This was a family
affair. Did you catch that? This was
the First Baptist Church of Heretic USA, and it's mostly family members,
you see. Rick, these are people who hadn't
been to church in probably months. But yet they were going to take
a vote to cast the preacher out, and they all show up that Sunday
morning. And they all come in, you know, relatives of whoever. And they all come in and were
gathered together, as many as were gathered together at Jerusalem.
Verse 7, set them in their midst, or they got Peter and the boys
and brought them up from wherever they were and set them down.
And I said, now, by what power? They had them
there in front of them, in front of their little kangaroo court.
And I said, now, by what power or by what name have you done
this? Where did you get this power?
What are you doing here? Who sent you here? Who sent you
here? What are you doing here? What
is your purpose here? What's going on here? Who sent
you? Where'd you get this power? They,
as it goes on to say in the same chapter, that they couldn't deny
the miracle, that the man had been healed. They couldn't deny
it because everybody saw it. Everybody's taken by it. But
they wanted to know how they did this thing. Verse 8, now
here it is. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost. It doesn't say that Peter started
talking in tongues, does it? Huh? Does it say that? Peter started talking in an unknown
language, or a foolish, as Pharaoh would say, see my, see my, sick
of my seed. And you say that I can teach you to talk in tongues
and see my see my sick of my feet. You get talking, doing
it real well, do it fast, see my see my sick of my feet. Peter didn't do that at all.
He said he was filled with the Spirit though, didn't he? Well,
what did he do? He preached Christ. That's what
he did. He preached Christ to them, filled
with the Holy Ghost, said something to them. He wanted them to understand
what he was saying, or rather He wanted them to hear whose
name it was that he had come in and how these things had happened. He said, You rulers of the people,
elders of Israel, if this day, if we this day, if today you're
examining us of the good deed, if you're asking me about how
this impotent or this lame man was healed, by what means he
was made holy, if that's what you're wondering about. If that's
what you're talking about when you ask me about what power and
whose name we've done this or whatever, if that's what you're
talking about, well, I'm here to tell you right now, let me
say this so that there'll be no doubt that everybody understands. No mere mortal man can heal anybody. Don't let anybody here give me
or these other disciples or apostles, don't let anybody give us any
of the glory here. No, we didn't have anything to
do with this. We were fishing, and if he'd
have gone into detail, he'd say, we were fishing one day. I mean,
we were fishing. A nobody from nowhere going nowhere
in a boat. And this glorious one comes by
and calls us, and everything we can do. You see, no mere mortal
man can do anything except it be given him from above. Even
you rulers. If he might have said that, even
you rulers up there, there's no powers that be but are of
God. You're up there because God put
you there. And I'm here because God put me here. And we did what
we did because God gave us the ability. No mere mortal man can
do anything, be anything, have anything, know anything, or as
Paul said, can't even think anything worth thinking or doing or being,
except it be given him from above. Let that be established from
the outset. Now, if that's what you're talking
about, verse 10, "...be it known unto you all, and to all the
people of Israel." Now, I don't hear these healers going into
much detail to clarify where healing comes from, do you? I
don't hear them doing everything, saying all
that is within their power to the people to keep them from
looking to them. You understand I'm having trouble
struggling for words here right now. But I don't see these so-called
healers today going to great lengths to keep people from looking
to them and giving them the glory and pointing them to Christ,
do you? That's what Peter did first thing. He said, now if
you're talking about this healing, Be it known unto you all, and
all the people of Israel, by the name, the authority, the
power of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you hate." Now, you say
you love Jesus, but you hate him. You crucify him. You despise him. You despisers. You know what the Lord said?
You despisers, you're going to wonder at this work. Remember
that, when the Lord said that? You know we're in Isaiah? I'm
going to do a work in your midst, though you're not going to believe
it, though one told you. Here are you, despisers. You
crucified him, but God raised him from the dead. And if Peter
was talking to our crowd today, he'd say, you bunch of religious
hypocrites, claiming to believe on Jesus, claiming to be here
to worship God. You're not here. You're here to see a sideshow.
And we didn't do this thing. If a man is truly healed, God
had to heal him. God had to heal him, and you
hate the God of the Bible, you hate the Lord Jesus Christ of
Scripture, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.
God raised him from the dead. Even by him, by his name, by
his authority, by his power, does this man stand here before
you whole. He is saying here to these people,
Jesus Christ is Lord over all. He's Lord over the living and
over the dead. He's Lord over heaven and hell.
He's Lord over the angels and the devils. He's Lord over the
saved and the lost. And all powers that be come from
or by permission of Jesus Christ the Lord. He goes into great
detail there. He wants to make it very plain,
very clear. And I'm just an old fisherman,
and I'm just an old sinner and nothing at all. But Jesus Christ
is all and in all, Lord over all. And he said back there,
and if you refuse to believe him, if you religious leaders,
I know you've got your pietistical robes on, ecclesiastical robes
on. If you refuse to believe Christ,
then you're between a rock and a hard place. You have put yourself
between a rock and a hard place. Look at this, verse 11. Because
he said, this is the stone, this rock, solid one or truth, the
stone which is set at naught of you builders. The stone which
is set at naught of you builders which has become the head of
the corner. He's quoting Psalm 118, verse 22. In other words,
he's saying those who try to build their lives without Christ
are going to come face-to-face with Christ someday. Those who try to build their
lives, you young people, you try to go out there in the world
and make a life for yourself, you will. You'll get you a job. The Lord is merciful. He causes
the rain to pour or come down upon the just and the unjust.
Believers and unbelievers partake of his mercy, God's general mercies. You'll find you a job. You'll
find you a little wife, but it will cause you great grief eventually. And you'll find you a life. You'll
live your life. And you may find some degree
of happiness, but someday you're going to die. Unless you built your life upon
the rock Christ Jesus, you're dead while you live. You're going
to come face-to-face with a rock. You're between a rock and a hard
place. You know what a hard place is? And those who try to make a name
for themselves will someday be forced, the scripture says, at
the sound of his name, to bow their knees. Those who use that
name, this is another reason I believe the coming of Christ
is very close, because the Lord God is totally, seems to be totally
removing all restraints from men and women. Even ten or twenty
years ago, it seemed that men and women, somewhat of the fear
of the Lord was upon them, or at least Unconsciously, subconsciously,
there was some kind of restraints put upon what men and women say. I used to be, you think about it,
ten, even ten years ago, you didn't hear the name of Jesus
Christ used. You didn't hear God's name. You
heard it every now and then by the sailors or the construction
workers, you know, taking saying God's name, cursing with God's
name. Now it's on the mouths of young
people. Oh, God. God said, one of his commandments,
he said, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain. The scripture, God says, he will
not hold him guiltless who uses his name in a vain way, any way
other than praise, honor, glory, reverence, fear, respect. God
has exalted his name. You going to use it? God warns
us very explicitly from the scripture, you better Praise God with it,
not just take it on your filthy mouth to use. And now they're
saying, Jesus Christ. Mash their thumbs, they'll say,
well, Jesus Christ. If you're saved someday, it'll
be by that name. It'll only be by that name. It could be someday you'll be
damned for misusing that name. God will save all those who call
upon him in that name. Oh, Jesus Christ, have mercy
upon me. God will damn everyone that says
Jesus Christ in any way that's disrespectful. Oh, God's exalted
that name above every name. This is what tells me, Roberta,
it's getting close. God's removing all restraint.
It wouldn't surprise me in another couple of years for men to be
saying, Holy Spirit! Well, they're doing that now
in their church meetings, aren't they? The Spirit said to me, those who try to build a religious
refuge upon anything other than Christ crucified is going to
have their playhouses dashed to pieces. The rock Christ Jesus
is going to roll, this rock is going to roll all over top of
all of his enemies. He said he will dash them to
pieces. All religions without Jesus Christ
are going to someday see there is no true religion without Jesus
Christ. And our text says in verse 12,
Peter says, now, you're between a rock and a hard place. If you've
said it not, if you've made little of or belittled or thought nothing
of the Lord Jesus Christ and not interested, young people,
you're not interested in Jesus Christ, you're between a rock
and a hard place. And you're going to come face
to face someday. I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just knowing
the terror of this Lord, and I'm trying to persuade you. Bow
your knee right now to the Lord Jesus Christ. You call upon this
name. Don't cuss with it, call upon
it. Don't use it as a slang. Call
from the depths of your heart for God Almighty to save you
by it. Because, he says, verse 12, neither
is there salvation in any other. Peter gets to the real point
here, doesn't he, Rick? He says, you're talking about
this healing that went on. Now, if that's what you're talking
about, we didn't have anything to do with it. God has to get all
the glory for that. But let me tell you something.
There's no powers that be but the powers that be of God. And
here's where he's really Lord. Now, God's Lord over healing.
He kills, he makes alive. He raises up, he bashes down. He makes rich, he makes poor.
He's Lord. Christ is Lord. Now, here's the real issue, and
here's what really needs to be preached today. The lordship
of Christ in salvation. Ain't nobody arguing that. I hear John MacArthur and some
of them arguing this, because he couldn't sell any books that
way. Who's in charge of salvation?
He says there's salvation in no other. Let's hear them come
out boldly and plainly from their pulpits all over the United States
and say, Buddhists are lost! Hindus are lost! Muslims! Anybody trusting Mohammed is
going to die and go to hell. And only through Jesus Christ
will anybody be saved. Let's hear Billy Graham say that.
He won't do it. I've heard him from his very
mouth say it, not say it. I heard Larry King one time,
I asked him on Nationwide TV, what about these people in the
jungle who have never heard the name Jesus Christ or the gospel?
He said, Well, I just leave God merciful. No, he's not, outside
of Jesus Christ. Tell it, Paul did. He cut his
head cut off for telling it. There's no salvation
in any other, no other name. whereby he says, Under heaven,
given among men, whereby we must be saved. We must be saved. Neither
is there salvation in any of it. None other than that. Under heaven,
given among men, whereby we must be saved. Do you see the key
word there? Look at it, verse 12. Do you see a couple of key
words in there? Do you see the words salvation
and saved? Are you with me? All right, what
is salvation? What is salvation? What does
it mean to be saved? A lot of people using that term, aren't
they? Well, so-and-so got saved. Did you hear the news? So-and-so
got saved the other day. Are you saved? I'm saved. So-and-so
got saved. How many did you get saved? We
got a hundred saved. How many are you saving? We're
running about twenty every month. Baptism is safe, safe, salvation
is safe. What does it mean to be saved?
What is salvation? Most believe it's this. This
is what most people believe. It's being delivered from your
drunkenness, delivered from your sickness. Send me a hundred dollars,
you know, and I'll pray, go to my prayer tower and you'll have
your arthritis. That's it. That's what they believe
in. Most believe this is salvation,
and most believe that this is a cooperative effort between
you and God, that God wants so badly to make you healthy and
wealthy and someday have you in heaven. So we just pie in
the sky and sweep by and by. I don't want the circle to be
unbroken. God doesn't want the circle to be unbroken, you know.
Mama's there, John. Mama. Don't you want to meet
Mama, huh? You don't want to miss Mama.
You don't want to disappoint Mama. You don't want to worship
God, do you, but you don't want to disappoint Mama. That's, that's,
isn't that about it today? Let me tell you what the true
meaning of salvation is. The true meaning of salvation
can be found in the word itself. Salvation, saved. What does it
mean to be saved? Well, in order to be saved, that
means somebody must be truly what? Lost. Oh, now wait a minute. Wait a minute. Lost. Totally
unable to find one's way back. Do you remember Brother Walter
Gruber last year telling us that story of his? I tried to come
up with an illustration of myself. I've been out before and thought
I was lost, but no, I wasn't lost. You know why? I found my
way back. out in a car, or even out in
the woods. I was out in the woods one time,
and I mean to tell you, I panicked. The sun started going down, and
I thought, I am lost. I couldn't find my way back.
I started panicking. I found my way back. So, Joe,
Henry, I wasn't lost, was I? To be lost means like Brother
Walter Gruber, that illustration he gave us. He said he was out
hunting one day, and he got through hunting, and he turned to go
back, and he He didn't know which way to turn. And he'd go this
way a little while, a few hours, and then that wasn't it. He'd
go this way a little while, and that wasn't it. He'd go that
way, and then he'd go, until finally, Brother Steve, do you
remember? He said he was down on his all fours. He was down
on the ground, his water had run out, he was dry. He said
he was going to die. He was literally going to die
out there in that hot Mexican wilderness. And believe me, it's
wilderness out there. He said, I was lost. I tried
to find my way, and couldn't. Until finally, somebody saved
him. He said he wasn't even calling.
He was too weak to say anything. He couldn't even say anything,
he was so down. Some men, some Mexican men who knew the way,
came to where he was and found him. Brother Walter and I gave
him water and led him back to safety. Now man, man was once in the
love and the favor and the grace and acceptance of God. Man once
lived the life of God. And then one day he willfully
rebelled against God. God said, today you rebel against
me. He said, I'm God. And you're
a man. I am the Creator. You're a creature. You're in my hand. Now, here's
a tree. It's symbolic of my authority,
my Godhead over you. Now, you can have anything, but
not that tree. The man said, hmm, hmm, who does
he think he is to be Lord over me? Well, I'm a little Lord. I'm a little God. I have my free
will. I'll show him I've got my free will. Take that God. I want to be God. You can't be God. I want to be
God. Right? Isn't that what men are saying
today? Same thing. God said, if you eat that tree,
you're going to die. He didn't know what death was.
He didn't have the foggiest notion what death was. You're going
to be lost. You reckon Walter would have gone out in that wilderness
had he known he was going to be lost? Huh? You think he would
have even considered it? No way. No way. Well, man willfully rebelled,
and God cast him out of his presence. God kicked him out, put those
angels in the garden, and from that day forward, man was born
lost. He doesn't know God, doesn't
care about God. The only way he cares anything
about God is to use his name to test with. That will be condemnation
to him. His very mouth will condemn him.
But he doesn't care about God. That's the reason our children
think it's absolute torture to sit here and hear about God. Not thinking about God, don't
care about God, could give a big flip about God Almighty. I'd
rather be playing with toys. Lost. The only way they're going
to be found, the only way we're going to be found, is for God
to come to us and say, you're lost for Christ Jesus. And that's what happened. God
chose a vast number of these lost people. He didn't have to,
did he? God didn't have to. He could
have let the whole shooting match, as Martin would say, go to hell
with his shoes on. Lost don't care about God. God
feeds them. He said, why will you be stricken
or smitten? So all day long I've brought
up a people that rebelled against me. I keep feeding them and clothing
them and giving them. I got to think about our young
people yesterday. I wonder if they even gave a thought to where
all that food came from, who paid their way into the swimming
pool and everything. That cost the church seventy-some
odd dollars, hot dogs and drinks and chips and payment into the
pool and all that while they had a big time. I thought what
if one of them, just one of them, gave a thought. Just a thought,
Pastor Jeremiah. I'm thankful. I appreciate that.
Well, that's man by nature. He's got a thought. And God didn't
have to save any of them. God just said, just go on to
hell, and you ungrateful, wretched lot. But he doesn't. In mercy
and grace, he says, no, no, no, no, you're going to take knowledge
of me. Henry Sword, you're not thinking
about me right now, but you're going to. Henry, you're going
to realize where these things come from. You're going to call
upon me to call, Henry! Call! Louder, Henry! Lord, have mercy upon me." God
chose a number, the sands of the seashore, set his love upon
them, his mercy, his grace, sent his Son down to find them. He's
called the Good Shepherd. He's called the Great Shepherd.
He's called the chief shepherd. Come looking for his sheep, his
lost sheep. All we like sheep have gone astray.
Black sheep. They're all black sheep. Ain't
no white sheep. No such thing. They're all black
until the Lord washes us white in his blood. And he sent his
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who could find them.
They couldn't find their way. Only one who could find them.
He came down here. God said, you go down there and
you find every one of these I chose. You go down and find them. You
go down and save them. You go down and do whatever is necessary
to find them. Risk your life. Yeah, give your life to find
them. Find them, every one. They're
in the rocks and the crags and the hills and the mountains,
up the tree, by the well. Go find them. Find my sheep.
I love them. I've chosen them. Find them.
Bring them back to me. Put them on your shoulder and bring them
all the way home. They can't make it. They're too weak on
their own. Bring them all the way home, every last one of them.
And if you don't, I'll hold you responsible, son, because I love
them. They're my sheep. I'm giving them to you." Well, he's very name. Why does
it make so much of the name of Christ? Why did I make so much
of the name of Christ a while ago? Because his very name means
Savior. The angels said it. You think
I'm talking loud. You should have heard those angels
pronounce it. Glory to God in the highest! They said it with
smiles on their face, grinning from ear to ear. Glory to God!
Y'all sinners, listen up! We got the best news you ever
heard. If you don't hear this, you're going to hell. We've seen
hell. Listen up! And to you who is born this day
in the city of David, our Savior, call his name Jesus! Oh, and this perverted generation
is butchering that name all the peace That name which is above
every name. Yeah, I love the name Jesus.
It's a shame, isn't it, Rick? It's a shame that they so abused
it, that we can't use it with feeling, with enthusiasm, with
love for that name which is above every name. Jesus, it means Savior. Call him Jesus. Why? It's a good
name to cuss with? No, it means Savior. He shall
save his people. Only one that ever deserved that
name. His very name means Savior. His
only one. His very name means Messiah.
Christ. I love the sound of that name. I hear him in preaching. Christ.
Don't you love that? He's the Christ. What does that
mean? Messiah. Deliverer. Deliverer. Boy, if you ever hear, when you
ever find out you're down in a pit, and when you ever hear,
hey, deliver him! There's a deliverer! When you
ever hear somebody call your name, get him out of that pit,
I found a ransom. Blood. His name is Jehovah. It's not a name just to go door
to door so you can rack it up on your tally of souls. It means God our Savior. There is salvation in no other.
Not Buddha, not Confucius. Yeah, it's narrow. It's just
as narrow as the name Jesus Christ the Lord. Salvation. Not in Confucius
or Mohammed or Krishna or any of those. Only one Savior. His
name is Jesus Christ. And only by him, through him,
by his authority, upon his word, upon his works, only by him that
we must look at it again. I don't want you to miss it.
Oh, I don't want you to miss it. I don't want you to miss
salvation, whereby we must be saved. The only reason people
are not, young people and others, are not that concerned about
it, they don't see the necessity of knowing and believing this
name. If God, I wish that God would do it for our young people
like Elijah, like God did for Elijah's servant. When Elijah said, God open his
eyes, open his eyes, he's blind. And God peeled back the heavens
to see the glory of God. I wish God would peel back this
veneer of flesh for one of our young people, don't you? And
let them see the reality of that man, that Lord sitting at the
right hand of God Almighty, whom they must know. This ain't just
getting religion. Jacob, Hannah, Becca, Luke, Hannah, Kevin, Catherine, this ain't
just religion or going to church. You must know Jesus Christ. You must be saved by Jesus Christ. Older people, Terry, can I call
your name? John, Davis, you must know Christ. It's an absolute necessity. Your
soul is riding on it. Don't take it for granted. You're
not going to get in on mama or my husband or wife or anybody's
shirt tails or credit. You're only going to get in by
Jesus Christ. Not by morality, not by our works,
not by our self-renunciation, ceremony, self-denial, only by
God choosing you and putting you in Christ putting you in
Christ, and Christ coming to earth and living a life for you,
saying to God, like the high priest of old who had those twelve
tribes with the names on it, on his breastplate, like Christ
saying to God, Lord, I'm living this life for Saint Paul, or
for whoever. Jeanette Barrient, this is for
her. I don't have to come down here."
He didn't have to come down here. Why would he want to? He didn't
have to. But for the joy set before him, because he loved
Jeanette Berry before the foundation of the world, he came down and
exposed himself to all of this garbage and hatred and malignity,
and finally death became obedient to death, even the death of a
cross. I said, God, now, this life I've
lived, give it to her, give it to him, count it to his charge,
justify him, and now this death I'm dying, this hell I'm living,
going through, take it away from their charge. And he went to hell for those
people, because that's where they deserved to go. That's the
only reason. God accepts anybody who has them. And then he goes back to the
right hand of God to intercede for them, to pray for every one
of them. Because they stay sinners. You
know what? They stay sinners. You'd think after all of this,
by the mercies of God, they'd present their bodies as living
sacrifices, acceptable to God in obedience and love, wouldn't
you, Dan? Wouldn't you think so? That they'd never sin again?
How could I sin against such love, such mercy, such grace? How could I sin thinking that
Christ did that, what he did on that cross, because of my
sin? How could I do this?" But they
do, ungrateful wretches that they are, disobedient children
that they are, so Christ still lives. The long-suffering of
the Lord, John, is salvation. How long am I going to have to
bear with you, Christ said, while he's on earth? Through eternity. Until you make me, until I awake
with your perfect, until I wake up and have no more sin, it's
gone, out of the presence of it, until I'm just like Christ. Now let me ask you a question,
and then we'll go, okay? This is the only service we're having
today, okay? And I'll not keep you past seven
or so. You say, how did I know that
Jesus Christ did this for me? Is anybody interested in that?
How do I know that Jesus Christ did that for me? You say, only
those that Christ came, that God chose, elected, only those
who God put in Christ and only those who Christ lived for and
died for and goes back and prays for or saved are his people. How do I know he did this for
me? All right? Good question. I wish more people,
I wish people were interested enough to ask it. Because everyone,
everyone Christ did that for, he sends the Holy Spirit to.
He went back to sit down and pray for thee, and then he said,
I'll not leave you comfortless. I'm not going to leave you alone.
I'm with you, even to the ends of the earth, in the person of
my Holy Spirit, a spirit of Christ. And he sends the Holy Spirit
down to every one of those that he did that for, just to tell
them, I did that for you. That's what salvation is. Christ died for you. He sends the Holy Spirit down
to bear witness with them of who Christ is, of who God is,
Did you believe what I said about God's holiness up there? Sovereign,
doing what he will with whom he will? Do you believe that? That's what the Scripture says.
That's the only God there is. Believe the Scripture. That's
the only God there is. He's not some God that this generation
is saying that just loves you and just wants to do something
for you and can't. That's not the God of the Bible.
God is holy. just righteous. Do you believe
that? Do you believe God? Do you believe
God is God? Well, the Holy Spirit's the one
that makes people believe that. Yeah, yeah. Well, do you believe
that you're a sinner? I mean, a no-good, wretched sinner,
deserved to go. If God gave you what you deserve,
he'd send you to hell, and he doesn't have to save you, that
you have no rights, that the wages you've earned in this life
is death. to be kicked out of God's presence?
Do you believe that? Hey, yeah, I'm talking to you. Do you believe that? That you're
no good sinner? I'm not telling you you're worth
something. I'm telling you you're worth nothing. And me, too. Worthless. The Scripture says every man
in his best state is altogether what? Vanity. That means worthless. What does God need with us? I'm
not going to tell you what this generation is telling us, that
God needs you. No, he doesn't. Well, do you
believe that God doesn't need you, that what would God want
with you anyway? That you're worthless, that you're a sinner?
The Holy Spirit's the one that makes you believe that. And Christ sent him down to tell
you that. All right? Do you repent? Are you sorry? Do you feel bad about yourself? Huh? I'm trying to make you feel
bad about yourself, because the half has never been told about
how bad we are. If only men and women did hear
just the half of it, right? Because there's going to be some
people standing before a holy God and saying, Here we are!
Aren't you glad to see us? And God's going to spit on them! because they didn't know the
half of how bad they thought they were good folk, moral folk,
because I didn't drink, smoke, chew, run around, or because
I went to church every Sunday, or because I was a good girl,
or my mama, or something? Well, do you know, are you sorry
about your sin? I mean, are you really sorry?
Do you hate yourself? Do you hate what you do? Do you
hate your life? Do you want it to change? Huh? Do you? The Holy Spirit makes
a man or a woman or a young person believe that. He grants repentance,
the goodness of God to grant you repentance, or you'll not
repent. Do you know what the hardest
thing in the world for a human being to say is? I'm sorry! We can't even do it to another
human being, can we? Oh, like, remember the Fonz?
Do you remember the Fonz, Stephen? Do you all remember that show,
American Graffiti? He'd be wrong, he'd do something
wrong, and he'd say, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You remember that? He couldn't say it, John. It
was the most difficult thing for him to say, I'm wrong, I'm
sorry. And if you ever come to the point where you say, God,
I'm all wrong, everything about me is wrong, I'm sorry. Not just because you think you're
going to hell, but because you hate yourself! Do you feel that
way? That's repentance. Every prayer
I pray, Lord, you'd send me to help that prayer if I got what
it deserved. Best deeds are filthy rags, huh?
Well, then what the Holy Spirit does? Then he shows you Christ,
this beloved, blessed man. who came down to earth, God in
human flesh. He says, you're in bad shape,
aren't you? Hey, you're down in a ditch,
aren't you, in our good Samaritan? He grew up in Samaria. Why? I wonder why. He came a half-breed. That's
what a Samaritan is. He's got me. He came down and
found us in a ditch. He said, you're lost, aren't
you? Oh, am I. I can't get out. Corrupt, aren't
you? Wounds are stinking, aren't they?
Oh, they sure are. You want out? I sure do. Come
here. Come here. Takes his beautiful,
pristine robe off. Gets off his big horse and steps
down to where we maggots are. Takes his beautiful, pristine
robe of righteousness on. Wraps it around us and takes
our old, filthy rags and gets down in the ditch himself. And
works and digs in the muck and the mire of sin and works out
this righteousness. Well, we just rest. He takes
us to the hospital and gives the innkeeper charge
of the Holy Spirit. He says, feed them, clothe them,
see to their every need. I'm coming back for them some
day. Coming back. See to it that their needs are
seen to. Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will
see to it. He'll see to it. Pick you up, get you out of the
ditch, set you you in a heavenly place, shows you Christ who came
down in a merciful, gracious, loving, kind. You can't get to
God, can you? You're no good, aren't you? That's
right. Well, I'm good, and I can get
to God. I've been there, and I'll take
you there. Want to go? I sure do. I'll take
you. Just go with me, hand in hand.
Just trust me now. Now, you just hold on to my apron
string. As it were. My skirts. These
are one's skirts. I'm not going to let go of the
hem of them. Some people never let go of their mama's apron
strings, you know. That's what they say about it.
Well, I'm here to tell you. I'm not going to let go of his
precious robe of righteousness. I'm going to be hanging on to
the day I die. And all the little other boys
and girls are going to be making fun of you. Right? Look at him. Look at him. Yeah, look at me. I'm looking at him. I'm looking
at him. Get me. Brother, big brother,
they're bullying me. And when I get in someday, I'm
going to look at him from that day forward. And I'm going to
have a blanket. I'm still going to have a piece of that blanket,
you know. Carry that blanket around so long like a child,
it becomes old and tattered, you know. I'm still going to
have my security blanket. I'm still going to be clinging
to Christ and his righteousness, still. Do you believe that? Do you see Christ as your only
hope? Huh? That's what the Holy Spirit
does. The Holy Spirit does that to
everyone that Christ did that for. See, everybody in the world
doesn't believe what I just preached to. I don't know why. There you
are, dude. Yeah, dude. It kills your pride and all.
But I'd say it's the easy way. Damn, this is the easy way. Huh? Which would you rather do? Work
your way up that ladder? Try to get to heaven? Build you
a tower of Babel? Or rest? It sounds so simple that you
think people are foolish, don't you? Well, they are. They are. So Peter said to those
people that he got to the real issue, didn't he? That there's
salvation. Neither is there salvation in
any other. There's none other name unto heaven given among
men whereby you must be saved. You must be saved. I hope you heard something this
morning. Sherry, would you come up? We're going to sing a closing
hymn. Oh, what's the name of it? How
can it be? That's it. Number 67. Hymn number 67. Would have been one of my favorites
ever since I heard it. How can it be? Stand with me
and sing a couple of verses and then you can go home.