Join me this morning, if you
would, in the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts, Chapter 3.
The Book of Acts, Chapter 3. And we find in this passage of
Scripture a great miracle took place. But the Apostle Peter
and the Apostle John did not give this miracle. It was not
an opportunity for them to boast in what they were doing. It was
an opportunity God granted them to declare the gospel of His
free and sovereign grace to a whole host of people, much like we
read in chapter 2 about those who were there on the day of
Pentecost. Now, it tells us here, and I'd
like to begin reading with verse 12. I realize we've read over
this a little bit, but verse 12 through verse 18 this morning,
Acts chapter 2, excuse me, chapter 3, verse 12. And when Peter saw
it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel
you at this? Or why look ye also so earnestly
on us, as though by our own power or holiness we made this man
walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son
Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence
of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied
the Holy One, and the just, and desired a murder to be granted
unto you, and killed the Prince of life. whom God hath raised
from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And his name, through
faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see
and know. Yea, the faith which is by him
hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And
now, brethren, I want that through ignorance ye did it, as did also
your rulers. But those things which God before
had shown by the mouth of His prophets, that Christ should
suffer, He hath so fulfilled." In this, we look at this passage
of Scripture, and we brought up and mentioned it a little
bit in the past, but there it tells us that they had killed
the Prince of Life. In verse 15, they kill the Prince
of Life, and that word we find used two or three other times
here in the New Testament, and one of them is the author and
finisher of our faith. That same word is used there.
He was a life-giving force. Weird brother Mike read a couple
of verses over there in the book of John chapter 1 I'd like to
go there again and read just a couple of verses that are in
John chapter 1 this one the Lord Jesus Christ is the only life-giving
force all Life ever brought on this earth has been a result
of him every blade of grass every tree Everything The life that
is in everything on this earth is based upon the life that God
in Christ Jesus gives to it. He is the prince of all life.
He's in charge of all life. There's not any life that he
is not in charge of. And particularly when we get
to looking at spiritual life, he is absolutely in charge of
all spiritual life and no life will be given outside of the
life that he gives. Now, we may go through mockery
and say, I have it. But you know, that life is so
short lived. And before you know it, we're
looking for something else to give us a little boost. And then
the people of God, though they are brought through trials, tribulations
and all of those things, they can go right back to the life
giver, the Lord Jesus Christ, and say, I sit right here. He has given me this life. All
right, in the book of John chapter 1, we find that the apostle John,
as he was writing with regard to the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and we notice it's the word that came through the Holy
Spirit to John, the apostle. He was a secretary how he did
this, I am not quite sure, but I know he did it as the Holy
Spirit came upon him and gave him the words in original language
to write down for our benefit about the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he is the word. He didn't become the Word. He
is the Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1, verse
1. What a blessed verse of Scripture.
But as we drop down through there in verse 4, in Him was life. Peter brings that subject up
here in Acts chapter 3. You have murdered. You have killed
the Prince of Life. Well, that could only happen
as He submitted Himself to the hands of wicked men. He is the
Prince of Life. He's the Giver of Life. There's
not a bit of life that is upon this earth or ever been upon
this earth or ever will be upon this earth in hell or in heaven. that is not dependent upon him
for life. He, as it tells us there, he
in him was life and the life was the light of men. You know,
as we go through the scriptures, we find over and over and over
and over that this subject is brought up that all life is dependent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. that there is no life in ourselves.
It is brought out time and time again, but Paul sums it up about
the best. He says, in Adam, all died. You know what that means? There's
no life. There is no spiritual life. Well, in discussing that
with people, they said, well, look, Adam, he walked around. He lived, well, 900 more years. He had children and all of those
things. I said, yes, that is true. He
did that very thing. But his mind towards God was
dead and his spirit towards God was dead in trespasses and sin. Now, God is pleased to save his
people from their sin, but he must overcome that deadness. He must give life. And that life
is a great life. It's not a transient life. It's
a great life. It's an eternal life that he's
promised to give unto his people. Verse 13 of this John chapter
one. Would you notice that with me?
John chapter one, verse 13. It says there, which were born
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of
man, but of God. What did we get by the birth?
We got life. Now, I understand that there
was life before our births. I understand that. Guess what? God had his mind on his people
before they were born into this world spiritually. It's not just
a surprise to go, oh, I got a child today. It's not a surprise to
God, it's a purpose of grace that he has his children born
today, or tomorrow, or yesterday. So it's in the hands of God.
Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Colossians. In the
book of Colossians chapter one, beginning with verse 14, we have
this wonderful words of encouragement as God used the apostle Paul
to write to some saints at Colossae. And here, he is going to be an
encouragement to them. Now, as Brother Mike read there
from the book of Revelation this morning, those words would be
a comfort to those seven churches. Those guys were in terrible persecution. And when the Holy Spirit gave
John those words, it was to be a comfort to them. It wasn't
to be a scary trip for them. It was a comfort to them. Well,
here we find in the book of Colossians 1, verse 14, as we read about
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as we read about the Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, It tells us there, In whom we have redemption,
Colossians chapter 1 verse 14, In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him
were all things created. My goodness creation is just
a statement of God's great purpose It didn't happen as we have so
often been taught in school. It happened according to the
purpose of God He spoke this world into existence and there
was no resistance on the part of the items there was no resistance
and it goes on that are in heaven and and that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by him and for him. So he's the creator, but he created
all things for himself. And then finally, if you turn
with me to the book of Revelation chapter four, as we think about
him, the prince of life, this is so valuable, the prince of
life, the author of life, the giver of life, He is the one
that gave physical life to this world, and He's the one that
gives spiritual life to His people. It is a life-giving event that
God has for all of His lost children when He brings them in contact
with the gospel and extends faith to them to believe the gospel.
The book of Revelation chapter 4, and they're the last verse
of that chapter. What a wonderful encouragement
to seven churches of Asia that are going through a great deal
of persecution at the time. He never wrote this letter to
scare them to death or scare them into the kingdom or scare
them away from God. He gave them this letter to be
encouraged. He gave them this letter to rejoice
in the God of their salvation. And in verse 11, it says, with
regard to the Lord who thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honor and power. That's our responsibility. Thank
God He gives us the grace to do that. I don't understand all
about the power of God, do you? Do you understand God? Boy, I've
said this many times. I don't want to understand the
God of the Bible. That means I'm equal with him. And you know
what? I am not. I'm a created being and he is
not. He's the creator. He created all things for his
glory. As it goes on to tell us here, for thou has created
all things. What does that mean? He's given
life to everything he intended to give life to. He created all
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Why did he do it? For his pleasure. We are come to the conclusion
that in everything he is sovereign, that he does as he pleases for
his own glory and for the blessing to the church. So we find that
on that day when Peter is speaking to that whole host of people
that are gathered around After the healing of that cripple man,
they're gathered around and supposing that Peter and John, they lived
a very special life and that's why it could happen, or because
of their goodness that could happen, or for their own credit
that could happen, and they wanted to stifle that instantly and
say, that's not why this man is walking. He's not walking
because of us. He is walking because of the
life giver. And I want you to know on that
day when Jesus was crucified, you crucified life, the Prince of Life. All right. As we find out that
this all happened because of Him, everything redounds to His
glory. There is a passage of Scripture
over in the book of Nehemiah. In the prophecy of Nehemiah,
What an encouragement that God gave to Israel when He said after
70 years of being in Babylonian captivity, and He promised this
150 years before it even took place, before they were even
in captivity, that He would release them from captivity. Well, here
in the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah, And, you know, I can't answer
why Nehemiah is where it is in the canon. It should have been
one of the last books. But here it is, the book of Nehemiah,
Ezra and Nehemiah, chapter 9. Nehemiah chapter 9 and verse
6. Would you notice that with me? Nehemiah. Now, again, God is
using this to encourage His people. How great it is to be encouraged
by the Word of the Lord and us understanding an inkling, an
infinitesimal amount, an iota of the truth when it comes to
why things are happening. Here in the book of Nehemiah,
chapter 9, and there in verse 6, the scriptures share this.
Thou, even thou, art Lord alone. Thou hast made heaven, the heaven
of the heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things
that are therein. The sea, what didn't he cover
here? What didn't the Holy Spirit cause Nehemiah to cover in this
verse of Scripture? There is nothing left undone.
Everything is covered in this verse of Scripture when it comes
to his creation and when it comes to life. Everything comes from
the Lord. Goes on to say, and all that
is therein, and thou preservest them all, and the hosts of heaven
worshipeth thee. Well, thanks be to God, His church
is part of the host of heaven because we get to worship Him.
And we get to worship this one who has done such a complete
job of creating life from the very beginning. When He came
out of old eternity and spoke in Genesis chapter 1 and verse
1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And
we read in the book of Hebrews, by the word of His mouth, He
created the heavens and the earth and all that is there. You know,
this last fall, I took a class at the college in astronomy. And I already knew what it was
going to be like, because it said in the bulletin there that
he's going to look at the earth from being a young creation instead
of an old creation. And you know, the amazing thing
to me is that there are over hundreds of billions hundreds
of billions solar systems like ours. Can't see the end of it. Every solar system has hundreds
of billions, hundreds of billions of stars. I'm just amazed at
how big all things are. And yet, to be comforted by the
one who made it all, and it's exactly running as he desired
it. You know, we have, I don't know
how many, I did know the number of planets is at seven. Someone
help me. Anyway, one of them turns backwards
from the rest of them. How did that happen? God intended
it to happen that way, just to confuse a bunch of scientists.
How did that happen? All right, now turn with me,
if you would, to the book of Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter
17, as we think about this great, He is the one that gives us life,
spiritual life, physical life. We're born, we are animated by
the life that God gave us when we were born. When we came forth
from our mother's womb, we were born, and He gave us that life. And then by the providence of
God, to everyone who's written down in the Lamb's Book of Life,
somewhere in their life, they're going to cross the gospel message. We're gonna see that here in
this passage of scripture too. They crossed the gospel message.
Now it's unbeknownst to them because when Paul was going down
to, or Saul of Tarsus was going down to Damascus, he was not
going down there to a revival meeting. He had no intention
whatsoever of ever hearing anything about the God that is the Prince
of Life. He was interested in hearing
about the God of the Jews, the God of Abraham. We be of our
father Abraham. Can you hear Saul of Tarsus say
that about a hundred times a day? We be of our father Abraham.
He tended to go back to his creation, his life, and you know what?
From that standpoint, Abraham's seed was like the sand of the
seashore. But he also shared with him that the church was
going to be like the stars of heaven, innumerable. So it was wonderful for Saul
of Tarsus to find out that he'd gone from the sand of the seashore,
and in the mind of God, he'd always been a star of heaven. All right. Notice with me here, Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter
17. There, beginning with verse 23. He's the Prince of Life. If you
have life, He is the cause of it. Physical life, if you have
spiritual life, He's the cause of it. It wasn't us. It was Him. It wasn't what we
did. I can always ask, and I continue to ask this question to people
that come to me with their theology that is so incorrect with the
Word of God. What part of your first birth did you participate
in? And you know, they all answered,
I didn't have any. And I said, that's right. And that's the
same thing we have in our second birth. We are recipients of the
grace of God. We never participated. And we're
going to find out that the only thing that that man, that we've
been reading about here in the book of Acts chapter 3, that
cripple man, the only thing he contributed to the equation was
a cripple body. That's all he had, a cripple
body. All right, Acts chapter 17. We'll get there. Acts chapter
17, verse 23, the scriptures share this. For as I passed by and beheld
your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription. How honest
of them. Most religionists are not this
honest. This group of people were this honest. At least if
we have missed a God, we don't want to offend him, so we'll
create an altar unto the unknown God. God that we don't know about
yet. Well, it's very interesting when
you go to Athens to see that building that all this took place
in, and to go down there to Mars Hill where he spoke to these
people. And it goes on to tell us here,
as he shares in Acts 17, verse 25, God hath made the world and
all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshiped
with men's hands. As though he needeth anything,
seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, and
hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on the face
of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and
the bounds of their habitation, and that they should seek the
Lord, if happy they might feel after him, and find him, Though
he be not far from every one of us. Where is he? He's right
there as a hen observing his chicks, protecting them by his
grace until the day that they are saved. He calls them out
of darkness and gives them his marvelous light. Well, let's
go back here, if you would, to the book of Acts 3. And as we notice here in Acts
3, the Apostle Peter sums up some things that
we've noticed as we've went through here. In the book of Acts 3, We see in this whole instance
that there is a pattern of how God does His business. There are a number of patterns
in Scripture, explanations of how God does His business. This
is just one of them. You know, if we go back to the
book of Genesis, we read there, God demonstrated how He's going
to do His business when He created Adam. How much did Adam participate
in it? God took the dust of the ground
and created man and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life and he became a living soul. What did he do to get that? Nothing. What did God do? Everything. And we're gonna see
that pattern plays out through the scriptures. You know, another
one of my favorite ones is over in the Valley of Dry Bones. You
know, people look at that, well, that's National Israel. No, it's
not, that's the church. Valley of dry bones everywhere
across this great land across the world there are dry bones
dead bones dead people dead and trespasses and sin and there's
always going to be someone like Ezekiel sent and He's a prophet. He knows something about God.
He knows something about God's salvation. He knows that salvation
is in the hands of the Lord. And if anything is going to happen
to the Valley of Dry Bones, it's going to be God that does it.
Just as we find out over here in the book of Acts chapter 3
that the only reason that man is standing upright and has strengthened
his legs is because of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Well,
here in the Valley of Dry Bones, you know, the Spirit of God comes
to him and begins to ask some questions. Let's ask everybody
that knows anything about the Word of God. Can these dry bones
live? Good question. Well, to religious
people, of course, just give me a few minutes. But to Ezekiel,
he says, Lord, thou knowest. I don't know. It's way past my
ability. It's way past what I know. These
are dry bones. There's no sinew on them. There's
no muscle on them. They're just a valley of dry
bones. And you know what? The Spirit of God says, prophesy
to the dry bones. What in the world good is that
going to do? They're dry bones. They're dead. How can that be
of benefit? Well, you know what he did. He
prophesied. What did that mean? He preached.
He preached the gospel to them. The only hope for a valley of
dry bones is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the life-giving
force that he is when it comes to salvation. So he did. And you know what? There was
a rattling. And bone came to bone and sinew
to sinew and muscle to muscle. And yet they're still dead. What's next? The Spirit of God
came. What a picture of God's great
work of salvation. We start with nothing and end
up with a whole army. We start with dead, and we end
up with life. We start with those who cannot
even lift themselves up, and we have those who raise themselves
up and are an exceeding great army. We're going to look here.
We've seen that this crippled man, he's been crippled all of
his life, and there's no hope whatsoever for him to get out
of the situation he's in. And it doesn't matter who came
by and prayed over him. Doesn't matter who came by and
says, you know, if you could just get up, I could take care
of your broken parts. And on and on it goes. All kinds
of religious formulas, no doubt, were brought up to this man and
no help. There's somebody who came along
and says, you know, for $1.45, I've got this great muscle bomb,
this leg. It'll do anything for you. If
you rub this on there, it'll take care of your problem. So
you know what? He paid $1.45 and got it and rubbed it on.
Next day, he didn't know any difference. On and on it goes,
the applications that people have. As we continue through
the Old Testament and into the New Testament, I just love the
illustration that God gave to us about Lazarus in the tomb.
I find great comfort in that. Some people cannot see past him
just dying and being dead in the tomb, but the church says,
that's just like me. That's where I was. I was dead,
stonyard dead, tombstone dead, placed in there, and that was
according to God's eternal purpose, and Jesus Christ the righteous
came by at his bidding, at his purpose, You know, his sister
said, come down here, come down here, the man's sick. And he
just stood away. No, that's not fair. Well, it was fair because he's
going to show a whole lot more in raising this man from the
dead than he would have by healing his body that was sick. All right. So we have that. You know, the
Lord used illustrations a number of times during his ministry
and also in the Old Testament about people who had leprosy.
Leprosy was an incurable disease. There was nothing that could
be done about it. And yet we find a leper comes
to the Lord Jesus and said, if thou wilt, thou can makes me
clean. You know, that's a statement
about someone who knows something. If thou wilt, no demands whatsoever. Nothing laying out. You've got
to do this because of what I've done. It's not a trade We're
not trading our righteousness for his salvation. We don't have
anything to trade our Righteousness is as filthy rags and when we
approach God with that attitude that he is He must do something. We're on the wrong foot, but
the church says Lord if thou wilt You can make me clean. Now it's up to you. And I abide
by it. Well, that's what we find. And
here in the book of Acts chapter three, we find an incident where
a man is born crippled. Now notice the reaction. Acts
chapter three, it tells us there as he in in verse seven, Now,
he's been crippled all his life. He's been crippled from birth.
Never knew a day when he could walk. He never learned, like
you and I did, to walk. Why, we just couldn't wait until
our kids could walk, and then say, oh, my goodness, I'm going
to tie him down now. He never went through that process.
His parents never saw him walk. His grandparents never saw him
walk. He's always been a cripple, had to be carried around. Even
in his old age, 40 years of age and above, he had to be carried
around. Every day he's carried to a certain place. And how many
other people were just like him when Peter and John passed by
that day, but they spoke to one man. that was crippled from birth,
and he took him by the hand and lifted him up, and immediately
his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he, leaping up,
stood and walked. Entering with them into the temple
walking and leaping and praising God what a statement about God's
power Demonstrated right here and let's look at this for just
a moment how God does his business when he saves people God never
half saves anybody He didn't heal one ankle and leave the
other one to be hopped around on He healed both ankles and
he did it in such a way that this man instantly could rise
up and walk and not only do that, but jump around and say, thank
you, thank you. And he's never had training doing
this. You know, he didn't have to go
through physical therapy. The Lord was the author of his
healing. And so it took place and shuts
a mighty way here as we read about this. And then it goes
down here, excuse me. It said there in verse 16, and
his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong
whom ye see and know, yea, the faith which is by him hath given
him, what? Kind of soundness? Perfect. Perfect soundness in the presence
of you all. He wanted those people to understand
again. Yes, you've seen him. You saw
him out there as a cripple. And by the providence of God,
a preacher came by that knew something about God. And God
moved on that man to share the truth with him that resurrection
is in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not in me. not in my
power, not in my holiness, but in the power of God, in the power
of Christ. That man is lifted up and is
caused to walk." And now Peter again makes a restatement about
the fact he is in perfect soundness. He's not going to walk out of
here and have a limp or a relapse or whatever else that might have
happened by us doing something. We find here that this whole
passage of Scripture shares with us how God does His business. A cripple. Now, sometimes it's
a dead person. Sometimes it's a leprous person.
Sometimes it's a valley of dry bones. Sometimes it's Adam before
he has the breath of life. We find these illustrations throughout
the scriptures, and this time he stopped by to tell us. Now,
this man is alive physically, but he's dead spiritually. Alive
physically, dead spiritually. He has no interest in God. He
is just put in a position of a religious place because those
people are better known to give dinero. This is part, we'll give
some alms to this guy. We'll give him some gold or silver
so that he can buy bread. But other than that, he has no
interest for being there. Tip means nothing to him. He's
just in a position. And now someone comes along who
knows something. The purpose of God, the gospel
preachers are caused to cross paths with this man on purpose. You know, I'm reminded of a passage
just a little bit ahead of this in Acts chapter 8. If you'd join
me in Acts chapter 8. In Acts chapter 8, verse 26.
This is about Philip. Philip is a preacher of righteousness.
Philip is a preacher of the gospel. Philip knows something about
God. It tells us here in verse 26 of Acts chapter 8 and the
angel of the Lord spake unto Philip saying arise and go forth
to the Toward the south unto the way that goeth down from
Jerusalem unto Gaza Which is desert and he arose and went
and behold a man of Ethiopia. Well, he didn't know that man
was there and That Ethiopian didn't know that Philip was coming
But you know, in God's great purpose of grace, sinners in
the gospel cross paths. It goes on to tell us here, he
was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch, a great authority under Canis
Queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure,
and he was come to Jerusalem for the worship. Isn't that just
about the way it is? We're just religious to the core. And he has adopted Judaism. He's a man from Ethiopia. They
already have their own religion. Someone came along and says,
you need to go up to Jerusalem because that's the holy city.
And he went up there and he converted to Judaism. No one benefit about
it though. He did learn Hebrew or Greek. It goes down there and says,
He was returning and sitting in his chariot and read Isaiah
the prophet. Then the spirit said unto Philip,
go near, I like this, join thyself to this chariot. You know, that's
just about the way Peter and John felt when they were headed
up to the temple. And one day they're stopped in
their tracks and tell a man to rise up and walk. Philip ran
thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and
said unto him, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he
said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired
Philip, that he should come up, and sit with him. Can you imagine
that? A stranger, a perfect stranger
from out of the desert, he's just crossed the desert and met
this guy and his entourage at that chariot, and the guy said,
would you come up here and teach me? You know, God the Holy Spirit
has already been there for a visit. He goes on to tell us there,
the place of the scripture which he read was this, he was led
as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb done before his shearers,
so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away, and who shall declare his generation for his
life is taken from the earth? And the eunuch answered Philip
and said, I pray thee, of whom speakest thou, prophet this,
of himself or some other man? And notice verse 35. They didn't
get into a religious discussion. They didn't say, you know, you're
doing wrong by coming up here to Jerusalem because you just
adopted religion. He didn't get into a religious
discussion. He just tells us, Philip opened his mouth and began
at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus, the Messiah,
the life giver. Arise, go join yourself to this
chariot. No, there was no apparent hope
for this cripple, and so it is for us. There's no apparent hope,
but God sent hope our way. No amount of doctrine or salve
or money or physical therapy or religious practice or prayer,
cry to raise up and walk made any difference. And the man,
no doubt, thought that he was normal. Because that's the only
life He knew. We are reminded of the Lord's
words about a blind man. I like with the disciples, because
it's just like us, who did sin? Him or his parents? That's in the book of John chapter
9. Who did sin? There's a blind man. Who did
sin? Him or his parents? And Jesus said, no, no, no, no,
no. That's not the reason he's born
blind. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of John chapter 9 and verse 3. John chapter 9 and verse
3, we find these words, and it's just about the same about this
cripple man or the Ethiopian eunuch or the valley of dry bones.
We find that when God is involved in it, things are going to happen.
Nothing can stop it or stymie it. The will of man falls and
bows before God when he is involved in it. And here in the book of
John chapter nine and verse three, it says, and Jesus answered,
neither hath this man sin nor his parents. Now he's not saying
they're not sinners. He's just saying this man is
blind, not because of his sin or his parents' sin, particular
sin, but this is the reason he's blind. And we're here at the
appointed time. But that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. I got some business to tend to
here. Why was this man born crippled?
I have some business to do here." He left him there for 40 years. And one day, by the providence
of God, someone who knew something came that way and said, silver
and gold have I none. I'm not going to raise your standard. your living standard. You know,
that's one of the things I've really appreciated about our
missionary down in New Guinea. He's not down there to raise
their standard, he's down there to preach the gospel. He doesn't
have a hospital, doesn't have a school, doesn't have any of
those things that most missionaries count essential. The only thing
he has is the gospel. Now, there are a thousand or
more people that appreciate hearing the gospel and God has saved
them by his grace. There's a number of churches
down there that worship the same God that we worship in a different
language, of course. But when that day comes and we
meet together, we're all going to be worshiping the same Lord.
We do now. The Lord never does half a job. Before we close, would you turn
with me to the book of Philippians, chapter 1. The book of Philippians,
chapter 1. Here we find out God never does
half a job. He never raises half a person.
He never gives half salvation. He never says, well, I'll take
care of this part and you take care of that part. We find out that
the scriptures teach us that the salvation that God gives
is holy from God and it's complete. There is nothing left out. Everything that he demands is
given, and given by the grace of God. Philippians chapter 1
and verse 6, we read this, being confident of this very thing,
that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. He began a good work, He will
finish it. And what does that mean? We'll
be raised in newness of life and sit at the feet of Jesus. The Old Testament, you know,
the entire Old Testament is summed up in five words. The entire
Old Testament, everything in the Old Testament is summed up
in five words. Salvation is of the Lord. You know what the New
Testament is bound up on? Salvation is of the Lord. Five
words. Sum it up. Don't go to the law,
don't go to the sacrifices. Salvation is of the Lord. And
you know, as a result of that, we find out what every believer
has. The scriptures teach us, but
by faith of Jesus Christ, we have been granted the faith of
Jesus Christ. And as we read in the Old Testament,
the just shall live by faith. And Paul brings that up three
times. In the New Testament, the just shall live by faith.
And that faith is the faith of Jesus Christ. That's the faith
of God's elect. And so we have a man standing
there jumping around saying, hallelujah. And you know what? Peter and John are going to get
arrested over this and pulled off to the council for preaching
Christ and him crucified. Brother Mike.