Join me this morning, if you
would, in the Book of Acts, Chapter 3. In the Book of Acts, Chapter
3. It's so good to go through this
glorious Book of Acts and see preaching of Christ and Him crucified. This is the message that was
preached throughout all the Old Testament. This is the message
that Christ preached about Himself. This is the message that the
disciples preached about Christ. This is the message that Paul
preached about Christ. And this is the message that
all true gospel preachers through all ages have preached, and that
is the message of the gospel, Christ and Him crucified. Now we have to answer some questions.
When we go through that message, who is Christ? He's the Son of
God. and he was given to be a propitiation
for our sins. He died on the cross as a substitute. What did he come to do? To take
care of those that his father had given him before the foundation
of the world. He came to take care of them
completely and totally and leave nothing up to them. Our whole business is to love
Him and know that He, by the grace of God, has tasted death
for us. What is He doing now? He's sitting
at the right hand of the Father because He was successful in
His venture. When he came to this earth, he had no doubt in
his mind that he would be able to accomplish exactly what the
gospel declares. He would put away sin for his
people. And he proved it by his resurrection
and his ascension back to the father. Well, we bring that up
because this scene today in chapter three takes place after the ascension
of the Lord Jesus Christ and after the giving of the spirit
in a special way. The Holy Spirit is throughout
the Old Testament. Don't think for a moment that
he did not bring new birth to people in the Old Testament.
We may find it is called something a little bit different, but in
the New Testament, it may be, I'll give you a new heart, or
I'll give you the circumcision of your heart. He's just declaring
what we find in the New Testament is the new birth. God must do
something for us. Well, here in this passage of
scripture, and you know, if we were just right, and 200 years
ago, we'd do that, but we just don't do it anymore. 200 years
ago, we'd read chapter three and chapter four, and then we'd
spend two hours on a message of two verses. Well, our time
is limited today, so we'll not read all of chapter three and
chapter four, but they are so interconnected. What happens
in chapter three is the result of what goes on in chapter four.
And when Peter and John are on their way up to the temple at
the hour to pray, and Nancy and I were talking about this yesterday,
how many times they may have passed this lame man, it doesn't
tell us. But he's been there a long time
and they've been accustomed to going up to the temple to pray.
Now, when Jesus Christ raised from the dead, prior to that,
when he went to the cross, there was no need for all that temple
worship anymore. There's no need for the altar,
there's no need for the sacrifices, there's no need for the Day of
Atonement, there's no need for all that stuff. In fact, the
Lord shares with us, he ripped that great veil from top to bottom. Josephus tells us that those
Jews sewed it back together. Well, that's what religion does.
It just takes the things of God and makes foolishness out of
it. Well, here we have Peter and John going up to the temple
to a place around the temple to pray. And on their way up,
it tells us they're in Acts chapter three. Now, Peter and John went
up together into the temple of the hour of prayer, being the
ninth hour, and a certain man lame from his mother's womb was
carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which
is called beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the
temple. He was lame from his mother's womb." Now, keep your
finger right there for just a moment, and if you would turn to the
next chapter, chapter 4, verse 22. Acts chapter 4 and verse
22, we have these words that are brought to us in the book
of Acts in this whole scene. It tells us here in Acts chapter
4 and verse 22, for the man was above 40 years old, of whom this
miracle of healing was shown. This man is over 40 years old. So for over 40 years, he has
been a cripple. Now we mentioned last week that
this man being crippled from his mother's womb probably didn't
know the difference. It was normal for him to have
friends carry him. It was normal for him to lay
at the gate. It was normal for him to beg.
It was just normal. And you know, when it comes to
things that we have as a result of the fall, we're just normal
in religion. And we're quite pleased with
being normal in religion. Now, if we run into a problem
with some religion, we can just go to another religion. I did
exactly that same thing. I was raised in a group. I went
down to a short time in Texas, heard about the doctrines of
grace and accepted the doctrines of grace and had no idea what
the gospel was about. I just traded a Ford for a Chevy.
I just went from one religion to another religion. And you
know what? Knowing the doctrines of grace
doesn't mean that you're saved. Knowing Christ. And then he will
reveal the truths of those things unto us. So we have a man that's
been here for over 40 years. He's been brought up there. He
is looking for food. He's looking for money for food.
And we find that Peter tells us there is mention about Peter.
In chapter three, going back to the book of, excuse me, Acts
chapter three, and there in verse four, they're going up to the
temple. When seeing Peter and John, verse
three, about to go into the temple, ask of alms. And Peter fastened
his eyes upon him, with John said, look on us. And he took
heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. He's
expecting a dollar. Now if they give him five, hallelujah,
I've had a great day. But he's expecting something,
and he's not expecting what he's going to be given. You know,
only the Lord, in the revelation of Jesus Christ, do we understand
what we've been given. We do not know it outside of
Christ. We don't know the rich blessings
of Christ. Most religion, and I was in the
mix of that, most religion will teach that salvation is a fire
escape. It's fire insurance. I don't
know how many people I've had ask other people, you don't want
to go to hell, do you? Well, that's scaring people into
the kingdom, and there's two things you cannot do. Educate
them into the kingdom or you cannot scare them into the kingdom.
They must be born again into the kingdom. That is what God
does, and that's what God does completely. All right, so expecting
to receive something, then Peter said, verse six, silver and gold
have I none, but such as I have, I give thee in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth. Now we dealt with that in chapter
two, because that subject was brought up. And if you only look
at Jesus Christ as the son of Joseph, or Jesus Christ as a
good teacher, or Jesus Christ as a man that went to a cross
and he shouldn't have been there and all this stuff, then that's
not enough. We must know him as the son of
God. And that's revealed to us. Peter
was revealed this, thou art the Christ, the son of the living
God. That's what Peter was revealed, because Jesus Christ goes on
to share with us, that's what he was revealed. Flesh and blood
hath not revealed this unto you, but my Father, which is in heaven.
And you know what? He is an example for everyone
God ever saves. We don't come to the conclusion
on our own, it's a revelation. And then we can see the truth
of the gospel. All right? Silver and gold have
I none, but in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right
hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received
strength. And he, leaping up, stood and
walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and
leaping and praising God. You know, the days of this kind
of situation are over. But it was great in this day
and in this time that the Holy Spirit blessed them in such a
capacity. We find that the Holy Spirit
comes in a very important capacity and authenticates and make sure
that this new, what to many people was new, is of God. This is the affirmation of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. It's being preached out and declared
here. Now it tells us in verse, as
we travel down here and all the people saw verse nine, walking
and praising God, and they knew that it was he which set it for
alms at the beautiful gate, and they were filled with wonder
and amazement at that which had happened to him. And as the lame
man, which was healed, can you just see this? Held Peter and
John. I mean, these guys are pretty
special in his estimation. One of the things we want to
notice here is that when the Lord saved, excuse me, healed
this man of his 40-year-old malady, he did not shirk off, slunk off,
and go somewhere else. He stayed with these. How important that is. You know,
when we accept a religion, we can slurk off anytime. But when
we're saved by the grace of God, we wanna be around believers. It's so valuable to us. It is
such an encouragement to us. We go through a warfare every
time we're out in the world, and we need some peace and quiet. And that's what we get around
God's people. All right, it tells us there,
In verse 11, and as the lame man which was healed held Peter
and John, all the people ran together under them in the porch
of Solomon's greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it, he answered
the people, you men of Israel. Now here we have a wonderful
position set up for God's gospel to be declared by one of his
servants. Peter is going to share with
us, I had nothing to do. It was not by my power that this
man is healed. It's not by my doing and he never
asked anybody to send him a dollar because it happened. He was a
servant of the Most High God, and God had used him to do this
miracle, and God had used him to do this miracle for a reason,
and that was to open the door for him to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified to another group of people. Now,
we read in chapter 2 that he preached on the day of Pentecost,
but never forget there are 11 other messages going on at the
same time in the languages of the people, and they can all
agree on this. We do hear in our own language
the wonderful works of God. When they came together, they
rejoiced together in the wonderful works of God. So the Holy Spirit
uses this man as a doorbell, as a wind chime, as a trumpeter,
as an introducer, as a person used of God to gather a group
of people together. They were so amazed. They knew him. They knew... Can you see him grappling with
his own infirmity every day? trying to turn from one side
to another. Can you see somebody mocking
him, flipping a 50 cent piece, and he has to go after it, dragging
his feet behind it? He's been mocked, he's been made
fun of, and this day was the day that God purposed to heal
him. And it was this day that God
purposed a whole group of people to hear the gospel. and it's
gonna be preached by Peter. All right, it tells us here.
He was not healed by luck. He was not healed by Peter's
power. He was not healed by any of those
means. This is a particular miracle
by the Holy Spirit, and it is sharing with us as Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, had finished His great redemptive work and
is sitting at the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit
come in a capacity that was not known in the Old Testament, but
the Holy Spirit was known in the Old Testament. We have the
Holy Spirit come down in a manifestation of himself that we have not seen
so much in the Old Testament, but it's a manifestation that
everybody that was ever saved knew about. You know, there's
so many of the Jews in the Old Testament. It says this, they
died in unbelief. They were not the children of
God by faith. They were children of God by
Abraham's physical generation, but nothing else. It's not by
their energy or their power of Peter that this great deed was
done. It is by the power of God. I
direct your attention, if you would, please, to the Psalms
for just one verse of scripture in the Psalms, Psalm 115. In
Psalm 115, verse 1, let's read this verse of scripture. As we
keep this up, as we look at this example of the preaching of the
gospel, as we see a man that's healed, a notable man healed. There are so many have known
him over the years. They've watched him grow up.
They've seen him get older. And here in the book of Psalms,
Psalm 115 and verse 1, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy proof's
sake. You know, that's really the attitude
that the Apostle Peter and the Apostle John had that day. Not
unto us, not unto us, but unto thee, O Lord, give glory. That was their purpose that day,
was to give glory to God Almighty, to Christ Jesus the Lord. Now, Peter begins with God. There in verse, going back to
the book of Acts chapter three, there in verse 13, we read these
words. Peter saw it, verse 12. answered
unto the people. Acts chapter three, verse 12,
once again. And when Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people, you men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? For we
look, why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power
or holiness. Did you hear that? By our own
power or holiness, we have made this man talk. Why did they bring
that up? I think they're hearing it. Boy,
these must be special guys. And how righteous they are. And
they must live really good lives because look what happened. You know, Peter, John, Paul were
all going to be able to say, oh, wretched man that I am. It is not by my power, but by
his power this took place. God moved in a miraculous way
and healed a man of his malady that he had carried with him
for 40 years. And the Apostle Peter wanted
it very plain this day for the people to understand, it's not
by our power. We're not going to start a TV
program. It's God's power. We'll leave it at that. This
man walked, and then he begins in verse 13, the God of Abraham
and Isaac and of Jacob. You know, I was sitting at the
table yesterday. A person asked me one time, where
did you go to school, Norm? And I just tell him the University
of the Kitchen Table. Now, when I'm out here, it's
the University of the Desk. Study, pray, read. And I was just sitting there
trying to work something out and I got slapped in the side
of the head. Why did Peter start here? Why did the Holy Spirit have
Peter start here? What was the purpose of this, that he started
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Well, I hope this morning we
can look at three different reasons that Peter started with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Now, the first thing that comes
to my mind as we look at this is they are older than the law. Those people he's talking to
are depending upon a position in the law. All you have to do
is listen to them. Listen to their leaders. We are
keeping the law. Liar, liar, pants on fire. You
are not. Jesus told them that. You're
not keeping the law. You will stretch the law for
your own important position. You will mock your own parents
over a stretching of the law, but you are not keeping the law.
And here we find, I believe that Peter was led by the Holy Spirit
to go back before the law 400 years and start with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob before the law was ever given at Mount Sinai.
Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Galatians. Brother
Mike was here. He read right through this. We're
going to go back there. Galatians chapter Galatians chapter
3 verse 10. Would you turn there with me?
As we find out that the Apostle Peter, as we too, you know, a
gospel preacher never starts salvation with the law. The law had its purpose. I am
convinced that even after we're saved, that the Holy Spirit will
never ever lead us contrary to the Ten Commandments. But I'm
not saved by keeping the Ten Commandments. I'm not saved by
trying to keep the Ten Commandments. People tried, and Jesus said,
you're not keeping the law. It's an impossibility. You know
what the law does? It is an example of the holiness
of God. And without that holiness, we
will not see God. We must have God's holiness,
not our own holiness, by our own keeping of the law. Here
in the book of Galatians chapter three, for as many, verse 10,
chapter three, verse 10, for as many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse, for as it is written, for it
is written, cursed is every man that continueth not in all the
things which are written in the book of the law to do them. If
you don't keep them all, You know, many, many years ago, Nancy
and I were traveling on the coast and we came to a standstill because
a log truck had lost its load of logs on 101. Now you know what one-on-one's
like in most of the places. How narrow it is, how crooked
it is, and here's a log truck that lost its load. And you know,
we had some time. I asked around, I said, what
in the world happened? He says, the weakest link in a chain broke. If you don't keep all of it,
you're not credited for any of it. The weakest link. And we all have weakest links,
don't we? I was talking to my brother yesterday, talking about
his girlfriend and the cancer she has and so forth. And he
said, I have some vices. And I said, yeah, you got a six
inch, eight inch, and a four inch vice. Well, he understood what
I was talking about. We all have our vices. Here it
says, if you don't keep it all, you're cursed. Verse 11, but
that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is
evident. For the just shall live by faith.
Why did Peter start with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Now, there
are several reasons. There are probably many more than we're going to
look at today. But here we find out it is evident that he started
there because he wanted to go before the law and say that salvation
and deliverance is far beyond that. There is only one person
that ever kept the law, and that's Jesus Christ the righteous. And
he blesses us by imputing that stand of righteousness to everyone
that he ever saves. That's our righteousness. And
he does the same with our sanctification. He is our sanctification, all
right? And then it says in verse 12,
the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall
live in them. I forgot to mention there in
verse 11, it's a quote from the Old Testament, the just shall
live by faith. You know that's from an Old Testament
passage of scripture. Salvation is of the Lord, Old
Testament passage of scripture. The just shall live by faith
is brought up, I think, three or four times in the New Testament,
quoted from the Old Testament. But this is the truth of the
matter. God's people live by the faith of Jesus Christ. He's the one that turns our head.
He's the one that lifts us up. He's the one that does all the
activity. And you know what? If we ever
walk a straight line for Jesus Christ, He's the one that holds
our head towards that direction. I pressed towards the mark of
the high calling in Christ Jesus, and thank God Almighty, He's
got me by this, and He's just like my mom, and He's gonna point
me in the right direction, or I would go astray. All right,
verse 11, but no man is justified by the law on the side of God.
It is evident, for the just shall live by faith. The law is not
of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. the blessing of Abraham. Abraham was blessed before there
was a law given by 400 years. And that's why we find that the
New Testament writers always reach back to Abraham instead
of the law. Moses is not brought up here
because he is a representation of the law. Why didn't Moses
lead the children of Israel into the promised land? Because he
is a representation of the law. Who led them into the promised
land? Joshua. Joshua is a picture of Jesus
Christ. His name means the same thing,
Savior. God was not going to have the
children of Israel go in there and be led by the law. The law
was stopped when Abraham died. Now they're still under the law
physically. But he's type, shadow, and picture. They're not. All right. In verse
15, brethren, I speak after the matter of men. Though it be but
a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disanulleth
or addeth thereunto. Now to Abraham and to his seed
were the promises made. He saith not to seeds as many,
but as one to the seed, which is Christ. And this I say that
the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law, which was 430 years after. Why start with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob? There before the law was given.
And that's our hope, is not in law, but in grace, in the blessing
of Abraham. If we follow this down through
there, we find in verse 18. Verse 18, for if the inheritance
be of the law, it is no more a promise, but God gave it to
Abraham by promise. Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. What did Abraham do? Nothing. What did God do for him? Gave
him faith to believe God. God's word is true. You know, Abraham believed his
word so much that when he was to take his son up on that mountain
and offer him as a sacrifice, the Bible tells us he believed
he had raised him from the dead and they'd come down anyway.
What faith God gave Abraham and that's the faith that he gives
every one of his children. It is not Jews are not Jews because
of Abraham's physical, but the church which is called Jews is
because of his spiritual birth, the spiritual reality that we
have through Abraham. In chapter 2 and verse 16 of
this same book, Galatians chapter 2 and verse 16, we read this,
Galatians 2, verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even
we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ and not by works of the law, for by the
works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Why didn't Peter
bring up the law? Because it's not what leads us
to salvation. You know, I used to think, and
I heard it preached, Boy, if we can just beat the law into
them, we'll get them to go to Christ. It's the goodness of
God that leads you to Christ. It's the goodness of God that
leads you to Christ. No one is ever saved by an attempt
of keeping the law. No one was ever saved by preaching
that as a way of salvation. And here on this day, when Peter
stands before a whole host of people, he said, the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. What's the second reason that
we find this brought up here in this passage of scripture?
The words given to Peter are of a covenant nature. You know, the whole scheme of
salvation begins in a covenant. The whole word of salvation begins
in a covenant. And that covenant is made in
old eternity. It's not a covenant in time,
it's a covenant in eternity. In fact, in the book of Hebrews,
we'll read this soon, it is an everlasting covenant, purchased
by the blood of Jesus Christ. It's an everlasting covenant,
everlasting agreement. Now there was a problem with
the old covenant that God made with Israel. God made a covenant
with Israel and they represented natural man, unable to keep it. They couldn't keep it, even when
they said they could. And you know, they could not
keep it any more than you and I can. There is no hope in keeping
a law. Now there's hope in a law keeper,
Jesus Christ, the law keeper, the righteousness of God. This
one, we read these words are given in covenant nature, the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A covenant was made. A covenant
was made before the foundation of the world called the everlasting
covenant, and in that everlasting covenant, God the Father had
chose a people before people were ever created. That's what
we find the Bible teaches. He chose a people before the
people were ever created, before Adam was ever created, before
there was a family of man, he chose a people. And by his grace,
he gave those people to his son. Now that's what Jesus said. Jesus said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto me I
will in no wise cast out. There is a people that the Father
gave to the Son. You know what the Son did with
those people? He died for them. He became their substitute as
a whole and as an individual. He died for the church, but he
died for you and I as an individual. He became our substitute. So we have a covenant. And you
know the Spirit, we're gonna find out here in the book of
Acts, chapter three and four, the Holy Spirit was there doing
his business. Chapter two, 3,000 souls were
saved. Chapter four, 4,000 souls were saved. The Holy Spirit's going to do
His job, His business of the covenant of grace. All right,
turn with me, if you would, to the book of the Psalms. As we
think about a covenant, God brings up time and time again throughout
the Old Testament, as well as in the New, that it was an impossibility,
and He knew it. God knew that it was an impossibility
for those people when he said, keep my law and you shall live.
He knew it was an impossibility for them to keep the law. He
never once thought they could keep the law. There is nothing
in human beings for 400, oh, no. from the time of Adam to the
time of Christ, about 4,000 years. It is proved by the scriptures
that they could not keep the law. And when we come to the
New Testament era, we find that the same people are traveling
the same route, and they cannot keep the law. But we have one
that did. Now here, they could not keep
the covenant, the agreement. God made an agreement. We know what a covenant is, an
agreement between at least two people. God made a covenant. He said to Israel, he'd done
so much for them, keep my law and live. We can do it. You know, those who knew something
says, no, I can't. Those who didn't know anything,
oh, you bet. Turn with me to the book of Psalm 78, if you
would. Psalm 78. The Lord is reflecting upon that
covenant and we're thankful that we're not under a covenant of
law. We're thankful we're not under the old covenant. Nobody
was ever saved under the old covenant. Everybody that's ever
saved are saved as a result of the everlasting covenant. The
old covenant shared with us that we cannot keep the law. And we
cannot approach God by it. In Psalm, well, you know, there
was a great king one time, he got to see a hand right across
the wall. You know what it said? You've been weighed in the balance
and find wanting. You don't weigh enough. You must
weigh what Christ weighs. How do we do that? In his arms.
Psalm 78, verse 10. Psalm 78, verse 10, it says,
they kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his
law. Now, Jesus is going to be dealing
with these folks during his own personal ministry, and he shares
with them the same thing. You have not kept it, even though
you said you have. And verse 37 of that same Psalm,
Psalm 78, verse 37, For their heart was not right
with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant. Their heart
was not right with them. Why does God have it written
in the scriptures that we must have a new heart? Because our
old heart is not right with him. There is nothing right about
it. We can't make a right decision from a spiritual standpoint.
And in the same book, the same Psalms, would you turn with me
to Psalm 89? Psalm 89, and there in verse three. Psalm 89 in verse
three. I have made a covenant with my
chosen. I have sworn it to David, my servant. Thy seed will I establish
forever and build up thy throne to all generations. Now, how
is his seed? What's it say? Thy seed will I establish forever. How does he do that? Only from
a spiritual standpoint. the children of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, the children of David, who David is going to say and
share with us there in 2 Samuel. Turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter
23 if you would. Here is the whole crux of the
matter, 2 Samuel chapter 23. Now, we've looked at this a number
of times in the past and we'll continue to look at it because
it's such an encouraging statement that God, the Holy Spirit, caused
David to say about a covenant. Now, by nature, he could not
keep a covenant. By nature, he's a sinful man
before God. Do you know what? After he's
born again, he's still a sinful man before God. He never saved
the flesh. And we can tell that right off. When I was back in Kentucky just
recently, Brother Tim James and I were visiting, and there was
an old preacher that was on the scene when the Lord saved me,
and I had a lot of respect for him. His name was Scott Richardson.
And he pastored 54 or 55 years at a church in West Virginia.
And he told Brother Tim James, I hope nobody ever finds out
what a kind of person I really am. Can you say that about yourself? I'm thankful that God looks at
Christ in me. All right. 2 Samuel 23, verse
5, David said, and these are close to his last words, although
my house be not so with God. Everyone saved in your family? You know, I was taught that if
you don't have your family saved by age five or six, that you're
not a very good person. And after the Lord saves you,
you find out that there's pastors all over whose kids are not saved
because God has not revealed himself to them. They understand
where the gospel fits in, that it's not up to us to get anybody
converted. It is up to us to scatter the
seed. It is up to us to do the sowing.
When the door is open, sow, sow, sow. May God be pleased in time
to give a crop. All right. Although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Now notice how he describes this.
Ordered in all things and sure. This covenant is sure. That old
covenant was not sure because it was on crumbling people. The foundation was poor. There
was no ability to hold it up. There was no ability to obey
it. There was no ability whatsoever. And it goes on to say here, for
this is all my salvation and all my desire, although we make
it not to grow. This is all my salvation. All
my hope is dependent upon his covenant with me, that everlasting
covenant. It's a revealed covenant that
God makes with his people. It's an everlasting covenant.
It's an agreement God made to save his people from their sins.
There's a passage of scripture in the book of Isaiah. Would
you turn there with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 28. In
Isaiah chapter eight and verse 28. Isaiah 28 and verse 18. There's an interesting verse
here. Isaiah chapter 28 verse 18. And your covenant with death
shall be disannulled. You know, I was looking up that
word disannulled, and it's the same word that we find atonement,
or covered, or purged, or propitiate. He's gonna purge our covenant
with death. He is going to propitiate. It's
the same word for pitch that's found in the days of Noah when
he pitched that ark inside and out. What does that mean? He
covered it. The whole structure was covered with pitch. And you
know, all of God's people, they are covered with a propitiation
that is only found in the blood of Jesus Christ. we are propitiated
for, we have been purged or paid for, incomplete, no sin has been
left undone or out of his control. So your covenant with death shall
be disavowed. We have a covenant with death,
that's the only covenant we have. And your agreement with hell
shall not stand. Thank God he intervenes in our
lives and brings us around to the truth of the gospel. We have
an agreement with death, if you please. That's the only thing
that we have in front of us, and we have an agreement with
hell. That's the only thing we have,
and God comes in and breaks up that covenant. What does he do?
He gives us the everlasting covenant, just as he shared with David.
He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, both sure, it's sure,
it's all I have to depend upon. So this covenant that we read
here, this covenant, this relationship that Peter brings up with regard
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not only is it brought up because
it's before the law was given, but it also shares with us before
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was, there was a covenant made on
their behalf. I don't know how many times in
the New Testament alone we find those three men mentioned, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. and God of Isaac, and God of
Jacob in the book of Matthew 22. In Mark chapter 12, turn there
with me if you would. Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12 and verse 26. Verse 26 and verse 27, and as
touching the dead that they rise, have you not read in the book
of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him saying, I am the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not
the God of the dead, but of the living, but the God of the living,
ye therefore do err greatly. I am not the God of the dead.
I am the God of the living. What's he saying about Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob at that time? They're alive. They're alive
in Christ Jesus. They're living in Christ Jesus. The everlasting covenant. Jeremiah
32, would you turn there with me? The book of Jeremiah chapter
32. As we find much is said in the
book of Jeremiah about the everlasting covenant, Jeremiah chapter 32
verse 40, we read this. Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse
40. God said, I will make. and everlasting covenant with
them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but
I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from
me." Everlasting covenant. So as Peter opens up that message,
on the day after the day after the day after Pentecost. He starts
at the same place. Preach us unto them, Jesus Christ
in him crucified. But he begins with Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob because that's before the law and because they were
a covenant people. And last but not least, the Jews
said they knew this God. And Peter's going to share with
them, you don't. Why did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob come up? Because
they knew God. And he's dealing with a group
of people who says they know God. That's what Jesus Christ
said. One more verse, if you would.
John chapter 8, verse 54. John chapter 8, verse 54. I should read this whole chapter,
but you'll have to do that. Jesus answered, verse 54 of the
eighth chapter of John, Jesus answered, if I honor myself,
my honor is nothing. It is my father that honoreth
me. Now notice this last phrase,
of whom ye say that he is your God. You say he's your God. Well,
Jesus is gonna go on and share with them, no, It's not your
God. He's not your God. You worship,
you know not what. You are of your father, the devil.
You have nothing in this. Ye believe not because you're
not of my sheep. He goes on and on, continuously
saying that. Well, we'll wait till next week
and find out what is the rest of the story that Peter brings
up to these folks on the day after the day after the day after
Pentecost. Brother Mike, if you'll come.