Acts chapter 2, and we'd like
to read, I think it's verse 37 here, just a moment. We're going to back up to verse
36. We're not going to spend a lot of time on some of these
verses because we have spent quite a bit of time on these
verses. And when I started this study of the book of Acts, I
never thought we'd spend so much time here in chapter two, but
chapter two certainly sets the tone for the rest of this great
book. And it shares with us the great truths about the gospel
and the necessity to hear the gospel the necessity to have
a preacher share with us the gospel. That we're just not going
to gather that by reading, you know, people think that they
can read the Bible and come to a conclusion about Christ. No,
we find the Ethiopian eunuch, how can I except some man teach
me? And then we have God sending him a teacher who knew something
about the gospel, the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah, and began
at the same place and preached unto him Christ. That's what
a wonderful statement it is to preach Christ. Now, it tells
us, verse 36 of Acts chapter 2, Now, when He opened this up,
He used the term, Jesus of Nazareth. Now there's a difference between
just Jesus of Nazareth and this one we're going to read about
here, He hath made this same Jesus whom you crucified, both
Lord and Christ. Now we're not saved and then
down the road somewhere we come to the knowledge that He is actually
our Lord. We are revealed the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Savior, our Master,
our King. We don�t go grow into that. Now
we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of that more and more
day by day, but we�re revealed that. That�s part of the gift
of the new birth is to know something about who saved us. And so he
brings this up. We have a whole host of Israelites,
we have a whole host of Jews here that Peter is preaching
to, and the same could be said about all those others that were
gathered around. The other 11 messages that were
being preached, that He was the One, Jesus Christ is the One. He has been made Lord and Christ. He is identified as the Messiah. He is identified as the one who
was promised to come and deliver his people, ransom his people
from their sins. And then it goes on, now, when
they heard this, now, not everybody that heard this, but when these
heard this, there's gonna be 3,000 that heard something that
day. Out of the whole group, however many people were there,
3,000. And we say, what a wonderful revival meeting. Yep. We rejoiced
with those people just as those rejoiced with those people in
that day. We're thankful for that in-gathering that God brought. But when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest
of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? And we've mentioned
along that line that that's just a common reality among natural
man to ask, what can we do? And as it was brought up this
morning, it's either do or done. We can�t do anything to inherit
eternal life. It�s been done for us, and we�re
caused in the new birth to know that, to acknowledge that, that
it�s all been done on our behalf. And then we read in verse 38,
�Then Peter said unto them,� and he�s a preacher to this one
group, I can just imagine the other 11 are saying the identical
thing. You know, that struck me the
other night in bed. I wonder if all 12 of them weren't preaching
the same message to each of their congregation, because the Holy
Spirit's in charge of this. What happened? We don't have
their messages, but they were in the same vein and in the same
message that we find the Apostle Peter preaching. He says to them,
repent. Now, we covered a little bit
about Judas. He repented, which means, that word means that he
was sorry he got caught. He had a problem with betraying
innocent blood. But he went out and hanged himself.
This word repent means it's a change of mind and specifically a change
of mind about God. And that means they went, if
anybody, God ever regenerates anybody that day, they're going
to go from Jesus of Nazareth to Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. There's going to be an absolute
change about what they think about Christ. He is not just
Mary's son. He's just not a carpenter's son. He's just not someone related
to some brothers and sisters here. He is the one that was
incarnate. God come in the flesh. And that's gonna be revealed.
We're gonna know that. Now we're gonna know more about
it as we study the word, but we're gonna find out that he
is Christ. He is the Messiah. And it says
there, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus because
of the remission of sins. So he encouraged them to follow
in baptism. And to them, it was a different
thing than to most of us. It meant if they identified themselves
with these folks, now it's no wonder we find in the latter
part of this chapter that they had all things common and that
they shared and were under the apostles' doctrine. Many of them
just stayed right there because if they went home, they were
ostracized. They were no longer allowed on their jobs. It was
something to be identified with Christ. Those Pilate and some
of those Pharisees said to a couple of people, have you also gone
with him? It was not in comfort and joy. It was if this really happens,
you are going to be troubled. Now, we have churches today.
If you trade religions, we're going to, what is that, church
you? We're going to get you off the church rolls? Well, the most
hallelujah moment in the world is to be taken off of some church
rolls. And to be in the church of the living God, Then it goes
on to tell us here, you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost. You shall be born again. What a blessing. And then, for
the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that
are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. We don't want to ever lose track
of who's in charge of this. It is a call that must come from
God. Now, there were 3,000 that day
that were called. How many were not called, we
don't have any idea. How many went home and said,
you know, I really feel bad about Jesus being crucified, but I'm
going to work tomorrow. It hasn't affected them, it hasn't
touched them, it didn't get close to them. They just felt bad that
they got caught that day about crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, those who God saved that day, they not only thought about
that, but God did them a work and said, this was necessary
for my redemption, that he go to the cross. Now, I'm sorry
I voted against him, but in Adam, everybody voted against him.
We are the prodigy of Adam, and in Adam all have sinned, and
in Adam all have died. So we voted against him. We don't
want you to rule over us. So we're thankful for that work
of grace that God brings to us after hearing the gospel, the
truth of the gospel, and he regenerates his people. And he says here,
I've called them. There in verse 39, even as many
as the Lord our God shall call. Now, there are two passages. One is in the book of Matthew.
22, and one is the book of Luke 14. I'd like to go to the book
of Matthew. This is a parable here, but it just shares with
us the truth of the gospel and our part, our place, in preaching
and sharing the gospel. In the book of Matthew, chapter
22, beginning with verse 1, Matthew chapter 22 and verse 1, We have
here Jesus in verse one, answer and speak unto them again by
parables and said, the Lord is teaching a lesson. The Lord is
teaching the gospel. The Lord is teaching us what
really matters in preaching the gospel. It says here, the kingdom
of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for
his son. and he sent forth his servants."
Now please notice that S on the end of that word, servants. We're gonna find out that these
servants are not effectual. They cannot be effectual. They
are going to have a great deal to do with what God intends to
be done in order for people to say, but they can't cross that
spiritual line. They sent forth his servants
to call them that are bidden to the wedding and they would
not come. And again he sent forth other
servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared
my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are
ready, come unto the marriage. You do not know, I do not know
how many people that these servants went and told that were dying
of hunger. And yet they would not come to
this wedding feast. They would not participate. They did not see the need of
it. They'd rather eat their pulse. They'd rather eat their pottage.
They'd rather go as the servant of the lost son and eat the pigs
food, instead of coming to this marriage supper of the Lamb of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and participate in all that God has
given them to eat. I don't care. They would not
come. They would not come. And how
many that day, on the day of Pentecost, had that pass through
their mind? I don't care. I will not come." Well, it goes
on here, And he sent forth a servant, saying, Tell them which are bidden,
and they made light of it, and went their ways, one to the farm,
another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants,
and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. Now we can read
through the Old Testament as well as the New Testament about
preachers of the gospel that were killed because they preached
the gospel of God s free and sovereign grace. That it s not
do, it's done. Verse 7, But when the king heard
thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed
those murderers, and burned up their city. All right, let's
turn over to the book of Luke chapter 14 for just a moment.
Luke chapter 14. In Luke chapter 14, we have here
the effectual call. You know, as we preach the gospel,
we can only give a call, come. all you that labor and are heavy
laden, come, escape the danger, escape the parapets, escape your
sin, as Peter did on that day. But those that come are not going
to come really by that call. It's necessary that they hear
that. It's necessary they hear the gospel. It's an absolute
essential. That's why we preach the gospel. I've had people accuse me of
not preaching because why would you preach if God already knows
who's going to be saved? That's the only reason I preach. God knows who it's going to affect,
and He has required that they hear the gospel in order for
Him to do His work. So He's going to have them all
lined up just right in order for them to be saved. All right,
here in the book of Luke, chapter 14, verse 12, we read these words,
Then said He also unto them, and bade them, When thou makest
a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren,
neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors, lest they bid
thee again and recompense be made unto thee. And when thou
makest the feasts, call the poor, the lame, the blind, And thou shalt be blessed and
come forth with recompense. And, all right, down to verse
16. He said unto them, a certain
man made a great supper and bade many. And he sent his, now notice
what this word is, servant. In the other one, he sent his
servants. And they could not accomplish the task. They didn't
have the wherewithal. They couldn't encourage enough.
There was not enough in their message to cause people to stop
and say, maybe this would be a good idea. But it was necessary
that they heard that message. And here we have in this passage
of scripture, and he sent his servant at supper time. Who is
that? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
is said, not people are said, there must be this. Over in the
book of 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 2 through 5, it talks about our
word came not in word only. but in power of the Holy Spirit. So that is so necessary for anybody
to be born again. They must have this great power
of the Holy Spirit. Give them the new birth. So the
servant goes out at supper time and say to them that are bidden,
come for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent
began to make excuses. The first Sunday I bought a piece
of ground, must know he needs to go see it and pray he have
me excused. And the other said, bought five
yoke of oxen and go to prove them. I pray thee have me excused."
And another said, I've married a wife and therefore I cannot
come. My grandmother said one time she heard a message from
this passage of scripture and it says, the message title was,
Two Idiots and a Hintacked Husband. Who's going to buy a piece of
property without seeing it? Who's going to buy a yoke of
oxen without trying them? And nobody knows their wife if
they don't think they'll go out to dinner. All right. Another said, and then so that
servant came and showed his Lord these things. Then the master
of the house, being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly
into the streets and lanes and bring in hither the poor and
the maimed and the halt and the blind. And the servant said,
Lord, I've done as thou has commanded, and yet there's room. And the
Lord said to the servant, go out into the highways and hedges
and compel them. Oh, thank God for His Spirit's
compelling power to take those who are not interested and cause
them to be interested, cause them to come. It is as the Lord
said, no one can come to me except the Father which hath sent me
draw them. They are compelled to come. They
have the Holy Spirit on their back pushing them, and they have
God Almighty pulling them. is not going to be resisted. God has never lost a fight. He's going to win. And I'm thankful
because if he does not do it, we will never come on our own. We can just see that in our own
life. If he had not done that, if he had not made the gospel
so effectual through the preaching of the gospel and the Holy Spirit's
work, I'd have never come. You'd have never come. We'd have
just be where we used to be, probably more religious, more
pharisaical, more confused, but never settled on the gospel.
All right, as we look at that, we find these things. The servant
can compel. Servants can't compel. Don't
ever Tell me or your friends and neighbors
that if I could just get a hold of their arm and twist it up
behind their back, that they'd be okay. It's not going to work. And if that's what happened to
you, you don't know Christ. There's just that. You must be
brought by the Holy Spirit. Don't ever think you can talk
somebody into salvation. We can talk them into religion.
We can talk them into being good, moral people, but we cannot talk
them into the church. That's the work of God, and we
must leave Him with it. Step back. Tell them, go get
alone with Jesus. Get along with Christ. Move over
there. Get out in the mountain. Do something
like that. If you're really interested,
you know, all that the Father giveth me shall come unto me,
and he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. You know, if we're
in that condition, come, come. All right, going back there to
the book of Acts, Chapter 2, Acts chapter 2, we find there
in that verse of scripture, that passage we've been looking
at, it said there, Verse 39, We'd like to spend just a little
time this morning on that, too, because the call of God is essential. It must come from God, but that
call is effectual. He will accomplish. My word will
accomplish. My purpose will be carried out.
I will bring my lost sheep out from mountains and deserts and
wherever. Now, He may bring us to the gospel,
or He may send someone who knows something about the gospel to
us, but in some way, God is going to have His people cross paths
with someone who knows something about the gospel. And it's not
free will gospel, it's not nonsense gospel, it is not because you
do something gospel, but it's the truth of the gospel. It must
be the truth of Christ that He is truly Lord, and He is in charge
of this, and He will save whom He will. I will have mercy on
whom I'll have mercy, He said. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. And He goes on to say in the
book of Romans, and whom I will, I'll harden. And we find that
effect in that, my goodness. All right, in the book of Joel,
where this whole section of scripture has been quoted from, Paul, excuse
me, Peter started with this. This is what Joel said is gonna
happen. Here it is, we're witnessing
it. And here in the book of Joel chapter 12, Joel chapter, excuse
me, Joel chapter two, verse 32. This makes sense when we know
something about the gospel. Makes sense when we've heard
the truth of the gospel. And Joel, he brings up what Peter
is bringing up here in the book of Acts. Peter has his text in
the Old Testament and he's preaching the gospel from it. And here
it says, and it shall come to pass, Joel 2, verse 32, it shall
come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be delivered. Amen. But that call That call
that we make has to be, first of all, made by God to call us,
or we'll not find any hope in Jesus Christ. We'll be like a
Judas. We'll follow Him, do all we can,
but when trouble comes along, we'll betray Him at the first
light and walk in our own way. You know, Brother Loren read
that section over in the book of James. I don't know how many
people I've heard say, well, I used to believe like you do,
but someone in church said something and I didn't like it and they
left. I'll tell you this, you cannot
leave Christ and you cannot leave the gospel. If you can, you never
knew what it was to begin with. You cannot leave. God has a hook
in your jaw, if you please. You cannot. I am strapped to
him. I'm grafted to him, as we find
the scripture says. And so it is an essential thing
that he gives us the new birth and grafts us in. And we're children
of the most high. Here it says, it shall come to
pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be delivered. For in Mount Zion, don't stop there. So often we
find ourselves stopping at the wrong place. I'm thankful that
this morning I heard again. Daniel chapter 10, 11, and 12
is the same passage. We broke it up so we can find
it easy, but the message is continuous. It says here, for in Mount Zion
and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, in the
remnant whom the Lord shall call. A remnant whom the Lord shall
call. Now that's who were called on
the day of Pentecost. Those that were in the remnant.
Those who are the lost sheep are caused to be alive. They're
made alive in Christ Jesus. They've been raised from the
spiritual dead. They've been taken from darkness to light.
And the Bible is so filled with different descriptions of what
God does for us when he saves us. And I can just tell you right
up front, it makes the Bible a new book. It makes Christ a
new Savior. It makes God so grand. There
is just nothing that is not touched in the new birth. All things,
old things have passed away, but behold, all things become
new. I like what one preacher said, you know, we still carry
this old flesh around. We still sin. Old things are
passed away. Not all old things. but all things
become new spiritually. We have no grasp of spiritual
information from the word of God until we're born again, and
then it's a flood. It's a flood. Day by day, it's
a flood. We see things that we didn't see before. We do grow
in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
but we have it all to begin with. Oh, as that song we had this
morning, in the tomb, on the cross, in the tomb, resurrected,
we're in Him. And sitting at the right hand
of the Father now, in Him, glorified. We're just as much glorified
today as we will be that day. It's just not showing like it
will. All right, going back to the Book of Romans, if you would.
The Book of Romans, as we think about this call, there must be
a call. It must be effectual. It must
be by the servant. Servants can't do this. The servant
can't do this. Servants can only go so far and
preach the gospel, declare the gospel, give the gospel. But
the servant can make it effectual, the Holy Spirit. So here in the
book of Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8 and verse 30, we read
this. Romans chapter 8 and verse 30.
Moreover, Now I'm breaking into a passage,
you'll need to read this whole section, but for time. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate. Yesterday I had a young man in
here that I've been talking to for about a year now about the
gospel. He came to me originally and said he needed to be baptized
and we decided we needed to have a talk first. And I asked him,
would you get on an airplane that didn't have a predestination? No, that'd be stupid. And then
we went to this verse. Whom he predestined. Predestinate. Whom he did predestinate. It's a good thing. Don't ever
look at this as a negative thing. It's a good thing. Without this,
nobody would ever be saved. Then he also called. He has guaranteed a call to the
gospel because he has predestinated those who God the Father gave
to God the Son to everlasting life, and they will be called.
And it will be the call of the servant, the Holy Spirit. They
are called, then He also called, and whom He called, then He also
justified. So further, the greatness of
this salvation is given to us, justified. What's that mean?
Sin's been put away, forgiveness of sin, and we do not have to
go through life wondering what's gonna happen about our sin. If
it's been put on Christ, it has been taken away, and there is
no longer any room for guilt. Now, we feel bad about sinning,
but the guilt of sin has been removed. I will not face Him
on guilt. I will face Him on forgiveness. And them he also justified, them
he also glorified. Turn with me to the ninth chapter
of the book of Romans, if you would. Romans chapter nine, and
here in verse 24. Romans chapter nine, verse 24.
Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also
of the Gentiles, and you know Gentiles say, Thank you, God
Almighty, for sending the gospel to us Gentiles. Paul had an interest
in going east. And God said, nope, shut it down. Well, there's lost people over
there, isn't there? Well, yes, there is. Well, why
didn't he get to go over there? Because there's no lost sheep.
He wanted to go north. Nope, you're not going up there.
And then in a dream at night, he had a man from Macedonia say,
and this dream is from God, come over and help us. And he entered
into the Gentile realm. And through that, the gospel
has come to us as it's been preached. Now, if he never got over into
Europe and preached the gospel, some other means he would have
brought around to have his sheep hear the gospel. All right, it
says there, not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles. And in the
book of 2 Thessalonians, would you turn there with me? 2 Thessalonians
2, 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 13 and 14, we have this. We are bound, 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13, but we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. It was not their call to God. It was God's call to them. And
once we get that call from God, then we can cry out and say,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. But that is only the cry of someone
that has been born again. Except for that, I'm sorry I
got caught. I'm sorry I did that dastardly
deed. I'm sorry that I did some serious
garbage. And Lord, forgive me." And it's
not a call that comes out from God. Going on it says, where
unto? He called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is
the preaching of the gospel. It is preaching of the simplicity
that is in Christ. It is preaching Him and Him alone,
nothing added, nothing taken away. It is preaching Christ
and Him crucified. When we go to the book of Leviticus
and see those sacrifices made, it's a type, a shadow, and a
picture of Christ and Him crucified. He met the fire of the judgment
of God. He was so consumed by the justice
of God and the judgment of God that he came out through that
experience and could say, ìIt is finished. Sin is no more. Iíve taken care of it completely
for all my sheep.î The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
He ransoms his sheep, pays for them. I mentioned yesterday that
word ransom has to do with slavery. Most of the time we use it now,
it's at the pawn shop. I pawn something, I want to redeem
it, I want to ransom it, I want to get it back. Well, God, in
His great mercy of grace, shares with us, I have ransomed you. I have purchased you out of the
pit of sin and brought you to myself, until He called you by
our gospel. And this is a glorious thing
that God has done on behalf of His people and because of the
Lord Jesus Christ. All right, let's go over here
back to the Book of Acts. The New Testament is just full.
The Old Testament is full of verses like this that share that
there's necessity of a call. As many as the Lord shall call. And he called that day, and three
thousand heard his voice. Why? Because the hearing ear
and the seeing eye are both creations of God. He must give us a seeing
eye, He must give us a hearing ear, and He does that when He
creates new life in us, we get to see things spiritually. In
the book of Acts chapter 2, going back there for just a few minutes,
Acts chapter 2 and there in verse 40, Acts chapter 2 verse 40.
As we travel down through here, he says to these people, now
he's going to mention many other things than what he's already
said. How long this took, how much it was involved, we don't
know. But we do know that he was preaching
Christ and Him crucified. Some aspect of Christ and Him
crucified all through this message. It says in verse 40, and many
other words did he testify and exhort, saying. Many other words
did he testify and exhort. The message is not finished.
Now we read that and we find out, well, he's just went ahead
and told them they have to be called. And then he went on and
many other things. You know, we find the example
of Philip with the Ethiopian eunuch. He preached unto him,
Jesus. Some time later, after the instructions
that Philip had given him, that Ethiopian eunuch says, well,
here's water. What does hinder me to be baptized?
There's not baptism in the message that Philip brought to the Ethiopian
eunuch. He brought him the message of
Christ. Well, where did he hear about this? Philip went on and
instructed just like Peter did on the day of Pentecost. This
is a manner in which you will identify yourselves to Christ. You and they both went down into
the water. He was baptized and they come
up out of the water. So that really gives us some
information of what form God has accepted. Many other words
did he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Now that's an interesting grouping
of words, this untoward generation. Save yourselves from this untoward
generation. What other words? Well, we know
they were gospel words, all the words that glorify Christ, all
the words that tell, told of Christ's sovereignty and in salvation
and everything else. He did not stop. He didn't say,
well, you must be a Christian for six months before I talk
to you about God's sovereignty. From the beginning, from the
beginning, he talked to them about his sovereignty, God's
sovereignty and sovereignty and grace. But this untoward generation,
this word means warped. That is winding or perverse or
crooked. Now he's talking specifically
about the educators that have influenced these people's lives
and the educators that had influenced these people's lives are Pharisees. Do you remember what Jesus said
to his disciples about beware of the leaven of the Pharisees? Now, the Pharisees believed in
free will, self-righteousness, improvements of grace. You can
improve on grace. Conditional salvation, righteousness
by the law, denial of the Holy Spirit's work and regeneration.
It's up to you. This is the 11 of the Pharisees,
but turn with me, if you would, to the book of Matthew, chapter
16. Matthew, chapter 16, as we think about this untoward generation. Matthew, chapter 16. We have
the Lord speaking to his disciples in this chapter about this very
subject, the untoward generation. Get yourself away from this untoward
generation. You know, I've never met someone
that had credible evidence of salvation, the new birth, ever
going back into their old religion. They cannot get back under free
will. They cannot get back under self-righteousness. They cannot get back under the
leaven of the Pharisees. We'll meet in our home with no
one else. to hear something that is profitable. Here he said to his disciples,
when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten
to take bread. And Jesus said unto them, take
heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves,
saying, now that's the untoward generation. That's the crooked
generation. They have nothing to share except self-importance,
and please tithe. When Jesus had perceived he said
unto them, oh, they say, because we haven't taken bread. And he
says, oh, ye of little faith. Now, I have to say this again,
that's a term of endearment. Oh, you have little faith. That's
a term of endearment. It's not castigating. He's not
finding fault because our faith is dependent upon His gift of
faith. And we cannot come to it on our own. If we had faith
as a grain of mustard seed, we could say out here to Mount Hood,
be you removed, and it would be removed. So that tells us
we can't even do that with a grain of sand. We have no faith of
our own. We can't accomplish anything.
If your faith was like the grain of mustard seed, you could say
to this mountain, be you removed. So we have to have the supply
of faith. We must be given faith, and Jesus Christ is the author
and finisher of our faith. All right, he's the one to begin
it. Yet understand neither, remember the five loaves and 5,000 that
were in many baskets you took? Neither the seven loaves and
4,000 how many baskets you took up? How is it that you do not
understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, but
that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the
Sadducees? Then understood they how that
he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but the doctrine
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I require, I request, I promote,
don't get back involved with the doctrine of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees. It's an impossible gets rid of
that untoward generation. It's a crooked and perverse generation. And you know, we read over in
the book of Luke, the message concerning John, it said part
of his ministry was make the hilly places level and the crooked
places straight. Same word. Aren't you thankful
that he straightens us out? We come into this world crooked
and perverse. We would worship with anybody
that had anything to do with our good works. And then when
he saves us, he said, I'm getting rid of that crookedness, and
I'm straightening you out with regard to the gospel. And that's
part of the promise that God gives to us. I will make the
crooked way straight. Oh, hear ye the gospel. Our time is up. One more verse and then we'll
call it 4.30. Book of Acts chapter 2 again. Verse 41. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized. And the same day there were added
unto them about three thousand souls." These people understood
a little bit about what had happened to them. they perceived a little
bit about what God had done for them. Peter had preached that.
It says they gladly, gladly received the Word. And then they continued
steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine and Fellowship and Breaking
of Bread and in Prayers. We'll stop there today and pick
up next time at that place what it is to continue steadfastly
in the Apostles' Doctrine and Fellowship and the Breaking of
Bread and in Prayers.