Well, I don't know how to say
this, but turn to the New Testament. I do not think, I was trying
to go through, I don't think there's been a book, a New Testament
book that I've went through since we've moved into this building.
And we've been here about 25 years. So we're going to attempt
to go through the book of Acts and one of the reasons I mentioned
last week is that there's about 45 different quotes in the book
of Acts from the Old Testament. And so it's, and it's a wonderful
book. It's just a tremendous book.
And I have to open this up by, I'll try to refrain from calling
it the Acts of the Apostles. That's what's generally in your
Bibles. At the head of the, it says the
Acts of the Apostles. This is truly the Acts of the
Holy Spirit through the Apostles. We're gonna see the witness of
the Holy Spirit so much here in this book. He is. co-equal with the father and
the son. In modern religion, he has just
almost been delegated to the kitchen, because he doesn't have
any power to do what the Bible says he has. We have to work
it up. And anyway, we'll spend some time on this. Also, in this
book, we find it's, to me, to my knowledge, it's one of two
books that was written to an individual. We have that opened
up here in the book of Acts chapter 1. It says, The former treatise
have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and to teach. Now join me, if you would, back
in the book of Luke. The book of Luke. chapter 1,
verse 1, we read this about the one this book was written to,
Theophilus. It says Luke writing, and he's
the assumed writer, and yet the only thing he provided was the
ink and the paper. He was not permitted to use His
own words. And we are thankful because our
words are so frail and oftentimes wrong. But when it comes to the
writing of the scriptures, we want the truth of the gospel.
We don't want humanity getting involved in this. So that's what
God did when He used Luke used his ink and used his paper, but
put the words in his mind to write. And we'll look that up
in just a moment. But in the book of Luke chapter
1, for as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order
a declaration of those things which are most surely believed
among us. Isn't that an interesting phrase?
At that time among these people, this was most surely believed
among us. And then he says, "...even as
they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were
eyewitnesses and ministers of the word of God." And this kind
of goes along with over there in the book of 1 John, eyewitnesses
in some capacity. They were eyewitnesses. Many
people feel that Luke was a Gentile believer. And a number of commentaries
shared with me that he spent a lot of time with Paul so he
could keep the story straight. He didn't spend time with Paul
to keep the story straight. He didn't have to have that.
The Holy Spirit gave him the words to write. You know, to
most people, it's a miracle that we have the book of Genesis,
the first part of it, because Moses was the author, I mean,
the secretary for it, and he's writing about things that are
1,000 or 2,000 years old when he comes around. How did he know
to do that? God the Holy Spirit gave him the words. He didn't
have to go visit with people and say, what do you know about
this history? What do you know about this history? What do you
know about this history? I may do that with my family
and say, what do you know about that part of the family? Or what
do you know about that part of the family? But when it comes
to serious things about the Bible, God does not wait on people to
find out, what do you know about the Bible? Well, we should know
the truth of the gospel. That's what we should know, but
it was given by God. It seemed good to me also, having
had perfect understanding of all things from the very first,
to write unto you, unto thee, in order, most excellent Theophilus."
Now that word excellent means there he has some ranking at
this time. We go over to the book of Acts,
that word is not mentioned. A lot of people have various
things to say about why it wasn't mentioned, but that's not the
issue. Here we have a book written, Luke wrote this book to Theophilus,
and Acts is written to the same person, and Theophilus has a
very important meaning, and we'll get to that in just a moment.
If you'll turn with me to the book of 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter
1. Every time we go through the
scriptures, it's very important for us to go and find out what
God had to say about the writing of His word. Where did it come
from? How did God give it to us? Because
it just didn't float down out of the trees. It wasn't in the
minds of people. It's God-given. And here in the
book of 2 Peter chapter 1 and in verse 21, we read these words.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man. Now, isn't that an interesting
statement? It wasn't by the will of man that it was given, but
Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
So the Holy Spirit, in some capacity, came upon these folks that God
used to write the Scriptures, and He moved in them to write
the words. And when it was written in its
original form, there was not one mistake. There wasn't a comma
out of place. There wasn't an apostrophe out
of place. There wasn't any mistranslation. There was no misunderstanding
about it. In its original form, it was absolutely perfect. Now, to do the best that can
be done, to put a language, Hebrew or Greek, into another language
is a difficult thing. Brother Lance's father spent
30 years trying to get, I think it was Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John written into the language of the people that he was dealing
with. It took him that long, and he had to turn it over to
people that were native of the land and knew the language to
go through it. And many of them were not even
believers, but they used the correct tenses, and that was
important on the verbs, to correct it and make it so it could be
published in the language that the people could read it in.
And that was just one. The translating people are, I
have high regards for them. But they sometimes made a mistake. All right. But in the original,
it was absolutely perfect. Now, turn with me, if you would,
as we think along these same lines about how we got the Word
of God. Turn with me to the book of Numbers.
The book of Numbers, chapter 16. In the book of Numbers, chapter
16, we have these words written by Moses as he shared with us
how the Word came to him. In the book of Numbers, chapter
16, verse 28, how valuable it is to know where God's Word came
from. It came from God. It was not
man-made. It was not man-created. Most
people would not write what most of the Bible has to say about
them. The Bible is not very complimentary of the human being. In fact,
it shares with us so often how terrible we are by nature, and
how much we need deliverance from that character, that nature
we have. In the book of Numbers, chapter
16, verse 28, and Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the
Lord hath sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them
of my own mind. It wasn't me, it was someone
else that came to me that brought this. And he wrote many things
that was very displeasing to even the children of Israel,
but he could say, it wasn't me, this is from God. And we have
that, the Lord spoke, the Lord spoke. Another time we read similar
to this is David writing in the book of 2 Samuel chapter 23.
In 2 Samuel chapter 23 verses one and two, we have what David, shares with us. He's called the
sweet psalmist of David, excuse me, the sweet psalmist of Israel.
In 2 Samuel chapter 23 and verse 1, it says, Now these be the
last words of David. David the son of Jesse said,
And the man whom was raised up on high, the anointed of the
God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel said, The spirit of
the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. So he
used my tongue, he spake through me, but the words were God's
words. And so it is as we follow out
with Luke. What he had to write was not
his own words. Now he may have been an eyewitness,
I think I shared with you one time that I had my daughter Jennifer
come into my history class with a glass of water behind her back.
And I'd already set it up that she's going to come in and create
a nuisance of herself, and we're going to have an argument, which
at that time was real easy for us to do. And she got loud, and
I got louder. And finally, she threw this glass
of water in my face and ran out. Now I wanted the children, my
students, to write down exactly what happened so I could turn
it into the principle. We have a problem here. And so
the kids wrote it down and I took those papers and I thought, nobody
saw anything. It was so contradictory. So I'm
very thankful that God did not leave it to 66 different writers
And say, all right, let's see if we can't synthesize this a
little bit. Send it to an editor. You know
who the editor is? Almighty God. That's who the
editor is. David speaks of that. Moses speaks
of that. In Luke chapter 1, would you
turn there with me? Luke chapter 1. In the book of Luke, chapter
1, we have this record made, Luke, chapter 1, verse 70. The
Scriptures share this. As he spake by the mouth of his
holy prophets, did he make them a robot? Well,
not necessarily, but I'll tell you, he used their vocal cords
and he used their fingers to write down the Word of God. He
spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since
the world began. And this just continues through
the scriptures. And one of my favorite passages along this
line is found in the book of Revelation chapter 19 and verse
10, where it talks about the Lord Jesus Christ in relationship
to all the Old Testament prophecies. So for our last verse along this
line, turn with me to the book of Revelation chapter 19, Revelation
chapter 19. And there in verse 10, the scriptures
share this. Revelation chapter 19 and verse
10 and I fell at his feet to worship him and he said unto
me See thou do it not I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren
that have the testimony of Jesus Worship God for the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy You leave Jesus out of prophecy
and you've let you've missed prophecy. There's no reason to
even get involved in it Mike and I were talking about the
book of Daniel this morning. He's planning on going there.
And you know, there's so much written about the book of Daniel
that is just created. I mean, you wonder where they
got it from. But if you go through the book
of Daniel with the idea that I'm looking for Jesus Christ
the Lord, you will find Him in that book just like that, and
you'll find out what He did for us. It s not some prophetic statement
for a millennial reign. It s a declaration of what Jesus
Christ did on the cross for His people, and it s written so long
ago. And because of Daniel, and because
of those men that were there imposed upon by God, we have
some magi coming to find Jesus. And what do they seek for? the
king of the Jews, and they came from the same area that Daniel
had been and his three friends so many years ago. So something
went on. They preached the gospel there.
Somebody was saved, and they had been given the information.
Why don't we go over to Bethlehem? Well, they came to Jerusalem
first because they needed to find out where it was, and then
we find out they knew where it was. Those folks knew that it
was in Bethlehem. This Luke is mentioned a number
of times in the Scriptures. I just want to read one of them.
It's found in the book of Colossians. It tells us of his profession
here in the book of Colossians, chapter 4. Luke is a wonderful
person. He is dedicated. He loves the
Lord. He's been used of God to write
the book of Luke and now the book of Acts. And he wants to
write about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's his whole mission, is
to preach and teach about Christ. And here in the book of Luke's,
excuse me, Colossians, Colossians chapter four and verse 14, we
read these words about Luke. It tells us he's a beloved physician. He's a doctor, and he travels
with the Apostle Paul on some of his journeys. Now, he didn't
travel there so he could keep up with what was going on. The
Holy Spirit would take care of that, but he is with the Apostle
Paul, and he's on these missionary journeys because God wants him
there, and he's going to be used mightily of the Lord as he travels
through there. And we find out that he wrote
these two books, Luke and Acts, to an individual. Now that individual's
name is Theophilus. Now we find a Greek word in the
Bible for the name God, or for the term God, and it's Theos.
And you know what? The rest of his name has to do
with the name of Philadelphia. Friend. His name means friend
of God. His name means friend of God.
Both places. There's two Greek words that
are combined, just like we do often, combining words to make
another word. There's two Greek words that
are combined to make His name. Friend of God. I wish I was Greek. I wish I could share those words.
But I do know this, that that combination of words is in one
more place in the New Testament. And in the other place in the
New Testament, it is not the word Theophilus. Turn with me
to the other place where we read about friend of God using exactly
the same words. God friend. Philio Theos. Alright. And this is found in
the book of James. And it's writing about some individual. And I think that Theophilus is
a representative as we're going to read over here. Let's get
there. Book of James chapter 2. James chapter 2 verse 23. We have a message here about
Abraham. Now, Abraham had some qualities
about him by birth. You know, he was an idolatrous
man. Joshua brings that up in the
book of Joshua, that Abraham in down in Ur of the Chaldees,
he was an idolatrous man. He had no use whatsoever for
God, and you know, probably had never heard of him. And Stephen
brings us up to speed when he says, the God of glory appeared
unto our father Abraham in Ur of the Chalice. Now God of Glory
came down there, and God of Glory spoke to him, and the God of
Glory drew him out of Ur of the Chaldees. And here in the book
of James, we have another writer of the New Testament that was
led by the Holy Spirit to share with us, it says here, the scripture
was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God. and it was imputed unto him for
righteousness. So he believed God. God granted
him the gift of belief in the new birth. That's where we get
it. It is a fruit of the new birth.
Believing God is a fruit of the new birth. Repentance and faith
are fruits of the new birth. We don't create them. We cannot
manifest them until God has given them to us. And it says here,
and he was imputed righteousness. And that's God's business to
us. Christ was imputed our sin. We are imputed His righteousness. And it's more than just a clothing
that we put on. It's a personal position with
God. In fact, we are called the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. Now, grab that for a moment,
but read the rest of this with me, imputed a name for righteousness,
for he was called Theophilus. Well, it doesn't translate that
way. He was called Friend of God. Now I'm convinced that everyone
that God ever gives the new birth to, and they believe God, and
have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, can be and will
be called friend of God. And thusly, these books, Luke
and Acts, as well as all the other scriptures, is written
to the church. friends of God. Only those that
God has worked a work of grace in can be called a friend of
God. And he's the one that makes that
distinction. So we have friend of God. What
a name and what a comfort there is in that very thing. The scripture
was fulfilled, which says Abraham believed God and it is. Now,
turn with me, if you would, over to the book of 1 Corinthians,
1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1, and there we
find, we allow this book to be written to those who believe
God. God said, this is written to my friend, God's friend, Theophilus. But beyond that, everybody that
shall be assembled with him in glory is on friendly basis with
God, His friend. What a joy it is to be called
the friend of God when we find out by nature that we are not
His friend, we don't want His friendship, we are enmity with
God, we have nothing that we want to do with Him and by His
grace He comes down to Ur of the Chaldees, the God of glory
comes and appears unto us and calls us out of that nonsense
and reveals unto us the Lord Jesus Christ through the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And guess what? God says, you're
my friend. We're on friendly terms. And
I have a whole book written to you because we're on friendly
terms. And I want you to know what it
is to have a substitute in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you
to know what it is to have your sins forgiven. I want you to
know the debt that was paid on your behalf. And I want you to
know when He groaned upon the cross, He groaned on the cross
for you to make you God's friend. And now we get the rest of the
story found in the book of Acts. What is the rest of the story
that's found in the book of Acts? The work of Jesus Christ preached
to the inner parts of the world, even up to Rome. All right. Look
with me here in the book of 1 Corinthians 1, and there in verse 30, and
we read these words. It says here, But of him are
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption. Who of God are made unto us? But of him are ye in Christ Jesus. What a relationship God creates
with a human being chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world and angry as all get out at God for the life that
he has and God comes and brings us to Christ and converts us
and we say, oh my friend. Why? Because God says, you're
my friend. Nothing better. I remember a
line in the movie. Why do you like that guy? Because
he's my friend. And the other guy says, well,
I have lots of friends. And that guy says, well, I don't. to have the friend that is God
that sticketh closer than a brother. We have a relationship and we
desire to hear about the one who purchased that relationship. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now what is the message of this
book? Let's go back to the book of
Acts 1. Acts 1, as we look at the message
of this book, as Luke describes to us, as the Holy Spirit reveals
to us, what's the purpose of this book? Acts 1, beginning
with verse 1, says the former treatise, the former letter,
the former book, the book of Luke, have I made, the former treatise
have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and teach. Now, isn't that the subject matter He's not spending his time on
prophetic statements. He's not spending his time on
works. He's not spending his time on the law. He's not spending
his time on all the other things that is always going around.
He said, all that Jesus began to do, both to do and to teach.
That's our subject matter. What does he say about it? Until
the day in which he was taken up. And you know, that was a
glorious day for the church. We think about Him coming and
born as an infant there, born of a virgin and laid in the manger
there. That's a significant day. That's
the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies about the
coming of the Messiah. Oh, what a day it was when he
came down to John, there to the Jordan River, and said, I must
be baptized of John. No, no, no, no, I need to be
baptized of you. He says, no, it behooves you
for us to fulfill all righteousness. You know, in that very thing
that he did, he is sharing with us what it was to fulfill righteousness,
the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
What a day it was when he was tempted of the devil and was
successful. Why shouldn't he be? He's the
Lord's devil. He's a created being. And all
he did was bring up the word of God. What a day it was when
he took his disciples up to an upper room and completed and
concluded the Passover service and then began what we know as
the Lord's Supper. What a day it was when he was
arrested and taken by the Roman soldiers, by the Jewish soldiers.
You know, the very thing that he said is, who do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And you know what? I am, is all he answered. And the next thing, everyone
is laying down on the ground. not of their own free will either,
but because God put them there by his free and sovereign will. And they're dusting themselves
off and he says, who do you seek? Jesus of Nazareth. I told you
I am. And they took him off. You know,
what a day it was that he said, no man takes my life from me,
but I lay it down on myself. And then they took him before
Pilate. Pilate says, don't you know I
have power over you? And you know what Jesus said?
You have no power at all except that which is given you. They
took him out and crucified him. You know, every Old Testament
sacrifice is fulfilled in this one sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What a day it was that they took
him out and nailed him to a cross, and there he spoke seven times,
and there he finally said, it is finished, and gave up the
ghost. And most of the churches, oh my, we thought it would be
he. We thought it was him. And then
what a great day it was when they went down there with some
more spices to put on his body in that grave because they didn't
get the job done. And they found that was an empty
tomb. And that angel said, well, I
seek you the living among the dead. He's not here. But you
know what? A glorious day, a glorious day
when Jesus Christ ascended back to the Father because He had
done all He promised He would do. He put away sin forever and
is welcomed back into the presence of His Father just like they
had determined before the foundation of the world. What a great day.
And here we have our friend Luke bringing this up, until the day
in which he was taken up. After that, he, through the Holy
Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen. No, not one of those apostles
chose him until he had chosen them first. And then they said,
my friend, To whom also he showed himself
alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen
of 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom
of God. Many infallible proofs. He was
with this group. We heard a message many, many
years ago about Christ's post-resurrection agenda. the folks he visited
with, where he went, what he did after his resurrection. And
Paul brings that up and he says, you know, at one time there were
500 brethren at once that saw him after his resurrection. Now some have fallen asleep,
or he's saying some of them got old and died. But there's still
quite a few of them still alive. You know, it's only those who
know not Christ who are concerned whether he actually came out
of that tomb. Because in order for people to
ever be saved, Christ reveals to them His resurrection. It's not a question mark. It's
an absolute certainty. If He be not raised, we're yet
in our sins. So he says that part of that
great gift of salvation, we are given full and complete knowledge
that he came out of that tomb victorious over sin, death, hell,
and the grave on our behalf. And now we know he's sitting
down at the right hand of the Father in full fellowship once
again. God, God, we're back together. He showed himself alive. And
then, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that
they should not depart from Jerusalem. You know, that kind of word is
used in everything that God ever said to his disciples and to
people. He commands us to repent and
believe. He commands us to believe the
gospel. I've been talking to a young
man, he says, can anybody keep the Ten Commandments? No. Did God command that they should? Yeah. What's the problem? They couldn't. God commanded
them, they couldn't. That's the problem. God commanded
them that they should not depart Jerusalem. You know, we find
by now they're saying, I think we'll do what He wants us to
do. We'll stay here. Wait for the promise of the Father,
which saith he, you have heard of me. For John truly baptized
with water, but ye have been baptized, shall be baptized with
the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were
come together, they ask of him saying, Lord, now this is one
of those questions they wanted to know if prophecy, if their
view of prophecy was gonna be fulfilled. Are you going to restore
the kingdom to Israel? The Lord Jesus Christ never intended
to restore the kingdom to Israel. He'd already told them through
the prophet that I regarded that not. It's over. It's finished.
Not all Israel is of Israel. That is over. But Israel, spiritual
Israel, I'll be with them for eternity. Will you restore the
kingdom to Israel?" And He said it to them. And this goes right
along, I wonder when the Lord's coming back. It's not your worry. It's not something to worry about.
It's something to anticipate. He said, It is not for you to
know the times or the seasons, which the Father put in His own
power. But ye shall receive the power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be
witnesses of me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria,
and to the uttermost parts of the earth." And that's what we're
going to read about here in the book of Acts, that verse fulfilled
and when he had spoken these things, while they beheld him,
he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight."
Alright, we're going to stop right there with our reading.
We have here, as we follow through the book of of the Book of Acts,
we're going to travel through the Book of Acts. In the Holy
Spirit, we have many wonderful blessings, and we're going to
also find out here about the results of preaching the Gospel.
We're going to hear many messages in the Book of Acts, and we're
going to hear about many messages that are preached here in the
Book of Acts. But the true Gospel is not a Gospel on how to be
saved. Think about that now. The true
gospel is not a gospel on how to be saved. The true gospel
is the gospel of your salvation. Never was it put into a context
on how to be saved. It is always in a context, the
gospel of your salvation. He has promised to save his people
from their sins, and that's the gospel. A savior that actually
saves his people from their sins. A redeemer that actually redeemed
his people from their sins. So the true gospel is not a gospel
on how to be saved. People ask that question, what
must I do to be saved? You know, but the gospel is the
gospel of your salvation. The good news that he saves his
people from their sins. In the book of Ephesians, would
you travel there with me for just a moment? In the book of
Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one there in
verse 13. We're going to hear the gospel
preached in the book of Acts a number of times. It won't be
long, and we'll be there with the apostle Peter and all the
other twelve, the other eleven. We're going to hear the gospel
message that Peter preached, and I'm convinced that the rest
of them were preaching about the same message at the same
time to a whole group of people from another part of the world
that understood what they had to say. This was not a bunch
of gibberish going on on the day of Pentecost. This was preaching
the gospel in the tongues or languages of the people assembled
there. And the Bible tells us which languages were assembled
there. All right. But here we read in Ephesians
chapter one and verse 13, in whom ye also trusted after. in whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise. So we have trust comes after
the preaching of the truth of the gospel. It's not the mush.
It has to be the truth of the gospel. There is no salvation
in the mush that we hear today. There's no salvation in it. I
was looked at with a jaundiced eye one time. And ask, why don't
you go back up to that camp that you met your wife at? And I says,
because I'm tired of hearing about a God that can't do anything.
It's all up to you. The Bible tells us about a God
that does all of our salvation, and it's up to us. What? We do repent, and we do believe,
but it is after God has done a wonderful work. in whom ye
also trusted, the true gospel, as we follow it through the book
of Acts, what has God done and promised. Now we're going to
find out that the gospel is going to bring two results, one of
two results. Now sometimes the negative result
is finished up with a positive result. We can go to Saul of
Tarsus and he heard the gospel and he got really upset about
it. And sometimes we find people when they heard the gospel, God
was pleased to save them as we're going to find on the day of Pentecost.
But let's read here in the book of Acts 1348. Another wonderful
passage here in the book of Acts that we will get to eventually.
But this Acts chapter 13 is to a bunch of Gentiles. But notice
here these words about why. Acts 1348. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad. Now, there was a bunch of Jews
that heard the same preaching and they said, no, we don't want
this. We are satisfied with what we
have. And Paul said, you have judged yourselves unworthy of
eternal life. Matthew chapter 7, it says in
that day, many will say in that day, have we not done many wonderful
works in thy name? Have we not prophesied in thy
name? Have we not cast out demons in
thy name? And have we not preached in thy
name? And his comment to them, I never knew you. Many. When the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord, and as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Hallelujah! What a glorious verse
of scripture! God has promised success. We're
gonna see a lot of people saved here in the book of Acts, and
it's gonna be saved as a result of this. They that gladly receive
the word. What? How can we gladly receive
it? As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe. Turn with me just a little further
there in the book of Acts to Acts 19 and verse nine. As we
see the preaching of the gospel and the results of the preaching
of the gospel, and we will always have a different view of God
than we ever had before. Oh, God's going to be a new God
to us. We mentioned Wednesday night
about Repentance. You know, most people have the
idea that repentance is having some sorrow over your sin, and
that's the least of the definitions of the word that's used in the
scripture. The word repentance means to have a new view, have
a change of heart, a change of mind, a change of mind about
God. And that's what God grants to
us is a change of mind about Him, and we will never go back. to that old view of God if he's
ever given us a new view. Acts 19 verse 9 it says, And
when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil
of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated
the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. When divers hardened and believed
not, you know that's just going to be the result. They believe
not. They harden. God said, I'll harden
their heart. They will not. And then, if we
look in Acts 28 and verse 24, read that with me, as we think
about the success God has a people, they that are
ordained to eternal life believe God is sovereign over all things.
He's the King, the Ruler, the Holy Spirit, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, co-equal, co-powerful when it comes to
salvation. Some believed the things that
were spoken, and some believed not. Oh, as we follow this, all
that Jesus began both to do and to teach, we're going to find
that this is the center, the core, the theme of this book,
just like the book of Luke, Matthew, Mark, John, Isaiah, Daniel, Numbers,
Genesis. He is the theme of all the scripture. He shared with those two on the
road to Emmaus, all the things in Moses, the prophets, the Psalms,
the things concerning himself. And so as Luke is called on by
the Holy Spirit to write a book that's going to be entered into
the canon of Scripture so that we can enjoy it to this day.
God has called on him to write about the ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ as it's concluded through time in the preaching
of the gospel. He's already on his throne. He's
been accepted back by the Father. The work is complete. The job
is finished. He's cried, it's finished, it's
over, it's done. Payment has been made. Let's
follow that now through another century, almost a century of
time, and see as God applies His person, work and ministry
to people's lives, we're gonna find God raises up a people for
His glory. And they will say, God is my
friend, but more than that, he calls me a friend of God. Brother Mike.