Would you join me this morning
in the Book of Acts? We're going to take a little
diversion from our study in the Book of Numbers, the Gospel according
to Numbers, to the Gospel in Acts. So many people look at
the Book of Acts as the Acts of the Apostles. In fact, that's
probably the title of the Book of Acts in your Bibles. But it
is truly the Acts of the Holy Spirit using the Apostles. We want to speak, say a few things
about the resurrection of Jesus Christ today, and we try to incorporate
that in every message. That is part of the gospel. It's
a very powerful part of the gospel, and you know, I put a note in
the bulletin this morning on resurrection by Robert Hawker.
It's in his dictionary in concordance, and part of that said, for by
his own resurrection, he gives full proof of all the doctrines
he taught. By his resurrection, he gives
full proof of all the doctrines that he taught in his ministry.
And he taught many things about himself and about his father
and about how salvation is and who he's going to save. He taught
about his father. of great almighty God. He taught about himself as the
only savior. And he taught about man, and
he met many obstacles over this subject, and that was man is
in his fallen state, he fell in Adam, and he is unable of
himself to save himself out of the plight he's in. And he taught
salvation is of the Lord, that is not in our hands, it is only
in the hands of God. So all those doctrines, he gives
full proof to in his own resurrection. Now, yesterday, I was visiting
with a friend of mine and he was telling me, you always have
to hear the religious story. He was telling me about his early
days in religion and how the church he went to, all they ever
did was talk about the wrong of the other churches. I said,
the responsibility of the church is to preach Christ and Him crucified. That will identify the error.
I don't have to do that. Christ and Him crucified. If
we know that, then we don't have to know all the wrongs of all
the other churches. A friend of mine was a bank teller
for a short time, and he shared that when he was trained as a
bank teller, they did not give him multiple copies of false
money. They gave him real money, and
he became familiar with real money, and then he was able to
identify the error, the false money. And that's just the way
it is with us. If we know the truth, The truth
will make us set us free and we'll know this is not right.
This is not right. This is not in compliance with
the word of God. And so much of the lesson we
heard in the Bible class this morning falls under that category.
Most of what people believe about eschatology is not in compliance
with the word of God. Well, there is much said in the
scriptures. The Lord did not predict his
death. The Lord declared his death. I get tired of predictions, weather
predictions, and all the other stuff that goes with it. The
Lord never predicted a thing. He declared it. He declared that
he was coming to be a ransom for his people. And I liked what
we heard this morning about that word ransom, payment. in full,
full price payment for our sins. And that's what sets us free
is the blood of Christ as a full payment. Now, the Lord Jesus
Christ did not predict his death. He declared it and he purposed
his death. And we find out that the Holy
Spirit gave to the writers of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, the Holy Spirit after the events. gave record to those
writers exactly what took place and what the Lord had to say
about these things. It may have been 10 years or
20 years. I don't know how long after these
words were written after they occurred. How long after did
Matthew write or Mark write or Luke write or John write? But
we know that the true author of all of these gospels as well
as all the scriptures found in the Bible, all the books of the
Bible, the true author is the Holy Spirit and he does not make
mistakes. He does not have to listen to
oral history to find out what happened years ago. He was there. He was the author of it. And
so when we read about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we back up just
a little bit, we find out that the Lord did not predict, but
he declared his death on the cross, and he declared why he
was going to the cross, and his disciples were given full understanding
about it, except they didn't understand it. He declared it. Now, most of this is for our
benefit. And after the Lord went back and sat down at the right
hand of the Father, He revealed all these things to His disciples,
and there was no longer any question, when do we see the end of the
world? They didn't, that wasn't a concern of theirs. A concern
of theirs was to fulfill the declaration of the gospel to
the people that God gave them hearing to. And so here in the
book of Acts chapter five, we find after the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, that the disciples were preaching the gospel and
they are brought and arrested and placed in a common hold,
a common prison, And the Holy Spirit let them loose. The next
day, when they are to be brought in to face the Sanhedrin court,
they cannot be found in the jail cell. And somebody comes up to
them and whispers in their ear, says, they're over in the temple
preaching. Now, we say, well, the Holy Spirit
delivered them from prison. Why didn't he just send them
on their way and get them out of there? Because they're going
to be in trouble again. The Holy Spirit told them to go to the
temple and preach exactly what they've been preaching. And now
they are arrested again, brought into here. And if you'll read
with me in Acts 5, verse 29 through 33. Acts 5, verse 29 through 33,
then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to
obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers, did you
hear that? The God of our fathers. The Apostle Peter is including
himself with those people that he's talking to and saying, we
have the same relationship to those Old Testament people. The
God of our fathers. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree, him hath God exalted
with his right hand. Now, did you notice that? It
does not say exalted to his right hand, but exalted with his right
hand. This very statement is God's
great approval of what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross. That Jesus Christ fulfilled every
requirement and every demand of the law, and he fulfilled
every requirement and every need to perform righteousness on our
behalf, that he did it all and he is welcomed back into the
presence of his father. He has exalted him with his right
hand to be a prince and a savior. for to give repentance to Israel
and forgiveness of sins or redemption. He has given redemption to the
church, to Israel. And he goes on to tell us here,
and we are his witnesses. And that word is martyr. Now,
originally martyr didn't mean that you gave your life. It meant
that you were a witness of such things. As we read here, these
men were witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and later it
became those who gave their lives as a witness to the Lord. We
are his witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost,
whom God hath given to them that obey him. When they heard that,
they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. You
know, these folks that brought these men before them had the
idea that they could stop what God had put in motion. They could stop the word about
Jesus Christ and could stop what happened on the cross and could
stop the evidence that he had raised from his dead. Now, why
did they not want to believe what had happened? Why did they
not want to believe in the resurrection? And why do people not really
want to believe it today? Because if he actually raised
from the grave, everything else he had to say is also true. And that gives no room to the
right hand or to the left hand on my opinion about myself. It must be God's way or no way. I must be in Christ or I'm out
of Christ. There is no middle road. When I was raised, and I've shared
this many times, I was taught that we're kind of in between.
the directions. We're in between going to heaven
or going to hell, and it's now up to us to make a choice. Well,
the scriptures teach that not. There is not a word in the Bible
about that. In fact, there's only two ways,
and we're in the wrong direction by nature. We're born into this
world with the wrong idea about God, the wrong idea about salvation,
the wrong idea about the resurrection, the wrong idea why Christ would
come, the wrong idea about everything. There is no fear of God before
our eyes. But God Almighty, in His great
work of grace, has made a way through Jesus Christ to save
all those chosen by the Father before the foundation of the
world, to save every one of them and every one of them completely
and totally with nobody left out. I like what it says over
there in the book of Exodus, when the children of Israel left
Egypt, the scripture says there was not a hoof left behind. Not a hoof. Everybody was taken
out that God intended to do that. Now, would you turn with me to
the book of Matthew chapter 16 for just a moment, as we look
at several records that the Lord made with regard to his resurrection. The regard to his death, that
he must go. It was required in the covenant
of grace that he go to Jerusalem. This is not an option, this is
an absolute. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this earth, born of a virgin, and grew up, and at 30 years
of age, was baptized by John, and began his public ministry,
and his public ministry was to declare the gospel, and the gospel
is, I must go and be crucified. I must be buried and I must rise
again the third day. Here in the book of Luke chapter
16, excuse me, Matthew chapter 16, and there in verse 21, we
read this passage of scripture. From that time forth began Jesus
to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem. Now, they attempted two or three
times in scripture to take him before his time. He was in Nazareth
one time, and he preached the sovereign grace of God. You know
what he said? There were many widows in Israel
in the time of this prophet, and none of them were delivered
but a lady of Sarepta, a Gentile lady. And they raised their eyebrows
in anger, and then he said, that's not enough. Let me tell you about
leprosy. There were many lepers in Israel
in the days of this prophet, and none of them were healed
except Naaman the leper, who was a Syrian. And you know what
they did now? They took up stones to kill him.
They were going to push him over a barrel. They wanted to get
rid of him. Why? Because he preached, the salvation
is of the Lord. And he will save whom he will. He will heal whom he will, when
he will, by how he will. And that's not up to anybody
else. And they took, were ready to kill him. And he says, he
disappeared through the crowd for his time was not yet. Well,
he tells us here in the book of Matthew chapter 16 and verse
21, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples
how that he must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the
elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be
raised the third day. He introduced this. He brought
this into his ministry to his 12 disciples. It was a continuous
conversation with them. Why am I here? What am I intending
to do? As Peter drew out his sword and
would have had taken the head off of one of the servants of
the high priest, saying, we're not going to let this happen.
You know what Jesus said? Get thee behind me, adversary.
Now the King James says devil, but it's an adversary. Get behind
me, you person who is trying to invoke not the will of God.
Stand down. Well, the Lord goes on to tell
us in many places, Matthew chapter 17, the very next chapter, if
you look there, chapter 17 and verses 22. And 23, we have the same message. It's continuous through the scriptures,
through the gospels, that he came for this purpose. While
they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, Matthew chapter
17, verse 22, the son of man shall be betrayed into the hands
of men. He brings up the subject of how
he is going to be given over to people. He's going to be betrayed. Somebody is going to betray him.
He already knew who? The Old Testament scriptures
had already declared it. He would be betrayed by his own
familiar friend. One of his disciples would do
this. We know who it is. They shall kill him, and the
third day he shall be raised, and they were exceeding sorry. What need we have of the Holy
Spirit's revelation? We must have it. The Holy Spirit
must reveal the truth to us, or we will be like these, that
at this moment, God saw fit not to reveal everything to them.
That's the only reason they didn't comprehend it. That's the only
reason they felt sorry about it. They didn't see God had not
revealed us unto them. They were His true church, 11
of them, but they couldn't see. Why? Because the Lord did not
reveal it unto them. Now, after his resurrection,
he opened up their minds to the Old Testament scriptures, and
they said, whoa, the whole Bible is about the Lord Jesus. The
whole Bible is about his death, burial, and resurrection. All
those Old Testament sacrifices were preaching Christ and him
crucified. We see it now. Why couldn't we see it before?
Lord, reveal it unto us today, if you please. May we see it
so we'll be convinced of it, that we'll not have any issues
over it. Well, the scriptures continuously go on through the
book of Matthew, the book of Mark, the book of Luke, as we
heard read this morning there in the book of Luke, chapter
24. Don't you remember what He said? He must be crucified. He must be buried. And He must
rise again. That's in the covenant of grace.
He must be put to death for our sins. That's our hope. He must be crucified. He must
be the surety. He must be the ransomer. He must
be the one that stands up for us. He must be the one that pleads
our case. And then he said to prove that
he went to the cross and actually died for our sins, he must be
buried. You don't bury alive people.
He must be dead. I've read commentators says,
well, he just went into a sleep. That's not what Jesus said about
the issue. I'd rather take Christ's word
on that than any other commentator. He died on the cross. Now he had this to say about
the events that led up to the cross. No man takes my life from
me. Judas didn't take his life from
him. The Romans didn't take his life from him. The Sanhedrin
court did not take his life for enemy. All the people that were
involved with the crucifixion did not take his life from him.
He says, no man takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself
that I might take it up again. That's what Christ said. So we
have this whole goings on in these days that led up to and
then the trial. I've read books about how that
trial was such a farce and what a fake. I don't care. What people have to say about
that trial, that trial was required by the purpose of Almighty God
to demonstrate, I find no fault in him. It must be said, there
is no fault in this lamb. Now you may be offering all sorts
of lambs over there in the temple, and you may have lambs that have
all sorts of diseases, but this lamb is without spot and without
blemish. He is the son of God. He is God's
only begotten son. He is perfect in every way, internally
and externally. Nobody could find a fault with
him and God the Father could find no fault with him either.
This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. So he could
look at the heart. Man could look at the outward
appearance and could find no fault with him. God looked on
the heart and says, I am well pleased with him. Then he was
sentenced. You know, as we go through the
scriptures, there's absolutely nobody that has a problem with
the Lord Jesus Christ being crucified. Herod didn't have a problem with
it. He ordered it. Pilate didn't have a problem
with it. He ordered it. Caiaphas, the high priest, he
ordered it. The scribes, the Pharisees, the
Sadducees, the Roman soldiers were used to execute it. And
the Jewish council said, yay and amen. We finally got rid
of that bad guy. They all could agree on his crucifixion. You know what? They also could
agree on his death. You know, the thing that surprised
everybody is what? He's dead so soon. That's what surprised them. It
usually lasted three to seven days. But you know what? The next day was a high day,
Passover day, and the leaders of the Jewish religion says,
you know, we really can't have this stain on Jerusalem right
now. This is a bad time. We got a
really religious day coming up and can you take care of them
and get them down before tomorrow? And Pilate said, yeah, we can
take care of that. So he sent out soldiers to break
the legs of two. And they came to Jesus and said,
he's already dead. Not one bone would be broken. That's what God said about it.
And it came to pass. Why? Because he gave up the ghost. He wasn't waiting for his life
to expire as the other two were. He gave up the ghost. Into thy hands I commend my spirit. It is finished. Payment is made. All the demands that were made
upon my people are paid for in full, redemption. I am the redeemer
that will actually redeem my people. I am the savior that
will actually save my people. And when he uttered those words,
he gave up the ghost and he died on the cross, suspended between
heaven and earth. a shame before men and honor
before God. Those two others, one a reprobate,
another one a sweet lost sheep of the Lord Jesus. Remember me
when you come into your kingdom. I'm getting what I deserve. I'm
a sinner by nature, I'm a sinner by practice, and I'm a sinner
by choice. I'm here by divine appointment.
But you know what? When he passed from this life
into the next, he was thankful that that was the day that he
would be there and crucified on the right-hand side of the
Savior that he became acquainted with. He didn't have any qualms about
being in the right place at the right time. Now, we have a lot
of problems among that whole group of people, and still today,
religious people today have a lot of exercises about this, but
you know, most people really don't believe in the resurrection
of Christ. Why? If they do, they have to admit
that everything else is true too. that there will be a judgment. There will be a separation. There
will be a separation between the sheep and the goats. And
if that's true, then where am I? You know, I had people tell
me that after the Lord saved me. If you were lost, where does
that put me? And really, well, there was a
discussion. You know, at one time, Just turn
with me to the book of Matthew chapter 14 for a moment. Matthew
chapter 14. Now isn't it interesting that
when Herod, the Tetrarch, heard of the fame of Jesus, this just
intrigued me. You know what he thought? The
next verse tells us. It says, and at that time Herod
the Tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus and said unto his servants,
this is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead. and therefore mighty works do
show forth themselves in him." And it's mentioned, I believe,
in three of the Gospels that Herod said, this is John the
Baptist raised from the dead. He believed in the resurrection
of the dead. He just had it all wrong. You know, given three
years later, nobody in any authority whatsoever wanted to admit to
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They said, you intend to bring
this blood upon our hands. Pilate himself washed his hands. Where do you think Shakespeare
got the idea for Macbeth's wife washing her hands? Pilate washed
his hands in front of people. This was a common thing among
the many peoples, religious people. Just wash your hands of it, be
clean of it, and that's what people want to do. They want
to wash their hands of their own sins, but they don't want
them ever to be in Christ because that would mean he is also the
judge. John the Baptist risen from the
dead, John the Baptist risen from the dead, but this man cannot
have been risen from the dead. If you will turn with me to the
book, let's see, I gotta find this verse. It's in the book of Matthew. Matthew 27, would you join me
there? Matthew chapter 27, verse 63. Now this is interesting to hear
after the crucifixion and after the burial, there is a problem
arises. It tells us here in the... Verse 62, now the next day that
followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees
came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver
said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise
again. Command, therefore, that the
sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples
come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is
risen from the dead, so the last error shall be worse than the
first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have
a watch, go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went
and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting
a watch." Now, verse, chapter 28 of the book of Matthew, chapter
28, verse 11. Now, when they were going, behold,
some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief
priest all the things that were done. And when they were assembled
with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money
unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, his disciples came by night
and stole him away while we slept. capital charge. They could have been executed
for sleeping on watch. But we were asleep, and the disciples
came. Our pockets are full of gold
now, so we can say this, and they knew that they weren't going
to be executed. saying, Say ye, verse 13, disciples came by night
and stole him away while he slept. And if this come to the governor's
ears, we will persuade him and secure you. So they took the
money and did as they were taught. Now notice the last part. And
this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Now, how many years later, after
the occurrence of it, was this written by Matthew as he was
the secretary for the Holy Spirit? But up until that time, it was
commonly reported among the Jews that the disciples came and stole
the body. Well, I don't know how many times
the Bible tells us of his resurrection How many people saw him after
he'd been raised from the dead? But we find that the apostle
Paul was used to write that there were over 500 brethren at once,
at one time, that saw him in his resurrection, and many of
them are still alive, and a few have fallen asleep or have died. He testified to his disciples.
He testified to the women. He was common among the people. He showed himself openly. Then
he ascended back to the Father demonstrating that everything
he had to say about the gospel, about God, about himself, about
sin, and about salvation were true, and he's sitting at the
right hand of the Father at this moment making intercession for
us. In the book of Romans Chapter 1, would you turn there with
me, Romans Chapter 1. We have this wonderful statement
made as the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write to
the saints at Rome about the resurrection of Jesus Christ
and say, there's going to be people beaten over this, people
are going to be dying over this, that they confess the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, that he is truly raised from the dead. And every
time that that happened, the people would say, you intend
to bring his blood upon us. Do you remember what the Jews
said when Pilate said, should I release unto you Barabbas or
Jesus? And they said, Jesus. And he
says, I find no fault in him. He says, let his blood be upon
us and our children. And now when they're accused,
you intend to bring his blood All right, here in the book of
Romans, chapter 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be
an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised
afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament. concerning his son, Jesus Christ,
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh. Talking about the virgin birth. He descended through King
David, came down to us, born there in Bethlehem. Verse four,
and declared to be the son of God with power according to the
spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. He's declared
to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. And if you'll
turn with me to the 10th chapter of the book of Romans. I've been
visiting with a young man and he's always wanting to take me
to the 10th chapter of the book of Romans. You know, that's the
Roman road. If I can get you to repeat after
me, if I can get you to do this and say that, without any idea
that salvation comes only by the Holy Spirit in the new birth,
and it's not by our activity. We're going to believe this when
the Lord saves us. We will not believe it until
the Lord saves us. We'll not have anything to do
with it until the Lord saves us. We may carry the Bible under
our arm. We may have it in our table.
We may read it every day. My grandmother read through the
Bible once a year for probably 70 years. But you talk to her
about the gospel and she had no idea what it was at all. She
was a little girl at her mother's knee and she asked Jesus into
her heart and that was her salvation. You know, that's most people's
salvation. But it isn't salvation. Listen to this, if you would.
Romans chapter 10. I'm going to read verse 9 here. This is
the results of the new birth. This is not what causes the new
birth. This is the results of the new birth. This is what God
allows us to confess and never back up on. If you've been born
again, you cannot back up on the gospel. You say, oh, I might
go, but he's gonna bring you right back. He's not gonna leave
you in the bar ditch. All right, now this whole 10th
chapter, a lot of words in it, but notice this, that if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, that word confess
means to agree completely, totally with Jesus Christ and all his
doctrines. His teaching. Well, I believe
what Jesus had to say, but just don't bring up there, all the
Father giveth me, she'll come unto me, and he that cometh unto
me, I will in no wise cast out. Don't bring that up. You're not
believing the gospel. You're not believing all that
Jesus Christ said. So confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart. Now, who can get to the
heart? I know doctors get to this heart.
They do marvelous things. stints, new vows. But this word
is not talking about our physical organ. It's talking about that
part that we can't get to. That spirit part that was born
into this world, stillborn. And you know what? We need a
resurrection. We need a resurrection of that
stillborn part, the spirit. And only God can give us that
Resurrection. He says, if thou believe, shall
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe. Oh, did you
notice that Lord Jesus? Means sovereign savior. I have lots of friends that will
say they know Jesus, but he's not their Lord. Well, you just
can't have it. You can't have it. shall believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead. You know, that's a
gift of the Holy Spirit. That's a gift of the new birth.
That's something we would not ever agree with if it wasn't
for God, the Holy Spirit, convincing us that Jesus Christ is the Savior
of His people, and all the truths that He preached during His ministry,
without any exception, everything we agree to. Now, you and I will
say, you know, I don't understand this part, but you and I, believers,
will never say, I don't believe that part. So if thou shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead." What
does it say now? S-A-V-E-D. If my English teacher
was correct, past tense means it's already taken place. It's
not a procurement of, it's already ours. Thou shalt be saved. If you confess this from your
heart, that you've already been saved. This is not a formula. This is what God gives his people. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. I agree with the Lord Jesus Christ
on everything he had to say. A grand part of the revelation
of Jesus Christ is that He is raised from the dead, welcomed. I like that Brother
Mike brought out there this morning about coming in the clouds. What
if we did look at that coming to the throne in the cloud? He's
already come in the clouds to the throne of glory. after his
resurrection. We just say, hallelujah, he's
there on the behalf of his people. So those folks, they said, don't
you ever, ever, ever, ever mention this man's name again. And they
went out and says, we thank God we're worthy to suffer for him
and went back to the temple. Why? Because people are only
saved when God permits them to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ's
death, burial, and resurrection as a requirement for salvation
of any of his lost sheep. They went and preached because
there were some lost sheep there. That's what we do. That's what
we hear. Oh, Lord, thank you for letting
me hear the gospel. Just stopping by for a moment
on my travel to the dark place and brought me life, everlasting
life, through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Brother Mike.