Come back with me here now in Acts chapter 5. I've got four
things I want to say. I want to talk about Christ as a Prince, as a Savior. And
He's the only one that can give repentance and forgiveness of
sins. Because He's a Prince and because
He's a Savior. He can do those things and he's
the only one that can do them. And when you read this, the same
fact appears very differently to different people. Some people
look at the same thing and have totally different reactions to
it and different conclusions to it. It happens all the time.
But here's a perfect example of it. When our, these apostles
told these Jews, this Roman, this Jewish priest and all the
Sanhedrin and all their council and all those people, he says,
God, this Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree, him hath
God highly exalted and God sent him at his own right hand and
made him to be a prince and made him to be a savior. And you slew
him. You hung him on a tree. And now
God's exalted him and he can give repentance to Israel and
forgiveness of sins. And we're witnesses of these
things. And when they heard that, the scriptures tells us there
in verse 33, when they heard that, they were cut to the heart.
They just laid their heart open. Bothered them to no end. And
said, took counsel to slay them. What was a great blessing to
these apostles and a great, great blessing to us, our Lord Jesus
Christ, His resurrection, His ascension, His exaltation, His
blessed titles as a Prince and as a Savior, Him exalted, and
these fellows that were witnesses of these things, these are great
blessings to us. But the priests and rulers, they
couldn't bear to hear it. They couldn't bear it. That wasn't
good news to them. That's not good news to a lot
of people. Read a sign on the church over
here, on the way over here this morning. It says, when you're
willing, God is able. God is able whether you're ever
willing or not. Is that right? God's able whether
anybody's willing or not. He's able to do according to
his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth and no man can say unto him what you're doing. And
I'll tell you what, they tried to shut these men's mouth, put
them in prison. They told him, you intend to
bring this man's blood upon us. Well, they themselves said when
Pilate stood by and said, I find no fault in this man. He had
them bring him a pan of water and he began to wash his hands.
He said, I'm going to wash my hands of this matter. And they
said, let this man's blood be upon us and on our children. And that's what they're saying
here. Now you're going to bring his blood on us? Make us responsible
for it? Well, they was responsible for
it. But oh, what an effect it had on the apostles. And man,
you know, put them in jail. They come out of jail. Went right
back out there teaching and preaching. They said, well, listen, I told
you that you're supposed to stop this business. I told you that
you're not going to fill Jerusalem anymore with your doctrine. We're
going to stop you. Peter says, oh, no, you're not.
Oh, no, you're not. He said, who are we going to
obey, you or God? Who's got the power? Your God. And so that's what happened.
And I tell you what, they were eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when they saw Him, who was
laid in a grave, after being taken down from that cross, now
risen and ascended, and they were standing there, that when
He ascended back to glory, And they understand that he's exalted
in God's right hand. Now they're with all power and
all authority. And he said, we're going to speak
in his name. Because it's the name of authority.
It's the name of power. It's the name of grace. It's the name of love. It's the
name of everything that God has invested in this world is in
this blessed man's name. And I tell you we're going to
preach in his name, he who conquered death, he who put away sin, he
who is exalted by God could and would surely be able to take
care of his followers. He says the angel of the Lord
come and took them out of prison. So here they are standing toe
to toe with the enemies of their master. They wasn't afraid, they
wasn't ashamed. and all beloved they began to
preach and they didn't say much but everything they said it cut
these fellows right to the very heart and our Lord has two blessed
titles here in verse 31 two blessed titles and two things that he
does God exalted him at his right hand who this Jesus whom you
slew and hanged on a tree. Him, this same one, God exalted
with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior. Both of them capitalized,
titles of our Lord Jesus Christ. To give, and here's the second
thing he does, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins. A Prince
and a Savior. A Prince and a Savior. And I
tell you, what does it mean when it says he's a Prince? Well,
it says here, first of all, that God's exalted him, and when it
says He exalted him at His right hand, that means He's there receiving
all honor, and all power, and all glory. And I tell you, He's
there at the right hand of God as reward for His sufferings
on this earth. And our Lord Jesus Christ told
His Father that. He prayed and He said, Father,
glorify Thou me with the glory that I had with You before the
world was. And so we see Jesus, who was
made Lord of the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor. And here he is, beloved, while
he is on this earth, the prince of this world treated him cruelly.
Paul said over in 1 Corinthians, he says this, he said, if the
princes of this world had known, they would not have crucified,
who? The Lord of glory. But oh my, they treated him cruelly
as we all did. When our Lord Jesus Christ came,
we did see no beauty about him that we should desire. None whatsoever. He was as a root out of dry ground. And when he was stricken and
smitten and afflicted, we said, God did that. We didn't have
nothing to do with it. And that's what they said. And
that's, we were in the same boat as these fellas here are. And
when the Prince of Glory came into this world, God's the Prince
of Peace, the Prince of Glory, the Prince of Power, came into
this world and did not know Him. He came unto His own and His
own received Him not. And what did He take home with
Him when He went back to glory? You know what He took home with
Him? It says this, what are these wounds? Where did thou get these
wounds? He said, these are the wounds
that I received in the house of my friends. And he took his
wounds that he received in the house of his friends, he took
them back to glory with him. And oh, beloved, that's what
he took with him when he went back to glory. And his shame
and rejection, It's over now. Oh, it's over now. Oh, he's in
glory now. The Prince revered, obeyed, honored. Even the angels now sing his
praises and honor him. Lift up your heads, oh you everlasting
gates. And the Prince of Glory shall
come in. Who is this Prince of Glory?
The Lord of Hosts. Strong and mighty. in victory
and I tell you beloved all things as a prince are now put under
his feet he is the prince in fact the scriptures tells us
he's the prince of all the kings of the earth he's the king of
kings and prince of all the kings of the earth his dominions over
all creation for he is Lord over all blessed forever And not only
does it mean that he's received honor, but it seems that when
he's called a prince that he actually has the power as a prince
does. He actually has the power. He's
not a paper prince. He's not a pretender. No, no.
It's not just a title. Over in England, you know, they
got princes and dukes and lords and kings and queens and have
all these. They're just titles. They actually
have no power. They cannot make no edicts. They
have no authority. But our Lord Jesus Christ, He's
God's power. He's actually got the authority.
He's not a paper prince. Our Lord has both glory and He
has strength. He said all power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth. And I tell you what, his kingdom
is now on this earth and he's the king over people on this
earth and he rules over this earth according to his will and
good pleasure. You know, the scripture said
he must reign until every enemy is put under his feet. He has
the keys of David. He can open and no man can shut.
He can shut and no man can open. It says on his shoulder is the
government. It says there that he is wonderful,
counselor, listen to this, the mighty God, the everlasting Father,
and the Prince of Peace. And I'm telling you there's no
bounds, no bounds to the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no bounds to His power. Now people say, well, I tell
you what, you can resist Him. Everybody resists Him. There's
not been nobody that's ever born on the earth that didn't resist
Him. But when He exerts His power and puts His power forth upon
your heart, upon your will, upon your mind, upon your affection,
can you resist it then? Are you ashamed that you ever
resisted someone so lovely and so glorious and so powerful and
so gracious? Oh listen, He is able, He is
exalted to give repentance and forgiveness to sins. Now in this
world here, the world we live in right now, and it's been this
way for years, you know you can go through history. Let me give
you a little history lesson here. You can go through history and
you can find out where every religion ever started. You can
find out where Pentecostalism started, where Jehovah's Witnesses
started, where Mormons started, where Seventh-day Adventist started.
You can go into history and find wherever Christian science, wherever
religion started. You can go into history and find
it. You can find when people started preaching that, you know,
you have to speak in tongues to have the baptismal oath. You
can go into history. But you've got to go to the Bible
to find out where the Gospel started. And where did the Gospel
start? With God. We've got, and that's what I
say all that to say this. Lots and lots of people are interested
in His power to heal. Oh, listen, they get in line
so some preacher can lay their hands on them and say, oh, listen,
I got healed. Throw your crutches away! Get
out of that wheelchair! And oh lots of people interested
in being baptized in the Holy Ghost. And oh they won't speak
in another language. They won't speak in some other
tongue. And nobody can ever tell you what they're saying. And
it says if you speak in another language always give an interpretation
of what you say. That's why when we go to Mexico
we got to have an interpreter. I'm speaking in tongues to them
people and them people are speaking in tongues to me. We don't understand
one another. We got to have an interpreter.
But they want us to give us power to tread on scorpions. And they are worried about interresting
in his power in the millennium. Tell you what I'm interested
in. I'm interested in his power to save from sins. That's what
I'm interested in. I'm interested in His power to
give me repentance. I'm interested in His power to
save me and keep me saved. To present me thoughtless before
the throne of God and in the presence of God. That's what
I'm interested in. That's what I want to know. I
want to be saved. I want to be saved. I may be
healed. I may be healed of one disease,
but still that ain't going to keep me from dying. But I tell
you what, death has no dominion over them who are trusting in
Christ. And if sins are gone, that's
all that matters. Get healed. Go get a... Steve
had a bypass. And then he's well. He's doing
good. Great. People are dead. These things
happen. People have body parts replaced. But all the fact that these bodies
are wearing out, bless His holy name, I'm interested in His power
to save. Save from the thing that's mostly
against us. Sins! And oh, and then as a prince,
not only does he get all honors, as a prince he has all power,
but as a prince he has dominion. I mean, how far is his dominion? A king on this earth, he only
has dominion over whatever party he's king over. But now Christ,
How far does His dominion reach? He's Lord over heaven and earth. Oh listen, when He stretches
forth His scepter of righteousness, who all come to Him and come
to Him on His terms, not ours. He is Lord over everyone or He's
Lord not at all. He claims to be Lord, but is
it just a claim? He said, you call me Lord, Lord,
and yet you do not the things that I say. And bless his name. He's our commander in chief.
He is our commander in chief. He's our leader. He's our Lord. And old Barnard used to say this,
you can't be in a kingdom without a king. If you're in God's kingdom,
you got a king. That's what them girls said.
We gotta crown Him. Him only we crown as King. Oh, listen. And we're either
submitted to Him and obey Him or we're the servants of sin,
self, and Satan. Look with me in Isaiah 55. I
want to show you something here. Three titles of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Isaiah 55. Three titles of our
Master. Isaiah 55 and verse 4. Oh, His
rule is over us. His rule is one of love and grace
and affection. And our faith works by love.
We love Him because He first loved us. He loved us. We love Him in return. Look what
it says here three with three three titles given to our Savior
here in verse four And this is what God says about him behold. I have given him first of all
for a witness to the people What people his people? I'll give
Him, what did Christ come here to witness to? He said, I speak
not of myself, but Him that sent me. I see not my glory, but His
glory. He said, O Philippus, if you
show us the Father, we'll be satisfied. If you've seen me,
you've seen the Father. He came to be a witness of God. And then a leader. Oh my. The shepherd leads the sheep.
They go in and out and find pasture. And listen to this one, and a
commander to the people. It's his to speak and it's us
to obey. All right, look back over here
in 5. I say we dealt with the prince. As a prince he receives
all honor. As a prince he's got all power.
As a prince, he has all dominion. He must reign. He must reign. Oh my. Here's another one. I
love this one here. Not only a prince, but a savior. A savior. Oh my. You know, why would God
give him the name of Savior if he didn't actually say it? Why would God give him the name
of Savior and then leave it up to man to make his death and
Savior left in their hands? Why would he do that? Do you
think that God would exalt him at his right hand, make him a
prince and exalt him at his right hand and he's the Savior? That
God would put him in such a position and give him all this power and
all this authority and then as he made him a Savior he says
but now this I'm gonna leave it up to you whether he'll be
your Savior or not you reckon God would do that? what kind
of God would do that? Henry May ain't called him a
peanut God peanut but I'll tell you a Savior what a comforting
name This is really the consolation of Israel. And that's what we've
been waiting for, the Savior. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He
persevered. Listen to me now. He persevered
in His love for sinners. He endured the contradiction
of sinners to Himself. When He was on this earth, He
was a Savior. He's a Savior now on His throne.
When He came, He told Mary, He said, Thou shalt call His name
Jesus. Jehovah saves, for He shall save
His people from what? Their sin. And oh beloved, Luke
19.10 says that He come not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. And I'll tell you what, one of
the things that's going to enable us to face God is because we
understand that we cannot ever face God in ourselves. We've
got to face God in Christ. And either He saves us or we're
not going to be saved. He is able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto God by Him. Let me tell you some things about
him as a Savior. He's the Savior of the body.
Who's the body? His church. He is the Savior
in his humiliation when he's on this earth. He's the Savior
in his exaltation. He was a Savior when he wore
a poor man's garment. He's a Savior now that he's going
about with golden paths, with a golden girdle. He was a Savior
when he had no place to lay his head. He is a Savior now that
he is on his throne. He was a Savior when he wept
over Jerusalem. A Savior now that his eyes are
as a flame of fire. He's a Savior when he comes again. He shall come the second time
without sin unto salvation When he comes again, we're looking
for our great God and Savior and his appearing That's what
that's what they say and I'll tell you he's a Savior what a
comforting day comforting day Somebody said one time they asked
that's this lady and She's going to die, what's your hope? She said, I'm a great sinner
and Christ is a great Savior. That's what John Newton said
when he come to lead this world. Mr. Newton, what are you going to do? I'll tell
you what, I'm a great, great sinner, but he's a great, great
Savior. And that's it. That's it. And
our exalted Lord Jesus is a Savior. Listen to me now. A Savior in
virtue of the work He accomplished and prevailed in while He was
on this earth. He came here to do a work. He
came here to do a work. He says my father has given me
power over all flesh. Now listen to me. That he might
give, give eternal life to who? As many as thou hast given me.
And I tell you he come into this world to do a work and kept coming
to get him. He said they can't get me. My
hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come. And
then he told them, he said, I must go up to Jerusalem, I must suffer,
I must be delivered into the hands of sinners. And when that time came, he come
into this world, and as an infant, he was a Savior. Simeon looked
at him and said, I've seen thy salvation, now let me depart
in peace. And he was looking at a baby,
eight days old. And I tell you, beloved, when we see Him, when He is on
this earth, everything He did, He had His face set to one thing. To finish the work His Father
gave Him. And you know what He said, the
last words He said on the cross? The very last words He said on
the cross. It's finished. It's finished. What's finished? Sin's finished. Death is finished. Hell is finished. Justice is satisfied. God's honored
and exalted. And I tell you what, He is able
to save men while He's on this earth. And when He said it was
finished, everybody that ever, you know, everybody before the
cross was looking forward to the cross. Everybody since the
cross looks back to the cross. And everything that God did and
had for men, the greatest epic in the universe was that cross. And everything that looked up
to it, and everything that looks back to it. That's the greatest
event in human history and the greatest event in heaven and
the greatest event in earth. Was that cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And on that cross there was three
things happening. First of all, he was dying not
for himself, but for a people. Secondly, he was dying for sins,
not for his own, but those that were given to him. Thirdly, he
honored God and satisfied him and God took him down from that
tree and he was put in a tomb, laid off, taken off of a cross
and put in a tomb. But because of who he is and
because of what he did, God said, I'm satisfied. You go down there,
told the evangelist, throw away that stone. Next thing you know,
they run down there to see the Lord Jesus Christ. They look,
yeah, he's not there. Oh, where is he? He's over there. He's looking
for his disciples over in Galilee. He's waiting on them. Oh, how do we know this
redeeming work's done? Oh, listen, he's exalted to be
a Savior. He deserves the name of Savior. He always deserves the name of
Savior. He did here, He did before He
came, and He did since He's gone. He deserves the name of Savior,
because He's the only one in this universe. Oh my, the ransom's
been paid, the serpent's head's been crushed, and the grave,
listen to it, I love it, the grave has been defeated of His
power. We're all going to go there.
But one of these days the Lord Jesus is going to descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and the
dead in Christ. Well, with what body are they
going to come out? Well, you put something in the ground,
it comes out something different. That's what he said. He said,
if we're going to come out of the ground, and we are going
to be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, He's
going to bring his saints and we're going to meet them in there.
Oh, why? Because the grave didn't hold
him and because it didn't hold him, it can't hold us. Can't
do it. Huh? Oh my. By his bloody sweat and by his
agonizing death, by his cross and the great passion that he
had, by his death and glorious resurrection he has finished
salvation and God is highly exalted he said look unto me and be ye
saved all the ends of the earth I'm a just God and a Savior and
oh my and as a Savior oh listen to this as a Savior see how approachable
he is you know the kind of people that approached him while he
was on this earth Oh, there was a woman, she was
in a Pharisee's house. Simon the Pharisee. And our Lord
was in there eating. He asked him to come eat with
him. Next thing you know, here comes a woman in there. Mary
Magdalene was her name. And she came in there, and just
as minute as she walked in the room, Simon said, if this man
was a prophet, he'd know what kind of woman this is. She's
a sinner. He no sooner got out of his mouth than she got down
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And she wept, and she
wept, and she wept, and she wept. Then she took her hair, and she
tied his feet. She didn't care whose house it
was, what was being served at the meal. She didn't care if
Simon was a Pharisee or didn't make any difference to her. She
had one object in her mind. To get to Christ. And you know
what? Christ let her come. Simon Peter
denied the Lord three times. But he was out fishing. And the
Lord said, have you caught any fish? No. And they said, come and dine.
And old John said, well, that's the Lord. Simon Peter, he jumped
off the boat and went to swimming. He said, I got to get to Christ.
That's how he denied him three times, but he could not wait
to get back in the presence of his master. How awful have we
sinned? And how quickly do we go into
the presence of our master? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, if
I could just describe Him. If I could describe Him. How
do you describe the Lord Jesus Christ? How do you describe how
glorious He is as a Prince? How do you describe how glorious
He is as a Savior? But I do know this. If you ever
see Him, if you ever see Him and get a sight of Him, You will approach Him. You will
approach Him. And you will come like you are.
Oh, a Prince and a Savior. He's Lordly. He's Kingly. He has plentious redemption. And oh, listen. Plentious of
grace. He gives of His fullness. Grace
for grace. A Savior. A Prince. whose glory
it is to save, his kingdom, his dominion are in full force to
save his people from their sin. Now look what else he does now.
Back here in verse 31. Not only is he a prince with
honor, power, and dominion, then a Savior, Savior, that he's exalted to give gifts
look what the gifts he gives for to give repentance to Israel
and forgiveness of sins and we're witnesses of these things now
most folks think that they can't be born again until they repent
and they believe but the thing is is you must be born again
before you can repent and you can believe dead man can't do
either one of those things And that's why it says, for He is,
He gives it. It's not ours, it doesn't belong
to us, we don't have the ability. But I tell you what, when He
gives you life, and He says He gives repentance, now what is
repentance? It doesn't say here He gives
you a space to repent, or to make your repentance acceptable.
It says here He gives repentance. Well, what in the world is repentance?
The first thing it means is this, it's a change of mind. Is that
right, Gary? It's a change of mind. And mind
and heart is the same thing in the scriptures. Mind and heart
is the same thing. But what does it mean? A change of mind. But oh my soul, what a change
of mind it is. Let me ask you this. When God
saved you, did He change your mind? Did He change your mind about
yourself? The first thing He does is change your mind about
yourself. You don't feel so good about yourself. In fact, you
say, all my righteousnesses are as I feel they rank. And you know, you say, well,
you never have been a sinner before. Now, that's all you know
to be. And what, did He change His mind
about Christ? Who He is? Did He change His
mind about His righteousness? Did He change your mind about
God and His sovereignty and His power and His glory? Oh, He changed
your mind about your past? Oh, my past, I counted all dung,
I counted all garbage that I may win Christ and be found in Christ. Oh, my. In fact, he says this
is part of the covenant that he shall make you loathe yourselves. Loathe yourselves. And oh my,
it's a change of mind. What a change of mind. It's a
radical change of mind, I'm telling you. He changes your mind as
to the present and the future. Let me add that he changed your
mind now that you're satisfied with Christ and Christ alone.
Are you satisfied with him? Satisfied with who he is? Satisfied
with what he did? Satisfied with what he's doing
right now? Satisfied with where he put you? Are you satisfied
where God put you in this life? Oh, listen. Very few people are
satisfied in this world. They're not satisfied. You know,
they drive a car two years, got to have enough. Always changing, always needing,
always wanting, always wanting to get something else. But we don't want nothing else
but Christ. In this business of salvation. Oh my. And oh what a blessed, blessed,
whoa, He changed our mind towards the future. You know we got the most blessed
future of anybody on the face of this earth. You know, they
have all these speeches, you know, when kids graduate from
college or high school, and they'll have people get up and give a
graduation speech and tell them what a great future they have
ahead of them, and, oh, there ain't nothing they can't accomplish,
ain't nothing they can do, and all that kind of stuff. And I'll
tell you what, they're absolutely nobody got a better future, a
more glorious future than we do. Nobody. Kingdoms will crumble. This world
is in a whirl. It just goes like that. Fussing
and fighting, fussing and fighting, fussing and fighting, disagreement,
protest here, protest there, cussing here, cussing there,
fighting here, fighting there. But let these kingdoms, they all
gonna crumble. He's exalted. Let the world go to hell, we're
going to glory. The Lord gives such a change
of mind, such a repentance that makes you seem like you're new
and the world is new and you're new most of all. You're the one
changed most of all. And then look what I love, this
is right here. And then give forgiveness. Oh, to give and
to give for forgiveness of sins. Oh my, I'm interested in that.
And how many of them does He forgive? It says in Colossians
2, having forgiven you, A-L-L trespasses. How many of you reckon
A-L-L means? You all know what A-L means,
don't you? You know what it means? It means
that they shall be as if they never existed. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputes not iniquity. He blots out every
record of every sin. God's book has no record of you
ever being a sinner at all. God said, I will forgive their
sins and iniquities. And you know what the next thing
says? I will remember them no more. He looked for iniquity
in Jacob. And he said, come back. He said,
I didn't find any. I didn't find any. Oh my, His blood, His atonement,
His salvation is so powerful that all manner of sin shall
be forgiven for His sake. Sins against God, sins against
Christ, sins against His love, sins against His blood, sins
against conscience, sins against the law, Sins against the gospel. Sins which have been in your
bones from your youth up. Sins of your middle age. Sins
of your old age. Aggravated sins. Black sins. Dandemal sins. All are God. He has gone to his throne on
purpose to give complete forgiveness of sin. And where the forgiveness
of sin is, there is the removal of the penalty of it. No penalty
for suffering. When this forgiveness is, all
that was lost in Adam is restored. And oh what peace and comfort
comes with this forgiveness of sins. And he gives it. He gives it. Oh my. If he would give repentance to
people that crucified him and mocked him, you reckon he'd give it to you?
You reckon he'd give it to me? Huh? Are you interested in repentance? Are you interested in forgiveness
of sin? If you are, I know where it's at, and I know who it's
in. I know who it's in. Our Father, O Father, Father,
in the blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing
us this glorious, blessed privilege of meeting here today. Thank
you for the gospel. Thank you for our Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank you that our sins have
been put away once and for all by the sacrifice of Christ. Thank
you that you have perfected forever them that are sanctified and
healed. Thank you for your gospel that
tells us salvation is finished, Christ is exalted, Christ has all power, all authority,
and He sits there to save us, keep us saved, and take us to
be with Him one day where we'll be plumbed, saved from this world
and all that's in it. We bless you in Christ's holy
name. Amen. Amen. Turn to 42 in the hymn
book. Let's stay in the same guest
and you'll be at liberty to do it. 42. All hail the power of Jesus'
name Let angels prostrate fall Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
be ransomed by the fall. Lord of all, hail heaven's Savior,
by His great Son crowned in glory, Lord of all. This ain't far away. Oh, that
with yonder sacred throne we at his feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song
and We'll join the everlasting song
and crown Him Lord of all. Well, see you tonight, God willing,
six o'clock.