with me, if you will, to Acts
13. Well, we've had the Lord take
another one. Take him home. When Christ shall
come to take me home. Take me home. This world's not
our home, is it, Ruby? This world's not our home. And
Larry Matthews is in the hospital. He's had pneumonia. I believe
he's getting out today. Hope he does. I think that's
what they told me. Life changes in the blink of
an eye. We keep telling people that, and it's going to happen
to me one of these days. It's going to happen to you.
Just the blink of an eye, your whole world changes. But here's
the thing. If everything's right between
your soul and God, then everything's right, period. No matter what
happens. That's what makes it wonderful. That's what makes it wonderful. All right, I'm going to start
reading here in verse 17. The God of this people Israel
chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as
strangers in the land of Egypt. And with a high arm brought he
them out of it, and about the time of forty years suffered
he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven
nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them
by lot. And after that he gave unto them
judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until
Samuel the prophet." And afterward they desired a king, and God
gave unto them Saul the son of Sis or Kish, a man of the tribe
of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. And when he had
removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king,
to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David
the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill
all my will. Of this man's seed hath God,
according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus. And now look down with me in
verse 27. So here's what happened when God gave him a Savior, raised
him up according to the seed of David. For they that dwell
at Jerusalem and their rulers because they knew him not, nor
yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath
day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though
they found no cause of death in him, yet they desired Pilate
that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead. And when he was seen, many days
of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who
are his witnesses unto the people, And we declare unto you glad
tidings how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children. in that he
hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second
psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. As
concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more
to return to corruption, he said on this wise, or in this way,
I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore, he saith
also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to
see corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was
laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised
again saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. You know it said Lazarus in that
hymn we did today, Lazarus heard the voice of Christ. Turn with
me back in Acts 13. And now the dead hear the voice
of Christ. That's, I was preaching One time,
a priest from John 5, 24, which says, The hour is coming, and
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live, and you all may remember it.
I was getting ready to step out of the pulpit, and Herman stood
up, and he said, Brother Donnie, or he said Donnie. He said, I
heard that voice today, and he did like that. He said, I heard
him today. I heard that voice today. He's really heard it now. Oh, the way believers react is
altogether different. Oh, my. What a blessed, blessed
Savior we have. Oh, what a blessed hope we have.
And may God bless somebody to hear it today. Hear it today.
As you read, I read the apostle's message today. Here are the verses
that I read was his message as he stood up to preach in a synagogue. And as I read the Apostle's message
as he preached at Antioch, he was heading in one direction.
He had a place that he was aiming at. And as I've heard Henry say
and Barnard say, and we do this, he's heading in one place to
bring men to a verdict concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, to a verdict
concerning him. And he starts with the history
of redemption of how God brought Israel up out of Egypt, how he
brought them up out of Egypt. Then he told about the cross,
how that because they didn't know Christ and they didn't know
the prophets and what the things concerning Christ were said,
they crucified him. But he didn't stay dead. God
said he didn't, he said he's not going to suffer corruption.
David did, but not Christ, and Christ raised him from the dead.
and he talked about this blessed blessed resurrection and then
he saw said in verse 38 and 39 and this is where he was he was
going in this direction all the time and this is what he said
be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by
him all that believe are justified from all things from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses. And he pressed
these two truths, these blessed truths, upon these hearers And
that's been my aim for many, many years and any other preacher
that knows the gospel of the grace of God. One thing about
it, men's not going to apply the truth to themselves. They're
not going to do it. So we who know the truth and
know the gospel, we must press it home to men's hearts when
we get the opportunity. And he said everything he did
to draw attention to this one subject, the forgiveness of sin,
the forgiveness of sins. And how are sins going to be
forgiven? Through this man, through this man, this Savior that God
raised up, the Lord Jesus Christ whom God not only raised him
up to be a Savior, and then he was crucified and raised again
from the dead and so since he says in God's right hand through
this man he said you can have forgiveness of sins but it's
going to be through this man this man this was what he was
aiming at this is what he was shooting his arrows at and what
a subject what a subject he said in verse 38 be it known unto
you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins Let's talk about the forgiveness
of sins. This is a subject that won't
interest everybody that's here. Somebody, some, they're more
interested than others. then there's some that's not
interested at all. You know why they're not interested
in it? Because they don't need forgiveness. They've not wronged
God. They've not wronged man. They
don't know anything about sin. They don't know anything about
their sin nature. They don't know anything about
how evil they are and how wicked they are and how sinful they
are in their minds and hearts and thoughts. They don't understand
that. They don't know it. But oh, if you're like David,
if you're like David, when he says, my sins are ever before
me. If you're like David, when he
said, Lord, if thou shouldest mark iniquities, who should be
able to stand? If God come to you today and
said, I'm gonna mark every sin you've ever committed, where
would he start and where would he stop? Where would he start
and where would he stop? You don't know nothing about
your sins, maybe, but God knows every one of them. And He's got
every one of them in His book. He's got every one of them in
His mind, in His heart. He knows everything about us.
And this is one thing that I am so thankful for. I know so little
about God, but I find my greatest assurance in knowing that He
knows me, that I'm known of Him. That's the assurance that I have,
that He knows me. I don't know very little about
Him, but bless His holy name, He knows everything about me.
And I tell you, beloved, if you are like David, and you say,
and all my sins are ever before me, then you will be interested
in this mess subject about the forgiveness of sins. And the
aim of the true preacher is to tell men THE GROUND OF THIS FORGIVENESS,
THE REASON FOR THIS FORGIVENESS, AND THERE IS ONE WAY, AN EXCLUSIVE
METHOD IN WHICH GOD WILL FORGIVE A MAN'S SINS, ONLY ONE WAY, ONLY
ONE PERSON THROUGH WHICH GOD WILL FORGIVE A MAN'S SINS, AND
THAT LOOK WHAT IT SAYS, THROUGH THIS MAN. through this man, through
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way in the world
God can deal with a man. God will forgive a sinner, God
will forgive sin, God will pardon sin, but only one way, only one
way. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
has a monopoly on mercy, has a monopoly on it. And I tell
you what, beloved, and I tell you the mercy of God comes, don't
depend on the mercy of God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you do, you're standing on a rotten board. I heard a fellow say this
morning, a man on this show asked him to pray. He's on this subject
there about prayer. Today's National Prayer Day.
President said, today's National Prayer Day. They don't have to
declare a day for me to pray. And he asked this preacher to
pray, this so-called preacher to pray. And he said this. He
said this, he said anybody can approach God any time on any
subject they want to approach Him. And it made my blood run
cold. And I muted, I didn't want to
even hear his prayer. I muted it, I didn't want to
hear it. It made my blood run cold to say that anybody can
approach God any time on any subject. And then he taught them
how to go about it. And then a fellow said, would
you pray for us before we leave? Oh, it made my blood run cold.
To think that somebody would tell a man, anybody, that they
can approach God anytime they want to, on any subject they
want to. You can't approach God, I can't,
nobody can, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. God will not speak
to a man or be spoken to by a man except through His blessed Son. I would listen, and that's what
I'm telling you. This is why I've heard this for
years all my life. They say, well you don't know
whether he asked the Lord for mercy before he died or not.
I don't care whether he did or he didn't. If God didn't do something
for him in Christ, mercy is no good for him unless God gives
it to him in Christ. Everybody, I don't know how many
people you'll say, oh Lord have mercy. Just Lord have mercy. God don't show mercy. God don't
give mercy. to anybody except through His
blessed Son. He's got the monopoly on it.
If you want mercy from God, you're going to get it through His blessed
Son. Oh my, and people say, well, how can a God of mercy, how can
a God of mercy send good men to hell? He don't send good men
to hell. You know why he don't send good
men to hell? Because there's none good, no, not one. That's
why he don't. Good men don't go to hell. You
know why? Because there ain't none good.
And I tell you, God's got to do something for you. God's got
to do something for you. Our Lord Jesus says this. He
said, I am the door. If any man enter in by me, by
me, he shall be saved. Look over here at John 3.18 with
me. Just look in John 3.18. Look
in John 3.18. This is what we're talking about.
Our Lord Jesus Christ says this. go into all the world and preach
the gospel. He that believeth. He that believeth. And that word believeth means
once he believes, he always believes. It's not just believe and then
forget about believing. Once you start believing, you'll
always believe. He that believeth. It's in the
present tense, always in the present tense. And he that believeth
and is baptized, that man should be saved. But look what it said
here in John 3, 18. He that believeth on him, believeth
on Christ, is not condemned, not judged. But he that believeth
not is condemned, judged already. Why? Because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. That means God's
against you. He's already condemned you. He's
already judged you. And listen to this, and this
is the condemnation or the judgment that light has come into the
world through Christ. Christ is the light of the world.
He come and brought light into this world. And men loved their
darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. If I come
to the light, I'll have to give up my sin. If I come to the light,
I'll have to admit I'm a sinner. If I come to the light, I'll
have to admit that I'm not right with God. I have to admit that
God I don't need it if I have to come to the light. I've got
evil deeds, and I'm not going to give up my life yet. And that's
what they mean. And pardon or forgiveness of
sin is only in Christ. And I tell you, beloved, God
shows mercy to men, but He has chosen to show it one way through
this man, through this man. And I want you to look at another
place. Hebrews 10, 11, talking about this man, talking about
this man, Hebrews 10, talking about this man. And oh my, oh,
he's higher than the heavens, separate from sinners. But look
what happens here in Hebrews 10, 11. And every priest, this
talk about under the law, we talk about what Moses under the
law couldn't justify anybody. And every priest ended daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin. After the same sacrifices, they
never take away sin. But listen to this, but this
man, this man, after he had offered one, not many, one sacrifice
for sins, for how long? Forever. sat down on the right
hand of God, expecting his enemies to be made his footstool. For
by one offering, one sacrifice, one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are saved. You want forgiveness? You want
mercy? God told us where it was. And
why is this forgiveness? Why is this forgiveness granted
and given only through the Lord Jesus Christ? Why? I'm going
to tell you why. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel. Because God's justice And God
is just. Everybody talks about, yeah,
God is just. And He is. And God being just, God's justice
would not let Him show mercy even to His elect because of
their sins apart from a substitute. Somebody's got to pay for your
sins. God's justice demands payment for sin demands death for sin
And that's why he says that Jesus Christ. He was the God Gave him
to be the just for the unjust the guilty for the guilty the Lord Jesus Christ was the
just for the unjust, and He bore our sins in His own body, and
listen to this, that He might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but raised by the Spirit. And God must punish
sin. His nature necessitates it, and
yet He willed to have mercy upon the fallen sons of Adam. And
you know why most people think that nobody ever thinks that
they'll ever die lost and never die without Christ? It's because
they never have sinned. They don't know nothing about
it. But Christ came into this world and was made a man, made
a man. That's why I said through this
man, for our sakes, for our sakes. And I'll tell you, bless his
name. And when God's justice demanded payment for sin, our
Lord Jesus Christ stood up and said, I'll pay. I'll pay him.
Punish me. Not them. Give me their sins,
I'll take them. Give me their guilt, I'll take
it. Give me their shame, I'll take it. Give me their justice,
do them, and inflict it on me. Your wrath that must be poured
out upon a man for eternity, put your wrath on me. And beloved,
he suffered our wrath. God exacted from him what he
would have to exact from us. And upon his head was laid the
curse for our sin. And upon his back bore the scourge
that should have fell on us for our sin. And that heart, that
blessed holy heart of his, blood come out of it. Blood come out
of his body. Scourged blood come out of that
holy body. He was wounded. for our transgression,
His bruise for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was laid upon Him. It pleased the Lord to make His
soul an offering for sin. And when God found sin on Him,
God looked at Him and He saw the travail, the burden of His
soul. And you know what God said? He
said, I'm satisfied, satisfied. Oh, you see, substitution. Substitution is the cause of
God's mercy. God will forgive sins because
the man Christ Jesus atoned for it by His suffering. You see,
my sins, I stand before you and I'm like David. I said, oh, my
sins are ever before me. But yet at the same time, I say,
oh God, I don't have any sin. Why? Because God punished me
for my sin. And where did he punish me at?
In Christ. Where did he pour his wrath out
on me? In Christ. And that's what's so good about
the gospel. The salvation that we preach
unto you is not for you to do something. We're telling you
that Christ did it all through this man is preached unto you,
the forgiveness of sins. Why? Because God can forgive
us because Christ paid for our sin. And the question is, if
you got sin, did He pay for yours? And if you ever feel that you're
a sinner, I can say yes. If you're not a sinner, I say
no. But the minute you become a sinner, I mean a sinner, and
not before me. If God makes you feel your sinfulness
and your need of Christ, your need of Him, I don't want to
face God in my sin. And when I said this the other
night, I said, we may get to the place where we don't know
nothing or know anybody. Herman got that way. He did not
respond for over two days to anything. Didn't know nothing,
but God knew him. That's the way it is, ain't it?
And how do we know he's in glory? Because he believed that Christ
bore his sins, bore his punishment, bore his guilt, bore what was
due him. And he did. And now he's with
Christ. Was he any better than me or
you? No. But he wasn't trusting himself. He's trusting Christ.
Ain't that right? Ain't that a blessing to all?
Oh, can you trust him? Sins have been paid for. not
by you, by Him! Oh my! Christ, I believe I've
told you this before, there was a young Roman soldier, and military
justice is different, but he had violated discipline, and
he had been condemned to die. But he had an older brother who
had been an old, old soldier for many, many years. He had
been wounded many, many times in battle for his country. And
when they was getting ready to Slay his little brother. He came
up, stripped off his clothes, showed all the battle scars,
showed all the wounds that was in his body. And he says, listen,
showed his medals, showed his scars, showed his honors. He
said, I asked for my brother's life, not, I cannot ask for my
brother's life or anything he has ever done for his country,
but I show my scars and my wounds and I please ask you to accept
them as the price of his life and spare him for his brother's
sake. And that's what Christ does for
us. He pleads before God, forgive them because of my wounds, because
of my sacrifice, because of my blood. And that's the only way
God cares. He looks at his blessed son and
he forgives men for Christ. Oh, my. He pleads his wounds
and his scars. And it's our aim. It's my purpose.
And it's the purpose of every true preacher to tell you the
means, the instrument through which God will forgive you of
your sins. And you say, well, and I told
you about him, but how can I be a partaker? How can I be a partaker
of the blessings and the benefits of his death and get the forgiveness
of sins? Look what it says in verse 39.
And by him, here we go by him. Here it is. All that believe
are justified from all things. Oh, it's one thing to tell you
about forgiveness of sins through him. But how am I going to get
them? How am I, how are they going to be a blessing to me?
Huh? Oh, my. How can I be a partaker
of all that believe? Look in Romans, right over to
your right, Romans 10, Romans 10. Oh, how we want to know Christ,
how we want to rejoice Him, how we want, oh, to know Christ,
to trust Him. And look what it says here in
verse 4. Talking about couldn't be justified by the law of Moses
but through faith in Christ. Christ is the end of the law,
the goal of the law, the fulfillment of the law for righteousness.
And listen to this, to everyone that believes. Not being justified,
not being justified by any works or any law keeping that you do.
And then look what he says. For Moses describes the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them. If you want to be justified by
the law, you've got to live by them. But now this is the righteousness
we're talking about by believing. This is the righteousness of
what faith says. Faith speaks from the heart.
Faith says, say not in your heart, who shall ascend into heaven?
That's to bring Christ down from above. What should I need to
do? What can I do to get Christ to
come down and do something for me? Faith doesn't say that. Faith said he's already come.
He's already done it. Work says, what do I need to
do to cause Christ to do something for me? Faith don't say that. Faith says he's already come.
Faith said he's already done it. And then look what he says.
And it doesn't say, who shall descend into the deep? That is,
bring up Christ again from the dead. What shall I do to get
the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, effectual for me?
But faith doesn't say that. You know what faith says? What
does faith say? The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. Right here, right now in your
mouth, real close to you. Right now it is. What is it?
that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved." Faith, faith. Come believing, come trusting,
come resting, come depending on this man for your acceptance
with God. Oh, we've preached God's way
of pardon, man's way of getting this blessed forgiveness. There's
some chaplains came in all the time down there and This black
woman came in, she'd been the other night, and way up in the
night, and she came in. She'd only been a chaplain for
about three months. And I asked her who she was feeling
away with. She said, Seventh-day Adventist.
But she asked me, I told her I was a pastor, been a pastor
for 38 years. She said, well, what do you preach?
And I said, well, we're Calvinists. I said, we believe in the sovereign
grace of God. We're Calvinists. And I began
to tell her what the gospel is, and just tell her what the gospel
was. And about the only way a man can be accepted is through Christ.
That a man can't talk to God except through Christ. And we
talked about that. She stayed in there for an hour
and a half. An hour and a half. And oh my,
but look at the character of this pardon, this forgiveness.
And what a blessed message to tell that when God pardons a
man's sins, He pardons all of them. He said, look what He,
by Him, verse 39, by Him all that believe are justified from
all things. all things from which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses. And what I'm telling you
is He forgives you of everything that you've ever said to Him.
You know, this is the way it is. He not only forgives you
for your past sins, your present sins, but your future sins. That's
how I affect you, the death of Christ. It takes care of all
of them, all of them. And that's why I said, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified
them. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. And he forgives all sins. And
not only all of them, but a full one. You know, when the Lord
Jesus Christ, Simon had him in his house, And Mary came in and
began to wash his feet with her tears and dry them with the hairs
of her head. And Simon said, if he knew what manner of woman
this is, this woman is a sinner. And if he were a prophet, he
wouldn't have nothing to do with the sinner. He looked at him
and said, Simon, I got something to ask you. He said, what? He
says, if a man owes five pence or 500 pence, but because neither
one of them had nothing to pay, and he's forgiven of all of them,
which one think I love most? He that forgives most. And he
says, Simon, he said, you ain't done a thing for me since I've
been in your house. Not a thing for me. You ain't washed my feet.
You ain't kissed my cheek. You've done nothing for me. But
this woman came in here, washed my feet with her tears. Got them
with her hair of her head. And I'm going to tell you something,
Simon. Her sins, which are many, I forgive. For he that is forgiven
of much love. All of them said they'd forgive
him. And old Simon, he just had to sit there and feel. But boy,
he said, her sins, he said, oh, there are many, but I forgive
them. Oh, my. I told you that story
about Luther in a dream and the devil bringing a long roll of
his sins and rolling them out before him as far as he can see.
But in that dream he says right at the bottom of it the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. And I tell you if you want Mark
my God there ain't enough paper to put it on. And not only is
it full but it's free, free forgiveness. When He says through this man,
it's free. The only motive that God gives
through His blessed Son is the pure grace of God, who is a God
like and unto Thee that pardoneth iniquity and passes by the transgressions
of the remittance of which. The God who is rich in mercy
through the great love we're with Him. Oh, my. And not only is it full, not
only is it free, but, beloved, it'll never, ever be taken back.
You know how miserable it'd be to think that you could be saved
for a year, two years, five years, ten years, and then turn around
and lose it? And then lose it? But he says,
the gifts and calling of God are without repenting. What he
gives you, you know what he said? He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And this is what he said, and
I will in no wise cast him out. He'll never do anything. Did
David sin? He committed adultery, lost a
child, and committed murder. God won't cast anybody out. What
did I read to you this morning? God said, I raised a king unto
Israel, David, a man. That's what God said about him.
Oh no, cast him out. I won't cast him out. You say,
Preacher, I just don't know what some of the things I've said
and some of the things I've done, and all since I've been a believer.
I'll in no wise cast him out. You say, well, that gives us
an excuse. No, no. That gives us a motive to give
our hearts, lives, and souls to Christ freely, gladly, thankfully. Lord, I'm yours. Take me. Oh,
and our Lord forgives a sinner, and I'll tell you something else
He does. Not only does He forgive us, but He prevents us from going
back to where we were. How does He do that? He makes
us new creatures in Christ. He sends the Spirit of His Son
into our hearts, and we cry, Abba, Father. He says, where
sin abounded, grace is going much more abounded. Listen, he
put a nature in us that won't let us go back. And listen, where
would you go? Where would you go? You can't
even go back to sin because you got a nature that won't let you.
You got that new nature. And the spirit in us keeps us.
And oh my, he doesn't love us today than hate us tomorrow.
The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we're the
children of God. And not only is it full, not
only is it powerful and present and full and free, but it's present. That means that right now, right
now, you can have assurance of your sins being forgiven and
know it, and know it. There's no probation period.
You can know right now that you're forgiven. Paul said it like this,
I know who, who I have believed. And I'm persuaded that whatsoever
I've committed unto him against that day, he's able to keep it.
Oh my, there's therefore no condemnation to who? To them that are in Christ. Being justified by faith, we
have what? Peace with God. Oh my. There's an old black man one
time, people asked him, said, you know, he's always talking
about Christ and being saved. And an old black man, they asked
him one time and said, how in the world do you know you're
saved? And he had a sack of corn on his back, going home with
a sack of corn on his back. And they asked him and he took
that sack of corn and laid it on the ground, set it down. He
said, I know my sins is gone just like I know that corn ain't
on my back. Where'd their sins go? God took
that sack of corn and put it on Christ, Christ carried it.
Christ took our sins, our guilt, took it off of us, off of our
back, off of our back. And oh my, there's a present
pardon, forgiveness right now if you'll come to Christ. right
now and it'll be tomorrow and it'll be tomorrow and tomorrow
and tomorrow and tomorrow be for all your tomorrows and for
all eternity and then look let me wind it up with this right
here look what look at the congregation that paul preached this blessed
blessed forgiveness through christ through and how it's so full
and so free and so present look at the congregation he preached
to and he says be it known verse 38 be it known unto you you Who's
you? You. Who's you? Me. Who's you? You. You. Be it known unto you. Ain't that something? Unto you. Unto you is priest the forgiveness
of sin. And you know what a privilege
and what a blessing it is to have the Forgiveness of sins
preached to you unto you, you know how many people have never
heard it and never will hear it But unto you unto you unto
you and that's what he says is preached unto you unto you the
forgiveness of sin But how does some how does people react to
it? There's some folks that are acted to it very very different
some despised it Look what he said in verse 40 Beware, he just
got through telling them, oh, through Christ, you can have
forgiveness of sin. It's preached unto you, and you
that believe are justified from all things. Beware, therefore,
lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets.
Behold, you despisers and wonder and perish, for I work a work
in your days, a work which you shall in no way or no wise believe,
though a man declare it unto you. And oh my, they despise
it. Look what it said down in verse
45. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled
with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul,
contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas, oh, they
waxed bold and said, it's necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you. Now listen to this. Oh, this
is awful. and seeing you put it from you
unto you as priests but you say don't want it don't want it don't
need it seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves make
this judgment on yourselves unworthy of everlasting life we're going
to turn to the gentiles but then there's some that rejected it
despised it but look what some look what happened to some that
believed And verse 42, and when the Jews were going out of the
synagogue, the Gentiles, people like me and you, asked them that
these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath day.
Look down at verse 47. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light, Christ to be a light
of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation, salvation unto
the ends of the world that Christ should be. And listen to what
happened. This is the way we are. And when
the Gentiles, and when we hear the gospel, and when the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life. What'd they do? They believed.
Do you believe? I believe. I believe. Forgiveness
of sins. If you're interested in forgiveness
of sins, I sure would like to hear somebody that's interested
in having forgiveness. I certainly would like to see
somebody, run across somebody that's saying, preacher, what
must I do? I'd love to run across somebody
like that. Our Father, blessed holy name of Christ our Lord,
thank you for the gospel. Thank you for the truth as it
is in Christ. And Lord, the Holy Ghost, the
Holy Spirit will have to take these words and make them fruitful,
make them affectionate. And I pray you will. I pray you'd
take the Word of God. And there'd be people here today
that when they heard it, they were glad. Oh, glad and glorified
your Word and believed. Oh, God, help them to believe.
Help them to believe and do this for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen.