came to Him, and found my rest." Oh, what a wonderful rest we
have in the Lord Jesus. I want to go back here and start
in verse 29 and read down to verse 33 and set the context
up here of what I want to say. Then Peter and the other apostles
answered, after they told him, We don't want you to teach in
this man's name and build his doctrine and intend to bring
his man's blood on us. They answered, We ought to obey
God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom you salute, and hanged on a tree. Him hath God
exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior. That's
the title of my message today, A Prince and a Savior. What wonderful titles of our
Lord Jesus Christ, a Prince and a Savior. It's like God said,
I'm a just God and a Savior. Look unto me, all ye ends of
the earth, and ye shall be saved. Well, this is the Savior God
said look to. Just like she's saying in that,
I came, I rose, and I came to Jesus. And we are witnesses to
be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel
and forgiveness of sins and we are his witnesses of these things
and so is also the Holy Ghost. He witnesses these things to
whom God has given to them that obey Him. Now listen, when they
heard that they were cut to the heart and took counsel to Satan.
The same message had a different effect on these people. And the same fact appears so
differently to different people. The fact of our Lord Jesus Christ
rising from the dead, exalted at God's right hand, the priests
and the rulers, it just upset them to no end. It cut them to
the heart, and they said, we've got to kill these fellows. But
the apostles, they rejoiced over it. They blessed God for it.
And they praised the Lord for it. Some hated it, despised it,
and didn't want nobody to even talk about Christ and talk about
the Lord Jesus. And the others stood up and said,
are we going to obey God or you? You slew Him and hung Him, but
I'll tell you what, we're witnesses of who He was and what He did
and what He accomplished. They couldn't bear to hear that
the Lord Jesus Christ whom they slew and hung on a tree was still
alive. was alive and exalted, not only
alive, but exalted, sitting at the right hand of God. That wasn't
good news to them, but so it's good news to me. It wasn't good
news to these religious men. It wasn't good news to the council.
It wasn't good news to those 70 or 80 people gathered around
there. In fact, they just hated it and despised it and despised
those who preached it. But to all these apostles, These
preachers brought them bad news. And they tried to shut their
mouths. And they said, do you intend to bring this man's blood
upon us? Do we remember when they said,
I'll wash this man's, Pilate said, I'm washing my hands of
this man's blood right now. And he said, his blood will be
on us and on our children is what they said. Well, it is. It was and it is. And on he went
on to say here and say, they wanted to be done with it for
all and all times. But this same fact, this same
fact, the God of our fathers, whom you slew and hang upon a
tree, him had God exalted to be a prince and a savior, to
give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins, And we're
witnesses of these things. It had a different effect upon
the apostles. Great different effect upon them.
And when they saw him, and this is why Peter said we're eyewitnesses
of this, when they saw him laid in a grave after they took him
dead off of a cross, they were there. And Mary, remember Mary
came and she helped him on his body and wrapped him in the linen
clothes and put the veil over his face and they wrapped him
up and put him in that grave and put a big stone over him.
He was dead! Dead! No eyes, no breath, no
light, no movement. But now, they went back the third
morning, the stone was gone, they looked in there, and everything
was there but the Lord Jesus Christ. They laid clothes, they
laid face masks, they laid everything, and He wasn't there! Oh, not
only that, but they were standing. In Acts chapter 2 verse 1 it
says, they were standing on not all of it, and that's the Lord
Jesus starting to ascend up to glory. And an angel said, you
men of Israel, while you stand here watching him go up, the
same Jesus who goes up is coming back the same way. And they watched
him ascend. They sent him down, put him in
a grave, raised from the dead, and they stood watching him go
back up. Huh? And he exalted to God's right
hand. And instead of cutting him to
the heart, it filled him with boldness, assurance, and comfort. and fearlessness and a desire
to preach that blessed gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
told this whole bunch here, said we're going to speak in his name
because it's the right name. It's the only saving name. It's
the glorious name. It's the exalted name. It's the
name that God gave him. It's the name that every man,
if he's ever going to be saved, he's going to be saved by this
name. If he's ever going to talk to God, he's going to be talking
to God through this man. And we're going to preach his
name. We're going to tell his name. You see, he conquered death. He put away sin. He's exalted
by God and could and would surely be able to characterize his own
followers. Wouldn't they put him in a common
prison? They said, we fixed these fellas. They said, man, we got
them in where we want them to be. They went down there to get
them. The Lord got them in a jail. He went and opened the door and
said, now go preach. Go preach. That ought to tell preachers
something. If God opened the prison door
and took men out and said, now you go stand and preach. That
ought to be every preacher's He ought to be focused on one
thing, preaching, preaching, and preaching, and preaching,
and preaching. And all beloved, here they are, standing toe to
toe with these Jews, these enemies of our master. They weren't afraid.
They weren't ashamed. What frightened these Jews, it
was an awful announcement to these Jewish priests and rulers,
was to the apostles. A cause of comfort and a cause
of great courage and a cause of great joy. And look what it
says there in verse 31. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus and healed, healed. Listen to it. I said healed.
Healed and God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and
a savior. To give repentance to Israel
and forgiveness of sins. Two titles here. A prince and
a savior. We need to know what they mean.
We need to understand what they mean. Here the Lord Jesus Christ
is described under two titles that, when you think about them
in two names, they comprehend within themselves all of his
offices and all of his relationships. Jesus Christ, And he's a Savior
that comprehends all the work that he did, all of his idol,
and all of his relationship. A prince. It said here that God
exalted him to be a prince. What does this mean to us? What
does this teach us? Well, it teaches us this, that our Lord
Jesus Christ is receiving all honor, all glory. This is what
God is going to do to you. You know when you say you're
my right-hand man, that means you've got the position. of all
authority. You're honored to do that. God
set him in his right hand and gave him glory and honor. You
see, he's receiving honor as a reward for his sufferings on
this earth. But we see Jesus who was made
just a little older than the angels for the suffering of death.
But now listen to it, crowned with glory and honor, set out
as the right actor. He by himself purged our sin. He set out at the right hand
of the majesty of life. And I tell you, while he was
on this earth, the princes of this world treated him cruelly
as all of us did. The princes of this world, and
that's what Paul is saying, he says, if they knew, the princes
of this world would not have crucified the Prince of Glory.
And they treated him awful cruelly. And we all treated him cruelly.
The Scriptures tell us that we saw no beauty about him that
we should desire him. He was as a root out of the dry
ground. There was nothing about him that
was attractive. Nothing about him, and so if
you ever was attracted to him, and saw him, and enjoyed him,
and wanted to be in his presence, it was because he gave you the
sight to see, and to retortion him, and to come to him. The
same man would look at him, and one would fall at his feet, and
another would say, I need to kill that man. And one would
come to him for forgiveness of sin, and one would come to him
to tempt him, and try to catch him in his way. One would come
to it and bless his holy name. Another would come to it and
say he has a devil. But I tell you what, God has
given him all honor now. And one of these days, those
men who cursed him there, everyone's going to bow knee. Everybody
in this building will bow knee. Everybody, every drop of bread
will bow knee. And they'll bow knee to God and
give Him all the glory that Jesus Christ has all power in heaven
and earth. And they'll bow down. this enemy
will go down at his feet, and then they'll hear the awful,
awful sound, words, four of them, depart
from me, six of them, ye workers of iniquity. And I tell you what, when the
Prince of Glory came into this world, it didn't help him. He
came unto his own and received him. He was light shining in
darkness and the darkness didn't comprehend him. You know what
he took home with him? You know what I took home with
Him? Look with me over in Zechariah. Malachi is the last book in the
Old Testament. You go to Matthew and then go
back one book and you're in Malachi and then go back another book
and you're in Zechariah. Look with me in Zechariah 13
and 6. You know what our Lord took home
with Him? Huh? Besides His glory and His
honor? Father, glorify me with the glory
that I had with You before the world was. You know what He took
home with Him? Look what he took home with him.
Zechariah 13.6, One shall say unto him, and he took these wounds
with him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall
answer, These with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. He took them back with him. He
sits right there as a man, a man in glory, and the evidence that
God honored him for what he did on that cross. His shame and
rejection is over now. He's in glory now. He's a prince. He's reverenced. He's obeyed.
He's honored. The angels now sing his praises
and his glory. that feet that our Lord Jesus
is today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. He's singing
these praises, ain't he's glory. Lift up your heads over your
gates, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come
in. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord, mighty and strong in battle. The Lord of Hosts is His name.
Open up, He's coming in. And all things now And I tell
you, all things now are put under His feet. I know people don't
believe that, but I know it, I know it, and you know it. He's
the Prince of the kings of the earth, His dominions over all
creation, He's Lord over all, blessed forever. I'll tell you
another thing about Him being Lord, or being the Prince here. Not only does He get all honor,
but that means that He signifies not only honor, but actual power. A Prince has power, He has authority.
He's not a paper prince. He's not like you fellas over
there in England, prince this and prince that and prince that
and some of the things, you know, that may never ever have a throne.
And don't act very princely, but our Lord Jesus Christ is
a prince who has actual power. It's not just a title. Our Lord
has both glory and strength. He said, All power is given unto
me in heaven and earth. He says, Thou hast given them
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as Thou hast given him. Oh, beloved, His kingdoms now
are His only mediator. The scripture says the government
is on His shoulders. He says he has the key of day
that nobody can shut and nobody can open. He can open and nobody
can shut. That means he's got all power.
He can open your heart or he can shut it. If he shuts it,
nothing's going to open it. But if he opens it, there's not
a devil in hell or no place else that can shut it. He opened Lydia's
heart. Do you reckon he was ever shut
back? Oh, they say they shut their hearts against him. Not
if God opens in any angel. Oh, no, no. Oh, bless his holy
name. He's the only potentate in this
universe. The only potentate in this universe
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's no bounds to the
power of our Lord Jesus Christ. No bounds to it. He's able to
say to the uttermost, them that come under by him. And he says
he's exalted to give repentance and forgiveness to sin. Now lots
of people, multitude of preachers and people, maybe some of you
are, interested in his power to heal. Really interested in
his power to heal. And people go all over the country
saying they can heal this disease, that disease, and another disease.
Whenever some healer walks into a hospital, and starts cleaning
out hospitals, then I'll believe them. Whenever they start preaching
the gospel, then I'll believe them. And if a body's healed, and the
soul's not healed of the disease of sin, all you've still got
to face is being lost. And oh, beloved, they're interested
in being baptized in the Spirit and evidence of speaking in tongues.
They are interested in giving power to treadles, scorpions.
Did you see that fellow? I told you all about this. One
of these Discovery or National Geo, they got this show on there
called Snake Salvation. And that's from Middle America,
Kentucky, and some place over here in East Tennessee. And they
tried a guy, a young fellow. And him and Ricky Skaggs, he
used to play for Ricky Skaggs, and he got a little old church
up here somewhere. And he just had some copperheads
and stuff hanging off of him, rattlesnakes hanging off of him.
And they took him to jail because he had all these snakes. And
they fired him right down here in Knoxville, Tennessee. Little
old skinny fella. And you know why? He won! And
he's up this morning, Got copperheads and rattlesnakes in a box, and
he gets them out and dances around with them. In fact, he's got power to turn
on scorpions. When our Lord said, oh, you generation
of vipers and snakes, he was talking about men. He wasn't
talking about rattlesnakes. Man's a rattlesnake in himself.
He's got enough poison in his venom. That's why the Lord says,
you know, the poison of ass is in your tongue. I'll tell you
what, you take a man when he gets, you take these Sadducees,
they were scorpions! They were snakes! They wanted
to hurt these men, kill these men, destroy these men. They
had such hatred and ploy in their system. And all people's interested
in now, they're really interested in how much power the Lord's
going to have in the Millennium, because if that's in the Millennium,
they're going to get right over some city. But I'll tell you
what I'm interested in. I'm interested in His power to
save. His power to save me. His power to save you. His power
to save from sins. That's what I'm interested in.
Has He got the power to save me from the sins? Has He got
the power to give me repentance? Has he got the power to keep
me safe once he saves me? Does he have the power to prevent
me faultless before the fullness of God? That's what I'm interested
in. That's his power. That's the
power I'm interested in. Ain't you, Gary? Oh, my. Then look what it says here.
As a prince, not only does he receive honor. As a prince, he
doesn't have all power. But as a prince, he has dominion.
What does that mean? That means that wherever, where
his dominion is, you know, they say, you know, they used to say,
you know, when Britain had all powers, the greatest power on
the face of the earth, said the sun never set on the British
Empire. Now he's set, restored, and he's
not dead. And they had dominion all over
the world. But our Lord Jesus Christ has
dominion not only on the earth. He has dominion over hell. He
has dominion over heaven. He has dominion over men. He
has dominion over angels. He has dominion over devils.
He has dominion over flesh. He has dominion over the grave.
He has dominion over sin. He's got dominion wherever He's
at. He's got the power and He reigns
over us. Huh? He stretches out His step
for righteousness. Oh, bless His name. You know
what He said? This is Him. Why call you Me,
Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? And I tell you,
those who come to Him, they come to Him on His terms. There's
not no bargaining. No bargaining, no promising,
I'll do this, I'll do another thing. No, no, you're going to
come on His terms. These men are going to come on
His terms. And what is his terms? Just like she sung in that song.
You thirsty? Stoop down and drink. You weary
of heavy laden? Lean on his breast. Ah, that's all he could. I will
arise and go to Jesus. He's Lord over all, or he's not
Lord at all. And he claims to be Lord of Glory.
Is that just a claim? No. Let me tell you something
else about him. That's his dominion. He's the Commander-in-Chief. When I get my marching orders,
I get them from my master. When these fellas get their marching
orders from their Commander-in-Chief, we gonna obey you or we gonna
obey our master? We gonna obey what you tell us
to do or we gonna obey our master? He's the Commander-in-Chief.
He's our leader. He's our Lord. And let me tell
you something. You cannot be in a kingdom without a king. And a lot of people want to be
in a kingdom, but they don't want a king. And if you're going
to be in his kingdom, you're going to take his yoke on you. You're going to
come under his rule, his authority. And I'll tell you something,
like Mr. Spurgeon said, this is the most,
this is the blessedest master that anybody could ever have.
You know, he not only is the commander-in-chief and sends
you into battle, but he's done been before you and done whipped
everybody. He's the captain. He's done whipped everybody.
So, you know, if he's going to call you to battle, he's done
whipped all your enemies. He just said, Occupy Lycon. And
all this. Let me show you something over here. Look in Isaiah 55. Just a minute. You know, we're either submitted
to our Lord Jesus Christ, or we're the servants of sin, we're
the servants of self, and we're the servants of Satan. And I
tell you something, our Lord's rule is a rule of love and affection. Love and affection. He loves
us, rules in love, rules in affection. rules in grace, kindness, longsuffering,
pity, and we love Him in return. Our faith works by love. I tell you, you know, what an
honor it is, what a blessed honor it is, what a privilege it is to love somebody and to watch
out for them and care for them and take care of them. meet their
needs, take care of their needs. And our Lord Jesus Christ, if
we count it such a privilege to take care of people we love,
we don't ever need. Give them everything that you
possibly can give them. If we do that for people we love
after the flesh, how much does our Master love us and rule us
in love and affection? And oh my, how careful is he
to watch over us? How careful is he? He said, you
see those sparrows over there? He said, them ain't nothing compared
to you. And I feed them sparrows. I take
care of them sparrows. He said, you see that field out
there with all that wheat on it? He said, I give that wheat
life and they'll cut it down. And he said, you're worth so
much more than anything out in the field. And he said, you know,
I watch over you so much that I count the hairs on your head.
That's how interested I am in you. That's how devoted and dedicated
I am to you. I count the hairs on your head.
I pay attention to every detail of your life. Now that's the
truth. Now that's so. That is so. He takes, watches every detail
of our life. Takes care of it. And you know
what? I wouldn't have it any other
way. Get up in the morning and say, Lord, it's your day. You
do with it what you want to and give it to me as it seems good
in your sight. Get to the end of it and say, well, Here's another
one. Another good one. Alright, let
me give you another title. Oh, I was in Isaiah 55. Let me
show you this. Three titles of our Lord in Isaiah
55 and 3. Talking about titles. Look what
God said about our Lord. I have given him a witness to
the people. Our Lord Jesus Christ. What did
he come to witness of? Witness of God. Witness of salvation. Witness of a covenant. Witness
to the elect. And a leader. Listen to that.
He's going to lead us. and a commander to the people. I know I'm taking too long, but
let me tell you this. I remember when I was in the
Marine Corps and we come out of Elsie Hawk and we got to go
down to Don Juan and I was on my way over to the Navy place
over there because they had cold beer. And I'd go walk over there,
and they'd just give you two, and if somebody didn't drink,
you'd get all they want. Take three or four weeks if you
didn't drink. And so I'd go over there and drink some cold beer.
And I'd just come out of the bush, and I was bearded, and
my hair was long, and I was hunched, and my clothes were dirty. I'd
sweat all the time. And I started going through there,
and I saw this manger. And I turned away so I wouldn't
have to look at that manger. And I got by in that manger and
said, Mary! I said, Miranda! I stopped. There was a ditch there. He said, come over here. I got
one foot in that ditch. And he says, now stop right there.
He said, I've seen you trying to get by me, and you're going
to salute me, and you're going to salute me now. And why are
you doing it in such a manner? You look awful. Why are you doing
it in such a manner? And I had to stand there and
one foot in the, you know. And that's a commander. That's
a leader. I had to do a man that way. And if the man makes me
do that way, my master, he's my commander, he's my leader.
And you know why he took me in my filthiness? He takes me the
way I am. I don't have to clean myself
up. I don't have to salute Him. I just have to bless Him and
to praise Him and offer thanks to His holy name. That God was
showing His authority. My Master gave me authority,
gave me power in my heart to come to Him and do it gladly.
Do it gladly. There's another title of our
Savior back over here in Acts 5. Him God hath exalted with
his right hand to be a prince and a saviour." Oh! A saviour? Oh, what a name! What a name! Surely this is the
consolation of Israel who's been waiting For this is Him, this
is, oh listen, His Savior. Just the fact that that's His
name. God says, Thou shalt call His name Jesus and He shall save
His people from their sins. That He's called the Savior.
He comes to seek and to save. And oh my, and oh my, listen,
he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself. And
he persevered and persevered and persevered in his love for
sinners. I know, and you know, James gave
me something this morning here, and it says here, I love you
from God. Let me tell you something. God only loves His Son and those
that are in His Son. If you're going to have the love
of God, the love of God is in Christ. And if you want God's
love manifested towards you, it's only in Christ. And without
God and you coming to Christ as the Savior, then the wrath
of God is on the man who does not believe in Christ and don't
come to Christ as the Savior. And our Lord was the Savior while
He's on this earth. He's the Savior now while He's
on His throne. How many have said here that
there was more added to the church over one place 5,000, another
place 5,000? And our Lord was already in glory
sitting in God's right hand. You know what He's doing? He's
been a Savior. You know what He's doing now
in God's right hand? He's been a Savior. Oh my! He's the Savior of the
body, which is His church. Yeah, the Lord was the Savior
in His humiliation. He was the Savior when He was
on His throne. He said, today you're going to
be with Me in paradise. He's the Savior now in His exaltation. He was a Savior before he came
into this world. He was a Savior when he was in
that woman's womb, Mary's womb. He was a Savior when they took
him to the temple and circumcised him and offered him to the Lord.
He was a Savior when he wore a poor man's garment. He is a
Savior when he walked this earth with no place to lay his head.
He was a Savior when he told that woman there in Bethlehem,
he said, Woman, thy sins be forgiven thee. Go and sin no more. He
was a Savior when he told Simon Peter, Thou wilt deny me three
times, and yet Simon Peter come to him as a martyr to his gourd
after his sins so great, because he had no place else to go. And
now that he's exalted as God's right hand with a golden girdle
around his chest, I'll tell you he was a Savior when he wept
over Jerusalem. He's a Savior even when flames
of fire is in his eyes. And you know what he'll be? He'll
be a Savior when he comes again. And we'll be plumb saved. Oh my, we'll be plumb saved.
Oh my. You lay in bed and you cry at
night and you wonder what the future's going to hold with how
much time this is going to happen, that's going to happen. But I'll
tell you one thing. We're not without comfort because
we've got a Savior. We've got just the very time
of Christ tells you that He's going to save. Why would you
call him a savior if he can't save? If he says he's a savior,
that means he's gonna save you. You say, well, I ain't no man.
Try to stop him. If he sits on your trail, and
I hope he does, I'm praying, I don't want to miss anybody's
name, but I'm praying that he gets on your trail. And if he
gets on your trail, you may be like Saul of Tarsus, you may
be on your way to Damascus when you despise his name, but when
he gets through with you, you'll be in the dust saying, Lord,
what would you have me to do? And you'll have somebody say,
God, tell me what I just saw. Tell me what I just experienced.
Oh, listen, that's what I'm telling you. Oh, and I exalted the Lord
as a Savior. in virtue of the work that he
accomplished and prevailed in while he was on this earth. You
see, beloved, our Lord was able to save men while he was on this
earth, while he was on this earth, but his salvation wasn't complete
until he had to say, it is finished. It is finished. You see, all
the Old Testament saves sins. He said, Lord Jesus said, he
said in Hebrews 9, I don't need you to look at it, but he says
there that he was a mediator and assurity for the transgressions
of sins and for the old covenant and for the new. Abraham looked
to him. Abraham looked to him. And all
beloved, now the redeeming work is done. How do we know? Because Paul and Peter said we
are witnesses of these things. We witnessed it, and the Holy
Ghost is too, because He's the one that works in your heart.
And oh, how He deserves the name of Savior right now, that He's
ascended to His throne. The ransom's been paid. Listen
to me now. Listen to me. We were held captive. You know, when you pay a ransom,
that means you're held captive by somebody, and they demand
a payment to let you go. We were held captive, first of
all, by sin. Sin took us into captivity. We were under the dominion of
sin. Then, we were under the dominion
of this old flesh, our old nature, Adam. And thirdly, we were under
the strict justice of God. God would not let us go until
payment had been made for our sin, for our Adamic nature, And
while this flesh had to be destroyed, this power, and God's justice
had to be satisfied before he could have anybody go. Well,
our Lord Jesus Christ, he went to the cross, and God handed him a cup, and
he said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But while he died, he took both
hands, And that was the fierceness of the wrath and the dregs and
all the bitterness of all of our sin on the night Lord Jesus
turned that thing up and he drunk it, drunk it, drunk it, drunk
it, drunk it, drunk it, died. Set it down. Went to the cross. Poured out his last blood. And
every sinner, everybody for whom Christ died, Sin can no longer
hold them. God's justice can't hold them.
They can't come back and get them. And self no longer rules. Would you all agree with that? Well, I'll tell you what, if he paid your ransom, you reckon
he paid yours? You reckon he paid your debt?
Does God still hold his sin against you? Do you in your heart, let me
ask you this, do you in your heart right now, say, yes, He's my Savior. I need
Him. I want Him to be my Savior. I
need Him to be my Savior. I have trust Him to be my Savior.
And I'll tell you something, beloved, if He saves you, He
ain't never gonna stop. You know when He'll stop? When
you're standing before His throne. You know when it stops? You draw
your last breath, and you go into His presence. I do, I do, I do, I do. I say
every night, I say, Lord, oh, I say this. He's my Savior. He's
my Savior. If He was an ocean, I'd dive
in. If He was a mountain, I would embrace it. And if I had 10,000 souls, I
could trust Him with every single one of them. I could, and He'd
save every one of them. Alright, now, the serpent's head's
been crushed, the grave's been defeated of its power, the resurrection
is sure, and we say, yes, Lord, your Savior to the uttermost.
By His bloody sweat and agonizing death, by His power, by His passion,
by His death and His glorious resurrection, He has finished
salvation. God has exalted him. And now,
let me tell you this, I won't be much longer. As a Savior,
as a Savior, see how approachable He is? Do you know how approachable
a Savior is? He said, He Himself said, Come
unto Me. He Himself said, Follow Me. He Himself said, if you want
to come to the Father, come to Me. He Himself said, I am He. He Himself allowed people to
get at His feet and confessed Him to be Savior. Oh, He's approachable. He's approachable. Some of you right now are approaching
the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart and you feel it in your
heart. You feel the tears in your eyes. You feel the need
of Christ right now. Oh, I do love, I do love Gary
Wood and Obey Wood and everybody in this building who knows Christ.
How we would love to describe my Prince and my Savior to you.
And our words fail us, our abilities fail us. But if you ever see
Him, you'll approach Him. You'll approach Him. You remember
Simon Peter and all of them went back fishing in John 21? They
all went back fishing? And that son of Peter was out
there on the boat, naked. He was naked. Catching stashes
in the right hole. Oh, my Lord, didn't catch none.
All of a sudden, they heard somebody from ashore and said, Chairman,
caught anything? No, nothing. That's the first
thing we're going to tell the Lord. I'm nothing. I ain't got
nothing. I ain't caught nothing. I ain't
got nothing. And then, He said, children,
come and dine. Now listen to this out there.
And here's this pride, all of a sudden. John, that disciple
whom Jesus loved, he said, Simon, that's the Lord. That's the Lord. You know why Simon Peter did.
Now he's the one who just denied the Lord three times. It's the
first time he appeared to all of them. Simon Peter had denied
the Lord three times. set by the enemy's fire, but
the first thing he did when he found out he was the Lord, he
jumped off that boat. And I don't know if he had to
swim, I don't know if it was shallow enough for him to walk,
but he wanted, that's how approachable Christ is to us, even a man who
denies the Lord three times. He said, I've got to get to Him.
He's my Savior. He's my Lord. And he felt such
freedom in his heart. He said Christ was so approachable
that even with all the sin he had committed, he said, I'm coming. If you don't come as you are,
you ain't coming. Simon Peter was naked. He barely covered
his neck in the sun. He just got just as fast as he
could to the Master. Huh? And that's why people call. Listen, I know I'm taking too
long. I know I am. Listen. That's why people call, and that's
for prayer for other people, because we know how approachable
our Lord Jesus is. We know how boldness we can come,
with liberty we can come. And people call and say, would
you please pray for this? Would you please pray for them? Remember this one. A man called
me the other day and asked me to pray for his son. And I tell
you what, that voice has been on my mind ever since then, and
my heart goes out, oh God. But God's will be done. God have
mercy on him, and if He don't... But listen, that's why people
say, would you pray for us? Because they know that the Lord's
people know Christ is approachable. They don't feel like they can
approach Him. But would you approach Him for me? Would you approach
Him on my behalf? And I tell you, no matter what
your sin and shame is, you'll come to Him. A Prince and a Savior.
And He has redemption, grace, plenty of it. And He gives fullness
of grace for grace. A Savior and a Prince, whose
glory it is to save. Let me finish with just this
right here. I got to finish this. I just
got to. Because it's so real. So real to me. It says he's a
prince and a savior. Look what it said here about
him in verse 31. To give repentance and forgiveness of sins. He's
exalted to give gifts. And you know what he gives? He
gives repentance. Now what does repentance mean? It don't mean
to make repentance acceptable or give you a space to repent.
He gives repentance. What is repentance? It's a change
of mind. And oh, what a change of mind it is. You know what
you change your mind about? First thing you change your mind
about is yourself. Is yourself. I'm not nearly as
good as I thought I was. In fact, I ain't nothing. You
think you have a grip? You just have a turnaround. view
of yourself. And then you change your mind
dramatically about God and the Lord Jesus Christ. You change
your mind dramatically about sin and what it is. You change
your mind dramatically about what salvation is. I mean, your
mind is, I mean, he changes, your mind changes. Oh, it takes
a hundred and eighty degrees. You're going this way and it
turns just like that. Huh? Oh, what you disloved, you
now hate, what you desire, you now have hurt and charmed and
delighted you, and now you don't know what to do with it. Look
in Ezekiel 36. I won't preach this long tonight.
I hope I say it right. I don't preach very long, very
often. Look in Ezekiel 36 and verse
26. This is what I'm talking about. A change of mind. Oh my, how my, oh how God changes
your mind. About yourself, about sin, about
salvation, about Christ, about God, about the Bible, about the
Word of God. Oh he, I mean it's a dramatic
change. Oh wow. Anybody that, and once
he starts changing your mind and you start repentance it becomes,
it becomes part and parcel of your nature. He puts that repentance
in you and you know you never ever stop repenting, never ever
stop turning. And look what he said here now, Ezekiel 36, 26.
This is what I'm talking about. A new heart also will I give
you. There's nothing wrong with my
heart. Oh, only there is too. You've
got hatred for God in it. You've got sin in it. You've
got enmity in it. You've got hatred in it. Despicableness
in it. Everything despised and loathsome
in a man's heart. And the Lord said, a new heart
I'll give you. You've got to have a brand new one. Only God can
give that. And a new spirit. Whoa! I'm going to put it within
you. That's tremendous. And I'll take away the stony
heart out of your flesh and I'll give you a heart. Oh, that's
what we're talking about. And oh, He'll give you a change
of mind to the present and also to the future. You know what
you'll do right now? You'll be satisfied with God.
You're satisfied with Christ. You're satisfied with the salvation.
You're satisfied where He's put you. You're satisfied with His
dealings upon you. And you would not find fault
with Him no matter what happened in this world. Because you're
satisfied with Him and what He's done for you and where He puts
you in this world. Now ain't that right? He put
you between a rock and a hard place. And you'll say, well, where's
the Lord? He sure is good. The rock may be hard in a hard
place, but that's alright. It's the Lord's rock. It's the
Lord's hard place, so if He puts us in a rock in a hard place,
it's the Lord's. And eventually, He's going to
take you out of that, and then He's going to put you over here
in this wonderful green pasture, and make you lie down in green
pastures, and lie by the waters of life, and the still waters.
I mean, he's the Lord, and he gives us a blessing, hope, a
change of mind to the present, and a good hope for the future.
Oh, what a hope we have for the future. The kingdom's going to
crumble. He's exalted. And I tell you, he puts the repentance
in a man's heart and soul, that everything seems new, and everything
in the world and everything that seems new, and you know who seems
new most of all? It's you. It changes you most
of all. And listen, let me quit with
this right here. Not only is he exhausted to give
repentance, but listen, forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins. My, my. He said, having forgiven
you all your trespasses. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputes not iniquity. God takes all the sins, all the sins, of all for whom
he died, And he blots them out to where you can't see them.
Puts them behind a thick cloud. He blots out every record. God's
book has no record of them. It's as if you had never seen
them. His blood, His atonement, His
death is so powerful that all manner of sin is forgiven for
His sake. Sin is against the Holy God.
Sins against Christ. Sins against love. Sins against
blood. Sins against conscience. Sins
against the law. Sins against the gospel. Sins
against mother. Sins against father. Sins with
your men and your bones from your youthhood. Sins of your
middle age. Sins of your old age. Aggravated
sins, black sins, damnable sins. Every sin that a man's ever committed. God! For those who come unto God by
Him. And oh, beloved, when this forgiveness
is gone, there's no penalty for it. And oh, what peace, what
peace comes with forgiveness of sins. A never ever, God will never
ever, and there's a multitude in this building this morning,
that God will never ever charge you with one sin, because they've
all been paid for. You say, well, I sinned to do
it. He don't charge it to you. It's already been charged to
His Son. As far as God's concerned, you absolutely don't have any.
Not only do you not have any, but He gives you His righteousness.
and regard you as He does His own Son. Oh! Listen, I'm going to embrace
the Lord Jesus again right now. I'm just going to reach out and
get Him. Oh, Lord Jesus, thank You. Thank
You for Your presence. Thank You for Your power. Thank
You for Your mercy. Thank You for being a Savior.
Thank You for giving me repentance and changing my mind. Lord, blessed
be Your name. And really, I am, in my heart
and soul, I'm embracing the Lord Jesus Christ right now. He's
mine, really. He's mine. Our Father, O our Father, O blessed be Your name for this
gospel, God bless you to the hearts, the minds, the understandings.
Lord, we're in your hands. You're the Prince, you're the
Savior, you've got the power and the dominion, the glory and
the honor. So grant repentance and forgiveness
of sins, for that's your glory, that's your glory, to save sinners. Do it for Christ's sake, oh God,
and Lord Jesus, make yourself known. asking Your holy name. Amen. Amen. Turn to Numbers.