And look down in verse thirty-eight.
Acts thirteen, thirty-eight. Be it known unto you there, 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 from which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses." I want to talk about what the
aim of true preaching is, the aim of true preaching. When we
read the apostle's message today that he preached at Antioch when
he was in the synagogue there in Pisidia, when he stood up
and opened his mouth, he had a start in place, but he had
a goal, he had an aim. And he was started at one place
to get to another place. And he wanted what he was doing,
he was heading to that place, and what he intended to do was
to bring men to a verdict concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Bring
them to a verdict, either for or against. Believe him or reject
him. Rest in him or walk away from
him. And that's what he was doing.
First he started out with the history of redemption. You remember
that? how he says that God called our
fathers, the God of our fathers, he brought them up out of Egypt,
brought them up with a high arm, brought them to destroy seven
lands, seven nations in the land of Canaan, raised them up a king,
gave them judges, then he raised up David. Then after that, he
began to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ, how that the men
in Jerusalem, the leaders, because they didn't know who he was,
they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he said after
that, he says, but God didn't leave him in the grave. God raised
him again from the grave, the blessed resurrection. He gave
the history of redemption, the story of the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ and the blessed resurrection. And he pressed
these truths upon his hearers. When he comes, this is where
he's going to. He said, of all that I've said, This is what
I wanted to say. I've said all that I said to
get to this position. This is the fulfillment of the
promises that God made unto His people. Be it known unto you,
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. And I tell you, by Him, everything
is by Him. And He pressed these truths upon
His hearers. You see, men are not going to
apply the truth to themselves. Man's not going to apply the
truth to himself. But we who know the truth must
press it home to their hearts every opportunity we get. And
he said what he did to draw attention to this one subject, the forgiveness
of sins and justification through the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
through this man, Christ Jesus, this was his aim. This is where
he shot his arrows, that through this man, is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins." And that was the subject. He said
all that he said to bring to them just one subject, the forgiveness
of sins. Being known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. Now, beloved, this is a subject
that don't interest everybody. It doesn't interest everyone,
but some it interests them. Some more, some less. Now, if
you're like that Pharisee that prayed in the temple that day,
prayed just with himself, I thank you that I paid tithes. I'm not
like this fellow, that fellow, and the other fellow. If you've
not wronged God or you've not wronged man, you won't have no
interest in forgiveness of sins. If you've not done anything wrong,
you've been a pretty good person all your life, you've been a
pretty good fellow, then this absolutely will not have no interest
to you whatsoever. But if you're like David, You're
like David. He says, I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin as ever before me. That it's against you and you
only that I've sinned and done this evil in your sight. If you're
like David, if you're like David, he said, Lord, if thou shouldst
mark iniquities, who should be able to stand? Then you're going
to set up and pay attention today when I say unto you that through
this man, this priest, the forgiveness of sins. You see, the eleventh
aim of true preaching and preachers is to tell men the ground of
the pardon, the ground of the forgiveness of sin. And I'm going
to say it this way, the exclusive method The exclusive method,
the only way in which God can and will pardon and forgive sin
is through this man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has a monopoly
on mercy. Christ has a monopoly on salvation. Christ has a monopoly on grace. Christ has a monopoly on the
love of God. And it's through this man, God
will only forgive sin, God will only pardon sin, God will only
receive sinners one way, and that's through this man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And, ah, beloved, you know, you
people say, well, how in the world can a God of mercy and
love send good men to hell? He don't. He don't. Why don't he? Because there's
none good, no, not one. None righteous, no, not one.
But I tell you somebody, he won't send to hell. He will send an
honest man to hell. You know what makes an honest
man? Like David said, Lord, I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sins ever before me. And it's against
you that I've sinned and done this evil in your sight, so that
when you speak, you'll be justified. And you're the only one who can
do anything for me. You wash me, and I'll be white as snow.
You cleanse me, and I'll be cleansed. You forgive me, and I'll be forgiven.
And let me show you something. You keep Acts 13, and look with
me over in John chapter 14. Look in John's Gospel chapter
14. And I know we've quoted this
and quoted this and quoted this, but when people look at it, it
has more power, more force, when you can read it yourself. That's
what our Lord Jesus said. I'm the door. I'm the door. If a man comes in, he's got to
come in by me. I'm the door of the sheep. If
you don't come in, you've got to come through me. Look what
he said here in John 14, in verse 6. Our Lord said, I am the way. We lost the way in our father
Adam. Christ said, I'm the way. I'm the way to God. I'm the way
of righteousness. I'm the way of forgiveness. Not
only am I the way, but I'm the truth. We received a lie from
our father Adam and through Satan, and we believe lies about ourselves.
He said, I'm the truth. You want to know the truth? I'm
the truth. I'm the truth about God. I'm the truth about salvation.
I'm the truth about the scriptures. I'm the truth. And then look
what he says, and I'm the life. Every man's dead. The only place
you'll find life is in me. Now, I've said all that to say
this. Now, talking about Christ being the exclusive way, God
forgives sinners. And our Lord Jesus says, no man,
not an apostle, not a prophet, not David, not a king, not a
poor man, not a rich man, no man comes unto the Father but
by me." And that's what Paul's preaching here. He says, no man
is coming unto the Father but by me, and it's through this
man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And I tell
you, beloved, and God shows mercy to men. He does. He delights to show mercy, but
He has chosen to show it one way, through this man. through
this man. I want you to look at it with
two places about this man. Do you keep Acts? Well, you don't
have to look at Acts again, but look over here in Hebrews chapter
7 with me just a moment. I want to show you something
about this man. Through this man, it's given unto you. We got a little old card. Mary
got a card this week, and in that card they had this little
sticker, you know, that you put on your car window or something
that says, And it starts out, first of all, with the Muslim... Yeah, as you know, it's a...
What's a Muslim have there? Crescent. Then, through every
kind of religion, Buddhism, Taoism, the cross, Star of David, went
through every religion and said, let's coexist. God don't co-exist
with all religions. He said, I'm God and beside me
there is none other. Look unto me and be ye safe.
I'm a just God and I'm a savior. When am I going to co-exist with,
you know, I have to live on this world with Buddhists, but me
and Buddhists are, and me and Catholics, we're a mile, we're
a million miles apart. If Catholics are safe, then I'm
lost. If Buddhists are safe, then I'm lost. If Taos are safe,
then I'm lost. If people are safe in Judaism
without Christ, then I'm lost. That's what our Lord said, and
that's why Paul said there's an exclusive method in which
God receives sinners, and that's through Jesus Christ, His blessed
Son. And look here in Hebrews 7, 24,
talking about this. He said, but this man, we just
got through saying through this man, isn't it pretty? But this
man, Because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Because this man, he has this unchangeable priesthood, wherefore
he is able to save to the uttermost. Now what does that mean? He'd
go down to the uttermost to get you, bring you down from the
uttermost, and he saves you to the uttermost. That means he's
going to save you until there's no more most left, and that's
fraternity. And He's able to say to the uttermost,
them that come unto God, listen to it again, by Him, sin he ever
lives will make intercession. Now let me show you another about
this man. Hebrews 10, verse 11. Oh, bless His holy name. I'm
interested in forgiveness. I pray forgiveness every day. Forgive me for my harshness.
for my impatience, for my hardness of heart, coldness, thoughts
that go through my mind. And look what he says now in
Hebrews chapter 10, verse 11. And every priest stands daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices that can
never, ever, just can never take away sins. But this man, After He had offered one sacrifice
for sins, forever sat down, He ain't standing, He sat down on
the right hand of God. What's He doing? Waiting till
His enemies are made His footstool. Now listen to it, for by one
offering, He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Who
did this? This man. He offered one offering. And so you see, beloved, and
why is forgiveness? granted only through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Why is this God's way of saving
sinners? Why is this God's way of forgiving
sinners? Why is forgiveness given only
through our Lord Jesus Christ? I'll tell you why. Because God's
justice, God being a just God, God's justice would not let him
show mercy, even to his elect, because of their sins, apart
from a substitute. He can't do it. You see, God's
justice won't let Him do it. He's promised to punish sin. He's of a pure house and of an
old evil. And that's why the Scripture
said over in 1 Peter 3, 18, He said He was the just for the
unjust, the innocent for the guilty, that He might bring us
to God. You see, beloved, God must punish
sin. His nature necessitates that
He punish sins. And yet, though His nature necessitated
that He punish sin, yet He willed, He willed, He purposed to have
mercy on the fallen sons of Adam. So when it says this man, Christ
came into this world and was made a man, took upon Him flesh,
took upon Him humanity in order for our sakes, for us. And oh, God comes into this world. Our Lord Jesus comes into this
world. And so Christ, when God must punish sin, what He did,
our Lord Jesus Christ, the innocent, the just for the unjust, the
innocent for the guilty, He suffered the wrath that was due our sins.
God exacted from Him what He would have to exact from us.
What must He exact from me? Death. The wages of sin is dead. I must
pay. My sins must be paid for. And if I can't pay them, then
I must suffer the eternal vengeance and wrath of God for my sins.
So I've got to have a sceptic to somebody at the ability and
the power and the glory and the majesty and the merit able to
bear all my sins before a God that would accept His offering. I couldn't do it. So Christ was
made a man and came here, and God's wrath that was going to
come on me was put on Him. God exacted from Him what He
would have to exact from us. Upon his head he wore the curse
of the law. Cursed as ever one that continued,
not in all things. Upon his back fell the scourge
of our sins. Upon that blessed heart it bled
with our bleeding. Substitution is the cause of
God's mercy. He was wounded. Who wounded me? God did. Arise, O sword, and
smite my fellow. smite him, take that sword of
justice, ram it deep into his heart, and then when you get
it in there, twist it till he cries out, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? And then, beloved, I tell
you, not only was he wounded prior to transgression, but he
was bruised. Every time they slapped him,
every time they hit him, every time they spit on him, every
time they clicked on his beard, every time when they put that
crown of thorn on his head, every time they beat him with that
cat-o'-nine-tail for thirty-nine stripes. All those stripes. Those
stripes that God should have put on us. Eternal stripes. And, O Beloved, not only was
He bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And the Lord, Jehovah, took all our sins. You just imagine,
your own, just yours. And He took all the sins of Abel,
from Abel, and all of Israel. Paul's been in glory all this
time. When Paul was cursing Christ, Christ had already voiced Him. And the Lord, Jehovah, He took
all the sins of God's elect, mountain upon mountain upon mountain
upon mountain, eternity worth of sins, and He took all them
and He laid them all on the head of His blessed Son. How could
He bear so many sins? Because He is God. God, and as
man He is able to die, but as God He is able to do that. And oh, bless His holy name.
And it pleased the Lord to bruise him, to make his soul an offering
for sin. And that's the way that God can
show mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ being our Lamb, being
our substitute. Ain't that what he said? John
said, I'm not He. The one coming after me, who should have said, I'm not
worthy. He! He is the Lamb of God. He is the one that God put
his heart on, God put his will on, God put his purpose on. God
will forgive sins because the man Christ Jesus atoned for it
by his suffering in our room and stand. Let me tell you a
story I read one time. There's this young Roman soldier,
and everybody that's ever been in the military knows what it
is to first get in the military. The first thing they teach you
about, one of the first things they teach you is the military
code of justice. And you learn that code of justice, and I tell
you what, if you don't, they tell you how to dress, what time
to get up, what time to go to bed, what you've got to do. And
if you violate that, they'll bring discipline against you.
They can court-martial you. They can put you in jail. They can
do lots of things to you. But there's this young Roman
soldier. He was condemned to die. because he violated all the principles
of a Roman soldier, discipline. But he had an older brother,
and this older brother, oh, he had been a good soldier, been
a good warrior. He fought in so many battles,
won lots of honors, lots of medals, and he went before the court,
and he looked at his brother and said, for you to spare my
brother for anything that he's ever done for his country. I
can't do nothing for him. I have nothing to say for any
good that he's done." But he said he took off his tunic, took
off his clothes. He said, but look at these scars. Look at all these wounds. Look at all these wounds. And
then he laid his medals out. Ladies and gentlemen, and he
says, would you accept these for the price of my brother's
life? And that's exactly what our Lord
Jesus Christ did for us. We were condemned to die for
violating God's holy law. And we were guilty, and nobody
could say one good word for us. And our Lord Jesus Christ stood
before God and said, here's my wound. Where'd you get these
wounds at? In the house of my friend. Would you accept my wound? Would
you accept my scars? Would you accept my blood? Would
you accept the honors that I have? The accomplishments and victories
that I've won? And let these go free? I will. I will. Oh, my rejoicing, my
peace. Oh, beloved. That's what our
Lord Jesus did for him. That's why he says he's not ashamed
to call us his brothers. Oh, beloved, and it's our aim.
It's our aim as a preacher. My aim as a preacher, and the
aims of true preachers, to tell you the meaning the way of God's
way of forgiveness through a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
know, and I ask you, how in the world, you say, how can I be
a partaker in the benefits of His death? How can I get the
forgiveness of sins? Well, it says there in our text,
in verse 39, by Him, all that believed. Back in Acts 13, verse
39, by Him, all that believed. I preached in forgiveness of
sins. Well, how can I partake of this? Now, you talk about
His death, you talk about His blood, you talk about His suffering,
you talk about His sacrifice, talk about Him being our substitute.
How can I have the benefits of His death and resurrection? Well,
I'm going to tell you. Look over in Romans chapter 10,
I'll tell you. He says that by Him, all that believe. Faith. You say, what can I do? Believe. All that believe by
Him are justified. It's by faith. People want something
to do. When God says, done, people want
to get up and walk it out. When Christ sits at the right
hand of God, men get to Christ from here, from here in their
heart. Here's how you go to Christ from
in here. You don't have to come to the front. You don't have
to shake nobody's hand. You don't have to come up here and weep
before us. Go ahead and put on no show. We said before you,
Christ is not untold. He sits at the right hand of
the throne of God. How can I get to him? He, beloved, is always ever present,
ever lives to make intercession. How can I get to him? From your
heart to his? Right now, say, Lord, I believe.
And the instant you do that, salvation is that quick. Look
here in Romans 10.4. For Christ is the end of the
law, for righteousness to who? Everyone that believes. For Moses, he don't describe,
Moses don't describe what the righteousness of the law is.
He said, now this is the righteousness of the law, that the man which
does those things shall live by. If you're going to be saved
by doing, you've got to do it perfectly from the cradle to
the grave. But the righteousness which is
of faith, this is what it says. It don't say in your heart, who
shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down. How?
You know, Christ, we can't bring Him down. Faith don't say I need
an evidence. Faith says Christ has already
come. And Lawrence Watkins says now,
or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring up Christ.
How can I get Christ to come bring Him again from the deep
so that I can have salvation by Him? Paul said He's already
been raised. But what does the faith say, this righteousness
of faith? It says, the Word is my being.
It's not in heaven. You don't have to say anything
to get Him to come down. You don't have to bring Him up.
What does it say? The Word is my being, even in
your mouth and in your heart. What is that Word? Listen, the
Word of faith which we preach. And this is what we say, that
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, I'm going to confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord. I'm going to confess that Jesus
Christ is my righteousness. I'm going to confess that Jesus
Christ is the only way I can be justified and saved by God's
blessed grace and forgiveness here is through Christ. I'm going
to confess that. Believe in your heart that God
raised you from the dead. What happens? You'll be saved. Now listen to it, for with the
heart, man believeth unto righteousness. You know what the heart is? That's
you. It's not that organ here. The heart is you. What makes
you you? And some of you right now, in
your heart, you're saying, oh my, this is the most blessed
thing. This is wonderful. You mean I
don't have to do anything to be saved? Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's already done it all. You
mean He'll give me His righteousness? He'll give me His righteousness.
You mean God will accept me and all my sins gone? Gone. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. Now, beloved, do you confess
in your heart and in your mind right now that this is the only
way in the world God can have anything to do with me? Huh?
That's what I'm telling you, beloved. Come believing, come
trusting, come resting, come depending on this man for your
acceptance with God." And back over in our text, that's what
he said, "...be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you for the forgiveness
of sins." And by him, all that believe, all that believe are
justified from all things when Moses couldn't do that. And then
look at the character. The character of this pardon,
the character of what God does to this blessed man is the forgiveness
of sins. What a blessed message to tell,
that when God forgives a man's sins, He forgives every single
one of them. David said it like this. He says,
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Now, you'd think there's a people
in this world that God don't charge their sin to them. Why
don't He? Because He doesn't charge it to His son. Huh? That's why He said, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? You know what the
next word out of Paul's mouth is after he said, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? Christ died. Not only did He die, but He rose
again. Not only did He rise again, but He said, when God is right
here, why don't you do it? He's praying for you, interceding
for you. And I tell you, not only is this forgiveness for
all, but it's the full forgiveness. I mean a full forgiveness. Paul
said it over in Colossians 2.13, having forgiven you all trespasses. All of them. You don't have any
sins without a preacher. No, I don't, but God does. And
He put them every one on Christ if you're a believer, if you're
one of God's people. You know, I've told this so many
times before. Martin Luther had a dream one
night, and the devil came and brought long rows of scrolls,
you know, of his sins. And he'd roll them out. And I
mean, oh, roll them out. I said, ah, see there, Mr. Luther,
I ain't no hope for you. But he in that dream, he says,
now, yes, you're exactly right. But it said right at the bottom
of that row, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
dear Son, cleanses from all sin. I mean, you know, the world couldn't
contain, the scrolls couldn't contain all the sins of mine. But Christ could bear every single
one of them. Right at the bottom of that, right at that scroll,
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses, cleanses from
all sin. Not only is it full, but it's
free. The only motive that God gives
for forgiving us of our sins other than the subject, it's
a prayer-free grace of God. It was grace that saved Christ.
It was grace that raised us to the gospel. It's grace that comes
and makes it effective to us. For by grace are you saved through
faith in that night of yourself. God shows us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. to be holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in His time. Not only is it free, but it's
forever. It's forever. People are scared
all the time. They say, well, I'll make a false
profession and I'll end up making shambles out of everything. I'll
tell you what. Now, if salvation was up to you, that's exactly
what you'd do. But if salvation is what Christ does, then there
ain't no way. I mean, this business of forgiveness
and salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ is forever. The gifts
and calling of God are without repentance. And I'll tell you
something. I'll tell you this right now.
Listen to what I'm going to tell you. If you're afraid of making a false
profession, let me ask you this. Is trusting Christ for your soul,
trusting Christ for your righteousness, trusting Christ for your forgiveness?
You think you could make a false profession, confessing Christ
to be everything? Couldn't do it. You know, if
you attributed everything to Christ and Christ all by himself,
it'd be impossible to make a false profession. And I'll tell you
why. The only people worried about
making a false profession is those folks that God's done something
for them already. Told the hypocrite he don't care. Somebody's got a false profession,
you couldn't talk him out of it for 10,000 worlds like this
one. You know, he's like the Pharisee. He goes and prays,
Lord, I thank you, I'm not like this fellow, like that fellow,
and that poor old publican over there smiling, and he prays,
God have mercy on me, I'm a sinner. And I'll tell you what, if Christ
forgives you and saves you by his blessed grace, he will not,
he will not, he will not desert you to his foes. His honor, His state, His blood,
His righteousness, His merit, His whole name and glory and
honors at stake in your salvation. If you trust Him for everything,
then He, beloved, He gives you all that He is and all He's got,
and He will not let you go. If He'd let anybody go, He'd
let me go years ago. He'd let me go a long, long time
ago. But He said, you ain't going. Oh, no. You say, oh, you're wondering. He's not a cook. He can bring
you back. Oh, bless His holy name. Oh,
bless His name. Oh, what a salvation. What a
glorious, glorious person to trust. What a blood that cleanses There's
a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins,
and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty
state. Oh, beloved, it's forever. The
gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Now, man
may, in this world, he may be pardoned for one offense, let
him out of jail, he'll commit another, and then be sentenced
to death. But not when we trust our Lord. He forgives. Not only
does He forgive, but He forgets. He said, there's sins and iniquities.
I will remember against them no more. And He not only forgets,
but He keeps us in the way. We're sin about it. What happens?
Grace does much more about it. And I'll tell you something,
beloved. We're made new creatures in Christ. The Spirit in us keeps
us. God doesn't love us today, and
He'll love us less tomorrow. He said, I am God, and I change
not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not concerned. And we're kept by the power of
God, is what Peter said. And not only is it full of freedom
and forever, but it's present. I mean, it's right now. My forgiveness
is right now. I have assurance of my forgiveness
right now. You can have assurance that you've
been forgiven right now. There's no probation in God's
way of saving a sinner. He don't save you and then put
you on probation to see if you're going to live right, if you're
going to live good enough, if you're going to pray enough,
if you're going to read your Bible enough, if you're going to be
holy enough and dedicated enough. No, no. There's no probation
with God. Paul said, I know whom? I'm talking
about assurance now. I know whom? I have faith. And
you know what? I'm persuaded that what I've
given to him, he's able to keep it against that day. David had assurance. He said,
Blessed is that man. Oh, how blessed is that man to
whom the Lord imputed thy name. Oh, he's a blessed man. And he has sent the Spirit of
God into our hearts where we cry, I'm a father. The Spirit
himself bears witness to our spirit that we are the children
of God. Harrison, an old black fellow, one day he was walking
down the road and he had a big old sack of corn on his back. Preacher walked up to him, went
to witness to him and said, Have you ever had your sins forgiven?
He said, Yes, I have. He said, How do you know? He
took that sack of corn and set it down on the ground. He said,
The same way I know I ain't carrying that sack of corn anymore. How
do I know how to weigh it up? I don't have the weight of them
anymore. One time I had the weight of them. I ain't carrying them
old things around me no more. You know where they lay there?
They was all laid on Christ. And you know where He took them?
Like that scapegoat. Way all off into the wilderness.
And we washed and we washed and we washed and we washed. And
on the third morning, He came back from that wilderness. And
he didn't have no sins on him anymore. Forgiveness right now for you
who believe. Forgiveness for all your tomorrows
right now for you who believe. And let me show you. Let's go
back over in our text. Let me show you this, and I'll wind
it up. Oh, bless the Lord's name. Oh, how merciful, how gracious,
how kind. Look at the congregation that
this man preached to and what became of them. He says, you
know, again, he said, by him all that justify belief are justified
from all things. Moses could not justify it all. And then look what some despise
this man. He had the privilege of preaching
the forgiveness of sins. Let me tell you something. You
know how many people in this world, he said, under you, how
many people in this world will never have the forgiveness of
sins preached unto them? You know how many billions there
are in China alone that nobody has ever preached to them the
forgiveness of sins? You know how many people in America
that nobody's ever had preached unto them like Paul did? Under
you is preached the forgiveness of sins. But under you, you have
the privilege of having the forgiveness of sins preached unto you. unto
you. Now, some despise this message.
Look what he says in verse forty. Beware therefore, lest that come
upon you which is spoken of in the prophets. Behold, ye despisers,
and wander, and perish, for I work a work in your days, which ye
shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. And
then look down at verse forty-five. And 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 waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word
of God should first have been spoken to you. But seeing, now
listen to this, seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves
unworthy of everlasting life, judge yourselves unworthy of
what Christ did. We turn to the Gentiles. Now
look what it says down in verse 50. This is those who despise
the message. But the Jews stirred up the devout
and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution
against Paul and Barnabas and says, we want you out of town
right now. And run them out of town. But
now wait a minute. There are some that did believe. Some received it. Look what he
says in verse 42. And when the Jews were going
out of the synagogue, the Gentiles said, preachers, will you preach
to us again next Sabbath? We want to hear this again. Look
down at verse 47. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have sent thee to be a light of the Gentiles,
that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. Now
listen to it. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad. Oh my, I've heard the gospel
today. I'm glad about this. This preacher
is going to preach to me again. They glorified the word of the
Lord. Now listen to it. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life, they believed. Now let me tell you something,
beloved. How can I be one of those ordained unto eternal life?
The believing proved their election. You won't know nothing about
election until you believe. Do you believe? Unto you, therefore,
is preached unto you, through this man, the forgiveness of
sins. And by him, you can be justified from all things from
which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Oh, gracious, gracious God in
heaven, thank you for the gospel. Thank you for the Word of God.
We glorify the Word of the Lord. We glorify the Word of the Lord
today. Thank you for such a blessed, blessed gospel. I pray that you'd
be pleased to make it blessed to the hearers and hearers of
those gathered here today. Oh, make it such to be the blessed
message it is to me and other believers in this body of believers. God bless it to their hearts,
their understanding. Brings us joy and peace and comfort
and assurance to our hearts. Oh God, save your people in this
place. Strengthen and encourage. And again, we pray for those
that we mentioned in the beginning of the service. The sick, the
tried, the afflicted, the burdened, the weary, the despondent, the
despairing. Those that are praying for your
guidance and for your mercies and for your strength. We pray
you grant it, in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.