We'll need to kind of go through
this again. And it says here in verse 1,
And as they spake unto the people, Peter had been preaching, John
and Peter had been preaching. Remember that they were at the
temple of the gate called Beautiful. And there was the man, impotent
man, there begging for alms. And Peter told him to rise, stand
upon his feet, and he was healed immediately. And he lifted up
and began to praise God. And the last thing that Peter,
this is what Peter is saying in verse 26 when they came and
interrupted him. These fellows, these men are
so rude and they come interrupting. And he says in verse 26, And
unto you, first God, having raised up his son Jesus, send him to
bless you. in turning you, every one of
you, from his iniquities. And here's the thing. Here came
these, while they're preaching, these chief priests and the captain
of the temple, the Sadducees, and came upon them. The first
miracle recorded in Acts leads to the first persecution of God's
sheep, God's little flock here. The first miracle recorded leads
to great persecution against the Lord's people here in the
Lord's little flock. Now, it's amazing to me that
the miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles caused
so much hatred and opposition. How many times did they find
fault with our Lord Jesus Christ because He healed someone on
the Sabbath day, because they didn't wash their hands before
they ate, because he talked about being sent to Gentiles. How many times were they upset
with him and made angry at him because of the miracles that
he'd done. Even when he opened that blind man's eyes, who had
been born blind, lived blind all of his life, when our Lord
Jesus opened his blinded eyes, you remember how the Pharisees
went to his family? and just ridiculed them and tried
to admit that somebody had done this besides Jesus Christ. You
remember that. They hated the miracles of Christ
because it attested to His power, attested that He truly was who
He said He was. The Lord of Glory had come down
in flesh. And yet, here these men had,
this miracle had been done on this lame man. He leaped up for
joy. And when all this hatred and
opposition against the Lord's miracle and the apostles' miracle
said, to me, it's a cause for joy and thanksgiving, for praise
and worship falling down. And those the Lord did the miracle
upon, they always worshiped Him, always fell down and praised
Him. And I praise Him because the greatest miracle that's ever
been done is done when God gives a man a new heart. When God regenerates
a man, when God raises him from the dead of his sins, and brings
him to where he trusts the Lord Jesus Christ, and sees this from
his own works, and rests in somebody else's righteousness, and do
it. But you see, everything about true religion is supernatural.
People say they don't believe in the supernatural. Well, everything
about true religion is supernatural. Everything about it is. Everything
about our salvation comes from above. Ain't that right? It comes from above. From the
revelation that we get of God, that's a supernatural act. The
Holy Spirit comes and opens the Scriptures to our understanding.
He reveals Christ to us. He reveals our own hearts to
us. And those are supernatural acts. Every one of them. And being reborn again, that's
a supernatural act. That God would take a man and
regenerate him and bring him into a person into existence
that never existed before. A spiritual person. A holy person. A new nature. A new creature. That's a supernatural act of
God. And then for us to continue believing, continue keeping on
keeping on, continue believing, continue trusting, continue looking,
that's a supernatural act of God that keeps us every day.
Now, wouldn't you agree with that? But look what happened as they
spake unto the people. Here comes these men, and they
were arrested. It says in verse 1, as they spake
unto the people, the priest and the captain of the temple, the
Sadducees, came upon them. Look at these persecutors. At
the beginning here, there was about 3,000, 3,200 people that
believed. And then as they began to preach,
it says down there in verse four, how many of them which heard
the word believed, and the number of the men, just the men, was
about five thousand. That don't count the women and
the young people and the children. But look what happens now. And
they came upon them, and being grieved, being grieved, that
they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection
from the dead, they laid hands on them and put them in hold
until the next day, for it was in the evening. Now here's this
small body of believers, and they have such few leaders. As
far as I know, that was just Peter and John that's mentioned
here. And here's a small band of people compared to all the
Jewish nations. But all the powers that be, all
the powers that be came against this little group of people.
And the only place you start at, and where they started at,
they started with the apostles. They started with the apostles.
They started with the men who had performed this miracle. They
started with the men who were the leaders of these people.
Because they know if they can get the leaders and quiet them
down and stop them, then this whole thing is going to fall
apart. And all the list of these, those that are against these
men, that are arrested these men who can't, well, they were
preaching. Well, they were preaching. Interrupted
them, rudely interrupted them. And came and had some people
reach out and get them and lay hands on them. And if it happened
today, they would either come and get you and put handcuffs
on you. Or do something like that, but here come these men
and laid hands on them and took these fellows and kept them in
jail overnight, interrupted their preaching. And those that were against him
were eleven different... Let me show you something, how
powerful and how many people were against these people. Eleven
different categories of individuals of people were against these
saints of God. First of all, in verse one it
talks about the priests. The priest. And then the captain of the temple.
You know, the captain of the temple, he's the fellow that
runs the place. He's the fellow, the captain. He's the doorkeeper.
He's like the sergeant at arms. And he got a lot of people under
him. And then it says the Sadducees came upon them. So here's how,
first of all, the whole group of people came on. And then when
they brought him in, look what it says. in verse 5. And it came to pass on the morrow,
the next day, that their rulers, there's a group, and their elders,
that's a group, so we're already up to five different groups and
individuals. Then there were the scribes, and then in verse 6, Annas, the
high priest, Caiaphas, that's nine, John, and Alexander, and
as many as were of the kindred of the high priest were gathered
together. Eleven different groups of people and individuals gathered
together against two men. That's a whole bunch of folks
to gather around against two little old preachers. But why were these princes of
the world, and that's what they're called. These are called the
princes of the world. Paul said that if the princes
of this world had known, they would not have crucified the
Lord. These are the princes of this world. These are the people
who have the power. But why were these princes of
the world, these priests, and these scribes, and these elders,
and these rulers, and these Sadducees, and all these soldiers that were
kept, why in the world were they so upset? with these men, with
this thing. Well, it says in verse 2, look
what it says, being grieved. That word being grieved means
highly incensed. I mean, they were really, really
upset. They were highly incensed to
the point of gritting their teeth, being very aggravated, being
very upset. Highly incensed. Well, what made
them highly incensed? Well, first of all, they preached
through Jesus the resurrection of the dead. That upset them. They thought they was done with
this Jesus of Nazareth. They thought, we're done with
Him. We'll not have this man to reign over us, and we're through
with Him. We're just done with Him. We got rid of Him. We nailed
Him to a cross, and we put Him in a tomb. We're through with
this fella. But here comes some men saying, they preached through
Jesus the resurrection from the dead. You keep asking. Look with
me over in Matthew 27, just a moment. Matthew 27. Look in verse 62. Matthew 27,
62. And oh, they were grieved, highly
incensed that they preached through Jesus the resurrection of the
dead. Oh, that's what was upsetting
them. And that's the way people are
today. They think that we're just a bunch of religious nuts.
You know, You can say anything about any religion besides Christianity,
and folks will get upset about it. But you can make fun of Christianity,
make fun of believers in Jesus Christ, and nobody gets upset
about it. But you do something against
a Muslim, and you're going to have to apologize for it. You
do something against the Catholics, and they're going to raise up
high and mighty. They're all over television mouthing off
about what they ain't gonna let happen. You say something against
the Buddhists, and oh my, you've done hurt the Dalai Lama's feelings,
and you got to apologize to them. But they nailed Jesus Christ
to a cross, and people make movies about how ridiculous and how
stupid it is, and how ignorant we are to believe such a thing.
Well, that's what they said about these two men, how ignorant and
unlearned they were. I'm ignorant, I'm unlearned,
but I know one thing, that I've got my hope is in a man that's
sitting at the right hand of God right now. Ain't you? And look what it says here now
in verse 62, talking about they were grieved because they preached
through Jesus the resurrection of the dead. Now, the next day
that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests
and Pharisees came together under Pilate, saying, We remember that
that deceiver said, after he was yet alive, after three days,
I'll rise again. They remember him saying that.
You can tell them, you know, go ahead and bury me. I'm coming
out of that tomb in three days. So let's do something here. I'll tell you what we'll do.
Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third
day lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and
say unto the people he is risen from the dead. Now watch what
just happens here. So the last error shall be worse
than the first. The fact that we crucified him
That's bad enough, but if they get his body away from there,
everybody believes he's raised from the dead. We're sure not
going to be in trouble then. Now watch what happens. Pilate
said unto them, you have a watch. You have a watch. Go your way
and make it as sure as you can. So they went and made the sepulchre
sure, sealing the stone and setting the watch. So they thought, boy,
we got this thing, we got this thing where this thing, we got
it fixed up where this fella ain't coming out of there. Well,
you go on down there and read later and see what happened.
But oh, this is what upset them. This is what upset them. We watched
them people. We watched them. And look back
over in our text now. They not only were grieved that
they preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead, that
here was a man that you crucified and God raised him again from
the dead. And not only that, but they being grieved that they
taught the people. They taught the people. You see,
here is the priest, the scribes, the Sadducees, the rulers, the
leaders. And these were the men. They
said, we're the teachers of these people. If anybody's going to
teach people, it's going to be us. You fellas ain't been to
any of the schools. Here you are, you're in the circle
of our authority. You haven't been to any of our
schools. I haven't seen any of your degrees. I haven't seen
any of your MDIVs. I haven't seen any of your Doctors
of Theology. I haven't seen any of your PhDs. I don't have no idea where you
fellas getting this authority from. And because these folks
were preaching and taught, these people, they said, boy, you're
threatening our authority. You can't threaten our authority.
We got the power around here. And that's exactly what they
hated about the Lord Jesus Christ, His teaching and His authority.
Look with me again in Matthew chapter 7. You know, when they
come They said they sent some men, the Pharisees, the rulers
of the leaders, sent some people one day to get the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when they sent them to get the Lord Jesus Christ,
they stood there and began to listen to him preach and teach.
And they came back and they asked him, they said, why in the world
haven't you brought that man? And they said, well, never man
spake as this man spake. I mean, he speaks with authority.
And there was a great crowd of people around him. And we were
afraid to take him. And you know what they said?
Said, who in the world does he think he is? We're the ones that give people
the right to preach and teach around here. And they got upset
at him because they said, these people are cursed. They don't
know nothing. And they said, have any of the rulers believed
on him? Now look what it says here, Matthew
7, 28. Oh, listen. And it came to pass,
when Jesus had ended these things, the people were astonished at
his doctrine, his teaching. For he taught them as one, having
authority, having authority, power, listening to what you
have to say, and not like them scribes. That's why they said, oh my,
you fellas, you ain't got no right, you usurping my authority.
You got no business teaching and preaching. So you see, that's
why they persecuted him and the rest of them. Now, what kind
of weapons did they use? What kind of weapons did they
use against these two men? I'll tell you, beloved, the only
authority that they had was just raw, naked power. That's the
only weapon the world has. That's the only weapon it has.
And all these people came together against these men. Sometimes
people have the power of wealth. They've got all this wealth,
and that power, that wealth gives them great power. And they use
that wealth to control other people with it. And if you had
a lot of wealth, wonder what you'd do with it. You reckon
you'd use it to control people, manipulate people? Huh? If you had any power, any authority,
how would you use it? Would you use it wisely, graciously,
kindly, in consideration of other people? Well, these folks didn't
do it. And then governments, the only power governments have
is to pass laws, to pass edicts, to pass rules, to pass regulations. And to use the court system,
to use policemen, to use guns, to use armies, that's the only
power they have. They've got no power, so it's
just raw, naked power to subdue people and put them in fear and
put them in bondage. And that's what these fellas
had. These great men. And there's all this great crowd
of people. There was probably 70 or 100
people gathered around here. The Sanhedrin had 70 people in
it. And that's the rulers. That don't
count the elders and the priests and all of them. And they all
gathered around. These two men. And all in the world they had.
We're the princes. We're the one who's got the power
around here. We're going to tell you what's got done and what
ain't done. And we're the one that lays down
the law. And you're going to do what we say. And I tell you, every time a
law is passed, it takes the freedom away from somebody. But they
first tried to intimidate them. And how'd they do that? They
come upon them suddenly. Even while they were preaching,
come upon them suddenly. Arrested them. Stopped them.
And when they've done that, you know what they're saying? We've
got the power to shut you up anytime we want to. We've got
the power to stop you from preaching anytime we want to. We've got
the power to shut you down. We've got the power to put you
out of business with the snap of our fingers. Huh? And that's
all they were saying was when they stopped them and arrested
them. We've got the power. If you preach, we'll be the one
to let you. That's what they said to old
John Budden. Old John Bunyan, you know, they told him also,
all they got to do is just go to where we tell you to preach,
and you use the prayer book, and what we tell you to do it,
and we won't bother you no more. But old John Bunyan would go
into the home, he'd go into the chapels, he'd go into a barn,
and he'd preach. They said, we told you, we told
you. And finally, they arrested him. Put him in prison. Put him in under a bridge. in
Bedford, England. That's it. There's an old rock
bridge there. And that's where they put him. They had a jail
cell in the dungeons in the end of that bridge. And there that
fellow stayed for 12 long years with a blind daughter coming
up to him and talking to him. And he was making tinkers and
shoelaces and everything else to sell to try to support his
family. Wrote some of the best literature
that's ever been known to mankind. But they would come and say,
John, we'll let you out of here if
you'll preach what we tell you and use the prayer book the way
we tell you. John said, the moss will grow
on my front lip, for I'll do that. One time in the early 1600s,
they had what they called the Act of Uniformity. The government
passed an act that said everybody's going to have to say the same
thing, do the same things, use everything that we tell them
to use in every church in the country. Over 400 men were put out of
the pulpit that day because they refused to do it. Refused to do it. We're going
to find out one of these days. They're going to kill a fellow
over in Iran because he converted from being a Muslim to being
a Christian. And they're going to kill him for that. Now, if
he'd go back to being a Muslim again, they'd let him on home. So here they come with this great
power. You know, you can preach if we let you. If we decide,
you can't. We've got the power to arrest
you any time. But look what happens down here
in verse 13. Oh my, these men weren't intimidated
or they weren't impressed by this great crowd. Look here in
verse 13. Now, when they saw the bowls of Peter and John, Oh my, these fellas have done
the rest of them. Kept them in jail overnight,
brought them out of there. Let them know how they've done them
all. Boy, we got these fellas right where we want them. We
got them all shook up. Oh, Peter says, oh, when they saw the bones
of Peter and John, these fellas, they didn't scare them. They
weren't going to be afraid of these fellas. Oh, beloved. And they
used threats. Look down in verse 21. So when
they had further threatened them, They used threats, they used
this intimidation, they used an arrest. But now what? What? What? The weapons was just their
raw, naked power, numbers, authority. But what in the world did they
charge these men with? When they arrested them, what
did they charge them with? Well, in verse 7, look what it
says. Here's what they charged them
with. They had to bring them. If you're going to put somebody
in jail, you've got to charge them with something. And when they
had set them in the midst, They asked, by what power or
by what name have you done this? That's the first thing you want
to know. Where'd you get this power? Who gave you the authority
to do this? Whose name are you using? You
know, they'll come and they'll say, in the name of the law,
stop right now. Well, they said, what name are
you using? I know you didn't use Confess, the high priest's
name. I know you didn't use my name, Annas. What name did you
use? Whose authorities are you doing
this in? Whose name? What power? What authority? And
look what happens now. Oh, that's a good question. Now
we're going to see where some power is at. These fellas think
they've got some power. Now we're going to see some real
power. We're going to see the power of God manifested now.
And then it says in verse 8, Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, Now that's the power of God. That's the power that our
Lord Jesus Christ... Don't even think what you're
going to say when they arrest you. Don't even consider what
you're going to say. When it comes time for you to
say something, I'll give you something to say. When they bring
you before me, I'll fill your mouth. I'll give you something
to say. I'll fill you with the Holy Ghost, and I'll put the
words in your mouth. And Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, said unto them, And I tell you, I want
you to know something he didn't do. He did not defend himself.
He did not defend himself. He didn't say, now you fellas
have mistreated me. You fellas embarrassed me. He
didn't start doing none of that, no. He didn't defend himself.
He did whatever a spirit-filled man always does. He preached
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what he said
unto them. He said unto them, you rulers
of the people and elders of Israel. Are you rulers? Elders? You want
somebody? Well, I'm going to talk to you
now. I'm going to preach to you. And look what he said. If we
this day Be examined. You're going to examine us of
the good deed done to this impotent man by what means he has made
whole. Is that what you brought us here
for? Because God done something for this man who was impotent?
This man that was made whole? Is that what you got us here
for? Is that what's upset you so bad? You want to know how
he was made whole? Is that what you want to know?
And you arrest us for this? Look what it says down in verse
14 here. And beholding the man which was
healed standing with him, they could say nothing against him.
They got him too! Don't get healed, that gets you
too! And oh, look what he says now.
Here is his message. He brings a four-point message
here. Four-point message. He says, if this day we be examined,
of the good deed, not our deed, God's deed, by this infinite
man, by what means he is made whole, being known unto you,
unto you all, every one of you sitting here today, being known
unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, every Jew under
heaven, everybody in this nation, by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, Now, he didn't say just Jesus and that. It was Jesus
Christ, the Messiah, the anointed, the appointed, the one Son of
God. And, oh, be it known unto you,
and he gives a four-point message, and here's the first thing he
says, by the name of Jesus Christ, whom you crucified. The first
thing he charged him with, and he done it on the day of Pentecost,
you killed and crucified this very man. You crucified him. You were guilty of crucifying,
murdering, mistreating, misaligning, lying to, counting as a common
criminal, the Christ, the Messiah. He was Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
the one you crucified. And facing the powers to be,
what courage it took, what boldness it took to charge, say, look
here, you fellas, you done it. You crucified, you lied on him,
you crucified the Lord of Glory. Look what he said over here in
Acts 3, in verse 13. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son
Jesus, now watch this, whom you delivered up, and you denied
him in the presence of Pilate, when Pilate was determined to
let him go. But you denied the Holy One. Both those letters are capitalized. The Holy One. Holy. One person in this world. God. Manifest in the flesh. The Holy One sent from God. And
the just one. And boy, you denied Him, and
you wanted a murderer to be granted unto you. And what did you do?
You killed the Prince! Three titles given to Christ
here. The Holy One, the Just One, and the Prince of Life.
And oh, you killed Him! You killed Him. You crucified
Him. And I'll tell you something,
until a man understands that he has as much a part in the
death of Christ as the people that were there, you'll never
know what it is to enjoy what he done at that cross. Until
you take part, until you take your place in that death of the
Son of God, that it was you, you and your sins, you and your
ignorance, you and your rebellion, you and your rejection of God,
you and your rejection of Christ, that you're responsible for crucifying
Him. I was responsible, I was responsible
for crucifying Christ as if I was there. You think I would have been any
different than anybody else? If God hadn't have saved me at
that time, I would have been like the rest of them. That's
what the rulers are saying, that's what the priests are saying,
that's what the elders are saying. That's why everybody says that
He ain't nobody. Crucify Him. Crucify Him. I said
the same thing. And one day, bless His holy name,
He made me understand that it was my last chance that nailed
Him to that cross. That I see Him dying for me. And my guilt is on Him. And when
I saw my guilt and my sin on Him, that's when freedom comes. That's when shame was come. That's
when guilt was come. When I took my place at the foot
of the cross. Pronounced myself guilty before
God, and God had mercy on me. Oh my! Here's the second thing
he said about it. You're guilty of crucifying Him,
and then look what he says. You crucified Him, but look what
happened. God raised Him from the dead. Oh! Oh! Oh, you're guilty. But God raised Him from the dead.
God did this. The very God that you say you
worship, the God, the one God of Israel. He said, oh my God
graced you from the dead. Well, you know what this means?
This means that He is actually who He said He was. That day
that He said He was going to rise again the third day, and
He did. And this proves, beloved, everything concerning our faith,
that Christ was God. Only God, and He really was the
Prince of Life, that only God can rise from the dead. Only
God can put an end to the dead. And if He was God, and He loved
it, and He was just, and He was sinless, and He was perfect,
then God's a proof that raised Him from the dead. And he appeared
unto them for forty days by many infallible proofs. And this proved
to us not only that he was God, but that he accomplished the
salvation that God sent him to do. That he finished the work
that God sent him to do. And he said, Father, save me
from this ire. What shall I say then? But this
is the reason I come. And oh, beloved, listen, he accomplished
salvation. He didn't make a stab at it.
He didn't open the door for everybody. He didn't make salvation possible. He accomplished it. He finished
it. He put sin away. He brought in
righteousness. He honored God and fulfilled
the law and satisfied justice. for a people that God gave to
him in a covenant of grace before the world ever began. And I'll
tell you something else he says, that death is not the end. If
death wasn't the end for Christ, death is not the end for us.
There's going to be a resurrection. There's going to be a resurrection
of the just and the unjust. There's going to be a resurrection
of the righteous and the wicked. And that's what the Lord said
in Revelation. He said, if a man is holy, let
him be holy still when Christ comes. If a man be holy, let him be
holy still. If a man be wicked, let him be
wicked still. If a man be a liar, let him be
a liar still. If he be a dog, let him be a
dog still. Whatever way death finds you,
that's the way you're going to come out of the tomb and that's
the way you're going to face God. And then tell Him how good a
person you've been all your life. Stand up and tell God just how
good you've been. How sincere you are. How honest you are. Just tell
Him. Because that's what you're going
to have to say in that day. If you ain't got Christ, you're
going to have to come up with something. Oh, you know what I'm going to
mention when I get there? Same thing I do now. I'm His and He's mine. How righteous
is your God? He is! Who do you trust? Him? He done anything good? No, no,
no. Who did? He did! And God did this. God raised
Him up. And that's why Simon Peter's
saying to these men as he preaches to them, you know, you went to
that tomb and you found it empty. And here's the third point of
his message there in verse three. And this is the stone that said
this man do stand whole before you because of Christ, whom God
raised from the dead. You crucified and God raised
and this man stands here before you. So that's accomplished salvation. And this is the stone which is
set in all of you buildings, which has become the head of
the corner. This tells us that God's purpose is fulfilled, that
you can't oppose God. You can't do anything. You said
it not. Do you know what that means?
In Revelation, you know, and Isaiah, he's called the stone,
the foundation. And in Psalm, he's called that. He said, the stone that was made
the head of the corner, you said it is not, but this was the Lord's
doing, and it's marvelous in height. You set the stone at
nought. Do you know what that means?
You counted it as nothing. You counted Christ as nothing.
You saw that he was the foundation of God. You saw he was the foundation,
the rock upon which God saved sinners and put sinners home.
And you know, you set it at nought. Do you know what nought means?
Zero. You regard him as nothing. And
look while he stands here. But God made him the head of
the corner. He's the one on the church's
bill. He's the one on God put all of
his purpose. He put all of his heads in one
basket. He's the one with all the power and authority. Oh my,
God made it the head of the corner. Now you hold this and look with
me over at Zechariah. If you went to Matthew, you'd
go to Malachi. And Zechariah is right after
Malachi. You go to Malachi, last book
in the Old Testament, and then you go to Zechariah chapter four. Oh my, God made it the head of
the corner. Do you think you could stop God's
work? Just because you said, we said
of Him not. Just because you said, does that
make it so? What you believe, does that make
it so? Do you think you could stop God's work with what He
said here in verse six? Zechariah four and verse six.
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word
of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel saying, Not by might,
nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who
art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt
become a plain. And he shall bring forth the
headstone thereof, shouting with shoutings, crying, Grace! Grace! Unto it. And that's why God said,
Grace, grace, is this stone here that I stand. And that's what
we're saying. Oh my. And then we're going back
over in our text, in spite of rejecting it, in spite of opposing
it, in spite of denying it, God sent him to be the head of the
corner. They rejected him, but God still
put him there. Scripture says that all the inhabitants
of the earth, you've heard this verse so many times, all the
inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. You won't
say to him nothing? He'll say, that's what you are.
That's what God said. All the inhabitants of the earth are
reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will. His will. In the armies of heaven. Oh,
that's wonderful. He does that up there. And among
the inhabitants of the earth, And wait a minute, he can't do
that. What about our free will? What
about our power? What about our rights? No man can stay his stand or
say, what are you doing? I'm going to preach a message
down in Florida next week on the absolute fallacy of free
will. When I get home, I'll bring it
here. Absolute fallacy of free will. Absolute fallacy of it.
And oh, beloved, listen, this man, that's what he said here,
this man stands here by the power, by the grace, by the glory, by
the might of the one you crucified, who now lives at the right hand,
the one you said it not, has become the head of the corner.
That's this man stands here. You know the world, and this
is so, you know it yourself, the world hates personal guilt.
The world hates personal guilt, just hates it. But the resurrection
proves life after death, and the world hates that God's will
is accomplished. They'll fight it tooth and nail, tooth and
nail. And then let me hurry up here
and finish up. Now look what he said there in verse 12. You
all said this? If not, then look what he said.
There's no other name. You fellas think you got power?
You fellas think you got a name? You want to know what name, by
what authority we're doing this? I'm going to tell you. Neither
is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven. Now the heaven covers everywhere
you go. Ain't that right? No other name
under heaven given among men. Now listen to this, I love it.
Poor Bob, we must be saved. Now what he says, now, there's
no other name. No other name given. And beloved,
that's what he says, no other name given. God gave to Christ
this name. You know this name was given
to Christ? When Joseph was minded to put away Mary, an angel Gabriel
came and told him in a dream, says, you take this child, this
child's of the Holy Ghost. And said, I tell you what, you
name him. You name him Jesus. Because He shall save His people
from their sin. So before He was born, you named
Him Jesus. Jehovah said this name was given to Him. And it
was given to Him by God. And then it was given to men
like me, and like Simon Peter, and the rest of us, given to
men to declare. That's what He's doing. He's
declaring this name. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. There's no other name, and we're
given to declare that name. Declare it. Declare salvation
in this name. Declare salvation in this person. Declare salvation in his authority. Declare salvation in his blood.
Declare salvation in his righteousness. Declare salvation in his right. Declare salvation in his sovereign
power. To give it to who do we owe?
Huh? Oh, and then it's given to men.
To believe on. To believe it. to believe Him. And then look what it says, among
men whereby we must be saved. Now, what did He say, you know,
where you could be saved? You might be saved. I hope you're
saved. I'd like for you to be saved.
I want you to be saved. You know why He said, because he knows that that name
must save every sinner from whom he doth. He must be saved by
this name. You must be. If you're going
to be saved, it must be by Him. It must be by Him. And if you're
saved, it'll mean you'll be saved because you must be saved. As
many as were ordained to eternal life, what happened to them?
They believed. You know why? Because they must
be saved. Oh, beloved, this one who was
despised and rejected and denied, now Peter says, he's the only
one. He's the only man. You must be
saved by him. He's the only Redeemer. He's
the only sacrifice for sin. He's the only satisfaction to
God. And there's never been anyone
like him before, no one like him since, never has been, never
will be, and a multitude that no man can number. be with Him
in glory. And you say, oh, beloved, this
is too narrow. Yes. Yes, it's narrow. One name, one
person, one salvation. Too exclusive? Yes. It's intolerant? Yes. You refuse
Him? To believe Him. To trust Him. And what a fool you'll prove
to be. Because there ain't no other name. No other place. No other person. Ain't that right? And you know
what I'm going to do? I'm going to trust Him again.
Right here before everybody. I'm going to confess my faith
in Him. I'm going to confess there's no one like Him. I'm
going to confess that He saved me from my sin, saved me from
my guilt, and He saved me yesterday, He'll save me today, and He'll
save me one of these days, plumb all over when He takes me to
glory. And that's when the old timers say, I'll be plumb saved
then. Plumb saved. I confess that. Don't you care?
I confess that. I confess that. Our gracious, gracious Father
in heaven, how blessed, how glorious, how gracious, how pitiful, how
loving, how forgiving, how just, how true, how powerful, how mighty
is your blessed name and person. Oh, Lord Jesus, we love to talk
of you, look to you, trust you, believe you. Enjoy your presence. Enjoy the forgiveness and the
presence and power of the Holy Ghost, the joy and peace there
is in believing. Oh, how we thank you for it and
bless you for it. And pray, Lord Jesus, that you
would open hearts, save your people in this place. We ask
you in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. There is a name I love to hear.