And look in your bibles the book
of acts chapter 3 Acts chapter 3 and I want to read like the first eight
verses Acts chapter 3 verse 1 now Peter
and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer,
being the ninth hour. And a certain man, lame from
his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate
of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them
that entered into the temple. Who, seeing Peter and John about
to go into the temple, asked an alms. And Peter, fastening
his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave
heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then
Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give
I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right
hand and lifted him up, Immediately his feet and ankle bones received
strength and he leaping up stood and walked and entered with them
into the temple walking and leaping and praising God I'm gonna stop
right there, but there's more stuff. We're gonna go on to hopefully I've entitled this but such as
I have I give thee Uh, this is just after Pentecost and the
first bunch of preaching they had the next day. Oh, before I go
any further, I do want to say, I do believe in miracles wholeheartedly. I believe this account exactly
as it's written. This happened. Okay. Now I believe
in miracles by Christ. through his prophets and his
apostles. And I believe in miracles today
by God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son. The salvation of a sinner is
a miracle. It is life to the dead. It is
light to the blind. It is hearing to the deaf. And
it is understanding to the darkened mind. That takes a miracle and
the power of God. This miracle here I do believe
in. I don't believe we're doing this today. Otherwise we would
have better evidence by TV preachers. Okay? Other than just slapping
somebody on the head and they fall down and you never see them
again. Or if you follow them around, sometimes you might see
them in the next meeting. That happens. Oh yeah. I can't work
miracles. And I don't believe any man can
work miracles now. As a matter of fact, I don't
believe any man worked miracles then. Any miracle done, they're
going to tell it. They're going to tell on themselves.
They're going to tell on themselves. Any miracle done is done by God.
And sometimes you just happen to be in the way or be there. I believe God works miracles
every day. To us, things are miraculous.
To him, it's business as usual. It's not a miracle to God. It's
what he does. It's not a miracle to the Son.
It's what he does. It's not a miracle to the Spirit.
It's what he does. He is life. He is light. He is faith. Now, the ministry,
I believe, of the apostles is over. There are some people who
like to call themselves apostles. And there are some people who
like to say they can do things if you've got enough faith. That
wasn't the case here. They haven't even preached to
this guy yet. But we have their words. We have
the record of their words and the record of their deeds. And
I do believe this. And Christ promised the record. to us for a purpose. And this miracle was for a purpose. And that purpose was to preach
Christ to these people right here. It got them an audience. And it was the audience that
God wanted them to have. Now Peter and John, it says in
verse one, I really did like this, Peter and John went together
to the temple at the hour of prayer. Now, that was the whole, as far
as we know, that was the whole of Peter and John's plan. That's
all we know. They weren't planning to meet
this guy outside. They weren't planning to do anything. That's all that's written here.
And I'm going to tell you something. They trusted Christ and his spirit
for the rest. This man they met was lame from
his mother's womb, a beggar. It's the beggar that's lifted
up. To be seated with princes and kings. That's the Old Testament. It was a man lame from birth
named Mephibosheth, or not lame from birth, but lame by accident,
named Mephibosheth that's in there. Peter looked at him and said,
look upon us. Give us heed. Pay attention to
what I'm about to say. And he said, silver and gold
have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus, rise up
and walk. But what I want to see here today,
and hopefully you see here today, what I want to say today is this
is still the truth. This is the truth for every one
of us. Preachers and non-preachers together, the flock of God, such as I have, give I to thee. Because there were five things
that I've got written down here that Peter and John show. Five witnesses is the way I've
got it written down. The first one is they were witnesses
to the lack of power in themselves. Totally. The second one, they
were witnesses to the rejection of God by men. Thirdly, they were witnesses
to the truth of the scriptures and the prophecies of Jesus Christ. Fourthly, they were witnesses
preaching the gospel of the Messiah. And fifthly, they were witnesses
to the glorifying of God. To glorifying God. They glorified
the Father and the Son. Now if you would, look at Acts,
it's three. Verse 12, this is what happens
after they get in with that beggar. And when Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why
look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness
we had made this man to walk? They witnessed to the fact they
weren't the power. I'd like to hear that on television
once in a while, Mason. I'd like to hear that. I heard a woman, shoot, I can't remember her name,
Kenneth Copeland's wife, Gloria, get up, she was on television.
And I'm not just blaming her because I figure he feels the
same exact way. You thought that devil had a
hard time with Jesus. Well, he was just a man filled
with the Holy Ghost. Now, here at Pentecost, there's
a 500 of them, 5,000 of them, filled with the Holy Ghost. Oh,
the devil was in trouble then. That's the way they think of
Christ. They think they've got power.
Now, they'll say Christ gave it to them, or Jesus gave it
to them. You can usually tell by the way they say, Jesus, give
it to them. It's not what Peter and John
said here. Peter and John says, we've got no power in and of
ourselves. Then he tells them where it came
from, the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob, the God of
our fathers hath glorified his son, Jesus. whom ye delivered
up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined
to let him go." I don't have any power. He has
all power. And these men in that temple,
after this man had been healed, witnessed to that fact. They
did not heal that man. The name of Christ did. Don't look at us Don't look at
us. Don't look to us. You look to the God of Abraham
and Isaac and of Jacob. And you look at him because he
has glorified his son. Look to him. If you've seen me,
you've seen the Father. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. That's what Christ said. And
the deep meaning of that is, if you've seen Christ, you've
seen the Father. These men witnessed to the fact
that they had no power of themselves. The power, and there is power. This man was healed. But it's
not mine. It's not theirs. It's the power
of God. It is his mighty power. Now, there were also witnesses
to the rejection of God by men, which was at the end of verse
13. Whom ye delivered up and denied
him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let
him go, but ye denied the holy one and the just. and desired a murderer to be
granted unto you, and killed, and killed the prince of life,
whom God has raised from the dead, whereof," what? We are witnesses. We've seen
him. We've seen him. You rejected
him. You delivered him to be killed. You actually, he's in the temple
speaking to Jews here. They actually clamored for his
death when Pilate had a mind to let him go. I find no fault
in this man. The Jews did. They thought they
did. They wanted Jesus Christ dead. And they got their way. Peter and John were witnesses
of his death and his resurrection I got one thing to say about
this Okay, maybe more than one 2nd
Timothy chapter 3 Verse 12 written down Yeah, that's it. We don't comment a lot about
current affairs here. We try just to preach Christ
and Him crucified. But my wife watches the news
a lot, so I end up watching the news a lot sometimes. And then
plus people talk. And there's all this stuff that
happened all these people being shot in a church. There's racial
tensions. There's policemen shooting people.
There's decisions made by the Supreme Court. And they ask my
opinion of them. And I usually don't like them
most of the time. But this is what I always come
to when I see stuff like that and I hear stuff like that. Second
Timothy, chapter 3 and verse 12, yea, and all that will live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Verse 13, but evil
men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived. It's all around us. It's all
around us. And see, this was written 1,900
years ago. And it doesn't say evil men and
seducers could wax worse and worse. They might wax worse and
worse. No, it said they shall. And we're
seeing it every day. And we're seeing it every year. And it's been that way since
the fall. It didn't just start in the New
Testament when Paul wrote this. That's not where it started,
OK? It started a long time before that. And as far as racial tensions
go, I think we can all be pretty much traced back to Adam. And
actually, if you want to go a little further, you can be traced back
to Noah. There is no difference between
men. And it says, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and
worse, deceiving and being deceiving. They're celebrating in places
and mourning in others. Each one is certain they are
right. I'm going to tell you something. Only one person's right. Only one thing's right. That's
Christ. He's the only right one. He is the holy one and the just. And we were just as guilty of
killing him as these Jews. If we had been there, we'd have
done the same thing. These men, Paul, And John were
witnesses to the rejection of God by men. When you reject Jesus Christ,
you're rejecting God. When you reject Christ, the Son,
you are rejecting God, the Father. There are some people that want
to separate them. Well, you can't separate them. What is it, Walter? They are distinct. but they are
never separate. The son can do nothing except
what the father has shown. These men saw that and preached
it to these people in public, out loud. They also were witnesses to the
truth of the scriptures and the prophecies of Christ Jesus. Verse 17 of Acts 3 Because he
goes right from this you killed the prince of life whom God hath
raised from the dead where where of we are witnesses and Now brethren
in verse 17. I walk that through ignorance.
He did it as did also your rulers but those things which God before
has showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should
suffer and He hath so full filled You meant it for evil God meant
it for good It was prophesied that the Messiah
was going to suffer It was prophesied that the Messiah was going to
die the just for the unjust That doesn't clear any man of their
guilt in the matter It was exactly what the father purposed to happen. But it does say very clearly,
ye by wicked hands crucified him. How are you outside of the will
of God? God has purpose. And God's purpose will be fulfilled,
even by wicked hands. Even by wicked hands. People
don't want to have it, but these men were witnesses to it. The
scriptures speak of Christ, his suffering, dying, and resurrection.
The just for the unjust. In the very beginning, the seed
of the woman was going to have his head bruised. I was going to have his heel
bruised. He was going to bruise his heel, but he was going to bruise the
serpent's head. Excuse me, let me get it right. The Passover
lamb, that blood was going to be shed. The sacrifices that
were offered in the tabernacle, the sacrifice died. Blood was
shed and blood was offered. In Isaiah 53 it says, He was
despised and rejected of men. The chastisement of our peace
was laid upon Him for our transgressions. For by His stripes many are healed. This is what the Old Testament
said of the Messiah. The scriptures speak of Christ. Moses said there was a prophet
coming. Verse 22, for Moses truly said
unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto
you of your brethren like unto me. Him shall you hear in all
things whatsoever he shall say unto you. If you can hear, you're going
to hear Him. And it shall come to pass that
every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed
from among the people. Hear Him in all things, not just
some things, all things, because the prophet that was coming after
Moses was different. It was the Messiah. He was the
Messiah. Jesus of Nazareth was the one
promise from the beginning. These men were witnesses of that
to these Jews. And if you don't hear Him, you
will be destroyed. That's the long and the short
of it. He came to bring a division. And he did bring a division.
That statement, who maketh thee to differ? There is a difference. And they were witnesses preaching
the gospel of the Messiah. This is in Acts chapter 4, verses
10 through 12. This is the next day after that.
Back in the temple again, back in front of Annas the high priest
and Caiaphas. And John and Alexander and as
many as were of the kindred of the high priests were gathered
together at Jerusalem. This is who Peter and John are
talking to now. Verse 10, be it known unto you all and to
all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nathareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him does this man stand here before you whole. Still
talking about that bear. Be it known. We're saying it
flat out. There's no doubt. There's no
hesitation. There's no decision. The power
is in Christ, Jesus. salvation is in Christ Jesus. You crucified Him, God raised
Him from the dead. You killed Him, but it was not
fit that death should hold Him. And by this man, the man, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, Jesus Messiah of Nazareth, this man stands
before you whole. Because by Christ alone is the
only way anyone is ever made whole. Such as I have, give I thee. This is the message. There is
salvation in no other than Jesus Christ of Nazareth. God raised
him from the dead. He is seated on the right hand
of the majesty on high, expecting that his enemies be made his
footstool. And he is ruling. He is reigning. He is in charge of everything
in this world. and he is calling out his sheep
by name and he is giving life and faith and making people whole. There is salvation in no other. Now they were witnesses also
to the glorifying of God. They glorified God, the Father
and the Son, publicly. and privately. Right at the start,
where they were preaching in the temple at the hour of prayer,
in Acts 4, 6-9, when they were in front of Annas and Caiaphas,
verse 8 says, when he started to talk, says, Then Peter, filled
with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people
and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of
the good deed done to this impotent man, by what means he is made
whole? Be it known. Be it known. Be it known. By the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, we are to say publicly what we believe
privately, personally. The reason I said that is because
I want to say this one thing. There is no secret knowledge.
There is no secret gospel. There are those that are trying
to say there is one. I know, I've heard them talk
about it. There have been programs on the
History Channel and PBS about the gospel of Judas, okay? The
gospel of Judas is heresy. It's a lie. It doesn't agree
with the Old Testament, much less the New. There is no secret knowledge. We don't have to say everything
we believe, but I'm not holding anything back about Jesus Christ
that I can tell you right now. This is it. He's the message. Christ is the message. By the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, this man was made whole. And
by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, every man made whole
is made whole by him, only by him. And then privately, Acts chapter
4, verses 23 start here. And being let go, They went to their own company
and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto
them. And when they heard that, they
lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord,
thou art God, which hath made heaven and earth and the sea
and all that in them is. Who by the mouth of thy servant
David hath said, why did the heathen rage, and why The people
imagined vain things The kings of earth stood up and the rulers
were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ
For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed
both Herod and Pontius Pilate With the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together verse 28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel
determined before to be done." He said the same thing when they're
together in their meeting, when the family's together, as he
said to those fellows that were in the temple. and they glorified God there. Christ said one time, I thank
the father for those hid these things and they're hidden from the wise
and the prudent, but that's revealed them to babes. God hides and God reveals. God gives life God saves. It's all of God. Every single bit. Through the
Son, through the Spirit, by the Father. This is the work of God. These men, against the Lord,
against His Christ, against his holy child Jesus,
they did whatsoever God's hand and God's counsel determined
before to be done. People hate that. You're making God the author
of sin. No, I'm not. I'm reading the scriptures. But if you think God is surprised
by the sin of men, You don't know nothing. Now the evil men
and seducers shall wax worse and worse. We're surrounded by
them. I just don't want to be one.
And by His grace, I am not one. Oh yeah, I sin. Oh yeah, I've
got evil thoughts. Oh yeah. But I don't want to
be an evil man and seducer waxing worse and worse. deceiving and
being deceived. All I can do is read this book
and try and preach what thus saith the Lord. And such as I
have, give I thee. That's it. And this goes for you, too. The witness you have, share when
you can. When there's an interest, when
there's a place. I know what Peter said, when
silver and gold have I none. It's not about money. It's about the
truth of Jesus Christ. There is a difference between
talking about the word and the public declaration preaching.
But we are to do both. Acts chapter 8 verse 3 says,
as for Saul, and that is Saul of Tarsus, he made havoc of the
church, entering into every house, hailing men and women, committed
them to prison, and therefore Because of this, they that were
scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. The next
verse says, then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and
preached Christ unto them. Now the word preaching in the
middle verse is different than what the word preached when Philip
did it. One is the word actually, it
is meaning to announce, to speak, In particular, good news. That's
what it says when the people went preaching the word. They
were speaking about Christ. They were speaking the word.
But now this word where Philip went down to the city of Samaria,
that's proclaimed, declared the town crier and ambassador. There is a difference between
the two. But both are ordained. Both are to be done. the public preaching and the
personal communication, your conversation, such as I have,
give I thee. This is what I am to do, and
this is what you are to do. We are to give of what we have and to be thankful to God. It is told, you know, don't cast pearls before swine. But now that actually leads to
the supposition that you got pearls to cast. Now that pearl's not Christ,
but it is your Word. Logos. Rima. Your speaking. Your conversation. Don't cast them before a swine,
but you can cast them. You can speak of it, and you
are to, just as I am. And be thankful to God for that
privilege, that blessing, that knowledge. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
for this place, this time. Thankful for your son, our Lord,
who gave himself for us, a ransom for many. And for that many,
he did redeem us. as their perfect substitute,
their perfect sacrifice for sin, forever. Thank you, Lord. In His name
we pray. Amen.