Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 13. We left off with verse 22 of
Acts chapter 13, where we saw Paul begin his discourse with
the Jews in the synagogue, with the history of the nation of
Israel, and their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage. And
I love what Brother Jim Broome brought up after the message.
He said, you know, all the picture of history of Israel is redemptive
history, and it shows us It shows us the deliverance of the church.
Think of that. They were delivered from Egypt,
which is a type of the world. We're delivered from the world,
right? We're called out from the world.
We're delivered from our sins. They were delivered from bondage
they were in. We were in bondage to sin, and
we were delivered. And how were we delivered? By
the mighty hand of God. Right? Same hand that delivered
them is the same hand that delivered us. Because what did Christ say?
What did he say in John chapter eight? He said, before Abraham
was? Amen. I am. That's who delivered Israel,
isn't it? Same one who delivered us. Marvel
at this. It's absolutely incredible. God
has saved us. God himself. My, oh, my. So the great I Am delivered the
nation of Israel from their bondage in Egypt, and the great I Am
has delivered us from the Egyptian bondage that we were in in this
world, our sins. And we are free. We are set free,
beloved, by the complete finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let's read verses 23 to 28. Let's stand up together and read
these verses. Acts 13, verses 23 to 28. This will be our text today.
Of this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised
unto Israel a Savior, Jesus. When John had first preached
before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people
of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course, he said, "'Whom think
ye that I am? I am not he. But behold, there
cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
loose. Men and brethren, children of
the stock of Abraham. And whosoever among you feareth
God, to you is this word of salvation sent. For they that dwell at
Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the
voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day, they
have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no
cause of death in him, yet they desired Pilate that he should
be slain. My, oh, my. My, oh, my. So having ministered on the island
of Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas went to Antioch in Pisidia, where
a providential door was opened for them, which we looked at
last week, a door of utterance opened up for them when the Jews
in the synagogue said, do you guys have anything to say? That
was a door opened by God, wasn't it, for them to stand up. And
so Paul, yeah. You have anything to say, Paul?
Yeah. Yeah, he does, doesn't he? And
who's he going to talk about? Is he going to talk about a book
he wrote? No. Is he going to talk about a podcast?
I'm putting it in modern times. Something he's done? No. He's
going to talk about Christ, isn't he? You can talk about Christ,
and all those things are good, but the focus for us is Christ,
beloved. It's Christ and Him alone. Oh
my, I could talk to you about all kinds of stuff that's worthless.
It don't do you no good, wouldn't do me no good, would it? But
let's talk about that which is profitable to our souls, and
His name is the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh. So we saw last week, Paul begins
his message to the Jews that are gathered together in the
synagogue there. And imagine there were some Gentiles there
too. And so he starts talking to them and he opens up with
the history of Israel and their deliverance, which we saw last
week, the mighty deliverance and also the mighty destruction
of God's enemies and their enemies, right? And that all happened
by the hand of God too, didn't it? That sea opened up, that
Red Sea opened up by the power of God, and that Red Sea closed
down upon the enemies of God, right? By God's almighty power. That's a picture too, beloved.
No one will escape the wrath of God, except those in Christ. Those in Christ. My, oh my. Think of this, I'll do a quick
little thing. Remember the ark, right? All
who were inside that ark, not a drop of that rain fell upon
them, was it? Picture of God's wrath. Not a drop, not even a
speck. But outside, they were consumed. My, oh my. We are so blessed,
beloved, that we're in the ark of safety of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we'll see today that it was
Then Paul began to preach Christ. So he's given the history of
Israel from a redemptive point of view, and now he's gonna start
preaching Christ. But he preached Christ all through
that, didn't he? We saw that last week. You can't preach the
redemptive history of Israel without preaching Christ as well.
What did they use? What did Paul use? What did Barnabas
use? What did Peter use? What did
John use? What did James use when they
preached the gospel? Someone tell me. Amen. The Old Testament. They preached Christ with the
Old Testament, called the Scriptures. New Testament wasn't even made,
was it? So if you hear anyone say, well, the Old Testament
is for the Jews, the New Testament is for the Gentiles, which I
used to say when I was a full-on dispensationalist, it's error,
it's wrong, it's wrong. The Old Testament is full of
Christ, absolutely full of Christ. And when you find out that truth
and you've never read the Bible that way, you start seeing Christ
all through the Old Testament. It's absolutely amazing. And
he is. He even said, the law and the
prophets, they testify of me. What did he open up? The Old
Testament scriptures, didn't he? When he preached himself
from Isaiah, he's preaching from the Old Testament scriptures.
My, oh my, beloved. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. So look at verse 23. Paul starts
right off here. He's been building up the speaking
of David, and we read these words of Paul here. Actually, words
of the Holy Spirit penned by the secretary, which is Luke. And it says these. Here are words
of Paul, though. Of these men, man's seed, hath
God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Savior,
Jesus. Look at that. A Messiah. A Savior. A Savior from what? A Savior from our sins. Oh my. Who raised Him up? Who raised Him up? God raised
Him up, didn't He? Look at that. Of this man's seed
hath God, according to His promise. His promise. raised unto Israel
a Savior, Jesus. Now, the Jews would know that
the promised Messiah was to come through the seat of David, and
they were still looking for him, weren't they? They were still
looking for him. Oh, my. They didn't believe the
Lord Jesus Christ, whom they had crucified, was the Messiah.
Not at all. But he was sent by God. He was
the promised Messiah. He was the promised Savior. And
we see how, by the wisdom of God, the Holy Spirit had given
to Paul, that he captured the attention of his audience as
a wise master builder, bringing forth the history of Israel,
and now bringing Christ right to the forefront. Bringing Christ
right to the forefront. He knew it was time to declare
the truths concerning Jesus Christ, our Lord, and the promise in
raising him up as Israel's Savior. He's the Savior of Israel, true
Israel, isn't he? God's elect. God's elect. My, now many of the Jews were
looking for the Messiah and they were looking to him to be an
earthly king, one that would come and kick out the Romans
and the Jews would rule. That's what they were looking
for. That's what they were looking for. And they thought it was
exclusive to the Jews. Oh my, imagine, that's why it
was such a shock to them when the Gentiles, the Lord was saving
the Gentiles. Oh my. And they were looking for a Messiah
to be an earthly king, one who would sit on an earthly throne
in Jerusalem, who would lead them to victory over all the
Gentile nations so that they could lord over them all. And
think of what goes through their mind of a born-again, blood-washed
believer, when we hear these words, of this man's seed hath
God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Savior,
Jesus. We, by the gift of faith, embrace
those words, don't we? We embrace those words. We embrace
this truth set before us, which is speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ in him alone. He's the only Savior of sinners. He's sent by God. He is God in
the flesh. But he is sent by the Father
to save his people from their sins. And as we saw on Sunday
School this morning, he's obedient in his life and he's obedient
in death. And he laid down his life. He
has the power. He said, I have the power to
lay it down and I have the power to take it again. He said, no
man can take it from me. And no man did, did they? He
gave up the ghost willingly to save us from our sins. My oh my. And we see here that
it's promised. Can God lie? No, he can't. He promised the Messiah, didn't
he? And he sent one. He sent one of the seed of David.
Jesus Christ our Lord, and under the preaching of his gospel,
God reveals to his called out saints that Jesus Christ saved
us. He laid down his life for us, individually for me. For
me. That's incredible, isn't it? It's absolutely incredible. When did he lay down his life?
When he died on Calvary's cross and shed his blood. Now let's
bring it home to redeem, each believer can say, my eternal
soul. And he did it willingly, lovingly,
the joy that was set before him. It's amazing. Makes us want to
shout, beloved. It's incredible. And we give
him all the glory and honor and praise because he by himself,
by himself, purged our sins. by the shedding of his blood.
It's already been accomplished, beloved. It's wonderful, isn't
it, sister and brother? It's wonderful. It's accomplished.
It's done. And he did it all with no help
from any of us. No help needed, right? No help
needed at all. And if man thinks he's going
to add something to it, it's no longer grace, right? I told you, I said this
at Sunday school, and I'm going to say it again. I heard a fella, supposed to
be Calvinist guy, oh, he's a Calvinist down the line. He says, Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord because he was obedient.
That's a lie from the pit of hell. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord because God chose him before the foundation of
the world in Christ. Therefore, God showed him grace
and mercy in Christ, just like he did for poor, wretched sinners
like you and me. Oh, my. My, oh, my. Isn't that wonderful that we
had nothing to do with our salvation except for our sin? We're the
sinners. He's the Savior. Right? I think what Scott Richardson
said, the only thing we contributed was our sin. My oh my. That's why that publican was,
God be merciful to me the sinner. That's why we're like that too.
Because we know what we are, and we know how he saved us from
all our sins. And under the preaching of the
gospel, God uses the preaching of the gospel to reveal himself
to poor, wretched, needy sinners. Right? And reveals to us that
he laid down his life for us. And we marvel at that great love,
don't we? We know we don't deserve it,
but yet he did it for us. My, I've never had anyone love
me like that, have you? I love my wife dearly, and I
know she loves me, and my kids, I love them, and I know they
love me. And I loved my mama when she was alive, and I know
she loved me, but they don't come close to this kind of love.
Don't come close? My, oh, my. By the supreme sacrifice of Himself,
He saved us. He redeemed us. He obtained eternal
salvation for us. That which we could never obtain,
He did it all for us. And because of that, we are going
to see Him one day. Isn't that amazing? That's incredible. We're going
to see him, like we see one another. We're going to see him face to
face. Paul said, now we see through
a glass darkly, but then face to face. Think of our loved ones
who've gone home. I can look out and see some of
you, and I know. Think of your loved ones who
died in Christ. They are beholding the King face
to face. Oh my. You wouldn't want to bring
them back, would you? Nope. And they wouldn't want
to come back. They wouldn't want to come back.
And one day, though, just like that, we're going to be with
them. Just like that. Oh my, it'll
be amazing. Absolutely amazing. So he purged
our sins all by himself, purged them from God's sight forever
by the supreme sacrifice of himself. What a Savior the Lord Jesus
Christ is. Now let's look at verses 24 and 25. It says, When
John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance
to all the people of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course,
he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But behold, there
cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
loose. We see in these two verses of the Holy Scripture, Paul's
referring to John the Baptist. John the Baptist, the forerunner
of Christ. God's promised savior was the
Lord Jesus Christ, and he sent a forerunner. He sent John the
Baptist before him. And how many of the Jews believe
that John the Baptist was God's prophet? He said, I'm not that
prophet. They thought he might be. They
thought he might be. He is preaching the truth before
our Lord Jesus Christ came, wasn't he? He's pointing them to the
Messiah. He says, there's one coming.
There's one coming. One after whose shoes the feet,
I'm not even worthy to lose. I'm not even worthy to untie
his shoes. That's how we feel about our king, isn't it? Oh my. Do you know he makes unprofitable
servants his servants? Isn't that amazing? We're all unprofitable servants
and then he makes us his servants. We become bond slaves to him.
Isn't that amazing? That's just incredible. That's
just incredible. So John went before our Lord
Jesus Christ preparing a way for him by preaching the baptism
of repentance to all the people of Israel. And he not only administered
the ordinance of baptism, but he preached the doctrine of it
and opened up the nature and design of it and required repentance
and faith and fruits meet for it in those who came to have
it administrated to them. And when John fulfilled his course,
he said, whom think ye that I am? I'm not he. They probably thought,
well, you're the Messiah. He says, I'm not he. I'm not
him. No. Behold, there cometh one
after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Remember John said, he must increase
and I must decrease. That's what's happening right
there. And that's what happens to the believer. We're proud,
self-righteous people by nature. And he humbles us, doesn't he?
And we say, along with John, he must increase and I must decrease. And when we see the holiness
of God, we start eating dirt, don't we? He is so holy. He is so reverend. What did Scott
used to say? We make our headquarters in the
dust. That's what we do. We bow at the feet of Jesus.
Oh my. So, marvel at this, like all
of God's ordained preachers, John doesn't draw attention to
himself. He's pointing his followers to who? To Christ. You ever notice
that? He's pointing them right to Christ.
He says, I'm not he. He's telling them about who is
he though. Remember he said, behold the
Lamb of God, take away the sin of the world. Oh my. And speaking of Christ, speaking
of the Messiah, John the Baptist said, behold, there cometh one
after me whose shoes of his feet I'm not worthy to loose. We see
here that John didn't entertain high thoughts of himself, did
he? I had a friend of mine, I have a friend of mine, he was telling
me about these two preachers that he knew, and he went to
listen to them, and he tells me the story, and he said, I
thought real highly of them until this happened. He said he went
to a conference, and they were up there, and the one guy got
up and he said, oh, such and such is the greatest preacher
in America currently, like this. And I heard this, I'm just shaking
my head, because I know where this is going, right? And then the
other fellow got up when it was said, no, such and such is the
greatest preacher in America. And Jim says, I got news for
him, neither of them are the greatest preachers in America. So full
of self-righteousness. But see, we see John here, he
didn't have a high opinion of himself, did he? No. No, the
place of a preacher is a place of servitude. servitude to the body that we're
with, and servitude first and foremost to Christ as you have
servitude. We're all bond slaves, aren't
we? I need to be down on this level
because we're all bond slaves. There's not an elevated preacher
bench, is there? No, no. We're bond servants for
Christ, beloved. We serve him. We adore him. We
love him. We esteem him above all others. And we also esteem others, our
brothers and sisters in Christ, better than ourselves. You know
why? Because we know what we are. You're all a lot better Christian
than I am. I know my sin, right? That's
why Paul says we esteem others better than ourselves. We know.
You know what? Norm Wells told me this. He was
an Armenian preacher before the Lord saved him. He told me this,
he said, you know what? He says, I was a far better Christian
as an Armenian. I know what he means. Man, I
was strict in religion to myself, but you know, I was strict in
my own things, but you know, I thought I was being strict
on myself. I was harder on other people than I was on myself.
Ask Vicky. Now, I see myself as a worm. We were
talking about that. Remember, sister, we were talking
about that yesterday, about growing in grace? And the more we grow
in grace, the more sinful we see ourselves. You've heard the story. I called
Donny Bell. I said, oh, Donny, man, I'm such a sinner. I'm just,
he's laughing on the phone with me. I'm like, what are you laughing
at? He goes, oh, you're growing in
grace, man. You see yourself more of a sinner.
And John knew this, right? John knew this. Look again. Behold, there cometh one after
me whose feet I'm not worthy even to loose. You see the humility
in those words. He's not seeking a following,
is he? No, as a matter of fact, he's seeking those who are following
him to Christ. He's sending them to Christ.
Look to Christ. Look to him alone. Don't look
to me. My, he definitely did not entertain
high thoughts of himself. Quite the contrary. We see in
our text, he doesn't even see himself worthy to perform a servant's
duty. You know, that's what servants
did back then. Servants would take the shoes
off people's feet and wash their feet. Romans weren't going to do that.
Oh, let the servant undo my shoes. Oh my goodness. Can you imagine
that? Oh my. So he's pointing, he's pointing,
he's saying, I'm not even worthy to be the lowest servant in the
house. This is John the Baptist. My oh my. Do you see what the
grace of God does to believers? As we were talking sister, we
just see ourselves more and more sinners. I ain't getting better. There'll be a day though when
I'll be perfect. And so will you, if you're a
believer. That day's coming. You know what? Each day, it's
getting closer. Somebody asked me one time, the Lord's coming
back soon. I said, well, I don't know when
he's coming, but I know we're a day closer. And I might die before that day,
but I know I'm a day closer to my own death, too. But I'm a
day closer to seeing my King. Brian, we talked about that when
our birthdays came around. Hey, you're a year older. I'm a year
older, closer to seeing my king. I never thought like that before
the Lord saved me. Never thought anything like that.
Oh my gosh, isn't it amazing? It's just incredible, beloved.
Just incredible. Again, John said, he must increase,
but I must decrease. And we see that here in this
text. There's no greater honor that can be placed upon a hell-deserving
sinner than the honor of serving the Lord Jesus Christ, of being
saved and serving him. And we all serve him in the local
assembly, don't we? We do. We serve him in our lives
when we leave here. Our servitude doesn't end when
we leave here. No, our servitude is in our everyday lives to our
King. My oh my. Now look at verse 26. We see Paul continuing his message
here, making reference again to John the Baptist. He went
on to say in verse 22, men and brethren, children of the stock
of Abraham, in whosoever among you feareth God, to you is this
word of salvation, what? Sins. You ever think how the preacher
stands up and he preaches the gospel. And it can make us weep. And there can be someone beside
us that's not even affecting them. Not even affecting them. It's
sent to you. It's sent to you. Each time we
have an opportunity to hear the gospel, it's sent to you. Isn't that amazing? It's absolutely
incredible. So Paul's bringing forth here
that the preaching of the gospel is God's ordained instrument
that he uses to deliver by his almighty power his chosen people,
his elect. This is what he uses. He uses
the preaching of his gospel and by the power, again, it all goes
to God, by the power of God the Holy Spirit, we're born again. And we believe what that preacher's
saying. One minute before we were saved,
we didn't believe a word he was saying. The next minute, tell
me, can you keep talking? Can you keep telling me about
him? He's not even in my soul now. And so the chosen, the instrument
that God's ordained is the preaching of the gospel by God's almighty
power. He delivers his chosen people
from spiritual bondage, right? Which is our sin. We're in bondage
to Satan. We're in bondage to darkness,
right? We're children of darkness. Even though we're God's people,
we're born dead in trespasses and sin, right? And we're in
bondage to our sin, right? And they're like chains around
us. We can't break them. We can't break them, beloved.
But Christ set us free, didn't he? He broke the chains. He didn't
just break them. There's nothing left. He set
us free. Oh, my. And like Paul, God's
preachers don't know who God's elect are. We have no clue. We
don't know whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life from
the foundation of the world. We don't have any idea. Therefore,
we preach to everyone. It's called the general call.
We preach to everyone. And God is the one who does the
effectual call. And no amount of manipulation
by the preacher can make the outward call effectual. Now man can talk man into making
a decision, but if man can talk man into making the decision,
then man can talk man out of that decision. But if God calls
you with an effectual call, he will keep you. No matter how
far we fall, he's still with us. I like what Spurgeon said. He said, when the Lord comes,
and he said, all the backslidden saints are going to just be taken
right out. I like that. Not even being backslidden
can stop you from the Lord taking you home. Because if you're one
of His that He redeemed, He can take you home. He can get you. Right? Did He say, I'll lose
one? He said, no, I'll lose none. Well, praise His mighty name. It's wonderful, isn't it? It's
wonderful. That doesn't give us a license
to go out and do whatever we want, though, does it? No. No,
we know that. But, oh my, it's wonderful, isn't
it? God saves, and it's eternal salvation. My, oh my. So the general call
reaches the outer ears, and those who hear the true gospel, by
a sovereign, irresistible call of the Holy Spirit, it's the
inward. Spiritual ears, right? Irresistible, effectual call
that reaches the ears of the hearts of God's elect. Isn't
that amazing? And this occurs, when does it
occur? It occurs at the appointed time of love. Do you know when
the Lord saved you? It was the appointed time of
love. The appointed time that his love
was revealed to you because he's loved you and me for maternity. Yes, that's what we found out. Isn't that incredible? My oh
my, you mean even when I was dead in sin doing all that stuff
I shouldn't do, he still loved me? Yes, he did. You mean even in the worst I've
ever been, Wayne? He still loved me? Yeah. I marvel at that, do you? His love never waned. It never
went down or never went up. It's always the same. That's incredible. That'll make you want to shout,
won't it? Even as a Baptist, come on. Oh my. My, oh my. So at this point in time of love,
we are brought into this union with Christ that we have, we
didn't even know we had it, but we're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, we're justified by faith, we have peace with
God that we didn't have before, right? And all that must occur,
Brother Zane, as we've talked about, in time and space. In
order for us to be redeemed, Christ is a lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. But in order for that to actually
occur, he had to come into this world to redeem us, didn't he? And since we're born dead in
trespasses and sins, we must be born again. So at the appointed
time of God, we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God and
given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance
before God that we never had before. It's amazing. Now, let me set this before you.
To all who will hear this message, whether you're here in the assembly
or whether when it goes out onto the internet, it is the responsibility
of every sinner to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that? As he set forth
on the pages of Holy Scripture, as God commands all men to repent, My, oh, my. Look at verses 30
and 31. And at the times of this ignorance,
God winked, but now commanded all men everywhere to repent. Acts chapter 13 or Acts chapter
17. Oh, actually, I'm sorry. Let's
turn to Acts chapter 17. I got ahead of myself there.
I'm sorry. Turn to Acts chapter 17. My dyslexia took over again.
I thought I was seeing chapter 13 there. Acts chapter 17, look
at verses 30 and 31. Look at this. Paul's speaking
at Mars Hill, and he's speaking of the unknown God to the Greeks
there. And look what he says here. Look
what he says here. See, this is the outward call. And the times, verse 30, in the
times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commanded every man
or commanded all men everywhere to repent. Look at that. Because
he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness.
Who's the measuring stick? Amen, sister, Jesus Christ. He had judged the world in righteousness. Remember the scripture says that
the gospel reveals the righteousness of God. Who's the righteousness
of God? Christ. He's called the Lord
our righteousness, isn't he? Look at this. Because he has
appointed a day in which he will judge the world. He didn't judge
everyone. The great white throne judgment
by that man. Look at that. People say, well, I'm good. God
will accept me. Are you as good as Christ? I guarantee you none of us are.
We're a bunch of sinners. He was sinless. Oh my. By that man whom he hath
ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that
he raised him from the dead. See, our assurance, beloved,
people, I used to struggle with assurance, and it's normal for
believers to struggle with assurance, but think of this. Our assurance
is not in us. Our assurance is in Christ. Right? Again, we need to get our eyes
off ourselves, which we're prone to do, all of us. And we need
to get our eyes on our assurance, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
if we look at ourselves, we say, how could God save a wretch like
me? Well, he did. So the assurance for the believer
comes from Christ, comes from he who saved us, who is God.
Who's God, beloved? And we see here in those words
right there that this word of salvation is sent. And it's the
responsibility of all to believe. It's like Brother Henry said,
he said, if you're lost, it's all you. But if you're saved,
it's all God. What does God have to do for
a man or woman to go to hell? Just leave them alone. What does God have to do for
us to be saved? Everything. From beginning to end, beloved.
Oh my. And if you trust the Lord Jesus
Christ, you will live forever. If you refuse to believe, if
you reject the gospel and despise the Son of God, then unutterable
woe will be your eternal portion. There's no in between. There's no in-between. In his sermon on the day of Pentecost,
Peter said, the promise is unto you and your children and to
all that are far off and as many as our Lord God shall call. Shall
call. There's that beautiful little
word we love, shall. Will he call all of us elect?
He shall call all of us elect. Will he lose one? He won't lose
one at all. Is he able to keep us from falling?
Absolutely. And he's able to present us blameless
and faultless, clothed in his righteousness to the Father with
exceeding joy. Because he's done it all. The
Lord Jesus Christ did it all. My, and the promise of eternal
life through the perfect redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Savior of his people, falls on deaf ears in the general call.
I remember attending services and it was like, there's nothing
there for me. You know, when you hear somebody
say that, don't give up hope. We were all there, right? It just reaches our ears and
falls away. I got time for that. The one
I hear all the time from young people, I want to live a little. Take it from someone who lived
a little. You don't want to live a little that way. It just, whoa. Oh my. My. So the promise of eternal life
is through Jesus Christ our Lord and His perfect redeeming work. And the general call goes out,
and then there's the effectual call, which reaches hell-deserving
sinners, right? Which is what we are. As I said
in Sunday school, we're criminals by nature. We've broken God's
law. We are criminals. We are lawbreakers
by nature. But praise God, Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. Oh, that's wonderful. He fulfilled
it all in the room and place of his people. In receiving of Jesus Christ
and his glorious gospel, truth is a result of the life-giving
power of God, the Holy Spirit, who alone can speak to the hearts,
right? It's only through him and his
mighty work who calls with a holy calling to the obtaining of the
glory of Jesus Christ under the preaching of his glorious, amazing
gospel. So we see here, Paul's telling
his heroes about the absolute sovereignty of God as well, and
the fact that God has purposed all these events. He's purposed
them. You know, he purposed our salvation.
Isn't that wonderful? If it was left up to us, we'd
mess it up, but he purposed it all. If you're saved, God purposed
the fact that you're saved. I still can't get over it, can
you? But he did it. He did it. It's wonderful. And that which he purposed, right?
Well, he will execute. His brother Isaiah and I talk
here, execute that in time and space. Well, he purposed to save
us in eternity. And then we're born again by,
well, first we're redeemed by Christ in time. And then in time,
we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God and given faith
to believe on Christ. It's amazing. You see the whole
Trinity in there? Chosen by the Father, redeemed
by the Son, regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, it's
amazing. And these truths, never forget
that these truths that are set before us in the Scriptures are
for our learning. They're for our learning, beloved.
Oh my, look at verse 27 now. For they that dwell at Jerusalem
in the rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of
the prophets which were read every sabbath day, they have
fulfilled them in condemning him. One of the reasons the unbelieving
Jews unjustly condemned Christ is because they didn't know him.
They did not know who he was. They read the writings of the
Old Testament prophets every Sabbath, but they had no spiritual
understanding of what they were reading. They were religious,
and they were just as lost as any hell-deserving sinner who
never darkened the door of a church building. Just think of that,
too. Think of that. Religious people are just as
lost as those who, we'd say, don't even want to come to church. Right? There's only two people
in this world. There's a safe sinner and a lost
sinner. And it don't matter if that sinner is religious or what,
they're lost. I was religious and lost, were
you? I was. But praise God, he saved my soul. My oh my. Thought I knew something,
I didn't know nothing at all. And I found out I still don't
know much. But I know this, Jesus Christ is Lord and he can save
all who come to him. Because of his perfect, complete,
sinatonic work on Calvary's cross by the shedding of his precious
blood. Oh my, come. Flee to him. Flee to him. And these faithful men of God,
who were inspired by God when they wrote the Old Testament
scriptures, they prophesize of the suffering and death of Christ.
We looked at that last week in Isaiah 53. And those prophecies
had to be fulfilled, and Christ fulfilled them all. And then
look at verse, turn over, if you would, quickly to Acts chapter
2. Acts chapter 2. They didn't know him, and they
crucified him. Right? Which we see in Acts chapter
2 verse 23. Acts 2 23 tells us that wicked
hands crucified the Son of God. Look at this. But that same verse
also tells us that Jesus Christ was delivered into their hands
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. So wicked
hands took him and crucified him, right? Which is the Jews
and the Gentiles, the Jews and the Romans, right? Took him and
crucified him. But it all occurred according
to the foreknowledge of God. Him being Christ, being delivered
up, being delivered up. What? By the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God. Ye have taken, see man did this
to him, but he was delivered up by God. You know why? To redeem
us from our sins. And by wicked hands have crucified
and slain. They killed him. But then we
find out he gave his life. They slayed him, but he willingly
gave his life, didn't he? Oh my. It's amazing. Now, Just because God ordained
it, it does not justify the ungodly deeds of wicked man, right? Why do men have war and why do
we fight? Because we're a bunch of sinners.
We're just a bunch of sinners. And these men were just as guilty
as any other can be guilty. Even though our sovereign God
is in control, and that Christ was delivered according to the
determinate counsel of God, they were still guilty. Because they're sinners, just
like we are. Praise God, we're safe sinners. Now, again, let us never think
that because it's determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God that it justifies our ungodly deeds. It does not, at all, at
all. But God's eternal purpose will
be accomplished, won't it? It will be accomplished. Has
God changed? Has He changed at all? We're
in the modern time now, has God changed? He ain't changed, has
He? No. He still works all things
after the counsel of His own will to accomplish His sovereign
decrees. Look at verses 28 and 29. And though they found no cause
of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be
slain. When they had fulfilled all that was written of him,
they took him down from the tree and laid him in the sepulcher.
There's no cause for them to kill him. He's sinless. He's
spotless. He went about doing good, the
scripture says, healing people. But for these unbelieving Jews,
Even though he was sinless and spotless, they still wanted to
kill him. They still wanted to kill him.
John said, behold the Lamb of God, just as we preachers say
today. Our Lord is pure, spotless. Every step he took, every word
he spoke, every thought he thought, every deed he performed, his
motive for all these things was as pure as God himself, beloved. Christ was perfectly righteous
in all His doings. We can't even imagine that, can
we? But He was. He's perfect. Every perfect—and think of this,
now think of this. Therefore, if our faith is in
Christ, and only in Christ, in His perfect obedience to God,
the Father is ours. It's ours. If we're in Christ,
it's ours. His perfect righteousness is
ours to rejoice in. And by God-given faith, we have
the righteousness of Christ applied to us. We're clothed with it.
But think of this, every step, every perfect step that Jesus
took, He took for His people. Right? He's the end of the law
for righteousness. Right? Every perfect word he
spoke, he spoke as our substitute. Every perfect thought he had,
he had as our substitute, fulfilling the law of God perfectly. He loved God with all his heart,
mind, and soul. He did that which we could never
do. He did it for us. Oh my. In every perfect deed he performed
and all his perfect motives were all done to save his people from
their sins and he did them perfectly and completely in our room in
place. And because we are clothed in
the righteousness of Christ, God sees our sin no more. No
more. It's truly amazing, but it's
fact. It's fact. God sees no sin in those who
are in Christ because there's no sin in Christ. See, it always
goes back to him. It's nothing we do. It always goes back to him. We're
in him, therefore God looks at us in Christ. It's incredible. He's the head,
we're the body. Therefore God can find no cause
for judgment against us in his son, right? Because all the judgment
due us was poured out on him. So there's nothing left. There's nothing left. He paid
it all. He died the perfect spotless
lamb in our room and place. And he redeemed us perfectly.
by His perfect, precious blood. He did it. Therefore, all who are in Christ
have eternal life, not because of anything we've done, but all
because of His perfect, sin-atoning work. See, religion, and I remember
when I was in it, religion, you got to do things. Just like that
fella said, that lie that fella said when he said God showed
grace to Noah because he was obedient. That's a lie. How can
anything I do, even in obedience, that's tainted with sin, please
God? But only if I'm in Christ. Right? But God didn't show me grace
and show you grace because we were obedient. No, just the opposite.
We weren't obedient. Now we desire to be obedient
servants, don't we? Because we're born again. You
see the difference? We desire to serve God now. We
love Him. We love Him. Because He first
loved us. My. That's why the Apostle Paul
was moved by the Holy Spirit to write these encouraging words.
And you hear me say them all the time. There's therefore now
no condemnation, which is no judgment to them, which are in
Christ Jesus, who walked not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. No, no, no judgment, no TV screen. Everyone gets to
see what we did. Do you remember hearing about
that stuff? That terrified me. But God says, Wayne, And put
your name. I don't see your sin anymore. It's gone. It's paid for. You're
bought with a price. The precious, precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my. No wonder John penned,
herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
1st John 4, 17. The Jews found no cause of death,
and yet they desired that Pilate would kill him, slay him. And under Roman law, it was forbidden
by the Roman law to put anyone to death until the accused person
was examined by the Roman governor. And Pilate did that, and Pilate
found no fault in him. We know that. He said, there's
no fault in this fellow. No fault that was worthy of death.
And he would have set Jesus Christ free. But as John Gill said,
the Jews were urgent and demanding and insistent that he would order
him to be put to death. They wanted him dead. See, he
was a threat to their pocketbook. That's really what it was. My, oh my. My. So let us remember that Pontius
Pilate, like every living creature, was only a pawn in the hands
of our sovereign God. Vicki and I were talking about
that. We got these leaders in all the different countries and
stuff, and they're just pawns in God's hands. They're just
pawns, beloved. I used to love playing chess.
You know, you move a pawn, you move the bishop and knights.
They're just wherever he wants them to go. doing His will, and
they don't even know it. They don't even know it. They
have no clue. We want to do this, and we want
to do that. Only if God wills. If not, He's going to stop them
in their tracks. Right? It's amazing. It's amazing. So Pilate's just a pawn in the
hands of our sovereign God, and so were the Jews, and so are
we. Christ is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of
the world and absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing can thwart
his will from being accomplished. Nothing. Nothing. My. And it was his purpose, as
we saw in Acts 2, 23, it was his purpose that Christ would
be slain. So Christ was taken by wicked hands and slain. And
he knew, Christ knew what was coming. He knew. He's the lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. He knew that the purpose of him
going to the cross was to redeem his people from their sins. Look at verse 29. And when they
had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from
the tree and laid him in the sepulcher. The Jews wanted Christ
dead. Pilate had no choice but to adhere
to their demands. But let us remember that all
the unbelieving Jews, Pilate and his Roman soldiers were all
exactly, they were doing exactly what God had ordained. It's hard for us to fathom that,
isn't it? That they by wicked hands took him and crucified
him, but it was all according to the determinant counsel and
foreknowledge of God. My, marvel as they fulfilled
their own sinfulness. in their own wickedness, all
that was written of Christ and our Lord's death, they fulfilled
it. And then when they took Jesus
down from the cross and laid him in the sepulcher, they put
him in the tomb of a rich man, which again was prophesied. It was Joseph of Arithmaea and
a man named Nicodemus. We remember Nicodemus who took
the body of Jesus down. from the cross and placed Jesus
Christ in the tomb that was owned by Joseph of Arithmaea. There
was a fulfillment of Isaiah 53 verse nine, which has reference
to the death and burial of Jesus Christ says, and he made his
grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. Oh my,
he really died. He really died. He's sinless. And then look at verse 30, Acts
13, 30, but God raised him from the dead. And then 31, and he
was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee
to Jerusalem, who are witnesses unto the people. He rose from
the grave. Remember the soldiers came and
they were gonna break his legs like they broke the two thieves
legs so that they couldn't lift themselves up again, but he was
already gone. And we looked at that in Sunday
school and how he gave his life. He laid down, he said, no man
can take my life. I lay it down. And he laid down
his life for the sheep, the scripture says in John chapter 10, not
for everybody in this world, but for his sheep. Are you one
of his sheep? Glory be to God. He laid his
life down for you. We ain't going to get over that,
are we? We are not going to get over that, beloved. Even when
we're in heaven, we'll be saying, worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive glory, honor, and praise. We would never get over
that. Oh, it's absolutely wonderful. But seeing that he was already
dead, the soldier pierced his side with a spear. And when he
did, blood and water came forth from the side, proving that he
had indeed died. In marvel verse 30 we see that
in his message God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. In verse
31 Paul mentions of many eyewitnesses who had seen the resurrected
Christ of God. So what we believe in the resurrection
and what we believe about the Lord Jesus Christ was seen by
eyewitnesses. People say, oh, what you believe,
it's just a fairy tale. No, there was eyewitnesses. There was eyewitnesses. Now, can a man be tried in court
with two witnesses? Absolutely. Well, there was 12
apostles, and then there was a whole bunch of other ones that
he appeared to at when he rose from the dead. Eyewitnesses. We didn't know either, did we?
Until the Lord revealed himself to us. So let us keep praying
for those around us that we ministered or witnessed to and talked to.
Oh, that their eyes would be opened up to see Christ in all
his glory. See as the marvelous Savior.
So the resurrection of Christ is extremely important. It's
an essential part of the gospel. It's because he was raised for
our justification. That's essential for us. In order
for us to be justified before God, Christ must be raised. And
the scripture here says God raised him from the dead. God did that.
God sent him, and God raised him. My, oh, my. Because think of this, too. If
the resurrection isn't real, then our faith is in vain. Paul
wrote that. And we're yet in our sins, Paul
wrote, but we're not, because he was raised from the grave
for our justification. The sinless, spotless Lamb of
God was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.
And we're reconciled to God by the death of Christ. Much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. By his life, the perfect substitutionary
life and the perfect substitutionary death has redeemed us from all
our sins. And it's all the work of Christ,
plus absolutely nothing we do. Because Christ is God and God
is the only one who can save us from our sins. Not one human
being can save ourselves or anyone else from our sins. And Christ
died on the cross and saved a number of us that no man can number. It's magnificent, beloved. Absolutely
magnificent. Oh, my. And our Savior, He's ascended
into heaven, hasn't He? He's ascended into heaven. He's
seated at the right hand of the Father. So we see how important
the preaching of the gospel is. And within the gospel, the resurrection
of Christ. Right? Oh, it's incredible. Christ must be preached. Christ
must be preached. Look at verse 33 and 32. We'll
look at this more next week, but look at this. And we declare
unto you glad tidings. Want to hear some glad tidings?
Christ died for sinners. And he was raised again for our
justification. That's good news. That's glad
tidings. Oh, we declare unto you glad
tidings that the promise which was made unto our fathers, God
hath fulfilled the same unto our children, in that he hath
raised up Jesus again, as it is written in the second psalm,
thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. So the preaching
of the gospel, when it's truly preached, is glad tidings. If
there's anything you or I have to do, if someone says you have
to do this to be saved, that's not glad tidings. Is it? Because we can't save ourselves.
But the glad tidings is Christ died for sinners and he did it
all. We just look to him by faith and even that faith is given
to us. It's wonderful. It's amazing. But yet people stumble over it.
We did. I did. We did right before we
were saved. And now we rejoice in this. You
know, there's a simplicity in preaching Christ. And just preaching
Him. But yet it's so profound. But the simple truth is, Christ
came to save sinners. And He says, I didn't come for
the whole. He didn't come for those who
don't think they need Him. Although we thought that before
we were saved, right? He came for the sick. And he
shows us how sick we are, doesn't he? And he's the great physician,
right? He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace,
which means the wrath for our peace, fell upon him. And by
his stripes we are healed. Praise the name of the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is every believer's all in all. He's our all in all. My oh my.