Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 8. The name of the message is Sinners
Saved. Sinners Saved. If a sinner is to be saved, it
must be a work of God and God alone. God regenerates us, gives us
faith to believe we're born again, gives us faith to believe, and
we run to Christ. I'll tell you, we just run to
Him. We just flee to Him. But faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. And how shall they hear, except
there be a preacher? And how shall one preach, except
they be sent? Well, we're going to see here
in our text today that Philip is sent to Samaria. And he's sent for one reason,
to preach the gospel. You know, I've thought about
things in our modern day, and you know there's nothing new
under the sun, right? So, we tend to think that the things
going on today are new. But there's nothing new. There's
nothing new under the sun. And the same things that we deal
with, with religion around us, as opposed to grace, are really
the same things our brethren dealt with in the past as well. There's nothing new. You know,
the commission of a preacher is to go and preach the gospel,
right? But you see hundreds of places,
even on their signs, Come to our marriage counseling retreat. Come to this retreat. Come to that retreat. Why don't
we do that here? Because we don't need gimmicks,
do we? You all study the word. I know because you tell me. Oh,
I was reading this and it's wonderful. I love that. You don't have to
force God's people to read the Bible, do you? And think of this, too. In order
to keep those folks, they got to keep them busy. I'll tell
you this. If the gospel won't keep you,
then nothing will. Nothing will. Right? You come here, what? Hear
the gospel, right? Well, I'm going to try to preach
the gospel to you today. to the best of my ability by
the grace of God. And we're gonna see, when Philip
went to Samaria, he didn't put on a marriage counseling thing
or anything like that. I'm not saying those things are
bad. If someone's having trouble in their marriage, by all means,
get some help if you can. Right? But what's gonna help
the marriage out the most? Well, the Lord's saving. Saving
sinners, right? Do you know that if the Lord
saves you, you're going to be a better husband and a better wife? If the Lord saves our kids, they
will. Now, they're still sinners. We're
still sinners. But they're going to change because
we become new creatures in Christ. We're not the same. And that's
the work of the Spirit of God. Look at this here. We saw in
Acts chapter 8, and we're continuing our study here, a look at the
very beginning of the early New Testament church. Now, the church
was in the Old Testament, right? There's the Old Testament church,
and this is the beginning of the New Testament church. Who was the church in the Old
Testament? Well, the elect of God. See,
the bride is composed of saints all the way from Adam to the
last sheep being saved. That's the bride of Christ, the
elect of God. My oh my. And as I mentioned
last week, in the first 25 verses of this chapter, they contain
five important lessons for us. Number one is the Lord God has
a people. Number two, number one is the
gospel of Christ's offense to man, which we saw last week.
Number two, the Lord our God has a people whom he will save.
He will save them. There's no doubt that God's people
shall be saved. And then number three, God always
causes the sinner that he has purposed to save to hear the gospel of Christ.
It happened in all our lives if we're believers. Right? God caused us to hear
the gospel. He put us in a place where we'd
hear the gospel. And by the power of God, we were
born again by the Holy Spirit of God and given faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Number four, all supernatural
apostolic gifts ceased with the apostles. They're no longer,
they're no longer, we don't need signs and wonders anymore. They
were for unbelieving Jews. The Bible is complete now. We
have the word of God completed. They didn't have this. They were
preaching from the Old Testament, weren't they? But we have the
full word of God now. All that God has to say to us
is contained in this book. All that he wants to, think of
this too, all that he wants to reveal about himself to us is
in this book. There's so much more about him
we will never know. Well, maybe in glory. I think
we're going to learn about him in glory more. That's just my
own thing. I've stopped preaching for a
second and that's just my own thing and I'll go back to preaching
now. So, but, but, you know, that'd be wonderful if that was
true, right? My, and number five, wherever the gospel is preached,
both true believers and those who make false professions of
faith will be found. Always. Let's read the first
from verse 4 to 8 of Acts chapter 8. Let's read this together.
Let's stand up and read this together. Acts chapter 8, verses
4 to 8. Okay. Therefore, they that were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down
to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And the people,
with one accord, gave heed unto those things which Philip spake,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits,
crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed
with them. And many, taken with palsies,
and that were lame, were healed. Look at this. And there was great
joy in that city. Oh, praise God. Praise God. Now
God will send his preachers to where there's sheep. Right? Here send his preachers to where
there's sheep. The Lord has a people whom he shall save. And the second of five lessons
found in this chapter were find in the first chapter. Actually, from verses 4 to 12
of chapter 8. Let's read that again. Well,
I'll read it to us. Therefore, they were scattered
abroad everywhere, went preaching the word. So, here the Christians
are being scattered, and what are they doing? They're preaching
the word. They're not setting up conferences
and stuff, right? And I mean conferences, not preaching
conferences. I mean how to be a better Christian
and all this stuff. There's all kinds of that junk
out there. Just go to a Christian bookstore. You'll find so many
how-to books, it's not funny. They were preaching Christ. See,
the preachers, the first thing a preacher is to do is preach
Christ. Preach Christ. Therefore, they that were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the word. And Philip went down
to the city of Samaria, and what did he do? And preached Christ
unto them. Who's the main focus? Christ. And the people with one accord
gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing
the miracles which he did. for unclean spirits, crying with
loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them,
and taken with the palsy, and the lame were healed. And there
was great joy, look at that, great joy in the city. Great
joy. My oh my. Great joy. But there was a certain man called
Simon. in Samaria, which before time
in that same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria,
giving out that himself was some great one. So this was a fella
that sought fame amongst the people, loved it, enjoyed it. And he was famous for his sorcery. To whom they all gave heed from
the least to the greatest, saying, This man is a great power of
God. What do people say about Joel
Stein and other preachers? They say, this
is a great man of God. No, he's not. He's a wolf. Simon wasn't a man of God. My oh my. And to him they had
regard, but that of a long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning
the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized
both men and women. Now the gospel of Christ has
never been popular among natural man. It's just not. As I told
you earlier, when I went into that store, my buddy, the Lord
had saved him. I wanted to get away from him
as fast as possible. It was an offense to me. And here I am now preaching the
gospel. What happened? Well, God saved me. He regenerated me. He made me
to differ. His love was set upon me and
I didn't even know it. Did you? Did you know God's love
was set upon you before you were saved? That he loved you with
an eternal love? That he said, thou art mine. That'll fill your heart with
joy, won't it? So we see here a whole bunch
of sinners. The Lord saved a whole bunch of sinners here. Isn't it wonderful? Through the ages, human opinion
and religion's tradition have always opposed the message of
God's free and sovereign grace. Always. Man loves human tradition because it ties in to the pride
and that there's something they have to do. But I love what you
said, Tom, that time at breakfast. When you preach that there's
absolutely nothing you bring to the table except our sin, and that can't
save us, then, man, that offends their pride. And they hate that. They hate it with a passion. And most people who hear the
gospel preached in the power of God the Holy Spirit go on
to hell as if they've never heard of the redeeming precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They hear the gospel and they
don't care. And they go into a Christless eternity. But marvel, beloved, that you
believe. Marvel that God saved you. Marvel that you're trusting in
the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to save your eternal
soul, when so many others who hear the gospel, maybe once,
maybe twice, maybe more, and go off and perish in their sins
and have no care. And here you are, and I am, and
this is precious to us. Who made you to differ? I'm going
to keep saying that verse. Who distinguished you? Who made
you to differ? And what do you have that you
didn't receive? Oh, and our king says this. Our master, I love these words.
He says, without me, you can do nothing. We've been taught
that, haven't we? See, we were along with the world
at one time. We were on the broad rope to
destruction, and God placed us on the narrow path. Isn't that wonderful? And it's
all His doing. It's all His doing. Remember this too, the purpose
of God will never be frustrated. If God has willed and purposed
that a sinner would be saved, a certain sinner, if you're a
believer, put your name in there. If he's willed and purposed that
you shall be saved, and even someone who's listening to this
message, as Brother Neil prayed, we pray that God would add to
the full Because we don't know who the elect of God are, we
don't know who the sheep of God are, but God knows. And this
is why I keep praying for my children, and my friends, and
my family back in Canada. Because I know that if they're
one of the Lord's, His will will not be frustrated. His purpose
shall not be frustrated. And there's hope for our loved
ones until they breathe their last breath. There's hope for
them. Oh my. God has a people whom
he shall save. Christ already redeemed them
at Calvary's cross, didn't he? You ever think of that? The work's
already done. For he shall save his people
from their sins. When did he do that? Two thousand years ago, didn't
he? It's done. And then God sends the spirit
of his son into our hearts, whereby we cry, I have a father. My,
oh my. Why? Because we're sons, the
scripture says. Because we're sheep. We don't
know it. You can't tell a sheep from a
goat before the Lord saves us. My, oh my. My, oh my. So the purpose of God will not
be frustrated. God has a people whom he shall
save, his elect. They're scattered throughout
the nations. They're scattered throughout time, in every generation,
the scripture says, and they shall be saved. And you know what? Each of us
who was truly born again, we're a testament to that true fact. Isn't that amazing? were a testament to the grace
of God in Christ that he shall get his people. Why? Because
we weren't looking for him, were we? He found us. Some of us he found in the gutter. Some of us he found in the streets. Drawn to a church to hear the
gospel. Some were already in church. The Lord saved you by his mercy and grace. And if you were in church, you're
just as lost as the person that came from the street. And vice versa, in darkness. But praise God, he translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son. God will gather his own to himself.
Turn, if you would, to John chapter six. And they shall not perish. I'll tell you why. Why was Philip
sent to Samaria? To preach the gospel. Because
God had some lack there. God had some sheep there. Remember
the Lord had visited the area of Samaria when he said, I must
need to go through Samaria. But you know, when he was there,
he didn't do any miracles. He just revealed himself. Well,
Philip is going to be there and there's going to be miracles
done. Right? But all for the glory of Christ.
But first and foremost, he's there to preach the gospel. He's
there to preach Christ to them, Brother Charlie. And we see what
happened. By the power of God, the Holy
Spirit, there were some who were born again. My oh my, look at
this in John chapter 6, and think of this, think of this, when
Philip's being sent now, the church is being persecuted, they're
going abroad, preaching the gospel, now Philip's specifically being
sent to Samaria. Look at this, John chapter 6
verse 37, keep that in mind. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God, right? So here's Philip. He sent to
Samaria. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. I'm never going to cast out.
I'm never going to get tired of you. I'm never going to cast you out. Look at
that. Oh, my. For I came down from
heaven. Where did he come from? He came from heaven. He was sent
by the Father on a mission. That mission we know is to save
His people from their sins. Look at this. Not to do mine
own will, but the will of Him that sent me. This was all planned
and purposed by God the Father. And this is the Father's will.
Now, here is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity,
and He is in full submission to the will of God. And this is the Father's will,
which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me, that's
His sheep, right? That's the ones who were chosen
in Christ and before the foundation of the world according to Ephesians
1.4. So we see here, all of which
he'd given me, I shall lose nothing. Look at that. I often ask my
friend, I have a friend of mine, he says, well, Christ died for
the world. And I said, well, then if he died for everyone in the
world, then why are some in hell? Because he says in this text
here that he's not going to lose one of his people. Oh, mom. Aren't you thankful
you're included in that number? Look at this. But you'd raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me. Now here, he's gonna reveal God's will, that everyone
would see at the sun and believe it on him may have everlasting
life. Have you seen the sun by faith? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? That's the most important question. What think you of Christ? Oh my. and believe it on him may have
everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day." Look
at that. Let's go back to Acts chapter
8 now with that in mind. My oh my. And we're going to
see here the truth of how God always has the sinner, his purpose
to save, hear the gospel of Christ. Look at this. Acts chapter 8
verse 4, therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere
preaching the word. They didn't go everywhere selling
books. Buy my book. No, they went everywhere preaching
Christ. They bragged on Christ. They boasted in Christ. Their
concern was for the souls of men and women. They preach Christ. The one thing needful, right?
What's the one thing needful for a sinner? Christ. Christ and him alone. He's the one thing needful. And the preaching of the gospel
in the purpose of God is necessary for the salvation of sinners
as election, redemption, and regeneration. Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. God's ordained that as
a means that the Holy Spirit uses, the preaching of the gospel
of Christ. It's not my words. If you just hear my words, then
it's not gonna profit you. But if you hear the voice of
the shepherd through the preaching of the word, believer will be
edified and built up in Christ. And if the unbeliever is given
ears to hear and eyes to see, they're going to look upon Christ
and just rest and trust by God-given faith after they're regenerated,
after they're born again. How do you explain being born
again? Ah, well, I didn't believe, and now I believe. It's a heart
work, right? It's a heart work. Spurgeon said,
I love this, God can save you in your seat without you moving
a muscle. It's a heart work. God must do a work in you. It's
an operation of God. You must be born again. And by the wondrous, mysterious
workings of the providence of God, he always brings his elect
to hear the gospel. And at the appointed time, he
rules and overrules all things for the salvation of his chosen
people. Isn't that amazing? Listen to
this. How do we know that? In John
17, too, the master said this, as thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. Why did you come to church wherever
you were, or why did you listen to a sermon? If the Lord saved
you, listen to a sermon or in the church. Why did you come
to the church that day? Because it was planned and purposed
by God. that that would be the time of
love. Isn't that wonderful? And then you went from not wanting
to really hear the gospel to wanting to hear it all the time. It's the bread of life, isn't
it? Christ is the bread of life. Now you want to drive down the
road and listen to the scriptures. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. The Lord is so
good. You know, Vicki and I wake up
on Sunday, and I always like turning flippians on whatever book I'm
studying in Sunday school. I always like to listen to the
whole book while I'm getting ready. And it's amazing the things
that pop out at you, and you think, I gotta write that down,
or like, man, I got that. But it's so good. It's so good
for our souls, isn't it? It's so good for our souls, beloved,
to read the word, to study the word, to hear the word. Remember,
I'm an audio learner. So for me, hearing, I pick up
more than if I read. And it may be different for you.
Everybody's different that way. But the thing is, I don't write
down what I should write down, and I always forget. Do you have
that same problem? Norm told me we should keep pad
and paper with us all the time, write down what we hear. But
even if we don't remember it at the time, it's such a blessing
to us, isn't it? It uplifts our soul. And then
sometimes we hear something and it becomes something so dear
to us that we just hold on to it so tight. For me it's, God
has said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Never. Never ever. There might be a
portion of scripture that you just love and you cling to it.
And remember too, beloved, this too. All the promises of God
are our yea and amen in Christ. They're for the church. All those
Old Testament promises, even to Israel, they're for us. Grab
a hold of them. Lay a hold of them. Let them
be honey to your soul. Oh my. Do you know, God even allows
reprobate men to scatter the church? For his will and purpose? You
ever think of that? Now, Paul wasn't a reprobate,
but Paul was a... By all means, the folks... It
even says they were in awe and wonder when he was preaching
the gospel after the Lord saved him, right? But there was guys
along with Paul who the Lord probably never saved. There's been Nero, who was a
Roman emperor, used Christians like candles, put them on a stake
and poured stuff all over them and lit them up to light his
court outside. You betcha the church was scattered
then, right? So God even uses reprobate men
to persecute and scatter his church that they may be forced
to carry the word of grace into other parts. That's what we're
seeing in our text. God's allowing Paul to wreak
havoc amongst the church. But it's all for a purpose, isn't
it? It's all according to his will. The word of God is then carried
to chosen, redeemed sinners who have not yet been born again. These folks in Samaria who the
Lord saved, they were already redeemed, weren't they? Were they? Yeah. Christ is already redeemed
from the Calvary's cross, right? Do you know before you were regenerated,
born again, you were already redeemed? It's amazing. Do you know your
name was already written in the book of life? I remember reading a gospel tract
and it said, well, now you believe your name's written in the book
of life. I said, that's a lie. My name was written in that book
from before the foundation of the world. Praise his mighty
name. Now, I didn't know that until God revealed that to me.
But it's the truth. My, oh my. So they're going to
preach. Remember last week I said, I
knew a preacher one time said he's preaching in the stock pond,
fishing in the stock pond. Philip's getting sent somewhere,
there's sheep there, they're just lost. His brother Neil said,
just pray to be added to the fold. Through the preaching of
the word, they're lost sheep, aren't they? Oh my. And they'd been scattered
abroad by Paul's persecution. Look at verse four again. Therefore,
they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the
word. So Paul's wreaking havoc, destroying the church in the
Greek. And we found out he's doing it
last week. We found out he's doing it with great joy, isn't
he? My oh my, the depths of our depravity. But this truth is now right before
us that God always causes the sinner that he's purposed to
save to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a
truth that's set before us in this text and we will see it.
Look at verses five to 12 again, we'll read it again. Then Philip
went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.
That's all ordained by God. Because God's got some sheep
there. Now, Philip, he's just being obedient, right? Where
God's sending him, he's going. And what's he doing? He's not
messing around. He's just preaching Christ. And the people with one accord
gave heed unto the things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing
the miracles which he did. There can be a great revival
here. There's a whole bunch of the Lord's sheep amongst the
Samaritans. You mean them half-Jews that
the Jews hated? Yep. Oh yeah, praise be to God. Oh my, look at this. For unclean
spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many that were possessed
with them, and many taken with palsies, and that were lame were
healed, and there was great joy in the city. But there was a
certain man called Simon, which before in time the same city
used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out
that himself was some great one. Oh, he liked being called the
great one. to whom they all gave heed from
the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the great power of
God. And to him they had regard because
not a long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when
they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom
of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men
and women. Now what happened? What do you think happened? What
do you think happened when the Lord saved those folks when it
come to Simon? He went, man, he's false. This man, Phillips, preaching
the truth. Remember in Sunday school we saw about how we grow
in knowledge and judgment? And judgment being the knowledge
to be able to discern a true preacher and a false preacher? You know when someone's lying
to you, right? When they tell you, well, you gotta do this
to be saved. That's a lie. You say, no, that's
not what the scripture says. Scripture says I'm saved by Christ
and Him alone. By His work. See, we've been
taught by God that. That doesn't come natural. Right? It's wonderful. God teaches us
these things. And so now we see why God sent
Philip to Samaria. Our dear brother Philip didn't
go down to Samaria for a little rest and recreation, did he?
Didn't need a little R&R? Nope. Nope. We see in our text that Philip
went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.
He preached Christ as the only savior of sinners. And think of this too. He didn't
go into the city to draw attention to himself. No, he went there
to draw attention to Christ. You see what the false one was
doing? He was drawing attention to himself,
wasn't he? They were calling him the great
one. And I'm not just talking about Joe Olson. There's all
kinds of those guys out there. There's that Kenneth Copeland
guy. There's all kinds of the Word of Faith guy. You can just
go on and on and on and on and on. And all they're after is
people's money. They don't care about their souls.
Well, Philip cares about the people's souls, just like every
gospel preacher does. I care for your souls and the
others who will listen to this message. My. He didn't go down there to talk
about how great he was. He probably felt like Paul and
like all of us do that we're the least of all saints. But
he did tell him how great Jesus Christ is. He did tell him that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only savior for sinners. He did
probably tell him that Christ is a true and living God. And Philip didn't boast of what
he had accomplished for Christ. No, he told him what Christ accomplished
for him. and for sinners. Salvation. Perfect. Full. Complete. Free. Free. Doesn't cost you nothing. Man,
I bet you that Simon guy was a pretty rich fella. Selling
his sorceries. Bewitching the people. What did
Paul say to the Galatians? Who hath bewitched you? And false teachers were bewitching
people, weren't they? Got them under a spell. Simon's
got these folks under a spell until the gospel preacher comes
to town. And God, the Holy Spirit, starts moving and working. Oh my. Oh, he told them that Christ
was made of a woman made in the law to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoptions of the
Son. Philip told those people in Samaria, cursed is everyone
that continues not in the things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. That no man is justified by the
law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live
by faith. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth
them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Galatians chapter
three, verses 10 to 13. He proclaimed Christ to them,
beloved. That faithful servant of Christ
told them when Jesus died, he paid the ransom price. in full for the sins of his people
by the shedding of his precious blood. He told them that Christ,
by his death, reconciled sinners, chosen sinners, to God. We've
been reconciled, beloved, to God by the death of our Savior. And he probably told them that
Christ had fully satisfied the law of God in the Roman place,
that God's justice is satisfied by the sacrifice of Christ. Mine has no claim on the believer. And with joy in his heart, Philip
told him that Christ had risen from the dead. He died and was
crucified, but he rose from the dead, didn't he? For our justification,
to prove that God was fully satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ. And that he's now the risen God-man,
glorified in heaven, interceding for his people. How do we know
that Philip preached these glorious truths? Well, we know because
he preached Christ unto him. And when you preach Christ, you're
going to preach these glorious truths. Isn't it wonderful? And I love how this is the fact
that he was sent there, sent there, sent to Samaria, and God
had sheep there. Shows you that God sends his
preachers where there's sheep. Turn if you would to Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10. Next book over there. Romans
chapter 10. Let's start in verse 8. Romans chapter 10 verse 8. Now
keep this in mind, Philip is sent to Samaria. But what saith
it, the word is nigh even thee, even in thy mouth and in thy
heart, that is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shall believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou,
look at this, shalt, there's another one, be saved. See, we cannot be saved outside of
Christ, but all who believe on Christ shall be saved. That's
wonderful. Oh my, look at this. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth in him shall not be ashamed. For there's no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall, shall, shall be saved. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? How do you call upon someone
who you don't believe? How can someone be saved that
doesn't call on Christ? Right? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? These false preachers, some of
them say, well, you know, God has people amongst all the different
religions in the world. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. Not according
to this word of God here. How shall they believe in him
of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? Now, look at our text. This gets you excited. It gets
me excited. Look at our text. Philip was sent to Samaria. I
was sent here to Ammon. Isn't that amazing? Look at this.
As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
My, oh my. So in our text here then, it
says, how shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they
preach except they be sent? We see here in our text, this
is wonderful. We see in our text that Philip
is sent to Samaria. Oh my. And now we see the point here
that God always causes the sinner he's purposed to save to hear
the gospel. See, he had sheep there who must be born again. They must hear the gospel. And who are they going to hear
from? A preacher. And who sent the preacher? God.
See, God uses means, but God is still the author and finisher
of salvation. The preacher is just a voice
trumpeted in Christ. That's all. I'm a great sinner saved by a
great Savior. And I tell other people where
to find bread, right? I'm a beggar. I like what Tom
Hardin says, I'm a mercy beggar. I found bread, did you? Well,
I'm telling other people where to find bread now, in Christ.
He's the bread of life. My. And look at verse 6 in our text. This is amazing. And the people
with one accord gave heed unto these things which Philip spake,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. They heard and
they gave heed to God's gospel. Do you know they were ordained
to eternal life? Turn if you would to Acts chapter 13. Acts
chapter 13. I'll tell you. Do you know you
were ordained to eternal life if you're a believer? This is
amazing. So Philip was sent into Samaria
by God to preach and God had ordained, there's a bunch of
sheep there that were ordained to be born again, to be given
faith to believe and to trust on Christ. How do we know that?
Well, look at Acts chapter 13. Look at verse 48. Paul's preaching to a group of Jews and Gentiles. And in verse
44, it says, in the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city
together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the
multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake against those
things which were spoken by Paul, contracting and blasphemy. So
the Jews thinking, why are you talking to those Gentile dogs? Oh my. Then Paul and Barnabas
waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should be
first have been spoken to you, being the Jews, but seeing you
put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy, look at that, judge
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. Look
at verse 48, beloved. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Why do you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ? Why do I believe? Because we were ordained by God
to believe. And notice, notice those who
do not believe on Christ count themselves unworthy. My oh my. Look at verse 46, seeing
you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life. They willingly despised the gospel. We were in the same boat. But when we heard the gospel,
and it came with power of the Holy Spirit of God, and because
we were ordained to believe, we believed. We were given faith
to believe. So therefore we say salvation
is of the Lord, isn't it? It's his planning, it's his execution,
and his application. Glory be to God. In all those
three, in its planning, in its execution, Christ died for us,
in its application, we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God.
It's all God. It's all the work of God. My,
oh my. Our Lord Jesus, that he had sent
Philip to Samaria by endowing him with power to perform miracles.
With power over unclean spirits, with power to heal the sick and
the lame. Look at verses 6 to 8 in Acts chapter 8. And the
people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip
spake. hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean
spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed
with them, and many taken with the palsies, that were lame,
were healed. And there was great joy in that
city. See the words, with one accord, in verse 6. In the Greek this means, with
one mind, one passion, in the Greek. One passion, one mind. It's a very unique word, very
unique Greek word. Ten of its twelve uses is in
the book of Acts in the New Testament. Ten of its twelve uses in the
New Testament are all in the book of Acts. And what this does
is it brings forth the uniqueness of the Christian community. were
people set apart by Christ, by God. And the Greek word is also a
compound of two words, meaning to rush along in unison. Now
think of that. That got me so excited when I
saw that, because think of this, thy people shall be made willing
in the day of God's power. To rush along. We rush to Christ,
don't we? in unison, all of us as believers.
We got to go to Christ, don't we? See things going on in the
world? Got to run to Christ. Oh, I love it. It's wonderful.
It's wonderful. One commentator said this, I
like this. He said, the image is almost musical. A number of
notes, this being the people being brought together in one
accord, the image is almost musical. A number of notes are sounded
which, while different, are in harmony in pitch and tone. In pitch and tone. A wonderful
picture of this is the instruments of a great concert under the
direction of a concert master. So the Holy Spirit blends the
lives of the members of Christ's church together in one accord. Isn't that amazing? We're all
different personalities from all different places, but we're
brought together in one accord in Christ. That's incredible. That's just amazing. So then
marvel that the people with one accord gave heed unto the things
that Philip preached concerning Christ. They marveled at hearing
and seeing the miracles which Philip did. And in verse 7 we
see these unclean spirits crying with a loud voice. They came
out of many of them that were possessed with them, many taken
with palsy, and that were lame were healed. And then in verse
8, we see that there was the great joy in the city as a result
of what had happened. These sinners being saved. And then the miracles that were
being wrought where people are being healed. And there's great
joy in the city. And note, it's all by the power
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all by the power of God,
which accompanied Philip's preaching. John Gill, in his commentary,
says this about the unclean spirits. He said, showing their unwillingness
to remove in the irresistibleness of divine power, they had to
come out. Philip wasn't casting those spirits
out. God was casting those spirits out. They had to come out. Remember the Lord with the gathering
demoniacs? Have you come to torment us before
the time? We're going to turn, if you would,
to Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5. So the irresistibleness of
divine power that they could not withstand, who had for a
long time dwelt in them and had greatly afflicted. So these folks
had been greatly afflicted by these unclean spirits. Do you
know that the devil and the demons fear God? They fear him. They believe and tremble, the
scripture says. They're more knowledgeable than
the atheists, aren't they? They know who he is. Now, they're powerful beings. They're fallen angels. One angel
killed 100,000 men. And the only reason he stopped
was because the Lord stopped him. Look at this. Mark, this is amazing. Mark chapter 5. We're clearly seeing these verses
here that the devil and all the demons of darkness are under
the sovereign control of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll tell
you, when it says all power is being given to him, it is all
being given to him. Look at this. I love the title
that they call him because they know who he is. We're going to
see this. Watch this. Look at verse 6. Mark chapter
5, verse 6. Those demons, they know who he is. I adjure thee by God that thou
torment me not. And we know from another passage
that these demons were called legion because they were many. And they said, art thou come
to torment us? Art thou come to cast us into
the deep, which is the abyss in Greek. But look what they call him.
Son of the Most High God. They know who he is, and they're
terrified. My, oh my. And yet men say, I
don't believe in him. That shows you the depths of
our depravity. Right? Look at this. And he cried
with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with thee? Jesus,
thou son of the most high God, I adjure thee by God that thou
torment me not. For he said unto him, come out
of the men, thou unclean spirit. And he asked, what is thy name?
And he answered, my name is Legion, for we are many. Well, a legion is 5,000 men when
fully equipped. 5,000 hardened Roman soldiers,
professionals. My name is Legion for we are
many. And he besought him that, besought him much that he would
not send them, them, look at that plural, away out of the
country. Now there was nigh unto the mountains
a great herd of swine feeding. Well here, here there's a group
of Jews. They got a bunch of pigs. That's not allowed, is it? Somebody's making some money
on the side selling bacon. Right? It's true. I'll tell ya. My oh my. And the devil's beside him saying,
send us into the swine that we may enter into them. Now they
knew they had to obey his command. They called him the Son of the
Most High. They knew who he was. And they knew when he said, come
out, they gotta come out. They cannot stop. And so by the
same power that Christ is gonna send these legion demons into
the swine, the same power was exercised when Philip was preaching
the gospel. See, it wasn't Philip doing those
miracles. It was God doing those. It was God. And here's God in
the flesh, right? Look at this. And forthwith Jesus
gave them leave. Go. And the unclean spirits went
out. Look at that. They couldn't resist him. They
could not resist his power. And they entered into the swine,
and the herd ran violently down the steep places of the sea.
There were about 2,000 that were choked in the sea. And then later on, we see that
the Jews had run back to the city. They come back, and they're
like, you need to get out of here. Oh my. So the Lord Jesus Christ, by
the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, he accompanied Philip with preaching
and many that were taken with palsy and lame were healed. Palsy
has something to do with being paralyzed or being feeble. Feeble means to be weak, not
strong. Infeeble, which is one of the
meanings of the word palsies, means to make feeble. So something
was making them feeble. Oh my. Lame means one who's crippled. And in the Holy Scripture it
refers to one who can't walk. So marvel, as we're reading about
these people in the text, all those who were healed by the
power of the Lord Jesus Christ under Philip's preaching, who
were taken with palsy and lame, were made to be in that condition.
Now think of this. They were made to be in that
condition by the eternal purpose of God. So that this miracle would be
wrought. I was born with dislocated hips.
Why? Because it was the purpose of God that I be born with dislocated
hips. That's it. My whole life people say, you
got a sore leg? No, I was just born this way. I used to tell
people all the time, no, I was just born this way. It's the
way God made me. Right? The purpose of God. These people, they had these
diseases and these things for the purpose of God. So let us consider also the comprehensive
manner of Philip's preaching. He preached Christ. The comprehensive manner of Philip's
preaching, Christ. Christ. You know, all preaching
is folded up in Christ. It all finds its center in Christ. All finds its center in Him.
And we're talking about Jehovah's Christ, right? The sent one. The one who these demons, in
that text we just looked at, said, oh, you're the son of the
Most High. How did they know that? Well,
they'd seen him before, hadn't they? Remember, demons are fallen angels.
At one time, they worshipped the king. They know who he is. And he has
all power. See, our savior, he has all power,
beloved. That's the one who saved us. If he saved us, is he going to
keep us? If he saved us, is he going to present us faultless
before God's throne? Yeah, he will. If he saved us,
are we eternally saved? Amen, we are. It's wonderful, isn't it? I'll
tell you. I'll tell you. He's the sent
one. So the whole sum and substance of Philip's preaching, his text,
his sermon, and his application is all in Christ. All Christ. And we see here that when God
the Holy Spirit sends the word and Christ is preached by his
power, then sinners will be saved. I'll tell you what, the message
has went out from here into all the world, and we do not know
how the Lord's using it. Every once in a while we'll get
a comment, You know, it was a blessing, but I'll be honest with you,
I don't want to know. I just preach the gospel and
let it go. You know, I hear these guys,
and you see them there. I was reading a webpage of somebody,
a quarter million people being saved under my ministry. And
I thought, oh, then you're taking the, you're stealing God's glory,
if that's the truth. But I highly doubt it. But you
know, the message goes out from here. And God uses it. As Brother Neil prayed, I love
it. I love how you men pray for the messages that goes out. Please
keep doing that. Please, please, ladies too, please
keep praying for the messages that goes out. Because it's the
power of God unto salvation, isn't it? To the Jew first and
also to the Greek. And it's the way that God saves
sinners. He uses the preaching of the gospel. God the Holy Spirit
regenerates lost souls under the preaching of the gospel.
And so these signs and wonders which followed Philip's preaching
just confirmed that he was sent by God. And then in verse 8 we
see that there was great joy in the city. Who wouldn't rejoice? Who wouldn't rejoice? There's
been a revival, hasn't there? There's been a revival in Samaria.
Those despised Samaritans are rejoicing over there. Yep. Praise
God. As in many of these were ordained
to eternal life, believed. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. My, oh my. Brother Brian, would
you close us in prayer? I praise you, Heavenly Father,
that we hear that word,