You know, y'all are so kind. It just humbles me and shames me and reminds me of a line from a movie that my wife and I love and quote often. It's from the movie Bambi. And Bambi was a newborn and saw a skunk and thought that the skunk was a flower. The skunk said, well, that's okay. He can call me flower if he wants to. I don't deserve all your kindness and love, but let me tell you, I appreciate it. I appreciate it.

If you would open your Bibles with me to Acts chapter nine, Acts chapter nine. I've titled the message tonight, the gospel command, the gospel command. I'd like to begin reading in verse 32 of Acts 9. It says, and it came to pass, as Peter passed through all quarters, he came down also to the saints, which dwelt at Lydda. Now, Peter is on this missionary trip. He's preaching in all these cities and traveling and preaching as he goes. And it says he came to the saints. And that's where the gospel always comes to, is to the saints.

And that doesn't just mean super believers who are, you know, stronger in the faith and better than me. Every believer is a saint. Every believer. You greet everybody tonight. Good evening, the saints of God. Every believer is a saint. And you know, it's the most common word used to describe believers in the Bible. I counted 98 times. Believers are described as saints. And the word saint means one who is set apart, set apart for holy use or made holy in Christ Jesus. So every believer is a saint, Saint Mark, Saint Regina. That makes us feel a little uncomfortable when somebody says it, but you are, you are in Christ Jesus.

And that's who the gospel always comes to is the saints is the people that God chose from before the foundation of the world. And I want us to look at how does the gospel come to the saints of God? Well, number one, the gospel comes in power to certain sinners.

Verse 33 says, and there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years and was sick of the palsy. Now this certain man is a picture of God's elect. All of God's elect chosen objects of God's mercy are certain particular people that Almighty God chose personally, by name, individually from before the foundation of the world and he put them in his son to save.

And our story here started in verse 32 says, it came to pass. I love reading about that in the scripture. It came to pass. You know, God's will, always comes to pass. Always. And whatever it is that comes to pass, it's God's will. It's not man's will. It's this man didn't do something to mess up God's will and something bad happened. Whatever it is that happens, it's always God's will. God's the first cause of everything. And the reason that that throws my heart so much is it always comes to pass. God's message of mercy and grace in Christ Jesus finds certain sinners. The sinners that God chose before the foundation of the world. And God's preacher found this certain man.

If you look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the same thing happened in Thessalonica when Paul came there. The gospel came to them because this is God's will from before the foundation of the world. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. But we're bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. And since that was God's eternal will and purpose, he called you by our gospel. to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The gospel always comes to certain sinners and it comes in power. And I'm sure in this town there are a lot of sick folks, but as far as what we read, this was the only man healed in that town. A certain man that God had set his affection on from before the foundation of the world And you know, this is not an isolated incident. I'm not just taking this, you know, plucking it out and talking to you about it out of context.

The scripture is full of references of certain people that the Lord had mercy on. Matthew 17, verse 14, the Lord cast a demon out of the son of a certain man who came to the Lord begging for mercy for his son. Mark 5, 25, The Lord healed a certain woman who had an issue of blood, 12 years. And she came up crawling behind the Lord, just on her belly, just crawling behind the Lord. If I could just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. She's a certain woman and she was healed. Mark 7 verse 25, the Lord cast the devil out of a daughter of a certain woman who came begging for mercy for her daughter.

And when the Lord called her a dog, he didn't run her off. She said, true Lord, I'm a dog, but dog eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. And that certain woman had a feast, didn't she? Luke 8 verse 27, the Lord cast a legion of demons out of a certain man who had his living among the tombs.

Luke 18 verse 35, the Lord gave sight to a certain blind man who sat by the wayside begging. Jesus thou son of David have mercy on me John 5 verse 5 the Lord healed a certain man who had an infirmity 30 and 8 years After reading all that I can't think of a better thing to be than a certain sinner. Can you I?

I know this, the Lord is going to reveal his son to certain sinners, to his people, and he's going to do it through the preaching of the gospel. People may think what we do here is absurd, to preach Christ and leave you alone with Christ. don't have an altar call, don't have psychological arm twisting to get you to do something to preach Christ and leave you alone with Christ. People think that's foolish, but that's how God's pleased to send his gospel to give life and faith to certain sinners. And it's been my prayer all day today that there be some certain sinners here tonight. Lord bless you. If we're here as a certain sinner, I promise you this, you're going to go out that door blessed. God sends his gospel to certain sinners. The second thing I see here is this, the gospel comes to certain sinners who cannot help themselves.

This man is Aeneas, he kept his bed for eight years. He hadn't been paralyzed from birth. He wasn't born this way. He was born He could walk, he could move around, he could talk. I'm sure he had a job of some sort. And something happened. Something traumatic must have happened. Maybe he was a construction worker and fell off a building or something happened and he injured his back some way. Maybe he dove into a shallow pond. I mean, I don't know.

But something traumatic happened and suddenly he's paralyzed. And now he's helpless. I mean, he's completely and utterly helpless. He can't do anything for himself. He can't brush his teeth. He can't comb his hair. He can't put his own clothes on. He can't put his own shoes on. He can't go where he wants to go and leave when he wants to leave. He's completely dependent on somebody else to do everything for him.

That's what happened to you and me in the fall of Adam. When Adam sinned, all of us fell into sin and death and became completely incapable of doing anything that would please God. Look at Romans chapter five. Romans five, verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." And in my center reference, that phrase, for all have sinned, literally translated, should be this, in whom all sinned. When Adam sinned, all of us, every last one of us, sinned in him. When Adam died, we died.

Now, we talk about the fall of Adam. Don't mistake that into thinking, well, I fell, and I broke a bone, I gotta have my leg in the cast, or I fell and I hurt myself, or I fell and I can't do what I used to do. No, when we fell in Adam, we died spiritually.

Don't mistake physical life and the ability to do physical things for spiritual life, because it's two totally different things. You and I are born into this world dead in sin. And we're not dead like we go to the funeral home, a loved one has died and they've got the body laying in the casket and they've got it pumped full of chemicals and whatever all they do with it to keep the body from decaying and stinking too much. That's not you and me. We are dead and stinking and rotting. We are offensive in God's sight.

When our daughter Holly was first born, we lived in a house kind of out in the country a little bit. And somebody had run over a possum out there. And I'm telling you, that thing stank. Oh my goodness. And I was so offended. This stench is coming into the nose of my precious newborn baby. And buddy, I went out there with a hose and a shovel and a brush, trying to get that off the road, get that smell off the road. It was so offensive to me. And I thought, by nature, that's me. And God's saying, so offensive. And I tell you what is the most offensive thing about us.

It's not what the world calls open sin. It is our absolute, utter refusal. It's the choice of our nature that we will not come to Christ. We will not do it. We will not come to Christ. And scripture also says this, we cannot come to Christ. We will not come to Christ because we cannot come to Christ. Both are true because our dead sin nature is not capable of coming to Christ, believing Christ, trusting him and begging him for mercy.

We're too proud. And somebody's got to come and preach the gospel to us and be brave enough to tell us, you and me, we're sinners. I mean, we're the worst sinners on the face of this earth. You can't find a sinner worse than you and me. You think of all the horrible people and things that people have done that we read about in history. Brother, they got nothing on you and me. were just as bad and just as sinful as every last one of them. And somebody's got to tell us that.

Because until God shows us we're sinners, the gospel will never be good news. Until the Lord humbles us and makes us know that we don't know nothing, that we don't deserve nothing, that we are nothing, only then will the gospel become good news to us. When we fell in Adam, we became completely and utterly dependent on somebody else to do the saving for us. And again, I can't think of a better place to be than to be completely dependent on God's grace to save me. Can't think of a better place to be. Well, thirdly, the gospel comes to certain sinners in the power of God. You know, you think about this fella.

It's not like the man had been paralyzed from birth, 30 and eight years. And you know, his leg muscles and arm muscles and these kinds of things had never developed. But this man had been paralyzed for eight years. He'd been laying there for eight years. Can you imagine how much his muscles atrophied?

I was in the hospital once for two weeks, and when I got, I couldn't believe the change in my body, how much muscle had just been, it's gone from just my legs alone, I couldn't believe it. This man, I mean, his legs and arms must have looked like toothpicks.

And I want you to look what Peter said to him as he laid there in verse 34. And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. arise and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. Peter didn't come to him and say, now, Aeneas, you know, the Lord will make you whole if you want him to. If you'll just ask, you know, the Lord will make you whole. If you'll kind of, you know, roll over and give me some indication that you want to be healed while the Lord will heal you someday.

Peter said, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole right now. You are made whole. And that's the declaration of the gospel that we preach. Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Not he will make you whole, not he will make you holy and righteous someday in heaven. He maketh thee whole.

The gospel is a declaration of what God's done, what He's already done. It's a declaration of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. It's a declaration of His glory that He did for a bunch of sinful rebels what nobody else could or would do for them. He took these dead rebels and made them whole. The declaration of the gospel is what Christ has done for you and what he's done in you.

Our flesh is still as sinful and rotten as it ever has been, but in every believer there's a new man and he's made whole. He's perfect, he's sinless, he can't sin, he never will sin, he never will quit trusting Christ. Look at John chapter five. John chapter five. Verse 24.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. It's not he will have everlasting life. It's not that he could have everlasting life. He has it and he shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.

Now someone might, might wonder, I hear the gospel. I believe that. I didn't used to, but I do now. It used to be just words to me. I used to not understand what the big deal was about, why all these people seem to be so blessed by it, seem to be so hungry to hear it. But now I believe that. But there's still so much sin in me. There's still so much weakness. Could the Lord have possibly saved me? Brother, you know why you believe the gospel?

It's because God's already saved you. That's why he has. And he caused you to be born again. He came to a certain sinner and gave you faith in Christ. And the only evidence that you have that you're a certain sinner. The only evidence that you have that Christ died for you, the only evidence that you have that Christ loved you and gave himself for you and washed you from your sin, it's not because you can go into heaven and find your name in the last book of life. The only evidence that you have that Almighty God has saved you is faith in Christ. And you didn't make that up on your own, God gave it to you. And every believer, I don't care where you find them, every believer, believes Christ.

Mark talked about these men going down to preach in Mexico. I've been there a few times. And they're such a joy to preach to. It's just like here, believers, they're hungry for the gospel. And they're hungry to hear of Christ. They're thrilled to hear of Christ. And I can't speak a lick of Spanish. But in being around them, I've picked this up. Senior Jose Cristo. Oh, they love to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer does.

Look at over a few pages there at John chapter 10. This is something you can't make yourself do. God's got to put it in you in the new birth. John 10 verse 26, the Lord said, you believe not because you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you, and I know you've heard countless preachers say this, he didn't say, you're not of my sheep because you don't believe me. He said, you don't believe me because you're not my sheep. If you were one of my sheep, I'd give you faith in Christ.

See that verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither should any man pluck them out of my hand. No man will pluck them out of my hand. and they're not going to jump either. They're mine. They're mine. I've given them faith in Christ, and they won't leave me. As much as the flesh tries to get them to trust in something about the flesh, the new man won't let them do it. The new man won't let them do it.

I have a lot of favorite Don Fortner sayings, and this is one of my very, very, very favorites. He was preaching a hurricane road. He said this here, I'm sure, too. But he was preaching a hurricane road one time. And he said somebody will ask him, well, Don, don't you ever not believe? And he said, I try to every day, and the Lord won't let me.

That's faith in Christ. It comes in power. See, salvation is something that Christ has already accomplished for his people. know what preaching the Gospel is? It's just God letting us in on what He already did. That's exactly what it is. Look at Ephesians chapter 2, I'll show you that. Ephesians 1, Ephesians 1 is what I meant.

Verse 5, verse 4, according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted, not acceptable, He's made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence."

Now, how do you know that's true? How can you possibly know God chose you before the foundation of the world, that you should be holy without blame for Him and love? How can you possibly know that Almighty God predestinated you adoption of children to the praise of the glory of His grace." How can you possibly know Christ died for you? He shed His blood for you to redeem you from your sins and cleanse you from all of your sin according to the riches of God's grace. How can you possibly know that's true?

It's through the preaching of the Gospel. Verse 9, "'Having made known unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself." That's how God comes to his people. It's through the preaching of the gospel and to his people, to these certain sinners, he sends it in the power of the Holy Spirit so that when you hear it, you believe it. Isn't that a blessing? All right, number four, the gospel comes to certain sinners as a command from God.

You know, Peter didn't ask Aeneas Aeneas, would you like to be made whole? Now, if you'd like to be made whole, now, I'll just kneel down here with you, and I'll say the sinner's prayer, and you repeat these words after me, and you'll be made whole. Peter didn't tell him, Aeneas, it'd be a mighty good idea if you'd let me make you whole.

Peter commanded him, arise and make your bed. The gospel of God, it's not an offer. Not an offer, it's a commandment. Arise and make your bed. And I looked at that, and when I was a little boy, I mean, some of y'all know my mother, when I get up in the morning, you ain't eating no breakfast until you make your bed. I mean, this is like tops on the list of things, you make your bed. That's not why Peter's telling him this. You know why he's telling to make your bed? You're not going to need it anymore. You will never be paralyzed again. You're never even going to limp again. And the gospel comes to us as a commandment. And you know what the commandment is? It's to believe Christ. Believe on his name. Come to Christ. Coming to Christ is believing Christ.

Listen to these scriptures. This is the commandment of the gospel. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Jesus said, suffer the little children and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Come. Revelation 22 verse 17, the spirit and the bride say, come and let him that heareth say, come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will come and take of the water of life freely. Now I know that can sound like an invitation, but trust me, it's a commandment. It's a commandment. And if you and I go to hell, it'll be our fault. Because we did not. We refused to come to Christ. We refused to believe on Him.

These are commandments from the Almighty. I mean, there's no... I can't even think of the right word. There's no questioning His power. There's no way around His power. There's no weakness in it. This is a commandment from Him who has all power. but it sure sounds like a mighty sweet invitation to certain centers, doesn't it? I never heard a sweeter thing in my life than come to Christ. And you know, with the command comes the ability to do something that you couldn't do before.

For eight years, old Nias, could not get up off that mat that he was laying on. I'm sure his family took him somewhere, you know, where he could be begging or something. That's where Peter saw him in this public place. He couldn't get up. What a foolish thing to say. This man has been paralyzed for eight years to get up and make your bed. But with the commandment came the power to do what he could not do. And he immediately stood up and made his bed. That's the power of the gospel. It's what we call the effectual call of the Spirit.

You're the preacher can tell you till he's blue in the face. As long as God gives me breath and gives me the opportunity to preach, I intend to say this. You come to Christ. I mean, you come right now where you sit in your heart and you come to Christ out of your need. You come to Christ out of your your want and your nakedness and your sin, you come to Christ and cast your soul on Christ.

And other preachers you hear are going to tell you the same thing. The preacher can say that until he's blue in the face. But when the Holy Spirit comes and comes in power and says, come to Christ, you're going to do something that you could not do before.

You're going to do something that you would not do before. You're going to believe Christ. You're going to see him. You're going to hear what the big deal is all about, because you're not going to hear the preacher reading words on a page. You're going to hear the Word of God. God's going to speak to you through His Word. You're going to follow Christ. You're going to love Him. You're going to need Him, and you'll never leave Him. Out of just pure need and thanksgiving for His mercy and grace, you wouldn't ever think about leaving Him.

You're doing something you cannot do by nature. It's the power of the Holy Spirit. And if you want a definition of power, this is one of the most powerful things that I can think of. It can only be explained by supernatural power. You hear the gospel being preached from the lips of a sinful man, a man who's weak, a man who he loves Christ, he trusts Christ, but he wouldn't His love and his faith and his trust in Christ is nothing to write home about he'd never brag about it He's so sinful you hear the gospel from the lips of another sinful man, and you know what you do You believe Christ You hear God speak to the heart now if that's not power, I don't know what is Supernatural power and that's the way the gospel comes to certain sinners. I Then the fifth thing is this. When the gospel comes in power, certain sinners are made immediately whole.

Aeneas was immediately physically whole. He didn't have to go to physical therapy. He didn't have to have braces on his arms and on his feet and on his ankles. He didn't have to learn to walk all over again. He was immediately whole. And what our God does through the gospel is so much better than that. I mean, what a miracle. Can you imagine the joy and the miracle that what a knee is, how you enjoy being made immediately all. I mean, I just can't even imagine. And the gospel is unspeakably better than that.

When God comes in power, the believer is immediately spiritually whole immediately. Once you believe Christ, God gives you faith in Christ and you believe Him, you're holy. You're holy, unblameable in His sight. You are as saved and as righteous and as accepted as you ever will be. If you believe Christ right now, you are as holy and righteous as you will be in glory.

Now we'll be without this sinful body, but that new man is as holy and righteous as he ever will be. This thing about progressive sanctification where you get better and better and better over time is an outright lie. No, you don't. Matter of fact, once the Lord saves you, you think you sin more than you ever did because only the new man can see the sin of the old man. And you'll think, You're worse than you ever were before. But that new man is as perfect as he ever will be.

Now, by God's grace, we'll grow in knowledge. We'll grow in grace. God help us to grow in grace. God help us. God help us to grow in humility. But we'll not grow in holiness. We'll not grow in righteousness. We'll not grow in acceptance with the Father because we're made immediately spiritually whole.

And here's the last thing. When the gospel comes in power, almost always others are going to hear and believe too. Look here at verse 35. And all that dwelt at Lyda and Sardin saw him, and they turned to the Lord. They saw the Lord's mercy to this man, and they turned to Christ too. Because while they may not have had the same physical problems that Aeneas did, they had the same spiritual problems that he did. And they turned to Christ.

You know why? Because once the Lord shows you his son, once he reveals Christ to you, you'll see there's nowhere else to turn. There's nowhere else to go. I'm going to Christ. This was hope for Aeneas. His only hope was Christ. He's my only hope too. I'm going to Him. I'm going to Him. Turn to Christ. I'm telling you, there is no other hope. Every other false hope, I mean, it just can't even be compared to Christ. There's nowhere else to turn. But if we turn to Christ, we will find in Him everything that we need. Everything.

You know, this, I'm not, I'm trying to find the right way to say this. This life is hard because of our sin, primarily, but the sin of the world around us and carrying around this wretched sin nature with us all the time. This life's hard. In this world, you shall have tribulation.

And there are things that all of us would like to have that we don't have. Let's just, I mean, you know, let's just be honest. But if you really think about this and look at this, not in what we think or what we feel, but what God's word says, if you believe Christ, you have it all. You have it all because Christ is all. God help us to turn to Him. All right, I hope the Lord blessed that to you.