Seeing Eyes Hearing Ears

Q: What does the Bible say about salvation?

Salvation is a gift from God, not based on our works or lineage, but on God's grace through Christ. According to the Bible, salvation is solely the work of God, and it is received by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. As stated in Ephesians 1:6, Christians are accepted in the beloved due to God’s grace, not by their own righteousness or merits. Acts 10:34-35 highlights that God shows no partiality; rather, He accepts those from every nation who fear Him and do righteousness. This further emphasizes that salvation is a divine gift, rooted in God’s sovereign choice and not dependent on human actions or affiliations.

Q: How do we know grace is essential for salvation?

Grace is critical for salvation because it reveals that we cannot earn our way to God through our deeds. The necessity of grace in salvation is underscored throughout Scripture, highlighting that human efforts are insufficient for reconciliation with God. In Acts 10, the Apostle Peter comes to grasp that salvation is not limited to the Jewish people but is offered broadly to those who fear God and do righteousness. This realization is essential for understanding that no matter one's background or works, our standing before God is entirely dependent on His grace. Romans 4:5 states that faith, without works, is credited as righteousness, solidifying the principle that grace alone, through faith, reconciles us to God.

Q: Why is understanding God's sovereignty important?

Understanding God's sovereignty reassures us that He is in control of our salvation and all things. The sovereignty of God is crucial for believers because it affirms His ultimate authority over all aspects of salvation and existence. As mentioned in Acts and referenced in Revelation 5:9-10, God has a people from every nation whom He chose before the foundation of the world, revealing His grace and purpose in their salvation. This knowledge provides comfort and confidence amidst life's uncertainties, affirming that God governs all circumstances for the good of those who love Him. Trust in God's sovereignty leads to a deeper understanding of His mercy and justice, allowing believers to rest in His promises.

Good morning. Good morning. So good to see you. It's good to be seen. Pray for us as we travel, if you would. It's not near as easy to travel as it used to be. I used to get in the car and drive 24 hours and then get there and ready to visit. Now, hmm, that airplane is not near as comfortable as it used to be. So if you'd remember us in prayers, we traveled to North Carolina.

Would you join me for one verse of scripture over in the book of Proverbs, the book of Proverbs chapter 20, the book of Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 12, and then we will go over to the book of Acts where we've been studying for some time. In the book of Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 12, we read these words, the hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them."

Now, if you believe the Bible, you have no problem with this or with this. These were given to us by God. God in creation gave us eyes to see and ears to hear. But it is absolutely essential and completely necessary. If we ever see God, if we ever see God in his word as he is, he must give us eyes to see and ears to hear. It's not something that we're born with. It has to be given to us in that special creation called a new birth. All right, join me, if you would, over in the book of Acts. And we're here with the apostle Peter, He's had that experience with the sheets coming down, and he's been asked by God three times to rise up, kill, and eat. And he said, not so, Lord.

And as that's concluded, we find that there are some folks at his door from Caesarea sent by a Gentile. His name is Cornelius. There we go. Cornelius of the Italian Band. He is a Roman centurion. He is away from home. He is a proselyte of the Jewish religion. He has accepted most of what the Jews were teaching.

And yet, with all that he had to say and all that he had to do, he didn't know the first thing about Christ and the gospel. And so he's going to have to have someone sent to him, and we thank God that God sends somebody to his lost sheep and preaches to them the good news of the gospel.

And we heard that read, that one verse of scripture in Isaiah chapter six, your sins are taken away. That good news that in Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus alone, the sins of his people have been taken away, purged, put away for time and for eternity. Well, here in the book of Acts chapter 10, beginning with verse 34, after these events have taken place, it says, Peter opened his mouth and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all.

You know, the Apostle Peter, we find that the Holy Spirit was blessed, blessed Peter and encouraged him to preach a short sermon here to Peter. And it is absolutely necessary that the preacher who brings the message is also preached to by God Almighty. And that's what happened here. Peter needed a message preached to him. He had been steeped in that Judaism and that Jews alone could be saved.

And God is going to share with him that's not the truth. Here we find that Peter is going to understand a little more about what we read. And keep your finger right there, but travel with me to the book of Revelation chapter five. And we find here that God never intended to save everybody in the world, but he intended to save some people out of every kindred. Well, let's just read it.

Revelation chapter five, verses nine and 10. We have these words given to us by the writer of the book of Revelation, John, and those words were given to him by the Holy Spirit. God used his spirit. God put his spirit there to teach him and to have him write these words.

In Revelation chapter 5 and verse 9, it says, and they sung a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain. and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation. There would be, there will be those out of every kindred, people, nation, and tongue in the glorious presence of Almighty God, but they will be there as representatives out of those kindreds and peoples. So the Apostle Peter is being taught a glorious lesson that God has his people everywhere in this world and one of them is right here in Caesarea. His name is Cornelius and he's been sent there to preach the gospel. Peter was encouraged to, first of all, preach to himself. Peter was reminded that all our salvation is totally in Christ and is all of grace.

It is not because of who we're related to. There's nothing outside of Christ and the grace that we have in Christ that we can credit for our salvation. We can never say, my father is Abraham. We have people bring that to the attention of the Lord Jesus. And he said, if your father was Abraham, you'd believe me. you would understand the gospel. It is not because of the works of righteousness which we have performed. It's not because of our nationality. You know, I heard when I was growing up, America is a Christian nation. My goodness, nothing is farther from the truth.

Now we may have had some founding fathers that had some Christian principles, but if you read their religious thoughts, most of them didn't know the first thing about the gospel. They had been raised in Sunday school. They had been raised in some kind of school, parochial school, but they didn't know the first thing about the gospel.

This nation, like every nation, there has never been a nation on the face of this earth that could be called a Christian nation. There are a few Christians in almost all of the nations. But there is no such thing as a nation that is Christian. And I don't care what that king of the Roman Empire said when he commanded that everybody in his empire be Christian. And I've heard people that lead tourists over in Europe say, well, he made everybody in his empire Christian. No, no, no, no. God alone can do that. And it's not by the command of a king. It's not by the command of a priest. And it's not by the command of a preacher that anybody is made a Christian.

It's by the act of God. He's the one that gives us ears to hear. And he's the one that gives us eyes to see. And he does that alone. It's not who we're related to. Peter can sit by the fire and declare. You know what he did? He declared he did not know Jesus Christ.

And yet we can say he was saved by the grace of God. Even as a sinner, as a saved person, he did that. And as a saved person, he was preaching that only Jews could be saved. And God comes along and teaches him the truth of the gospel. Noah, we read about Noah over there in the book of Genesis. You know, Noah was quite a drunk. And he led his son to do some really bad things. as a result of that. And yet we can say, as God said about him, he's a preacher of righteousness and the only way you can be a preacher of righteousness is you've been saved by grace. Terrible lifestyle was apparent there, and yet he was a believer in Christ Jesus. We make terrible mistakes in our lives at times. It's only the grace of God that keeps us from falling into the pit. Oh, the need for the message of grace to the minister of grace. I need that every day.

You know, I am a recovering Pharisee. I grew up a Pharisee. I lived the pharisaical life. I had all my eggs in the basket of my own righteousness. And by the grace of God, he allowed me to hear the word and see Christ and save me by his grace. And yet, there are times when I'm a recovering Pharisee. Oh, did you see that work, Lord, I did? Did you like the way I answered that phone call? Pitiful, isn't it? Pitiful.

Peter had been taught pure grace by God when God sent down that great sheet and said, arise and eat. It was God's choice and not Peter's choice. Now there in verse 35 of Acts chapter 10, he comes to this conclusion, but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him.

Now, how are we accepted in the beloved? That's the important thing. How are we accepted in the beloved? I was raised in a church that called on you every Sunday to accept Jesus. Well, you can't accept somebody you don't know. You can't accept a gift that's not given to you. How are we?

Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Ephesians chapter one. And we read there in Ephesians chapter one, verse six, that there's something special about this acceptance, and we generally give it to the wrong people. It's a gift of God. Notice here in Ephesians chapter one and verse six, it says, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. He's made the church accepted in the beloved. And it is only after we've been accepted in the beloved, and he's revealed that to us, that we ever think one thought about what Christ has done for us. Through the praise of the glory of his grace, what did God give that causes them to know they are accepted? Well, he gave them two things and they're mentioned there. Going back to the book of Acts, verse 35, there's two things mentioned in that passage of scripture that allows us to know that we have been accepted in the beloved because both of them are gifts of grace. It tells us there in verse 35, it says, every nation that feareth him. Now, what does that word feareth him mean? That word doesn't mean that we are scared of him every day. It means we have a high reverence for God.

And you heard read in Isaiah chapter 6 this morning, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. High and lifted up. That's how he reveals himself. It's not a God that we can manipulate, but a God that's high and lifted up and performs all his purpose and will. That's how we know that he has given us acceptation in Christ Jesus. He's given us that knowledge of a God that is high and lifted up. A one that feareth God and worketh righteousness.

My goodness, when we get to talking about righteousness, we find out that there's only one who has righteousness and he is pleased to impute that righteousness to everyone that he saves. It's an imputed gift. It's a gift that God gives. We don't have any righteousness of our own except we find in the Old Testament self-righteousness. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. We don't have any acceptable righteousness. So he gives us his righteousness. It's imputed to us. We have had our sins imputed to him on the cross. Our righteousness has been imputed to us. His righteousness has been imputed to us.

And so we have those qualities that God said, I have given you my righteousness. And I've given you the fear of God, reverence for God. I've raised you out of the pit. I've brought you out of the pit. And I allow you to see these things. Therefore, you may know that you have been accepted in the beloved."

Now, a lot of people have a great fear for God, but it's afraid. They're afraid of meeting God. Why do they deny him? Why would they submit to the idea of evolution if they had complete reverence for God? They fear the meeting of God because of their sin. And then we read, As we look here, we are given the fear of God, we are imputed His righteousness without any works on our part.

What did the Holy Spirit give the Apostle Paul to write to the saints of Corinth? Turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we read these words and this, Mike and I were talking this morning, he was gonna talk about agape and I said, you know what? That's in my book, lesson two, the agape love. In this passage of scripture, that word agape is translated, hmm, charity.

Now I don't know about you, but there's a lot of charities waste a lot of paper on trying to get me to give to them. I found out about a charity that helped veterans, and so I sent them a little money. And you know what they did? They sold my address. And now I get hundreds of requests for charitable contributions. And that's a waste of good tree paper, because I just throw it away.

Oh, that kind of charity is not what God's talking about here in this passage of scripture. This is that agape love. Now, the definition has often been changed about different words, the meanings of words over time. And one of them has truly, about agape, has been destroyed in time. As Mike read this morning, it's been destroyed. Now this word, the only way that I can share with you the meaning of the word agape is how it's used in the scripture. And it's used in the scripture as something God has and that he gives that and we have it because God gives it.

So here we find in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and the Apostle Peter was going to learn this. He had learned it. He was going to learn it again and then he's going to learn it again because it's not very long. The Apostle Paul has to come to him and say, Peter, Why are you eating with Gentiles and as soon as the Jews show up, you go over with the Jews? Why are you doing that? Peter had to learn the lesson of grace again. We are constantly being blessed by the message of God's grace.

Oh, it's not works of righteousness. It's not the things that we, it's not being a Pharisee. We're recovering Pharisees, but that doesn't get God's attention. All right, here in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, it tells us in verse one, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries with all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing. Every time that word charity is mentioned in those three verses of scripture, it is the original Greek word agape.

And they would have us believe over time, they've having us believe that this agape love is just for everybody in general, but it is not. It's a very special, specific love. Turn with me if you would. as we look at three or four verses of scripture that share with us this love.

And we're gonna find out here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, chapter 13, verses one, two, and three, that this really could have been translated, he that does not have Christ. He that does not have Christ. It's not just not having love. It's not just having interest. It's he that does not have Christ.

They are, we can be, become a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. All right, here in the book of John chapter five is a verse of scripture where the Lord Jesus uses this word agape, and he shares with us this is what it's all about. It's not a love between you and I. We have that phileo love, brotherly love. That's natural. Or maybe it's not natural.

But we're encouraged to have that towards our neighbor. Care about them. Take care of them. Be nice to them. Stay off their property. Don't break their windows. We had a sheriff deputy show up at our house one time way out in the tules and said, it's been reported that there's been some windows broken in the house down there in the orchard. Did you do it? And I said, if I'd have done it, my dad would have killed me. That was not what you did.

All right, here in the book of John chapter five, verse 42, the scriptures share this, but I know you and ye have not the agape of God in you. You don't have it. He's talking to a group of people that say they may love, but they don't have God's love. They don't have Christ in them. I know you and that you have not the love of God in you. Oh, you carry on, you're religious, but you don't have the love of God in you. You don't have Christ. Christ is truly the love of God.

Turn with me if you would. to John chapter 15. And the same word agape is mentioned here, again, as it was intended to be used, John chapter 15, verses nine and 10, we have here this word love, charity, terrible, terrible translation. Here in John chapter 15 verses 9 and 10, as the father hath loved me, there's that agape love. God loved me as God loved me.

How did God love Christ? With a godly love. God loved Christ with the everlasting love. God loved Christ with eternal love. God loved him and had the purpose of Jesus Christ coming to this earth in mind. He goes on to tell us there, as the father hath loved me, so have I loved you.

Agape, one more time. Continue ye in my love, again. If you keep my commandments, you shall be able to abide in my love. If you keep my word, Don't go astray on that. It's a sure sign we don't have agape love when we give up the word of God. We give in. Goes on to say, even as I have kept my father's commandment and abide in his love.

So it's a God love. It's a special love. It's a love that's far beyond the love that we as human beings have. I love that lady on that back row very, very much. I loved her when I met her, and I love her more today. But it is only because of Christ that I can love her with copy love. Natural love, that's as far as I can go.

All right, look with me in the book of Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five, we read this. Romans chapter five and verse five, it says, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. The agape of God is shed abroad in our hearts. In regeneration, God gives us agape love. That's a double statement, isn't it? He gives us agape. It's not charity. It is not human, phileo love. It's not Eros love. It is God's eternal love for his people. A love for he had for his people in Christ Jesus before the world was created. And that's the kind of love that we read about in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, when the apostle Paul was writing and sharing with us as well as sharing with the apostle Peter.

If you do not have Christ, You're just a tinkling bell and a cymbal that means nothing. I like what Paul had to say one time when he said, if the trumpet give an uncertain sound. You know, when we're sharing the gospel, all we're doing is being trumpets. The trumpet is the gospel. We're just sharing the trumpet, sharing the sound. That's all we have. We have no way of creating words to make up what God has given to us.

And so here we have that it's in the book of first, going back to the book of first Corinthians there, chapter 13. Let's read that as it truly was given. First Corinthians chapter 13. Though I speak, Paul writing by inspiration, chapter 13, verse one, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not agape, I am become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. If I have not Christ, I am a zero. I can't produce. I can't open ears. I cannot open eyes. That's God's business. And then he goes on to say, and though I have the gift of prophecy, my goodness, don't you hear those people on that last day speaking to Jesus said, Have we not prophesied in thy name and his comments to them shall be in the end depart from me?

It's not that that's important. It's God's love in us and that is God's love given to us by a God that is selective in who he loves. There was a couple of men standing next to the street here in the Dalles holding up a sign, honk if you love Jesus. I walked over to them and I says, does Jesus love everybody? Oh yes, he does. And I had on my phone, I like my phone because it has the Bible program right in it, and I says, well, would you read this verse for me? Romans chapter nine. Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Can you explain that? No, I can't. Please leave right now. It's a free country. I can stand here as long as I want. Very, very, very few people have a hearing ear and a seeing eye about who God agapes. It's a love before time, very specific love. He gave himself for the church. He loved the church. Agape goes on to say there.

And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. If I don't have this agape, I am nothing. If I have all faith, you know, that's just a giveaway right there. I have all faith. Who gave it to you? Oh, it's mine. Who gave, who gives faith? The only faith that is worth having is the faith that Jesus Christ gives us. He's the author and finisher of our faith, only place for faith.

And then in verse three, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, have not agape, it profiteth me nothing. We could put right in there, if I don't have Christ, I am nothing. If I don't have Christ, I am nothing. And if I don't have Christ, it profiteth me nothing. All of those things that we do in a religious sense and try to get attention for it are nothing without Christ. And you know what?

This is exactly what the Apostle Peter needed to hear from the Holy Spirit before he began to preach to Cornelius. He has been against this all his life and now the opportunity arises and he tells God, not so Lord. And then the Lord gets him up, you know, as he does, right up here. I've had people say, you know, I ran from the ministry for years. Friend of mine, I just found out he'd been, he said he was called to preach. And he reminded me of the time I got to visit with him. And you know, he brought that up and I says, if you were called, you'd be doing it.

God doesn't take no for an answer. And God's preachers don't say no. They will say, I can't talk. And they will say, I don't know anything. And they will say, I was a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. But when God calls them, he calls them and they submit. Just like saving us. He calls, we submit. We give because he is Lord of all. All right.

We mentioned there in the book of Galatians chapter two, the apostle Paul had to talk to Peter again about this very subject. And so it is ongoing. Peter, why do you do this? And he challenged him to his face in front of a whole lot of people. Now, I'm thankful for the apostle Peter having this gift. God gave him this gift. He was teachable. He didn't argue with it. Oh, if I'm wrong, I want to know it. He was teachable. And here, let's go back to the book of Acts now, if you would. Here we have the very beginning, Acts chapter 10.

What's the meat of the message? What does Peter begin to preach unto Cornelius? Did he start to talk about, oh, the good qualities that you have in your religion? I realized that as a certain proselyte, you didn't go through the circumcision part, but how's the rest of that? How's it working out for you?" And Peter says, "'Hogwash!' As Paul said, "'Dung!' There's no value in what you have. Even though you have the best ability to pay bills for someone else, you have nothing without Christ.

So here in the book of Acts chapter 10, where does the apostle Peter start? It tells us here in the verse 36, the word which God sent unto the children of Israel. What did he send to the children of Israel? The same message he sends out today. Now they were under the law, they had the law, but that didn't have any business saving them. There was no salvation. In fact, there's only judgment in the law.

What was it that saved people in the times of Noah? What was it to save people in the times of Abraham? What was it to save people in the times of Moses or the prophets? Well, Peter brings it out here. He said there in the book of Acts chapter 10, the word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all.

Now, in the Old Testament, they didn't know him as Jesus Christ. They knew him as Messiah. Now, Christ is the same word in the New Testament as Messiah is in the Old Testament. We have a couple places in the New Testament where both of those words are mentioned in the same verse of scripture.

The woman at the well, we know when Messiah comes, will tell us all things. And then Christ describes Christ and she says, tell me about this one so I don't have to come here and draw water every day. And he says, I am. And that's all that was required. He revealed himself to her. She went home saying, I want to tell you something. There's a guy over here that told me all things ever I did is not this the Christ. All right.

So, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, and then he adds this, he is Lord of all. If he is not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. He has to be Lord of all. He's the creator of all. He's the one that gives all. He's the one that causes the sun to rise every day He's the one that sends the rain. He's the one that is in charge of all things.

Oh my goodness, I just heard on the news that one of the organizations of the world has decided that we're not headed for a terrible, catastrophic warming trend. Well, the book of Genesis clears that up immediately. Don't get worried over this nonsense.

The Bible says he will give us seed time, harvest. Now, did you know the Sahara Desert at one time was a place where it was planted? Underneath the receding ice caps in Greenland are farms. God moves in his mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. And he certainly confuses humanity by what he does. To the believer, it's my God doing it. He's in charge. I don't get worried about the weather. I don't get worried about what's going on. Sometimes I get concerned. All right, what he goes on to say here?

Verse 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day and showed him openly. Many saw him after he had been raised from the dead.

Quite a few guards were paid great sums of money to say, the disciples came and stole him when we were asleep. But that did not change the truth. Not to all the people. but unto witnesses chosen before of God, chosen before when? Chosen before the foundation of the world.

There's gonna be some witnesses even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that he which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. That word quick doesn't mean fast, it means living. He's a judge of the living and the dead. And what does that mean? It means those who are dead in their sins, he's still gonna be their judge. Those who are living, he has already been judged at the cross. No sin can be brought against him. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elected is God that justify it. So this is where he's gonna be.

He's a judge of the quick and the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. God ordained him and to give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins. What is this old, the word prophets, what's that have to do? To him gave all the prophets.

You know, most of the Bibles do us a disservice, but just for an illustration, they make us think, by putting some pages between the book of Malachi and the book of Matthew, that we have two different books. Now, mine has this. We come to the New Testament. You know, that would be better if that wasn't there, because this is one book. It is one book. It is Genesis through Malachi, about 400 years in between that and the book of Matthew.

And I had someone tell me the audacity to say there was 400 silent years that God did not speak. And I said, how did the gospel get carried through there then? Now there was no writing of the word as we know it. But there were still people preaching Christ and Him crucified through those ages or that gospel would not be ours. God was careful with the gospel to get it to every generation and to everywhere He intended it.

Now the Old Testament, as we call it, is the prophets. That Old Testament, Jesus said, speaks of me. The types and shadows and pictures of Christ found in the Old Testament are used by the preachers of the New Testament as they bring up the passage of scripture and then they say, that's Christ and Him crucified. As Peter did here, the Old Testament declared Jesus and Him crucified and resurrected as God said would happen. Well, the Old Testament, as Jesus said, all of the Old Testament prophets, they wrote of me.

He told a group of Pharisees one time that we're boasting we have Moses. We just love Moses. He's the guy that gave the Ten Commandments and all the law, and we're keeping it so clearly, so good. And Jesus told them, if you loved Moses, if you knew Moses, you would love me.

For he wrote of me in every type, illustration, picture about the tabernacle, all of the things there, everything that happened, brazen serpent on a pole, Jesus said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up.

So we have those illustrations, types and shadows that those preachers in the Old Testament used to preach Christ from, the Messiah coming, the promised one coming. Well, as Peter brings out there in the book of Acts chapter 10, he brings this subject up.

He says there, it says Peter in chapter 10 and Acts chapter 10, Verse 43, to him gave all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Well, it doesn't take us very long to discover that our belief is not gonna get the job done. It has to be a belief that's a perfect belief, and that comes from God. And while Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

Now, jump over to the 11th chapter, verse 16, and he explains what took place there. Then remembered I the word of the Lord. Verse 15, as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. when then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, God indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. And you know what?

These folks that were there, just as on the day of Pentecost, the tongues that they spoke was not gibberish. It was not ecstatic speaking. The day they mentioned Pentecost, as the Holy Spirit fell on us on the day of Pentecost, there were 12 preachers preaching in different languages, but the people that heard them say, we do all hear in our own language, the wonderful word of God. These people didn't speak in some unknown tongue. There were people there that understood what they were saying. I wonder, if God did not give them the tongue of the Hebrew language and convince those guys beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Now there's no proof, but those guys knew what they were doing. This is the same thing that happened unto us. It was not some ecstatic thing that the Holy Spirit did. He came down in glory, in regenerating power, and saved those folks. that heard. Now I've been told that everyone that was there was saved. Only those that heard were saved.

And that's why I began today's lesson by Proverbs chapter 20. God gives the hearing ear and the seeing eye. A whole bunch of folks during the time of the Lord Jesus Christ didn't know Jesus Christ. They heard him talk, they heard him speak, and walked away and says, well, I wonder if that's that prophet, or I'm gonna report this to the Pharisees, and then they can take it to the courtroom. They didn't hear a thing he said. They found fault with his words, they found fault with his preaching, but there were some that heard his word. The Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus heard his word.

When God saves us, we are privileged to hear his word and see him as he is. We don't see a vision, we see him in the scriptures. And so Peter said there, verse 17 then of chapter 11, for as much then as God gave them all like gift as he did unto us who believe on the Lord Jesus, what was I that I should withstand God? God did the same thing for us. He did the same thing for them. That's why we went ahead and had fellowship. God saved him by his grace. Well, we're gonna stop there for now and we'll pick this up at the next appointment time.

Seeing Eyes Hearing Ears

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about salvation?

How do we know grace is essential for salvation?

Why is understanding God's sovereignty important?

Sermon Transcript

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Seeing Eyes Hearing Ears

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about salvation?

How do we know grace is essential for salvation?

Why is understanding God's sovereignty important?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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