All right, if you would open
your Bibles with me to Romans chapter four. Romans, the fourth
chapter. I did not get this information
before I printed the bulletin, but this coming weekend there's
a conference at the Redeemer Grace Church in Sellersburg,
Indiana, just right across the river from Louisville. The speakers
are David Edmondson and Kevin Thacker. Information is on the
bulletin board back there. It's a pretty easy drive if any
of you want to attend that. Also, I found out this week Scott
Thompson has been diagnosed with cancer in his brain and on his
spine. He's in Columbus. They're attempting
some sort of treatment for him right now, so we want to remember
them in prayer. All right. Romans chapter four,
we'll read the first 16 verses. What should we say then that
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory,
but not before God. For what sayeth the scripture?
Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace,
but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Even as David also described
with the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessing then upon
the circumcision only, upon the Jews only, upon those that have
only been circumcised, or upon the uncircumcision, the Jew or
the Gentile also. For we say that faith was reckoned,
Abraham, for righteousness. How then was it then reckoned?
When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being
uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that
believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed
unto them also, and the father of the circumcision, to them
who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the
steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had, being
yet uncircumcised, for the promise that he should be the heir of
the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law,
but that promise was made through the righteousness of faith. For
if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void
and the promise made of none effect, because the law worketh
wrath. For where no law is, there's
no transgression. Therefore, it is a faith that
it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure
to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but
that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father
of us all. All right, let's stand together
as Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship. How rich the depths of love divine,
of bliss abound the store. Dear Savior, let me call Thee
mine. I could not wish for more. I could not wish for more. My Lord, my life, my sacrifice,
my Savior and my hope. How great thy wisdom, power,
and grace that in redemption shine! The heavenly host with
joy confess, The work is all divine! The work is all divine! For His face they cast their
crowns, those crowns which Jesus gave. And with ten thousand,
thousand tongues proclaim His power to save. Proclaim His power to save. Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnals to song number 268, How Firm a Foundation. 268. How firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. Or can he say that to you he
hath said, To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled? Fear not, I am with thee, O be
not afraid. For I am thy God, I will still
give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand, Upheld by my gracious omnipotent hand. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow. with thee thy troubles to bless,
and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. Thy retrials, thy pathways shall
lie. Thy grace, all-sufficient, shall
be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee,
I only design. Thy dross to consume, and thy
gold The soul that I hath leaned for repose. I will not, I will
not, desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. If you would turn this morning
to Acts chapter 3. We're going to continue our survey
through Acts, I suppose. And our pastor has asked that
we read Acts 3, beginning in verse 12 through the end of the
chapter. And when Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people, Ye men of Israel, Why marvel ye at this? Or why
look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness
we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham and of Isaac
and of Jacob. Notice he says, the God of Jacob.
That's a sinner's God. The God of our fathers hath glorified
his son, Jesus Christ. whom ye delivered up, and denied
him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let
him go. But ye denied the Holy One, and the just, and desired
a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of
Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And his name, through faith in
his name, hath made this man strong. whom ye see and know,
yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness
in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I want that
through ignorance ye did it as did also your rulers. But those
things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets
that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye,
therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted
out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence
of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was
preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive until the times
of restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth
of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly
said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise
up unto you of your brethren, like unto me. Him shall ye hear
in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come
to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall
be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from
Samuel and those that followed after, as many as have spoken,
have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of
the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers,
saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of
the earth be blessed. Unto you first, God, having raised
up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you, and turning away every
one of you from his iniquities. May the Lord bless his word.
Let's pray. Our Holy Heavenly Father, we
thank you for this your written word telling us of the eternal
living word, our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we're humbled of your blessing that you would
have mercy on sinners such as us. Father, we pray that you
would be with us this morning, that one more time, as we have
a man stand to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ to us, that you
would leave us not alone. Father, give him a word from
thee to feed your sheep. Lord, give us hearing ears, Lord,
calls our hearts to receive our need for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Calls us to cry out, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. Help us see that we're full of
sin, that we have no hope outside of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
Lord, leave us not alone in our sin, but calls us to seek Christ,
knowing that He came for sinners, and He won't
turn away a sinner who comes to Him for mercy. Lord, we pray
for our children. We pray that You would continue
to guide them, that You would reveal Yourself to them in a
saving manner. have mercy on their souls. Pray,
Father, for those who are going through deep waters, difficult
trials. We know, Lord, that thou art
able. And if you will, you can't make them whole. We also know, Lord, that that's
the disease of this world is a picture of sin, and we pray that the picture be fulfilled, that you would have mercy on
our souls, that you would heal not just our bodies, Lord, but
our souls, that our sin be placed on Christ,
put away, do his sacrifice. Father, we're so thankful for
all that you've given us. We pray that you would forgive
us our murmurings and complainings, cause us to look to Christ, knowing
that he is able. Pray, Lord, that you would be
with us this morning. Leave us not alone. Give us Christ,
or else we die. We ask all these things in his
name, the name that is above every name, for our good and
his sake, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Keep your Bible open there and
Acts chapter three will be our text this morning. I titled the
message, The Gospel Again, and I titled use that title because
on this day, which I believe is the day immediately after
Pentecost, Peter preached that great, great message on the day
of Pentecost. And now the next day, he's going
to preach again. And you'll notice that he preaches
almost the exact same message with the, with the same points.
The message of what he's saying is exactly the same. On the day
of Pentecost, he told him, boys, the real miracle here is not
the mighty rushing wind, the close of fire and speaking in
tongues. The real miracle is salvation in Christ. Look to
him, not to these miracles that you see going on. Peter told
about our guilt, the guilt of man's sin. They've seen in how
we wanted to crucify the Lord of glory. But then he told us
by that crucifixion, by that sacrifice, Christ accomplished
the salvation of his people. He accomplished the forgiveness
of the sins of his people through his sacrifice. And Peter told
us that sacrifice was successful. That sacrifice saved everybody
that God intended to save. And the proof of it is after
he suffered and bled and died, the Father raised him again from
the dead. Because all the sin that had been charged to him
was gone. Peter said, now that's what's
going on here. That's the miracle. Now you repent
and you look to Christ. You trust Christ. And in a nutshell,
that's what Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. And that's
what gospel preaching is. Gospel preaching is just telling
the same story over and over and over again from different
texts. That's what gospel preaching
is. And he's gonna preach that very same message on this day,
the day following the day of Pentecost. So there's several
things I want us to see. First is this, every gospel message
focuses our attention on Christ alone. Verse 11, Acts chapter
three, and as the lame man, which was healed, held Peter and John,
all the people ran together unto them in the porch that's called
Solomon's, wondering greatly. And when Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people, You men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Why are
you so shocked? And why look ye so earnestly
on us? As though by our own power, our own holiness, we'd made this
man to walk. We didn't do this. The God of
Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath
glorified his son, Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied him
in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him
go. Now you notice everybody that's
come running up to Peter and John here, why are they running
up to him? Because of the miracle. Because they knew this man that
was leaping and jumping and praising God, going into the temple to
worship, hanging close to Peter and John, was the lame man that
for years had sat at the beautiful gate begging alms, and now he's
completely healed. He's running and jumping And
they all ran to see about this miracle. How'd this happen? And
Peter immediately tells them, don't look at us. We didn't do
this. This didn't happen by our power.
He immediately turns their attention to Christ. And all throughout
his message, he keeps the attention focused on Christ. He never strays
from Christ. He gets to Christ as fast as
he can, and he stays there the whole message. telling us who
Christ is, telling us different facets of his glory. It's always Christ. He's always
got his attention and our attention focused on the Savior. That's
a gospel message. A message that has Christ in
the beginning, Christ in the middle, and Christ in the ending,
that's the gospel. If Christ is not in all three
of those places, it's not the gospel. It could be a string
of true statements, but it's not the gospel. The gospel has
Christ as its subject, in the middle, or in the beginning,
the middle, and the ending. And Peter begins his message
by telling him, turn your attention away from the flesh, away from
this miracle, or away from thinking that we did this miracle, and
you turn your attention to Christ, because that's where the power
is. That's where salvation is. That's where forgiveness is.
It's in Christ. The same, I mean, you know, I
never have and never going to work a miracle and heal a lame
man, but the power, the power in the gospel, the power that
is in our preaching, it's not of the preacher. The power's
in the Savior that we preach. Every gospel preacher will say
the same thing that Peter and John said here. We don't have
any power of our own. We don't have any holiness of
our own. We didn't do anything to make any of this happen. The
power and the doing of it, the performing of it, it's all of
God. And all the preacher is, is a
tool in the hand of the Savior. Just a tool to accomplish his
will. And the real miracle that we ought to be awed with is not
that the lame man was healed. That's just given to us as a
picture of the real miracle, that there is salvation in the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's salvation, there's cleansing,
there's healing from all of our spiritual diseases, our wounds
and our bruises and our putrefying sores that haven't been closed
up, neither mollified with ointment, are all completely healed, perfectly
healed, instantly, through the sacrifice, the crucifixion, the
death, the burial, the resurrection, of Christ our Savior. This is
the Son of God. Peter's talking about the Son
of God who came in the flesh, who lived a life of perfect obedience
to God's law. That's the believer's righteousness.
His obedience is our obedience because we were in him. His people
were in him when he obeyed the law. The son of God was made
flesh, made under his own law, and he obeyed it perfectly. Not
for himself, he's already holy. He's already righteous. He did
that for his people, to make them holy, to make them righteous.
And even though he never committed a sin, never, in thought, word,
or deed, he never committed a sin, when God's appointed day came,
he died for sin, and not for his own. but for the sin of his
people. When he was made sin for his
people, the father's justice demanded that he die and he died
to put away the sin of his people. He died, they took his dead body
down from the cross and laid it in a tomb for three days.
And after three days, he rose again. He rose again as proof
his death justified his people. made them without sin. Now, all
of that happened. The reason for all of that happening
is it's the fulfillment of God's covenant of grace for his people. Before time began, God promised,
this is how I'm gonna save a sinful people. It's through the obedience,
through the sacrifice, through the resurrection of my son come
in the flesh. The father promised that he would
do that. That's what a covenant is. It's
a promise. God promised that he'd do it.
And his son came and did it, to fulfill his promise. That's
what Peter means when he's talking about the God of Abraham, of
Isaac, and of Jacob. Everybody knows who that is.
That's the covenant God. The God who made a promise to
Abraham, that the Messiah is coming through your seed, coming
through your son, Isaac. And that promise was a promise,
we just read it in Romans four, to open the surface, was a promise
of grace. It wasn't because Abraham did anything right. It wasn't
because he was circumcised and followed all the rules and all
the ceremonies. God made that promise to him before Abraham
even knew who he was. You leave your father's house,
I'll make of you a great nation. You go to a place, I'll show
you. It's by faith, it's by grace. God made that promise to Abraham
that the Savior's coming, that the whole world is gonna be blessed. People from the whole world are
gonna be blessed. because this one is coming from
your seed, coming through your line. People from all over the
world are going to be saved by this coming Messiah, washed white
as snow in his blood. God made the promise to Abraham.
He confirmed it with Isaac and he confirmed it with Jacob. That's
God's covenant. God promised it and then he did
it. And you know, God's doing the
very same thing. He hadn't, God hadn't changed.
What God did with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, what God did when
our Savior came into flesh, is the very same thing He's doing
now. You know what God's doing right
now? Right now. He's doing what He
purposed to do, what He promised to do before He created anything.
That's all God's doing, is doing what He promised to do. And thank
God. That purpose, what God's doing
today, includes the salvation of his people. Everything God
does is working together for this one purpose, to glorify
his son and the salvation of his people. That's what Peter
says in verse 25. You're the children of the prophets
and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying
unto Abraham, in thy seed shall all kindreds of the earth be
blessed. Now, none of us are natural descendants
of Abraham, but we are spiritually. You know why? Because God's still
carrying out that promise to save his people through the doing
and the dying of his son. And every gospel message focuses
our attention on that, on Christ, Christ crucified, and nothing
else. Now, number two, if it's gonna
be a gospel message, a gospel message has to declare Man's
sin, man's sin. Our sin is the need for the Savior.
In verse 13 in our text, Peter says, the God of Abraham and
of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified
his son, whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence
of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But you've denied
the Holy One and the just and desired a murder to be granted
unto you and killed the Prince of life whom God hath raised
from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. This is what Peter's
telling us, and this, in every gospel message, this must be
preached. You cannot say this once too
often, man is born dead in sin. All of us are natural born sinners,
because we've all received the nature of our father, Adam. It's
a sin nature. It's a nature that can only sin.
It's a nature that can only desire sin. Everything we think about
doing is sin. We never think about doing anything
righteous because our nature can only produce sin. So every one of us in this room,
we're sinners. We've sinned before God. We're
guilty and our cry ought to be what Dan said in his prayer,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's what every one of us are.
We are the sinner. And there's lots of evidence,
there's lots of ways that man has devised to pour out our sin,
to show our sin, sin nature, isn't it? But I'll tell you the
clearest display of our sin nature that you can find is what think
ye of Christ. That's the question. What did
we do when the Father allowed us to get our hands on his son? He just allowed it once, and
what did we do? Peter says we delivered him up
to be killed. Here's a man that only did good,
that only did things that were right and good and helpful to
men. Don't even ask the Pharisees
one day, what do you want to kill me for? I'm going to look
at all the good deeds I've done. They even admitted everything
you've done has been a good deed, but you make yourself to be God.
And we can't have that. If you're saying that, we're
going to deliver you. We've got to kill you. because
we will not have you reign over us. See their problem when he
made himself out to be God is if he's God, they gotta bow to
him and they're not doing it. And you and I by nature won't
either, will we? We will not be dependent on this man, Jesus
of Nazareth. He's despised and rejected of
men and we will not make ourselves dependent upon him. Pilate was
even determined to let him go. I mean, here's a heathen man
who was determined to let the Lord go, because he said, there's
no fault in him. He hadn't done anything worthy
of death. What are you boys doing? How are you going to let him
go? And what did we do when Pilate said, I'm going to let him go?
They said, give us Barabbas. Give us a murderer, a man guilty
of insurrection, who murdered in insurrection. You let him
go. Give him to us. We'd rather have him released
back out into our society. than Jesus of Nazareth. And Pilate
said, well, what should I do with Jesus, which is called the
Christ? They said, destroy him, crucify
him. This is our nature, we're cold-blooded
killers. That's exactly what we are. And
what do you reckon the Father says that we deserve for that
sin? What do you reckon? Peter even
says in verse 17, And now, brethren, I know that through ignorance
you did this, as did our rulers. I know you did it ignorantly,
but it's still no excuse. It's no excuse for what we've
done. You still deserve condemnation, even though you did it ignorantly.
And someone will say, I know somebody's already thinking this,
I wasn't there. I wasn't at the cross, I wasn't
outside Pilate's palace crying crucify him. I didn't do that,
I wasn't there. Oh yes you were. I was too, all of us were. What was happening outside of
Pilate's palace, what was happening inside of it with the Roman soldiers
and what happened on Calvary's hill is our nature on display. That's exactly what it is. But
you know what? Physically, I know none of us
were there yelling crucify him. None of us were taking such pleasure
in watching his dying agony. We would have if we'd been there,
but I know that we weren't. But you know, we do the same
thing and worse today. Many people do every Sunday and
every Wednesday. We hear the gospel of Christ
preached and we leave like we came here. unaffected. We hear the gospel of Christ
preached and we refuse to believe on him. We will not do it. And when we refuse to believe
on Christ, this is what we're saying. I don't, I'm not believing
on him because I don't need him. I can produce enough righteousness
on my own. I can, I don't need God to choose
me. I can, I can choose, choose God
anytime I want. You know, I don't need him. I
can be good enough for God to accept me. I don't need him.
When we hear the gospel and the commandment of the gospel is
repent and turn to Christ, run to Him. And when we don't do
that, you know what we're saying? Destroy Jesus. Crucify Him, destroy
Him. I don't wanna hear anything more
about Him because I don't need Him. I'm not gonna make myself
dependent on Him because I can do this my own self. When I hear
the gospel, The command of the gospel is bow, surrender, bow
to Christ, bow at his feet with your face in the dust, begging
God for mercy. That's the commandment of the
gospel. And when we won't do it, you know what we're saying?
When I refuse to beg for mercy and try to do something to be
good enough so that God will accept me, this is what I'm saying.
I will not have that man to reign over me. I'm too proud to beg. Isn't that what the unbeliever
does every single Sunday, every Wednesday, isn't that right?
I would say that our guilt is worse guilt than the guilt of
those at Calvary, because we've sinned against greater light.
Now we know what all that meant. Now we know what God's purpose
at Calvary was. It was through ignorance, no
excuse, but they didn't know that. We do. And when we refuse
to bow to Christ, when we refuse to come beg Him for mercy, we've
sinned against greater light. And somebody has to dare tell
us we're in trouble. I mean, it's offensive to be
called a sinner. And when I say a sinner, I don't just mean somebody's
done something wrong. I mean a sinner who's guilty
of breaking every commandment of God's law. murderers and thieves
and adulterers and I mean just the worst thing that you could
think of. Every one of us is guilty of all of those very same
sins. We're filthy, corrupt and defiled in God's sight. That's
a whole lot different somebody that just inadvertently broke
the rules in it. We're sinners in God's sight
and somebody's got to tell us Somebody's got to be brave enough
and bold enough to tell us what God's Word says about our nature
that we're nothing but sin. And if you answer this question
in your mind, this is going to reveal our nature. What think
ye of Christ? The unbeliever doesn't think
much of Him. I don't need Him. The believer
says, He's everything I need. He's everything to me. The answer
to that question reveals the state of our soul, doesn't it?
What think ye of Christ? And by nature, we all have the
same answer, because our nature is nothing but sin. Thirdly,
the gospel is gonna focus our attention on Christ. It's gonna
tell us what we are, but the gospel message also has to tell
us who Christ is. Verse 14, Peter says, but you
denied the holy one and the just, and you desired a murderer to
be granted unto you, and you killed the prince of life. whom
God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. See
how Peter keeps our attention focused on Christ. Even when
he talks about our sin, the revelation of our sin, the focus is on Christ.
Our sin is revealed in what we think of Christ. Now Peter tells
us who Christ is. Oh, he's going to tell us about
the different facets of who he is and his glory, the glorious
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter calls him the Holy One.
Anytime you read about the Holy One, particularly throughout
the Old Testament scriptures, that's only ever talking about
God. Because holiness can only be
found in God. Holiness is who God is. It's
his nature. This word, holy, that's translated
here holy, is the same word translated many places in scripture, the
Holy Ghost. Usually this phrase is translated
the Holy Ghost in the New Testament. Well, the Holy Ghost is God.
Peter is saying this man Jesus of Nazareth is one with God.
He is God. Another place, this is translated
the Holy Father. The Son is one with the Father
and the Holy Ghost. This is God. God in human flesh. And if you look back at Psalm
16, David prophesied of him. We should have known that he's
coming, because David prophesied, I mean, Isaiah, all the prophets
did. But here's a specific one from
David. Psalm 16, verse 10. For thou will not leave my soul
in hell, neither will thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Now that can only be talking
about the Son of God, the Holy One. Now this is a mystery. The Holy One, you're telling
me the Holy One, that's God. Everybody, especially when David
was writing and the Pharisees in the day of our Lord's earthly
ministry, they understood that the Holy One is God. You're telling me God died. That's not possible. This man,
You're telling me he's God who died? That he's holy, that he's
harmless, that he's undefiled, that he never sinned, who always
did everything that pleased his father. He said, I know I've
pleased the father. The father spoke from heaven
and said he's pleased with him. And you're telling me he died?
He's the holy one. And it's not just a, You said
doctrinal fact or historical fact or whatever that That the
Lord Jesus is holy he's the Holy One Here's the joy of his people
He is our holiness He is our holiness. He didn't come to establish
holiness for himself. He is the holy one. He's only
ever been holy. He came to establish holiness
for his people and to make his sinful people holy. The other word that's translated
often in the New Testament that's holy is translated saints, holy
ones. This is what Christ made his
people to be. as holy as the Son of God himself. I mean, how can you say as holy?
Because there's no degrees of holiness. You're either holy
or unholy. I mean, one sin, one blemish makes you unholy. Christ
made his people holy, partakers of the divine nature. When we
talk about the Holy One, yes, that's the character, that's
the nature of our Redeemer. But what is so thrilling to God's
people is He's my holiness. This is my hope of holiness.
And then Peter calls him the just, the just, one who had no
sin, the only righteous man to ever live. And again, the thrilling
part of this is not just that the Lord Jesus never sinned,
although he didn't. I would say heathen people, people
who are unbelievers, either believe a false gospel or don't believe
any gospel whatsoever, would tell you the Lord Jesus never
sinned. But the thing that throws our
souls is a whole lot more than he's the just, that he never
sinned. He justified in his own self
and that he had no sin. He is the justification of his
people. He's our justification. He died. Now he died because he was made
sin for his people. It wasn't his sin, it was the
sin of his people transferred to him. But here's why he died. The just, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God. Now the only way you and I can
ever be brought to God is if we're justified, made without
sin, and that's what Christ did for his people. So that the very
moment This flesh dies, this dead, sinful, rotten flesh, the
nature of flesh one day is gonna die and the new man will instantly
awake in glory because Christ justified him. The just one made
us justified and fit to enter immediately into heaven, into
the presence of the thrice holy God. Now you think of that. That's
a whole lot more than just a point of doctrine that Jesus never
said, didn't it? He's my justification. And then Peter calls him the
Prince of Life. See how he just keeps going,
telling us who Christ is, different facets of his glory. You know,
it's hard, scientists and doctors, nobody's ever been able to define
what is this thing that's life in these bodies? That one moment
the body's alive and the next minute it's dead. And whatever
it is that's life, it has left this body. We think of life as
a thing or something we experience. Brother, life is a person. I am the life, the Lord said.
He is life itself. Jesus of Nazareth is life in
a person, personified. He's the prince of life. John Gill, I couldn't remember
his name for a second. John Gill said that this means
he's the author of life, the giver of life, and that's true.
Life himself, if we're gonna have life, he has to give it
to us, doesn't he? He's the prince of it, he's the author of it.
When did he get out his pen and author life for his people? Before
time began. Before anything was created,
he determined he was gonna give a people life. He knew they were gonna die in
Adam. He knew that they were gonna be born dead in trespasses
and sin, and he authored life for them. And in the fullness
of time, he gave it to them. He didn't ask their permission.
He didn't ask them if they wanted it. He caused life to be born
in them, in the new birth, and they lived. And every believer
here will tell you, I have life because God gave it to me. I
probably can't tell you the exact moment that he gave it to me.
I can't exactly define that maybe, but this is what I know. I was
dead and now I have life. And it's because God gave it
to me. He gave it to me. But this one whose life, the
Prince of Life, Peter said, you killed him. Now here's a mystery. The gospel's a mystery. The gospel
is a supernatural thing that can't be understood. It can only
believe by faith. But this is what Peter's saying.
The prince of life, the author of life, life himself, life personified,
died. Died. That's a head scratcher. How did he die? How's that even
possible that he died? Because he died. Life himself
died. The death that his people deserve. So they'd be given the life that
he deserves. The life that he earned as a
man. That's the Savior. That's who
the Lord Jesus Christ is. What a Savior. What a man, what
a powerful, gracious savior. He deserves to be worshiped,
doesn't he? Just for who he is. He's the holy one. He's the just, he's the prince
of life. He's the eternal father coming
to flesh. He deserves to be worshiped for
who he is. I don't ever want us to fall
into the trap of worshiping God just because of what he's done
for us. I mean, if we only worship God because of what he's done
for us, what if we're like Job and he takes everything away
from us? We still gonna worship him then? Our savior is to be
worshiped just for who he is. He's to be believed just because
of who he is. Now, after Peter tells us who
he is, then the fourth thing is he tells us what Christ has
done. Verse 15, he said, you killed
the prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead were
of, were witnesses. Now this verse tells us everything
we need to know about man and God. Peter said, you put Christ
to death, the prince of life, you put him to death. That was
man's will. To put Christ to death, to get
this man out of the way so I don't have to deal with him anymore,
so I don't have to be told about him anymore, I'm tired of hearing
this, I want to put him to death. That's man's will. That's the
nature I'm born with and you're born with. Not just the people
there at Calvary, it's the nature every son and daughter of Adam
is born with. Our will was to put the prince
of life to death. And the father let us do it.
The father let man show what we really think of God and put
his son to death. The father allowed that. He allowed
us to do our will and put the son to death, but we didn't accomplish
our will, did we? What we accomplished was the
will of the father, to put away the sin of his people by the
sacrifice of his son. Everything that happened leading
up to the cross and at the cross was all the eternal will and
purpose of the father being done. And his will was done, not ours. Now this is the, that's who we
are, and wanting to put the Prince of Glory to death, and we failed
miserably to get rid of him, didn't we? Because the father
raised him from the dead. Now that's the eternal grace,
saving purpose of God. To allow his son to suffer and
die for the sin of his people. To die to satisfy God's justice
that there must be death for sin. That was the purpose of
the father. The father allowed men to do
that because it's the only way that the father can be both just
and merciful at the same time. The only way the father can be
just and right and justify sinners is like you and me, is if the
son died in our place. He satisfied justice for our
sin and put it away. Then the father raised him from
the dead. We didn't accomplish our will. We couldn't get rid
of him. The father raised him from the dead because the prince
of life, the Lord Jesus Christ, who we hate, is the successful
savior of sinners. That's what the resurrection
means. He died for sin, but his death put that sin away. That's
the only way he could be resurrected. If all the sin that was laid
on him had been put away by his precious blood, sin's gone. The Father let us put him to
death, but you can't keep him dead, could you? Because his
blood put away the sin of his people. Now again, the death,
the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. These are not just
historical facts. Lots of people get together on
what we call Easter Sunday, try to make a big hoopla about the
resurrection of Christ. That's just an historical fact. You can talk about those historical
facts and not preach the gospel. Now that's the facts of what
Jesus of Nazareth did. Now let me preach the gospel
to you. His death, his burial, his resurrection is the joy of
the salvation of his people. To think that the son of God
suffered and died in my place, for my sin. In one way, that awes me to silence. And Gary, in another way, wants
me to kick the chair and throw a songbook. Isn't that joy? Oh, the joy of salvation is what
Christ did that for me, for the life of somebody like me. That's
the assurance of salvation. How can I be sure How can I be
so confident to lay on my deathbed and know when I close my eyes
in death, I don't have to fear judgment. I'm gonna see the smiling
face of the Savior. What's the assurance of that?
I can't look back over the course of my life and find assurance
in things I've done. All I can find is just reasons
to walk around a black cloud over my head. So depressed at
what I've done and how miserably that I've failed. The only assurance
of salvation that there is, is Christ died and rose for me. That's the joy of salvation. That when Christ died, he saved
his people, lock, stock and barrel. But you know, the story of Jesus
of Nazareth doesn't end at his resurrection. Look at verse 21. Peter says, whom the heaven must
receive. until the times of restitution
of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his
holy prophets, since the world began. After Christ arose from
the dead, after 40 days, you know what he did? He ascended
back to glory. He rose up in the clouds, the
apostles stood there watching, and the disciples, and the people,
until he disappeared into the clouds. They just stood there
with their mouth open. And when he disappeared in the
clouds, he never has yet come back. You know why? Heaven must receive him. It must receive him to sit on
the throne of glory because he did everything that he came to
do. He did everything that the father gave him to do. He established
eternal righteousness for his people. And the father told him,
you sit here on this throne, till I make your enemies your
footstool, until the last of all my elect is brought in. And
then I'm going to wrap this thing up. And Christ is going to come
again. This same Jesus, who suffered
and died and rose again and ascended back to heaven, is going to come
again. And when he comes, he's going
to make all of his people just like him. When we see him, we
shall be like him. And he's going to take his people
to glory, to be with him forever. Now that's who he is. And that's
what he's accomplished for his people. Now fifth, the gospel. If it's a gospel message, has
to declare salvation through faith in Christ. In verse 16,
Peter says, in his name, through faith in his name, hath made
this man strong, whom you see and know. Yea, the faith which
is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence
of you all. Now here's the commandment of
the gospel. It's the commandment of God.
is to believe on his son. That's the commandment. Quit
trusting in your works. Quit trying to do works that
are good enough to get God to accept you. Just quit and trust
Christ. Trust that he's everything that
you need for salvation. This is not an invitation. God
never invites anybody to believe on him. He commands it. He commands it. And if God gives
you faith in Christ, Spiritually, you will be healed instantly
and completely. Just as much as that lame man
was healed physically. And as long as you come and hear
me preach or hear other gospel preachers preach, this is the
commandment you're gonna hear over and over and over again.
Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You trust Christ. Quit trying to add your works
to him and trust Christ alone. You're gonna hear that. till
the Lord returns. But when we tell you when you'll
believe, when God speaks to you. When you quit hearing the preacher
with these ears and God speaks to the heart, you'll believe. Look at verse 22. For Moses truly
said unto the fathers, a prophet, the prophet, shall the Lord our
God raise up unto you of our brethren Like unto me. Him you
shall hear. Moses, you ain't listening to
me. You won't hear me. But when he speaks, him shall
you hear. In all things whatsoever he shall
say unto you. When he speaks in power to your
heart, you'll hear. And you'll believe. And you'll
come to Christ. But now here's a great mystery.
This goes back to what I said earlier about the gospel's a
supernatural thing. If God's gonna speak to you in
your heart, you know how he's gonna do it? Through the lips
of a sinful man. A sinful man who knows him now.
A sinful man that God's equipped to preach the gospel, but you're
gonna hear the gospel from a sinful man, and you're gonna hear from
God. Now that's a mystery, isn't it?
That's a mystery you can't explain to somebody that's never heard
from God. But if you believe Christ, you know exactly what
I'm talking about, don't you? How you hear from a man, but
your heart's thrilled. That's good, God speaks to our
hearts. Verse 23, Peter says, and it
shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that
prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. You know, we
preach God who is love. That's who we preach, that God
is love. He loves sinners. The holy God has the capacity
to love sinners. He's gracious to sinners. He
saves sinners in grace. He delights to show mercy to
sinners. But don't you ever forget, that's
true, but don't you ever forget this. God is just. Just because God is loved does
not mean he's gonna overlook the sin of somebody. God's just. If he's gonna save somebody,
he's gonna do it in justice. because he put their sin away
by the sacrifice of his sons. And if you believe him, you'll
be saved. And if you don't believe him,
you'll be condemned and God be right to do it. Who could blame
you? Now I want to close with a mighty
good reason for you and me to come to Christ in faith. Here's
the reason. God has sent the gospel. to you. Verse 26, unto you first, God,
having raised up his son, Jesus, sent him to bless you and turning
away every one of you from your iniquities. God first sent his
son to the Jews. He came into his own, his own
received him not, but even after they received him not, even after
they crucified him, the gospel was first preached by the apostles
in Jerusalem, wasn't it? He sent to the Jews first. But
now, unto us Gentiles, the gospels come to us Gentiles, and this
morning, July 20th, 2025, Almighty God has sent the gospel to you. This gospel not preached in many
towns in this world, but it's preached right here. And not
just that it's been preached right here, It's been preached
to you this morning on purpose. Before God created the world,
he purposed that you and I would be here this morning to hear
the gospel. Now that's grace. That's mercy
that God did not pass us by. He sent the gospel to us this
morning. And it is my very earnest prayer
that he'd also send us faith to believe and to bow to it,
and to call on the author and subject of this gospel, the Lord
Jesus Christ. All right, let's bow together. Father, there aren't human words
to express our awe, our thanksgiving, our wonder, at the depths and
riches of your mercy and grace to your people through the death,
the sacrifice, the suffering of your son. Father, how we thank
you. How we thank you for the glorious
person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, enable us to look to
him, to see him in all of his glory. If we see him, surely
we'd run to him. You'd draw us to him. If we see
him, our hearts will be filled with assurance and confidence
of salvation. Our hearts will find us joy and
thanksgiving. Father, I pray you would reveal
to each heart here this morning your son in all of his glory. Father, it's for his sake that
he would get great glory in saving sinners like us. It's for his
sake and his glory we pray. Amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnals to song number 283 and stand as we sing Yesterday, Today,
Forever. Oh, how sweet the glorious message
simple faith may claim. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. Still he loves to save the sinful,
heal the sick and lame. Cheer the mourner, calm the tempest,
glory to his name. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. never needs thou fear. He who came to faith, blest Thomas,
all thy doubt will clear. He who led the loved disciple
on his bosom rest, bids thee still with love as tender lean
upon his breast. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Raging billows walked upon the
sea Still can hush our wildest tempers as on Galilee He who
wept and prayed in anguish in Gethsemane Drinks with us each
cup of trembling in our agony Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. As of old he walked to Emmaus
with them to abide. So through all life's way he
walked ever near our side. Soon again shall we behold Him,
hasten, Lord, the day. But we'll still be this same
Jesus as He went away. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never,
glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name.