Well, good morning. If you would,
open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9. As you're turning, let me...
I'm sure everybody remembers the conference is going to be
this coming weekend. I'm looking forward to that.
There'll be no service here Wednesday, so everybody can be fresh for
the conference. Instead of preaching here on
Wednesday night, I'll be with Janet Wednesday, who's going
to have her gallbladder removed on Wednesday, Lord willing. Hopefully
that'll make her feel a whole lot better now on during the
conference on Saturday after the service we're going to meet
at Fred's in Wheelersburg at five o'clock I'll announce all
this but just next week don't make any plans for Saturday or
for Saturday evening Fred's there is going to give us a whole room
so we just all be together and after that we'll go over to Tim
and Heather's for some desserts and I spent in my teenage years
every possible Saturday night at Fred's, so I can highly recommend
it. I think we'll have a good time
there together. All right, Mark chapter nine, we'll begin reading
in verse 14. And when he came to his disciples,
he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning
with him. And straightway all the people,
when they beheld him, were greatly amazed. And running to him, saluted
him. And he asked the scribes, why
question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered
and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath
a dumb spirit. And wheresoever he taketh him,
he teareth him. And he foameth and gnasheth with
his teeth and pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples
that they should cast him out, but they could not. He answered
them and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought
him unto him. And when he saw him straightway,
the spirit tearing, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming.
And he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came
unto him? And he said, of a child. And
oftentimes it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters
to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything,
have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, if thou
canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of
the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. I'm gonna end our reading there.
You know how the Lord healed this boy. But that's what I wanna
focus on this morning. Do I believe? Do I believe? And if you believe Christ, you're
like me, this is one of your constant cries in prayer, Lord,
I believe. Help thou my non-belief. All
right, let's stand together as Chris leads us in singing our
call to worship. ? Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm ? Look upon me, Lord, I pray thee ?
Let thy spirit dwell in mine ? Thou hast sought me, thou hast
bought me ? Take my heart and make it thine ? Not I ask for,
not I strive for ? But thy grace, so rich and free This Thou givest
by the Savior, we have all thanked who has been. Precious is the name of Jesus,
how can half its worth be told? Far beyond angelic spaces, we
listen to hearts of gold. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but thou art mighty. Hold me with thy powerful hand. All right, if you would take
your hymnal and turn it to page 103. 103 one day. ? One day when heaven was filled
with His praises ? One day when sin was the black hood to be
? Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin ? Dwelled among men
by example is He Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified, freely
forever. One day, He's coming, O glorious
day. One day they lit Him up Calvary's
fountain One day they nailed Him to die on the tree Suffering
ain't great, despised and rejected Bearing our sins, my Redeemer
is He Living, He loved me Dying, He saved me. Bearing, carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day. One day they left Him alone in
the garden, One day He rested from suffering free. Angels came down o'er His tomb
to keep vigil, Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He. When did He
love me? Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified, freely
forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day. One day the grave could conceal
him no longer One day the stone rolled away from the door ? Over death he hath conquered
? Now is ascended, my Lord evermore ? Living he loved me ? Dying
he saved me ? Buried he carried my sins far away ? Rising he
justified freely forever One day he's coming, oh glorious
day. One day the trumpet will sound
with his coming. One day the skies with his glory
will shine. Wonderful day, my beloved one's
bringing. Lyrid he loved me, dyin' he saved
me Lyrid he carried my sins far away Risen he justified freely
forever One day he's coming, O glorious day Let's open our Bibles now to
Acts chapter 26. Acts chapter 26. We'll read the entire
chapter. And after I read it, Jonathan,
would you come and lead us in prayer, please? Acts 26. Then Agrippa said unto Paul,
thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched
forth a hand and answered for himself. I think myself happy,
King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before
thee, touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews,
especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and
questions which are among the Jews. Wherefore, I beseech thee
to hear me patiently. My manner of life for my youth,
which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem,
know all the Jews. which knew me from the beginning,
if they would testify that after the most straightest sect of
our religion, I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged
for the hope of the promise made of God under our fathers, under
which promise our 12 tribes, instantly serving God day and
night, hope to come. For which hope say, King Agrippa,
I'm accused of the Jews? Why should it be thought a thing
incredible with you, that God should raise the dead. I barely
thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to
the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints did I
shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest.
And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
And I punished them oft in every synagogue and compelled them
to blaspheme. and being exceedingly mad against
them, I persecuted them even under strange cities. Whereupon,
as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief
priest, at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven
above the brightness of the sun shining round about me and then
which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to
the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew
tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It's hard for thee to
kick against the pricks. And I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet.
For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee
a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou hast
seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee,
delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom
now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them
which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O King
Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but
showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout
all the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should
repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance. For
these causes, the Jews caught me in the temple and went about
to kill me. Having therefore attained help
of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small
and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets
of Moses did say should come, that Christ should suffer. and
that he should be the first that should rise from the dead and
should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. And as he
thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul,
thou art beside thyself. Much learning doth make thee
mad. And he said, I'm not mad, most noble Festus, but speak
forth the words of truth and soberness. For the king knoweth
these things, before whom also I speak freely, For I'm persuaded
that none of these things are hidden from me, for this thing
was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, believest thou
the prophets? I know that thou believest. Then
Agrippa said unto Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also
all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such
as I am, except these bonds. And when he had thus spoken,
the king rose up and the governor and Bernice, and they, the sat
with them. And when they were gone aside,
they talked between themselves saying this man do it. Nothing
worthy of death or bonds. Then set a grip on the Festus.
This man might've been set at Liberty if he had not appealed
under Caesar. All right, Jonathan, can lead
us in prayer if you would. Let's pray together. Our Lord God and our Heavenly
Father, we thank you for drawing us together here as a family
of local believers, the church, and individually that you would
see fit to draw us here today to sit and to worship together. And according to your will, which
we bow to according to your will, that we could see you through
Christ even again today. And Father, we would ask that
you send your spirit so that we can truly worship in spirit
and in truth and to be like Paul and say, who art thou, Lord? And we've been so fortunate.
You have revealed yourself to many here. Would you reveal yourself
again that we would sit and say, who art thou, Lord, and see you
clearly? The scriptures say, Even at our
best, we see through a glass darkly. And Father, we repent. We acknowledge that. We pray
that you would give us eyes to see and a heart to believe. Who
art thou, Lord, that we would see you again this morning according
to your will. Not be as Agrippa, just a mental
practice here, but rather to worship, that you would give
us hearts to worship. that you would speak to our pastor
and through him that you'd speak to us this morning. Father, we
ask, can we hear your voice? Would you reveal yourself? Show us Christ in this place
again this morning. That's our prayer, that we would
see you and that your name would be glorified and lifted up. Pray
that you leave us not alone. Father, you've taught us to pray
for our heart's desire. Our heart's desire is that you
would You would reveal yourself to us, reveal yourself to our
children, save us according to your will. We think of those
that aren't able to be here with us this morning and those that
are, that are undergoing various trial, that you'd give us a heart
to serve and that you'd heal and comfort those undergoing
trial according to your will. Let the trial run its course
and that your will be done. that your will be done through
it. We pray for ourselves, Father. We pray for us as a local congregation. We thank you for your hand on
us. We pray that you continue to lift us up and have this place
be a light in our local community, shining your sovereignty and
shining your sovereign goodness. We're thankful that you're sovereign,
and we're thankful that you're good. We pray that that that
the truth of who you are goes forth from this place into this
community. Call out your children according to your will. What
we pray for ourselves, we think of other congregations also that
are even meeting now, that you be with them, our brothers and
sisters that are elsewhere, that you be with them and bless your
word. Be with our pastor and strengthen him. We think of Janet
this coming week and her procedure. I pray that you be with her.
Heal according to your will. We pray this thankfully in Christ's
name for his sake. Keep your Bibles open there to
Acts chapter 26. I titled the message this morning, Do You
Believe? Do you believe? I've asked myself
that question throughout this week because I want to know this.
Do I believe Christ? Do I believe Him? Now Paul has
been thrown in prison for preaching the resurrection of the dead.
And the main sticking point was this, that the Lord Jesus Christ
was risen from the dead. And Paul would rather die than
recant and say that Christ did not rise from the dead. Because
the resurrection is vitally important to the believer. The resurrection
of Christ is the proof that his sacrifice put away the sin of
all of his people. We'd have no gospel to preach.
There'd be no good news for us to preach to sinners if Christ
did not rise from the dead. If Christ was crucified and he
died and he stayed in that tomb, he did not rise from the dead.
You know what that means? It means that the sin that had
been charged to him, the sin of all of his people was charged
to him. He was made sin for us, for his people. Well, if Christ
did not rise from the dead, that sin was not put away. And if
the sacrifice of Christ, the blood of Christ did not put our
sin away, You and I are gonna perish in our sins. But the proof
that he put the sin of his people away is that he rose again from
the dead. So the resurrection is very important
to us, isn't it? And Paul has been given the opportunity
to defend himself before Agrippa. This man Agrippa had been appointed
to be king of Israel. The Romans appointed him to be
king of Israel. And before Festus, who's the Roman governor over
all of Judea. And when Festus heard the gospel,
particularly when he heard about the resurrection of Christ, that
Christ was crucified and raised from the dead, Festus thought
Paul had been learning from books so long, he'd gone crazy. Festus
said in verse 24, with a loud voice, he said, Paul, thou art
beside thyself. Much learning has made you mad.
What you're saying is impossible. You're crazy, Paul. But now,
Paul knew that Agrippa at least knew the facts of what had happened. He knew that for sure. Paul was
sure that Agrippa knew at least what Paul was saying was true.
He wasn't lying about the death, burial, resurrection of Christ.
Look at verse 25. And Paul said, I'm not mad, most
noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness,
for the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak
freely, for I'm persuaded that none of these things are hidden
from him, for this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa,
believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. I know you do. And Agrippa said
unto Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. King Agrippa
said after he heard Paul preach, he said, Paul, I almost believe
you. I almost believe you. Almost persuaded me to believe
and become a Christian, but not quite. And sadly, do you know what that
means? To almost believe. To almost be persuaded. It means
that you're as lost as any infidel who's never heard of Christ.
Or of any infidel who utterly refuses. You didn't even convince
me a little bit to believe on Christ. To be almost persuaded
is to be as lost as the worst infidel. Now the word believe
that they use here It doesn't just mean to believe some mental
facts, like Jonathan said in his prayer, mental exercise.
It means to commit unto. It means to trust and have confidence,
to trust with confidence and be committed. Now Agrippa apparently
knew these things did happen. Mentally, he knew these things
happened, but he would not commit his soul unto them. He knew that
Jesus of Nazareth lived and died and rose again. He'd heard about
his resurrection. Sounds like he believed that
it really happened. But he would not commit his soul to Christ. So here's the question I want
us to ask ourselves this morning. Do I believe? Do I believe? You just put your name in there
and say King Agrippa. Wayne, Tara, do you believe? Do you? Dan, Kenda, do you believe? Gary, do you believe? This question
is, we need to ask this question to ourselves. Do I commit my
soul to Christ? Am I confident in trusting Him? Do I trust Christ so much that
I commit everything to Him? I commit the salvation of my
soul to Him. I commit my way here on earth,
I commit it all to Him. I commit to Him because I'm so
confident in Him. Now, I don't know exactly what
this means. Paul said that he was sure that
King Agrippa believed what the prophets had written. I don't
know how, I mean, what he means by that. Apparently it doesn't
mean saving faith. At least he gave mental agreement
that these things had happened. He knew what the Old Testament
prophets had written. You know, the whole Old Testament
tells us Christ is coming. The Old Testament is not laws
and rules and regulations that show us this mean God who punishes
people who don't obey his law, and then the New Testament shows
us a gracious God who forgives sin. The whole Old Testament
is written to tell us that Christ is coming. Remember when Peter
went to preach to Cornelius in his house, and Peter said to
him, to the Lord Jesus Christ, give all the prophets witness.
all the prophets they wrote of Christ. Our Lord taught those
disciples on the road to Emmaus that thing, that very same thing.
He began at Moses and all the prophets and he taught unto them
the things, what? Concerning himself. They're all
written about him. The Old Testament scriptures
prophesy that Christ is going to come. He's going to suffer
and die. and put away the sins of his
people, and then he'll rise again the third day. The whole Testament
is written to say that. Look at verse 22. This is what
Paul says. What I'm preaching here is what
the Old Testament prophets wrote. Having therefore attained help
of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both the small
and great, saying none other things than those things which
the prophets and Moses did say should come. that Christ should
suffer and that he should be the first that should rise from
the dead and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. Paul said, everything I'm preaching
agrees with the Old Testament scripture. And every servant
of God can say the same thing today. Everything I preach agrees
with the Old Testament scriptures, because Old Testament and New
Testament, they both speak of Christ. They both are written
to show us salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're both written
to show us why we can be so confident in trusting our soul to Him. Now, I don't know everything
that Paul said on this day. I kind of suspect there are more
things that he said to his audience there that are not recorded.
But I do see some very important truths in verse 18, and I want
us to look at those things for just a few minutes to help us
in this matter of answering this question, do I believe? Do I believe Christ? Not do I
believe if these things are true, but do I believe Christ? Do I
believe Christ? Number one is this. Every son
of Adam, which includes all of us, were all born spiritually
blind. Now Paul says, here's why Christ
is coming, in verse 18, to open their eyes and to turn them from
darkness to light. Now to be spiritually blind,
to have our eyes spiritually closed, is to be in spiritual
darkness. And when you're blind, you can't
see. You can't see anything around
you. When we're spiritually blind, we do not see how sinful that
we are. If you're spiritually blind,
you don't see your need of the Savior. You can't see the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't see the glory of the
God-man. He's both God and man, came to
save his people from their sin. If you're spiritually blind and
you're in darkness, you don't see that, you don't see his glory.
You can hear the sound of the gospel and you understand the
words that the preacher's using, you understand, but you don't
see. You don't see what the big deal
is. You don't see why everybody is blessed by this. You don't
see. To be spiritually blind also means to be ignorant. You've
not been taught. God hasn't taught you. You're
ignorant. You don't know that you're a
sinner. You're ignorant. So you don't know that there
is not one thing you can do to please God. You know, we think
that we can please God. The way we're born in this world,
that's what we think. I think I can be good enough
to make God happy with me. But if I'm in darkness, I don't
know that I can't please God. I don't know that I can't decide
to believe God. You know, everybody tells me
make a decision for Jesus, so I think I can. If I'm in spiritual
darkness, I don't know I can't. I can't decide to accept Jesus. I've got to be given faith. It's
got to be given to me as a gift from God or I'll never see. See,
if you're in darkness, Spiritual darkness. You can be the most
intelligent person on this earth. And you can understand things
of science and medicine and languages and all the, you can understand
all those things. It's not that you don't have
an intellect, but you're spiritually blind. So you can't see anything
spiritual. You can't see anything. Truth
is spiritual spiritually. You can't see your hand in front
of your face, no matter how plainly, The preacher preaches Christ
to you. You can't see him because you're in darkness. To be in
darkness means that you're in the darkness of ignorance and
unbelief. It's not just that God hadn't
taught you. You won't believe. You can't believe. You're in
the darkness of rebellion against God. And you know, that's the
darkness of Satan. Satan. is an open rebellion against
God, isn't it? For us to refuse to believe on
Christ, we're in the darkness of that very same rebellion.
That's how deep and black this darkness, spiritual darkness
is. Look back at John chapter three.
Here's something that being in that darkness means. To be blind
in darkness means we're not fit to enter heaven. John three, verse three. Jesus answered and
said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He can't
see it, he can't understand it, but he also can't enter. Verse
five, Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except
a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. If we're in darkness, we cannot
be saved. We cannot enter the kingdom of
God, and the only way we're ever gonna have spiritual light so
that we see is by the work of God the Holy Spirit. Notice Paul
says here that we must be turned, that Christ has come to turn
them from darkness to light. Our heart has to be turned. It's
not a matter of eyesight. It's not a matter of human understanding. It's not a matter of a decision
that I make that now I can see. Salvation is a heart work and
we've got to be turned. Our hearts got to be turned to
the light by God, the Holy Spirit. It's a heart work. Look at John
chapter eight. Now this is why Christ came to
give us light. The only way we can have spiritual
light is in Christ. who is the light of the world.
If we have him, we're not in darkness. We see. John 8 verse
12. Then spake Jesus again unto them
saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. If Christ
comes to us and reveals himself to us, we have the life of light. We live, we see. Look at 2 Corinthians
chapter four. If there's somebody here this
morning who's in darkness, and they're blind, and they know
it, and they think, I sure would like Christ to give me that light.
I'd like for him to appear to me and give me that light. Well,
I'll tell you how God does it. It's by the preaching of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4, verse 3. But if our gospel be hid, it's
hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not. lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. And how is it going to shine
unto them? For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus,
the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. See,
we keep preaching Christ Jesus, the Lord, for God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. When God, if he's ever gonna
command and cause the light to shine out of darkness in our
hearts, it's gonna be because somebody's telling us who Christ
is, and the Father's gonna be pleased to reveal him. Look at
Colossians chapter one. This thing of preaching Christ,
the importance of it, just really can't be overstated. Colossians
one, verse 13. who has delivered us from the
power of darkness, and he's translated us. He's transferred us, he's
picked us up and took us from one place to another. He's translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. That can only come by
hearing Christ preached. Now one more scripture, 1 Peter.
1 Peter chapter two. Verse nine, Peter says, but you're
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people, a purchased people, that you should show
forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people,
but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy,
but now you've obtained mercy. God hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. How did he do that? by the preaching
of Christ, by enabling you to hear and believe the preaching
of Christ. And that's what the Old Testament
scriptures tell us, too. This is not just a new thing
somebody came up with, the apostles and these men, came up with in
the New Testament. The Old Testament scriptures
tell us that's what the Messiah's gonna do when he comes. Isaiah
9, verse 2 says this, the people that walked in darkness, oh,
the darkness, the darkness of spiritual ignorance and unbelief
and rebellion. Isaiah said, they've seen a great
light. They've seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them the light has shined. Christ
shined. He came to them to give them
the light of life. He appeared unto them so that
they see him through the preaching of the gospel. And the resurrection
of Christ from the dead, when Christ came out of the darkness
of death, when he came out of the darkness of the tomb, That
resurrection guaranteed all of his people would be given light.
Now, someone might wonder, okay, the question is, do I believe? Well, how can I tell if Christ's
delights appear to me? How can I tell if this is a hard
work and not just mental agreement to some facts that I see in scripture? Well, if you've been given light,
this is what you see. You see your own darkness. You
know, the funny thing is, is we can't see our own darkness
till Christ gives us light. Then we see, oh, I used to be
in darkness. If I've been given spiritual
light, I see my own sin. I quit worrying about the sin
of other people and my cry is God be merciful to me, the sinner. I see my sin. I see my need of
Christ. I see my need of mercy from him.
If I've been given spiritual life, I see I need Christ to
be everything for me. I need him to do everything for
me, but I need him to be everything for me. I need him to be my wisdom,
my righteousness, my sanctification, my redemption. I need him to
be my prophet, my priest, and my king. I see that the Lord
Jesus Christ is everything that I need, and I am thrilled to
commit all to him. than not be responsible for my
own salvation anymore, but commit it all to Him. I'm thrilled to
do that, if I've been given light to see Him. See, I'm not just
asking you if you believe these scriptures to be true. I'm asking
you, do you believe this about yourself? See, that's the question. I can never remember a time growing
up under the sound of gospel that I didn't believe these things
to be true, that they're so. The problem is I didn't believe
about myself. That's the problem. And we can't
do that until God gives us light. Do you believe that you were
born spiritually blind in spiritual darkness? Do you believe that?
Do you believe that you're born dead in sin? I mean dead. So you can't do anything to please
God. Do you believe that about yourself?
Do you see this? That the only way that you can
have light, spiritual light, is if the Holy Spirit is pleased
to reveal Christ to you and in you. Do you believe that? Can
you honestly sing, I was blind, but now I see? Can you honestly
sing that? I sure hope so. Because if you
can honestly sing that, God's given you light. All right, here's
the second thing. Every son of Adam, and that means
all of us too, were born under the influence of Satan. Back
in our text, Paul says that Christ came to open their eyes and turn
them from darkness to light and to turn them from the power of
Satan unto God. Now every human being born in
this world in the flesh is under the influence, the power of Satan. That's what Paul says right there.
And someone might say, now Frank, You can say I'm bad. You can
say I'm a sinner. But to say that I'm under the
influence of Satan? I mean, aren't you taking it
a bit far there? Look at Ephesians chapter two.
Ephesians chapter two says we are. Ephesians two verse one. And you hath he quickened, Now
you have life now, but you were dead in trespasses and sins,
when in time past you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among
whom also we all had our conversation in time past. In the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and we were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Now, a person who's walking after
Satan, after the way of Satan, they're just like Satan. You
know how you can tell? It's when they're disobedient.
Disobedient to what? They're refusing to trust Christ.
They're disobedient to the commandment of God to trust the Lord Jesus
Christ. A person is walking after Satan
if we're deceived. You know, it's easy to deceive
a person who's in blindness or in darkness. You can tell them,
you know, you're holding up anything in front of them. They can't
see, they can't tell. It's easy to deceive a person
who's in blindness. That's what Satan does. The first
time we ever read of Satan in scripture, what's he doing? Deceiving
Eve into thinking that you can be God. He's a deceiver. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2. We're
deceived. into thinking that my works are
good enough to earn me a righteousness that God will accept. We're deceived. We're deceived into thinking
that salvation can come by works, not by God's grace. 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 8. Then shall that wicked be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and
shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. See, darkness
is destroyed by the brightness of light. Even him whose coming
is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and
lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that
they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but have
pleasure in unrighteousness. See, they're deceived. Satan
has deceived them. And the reason that there's so
many crazy religions in the world, and they're so far away from
the truth of spiritual things, the truth of the scripture is,
people are deceived. And people just swallow it up.
The false prophet, as long as he's dynamic, and he's relatively
handsome, He's got some good sales techniques.
People just swallow it up because they're deceived. Now I'll tell
you, here's the truth of our nature. You know, being deceived
makes it sound like, well, it's not my fault. No, sir, it's my
fault. It's my fault. Here's the truth about the nature
of our flesh, that we are just as evil as Satan. Now let that sink in for a minute.
Does that offend you? Huh? Do you think that's not
possible? That yours is wicked and evil
as Satan? Would you believe that truth
about yourself? That the only way you can be delivered from
the power of Satan is if Almighty God reaches down and lays hold
of you and pulls you out of it and turns you to God. Do you
believe that? Well, I sure hope you do. Because if your answer
is yes, the Lord saved you. He saved you from the power of
Satan. He's turned you to God. And the resurrection of Christ
shows us that he has set his people free from the power of
Satan. When Christ arose from the dead, it was proof positive
the seed of woman had crushed the serpent's head. Yeah, the
serpent bruised his heel. He was battered and bruised and
got the holes in his body, the scars in his body. And he lay
in the tomb for three days. He was bruised, wasn't he? But
he rose again from the dead. And when he rose again from the
dead, He showed he had crushed the serpent's head, and Satan
was powerless to harm any of God's elect. Absolutely, utterly
powerless. His head was crushed. His power
was crushed. Now, I would warn you, as I've
done many times in the past, don't go looking for Satan. Don't
go looking for him. I'm afraid what you might find,
Satan is a real enemy, and he'll sift you and me as wheat, just
like he did Peter. Don't go looking for him. but
don't fear him either. Don't fear him either, because
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, has crushed his head, put him
out of business, and delivered us from his clutches. Don't go
looking for Satan. Go looking for Christ. If you
find him, you'll have light, won't you? All right, here's
the third thing. If we would be saved, we need
to receive the forgiveness of our sins. Paul says Christ has
come that they may receive the forgiveness of sins. Now notice
the way Paul says this, because it's important. We must receive
the forgiveness of sin. You don't earn it by your works.
You don't decide to accept it. You don't, you know, start sinning
less, and so, you know, there's not as many sins to forgive. Christ came that his people would
receive the forgiveness of sins as a free gift of God's grace.
And to a guilty sinner, there is nothing sweeter than God's
forgiveness of sin. God's forgiveness of sin. You
know, when God forgives sin, He really forgives it. He really
does. It's not like, well, I'll say
I forgive you, but what you did to me is always in the back of
my mind. Not God. What did He say? Your sins and your iniquities
will I remember no more. That is sweet, isn't it? To a
guilty sinner, how sweet. Look at 1 John 1. Now here's how God cannot remember
the sins and iniquities of his people anymore. 1 John 1 verse
9. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Now, how can God be both faithful
and just? How can his justice be satisfied
and forgive my sins? Look at Romans chapter four.
Romans chapter four tells us. How can it be right for God to
not damn me for my sin, but forgive my sin and not remember it anymore?
Wouldn't you say, if God doesn't remember your sin anymore, you're
a blessed person, would you say that? Well, how'd that happen? Romans four, verse seven. Saying,
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now, why would God not impute
my sin to me? Why would God not impute your
sin to you? There's only one reason. is because
he imputed it to Christ at Calvary. Christ was made sin for his people
and the Father counted him to be guilty of the sin of that
people. He imputed all the sin of God's elect to Christ at Calvary
and the sacrifice of Christ. The death of Christ satisfied
God's justice. So that Christ, by his death,
by his blood, made it right for God to be both faithful and just
to forgive his people of our sin. God doesn't remember it.
He doesn't remember the sin and iniquity of his people anymore
because there's nothing to remember. There's no sin left to charge
to God's elect. He can't charge them with sin.
There's no sin left to charge. The blood of Christ put it away.
God cannot demand more from anyone that Christ died for because
the debt's been paid. He can't demand more. The debt's
been paid in full. The sacrifice of Christ blotted
out the sin of God's elect, so it's gone. It's gone. And when
Christ arose from the dead, it was proof positive that all of
the sin of all of his people that had been laid on him was
gone. And it was right for the father to say, I don't remember
it anymore. Because Christ rose from the
dead. If Christ had not risen from the dead, that would mean
there was still sin that had not been put away. But Christ
rose from the dead. because of all that sin was put
away by his sacrifice. And the resurrection of Christ
makes his people have total confidence to commit everything to him because
he makes his people to not have any sin. So my question is this,
do you believe this about yourself? Do I believe this about myself?
Am I such a vile sinner that the only way my sin can be put
away is by the blood of God's own Son who has made flesh? Am
I that vile? Are you that vile? I sure hope
you know you are, because if you know you're so vile, the
only way your sin can be forgiven is in the blood of Christ. God's
forgiven your sin. All right, here's the fourth
thing. The only way any of us can receive
anything from God is by an inheritance. Paul goes on in verse 18 and
says that Christ has come to give an inheritance among them
which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Now an inheritance,
that's something that somebody else earned, somebody else saved
up and gave to you freely. You didn't do anything to deserve
it, you didn't do anything to earn it, An inheritance is something
that belongs to somebody else. They could have given it to anybody,
but they decided to give it to you. That's an inheritance. And
every believer has the same inheritance, and it's an inheritance of grace.
The believer's inheritance is something that the Lord Jesus
Christ earned for us, and he gave it to his people freely
when he died. You know, the rich young ruler,
we looked at him a week or two ago, and I know that poor young
man did a lot of things wrong, but there's one thing that he
said right when he came to the Lord. What must I do to inherit
eternal life? I can't earn it, but is there
a way that I can inherit it? Because if I'm going to have
eternal life, if I'm going to have the forgiveness of sins,
the only way I can have it is by inheritance because I can't
earn it. The only way any sinner can have spiritual eternal life
is if Christ died for you. If he died as your substitute,
dying the death that you deserve. The Son of God came in the flesh,
suffered and died for his people so that he could give them eternal
life. Now that's an inheritance of
grace, isn't it? Has to be. Can you think of anything
more that you deserve less Then Christ, the Son of God dying
for you, it's undeserved. It has to be by grace. Thank
God for grace. Oh, thank God for his grace.
And the inheritance of every believer. You know what it is? It's being in heaven with Christ. Being made just like him. Being
made just like him. That is the inheritance. that
the Lord Jesus Christ earned for all of his people. Let me
show you that in the book of Colossians again. Colossians
1. Verse 12. Giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. That word meet means fit, qualified. The sacrifice of Christ made
his people qualified to enter straight into heaven, into the
presence of God himself and join those elders around the throne
and the angels and the beasts, join them in that song of redemption
around the throne. He made it meet. And how did
he make us qualified, meet, fit to enter in heaven? He took our
sin away. And it's the resurrection of
Christ that gives his people the right to expect that inheritance. And look at 1 Peter 1. Do I have this inheritance? Can
I expect this inheritance or I just gotta hope? Well, you
know, at the reading of the will, maybe I found out I got something,
you know, in the will. Or is this something I can know
now? It's the resurrection of Christ that gives his people
the right to expect to receive the inheritance that God promised
us. 1 Peter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again, caused us to be born again unto a lively,
A living hope, how? By the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance. An inheritance that's incorruptible,
it's undefiled, that fadeth not away, it's reserved in heaven
for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. Now what gives
a believer this living hope? And this hope is not, well, you
know, I hope. University of Kentucky wins today.
Maybe I should have said that, but that's my hope. I don't know
if it's going to happen or not. That's not the kind of hope that
we're talking about here. This is an expectation. What gives
a sinful man or woman the right to expect to receive this inheritance? Peter says it's the resurrection
of Christ from the dead. See, Christ, he earned. He came
as a man, he lived as a man, and made under the law, he earned. salvation and righteousness for
his people. By his obedience, he earned it
for them. And then Christ died as the testator. You know, if
a will is going to be in effect, the testator has to die, don't
they? Christ died so that his people could be given the inheritance
that he earned for them. And then Christ arose from the
dead so that he could be the executor of his will. This is
the only testator who's also the executive of his will. He
rose again to ensure that all of his people receive everything
that he earned for them. That can't get any more sure
than that, can it? Here's my question. Do you believe
this about yourself? Not just that Christ accomplished
this for his people, but do you believe this about yourself?
That you can't earn this. Do you believe the only thing
you've ever earned from God is his wrath? That's the only thing
we can earn from God. Do you believe that the only
way that you can have any spiritual blessing from God, forgiveness
of sins, mercy, grace, eternal life, any spiritual blessing,
do you believe the only way you can have that is through an inheritance
that God gives you even though you didn't deserve it, even though
you didn't earn it, but that he gave it to you by his grace?
I sure hope you do. I mean, I sure hope you do because
that's what makes, what God makes all of his people to believe.
And then here's the last thing. The only way sinners like us
can be saved is through faith in Christ. At the end of verse
19 in our text, it says, which are sanctified by faith that's
in me. You know, salvation is not just
God overlooking sin. Salvation is being sanctified.
It's being set apart and made holy. And Paul says here, we're
sanctified by faith, by faith in Christ, faith that's in me.
It's in me, because God put it there. Now this thing about sanctification,
it's not a progressive thing, where we get better and better
and better and better all the time. Brother, if that's sanctification,
not one of us here is sanctified, and we never will be. If it's
sanctification comes by acting better. Being sanctified is an
immediate, complete thing. When the believer who's born
again is immediately made holy in Christ. And that holiness
is received by faith in Christ. It's not earned by our works
or it's not earned by our morality. We're made holy by trusting Christ
through faith. Now I ask you, do you believe
this about yourself? Do you believe you can't do anything
holy? That you'll never be holy? The only way you can be holy
is by trusting Christ. By laying hold on him and having
his holiness be your holiness. I sure hope you believe that.
I hope you believe it and you're committed to Christ that way.
I hope there's not a person here who's almost persuaded, but that
you are fully confident to trust Christ alone. If you are, God
saved you. God saved you. That's my prayer
for you and for me both. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for this time. Look into your word, and nearly
2,000 years after the Apostle Paul preached this message, to
hear it preached again, to hear Christ our Savior preached again,
to hear of full, free, just, merciful salvation in him, in
his death, his burial, his resurrection. And Father, I pray, just like
the Apostle Paul said he hoped that everyone who heard him preach
that day was just like him, except his bond, that they would all
believe Christ. Father, I pray that you would
give each heart here this morning, that you'd turn our hearts from
darkness to light, that you'd turn us to God, that you'd turn
us to faith in Christ, that you'd forgive our sins and make us
fully confident to trust Christ our Savior as our all in all. Father, this is a great, and
most undeserved blessing that I asked for us here this morning,
that you'd be merciful and save us. But Father, I ask that you
do it not because of any good in us, but for Christ's sake,
so that your son would get all the glory for it. And if you
show him to us, surely we'll do that. Give him all the glory
and all the praise for it. Father, it's in Christ's name,
for his sake we pray, give thanks. Amen. All right. After Chris
leads us in singing a closing song, a few men would set up
the tables and the vestibules so we can be ready for the conference
Friday night. I would greatly appreciate it. All right, in closing, if you
would, take your hymnal and turn to page 204, and let's all be
standing as we sing, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. 204. Oh soul,
are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you
see. They're live for a look at the
Savior, and live for a ? Turn your eyes upon Jesus ? Look
full in His wonderful face ? And the things of earth will grow
strangely dim ? In the light of His glory and grace ? Through
death into life everlasting ? He passed and we followed Him there
? Over us Him no more has dominion ? For more than Christ Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth with growth
strengthly give in the light of His glory and grace. ? His word shall not fail you,
he promised ? ? Believe him and all will be well ? ? Then go
to a world that is dying ? ? His perfect salvation to tell ? ?
Turn your eyes upon Jesus ? look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. you