So our Bible is akin to Acts
chapter 2. Title of the message this morning. Is what can a sinner do? Now
we've been studying through having messages preached from each of
the different books of the Bible, and this morning we've come to
the book of Acts. We just finished looking at the four Gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. was told us of the work of our
Lord Jesus Christ, told us about his life, his death, his resurrection,
his ascension back on high. Now the book of Acts tells us
what our risen, exalted Savior is still doing on earth. He's
not doing it through his bodily presence, he's in glory. The
book of Acts tells us what our Lord is doing on earth through
his church, through the preaching of the gospel. blessed by the
power and grace of the Holy Spirit. When the Gospels preach, this
is what we see in Acts. When the Gospels preach, God's
elect are called out of this world to repentance and faith.
Two weeks ago, we looked at two passages in the Gospel of Luke.
In both messages on that Sunday, this question was asked. What
can I do to inherit eternal life? And on his way out the door,
Brother Earl Wooten correctly pointed out how many times in
scripture that question is asked. What can I do? What can I do?
And men ask that question because that's our nature. What can I
do to have eternal life? What can I do to be saved? But
you know, God's word teaches us there's nothing we can do
to be saved. There's nothing we can do to
make God save us. There's nothing we can do to
obligate God to save us. Because everything we do is sin,
isn't it? Well, then everything we do just adds to our condemnation.
You can't pay for sin with more sin. But now you listen to me. That doesn't mean there's nothing
you can do. No, it does not. I know we can't
do anything to save ourselves, but that doesn't mean we're just
to sit around and wait for lightning to strike. No, we should seek
the Lord. Don't ever say, well, God can
save who he will. So I'll just sit here. You know,
if God saved me, he'll save me. If not, he won't. There's nothing
I can do about it. Yes, there is something you can do. I'm
going to show you that, the Lord willing, from God's word this
morning. Now, this question, what must I do to be saved, is
asked several times in the book of Acts. We read it to open the
scripture, the flip of the surface. The flipping jailer asked, sirs,
what must I do to be saved? The Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus,
when God threw him down there on that road to Damascus, he
said in Acts 22, what shall I do, Lord? What shall I do? You tell
me, I'll do it. And here in our text at the end
of verse 36, or verse 37, men and brethren, what shall we do? We're in trouble. What are we
going to do? Now I want us to look at this
message that Peter preached. to see what message was preached
that led up to these people asking this question, what are we going
to do? What message was preached that led up to these men knowing
we're in trouble? What message was preached? Now,
I'm not ashamed to tell you at all, I've robbed outlines from
many different preachers often. And today, I'm going to do the
same. I'm going to rob a message from the Apostle Peter. And I call on you. I'm talking
to everybody in this room. I call on you to listen very
carefully. And I call on you to believe.
Don't just sit there as a time feller until it's time for lunch.
I call on you to believe. Here's the first thing Peter
preached. Peter preached a covenant redeemer. Verse 22. You men of
Israel, hear these words. Now I know he was talking to
the, he said, you men of Israel because Jews were there gathered. But the Jews, whenever you read
about the Jews in scripture, especially in the Old Testament,
understand this. They're always a picture of spiritual
history. Every Jew will be saved. Every
Israelite, true Israelite will be saved because those Jews are
a picture of spiritual history. Those who are not the physical
descendants of Abraham, but those who have been given the faith
of Abraham, faith in the same Savior as Abraham believed. God
has a message for spiritual Israel. God has an elect people and we
preach the gospel to all men, but I preach knowing this. Everyone that God chose eventually
is going to hear and they're going to hear their faith and
they're going to believe this message is to God's people. Second,
Peter preached the man, Christ Jesus. Verse 22, you men of Israel,
hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know.
Now, Peter is very clear to point out he's preaching the man, Jesus
of Nazareth. That man is God. That man was
approved of God. God showed that he was God, that
God was with him by all the miracles and signs that he did. Even Nicodemus
knew that. He said, nobody could do these
miracles that you do except God be with them. But more than God
was with him, this man, Jesus of Nazareth, is God. And many people believed. They
knew that Jesus was the Christ because they saw the miracles
they did. Only God could do those things. Jesus of Nazareth is
the God-man. He's both 100% God and 100% man. And the message of the gospel
is all about this God-man, the man Jesus of Nazareth. Look at
Romans chapter one. Here's how Paul defines the gospel.
This is the gospel we preach, the gospel of God, the gospel
that saves sinners. It's all about Jesus of Nazareth.
Romans 1 verse 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of God, which,
now here's the gospel of God, which he had promised to for
by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. And this gospel is concerning
his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh. He was made when he was not.
He was made to be a man. He descended from David according
to the flesh. And he was declared to be what
he is. He's declared to be the son of God with power, according
to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.
That's who the gospel is all about. It's about this man, the
God man, Jesus of Nazareth. Now here's why this is such an
important point to Peter Mays. God became a real man. Jesus
of Nazareth is a man. He became a man so that he could
be a representative for his people. So he could be the representative
of sinful men. Jesus of Nazareth was a man.
He was born under the law. And as a man, he obeyed that
law perfectly. The only man who ever lived to
obey God's law. Now, when you're talking to people,
this is what people always want. This is what they're listening
for. How does what you're saying directly affect me? That's what
everybody wants to know. How does this directly affect
me? that Jesus of Nazareth is the God-man. Well, since the
Lord Jesus is a man, he could be the representative of men
and women, boys and girls, just like us here this morning. And
that's very important because God sees the whole human race
in one of two men, in one of two representative men. And what
those representative men did, everyone they represented did.
The first representative man was Adam. And what Adam did,
everybody he represented did too. Well, who did Adam represent? He represented the whole human
race, all mankind. Well, what did Adam do? He sinned,
didn't he? He rebelled against God, and
when he sinned, he died. God told him, if they eat that
fruit, you'll surely die, and he did. Well, everyone in Adam,
everyone he represented, which is everybody, did just what he
did. When Adam sinned, we sinned.
When Adam died, we died, because he's our representative. Scripture
says, in Adam, all sinned. And in Adam, all died. Well,
the second representative man is the second Adam, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what Christ did, everybody
he represented did too. Well, who did he represent? Well,
he represented his elect. He represented those the father
gave him. Well, what did Christ do in the man? He obeyed the
law perfectly. Christ obeyed the law perfectly.
Everyone he represented did too. If you're in Christ, you're perfect
without sin, because what he did, you did. And that's why
it's so important we preach the man Christ Jesus, because the
only way the obedience of Christ can be my obedience to the law.
is that he became a real man to be my representative. That's
who Peter preached, the man, Christ Jesus, the representative
of his people. And since Christ became a real
man, he could be the sacrifice for the sin of his elect. And
that's the third thing Peter preached. Peter preached that
crucified Christ, verse 23. Him being delivered by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. Now preaching Christ crucified,
it's not just saying that Jesus died on the cross. That's an
historical fact. It's an undeniable historical
fact. The man Jesus of Nazareth was
put to death on a Roman cross. Preaching Christ crucified is
telling people why Christ died. Why did he die and what did he
accomplish when he died? Well, Christ died on the cross
because that was God's eternal purpose. That's why he died.
God never did intend for men to be saved by keeping the law,
because we can't keep it. God gave the law for this reason. The only reason God gave the
law was to show us how sinful we are, to show us our inability
to please God, and to drive us to Christ, who did keep the law
for his people. God gave the law, and the law
and the ceremonies, just take up pages and pages and pages
and pages of the Old Testament, And God gave all that, but he
never intended for men to be saved by it. The animal sacrifices
that were required by the law, God never gave those sacrifices
as a way for a man to be saved. How foolish is it to kill a bull
and think that's going to save a human? That's not why God gave
those sacrifices. Those sacrifices were never intended
to take away sin, and that's why God was never pleased with
them. God ordered those animal sacrifices to be offered and
to be observed to give us pictures of God's eternal purpose to save
His people through the sacrifice of God's Son, the Lamb of God,
who does take away the sin of His people. And Peter says that
Christ was crucified by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God. This was God's eternal purpose. The death of Christ on the cross
was the way God has always intended to save His people. It's through
the death, through the sacrifice and blood of His Son. That's
the only way men could have done what they did. I mean, you think
about it. Men took the Son of God. They took the Prince of Glory
and did every vile thing they could imagine to do to Him. Why
did God allow them to do that? Only because that was God's eternal
purpose. They did just exactly what their
wicked hearts wanted to do. But when they did, they accomplished
God's eternal purpose to save His people through the death,
the sacrifice of His Son. And we'll look at this in more
detail in a minute. But Christ died for sin. Now
He died according to the eternal purpose of God. And men did what
they wanted to do. Because that was God's eternal
purpose and they just fulfilled God's purpose. Does that mean
that they're not at fault? Does that mean God? Well, it's
not my fault. I did it. It was just God's purpose.
No, sir. They're guilty. You and I are
too. I'll show you that in a minute.
We're guilty of this. Christ died for sin. Peter said,
you men of Israel, you men who are gathered here this morning,
he said, you took the Lord Jesus. And you showed the wickedness
of man's heart. You showed the depths of the
sin and depravity that's in man's heart because you took the only
perfect man to ever live and you slaughtered him. You tortured
him and you slaughtered him with hatred and malice in your heart. Not hatred for that man. You
slaughtered him with hatred of God in your heart. You slaughtered
him with malice for the Almighty in your heart. And that's our
sin. That's our hatred of God. It's
our refusal to believe Christ. It's our refusal to bow to him.
And the only way such wicked sin could be paid for is through
the precious, perfect, sin atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why Christ was slain. He was slain because that's God's
purpose. He was slain as a sacrifice for sin. And Peter says he was
successful when he did it. Christ's sacrifice removed the
sin of all of God's elect. And so this is the fourth thing
Peter preached. Peter preached the risen Christ. Look at verse
24. Whom, you took him and crucified
and slayed him, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the
pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be
holding of it. It wasn't possible that he should be held by death,
because he put all that sin away. For David speaketh concerning
him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on
my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my
heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh
shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou
hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full
of joy with thy countenance. Amen, and brethren, let me speak
freely unto you of the patriarch David. He is both dead and buried,
and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore, being
a prophet, and knowing that God hath sworn with an oath to him,
that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne, now he, seeing this before,
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that the soul of Christ
was not left in hell, or the grave. Neither his flesh did
see corruption. His flesh didn't see any corruption
because the sin that was charged to him was gone. He went into
the tomb without sin. His sacrifice put it away. Now,
this Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses.
Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted and having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed
forth this which you now see and hear. For David's not ascended
into the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my
Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Peter preached a risen Christ.
The father raised Christ from the dead because Christ is a
successful savior. He got the job done. He put all
the sin that was charged to him away. He paid for it with the
blood of his sacrifice. And since that sin is gone, the
father's well pleased. His justice is satisfied because
sin's gone. Sin's been punished. And there's
no reason for Christ to stay dead because all that sin that
was charged to him is gone. He can't be held by the tomb.
He can't be held by the grave. So the father raised him up from
the dead. Now that's no new doctrine. Now we know the Old Testament
scriptures prophesied of the death of Christ, don't we? But
you know the Old Testament scriptures prophesied of the resurrection
of Christ too. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
15. This is the message of the scriptures. And when the apostle
Paul writes to the church at Corinth and he speaks of the
scriptures, the only scriptures he can be referring to is the
Old Testament scriptures, right? They didn't have the New Testament
yet. He says in verse one of chapter 15, moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which
also you have received and wherein you stand. by which also you're
saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, lest
you believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures." He died according to the Old
Testament prophecies and pictures, didn't he? But Paul didn't end
there, and that he was buried. And he rose again the third day.
according to the scriptures. Those Old Testament scriptures
tell us not only is Christ going to be sacrificed, but they also
tell us of his resurrection. And he must be raised. The death
of Christ couldn't save anybody unless Christ is raised from
the dead. If Christ is not raised from
the dead, we're still in our sin. If Christ is not raised
from the dead, he did not satisfy God and put away our sin. So
we're still in our sin. We have no hope if Christ was
not raised. But he was raised from the dead
according to the scriptures. The Old Testament gave us pictures
of the resurrection of Christ. The obvious one is Jonah. Our
Lord told him, no signs will be given to you except that of
the prophet Jonah. And what did he mean by that? That he'll be
raised again the third day. Just as Jonah spent three days
and three nights in the belly of that fish and he was vomited
out on dry ground, he came out after three days. in exact same
fashion. The Lord Jesus Christ was three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And then
he arose from the dead. He came out of that tomb down
in the earth because sin was gone. And then Peter talks to
us about the prophecy of David in Psalm 16. Thou shall not leave
my soul in hell, neither will you suffer thy holy one to see
corruption. Now, you know, that prophecy was not about King David,
was it? It's about son of Jesse, not
about the son of Jesse. It was about Christ, the son
of David and the son of God. That's who that prophecy was
about. It can't be speaking about David because he's still in the
grave. This is a prophecy of Christ. Christ, he isn't still
in the grave because he's the successful sinner, because his
sacrifice put away the sin of his people. And then Peter preached
and ascended Christ. He said, after he was raised,
he ascended back into the heavens, where he sits on the throne,
waiting till all of his enemies be made his footstool, waiting
till the time he, in justice, crushes his enemies. The Lord
Jesus Christ, who lived on this earth, the man who died on the
cross, the man who lay in the tomb three days and then arose
from the dead, where is he at this moment? At this moment,
he's sitting on the right hand of the father. He's sitting on
the throne of glory. And this is what Peter's telling
us. The man you killed is king of kings and lord of lords. He's
sitting on the throne right now to ensure the salvation of his
people. And you get this. He's king.
The king is not sitting on his throne waiting to his enemies
to be made his footstool begging for somebody to do something.
No, he's ruling and he's reigning to ensure the salvation of everyone
he died for. And he's going to do it because
he's the king. And he's just waiting the day till he judges
this world in righteousness. And in that day, he'll make an
end of every enemy that put him in hell, make him his footstool.
And then sixthly, Peter preached this. The only hope that a guilty
sinner has is in this man, Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 36. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ. You crucified
him, but God made him Lord and Christ. God made him the savior
of sinners. Now, you know, some people might
wonder, didn't Peter bury the lead here? Shouldn't he have
led with that? Shouldn't he have led with our
guilt so that, you know, we'll be more prone to look to Christ?
And often we do that, don't we? Often we point out man's guilt
and depravity and need, and then we speak of the Savior so we'll
look to Him. But Peter didn't do that, and
I can tell you why. Because you and I can't see our sin, and
we can't see our guilt until we see Christ. He'd do it. I see how disobedient I am only
when I see the obedient one. I see how unholy I am only when
I see the holy one. I see how unrighteous I am only
when I see the righteous one. You see, all of our sin has to
do with Christ. Like Brother Henry says so many
times, sin's not when you stole a watermelon. Sin's what we are. Sin's not what we do. Sin is
what we are. We commit these sinful actions
because sin's in the heart. And our sin all has to do with
Christ. Hatred of him and refusal to
believe him. I can show you that from scripture.
Look at John chapter 16. Our sin is our refusal to believe
Christ. Verse eight, and when he, when
the Comforter, the Holy Spirit has come, he will reprove the
world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, of sin, because
they believe not on me. See, our sin is our refusal to
believe Christ. Every person in this room knows
it's a sin to take what doesn't belong to you. Use Brother Henry's
example to go steal a watermelon. There's a fella who's got a fruit
stand, there's watermelon. If you take that and put it in
your car, run off, don't pay for it. Every person in this
room knows that's wrong, don't you? Does anybody know that's
not wrong? Stealing is wrong. You know what our Lord says is
sin? You know what the Holy Spirit
says is sin? Refusing to believe on the cross.
Now there sit some here this morning who refuse to believe.
Did you know that's more sinful than stealing a watermelon? That's
what he says sin is. Look in John 15 verse 18, probably
still there on the same page. See, our sin is our hatred of
Christ. If the world hates you, know
it hated me before it hated you. That's our sin. And our sin,
our refusal to believe Christ and our hatred of Christ is seen
most clearly at Calvary. When we beat and we tortured
and we mocked and we murdered the Son of God. Now you'll say,
now wait a minute. What Peter's saying here about
you men you took and crucified and slayed, the Lord of Glory.
These men Peter's talking to were actually at the cross. These
were the men actually at that cross. They were outside Pilate's
hall. Calling, crucifying! These men did that. These men,
we've got no king but Caesar. These men did that. Some men
in this crowd walked by the cross and mocked them. They said, he's
a son of God, let him come down from the cross, now we'll believe
him. These were the very fellows. That's true. But you and I will never understand
sin. We'll never understand our need
of a Savior till we see. Peter's talking to you and me.
We are just as guilty of murdering the Lord Jesus Christ as they
were. You and I are. Zachariah said we'll look on
Him. I'll tell you what I hate the
most about my sin. It was my sin that caused the
Lord Jesus Christ to suffer and to die. It was my sin that nailed
him to the tree. It was my sin that made him give
his back to the smithers. It was my sin that caused his
father to turn his back on him. It was my sin. It's my guilt. Just like I said
a minute ago, I know Christ was crucified by the will of God.
Does that remove my guilt? Absolutely not. I'm guilty of
the death of Christ. You all are too. Here's the point
Peter's making. Every one of us are sinners.
We're born that way. Our guilt is refusing to believe
Christ. Our guilt is hating Christ and
putting Christ to death. But that Christ is God. That Christ came as God's servant,
and He pleased His Father. That Christ is God. He was sent
by the Father to be the Savior of sinners. That Christ is God. He's right at this moment sitting
on the throne of glory, ruling and reigning over everything.
In the days coming, He'll be the judge of the earth. And He
can send us to hell anytime He wants. And we can't say a thing
about it, because we're guilty. The one who holds the eternal
fate of our souls in His hand is the one we crucify, is the
one we hate, the one we refuse to bow to. And when God shows
us that, when the Holy Spirit convinces us of sin, shows us
we're guilty, oh, now I'm scared to death. And that's what made
these men ask this question. Verse 37, now when they heard
this, They were pricked in their heart. And they said unto the
Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what
shall we do? Let me start with what we can't
do. Look at Romans chapter eight. We can't do anything to obligate
God to save us. We can't do anything to please
God, because in this flesh, we can't please God. Romans eight,
verse seven. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, hatred against God. For it's not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. We can't please God, we can't
do anything to obligate Him to save us. We cannot decide to
accept Jesus as our personal Savior because our carnal mind
is enmity against Him. Our carnal mind will never choose
Christ. because our carnal mind hates
him. Our carnal mind is simply the mind of flesh that we're
born with. Your mind, I'm telling you, it
astounds me the things that people can learn. Our children here
are the smartest kids I've ever seen. The things they can learn,
my goodness. But that mind, as much as it
can learn of science and math and history and language, can
never choose God because that mind hates Christ. Look at 1
Corinthians 2, here's a third thing you can't do. You can't
find God and you can't believe the gospel by your natural understanding. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they're spiritually discerned. They're spiritually understood.
They can't be understood and loved and believed with our natural
understanding. What shall I do? Now, the cry
of these men, they're not crying as a legalist. He wants to earn
salvation. This is not the cry of someone
just doesn't want to go to hell. This is the cry of a guilty sinner. This is the cry of a sinner that
God, the Holy Spirit made to see their sin. Luke says they're
pricked in the heart. That's the man whose heart is
pierced with the awful guilt of his sin that will cry, what
shall I do? Peter told them to repent and
be baptized. Well, repentance is not just
to be sorry that you sinned. Well, I'm sorry. You know, I
crucified the Lord of glory. I'm sorry. He's the one that
holds the fate of my soul and is saying I'm sorry about that.
That's not repentance. Repentance is a turning. It's
a turning to Christ from your sin. It's a turning to Christ
from whatever other way you think would save you. It's turning
to Christ. But we can't make ourselves repent, can we? I promise you I can make you
feel sorry, but I can't make you repent. Repentance is the
gift of God. Salvation is not something we
do. Salvation is not Christ plus my repentance. Now that's making
salvation work. Salvation is something that God
does for us and God does in us. And if God ever pierces your
heart with the gospel, you'll repent. You'll see Christ and
you'll turn to him. Peter said, be baptized. Now
baptism doesn't save. Baptism can't wash away our sin.
What is baptism? Baptism is a confession. of what
Christ has already done. I'm not baptized in order to
be saved. I'm saved because Christ has
already saved me. He's already revealed himself
to me. And those are two things. Repent and be baptized. Everybody
God saves will do. They'll repent and be baptized.
Well, preacher, you kept me here all this time. You still haven't
told me what I can do. Let me give you five things every sinner
can do. Number one, you can seek Christ
where he's found. Yes, you can. Now, there's no
guarantee Christ will save you. You seek Him where He's found.
I'm not guaranteeing you Christ will save you, but I promise
you this. God will never save you until you see Christ. So
you can seek Him where He's found. You could read His Word, couldn't
you? That's where you'll find Him. You'd be like Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus put himself in a place
where he was sure he'd see Christ. God saved him. Now you're not
going to find Christ up there climbing a tree. I'll tell you
where you'll find him. You'll find Christ where he's
preached. By God's grace, the Lord Jesus Christ has preached
here every Sunday and Wednesday. If you want to see him be where
he's preached, be there. Maybe. Oh, how I pray. This would be the day of grace.
It could be Christ will pass by you and reveal himself to
you and save you. But he's going to do it where
he's found, where he is, and seek him where he's found. You
can do that. You can't save yourself, but you can drag your sorry carcass
in here every Sunday and Wednesday morning. You can do that. Second,
every sinner can do this. Look at Matthew chapter 15. You
can take your place before God as a sinner. and you can beg
him for mercy. You can ask God to be merciful
to you. Matthew 15 verse 21. One of my favorite passages of
scripture. Then Jesus went thence and departed
into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of those same coasts, those cursed coasts of Tyre and
Sidon. And she cried unto him, saying,
Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter's grievously
vexed with the devil. But he answered her not a word.
He didn't say anything. And his disciples came beside
him, saying, Send her away. She crieth after us. She's a
pain. Why don't you send her away?
But he answered and said, I'm not sent but a lost sheep of
the house of Israel. And faced with God's electing
grace, she came and worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me. Lord,
help me, help me. But he answered and said, it's
not me. It's not right for me to take the children's bread
and cast it to a dog like you. And she said, true, Lord, that's
true. Yet the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from their master's table. Would you just sweep me off a
couple of crumbs? Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great
is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Now you can do that. Christ came
to save sinners. Christ came to call sinners to
repentance. Christ died for sinners. Then
you can come to Christ as a sinner and beg mercy for Him. I'm a
dog, but would you have mercy on me? Let me ask you a question. Those of you who do not know
the Lord, you know if you don't know Him, let me ask you this
question. Have you ever asked God to have mercy on you? You
know what our Lord said? You have not because you have
not. You can take your place before God as a sinner and beg
Him for mercy. You can do that. Look back in
Matthew chapter 8. Here's the third thing every
sinner can do. You can come to Christ and you can confess your
total dependence on Him to save you. Matthew 8 verse 1. And when He was come down from
the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, there
came a leper and worshipped saying, Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. Now you can do that very same
thing. Every one of us can. You can come to Christ and ask
him to save you because you know there's nothing you can do to
save yourself. You can ask him to. And if Christ doesn't save
you, I promise you this, you'll be damned. Why won't you ask
him? to do for you what you can't
do for yourself. You can come and confess your
total dependence on Him to save you. Well, all right. What if I ask Him and He doesn't
answer? What if I'm like this Syrophoenician woman and I ask
and He ignores me? And I ask some more and His disciples,
His preacher doesn't have time for me. He says, send them away.
What if I call and He doesn't answer? Here's the fourth thing
every sinner can do. You can keep asking him to save
you. You can continue in prayer. Look
at Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, verse 46. And they came to Jericho, and
as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude
of people, Blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highway side begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, the son
of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace. They were telling him, Bartimaeus, be quiet.
You're up. Our Emmaus, we don't need to
be seeing you right now. Now, you know, this is a this is a
big moment. You just be quiet. We'll come
back and we'll give you a quarter when we get done. You know, we'll
give you some lunch. Just be quiet. Don't disrupt our assembly
here. You know, they charge. Just be
quiet. But he cried of the more great
deal. Thou son of David, have mercy
on me. He wouldn't shut up. And Jesus
stood still and commanded him to be called, and they call the
blind man saying unto him, you be of good cheer. He's calling
you. And he casting away, his garment
rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind man
said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto
him, go your way. By faith it made thee whole.
Faith in Christ it made you whole. And immediately he received his
sight. And you notice the Lord said,
go thy way. Where did he go? He followed Jesus in the way. You can keep calling on God.
You can refuse to shut up. You can just keep crying and
you can keep begging. And let me ask you, why wouldn't
you? You don't have any other hope than Christ. Why wouldn't
you keep calling him? Why wouldn't you keep begging
him to save you? Fifthly, this is the last thing every sinner
can do. You can come to Christ believing
that he is who he said he is. You can come to Christ believing
he will do what he said he'll do. Looking back a few pages
at Mark chapter five. Verse 25. And a certain woman, which had
an issue of blood 12 years, and had suffered many things of many
physicians, and had spent all that she had and was nothing
bettered, but rather grew worse. When she had heard of Jesus,
she came in the press behind him and touched his garment.
For she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be made
whole. She believed who he said he was. And straightway, the
fountain of her blood was dried up. And she felt in her body
that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing
in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned to him about
in the press and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples
said unto him, Thou seest a multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou
who touched me? I mean, everybody's touching
you. But only one person touched him in faith, didn't he? He looked
about, round about. There she is. His eyes fastened on her. He
saw her. that done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling,
knowing what was done in her, she came and she fell down before
him and she told him all the truth. She told him, I'm diseased. I'm done. I'm undone. I'm dying. I can't do anything to help myself.
Religion can't help me. The doctors can't help me. But
I believe you. I don't know how, but I believe
if I touched you, I'd be healed. I don't know how, but I believe
you. And he said unto her, Daughter, Thy faith hath made thee whole.
Go in peace and behold thy plague. That woman believed that Christ
could heal her and that's why she came in touch to him. I opened up the message telling
you, I call on you to believe what you hear. You and I are
commanded to believe Christ. What must I do to be saved? You
must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's very interesting. Peter didn't end his message
there, did he? Peter started his message there. Whosoever
shall call the name of the Lord shall be saved. And I tell you,
you believe on Christ. Right where you sit, you believe
him. Now listen. Believing Christ is You don't
have to have this thing of salvation all figured out. It's like this
poor woman with the issue of blood. She didn't know why her
issue of blood was dried up when she touched the Lord. She just
believed if she touched Him, He'd heal her. You don't have
to have this thing figured out. You believe. You walk in the
light that God's given you and come to Christ. You know this
from Scripture. You've heard it this morning.
If you come here, you've heard it. If you're sick of hearing
me say it, you come to Christ. You know that. Now just come
walk in the light God's given you and come to him. Because
this is true. The Lord not give you more light.
You know, you said, well, if I just understood more, I'd come
to him. The Lord's not going to give you more light until
you walk in the light God's given you. You come to him and God
will give you more light. You come to Christ and you call
on his name and ask him to be merciful to you. Every one of
us can do it. And you know, it just could be
Lord be merciful. He'd like to be merciful to sinners.
It just might be. If we call on Him, He'd be merciful. Let's bow and pray. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Word. And how I beg of Thee that You'd cause Your Word to
go forth this morning in power and to pierce the heart of Your
people. To cause us to see who and what
we are. And Father, how we pray You would
reveal the Lord Jesus Christ to our hearts here this morning,
that you call us to repentance, that you give us faith and cause
us to see the Lord Jesus Christ, cause us to cry after him, cause
us to seek him. Father, how we pray for your
mercy and your grace. And we're thankful. We're so
thankful for such a gospel to preach. We're so thankful for
such a savior, such a wonderful savior. who in mercy and grace
and power saves his people from their sin. Father, cause us to
see him, to rest in him, to love him, see in him everything we
need. For it is in his precious name
we pray and give thanks.