And I greatly appreciate you
all. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I really do. If
you would, turn over to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. I think it was
last weekend Chris Cunningham was here. And he mentioned a
story. A story of a woman named Tabitha.
Dorcas. And the coat she made, the garment
she made for the widows. And I remember reading the story,
but it had been a while since I'd read it. I went back and
read it and It blessed me greatly, and that's what we're gonna look
at this morning. So let's read it, and we'll talk about it a
little bit here. Pick up in verse 36 of Acts chapter
nine. Now there was at Joppa a certain
disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas.
Listen to this. This woman was full of good works
and alms deeds, which she did. Can you imagine if that was your
epitaph? After you died, that's what people said about you, full
of good works and alms deeds, charitable, kind behavior toward
impoverished people. What an epitaph, what of a thing
for people to say about you? That would be amazing. Verse
37, and it came to pass in those days that she was sick and died. whom when they had washed, they
laid her in an upper chamber. That's the top room in the house. And for as much as Lydda was
not at Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there,
they summoned to him two men, desiring him that he would not
delay to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with
them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber,
and all the widows stood by him, weeping. and showing the coats
and garments which Dorcas made while she was with him. But Peter
put them all forth and kneeled down and prayed, and turning
him to the body, said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes,
and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand
and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows,
presented her alive. And it was known throughout all
Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. Now, after reading that,
don't you admire this woman, Tabitha? Highly admirable woman. This is what was said of her.
She was full of good works and nalms deeds, which she did. I want to be just like this woman
Tabitha. We hold her in very high regard. But I want to bring something
to light here. I want to remind us of something. Back in John
chapter 5, there's a group of Jews who are very angry with
the Lord. They wanted to kill him. That's how angry they were.
They were angry because he had made himself equal with God. What was wrong with that? Absolutely
nothing. He is equal with God because
Jesus Christ is God. All he did was tell these men
the truth. That's all he did, and they wanted
to kill him for it. And after a very long dissertation
where he clearly and plainly told them that he was the son
of God, this is what he said to them. This is John 5 and 9.
He says, search the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. He says, you fellas know the
Bible, the Old Testament at that time. You searched them, you
know all the laws and all the feast days and you can recite
scripture back and forth. And you think in that knowledge
that you have eternal life, but here's the truth. And they are
they which testify of me. Every scripture, the Old Testament
and the New. Every chapter, every verse, every
word is talking about one man and the accomplishments of one
man, and that is Jesus Christ, his person, his work, what he
has done, and his glory. That's what every scripture speaks
of. That's the first application.
And this woman, Dorcas, Tabitha, she's the type of Christ. That's
why she's so glorious. That's why she's so beautiful.
That's why when you read this, you admire that woman so much.
She is a beautiful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're
going to look at her in that light. We're going to do that
at the end of the message. Two things I want to bring out before
that. And here's the first thing I want to draw your attention
to. I want you to consider first, what happened before Peter, the
Lord through Peter, raised Tabitha from the dead? What happened
directly before that? And that's probably a good idea.
Every time we read something in the scripture, it captures our attention.
Read what happened before that. Read what happened after that.
Find the context of it. But what happened before the
Lord raised Tabitha from the dead? What's the very first story
before this happened? Look up at verse 32, Acts chapter
nine. And it came to pass, as Peter
passed throughout all quarters, He came down also to the saints,
which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain
man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years and was sick
of the palsy. This man, Aeneas, had a disease.
This disease left him paralyzed. He had been that way for eight
years. For eight years, he had laid on his bed, and he could
not move. Can you imagine what that would
be like? If he had to use the bathroom,
Either somebody was going to pick him up and drag him off
that bed so he could use it, or he's going to soil himself
on that bed. If somebody didn't rotate him, pick him up and move
him over, he's going to get bed sores all over. If somebody doesn't
come to him and put food in his mouth and pour water in his mouth,
he's not going to eat and he's not going to drink. He is completely
and utterly dependent. He can't do anything for himself. He is a diseased man, and that
disease left him utterly paralyzed. Look what happens. Look in verse
34. And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee
whole. Arise and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. Now
notice what Peter did not say. He did not say, Aeneas, Jesus
Christ helps you out. He's going to give you a little
strength. In fact, Aeneas, here. He's coming halfway. I'm going
to put my hand right here. And as long as you can reach up and
take my hand, I'll help you up. That is not what he said, because
that would have done Aeneas absolutely no good. What he said was, Aeneas,
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. You're whole everywit. You are
cleansed from your disease. Now get up. Get up. And he tells him this. And I
find this very interesting. He says, now make your bed. Make your bed. This thing of making your bed
has something to do with order. Order and discipline. Your God
is not a God of chaos. He is not a God of unforeseen
circumstances. He is a God of order and purpose.
Get up, Aeneas, and you make your bed. You're an object of
purpose and an order. That's what he's telling them.
What happened right before the Lord raised Tabitha from the
dead? He healed a man of his disease.
Now, if I'm doing the math right and I read correctly, In the
scriptures there are eight stories that give an account of a particular
person being raised from the dead. I believe three in the
Old Testament and five in the New and that excludes the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ. That also excludes the day of
his death when there was a mass resurrection where it says after
he died the graves were opened and many saints which slept,
they're all brought back to life. Can you imagine how amazing that
would have been? People have been dead maybe years.
All these graves All these people come out that have been dead
for so long, all brought back. And it's a type, it's a picture
of what his death accomplished. He brought us back from the dead,
his people. Eight stories though, eight stories in the scriptures
of particular people being raised from the dead. Of those eight,
I looked at it, three of them follow the same suit here. Right
before the Lord raised somebody from the dead, he healed somebody
else of their disease. If you want those particular
stories, come talk to me after the message. I'll show you where
they're at. But this is a reoccurring theme in the scripture. Healed
from disease and raised from the dead. Why is that a reoccurring
theme in the scripture? Why do we see that over and over
and over? Why is that so important? What
does it take for a sinner to be saved? What does it take for
you to be saved? First, I have to be healed of
my disease. Secondly, I have to be given
life. That's what it takes to save
a sinner. What's the disease we suffer
from? Every man, woman, and child born in this world, we all suffer
with the same disease. It's a hereditary disease, in
a manner of speaking. Sin, and a sinful nature. My grandfather had it. He passed
it on to my father. My father has it. He passed it
on to me. I have it. I pass it on to the
kids. Sin. It's a hereditary disease. And if you follow that line all
the way back, you end up with one man. The first father of
us all, Adam. In Adam, we were all housed,
we were all stored. Adam is our first father. But understand
who Adam is. He's a house. He housed up all
of humanity inside of him. And when Adam disobeyed God,
Lord said, you can eat all the fruit of all the trees of the
garden. It's all yours. It's all free. Just this one
tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the day
you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Humanity in one accord all
made one decision in Adam. We're going to disobey God. We chose to believe a lie. We
chose to believe Satan. Satan said, you'll be just like
God. You'll know good from evil. We thought that sounded good.
I can be my own God. I can rise, I can take that throne.
All of humanity in one accord in Adam disobeyed God. And you
know what we did? We fell. That upright and innocent
nature that Adam had that Lord gave him, he lost that and we
lost that in him. So that every one of us that
are born, we are born with a fallen, sinful, evil nature that can
do absolutely nothing. This is an emphatic statement,
but this is true. Absolutely nothing but sin. That
is the only thing the natural man is capable of, is sinning
and rebelling against God. Our best work, it is nothing
before him. It is just a sin that has to
be atoned for. That's it. So what is my need? What is the
first thing that's necessary for a man to be saved? Something
has to be done about my disease. It has to be taken away. My sin
has to be dealt with. And here's the scary part. Something
that should give us pause is the character of God. What's
God like? That's a good question. I can't
name all his attributes right now, but I'll give you three.
He's holy. He's just. He has a perfect sense
of justice. And he's sovereign. You know
what that means? That means he must punish sin. That means he will punish sin. And that means he has the power
and the authority to punish sin. That's what that means. He cannot
sweep sin under the carpet, and he cannot overlook it. When he
sees sin on a man, all he can do, his nature and his character
demands it, all he can do is punish that man. That's it. That's
it. That should give us pause in
the light of the character of God. This is the way we are born
in this world. Sinners before God in the presence of a just
and a holy God who must punish sin. Do I have your attention? That's my first need. Something
has to be done about my disease. Here's the second need. I have
to be given life. This is Ephesians 2 verse 1.
It says, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses,
in sins. That old wicked nature that can
do nothing but sin, it's a dead nature. A dead nature. What does that mean? That means
it cannot perform the acts, the works of spiritual life. It can't
believe. It can't come to Christ. It can't
change its mind about who God is, about who I am. It can't
love God, it just rebels against God. It is a spiritually dead
nature. And this is what the Lord said
to Nicodemus. He said this, he said, You know what he's saying
there? He said, Nicodemus, unless I
breathe life into a man, I breathe a new man into him,
and I give him spiritual life through the effectual preaching
of the gospel. That's where the water comes in. He will not live. He will not be part of the kingdom. Two needs. My disease has to
be taken away, and I have to be given life. That's why this
is a reoccurring theme in the scripture. Now, here's a question. How much ability do you and I
have to take away our disease or to give ourselves life? Well,
how much ability did Aeneas have to cure himself of his disease? The man was paralyzed. He had
absolutely no ability to cure himself of his disease. Either
Jesus Christ was going to make him whole, every whit hole, or
that man was going to stay paralyzed to the day he died, and that's
it. No ability. How much ability did Tabitha
have to raise herself from the dead, to give herself life? She's
dead. She has no ability. That's how much ability we have
in this thing of curing our disease. or giving ourselves life. With
men, it is impossible. We can't take the first step.
We can't help out. We have all the faculties and
all the abilities of a dead person. Just as Tabitha laid there dead
as a doornail, that's the abilities we have. And yet, and yet, some
men and women are saved. I say some, not all. Some men
and women are saved. There's a place called heaven.
That's where God dwells. And there are people there, people
that God saved who are beholding the face of Jesus Christ right
now in paradise with him. They had no ability to save themselves,
couldn't help in any way, couldn't take the first step toward God,
and yet some men and women are saved. What's the implication
of that? Ever thought about that? Here's
the first implication of it. Salvation must be all of grace. If men have absolutely no ability
to save themselves or to aid in their salvation in any way,
that means it's salvation. Salvation is real. That means
it must be all of grace. It must be God determining to
be gracious. to show mercy and kindness unmerited
to an undeserving object. It must be by grace. And we don't
have to know that by implication, we know that from the scriptures.
Ephesians 2.8, for by grace are you saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Salvation must be by grace. There's a second implication.
If some men are saved, and it is by the power of God, and by
the grace of God alone, that means he did it on purpose. You see, he's a God of purpose. I loved, I don't know why it
stuck with me, but Aeneas. Peter looked at me, he said, Aeneas,
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Rise, now make your bed. Make
your bed. That's the very first thing he
tells him. Why do you make your bed? It's a form of order. It's
a form of purpose. This is a God of purpose and
order. This is not a God of chaos. This
is not a God that is reacting to unforeseen circumstances.
This is a sovereign God. He is a God of purpose, and he
is a God of order. And he is your his. Make your
bed. He's a God of order. He's always had a singular purpose.
And he's always been this God of perfect order. And the purpose
is this. It is to glorify his son, our
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, through the salvation of a particular
people. And this purpose has always been
his purpose. That means the elect, they've
always been loved of God. They've always been in one in
Christ Jesus. They've always been chosen by
the Father unto salvation. Christ has always been their
surety. This has always been the purpose
of God. If men are saved and they have
no ability to save themselves, then it must be by grace and
it must be on purpose. Purpose. Here's a scripture that
backs that up, speaking of Jacob and Esau. For the children, being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of
works. But of him that calleth, it was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Jacob was a saved man. He was
saved by grace. Loving grace, grace that always
loved him in Christ, electing grace that chose him in Christ,
redeeming grace, Christ bearing his sins and dying for him on
that cross, calling grace, regenerating grace, preserving grace. That
man, Jacob, he was saved and he was saved by grace. Somebody says, what about Esau?
What about him? Tell me God hated him before
the world was ever formed, before he ever did any good or evil. That's exactly what it says. How's that fair? Best answer
I can give you is this, Romans 9 20. Nay, but O man, who art
thou that repliest against God? shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? What right do you and I have
to reply or to question God Almighty? He's God. And we're not. He's holy. We're not. He is incapable
of error. He is incapable of doing that
which is not good and perfect. We're not. Who art thou, O man? That replies against God. We
have absolutely no right to call him on anything he does. Whatever
God does, he is right. Amen? Amen. Now, this leads to the final
implication. It's not really as much an implication
based on what we've looked at up to this point, but it's a
statement of fact. If a man ends up in hell, and
I'll say this flippantly, If a man ends up in hell, it's because he earned it. It
will not be because God did not love him. Although he doesn't,
there'll be nobody in hell that God loves. It will not be because
God didn't choose him, Christ didn't die for him. Although
they didn't, because nobody's going to be in hell that God
chose and Christ died for. If man goes to hell, it'll be
because he will not come and believe and bow the knee to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, listen to this. This is
Revelation 22, verse 17. And the Spirit of the bride say,
come, and let him that heareth say, come. and let him that is
a thirst come, listen, and whosoever will, let him take the water
of life freely. You hear what that says? Everybody
who's thirsty. What is thirst? It's a need.
Every sinner, every sinner who has a need, a need for Christ
to do everything in their salvation, a willing whosoever. Willing
to do what? willing to be saved by a God
and by a Christ that will have all the glory for himself, and
you get absolutely nothing. If you're thirsty, you're a needy
sinner in need of Christ to do everything in your salvation,
and you're willing to be saved in this way, this is your command. Come. You come and you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you do it right now, every willing
whosoever. That's who this is to. And this
is the promise, John 6, 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And that's the truth. These are
the only people who are going to come. Those are the Father
chose. But all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. That's a
promise from God. If you are a needy sinner, willing
to be saved by Christ will have all the glory for himself. You
come on and you will not be turned away. And here's the problem
with man, he will not be saved that way. I recognize that man
cannot come to Christ. He lacks the ability to believe.
But the greater issue is this, it's John 5, 40. And you will
not come to me that you might have life. That's the issue. He don't want to be saved by
grace. He don't want to be saved by Christ. He will not take his
rightful place as a sinner at the feet of a sovereign and a
holy God. Doesn't have any need. That's the issue. Now you can
write this down. If man goes to hell, it's his fault. He will
not come to Christ. He will not bow the knee. He
will not believe on him. But if a man is saved, it's all
God's fault. Because the only reason he ever
came, he ever believed, that he was ever a sinner in the first
place, God chose him, God loved him, Christ died for him, called
by the Holy Spirit, reserved all the way to the end. If a
man is saved, it's God's fault. And if a man goes to hell, that's
his fault. Now, second point here, I want
to look at Tabitha's epitaph. Go back to verse 36. Now there was at Joppa a certain
disciple named Tabitha, by interpretation is called Dorcas. This woman
was full of good works and alms deeds, which she did. Now, this was the commentary
of people who knew Tabitha, or Dorcas, whichever one you want
to call her. This was not her confession of herself. An epitaph
is what people say about you after you're dead. Sometimes
they put it on your tombstone. The people that were around Tabitha,
this is what they said about her. She's full of good works
and alms deeds, which she did. That wouldn't have been her confession
of herself. If you said, what do you want put on your tombstone,
Tabitha? What do you want to say? Probably
something like this. Only a sinner saved by grace.
Probably something like this. But this is what these people
had to say about her. And I want to talk about something.
This is an uncomfortable topic with me. And I'm just going to
give you what the scripture says. And do my best. Pray for me as
I go through this. And Lord, give me some clarity on this.
I want to talk about good works here for a moment. This woman,
Tabitha, she was full of good works and alms deeds. What are
those words? Which she did. She did these
things. Now, a question. Do believers
do Good works. Tabitha did. It says she was
full of good works and alms deeds, which she did. Give you another scripture, Matthew
5, 16. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your father,
which is in heaven. Do believers do good works? Yes. I would notice in that scripture,
though, who gets the glory for those good works? Your Father
in heaven. We'll talk about that more in
just a second. Here's another scripture for you. This is Hebrews
10, 24. It says, and let us consider one another to provoke, the word
means literally to incite, like you're inciting a riot, to provoke
unto love and to good works. How do you provoke one another
unto good works? You preach the gospel to one another. You don't
provoke a man unto good works, you tell him by Christ. Preach
the gospel to him. That will provoke a man unto
good works. That's how you do it right there. There's three
scriptures right there. Do believers do good works? They
do. Yes, that's what the scripture
says. Now, what is a good work? There is only one time in the
scriptures that our Lord ever referred to something as a good
work. Y'all are probably familiar with
the story. Before our Lord died, he was eating dinner. the disciples,
and Mary came in. And she brought in an alabaster
box of ointment, spikener. As I understand it, that box
of ointment was worth about a year's wages, very, very costly. And
she took that box, didn't say a thing, broke it on the Lord's
head, took it, put it on his feet, and rubbed that ointment
in with the very hairs of her head. And the disciples watched
this. This woman didn't say a word.
They watched the list go on. And Judas, he spoke up. He was
mad. He said, this is wasteful. This
is wasteful. That could have been sold, and we'd given the
money to the poor. That wasn't his real intention.
He wanted the money for himself. But he had an objection to all
this. And this is what the Lord said.
This is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Listen
to this. Mark 14, 6. And Jesus said, let her alone.
Why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work
on me. That is the only time in scripture
that our Lord ever called anything a good work. What can we learn
from that? What is a good work? It is anything done with the
motivation of love to the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory.
That is a good work. Anything done, motivated by love
for him and for his glory. Now, I want to show you something.
Turn to Ephesians 2. I quoted this a moment ago, but
we're going to look at it. Ephesians 2, look at verse 8. It says, for by grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now here we have
cause and effect. What is the cause of salvation?
What it says right here, for by grace ye are saved. Any man who's saved, what's the
cause of it? The grace of God. The loving grace of God, the
electing grace of God, the redeeming grace of God, the preserving
grace of God, the regenerating grace of God. This is the cause
of salvation, God and his grace. What's the effect? For by grace
ye save through faith. What's the effect of that salvation
when the Lord saves a man? He believes God. He can do nothing
else. He wants nothing else. He cannot
not believe. He's had his eyes opened. He
has a new master. He's been given a new heart.
He cannot not believe God. Cause and effect. What's the
cause of salvation? God and His grace. What's the
effect? Faith. Faith coming from a new man and
a new heart. And if there's any confusion
about this, this is all, the grace, the faith, it's all the
gift of God. Everything is just freely given,
not of works in any way. Nobody who gets this grace, who
gets this faith, who gets any portion of salvation earned it
in any way. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast so that Christ will get all the glory in salvation. You see how that works? Let's
look at another cause and effect. Look at verse 10. For we are his workmanship, look
at this word, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. What happens when the Lord saves
man? He creates in him. He creates something that was
not there before. He creates a new nature, a new
man, the very spirit of God, the very mind of God, the very
heart of God, dwelling inside a man. This is the new birth.
This is regeneration. This is exactly what the Lord
was talking about when he was talking to Nicodemus. A new creation,
not reforming what was there before. Nothing is done to that
old man, that old wicked man. He stays the same. He stays unbelieving.
He stays sinful. All that stays the same, but
something new is birthed in a man when the Lord calls him. He's
created anew in Christ Jesus. What's the effect of that new
birth? Unto good works. That new man, that holy man,
that righteous man, he always does that which is good. He can't
do that which is wrong. He's holy. He is always motivated
by the same thing, love for Christ, love for his people, the very
glory and honor of God. That man is holy and he is perfect. unto good works. Now listen to
this, read the rest of the verse. For we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should welcome. Do believers do good works? They
sure do. There is a new man residing in
them, and that man can only do that which is good and righteous
and holy. And every good work you ever
do, if you're a believer, it's because God before ordained it. He gave you the grace. He gave
you the new man. He gave you the want-to. He gave
you the ability. It is just God working through
you. And if it's all before ordained,
do we get any glory in that for those good works? Who gets the
glory in it? God gets all the glory every
single time. Now, Here's the final thing I
want to say about this. It's something Paul said. This
is Romans 7, 21. He says, I find in the law that
when I would do good, evil is present with me. What does he
mean by that? What's he talking about? He's
talking about that struggle and that war between that new man,
that new creation in Christ Jesus and that old sinful wicked man
that we're going to have to the day we die. He says, when I would
do good, When that new man would do good, do something motivated
by love for God and for his glory, when I would do good, there's
another man who's doing it too. You see, I got two men coming
through one consciousness. When my new man would do good,
when he would do that which is holy, when he would do that which
is right, there's another man doing it too, that old man, and
his motivations are completely the opposite. His motivations
are self-serving. They are self-glorifying. He
wants nothing to do with the glory of God or the glory of
Jesus Christ. You got two men doing the same
action. Paul says, this is it. When I
would do good, evil is present with me. Where does that leave
us? How do we sum all this up? Charles
Spurgeon said something to this effect. And I couldn't get the
direct quote. I saw some variations of it,
so I spliced some stuff together. But this is a good quote. Listen
to this. Between my good works and my bad works, I can't really
tell a difference. So I gather them up, and I fling
them all overboard. And I cling to the plank of free
grace, for I hope to swim to glory on it. That's about the
best way you can possibly sum all that up. Now finally, I want
to look at Tabitha as a type of Christ. Go back to verse 36
again. We'll read through it quickly.
Acts 9, 36. Now there was at Joppa a certain
disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas.
This woman was full. Full, that word is full. That
means there wasn't room for anything else. Full of good works and
alms deeds, which he did. Now, this is Christ. And this
can only be said of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was full of
good works. This cup is not full. It's not
full because it can hold more. If it were full, if you added
one drop of the water, it would spill over the side. Christ was
full of good works. He lived for 33 years, and the
entire time, you know what he did? He kept the law. He kept
the law perfectly, kept it in his heart. Never a bad motivation.
Always perfect in every way, shape, or form. He is the spotless
lamb and full of alms deeds, charity, benevolence, pity, and
kindness to the poor, to sinners. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, look at verse 37. And it came to pass in those
days that she was sick and died. And when they had washed, they
laid her in an upper chamber. Tabitha died. Why do men die? So they get sick. Yeah, they
get sick. Well, why do men die? Romans 6.23, for the wages of
sin is death. Tabitha died because she was
sick. That's the cause of her death. Christ died. And he was
the spotless lamb that never sinned, that didn't know any
sin, never did any sin. Why did he die? Because of 2
Corinthians 5.21. For he, speaking of the Father,
hath made him, speaking of the Son, to be sin for us, the elect,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He died. He died on a cross.
He died as the sinner's substitute. The Father took the sins of the
elect, they took them off of them, and they put them in Christ. And in that sin, he suffered
under the wrath of God, and he died. And every other man's death
has always been, there's no victory in it whatsoever. It's always
a defeat. But in this man's death, there was a victory. There was
a victory. There was a putting away of sin, so much so that
the Father raised him from the dead. That means right now, If
your hope is in Christ and in him alone, you have absolutely
no sin. That is not a legal standing.
That is not forensic in any way. That is the truth concerning
you. You have no sin. You are sinless before God. Your
disease has been taken away. Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.
Arise, make your bed. Your God is a God of order and
purpose, and you are an object of order and purpose. Now, look at verse 39. And then Peter arose and went
with them. When he was come, they brought
him unto the upper chamber. And all the widows, take note
of that, the widows, stood by him weeping and showing the coats
and garments which Dorcas made while she was with him. Who is
the audience at this time? who was standing around Tabitha
at the time. It was a bunch of widows. What's
a widow? What did that mean back then?
If you're a widow, you had lost your source of income. Your husband
was the one who took care of you. He provided for you, provided
everything you needed. You didn't provide a thing. You'd
lost your husband, you'd lost all your provisions. You were
completely and utterly dependent. You were dependent on the charity
and kindness of somebody else to have what you needed to live.
That's God's people. a bunch of widows, a bunch of
poor sinners, bankrupt of righteousness before God, in need, in need
of Christ to provide everything we need to live before God. That
was the audience here, and that is the audience of God's elect,
a whole bunch of widows. What did Dorcas do for those
widows? She was a seamstress, and while she was alive, she
made coats and garments for all the poor widows. For he hath
made him sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. What did Christ leave us? He
left us his righteousness. This is what Revelation 19, 8
says. And to her, the church, the elect,
the bride was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of
the saints. It does not say it's Christ's
righteousness imputed to the saints. It says it is the righteousness
of the saints. That's real. He left us his righteousness
and it really is ours. It's not just a garment that
covers our filth. We have no filth. The disease has been removed
through the death and we are arrayed in his righteousness
and it really is ours. You know what that means? That
means Tabitha's epitaph, full of good works and alms deeds,
which she did. That is the truth concerning
every one of God's people. You're full, full of good works. The very righteousness of Christ
is yours. You are full of, you couldn't
be more acceptable to God as you are right now in Christ.
That's the truth. That's the truth. Now look at verse 40. But Peter put them all forth
and kneeled down and prayed, turning him to the body, said,
Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes. And
when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand and
lifted her up. And when he had called, listen to these two words,
the saints and widows presented her alive. That's not two groups
of people, folks. He called some saints, he called
some widows. This is one group of people, saints and widows,
one group answering to two different names. What's a saint? A sanctified
one. One God loves, one God chose,
one God made holy. And what name do they answer
to in this life? I'd love to know if I'm one of
these sanctified ones that God chose, that Christ died for,
that has the very love of God on this day. How do I know? If
you're a poor widow, And your only hope is that Christ did
everything in your salvation. You're a saint, Todd. You're
a saint. One group of people that answers
to two separate names, saints and widows. And this is the message
of Christ to his church, to the saints and widows. I'm alive. We present him alive. Now I want to end over here.
Turn over to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12, and look
at verse 38. Then certain of the scribes and
of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from
thee. Do something. Do a miracle. Show
us something, if you're the Christ. Show us something. Look what
he said in verse 39. But he answered and said unto
them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.
And there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet
Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. There's only
one sign we're gonna be given. Only one. You want a sign. If
you're a believer right now, you're a poor widow. All your
hope is that Christ did everything necessary in your salvation.
What's your sign? What's your sign that you are
truly secure in him? Three days in, three days out. He died. They put him in the
earth, in that sepulcher. And after three days, what did
God do? He raised him from the dead. He was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification, or even better,
because of justification. God raised him from the dead
because he did exactly what he sent him to do, to completely
and utterly save every one of God's people, saints and widows. So widow, this is your sign. You have been completely and
utterly cured of your disease by the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the fact that right now, all your hope is him, that's
a sign you've been given life. What else could you possibly
want? We'll stop there.