I don't know how much thought
you take about these things, but as the world goes, all the things that's taking
preeminence this morning in the world, there's nothing out there to compare with the privilege
that you have in this place. And I don't mean to direct that
at you. I'm talking about myself also. What a wonderful, wonderful
privilege. We have with us this morning
Brother David Edmondson from Bible Baptist Church. I hope
I got that right. I told Larry last night, I said,
I thought they was going to change the name. I said, did y'all change
that? He said, no, it's still the same. I said, OK. And we're
going to ask him to come bring the gospel to us. Actually, it was my name that
we changed. My name's Pierre Edmondson. It is an honor and a privilege
to be here and to be speaking to you this morning. And I just
pray that the Lord be with me. It ain't starting out too good,
because I got my iPad turned upside down. There we go. Turn with me to Acts chapter
17, if you would. Acts chapter 17. Here in the beginning, I want
you to look at the last nine words of verse three with me.
That'll be the title of the message. Acts chapter 17, at the end of
verse three, Paul writes these words. He said, this Jesus, whom
I preach, is Christ. This morning I claim those words
to be my own. This Jesus, whom I preach, is
Christ. There's a man in our assembly
in Madisonville, Kentucky. He sat under the gospel most
all of his life. And he recently was asked by
a religious family member what his preacher's Sunday morning
message was about. And he answered, he said, my
pastor preaches the same message every week. And every Sunday,
every Wednesday, he preaches on the same subject. And this
family member was a bit taken back. Really? No. Oh, my, she explained. Not the
same message every week. Yep, same message every week,
he said. And she shook her head. And I don't think he ever really
got across to her what he was trying to say. We have but one
message. You're going to hear six men.
this weekend, preach one message, same message. Just one gospel,
there is but one salvation, there is but one mediator between Christ
and man, the man Christ Jesus. And that's our message and that's
our subject. Sometimes we talk about this
glorious subject out of the Old Testament scriptures and sometimes
we talk about it out of the New Testament scriptures, but It's
the same message. And the God that this book declares
never changes. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. And He's the Lord that changes
not. And it's because of that that we are not consumed. So
we preach and we declare one gospel message, a message concerning
a God that never changes. And that's the message of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Only one who is just can justly
remove the sin debt for one who is unjust. And Jesus Christ is
the only just one. That's not hard to understand,
is it? Only he can be just and justifier of those that believe.
There is no other option. So then the gospel has to be
Jesus Christ and him crucified, but that is the issue at hand. And as Frank said last night,
the issue at hand is how, how, a holy God and ungodly sinners
as we are can be reconciled and brought back into fellowship
together. I'm interested. I don't want
to be alienated from God, do you? And there's only one way that
can be accomplished, because there's only one who can fulfill
God's holy law and satisfy God's holy justice, and that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. I think it was, no, I know it
was Brother Chris recently said in a message that every message,
every true gospel message that's preached could be titled Jesus
Christ and Him Crucified. A true gospel message. And that's what every true preacher
is determined to do, to preach Christ and Him crucified. And
sometimes we may preach a Henry Mahan outline, and sometimes
we may preach a Charles Spurgeon outline. I've been known to preach
a Darwin Pruitt outline. But it's the same message, and
it's the same gospel, and it's the same Christ. And our message is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. And believers never, ever grow
tired of the gospel of Christ. The child of God never tires
of hearing about Him crucified. And that's why the gospel is
so precious to ever-saved sinners. Do you know what Jesus Christ
and Him crucified means? I mean, it means none other than
God Almighty died to put away his people's sin. God Almighty
put away your sin. He's the only one that could.
He's the only one that could satisfy his own holy law and
his own holy justice. I'm so thankful, so thankful
that the Lord didn't pass me by. Yet how often do we find ourselves
discouraged, doubtful, even second-guessing
our salvation? How often do we grumble and complain
at God's good providence? We all do. How can that be? How could we
ever doubt Him? But we do. And I'm so thankful
that the Holy Spirit doesn't hide the sin and the unbelief
of his elect in the scriptures, aren't you? Oh, I read about
Abraham and I read about Lot and Noah and Jacob, David. God didn't hide their sin. He didn't hide Peter's sin, he
didn't hide John the Baptist's sin. The Lord said, among those
born of women, there's not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.
John the Baptist was a preacher. And he told the truth about God
and he preached Christ and him crucified. And he's the one that
God sent to bear witness of the Lord. He's the one who cried,
in this wilderness of a world, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. He's
the one who preached and said, there's one who is mightier than
I, that's coming, whose shoes I'm not worthy to latch. I'm
not worthy to tie his shoes. He's God. I'm not worthy to stoop down
and unloose the latches of his sandals. but as it is with all
God's people, because of that sin that so easily besets us. And doesn't it, brethren, how
we come derailed so quickly? That that sin that so easily
besets us at one time or another, when trouble and adversity comes
our way, we begin to doubt. When John the Baptist was thrown
into prison, his mind begins to wonder. You know how I know
that? Because that's what mind does. His mind begin to wonder,
his heart begins to doubt, and he sends two of his disciples
out to the Lord Jesus. The very man that had not long
ago stood before him. and pointed to the Lord Jesus
Christ and said, behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world, now has his disciples asked the Lord
Jesus, are you the one or do we look for another? Are you
him or should we keep looking? And
don't you just love the answer that our Lord Jesus gave John's
disciples? He said, you go show John again. You go show him again. And again, if necessary. But
you show him again the things that you see and hear. You go
remind John again of the things that he saw. And you go remind
John again the things that he knows in his heart. And if that
doesn't convince him, then tell him again, and again, and again.
Isn't that what preaching is? It's one sinner telling another
sinner what we've heard, and what we've seen, and what God
has shown us, and what God has done for us. I remember in the
early 90s when I was first trying to preach, and I use that word
trying very accurately. And Brother Mahan was there in
Madisonville preaching for us, and he came to the Sunday school
class. And if you've never seen somebody
sweat like I sweat that day. But afterwards, he told me, he
said, when you preach, David, just tell folks what Christ has
done for you. Tell them what you've seen. Tell
them what you've heard. That's good advice. That's good
advice. You go tell John again. You go
and show John again. You tell him that the blind receive
their sight. You tell him that the lame walk.
You tell him that lepers are cleansed. You tell him that the
dead are raised. You tell John that the poor have
the gospel preached unto them. And that's why we're here this
morning. That's why some of you've driven hundreds of miles. You
did so in order to hear this gospel. As Darwin said, to worship
in spirit and in truth. Now, here in Acts chapter 17,
verse one, we read, now when they had passed through Amphipolis
and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the
Jews. And Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the scriptures. Now I have three quick points
I want to give you this morning, and here's the first. If and
when God reveals the gospel to a chosen sinner, it's gonna be
through preaching. Did you notice here that Paul
passed through two other cities to come to Thessalonica, and
it seems that the main reason was because Thessalonica had
a synagogue. And Paul, knowing that the synagogue
was where the Jews gathered to hear the Old Testament scriptures
read, knew it'd be a place where he would be given a hearing ear,
so it says in verse two, he went in unto them, and we're told
that this was Paul's manner, this was his custom, this was
his way of life. When people find out that I'm
a preacher, I usually am asked two questions immediately. And the first is, are you full-time? And I know that folks don't mean
anything by it, but if you ask any of these pastors if you can
be a part-time preacher, I know what their answer's gonna be.
First of all, preaching is not our occupation. Studying and
preaching's our manner of life, as it was Paul's. And knowing
that the foolishness of preaching is God's ordained means of saving
sinners, we take the matter pretty seriously. Paul didn't say, warn to me if
I don't preach. He said, warn to me if I preach
not the gospel. There's a big difference. Big,
big difference. Paul was a preacher, he said
of himself, but when it pleased God who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in
me, that I might preach. That I might preach Him among
the heathen. And that's what Paul's doing
here in our text. Matter of fact, that's exactly
what that word interpreted reasoned there in verse two means. In
the original Greek language, it means to thoroughly discuss,
to fervently and passionately preach with reason. Verse three, opening and alleging,
that's preaching. The word opening means rightly
dividing the word of truth. Paul saw Christ in the Old Testament
scriptures, and he pointed to him. That's what we do in preaching,
we point sinners to Christ. The word alleging means to place
near, to set near a person, kind of as you would a plate of food
for them to eat. You know, if you're gonna share
a meal with me and you fix a plate and you set it halfway down the
table, I'm not so sure if you really want me to eat it or not.
But if you set it close to me, where I can get my hands on it,
that's what that word there means. We strive to show sinners just
how palatable and how fruitful this gospel is. Paul was preaching
Christ and him crucified, and Paul's manner in preaching was
to be persistent. You say, well, how do you know
that? Well, it says that he went unto them for three Sabbath days.
As long as they'd hear him, as long as they were receptive,
Paul preached the gospel to them. And that was his manner. That
was his life. I know this man didn't know well
enough that this is his life. He'd give up everything. And
he'll tell you straight up, it's the grace of God. The grace of
God. We see here that Paul preached,
he reasoned with them, and he did so, it says, out of the scriptures.
The word of God is the final authority, friends, on all spiritual
and eternal matters, especially in the salvation of sinners.
It's the Bible that shows us how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. As Frank so ably showed us last
night, that's the issue. How did Christ die for our sins
according to the scriptures? Well, we know it was the just.
for the unjust, it was God dying for the chosen sinner. It had
to be because God's the only one who can fulfill his own law
and satisfy his own justice, as I said a moment ago. When
God shows us that our sin is so horrific and that God is so
holy, We see that when our sin was put on Christ, our substitute,
God must kill him. Justice required it. He must
in order to justify his law and satisfy his justice. And some
claim salvation to be a cooperative effort between God and man. Others
claim to let go and let God have his way in enabling him to save
them. Some believe that they exercise
their free will in God and gave their heart to Jesus. Some claim
to walk to salvation, gonna walk down an aisle. Some believe that
you can pray your way there, say a little prayer. There are
others that are casting their own deciding vote. But there are some that see that
Christ has made unto them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. He's all and in all. He's everything
that I need, but he's everything that God requires. We see that salvation's a gift. We see that it's God that makes
us to differ. We see that everything we have,
we received at God's hand. Salvation is by grace through
faith, and that grace and that faith is not of ourselves. It's a gift of God. It's not
by works that any of us should boast. If someone, I've used
this illustration before, but it's true. If someone gives you
a gift and then holds out their hand and said, that was $30,
it wouldn't be much a gift, would it? But that's not the way God
does it freely, undeservingly. He gives to us. Faith's God's
gift, true gift. It's free. Now what was Paul
doing here in Acts chapter 17? He was preaching, he was reasoning
with those in the synagogue out of the scriptures. And friends,
it really doesn't matter what your ideas of God are. It really
doesn't matter what your opinion of God's word is, it really doesn't.
All that matters is what God's word says, what God says about
us, what God says about himself. All that matters is bowing to
what he says, submitting and believing God, believing what
God says about himself, his holiness, his justice, that he can by no
means clear the guilty. He can't remain just. Over 30 times in the New Testament
alone, we read the words as it is written. God's word never
returns unto him void. He said, but it shall always
accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it. Now again, verse three, Paul
was opening and alleging. What was Paul preaching? What
was he passionately telling these lost souls in this Jewish synagogue
in Thessalonica? Well, first, his message had
to do with the fact that Christ must need suffer. clearly showed us that last night.
This takes us back to that imperative question that we must find the
true and spiritual answer to, how Christ died for our sins,
according to the scripture. How did Christ die for our sins?
Over 16 times in the gospel narratives alone, it's recorded that he
must suffer many things. Christ must needs have suffered.
Well, let's first get the obvious out of the way. In order to suffer
as a man, God had to become a man. And there's no way that we can
clearly explain God becoming a man. That's something we just
believe by faith. I don't understand that. I don't
need a God I can understand. I just need God. being found in fashion, form,
figure as a man. A man without sin, I might add,
the God-man. He, Christ, humbled himself and
became obedient to death. And I think sometimes we read
those words without ever really giving them much thought. Christ
became obedient unto death. What does that mean? What does
it mean that Christ became obedient unto death? It means just what
it says. Death is sin's wages. The wages
of sin is death. Death is what you and I deserve,
every one of us. It's what we deserve. Death,
the law of God requires our death. Doesn't it? The soul that sins,
it shall die. Wages of sin is death. The justice
of God demands our execution. In order for God to remain just,
His laws got to be satisfied. His justice has to be satisfied.
Why? God is just. He came by no means,
under no circumstances clear a guilty sinner. He had to become
obedient unto death. His justice wouldn't allow him
to clear the guilty. But listen to this, best news
I ever heard. Neither will God's justice allow
him to condemn the innocent. Not in God remain just. Our Lord
became obedient unto death. He humbled himself to do so. Oh my, he voluntarily agreed
to take the punishment and the sentence. of death in the place
of those that God gave him before time was ever instituted. And that's why Christ must needs
suffer, not just any suffering, but the suffering of death. Even the death of the cross,
where for God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name. And if Christ is to be the only
sacrifice and the only substitute for the sin and the salvation
of his elect people, he must, by the sacrifice of himself,
perfectly pay for every sin. Every sin has got to be dealt
with. All the sin of all God's elect
throughout all time has got to be paid in full. The law of God demands it. God's holy justice demands it,
requires it. And that being so, Christ must
suffer. Again, it's not an option. No
other way. He must die. The just for the
unjust. If he's ever to bring them to
God. The Lord himself said to the
weak in faith on the road to Emmaus, He said, ought not Christ
to have suffered these things? Ought not he have suffered these
things? And enter into his glory. Why
are you so surprised at these things? Christ must needs have
suffered. Now, if I suffered for my sins,
it wouldn't pay for one single sin. If I was to suffer for eternity
in hell, I wouldn't pay for one sin. The only thing that God will
accept for the payment of sin is perfection. That's something
we don't know much about. Perfection. Perfect righteousness
is the only thing that God accepts. The perfect God Himself and the
person of His perfect Son came in the likeness of sinful flesh,
yet without sin. He knew no sin. He had no sin. And He lived a perfect life of
righteousness. And He died in the chosen sinner's
place. He kept the law of God perfectly. He crossed every T and He dotted
every I of the law. And he satisfied the justice
of God. God said, that's enough. And he rose again from the grave.
You know why? Because God's justice couldn't
hold him. And he ascended on high into
glory and all these things prove that God purposed this work of
redemption and it's finished and it's accomplished. Oh my,
it's finished are the words of our Lord. Was it finished? You better believe it was. Christ
must need suffer, he must needs die, he must also need be risen. Because justice said, I found
a ransom. And that's the second thing that
we see in verse three of our text. Paul's gospel here declares
that Christ must needs also be risen again from the dead. Why? Because God's justice demands
it. I love to think about this. When
God's holy justice is satisfied, now listen to this. When God's
holy justice is satisfied, the holy law must release the one
who satisfied it. That's why the death in the grave
couldn't hold the Lord Jesus Christ. And according to divine justice,
by the means of substitution and by the means of covenant
promise, all who are found in Christ must also be released
from the law's demands. Divine justice makes that so. And this is how Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. He died according to the justice
of God as described in the Old Testament scriptures. As the
seed of woman, he is the Messiah, Satan's conqueror. As Abel's
lamb, he is the propitiation for our sins. As Noah's ark,
he is our place of safety and security. As our Passover lamb,
God passes over our sins in mercy. As the manna in the wilderness,
Christ is our bread of life. As the smitten rock, he's our
fountain of living water. As the serpent lifted up, we
look to him alone to be saved. Look and live. Christ is the mercy seat where
God meets his people. Christ is the ark wherein the
law of God is not broken. Christ is truly made to me all
I need. I love that little chorus. He's
made to me all I need. Aren't you glad about that? Isn't
that good news? My, my. Well, here's the third
beautiful truth that's tucked away here in this single verse
of Scripture in verse three. And it goes back to what we read
in the beginning. This Jesus whom I preach. under you is Christ. You know,
preaching is not true preaching if the subject is not Christ.
Paul says, this Jesus. Paul is saying, my Jesus, my
Christ, my Lord, the Jesus I preach, he's Christ. He's particular
and he's distinguishing from others. In our Lord's day, no
doubt, there were hundreds, if not maybe thousands, that had
the name Jesus or Joshua or some variance of it, but Paul distinguishes
his Savior here, and he says, this Jesus, whom I preach. Do you see what Paul saw? This
Jesus I preach, the Jesus these men preach, the Jesus your pastor
preaches, is Christ. He's the Anointed One. He is
God Almighty in the flesh. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11,
Paul wrote, For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom
we have not preached. Friends, there are many Jesuses
being preached today. You know that the same as I do.
You've heard them all. So, you might ask, how are there
so many Jesuses? Well, a Jesus that wants to save
you is another Jesus. Wouldn't you agree? A Jesus that
is trying to save you, that's another Jesus. A Jesus that can
die for you and you still be lost? That's another Jesus. That's not the Jesus I preach.
My Jesus is the Christ. The Son of the living God. And
God had to reveal that to you. A Jesus that only makes salvation
possible, a Jesus who cannot save a sinner without the help
or the assistance of the sinner is another Jesus. Jesus Christ is God the Son and
he needs no assistance and he needs no help. Paul said this
Jesus, the Jesus whom I preach, he's Christ. He's the anointed
one. He's Emmanuel. God with us. Do you believe that? Do you believe
Jesus Christ is God? Amen. What do you think of Christ? That's the most important question
asked in the scriptures. What do you think of Emmanuel?
Do you really believe that he is God with us? Well, if you
do, thank God, because flesh and blood didn't reveal it to
you. Are you putting your trust in the Christ of the Scriptures?
He saves to the uttermost, not almost saves. That's what people
preach today. He almost saves. He makes salvation
possible. But you have to lend Him your
will in order to... That's not my Jesus. That's not
the Jesus I preach. That's not the Jesus you preach. That old leper cried. He said,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He knew the Lord could. The question was, Lord, will
you? And I love, oh, I read that. Every time I read that, I get
goose bumps, duck bumps, something. Lord Jesus said, I will. I will. It's going to be all right. That's the Jesus. He's the Christ. And that's why I don't like to
just call Him by the name Jesus. I really don't. I don't want
people to misunderstand who I'm talking about when I'm talking
about my Lord. A lot of folks talk about Jesus,
but He don't sound like Jesus Christ to me. He really doesn't. I'm not trying
to be different or difficult, but the Jesus they described
is not the Lord Jesus Christ. And in most cases, when you hear
folks talk, it really seems and sounds like that they're Lord
over him. Paul said, this Jesus whom I
preach is Christ. Is that who you're trusting in? He suffered. He must. He must
suffer death. He must suffer all that physical
abuse and all that soul suffering that Frank told us about last
night. The anguish of soul. He must suffer the abandonment
of his friends. And worst of all, the forsaking
of his own father. Why? For me? For you? This Jesus whom I preach, Russell,
he's the Christ. Then come the suffering, the
mockery, and ridicule, and hatred. The scripture says that they
pulled up seats in front of the cross to sit and watch and to
mock. Can you imagine? Boy, you want to see something
of man's wickedness by nature? You don't have to look any further
than the cross. And all that he suffered, friends,
that's what we deserved. You think about that. That's
what I deserve. That's what should have been
done to me. That's what our sin did to him. He took his people's
place. He paid his people's sin debt. And you know who that means something
to? To those who owe so much they
can't pay it. That's who it means something
to. Larry told you last night about
that woman that was a sinner that came to Simon's house. I've
thought about that woman a whole lot. Just like her. Just like her. Do you remember
what our Lord said concerning her? He said, to whom much is
forgiven, there is much love. but to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. Now let me ask you one more time,
which are you? I mean, that's the issue, isn't
it? Which are you? Do you see how
much you owe? I'm here to tell you that Jesus
Christ paid it all, every bit of it. And all to him I owe. Sin left a crimson stain, but
he washed it white as snow. And do you know why when I stand
before God to give an account of the things that I've done
in this body, do you know why he's gonna say to me, enter in
thou good and faithful servant? Do you know why? Because I don't
have any sin. I don't have any sin. paid it all. And isn't that the
best news you've ever heard? That's why we call it the gospel.
That's why we call it good news. May God enable you to trust in
Him. This Jesus whom we are preaching
this weekend, friends, He's the Christ. He's the Christ. Trust in Him. Okay. Thank you, Pastor.