If you'll turn back with me now
to Acts chapter 2. For thousands of years, the Jews
appeared to be to this world the children of God. And even
to this day, when men and nations regard Israel, they regard them
as the children of God. This is God's elect. I've heard
presidents say it. I've heard kings of foreign countries
say it, and queens. God did things in the midst of
this people unlike anything this world has ever seen. And they're
matters of history. They're not matters of speculation. They're not superstitious things
that men said. They're matters of history. He overturned one of the most
powerful kingdoms in this world without a single shot or a single
blow from a man's hand. He delivered Israel out of Egypt
without so much as a stone and a sling. So complete was this
deliverance out of Israel that he forbade even the dogs in Israel
to bark in rejection when he led his people out. Not even
a dog was permitted to bark. He so wounded the nation of Egypt
that the scar remains to this day. When all that trouble broke
out over the Middle East, Egypt didn't want any part of it. That
scar still remains clear to this day. He preserved this people through
famines, through a wilderness journey. under corrupt governments. Every single one of God's prophets
and apostles came directly from the loins of Abraham. That's
the first thing Peter said here about the Lord Jesus Christ.
He came, according to the flesh, from the loins of David. Christ Himself was a Jew. The Lord took a heathen idolater,
Abraham, and raised up the most powerful nation that this world
has ever seen. The Queen of Sheba, seeing the
glory of Solomon and his kingdom, said, the hag has never been
told. She said, there is no breath
left in me when she saw this kingdom. You cannot deny God's
presence in Israel. And because of these things,
and the reputation of their fathers and their children. Men and women
are led to believe that because they were Jews, because they
had relation, blood relationship with these men, that they had
favor with God. They thought because of what
God had done by the hand of their fathers, that His hand would
do the same thing with them. They believed because they bore
the name of Israel that they were the covenant children of
God. When in fact, they weren't any different than the heathen.
Isn't that what Paul tells them over in Romans 3? There is no
difference. There is no difference. They
trusted in and practiced vain traditions. They taught for commandments
the traditions of men. They taught a physical sanctification
through the washing of pots and vessels and the washing of hands. They taught a dietary sanctification
forbidding to eat certain meats at certain times and on certain
days. They taught a ceremonial sanctification
that through these ceremonies and the observance of these ceremonies
that they would be sanctified. They taught an educational sanctification
as well as a sanctification by their obedience to the law. And
men and women were proselyted to their religion because of
their reputation and because of all these superstitious ideas
about who they were. They proselyted men and women
into that religion. And in exactly the same way,
because of the appearance of Christ, the sending out of his
apostles and of the miracles which God did through them, because
of the impact that they had on this world, Because of the establishing
of his churches in this world and the blessings of God upon
the ministries of those early apostles and those early preachers,
this world has produced men who have made up their own traditions
exactly the way they did in Israel. Exactly the way they did in Israel.
made up their own gospel, made up their own ways and means and
ceremonies. And because of these superstitious
ideas about them, they proselyte daily into their ranks hundreds
and hundreds of thousands of people. They're no different
than the Jews. They encompass sea and land to
make one proselyte like unto themselves. And when they've
made him, they've made him twofold more the child of hell than they
are. And Peter said to these deceived
Jews, these Jews who were at the presence of Christ, Christ
came into the world and lived for 33 and a half years on this
world and preached to them. And they heard Him preach. They
saw the miracles He did by His own hand. They saw Him raise
the dead. He called Lazarus out of the
tomb. They saw him change water into wine. They saw him take
a few fishes and loaves and feed 5,000 men. They saw miracles. He'd give eyes, give sight to
the blind. Never, never from the beginning
of time has it ever been heard anything like this being done.
Commanded a man who'd laid there for 38 years, paralyzed at the
Pool of Bethesda, commanded him to take up his bed and walk,
and he did. And he did. Because of these
superstitious ideas about them, they proselyte daily into the... And Peter said to these deceived
Jews, these men and women of his own blood, of his own upbringing,
of his own past experience, he said, save yourselves from this
untoward generation. Save yourselves. What does that
word untoward mean? It means backward. Backward. If toward means in
the direction of, untoward means in the opposite direction. This
generation is going this way and God is that way. If an object is facing toward
something, it means it is facing whatever it is. So untoward means
they're facing in the opposite direction. They're looking in
the wrong way. Christ is here, and now we're
here. They're looking over here. If we're walking towards something,
we're closing the distance. But if we're walking in an untoward
direction, we're widening the gap. Those who thought they were the
children of God, thought they were walking with Him, thought
they were seeing Him, thought they were worshiping, thought
they were promoting Him, turned out to be the very people who
crucified the Lord of Glory. Turned out to be the enemies
of the cross, turned out to be the blind leaders of the blind,
turned out to be the servants of the devil. Because of their
confidence in their elders and scribes and doctors of the law,
because of their history, because of the religion that their mothers
and fathers recommended to them, they were led to crucify the
Lord of glory. And when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart. They were pricked in their heart. When they heard from a preacher,
And more importantly, the spirit of the living God who accompanied
his message when they heard that their beloved religion had deceived
them into murdering the Son of God, they were pricked in their
hearts. Pricked in their hearts. And
I tell you, you will be too if you ever realize it. If you ever
realize that your worship is an abomination in the sight of
God. But all this free willism and
all this universal compassion and all this stuff that men make
up and preach is an abomination to God. You'll be pricked in
your heart too. And they said, what are we going
to do? What are we going to do? We've been lied to. We've been
deceived. We've been told something is
white when it's black. Something's up, it's down. We've been lied to. What are
we going to do? What are we going to do? We've
been listening to liars. We've been reverencing liars.
We've been supporting liars. We've been recommending to our
children liars. And these men have influenced
us now to crucify the Lord of Glory. And they said, what are
we going to do? Peter said, save yourselves from
this untoward generation. What can a man or a woman do
to save themselves from this untoward generation? Well, I tell you, number one,
what he can do, he can buy himself a Bible and read it. Read it. Read it for yourself.
I know you're not going to understand everything in it, but read it.
Get familiar with it. If you'll read the Word of God,
you'll discover that what this generation is saying about God
is not in harmony with the Word of God. They preach and teach that God
is not sovereign. He's not sovereign. He can't
do certain things. He can't do things that He wants
to do. How many times have I heard preachers
from a pulpit addressing a little assembly just about this size,
sitting out there in my ignorance, and this man telling me, God
has done everything that He can do. Now it's all up to you. Telling me that God loves every
man, wants to save every man, but men won't let Him. You know what? I got me a Bible. Big old, it was called a good
leader. It was a big old coffee table
Bible. Belonged to my grandparents. Only Bible I had. And I blew
the dust off that thing. Started reading that Bible and
I found out God does what he wants to. Where he wants to. When he wants to. To whom he
wants to. And none can stay his hand or
even question what he does. That's not the same God I've
been hearing about. And I took that old Bible and
I went down to the elders of that church and I said, what's
he talking about here? You're talking about a God who
can't do things. You're talking about a God who's
helpless, who's waiting on men's decisions and waiting on men
to take the first step. All this kind of Tommy. I said,
what's this talking about here? It's talking about God. Well,
that's the God of the Old Testament. I said, well, you reckon there's
another God took over when Christ come? It's the same God. God
hasn't changed. I said, look at this. I'm the
Lord. I change not. What's that talking about? You're
talking about God changing His mind. One minute He's angry.
Next minute He's delighted. God's going to send you to hell,
but He's changed His mind now based on something you did or
something you said. God doesn't change. I found out
who this God is. I found out that what they're
saying about God is not in harmony with this book. They preach and teach that God's
not sovereign. He rules over some things and
He's able to intervene in some things, but not in all things. They tell me He can't choose
the objects of His love and mercy. He says He can. My friend, the living God does
what He pleases. He declares the end from the
beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done
saying, my counsel will stand. It will stand. When everything
else falls down, my counsel will stand. And I'll do all my pleasure. David said, Wherefore shall the
heathen say, Where is now their God? Our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. And again in Psalm 135,
verse 6, Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven,
and in earth, and in the seas, and in all deep places. God is
sovereign, and His love is sovereign, and His grace is sovereign grace,
and His mercy is sovereign mercy. God's sovereign and worketh all
things, Paul said, after the counsel of his own will. And God's unchangeable. He's
absolutely unchangeable. He said, I am the Lord. I change
not. I never knew that about God.
Did you? Until I read it in this book. God doesn't change. Listen to James. James 1, verse
17. Every good gift. And every perfect
gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of light,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." God
doesn't change. If you ever find mercy in time,
you'll discover that that mercy is eternal. If you ever discover
that God loved your soul, you'll discover that He loved your soul
before the foundation of the world. And that that love will
continue forever and that there is nothing future, nothing in
your past, nothing in your presence that is going to separate you
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. God
is unchangeable. You know, we might promise a
thing and purpose to do a thing and mean well when we do it.
and then be changed by circumstance and situation, but not God. Not God. Nothing happens in time
that catches God by surprise. Everything that God has purposed
and promised to do, He will do. And nothing in it is left to
chance. God is sovereign and God is unchangeable. And my friend, God is all wise. I'm so sick of hearing folks,
well, it seems to me Who art thou that replies against
God? You're going to take something
that was said by infallibility, something that said that a man
was moved by the Spirit of God to pen it in this book, and you're
going to put what seems right to you with the testimony of
God. You're going to call the testimony
of God You're going to set this up and debate it over what seems
right to you. If anything that God has purposed
to do could be overthrown, then He wouldn't be sovereign, He
wouldn't be unchangeable, and He certainly wouldn't be all
wise. My friend, he knew the coin was in the mouth of the
fish. Any of you all know what's in
the mouth of the fish? I don't even know where the fish
is. He knew where the coin was. He knew where to send them, Russell. He knew Peter's heart. Peter
said some things and the Lord said, let me tell you something,
before the cock crows three times. He knew what was in Peter's heart.
He knew his heart was to see. He knows the thoughts and intents
of all of our hearts. Listen to what he says here.
Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor,
hath taught him? With whom took he counsel? And
who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment,
and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?
Who did these things? God is all-wise, and my friend,
He is just. I tell you, if you are a sinner,
and you don't know exactly yet what a sinner is, God ever reveals
His justice to you, it will slay you. It will slay you. God is
just. Every transgression must receive
a due recompense of reward. God's justice must be satisfied
to the fullest extent. To perfection it must be satisfied. God is just, perfectly just. Justice and judgment are the
very habitation of His throne. And mercy and truth shall go
before. thy faith." God's justice demands satisfaction. Listen
to what he says here. Every word spoken by angels was
steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense, a reward. And God will save no man without
his justice being satisfied and his sins being paid for. And
God is righteous. Oh, my soul, He demands perfect
righteousness. I tell you, we'll quit saying,
well, he was a good old fellow. There's nothing good but God.
If you understand something about the righteousness of God, we'll
quit calling things good. It won't even enter into our
thinking. He demands righteousness, perfect
righteousness, righteousness equal to His own, righteousness
in thought and motive and deed, continual, unbroken, righteousness. And then he says, cursed is everyone
who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. That is, to do them with perfect
motive, perfect love, unbroken, continual obedience. And that's why Paul said, all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Are you listening to me? What
I'm trying to tell you is this. You've been out here in the world
and you've been raised in this religion and that religion and
you've been lied to. That's what Peter's telling these
folks. You've been lied to. You've been lied to from this
untoward generation, and you've swallowed their lies and practiced
their lies and their ungodly religion. And you're not friends
with Jesus. Me and Jesus got a good thing
going. No, you don't. Oh, no, you don't. You're walking
contrary to Him. You're going opposite direction
from Him. Oh, may the Holy Spirit of God
prick your heart and show you what kind of condition you're
in. Read the Word of God. Save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Don't take my word. Don't take
any man's word for what he's saying. Open this book and look
in this book and see it for yourself. And then secondly, listen to
that man whose message is in tune with this book. Don't go
listen to these liars they've been lying to. What do you want
to listen to them for? Listen to a man whose message
is in tune with this book. Go find him wherever he is and
sit down and listen to him. He has something to say. Paul told Timothy, he said, you
want to know what to preach? Every young preacher wants to
know what to preach. Well, here's what you preach.
He said, preach the Word. Let's start there. Preach the
Word. Paul said he preached to those
Corinthians how that Christ died for our sin according to the
Scriptures. That He was buried and was raised
again on the third day according to the Scriptures. His death
was decreed by the sovereign God of glory. You can read it
in Acts chapter 4 verse 28 and Acts chapter 2 verse 23. His
fate for coming and work is of the unchangeable God of glory.
His death and His righteous obedience is an answer to God's justice
and righteousness. And His chosen sinners are justified
freely by His grace. Through the redemption of Christ,
God declares Himself to be just and justifier of all that believe. Somebody, just find somebody
who will not only declare to you the truth, but He'll show
it to you in the Word of God. Where does it say that? It says
that right over here in Romans chapter 4. He was delivered for
our offenses and raised again for our justification. It tells
you that right over there in Romans chapter 3, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.
whom God has set forth to be the propitiation for our sin
through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness in
the remission of sins. And then thirdly, save yourselves
from this untoward generation. Repent. That's what Peter said,
repent. And here that word means turn.
It means turn. Quit going to that same old corrupt
well. Turn from it. This whole untoward
generation, they're moving away from God and away from Christ
and away from the Gospel. Repent! Turn! Stop! Stop that quick going back to
that same old well. My soul. Somebody said insanity
is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different
results. That's what men do. They do it
every day. Do it every day. And for all your doing and going
and giving, you got no hope? My folks made sure I was in church
every time the door was open. And for all that going and all
that doing and all that hearing, I had no hope. No hope. Had no real peace. Had no real
joy. Had no assurance before God. And Peter said, repent. These
are the guys that lied to you and led you to crucify the Son
of Glory, the Son of God. Now turn from it. See the deceit behind your ignorance
and quit going back to that same old polluted spring. Paul said
to those Thessalonians, he said, I know your election of God.
My gospel came in power. It came in the Holy Spirit. And
you become followers of us in the Lord. And you turn from your
idols to the true and living God. Act on the light God gives you.
And He'll give you some more light. And then fourthly, He
says, believe. Believe. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Do you believe God's testimony
concerning His Son? Do you believe that the God of
glory has purpose to save a people in Christ for the glory of His
name? Do you believe that His coming is a result of that purpose
and that He, as their appointed representative, came into this
world to do for them what they could not do for themselves?
Do you believe that his life's obedience is a sufficient righteousness
to please God and exalt and honor the law, that being covered in
this righteousness by faith, he's made us accepted in the
blood, presents us without fault before God, that by his all-sufficient
sacrifice, he's satisfied the justice of God on the behalf
of chosen sinners, so that no sin remains against them. Blessed is the man, David said,
to whom God will not charge sin. You know why He won't charge
that sin to him? Because he charged that sin to
his son. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
now sits at the right hand of God, assuring us that we shall
one day, by His grace, stand there with Him? Believe on Him. Do you? Can you? Will you believe
on Him? That's what he said. Acts 13, 38, Be it known unto
you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
under the law of Moses. I tell you this, the believing
soul is a man given power to become a son of God and he's
born of God and made meet to be a partaker with all the rest
of the enlightened saints. He's enlightened of God to repent,
to believe, to discover that he's been lied to. The believing
soul is a man who embraces Christ as God has set him forth while
the multitudes go on their way and resting in those old traditional
ideas. The believing soul is a man whose
heart has been pricked by the truth, broken by the truth, and
enlightened by the truth. I tell you, these people were
upset. And you will be too once you find out you've been lied
to. You'll be upset. He repents and believes as though
it were all of himself. All of himself. He repents. God doesn't repent. You repent. God doesn't believe for you.
You have to believe. You have to believe. He repents and believes as though
it were all of Himself, yet He glorifies God knowing that it
was all of God. Old Barnard said, God saved men
against their will with their full consent. And that's exactly
what He does. Acts 2.41. Now I'll close. Then they that gladly received
His Word were baptized. And the same day they were added
unto them, that is, as saints of the living God, members of
His body, members of His church. There was added three thousand
souls. And they continued. Now listen.
And they continued. steadfast in the apostles' doctrine
and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. May God be pleased to do this
for every hearer that's here today, for Christ's sake. Amen.