Now if you'll turn back with
me to Acts chapter 5, and just hold your place there, and let
me make some comments. The bulk of the ministry of the
apostles and the early church was to show from the Old Testament
Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ in the fulfillment of
all that the prophets said that he would be. In great detail. The prophets wove a garment that
could fit only one man. And Christ is that man. That
was the bulk of their ministry. They just hammered on that from
every direction they could. Because these Jews were just
absolutely instilled in other things. The whole of the ceremonial
law was given to set forth that promised seed of Abraham in all
of the glory of his offices and his redemptive work. And the
book of Hebrews, if you'll spend some time and read through the
book of Hebrews, it shows that in detail. It takes several things
out of that old ceremonial law and shows you in detail how Christ
fulfilled those things. By an unchangeable priesthood,
I'll just go through and tell you some of the things that the
book of Hebrews talks about. By an unchangeable priesthood,
He's able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him. Christ our High Priest, He says,
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. He says, we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And he said,
we have an altar. We have an altar, where of those
who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. He's our altar. The Word was
made flesh and tabernacled among us. Christ is our tabernacle.
He is the woman's seed. He is the seed of Jesse. He is
the seed of David. He is the seed of promise. Listen
to this out of the book of Galatians. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of thy seed, which is Christ. The seed of promise
is Christ. They preached and taught from
the Scriptures how the prophets spoke of Christ and not of men. They took those things that they
were talking about back there and they showed them that this
is not talking about these men. This is talking about the coming
Redeemer. The coming Redeemer. In Acts
chapter 2. Turn with me over there to Acts
chapter 2. Peter is showing this very thing to the Jews. He tells
them first that Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among them
by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by Him in their
midst, Him being delivered, verse 23, by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands
have crucified and slain. whom God raised up, having loosed
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it." Now watch this. "'For David speaketh of
him.'" Who did David talk about? He talked about him. "'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." Now listen to what he says here. Men and
brethren, verse 29, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch
David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is
with us unto this day. You don't think that he's corrupted. You go dig him up. His sepulcher
is right out there. You go dig him up. There's nothing
out there but bones. Therefore, being a prophet and
knowing that God had 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, he seeing this before spake of the resurrection
of Christ." He wasn't talking about his own soul, he was talking
about Christ. "...that his soul was not left
in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. And 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 hath shed
forth this which ye now see and hear." Go open his grave. There's nothing in there. Go
open David's, and all you find is bones. And he took this scripture
that those Jews applied to David, and he applied it rightly to
Christ. And this covered the bulk of
their ministry. That's what they did. They took
the Old Testament scriptures and preached Christ to them. But those to whom they preached
were steeped in religious tradition. They had preconceived notions
as to how God was to be worshipped and how sinners could be saved.
They made coming to a priest synonymous with coming to Christ. So do the Catholics. They make
that synonymous with coming to God. They made the keeping of
days and assembling themselves together synonymous with worshipping
God. They made the outward observance
of ordinances the same as being righteous before God. Now listen
to me. Everything given in the ceremonial
law was given in figure and type of the coming Redeemer. And these things were to be kept
by faith looking to Him who was yet to come. Those Old Testament
believers And there were some. When they looked at that lamb,
they saw Christ. When they looked at that altar,
they understood what it meant. When they saw that priesthood,
they understood what it meant. And they looked at those things
in figure as they pointed forward to Christ. Now let me show you
that in the Scriptures. Over here in Hebrews chapter
9. Beginning down here in verse
6. Hebrews chapter 9. Now, when these things were thus
ordained, and he's already talked here about the tabernacle and
the priesthood and all of these things. When these things were
thus ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle,
accomplishing the service of God, but into the second went
the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people. The Holy Ghost, he's the one
who inspired this book, isn't he? He's the one who breathed
the scriptures through these men who wrote. The Holy Ghost,
this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not
yet made manifest while as that first tabernacle was yet standing,
which was a figure for the time then present. That's all it was. It was just a figure. Just a
figure. These things were imposed on
them, he said, until the time of reformation. They were patterns of things
in the heavens and shadows of good things to come. And these
ceremonial types were to be observed by faith looking to him who was
yet to come. Simply bringing a lamb to the
priest carried no spiritual value whatsoever. Can I make that application today?
Simply coming to church has no spiritual value whatsoever. Simply coming to the front has
no spiritual value whatsoever. Simply going into a pool of water
has no spiritual value whatsoever, unless these things are done
by faith, by faith. Simply keeping days and weeks
and years had no benefit to them at all. And simply going to the
temple did not constitute coming to God or worshipping God. Without
faith, it tells us in Hebrews 11, 6. And this is talking about
some real old timers here. This is going all the way back
to Adam. This is talking about Enoch. This is talking about
Noah. And these men, these old men,
go clear back almost to the beginning of time. And he says that, oh,
Enoch, they went out to look for him and couldn't find him.
The Lord took him, and before he left, he had this testimony.
He pleased God. He pleased God. Now listen to
what he says here in verse 6. But it's impossible. Without
faith, it's impossible to please Him. Enoch believed. He believed. Modern religion
is nothing more than a modern version of that old economy.
And most of what they do and how they dress and what they
say is nothing more than a carryover from that Old Testament priesthood.
There's no other reason to have a priest, is there? It's just
a carryover. They look back to that old economy
and they liked it. They liked that. They liked the
idea of having a man with a Easter egg on his head and a robe on
and all this kind of... They like that. They like that. They like the idea of having
something with gold inside and precious gems and cathedrals
and all that type of stuff that they have. It's just a carryover. It's a carryover from this Old
Testament priesthood mixed with bits and pieces of the gospel.
There is no physical New Testament priesthood. Listen to the scriptures. Christ being come a high priest
of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption. for us. That's Hebrews 9, 11,
and 12. He not entered into holy places
made with hands, which are figures of the true, but into heaven
itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. And then he tells
us this over in Hebrews chapter 10. Every priest standeth daily
ministering and oft times offering the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. Why would I need a priest? My
priest was successful in what he did, and he did it one time
forever. And then he sat down, not in
a temple, not in a tabernacle, but at the right hand of God.
I have a priest, a high priest. I don't need an earthly priest.
Don't need one. That whole Old Testament economy
has been fulfilled in Christ, brought to light in Christ, and
the days of ceremonial worship are over. They're over. And Paul said, don't let anybody,
don't let anybody come to you and try to get you to not eat
meat on certain days, or try to come to you and tell you,
you have to keep this day now. You have to keep this day. No,
Christ fulfills. Christ is my rest, not the Sabbath. Christ is my Sabbath. He is my
rest. Listen to this, Hebrews 8, 13.
In that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now
that which decayeth, and waxeth old is ready to vanish away."
What was that first covenant? Well, he tells you in Hebrews
9. He tells you it was made up of a tabernacle and a priesthood
and ceremonial laws and certain days and all the sacrifices. That's what it was. That was
that old first covenant, that covenant of works. the covenant
of ordinances, of divine service, of worldly sanctuary, priesthood,
special dress, special buildings, special furniture. All of these
things have served their purpose. They have served their purpose.
We don't keep days anymore. We don't come to a priest anymore,
and we don't offer animal sacrifices. Christ is our priest. Christ
is our lamb, and Christ is our altar. And we come to Him by
faith. By faith. Coming to the front,
coming to a mourner's bench, coming to a man is not the same
thing as coming to Christ. Coming to Christ is not a physical
act, it's a spiritual act. It's an act of the heart. It's
an act of the mind. It's an act of the will. Coming
to Christ is an act of the mind. Now listen to me. Paul said,
with the mind, I serve the law of God. That's the only way you
can serve it. The only way you can serve it.
With the mind. What mind? The mind of Christ. The mind of Christ. He said,
I know whom I have believed. He told those Corinthians, he
said, we have the mind of Christ. The natural man, he won't receive
those things. He won't receive those things
of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to Him. And
He said, men judge us. They judge us. But He said, let
me tell you something, we have the mind of Christ. We have the
mind of Christ. Well, what is the mind of Christ? The mind of Christ is simply
knowing things in the light of Christ. That's what it is. It's
knowing that Christ is my altar, knowing that Christ is my high
priest, knowing that Christ is the one sacrifice that can cover
my sins and put my sins away. It's seeing all things in Christ. That's the mind of Christ. He's
my righteousness. You see how confusing the world
has made these things? The world would have you do this
and do that, and each one of them has a different a different thing, a different
level, a different plateau, that you have to do this and you have
to do that. And what's totally acceptable
up north is totally unacceptable in the south. And what's totally
acceptable here is totally unacceptable up there. Geographically, the
thing changes as you go around the world. All of these things
are different. Everything that religion says
that constitutes a righteousness. It's all different. Keep this,
keep that, keep this. And then some of them don't have
you to keep it to perfection. Some of them just talk about
keeping it the best you can. The best you can. Well, let me tell you something.
The Scripture said, man at his best state. That's the best he
can, isn't it? Man at his best state, altogether
vanity. Now you reckon if he called the
best that you can do, vanity, you reckon the best that you
can do is going to please God? I don't think so. I don't think
so. It's to have that mind of Christ,
and the mind of Christ perceives that Christ is my righteousness.
He's my righteousness. He's my atonement. That's where
my sins are put away in Him. It perceives that God is manifested
in him. And we look to him and we see
our God, and we see our God ready to show mercy and grace to sin.
You follow what I'm saying? We come to him with the mind. Coming to Christ is an understanding. John said, and we know that the
Son of God has come and given to us an understanding that we
may know him that is true. that we're in Him that is true.
This is the true God and eternal life. It's the mind of Christ. It's
simply knowing things in the light of Christ. Only in Christ can God be truly
just and justify every believing soul. And I understand that this justice
was not just something that I deserve, but rather an act of God's eternal
and sovereign grace. This satisfying of divine justice
is the gift of God. I understand that His obedience
as my representative is what constitutes my righteousness.
And as I see these things in their proper light, I then begin
to see all things in their proper light. Coming to Christ is an act of
the mind, and then secondly, coming to Christ is an act of
the will. Whosoever will, let him take
of the water of life freely. Now listen to me, you don't have
a free will. He didn't say everybody that
has a free will. He said everybody whosoever will. Whosoever will. You don't have
a free will, but you do have a will. You do have a will. And he said, thy people shall
be willing in the day of my power. And God's not going to save anybody
who's unwilling to take of the water of life. You'll take of
that water or you won't have life. You're going to come willing
or you're not going to come at all. Well, how then is an unwilling
man made willing? By telling him the truth. Isn't
that what changed your mind? What changed mine? I didn't know
the truth. I was hoping in a lie. My refuge
was a refuge of lies. I'd hid myself in falsehood.
I didn't understand the truth. I didn't know who God was, let
alone who Christ was and what Christ did on the cross, who
He is, why He came, what He did, and where He's at. I was ignorant
of those things. But when you learn the truth,
and when God convinces you of it, you're willing then. Oh,
you see that? That's how men are made willing.
They're made willing in the day of His power, and they're made
willing by telling them the truth, by teaching Him who Christ is,
and teaching Him these things. He's made willing by a new birth,
and the effectual presence of the Holy Ghost. You know, Paul
said over there in Philippians 2, verse 13, he said, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it's God who
worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Coming to Christ is an act of faith, which is an act of the
mind, and it's an act of the will, and then thirdly, it's
an act of the heart. What's that mean? Well, the heart
is the seed of the affections. Coming to Christ is coming to
Him in submission, coming to Him with hope and anticipation.
Coming to Christ is a persuasion that Christ is all that God has
testified that He is, prophet, priest, and king, savior and
substitute, high priest, intercessor, the one mediator, the surety
and guarantor. We're justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be the propitiation, that is, the one who enables
God to show mercy. And we do this through faith
in His blood. Believers love Christ. They love Christ. You know why? Because He first loved them. Because He first loved them.
And it's not until He reveals that love in your soul that you'll
have a love for Him. Romans chapter 6 verse 17, He
said, You obey from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you, being then made free from sin, you become servants
of righteousness. Paul said this, he was talking
about the faith of God's elect, and in Romans chapter 10, he
made this statement. I can't give you the exact verse,
but here's what he said. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. With the heart. With the whole
heart. With the whole soul. With the
whole mind. He believes from his heart, and
he believes unto righteousness. Believers now by the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit, they're a royal priesthood, a chosen generation
of peculiar people to show forth the praises of Him who has called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light. And any man
or group of men still hanging on to that old decayed economy,
still dressing up in his robes and still addressing himself
as a priest or a father and still promoting days and weeks and
washings and abstinence from meats and all this kind of stuff,
he knows nothing of the glory of God in Christ. He knows nothing
of it. And those who cling to and promote
The practice of that which Christ has fulfilled and God has taken
away, they mock the glory of God and they deny the person
and work of Christ. And to defend these men or follow
these men or promote these men is the surest way to hell I know.
That's the surest way to hell I know. Just do that. Those who are proselytes of these
men, the Scripture said, are twofold more the child of hell
than they are. So without pomp or pageantry,
without form or ceremony, without any of these things, simply by
faith in God's testimony concerning His Son, He bids sinners to come. Come. Come with the understanding,
and come with the will, and come with the affections, and come
to Him. Come to Him. as He revealed in
His Word. Augustus Toplady was a grace
preacher back in the mid-1700s to late 1700s. He wrote several
notable hymns, but the one he is perhaps most well known for
is Rock of Ages. And he has a verse in that song
that goes like this, Could my tears forever flow? Now listen
to what he says. They sang what they preached. And we will too, as long as I'm
pastor here. We're not going to sing what we don't preach.
But he said this, he said, Could my tears forever flow? Could
my zeal no longer? No. These for sin could not atone. Thou must save, and thou alone. In my hands, no price I bring. simply to thy cross, I claim."
That's what it is to come to Christ. It's an act of the mind. It's an act of the will. It's
an act of the heart. And then faith is the gift of
God. It's the gift of God. I can't
give it to you. You can't give it to you. But
God can. God can. And I'll tell you this,
when He does, it'll be through a preacher. That's how you know. Well, how do I know if God's
going to give me faith? Well, there's some pretty good
evidence. He brought you here. Huh? How sure are you here without
a preacher? He brought you here. That's pretty
good evidence, isn't it? All his children he's going to
call. Every last one of them. He's going to send the gospel
to them. He's going to give them ears to hear, and they're going
to hear, and He's going to give them faith to believe. 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. Those are good evidences. You've
heard the gospel this morning. That's another good evidence. Another good evidence. How shall
you hear without a preacher? There is another good evidence. God's Israel is not of the Jew
only, but also the Gentiles. And God reveals His election
through the preaching of the Gospel and the gift of faith. Our Lord said over in John 10,
those Pharisees were hounding Him and they said they got just
was really getting frustrated because they couldn't tell him
anything. He could take three words and shoot down everything
they said in 30 minutes. And they were really getting
frustrated and finally they just looked at him and demanded of
him. They were standing there in those robes and those broad
phylacteries and everybody standing at a distance and these notable
men just cried out to the Lord and they said, if thou be the
Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you. I told you. And you believe not because you're
not My sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice. They hear My voice. Can you hear
what I'm trying to say this morning? I know I'm not the best teacher,
but I'm telling you that the righteousness of the saints is
in Christ. The redemption of the saints
is in Christ. All of the hope for God's elect
is in Christ. There are elections in Christ.
Everything is in Christ. And he says, believe on him. Believe on him. And I've tried
to show you from the scriptures that he is the one set forth
from cover to cover in this book. Those are the things that's needed
for faith. He told the woman at the well,
this thing's a gift. Now I'm telling you, he came
up to that woman and he said, give me to drink. And she threw
out some words at him and he said, if you knew the gift of
God, if you knew, if you knew, you'd ask of me and I'd give
you living water. It's the gift of God. It's the
gift of And I tell you, if you ever learn that, you ask for
it. You ask for it. Paul said in Ephesians 1, and
I want you to understand what I'm saying. Faith, my friend,
is intertwined with the very counsels of God from all eternity. It's tied together with all the
workings of God's providence, and it's brought to His elect
through preaching of the Gospel. Paul said in Ephesians 1.11 that
in Christ we also have obtained an inheritance. Now listen to
this. Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. Faith is not
circumstantial, it's providential. It's providential. And the inner and outer workings
of God in this world and in the center is intertwined with everything
in creation. Everything in creation. You know,
if you go into downtown London, I don't know why this, I didn't
read this anywhere, just something came into my mind when I was
preparing this message. But if you go to downtown London,
one of the sights that they always want the tourists to see is Big
Ben. And I started reading a little
bit about Big Ben. And, you know, Big Ben ain't
the clock. I didn't know that. I thought
the clock was Big Ben. Big Ben was the man in charge
of building the clock. He was a great big fella. His
name was Benjamin. And they called him, you know,
affectionately. Everybody knew him. Called him
Big Ben. And then later on, they put a 13-ton bell up in that
clock tower. And they called that bell Big
Ben. So now when they just look at the clock, they just call
it Big Ben. But what I want you to see is
this. If you stand there and you look at that clock, you can
see them hands move. You can tell what time it is.
You can hear the bell. But you don't see any of those
inner workings unless somebody opens the door and lets you go
inside. And you go inside, and then you see all them gears,
and you see those arms moving back and forth, and you see all
that inner work. And this is what God does by
faith when He brings a man to Christ. Then He begins to open
the door for him to see all those inner workings. All things work
together for good to them who love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. And He lets you begin to see
all those gears of His providence and eternal election and eternal
counsels and how all these things work together. And you stand
there and look back through the maze. And you're amazed at how
God called you. Huh? That's what it is. That's
what I'm trying to tell folks. Look to Christ. If there was
anything up front, I'd invite you up here. There's nothing
up here but me. And I can't do you much good.
I've already given you everything that I can give you. Come to
Him. Come to Him. May God be pleased
to give us some understanding of what that means. Father, bless
the Word this morning. Take it into the hearts of those
who are gathered here this morning and reveal to them, if it be
Thy will, reveal to them the glory, the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. We ask it for Christ's sake. Amen.