I'm glad I've got notes. Don't laugh at me, you'll be
shaking too. I invite you this evening to
take your Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, verses 38 and 39. May the Holy Spirit of God burn
these words into our hearts and minds as we read them together. 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
by the law of Moses. Now there's enough in this chapter
to preach on for a while. You preachers that have studied
through the book of Acts and you've read through chapter 13
know what I'm saying. In verses 1 through 4, there's
a beautiful declaration of how God the Holy Spirit works in
conjunction with His church in those called of God to preach
the gospel. He says that they prayed and
fasted over this matter, these preachers. And it also says the
Holy Ghost said, separate these two men. And so they said, let's
separate these two men. God worked in conjunction with
the elders of that church and through its pastor. Worked in
his heart, worked in his mind. Just as he worked in the hearts
of Barnabas and Saul. And said, separate me these two
men for the ministry. And then it says, and they sent
them out. And then in the next verse it
says, therefore the Holy Ghost sent them out. When we talk about
the Spirit of God working, Paul was a man who knew more about
that than anybody I suspect that's ever lived. And here's what he
told those Philippians. He said, it's God who worketh
in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Has that
been your experience? That's been mine. I'm getting so weary with these
self-taught, self-regenerated, self-promoted preachers who have
no respect at all for the local church and no interest in worship
and fellowship and totally ignore the Word of God. But we're preachers. No, you're not. And you're not
God's preacher. You're not God's preacher. This book doesn't teach these
things and you need to be aware of it and avoid these men. And
then Paul goes on to emphasize the importance of the Old Testament
Scriptures. You know, that's all they have
right there. That's all they have. That's all they have. When he said, Be it known unto
you therefore, that was after he took them through a brief
history of Israel and the gospel of Jesus Christ as it came to
pass in those men and in their prophecies. Now my generation
has an Old Testament attached to a New Testament, but it's
kind of like a leg that somebody cut off and got sewed back on,
but no nerves and muscles were attached. It's kind of just there
for looks. Now if you don't believe that's
true, you try to establish a doctrine from Old Testament Scripture
to one of them. He won't even give you hearing.
Show me that in the New Testament. But tonight I want us to just
focus on three things. Three very basic and fundamental
things concerning the salvation of those who believe the gospel
of God's sovereign grace in Christ. And if you've got a pen and paper,
I encourage you to take some notes. The first thing I want you to
see in my text is that God saves men on purpose. On purpose. I was talking to a young man
a couple of years ago, and I brought this message on this, and I could
tell he was fighting it. And was talking to him about
the necessity of gospel preaching, hearing the gospel preached. And he said, well, let me give
you something to think about. He said, we're out here in the
woods, and me and my buddy, we're out here hunting, and we're going
along, I hear a rustle in the bushes, and I look, and boy,
it sure looks like a deer. And I throw that rifle up and
shoot, but it's not a deer. It's my friend. And he's dying. And I go over there to him, and
he knows I'm a Christian. And he's not. And he begins to
cry to me. I don't know what to do. I'm not ready to meet God. He
said, you mean to tell me that the Lord wouldn't use me to preach
the gospel to my friend? And I said, before I answer your
question, you answer me one. Does God save men on purpose
or by accident? We used to have a big sign. We'd
go in at the contractor's desk at the lumber company we bought
from, and that big sign said, negligence on your part does
not constitute an emergency on my part. If you read the book of Proverbs,
you'll find out God says the same thing. He said, in that
day you'll call on me. You'll call early. They said,
I won't hear you. You'll beg me in that day, but
I won't give you anything here. Negligence on your part does
not constitute an emergency on God's part. God saves men on
purpose. And I'll tell you something else.
Look back here at verse 26. Paul said, Men and brethren,
children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you that
feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. Ain't that what that says? Sent. God doesn't send His preachers
to all men. Did you know that? How shall they preach except
they be sent? But He doesn't send His preachers
to all men. Some never hear the gospel. Some
live out their days in the world and never hear the truth. I couldn't tell you the times
that I've sat and talked to men and they said, I never heard
anything like that. And some men never will. They
don't have a will. And I'll tell you this, if you're
here tonight, you're enjoying one of the greatest privileges
that you'll ever experience. Thousands upon thousands upon
thousands of men will never enjoy the privilege that you have here
tonight. The angels in glory are quiet
right now, listening to the gospel of God's sovereign grace. What
a privilege to be in this place, my soul. And I tell you this, we're here
because this is where the Holy Ghost has brought us. And you're
here because God himself arranged Look across the page here, that's
13 over here in verse 48. When the Gentiles, they weren't even a consideration
in this scenario. They were just listening. They
were listening. Paul and Barnabas were preaching
to the Jews. Three Sadducees went into their
synagogue and reasoned with them. And these Gentiles were listening.
They'd look at the Jews, and they'd look at Paul, and they'd
look at him. And the Jews, they liked what
they were hearing, but they weren't Jews. And finally, Paul looked at those
Jews And he said, seeing that you judged yourselves unworthy
of everlasting life, he said, Lo, we turn to the Gentiles,
for it was written. Right? And when the Gentiles heard that, that the Word of God had made
arrangement for them, when they heard that, Oh, they were glad. They were glad. They didn't say we ain't gonna
have that. Uh-uh. They were glad. They were glad. And you will be too if you ever
see that the Lord's made room for you. You'll be glad. They glorified the Word of the
Lord. Now watch this. And as many as
were ordained to eternal life. Believe. God saves men on purpose. When are we going to learn that?
On purpose. Well, I didn't have anything
else to do and they'd been on me forever to come to church,
so I just showed up. That might be. But I tell you
this, you're here because He arranged it. He arranged it. Listen to these scriptures. Christ
said in John 6, verse 37, All that the Father giveth me shall
come to me. How many? All that He gave. And Him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Does that sound like a God of
purpose to you? Listen to this one, Ephesians
1, 3, and 4. He tells us here that the Father chose a people
in Christ in purpose to bless them with all spiritual blessings
in Christ. And then in John 17, verse 2,
our Lord said that God the Father had given him power over all
flesh that I should give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given me. God saves men on purpose, and
that salvation has to do with everything concerning the salvation
of their souls. Everything. Every detail of providence
is necessary. Every detail. Romans 8, 28, that
verse we quote so often, I heard Brother Don say one time, was
like a great machine, full of gears, shafts and things turning
here and things turning fast over here and this one is just
barely moving off. All things work together as one
machine for your good and His glory. God saves men on purpose. Alright, here's the second thing.
This ordination of life is based upon the mediation of one man. One man. The Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this. 1 Timothy 2,
verse 5. There's one mediator between
God and men. The man Christ. Now we've already established
that God saves men on purpose. And I'm telling you that in His
purpose, He's purposed one mediator. to mediate this salvation to
me. It's going to come through Him
or it ain't coming. Through Him. One mediator. I don't know who
you are or what kind of nonsense you've been taught. I have no
idea. I don't know if you're a ring kisser or an aisle walker.
Decision maker. Somebody that was talked into
a profession of faith when they were just a kid. But I'm telling
you this, there ain't no salvation outside of Christ. Nothing. Outside of Christ, God
is a consuming power. No salvation apart from Christ.
He that hath the Son Ain't that what Paul put? Or John? He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Life's in Him. Justification's in Him. Righteousness
is in Him. It's all in Him. All those spiritual
blessings in Christ. And so he tells us here in Acts
13.38 that all this preaching that he'd been doing in this
chapter throughout the history of Israel had to do with this
man. And he said, Be it known unto
you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, this one
of whom the prophets foretold, this one of whom that old priesthood
typified, through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins. God demands from you a perfect
righteousness. Perfect in motive. Boy, that's just like putting
a bullet in a gun, isn't it? A perfect motive. Perfect affection. Perfect in
thought. Perfect indeed. It must be perfect
to be accepted. Now man will accept it. You can
find some preachers that will accept it. But God won't have
anything to do with it. Righteousness. Let me tell you
what I've never seen. I've never seen a man walking
down the road with a dirty minstrel's cloth tied around his neck. and just rub on it. Somebody comes by. That's exactly what you do with
your righteousness. That self-righteous. Isaiah said
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rats. Can you even in
your wildest imagination imagine that old leper? Half his face
is falling apart and he's got this old rag and he's holding
it up over his face because the law commands him to and he's
saying, unclean, unclean, that old pus covered bloody rag. Here we go. Here's what I got. You ever find out what your righteousness
is? you'll do with it the same thing
Paul did with his. You'll take it out there and
throw it on the dung heap. You won't wrap it around your
neck anymore. You'll take that thing off and
you'll throw it on the dung heap. That's what we do when we go
going about, just going about like this for a little while,
trying to establish our own righteousness. You know what the Scripture says
about all men, Jews and Gentiles, that are under sin? All of them
still, they're not unrighteous. That's what God says. It ain't
what I hear from men, but that's what God says. They're not unrighteous. And when Paul found out that
all his righteousnesses were filthy rags, He took them all
out and he threw them on the dung heap where they belong,
and he cried out to God. He said, What things were gained
unto me? Those I count but lost for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom
I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
dumb, that I might win Christ and be found in him. Now listen,
not having my own right. I don't want to be found in my
righteousness, do you? But that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Well, preacher, what about the
law? Christ is the end of the law. For righteousness to everyone
who believes. Not all men, but to all men who
believe. You reckon they'd let me out?
I went in that big art gallery up in Washington D.C. Do I look
like an art expert? I went into that art gallery.
And I sat down. I mean, we were there. I wanted to see everything. I
sat down in this gallery and I looked at the Dutch masters. And I looked at those paintings.
And I'm telling you, I was just in awe of how a man could paint. And these were done hundreds
of years ago. It wasn't anything high tech back then. They had
a brush, they had some oil paint, mixed them together and painted.
But those things, I'm telling you, they were surreal and dimensional
and had depth and light in the canvas and darkness. You reckon they'd let me in that
art gallery if I brought my little thing of oil paints and my brush
and they said, what do you want? I just want a Go back there where
that Rembrandt is and touch it up. They tackle you when you walk
through the door. But that's what we do with our
righteousness. We're going to take our little
bit of whatever it is that we find to be righteous, whatever
it is that deceives us to believe that we're righteous, And we're
going to touch up the glory of Christ. My soul. You want to please the
owners of that gallery, just sit and marvel at the paintings.
And glory in the author. That's what you do with the righteousness
of Christ. You just marvel at Him. You worship
God. You see the glory of it. And
you just sit. And you can't do anything but
rejoice. Just rejoice. And God forbid
that you're trying to satisfy God concerning your sin. Anybody here know why hell is
everlasting? Everlasting. Why? Do you know
why no man will ever be released from God's wrath in that day?
Because no man can of himself satisfy God. That's why. And he'll suffer forever. He'll
be tormented forever. And I don't know if you know
this or not, but God can't excuse sin. I think Brother Durham was sufficient
on that. So justice must be satisfied. Every transgression must and
shall receive a just recompense of reward. And there's only one
who can and has satisfied the holy justice of God, the God-man,
the mediator. Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus who God
has set forth. Who did? God set him forth to
be a propitiation That by which a holy God can
be appeased through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins. That He might be just and justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Through this man, that's what
Paul says, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Alright, here's the third thing. Can I have a second to get a drink? Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. How did they get it? Preached unto you. I know God purposed it. I know
Christ accomplished it. And I know that the Holy Spirit
of God must apply it. But how does a chosen sinner
come to know the true and living God and find salvation for his
soul? God sends him a preacher. God sends him a preacher. How shall you hear? Who said
that? The Holy Ghost said that. How
shall you hear without a preacher? The Lord went down to Nazareth where
he was raised. And it said he could there do
no mighty works, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick
folk and healed them. As he walked from that place
where he was raised, it says he marveled at their unbelief. He marveled. He marveled at their unbelief. I got invited the other day up
to a They called it the Preachers of Grace Conference. I didn't know any of them. Some 26 preachers attended the
meeting, and I preached from 1 Corinthians 15 on this subject,
so we preached, so you believed. Paul told those Corinthians that
he preached the gospel to them, and they received it, and that's
wherein they stood, and they'd be saved kept in memory what
he preached unto them, otherwise they just bleeded in vain. And what he preached, he made
plain, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and he was buried and rose again according to the Scriptures.
And during my message, I made the statement that gospel preaching
is necessary, necessary to true saving faith, and it is the seed
of regeneration. And up until that time, everybody
was, Amen, Amen, brother, Amen. Boy, you could hear a pin drop. And I stopped and I said, I didn't
get no amens on that. Preaching is necessary to true
saving faith, and it is the seed of regeneration. I gave them these scriptures
to consider, I'll give them to you. James chapter 1 verse 18. Now James has already told us
that all these ever good and perfect gifts coming down from
heaven, coming down from above, comes down from the Father of
likes with whom is no variableness, neither shadow or turn, unchangeable,
eternal, sovereign, God. All these gifts in this God.
Now listen, here's the next thing He tells us. Of His own will
begat He us with the Word of Truth. Ain't that what that says? Wherefore, let every man be swift to hear.
Be swift to hear. Be slow to wrath. Be slow. Listen to this one. 1 Peter 3, verse 23. This is
familiar. You won't have to turn to it.
Being born again. Born again. Not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and
abideth forever. He said, For all flesh is grass,
and all the glory of man like the flower of the grass. He tells
us that. Then he goes on in verse 25. And he said, This is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you. And then I love this
one in 1 Corinthians 4, 15. If you don't stutter, this will
make you stutter. Paul told those Corinthians,
those wise men, whom God has brought down. He said, I have
begotten you through the gospel. What a statement. But ain't that
exactly what the word of God teaches? Huh? I'm telling you, the preaching
of the gospel is the seed of regeneration and it's necessary,
necessary to true saving faith. One of the pastors said to me,
if that's so, how do you explain my profession? I said, it's your
profession, you explain it. I'm not here to justify your
profession. I'm here to preach to you the
Word of God. You explain it. You're the one
who made it up. You defend it. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. Preacher, you're trying to limit
The power of God's Spirit. No, sir. It's the Spirit Himself
who inspired these men to write these words. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13, But
we are bound to give thanks our way to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Now watch it. Whereunto, for
this reason, upon this basis, He called you by our gospel. But that ain't all He said, is
it? To the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The day after the meeting, in
defense of his profession, and in defense of his authority as
a preacher, a young pastor said to that congregation, he wouldn't
look at me, But he looked over here at these other preachers.
And he said, when I was seven years old, without hearing anything,
without reading anything, I was just born again. And seven years later, he said,
the Lord taught me the gospel. As I heard him insist with as
much sincerity as he could muster up, I marveled at his unbelief. I wonder if his wife came in
one day and said, Honey, I'm just out in the yard pulling
wheat in the flower bed and suddenly I was pregnant. Huh? Isn't that what he's saying? He'd be down at the courthouse
the next morning filing for a divorce. I divorced him that night. And
I tell you there's a world full of superstitious religionists
who listen and rejoice with you in your fantasies. But don't
bring that crap to me. I know better. I've been there. Don't bring that junk to me.
I'm telling you, this is the seed of regeneration. And without
the preaching of the gospel, no son is going to be born. And
I'm convinced, having studied the Old Testament and especially
creation back in Genesis chapter 1, that the only reason God made
a man and a woman and caused them to couple together to have
a son was to proclaim to us and declare to us that without the
seed, not going to be any sons. Not going to be any sons. A sower went forth to sow. Some
of them fell on stony ground. Some of them fell over there
on the pathway. Some of them fell here. Some
of them fell there. But I tell you something, nothing grew where
there wasn't any seed. Nothing come up. And nothing ever will. Nothing
ever will. Well you don't scare me Preacher,
I guess what Pharaoh said before God drowned him in the bottom
of that sea. You got to think about it Denny.
That man can't scare me. Who does that man think he is?
That's what those Pharisees said just before God gave them over
to a reprobate line. Turned to His disciples and said,
leave them alone. Leave them alone. You can't tell
me what to do. That's just what the whole outfit
said. While they were doing what God's
hand and God's counsel determined before them. I don't have to hear the gospel
from a man. No, you can go to hell. And that's
exactly what will happen if God don't sweetly compel you to listen. Somebody is going to have to
tell this generation that salvation comes to chosen sinners through
the preaching of the gospel unto you. Therefore, men and brethren,
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And if you ever get
it, that's how it's going to come. That's how it's going to
come. Here's the Scripture, and I'll
close with this. If God don't intervene and arrange
for you in sovereign mercy to hear the truth, you're going
to live out your days being satisfied with a lie and comforted in a
false profession because it pleased God through the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe. And to those who are passing,
it's utter foolishness. Utter foolishness. But to them
who are being saved, it's the power of God and it's the wisdom
of God. And that's how they treat it.
That's how they treat you. May God in sovereign mercy make
it so in your heart and mine this night.