Oftentimes, I hear people talk. Many times in conversation, religious
topics come up. I heard a man not long ago ask
another man if he was a sinner. And the man, a bit agitated,
said, yeah, I'm a sinner, but I mean, you know, I'm not that
bad a sinner. Not as bad as other men. Well,
obviously, he knows nothing about what a sinner is. And when the
Scripture speaks of sinners, it doesn't mean someone who does
some not-so-good things or who maybe their morality is a step
below that of another. That's not what the word sinner
means. This morning in the Sunday School
class, we looked at the doctrines of grace and we talked about
the total depravity of a man or a woman born of their father
at i'm talking about the center who has not great seeing that
he is capable of doing the most horrific things committing the
most horrific often times and watching the news. And you don't
have to watch long anymore to see things like this. Murderers,
child molesters, parents who murder their own children. The
worst of the worst caught and shown on television. But let
me ask you, have you ever truly thought to yourself when seeing
these things that without God's restraining grace that you're
capable of doing the same thing? That's what I'm talking about.
sinner, totally depraved. If you haven't seen that you're
capable, I'm afraid that you have not seen the total depravity
of your sin. If God leave us to ourselves,
we're capable of doing the most hideous and horrible things.
And I can assure you of this, if you have seen yourself in
such light. If God has revealed to you just
what a sinner is and what a sinner is capable of, the most important
thing in your life will be the forgiveness and the putting away
of sin. God shows us our sin to show
us our need of a Savior. I get bulletins from several
other preachers. I got one yesterday from Milton
Howard, and he wrote in his bulletin for today, to the good folks
that had no sin, is nothing in this gospel. That's a fact. If
you don't have any sin, then there's no good news in this
book for you. But, if you're a sinner, Here's
the best news you ever heard. For in the contents of these
pages is found the forgiveness of God in Christ." Milton went
on to say, water is for the thirsty. Are you thirsty? Food is for
the hungry. Are you hungry? Do you hunger
and thirst after righteousness? That's what the gospel is for
sinners. And this is who and why Christ
came. Now, I just read to you that
verse in 1 Timothy, you don't have to turn back there, but
it says, "...this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." And then
Paul adds, "...of whom I am chief." And I'm sure he thought he was.
After the things that he had done, and truthfully, every child
of God to some degree thinks they're the chief of sinners.
We live with ourselves. We know what we're capable of.
Just a couple things that I want to point out from that verse.
First, Paul said this is a faithful saying. Now that simply means
it's a saying that you can believe, trust, and cling to. That's what
faith is. And a faithful saying is the
same thing. Secondly, it's worthy of every
sinner born to bow to and be thankful for. It's that it's
worthy of all acceptation. It's worthy of every man and
woman. I hate to use the word accept
because religion has taken that and made salvation out of it,
us accepting Jesus. But it is worthy of all acceptation
in a sense that we should all bow and be humbled by it. And the saying is this, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The faithful
saying is to be trusted and believe and bow to is just that. Christ.
came into the world to save sinners. Now, it would be profitable for
us to consider that closely. Notice who came. It was Christ,
the beloved Son of God who came into the world to save sinners.
His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Do you know that
God preached from heaven on more than one occasion? God Himself.
He thundered with a voice from on high saying, This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. That is a gospel
message. This is God's beloved Son. God is well pleased in Him. He is your only hope of redemption. You better hear Him. You better
hear it. What a message. What a simple
message God preached. It was Christ that came. The
who came is important. Where did He come? Well, He came
to where we were. He came into the world. He came
to where sinners were in the world where we were fallen helpless,
dead in trespasses and sin. And what did He come to do? He
came to save sinners. He came to forgive and put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Now that's what that verse means.
That's why the preaching of the gospel is a matter of life and
death. The most important thing you
will ever do, now listen, the most important thing you will
ever do is to listen to the gospel. Not because I preach it. It doesn't
have a thing to do with it. Matter of fact, let me add, if
you hear nothing but my words today, they will profit you nothing.
God-called preachers are like that pole to which Moses fastened
the grazing serpent. Our only function is to hold
up Christ and Him crucified before sinners. That's what I am endeavoring
to do this morning, to hold Him up to you, to encourage you to
consider Him who is our salvation. I recently heard one of God's
servants say in a message that the most important thing on our
calendar each week should be the attendance of hearing the
preaching of the gospel. That should be the most important
thing that we put on our calendar. He said even Satan knows that
it's the preaching of the gospel that gives life to the dead.
Even demons believe God and tremble. We must never allow Satan to
draw us away from hearing the word preached. Why do you think,
friends, there is such a strong temptation in us to dismiss ourselves
from regular attendance of the preached Word? Let's face it,
we can think of plenty of things to do. We've got places to go,
people to see. things to accomplish. Why is
it so easy for us to do? Because the devil knows that
the preaching of the gospel is what gives life to God's elect
and what sustains and preserves life in them. The devil knows
how important preaching is, therefore he will do whatever he can to
keep you from it. I think of what I said earlier
about the function of preachers is we're like that pole that
holds up Christ. You know, sin is a fiery serpent
that has bitten every son and daughter of Adam. And there are
many that die from that bite for the wages of sin is death.
And in Numbers 21, it says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Make
thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole. And it shall
come to pass that everyone that is bitten Now listen, this is
important. Sin being a picture of that serpent
that bit the people in the wilderness, that everyone that is bitten,
when he looketh upon it, shall live. There's life in a look
at the Savior. And our Lord said in John 3.14,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. That's what preaching is. It's
lifting up Christ. The Son of Man must be lifted
up so that all who look to Him might be saved. And when the
sinner looks upon Christ, friends, high and lifted up, and believes
that He is their substitute, the One who died in their place,
they'll live. They'll live. Looking to Christ
alone is where our forgiveness is found. And that's the ambassador
of God's message. You know, I used to when I had
a good friend of mine who is a very well-known Sovereign Grace
preacher, he said, You're an ambassador of Christ." And it
almost embarrassed me at first. Me, an ambassador? But then when
you learn what the meaning of an ambassador is, it's much easier
to call yourself that. An ambassador of God does not
bring or make his own message. He simply delivers the message
that his king and ruler gives him. That's what an ambassador
is. He's a messenger. No messenger of God wants to
misrepresent the God that sent Him. I'm telling you, friends,
I tremble. I don't want to misrepresent
Him. And I know you and I both want a gospel that we can live
by, but more importantly, I believe we want a gospel that we can
die by. I want a gospel that brings me
comfort. That causes me to no longer fear
death. You know, men and women in this
world without Christ, the most fearful thing in the world is
death. Die. But not to a child of God. It's
a promotion. It's a promotion. Okay, with
all that said, turn with me to Acts chapter 13. Now in these
verses before us today, the Apostle Paul preaches a gospel message. And by God's grace, I'm going
to preach Paul's message to you today. I hope that's okay. All
we have to do is read it. Look at verse 16 with me. We'll
start there. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning
with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. Listen to me. Listen like you
never listened before. As I said a moment ago, preaching
the gospel is absolutely necessary for the saving of a sinner's
soul. Then listening and giving audience is just as important.
You should listen to gospel preaching with just as much seriousness
as the preacher preaches it. Matter of fact, you ought to
prepare yourself to hear it. Lord, let me hear something today
that's going to profit my soul. We pray for everything, it seems
like, everything else, but when it comes to God giving us ears
to hear, do we really pray for that? Men and women are responsible
for what they hear. And let me tell you this, they're
responsible for what they don't hear. We must give audience to
the message of God. And that's what Paul said. He
said, Ye that fear God, give audience. Listen to me. What
I'm about to tell you is urgent. It's important. Now I want us
to read together the message of God, the gospel here that
Paul preached this day. And I pray that God will give
us audience, give us ears to hear. We must listen as if God
himself was speaking. In verse 17, the apostle says,
the God of this people of Israel, chose our fathers and exalted
the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt.
And with a high arm brought he them out of it." Now let me ask,
who chose our fathers? It tells us God did. Who exalted
the people who were in slavery? God did. Who brought them out
of Egypt with a high arm? God did. In verse 18, "...and
about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in
the wilderness." Let me ask you another question. Who endured
and suffered this rebellious, stiff-necked people's conduct
in the wilderness? God did. And the first thing
that came out of their mouth was, Moses, did you deliver us
out of Egypt and let us die in the wilderness? They grumbled
and they complained at every turn, friends. But it says, for
40 years suffered He their manners in the wilderness. And mercy
and grace by His great promise to them, regardless of their
conduct, He was faithful to the promise. Verse 19, and when he
had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided
their land to them by lot. Now, we've been studying the
book of Joshua on Wednesday nights, and we've seen these battles
that Joshua has fought, the land of Canaan. We've seen very clearly
that it was God that delivered them and fought for them each
time. In one of the battles, God shot down hill stones. hail from heaven and knocked
the enemy off their horses and killed them. Who destroyed the
seven nations in the land of Canaan is my question. God did. God did. And God divided and
gave them their chosen land. Verse 20, And after that He gave
unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years,
until Samuel the prophet. Notice again, the words He gave
unto them. For God so loved the world that
He gave. That's a word that we ought to always consider when
we think of God. God gave. You have salvation
because God gave His Son to die in your place. God gave unto
them judges and He gave them His prophet. And then verse 21,
"...and afterward they desired a king. And God gave unto them
Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the
space of four years." Now, this is worth mentioning, and most
of you may know this, but God was their king. The Lord Jesus
Christ was their king. But they desired a king like
other nations. And God resented it. But God
gave them what they wanted. You may say, well, isn't that
good? It wasn't good for them. And let me say this. I pray for
myself that God never gives me what I want if it's against His
will. I don't know what is best for
me. and I'll be the first to admit it. And this is why the
believer prays as the Lord Jesus, as our example, Lord, not my
will, but Thy will be done. That's our safest prayer. They wanted a king and God gave
it to them. It was one of the worst things that ever happened
to them. But then in verse 22, and when He had removed him,
being Saul, He raised up unto them David. to be their king,
to whom also he gave testimony. And he said, I have found David,
the son of Jesse. Who found him? God did. God sent
the prophet to him. He went through all those sons,
big, strong, scrappy lads, good looking, every one of them. And
the prophet said, this must be the one. And went right on down
the line. And God said, no, that ain't
him. He said, Jesse, you got any more children? Well, I got
a little old ruddy boy that's tending sheep. He said, bring
him to me. It brought him to Him, and He
anointed him with oil, anointed his head, and one day he became
king. God looks on the heart of men,
not on the outward appearance. God said, I found David, in verse
22, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill
all my will. You see, when God rejected Saul,
now, whether he rejected him in death, because he died, or
while he was living, he rejected him while he was still alive.
He made David their king. Now, I'm going to tell you why
that's important. He testified, God did, concerning
him. He said, I found David, son of
Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want
Him to do. He shall fulfill all my will.
And again, we see that all things are being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. Don't we see that here? They
wanted a king. He gave them Saul. He rejected
Saul, but He gave them David. And we're going to see verse
23 what a blessing this was. And of this man's seed hath God,
according to His promise, raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus. God's choosing of David and from
his descendants, God has brought to Israel the Savior, Jesus Christ,
as He had promised throughout the Old Testament, since the
beginning of the book, when He prophesied unto Eve about bruising
the serpents' head. That was speaking of Christ.
There's one coming, the Old Testament says. The New Testament says,
He's here. He's here. Oh, this man cedeth
God according to His promise, raised unto Israel a Savior,
Jesus. Who chose David? God did. Who brought the Savior Jesus
Christ to Israel as He promised? God did. I'll tell you right
now, the same answer to all the questions. No trick questions
here. God did it. Do you see the pattern? Salvation is of the Lord. That was the Apostle Paul's message
of the Gospel in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Apostle skips
forward and speaks of the time of John the Baptist. In verse
24, he says, when John had first preached before his coming the
baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as
John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he, but behold, there
cometh one after me, whose shoes are his sandals of his feet. I am not worthy to lose. And
I believe I read that to you out in the NIV version. But it
says the same thing here in the King James Version. You see,
before the coming of Jesus, before the coming of Christ, John preached
repentance and baptism. What was John's message? Repent
and be baptized. Now the word repent means to
change. He's saying change your mind about who you think God
is. Change your mind about what you think salvation is. Salvation
is not keeping of the law. All these things that you're
in bondage to day in and day out. Washing hands. You can't
eat this. You can only eat that. On this
day you can't do this. On this day you can't do that.
Repent and change from it all. Because there's one coming that
has fulfilled and kept the law for you perfectly. John was completing
his work. He said, who do you think I am?
I'm just the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you
the way of the Lord. There's one coming and I'm not
even worthy to tie sandals. Unlatch them. Verse 26, he says,
Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever
among you feareth God, to you, to you is this word of this salvation
sent. If you're here today, friends,
as I said in the beginning, it's not by accident. It's by divine,
predetermined purpose. predestination, predetermined. Those of you that God causes
to really hear these words and give audience to, to you is this
word of salvation sent. Christ came to redeem His people.
And in the preaching of the gospel, Christ comes again to redeem
His people. He comes in the Word of God.
Can you see? Can you see him? Oh, he's not
softly and tenderly begging and pleading. Won't sinners just
come home? Won't you just come home? Won't
you let me have my way? No, no, no. Not in the least. Do you fear
God? Do you respect, love, and believe
His Word? If you do, then this is the Word
of salvation that God sends through His servants. Were you given
an ear? Have you given an ear this morning?
Or will you again turn your back and be indifferent? Look at verse
27. For they that dwell in Jerusalem
and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices
of the prophets. They didn't know Him and they
did not see in the Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures
written by the prophets, There was one coming and this was him.
He said, which are read every Sabbath day. They have fulfilled
them in condemning him. The people of Jerusalem and their
rulers did not see Christ. I had a man tell me one time,
he said, well, I think it's important that people see Christ in us.
I told him, I said, sir, people didn't see Christ in Christ.
Oh yeah, we should live honorable lives before the Lord. We should
do nothing that would cause dishonor to His name. We should flee from
every appearance of evil. We shouldn't give anyone reason
to question our God and our Savior. But they didn't see Christ in
Christ. And they're not going to see Him in me. That's no excuse
for me to act like a nut or a heathen, but that's just the truth of
the matter. They didn't see Christ, yet in
condemning Him, they fulfilled the words of the prophets that
were read every Sabbath day. and didn't have a clue. In verse
28, And though they found no cause of death in him. That's
very important. What does it mean that they found
no cause of death in him? It means he was innocent. It
means he was innocent. Yet desired they Pallet that
he should be slain. They found no proper ground for
a death sentence, so they demanded Pallet to have him executed.
And Pallet said, I don't find any fault in him. Matthew 27
says, Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said
unto them, Whom will you that I release unto you? Barabbas,
who was a notorious criminal murderer, or Jesus, which is
called Christ? And they cried out, The more
Christ! Release Barabbas and crucify Christ! And he goes,
Why? What evil has he done? And they
cried out, The more exceedingly crucify him! They didn't answer
the question. They just wanted him dead. Verse
29, And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him,
and we read between the lines here, because it says they took
him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher, which means
that they crucified him. They beat him, the scripture
says, so much so that he didn't resemble a man. They hung him
on a tree until he gave up the ghost, and then they took him
down from the tree, and they laid him in a sepulcher. And
though by wicked hands they took him, and they crucified him,
and they slay him, friends, according to Acts chapter 2 verse 23, don't
miss this, he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. Who killed the Lord Jesus Christ? God did. Why did He kill him? So that you and I might live.
It's called substitution. So should we not ask ourselves
why God delivered him? The Gospel's in the answer. Paul
said, that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for
us all, all his people. How should we not with Him also
freely give us all things? And in order for the elect of
God to be saved, God could not spare His Son, but delivered
Him up for His chosen people. That's God's salvation. That's
the ultimate sacrifice and gift. And no wonder verse 30 reads,
but God raised Him from the dead. God raised Him from the dead.
This is the believer's confidence. Christ died for all the sins
of all His people throughout all time. But the grave couldn't
hold Him because even though He was made sin for us, He knew
no sin. Let me tell you something else,
friends. I can read several verses to you. Ephesians 1, 19 and 20. What is the exceeding greatness
of His power toward us, He believed, according to the working of His
mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead. and set Him at His own right
hand in heavenly places." That's where He's at now. He's ruling
and reigning at the right hand of God. Verse 31, And He was
seen many days of them which came up with Him from Galilee
to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses unto His people. In verse 32,
and I'll wrap this up. And we declare unto you glad
tidings. Good news. The Gospel. How that the promise which was
made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their
children. in that he raised up Jesus again,
and it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son,
this day have I begotten Thee. So what's Paul saying here? He's
saying, we're telling you the good news. We're telling you
what you ought to rejoice in. What God promised our fathers,
He's fulfilled for you by raising up Christ. He said, you're my
son. Today, I have become your father. Now this was all by the sovereign
design, will, and purpose of God. And no wonder the child
of God can now claim, O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory? You see, the sting of death is
sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to
God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now what does that mean? It means He paid for our sin.
It's gone. It's not there anymore. Salvation
is in, through, and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And I finish by
reading you these last verses. And it's concerning that He raised
Him from the dead, verse 34, now no more to return to corruption. He said, On this wise I will
give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also
in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to
seek corruption. Now this is important, verse
36. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will
of God, fell on asleep. He died and was laid unto his
fathers and saw corruption. He died, he was buried, and he
decayed. But he, verse 37, whom God raised
again, saw no corruption. The fact that God raised him
from the dead never to decay is stated in these words, I will
give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David. That's our
hope, that God has given that unto us. You see, David and all
the other great prophets of God, the one thing different between
them and this great prophet is that they died, and they were
buried, and they saw corruption. But not this prophet. No, no. God raised him from the dead.
He saw no decay, no corruption. You know why? He's God. He's God. God cannot die, and
that is our salvation, dear friends. God died for us. Christ became
what I was that I might become and have what He is and what
He has. God did it. Salvation, God did
it. For God so loved the world, His
people and the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Christ is salvation. Salvation
is in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's
the most important question that I can ask you. What do you think
of? I ask you that question usually
at the end of every service. I want you to seriously consider
it. What do you think of this Christ?
Is He nothing to you? Or is He everything to you? It's
a matter of life and death. Salvation is through Him. Salvation
is the forgiveness of sin. How are my sins forgiven? There's
only one way. I didn't read verse 38 to you.
It's the main verse. Look at it. Be it known unto
you therefore, men and brethren, here it is, that through this
man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. How do God's
people know that they've been forgiven of their sin? Well,
first and foremost, God made and makes it known. No other
way. Secondly, through this man, through
this substitute, is forgiveness. It's Him that we preach unto
you. He said through this man is preached unto you. That's
why we preach nothing but Him. That is where forgiveness is.
It's in Christ. And that's what it says. In Him
is forgiveness. Preach unto you the forgiveness
of sins. Now that's absolutely the best
news I ever heard. Now what are you going to do
with it? What are you going to do with that? Will you bow to
Christ as your only hope of redemption and the forgiveness of sin? Or
will you continue to rebel and say that you will not have this
man rule over you? Only two choices. And they're
not really choices. They're commands. Would it not
be best to bow to Him as Lord and Savior now? This is the message
that Paul preached. This is the message that I preach. This is the message that other
men here in this congregation who fill in from time to time
preach. And let me just tell you plainly, it's your responsibility
to believe it. It's your responsibility to hear
it. God help you to do so.