we have reason ever to rejoice
and give thanks to our God that everything the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world to do, he has done. When our Savior cried,
ìIt is finished,î that meant it is finished. Nothing was left
undone that he came here to accomplish as Godís servant, as our surety,
and as our substitute. I love that hymn. I quote it
often. Nothing, either great or small,
nothing, sin or no, Jesus did it, did it all, long, long ago. When he from his lofty throne
stood to do and die, everything was fully done, hearken to his
cry. It is finished. Yes, indeed. Finished every jot. Sinner, this
is all you need. Tell me, is it not finished? Finished. When our Savior cried
it is finished, he declares to us that righteousness is finished. Satisfaction is finished. Atonement is finished. The curse is finished. Condemnation is finished. Judgment is finished. Sin is
finished. Everything relating to our utter
worthy condemnation, that wrath from God that we deserved, was
finished. Everything we lacked from before
God to make us acceptable and reconciled to him was finished. Everything, everything. By his
own blood, the Lord Jesus entered in once into the holy place and
obtained eternal redemption for us, having put away the sins
of his people by the sacrifice of himself. But the work of Christ
as our mediator and as our surety is not finished, not by a long
shot. His work that he came to perform
on earth he finished, but there is much more yet to be done.
He said in John 10, Other sheep I have which are not of this
fold, them also I must bring, and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. His work as our mediator will
not be finished until he has brought all his sheep into the
fold of his grace and presents all of God's elect holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in the presence of God Almighty in resurrection
glory and says, Lo, I and the children which thou hast given
me, and God is all and in all, then in that day. when every
knee has been made to bow, and every tongue has been made to
confess of things in heaven, and things in the earth, and
things under the earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father, everything shall be finished for which God
made this world. Everything. Now, in the book
of Acts, Luke tells us how he's doing it. Turn to Acts chapter
1, if you will. It is this ongoing work of the
risen Christ in the earth that the book of Acts describes. Now,
in his gospel narrative, Luke told us all that our Lord Jesus
Christ began to do. Here in the book of Acts, he
tells us what our risen Lord and Savior continues to do in
the world. And listen carefully. what he
does in this world for the saving of his people, he does through
his church by the power of his Spirit. What Jesus Christ, the
King of Glory, does in this world, he does through his church by
the power of his Holy Spirit. Look in Acts chapter 1, verse
1. The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus
began to do and to teach, until the day in which he was taken
up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments
unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed
himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being
seen of them forty days, and speaking the things pertaining
to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together
with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father." The promise of the Father. Same thing Paul talked about
in Galatians chapter 3, verse 14, the promise God made to Abraham,
the giving of the Spirit. Wait for the promise of the Father.
Which saith he, Ye have heard of me? For John truly baptized
with water, but you shall be baptized with, the word is, you
shall be immersed in the Holy Ghost not many days hence. The Book of Acts is an inspired
history of the apostolic ministry of the early Church, covering
a period of about 35 years. The central theme of the book
is the ascension and lordship of Christ, our crucified Savior
and King, in the saving of his people while he works through
his church on this earth. Now, in Acts 5.32, turn there
and look at it. Peter tells us, we are his witnesses
of these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost
whom God hath given to them that obey him. Throughout these twenty-eight
chapters, We see the mighty work of the ascended Christ in this
world, his work by the gospel, his work through his church,
by the power of his Holy Spirit. It is Christ Jesus who chose
the men through whom he would send forth his gospel into all
the world. It is Christ Jesus who chose
the fields where they would labor and where the gospel would be
preached. when they sought to go one place and another according
to their will, according to their thoughts, he stopped them in
their way, said no. For you see, he, like he said
concerning his father, hides the gospel from whom he will
and reveals it to whom he will. It is his prerogative. He sends
the word where he is pleased to send the word, and he in judgment
holds back the word of mercy. where he intends to send his
wrath. God Almighty is absolutely sovereign in all things, and
our Lord Jesus Christ is God Almighty, our sovereign King.
Now in chapter 1, verse 8, our Savior's last words to his church
before he ascended back into heaven were these, "'You shall
be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and
in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. But those
men didn't pay too much attention to what he said. They heard it,
but they didn't hear it. They listened, but they didn't
pay much attention. Rather than going about to preach the gospel
in the uttermost parts of the earth, they failed to see the
breadth of the privilege and the command that God had given
they went back to Jerusalem. They just went back to Jerusalem,
ignoring Samaria, ignoring the uttermost parts of the earth,
ignoring the Gentiles, until the Lord God did something in
his providence by which he graciously forced them to obey him, and
graciously forced them to see the value of what he had said.
He raised up persecutors. not because he was angry with
them. No, no, no, no, no. He raised up persecutors because
he loves them, and because he's determined to save his people
according to his purpose. And the persecutors drove the
disciples literally out of Jerusalem, and as they were scattered here
and there, they went everywhere preaching the word. And God called
out his elect from this place and that, one place and another. God almost always does things
just exactly opposite of the way we would if we sat down and
thought it out and blanked it. He almost always uses the things
that we look at and say there's no way any good can come out
of that. He almost always, almost always draws very straight lines
with very crooked sticks. The Lord God raised up persecutors
who in their vengeance and hatred and malice against God, and vengeance
and hatred and malice against the gospel, stoned Stephen to
death, and would have destroyed the apostles in the name of Christ,
and driven the name of Christ out of the earth. By their instrumentality,
being inspired of Satan, God Almighty sent the gospel through
all the world. I'm talking to you about God. Does he rule everything? Absolutely.
Were those men, those persecutors, not responsible for what they
did? Oh, yes, they were. Just as responsible as those
wicked men who by their wicked wills crucified the Lord of Glory.
But they too were instruments in his hands. The blood of the
first New Testament martyr, Stephen, proved to be as God assures us
that all things are according to his good purpose for the salvation
of his elect to accomplish his goodwill for his people. Oh, God, teach me this. I keep
preaching it to you, hoping I'll hear myself one of these days.
Everything in this world works by the sovereign manipulation
of our Heavenly Father without fail to save his people. And that includes me and you.
Everything. Everything. Nothing happens by
chance or accident. Nothing happens beyond the control
of our God. In fact, if you read the first
four verses of chapter eight, You'll see that the stoning of
Stephen had something to do with God
Almighty preparing a young man named Saul, just a little while later, to
hear his voice and see his son and serve the interest of his
kingdom. Saul was there holding the clothes of those who stole
Stephen and said, hit him again. Hit him again. Saul heard Stephen as he was
leaving this world crying to God as he beheld the Lord Jesus
standing at the right hand of God. Lord, don't lay this crime
to their charge. And God Almighty in his appointed
time sent to this young man Saul the word of his grace. Now the
book of Acts tells us much about preaching. Those who were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the word, we read in verse 4,
chapter 8. Philip preached Christ in Samaria, and the Lord gathered
many sheep into his fold. Caesarea, Pharnacia, Cyprus,
Antioch, Damascus, all heard the gospel. And the disciples,
as they went everywhere preaching the word, declared something
distinct. The words preach, preaching,
preached, are used 37 times in this book. Get your concordance
and look them up. Every time, without exception,
every time, without exception, the subject preached was Jesus
crucified and raised from the dead. Every time. So we take
the book of Acts to be a guide to what New Testament Christianity
is. and a guide to what preaching
is, as indeed it is, then it is definitely showing us that
any time Christ is not preached, no preaching is done in the biblical
sense of the word. The book of Acts demonstrates
that our Lord Jesus Christ is to be the singular subject of
preaching as he was in the earliest days of the church, so in all
the days of his church on this earth. And we see our Savior's
direct sovereign intervention in bringing chosen sinners into
his kingdom. Peter carried the gospel to the
Jews at Pentecost, and then the Lord graciously forced that prejudiced
Jew to carry the gospel to some Gentiles in chapter 10. Graciously
forced him to. He wouldn't have done so for
anything. He wouldn't have done so for anything. You see, God
Almighty graciously takes such things as we are, in all our corruption still by
nature, and overrules the evil that's in us, and subdues it,
and causes us to bow to his will, and uses such worthless vessels
as we are to proclaim his free grace. to chosen sinners around
the world. Isn't that a marvel? Peter, who's
going to carry the gospel first to the Gentiles? Who's going
to be the first one to carry it to the Gentiles? That man
who is least likely to be suspected of doing so. That man who would
never sit down and eat with the Jews, eat with the Gentiles.
The Lord lowered down some hams and pork chops and pig's feet
and said, have a feast, Peter. You're fixing to change, buddy.
You're going to go preach to the Gentiles. Peter says, Well,
nothing unclean is ever in my mouth. Peter, don't you call
what I've created unclean. You don't understand the meaning
of anything you've heard all your life. These men are chosen
to me, and chosen by me, for me, just like you are. had been made clean by my Son,
just like you have. And they shall be made clean
in the experience of my grace, just like you shall." And Peter
carries the gospel to Cornelius. And God fulfills his promise
back in Matthew chapter 16. As he told Peter, he said, on
this rock, Christ Jesus, the Son of the living God, this confession
That's the rock on which the church is built. I'll build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,
and I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And what
you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what you loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven." And Peter goes, and he takes
the gospel to Cornelius, the Gentiles, and the Lord God opens
the doors of heaven itself! and receives Gentiles into his
heavenly kingdom. Now, if you read the book of
Acts at one setting, you will find the history that's recorded
here moves, I mean, just 35 years of church history in 28 chapters. And when you read it, you see
the wonders of God displayed marvelously throughout these
chapters. And the read is just simply exhilarating. Oh, look at the mystery of God's
providence. Look at the wonder of his grace.
On one day, the Lord graciously added 3,000 souls to his kingdom,
all of them confessing Christ in believers' baptism. On another
day, there were 5,000 who, hearing the gospel, believed on the Son
of God. And the gospel is carried from
city to city. from place to place. Sometimes
willingly the disciples say, Well, this is where we'll go.
We've got our plans marked out. And sometimes they were let down
over the wall of the city in a basket, fleeing for their lives
to carry the gospel somewhere else. But always the will of
God died. Now, in this 8th verse of chapter
1, our Savior tells us what the lifelong work and responsibility
of every believer he says, And ye shall be witnesses unto me. The word witness, if we were
to write out a transliteration of it, it is the word from which
we get our word martyr. A witness is one who testifies
truthfully of that which he has seen and experienced and heard
for himself. He doesn't deal in second-hand
information. That's what believers do. Witnessing
to folks about Christ is not merely button-holing folks and
getting them to make a profession of faith. As a matter of fact,
I would urge you, don't do that. Don't do that. Witnessing is
looking for an opportunity to tell a needy soul what God in
His grace has done for you. Oh, preacher, I just don't think
I could defend election predestination like I ought to. Don't. Don't
try. You can't. Don't try. I just
don't think I could defend the deep things of God like I ought
to. Don't try. But I tell you what, if you've
ever been hungry, I mean hungry, and somebody took you into their
house and set you down at a feast, you can tell them about being
fed. If you've ever been dirty and somebody provided you a bath
and hot water and fresh clothes, you can tell them what it is
to be made clean. And if you've ever tasted that the Lord is
gracious, if you've ever heard him speak peace and pardon and
forgiveness to your soul by his blood and righteousness, if you've
ever found acceptance with God by Jesus Christ. You can tell
somebody about that. You can tell somebody about that.
That's what witnessing is. It's dealing in first-hand information.
But witnesses are more than simply those who tell what they know. The word witness, as I said,
is the word from which we get our word martyr. A martyr? A martyr is not someone who has
been executed against his will because he could not save himself. A martyr is one who rather than
denying the cause which he has espoused, rather than denying
the purpose for which he lives, chooses to lay down his life. Is that what our Master did? He willingly laid down his life
for you, for the glory of God, my brother, my sister. And we who are born of God, if
indeed we are born of God, are men and women who willingly laid
down our lives to him for his glory and will not turn back. my witnesses, my witnesses. Now, after making the great promise
of the outpouring of his Spirit, our Lord ascends back into heaven,
and we get to Acts 1 and verse 12. Now, verses 12 through 26
cover a brief waiting period, just 10 days between the ascension
of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day
of Pentecost. We're told that our Lord Jesus ascended up from
the Mount of Olives, and it is almost as though Luke is saying,
now, remember what Zechariah said? He did that. He went back
to heaven from that mount that was split by the hand of God
in an earthquake. And then in verses 12, 13, and
14, the disciples go back to Jerusalem to wait. to wait for the promise of God. He commends them to return to
Jerusalem and there awaits for God to give them that which he
had promised, his Spirit, the power and unction of his Spirit.
But that doesn't make any sense. Our enemies are back there. Those
fellows who nailed our Savior to the tree, they're waiting
there for us. They're waiting for us at Jerusalem. It doesn't
make any sense to go back there. Oh yes it does. Our responsibility in all things
is to obey our God, regardless of how things appear. Obey Him. That's the path of blessedness,
and the path of peace, and the path of usefulness. Obedience. We seldom ever understand the
why of God's will in anything. But our problem seldom is that
we don't know what the will of God is. Folks, how do you know
God's will? You know God's will. Your problem
is you refuse to obey it. That's the problem. is the path of blessedness, the
path of peace, and the path of usefulness. Not what other men
think, not what we want, not what appears to be wise, not
what appears to be most prudent, and certainly not what works. I get comments from people all
the time. I received several notes just
recently with regard to this passion movie Gibson came out
with. But I've been there, and I've seen it, and I've seen the
effect. I've seen the result. My heart
was moved to God by this. How can you say it's evil? Our
judgment concerning all things must never be what the effect
is, what the result is, what men say they experience, but
rather what does God say? Nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else. We judge all things
by his word. We judge his word by nothing.
You understand that? Obedience. And then in these
verses we see a display of terrible weakness. Peter, this faithful man, and faithful
he was, he knew that Judas, his friend, was under the judgment
of God, that man that had been his close companion. And he says
no more about Judas than was necessary here. But Peter led
the disciples to do something that was utterly foolish because
of his rashness. They cast lots and decided to
choose one of two men, either Justice or Matthias, and these
would be the Apostle to take Judas's place. But God wasn't
consulted in the matter. The will of God wasn't consulted
in the matter. And after playing a little round
to spin the bottle, The bottle pointed to Matthias, and they
said, there he is. That's the apostle who'll take
Judas' place. But the apostle that God had
ordained to be the twelfth. He didn't ever have thirteen
apostles, just twelve. The twelfth apostle was the apostle Paul,
whom God would select, set in his time in his church and kingdom. Now the lesson is this. God's
servants, the best of them, are but fallible, fallible, fallible
men. Peter's era here, Larry, was
not an era of character. It was an era of judgment. And
you know what the disciples did? They did just what they ought
to have done. Peter was still the pastor. He was still that
one who spoke the word of God to them. And they didn't say,
well, look what Peter did. He flat messed up. Let's go over
here and start another church. They followed God's servant who
faithfully sought to follow God, though he was but a fallible,
fickle, sinful man. And they continued following
him. Now we get to chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 records the fulfillment
of Joel's prophecy in Joel 2. It records the fulfillment of
John's declaration when he came announcing the coming of the
Lord Jesus. And it fulfills the promise of our Lord Jesus that
he would baptize his church in the Holy Spirit, and he would
do it very soon. Now, Acts 2 takes place with
the Jews from all countries around all over the place, gathered
at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Pentecost as the Lord required
in the Old Testament We have a clear description of it back
in the book of Leviticus. This Feast of Pentecost was a
feast of ingatherings. It was a time that celebrated
the ingathering of the harvest. But it was much more than merely
an acknowledgment that the harvest of the wheat was brought into
the garner by God's good providence. The time of ingathering, the
Feast of Pentecost, was set by God fifty days after the Passover,
fifty days after the sacrifice of atonement, declaring that
as the result of atonement made by the Lamb of God, a great ingathering
would be brought in. And so on the day of Pentecost,
when the Jews were gathered together, God Almighty poured out his Spirit
on these disciples. And these men were enabled by
the Spirit of God to preach the gospel in the languages of those
who were gathered from all these different countries, though they
had never studied the language. And those men, each one heard
them preach the gospel in their own language. And God hereby
attests that Jesus Christ the Lord has fulfilled Joel's prophecy,
and now he sits as king in Zion, ruler over all things, to give
his grace to whom he will. And the Lord Jesus immersed his
church into a totally new realm of existence. Now I said that
and have absolutely no idea what I've said. Our Lord declared
that When he spoke in John 7, men coming to me and drink, and
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, this he spoke
signifying his spirit, because his spirit was not yet given.
What does that mean? I really don't know, except that
it was not given. The Holy Spirit was not outpoured
upon his church in his office capacity as the unction and comforter
and guide and teacher of his church. He was not yet poured
out in his office capacity as the seal of God's covenant upon
his people. And now he's poured out. Now
this outpouring of the Spirit, Pentecost, took place, listen,
listen now, 2,000 years ago. And it ain't never been repeated.
And it ain't never going to be repeated. any more than the sacrifice
of Christ on the Passover night would ever be repeated again.
Oh, my God. We pray for another Pentecost.
Why don't you pray for another sacrifice? Oh, no. No, this is a one-time thing.
One-time thing. It is virtually repeated symbolically
when we get to Acts chapter 10, as we'll see in just a little
bit. But the thing there was simply identifying the same thing
with the Gentiles as happened with the Jews. The Church and
Kingdom of God is immersed in the Spirit of God, and now every
man, woman, child who believes on the Son of God lives and walks
in the Spirit, being taught of God with the unction of the Spirit,
knowing all things, kept by the power and grace of the Spirit. declares that Jesus Christ is
indeed Lord, that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is indeed David,
David's great son, that one of whom David was a type, and that
he is now seated upon his throne in the heavens. In chapter 6,
we see the great events in history of the early church separating
seven men to be deacons. Oh, what blessed men they were,
chosen of God to take care of the carnal affairs of the Church,
so that the apostles, God's messengers, could give themselves to prayer
and study and preaching. I am almost hesitant to say what
I know needs to be said because I know folks can twist things
and make them say what they want to. But that's what deacons do. Deacons
serve Christ by serving his church and serving their pastors so
that their pastors don't have to be concerned about anything
except preaching the gospel. That's all. I was down in Jackson,
Missouri, and I told Bob this. I'll embarrass him a little bit,
but you'll just have to put up with it. Some of the folks who don't remember
his name said, be sure to tell that fellow and start describing
his wife. I said, yeah, I know what you're
talking about. You know, I never go anywhere. I mean, I never
go anywhere where the folks have been here one time. But what
folks don't remember, that man and his wife never, never have
come, because they take it upon themselves to serve the kingdom
of God, serving their pastor, serving their savior. That's
what it is, making it easy for the gospel to be preached. That's
what it is. And then in chapter 8, Philip
is down in Samaria preaching. And God Almighty saves a bunch
of people. A bunch of people. He's right
in the middle of a tremendous work of God's Spirit. And suddenly,
the Lord took him away from Samaria, out in the middle of the desert. Boy, that's a smart move, isn't
it? Where are you going, Philip? Well, I believe the Lord sent
me down into this desert to go preach. Well, that's not very
smart, Philip. Don't you know the best place to go preach if
you're going to have success is to go to the biggest city around? Not
if God sends you to the desert, it's not. Not if God sends you
to the desert. And he found a man, an Ethiopian,
under Candace the Queen, treasurer of Ethiopia, coming back from
Jerusalem, reading Isaiah 53. And I don't know what all went
on, but Philip got over there close to the chair and he said,
Bert, I see you're reading Isaiah 53. He said, Do you understand
that? And that fellow said, How can
I except some man show me? Philip said, Scoot over, I'll
show you. And he preached Christ to him. Wonder of wonders. Somehow, no matter what it takes,
when God Almighty brings the sinner whom he's chosen from
eternity to save to the time when his time of grace and love
and mercy has come. One way or another, he's going
to cause that center to hear a man preach the gospel of his
grace, and by the means he has ordained, call out his elect. Well, I still don't see what
was the great advantage of Philip going down there. That eunuch
carries the gospel back to Ethiopia and through Africa. and from
Africa through the world. God never does things the way
men would plan them. Never! I'm not saying once in
a while he doesn't. I'm telling you, God never does
things the way men would plan to do them. Never! He sends Philip
down to find an Ethiopian to tell him the gospel of God's
grace. An Ethiopian who had been a heathen all his life and was
converted to Judaism, was still a heathen, but was reading Isaiah
53. And by that sends his gospel
through the world. And then we get to Acts 9. Saul of Tarsus, one of the chief
persecutors of the Church, is converted by God's grace. And
God begins suddenly to do things rapidly through the Gentile world.
After Saul was converted, brought into the Church and kingdom of
God, Lord sent Peter to Cornelius. And Cornelius preaches the gospel
to this Gentile in his household, and when he and his friends heard
the gospel and received the word of God, the same thing happened
to the Gentiles and happened to the Jews. God poured out his
Spirit upon them. This was the second and last
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And these things were done to
confirm to Peter and to the Jewish believers that God is no respecter
that his kingdom reaches into the four corners of the earth,
and he gathers into his kingdom whom he will out of every nation,
kindred, tribe, and tongue. And racial prejudice and social
prejudice, all distinctives that make men proud and make proud
men hate each other are to be utterly held in contempt. Utterly held in contempt. So
how do you know that's why he did that? When Peter got back
to Judea in Acts chapter 11, verse 1, his brethren were waiting
on him. We heard that you went down and
had some pork chops with a bunch of Gentiles. And Peter said,
let me tell you what happened. And God poured out his Spirit
upon those who heard, and the brethren understood that this
thing was of God. And then when we get to chapter
13, we see the Lord separating Paul and Barnabas out of the
church at Antioch to send them out to preach the gospel. Now,
there's never been a book written about missions to compare with
the book of Acts. You want to understand something
about missions, read this book. Paul and Barnabas were chosen
of God. But they were chosen of God,
and God Almighty purposefully tells His church to set them
apart. Because when God gives a man
gifts for the ministry, His church recognizes that, and sends out
those men to preach the gospel. And those men being sent of God,
wherever God sends them, wherever God sends them, He opens the
way before them. And you know these fellows went
out? without doing any deputation work. That's a fancy word for
going to beg for bread in the name of God, which our Lord forbids. And you know they succeeded in
carrying the gospel in just these few short years to the entire
known world without a mission board? They did that. They did that. And wherever they
went and proclaimed the gospel of God's grace, as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. And it's still true. It is still
true. Men hear the word at God's appointed
time from the messenger God has sent, and hearing, they believe,
because God ordained it from eternity. When you get to Acts
15, you see the Jerusalem conference. If you want the theological interpretation
of what went on there, turn to Galatians 2 and read that at
your leisure. But Luke gives us the historic
account. This was not, as many imagine,
a time when they got together to debate the issues. No, no,
no, no, no. Paul went up to Jerusalem, and
he tells us plainly in Galatians that he wasn't going to give
inch, not to anyone. He wasn't budging. Oh, you're
so dogmatic. You're so insistent. He says,
I've gone up here to Jerusalem for one reason, for one reason. I have gone here to make known
in a public way at Jerusalem and to have those who are apostles
in Christ before me to verify this thing publicly that God's
people are free from the law. And you know what? Peter and
James said amen. Peter and James did. In other
words, they declare that those who would come and bring God's
people now under the yoke of bondage are absolutely without
credibility as spokesmen for God. In chapter 27, we can't
read it. I want you to see the last thing,
so I'll just gloss over this. But there's a picture here in
Acts 27. I want you to read it when you
get home or in the morning, sometime tomorrow, while it's fresh on
your mind. divine predestination and human responsibility. In
verses 21 through 25, Paul has a word from God. He says, Paul,
now, nothing is going to happen. You're on this ship, you're in
the midst of a storm, but everything is all right. You're going to
lose the ship and you're going to lose the cargo, but no man
on this ship is going to be hurt. Not one hair on one head is going
to be hurt. That's something else. But you've
got to stay in the ship. And then you get down to verses
31, 32, 33, 34, 35. And these fellows are all terrified. Everybody except Paul. Everybody
except Paul. They're just horrified. The ship's
breaking apart. And they start to lower the lifeboats
and start to jump in them. And Paul said, No! Don't one
of you get in there? Now God promised me nobody's
going to be hurt. that you've got to stay in the
ship or you're all going to die. Well, how can you say that? How can you say that God has
purposed something and yet men and women must do what God says
or they'll perish? Because God says that. It's exactly right. It's exactly
right. Now, one last thing. Look in verse 44 of chapter 27. I want you to learn this. Would you be used of God? I keep
praying that God will use us, don't you? Oh, Ron, I want God
to use me. Ralph Barnett said you better
quit praying God will use you. He just might. But I'll tell
you what God uses. God uses raging storms, wrecked ships. lost cargoes, snake-bitten men, and broken pieces for the building
of his kingdom. Verse 44, And the rest, some
on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it
came to pass that they escaped all, just like God said they
would, safe to land. And when they got to land, Paul's
out there, didn't want anybody else to do it. Said, well, he's
the apostle Paul. He's gathering up firewood, building a fire.
And a snake bit him on the hand. And the heat and awe fell down
to worship him. There's a God! was a witness. He was looking for an opportunity.
He said, oh, no, I'm not a God, but I'll tell you about who he
is. And God greatly used that snake-bitten man for the salvation
of his elect. May he be pleased to use us,
no matter what has to be broken. Amen.