I invite you to turn in your
Bibles this morning back to the 16th chapter of the book of Acts.
Acts chapter 16. I want to begin reading with verse
25 and read down through the 34th verse. Verse 25 through
verse 34. And at midnight Paul and Silas
prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard
them. And suddenly there was a great
earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and
immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands
were loosed. And the keeper of the prison,
awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing
that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice,
saying, Do thyself no harm, for we're all here. Then he called
for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down
before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, and said,
sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took
them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and
was baptized he and all his straight way. And when he had brought
them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing
in God with all his house. Let's have a word of prayer.
Eternal God, our Father, we thank you that in your divine arrangement
that we are here this morning. We thank you for your mercy that
has been pleased to be with us all this week, protecting and
keeping and allowing us, our Father, to be able to assemble
today to worship thee both in song and by the hearing of the
preached word. We ask this morning that you'll
be pleased to enlighten our hearts and enlighten our minds and also
our Father to relieve all of the stress and the pressures
that are upon our heart and upon our soul. Grant us that we might
be able to rejoice in the Lord Jesus and to be glad in the Lord
this day for all of his goodness and mercy. We do pray this morning
for your spirit to work in each heart Thou dost know, our Father,
the individual needs of our hearts. Thy people are attested in poor
and afflicted people, and they do need Thy help and Thy blessing. And we just pray this morning
that You'll be pleased, our Father, to work in each heart here and
provide the needs. Lord, we ask that the spiritual
needs will be met. We pray for the coming of Thy
Spirit's power upon this meeting, that those, our Father, who are
dead in sin might be quickened to life, and those who are Thy
children might be quickened anew this day, and be able to, our
Father, go forth from this place today with a renewed heart and
spirit. We just pray, our Father, that
you might encourage us all. Thou knowest, our Father, the
discouragements of life. There are many, many, many tests
we have and many discouragements, but we do pray for the lifting
up of our souls and of our hearts that we may be strengthened in
the Lord our God. Help us to encourage ourselves
in Him who remains the same. We do pray our Father today that
you'll be pleased to undertake for those who are not able to
be with us today. We pray a blessing upon them
for those men and women who are not able to come and to fellowship
and to assemble. And some are kept away from the
meetings by distance and we just pray that you'll be with them
and minister to them and we pray that shortly we shall all be
able again to meet together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
in whose name we do pray this morning. Amen. I want to speak
to you this morning on this passage of scripture that I've just read
to you. I hope that the Lord has prepared
both my heart and yours to receive the word of the Lord this morning.
There is a tremendous message in this chapter. Many of the
verses in this chapter have been of special help and encouragement
to me throughout the years of my experience as a child of God
pilgrimaging in this world. And so this morning I want to
speak on this Philippian jailer here who was converted, regenerated
by the Spirit of God, brought to a saving knowledge of Christ
through the experience that took place on one night in his life. Now this Philippian jailer was
a crusty old Roman soldier spending his last years of military service
as a warden in a small prison at Philippi. And what he knew
of Christ and the gospel of saving grace, redeeming grace, and mercy
before this eventful night that's described in this chapter, we
do not know. I do not know whether he ever
heard anybody preach or whether he ever heard a hymn sung before
he heard Paul and Silas singing these hymns on this night in
which God was about, through an earthquake and through other
events, was about to save this man's soul. But it would be,
I think, stretching the imagination a great deal to think that this
man knew much at all about the things of God. I believe probably
he was a stranger to the truth of God, to the things of God. It's amazing how that there can
be apostles in the same jail And the jail would be ignorant
of the things of God, while these brethren knew the truth of God
and the things of God. And it's amazing how that we
can have people living right around us that know the truth
of God, yet many, many that live around us are total strangers
and are ignorant of the truth of the gospel of redeeming grace.
Now then, he was a pagan by birth and by custom and by training
this man was. He was a Roman soldier, and not
only are these things so that we've said, but all who know
the Scriptures and all who know and have an understanding of
the revealed Word of God know that no unregenerate man knows
anything of the things of the Spirit. An unregenerated man,
a lost man, a man outside of Jesus Christ does not have the
Holy Spirit and therefore does not understand the things of
the Spirit. Now, to talk of men knowing the
gospel before they are regenerated by the Spirit is contrary to
the Word of God in its foolishness, because the Word of God says
in 1 Corinthians 2 and 14, that the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness
unto them, and neither can they receive them because they are
spiritually discerned. Yet when this man cried, When
this man cried, what must I do to be saved? Paul and Silas answered
and said, believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Now did the jailer know the doctrine
of total depravity? I doubt it. I doubt it. I'm sure
he didn't know a thing about total depravity, about original
sin. But he was convinced of this.
He was convinced of his own sin, and he was convinced that he
needed to be saved. He was convinced that he was
ruined, and that he was helpless, and that he needed to be saved. He was convinced of that. Did
he understand all of the particulars of limited atonement and effectual
redemption? Did he understand that? Well,
it's not likely that he did. I'm satisfied, but he knew very
little about the atonement and very little about the redemption
which Christ wrought out on Calvary's cross. But he did trust Christ.
He did trust Christ in this night. He trusted the precious blood
as his only all-sufficient and effectual atonement for sin.
I know that he did this. Now did this old sinner comprehend
the doctrine of imputed righteousness there in that prison on this
night? Did he comprehend that doctrine?
Did he know anything about God taking the garments of salvation
and clothing a naked sinner before Him in order that that sinner
would be adorned and in order that that sinner could be accepted
into God's presence? Did he know anything about the
wedding garment? Well, he didn't know anything
about it. I'd be surprised if he did. I really would be. But
he did, this man did trust Christ alone as his only righteousness
before God on this night. Somehow or other, he was enabled
to do that on this night. He was able to trust, he was
able to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now did the Philippian
jailer understand all the great and glorious doctrines of grace
revealed in the gospel? No, he did not. I'm satisfied
he didn't. But he did fully believe that
salvation is by grace alone, by Christ alone, in and through
faith alone. He did truly believe that on
this night. He was no theologian. He didn't
understand all these great doctrines, but somehow or other, by the
power of God, this man got into Christ on this night, and he
was converted, and he was a child of God, a child of grace from
this hour on. Now listen to me. I'm not one
who believes that a man must understand everything in order
that he might be saved. I want you to know that a man
don't have to be a theologian. He don't have to be able to articulate
and get up and to speak of the things of God in order to have
a sound hope in his soul. He doesn't have to be able to
do that. Now I don't want anyone to understand about what I'm
saying and misunderstand anything that I'm saying this morning
because I'm not saying that a man, that it doesn't make any difference
about doctrine and that it doesn't make any difference about what
a person believes or that men and women can be saved by believing
on the false Christ of Arminian and free will works religion. I'm not saying that. I'm saying
that this man come to know Christ by the power of the Spirit of
God and he didn't have any formal education in religion beforehand. This man didn't know anything.
He was never catechized or taught by anybody or tutored by anybody
in the things of God prior to this night. But on this night,
there were some unusual happenings. On this night, there were some
things that took place. And this man wound up converted,
baptized, believing in God, rejoicing in God with all of his house
after this night. And so beloved, there's something
here that we've got to look at. I'm saying that this sinner here,
that he came to Christ, and I'm saying that sinners do not come
to Christ through doctrine, through being taught doctrine. Sinners
come to Christ by the power of God. They're brought to Christ
as they're brought out of their sin, and out of a state of nature
into the Lord Jesus Christ by effectual grace and by divine
power and by the tutoring of the Holy Spirit. We do come to
know and love true doctrine through the Lord Jesus as we grow and
as we go on in the path. of righteousness and holiness,
we do come to know doctrine. Sinners do not have to become,
like we've said, they don't have to attend classes in order to
get to where they can be saved. We simply preach Christ to sinners
in all of His saving fullness. We preach to them in their desperate
need, assuring all who hear us that the message of the apostles,
that the apostolic message is still true today. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's what we
preach. We don't try to educate them
into salvation, we preach, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved and if by the power of God, God is pleased
to apply the message, that sinner will be brought out of his sin
and will be brought into a blessed and full hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now beloved, as simple as this
command is, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. As simple as this command is,
I say, it is the hardest thing on this earth for a sinner to
do. For a sinner to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
to do this is to obey the gospel. and a sinner in his own natural
state left to himself apart from the intervention of God is not
able to obey the gospel. Man is no more able to obey the
gospel under grace than he is to obey the law under Moses. He's not able to do it. It takes
the power of God. And I want you to hear me out
on this this morning. Indeed, no man can or will obey
the gospel until God gives him faith by His almighty grace and
power. Now listen to me, it shuts us
all up. to an experience with God. It
shuts us off. This man had an experience. Did
he not have? Here he was in this prison, and
he was asleep, and the prisoners there in the prison, they were
there, you know, and all at once there was something took place.
There was a mighty earthquake. The scripture says in verse 26,
And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were
opened, and everyone's bands were loosed. I suppose you think
it was just one of those things that happened, that there was
suddenly a great earthquake. I suppose you do not believe
that God planned this earthquake and that God purposed this earthquake
and God sent this earthquake in order to bring this jailer
unto himself. You don't believe that, do you?
But I believe that that's exactly why it happened. I believe that's
exactly why it happened. I believe that God intervened.
I believe that God sent this. I believe that this happened
in order to shake up this man and to bring him to a place where
he would call upon the apostles to tell him what he ought to
do in order that he would be saved. And when Paul told him,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, there was power given by God
in the command and this man was able to do it. He was able to
believe and therefore he got saved. Now then I want you to
notice what went before and we've tried to explain this and I want
you to know to take note of it in your mind and your heart because
beloved listen to me there is no sinner brought out of his
sin but by almighty power. There is no sinner that can be
dislodged from his rebellion in sin unless God comes and intervenes. And unless God takes hold of
his case, that sinner will remain in his sin, and he'll die in
his sin, and he'll go to hell, and the lash of God will be on
his back for all eternity unless God intervenes. And God intervened
right here in Philippi in that jail. He sent this earthquake
and shook that prison to its foundations and scared this man
alive until he came trembling. And he would have taken it in
his own life because things happened so quickly that this man would
have committed suicide because he felt he was responsible for
somehow or other for everything that was taking place. But he
didn't know God was in this place. He didn't know God was in there.
And so God was in this place, and he was preparing this sinner's
heart to be saved. That's what was happening. Now
then, I want you, if you can, to know that a display of God's
power, a plowing of the heart by divine power and grace, It's
necessary. Circumstances brought about by
the intervention of God is necessary before anybody gets converted.
Now you look at it. You think about it. Some way
or another God's got to cross your path with something that's
going to bring you to the place where He sobers you up. and makes
you realize that your soul is the most important thing that
you've got to deal with this side of eternity. Your soul. And this is what you must be
about. You must look to your own soul
and its need. And so something's got to happen.
Well, it happened in this man's case. And God's going to have
all of his own. And He has sufficient power to
bring all of His own unto Himself. Even if He's got to display that
power in an earthquake, He can get His own unto Himself. Isn't that an amazing thing?
Well listen to me, in John 17 and 2 it says, As thou hast given
Him power over all flesh, that he might give eternal life to
as many as the Father has given to him. And in Matthew 28 and
18 it says Jesus said all power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth. And in Psalm 110 and verse 3
it says thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Now in Psalm 62 and 11 God has
spoken, David says, once Twice, David said, I've heard this,
that power belongeth unto God. Now, beloved, this morning I
want to talk to you about God's power. And I think it's so ably
or so, we might say, set forth here in our text this morning
that God has power and that He can bring an earthquake. He can
do whatever He needs do to bring a poor sinner. a poor lost sinner
who desires to be rid of the burden and guilt of sin, God
is able by His power to bring that sinner to a full hope in
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to talk to you about
this power of God in order that we might all rejoice and that
we might truly worship at the footstool of this God that saved
the Philippian jailer. I realize that my approach to
this text and many others is not a common approach. I realize
that there are many people who would not think of ever thinking
about maybe of approaching this text in this manner. But the
thing that stands out to me more in this text than a lot of the
things that other people preach about when they read the text
and preach from it is to me the almighty power of God, Him sending
this earthquake and it resulting in this man's conversion. And
so my thought this morning is along the line of the power of
our God. Now there's not a creature in
all the universe that has a single particle of power except that
which God has been pleased to give. Now remember that, God
alone has power. The power possessed by angels,
the power that's possessed by men, the power that is possessed
by demons and beasts is derived power, derived from God, derived
from Him. But God's power is unacquired
and it is underrived. God, listen to me, no one gives
power to God. The strongest creature can give
no power to the living God. The strongest creature in this
world can give no power to God because all power belongs to
God. He is power. Power belongs to
Him inherently. God is omnipotent. Omnipotence
is essential to God. It is His by nature. John Gill
said a weak deity is an absurdity. Stephen Sharnock said to be God
and sovereign are inseparable. Now listen to me friends, we
cannot have a right conception of God unless we think of him
as all-powerful as well as being all-wise. You don't have a right
conception of God unless you believe that he's all powerful
and that all power is his. He who cannot do what he will
and perform all of his pleasure cannot be God. He cannot be God
unless he can do what he will do. Unless he has the power to
bring to pass that which he wants to do, he cannot be God. A.W. Pink says, as God has a will
to resolve what he deems good, so he has power to execute his
will. The power of God is that ability
and strength whereby he can bring to pass whatever he pleases. As holiness is the beauty of
all God's attributes, so power is that which gives life and
action to all of the perfections of the divine nature. Power,
I'm talking about. How vain would be the eternal
counsels of God if power did not step in to execute those
counsels. Listen to me, without power,
His mercy would be a feeble pity. without power, and His promises
an empty sound, and all of His threatenings a mere scarecrow,
if it was not for Almighty Power, God having the power, you see,
to give mercy to whom He will, make His promises good and His
threatenings real. It's the power of God that makes
all these things to be what we know them to be as they're revealed
in the Word of God. It's His power. God's power is
like Himself. It's infinite, eternal, incomprehensible. It can neither be checked, restrained,
or frustrated by the creature. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said
this, he sits on no buttressed throne and leans on no assisting
arm. His court is not maintained by
his courtiers, nor does it borrow its splendor from his creature. The Lord, he is himself the great
central source and he's the originator of all power. The originator
of all power. So power is synonymous with God. To speak of God is to speak of
power. To speak of power is to speak
of God. Now the two cannot be separated.
They cannot. God and power. Power and God
cannot be separated. We read of the Son of Man in
Mark 14, 62 sitting at the right hand of power. This is the right
hand of God, the right hand of power. As God's essence is immense,
meaning that it's not confined to any one place, and eternal,
not measured by time, so it is almighty, not limited in ability. What it means is God is omnipotent. worship Him as an omnipotent,
all-powerful God who can do whatever He will in the army of heaven
and the army of earth. And none can say unto Him, What
doest thou? And none can stay His hand. Job 9 and 8 says, He walketh
among the waves of the sea. Job 22 and 14 says, He walketh
in the circuit of heaven. And Psalm 104 and 3 says, He
woke up upon the wings of the wind. Power belongeth unto God. I think by now that we can see
that God's omnipotence is infinitely beyond the reach of our puny
brains. I think that most of us probably
have come to that place by now in this message. And there is
infinitely more power in God than he has ever been pleased
to put on display. You could read the scriptures.
Let me just give you a couple of them. We won't turn to them.
In Job 26, you could read Job 26 verses 5 through 14. And Job
38 verses 4 through 6. And you would discover that God
has infinitely more power than he's ever put on display in an
earthquake or in the winds or in a whirlwind or whatever you
want to say. God has more power than he's
ever displayed even in creation. In salvation and redemption he
has more power than has ever been revealed. And then If you
were to turn to the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3, and look at verse
4, this is astonishing to me, but if you would turn there,
I want to read this verse, and his brightness was as the light. He had horns coming out of his
hand, and there was the hiding of his power. There was the hiding
of His power. Now, in fact, the prophet Habakkuk
here plainly tells us that all of the stunning works of God's
power by which we are astonished are really all of these works. ...hiding the immensity of his
power, and that we never really get to the bottom, we never really
see the breadth, we're never able to get to the height of
his power because he hides it by what he reveals of it. Now,
that's an amazing thing to me, but in other words, this is what
I'm saying, that the power of God is so great, it is so inconceivable,
it is so immense, it is so uncontrollable, that His great and mighty works
conceal far more than they reveal of this omnipotence. You think
you've seen something. Well, my friend, you haven't
seen anything yet when it comes to the power of God. Because
God has only hid, in revealing of what He has, He's only hid
the greatness of His power. How great, how God is in power. He is omnipotent. He is the Almighty. God created the world by His
power. Look in John. Let's look at a
couple of verses here. Turn to the Gospel of John, chapter
1, and look at verse 3. It says, all things were made
by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And then I invite you to turn
to the book of Hebrews chapter 11. The book of Hebrews chapter
11, and let's read here, I think it's verse 3. Look at this. It
says, through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by
the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made
of things which do appear. We see that God's creation and
God can create easier. It's easier for God to create
than it is for us to breathe. God can create, and so He has
created by the Word of His mouth. He framed the world. He made
the world out of nothing that existed before. He spoke it into
existence. I'm talking about this God of
power and the fact that he's a God who creates by his power
and his word. God upholds also and preserves
the universe. by the word of His omnipotence. Look in Hebrews chapter 1, and
again it's in verse 3. Notice this, who being the brightness
of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power. God bears up all, we're
told in Psalm 75 and 3, that He bears up the pillars of it. He bears it all up Himself by
His omnipotence, by His power. Now in Providence also God rules
all things, absolutely, by His omnipotence for the eternal and
the spiritual good. of all of his elect. You could
read Psalm 93 verses 1 through 5, and you could also read the
107th Psalm, and then that great verse in Romans 8 28 that we
often mention. These verses speak of the very
thing that we're saying here, that is that God by His power
rules absolutely in providence for the spiritual good of His
people. He overrules and rules all things in order that everything
might come out according to His purpose in the lives of His children. and that nothing would befall
them except that which would be for their good eternally and
for His glory eternally. And God does this by His power. Isn't it amazing that we worship
a God? You know, sometimes we come to
the place in our lives where we feel that We're just a victim
of circumstances and that things just simply are overwhelming
us. They're taking over in our lives
and nobody's got them under control and nobody can check them and
they're just simply, they're just simply our lives are coming
apart at the seams and we don't have any ability to do anything
about it. But my brother, my sister, if
you're a child of grace, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ, we
worship a God who controls absolutely by His power all events and everything
that takes place and anything that happens except God purposes
it in order that it'll bring to pass His will and in order
that it'll bring to pass that which is right and proper in
our lives and in order that it would put us in the place we
ought to be in this life and also in the life to come. God
rules and overrules all things, and don't be in any way affected
to the point where you throw up your hands and say, I quit!
If you're a child of God, believe! Trust the Lord because His power
rules over all things. And you can trust Him and depend
upon Him. And He will lead you straight
on out of this world unto a heavenly city above, foundations whose
builder and maker is God. He'll lead you through this and
lead you into eternal glory. Trust Him. Trust Him. He can
be trusted. Now then, I want to say also
that not only does God by His power create and God upholds
all things that He creates, He upholds the pillars of it. And
not only does He rule in providence over all things, managing all
things to the good of His elect, but He also manages Satan. Satan is a roaring lion who would
devour us. but God controls him by his omnipotence. You say, well, I didn't know
that God could handle the devil. Well, I want to tell you this,
I'm in this world and I'm glad to know that there is no force,
no power that is greater than the power of our God. And I'm
glad to know that the devil is God's devil and that he cannot
do anything except that which God allows or permits him to
do. And only that will be allowed
that will fulfill the divine decree and purpose of God in
this world, whatever that may be. You can be sure that the
devil is not going to do anything beyond that. Even the wrath of
man shall praise him, and the remainder of wrath shall he restrain. Which brings me to this, that
men are by nature cruel and they're murderous beasts who would destroy
one another. Can you, you think New York City's
bad? It is. You think Chicago, Illinois is
bad? It is. Many of these big cities, Detroit,
Michigan, you just, you just hear about the awful things that
goes on in those big cities. And you say somebody's out of
control. Well, I want to tell you this,
my friend, if it wasn't for the restraining power of our God,
That would be the condition and it would be far worse than that
in those places and in all the world if it was not for the controlling
restraining power of God. It's only God that keeps this
world in check and keeps the whole beastly nature of men under
such restraint that they cannot break out and that we have blood
running in the streets of America and places all over the world.
It's only the power of God. You believe me? I'm telling you
the truth. You take out the restrained power
of God out of this world and I'm going to tell you I don't
want to be here. I don't want to be here. I think you'd probably
agree with me. I wouldn't want to be here. God
is not controlling the beastly nature of men. Man is corrupt. And if he's left to himself with
no restraint, what would he do? What would he do? What would
he not do? That's the question. We can more easily tell you what
he wouldn't do than we could what he would do. Because man
is corrupt from the very core of his soul out. And it's only
the restraining hand of God that keeps your neighbor from coming
over and stealing everything you've got every time you leave
your house. It's only the restraining power
of God that keeps men from stopping you on the street, blocking you
in every time you are found outside of your dwelling and taking everything
you've got and taking your life. It's only God that keeps that.
We don't give praise to Him, do we? We're not thanking God.
We're not even dwelling on that. But we need. And you say, well
the police have got a hand in that. But you read the 13th chapter
of the book of Romans and you find out the power they've got.
They got it from God. And so therefore He's the one
that gave them the authority and power that they have. And
there Paul tells us to submit to the powers that be because
they're of God. They're ordained of God. There
is no power, Paul said, but that which is of God. And so give
thanks to God for your safety. Give praise to Him, glory in
the Lord for what He's done in keeping you safe in this world. Now then I go on to this, that
the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem His people from
their sins was accomplished by God's power. Now turn with me
to the book of Luke chapter 1 and look at verse 35 and 37. Luke's
gospel Chapter 1, and just listen to
this verse. Verse 35, And the angel answered
and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. Why is it said that the power
of the highest shall overshadow thee. Well look down here in
verse 37, for with God nothing shall be impossible. Here's a
virgin that is about to conceive and bring forth the Son of God
into this world and with God nothing shall be impossible where
the power of God is working It cannot be frustrated. God will
have a virgin to conceive, and the Son of God will come forth
into the world in a body of flesh, and God will invade the world,
and God will save His people by His power. He'll do it. He'll
do it. Now then, the death that the
Lord Jesus Christ was accomplished, that he accomplished on the cross,
was also an act of omnipotence, an act of power. We read in John
19 and 30 that he gave up the ghost, and he said prior to giving
up the ghost, he said, it is finished. It is finished. Now it's a marvelous thing. You
know, we've said about many tasks in this life. And some of them
takes a great deal more strength, a great deal more power than
some others. But it's always good to be able
to look at something and finally come to the end of it and say
it's finished. and for the Lord Jesus Christ
to be able to say as he was expiring on the cross, it is finished.
What he was saying was the great work of redemption, that which
is required to take poor sinful sons of Adam and to present them
holy and spotless and unblameable before God is all done. is all done. What it takes to
reconcile a lost, helpless, poor, ruined sinner unto God is all
finished. It's finished by divine power. It's finished. Now then his resurrection
also was an act of power. Turn to Romans chapter 1. The
book of Romans chapter 1, and notice if you will, with me there
in the first chapter, the fourth verse. Romans 1 and 4. And declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead. Now, I don't think anybody
here would question the fact that it took the power of God
to raise His Son from the grave. It took the power of God to restore
life and to give it back to His Son and to raise Him. Well, it's
said here that He's declared to be the Son of God with power
according to the Spirit of holiness. by the resurrection from the
dead. Now as we have been saying also
the Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted to the throne of power
to give repentance and faith to all of God's elect, all the
chosen of God And we quoted John 17 and 2, Jesus said, I have
power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the
Father has given to me. And the Lord Jesus sits at the
right hand of God and He's there in that position of power and
the world will not come to an end until every one of the sheep
of Christ are brought out of their sin and brought safely
into the fold. Because the Lord Jesus has been
exalted to the right hand of the Father, the right hand of
eternal majesty, the right hand of power, and He can and will
save all of His people from their sin. And I make haste also to
say that the preservation of God's people. The preservation
of God's people in this world is also a work of omnipotence. We're told in John chapter 10,
a very familiar verse, verses 27 through 30, that the voice
of the Lord is heard by the people of God and that He gives unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of his hand Jesus said, for my Father which
gave them me is greater than all. There's the power. My Father
which gave them me is greater than all, and no man can pluck
them out of his hand. And then Peter, in the book of
1 Peter 1 and 5, says that we're kept. by the power of God through
faith in Christ Jesus. So our preservation in this world
as the people of God and none of us would be saved in our world
if it was not for the preserving grace and power of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If we were not kept by divine
power, we'd everyone just give it up and we'd everyone go back
into sin and we'd everyone would go back into the waves of the
world and walk the broad road and perish eternally if it was
not for being kept by the power of Almighty God. And then, you
know, I thought about our resurrection at the last day. And how that
that shall be a work of God's omnipotence. I'd like you to
turn with me to the Gospel of John, chapter 5. John's Gospel,
chapter 5. And look at this with me if you
will. I want us to notice verses 28. Or I think I might even back
up just a little bit further than that. Let's go back up here
to the 24th verse. of John 5, the resurrection of
God's people in the last day. Think of it, a time when the
clogs will all break up in the cemeteries and I mean the people
of God burst forth. Out of the graves I think of
it verily verily Jesus said in verse 24 I say to you he that
heareth my word believeth on him and sent me hath everlasting
life shall not come into condemnation But is passed from death unto
life spiritually in this world verily verily in verse 25 I say
unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live and
For as the father hath life in himself, so hath he given to
the son to have life in himself. And then in verse 28, marvel
not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are
in the graves shall hear his voice. and shall come forth,
they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and
they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.
Just like it takes the power of God to awaken the spiritually
dead sinner in this world and to quicken him to divine life,
so it'll take God's power to get you out of the grave. We
carry our loved ones to the cemeteries and we plant them in the cemeteries
of this earth. in full and sure confidence and
hope that God will one day speak the word and all of these bodies
will come forth out of the graves. There's going to be a resurrection. And that's because of the power
of God. If it wasn't for that, there
would be no resurrection. When we bury people, we would
lament and we would mourn as men and women who have no hope
at all. of ever seeing our loved ones
again if it was not for the power of God to raise them from the
dead. God will raise all of His own
from the dead and also raise the wicked dead, those that are
damned, He'll raise them. to join their souls with their
bodies and to send them off to that awful place of torment called
in the Bible, hell. And God's going to do that because
He's a God of power and He can do that. He can raise men from
the dead and He can cause their bodies to be formed anew as He
formed the body of Adam in the garden beaten out of the dust
of the earth to begin with. Don't think that's too much for
God. He can do it and He will do it. By His power He'll do
it. He'll do it. Now then, God is
omnipotent. If all of this is the hiding
of his power, and that's what Habakkuk says, if all that I've
been talking about is the hiding of his power, then what must
his power really be? What must it really be? Now then, well may his enemies
tremble, seeing that God is a God of power. Let every rebel tremble. Let everyone who opposes God,
who opposes the Word of God, let everyone who sides with the
wicked, let them tremble. Who dare oppose Him? Are we stronger
than He? Perish the thought. We cannot
deal with this God in judgment. Oh, that He would deal with us
in mercy. Well may His saints adore Him. Well may His people
trust Him. No prayer is too hard for God
to answer. No need is too great for God
to supply. No passion too strong for God
to subdue. No temptation too powerful for
God to overcome. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? No. Nothing can even test His power. Never has there been anything
in all the events of the world that has ever put a strain on
His power, His omnipotence. He is a God that we're to worship
and to praise and to glory in. Isn't it marvelous and wonderful
to have such a God as this to bow before every day and to be
able to worship this God, to be able to believe in this God
and trust this God regardless of what He deems fit for us and
wherever it comes of us. Let it come, let it happen. But
this is the God of the Bible and this is the God that we worship. This is the God we sing of. This
is the God we preach of. This is the God that all of the
elect believe in. The God of power. David said,
I heard it once. He said, twice have I heard this. Power belongeth unto God. If I live, you'll hear it again.
Power belongeth unto God. May God give you the blessing
of His Word by the power of His Spirit. If you're here this morning,
you say, well, God's dealt with me. God has been doing things
in my life. He's been plowing my heart by
the events, by those things that have taken place. I've got disturbed
just like that Philippian jailer, and I'm wondering what it's going
to take to save my soul from a devil's hell. on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. May that come by divine power
to your heart this morning, and may God save your soul. For Christ's sake. Amen. Let's have order for the opportunity
to preach and for the opportunity, our Father, to bring these blessed
and glorious truths to thy children. And I just pray this morning
that your people have been comforted, and I pray that if there be a
struggling soul here today, that somehow or other the burden would
be lifted from their souls, and that if there be one here that
is a stranger to thy grace, that the power of Christ would come
with the command and they would be enabled to believe today and
trust and come to full salvation in Him. I pray in His name, Amen.