Thank you, Drew, I love that
song. I've entitled the message for
tonight, Miracles and Wonders. Look at our text. Then all the
multitude kept silence. and gave audience. You know,
that's a miracle. That's a wonder when that takes place. When God
causes someone to not say anything and to listen. Let every man
be swift to hear and slow to speak. And this miracle took
place at this time. Then all the multitude kept silence
and gave audience. Now, there had been disputing
going on shortly before this in verse 7, and when there had
been MUCH disputing going on in the multitude, Peter rose
up and said unto them, Men and brethren, now what was this disputing
over? Well, it's stated in verse 1
of this chapter, the issue was law and grace. That's the issue
of Acts chapter 15. Now, remember this. The church
at Antioch was the church of Gentile believers. Remember when
they were first called Christians at Antioch? And it was the representative
of Gentile believers. And Jerusalem was the church
that represented mainly Jewish believers. And there was a difference. And people came down from Jerusalem
into Antioch, some church members. Certain men, verse one, which
came down from Judea, taught the brethren and said, except
you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be
saved. They were trying to bring in
this Jewish law along with the gospel. Look in verse five. But
there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which
believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them and
to command them to keep the law of Moses. Now that's what this
dispute was about, and that's when Peter rises up, we considered
this last week, and when there had been much disputing, Peter
rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, you know how that
a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by
my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe, and
God which knoweth the hearts, bear them as witness, giving
them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us. And he put no
difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Now, therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck
of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able
to bear? But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they."
That's so important. He doesn't say they'll be saved
like us. It says us Jews will be saved just like the Gentiles
are, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that put that
issue to rest. Now, upon Peter saying that,
then all the multitude kept silence. They'd been disputing, now they're
listening. And they gave audience to Barnabas
and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among
the Gentiles by them. Now, this word miracle is the
word that's generally translated sign. Look in Acts chapter 2,
when Peter is giving this first gospel message after the resurrection
of Christ, he begins his message Verse 22, you men of Israel hear
these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you as you yourselves know. Now the Lord demonstrated who
he was by miracles and wonders. and signs. He did what only God
can do. He controlled the weather. Men could not possibly control
the weather, but he did. What manner of man is this that
even the winds and the sea obey him? He healed the sick. He cleansed
lepers. He gave sight to the blind. He brought matter into existence
which was not in the universe before he did that. He raised the dead. He did what
only God can do. And it was testified, proved
by the miracles and wonders and signs which he did in everybody's
presence. He came down from heaven and
performed these miracles. And the disciples in the early
church were given the ability to perform miracles. They healed
people. They spoke in tongues. They spoke
in other languages that they'd never learned before. And people
heard the gospel through their speaking. Why, they were even
used to raise the dead. Remember Peter in Acts chapter
nine when he raised Tabitha from the dead? Paul raised from the
dead a man that had fallen out of the loft. They had miracle-working
power. Now, turn with me for a moment
to Acts 8, and this is very important. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them, and the people
with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did." Along with his
preaching, he was performing miracles that they bore witness
to for unclean spirits. Crying with a loud voice came
out of many that were possessed with him, and many taken with
palsies, and that were lame were healed, and there was great joy
in that city. Peter came preaching and healing
people, and people were astonished. Now, what I think is interesting
as you go on reading in this passage of Scripture, Philip
could not confer these gifts on the people he was preaching
to. He couldn't lay his hand on somebody and cause them to
start being able to heal and speak in other languages and
raise the dead and all the miracles that the apostles performed. Philip preached to them, but
these gifts were not transferred until John arrived and Peter. And look what it says in verse
18, and when Simon saw that through
the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given. Now, it was only the apostles
that could transfer these gifts to others. This is important
for us to understand this. And the scripture points this
out. When they saw through the laying on of the apostles' hands,
the Holy Ghost was given for these miraculous healings and
so on. After the apostles, these miraculous
abilities died out. Now you're gonna run across people
who claim to have miraculous powers, to speak in tongues,
to heal the sick, and all these different miracles they claim
to have, but anytime somebody makes that claim, they're a phony.
Now write that down, they're a phony. their frauds because
it was only through the laying on of the apostles' hands that
the gifts of the Holy Spirit were given, not through anybody
else. So if the apostles laid hands
on you and you have this miracle working ability, you couldn't
give it to somebody else. It only came through the laying
on of the apostles' hands. You know, if somebody did have
the gifts to heal and they don't go in hospitals and start healing,
what kind of people are those people? I mean, if I had the
gifts to heal, I'd go here to UK and the hospital and heal
everybody there. And they don't do that. You know
why? Because they're phonies, because
they're frauds. And that is the only reason.
But the apostles had the ability to do this, and Paul and Barnabas
spoke back in our text in Acts chapter 15, then all the multitude kept silence
and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul declaring what miracles
and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by then. Now question,
were they saying, we healed 14 sick people, we raised seven
people from the dead, we gave sight to 23 blind men, 34 lepers
were cleansed while we... That's not what they were speaking
of at all. They were not speaking of physical miracles. They were
talking about the miracles and wonders of salvation. I love
that song. It took a miracle to put the
stars in space. It took a miracle to hang the
world in place. But when he saved my soul, cleansed
and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace. Now, a few words regarding these
physical signs before I get into the heart of this message. No
one has ever been saved by observing a miracle. Turn with me for a
moment to John chapter 12, and this is when Paul was reading
the scripture. He read this from Matthew chapter
13, and here it is used again by John. Look at verse 37 on
a different account. Remember I said this is the most
often quoted passage of scripture in the New Testament. Verse 37,
but though he had done so many miracles before then, yet they
believed not on him. That the saying of Isaiah the
prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed
our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Therefore they could not believe
because that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and
hardened their hearts, that they should not see with their eyes,
nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should
heal them. These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory.
And he spake of him. No one has ever been saved or
brought to faith in Christ simply by seeing a physical miracle. Hadn't happened. Signs and wonders can be duplicated.
Remember the Egyptian magicians? Pharaoh throws, I mean Moses
throws his staff, it becomes a snake. Well, the Egyptian magicians
were able to do the same thing. They threw their staffs down
and they became snakes. But what happened? Moses' snake
ate all their snakes and came back. And they were able to turn
water into blood. Moses turned the water into blood.
Well, God did it through Moses and they did the same thing.
And they were able to bring frogs out the way Moses did. But the
one thing they couldn't do, I think is interesting, remember the
next thing, Moses turned dust into lice, living creatures,
they couldn't do that. They couldn't bring life into
existence, but they could duplicate many miracles. And didn't the
Lord say in Matthew 24, he warned us of false prophets who would
show great signs and wonders. That if it were possible, they
would deceive the very elect. And then Paul said in II Thessalonians
2.9, he spoke of the man of sin, even him whose coming is after
the work of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. This man of sin will have all
power and signs and lying wonders that will seem miraculous and
real. We're told that ahead of time.
Just because somebody can do something like that, that doesn't
mean God's behind it. That's what he's telling us.
And third thing I'd like to say about signs and miracles, it's
always evil to look for one. Always. Now, somebody in here
thinking, I'd like to see a sign and a miracle. You know, Herod,
he was glad when they brought cry for him. He hoped to see
some miracle done by him. But to ask for a sign or a miracle,
you're saying, I can't believe you. You're going to have to
give me more proof. That's exactly what that means. That's why the
Lord said, a wicked and an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. What if God would have said to
Moses, Look at the stars, so shall your seed be. And he said,
well, I can't believe it unless you prove it by showing me some
kind of miracle right now. God is never to be spoken of,
too, in that way, nor is the Lord Jesus Christ because of
who he is. And I love what he said, an evil
and an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and no
sign's gonna be given but the sign of Jonas. Three days in,
three days out. You know, John actually said
that, turn to John chapter 21, last verse of the book of John. And there are also many other
things which Jesus did. Speaking of all these miracles.
There are also many other things which Jesus did, the witch, if
they should be written everyone, I suppose that even the world
itself could not contain the books that should be written.
Oh, the miracles he performed. But look in verse 30 of chapter
20. And many other signs. That's
the word miracles and many other miracles. Truly did Jesus in
the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this
book, but these are written. And he is speaking of something
specifically. In the book of John, he mentions
six different miracles. And the whole book of John is
the dialogue surrounding those miracles and people's response
to those miracles. The first one, is when he turned
water into wine. And that's actually called the
beginning of miracles, or the most important miracle. The second
one was when he healed the nobleman's son. And you remember what happened. He said, your son's healed. The
nobleman goes back to his house. The next day, the people come
to him and said, your son's been healed. He said, when did it
happen? And they gave him the time. And he knew it was whenever
the Lord said it happened. That shows the supremacy of his
will in salvation. And then the third miracle is
found in John chapter five, that impotent cripple laying by the
pool of Bethesda. And the Lord said, will thou
be made whole? And he said, well, I don't have
anybody get me in the water. He said, rise, take up your bed and walk.
And the fourth miracle was the miracle in John chapter six when
he created bread. He created a meal for some 15,000
people with five biscuits and two sardines. He brought matter
into existence, which had not been in the universe before this.
Then we have that beautiful story in John chapter nine of him giving
sight to one that was born blind. And then we have the miracle
of Lazarus laying in the grave four days, stinking. And he said,
Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. Now these are written, these
six miracles and signs and wonders that John records. There are
many others in the other gospels, but John's talking about what
he's saying in this book that he's writing to us. Many other
signs truly did Jesus in their presence of his disciples, which
are not written in this book, but these are written, these
six miracles and wonders for this purpose. that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that believing, you might
have life through his name. Now those are the miracles and
wonders which Paul and Barnabas were speaking of. They were talking
about the miracles and wonders of His grace. And I want to briefly
consider these six miracles and preach the gospel to you from
that. Every one of these things are an aspect of how God saves
sinners by Christ. Now turn to John chapter two. John chapter two. Verse nine. When the ruler of the feast had
tasted the water that was made wine. Water that was made wine. It was not water that looked
like wine. It was not water that smelled
like wine. It was not water that tasted like wine. It was wine. The water was made wine. Now in this miracle, something
was made to be what it was not. The water was not wine, and it
came to be wine. It was made what it was not,
which is a commentary on one of the most mysterious, awe-inspiring
scriptures in the Bible, which we quote all the time, and we
can't do anything but believe it. We can't really so much explain
it, but we can believe it. Second Corinthians 521, for he
was made to be sin. He was made to be what he was
not. Now that's just veiled in mystery,
and we believe it, Somebody says, tell me how that is. I don't
know, but it is. God did this. He was made to
be sin. The sins of his people became
his sins. And if you want to know what
sin is, look at the cross. There it is. Forsaken by God. He was made to be what he was
not. Sin. Let's finish the verse. We are
made to be what we were not. For he hath made him to be sin,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Now that is the mystery of the
gospel. He was made sin. I think it is sad the way people
say, are you saying that he became sinful on the cross and started
committing sins? No one ever thought anything
like that. No one ever suspected anything like that. This doesn't
mean when he was made sin, he was made sinful and started lusting
and cursing and having covetous thoughts. No! Worse. It's worse than that. He was
made sin. And there ain't nobody that can
plumb the depths of what all that means. He was made sin. And just as truly as he was made
sin, and the proof of that is the fact that his father forsook
him. His father had nothing but wrath for him. He was not under
the smile and pleasure of his father. His father forsook him. And just as, and he died. There's
only one reason for death, sin. And just as he was made sin,
Every believer is made the very righteousness of God in him. And I'm looking at some people
who are the righteousness of God, every believer. Now, that
is what that miracle teaches us of. He was made to be what
he was not, sin, that we might be made to be what we were not.
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. WATER MADE WINE. Now, the second is found in John
chapter 4, verse 46, So Jesus came again unto Cana
of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain
nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum, a courtier or ruler,
my marginal reading says. When he heard that Jesus was
come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him and besought
him that he would come down and heal his son for he was at the
point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, except
you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. The nobleman
saith unto him, Sir, come down, ere my child die. Jesus saith
unto him, Go thy way, thy son liveth. He didn't have to go
down, did he? Go your way, your son lives. He's not sick anymore. He lives. And the man believed the word
that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he
was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying,
Thy son liveth. And this was the next day. And
somebody pointed out that there wasn't that great of a distance.
He just took his time getting home. He wasn't a bit worried
about it. He knew his son lived. The Lord said his son lived.
He knew he did. He wasn't in a hurry to get home. He thought, I'm going to take
a leisurely trip. He spent the night somewhere. Didn't even
try to get back that same day. He believed what the Lord said. And as he was now going down,
his servants met him and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
Then inquired he of the hour when he began to amend, and they
said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.
It left him. So the father knew that it was
the same hour in which Jesus said unto him, thy son liveth
and himself believed in his whole house. This is again, the second
miracle that Jesus did when he was come out of Judea into Galilee. And what this tells us about
is the supremacy of the will of Jesus Christ in salvation.
The leper understood this. He said, Lord, he came and worshiped
it and said, Lord, If you will, you can make me whole. And that's the only way that
Christ is to be approached. Acknowledging his sovereign will,
knowing salvation is completely in his will. Can you imagine
that leper saying, I've decided to let you heal me. I will that
you heal me. No, nothing like that at all.
If you will, well that's my prayer right now. If you will, you can
make me clean. And then in John chapter five,
you know the story of the man, there were a bunch of people
who were sick. And an angel would come once
a year and stir the water, and whoever entered the water first
was healed of whatsoever plague he had. And there were five porches
around this with multitudes of impotent folk, blame, lime, halt,
sick, waiting for the stirring of the water. And we read in
verse five, and there was a certain man was there. Lot of men there, but there was
also a certain man there. You know, the Lord always saves
certain individuals. His salvation is never generic.
If you're saved, you're the certain man he came to save. He came
for you, a certain man. He was there which had an infirmity
30 and eight years. And when Jesus saw him lie, and
knew that it had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto
him, wilt thou be made whole? That's a good question. Are you willing to be made whole? But the man didn't understand
what he said. All he could think about was
his inability to get in the water. The impotent man answered him,
sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the
pool, but while I'm coming, another step down before me. He didn't
hear what the Lord said. He didn't answer the Lord's question.
That question could be answered with a yes or a no, but he brought
something else out. I need this to happen, it doesn't
happen. And then we read in verse eight,
and Jesus saith unto him, rise. up thy bed and walk." And immediately, this man had been this way for
38 years. Immediately, the man was made whole and took up his
bed and walked, and on the same day was the Sabbath. Now, that
teaches us how God's grace works. This man didn't give the right
response. Did that hinder the Lord in healing him? When the
Lord said to Matthew, follow me, could Matthew have said no? No. You see, God's grace is saving
grace, and there's nothing needed by us to make it work. That man
didn't need to know how to answer the question properly. He was
made to know after God did something for him, but he gave the wrong
answer, and God saved him anyway. Aren't you thankful for that?
God saved him anyway. John chapter six. We're told of the miraculous
feeding of 5,000 men, not including women and children. It was probably
a group of anywhere between 15,000 and 20,000 men. that the Lord saved, and this
is recorded in all four Gospels. It's one of the very few things
that's recorded in all four Gospels. When he fed 5,000 men with two
small fish, I suppose they were sardines, and five barley loaves,
five biscuits. And at this time, he actually
brought matter into existence that was not in the universe
before this. Now, only God can do that. No man can cause matter
to come into existence. Only God can do that. But what do we learn from this?
We learn something about the miracle of creation. Salvation
is a creative work of God. It's not Him taking you and cleaning
you up and improving you and making you live a better life.
That's not. what the scripture teaches with
regard to God's salvation. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation. Now, we're not talking about,
you know, we talk about creative men and women. Well, if you wanna
be real technical, ain't no such thing. You may be gifted to do
things and we're thankful for those gifts, but the only people
that are creative It's the Lord Himself. He creates. He makes something that was not
there before and He causes it to be. We are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus. unto good works. Now, the same
power, actually more power, that was involved in the creation
of the universe is involved in the salvation of the sinner in
giving you a new heart, a new creature in Christ Jesus, something
that was not there before, being born of the Spirit. Now, how much help did God have
in physical creation? Absolutely none. How much help? How much cooperation does he
have in the new creation? Absolutely none. Salvation is the creative work
of God. Now the next miracle is in John
chapter nine. Turn with me there. Verse one. And as Jesus passed
by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him,
saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that
he was born blind? Now, this is one of those stupid
questions. I mean, it is a dumb question. Who sinned? This man or his parents
that he was born blind? Well, he couldn't have sinned
as they were thinking before he was born, and you can't blame
his parents. Now look at the Lord's answer.
I love the Lord's answer. And Jesus answered, neither hath
this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. Now remember that. That's the
reason for everything. You don't need to understand
all the whys and the wherefores, but God is the first cause of
everything. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage,
take that clouds you so much dread, are big with mercy and
shall break in blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust him for his grace, behind a frowning providence. He hides a smiling face. This man was born blind. And the Lord gives the reason
why. That the works of God should be manifest in him. I must work
the works of him that sent me. While it's day, the night cometh
when no man can work. As long as I'm in the world,
I'm the light of the world. And when thus spoken, he spat
on the ground and made clay of the spittle. and he anointed
the eyes of the blind man with the clay and said unto him, go
wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sinned.
He went his way therefore and washed and came, see you. Now, salvation, everybody in this room and outside
of this room at one time was utterly blind to the character
of God. The things you naturally think
about God are completely wrong, you're blind. The natural man
is blind to his own character. No natural man can understand
sin. They understand that sin brings trouble, sin brings problems,
it brings problems in my life, there's no question about that.
I mean, the problems sin brings in our society, but that's not
understanding sin. It takes a holy nature to understand
sin. You have to be born again to
have any understanding of how sinful you are. And when you're
born of God, you find out that all you are is sin. The natural man's blind to that,
and he's blind to the way of salvation by Christ. He's blind
to the way of salvation by grace. He can't see! Blind Bartimaeus. Somebody once
said he was blind. He was plum blind. He was stone
blind. And that was this man, born blind. And Christ gave him sight. He gave him sight to see the
character of God. He gave him sight to see his
own sinfulness. And he gave him sight to see
the way of salvation by Christ. And the last miracle is found
in John chapter 11. That's such a beautiful chapter. But you'll remember, I'm just
gonna tell you what happened. It'd be to my benefit and yours
to go back and read it. But Lazarus was somebody that
the Lord loved. I love the way it says, now Jesus
loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. They were objects of his affection
and of his love. And Lazarus died. And when they
had sent someone to tell the Lord that he was sick, that he
was sick, he stayed behind. He didn't come to heal him right
off because he was gonna let him die. He knew he was gonna die.
And so by the time the Lord got there, Lazarus had already been
dead for four days. And he had actually began to
stink. The process of decay had become
such that you couldn't even be around him. And what did the
Lord do? Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. Resurrection from the dead. Now, if I'm going to understand
anything about the gospel, I'm going to have to understand something
about resurrection from the dead. First, Christ's resurrection
from the dead. One of the great miracles that
I can't wrap my head around is how Christ died in the first
place. That's a mystery. Tis mystery all the immortal
dies who can't understand his strange design. In vain the firstborn
seraph cries, speaking of the death of Christ. But I know why
he died. I don't know how the God-man
could die, but he did. But I do know why he died. He
died because of sin. He was delivered for our offenses. My sin became his sin, but the
scripture says he was raised for our justification. You see,
everybody he lived for, died for, was buried for, and raised
for is justified before God. Listen to me, child of God, you
don't have any sin. You stand before God without
guilt, perfectly righteous, having never sinned. But I have sinned. Yeah, but God justified you.
That's what the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ
accomplished. He was delivered for our offenses. He was raised
for our justification. You may have sin heavy on your
heart right now, but if you're a child of God, you're justified
before God. It never happened. You stand
before God without guilt. The second resurrection is the
spiritual resurrection. And you hath he quickened. who
were dead in trespasses and sins. 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. Spiritual resurrection, you were
dead in sins, God birthed you into his kingdom, you now live. And the final resurrection, let's
turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep. You know, the death of the believer
is called sleep. Remember what the Lord said about
Lazarus, our friend Lazarus sleepeth. Well, he was dead. Yeah, but
the death of a believer is nothing but a sleep. A sleep in Christ. You see, they still live in him.
If Christ is alive, I'm alive even when I'm dead. I'm in him. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and
we shall be changed, for this corruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. Death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now turn back to
John chapter 20. They spoke of the miracles, the
signs, and the wonders God had done with the Gentiles, the miracles
of salvation. Verse 30, And many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which were
not written in this book, but these are written, that who you
might believe. This is why this is written,
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And that believing, believing that Jesus Christ,
believing that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, believing
you might have life through his name. May God enable each one
of us to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living
God, and I believe that. I do, I believe that. and believing,
you might have life through his name. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
miracles and wonders of thy salvation. Lord, to think that we're made
to be what we were not, the very righteousness of God, because
your son was made to be what he was not, sin. Lord, how we celebrate the sovereign
will of your son in salvation, that salvation comes when he
wills it. Lord, how we thank you for your
grace that will not take no for an answer and will not take our
inability to understand for an answer. How we thank you for
the creative aspect of your salvation. How we thank you for sight. And
Lord, how we thank you for the resurrection of Christ from the
dead. How we thank you for the spiritual
resurrection of your people. And Lord, we long for that time
when we will be raised incorruptible, perfectly conformed to the likeness
of thy son. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.