I'm going to be preaching in
Kingsport tonight, and Brother Frank Tate is going to be bringing
the message here this evening. I have entitled this message, What is
Gospel Preaching? It's a good question, isn't it?
What is gospel preaching? And before I get into our text,
when most men think of gospel preaching, they think of this.
Gospel preaching is offering the benefits that God has made
available and inviting men to take them. Would that be inaccurate? Gospel preaching is offering
men the benefits of salvation that God has made available. It's an offer to you and you're
invited to take it. That's not gospel preaching.
It's what is called gospel preaching, but it is not gospel preaching. Gospel preaching is a declaration
of what Christ has done. And it is commanding men, not
inviting men, commanding men to believe the gospel. It may sound like an invitation
and indeed sometimes it does. Our Lord said, come unto me all
ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. That
sounds sort of like an invitation, but it is a command for all who
are heavy laden, burdened to come to him for rest. Now, I hope by the end of this
message, you'll understand what I'm saying. Verse 32, and it came to pass." I love that statement in the
scriptures. God purposed it and it came to pass. You're here this morning. God purposed it and it came to
pass. Did God know you would be here?
Of course He did. Is there any way you wouldn't
have been here? It came to pass. This is so much in the scriptures,
hundreds of times. It came to pass. God purposed
it. It came to pass. It came to pass
as Peter passed throughout all quarters. Now, Peter hadn't been
mentioned for a long time, and here he is again. Peter passed
throughout all quarters. I have no doubt that he was preaching
the gospel as he was passing through all these quarters. He
came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. Now, I love this word, the saints. This is what every believer is.
Sanctified by God the Father in eternal election to be holy. Sanctified by God the Son in
his redeeming work on Calvary's tree declaring every one of his
people to be holy. Sanctified by God the Holy Spirit,
given a holy nature, birthed into the kingdom of God. Saint means a sanctified one. And that's what every believer
is, a sanctified one. Look in verse 33. And there he found a certain
man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years and was sick
of the palsy. There he found a certain man. The Lord always and only saves
certain men. The gospel is never generic. Those certain men and women are
the ones given to him by his father. I love in John chapter
six where the Lord speaks to the people and says, you've seen
me and believe not. That's a powerful statement,
isn't it? You've seen me and you believe
not. all that the father giveth me
shall come to me. It's as if he were saying, your
unbelief is not a discouragement to me. You see all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Notice Peter is said to have
found him. Look what it says in verse 33.
And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept
his bed eight years and was sick of the palsy. He didn't find
Peter. Peter found him. Peter didn't inadvertently run
into him. He found him. Peter found him. Now, what's the significance
of that? Religion is men trying to find God. The gospel is Christ coming to
seek and to save that which was lost. If you're saved, it's because
he came after you, he found you, and he saved you. I love that passage of scripture
in John chapter six where it says he must needs go through
Samaria. Why? One of his elect is there
and he's always going to find his sheep. Zacchaeus, make haste,
come down for today. I must abide at thy house. Why must he abide? This is one
of his sheep. He always goes after his sheep.
And I love to think of Zacchaeus when he was climbing up that
tree. Did he have any idea that the Lord was ordering him to
do that? No. But why did he climb up that
tree? Because God purposed for him
to climb up in that tree. And the Lord was going to save
him that very day. You see, the Lord is always on
the trail of his sheep. If you're a sheep, he's going
to find you and you're going to want him to. I love the way
David ends up Psalm 119. He says, I've gone astray like
a lost sheep. Seek thy servant, for I do not
forget thy word. That's the desire of every sheep. Lord, I've gone astray. I can't find my way back. Come
get me, find me, save me by your grace. Now, this man had been
paralyzed for eight years. He lay in his bed for eight years. What happened to him? I don't
know. A spinal injury of some kind where he spinal cord broke? I don't know. But for eight years,
he had been paralyzed. Something happened to him that
put him in this state of inability. There was a time when he wasn't
paralyzed, but he's been paralyzed for eight long years. And what this illustrates to
us is the fall of Adam. God made him upright. He fell in his disobedience to
God, eating the fruit, and he became completely disabled. In-able. In-ability. He was no longer able to do what
he should have done. The Lord said in John chapter
six, verse 44, no man can come to me. That means no man is able
to come to me except the father, which has sent me draw him invincibly
and irresistibly. If God the Father doesn't draw
you to Christ, you will not come. You won't want to come. You'll
have no desire to come. But oh, if the Father draws you
to his Son, you will come. Now, something happened that
is the reason for our present state of sinfulness. Just like
something happened to this man that made him Paralyzed, unable
to get up and walk. Something happened that caused
the present state. And I do say the present state
of sinfulness that you and I possess. It was the fall of Adam. Romans
chapter five, verse 12. Turn with me there. I want you
to see this. Romans 5, 12. Wherefore, as by one man, Romans
5, 12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world. That's kind of a chilling thought,
isn't it? Sin, by this one man, sin entered the world. And death by sin. So death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned." Now, what that means
is that when Adam sinned, you and I sinned. His sin wasn't
merely charged to our account, even though we didn't commit
it. We sinned when he sinned. You're not guilty. I'm not guilty
of being charged with a transgression that I never committed. When
Adam sinned, I sinned. When Adam sinned, you sinned
and death by sin. What that's talking about is
spiritual death. The reason you're sinful, the
reason I'm sinful is because we died in Adam and that spiritual
death is manifested by an inability, an inability to love God, an
inability to believe the gospel, an inability to repent, The Lord
said, you will not come to me that you might have life. And
the reason you will not is because you cannot. And the reason you
cannot is because you will not. Spiritual paralysis, inability,
sinfulness, unable to be birthed again, unable to believe, unable
to repent, unable to love, I in and of myself am nothing but
sin. You know what that means? That means
I cannot, I cannot not sin. You can't go one second without
sin because of who you are, because of who I am. I cannot not sin. All I do is sin, and it's all
my fault. I can't blame Adam. I can't blame
God's sovereignty. All my sin is all my fault. And you know, when I know this,
when the Lord lets me see this is true, I see that I'm not able
or I have no right to sit in judgment on anybody over anything. Here's what's amazing, I do anyway. Quick. And it's pure hypocrisy
anytime I judge anybody over anything. And I've got no claims on God. If he lets me go to hell, just
and holy is his name. Now that is inability, sinfulness, paralysis. If you see yourself
like this, sinful. Is that you? If you see yourself
like this, You are one of those certain people he came to save. I am sure of this. 1 Timothy 1.15 says, Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. And look in verse 34, he'd found
this certain man, Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years
and was sick of the palsy. He was paralytic. And Peter said
unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ offers thee wholeness. He makes
it available to you. Here it is. It's up to you to
take it. He didn't say that at all, did
he? What did he say? Verse 34, and
Peter said unto Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Arise and make thy bed, and he
arose immediately. Now, let me say, offering somebody anything is
not gospel preaching. Doesn't even come close. That's
not what Peter does here, does he? He says, Jesus Christ makes
thee whole. Now, the gospel is not an offer
up for your acceptance or rejection. You know, when preachers say,
won't you accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior? I just,
uh. He's not up for your acceptance
or rejection. He's the Lord. Grace is not offered. Grace is
given. Mercy is not offered. Mercy is given. The forgiveness
of sins is not offered. It's given. Salvation is not
offered. It's given. Now, in most preaching,
here's what I hear men preaching. The gospel is offered to you. Salvation is offered to you. Salvation is made available to
you. God loves you. Christ died for
you. God, the Holy Spirit's calling you. God wants you to be saved.
Christ paid for your sins. The Holy Spirit is knocking on
your heart's door, but it's up to you. Your eternal destiny
is in your hands. Your salvation is dependent upon
whether you accept or reject Jesus Christ as your personal
Savior. You know, there's another term
I hate, personal Savior. He's the Savior, whether he's
your Savior or not. He is the Savior. But according to this, and I'm
not going to call it gospel preaching, I don't know what I'd call it,
but according to this communication, the ball's in your court. Salvation
is dependent upon what you do. Now, if that's the case, the
difference between a man that is saved and a man that is not
saved is not found in God's grace. It's found in what that one man
did that that other man did not do. And when the gospel is preached
like that, the gospel is not preached. And there is no hope
for a real sinner in that message. That doesn't give me a bit of
comfort to know that salvation is offered to me and it's up
to me. I know I'll mess it up. I'm sure
of that. I know I'll mess it up. There's
no gospel in that message. But that's not what Peter said
at all. He said, Aeneas, Jesus Christ
maketh thee whole. It doesn't say Jesus Christ will
make you whole if you fill in the blank, if you accept him,
if you receive him, if you ask him into your heart. Now, it's
true that there are some things that if we do them, we shall
be saved. I don't want to take away from
that. If we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe
in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we should
be saved. That's what scripture says. Now, this thing of confessing
with the mouth is agreement. That's what the word confession
means. It means agreement. We agree with what God says concerning
his son. When we confess our sins, we're
agreeing with God says concerning our sins. It's taking sides with
God against yourself. There are some things that we
do. I love that passage of scripture
in Colossians chapter one, verse 20, when it says every believer
is wholly unblameable and unapprovable in his sight because of his blood.
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. If we continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved from the hope of the
gospel. Ephesians 2.8 says, by grace
ye are saved. It doesn't say by grace you will
be saved if you do something. It says, by grace ye are saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves. That faith that you
have, it's not the product of you. It's not because you decided
to believe. Did you know you can't decide
to believe? You either believe or you don't. Faith's not a decision. Won't you make a decision? It's
not a decision. I never decided to believe. I
found out I couldn't believe. And then all of a sudden, I found
myself believing because God gave me faith. By grace are you
saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Aeneas, Jesus Christ, maketh
thee whole. And I can say to every sinner
listening, are you listening? Are you listening? I can say
to every sinner listening, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. You are whole. You are saved. You are complete in the Lord
Jesus Christ. First Peter 2.24 says, by whose
stripes you were healed. That's a declaration, isn't it?
That's a declaration of what he did. It's not an offer. It's a declaration of what he
did. By whose stripes you are healed. By one offering, he hath perfected. forever, them that are sanctified. When he had by himself purged
our sins. You see, this is a declaration
of what he's done. When he by himself with no help from you,
no contribution on your part, when he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. Now listen to me, my salvation
is not dependent upon my faith or my holy living. My salvation
is dependent upon this declaration of what He has done. Here's what my salvation depends
on. If God be for us, God be in for me. If God be for us,
who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that can condemn? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather, that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. That's my hope. not on something
being made available to be, but something being done. Well, don't you have to believe?
Yeah, you gotta believe this. Well, don't you have to repent? Yeah,
you gotta repent of anything that's contrary to this. Well, doesn't that have some
kind of, shouldn't it have some kind of effect on our life? Why
would you ask a question like that? Of course it does. Of course
it does. I say to every believer, your
warfare is accomplished. Your iniquity is pardoned. You have received of the Lord's
hand double for all your sins. Of him are you in Christ Jesus?
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1.30, he didn't say of him you will
be in Christ Jesus if you, of him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us. Wisdom and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. Beloved, it's finished. Forget about doing, forget about
undoing. It's done. Jesus Christ maketh
thee whole. And the word made whole is the
same word translated healed in 1 Peter 2.24, by whose stripes
we are healed, or actually were healed. It says are healed in
the Old Testament and the New Testament It's quoted by Peter. He says, by whose stripes you
were healed. It's something that's already
taken place. In Luke chapter 9, verse 11,
we read, he healed them that had need of healing. He healed them that had need
of healing. Now, whatever can or can't be
said about me, I know this about me. I need, I need, I need. I need the Bible to be the word
of God. I don't want to listen to just what some man says and
put my soul's salvation in his hands. I need the Bible to be
the word of God, to tell me who he is and how he saved sinners
by his son. I need God to be sovereign. He
is sovereign and I need Him to be such. This is not just a doctrine. This is who God is. I need Him
to, in His sovereignty, decree my salvation. I need God to elect
me. If He doesn't elect me, I won't
be saved. I need Christ to be a sufficient
payment for my sins so that when He said it is finished, my salvation
was accomplished. I need that. I need God's grace
to save me, to be irresistible and invincible, to invade me,
to give me a new heart. I need God the Holy Spirit to
birth me into his kingdom. I need him to preserve me. This
is not just about doctrines that I've learned. This is my great
need. I need for salvation to be of
the Lord, and I'm very personal about it. He's a person, and
I take it personally. And the reason I take it so personally
is I fight for my life. If you take this away from me,
I've got no hope. This is my hope of salvation, what he has
already done. Not Aeneas, Jesus Christ will
make you whole if, no, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. whole. And Peter then commanded
him to do what he could not do before. Verse 34, Peter said
unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole, arise and
make thy bed. And he arose immediately. Now this is the command of the
gospel. He didn't invite him to get up. He commanded him to
get up. And the ability comes with the
command. Rise, get up. What did he do? He arose immediately and got
up. It wasn't through any efficacy
in Peter's voice. This was the call of God. Arise
from your state of paralysis, from your state of inability,
from your state of depravity. Arise and do what you could not
do before. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. Come to Christ. You're now doing
what you could not do before. And what is the evidence that
he was healed? He got up. He got up. Immediately, he got up. That is the evidence of his salvation. What is the evidence that Christ
has made you whole? You believe the gospel. That's
the evidence. Well, aren't there other evidences?
This is the evidence. Believing the gospel. I can't see that I'm justified. I can't see that I'm whole before
God and without sin. I can't see it. Can't see it
in myself, can't see it in you. But I believe it, and that's
the evidence it's so. That's what faith is. It's the
evidence of things not seen, the substance of things hoped
for. He got up upon the command of the gospel. Now, your right
to believe is because God commands you to. Right now, your right to believe
He's not, well, I see enough goodness and grace in me, and
I see enough evidence of God's work in me, and I see such fruit
in me that I think I can believe now. No, that's not believing. That's believing in yourself. That's all that is. That's another
form of salvation by works. Believe the gospel. That is the evidence that he's
made you whole. You right now, upon God's command,
Believe that what Christ did is enough to make you perfect
in his sight. Do you believe? Well, God has
done something for you. He's made you whole. Listen to this scripture. Whoso
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Do you believe he's God's prophet, the word of God?
Do you believe he's God's priest that if he brings you into God's
presence you must be saved? Do you believe he's God's king?
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. The king is
the one whose will is done If you believe he's the Christ,
you've been born of God. Now look at verse 35. And all that dwelt at Lydda and
Saron saw him. This is Acts chapter nine, verse
35. All that dwelt at Lydda and Saron
saw him and turned to the Lord. Now there were people who looked
upon this man that they knew he was a paralyzed man. You know, as far as I know, paralysis is not something that
can be cured humanly. I've heard people say that they're
making progress on it. I don't know, but I know it couldn't
be at that time. If his spine was snapped, there's no way this
man is going to walk. But he does. And people witness
this. And the scripture says, they
turned to the Lord. Now we turn to the Lord when
there's nowhere else to turn. When there are no other options. That's when we turn to the Lord. We turn to the Lord because He
is better. He's beyond the best. You take
the best, he's better. I love the way the writer to
the Hebrews, I think it's seven times says he is better. And we turn to the Lord asking
him to do for us what he did for Aeneas. Find me. Find me. Lord, find me. Can you
pray that? Lord, Find me. I've gone astray
like a lost sheep. Seek me. Find me. Tell me that I've been made whole. You won't do any good for the
preacher to tell me that. That doesn't give me comments. I need
you to tell me that by your spirit and your word. Tell me I've been
made whole. Command me to arise. Now, gospel
preaching is not an offer. It's just not. It's not offering
what God has made available. God offers you forgiveness. He
does no such thing. God offers you mercy. He does
no such thing. God offers you grace. He does
no such thing. Salvation is not an offer. And gospel preaching is not inviting
you to receive what God offers. Gospel preaching is a declaration
of what He has done and a command for you to believe the gospel. Believe serves what must I do
to be saved. Believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would find us and tell us you've made us whole, and that you would cause us to
arise out of our paralysis, brought on by our sin, and come to thy
dear son and rest in him. In his name we pray, amen.