I'm very excited about beginning
in Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2, I believe,
is a unique chapter. I don't think there's another
chapter like it in the Bible. It's built around two events
that took place. The first time was, the first
event was when the Judaizers had come into the church at Antioch
and said, except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you
cannot be saved. And you need to keep the law
of Moses. True salvation's by grace, true
salvation's by Christ, but they added something. And look how
Paul responded to this. He said in verse three, but neither
Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be
circumcised, We wouldn't let him become circumcised, and that
because of false brethren. That's who he called these people
in Acts chapter 15, false brethren, unawares brought in, who came
in privily, secretly, to spy out our liberty, which we have
in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. To whom
we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the
truth of the gospel, That's one of two times that phrase is found
in this chapter, the truth of the gospel. He says, we didn't
submit to their desires that the truth of the gospel might
continue with you. Now, I don't think I never really
thought of that statement before. Paul was saying that if I would
have submitted Titus to circumcision, the truth of the gospel would
not continue. Not here. And you know, that's
a scary thought, isn't it? The truth of the gospel can leave
a church. The truth of the gospel can leave
an individual. And it makes me say, Lord, don't
let the truth of your gospel leave here. The other event that
this chapter is centered around begins in verse 11. But when
Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was
to be blamed. Now, Bruce Crabtree preached
a message on this here a couple of weeks ago. So I'm gonna be
coming up behind him. If you didn't hear that message,
get the message. It was a great message from this passage of
scripture. But when Peter, verse 11, but when Peter was come to
Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed.
For before that certain came from James, That's the church
at Judea of which James was the pastor, the brother of the Lord.
Before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles.
He was having a good time fellowshipping with the Gentiles. He wasn't
concerned about living under Jewish dietary laws in any way. But when they were come, These
Jewish believers, he withdrew himself and separated himself,
fearing them which were of the circumcision. He was filled with
the fear of man at this time. Now, can a believer become overcome
with the fear of man? Absolutely. Can a believer compromise
the gospel? Well, Peter did here. Yes, a
believer can do that. But look how Paul responded to
this. Verse 13, and the other Jews
dissembled likewise with him. And that word means played the
hypocrite. It's the word for hypocrisy.
In so much that Barnabas also was carried away with their hypocrisy,
their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked
not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. There's
that phrase again. Now, all he did was get up from
the Gentile table, felt a little pressure, felt a little strain,
felt a little uncomfortable, felt a little consumed with the
fear of man. He didn't say anything. He just got up and quietly left
one table and sat down with the Jewish believers. And Paul publicly
rebuked him for that. Now that's pretty intense, isn't
it? That is intense. And he said he was not walking
uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. And all Peter
was saying when he did that, is he was saying, you're a little
bit more pleasing to God by being on the Gentile table. And what
that is, it's a denial of the truth of the gospel. Christ is
all. Now this chapter is built around
those two events and there's some glorious things in it. I
read this week where somebody said that verse 16 of Galatians
chapter 2 is the most important verse in the Bible. I wouldn't
deny it. Look what he says in verse 16.
that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Even we had believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law there
shall no flesh be justified. Look what it says in verse 19.
For I through the law am dead to the law. that I might live
under God. I am crucified with Christ. What
a glorious thing to think. You know, when Christ was crucified,
I was too. I was there with him, in him
on the tree. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. That's the assurance of the believer.
He loved me. and he gave himself for me. I
do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness came
by the law, then Christ is dead and vain. Now can you see why
I'm so excited about getting into this Galatians chapter two?
This is a wonderful chapter, and I trust the Lord will bless
it to us. Now, what he's referring to in
verse 1 is that event that took place in Acts chapter 15 where
some men from the church at Judea came in and said, except ye be
circumcised after the manner of Moses, you can't be saved.
You need to keep the law. Yes, salvation is by grace. Yes,
salvation is by Christ, and you also need to keep the law. And
I can imagine all the things that they said to back up what
they were saying. Verse 1, then 14 years after
I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, it had been 14
years since he'd been there, and took Titus with me also,
and I went up by revelation. God revealed that I was to go
to Jerusalem and communicated unto them that gospel which I
preach among the Gentiles. I wanted them to hear exactly
what it was, who it was I preached among the Gentiles. But privately,
he says, to them which were of reputation. Now, I don't, lest
I should run or had run in vain." Now, God had revealed the gospel
to Paul. He revealed it to him directly.
Can you imagine being brought into heaven, in third heaven,
and the Lord speaking directly with you and teaching you the
gospel? He wasn't taught by men. He said, I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me was not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. And Paul believed the gospel.
Peter wouldn't have believed that or John wouldn't have believed
that. That wouldn't have stopped him because God had taught him
the gospel directly. So when he's going back to Jerusalem,
it's not to check it out and see if maybe he's wrong and maybe
the other apostles had a clear view of the gospel. Remember
they had wanted him to go up to Jerusalem to see what the
apostles thought about this? He said, I was laying my gospel
right before him individually, particularly those privately
to the apostles, the ones of repute. And if they didn't agree
with it, then they didn't agree with the gospel. That's what
he's saying. And then I would find I had run or had run in
vain. Now, Paul, at this time, I know
was puzzled as to why these men came from the church where the
apostles were. You had a church where the apostles
were, and you had these men bringing these errors from there into
the church at Antioch. And I have no doubt that Paul
was puzzled by this, and he was wondering, are the apostles approving
of this? Well, if they were, I'm making
a trip in vain. Paul knew that he preached the
gospel Christ had taught him. And if the apostles themselves
disagreed with him, they were wrong. Paul knew that from God
directly teaching him the gospel. So he carefully related to them
exactly what he preached to the Gentiles so that they could see
if they were preaching the same thing. Look down in verse six.
After they heard, but of these who seem to be somewhat, whatsoever
they were, it maketh no matter to me, God accepts no man person,
for they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to
me. When they heard what I preached, they didn't add a thing to it.
They said, this is what we believe. And let's remember, believers
believe the same thing. They always do. They believe
the same thing, they believe the same gospel, they've been
taught by the same Savior, they've been taught by the same Spirit,
they've been saved the same way, and they believe the same thing.
And the Apostle said that's exactly what we believe when Paul brought
this gospel out to them. Now, turn back to Acts chapter
15. We considered this last week. Let me read the first 12 verses.
And certain men, which came down from Judea, taught the brethren
and said, except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you
cannot be saved. These were the men that Paul
called false brethren. And they came out of the church
where Peter was. When therefore Paul and Barnabas
had no small dissension and disputation with him, they determined that
Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to
Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And
being brought on their way by the church, they passed through
Phenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles,
and that caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they
were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and
of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that
God had done with them, but There rose up, the issue at hand, there
rose up certain of the sect, the heresy of the Pharisees which
believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them and
to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and
elders came together for to consider of this matter. 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,
bared them 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." Now this is
the true Apostles Creed. I love this. Everybody memorize
this verse. Memorize it in your heart. We
believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall
be saved even as they. Then All the multitude kept silence
and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, and here is their summary
of their message, declaring what miracles and wonders God had
wrought among the Gentiles by them. I've entitled this message,
Miracles and Wonders. That's what they related to the
church at Jerusalem, the miracles and the wonders God had wrought
by them. Now, miracles are something that
plain old humans can't do. You know that. And indeed, the
early church had a lot of miracles and wonders going on. miraculous
events like healing the sick and raising the dead and giving
sight to the blind. They were able to do these things
that only God could do. Now the apostles and the ones
who laid hands on and the ones they laid their hands on had
these miracle working powers. If the Apostle laid hands on
you, this gift of the Holy Spirit was transferred to you, and all
of a sudden you could speak in tongues, speak in other languages.
You could heal the sick and raise the dead. You could drink Drano
and it wouldn't hurt you. You could take poison and stuff
like that. Snakes biting you wouldn't hurt you. They had these
miraculous powers given through the transfer and the laying on
of the Apostle's hands. Now, when the Apostles died out,
this died out. You know, people say, are these
gifts still in operation? No. No. And somebody who says
they are, too? Well, no, they're not. No, they're
not. It only came through the laying
on of the apostles' hands, according to Acts chapter 8. And if people
did have this gift, of course they would be in hospitals. healing
people and so on. It's not like you just didn't
have enough faith. No, the apostles, if you were
sick, they'd just come up and be healed. You'd be healed. And
this gift is no longer in operation. Now, I got to admit, I kind of
wish it would. It still was. I'd kind of like
to preach and then be able to heal people. And that would give
some kind of confirmation of the fact that the Lord sent me.
And I can see where that would be a great advantage to be able
to perform miracles. but not really, not really. If
it was, we'd have it, but evidently it's best for us not to have
the ability to do this. Now, the first thing that I would
notice about the gospel that Paul preached is he emphasized
that it was something that God had done. He spoke of the miracles
and the wonders which God had done in their midst, and God's
people are always careful to acknowledge this. Turn back to
Acts chapter 3 for a moment. This is after Peter and John
had miraculously told a man who was lame to get up, and his feet
and ankle bones received strength, and he got up, and it was a miracle. Verse 9, And all the people saw
him walking, and praising God, this man who had been lame from
birth. And they knew that it was he who would set for alms
at the beautiful gate of the temple. And they were filled
with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto
him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John,
all the people ran together unto them in the port that is called
Solomon's, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people and said, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye
at this? or why look ye so earnestly on
us, as though by our own power or holiness we've made this man
to walk? Why, that's ridiculous. It doesn't
have anything to do with us. The God of Abraham and of Isaac
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son
Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence
of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But you denied
the Holy One and just, and desired a murder to be granted unto you,
and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the
dead, whereof we're all witnesses. And His name, through faith in
His name, hath made this man strong, whom you see and know.
Yea, the faith which is by Him hath given Him this perfect soundness
in the presence of you all." Did you notice how he said, why
are you looking on us? As if by our own holiness. We're
so holy, God's using us for this. or we have this special power. He said, this has nothing to
do with us. And God's people are always careful
to bring that out. You see, salvation is what God
does for the sinner. It's summarized by these words. It is finished. Now, if you have a burden of
sin on your conscience, listen to these words. It is finished. There's nothing for you to do.
It's already been done. That's the gospel. It's what
He has done. Now, did you know that seeing
a miracle, seeing something supernatural, never created faith in anyone?
How many people saw the miracles that the Lord performed? And
not one person was given faith because of something they observed
when they saw these miracles. On more than one occasion, the
Lord rebuked the people for wanting to see a miracle. He said, a
wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, and that word
miracle is sometimes translated sign. And there shall no sign
be given but the sign of the prophet Jonas. Now, miracles,
wonders, and signs could also be counterfeited. You remember
the magicians of Pharaoh? Remember when Moses threw his
staff down and turned into a snake? And the magicians threw their
staff down and it turned into a snake too. And Moses' snake
went and swallowed their snakes. But they were able to do miraculous
things. Now they couldn't duplicate it
when Moses turned the dust into lice, because that's creating
life. There was nothing but ashes,
and when that turned into life, that's something only God could
do. They couldn't duplicate that, but they duplicated. many of
these things that Moses did. Listen to this scripture from
Matthew chapter 24 verse 24. These are the words of our Lord.
He says, For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets
and shall show great signs and wonders. Miracles is the word
and wonders that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect. Thank God it's not possible.
But if it were, they would deceive the very elect. Turn with me
for a moment to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Verse 8. Paul is talking about
the coming of Antichrist. And he says in verse 8 of 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the
Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy
him with the brightness of His coming. Even him whose coming
is after the working of Satan." with all power and signs and
lying wonders." Miracle-working power. "...and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should
believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not
the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." God, as an
act of His judgment, will let them believe this miracle-working
power And it's because they did not receive the love of the truth. Now, while miracles can be counterfeited,
and I don't know how they did it, who hadn't wondered how those
Egyptian magicians did what they did? I can't explain that like all the
rest of everything else I can't explain. I don't know. You just
read it and believe it, and that's about all you can do. But you
know, there are some miracles which only God can do. And these
miracles cannot be counterfeited. And these are the miracles that
Paul is speaking of that God did by him. miracles of salvation. And there are several miracles
of our Lord that teach us so much about salvation. And these
miracles are miracles the world could never give. I think of
what Peter said to that lame man that he healed. That man
was looking for money. He needed money. He was a beggar,
and that would have helped him, so he thought. He could have
got something to eat with it. He could have paid his bills with it. There he is, and he
was looking for money. And Peter said, silver and gold
have I none. I can't help you there, but such
as I have, I give thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk. Now, men couldn't duplicate that.
Men could give the guy money. They could make his life a little
bit more comfortable. They could have some kind of program for
him that would ease him of his terrible burden. But only the
gospel can do what was done for this man. Take with me a moment
for John chapter 20. Signs and wonders. Verse 30. And many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book. I love to think of all the things
that the Lord did that we don't know anything about. Not written
in this book. But these are written, these
signs and wonders and miracles that He performed, these are
written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that you might have life through His name. Now, I want to look at about
a half a dozen miracles. that give us some idea of how
God saves sinners. And this is how Paul summarized
his preaching. Miracles and wonders done by
God through them. Now, the first miracle mentioned
in the book of John is the miracle of the water being made wine. Turn to John chapter two. I'm gonna be very brief with
all of these. John chapter 2 verse 11. This beginning of miracles
did Jesus in Cana of Galilee. This was his first miracle. And
that word beginning can also mean the most important miracle.
The most important miracle. It was the first miracle and
it was the most important miracle where water was turned into wine. You know the story? Water was
made to be what it was not. wine. It wasn't water that looked
like wine. It wasn't water that smelled
like wine. It wasn't water that tasted like
wine. It was wine. It was made to be
what it was not. Now here is the point. And I'm
scared as I even say this. I was looking over my notes and
I'm saying, are you really going to say this? I am going to say
this. It makes me nervous. It seems so way above my understanding. But here's the point. Christ
was made to be what he was not. What is sin? In its hideous reality, you see that man nailed to the
cross, crying, my God, my God, why has
thou forsaken me? That is sin. Christ, the Holy Lamb of God,
was made sin. He didn't just have sin charged
to his account. He was made sin. Do I understand that? No. Do I believe it with all my heart? He was made to be what he was
not. Just like that water was made
to be what it was not. And in like manner, I am made
to be what I was not. I am made to be the very righteousness of God. Me. I am made to be. Well, His righteousness is charged
to you. No, no. I am made to be the very
righteousness of God. I'm looking at some people right
now who the best and most accurate description of them would be
this, the righteousness of God. Now, you want to talk about confidence
on Judgment Day. If I'm the righteousness of God, who shall lay anything to my
charge? That's true of every believer. And this miracle is
what took place. Christ was made to be. I mean,
he was made to be what he was not. You want the clearest view
of sin? There he is. There you see him.
He was made to be sin. He was made to be sin, and I'm
made to be. Every believer is made to be
what we were not, the righteousness of God in Him. Now, the second miracle that
is recorded that took place, this is the second miracle that
Jesus did, John 4 says, is when He healed a young man who was
over a day's journey away simply by his will. You remember when
that ruler of the temple came down and said, sir, come down,
ere my child die. And the Lord said, except you
see signs and wonders you won't believe. He said, come help me.
And the Lord said, go thy way, thy son liveth. And simply as
an act of his will. That's all it took. an act of
his will. That little boy was cured. Kind
of like when the centurion said, speak the word only and my son
shall be healed. You know, the Lord didn't even
have to speak the word. All he had to do was will it. Such is
the supremacy of his will that all of salvation is caused by
the will of God. It's no cooperative effort between
men. It comes because of the will of God. He simply willed
it, and it took place. By the witch will, the writer
to the Hebrews said, by the witch will, by God's will, when the
Lord said, lo, I come to do thy will, O God, I delight to do
thy will. By that will, by the witch will,
we are sanctified, declared by God to be holy once for all. through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ, simply because of the supremacy of his will.
If he wills it, it becomes history before it's even taken place.
That's how sovereign and supreme his will is. You know, that leper
understood that. He said, Lord, if you will, if
you will, it's all up to your will. If you will, you can make
me clean. And there's a miracle, the miracle,
the mystery of God's will. Paul preached that. That was
his message. Now, the third miracle that I
thought of that could not be duplicated by a man is raising
Lazarus from the dead. What a miracle. And it's called
a miracle. And Lazarus had been dead four
days. The body had already began to
decay. You could smell it. Lazarus,
come forth. And he that was dead, he was
dead. He was graveyard dead. He was
stinking dead. He opened his eyes and he came
forth. Now, isn't that what happens
in the gospel? Resurrection. The miracle of
resurrection. You know, it's a miracle that
Christ died. That's one of the things that I can't get a hold
of, the fact that Jesus Christ actually died. He's the God-man.
How does the God-man die? I don't know, but he did. He
did. And you know, he gave himself
life. He said, I have power to take,
I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up. This
commandment I received from my father. Now you want to talk
about miraculous, Christ raised himself from the dead. And what
a miracle it is when He gives a dead sinner life. And all of
a sudden, I hear. I didn't before. I didn't even
care. I do now. God gave me life. What a miracle. What a miracle
of grace that is. And that's what always is going
on in the preaching of the Gospel. God speaking to dead sinners
and saying, Live! And they live. And what a miracle
it will be. When I put this dead body down,
this body full of sin, this body that I'm so weary of, and it's
laid in the grave, and then I'm raised up, perfectly conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ. Is that a miracle? That's a miracle
that only God can do. When he raises me up, and I'm
gonna come out of that grave, and I'm gonna be just like Christ. I'm not going to have any sin
at all. And I'm not even going to remember
what it's like to be a sinner. What a glorious thing. What a
miracle of grace. Truly, Paul spoke of miracles
and wonders that God did by them through the preaching of the
gospel. The raising of Lazarus from the dead. Now the fourth
miracle I thought of that could not be duplicated It was the
miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000. In both
cases, matter was brought into the universe, which was not there
before. An act of creation took place. Now only God can do that. We
talk about creative people. Well, if you want to be strict
about it, I mean, I'm thankful for creative people, but really
there's no such thing. The only one who's truly creative
is God himself. He brings matter into existence,
which was not there before. Now, just as the old creation
is a work of God. And I love thinking of the Lord.
He just took two loaves and five fishes, fed 5,000 people, and
there were 12 baskets of food left. You think of the amount
of matter that was created at that time. Only God can do that. But I think of creation. God
created the heavens and the earth by His word, by His power. He
spake this world into existence. How much help did He have? Did he have anything at all to
work with except himself? Now in the new creation, same
way. What's God had to work with?
Is he cooperating with a man to make this take place? No,
he says live and there's life. It's a creative act of God. What does God have to work with
in you? Nothing. He does it, and it happens. Now,
I realize that some people might hear this and say, well, there's
nothing for me to do. I'm not going to worry about it. I'm just going
to sit here and wait and see if God zaps me and gives me life.
Well, if you do that, you'll go to hell. That's true. That's
fatalism. If you do that, if that's what
your way, if you're just waiting on something to happen, God to zap
you, I can't save myself. I'm just waiting for something
to happen. You'll go to hell thinking that way. No, seek the
Lord, call upon him, but know this, the only way you'll have
life is for God to create it. And now I have something that
I did not have before. I've got, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature, he's a new creation. I've got a heart that
was not there before that God created. David said, create in
me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. What a miracle. And that's what
took place in Paul's preaching. And the next thing I thought
of was Christ giving a man sight that was born blind. He was born
in the dark, He never saw, and Christ gave him sight. You can
read about that in John chapter 9, where he gave this man sight.
He was blind, never seen a thing, didn't have any... Have you ever
thought about what it's like to be blind? And you can't even
imagine, you try to... I don't see how you can even
imagine figures, or what things look like. You're just... You
don't understand. You're blind. And Christ gave
him sight. And then he said, for judgment
have I come into this world, that they which see not might
see. Everybody that's blind, everybody
who cannot see why God would ever look their way in favor. That's the person he gives sight
to. And everybody who says, we see, Christ says, I'm making
them blind. But what a miracle that is when
God gives me sight and all of a sudden I can see. I didn't
realize, I didn't realize I was an evil person. God's given me
sight. I didn't realize how holy God
was. God's given me sight. He's made me to see the Redeemer.
The lights have been turned on. What a miracle that is when you're
in the dark and God turns on the lights and you say, I see.
You know, I see my need of Christ now. There was a time I didn't.
I see my need of His grace now. There was a time I didn't. Why?
Because God gave me sight. And what a miracle that is. when
God gives sight to the blind. First Corinthians chapter 14
verse 22 says tongues are a sign. The gift of tongues. You know in the early church
these men could get up and and preach the gospel in Russian,
in Spanish, in whatever Arabic or whatever language they didn't
know, they could go into a country and just start preaching the
gospel with this gift of tongues. Now, what a miracle that is. I'd like to have that gift. I
mean, I would like to be able to preach the gospel in other
languages. Now, I don't have any interest in what Charismatics
talked about, about that heavenly language. No, I don't want that.
But I'd love to be able to go into other countries, China or
something like that, and preach the gospel fluently. What a blessing
that would be. But here is the miracle. The gospel is a foreign language. No man understands it. You know,
we were just in Mexico a couple of weeks ago. It's awful that
I've been there that many times. I still don't know any Spanish.
I just hesitated against them. I thought they need to learn
English, you know, which is a stupid attitude, but that's me. But,
you know, I listen to that Spanish. I have no idea what they're saying. Some of those guys that come,
they seem like they try and get Rosetta Stone or whatever it
is, you know, and they learn things. And I think I ought to
do that and never do. It always just sounds like I
have no idea what they're saying. But wouldn't it be something
if all of a sudden I understood? Now that's a miracle when God
makes it to where you understand what you're hearing. It's the
spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him. What
a miracle it is when a man can hear the gospel and understand. Do you understand? Do you understand
that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only righteousness
there is? Or is that foreign language to
you? Or do you understand? What a miracle when someone is
able to hear from the gift of tongues. You're looking at a
miracle of God right now. I'm looking at some miracles
of God whom God has given sight to. He's made him to hear. He's given him something they
didn't have before, a new heart. He's given him life from the
dead. He has saved you by his will. He's caused you to be something
that you were not before. That's the wonders and miracles
that Paul preached. Now, one last wonder or sign,
I love the way the Lord said this when they said, show us
a sign. He said, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign. Now, if I tell you the truth
and you say to me, well, I need a sign to verify it, what you're
saying is you don't believe me. That's all that means. I don't
believe it. I need the sign to verify it. And even if you saw
the sign, you still wouldn't believe it. You believe the truth
because it's the truth, not because it's been verified by some kind
of miracle. But the Lord said, An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given it but
the sign of Jonas the prophet. This is my favorite sign. Three days in, And he came out. What a sign. When he opened up
his eyes in that dark grave, I don't know if he started glowing
or I don't know if light was shining, I don't know what happened,
but I love to think of my Redeemer, don't know what he looked like,
but I love to think of my Redeemer opening his eyes in that tomb. Life from the dead. And what I love thinking about
is that when he lived, oh how he lived before God, I did too
because I was in him. Now, it was said of John, John
did no miracle. You know, John the Baptist never
did perform a miracle. but they made this testimony concerning
him. They said, but all the things
he spoke of this man were true. We may not be able to perform
physical miracles, but all the miracles of God's grace that
he performs. Let's pray. Lord, we confess that salvation
is thy miracle, and we wonder at it, and we bow in the dust
at the feet of thy son, confessing that all of our salvation
is in him. And Lord, we thank you for him. We thank you for his salvation.
We thank you for his beauty. We thank you for his power. We
thank you for his righteousness. We thank you for his precious
blood. We thank you for his intercession. And Lord, we earnestly await
his return when we'll behold him and be like him. And Lord, thank you for this
blessed hope. In his name we pray. Amen.