Acts chapter 4. I love this book because it tells what happened
when the Lord Jesus left. He spent three and a half years
with his disciples. He left them, and this is What
happened to them when the Lord left? The early church. We've
learned so much from it. But this was the first real great
persecution against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. They'd
had a little persecution when Peter began to preach in Acts
chapter 2, and they said, well, you fellows are drunk. But that
was nothing compared to this. This was the first great attempt
to not only stifle the gospel, to hinder the gospel, But this
was the first time the authorities, the religious rulers said, if
you speak in his name one more time, you're in trouble. You're
in trouble. And these apostles knew it. It's
evident that they knew the church is in trouble if the Lord doesn't
intervene. We're going to be put in jail.
We're going to be killed. We're going to be persecuted
to the point that we cannot preach. That's why they went back to
the church and told them what happened, and said, now let's
pray. And they began to pray. But let's
look now at these two fishermen that stood before this great
council, and let's look at the people they stood before in just
a way of introduction by reading it in Acts chapter 4 and verse
1. As they spake unto the people,
the priests And the captain of the temple and the Sadducees
came upon them. There's the priest. There was
a lot of them. The captain of the temple, he's
the one that stood there and guarded the place. He had some
names that people weren't allowed in there. If he says you're not
allowed in there, you didn't go in. If he puts you out, you
stayed out. He's the captain. He ruled that
temple as far as who was to be there and what went on and what
didn't go on as they instructed him to enforce the rules. The
Sadducees who didn't even believe in the resurrection. In verse
2, being grieved that they taught the people and preached through
Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they went to Peter
and John in verse 3 and laid hold on them. And put them in
hold until the next day. Put them in jail. Put them in
custody. For it was now evening time,
late in the day. Howbeit, many of them which heard
the word believed And the number of men was about 5,000. And it
came to pass, on the morrow, the next morning, look at this
now, the rulers and the elders and the scribes and Annas, the
high priest, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, these were
powerful men. And many of the kindred of the
high priest were gathered together at Jerusalem. They tell us this
was the Sanhedrin, between 70 and 100 people with authority. And here in verse 7, And when
they had set them, Peter and John, in the mist, they asked,
By what power or what name have you done this? Have you done
this? Done what? Well, we know in the
context in chapter 3 that healed this man. He was born crippled
from his mother's womb, and Peter said to him, Silver and gold
have I none, such as I have given you in the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth. Stand up and walk. And the man
leaped up, no therapy or anything, and began to leap and praise
God, and went into the temple with these two men, these two
fishers. And here the council has Peter and John there with
this man probably there with them. And they look at that man
and they say, we know he was crippled. Who give you the authority
to heal him? Boy, little did they know that
they was getting ready to open a can of worms. If they had known
Peter's answer, they'd have never asked the question. By whose
power? He said in verse 7. And what
name have you done this? And boy, here in verse 8, we
have the key to understanding the attitude that these two fishermen
had as they stood before this Sanhedrin Council. And you remember
not long before this how weak these men were? Peter denied
the Lord because he looked this little maid in the face, and
she said, ìYouíre one of His disciples.î ìNo, Iím not.î ìNo,
Iím not.î John ran away at the first. ìAll of you shall leave
me alone,î he said. John came back. But finally,
they all were hiding out enough room for a few of the Jews. And
now here stands these two fishermen, and theyíre as bold as lions. Look down in verse Look down
at verse 13. When they saw the boldness of
Peter and John, they saw the boldness, their all-out spokenness. And they stood there before these
rulers that had the authority not only to put them out of the
synagogue, to censor them, but you know they had a lot of influence
with the civil authority. They had influence with Pilate.
These were some powerful men. But here, Peter and John stood
before him in boldness. And verse 8 tells us how they
managed to do that. Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, That's it. Brothers and sisters, that's
the key. That's the key to preaching.
That's the key to witnessing. That's the key to worship. That's
the key to serving. That's the key to overcoming
this world. That's the key to overcoming
the devil. He was filled with the Holy Ghost. Be not drunk with wine, but be
ye filled with the Spirit. Look back here in chapter 1.
Just back over to your left. Look back in chapter 1 and verse
4. Look at this in verse 4. The
Lord Jesus told him this beforehand, what was going to take place.
In verse 4, this is after our Lord had raised from the dead
and He is ready to ascend to heaven. And being assembled together
with Him, He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem.
Don't go home, He said. Don't go back up to Nazareth.
Don't go back to Galilee. Stay here at Jerusalem and wait
for the promise of the Father Which saith he, You have heard
of me? For John truly baptized with
water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, will you at this
time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said, It is not for you
to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in
his own power. But look in verse 8, But you
shall receive power Strength in your inner man, when? After
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses
unto me, both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost
parts of the earth." What changed Peter? How could he stand this
bowl as a lion? That is what the Spirit of God
does when He fills our hearts. We're not afraid of anybody,
are we? We're bold. We speak out before what would
be impossible for us to do or say. Now we have liberty. He spake with boldness. They
saw the boldness of Peter and John. Unfazed. Unintimidated. And you know they knew what these
rulers could do to them. They had done so what these rulers
did to the master. How they handled him when the
Lord gave them freedom to do it. Lied on him. Falsely accused
him. Smote him in the face. Mocked
him. Turned him over to Pilate. Crucified
him. Crucified him. They knew what
these men were capable of. And they knew these men would
kill them if they got the chance. Look here was the Master. He
forewarned them of this. Look back over here in John chapter
15. Look at a couple of places. The Lord never left these men
without understanding of what was going to take place. Look
in John chapter 15 and look in verse 18. John chapter 15 verse
18. Look at this. I imagine this was a big conference. It wasn't a conference these
disciples when the Lord first told them this, but I bet you
when these things begin to come to pass, they found a lot of
comfort in this. Look what he said in John 15
and look in verse 18. If the world hate you, you know
that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world,
if your message was of this world, if you spoke where the world
could understand you, if you said what the world liked, the
world would love you. Because the world loves its own.
But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the
word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his
Lord. If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you. If they have kept my sayings,
they'll keep your sayings. And all these things will they
do unto you for my name's sake, because they don't know me, and
they don't know him that sent me." And look down in chapter
16. He enlightens them just a little
bit more. These things have I spoken unto
you that you should not be offended. When it comes to pass, I don't
want you to stumble. I don't want you to fall. They
shall put you out of the synagogue. Yea, the time will come that
whosoever kills you will think that he doeth God's service.
And these things will they do unto you because they don't know
me and the Father." They don't know the Father nor me. But these
things I have told you that when the time shall come, you may
remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not to
you at the beginning, because I was with you." So this wasn't
taking these apostles by surprise. When they said, we're going to
threaten you fellas, if you speak in his name anymore, we're going
to whip you, we're going to put you out of the synagogue, they
weren't surprised. You and I are surprised when the world hates
us, aren't we? You say something about the gospel. You start preaching the gospel,
somebody may utter and reject you. Don't that just about shock
you? Why? Well, you ought to go back
and read what the Lord told His disciples. Marvel not if the
world hates you. It hates you because it hated
me. Look back over here in Acts chapter 4 again. This is very
strange here. Verse 9, this is very strange. If we this day be examined of
the good deed done to the impotent man, the cripple, by what means
he is made whole, why did they have these fellows on the trial?
Were they bank robbers? Had they molested anybody? Why,
they hadn't had that. Peter said we're here not because
we're criminals, we're here being judged because we've done a good
deed. That doesn't make sense, does
it? Very strange. You know the world doesn't hate
the church because it sees some weaknesses in the church. It
may lose some confidence in the church sometime when it sees
the church so weak and fallen and trailing around. But you
know why the world hates the church? Because the church has something
good. You know that. The church has
the good word of God. I have given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them because of the good word. Some of you
remember Christmas. Remember Christmas Day, our service
year on Christmas Day? When I was preaching on Matthew
chapter 1 and verse 21, and I got to the point where it said, He
shall save His people. And remember when I got off on
election? And somebody hollered out back there when I said, I
said, do you hate election? Somebody said, what was they
said, Gilley? Yes. Yes. Yes. And boy, you can see
it. And some of you felt it. Some
of you hear it. Yes, I hate election. Why do you hate election? If
you got up to the world and you preach free will, that God had
cast a vote for you and Satan had cast a vote for you and yours
was the decided vote, the world would love you. But when you
get up and preach the good Word of God, you know election is
the only hope of any sort. That's a good thing, isn't it?
Paul said if you haven't left to secede, if you haven't left
to surrender, We have all been historic. The world, if it loves
humanity as it should, should rise up and praise to God for
His electing love. What a good thing! But the world
puts the church on trial for believing this good truth. That is what they have these
men here on trial for. Good deed? You got us on trial, you examined
us for the good deed, the good gospel, good news of good. I tell you, redemption accomplished. It's the best views a poor sinner
could ever hear. Redemption has been accomplished. Reconciliation has been made. Peace has been made through the
blood of the cross. That's good news, ain't it? But
you know what Paul said about this good news? He said, this
world looks upon the church that's preaching the gospel and says,
you fellows are criminals. What he said? He said, I glory
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified
to me. And I am crucified to the world.
And what he's saying, I count the world as criminals. They're
under the judgment of God. They're enemies of God. And he
said, I call upon you, enemies of God, to throw up your white
flag of surrender, pile up your weapons at His feet, and give
up the war, and give yourselves over to Him. You're criminals
against God. And he said, in turn, the world
counts me a criminal. You're robbers of our peace.
You're killers of our God. They hate, Paul said, the church
because of the gospel. That's it. But it's not anything
the church has done that's bad. It's good. It's good. If we this day be examined of
the good deed. The good deed. Ain't that amazing? That's amazing. The good deed.
That's why the church is hated by the world. It's not the church's
badness. It's what she has that's good.
The world's without excuse. They hated the Master without
a cause, and they really have no cause to hate the church.
But they hate it because of the good that she has. And something
else. I'll tell you something else.
The world hates you, not just because it sees you living honest
and living moral, being good to your neighbor, The world will
sort of commend you for that. But when you say, I am what I
am by the grace of God, I love my neighbor by the grace of God,
I'm honest by the grace of God, I love morality, I love holiness
by the grace of God, and you give the Lord the glory for it,
that's when they'll get mad. If you'll just let them know,
Bill, when they say, Bill, boy, you're an honest fellow. I appreciate
you running your business like it is. But you just find some
way to give the Lord the glory for it. That's when they can't stand
it. That's when it makes the world mad. If you'll accept credit
for it, and you'll be a Pharisee, and you'll want men to praise
you because you've done it. But, boy, when you turn and say,
I am what I am. And I do what I do by the grace
of God. To the Lord be the glory. That's
what gets these men. That's what gets the world. That's
what we see here in Peter. Peter had already done this two
or three times. Look here in chapter 3. We want to know how you did this. How did you
do this? Well, Peter never would take
any glory for doing this. He gave the Lord the glory for
it all. Look at chapter 3 and verse 11. And as the lame man
which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together
to them in the porch, Solomon's porch. And they wondered, and
when Peter saw it, he answered to the people, Ye men of Israel,
why marvel ye at this, and look at this? Why do ye look upon
us so earnestly, as though by our own power, our holiness,
we have made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son, Jesus. And look here in chapter 4, in
verse 10, he does the same thing again. They said, But what power,
authority have you done this thing? Peter said, Be it known
unto you, to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from
the dead, even by him doeth this man stand before you whole. When we find a way To give Him
all the glory for everything we are, everything we have, everything
we do. I tell you, the world don't like
that. The world just don't like that.
If you can do something by your own free will and the power of
it and your own holiness and might, they'll love you for that.
But just say, I'm a poor sinner, and I can't do a thing if you
don't give me grace. To God be the glory. That's when
they get angry. And boy, back here in verse 10,
I want you to know how Peter answered. Look how Peter answered
this council. Now you can imagine this poor
fisherman standing here among this mighty council. And every
word he spoke, was calculated to go to the heart of these men. I can't say that he chose his
word carefully, but the Holy Spirit chose them for him. And
look how he identifies the one whom they crucified. Every word.
Look how he says in verse 10, "...be it known unto you all,
and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus..."
Jesus. Who is that? They all knew who that was. His
name shall be called Jesus. This was this human name that
the angel that was sent from God gave to him at his birth. Jesus. Jesus. And what made them
so angry was this Jesus, who obviously was a man. They knew
he was a man with a common name. That this man with this common
name said, I am the Son of God. And they picked up stones to
stone him. And he said, why are you going to stone me? Not because
you've done some good deed, but because you being a man. You
make yourself God. He was a real man. His name was
Jesus. But He was the God-man. He was
the Son of God. Jesus. And boy, right here is
something else that got Him. He didn't stop at Jesus. But
look at this. By the name of Jesus Christ. This is His title. We know that. We understand that. The Messiah.
That word simply means one who is anointed of God. God has sent
Him. To do the work of God. To accomplish
the will of God. God-sending. And boy, this is
one of the things they hated about Jesus worse than anything
else. He professed to be the Christ. The Christ. Look here what they said in John
chapter 9. It shows you how dogmatic they were about Jesus professing
to be the Christ. Look in John chapter 9. Look
in verse 20. John chapter 9 and verse 20. John 9, verse 20. This is where
the Lord Jesus had healed the blind man. Look in verse 20. They called his parents and said,
This is your son. And his parents answered them
and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born
blind. But by what means he now sees,
we know not. Or who hath opened his eyes,
we know not. He is of age, ask him. He shall
speak for himself. These words spake his parents
because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had agreed already
that if any man did confess that he was the Christ, he should
be put out of the synagogue. They believed that the Messiah
was coming. But when Jesus came on the scene
and He says, I'm the Christ, boy, it got under their skin.
You're the anointed of God? You're the servant of God? You
come to do the will and work of God? They said to the people,
if you confess Him to be Christ, we're going to excommunicate
you. And you'll never come through the doors of that temple again.
You'll never worship God in this place again. You'll be persecuted
for it. When you sin, you won't be able
to bring a sacrifice again if you confess Him to be the Christ.
And here Peter is. Here Peter is. and said, this
is not only Jesus, the man, but this is Christ. God sent him. But he didn't stop there. Look
what else he said in chapter 4 and verse 10. This is Jesus
Christ of Nazareth. Nazareth. Why did he say that?
Well, he knew that they despised You go north from Jerusalem,
and the further north you went, the more disgusting you were.
They counted most people in Galilee, but especially around Nazareth,
to be ignorant and unlearned people. Can any good thing come
out of Galilee? That was spoken of a man who
finally come to love the Lord Jesus Christ. And they hated
Nazarenes. This Nazarene, they hated him.
And Peter said, that's who Jesus Christ is. He's come up in Nazareth. This is the one. And boy, if
there was any doubt, he doesn't stop there. Look in verse 10
again. By the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified. Make no doubt who I'm talking
about. It's the one that you took, and by wicked hands, you
crucified. This is the third time Peter
had confronted the nation of Israel with the death of the
Son of God, before he had confronted the common people. In Acts chapter
2, on the day of Pentecost, he preached to them, and he told
them, you've taken by wicked hands, you've crucified and slain
the Son of God. In chapter 3, he preaches to
them again, and he preaches to the common people again, and
he says, you've killed the Prince of Life, but here, finally, He
confronts the rulers. Now He's standing before them.
And He lays the same thing at their charge. You crucified the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's in whose name I healed
this cripple. And it's in His authority and
His power that I'm standing here preaching to you right now. That's what He said. It's just a remarkable thing.
The providence of God. Who were these two men? They
were Galileans. They were nobody. It would be
like one of us standing up here at the White House tomorrow preaching
to the President or going before the Senate. Can you imagine yourself
standing before the U.S. House of Representatives in the
morning preaching to them? Well, there's no way. There's
no way because they're not going to let us though. And Peter and John, these two
fishermen, standing here before the greatest religious court
in the world. How could that be? God had them
there. God put them there. These rulers,
just two months before this, they brought the Son of God out
with these trumped up charges, crucified Him. And Thopheth washed
their hands of it. He's gone, and good riddance. We'll never hear anything else
about that again. We've got our place secure now.
And suddenly, boldly, here stands these two men, ignorant and unlearned
men of Galilee, of all places, and lays this charge at their
feet. You crucified the Christ of God. You kill the Prince of Light.
You're responsible for that. And boy, don't you know they
were shocked? They were shocked. I tell you, God's got a way of
bringing the counsel of the wise to nothing. Does He not? God
takes the wise in their own craftiness. David said the Lord brings the
counsel of the heathen to naught, and he makes the devices of the
people of none effect. Little did this counsel know
that they had been prophesied of some 1,500 years or so before
this. The Bible had already told them
about these fellows. Remember when David said, why
do the heathen rage? Why do the people imagine vain
things? They set themselves, the kings
set themselves, Herod and Pontius Pilate, they got together with
the people of the Jews and these Jewish leaders against the Lord
and against His Christ. And here Peter is saying, the
Lord has done foretold of you And you crucified His Son. And
you washed your hands of Him. But you know something? God has
raised Him from the dead. And God has said to Him, My Son,
said it in My own right hand, I have set My King upon My holy
hill of Zion. I have declared the decree, Thou
art My Son. This day have I begotten Thee.
And here Peter is. Here Peter is. He said, you want
to know by what authority I do this? You want to know whose
name I do this? In this Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
whom you crucified, whom God hath raised from the dead and
exalted Him and set Him at His own right hand. For above all
principalities and powers and might and authority, that's where
He is. That's where He is. My soul. What boldness! What boldness! And he goes on
in verse 11. Look at this. He goes on. Why does he go on? Well, look
here in verse 11. This is the stone which was set
at naught of you builders. Isaiah 28, 16. Which is become
the head of the corner. Look at this. He was said it
not of you builders." These were the builders. These weren't the
common people now that this Peter was preaching to. Before he had
been preaching to the common people, but now he's preaching
to the builders. These were the men who taught
the knowledge of God, and they taught it falsely. These were
the men that told people what to believe and what not to believe.
These were the theologians. These were the commentators.
They framed men's mind. They formed their opinions and
their thinking. Boy, these were the somebodies.
Peter went right to the top. These are the builders. You fellows
are the builders. And look here what he confronted
them with. Their whole attitude and opinion towards the Lord
Jesus Christ. What was their attitude towards
Christ? Look at this. Whom you set at naught. You esteemed Him to be worthless. You esteemed Him to be nothing. I watched, I think Menville or
Diana Vaughn was talking about this. I saw Franklin Graham, Billy
Graham's son. Somebody was interviewing him
the other night and I was watching it. And they was asking him some
questions. And I don't know if that poor
man has set himself up as a spokesman for Christianity, or I don't
know if somebody else has set him up for a spokesman. But whatever,
he is a spokesman. He is a spokesman. And I feel
sorry for Franklin Graham because he knows nothing of the Bible.
He knows nothing of the Bible. And they were asking him about
Mitt Romney, one of the Republican candidates. And they said, he's
a Mormon and what do you think about his religion? And you know
what his response was? Well, make him believe different.
And I thought to myself, I don't care what you believe. I'm not
concerned about what you believe. What do you think of Christ? If Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and
you're an educated man, you should know what he believes about Christ.
What does Mitt Romney's religion teach us about Jesus Christ?
That he's a mere creature. That he was created. That he's
not God in the flesh. And poor Franklin Grant didn't
know one single scripture to quote. All he could say was, I just don't believe like he
does. Who gives a hoot what you believe? Who gives a hoot what
Mitt Romney believes? What do they say of Christ? What
do they say of Christ? What do they say of Christ? You
know how to tell a false prophet. What does he think of Christ?
Does he send him at night? I was watching. Bill got me off
on some of this stuff. Blame him if I get all negative
up here this afternoon. Blame him. He got me off on the
Holstein guy down in Texas. What's his name? Holstein. Holstein? Joel Holstein. I saw him on interview. And they
were asking him this thing about They said, you know, there's
a big controversy about if Jesus Christ is God. And some says
He's not, and some says He is. And they said, they asked Him
this question. What do you think of Jesus Christ? I thought, man,
that's it. Wouldn't you love for somebody
to ask you this question? And you know what He said? I don't
get off on those issues. I don't get off on those issues.
What are you doing then speaking? What are you up preaching to
50,000 and 60,000 people on Sunday morning? No, you're a builder
whether you want to deny it or not. You're forming men's opinions
of religion and salvation and eternity and God. And Peter says,
you're these builders and you're the chief enemies of God. You're
the chief enemies of Christ. How do you know? Because of what
you're saying of Christ. You've said Him at night. And I tell you, I can tell a
true prophet. That's yours a true preacher. That's yours an apostle.
And you know he's a true apostle by what he thinks of Christ.
What does he think of Christ? God hath made Him the head. He's the head. The head of what? Everything. He's the ruler of
everything. He's the head of the heathen.
He's the head of the church. He's the head of this universe.
He's the head of all principalities and powers. He is everything. He's the sovereign ruler. He's
first. He's foremost. He's the highest. Everything gets its orders and
movement from the head, and He's the head. Oh, I think Jesus has
a lot to do with it. I think he has just about everything
to do with it. Oh, you ain't got there yet,
my friend. He's the head. What is Christianity? It's Christ. What is salvation? It's Christ. What is life? It's Christ. He is the head. He's the head. He's the head. These apostles,
once standing before this council, to preach to them that God loves
you, and Jesus died for you, and I wish you would decide to
do something for Him. You not only never hear that
here, you never hear it through all the Book of Acts. Never one
time did they preach that. Here's what they said. Here's
what they always say. And here's the message to the
world, brothers and sisters. Here's where you stand before
God. You're guilty. You're guilty. You have crucified the Prince
of Life by your wicked hands. And all your religious zeal is
nothing but enmity against God. You're not good. You're not the
friends of God. You're the enemies of God because
you're the enemies of the cross. Can you imagine a preacher getting
up and preaching that today? I mean, they weren't preaching
that to a few people on 1806 Avenue. They were preaching this
to the builders. And he said, you guys are such
enemies of God. You've set yourself up. And you're
the enemies of the cross. God's judgment is upon you. And they were bringing them to
acknowledge it. To acknowledge it. Old Robert
Barnard used to say, we ought to bring men to a verdict. We
ought to bring men to a verdict. And what is that verdict? Guilt
before God. You won't see these apostles
going there saying, I've got to be careful. I'm going to hurt
somebody's feelings. Oh, I know they did this, but
they're still good people at their heart, and I'm going to
try to slip in the back door, and hopefully without offending
them. No! They openly and truthfully
confronted these men with the truth of their condition before
God. You've murdered! The one whom
God has sent. Don't you wish we had some preachers
like that today? We've got some. We've got some. But don't you wish we had them
in high places? Bow. Bow down. Acknowledge your guilt before
God, your awful guilt. Don't talk to me about the love
of God when you're at enmity against
the Son of God. Look what he says in verse 12.
He goes on and we'll stop at this. Neither is there salvation in
any other. Boy, that's a narrow statement,
ain't it? I believe there's something good in every religion. Don't
you really? I think we do, probably. I think
Muslims, you know, some of them, you know. I know a Catholic believes
that Mary is the mediator with Christ, but you know I think
probably. You shouldn't get so dogmatic, Clarence. You're just
hateful. You get mean and hateful and
bigoted. What's the matter with us? We should broaden the way
up a little bit. That's why we can't get a cross
now. We've narrowed everything down too much. We ought to be
ashamed of ourselves. You guys ought to go home and
repent. No wonder nobody likes you. You're just too narrow-minded. Where did we get it from? Where
did Peter get it from? Maybe you got it from Christ
when Christ said, enter you in at the straight gate. No man can come to Me except... Maybe you got it there. I am
the way. I'm the truth. I'm the life.
No man comes to the Father but by me. That's my reign. They talk about a dogmatic religion
when you talk about Islam. No, Christianity is the most
dogmatic, narrow religion that's ever been or ever will be. You can't be saved but by one
way. You can't be saved but by one man. One way. Jesus, the Son of the Living
God, hanging on a tree outside the city of Jerusalem. And there
is no other way to be redeemed. It never has been in the Old
Testament or in the New Testament. Neither is there salvation in
any other. Why? Because there is none other
name under heaven. given among men, whereby we must."
We don't just need to be saved. We must be saved. We're not saved
if we're going to hell. We'll never get out of that place
until God resurrects you and puts you in the lake of fire.
We must be saved. We have an eternal meaning that's
either going to hell or heaven. We're going down with the devil
or we're going up to be with Christ. We must be saved. We must be saved. You children
here tonight, you must be saved. You must be saved. You must be
born again. That's a necessity as Jesus must
be lifted up. He must be saved. But there's
only one way to be saved. And that's by Him. He must save
you. That's what He said. He must
save you. That's the kind of preaching
we need today, is it not? Somebody said to me a while back,
they said, could you be a Presbyterian preacher? I said, no. Why not? I've never been to their seminars.
Is that what we need? More seminars? I've done nothing
against seminars. If you can find one that's good
and go to it. But we don't need seminar preachers.
We need fishermen. We need men who have been alone
with the Son of God. We need men who have a few verses
of scripture that has gone home to their hearts. We need men
who are full of the Holy Ghost to come and preach the gospel
to this lost and perishing world. That's what we need. These men
knew who they believed. They knew what they believed.
And they went out to court the favor of men. They went out to
please the world. They stood before the world and
they counted it a great privilege to lovingly and boldly face the
world with the truth that you're guilty. And if you aren't saved,
if you aren't delivered by the Son of God and by Him only, you'll
split hell wide open. God will damn you for sure. The
Lord Himself will crush the life out of you forever. You must
be saved. Oh, God, give us preachers like
that. That will hear that message and
bow and acknowledge who they are and what they are and what
they've done. And you hear them begin to cry, Lord, be merciful
to me. Yes, I'm guilty. I've been against
you all my life. I'm bowing, Lord, I'm bowing.
I won't fight you anymore. Lord, I give up. Save me, Lord.
Save me by your own self. I can't save myself. Save me.
And become a caller on mercy and a follower of Christ. And
when you do, profess Him. Confess Him. Confess Him with
your mouth. Say, the Lord has saved me. The
Lord has saved me, I tell you. I believe He saved me. Do like
old Bill. I want to confess Him in baptism.
I want to identify with Him. He saved me by His dying for
me. He saved me by being buried for me. He saved me by being
resurrected for me. I want to identify with Him.
Christ is mine, and I'm His. God gives us preachers like that. Lord bless His Word. Let's pray.