Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter
13. I'm taking the title for the
message from Acts chapter 13. We'll try to look at verse 13
down through verse 23 of Acts 13. I'm taking the title from
what is said in verse 23. "...of this man's seed..." He's
talking about the king of Israel, the sweet psalmist, David. have God, according to His promise,
His Word, raised unto Israel. Notice particular people He raised
unto Israel, a Savior, a Mediator, a Redeemer, and His name is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus means Savior, and that's
what He is. God raised up a Savior. Now my question is this, who
needs a Savior? Who needs a Savior? I tell you
who needs a Savior. Sinners. Sinners need a Savior. Who needs grace? Guilty men. Who needs mercy? Miserable men. Who needs a Savior? Sinners.
That's exactly what I am. You say, preacher, you're not
a sinner, are you? Oh, yeah. I can say with the
Apostle Paul, old wretched man, that I am not used to be. Let
us never graduate above being sinners saved by the grace of
God. You see, the good news of the
gospel is the Lord Jesus Christ came to save not good folks. He came to save sinners. He didn't
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The Lord
Jesus Christ didn't die for good folks. He died for the ungodly.
If you can take your place there, you can have some hope and comfort
in Christ. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners, and I have to say with the Apostle Paul, I am the
chief of sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only Savior sent of God to redeem his people from their sin. There
is no other. There is no other way but the
Lord Jesus Christ in Him crucified. Remember back in Acts chapter
4, if you want to turn there with me you can, when Peter preached
to those Jewish Jews, the Pharisees, he said in verse 11 of Acts chapter
4, this is a stone which was set at not a few builders, which
has become the head of the corner, neither is there salvation in
any other. There's no other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. Don't look anywhere
else for salvation. Not to the law, not to baptism,
not to experience. Saving faith looks always to
the Lord Jesus Christ. In the fullness of the time,
God sent the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem us from
the curse of the law. Our Lord declared in John 14,
I am the way, the truth, the life. No one come to the Father
but by and through me. The Lord Jesus Christ is a Savior
that really truly does save his people from their sin. He doesn't
try to save them or attempt to save them. He saves them from
their sin. Call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sin. How did He do that? He put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He is the Savior who really saves
His people from their sin. He is the Redeemer who has obtained
for us eternal redemption with His own blood. That's what He
has done. Now we have in the rest of this
chapter from Acts chapter 13 verse 14 all the way over to
verse 41 we have the Apostle Paul preaching the gospel and
we have his recorded sermon for us. He shows us by example and
substance what it is to take the word of God and to preach
the Lord Jesus Christ from it. Not ourselves, Paul said in another
place, we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord and
ourselves, your servant for his sake. The Apostle Paul preached
a clear gospel message in bold language, clearly that all could
understand what he was saying, even if they did not believe
what he was saying, at least they understood the message.
The message is Jesus Christ is everything in salvation. THE
ONLY WAY OF SALVATION BY THE GRACE OF GOD. IF YOU TURN OVER
HERE, THE NEXT PAGE, ON DOWN TO ACTS 13, VERSE 38. ACTS 13,
38, BE IT KNOWN UNTO YOU, MEN AND BRETHREN, THAT THROUGH THIS
MAN IS PREACHED UNTO YOU THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. Aren't you
glad he is what he is called, the Savior? We have the forgiveness
of sin through this man. By him, verse 39, all that believe
are justified from all things which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Who's going to believe this message?
Some heard this gospel message and believed. Some heard this
same gospel message and said, away with it, we will not have
it. But I tell you, it's revealed
here unto us who's going to believe the gospel. In Acts 13, look
at verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
the Jews rejected the message. put it from them and when the
Gentiles heard the message they were glad and glorified the word
of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed
the gospel. As many as were what? ordained
to eternal life. God grants and He gives faith
to His people by His grace and they shall be saved. Some were
given grace to believe. Some were left in their religious
refuge of lies and perished in their sin. Our Lord said, if
you believe not that I am He, you'll die in your sin. If you believe not He that believeth
on the Son has everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Now, beginning at verse 13, let's
work our way down through some of these verses. When Paul and
his company, loose from Paphos, that is on the island of Cyprus,
they came to Perga, sailing north in Pamphylia, and John, this
is John Mark, departing from them, he went back home to Jerusalem. Now Paul and Barnabas, when they
were finished preaching the gospel on that island known as Cyprus,
that was Barnabas, you remember that's where he was from, that
was his hometown, they sailed north up to what is modern-day
Turkey, and they went all the way up to Antioch, it says in
verse 14, When they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch
in Pisidia, and went in on a Sabbath day to hear the reading of the
word, and they sat down to hear the word of the Lord." Now, I
want to point out something here in the last part of verse 13,
where it says, John, now this is John Mark, And I believe he
is a nephew of Barnabas who joined with Paul and Barnabas to go
preach the gospel. He departed from them and went
home. Now, most of the commentators
that I read after, the good ones, the old timers, most of them
said that John Mark quit the ministry and went back home.
He quit the ministry and went back home. Now, but notice, Later
on, the Apostle Paul and Barnabas, we're going to see in chapter
15, they actually have a parting of the ways over this man, this
young man, John Mark. And we would think that God's
through with him, God has set him aside, God's done with him,
we'll never use him again, but oh, how wrong we are. In 2 Timothy
4, later on when Paul is in prison, and he writes back to young Timothy,
here's what he says. bring John Mark with you. For he is possible to me and
to you. And we know that the Lord used
John Mark to write the gospel record. We have Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John. Matthew and Mark. Mark is the
same one the Lord used to write the record. Now you would think,
He's quit the ministry, he's left, got done with him, he departed
from the faith, but oh, how wrong we are. The Lord uses his people
as he will and sustains and blesses them as he will. But here's what
I want to point out. Why doesn't the Lord just leave
that part off about John Mark quitting and going home? Why
didn't he just hide the frailties and failures of John Mark? The
Lord always exposes our weakness, frailty, and sin that He might
be magnified and His grace may be honored. That's why we see
the weakness of Peter exposed, even the weakness of Paul. Moses,
how about David? A man after God's own heart,
but David sure made a lot of... Big mistakes. Let's just call
it what it is. He sinned against God. And that's
what he said. That's what he confessed. Again,
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. That teaches us this lesson.
I said all that to say this. Salvation by the grace of God. SALVATION BY THE GRACE OF GOD,
NOT BY MERIT, NOT BY EFFORT, BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD. IN ANTIOCH,
BESIDDIA, VERSE 14 AND 15, THEY CAME TO A LOCAL ASSEMBLY OF A
JEWISH CHURCH. I ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT THIS WORD
SYNAGOGUE, IT SOUNDS LIKE A BIG, COMPLICATED WORD. THEY CAME TO
THE SYNAGOGUE. WELL, THAT'S JUST THE ASSEMBLY
PLACE OF THE JEWS. IT WOULD BE LIKE WE WOULD SAY
IN OUR DAY, LET'S GO TO CHURCH. So it's the church house, the
house of assembly. And they gathered there for the
reading of the law, the word of the Lord, and the prophets.
And then somehow in a miraculous way, now you think about this,
these men had never been to this place before. And here's two
strangers, they show up. And the preacher gets up, the
minister gets up and reads the word of the Lord, and then he
says, hey, you guys back there, you got anything to add to this?
The Lord opened the door. Let me show you the scripture
that'll help us on that. If you'll turn over to Acts chapter
14. Acts chapter 14, when they finished
their missionary journey, When they would come together, verse
27, when they came back on their first trip, they came back to
Antioch in Syria. Now, there's two different Antiochs,
one in Pisidia, one in Syria. They rehearsed all that God had
done with them, how he opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. You see, it's declaring what
God had done. He opened the door. He gave faith. He gave opportunity to preach
the gospel. And they declared all the wonderful
works of God. Now, what is the message of the
Law and the Prophets? It says there they read the Law
and the Prophets. So what is the message of the
Law and the Prophets? You remember, turn back to Acts
10, verse 43. Acts 10, 43. That is to the Lord Jesus Christ,
give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever
believeth on him shall have remission of sin. So what is the message
of the law and the prophets? Christ. If you find John chapter
5, turn over there, John chapter 5. Our Lord said to those Pharisees,
remember in John chapter 5, verse 39, John 5, 39, you search the
scriptures, For in them ye think ye have
eternal life, they are they that testify of me." What is the law
in the prophets? Preach about and declare? Salvation
of the Lord, salvation in Christ, and then he said, you will not
come to me that you might have life. We just read in Luke chapter
4, When the Lord Jesus Christ went to his hometown synagogue
in Nazareth, and the word of the Lord was read, he stood up
and preached the gospel from Isaiah 61 and said, this day
is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Now, let me show you,
I'll make good on this, turn to Luke 21. Luke 21, I thought
about this scripture too, in Luke 21, the Law and the Prophets,
what is all the Old Testament declaring to us? Salvation is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke 24, verse 44, these are
the words which I have spake unto you while I was yet with
you, this is the risen Lord, that all things must be fulfilled
which are written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets,
and in the Psalms concerning what? Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ. So it's all about Christ. All
about the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm sure Paul started preaching
the Gospel from the very Scriptures they had read. And we're going
to see this. This is his repeated manner.
If you find Acts 17, Act 17. Verse 1, when they had passed
through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where
was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was,
went into them on the three Sabbath days, reasoned with them out
of the Scriptures, opening and alleging out of the Scriptures.
Now, what Scriptures did they have? They didn't have the New
Testament. They had the Old Testament. Opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered Risen again from the dead and that
this Jesus whom I preach unto you is the Christ What did they
preach the Lord Jesus Christ? They took the very Word of the
Lord the Old Testament Scriptures and preached Christ now That's
exactly what he does here in Acts chapter 13 Acts chapter
13 Paul stood up, verse 16, Acts 13, verse 16. Paul stood up, beckoning with
his hands. I don't know how you do that,
but somehow he said, listen to me, with his hands. Ye men of
Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. And notice how
he begins his sermon, God. God, God who is God, the everlasting,
the eternal God. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth, and He's a God of this people. He's God of this people, Israel,
who chose our fathers. What is that? God of election,
is it not? He chose our fathers. He exalted
the people. What is that? God's saving mercy. He exalted the people when they
were strangers in the land of Egypt. And with a high arm, He
brought them out and He took care of them. All of that is
salvation by the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
let's look at several things here. The Apostle Paul, first
of all, set forth the sovereignty of God in salvation. God chose the nation of Israel
to be his people. He passed by all other nations,
the Malachi, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and all the other
ites. He passed by all those other people and he said his
love, his heart, affection upon Abraham and called him out and
said, I'm gonna bless your people. God made a choice. He passed
by all other nations and chose them. It pleased God to single
out Abraham and his natural seed as his people at that time. The Lord said of that choice,
here's what he said. The Lord did not set his love
upon you, nor choose you because you were more a number than anyone
else, but it pleased the Lord to make you his people. Deuteronomy
7, verse 6 and 7. And then in 1 Samuel 12, it pleased
the Lord to make you his people. God, the God of this people,
chose this people Israel and chose our father, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob. What is that? He is a God of
election. He's a God of choice. Has it
changed? Even so, likewise, God in his
sovereign electing love, sovereign electing grace, chose a people
out of Adam's sinful race, and gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ
as a covenant seed, as the true spiritual seed of Abraham, and
made the Lord Jesus Christ the surety, sacrifice, and Savior
of those people. Notice of this man seed has God
according to his promise raised unto Israel Now, that's particular redemption. Particular redemption. Our Lord
said, all that the Father giveth me will come to me, and those
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Our Lord said,
you didn't choose me, I chose you. That's the God of electing
love, the God of electing grace. That's the God of the scripture. That's the God that we declare.
God chose a people. We call this the Bible Doctrine
of Election. Now, I'll tell you a homely story.
I'll tell you one on me, okay? I'll tell you one on me. Back
in 1980, or thereabouts, 40 years ago, 40 years ago, I was in a
bookstore, and I looked at a little pamphlet called the Bible Doctrine
of Election, paid 50 cents for it. And I took it home and read
it. It was a book by a preacher down
in Western Kentucky. His name was Claude Deval Cole,
C.D. Cole. And I took that book home
and I started reading it and reading it and reading it and
reading it. I couldn't put it down. It declared
the sovereignty of God in his electing grace and electing love. Now, just the other day, yesterday,
matter of fact, I lost the original copy I had back in the flood
of 2009, but I found a copy of it on the internet, graceebooks.com,
and I printed it out, and I started rereading it again, and I couldn't
hardly, I hadn't read it for probably 30 years. But there
was so much of that book as I started reading that over, and there
was so much of that book ingrained in my thinking, and I said, that's
why I said that, because that's what I read some 40 years ago.
That statement that I always talk about, man's will being
a bondage to his nature, and man's will is like free-running
water, it's all downhill, came from that book. Here all these
years later, I repeat that statement over and over and over again.
It laid the foundation for my theological mind about how God
saves sinners by His choice, not ours. Why does election have
to be so? If God had not chosen people
unto salvation, where would we be? Because by nature we love
darkness rather than the light. By nature we'd never choose God. By nature we'd never love Him.
We only love Him because He first, in electing love and sovereign
grace, loves us! That's why Paul said we're bound
to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God has from the beginning chosen you unto salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief in the truth, whereunto
he called you by our gospel. I like what Charles Spurgeon
said about election. Thank God he elected me unto
salvation from eternity because he never would have done it after
I was born. That's so. He chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. So Paul begins exactly
where the Word of God begins with the sovereign choice of
God. You see that? The God of this
people chose our fathers and exalted them. We're exalted in
Christ. when they dwelt as strangers
in the land of Egypt, and he brought them out with a high
arm." This people of Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, they ended up in Egyptian
bondage for 400 years. And we see in that another lesson
too. We see the sovereignty of God
in redemption. How were they delivered from
Egyptian bondage? When God said, I'm going to kill
all the firstborn. You remember what he said? Put
the blood on the door. on the lentil and the side poke,
he said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. The children
of Israel were in bondage for 400 years. No way could they
deliver themselves from the grip of Pharaoh and his armies. No
way could they deliver themselves. Only the Lord God provided the
Passover and with his high arm, Whenever you read the word arm
in scripture, it refers to the power of God, to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed. That's His power. He brought
them out with a high arm through the blood of the Lamb, the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's our story, is it not?
And when they were up against the Red Sea with no way to To
go, Pharaoh's army behind him, mountains to the north, mountains
to the south, the Red Sea right in front of them. Remember what
the Lord told Moses? Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Remember what happened? The waters
parted and they went through on dry ground. Our salvation
is totally by the purpose of God and the will of God through
the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was no Passover
lamb provided for the Egyptians. There was no mercy given to these
pagans in Egypt. Only the children of Israel were
delivered. Only Israel. You see, this man's
seed had God, according to His promise, raised unto Israel a
Redeemer, a Savior. Our Lord said this in Exodus
11, but against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move
his tongue against man or beast that you may know how the Lord
doth put a difference between Egyptians and Israel. Now, how many of those Israelites
were redeemed that day and went through the Red Sea on dry ground
and were redeemed with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Every
single one. He left no one behind. So much
so that the Lord said, there shall not be even a hoof left
behind. And that tells us of the complete
redemption and deliverance we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even so, in the redemption of
our soul, it is by the definite particular blood atonement of
the Lord Jesus Christ for His people. You see, the Passover
lamb was for whom? Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ
was crucified for whom? His people. He said, I'm the
Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd laid down his
life for the sheep. And we read in 1 Corinthians
5, Christ, our Passover, is what? Sacrifice for us. He obtained
for us eternal redemption with his own blood, just as the Lord
delivered all Israel by the blood of the Lamb Typical of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ
must redeem all His elect, and He did, and He will not lose
one of His sheep. How many of the sheep of the
Lord Jesus Christ for whom He died are in hell right now? None! They can't be! A couple of winters ago, I was
out front on a Sunday morning shoveling snow very early, And
the preachers that I know in this community drove by, and
they asked me, were you going to have service today? It's snowing
pretty hard. He said, yeah, well, I hope so. I hope we can. And I asked him,
I said, what are you preaching on today? He said, well, I'm
preaching from John chapter 10. I said, really? I said, what
verses are you preaching about? He said, I'm going to preach
about how the Lord laid down his life for the sheep. And I
asked him, I said, well, is there any sheep in hell for whom the
Lord died? He couldn't answer that question. Or he would not answer that question
because he does not believe in the particular death and atonement
for the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no one can perish for
whom the Lord died. All that the Father giveth to
me will come to me and those that come to me, I will never
cast them out. I came down from heaven to do
the will of the Father, and this is the will of the Father, that
everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him shall not
perish, but I'll raise him up again at the last day." All for
whom Christ died, yes, He did redeem them from their sin, and
yes, they can never perish in their sin. YOU RECKON HE REALLY PREACHED
THAT? I KNOW HE DID. READ HIS EPISTLES. I'M DETERMINED
NOT TO KNOW ANYTHING AMONG YOU BUT JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.
IT'S GOD WHO SAVED US AND CALLED US WITH A HOLY CALLING, NOT ACCORDING
TO OUR WORK, ACCORDING TO HIS OWN PURPOSE AND GRACE, GIVING
US IN CHRIST BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. BUT HE GOES ON.
THE THIRD THING WE SEE IS THIS, VERSE 18, ABOUT THE TIME OF 40
YEARS, They went through the Red Sea,
and they spent 40 years. They suffered their manners in
the wilderness. Now, you look at the 40 years
they spent going around and around after they went to Kadesh, Barnea,
and sent the spies, and the spies said, we can't take the land.
God gave them 40 years wandering in the wilderness. But even in
their rebellion, against God. You know what he did? He supplied
their every need. Read the record. He provided
for Israel in the wilderness for 40 years. Some people think
a million, maybe two million people. He sustained them in
the wilderness so much so that their clothes didn't wear out,
their shoes didn't wear out. He rained bread from heaven every
day, except on the Sabbath day. He gave them water out of the
rock. He sent quails from heaven, a
cloud by day to shelter them, a fiery pillar at night to protect
them. All those things are typical
of how God provides for us through and in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, He is that smitten rock. He is that smitten rock. We read
about it, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, that Christ is that smitten
rock and we have the water of life through him. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the bread from heaven. He is the bread of life. That
manna is typical of Christ coming from heaven to redeem us. The
Lord Jesus Christ is our shelter in a time of storm. He is our
refuge. He supplies all our needs. EVERYTHING
THIS SINNER NEEDS TO STAND BEFORE GOD, HE FREELY PROVIDES FOR US. AND KNOW THIS, HE IS JEHOBAH
JIBBER, THE LORD WILL PROVIDE. HE PROVIDES FOR US AND HE WILL
ONLY ACCEPT WHAT HE PROVIDES. AND THAT'S THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
SEE AGAIN, WE SEE THAT SALVATION IS ALL OF GOD'S GRACE, HIS GRACE
ALONE. Verse 19, following, and when
he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided
their land to them by lot. Now we've studied this in the
book of Joshua. He destroyed all those people
and gave them an eternal inheritance. In Psalm 44, we've studied, he
said, it wasn't your arm or your power or your strength that you
conquered the land. I did that. I pushed down your
enemies. Israel freely obtained the land
of promise, not by their might or power, but by the Lord's doing. Then he sovereignly divided up
the land and gave it to them by lot, as it says there. You
remember from Joshua 24, he said, I've given you a land for which
you did not labor. I've given you cities for which
you did not build, and you dwell in them. I've given you vineyards. I've given you orchards. I've
given you olive yards that you didn't plant, and yet you partake
of all things. He provided all things for them,
housing, shelter, and food. That's exactly what the Lord
does for us. Even so, God has given us a victory
over all our enemies. The law that was against us,
contrary to us, He took it out of His way, nailed it to His
cross. Death, He defeated death. delivered for our offenses and
raised again for our justification. He said, I am he that liveth
and was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore. He's conquered death,
hell, and the grave. He's given us the victory through
the Lord Jesus Christ. But more than that, he's given
us an eternal inheritance in Christ alone. We've been made
heirs of, excuse me, he's made unto us, he's made us heirs of
God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. The God of
all grace has given us an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that
fades not away, reserved for you in heaven. who are kept by
the power of God. As believers, we simply, by faith,
receive those things the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished
for us. That gets us down to verse 20.
He gave them judges for 450 years, including Samuel and others,
and then he raised up a prophet Samson and others, and then he
raised up a prophet named Samuel. After that, they desired a king,
and God gave them Saul, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by
the space of 40 years. And when he had removed him,
he raised up unto them David to be their king. To him also
we gave testimony and said, I found David. The son of Jesse, a man
after mine own heart, shall fulfill all my will. Of this man's seed
hath God, according to his word, his promise, raised unto Israel
a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord provided sovereignly
judges Samson and others, a king like Saul, prophets like Samuel,
and a king like David. David is a type as king and shepherd
of the Lord Jesus Christ. David was anointed as a special
king through whom God sent the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Roman chapter 1, he's
made of the seed of David according to the flesh. But he's declared
to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. David is a type
and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. According to his promise,
his word cannot fail. Psalm 132 says, The Lord has
sworn in truth unto David who will not turn from it of the
fruit of thy body will I set up upon thy throne, the Lord
Jesus Christ indeed is a man after God's own heart, who fulfilled
all the redemptive purpose and will of God in accomplishing
our salvation, and the Lord said, it is finished. The Lord Jesus
Christ is just the Savior we need, He's the just one son of
God. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only just
God and Savior. And the Lord said, look unto
me and be ye saved. He has all power. to save you,
he's able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him,
who has all wisdom to direct you and lead you, the Lord is
my shepherd, I shall not want, who has all mercy to pardon you
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sin according to the riches of his grace, who has all grace
to justify you, by His grace freely, who has
all righteousness to clothe you. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without worth, who has all goodness to
supply you. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ, who has won the victory for us. Thanks be unto God. who has won the victory for us.
What is the summation of what Paul preached to these people
that day? Salvation of the Lord. Salvation
is in Christ who is called God, our Savior. He is the Savior
who saves He is a Redeemer who redeems, who controls all things
by the Word of His power. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. Even this virus that's going
around all over, even this virus is working God's purpose in this
world. according to his sovereign will
and purpose. One lesson we know, and we can
see for sure, how frail and weak we are. This virus, called the
coronavirus, of which they say there is no cure or remedy or
vaccine, but we have a much larger, greater problem. Do you know
that? with a virus called S-I-N. Everybody's concerned about the
coronavirus. Nobody's concerned about the
virus of sin that dwells in us. when the wages of sin is death. But thank God, he said, the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. This
coronavirus, they say there's no remedy, there's no cure. But
I tell you, this virus of sin, there is a sure remedy. What is it? He said, I'm the
Lord that healeth thee. The Lord Jesus Christ is a remedy,
is a remedy. for our disease called sin.