Acts chapter 13. Underline these two verses. Acts
chapter 13 verse 38 and verse 39. I'm going to work on these
two verses, and I pray the Lord will bless us together and bless
His Word. As the Apostle Paul declares
the gospel of God's grace in and through the Lord Jesus Christ,
He said, Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man, through this man, not another, this man,
is declared unto you the good news of the gospel, is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. Are you interested in that? This
sinner is. This sinner needs forgiveness
of sins. And by Him, all that believe
are justified, cleared of all guilt. Cleared of all guilt. As a matter of fact, declared
righteous in God's sight from all things. Justified from all
things. From which you could not, He
gives the negative. It's good to know what something
is not. Salvation is not by good works. Salvation is not by what
we do. Salvation is by Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, the title of the message
today is easy to remember. The Forgiveness of Sins. The
Forgiveness of Sins. This is something that ought
to be of interest to every one of you, every one of us, all
of us. And the reason being is that
we're all sinners before God in need of great forgiveness,
in need of great salvation, in need of righteousness before
God. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, all of us. There is none righteous,
no, not one. Now last week we finished our
study through the gospel recorded by John Mark. where our resurrected
Lord declared unto His church the direct and specific instructions
to go into all the world, remember? He said, go into all the world
and preach the gospel that every creature, everyone, every sinner
needs to hear the gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus. Now, throughout
the book of Acts, we see the Lord's church doing that very
thing. doing that which the Lord commanded them to carry out.
beginning with Peter's sermon at Pentecost. Just 50 days after
the Lord's atonement, after the Lord's crucifixion, and after
His glorious resurrection, just a few days later, we find the
apostles in the temple of God preaching the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ on that feast at Pentecost, where all the people
from all that known area came to observe that Jewish feast.
Peter stood up in the midst of that congregation and declared
unto them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, this same
Jesus whom you crucified, God has made Him both Lord and Christ. Bow to Him. Believe Him. Submit
unto Him. And submit unto the gospel. Just a few days later we find
Peter and John in the temple. preaching the gospel, and then
arrested for preaching the gospel, and standing before that council
of those religious Jews, and they declared unto them, neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved in the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. And then last week we also read
from Acts chapter 8. You can read this all the way
through the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 8, we read last
week how Philip, God caused Philip to go down into a desert country
to preach to one sinner, a black man from Egypt. And he preached
unto him the gospel of Christ. Substitution. Satisfaction. A few days later we find Peter
again preaching unto the Gentiles. In Acts chapter 10, declaring
salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then here, the Apostle
Paul, after his conversion, God sent him forth to preach the
gospel of God's saving and sovereign grace in a place called Antioch
of Pisidia, preaching Christ. The church in that day was very
busy and active sending out gospel preachers, sending out missionaries
from that church in Antioch to go for one purpose, for one reason,
to declare this same message of salvation and forgiveness
of sin only through and by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is our
primary purpose here. This is our chief aim here at
Zebulun. This is the chief aim and primary
purpose of every believer. To support the gospel. To declare
the gospel. And to worship the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is why we meet today. This is our purpose in this ministry.
It's not to play games. It's not to entertain folks.
We don't have puppet shows or social programs. We have one
agenda. One aim. One goal. Our business
is preaching Christ and Him crucified. If you're interested in that
message, you'll stick around. If you're not, by and by you'll
leave. You'll get disinterested. You'll find something else to
play with. But if you're a sinner in need of mercy, salvation in
Christ Jesus, God's given us the message. And that's the message
that says, God forbid we should glory save in the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. As Paul brings this message of
the gospel to these people. He gives them the blessed facts
of the gospel. Did you notice that as we read?
He gives them the blessed facts of the gospel. The doctrine of
the gospel. And then he makes application
to their heart. He declares unto them first of all that Christ
came. Verse 23 of Acts 13. Of this man's seed, David, the
prophet, the man after God's own heart, hath God raised according
to His eternal purpose, promise, raised unto Israel a Savior,
Christ has come. He declared unto these people
the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, God incarnates,
God personifies. The Messiah is here! Don't look
for another! He's here! The Messiah has come. So He declares plainly that the
Lord Jesus Christ is God. incarnate, God the Messiah, God
in human flesh. He declares, secondly, that Christ
died for sinners. Christ died for sinners. It says
in verse 29, when they fulfilled all that was written of Him,
they took Him down from the tree, they took Him down from the cross,
and they laid Him in the sepulcher. You know, He preached in the
day of substitution, how Christ died for our sin according to
the Scripture. How He fulfilled all that was
written of Him in the Scripture. So He preached incarnation. He
preached substitution. And then He declared unto them
satisfaction. Verse 30, God raised Him from
the dead. He was delivered from our offenses
and raised again because He satisfied God's law and justice. He declared satisfaction. Satisfaction,
incarnation, substitution, and satisfaction. And then he declares
unto them the good news of the gospel, verse 32. We declare
unto you glad tidings that the promise was made unto the fathers.
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he
raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Here he preached
a victorious Christ. The satisfying Christ, Christ
the Substitute, the Incarnate Christ, God Almighty in human
flesh coming to save His people. He declares unto them the good
news of the gospel in verse 38 and verse 39. The wages of sin
is death. That's true. But the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Look at verse
38 again. I'm repeating myself on purpose
now because I want you to get this. I heard a long time ago
that if you repeat a certain saying
a number of times, you might be able to retain something.
I hope that will be the case today. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man This man, not another. This man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sin. Sins. Now, there is but one way in
which God Almighty, who is holy, will pardon a guilty sinner.
One way. Just one way. Just one way. And Paul spells it out here through
this man. to this man, not another, this
man, that this blessed truth of salvation from sin will only
interest you if you know yourself to be guilty. I guarantee you, if you were
convicted of a crime in the courts of this country and sentenced
to hang by your neck until you were dead, And you were sitting
on death row, knowing that at 6 o'clock the next morning you
were to be hanged until you were dead. And someone came at 5 o'clock
in the morning and said, you're pardoned! Well, you know I'm
not interested. Oh, I bet you'd be interested,
wouldn't you? You know why? Guilt. Judgment. I tell you who's interested in
salvation. Those who see themselves as guilty sinners worthy of eternal
condemnation. That's what I deserve. I'm that
convict on death row with the sentence of God's holy law that
says a guilty must die. And here the gospel comes that
says a guilty And through the merit of Christ, through the
blood sacrifice of Christ, set free. Oh, you mean your salvation
for me? In Christ. Only through this man. Only through
this man. It is only through His righteousness.
This man. The obedience of this man is
the law of God honored. It's only through the Lord Jesus
Christ as a representative man, as He worked out a perfect righteousness
by His obedience unto God's holy law. That's the righteousness
that God freely gives to His people. His obedience. This man
honored God's holy law and justice. It's by His faithfulness, not
mine. It's by His obedience, not mine. It's by His death,
not mine. It's by His righteousness, not
mine. You see, it's through this man. This man. One God, right? One Mediator, right? Between
God and men, who is it? The man. Christ Jesus, God incarnate,
this man, this man, this one mediator, this one provided of
God, this one who is obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross, through this man, is righteousness given. It's
only through this man, through his blood sacrifice, there is
forgiveness of sin, through this man. The blood of bulls and goats
cannot put away sin. Now, listen to me. All our efforts
to reform will not put away sin. All our efforts to change and
repent and reform will not put away sin. Repentance never put
away one sin. All of our efforts to be righteous
will not put away sin. Not at all. Well, tell me, preacher,
how is sin put away? Only through this man. is their
forgiveness of sin. You see, this man died in the
room and in the stead and in the place of sinners. That's
what we call real substitution. God made Him sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
It's only through this man. Let me show you that. I can make
good on that. Find 1 John. We'll stay right
here in 1 John for a moment. Turn over there. 1 John. Only through this man now. Make
sure you get this. There's righteousness to be had
only through this man. This one who is obedient as a
representative, as a mediator of the covenant of grace. It's
only through this man, his sacrifice for sin that we have forgiveness
of sin. 1 John chapter 1, verse 7. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from
all sin. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth's not in us. If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. If we say we've not sinned, we
make Him a liar and His word is not in us. Stay right here. Chapter 2, 1 John 2, look at
verse 12. You see, there is forgiveness
of sin through this man, through his sacrifice, through his blood
atonement. I write unto you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. Chapter 3, 1 John 3, verse 5, You know, He was manifested to
take away our sin, and in Him is no sin. 1 John 4, verse 10, Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us, and He sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins, the atoning victim, the full payment, the satisfaction,
the word propitiation, for our sins. Through this man, 1 John
5, 20, through this man there is righteousness. Through this
man there is forgiveness. Through this man there is salvation.
Make sure you have the right one. Verse 20, and we know the Son
of God has come. Who is He? God the Son. and has
given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true,
and we're in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ,
even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is a true God, and this
is eternal life. Yes, there is forgiveness of
sin through this man. Through this one, not another.
Through this man. You see, my friend, It is who
He is that gives infinite and eternal merit to what He did. It's just not that some man from
Nazareth died. Some religious prophet died from
Nazareth. Who is that man? This book teaches
that that man is God. The God-man. And it's who He
is. that gives infinite value to
what He did. It says in Acts 20, 28, you know
what it says? It says, God bought us with His
own blood. Whose blood? It was God who died. You say, well, God can't die.
I understand that. The God-man did. Now here's something else I want
you to think of. Why is there only forgiveness of sin through
the Lord Jesus Christ? Why? Why just through him? He's
the one who died to put away sin. Pretty obvious, isn't it?
He is the one who gave himself as a sacrifice for sin. For it
says in Hebrews chapter 1, when He by Himself purged our sin,
He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Again,
it says in the book of Hebrews that He appeared once in the
end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only Lamb of God, the only sacrifice for sin that God provided. There's not another. There is
one way. There is one way. I told the
folks Wednesday night a story about a grandpa visiting his
grandson. And as they were driving along,
the grandson said, look, there's a sign that says eternal life,
salvation. And grandpa looked around, looked
at the traffic sign, said, son, what are you talking about? He
said, there's a sign that says one way. The traffic sign that
said, one way. That's salvation. One way in
Christ. Didn't our Lord say that? I am
the way. I am the truth. I am the life. You know the rest of it? No man
comes to God but by the Lord Jesus Christ. This man, his righteousness,
not mine, His sacrifice, not mine. The shedding of His blood,
not mine. Behold, God said, the Lamb that
takes away sin. Now let me ask you this. We say
there is forgiveness of sin in Christ Jesus. That's what the
Word teaches. Let me ask this then. How complete is this forgiveness?
How powerful is this pardon from all sin? Does He forgive just
the little sins and maybe not the big sins? We read it just
a moment ago. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son cleanses us from all sin. Past, original sin, Adam's sin,
actual sin, past sin, present sin, and the sins I commit tomorrow. You say, preacher, are you going
to sin tomorrow? Yep. That's what I am. I'm a sinner. But thank God, salvation is for
sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ so fully
paid the sin debt. Now listen to me carefully. He
so fully paid the sin debt of God's covenant people. It is
not true that the Lord Jesus Christ died for all of the sin
of all men. That is not true. He died for all the sin of some
men. Then where did you get that? For the transgression of my people,
God said, he was stricken. Call his name Jesus, he shall
save his people from their sin. Who are these people? His elect,
his chosen, the Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life for the sheep. He so fully paid the sin debt
of God's elect that no sin will ever be charged to anyone for
whom the Lord Jesus Christ died. There is nobody in hell for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ died. If He paid their sin debt, what
are they doing in hell? None for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ died can perish, read John chapter 6, He said, all
that the Father gives me, they will come to me, and I will not
lose one of them. That's what we call particular
redemption. Definite atonement. I know it's not popular in religion,
but I tell you what, if you'll search church history, this is
the message the apostles preached, definite atonement. This is the
message that the early church fathers, Augustine, all those,
John Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, Huss, all those men who died at the
stake, burned at the stake, and would not retent, would not deny
the effectual atonement of Christ. They gave their life for these
things that are denied in most pulpits today. Sad, but it's
true. The Lord Jesus Christ affectsly
puts away the sin of God's people. Let me show you. Take your Bible.
Turn to Romans 4. Romans 4. It says in Romans 4, verse 6,
David also described that the blessedness of the man unto whom
God imputed righteousness." God imputed. Now, you know what that
word impute means? It means to freely give, to freely
charge. Righteousness, what are those
next two words? Without any contribution on your
part. You mean I have a complete, justifying
righteousness without anything required of me? That's exactly.
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven." That's a happy man. "...whose sins are covered."
Now read on, "...blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
charge sin." You mean God doesn't charge my sin to me? Oh no. All
my sin was charged to Christ. That's what He's doing at Calvary.
He put away sin by His death. God can't charge me and charge
Him. That's unjust. If He paid the
debt, then I go free. That's what happened at Calvary. Stay in Romans 8. Stay in Romans
and turn to chapter 8. Chapter 8, look at verse 1. There
is therefore now no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. We're not
seeking God's favor by the flesh. We're not trying to remove God's
wrath by my goodness. Or I'm not trying to gain God's
favor by my goodness. No. After the Spirit resting
in Christ. Stay right here in Romans 8.
Look at verse 31. If God be for us, well, who can
be against us? He that spared not his own son,
Romans 8.32, read it carefully, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also, uh-oh, uh-oh, what's that word? Freely give us all things. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemneth? Who
can condemn? Look what it says. Christ died. Now, if he died under the judgment
of the sin of God's covenant people, then they're set free.
Deliver them from going down to the pit. God said, I found
a ransom. It's Christ that died, yea, rather than has risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us. And of course, you know the Scripture
over in Hebrews chapter 10. I'm trying to answer the question
that I ask. How completely and how fully
is their forgiveness of sin? How complete and how thorough
is the pardon from sin? It's complete. God said their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. No more. Christ put them away. This pardon is full, the full
pardon, not a partial pardon. This pardon is free, free, justified
freely by His grace. This pardon is irreversible,
cannot be changed. God said, I've done it. I purposed
it. Whatsoever God does, it shall
be forever. I give unto them eternal life."
What does that mean, eternal life? If He gives them eternal
life, that means He didn't say, I give them temporary amnesty.
I give them eternal life. They'll never perish. That's
the good news of the gospel. You see, this pardon and salvation
is irreversible. What God does, it's forever.
No man can put anything to it or take anything from it. And
this pardon we have in the Lord Jesus Christ is a present pardon. We have the forgiveness of sin
right now. It says that in Ephesians 1,
7, in whom we have forgiveness of sin through His blood, through
this man, according to the riches of His grace. in Christ Jesus. Back to Acts 13 verse 38. Is it known unto you? Is it known unto you? Now you
can't claim ignorance on this anymore. I've done told you.
I've done told you and I'm going to tell you what I've told you
and I'm going to tell you once again what I've already told
you. There is forgiveness of sin through this man. Not another. One way. In Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 39. By Him,
all that believe are justified from all things. which you could
not, you could not, you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. It's not by works of righteousness. It's not. It's not by my repentance,
not by my baptism, it's not by my decision, it's not by anything
I do. Salvation is all of grace, grace
alone. Isn't that what Paul said to
Timothy, God who saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to God's own purpose
and grace, given us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of
the world? Verse 39, By him all that believe
are justified from all things. What a great privilege to hear
the good news of the gospel, But what a greater privilege
to be granted faith and to be given life in Christ to believe
and trust Him for all salvation. Now catch this now. Now catch
this. Don't miss this. Look at verse
39 carefully. And by Him. This man and by Him. All that believe. Now listen. By Him. It is only by His sovereign grace
that any sinner looks to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
By His grace. It's by Him. Look at verse 38,
excuse me, verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as
many as as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. Now you can argue with God all
you want to, the Word of God is clear and plain. Salvation is by grace alone,
is by the sovereign will of God. Now listen, it is by the sovereign
will of God that any sinner believes the truth. It's by His grace
that we believe. Not free will. I heard a preacher
the other day, and this is said, this is a common saying in religious
circles. God's done all He can. God's
done all He can do. Now the rest is up to you. Poor
God. My friend, that's not the God
of Scripture. That's not the God of the Bible.
This thing has crept in. Crept in. And now we worship
and serve the creature more than the Creator. Salvation is always by the sovereign
will of God, not the will of the creature. It is the will
of the Creator. It says that in Scripture. John
17, our Lord prayed, Father, You've given me power over all
flesh that I should give eternal life to as many as walk an aisle,
to as many as come forward and pray through. No, it says God
has given Him power over all flesh that He should give eternal
life to as many as were ordained to eternal life. Romans 9 declares this, it's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but it's
God that shows mercy. I'm saying this as clearly as
I can. Any sinner who truly believes
the gospel of God's grace in Christ, it is because he has
made us to differ. It's because He has sovereignly
elected us, He sovereignly chose us, He sovereignly on purpose
died for us to secure our salvation, and in time He sovereignly calls
us from the dead and gives us faith to believe Him. You see,
it's by Him all that believe. You see what I'm saying? It's by the working of His mighty
power. Can I show you that? I can make
good on it. Ephesians chapter 1. You see,
we believe the gospel. We do believe the gospel. His
people do believe the gospel. But faith is a gift of God. Faith
is not something bloomed in the heart of a depraved sinner. Faith
is a gift of God. Ephesians chapter 1. We believe,
verse 19. Now look at it. We believe. What
is exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe. To usward
who believe. What's that next word? According
to the working of His mighty power. If you read the next two
verses, what kind of mighty power are we talking about? The same
power that raised the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
that's power. And that's what salvation is. It's a resurrection
from the dead. You hath he quickened who were
dead. Left to ourselves, we'd never
believe the truth. Even though we hear the gospel
of God's grace, left ourselves, the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Our Lord said clearly in John
10, I am the door, by me any man enter in, he shall be saved. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus. You see, by him all that believe
are justified from all things, which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. We cannot be justified, declared
not guilty, by our deeds. By the deeds of
the law, we read it, no flesh shall be justified. The law of
God was never given to save, it was only given to reveal how
sinful we are, and how holy God is, and how much we need the
Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation has always been by
the free grace of God alone from the first sinner God saved until
the last. Adam was saved. Fallen Adam. God killed an animal and clothed
him. Substitution. Satisfaction. The
first man ever saved was by grace alone in Christ Jesus and the
last sinner that ever will be saved. Grace alone. Christ alone. Well, the rest
of the story now. You remember Paul Harvey? He'd
always have those. Now, for the rest of the story. Paul declared unto them the gospel.
And you know what happened? Two things. The religious, self-righteous
Jew got mad. It says in verse 45, they were
filled with envy. They spake against the gospel,
calling Paul and his message evil. Paul said, it is necessary that
the Word of God be preached unto you, that you condemn yourself,
saying, you don't need this man. You don't need this forgiveness.
The reprobate rejected the way of God's salvation. They said,
well, that's not fair. God having mercy on whom He will?
Well, that's not fair. Every man should have a chance.
Is that right? Salvation is not by chance, my
friend. Salvation is by grace. Grace alone. You see, in Adam,
all died. In Adam, all died. In Adam, death,
condemnation, and guilt. In Christ shall all be made alive. The reprobate rejected the way
of God's forgiveness of sin, and they said, we're going to
do it on our own. We're going to be the captain of our own
ship, the master of our own fate. Yeah, you'll go to hell trusting
yourself for salvation. That's right. The other side of this, some
God's elect were called out of darkness, and they believed the
gospel, and they were glad, verse 48, and they glorified the word
of the Lord, and they believed. Maybe you're asking yourself
this morning, am I one of those as many as were ordained to eternal
life? Are you? I don't know. God does. But let me ask you this. What
do you think of this man? The sovereign Christ. The Christ
who is God. The victorious Christ. Am I one
of God's elect? What do you think of him? He
is the elect. Do you trust him? Do you believe
him? You've got good reason. to believe
you are one of those ordained to eternal life.