Acts chapter 26. The title of
this message is, The Preaching of a Madman. The Preaching of
a Madman, taken from verse 24, when Festa stopped Paul in his
preaching before King Agrippa, and he said with a loud, loud
voice, Paul, you're beside yourself. Much learning. Much learning. has made you crazy. You're a madman. The preaching
of a madman. Back over here in chapter 24,
these Jews accuse Paul of other things. They said of him in verse
5, we have found this man to be a pest. He's just a pest. He's a bug. He's a cockroach. A rat. He's a pest. A mover of
sedition among all the Jews throughout the world. and a ringleader of
the sect of the Nazarenes. Something else that we find here,
turn to John chapter 10. You remember they didn't have
such good titles concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who
were his enemies, they said he's a gluttonous man, he's a wine-dibber,
he's a friend of publicans and sinners. But look what they say
down here in John chapter 10. In John chapter 10, when the
Lord declared that no man takes my life from me, I lay it down
of myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
Verse 18 of John 10, this commandment have I received in my father.
And there was a division therefore again among the Jews for these
sayings. And many of them said, he has
a devil. And notice what he said. They
say of him, he's a madman. He's a crazy man. Why would you
hear him? Why would you hear him? Now,
my text today is taken from Acts 26 verse 18. Acts 26 verse 18. God sent this man whom the established
religion of that day and that time considered him to be a pest,
considered him to be like the Lord Jesus, a madman who was shunned by the established religious
way. But he says here in Acts 26 verse
16, the Lord said to him, I have appeared, I have appeared unto
thee for this purpose, to make you a minister. Now a minister
is one who is sent with a message, sent of God and a witness. A
witness is one who tells what he knows. Both of the things
which you have seen and those things which I will appear unto
thee, delivering thee from the people, from the Gentiles, unto
whom now I send thee, to open their eyes." How does God open
the eyes of sinners? Through the ministry that God
has purposed. That's what He's saying here.
Through the witness of the true gospel of God's grace. And it
has this five-fold effect. To open the eyes of the blind,
to turn them from darkness to light from the power of Satan
unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance
among them which are sanctified by faith which is in Christ."
True saving faith looks to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now,
King Agrippa had a great, great privilege. Did he not? Festus
and Felix, these governors, before whom Paul stands and preaches
the gospel. They had a great privilege, the
greatest privilege any guilty sinner could possibly have. They
heard God's servant declare God's gospel in Christ Jesus concerning
salvation by the sovereign free grace of God. What a great privilege
any guilty sinner can have than to have your path crossed sovereignly
God's providence with the gospel of God's grace." Of which Paul
says, I'm not ashamed of that gospel. That gospel of the Lord
Jesus, it is a power of God and a salvation to everyone who believes
it. Now notice in the reading of
this chapter, Paul didn't try to beg for his life. He was on
trial for his life. He didn't beg and say, well,
King Agrippa, I'm sorry, will you forgive me? He didn't beg
for his life. Nor did he try to disprove what
the Jews had accused him of. He does not apologize for his
misdeeds of putting those in prison and compelling them to
blaspheme. Rather, he takes this opportunity,
as the Lord had called him to preach the gospel, he takes this
opportunity to be about the Lord's business doing one thing. What
did he do? He set forth the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ before this king and this whole court, these
chief men, of this city. Paul wasn't ashamed and he stood
toe-to-toe with them and he pointed his finger in their face and
said, this is the truth. I tell you the truth. And aren't
you most happy, as Paul says here in verse 2 of our text,
I think myself happy, King Agrippa. And aren't you most happy and
blessed of God as Paul declares that God sent you one day, a
gospel preacher. He crossed your path with the
truth. that He crossed your path with
God's message of salvation in Christ Jesus and used that message
to give you life and salvation and to turn you around from going
the way of works and the flesh to going and looking and running
after the Lord Jesus Christ by His sovereign and saving grace. God uses that message of salvation
in Christ to give His people life and faith and salvation. Faith comes by hearing. Faith
comes by hearing. And hearing by what? Hearing
by and the message comes of God. Faith comes by the gift of God
through the means He's ordained and that is the preaching of
the gospel. Now my friend, this is what our ministry is all about.
That's why we're meeting here each week to declare the message
of salvation from this book concerning salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm determined, as Paul is, I'm
determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. We're not trying to entertain
folks. There's enough social clubs around. If you want social
entertainment, go join one if you want that kind of entertainment.
We're not trying to entertain folks or trying to gain a following
or to promote ourselves. I didn't come here to Kingsport
today to promote me. or my ministry. I came here for
one reason, and that is to declare the message of salvation through
a substitute who satisfied God, and His name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. I point you to Him. He is a just God and Savior. Now, I would not make much of
this preacher or of any other But I wouldn't make much of this.
I wouldn't make much of the means that God has ordained to call
out His people, and the means He's ordained is what? Preaching,
preaching, preaching. Preaching the gospel. Paul said,
I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ to go and preach
the word to every creature. And that's what we do. We're
preachers called of God, sent of God, to preach this message. It pleased God. And it has pleased
and pleased God. And this is the means that He
has ordained. He pleased God through the preaching of Christ
and Him crucified to call out and to save His people. And God
uses this as the means. I've had people accuse me, well,
you know, if you preach that predestination stuff and that
election stuff, well, it doesn't really matter if men hear the
Gospel or believe the Gospel. No, my friend, it does make a
big difference. God has ordained the end, but
He's also ordained the means to reach that end. And the means
He has ordained is the preaching of the Word, the truth. And through
the preaching of that Gospel, God grants life and faith. of
His own will beget he us with the word of..." What? Truth! And that's why we're so insistent
upon preaching, preaching, preaching Christ and Him crucified. Now, we see from this text here
in Acts 26, five things that God does through the ministry
of the gospel. Through the plain, simple preaching
of the gospel, of God's sovereign saving grace in Christ Jesus. The first one is found in verse
18, and the other four also. The first thing he says here,
to open their eyes. To open their eyes. How does
God open our eyes? Well, first of all, we must know
and understand that men by nature do not see the things of God. They do not know and cannot discern
spiritual things. Because we're dead in sin, we
have no spiritual sense about us. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
4. Ephesians chapter 4. And look
what he says over here in Ephesians 4. He reminds these believers
here in Ephesus, I say therefore, Ephesians 4.17, and testify unto
the Lord that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles in
the vanity of their mind. having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Men
by nature are blind to the things of God, to the truth of God. Turn over here to Ephesians chapter
2 verse 12. He reminds these believers again
that at that time, before they heard the gospel, before God
saved them by His grace, that at that time you were without
Christ. being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in this world. He said we were dead in sin,
children of wrath, even as others, but one day God sent a gospel
preacher and he used the preaching of that message to give us life
and open our eyes. Now, you remember John chapter
3. Our Lord said this, except a man be born again, born from
above. How does that happen? Well, by
the will of God, except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. He can't know, he cannot perceive,
he cannot understand the things of God. You see, the natural
man doesn't receive the things of God. Foolishness to him. God
must give eyes to see. And what he does when he gives
eyes, it's the fruit of life and salvation in him. Now, let me show you this. Find
II Corinthians chapter 4. God must give life. 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, and he does this through the declaration of his word,
his truth. God must give life. The preachers
told me, helpless, told me, I can preach and preach and preach,
unless God intervenes and God quickens that word to your heart,
you'll never have life. We must preach the gospel, but
the preacher is totally helpless to give eyes, to open blinded
eyes. The church is totally helpless to open blind eyes. We simply
hold forth the word of life and light in Christ Jesus, and God
quickens whom He will with the word of truth. Now, notice what
happens here. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, look
at verse 5. Paul said, we preach not ourselves. We're not preaching ourselves.
But Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your servant for His
sake, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. How does He
give light? How does He give light? By His
command through the preaching of the gospel. But we have this
treasure and earthen vessel that the excellency of the power may
be of God, not of us. not of us. Our Lord said in Matthew
13, blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they
hear. When God opens our eyes that
are blinded because of our sin nature we have, we're born in
sin, shape and iniquity, totally depraved. don't have ears to
hear Him, don't have eyes to see Him, have no feeling after
Him, no taste of spiritual things, our spiritual senses are dead.
But when He gives life, and He gives us eyes to see and ears
to hear Him, and we taste that the Lord is gracious, I tell
you what, it causes us to praise Him who called us out of darkness
unto His marvelous light. And we praise the Lord, you who
believe He is precious. Now listen to me, When He opens
our eyes, our eyes by nature are blind, but when He opens
our eyes and gives us faith and life and spiritual sight, we
see something of our own sin. Remember what Job said in the
last chapter of the book of Job? I've heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now my eye sees thee, wherefore I abhor, I hate
myself. When God gives us eyes to see
and understand and believe, we see something of our own sin
nature. We can say with Paul, O wretched man that I am. We
see something not only of our own sin, but we see something
of our own sin in the light of God's bright holiness, don't
we? You remember Isaiah chapter 6. The year the king Uzziah died,
he said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. And those messengers
around the throne cried what? We just sang it. Holy, holy,
holy Lord God Almighty. And then he says, woe is me.
Woe is me, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. And
I dwell among a people of unclean lips. You see, we see something
of our sin in the light of God's holiness. And he does this through
the preaching of the gospel of his grace. We see something not
only of our own sin, but we see something of God's holiness.
And thirdly, you know what He shows us? How do you know if
my eyes have been opened? How do you know if your eyes
have been opened? I tell you what, you see the remedy that's
successful, and that remedy for our sin and our ruin and our
guilt is none other than what? My deeds? My work? My doings? No. We see our need of the Lord
Jesus Christ, don't we? That He is the remedy that God
has provided. And you know what? Mark this
down. That which God provides is the
only thing God will accept. You see, we're accepted in the
Beloved. We're accepted in Him. He is Jehovah Jireh. He is the
Lord we'll provide. He is the Lamb that God does
provide for us. When He gives eyes. You see,
He does this. For this purpose, God said, I've
made thee a minister and a witness. Through the witness and the ministry
of the preaching of the gospel, God uses that to open eyes. Open eyes. Secondly, He says
this, in salvation, the salvation of the Lord, there is a mighty
work of conversion. A mighty work of conversion,
it says here in verse 18, to turn them, to turn them from
darkness to light. from the power of Satan unto
God. Notice down in verse 23, Paul
said that Christ should suffer, that He should be the first that
should rise from the dead and show light unto the Gentiles
and to the people, to turn them, to turn them from darkness, to
turn them from their self and trusting self unto light. Whose light? Our Lord said, I
am the light. I am the door. I am the good
shepherd. In salvation, the salvation is of the Lord. There is a mighty
work of conversion. There is a turning. There is
repentance that's given in conversion. Now listen to me. It's not the
mere external change of habit. It's just not outward reformation.
You'll clean up your act. clean up the, you know, quit
this and quit that and quit that and don't do this and don't go
here and don't do this. It's not external reformation,
this turning that he's talking about. It's a radical drastic
change of heart, mind, will and affection. You love those things
you once hated and you have a desire for those things that one time
you had no desire for. It's a turning of God. Now let
me show you a couple of scriptures on that. Find Colossians chapter
1. There's a mighty turning in this thing we call salvation
that's of the Lord. And He does the turning. He turns
us. And when He turns us, He turns
us away from trusting ourselves and He causes us to turn to Him.
Now notice this, in Colossians chapter 1, verse 12, He says,
We give thanks unto the Father. who hath made us meet, or fit,
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." You
remember what I told you? From darkness to light. Christ
is that light. He said, I'm the light. "...who
hath delivered us." Who hath delivered us? Who did the delivering?
Who did the turning? "...who delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood." His blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. He has turned us. He has turned
us by His power, by His grace. Turn over a couple more chapters
to the book of 1 Thessalonians. Paul talked about those who were
elect. Here in 1 Thessalonians chapter
1, he said, And when it comes that way, look
at verse 9. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you, how you turn to
God from idols to serve the living and true God. There is a turning
with the preaching of the gospel when it's blessed of God, when
it comes in not just word only, but in power, there's a turning. There's a turning to God. And
when you turn to Him and trust Him, it's a turning away from
everything that's contrary to the gospel of God's grace. It's
a turning from darkness to light. Look at the text again. It says
there's a turning from the power of Satan unto God. Turning from the power of Satan
unto God. Conversion. I want you to look
at this scripture very carefully. Please turn and read this. 2
Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. There's a turning from the darkness
to light and from the power of Satan to deceive unto the true
and living God. Now notice what it says here
in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. He's a deceiver. He's a deceiver. Therefore, it's
no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their deeds. My friend, when God turns us
from darkness to light, He turns us from the power of Satan unto
the true and the living God. He turns us and He gives us. He turns us from lies to truth. He turns us from self-righteousness
to Christ who is our righteousness. And He turns us this way. He
causes us to have no toleration. No toleration for that which
is contrary to the gospel of God's grace. And he shows us that our righteousness
that justifies before God is that righteousness given of God
in the gospel. And those, he shows us this,
those who minister and those, the ministers of Satan, who have
transformed themselves as ministers of, look what it says there,
righteousness. Now what do they talk about?
What do Satan's ministers talk about? You know, we're plagued
with them in our day. What does his ministers talk
about? They talk about righteousness that you must do, righteousness
that you must give, something that you do, that God has done
all He can do, and it's left up to you. You're the one that
really makes this thing work. The man who says that is a minister
of Satan. He is promoting not Christ's
righteousness, but human righteousness, depraved righteousness that God
set away within His filthy racks. But when God turns us, And when
He converts us from darkness to life and light in Christ,
and when He turns us from the power of Satan to deceive us
unto the true and living God, He gives us a spirit of no toleration
for that which does not glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. I will
not stand for that which does not glorify God. How do you separate
that out? from what Paul calls here in
2 Corinthians 11, those who preach another Jesus, another Spirit
and another Gospel. He said, you better stay with
me. I tell you how you discern between that which is fault and
that which is true. Who gets the glory in this thing? That's the dividing sword right
there. Who gets the glory in this thing? I tell you, when
God saves us by His grace with the Gospel, the truth, I tell
you what, He opens our eyes and then He turns us. Oh, He turns
us mightily. And it's a work of God. It's
a work of grace. Here's the third thing. He says
here that they may receive, thirdly, that they may receive the forgiveness
of sins. Now, who needs the forgiveness
of sins? I do. I'm a sinner. Born in sin, shaped
in the iniquity, I certainly need the forgiveness of sins.
And you do too, whether you know it or not. We all are in need
of forgiveness of sin. In salvation, God graciously
gives the believer, He graciously gives the believer through the
preaching of the gospel. How do we know anything about
redemption? How do we know anything about the forgiveness of sin?
That God pardons through a blood sacrifice provided by another.
How do we know anything about that? How can you receive and
believe that which you've not heard? He does that through the
preaching of the Gospel. And through the preaching of
the Gospel, we receive the Lord Jesus Christ, who is all my forgiveness,
who is all my redemption, who is all my salvation, in whom
we have redemption. Now, turn back to Acts 13. Look
what Paul says here. The first sermon he preaches,
the first sermon on his first trip out, missionary journey. Acts 13,
verse 38. He preaches the forgiveness of
sin, not by the deeds of the law, not by something we do. Acts 13, 38. Be it known unto
you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, the one
that God raised up, the one that was crucified, the one that God
raised up and saw no corruption, be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
The forgiveness of sin is in this man, the God-man mediator. And by Him, all that believe
are justified from all things, but you could not be justified
by the law of Moses, in whom we have redemption. Find it in
Ephesians chapter 1. We have redemption. It's not
something we're going to have one day. It's something the believer
enjoys right now. I enjoy right now by His free
grace and mercy in Christ Jesus, I enjoy by His purpose and grace
full, complete, free forgiveness of sin. Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies. Look
what He says over here in Ephesians chapter 1, all to the praise
of His glory, verse 6, of His grace wherein He hath made us
accepted in the Beloved." Verse 7, "...in whom we have redemption."
In whom we have. In whom. You see, salvation is
in a person. In whom we have redemption. Through
His blood. The forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. Grace alone. Grace alone. In whom we have redemption. This
forgiveness of sin cannot be earned by works. Can it? I tried
that route. It didn't work. Before God opened
my eyes, I tried that works route. I cut my teeth on works salvation. But this forgiveness cannot be
earned by works or purchased with money. If righteousness
is by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. But there is forgiveness
of sin through Christ and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Four things
about this forgiveness of sin is complete forgiveness. Complete
forgiveness. Past, present, future. Complete
forgiveness. The blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. So complete that God said
there's sin in there and iniquity will I remember no more. We have
in Christ Jesus complete forgiveness of sin. Not only that, this forgiveness
of sin that we have received as a free gift of God's grace.
It's not only complete, but it's eternal. My soul is eternal. I need something that is eternal
that God has provided. And in Christ Jesus, we have
eternal forgiveness. He obtained for us with His own
blood what kind of redemption? Eternal. Eternal redemption.
He gives His sheep what kind of life? Eternal life. He said,
ìNo one can pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave
them to me is greater than all, and we have free forgiveness.î
I like that word ìfreeî, donít you? We have free forgiveness. ìHe that spared not his own son,î
Romans 8, 32, ìbut delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely, freely give us all things?î Now
let me give you an illustration of what Iím talking about. Say,
for example, there was a gas station down the street here
that said on Monday, tomorrow at noon, gasoline is going to
be free. I tell you what, you reckon there'd
be a line down there? There'd be a line down there. You see, people understand the
concept of what's free. When it's announced that gasoline
is free, all those who are in need are going to line up. And
my friend, that's exactly what I'm saying. Salvation in Christ
Jesus is free. And yet people are so blind and
ignorant and dull and dumb, they go about to establish their own
righteousness instead of submitting themselves unto that which is
free. I like that which is free, don't
you? Justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. It's complete forgiveness. It's
eternal forgiveness. It's free forgiveness. Free forgiveness. And my friend, it's a just forgiveness.
It's a just forgiveness. He is faithful and just to forgive
our sins. It's a just forgiveness based
upon Christ paying all the debt I owe. Fourthly, look back at
the text again. In salvation, God graciously,
sovereignly gives us not only free forgiveness, eyes to see
a turning from lies to truth, from the deceiving power of Satan
unto the true and the living God. And He gives us the forgiveness
of sin. But fourthly, we have an inheritance. We have an inheritance. An inheritance. In salvation, God graciously,
sovereignly gives us the whole inheritance of His grace. Turn
back to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20, when Paul was
leaving there at Ephesus. In Acts chapter 20, look at verse
32. Acts 20, 32. And now, brethren, he said, I
commend you to God, to the word of His grace, which is able to
build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them
that are sanctified in inheritance. You see, the believer in Christ
Jesus has been made an heir of God. Our inheritance was earned
by our substitute. An inheritance is not something
that I earn. Even an earthly inheritance is not something
that I earn, it's something that was earned by another and freely
given to me. Our inheritance was earned by
our substitute Jesus Christ upon His obedience unto death, upon
His faithfulness unto God. We've been made by His grace
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. He wrote our name,
now listen to me, He wrote our name in His will of redemption
and made us heirs of God in joint heirs with Christ Jesus. Turn
to Romans 8. Well, preacher, how do you know
your name's in that Lamb's Book of Life? How do you know that
He's made you an heir of God, an heir of grace? I tell you
what, my friend, my name's written there. Did you know that? You
say, preacher, what are you talking about? The Scriptures tell us
this. Turn to Romans 8. Christ died
for the ungodly. Christ came to save sinners.
My name's written there. Sinner. I tell you, I've been made the
heir of God's grace. Look what it says here in Romans
8. For we've not received, verse 15, we've not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but we've received the spirit of
adoption. He's adopted us into His family. You know something
about that adoption? You made that choice. She was
completely passive. That's something you did. You
did. You chose her. And that's the same thing God
does to us. He's adopted us into His family by His choice. He
said, You didn't choose me, I've chosen you. But you have received
the spirit of adoption whereby you cry, Dear Father, Father,
Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness
with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then
heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer
with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon
that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed." Now, we have an inheritance. Oh, my friend, let's read something
about it. 1 Peter chapter 1. Turn over
there. 1 Peter chapter 1. This inheritance,
you know, if you have an earthly inheritance, sometimes this will
happen. I've seen it happen, and maybe sometimes you've seen
it happen. Someone will write out a will and testament, their
last will and testament, and they'll leave certain things
to certain people. But sometimes, some members of
the family get upset. And they get a lawyer, and they
go before the judge to contest the will. My friend, and sometimes
the will is overturned. His will, the will of God's grace,
whereby He's made us heirs of God and will never be overturned. Never be contested. Not at all. Look what it says here in 1 Peter.
1 Peter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father.
1 Peter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance that's incorruptible, undefiled,
Fadeth not away that's reserved in heaven for you who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. We have an eternal inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled, that does not fade away, will never
be contested, never be overturned. He wrote our name, the name of
His people, into His will, and His will will be done. Turn back to Ephesians chapter
1 just a minute. And take a look at this, Ephesians
1, when it talks about His predestination, His will. Ephesians 1, verse
11, And whom also we have obtained an inheritance. We've obtained
an inheritance. We didn't earn it. We obtained
it by His grace. Being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him, who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory
who first trusted. in Christ. Oh, my friend, we
have an inheritance according to His will. And how do you know
anything about that inheritance? Well, earthly speaking, if you
were left in somebody's will, if you didn't go down to the
courthouse when they read the will, well, you'd know nothing
about it. The preaching of the gospel,
my friend, is a reading of God's will concerning salvation. And
that's how we find out and how God reveals to us, it's probably
a better way of saying that, how God reveals to us that our
names are included in His will. The will of salvation in Christ
Jesus. Lastly, he says this, we have
forgiveness of sin, we have an inheritance among them that are
sanctified by faith. Sanctified by faith. In salvation,
sinners are completely justified. Completely justified. No condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. Is that what the Word says? No
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. In salvation,
we're completely justified by His grace. And we're completely
sanctified the same way we're justified. By Christ Jesus. You know that word sanctification
means to be set apart? Who did the setting apart? He
set us apart. He set us apart by the gospel.
He set us apart by God's purpose in electing grace. Saving faith,
it says they were sanctified by faith that's in Christ. Saving
faith, that's God-given, that's the gift of God, has one single
object, and that object is Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ, it
says this in 1 Corinthians 1.30, He's made to us wisdom, righteousness,
What's the next one? Sanctification and redemption. He is my holiness. Now I'm going
to shock you here. You know I'm a holiness preacher?
I preach His holiness as our acceptance before God. The Lord
Jesus Christ, He is my holiness. He is my justifying righteousness
before God. And that's a justifying righteousness
that's freely imputed by His grace. You see, we're sanctified
by faith, not by work. We're sanctified by Christ. The
just shall live by faith. Our Lord prayed in John 17, Sanctify
them by thy truth. Sanctify them by thy truth. Thy
word is true. And that's how He sanctifies
us as the truth is revealed in Christ Jesus. In Him dwells all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily and in Christ we are complete. And I pray, and I pray for you
and for us as we meet together. May God graciously bless the
word preached here to the salvation of His covenant people. His sheep
will hear it. His sheep will hear it. They'll
follow Him. He'll call His gospel. He'll
call His sheep out with the preaching of the gospel, and they will
hear Him speak. And when that happens, you can
say, as Paul says here, In Acts 26 verse 2, I think myself happy. I think myself happy. I think myself happy. Well, I
pray the Lord will bless that word to your heart.