The Church Preaching

Well you know where we're going. We're going back to the book of Acts. We're going to be in Acts chapter 2. We're going to be looking at verses 22 through 24. So Acts chapter 2 and we're going to camp out in verses 22 through 24. Let me again just say thank you for your hospitality. Thank you for welcoming us. It is something unique that the Lord has given us I believe among the anchored in truth family of churches. We can drive five and a half hours here to Mississippi and feel just as at home here as we can at Grace Life Church of the Shoals.

And I hope for all of you that have been to Grace Life Church of the Shoals, you can drive five and a half hours into Alabama and feel like you are just as at home there at Grace Life Church of the Shoals as you are at Grace Life Church of Brookhaven. Thank you for the gift basket. This tie was picked out, I learned tonight, by your pastor. So if you don't like it, it's Pastor Chris that picked it out and not me. But I like it brother. So thank you so much. Acts chapter 2. This morning we looked at the church waiting. Right, the Lord had given the apostles some instructions, a command.

They were to wait there in the city of Jerusalem and they were to wait until they were clothed with power from on high. Of course they were waiting for the Holy Spirit to come and to fill them and to empower them to do gospel ministry. Now we also may note that the church of today for us, we're no longer waiting. The word for us is to go. We have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been given. He now indwells each of us and so he has given us a new command, a command to go and to preach the gospel to all the nations.

But very quickly after the Holy Spirit comes there at the beginning of Acts chapter 2, one of the first activities that we see the church begin to participate in is preaching the gospel. So if you want to give a title to tonight's sermon, if this morning was the church waiting, then tonight is the church preaching. Church waiting this morning, the church preaching tonight or a secondary title might be this, the necessity of preaching in the life of God's church. The necessity of preaching in the life of God's church. Now I don't know about you guys here at Grace Life of Brooke Haven but I would assume that you are much like us.

We talk about preaching at Grace Life Church of the Shoals quite a bit. We talk about the primacy of preaching in the life of the local church and some of you from time to time may wonder why is it that we place such an emphasis on preaching at Grace Life Church? After all, we live in a time in history where the practice of preaching seems to have fallen out of favor. Not only in the culture at large that we live in today but also in the culture of many local churches. The practice of preaching seems to have fallen out of favor.

Many churches have more or less abandoned the practice of preaching and look to other means of teaching the Word of God. Some have looked to dramatic presentations. Some have looked to fancy props. Some have looked to multimedia presentations and I'm not saying that all of those things are evil but some have decided that preaching is no longer relevant for the day. Preaching is no longer something that will appeal to this culture so they have looked for another way to communicate God's truth. Some have turned to psychotherapeutic pep talks rather than opening up the Word of God and preaching thus saith the Lord.

Some just want to have a dialogue about what we all think God's Word might mean rather than having a preacher stand and proclaim truth from God's Word through preaching. However, the Scriptures including those here in Acts very clearly demonstrate that God's primary means of changing men's hearts and drawing people to Him in repentance and faith is through the faithful preaching of the gospel. Martin Lloyd Jones had this to say about preaching. He says this, speaking of preaching, this is the primary task of the church. The primary task of the leaders of the church.

The people who are set in the position of authority and we must, this is a wonderful quote, and we must not allow anything to deflect us from this. We must not allow anything to deflect us from the preaching of the Word of God. However good the cause, however great the need. The Apostle Paul, speaking to his young disciple Timothy in 1st Timothy 4, 11 through 15, put an emphasis on preaching when he told his young disciple Timothy who was pastoring the church at Ephesus he said Timothy prescribe and teach these things. Well what is that? That's preaching. Prescribe and teach these things.

He says let no one look down on your youthfulness but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come he says give attention to the public reading of Scripture to exhortation and teaching. Well what is Paul telling Timothy to do? He's saying Timothy preach, read the Word, read the Scripture, then exhort God's people, teach God's people what the Word of God has to say. He goes on to say do not neglect the spiritual gift within you which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands. And then he says this to Timothy take pains with these things.

Well again what is he talking about? He's talking about the preaching. To take pains with studying the Word of God and proclaiming the Word of God. He says take pains with these things. Then he says be absorbed in them. You know whatever else Pastor Chris might do during the week he has to be absorbed with studying to get ready to preach the Word of God. Now there might be a thousand one other things that are good for pastors to engage in but there's something they must be engaged in. Something they must take pains with.

Something that they must put all of their energies towards and that is the preaching and teaching of God's Word to God's people. In Paul's second letter to Timothy and second Timothy 4 verse 1 he says I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing in his kingdom preach the Word. Now Paul could have told Timothy a lot of other things to do and by the way some of these other things I'm gonna mention are not bad. He could have said Timothy here's what I want you to do. I want you to make visits. I make visits from time to time.

I'm sure your pastors here make visits from time to time. Those are wonderful things but you know what that's not the primary task that God has entrusted to pastors. He could have said Timothy come up with a whiz-bang show of multimedia presentation that will wow the people but that's not what he said. He said preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. What does preaching look like? He says well reprove. Rebuke. Exhort with great patience and instruction. Why? Because he says the time will come and I would say the time is now when they will not endure sound doctrine.

You know the sad truth for many pastors and praise the Lord this is not the testimony of Grace Life Church of Brookhaven but the sad truth for many pastors is the reason they have gone astray from preaching is because they're in churches where people will no longer receive it. Now that's not an excuse. They should still stand and boldly proclaim the Word of God but they're in churches that will no longer receive sound doctrine. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but wanting to have their ears tickled they will accumulate from themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.

You know what church the worst thing you could have is a teacher who teaches according to your desire. Now it might make you feel better sometimes when you walk out of here you might leave smiling and saying oh what a wonderfully encouraging word but you know what it might send you to hell. You need someone who's gonna stand and preach the Word of God. Now church we don't have time to delve into all the examples from both Old and New Testament that demonstrate the primacy of preaching throughout redemptive history.

What we want to do tonight is to take note that Peter whose sermon we're going to look at in Acts chapter 2 here tonight in the early days of the church after the Holy Spirit had been given he was found to be preaching. It describes it this way in Acts 2.14 but Peter taking his stand with the 11 raised his voice and declared to them. Church that's preaching and he was preaching not just any message but the message of gospel. What should we take away from this early church principle to apply to modern church life? Well let's answer this question by looking at just a portion of Peter's sermon in Acts chapter 2 beginning in verse 22.

The Word of the Lord says this is Peter's sermon, "Men of Israel listen to these words Jesus the Nazarene a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst just as you yourselves know this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God you knelt to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death." Verse 24, "But God raised him up again putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in its power." Let's pray.

Father again we thank you for bringing us together on this Sunday evening to to discover what is it that your word has to teach us. Father I pray as we have already prayed as we have sung Lord that you would open our eyes to see the beauty of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and Lord as we saw this morning we ask that your Holy Spirit would come tonight and would convict of sin and righteousness and judgments. We ask that you through a work of your Holy Spirit would illumine the eyes of our hearts so that we may behold the gospel. Lord I pray for anyone here tonight who does not know you.

I pray that tonight would be the night in which you through a work of your Holy Spirit would regenerate their hearts grant them repentance toward God and faith in Lord Jesus Christ. Lord teach us because we are in need of being taught. We pray these things in your son's name. Amen. Point number one tonight if you're taking notes is this the subject of the preaching is Jesus. The subject of the preaching is Jesus. It does not take Peter long for him to turn his sermon toward the one who is at the very heart of gospel preaching and that one of course is Jesus himself.

Now we've made mention that the church's preaching is not just the delivery of any message that the church chooses of her own opinion. The gospel message if it is to be a gospel message must point to Jesus not just a Jesus of our own imagination but rather the Jesus that we see displayed here in the scriptures particularly here in this sermon. And Peter takes some time to describe Jesus here to his audience to ensure that both he and his audience are on the same page as to which Jesus he is referring to in his sermon. Let's take note of what Peter has to say about Jesus in this part of his for of his sermon.

First off in verse 22 there he says men of Israel listen to these words Jesus the Nazarene. Jesus the Nazarene. This description of Jesus is one that is used several times in the book of Acts also used several times in Luke's gospel account as well. It is a very plain title but one that I believe was chosen purposefully to describe Jesus. Why use this title? Why should Peter say Jesus the Nazarene? Well I believe it is used to emphasize to the people that Jesus who is the Savior of mankind Jesus who is the Savior of sinners is the same Jesus that grew up and lived his life in and around the insignificant town of Nazareth.

You see these people here that are listening to Peter's sermon more than likely they would have known Jesus the Nazarene. Now there might have been a lot of other people that were named Jesus during that time but they wanted to they would have known who Peter was talking about who he was referring to Jesus the Nazarene the one that lived in and around the insignificant town of Nazareth.

Quite possible as we said that this audience knew Jesus they knew other members of his family some of them had watched Jesus grow up as a young boy maybe they had simply heard of the man named Jesus from Nazareth whatever the case Peter was pointing out in his sermon that the Jesus he is referring to was not an invention of his imagination.

You know we just came through the Easter season and I don't know how many of y'all might get a kick out of watching but you know that the history channel and some of those channels every year around Easter they'll start talking about well who is the historical Jesus and you know they come up with all sorts of fables and tall tales and myths about who was well the historical Jesus is Jesus the Nazarene. It's very simple that Peter here is being very plain the Jesus that grew up in the insignificant town of Nazareth. Now I also believe that this is Peter trying to remind them of the humanity of Jesus.

He says there in verse 22 Jesus the Nazarene and then he says a man the one who walked among them so he's not just identifying where he lived but also making a theological point that this Jesus was fully man. That's the first way that he describes Jesus he is Jesus the Nazarene. Now let's go forward a little bit more in verse 22 men of Israel listen to these words Jesus the Nazarene a man but then also he is a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst just as you yourselves know so he is Jesus the Nazarene but he is also a man attested to you by God.

So maybe you are asking well if he's Jesus the Nazarene and he is a man what made Jesus different from any other man in Nazareth? After all what would stop me from going out today and saying that John Doe from Brookhaven is the Messiah? What would stop you from going out and saying well Sally Jane from Muscle Shoals is the Savior. What made Peter's proclamation about Jesus be any different than a false prophets testimony about a false Messiah? Well it's this Peter tells us that Jesus the Nazarene is a man attested to them by God Himself.

He is attested by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him that Jesus of Nazareth was attested to the people of God as a way of saying that Jesus was accredited by God to the people. Now think of it this way universities colleges they often seek accreditation from agencies to prove their reputation as a legitimate degree conferring institution. Right it's a standard practice a college in order to be a legitimate college they need to have an accreditation.

An agency comes in make sure that everything is legitimate that the teachers are real the grades are real that everything is in place for them to be a degree conferring institution. Well much is is the same here when Peter uses his terminology that Jesus was a man attested to the people by God what he is saying is that Jesus was accredited by God to the people as having met all the criteria to be God's Messiah to redeem his people from their sin. The scriptures say that he was attested to the people by three things that are closely linked.

Number one miracles miracles once said describes the powerful supernatural character of the works that Jesus performed during his earthly ministry. If you have an opportunity to go back and read through the Gospels in your devotional time you read through there and you should leave after you've read the gospel accounts you should leave there astounded at who Jesus is. As a matter of fact it says over and over about the 12 disciples that after Jesus would perform a miracle that they and the people would be amazed with him. These were supernatural works that Jesus was performing. Not only miracles but wonders.

One commentary described this as the marveling in the mind of the one who witnesses the miracles. In other words when they saw Jesus and what he would do they would marvel in their minds at who is this man? How could he perform these types of works? Miracles, wonders. The third one is signs. Gives the intent of God's miracle miraculous works. They were signs to point to the spiritual truth that he indeed was the Messiah, the anointed one, the one who had been set apart to be the Savior of sinners. The whole life of Jesus is filled with the miraculous. He had a miraculous conception.

He performed miraculous healings, miraculous feedings, miraculous control of the weather at times. The Gospel of John said this, "therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and the believing you may have life in his name." John 21, 25, and there are also many other things which Jesus did which if they were written in detail I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.

That's how many miraculous works our Lord performed in his earthly ministry. John MacArthur said if the miracles are removed from Jesus' life there's very little left. That's what he did. Miracles, signs, wonders. And if the title Jesus the Nazarene spoke to his humanity so that people would know he indeed was fully man then this description of him being a man attested to you by God through signs miracles and wonders that God was performing through him it speaks to the deity of Christ. Yes he was fully man. He was a man that lived in and around Nazareth and performed all of the duties that a man would have performed but he is also fully God.

In Mark chapter 8 verse 29 as the Lord was speaking to the disciples and he had said to them but who do you say that I am Peter answered and said to him you are the Christ the Messiah the anointed one the one set apart to save his people from their sin. So Peter says minivisual listen to these words Jesus the Nazarene the one who is fully man a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst the one who is also fully God the God-man.

And he says this this man this God-man was delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God and this man you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But God raised him up again putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. See Peter's message did not end with just a couple of theological notes about Jesus hometown and him being fully man and a testimony concerning the miracles he had performed during his life and ministry and speaking to his deity but Peter took his audience to the heart of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and he spoke here about his substitutionary death on the cross where he took our sins upon himself.

Notice what it says there you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. Listen brothers and sisters good preaching about Jesus doesn't just leave us to see that Jesus was a wonderful example good preaching about Jesus doesn't just leave us with you know what Jesus would have been a good neighbor Jesus would have been a good man he would have been a humanitarian good preaching about Jesus always takes us to the cross of Jesus. It gets down to what he really came to accomplish and that is to die on behalf of sinners like you and me.

That's why the Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 15 3 through 4 told the church of Corinth I delivered you as a first importance what I also receive that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that was raised on the third day according to the scriptures there Paul says Christ died for our sins that is he was the substitute that took the wrath of God the penalty for sin on our behalf we deserved it but he took it for us. John Stott said it this way that God and Christ substituted himself for us Jesus died so we could live.

The Prophet Isaiah says it this way in Isaiah 53 beginning in verse 4 "Surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken smitten of God it meant that God the Father turned away from him and poured his wrath out upon him he was pierced through for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the chastening for our well-being fell upon him and by his scourging we are healed." Isaiah goes on all of us like sheep have gone astray you know what we bring to the gospel equation sin all of us have gone astray we that all we bring to the equation is sin all of us like sheep have gone astray each of us has turned to his own way but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him you know what Jesus brings to the equation salvation through substitution salvation through substitution you know when when the Lord was dealing with my heart part of my testimony is that I was a Pharisee kind of a rulekeeper, lawkeeper and you know for years even though I was sitting under good gospel preaching for years I thought you know what I can do better I will do better I can remember at night as a as a kid thinking you know what tomorrow I will prove that I can live righteously before God and you know what at the end of every day I had to realize I'm a failure at this and the Lord had to bring me I guess I was almost kicking and screaming at times trying to live up my own righteousness he had to bring me to the point where I saw that you know what the only one who has ever done a work a singular work that can save me it's not me it's Jesus he did it on my behalf he died in my place you know if you're maybe like me and you struggle with a little bit of that old legalism or you struggle a little bit with that well is there something I can do here's the answer no but Jesus has done it all Jesus has done it all and it's not just that he died for our sins but also he was raised up God raised him up again putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in its power we just said that good preaching about Jesus leads us to the cross but good preaching about Jesus also leads us to his resurrection to him rising again on the third day you know the resurrection is no afterthought in gospel preaching Paul in 1st Corinthians 15 16 through 18 says if the dead are not raised not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised your faith is worthless you are still in your sins but if Christ has been raised then you and I for all those who are leaders we will be raised with him one day and so here we see the church preaching we see Peter preaching and he makes theological points about the person of Jesus he is Jesus the Nazarene he is fully man he is Jesus the one accredited by signs miracles and wonders that God performed through him he is man but he is also fully God as well and this God man is the only one who could be the Savior of sinners and he indeed was put to death on the cross and was resurrected three days later and church here's the early church principle that we learn from Peter's preaching and it's this it's that our gospel preaching rather that whether that's brother Chris preaching from the pulpit here on any Sunday or Wednesday or whether that's you out personally evangelizing someone and proclaiming the gospel out in Brookhaven Mississippi the gospel preaching teaching proclamation that we do must begin and end with an accurate portrayal of the person and work of Jesus Christ you can do a thousand one other good things in the local church but if you miss that you miss it all let me ask you do you present an accurate portrayal of Jesus in your evangelism or do you present Jesus merely as a healer or a soup kitchen or a prophet like man you know in John chapter 6 we don't have time to turn there but in John chapter 6 Jesus had crowds of people that were clamoring after him but they were clamoring after him because he had fed them bread he had healed some of them of their diseases and the longer they stayed with him and the more Jesus began to teach them about what he was truly there to do and who he truly was the crowds began to withdraw from Jesus and they withdrew to the withdrew to the degree that in John chapter 6 verse 66 it says only a few remains after Jesus revealed who he truly was brothers and sisters here's the problem in much of evangelicalism today much of evangelicalism they may have some preaching they may have some teaching but they are presenting a Jesus that's just the great problem fixer and Jesus didn't just come to fix problems he came to address man's sin do you invite people to a Jesus who will simply fix all their problems or the Jesus who requires repentance and faith to be one of his followers so are the Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 2 said that he preached Christ and him crucified the heart of the gospel message so there's a bit about Jesus point number two here in Peter's sermon we see the problem with the audience and the problem with the audience is their sin in verse 23 this man delivered over by the predetermined plan of foreknowledge of God notice how direct Peter is here you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless that's his description he's given us a description of Jesus now he gives us a description of mankind you nailed to the cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death you know as we seek opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ it does us some good to know the condition of our audience to know the condition of those that we are seeking to share the good news with as a matter of fact how we view our audience how we view those that we are sharing the gospel with will affect how we address them Peter gives us this insight here first off I want us to see that ignorance is not the audience's greatest problem ignorance gospel ignorance is not the audience greatest problem how do we know that because we know that he's already told us that this man Jesus the Nazarene was attested to them by miracles they themselves knew what Jesus had done the miracles and the works that he had performed so it's not that these men were ignorant it's not that these people were ignorant of who Jesus is and what he had accomplished these men of Israel according to Peter had been eyewitnesses to many of the miracles and wonders performed by Jesus they had knowledge of Jesus and they had seen the supernatural worship of working of God take place through him so their problem was not that they were ignorant of Jesus their problem was that they had hardened their hearts toward Jesus in John 15 24 and 25 here the Lord speaking he says if I had not done among them this the people if I had not done among them the works which no one else did they would not have sinned but now they have both seen and hated me and my father as well but they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their law they hated me without a cause in Acts 7 51 through 53 Stephen preaches one of the one of the most exquisite sermons it's probably written down for us in scripture where he starts all the way back in the Old Testament and then walks them through the gospel all the way in the New Testament and he gives him a wonderful knowledge of who Jesus is and you know what they do with Stephen after he has delivered that wonderfully gospel-centered sermon they kill him they weren't ignorant of Jesus they weren't ignorant of what he had done they had hardened hearts of sin they hated Jesus and this is the condition of our audience's heart this is condition of your heart if you don't know the Lord's to think back to what we looked at this morning this is why the work of the Spirit is essential you know and I don't know some of you brethren may be into the whole apologetics sort of thing here's always been my problem with apologetics it always ends up being this can I out intellectual the person that I'm sharing the gospel with you know what over and over again in the scriptures we see that the knowledge is not it it's yes you have to preach the gospel but it's not about being smarter than the one you're sharing with it's not about out arguing the one that you were sharing with it's not about being more intellectual than the one that you're arguing with because that's not the main problem it's a hardened heart and only the Spirit of God can bring regeneration to a hardened heart again that's why we're dependent we probably all have lost friends family members that again if we could just open up their hearts and pour that gospel in and close them back up and they walk and be believers we would do that but that's not how it works so ignorance was not the problem they knew of Jesus and you was Jesus the Nazarene they knew he had done things that only the God man can do and yet still it says they nailed him to a cross these men that were godless and put him to death Peter's audience in other words was guilty that was their problem their guilt from sin now you might say well yeah but you know brother Matt right there in verse 23 it appears that the death of Jesus was God's predetermined plan are these men really guilty if that was the case absolutely absolutely they are man sin will never be abolished by blaming on the sovereignty of God man sin will never be absolved by blaming it on anyone or anything else sinners will be held responsible for their acts of rebellion against God and his law they're guilty of transgressing his commands it's our audience's first problem is not that they are unhappy the audience's problem here is not that they are depressed the audience's problem is not that they have marital issues now they might have had all of that some of you might have some of those things but if you don't know the Lord your primary problem is that you are guilty before the holy judge of the universe that's it their biggest problem is God's holiness in his view of their sin their greatest hope is God's mercy and love in the person of his son the Lord Jesus Christ brothers and sisters this is why the primary mission of the church is to deal with the souls of men and women now should we practice mercy toward those who are having difficult situations in their lives of course we should should we pray with them should we reach out to them should we seek to meet some physical needs from time to time if those pop up of course we should do those things but the primary mission of the church something that the church does that no other organization in this world can do is address the needs of the hearts of sinners and as Christians and as a local church your primary concern should be the salvation of those around you we are not merely dealing with good old folks who experienced tough times but with people who are hardened to the gospel and guilty before a holy God so the problem with the audience is their sin point number three we say that the foundation of our preaching is God's sovereignty the foundation of our preaching is God's sovereignty verse 23 let's read it again this man Jesus delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God you know to across by the hands of godless men and put him to death brothers and sisters here's what I want you to know tonight the gospel the perfect life the substitutionary death and the death defeating resurrection of Jesus Christ was not merely a plan B it was not a plan B that God had to use because plan a of Adam and Eve happened not to work out God didn't have to go into emergency mode when man sinned and think oh no what what should I do now man mess this up okay let me think of a plan B plan B might be to send my son no that's not what happened at all the gospel was the predetermined when I say the gospel I'm talking about the life death and resurrection of Jesus was the predetermined and foreordained plan of God to get glory for himself and to save a people by his love I know you've been pastored well but maybe you're visiting here tonight maybe this is something you might look and say well what in the world predetermined what what does that word mean well the easy way to answer that is it means exactly what you think it would mean intuitively we normally know what that word means but sometimes our pride kicks against it but predetermined it means to mark out with a band a boundary or to determine when it's used of his elect people it is used to show that they were marked out for salvation before the foundation of the world in the same way it is teaching us now that Jesus was marked out by God predetermined by God the Father to be the suffering and sufficient Savior of his people I don't even have words to adequately describe all that's going on here I don't believe God knew before the foundation of the world that you and I would be wicked godless people that's who we are wicked godless people apart from the Lord Jesus Christ he knew that he knows it better than we know our own sin and yet before you or I could do anything he had also predetermined that he would send a Savior that would save wicked godless people like you and I his son was predetermined to be the one that would be the Savior of sinners his foreknowledge foreknowledge it's the idea of predestination or for ordination in other words he foreordained Jesus set him aside before the foundation of the world to be the sufficient sacrifice for sinners like you and I now this does a couple of different things for us I believe number one it gives us confidence to persevere in the preaching of the gospel you know we were talking about this just a little bit earlier I can't remember if it was mean Chris or Keith or some of the other brothers here you know if it was all up to me preaching the gospel would just be a hopeless effort I was going to I'm not gonna preacher I'm not but because I know that before the foundation of the world God had set apart his son to be the Savior for his people and it is through the preaching of the gospel that the Spirit of God will save those people then we can preach and proclaim and evangelize and share the gospel and so God is going to call his elect he is going to bring them in he is going to save them he's going to regenerate them our job is just to go out and proclaim Jesus to them so we persevere in it maybe we get turned down I bet maybe you you preach or maybe you proclaim maybe you evangelize and maybe someone didn't respond like you want to yes it can be discouraging but we persevere why because this was from God before the foundation of the world he set apart his son to be the Savior for his elect people and he's called us to go out and preach Jesus to them that gives me hope I should give you hope maybe you've got a family member and you've witnessed to him over and over and over again you think I don't know I don't know should I keep proclaiming should I keep preaching should I keep sharing absolutely you should why because God set apart his son before the foundation of the world to be the Savior for sinners and he is going to call his people who the preaching of the gospel keep on doing it keep on reaching out keep on sharing keep on praying keep on preaching don't quit it should also fill you with hope if you're here tonight and you don't know the Lord even though you are wicked godless sinner just like this text declares you to be God loves sinners so much that he foreordained the plan of sending his son to be the Savior for someone just like you there's not a greater love than that there's not a greater love than that there's not a greater spiritual rest that you can find than that so as we conclude here tonight and we've seen the church waiting saw that this morning and now we are looking at the church preaching here from this very small snippet of Peter's sermon here's what I want to encourage you to do I want to encourage you Grace Life Church Brook Haven to to preach the truth about Jesus we looked at Paul's letter in Timothy and we are we're living in a day when people do not want to sit under sound doctrine but but Grace Life Church do not be deterred from preaching the truth about Jesus if this whole community at some point comes against you and says you know what those are the those are the guys that preach that hard stuff about Jesus those are the guys that preach those hard doctrines about Jesus you know what keep on doing it Peter stood right here in front of many of the men that actually were responsible for the death of Jesus and he persevered in preaching the truth about Jesus you guys got to do the same even if everyone else in this community says those guys are crazy over there at Grace Life of Brook Haven just keep preaching it preach the truth about Jesus number two preach the truth about man I know it's offensive isn't it that's why I fought against the Lord when the spirit of God began to work in my life I fought against it because brother Jonathan Simms who you guys know and he's been here to preach for you he preached out of first Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9 and he preached verses 9 through 11 but the Holy Spirit didn't let me get past verse 9 when it said or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God in the spirit of God he hit me like a ton of bricks and I thought wait a minute I'm unrighteous I was offended why because I told you I was a law keeper I was a rule keeper I thought doing all the right things I'm in all the right youth events and I'm not drinking and I'm not cussing and I'm I come to church and and then all of a sudden the Word of God through working spirit said no you're unrighteous I was offended there's no way I'm unrighteous now I would have said now so and so and so and so and so we're unrighteous but not me but you know what that's exactly what I needed to hear I was lost I was a sinner I was godless and through the preaching of the gospel the Lord began to soften my heart and to draw me to him and repentance and faith listen again we're dealing with people's souls we're dealing with people's eternity you must preach the truth about Jesus you must preach the truth about man and then at the end of the day number three you can do this rest in God's sovereignty rest in God's sovereignty with it because at the end of the day it's not up to us what's what we are called to do is to preach and proclaim the saving is in the hands of our sovereign God so you can rest in him so we've seen the church preaching the church waiting this morning it's night we've seen the church preaching the truth about Jesus truth about man how we can rest in his sovereignty tomorrow night just to give you a little preview again this is my way of inviting you back and encouraging you to be faithful to this spring renewal what we see tomorrow night is something exciting we see the church multiplying and all this is gonna flow together right gotta have the spirit because we're completely dependent upon him when the spirit is sent then the church begins to preach just as Peter does here in Acts chapter 2 and as the Spirit of God then infuses the preaching of his word with the power of the Holy Spirit then the church begins to multiply and so we'll look at that tomorrow night Lord willing let me pray for us father again we thank you for this time in your word