Real Life Community Church Sermons
Real Life Community Church, is a church located in Richmond, Kentucky. Our fellowship is comprised of authentic followers of Jesus Christ who aim to glorify God in all that we do. We have a desire to reach our community, meeting both the physical and spiritual needs of those who are hurting.What to Expect in a ServiceOur Sunday Morning services include a time of dynamic, contemporary worship. We have a full praise band, consisting of real Christ-followers who are committed to worshiping God, not just through song, but in every area of their lives. Each service will include a relevant, Bible-based message, that will inspire and challenge those who hear it, in their walk with the Lord. Come casually or formally dressed… however you are most comfortable. We hope to see you soon!
Real Life Community Church Sermons
Acts | Part 2 | Jesus Christ of Nazareth | Ron Hamm
In this message, Pastor Ron Hamm delves into the significance of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, as articulated by Peter, emphasizing the core message of repentance and the blessings of salvation. Listeners are inspired to embrace their role in sharing the Gospel while understanding the transformative power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
• The importance of Peter’s eyewitness accounts
• The foundational truths about Jesus as Lord and Savior
• True repentance as a transformative decision
• The blessings of forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life
• The call to actively share one’s faith and witness for Christ
able to share the Word of God today. Today's message is called Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That's my favorite topic to preach on in the whole world and actually that's the words that Peter used in this message. So in Acts 2.22, you see where he said men of Israel, hear these words Jesus of Nazareth. You know, I remember when I was a teenager there was a movie that came out and it was called Jesus Christ of Nazareth and I didn't know the Lord at the time and it was on the weekend, I remember and I spent. This movie was six hours long and I watched this whole movie and it sowed a lot of seed of the word of God into my heart. I think it came out in 1977. There's something very powerful about the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I have the privilege today of preaching another man's sermon.
Speaker 1:Peter did all the work. He was one of the 12 disciples, he walked and he talked with Jesus. Now here's an important point. Peter was an eyewitness of the miracles of Jesus Christ, the death, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the ascension into heaven of Jesus Christ, and he even talks about the exaltation of Jesus Christ, which Hunter talked about during communion today at the right hand of the Father. So Peter was an eyewitness of all these things.
Speaker 1:Now, sometimes I'll discuss creation versus evolution with people and you know they'll argue that the earth is 13 billion years old. Now I ask them well, how do you know that you weren't there? So well, they say how do you know? How do you know that it's not 13 billion years old? I said I have an eyewitness. Well, who is it? Well, it's God, amen. So God is an eyewitness of his own creation, wouldn't you say so? And he gave us the historical account in Genesis 1 and 2. And I think God's a pretty reliable eyewitness, don't you? We can take his word to the bank, and Peter is an eyewitness of all these events. And we can take this to the bank today.
Speaker 1:What a change we see in Peter once he is filled with the Holy Spirit. Does that make a difference in our life? And that's not the purpose of today's message, because we're going to be going through that for a whole year. But I do want to make that point that this same man who could not preach to one little girl and confess Jesus Christ he could not confess Jesus to one person is now preaching to thousands of unbelievers, even at risk of his own death. In that day and time that he lived. It was at risk of his own life.
Speaker 1:And Peter is boldly proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ Now. That cannot be explained except by what? The power of the Holy Spirit. You may say, well, god can't use me. Look, god is not looking for ability. You've heard this before, probably right. God is not looking for ability, he's looking for availability. So we will offer ourselves to the Lord. He can use every single person in here. Amen.
Speaker 1:With the power of his spirit, peter is taking the message of Christ to sinners. He took the words of Christ to sinners. He took the words of Christ to heart, for Jesus had said for the Son of man came to seek and save the lost. The mission of Christ has never changed. He came to seek and to save the lost. Jesus Christ did not tell sinners to go to church, he told the church to go to sinners. We can learn that from Peter today and that's what Peter is doing.
Speaker 1:Peter just can't quit talking about Jesus Christ of Nazareth to the people. He actually gives us the who, what and how of the gospel. Okay, the who is Jesus Christ, the what is the gospel message and then the how. He shows us how to do it. And if you can't remember anything else about how to do it, share Jesus Christ of Nazareth with people. That's how you do it. Share Jesus, and we see that pattern all through the book of Acts. They share Jesus Christ, lord and Savior, and that's what Peter did. Peter makes it clear that this was all part of the plan of God, the Father, in sending his only begotten Son to the world. God is sovereign over all creation. He's also sovereign over salvation. Amen Today. My hope and prayer for all of us today is that we will come to know and love Jesus Christ, the Lord, and get to know him better.
Speaker 1:The key point today in Peter's message. I said the title was Jesus Christ of Nathers. I did want to tell you, I did wrestle with a possible alternative title. You could also call this the sermon that was heard around the world. Amen, this sermon was heard all around the world. Amen, this sermon was heard all around the world, these people from everywhere. So the key point is since God has made Jesus Christ of Nazareth, both Lord and Christ, who will judge the world? Sinners must repent. That's the message. Since God has made Jesus Christ of Nazareth, both Lord and Christ. Sinners must repent. Now, that's with authority, isn't it? That's with authority to command those that are lost to repent. He commanded it even at risk of his own life.
Speaker 1:So today I want to answer three questions from this text. What can we know for certain, what can we do to be saved, and what are three beautiful blessings of salvation? In verse 36, I'm going to jump around in these verses, but I will let you know where I'm at but he used an inductive sermon. Peter did so. He didn't start out with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. So you know, if you got a hostile crowd and you don't know how they're going to react, don't give them the hard part of the message right at the beginning. That's what he did. He started out with prophecy. Then he got to Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, and so he begins with that message in verse 36. He says he uses the word what we can know for certain. He says let all the house of Israel know for certain. Let's say that together today. Let's say we can know for certain. Together, we can know for certain. Let's say it again we can know for certain. This is what Peter is telling us today that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified yes, he points the finger at them. They had violated the law Thou shalt not murder. And they missed the Messiah when he came. They not only missed the Messiah when he came. Peter is telling them and making it clear to them, they murdered their own Messiah. They are guilty of this. And guess what? Let's raise our hands. We're all guilty of the blood of Jesus Christ. As sinners, we all were in that crowd today saying crucify him, crucify him. So the first question what can we know for certain?
Speaker 1:Ben Franklin once said there are only two things that are certain in life death and taxes. That's a solemn life, isn't it? Now Job actually added another thing to the list. Okay, 3,000 years ago, job added one thing to death and taxes. Here's what Job said man who is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. That's Job 14.1.
Speaker 1:So death, taxes and trouble. Do you feel good today? It's a feel-good message, right? So death, taxes and trouble. Do you feel good today? It's a feel-good message, right? So death, taxes, trouble. Is that all we have to look forward to? Just bad things? Is there anything good to look forward to? What can we know for certain? Let's be honest we are in constant search for constants. You like that play on words? We are in constant search for constants. We want to know something for constants. You like that play on words? We are in constant search for constants. We want to know something for certain, and Peter is telling us what we can know for certain.
Speaker 1:It's important to note that Jesus is Lord, whether we believe it or not. Hunter read that scripture today. He is Lord and every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Whether we believe it or not, it's certain that he is Lord. Amen. What's in a name? Everything when we're talking about the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Name Everything when we're talking about the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Speaker 1:Imagine two people trying to get to know each other and love each other without knowing each other's name. Some of you might not get this reference, but some of you will. As Vicente from the Princess Bride movie would say inconceivable if we don't know each other's names. I knew Matt would know that. If we don't know each other's names, I knew Matt would know that we need to get to know the name of Jesus and who he is, and we need to be willing to make that our favorite topic to talk about.
Speaker 1:Just like Peter, jesus Christ of Nazareth is Lord. The word for Lord is master, and it's attributed to Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Now think about this. 700 times he is called Lord and we see, you know. They ask Christ. We won't take time to turn there for the sake of time, but they ask Christ, will you, at this time, restore the kingdom to Israel? They knew he was Lord. What does that mean? To be Lord? He's king over all the earth, he's king over all creation. That's what that means. Will you restore the kingdom to Israel at this time? He said no. The Father has that in his hands the seasons and he will come again. But in his first coming he came to die as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world. So he is Lord, whether we believe it or not. Now also, jesus. Peter says Jesus is the Christ. Now, what is Christ? Christ is not a last name, even though I like saying Jesus Christ because it's very powerful.
Speaker 1:Christ is a title and it's the same as the word Messiah from the Old Testament. So recently I've been meditating on the name of Jesus. So this message came along at a good time. Some of you a while back, maybe three months ago, I was doing a teaching on 100 names of Jesus. Some of you were at that. I mean, that wasn't a Sunday school class, it was a Wednesday night service. So that's a long Wednesday night service to get through in 15 minutes was it 100 names of Jesus? So I actually gave you a handout, okay, but I've been meditating on that.
Speaker 1:So Christ, it means three titles of Jesus from the Old Testament he is anointed prophet, he is anointed priest and he is anointed king. And I got to thinking about that and I came up with 100 names of Jesus in the Bible and I thought, well, how can I organize that? So I took the word God, because we know Jesus Christ is God right from everlasting. I took the word prophet, I took the word priest and I took the word king. Interesting, I was astonished. I tokayed this at the time 25 names under each title. 25 names. Now, it was subjective. That was Ron Hamm's version. I did try to make it fit, I'll admit, but it's still pretty close, okay. So 25 names as prophet, priest, king.
Speaker 1:So Jesus Christ. We can know this for certain. We can know for certain also that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Savior of the world. The very name of Jesus means the Lord saves, and we go back to verse 21 on this. What does it say in verse 21? And it shall come to pass. I love this that everyone, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Can we underline everyone. I remember going to see.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you a little story. I was it was about this time of year and I was in my 20s and my mom and dad live on a one-lane road. It was gravel at the time, solid ice, so I'm being very careful. So I park my car, there's a curve, I park my car at the top of the hill and I stop to peek around the curve down the hill and I won't use the word I'm thinking of to call this guy a name. But this guy comes flying through there and he slides up this long hill and hits me head on. I was so mad because I was really actually being careful. It was not my fault. Well, I got really mad at him, so I sued him. He's going to fix my car because hams only keep liabilities on the car. I always drive an old car. I let my wife drive a little nicer car, but I always drive an old car. The point of the car is to get you from point A to point B. That's my philosophy on it, okay. So liability, so my insurance would not cover. So I got really mad at this guy, I sue him and I'm really upset.
Speaker 1:Well, the day comes for the court case and my dad calls me. He said man, you sued my neighbor. He said he's having a hard time Married, his wife's getting pregnant, he's out of work, you know. Then I got to think maybe I'll forgive him, you know. And so I thought about it. I didn't want to, I'll be honest with you. So I thought about it and thought about it. So I go to the court case and I decide to forgive him in my heart and I told him I forgive you, don't worry about this.
Speaker 1:Well, the Lord actually had another purpose for that day. Even though I was mad about the guy hitting me head on, the Lord had another purpose and it was my grandma on my mom's side. It was her birthday that day and she didn't know the Lord. So the Holy Spirit spoke. The real reason you came over here was to talk to your grandma. She's 63 years old, which I'm 63 right now. Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it? She was 63 years old.
Speaker 1:So I go to see my grandma and she felt like she was too old, that she had done too much, just too much water under the bridge. But I shared with her about how Christ loves her. I shared Jesus Christ of Nazareth, you know. And as I began to share, tears fell down her face and she was saved. Amen, praise God.
Speaker 1:So Jesus Christ is the Savior of my grandma. He's the Savior of the whole world. The Bible says that he is the propitiation for our sins. That means that he has paid the price through his blood to an angry God for our sins, the wrath of God. And it says he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2.2.
Speaker 1:So what else can we know for certain Now? I love this. We can know for certain that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of prophecy. Now, this is an amazing thing. Did you know? Peter was a prophecy teacher. Everything he says is prophecy. Here he is sharing prophecy. Now prophecy was written 400 years to 1500,500 years before. My definition of prophecy is history written in advance. Only God knows the future right. So all these things were written from 400 to 1,500 years before, and Peter is quoting prophecy. So we know for certain that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Savior of the world, that he is Lord and that he is Christ through prophecy, and that's what Peter preaches. So I'm going to share with you an interesting fact.
Speaker 1:There was a man named Peter Stoner and he wrote a book called Science Speaks. He wrote this in 1957. And he calculated the odds of Jesus fulfilling just eight prophecies foretold of him during his life. The odds of one person fulfilling just eight prophecies in the history of the world is 10 to the 17th power, that's 10 with 17 zeros. Now that's a big number. I don't even know what it is. Anybody know Any mathematicians, and I want to share this too. Peter Stoner was not a preacher, he was a mathematician. So this is called statistical probability. And so he calculated it was 10 to the 17th power.
Speaker 1:Now what he did is he gave us a word picture. He said the odds of one man fulfilling just eight prophecies is the same. He said you take a quarter and you mark one quarter with a red X. You fill the whole state of Texas two feet deep. That's about knee high, the whole state of Texas. Now that's the largest state in the lower 48. Fill the whole state two feet deep with quarters and you mark one quarter and you put a blind man in Dallas, texas. He does not know where the quarter is at and he randomly will select one quarter out of the whole state. The first quarter he picks up out of the whole state of Texas two feet high will be the one with the red X marked on it. That's the odds of one man fulfilling eight prophecies.
Speaker 1:Then he calculated if a man fulfilled 48 prophecies. He said the quarter is way too small. You have to use something invisible to the eye, use an electron. He said the quarter is way too small. You have to use something invisible to the eye, use an electron. So he said if you take an electron and you send out electrons six billion light years in all direction and you could mark one electron which you can't do it scientifically, we know that but if you could mark that one electron, it would be the odds of one person fulfilling 48 prophecies. If you could grab that one electron that is going out in 6 billion light years, it would be the odds 48 prophecies.
Speaker 1:Now let me share with you something. This is why we can know this for certain that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. What can we know for certain? Jesus Christ fulfilled 109 prophecies, very detailed prophecies, from his birth to his ascension, to his exaltation into heaven. Can we know these things for certain? We can, amen. And the odds of the electron I just want to give that to you math nerds out there is 10 to the 157th power, 10 with 157, zero. So mathematically speaking, mathematically speaking, jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. We know that for certain.
Speaker 1:So Peter lists several things here. He lists verse 22, mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. So he's telling us here that God confirms that Jesus Christ is Lord Savior and Christ. He says by the miracles that he did. Only God can do the miracle and we remember. We won't take time to turn there, but we have the witness of Nicodemus, and Nicodemus was a very religious man, a Pharisee. He came to Jesus by night and the first thing he said to Jesus he had heard about his miracles. He said Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with you. And John said he was speaking hyperbole, but he was speaking. He said all the books of the world probably couldn't list all the miracles that Jesus did when he was on earth. He did so many miracles. We don't know how many because a lot of times it doesn't tell us. It'll just say the whole crowd was healed, right, we don't know how many were in the crowd. Jesus is a miracle worker. Amen, that we can know that for certain.
Speaker 1:I love the story of Bartimaeus, don't you? He had been blind from birth. Can you imagine that You've been blind from birth? And he hears all these miracles that Jesus has done, how he's healed the sick. And he heard how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. And then one day you know he's begging for alms. You imagine how hopeless Bartimaeus must have felt. That was his lot in life to just beg for his daily bread. And he hears that Jesus Christ is passing by and he cries out Jesus Christ, son of David, have mercy on me. He cries out and the crowd tells him be quiet, bartimaeus, they might have called him Bart Poor nickname. I don't know, bartimaeus. They might have called him Bart Poor nickname. I don't know. Bartimaeus, be quiet. You know what, when you need a miracle from God, it's not a time to be quiet. Amen.
Speaker 1:Bartimaeus shouts out louder Jesus Christ, son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus comes over to him and says what can I do for you, bartimaeus? Pretty obvious question, isn't it? Bartimaeus said I want to receive my sight. And Jesus touched him and healed him, a blind man. It was a miracle. And that song we sang today, amazing Grace. You know, I once was blind, but now I see. The words from that song were taken from Bartimaeus. But you know, there's something far worse than being physically blind, and that's to be spiritually blind, and that's what Peter's talking about. We need spiritual sight that we can see who Jesus Christ is. But we know that through his miracles that God attested that this is the Lord and the Christ.
Speaker 1:We know also through the crucifixion that was prophesied and I'm not going to take time to turn there for the sake of time, but Psalm 22, it gives very specific details that his hands and his feet would be pierced. Isaiah 53, one of Hunter's favorite scriptures. It prophesies the crucifixion of Christ. And then we know the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can know for certain that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. We talk about that at Easter. Look, god put his stamp of approval on Jesus Christ. We can know this for certain. No other man has ever been raised from the dead and not died again. Jesus. We know he raised Lazarus from the dead and there's been others raised from the dead, but he's the only one that was raised from the dead and he ascended into heaven. We know through his resurrection, we can know that for certain that he is Lord and Christ. And then also Peter says here in verse 24, it says heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also dwelt in hope, for you shall not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see corruption. So that's prophesying that Jesus Christ would be raised from the dead 1,000 years before he was raised from the dead. And then we see Peter says in verse 34 and 35, this is a prophecy from Psalm 110, verse 1. He said the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies my footstool Now. So those are things that we can know for certain. This world is very uncertain, but Jesus Christ is our constant in a world of very uncertain times that we live in.
Speaker 1:So second question what shall we do to be saved? Peter said in the last I think verse 41 or verse 40, he said save yourselves from this crooked generation. The world and the lust thereof is passing away. We don't want to put our trust in this world. This world is a sinking ship. It's like the Titanic. It's already hit the iceberg. Go ahead and you know. If you want to just get rich and have power and pleasure in this world, look, I'm telling you. But you're on a sinking ship. It's already hit the iceberg. It's doomed. This world system is doomed and the Bible tells us not to love this world, but it says he that doeth the will of God shall abide forever. So what do we need to do to be saved? They asked him this question here in verse. Well, peter tells him in Acts 2.38. Let me turn over there, acts 2.38. Well, verse 37, let's start there Now.
Speaker 1:When they heard this, as he was preaching Jesus Christ, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles Brothers, what shall we do? They were saying what shall we do to be saved? And Peter said to them repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So what does it mean to repent? Repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have true faith without repentance and you cannot have repentance without true faith in Christ. To repent means to change your mind and your purpose in life. It's to get on a different road. Jesus talked about the narrow road and he talked about the broad road. If you're still on the road of sin, you have not repented. You got to get off the road of sin and death and get on the narrow road of life and peace.
Speaker 1:Repentance is an action verb. Notice the crowd says to Peter what shall we do to be saved? It means to say God is right and I am wrong. It means to forsake the world and to follow the word. I like what Bernard of Clarivax said. I think this is attributed to him in 1150 AD. He said the road to hell is paved with good intentions. So people have intentions to repent. But that's not repentance. I'll get around it to someday. How many times have you talked to somebody and they say I'm not ready yet. They have intentions, but they haven't repented.
Speaker 1:Peter commands this crowd to repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized. And we got to remember that to be a Christian in this day. They were in a hostile culture. The religious crowd had just put Jesus Christ to death on the cross and, as Christians, look, we're not going to be on Easy Street. There's an old country song that says I did not promise you a rose garden. I mean, god does not promise us a rose garden when we choose to follow Christ. He says we'll have troubles in this world, amen, but it's worth it all. It's worth it all, and this crowd was willing to sacrifice everything, to repent, to depart from their culture of their day, to make a radical departure from their culture, and we need to do the same Now.
Speaker 1:Many people have a false idea about what repentance is, and I'm going to list seven things. Sometimes, to help us understand what something is, we have to understand what it is not, what repentance is not, because there's many false concepts. Who do you think is spreading these lies about what repentance is. In our culture, one word Starts with a D the devil. Okay, because he does not want people to truly repent, so he spreads these lies about what it means to be saved or to repent. So here there's many, many, many more lies than this, but here's seven.
Speaker 1:What repentance is not? Repentance is not regret. It's not just sorrow over getting caught and suffering the consequences of your action. That's not repentance. Repentance is not penance. Now, what is penance? Penance is the false idea that self-punishment and good deeds will pardon the soul from the guilt of sin. In other words, if I've sinned, okay, from now on I'm going to start doing what's right. I'm going to start doing what's right. Well, we may try to do what's right, but it doesn't take away what we've done wrong. Only Jesus Christ can do that. That's penance and that's a false idea of repentance. Here's an important one Repentance is not saying a sinner's prayer.
Speaker 1:Just saying a sinner's prayer is not true repentance. You know how? I know Because I said a sinner's prayer but I didn't repent. I remember saying a sinner's prayer and if I would have had people come around me and say, oh, you're saved. But I wasn't saved because I didn't repent in my heart, I didn't change course. When you get saved, there's something we've got to do. When you get saved, there's something we've got to do. It's an action verb. John the Baptist said you've got to bring forth fruit for repentance. Amen, the evidence show some evidence that you've repented and so that a sinner's prayer is not repentant. Now you could pray a sinner's prayer and truly repent. I'm not saying you can't, but you can also say a prayer, a sinner's prayer, and not repent. So you've got to repent on the inside.
Speaker 1:Repentance is not cheap grace. Now, this is a word that Dietrich Bonhoeffer talked about. This is a very common false idea about repentance in our culture today. Cheap grace is the idea that one can receive forgiveness without repentance. You talk to somebody and they say, oh, I ask God for forgiveness every day, but then their life? They're still on the broad way of destruction, they're still living the same life, but they ask God to forgive them every day. That's not repentance. You can be religious and still not have repented of your sin, can't you? The Pharisees were. They knew the scripture, they asked God for forgiveness, but they never repented. So cheap grace is not repentance. Now here's another common one in our culture today Repentance is not selective obedience to a God of your own imagination.
Speaker 1:This is very common in our culture. I call this Jesus buffet style. So I just make up my own Jesus, make up my own Bible. But repentance is on my terms, not God's terms. Peter's telling us repent and be baptized every one of you for forgiveness of sins. Repentance has to be on God's terms. God makes the rules, we don't make the rules. We can't make up a God of our own imagination. And then repentance is now.
Speaker 1:This is an important when James talks about this. Repentance is not a saying faith, it's a saving faith. There's a difference and James talks about when he says faith without works is dead. He's talking about a person. He says if a man says I have faith but has not works, that's a saying faith Because that person's not repentant. Because if they truly sorry about that, if they truly repent it, they would have a saving faith. There would be evidence of their confession. So we must have a saving faith.
Speaker 1:So now baptism. What is the purpose? So he tells them to be baptized. What's the purpose of water baptism? So, water baptism. He says be baptized every one of you.
Speaker 1:In verse 38, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins. So baptism is called the baptism of repentance in the Bible. There is no forgiveness without repentance. If one is baptized in water without repentance, they will go down a dry center and come up what A wet center. So without the repentance, baptism does not wash away our sins. We got to have repentance. It's the repentance that washes away our sins and we should follow in obedience to baptism, in obedience to show that our sins have been washed away. So baptism is an outward expression of our inward confession, an outward expression of our inward confession. Our inward confession of repentance towards sin and faith in Christ is what saves us, praise God. But baptism serves as a public confession of our inward confession of the heart.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to go through this pretty quickly. What are three beautiful blessings? The third question I want to answer from Peter's message today. He gives us this in 39 through 41. Forgiveness of sins, now, since I've been 18 years old. That is a beautiful blessing of repentance and faith in Christ, our confession in the Lord, now, since I've been 18 years old. I was saved in July 1979. And I'm going to tell you the truth. I've known my sins are forgiven since July 1979. I've not went to sleep one night worried about going to hell or worried that I'm not saved, because the Holy Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I'm a Christian. And so I will just say to you what a beautiful blessing to know your sins are forgiven.
Speaker 1:If we would do what Peter says repent, believe in Jesus Christ, be baptized in obedience, we can know that our sins are forgiven from the Lord. It's just a beautiful thing. Christ has paid the total price of the forgiveness of our sins if we put our trust in him. The Bible says whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. So we're not ever saved by being good enough. We're saved because Christ lived a perfect life and paid for our sins.
Speaker 1:The old hymn says what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus, the second blessing of salvation. So we talked about forgiveness of sin. Peter tells us about the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now we're going to be spending a whole year on the filling of the Holy Spirit. So I'm just going to say something just to explain what he's talking about here. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the gift of the Holy Spirit, because it's what the whole book is about.
Speaker 1:But when a person is saved, they receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They are born of the Spirit. Can someone say praise God, and I've had that indwelling of the Holy Spirit since I was saved in 1979. As Pastor Chris shared, there are some disagreements and some nuances on the indwelling versus the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:I think sometimes we're trying to put God in a theological box and figure out things that he left a mystery on purpose. We have our nice theological boxes, don't we? We want to put God in theological boxes, don't we? We want to put God in. I love what Brother Jack shared with me, what his wife Gracie said years ago. I love this and I think it's true. Brother Jack's wife Gracie said this God blessed a Christian who has not yet met a theologian. There's a lot of truth in that. Sometimes we really try to put God in our theological box and when it doesn't fit, we're going to make it fit, amen. So the important thing to remember when it comes to the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:Here's two things that all Bible-based Christians believe. All Bible-based Christians believe the indwelling of the Holy Spirit happens at salvation, when a person is born of the Spirit. Can we say amen to that? And all Bible-based Christians believe that Christians can ask for and receive subsequent fillings of the Holy Spirit. Can we all say amen to that? We all agree with that. And then the last. So what I'm sharing with you? So you have forgiveness of sins, we have the Holy Spirit to help us. What a beautiful blessing of salvation.
Speaker 1:And we also have another promise. That these promises that we can know for certain through Jesus Christ, our Lord, it's not for just us, it's for our children, our children's children and to all generations, even people in the uttermost parts of the world Richmond, kentucky, amen. The gospel found its way here, to the uttermost part of the world, richmond, and so the last verse here says for the promise is for you and your children, for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord, our God, calls to himself. We should never stop praying for our family and friends. Amen, because everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Our prayers are eternal. We can believe God for the salvation of our household. Just like Peter says, these promises and these blessings are for our children and to all generations. Now, when I pray for our children and our grandchildren, I don't just pray for those that are alive today, and I'd say many of you do the same thing. The Bible says that those that fear the Lord, that the blessings of the Lord and salvation will be upon the household. For how many generations? One thousand generations for those who fear the Lord, amen. So we can pray for the blessings of God upon our heritage for 1,000 generations or until the Lord returns. Amen. What a great promise.
Speaker 1:So today, if you're an unbeliever today and you're here today, repent. We shared with you what that means. Repent. Today is the day of salvation. Repent, believe in Jesus Christ and follow him in obedience to baptism, water baptism. And as Christians today we need to follow the example of Peter. Today we need to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter showed us exactly how to share the good news of Jesus Christ, to share Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He shared with us how to do it, but we need the outpouring of the filling of the Holy Spirit to be witnesses in this dark world that we live in, praise God. So I just want to invite you today to come and pray.