Thank you, Gabe, Jerry, John,
Stan, and Dan. Thank you. All right, let's go
back to the book of Acts, chapter 20. That just may be my favorite
hymn of all. Twenty-some years now, and I'm not tired of it
yet. Look at verse 32 with me. And now, brethren, I commend
you to God and to the word of His grace. which is able to build
you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified,
the word of his grace." Paul, these are the apostles' departing
words to the elders at Ephesus, the
leaders of the church at Ephesus. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem
where he will eventually be killed. for preaching the truth. Now,
there's no doubt to any of us in here that Paul was a true
God-called and God-sent preacher, is there? There's no doubt. To us, a messenger of the truth. And he knows he's going to Jerusalem
where he will probably be apprehended. He said the Spirit witnesses
of that in every city. He was warned in every city by
various prophets that he would possibly be killed for the truth's
sake. Now, he was hated everywhere
he went, just like his fellow apostles, all of whom were eventually
killed for preaching the truth. And he calls for the elders of
the church to bid them farewell. My, my, this was a sad time,
wasn't it? And he gives them some parting
words. These are truly the dying words of a dying man. He gives them some parting words
of exhortation and encouragement. Verses 18 and 19, when they were
come to him, he said unto them, You know from the first day I
came into Asia, After what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
serving the Lord with all humility of mind, with tears, and many
trials which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews." Paul
said, you know what manner, what I was like among you. He said the same thing to the
other churches. The church at Thessalonica, he
said, I was gentle as a nurse among you. cherishing, nursing,
and so forth. But Paul was hated for the truth's
sake. There were some, most, that hated him for the truth's
sake. And that's what our Lord promised.
That's what our Lord promised to all who preached the truth.
Did He not? Over there in Matthew 10, He
told His disciples, You shall be hated by all men for My name's
sake. He prayed in John 17, he said,
the world hates them because they are not of the world even
as I am not of the world. And so it is true. It was true
and it is true still today that those who preach the truth, though
they are the finest men on the earth, the world hates them. But Paul said in verse 20, I
have kept back nothing that was profitable. unto you nothing,
kept back nothing, but have showed you, taught you publicly, house
to house, plainly. Therefore, he said, seeing we
have this hope, one hope, we use great plainness of speech. Would you turn over to Galatians
chapter 1 with me? Galatians chapter 1, Paul said,
you know I've kept back nothing. I've not held anything back. Old Brother Scott Richardson
advised young preachers years ago, he said, don't tell everybody
everything you know in one message. Hold something back for the next.
But we do anyway. That's the reason we preach over
time. We don't know if we'll have another
attempt. Shoot both barrels. But you know Old Scott wasn't
saying, Keep something back from them. Don't offend anybody that
you think might be offended by something. You know Scott wasn't
saying that. Galatians 1, Paul said in verse
10, do I now persuade men or God? Am I trying to impress men
or God? Am I trying to please? men. Get people to do something
or whatever. Or God. Am I trying to implore
and beseeching the Lord to do the work? Read on. Do I seek
to please men? If I yet please men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. And that's the same is true of
every preacher, then and now. Right? Any man who is conscious of his hearers
and in fear of certain ones or for
fear of losing support or offending someone they know doesn't like
the truth, if they hedge the message, cut the corners, compromise
the truth, they're not the servant of God. A hireling does that. See, a hireling, our Lord spoke
of a hireling, one who is doing it for pay. One who's, this is
a job and they don't want to lose their job. And they're trying
to move up the ladder of religious success. Then they will, of course,
tell the people what they know that they like. And they will
keep back things that are offensive. But Paul said, you know I haven't
done that. Nor does any true preacher ever
do that. But he said publicly, back in
our text, he said in verse 20, I have publicly taught you, publicly,
from house to house. The Apostle declared the truth
in spite of the vast majority who hated it and threatened him.
I love the stories of the Apostles going out to preach in this book,
the book of Acts. Stories like when Peter, James,
and John were preaching, and they came and apprehended them,
the Jews, the leaders came and apprehended them and took them
back and said, now don't you do that again. Don't you preach.
In that name, again. And Peter, with all boldness,
it says, looked it down in the eye. Now, these men had the power
to kill him with a word. And Peter said, now you judge
for yourself. Should we obey you or God? He said, we can't help but speak
the things we've seen. Paul said down here, my life
is not dear unto me. Just like the Lord said, don't
fear them that can kill the body, and after that they have no more
that they can do. Fear God, who after he's killed the body and
cast both body and soul into hell. Fear him. Any man who fears
men more than God is not of God. Anyone who is a respecter of anybody's person,
The rich, the famous, the whoever is not of God. No man who knows
and fears God fears any man or is impressed with anybody. Well, but Peter and the boys
went back to preach and that day they threatened, the authorities
threatened them, don't you do it again, you're going to be
punished. Don't do it again. And they left,
and they went straight to the temple and stood up and prayed
to Christ. Oh, my, I love that. Another
time, they beat them within an inch of their life. Beat them.
And they let them go, and they said they, all the way home,
were rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame
for Christ's name. Now there is a true servant of
Christ. Paul said, you know I've kept
back nothing that was profitable unto you, but publicly. Testifying,
verse 21, testifying to Jews and the Greeks, that is the religious
and irreligious, didn't matter who it was that was there, testifying
to those who said they were God's people and those who were agnostic. Didn't believe a thing. Testifying
the same message to everybody. Treating everybody like they
were lost. Repentance toward God. Read it.
He said, Repentance toward God. Testifying to both, to everyone.
Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Repentance toward God. Everybody. The scripture says,
God commandeth men everywhere to repent. Doesn't it? This is the message, folks. This is still the message, is
it not? This is the first thing that
men and women need to hear. And when do we ever not need
to hear this? Repentance toward God. Huh? I'll
tell you when we will need it. not need to hear this when we
quit being sinners. Right? Repentance toward God. This is the message of every
prophet in the scripture. This is why the people hated
them. The false prophets that were hired by whoever prophesied
smooth things to the people. And so they were rich men. Well-to-do
men. They had a big following of prophets.
And the kings loved them. Had an audience with the king.
Now, the prophets of God, the true prophets of God, went about
saying, Whoa, whoa, whoa. God is angry. The true prophets
never told anybody, God loves you all. Jesus died for you all. None of them. You know that. And you know, if I stand up or
if anybody hears me say that, they'll get mad at me, don't
they? But that's just a fact. Is that a fact? Those of you
who have read God's Word, who actually read it, know that no
prophet ever, at one time, ever stood up in a public place and
told a public gathering of people, God love you. Never! Never. And I'm not trying to prove doctrine
here, but this is the message I'm trying to tell you. Throughout
the book of Acts, the book of Acts is all the recorded public
sermons of the apostles. Every one of them. Recorded.
You know, they preach more messages. But all of the recorded public
sermons by the apostles are put in the book of Acts. The word
love is not in the book of Acts anywhere. Not one. Yet, that makes up the whole
of preaching today, does it not? Preaching today is one thing. God loves you. Jesus died for
you. Now, if you will accept this
offer He made. God loves you so much. And He
proves it by His Son laid down His life. But He's done all He
can do. And it's an offer that you must
accept to make it effectual. Isn't that it? That's it. Now,
won't you accept him today as your personal Savior? There's
not one word of that in the Prophets or the Apostles. It's all a lie. Brother Ralph Barnard stood up
50 years ago and just shocked the daylights out of religion. But it was the means God used
to start a wildfire of revival throughout the South, and we're
here because of that. Because that man stood up, publicly, in a central park in Ashland,
Kentucky, where the gathering of every so-called church in
that area was gathered. All the preachers and people,
and my dad was one of them, and all the people in that Pauline
Baptist Church. And he stood up publicly, a man
sent by God, an evangelist in his day, and stood up and said
the two biggest lies ever been told. Two biggest lies ever been told.
Number one, God loves everybody. Number two, Christ died for everybody.
He said neither one of those is so. Dad was there, he said, you heard
jaws hitting the floor. And you could hear a pin drop.
And then that man began to preach. Sovereign mercy and grace. Sinners in the hands, like Jonathan
Edwards preached to his generation. Sinners in the hands of an angry
God. Paul said, He said, we cease
not to warn everybody, day and night. He said, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Not the love of the Lord.
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Scriptures over and over and
over again say, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And Paul summed it up in Romans
3.18 when he talked about irreligious and religious in the first two
chapters. He said, this is it. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Romans 3.18. Irreligious, it's
obvious. People flaunting their sin in
the face of God. Even saying things like, God
made me this way. And in the religious, flaunting
their righteousness before God. If righteousness come by the
law, Jesus Christ came in vain. That's how serious that is. And
flaunting their self-righteousness before God. Saying, I make Christ's
blood effectual. Whoa, man. Can you imagine the
audacity of a human being to say such a thing? That's what
they're doing today. His blood doesn't mean anything unless
you make it effectual with your two-bit decision. Now, you don't
say that, but I'm sorry. So you know better, don't you?
You know better. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
it to you because you were right there with them. Why aren't you
there now? Why aren't you in the midst of
a group right now who thinks that their little decision actually
made the blood of the Son of God. Why aren't you there now?
That's what this message is all about. Grace. You're not there
now because of the grace of God. You are what you are right now,
Nancy Park, because of the grace of God Almighty that chose you,
brought you, and brought you, and sat you down, and shut your
mouth, and cleansed your mind of all that junk, and revealed
the Son of God to you. You had nothing to do with it.
You, like the rest of those ladies, were self-righteous Pharisees
on the way to hell. Isn't that right, Nancy? If I
let Nancy say amen at the top of her lungs, she'd do it right
now. But God! Repentance toward God. He said,
I've said it to the Jew and the Gentile. Now, Paul knew this
more than anybody. He was a Jew. He was a Pharisee,
a Hebrew of Hebrews. He said concerning the righteousness
which is of the law, he said, I am blameless. If God had killed him right there,
he'd have been on the front row in hell, wouldn't he? And shocked
that he was there. He'd have been one of those pleading
with Christ saying, well, I've done many No, he wouldn't have.
He persecuted Jesus' name. He didn't do many wonderful works
in his name. But Paul knew this, and Paul
knew, he said, I obtained mercy. I was a chief of sinners. How's
that, Paul? The most self-righteous of them
all. I obtained mercy. And Paul said,
but God, the goodness of God led me to repentance. What is repentance? Repentance
is toward God. And the message of every prophet,
apostle, evangelist, and it's still the message today of every
true preacher to believer and unbeliever alike is repentance. These were the first recorded
words of John the Baptist. Right? Repent. The first recorded
public words of Jesus Christ. Repent. Who am I to go out preaching
anything else, Brother Stanton? I quoted to you there from 2
Corinthians 5, 11, the terror of the Lord. The fear of God. God's mercy, listen, God's mercy,
God's grace, God's salvation is for them that fear Him. And
I don't mean years ago when they quit their meanness. And then
they become arrogant, self-righteous. No, no, no. Always fear the Lord.
Always knowing they're sinners before holy God. And it's with
God that God has anything to do with them. It will be completely
by the grace of God and the blood of Christ before the Lord right
now that they don't split hell wide open until the day they
die. Until the day they die and they
repent toward God. God, forgive us. God, forgive
me. God, forgive me. Repentance,
which is a gift of God, isn't it? It's a gift of God. is being
made to realize I am a sinner against God. Everything about
me is offensive to God. Repentance. One old writer said
you haven't repented until you've repented of three things. Three things. You haven't repented
unless you've repented of your sin. Not sins. Sin. Like Paul said in Romans 7, O
wretched man that I am. What I do, my sins are because
of what I am. And repentance starts there. David said, My loins are filled
with a loathsome disease. You haven't repented unless you've
repented of what you are. You haven't repented unless you've
repented of your sins, actual transgressions and sins, actions. Lord, forgive us our sins, our
trespasses. And then that old wise preacher
said, no one's really repented unless they've repented of their
self-righteousness. It's one thing that obtains our
redemption. It's one thing that that puts
away our sin is the blood of Jesus Christ. And to think that
anything else does, anything we do, it ain't turning over
a new leaf. Oh, it's self-righteousness.
So we repent of that even though Paul did, didn't he? He repented of his self-righteousness. Repentance toward God in faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. He asked me to sum up faith in
one word. It'd be Christ. Oh, but preacher,
faith is what you do. Oh, no, that's not faith. Faith
is not what you do. It's not what you do with something
God offers. No, sir. That's a work, isn't it? That's a work. Faith is objective. Faith is looking to someone. Even the look is from God. By
grace, you say, through faith, and that's grace. It's not of
yourself. It's a gift. Faith is looking
to someone. My wife saved that article by
my pastor on faith, true faith. and put it on our refrigerator. It was one of those refrigerator
articles. It said things like this. Faith is not having faith
in your faith. Faith is looking to Christ, not
your faith. Now I believe. Now I believe.
So I believe I'm a believer because I believe. I believe I'm a believer
because of Christ. Faith is not believing or having
faith in your experience. Well, I believe I'm a believer
now because years ago this thing happened to me and it was real.
Yeah, there's some things that really happened to me too. I
could tell you an experience I had, very real. But faith is
not looking back to an experience. Paul said, forgetting those things
which are behind. Here's faith pressing toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. Look unto Him. Faith is not faith
in a new life, in change. I'm a new man. I'm a new creature.
I'm changed. I'm changed. I'm not the way
I was. I know I'm a believer because I've changed. Well, you
just better hope that God doesn't just let you go for about 30
seconds, and we'll see just how changed you are. You just better
hope somebody doesn't pull out in front of you in their car
this morning But we'll see how your language really has changed.
Now, if you can say, well, bless his heart, he didn't mean that,
but maybe, you know. It's by grace. Salvation is by
grace. Faith is looking to Christ. Now, this is our message, Paul
said. This is our message to testify,
verse 24, by ministry. which I proceed to the Lord is
to testify the gospel of the grace of God. This is the gospel. There is no other. If it's anything
other than sovereign grace, it's not the gospel. It's another
gospel. This is the gospel. This is the
truth. This is the only truth. So help me God. This is salvation
in a word, grace. And it's no coincidence that
the word grace and Christ sound alike. Very simply, singularly, one-syllable
word. Salvation is this, grace. Salvation is Christ, the
grace of God. which is in Christ. Verse 27, he said, I have not
shunned, declared unto you all the counsel of God. What's all
the counsel of God? Of course we know that the apostle
dealt with everything necessary that the church here, right? From eating, drinking, what is
worn, and so forth. He addressed all of that, didn't
he? If you've read the epistles, you know it's so. But he said,
now, this is the gospel now. You're talking about the gospel.
You're talking about what saves human beings. It's one thing. This is the message. This is
the good news for sinners. It's the gospel of the grace
of God. It's the whole counsel of God. in the council halls of eternity,
John. God Almighty made a covenant—what
kind of covenant?—of grace. Now, I did promise myself I wasn't
going to holler this morning, and I'm not going to do it again. God Almighty, before the world
began, made a covenant—an agreement—between the Father, and the Holy Spirit
to save unprofitable, unworthy, sinful, rebellious creatures,
all of which deserve to be snuffed out. But God, who is rich in
mercy and love, set his love upon some of those rebellious
creatures and determined to save them,
made a will and a purpose and an agreement with his Son and
with the Holy Spirit to save some of those worthless creatures. He's going to save them. He said,
I'm going to do it freely, completely. I'm going to give everything
to them. Everything necessary for their salvation. I'm going
to do it for them. That's grace. A covenant of grace. Noah was spared the flood from
being drowned in the flood with millions of other people, because
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Not because he was
better than anybody else, but because God chose him to be gracious
to him. Noah found grace. And from every
son of Adam whom God purposed to save, they all find this same
saving grace. a covenant of grace before the
world began. And it ends the way this whole
thing is going to end. There's a prophecy in the scripture
of a man named Zerubbabel who built the temple. It's all a
prophecy, a picture, a type of the Lord Jesus. And then when it was all over,
at the end of the building of the temple, there was one capstone
that was to be laid on top of the temple, the pinnacle of the
temple. And you know what he shouted?
He shouted, I'm not going to do it. But it says, Zerubbabel
shall lay the topstone with shouts of grace, grace unto it. That this thing was laid by grace,
built up by grace, and finished by grace. Salvation is by grace. If you go to heaven and God Almighty
says unto you, well done, my good and faithful servant, enter
into the rift, you're going to say, I haven't done a thing.
He's going to say, but my son did. And he gave you what he
did. And he took what you did. You
are saved by grace. That's in my son. That's it. That's it. Grace. The whole counsel
of God. Verse 28, he said, take heed,
meeting with his church leaders and preachers, and he's telling
me this, take heed therefore unto yourselves. That's a message
for me. Take heed yourself. And all the
flock over which the Holy Ghost had made you overseers to feed
the church of God. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. Feed them. Which he had purchased with his
own blood. God's blood was shed. The blood of God. I know, he said, that after I
leave, after my departing, grievous wolves enter in among you. You
know, there always have been more wolves than shepherds. Always
have been. Always have been. Don't you have a little lamb
right now? Back when we had chickens, I
never, before we had chickens, I never saw any foxes. Never
saw any foxes. Before we had chickens, the foxes
came out of the woodwork. I mean, they were everywhere.
Couldn't believe how many foxes in this area. There always have been more wolves
than shepherds. Our Lord said that many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Many are called, but few are
chosen. Watch out for the wolves, and
a good under-shepherd will do that. I tell you, who will hate
him calling names is the wolves. Only a wolf would hate that. Verse 32, Paul said, Now, brethren, I commend you
to God. He closes with this, I commend you to God. Brethren,
this is what I want to do. I commend you to God because that's who has you. I leave you with this one thing
Paul said then and this Paul says now. You are in His hands. You are under His control, His
care. Absolutely. Would you get a little
comfort from this? Would you find some comfort? Do like David, who encouraged
himself in his God. You are absolutely, 100%, from
the day you are born, till the day you die under the reign,
the rule, the care of God Almighty. You haven't paid one bill. You
haven't earned one cent of yourself. No, sir. There's not one thing
that has befallen you, but God Almighty ordained it. Romans 8.28 is not just a verse
of Scripture. It's the Word of God, the promise
of God Almighty, the Heavenly Father of His children, to His
children, saying that all things work together. Everything. You are in His hand. Trust Him.
I commend you to God. Believe Him. And while I commend
you to God, I'm going to commend me to God. Believe Him. Trust Him. Rest in the knowledge
that all things are of God. All things. But why? When did David encourage himself
in the Lord? That scripture that says that.
It was when the enemy came down and stole his wife and all his
children, kidnapped them and took them to Ziklag. And David
came back and they were all gone. All his houses were burned with
fire. Is that of God? Verse 32, to the Word of His
grace. The Word of His grace, which
is able to build you up, give you an inheritance among all
them which are sanctified. The Word of His grace. You know,
I was going to have you turn to Ephesians. We were going to
go all the way through chapter 1 and 2. You know these verses, don't
you? You know those verses. Don't take it for granted. Ephesians
1 and 2. The summary there, over there,
is in chapter 2, verses 8 through 10. And by grace are you saved? Oh, it's by grace you're saved.
Because he begins over in chapter 1 by saying, Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, according as yet chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and unblamed, unreproachable in God's sight. Oh, it's by grace.
We were chosen by grace, Brother John, elected by grace, redeemed
by grace, in whom we are accepted in the Beloved, whom we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin.
It has all been revealed to us by grace how God has abounded
toward us in wisdom and knowledge and proved us by revealing unto
us the mystery of his will. He has given us his Spirit, which
is the earnest of his Spirit, sealed until the day of redemption.
He goes on to say, in whom you trust it after you believe, and
that is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, which believe
according to the working of his mighty power. You who were dead
in trespasses, who were dead in trespasses. Walking according
to the course of this world, even as others, children of disobedience
like others, but God, who's rich in mercy for his great love that
he set upon you, quicken you together with Christ by grace,
you say. I commend you to the word of
his grace. You've heard it so many times that you're taking
it for granted. I know you are glad to. If this was the first time you
heard this, you would be on the edge of your seat. I guarantee
you, if somebody in here has never heard it before, the day
they hear it, they'll be going, Me? That's what we'll be doing in
glory. Every time somebody says the word grace, oh, yes, say
it again. It's by the grace of God he doesn't
just open the floor out from under us right now. Ungrateful
as we are for the word of his grace. While the world perishes
and languishes under a false gospel, we, and who are we and who is our
house that he's brought us here, have this every message, every
message, every message, the word of his grace. Well, I commend
you to it. It's able to build you up. It's
able to build you up. If you get cast down, and you
will, if you fall in the ditch right back, you feel like you're
right back where you started, and you will, you live long enough,
you'll fall far enough. And some man will get up, bless
God, some man will get up. And again, Preach the sovereign
grace of God, the sinners, the chief of sinners, and it will
build you right back up. It will lift your soul right
back up. You will say, Why art thou downcast within me, O my
soul? Hope thou in God. I will yet praise the Lord for
His what? His goodness, which is the grace of God. The grace
of God. He's able to build you up and
give you an inheritance. You're not going to get what
you feel like is fair in this world from anybody. Anybody. Nobody's fair. Nobody loves you like they ought
to. Nobody. You're not going to get
what you think is fair in this world. You're going to get what's fair
from God. You're going to get just exactly
what Jesus Christ earned. You're going to be a joint heir.
You're going to get everything that's coming to Him. Everything that's coming to Him. Joint heirs with Christ. Now, I commend you to that. That's
what all the sanctified have come to. Those have been set
apart. What sets them apart? Grace. Grace. Grace. All right. Let's sing. There's only one
song to sing. Is it 236? What is it? 236. Why
do we need a book? 236. Let's just sing our four verses.
Stand. Stand as we stand.