page here. Arise, arise, shake off thy guilty
fears. The bleeding sacrifice in my
behalf appears. Before the throne my surety stands. My name is written on his hands. My name is written on his hands. He ever lives above for me to
intercede His all-redeeming love, His precious blood to plead His
blood atoned for all my sins, and sprinkles now the throne
of grace, and sprinkles now the throne of grace. Five bleeding wounds he bears,
Received on Calvary. They pour effectual prayers,
They strongly plead for me. Forgive him, O forgive, they
cry, Nor let that ransomed sinner die, Nor let that ransomed sinner
die. The Father hears him pray, his
dear anointed one. He cannot turn away the presence
of his Son. His spirit answers to the blood
and tells me I am born of God, and tells me I am born of God. My God is reconciled, His pardoning
voice I hear. He owns me for His child, I can
no longer fear. With confidence I now draw nigh,
And Father, Abba, Father, cry. And Father, Abba, Father, cry. Please be seated. At hymn we just sang, I'm not
sure if the words in your hymnal have been changed, but it's a
testimony of how close you can be to the truth, and yet how
far away. A little leaven truly leavens
the whole lump. Charles Wesley wrote in the second
stanza, his blood atoned for all our race. And we know that's
not true. Everything else in the hymn is
really good. His blood atone for all our sins. Oh, if you
don't have that changed in your hymnal, take your pen out and
mark that up. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 1. Psalm 1. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the man spoken of in this Psalm, but because of the faith
that he has given us to believe on him, these things apply to
all of God's people. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. What is it to walk in the council
of the ungodly? It's to listen to their opinions of the gospel. It is to walk in the council.
A believer doesn't walk in the council of the ungodly because
we don't give a sympathetic ear to the council of unbelievers
as to what the gospel is. And And the second part of that
goes as well, nor standeth in the way of sinners. There is
a way that seems right unto man, but in the end, that way leads
to death. Christ Jesus, the Lord is our way. We don't stand in
the way of sinners. We stand in Christ. Nor sit in the seat of the scornful.
We're going to look in Acts chapter 19 tonight and see how The gospel
created such a stir among the enemies of the gospel in Ephesus,
and it still does. The men scorn the gospel, they
hate the gospel. So those things are true of every
child of God. We walk not in the counsel of
the ungodly, we stand not in the way of sinners, we sit not
in the seat of the scornful. But our delight is in the law
of the Lord. His delight was in God's word. And in his law
doth he meditate day and night. I'm so thankful that the Holy
Spirit does not leave us to ourselves very long. He brings to mind
the things of Christ and causes us to meditate on and reflect
on and think about the things of God. And he shall be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water That is the water of
God's word, and bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His
leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. And we know that's Christ and
us in Christ. Everything he did prospered.
The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which is driven
away. Therefore, the ungodly shall
not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of
the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous. The way of the righteous is Christ,
he is the way. But the way of the ungodly shall
perish. I guess we're gonna welcome four-day-old
Kaylee, Maylee Jane to her first service tonight. What a delight. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, once again,
you have blessed us with the opportunity to come and be here
in this place and call upon your name and open your word and ask
Lord for your mercy and for your grace. Lord, we thank you that
you delight in the praise of your people and that where two
or three are gathered together in thy name, you've promised
to be there. And so, Lord, we rest in your
precious promises, and we trust, Lord, that you would be pleased
to bless us for Christ's sake. Forgive us of our sin. Thank
you for Maile Jane, and Lord, may this be the first of many,
many opportunities for her to sit under the sound of the gospel,
and might you be pleased to call her to thyself. We ask it in
Christ's name, amen. Number two in the spiral, Gospel,
Hymns, Hymnal. Let's all stand together. Number
two. Lord, we come before thee now. At thy feet we humbly bow. O do not our suit disdain. Shall we seek thee, Lord, in
vain? Lord, on Thee our souls depend,
In compassion now descend. Fill our hearts with Thy rich
grace, Tune our lips to sing Thy praise. In thine own appointed
way, now we seek thee, here we stay. Lord, we know not how to
go till a blessing thou bestow. Send the message from thy word
that may joy and peace afford. Let thy spirit now impart Christ's
salvation to each heart. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Acts chapter 19. The Apostle Paul is still in the
city of Ephesus preaching the gospel. Do you remember? In verse
19 of this chapter, there were many that believed the gospel
and brought their books of curious arts. There are books of works
religion and burn them in a fire and now there's a big stir among
the people in Ephesus and over the gospel. The gospel always
divides men. There's an offense to the gospel. The gospel strips men of their
righteousness and leaves them without the hope that they had
once in their works. And that's what we're gonna see
in the rest of this chapter. Notice in verse 23, and the same
time there arose no small stir about that way. No small stir
about that way. that way. That way is the way. The Lord in John chapter 14 told
the disciples, whither I go, you know, and you know the way. Where I'm going, you know, and
you know how to get there. And Thomas said, Lord, we know
not whither you're going. How can we know the way? And
the Lord Jesus Christ said, Thomas, I am the way. I am the way. I'm not gonna show you the way,
I am the way. So this no small stir about the
way is men debating and arguing and being upset and to the point
of a riot's gonna break out later on in this chapter over Christ. over who he is and what he has
accomplished. These people in Ephesus were
worshiping a pagan deity called Diana. And there was a large
temple. Matter of fact, one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world was the temple of Diana in Ephesus. And they were very proud of their
goddess. The interesting thing about Diana
is that she was the goddess of life and she was the goddess
of light. If you look at an idol of Diana, you'll see
that she has a sunburst over her head and she has 15 breasts
on the front side of her body. And these people believe that
she was the one who brought life to everything that was living.
And she was the one that brought light and truth and understanding
to men. And she represents the false
Christs that are so prevalent in our world today. The Lord
said that we're to try the spirits for many false prophets have
gone out into the world. And so nothing's changed. Uh,
we live in Ephesus, the goddess of Diana, uh, men know they've
changed his name. They've changed her name. Most
of most of the people in our city call her Jesus, but it's
Jesus with a small J. And isn't it glorious to know
what our Lord said about himself when he said in John chapter
one, in him is life. All life is in him. We move, we live, we have our
being in Christ. He's the source of all life. In him is life, and the life
was the light of men. His life, both spiritual and
physical, is the light of truth. that reveals the nature of God,
our nature, and how it is that God is pleased to save sinners.
And so all this is found in Christ. He is the way. There is no other
way. When he said, I am the way, Thomas,
I am the truth, I am the life, no man can come unto the Father
except by me. There's no other way. No other
life, there's no other light. And Philip speaks up and he said,
Lord, show us the Father and it will suffice us. Oh, Philip,
I've been with you so long that you don't know that if you've
seen me, you've seen the Father, for I and the Father are one.
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God. He is God,
but he reveals God. And true, the full nature of
God is seen in Christ, who is the way, the way. This always causes a stir among
men, doesn't it? You've seen it in your own family
and in your relationships with men as you've tried to talk to
them about Christ. I'll tell you a brief story. Notice in verse 32, some therefore
cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused,
and the most part knew not whether they were come together. So all
these people from Ephesus came together, and they came together
in what's called the theater. That theater still exists today.
One of the most well-preserved ruins in the ancient world is
the city of Ephesus. Some of the Temple of Diana's
still there, the great library's still there, the theater's still
there. And we were there a few years ago. And I'd been talking
to a man on this, we were on a cruise, I was talking to a
man on the ship about Christ, and we were standing in that
theater. And he asked me, he said, now
what is it that you all believe? And his reaction was pretty much
the same as the reaction of the Ephesians 2,000 years ago when
I told him what we believed. So nothing's changed. You can
go back to the same place or you can have it right here in
Orlando, Florida. There's not going to be a small
stir. There's going to be a great stir
over the gospel when men hear what it is or who it is that
we believe and how He alone is the way. And all these other
substitute ways that men come up with, there is a way. that seemeth right unto man.
What is that way? It's the way of works. But in
the end, that way leads to death. And by nature, we're all there.
The scripture refers to the way of Balaam. which is religion
for profit. And the scripture speaks of the
way of Cain, which is a works gospel. You remember Cain brought
the fruits of his labors in hopes that he would earn favor with
God and God had no regard and no respect for his sacrifice
because unlike Abel, it wasn't a blood sacrifice. God required
the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sin. and nothing
that Cain could bring that he had fashioned with his hands. And that's what we're going to
see. It goes back to the garden. It relates to today. The hands
of man are a picture of his works, his contribution. It's what we
use to work with. And spiritually, when we, you
know, Caleb brought that message on Uzzah, and I'd never seen
Uzzah as a type of Christ. And it was glorious to see it,
because I've always viewed Uzzah as simply a sinner who's trying
to put his hand to the ark, and God kills him because of that. And both are true. But here's
another picture of man taking stones and fashioning with his
hands in order to build an altar. God said, don't do that. As soon
as you put your hand to it, you defile it. As soon as you put
your hand to the ark, you're gonna die. The people of Babel,
what did they have? They had bricks for stone. They
had fashioned those bricks with their hands and they had slime
for mortar. And what were they doing? They
were building a tower to God. They were trying to work their
way to heaven. Nothing's changed because the gospel strips men
of all of those things. It knocks all their bricks down
and it forces them. It declares to them that everything
they touch, they defile. Everything they touch, they defile.
And everything you touch and everything I touch with our hands.
How can a man stand in the presence of a holy God They who have clean
hands and a pure heart. Now, how are you and I going
to have clean hands and a pure heart? Only if we're found in
Christ. His hands were the only hands
that never were defiled. His hands were pure enough to
be able to reach out and touch God. His hands were perfect hands
and we look to the works that he performed. when he offered
himself up to his father as a sacrifice for our sins. That was his work.
That's the work that he performed with his hands. We just sang
it in that hymn that Charles Wesley wrote about the wounds
of Christ crying out to the father, let my redeemed go. And that's
what our Lord's wounds do. They testify to the father that
the wrath of God has been satisfied and the sin's been put away.
His hands are no more. Our hands are the hands of Cain.
Our hands are the hands of Balaam. We'll do something. The Bible
says in Isaiah chapter 53, all we like sheep have gone astray,
each unto his own way. We have our own way of thinking,
don't we? We saw that Sunday. That when we choose our way over
God's way, that's really the root cause of all sin. And the
Lord says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've each
gone into our own way. But the rest of that verse says,
God has laid on him the iniquity of us all. God laid on the Lord
Jesus Christ when he was hanging on Calvary's cross, all the sins
of all of God's elect, and he satisfied God's holy justice
and put those sins away by the sacrifice of himself once and
for all. There's our hope. That's why
the Bible says he was no small stir about this way, this way
that Paul was preaching. And it's interesting, this is
the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter nine. The Bible says that Saul
of Tarsus went to the high priest and got letters allowing him
to enter into the synagogue in Damascus to arrest and bring
back to Jerusalem anybody that was following the way, Christ
the way. then later on in Acts chapter
24 when he was brought by the high priest and that and that
sleazy lawyer by the name of Tertullus. They brought him to
Felix, you remember? And they made all these false
accusations against the Apostle Paul. And Paul says in Acts chapter
24, he said, when he finally had an opportunity to speak and
defend himself, he said, I am guilty of one charge that they're
making of me. I do follow the way. I follow
after Christ. The way, which they call heresy,
is the way in which I worship God and believe all that's written
in the prophets about Christ. So the Lord Jesus is the way
and we're out of the way. Hebrews chapter five, verse two
says, he has compassion on the ignorant and them that are out
of the way. Hebrews five, verse two. The
Lord Jesus Christ looks at those for whom he died and he has compassion
on them because they followed their own way and they are out
of the way. They are out of the way and he
brings them into the way. Romans chapter three, verse nine
says, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that
understand it. There is none that seeketh after
God. They have all gone out of the
way. If God leaves us to ourselves,
we will go out of the way because we started out of the way. If
he leaves us to ourselves, we'll just remain out of the way. And
we won't even know that we're not in the way. After the fall, God, the Bible
says, put man out of the garden and stationed on the east side
of the garden. which is the side that the sun
rises. The Bible says that the Eastern
sky will split when the trump of God sounds and the dead in
Christ to be raised and those of us which are alive be caught
up together with them in the air. The East is always picture
of the coming of Christ. And so he stations these cherubim
at the East gate of the garden. The Bible says to guard the way
of the tree of life. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
that tree of life. And these cherubims, remember
they had flaming swords that were wielded back and forth,
back and forth, back and forth. What is that sword? It's the
Bible, it's God's word. It's what we're doing right now.
We're comparing the spiritual to the spiritual, scripture to
scripture. We're wielding the flaming sword
of God to show the way to the tree of life. John the Baptist, when he said
that I must decrease, he must increase, behold, the Lamb of
God was taken away the sins of the world. What was his call? Make straight the way of the
Lord. These men that were gathered
in this coliseum at Ephesus, we just read that, we read it
in In verse 32, there was much confusion. Most of them didn't
even know why they were there. They didn't know what was going
on. And going back to the Tower of
Babel, when the Lord cursed those men, the languages were just,
you know, we were just in Dominican Republic last week and we met
people from all over the world. And most of them could speak
just a few words of English, and we could not speak anything
that they spoke. It was just confusion. And that's
the way religion is. Man-made religion is not a straight
way. It's a convoluted way. It's a
confusing way. Christ is the way. The Bible
says, if your eye be single, the whole body shall be full
of light. But if the eye be evil, and that word evil means full
of labors, then the whole body shall be filled with darkness.
And if the darkness be light unto you, how great is the darkness
thereof. What the Lord is saying is that
no man is more blind than the one who thinks he can see when
he can't. When he's looking in hope to his works, to his way,
to his contribution for the hope of his salvation. He's blind. He thinks he's got light. He's
blind. That's what happened with these men in Ephesus. They thought Diana was the way. She's the goddess of light. She's
the goddess of life. Surely, surely she's going to
get us to heaven. No, look what, look at verse 26. Moreover, you
see and hear that not alone in Ephesus, but almost throughout
all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away much people saying
that they be no gods, which are made with hands. Can you believe
what this apostle, what this man's saying? that all of these
little idols, this is Demetrius. He was a silversmith and he's
making all these little idols of Diana and selling them to
everybody and making great profit. And can you believe what he's
saying that these aren't gods? Because they were fashioned with
man's hand? Rarely do we find people bowing
down to idols that have been chiseled out of silver or wood
like these were, but they're still doing the same thing. The
figments of men's imagination are multiple. Like the breast
of Diana, there's lots of different sources of life and she provides
this way and that way. Nothing's changed, it's still
the same. Listen to Isaiah chapter 42,
verse 16. I will bring the blind by a way,
by a way that they knew not. We didn't know the way of God.
No man seeketh after God at any time. They've all gone out of
the way. And here's the Lord's promise.
I'm gonna take those who are blind. Those who are blind. Oh, to be able to confess that
you're blind, Lord, if you don't shine the light of the gospel
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ in my heart, I will remain
blind to the truth. I've got no access to the light
unless you shine that light from heaven like you did Saul of Tarsus
and knock me off my high horse and speak to me. Lord, I'm completely
dependent upon you. Remember what those Pharisees
said to the Lord. Are you suggesting that we're
blind? Awesome. And we were students of the Bible.
We've been following after God, what the Lord say, if you were
blind, then your sins would be forgiven. You, you would be able
to see if you were blind, but because you say you can see therefore
your sins remain. Has anything changed? It's the
same today. And believer, you know, that
if the Lord turned the lights out on you, you wouldn't know
anything. He's got complete control of
that. And you are in complete dependence
upon him. But here's his promise. I will
take the blind and bring them by the way, which they knew not. What a precious promise. In Isaiah chapter 43, verse 16, God speaking will make a way
through the sea. In another place, the scripture
says the way of the Lord is through the sea. Now the sea represents
two things. It represents separation. Oceans
that separate continents today is a physical picture of the
spiritual separation that our sin has caused us to have with
God. Your sins have separated you
from your God. And if God doesn't do something
about our sin, they will remain a sea of separation between us
and God. We can't do anything about our
sin. He's going to have to do it. And Christ is the way to
put away our sin. This is why there's no small
stir about the way. It leaves man completely helpless
and dependent upon another to make the way for him. And the
other thing that the sea represents is the turbulence and the troubles
that we go through in this world. And the Lord says here in Isaiah
43, I will make a way in the sea, in the sea. In another place, the Lord says,
there hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to
man. But God is faithful. He will
not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will provide the way of escape. Christ is the way of escape.
What's the Lord telling us here? Is he saying what most people
think that verse means? That God won't put more on you
than you can bear? If he doesn't, you'll never need
him. If he puts your sin on you, you'll have a weight on you that
you can't do anything about. And that's what he's taught.
This is the C. But he makes the way of escape. You see, this burden of sin is
what causes us to flee to Christ. Paul said, I was alive once without
the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived. What was that commandment that
came? Paul was proud of himself of having, Saul of Tarsus was
proud that no man could charge him as being guilty in his outward
behavior, according to the law. Concerning the law, I was blameless. That's what he said. He kept
all the outward requirements of the law. What was the commandment
that smote him? Thou shalt not covet. Now the commandment has come
in power and it has exposed my heart. You see coveting is not
something that other men can see. We think because other people
are pleased with the way we're acting that God's pleased. Here's
what God says, man looks at the outward appearance, God's looking
at the heart. And when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died. I died. God's looking at every
thought and intent and motive of the heart and he charges us
guilty. He says, I'll make a way. Christ
is our way. He's the sin bearer. He's the
sacrifice for sin. He's our surety. He's the successful
savior of sinners that put away the sins of his people, covered
them by his blood. There's our hope. He's the only
way. There is no other way. Isaiah chapter 43 verse 19, I
will make a way in the wilderness. You and I live in a dry and thirsty
land. There's no truth out there. The political pundits aren't
giving us any hope. The educators and the philosophers
don't have any truth. It's all just Band-aids on cancer
patients, you know, it's it's it there's no substance to it
And men are just you know Speaking peace peace when there is no
peace We have peace with God through the way the Lord Jesus
Christ You know all these other things that men are trying to
comfort us with there they Yeah Once you have Christ, you see
through all those other things so that you don't walk in the
counsel of the ungodly anymore. You see the lies of it. You see
the emptiness of it. You see that Christ is all and
that he is in all. He said, I will make a way in
the wilderness and rivers in the desert. I'm gonna make a
way. I'm going to cause the water
of life to flow from the throne of God clear as crystal in the
desert. The desert's gonna blossom. The
desert's gonna bring forth life. You and I live in a desert. We
don't have any life in of ourselves, but here's our hope. We're preaching
a God. who has made the way of life. He is the way of life. He's called the way of holiness.
Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 35, Isaiah 35. You know, men won't have this
because, you remember in John chapter 11, this is amazing to
me, and yet it's not. In John chapter 11, after the
Lord raised Lazarus from the dead, the man had been dead four
days. He was stinking. He'd be brought him forth out
of the grave. And there were multitudes of
people there that watched it happen. They saw it. They saw
him come out. They saw him being unwrapped
like a mummy from, you know, from the, and, and some of them
believed, some of them ran back to Jerusalem and told the Pharisees.
And they got the Sanhedrin together, the council together. And they
said, what are we going to do? This man performeth many miracles. And if we allow him to continue,
the Romans will come and they will take away both our place
and our nation." We're more concerned in preserving the power that
we have over the people than we are in hearing anything about
the way. Their way was the way of Balaam.
religion for profit, which is really what we're going to see
as we move on through chapter 19 in Acts. But let's look at this
verse in Isaiah 35 at verse 7. Isaiah 35 at verse 7, and the
parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs
of water, in the habitation of dragons, where each lay shall
be grass with reeds and rushes. There we are. We've parched this ground with
sin. The Lord said, it's going to
bring forth thorns and thistles, and that's what it does. The
Lord said, I'm going to make a pool in a parched ground. I'm going to make a river through
the desert. And where dragons are, that word
dragons also is translated serpents. It's Satan and sin and all the
things that cause so much heartache and shame and death in this world. He said, I'm going to bring forth
grass. and my sheep are gonna graze in that grass. Look at
verse eight. And a highway shall be there
and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The way of holiness. Why were
these Ephesians worshiping Diana? They were trying to establish
a holiness before God. It's what religion's all about.
Man-made, free will, works religion is men trying to establish acceptance
before God. The only way you're going to
be accepted before God is to be perfect, sinless, holy. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
called the way of holiness. How are we going to stand in
the presence of a holy God except to be found in him? not having
any of our own righteousness which is of the law, but that
righteousness which is by his faithfulness to his Father. He's the way, there is no other
way. And here's God's promise, I'm
gonna make a highway, a straight road. You're not going to be
looking here and there. You're not going to be, you know,
full of labors. You're going to have a single
eye looking towards Christ. And it shall be called the way
of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over
it, but it shall be for those, the wayfaring men, though fools
shall not err therein. There we are, foolish by nature,
wayfaring men. But when God puts you on the
way, You're not going to air off of it. You're not going to
lose sight of Christ. Oh, we turn our eyes away from
him multiple times every day, but he keeps bringing us back.
Doesn't he? He keeps bringing us back. Here's his promise. The wayfarers, the fools, the
ones who are so prone to wander are not going to air from the
way of holiness. When I put them on that road,
they're going to stay on that road. I will never leave them nor forsake
them. Second Peter chapter two, verse 21, the Lord Jesus Christ
is called the way of righteousness, the way of righteousness. There's
no righteousness outside of Christ. Just like there's no life outside
of Christ. There's no light outside of Christ.
There's no salvation outside of Christ. The righteousness
that God requires from you and me is absolute perfect obedience
to God. And that can only be found in
the way. That's why the Lord Jesus said,
to Thomas, Thomas, I am the way, you do know the way, and you
know where I'm going, I'm going to be with my father, and I'm
the way, the truth, and the life. 2 Peter 2, verse 2, the Lord Jesus
Christ is called the way of truth, the way of truth. Everybody thinks
they've got some truth, don't they? Now you wouldn't, you wouldn't
adhere to any religion if you didn't believe it was true. And
yet men are deceived because the Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the way, the truth. There's no truth outside of me. I don't just show you bits and
pieces of truth. I am the truth. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 8 the
Lord Jesus Christ is called the way into the holiest Now, you
know what? That is the holiness the holiest. That's the Holy of Holies That's
where the Ark of the Covenant was with the mercy seat on top. I with the cherubim, with their
wings spanned over the top of the mercy seat. And the high
priest went in once a year and he put the blood on the mercy
seat. And the Lord Jesus is called
the way into the holiest, the holy place. And that's exactly
what happened when he bowed his mighty head on Calvary's cross.
When he cried, it is finished. Everything that God requires
for that straight way has been accomplished in my life, and
in my death, and in my resurrection, and in my ascension to the Father,
and in my intercession for you, and in my sending my spirit to
bring faith to your heart. I am the way. The veil was rent
from top to bottom. You remember that veil? And that
veil was It was beautifully embroidered bale. It was royal blue on the
top and blood red on the bottom and where the two blue and red
came together in the middle, it was purple. And it reminds
us of the deity and the humanity of Christ and the death of the
God-man on Calvary's cross as our priest and as our king. And that bale was rent miraculously
from top to bottom. just torn right in two. And prior
to that day, the priest would have been saying to everyone
that even got thought about getting close to that holies of holies,
get away, get away. They'd killed you if you tried
to go in there. And now what's the Lord saying? Come, come. The way into the holiest has
been made by the blood of Christ. It's been put on that mercy seat.
And the Spirit and the bride say, come, come. And God's people hear that, the
ones for whom Christ died, and they come. They just come rejoicing. Oh, finally, I have a way. I
have the way. Christ, I have the Son of God
to stand in my stead, to be my Savior, my sacrifice. My surety,
my sin bearer, he's my life. And all the light of truth that
can only come from God will come through Christ. There's no small stir about this
way. Men don't believe this. You know that. You talk to your
friends and family members about the way. And they're going to
have a, they're going to have a statue of Diana to pull out
with a whole chest full of breasts to feed the life to one or the
other, whichever way. And they're going to have a source
of light and, and the light to them is utter darkness. There's
no small stir about the way. Romans chapter three, verse 17
speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as the way of peace, the way
of peace. How can a man have peace with
God? How can a man be accepted in the presence of a holy God?
Only to be found in the way, to be found in Christ. He's the
king of peace, the prince of peace. He is our peace with God
and God's pleased with him. And he's pleased with all that
are in him and looking to him for all their righteousness. Acts chapter 16, verse 17, the
Lord Jesus is called the way of salvation. Salvation is of
the Lord from election to read, to, to, to, to, uh, uh, what
Christ did on Calvary's cross, through redemption and regeneration
and sanctification and glorification. We didn't make any contribution
to any of it, did we? He is the way. He did it all. He entered into that covenant
relationship with the Father. And I love what he said to Brian
Bartimaeus, after he healed Brian Bartimaeus, he asked him, you
know, what would you have me to do for you? Oh Lord, that I might
see. And he healed him, gave him sight. Here's the light of
the gospel. And then he told Bartimaeus,
he said, go your way. And that next verse says, and
he followed Jesus in the way. In the way. What a, there's,
God says, go your way. What is your way? What is my
way? Is it the way of the world, the
way of man's opinion, the counsel of the ungodly, the seed of the
scornful, the way of the sinner? Or is it Christ, the way of life,
the way of righteousness and peace? There'll be no small stir over
this. The gospel The Lord Jesus said, I did not come to bring
peace. I came to bring a sword. Your enemies will be of your
own household. That grieves our souls. We don't
want people to be our enemies. We want them to be friends with
God and friends with us. And we plead with the Lord for
that. And we talk to them in hopes
that they will be brought to Christ. But Paul wasn't causing
any of the dissension. And he was just preaching the
gospel. They were the ones that were,
they were the ones that got so upset over it. But same thing's
true now. There's no small stir over the
way. This way is very clear. Our merciful heavenly father, We pray that you would shine
the light of the gospel in the glorious person and work of thy
dear son in our hearts, and that you would put us in the way and
keep us in the way for Christ's sake. For it's in his name we
ask it, amen. 296, let's stand together, 296. so