Good morning. I was thinking as we were singing
that hymn that if there's anything that we know nothing about, it's
holiness. We really don't. We believe that
our God's holy. We believe that he's completely
other, which is what the word holy means, other, separate. He's completely other than we
are. There's nothing in us that's like him and nothing in him that's
like us. And we bow before him and we
worship him because he is holy. But what all that means, I don't
know. One day we'll see him in all
the glory of his holy splendor and we'll have a little bit better
understanding then. I want to ask you to take your
bulletin and open it up and take notice of the conference schedule
starting this Friday night. I know that most of you know
already and are prepared for that and praying for that, but
I want to encourage you to pray this week. Chris will be bringing
our first message on Friday night. Kevin and Todd will preach Saturday
morning and Sunday morning. We'll have a meal before the
service on Friday night and everybody brings something on Sunday and
we'll eat together after the service on Sunday. So, Please pray for these men, pray
for yourselves. And I would encourage you to
take advantage of this opportunity to invite somebody that maybe
you've talked to about the gospel and wanted them to hear. Sometimes
people will come to a special event when they won't come on
a regular Sunday. And so take advantage of that
opportunity to encourage someone to come. Saturday night, one message.
Friday night, I'm sorry. Saturday morning, there was an
error in the bullets in the last few weeks. Saturday morning,
we will have two messages. It's corrected this morning.
So thank you, Tom. All right, we're going to be
looking in God's Word to a passage out of Acts chapter 19. I've
titled this, When Christ is Preached. When Christ is preached, we can
expect these same things to happen here as they did in Ephesus 2,000
years ago. If Christ is lifted up, then
these things always follow in the preaching of the gospel. So, let's pray together. Our
Heavenly Father, once again, you have been merciful
and gracious to us. And in your good providence,
you have brought us again to this place where your word is
opened, Lord, physically, but we pray that you would open it
spiritually. We pray that you would make it alive and effectual
to our hearts and that we would be brought by your spirit to
see Christ and to cast our care upon him, knowing that he cares
for us. Lord, that you would enable me to be bold in preaching the gospel
and that you would enable your people to have ears to hear,
not the voice of a man, but the voice of God. Lord, that you
would bring about the results of the preaching of Christ as
you always have done. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. A couple of these verses we've
already looked at, but in order to understand all that's happening
here in Ephesus, I want to back up again to verse eight. in Acts
chapter 19 verse 8, and he went into the synagogue as was his
habit. The Lord had commanded the disciples
to preach the gospel first to the Jews, and so the apostles'
pattern of preaching was to go into the synagogue and preach
first to the Jews, but when they rejected the gospel, then He
brought the same message to the Gentiles. So this city of Ephesus
had a synagogue, there was a congregation of Jewish people there, and he
spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading
the things concerning the kingdom of God. The scripture says that after
John the Baptist that the Lord Jesus Christ went preaching the
gospel of the kingdom of God. And so preaching the kingdom
of God and preaching Christ and preaching the gospel is all the
same thing. It's all the same thing. So here
we have the Lord defining preaching as the preaching of the kingdom
of God. And we see that the Lord gave his preacher boldness in
preaching the gospel, in lifting up Christ. It's important that
we understand what this word boldness means. It doesn't mean
to be boisterous. It doesn't mean to be loud or
offensive. It means to be clear, unambiguous. It means that you're not using
politically correct speech. It means that no one can misunderstand
what you're saying. That's the way I want our preaching
to be. You know, people are offended with clear speech because it
doesn't give them an opportunity to interpret it for themselves. We stand when we preach the gospel
and we just say, thus saith the Lord. You've got no contribution
to make in this. This is God's Word. And I'm reminded
of when the apostles were preaching the gospel right after Pentecost
and the Sanhedrin brought them in and the scripture says that
they were ignorant and unlearned men, the apostles who were preaching
the gospel. were not educated like the Pharisees
were. They didn't have the degrees,
they didn't have the accolades that men give, but they were
bold and they took notice of them that they had been with
Jesus. That's where boldness comes from, being with Christ.
And so we We don't preach the gospel in a way that, well, it
could mean this or it could mean that. Let the politicians talk
like that. Let the religious hucksters talk
like that. When we preach Christ, we don't
leave any opportunity for there to be a misunderstanding of what
we're saying. And that's how Paul preached,
and that's how we ought to preach. And notice I said we. because
preaching is not a one-man event. It is something that's done by
the church. We're going to see that in the
second hour. When we go to Judges chapter four, we're gonna see
that J.L. who nailed Sisera to the ground
is a picture of the church and the preaching of the gospel.
This is something that we do together. We pray to this end
that the Lord will enable us to be clear and bold. Notice also that the scripture
says that when Paul preached, he disputed. Now that doesn't
mean that he was arguing with them. It means that he proved
his point from the scriptures. And I would say to you what I've
said many times over the years, don't take my word for it. What
sayeth the scriptures? I love what the Bible says about
those in Berea. When Paul was run out of Thessalonica
in Acts chapter 17 and he went to Berea and the scripture says
that the Bereans were more noble than those in Thessalonica because
they received the word of God joyfully and they searched the
scriptures to see if these things were true. What does the Bible
say? That's our only argument. It's
our only plea. We have no other evidence. We
have no other proof. We don't need any other proof.
God's people believe what God has said, and all they want to
know is what saith the scriptures. They don't need any other evidence
from history or from some dead theologian or from a creed or
a confession. uh what does the bible say and
that's what that's what paul was doing and so he was preaching
clearly from the scriptures disputing with them and persuading them you know he didn't he didn't
leave his message with a, well, you know, you all go home and
think about it and see what you conclude. No, the spirit and
the bride say come. We never preach the gospel in
such a way as to not persuade men to be persuaded. If we're
persuaded of these things are true, we ought to persuade men
to be persuaded that they're true. And we know that unless
the Lord persuades you, you'll just be talked into something
by a man. And what one man can talk you
into, another man can talk you out of. Nevertheless, we use
the means of preaching boldly from the scriptures, persuading
men to believe God, to come to Christ. I want you to believe
God. I want you to come to Christ. I want to believe God. Oh, what
a persuasion we have. Paul said, I am persuaded. I
am persuaded that he is able. You just, you know, we just take
that part of that verse out of the middle of the verse. He said,
I know whom I believed at the beginning of that verse. And
then he said, I know, I am persuaded that he is able. Just take that
one statement. That's our persuasion that our
God is able to do what? To save. He's able to save to
the uttermost. He's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. He is able. and I'm
not. He's holy and I'm a sinner. He's omnipotent, I'm without
power. When we were yet without strength,
when we had no strength, Christ died for the ungodly. That's
what we're persuaded of. And it's the Holy Spirit that
brings that persuasion to the heart. Now notice that he's speaking
boldly, from the Scriptures, disputing and persuading them of things concerning the kingdom
of God. Now, when we preach the gospel
and we talk to our family members and friends about the gospel,
they may want to dispute some doctrinal point. They may want
to say, well, now wait a minute. You're talking about particular
redemption? You mean that God only loves
the elect and that Christ only died for his elect? I've got
a problem with that. Or you talk to them about election
and you tell them that God, according to his own sovereign will and
purpose, chose a particular people before the world ever began.
You talk to them about irresistible grace that is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
And they want to dispute those things. They want to say, well,
now, wait a minute. Doesn't everybody have a chance? And doesn't man
have a free will? Those doctrinal points are not
really the problem. They're not really the problem.
That's not what they have a dispute with. They have a dispute with
one thing, the sovereignty of God, the rule and reign of the
Lord Jesus Christ over all. That's the problem. You see,
if election's true, then God is sovereign in salvation from
before time ever began. If particular redemption is true,
then God is sovereign in salvation accomplishing the work of redemption
for his people on Calvary's cross. If God is sovereign in salvation,
then it's not up to man's free will. It's up to God to show
mercy and to open the eyes of the understanding. And I've got
a problem with somebody taking control of me. We will not have
that man to reign over us. That's the problem. That's the
problem. It's always the problem. That's
really the only problem. Men don't have a problem with
anything else. They have a problem with the kingdom of God. Do you see that? And if you haven't
bowed to the Lord Jesus Christ, it's because you've got a problem
with God reigning sovereign over you. It's just, That's just what
it boils down to. That's the bottom line. That's
the bottom line. So he's speaking boldly, disputing
from the scriptures, persuading them to bow, to believe, to yield
to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He's sovereign. He's sovereign
in salvation. It's what we preach. They said,
we preach the kingdom of God. John chapter 18, when our Lord
was standing before Pilate and Pilate said, are you the king
of the Jews? Because that's what he had heard. And the Lord said, do you ask
this of yourself? Is it because someone else has
told you that? And Pilate in frustration said,
are you a king? And what'd the Lord say? For this cause came I into the
world, and for this purpose was I born, to bear witness to the
truth. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me. What is the truth? The truth
is that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. He's God. And one day he's going to come
riding on that white stallion with King of Kings and Lord of
Lords written upon his thigh. And all men will find themselves
bowing to him. Every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Some will be brought to bow with
the rod of God's justice at the back of their knee. Others will
be brought to bow right now. by the love of God, causing them
to see. You see, the truth is, He is
Lord. He reigns sovereign over each of our lives. He reigns
sovereign over your life right now. Whether you believe Him
or not, whether you bow to Him or not, He's going to have His
way. And to bow to Him is to know
Him as a merciful, loving, Compassionate, gracious God, who only has good
for his people. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you. Thoughts of good, not of evil. I'm gonna bring you to your expected
end. This is what we're preaching. Jesus Christ is Lord. I want you to be persuaded of
that. I want you to be so persuaded
to that, that in your heart, you find yourself just bowing
to Him. Just confessing your complete
dependence upon Him for the next breath that you draw, for the
forgiveness of your sin, for the hope of your salvation, for
everything in your life. This is what preaching is. We're preaching Christ. We're
lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ Yeah, you remember our Lord told
Pilate, he said, my kingdom's not of this world. Oh, if my
kingdom were of this world, my disciples would fight. You see,
we don't get involved in political issues in this world. You know,
there's a kingdom of men. Let the kingdom of men pursue
the things of this. They that mind the things of
the flesh do pursue the things of the flesh. That's just the
way. We're minding the things of the spirit. We're set in our
affections on things above where Christ is seated at the right
hand of God. Jesus Christ is Lord. This is,
this is the kingdom of God. He reigns as King. And you remember
what Pilate did? He put above the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. And he put
it in Hebrew, he put it in Greek, and he put it in Latin. The language
of the Jewish religious could have no mistake about what
that said, that's the Hebrew. The Greek, that's the common
man. They could have no mistake about what was being said. And
the Latin, that's the Roman aristocracy. There could be no dispute or
question about why. You see, the charge was placed
on the condemned. And that was the charge that
Pilate put. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. And the Jews
came to him and said, put on there that he claims to be the
King of the Jews. Pilate said, what I've written,
I've written. Oh, there we have an example of God Almighty, sovereign
over pagan Pilate, directing him to declare the truth about
who the Lord Jesus Christ is, King of the Jews. Oh, this is
the gospel. If you have a problem with anything
in the gospel, It's really a problem with Jesus Christ being Lord,
being king, being sovereign, being ruler, and your unwillingness
to submit to him. That's the bottom line. And everything
else is a smokescreen. It's just a diversion. Well,
one thing I've learned over the years with people is the problems
they often present are not really the root of the problem. You've
noticed that, haven't you? You know, people get aggravated
about something and they'll say, this is a problem. It's not really
the problem. Let's get to the heart of the matter. What really
is going on with you? There it is. There's the heart
of the matter. It's the rule and the reign of
the Lord Jesus Christ over the heart of man. And God's people
by God's spirit are made willing in the day of God's power. And
they come and they bow willingly. This is what the kingdom of God
is. You remember when our Lord said,
for this cause came onto the world to bear witness unto the
truth, Pilate said, truth, truth. Is that what this is all about?
You know, we live in a generation of relativity, don't we? Everything's
relative. And with the PC languages, nothing's
changed. Everything's the same. It was
the same 2,000 years ago as it is now. Men believe that everything's
relative. Why do they believe that? Because
that gives them the opportunity to decide for themselves, to
be the captain of their own ship and the master of their own destiny.
I'm not going to submit to anyone else. I've set myself, 2 Thessalonians
2, on the throne of God and I'm going to be God. That's man's
problem. That's his problem. And that's
what Pilate was saying, don't you know there's no such thing
as truth? You're preaching this as if there's
no other option. There is none. I am the way,
the truth and the life and no man, no man can come to the father
except by me. And God's people say, amen. Oh,
oh, I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful that the Lord
brought me to bow and to believe and to depend upon him. This is really the problem. See, men think they know best,
don't they? Yeah, I know better. I can decide for myself what's
right and what's wrong. And every man, the scripture
says, during the Old Testament days of the prophet, every man
did what was right in his own eyes. Nothing's changed. Still
the same. Every man's doing what's right
in his own eyes. He didn't care what God says
about it. When God makes you to be a sinner, you come to realize What a mess
you've made of things by doing what you thought was right in
your own eyes. And you don't want things done
the way you want them done. You've just come to see that,
you know, every time I put my hand on something and try to
make it what I think it ought to be, it just gets worse. Someone asked me this morning,
tongue-in-cheek they said we're talking about my my schedule
and some of our men were standing outside in the parking lot they
said well yeah and you got counseling too right and I'll tell you what I've said
many times the best counsel I do is from right here when I'm preaching
the Word of God and every single time that I've tried to get engaged
in people's personal problems one-on-one it's gotten worse It really has. I mean, if you
have a question about scripture, ask me, I'll try to answer you
from scripture. But don't pit me between you and your wife
or you and your husband and trying to, you know, trying to fix your
personal problems. Cause if I get involved in it
on a counseling level, my experience over the years is it just gets
worse. I can't fix that. I can tell you the truth. I can
point you to Christ, but he's the only one that can fix your
personal problems. Oh, I'm so thankful I don't have
to spend hours of my time like I did back in religion years
ago. Sabbing people's conscience and trying to give them some
band-aid for their problem and, you know, and trying to give
them a, you know, a word of counsel to... Does that make sense? Am I being
ambiguous? Is this politically correct language
or are we being clear? Oh, this is the kingdom of God,
brethren. It's the kingdom of God. And
when the Lord causes you to see that Jesus Christ is Lord, you'll
do what Blind Bartimaeus said when he said, Jesus, son of David,
have mercy upon me. Oh, have mercy upon me. You'll do what Thomas did when
he bowed before the Lord and said, my Lord and my God, my
God. And each of us have to be persuaded
individually. Now back to what I was just talking
about as far as counseling is concerned. Priestcraft is practiced
in every religion. And I've said this before, men
love it. because the man in the pulpit
gets power and the man in the pew loses his responsibility. Whenever you set up another man
between you and God, you're doing it to avoid the responsibility
of standing in the presence of a holy God and bowing to him
as God, as Lord. You're setting up a man You know,
that's what, that's what Mariology is about in the Catholic church.
Over the years that the humanity of Christ was denied in the doctrine
of the Catholic church and his deity was so exalted that the
people had no one that they could go to. And so they had to create
another person that they could relate to. And so they brought
Mary into the picture. And now you can get to Jesus
through Mary. You can't get to God, but through
Jesus Christ and you can't get to him, but by him, no other
man can help you. Nobody. Are we being persuasive? Are
we, are we disputing from the scriptures? Are we being clear?
This is what, this is the kingdom of God. Come, the Spirit and
the bride say come, bow, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's our hope. Our Lord
spoke in parables and the disciples asked him one time, Lord, why
do you speak to them in parables? And the Lord said, because it
is not for them. to understand the mystery of
the kingdom of God unto you it has been given. This is a great
mystery. The natural man cannot receive
the things of the spirit. Lord, you're going to have to
open the eyes of my understanding. You're going to have to make
me to bow. You're going to have to cause me to believe. Lord,
I need, I need a Lord. I need a savior. Look at just,
just look at what I've done with things. Look at the mess that
I've made of my life and other lives. And Lord, you're holy. Lord, I'm sinful. Save me. Suffer the little children to
come unto me and forbid them not. For such is the kingdom
of God. What do little children have
in common? They're teachable and they're
dependent. They bow and they believe what
their parents tell them. And they know that if they're
not taken care of, they cannot take care of themselves. Suffer
the little children to come unto me for such is the kingdom of
God. And there is but one thing needful,
isn't there? Our Lord, after telling the disciples,
you know, you worry about what you're going to eat. You worry
about what you're going to wear. You worry about what you're going
to live. You worry about all these temporal things. And he said, the Gentiles,
which know not God, they are the ones that seek after these
things. They're the ones that are pursuing fleshly matters
because that's what's important to them. But you seek ye first. What? The kingdom of God and
His righteousness. And all these other things will
be added unto you. It is the one thing needful to
come in submission and faith. to the Lord Jesus Christ, to
bow to him as God and as Lord, and to depend upon him for everything,
your righteousness, your wisdom, your sanctification, your redemption,
everything you need to stand in the presence of the Holy God,
Christ is gonna have to offer, is gonna have to provide that
for you. And everything you need in this
life, You see, once you, once you brought to bow to Christ,
you realize the next breath I draw, he's given it to me. I can't
do anything. A man, here's what God says. A man can receive nothing, no
thing, except it be given to him from above. Now that's talking about the
forgiveness of your sin, of course, but it's talking about everything
else too, isn't it? A man can receive nothing except
it be given to him from above." Oh, and God's people who have
been brought by the Spirit of God to bow to Christ, to believe
on Christ, rejoice in that. Our Lord said, it is easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle And he was talking
about a literal camel and a literal needle. And he said, it's easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. You're not talking
about just material wealth, although material wealth can cause each
of us to lose our dependence upon God. We start resting in
our material possessions, trusting them to get us through. But he's
talking about a richness that every unbeliever has. And that's
the wealth of their own righteousness. The wealth of their own righteousness.
To think that they have something that they can offer to God that
will earn them favor with the Holy God. And the disciples said,
Lord, if that'd be true, who then can be saved? And I love
what our Lord said. With man, it is impossible. You can't just decide one day
you're gonna get rid of your righteousness and trust in Christ. But with God, all things are
possible. You see, we're dependent upon
him for everything, aren't we? Lord, if I'm gonna believe, you're
gonna have to make me to believe. If I'm gonna be saved, you're
gonna have to save me. If I'm gonna have anything, Lord,
you're gonna have to give it to me, Lord. Our Lord said that it's easier
for the publicans and the harlots to enter into the kingdom of
God than it was for the Pharisees. The Pharisees. You know, the, the word holy
means the separated one, other, God is holy. He's other than
we are in every way. The word saint comes from the
same idea that it's that God has separated us and made us
holy in Christ when he placed us in Christ. And you know the
word Pharisee means separated one also. And so the word Pharisee
and the word saint really means the same thing. What's the difference? What's the difference? The difference
is in who does the separating. If I separate myself from other
men and think that I'm better than other men, God, what did
that Pharisee say? God, that I thank thee that I'm
not like other men. That's a Pharisaical view of
yourself, to separate yourself, to think too highly of yourself,
to think that you have some righteousness that you can offer to God for
the hope of your salvation. That's a Pharisee. And the publican
would not so much as look up, but smote himself upon the breast
and said, oh God, have mercy upon me, the sinner, the sinner. God separated that man. Publicans and harlots. Oh, that's what we are, isn't
it? Poor and needy, weak and wounded. I can't help myself. You're gonna
have to take control of all of this mess. The Bible says the kingdom of
God is not meat and drink. In other words, a man is not
made holy by what he puts into his mouth, but by what comes
out of his mouth. For by your words, you shall
be justified. And by your words, you shall
be condemned. What say ye of Christ? Whose God, whose Lord
is he? It all comes back to the Lordship
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They said, well, he's David's Lord. He is David's
Lord. David said unto him, my Lord
said unto the Lord, sit thou here at my right hand until I
make thine enemies thy footstool. Jesus Christ was David's Lord.
He was Abraham's Lord. He was Isaac and Jacob and Lot
and the apostle Paul. The kingdom of God is what he's
preaching. Flesh and blood cannot enter
into the kingdom of God, neither does a corruptible inherit the
incorruptible. Well, that which is mortal must
be made immortal. Who's going to do that? Who's
going to translate us? Who's going to change us into
the image of God and make us acceptable in his presence? What
are we going to do to make that happen? Nothing. Nothing. Lord,
save me. Save me. With boldness, Disputing
from the Scriptures, and persuading men, persuading
men, Jesus Christ is Lord. Bow to Him. There's so much more in this
passage. When the kingdom of God is preached, when Christ
is preached. Go back with me to our text and
let me just read one verse. But when divers were hardened
and believe not, but spake evil of the way. Not a way, the way. Over the years, I've had several
times when been talking to someone about the gospel and they began
to speak against the gospel. And I've tried to encourage them
to be quiet. And I would say that to you from
this pulpit. If you're just being quiet about the gospel, the Lord
hasn't convicted you of it, that's one thing. But once you start speaking against
the gospel, by your words, you'll be justified and by your words,
you'll be condemned. What happened as soon as these,
Paul was in that synagogue for three months, preaching to God. Was that what it was, three months
or six months? There's so many dates in here, I can't remember. What was it? Three months. And
they were listening. And I'm sure they had a lot of
questions. And as soon as they began to speak against the gospel,
God left. The gospel left. Paul left, went
to a man's house by the name of Tyranus and preached there
for the next three years. Don't speak against the gospel.
If you don't understand it, or if you've got questions about
it, or you don't believe it, keep your mouth closed. You start
speaking against it, and you're in a dangerous, dangerous place.
Isn't that true? Let's take a break.