again. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Come unto me and rest. Lay down, thou weary one, Lay
down and head upon my breast. I came to Jesus as I was weary
and worn and sad. I found in Him a resting place
and He has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give. The living water, thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink and live. I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul
revived, and now I live in Him. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
I am this dark world's light. Look unto me, thy morn shall
rise, and all thy day be bright. I looked to Jesus, and I found
in him my star, my sun. And in that light of life I'll
walk till traveling days are done. Please be seated. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. I've titled this message of man
or of God. What God is telling you and me
is that what man has done will come to naught. But what God
has done cannot be put down. Cannot be defeated, it cannot
be overcome. These words were spoken in Acts
chapter five by a man by the name of Gamaliel. who was an
unbeliever. But we know from other parts
in scriptures, Bildad spoke some words of truth in the book of
Job. There's no evidence that he was a believer. Balaam, we
know, was not a believer. He was a false prophet after
his own personal gain, and yet he spoke words of truth. The
high priest that said, did you not know that one must die for
the nation, that we all not die? Caiaphas, the high priest, and
the scripture says that God gave him those words to speak. Being
the high priest, he spoke prophetically about what the Lord Jesus Christ
would do in terms of dying for the nation of Israel. And so
the Lord has given unbelievers words of truth to speak. And I'm not in any way suggesting
that God would use an unbeliever to preach the gospel, because
they didn't even know what they were saying when they said it.
But in God's Word, there are several examples that we find
here in Acts chapter 5. Look at verse 38. Now I say unto
you, refrain from these men and let
them alone. For if this council, the idea
and purpose behind what they're doing, that's what the word council
means, and or this work, what they're actually doing and what's
actually happening, be of men, it will come to naught. But If it be of God, you cannot
overthrow it. You cannot defeat it. You cannot
cast it down, lest happily you find yourself to fight against
God. Of man or of God? If it is man, it's definitely
going to come to naught. If it's of God, it will be successful,
and you can't overthrow it. Now, I want my salvation to be
of God. Whatever I put my hand to is
going to come to naught. But what God has done cannot
be overthrown. You find yourself fighting against
God. Who wants to be there? Now, who is this man that spoke
these words? Well, his name was Gamaliel.
If you look back with me to verse 33 in Acts chapter 5, when
they heard that they were cut to the heart and took counsel
to slay them. Now, this is the Sanhedrin. This is the religious leaders
of Israel. who have heard Peter accuse them
of putting to death the Son of God and stripping them of their
righteousness and declaring that the only hope of salvation is
in the accomplished work that Jesus of Nazareth did on Calvary's
cross. And so when they heard these
things, they were angry, they were offended, and they wanted
to put them to death. Then, verse 34, stood there up
one in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel. Now there's only
two times that Gamaliel is mentioned in the scriptures. Once here
and once later in the book of Acts where Paul speaks of his
life as Saul of Tarsus before his conversion and he said that
he studied at the feet of Gamaliel. Gamaliel was the most well-known
scholar of that day, and Saul of Tarsus was his student. And
so that's where Saul got his prominence as a Pharisee. So they're stood up, and the
reason I'm making this point is there's a lot of speculation
about Gamaliel in religion. There are some religious denominations
that have made a tomb for him and declared him to be this and
that, and there's no evidence of that in the scriptures. The
only thing we know about him is what's given to us here and
what Paul tells us in Acts 22. Then stood there up, one in the
council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, and in reputation
among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little
space. This guy was an expert in the
Bible. And he had a reputation among
all the people. Everybody knew who Gamaliel was. And he said unto them, you men
of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching
this man. For before these days, arose
Theodos, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number
of men, about 400, joined themselves, who was slain, and all, as many
as obeyed him or believed him." That word obeyed there means
believed. So Gamaliel is bringing up some
historical examples of the past. He said there was a rebel riser
by the name of Theodos who had a great following and people
believed him, but he died. And as many as obeyed him were
scattered and brought to naught. After this man rose up Judas
of Galilee in the days of taxing and drew away much people after
him. And he also perished and all, even as many as believed
him, were dispersed. So, and Gamaliel is using these
historical evidences and he's using his knowledge of the Bible
to say that if what these men are preaching is of men, it'll
be like Theodos, it'll be like Judas of Galilee, it's gonna
come to naught. But if it be of God, you can't overthrow it
or you'll find yourself fighting against God. What a glorious statement. Gamaliel reminds us of Agrippa
and Festus who heard the gospel and Agrippa said, Paul, almost
thou persuadest me to become a Christian. These men knew the
scriptures and they knew the claims that were being made about
Jesus of Nazareth and they listened to the gospel, but they did not
believe. And that's Gamaliel. He's trying
to find a place on the fence. He's trying to find some middle
ground, some place of compromise. And that's what religious men
do. They won't take the gospel all
the way to its end. They'll compromise the gospel.
They'll change the gospel. The other thing that Gamaliel
is saying is, as versed as he was in the Scriptures. He's not
relying upon the revelation that's made in Scripture. He knew all
those passages in Scripture that referred to the coming of the
Messiah, and he had heard enough to know that Jesus of Nazareth
had fulfilled those promises that God made. But rather than
relying upon the promises of God for the revelation of truth,
he said, let's see what comes of this. Let's wait for some
evidence. Let's wait for some results to
see if God's in it or not. Let's walk by sight rather than
by faith. We know that Jesus is the Christ,
the son of the living God, because God has given to us faith to
believe the revelation that's made about him in his word. A wicked and perverse generation
seeketh after a sign. See, Gamaliel was saying, let's
wait till we see a sign. Let's wait till we get some evidence
to decide whether or not this is of man or whether this is
of God. Denying everything he knew about
the scriptures, he was waiting for an experience. You know that
still happens today? Faith comes by hearing and hearing
comes by the word of God. Brethren, don't wait for an experience.
Don't wait for a feeling. Don't wait for some outward evidence.
You've got all the proof you need in the revealed truth of
God's word. Otherwise, you'd be like Immanuel. He knew the history. He didn't
know Christ. What was the difference between
the two examples that he gave and the Lord Jesus Christ. Theodos
and Judas of Galilee. What does he say? They perished. They're dead. And their disciples
are gone. They're scattered. What makes
the difference between Theodos and Judas of Galilee and Jesus
of Nazareth? Why seek ye the dead among the
living? He's not here. The Lord Jesus
Christ isn't dead. He rose from the dead. He conquered
death. He conquered the grave. God successfully
delivered him from the pit of death and hell because the Lord
had succeeded in doing everything the Father sent him to do. He
was alive. You see, that's the proof, isn't
it? The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only proof.
You know this passage, a wicked, A fleshly, a perverse generation
is always looking for a sign, but the only sign that's going
to be given to this generation is the sign of Jonah, who spent
three days and three nights in the belly of the whale. And then
he was brought forth. What did Jonah say when he was
in the belly of the whale? Salvation is of the Lord. And immediately the whale vomited
him out onto dry ground. There's the gospel. The Lord
Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and his resurrection is
the evidence. It's the proof that God is satisfied
with what he accomplished. And it's the only sign that we're
going to be given. Don't look for another sign.
We don't need another sign. We've got the resurrection. God
rose him from the dead. He rose victorious over death
and over the grave. If these men's counsel or if
their words be of men, it'll come to naught. If what they
think, the purpose that they're trying to achieve, if their advice
and their ideas and their reason and the evidences of their outward
work be of man, it'll come to naught. How does this principle or this
truth apply to me and you? Well, first of all, it applies
in terms of temporal matters. Temporal matters. How many times
have you put your hand to something and made it worse? If it'd be a man, it'll come to naught. How many
times we presumed upon God rather than going before him and asking
him to give us wisdom and blessing and show us what we ought to
do. We just rush ahead like fools and we end up making things worse
and falling flat on our face. If it be a man, it'll come to
naught. Try to fix something without
seeking the Lord and only make it worse. Turn with me to the book of James,
chapter four. Look at verse 13. Go to now. You that say today or tomorrow
we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy
and sell and get gain. How many times have you made
your plans for profit without consulting the Lord? And you
found in the end that it was all of man and it all came to
naught. Whereas you know not what shall
be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is
even a vapor that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth
away. What is your life? You're making
all these plans for your life. Don't you know that your life
is a vapor? Don't you know that it's here for just a little while
and vanishes away? Don't you know that you have
no promise for tomorrow? That God holds your life in his
hand? If He holds your life in His
hand, then He holds everything else in His hand. Look at the
next verse. For that you ought to say, if
the Lord will, we shall live and do this and that. If it be
God's will, the sun will rise tomorrow and I'll be drawing
breath. If it not be God's will, I'll be dead. And if it be God's
will, we'll do this and that tomorrow. But now you rejoice in your boastings,
all such boasting, all such rejoicing is evil. How many times we've set out
to do things in our own in our own knowledge, in our own wisdom,
in our own desires, in our own purposes, and it came to naught.
That's a blessing, brother. That's a blessing. For the works
of our hands to come to naught and for God to remind us when
that happens of our dependence upon him. You see, the world
might curse God when something like that happens. You know,
I work so hard and I've lost it all. And they curse God, God,
why is this happening to me? And the child of God said, you
know, Lord, I saw that all by myself. I didn't, I didn't seek
your wisdom and you brought it to naught. And I'm thankful for
that, that you caused me to see my need for you. If it be of man, it'll come to
naught. If it be of God, you cannot overthrow
it. You remember David in second
Samuel chapter 18. The Lord told David to take us,
take a, uh, to count the numbers of the people and to divide them
up into, into, uh, uh, into battle, uh, into armies. And they were
to defeat their enemy and they did. And then, uh, by the end
of second Samuel, at the end of David's life, David became
proud. And he said, let's count the
people again. I want to see how many is here. And Joab said to
David, said, David, don't do this. This is not given to you
by God. And David did it anyway. In his
pride, he wanted to know how much success I've had. It was
God that told him the first time to count the people and to defeat
the enemy. It was God that enabled him to defeat the enemy. And
now at the end of David's life, he's thinking, you know, I've
been pretty good king. I've been pretty successful.
Let's count the people and see how many we got. Scripture says the Lord sent
a prophet to David and said, gave him three choices. Didn't
he said you can fall to the enemy or you can have, you can have
a, uh, uh, uh, drought for seven years, or you can have a pestilence
for three days, which will you choose? And David realized, he
said, Lord, where's your mercy. We'll fall to your hand, whatever
you say. Lord, three days of pestilence, whatever. 70,000
men died in three days. People call this coronavirus
a pestilence sent by God for the sins of this world. It's
not. It's not. God sends a pestilence. People aren't asymptomatic. Okay? When God sends a pestilence,
everybody dies. What a miserable failure our
God is if this is a pestilence. If this is the judgment and wrath
of God, we got a pretty weak God. No, when God sends wrath
and judgment, everybody's gonna die. Secondly, If it be of man, it'll
come to naught. And you know from your own experience
how many times you've set out to do something without consulting
God and it came to naught, and what a blessing. But if it be
of God, if we seek the face of the Lord and wait on the Lord,
you can't overthrow it. It'll be successful, won't it?
That's true in temporal matters. It's true in our understanding
of the Bible. How many seminaries, how many
commentaries, how many theologians have written things about the
Bible and got it all wrong? You know what the problem with
commentaries are, and I've got a bunch of them, is that the next generation
just repeats what the previous generation said because they
learned it from the previous generation and error is just
propagated from generation to generation, from theologian to
theologian. Why? Because they got it from
man. And if it comes from man, it's coming to naught. They didn't
seek the Lord. They didn't compare the spiritual
to the spiritual and ask, what does this really mean? They learned
what they learned from a man. Now, what does that say to me
and you? The natural man cannot receive the things of the spirit
for they are spiritually discerned. He cannot know them. You and
I are dependent upon the Spirit of God to open the eyes of our
understanding to reveal to us the meaning of the Bible. No
amount of study, no amount of intellect, no amount of education
is going to reveal to you the glory of Christ hidden in the
scriptures. It's called the mystery of the
gospel. And it's hid and only God can uncover it. And every
time we go to God's word and every time we come to this place,
we need to be saying, Lord, take the scales off my eyes. Lord,
unstop my ears. Lord, give me a heart of faith.
Help me to hear and to believe what you're saying to me. Gamaliel
had studied the Bible. He didn't know what it meant. The Pharisees, the Lord said
to them, you search the scriptures, oh, you're diligent students
of the Bible because you think in them you have eternal life.
You think, well, if you can just learn enough history and theology
and memorize enough and get it all, you can earn eternal life. That's what the Lord said. And
then he went on to say, but these are they which testify of me.
You've missed the meaning of the Bible. Why? Because you didn't
come to God to get understanding. You got it from another man.
You just passed on error from generation to generation. That's
why the Lord said, you have heard that it was said, but I say unto
thee. You know, the Lord never said,
thus saith the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ, all throughout
the, how many times are we reading the Bible? Thus saith the Lord,
thus saith the Lord, thus saith the Lord. The Lord Jesus never
spoke like that. He said, I say unto you. He didn't have to say, thus saith
the Lord. He was the living word of God. Oh, that God would, I
heard somebody say recently, he said, if you, if you believe
everything you read, you need to start reading the Bible. You know, that'd be believe what
God has said. That's what faith is. We have
the revealed truth of scripture, the word of God. David said in Psalm 139, he said,
these things are too wonderful for me. I cannot understand the
Lord. You're going to have to, you
got to make yourself known to me. If it be of man. It'll come to naught. Now I can
tell you my own personal experience. Everything I ever learned from
man. Before the Lord called me and opened my eyes and revealed
Christ to me. It all came to naught just like
that. But if it be of God. Cannot overthrow it. What God
teaches you, no man can unteach you. You can't not believe what
God teaches you. People in religion are moving
from one position to another and one opinion to another and
that's all they are, just man's opinions. It would be of God. You'd be taught of the Lord.
It cannot be overthrown. It cannot be taken down. This truth applies to temporal
matters. It applies to understanding the
Bible and it applies to faith. We hear people talk about faith
as if it's your contribution to your salvation. And I'm here
to say to you by the authority of God's word, if your faith
be of you, it'll come to naught. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. If your faith, what do they say? Accept Jesus. Invite Jesus into
your heart. Make Jesus Lord of your life
and He'll save you. He's done His part. Now He's
waiting on you to do your part. And if you'll do your part, then
you can make what He did work for you and you'll be saved.
And that will come to naught. It won't save you. It's a lie.
It's a lie. If God doesn't give you faith,
you don't have faith. Men make a work out of faith. That's their works. It's their
faith, their contribution to their salvation. Lord, if you
don't, if you don't save me, if you don't give me faith, if
you don't open the eyes of money, if you don't take out my heart
of stone and put in a heart of flesh, if you don't cause me
to come into thee, if you don't make me to believe upon thee,
I won't. And I'll deceive myself and fool myself in thinking that
something I've done is evidence of my faith. If it be a man, it'll come to
naught. But if it be a God, you cannot
overthrow it. That applies to temporal things,
it applies to understanding the Bible, it applies to faith, and
it applies to righteousness. Righteousness. If your righteousness
is because of something you've done or something you haven't
done, That righteousness will come to naught. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags before God. I know I've said this many times,
I'm going to say it again, and I don't say it in order to exaggerate
a point. It's the simple truth. If God
judges you or me based on the best thing that you and I have
ever done, you take one second of your life, the best thoughts
you ever had, the most sincere prayer you ever had, the greatest
sorrow you ever had for your sin. The time when you thought
you were worshiping God, if God judges you for that, apart from
Christ, you're going to go to hell for that. That's what sin is. And yet men think, I got something
I can present to God. I've got some good works. I've
got some good deeds. And if it be of man, it'll come
to naught. We have no righteousness outside
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all our righteousness. And if it be of God, you cannot
overthrow it. You cannot defeat it. The righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God, we have quoted this verse
in 2 Corinthians 5.21 this morning, the first hour, that God made
him sin. Who knew no sin? That we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Not having my own
righteousness, which is by the works of the law, but that which
is by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. If it be of man, it's
going to come to naught. You don't want to stand before
a holy God based on anything you've ever done. All but we can say in Christ,
I have kept all my testimonies. All the shame and all the guilt
has been taken away. If we look to our works or to
our evidence, How many people I've seen leave
this world thinking, have I done enough? Have I done enough? I've watched people die pleading
that, have I done enough? And the answer is no, no, you
haven't. You can't. You have no righteousness. Christ is all our righteousness
before God. If it be of man, it'll come to
naught. If it be of God, you cannot overthrow
it. That applies to temporal things.
It applies to our understanding of the Bible. It applies to faith.
It applies to righteousness. And it applies to assurance of
salvation. I hear some people telling other
people that they're Christians. or confirming to them that they're
a believer. You pray this prayer, you can
nail it down. Any man that feels a need to
assure someone else that they're saved is not saved himself. If you're getting your assurance
from another man, it's a man. It'll come to naught. And speaking of assurance, what
is it that we're sure of? What is it that we're sure of?
Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 5, he said, and when
we preach the word unto you, we preach it not in word only,
but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. What is it to have much assurance?
Well, to begin with, it's to be sure. is to be sure beyond
any shadow of a doubt, if I'm sure of anything, I'm sure that
this is the inspired, infallible word of God. And that every bit
of it is given to us in order to reveal the glory of the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you sure of that? I can't
convince you of that. You know, there's people who
are trying to convince people with human reason that the Bible is
the word of God. I have no interest in convincing
you of that. If I convince you of it, somebody
else convince you out of it. But if God teaches you that this
book is the revealed word of God, then nobody can talk you
out of that. When the word came, it came with
power and with the Holy Ghost and with much assurance. We are
sure the child of God who the word of God has come to is sure
that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, and that
he has done everything necessary to accomplish their salvation.
And if there be any hope that I be saved, I've got to be found
in him. I'm sure that I have no righteousness
outside of Christ. Now, I can't say that I'm sure
all the time that I'm saved. That's not what it is to have
assurance. But I can say that all the time, ever since the
Lord gave me faith, there's never been a time I didn't question,
I didn't doubt, or there's never been a time I doubted that Jesus
is the Christ. He's the successful, sovereign
Savior of sinners. And that he did everything that
the Father sent him to do. And that if he doesn't bear my
sin and present himself on my behalf before God, I've got no
hope. No hope. Turn with me to Romans chapter
8. beginning of verse one, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them, which are in Christ
Jesus who walked not after the flesh, but after the spirit for
the law of the spirit of life in Christ. Jesus had made me
free from the law of sin and death. I'm not under the law.
I'm not under the jurisdiction of the law. I'm not under the
condemnation of the law. Sin has, has no more claim to
judge me. For what the law could not do,
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Now again, walking after the Spirit doesn't mean you've got
your feet off the ground and your head in the clouds. Walking after the Spirit
means that you're looking to Christ Jesus alone. for all the
hope of your righteousness before God. Go down with me to verse 15.
For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.
That's all the law does. It puts us in fear. And the shame
and the guilt of our sin just puts us in fear. You have not
received the spirit of fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption whereby you cry, I'm a father. You can come before
a holy God and call him your father. How the spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God
and of children than heirs of God and join heirs with Christ,
if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified
with him. For I reckon that the sufferings
of this world cannot be reckoned, cannot be compared to the glory
that shall be revealed in us. You see, it's the spirit of God
that has to come for it. Only God can speak peace to the
heart. I remember years ago when the
Lord first taught me the gospel and I was trying to preach to
some people that didn't believe the gospel. And one man came
up to me and he said, preacher, you need to speak peace to my
children's hearts. And I said, I can't do that.
That's not my place. I can't speak peace to their
hearts, I can't speak peace to your heart, only God can do that.
I can tell you the message of peace, I can tell you about the
prince of peace, but only the spirit of God can speak peace
to our hearts and enable us to rest our hope in Christ. If it be a man, and I'll conclude,
one more point, if it be a man, it'll come to naught. That applies
to temporal things. But to be a God cannot overthrow
it. It applies to faith, doesn't
it? It applies to understanding the Bible. It applies to righteousness. It applies to insurance. And
brethren, my brothers and sisters who part of this fellowship.
It applies to ministry. And applies to the preaching
of the gospel. If it's something we're doing, Except the Lord
build the house. They labor in vain that build
it. And I say that in order to plead
with you to do, to, to join me every time we come together or
speak volumes more to my heart than that man's able to say, reveal Christ to me. to my children,
to my grandchildren. Lord, bless your word. Give it
free course. Make it effectual to our hearts.
Lord, this is your church. If you don't build it, if you
don't do it, everything we're doing, are we participating? Are we? Yes, all with all of
our hearts. But Lord, Paul said, I planted
the seed. Apollos came behind me and watered
the seed. But God gave the increase. Only
God can make that seed grow. We scatter the seed, we water
the seed, we pray for the seed. Lord, you're going to have to
make seed grow. Otherwise, if it be a man, it's going to come
to naught. But to be a God, you cannot overthrow
it. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your word and we pray that you would make it effectual to
our hearts. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number three, let's stand together
number three. I know we've done this recently,
but it's good closing him. We sing this acapella and let's
all stand. A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant
mercy I sing, nor fear with thy righteousness on my person and
offering to bring. The terrors of law and of God
with me can have nothing to do. My Savior's obedience and blood
hide all my transgressions from view. The work which His goodness
began, the arm of His strength will complete. His promise is
yea and amen and never was forfeited yet. Things future nor things
that are now, not all things below nor above can make him
his purpose forego or sever my soul from his love. My name from the palm of his
hands, eternity will not erase. Impressed on his heart it remains,
in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure,
as sure as the earnest is given, more happy but not more secure,
the glorified spirits in heaven.