Let's turn to the book of Acts,
chapter 24, Acts 24. I'd like to look at one verse
of scripture actually, but I'm going to read some prior to it. But verse 14, Acts 24, 14. the confession of the Apostle
Paul, but this I confess unto thee, that after the way which
they call heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers, believing
all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. The Apostle Paul had been called
on the carpet, so to speak, by those of his countrymen who despised
what he preached after his conversion. Verses one to nine, I will just
kind of come up to where we are in verse 14, says, after five
days, Ananias, the high priest, descended with the elders, came
down from Jerusalem down to Caesarea, and with a certain orator named
Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul, and when he was
called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, seeing
that by thee, He's talking now to Felix. He said, seeing that
by thee we enjoy great quietness and that very worthy deeds are
done unto this nation by thy providence, we accept it always
in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. Notwithstanding
that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou
wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words. For we have found
this man a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition among all
the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect
of the Nazarenes. who also hath gone about to profane
the temple, whom we took and would have judged according to
our law. But the chief captain, Lysias,
came upon us in great violence, took him away out of our hands,
commanding his accusers to come unto thee by examining of whom
thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things whereof we
accused him. And the Jews also assented, saying,
that these things were sold. Now, Paul has been brought before
Felix, Roman governor, and a smooth-talking attorney begins his accusation
against Paul and he says, now, Felix, governor, we've enjoyed
such peace under your administration and we're so thankful. that you've
given us some of your precious time to come and to hear this
matter. We would have taken care of it
according to our law, but some of the soldiers came and took
Paul out of our hands, and so now we need to burden you with
this for just a few minutes if you're willing to hear." He said,
but now, this fellow, Paul the Apostle, he's a He's a pestilent
fellow. That is, he's a pest. He's a
plague. He's a disease. He's a nuisance. One who stirs up social unrest
and is a corrupter of morals. He accused the Apostle Paul of
being a mover of sedition. of insurrection, of going against
the government, trying to appeal to the Roman governor there,
among all the Jews throughout the world. This man, he's a bad
man. He says he's a ringleader of
the sect, or of the heresy, is actually the word there, of the
Nazarenes, of Christians. who hath gone about to profane
the temple." This is what he's done. He said that this fellow
has brought in some heathen worshipers, brought in some sinners into
our temple. And after the lawyer had his
say, then the apostle Paul was given permission to speak. And
this is what Paul said, verse 10 to 14. Then Paul, after the
governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, for as much
as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this
nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself, because that
thou mayest understand that there are yet but 12 days since I went
up to Jerusalem for to worship, and they neither found me in
the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people,
neither in the synagogues, nor in the city, neither can they
prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess
unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship
I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law and in the prophets." If we were to sum up the beef,
the problem that the Jews had with the Apostle Paul and all
the believers, if we'd sum it up, what was the beef? What's the argument? What's the
problem? Here's what it is. I'm going
to sum it up for you. Is salvation by the works of
the law or by the grace of God? That's the beef right there. That's the difference between
places where the gospel of God's free grace is preached and places
where it's not. I've told you before there's
a lot of different denominations and I can tell you that everything
No matter what, they have a different shingle, a different name, but
it all comes down to this. By the works of men, salvation
is had. Or by the grace of God, salvation
is had. That's the difference right there.
So for a few minutes this morning, I'd like to declare what the
Apostle Paul sets forth according to the scriptures and all that
have cast themselves upon the mercy of God, the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and believe. And I know this as believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. What we preach, what we preach
is what they consider heresy. Now, I looked up the word heresy
just to make sure I understood exactly what the word heresy
means. Here's what heresy means. It
means when someone sets forth their own erroneous thoughts,
their own self-willed opinion, substituting the truth of God
for a lie. And I read that definition and
I thought, boy, you talk about the kettle calling the pot black. Really. They were accusing Paul
of having his own self-willed opinion and going against the
Word of God. And I'm thinking, that's what
they were doing. But that's what they accused
him, that's heresy. So, I know that the Apostle Paul, at one
time, he believed in salvation by his works. He said, I was
a Pharisee, you know, Philippians 3. Pharisee of Pharisees. You know, my mama, my daddy,
I was blameless before the law of God. I never, one infraction. And he said all of that was lost
to the excellency of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so Paul told him, he said, look, I'm confessing to you, this is
what I believe, after the way they call heresy. They're accusing
me of having my own opinion, my own free will, self-willed
opinion and going against scripture. That's what he's saying. But
he said, so I worship God, believing all things which were written
in the Law and the Prophets. Now when Paul the Apostle made
that statement right there, we didn't have, you know, 1st and
2nd Corinthians and Ephesians and Galatians and everything.
He read this out of the Old Testament. He read this out of the law and
the prophets. He said, this is what I believe.
What they call heresy. He said, this is what I believe.
I believe God. So now what, I want us to just
look for just a few minutes and just see what does the scripture
say in the Old Testament? I'll make some New Testament.
references, but I'm going to show you what Paul said. This
is what I believe according to the law and the prophets. This
is what I believe. What do believers believe about
man as he's born in Adam? He's depraved. Well, where did
Paul get that? Paul said, I worship God, believing
that man is born dead, spiritually dead, in trespasses and sins. Where did he get that? And I
know I'm not going to exalt these scriptures, but I'm going to
pick a scripture for these points. Whenever Adam was in the Garden
of Eden, and the Lord told Adam, He said, of all the trees of
the garden, thou mayest freely eat of all the trees except the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil for the day thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die spiritually and eventually physically and
the day he ate he died The scripture says he did eat. God told him
the day you eat, that's in Genesis 2. He said the day you eat, you're
going to die. And the scripture says that he
ate. And in Genesis 3, 6 and 7, he
ate and immediately the eyes were both opened and they knew. We're naked. We don't have any
righteousness before God. And they hid themselves. Why?
They were ashamed. They rebelled against God. And
that communion with the Lord, that fellowship with the Lord,
that love for Him, that desire for His presence, gone. That's
how men by nature are. They hid themselves. The Lord
called to them, you know, where are you? Adam told him, he said, I was
afraid. I hid myself. He said, did you
eat? God knew he ate. So where did the Apostle Paul
find that man was totally depraved, dead in trespasses and sins?
Where do you find that out? It was written in the law. Who
wrote Genesis? Moses. Moses wrote Genesis. He wrote it. Is it not written? He said, this is what I believe.
After the way they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers,
believing all things written in the Law and in the Prophets.
We believe that men are born totally depraved, meaning there's
nothing about man that is capable of reconciling himself back to
God. I said a few minutes ago, somebody
said, well, exercise your free will. You're dead. You're dead. You're dead. Talk to a corpse. They're not
going to respond. They can't. So man doesn't have
that ability to make that choice. Paul got that out of the scriptures,
out of the Old Testament scriptures. Secondly, here's what we believe.
We worship God believing that God chose to show mercy and compassion
to whomsoever He would before the foundation of the world.
Now we read that out of Ephesians 1.4. God has chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the world. We read that out of 2
Thessalonians 2.13. We're bound to give thanks to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation." Where did Paul
get it? The Spirit of God taught Paul
that, but where did Paul, he said, I believe everything was
written in the Law of the Prophets. What did the Lord tell Moses
when Moses asked Him to show him His glory? Show me Your glory. Here's what the Lord said. This
was in Exodus 33, 19. Who penned Exodus? Moses. Out of the law. Out of the law. He said, I believe
everything written out of the law. Paul said, I believe that
God has an elect people. I believe God has a people that
he's going to save. Where'd he get that? I will make
all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." Paul
was taught election out of the law, out of the books of the
law, and he wrote it. He wrote it in Romans chapter
9. He quoted what God had said. Romans chapter 9. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Where did he get that Jacob have I loved and Esau have I
hated? Malachi. He got that out of the
Old Testament. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, I'll have compassion on
whom I'll have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, not of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. He said, for the scriptures saith
unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up
that I might show my power in thee, that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. What was that quoted about Pharaoh? Exodus. Paul said, after the
way they call heresy, my free-willed opinion, contrary to the Scriptures,
he said, I'm not telling you anything contrary to the Scriptures,
I'm telling you this is what I believe, this is the way I
worship God. I believe what God said. Thirdly, We worship God. When I say worship God, what
does that mean? I believe Him. I believe God. I bow to what
He says. I bow to it. Well, what if it
goes contrary to what somebody else says? Let God be true and
everybody else a liar. That's the bottom line. I said
when I stand before God, If the Lord has said this and
I believe something differently, what do you think is going to
matter? The counsel of the Lord. That's going to stand. I'm telling
you right now. We worship God. We believe God. We trust God. We bow to Him. Actually, if you look up, that
is to lick the hand. Lick the hand. I believe Him.
Believing that when He died on Calvary's tree, He perfectly
and forever paid the debt owed to God's law for every one of
His elect. Now we can, I can take you over,
turn over to John 10, 15 and read what the Lord said. I won't
read it, I'll just tell you what it says, but just remember that,
John 10, 15. I lay down my life for the sheep. I had somebody tell me one time,
they said, well really, everybody is one of God's sheep. Not according
to the law, to the Lord. The Lord said, I'll read this
to you. John 10, now listen to what the
Lord said. Is everybody one of God's sheep? Then came the Jews round about
him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because
ye are not of my sheep, as I have told you. My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Is everybody one of God's sheep?
No. How do you know? The Scripture
says they're not. Now when the Lord said, I lay
down My life for the sheep, what did He mean? He meant, I lay
down My life for the sheep. Did He pay everybody's debt?
No. No! Somebody said, that's not fair.
Well, the scripture says, who art thou, old man, that replies
against God? What have you got to say about
it? Do we realize who we're talking to? Paul said, I learned particular
redemption. Particular redemption. What does
that mean? That means that the Lord particularly
redeemed His sheep. That's what it means. I want
to be so careful, Mitch. I want to make sure I say this
exactly what we can understand. It means that when He died, He
died for those that Father gave Him. Where did Paul get that? Hold your place in Acts 24. Turn
over to Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16, on the day of atonement,
did the Old Testament teach particular redemption, a dying only for
God's people? Did it teach that? Leviticus
16, on the day of atonement, I can tell you this, there were
two goats brought to Aaron, the high priest. And I'll just bring
it, there was going to be two goats. And Leviticus 16, And verses 15, one of them was
going to be slain. That was the Lord's goat. That
was the substitute. That was the sacrifice. And the
other one was going to be the scapegoat. Two goats. They both represented the Lord
Jesus Christ. Particular redemption. Particular
redemption. Particular. Was that taught in
the Old Testament? How did Paul learn that? He said,
I learned this in the Law and the Prophets. Leviticus 16. Verse 15-16, Then shall he kill
the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring
his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did
with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy
seat, and before the mercy seat. And he shall make an atonement
for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children
of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins,
and so shall he do. for the tabernacle of the congregation
that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness."
Now let me ask you this, that goat that was slain, he was slain,
that was a picture, that was a type, that goat was a type
of Christ. For whom was that goat slain
in type, in picture? For the nation of Israel. Well
how about the Syrians? Now, there was a goat slain for
the nation of Israel, a picture of God's elect. Well, what about
that other goat? Look at verse 20, 21. And when he hath made an end
of reconciling the holy place and the tabernacle of the congregation
and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. And Aaron shall
lay both his hand upon the head of the live goat, and confess
over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all
their transgressions, and all their sins, putting them upon
the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of
a fit man into the wilderness." Now let me ask you something,
that scapegoat, what was that a picture of? That was a picture
that by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, all the sins of
God's people have been taken away behind the back of the Lord,
the sea of his forgetfulness, I will remember their iniquities
no more." For whom was those hands of that high priest? Who was he laying his hands on
the head of that scapegoat for? Who? All the iniquities of Israel. Nobody else. That was a picture,
that was a type, that was a God Almighty He taught particular
redemption. He slayed that goat for Israel. He put His hands on top of that
and confessed all their sins and took them away for Israel. For Israel. Paul said, I believe. I believe all the things written in the
law of the prophets. This is the way I worship God.
Out of the way they call heresy. When the Lord Jesus Christ died
upon Calvary's tree, all the sins of all of His people,
giving Him and electing grace, were made to be His own. How
do you know that? Psalm 40. The mine iniquities,
they were His now. He bore them as His own. So where
did Paul get that? In the law, in the prophets.
He laid all of the guilt of his people. He was made sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. And He hung on that tree as the
absolute substitute. He was made us. He was made sin. I don't understand it, I can't
enter into the depth of it, but I'm telling you, hanging on that
cross as the substitute of his people was sin. He was made sin, and God forsook
him, and God killed him. Why? Because that's where sin
was found. And the law demanded it. The
wages of sin is death. And he who knew no sin, like
I said, I'm way over my head. But I'm telling you, he laid
down his life for his people, and he put them away. Zechariah 13, 7. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered. And I will turn mine hand upon
the little ones. The hand of Jehovah's justice
was turned against the shepherd, the shepherd of God's appointment
and choosing, turned against him for the satisfying of the
debt that has been incurred by the sheep. Turned his hand against
them, but he turned his hand toward, in love and affection
and protection, toward the sheep. That's what he was saying. smite
the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn
mine hand upon the little ones, my hand of mercy, not of justice. Did God teach particular redemption
in the Old Testament? Yes, sir. Fourthly, we worship
God believing that those He's everlastingly loved in Christ,
those that He's entrusted into the hand of the surety, those
that the surety has answered for died on Calvary's tree, shed
his blood for the remission of their sins, we believe that they
absolutely shall be called out of the darkness of sin and unbelief.
And God's going to convert them. God's going to save them. What
does that mean? Well, irresistible grace. We
know what it is when we talk about it. We say, well, we believe
in irresistible grace. Did God teach that in the Old
Testament? Look over to Ezekiel. He began to wrap this up. Ezekiel
36. Ezekiel 36. Where did the Lord teach that?
That irresistibly, He was going to call out His own. Look at
Ezekiel 36. Look at verse 21 to 24. But I had pity for mine holy
name, which the house of Israel hath profaned among the heathen,
whether they went. Therefore, say unto the house
of Israel, I know you just, you know, we have to understand now,
these pictures and types, they mean something. He's not talking
about, Paul said all of Israel is not Israel. What does that
mean? All of national Israel, just the regular, the country
over there. They're not all the Israel of
God. They're not all princes with God. What's your name, Jacob? No, it's Israel. A prince with
God. Verse 22, Therefore say unto
the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for
your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake,
which ye have profaned among the heathen, whether ye win.
And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among
the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them, and the
heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God,
when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. Now here's
what he said, I'm gonna do something for you that you can't do for
yourself. You've acted disrespectfully before me in the eyes of the
heathen, and I'm gonna do something for you. And I'm not doing it
for your sakes, I'm doing it for my sake. Because I will have
mercy. What's he going to do? Look at
verse 24. I will take you from among the heathen and gather
you out of all countries and will bring you into your own
land. Then will I sprinkle clean water
on you, and you shall be clean. All your filthiness from all
your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give
you. A new spirit will I put within you. I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of
flesh." Now let me ask you something. How much did they have to do
with that? God said, I'm going to take you.
I'm going to bring you I'm going to wash you. I'm going to clean
you up. I'm going to make you that which I say. I'm going to
make you holy and without blame before me in Christ. That's what
I'm going to do for you. Aren't you glad that God doesn't
wait on us to do something for Him? You know, people say, Lord
wants to save you if you'll let Him. Let God? John 17, 1 and 2, these words
spake Jesus and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father,
the hour has come, glorify Thy Son that Thy Son may also glorify
Thee as Thou has given Him power over all flesh that He should
give eternal life to as many as Thou has given Him. God saves
men on purpose. He don't wait on them. He calls
them. And lastly, We worship God believing that those the
Father chose in Christ, those the Son redeemed by blood and
Spirit regenerates by grace, shall be kept and shall never
fall away. What do we believe? We believe
in preservation of the saints. That's what we believe. Did the
Spirit of God teach that in the Law and the Prophets? closing it out. We've been studying
Genesis. Turn with me and I'll just read a few scriptures and
we're done. Genesis chapter 6. Does God, here's my question,
does God teach preservation? I'm gonna keep you, I'm gonna
keep you. Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's
mankind, that's mankind. Verse 8 of chapter 6, but Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah, just like everybody
else, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And what
did the Lord tell Noah to do because Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord? Chapter 6, verse 14, make thee
an ark of gopher wood. Room shalt thou make in the ark,
and thou shalt pitch it within, without, with pitch. And in time,
what happened? Genesis chapter 7 verse 1, And
the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the
ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation,
because he saw him in Christ. He chose him in Christ. Not because
anything, no it didn't. So I mean, he said, you come
in. You come in. You come here. The Lord was in
the ark. You come to me. You come to me. My sheep hear
my voice. They follow me. In verse 16 of
chapter 7, they went in, went in, male and female, of all flesh,
as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. was preservation of the Saints
not taught in the Old Testament in the cities of refuge? How
many cities were there? Three on each side of the Jordan
River. Six cities. Six cities where if someone had
killed somebody unawares, it was an accident, before the revenger
of blood could get to them, you flee to that city, you get in
that city. You know how long they could stay there? until
the priest, the priest died. You want some good news? Our
priest ever lived it. We're in him. When Moses said,
show me your glory, the Lord said, I'm going to cause all
my goodness to pass before you and I'm going to put you in the
cleft of the rock and I'm going to cover you. Was there preservation of the
saints taught in the law in the prophets? Paul said after the
way they call heresy. My own opinion. This is the way
I worship God. Believing all things written
in the Law and the Prophets. We worship Him who is God. Not this little puny, little
G God that People are setting forth and said, Lord, done all
He can do. Well, I tell you what, if God's
done all He can do for me, then I'm dead. Because I'm not going
to keep myself. I can tell you right now. I've
never remained faithful. Oh, I would desire to. But the
God we worship is a God who rules in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And no man stays His hand. No man has the right to say to
Him, what doest Thou? This is God we worship, after
the way everybody else calls Herod.