I'll read from the book of 1
John, chapter 5. We'll pray together here. Father, Father in God, Lord Jesus, Our
Redeemer and Savior, we thank You for all that You've done
for us. We thank You that You're always
mindful of us. We're prone to forget. We're
prone to sin. And we ask for mercy and grace. Pray thy blessings to be upon
all of us that have gathered here this evening. We remember
Brother Marvin as he speaks to us. Our friends everywhere, help
we pray in his name. Amen. It says, Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. I believe that with all my heart, that Jesus is the Christ. I know this stuff. some of the
programs on the television there recently. In particular, this
one fellow who preaches in a large church in
Detroit, colored man, and I think he said they had 10,000 Their membership was around 10,000.
And he'd been there 30 years. And he just retired. And they're building him a $10
million home. And he preached there on one
of the major networks. I don't know which one it was. But he preached for about an
hour. And most of it I couldn't understand. It was way beyond
me. Words and sentences that I've
never heard before. And he was the star of the show. The audience clapped and clapped
their hands and hollered and shouted amen and all that. And he never said anything about
the gospel. He used a lot of big words that
I couldn't pronounce and didn't understand, lots of them. And
I kind of felt, you know, like I was in the wrong place. I should
have turned him off. But he's a big time preacher.
And that's a problem. That's a big problem right now
with the Baptists and the Methodists and the Pentecostals and the
Catholics and all the rest of them. They preach everything
but the gospel. And we're commanded, go ye therefore
into all the world and preach the gospel. Not politics. Not how much you learned in two
years in the seminary. Preach the gospel. Well, whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Well, I believe that with
all my heart. that He's the Christ. The enemies of Jesus call Him Jesus. But those that know Him call
Him the Lord Jesus. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. Always was and always will be. It's not Jesus this or Jesus
that. It's the Lord Jesus. Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and every one
that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of
him. By this we know that we love
the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments, and that His commandments are
not grievous, for whosoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ. Not by water only, but by water
and blood. And what's that other word there? I can't see it. This, and this the Spirit that
beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, and the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. And there are three things that
bear witness on earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood,
and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of
man, and the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness
of God, which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath this witness in himself. And he that believeth
not God hath made him a liar. because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
And he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, that we may believe on the name
of the Son of God. I said we instead of ye, but
that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is
the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything
according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the Is that petition? That we deserve
Him. If any man see his brother... What's the next word there? If any man seeeth his brother
sin, which is not unto death. He shall ask,
and he shall give him life for them that is not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray
for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and
there is a sin not unto death. We know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself,
and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we
are of God, and the whole world lieth in wretchedness. And we
know that The Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. Keep yourself from idols. Amen. I had a hard time with
that. Them words get smaller. They
used to be kind of big there. I could make a guess at them. I just can't see them. Man, I'm telling you, I know
before I had my eye fixed, I stood up here for the longest. If y'all
would watch me, I don't know if you thought, but I was sitting
here doing this, trying to get that word to focus. So I know
exactly how you feel. All right. Thank you, Brother
Scott. Let's take our Bibles and turn with me to Acts 18. Acts chapter 18. I'd like to look at verses 12
to 17. I've entitled this, He Who Sovereignly Rules. God that is in control. The Apostle Paul was really mistreated by the
Jews at Corinth. And he told them, he said, I'm clean. Your blood is on your
hands. I've told you. I'm going to the
Gentiles. And he did. He went to the Gentiles. And he entered, the scripture
says in verse 7, a man named Justice. He was a religious
man. I know that. It says he worshipped
God. We looked at that last time.
It means he was devoted. But men can be devoted and can
be religious and be lost. But nonetheless, this man was
used by God. And the Lord had Paul come into
this fellow's home. And the Lord spoke to Paul in
a vision. And He told him, first of all,
He said, don't be afraid. Don't hold back. Speak. I'm with you. I'm beside you. No man is going to hurt you.
I have much people. in this city. And that was what
the Apostle Paul needed. I last time remember the statement
that I made. We tire in the gospel, but God's
preachers and God's people don't tire of it. They get tired. I mean, we're frail and we get
weak. Paul was a man. And so the Scripture
says after the Lord told him that, verse 11, he continued
there a year and six months teaching the Word of God. He stayed 18
months. And after that 18-month period
of which apparently there had been some relative peace, something
happened that would probably cause maybe Paul and many of
us, to question what the Lord had told Paul, what He had promised
Paul. That is, He told Paul, He said,
don't be afraid, verse 9, speak, hold your peace, I'm with you. No man shall set on thee to hurt
thee, for I have much people. in this place. Now, Paul had
God's Word on that. I'm not going to let anything
happen to you. Well, the Apostle Paul finds himself now, starting
in verse 12, in a situation that's described like this. And when
Galileo was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with
one accord against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat saying
this. I want you to notice something.
They were mad. And that word fella is in italics. It wasn't there. This is what
it is, how it would read. This guy persuaded Ben to worship
God contrary to the law. They were mad at him. That word
was just added in there. It's like they couldn't think
of a word to call him were mad. They rose up in one accord against
Paul and against his authority as the God-sent preacher. They
were mad. They brought him before the governor,
and they were going to end Paul's preaching, but they were going
to do it as far as they were concerned legally. And we're going to get him because
what he's doing now is he's going absolutely contrary to the Word
of God. We've got him. This fellow persuadeth
men to worship God contrary to the law. Turn over to Romans
10, 5. Let me show you how Paul dealt
with what they were actually trying to get him on. They said,
he's trying to teach people, persuade them, to worship God
in a way that God never said to worship Him, is what they
said. Romans 10, 5. And this is what the Apostle
Paul says, for Moses, and here's the law, for Moses describeth
the righteousness which is of the law. And here it is, that
the man which doeth those things shall live thereby. Now, the law of Moses revealed
God's standard for righteousness. Do this. and live. If you can love the Lord your
God with all your heart and all your soul and your mind and your
body and your thoughts, never deviate in one point from the
law. You do that and you live. But the problem is all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Now, the righteousness which
is of the law says that if a man is perfect in his walk, that
man's got something to glory in. That's what the law says. Now, what Paul was preaching
just right there still in Romans 10, while Paul, according to
these Jews, was preaching Or they were saying, persuading
men to worship God. Contrary to the law, they had
it in their mind, we're keepers of the law. We go to church every
Sabbath. We tithe. You know, we give. We do all
this stuff. We don't work on Sabbath day.
We keep the law. And this fellow is teaching something
contrary to Moses. Look what Paul says in Romans
chapter 10 verse 6 and 7. But, he said, the righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Now, we're going through
the book of Romans. You know that on Sunday. And
this scripture is coming up. It won't be long. So I'm going
to deal with it a little bit more in detail. But I'm going
to tell you the crust of what he's saying because this is a
passage of Scripture that I've read, Brother Scott, for years.
And I'd read that and I'd think... I read it and I hear it. It's Scripture. But I just didn't
understand what it was saying. Well, in studying through the
book of Romans, I had to camp there for a while. to try to
find out what was he saying. He's coming, he's saying something
right after. Verse 5, he said, Moses says,
describes a righteousness which is the law that the man which
doeth these things shall live thereby. And he's going right
in to something to explain what's contrary to living to the law.
He said, but the righteousness which is a faith speaks on this
why. This is what Faith says now listen
to this. Say not in thine heart now whatever
he's getting ready to say he's he's saying now don't say this. Say not in thine heart. Who shall ascend into heaven
that is to bring Christ down from above? Or who shall descend
into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead?
You're reading that now I don't know about you. I say, you may
have gotten it. You may have just understood
it perfectly. I'm just being honest with you. I didn't. But
I think I do now. And I'll tell you what he's saying.
Paul is saying, righteousness which is of faith in Christ speaks
like this. Don't say in your heart, speaking
to yourself, saying of yourself or thinking of yourself, who will go into heaven? Who
will go into the deep? Or in other words, don't say
in your heart that which is impossible. Don't get it in your mind that
you have the ability by your power to call God down or to
raise Him up. Don't say in your heart what's
impossible. You can't do that. Who's going
to ascend into heaven to bring Christ down? Who will ascend
into the deep to raise Him up from the dead? God only can do
these things. God sent Him. God raised Him.
You can't do it. Righteousness, which is a faith,
speaks on this wise. I believe salvation is of the
Lord. That's what it is. You have no ability. Say not
in your heart. Don't say this. Who should go
get God? Who will command God? Who will
exercise their free will and say, You save me? Who has the
ability to raise Him from the dead? Don't say that. The Apostle
was preaching salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is not of words. Moses speaks on this wise. Do
and live. Faith does not say, I'll bring
him down. I'll raise him up. Faith believes
that Almighty God alone saves a man. And Paul was preaching
faith in Christ the Messiah. And they said, wait a minute.
You're preaching something right here that's contrary to the law.
You're making null and void. These Jews assumed that salvation
was based on their ability, on their lineage, on their birth,
on their whatever. It had all to do with them and
their faithfulness to please Almighty God. That's the thinking
of every religionist, every religionist, false religionist. Like he was
talking about a minute ago, believes that they have the ability to
call God from heaven. I can beckon him. I mean, I have
listened to men, I don't want to start chasing rabbits here,
but I've listened to people say and use scriptures and it's almost
like this, name it and claim it. You know what I'm talking
about. Name it and claim it. God said,
you know, you just command it. You speak it and it's done. In
Jesus' name I command it. I mean, like He is some kind
of a bellboy. But faith, don't talk like that. Faith speaketh not on this wise. Say not in your heart who shall
ascend into heaven to bring Christ down. That's the thinking that
a man has the ability To obey the law of God is the natural
man's thought, carnal thinking. And men hate God's sovereignty. They hate God's right. They hate
being told that they're impotent spiritually to do anything. Now, concerning God's promise
to Paul, no man's going to hurt you. Eighteen months later, everything
had been going fine. All of a sudden, now, Paul is
hauled into court. And he's standing before this
man, Galileo, and these Jews that made this insurrection,
this uprising against Paul and brought him there. This fellow
is persuading men to worship God in a wrong way. And Scripture
says in 1 Paul, verse 14, was now about to open his mouth.
Paul was getting ready to say something in his own defense.
I want you to look at this. Gallio said to the Jews, when
Paul was about to open his mouth, it's like the deputy there, Gallio,
said, you know, just hold on. Hold on. You don't have to talk
right now, Paul. Hold on. Gallio said to the Jews,
if it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews,
reason would that I should bear with you. But if it be a question
of words, and names, and of your law, look ye to it, for I will
be no judge in such matters." And he drove them from the judgment
seat. Now, the Jews had obtained a
right, a license, from the Roman government to protect their religious
practices. And just from reading on this
man Gallio, just from what I could find out about him, this Gallio,
he was a very gentle and he was a pleasant man. And he knew the
law. And when it came to that accusation
that the Jews brought, he realized very quickly, he said, this is
a squabble that they're having. concerning their religion. He
said, this man hadn't broken any laws. That's what he told
them. He said, if it's just a question, verse 15, of words and names
in your law, you look to it. He said, now, if it was a matter,
verse 14, of wrong or wicked lewdness, I'd deal with it. But he said, you fellows are
just, you're fighting over your religion. Now, y'all are just
going to have to work that out. That's what he told him. That's
basically what he said. When they stated that case before
that judge, that deputy, he just wouldn't have anything to do
with it. He knew that the Jews had obtained a license, and the
Romans told him, he said, we're going to let y'all worship the
way you want to. Well, they were just, they were
bickering as far as he was concerned among themselves. And this wasn't
a matter of civil law. This wasn't a matter he hadn't
done anything. So he just dismissed it. Dismissed the case. Verse 16, he just drove them
from the judgment. So he said, okay, dismissed by the providence of Almighty
God and the raising up of that man, Galileo. God did just exactly
what He said He was going to do. He told Paul, He said, nobody's
going to hurt you. I'm with you. And God Almighty
raised up a Galileo and made him the deputy in that community
right there. God Almighty raises up whomsoever
He will to accomplish just exactly what He wanted. He raised up
Pharaoh. Why? He said that my power might
be known. That's why I raised you up. He
raised up Galio to preserve Paul. How long had Galio been in office?
I don't know. He'd been there just as long
as God put him there because Paul the Apostle was going to
cross his path. And these Jews were going to
raise up in this insurrection against Paul And Paul was going
to be hauled in, and God Almighty was going to show. He allowed
Paul to get into that situation to show him, I'm not going to
leave you. You say, well, why did he have
to go to court? So that God could prove to Paul he wasn't going
to let any hurt come to him. Why do any of us ever get into
the situations that we do that the wise God might show to us? I'll keep you." You think, why
do I have to go through that? So that Almighty God might show
us that all things work together for good to them that love God. Man, why? Why this? My grace is sufficient. I'll
keep you. You know, there was another fellow
that was raised up, another deputy governor. guy in authority that
was raised up. You know, when you think about
it, there's really not a whole lot of difference between this
scenario as far as being hauled in the court and the Lord Jesus
Christ being hauled in before Pilate. Really, I mean, the Jews
accused Paul, the Jews accused the Lord Jesus. Haul them in.
Here's two men. Here's Pilate and here's Galileo.
Well, you know what just happened as far as Gallio is concerned.
The Lord raised up that man and gave him that mannerism. He was
a gentle man. That's what history says. He
was a gentle and a pleasant and fair. He was fair. Knew the law. But now you take Pilate. Now,
I'm going to tell you something. Pilate had basically the same
office as Gallio. He was a governor, a deputy,
an overseer. The one that was placed there
by the Roman government. But see, Pilate overstepped his
authority. The same law applied in the Lord
Jesus Christ case as in Paul's case. Same agreement had still
been made by the Roman government and the Jews. But you see, Pilate
was a man that was going to kind of exert his authority and show
that he was in control of this thing. Pilate made a decision
to allow the Jews to do with the Lord Jesus Christ as they
saw fit. Galileo threw it out, and the
Lord proved to Paul, I'll keep you. No man's going to hurt you.
But you see, Pilate's selfish attitude to please the Jews did
this one thing. It accomplished the purpose of
Almighty God in the redemption. of God's people in the atonement
of God's elect. By raising up a Pilate and allowing
Pilate to do exactly what Pilate wanted to do. And that's what
he did. God just left Pilate to himself. He basically, Gary,
was just, you know, an overzealous show-off. That's exactly what
he was. But God's purpose was accomplished. And Pilate will go through eternity
realizing what he had done. God left him to himself to do
it. But in both cases, God raised
up a Galileo, a gentle, kind, fair man, and preserved Paul. And raised up a Pilate and a
Pharaoh to do exactly what God purposed to do. And the Lord's
will was accomplished. You know, the Scripture says
the wrath of man is going to praise Him. And the Lord, the
remainder, the Lord, will restrain. Everybody that's in any authority
whatsoever, God Almighty has placed them just exactly where
they are. And they're doing exactly what God has ordained that they
do. Their attitude, their mannerisms,
what type either God has overruled and caused them in their kindness
and constrained them to allow Paul to go free, or He's left
them to themselves to do exactly what they wanted to do. But in
both cases, God's will is accomplished. I'm telling you, the next time
You cross paths with someone and whatever it is. I mean, if
it's someone and it's and their attitude is just less than desirable. Let me say it like that. A boss. You know, police officer, a judge,
somebody in the court, whatever, whoever. And boy, you say, I'm
telling you, that's so-and-so. Oh, buddy, you don't want to
fool with him. I'm going to tell you something.
You write this down. God's will is being accomplished
for His people through the attitude of that person. All things work
together for good to them that love God. To them who are the
called according to His purpose. All authority. That's what Romans
13, 1 and 2 says. Don't despise the authority.
All authority is of God. What? To do exactly what God
has purposed. The Lord does this. Let me tell
you something. When judges make decisions, I'm
telling you, they make decisions at God's discretion. You write
that down. God Almighty is in control of
all these things. The Lord's people are safe from
all harm. If Almighty God deems it necessary
to allow, like he did in Job's case, for Satan to take him,
to do whatever the Lord allowed Satan to do to Job, it was God's
decision. And if I could remember that,
Carl, I think every time I say something like this, I think
to myself, man, Lord, would you grant me the grace to remember
what I'm preaching right now? I need to hear this. I need to
be reminded. of God's sovereignty, God's right
to do. Well, verse 17, then all the
Greeks, after Gallio drove them out, wouldn't hear it. Paul went
free just like God said he would. All the Greeks took Sosthenes,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment
seat, and Gallio cared for none of those things. For as he was
concerned, It was a religious squabble. That's all in the world
they were doing. You know, those Jews, they raised
up an insurrection, the Scripture says, against Paul. They did
it for religious reasons. But you know where there's been
no grace imparted to a person, a sinner. No grace. The grace
of God has not been shown, imparted. There's not a new life there.
When grace has not been imparted, there's no grace exhibited toward
men. Man by nature is hateful toward
everything that doesn't please him. If it's not good for me,
then I'm not going to have anything to do with it. was the chief
ruler of the synagogue. Now, let me tell you something.
Turn over to 1 Corinthians 1.1. I want to show you something
about this guy Sosthenes. 1 Corinthians 1.1. Paul's writing to the church
here in Corinth. Okay, look at that 1 Corinthians
1.1. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will
of God and Sosthenes. our brother. You know what happened? God called that man out of darkness,
saved him. He was a chief ruler in the synagogue. And because the Jews were mad
because this guy right here didn't pull things off like they wanted
it, they just went to the top. And they'll say, we'll just find
the guy that we say caused all this, and we're going to beat
him. Let's beat the governor of this
state. Let's beat the president. It
must be the president's fault for all this. This has got to
be the president's fault. You know what? Never even stop and think that
Almighty God rules in this world. God is in control of this world.
So they beat Sosthenes And the Lord was pleased to take that
man that these Jews now hated and called him out of darkness.
There was a religious man, Bob, chief ruler in the synagogue,
and God saved him. Took this guy that thought he
was somebody and revealed him to be a nobody. But he was somebody in God's
sight. because he saw him in his son, saw him in Christ. I tell you, 2 Timothy 3.12 says,
All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Paul had insurrection, an uprising
against authority made against him. And all those that claim
to be godly apart from the grace of God are the greatest enemies
of God and His people. The Lord has established all
authority in this world, and He's done it for His glory and
for the good of His people. And every time something comes
up, I'm not saying that we won't question it, because we do. And
if you say we don't, you know that you're not being as honest.
But I'm telling you, Whenever something comes up, remember,
God Almighty has ordered that. And He has ordered it for my
good and His glory. Lord, teach me. Help me. The believer, whenever God's
providence dictates, he rests in the good pleasure of Him who
can do only right. Turn with me in closing to 1
Samuel 3. 1 Samuel 3. If you've got a Cambridge Bible
like I do, it's going to be on page 382. 1 Samuel 3. Verse 15,
16, 17, 18. 1 Samuel 3. And Samuel lay until the morning. and opened the doors of the house
of the Lord, and Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. Then Eli called Samuel and said,
Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I. And
he said, What is the thing that the Lord has said unto thee?
I pray thee, hide it not from me. God do so to thee, and more
also if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he
said unto thee. And Samuel told him, ever went
and hid nothing from him, and he said, It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good."
Boy, I tell you, that's an attitude, isn't it? It's the Lord. Whatever comes my way, if providence
has dictated this to be so, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth
him good.