Turn with me to the book of Acts
chapter 24. Acts 24. Paul, in this chapter, is accused before Felix, the Roman governor. He's been called on the carpet,
so to speak, and a very slick attorney is trying
to manipulate the facts that cause Paul to
be put into a situation where he is going to have to answer
what they are thinking. They are disputing against him. of Acts 24. This real slick attorney, his
name is Tertullus, and he says in verse 5, he said, We 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. You know, it's an easy thing,
real easy, to accuse, to slander falsely men, all believers, but
especially men that stand and preach the gospel of free grace. It's an easy thing. They're an
easy target. That's just the way it is. If
you want to get at them, it's easy just to accuse them, bring
into question what they're preaching. Just make a statement. Just call
somebody to, you know, start to wonder. That's the easiest
thing in the world to do, call them into question. Just say,
just enough, you know, to cause somebody to try to think, well,
hmm, doesn't matter how long that man has stood faithfully. But the Lord told His own. He said, they hated Me before
they hated you. They bring Paul into this man. He's a troublemaker, a mover of sedition, ringleader. What this man is doing, they
say, is he's preaching heresy. That's what he's doing. That's
what they're saying about Paul. He's a heretic. The resentment toward the gospel. I had a very wise man tell me
something one time. I've always remembered this.
He said, believers never fall out over the gospel, over something
else. It's always something else. Any
time that you find Folks, when they've got a problem, it's usually going to be over
something that doesn't even matter. And if it's not an issue of the
gospel, then forget it. Let it go. If there's someone
in this congregation tonight and you've got a problem with
somebody else, Go to that person and get it
right. Now, I'm going to tell you right
now, as the Lord is my witness, I don't know if there is. So
if there is, don't think, well, he knows what's going on. No,
I don't. I have no idea. But I will tell you this. If
there is a problem, go to that person. It's not worth it. It is not worth it. If the issue
is not the gospel, forget it. All in the world it is is pride,
foolish pride. That's all it is. Forget it. There's something that is more
important than my feelings and your feelings. It's the glory
of Almighty God, the gospel of free grace. They said this man
right here, he's a troublemaker. Verse 6 says, He also has gone
about to profane the temple, whom we took and would have judged
according to our laws, but the chief captain, Lysias, came upon
us and with great violence took him away out of our hands, commanding
his accusers to come unto thee by examining whom thyself mayest
take knowledge of all these things whereof we accuse him. And the
Jews also assented, saying that these things were so. Then Paul,
after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered,
Forasmuch 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 twelve
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,
And so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things
which are written in the law and in the prophets, and have
hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall
be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. And herein do I exercise myself,
and have always a conscience void of offense toward God and
toward men." Tonight I'd like to speak for just a few minutes
on this subject, the way I worship. That's what we're doing here
tonight. We've come tonight to worship, to worship Him, to hear
Him, to behold Him by faith. That's
the only reason we've assembled. There's no other common bond
between us. What have we got? As I've said
before, we're all from different places, do different things,
but there's a common salvation, a common bond, and it's Him. Him. The way I worship, Paul's defense of himself, and that which he preaches, acknowledge
something that all believers would do well to remember. The
gospel of Christ, the gospel of free and sovereign grace,
saving grace in the Lord Jesus, is always considered and regarded
by human mainstream religion as the way of heresy. guarantee you this. I can't guarantee
a lot, but I can guarantee you this. The message that has been
preached, faithfully preached, in this church right here for
almost 50 years, I don't know exactly how many, but approaching
50 years, I'll guarantee you this message is despised by the
mainstream religion of this town and any other town. The message
that sets forth free grace, sovereign grace, Almighty God who does
as He will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
earth, and no man, no man, no man stays His hand. No man can say to Him, What are
You doing? No man. He sits on the circle of the
earth. As we said a week or so ago, all of the inhabitants thereof
are as reputed as grasshoppers. Man by nature hates that God,
hates Him. They will not. They will say,
you're preaching heresy. Paul says, in the way that they
call heresy. That's the way I worship God.
Worship Him. You see, this message offends
a man's pride. Men and women, by nature, want
to be told, you know, there's a little good in all of us. Now, how can that be so? And
the scripture says there's none good, none, none, none good. There's not one ounce of good
by nature in anybody in here, starting especially right here.
None. It offends a man's pride, and
it exposes his sin. He hates it. Men hate to be exposed. Somebody caught in exposed, shown,
just shown to be a liar, a cheat, a deceiver. I hate that. It offends his intelligence because
this truth is only known by divine revelation. It is not carnally
discerned. I told Paul, he said, it is heresy
in the way you call heresy. He said, that is the way I worship
God. It causes a man's self-righteousness
to be shown what it is, filthy rags. Only one message that fully
satisfies all that's written in the Law and the Prophets,
the Gospel, the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ, one message
that reveals God Almighty to be just, and the justifier of
sinners, the gospel, the gospel of God. This message is declared
by all false religion to be heresy. They all hate it, every one of
them. They hate it. You take all the
churches back when I was in Franklin, and they do this. I'm sure they
do this here. I'm sure they do. kind of conglomerate, you know,
all the different churches. They meet together, you know,
going to meet together once every third week or whatever, something
like that. Kind of bind together, you know, meet together, pray
together. Well, there's only one problem with that. I just
don't have anything in common with you. I'd a whole lot rather,
you know, come over here with the most low-down person everybody
knows in the city as being the town troublemaker. I'd a whole
lot rather sit down and have a cup of coffee with him than
sit down with somebody who is trying to set himself across
as he and I are worshiping the same God when we're not. I'm
not trying to be mean. I'm just truthful. I mean, really. I mean, you have to work with
folks every day. Every day you go to work. And
there's one thing that you'll find that's probably pretty so. Most of the folks that you work
with, they think that they worship the same God you do. And you
know they don't. By and large, I mean, you may
work with somebody in this church, and if you do, I'm glad for you.
That's hard. That's hard to do. I mean, day
in and day out, it just It's just, you know. And here's these
religious leaders, and they bring Paul up, bring him up before
this governor right here, and they said, this heretic, this
man is a heretic, he's preaching heresy. Paul said, the way you
call heresy, it's the way I worship God. What is the message that
they call heresy? What is it? They called Paul
a heretic because of what he was preaching. He said, I've
determined I'm going to preach Christ and Him crucified. That's all I'm going to preach. That's it. My son-in-law gave
me one of the greatest compliments I've ever had, I think. He admitted
to me something lately. that he thought years ago when
he was dating my daughter. He was coming because he wanted
to date her. And after the message, every
message, you know, finally one day he just told her, he said,
Sarah, he said, your daddy says basically the same thing every
service. I know just about what he's going
to preach. I know he's going to preach about Christ. That's
all he... I told Sarah, I said, that's about the best compliment
he ever gave me. Heresy, that's what they call
it. Heresy. What is this message they call
heresy? Well, first of all, it's a message
that's based totally on the written Word of God. That alone is the
rule of our faith. Isaiah 8.20 says, To the law
and to the testimony, If they speak not according to this word,
it's because there's no light in them. We were coming over
here a moment ago, and we were listening to somebody on the
radio, and this fellow was preaching, not truth. He was preaching,
but he was using the same exact Scriptures, same Scriptures that
we've spoken out of, Brother Scott's spoken out of, same Scriptures. It's not according to truth.
Take them, twist them. They wrestle. That's what Paul
said. They wrestle the Scriptures.
You know what that means? It's a word that means it's like
back in the torture chambers when they put a man on a rack
and they torture him, try to distort it and bend it out of
shape. Make him do what they want to do. Make him say what
they want to say. They wrestle. the Scriptures. 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
reproof, correction, and instruction of righteousness, that the man
of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. That's the way I worship, Paul
said. The way I worship is according to the Scripture. Secondly, this
message is a message that declares Almighty God, Father, Son, and
Spirit, to be absolutely sovereign in creation, in providence, and
in salvation. That's the way I worship, Paul
said. Psalm 115.3, our God is in the
heavens. And He hath done whatsoever He
hath pleased. That's the God I worship, Paul
said. After the way you call heresy, you say that Almighty
God is at my disposal. That's not so. The God I worship
is in the heavens. Psalm 135, 6 says, Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he. in heaven and in earth and in
the seas and all the deep places. Paul said, I believe that. That's
what I believe. That is the God that I worship. Thirdly, this message is one
that declares all men by nature, all men, all women born in Adam,
to be spiritually dead sinners, totally void of anything That
is good. None good. David said in Psalm 51, 5, Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. This message, the way you call
heresy. Forcefully, this message is one
that declares by God's eternal election that a certain people
chosen before the foundation of the world, whose names were
written in the book of life, that these people written in
Christ, chosen in Christ, the Word Himself, must and shall
be saved. They shall be. I quoted that
2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, one of my favorite passages. We are
bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. My sheep hear my voice. They follow me. I give them eternal
life. All that the Father gives me,
what? They shall. They shall come to
me. They shall. Paul says, the way
that you call heresy, that's the way I worship God. Fifthly,
this is a message that declares the Lord Jesus Christ to be the
One, God's Lamb, who Himself in absolute obedience walked
before God Almighty and absolutely fulfilled, obeyed God's law,
that perfect righteousness that He earned as a man, that righteousness
God Almighty has imputed to His people, His believers, that their
guilt was charged to Him, imputed to Him, and justice, judgment,
was forever satisfied for God's people, His elect, the sheep. And He redeemed them, paid for
them. And on the cross when He said,
It is finished. It's finished. Now let me ask
you something. What else do you have to do to earn, to merit
salvation before God? It is finished. Now what are you going to do?
Man by nature says, well, all you have to do now is, well,
then evidently, according to that false religion, then it
wasn't finished. Paul says the way that you call
heresy, that's the way I worship God. Sixthly, it's a message that
declares God's grace to be His own. in salvation. It's irresistible. I grew up with folks telling
me that they watched people when the preacher would be giving
the invitation. And I always heard them talk
about white knuckles like that. See there? That's the way they
do it. Hanging on that pew. Resisting
God. And that preacher tell them,
God wants to save you. Won't you please, won't you please
let Him do it? He's done all that He can do.
He's done all that He can do. Well, Chuck, then maybe He's
not almighty. Maybe salvation is not of the
Lord. That's heresy. Salvation is of
God. When Almighty God purposes to
call a man or a woman out of darkness, Almighty God speaks
that word. And when He says, Come, you come
to Him, He grants a heart a willingness to come. And in the day of His
power, they come. Men said, that's not so. That's
heresy. Paul said, well, and boy, you
called heresy. That's the way I worship God. Seventhly, it's a message that
declares every redeemed sinner to be kept by the power of God
unto eternal salvation. They're kept through faith. They're kept. He is able to keep
you from falling. Do you think that Almighty God
chose a people from the foundation of the world in Christ, and Christ
walked before God Almighty in this world as a man, as their
Redeemer, as their substitute, as their representative? Bought
them. Paid for them. Redeemed them.
That's what redemption means. Paid the price. What was the
price? His blood. You mean to tell me
that Christ Himself redeemed His people, bought them back,
and then they themselves, it was left up to them to be kept?
Huh? After the way that men called
heresy. Paul said, I worship God. This message that calls men unto
repentance keeps them, feeds them, exhorts them, establishes
them all by God's grace. And Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of this message. I'm not ashamed of it. This is
the power of God unto salvation. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel. There's one message. It's Christ. Sixty-six books. This book is of Him. All these
scriptures are of Him. Same message. You take any passage
and you're going straight to Christ, straight to Christ, straight
to Christ. It's the only message that agrees
with the law and the prophets. It's the only consistent message.
I told somebody one time, the gospel is the only message that
makes sense. Men say, well, Christ died on
the cross, paid for all men's sins, paid for all of them. Well, if He paid for all of them
then, all men's sins were paid for, they say, in Calvary. Then
if God sends one man to hell, And he paid for all their sins,
then God's not just. He's not just, if that's so. If he paid for everybody's debt,
everybody's debt was paid. They said, well, no, no, no. But you have to make it. You
have to give in your heart. You have to exercise your free
will. Well, then, if that's so, then salvation's not of the Lord.
Salvation's of you. Then you're the final word. I
may have told you all this, I think I did. There was a lady, I was
in Tennessee, I was in a little art studio one day, and a lady
came up to me and she said, was refuting what I said, she says,
a man, a woman has a free will. I said, now let me ask you this
then. If that's so, if a man or a woman's got a free will,
and God wants to save everybody, but you have to exercise your
free will before you can be saved. And I want to know this, who
has the last, who has the final, who has the undeniably final
word in salvation? You or God? She said you do. If the Lord doesn't deliver that,
deliver you from that thought, then you're going to perish.
Because what you're saying is salvation is not of the Lord.
Salvation is of man. God's people are born not of
the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, not of blood,
but of God. Paul says the way you call heresy, that's the way
I worship God. This message that we believe,
this gospel, this is a good confession. Paul said in verse 14, he said
this, I confess. This, I confess. unto thee."
This is a good confession. The Gospel of John, chapter 18. John 18, 37. Pilate, the Lord is standing
before Pilate. Pilate therefore said unto him,
Art thou a king then? And Jesus answered, Thou sayest
that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Every one that is of the truth
heareth my voice. Paul says, That's who I worship. That's a good confession. To
this end came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Paul says, This I confess. unto thee, that after the way
which they call heresy," after the way. Paul said, this I confess
unto thee, after the way. Christ is the way. That's what
he said. After the way which they call
heresy, so worship I. the God. This is how I worship, Paul says.
I worship the God of my fathers. I worship the eternal God. God Almighty. After the way which they call
heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, and here's the
way we worship. And with this, I'm going to close.
We worship by faith." That's what he said. So worship I, the
God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law and prophets. You remember when Christ mentioned
this this morning, when the Lord was on the road to Emmaus with
two disciples, beginning with Moses. Moses, all the law, the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the concerning himself. Paul said, that's what I believe.
That's who I believe. The one of whom these scriptures
speak, that's who I believe. We worship by faith. Secondly, we worship with confidence,
grounded confidence. Paul says, verse 15, we have
a hope toward God. hope, a confidence, that's what
that means, a confidence. We believe in confidence. With a sure resurrection, Paul
says, Almighty God, Christ Himself, raised from the dead, raised
with Him, and one day we'll be raised, all of us, just and unjust. And herein, and this is the third
point, Paul says we worship by faith, we worship with a hope,
and thirdly, we worship with charity. Faith, hope, charity. Charity, that last verse. Herein,
verse 16, do I exercise myself and have always a conscience
void of offense toward God and toward men. to the spirit of
goodwill toward all, especially of the household of faith. Paul
says, I'm accused of being a heretic. What you're saying is, and things
don't change. Same thing today. Men by nature despise the message
that honors Christ, that exalts It lifts Him up. It sets Him forth. It declares
salvation to be totally in the hands of Almighty God. Men that
declare that, they are called heretics. It is false. False
doctrine. Not true, Paul says, in the way
you call heresy. It is the way I worship God. I believe Him by faith. Believe
what the Law and the Prophets proclaim. Him. Truth. Believe that. We've got hope
in that. What is your hope built on? Do you believe these Scriptures? What are you resting your eternal
soul on? Paul says, I'm resting in Him,
declared by the Law and the Prophets. Christ, that's my hope. It's a charity toward God. Our Father, how thankful we are
that we have some time to be able to come and just assemble
ourselves together. Lord, we realize that this glorious
gospel by mainstream religion, by the
vast majority of this world, this message is despised. Christ is despised, and you are
despised. Lord, we realize that we have
nothing to glory in save Christ. Lord, we realize that believing
Him is by Your grace. We have nothing but the Lord
Jesus Christ to rejoice in. Lord, we pray. Thank You, Jesus. For this time, we ask you to
forgive us for we've thought like thee. We pray that you'd
teach us. We are your children. We are
your people. We're thankful for this place.
We're thankful that you allow this place to remain. We ask
you to bless this message to your people. Blessed to our hearts
that we behold Christ afresh. For it is in His name we pray.
Amen.