Okay, brethren, let's turn to
Acts chapter 28. Let's begin reading in verse
16. And when we came to Rome, the
centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard,
but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that
kept him. And it came to pass that after
three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together. And when
they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren,
though I have committed nothing against the people or customs
of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into
the hands of the Romans, who when they had examined me would
have let me go because there was no cause of death in me.
But when the Jews spake against, I was constrained to appeal unto
Caesar, not that I had ought to accuse my nation of. For this
cause, therefore, have I called for you to see you and to speak
with you, because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with
this chain. And they said unto him, We neither
receive letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither any
of the brethren that came showed or spake any harm of thee. But
we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest, for as concerning
this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against. And when
they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his
lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of
God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of
Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening. And
some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed
not. And when they agreed not among
themselves, they departed after that Paul had spoken one word.
Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers,
saying, Go unto this people and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and
shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive.
For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears
are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal
them. Be it known therefore unto you
that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that
they will hear it." The first order of business that
Paul had when he got to Rome was to call the chief of the
Jews. that three days after being there,
he called the chief of the Jews together. Now these are the chief
men in Rome who have the scriptures of God and who are in a leadership
capacity there in Rome. Now those at Jerusalem who were
in this same office, this same role, chief in Jerusalem had
just rejected Paul, and it laid many serious charges against
him. But still, when Paul gets here, he calls for these chief
Jews first. Our God delights in mercy, and
when he gives life to one and equips that one and sends him,
he's going to make him delight in mercy as well. But mercy at
the expense of truth is not mercy. At all. At all. So Paul deals with these men
in great mercy, wasting no time to get right to the truth. The mercy He shows to these men
is by getting straight away to the fact that God the Father,
Christ His King and Savior shall have all the glory. Now He states
two things up front to these men. First of all, He states
to them that He was bound with a chain for no other reason than
because the men at Jerusalem had rejected Jehovah. They had rejected Christ, the
Gospel of Christ, the King and the Savior. And He declares secondly
that He was sent there to Rome by that same King. And that He
was sent there with that same Gospel. And that's why He was
there. Let's see this, verse 17. And
when they were come together, these chief of the Jews, he said
unto them, Men and brethren, he's speaking of his countrymen,
and he says, Though I have committed nothing against the people or
customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem
into the hands of the Romans. Their rejection was not a matter
of personal injury that Paul had done to them. That wasn't
the case. Not a civil matter. It wasn't
a matter of Paul doing anything against the customs of the fathers. That wasn't the case. That's
what they charged him with, but that wasn't the case. That wasn't
the case at all. And Paul, when he was delivered
to the Romans, was found guilty of all those charges. Verse 18,
he says, Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go? The
Romans would have, because there was no cause of death in me.
Verse 19, he says, But when the Jews spake against them letting
me go, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar, not that I had ought
to accuse my nation of." He says, furthermore, I didn't come here
to accuse them of any civil matter either. This thing is absolutely
nothing at all to do with any civil crime. It's nothing to
do at all with any of the charges they've laid against me concerning
the customs of Moses. That's not what this is about
at all. Not at all. This is a heart matter. That's what this is about. This
is a matter of the rejection of Christ Jesus, the King of
glory. That's what this is about. Now,
he says here, verse 20, for this cause, therefore, have I called
for you to see you and to speak with you. And he's saying, I
want to declare to you the truth of why I am bound with this shame. Here is the twofold reason, verse
20, because that for the hope of Israel I'm bound with this
chain. Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter
14. He's declaring first of all that
Jerusalem rejected Jehovah, God, when they rejected the gospel
of Jesus, the King and Savior. Jeremiah verse 14. They knew this phrase well because
the Jews at Rome, the chief Jews, had the Scriptures memorized.
And so they knew the words of Jeremiah. Look at Jeremiah 14,
8. Oh, the hope of Israel, the Savior
thereof in time of trouble. This is who we're talking about.
They knew this phrase and they knew who this spoke about. Look
at John 17, verse 13. Verse 12, a glorious high throne
from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. Oh Lord, the
hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed and they
that depart from me shall be written in the earth because
they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall
be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved.
For Thou art my praise. But you see here, O Lord, the
hope of Israel. When you see the capital L-O-R-D,
it means Jehovah. It means the Lord of hosts. It means God Almighty. He is... He is... God with us. Christ is God with
us. He is God in human flesh. And Paul states that this rejection
at Jerusalem is not a matter of civil offense. It's not a
matter of personal opinion. It's a matter of the heart. That's
what the cause of it is. When they reject the Gospel,
Jesus of Nazareth, the King and the Christ, God with us, They
rejected the Lord God Jehovah. That's why I'm bound for the
hope, the hope of Israel. Who's Israel? It wasn't those
who rejected Him. It wasn't those who rejected
Him. Israel are those who He makes to receive Him. Those to
whom He sends this Gospel and causes to receive Him in true
understanding and true knowledge of who He is. Now, the second
thing he says here by saying this same phrase is that he's
declaring that his chain, his chain, that is everything that
had come to pass to bring him to Rome was in fact Christ the
King sending him to proclaim the gospel at Rome just like
he had done at Jerusalem. Look back at Acts 23.11. Acts
23.11. That's what the king said to
him. Acts 23, 11. And the night following,
the Lord, the king, the sovereign, sovereign Saphir, stood by him
and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of
me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. You've borne witness of me, you've
testified of me, you've preached me, and you must do it at Rome
too. Paul said, everything that's come to pass, everything that's
transpired to put me in these chains is my King working all
things together to bring His Gospel to somebody in this place. That's what the whole thing's
been about. Look over at Ephesians 6. Ephesians chapter 6. Paul says
this same thing several times. Ephesians 6 verse 19. He's asking them to pray for
him that utterance may be given unto him from the king. That's where it comes. That's
where it comes. That's what we just read about,
John chapter 7. He said, if a man speaks, you're
going to know by his doctrine who sent him. If it's of God
or if it's of man. Because if it's of God, he's
going to seek God's glory only. And you're not going to be wondering
what his credentials are, where he got. You're going to be rejoicing
in it. And it's pure, and there's no
unrighteousness in what he says. Paul says, pray for me that utterance
may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, brightly,
clearly, plainly, whitely, to make known the mystery of the
gospel, the mystery of the gospel, for which, for which cause, for
the purpose of which I am an ambassador in bonds. That's why he's writing this
from Rome. And he says, that's why I'm in these chains, that
I might preach Christ boldly. That's why he sent me here, to
do that. Look over at Colossians chapter
4, verse 3. Master's, I'm sorry, verse 3,
he says the same thing again. Witho praying also for us that
God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ for which I am also in bonds. That's why I'm in this
chain, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. The King
and the Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, had some sheep at Rome. He had
some sheep at Rome that God the Father had given to Him. He had
redeemed them. He had paid his life's blood
and paid the wages of sin they owed and redeemed them from all
iniquity, from all curse, from all sin, from all transgression. He had taken their sins Himself. God didn't impute their trespasses
to them. He charged them to His Son. And His Son bore the wrath for
those sheep. They're His purchased possession.
He owns them. They belong to Him. And God the
Father, when He raised Him up, He said, I have set my King in
my holy hill of Zion. And he said, I am well pleased
with him. And he said, ask of me, I'll
give you the heathen for your inheritance. And he said, this
day have I begotten thee. And Christ said, I will declare
the decree. I will declare this decree. The king says, I will declare
this. I will preach this. I will make
sure that the world knows My sheep are called out knowing
that I have accomplished this and God the Father is well pleased
for my righteousness sake. Now, these purchased possessions
that belong to the Lord, the King, and the Savior. If He's
just a Savior, He won't do you any good. He's the King and the
Savior. He's the Lord and the Savior.
He doesn't save in supreme grace, superior grace. He saves in sovereign
grace. And these sheep in Rome are blind. They're lost. They have a thick
covering, a thick refuge of clay. They have the Scriptures. They
have the Scriptures. Why didn't then He just speak
through the Scriptures and save them? You know, He appeared to
Cornelius when Cornelius was praying, and Cornelius was seeking
to know if Jesus is indeed the Christ and the Lord and the Savior
promised. Why didn't the Lord just reveal
that to him right there on the spot? Why did he send for Peter
and say, Peter, you go down there and preach the gospel to Cornelius? And why did he give Cornelius
a heart together with his household and say, we're all here together
to hear whatsoever God has said to you? Why is that? Because
that's how it pleased the Father. That's how it pleased God to
do it. And the King of Glory, everything has been given into
His hand. The government is on His shoulder. This One who from the foundation
laid everything on the earth made it. That's who He is. He's sovereign to do that. He's
sovereign to do everything else. He laid it. He laid it. He laid
the foundation. He did it. He's always sent. He's the one who appeared to
Moses in the bush and sent Moses. He's the one who preached the
gospel throughout the generations. He's the one who has come and
spoken truth. He's the one who sends forth
His messengers in truth. He's the one. He is the one. But how are these spiritually
blind, lost sheep that He purchased, how are they going to hear Him?
How are they going to know Him? Turn to Romans 10.14. They had the Scriptures. They
had chief Jews here that were leading them and teaching them. There was a problem with that.
This King hadn't sent them. This king hath sent them, and
we're fixing to see. They're blind, and they don't
know this lesson. They're as blind as those that
Paul preached to at Jerusalem. And he said, it's this king,
the hope of Israel, that I'm here. Now watch this. He says,
Romans 10.14, How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed. Faith has an object. Faith lays
hold of a person. How shall they believe in Him
of whom they have not heard? Now, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
when they said, John 7, I read it to you in the Scripture, how
do you know the scriptures, how do you know the doctrine of God
having never been taught?" And he said, he said, this is how,
he said, my doctrine's not mine, it's him, it's his that sent
me. He is the one that sent me. And
He said, if any man be willing, if any man is given a heart to
know, to desire a new spirit, been made willing, he shall know
of the doctrine by the gospel that is preached, whether it's
of God or it's of man. How? How? Because the one that
preaches, is going to seek the glory of Him that sent Him. That's why Christ, as the all-preeminent
prophet sitting there in that instance, is teaching us this
lesson. He's saying, the prophet who
is sent is going to glorify one. He's going to glorify the one
that sent Him, and not man. Not man. Not man. And he said, this is how those
that have been made willing are going to discern and know because
they speak of the true God. The true God. No lies of a truth. And he said, if you had this
willingness, if you had this understanding, you'd know this
doctrines of God. You'd know where I got this doctrine
and you'd be rejoicing in me. Period. Now he says here, How
are they going to believe in Him of whom they have not heard? You're going to have to hear
about Him. If words mean anything, if there
was any purpose of God giving us these Scriptures, it's going
to be because these Scriptures declare who God is, the true
and living God. They declare how He saves. They
declare who He saves. They declare why He does it the
way He does it. They declare where He is. They
declare He's reigning. They declare He's able. They
declare He is the victorious God and Savior. How shall they hear without a
preacher? Well, these folks at Rome had
plenty of preachers, didn't they? These are the chief Jews. How shall they preach except
they be sent? Except they be sent. A preacher's a herald. He's a
herald. He goes forth crying, proclaiming
the King who's coming. And Paul is telling them, he's
declaring to them, for the hope of Israel, for King Jesus Himself,
by King Jesus Himself, for the proclamation of His fully accomplished
work of righteousness, He has sent me here. That's why I have
this channel. John the Baptist was sent to
herald the coming of the King into the earth. Paul and all
of Christ's messengers are sent to proclaim the coming of the
King into the hearts of His people. That's right. That's what He
does through this proclamation of this victorious Redeemer.
And God the Father receives all the glory because He has given
all this power to His Son because He's well-beloved, He's well-pleased
with Him for His righteousness' sake. He's given Him all power
in heaven and in earth. He did it from the beginning.
A glorious high throne is our Lord from the beginning, our
sanctuary from the beginning. He redeems in righteousness. He purposes in righteousness.
He sets forth the truth in righteousness. He redeems in righteousness.
He converts in righteousness. It means truth. He has no mercy
apart from truth. Oh, look at Christ on the cross.
Truth, judgment, righteousness is there manifest. God will by
no means do anything unjustly, without truth, out of order. He's a God of heaven and earth.
He's holy God. Shall He not do right? And that
is our mercy, that He will do right. But you take that judgment away,
that truth away, and you just do it in the name of mercy, wanting
to have compassion on folks. And it's not mercy anymore. It
ceases to be mercy the moment that truth is gone from the mercy. You understand that? It's not
truth at all. He receives all the glory and
the salvation of His children. I want you to look at Hebrews
chapter 1. Something I noticed today that was just a blessing
to me. I had just had a small portion
of this Scripture written down, and I went back and just read
the first two chapters. And I just want to read this
to you. Look at chapter 1, verse 8. It's declaring that You want
to know what Paul preached to them when he declared the kingdom?
When he declared the kingdom of God concerning Jesus Christ?
Read the book of Hebrews. Here's what he says to them.
Watch this, verse 8. But unto the Son he saith, Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever. Is there anything too hard
for the Lord? Can He prepare a feast in the
wilderness? Can He? Can He give manna in the middle
of the wilderness? Can He give water in the middle
of a dry and thirsty land? He's God. And look, a scepter
of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. He's on a throne. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
He's quoting scriptures. He's quoting the law and the
prophets, declaring who Christ is. He's God the King. And he
says, and thou, Lord, King, in the beginning. He's talking about
this same one, this same King Jesus. in the beginning has laid
the foundation of the earth. You see, this government was
given to him for the foundation of the world. This power to do
all things was given to him by the Father from the foundation
of the world. And he hath laid the foundation of the earth.
The heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish,
but thou remainest. He made them. You know when they're
going to burn up? When He comes. The fire. When the fire comes. The Word.
God Himself comes again. He's going to burn it up. And
they all shall act so old as doth a garment, but His throne
is going to remain. And as a vesture shalt thou fold
them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy
years shall not fail. You think of the power Power? He spoke the heavens and the
earth into existence. Why didn't He just speak to Cornelius? Why didn't He just speak and
make it so? Because He's of power to do things
exactly how He... Why didn't He just do it without
even creating the heaven and the earth? Because He'd do it
like He wants to do it. But to which of the angels said
he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool? Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation? They are his ministers, he saith. He tells them where to go and
he sends them forth and they do his bidding. The angels do. Do you think he has any trouble
doing that with kings of this earth? With men of this earth?
Do you think he has any trouble? He spoke one time by a donkey.
Did that mean the donkey was saved? No. Not at all. But the donkey spoke the truth
while he spoke. And he did that to correct a
false prophet. Let me ask you something. Did
Judas Iscariot preach the truth when he went forth with the others
and preached? Yeah, he did. Was he saved? No, he wasn't. But when he went
forth, he preached the truth. Why? Because this God's able
to do that. He's able to send forth this
Gospel in truth. He said, this is what the Lord
said, you ask yourselves, when you hear the doctrine, that's
what He said in John 7, just ask yourself, who's getting the
glory? And if you have a heart and an
understanding to know God's going to get all the glory, then you'll
know if the message doesn't give God all the glory, I didn't send
Him. I didn't send Him. Chapter 2, verse 1, Therefore
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word
spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if
we neglect, if we shut our ears, You know what the Jews at Jerusalem
had done? They simply said, that's not
how we understand things, Paul. They shut their eyes and they
shut their ears to the gospel Paul preached. How should we escape if we neglect
so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken
by the Lord. When was that? Thou, Lord, in the beginning
has laid the foundation of the earth. It was then. It was back then. That's when
He began sending forth His messengers. And was confirmed to us by them
that heard Him. that really hurt Him, that truly
hurt Him by His grace. God also bearing witness that
this is the King that is bearing witness with signs and wonders
and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according
to His own will. This is God we're talking about.
Now, back to our text. Let's see. Let's see what happens
here. Verse 21, and they said unto
him, We neither receive letters out of Judea concerning thee,
neither any of the brethren that came showed or spake any harm
of thee. Who receives the glory for that?
You think that was all by accident? This same king. who worked all
this together and bound Paul in a chain and paved the way,
used the Roman government to completely foot the bill to get
him to Rome to preach this gospel. This same king who did all of
that, who ruled the storms and the wind when they were out here
below. This same king ruled that hurricane
that put Paul on the island of Melita. You think he could have
sent a hurricane and put those letters on the bottom of the
ocean? Yes. Yes. If they were even sent,
He could have just turned their hearts so they didn't even bother
with it. They'd gotten rid of the pest.
They'd gotten rid of Him. They could go on with their religion
like they wanted to, just like they did when they crucified
Christ the King, Prince of Love. This is the one who turns the
king's heart. He turns evil men. He turns the
hearts of his people. He turns the hearts of all in
whom he dwells. And those who are even the wicked
kings of this earth, could he not shut their mouths so that
they couldn't open their mouths and say any evil word contrary
to Paul? For he got there with this gospel.
Sure he could. Verse 22, But we desire, we deem
it proper, to hear of thee what thou thinkest." Now listen to
how they say this, for as concerning this sect, this heresy, these
aren't the brethren to whom Paul wrote when he wrote the epistle
to the Romans. These men are speaking with reproach
for Christ. As concerning this sect, we know
that everywhere it's spoken against. Verse 23, And when they had appointed
him a day, there came many to him into his lodging, to whom
he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them
concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the
prophets from morning till evening. Now they were all looking at
natural things. They were looking at natural
things. And he said, God set up an earthly kingdom to show
you heavenly things, to show you spiritual things, to show
you everlasting things. Three things they trusted in.
This is where, these are the three things wherein all bigotry
come about. It's not bigotry to show mercy
in truth. It's bigotry to show it without
truth because therein men say it's something about me that
made me to differ from you. That's what these fellows are
going to do. That's what they're going to do. Some of them. Some
of them. But mercy and truth are speaking
out and declaring this. It's not of blood, it's not of
the will of man, and it's not of the will of the flesh. They
thought it was of blood. They thought that being born
into, of parents that were children
of Abraham, they were born into this kingdom and that made them
children of God. And Paul declares to them, that's
not how you get into this kingdom. You get in this kingdom by being
born of the Spirit of God's grace. That's how you get in this kingdom. In Matthew 12, you remember the
Lord had cast out some evil spirits, some devils out of some men.
He's the Word, He's the Gospel. He had done this on earth and
He's declaring... I've been reading Matthew 2, Pete, and all the
way up to chapter 13 where we are now. He's declaring over
and over what He does through this Word of His Gospel. Because
this Word of His Gospel declares what He's done at Calvary's tree. And he says, they said, you did
this by devil. And he said, no man can cast
out. Any kingdom divided against itself
won't stand. And he said, you have to enter
into a strong man's house and bind the strong man. bind him. And that's what he does through
this Gospel. He enters in and binds Satan and his princes and
his rulers and those that he sends forth to try to pollute
the minds of God's children. He binds him. He binds him. And he said after that, he was
declaring to him what he does. And he said, if a man just, if
he just has his house swept and garnered, and that spirit goes
out of him for a little while, but it's not been bound, that
evil spirit's not been bound, goes through the earth, comes
back and finds his house swept and garnished, takes with him
seven more spirits worse than those, and he goes in and now
he's worse than he was before. He's saying, to them, you fellows
are trying to cast out devils by this false gospel, by this
thing you call mercy, which is no mercy at all, it's oppression,
it's bigotry, it's harlotry, it's falsehood, it's evil. And he said, and all you're doing
is making men twice dead, twice dead. And they said, your mother
and your brethren are out here. They want to see you. And he
said, who's my mother and my brethren? Who are the children
of my kingdom? Who are of my house? They are
the ones who do the will of my Father. They're the ones who
hear this gospel and submit to the Lord and declare He is the
King who has redeemed His children. That's how you get in this kingdom,
not by physical genealogy. They believed that because they
had trusted in the will of the flesh, what their parents had
done for them, circumcised them the eighth day. And Paul declares
to them, circumcision is done by Christ Jesus in putting away
the sins of the flesh by the sacrifice of Himself. He laid
down His life and He did this. And He sends forth the Spirit
of God in truth and in spirit. And when He does, He circumcises
the heart of His people. And He's a Jew which is one inwardly. You realize that he's speaking
to the chief of the Jews, whose own countrymen, who they declared
to be brethren, were those very Jews at Jerusalem that had forsaken
him, that had rejected God and rejected Paul and accused Paul
of all these things. And Paul has the audacity to
come to them and tell them, it's not for any other reason than
that they rejected God. Why did He tell them that? Because
He's a faithful, God-sent messenger. That's why. That's why. And if God's going to save them,
He's going to make them to know that that natural genealogy,
those natural mothers and fathers, whatever you think it is about
the natural descent of a man, natural circumstance, those are
not what bring you into the Kingdom of Heaven. Not at all. And he says here, they looked
for the, they trusted in the will of man, their imaginary
obedience. There's never been a man that's
ever kept the Sabbath, but one who is the Sabbath, who is the
Lord of the Sabbath. Never, never been a man that
ever kept the law, ever, ever, but Christ Jesus, the God man. He's the only one. He's the fulfillment
of the precept and He's the fulfillment of the penalty of it. And by
faith we establish the whole law of God. That's it. And they were looking for the
restoration of an earthly political nation. Because all these other
things were natural, they were looking to natural blessings,
natural things, a natural kingdom, all of this. And He's declaring
to them, this kingdom's everlasting. It has been from everlasting. It's God who is eternal who is
the king of this kingdom. It's the king who's not bound
by men. He's not bound by what men think. We need to take our experience
and lay it down at the feet of Christ and leave it there. And leave it there. These fellows right here knew
the doctrine of election. These fellows right here believed
they were the elect of God, but caught by natural reason. They
knew that God's Lamb, the High Priest and the Lamb were for
Israel only and nobody else. They knew that. They knew that. They knew. They had an understanding
from the Scriptures. that God was sending a Messiah
in whom all this was going to be filled. They knew that. Do
you know what they didn't know? God. They didn't know that Messiah. You can read all of that, and
I would encourage you. We went through several messages
back in Acts 13, verses 16 through 52, and Paul stood up and he
declared this very thing. And you can go back, listen to
those, read those scriptures. But look at verse 24. And some
believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. He says there in Acts 13, as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. He said it was to many as believed,
John said, to them He gave the power, the privilege to become
the sons of God, which were born not of blood, nor of the will
of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. That's how. That's how. Well, somebody here,
as Paul preached this gospel, the incorruptible seed entered
in and they were born again. They were born again. And they
beheld what Paul declared. They beheld to these ones in
their heart through the gospel. Paul said, therein is the revelation
of the righteousness of God. And God manifest His righteousness
in them. They beheld Christ Jesus, the
righteousness of God. They beheld that He is the end
of all things, the end of everything that is written, the end of everything
that has been created and declared throughout this gospel, the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone who believed. They
beheld Christ is all and in all. And they were given repentance.
And they confessed that everything they had been trusting in, everything,
all their understanding, everything they had beforehand, was just
natural light. Natural understanding. look into
natural things and they repented from it. And it was done as every sinner saved in this
book has been saved. The very same righteousness that
our God is. The very same judgment that our
God is. The very same truth that our
God is. And that's mercy. That's mercy. Some didn't believe. We're going
to look at the rest of that next time. We're out of time. But
let me turn over to John 9. Let me read this to you. Acts 28. Let me read the rest
of this to you. When they agreed not among themselves,
these ones that didn't believe, they didn't agree amongst themselves. They didn't know why, they weren't
all departing for the same reason. And that's the fact. That is
the fact. Men can go from one place to
another. They can go from one preacher
to another. They go from one place to another
and always have a problem and never be satisfied till they
come to the gospel. Because, because all that's,
all that's Any other way is, in a natural manner, it's just
division. That's all it is. But God calls out of that into
the unity of the faith, the unity of the Spirit. And He said, well,
spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers.
Again, He's declaring that Isaiah spoke by the Holy Ghost He said,
go unto this people and say, hearing ye shall hear and shall
not understand, and seeing ye shall hear, see and not perceive. For the heart of this people
is waxed gross. Remember thick clay we looked
at Sunday? That word gross means thickly,
thickly. It's from a word that means pitch.
It means it's thickly sealed, hardened. Their ears are dull
of hearing, weighty, weighty. Their eyes they've closed. Now
they did that. And when He sent Isaiah, He said,
this is why I'm sending you with this message. This Holy One that
Isaiah saw, He said, I'm sending you with this message to shut
their eyes, to make them blind, to harden their hearts further.
You can read that in John 12. The Lord said that. He hardened
their hearts so that they couldn't believe. because they wouldn't
walk in the light He'd given them. I talked to Emma last night,
and I told her, you know, you have the gospel preached to you. You have, you have, you can hear
the Bible class lesson, and that's light. Even though you are going
to have to be given spiritual light, spiritual understanding,
life by God, you have some light here that He's given you. Walk
in it. Take those Bible class lessons. And the following Sunday, you're
going to have that in your bulletin. Take those and read those. Listen
to them again. Study through them. Apply your
heart to this. And he said, with what measure
you meet it, it will be measured to you. He said, it's because
if you're able to do this, it's because he's given you the heart
to do it. But, in other words, if you're saved, God gets all
the glory. But if not, it's our own fault,
brethren. It's our own fault. Now let me
show you something here real quickly, and this is it. We'll
be done. But in John chapter 9, the Lord is teaching us how that
He came He's working the works, the manifestation of the works
of the Lord Jesus Christ in this blind man. That was the reason
he was born blind. That was the reason he was born
blind. And through this, he's manifesting what it is that he
accomplishes by his work of redemption. He took clay and he took spittle. He is God who is spirit and he's
clay who is dust. He's God-man. That's who He is.
And that's how He made the bomb. And He came, truth came, the
gospel came with His apostles, and He put this bomb on this
blind man. And He told him, now you go wash
in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation, sin. And
everything about that pool is a picture and an illustration
of the washing of the water by the Word, the washing of regeneration
by the Holy Spirit. And the man did what he said
and he came away seeing. And right away he was sent into
the synagogue and some men there in that synagogue had a thick
covering. They had made their hearts hard
and God had hardened their hearts so they couldn't see. And they
said, we're not giving up this synagogue. We're not giving up
everything that we've devoted our lives to and follow after
Him and give Him the glory. We're not doing that. And his
old mama and daddy said, we're not doing it either. He's of
age. Let him speak for himself because they were afraid of getting
kicked out of the synagogue. And when it was over, when they
kicked Him out, look at John 9, verse 35. Let me find my place. John 9, verse
35. Jesus heard that they had cast Him out. And when He had
found Him, He said unto them, Does thou believe on the Son
of God? And he answered and said, listen to this spirit now. Who
is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? This is the whole point
of the message. I've come to give sight to the
blind. I've come to give a new spirit
in my people. I've come to make their hearts
teachable. And Jesus said unto him, thou
hast both seen him, and it's he that talketh with thee. And
he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. Now look
at this, and Jesus said, for judgment, for truth, righteousness,
I am coming to this world. He said, I'm the light of it.
I'm the light of it. That they which see not, might
see. Those that are blind, like this
blind man, that were just in need and desperate, that they
might see, and that they would see. those that are mighty, and noble,
and able, and don't have any need of the like, that they might
be made blind. This is Christ speaking. And some of the Pharisees which
were with Him heard these words, and when the gospel is preached,
I don't care when or where or anytime, this is when people
finally hear it, they always say, are you saying I don't know
the gospel? That's exactly what these men said. Are we blind
also? They said this to the Word, to
the Gospel, to the King, to the Savior Himself. You see the obstinate
hardness of the heart? Are we blind also? And Jesus
said unto them, if you were blind, if you were absolutely, utterly
dependent upon God to save you, you'd hear the doctrine. And
you'd be rejoicing in God who sent it, Christ who sent it,
who gets all the glory for sending it, and He does it. You'd rejoice
in the truth and righteousness wherein is mercy. And you should have no sin. But
He said, now you say, we see. We see. Therefore, He said, your
sin remaineth. And he said, this is why I came.
And if you'll read 1 Corinthians 1.30, the apostle Paul said,
that's why he chose to do this through what the mighty and the
noble man calls foolishness. Preaching. Preaching. Because
he's going to bring their wisdom to nothing. To nothing. Blind
those who have hardened their hearts against the power, sovereign
power of God to say, Do you hear Him speak? This is
Christ we're talking about. He gets all the glory in every
aspect of salvation. Go home and read that passage
again in John 7. He that is sin of God. You rejoice
in the doctrine when you've been made willing and you'll know
that He that's sin of God seeks the glory of Him that sent Him. And you'll know that's true doctrine. Amen.