Let's turn tonight in Acts chapter
24. Acts chapter 24. Inciting the people so that a mob, ignorant of what
was taking place, began to rebel, didn't work. The council of religious
leaders that got together to determine what to do with Paul
didn't work. An assassination attempt that
they made secretly to kill Paul didn't work. So now in comes
perhaps the worst weapon that the enemy has, oratory. Verse 1 says, and after five
days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders and
with a certain orator named Tertullus who informed the governor against
Paul. And now we're going to see what
his ammunition is. that this man uses. It's flattery. Verse 2, And when he was called
forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Now he's speaking
to Felix the governor. He says, 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 and in all
places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. Notwithstanding
that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou
wouldst hear us of thy clemency a few words." He just all but
deifies Felix. He tells him that it's by you
that we enjoy great quietness. He makes Felix the author of
goodness to them. He calls him Most Noble Felix. Now here's their accusation against
Paul. Paul's message was of salvation by grace, not by works. And he
was zealous, continually preaching this gospel. And they said in
verse five, for that, we found this man a pestilent fellow. He's a pest. Paul was, his heart's
desire and prayer for God to Israel was that they might be
saved. So he came preaching to them the one message that will
save Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. And for
that, they accused him of being a mover of sedition among all
the Jews throughout the world. He's a troublemaker and a divider. He preached Christ and Him crucified.
And for that, they accused Him of this. They said, He's a ringleader
of the sect of the Nazarenes. It's a cult. It's a heretical
group. It's a sect. The Nazarenes. They considered Jesus to be the
sect of the Nazarenes. And He says, verse 6, Who also
hath gone about to profane the temple, whom we took and would
have judged according to our law." That's all they wanted
to do. They just took him and were going
to judge him before the law. 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 of whom
thyself may as take knowledge of all these things were if we
accuse him. He left out the fact that they got this mob so riled
up that they were throwing dust in the air looking for stones
to kill him. He left that part out. He left out the part that
the council couldn't even agree with each other. They were so
divided amongst themselves. They weren't in agreement. The
only thing they were in agreement on is they hated Christ and they
hated his messenger. He left that out. And he didn't
mention anything about that assassination attempt of whom these elders
were privy to, and they were going to take part of. He didn't
mention anything about that. So here they all sit, all as
pious as can be, there before this governor Felix. And verse
9 says, And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were
so. Just like how he said it was. Be turning to Psalm 12 with
me. Psalm 12. The psalmist said,
as you turn in there, I want to read a few things to you.
The psalmist said, the words of his mouth were smoother than
butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil,
yet they were drawn swords. Scripture tells us a flattering
mouth worketh ruin. A man that flattereth his neighbor
spreads a net for his feet. Now, this is what the psalmist
wrote in Psalm 12. Help, Lord, for the godly man
ceaseth, for the faithful fell from among the children of men.
They speak vanity, every one with his neighbor, with flattering
lips, and with a double heart do they speak. That means what
they say is not what they're thinking in their heart. They're
saying one thing, but they got a motive, a hidden motive, just
as these men did. The Lord shall cut off all flattering
lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things. These are things
of man, boasting of man, boasting of proud things. God hates pride. He hates a proud look. He hates
that flattery that puffs men up and it makes men think themselves
something when they're nothing, rather than the truth which brings
a man down, makes a man to know who he is, what he is, brings
him down. And he says here, They've said, with our lips.
They've said, with our tongue will we prevail. Our lips are
our own. Who's Lord over us? For the oppression of the poor,
for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will set him in safety from
him that huffeth at him. The words of the Lord are pure
words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from
this generation from ever. The wicked walk on every side
when the vilest men are exalted. The scriptures clearly tell us,
brethren, not to use flattering tongues and to beware of flattering
tongues. Beware of flattering tongues.
Jude said, these are murmurers, complainers, walking after their
own lust. Their mouth speaks great swelling
words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. Because of advantage. Be very
careful if a preacher or somebody who professes to believe the
Lord comes to you and begins to flatter you. begins to, and
a lot of times it'll be flattery over things that you know that
are true, things that are so that you know. But they'll flatter
you, and all the while it's spreading a net for your feet. There's
a double heart. There's a double thought. There's
something behind it. The Lord warns us about it. Be
very careful about it. Let's see how the Lord's people
speak. Paul's opening remarks here,
let's compare what he said to what they said. Verse 10. Then
Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak,
he 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. And that's his introduction.
That's it. He does three things here. Number
one, he does not flatter Felix. Do you flatter an enemy of God?
Do you flatter somebody who's an unrighteous judge, who doesn't
know the truth of God, doesn't care about the truth of God?
Do you flatter them? Second thing is Paul gives him
honor because of his office, not because of his person, but
because God put Felix where he is. He's the governor. But the
third thing, Paul reminds Felix here of what his responsibility
is and that his responsibility as a judge is to the law and
to justice. He says, for as much as I know
that thou has been of many years a judge unto this nation, Now
this is why I'm here before you and why I'm about to speak. You're
a judge, he said. So remember that. He says, I do the more cheerfully
answer for myself. Let me read this to you over
in Romans 13. If you want to turn there, I want to give you
this, Romans 13. This is what Paul said. This
is how Paul was respectful to him for his office and reminded
him of what his office is and what his responsibilities are,
but he didn't flatter the man. Here's what Paul said in Romans
13.1. Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers
that be are ordained of God. And whosoever therefore resists
at the power, resists at the ordinance of God. And they that
resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not
a terror to good works, but to the evil." Paul's about to tell
him the truth. He's just going to stand up and
speak the truth. You don't have to worry. You don't have to be
a terror. You don't have to be afraid and frightened of those that
God's put in power if you just tell the truth. Just tell the
truth. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same, for he's the minister of God
to thee for good. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he's
the minister of God. He's a revenger to execute wrath
upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore, you must needs be
subject to them, not only for wrath, not only because they're
going to If you try to rebel against the police officers,
they're going to arrest you. That's what Paul's saying. But
not only for that sake, but he says, for conscience sake. For
conscience sake. We're going to see something
about that a little later. Alright, now let's see Paul's
defense. He says, basically what he says is, I'm not guilty. Let's
read it together. Verse 11. Acts 24 11, 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. They
did that, but Paul didn't do that. He says, Neither can they
prove the things whereof they now accuse me. Now drop down
to verse 17. Now, after many years, I came
to bring alms to my nation and offerings." He came with gifts
from the Gentile churches to give to his Gentile, to his Jewish
brethren. And he says, whereupon certain
Jews from Asia, they had followed him up there. These were the
troublemakers that came from Asia, followed him up there.
He said, they found me not profaning the temple, they found me purified
in the temple. Folks would go up from the countryside.
They would go up for the Passover. They would go up there at least
seven days prior to the Passover because they had to undergo some
sprinkling of the water of purification before they could do anything
in the temple at Jerusalem. That's what Paul did. That's
what Paul did when he went into the temple to pay the debt of
those Nazarites that were under a vow. That's what he did. But
he said, they found me there purified. I went through the
ceremony. They didn't find me there not
purified. He didn't have to do that. It was a vain thing. It
was worthless at this time, but he did it just so he could go
in and pay that debt. He said, neither did they find
me with multitude, he was there by himself, he didn't take any
Gentiles in, nor with tumult. I wasn't causing a ruckus. He says, who ought to have been
here before thee and object if they had ought against me, those
folks from Asia, or else let these same here say if they found
any evil doing in me. while I stood before the council.
Accepted me for this one voice that I cried standing among them,
touching the resurrection of the dead, and that's why I'm
called into question by you this day." Now, Paul makes a confession
here in between this, and this is going to be the focus of our
message tonight. Our Lord told us, Whosoever shall
confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father which
is in heaven. Now these men that are accusing
Paul wouldn't dare confess Christ. But now listen to what Paul says.
He's standing here in front of this governor Felix, governor
of Rome, a man who don't know God, don't know a thing in the
world. He's standing here before these elders, he's standing here
before this whole council of men, and this is what he says,
verse 14. 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, and have hope toward God, which
they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein, for this
cause, do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void
of offense toward God and toward men. Now, the first thing I want
you to see is something we've gone over and we go over this
every time we meet here. It's the first thing to understand.
Christ Jesus is the way God's saints worship God. Christ Jesus
is the way that God's saints worship God. He is the door. This is what He said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door, into
the sheep bowl, but climbeth up some other way, the same as
a thief and a robber. And he said shortly after that,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Now he's our access to God. Let's
look at some scripture. Romans 5. He is our access to
God. We were cut off. We were separated. We were dead in sins. We were
left in our pollution of our blood, just like that infant
in the field in Ezekiel. And Christ is our way. He's our way to the Father. Whenever
we lived down in Tennessee at the Vanderbilt University Hospital,
there's a parking garage and you park and then There's a long
corridor, a long passage, a long way that goes across the street
and goes over and goes into the building, goes into the hospital.
That's the way that you come from that parking garage into
that hospital. That's the way. That's the way
you crossed over. Christ is that way. Christ is
the way. We come out of this world, out
of sin, out of rebellion, out of separation from God, into
the presence of God. Now watch Romans 5 verse 1. He
says here, by faith being justified, by faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. He did the justifying. Faith
means it's not of works. Faith means you don't add anything
to it. Faith means you do nothing. It's through the Lord Jesus Christ
that we have peace with God. By whom also we have access. You know what access is? It's
the way in. Access. By faith, again, it's
not works, it's by faith. We have access by Him, by faith,
into this grace wherein we stand. What is this grace? It's full
acceptance with God. It's right now being able to
come into God's presence, fully accepting of God without anything
else needing to be done. Period. Period. and we rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. That's where hope comes from,
because we have this access. Look over at Ephesians 2, Ephesians
chapter 2. He's talking to the Ephesian
Gentile brethren, and He's talking about the Jews that are God's
elect, His elect Ephesian brethren, and He says, verse 18, It's through Christ. You know
what you do when you go through something? It's through Him.
It's a way. It's a passage. It's the way.
Through Him, we both, Jew or Gentile, have access, there's
that word again, by one Spirit unto the Father. Who's it through?
It's through Him. It's through Christ. having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter, to come in to the holiest by
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way. The way He's
consecrated for us, and that way is through His flesh. Remember
He said, we saw Sunday, He said, lest ye eat my flesh and drink
my blood? That's faith. That's laying hold
of Him. And it's by nothing that we do.
Faith is the exact opposite of works. It's the exact opposite
of laboring, of doing. It's believing. It's trusting.
It's casting your care into His hands. That's how we enter. He's the way. Now here's the
second thing I want you to see. Look back there in our text. Christ Jesus has always been
the way. Christ Jesus is the way that our fathers worshipped
God. Look here at verse 14. After
the way which they call heresy, so I worship, so worship I, the
God of my fathers. Now this is not talking about
all the fathers. It's not talking about all the
children of Abraham that came along. It's talking about his
spiritual fathers, those who really believe the gospel and
trusted God. The Lord said, your father Abraham
Rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad He rejoiced
to see it and he saw it. Let's look at Galatians Galatians
chapter 3 What Paul is saying here is when
he says I worship the God of my fathers I He's putting himself
out of the camp with these fellas, but at the same time he's putting
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the fathers outside of
the camp with these fellas too, and in the camp with him, and
he in the camp with them. And he said, we all worship God
the same way. We've always worshiped Him the
same way. Galatians 3, 7. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Do you realize
that spiritually speaking, you who believe right here in the
year 2010 are children of Abraham? You're children of Abraham. Abraham's
your father in the gospel. And he says in the Scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith. Do
you know who that heathen is? That's you. Gentiles. You're the heathen. God's elect
heathen. Seeing that He would justify
them through faith, not through works, through faith, He preached
before the Gospel unto Abraham. How do you preach the Gospel
unless you preach Christ? Huh? saying, In thee shall all
nations be blessed, so then they which be of faith are blessed
with faithful Abraham. If you look down the page, he
says, In your seed all the nations of the earth are going to be
blessed. And he says, And that seed is Christ. What's it? Genesis
3, Galatians 3.15, 3.16. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. And he didn't say to seeds as
of many, but as of one, to thy seed which is Christ. When he
preached the gospel to Abraham, he preached Christ to Abraham.
Way back there. Way back then before the law
ever entered in. The law of Mount Sinai. He preached
Christ to Abraham 430 years beforehand. This is how sinners have always
been saved. Always. Abel's lamb that Abel
brought. He brought literally a lamb.
But Abel's confidence and his rejoicing Now hear me now, it
wasn't in the fact that he brought this carnal lamb. It wasn't in
that carnal lamb itself. Abel's lamb was Christ. Abel's lamb was the Messiah that
God would provide. Adam knew about it. Adam had
taught him about it. God came to Adam, and He slew
an animal, and He made coats of skins, and He covered Adam
and Eve's nakedness with those coats of skins. And He declared,
there's come in the seed of woman. Adam had preached this gospel
to Abel, and Abel knew, I can't come anyway but in the seed of
woman. And the seed of woman is represented
in this lamb that's slain right here, and this blood that's slain.
That's how sinners have always come to God, by faith in Christ.
Noah's ark was Christ the Lord. That ark, he entered into that
ark, and that ark saved him. But Noah believed God. Noah saw the coming Messiah in
that ark. He saw what was being typified,
or at least he saw He believed God. He trusted God that the
Messiah, in the Messiah, he would be saved. And that's what this
ark represented. Noah's ark was really Christ.
His ark, personally, for him, was Christ. The lamb that God
provided to die in the place of Isaac. Abraham had just preached
the gospel to Isaac. Abraham had just told Isaac,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb. And Abraham was speaking
of that day he saw afar off by faith. I don't know, and he was
probably speaking of that day too, but I know he was speaking
of that day he saw afar off, which was Christ's day. And when
Isaac looked up and he saw that lamb caught in a thicket, Isaac
looked up and beheld my lamb. Not just that physical Lamb,
but Christ the Lamb. Christ the Lamb. The substitute,
Jacob. His ladder that went up and down
where the sin up and down and that gulf was abridged between
heaven and the earth. Jacob's ladder was Christ. Jacob
knew Christ. He believed Christ. So when Paul
says here, I worship the God of my father. You fellows are
the ones that are heretics. I'm worshiping the God that Abraham
worshiped, that Abel worshiped, that Isaac worshiped, that Jacob
worshiped, that our fathers worshiped. All right, here's the third thing.
He's the way, Christ Jesus is the way spoken of throughout
the Law and the Prophets. When we say the Law and the Prophets,
we mean the Law, the first five books of the Bible, written by
Moses, it's called the Law, and also we talk about the Ceremonial
Law, the Law given from Mount Sinai, the Moral Law, the Civil
Law, and all this book, and the Prophets, are all the Prophets
from Moses on. Alright, look what he says, verse
14. He says, 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 the Prophets.
Now when he believed, you be turning over to Luke 24, Luke
chapter 24. When he says here, I believe
all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets, what
things is he talking about? What's written in the Law and
the Prophets? Look at Luke 24, 27. This is the Lord after He had
risen from the dead, and He's talking to these men on the Emmaus
road. And look what He says to them.
Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them
in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Where did
He expound to them these things? In all the Scriptures. beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Be looking at Romans
1, Romans chapter 1. Do you remember whenever, what He said in Luke, He said,
or in John, He said, Search the Scriptures, for in them you think
you have life, and you will not come unto Me that you might have
life. And He says, And they, those
scriptures that you're searching, are they which testify of me.
Everything in this book is about Him. Everything in this book
is about Christ the Lord. From the very beginning of the
book, it's about Him. It's about Him. Look, Romans
1.1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God. which He had promised afore
by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. This Gospel has been promised
before. It's been promised by His prophets
in the Holy Scriptures. What is this Gospel? Look at
the next verse. Concerning His Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according
to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.
Because He's the end of the law, because He's the fulfillment
of the prophets, the first thing our Lord Jesus did when He came
to this earth was He picked up the Scriptures. He came into
the synagogue, He picked up the Scriptures, and He read out of
Isaiah. And when he got finished reading
out of Isaiah, he closed the book and he said, this day is
this prophecy fulfilled in your ears. And it was the prophecy
that said, I've come to bind up the brokenhearted. I've come
to set free the prisoners. I've come to give them beauty
for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning. This is that the
Lord might be praised. And he said, this day the scripture
is fulfilled in your ears. He's the one. Over and over,
we read that the things that he did, he did that the scriptures
might be fulfilled. Because they were all written
of him. They were all written saying, this is how you're going
to know this is him. He's going to fulfill everything
that's written here. Everything here is written about
him. And this is how you're going to know this is him. That's why
he said, don't think that I came to destroy the law and the prophets.
I came to fulfill them. He's the fulfillment of everything
written in this book. You turn over to Hebrews 10.
We went through Hebrews because I wanted you to see that all
through the law it's written of Christ. But listen to this
right here. I love this. He's our apostle
and our high priest. He's the high priest who entered
the veil. He's the high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Didn't have beginning of days or end of days. He's the king
priest. He's the lamb of atonement. He's the mercy seed. All the
things Throughout the law, listen to this, Hebrews 10.1, for the
law having a shadow of good things to come. That's what it was,
a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the
things. can never, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually, make the commerce thereunto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because
at the worshipers, once they were purged, they wouldn't have
any more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices, there
was a remembrance again made of sins every year. They were
reminded continually they're sinners, and they're looking
forward to this one that's coming. For it's not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats could take away sins. Wherefore, when
He, Christ, cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me." Now,
be sure you get this too. When I say that believers have
always worshipped through Christ, always believed on Christ, He's
always been the only way you can come unto the Father. I don't
mean he existed before in bodily form. I'm not saying that, that
he came in his incarnate fashion, but he came in time in that fashion,
but he's always been the Christ of God. He's the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Now watch. He says here, When
he cometh, he said, sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not.
The Lord never intended to save a soul through the blood of a
bull and a goat. He was giving it as an elementary example,
an elementary picture, an elementary type so we could enter into something
about what Christ is going to accomplish. And he said, but
a body hast thou prepared me, and burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, when he came, Lo,
I come, and the volume of the book is written of me. And this
whole book has been written of me. I come to do thy will, O
God. Look down at verse 10. By the
witch, by that will, we're sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once. Look down at verse 14. For by
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Wherefore, the Holy Ghost also
is a witness to us. He said before, this is the covenant
I'll make with them after those days. I'll put my law in their
hearts, in their minds I'll write them. Their sins and iniquities
I'll remember no more. And where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. What's the result now? What's the result when the Spirit
of God has come into your heart and made you to know that by
Christ, one offering. He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. And you're sanctified when He
enters in and writes that law in your heart, and He makes you
to see that He is all your perfection. He's wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption for you. He's everything you need with
God. He's everything. And when He makes you to see
that, you're going to be... I'll tell you how sanctified you're
going to be. Other folks who claim to believe
on Jesus are going to say, Well, you believe heresy now. And you're
going to be so sanctified through what the Spirit does that you're
going to say, well, after the way that you call heresy, this
is the way I worship the God of my fathers. This is who I
worship. And those folks that say that's
heresy, those folks that say, no, there's something else that
you've got to do to perfect yourself, to be more sanctified, to be
more holy, to be more accepted with God, haven't been sanctified. How about that? their evil wretched
whores in their sins and lasciviousness and will not come to God that
they might have life in Christ Jesus and won't come until Christ
enters in and writes this law in their hearts and makes them
to behold what this word says. You know what the writing of
this law in our hearts is? It's God entering in through
the Holy Spirit and teaching you what this book says. It's
teaching you the words, the volume of this book that is written
of Him. That's what it is. Well, here's
the fourth thing, back in our text, Acts 24, 15. Paul says, And I have hope toward
God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a
resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. Now,
Christ Jesus is our hope toward God. That's the fourth thing. Christ Jesus is the way we worship
God. The second thing is, Christ Jesus,
what did I tell you the second thing was? I forgot. Christ Jesus has always been
the way. He's always been the way. He's
the way the fathers came. The third thing is, Christ Jesus
is what this law and this prophet, the whole volume of this book
has always said. The fourth thing is, What did I say? I've lost myself. All right. This is the fourth
thing. Christ is our hope toward God.
He's our hope toward God. There's going to be a resurrection.
Even the enemies here, the enemies of God said that there would
be a resurrection. They said there's going to be
a resurrection of the just and the unjust. Those that are in
Christ are just. Those that are outside of Christ
are unjust. There's going to be a resurrection of everybody.
But our hope for acceptance in that day is this. God chose me
before the foundation of the world. Not because of any good
or evil in me, just because of his grace. Free, his free choice,
that's my hope. My hope is Christ came and he
made full satisfaction to God for me. That's all my hope. My
hope is that I've been made the righteousness of God by the imputation
of Christ's righteousness through faith and that He's come into
me through the Holy Spirit. He's created me anew, a new man
in righteousness and holiness. And I'm perfect to be accepted
of God in Christ Jesus. and believing I began in the
Spirit this way, that it was all the work of God, that it
has been from before the world began, my hope is, is not in
any way that I'm going to be made perfect now by something
I do in my flesh. You find that in Galatians 3.
I'm not going to be made perfect by something I do in my flesh.
If I've begun in the Spirit, I'm not going to foolishly turn
away and try to start perfecting myself in the flesh. And our
hope is this. If I'm going to be kept, I'm
going to be kept because I'm confident of this thing. He that
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. I like this. Now listen to this.
This is what he prayed. This is the intercession of Christ
Jesus, my hope. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name. Remember what Moses kept saying
over and over? He kept pleading the name of
the Lord God. He kept pleading His glory, saying,
if you let one of these go, they're going to speak evil of your name.
They're going to say you couldn't do it. This is Christ praying
the Father in John 17 and he says, Holy Father, Keep through
thy name, for your name's sake. Those whom thou hast given me,
that they may be one as we are. One. Now that's some assurance,
brethren. That you got Christ our hope,
praying the Father, beseeching Him to keep us through His name,
His holy name, for the sake of His holy name. Now that's being
killed. That's my hope. I'm crucified
with Christ. I died. Nevertheless, I live.
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life that I now
live, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. And because of that, I don't
frustrate the grace of God. Because if Christ died, if righteousness
comes by anything you do, Christ died in vain. What is it to frustrate
the grace of God? Yeah, but you just frustrated
the grace of God. Well, I believe Christ is all,
but now you frustrated the grace of God. The grace of God says
Christ is all. P-E-R-I-O-D. Period. Period. Well, This is my hope of resurrection. My hope of assurance. My hope
of acceptance. My hope of being kept. Here's
my hope of resurrection. If the Spirit of Him that raised
up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit
that dwelleth in you. And I'm going to be raised with
a new body. to match my new spirit I already
have. And therefore, brethren, this
was the conclusion Paul came to. Therefore, we're debtors
not to the flesh to live after the flesh in any way. And then this is the fifth thing
I want to show you. Back in our text, Acts 24, 16,
and we'll close right here. Because Christ Jesus is our all,
He's our motivation for living a life in this world void of
offense. Because He's everything. He's
our motivation for living a life void of offense. We look to God. Paul said, herein do I exercise
myself. The word is, because of this,
I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense
toward God and toward men. He's saying the very best proof
you have, Felix, that I haven't done anything these men said
I've done is because I worship Christ. That's what he's saying. Because this is my hope, because
I worship the way they call heresy. I make it a point to live my
life out of offense toward God and toward men. What does it
mean to live void of offense toward God? Don't turn your eyes
away from Christ. Don't look to yourself in any
shape, form or fashion. Keep on trusting Christ. Paul
said that. I'll just give you this so you
can... Let's turn and look at it. Colossians 2. Colossians
2. Verse 6, As you therefore receive
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up
in Him, established in the faith, as you've been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving. That's how we are void of offense
toward God. We walk in Christ, we don't look
anywhere but to Christ, we trust Christ, and we thank God for
Christ. Now watch, the opposite of that,
he says, beware now, lest any spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of
the world, and not after Christ. That's what it is to be a fence
toward God, is to listen to men and go after vain tradition and
that vain deceit. For in Christ dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him which
is the head of all principality and power. Now watch, in whom
also you're circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ, you're not even a sinner before God
anymore, he said. Just as the circumcision takes
away the filth of the flesh, He said, you've been circumcised
by Christ so that you don't even have any sin anymore. The filth
of your flesh is gone. So don't listen to men that tell
you, you need to observe this and this and this and that if
you're going to really be holy. Yarr. That's what he's saying. Yarr.
Now that's being without offense toward God. It's trusting Him.
Trusting Him. Looking to Him. And without offense
toward men? Seeing as we have received this
ministry, we receive mercy, we faint not, we've renounced the
hidden things of dishonesty, we don't handle the Word of God
craftily, deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth. commending
ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Over there,
Peter says, don't lie anymore with your neighbor. Paul said
that in Colossians. Don't lie anymore with your neighbor. Speak
the truth. That's what we're talking about. We don't handle
the word of God deceitfully anymore. That woman walked by me up there
at Pennington Day, and I wasn't being loud enough for her, and
she said, be more bold. Yell out and tell them, Christ
loves you. I said, I don't know if he does.
You don't know if He does. Have a good conscience. Whereas
they speak evil of you as evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely
accuse you. The Lord's appeared. He's taught
us to deny ungodliness. He's taught us to deny worldly
lusts. He's taught us to live soberly, righteously, godly in
this world, looking for that blessed hope. This is why. This is my motivation. I'm looking
for that hope. I can't be looking for Christ
to come if I got my eyes set on this world. I can't be waiting
on Him eagerly with my staff in my hand, dressed and ready
to go if I'm dressed like this world, cumbered about with this
world, entangled in the affairs of this world, and just anchored
down in this world. I can't do it. I can't do it. live void of all offense so that
men can't look at you and accuse you of anything. I've told you
before, that light that's going to so shine before men that they're
going to praise God is when God calls them by grace. The light
is going to be, they're going to realize, you know, you didn't
do what the rest of this religious world does. You didn't try to
entice me by twisting the words around. You didn't try to entice
me by everything your church has to offer. You didn't try
to entice me by all the things this world religions did. You
told me the truth. Now that's a light bulb, isn't
it? That's the light. You told me the truth. And the
rest of the world never did that. They thought, the world thinks,
let's just get them in here and we'll tell them the truth later.
But when you get men in there without telling them the truth,
the only way to keep them in there is to keep not telling
them the truth. If that's why they came in the
first place. If a man don't come for anything but Christ, he ain't
gonna stay there for anything but Christ. And this is the way that the
unregenerate religious world cause heresy. The Lord stood there one day
when He said, I'm the door. When He said, all My sheep are
going to come to Me. He said, and everyone that comes
to Me, I'm not going to cast them out. He said, everyone that
believes on Me that enters in by the door, they're going to
have eternal life. And He said, I'm going to give it to them
because I'm going to lay down My life for them. I'm going to finish
the work God gave Me to do for them. And He looked at those
men sitting there and He said, listen, the reason you don't
believe is because you're not my sheep. He didn't say that the other
way around. He said the reason you don't believe is because
you are not my sheep. He didn't say if you believe
you'd be my sheep. He said you don't believe because
you're not my sheep. And you know what they answered him?
He's got a devil. He's mad. Don't listen to him.
Why are you listening to him? That's what they were saying
to Paul. But live, this is the application, live in a manner
so that none of the world can accuse you. They can't accuse
you falsely. This is what he, Paul says in
another place, live in simplicity. Simplicity. That's keeping it real simple.
Just be simple. Live in simplicity and sincerity
and speak truth with your neighbor and don't lie anymore. And this
is the Lord's promise. We read it there in Psalm 12.
He said, for the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of
the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord, and I will set
him in safety from him that puffeth at him. Now what did Paul do? Paul just told the truth. Paul
said, the way that they say is heresy is the way I worship.
He said, I worship the way of my fathers. I worship according
to the scriptures. He said, this is all my hope
of the resurrection. This is all my hope of acceptance
with Him. This is all my motivation for living honestly and godly
in this world. And did the Lord arise and set him in safety?
Read the next few verses, verse 22. And when Felix heard these
things, Having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them
and said, when Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will
know the uttermost of your matter. And he commanded a centurion
to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid
none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him. The Lord set
him in safety. He had liberty. His friends could
come and go, minister to him. I tell you, the way of truth
is always the way. It's always the best way. So
a man told Brother Henry one time, a preacher told Brother
Henry, he said, you know, he said, you can preach the doctrine
of election and predestination in such a way as men won't know
what you're saying. Henry said, well, that sort of
defeats the purpose. I want men to know what I'm saying. The truth, the truth. How liars, we're liars, and how
we complicate things, don't we? When the truth is what sets men
free. That's what God uses to set men
free, the truth. So Paul said, after the way that
they call heresy, I say that's the way I worship. That's the
truth. Amen.