It will be in Acts chapter 13
tonight. Our title for our message is
taken from Acts chapter 13 and verse 26. Paul preaching to the assembly in the synagogue at
Antioch, Pisidia said, Men and brethren, children of the stock
of Abraham, And whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation
sent." It had been a day just like any
other day, hundreds of days that had passed. The folks came to
the synagogue, Jew and Gentile, from far and wide in observance
of Sabbath day. They came and their worship services
went as normal. They stood up. One of the elders
stood up among them and read the Law of Moses, for they were
faithful to try to keep the Law of Moses. And they read the prophets
because they were faithful to look into the prophets and try
to learn how that they could best honor God by what the prophets
taught them. And everything was going along
as normal on this day, just like any other day. But there was
something different about this day. God sent one of his messengers into their
midst with his message. After this day, after God's messenger spoke to
them, if they went on in the law and the prophets,
rejecting the gospel that Paul would preach, it would no longer
be that they We're doing it in ignorance. But now it would be
willful rejection of Christ the Lord. And so it is for everyone
who hears the gospel of sovereign grace in Christ
Jesus preached. It would be better if we're going
to perish without believing on him it would be better to have
never heard this gospel than to have heard it and continue
on in willful rejection of him. So Paul is asked by some of the
elders to stand up and if he had any words to speak and so
they took delight in reading the law and the prophets so Paul
stands up And there's where he meets them at the Law and the
Prophets. And he spoke to them first of all on that which they
would agree, that the God of this people of Israel is the
mighty God who always makes good on His promises. He said, God
chose our fathers. And over 400 years before the
children of Abraham fell into captivity down in Egypt, God
told Abraham they would. He would bring them out of that
captivity with a mighty arm. And God made good on that promise.
He did just exactly what He promised Abraham He'd do. Paul declared
God who promised Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph that
their brethren would receive the land which He promised. He
made good on that promise. Destroyed seven nations mightier
than they and divided their land to them by a lot God made good
on his promise And Paul declared that God who promised Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob that he would be the king and Savior over his
Israel forever Didn't destroy the righteous with the wicked
in the wilderness, but raised up a mediator and delivered them
from each one that he promised to deliver, just as he promised
he would. And he said he raised judges
who continued to deliver them. And after the majority rejected
God as their King, he yet gave them the man after his own heart,
King David. And Paul declares that God, therefore,
is not a man that he should lie, but that He always fulfills His
promise, His covenant. And you could just about hear
the tension or feel the tension ease in the synagogue. Maybe
hear an amen here and there. This one that we've heard rumor
about, Paul, who's now professing himself to be an apostle. He's
still preaching the gospel, we believe. Then Paul begins declaring
that those promises which God made good on pointed to this
promise, Acts 13, 23. Of David's seed hath God, according
to promise, raised unto Israel a savior, Jesus. According to
promise, according to the scriptures, according to the word of Moses,
this is the seed of woman. perfectly holy and without sin. According to the prophet Isaiah,
this is Immanuel, God with us. According to promise, according
to the scriptures, according to the word of Moses, this is
the seed of Abraham, the son promised Abraham in whom all
the nations of the earth would be blessed. This is the one in
whom God's covenant would be fulfilled. According to promise,
according to the Scriptures, according to the psalmist David,
this is the seed of David. The king whom God promised his
dominion would be everlasting. And then Paul says, and likewise,
according to promise, according to the prophets, God has fulfilled
the Scriptures and fulfilled His promise in sending forth
the forerunner to announce the arrival of King Jesus. Verse
24. When John had first preached
before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people
of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think
ye that I am? I am not he, but behold, there
cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
lose. Matthew said, In those days came
John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying,
repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is
he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. This is what
God spoke through his prophet Isaiah, the voice of one crying
in the wilderness. John the Baptist saying, prepare
ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight. And that's
what Isaiah said long time ago in Isaiah 40 in verse 3. And
Paul says, And God made good on that promise. He brought forth
John the Baptist, preaching before his coming and saying, Repent,
the kingdom is at hand. Mark said, It's written in the
prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall
prepare thy way before thee. That's what Malachi said. Look
at Malachi chapter 3 in verse 1. Malachi said, Behold, I will
send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. He's
talking about John the Baptist. And the Lord whom you seek shall
suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant,
of promise, whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of
his coming? And who shall stand when he appears?
For he's like a refiner's fire. And he's like Fuller's soap.
You know what the refiner's fire does? It purges away that which
is not real. You know what Fuller's soap does?
It washes away the stain. It washes away those who aren't
truly sons, in whom they are full of guile. And He said, He
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify
the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they
may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall
the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as
in the days of old, and as in former years. And I'll come near
to you to judgment, and I'll be a swift witness against the
sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and
against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow,
and the fatherless, that turn aside the stranger from his right. And fear not me, saith the Lord
of hosts, for I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed." And what Paul is doing here, they
read the law in the prophets. And so Paul is methodically declaring
that the salvation of the Lord is by His covenant promise, declared
in the Law and the Prophets, and what God has promised, He
has brought to pass. Paul's declaring, you who read
the Law and the Prophets, do you not hear of whom the Law
and the Prophets give witness? Do you not behold that the God
who gave this Law and these Prophets, who gave His messengers who have
given His word that He is the God who saves His people. Do
you see His promises all being fulfilled? Do you not behold
that this God is able to save in the manner in which He is
determined to save? Now, Paul anticipates the question
they might have in their minds. The question they might have
in their minds is, if this Jesus was rejected and crucified at
Jerusalem, that means He was rejected by the most preeminent,
studious, well-respected leaders in our religion. So Paul, do
you expect us to believe on this Jesus whom our religious leaders
rejected? And so Paul declares that even
that which the most pious in Jerusalem performed toward Christ
Jesus was according to God's promise declared in his scriptures. declared by His messengers in
the Law and the Prophets. Look at verse 27. For they that
dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew Him
not, nor yet the voices of the prophets,
which are read every Sabbath day." Just like you just read. They had them read to them every
single day, but they didn't hear what they were saying. And so
they didn't recognize Him when He came. But listen to this now,
but they have fulfilled those very Scriptures in condemning
him. And though they found no cause
of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be
slain. If you look at Luke 24, whenever the two were on the
road to Emmaus after our Lord was crucified, The Lord walked along with them. And he said to them, what manner
of communication, verse 17, are these that you have one to another
as you walk and are sad? And one of them, whose name was
Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass there in these days? This is the Lord Jesus Christ
with them. And he said unto them, what things? And they said unto
him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty in
deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief
priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death
and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been
he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this,
today is the third day since these things were done. Yea,
and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which
were early this morning at the sepulcher. And when they found
not his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision
of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them
which were with us went to the sepulcher, and found it even
as the women had said, but him they saw not. Then the Lord said
unto them, Oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. Now, I don't have time to go
through all of these, but if you have a King James Bible,
you go home. with a marginal reference. You
go home and you look up the marginal reference and you'll probably
see it begins Genesis 3.15 and goes all the way through Malachi. And you look those up and read
those. I'll give you a few of them.
Back in Genesis 3.15, Moses wrote these words. that the Lord said
in the garden, I will put enmity, hatred, between thee, serpent,
Satan, between thee and the woman. That is, between thy seed and
her seed. It shall bruise thy head. You
will hang my son upon a cross. You will hang the seed of woman
on a cross. But in doing so, he's going to
crush your head. And then in Isaiah 50 and verse
6, the Lord said, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks
to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from
shame and spitting. These are the Scriptures that
were read every Sabbath day by those very rulers in Jerusalem
who smote Him upon the back. He said through Isaiah, In Isaiah
52, 14, as many were astonished at thee, his visage was so marred
more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. And
yet as they were the ones who marred his appearance, more than
the sons of men, and he looked like an unrecognizable piece
of blood and flesh. It never occurred to them. This
is that prophecy we read about every Sabbath day. He even said the exact word they
would say to him. Through the prophet David, the
psalmist. He said, all they that see me
laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They
shake the head saying, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him. And in Matthew
27-43, that's exactly what they cried out as He hung there on
the cross. Then in John 19-28, it says,
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished,
He gave the Word that the prophets wrote. He gave the Law of Moses
that was a witness of Him. And it says here, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. He said, I thirst. I thirst. Verse 30 of that 19th
chapter says, And when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar,
because it was written that he'd have to do that. He said, it's
finished. I fulfilled the Scriptures. I
fulfilled all that was written of me. He bowed his head and
he gave up the ghost. But even after he gave up the
ghost, they came to break his bones so they could get him down
off the cross so they wouldn't break the observance of their
Sabbath day. And they saw he'd already given
up the ghost. And instead of breaking his bones,
they were going to break his legs so that he would drown in
his own fluid quicker and they could get him down off the cross.
But seeing he had already given up the ghost, they pierced his
side instead. And Scripture says, for these
things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled. That which
he gave to his prophets and to Moses to write, which was read
every Sabbath day, which was known by those at Jerusalem,
which was fulfilled by those who rejected Him at Jerusalem,
because it said, a bone of Him shall not be broken. And again,
another scripture said, they shall look on Him whom they pierced. Then Paul knows that if they
had questions about the actions of the rulers in Jerusalem and
about departing from that old covenant system of works, then
surely they'd have a question about Him being crucified. and buried. And they would wonder,
well, how do you expect us to believe on Him? He's dead and
buried. And so Paul says, verse 29, Acts
13, 29, and when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him,
and not until the end, but when they had fulfilled all that was
written of Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him
in a sepulcher. Joseph of Arimathea a wealthy
man a disciple of Christ begged Pilate that he might have the
body of Jesus and he took the body and he along with Nicodemus
another wealthy man prepared his body for burial and they
took him and laid him in a sepulcher which had been purchased by Joseph
of Arimathea that never a man had laid in before and And even this was promised before
by God in the scriptures in Isaiah 53, 9, and he made his grave
with the wicked and with the rich in his death. Because he
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
As God fulfilled this, his promise toward his son and toward Abraham,
he fulfilled the promise to which all the law and the prophets
gave witness, that which he'd been promising from the very
beginning, that which he promised before the world was made. Verse
30, but God raised him from the dead. And he was seen many days
of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who
were his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, the gospel. I declare unto you glad tidings,
Paul said, that the promise which was made unto the fathers, that
promise of God to Abraham to deliver his children out of bondage,
That covenant promise made by God to deliver each chosen child
to the land promised them? That promise of God to raise
up a Savior and a King unto His chosen children? The promise which was made unto
the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children,
in that He hath raised up Jesus again. This is what God was promising
in the Law and the Prophets, Paul said. This Law and these
Prophets that you love to read every Sabbath day, this is what
God was promising, and this is what God has fulfilled. And he
says here, He gives some more witnesses through the prophets.
He says, as it is also written in the second psalm. This is
what David meant when he penned these words. This was a messianic
psalm, Paul said. Thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee. He said, that was written about
Christ being raised from the dead. Verse 34, and as concerning
that he raised him up from the dead, Now, no more to return
to corruption, no more to return to the grave. Death hath no more
dominion over him. He's freed from sin. And he says,
he said on this wise, I'll give you the sure mercies of David.
That was written back in the Psalms and in the book of Samuel. I'll give you the sure mercies
of David. Then verse 35, Wherefore he saith also in another psalm,
Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. And he
says that wasn't spoken about David. For David, after he had
served his own generation by the will of God, he fell on sleep
and was laid unto his fathers and he saw corruption. But he
whom God raised again saw no corruption. He's been delivered. He's been raised again. And now
Paul brings this home to those in the synagogue, and this is
the important thing for all who hear this Gospel to realize. Right here. Verse 26. Men and
brethren, children of the stock of Abraham,
and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this
salvation sent. Look at verse 38. Be it known
unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which ye could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Now let's just go to the heart
of what it is that you and I need to be justified from. What's
our sin? What is it? It is thinking ourselves
our own king and our own savior. It is turning from God in the
garden in Adam and in ourselves and thus making ourselves God
and breaking all law against our God and against our fellow
man. This is the heart of what you
and I need to be justified from. Every morning, every morning
up to this point, they had come on the Sabbath to the synagogue.
They read the Law and the Prophets. And then some man took the stand
and gave a discourse on what it means to be a child of God. What it means to be a son of
Abraham. The teaching was that acceptance
with God or rejection by God was the result of man's own personal
obedience toward God and toward their fellow man. They were the
focus of their gospel. The focus was on how they could
make themselves acceptable before God. These were the things they
searched for in the law and in the prophets. This is what the
Lord Jesus meant when he said, search the scriptures, for in
them you think you have life. They went to them looking for
something they could do to obtain eternal life. That's what they
all, that's what all men by nature think God requires of sinners. The rich young ruler came asking,
what must I do to inherit eternal life? I've kept all the law from
my youth up. I've kept it all. What do I need
to do to obtain eternal life? That's what men think the gospel
is all about. But they were ignorant that the
scriptures are concerning Christ, the Savior of God's Israel. That
in Him, believers are completely forgiven of sin. You think about
that word, forgiven. Forgiven. That's something given
before. Forgiven of sin. The gift of
God was given before sin. And it is to forgive sin. And he says, those that are in
Christ, they're justified. Those that believe on Christ,
simply trusting Christ alone, doing nothing else, but believing
on Christ are justified from all things which you could not
be justified from by the law and the prophets, by the law
of Moses. Justified and sanctified, completely holy in him. redeemed,
atoned for, reconciled, complete, without blame, and unblameable
before Him in love. Do you want that? Do you want
that? Up until now, Paul said the same
thing Peter said over in Acts chapter 3. Look back there with
me, Acts 3.17. Look at what, and this is the
long-suffering, this is the graciousness of our God now. Listen to this.
Listen to this. Acts 3.17, And now, brethren,
I want that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. That's what Paul's telling them. No, you did this through ignorance.
You look into the law of Moses and to the prophets trying to
find acceptance in them because you're ignorant of this thing.
Look what Peter said, but those things which God before had showed
by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer, he
hath so fulfilled. Verse 19, repent ye therefore. Repent from what? From your righteousnesses. Repent from your idea of how
you can be accepted with God by something you've done. Repent
ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted
out. You mean my sins could be my righteousnesses? You mean
my coming to observe on a Sabbath day and keeping the law? and reading the Law and the Prophets
and seeking what's God's will for me in this Law and the Prophets
and trying to find life in the Law. You mean that could be my
sin? That's what Peter said. But he said, but your sins may
be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from
the presence of the Lord. Now listen to what Paul says
back in Acts 13. He had said, Men and brethren,
to you is the word of this salvation sent. And then in verse 38 he
says, Be it known unto you therefore. Now, you're without excuse. You've heard this gospel. You've
heard who these law and these prophets speak of. Through this
man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin and by him
all that believe are justified from all things from which you
cannot be justified by the way in which you are attempting to
come to God. And then he gives a warning.
Now listen. Beware therefore lest that come upon you which
is spoken of in the prophets behold ye despisers and wonder
and perish for I work a work in your days a work which you
shall in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you again
Paul quotes a prophet Paul quotes what God gave through his prophets
now if he made good on all those other promises Hall's telling
them, beware, he'll make good on this one too. The original
prophecy of Habakkuk announced the destruction that would come
upon the nation of Israel by the Chaldeans. That's what this
original prophecy was concerned. And the original prophecy was
fulfilled, but it was as applicable to the Jews in Paul's day. And
it's just as applicable to Clay Curtis and to Scott Keller and
to everybody who hears my voice. The principle of Habakkuk's prophecy
is that if men held in contempt the doings of God, they'd perish. That was the principle of what
it said. Now the work which God was to
do by means of the Chaldeans was so fearful and so unusual
and so remarkable that men wouldn't believe that it was the hand
of God that did it, even though somebody said, God did this.
Even though Habakkuk went forth and said, God brought this destruction
upon us, they'd say, God didn't do this. God wouldn't have done
this. The doings of God in giving His
Son, Christ Jesus, the only Savior of sinners, is so contrary to
man's expectations. he being born of a virgin, appearing
as a man, brought up by a carpenter, salvation being accomplished
not by man's power, not by man's strength, but by his spirit,
and accomplished in full, received by faith alone, apart from anything
in man, is so much at variance with man's thoughts that multitudes
hear it, and yet they disbelieve. Though given the fullest proof,
they despise it. They wonder at Christ's work.
They are amazed and astonished to think on it. They are unable
to refute it. But they refuse to believe Him. And they perish. And those who
hear the word of God's salvation and reject Christ are doubly
damned. Now listen. Like the accursed preachers of
the false gospel in Galatia, many today are taught in Protestant
synagogues all over this world. Synagogues named after this denomination
and that denomination to separate them, to differentiate them. Protestant synagogues who hold
to various confessions of faith to differentiate them from another. but who all essentially declare
the same thing, that Christ is all, but not quite all. Not quite all. They declare that
there's something yet to be performed by the sinner after confessing
Christ. There is yet something you must
do in your flesh. You know when the Apostle Paul
said to the Galatians, when he said, having begun in the Spirit,
are you now made perfect by the flesh? You know what he was saying
there? He'd been talking about justification
all up to that point. And then he starts talking about
sanctification. You know what he's saying there?
It's just as foolish to think that you could be justified by
something you did in your flesh as to think you could be sanctified
by something you did in your flesh. And it's just as foolish
to think you could be sanctified in your flesh as to think you
could be justified by something you did in your flesh. Both are
as equally bewitching and foolish to think. The whole purpose of
Satan and the synagogue of Satan is to keep men in ignorance to
the liberty that is in Christ Jesus. It is not those who are
being bewitched that I despise. That's not who I despise. But
those who have heard the gospel and yet keep on telling poor,
desperate sinners that they're still under God's law. by pointing
sinners to the law and away from Christ, by telling them that
according to their obedience to the law, or by making a work
of obedience out of the ordinances of the gospel, or out of some
work that it is a privilege for a believer to do, that he loves
to do because he is constrained by the love of Christ, because
he beholds what Christ has done for him, by taking those things
and saying, now if you don't do these things, You don't do
them just according to the letter. God's going to get you. He's
going to get you. By doing that, brethren, these
liars bind sinners with heavy burdens, teaching them that reward
or punishment is accomplished by something the sinner does. This is the surest way to keep
a sinner unsettled and ungodly and full of filthy religious
and immoral sin in every aspect of his life. Every aspect of
his life. The whole purpose of the gospel
is to settle God's people in Christ Jesus the Lord. Beholding
Christ, our complete and perfect holiness, our acceptance with
God, the believer settled in this life because he knows that
God, who spared not his own son, has justified him from all things
which he couldn't be justified from by the law of Moses, by
anything that he could do or think or say, anything. And we know this, that God who
delivered up His own Son, He'll provide every temporal thing
for us. Now let me tell you something,
the man who's striving with everything he's got, who thinks he yet has
to do something to provide for himself in matters of salvation,
That man also will go out into the world and because he doesn't
believe that God has provided everything for him in salvation,
he also does not believe that God has provided everything for
him temporally speaking. And therefore he lives by the
sword in his daily life just like he does in his religious
circles. It's all about, I've got to do
this thing. I've got to make this thing.
There's no peace in his walk with God, no peace in his faith
in Christ, no peace there in his heart, and therefore there's
no peace in his life whatsoever. And so this vicious cycle just
continues. These ministers of the synagogue
of Satan can set themselves in Christ's seat, exalting themselves
and opposing everything that is God, and say, now, see how
you're not living? See how you're going out and
rebelling in life? And you've got to fix that. And
they just keep pointing them away from Christ. Keep pointing
them away from Christ and keep that cycle going. You've got
to do something to make yourself accepted with God. And so they
go out into the world and say, I've got to do something to get
what's mine in this world. Just like they do coming before
God. Listen, the believer's settled
concerning the life to come because as Christ is, so are we in this
present evil world. He's risen never again to see
death. Shows the believer. Shows the
believer. Eternal life's not something
we shall have. It's something the believer has
right now. Acceptance is not something we're
striving to gain. It's something that we have.
It's a reality in Christ our Beloved. Listen, this is what Paul was
sent to do. The Lord said in Acts 26, 17,
Paul was given to say, and this is what Christ
sent me for, delivering thee from the people and from the
Gentiles unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to
turn them from darkness to light. That's darkness, Paul said, to
continue in those things. From the power of Satan unto
God. that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me." Christ said. What did Paul say? Brethren,
having these promises, having these promises, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. Now, what I'm telling you is
that the fear of God, that holiness, the perfection of holiness, the
promises of God is all in Christ Jesus. You're sanctified by faith
that is in Him. And I'm telling you that to cleanse
yourself from the filthiness of the flesh and the spirit is
to cleanse yourself from any thought whatsoever that you can
somehow perfect holiness by something you do in your flesh. That's
this gospel of Satan. That's the gospel that's being
propagated by liars, continual in its work. That's what we got
to be saved from. That's what we got to be justified
from. Because in our own depravity,
that's what we really believe is how we come to God. And we
got to be saved from it. And you know how It says that
we're sanctified by the Word of God. You know why we continually
come and hear the same message over and over and over about
God's accomplished redemption? Because through it, God continually
causes us to see. Christ continually makes you
and me to see that I can't go back to my flesh. I can't go
back to that filth of my flesh and my spirit in thinking that
I somehow can do something to bring myself, make myself presentable,
make myself more accepted of God, make myself justified and
forgiven before God. I can't do that. And this gospel,
this word is how God sanctifies us. He keeps us from that evil,
keeps us from that filthiness, from that corruption. That's
where corruption starts, and it leads into every other immoral
debauchery there is, and immorality. The reason there's so much immorality
in the world, and the reason why parents think that it's more
important to hear a message preached about how terrible sexual immorality
is, rather than on about what Christ has accomplished, is because
we've been so long without men standing up and saying, this
is what Christ has accomplished. Now, I want to show you something
here. Turn with me over to Matthew
12, 28. This is what Paul is saying here
as he brings this home to them. He says, "...either say that
Christ is the perfection of holiness, in whom His people are the perfect
fruits of His righteousness, or say He is an utter failure."
Now, in Matthew 12 chapter 12, the Lord cast out
a devil out of somebody. That's what he's got to do. By
the Spirit of God, he's got to cast out a devil out of our hearts. And when he did that, the Pharisees,
these religious folks who rejected him, said, he does that by the
Spirit of Beelzebub. Now listen to what the Lord said
to them. He said this in verse 28, but if I cast out devils
by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God's come unto you.
Or else, how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil
his goods except he first bind the strong man and then he'll
spoil his house? And he says, he that is not with
me, he's against me. And he that gathereth not with
me scattereth abroad. Wherefore I say unto you, all
manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. But the
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And that's what men are doing
every day from pulpits when they deny that Christ is the perfection
of holiness and that he makes his people holy in him. That's
what, that there's something else you must do. They're saying
Christ is not really the good vine. And therefore, those branches
are not really good branches and good, good fruit produced.
But look what he said. Whosoever speaketh a word against
the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. And I believe he said that
because those ones that crucified him and spoke against him when
he was on this earth, people like the Apostle Paul, When He
sent forth the Spirit, He forgave them. He forgave them, even though
they crucified Him, killed brethren, He forgave them. But this is
what He said, when this gospel has come to you, and this is
declared to you, if you say, no, that's not the case. If you
say, no, I don't believe Christ is, now that, I don't believe
we're that complete in Christ, that we're holy. Here's what
he said. Whosoever speaketh against the
Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither
in the world to come. Now listen to this. Either make
the tree good. What tree is he talking about?
He's talking about himself. Either say that I'm good, that
I'm God, and I'm able to save, and that my fruit is good, that
I have made my people righteous and holy, or else call the tree
corrupt and its fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by its
fruit. Now, Paul said, All that believe
are justified from all things from which it couldn't be justified
by the law of Moses. And beware therefore. Remember
over in Hebrews 6, 4? Look there with me. Hebrews 6,
4. This is what the Lord said when
He says, Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. When this Gospel's
come to you, when it's come to you in power and in spirit, and
it's declaring to you Christ is all. Beware therefore. Beware
therefore. Verse 4. And what Paul had just
said here to them was the first principles. He's teaching the
first principles to those in the synagogue. Christ is all.
Now listen now. Verse 4, For it is impossible
for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly
gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, who have heard
the gospel of Christ, and have tasted the good word of God,
and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away,
it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance." It's
what Paul's telling them there. You're crucifying Christ, the
Son of God afresh and putting Him to an open shame. Look with
me over at Hebrews 10, verse 26. For if we sin willfully after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, What's this willful
sin? Looking anywhere but Christ.
Looking anywhere but Christ. And saying, no, now I believe
there's something. Wait a minute now. If you sin willfully after
you receive the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no
more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for
of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law, that law that Moses preached,
He died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much
sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who
hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the
blood of the covenant wherewith Moses was sanctified?" If Moses'
law, they didn't escape Moses' law, you think you're going to
be escaped if you refuse Him who sanctified Moses? Now wait a minute now. This is
what the Lord told him. Don't think that I'll accuse
you to the Father. There's one that accuses you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed on Moses,
you'd believe me. For he wrote of me. But you believe
not his writings. How shall you believe my words?
Now here's the application. What will you do now that this
word of salvation has come unto you? What about you personally? You've
sat for years. You may have truly desired to
worship God, as these Gentiles did. You may have been taught
the fear of God by the precept, by the tradition, by the teaching
of men, being yoked with the law because of your own ignorance
to the liberty in Christ. You thought that truly was the
way to approach God. What are you going to do now?
Well, in Leviticus 4, verse 13, the law says this, If the whole
congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid
from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against
any of the commandments of the Lord concerning the things which
should not be done, and are guilty, when the sin which they have
sinned against is known, there's only one thing for them to do.
The congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin,
and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation. And the
elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head
of the bullock before the Lord. And the bullock shall be killed
before the Lord. And the priest that is anointed shall bring
the bullock's blood to the tabernacle of the congregation. And the
priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood and sprinkle
it seven times before the Lord, before the veil. And he shall
put the blood upon the horns in the altar which is before
the Lord that is in the tabernacle of the congregation. He'll pour
out all the blood at the bottom of the altar, which is at the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation. He'll take the
fat from it and burn it upon the altar. And He'll do with
the bullock as He did with the bullock for the sin offering.
And the priest shall make an atonement for them. And He shall
be forgiven them. You know what He's saying? Believe
on Christ. Believe on Christ. Paul told
Timothy, he said, I was a blasphemer and I was a persecutor and injurious,
but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Now, that sounds like some bad
stuff, don't it? He's talking about his religion.
And he said, but I did it ignorantly. But once the word of this salvation
came to Paul, what did he do? Turn to Philippians 3 verse 4. He gives that list of things
that he could boast in. He says, If any other man, verse
4, thinketh he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more,
circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe
of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law
of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching
the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. That's when
he said, I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an injurious
man. And now look what he did. That's when I was in ignorance
right there. That's when I thought those things
counted for something with God. But now here's what happened
when the word of this gospel came to him. What did he do?
But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for
Christ. I repented and believed Christ. I renounce those things. Listen,
yea doubtless and I count all things but lost for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things and I count them but dumb that I may win
Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law but that which is through the faith of
Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I might
know Him, that I might know Him. and the power of His resurrection. This is that power that forgave
sin. This is that power that justified
His people. He was raised again for our justification. Then I might know what it is
to walk in newness of life and the fellowship of His sufferings. It's a joy to suffer with Christ
when you know that you're suffering because you have life eternal,
because you have the pearl of great price. It's a great thing. being made conformable unto his
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead." Paul repented. If we haven't left all of those
things that we put our trust in and said, they're worthless
to me, and fully cast ourself on Christ and said, I'm yours,
lock, stock, and barrel. I'm resolved to you, I'm yours. Seeing this God, seeing that
He worked all things after the counsel of His own will, that
He told the end from the beginning, and brought everything to pass
just as He promised, and has brought forth His Son into the
world, and has raised Him again, and has justified His people
from their sins. What are you going to do? Go
on trusting this shipwreck called the flesh? Or trust Him? Paul said, I'll count all that
garbage. And I just trust Him. Just trust
Him. I bring the sin offering. The bullet. And He is that bullet. He is my sin offering. He's the
high priest that takes the blood in and pours it at the base of
the altar and makes atonement for me. And in Him, I'm forgiven. But Paul said, continue in it.
Continue in it. There's no more offering for
sin. Crucified Him all over again. Well, that's it. I won't go any further. I was
going to show you here what the end of it is. Let me show you
this. I might as well. Generally speaking,
here's what will happen. Generally speaking now, whether
you believe Him or you don't, whether somebody hears this and
believes Him or they don't believe Him, they're going to fulfill
His will. And they're going to glorify
Him. and His Son is going to be exalted, and His people are
going to be cared for. Let me show you that. Some, like
those who crucified Him at Calvary, are going to fulfill His will
and crucify Him all over again by their willful rejection of
Him. But just as Paul had just said it was written in the Scriptures
that some would not believe, though it was declared unto them.
He said, beware of that which is written in the Scriptures,
that some are going to not believe Him. Now look, what happened?
Verse 42. When the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the
Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them
the next Sabbath. Now, when the congregation was
broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed
Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue
in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But
when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy. against
God. They hated God to receive this
glory He was receiving. And spake against those things
which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming the Holy Ghost. And Paul just said he had no
forgiveness for that. Verse 49, And the word of the
Lord was published throughout all the region. But the Jews
stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the
city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and
expelled them out of their coasts. And they fulfilled the Scriptures.
The Lord said, Behold, ye despisers and wandering pasts. That's going
to happen to some of you. That's what the Word said. You
just fulfilled God's Word by rejecting Him. But now, just
as the angry mob at Calvary fulfilled the Scriptures and Christ was
lifted up for the glory of God and the good of His people, so
shall the rejection of those serve the will and purpose of
God. Look at verse 46. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold and said, it was necessary that the Word of God should first
have been spoken to you. As Jews. But seeing ye put it
from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles." That came about because they
rejected him. It came about because they rejected
him. He said, now turn to the Gentiles.
You know who the Gentiles are? That's you, Cheryl. That's you,
Michelle. And he says, For so hath the
Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the
Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and
glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. Just like God promised, just
like God purposed from the beginning. His will and purpose was accomplished.
Well, and when he had finished with them, he used the wrath
of man to move Paul and Barnabas to his elect somewhere else.
Verse 51. But they shook off the dust of their feet against
them and came unto Iconium, and the disciples were filled with
joy and with the Holy Ghost. God's Word, God's promise never
returns to him void for all his promises, all his blessings,
all spiritual blessings, All His Word is fulfilled in His
Son. Every bit of it.