My text this morning is found
in Acts chapter 14, but I want you to first turn with me, if
you would, to John chapter 16. John chapter 16, verse 1. In verse 1, the Lord Jesus says,
These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended. That word offended there means
not stumble. Verse two, they shall put you
out of the synagogue, yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth
you will think that he does God's service. Now the time came soon
after the death of the Lord Jesus, His resurrection and ascension.
And though we're not told all the specifics All the Lord's
apostles are said to have met violent deaths, except for John,
who was sent to the island of Patmos
to live in solitude. And I'll be the first to say this
morning, though I have never been treated or suffered anywhere
near what the apostles were, I'm not oblivious or unaware
of the fact that I could be. The gospel is not changed and neither
has the heart of man. Men by nature, now hear me, men
by nature hate and despise the truth. They hate the gospel and
the Christ of it. is that they think it's a lie. Because God hasn't revealed the
truth unto them. And I can easily see how those
who are zealous for a false gospel could kill someone who believes
the true one and think all the while that they're doing God
a service, doing God a favor. You know, by nature, man likes
being his own God. But the true gospel strips man
of his will, his work, his way, and makes Christ all in all. The true gospel gives all the
glory to God and none to man. The true gospel reveals God to
be holy, righteous, and good, and man to be depraved, unrighteous,
and evil. And men don't like it. Not by
nature, they don't. The true gospel makes salvation
of the Lord and not by the way, will, and work of man. You know,
I was thinking again this morning, how direct and clean and clear
the gospel is. This book declares salvation
is of the Lord. That means exactly what it says. If you and I are to be saved,
it's gonna be of the Lord. It's the Lord who saves us. We
don't save ourselves. Why do men think that because
of a decision they make, an exercise of their will, a cooperation
with God, that somehow or another they're saved? When God says
from this book, salvation is of me. I do the saving. You did the sinning, I do the
saving. And because of that, there comes
a time when men will desire to kill you, the Lord said, and
be convinced that it was the right thing to do. It was a service
to God. But such men don't know God.
They don't know the true gospel. Verse three, and these things
will they do unto you because, here's why, they have not known
the Father nor me. Verse four, but these things
have I told you, that when the time shall come, you may remember
that I told you of them. Now, the Lord there is saying
the time is coming. He's talking to his apostles. He said the time's coming and
it came. It came. It's believed that all the apostles,
as I said, with the exception of John, met Baal and Deus because
of the gospel they preached. And I'm sure that each and every
one of them at that time remembered the words of their Lord when
they were. Now turn with me to the 14th
chapter of Acts. Acts chapter 14. And I'll begin
in verse 19. And we'll backtrack a little
bit. But verse 19 of Acts chapter 14. Here we have the story of the
Apostle Paul, who was Saul, who himself persecuted those and
killed those that believed in Christ. Do you remember what
he did to Stephen? He held the coats of those that
stoned him. And here in verse 19 of Acts
chapter 14, we're told, And there came thither, or after, that's
what the word means, then came after the word, the word thither
insinuates in the original Greek that these men arrived to attack. Who were they? Well, verse 19
says certain Jews, from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the
people to stone Paul. And that's exactly what they
did. Look at it. And having stoned Paul, they
drew, the word there means dragged. They dragged him out of the city,
supposing that he was dead. Now these men, these unbelieving
Jews, did not come to where Paul and Barnabas was to learn or
know more of the gospel. They did not come to learn and
know more of Christ. They came with malice in their
hearts, hatred in their hearts. They did not come to hear Paul
and Barnabas. They came to silence them. So this group of self-righteous
Jews who went about to establish their own righteousness, they
came to where Paul and Barnabas were preaching the gospel. And
two things always happen when the gospel is preached. There's
a riot and there's a revival. Some believe and some believe
not. Look up at verse 1 here in Acts
chapter 14. This was common in Paul's missionary
work. And it came to pass in Iconium
that they went both together, Paul and Barnabas, into the synagogue
of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude, both of the
Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. But the unbelieving
Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil, affected
against the brethren, against Paul and Barnabas. And long time,
therefore, abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave
testimony unto the word of His grace, and granted signs and
wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city
was divided, in part held with the Jews, in part with the apostles.
And when there was an assault made, both of the Gentiles and
also of the Jews, with their rulers to use them despitefully
and to stone them. There was a riot. And verse six says, they, Paul,
Barnabas, were aware of it and fled into Lystra and Derbe, cities
of Lyconia, and into the region that life round about. And friends, it's no different
today when the gospel's preached, when the true gospel's preached.
And there's only one gospel, brother David, why do you have
to? Because everybody calls what men preach today the gospel.
And it's not. There's one gospel, there's one
true gospel. And some believe and some don't
believe it. There's a riot in some men and
women's hearts and there's revival in others. What caused these unbelieving
Jews to desire the death of Paul and Barnabas? Well, look back
at Acts chapter 13. You may not have to turn the
page, but verse 45. It says, but when the Jews saw
the multitude, speaking of those who believed the preaching of
Paul and Barnabas, they were filled with envy and spake against
those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you, but seeing you put it off from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles. 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 they glorified
the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed." They had a revival. And notice they were ordained
to eternal life, and they believed. Who ordained them? God did. Why did they believe? God enabled
them to believe. 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 coast. Kicked them out, get out of here.
But they shook off the dust of their feet against them and came
into Iconium. And the disciples were filled
with joy and with the Holy Ghost. There was a riot and there was
revival. Some believed and some didn't believe. These unbelieving
Jews persuaded the people and they had Paul stoned. And they drug him out of the
city. They supposed him to be dead. And you know the amazing
thing about this, is if you read these few chapters, is that just
a few days before, a few days before this, the same crowd was
going to crown Paul and Barnabas as deity. He healed that man
who had never walked. And verse 11 of our text says
that when the people saw what Paul
had done, they lifted up their voices saying in the speech of
Lyconia, the gods are come down to us in the likeness of man.
And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius, or Mercury,
because he was the chief speaker. And then the priest of Jupiter,
which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto
the gates and would have done sacrifice with the people to
them. They were going to sacrifice unto Paul and Barnabas. And look
what... Paul and Barnabas did, which
when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul heard of, they rent their
clothes and ran in among the people crying and saying, sirs,
why do you do these things? We are men of like passions,
like you, with you, and preaching to you that you should turn from
these humanities and to the living God, which made heaven and earth
and the sea and all things that are therein. We're nothing special. We're
sinners just like you. Saved by the mercy and grace
of God. And that's the attitude of every
preacher. Don't ever get your eyes on a
preacher. Don't ever put a preacher on
a pedestal. Just don't do it. You'll be let
down. You'll be disappointed. And you'll
be discouraged. Keep your eyes on Christ. We're
just servants doing what God has called us to do. Nothing
special about it. You know, these men are persuading
others to kill Paul. That's what the Lord said would
happen. And they thought they had killed Paul. But Paul wrote
in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 11, even under this present hour,
we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and
have no certain dwelling place. Talking about God's servants.
And labor, working with our own hands, being reviled, we bless,
being persecuted, we suffer it, being defamed. Everywhere we
go, people say untrue things about us. Being defamed, we entreat,
we're made as the filth of the world. In our the offspring of
all things unto this day." Now listen, I have come to expect,
and most every preacher I know has, and you should too, don't
expect the preacher of the gospel to be a popular man in this world.
He'll be rejected by this religious, God-hating world. And listen,
I know some folks who don't care for me. And the only reason that
they don't is because of the gospel that I preach. Because
they've never been around me or otherwise to judge me or dislike
me. Now, if they had been and did,
you know, those who do know me and dislike me have probably
every reason to be. And I think about the Lord Himself. who was met with such a glorious
greeting when he entered into Jerusalem. They waved those palms
and they cried out, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is
he that cometh in the name of the Lord. What a sight that must
have been. And yet the very next day, when
he was brought before Pilate, who said, behold your king, the
same people cried away with him, crucify him, we have no king
but Caesar. Isn't that something? Well, we shouldn't be surprised,
the Lord said, if they hate me, they're gonna hate you. Man is dead in sin. Man is fallen,
fickle, and frail. His heart is deceitful above
all things. My heart is deceitful above all
things. Man's heart is desperately wicked.
He doesn't have any idea how sinful he is. Why? Because he's dead in sin. Therefore,
men go about to establish their own righteousness by doing something
that they think is doing God a service. And that may be to
kill you. And murdering God's servant,
they thought, was doing God a service. Before his conversion, Saul did
it to Steve, as I mentioned a moment ago, and now Paul's having it
done to him. They stoned Paul, they drug him
through the streets, they made a spectacle of him, they made
an example of him. And this is what they would do
to those who preached Christ and the gospel. That's what they
were saying. This is what we're going to do to those who preach
this gospel of Jesus Christ. We're going to stone you, drag
you through the streets, and make an example out of you. How
many of you want to be a preacher? Huh? Verse 20. Howbeit as the disciples stood
round about him, Paul, who's thought to be dead, he rose up,
And he came into the city, and the next day he departed with
Barnabas to Derbe." Now, let me say this. I heard this a while
back, and I believe these words are said in a song or a hymn
somewhere. But the words are, God's servants
are immortal here until their work is finished, until their
work is done. That's how we know that Brother
Joe Terrell's work was done. Brother Montgomery pastored here
for over 40 years, and he finished his work. How do we know that?
Because the Lord took him. The same for Brother Mahan, Brother
Fortner, Brother Shanks, Scott Richardson, Rupert Reibenbach,
Walter and Cody Groover. Cody was in his early 50s. The
Lord was finished. And that work in Mexico is thriving
because it's God's work. It wasn't Cody's. Cody was doing
what God called him to do. The same as I'm endeavoring and
every preacher that you know is endeavoring to do that preaches
the gospel. Many times they tried to kill
the Lord Jesus by stoning Him or throwing Him off a cliff,
and the Scripture says, and I always love this when I read it, I always
kind of chuckle, He walked through the midst of them. It wasn't
His time. It wasn't His time. He said, my time has not yet
come. Then one day, a day that seemed
just like every other day, the Lord said, my hour has come. For this cause I came unto this
hour. None could touch him until God's
appointed time. And it's the same for you and
I. The Apostle Paul was ordained
of God to be a witness to the Gentiles. We just read that.
His work was not finished. And on this day in our story,
God raised him up. He wasn't finished with it. I think about Brother Larry and
his labor of love for the gospel. And I'm not here to eulogize
Larry this morning, but I'm sure that most of you are aware of
the fact that for the last 30 years, he's published several
books. He created Free Grace Radio, Grace eBooks, the ultimate
index study guide. I use it every single day. He
put together Spurgeon's devotional thoughts of the Bible. He's still
publishing books for several grace authors, all of whom you
would know. And all I can say is I sure hope
his work's not finished. You know, it's for selfish reasons
that I say that. But as with all of us, it's God's
prerogative For if his work is not finished, God gonna raise
him up. Paul's death is with ours, would
and will be appointed by God. Do you believe that? You better
believe it, it's true. Oh Lord, our days are determined
by you. The number of our months are
with thee. You have appointed our bounds
that we cannot pass. When my time is up, it's up.
Doesn't matter how God determines for me to go. Heart attack or
at the hands of a murderer, it doesn't matter. It's my time
and it's up when God ordains it. So we're taught to number
our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Now in verse
22, we're told that Paul exhorted those that he preached to to
continue in the faith. Boy, that's so important. We've got to continue in the
faith. We can't continue in something
we hadn't started. How do we start in the faith?
Looking to Christ. That's right. How do we continue
in the faith? We continue to look to Christ.
It's not hard. We look to Christ and we continue
to look to Christ. That's how we continue in the
faith. There's only one faith. There's only one gospel. We read
that in the men's meeting, Eddie did. There's only one way. Only one God, only one Christ.
How do we continue in the faith? How do we endure to the end?
How do we persevere? How are we preserved? We're kept. by the power of God. That's how. We continue in the faith even
though we must through much tribulation. Did you see that there? Much
tribulation entered the kingdom of God and we must. We must go
through much tribulation and yet we must enter into the kingdom
of God. Why? Because God ordained it.
before the foundation of the world, before you did any good
or evil, that the purpose of God, according to His choosing,
might stand. Not of you, not of me, not of
our work, but of God, they call it. The cause of this trouble is
taking a stand for the gospel. And you're gonna have trouble,
even trouble in your own house. The Lord said in Matthew 10,
verse 34, for I have come to set a man at variance against
his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. Now, the Lord didn't mean that,
you know, he come to stir up trouble, but his coming stirred
up trouble. And he says, then a man's foal
shall be the day of his own household. He that loveth father and mother
more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh
not his cross and followeth me is not worthy of me. He that
findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loses his life for
my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth
me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. The
Lord Jesus said, in this world, you will have tribulation. You will. Well, what did I do
to deserve this? You will have tribulation. Well, what did I do? You will
have tribulation. God ordained it. It comes from
the hand of God. The Lord Jesus said, in this
world, you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. I've conquered. I've made you
more than a conqueror. In me, in this world, you will
have sorrow. You'll suffer. You'll be afflicted
for a season. But Christ has overcome this
world. The gospel of God's grace divides the sheep and the goats,
does it not? Christ didn't come to send peace
on earth, but a sword. The Lord said, he that is not
with me is against me. Faith is the working of God.
Saved by grace through faith that's not of yourself. Well,
who's it of? It's a gift of God. It's his work of mercy, it's
his work of righteousness, it's his work of salvation, his washing
of regeneration, his renewing, making new by the Spirit. Salvation is of the Lord. Friends, it's through much tribulation. trouble, affliction, hardship,
difficulty, problems, misery, sadness, anguish, agony, then
we enter the kingdom of God. Tribulations will come, but they're
for our good. They are appointed by God and
for our good, because God works all things together for good. To who? To them who love the
Lord, who are decalled according to His purpose. We must, through
much tribulation, don't miss the second part of this though,
enter into the kingdom of God. It's worth all the tribulation.
The tribulation's for my good. It's weaning me from this world.
It's weaning me from me, Steve, that I might trust Him who loved
me and gave Himself for me. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4.15,
For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might
through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God,
for which cause we think not, But though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Now listen, for our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, these tribulations, these troubles, We see them. They're temporal. That's what
he said. For the things which are seen
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are what?
Eternal. It's worth the tribulation to
enter into the kingdom of God. Paul said in Romans 8, 18, For
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. And that's so true. Now, after
all this, all this that has happened to Paul, did you notice what
Paul and Barnabas did? Did they run and hide and quit
the ministry? I'm just going to quit the ministry.
I'm just going to quit preaching. Last meeting I went to, they
threw rocks at me. I think I'll just quit. No. And it's not what they did
at all. Look at verse 23. They ordained
elders. They prayed and fasted with them.
And they commended, that word means committed, the keeping
of them to the Lord. To the Lord whom they believed. In Acts 20, verse 32, I won't
turn there, but Paul said, And now, brethren, I commend you
to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build
you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
Saving faith looks to Christ. Saving faith continues to look
to Christ. I must look to Christ right now.
I must look to Him an hour from now. I must look to Him tonight.
I must look to Him tomorrow. I must continually look to Him. We don't look to ceremonies.
We don't look to traditions. We certainly don't look to ourselves
and our works. Saving faith looks to Christ,
the One whom we believe. How do men and women believe?
How are sinners converted? For after that, of the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching, what the world calls foolishness.
That's the most foolish thing. I've had someone tell me that. Please God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. You see, the Jews require
a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ. It's a stumbling block unto the
Jews, it's foolishness to the Greeks, but unto them which are
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and
the wisdom of God. Who is? Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Aren't you glad? And we're told in verse 26 that Paul and Barnabas went back to
Antioch, and they rehearsed, declared,
and reported all the things that God had done with them. Isn't
that something? Whatever is accomplished by our
preaching, and I say our because when I preach, you know, you
support me, you come to hear the gospel. You've got a stake in this. But
all the things that we preach are all the things that God has
done with us. That's what preaching is. Telling
sinners what God does for sinners. What God has done for a sinner
like me. Whatever is accomplished by our
preaching is what God has done with us. God is the first cause. Notice also that it says in verse
27, and how he, God, had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.
Who opens the door that men and women believe? God does. Christ does. Matter of fact,
you can take that a step further. Christ is the door. He said so
Himself. He said, I'm the door of the
sheep. If any lost sinner is made to see Christ, redeemed,
saved by Christ, it'll be the Lord who opens the door, for
He Himself is the door. A door is a way of access, right? Christ is that door. He's the
door of the sheep. He's the way to God. That sinner
will go in and out the Lord's way. What did He mean by that? Well, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. And in Christ we go in and out,
into life and out to death. Our Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but
by me. It's our way into life and out
of death. Christ opened the door of faith,
and he is why we continue in the faith. And yes, it's gonna
be through much tribulation, but it is certain that we will
enter God's kingdom. Verse 28, and I love this. And
there they, Paul and Barnabas, abode a long time with the disciples. We're not told how long they
abode, except it was a long time. A long time. I don't know how
long, but we, the church, the disciples of Christ, will abide
with the one who loved us and gave himself for us, and it'll
be a long time. It's called everlasting life. It's called life everlasting. It's called eternal life. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Now, much
tribulation is but a light affliction. when we consider that it works
for us a far more eternal way of glory. Light affliction. Oh, it's much tribulation, but
it's light affliction. And it works for us a far more
eternal way of glory. We shall enter into the kingdom
of God.