My text this morning will be
out of Acts, the 24th chapter, but I would ask you to first
turn to the 23rd chapter of Acts. I want you to see the background
of what's going on here with the Apostle Paul. Acts 23, if
you would please. Here in Acts 23, we find Paul
pleading his case before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council
made up of the high priest, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees.
The Sanhedrin was an assembly, a council that functioned as
a kind of legislative body, a court made up of spiritual leaders
under Roman rule, which various political and religious and judicial
matters were judged. Paul had been arrested for preaching
the gospel. And in verse one here of Acts
23, we find Paul before this council defending himself. And
he says, men and brethren, I've lived in all good conscience
before God until this day. And Paul had done nothing worthy
of his arrest. His conscience, he says, was
clear before God. But the Jews were now very opposed
to Paul. After all, he had been their
champion. But God saved him on the road
to Damascus and God converted him. And now he was a minister
of Christ. And his words angered Ananias,
the high priest, so greatly that in verse two, we see that he
commanded those who stood next to Paul to smite him on the mouth,
slap him on the face. When was the last time someone
slapped you in the face because of the liberty and the freedom
that you claim to have in Christ? Well, it could very well become
that way again. And in verse six, Paul saw the
council was divided into two groups. There was the Pharisees
and the Sadducees. And it's here that Paul resolves
to take advantage of their difference in opinions. If not, it would
have been absolutely impossible for him to expect or receive
justice. From the conduct of Ananias,
who had him slapped, he saw the prejudice that the Jews had against
him. And being a Pharisee and believing
in the resurrection of the dead, which the Sadducees did not,
he knew that they too were prejudiced against him. So his objective
here was to hopefully be arraigned by revealing and exposing the
strife and the contention and the prejudice of the whole council
to the chief captain that had brought him before them. And
it worked. In verse six, he said, Paul perceived
that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees. He cried
out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a
Pharisee of the hope and resurrection of the dead. I am called in question. And when he had so said, there
arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees,
and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there's
no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees
confess both. And there arose a great cry,
and the scribes that were of the Pharisees part arose and
strove saying, we find no evil in this man, but if a spirit
or an angel had spoken to him, let us not fight against God.
And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain,
fearing less Paul should have been pulled in pieces of him,
commanded the soldiers to go down and to take him by force
from among them and to bring him into the castle. So the chief
captain did intervene. And I was thinking as I read
those verses, I never ceased to be amazed at the sovereign
providence of God. You know, why do we worry and
fret as we do? Now look at verse 11. And the
night following, the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer,
Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou
bear witness also at Rome. You see, nothing could happen
to Paul that God didn't allow. Did you hear what I said? Nothing
could happen to Paul that God didn't allow. It's the same with
you, child of God. As long as God has a purpose
for a man or a woman, no one or nothing can harm them or keep
them from fulfilling the will that God has purpose for. As
we will see in the following verses, verse 12. And when it
was day, certain of the Jews banded together and bound themselves
under a curse. saying that they would neither
eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And they were more than
40 which had made this conspiracy. And they came to the chief priest
and the elders and they said, we've bound ourselves under a
great curse that we will eat nothing until we've slain Paul.
They were bound and determined to kill him, to assassinate him.
But nothing can hinder the will and the purpose of God. Nothing. And we see what they plotted
in verse 15. Now therefore ye with the council
signify to the chief captain that he bring Paul down unto
you tomorrow as though you would inquire something more perfectly
concerning him and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill
him. They had it all planned out.
Yes, there's a plot, there's a conspiracy among the Jews to
assassinate Paul, but God intervenes. This is amazing. Look at the
next verse, verse 16. And when Paul's sister's son
heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the
castle and told Paul. Paul's got a nephew here. I don't
know where he came from. We're not told, but he's there. And do you know what the world
would say concerning that? They would say Paul sure was
lucky, wouldn't they? Yes, they would. No, no, no,
no. There are no leprechauns on the
throne of God. I've said that before. There's
not. No leprechauns with their lucky charms. God is on his throne. And God is ruling and reigning
and working all things after the counsel of His own will.
God put that young man in the right place at the right time. And again, the evil of man is
thwarted by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. The
Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so
shall it come to pass, and as I have purpose, so shall it stand. Verse 17, then Paul called one
of the centurions unto him and said, bring this young man unto
the chief captain for he hath a certain thing to tell thee.
So he took him and brought him to the chief captain and said,
Paul the prisoner called me unto him and prayed to me to bring
this young man unto thee who hath something to say unto thee.
Then the chief captain took him by the hand and went with him
aside privately and asked him, what is it that thou hast to
tell me? And he said, the Jews have agreed to desire thee that
thou wouldest bring Paul tomorrow unto the council as though they
would inquire something of him more perfectly. but do not thou
yield unto them, for they lie in wait for him, of them more
than 40 men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that
they will neither eat nor drink till they've killed him, and
now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee.' So the
chief captain then let the young man depart and charged him, see
thou tell no man that thou hast showed these things to me. And
he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred
soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen three score and ten,
and spearmen two hundred at the third hour of the night. And
provide them beasts that they may set Paul on, and bring him
safe unto Felix the governor." Now isn't that amazing? God's
amazing. So what has the Lord done here?
Well, he's delivered Paul from the hands of the Jews who desired
to kill him. And in the process, he's provided
for him a 470 man escort to safely deliver him to Felix, the governor. Why? All for the purpose of eventually
Paul preaching the gospel in Rome. God's purposes will never
be thwarted. So we pick up the story here
in Acts chapter 24. We find that five days have passed
and Ananias, the high priest, descended with the elders, we're
told, into Caesarea, and they got with them a high-dollar Roman
lawyer, a certain orator, he's called, named Tertullus. Yes,
so determined to do away with the apostle Paul, the Jews went
out and they hired one of the best Roman lawyers that money
could buy. He was an orator and an advocate,
and he was to bring the case against Paul. In verse two, we
see that before Tertullus began the case against Paul, he endeavors
to butter up Felix, the governor. the judge that's hearing the
case of Paul. 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." Now what this
silver tongued lawyer is saying is, Your Honor, why you have
restored law and order and justice and peace in all the places that
you judge and govern. And we're so thankful. Boy, we're
so thankful for you. You're really something else.
And then in verse four, if I may continue to paraphrase, he says,
Your Honor, we don't want to waste your precious and valuable
time. We'll be brief and to the point.
It'll be quick and easy for you to see and to agree with our
accusations against what this man is and what he's done. It'll
only take a few words and a few minutes for you to show clemency,
for you to show your humanitarianism with our claims and execute the
justice against this rebellious man named Paul. And in verse
five, we see the lawyer's accusations against Paul. He said, for we
found this man a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition among all
the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect
of the Nazarenes. First of all, he's a pest. He's
a bug. He's no more than a cockroach. He needs to be extinguished.
He needs to be stamped out, the pest that he is. Secondly, he
said he's a mover of sedition, a rebellious man, a man in rebellion
against Rome. He's a rioter. He's a defiant
man among the Jews and the rest of the world. He's no good. He's
a troublemaker. And then thirdly, they said he's
a ringleader of a religious sect, a sect called the Nazarenes,
those who call themselves Christians. He's a follower of Jesus of Nazareth. He's the head. He's the cult
leader. Look at verse six. Who also hath gone about to profane
the temple, whom we took and would have judged according to
our law. But the chief captain Lysaeus came upon us and with
great violence took him away out of our hands. He went down
and took him because they were going to kill him. and commanding
his accusers to come unto thee by examining of whom thyself
mayest take knowledge of all these things whereof we accuse
him." We know that you'll judge rightly because you're a righteous
judge and being the honorable man of justice that you are,
we know you'll rule in our faith. And then in verse nine, we see
that the Jews also assented, saying that these things were
so. They assented that everything that their lawyer had said was
true. And then finally, in verse 10,
Paul has the opportunity to defend himself against their accusations.
In verses 11 through 13, Paul pleads his case. First, Paul
tells the governor, Felix, that they didn't find him disputing
with any man. They didn't find him causing
an uproar. They didn't find him rioting
in the synagogues or in the streets of the city. It just didn't happen.
In verse 13, Paul tells Felix that they couldn't prove any
of the things that they accused him of. Because none of them
were true. None of them happened. And then
in verse 14, it's here that we have the text that I want us
to consider for just a few minutes this morning. Paul said, but
this I confess unto thee, verse 14. In other words, if there's
something that I'm guilty of, this is it. He says that after
the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my father,
believing all things which are written in the law and in the
prophets and have hope toward God, which they themselves also
allow, but that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both
of the just and the unjust. after the way which they call
heresy." That word means blasphemy. It means evil. It means that
which is profoundly opposed and at odds against what's generally
accepted. It's heresy. Paul said, that's
the way I worship God. The very way they call heresy
is the way that I worship the God of my fathers. Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Moses, David. I believe what they believed,
he said. Paul says, I believe all the things written in the
law and the prophets. That's speaking of the Old Testament.
In verse 15, Paul said, they themselves believe in the resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. Well, they're
just hypocrites. They call it heresy. I call it
truth. They call me a heretic, but I'm
a Christian. The Jews professed to be Abraham's
seed. They told the Lord Jesus that.
We're Abraham's seed. He said, we're not in bondage
to any man. They were in bondage to the law.
They were in bondage to their works, but Abraham's hope was
in Christ alone. How do I know? Well, John 8,
56, the Lord had told them, He said, your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. And he saw it and he was glad.
Abraham believed God and it was counted or imputed to him for
righteousness. What did Abraham believe? He
believed that God the Son must come and redeem him. that he
must shed his own blood to cover his sin, that he must keep the
law and satisfy God's justice by doing what he did, dying in
his place to give God's elect his perfect righteousness. He
had to be made sin, the sin of God's elect, so that they, God's
elect, might be made the righteousness of God. In John 5, verse 44,
our Lord said, how can you believe? Oh, they always talked about
Moses. Moses this and Moses that. Well, how can you believe, our
Lord said, which receive honor one of another and seek not the
honor that cometh from God? Do you not think that I will
accuse you to the Father? There's one that accuses you,
even Moses, even Moses in whom you trust. Oh, they trusted in
Moses. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me. For he wrote of me. And haven't
we seen that so clearly in our studies of Genesis and Exodus,
which were written by Moses? They're all about Christ. That's
what the Scriptures are about, Him. He said, if you believe
not His writings, how shall you believe My words? And it's the
same today. If you believe the message of
salvation to be in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith
alone, the glory being God's alone, if you believe those things,
They'll call you a heretic. They'll consider your gospel
heresy. People today have changed the
name. They might not call it heresy. They might call it Calvinism. They might not call you a heretic,
but they might call you a Calvinist. And I've often said, and you
know this is so, that Calvinism is not the Gospel, but it's your
five good points that point to what the Gospel is. And it's
in Christ alone. If you can believe the five points
of Calvinism, and if you leave Christ out of them, then you've
missed it. The Bible plainly and clearly
teaches man's total depravity. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. The Bible teaches very clearly the believer's unconditional
election, the limited atonement of a particular people, the irresistible
grace of God in Christ. None can resist God's will. The
preservation of God's elect in Christ, kept by the power of
God. If God saves you, God'll keep
you. And a believer's not ashamed of owning Christ as the only
means of eternal salvation. Isn't that what Paul said? That's
what he told the church in Romans 1, verse 16. He said, for I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. And that's exactly what Paul
told Timothy, his son in the faith. In 2 Timothy 1, verses
8 and 9, he said, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. That's what Paul's
experiencing here. who had saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Those who believe the gospel
are not ashamed of the gospel. And the true child of God has
no toleration for those who do not honor Christ. Now I know
that there are some that think that I probably harp a little
too much on false religion and man's so-called free will. Personally,
I don't think I harp on it enough. My desire is to expose it. And
it was that kind of preaching that sent many of my loved ones
to hell. David said in Psalm 119 verse
103, he said, Lord, how sweet are thy words unto my taste,
yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth." He said, through thy
precepts, I get understanding. He said, therefore, I hate every
false way. I hate it. We don't hate our
religious enemies. We're commanded to love them.
We simply hate their false way. We hate their false gospel. In
verse 127 of that same chapter, Psalm 119, David said, therefore,
I love thy commandments above gold, yet above fine gold. Therefore, I esteem all thy precepts
concerning all things to be right. Then he said, I hate every false
one. I hate every false way that's
contrary to Christ, don't you? When I hear folks claim that
my Lord and Savior died and shed His blood for sinners who will
still perish, I hate that kind of talk. It's not true. It's
not so. When I hear people say that God
loved a people and sent His Son to die for those that He loved
and chose before the foundation of the world, and that they can
still somehow be lost and perish, I hate that. I hate that kind
of preaching. It's to lie on God. Paul said
in Galatians 1, verse 6, he said, I marvel that you're so soon
removed from Him that called you unto the grace of Christ
and to another gospel, which is not another. We've looked
at those verses many times. but there'll be some that trouble
you." It's troubling to me when I hear that kind of talk, that
kind of preaching. And they would pervert the gospel
of Christ. But though we are an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we've
preached unto you, let him be accursed. That's strong language. That word accursed means to be
damned, let him be damned. Paul said in Galatians chapter
five, he said, I would that they were cut off, cut off which trouble
you. And that wasn't said out of hatred
for their persons, that was out of concern for the glory of God
and the good of God's people. In first Corinthians chapter
16, verse 22, Paul wrote, if any man love not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. That means same thing, accursed.
It means to be looked upon as detestable and abominable. It means to be devoted to destruction. Religion today is man-centered. It's work-centered. It's centered
around the will of man, and it's glorifying man's flesh. It puffs
man up. I hate it. Have I told you that
I hate it? I hate every false way. We need
to warn people. We need to tell them the truth.
That after the way which they call heresy, so worship we, the
God of our fathers. I believe what's written in this
book. And I'll make no apology for it. And I will, by God's
grace, preach it until the day I die. Now I want you to turn
with me to Ephesians chapter two. I want you to see this for
yourself. Most of you could quote these
verses. I want you to look at it with me one more time. Ephesians
chapter two, beginning in verse eight. Ephesians two, verse eight. Paul writes, for by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. Not of words, lest any man should
boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Four
things here that a child of God believes that this religious
world will call heresy, found right here in these verses. But
that after the way that they call heresy, so I worship the
God of my fathers. First is salvation by grace alone. All people will say they believe
that, but then they start talking about their works and what they're
doing and them adding, lending their will to God's will in order
to be saved. That's not by grace alone. And
beloved, it's not by works of righteousness that we've done,
but according to what? His mercy, he saved us. Titus
3, 5. Peter said in Acts chapter 15,
verse 11, he said, but we believe that through the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. Can you say it any plainer
than that? Friends, God's grace is sufficient
for you. Sufficient. You don't need to
add anything to it. Well, you make it works when
you do. His strength is made perfect
in your weakness. Paul said, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by what? His grace to reveal His Son in
me. Oh, it takes grace to reveal
Christ to the sinner. Before you were born, God called
you by His grace. And it was by this grace that
He revealed Christ to you. If you trust Christ, it's only
by God's grace. That way which they call heresy,
so worship you God. Isn't that so? Secondly, salvation
is by grace alone through faith alone. Beloved, the just shall
live by faith. The righteousness of God, which
is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
what? Believe. Isn't that what faith
is? Believing. Therefore, we conclude
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law,
Romans 3 28. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him, believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Man, it's everywhere you look
in the scriptures. therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, I have such peace being in Christ, don't you? But understand
this, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God. We walk by faith, not by sight,
the way which they call heresy. So I worship my God and my Savior. The third thing that men call
heresy is that salvation is in Christ alone. This religious
world will say and claim that it believes that, but what they
mean is that salvation is of the Lord if you lend God your
will. In Ephesians chapter two here,
verse 10, Paul said very plainly, for we are his workmanship created
where? In Christ Jesus. Whose workmanship is the believer?
God's. And we worship him for it. Look
up at verse five. Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. Look at verse 6. And God hath
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
wherein Christ Jesus. Look at verse 7. That in the
ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Look down at verse
12. That at that time you were without
Christ. Without who? Without the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when you were, you were aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope and without God in this world. But
now in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometime were a far off are made
nigh." How? By the blood of Christ. Verse
14, for he, Christ, is our peace, who hath made both one, and he,
the Lord Jesus, hath broken down the middle wall of petition between
us. Verse 18, for through him, We both have access by one Spirit
unto the Father. Verse 19, now therefore you are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and the household of God and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. In whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. In
whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through
the Spirit. Salvation is in Christ alone. That way which they call heresy,
so worship I the God of my Father. Believe in all things which are
written in this book. In the gospel of God's salvation,
God gets all the glory. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Psalm 115, 11. Isaiah wrote,
and one cried unto another, speaking of the cherubims, said, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. Isaiah 6, 3. I am the Lord, that
is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, neither
my praise to a graven image." Isaiah 42a. The heavens declare
what? The glory of God, and the firmament
showeth his handiwork. Psalm 19. and that heavenly city,
that heavenly city that Christ has prepared for His people.
You can read about it in Revelation 21. It says concerning that city,
that they had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine
in it, for the glory of God did lighten it. And the Lamb of God
is that light. He's the light thereof. I take
Paul's words to be my own. Verse 14 again. But this I confess
unto you, that after the way which this religious world calls
heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all
things that are written in the law and in the prophets. And
I have hope. I have hope. You've got hope,
don't you? Toward God. Sure do. May God
make it so for Christ's sake.