Acts chapter 22. We'll be looking at this account of the
Apostle Paul in the defense of the gospel. The defense of the
gospel. I guess if I had a title it would
be Three immutable truths. Three
immutable truths. And so Paul here in this, he
has now been arrested. He's now been put into chains. as he had been attacked by those
Jews and then the man Lystos stepped in and now he asked him
so that he might speak before his people. That he might give
a defense to those Jews who would hurt him, who would seek to kill
him. And so in this chapter we see
him who would have been killed desirous not to escape, but rather
to preach the gospel. Is that not astounding? These
men would seek to kill him, and he seeks to go back to them and
preach the gospel to them. He preaches the gospel of Jesus
Christ by his own experience of grace. By his own experience
of grace. He gives the defense of the gospel
of God's salvation by grace, by testifying of his own experience
in this chapter. And I want you to, as we go through
this, I want you to see the simplicity of it. I want you to see the
clarity of his speech. That he who was so masterful
in philosophy and logic and all the law and all of the minute
debates, and he knew all of this, and yet he preaches so simply,
so plainly, that no one could misunderstand his speech. He testifies to them in a clear
and plain manner of his experience of God's grace toward him. And I want you to know that his
experience in this chapter is a picture. It is the experience
of all the elect of God. Now, none of us are going to
see a great light. None of us are going to actually
hear the literal voice of Jesus Christ as Paul did. It's not
in the same manner, but it is the same experience spiritually. Spiritually, it is the same experience. So His testimony, as we will
see, will line up with our testimony. Which, of course, must line up
with what? The Word of God. If your experience
don't line up with this book, it's no good. If Paul's experience
didn't line up with this book, it would be no good. We must testify of the Gospel. He shows the picture of every
believer, every saint of God, and this is the burden of every
preacher of the gospel. Tonight, it's my burden to declare
to you, as simply and plainly as I can, the gospel of Christ.
Of God's eternal purpose in election. Of Jesus Christ's successful,
victorious redemption. upon Calvary, and the Spirit's
sovereign, immutable, irresistible call of grace. And so, now, as
we go through this, I've got three truths, three lessons here
in this experience that every believer knows to be true, that
are immutable. First of all this, salvation
is not by religion or works. Salvation does not come by religious
activities, religious zeal, religious knowledge, or religious works.
The second thing we know is this, salvation is of the Lord. That's
what we know. We know that salvation is purposed
of God, accomplished by Christ, applied by the Spirit, and everyone
that God has chosen and Christ redeemed will come to Christ. Salvation's of the Lord. We all
know this. And the third thing we know this
is salvation is hated by all men except those who God calls. Salvation. This gospel of salvation
is hated. Now let's see these things together.
First of all, salvation is not by religion. Paul beckons these
men. He said, men and brethren, fathers, hear my defense which
I make now unto you. And when they had heard that
he had spoken in Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence,
and he saith, I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus,
the city of Caecilia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of
Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the
law of the fathers and was zealous toward God as you all are this
day. And I persecuted this way unto
death, binding and delivering into prison both men and women.
As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the
estate of the elders, from whom I also received the letters unto
the brethren, went to Damascus to bring them, which were bound
unto Jerusalem, for to be punished." Paul was a very religious man. He said, look, he's speaking
in their language because he knows these people are so proud
that that would get their attention. And so he speaks to them, he
said, look, I'm a Jew. I'm a Jew, just like you. I'm
a Jew, I was raised in a Jewish home. I was raised by devout
Jewish parents. He said, I became a Pharisee.
I didn't just become a Jew, I became one of the best. I became a Pharisee. His family was religious. We
know this because his nephew, you remember later on, his nephew
is going to overhear the talk of the Sanhedrin. He was close
enough in that circle that he was able to hear their plot to
kill the Apostle Paul. His family was religious. Paul
was really circumcised the eighth day, he said in that book of
Philippians. And no doubt Paul had a very
religious family. His father was of the tribe of
Benjamin. In Hebrew, of the Hebrews, his
family was faithful so as to circumcise him. And he knew his
lineage was in no doubt. He was taught this of his parents.
He knew who he was. But listen, every believer understands
this, a religious family cannot save you. A religious family
cannot save a man's soul. Although Paul was raised in a
good home by a religious father, that gave him absolutely no merit
before God. Nor because he was brought up
in a religious home could he know God. You see, this is because all
men by nature are corrupt. All men by nature are sinful
creatures, and this sin of corruption was passed down from our Father. that my son and daughter's corruption
was passed down to them from me, as I received it from my
father, as he received it from his father, all the way back
to Adam. Wherefore, as by one man's sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned." You sinned in Adam. You sinned
in a representative, and therefore all that a man could give his
children is sin. All my religion will do my children
no good. You remember those Jews in arrogance
when the Lord Jesus Christ made that beautiful declaration. He
said, if the Son shall set you free. you shall be free indeed
and they scowled at that they said how dare you he said we
be Abraham's seed and not in bondage to any man But what was
the truth? They were in bondage. They were
in bondage to Rome. Now that was the truth. They
didn't even recognize that. But they were in deeper bondage
than that. Christ wasn't even talking about
physical bondage of Rome. He was talking about spiritual
bondage. They were in bondage to sin and
to Satan. In fact, they were Abraham's
children, did not give them any grace toward God, nor did it
free them from their chains. I remember hearing this story,
a young girl was witnessing of Christ and she had this, the
one scripture she was using was Mark. And she said, he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And one of those young Jewish men heard this. And he
was afraid. He'd never heard of hell. Never
heard of hell. And so he ran to his rabbi and
he said, Rabbi, Rabbi, this girl came to me with this message
and she said that if I didn't believe in Christ that I would
go to hell. And the rabbi just grinned and said, young man,
hell is a Gentile problem. Isn't that just silly? Yet this
is what men hang their hopes of eternal life on. that their
family was religious, that their family had some affiliation with
some ancient saint somewhere. How many fools run around with
the bones of dead saints as though that gave them any credibility
toward God to have those bones in their presence. What does God's Word say? Peter
said this. He found this out about God.
He said, look, God's no respecter of persons. He don't care who
your mom and daddy were. He don't care who your grand...
He will judge you in righteous judgment. He will judge you according
to strict, holy justice. That's how God will see every
man. He will judge you according to
your works. God's grace is never based on
family affiliation, but is rooted in sovereign mercy. You remember
those two that the apostle was explaining that, look, only the
true Israel of God shall be saved, and only those who are spiritual
Israel are saved. And you remember the illustration
he gave, Jacob and Esau. Both of those were sons of Abraham,
both of those were sons of Isaac, and yet Jacob have I loved, but
Esau have I hated." So what does that prove? That if you are a
Jew, it does not affect God's love for you. That's not the
basis and grounds of God's love. But rather the election of God.
The election of God. And yet this notion, friends,
is not so far removed from this religious generation. You think
that's something that's past, that's something that's old.
I tell you, it's happening now, even among God's churches. Many in our day believe because
their father and mother, because their family are believers in
Christ, that they have some measure of grace. Some measure. of acceptance with God because
of their affiliation with their parents. No! No! You have none. It's a lie to believe such a
thing. And you can tell this by infant baptism. That's exactly
what they're doing. They believe they're giving their
children some amount of grace. Some effect on God to be gracious
to their children. No. Not in the least. Grace is not passed by bloodline
or family relations. Now listen, there was a benefit
to being a Jew, wasn't there? Paul said that, no doubt. They
had the law, they had the prophets, they had things that other nations
didn't have. There was a great benefit. And
listen, there's a great benefit for the children being under
the sound of the gospel. It's a great benefit for you
to be here to hear the gospel. But listen, God will not have
mercy on you because of your parents. My children sit here and I'll
tell you this, God will not have mercy on you because I'm a pastor.
If God will have mercy on you, he'll have mercy for his own
will, not because of me. Listen to what John says, "...as
many as received Him, to them gave He the power, the right
to become the sons of God, even to them which believe on His
name, which were born," speaking of their spiritual birth, "...which
were born, not of," what? "...blood, not of family relations."
That's not one that is born of family blood. "...nor of the
will of the flesh," not of their own will. and not of the will
of man, not of the will of their parents, or their family, or
their friends, or their preacher, but of God. If you're born again,
the whole of glory belongs to God. It's because He willed it
that you receive Christ. You receive Christ? You believe
on Christ? Who's to blame for that? You?
No. God. God did that. Your family, they get any credit?
No. God did that. God did that. I know many pastors, faithful
pastors, and their children have no interest whatsoever in the
gospel of God's grace. And I know they pray for them,
they long for them to know Christ, but because of their status is
not going to move God to do it. God wills to do it, He'll do
it. So salvation is not of blood nor of the will of man, but of
God. Secondly, salvation is not by religious knowledge. Look
at verse 3 again. He said, yet brought up in the city at the
feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the perfect manner of the
law and of the fathers. Paul was brought up in the best
schools. He had the best teachers. This
man Gamaliel was the man of the day. They didn't call him rabbi. my master. They called him Rabban,
our master. He was the rabbi of the whole
Jewish nation according to them. He was the best and greatest
teacher. Paul was raised under the greatest teacher of his time,
being one of the greatest students of the law Paul says of himself,
touching the law of Pharisee. This is what John Gill says about
the Pharisee. He said, "...with respect to the traditions and
observance of the law, which was according to the tradition
of the elders." Now, Paul had an understanding of the law not
according to the Word of God, but according to their traditions. And he was of the Pharisees,
the strictest sect of the Jews and of greatest esteem among
the people. There was no one that could compare
to the knowledge of the Apostle Paul in philosophy, in history,
in logic, in literature, and especially the Law and the Prophets.
No one could compare to this man. He was a great scholar. Listen, but his knowledge could
not save him. His knowledge could not save
him. Why? His knowledge was only the best
a carnal mind could do. The best that a carnal mind can
do is not sufficient to merit God's favor or salvation. He had God in his head, but he
knew nothing of God in his heart. So many are deceived to think
that because they know the scriptures, because they understand deep
doctrines of the gospel, they're saved. They're using that as
evidence of their salvation. Because they know the traditions
of the church, the creeds of the church, because they know
theology, because they suppose this to be acceptable with God. This makes them acceptable. There are many religious people
who think they know God because of what they know about God.
Rather than knowing God. And friends, there's a vast difference.
There's a vast difference. You know that thief on the cross?
He did not know much, but he knew God. He knew God. The high priest that crucified
my Lord had much knowledge, but he did not know God. Friends, I want to know God.
I don't want to just know about God. It's no use. It does not matter what you are,
what religion you claim to be, if your salvation is based on
your knowledge. There was a group of people that
believed that, the Gnostics, they believed knowledge. You
just had knowledge. That was the right amount. What's
the right amount of knowledge? Well, that shifts, doesn't it?
It says, well, you just don't know enough, and you need to
know a little bit more, but that's just not enough. Enough is never
enough. You know, it's not what you know,
it's who you know. Faith is not something learned,
it must be given. Listen to what Paul said in Philippians
1, he said, For unto you is given in the behalf of Christ not only
to believe on him, but to suffer for his sake. Faith is a gift,
for by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
Faith is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Therefore, Paul said, we preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your
servant for Jesus' sake. For God commanded the light to
shine out of darkness. has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Friends, I'm not here to preach
religion. I'm not here to convert men to
Calvinism. There's a huge mistake in that.
If you can convince a man to change from one doctrine to the
other, and I'll tell you this, if he ever knows Christ, he'll
change his doctrine. His doctrine will match his person
that he knows. You don't have to worry about
that. It will change. I tell you it's fruitless to
try to just change all you're doing if you just you're educating
them. If that's all they got is a good
Calvinistic education, they don't know Christ. It's not availing
them anything. We must preach Christ. We must
know Christ. Surely I'm not going to stop
preaching the gospel of God's free gates, which is Calvinism.
I won't stop preaching that. But I'm not here to convert men
to Calvinism. Here to show you Christ. And
once you see Him, you'll know what I'm saying is true. I don't preach religion, not
trying to preach that a man can be saved by his knowledge of
his doctrines, but men are saved through the preaching of the
gospel, I know that. We're saved through the preaching
of the gospel. But it is God who commands the
light to shine out of darkness. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus and Him crucified. That's what we preach. But to
who belongs the power to change the man? Is it just the knowledge
of our preaching? No. It is the power of God who
commands the light to shine out of darkness. How do we know? He shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of glory of God and Jesus Christ.
He gives us spiritual life. He gives us spiritual light. And such light and life move
us to faith in Christ. And so now we see that salvation
is not by your religious, not by your family or not by your
religious knowledge, but it's by the grace of God. And thirdly,
it's not by religious zeal. Look at this. Verse 4, Paul says,
"...and I have persecuted this way unto the death." binding
and delivering into prison both men and women, as also the high
priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders,
from whom I have received the letters unto the brethren, and
went to Damascus to bring them which were there bound to Jerusalem."
He said, I persecuted this way that I now believe. You know,
we were called Christians later, but we were first called people
of the way. He said, that way. I persecuted that way. The gospel is very narrow, isn't
it? It's very narrow. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Very narrow. Very narrow. One Savior. One Lord. One baptism. One faith. Narrow. Jesus Christ is all. And yet
Paul said, I persecuted that way. I was more zealous. Not
only did I consent to the death of Stephen and held the coats
of the men, but I went and took letters from the high priest
and I went down to Damascus to persecute the church, even to
death. I was just like you. That's what
he says in this text. He says, I was zealous toward
God as you are this day. You're ready to kill me. I know
how you feel. I was right there with you. I
had the same attitude that you had toward this way. Could any of us who are believers
in Christ in zeal compare to Paul? In his old religion, could
we possibly call ourselves zealous? I tell you, it's probably hard
to move us off the couch sometimes to do something. I mean serious,
something for Christ, something for the gospel, something doing
something meaningful, something measurable for the gospel. It's
hard press to move God's people sometimes. You ever hear that lie go twice
around the world before truth put his shoes on? Lots of people aren't always
zealous, but I'll tell you this, zeal does not save. Zeal does
not save. It didn't save Paul. Paul said
this about himself. He said this about all of his
zeal and good works. He said, I was alive without
the law once. You see, Paul thought he was
alive. He thought he was well without the law. He said, I was
a child of God, I thought. Until the commandment came, and
sin revived, and I died. When he saw God, the law came
to life. And he found that all his zeal
was sin. Was against God. Against God
Paul thought that he was alive, but he was out exposed I Just pray that none here think
their religion is going to save them My hope and prayer is that
none of you would trust in your religion or your knowledge or
your zeal. Paul did. He trusted in every
bit of this. That's what he's confessing to
these brethren. He's confessing. He said, look,
I was like you. I trusted in my zeal. I trusted
in my heritage. I trusted in my knowledge. Let
me tell you what I found. Secondly, salvations of the Lord. In the first verses, he tells
of his lost religious condition, but in these next verses, he
tells us of his conversion. He gives his experience of salvation,
which is a picture of all of ours. He said, I did receive
letters to go to Damascus and punish those who believed in
Christ, but while I was on my way. Look at verse 6. And it came to pass that as I
made my journey, as I came thine eye unto Damascus about noon,
suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
And I fell unto the ground and heard a voice saying unto me,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou,
Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Now let me ask you this, who
met who? Did Paul meet God? Or did God
meet Paul? Was Paul going to meet God? No. Paul was not going to worship
Christ. He was not on his way to church.
He was not seeking God. He thought he already had God. He thought he already obtained
the favor of God. He was not seeking God. Oh, but
God met him. God met him when it pleased God. It was then that Paul found out
his religion, his knowledge, and his zeal and his family were
worthless when God met him. And so it will be with everyone. We all would continue in our
own way to hell unless God met us. Is that not true of you?
Had God not met you on your way to hell, you would still be going. you would still be trusting in
yourself, trusting in your religion, had God not met you. Unless Jesus
Christ comes to reveal himself to you, a man will never know
God. If God does not cross your path
and reveal himself to you, you will go straight on to hell without
stopping. Unless God revealed himself. This is what Jesus said in Matthew
11, all things are delivered me of my father. No man knoweth
the son but the father. Neither knoweth any man the father
save the son, and listen, and to whomsoever the son will reveal
him. You can't know God unless God
reveals Him. Salvation is revelation. It's by divine revelation. It is not education. God Himself must meet you. God Himself must reveal Himself
to you, or you will never, ever, ever know God. Oh, the grace of God that met
us. If God's ever stopped you, and
you know what I'm talking about, if God's ever stopped you, you
know it was grace that did it. It was a grace of God. We were
not seeking Him. We were not looking for Him. The grace of God that exposed
us by the light of the gospel, that light that shined around
Paul. Was that not the light of the glory of God that shined
in your hearts? To expose your sin, expose you. to reveal God's holy nature.
It was the grace of God that cast us down from our self-righteousness
into the dust. Listen, if God don't ever cast
you in the dust, He won't show you mercy. It says that in Leviticus
3 in verse 29, He putteth His mouth in the dust, if so be there
may be hope. You see, if God don't put you
in the dust, there ain't gonna be no hope for you. Listen, has God arrested you?
I love that. I love that word. Arrested. Because that's what he has to
do. He has to arrest you. He has
to... Paul says, I have been apprehended. Apprehended. I got that song. I want to read
you just a couple lines from it here. Hail sovereign love
that first began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless
free eternal grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Against
the God that ruled the sky I fought with hand uplifted high. Despised
the mention of his grace, too proud to seek a hiding place.
enwrapped in thick Egyptian night and fond of darkness more than
light madly I ran the sinful race secure without a hiding
place all but thus the eternal council ran almighty love what
arrest that man arrest that man all of you been
arrested I'll tell you this, when the
Apostle Paul was arrested, did his life not change? Can you
see that? Can you not see a change in him?
He was not perfect at the very beginning, and neither is any
believer. They don't have perfect knowledge at this beginning.
But I'll tell you this, he wasn't looking to kill Christians anymore,
was he? He couldn't even see to get to anywhere. He had scales on his eyes. No! He changed! And so it is with
everyone who meet is met by the Lord God. There's a change in
them. They are exposed. They have nowhere
to hide. They have nowhere to run. And
so until the gospel is preached to them and Christ is revealed,
they hide in their shame and their guilt. I'll tell you, if you claim to
have met Christ, but nothing's changed. Something's wrong with your meeting. Something's wrong with your meeting. I'll tell you this, when Christ
meets a person, they will be changed. And this was Paul's
appointed time. He was met because it was his
appointed time of grace. And he heard the voice of the
Son of God. God revealed Christ to them. Secondly, God gives faith in
Christ by the preaching of the gospel. Now when Christ met Paul,
he reveals himself, but he sends him to a preacher. You notice
that? Let's look at this back in your text here. He sees him.
He says, I'm Jesus who you persecuted, verse 9. And they that were with
me saw the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice
of him that spake to me. And then I said, what shall I
do, Lord? And he said unto me, Arise, go
into Damascus, and there shall be told thee of all the things
which are appointed for thee to do. When I could not see for the
glory of the light being led by the hand of them that were
with me, I came to Damascus, and one Ananias, a devout man,
according to the law, having good report of all the Jews that
dwelt there, came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother
Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up
upon him, and he said, and here's his gospel message, he said,
The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know
his will, and see that just one, and shouldest hear the voice
of his mouth, for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of
what thou hast seen and heard." I've always found it astounding
that Christ sent him to this man. Christ was more than capable
of preaching the gospel to Paul. And yet, he sent him to Ananias. Now Ananias, in this other passage,
you go back in the back, and Ananias, he's afraid. He said,
are you sure this is the one you want me to preach to? He
said, yeah, that's the one. You go preach to him. Listen,
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. This
is how God works. This is the means by which God
meets His people. The preaching of the Gospel.
If Christ has revealed Himself to you in some dream or some
vision, in something of nature, then listen, you don't know God.
That's as simple as I can make it. Can I make it plain enough
for you? Anybody that has a vision that claims they know God, they've
not heard God. Why? God reveals Himself by His
Word. He has, in time past, spoken
to the prophets and the fathers by different means. But in these
last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. And Peter said this,
that this is, we are begotten, not with incorruptible seed,
but the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And this
Word is the gospel that we preach. so faith cometh by hearing by
the gospel by the preaching of the word and this is the word
that we preach the god of our fathers had chosen day everyone
you've been met by christ i want you to get that the god of our
fathers had chosen day i didn't choose us to be an apostle
that was paul's that was paul's office that's not ours but he
had chosen us to salvation. Everyone that's heard the gospel
of election, you know it is the gospel of God's grace, that God
in sovereign grace chose a people for Himself. And in eternal love,
He chose them of the same fallen lump of humanity. He chose them. He loved them. I'll tell you
what, The love that men are preaching in false free will religion is
a useless love. The love of their God is useless. If he loves all men without exception,
then his love is useless to save me. His love can't save anyone. Why? Because he loves those in
hell just as much as he loves those in heaven. What good is
his love? Oh, that's not the love of my
God. Everyone my God loves, He saves. He saves. He chose us in love, not based
on anything we would do. Read this with me. Go to Isaiah. Read this about yourself. This
is what God writes about you. Isaiah chapter 43. Look at verse
4. Since thou was precious in my
sight. You got that? You realize you are precious?
Isaiah, I'm sorry, 43. Did I say something else? Okay,
Isaiah 43, verse 4. Since thou was precious in my
sight. Thou has been honorable. And
I have loved thee. Now what's the evidence of this
love? He said, Therefore will I give men for thee, and people
for thy life. Fear not, for I am with thee.
I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the
west. I will say unto the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep
not back. Bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the
ends of the earth, every one that is called by my name. For
I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, yea, I have
made him. Is that not precious? Oh, that's
clear, isn't it? Everyone that God loved, He says,
look, you're honorable. You're honorable, you're loved.
Believer, this is you. For your God has chosen you. And He purposed to save you,
but He also, listen, He accomplished it. He accomplished it. This
is by the just one. Look back at your text and see
what He says. He says, not only will you Are you chosen? But He said this,
that thou shouldest know His will and see the just one. He not only chose His people,
but God gave His people, purposed and gave them to His Son to be
their propitiation, to be their mercy seat, to save every one
of them. And Jesus has suffered in the
stead of everyone. He is the Holy One. He is the
Holy One. The gospel is centered in Jesus
Christ. You know that? The whole thing.
The whole thing is centered in Christ. That God-man mediator,
that One that God anointed, that One that God has chosen, He put
all of His elect on Him. And said, now son, go and accomplish
all their salvation. This is the will of God. Don't
you know that? Don't you know that was the will of God? This
is the will of Him that sent me, Jesus said. All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And Him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that all He had given me, I should lose nothing, but
raise them up again at the last day. And I tell you this, He
honored God. He honored God in righteous obedience.
He honored God in his sacrificial death for every one of his people. He is the second Adam and representative
of all his people and therefore all of our sins, this is how
you're honorable, all of your sins. The scripture says God have made
him to be sin for us. who knew no sin, that you might
be made the righteousness of God in Him." And listen to what
the will of God is. He said He will gather them from
every direction, no matter where they are. Isn't this amazing?
That God says, no matter where they are, I will gather them. That's amazing, isn't it? I can't even find my keys in
the morning. It's hard to gather even our
little things, and yet he says, out of every place I have scattered
them, I will gather them. Don't fret. Don't be worried.
I will send a man. I will gather them. They will
hear the gospel, and none of them will be lost. This is the
will of God, and we know this. It was the message of Ananias
to Paul, and Paul believed on Christ, and so it is with everyone
who is saved by the grace of God. And therefore, preaching to us
is precious, isn't it? Preaching the gospel is not something
to mock, it's not something to neglect, it's the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And lastly, see this,
walking in the Spirit, or witnessing, witnessing. He said this in verse
15, "...for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what
thou hast seen and heard." When the gospel comes in power, and
Christ becomes all our salvation, because of the grace of God,
we now desire to forsake everything and cling to Him. Paul left his religion that very
day and never looked back. And so it is with us who really
know Him. Will you go away? You who believe, will you go
away? I know you're fearful. I know
in your heart You're afraid. Is it I? Is it I that should
betray you? Is it I that should turn my back
on you? But I know this is also your
heart. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. You're the Son of God. You're my Savior. I can go no
place else. I will not leave. And because
we will not leave, what are we doing? We are His witnesses.
What are you living for? The Lord's kept you around, Joanne,
for a while. A couple of days. A couple of days. What are you living for? What are you living for? You're
His witness. That's what you're living for.
You are His witness of what you have seen and heard in this book
and the experience of grace in your heart. You're His witness. What are we to do? Forsake all
and witness of Him. Witness of Him. And listen, Paul
was not concerned with what these men thought or felt. He was only
concerned with the testimony of Jesus Christ. And that should
be our only concern. And the last thing I got is this.
When the gospel is heard by religious men, they will hate it. Verse
22. And they gave him audience unto this word, and then what? They lifted up their voices and
said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not
fit that he should live." This message of God's grace in
Christ, salvation without religious works, salvation without religious
affiliation or without religious zeal. Salvation by the free sovereign
grace of God is hated by this world. And you should expect
that. You tell men that God is not
pleased with their deeds, or goodwill, or free works, or their
free will, or their best efforts, that all their righteousness
are filthy rags and they'll hate you. Tell the Catholic his religion
is blasphemy. Tell the Pentecostal Jehovah's
Witness Armenian that their Christ is not real, but a figment of
their imagination. Tell all freewill works religion
is a lie from the pits of hell. Tell them the salvation is by
the free and sovereign grace alone, that God will save whom
He will and pass by whom He will. Tell them that unless Jesus Christ
reveals Himself to them, they will never know Him. And see how much you will be
despised. You will be. Jesus said, pay
it no mind. They hated me long before they
hated you. Matter of fact, they hate you
because they hate me. And they will cry with you away
with such a man. But, fear not. Fear not. Fear not. I am with thee. I am
with thee. You are my witnesses. And I am
so glad that salvation is not by my religious family, by my
religious zeal, by my religious knowledge. I'm thankful salvation's
all of grace, that it's all finished in the person of Christ. And
there's nothing left for me to do. And I was so glad when he
arrested me. I'm so glad that he arrested
me. That he stopped me. And pointed me to his son. And
gave me faith. And keeps me in the faith. And
listen, I am his witness. And so are you. May God give
us grace to witness. Even in the midst of the hatred
of this world. Tell the truth, friends. Tell
the truth. Don't hold back the truth because of men's feelings. You do them a great disservice.
May God help us. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.