If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19. We're looking, beginning this morning
in verse 8 of Acts chapter 19. And the title of the message this
morning is, Disputing and Persuading the Gospel of Christ. Disputing
and Persuading the Gospel of Christ. The Scripture says in
Acts 19, verse 8, And he went into the synagogue and spoke
boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading
the things concerning the kingdom of God. Now, if you remember
last week, we saw that the message of Christ is the unchangeable
message. that the message that was given
by the prophets before in the Old Testament, the message even
of the Law of Moses, pointed to Christ, spoke of Jesus Christ. And when John came on the scene,
he preached the message of Christ. He says, He that comes after
me was preferred before me. He spoke of the deity of Christ,
of the salvation that is in Christ. Behold, the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. And friends, that's the message
that Paul and the apostles took up that mantle. And they preached
this message. And even today, that every man
of God that stands before people to preach, they are to preach
this message. The message of Christ. It's unchangeable. It doesn't change. It's the same,
because Christ is the same. You see, Jesus Christ was never
plan B. He was always plan A. He was
always God's way of salvation. And God always spoke of Him. I was speaking to Cheryl last
night. We were discussing a passage of Scripture. And she had immediately
ran to a passage and she related it to herself or to believers
first. And I said, well, I think that's
a mistake that we commonly make is that we relate them to us
first. We should try to find Christ
first. Because that's what God spoke
of. He spoke of Christ. Christ. And when we find Christ,
I know this, I'm blessed. When I find Christ in the Scriptures,
I'm blessed. Because that's the message of
God, is Christ. He's always been God's salvation
for sinners, and we preach this message without compromise and
are not swayed from it. Not a man of God. Because this
is the message that God has given us. This is the only message,
the only way of salvation is Christ. But what I want us to
notice this morning is how this preaching is described here in
our text. Look at our text. He went into
the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months.
Here it is, disputing and persuading. This is a description of how
he preached the gospel. He did it by disputing and persuading. Now, I was with a pastor beginning
of this month, and we were speaking on preaching. And he had went
over 50 different words in the New Testament that describe preaching. This matter of preaching is a
very large thing. It's not just one simple aspect. It is a very large thing. It
embraces so many different things every time we stand to do it.
And these are two of them. Just to give you some, answered. That's another word for preaching.
When Peter, the Scripture says, and he answered them. That's
what we do. We answer when we preach. We reason when we preach. We declare when we preach. And we allege. Those are certain
different words that we do in this matter of preaching, in
this act of preaching. And Paul here is disputing and
persuading. Two more. First of all, disputing. Now, when you look at that word,
there are some people who take that word to mean some form of
debating or discussion. They believe that Paul, when
he disputed the Scriptures, that he got together with these Jews
in the synagogue and they had a back and forth dialogue concerning
this. That there was a debate, that
Paul was standing over here and he would give the Gospel of Christ
and then another Jew would stand over here and give his testimony
of the Law. But friends, that is not what
this Word means. That is not what this word means.
But some have put forth that it would be good for us to engage
in debates. They reason that, hey, if you
would debate these people, you would have a larger audience.
We would be able to get out there and evangelize to people who
would never hear the gospel any other way. That's their reason.
And friends, although this may be popular, and I'll tell you,
it brings in large crowds. It brings in large crowds. And
many people are entertained by this, and they may feel like
they're more involved if you'll just have a discussion with them,
if you'll just get a big group discussion going. They feel more
involved in the church. But friends, this is not the
means that God has chosen. It doesn't matter what it feels
like. It doesn't matter how we think
about this matter. It only matters what God says. It only matters what God says.
It doesn't matter how good it sounds or how successful in getting
people to attend the church is. If God has not ordained this
worship, If God has not ordained that means, then we should leave
it alone. I want you to go to Leviticus. Go to Leviticus chapter
10. I want you to see how serious
God is about His worship. Leviticus chapter 10 and verse
1. These two sons of Aaron here,
they were the priests. They were the priests chosen
of God. And here it is. And Nadab and
Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and
put fire therein, and put the censer thereon, and offered strange
fire before the Lord, which He commanded them not. And there
went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died
before the Lord. And God said to Aaron, Don't
you even cry for them. Don't you even weep for your
sons. Why? What was wrong with that? They
just wanted to add a little spice to worship. They just wanted
to add their own little discussion, their own little opinion into
the matter of God's worship. I'm sure that no doubt their
fire, their incense smelled good. Don't you? Don't you think that if you would
have put them in their house, that they didn't offer something
to God that didn't smell good? What was the problem? Why did
God kill these men? God killed these men because
they offered something to God that was not acceptable. God
did not accept their worship. He killed them. Friends, God's
jealous about His worship. God has declared to us how it
is we are to worship Him. And it is only by the preaching
of the Gospel. This is how God saves sinners. Not by debate. Not by debate. To offer debate and discussion
is nothing more than to offer a strange fire unto God. It's
not what God has offered. Not what God has meant. I have people constantly urging
me to listen to debates. Hey, you should get this. This
was a good debate. He really put that man in his
place. I don't want to hear that. I don't care to hear that. And
neither should you. I have yet to see any fruit at
all from such debates. None. You know why? Because some
people, when you go to a debate, this is what you go to hear.
You go to hear your man. You go to cheer on your man or
what you think is the truth, and you are not seeking truth. You're seeking to put someone
else in their place. And that's not the preaching
of the gospel. That's not what we're to be doing. I'll tell you, by debate, you
may change a man's mind, but you will not change his heart.
What good is it if I change an Arminian to a Calvinist? Nothing is accomplished for the
salvation of that man if I just change his mind. Nothing. Nothing. This discussion, this disputing
that Paul is talking about here in the Scriptures that Luke wrote
of, is not debate. This gospel is not up for debate
or opinion. It's not up for discussion. In 1 Timothy 4, verse 2, Paul
urges that young pastor, preach the Word. Preach the Word. Declare, herald the Gospel. Declare it. Declare it. This is not meant, debate is
not meant by this word dispute with these Jews. But what it
does mean is that He preached and exposed false That's what
it means. When he disputed with them, he
disputed their false ideas of Christ. He exposed their false
doctrine. Now friends, when a man is called
to preach, I'm called to deliver a positive message. I am called
to deliver a positive message. You that have believed, is there
any more positive message than Jesus Christ? Is there any more
positive message than this? Behold, the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. There is no more positive message
than that. You see, the gospel, it doesn't
measure a man and say, well, you've gone too far. No, the
gospel says to all sinners, no matter how great the sinner,
no matter how much you've rebelled, no matter what you've done or
where you've been, the gospel says, come, freely come and take
Christ. That's what the gospel says.
It's all inclusive. Come and welcome. The feast is
prepared. Come. Buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Without works and without religion. Come to Christ. Now that's positive. That's positive. If you've got
nothing to offer God, here's the gospel. God doesn't want
what you have to offer. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Friends, that's the most positive
message I've ever heard in my entire life. And that's the message
I long to preach to sinners. It's a message that's positive.
But friends, even in preaching this positive message, we must
discuss the negatives. We must discuss the negatives
of false religion. We must expose all false doctrine. That is what we are called to
do. Flip over one page from your text, Acts chapter 20, and look
at verse 30. Paul is leaving these people
at Ephesus here, these elders, and he says this in verse 30. He says, "...Also of your own
selves shall a man arise, speaking perverse things and draw away
disciples after themselves. Therefore, watch and remember
that by the space of three years I cease not to..." Here it is,
"...warn you." To warn you. Night and day with tears. Friends,
we as preachers must warn you. of false prophets that will arise. They will come in. They will
creep in and you won't know it until it's too late. And so we
must warn against these things by exposing them. Exposing them. Now many of these Jews did not
mind Him preaching Jesus. Many of these Jews accepted Jesus. as the Christ. What was the problem
then? Why was Paul being disputed so
much? Because he would not allow them
to take the law of Moses and mix it with Christ. That's why
they hated him. This was a big deal. He exposed that the law of Moses
had no part in their salvation. And that made them mad. That'll
make them mad. And this is what we're to do.
We're to tell the truth, even though it's offensive. Friends,
the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive to the natural
man. If it's not, we're not preaching the gospel. Paul said the cross of Christ
is offensive. And if we allow works or law
into grace, we have ceased to be offensive to the natural man. I was speaking with a person
the other day, and we were talking about false religion, and I said,
this is the best way to determine false religion. Don't try to argue finer points
with these heretics. Don't do it. Why? There are too
many. It's like juggling. They'll switch
from one to the other. And then you'll have to deal
with each and every one of them and you'll never get to the real
truth. You'll never get to the bottom
of it. I said the best way to do the witness to people is to
break it down to its least common denominator. What is it? Works
or grace? Which do you believe? Which do
you believe? Is your salvation part you and
Christ? If it is, you're a heretic. See, there's only one true message
of the gospel, and that's grace. Everything else is a lie. And so break it down to its least
common denominator with these people when you witness. When
you're witnessing to somebody, you must dispute. Yes, you must
tell and expose the negative. People are not going to like
to hear that. They're not going to enjoy that. But friends, we're
not here to debate. Not here to debate. And tell
us what to do in just a minute when that starts to come, because
they'll try to debate with you. And we'll see what to do in just
a minute. But second of all, I want to look at this word persuading.
Persuading. Preaching the gospel is not only
disputing with false religion, it's not like we're up here just
having a list of true things to tell you. We're not putting
this out as a lecture. This is not an educational institution. This is a matter of life and
death. If someone in your family is
going to die, if you see the danger that someone else is doing,
you don't come to them with a list of facts about what's dangerous. You may have those, but you come
with a heart of passion, hoping to save them from death. And
that's what preachers are to do. We're not to come with a
list of things of the gospel and just leave it out there.
We come with passion, persuading men to come to Christ. Persuading
men. Preaching must be done from the
heart. It must be done from the heart. I'll tell you, Paul had a heart
for these Jews, didn't he? Every city he went into, he preached
to them, and every city that he went into, he had problems
with them. A man who is called must have
a heart for the lost. He must have a passion for the
lost, that all men would come to Christ. You know what? I long
for every person in this building to come to Christ. I do. I long for every one of you to
come and bow down before Christ, because that's the only hope
for your souls. That's it. I don't want you just to believe
my doctrine. I want you to see my Savior.
I want you to see Him and the beauty of His marks. It breaks my heart to know that
today Christ is preached, but some of you will count His blood
as an unholy thing and not worthy of your time and attention. And
that breaks my heart. And knowing this, we persuade
men. Paul said, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade
men. Now friends, I know this, my
persuading will never save anybody. It's only the Spirit of God.
But I'll tell you this, He does use our persuading. He does use
it. He does use it. We persuade men
not by the wisdom of the world, but by the Word of God. Friends,
this is not my message. This is God's message. This is
not my Word. This is God's Word. You shouldn't
hear me. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. He's everything. Hear Him. Hear Him. And we say, come and
find rest in Christ. Martin Lloyd-Jones says this
in his book of Preaching and Preachers. I love this part.
He said, a man who is called must have both light and heat.
He must have both knowledge and passion. If he's missing one
of those, he's not preaching. He's not. You must have both. You must have both. Paul had
both. He disputed and begged. He begged,
come to Christ. Why will you die? Why will you
fall into hell when Christ has come? I don't know. Well, what
if they don't listen? It brings me to my second point,
separation from false prophets. Look at this in our text in verse
9. In verse 9 it says, But when
divers, when different persons, were hardened and believed not,
but spake evil of that way before the multitude, here's what he
did, he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing
daily in the school of one Tyrannus. What are we to do when people
reject the gospel? Walk away. That's it. Separate yourselves from them. It doesn't mean you don't have
a heart for them. It doesn't mean you shouldn't
pray for them. But friends, don't try to save them. Leave them alone. They heard you. They know what
you believe. And they may try to pull you
into debate. But friends, there's a difference
and we must discern the difference between someone seeking truth
and someone trying to defend their position. You see someone
trying to defend their position? Leave them alone. They're not
seeking truth. They don't want any part of your
truth. Don't take the pearl of the gospel and cast it before
swine. Leave them alone. Run away from
them. Change the subject. I want to see this Titus chapter
three real quick, Titus chapter three. Chapter three in verse nine. Avoid foolish questions. and genealogies and contentions
and strivings about the law. For they are unprofitable and
vain. A man that is an heretic, after
the first and second admonition, reject." That's plain, isn't
it? Is that not simple? I know it's
not simple to do. My nature wants to debate. Doesn't yours? Mine does. Sometimes I get suckered into
that. I mean, I get pulled in like a fish on a line. And I
shouldn't. Why? It cheapens the gospel.
It cheapens it. We should leave it alone. 2 Timothy
chapter 2 and verse 23. But foolish and unlearned questions
avoid, knowing that they do gender strife." Friends, these things
do nothing for the soul of men. They only gender strife. And someone will get hurt. The
gospel will be tarnished. Don't do it. Leave them alone.
If they're not seeking truth, leave them alone. We must not let the person and
work of Jesus Christ be brought to such a low level as to debate
or discussion." Friends, I don't care to discuss the being of
God. God is. Deal with it. I don't care to discuss His being. I don't. God is. Whether you
accept that or not, that doesn't really matter, does it? Does
that change the fact that God is? Because men don't believe
it or won't believe it? Doesn't? No. In the beginning,
God, God just states His being. He doesn't explain it. And He
doesn't have to. You know, I don't explain everything
to my children. I don't have to. I don't have
to. I'm their father. And God doesn't
have to explain His being to anybody. He is and you better
bow. If you don't, you will face His
wrath. That's just simple. And if men
want to debate that, let them go right ahead. I'm not here
for that. And neither should you. When
these people harden their hearts, we must reject them, we must
turn from them as these did. And notice that Paul, in our
text, he said, and he disputed in that little school. He separated
from them, but he still preached the gospel. He did the same thing
he did with them. You see, He didn't change, did
He? He didn't change. And neither does a man of God,
for we dispute the gospel and we persuade men to come to Christ.
And if they don't hear that, we separate ourselves from them.
I pray God will bless this to us.