Go with me back to Acts 23. I have a very simple truth to
tell tonight. A very straightforward truth
to tell. Paul, in this text, what we just
read, Paul is going to be sent to a judge named Festus. And he's going to be kept. The
judgment is going to wait until all his accusers come and
witness against him. All right? I titled this message, When Our
Accusers Come. That's the point of this message. When our accusers come, I want
us to see the reality of the day of judgment. There's a reality
that's going to take place on the day of judgment, the day
that we're going to stand before God. And then I want to show
us something that's going to bring us so much comfort and
so much peace and rest and happiness. Now Paul, he is still in prison,
bound just like God's Holy Spirit said he would be. He said you're
going to go to Jerusalem and they're going to bind you and
you're going to be afflicted. Verse 12 says, 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. Now did the Apostle Paul deserve
to die? He was a murderer, wasn't he?
Before God opened his eyes. He murdered God's people everywhere
he went. Everywhere he went. All who believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ, he either murdered them or drugged
them to Jerusalem and locked them up in prison. He was a blasphemer. He did not believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he actually spoke out against
Christ. It was his mission to stop the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a self-righteous false
prophet. He was a sinner. Yes, he deserved
to die, just like you and me. just like us. That's what we
deserve for our sin. Verse 13 says, There were more
than 40 which had made this conspiracy, and they came to the chief priests
and elders and said, We have bound ourselves under a great
curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. Now
therefore, ye with the council signify to the chief captain
that he bring him 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. You act like you need to
talk to him again. And when they bring him out of
the prison, we're going to kill him. Verse 16, and when Paul's
sister's son, Paul had a sister. That was interesting to me. I pray she knows the Lord. I
hope we get to meet her one day. It doesn't say what her name
was, but Paul had a sister. Verse 16, when Paul's sister's
son, his nephew, heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered
into the castle and told Paul. 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 him. So he took him and
brought him to the chief captain and said, Paul the prisoner called
me unto him and prayed 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
down Paul tomorrow into the council. as though they would inquire
somewhat of him more perfectly, but do not thou yield unto them,
for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty 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 threescore 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 the Lord could have delivered
him with a word. All he had to do was speak the
word. The Lord could have sent angels just like he did for Peter. Peter was in prison, the Lord
sent an angel, sent an earthquake, opened all the doors. Peter,
he was just running through wards and second wards and all of a
sudden he realized God just did something. God sent an angel.
But the Lord chose to send a young man. And this shows us that God
uses means. He uses means and He uses men
to deliver His message and to deliver His people. That's amazing
to me. But that's what God has chosen
to do. He's chosen to use the means of men to deliver that
message and deliver His people. Verse 25 says, And he, the chief
captain, wrote a letter after this manner, Claudius Lysias
unto the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greeting. This
man was taken of the Jews and should have been killed of them,
Then came I with an army and rescued him, having understood
that he was a Roman. And when I would have known the
cause wherefore they accused him, I brought him forth into
their council. whom I perceived to be accused
of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge
worthy of death or bonds. And when it was told me how that
the Jews laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee and
gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what
they had against him. Farewell." The chief captain
wrote a letter to Felix, this governor Felix, and he said the
Jews were going to kill him. So I've sent him to you. I've
sent everybody to you. I'm sending them all to you. I'm sending Paul to you, and
I'm sending his accusers to you. You be the judge. All his accusers
are waiting to kill him. Now, you be the judge. We're
sending everybody to you. Verse 31, Then the soldiers,
as it was commanded them, took Paul and brought him by night
to On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him and returned
to the castle, who, when they came to Caesarea and delivered
the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him. And when the governor had read
the letter, he asked of what province he was, and when he
understood that he was of Cilicia, I will hear thee, said he. when
thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept
in Herod's judgment hall. He told Paul, I will hear what
you have to say. I'll hear what you have to say
for yourself after your accusers come and witness against you. After they bring all their accusations
against you. Only after that will I hear what
you have to say. That is exactly what will happen
on the Day of Judgment. That is exactly what will happen
to every man and woman on the Day of Judgment. Those who believe
that sin doesn't matter, and that's a lot of people, That's
a lot of people. We sin and we don't care. Those
who believe that sin does not matter and those who believe
that they have no sin are in for a rude awakening on that
day. A very rude awakening. Turn with
me over to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation 20 verse 11. And I saw a great white throne
and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were
opened. Now I'm about to tell us the
truth. This is the absolute truth. Every soul on this earth has
a book with his or her name on it. every soul on this earth. And in that book everything we
do and everything we say and everything
we think and everything we feel is being written down. is being
written down. I've seen people treat some of
God's sheep so horribly, do things and say things to them, and I
think, oh, that's going to come back up. That's going to come back up.
That's being written down. The Lord said vengeance is mine,
didn't He? Everything is being written down,
not just the outward things, the inward things. You know,
we like to consider ourselves to be fairly good people. But I'm going to tell you something,
there's some inward things that take place inside us that we
don't want anybody to know about. Verse 12 goes on to say, And
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works. and the sea gave up the
dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them, and they were judged every man according
to their works." We do things from time to time that we are
so ashamed of. And what we want is for it to
just go away. That's what we want. We want
it to just go away. We hope enough time will pass
where people will just forget about it and it'll never be brought
up again. It will be brought up again.
It will be brought up again. The books of every soul on this
earth are going to be opened. Could you imagine having somebody
read out loud in front of everybody everything you've ever done? Could you imagine that? Could you imagine that? But not
just that, could you imagine somebody reading out loud in
front of everybody, God Almighty and all of heaven and earth standing
there, everything you've ever said? And not just that, everything
you've ever thought and everything you've ever... Could you imagine
that? That is going to happen the day
we And I do mean we in this room stand before God. That's the
day our accusers will come. The ones that want to kill us. All of my accusers are in that
book. I created every one of them.
They're in that book. Every soul on this earth is right
now waiting for the accusers to come. All right? Now, did you notice that I skipped
a line in verse 12? Verse 12 says, And I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were
opened, and another book was opened. which is the book of
life. What is in that book? What is
in that book? The answer is everything that
Christ ever did. Everything that Christ ever said. This word of God right here says
if all of that was written down, the world could not contain the
books. But heaven can. In that book is written down
everything he ever thought. Wouldn't you love to know his
thoughts when he didn't even say anything? And in that book is
written down everything he ever felt while he walked this earth
for 33 and a half years. And after he walked this earth,
And after all those works were written down, he came to me and
he put his book in my hand. And he took my book into his
hands and went to meet God. God killed him because of everything
I've ever done. You know why Christ died on that
cross? It's because of every word that has come out of my
mouth so far and will come out of my mouth till the day I die.
That's why Christ died. It's because of everything I
thought and everything I felt. That's why Christ died. All my
accusers brought judgment on Him. Now, there's going to come a
day when I'm going to have to stand before God. I told you,
everybody in this room, the books are going to be open. And there's
going to come a day when I, myself, He went and stood before God.
And there's going to come a day when I have to stand before God.
And in that day, my book is going to be opened. And do you know
what's going to be read out loud before God Almighty and all of
heaven and all of earth? everything that Christ ever did,
everything that Christ ever said, everything Christ ever thought,
and everything he ever felt. And that is exactly what will
happen for every soul that has been given faith to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. every single soul. That faith,
the fact that He causes us to believe this and trust Him and
believe His Word, that faith is your evidence that Christ
has taken your book and already met God with it. That faith is
your evidence that Christ has given you His record, a brand
new record. There is therefore now no condemnation. to them which are in Christ Jesus
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Now turn
with me to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. Out of thankfulness
and love and a true heart of worship for the one who has done
all this for us. Let's take note of and let's
heed, let's pay attention to and let's heed and follow the
commandment of our Lord here. John 8 verse 1 says, Jesus went
unto the Mount of Olives and early in the morning he came
again into the temple and all the people came unto him and
he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had
set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman
was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law
commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him
that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and
with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them
not. So when they continued asking
him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without
sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. He stooped
down and started writing their sins in the dust. They brought
this woman caught in the act of adultery straight to him.
So he stooped down and he started writing their sins in the dust. Verse 8 says, And again he stooped
down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it being
convicted by their own conscience. He knew their book. That's what
it is. He knew what was in their book. Verse 9, They which heard it
being convicted by their own conscience went out one by one,
beginning at the eldest even unto the last. And Jesus was
left alone and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had
lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her,
Woman, where are those thine accusers? Where are your accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Why? Is it because he just decided
to let's just forget about it? Let's just sweep it under the
rug? No. It's because he'd already taken her book and given her
his. Therefore, she had no accusers.
He knew it was in her book. See, honey, you have a brand
new book. I know what you're living day by day right now,
but what you don't understand is you have a brand new book.
And I know what's in it. And there's no condemnation.
Nobody can accuse you. Nobody can accuse you. Verse
10, When Jesus had lifted up himself, he saw none but the
woman. He said unto her, Woman, where
are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Now watch this last part. He
said, Go and sin no more. Go and sin no more. Now let me
ask you a question and think about it before you answer in
your hearts. Before you make a decision, really think about
this. Was he really saying sin no more? The answer is yes. Yes. Now listen very carefully
to what I'm saying here. Everybody in this room. I hope
I hope and pray everybody in this room even our children.
I hope and pray Everyone in here knows we can't sin no more. I Hope we all we cannot as long
as this flesh is around We can't sin no more. We are sinners and
We will sin to the day. We die sin is mixed with all
that we do and But when God calls His child, He makes a new creation there.
He puts a new creature there. He gives him a new heart. One
that doesn't desire and crave sin. One that doesn't want it anymore.
One that loves Christ and wants to be like Christ. Now this flesh
still wants it. But there's a new man in there that hates it. I
mean hates it. He loves Christ. He wants to
be like Christ. And he gives that child a heart
to follow Christ and be obedient to his commandment. And that
sinner will fall. That sinner will fall. That flesh
is not holy and pure and right and good. That flesh is still
sin, and that sinner will fall. But thank God that fall was written
in His book, and Christ has already taken His book to God. All of
our works, all of our works just come from a heart of love and
thanks. What this means is God's people to sin no more. We make it very clear that Christ
finished the work. When it comes to sin, well, you
better not sin. Well, you know what? You better not sin. But
don't tell me I better not sin. Christ finished the work. I know.
I know. I know. He did it. God's people
try to sin no more, not to be saved, but because they love
Christ. And we fail every day, but we try. But we try. That woman was caught in the
act of adultery, and our Lord paid for her sin. He told her,
You now have no accusers. There's no condemnation. What
He was saying is, You are saved. He said that first. I'm so glad
He didn't flip-flop those. He said that first. But then
he told her, out of respect for me, and out of love for me, and
out of thanks for everything I've done for you, don't do it
anymore. Don't do it anymore. Don't stay
in that open rebellion that I've saved you from. And I believe
with all my heart she did. And I don't believe that woman
went back to adultery. Festus told Paul, I'll hear your
defense. after your accusers come and
witness against you. And we're going to see next week
or whenever it is, the next chapter, the accusers lied against Paul.
They lied on him. Paul, being just a man, gave
his defense. But thank God, when my accusers,
Christ took my book, and God Almighty opened it up, and when
my accusers lied against him, He opened not His mouth. He didn't
say a word. He took all the accusation. He
paid all the penalty. And because of that, may God
give us a heart to respect Him and love Him and be thankful
to Him and obey Him and obey His Word. All right, let's all
stand together.