All right, let's turn back to
Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. With this message, I hope and
pray this is a blessing to us. It was a blessing to me. And
I feel like it has two parts. We have a first part and a second
part. And I'm going to call it course number one and course
number two for the meal this evening. So course number one. Here I hear in Acts chapter five,
the high priest and the Jews and the Sadducees, they had this
council. And this council put the apostles
in prison. But God sent an angel to him
and he opened the doors and he set him free. And that's what
God does for sinners. Sinners that he chooses to save.
He sends a messenger to him and he sets him free. That's what
he does every time. Verse 18 says, And they laid
their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison
But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors
and brought them forth and said, Go stand and speak in the temple
to the people all the words of this life. You go tell them how
great things the Lord has done for you. Okay, you've been set
free. Now you go tell them how great
things the Lord has done for you. All right, now the next
day after that this happened at midnight, the next day, The
council sent soldiers to go get the apostles and bring the apostles
before the council. They didn't know this angel came
at night. All right, so they sent soldiers
to go get the prisoners. Verse 22 says, but when the officers
came and found them not in the prison, they returned and told
saying, the prison truly found we shut with all safety and the
keepers standing without before the doors, but when we had opened,
we found no man within." There's nobody in there. The doors were
locked, the guards were outside, nobody was in there though. Well,
while they're telling them this, somebody comes to the council
and tells them, you know those guys that you put in prison?
They're over in the temple preaching right now. So verse 26 says,
Then went the captain with the officers and brought them without
violence, for they feared the people, lest they should have
been stoned. And when they had brought them,
they set them before the council, and the high priest asked them,
saying, Did not we straightly command you that you should not
teach in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon
us." Now the whole reason that the
apostles were hated by so many of the churches and the religious
organizations was because the apostles preached this name. That's the reason. They preached
this name. What name are they talking about? Look at verse 42, Acts chapter
5 verse 42. It says, and daily in the temple and in
every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."
These religious Pharisees, this council, they didn't like the
apostles preaching Jesus Christ. They didn't like the apostles
preaching what they called your doctrine. And they didn't like
the apostles preaching that they were sinners. Look at verse 28
again. Acts 5 verse 28. Did not we straightly
command you that you should not teach in this name? And behold,
you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring
this man's blood upon us. What is it to teach in this name? What is it to teach in this name?
What does that mean? How does a person preach in this
name? A man feels led to preach the
truth. How do you do that? How do you
do that? How do you preach in this name? If a man is going to preach Jesus
Christ, the true Jesus Christ, how do you do that? He has to preach the doctrine
of Christ. That's the answer. The doctrine. He has to preach his doctrine.
There are two kinds of doctrine in this world. Two kinds of doctrines. And when the Lord opened this
up to me, this was very relieving to me. Very relieving. Okay,
as soon as a man stands up and he starts talking doctrine, you
know what everybody does? There's two kinds of doctrines
in this world. Man's doctrine and God's doctrine. Man's doctrine
and God's doctrine. Everybody, every place thinks
they have their own doctrine. There's two kinds of doctrine,
man's doctrine and God's doctrine. People think that they need a
college degree to talk doctrine. You know, we're going to get
together. We got a bunch of men. We're going to get together and
we're going to discuss systematic theology. We're going to talk about bibliology. You ever heard of that? Study of the Bible. You know how many ologies there
are? You have any idea? In just a minute, I'm going to
tell you something about angels. There's one called angelology, the study
of angels. We're going to all get together
and we're going to discuss some doctrine. People think that you
have to have a college degree to talk about doctrine. You don't. You don't. Do you know what the
word doctrine means? I looked it up in the concordance. I looked it up in Webster's Dictionary. I looked it up everywhere I could
look it up. And when you get to the heart of it, do you know
what the word doctrine means? Words. That's it. So simple. Just so simple. It means words. That's it. We can quote any verse of Scripture
in this Bible and be teaching the doctrine of Christ. You know
that? This is what our Lord said in
Deuteronomy 32. He said, My doctrine shall drop
as the rain. My speech shall distill as the
dew. Words. The words of Christ. There is only one doctrine. The scripture calls it the doctrine
of Christ. The word of Christ. The words
of Christ. Every time that the word doctrine
is plural in this Word of God. Doctrines. Every single time
it's referring to man's false teaching. The doctrines of the
Pharisees and their false words. That's what it's talking about,
the doctrines. Men talk about the doctrines of grace. You've
heard that term, the doctrines of grace? I don't really have
a problem with that term. I understand what they're saying.
They're talking about the five points of Calvinism. They're
talking about the three R's of salvation. But here's the fact of the matter.
When we lose the meaning and the heart of every bit of that,
all that stuff, when we lose the meaning and the heart of
that, And when we leave the simplicity of the words of Christ, when we leave the simplicity
of the words of Christ, Paul told Timothy, preach systematic
theology. That's not what he said. Preach
the word, Timothy. Preach these words. If a man will preach these words,
and if sinners will hear these words, and if they will understand
these words, they will understand Calvinism whether they know it
or not. If God opens their eyes and causes
them to understand these words, They'll understand Calvinism
whether or not they even know who John Calvin is. You know
that? If a man will preach these words
and just stick to these words, he will be preaching the three
R's. He will be preaching the three
R's. Now, does everybody in here know what the three R's are? Some little head scratching. There was a little boy that grew
up in a grace church, and he learned about the three R's in
Sunday school. And he went to regular school, and the teacher
asked all the kids, anybody know what the three R's are? The teacher
was looking for reading, writing, and arithmetic. The little boy
raised his hand and said, ruined by the fall, redeemed by the
blood, regenerated by the spirit. The teacher said, what? That's
what the three R's are. Ruined by the fall. Do you hear
that and see that in God's Word as we go page by page through
just the words of Christ? You see that, that man is totally,
totally ruined, ruined, ruined, ruined. Don't you see that on
every page? Don't you hear it on every page?
Ruined. Ruined. The second one is redeemed
by the blood. Don't you hear that? in the words
of Christ and see that in the words of Christ? That God has
said there's only one thing that can pay the debt of sin and it's
the blood of Christ. It's not my works. It's the blood
of Christ. That's it. What can wash away
my sins? Zero, but the blood of Christ. That's it. The third one is regenerated
by the Spirit. You know, Adam was alive. Adam
died, and all died in Adam. Regenerated by the Spirit. That
it's God's Holy Spirit that comes to a sinner, and calls a sinner,
and gives life to that sinner, and brings that sinner back to
God. If God ever calls a sinner to
understand These words. That sinner is going to understand
the three R's. He'll understand that, whether he's ever heard
that term or not. When I ask you that, half of
you went, hmm. Everybody has seen that already.
They already know what the three R's are. Now just listen to this. Don't turn. This is a very, very
familiar scripture. Just listen to it and see if
you hear the three R's in this, okay? wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
you are saved, and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in
the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Did you hear the
three R's in that? I did. Ruined, ruined, ruined,
but God. You've been attached to the death
of Christ. You've been plunged in the blood
of Christ. And because of that, you're going
to get to sit together with Him in heavenly places. Everything I just told you was
the doctrine of Christ, the words of Christ. That's all I just
said was the words of Christ. I didn't come up with my own
opinion on what we just read in Ephesians 2. I just quoted
the words of Christ. That's it. Our doctrine is not
our opinion. What do you guys preach and believe
down there? Well, we don't have an opinion. We just don't have
an opinion. You know that. Our doctrine is
not our opinion. It's not our doctrine versus
your doctrine. Our opinion versus your opinion.
We just preach the words of Christ himself. That's all we do. What
do you all believe down there? Every word that proceeds out
of the mouth of God, that's our doctrine. If a man is going to
preach Jesus Christ, and if he's going to preach in this name,
he has to preach his doctrine. He has to preach his words. Now,
what are his words? Because we have a whole book
of them. We have a whole book of them. I'm going to give you
a summary. Here's a summary. If a man is
going to preach Jesus Christ, he must preach His blood be upon
us. All right, now look at verse
28 in Acts chapter 5. Did not we straightly command
you that you should not teach in this name? And behold, you
have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring
this man's blood upon us. You got that right. That's the
whole intent in two ways. Every soul on this earth has
his blood on their hands. Every soul. Look at chapter 2
verse 23. Acts chapter 2 verse 23. It says,
Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain."
Wicked hands. His blood is on our hands. Go
over to Matthew 27. Matthew 27 verse 24 says, When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water
and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent
of the blood of this just person. See ye to it. No, he is not. Man tries to say that. Man wants
to believe that. He is not. Verse 25 says, Then
answered all the people and said, His blood be on us. and on our
children. Crucify Him. Crucify Him. That's the truth of the matter.
His blood is on the hands of us and it's on the hands of our
children. His blood is on the hands of
my children. My sin is what killed Him. Murder. But Christ came. But God Christ
came so that His blood may be on us. So that His blood may cover us
head to toe. Christ came so that His blood
might cover the blood that was already there on my hands. There
is a fountain and it's filled with blood. It's drawn straight
from God's veins. And every sinner that is plunged
beneath that flood, totally, completely covered, is going
to lose all his guilty stains. Every single one. His blood be
on us. That's what it is to preach Jesus
Christ. That's what it is to preach this
name. That's the heart and the soul
of the gospel. When people talk about the gospel,
the heart and soul is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. When we come here to hear the
teaching of this name, it is food to our soul. You know
that? His doctrine, these words, they
are food to my soul. They really are. Food to our
soul. We come here for a spiritual
meal. Who Christ is and what He's done is the meat and potatoes
of this gospel. Who Christ is and what He's done. It's what fills us. It's what
sustains us. It's what nourishes us. It's
savory. It's delicious. Not long ago
we had a meal, and it was meat and potatoes. And I still think
about how good that meal was. Meat and potatoes can be so good
you don't even want the dessert. I'll just take more of this,
thank you. But for all those who have entered
into this name, now that was course number one, we have a
course number two, okay? For all those who believe on
the Christ of this Word, for all those who do rest in His
words, we have His words and we rest in them and we're satisfied
by them. Here's something sweet to go
with that, okay? Here's something sweet to go
with that. This is something that I looked at a
few weeks ago and I just didn't bring it out. Last week something
else was laid on my heart. This week this is it. I want
us to see this because it was such a great comfort to me. Okay,
this is such a great, great comfort to me. It's amazing, but this
is true. Alright, this is true. What sparked this was I read
the whole chapter. I read the whole chapter waiting
on them to ask them something, waiting on the Pharisees to ask
the apostles something. And it struck me that it is not
recorded in Acts chapter 5 at all that this council ever asked
the apostles, how did you get out of that jail cell? That would have been my first
question for them. I kept waiting on that. That would have been my first
question. How on this earth did you get out of that jail cell?
Go back over to Acts chapter 5. Verse 18 says, They laid their
hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison, But
the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought
them forth." Now that angel is a lowercase a. God sent an angel to help them.
He sent an angel to help them. Angels are mysterious. But our
God has talked about them. He has literally told us about
them from Genesis to Revelation. They are all through the Word.
All through His Word. And He has done that for our
comfort. He's done that for our comfort.
You know that? No matter what comes your way, He says, I'm protecting you.
I have stationed soldiers around you. I believe this with every
fiber of my being." I want to show you that in his doctrine,
okay? In his word. We're going to turn
to a few places. Go with me to Matthew chapter
4. Now, this is when our Lord was tempted
by Satan. Matthew chapter 4 verse 11 says, Then the devil leaveth him, and
behold, angels came and ministered unto him. What does that mean? What did they do? I'm not sure. But is that not a glorious fact?
in his time of true need, God sent angels to him to minister
to him. Alright, now go to Luke 22. Our Lord in the garden, verse
42, saying, Father, if thou be willing,
remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him. Because he was a man, a man just
like us. just like us. God sent an angel
to him strengthening him. How did the angel do that? I'm
not sure. But do you believe the angel
did it? Yes I do. If God sent him to strengthen
him, yes I do. It's beautiful is what it is. It's loving is what it is. When he truly needed it, God
sent ministering spirits to him. Now turn with me over to Hebrews
1. Hebrews 1 verse 13 says, But to which of the angels said
he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool? Are they not all, he's talking
about angels, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth
to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Who are the heirs of salvation?
If we're in Christ, that's you and me. He's talking about you
and me. God said the sole purpose of
His angels is to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation. That's the whole purpose of them.
All right, now go to Luke chapter 1. Luke 1 verse 26, And in the sixth month the angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth. God's angels come to this earth. They come to this earth, to particular
cities. I cannot help but think about
one city in particular that God would be so gracious as to send
ministering spirits. There's a particular city I want
you to go to. We have tons of verses in the
Old Testament where God sent His angels. We have tons of verses
in the New Testament where God sent His angels, and He's the
same yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn't change how He operates
at all. Hebrews 13, 2 says, Be not forgetful
to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels
unaware. What does that mean? Not sure,
but it makes me want to entertain strangers. All right, now look at Luke 1
verse 19. And the angel answering said
unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and am
sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these glad tidings. I stand in the presence of my
God waiting for his orders. That's what he's saying. I love thinking of our Lord's
order. I love thinking of his ranks,
of his infantry. Don't you love that? Christ is
the high king of heaven. He is the captain of the host. He does whatever he wills with
the armies of heaven. Rows and rows and legions and
legions. One legion is, in the dictionary,
says 6,000 infantry with a contingency of cavalry. When he said, Peter,
put away your sword. Don't you think that I couldn't
call twelve legions of angels right now? Don't you think with
the word, my father wouldn't sin? Seventy-two thousand, go.
Is that not comforting? Seventy-two thousand. One man,
go. Turn with me to Matthew 18. Matthew 18 verse 10 says, Take
heed that you despise not one of these little ones, For I say
unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face
of my Father which is in heaven. Christ said, don't despise one
of my little ones. You know, we're persecuted for
the truth's sake and there's trouble. He said, don't despise
one of my little ones. The angel that God has stationed
with them, is always beholding the face of my Father, always
waiting for the next word, the next command. Danger is coming,
what should I do? What do you want me to do? Shield
Him and defend Him. If we could only see the provisions
and the protection. You know how we're so afraid
of the pestilence by day and the terror by night? Really? If we could only see
the provisions and the protection that God has provided for his
children. If I had the money, I'd hire
the CIA to walk around school with my kids. I really would. If we only could see that, we
would never worry about one more thing. Am I going to have enough? If God could open our eyes to
all that He has prepared for us, am I going to be okay if
we could only open our eyes to see all the protection that He's
provided for us? We'd never worry about one more
thing. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Here's the last
one. Go to 2 Kings chapter 6. 2 Kings 6, the king of Syria wanted
to kill Elisha, God's man, God's prophet, Elisha. 2 Kings 6, verse
13, And the king of Syria said, Go and spy where he is, that
I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying,
Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses
and chariots and a great host, and they came by night and compassed
the city about. And when the servant of the man
of God," that's Elijah's, I mean Elisha's servant, his helper,
when he was risen early and gone forth, he went outside his house,
behold, and host compassed the city both with horses and chariots,
And his servant said unto Elisha, Alas, my master, how shall we
do? And he answered, fear not. For they that be with us are
more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord,
I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Is that not wonderful? Fear not. Fear not. The Lord opened his
eyes. If you belong to Jesus Christ,
if you belong to this name, not that wimpy Jesus that everybody's
preaching, I'm talking about this name, the God-man, King
of Heaven, owner and creator of all. If you belong to that
Jesus Christ, you are safe. You're a safe individual. You're
forgiven, you're redeemed, you're safe. Are you saying that if we're
in the blood of Christ, we should expect God to do miraculous things
for us? Yes, I am. You just won't see
it. It's because of our flesh. It's
so weak. Our eyes, they're so blind, aren't they? We ought
to see God's hand in it. Our ears, they're just so deaf.
We're just like Elisha's servants. But if God would open our eyes,
by faith, through His doctrine, through His Word, if God would
open our eyes, and sometimes we do see, there are things that
happen and we really do say, God did that, that had to be
of God. That's the only way that could have gone that way. That's
the only way anything can go anyway, is if it's of God. But
whether we see it or not, be not dismayed, whate'er be tied,
God will take care of you. The whole host of heaven and
earth has been given for the protection of his people, his
children. All right, let's stand together.