Acts chapter 14 now. Go to Acts
chapter 14. The whole book of Acts is a story
of the apostles and others like Stephen. Stephen and Philip were
deacons. And boy, did the Lord use them. But these are the stories of
men of God sent with the message of God sent by Christ, he said,
he's the one that sent them, to preach the gospel. That's
what they were sent to do. That's what our Lord said in
Mark 16. He says to his disciples, go
into all the world and preach the gospel. That's what men called
of God do. Men sent of God to preach the
gospel to every creature all over the world. And he said,
he that believeth the gospel, the truth, and is baptized, that's
the confession, shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. So these were men of God sent
by God to do one thing, preach the gospel. And this whole book
is about men like Paul and Barnabas and others going around to preach
the gospel. And it's stories of how they
preached the gospel and the Lord saved people. One way. That's
all they did. Because the gospel, Paul wrote,
is the power of God and salvation. We're going to see that that's
how you know the men of God. That's how you know the gospel
of God. That's how you know the people that God chose. One way. And it says in verse 1, they
came to Iconium, Acts 14, and they went both together into
the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake. What did they speak?
They always spoke one thing, the word of His grace. You see
that. And it says they spake, and a
great multitude of the Jews and the Greeks believed. The unbelieving
Jews stirred up the Gentiles, made their minds evil-affected
against the brethren. There's always opposition to
the truth. This is one way you know it's
the truth. It's God's gospel. We say these things over and
over again. And this whole book of Acts is the same. They're
preaching the gospel and they ran into opposition everywhere.
Principally from the Jews. That's people that claim to know
God. that they didn't know the living
and true God. They didn't. They didn't believe
Christ. They really didn't. But verse 3 says, Long time therefore
they abode, speaking boldly in the Lord. That is the power of
the Lord. And they gave testimony unto
the word of His grace. What did they do? They preached.
What did they preach? Grace. Every time, everywhere. The gospel of God's grace. Grace,
not law. Grace, not works. Over and over
again, they kept saying, no man, by the works of the law, no man
is justified. No. But by the work of one man,
Jesus Christ. How many times have you heard
it said? Grace means the gift of God. It means a gift bestowed, not acquired. A gift bestowed. Grace is the act of God, the
work of God, the work of God in choosing the people, the work
of Christ on Calvary's tree to save those people, to put away
their sins by the sacrifice of himself. It's the work of the
Holy Spirit in taking this gospel of Christ crucified and operating
upon the dead hearts, the blind eyes, the deaf ears of sinners. It's God's work. And it's grace. It's a gift. It's an act of God. It's not an offer of God. Grace
is not an offer of God that preachers want to accept. That is not the
grace of God. That's another gospel. Nobody has ever been saved by
a man standing up, asking them anything. The gospel, like in
Acts 2 at Pentecost and right here, is declaring Who God is,
who Christ is, what God has done, what Christ has done, just declaring
it and standing back and watch God call out His elect people,
save them by His grace. It's not an offer, it's an act. It's not an invite, it's a command. It's a divine sovereign call.
You know it so. I'm looking on the faces of those,
many of them. who were chosen by God is evident
because he called you by what? His grace. His gospel. This gospel. This is a very exclusive gospel.
It excludes all others. The truth is very dogmatic. It's
very narrow. It's very, very narrow. Yes,
it is. Our Lord's the one that said
that. Straight is the gate and narrow is the way. So he said in verse 2, well,
chapter 13, he separated Paul and Barnabas. Verse 2, it said,
separate me, Paul, and Barnabas to the work that I've called
them. That's what he said. Didn't Paul say in Romans 1,
I'm separated unto the gospel of God? This is what separates
the true preachers from the false, brethren, and you need to know.
Because there are many out there. Our Lord said that. Many false
prophets have gone out in the world. And you'll know them by
their fruit. You'll know them by their manners.
You'll know them by their methods. You'll know them by their message.
Their tricks and all that. And you'll know the men of God
sent by God by their manners and methods. What's that? Preach the gospel. That's it.
That's it. They themselves, Paul said, I
preach unto you that which I also heard, the gospel, the power
of God. They know it because they've
heard it, they've felt it, they've been quickened by the same grace
of God. They know what the power of God
is, and so that's what they do. The word of God. Paul said, I'm
separated unto the gospel of God. He said, it's concerning
God's Son. This is Romans 1. concerning
God's Son. Same message, John in it. Romans
1, Acts 2, Acts 14. You turn anywhere, it's the same
message. It's Christ. Chapter 13, go back there real
quick and look at verse 16. Paul, these Jews didn't know
what they were doing when they asked him to stand up and preach.
You got anything to say? Boy, after that was over, they
wished they hadn't asked. It was a fellow down here at
Henry Fork Church of the Brethren, so-called. Asked me to come down
there and preach years ago. You remember? Many of you went
there. And they had their band and they had all this stuff going
on. The preacher, the so-called pastor, didn't even have a Bible.
Didn't even carry a Bible. And they asked me and we preached. John 17. Oh, my. Is that not
the truth? John 17. I remember one woman
in particular, her name was Valerie. She was gripped and hurt. She
did not like what she was hearing. Moral, religious, church-going. She hated the truth. I just preached
what Christ said in John 7. That's all I did. She hated it. The truth is always hated. Our
Lord said that. He said, they're going to hate
you. There's no offense. Paul said, he said, I don't preach
with persuasible words of man's wisdom or eloquent words. The
offense of the cross would be diminished, be gone. The truth
offends man. It offends his worth. He thinks
he's worth something. That's what false religion says.
You're worth something. God needs. No, he doesn't. You
need God. And here's what you need to do.
No, you don't need to do nothing. Sit still. Stand still. Hear
this. God needs to do something. Won't you accept? That's not
the Bible. That's not the gospel. That big
sign by Billy Graham, it's everywhere, all over the South. It says,
what you do here and now with Christ determines where you will
spend eternity. That's what it says. What you
do with Christ will determine where you spend eternity. That
is a lie. What Christ does with us determines
where we're going to spend eternity. It couldn't be further from the
truth. What you do with Christ, what
did you do with Christ? What did men do with Christ?
Crucified Him. What do they do with this sovereign
Christ now? We will not have this gospel. We will not have
this one, this God reigning and ruling over us, choosing whom
He will. We will not have it. Yes, you will. Because that's
the way it is. And if He purposes, if He's chosen
to save you, you will bow to His will. You will renounce your
works, your will, your false religion, your false profession.
Everything you ever said or did, you'll renounce it as nothing.
Your righteousness, your morality, your works are filthy rags. And you will declare before everybody
in a pool Christ crucified is my only hope of heaven. If I
get there, it's by one man. If he leaves me to myself, I'm
gone. Not me accepting him. I believe,
I hope, I pray that he accepted me. That's the gospel. And that's what these men preached.
Paul cried with a loud voice. Settle down, preachers. Paul
cried with a loud voice. He told Isaiah, lift up your
voice with strength. Behold your God. He's not trying
to be God. He is your God. Maybe. Let's hope. Let's pray that He'll
reveal Himself to you. If He doesn't, you're a goner.
That's what we preach to this world and this generation. That's
what you heard, isn't it? That's the God you heard. This
is the Christ you heard. He said, My sheep hear My voice.
They know me, that I'm Lord. They didn't make me Lord. I made
them my sheep. They didn't decide anything.
He decided this long before the world began. In a purpose, a
covenant, made by God. Nobody around but God. determined,
ordered in all things, and sure and given to Jesus Christ by
surety of an everlasting covenant, to come here and fulfill that
law for His people, go to the Calvary tree, be made a curse
under that law, bear the sins of all of God's people, buried,
rose again, sit down at the right hand of God, waiting for this
thing to be brought to a close in all of God's people, brought
into the kingdom because of one man. Jesus Christ. Anything more than that, less
than that, is not the gospel. Nobody's saved but by this message. This is what the apostles preach. This is what true preachers preach.
And it's not a doctrine. It's a sovereign God. It's a
person. A sovereign Christ. A dead sinner. A depraved, worthless, no good
human being that doesn't deserve a chance to be saved. That's
saved by sovereign, pure, free grace. And God gets all the glory. He will not share His glory with
the soul winner, with the sinner who accepted Him, who made His
decision. Oh no, no, no. He will not share
His glory with another. And those who have been saved
by Him, give Him all the glory. From the choosing, to the calling,
to the bringing, to the wooing, to the gift of repentance, faith,
to the keeping of their souls all the days of their life. They
know if they're going to be saved, God's going to have to do it
all. And they know that Christ is all. I'm looking into the faces of
some. I perceive the faith that's able
to heal. That's our message. Can I get to it? I am preaching the message. Let
me turn over. I've got some notes here. I was
hoping I wouldn't have to use them. Same message over and over
again. Brethren, look at our text, verse
chapter 14. It says, The unbelieving Jews
stirred up the Gentiles, verse 2, and made their minds evil-affected.
But Paul and Barnabas abode there, speaking boldly. They weren't
afraid of men. The Lord told them, Don't be afraid of men. And they gave testimony to one
thing, the word of God's grace. It's a gift. Grace means a gift.
A gift bestowed, not offered. Gift. Bestowed. Given. In verse
4, the multitude of the sea was divided. The gospel divides people. The truth divides people. Our
Lord said there, I've come to set a man at variance to divide. It does. You know it. Everybody in here
has some family that does not believe this gospel. And it divides
you, doesn't it? Flesh and blood, joints and marrow.
Yes, it does. Fathers and children, husbands
and wives. Doesn't it? Our Lord said that. So this is a proof that you believe
the gospel. There's no offense in this modern
message. God loves you. Jesus died for
you. He wants you and needs you. Church can't be church without
you. Where's the offense in that? Who's offended by that? Everybody
loves a God like that. When I get ready, I'll accept
it. That's not the Gothic Bible. There's no offense in that. So
they were divided in verse 5 when there was an assault made. They
were assaulted. Let's get rid of these fellows. They wanted
to get rid of Christ. And despitefully use them. And
they were aware of it. And they fled to Lystra and Derby, the
cities of Lyconia and regions around the map. And there, what
did they do when they came there? What were they doing there? One
thing, there they preached the gospel. Again? That's what they are. Preachers. What do preachers
preach? The gospel. What I just preached. Right? Is it clear? That's where they went. And there,
verse 8, sat a certain man. Some of you are laughing with
me. A certain man. Do you know how many times in
Scripture it talks about certain men and certain women? Do you
know how? Let me read you. Who was it? Carrie, was it you
who sent me something that said, it's true, all you need is a
Bible and a dictionary. I want you to listen to this,
you're going to rejoice. Listen carefully. The dictionary meaning
of certain. Free from doubt. Sure. Destined to be. Sure to happen. Inevitable. Bound to come to pass. Listen! Established as sure, indisputable,
unquestionable, fixed! The English Dictionary says,
fixed! Agreed upon. Somebody agreed
on that. Settled! Now that's what the
English Dictionary says. Certain. Settled. Brothers and
sisters. Oh, the Gospel is fixed. unalterable,
the purpose of God, the purchase of Christ, the application of
the Spirit is fixed, settled, sure to happen, free from doubt,
predestined by God, agreed on by God, established, it's certain. In chapter 13, you know, there's
lots of, you know, you look at these Many of these new perversions
of scripture, they've changed this, verse 48. In fact, when
I look at a version, a new version of the Bible, so-called, I go
straight to this verse. Acts 13, 48. Look at it. When
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word
of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Why did they believe? They were
ordained to believe. When? Before the world began. That's what God's Word says. At the end of Acts chapter 2
it says, The Lord added to the church such as should be saved,
should be fixed, destined, predestined, chosen by God. So there sat a certain man, at
least a certain man. This, brothers and sisters, this
is how you know the gospel. This is how you know the truth.
This is how the gospel finds people. See, God has people. He brings them to hear the gospel.
And they're going to hear the gospel. The gospel is the power
unto God and salvation. Well, these men came to Lystra,
this town. Blessed was Lystra. It was so
blessed to have this gospel. They didn't go to every single
town. They went to Lystra. And this town is a blessed place.
Kingsport's a blessed place. Madisonville's a blessed place.
Spring Lake's a blessed place. Lexington, Illinois, Houston,
all blessed places to hear the truth. Why was the gospel there? God has an elect people there,
a certain people. Predestined people. Given to
Christ in a covenant of grace before the world began. It's
fixed. Their salvation's fixed. Aren't you glad? Our hearts are
broken. There's only one that can fix
it. Oh, so there he sat. Wasn't he
lucky? He just happened to be there
that day. He made his choice that day. He decided to come.
No, he didn't. How did he get here? God brought
him here. Like that man. You know the story of, well,
go back to Acts 3. In fact, on the exact same side
of the page, in the exact location, Acts chapter 3. Look at this.
I'm giggling like a schoolgirl is, because it's so wonderful.
Acts 3, and this is the exact same location on the page. Peter and John went up together
into the temple. What are they going to do? Preach. Verse 2. You have it? Acts 3, verse 2.
A certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried. Somebody brought him there. Who?
God did. Who brought you here? There you
see it. A long time you didn't sit there.
Did you? You sat in a false place. You
sat in the gutter. You sat on the barstool. You
sat here. You sat there. You sat with sinners.
You sat everywhere. You sat everywhere but here.
And there you sit. Where the gospel is. Not a false
gospel. That's not luck or chance. It's not the will of man. It's
the will of God. It's the grace of God. Oh, it's
the grace of God, the greatest gift that God has ever given
you, for you to sit here and hear this gospel. I'm telling
you, it's the only way you're going to get to glory. And when
you get to glory, you're going to be glorifying Him in glory
all your days for having you hear and believe the gospel.
And there he sat. What's wrong with him? He's impotent. That means powerless, impotent,
no power, none in his feet. This is the gospel I just preached
to you, and this is the people that the gospel finds. This is
the people the gospel saves. This is the power of God. It's
for the powerless. No power, no ability whatsoever
in his feet. He had feet, but they were useless.
He had hands, but they were useless. He had a mind, but it was useless.
He had a heart, but it was broken. Useless. He had a conscience,
but it's seared with a hot iron. This is the people that God finds. All false religion. Let me say
it one more time, because I'm telling you, from the prophets
all the way through to the apostles, all the way to the end, and go
through the revelation, it keeps bringing us up, bringing all
these things up. Keeps exposing the false religion
of the day, the false prophet, and declaring the truth all the
way. I'm not going to apologize for doing that. There was one
woman that attended here for a long time and got angry at
me for always bringing up false religion. You can't read the
Bible without seeing it. I'm not going to quit doing it.
A faithful watchman cries wolf. Our Lord did. He kept saying,
I'm going to send you a sheep among wolves. And he dealt with
them everywhere he went. Scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites.
He called them all hypocrites. You're acting a game. You're
playing a part. Christ is not your righteousness. Christ is
not your only hope. He's pretending. False religion. Every denomination,
Presbyterian, Southern Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, Catholic,
you name it, Jehovah's Witnesses, all say this. God has no hands
but your hands. No feet but your feet. Can't
do anything unless you let Him. You must take the first step.
If you take the first step, God will meet you halfway. This man
was impotent on his feet. He can't take one step. Man can't
take one step to get to God. Not one. He's impotent. Our Lord said, with man it's
impossible. Didn't He say that? Christ said
that. We don't ask sinners to do anything. The false gospel does that. Won't
you come? Take the first step and God will
meet you halfway. This man couldn't take a step. John 5, our Lord
said this, no man can come unto me, John said. He said, you will
not come unto me that you might have life. Jesus Christ said
that. People all around him. He said, you will not come unto
me that you might have life. But Lord, they're all around
you. They didn't come to me. They didn't come to me for mercy
and for grace and for salvation and for righteousness. They came
to get their bellies filled. They came to see the miracle,
see signs and wonder, and get feeling good. They joined the
crowd, you know, loving Jesus. They didn't come to me as their
only hope of salvation. They're not sinners needing saving.
They're just religious. He said no man will. He said no man can except what? He said it twice in John 6. Except
the Father which has sent me, draw them. They won't come. They can't come. They're impotent. Is that clear? Look at it. He's empty on his feet. When
did this come to him? From his mother's womb. He was
born that way. My brother said, you know it's
similar. Why are you preaching this way?
Well, I don't know of any other way to preach. I'm sorry. You've
heard me all this year. I don't know anything else to
preach. But you love it. You want me to shout it from
the rooftop, don't you? This is what you heard. This
is what God did to you. This is assurance of salvation,
that God gives you assurance of salvation, because you know,
I was blind. I was deaf. I was dumb. I was lame. I didn't want to
come hear the gospel. I would not come to hear the
gospel. Why are you here to hear the gospel? God did it. That's
the only way you can explain it. There's a preacher who never
asked me to do anything. He never asked me to accept Jesus.
What happened? I heard that He is Lord. I heard
that He is Lord on the throne. Not that I made Him Lord. That
God made Him Lord. Why do you repent? Because the
goodness of God led me to do that. Why do you believe? Because
it's not in myself. It's a power of God. I can't
help but believe. You see who gets all the glory
here? We don't recognize anybody at any time for doing anything.
We give God all the recognition, all the glory and honor of God.
And we do one thing. This is how you know the true
church and the true preacher and the true people of God. They
do one thing. And sit back and you watch God
work. This is how you know the false
religion, the trickery and the bribery and the bring people
in by dinners and pageants and plays and having fun and flesh! That which is flesh is flesh.
The flesh profiteth nothing. The work of God is by His Spirit.
How's that? One thing, preaching the gospel.
This is how you know. That's how you know. You spot him a mile away. Some
bathroom notes. How do you know? Well, the preacher
of the gospel does one thing. He preaches the gospel. Number
one, the gospel is all about God's sovereignty and Christ's
sovereignty, the work of God, the work of Christ on the cross,
the work of the Holy Spirit. Man's not even in the equation.
God doesn't ask him anything. He tells him. The elect repent
by the goodness of God, renounce their false religion. They renounce
it. I didn't know God. I knew of
Jesus, but there wasn't a right to Christ. My brother, Roland
Browning, they were in false religion. They had a church full
of people, so-called church. Freewheel Baptist Church in Dingus,
West Virginia. Hooping and hollering, everybody
loved Jesus. They didn't know Jesus Christ. And God sent a
preacher named Henry Mahan. Tore that place up. Tore them
up. And Roland Browning was there.
And he said, when he heard that, it tore them all up. About half
of them, it divided. About half of them left. And
Roland said, now I found out that everything we were doing
was wrong. Everything. He said, I didn't know what was
right, but I knew what we were doing was wrong. That's kind
of what I heard you say, wasn't it? This ain't the gospel. What
did I have to hear? A man preaching the truth. They
had to come in contact with the God of the Bible. He had to reveal
himself to them. How does he do it? One way, preaching
the gospel. The false, the false has a God
who wants to and wishes and hopes and pleads and asks, bribes people
to come, uses trickery and all of this. How did you get here?
Well, they were having a church dinner and I came and I heard,
that's not the way God brings his people to church. No sir. God says, I will call them from
the north, the south, the east, and will bring my children. Bring
those to me. Bring them and sit them in that
pew. And there he sat. And there you
sit by the sovereign grace of God. And if you go to a place, how
do you know the difference? If you go to a place and it looks
like a stage where a performance is being held, that's exactly
what it is. If it looks like a stage where
a play or a performance is, that's what's going on there. If it
sounds like a concert, that's what it is. If it sounds like a rock concert,
it's rock and roll music. If it sounds like bluegrass,
that's exactly what it is. If it looks and sounds like a
pep rally or a ball game where everybody's cheering for their
favorite player named Jesus, That's what it is. They're playing
a game. But if it looks like a place
where there's a pulpit up there and they're doing one thing.
Preaching. And nothing else. No props. No this and that. No flesh. It looks like you hear people
worshiping God as God. A man with a Bible open preaching
the Christ of Scripture who is in all the Scripture. Every time. And there's no flesh. No flesh! That's the people of God. That's the people of God. That's
how you know. Do you believe that? Is it not as
clear as the nose on your face? Yes, it is. Very sad. He never
had walked. Is there any doubt this man can't
come? He can't walk. He was born that
way. Never had, he's not walking now,
and he won't walk unless God does something for him. How did
he do it? A preacher, declaring a message. The same heard Paul speak. Faith cometh by hearing. and hearing by the word of God,
meaning God gives the word, open his ears. In the fullness of
time, when one of God's elect is sitting in that Aren't you
glad it's this way? That's our only hope. Brother
Stephen, that's our only hope for our lost children and grandchildren
and spouses of John. It's our only hope that God will
give the word. Lord, you say the word. That's
what the centurion said. Lord, you just say the word.
It's going to happen. It's fixed. Say the word. We're asking him. We're not asking Bill. We're
asking him. And this is what, if you don't
believe on the elect to be saved, why preach? Because God said
to. Because God said this is the power of God. But you've
got to ask. No, you don't. We keep asking
God. We keep asking God. If it's His
will, they will. But this is what He uses. You
know, if it seems contradictory and confusing, it's not confusing. It's only confusing to the confused. You know what? It's only confusing
to the confused. It's very clear to them to understand
it. Proverbs 8 and 9. Certain and sure. Well, look
at verse 9. The same heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding
Him, looking at Him. And it says, perceiving he had
faith to be healed. And boy, false religion sure
does blow this, like they do everything, twist and corrupt
the Word of God to their own destruction and destruction of
people. See, he had faith. He just needed to exercise it. Acts, I mean, Romans 8 and 20,
it's not of yourselves. Ephesians 2 and 8, it's not of
yourselves. It's a gift of God. Not of him that willeth or hath
willeth, but of God that showeth mercy. It's God that works within
us, both the will and the do of His good pleasure. Right?
That's what Scripture said. But what he saw was God was working
on this young man. That's what he saw. He called
it grace before grace. That God is opening this young
man's eyes. He heard Paul speak. You see what came forth? He heard.
He heard her. So how are they going to hear
without a preacher? How are they going to believe
in him when they're not heard? How are they going to hear without
a preacher? So we heard Paul speak, and Paul
saw, the Lord's working on this young man. And I look around, and I'm looking
for somebody the Lord's working on. And I look, and every now
and then I fix my eyes on you, don't I? I preach to you, don't
I, Helen, all the time. I perceive faith. I perceive
the Lord has done something. I love preaching to you. I love preaching to most of you. I really do. I perceive that
the Lord has done something. Like Moses when he came down
from the mountain. It's clear he'd been in the presence
of God. His first face shown. And the gospel is just that,
isn't it? It's a savor of life to life. You respond to life,
the life-giving sound, Christ our life, good news, if it's
good news to you, smile, that's good news to you. I love preaching to you, over
and over. I perceive that God's done something for you, Mary
Park. He did it, didn't he, Mary? He did it all. I cannot look into the face of
anybody and infallibly know if God's done a work. The apostles
could. They had that they were prophets. They could see the
future before the Bible was written. They did. They could look in
the face. I hope and I pray and I see some signs and I hope.
But there's some I clearly see. Same ones keep coming. And I'm
preaching the same message after all these years. Every service,
the same message, and you're just smiling. Isn't that great? Like you never heard before.
That's why it's good news to you. God's done something for
you. You see, that's what you're doing now. If you love this now,
you're going to be in glory. That's what they're doing in
glory. Oh, my. The grace of God is wonderful. The power of God. But he said,
notice this, this is not an ask, it's not a request, it's not
an invitation, he said with a loud voice, stand upright on that
thing. Stand upright! Stand up! And he did. He did. I can say this, you know,
I have no power like these apostles, but I do have the same gospel
that they had. And I can say this based upon
the authority of God's Word. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. You confess Christ, He'll confess
you. Repent, believe, save yourselves from this untoward generation.
What must we do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. You have God's Word on you. And
I fully expect, well I've seen it, I fully expect to see it
again. Somebody's going to leap and say, here's water. Well,
it doesn't hinder me. Nothing hinders you. In fact,
it's a command. Okay. Let John come and lead.