Acts 28. Tonight we finish up the book
of Acts, the Lord willing. It has been such a blessing to
me in my own personal studies. I hope that you have profited
from it as well. We went through it pretty quickly,
and I'm just absolutely certain that many things we left off,
but as I've said before, I don't want to get bogged down anywhere,
but go through and see the meaning, the sense of things. Well, I
think that we have seen the Lord's hand in forming the early church
here throughout the book of Acts. We've seen the Lord's marvelous
providence in sustaining his people. keeping his people by
his power in the face of such... We talk about our brother who's
going through such trial. Well, his life is probably not
in danger. The law won't allow that, but
the early churches was. And the Lord in his marvelous
providence sustained them and watched over them and kept them
by his grace, kept his creatures until he was done with them.
As is the case for the Apostle Paul, we're going to see how
much Paul went through, yet the Lord brought him through it all.
Terrible trials he went through. No man went through what the
Apostle Paul did, with the exception of our Lord himself. I think we've seen the Lord's
marvelous hand in forming the early Church. That's been an
amazement to me in studying this, and the types of Christ throughout
this book. The Church is his body, so you
have to see him in it, don't you? His body, the forming of
his body. And I hope tonight's message
will be no exception. All right, let's look at it.
Acts 28, we left off. with verse 15 where it says some fellows
came down to hear Paul from the taverns. And Paul saw and he
thanked God and took great courage. And I thank God and take great
courage for some of you, all of you, but especially some of
you when I see what great depths he has brought you from in here
to sit you clothed in your right mind, worshiping Christ. marvelous grace of our loving
Lord. When he reached down, we sing that song, don't we, John?
It sounds pretty, and it is, but it's so true. When he reached
down, way down, how my heart does rejoice since I've heard
his sweet voice. And in the tempest to him I now
flee. Okay, and I take courage, you encourage me. Verse 16, and
I'm going to spiritualize through this. You don't mind, do you?
There are sixteen. When we came to Rome, the centurion
delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul
was suffered to dwell by himself with the soldier that kept him.
That, to me, is a picture of us, God's discriminating grace,
his distinguishing grace. Paul was afforded special privileges. That's election, isn't it? He
was afforded special favors and keeping power. He was discriminated
for, not against. And that's us, isn't it? Where
the world is turned over to themselves and turned over to Satan, we
have been turned over to the Lord Jesus Christ for safekeeping
and given liberty. to come and go, come in and out
and find pasture. And that's the thing. And I thought,
I mentioned to you our brother who's in the church there, if
it is a church. And I thought, you know, I told
you how that I am amazed that and thankful
that the Lord in his distinguishing grace didn't choose to put me
there. as opposed to him here. But the role could very easily
be reversed, couldn't it? This could be that place, you
all gnashing your teeth at me, or me, a false preacher, and
all of us here worshiping a false god. It just very easily, couldn't
it? All you have to do is just go
just a half a mile down the road and you'll find it. On every
side of us, right? Like the children of Israel out
in the wilderness, they had the tabernacle of God, the way to
worship. God was with them, that little band of Jews, no good,
worthless Jews, in the midst of the wilderness and all about
them. Who made them to differ? Who makes us to differ? Right? It's distinguishing grace. And
God gives the world over to a reprobate mind, and he sets you here clothed
with the mind of Christ. That's distinguishing, discriminating
grace, isn't it? God discriminates. You know what? God discriminates. And I'm glad
he does. That's his prerogative, and I'm
sure glad he does. God in his good providence has
brought us to Christ to be kept by his power, while others are
less to themselves and turned over to the authorities. turned over, left to themselves.
Then Paul rehearses his story again. Again! He's going to have to tell it
again. Surely he's going to throw his hand up and say, I've said
I'm tired of this. No. Look at it. Verse 17 through
20, we'll read it all. It came to pass that after three
days Paul called the chief of the Jews together. Paul sets
them out this time. He calls them together, and when
they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren,
now though I have committed nothing against the people or customs
of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner. from Jerusalem into the hands
of the Romans, who, when they had examined me, would have let
me go, because there was no cause of death in me." Well, that sounds
like Christ, doesn't it? That could be, that is said of
Christ, isn't it? No cause. They found nothing
in him. He was delivered to the Romans by the Jews. against it,
verse 19, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar, not that
I had ought to accuse my nation of." Christ said, I didn't come
to condemn the world, but to serve it. Verse 20, For this
cause, therefore, have I called for you." I've called for you,
to see you and to speak with you. Because, that for the hope
of Israel, I am bound with this chain." That's a picture of Christ,
isn't it? He is our hope, the hope of spiritual
Israel. He was bound for us as a sheep,
but for her shearers is dumb. He was bound. He opened not his
mouth. He suffered All of those accusations. Consider him who endures such
contradiction of centers against himself. For us, as I've said
before, the reason Christ, for a time, Terry, he defended
himself, didn't he? Say, which of you convinces me
of seeing? I haven't done anything amiss. As the righteous one, as our representative, nobody
could, if they could find anything wrong with him, He's not our
representative, right? And for a time, as our representative,
as our righteous one, the Holy One of God, He said, somebody
find something against me. They couldn't. They couldn't.
But, at that time when He was delivered to Pilate, and He was
delivered over to the Romans, He became, right? He began to
become our substitute, our sin offering, right? He was being
made sin, made a sinner by God. And so the Scripture says he
opened not his mouth. When they accused him of all
manner of things, he didn't say anything. Why? Because if they
accuse us, we can't say anything, can we? We're guilty. So Christ
as our substitute opened not his mouth. He had become you.
He had become you. so that you could stand before
God and say, I've done nothing amiss in Christ. You're found
righteous. He's made a sinner. That's substitution
in a very short definition. But right here, something I noticed
here, what made—what I thought of here was how that Paul called
these people this time. He called them. He called them, and this made
me think of how God has called us and brought us to hear the
gospel, chosen us to hear the gospel, to hear the hope of Israel. That's what Paul preached, didn't
he? He didn't preach the law, he preached the hope of Israel.
There's no hope in the law. And he called them to come and
hear this gospel. And that's what God, God has
chosen us, hasn't he? He's chosen us. and called us
by his grace to come hear this gospel, even tonight, even tonight. Verse 21. Well, they came to
hear him, and they said unto him, verse 21, they said, Well,
we knew you received letters out of Judea concerning thee,
neither any of the brethren that came showed or spoke any harm
of thee. In other words, they said, We
haven't heard anything about you before. This is the first
we've heard of this. And this made me think of how,
when we came and first heard the gospel, probably you more
so than me, because I was raised under the sound of the truth.
But some of you who went under false religion for a while, when
you first came to hear the gospel, you said, I've never heard anything
like this before. Right? Nancy, that's what you
told me. One day when you first heard
the gospel, you thought, well, I don't know. I've never heard
that before. That's right. You had ears, but
you couldn't hear. It was being preached all around
you, but you hadn't been brought to hear it yet. You hadn't been
called yet by his great ascension. But one day you were called to
come hear it. And he opened your ears. put
his fingers in your ears and stopped it up to the clamor and
the religion of this world, and you heard his voice. He said,
You're not going to hear any more of that stuff anymore. You're
going to hear from me. You're going to see my glory. He unstopped
your blind eye to see his glory. And when you first heard, you
said, I've never heard the likes of this. No. And nobody will
until they come where the gospel is. Never heard anything like
this before. Like the disciples said of Christ,
we've never seen it on this manner. Verse 22. But they were kind
of interested. They said, well, we desire, and
we desire to hear this. We've never heard anything like
this, but we want to hear it again. I've told you so many
times about Mendee's father. And I'll tell it again. When
he first came, you know, to hear the gospel, he said, well, I'll
go back a little way. When he was going to a place
where the gospel was not being preached, he knew he wasn't hearing
something. He didn't know what, he wasn't
hearing, but he knew what he was hearing was not what he needed
to hear. Understand that? Sure he did. One day he told that preacher—he
used the term very loosely—he said, I don't know what I'm not
hearing, but you're not preaching it, and I need to hear it. And
he said, I want to go someplace where I can hear something. And
all he could think to say to me was, I've got to hear some
hellfire and damnation or something. The preacher, you know, like
a hireling that he was, and this man was the biggest giver in
the church. The preacher said, just practically begged him,
didn't he? He cried. He actually cried. He shed tears
and said, Oh, please don't. He said, Come back next Sunday
and I'll have something for you. Poor, poor. What a maggot. He came back and he said he did
better. He might have said hell or something,
you know. At any rate, it went back to
where it was, and finally Eddie said, that's it. I'm not hearing
what I need to be hearing, which I don't know what it is that
I need to be hearing. He said, I'm going separately. And a man
who was hearing something, Ed Stephens, who was a contractor,
and Eddie's, her daddy was a contractor also. talk to him about the gospel.
And he said, you come hear what I'm hearing. Come hear what I'm
hearing. So he did. He showed up. And
he's a kind of a gruff, her dad is a gruff man. Boy, I saw this
look when we were dating. And a kind of a gruff man, you
know, and he'd sit there for a while like this. And my dad
said that one day finally, after preaching, He still didn't know
what he needed to be hearing. He knew what he was hearing was
maybe what he needed to hear. What he told somebody was he
knew he was getting it from the Bible at least. You know most
places don't even open the Bible. Well, one Sunday my pastor said that
he saw it. He saw it when he heard. because
his countenance changed from this to... And he said he met him back at
the door, and my pastor said, well, come back here. He said,
I'll be back tonight, and Wednesday night, and next Sunday. He said,
I see what you're saying. I heard it. Before I didn't know
what I needed to hear, I knew I wasn't hearing it. But now
I hear it when I need to hear it. Middle city. Middle city. And these people said the same
thing, and we've never heard it like this before, but they
desired to hear. They desired to hear. And any
man who desires to hear, he'll hear. He'll hear. Like Christ
said to that man, he said, what would you have me do? Lord, that
I might be healed. I will. be thou healed." What
would you have me do? He says to you, Lord, I would
hear the gospel and believe and know Christ. I will. Hear it. Hear it. Everybody that seeks
him will find him and be found with him, because he sought them. He brought you to hear it. Verse
22, it says, they desired to hear of thee what thou thinkest. And I hear this, and you do too,
you know, inquisitive questions. You get all sorts of questions,
but really you don't want people to hear what you think. John,
when you talk to people, you feel so helpless, don't you,
to try to convey the gospel to people. Why do you feel so helpless,
huh? What you want, Deb, is for them to come hear it. Don't you
hear it preached? Please, God, are the foolishest
of preachers to say that. Everybody in here, that's when
you first heard it, preaching it. And you feel so helpless,
and you want them to come here. You don't want them to know what
you think, or to merely believe doctrine. You want them to see
His glory, see Christ's glory, and hear the way. But they say,
well, tell me what you think. Verse 22, "'As concerning the
saint,' they said, and we know that everywhere it is spoken
against.'" Everywhere it is spoken against. Well, that's what Peter said.
He said that scoffers and mockers will come on that last day. Everywhere it is spoken against,
Peter said, and Paul says it, too. Everywhere this way that we preach
and that we believe, this church believes, everywhere it is spoken
against, isn't it? Everywhere. Well, it must be true, then.
Right? It must be true. Whatever the
majority of people don't believe, must be the truth. We're closest
to it, Violet. You know, it's always been that
way. The truth has always been of a minority. Right? Well, Noah, you think you're
right and all of us—how could—Noah, how could you and your family
be right and everybody—nobody out here believes that. No, it's
going to rain, Noah. You think you're the only preacher?
Well, Noah said, I didn't say that, but I'm telling you, you
better get in the ark. That you're not going to be saved
unless you're in this ark. That's all I'm saying, Noah said.
The only way you're going to be saved is getting in this ark. Ah, we don't believe that. If
you don't believe this, Noah said, you're going to drown.
If you don't believe what I'm saying, I don't care what the
other preachers, if you don't believe what I'm preaching, you're
going to be accursed. Well, you think you're right
and everybody else is wrong? Go on, Noah. Truth's always in the minority,
isn't it? Lot? You think you're right and everybody,
these millions of people inside of me are wrong? Huh? Get with it, Lot. Get with it. This is modern society. We don't
live like that anymore. Judgment's coming, Lot said.
Oh, go on, Lot. And Lot went on. We don't have
that place now. Truth is in the minority, always. Eleven, twelve apostles against
the world, right? Twelve apostles against the world.
Truth's always in the minority. It's always in the minority,
at least with men. And everywhere this way is evil
spoken, is sex. They call this a cult, don't
they? Has your family ever called this
a cult? Some of you. Yes, they have.
One lady said to the lady she goes to church with, that she
works with, called me a Jim Jones. And I told her one day, I called
her on the phone, and I said, about that lady down that's come
down to church one Sunday, we're going to serve Kool-Aid. Tell
her we're serving Kool-Aid. But this is a cult to a lot of
people, isn't it? Why? Because we dare to believe
the truth. Seriously. It astounds us, doesn't it? It astounds us. We can't—why? Why would they call us violent?
Why would they call us? Your son, who preached the gospel
so clearly and so long, and yet men hated him, and now me and
other men that preach the gospel, just trying to say what God's
Word said. Huh? Why do men? Why won't they
receive it? Because Christ said they wouldn't. He said they wouldn't. He said,
you'll be hated. He said, not many wise, mighty,
noble are called. He's hid these things. Our generation's
so wise and so educated, so modern, so scientific, so hell-bound. And there's just a few places here
and there. Huh? Just a few. Little arcs. Little
arcs. Little cities of refuge. And
this way, every way, this way is evil spoken against. The way
they call heresy. Will you stand up and admit it,
the way they call heresy, what the world calls a cult? Will
you stand up and admit it and say, that's what I believe? Huh,
Ellen? The way they call heresy, the
doctrine of devils, you know, election by the Father, redemption
by the Son, sanctification by the Spirit, salvation of the
Lord, just merely what the scriptures say. Will you stand up and say,
well, if you call that doctrine of the devil, I call it doctrine
of Christ. If you call that heresy, that's
what I believe. And so did my fathers. So did
the prophets before me. So did everybody that was a true
believer. They believed God. The way they
call heresy, that's the way we believe. The way of God saving
people, his way, without man's help. They call that heresy. It's evil spoken against. He was spoken against, seen a
sign that said, Let God be God. No, ain't nobody going to do
that. Are they? They're not going to do it. They
don't want. They will not have His one reign
over them. Huh? The only way they're going
to have it is if God says, You will have it. You will be made
willing for me to be God. I mean, He is anyway. The only
way we're going to believe that anybody is for God to say, I
will, that you believe it, and you shall. That's the only way
for him to overcome this will, this Adamic will. The way of
God saving people his way, by himself, without man's help. Everywhere is evil spoken against
it. The way of God choosing men,
and not men choosing God. Can you see that? It's just logical,
isn't it? When God said, I will not share
my glory with another. Stephen, it's just logical. Which
one gives God the most glory? Huh? God choosing men, or men
choosing God? Huh? Who gets the glory there?
Is it just logical to you? God said, I will not share my
glory. I won't share it. Nobody else
is going to share the glory. I'm going to do all of this for
my glory. Well, which gives God the most
glory? God doing the choosing or men? If God does the choosing, he
gets the glory then. Nobody can say, not—everybody's
going to have to say, not under us, not under us. We didn't choose—it's
not that we didn't choose thee for Lord, that could not be.
If God has not chosen else would never have chosen me. Right? If man didn't choose him, he
gets to boast about it. Well, I am decided. I let Jesus
into my heart. I made my decision. I walked
the aisle. I was baptized. I dedicated. I consecrated. I, I, I, I. Right? That's not the way. God says, I'm not going to share
my glory with another eye. I am. Not you. The way of God accepting Christ's
works only and not ours. Everywhere that's evil spoken
against. Right? Christ's works only for our acceptance. Everywhere that's evil spoken
against except here and some other places. Sinners don't balk
at that, do they? Sinners don't bark at that. God
accepting what Christ did instead of us, because we know all our
works, Henry, are filthy rags, don't we? Stinks of high heaven. God can see right through them.
The evil motive that's behind them. We want Him to accept Christ's
work, don't we? Don't look on us. Like the people
said to Moses, don't let God look at us. Huh? That's what we say with God now. Don't let God look at us. You
go to God for us. Right? You be our representative. You be our substitute. You be
our mediator. You be our advocate. You be our
go-between. You be our engagement. You be
our inspirer. You be us, and we'll be you. The ray of blood making peace.
The way of revelation instead of education. No, we'll sure
take that, won't we, Henry? Ain't none of us got much education.
I just proved it when I said I ain't. The way of mercy. The way of mercy instead of merits.
Oh, I like that, don't you? Oh, but everywhere it's evil
spoken of. Not by sinners. Not by guilty
sinners, it's not. It's praise to have had—praise
God for his mercy and yours for his mercy. It's of the Lord's
mercies that we're not concerned. The way of grace as opposed to
our words. Boy, I just like the sound of
the word grace. We say grace. When we sit down
at our table, we say grace. And it's a good thing that the
heart be established with grace. God's way instead of man's way.
Everywhere it is spoken again. Well, it must be true. It must
be true. But these purple people, these
purple people, these people, these people heard it again.
These people heard it again by God's grace, right? They didn't
know what they'd heard the first time, but they said, we'd like
to hear it again, and they heard it again. All right, that's over
with. Forget I said that. They heard it again. Didn't they? And though they were skeptical
and unbelieving, and you were too, man. Nancy, I bring you
up again, because that's what you were. You were skeptical.
You said, I don't know about this. Didn't you? I don't know
about this. If that's true or not, I'm going
to look it up. Oh, please do. Didn't you? Isn't that what you
said? Well, I'm just going to study
that. Good. Good. Go home and search the
Scriptures and see if these things are subtle. Well, it says, and that's what
you did, in verse 23, and it says, "...when they had appointed
him a day." Oh, no. No. God had appointed this day
before the world began. One day, Nancy, you said, well,
I'll give him another hearing. I'll come back. I'll give him
another chance. I'll hear this man again. I'll
appoint him a day to come hear him. I'll grace the place with
my presence." Maybe God will be gracious to you with his presence.
When they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his
lodging. The only reason they came was
because Paul called them, right? Really, that's the only reason
we come. That's the only reason we come, because God Almighty
appoints a day, a day of salvation, when we are to hear the gospel.
And look at what they heard. They came unto his lodging, and
he expounded unto them and testified unto them the kingdom of God. Which is? Who is? Kingdom. Kingdom. Break it down. The king's dominion. the reign of the king, the reigning
king. The kingdom of God, Christ said,
is among you. That's what he said to those
Pharisees. You're looking for a kingdom. You're looking for
an earthly kingdom. He says the kingdom of God is
a person. I'm the king. Do you call me
king? For so I am. the kingdom. They all preached
Christ, persuading them, again, persuading them concerning Jesus,
God's Son. A child unto us, a child is born,
a son is given. The humanity of Christ and the
deity of Christ, both out of the law of Moses and out of the
prophets, from morning till evening. He preached. That sure preached
a long time, didn't it? The only one that can come before
God for us, not a man, not a mere man, but God's man, the great
high priest. You know, we have a priest, and
he's not sitting in wrong. Not that old wrinkled-up, old
bald-headed, shriveled-up fellow with arthritis who can't even
get around. He's sitting at the right hand of the majesty on
high with all power. And God always hears him. God
never hears that fell over and wrong. Never. His prayers don't
bounce off of Michelangelo's painting. I mean, don't get past
that. But our great high priest is
always there. We have a great high priest who has passed into
the heavens, as Rupert said. Paul preached that from the Old
Testament, the great high priest. Now, he was the only one that
could offer up the the Lamb, the blood. And he preaches how
that's Christ, and he preaches how that Christ was not only
the high priest, he was the Lamb, the Lamb of God, that whole Lamb
of God which taketh away, not the blood of bulls and goats
that can't take away sin, but this man's blood after he offered
one sacrifice forever, sat down at the right hand of God, successful
high priest and God's Lamb. which taketh away the sin of
the world. He preached that Christ is not only the Lamb, he's the
altar. He's the altar. Christ is not only the altar,
but Christ is the tabernacle. The tabernacle of God among men. The tabernacle. That Christ is
not only the tabernacle, but he's the showbread. He's the
manna. He's the showbread. Christ is
not only that, he's the mercy seat. The place where God communion
with man. The only place that God would
come down to, the kind of glory of God, was seen at the mercy.
And the only place we see the mercy and the glory of God is
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul preached that. He's
the mercy. He preached Christ to pass over.
When God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. When
God sees Christ, you in Christ, he'll pass over you. Judgment
will pass over you. He preached Christ as a scapegoat
who was led out into the wilderness, that our sins were on the head
of a fit man, one that we grab hold of the
horn, not only the altar but the scapegoat, and confess our
sins upon it. He takes them out and puts them
away behind God's back. As far as the East is from the
West, he removes our sins from us, escapes them into wilderness.
He preached Christ as a serpent on a pole to whom we look by
faith. We'll be saved. That serpent
was a type of sin, a type of Christ being made sin for us,
how that we're being bitten by sin. But if we look to Christ
who was made sin for us, O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory? It stung itself to death when
it bit Christ. And Paul preached Christ as the
water out of the rock that followed them wherever they went and nourished
them in the wilderness. He preached Christ as the manna.
He preached Christ as the rod that bedded. He preached Christ
from morning till evening. It'd take that long to cover
some of those, wouldn't it? He preached Christ crucified.
That's what he preached. Then look at verse 24, and it
says, the things which were spoken."
What things? They believed Christ, that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Some believed, and
by God's grace, you one day believed and were made willing, given
grace to believe, given the gift of faith. You were given eyes
to see Christ, ears to hear his voice, a heart to beat with love
to him. You saw his glory, you saw his
beauty, you saw your own need of him. Some believes by the
grace of God. That's the only thing that made
some of them believe. Only thing. Wasn't it? By the grace of God, they believe. Right? Faith is a gift of God,
not of your sheriff. But sadly, it says some didn't. Some believe not. And that's
the difference. Grace makes the difference. And do you know though
the difference lies in the grace of God? Look at it here. Read
on down. Though the difference lies totally
in the grace of God that God Almighty caused some of them
to believe and the rest of them did not believe, who did not
receive the love of the truth, the rest of them, they got the
blame. You see, that's how God can be just. They get the blame. God's going to get the credit,
Terry, if you believe. You're going to get the blame
if you don't. God's sovereign, and you are
responsible. Right? Explain that. I can't. That's just true. That's just
true. And Paul quoted from Isaiah 6
when he spoke to these unbelievers, and he said this to them, verse
25 following, and when they agreed not among themselves, When they
agreed not among themselves, they departed. After Paul said
this, he spoke one more word to them, and they sure didn't
agree with him. He said, Well, spake the Holy
Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying unto this
people, saying, Hearing you shall hear. This is Isaiah 6. Hearing
you shall hear and shall not understand. seeing you shall
see and not perceive. For the heart of this people
is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, their eyes
have they closed. Lest they should see with their
ears, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,
and should be converted, and I should heal them." So they
got the blame. They got the blame, having heard
the gospel. and rejected it. And like I said, I can't explain
that. Just know it's so. And anybody who believes it is
because God makes them believe it. He gives them the gift of
faith. If anybody doesn't, they're going to get the blame for not
believing. And God is not unjust. God is not fair. Well, somebody
says, Heather, somebody says, well, who can? This is what the
people in Romans 9 said. They said, well, if we're not
going to believe, except God is willing, then who can resist
His will? You know, how are we going to
get the blame if it's got to be God's will? How is He going
to give us the blame for it if we can't do it unless it's His
will? That's what the people said in Romans 9. You know what
Paul answered them? He just said, who are you to
say anything against God? Just don't even talk about it.
That's what God's Word says. Who art thou to reply against
God? Shall the potter say to the clay, you know, you can't
do this? Yeah, they can. But, and I've
said this before, and I'll hear it. If people want to, if you,
if people think that the gospel ought to be offered to man, God has been more than fair in
that respect, hasn't he? Huh? Have they not heard? Hasn't
this gospel gone throughout the world? Yea, verily the scripture
says they've all heard it. There's not a place under the
stars that has not heard this gospel. That's what the scripture
says regarding that. And it's been rejected by most.
So God has been more than fair, hasn't he? God is just. He has
been more than fair, and he has been received by some, by God's
grace, by you, by God's grace. So verse 28, and then we'll finish
this up. So Paul said to these fellows,
"'Be it known therefore unto you, unbelievers, that the salvation
of God is sent unto the dogs.'" It's gone to the dogs. They'll
hear it. That's what worship means. You
and I love that, don't we, John? That meaning of the word worship.
When that leper came down from the mountain, it says that he
fell at Christ's feet and worshiped him. And if you look the word
up, it means like a dog licking his master's hand. That's the
best definition of worship you could come up with. Dogs worship
their masters, don't they? They're always at their feet,
and they're not too high just to lick his feet. lick his hand,
huh? Well, salvation goes to the dogs.
That's where all dogs go to heaven. All dogs. All who claim to be
dogs, like that Syro-Phoenician woman. They just want a few crumbs
of mercy, they'll get it. But he's so merciful, John, he
gives them a whole loaf of bread and meat. He prepares a whole
table for them. He tells the people to hit the
dust and tells the dogs to sit up at the table. And they'll hear it. The sheep
will hear his voice. They'll kiss the sun lest he
be angry. They'll kiss his feet. Verse
29, and when he said this, boy, that was just too much for these
Jews. It was just too much, and they
departed. And they discuss this thing among
themselves. Well, that's the best way I know
of to forget about the gospel. You know, that's the best way
I know for a man to just dismiss the gospel. Go find another man
that doesn't believe it and y'all discuss it. Man will come in and hear the
gospel, and he'll hear you preaching it from the Word of God. He'll
turn and see it for himself from the Word of God, and he'll go
back to his preacher and say, well, this fellow said this,
and no, it doesn't. The preacher will get him to the side and
say, now, that's not what that means. Let's discuss this thing.
Let's reason this thing out. And finally, the fellow will
say, well, I didn't think it meant that, but I don't know.
And he's just explained it away. Right? I was—a friend of mine
and I were walking in the park down in—up in Kentucky one time,
walking around the park together, rejoicing as we were talking
about the gospel. And lo and behold, we almost
ran into the back of this fellow's former pastor. This fellow, a
friend of mine—he was, at the time, a member of the church
there at Ashland—came out of a Methodist organization there
in town. at a young Methodist preacher.
And this fellow said to me, he said, that's my former preacher.
And we went up to him and this fellow started firing questions
at him. He said, you know, I've been
going down to 13th Street. And the fellow said, well, I
wondered where you've been. He said, you know, I've been
hearing some things that I hadn't heard before. He said, you know,
and I've been reading the scriptures and seeing some things I hadn't
seen before. And he said, what do you think about this? Romans,
and we started, he started asking him questions, just quoting scripture
to the fellow. And we were walking along like
this, you know. and the pace quickened. That teller, I'm serious,
he picked up the pace till finally he was just about jogging. I'm serious. Finally we got around
to where his car was, and he hopped in the car and burned
him. You know, and he got through with him, and I was on the other
side, and I said, what about this one? We're fighting it in from
both sides now. Preacher, he must know something.
He didn't know nothing. He's standing in court one verse. He didn't know any of it. He's
a master of divinity, a doctor, a d.d., I mean. He didn't know
anything about the Scriptures. And we were asking him, what
do you think about this Scripture? He's reading from it. And he
jumped in his car and slammed the door in, and he was firing
off, and my friend said, what about it? And he said, well,
you come by the study sometime without this fella, and we'll
discuss it. And he did, this fella did. He
went by, he was, you know, an inquisitive young man, and he
went by in Australia, and he said to the fella, all he did
was grab John Wesley down from his books, you know, from his
library. Grabbed John Wesley and said,
well, this is what Mr. Wesley said. Who cares? Huh? We kept asking, this is what
God says. What about that? That's what
happens. to a lot of people, you know,
when they hear the gospel, and they go to some fella, and they
start reasoning among themselves. I tell you where we need to go.
We need to go to God, when he says, Come now to me, let us
reason together. Let's reason this thing out from
the Scriptures. Huh? John Davis, that's how when you
came to acknowledge the truth, when you just said, I'm not going
to listen to a man, I'm going to hear what God says. And God
revealed it to you. God revealed it. And you, many
of you, it's the same thing. And salvation is sent to you.
And it says Paul, verse 30, dwelt two whole years in his own hired
house. He got special privileges in
his own hired house and received all that came in unto him. He received them all. You know, they, Paul was sent
to these, the gospel came to them. They came to, and they
came to hear the gospel. It's a marvelous picture too,
isn't it? Paul, in God's good promise,
was sent to Rome. And we have all those epistles,
those prison epistles, when he was in Rome. Two years. The two
years that Paul was in Rome in prison, and we have his prison
epistles. And God's providence is marvelous,
huh? Isn't that marvelous? His discomfort and at least trial,
it was a trial, don't you know it was a trial for him to be
in prison like that? But what grace God's poured out upon us
through that, huh? That's like Christ too, isn't
it? And Paul was sent to them and the gospel came to them and
they were called to come hear it and they came and they heard
it. And the gospel was sent to us, and we came and we heard
it. And Paul, here's what he preached for two years. Here's
what he preached. Verse 31. Same old thing. Two years. Well, take another
text, Paul. No, it's no matter what text
I take. Like the old saying, all roads
lead to Rome. Well, all texts lead to Christ.
Paul said, to preach the same things to you as to me is not
grievous, but it's salvation to you. Preaching the kingdom
of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus
Christ with all confidence. With all confidence. No man forbidding
him. Why? Because God said, you're going
to preach the gospel to all that be at Rome. God determined that. He had a people. When they were
going to hear it, and as long as God was with him, who could
be against him? Not even the old Roman government. It didn't
matter. It didn't matter. And Paul really believed, he
said, for me to live is Christ, to preach the gospel. To die
is gain. He wrote to Timothy, he said,
I have a desire to depart and be with the Lord, which is far
better. And he said, I've fought a good
fight by God's grace. I've kept the faith, and now
I'm ready to depart. And he did. Shortly thereafter,
he had his head cut off. The greatest preacher of the
gospel was Christlike man, a gift of God to this planet. will silence him. Oh, no. He that be in bed yet speaketh. Right? We'll come back in seven
years, and we'll start over again through Acts. All right. Let's stay in and be dismissed
in prayer. Brother John Davis, would you
close and dismiss us in prayer, please?