It's been a long time. It's been
a long time. It's been a long time. It's been
a long time. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. It's been
a long time. It's been a long time. It's been
a long time. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. You. You. Our scripture reading today will
be found in First Peter, chapter four. First Peter, chapter four. This portion of scripture is
very appropriate. To our study this morning. To
pay close attention as we. Read this portion. First, Peter four one for as
much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh. Arm yourselves likewise. but same mine, for he that hath
suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin, that he should no longer
live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men,
but to the will of God." The time past of our life may have
sufficed us to rock the will of the Gentiles when we walked
in lasciviousness. lusts, excess of wine, revelings,
banquetings, and abominable idolatries. Now, that's religion. And wherein they, these people
that are still in them, these things, wherein they think it
strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot
that you used to, and they'll speak evil of you. who shall give account to him
that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For for this cause
was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, or have
died, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh,
but live according to God in the Spirit. But the end of all
things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober. Watch
unto prayer, and above all things have fervent charity or love
among yourselves, for charity or love shall cover the multitude
of sins. Use hospitality one to another
without grudging, as every man hath received the gift, even
so minister. the same one to another as good
stewards of the manifold grace of God. The gift here is the
grace of God, or the gospel. Now, if any man speak, or woman
witnessing or speaking to someone, let them speak as the oracles
of God, the authority of God. If any man minister Let him do
it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Beloved, now think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you. as
though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice inasmuch
as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory
shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy."
If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. for the spirit of glory and of
God that resteth upon you. On their part, unbelievers, he
is evil spoken of, but on your part, he's glorified. But let
none of you suffer as a murderer, as a thief, or as an evildoer,
as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet, if any man suffer
as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify
God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment
must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin at us,
oh, what shall the end be of them that obey not, believe not
the gospel of God? If the righteous scarcely be
saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner or unbeliever
appear. Wherefore, let them that suffer
according to the will of God, according to His purpose, commit
the keeping of their souls to Him in this well-doing, as unto
a faithful Creator. May God bless this portion to
His glory in our understanding. you. You. You. Now, I invite your attention
to the book of Acts, chapter 22. The book wherein is recorded the
acts of the apostles and the church. We'll first look at something
here in chapter 22. Now, this message will be in the form of a running account
of the life and the preaching of the Apostle Paul for a little
time here while he was in Jerusalem. This will be just a running account
of his life and his preaching. Now, our text in chapter twenty-four tells us about Paul standing
before a Roman governor named Felix, and he preaches before
this man as he did before other kings. It was prophesied by the
Lord himself that they would preach before governors and kings. But to fully appreciate what
we're going to hear from the Apostle Paul We need to be a
little bit familiar with the background leading up to his
preaching before this governor named Felix in a minute. Now,
two weeks had passed since the Apostle Paul was first apprehended
or arrested by an angry mob of Jewish leaders, religious leaders
and the people. And much had happened in the
course of two weeks. The Apostle Paul was a bold and
very courageous preacher of the gospel. He did not mince words. The Apostle Paul did not try
to please men. be a man pleaser to tell people
what they wanted to hear. But like John the Baptist before
him, he told it like it was. He told the truth. And it seemed
that everywhere he went and everywhere he preached, there was an uproar
and a tumult and people grew angry and a mob seemed developed. Paul didn't want this, but that's
what happened. That's what happens when you
are bold to declare the truth. But everywhere Paul went, there
was an uproar. But a few people here and there
in the cities that he preached in, a few people believed what
he preached, and the Lord blessed them and established churches
in those places. But the majority of the people
despised what Paul preached, and they hated Paul for preaching
it. They despised what he preached,
and they hated him for preaching it. And this reminds me of what
our Lord Himself said he said if the world hate you. Marvel
not if the world hate you because you know it hated me before it
hated you and if they have persecuted me. Christ said they will persecute
you also if they have kept. My word the son of God if they
would keep that and believe what I say. then they'll keep yours
because a true servant of Christ is only trying to repeat what
Christ himself said and what this book actually says, not
give his opinion of the matter. But Christ said, you ought to
know that they're going to hate you. You need to know this, he
said in one place, because when it comes about, You'll know that
I warned you beforehand, and this thing won't take you by
surprise. And that's what we read over
in 1 Peter. Beloved, think it not strange concerning this fiery
trial, as so some strange thing did happen to you. No, Christ
promised it would come if you take a bold stand for the truth
of the gospel. Paul knew this. Now, nobody,
no one, No preacher of the gospel before or since has suffered
for the sake of his preaching like the Apostle Paul did. He
said, my imprisonment, my stripes, my beatings, my pains as shipwrecks
and this and that and the other far exceeds anyone before or
after me. And the place that Paul was going
to get his comfort from was in the promise that Christ said
it's going to happen to you. But be bold anyway. And Paul
knew that only a few people would believe. He knew that and that
the majority would despise it what he preached and hate him
for preaching it. OK. But Paul felt led to go to
the heart of all of this the seat of religion, Jerusalem. You remember, Christ said to
his disciples, he said, go in all the world, preach the gospel,
and then he gave this commandment, beginning at Jerusalem, you go
there first, after you rose from the grave, you know. Well, Paul,
being a faithful steward of the grace of God and a faithful apostle
that he was, he felt compelled, just like the other apostles,
to go and begin at Jerusalem. to go to Jerusalem, or at least
go there, and then on his way to Rome. Now, Paul wouldn't have
planned this thing to happen like it did, him being imprisoned,
incarcerated, and so forth, but thank God in his providence that
all of this happened, because we have many of the epistles
as a result of this persecution. John Bunyan later in life, you
know, was imprisoned for twelve years for preaching the gospel,
but thank God he was, because we've received countless blessings
from that man's pen as a result of his imprisonment. The same
was with the Apostle Paul here. And one day it happened. While
he was in Jerusalem, the Jewish religious leaders saw Paul in
the temple and with their mob, with their proselytes, the people,
These Jewish religious leaders laid hold on Paul. Paul was just
in there minding his own business. He wasn't even preaching at this
time. He was just worshiping. You remember the time he took
the vow and went in? He was just worshiping, and these
fellows saw him. They knew him, what he preached,
what he believed, and they came in and grabbed hold of him. Now,
these were the priests? the Pharisees, the doctors, the
Sanhedrin, and the people. Sunday go to meet and pray."
And they grabbed hold of the apostle Paul and would have killed
him right there had not some Roman soldiers come to his rescue. They took Paul outside of the
temple and began to beat him to a pulp. And the man was minding
his own business, worshiping God. the way that
the Lord led him to worship. And this Sunday crowd, or Saturday,
Sabbath crowd, came in, preachers and priests alike, and grabbed
ahold of him, took him out, and gave him a thrashing, and would
have beat him within an inch of his life. Well, the Roman
soldiers heard the commotion, saw this mob scene, and these
pack of wild dogs gathered around their We can pray, you know,
and they came running or riding up on their horses to dispel
this mob, and they saw Paul, and they thought Paul had done
something terrible. They didn't know him, and they
put him in chains. Now, he was minding his own business,
worshiping God in the temple. And these angry religious leaders
got him, beat him. Soldiers came, they saw him,
and he was already beaten to a pulp. And they chained him,
shackled him, manacled him, and took him off to the captain of
their guard. And the Jews, these religious
Jews, followed this crowd behind Paul. They followed, and they
came in to where Paul was standing before the captain. The captain
wanted to know what he'd done. And the Jewish leaders came in.
And they began hurling insults and accusations at Paul, and
another argument started right in the captain's hall there.
Another wild mob scene started, and they would have got a hold
of Paul again, and the captain got Paul and took him out of
there, up into the castle. You got the scene now? While he was alone with the captain
up there, the Roman captain, beaten to a pulp now, hurting,
in pain, he said, I'd like to speak to the people. Paul was a gracious man, my soul. He had the spirit of Christ,
didn't he, Henry? He was a Christlike man. And
though beaten to a bloody pulp, he said, I'd like to speak to
the people. And this is where we take up here in Acts 22, verse
1. So the guard, the captain of the guard, led him out onto
a balcony or something, a portico there, and stood him up before
the people there. And here he was, hurting, beaten. And he beckoned and spoke to
the people, beckoned with his hand. He was still a wild mob
going on. And Paul said, men, brothers,
fathers, our spiritual fathers, would you hear me? Oh, I'd like to have this spirit
here, you know, instead of getting mad and angry and beating people
over the head with the gospel. Wouldn't you like to have this
spirit? Harsh desire and prayer to God for Israel that said it
might be saved. And when they heard him speak
in the Hebrew tongue, they began to be silent, and he said, Now
I am a man, I verily am a man, which am a Jew, like you, born
in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia under Roman rule, but brought
up in this city, Jerusalem, at the feet of Gamaliel, the leading
teacher here of the Pharisees. And I taught according to the
perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and I was zealous
toward God, as you all are. I was right where you are, Paul
said. And when somebody would begin
to speak in the way that I had been speaking, he says, I persecuted
him, verse four, and I persecuted this way. Unto the death, and I even, I
was so zealous, he said, I went out and bound men and women,
even, to prison and brought them in because I was so zealous for
the law and, and the traditions received by the fathers. And then he went on to tell his
story, how about Christ had revealed himself to him. He said, I persecuted
this way, but I was just like you, but the Lord Jesus Christ
revealed himself to me. I used to be a religious Jew,
but now I know the true and sovereign God. Listen to me, brethren. Would you listen to me? Look
at verse 22. And they gave him audience unto
his word, and then, after he finished, they lifted up their
voices together and said, Away with such a fellow! From the
earth it is not fit that he should live. And another fight broke out,
and they would have gotten hold of him again, but the chief This
same captain got a hold of Paul again and took him back inside
or they would have ripped him life and limb apart. And the chief captain got him
in there and he wanted to torture him. He said, he's got to be
something. This man's got to have done something
more than that. I'll beat him just like they did Christ, Joe.
Pilate had him scourged. And so, this captain had him
beaten, or would have had him beaten, but he found out that
Paul was a Roman citizen. Now, he just couldn't beat a
Roman citizen without a trial. He could beat a Jew, but not
a Roman citizen. And Paul, he found out, was a
Roman citizen. Now, look down at verse 30. took him aside and kept him a
while and said, I'll hear more about this. I'll take you to
the governor and I'll let him listen to this case. And so the
next day, verse 30, on the morrow, because he would have known the
certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he took his shackles
and so forth off his band and commanded the chief priests and
all their council to appear. and brought Paul down and sent
him before this council again. So the chief priests and Pharisees
and Sadducees and all of these Sanhedrin and everybody that
was against Paul came down and they had this meeting. The captain
was trying to have a calm meeting here, okay? Stay with me now.
I'm building up a story here, all right? I'm telling you a
story. I told you I'm doing a running account here. Stay with me. Well, Paul, in this meeting,
spoke of the resurrection of Christ. Well, there were Pharisees
and there were Sadducees in this group. Paul might have relished
this. The Pharisees believed in the
resurrection, bodily resurrection. The Sadducees didn't. Paul began
speaking of the resurrection of Christ. And the Pharisees,
yeah, they kind of liked that. The Sadducees didn't. Well, they
got the fact. Right in this church that they
got in a fight. And there was another fight broke out. This
is what happens in religious... You got people that are religious
without Christ. They don't know God. They're
just religious. They'll get in a fight. Well,
they got in a big fight. Another fight broke out. And the captain
grabbed him again. They would have tore Paul apart
again. And he took him inside and he said, well, I'm going
to have to take him down to the governor. Settle this thing. To the governor. Now chapter 23, something happened
while Paul was in prison waiting to be taken down to the governor
to hear his case. Verse 11, now Paul, he must have
been, he must, man must have been in a sad shape here. He'd been beaten to pulp. He
couldn't even speak without a fight taking place. Everybody wanted
to kill him. Everybody was anybody. And the
next day, the next night following, verse 11, it says, The Lord stood
by him. There's a majority, isn't it?
The Lord. Just one man here. Stood by him
and said unto him, Be of good cheer, Paul. Boy, he needed to
hear that, didn't he? Nobody had a kind word to say
to him. Everybody wanted to beat him up just for telling the truth.
But the Lord said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have
testified of me in Jerusalem, you've also got to go be a witness
at Rome, too. Do you remember when Paul was
told to the ministry how that the man told him, or God told
him, Christ told him that you will suffer great things for
my sake? And it happened according to the Lord's promise. The next day, they took Paul
down to see this governor. And in the meantime, forty men,
forty Jews, made a vow. They shaved their heads and crossed
their heart, hoped to die, and said they weren't going to eat
anything until they killed this fellow, Paul. And they tried
to, and Paul's nephew told the captain, and they snuck him out
of there that night, snuck him I say, with 270 soldiers. 270 men on horses and on foot,
fully armed, had to get that man out of there for preaching
the truth. And they took him down to this
man named Felix. Now here's where our story really
begins, all right? Paul before Felix down in chapter
twenty four verse one. So they all came down and Felix
decided that he would wait on these Jews to come down and they'd
have a they'd have a court case. All right. They'd have a trial
of the apostle Paul. All right. Now there's the background.
Now verse one after five days and a night the high priest. Now this is the priest. The high
priest, the holy man of God, he descended with the elders.
Here they came. There's a big troop of religious
leaders, you know, in all their robes and garbs and hats and
this and that and the other. And here Paul was, poor fellow,
all beaten up, servant of God, but all beaten up. And they came
down and they had hired them an orator, you know, named Tertullus. We'll just call him old Turtle
for short here. Turtle Head. Probably a little bald-headed
fella. Turtle Head is what we'll call
him here. Boy, but he could talk good. They'd hired this fella
to accuse Paul, the lawyer, you know, about like F. Lee Bailey
or somebody. And Turtle Head here, verse 2, he stood before
Felix, there Paul was over his side, and all this Sanhedrin
and everybody around. I get rid of this fellow and
here old turtles that speaks of birth to and when he was called
for. Her list began to accuse him
say. That he was an orator now eloquent
man. And he began to speak and he
spoke he addressed himself to Felix the governor here the government
sitting up on his big. And here old turtle was in front
of him and he said seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness
and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy
providence." See, he was licking this fellow's boots. We accept
it always and in all places most noble feelings with all thankfulness. Can't you hear him? Can't you
see them? not with them. That I'd be not further tedious
on the day. I pray the that thou would hear
us of by clemency a few words. And I'm sure Felix thinking this
man been around was go on would you get on with it. So he continued. He says now,
and I'm sure he walked around, we have found, probably had his
hand on his side, we have found this man a pest. The Nazarenes. who also has gone
about to profane the temple, whom we took and would have judged
according to our law." Yeah, he'd have killed him on the spot. But the chief captain, Lysias,
came upon us and with great violence took him out away from us, out
of our hands. They were in the process of beating
him, Henry. And the captain saved his life.
Let this fellow continue. And Lysias commanded his accusers
to come unto thee. So here we are. And by examining
of whom thyself, you mayest take knowledge of all these things
whereof we accuse him. And the Jews are here, here,
here, here. All the Jews are here. Amen. This is right. Amen. A hearty amen to that. Well, then old Felix said, Paul, is there anything to say for
yourself? Now, Paul, he was a man of God. He didn't lick anybody's boots.
It didn't matter if his life was on the line. And he wasn't,
the old saying is, sucking up to this fellow at all. He wasn't
about to lick his boots. Verse ten, then Paul, after the
governor had beckoned unto him to speak, here's what Paul said.
Paul answered. He said, now, for as much as
I know you've been of many years a judge under this nation, you've
been around a while. You know what's going on. You
know these fellows, too. And he said, because you've been
around a while, I know that I can cheerfully, I'm going to answer
for myself. I know you'll listen to this
thing. may understand that there are
yet the twelve days you heard you know what all is going on
in the country here you know when I came here you know when
everybody even spit on the sidewalk. You know when I came here what
I've been doing all the time he said and I went up to Jerusalem
to worship and verse twelve and they didn't find me in the temple
disputing with any man like they say And they didn't see me raising
up the people or mob or anything, neither in the synagogue nor
in the city. And they can't prove a thing that they've said about
me. Now, Paul did defend himself, and there wasn't anything wrong
with that, because he'd done no wrong. He said, I've done nothing that
they say. They're accusing me falsely.
But I do have a confession to make.
Boy, I'm just sure he'd start getting bold now. I confess this
unto thee, and everybody that'll hear me, that after the way which they
call heresy, that's the way I worship, and I'm going to keep doing it." Now, his life was on the line
here. After the way which they call heresy, so worship I the
God of my Father. And I believe, I dare to believe
all things which are written in the law and the prophets,
all things. And I hope toward God, have hope
toward God and God only." Now, here's the moral of the
story. You don't have to be an outlaw to be hated by people,
on the contrary. If you're an outlaw, if you're
a, let's say you're a former drunk or an ex-con, well, they'll
put you on the platform. Right? If you're a former ex-con,
you know, that killed five people, a mass murderer, I would say,
that's Billy Graham would have you on his platform, on his program,
wouldn't it? to tell your little testimony,
but if you dare just to believe what God says and preach it, they're going to hate you. You're
going to be hated by all men. Dare just to believe the truth,
and they'll call you a heretic. A heretic. Dare to believe and
say this, like Paul, after the way they called heresy. That's
how I worship God. Dare to say, Terry, you dare,
just dare to say, God is God in all of his holy and sovereign
character. That he works, just dare to read
a quote of scripture, he works all things after the counsel
of his own will, and nobody can stay his hand or say unto him,
what doest thou? Just dare to say, no, it's not
like men say that God has no hands. Everything's in his hands. Just dare to say that. What God
says, that God is no respecter of persons, that God alone must
choose or nobody will be chosen to be saved. It's not our choice,
it's God's choice. Just dare to say that. Dare to
say God must call a man or he won't be calling on God. Paul
knew that, didn't he? Paul was on his way to kill some
people, zealous for his religion. He wasn't calling on Jesus. Thank
God the Lord Jesus Christ called on Paul, right? And Paul later
on found out, he said, I was just like you all, persecuting
this way, this message of sovereign grace. I didn't believe it either.
I thought there was a bunch of heretics, but he said, no, I
am one of them. If you'd told me that earlier,
he'd say, that'd been the last thing in my mind. If you'd told me
ten years earlier, I'd be one of these sovereign gracers, you
know. I've always said, no way, man. But now he says, after this
way they called heresy, that's the only way I can worship now.
Because, you see, this sovereign God's only God, you can worship.
You can't worship a God who tries and can't. Huh? You can't worship
a God who's done all he can do. If God's done all he can do,
we're in a mess, aren't we? You see this confusion, this
trouble, and iniquity that abounds, and the sin, and rapists, and
murderers, and child molesters, and all this chaos that's going
on in our world. If God's not in control, who
is then? The devil? You better crawl under
a bench somewhere then. Better yet, you better get a
gun and blow your brains out. He's on your trail. Christ said
it, didn't He? The devil is a roaring lion,
walks about the earth, seeking whom he may devour, but the devil
is God's devil. And you dare to say that, and
it'll call you, oh, that's heresy. Job knew that, didn't he? The
book of Job, the first two chapters, it said the devil reported to
God and asked God, what can I do? Isn't that what the book of God
says? Huh? The devil presented himself with
all the rest of the sons of God and said, what are you going
to allow me to do in your sovereign province? And God said, well,
you will do this and you'll do that. You'll do it according
to the way you want to do it and all that, but you're going
to work out exactly what I planned all along. Now, I can't explain
that. Tonight we're going to try to
deal with some of these things. I can't explain everything that
happens, all the evil and all that, but I know this beyond
a shadow of a doubt, that God is in control. And there ain't
a fly, there ain't nothing that crawls, writhes, or wriggles,
Barnard used to say, but what God Almighty is not in control
of. He said, And as I said before, Henry,
God doesn't have any more trouble numbering the hair on your head
than He does mine. Now, He got every one of them numbered. The
dust, the particle of dust in the sunbeam you see coming through
your window, that won't fall. That'll only fall in the place
that God Almighty divinely ordained and predestinated from all eternity. That thing will land exactly
exactly where God Almighty has determined. Why, that's ridiculous,
they'll say. That's hers. That's ridiculous.
No, it's not. That's what the Scriptures say.
God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
known unto God—this is the Word of God—known unto God are all
his works from the when? The beginning. He says, My counsel shall stand. I will do all my good pleasure.
It says God will work. Ain't nobody going to stop it.
You see, God is immutable. That means unchangeable. He doesn't
change. He never learns anything. He
doesn't react to anything. Something happens, so God says,
Oh, I wasn't planning on that, so I'll do this. No. Everything
reacts to God's actions. You see, God's already acting,
so everything else reacts. according exactly like he planned. And because God never changes,
he never alters. Even prayer doesn't change God
Almighty. Do you mean to tell me that you're
going to change God's mind? That you're going to stand before
God Almighty and argue your case and be such a good lawyer on
your own behalf or someone else? You're going to change God's
mind? No, here's how God says it in
the book. He says, I will do this, I will
do that, I will do that, and you shall call on me and ask
me for exactly what I already told you you're going to ask
me for. Prayer changes us, not God. No one but God are all His
works from the beginning. You dare, you just dare, just
how dare you? Say such a thing, and you men
are going to gnash their teeth to you, aren't you? And they'll
accuse you of all sorts of things, making God the author of sin
and all. I'm not even going to address those issues. But you
just dare to say what the Scripture says, that we love God. Why?
Because He first loved us. Ain't nobody anywhere going to
love God Almighty. As a matter of fact, Romans 8,
5 says that they hate Him. The carnal mind is enmity with
God. That's what the book says. And
the only way anybody's going to love this God, this sovereign
God, is if God Almighty first sets His love on them. And here's
another one that'll get you hated. You tell everybody God doesn't
love everybody. You dare to say that God loves
His elect. Now, I don't apologize for that
at all. I thank God for it. Because if God didn't choose
to love some people, then wouldn't anybody be loved? Because ain't
nobody on the top side of this earth worthy to be loved, lovable. Do you know yourself? Can anybody
in here say that God ought to love you? Huh? I guarantee you I'm as good as
any man in here. I wish I could say as much, right? I live just
as moral, maybe more so, more devout and pious of life than
anybody in here. And I'm telling you, there ain't
a thing lovable about this old mass of flesh. Now, God ought
to send me to hell my shoes on. Yeah, he ought to, for the hypocrisy
and my evil motive and this and that and the other. But you just
dare to say that. You dare to call man what he is. Just call
a spade a spade. Just dare to. Right, Henry? You
say, man can't do anything. He's dead. Burn, you say. Graveyard dead, like Lazarus. You might know what dead is. Religious people don't. They
must not learn that word in the seminary. Dead, you know. The Lord showed Ezekiel what
day it was, didn't he? He said, come on down here to
the graveyard, Ezekiel, I'll show you what day it is. Ezekiel
could have been a free will preacher. Take him down there, you see
these bones? Dead, dry, starched bones laying here. There's a
vast army that have been killed in this wilderness. You say,
can these bones live? Well, yeah, just invite them
to Jesus. Well, sure they can. I never say ask them to come
down. Take the first step, bones. And God will meet you halfway.
Say to the leg bone connected to the knee bone, the knee bone
to the thigh bone, y'all come on together now and get collective
and pray about this thing. Pray about this thing and y'all
come on down to the front. Accept Jesus. Can these bones
live, Ezekiel? Sure doesn't look like it to
me. Looks like bones to me. But thou knowest, if they're
going to live, you're going to have to be the one to do it.
Right? Ezekiel found out. That's dead,
isn't it? You dare to say, where the Apostle
Paul, and he said in Ephesians 2, verse 1, you have he quickened. Yeah, you, Joe Parks, who were
what? Dead in trespassency. What does that mean? I mean like
a worm, a maggot, just living in a garbage can on this world.
Not no thoughts of God, no thoughts at all of God, but think, God,
God had thoughts of you, right, buddy? That's your salvation. That's your only hope. And like
Paul said, I have hope toward God. Not toward me, not toward
man, toward God. If you dare to even say, this
got men's heads cut off, this got people disemboweled, this
got people, this got women martyred before other children watched
them. Burn it to stake. Just dare to say, Scripture's
alone. It doesn't matter what the Sanhedrin
say. It doesn't matter what the Holy
See says. That's nothing. They're liars. Let God be true. Just dare to
say that. God's true. I believe what this
book says. I don't believe a thing anybody else says. Let every
man be a liar. Scripture's alone. Yeah, but
I think it's a lie. Because God says your thoughts
are not his thoughts and your ways are not his ways. I believe
God. Everything he's saying. He says
elect, that's the way it is, right? He says I'm God, there's
none else, that's the way she is, brother. He says I'm dead,
I'm dead. God knows me better than I do.
And I just believe that. Why? I believe God. I believe
God's God and I'm a man. Ain't nothing to me. And if you
just dare to say grace alone, this was the watchwords of the
Reformation. This got people killed. Scriptures
alone. There's no holy authority but
God. Grace alone. That if anybody's
going to be saved, God's just going to have to be gracious
and give them salvation. Save them. Not offer it to them. I mean, do it. from start to
finish, and Christ alone, Christ alone, that even after a man
or a woman is saved, there ain't nothing they can do that'll make
them acceptable to God Almighty. Ain't nothing pleasing about
them to God Almighty, except them being in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, you dare to say that, and
you've got a fight on your hands. I don't understand that. That's
the reason Paul kept saying over and over, I'd like to speak to
these people, I just don't understand why they won't receive this.
And do you all? Why don't men receive this? By
grace, and they sing it, amazing grace. You know, everybody loves
the song Amazing Grace. And if they just stop and consider
the word grace, what does grace mean? It means a handout. It doesn't mean an offer. It
doesn't mean something's up for accepting a rejection. It means,
God, you're a beggar sitting on the downhill. And God Almighty
comes along, picks you up, takes the old rags off of you, puts
a robe of Christ's righteousness on you, dips you in the blood. You don't even want to, but He
does. Dips you, washes you. And you come up seven times,
not get leprous. Well, I needed that. And sets
you on the throne. So great. And you believe. And you did. Somebody told you
for any if you're going to use. I've never you told me a while
back. I've done this in a way. I'll
never believe this. It's messy. But if God Almighty
sets his sights on you, you're going to believe. Right. And after even after conversion,
you say Christ is my only hope. I wasn't seeking him to begin
with. And if he didn't keep me right now, I wouldn't be seeking
him right now. And if he doesn't put me on his all-powerful shoulders
and take me all the way to heaven, I'll not get there. I didn't
take the first step, the second step, or the last step. I don't
take any steps. I'm riding. I'm resting. Right? Somebody's got me in his
hands, and that's my only hope. Just dare to say that. Dare to
trust God and God alone. Christ and Christ alone. Just dare to say that. That we
have no righteousness. Just dare to read Romans 10. That Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. And if anybody's going to be
righteous before God, he's got to have the righteousness of
Christ. He doesn't have one of his own. The one he's got's filthy,
dirty. God doesn't pay any. As a matter
of fact, it stinks to God. You dare to tell somebody that
the best they've ever done, all of their church going, all of
their morality, all of their tithing, all of their heritage,
their mamas and daddies, their upbringing, their church attendance,
the best things they've ever done. That doesn't amount to
a hill of beans with God. God's not paying attention to that.
You dare to say that, and you've got a fight on your hands. But that's what God said, isn't
it? He says He looked down from heaven to see if there were any
that did understand or call upon God. He said, no, they all together
become filthy. He said, there's none that doeth
good, didn't it? Well, I don't know about you,
but my mama's a good woman. There's none that doeth good. Well, he's a moral man. There's
none righteous, no, not one. Right? And if anybody's going
to get before this holy and righteous God, he's got to come by my righteous
son, Christ, God said. My righteous son. He's the only
one that's ever been righteous. The only man approved. And the
only way you're going to get before this God is to come to
Him. And I confess unto thee. And
we best be confessing unto this world. Time draws short. Christ is around the corner.
We read in 1 Peter 4 that time has come. Judgment is going to
begin at the house of God. We better ask God Almighty to
embolden us, to encourage us or fill us with courage to to
confess what it is we believe, or rather, who it is that we
believe in the face of this wicked, perverse, apostate, God-hating,
unbelieving generation. This world of religious people
who has, like these fellas, the name of God on their lips, but
hatred in their heart for this God. Who talk about Jesus, but
will not have the Lord Jesus Christ reign over them. And we
better, God better embolden us To speak up and say, after the
way they call heresy, that's the way I worship. That's the
God I worship. And I just dare to believe what
God says. And I don't care if this man
is from the seminary. I don't care if he's a doctor
or who he is. Turtle head. It just ain't so. Let God be true. And every man
a liar. And I ain't afraid of no coal
miner gonna preach to me. And if he's bringing it out of
this book, I'm gonna believe him. I ain't gonna believe this
other fella. I don't care what strong arguments he brings. I
don't believe it. I believe what this man that
sticks close to this word. He might not say it eloquently,
but if he says it like God says it, I believe it. God said it,
that settles it. Whether we believe it or not.
Right? Well, Felix heard this. Felix heard this. Look at verse
24. Verse 24. In certain days, this
Felix came with his wife, Drusilla. Now, this fellow was a wicked
fellow, and his wife was a, oh, she was a wretched woman. Many
say that she's the one that put James and John to death. He sent
for Paul. He came to church one day, old
Felix. Didn't he grace the pew, you know, coming to hear Paul
preach? I guess Paul's going to acknowledge him in that. It's
good to have Brother Felix here this morning. They'll call everybody
brother, won't they, Joe? These hirelings with smiles on their
face. This fella could be a hellion,
and they'll call him brother, won't they, Paul? Well, old Felix
and his wife came to church like all good civilized white folk
do, you know. And Felix came, even though he was a scoundrel,
and a crook, and an extortioner, and living with a woman in adultery.
This wasn't his wife. They weren't even married. Nevertheless,
they came to hear Paul. And they sat down, and they thought
they were going to hear a little somerset. Well, Paul, it says, and he heard
Paul concerning the faith in Christ. And here's what he reasoned.
Verse 25, and Paul reasoned of righteousness. I've just been reasoning to you.
about this righteousness you need to get before God, and that
we don't have, and who's got it? It's this Christ. It's the only faith there is,
is faith in Christ and His righteousness. Christ, His person and His work,
that is, His imputed righteousness, OK? And Paul said that to this
fellow. Christ's your own hope of getting
before God, buddy. You see, God's angry with the
wicked every day. God will by no means clear the
guilty, and everybody is guilty, even you, Felix. He might have
pointed a bony finger at that governor and said, You're guilty
too. There's none righteous, no, not
one. God is holy and righteous, and
he'll only dwell with and he'll only love those that are holy
and righteous like him, Felix. Christ is your only hope of ever
being righteous. You can't clean your life up
and God accept you, that won't do. Christ has got to clean your
life up and make you acceptable. He's got to establish the law
and make you righteous, or reckon this righteousness to your account.
It's like Joseph's coat of many colors. It's like Christ wove
this robe of righteousness, this perfect life as a man, and took
it off and said, the only people that the Father's going to love
are the ones that have this multicolored robe on, right? And he said to old Felix, you
better come to Christ, bud. You better. Joe, I just know
he didn't have this silly, syrupy, pious, religious, he didn't change
his voice when he was out of the pulpit and then he got up
and he didn't change his voice. Talked like a Kentuckian out
of the pulpit and then get up in the pulpit and start talking
like Deucey knew. Oh, good brother Felix, it's
good to have you here today. Oh, you didn't do that, did you?
Talk like a man, a man to a man. You better have Christ, buddy.
You better bow and repent and believe this Christ is your only
hope, the same way as mine. Another place Paul was standing
in bonds and chains, was it before Agrippa, that he said, O Festus,
the fellow that took this fellow's place. after he told everybody
over and over and over again in fact that he got up for this
and now but it seemed like you've been tired of saying all that
he got in front of bested and bested said now pull out here
your case and Paul said well he said I thank myself happy
to tell this again because it's my only hope Oh, to say the same
things over and over again, it's not grievous to me. I love to
proclaim and glorify my Lord for what he did for me. I think
myself happy. I'll just tell it again. You better have Christ,
buddy, because you're in the same shape I was in. And he reasoned of temperance,
continence, mortification of the flesh. If God does call a
man by his grace, And he said the same thing that old John
the Baptist did when he pointed at old Herodias, you know. It's
not lawful for you, Herod, not lawful for you to have your brother's
wife. And Paul called his face back
and he called sin, sin, didn't he? If homosexuality was the
issue of the day, he'd have called it sin, wouldn't he? He said
it's evil, God will judge you for it. That's what he did. He
said effeminate, abusers with mankind, drunkards, extraordinary. None of them are going to inherit
the kingdom of God. Judgment of God falls upon people like
that. Temperance. If God does call you by His grace,
Felix, by His Spirit, and you do come to Christ and you trust
Christ and you believe Christ, you'll be a changed man, Felix.
You'll put that woman away or you'll marry her once. And you'll
quit killing folk and you'll follow Christ. You'll have your
affection. You'll be a changed man, Felix.
You'll be a new creature. Your affection will be set on
things above, not on things on earth. And let me quit here. I've got a lot more to say here.
Felix heard there any reason of judgment too. Verse 25. Righteousness, temperance, and
judgment. Felix, if you don't have Christ, you're a goner. If you don't have Christ, if
Christ doesn't come into your heart by faith and set up residence
there, his lordship, and if you're not a changed man because of
it, Felix, you're going to be judged, because it's appointed
unto men once to die, and after that, judgment. and a fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour
the adversary." He said in another place, he said it real boldly,
John. He said, if any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let
him be anathema maranatha. If you don't love, take up your
cross, follow him, deny yourself, and follow Christ, you're going to go to hell. My buddy, that's telling him
like it is, isn't it? And look at Felix's reaction. Verse twenty-five,
Felix said, Buddy, the word of God now is
sharper than a two-edged sword. It's powerful. He said, It is
not my word as a hammer. And it's a discerner of the thoughts
and intents. It's like a sharp two-edged sword.
It'll pierce even the hardest heart if he wants to, if God
determines it to do it. And Felix trembled, but this,
you've got to get a hold of this. If I take five more minutes,
you've got to hear this. Everybody in here has got to
hear this. Felix heard this, and everybody
in here has heard me, if your mind wasn't someplace else. Felix
heard this, and it says he trembled. His conscience smote him. It wasn't in denying the Word
of God. wasn't in denial. And it made him think a little
bit, but not nearly hard enough. He trembled, but it didn't break
his heart. You see, Felix was religious
for show. Felix was religious on Sunday.