Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 298. 298. In shady green pastures so rich
and so sweet, God leads his dear children along. Where the water's cool flow bathes
the weary one's feet, God leads his dear children along. Some through the waters, some
through the flood Some through the fire, but all through the
blood Some through great sorrow, but God gives us all In the night
season and all the day long Sometimes on the mountain where the sun
shines so bright, God leaves his dear children alone. Sometimes in the valley in darkest
of night, God leaves his dear children alone. Some through the water, some
through the flood Some through the fire, but all through the
blood Some through great sorrow, but God gives us all In the night
season and all the day long ? Though sorrows befall us and Satan our
foes ? God bleeds his dear children of all ? Through grace we can
conquer, defeat all our foes ? God bleeds his dear children
of all ? Some through the waters Some through the fire, but all
through the flood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us all In the night season and all the day long. Away from the mire and away from
the plain, God leaves his dear children alone. Away up in glory, eternity's
day, God leaves his dear children alone. Some through the water, some
through the flood Some through the fire, but all through the
blood Some through great sorrow, but God gives us all In the night
season and all the day long They say it while saying hymn
number 112. 112. Up Calvary's mountain, one dreadful
morn, Walked Christ my Savior, weary and born. They sing for sinners, death
on the cross, ? That He might save him from endless loss ?
? Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer ? ? Seems now I see
Him on Calvary's tree ? Blind and unheeding, dying for
me. Father, forgive him, thus did
he pray. In while his lifeblood flowed
fast away. ? Praying for sinners ? While in
such foe ? No one but Jesus ? Ever loved so ? Blessed Redeemer ? Precious Redeemer
? Seems now I see ? On Calvary's tree ? Wounded and bleeding ?
For sinners pleading ? Climate and heating ? Dying for me ?
Oh how I love Him Savior and friend How can my
praises ever find Him? Through years unnumbered on heaven's
shore My tongue shall praise Him forevermore Blessed Redeemer Precious Redeemer
Seems now I see Him On Calvary's tree Wounded and bleeding For
sinners pleading Blind in the meeting, dying for me. Acts 28. Finish up this book
tonight, but I'm gonna, God willing, bring a couple more messages.
Takes a couple of Wednesday nights. Acts 28, starting at verse 11. And after
three months, they'd been with the barbarians there on that
island of Melita, which became Malta. We depart in the ship
of Alexandria, which had entered in the isle, whose sign was Castor
and Pollux. That means the flags that they
were flying under. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried
there three days. And from then, we fetched a compass
and came to Rheagim. And after one day, the south
wind blew, and we came to the next day to Petolia, where we
found brethren, and we desired to tarry with them seven days,
and so we went toward Rome. And from this, when the brethren
heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appiumphorum, and
the three taverns, whom when Paul saw, he thanked God and
took courage. And 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. And it came to pass that after
three days, Paul called the chief of the Jews together, And when
they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren,
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.
But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal
unto Caesar, not that I had ought to accuse my nation of. For this
cause therefore have I called for you, to see you and speak
with you, because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with
this chain. And they said unto him, We neither
receive letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither any
of the brethren that came showed or spake any harm of thee. But
we desire to hear thee of what thou thinkest, for as concerning
this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against. And when
they had appointed him a day, there came many to him and to
his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of
God, perserving them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of
Moses and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And
some believed the things which were spoken, some believed not.
And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed after
that Paul had spoken one word. Well spake the Holy Ghost by
Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and
say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing
ye shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this people
is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing. And their
eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should
be converted. And I shall heal them. BE IT KNOWN THEREFORE UNTO
YOU THAT THE SALVATION OF GOD IS SENT UNTO THE GENTILES, AND
THEY WILL HEAR IT. AND WHEN HE HAD SAID THOSE WORDS,
THE JEWS DEPARTED, AND HAD GREAT REASONING AMONG THEMSELVES. AND
PAUL DWELT TWO WHOLE YEARS IN HIS OWN HARD HOUSE, AND RECEIVED
ALL THAT CAME IN UNTO HIM, PREACHING THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND TEACHING
THOSE THINGS WHICH CONCERNED THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WITH ALL
CONFIDENCE, no man forbidding Him. Our great, glorious, blessed
God, our Father, our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Master, our Redeemer, our blessed hope to whom we're looking
for, Lord, we bless you and praise you that you allowed us another
day, clothed in our right mind, still healthy and with a blessed
hope in Christ our Lord. And I thank you for this evening.
Thank you that you've allowed a few of us together here this
evening to open the word of God and hopefully by your grace,
learn some things from it, be blessed by it, be encouraged
and be edified and established in the faith by it. And Lord,
now we pray for those among us who are going through great deep
waters. We just sung through the waters,
sung through the flood. But bless your holy name. You
bring us all through the blood. And Father, we thank you for
that. But we pray especially for our brother and sister, Bill
and Fran. Love them. We thank you for their
testimony. Thank you for the grace that
you've given them, for the faith that you've given them, for the
blessed hope that you've given them, and for how you uphold
them through this trial you sent their way. God, we pray for your
great and abundant grace to be given. And Lord, help us to,
by your grace, never to continue to pray for them. Uphold them
before you. Bring them before you. You can
do for them what we can't, but, oh, Lord, please enable us to
do what we can for Christ's sake. Forgive us of everything that's
unlike you. Be merciful to our family that's undone without
God and without Christ and without hope in this world. Please be
merciful. Please be pitiful. Please be
long-suffering. And please show them their need
of the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in holy name we pray,
amen. We'll sing Worship Him. The words are not in our course
books, but I had some printed off April 15th of 2022. Now if you've lost it since then
like I have, I sat them out on the table so you can get you
a new one. Most of us know the words by
heart anyway though. We have come into this house
and gathered in His name to worship Him. We have come into this house
and gathered in His name to worship Him. We have come into this house
and gathered in His name to worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Christ the Lord. So forget about yourself and
concentrate on Him and worship Him. So forget about yourself
and concentrate on Him and worship Him. So forget about yourself
and concentrate on Him and worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Christ the Lord. So let's lift up holy faith,
magnify His name and worship Him. So let's lift up holy faith,
and magnify His name, and worship Him. So let's lift up holy faith,
and magnify His name, and worship Christ the Lord. ? Worship Him, Christ the Lord. ? He is all my righteousness,
I stand in Him complete and worship Him. ? Worship Him ? He is all my righteousness
? I stand in Him complete ? And worship Christ the Lord ? Worship
Him ? Christ the Lord Found one, got seven verses to
it. All right, look back here in
Acts 28. Dealing with Paul, arriving at
Rome. It took him almost two years
to get there. shipwrecked, stranded on an island for three
months, and yet he finally gets to Rome. He arrives at Rome,
and God sent an ambassador to Rome, not an ambassador that
the state recognized or the government recognized. You know, we send
ambassadors to all the countries all over the world. and they're
recognized and they get offices and they get all kinds of recognition. Paul was God's ambassador. He
said, that's what he called him, he said, I'm an ambassador for
Christ, as if God by me did beseech you, be you reconciled to God
for Christ's sake. So he sent an ambassador, but
the government, the state, Rome, didn't recognize him. And when
he got there, the citizens didn't recognize him. But nevertheless,
he was God's ambassador. He was sent there to witness
for God Almighty. And you remember our Lord Jesus. Look over here. Well, I'll get
to it here in a minute. But Paul was a faithful ambassador,
a faithful witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the first thing
he does is after they land, Syracuse was in Greece. And from thence
they fetched a compass, came to Regia, and the wind blew.
And look what it says when they got to this place called Putolia,
where we found brethren, and desired to tarry with them seven
days, and so went toward Rome." Oh my, he found some brethren,
found some brethren. We found brethren. From thence,
when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as
Appium Forum, and the three taverns whom Paul saw, he thanked God
and took courage." Now you imagine, he's been on that island for
three months, they finally found a ship that would take him to
Rome, and they stopped at two different places, and he come
to this one place, and when he got off the ship, He found some
brethren. He found some people that believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Could you imagine? They said,
boy, that was sure lucky, wasn't it? That was really luck that
he run across some people believed like he did. No, I believe that
he went into town. I believe that he went there
and started witnessing for Christ. And some brethren heard about
him and they found, and he found these brethren. And all the Lord's
people, I'll tell you one thing about them. The sheep find sheep. John Chapman wrote an article
one time, birds of a feather flock together, and that s the
way it is. People of like mind and like
hearts and like faith, they gather together, and the Lord s people
find one another. I m always looking for people
that believe the gospel, and I tell you, here s the reason
why they re called brethren. They all have the same Father.
God is our Father, They all have the same Spirit, all begotten
again by the same Spirit, the new birth by the Spirit of God.
They all are given the same faith, and that faith is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. All of them are saved by the
same Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. They all go through the same
trials, they go through the same heartaches and same troubles
that anybody does, and the Scripture said He stayed with them for
seven days. Can you imagine what a blessing
that was? We was down in Arkansas and we was just down there for
three days, and that was, whoa, what a blessed three days it
was! But He got to stay seven days!
If we get together three days, we think, That's wonderful! But
here these fellas got together for seven days! Can you imagine
their conversations? If any of you's ever read the
Bunya's Progress, you'll find out what it is for like-minded
brethren to walk together, faithful and Christian, as they walk together
on their journey toward the celestial city. And oh, how blessed Paul
was to find brethren, people who knew the Lord Jesus Christ,
people who trusted Christ, And you know our Lord Jesus said
in Hebrews chapter two that He's not ashamed, He's not ashamed
to call us brethren. Christ Himself said, I'm not
ashamed to call them brethren. God's not ashamed to be called
our God. Oh, what a blessed thing we have.
And then look what He says here in verse 15. And from then after we left Petolia
and spent seven days with Him, so we went toward Rome. And oh,
from thence when the brethren heard of us, these men in Rome
heard about Paul, heard that he was coming, heard that he
was on the way to Rome, and look what it says, they came to meet
us as far as Apiphorum. And you know what, they came
to meet us. I believe that was Paul and some other brethren
that were with him. And Apiphorum is 27 miles from
Rome. 27 miles, so those fellows walked
27 miles to meet the apostle Paul and to be blessed by him
and be a blessing to him. They know that what he was going
through and the things he was enduring and all they'd heard
about him and they heard of us. They heard of us and they walked
27 miles to be a blessing to this apostle. Oh my, would you
walk 27 miles to be a blessing to somebody? Would you walk two
miles to be a blessing to somebody? Would you walk 7 tenths of a
mile to be a blessing to somebody? But it don't take much to be
a blessing, it just takes a word of encouragement, kind word,
an uplifting word, It don't take much, but Paul said, when they
heard of us, here they came, 27 miles. And I believe when
they met one another, I believe they fell on one another's necks.
I believe they hugged one another. I believe they met one another
and greeted one another with a holy kiss. A holy kiss. You know, I've been doing that
for years. I meet brethren, and when I meet
them, I always kiss them on the cheek. It's called a holy kiss. And you do it for brethren. And
I'll tell you, every once in a while, well, you always hear
that time that I kissed John Davis on the cheek. They got out of control real
quick, didn't they? But here they come from 27 miles
to meet the Apostle Paul. What a blessing that was. You start thinking about it,
you start laughing about it again. Oh boy, I wish I hadn't have
thought of that. But then it goes on to say, and then the
three taverns, the three taverns was 17 miles from Rome. So they met him at Appiforum,
and then they walked back with him to the three taverns, and
there was men that came from Rome to the three taverns, which
was 17 miles from Rome, and look what it says. They heard of us,
and look what it says here, and when it says in verse 15, And
when Paul whom when Paul saw, he just saw him, he hadn't even
hugged him yet, when he saw these brethren, when he saw these men,
when he saw these people that came to meet him, he said he
thanked God. Lord, I thank you. I thank you
that you sent these men. These men from so far away, walked
so many miles, went through so much to come out here to meet
me, who am the least of the apostles, and though I be nothing, and
yet these people came out to meet me, to encourage me, to
be a blessing to me, and all wanted to help me and encourage
me, and look what he said, he said, I thank you, oh God, I
do thank you. And then look at the next word,
he took courage. Evidently, he was probably down.
I got to go to Rome. I don't know, tell him what's
gonna happen to me when I get there. But boy, when he saw this,
his courage was, oh boy, he got strong. He got courageous. He said, I'm not in this by myself. I got some brethren here that
love me and care for me and come to meet me and be a blessing
to me. And he took courage, and I tell
you, it seems like such a small thing for something like this
to happen, but this was a big thing. What a big thing it was
for this people to come so far, so far, walk so far to be a blessing
to someone like Paul. And Paul, oh my, how he called
himself nothing, called himself the least of the apostles, I
mean, you re talking about a fella that didn t brag on himself and
put himself forward. He really took to heart our Lord
Jesus Christ. He that humbleth himself, God
will exalt. But oh my, they come to meet
him, and he thanked God. Oh, thank God for my brethren.
Thank God for my brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank God
for them. And then look what happened.
And verse 16, And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered
the prisoners, there were other prisoners, to the captain of
the guard. But Paul was suffered to dwell
by himself or allowed to dwell by himself with a soldier that
kept him. He had one man to guard him.
He was allowed to live by himself. He didn't have to go into jail
with all those other prisoners or whatever they did with him.
And then look what he did in verse 17, And it came to pass
that after three days, Paul, listen to who he called now,
the chief of the Jews together. He had a conference here and
it says the chief of the Jews, not just the Jews, the chief
of the Jews. See, it was the high priest and
the council and all the people that was high up in the Jewish
synagogues and the high priest and all the fellows that was
up, THEY was the ones that wanted to kill Paul. And so here he
calls for the chief priest, and then he says, And when they were
come together, oh my, he s dwelling by himself, and when they were
come together, oh, look how he dressed them. These are the chief
men. These are the fellows that RUN
and take care of the synagogues in Rome. and the Jews in Rome. First he says, Men, and then
he said, Brethren. Oh, he was always, always respectful,
and he says, Men and Brethren. He addresses them, and you know
it was at the hand of the Jews that he suffered so much. But
he said, I ve committed nothing, I ve done NOTHING against the
people or the customs of our Father, yet I was delivered prisoner
from Jerusalem into the hands of Rome. He said, You know, I
ve not done anything. I ve done nothing. They know
that I ve done nothing. And they said, And they examined
me. In verse 18, They EXAMINED me. I mean they questioned me
in every way. He had three trials. They come
down and they put him on trial in Jerusalem, sent him down in
Judea, and they sit down there and they had a trial down there,
and they said that when Felix come in they had a trial for
him, then when Festus come in they had another trial, and then
when King Herod and Agrippa come in, his wife Priscilla, They
had another trial. He was examined from the top
to the bottom, inside and outside, in every possible way, and NOBODY,
NOBODY said that this man did anything wrong. He was like our
Master. He was like our Lord Jesus Christ.
Even Pilate had to say, Listen, this man's done NOTHING What
has He done that He's worthy to die? Why do you want Him crucified? I tell you, here's this man,
I find no fault in Him. I find no fault in Him whatsoever.
What crime has He committed? What has He done against the
Jews? What's He done against the Romans? What's He done against
ANYBODY in all of this world that He's ever done that He's
worthy of being crucified? And that's the way it was with
Paul. You know, the Jews, they hated him so bad, they hated
Christ as who they hated. And they hated the gospel that
he preached. It wasn't him personally that
they hated, it's the message that they hated. It was the Christ
that he preached that they hated. Because he reminded them that
God crucified Christ, Christ was buried, Christ rose again,
and they're gonna have to face this same Christ in the judgment
someday. And oh my, they examined him.
And look what it says there in verse 18, "'Cause there's no
cause of death in me." But yet he's gonna die. He's gonna die. He's gonna die a martyr. Oh,
they examined me. I mean, they searched me inside
and outside and every other way they could be searched. And oh,
listen, they was ready to let me go. But oh my, they said,
there's no, they was examining when they've let me go. But look
what it says in verse 19, but when the Jews spoke against it. Don't let this man go. Don't
let him go. He's a troublemaker. He's preaching
that there's another king. He's preaching that there's a
man who rose from the dead. They know nobody rises from the
dead. You know there's no resurrection.
And I'll tell you, they examined him, and they's gonna let him
go, but the Jews said, don't you dare let him go. That's the
same way they done with our master. Why don't you let him go? Crucify
him, crucify him. And when the Jews spake against
it, listen, I won't, don't let this man go now. If you let him
go, we're gonna kill him." And Paul knew that, so he said, I'll
appeal to Caesar. Oh my. And the Jews spake against
letting him go. And then look what happens now.
And they said, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar, not that
I had cause to accuse my nation of anything. And then look at
verse 20, why he called them together. The cause of calling
them together. He has this conference with these
chief Jews. I don't know how many there was.
For this cause, this is the reason, this is the purpose that I therefore
have called you, for you, to see you and speak with you. And
he said, because that for the hope of Israel, I'm bound with
this chain. I'm held in bonds. I'm held by
this chain. He said, I'm here because of
the hope of Israel. I'm bound with this. What was
the hope of Israel? It's the same hope you and I
have. You know, the hope of Israel was that there was a Messiah
coming. God made a promise to Abraham
that out of his seed, God would raise up a Savior. And I'll tell
you what, he told David that, David, you'll have a king reigning
after you forever and ever and ever. And I tell you, the hope
of Israel was that the Messiah was going to come. And you know,
Israel today is still looking for the same Messiah. They really
are. They're looking for a Messiah
yet to come. For them, they've never come.
But He said, I'm the hope of Israel. He said, the Deliverer,
the Savior that comes out of Zion. The branch, the righteous
man, the branch, the root and offspring of David. And oh my,
he has such a hope and he said, though his hope that I have is
the hope of the redemption of Israel and the resurrection that
God was gonna give us one of these days. Look over with me
over here in Titus, that little bitty book right before the book
of Hebrews. Look at that little book there,
look what it talks about, hope. and you know the hope that they
had is the same hope we have. Paul was looking for a Savior,
and that's why you know when you find about Christ being born
and what Mary was told, and then what Elizabeth and John was told,
they was looking for the hope of Israel. And look what it says
here in verse 13, Titus chapter 2, verse 13, looking for that
blessed hope, not just a hope, A blessed hope, a hope as so
blessed of God, so blessed our hearts, so blessed our souls,
so blessed our expectations, so blessed our faith, looking
for that blessed hope, and listen to this, the GLORIOUS appearing
of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. That s what they
was looking for. That s what Paul was looking
for, and he said he CAME! And look what he goes on to say,
and here s why we look for Him, Who gave Himself for us that
He might redeem us, pay for us from all iniquity, and not only
do that, but purify unto Himself a peculiar people." Oh my, He
done that for us, and then He talked about the hope of the
resurrection, and He says we have a hope of an inheritance
laid up for us in Heaven. Oh my! He had a hope of the Messiah
coming, of the Christ coming, of the Savior coming, of the
Redeemer coming, of the Deliverer out of Zion coming, the promised
Messiah through the seed of David. And oh my! Now look what happens
now. And the Jews reply in verse 21,
they said unto him, We neither receive letters out of Judea
concerning you, Neither any of the brethren that came showed
or spake any harm of thee, so it hadn't got as far as Rome
yet. But, oh my, he said, but here's
where the rubber hits the road right here, watch this now. But
we desire to hear thee of what thou thankest, for as concerning
this sect, we know that everywhere it's spoken against. Now, you
know He s talking about Christians. He s talking about people who
trust Christ. They call it a sect, and we know
that it s spoken against everywhere. Everywhere you go, they speak
against this. Oh, everywhere! And who better
could tell them of Christ and the hope of Israel than this
man right here? And you know what that word sect
means? It means heresy. It s used in
another place as heresy. It means either you're bound
to one particular truth or a perversion of that truth. Now, I'll tell
you what, look over in Acts, you're back in Acts 22, 28 with
me, and then look over here in Acts 24, 14, talking about a
sect. A sect, look what he says here
in Hebrews 12, 24 and verse 8 and verse 14, look what he says now. But this I confess unto thee,
after the way which they call heresy, or sect, so worship I
the God of my fathers. He was bound by one truth, but
they said it was a version of the truth. And oh my, the God
of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the
law and in the prophets. Oh my. So I tell you what, sect
means the same thing as a heresy. We've heard of this heresy, heresy,
and oh, we want to know what you think about it, and oh my,
so look what happens now in verse 23. And when they had appointed him
a day, appointed him a day, and I tell you what, this appointed
day, they appointed a day, There came many to Him, to His lodgings.
He expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them
concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the
prophets, from morning till evening." When He talked about the appointed
day, there s an appointed day from eternity for every single
one of us, there s an appointed day. There was appointed day
that Christ would come into this world. There was appointed day
an hour and moment when Christ would come into this world. There
was an hour and appointment a day that Christ would leave this
world. There was an appointed day and time when He would lay
in the grave and come up and rise and ascend to glory. And
I tell you what, this appointed day is made for maternity And
this day that s appointed here for these folks to get here,
it ll have eternal consequences for these people that s gathered
here this day. And what we hear and what we
believe has eternal consequences, eternal consequences. And many
came. We ve been watching these things
about cults. You know there s cults. There's
been two cults that Jim Jones, he convinced 900 people to commit
suicide. That's what I tell you, you better
be careful what you listen to, because whatever you hear, that's
what you'll end up believing sooner or later. And then we're
watching this other one, and these folks was waiting for this
spaceship to come and get them, and since he doesn't come and
get them, they all commit suicide. Now, how can one man convince
people that they re going to go off in a spaceship. Nobody
s ever been in a spaceship! And how can one man convince
900 people to commit suicide? And that s why, Paul, I m telling
you there s an appointed day, and what we hear and what we
believe has eternal consequences. And I'll tell you, I know that
God appointed a day for me to hear the gospel and believe the
gospel. God appointed a day for me to leave this world and go
into eternity, so I wanna be sure that what I believe, when
I get ready to leave this world, I'll have the same hope the Apostle
Paul said that I'm in hope of. I don't wanna leave this world
without God, without Christ, and without any hope in this
world. I don't wanna believe a lie I don't want to be deceived
in myself, and I CERTAINLY don't want to deceive anybody, but
oh, my! And then it says, You know, they
appointed it to day. There came many to him, and they
came to where he lived. And look what it says now, And
whom he expounded, he took the word of God, and he testified
the kingdom of God, persuading them. persuading them concerning
Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets.
And he started in the morning, and he went all day long. And
you know what I think he did? I think he took from Genesis
to Daniel, or especially to Ezekiel, and I think he took this blessed
book as far as they believed in what was real and what was
true as they understood it, and he took this book and he started
in Genesis, and he started with that promise in Genesis 3.15,
Behold, I put in between thee and the woman's seed, you're
going to bruise his heel, but he's going to crush your head.
And I think then he went on and went through all the things.
He said, You know when Moses was on the backside of the desert
and there's this burning bush come out? He said, Who do you
think that was talking to Moses? And I think he went through all
the scriptures, and I believe he went through Isaiah, and I
believe he went through the Jeremiah. He went through the scriptures,
and he testified of the Kingdom of God. GOD'S GOT A KINGDOM ON
THIS WORLD, AND THERE'S A KING IN THIS WORLD, AND THERE'S A
KING WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO ANSWER TO, THERE'S A KING WE'RE GONNA
HAVE TO BOW TO, THERE'S A KING THAT WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO SUBMIT
TO. THERE'S A KING, AND HE GOT A KINGDOM, AND HE SAID YOU GOTTA
BE IN THAT KINGDOM, NOT AN EARTHLY KINGDOM, AND OH MY, THEN IT SAYS
HERE, PERSUADING THEM CONCERNING JESUS. I believe he showed them, you
know, imagine what they thought when he went over there in Jeremiah
23, six and said, he's called the Lord, our righteousness.
Jehovah's akin you. Who is he? Paul told him who
he was. Huh? Oh, he went through the
script. When he talked about Isaiah,
he said, Isaiah, you know what Isaiah saw? He saw his glory. He saw his glory. And you know
what happened to him when he saw his glory? He fell on his
face! Oh, my! He concerned them out
of the law of Moses and the prophets. Oh, my! Vernon Bush, Passover
Lamb, talked about Melchizedek had no beginning of days, no
ending of days. He said, Who was that that met
Jacob there on the road? He talked about Joseph, and He
talked about Jacob, and He talked about all the things that happened
to Israel and how all those people pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh my, can you imagine? I would have loved to have been
there. I don't even know if they stopped
to eat or what. Maybe they did, maybe they had a lunch break.
I don't know, but it says that he went from morning, morning
till evening. It takes us most of the time,
we're here about an hour, hour and 15 minutes is the most we're
here once we meet. They went from morning to evening.
Paul preached all night. Remember that night he preached
all night, and that fellow fell asleep and fell out dead? Oh, my goodness. Oh, didn't it
look at the different results. Oh, my, he preached to them.
Oh, he testified of the kingdom of God. Oh, he gave his testimony
of what God done, how God saves people, and oh, how Christ is
the only Savior, the only one. He dealt with Moses. He said,
to him all the prophets give witness. Our Lord preached himself
from Moses. The law and the Psalms and the
prophets concerned himself. And look at the results. Look
what happened. In verse 24, And some believed
the things which were spoken, and some believe not. That's
pretty much the way everything is. Some believe, some believe
not. That happens here every Sunday
morning. That happens here every Sunday morning. Some believe,
some walk away and believe not. And believe not. Oh my. And some believed, bless God
for that, where Christ is preached, I'll tell you something, he said,
My sheep will hear my voice, and they'll hear it. Some believe
not. What we have here in the presence
of Paul this day when they said some believe, some believe not,
we have vessels of mercy and vessels of wrath. We have some
that are ordained to eternal life, and they believed, and
some pointed not to believe. You know, Peter says that these
men of old were ORDAINED to this condemnation. There were men
that God foreordained them to be liars, foreordained them to
be false prophets, foreordained them to be liars on Christ. You
know why He raised up Pharaoh? He said, I raised you up for
one reason, to destroy you. You're a vessel of wrath, and
I'm going to show my wrath out on you. And I tell you, there
are several places where God says, and the Scripture says
that He, these people were ordained to this condemnation, these false
prophets are. And if a fellow wasn't a false
prophet, And he wouldn't know it. He wouldn't know it. False
prophet don't know he's a false prophet. If he did, he'd quit
false prophesying. But look what it says here now.
And he goes on down there and says, and his, he says final
message to him. And all my, when they, when,
when they agreed not among themselves, they departed. Oh my, they just
started talking, arguing, and they agreed not among themselves.
They departed after that Paul had spoken one word. And when
he says one word, using the gospel, Well spake Isaiah the Holy Ghost
by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers. saying, Go unto this people,
and say, Hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand, and
seeing you shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this
people is wax gross, and their ears are dull of hearing. Their
eyes have they closed, that lest they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,
should be converted, and I should heal them. Now this is found
in Isaiah chapter 6 verses 8 and 10, but I want you to keep Romans
Acts 28 and look over with me in John 12. Look what it says
here about this very, very thing that it's talking about, John
12. Look in verse 37 with me, John
chapter 12. This is what our Lord said. But though he had done so many
miracles before him, yet they believed not on him, that the
saying of Isaias, or Esaias the prophet, might be fulfilled,
which he spake, Lord, who hath believed thy report, and to whom
hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Now listen to this,
Therefore they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again,
He hath blinded their eyes, hardened their heart, that they should
not see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts,
and be converted, and I should heal them." Listen to this now.
These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory. When he saw
his glory, he said, this is what God said about you folks, and
spoke of him. And when they agreed not, they
departed. Oh, and He spoke these words
when He saw His glory. Then look back over here then
in chapter 28 and verse 28. I'll hurry up. Be it known therefore
unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles,
and they'll hear it. Oh, my! Be it known unto you
that the salvation, what He's saying is salvations of the Lord,
God's salvation has ALWAYS been of God, has ALWAYS been of God,
and will ALWAYS be of God, never be of any other way. And all
as many as were ordained to eternal life believed, and all mine. They departed, and when he had
said these words, the Jews departed, and listen to this, and had great
reasoning among themselves. Now, they left off this apostle,
and they had great reasoning. They started to reason among
themselves. I wonder what they reasoned about. Well, I'll tell
you what I think they reasonably did. They reasoned themselves
out of eternal life. They reasoned themselves out
of faith. They reasoned themselves out
of righteousness. They reasoned themselves and
stumbled over the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my. And Paul had
a rented house and received all that came unto him, and he never
stopped doing this, preaching the kingdom of God. Teaching
those things, I love this, teaching those things which concern the
Lord Jesus Christ. Ain't nothing else worth teaching
about, are they? And look how, listen to this,
with all confidence. He didn't have confidence in
himself. You know what the confidence was? His message. confidence
in what he was preaching. And nobody said, Paul, you can't
do that. You can't do that. Well, some
believe, some didn't. But oh, I believe, I believe,
I believe. Oh, God, I believe. Our Father, oh, our blessed Father,
Thank you for allowing us to meet this evening. Thank you
for your great grace given us in Christ. Thank you for your
mercies. Thank you for your precious,
precious word. Be with my dear brothers and
sisters as they leave this place tonight. Do with them like you
did with Job. Put a hedge around them. Keep
them. Preserve them. Preserve us all
unto your kingdom. and to your time to call us home,
preserve us for Christ's sake. Bless our dear, dear brethren
that's going through such a dark, dark, trying time. God help them,
please, for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon
Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. The things of earth will grow
strangely dim. in the light of His glory and
grace. I'll see you Sunday, God willing.