Here in verse 12, it says this, But I would you
should understand, brethren, that the things which happened
unto me have fallen out rather under the furtherance of the
gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace
and in all other places. And many of the brethren in the
Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to
speak the word without fear. Some, indeed, preach Christ even
of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preach
Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to
my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the
defense of the gospel. What then, notwithstanding in
every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached,
I therein do rejoice, and yea, will rejoice." It's said here
in these verses that I read this evening, it says three times,
it says, Christ is preached, Christ is preached. Verse fifteen,
some in preach Christ of envying strife. Verse sixteen, the one
preach Christ of contention. Whether in every way, whether
in pretense or in truth, in verse 18, Christ is preached. Christ
is preached. And that's the question, that's
the thing that every preacher has got to face for himself.
Does he know the gospel? Does he know the Lord Jesus Christ?
And does he preach, not about Christ, but actually preach Christ
himself? not just some things that he's
learned about Christ, but the Lord Jesus himself. Does he declare
the glory of God as it's revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ? Now,
there are three types of preachers, and there were different preachers
here that Paul described. Three types of preachers, see
if you don't agree with this. There's the doctrinal preacher,
the practical preacher, and the experiential preacher. Now, the
doctrinal preacher He deals strictly with doctrine, very strong in
doctrine. Paul and all preachers are doctrinal
preachers. Then the practical preacher,
they call it practical Christianity. That means he's all the time
telling you what you need, how you need to live, how you need
to stop doing one thing, start doing another thing. And they
make salvation by your obedience and practicality, living a good
life. And then the experiential preacher,
he's the preacher who's preaching feeling and emotions and all
the things that you go through and all the things you experience.
But now let me tell you something, that man who earnestly and honestly
seeks to set forth the Lord Jesus Christ is all three of these
things at all times, every single time he preaches. See, you cannot
preach the gospel, you cannot preach Christ without preaching
doctrine. You know, it's called the doctrine
of Christ, how you preach Christ without preaching doctrine. Doctrine
just means teaching, the teaching of Christ. Christ, you know,
He says, if a man is of God, he knows the doctrine, whether
it's of God or not. And so, you see, doctrine without
Christ is just dead. It's a skeleton without flesh.
But the doctrine as it relates to Christ and the doctrine of
Christ is alive, it's real, it's vital. And then you can't preach
Christianity or practicality or putting things into practice
without preaching Christ. And when we preach Christ, it
tells us, and we say we're being conformed to His image. that
God set out in our salvation to conform us to the image of
Christ. And whatever it takes in our
life from the day we're born to the day we go to glory, God's
going to do that, work it out in our lives. And Paul says we
were foreordained to good works in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And so you see, you can't preach
Christ without preaching faith, without love, is dead. And you know, faith works, works
by love. And then there's the experiential
preaching. And when we're preaching gospel, preaching Christ, we're
preaching about a living faith, a faith that's alive in us. a
faith that looks to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is a living
Lord. And when you look to Him, it
produces joy, it produces peace, it produces love, it produces
assurance. And then there are times when
we experience fear, we experience doubt, we experience unbelief,
we experience trials. So in preaching Christ, you're
preaching doctrine, practicality, and experiential. And so Paul
goes here and says in verse 12, Let me go through this business
about Christ as priest, Christ as priest. Three times he says
Christ as priest. He says, but I would you understand
brethren that the things which happened unto me. Now he's talking
going all the way back to when he's arrested. He'd been in prison
now for a couple of years or longer. He says, I would understand
brethren that the things that happened unto me have fallen
out rather under the furthest of the darkness. You mean, Paul,
that you get arrested? Paul, you get robbed? Paul, men
land in wait to kill you? Paul, that you was kept in bonds,
that you was shipwrecked on your way to be taken to Rome, and
you stranded on an island for three months, and then you finally
ended up in Rome, and they put you in Nero's prison there in
Rome, and you say everything that happened to you fell out
rather to the furthest of the gospel? Well, first of all, he
got the priest of the man on the ship. He got the priest of
Agrippa. He got the priest of Festus.
He got the priest of Nero. He got the priest of all those
heathens on that island. So this man, God says he fell
out furthest to the gospel. And then look what he says. And
he says, so that my bonds, my bonds, my sufferings, my bonds
has caused the gospel. to be blessed to spread more.
And then he says, and so my bonds in Christ. Did you see that? He says, my bonds in Christ.
Not in Nero, not in jail, not in chains, my bonds for me being
bound in Christ are manifest in all the palace. And that word
palace actually means, if you go look it up, it means prison.
It means prison. And in Caesar's court, it says
in the margin, and in every place else, the gospel, you know, men
hear about it and they go out and they start preaching and
they hear about what Paul's going through and how he's suffering
to the glory of Christ, how he preaches Christ to the jailers,
how he preaches Christ to anybody that gets around him. And people
come in from all over the place while he's in prison and hear
him preach the gospel. And he says, and watch this now.
And many of the brethren, now he calls these brethren, many
of the brethren, they waxed bold, they got confident, confidence,
and much more bold to speak the word without fear. You know evidently
that some of them had some fear in preaching. Paul said, and
listen to this, he said, when they seen what I was going through,
and how God was causing the gospel to grow through my ministry,
even though I'm in bonds, He says they're much more bold to
speak the word without fear. And listen, our attitude and
our general conduct during trials, whatever it may be, have a strong,
strong influence one way or another upon those who are observing
us. Now, they're observing Paul. How's he going to act? What's
he going to do? How did he act when he was being
whipped, when he was in that Philippian jail? How did he act
when he stood before King Agrippa, standing there in chains? So
you see our experiences and our trials, you know, how we react
to them and how we go through them is going to influence people
that watch us. And that's why he says here they
watch me and they watch boldly. Preach the gospel without fear.
And he says now they started preaching. He said some indeed
preach Christ. And he said, even of envy and
strife. Now, what does he mean, they
preach Christ of envy and strife? Well, it doesn't mean that they
envy Christ. It doesn't mean that they're
striving over Christ. What it means is they envy Paul's
gifts. They envy his abilities. They
envy what God had done with him, the success that God gave him,
the honor that God gave him. And they wanted the applause
of the church. as Paul was honored by people
who were strong in the faith. And so they envied Paul. And
they went out and preached and strived and talked about Paul.
That's why he told Timothy, don't be ashamed of me. Don't be ashamed
of me and the bonds that I'm in. He said, and there were a
lot of people saying, now look at Paul. We're preaching the
same gospel he is. And we're not in jail. We're
preaching the same gospel he is. And he's the one suffering.
We're not suffering. So they preached Christ of envy
and strife. They wanted applause. And then look what he says here.
And also he says in verse 16, the one preached Christ of contention,
strife and contention. Now they had contention. And
I think what contention is, in this instance, is that they were
contentious by her in nature. And they were contentious over
words and over doctrines. And they were contentious over
what other folks were doing and shouldn't do. But they weren't
contentious over the doctrine of substitution. They weren't
contentious over substitution. They was contentious over words. Should you use this word, that
word, or another word? They were contentious over practices
and governments and prophecy. Things that absolutely, when
it's all said and done, not going to amount to anything. But when
it comes to the gospel, when it comes to substitution in Christ,
that's what matters. And then he goes on to say here,
he says, some preach of goodwill. Remember what he says there in
the last part of verse 15. And some also of goodwill. And
he says in verse 17, and the other of love. Some preach of
goodwill and some of love. Some out of goodwill for me. out of a good will for the glory
of God, out of a good will for the glory of Christ, out of a
will that wants to honor God, and they do it for Christ, the
love of Christ. Some have preached for the love
of Christ, and their love for me, their love for these people,
their love for sinners, their love for the Word of God. And
he says, knowing. These people know. They don't
care whether they're contiguous, striving, Makes no difference,
love or goodwill. He says, they know the one thing,
that I'm set for the defense of the gospel. And then he goes
on and says, what then, what does it matter? What does it
matter? Christ is preached. And watch
what he says. Whether a man's in pretense of
it, just trying to make somebody pay attention to them, whether
it's in pretense, or whether it's in truth. Christ is preached,
and I therein do rejoice." And boy, I said, this is my rejoicing. He was sent for the defense of
the gospel, and why he rejoices is because Christ is preached.
His name is set before men. And why would he rejoice that
Christ is preached? What is it that caused him to
rejoice in Christ being preached? And I'll tell you why. Because
it's the only message Christ, the Lord of glory, the gospel
of the glory of God. It's the only message that God
will use in the hands of the Holy Spirit to save sinners. He will use no other. And that's
why Paul meant it. He said, that's just why Christ...
It's the only message that God will use to save sinners in the
hands of the Holy Spirit. Look with me in Romans 1 with
me, just a moment. You know, that's why he told
the Galatians, he says, you know, I'm marveled that you're so soon
removed from him that called you under the grace of Christ
unto another gospel. A gospel that's mixed up with
words, a gospel that's mixed up with words, a gospel that's
mixed up with law. He said, if a man or an angel
brings another gospel than I've preached unto you, let him be
accursed. And here look what it says in Romans 1 16. He says,
for I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of it. A lot
of people evidently were ashamed of it. They were ashamed to own
it. They were ashamed to own that
God Almighty sent His own Son into this world. That God Almighty
come down in human flesh. How are you going to explain
that to people? How are you going to explain that God in another
man saves sinners? That God in another man justifies
a man? That God in another man makes
a man righteous? How are you going to explain
that? That there's one God in three persons? And he says, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now watch what he says,
for it is, the gospel is, the power of God. The power in the
hand of the Holy Spirit. unto salvation to everyone that
believes. It was first proclaimed to the
Jews and then to the Greeks. And here's the reason why. It's
the power of God. But therein God shows His righteousness. God reveals how He can be a righteous
God and how He can stay righteous and save sinners. And that's
the only righteousness there is. And He knew that this is
the gospel and the Holy Spirit. He knew this from experience.
From experience. You know, I know we're looking
at a couple of things. Look at Acts 26 with me, just
a minute. You know, he knew this by experience. I mean, he experienced
Christ. Somebody didn't come along and
preach the Lord Jesus Christ to him. Christ himself put him
down on the Damascus Road. Christ himself, he says, my gospel's
not after men, but Christ himself taught me the gospel. Christ
Himself revealed Himself to me. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ
as one born out of due time. And He's standing here, and this
is what He begins to say. He's standing before Agrippa.
And oh, listen, He's the King. And the first thing He says in
verse 1, Agrippa said to Paul, you're permitted to speak for
yourself. Then Paul, you know, he stretched forth the hand and
asked it for himself. And oh, he just got through saying
the gospels went out to furthest, my furthest from what, my bonds.
He said, I thank myself, happy old King of Nippa. He's standing
there in chains. And I'm happy about it. And I'll
tell you why I'm happy, King. Because I shall answer for myself
this day before you in touching all the things whereof I'm accused
before the Jews. And then look what he says down
in verse 10. 9. I barely thought within myself that I ought to
do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which
things I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints did I
shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest.
And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
And I punished them often, every synagogue, and compelled them
to blaspheme, being seethingly mad against them. I persecuted
them under strange And then he says down in verse 13, At midday,
O king, I saw my way to Damascus. I saw a light in the way from
heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me
and them that journeyed with me. We were all on to the earth.
And I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew tongue. You
see, God speaks in every language. You know, he speaks to us in
English. But he really does. Honestly,
he does. And Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? It is hard for thee to keep against
the brethren. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said,
I am Jesus, whom I have persecuted. Rise, stand upon your feet, for
I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a
minister. Then in verse seventeen, Deliver me from the people and
from the Gentiles, whom thou seest. Open their eyes, turn
them from darkness to light. from the power of Satan unto
God, to receive forgiveness of sins, and then look what he said
here, verse 19, Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient
unto the heavenly vision. And then he says in verse 22,
Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this
day, witnessing both the small and great, saying none other
things than those things which the prophets and Moses said should
come, that Christ should suffer that he should be the first that
should rise from the dead and show shock, show light unto the
people and to the Gentiles. And as he thus spake for himself,
Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you're beside yourself. Your much learning has made you
bad as a bedbug. You're crazy as, if you're mad,
you've lost your mind. But he said, I'm not mad, most
noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. For the king knoweth of these
things before whom I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none
of these things are hidden from him, for this thing was not done
in a corner. King Agrippa blameth not the
prophets." So you see, beloved, he knew from experience God put
him down. He knew what he told Agrippa.
And, beloved, he knew it in the lives of those to whom he preached,
that this salvation was only in Christ, and that's why he's
a priest. He said, Brethren, go in your election. He says,
the gospel of your salvation after you receive the word of
the truth. And I tell you, beloved, before God ever taught me the
gospel, when I first come down into this country years and years
and years ago, I was preaching another gospel. And I had folks
get on altars, and I had folks make professions. I had folks
quit doing some bunch of bad habits. And then all of a sudden,
you know, none of them would would live what I preached, and
none of them was practicing what I preached. I don't believe I
was a true conversion. No, I didn't have any true conversion.
Lots of people made lots of professions. So it caused me to examine my
message. And beloved God, in His sovereign
mercy, crossed my path with the gospel of the grace of God one
day. And I'm certainly grateful for it. And so, you know, this
is why he sees rejoicing Christ is preached, because it's the
only message God will use to save sinners. And what is the
preaching? When he says Christ is preached,
what is this preaching of Christ? What is this gospel for which
he suffered? What is this gospel for which
he set for the defense of? Well, it's the gospel of the
glory concerning his son, Jesus Christ, the Lord. That's what
it is. He says, you know whether in pretense or in truth, Christ
is preached. And you know what this blessed
gospel is, is that God was in Christ. God himself, that man
that came into this world, God sent him forth in the fullness
of time. And this man was made of a woman. Made of a woman,
not a man and a woman, just of a woman. Conceived of the Holy
Ghost. brought forth from the womb of
a virgin in a little bitty town called Bethlehem, just a little
bitty tiny village, and still a tiny village. And he was made
of that woman, and God told him and caused him to live under
God's holy law. All the Ten Commandments, all
the ceremonies even of the law. He was circumcised the eighth
day. He was taken and offered as the
firstborn on the fortieth day. He went to all the feasts and
all the sacrifices, and he lived under God's law. He lived under
the government of the Roman Empire and never broke one of their
laws. He lived under the civil law and never broke any laws.
He loved his mother, and he loved his father, and he loved his
neighbor as himself. Our Lord said, do you think that
I've come to destroy the law? I've not. I've come to fulfill
it and the prophets. And he lived his life without
giving office to God, never gave office to man in thought, in
word, or deed, action, or motive. And then this man, after he was
sent forth in the fullness of time, after he had lived under
God's law, the ceremonial law, the government and the civil
law, He was taken by wicked hands and taken outside Jerusalem and
stripped naked and nailed to a Roman cross and ridiculed and
mocked and derided and cursed and laughed at while he hung
on that cross dying between two thieves and as he just sung just
a moment ago One of them says, remember me when I come into
thy, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And here's,
how's this man hanging on a cross going to have a kingdom? He came,
they said he saved others, but he can't even save himself. How's
this man on this cross hanging here naked going to save anybody? And he looked at him and says,
today you'll be with me in paradise. Don't you think that those Jews
say, what does this babbler say? What does this fool say? But
beloved, that was the Lord of Glory hanging there. That was
the Prince of Life Himself dying. And why did He come, made of
a woman? Why did He live on this earth
for thirty-three and a half years? Why did He die? The first reason
is, and this is the first reason, and don't never forget this,
We always start with man. The first reason that Christ
came into this world, the first reason that he came to die, was
first and foremost for God. God had to have a satisfaction
to Himself. All the blood of bulls and goats
could never take away sin, could never put away sin. Every sacrifice
that was offered by every priest and every sinner before Christ
came and He died on the cross never put away one sin or satisfied
the justice of God, satisfied the holiness of God, satisfied
the righteousness of God. But God said, before he come,
he shall see of the travail of his soul, and he shall be satisfied. Behold, my servant, my delight,
in whom I am well pleased. He shall not strive, and he shall
not be discouraged, until he brings salvation to thou. And, O beloved, he satisfied
God's holiness Nobody ever else was satisfied God's holiness.
Whoever else was holy as God, except Christ. Whoever else was
righteous as God, except Christ. Whoever else was satisfied God's
justice. That blood of molten gold surely
never satisfied it. If it would have ever put away
a sin, if it would have ever, God said, that satisfies me,
I'm satisfied. Then they would have never suffered
Him again. And the justice that cried out the soul that sinned,
that they shall die. And A satisfies the justice of God by upholding
his law and also suffering his penalty. Christ was made a curse
for us to redeem us from the curse. He did what his dirt rents
prayed just a minute ago. He did for us what we could not
do for ourselves when we didn't even know that we did it. And
then he was a satisfaction to God. That's why he came. Why
he lived and why he died. And then he, secondly, for us. If he satisfied God, then he
came, beloved, as a sin offering in our place. John said, Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. God
sent him forth to be a perpetuation that through faith in his blood
would receive remission of sins. And all us sinners, if we're
going to approach God, we've got to have a standoff. We've
got to have something to offer to God that God will accept. And everybody who's went to some
service today, whether it's a Muslim, or whether it's a Confucian,
or whether he's a Christian scientist, or whether he's a Baptist, or
whether he's a Presbyterian, or whether he's a Pentecostal,
or a Methodist, or a Lutheran, or a Catholic, everybody who
went today went to offer something to God. Let me turn this off. It seems to be too loud for some. I'll just turn it off. And let
me tell you, We have to have something to approach God with,
and everybody's going to bring something. They're going to bring
something. Remember when you used to bring
something? You remember you used to bring the best you had? Oh my, we've got to have a center.
We've got to come to God. We've got to bring something
to make us acceptable. What's going to make us acceptable?
The only thing that makes us acceptable is the offering of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who through the offering of His body put
away sin once and for all by the sacrifice of Himself. And
by His offering, by His will, He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. You see, our sins must be atoned
for. And I'll tell you another reason He lived and He died.
Not only to be our sin offering, oh my, God said He was wounded
for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity, the chastisement
of our peace was upon Him. And then He was also our substitute. When it was time for us, when we're going to face God,
who's going to stand there for us? Who's going to plead our
case? Who's going to plead our cause? Who's going to bear our sin?
Who's going to present us holy and acceptable to God? And a
substitute means one who stands for somebody else. Now, if you've got a job or something,
and you say, well, would you take my place today? One person
can only take one other person's place. But our Lord Jesus Christ,
because of who He is, because of the worth of His blessed person,
because of the value of His blood and the value of His merit, He
was able to stand as a substitute in the room and place of a multitude
that no man could number. And when God said, I want you
to stand good for this many people, this multitude that no man could
number, I want you to stand in their place, and I'm going to
treat you like I'd treat them. I'm going to punish you, and
I'm going to punish you to the uttermost. I'm going to put all
their sin on you. And I'm going to pour out my
wrath on you. And I'm going to turn my back on you. And I'm
going to treat you like you're a sinner. I'm going
to treat you like I treat them. And you're going to have to die.
And I won't help you. I won't help you. I can't help
you. I will by no means to, but help me." And our Lord Jesus
Christ said, OK. And when our Lord Jesus Christ,
the life that He lived, He lived in our cross. The death that
He died, He died for us. And when He was on that cross,
He was there for us. Just like when Isaac was laid
on that altar and already fastened down. And God says, stay your
hand. And he caught a ram and a dick
and he put it in his place. God called us forth and said,
here, I'll put my son in your place. I'll put my son in your
place. No wonder Paul said, Christ is
preached and I rejoice. All that he was and all that
he is is imputed to us. His obedience is our obedience.
His righteousness is our righteousness. His being raised from the dead
and justified is our justification. God made Him to be sin who knew
no sin, that we might be made the very righteousness of God
in Him. And I've said this so many times
over the years, God put all His eggs in one basket. God put all of His glory, all
of His honor at stake on this one man. This one man. This one man. He made one man,
a man named Adam, but he never staked all on him, because Adam
fell. Noah, he found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, he was put in an ark. God never put all, never
staked it all on him. God had Isaiah, never staked
it all on him. God had Abraham, never staked
it all on him. God had David, never staked it
all on him. God loved Jacob, but He never
staked it all on him. But there was a man, came into
this world, and God said, I'll stake all my honor, all my glory,
on this one man right here. And here's the situation. If
he failed, God lost all of His honor, lost
all of His glory, lost His right to be God. Then on that third morning, on
that third morning, they rolled that big stone away. God took
him out of there. And you know what happened? After 40 days, he said, come
up here and sit down. And sat him at his own right
hand. Oh, my. How was God honored? How was
God glorified? God glorified Himself in Christ. In this man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
glorified His wisdom. Oh, the wisdom of God. If God
gave a man something to do, a man would try his dead-level best
to do it. I mean, there are people who
handle snakes trying to be saved. There are people who drink strychnine
trying to be saved. There are people who walk on
fire trying to be saved. There are people that live in
monasteries and live celibate lives trying to be saved. But God in wisdom took one man,
one man, and that one man was so glorious and so virtuous and
so It was sinless and perfect, and was God manifest in the flesh
that God, through one man, would justify and save and declare
righteous a multitude that no man could number by one man's
deeds, by one man's person. And then he says, all you do
is just trust Him, and I'll treat you just like He is. I'll treat
you just like Him. Oh, the wisdom of God, the love
of God. Let me tell you something. Now,
you think about it. I'm going to give you something to think about.
It tells us that God justifies the ungodly. Is that not right?
God commended His love toward us and said, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Now, if God justified the ungodly,
let me ask you a question. Were we ungodly when God justified
us? Or when God justified us, did
He take away our ungodliness? It says He justified their ungodliness.
So you know what that means to me, what that tells me? That
tells me that God justified the sin of Christ before the world
ever began, and that He sent this gospel, sent Christ into
this world to save us from our ungodliness. And, oh, beloved,
His holiness, His grace, His mercy, His sovereignty. And,
oh, here's the question. Was God's purpose defeated? When
He sent His Son into this world, Christ died on the cross. When
the life that He lived, was God disappointed? As He, as they
tell us now, has He done all He can do, it's up to you now.
Has He made a move? Now it's your turn to make a
move. You and God, it's men and God playing checkers. You know,
God's made a move, now you make a move. And God will make another
move, and you make a move. Next thing you know, who's going
to win this checker game? God's already won. He ain't playing
games with men. God was honored. God was glorified. His grace was magnified. All
of His attributes shone brilliantly in this man's life, in his birth,
in his death, in his resurrection. How can we know? God raised him
from the dead, said that he's alright, and says, I give this
man a name above every name in this whole universe. He's got
a name above every name. What about Gabriel? His name's
above Gabriel. What about Michael? His name's
above Michael. And I mean, I gave Him a number.
And if you want to speak to me, you've got to come in His name.
If you want to do business with me, you've got to come in His name.
And if you don't bow to His name right now, I'll tell you what
I'm going to have to do. One of these days, I'm going
to have Him put His hand on your neck, and you're going to bow
down, and you're going to give me all the glory that's due me
through this man, Jesus Christ, when He puts His hand on your
neck and puts you down. But He's going to get all the glory, because
I gave Him a name to do it. And what's the result of this?
Look with me in Acts chapter 28. What's the result of Christ
being preached? Paul said, I rejoice that Christ
is preached. Oh, what is it to preach Christ?
Why does he rejoice? Because there's no other gospel
in the hands of a sinner, in the hands of the Holy Ghost,
that God will use to save sinners. It's the gospel of His glory,
where God glorified Himself in Christ. And what's going to be
the results of Christ being preached? Look here in Acts 27, verse 23. And when they had appointed him
a day, talking about the Jews now that's over in Israel, where
he's in prison over there. And when they had appointed him,
Acts 28, what did I say? Huh? Twenty-eight, twenty-three. Well, twenty-eight, twenty-three. I'm sorry. And when they had
appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging,
to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading
them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of
the prophets. And he done that from morning
till evening. He done it all day long. Now here's the result. Some believed the things which
were spoken. And some believe not." That's
pretty much the same way it's taught. That's the way it was.
That's what Isaiah said, who hasn't believed, I report. And
all beloved, some believe, some won't. Paul said, Christ is the
saver of life to God now. Not just, but unto God. He's
the saver of life to them that believe. He's the saver of death
to those who don't believe. Gary was telling me when he was
in Bible college, he had a professor that believed and taught election,
taught how to think sovereignty of God. And he says, boy, you're
talking about a contentious class. He said, boy, there's a lot of
stuff going on, a lot of argument on that. And he said, needless
to say, I didn't believe that. Believe it myself. But you believe
it now, don't you? You see? That's the saver of death to
a lot of people. There was a time the saver of
death to him is the saver of death to me, electing grace of
God. God's will in Christ. Salvation always being justified
by another, by what another did. Oh, that's the sweetest smell.
Oh, we open this book and we smell the blood and righteousness
and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we hear Him pray. That's life to us. Somebody else
says, oh my, how can you believe that? How can you believe that
God elects some passions by others? How can you believe that you
could be saved without doing something? How can you believe
that you could be saved without you having some part in it? When Christ is built to your
heart, you won't have no trouble believing it. And I tell you what, God will
honor and vindicate them who honored Him and preached Christ.
And that's what He did. That's why Paul says, you know,
whatever happened to me, whatever's happened to me, from the day
they arrested me until He stood before Nero, He said, it fell out to the furthest
of the gospel. Some fellows, boy, they got real
confident. Some got contentious, some got
strife, some got envious. But he said, I know this, that
Christ's name is said before men. And that's the name that
God uses. That's what God uses. He uses
Christ. Christ preached. That's what
God uses. Our Father, in the blessed name,
oh, the blessed, blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ, oh,
how we thank you for him. Lord Jesus, we thank you for
you coming. Oh, Lord Jesus, there's a time
on this earth that you came, and that little old place called
Israel, that little bitty place called the city of David Bethlehem,
Born there in a stable, wrapped in some old cloths, laid in a manger, and your own mother rejoiced
in the Savior, you, the Lord of glory. Thank you for the life
that you lived. Oh, sinless, perfect, holy, Thank you for the death you died. Satisfying God, being our sin
offering, taking our place. And our Lord Jesus and our blessed
God, help us to always, as you glorified Him and honored Him,
help us to honor Him and glorify Him by our preaching, by our
lives, by our words, by our love. May we honor Him. And would you
cause this gospel to be the power of God unto salvation to sinners
in this place. We ask in Christ's name, Amen. Amen.