If you would, turn to Acts 24.
Acts 24, and I want to read verses 1 through 14. And after five days, Ananias
the high priest descended with the elders and with certain orator
named Tertullius, who informed the governor against Paul. And
when he was called forth, Tertullius began to accuse him, saying,
Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness and that very
worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, we
accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. Notwithstanding that I be not
further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear
us of thy clemency a few words. For we have found this man a
pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition among all the Jews
throughout the world and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. who also hath gone about to profane
the temple whom we took and would have judged according to our
law. But the chief captain Lysias
came upon us and with great violence took him away out of our hands,
commanding his accusers to come unto thee by examining, of whom
thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things whereof we
accuse him. And the Jews also assented, saying
that these things were so. Then Paul, after that the governor
had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know
that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do
the more cheerfully answer for myself. because that thou mayest
understand that there are yet but 12 days since I went up to
Jerusalem for to worship. And they neither found me in
the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people,
neither in the synagogues nor in the city. Neither can they
prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess
unto thee that after the way which they call heresy, so worship
I, the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law and in the prophets. Here are some words from Robert
Hawker. There is a fashionable gospel
in the present day. which all the world may follow,
and yet escape reproach. But none who love the Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity and truth will go free. Today, just as it was back in
Robert Hawker's day, there is a fashionable gospel, which as
Paul has told us is not the gospel, but a perversion of the gospel.
Men everywhere in all religions, all denominations have some form
of free will that they teach. They teach in some way man has
a part in his salvation. What they are concerned with,
especially around this time of year, but they're concerned with
their Christmas cantatas or their Christmas plays where they have
their nativity scenes. In other times, they are all
about having the functions with contemporary music, which would
put to shame some of the so-called rock stars of this day and the
shows they perform. They teach for doctrines the
commandments of men. What did our Lord tell the Pharisees
in Luke 16, 14, and 15? And the Pharisees also who were
covetous heard all these things and they derided him. And he
said unto them, ye are they which justify yourselves before men,
but God knoweth your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. All the modern
day religious institutions are in a competition against each
other. They want to see who can have the biggest crowds, the
biggest buildings, the best scenes, the best gala. Although I should
use the synonym for that, and that is a carnival. They brag
on what all they have for people to do. But when it comes to the
word, they could care less about what it is they are hearing or
saying. In fact, all they want to hear
or to say is something that builds man up and makes them feel good,
but gives no glory to God for what he has done. As Joe has
said, they will not let doctrine get in the way of their theology.
Those who do care by the grace of God, what's being said and
what's being heard are called names and ridicule. They are
called such things as Paul was called an axe in our text, a
sect. There are some things that we
teach such as us, some people that teach things such as us,
and there's others, not just us, that they cannot put up with. I know this personally because
this was me at one time. I couldn't put up with some of
this stuff. But God be thanked, he did not leave me there. And
I could just go through the five points, and I'm gonna go through
a few of them, but I wanna tell you a little something about
the five points. Someone was asked one time, do you know what a five pointer
is? And being in West Virginia, we can understand the answer.
And the answer was, yeah, it was a buck that I was looking
for last week in woods. But then someone asked a preacher
or said to a preacher, there are some who only believe in
four points. And the wise preacher responded,
well then, I think they're pointless, aren't they? And that's what
they are. There's more than the five points
in the book of God. But those five points are true,
nonetheless. But there's more than five points,
and we read of one in the passage in the account that I just read
from. But I wanna go through a few
of these, and that is limited atonement, total depravity, and
election. Jesus Christ did not die for
every single individual in the world. This is limited atonement. So any who are hearing me, it
may be that Jesus Christ did not die for you. Matthew 121
says, and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. It says, he shall save. And we
know God's shalls are as good as if they were done. But we
also know this, work has already been accomplished. But who are
his people? First of all, they are the ones
that will have their sins forgiven. The word is really singular,
but it is also true of their sins. It says sins in the text
there in the book, but the word is sin, it's singular. but they
shall be saved from their sin, and because of them being sin,
they shall be also saved from their sins, which is what they
do. 1 Timothy 1.15 says, this is a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am chief. Someone might say, I know I have
sins, but I don't hate God. Romans 5, 6 says, for when we
were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. That Greek word for the ungodly
is derived from two other Greek words. One means to revere, adore,
devout, religious, worship, and the other word negates that. So it means irreverent, impious,
or wicked. That is, you're not this toward
God. There is no love for God and
there is no worship of God if you are an ungodly person. These
are the one God tells us he died for. But it says Christ in due
time died for the ungodly. Can you take your place as an
ungodly person? Can you take your place as a
sinner? Mark 2, 17 says, when Jesus heard it, he saith unto
them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but
they that are sick. Those for whom Jesus Christ came
to save have no need of that great physician because they
know that they are sick. Those for whom Jesus Christ came
to save have need of this great physician because they know that
they are sick from head to the bottom of their feet. Christ
goes on to say, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. This sickness is the reason Jesus
Christ had to come. This sickness being the total
depravity of man. So total depravity, number two.
Man, as we are born in Adam, are as totally depraved as we
can be. There is nothing in this flesh
that will ever be good. Paul tells us that is in me,
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. You can fight
against God's word all you want, but God says we, as we are born
in Adam, are totally corrupt. Even as believers, we may not
see how bad we are. We may not know how bad we are.
But we can get no worse than what we are by nature. This flesh
is nothing but corrupt. Man does not like this because
in this flesh, we like to think we're pretty good folk. We like
to think we can put our best foot forward. But man is absolutely
and totally depraved. The word depraved itself is not
used in scripture. What this word means is corrupt,
wicked, or perverted. Contrast that with God is absolutely
holy, righteous, just, and perfect. So man as he is born will not
decide to turn to God. Those he came to save are ungodly. Christ says in John 6, 43 and
44, Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, murmur not
among yourselves. No man can, and this word can
in the Greek means to be able to or possible. No man can come
to me. Not one single person will be
able to come to Jesus Christ on their own. This is what Jesus
Christ tells us right here. These are his words. Accept. Here's the one exception concerning
those who will come to Jesus Christ. Accept the Father which
has sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It does not matter what you think.
It only matters what God says. God says you will not come to
Jesus Christ unless God the Father draws you to Jesus Christ. Psalm 110 and three says, thy
people, again, a certain and specific people, not just anyone
and certainly not everyone, thy people shall be willing in the
day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of
the morning thou hast to do of thy youth. Because we are totally
corrupt, we can do nothing for ourselves. His dying, for some,
was based on his election. Number three, election. Not one
of us can point out those for whom Christ died out of a crack.
There is no distinguishing mark that God has given them. There
is no good or evil that they do to manifest this choosing
or election. We read in Romans 9, God says,
Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. And God tells us this
was before either one of them had done any good or evil. So
what they did or did not do had nothing to do with why they were
chosen of God. It was solely based on the will
of God and this was so that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. There are a lot of people because
of this one doctrine who will accuse you of multiple things.
One thing they will accuse you of is being in a cult. What this
world accuses us of and what we actually are are two different
things. But I was looking up the meaning
of the word cult, and here are a couple of definitions of cult. A small religious group that
is not part of a larger or more accepted religion and that has
beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous. Strike
one against me. Great devotion to a person, idea,
object, movement, or work. Strike two against me. What they
define as being a cult, at least in part, I can say that it is
true of me. I am with a small group which
has true religion, and we are not part of any larger accepted
religion, that kind of religion which men highly esteem. I will
add this. Most people think we are extreme
because we believe what this book says. We are devoted to
a person. That is one person in his work.
That one person is Jesus Christ the Lord. This world takes liberty
with God's word, and they will say things like, society has
changed, so some of these things are no longer true or no longer
valid for us in this day. But we know God does not change,
and therefore what God tells us in his word does not change.
As Walter has said before, the U.S. Constitution may give you
freedom of religion, but God does not. But there is one more
thing that they will not put up with, nor will they bow down
to it apart from the grace of God doing their work in them
and on them. Jesus Christ has raised from
the dead. He is no longer a little baby.
They want to keep God as a little baby so that God has need of
them to take care of him and so they can do for God. God cannot do for me since I
have to do something for him. Now I know full well they will
not say it this way, nor will they say this about always having
during this time of year their nativity scenes with a little
baby in a manger. They will not say they do this
because they need to do something for God. But Jesus Christ is
no longer in a manger. It doesn't matter how many Christmas
plays this world produces. But this is what their thought
is. They believe they have made the choice to serve God, but
they do not give one thought about this little holy baby which
was born of a virgin that has not only died on that tree, but
he has arisen to the Father's right hand. And those for whom
he died, those whom he chose, those whom are totally depraved
by nature are saved to the uttermost. This God who was pleased to come
and save a people from every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation
has done what he came to do. There never was, is, or shall
be anything that we can do for God. that is Jew and Gentile
alike. Christ says in John 10, 16, he
says, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. This Lord who was born a Jew,
but not just a Jew, a spiritual Jew, a true Jew, that one which
will bring all true Jews into that one fold, the spiritual
Israel, They do not like a risen Lord who sits on his throne.
And if you would, turn back with me to Acts 2 for a minute, Acts
2. And we'll talk a little bit about
this throne. Acts 2. Acts 2, verses 32. This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see
and hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Some might say, well, this just
says seated at the right hand of God. It says nothing about
a throne. Just go back up a few more verses in 29. Men and brethren,
let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that
he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto
this day. therefore being a prophet, and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ
to sit on his throne. He seeing this before spake of
the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh did see corruption. Being at the right hand of God
and exalted is Christ on his throne. And he is in power and
majesty, the God of all the universe. As we read in our text and in
the surrounding scripture of that text or that account that
I chose to read, we see that those who hate Jesus Christ will
come up with anything and everything to accuse you of and try to relegate
what you're saying as extremism. So they try to make you look
like you're over the top or that you just have some wild ideas.
But the very scriptures which they search are the ones that
speak of Jesus Christ and his rule overall. They will not do
as these did in that day and bring you before a magistrate
or a king to try and have you put to death. But they will try
to silence you and all those who believe this Christ so that
no one else will listen to you. They will try to get you involved
in some of their social events to try and prevent you from thinking
on Jesus Christ. What does the scripture say in
2 Timothy 4.3? For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. First of
all, when will that time be where it says this will come? When
this was written is when it will come. They will make sure that
the ones that are teaching them are those who will teach them
what they want to hear, not what scripture says. They are not
concerned with sound doctrine. They are only concerned with
what scratches their ears and that itch for that unsound doctrine. These are they which tell us
that what we teach is heresy. Paul tells them the way which
they call a sect, that is the way which they call heresy, is
the way I worship God. We worship God through the Lord
Jesus Christ as the one and the only way to God. Man does not
want to hear that Jesus Christ is all, all in the salvation
of sinners. They have to have their part.
In some way, they have to have their part. But God will not
have any of our part. It is what he came to die for
is our part. We know today that to be called
a Christian is commonplace. Not that every single person
in the world calls themselves Christian, but it is very common,
especially in this country, to hear someone calling themselves
Christian or doing so-called Christian things. But the one
thing they will not bow down to is Jesus Christ and his word. Which doesn't make sense, does
it? The way they call heresy, the way they call a sect, although
a sect is not necessarily defined the exact same way as a court
is, it's very close. Here's the meaning. A group of
people with somewhat different religious beliefs, typically
regarded as heretical from those of a larger group to which they
belong. a group that has separated from an established church, a
non-conformist church. They would not call us a Christian
today. They would call us a cult, a
sect, or heresy. But we read in Acts 11, 25, and
26, we read, then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. And that's Paul, the one that
we were just reading of in our text. And when he had found him,
he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole
year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much
people. And the disciples were called
Christians first in Antioch. This man who taught those things
which we hold to, along with others in his sect, were called
Christians then. Yet there are those today who
call themselves Christians who will not hold to what the Apostle
Paul taught. I nor you have any concern if
someone makes fun of us. We shouldn't anyway. We do, but
we shouldn't. or if they get angry with us
and call us names or accuse us of heresy. In fact, we should
not be ashamed of this at all. We should, in fact, give glory
to God for it. 1 Peter 4, 6 says, yet if any
man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him
glorify God on death's behalf. If you do not suffer as a Christian,
then it may be that you are not a Christian, but an imposter.
The word for Christian in the scripture means a follower of
the anointed one, that is, a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
for who he is and what he has done. He is sovereign king and
it is he to whom you should bow down before him. If you worship
at all, it will be in submission to him. If you will not submit,
you have no reason to think that you worship God. We as Christians,
by the grace of God, submit to Him and His will. We know if
we have our way, that is, if we have our will fulfilled, it
will be shot full of hail. We want His will, and we want
His will to be toward us in mercy, knowing He has every right to
not show us mercy. Now if you will, turn with me
to Acts 26, and I'll close with this, Acts 26. And I'm going to read verses
1 through 29, a little bit lengthy. And this is going on with the
same account here that we started with. Then Agrippa said unto Paul,
Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched
forth the hand and answered for himself. I think myself happy,
King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before
thee, touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews,
especially because I know thee to be an expert in all customs
and questions which are among the Jews. Wherefore, I beseech
thee to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth,
which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem, know
all the Jews, which knew me from the beginning, if they would
testify that after the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived
a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged
for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers. Unto
which promise are 12 tribes instantly serving God Day and night, hope
to come. For which hope's sake, King Agrippa,
I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing
incredible with you that God should raise the dead? I barely
thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to
the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints did I
shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests.
And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
And I punished them oft in every synagogue and compelled them
to blaspheme. And being exceedingly mad against
them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. Whereupon,
as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief
priest, at midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven
above the brightness of the sun shining round about me, and then
which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to
the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew
tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. But rise and stand up upon thy
feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make
thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou
hast seen and of those things in which I will appear unto thee,
delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom
now I send thee. to open their eyes and to turn
them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto
God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon,
O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. but
showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout
all the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should
repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught
me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having therefore
obtained help of God, I continue unto this day." witnessing both
to small and great, saying none other things than those which
the prophets and Moses did say should come, that Christ should
suffer, and that he should be the first that should arise from
the dead, and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. And as he thus spake for himself,
Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself. Much learning doth make thee
mad. But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak
forth the words of truth and soberness, for the king knoweth
of these things before whom also 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, believest thou
the prophets? I know that thou believest. Then
Agrippa said unto Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God
that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day were
both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds. It is my hope that you are convinced
to be a Christian, not by me, but by God. If he does convince
you, you will become a follower of us and of the Lord. We worship
one man. And that one man is Jesus Christ
who has risen from the dead and is seated with all power. May
it be our plea, dear Lord, come save me. Amen.