I invite you this evening to
turn with me to the 17th chapter of the book of Acts. We often refer to this book as
Acts. It's actually the Acts of the
Apostles. And the Acts of the Apostles
is a book that records a great transition. Great transition. It takes us
from the death and resurrection of Christ into a new age. A brand new age. The appearing
of Jesus Christ in this world marked the arrival of the last
days. One of my neighbors came over
and was talking to me, often asked me about my wife. And we
make a small conversation, and he goes his way and I go mine.
And while he was there, I said, I noticed when I was mowing my
grass that I had figs on my fig tree. And I don't think I've
ever seen figs in September on a fig tree. And he said, oh,
really? I said, yeah. And I walked over
and picked one and showed it to him. he said, the last days
is almost here. We've been living in the last
days for a little over 2,000 years. The coming of Christ marked
the last days. And I don't know a whole lot
about when the in school or call my here people speculate and
talk about the in the end almost here and i don't i don't know
a whole lot about that but i do know this these last days in
which we're leaving is the gospel it's a new age and this new age
is the gospel age the son of god is calm and ushered in We
heard tonight the righteousness of God. He's accomplished that. He has ushered that in an everlasting
righteousness. The righteousness of God. And
He's accomplished the full redemption of God's elect. It's accomplished. I get weary, I actually get sick
at my stomach anymore when I hear these people and they start talking
about what God's trying to do and what God's attempting to
do and what God might do. It's not much of a redeemer unless
he can redeem. Henry used to call him that peanut
Jesus. And that's kind of how I feel
about that Jesus they preach too. The Son of God has come
and ushered in the righteousness of God and accomplished the full
redemption of God's elect. And he hath abolished death,
is what Paul said. He hath abolished death and hath
brought life, eternal life, and immortality to light through
the gospel. And the reason that he did that
is because he is the gospel. The gospel's not a what, it's
a who. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
in this age, the Holy Spirit has been poured out as never
before, and he works in the hearts of chosen sinners through the
preaching of the gospel. That's what the gospel age is
all about. And so we call these last days
the gospel age. And I'm vitally interested in
the Acts of the Apostles and in the New Testament Epistles
because it takes us from the days of types and symbols. It takes us from the days of
allegories and shadows into the full manifestation of Jesus Christ. I'm interested in these things
because I live in an age of ignorance. in an age of darkness and in
an age of superstition. I've learned sitting under faithful
gospel preachers and studying the Word of God that most of
what goes on in the name of Christianity is in fact an abomination to
God. And most people gasp when you
tell them that. Oh, you shouldn't talk like that.
It is. God talked that way. The apostles
talked that way. They promoted Jesus, but he's
not the same Jesus set forth in the Word of God and in the
doctrine of the apostles. Sometimes just write down what
these men are saying. Just write it down. And then go into the Word of
God and see if this Christ that the apostles preach has any similarity
even to the Jesus that they are presenting to this generation.
I told about one time, he said, what is the truth? And I said,
just whatever it is that you're hearing preached, take the direct
opposite and you'll have the truth. Take the opposite. If they say black, you use white.
If they say up, you go down. Take the very opposite of what
they're declaring, that's the truth. They preach what they call a
gospel, but it's another gospel, and it's got no good news for
sinners in it. Their gospel has nothing. Larry
and I was talking about this. Their gospel has nothing eternal
in it. There's nothing eternal about
it. It's all for the moment. It's all for right now. It's
all for in this world. There's nothing eternal about
it. There's no beginning back in what we would call sometimes
the council halls of eternity. There's none of that in this
new gospel. There's no eternality about it.
There's nothing effectual about it. It doesn't really do anything. And this gospel that these men
preach centers on man, depends on man, appeals to man, glorifies
man. And I hear a lot about the mark
of the beast, 666. And I'm not in numerology and
all that stuff, but isn't six the number of man? and so the
mark of the beast that which is stamped into his head, into
his mind, that which people look at and admire is man, man, man. Most of what goes on in the name
of worship is nothing more than a carryover from the old priesthood
and ceremonial worship of Israel. I see something of it every day. Priestly robes, Hardly a pastor
gets in the pulpit anymore in a church of any size without
some kind of a robe and garment and something on. He puts this
on and then his voice changes and he quits talking like he
talked to you when you come in the church and you're wondering,
you know, what's going on here? This guy's voice changed. dress-up in roles there's a a
lot of churches have a structured priesthood where they come from
you're a bunch of elders got together and said, I know what,
let's have a priesthood no, they went back there and they saw
that priesthood back there in the old testament and they said,
boy wouldn't that be that's what we need to do that's what we
need to do, we'll have a priesthood and I'll tell you what, they
burn incense back there, let's burn some incense let's get some
candles and we'll put it around cause after all we're ministering
to the whole man and we'll put some things there and he can
smell it when he comes in and it'll smell like church. It smells
like something but it ain't church. Visual aids and candlelight. I want to know the difference,
don't you? I live in a day of ignorance
and darkness and I want to know the difference. That's why I'm
interested in these books. That's why I study these books.
I want to know the difference between playing church and true
worship. I don't want to just come in
because it's Sunday and get my duty over with. Go home. I want
to worship God. I don't want to play church.
I don't want to play prayer. I don't want to memorize something
and spit it out real quick and go home. I want to pray. I want to speak with God, don't
you? I want to know the difference.
I want to know the difference between entertaining sinners
on their way to hell and preaching the gospel in the power of God's
Spirit. I want to know the difference.
I don't, Paul said, I don't want to preach to others and then
at the end find out that I'm a ghast away. I don't want that.
I want to know the difference. I want to know the difference.
between these things and we're not going to find out the difference
going out here in the religion of this world. They don't know
the difference. I heard Brother Mahan make this
statement years ago. He said we're living in one of
the biggest mission fields in this world. Right here. Right here. Surrounded by paganism
and idol worship and ceremonialism. And in our text here in Acts
chapter 17, I believe we have a few things that ought to be
eye-openers to anybody caught up in anti-Christ religion. Anybody that's caught up in the
religion of our day and wondering, what is the difference? What
is the difference? Now look here in these first
three verses. Acts chapter 17, beginning with verse one. Now
when they pass through Amphipolis, In Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,
where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner
was, went in unto them. And three Sabbath days reasoned
with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and
now listen to this and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you
is Christ. Not that Jesus, this Jesus. Not that Christ, this Christ. Now he said that in a synagogue
where they believed in a coming redeemer. They believed in a
coming Messiah, a Christ. And he's told them, the Jesus
that I preach unto you, this is Christ. This is Christ. Now there's four things in these
three verses that outline the way of the gospel ministry in
these last days. First thing I want you to see
here, and I'll try to hurry, I know it's getting late, but
the first thing I want you to see here is where Paul preached. Where do we preach, Don? This
is a big world, isn't it? Where do I preach? Where does
a preacher sit from God? Where does he preach? Do I just
get my Bible? We don't have to go an hour and
a half to anywhere from where I live. And on the way down to
some of the bigger stores and things, there's a long straight
stretch. And about halfway down there,
there used to be this old fella. He's bearded and long-haired,
and he'd sit out on the hood of his car, and he had his Bible
in his hand. And all he would do is hold the
Bible up when you went by. Just hold his Bible up. Where do I go preach? Is that
what I do? Do I just get on the hood of my car and start talking
out in the air? Where do I go? Who do I preach
to? Do I go down to the grocery store
and meet folks when they come in? Where does God's ministers
go? Where do you preach? Where do
you preach? Well it says this, now I want
you to see this. It says, before he gets into
all of what he preached, he said they passed through Apollonia. Why didn't he preach there? You
reckon there wasn't any sinners in Apollonia? No, I don't think
that's the problem. Why didn't he preach there? What's
wrong with Apollonia? And then it says he passed through
Amphipolis. They didn't stop there either.
Went right on through. And he came to Thessalonica. Somebody asked one of our people
the other day, why do you drive an hour and a half to church? And they said because that's
where God was pleased to raise up a church. and send us a gospel
preacher. That's why we drive in our name.
Why do you drive? Why did you come here tonight? That's where God was pleased
to raise up His church. His church. You know, in the
book of Revelations, He speaks to seven pastors and seven churches. Asia's a big place, Don. How many churches you reckon
was in Asia? He said there's seven. Oh, there
was hundreds of churches in Asia, I know, but there's only seven.
There's only seven. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God raises
up churches where he will? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that God has men that he's called into the ministry of the gospel
and that there's sin of God to call out his elect? My friend, there's a vast difference
in the ministry of this world and the ministry of God. And
one of these differences is that God's ministers know that there's
sin of God. That's why they don't promote
themselves. I always watch young ministers when they're coming
up. I watch them. And if they promote themselves,
I stand back. I stand back. God's ministers
don't promote themselves. God puts it on the hearts of
his people to promote his ministers, and God arranges his providence
around his ministers, and how shall they preach except they
be sent? God sends his preachers. I don't have a big map in my
study, and I look at all the populations and all the potentials
of each city, and this city and that city. Boy, this city, that's
appealing. They've got factories there,
there's a lot of work there, people can come here and get
jobs. I think that's where I'm going to go. I don't have that
in my study. I don't get on the phone and
call and try to get influential people to let me come and preach
to them. I believe that God arranges the places for his preachers
to preach. Now I can't give you all the
individual acts of providence in it, but you go through the
book of Acts and see if it's not so. The Holy Spirit forbade
them to go into certain places and the Holy Spirit led them
into some places. How did he forbid them? Did he
just speak to them in the middle of the night? No. No, through
his providence. Through his providence. He leads them to where they're
supposed to go. God saves men on purpose, and
he saves them through the preaching of the gospel. How shall you
hear without a preacher, and how shall he preach except he
be sent? Only God knows where His elect
are. I don't know where they are. I don't have a clue. They're scattered all over the
place. And only God can arrange His providence in such a way
as to bring that preacher and that person together. God's preachers
are sin of God. That's the first thing I see
in it. They went right through Amphipolis and right through
Apollonia. Didn't stop. And they came to Thessalonica. All right, here's the second
thing. That's where he preached, and that's where I preach. There's a lot of acts of God's
providence that arranged for me to be here tonight. Did you
know that? One man had an operation, didn't he? Another's wife died. you think that's probably true
i think something else i remember the last time henry mayhem came
to grace baptist church and down and on in passing told me that
few days after i think on that wednesday night he told me he
said now henry's coming down to preach but he's in pretty
bad shape and if you don't mind how about looking over some things
just in case sure so i did it i prepared brought with stuck
it in my back sit down and henry got up preaching he started and i got a hold of my party
he turned around whispered me he said i can't do this i can't
do this i said it's ok i said god told me to have something
prepared i'd be more than happy to get up and bring a message
henry said that's providential Do you believe that? God sends
his preachers. It's not always apparent, Don.
You know, sometimes we're just talking with people, and they
invite us, and we go, and we don't even think about it. We
need to think about it. God sends his preachers. And they all know that. They
know it in their heart. That's the sin of God. All right,
here's the second thing. How he preached. I heard a man
say not too long ago, it don't matter how you preach. Oh, I
beg your pardon. I beg your pardon. It does matter
how you preach. If it didn't matter how we preach,
the Holy Ghost would not have taken so much time to tell us
how to preach. And he did. It's a declaration. What is gospel preaching? It's
a declaration. Sometimes we just stand up and
declare the gospel. Paul said, I declare unto you
the gospel. That's what he told them over
there in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. It's a declaration. And secondly, it's a delivery. You ever heard the gospel referred
to as a delivery? Paul said to that same people
in that same chapter, he said, for I delivered unto you I delivered
unto you that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried and risen again
according to the Scriptures. I delivered that to you. And
then thirdly, preaching is teaching. All true preaching, Brother Don
told me this years ago, is expository. It's expository. Go ye and teach
all nations. Pastors are pastor-teachers. You must be apt to teach to be
an elder or bishop. And then fourthly, preaching
is an exhortation. I bet there's only one person,
Brother Don, in here that knows what that word means. You ever heard of inciting a
riot? That's what it means to exhort.
To incite to an end. To incite to an end. It is to
move men with your message. It is to motivate men with your
message. Give attention, Paul said to
Timothy, to exhortation. Give attention to it. And then
sometimes preaching is a warning. Those who watch for men's souls,
the souls of chosen sinners, warn them. We warn them. We warn them about Satan's snares
and the dangers of unbelief and pride and all these things. And
then, sixly, here in our text, Paul uses a term which is used
primarily, I was surprised to see this, this term is used primarily
to describe Paul's ministry. Almost every time it's used,
it's used in conjunction with his preaching. I don't know if
that was because he was a missionary, I don't know why that is. But
it says that he reasoned with them. He reasoned with them. How did Paul preach to these
people? He reasoned with them. Why on
earth would he do that? Didn't he know that there's none
that understand it? Sure he did, he wrote that. Didn't he know that the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God? Sure he
did, he wrote it. Didn't he know that the carnal
mind is enmity against God? He wrote that down. Why would
he reason with unreasonable men? Why would he reason? Why would
this man with such a keen spiritual understanding attempt to reason
with unreasonable men? Because he knew that preaching
is the mean. It is the means God ordained
to save sinners, and when this gospel falls on the ears of His
elect, they're made reasonable. I'm telling you, you get somebody
that's not reasonable. You get somebody in whom God
has not done a work. I told our folks the other day,
and you can pile scriptures up around them like cordwood, and
it don't do a bit of good. Don't do a bit of good. They'll
just sit there, yeah but, yeah but, yeah but. But oh that man,
you find a man with ears to hear, blessed are your ears for they
hear. You find that man and he's reasonable. He's reasonable. How come? Because
God said to him, come let us reason together. And he made
him reasonable. He becomes willing. Willing. This is the means. This is the
means. This is what makes men, He makes
men reasonable. He makes men teachable. He makes
men movable. And He makes men submissive.
And that's why we can preach to them, teach to them, exhort
them. I don't know a lot about those
who are not elect, but I know a little bit of something about
his elect. And God hath from the beginning
chosen them through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Whereunto Paul said, He called
you. What's that whereunto mean? That
means because. Whereunto He called you by our
gospel. Listen to the obtaining of the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He taught you. He declared to
you the truth. He exalted you. He delivered
that which was sent to you. A message that's delivered is
a message that's been given for an individual or for a group. And it's given. And we deliver
what was given to you. And I don't have to guess about
these Thessalonians. If you go over to the book, the
very first letter Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, he said,
I know your election of God. Well, Paul how on earth do you
know that? Because he said, when my gospel came, it didn't come
in word only, it come in power, and it come in the Holy Ghost,
and it come with much assurance. Is that the assurance Don was
talking about tonight? I don't think so. That's a part
of it. God does give you that assurance.
But the word assurance there, I don't believe it's talking
about the assurance of their salvation, though that comes
through the preaching of the gospel too, but rather he's talking
here about an assurance that the one preaching to him is sin
of God. Well, how do you figure that,
Preacher? Well, look at the second half of that verse. He said,
as you know what manner of men we were among you. You know, you know. You ever
stop and think about all the obstacles that men face when
they see a gospel preacher for the first time? This is somebody
that no organized religion would have, they wouldn't give you
two cents Most of them despise him. I was down trying to buy
a piece of furniture when we first moved down there and this
lady came out. Evidently, she manages the furniture
store. She came out and talked to us
and, oh, I don't think I've ever seen you in here before. Where
y'all from? Well, we're from Taylor. Oh, Taylor. Well, I've
just never seen you in here before. And I said, well, it's our first
time in and we just moved here. Oh, you moved here. Well, what
brought you to Taylor? And I said, well, I moved down
here to pastor a church. all you all your pastor no role
there you have to make sure to watch the mall a little bit further
up the road grace baptist she said you back to grace baptist
hospital uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... here's a man who organized religion
wouldn't give you two cents for they're not going to recommend
it Even if they don't lambast him, they're not going to recommend
him. And here he is, and he's telling you everything in the
world contrary to every established religion in this world. He's
telling you the very opposite of what they're preaching. His preaching ain't like their
preaching. Somebody told me the other day, said, well, you just
don't give anybody any room for argument. I don't mean to. but you argue against god but when god does his work in
the heart of his elite and i can't find it but i'll tell you when
god made me to understand that henry mahan is a little man i
thought he was seven foot tall well he's only about that tall I thought he was a giant. God made me to understand that
this man was his man. I understood that. I can't say that I, you know,
followed in perfect obedience everything he ever told me, to
my own shame, but I knew he was a son of God. And these Thessalonians, they
knew Paul was sin of God. In fact, he tells you in chapter
two, I think it's verse 13, he said, when you received the word
of God, would you heard of us? You didn't receive it as the
word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. That's
what he told them. And I believe what that man preached
to me was the word of God. He had God's message. He had
God's message. Brethren, when God does a work
in men, it's a work recognized by all His people. I want you
to listen to something. I listen to men debate back and
forth all the time over what this one says and what's true
and what ain't true and all this stuff. Listen to what John says
over here in 1 John chapter 4 verse 6. He said, We are of God. Well, that's what Nazarene said. That's what their pastor said.
That's what the Methodist preacher said. That's what the preacher
down at the Reformed church said. That's what the Catholic priest
said. How does an ignorant man ever come to know the difference?
Here it is, listen to it. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. He heareth us. He that's not
of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. There's nobody on the top side
of God's earth that knows the difference between truth and
error except God's people. They know. They know. And Paul preached with the whole
man to the whole man who sat before him. He preached to his
head, and he preached to his heart, and he preached to his
whole self, submitting his ministry completely to the power of God's
Holy Spirit. He reasoned with them out of
the Scriptures. Now watch this, opening and alleging. What's he talking about? This
is what he's talking about, he went into that synagogue, And
he opened a book. That's not what he's talking
about. They didn't have books. They used scrolls. He's not talking about opening
a book. Let me tell you what he's talking
about. Over there in Luke chapter 24, when our Lord walked along
with those men on the way on that road to Emmaus, and he said,
O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have written of him. ought not Christ who suffered
and done these things and rose from the dead and beginning of
Moses back in the book of Genesis and he began all through all
through the books of Moses and then through the prophets he
went and through the Psalms and then he disappeared out of their
sight and you know what they said they said didn't our hearts
burn within us now listen as he opened the scriptures to us treasure chest. I remember when
I was six years old, perhaps four, I think it was a little
earlier, it was probably about four or five years old. We had
Christmas at our house and it was a big deal. And my dad didn't
have a lot of money and we just usually got one or two things,
but boy we hoped all year for what we was going to get. And
I'd wake up about an hour before daylight And I'd get in under
that tree and I'd go pushing through those things and I'd
find something had my name on it, had my name on it. And I'd sit down. I'd begin to open that and peel away the cover. And I'd peek down inside. It was there. It was there in
that package. Everything that I hoped for. He said that scribe goes into
his house and out of that treasure, out of that treasure, he brings
forth things new and old. He brings forth things and he
opens the scriptures and somehow the Holy Spirit of God makes
you to know it's yours. your name's on it. Your name's
on there. Look inside that treasure chest.
There it is. There it is. That's what you
preach. You preach the gospel. You open that treasure chest
and you peer down inside what God has hidden from ages and
generations and from kings and from wise men and give them unto
you. Give them to you. Oh my soul. He's talking about uncovering
that which was hidden from the beginning, from the beginning
of time. Talking about opening up the
treasure chest, letting you see what God has given to you. Preaching
is taking away the covering, opening up what's inside to show
them what's been given. Our Lord said to his disciples,
it's given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. It's not given to them. Not given to them. Oh, I want
to know where to preach. And I want to know how to preach. And then thirdly, I want you
to see this. I want you to see what he preached.
He reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging
that Christmas needs have suffered and risen again from the dead.
Paul said, we preach Christ crucified. Crucified, not pictured on the
cross, but crucified. Not in a little image hung around
somebody's neck, but Christ crucified. Crucifixion is what he came for. He's the lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. Never been a time when he was
pictured any other way. He came to our first parents
in the garden and he slayed a lamb and he took that covering and
put it around him. We don't say that in the book
of Genesis. Let me tell you something. When Abel brought a lamb, somebody
told him bring a lamb. And there wasn't but one person
around to tell him, and that was Adam. And where did Adam
get his information? From the garden. From the garden. It was a lamb slain in the garden,
and a lamb slain on Abel's altar, and a lamb slain in the stead
of Isaac, and all the lambs slain on Jewish altars from Moses to
John the Baptist, all typified the coming Redeemer. And when
John the Baptist looked and saw Christ coming down that path,
he said, Behold, the Lamb of God. I am of God. Jesus Christ came
into this world and was made flesh in order to accomplish
the redemption of God's elect. And when he was made a servant
under the law, I served in him. When he came before God in divine
justice and was made sin for me and was sentenced to die,
I was sentenced to die. and I was sentenced in Him. And
when He died on that shameful cross, I died with Him. And when
God raised Him from the dead and raised Him up and caused
Him to ascend up on high and seated Him at His own right hand,
Paul said, we're seated together with Him in the heavenlies. The only way God can be God and
still save guilty sinners is by way of substitution and representation. And that's Christ. He must needs
have suffered and risen again from the dead. Sin must be paid
for. Righteousness must be lived. And both are accomplished in
Jesus Christ. And then quickly, let me give
you one more thing. We've talked about where He preached
and how He preached and who He preached. So what he preached, now let's
look at who he preached. He opened and alleged that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and
that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Every God
called preacher is called to set before men the Christ of
God. And the greatest distinction
in our preaching is what we have to say about this man. Who is
this man? Who is he? Why did he come? What did he do? Where is he now?
Who is this man? This man around whose birth and
death, time itself is split. This man who ushered in this
new age, this man who just won't go away. His name is promoted
and preached and he's not going away. Who is this man? This man, Jesus of Nazareth,
is the eternal God. I read the article that day.
God over all, blessed forever. My son. He's the Ancient of Days,
He's the One Mediator between God and men, He's the Redeemer
who has redeemed, the King who rules, the Prophet who speaks
and men hear, the Priest who intercedes. Who is this man? And why did He come? Once in
the end of the world has He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. What did he do? He entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. Where is he now? Having offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, this man sat down on the right
hand of God, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. And this Jesus that I preach
unto you is Christ. That's what Paul said. He's Christ. He's the treasure. He's the treasure. He's the motive. He's the motive. Remember what I told you last
night? If I can't motivate you with Him, ain't gonna do me no
good to do that. He's the motive. He's the motive.