I need you to turn to two places
in your Bible. The first one is Acts 24. Acts chapter 24. Then if you would turn after
you get that one, Acts 24, turn to 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter chapter 2. Now, if I might this morning speak on a subject that we do
not often take as our subject, and that is the heresy, religious
heresy, as defined in our Bibles. Here's the first passage is 2
Peter chapter 2, because that is the subject. The reason we approach this subject, take a whole Sunday morning to
cover it, and probably then not cover it, the gospel that we preach and
the gospel that we believe is everywhere said to be heresy. We even had a lawsuit once upon
a time that was supposedly to be filed against me and the folks
that supported me here back in 1988. And the only grounds for
that lawsuit was that what I preached is heresy. But when there could
be no document produced of any kind of doctrinal statement by
this congregation, everything had to revert to the year 1842
when Bethel Baptist Church was first started. And the deciding factor would
be what was the prevailing doctrine among Baptists in the South in
1842? And it was a decidedly Calvinistic
sovereign grace gospel and so these folks that thought they
could use that as a manner of getting all this property back
and having the fun of keeping these buildings up and stuff
and re-roofing them and stuff uh... they found out that they
were the ones who were the heretics and not ourselves but you ask anybody anywhere
give them a fair definition of our doctrine They'll let you
know in no uncertain terms that isn't theirs, and they think
yours is heresy." Alright, 2 Peter chapter 2. No, I'm not going to read all
this chapter and Acts chapter, what was our chapter in there?
17. I'm going to read all of this one, I hope, if I can, and
just one verse. out of Acts 17. Alright, 2 Peter 2, But there were false
prophets also among the people, even so there shall be false
prophets among you, who privately or secretly shall bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of." The truth be evil spoken of. and through covetousness shall
they with feigned words." You know what the Greek is for that
word feigned? It is plastic. Words that can be stretched and
moved and changed to suit your ears. Whatever you want to hear,
that's what you're going to hear. Like the preacher that said to
the lady he was visiting, he says, well, why don't you come
to our church? And she said, well, what do you all preach
at your church? He said, what do you want to hear? If that ain't prostituting the
gospel, I don't know what is. Through covetousness shall they
with plastic words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of
a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not. It'll be right on time. For if
God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to
hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved
unto judgment, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah,
the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness." You know what
that means? A preacher of Christ and Him
crucified. bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly." Of course, the flag on the back of the ark
must surely have said, God loves you. I expected at least a smile,
because I'm out of my head if I really mean that. How empty that statement would
be for anyone outside the ark. and turning the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah, and I think three other cities included in this,
into ashes, condemned them with an overflow, making them an example
unto those that should live ungodly, and delivered out of Sodom, delivered
Just Lot. Now that does not mean only Lot. We do know that Lot's daughters
were delivered, do we not? His wife left the city but longed
to be back and was turned into a pillar of salt. This word,
just, let me read it. You'll understand it better. "...and delivered Righteous Lot. Righteous Lot. The whole city perished, but
three people were delivered. Vexed, Lot was vexed with the
filthy conversation, manner of life of the wicked. For that
righteous man Told you it was righteous. Just lot is righteous
lot. That righteous man dwells among
them in seeing and hearing, vexing his righteous soul from day to
day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knows how to deliver
the godly out of temptations or trials or troubles or whatever,
and to reserve the unjust until the day of judgment to be punished.
But chiefly, them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness
and despise government, presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are
not afraid to speak evil of dignities, particularly of Christ. Whereas
angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing
accusations against them before the Lord, but these as natural
brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of
the things that they understand not, and shall utterly perish
in their own corruption, and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness,
as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots
they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings
while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery that cannot
cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, and heart they have exercised
with covetous practices, cursed children, which have forsaken
the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam,
the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. But Balaam was rebuked for his
iniquity. The dumb ass or donkey speaking
with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet." Not
God's prophet, a false prophet. These are wells without water,
clouds that are carried about with a tempest, to whom the mist
of darkness is reserved forever. For when they speak great swelling
words of vanity, they allure through the lust of the flesh
through much wantonness those that were clean escaped from
them who live in terror. While they promise them liberty,
they themselves are the servants of corruption. For of whom a
man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage. For
if after they've escaped the pollutions of the world through
the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are
again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with
them than the beginning. For it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness than after they
have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto
them. But it happened unto them according
to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again,
and the sow that was washed has returned to her wallowing in
the mire." All right, now we turn to Acts 24 that I told you, didn't
I? uh... pregnant one verse out of act twenty four may we pray Lord, we turn again in your holy
book to this statement given to us
by your servant, the Apostle Paul, concerning the subject
of heresy. We pray that you would help us
this day as we look to your word to your gospel, to your Son,
the Lord Jesus, to your holy will and purpose for your people
in this world, in this kingdom of yours. Lord, help us to know
that our interest in Christ is a saving interest. We live in a world that is immensely
deceived. People of every religious stripe
all claiming to be on their way to heaven. Lord, teach us. Teach us concerning our blessed
Lord, Savior, and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. Let us be able to see if what I call my interest in
Christ is indeed a saving interest. Lord, we need your presence. We desperately need your blessing. And we need your Holy Spirit
to open our eyes and cause us to see. In this time that remains, we
beg you to honor your name, your son, and your gospel. And we pray for Christ's sake.
Amen. Verse 14 of Acts chapter 24. But this I confess unto you,
that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the
God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them." believing all things which are
written in the law and in the prophets, the way which men call heresy. That's the way that I worship
God. Taking our text out of, making
verse 14 our text, and our title simply being, Some
Call It Heresy. Verse 14, Acts 24, But this I
confess unto you, 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 and for that matter
the entire Bible. Believing everything in this
book to be God's Holy Word and His message to us concerning
His Son, the precious Lord Jesus Christ. Now it's been a long time since
I've preached a subject in this manner, but I do so much, honestly, truly,
I want you to know what this gospel is that we believe. We must know these things. They must become a part of us.
We can't take it off and on like a suit of clothes. It becomes
part of who we are. It may cause us difficulty. It may cause us persecution. I don't
know what it will cost. I'm sure it will cost something.
But I'm also certain that it's worth any cost. Any cost. So what is it that people, religious
and non-religious, call heresy? Just what is it that they just
can't swallow it, just too much, too much. Well, the first thing I have
down that men find difficult to believe,
yea, impossible to believe, it is that salvation comes to sinners
like you and me by the will of God and not by our own will. Now at some point in conversion our will is turned to God's will. He makes us willing. Brother
Richardson used to say that we're saved against our will and with
our full consent And that's about as well put as it can be said. Where he got that statement,
I have no idea. It doesn't make any difference. Romans 9 and verse 16 says, Salvation
is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God
that shows mercy. So the Bible plainly speaks to
the subject of our will! But God's will is always done! Always! The problem in our day when it
comes to the will is that men over several generations of time
there's always been this battle started in the garden right outside
the Garden of Eden between between Cain and Abel but people at various
points in time in the history of the world have developed these
almost like laws that cannot be broken that this will of man
is who he is God can't violate that will!
Well, I promise you if He does not, we'll perish. If we're left to our choice, we'd rather be Satan's servants
than God's servants. I'm telling you the truth. If
you don't know that about yourself, you'd better find out some things
and that in a hurry. Proverbs 21 verse 1 tells us,
The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever
he will. And he can't turn our little
puny will. Nebuchadnezzar was a pretty big man. God taught
him this lesson. Sure did. And when he got through that
experience, you just go read him in Daniel chapter 4 about
verse 35 and following and you'll see this proud, haughty, arrogant
man, this most powerful man on the face of the earth, he knew
more about who God is than most people in Baptist churches this
morning! Secondly, People call it heresy
to speak of a salvation that is finished and perfect, cannot
be added to nor subtracted therefrom. Let's see, Ecclesiastes 3.14,
Whatsoever God does, nothing can be put to it nor anything
taken from it It is forever! Whatever God does in regard to
His grace and His mercy and His Son has to be eternal. Why? Because God is eternal. The Bible even uses from the
lips of Christ Himself the first time in John chapter 17 and verse
4 and the second time in John 19 and 30 when our Lord is hanging
on the cross next to the last statement to come out of His
lips. He cried and it was not in a quiet struggling voice. IT IS FINISHED! Done! Not due! Remember the little track? We've
got some more down here by the way. It's done! It's finished! And it's perfect! My Lord, if we had to add our
little bit to it, it would ruin it! Just flat ruin it! Alright, the third thing. What
I'm trying to describe to you is why people call the true gospel
heresy. Now the simplest reason that
could be said in just two seconds almost is that they're lost! No wonder they can't see! They're
spiritually dead! Thirdly, when you tell people,
and we must tell this, that the only holiness that God will accept
is the one that He Himself provides. We can't contribute to it at
all. It's all free. It's all grace. And anything added to that is
to pollute it and to change it. There are several places in your
Bible that these words are taught. concerning this holiness that
God provides in His Son. 2 Corinthians 5 21 is one. Jeremiah 23 6, the Lord's name
Jehovah, our righteousness, our Lord Jesus Christ, one of His
Old Testament names, is the Lord our righteousness. Alright, the
fifth thing, what do religious people or people in general call
heresy? Number four, Now, I could have
done this by simply going back to the five points of Calvinism,
as they're called. But I don't know how I got on
this track, but I did. And so I'll just give you this
homemade version. Ain't much to it. But I know
what the issues are. I don't know much, but I know
that. And here's the next one, number four. God's grace, to
be His grace, must be irresistible, cannot be resisted, and it must
be all-powerful. It cannot be overthrown. God's
grace is irresistible grace. That's like the doctrine of election.
It ain't just election. It's an election that cannot
be contributed to or caused. You know the word they put in
front of it when we list those five points of Calvinism? Let me see if I can remember
it. Unconditional election. Now everybody believes in an
election that God looks through time, you know, sees all the
various generations of people that live on the earth and He
sees people that have a heart for Him and that will choose
Him and so He chooses those and calls them His elect. Now that's
God taking credit for something God didn't do and I'm telling
you that ain't how it is. No man, no woman or man, son
and daughters of Adam can possibly choose this Christ and this gospel
except by the miracle of sovereign grace. That's the only way. Now if this gospel ain't being
preached, oh, you still make converts. They're just lost like
yourself. You add to the church roles and
you put them to work and you threaten them with promises and
rewards so they'll keep going. This place right here has been
through that junk. You had people hanging out the
windows back in the 70s and maybe even the 60s, I don't know. But 750 in Sunday school and
all they were being taught was damning their souls. I mean every
bit of it. I don't mean part of it. I mean
every bit of it. And that's sad. Psalm 65 verse 4 says, blessed
is the man whom God chooses and causes to approach unto himself. That my friend is irresistible
grace. Number five, we've already covered
this but I'll just mention it this seems to stick in the crawl
of the natural man. The absolute, not limited, not
partial, the absolute sovereignty of God Almighty. Now people will accept a modified
form of that, a reduced form of that, But if you want God,
you take Him just like He is. And that's who He is. This book
says, as plain as His words can say it, He does as He pleases
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of men, and nobody
anywhere, anytime has ever said to Him, What on earth are You
doing? You can't do that! He just does it anyway. Number six, there has never been, there is not now, or ever will
be, more than one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. Now listen carefully to me. This
religious world in our day knows of nothing of going to Christ
as their mediator between themselves and God. They go to the soul
winner, they go to the preacher, they go to the priest, and some
of them even go to the Pope. But I'm telling you that is not
the way to God nor the way to Christ. It is a deception. It is a lie. There ain't but one Mediator,
1 Timothy 2.5, one Mediator between man and God, and His name is
Christ Jesus! There never has been but this
one, and there never will be but this one. It's not come to the altar, this
ain't no altar, this is just a raised platform, misnamed. to drag you out of your seat
because you wouldn't come otherwise unless they stirred your emotions
enough to get you to come. People flock around this place
and shed all grades of tears, and it ain't worth two cents.
I know I've been there and done that. Now let me just mention in passing some other things that are generally
put in the heresy column. At the end of our worship meetings, we find it necessary To have no altar calls, no invitation
system, we tell men and women, you must
go to God through Jesus Christ. Go home and get by yourself and
beg God for mercy in His blessed Son, the Lord Jesus. I hate to
burst your bubble, and I don't really think I'm bursting many
bubbles, but in certain places you wouldn't have time to finish
the sentence. Getting up out of your bench
and coming up here, it's meaningless. You're just the same as you were
back there, and the preacher whose hand you're taking is just
as lost as you are. I'm telling you, when you come
to Christ, you come without moving a single muscle. It's not raising up hands and
hollering and all this stuff. That's got nothing to do with
it. That's just junk. I remember back in the late 80s,
we were having one of our famous barbecues back then, Mr. Parker. And I don't remember how these
guys knew about this place or anything about that. But anyway,
one of them was from Mississippi and one of them was like from
Alabama. And they were preachers. And they wanted to know my secret. for taking a church out of the
Southern Baptist Convention. And I just about dropped my teeth.
They thought there was a formula. I said, man, I don't even know
what you're talking about. I said, God did this. I didn't
do it. It won't I could not believe my ears that
somebody would be that dense to think that if you just do
the right things in sequence, you know that bingo, it happens. I know for sure God did it. I'm
absolutely certain of that. People call it heresy when you
operate a church without the promise of rewards or threats. You just say, do as you will. Most churches might deny this,
but they use what is called the legal whip, that is the law,
to keep their people in line and to keep them tithing. I'm amazed that this church has
survived for well nigh 30 years since we've been here, and we've had a lot of expenses
for various things, and the money has always been there. We've
never had to beg or threaten people and say, if you don't
give, God will take it out on medical bills. I'm telling you,
that's crazy! And I know a guy that used to
pastor this church that does it! I don't know if he still
does or not, for he might be dead by now, but I know at one
time he did. That's not grace! My soul! That's going back to
Old Testament religion! without Christ. We've never had a stewardship
drive in the last 29, almost 30 years. We've never had a membership
campaign to get new members. Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad
to see new faces. I wouldn't care if this place
was packed out. But I ain't changing this gospel to do it. We can't. We cannot. We've come this far. Let's finish the course. Oh, we've got time for one more
scripture. How about 1 Timothy? Chapter 6, 1 Timothy chapter
6. Now most churches you go in They
have a board similar to that. They don't have hymn numbers
on it. They got attendance a year ago and attendance
today. They call it an offering, but
I don't like that word. But anyway, what the offering
was a year ago and what it was, you know, what it is today or
whatever. you know they're putting that
there for you to try to do more and do better. Let me read you a statement out
of 1st Timothy 6. Paul is describing to Timothy
virtually the very matter that we have before us this morning.
I begin at verse 4. This person that he describes
in verse 3 as teaching otherwise and consenting not to hold some
words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the
doctrine which is according to godliness, the person that despises
and opposes that is now described. He is proud. He does not know
anything. He knows nothing. He thinks he
does, but he doesn't. but doting about questions and
strifes of words, whereof comes envy, strife, railings, and evil
surmisings, perverse disputings of men, men of corrupt minds,"
and watch this one, "...and destitute of the truth." Destitute. What does that mean? To be without
the truth. What does that mean? To be without
Christ. That's serious, isn't it? Be
without Christ. And here's how they operate,
the person Paul is describing. I quote, supposing that gain
is godliness. So if you're having more here
than you had a year ago, you're doing a better job for God and
He'll reward you for it. Did you ever notice in the book
of Acts when Paul went to different cities to preach, he had no control
over how many converts there'd be in that town? Because when
he went to Corinth after some bitter disappointments and some
rough treatment, the Lord kind of bolstered Paul's spirit as
He sent him to this new place called Corinth. You know what
he said to him? He said, don't be afraid, not
a soul is going to touch you. I, God says I, have much people
in this city. Paul wasn't even in that city
yet and the gospel had never gone there. How can God have
a people in Corinth and nobody went there to preach the gospel?
It's very simple. He chose them in eternity, they're
his elect. He knows who they are! Here's what this man does. He
supposes, let me find my place, that gain is godliness. You can take figures, numbers,
and count it up, and if it's on the increase, boy, God is
at work. If it's going the other way,
It's gone. Success in religion in America
in 2011 is measured entirely by statistics. Did I pronounce
that word right? Statistics. Some people have
trouble with that word. How many? And how much? Here are six things that Baptists
use to measure success in religion. Buildings. Bodies, that's attendance. Baptisms. Buses. Budgets. And busyness. at six measuring rods for success
in religion. And it's false. It's false. Some people sincerely think they're
making converts. But when you're not telling them
who God is, how God saves a sinner, and what a sinner is, and that
they are one, these people just make a little low ten-cent profession
of faith and bingo they're they're members of the church well i got a bunch more but i
wanted to i want i want to make one final statement all the heresy in all the religions
of the world can be boiled down to three things. The first heresy, God loves everybody. And that's a lie. It is not so. God has benevolence for all of
His creation, but He does not love everyone. He loves His elect. He loves His Son. He loves His
gospel, but He does not love all men. He's generous to all men. He gives them a great many blessings.
People that do not know Him are even cursing Him. But it is not
true that God loves everybody. If that's the case, let me ask
you to deal with this statement. In John 17, now you notice I
take a little time in between numbers because poor activity. upstairs. John 17 verse 9, remember
what it said? The Lord Jesus, speaking of His
disciples, and for that matter speaking of all of His people
that the Father gave Him, He said, I pray for them. And in
the same statement, in the same breath, He said, I pray not for
the world. Now you tell me the Lord Jesus
doesn't pray for the world that God loves? Yes, but that ain't the whole
world. There's a whole lot of people
involved when you figure every generation from the beginning
of time, and when things are wound up in the end, it'll be
a number that no man can count, like the sands of the seashore.
But I'm convinced there's going to be more in the other place
than there is in the one I hope to which we're going. That's heresy. God loves everybody. If He did, He would save them. Secondly, using the same text,
John 17.9, people say Christ died for everybody. And if He did, then His death
ain't worth a plug nickel. If Christ died for everybody,
what makes the difference between those who believe and those who
don't? Where's the difference? Our Lord died for every sinner
that God gave Christ in that eternal covenant of grace in
old eternity. And He promises and declares
of Himself that there won't be a single one missing. The third heresy is that the
Holy Spirit is trying to save everybody and they won't let
Him. They're too stubborn, too hard-headed,
too mean, too difficult, too this, too that, and too the other.
Now I hope you can see that's just plain poppycock. That's
foolishness. idiocy. God does everything He does on
purpose and His purpose is always done. Some call it heresy. Now you're going to need your
bulletin. Our final hymn is