OK, well, turn to Acts chapter
28. And I want to come to what I
intend to be the last of this series in the Book of Acts. We started back in September,
so this is eight months now that we've been in the Book of Acts.
For one thing, I think you're probably ready for a change.
I feel as though I am. But I didn't want to move on
from here yet. I know we've gone fairly quickly
through the final chapters because there's a lot of narrative, very
useful narrative, but it's narrative nonetheless. But I didn't want
to leave this without seeing a message of great encouragement
for a sort of situation that we're in. A small number of people,
a very small number of people, a general ignorance of the Gospel
all around us in society. We wonder why so few people come
and yet look at the blessing that there was in the Apostle
Paul's ministry, in the situation that was given to him. And I
can see so many parallels, I think, There's encouragement here for
us. Last weekend, we build a weekend of preaching of the Gospel of
Grace. And we advertised extensively. We put up notices around the
village. People received leaflets. People received personal invitations.
And it has to be said that though there was a good gathering, it
was very, very small in terms of response. And the world would
look and would say, what a disappointment. How tragic. But as I said at
the start, To my mind, that was a great success. Why was it a
great success? Because the Gospel of Christ
was proclaimed as clearly as you'll ever hear it on three
separate occasions, three separate sermons. It was proclaimed so
clearly. The people that God had drawn
together, His people to hear that were given ears to hear
and eyes to see. And that was a tremendous blessing.
And so we ought to be encouraged. We ought not look and think,
oh, what a disappointment. We think, what a glorious blessing
it is to have been there, to hear those things, to be united
together with the people of God under the sound of his word.
What better place to be in this world? What better place to be?
It's not a disappointment. It's an encouragement to us.
So I want to see something of this in Paul's final years of
ministry in Rome. Let me remind you that we saw
last time I preached that he had appealed to Caesar and therefore
he appeared before two Roman governors Felix then Festus and
then the figurehead King in the line of the Herods King Agrippa
he appeared between he appeared before those three men and that
was over a period of we think about three years it was certainly
two years because we read in the scriptures that Felix kept
in there confined for two years about three years there And then
there was a journey to Rome. He'd appealed to Caesar because
you remember the Jewish mob was about to lynch him. He appealed
to Caesar and he got the protection of Roman law and justice that
preserved him in the hands, in the providence of God, it preserved
him from the intentions of the Jewish mob. Mob rule was going
to take him and lynch him. And then we read right at the
end of this that he was two whole years in his own hired house
in verse 30 in Rome. with liberty to preach the gospel
of grace. Five years or more, maybe the
best part of six years, who knows? And look what happened in that
time. Paul didn't have any great big church, not at all. But he
had the freedom and the liberty to receive all that God brought
to him, to proclaim the gospel of grace to them. And how many
of the epistles were written from that situation? You read,
as you read them, you'll see written from prison in Rome.
How many? And what a, you know, we talk
of virtual congregations in this day. We talk of virtual congregations,
how through the Internet, these messages go to people all over
the world. And we know they do, because
we hear from them, and we're very glad of that. But look at
the virtual congregation that Paul had in his house. Down 2,000
years, people have had what he wrote under the hand of God.
And that's a great encouragement. Now, we're going to skip over
the journey. If you read Acts 27, and 28, those chapters, you'll
read of a tortuous journey. He didn't just go to the airport
and check in and an hour later he was in Rome, as you would
do today. It was a tortuous journey. There was shipwreck. He was bitten
by a viper. There were all sorts of things
that were so strongly against them. They were in peril of the
deep. They were in danger from barbarians
and all sorts of things. It was a very difficult journey
to Rome. And we have all of the details
there, and it's good to read them. And it's good to learn
this message, this lesson from them. That we as the people of
God, as Paul, as one of the children of God, going just from A to
B, doing a straightforward thing in this life, is fraught with
exactly the same perils that afflict all men, all around us.
But God preserves his people in all of those situations. It's
not a case that all the traffic lights can be prayed into a green
condition. They can't. You know, I remember
years ago when I was a teacher going to prayer meetings and
when it came to mock exam time, oh, how many parents were praying
that we would pray for little Johnny that he might have good
success in his mock examinations and that all the traffic lights
would be green and that the questions that came up on the exam paper
would all be the questions that little Johnny would know how
to answer so that he'd have a really good life in this world and live
in the manner to which he was accustomed. And I remember in
my cynicism, very, very naughty of me, in my cynicism as a teacher
at the time, I said, could I also ask for prayer as one of the
teachers who hasn't yet thought of the questions to put in the
mock exam paper for next week. So, you know, people have this
attitude that they pray for green traffic lights everywhere, and
it's not like that. Things happen to us like they
do to everybody else, but it's all in God's purpose. And although
it almost becomes a hackneyed phrase, nevertheless, it's one
of the most precious texts of scripture that our God causes
all things to work together for good to those who are the called
according to His purpose. Those who love God, who are the
called according to His purpose. He causes all things. Oh, and
you look back at your life and you say, how would we have done
this differently? And oh, that was a bitter experience. My friends,
all things work together for good to those who love God. who
are the called according to his purpose. So then we get to Rome
and we come to Rome in verse 16. We came to Rome. The disciples
heard that he was coming. There were believers in Rome
and they came and they met him on the way and we came to Rome
in verse 16 and the centurion delivered the prisoners to the
captain of the guard but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself.
It was a prison ship that was going to Rome and some were just
thrown in the common jail but Paul was granted special privileges
to dwell by himself with the soldier that kept him. He wasn't
free. He was under house arrest. And it came to pass that after
three days, Paul called the chief of the Jews together. And when
they would come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren,
though I have committed nothing against the people or customs
of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into
the hands of the Romans, who when they had examined me would
have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me,
But when the Jews spoke against it, I was constrained to appeal
to Caesar, not that I had ought to accuse my nation of. For this
cause, therefore, have I called for you, to see you, and to speak
with you, because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with
this chain." He called for the Jewish leaders. You remember
that Claudius, the emperor, had driven out the Jews from Jerusalem.
I forget where we read about that. I think that was the time
when we think the parents of Barnabas were driven out, and
he was born in Alexandria. They were told that they were
not allowed to be there, so there were a lot of Jews that had been
driven out of Rome. As you look down the history
of the world, and these sort of things seem to keep happening,
a sort of an ethnic cleansing of a certain race from a certain
place, and the Jews were driven by Claudius out of Rome, but
now they were back, and the emperor was Nero. And at the moment,
Nero, was not paying much attention to the Christian believers and
to the Jews. He was leaving them alone. But probably because of
their past experience, the Jews were keeping a low profile. They
weren't making a fuss. They didn't want to raise a riot
in respect of Paul. You know, they said in verse
21, well, this is the first we've heard of this Paul. You know,
as far as Paul was concerned, they all must have known and
must all have been expecting him to come and to raise a riot
against him. And they said, we haven't received any letters
or heard anything. I imagine they were keeping a low profile
because Nero, although at this time he was a very quiet and
a calm emperor, nevertheless we read the history books and
he became a cruel, vicious oppressor of all who believed the gospel
of grace. And so, there was no opposition
to Paul immediately, but what I want you to home in on is that
phrase in verse 20. What he says to them about why
is he there, that for the hope of Israel, I am bound with this
chain. That's it. Why are you there
Paul? For the hope of Israel. For the cause of the hope of
Israel. I am bound with this chain. That phrase is used twice
in the book of Jeremiah the prophet. Chapter 14 verse 8. Chapter 17
verse 13. The hope of Israel. What's it
talking about? It's talking about the Messiah.
The Messiah. The promised one. The promised
suffering servant who would come and redeem his people. The Messiah
is the hope of Israel. What is it a hope for? It's a
hope for acceptance with God. Because without Him, we have
no hope of acceptance with God. There is only a fearful looking
for judgment and condemnation. That's all that is the lot of
each and every one of us. And mankind, as Hebrews chapter
2, and forget exactly which verse, about verse 12 says, who through
all their lifetime, through fear of death, were in bondage, because
it is appointed to man to die once, and after this comes the
judgment. There's a fearful judgment coming,
for God is holy, God is truthful, God is righteous, and we are
sinful, and all deliberately sinful, and we've all fallen
short of the glory of God. But there's a hope for Israel.
There's a hope for who is Israel? The people of God, God's people.
Not a people who by descent of race live in a particular part
of the world or scattered throughout the world, but Israel which is
the Israel of God, which are the redeemed of the Lord, who
are those people whom the Father gave to the Son from before the
beginning of time, whom the Holy Spirit calls out under the sound
of the gospel of His grace and speaks those words of grace.
Those people are the Israel of God and they have a hope. And
what is the hope of those people? It is Christ who is all their
hope. because He is all our grounds. I must stand before the judgment
seat of Christ and give an account of the things done in the body.
And what is my hope in that day? It's nothing that I have done
or that I could ever add to the works of Christ, for all my righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. My hope and my hope alone is
in Him, in who He is, in what He has done, in His dying, in
His shed blood, in His life poured out as the penalty for my sin,
for He has paid my sin debt. The sins are blotted out. Just
as in the old ledger, the debts were blotted out as if they'd
never been there. The old ink ledger, the debts
were blotted out. So it is in the books of God. The sins of His people by Christ's
death are blotted out. And that is our hope. And we
read Paul writing to the Colossians in chapter 1 and verse 27. He
speaks of Christ in you. If Christ is in you. Not if you've
just heard about Him. But if Christ is in you. And
if you are in Him. It's the hope of glory. It's
the hope of glory. We heard yesterday of a dear
friend and brother in Christ who has passed into glory, had
surgery two or three days ago, and he hasn't recovered from
it. And we grieve with his family for the loss in this life, but
as that hymn of Don's that we sung a few weeks ago, don't weep
for me at my grave, don't cry for me at my grave, I am not
here, I did not die. He went into the presence of
the Lord. To depart is to be with Christ, which is far better. Such a hope. This world around
knows nothing of this hope. This lost world, this religious
world that clings to hope in its own efforts knows nothing
of these things. It's not that I hope I have done
well enough to be right with God. It's that I know whom I
have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that
which I've committed unto Him against that day. He is the hope
of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Our salvation in Him is accomplished. It is finished. The Scriptures
speak of that Sabbath rest. That Sabbath rest is not a day
where we keep legalistic rules and regulations. That Sabbath
is the rest in Christ that that day always pictured. It's rest
in Him because salvation is accomplished. There's nothing more to do. There's
nothing more to pay. The sin debt is paid for His
people. And the Gospel declaration is this, to all around us, all
around us, Whoever believes in Him shall be saved. That is the
message. Oh, we lift it up clearly, as
clearly as we can. And whoever believes in Him shall
be saved. Come unto Me, all you who labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Whoever comes,
I will in no wise cast out. What glorious words of grace
to those who are heavy laden and burdened. And there's none
other name There's no other salvation. None other name. Jesus is the
Christ. He is God come in the flesh to
redeem his people. So that's the hope of Paul. Now
then, the Jews heard what he said. And they said, we haven't
heard any trouble about you, but this we want to know. Look
at verse 22. We desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest. What
do you think, Paul? We've heard something. For as
concerning this sect, We know that everywhere it is spoken
against. You're talking about something
that we've heard about. And we know that it's a sect.
That word means heresy. Heresy. Heretical sect. That's
literally what it means. False teaching. They said, they
didn't mince their words, they said, for as concerning this
heretical false sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken
against. Is that surprising to you? You
who know the gospel of grace, you know what gracious words
are in that gospel of grace. You know what life there is.
Oh, the life that there is in a look at the crucified one.
You know what gracious words there are. Why would it be spoken
against? Why would it be spoken against?
It's prophesied that it would be. Turn with me to Luke chapter
2. Luke chapter 2. When Jesus was born, you know
the different gospels bring a different perspective and verse 34 you
know Simeon the old man had been waiting in the temple and God
had told him by the Spirit God had told him that he wouldn't
die until he had physically seen the salvation of God and Mary
and Joseph brought that little baby God contracted to a span
that little baby into the temple to do that which was the custom
according to the law that all things might be fulfilled. And
Simeon took him up in his arms and blessed God that he had seen
that salvation. He had seen the one through whom
God would save his people. In verse 34, Simeon blessed them
and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for
the fall and rising again of many in Israel. And now look,
and for a sign which shall be spoken against." He's a sign
which shall be spoken against. Behold, this child is set as
a sign which shall be spoken against. Don't be surprised.
Of course it's spoken against. It's exactly the same today.
Where is it spoken against? It's spoken against in the great
apathy that there is around the world. Great apathy, especially
in this country. But where else? Religious folks. Oh, especially religious folks.
Religious folks. I remember Bill saying years
ago in one of the French broadcasts, you asked me as a pastor, what
is the greatest enemy of the truth of the gospel in our day?
And he said, religion. Religion is the greatest. It
really is. Religion blinds the minds, keeps men and women in
bondage. It's the greatest trick of Satan
to come as an angel of light, sounding so good, and yet peddling,
peddling lies, lies from hell, sounding and looking like an
angel of light. religious folks, the legalistic free will religion
that's all around us, that which sounds so good and tempting and
smooth-tongued, that which looks so good, oh, you do want to please
God, don't you? Well, live like this and you'll
please... It sounds so good, it sounds to have the best of
intentions, and yet it's lies, because being right with God
and pleasing God... Do you know, if anybody ever
asks you that question, don't you want to please God? Meaning,
don't you think you ought to obey more of the laws and do
this and that? You do please God if you're in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the only way anybody pleases God, is to be found in
Him. I want to be found, said Paul
in the letter to the Philippians, I want to be found in Him, not
having my own righteousness which is due to my own efforts according
to the law, but that which is through faith of Jesus Christ. Notice the words, faith. Not
your faith in. It's not your faith in Jesus
Christ that gives you righteousness with God. It's the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ in doing all that He did that makes you and
me, if we're in Him, righteous with God. That's our plea. That's
our plea. That's our hope. But all speak
against Him. All speak against the gospel
of true free grace. All, when you examine it, when
you come down to it, there are so many whose God is their belly.
I know it sounds crude words, but that's the words that Paul
used. They examine the situation. If I go on preaching this truth,
people are going to stop their giving. or my sponsorship is
going to dry up and I'm not going to be able to do this. I might
find things a little bit materialistically difficult. And all sorts of considerations
of that nature come in. That God is their belly and they
walk away from the truth. This is the truth. The truth
is sovereign grace and particular redemption. A salvation which
was specific in the mind and purpose of God before the beginning
of time. So then, verse 23, when they had appointed a day You
see, we want to know what you think, so they made an appointment.
Verse 23, When they had appointed him a day, there came many to
him unto his lodging. Paul couldn't go to them, he
was confined under house arrest. Many came to him, 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,
from morning till evening. And some believed the things
which were spoken, and some believed not. What a blessed discourse. that must have been. What a blessed
day. From morning till evening, the
great apostle who wrote so much of the Scriptures with such light,
who had been so singularly blessed, who'd seen such light of the
gospel of grace, the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ, they came to his residence and
there heard him expound from the Scriptures, both out of the
law of Moses and of the prophets, all day long. I'm not saying
in one long discourse without a break, throughout that whole
period, again and again, going to this book, going to the Old
Testament Scriptures, and showing those who claim to be the custodians
of the Old Testament Scriptures, these Jewish people in Rome,
the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ. For why? You
know what I'm going to say next. These are they which speak of
me. These Scriptures, these books, Numbers, Genesis, Leviticus,
Numbers, they speak of Christ. If you don't see that they speak
of Christ, You're missing the point completely. If you think
the Scriptures are just there to tell us how to organize ourselves
as churches, and what elders are allowed to do and not to
do, you're completely missing the point of the Scriptures.
The Scriptures are there to show us the things of the Lord Jesus
Christ. To show us that in Him, and in Him alone, is acceptance
with God. And so this is what Paul did.
As Jesus did on that road to Emmaus, beginning at Moses and
the prophets, He expounded to them, in all the Scriptures,
the things concerning Himself. I read the Old Testament scriptures.
I've been reading Leviticus recently. I have to admit, there's great
tracts of it. I haven't got a clue at the moment
what it's saying. I really struggle with it, but
I know this, that with sufficient digging and sufficient time,
the Lord will reveal that to me. He will show me what he's
got to say concerning Jesus Christ. I know there's great sections
of Leviticus where The gems are lying there on the surface and
easy to pick up. We've looked at one or two of
them in the past, especially when we've been considering the
lamb as the sacrifice and the type of Christ, and all those
things are lying. But there are other great tracts of it. I mean,
believe me, I know you'd know if you're familiar with it. It's
very, very hard, but dig and dig, because in there, there
is a road that leads to Christ, absolutely guaranteed. And we'll
find it if we keep looking and digging and praying that he will
show these things to us. What a blessed discourse this
must have been. How Jesus Christ was the promised substitute for
sinners throughout all of the scriptures. The promised substitute
for sinners. How he was, in Christ, God could
be just and justifier of the ungodly. How he could be just
in justifying the ungodly. We are ungodly. We are sinful.
And the law of God demands the punishment of that sin. He cannot
remain God and not punish it. It is not a gracious thing to
sweep things under the carpet as we might do. He must remain
God, and therefore sin absolutely must receive its just reward,
which is banishment from His presence. Absolutely. But in
the Lord Jesus Christ, He pays for that sin. And therefore He's
able to justify, declare righteous. You know what happens in justification?
It's the court of law. And the accused at the end of
the trial is found not guilty. He's justified. And what does
the judge say? You're free to go. You are free
to go. You are no longer in custody.
You are free to go. You are justified before this
court. You have been found not guilty before this court. And
that's the way it is. How can a man be just with God?
I know I keep repeating that question, but this is the crucial
question. People going around their daily
business today here in Nedworth, do not realize they do not realize
or if they do they choose to ignore it that there is a day
of reckoning coming and how can a man be just with God and it's
in the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone there's no other Savior
there's no other hope for eternity and so we saw there's a division
verse 24 some believe the things which were spoken and some believe
not why did some believe and why did some not believe what
was it that made the difference was it was it that that some
had an innate tendency to be pretty good people and so they're
more likely psychologically to believe these things and not.
Well we've already seen in the case of the Apostle Paul that
when he was Saul of Tarsus you wouldn't have found a more graphic
example of somebody unlikely to believe the Christian gospel
than him. And yet look what happened. God intervened. God stopped him
in his tracks on the road to Damascus. God did that. And he
turned a violent, abusive rebel, proud in his self-righteousness,
into a man on his knees. Lord, what would you have me
to do? In an instant. In an instant. That's how clear
it was. God gave him that gift to see
and to hear. God gave Paul the gift to hear
what Christ was saying when those around him, all they knew was
that there was a bright light, but they didn't see or hear anything. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit. You know from Acts 13, 48, as we saw a few weeks or
maybe months ago, what it says there, that those when they preach
the gospel, when the apostles went out proclaiming publicly
the gospel of grace, those who were ordained to eternal life
believed. God has his people whom he has
ordained from before the beginning of time to eternal life. And
when the gospels preached, they hear And they believe it. And
they believe it because He's given them gifts. He's given
them gifts of repentance. We read in Acts chapter 11 and
verse 18 about God granting to the Gentiles repentance. Repentance
is not something that you work up from within yourself. It's
a gift that God gives. It literally means to rethink,
repent. The P-E-N bit is the French.
to think, you rethink, you completely turn around in your thoughts,
you go in a different direction. He gives that gift of repentance
and he gives the gift of faith. That spiritual sight, that sight
of the soul, to see things which the natural man cannot perceive
nor understand. Neither can he know them for
their foolishness to him, but to his children. At a point in
time, before the beginning of time, the Lamb was slain from
before the foundation of the world. in the history of time
which is this creation in which we live. He had to come at the
right time into creation to be born of a woman, to be born under
the law, to redeem those who are under the law, to go to the
cross of Calvary on a specific day and there be loaded with
the sins of his people and sweat as it were drops of blood and
pour out his lifeblood for the salvation of his people. It had
to happen in time but for each individual one there is a time
when the Holy Spirit comes and regenerates and makes alive and
gives the gift of faith and where there was blindness before a
sight to see all of a sudden where there was deafness before
this clarity of hearing the voice of Christ speaks the salvation
that's in him speaks and so you are saved by grace through faith
and that not of yourselves Ephesians 2 verse 8 it is the gift of God
not through any predisposition to believe but out of pure sovereign
grace, out of the love of God. Why? Because of some predisposition?
No. God commends His love to us,
Romans 5.8, in that while we were yet sinners, when we were
in that most unlovely of condition, Christ died for us. Christ died
for those who were utterly undeserving of His love. And some didn't
believe. Some believed and some didn't
believe. There were those there, they
heard the same words. They heard the same logical, rational, reasoned
arguments. Because whenever we stand up
to preach, what we say must be logical. We're not talking about
fables, we're not talking about fairy stories, we're not talking
about legends, we're talking about truth and spiritual truth.
And therefore it's presented rationally. It appeals to the
mind. It goes in through the ears and
appeals to the mind. But God makes alive some and
gives them heart faith. Gives them a heart to believe
these things. But some heard that same message And they didn't
believe. And we see exactly what we see
all around us in our day. It's what 2 Corinthians 2 verse
16 says. To the one, we are a saver of
death unto death. These very words that are such
life in the gospel of grace are to some the saver of death unto
death. And to the other, the saver of
life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? Why is it like this? Why is it like this? Well, look
in verses 25. down to 27. And when they agreed
not among themselves, there was this division, they departed
after that Paul had spoken one word. So Paul said this one word,
he said this, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet
unto our fathers, saying, Go to this people and say, Hearing
you shall hear, but you won't understand. And seeing you shall
see, but you won't see what you're looking at. For the heart of
this people is waxed gross, fat. You know, a fat heart's not a
good thing to have medically. The heart of this people is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should
be converted, and I should heal them. I remember once talking
to a friend of ours who was a so-called Christian. And I remember quoting
this to her about a particular situation, and she said, that's
horrible doctrine. What dreadful, horrible doctrine.
It's the Word of God. This is quoted. This is Isaiah,
chapter 6. You know when Isaiah had the vision in the temple,
and the train filled the temple, and he said, Woe is me, I am
undone, for I am a man of unclean lips. And the coal was taken
off the altar and seared his lips. Your sin is purged. Who
will go for us? Here am I, Lord, send me. And
he said, Go to this people, this people, this unbelieving people.
and tell them these words, and these are the words that Paul
quotes here. And these words are quoted no less than six times
in the Bible. Six times these words are quoted.
This is serious. God is saying that the generality
of unbelieving people are left in that condition. They're deliberately
left in that condition. It's a situation that we call,
in theological terms, reprobation. But it's as true in Scripture
as is the truth of election. Some are elected to eternal life
and some are reprobated and left as they are in that condition.
That grace might stand in sharper contrast. You say, oh, that's
not fair. Oh, that doesn't give people a chance. We don't understand
it. Don't ask me for one moment to
explain it. I don't understand it. But it
is what God has revealed. And I know this. Do you remember
when Abraham was speaking was pleading with the Lord about
the destruction of Sodom and if there are 50 there and if
there are 40 and I will not destroy it for 40 and so he goes on down
and Abraham concludes this because to Abraham it's how dreadful
is this going to be there's going to be a terrible disaster that
is going to bring destruction on all these people and then
he says shall not the judge of all the earth do right and when
we see things as he sees them When we see things from the perspective
of Christ in glory, we'll see that His justice and His goodness
is absolutely, absolutely preserved through all of His eternal purposes.
There is no unrighteousness within. It's that grace might stand in
sharper contrast. That's the way it is. And think
of this. If you are amongst those who've
been given grace to believe by the gift of God, oh, what a blessed
position to be in. Where would you like to be today?
You know, I've already quoted Paul saying, I want to be found
in Him. That's where I want to be found.
I want to be in Him. There are all sorts of good experiences
in this world and in this life. There are all sorts of good relationships
in this world and this life, and plenty of bad things too.
But above all else, if you're a child of God, you want to be
in Christ. That's the place where you want
to be. And all other things are peripheral things that you take
or leave as the Lord provides them to you. To be in Christ,
to be given that grace to believe. Oh, what a privilege. What does
it mean? You're no better than anybody
else? You're no wiser than anybody else concerning eternity in yourself?
But God has made the difference. It's God that makes the difference.
In Zechariah chapter 3 and verse 2, when Satan is accusing, when
Satan is accusing the people of God then the voice comes back,
is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? That's what we are.
If you're saved, you know, you've still got the smell of the smoke
of the fire on you in terms of the sin that deserves the wrath
of God, but you're a brand. That log, you know, when you
have a great big bonfire, I try to burn my bonfires in the spring
down so that there's just nothing other than white ash left to
dig into the garden. And sometimes you get a bigger
bit of wood that's, you struggle to burn it all. And sometimes
there's one that's just caught fire, and you get it and you
pull it out of the fire. That's what he's talking about.
A brand plucked from the fire, and that's what all of God's
people are in Christ. Burning bits of wood in the judgment,
the just judgment of eternity, plucked out of that fire for
his own purposes. And so what do we say to this
generation in which we live? We say what Hebrews 3 15 quotes,
while it is said today, if you will hear his voice, Harden not
your hearts as in the provocation. Today, if you will hear his voice,
I had a message from somebody that listened to one of the messages
a couple of weeks ago, who said I was sounding like Billy Graham
preaching free will religion. I'm telling you, I knew that
there would be a danger that that would be the way it might
sound. I think you might be able to remember the message in particular,
but somebody said, That was free will preaching. You sounded like
Billy Graham and you ought to repent of it. Well, I believe
that I'm trying to be true to what the scripture says. You
see, Christ calls his people and he makes his people willing
in the day of his power. And it's all of God's sovereign
grace. But I tell you this, there's
not one person who comes to Christ who does not choose to come to
Christ. We are not fatalistically passive
in this. God gives His people ears to
hear, eyes to see, the ability to get up, just as He did with
that man with the withered hand, who couldn't stretch out his
arm. And with the command to stretch out the arm, He gave
the ability, but the man stretched out his arm. And so it is. If
He's calling you, hear His voice. Today, if you will hear His voice,
harden not your hearts. Can you hear the voice? I'm not
just speaking to you here, but anybody that will listen to this.
Can you hear the voice of mercy? and of reconciliation, of peace
with God in the gospel of His grace. Well, why do you delay?
He calls His sheep. They hear His voice. He says
that. I call my sheep. They hear my voice and they follow
me. Come unto Him, all who labor and are heavy laden. That's not
free will preaching. That's not free will preaching.
It's pleading with the spiritually dead to exercise their will to
do that which they're incapable of doing. We don't do that. But
we do do this. We exhort any any and all who
have been given ears to hear to use that strength and will
that they've been given by God to follow Him and to come to
Him. Let me just read some verses from a hymn. Let me just read
these verses. Joseph Hart wrote this. Come
ye sinners. This is absolute sovereign grace
preaching. This is preaching a gospel. This
is not hyper-Calvinism. This is preaching a gospel of
grace on the basis of what God has revealed. Come ye sinners
poor and wretched, and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands
to save you, full of pity, joined with power. He is able, He is
willing, doubt no more. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness He requires is
to feel your need of Him. This He gives you, tis the Spirit's
rising beam. Come ye weary, heavy laden, lost
and ruined by the fall. If you tarry till you're better,
note this, note this, if you tarry till you're better, you
will never come at all. This is what we're saying to
people. If you've been given ears to hear and eyes to see,
if you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. Get
up. Take up thy bed and walk. Stretch out your hand. Not the
righteous. Not the righteous. Sinners, Jesus
came to call. That's what we plead. That's
what we say. That's the call that we put out.
And so we see, just in the final couple of minutes, Paul's final
days. Verses 30 and 31. Two whole years
in his own rented house. Didn't even have a church building
to preach in. Didn't even have a place that they owned where
he could stand up and preach to God. Just his own hired house. They can't have fitted many people
in a hired house, can they? Not many at all. And he received
all that came to him. He was granted the liberty by
the Roman prison guards to have people come to him. And he was
given liberty to preach the kingdom of God. What is it to preach
the kingdom of God? It's the gospel of grace in Christ. and teaching those things which
concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding
him. His own hired house, liberty
to receive, liberty to have as many or as few as the Lord brought
to him, no large church before him, but confidently preaching
Christ and knowing that God would do all that he intended to do
throughout that time of those two years. He had space and liberty
to write his epistles. And what a virtual congregation.
I know I'm repeating what I said at the start, but it's worth
reminding you of. What a virtual congregation he had. He never
would have imagined that nearly 2,000 years later there would
be fellowships like us all around this globe rejoicing in the fact
of the words that he was given the message to write down by
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Did you notice
back there in verse 25 who it was that spoke to Isaiah? It
was the Holy Ghost. See? Trinity. Trinity, the Holy
Ghost. He's a person. He's one of the
Godhead. Not like those who preach error
try to tell us. But all that time, down 2,000
years to now, he's had that virtual congregation from what he was
allowed to do there. Now, does that remind you of
our situation here? It does me. Be encouraged. Amen. Well, let's sing.