Would you look back in our text
in Acts chapter 9, verse 2, Paul desired of the high priest
letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way. Now would that describe me? Am
I one of these people of this way. In Acts chapter 22, when
Paul is giving his conversion experience testimony, he says
in verse 4, and I persecuted this way unto death. Anybody that I found of this
way, they were the object of my persecution and my Hatred. Look back in Acts chapter 19.
God's people are identified as people of this way. Look in verse
9 of Acts chapter 19. But when divers were hardened
and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude. Look in verse 23 of the same
chapter. At that same time, there arose
no small stir about that way. The way is the road, the distance,
the connection between A and B. Metaphorically, it means the
course of conduct, the way of thinking. I've entitled this
message, People of the Way. Now, I want to be one of these
people, don't you? I want to be one of these people who are
described as people of the way. A preacher in the last century
by the name of William Jay tells the story of getting into a carriage
to go to bath. And as he sat with the driver,
he saw various points of interest, and he asked the driver, whose
house is that? He said, I don't know. What's
the name of that river? I don't know. With this road
we're intersecting, where does that take you? I don't know.
He said, well, what do you know? He said, I know the way to Bath.
Well, that's what's important. I know the way to God. That is invaluable knowledge. If you do know the way to a place,
you can get there. But if you don't know the way
to a place, you cannot get there. And God's people are people of
the way. Now this is more than knowing
the way, it's being of the way. It is being on the way. It's being in the way. In the place the way brings you.
Now, like I said, I want to be one of these people our text
describes. I want to be people of the way. Now, what's the first
scripture that comes to your mind when you think of the way?
Well, Brother Bob just read it. It's where Thomas said, we know
not the way. How can we know where you're
going? And the Lord said, Thomas, I am the way. He didn't say I'm a way. He didn't
say, I'm one among many. He is the way that excludes all
other ways. He said, no man cometh to the
father, but by me. Now remember what that means.
No man cometh to the father by me. It doesn't mean we come pleading
his name, although we do. But what that means is, is when
I come to the father, everybody in me comes to the father too.
This is when I come to the father, when he comes to the father.
When he comes to the father because I'm in him, I come to the father
too. Truly, he is the way to God. And he's the way that excludes
all other ways. He is the way into the holiest,
as Hebrews 9, 8 says. He's the one in whom we have,
according to Ephesians 3, 12, boldness and access. That's a
way in. We have access with confidence
by the faith of Him. Now, here's what my confidence
is. His faith. It's not my faith. It's His faith.
It's His faithfulness. That's what I have confidence
in. I have confidence in Him in whom we have boldness, freedom
of inference, and access with confidence by the faith of Him. He is so much the way that when
you're on the way, you've already arrived at the desired destination
in the very presence of God. Nearer so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. In the person of his dear son,
I'm as near to God as he. Do you believe that? Dear, so
dear to God, dearer. I cannot be. In the person of
his dear son, I'm as dear to God as he. Now, if you believe that, that
makes you rejoice. Peter calls this way in 2 Peter
2.15, the way of truth. Is Christ being the only way
to the Father the truth? Yes, it is. He said, I'm the
way, the truth. That's the truth. And the truth
is that His life is the life. I love the way He said this,
I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. I don't feel good about
my life. I really don't. I don't feel
good about my life, but I feel good about His life. And His
life is my life. That's my life before the Father.
That's my standing before the Father. That's my boldness of
entrance before the Father. His life. Now that's the truth.
I said, don't you love that scripture, I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. And Peter once again calls this
in 2 Peter 2.15, the right way. The right way. I like that. You
can only get to the desired destination if you go the right way. If you
go the wrong way, you're not going to get there. The only
way to get there is the right way. And there is a way that
seemeth right unto a man, The end thereof are the ways of death. Christ himself is the right way
and all other ways are wrong ways. And anyone that comes any
other way, our Lord says, is a thief and a robber. Now this way, this way is the
way of God. Not only the way to God, it is
the way of. God. The Pharisees were trying
to entrap the Lord and they said, Master, what they said was true. They said, Master, we know that
thou art true and teach us the way of God. The way of God in
truth. And care is not for any man,
Matthew 22, 16. And that's true. You know, the
Lord teaches the way of God. He is the way of God. And he
doesn't care what men think. He doesn't need man's affirmation.
He doesn't need man's approval. It's the way, whether anybody
believes it or not. This is the way of God. And it doesn't matter if men
agree or disagree. God said, my ways are not your
ways. How true. People that are in
the way are in the way of God and this way is called a new
and a living way. Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 10 for a moment? Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, what's
that next word? Boldness. Boldness. That's confidence. Confidence. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest, the very presence of God. How? By the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way. Now, this is the way of blood. The only way into God's presence
is the way of blood. Now, you know, when I was, I
don't know, I guess when I was a kid, I used to, I used to ask
myself the question, I'd hear Brother Mahan say, you can't
come except through blood. You can only come through blood.
And I think, why? Why? Why is blood necessary? Why do
you have to come with blood? Well, the reason I asked a question
like that is because I was ignorant of the character of God. You
see, God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. And sin must be punished. I can't come into God's presence
in my sin. If God would accept me the way
I am, you know, people say, I want God to accept me unconditionally.
I want God to accept me just the way I am. If he did, he couldn't
be God. He couldn't be just. What do
we think of a judge who would just up and let people off the
hook when they committed terrible crimes? Why, that would be an
unjust judge. We'd fire him. We'd get him out
of the job. God would cease to be just if he lets sin go unpunished. Oh, sin is such an infinite evil
and it must be punished. And that's the reason the only
way I can come into his presence is through blood. the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Justice must be satisfied. God's
law must be honored. So I can come only through the
blood. It requires the death. My sin became his and he died. And now I have freedom of entrance. And did you notice in this passage
of scripture, he's called the new way. The new way. Now, if you look that word up
in a dictionary, that particular word means freshly slaughtered. I, to my shame, and I know you
say the same thing about yourself, I, to my shame, commit the same
sins over and over and over again. And it seems like if you commit
the same sins over and over and over again, The Lord would say,
that's enough. I've had it. I will not tolerate
that anymore. Now that's a natural way of thinking,
isn't it? The blood of Christ though, is
freshly slaughtered. It's always new. It's always
powerful. It's always fresh. It never loses
its power. It's the new, the freshly slaughtered. So I commit the same sins over
and over again, but I'm still viewed in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that freshly slaughtered blood. It's eternal. He's the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. He's the lamb slain in time and
in glory, even in glory, my only standing is gonna be in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the new way and he's the
living way. It's not just presenting some
dead sacrifice. This is the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ who indeed died, but he lived and he is
the living way. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
7. This is a very familiar passage of scripture. Verse 13. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way. that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat." There's going to be
a whole lot of people in hell. Did you know that? I've heard people
say, there's going to be more people in heaven than in hell.
I don't know where you get that from scriptures. I really don't. Now, if infants are all saved,
that could be, maybe that'll be the case. But the Lord says,
many go the broad way, few, few, few go the narrow way. Very few. Now let's go on reading. Verse
14, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads
unto life and few there be that find it. Do you have any idea
if you're somebody that's a person of the way, what a blessed privilege
this is. The Lord's put you on this way.
Not many people are, and you are. Isn't it amazing? It's amazing
to be one of God's elect, isn't it? It's amazing to be a believer.
What a blessing, glorious privilege. Few there be that find this way.
And our Lord tells us that this is a narrow way. It's so narrow that you can't
carry anything with you. You can't walk along this way
with anything. It's Christ alone. It's not Christ
and my experience. It's not Christ and my understanding.
It's not Christ and my faith. It's not Christ and anything.
It's Christ alone. He's so narrow that you can't
carry anything with you. Christ alone. Nothing else. Scriptures alone. Grace alone. Faith alone. God's glory alone. This is the
only way this route can be walked. Lose the word alone and it becomes
the broad way that leads to death. The way that seemeth right but
is wrong. And this way is also called the
way of righteousness. That's what Peter calls it. The
way of righteousness. Now I'd like you to turn to Psalm
71 for just a moment. Psalm 71, the way of righteousness. It's called that several times
in the Scripture. The way of righteousness. Verse 16, David says, I will
go in the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of thy
righteousness, even of thine only. Now, why does David say
I'm only going to mention God's righteousness? Let me give you
a real good reason because that, my dear friends, is the only
righteousness there is. There is no other righteousness
other than the righteousness of God. He said, I'll make mention
of thy righteousness, even thine only. Now, I'm very careful when
I speak of the righteousness of God. You know, you'll never
hear me, by the grace of God, you'll never hear me talk about
imputed righteousness, and you'll never hear me talk about imparted
righteousness, because that implies that they're different things.
Not imputed righteousness, but righteousness imputed. Imputed
is never an adjective to describe a particular kind of righteousness.
It's a verb. There's only one righteousness,
the righteousness of God, the righteousness of God imputed,
the righteousness of God imparted. And somebody says, what's the
difference between imputation and impartation? Well, I think the
best description of this is seen in Adam. His sin was imputed
to me. What he did, I'm held responsible
for. I did it. When he sinned, I sinned
because his sin was imputed to me. I was charged with what he
did, but not only was I charged with what he did, his sinful
nature was imparted to me. So I had his sin imputed to me
and I had his evil nature imparted to me. Thank God this way of
righteousness. Now here's the point I want to
make. Turn to 2 Peter 2. this way of righteousness. You know, I've got a whole lot
of favorite scriptures. This is one of them. 2 Peter chapter 2. This gives
me some hope. Verse 7. Now, do you remember who Lot
is before we read this? Do you remember who Lot is? There
wasn't a whole lot to it. He's the one who chose the well-watered
plain and didn't defer to Abraham. He should have deferred to Abraham,
but he was a self-seeking, selfish, greedy man. He chose the well-watered
plain. You remember how Abraham delivered
him when he got carried off in Sodom. He's the one who pitched
his tent towards Sodom when he shouldn't have done it. And he
ended up living in Sodom. And he's the man who when the
angels came to said, get out of here. Scripture says he actually
lingered in Sodom. As a matter of fact, if he wasn't
for the New Testament, I guarantee you nobody would think he was
really saved. They'd say he's just a hypocrite. There's nothing to him. He's
not real. That's what we would think of this man if it weren't
for the New Testament testimony regarding him. Now Lot, like
I said, there wasn't much to him, was there? Now, let's read
God's testimony. That's our testimony. Let's read
God's testimony. Verse 7, he delivered just Lot. That's what God calls him. Now
the reason God calls him just is why? Because he's just. God calls things as they really
are. He delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked for that righteous man. That's who Lot is. He's a righteous man. In dwelling among them, in seeing
and hearing, vexed his what? His righteous soul. This is not
just talking about some kind of pasted on righteousness. This is talking about something
that made him righteous where God calls him that righteous
man. It even speaks of his righteous soul. That's righteousness imputed. That's righteousness imparted.
Now here's the way of righteousness. The way of righteousness makes
somebody like Lot and somebody like me a righteous man. You're looking, I love saying
this, you're looking at a righteous man. A man that's altogether
righteous. You believe that? That's the
way of righteousness. That's the way of the gospel.
I'm looking at some righteous men and women. I mean men and
women who God considers righteous. Oh, isn't the way of righteousness
glorious, particularly if you believe you're a sinner. Like
I said Sunday morning, The world can be divided into two classes
of people. The righteous, all of which believe
themselves to be wicked. And the wicked, all of which
who believe themselves to be righteous. Righteous law. This is the way of righteousness. And then we read in Luke 1, 79
of the way of peace. This way, people of the way,
it's a way of peace. And I love the thought of peace. Peace. The kingdom of God is
not meat and drink, Romans 14, 17. The kingdom of God is not
meat and drink. It's not what you eat and what
you drink. It's not what you do and what you don't do. It's
not do's and don'ts. It's not rules and regulations. It's really
not. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's righteousness. That's what the gospel reveals,
that one righteousness, the righteousness of God, the righteousness that
every believer possesses. Paul said, oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God. That's the righteousness
I have. However God, righteous God is,
that's how righteous I am. That's the heritage of every
believer. Righteousness and peace. God is at peace with me. He is satisfied with me. He is not angry with me. You know what? I am at peace with
Him. The same ground of His peace,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is my peace. I am at peace with Him. And I'm at peace with you. I
love you. I want the best for you. I'm
at peace with you. You know, people who fight, it's
because they have something that somebody wants, they want to
get it from them. I've already got everything. Don't need anything.
I'm completing Christ. And I, as every believer is,
am a peacemaker. I preach the gospel of peace. It's the way of peace. And this way is what Paul called
the more excellent way. Look in 1 Corinthians 12. Verse
29. Are all apostles? No. Are all prophets? No. Are all
teachers? No. Are all workers of miracles?
No. Have all the gifts of healing?
No. Do all speak with tongues? No. Do all interpret? No. But
covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more
excellent way. And what's the way that's more
excellent? He says, though I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels and have not charity, love. I am become as a sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal and though I have the gift of prophecy
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though
I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not
charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned in the cause
of God and truth and have not charity, it profits me nothing. love. You know, isn't it glorious
to love God? I love him. Lord knows whether that's true.
It's one thing to say it and it's another thing to do it, but I love him. And there isn't anything more
glorious than being enabled by, you know that's the gift of God's
grace, isn't it? You know you wouldn't do it if he didn't enable you
to do it. But isn't it glorious to worship him? To love him? To adore him? To love the way
he is? To love all of his, you know,
I love the sovereignty of God because I love the God who is
sovereign. I, everything about God, I love him. Everything he
reveals in his word. I wouldn't change it if I could.
I love His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I love His way of saving.
I love God the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ to me. I love
you. I really do. He that loveth him
that begat, loveth him also that's begotten of him. I love you.
Oh, the way of love is more excellent. It's more glorious. I love men.
I want them to know the gospel. I need to love them more. I'm
asking the Lord to give me grace to love them more because, you
know, I'll say I love them and then I don't act like I do, but
I want to love them, don't you? I want to love men. Preach the
gospel to them. being an example to them. Oh, the way of love. It's the
more excellent way. And this way is the way of divine
direction. Let me show you a passage of
Scripture in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. 1 Thessalonians chapter
3. Verse 11. Now God himself And our Father and our Lord Jesus
Christ direct, guide our way unto you. Now the Lord guides,
directs every step in this way. Isn't that what you want? I love David's prayer, order
my steps in your Word. and let not any iniquity have
dominion over me." Now, in this way, we have the Lord ordering
our steps. That means we can't get out of the way. If it wasn't
for Him directing my steps, I'd fall off the way. I'd fall away,
and so would you. But thank God He directs, He
orders our steps in His Word so that we stay in the way. Oh,
He leadeth me. Oh, blessed thought that He leads
me and guides my steps. I might not realize it, probably
don't most of the time, but it's still true. The steps of a good
man, and that's what every believer is, are ordered by the Lord. And he delights in his way. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. And here's my prayer.
And here's what I know the Lord's doing. Lord, hedge me. Hedge me in, order my steps in
your word, don't let me leave, don't let me stray off. And he
doesn't. The reason I haven't fallen away,
and I know, oh, I know so clearly that if the Lord took his hand
off of me, I would right now, right now, as soon as we get
out the door, I'd be gone, apart from his grace. And you know
the same thing is true regarding you. We've got such sinful, evil
natures that that's what would happen, but thank God, he keeps
us, he hedges us in the way, and he won't let us get out.
Thank God for the way of divine guidance and direction. Look
in Acts 22. Acts 22. No, I'm sorry, it's
Acts 24. I love this passage of scripture. Verse 12, and this is Paul. And he says, They neither found
me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the
people, neither in the synagogue, nor in the city. Neither can
they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But this
I confess unto thee. Now I plead guilty here. I plead
guilty. That after the way which they
call heresy, Who are they? That's the religious
of this world. That's the unbelievers. You know,
they call what you believe heresy. It's why it's heretical to say
that Men are dead in sins and can't do anything to save themselves
and take away man's will and making him a puppet in this thing.
That's what it comes down to. That's heresy. Why it's heretical
to say that God chose who would be saved and man doesn't do the
choosing. Why it's heretical to say that Jesus Christ didn't
die for everybody, that he only died for the elect and doesn't
give everybody a chance. Why that's heresy. To say that God's
grace is irresistible and invincible and can't be resisted by man.
Why that's heretical. Oh, after the way which they
call heresy. Paul said, that's how I believe.
No, it's not. That's not how he said it. He said, after the way
which they call heresy, so what? He worshiped I, the God of my
fathers, believing all things which are written in the law
and in the prophets. Galatians 5. Now remember that Paul said,
I persecuted this way, even unto death. This is the way of persecution. Galatians 5, verse 11, And I, brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense
the scandal of the cross ceased." Now, Paul is saying, if nobody's
persecuting me for what I preach, I'm not preaching anything. You
know, the indication of God's blessing is not popularity, it's
persecution. And I find in my... I hope I... I want to be persecuted for Christ's
sake. Now, I don't want to stir up things because of my own rotten
personality or treating people bad and so on. I'm not talking
about that. But I mean, I want to preach the gospel in such
a way as people hear it and hate my guts for it. That's fine with
me. That's fine with me. Now, I know
some will believe. God's people will believe. God's people love
you for preaching the truth. But the rest, who cares? I really
want And I say this carefully, but, you know, watch me get thrown
in jail or something tomorrow, and then I'll be probably changing
my mind. But the way I feel right now,
I want to be persecuted for Christ's sake, if that's the indication
of His blessing. Now, in closing, I want to turn
to one of my favorite characters in Scripture. Turn with me to
Mark chapter 10. I was asking Lynn and Aubrey
who who they most wanted to see in glory, characters from scripture. And there's several that come
to my mind, but this is a man that comes to my mind, that I
can't wait to meet this particular individual in heaven. His name
is Bartimaeus. Blind beggar, son of a blind
beggar. Now let's read this passage of
Scripture, verse 46. And they came to Jericho, Mark
10, 46. And they came to Jericho, and
as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highway side begging. That's all he did all day long.
He didn't have anything else to do. He didn't have any way of
providing for himself. He was a blind beggar. And we read in verse 47, and
when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth that passed by, when
he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth He'd heard a great number
of people making a lot of noise. And he said, what's going on?
And he heard that Jesus of Nazareth passed by. Now, I'm doing some
speculating here, but I know this is what happened. He was
a blind man. And he heard one day of Jesus
of Nazareth who gave sight to the blind. And at that time,
he knew he was the Messiah because the Old Testament scripture says
he will give sight to the blind. Only the Messiah could do that.
And at that time, Bartimaeus became a secret disciple of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You know, he would hear people
scoffing and making fun of Christ. He never did. He knew who he
was. And he thought in his heart,
if he ever passes by, how I'm going to cry out. Verse 47, And when he heard that
it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus,
thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace. They said, shut up Bartimaeus. Did that
shut him up? You know, you can't shut up somebody
who wants mercy. You can't do it. You can't do
it. You can bring every argument against him. You need to shut
up. What did he do? He cried the more. A great deal. Have mercy on me. I'm going to
drive the Lord crazy crying that. I'm not going to give him any
rest. I'm going to keep crying, Lord, have mercy on me. If you don't have mercy on me,
there's no hope for me. Have mercy on me. Verse 49, it says, Jesus stood
still. Now, he was on his way to the cross. His hour had come. Just within a few days, he's
going to be crucified and he's walking to Jerusalem. He knows
exactly what's going to take place. And yet, when he hears
this cry for mercy, the scripture says, Jesus stood still. And if you cry for mercy, he's
going to stop in his tracks and he's going to listen to what
you're crying for every time. Jesus stood still. And he commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he
casting away his garment. And this is what somebody does
when they come into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
filthy garment of their own righteousness, all of a sudden they see it's
nothing more than minstrel's rags. And they don't want to
come wearing a garment like that. He cast it away. He cast away
his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and
said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? What if the Lord asks you that
question? What wilt thou that I should do? Not what you want
me to enable you to do. I don't really feel any comfort
in that. Somehow I'll mess it up. What will you that I should
do? unto thee." And the blind man
said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, go thy way. Thy way. You're set free. Go your way. I love what Bill
Clark said, trust Christ and do what you want to do. You know, religious people are
afraid of liberty. God's people aren't. I know what I want to
do. Well, he went his way and immediately
he received his sight and followed Jesus. in the way. That's His way. That's my way. Now this way of righteousness,
this way of peace, this way that they call heresy, all these different
scriptures we've looked at. This is my way. Go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. People of the way. That's what
I want to be. People of the way. That's how
we want to be. There's those people of the way.
That way of grace. That way of righteousness. Yep.
Plead guilty. People of the way. Let's pray
together.