We'll turn to Acts 24 and verse
14. 24 and verse 14. And my subject this morning is
the way which they call heresy. The way they call heresy. Just a bit of background. I'm
skipping over several chapters of narrative. Very interesting
narrative. You read it for yourself. But I'm just picking out messages
here and there. The situation is that Paul was
determined to go to Jerusalem. And you remember last time we
saw how they told him, please don't go. There were prophets
and they'd said, don't go, there's nothing other than harm. And
remember the subject last week was Paul saying, why are you
weeping for me? I'm ready not only to be bound
with cords, but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we saw what a glorious name. The reason why he was prepared
to die for that name, to die for the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But nevertheless, the Jews who
accused him, they sought to, they conspired to trap him, they
conspired to kill him, they plotted to ambush him on the way on his
journey and kill him. They really wanted rid of this
man. And there was such a tumult and
it came in the providence of God under the hands and under
the jurisdiction of Roman rule. Some of you might remember a
comedy sketch of years ago saying, what have the Romans done for
us as if they'd done nothing for us? Well, apart from the
laws and the good things that they gave us, yes, but apart
from that, well, apart from good straight roads all over the place,
and so it goes on. The Romans, although there were
aspects of the Roman culture which were very violent and very
decadent and the fall of the Roman Empire was due to sin creeping
in on a grand scale and rampant debauchery nevertheless they
brought civilization and they brought law and order and justice
in places where there was no justice there was mob rule and
even here in Jerusalem and Judea there was mob rule in the hands
of Ananias the high priest and all of those that were with him
they wanted to get Paul capture him bind him and kill him for
what he was preaching because what he was preaching was disturbing
their position. But Lysias, in chapter 23, Lysias
calmed it all down, took Paul into custody, and sent him to
Felix, who was the Roman governor of the area. So the area was
governed by Roman governors, and they allowed certain people
to continue as kings. So, like in the days of Herod
the King, Herod was a figurehead king. and there were a string
of herods. And in these days, as we'll see
shortly, the king in that line of herods was a gripper. He had
no real power. It was just a position. It was
just pomp and circumstance and some honor. The Romans allowed
it because the people liked it, but the Romans governed the area,
and they brought their justice. And so Lysias stopped Paul from
being lynched, literally stopped him from being lynched, took
him into custody, and brought him with his accusers before
Felix. the governor of the area and
this is what we see in chapter 24 and they bring all sorts of
accusations which we'll see in a moment but we get to this verse
14 where Felix has said to Paul right you can speak for yourself
come on all be quiet and we'll have none of this rabble-rousing
let the man speak so there's silence and Paul is allowed to
speak and he confesses in verses 14 and 15 he says they brought
all sorts of accusations against me which are not true and they
can't prove them. But, verse 14, this I confess
to you, that after the way they call heresy, that's the Christian
way, that's the true gospel way, that's the way of Jesus Christ,
so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are
written in the law and in the prophets. The things that these
lot say that they believe too. They say that they believe those
things and that my way is the way of heresy. I worship God
that way, in the law and the prophets, And verse 15, and have
hope. I've got a hope. Remember, does
that ring any bells in your head? Be always ready to give a reason
for the hope that is in you. He says, I have a hope toward
God, which they themselves also allow, the Pharisees that is,
that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just
and the unjust. And herein do I exercise myself. Paul confessed. What did he confess? Firstly, that he worshipped the
God of his fathers. Who were his fathers? Does he
mean the Jews in general? No, he means his spiritual fathers.
He means those like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, like David,
like Solomon, like so many of the prophets who looked to Christ,
who spoke of Christ. These are they which speak of
me. Beginning at Moses and the prophets,
Jesus expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself. He worshipped the God of his
spiritual fathers and all things which are written in the Law
and the Prophets, the Bible, the Old Testament as they then
had it. He believed it, he followed it for all Scripture as Paul
later wrote from prison. All Scripture is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for teaching, for building up
that the man of God may be fully furnished, fully equipped. All
Scripture is for those things. He believed the Bible and he
had a hope of resurrection. There were Sadducees and Pharisees
amongst the Jews. The Sadducees did not believe
in the resurrection, but the Pharisees did. And Paul had been
a Pharisee, and he said, I have this hope of resurrection, of
eternal life. And he walked in the way, in
this way, that his accusers, that they, his accusers, call
heresy. Now is it not the case today
that those that are in religion up to their necks in religion,
up to their necks in external morality and tradition and form
and all of these things, called the true faith of Jesus Christ,
which has no confidence in the flesh, which rejoices in Christ
Jesus. They call that heresy. They do. They say that this is a heretical
sect meeting here, not mainstream, not one of the churches of Nebworth. We're not mainstream. We're a
heretical sect. That's what they say. But it's
always been the case. This is what religion accused
Paul of. We seek to preach and believe and walk in the way that
the Apostle Paul preached and taught. And they call it heresy. What is this way? It's a direction
of life. It's a path of life. There's
a path of life set before you. There are paths of life set before
you. And you have to make a decision.
Now I'll explain what I'm saying, because some of you alarm bells
might be going off. Him saying, make a decision in a sermon from
this pulpit, yes, and I'll tell you why in a minute. It's the
way of the Lord. This way is the way of the Lord.
It's in the scripture called all sorts of things, the way
of the Lord, the way of God. Do you know what the way of God
is? It's the gospel. Priscilla and Aquila explained
to Apollos, that good preacher who didn't know the truth properly,
They explained to him the way of God more perfectly. What did
they explain to him? The gospel of Jesus Christ. That's
what they explained to him. The way of Christ. That's this
way that they call heresy, because he is the way. How do I know
he's the way? He said it himself. How do we
know the way, said Thomas and Philip? He said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. He is the way of life. Why is
he the way of life? because it's in Him and Him alone
that the ransom price of sinners, that's you and me, is paid. There's
nowhere else that that ransom price of sinners is paid. There
is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. It's the way of life in the substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so those who are truly the
people of God worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We read in the
Sermon on the Mount a contrast that there is between narrow
ways and broad ways. There is a narrow way, a narrow
way that leads to life and there is a broad way and many there
be that go in there at that leads to destruction. The majority
of mankind goes down the broad way without thinking of the things
of God and of eternity and of their immortal souls and they
go down the broad way to destruction. As Proverbs 14 verse 12 says,
there is a way that seems right. unto a man. There's a way that
seems right unto a man. To mankind in general, in his
natural state, there's a way of life that seems right to him.
To live, to eat, to drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.
To make the most of every opportunity. A way that seems right to a man.
And the end thereof, not just one way, the ways of death. They're the ways of death. It's
the way that Jude calls, Jude's little epistle, verse 11, the
way of Cain. What is the way of Cain? It's
the way of works religion. It's the way of self-righteousness.
It's the way of I'm good enough on my own. I'll get right with
God as I can. And what's implied is that there
is a choice. You say, surely you're not preaching make a choice,
make a decision. I am. I am. You see, I fully
believe, as you know, and we preach clearly, the sovereignty
of God in all things. It is not of him who wills, nor
of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. But you know, If
you apply just human logic to that, then you end up with fatalism,
which says, don't do anything. And the Bible never ever teaches
fatalism as an answer to the sovereignty of God. Oh, we heartily,
wholeheartedly rest in the sovereignty and sovereign grace of God. But
the scripture always says, make a choice. It does, to mankind
generally. This is what Paul pleaded, make
a choice. as Joshua said to the people the children of Israel
in the book of Joshua were wavering should we go the way of the false
gods all around us and Joshua said this choose for yourselves
this day whom you will serve if God is God then serve him
but if these others follow them Elijah on Mount Carmel with the
prophets of Baal and false religion in that country that had the Kingdom of Israel that had
walked out on God. And Ahab, its king, and Jezebel
had brought in all this false worship. And Elijah is there
and he says to the people there, make a decision today. Stop sitting
on the fence and keeping your options open. You have to decide
which way. If God is the Lord, if He really
is God, then don't you think you'd better worship Him? If
He really is God, don't you think you'd better worship Him? But
if he's not and Baal is God, then go and worship Baal. But
don't sit on the fence. You see? There is this implication
of choice. Even in the New Testament. Even. Now listen to these words. To
make your calling and election sure, there are choices to be
made, says Peter. Peter says, don't sit back and
fatalistically do nothing. He says, add to your faith. this
virtue and add to virtue patience and in doing these things you
will make your calling and election sure. So this is what Paul preached.
He preached this way and many hated it. He undermined their
confidence in their false religion. He undermined their self-righteousness
and their trust in themselves. He undermined their comfort zone. That's what he did. This was
what Paul preached. This way, this narrow way of
eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he called people.
He called people. You see, there is a choice, but
you know what happens? God makes his people willing
in the day of his power. He does. He makes you willing.
He makes you kind of, I can't understand why I'm doing this,
but I feel compelled to go along with this. I just feel compelled
to go along with this, you know? Let's pray, you know, that there'll
be people walking down that high street next Saturday evening
and we'll say, I don't know why, but I just really want to go
in and hear what this man's got to say. What has he got to say?
What's this about? That God will move and make people
willing in the day of his power. Paul preached these things, but
he was brought by accusers before Felix. Who were his accusers? There was Ananias, the high priest,
a man who He had great power in that culture. He had all the
weight of tradition behind him. He had a lot of standing and
importance. And he also had an awful lot
to lose if Paul was right. An awful lot to lose if Paul
was right. And they brought with them Tertullus. You see that in verse 1 of chapter
24. A certain orator named Tertullus who informed the governor against
Paul. They brought their good speaker along. You see, Paul
had a reputation of not being a particularly good speaker.
We read in one of his epistles, they say his speech is rude and
basic and not eloquent, not confident. So they brought Tuttalus, a powerful
speaker. You know there are those that
can stand up. You know in Britain's darkest hour in 1940, I believe
in the providence and sovereignty of God, he raised up Winston
Churchill. I don't know what his eternal state is, but he
certainly raised up that man who with words Just with words. You know, when he said, we'll
fight them on the beaches, we'll never be defeated. And it moved.
I wasn't born then, but some of you were. And it moved the
hearts of a nation to be absolutely determined. And you know, it
doesn't matter what the military might is. If God, through an
orator, moves a nation, then they will not be defeated. And
so it was. You know, it says that the pen,
this was written in a play in the 1800s, the pen is mightier
than the sword. You know what that means? You'd
say, right, you've got a big sharp sword in your hand and
I'll get a pen out and I'll fight you. No, the pen, the words that
flow from the pen. Ah, you can chop somebody's head
off with a sword, but think what you can do with words from a
pen. The words, the pen, the words are mightier than the sword.
And so they brought their orator with them. Ah, we'll wrap him
in knots. We'll prove to the Roman governor
that he needs to give this man to us and then we can kill him
and do what we need to do to him. Yes, there was him. There
was the Jews, the whole lot of them. Their accusation was this. Their accusation against Paul
was this. And obviously it was a false
accusation. But we're all, if we preach the truth, a subject
to it. Because we're exclusive, because we say there's no other
way, because we say there's only one name under heaven, given
among men, then we're undermining government. You say, oh no, come
off it, that's a bit severe, nobody's accusing you of undermining
government. John Bunyan preached what we preach. They accused
him of undermining government and they locked him up in Bedford
Jail for 12 years. Many others they accused of undermining
government and social order, inciting disorder by their doctrine
and they tied them to the stake and they burned them in the 1500s,
the martyrs, for being exclusive, for saying there's none other
name. I saw the other day, you may be heard of this, but our
ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair has a faith foundation. If you
put Tony Blair Faith Foundation into Google, up will come the
website. I had a look at it and it's all inclusive. You see,
the doctrine of Tony Blair's Faith Foundation is this. What
is faith about? Faith is about what you believe,
isn't it? Faith is about what you apprehend
with your mind and you act on the basis of that. Faith is what
you believe. But Tony Blair's Faith Foundation
says this. Ah, it doesn't matter what you
believe. That doesn't really matter. what
really matters is that you believe something and that believing
something, you know if you're a Muslim you believe what Muslims
believe and if you're a Catholic you believe what Catholics believe
and if you're a Protestant you believe what they believe and
if you're a Buddhist you believe what they believe but faith is a good
thing because faith motivates people to do good things and
we'll all work together for this lovely worldly utopia where we'll
get rid of poverty and we'll get rid of war and conflict and
we'll all have a good time together and the only people that are
excluded are those who say there's none other way than the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's it. You ask the Archbishop
of Canterbury. This is going to go on a website
and people can listen to it. You ask the Archbishop of Canterbury,
is the Christian way the only way to God and I guarantee you
he will duck and dive and wriggle and squirm but he won't say it
because it's politically not acceptable. You ask the Pope
in Rome the same question and he will duck and dive and politically
squirm and he won't say it. He'll say all sorts of things
about abortion and homosexuality and all sorts, but is there only
one way to God? He won't say it. He won't say
it. But the truth is there's only one way to God through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what the world and
others oppose. This is what we seek to be preached
to this community. This is what we're looking forward
to, the fact that it's not as if it's not preached here week
by week, I hope. But having a special speaker might cause some to turn
out of the way. They're putting on something,
I'll go and see what they're saying. But Don will come and will preach
that exclusive message of salvation in Christ alone. So Paul makes
his defense here against those accusations. And there are three
different reactions to that defense that I want you to see this morning
over the next three chapters of Acts 24, 25 and 26. Very briefly,
don't worry I'm not going to be long, three different reactions
to it, and they're typical of the sort of reactions that we
see in the world. And so it's by way of encouragement
to us not to despair, because these things, these things are
the norm. These things are the norm, but
there's encouragement at the end of it. Paul's defense. He
goes before three judges. There's Felix, the first one,
the Roman governor, and Felix keeps him locked up for two years,
and then a new governor comes, Festus, Festus takes over from
Felix, and he's the Roman governor. And Festus judges him and thinks,
I can't find anything wrong with him. So he includes Agrippa,
the king, the descendant of Herod. And he includes them. And they
all examine him according to Roman law. Has this man done
anything worthy of death? Because these, his accusers,
say he is worthy of death. Please hand him over to us. We'll
take him to Jerusalem. And they knew there would just
be mob rule and he'd be lynched on the way. So, Roman law, Roman
justice preserved Paul, and do you know what he was preserved
for? He was preserved to go to prison, to house arrest in Rome.
And do you know what he did there? He wrote an enormous amount of
the New Testament that we have today, all in the providence
of God. So, Paul gives his response. Paul
gives his defense to these accusations. You'll notice as you read it,
and read it for yourself, that throughout It's a calm testimony. He doesn't panic. A calm testimony
to the power of the gospel. A calm testimony to what the
gospel did for him. In turning him from someone headlong,
dashing down the slope to hell, unstoppable, no breaks, and the
Son of God stepped into his life and turned him round. Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me? That light shined into his heart.
the power of God unto salvation. This is what he gave testimony
to. He also, in the process, showed clear respect for civil
authority. We read it earlier, the respect
he showed to the Roman governor and the judges. You know, we're
told in the New Testament, have honor and respect for those in
authority over society. They're as gods with a little
g, keeping order in society. We should be thankful for authority
in society, to keep society in check. Respect for civil authority,
but also he totally denied what they accused him of which was
insurrection which was causing riot and he said they can't prove
it and so they couldn't even with their powerful orator they
couldn't they couldn't prove it so we're gonna have a public
meeting next Saturday and then Sunday services and the gospel
will be declared and these are some of the reactions that we
might see first of all Felix Felix the first Roman governor
in verse 22 We read that Felix had a more perfect knowledge
of that way. Felix knew a bit about what Paul
was preaching. He'd been around. In his province,
Cornelius was one of the military leaders. Cornelius. Do you remember
who Peter went to? And, you know, Peter preached
the gospel to Cornelius and Cornelius and his household were baptized
and saved. And a church grew up around them.
And Felix, no doubt, saw that. and witnessed it and was aware
of it. He knew a bit about this way. He knew that this way posed
absolutely no threat to the Roman Empire. He knew that this way
posed no threat at all to civil disorder, so he was skeptical
of what the accusers were saying. He had quite a lot of respect
for this way. And he heard Paul's testimony
and hope of eternal life, as we read. You see, verse 21, Paul
says this, except it be for this one voice that I cried standing
among them, touching the resurrection of the dead, I am called in question
by you this day." The Sadducees were up in arms about him speaking
about the resurrection. So they were on the side of those
who wanted to get rid of him as well. And he saw the injustice
of Paul's accusers. Look in verse 18 and 19. Paul
says, whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in
the temple, just going about my own business, neither with
multitude, I didn't have a crowd with me, nor with tumult, there
was no noise, who ought to have been here before thee, and object
if they had ought against me. They should have brought the
accusations if they had anything against me, but they didn't.
Have they got anything to say? No, they didn't have anything
to say. They couldn't prove it. They couldn't prove anything
against him. So you would have thought Felix should have made
the honourable and just decision to let Paul go safely in custody
of those that would keep him safe from the mob. But no, he
didn't. He deferred. He deferred. In
verse 22, And Felix, when he heard these things, having a
more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them and said,
I'm going to wait for Lysias. Do you remember he was the one
that stopped the riot? I'm going to wait for Lysias
to come down and then we'll know about these things. The accusers
didn't get their way. But Felix wriggled out of being
decisive. Remember what I said? Choose
you this day whom you will serve. Which day? Which day? I wonder
if there will be people who might come to hear the message of the
Gospel of Grace and will go, very interesting. Sounds quite
plausible. But not for me right now. Today
is the day of salvation. Today. Today. What's that Latin
phrase? Carpe diem. Seize the day. Grasp the day. You know, do you
think of situations in life, oh never mind, it'll come round
again, I'll have another go. I remember, think of a scene
from Holidays, I don't want to distract you too much from the
point, but I remember twenty-odd years ago, sitting on a low wall
by Lake Geneva in Montreux, on an absolutely gorgeous evening,
lovely warm evening, with the lake still and red with the sunset,
and eagles circling and fishing. And we were going, oh, we must
come back and see this. We've never been back. Never
been back. Carpe diem. Grasp the day. So
it is. Today is the day of salvation.
And Felix procrastinated. You know what that is? If you
did any Latin, you know what that is. Put it off till tomorrow.
That's what it is. To put it off till tomorrow.
Why? Why did he put it off till tomorrow?
Because he was concerned about losing his position. He was concerned
about losing his status as governor. If he'd gone the way of Paul,
it might not have sat well with his duties and his position and
his honor and all of those things that went with it. And as Jesus
said, those who grasp hold of their life and cling on to it
will lose it. But those who will lose their
life for my sake will find it. Eternal life. And in verse 24,
in a little while, Paul came before him again. He brought
Paul before him again with his wife, Drusilla. who incidentally
was his wife of adultery. He just took her to wife when
she was already married to somebody else. So the historians tell
us. And they asked, tell us about the faith concerning Jesus Christ. Verse 24 at the end. He heard
him concerning the faith in Christ. You know what Paul would have
preached. Righteousness with God and acceptance with God in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, come and imagine, imagine
somebody says, Tell us about the Lord Jesus Christ. What is
this faith of the Lord Jesus? Just think of the fuss we'd make
of them these days. Just think of the fuss that people
make of people saying that sort of thing. Oh, they're virtually
Christians, we'd say, wouldn't we? We'd say, Felix and Drusilla,
they want to know about the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, they're virtually
Christians. Let's make such a fuss of them.
Let's bow down before them. Let's put the red carpet out
for them. Let's do everything that we can to try and get them
here. Let's make the most of this opportunity. Do you know
the proverb, don't count your chickens? It's don't count your
chickens till they're hatched. You're a chicken farmer. You've
got a good clutch of eggs. You've got a hundred eggs and
you're thinking, oh gosh, that's jolly good. I've got a hundred
chickens. That will make me all this profit. No, you wait till
they've hatched and they're strong, healthy chickens and then see
how many you've got. That's the lesson of the proverb.
And so it is. These are not Christians yet
just because they've shown an interest. Don't be fooled. Wait,
wait. And verse 25, look, Paul goes
on. He tells them about the faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he tells them about the peril
outside of that faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he reasoned
of righteousness. God is holy and demands righteousness. God is holy and must demand righteousness. He speaks to them of temperance
and of judgment to come. For it is appointed unto man
to die once, and after this the judgment." He speaks to them
of all these things. And some would say, they were
nearly Christians. Why did you scare them off by
preaching such harsh things? These people were nearly Christians.
Surely you should have been gentle with them and preached a gentle
message that didn't frighten them away. No, no. He preached
the truth of God. He proclaimed the whole counsel
of God. And Felix trembled when Felix
knew, I'm a mortal man. who must face a holy God, and
that it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God. And he procrastinated. And he said, I'll hear you again. Verse 25, he reasoned of righteousness,
temperance, and judgment to come. Felix trembled and answered,
Go thy way for this time. You're making me feel uncomfortable,
Paul. Go your way for this time. When I have a convenient season,
I will call for you. When I have a convenient season,
you see what he really wanted, verse 26. He thought that Paul
had a following that had a bit of money and that they would
pay for him to be released. And he was hoping that he'd get
some money that he might loose him. And so he sent for him often
to see if he was going to get the money and commune with him.
But that moment, that moment was gone forever. Gone forever. Grasp the day. Today is the day
of salvation. And so he kept him locked up
for two years Secondly, secondly, and you see that sort of thing
all around us. Nearly, nearly, nearly interested,
but merely interested, merely interested, and put it off. Not
for me just now. I'm not ready to sign up. I'm
going to postpone the day of reckoning. And what did Jesus
say about that in that parable of the rich fool who thought
he could postpone the day of reckoning? And he said that God
said to him, this night your soul shall be required of you."
Secondly, Festus, the next man who comes in, the next governor.
And he, again, we haven't time to look at the details, so read
it for yourself in chapters 25 and 26. And he judged him fairly. He really did. He protected him.
He gave him human rights, as we would say these days. He allowed
Paul's companions and his brethren to minister to his needs. to
give him his clothes and his food and everything that he needed.
He allowed all of those things to give him reasonable liberty.
He protected him from the mob and from the crowd in accordance
with Roman law. He examined him. He couldn't
find anything that was worthy of death in Paul. Here's a pagan
man, a Roman governor, and he examines Paul objectively according
to Roman law. And he says, this man's done
nothing wrong. I may not agree with him, but
he's done nothing wrong. You know, this isn't right. This is a rowdy mob that's trying
to kill him. No, he doesn't deserve death.
But what he heard Paul speak was foolishness to him. His doctrine
was foolishness to him. You know, that's what Paul says.
The gospel of grace is foolishness to the Greeks, meaning the world
in general. It's a stumbling block to the
religious folks, but it's foolishness to the Greeks, world in general
and human logic led Festus to conclude that what Paul said
was illogical and that Paul was insane look at verse 24 of chapter
26 this is Paul speaking to a gripper who's the next one and Festus
and as he thus spake for himself Festus said with a loud voice
Paul you are beside yourself you're not in your right mind
much learning has made you mad you've gone insane you've gone
a bit loopy with your with your much learning and he says I'm
not mad most noble Festus but speak forth the words of truth
and soberness of truth and calmness that's what he was speaking Festus
weighed up the pros and the cons of what Paul was saying and if
what Paul asserted was true all society was flawed. If what we
preach here is true, society as a utopia in which we'll do
our thing and make our money and enjoy our lives and then
die at the end of a happy life and that's the end of it, all
of that philosophy is false. All of that is flawed. You see,
the broad way that everybody was living in, leading to eternal
destruction, that broad way which they choose to ignore the fact
that it's leading to eternal destruction, that way was flawed.
And Festus dismissed the gospel. And doubtless there are many
like this in our society today. In fact, let's be honest, the
flesh of the believer at times thinks, this is a hard saying.
This gospel of sovereign grace, this gospel of distinctive electing
grace, is a hard doctrine. And so many, so many are outside
of it. And so many are on a road to
a lost eternity. Oh, that's a hard doctrine. Who
can stand it? And you know many of the disciples
left Jesus, John chapter 6. Many walked out on Him. And He
said to those that were left, will you also leave? To whom
shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Yes, the flesh, the flesh sometimes thinks these things
are hard to believe. But to whom shall we go? You
have the words of eternal life. Human logic When human logic
is applied to the gospel of grace, human logic will say, sorry,
it puts too many people outside of favor with God. It cannot
be right. But it is right. It is true.
It is true. And those who are his people
know it's to be true and believe it. Well, thirdly, finally, quickly,
Agrippa, and I must rush, Agrippa, Festus asked Agrippa's opinion. You see, Festus couldn't decide,
so he asked Agrippa's opinion. so that he would have something
to write to Caesar, because he was going to send... Paul had
appealed to Caesar. So to Caesar he must go. He must go to Rome
to Caesar. But Festus is thinking, I can't
find anything wrong with him. What am I going to write? I'm
going to look stupid if I send the man and there's nothing wrong
with him. Well, you know, Caesar's going to say, if you didn't find
anything wrong with him, why didn't you let him go? So he
gets Agrippa in. Agrippa, you're good with words.
See what you think. See if you can come up with some
words that describe the problem we've got with this man and why
we're sending him to you. So Agrippa is there, and throughout
chapter 26, Agrippa and Bernice, the queen, and they come in,
although they've got no status really, they've got no real power
because they're all in the hands of the Romans, they come in with
pomp and ceremony and all of the position, and they hear the
same testimony that Festus hears, of acceptance with God in Christ
and Him alone. Not on the basis of their power
and their position, all of that is worth nothing. And when Festus
declared Paul to be mad, Paul could see that Agrippa was strongly
persuaded. Look at verses 26 and 27. Paul
says this, For the king knows, speaking of Agrippa, the king
knows of these things, before whom I also speak freely. For
I am persuaded that none of these things, the scriptures that he'd
been speaking of, how they spoke of Christ, none of these things
are hidden from him. For this thing was not done in
a corner, it isn't hidden, it's open. King Agrippa, Believest
thou the prophets? I know that you believe. Do you
believe the prophets are true? Do you believe what they said
is the word of God? I know you believe those things. Then Agrippa
said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul
said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that
hear me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am,
except for these bonds. Almost, almost you persuade me
to be a Christian, but not actually. Almost. I wonder if anybody will
be almost persuaded to be a Christian, but not actually. I wonder if
anybody will think this is powerfully convincing, but I've got too
much to lose personally. Happy to let the Christians continue
doing their thing on their own, in their own little way, if that's
what suits them, but this is not for me just now. Do you know
something? In terms of eternal life, there
are no prizes for coming second. if you've ever watched the weakest
link quiz program on the television you know when it gets down to
the final two and uh... when it gets down to the final
two there's the prize money the pot of prize money is left and
at the end of it one of them she says you go away with two
thousand pounds and to the other one you go away with nothing
with nothing and so it is 1 Corinthians 9 24 know ye not that they which
run in a race run all But one receives the prize, so run that
you may obtain." Eternal life is the prize. All run in a race. It's not as if there's only one
that reaches the line. All that Christ died for reached
that line, but you must run. You must run to get to that line.
You must run. You must run the race of faith.
You must run it with determination. You must run it as a runner in
a race runs to be first. No half measures. You must be
wholly committed. Know ye not that they which run
in a race run all. You see, there's no prize for
coming second. There's no salvation for being
an almost Christian. The result of almost believing?
What is the result of almost believing? Hebrews 10.27, a certain
fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation. How will
people react? How will people react? If God
stirs any out of their apathy next week, some will likely react
in any of these three ways. But I want you to note this,
just as a word of encouragement as we close. None of these three
was as hard a case as Saul of Tarsus. He was the hardest case
of all, wasn't he? You can read his testimony. 26
verse 4, My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first
among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews. They all know
me, what a zealot I was. And verse 5, They knew from the
beginning, and they would testify, that after the most straightest
sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. Verses 9 to 11, I
verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary
to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing I also did in Jerusalem.
And many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received
authority from the chief priests. And that when they were put to
death, I gave my voice against them. You see how he persecuted
them. And what a hard case Saul of Tarsus was, but the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. by sovereign grace shined
into his heart. For Paul, this Saul of Tarsus,
this vehement, vehement, hard, unbelieving case, this violent
man, this aggressive, terrible opposer of the truth of God,
he was a vessel of grace. And at the right time, in the
purposes of God, God shined truth into his heart and turned even
him around. and brought Saul of Tarsus down
from his arrogance to testify this 1 Timothy 1 verse 15 this
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief