God the Holy Spirit has been
pleased to have a lot recorded about the arrest of Paul and
what took place. It began in chapter 21 and goes
on to the end of the book of Acts. And here is when he was
before Festus. And this is what Festus ascertained
He said, this was the issue, certain questions against him
of their own superstition. Now that word is religion, but
I think that's such an appropriate word for man's religion. Now, Paul had the same scriptures
that these men had, but they had superstition. He preached
a person. one Jesus who was dead and was
raised from the dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. I've entitled this message, Jesus
affirmed to be alive. Look in verse 27 and chapter
24, but after two years, we considered Felix last week. But after two
years, Porchus Festus came into Felix's room, and Felix, willing
to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound, so Paul has
been bound two years. And this is not the Roman imprisonment.
This is bound in Caesarea for this two-year period. Now, chapter 25, verse one, now,
when Festus was coming to the province, after three days, he
ascended from Caesarea to Jerusalem. Then the high priest and the
chief of the Jews informed him against Paul. Now their anger
had not cooled after two years. They still wanted Paul dead. And they were going to plot his
murder. Look in verse three, they desired
favor against him that he would send for him to Jerusalem, lying
in wait the way to kill him. We're going to get you to bring
him down to Jerusalem and on the way there, what our plan
is to do. They didn't tell Festus this,
but our plan is to kill him. Look back at Acts chapter 21
verse 30. And all the city was moved and
the people ran together and they took Paul. and drew him out of
the temple, and forthwith the doors were shut, and as they
went about to kill him." Now, I want you to think of that.
They were going to pull him to pieces and murder him. Look in chapter 22, verse 22. This is after he had given his
defense. Verse 22, and they gave him audience
unto this word, and then lifted up their voices and said, away
with such a fellow from the earth. for it is not fit that he should
live. They wanted this man dead. They hated him. They hated the
one he was preaching. Look in chapter 23, verse 12. And when it was day, certain
of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse,
saying that they would neither eat nor drink, till they had
killed Paul. Now look at the animosity Paul
stirs up with these people. And it wasn't really Paul, it
was the gospel he preached. That was the problem. Look in
verse 27 of this same chapter. This man was taken of the Jews
and should have been killed of them. Then I came with an army
and I rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman. Now let's
back up in chapter 25, verse 4. But Festus answered that Paul
should be kept at Caesarea and that he himself would depart
shortly thither. Let them therefore, said he,
which among you are able, go down with me and accuse this
man if there be any wickedness in him. This is Festus, he didn't
know about Paul and he said, you can make your accusations
later. And when he tarried among them, more than 10 days he went
down into Caesarea and the next day, sitting on the judgment
seat, commanded Paul to be brought. And when he was calm, the Jews,
which came down from Jerusalem stood round about and laid many
and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove. While he answered for himself,
neither against the law of the Jews, this is Paul speaking now
to Festus after they've made their accusations. While he answered
for himself, neither against the law of the Jews, neither
against the temple, nor yet against Caesar have offended anything
at all, but Festus willing to do the Jews a pleasure. He was
a savvy politician. He was trying to get into their
favor. He answered Paul and said, will
thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things
before me? Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat. Remember,
Paul was a Roman citizen, where I ought to be judged. To the
Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest. If I
be an offender, or if I've committed anything worthy of death, I refuse
not to die. But if there be none of these
things, where these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them.
I appeal unto Caesar. Then Festus, when he had conferred
with the council, answered and said, has thou appealed unto
Caesar? Unto Caesar shalt thou go. Now it was God's will for
him to go to Rome in the Roman city and be before Caesar and
the people at that time. And that's why all of this took
place. Verse 13. And after certain days,
King Agrippa and Bernice came into Caesarea to salute Festus. They came to visit. And when
they'd been there many days, Festus declared Paul's case unto
the king, saying, there's a certain man left in bonds by Felix, about
whom when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders
of the Jews informed me, desiring to have judgment against him.
To whom I answered, it's not the manner of the Romans to deliver
any man to die before that he which is accused have the accusers
face to face and have license to answer for himself concerning
the crime laid against him. Therefore, when they were come
hither without any delay on the morrow, I sat on the judgment
seat and commanded the man to be brought forth. Against whom? When the accuser stood up, they
brought none accusation of such things as I supposed. He assumed
that they were going to be bringing accusations of this man committing
crimes against the people and causing trouble and so on. But
here is what I heard. Certain questions against him
of their own superstition. Now, let me say this. They had
the same scriptures, Paul and the Jews. Paul was being honest
with the scriptures. He was being true to the scriptures.
They were not. They had turned this religion
into nothing more than a superstition. They had certain questions against
him of their own superstition and of one Jesus. This is what Festus heard, this
heathen Roman ruler. This is what he heard. This is
what the rub was. One Jesus, which was dead. He
really was dead. We have it in the records. He
was crucified in Jerusalem on such and such a day. He was dead. And Paul affirmed this one to
be alive. That's the rub. Now I think you
can see very clearly from this. This man heard these one fellas,
this one group of people, they had a superstition. Paul preached
a person. One Jesus who was dead. Paul affirmed him to be alive,
the resurrected Christ. Now, Paul was an eyewitness of
his resurrection. Remember how the Lord appeared
to him on the road to Damascus? He knew he was alive because
the Lord appeared to him. And as a matter of fact, he appeared
to him many times after that. One even recently there in Acts
23, verse 11, when the Lord stood by him in the prison and said,
be of good cheer, Paul. You're also gonna testify of
me at Rome. Be of good cheer. And he appeared to him many times.
One time he brought him up into the very third heavens and taught
him the gospel for 14 days he was up there. So Paul knew Christ
was alive, first of all, because he appeared to him. But there's another reason Paul
knew he was alive. And it's the same reason, and
I hope you'll understand this by the end of this message. The
reason Paul knew he was alive, because 24 seven, Christ dwelt
in Paul. Now that's how we know he's alive.
Christ in you. The hope of glory. And every believer knows by personal
experience that Christ lives. I know he lives. I am a witness
of his resurrection. Now, I didn't see his physical
resurrection, but every believer is a witness of his resurrection. We know he lives. I like that song we sing, I served
a risen savior. And I like that last line, you
asked me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. Now, I only know that by faith.
It's not like I have this experience while I'm a buddy, buddy with
him in any way like that. I don't want, I hate it when
preachers kind of present the, uh, their experience with Christ
and kind of a buddy, buddy, I'm sitting on his lap. We're friends.
That's not what Paul's talking about. If you have faith. It's because He lives within
your heart. That's why you have faith. Now that's a great mystery. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Paul said, I live. Galatians
2.20, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. and the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal
his Son in me, not to me, if all he has done, has revealed
himself to me, I'll lose that. I know I will. I need more than
that. I need him to be revealed in
me. This new man in Christ Jesus,
this new heart which he gives, which was not there before. So Paul affirmed him to live. Number one, because the Lord
appeared to him. on numerous occasions. And that's
what an apostle was. An apostle was somebody whom
the Lord physically appeared to and taught them the gospel
directly. When somebody says, in this day
I'm an apostle, they're liars. There are only 12 apostles. The
Bible says that. In Revelation, I can't remember
what chapter it is, the 12 apostles of the Lamb. Uh, there's only
12. And when, uh, in the first of
Acts, when they tried to make either Matthias or whatever the
other guy, uh, was, I can't remember his name. They tried to make
him an apostle. They said, Lord chose which of these two you've
chosen. Neither. He chose the apostle Paul. Paul
was the one who took Judas's place. So there were only 12
apostles and they were the men God used to expound the gospel. Now. Paul the Apostle, Christ
appeared to him physically, and Christ lived within his heart. When he appeared to Paul, he
affirmed himself to be, I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I am alive evermore, amen, and have the keys of hell. I love what the angels said to
the disciples after his resurrection. They said, why seek ye the living
among the dead? Well, that's a good question,
isn't it? Why seek ye him that lives among
deadness? Dead men's bones and dead men's
religion. Behold, he's not here. He is
risen. Now, he was dead. There's no question about that. When they took him down from
the cross, he was a lifeless corpse. He died. And there's only one
reason for death, one reason, sin. Sin. God's just, sin must be punished. He took my sins and my sorrows
And he made them his very own. Like I said in Sunday School
this morning, these are not Todd's sins imputed to me. These are
my sins. And that is why he died. He died, but Peter said it was
not possible that he should be holden of death. You see, the
Son of God could not stay dead. Why? Well, he didn't go through decay
the way you and I will when we die. He said, thou shalt not
suffer thy holy one to see corruption. The reason he went through no
decay is because the moment he died, complete satisfaction was
made. God was completely satisfied
with what he did. And you know what that means?
If he died for you, God is completely, right now, present tense, and
eternally satisfied with you. He sees no sin. You know why
he sees no sin? Because there is no sin. Christ
put it away. That's why he was raised from
the dead. Now, the Lord said in John chapter
five, verse 26, as the father hath life in himself, that's
independent God. How dependent are you for the
next breath you have? I mean, if God shuts you up,
you won't even have your next breath. You know, we think of,
you're not thinking of your heart pumping, are you? You're not
thinking, it just does it. No, it doesn't just do it. It
pumps because God wills it to pump. And the last breath you
took, it's because He willed it. We don't have life in and
of ourselves. We're completely dependent on
a completely independent God. He has life in Himself. He has no needs. He's God. He's the God of glory. And look
what the Lord says. He said, as the father hath life
in himself, even so hath he given the son to have life in himself. He is independent God. And he said, with regard to his
resurrection, he said, Tolman takes my life from me. I love
the way he said that. I'm not a victim. I wasn't murdered. No man takes my life from me.
I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up. This
commandment have I received of my father. This glorious one
is life. I've heard people say Jesus is
alive and doing well. I don't like that at all. He's
not alive and doing well. He is life. Any life you or I have comes
from him. He himself is life. He said as
the father, raises the dead and quickens them, even so the Son
quickens whom he will. He is life. Now he did die, but
he was raised from the dead. He raised himself from the dead.
Both of those things are true. And when he died, justification
was accomplished. He was delivered for our offenses,
he was raised again for our justification. Let me tell you what I've justified.
Well, first of all, I was justified before time began. It's called
eternal justification. Somebody says, I can't get a
hold of that. What's not to get hold of? If
Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
I'm justified from the foundation of the world. If everything God
has given me, 2 Timothy 1, 9, he saved us and called us for
the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus,
when? Before the world began. That's what I've justified. And
let me tell you what else I've justified. When he was raised
from the dead. He was delivered for our offenses.
He was raised again for our justification. I was justified when he was raised
from the dead. That's outside of my subjective experience,
isn't it? Aren't you glad it's that way? But let me tell you
what. I was justified when I believed
the gospel. I didn't have any right to believe that God had
any favor for me until I believed the gospel. And that's when I
found out that I was justified from the foundation of the world.
And that I was justified by what Christ accomplished on Calvary's
tree. Now, turn with me for a moment
to John chapter 11. He was dead, Paul affirmed him
to be alive. Verse 24 of John chapter 11. Now Lazarus has already died. And in verse 23, Jesus saith
unto her, thy brother shall rise again. And I can sense this in Martha's
statement. I already know that. I've already got that down. I
understand that there will be a resurrection. I already know
that. I believe that. Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
I've got accurate doctrine with regard to the resurrection. Jesus
said unto her, I am the resurrection. Now the resurrection, is not
an event that takes place at a certain time. I am the resurrection. I am the life. When I stand before God on judgment
day, I'm going to be judged according to my life. And my life is the life of Jesus
Christ, the Lord. I am the resurrection. That's
why I don't fear Judgment Day. You know, somebody says, what
if all the sins you've committed are brought up? What sin? Did Jesus Christ sin? No. That life, his life, is my life
before God. Did he say anything less when
he said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. The life of Jesus Christ is my
life. That's why I'll be accepted by
God. That's why God sees me as pleasing
and holy and beautiful. That's how he sees his son. And
how he sees his son is how he sees me. And that is seen in
this thing of him being the resurrection. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Listen to
this scripture. As a matter of fact, I'd like
you to turn with me to this. Turn to Ephesians chapter two. I want you to see this with your
own eyeballs. Ephesians two verse four, but God, there's a glorious definition
of grace, but God, but God. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us, given us life, together with
Christ. You see, when Christ was quickened,
I was quickened. And so was every other believer,
because they're united to Him. Let's go on reading. He's quickened
us together with Christ. And I love Paul's parenthetical
statement, by grace you are saved, all together. Verse six, and
hath raised us up together. When Christ was raised, I was
raised. That's what he meant when he
said, I am the resurrection and the life. When he was raised,
the whole company of God's elect was raised and made us sit together. There's that word together again,
made us sit together in heaven, in Christ Jesus. Now, Christ is in heaven, and
he's not there alone. The Father's there, the Spirit
is there, the angels are there, but you know who else is there?
Everybody he died for, in heaven right now. That's why when somebody
makes a statement, I'm as sure for heaven as if I'm already
there, mine's better than that. I'm already there in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how secure the believer
is. Christ is our life. He who lives is the life. Now, I would like you to look
at this scripture with me. Turn to Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five, verse 10. For if, when we were enemies,
now what is an enemy? I'll tell you who God's enemies
are. They're people who, if it were in their power, they'd make
him not to be. If it were in your power, you'd
make God non-existent if you're his enemy. That's what you'd
want to do. If it were in your power, You
don't love him. You don't love his attributes.
You don't love his person. You don't love his way of saving. And if it were in your power,
you'd wipe him out of existence and you'd take his place. You'd
be God instead of him. If it were in your power. Now
that's his enemies. If when we were enemies, that
describes the way me and you were born into this world. Enemies
of God. If when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we should be saved by his life. We were reconciled by his death. And I mean completely reconciled. completely reconciled to the
point that we're holy and unblameable and unapprovable in his sight. That is his reconciling death. But if we were reconciled to
God and he did all this work in reconciliation, we didn't
cooperate and he cooperated and he did it all. If when we were
if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by His life. Now what does that mean? We'll be saved by His life. Wherefore Hebrews 7.25 Wherefore He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing, you know the rest
of the verse? He ever liveth to make intercession
for them. You see, there's a man in glory
right now, the Lord Jesus Christ, his heart pumps his lungs, heave,
he's a real man. And he is there to make intercession
for all of his people. And his will can't be contested. How many times someone dies and
the will's contested? Well, that's not gonna happen
with him because he ever lives. to make intercession. I love that scripture in Romans
chapter eight, verses 33 and 34. Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Now what is this thing of
him making intercession? What really does that mean? It's this simple. Father, forgive
them. That wasn't a request. He's speaking
at equal to the father. Father, forgive them. Very much like he said, father,
I will. that they whom you've given me
be with me where I am. He didn't say, Father, if it's
your will, let this take place. He's equal to the Father. He
said, Father, I will, that they whom you've given me be with
me where I am. Father, forgive them. Was anybody he prayed for not
forgiven? Oh, you see, he ever liveth to
make intercession for them. Peter, I prayed for you, that
your faith fail not. Guess what? His faith didn't
fail. He failed, he needed to, but
his faith didn't fail. There was never a time when he
quit believing that Jesus Christ is God the Son. His faith did
not fail. That is the intercession of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, would you turn to 1 John. Wrap this thing up, 1 John. Paul
affirmed him to be alive. And that's more than just being
alive. He's life itself. He ever liveth
to make intercession. He is the life. He's the life. I wish I could emphasize that
enough. He's my life before God. When
my name is called on judgment day. 33 years of perfect history is
what's gonna come up. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this life is already finished
and it really is mine. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Now here in 1 John 1, I want us to begin in verse 8
because I think it'll make us appreciate what is being said
in 2 John 1 more. But let's begin here in verse
eight. If we say that we have no sin, sin here is a noun. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. We've deceived ourselves and
we've lost all credibility. Somebody comes up to me and says,
I have no sin, I don't have a sinful nature. Well, you've deceived
yourself and I wouldn't trust you anymore than I'd throw you.
That's what John is saying. Verse nine, if we confess our
sins. Now, let me say that that does
not mean that we have to confess each individual sin. Now, it'd
be nice if you could, but there's not enough time in the day. You
believe that? There's not enough time in the
day. And most of them, you don't know
what they are anyway. Most of them. What this confession means
is speaking the same thing God says with regard to our sin.
It's agreeing with God. That's what the word means. When
we talk about a confession of faith, it's what everybody's
in agreement on. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just. You see, the reason you confessed
it is because of his faithfulness in the first place. You would
have never confessed it had he not determined for you to confess
your sins. And he's just, not only faithful,
but just. The very justice of God demands
your salvation. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Verse 10, if we say we've not
sinned, now there are the words of verb. Well, I haven't sinned while
I've been preaching. Yeah, yeah, you have. Yes, I
have. Well, I wasn't sinning when I
was reading the Bible. Yeah, you were. Well, I wasn't sinning
when I was praying. Yeah, you were. Well, I wasn't sinning when I
was giving a gift. Yeah, you were. If I did it, It's sin. You believe that? Any action
that comes from me, mark it down. It's sin. Somebody says, well,
in this one instance, I didn't sin. You're a liar. You did too. That's what God says. Am I supposed
to believe God or you? I believe the word of God. And
if we say we've not sinned, we make him a liar. You see, he
says we have. and his word is not in us. My little children, this is what
I love, these things write I unto you that you sin not. Isn't that
glorious? He says, you always have a sinful
nature and everything you do is sin and I'm writing this to
you that you sin not. I love that. You know, I've heard people say believers
won't do this or believers won't do that. You can't support that
kind of thinking from the scripture. There's nothing a believer, I
mean a believer will do anything an unbeliever will do, anything. While you're promoting sin, I'm
just telling the truth. I'm telling what God's word says.
Now a believer can't sin against the Holy Spirit. He's preserved
from that, but there's no sin. You look in the scriptures and
you look at the mess men made of things. The Bible is not family friendly. If you look at what went on in
the scriptures with David, with Solomon, with Abraham, with Jacob,
with the New Testament saints, sinful men and women. Now, That being said, a believer doesn't
want to sin. He doesn't want to. And his desire
is that he sin not. Now look what John says, my little
children, these things write unto you that you sin not. You
know, if I give you this recipe on how to overcome this sin and
how to overcome that sin, all I'm gonna do is mess you up.
And you're gonna fail at it. You can just write that down,
you're gonna fail at it. It won't work. But these things write
unto you. What he said in verses eight
through 10 are actually the whole first chapter. These things write
unto you that you sin not. I don't want to sin. I wanna
be just like Christ. I wanna be like him. and if any man sin. And that if sometimes in the
same book is translated when and when any man sin, we have
an advocate with the father. Now that word advocate is an
intercessor. a lawyer with the father. And look what it said of him,
Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now, let me tell you something
about our advocate, our father, our intercessor with the father. It's not like he's up there and
we see him and he said, oh, forgive him. And we see it again. And he says, forgive him again.
And perhaps we commit the same sin for the 10,000th time. And
he says, let him get by again. No, that's not his intercession. Now this advocate we have, this
lawyer, he does what no human lawyer does. He makes all of
his clients plead guilty. Every single one of them. Guilty as charged. And he causes every one of them
to be judged not guilty. What a lawyer. What an advocate. What an intercessor. That is
our intercessor, the Lord Jesus Christ. He ever liveth to make
intercession for them. And I don't know how this is,
but I know it's so. When I'm in heaven, I'll still
be equally dependent upon His intercession. You know, we have
sung that hymn, A dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall
never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God be
saved to sin no more. Now I love that hymn, but I don't
like that line. I don't like that line at all, as a matter
of fact. You mean the blood of, I'm not standing in heaven only
because of the blood of Christ? I don't see any safety in that.
I only want to be found in Christ, in him, represented by him with
his intercession. And here's the ground of his
intercession. If any man sin, we have an advocate,
we have a lawyer, we have an intercessor with the father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the propitiation for
our sins. Now that's a big word, but it's
got a very simple meaning. He is a sin removing sacrifice. That's what he did. And that
is always the ground of his intercession. His perpetuatory sacrifice. He doesn't have to say anything
to the father. All he does is show him his hands and his feet. That sinner is represented by
me. Nothing else needs to be said. And that is what the thief understood.
Remember me. If you remember me, nothing else
needs to be said. Now, that's how we'll be saved
by his life. He lives. When Christ, who is
our life, shall appear. Then shall we appear with Him
in glory. You know, I love the way the
New Jerusalem is described. Coming down from heaven in Revelation
21. But listen to this. The city
had no need of the sun, neither the moon to shine on it. For
the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light
thereof. His life is the light. For me to live is Christ and
to die is gain. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
death, for the perfect life, the death,
and the resurrection of him who lives. In his name we pray, amen.