I've entitled the message, When
the True is False. That sounds like an oxymoron,
a contradiction in terms, I realize that, but it is a very proper
title for this message. when the true is false. Verse 16, and it came to pass
as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit
of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying,
fortune telling. The same followed Paul and us
and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the Most
High God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And somehow
I think when she cried this out, the emphasis was on these men. These men. These men. These are the ones that show
unto us the way of salvation. And this she did many days. But Paul being greatly annoyed. Now, I don't know if he was at
first, maybe he thought this was of the Lord when she first
started doing this. I mean, after all, show me something
wrong with what she said. This was true, wasn't it? These
men were servants of the Most High God that show unto us the
way of salvation. There's no error at all in that
statement. It's a good statement. But Paul, being grieved, turned
and said to the Spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ
to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. I've got two questions. Is what she said true? Yes. These men were servants
of the Most High God, who did in fact show the way of salvation. That was true. Was this woman demonically inspired? Was she false? The answer to
both of those questions is yes. Yes, this was true. Yes, she
was false. When the Lord said, enter ye
in at the straight gate, wide is the gate, broad is the way
that leads to destruction. Many there be that go in that
direction. Straight is the gate. Narrow
is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it.
Do you know what he said next? Beware of false prophets, which
come to you in sheep's clothing. They don't look like wolves.
They look like sheep. But on the inside, they're ravening,
wolves. I think of that description of
the beast in Revelation chapter 13. John tells us he had the
horns of a lamb and looked like a lamb, but he spake as a dragon. Beware of false I've already
read that passage of Scripture this morning in II Corinthians
chapter 11, where Paul, let's look at it again, II Corinthians
11, verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel For Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
Now, Acts chapter 16 is just a glorious chapter about the
starting of the church at Philippi. And as a matter of fact, if you
read the book of Philippians, you'll find out that Paul had
his closest relationship with this church of any other church.
He said, Nobody supported me but you all. Nobody else did.
And he said, I long after you in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
He just LOVED these people dearly. So it's a BEAUTIFUL chapter about
the founding of the Church at Philippi. And then we considered
last week of the first European convert, Lydia. and how the Lord
opened her heart and saved her whole household. And this was
the beginning at the church at Philippi. And as soon as the
good work in Philippi has begun, Satan begins to work. Satan always attempts to line
himself with the truth. so as not to be detected. And he, or one of his demons,
is in this woman, crying out, these be the servants of the
Most High God, who show unto us the way of salvation. Now
the scripture says she was a soothsayer. A fortune teller. Now, you've
all seen by the side of the road, you know, where, you know, fortune
tellers. Is that what she was? I don't know. Maybe. Somebody
says, could she really tell the future? Well, if the Lord enabled
her to, she could, but I don't know. I don't know, maybe she
was just a phony, but she claimed to be a fortune teller and maybe
the Lord enabled her somehow to foretell future events because
she made her master, she was a slave girl, and she made her
masters a lot of money by what she was doing. And her statement, verse 17,
These men are the servants. And like I said, I think the
emphasis in the way she would have said this is these men.
You see, Satan will do anything he can to get the focus off Christ. That's what his purpose is. That's
what he does. And I can hear her putting the
emphasis on Paul and Silas. These men, these are the men.
These are the guys. These are the ones we need. And
people would have ended up making an object of worship out of these
men, thinking salvation has something to do with these men. These men are the servants of the Most
High God, which show unto us the way of salvation. Now, the first thing I would
like to say about that statement is a false prophet. And that's
a scary thing. I don't want to be a false prophet.
I want to be a true prophet. I know you want the same. You
don't want to listen to a false prophet. There's plenty of them. There'll be many antichrists,
John said. A false prophet is identified
not by what he says, but what he does not say. What she said was true. No question
about that. These were the servants of the
Most High God who show unto us the way of salvation. What she
said was true, but could anybody be saved by hearing that? No. She herself didn't state
the way of salvation. Never came out of her mouth.
If all you ever heard was what she said, you would remain ignorant
of the gospel. These men are servants of the
Most High God who show unto us the way of salvation. Now, a
false prophet leaves out that which is critical. Maybe everything
he says is true. but he leaves out what is critical. As a matter of fact, in gospel
preaching, listen to this statement. I love the way Revelation 22
ends. If anybody adds to this or subtracts
from it, all the plagues of this book will be added to him. Gospel preaching never purposely
leaves anything out, so as not to fend. It never subtracts,
and it does not add. Now, this is a big book, and
we need to be very careful. You know, if we say somebody
didn't preach the gospel, this is a big book. If anybody, I
don't care who they are, and I don't care how accurate it
was, if they purposely leave out some aspect, they're not
preaching the gospel, even if everything they say is true.
And if they add something to it, It's no longer gospel. But this is so critical. The
false prophet is identified, not by what he says, but by what
he leaves out. And that's the case of this woman
she left out. Now, if you want to see a real
clear example of this, the false prophet Balaam is mentioned three
times in the New Testament. You can read about his history
in Numbers 22 through 24. The arch false prophet. Read,
I challenge you this week, if you have an opportunity, read
Numbers 22 through 24 and show me one thing that he says that
you disagree with. Everything he says is spot on. And glorious, really, there's
a lot of glorious things he says. And yet he is identified as the
Ark's false prophet, controlled by greed and the love of money. And as a matter of fact, he was
brilliant. He couldn't curse Israel. God
wouldn't let him. He wouldn't speak against Israel.
God wouldn't let him. But here's what he did do. He
encouraged them to marry, intermarry with the Moabites. And what happened
as a result of that? They got with the Moabites and
they started worshiping their gods and committing idolatry. He knew how to get them to compromise.
If I can just get them marrying the Moabites, everything will
be okay. And that's exactly what took
place with this man. He knew how to compromise and
get people to compromise the truth, Balaam. Jude speaks of
the false prophets who run greedily after the error of Balaam for
reward. Now it's not just talking about
money, it's talking about any kind of reward you get out of
being a false prophet. There are many rewards they suppose
they get and it all is greed and covetousness. Now this little
girl followed Paul and Silas day and night I kind of think
at first he thought, Lord, send her to help us out. But when
he saw who she was, he didn't want Satan's help. You know,
I want to say this as reverently as I can, but we don't need the
devil's help. We don't need anything that's not true, the truth. And
he was greatly annoyed at what this woman was saying, and he
cast her out. Verse 19, and when her master
saw that the hope of their gains was gone, that's what this was
about. When her master saw the hope of their gains was gone,
they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace
under the rulers and brought them to the magistrate saying,
these men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city. No, they're
not, you just lost money out of it. That's what you're upset
about. They go on to say, They teach customs which are not lawful
for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans." That
wasn't true either. They were just preaching the
gospel. Verse 22, and the multitude rose up together against them,
and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to
beat them. Now you remember that Paul said he knew that bonds
and afflictions abide me anywhere I go. A sobering thing to think, Paul
knew wherever I go, I'm either gonna be imprisoned or beat.
He knew it was gonna happen. Happened here. And when they
had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into the prison,
charging the jailer to keep them safely, who having received such
a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet
fast in stocks. But you know, I love thinking
about this. Paul needed to go to that jail,
didn't he? You know why? One of God's elect was there.
And one of God's elect is gonna hear the gospel. And there was
a needs be to ball peen. It might've hurt, but wouldn't
you think that if the Lord enabled you to take a good beating, so
one of his elect would hear the gospel, it'd be okay with you?
I believe it would be. It was with Paul. And one of
his elect was there. Remember, this is the establishing
of the church at Philippi. You know, we also get verse 30
and 31 from this, when this man went out, he brought them out
and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now that's the most
important question we could consider. What must I do? Not to save myself,
but to be saved. That's in the passive voice,
not active. Not what can I do to save myself,
but what must I do to be saved? And I love the command that Paul
gave him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Now we wouldn't have had any
of that had not Paul been thrown into prison. You see how the
Lord always brings good out of evil. But let's go back to this
damsel. What she said was true. But she never told the truth,
and no one could be saved by hearing that statement. These
men be the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us
the way of salvation. She did not preach the gospel. She said some good things about
the gospel. You know, you can hear in almost any sermon you
listen to, some, well, maybe not. I'm taking that a little
too far. But you can hear in a lot of
some sermons, some people say some good things about the gospel,
but they don't preach the gospel. That's the case of this woman.
She said some good things about the gospel, but she never preached
the gospel. Now, she never told the way of
salvation. Now, that's why I want to spend
the rest of our time considering the way of salvation. She never
got around to that. I love what the Lord Jesus Christ
said in John chapter 14, verse six. It's one of my favorite
verses. I am the Not, I'll show you the way. Not, I'll tell you what the way
is. Not, I'll take you by the hand and lead you along the way.
I am the way. No man comes to the Father
but by me. You know what that means? I am
the way that utterly excludes all other ways. You know, I guarantee you none
of us have ever been as narrow as the Lord Jesus in his preaching.
I am the way that excludes all other ways. No man comes to the
Father Notice He didn't say, beside me, pleading me, beside
me, behind me, no man comes to the Father but by me. All the difference in the world.
You know what that means? Let me tell you exactly what that
means. I come to the Father when He comes to the Father. When
He comes to the Father, I come too. I come by Him. I am the way. Now, I think of Elizabeth Sharon. She's come
into that door quite often in the last several months, but
she wasn't the only one that came in when she walked in, was
she? Somebody came in with her. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. having all His people in Him. When He comes to the Father,
which is all the time, which is continual, every believer
comes to the Father. Listen to me, I don't feel any
safety even in pleading Him. Oh, hear me for His sake, I'm
gonna say that, but the only place I feel safety is being
in Him. so that when he comes to the
Father, I come to the Father. I am the way. Now, let me give you an illustration
of this, Hebrews chapter seven. I've given this many times, but
I like it more now than I ever have. Hebrews chapter 7. Verse 9. And as I may so say,
Levi also who received tithes. He was the priest. They were
to pay tithes to him. Levi who received tithes. paid tithes in Abraham. Now it doesn't say it's as if
he paid tithes. He didn't say Abraham's tithe
paying was imputed to him. Doesn't say that at all. Doesn't
say he was counted as one who paid tithes. What's it say? He
paid tithes. He paid tithes. For he was yet
in the loins of his father Abraham. This was the great grandson of
Abraham. But when Abraham paid those tithes
to Melchizedek, so did all of his seed. Now that's what it
is to be in Christ. What he does, I do. Because I am in him. I am the way. He's also called
the way of the Lord and the way of God, as opposed to the way
of men. He's called in Acts chapter 9
THIS way, and He's called in Acts chapter 19 THAT way, to
distinguish Him from all other ways. You know, one of the things
that is amazing about John, you can just take some little Recorded
by John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, I am the way, the truth,
the life, and you could never plumb its depths. You could preach
on that every time you preached and not even scratch the surface.
In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word
was God. Why, you could talk about that
for the rest of your life and never even skim the surface.
These little simple, one-syllable statements. You know, the truth
is always simple. If it's complicated, it ain't
the truth. Truth is always simple. It's
always obvious. You always know when you hear
it. That's the truth. You say amen to it. You hear
the truth and you know it. I am the way, the truth and the
life. No man cometh through the Father
but by me. Now let's consider Christ being
the way. You know, the Lord warned about
those false prophets that would come in John chapter 10 some
other way. Remember that? Some other way. Some other way is a wrong way. Now, we've already touched on
this, but I love thinking about this. Christ is called the narrow
way. And this is so important that
you and I understand this. He is so narrow that if you have
anything other than Christ, you can't get in. If you have anything
else to plead other than Christ, anything that you're hoping in
other than Christ, any experience you're holding onto other than
Christ, anything about you, you can't get in. The only way you
can get in is if all you have is Jesus Christ the Lord. You
have nothing else to plead. Now you, you can get in. You
have anything else, you can't get in. If you have anything less than
Christ, you can't get in. Christ alone, nothing more. You hear that? All those things you're thinking
about, get rid of them. Nothing more. If you have anything else
you can't get through, nothing less. and nothing else. He is all God will accept. Christ is the way. He's called in Matthew 21 and
second Peter, the way of righteousness, the way of righteousness. Now
you can just forget righteousness having anything to do with anything
you do. You believe that? It has nothing
to do with what you do. He is the way of righteousness.
You see, His righteousness is the only righteousness I possess. I can say that. I really believe
that. His righteousness. My righteousness
is nothing more than filthy rags. Well, is it that way even since
you're saved? Yep, yep. The only righteousness I have
is the righteousness of Jesus Christ the Lord. And that's exactly
what Paul expressed when he said, oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law. That which is through the faith
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. The Lord looked at John the Baptist
and he said, thus it becometh us. And he wasn't only talking about
John the Baptist, he was talking about poor old Todd Norbert.
He was talking about every believer. Thus it becometh us. to fulfill
all righteousness. He's called in Matthew 22, 16,
and in 2 Peter 2, verse 2, the way of truth. Anything else other
than what I'm saying is a lie. It's deceptive. It'll lead you
to hell. He is the way of truth. In Luke one and in Romans three,
he's called the way of peace. Now, the Lord said in John chapter
16, verse 33, and I don't know how it could be any plainer than
this. These things have I spoken to
you, everything he'd said up to that point. These things have
I spoken to you that in me, in me, you might have peace. In the world, You'll have tribulation. You'll have trouble, trouble
with yourself, trouble with others. In the world, you'll have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world, having
made peace by the blood of His cross. He made my peace. I love saying that. I love thinking
it. I love believing it. He made
my peace. He is our peace, Ephesians 2,
14. Is that taking it too far? No,
it's not. That's just the truth. He is our peace. Having been
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. He's called in Acts 2.28, the
way of life. John 14.6, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father by
me. Let me tell you exactly what that means. That means my personal
history. Everything about me is his life. Nothing to be scared of. You
want to know the truth about me? His life. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you appear with Him in glory." I
have such confidence to go before God in judgment. You know why?
Because He is my life. His life, His obedience, His
perfections. That is the every believer's
life before God. I'm not ashamed of my life. Somebody
says, oh, well, I'm afraid on judgment day I'm gonna be so
ashamed. Not me. Not me, and let me tell you why.
Because his life is my life. That's it. That's my acceptance
before God. He is my life. And then in Acts 24, verse 14,
Paul said, All the things they accused me
of, I didn't do them. But this is what I will confess.
I will confess this. After the way which they call
heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers, believing all
things which are written in the law and in the prophets. Now, when we say God is sovereign,
everybody say, I believe that. I agree. I believe God's sovereign. As a matter of fact, I've never
met anybody who said, I don't believe God's sovereign. Have
you? No, I don't believe God's sovereign. As a matter of fact,
one fellow, he said he, we were, he was a preacher, and we were
discussing the issue of free will, and he said, God and His
sovereignty decided to let man have a free will. I said, that's
just, There's no point in talking to you if you're going to say
something like that. But the fact of the matter is, God is
sovereign. You know what that means? That
means he controls you, and everybody you know, and everybody you don't
know, and every event, and every circumstance. And you can't take
that too far. There are always going to be
people saying, are you saying God's the author of evil? I'm
saying God's God. I feel very comfortable saying
that. God's God, and He's in control of everybody and everything,
and there isn't anything that happens without His will. He
purposes all things. Why, that's heresy. That's the
way I worship God. That's the God I worship. You
saying man doesn't have a free will? You saying God elected
who'd be saved? He didn't elect everybody? You
saying Christ died for the elect and not everybody? Why, that's
heresy. Call it that if you want. So worship I, the God of my fathers,
believing all things which are written in the law and prophets,
whatever they're calling heresy. Paul says, I've been called a
heretic, an antinomian. So worship I, the God of my fathers,
believing all things which are written in the law and in the
prophets. First Corinthians 12, 31, he's
called the more excellent way. yet show I unto you a more excellent
way, the way of love. And you read this in Hebrews
chapter 10, and I was thinking when you were reading Hebrews
chapter 10, I remember one time when I was a very young man,
13th Street Baptist Church, and we were back in the study, and
Henry made the statement, he said, I'm gonna preach from Hebrews
10. He said, I'm subordinate, I wanna,
preached from Hebrews 10. And I remember Jerry Eskridge
said, just read it. That's such a great chapter.
Just read it. I thought that's a great chapter, but this comes
from Hebrews chapter 10. In Hebrews chapter nine, verse
eight, he's called the way into the holiest. And here's how Hebrews chapter
10. We have boldness by a, and this
is what you just read, by a new and living way. Have boldness to enter into the
holiest by a new and living way. Now that word new means freshly
slaughtered. The blood of Christ is always
powerful, always poignant, always new. But what about this living
way? Well, here's the point of the
Living Way. We don't have some priest bringing
the blood of a dead animal. We have the living Son of God
presenting to the Father His own precious blood. Now that's why we have boldness. AND THE LIVING WAY, THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST PRESENTING HIS OWN BLOOD. THIS IS CALLED IN II PETER
CHAPTER 2 VERSE 15, THE RIGHT WAY. THE RIGHT WAY. NOW, THE ONLY WAY YOU'RE GOING
TO GET INTO THE FATHER'S PRESENCE IS IF YOU COME THE RIGHT WAY.
AND THE ONLY RIGHT WAY THERE IS, IS THE WAY OF THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST. ALL OTHER WAYS ARE WRONG WAYS. IF YOU START IN THE WRONG
DIRECTION, YOU'LL END IN THE WRONG PLACE. You start in the
right direction, you're already there. It's not a journey. Somebody says it's steps. No,
it's not steps. You're already there in the way. Charles Spurgeon tells the story
of a preacher that was getting on a stagecoach, and he was on
his way to Bath, England, and as they were going down the road,
he'd say to the stagecoach driver, where's that road take you? I
don't know. And then he saw another place,
where does that road go? I have no idea. And this happened
three or four times. He said, the man said to the
stagecoach driver, what do you know? He said, I know the way
to Bath. I know the way to the Father.
Christ Jesus is the way to the Father. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that your
son is the way, is the truth, and is the life. The way that
excludes and repudiates all other ways, but the way into your very
presence. How we thank you for our way.
Bless this word for His sake, in His name we pray.