Thank you, Kara. While I was
driving over here this morning, I saw an advertisement at a church
saying, come and welcome to the online church. And I thought, I don't want that. But Lord willing,
we'll be over this before long. But I'm glad we're able to meet
together through this medium. Trust the Lord by His Spirit
will cause His gospel to be preached to us. I'm speaking this morning
on this subject, Do or Done. Do or Done. In Acts chapter 13, verse 12,
Then the deputy when he saw what was done, believed,
being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's name. that you would, by your spirit,
by your grace, by your power, enable us to see what was done, that we might believe, that we
might be astonished at the doctrine of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. We pray that he might be exalted
and glorified and that we might be enabled to hear his voice.
Lord, we confess our sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing. Lord, we confess that all we
have is him and he's all we want. May he be glorified. Grant us
your presence. Lord, we would remember the Clarks
at this time. We pray for your healing hand
upon Jessica, according to your will. We would remember the Fortners
and the church there. Lord, bless us for Christ's sake. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. And we pray for our world at
this time, that you would use this. We know you sent it. We
pray that you would use it for your glory, which we know you
will, and the good of your elect. Bless us for Christ's sake, in
his name we pray, amen. Let's read verse 12 again, Acts
chapter 13. Then the deputy, when he saw
what was done, believed, being astonished, utterly
amazed, at the doctrine of the Lord. When did the deputy believe? When he saw what was done. Now you and I will believe like
him if we're enabled by the grace of God to see what was done and
we will be utterly astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. There are two religions in this
world. Actually, I wouldn't call the
gospel a religion. It's just the truth. But for lack of a
better way to say it, there are two religions in this world,
the religion of do and the religion of done. Which one are you in? The religion of do says salvation
is ultimately dependent upon what you do. The religion of
done says your salvation is ultimately dependent 100% upon what Christ
has done for you. Which religion are you in? At the first of this chapter,
chapter 13, now there were in the church that was at Antioch. And remember, this is the Gentile
church, the first Gentile church. It's the place where they were
first called Christians. There were in the church at Antioch,
certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was
called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manian, which had been brought
up with Herod, the Tetrarch and Saul. And as they ministered
to the Lord and fasted, seeking the Lord's direction, the Holy
Ghost said, separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto
I have called them. Now, Paul said he was separated
under the gospel of God in Romans 1, and let me tell you why it
was. God the Holy Spirit said, separate unto me, these two men
to the work wherewith I have called them. There is such a
thing as being separated to the gospel, and we will be if God
the Holy Spirit has separated us to that work. Verse three,
and when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on
them, they sent them away. This is a reference to Paul's
first missionary journey. And so they being sent forth
by the Holy Ghost departed into Seleucia, and from thence they
sailed to Cyprus. These are different places they're
going, and we're not told what happened at these places when
they were going to preach. And when they were at Salamis,
they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews,
and they also had John to their minister. I'm not talking about
the apostle John, but John Mark. And when they had gone through
the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer. Now that word sorcerer is where
the same word used to describe the wise men who came from the
east when the Lord was born. Magi is the word and it means
wise men. But here it's translated sorcerer. A certain sorcerer, a self-professed
wise man, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus, the
son of Jesus. Now, they came into contact with
this man, Verse 7, which was with the deputy of the country,
or the procounsel of the country, the one who was in charge, and
his name was Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, a truly wise man,
who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the Word
of God. Now, I want to be that person,
don't you? I want to be someone who truly desires to hear the
Word of God. I'm not interested in the Word
of man, but I am interested in the Word of God. Thank God for
the Word of God, His communication of Himself. Elimus, the sorcerer, this is
speaking of Bar-Jesus. Elimus means wise man. The wise
man, the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, withstood
them. He was opposed to the message
of Paul and Barnabas. He withstood them seeking to
turn away the deputy from the faith. There could be no greater
crime than that. Not only did he not believe the
faith, he sought to make sure others didn't believe the faith
and he was active in fighting against the faith. Then Saul,
who was also called Paul, this is where he's first called Paul
the apostle. The word Paul means little. He
went from Saul, he was a little man in stature, the scripture
points that out, but Saul was a big man. the Saul of the Old
Testament. Scripture says he stood head
and shoulders above everybody else. Paul has become, has gone
to being big in his own eyes to very small in his own eyes. Filled with the Holy Ghost, set
his eyes on him, this false prophet, and said, O fool of all subtlety
and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all
righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways
of the Lord? That's strong language, isn't
it? And now behold, now Paul had apostolic authority. He could
do things that you and I could not do. He talked about delivering
such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. And he had some
kind of authority where he could do things that no man has today. And I've actually thought about
this. How would I handle authority like this? Not well, not well,
but Paul did. And look what he did. And now
behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee and thou shalt be
blind, not seeing the sun for a season. Now he tells him right
off the bat, you're going to be temporarily struck blind. He didn't say forever. He pointed
out for a season. And there's a reason for that.
Now let's go and read it. And immediately there fell on him,
this false prophet, a mist and a darkness. And he went about
seeking some to lead him by the hand. He was plumb blind. He
couldn't see a thing. And he was just trying to find
somebody to lead him around. Then the deputy, verse 12, here's
our text. Then the deputy, when he saw
what was done, believed. being astonished at the doctrine
of the Lord. Now is that saying that when
the deputy saw that the false prophet was blinded by Paul,
he believed? Being astonished at the doctrine
of the Lord. Now the answer to that question
is no. This is not what he saw that
was done, He believed. You know, no one has ever believed
by seeing a miracle. If I could perform miraculous
feats right now to testify that I'm preaching the truth, those
miraculous feats wouldn't cause anyone to believe. People saw
the Lord's miracles and they didn't believe anyway. You see,
faith is the gift of God. And this is not talking about
that event of Paul striking that man blind and somebody says,
well, how can you say that? It sounds like that. Well, when
he saw what was done in the Greek grammar, what was done is spoken
of in the perfect tense. That means perfectly completed,
never to be repeated. And when that man was blinded,
It's pointed out it was only temporary. This is not a reference
to what Paul did when he blinded that man. It may sound that way,
and the Lord may allow it to sound that way. So somebody can
be hung at something if that's what they're looking to do. If
you want to reject the gospel, the word of God, God will give
you enough rope to hang yourself if that's what you want to do.
But that's not what that's a reference to because of the way it's spoken
of. When he saw what was done. perfect tense, perfectly completed,
never to be repeated, when he saw what was done, believed,
being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. There are two religions in this
world. Not three, not four, only two. The religion of do and the religion
of done. Now somebody says, wait a minute,
there are a lot of religions. There's Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Christianity. But that being said, they can
all be deduced to two different religions. The religion of what
you do, your salvation being ultimately conditioned upon what
you do or your salvation being completely conditioned upon what
Christ has done. Now, works, salvation by works
is due. Here's what you need to do. Grace
is done. Done. Law is due. Go out and do. Gospel is done. Free will is do. Here's what
you need to do. You need to accept. You need
to receive. You need to take that which is
offered. It's all up to you. God's will
is it is done. Now, what most of what goes under
the name of Christianity And I have to say, I don't like the
word Christianity. I don't like anything about it.
It's not in the Bible. It just sounds like one of the
world's religions. And the gospel is not a religion.
The gospel is the truth. The gospel is who God is. The
gospel is all there is in reality. And I dislike the word Christianity
in that sense, but most of what All of what goes on under the
name of Christianity is some form of do. Let me give you three
examples. God loves you. Christ died for
you. Your sins have been paid for
and God is offering to you the forgiveness of sins. He's offering
it to everybody. Your salvation. is dependent
upon whether you accept the offer. Salvation depended upon you.
Now somebody says, is that salvation by works? Yes, it is. Because
it makes salvation dependent upon you. Your acceptance or
your rejection of the message. Here's two people, one saved,
one is lost. The one person is saved because
he received the message. He did a better job than that
other person. That other person wickedly rejected the message.
And the difference is found the men, not in what Christ has done,
not in what God has done, not in what God the Holy Spirit has
done, but what you do. That is a form of salvation by
doing. It might take another direction.
Here's what you need to do to not have a defeated life but
have a victorious Christian life. You need to put down sin and
you need to do good works, you need to pray more, you'll progressively
become more holy, more pleasing to God, and less sinful. You'll
live a better life, become more holy and more pleasing to God
by what you do. Now, somebody says, well, that
sounds right. It may sound right, but it's a denial of what holiness
is in the first place. Now, I want to please the Lord
in every respect. But when we start talking about
that, let's think of the implications of that kind of statement. If
you can become more holy, what's holiness in the first place?
And if you could become more holy and less sinful, the logical
extension of that is at some point you can reach perfection
here in the flesh. And it's really a denial of what
holiness is in the first place. It still makes some aspect of
your salvation more victorious dependent upon what you do. That's salvation by do. It sometimes
comes in this form. Your position in heaven will
be in accordance to what you have done here on earth. You may have a higher reward
and glory because you've done more things and better things,
lower place in glory because of what you have done. I remember
talking to a preacher once and he said to me, I quote, my enjoyment
of heaven will be likened to, it will be conditioned upon my
personal obedience here on earth. And I remember I looked at that
preacher and I said, if I really believed that, I'd have nervous
breakdown. I would. I can't stand that kind of thing. Salvation, any aspect of your
salvation dependent upon what you do. That whole idea works. It doesn't give me any comfort.
It doesn't give me any hope. It is contrary to the gospel
of Jesus Christ, which is summarized by the word done. Do salvation. If any aspect of your salvation
is in any way dependent upon what you do, you're in the religion
of do. You're in the religion of works.
Oh, but what about the religion of done? In Hebrews chapter one,
verse three, I don't have a more favorite passage of scripture
than this. In Hebrews chapter one, verse three, it says, when
he had by himself, purged our sins. Note that word by himself. You know what that means? That
means me and you didn't have any hand in this. When he had
by himself purged our sins. Who's the our? Everybody whose
sins were purged. Everybody he died for. When he
had by himself He purged our sins. He sat down, the sitting
savior. He sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. 1 John 3, 5 says he was manifested
to take away our sins and he did it because in him is no sin. It's not just as if I never committed
them. I never committed them because
in him is no sin, not forgiven sin, but no sin. It's what the Bible calls justification. I stand before God having never
sinned. If you look at the books, I know
we don't have access to that, but there will be no record against
anybody that Christ died for. They stand before God justified
having never sinned. He by himself purged our sins. He did this by himself. His father was not helping him,
but forsaking him. The Spirit was not strengthening
him at this time. He was left to himself. The angels were not helping him
as he hung on the cross. His people were not helping him
in what was done, this great work of purging our sins and
making them not to be. This is the work that was done.
He did it by himself. And in what was done, this great
work of purging, he did it not by enabling me or you to do something
that would activate what he did. forget doing if any part of my
salvation, any part, I repeat, any part, if any part of my salvation
is dependent upon what I do, my ability to believe, my ability
to repent, my holy living, if any part of my salvation is dependent
ultimately upon me doing something, I have no hope of being saved. Listen, on Golgotha's Hill, at
a point in time, he did something. Signified by these words, it
is Finished. He left nothing done, nothing
undone, nothing incomplete, nothing out there for me or you to do.
Do not make resolutions saying, I'm going to start doing better.
I hope you do, but don't make that resolution. Quit thinking
about doing. It's done. It's finished. Now this is what the deputy heard,
he heard about what was done, what was perfectly completed,
what the Lord achieved on Calvary's tree. Truly what he did is that
which is perfectly completed never to be repeated and it says
the deputy believed, he believed what was done being astonished
at the doctrine of the Lord. Now what is the doctrine of the
Lord? Paul said in Romans chapter 6
you've obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you. Listen to John's words in John
2nd John verse 7. For many deceivers are entered
into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh. Now there's the doctrine of the
Lord. Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Now John goes on to tell us that
that one who does not confess, publicly declare, that doctrine
is a deceiver, and an Antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose
not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. Now, simply put,
doctrine that Sergius Paulus was astonished by and believed
was the doctrine of Christ that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Now Jesus Christ was before he
came. Now think of the Lord looking
at people he was preaching to and announcing to them, I came
down from heaven. Not to do my own will, but the
will of him that sent me. Now, if I said to you, I came
down from heaven, you would say, that man is delusional. And that
man needs some kind of psychiatric help. Maybe he needs to be committed.
If he really thinks that about himself, or tell him what he
could do and what kind of crimes he could commit all in the name
of saying he came down from heaven. If I said that, run. But when
he said it, I came down from heaven. He's speaking of his
eternal existence as the son of God. I was before I came. Jesus Christ is not like God. Jesus Christ is God. He is eternal God. I came down from heaven. I love
the scripture Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. For unto us the child
is born and to us a son is given. That son was never born. That
son's eternal. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders. That means he controls everything.
And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. And listen, that counselor is
not somebody who can give us good advice. He's the one who
counsels. My counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. His name shall be called the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. He said to Thomas, he that has
seen me has seen the father. What's that mean? You know, just
what he said. I don't know how else to explain
that. All we'll ever see of God is
Jesus Christ. His name should be called the
mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. And of his kingdom, there shall
be no end. He was before. He came. And when he came, he came as
Colossians 2, 9 describes him. He came having all the fullness
of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily. The word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. The word was made flesh. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Jesus Christ was before he came,
and he came in the flesh, the great creator became my savior
and all God's fullness dwelleth in him. In coming in the flesh,
he did what he came to do. Now listen to this. Whatever
it was he intended to do, that's what he did. You see, he's incapable
of frustration or failure or not being able to do whatever
it was he intended to do. Whatever it was he intended to
do, That is precisely what he did do. I repeat, this is what
the deputy was astonished by when he saw what was done. Now I'd like to read a passage
from Revelation chapter 21 that says the same thing. We read
beginning in verse five of Revelation 21. And he that sat upon the throne
said behold I make all things new and he said unto me write
for these words are true and faithful and he said unto me
it is done. Now that is spoken in
the same tense as our text in the perfect tense perfectly completed,
never to be repeated. It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that's a
thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. It is done. Now, notice how he says, I make
all things new. Oh, I've got so many things in
my history. Really, when it comes down to
it, everything in my history. I wish it didn't take place.
How many things have you done that you thought, I wish I hadn't
have done that? I wish I hadn't have thought
that. I wish I hadn't have said that. You've got remorse, you've
got regret, all the things you've done. But you know, you can't
change your history. There it is, and you can't change it.
But he does. I make all things new. And now
because of what he's done, you open up the book regarding me,
and it's all good. He hadn't done anything but that
which is perfect, righteous, holy, and acceptable in my sight. He's never sinned. He's done
always that which is well-pleasing to me." Now, that is what He
has done. He has made all things new. He's done what you and I cannot
do. He's given us a new history, and it's all good, and it's all
fact. You know, history is based upon
facts, isn't it? Well, my history is based on facts. I have never
sinned. That's what justification is.
I've been given a new history. I have never sinned. Now, what
did he come to do? Remember, that is what he has
done. Whatever it was he came to do,
that is what he has done. First of all, he came to glorify
his father. He said in John 17 4, I've glorified thee on the
earth. I finished the work that thou
gavest me to do. It's done. It's done. He came
to fulfill God's purpose. He's called in Revelation 13,
8, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I love what Peter
said. He said, Him being delivered
by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain. He came
to fulfill God's purpose. Done. Done. He came to fulfill
the scriptures. I love it in Acts chapter 13,
Paul says, when they had fulfilled all that was written of him,
they took him down, but God raised him from the dead. The gospel
is called how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures. He came to fulfill the scriptures.
Done. He came to bear witness to the
truth. John 18, 37, I came to bear witness to the truth. Oh,
how he bore witness to the truth of the true character of God
and the true character of man and the true character of salvation
by his great work on Calvary's tree. Matthew 1, 21 says he came
to save his people from their sins. That's what he did. Done. Saved. Every one of them saved from
their sins. He came to keep God's law and
make it honorable. He said, think not that I've
come to destroy the law and the prophets. I came not to destroy,
but to fulfill, done. He kept God's law perfectly and
thank God he did it for somebody. And he came to die. That's the
hour for which he came. He came to die. And that's one of the great mysteries
of the gospel. The Son of God actually, literally
died on Calvary's tree as a sin-bearing substitute and made full satisfaction
to God. When it says, He shall see the
travail of His soul and be satisfied, yes, that's talking about God
the Father. He's going to see the travail of His soul, the
soul of His Son and be satisfied. It's also talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. All the sins of all his people
were put completely away and they now stand perfect before
God. He was raised from the dead.
He came to be raised from the dead. Death couldn't hold him
because of who he is. He was raised from the dead,
having accomplished complete salvation. came to put away sin. Hebrews 9 26 says, Now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. He came to make a way for God
to be just and justifier and that is what he did. God can
now be absolutely just and declare me just Oh, I think of what the
Lord said regarding that man who confessed himself. God be
merciful to me, the sinner. He said, I tell you, that man
went down to his house justified rather than the other. He came that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Thou art my son. this day have
I begotten thee. Now, when the Lord said that,
that was written a thousand years before the resurrection of Christ.
This day have I begotten thee and this tells us that this begetting,
this raising from the dead, the only begotten son, it is an eternal
thing. Now, don't ask me to explain
that. It's not a one-time event. It's not even a reference to
an event. It's eternal. It's the eternal begetting of
the Son of God. He's the firstborn among many
brethren. And we all know that are born
of Him that He is our life because of Him being the only begotten
of the Father. He came to save His church. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that
he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish before him. Now that's what he came to do,
and that is what was done. This is the doctrine that Sergius
Paulus was astonished by, the things he had done. What religion are you in? Salvation
dependent upon what you do or what he has done? Now, I tried to find a way to
rack this message up and seal it with the word of God. And
this is the passage of scripture that I thought of. Second Samuel chapter 11, verse
27. And when the morning was passed,
David sent and fetched her, Bathsheba, to his house, and she became
his wife and bare him a son. But the thing that David had
done displeased the Lord. Now let's just talk about the
facts of what David had done. David committed a terrible abuse
of power when he saw Bathsheba bathing on a roof and he had
his servants go and get her and bring her to him because he could.
What an abuse of power. He committed sexual sin with
her. He committed adultery with her. And she became with child. He tried to make it look like
her husband was the father. If you read the story, he tried
to bring him in who was such a faithful man. As a matter of
fact, he's counted as one of the mighty men of David in second
Samuel 23. That's what a special man this
was. And David sought to get him drunk. So he would go lay
with his wife and the man wouldn't do it. He said, am I going to
go in with my wife while My comrades, my brothers are out in the field
fighting. He wouldn't do it. And so then
David committed cold-blooded, premeditated murder to kill this
man. And he implicated others in doing
it. Joab was involved in this. He
sent letters to Joab to have him killed. Now that's what David
did. That's what David did. And the
things David did displeased the Lord. The Lord's never pleased
with sin. Somebody says, could a true believer
commit sins like that? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Don't think
for a second that you wouldn't apart from the restraining grace
of God. Anything that you and I haven't
done is only because he's kept it from happening. And we've
done it all in our heart. And David did, too. He was guilty
of this sin before he ever committed it. But the thing David did displeased
the Lord. And the Lord, chapter 12, verse
1, And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him,
and said unto him, There were two men in one city, the one
rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many
flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one little
You lamb, which you brought up and nourished, and grew up together
with him, with his children. He did eat of his own meat, and
drink of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him
as a daughter. This lamb, this man looked at
this lamb as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto
the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock, and of
his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come into
him. But he took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the
man that was come to him. Wouldn't use one of his own many
of his flocks, but he used this one lamb of this poor man. And
David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And David said
to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that had done this thing
shall surely die. And he shall restore the lamb
fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, thou
art the man. You're the one who has done this
horrible thing. Now I want you to look in verse
12. For this, this is God speaking
to David, for this thou didst it secretly, but I will do this
thing before all Israel and before the Son. And David said unto
Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the
Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. He didn't say the Lord offers
you forgiveness. He didn't say the Lord will forgive
you if you show proper contrition. He tells him what the Lord has
already done. The Lord hath put away thy sin. You see, that sin was born by
the Lord Jesus Christ and put away. He heard what the Lord
had done. Now, if I see what the Lord has
done, I will believe, being astonished
at the doctrine of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we give thanks
for what you have done. Enable us to look only to what
you have done and to rest. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
♪ Rich and free