We're talking about Acts chapter
five. Tonight, I'm going to be preaching on this subject, chosen
to be holy. What an important message. Chosen
to be holy. I've entitled this morning's
message, The Neutrality of Gamaliel, the neutrality of Gamaliel. In verse 33, when they heard, they were cut to the heart and
took counsel to slay them. They heard what Peter and John
had said, and they were so angry over what they heard that they
plotted their assassination. And these folks were mad, weren't
they? They took counsel to slay them. They wanted their death.
Now, what did they hear? Let's look back up at verse 27
of Acts chapter 5. And when they brought them, they
set them before the council. The high priest asked them, saying,
did not we straightly command you that you should not teach
in this name? And behold, you filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon
us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we
ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers. hath raised up Jesus, whom you
slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses
of these things, as so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath
given to them that obey him. Now in making that statement,
they're saying you are disobeying him. Your religion is a religion
of disobedience. People are okay with what you
believe as long as you're okay with what they believe. Isn't
that so? People are okay with what you
believe as long as you're okay with what they believe. And yet
they're still saved, we can just agree to disagree, toleration.
The anger comes out when they see you do not believe them to
be people who are serving God, but are disobeying God. Now that was their response. And that's when they became so
mad when they heard that they were cut to the heart and took
counsel to slay them, and then were introduced to a man by the
name of Gamaliel. Let's read this description of
him. Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee named
Gamaliel, a doctor of the law. He had his PhD. He was trained
religiously and he was held in high esteem among the people.
He was well thought of and respected. This man, Gamaliel. As a matter
of fact, we know that Paul at one time sat at his feet before
God saved him. You remember when he was giving
his own testimony in Acts chapter 22, he said, I sat at the feet
of Gamaliel. This was a highly respected man. Now, what is his counsel? He says, put forth the apostles a little
space. Don't be so quick to want to kill them. And he said unto
them, ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend
to do is touching these men. And then he talks about a couple
of things that happened in the past. And these things are actually
recorded in Josephus. These are actually historical
events that took place. For before these days rose up
Thutis, boasting himself to be somebody. to whom a number of
men, about 400, joined themselves. I don't know what kind of problems
he was causing, but he was slain, and all as many as obeyed him
were scattered and brought to nothing. After this man rose
up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing. was objecting
to this taxing, and he drew away much people after him. It's always
been that way, isn't it? People are going to object to
paying taxes. And he also perished, and even
as many as obeyed him were dispersed. It all came to nothing. And now
I say unto you, refrain from these men. Leave them alone. Don't do anything. For if this
counsel or this work be of men, it'll come to nothing. You don't
need to worry about it. It's not going to go anywhere. That's
true, isn't it? Would you disagree with anything
he's saying? No, if this counsel is of men, it's not going anywhere.
Verse 39, but if it be of God, you can't overthrow it. You can't
stop this if it's of God. If God be for us, who can be
against us? If this thing is of God, you
can't overthrow it, lest happily you be found even to fight against
God. And to him they agreed, and when
they had called the apostles and beaten them, they had to
get the last word in. So they went ahead and beat them
and commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus.
They let them go. Now, there couldn't be anything
more true. If it's of man, it'll come to
nothing. If it's of God, you can't stop it. I love that passage. As a matter of fact, turn with
me to Matthew 27. Verse 62. This is after the death of Christ.
Now, the next day that followed, the day of the preparation, the
chief priests and Pharisees came together to Pilate, saying, Sir,
we remember that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after
three days, I will rise again. Now, don't you think it's interesting
that they remembered that, but the apostles didn't seem to remember
it? He said, after three days, I
will rise again. Verse 64, command therefore that
the sepulcher be made sure into the third day, lest his disciples
come by night and steal him away and say to the people, he's risen
from the dead, so the last error shall be worse than the first.
Pilate said unto them, you have a watch, go your way and make
it as sure as you can. You do everything in your power
to make sure this doesn't take place. Make it as sure as you
can. How much power did they have in preventing the Lord from
being raised from the dead. None, none at all. He raised, he was raised, he
raised himself from the dead and they had no power at all.
Now, if God's in something, it is going to be successful and
they agreed. What I would notice about Gamaliel
is he did not take sides. He said, if this is man, and
it may be, if this is a man, it's going to come to nothing.
But if it's of God, it may be. If it is, we can't stop it. I'm not for this. I'm not against
this. I am nonpartisan. I have no affiliation. I'm looking at it and standing
back and waiting to see what will happen. His view began with
an if. If this be of God. Or if this
be of man. Very much like Satan's temptation
of the Lord in that time of temptation if you're the son of God. Now,
I'm not saying you're not, but if you are, prove it. Give me
some evidence. If this be of man, maybe it is.
If it be of God, maybe it is. I'm not making a stand for either. Now, what he said was true. Everybody
in here agree with what he said. If all it is of man, it'll come
to nothing. If it's of God, we can't stop
it. And he seems to show more wisdom than the Pharisees, but
he was not in, he was not out. He was lukewarm. Neither cold nor hot. Lukewarm only. Waiting to see how things would
turn out. Now, my question is, how does
God view this? He was well respected, Gamal
was well respected of the people, but how does God view this not
in, not out, this neutral ground? How would the Lord Jesus Christ
respond to this? Turn to Matthew chapter 12 and
I'll show you. Verse 30. He that is not with me is what? Against me. Opposed to me. And he that gathereth not with
me scattereth abroad. Turn to Luke chapter 14, beginning in verse 25. And there went great multitudes
with him. And he turned and said unto them,
if any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and
wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own
life also. He cannot, not he will not make
a very good, but he cannot be my disciple and whosoever does
not bear his cross. That's talking about the confession
of Christ and his cross. Whosoever does not bear his cross
and come after me, he cannot be my disciple. Turn to John
chapter 12, verse 42. Nevertheless, among the chief
rulers, also many believed on him. They couldn't deny that
he performed these miracles. They couldn't deny what he said,
but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest
they should be put out of the synagogue, for they love the
praise of men more than the praise of God. Now, did these men believe? Yeah. But they didn't believe the gospel
because they would not confess the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember
Elijah's appeal to the undecided. What did he say? Israel was trying
to serve Baal and Jehovah. And he said, how long halt ye
between two opinions? Straddling the fence, trying
to do both. How long halt ye between two
opinions? Now Gamaliel was halting between
two opinions, wasn't he? There's two opinions here. If
it's a man, I don't know which, but if it is a man, it'll come
to nothing. If it's of God, it cannot be
stopped. He was halting between those
two opinions. Turn to Joshua chapter 24. Joshua chapter 24. This is before
Joshua dies. He says in verse 14, now therefore
fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth. That's the only way to serve
him, isn't it? in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods which your
father served on the other side of Egypt, of the flood and in
Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it seemed evil unto you
to serve the Lord, if you don't want to serve the Lord, if it's
not the direction you want to go, Choose you this day whom
you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that
were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites
in whose land you dwell, pick your poison." Pick your poison
is what he's saying. If you're not going to serve
the Lord, pick your poison. There's all kinds of false gods
you can serve. Choose which one. You know, error is always a choice.
Error is always a choice. You have to choose not to believe
the truth. Now if you believe the truth, you didn't choose
to. You believe it because it's true. But you have to choose
to not believe the truth. Now look what he says, as for
me and for my house, we will serve the Lord. Now turn with me to Exodus chapter
32. This is where we're going to spend the rest of our time.
Exodus chapter 32. And I think that this will reveal
to us something about the error of neutrality. Gamaliel was neutral. He was halting between two opinions. Now in Exodus chapter 32, verse 1, and when the people saw that
Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, He'd been up there
for 40 days. Well, what happened? The people gathered themselves
unto Aaron and said unto him, Up, make us gods which shall
go before us. For as for this Moses, the man
that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we not want not what
is become of him. Now how quickly they turn aside. Do you think you're immune to
this? Do I think I'm immune to this? How quickly they turned
aside. Verse two, and Aaron said unto
them, break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your
wives, of your sons and of your daughters and bring them unto
me. Now, Aaron was a weak man. He was a believer. He's called
the saint of God, but he accommodated him in this. And I think this
is interesting. It had something to do with your ears. When you
go bad, when I go bad, it has something to do with hearing,
doesn't it? The earrings are taken away in
verse 3, and all the people break off the golden earrings which
were in their ears and brought them into Aaron, and he received
them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool. After
he had made it a golden calf, and they said, these be thy gods,
O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron
made proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. Now we
know that this golden calf is just a representation of Jehovah. This feast is going to be a feast
to the Lord, not to the golden calf, but to the Lord. And the
golden calf simply represents the Lord, his strength and his
provision and so on. Verse six. And they rose up early
on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.
And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. I know what they were playing.
They were playing religion, weren't they? They were playing religion. That's
what this is all about. And the Lord said unto Moses,
verse 7, Go get thee down for thy people. which thou broughtest
up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They've
turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They've
made a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed
thereunto, and said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which have
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto
Moses, I've seen this people, and behold, it's a stiff-necked
people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax
hard against them, that I may consume them, and I'll make of
thee a great nation. And here Moses is a type of Christ. And Moses besought the Lord his
God and said, Lord, why do thy wrath wax hot against thy people,
which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with
great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore would the Egyptians
speak and say, for mischief did he bring them out to slay them
in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth?
Turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy
people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to
whom thou swearest by thine own self, and said unto them, I will
multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land
that I've spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall
inherit it forever. And the Lord repented of the
evil which he thought to do unto his people. And Moses turned
and went down from the mountain. The two tables of the testimony
were in his hand. The tables were written on both
sides. On the one side, on the other were written. And the tables
were the work of God. This is talking about the law
that Moses had received. And the writing was the writing
of God graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise
of the people as they shouted and said unto Moses, there's
a noise of war in the camp. And he said, it's not the voice
of them that shout for mastery. Neither is it the voice of them
that cry for being overcome, but the noise of The noise of
them that sing do I hear. And it came to pass as soon as
that he came nigh into the camp that he saw the calf and the
dancing and Moses' anger waxed hot. And he cast the table out
of his hands and break them beneath the mount. And he took the calf
which they'd made and burnt it. in the fire, and ground it to
powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children
of Israel drink of it. And Moses said to Aaron, What
did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought them so great
a sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger
of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people, that
they are set for mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods,
which will go before us. For as for this Moses, the man
that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what's
become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold,
let him break it off. So they gave it to me, and then
I cast it in the fire, and out came this calf. And when Moses saw that the people
were naked, for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among
their enemies, Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said,
who is on the Lord's side? What a question. Who is on the Lord's side? There is man's
side and there is the Lord's side. Now part of the inspiration
of this message came if you were here last week, I preached the
message on must election be preached. must election be preached. And I thought it was a message
that I would like for people to hear, because yes, election
must be preached, or the gospel's not preached if you don't preach
election. And I told Susan to put the message on Sermon Audio
for that featured message, and they said, no. No, we can't have
that message up. And they told Susan in a letter
that it was too controversial. And I called Sermon Audio and
I said, what's this all about? Too controversial, it's just
the truth, it's scriptural, it comes from the Bible, too controversial.
He said, now understand, I'm on your side. I'm on your side. I believe in
election. I'm on your side. But that's
just too controversial. That will anger people. People
will call and complain. That's just too controversial.
We can't put a message up like that. Too controversial. I was thinking about, and I said
this to him, can you imagine Peter on Pentecost saying, I'm
not going to deal with anything controversial? Or Paul at Mars Hill, I'm not
going to deal with anything that will offend anybody. Moses said, who's on the Lord's
side? Turn with me for a moment to
Joshua chapter five. You know, I don't want to think,
oh, I'm being persecuted for Christ's sake. I'm playing the
martyr card. I don't want to do that. I want
to be faithful. But this is, who's on the Lord's
side? Was that man on my side? You know, the issue really is
not, is whose side are you on? Turn with me to Joshua chapter
five, beginning in verse 13. And it came to pass, When Joshua
was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,
there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his
hand. And Joshua went unto him and
said unto him, Are you on our side or on the side of our adversaries?
Whose side are you on? And he said, Nay, neither. I'm not on anybody's side. As the captain of the host of
the Lord, am I now come? I'm the Lord. I'm the king. I'm
the captain of the host of the Lord. You don't need to worry
about whether or not I'm on your side. I'm not on anybody's side.
Are you on my side is the question. And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth and did worship and said unto him, what sayeth my
Lord and his servant? He's not asking now, are you
on my side? He fell down on his face and
worshiped. What do you say? That's all I'm
interested in. What do you say? And the captain
of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off
thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua
did so. Now the question is not, is he
on your side? The question is, are you on his
side? Moses said, who is on the Lord's
side? Now there's the Lord's side.
This is so important. It's so simple and so true. There's
the Lord's side and there's man's side. There's the Lord's side. and there's man's side. Which side am I on? Which side
are you on? Are we on the side of the scriptures,
God's word, or the traditions of men? Now you know as well
as I do that man's religion is filled with all kinds of traditions
that are man-made, man-introduced, that came from the heart of man,
man's traditions. The Lord warned of those who
follow the traditions of men and make void the word of God
in Matthew chapter 15. Am I on man's side or am I on
God's side? God's word or man's word? What I think of God What's in
my heart with regard to God himself, the person of God, the person
of Christ, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? My attitude,
my heart attitude toward God is seen in how I respond to this
book, the Bible, the word of God. Paul said to Timothy, Preach
the word. Does the word declare that God's
on the throne, ruling and reigning, in control of everything, absolutely
sovereign? Preach it. Does the word declare
that men cannot save themselves, that they're dead in sins, unable
to do anything but sin? Preach it. Does the word declare
that God elected a people before time began? Preach it. Does the word declare
that Christ is completely successful, that he finished the work? When
he said it is finished, it was finished. Preach it. Does the
word declare that God's grace actually saves? It's not an offer,
it's salvation. Then preach it. There can be
no neutral ground. God is either sovereign or man
is sovereign, but it cannot be both. Men are either dead in
sins or they can save themselves, but it cannot be both. Christ
either accomplished salvation or he didn't. But there's no
mixing. There's no neutral ground. Grace either saves or it doesn't. It's the word of God or the word
of man. Which side are you on? Time to take sides. Which side
are you on? Am I like Gamaliel? Well, it
could be one, could be the other. That's the middle of the road.
That's where the head-on collisions occur. I guess Gamaliel thought
he was playing it safe. He didn't realize he was in a
dangerous position that God despises. Who's on the Lord's side? Free
will or free grace? Man's will or God's will? It
can't be both. And they mutually exclude one
another. Free grace is the Lord's side. Free will. It's man's side. Which side are you on? The Lord's
side or man's side? Salvation comes by Christ's righteousness
or man's righteousness? One of the two. It can't be both. Is Christ's righteousness the
only righteousness there is or is there a mixture of Christ's
righteousness and human righteousness or man's righteousness? Now,
Christ's righteousness is the Lord's side. Man's righteousness
is man's side. Whose side are you on? God gets all the glory and salvation
or man gets some glory. One's God's side, the other is
man's side. Whose side are you on? You can't
be neutral. Right now, I'm either on God's
side or I'm on man's side. Now let's look in our text, verse
26, Exodus 32. Then Moses stood in the gate
of the camp and said, who is on the Lord's side? Look what
he says next. Let him come unto me. There was a visible separation
that took place. Those with Moses, they're on
the Lord's side. Those who are not are on man's
side. And when you're on the Lord's
side, there is a visible separation that takes
place. You identify with the people of God. You identify with
those who are on the Lord's side. You're not concerned to be being
on man's side. Somebody said, but you are a
man. I know, but I'm on the Lord's side. Man's evil. Man has no
love for God. Man has no love for the gospel.
Every true believer is on the Lord's side and not on man's
side. There is an identification with
his message and his people. You confess him and all confession
has something to do with a public confession. You can't confess
anything privately. There's an actual identification
with the Lord's side and with his people. Paul said in Acts
24, 14, this, I confess to thee that after the way which they
call heresy, So worship I, the God of my fathers. There is no neutral ground. Now look what he says next in
verse 27. When he said, Who's on the Lord's
side? Let him come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered
themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side." Strap
on your sword. Put your sword on. What's our
sword? The Word of God. The sword of
the Spirit, which is the Word of God. That's our weapon. The Word of God. What saith the
scripture? That's all that matters. What
saith the scripture? Put on your sword. The word of
God, the sword of the spirit is the word of God. And look
what he says next. Go in and out from gate to gate
throughout the camp and slay with that sword, slay every man,
his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his
neighbor. Now that's what everyone who
was on the Lord's side was called to do, to put to death. Every man his companion, his
neighbor, and his brother. Now they did that literally. In this thing of the gospel,
we overcome by his grace all natural ties. Now that's what's
going on in the gospel. This is not telling us to go
out and murder people and kill people who don't believe the
way we do. It doesn't mean that at all. But it does tell us Like
the Lord said, whosoever will come after me and hate not his
mother, father, wife, children, yea, his own life also, he cannot
be my disciple. Now the truth of God is more
important than my relationship with my friends and my family. The truth of God is more important.
I'm not going to put somebody into heaven because they're my
relative. I'm not going to compromise the truth by his grace because
it goes against what my relatives believe or my friends believe.
The gospel overcomes all of that. I'm not going to count somebody
saved because of natural ties. A man's foes shall be they of
his own household. Now that's what this is talking
about. Now remember, I don't know how many times I've had
people say, They hear the gospel and they'll draw an implication
from it. And they'll say, if that's true,
that means my mom's not saved. My dad's not saved. My relatives
are not saved. My family, if that's true, if
what you're saying is true, then so-and-so's not saved. Okay,
you gonna change the truth of God to let your relatives in? You're either on God's side or
you're on man's side. That's the case. You're either on God's
side or on man's side. There's no neutral position.
Like Gamaliel, he took a neutral position. Can't do that. Either God's side or man's side. Look in verse 28. And the children of Israel did
according to the word of Moses, the children of Levi rather,
did according to the word of Moses. And there fell of the
people that day about 3,000 men, for Moses had said, consecrate
yourselves today to the Lord. Even every man upon his son,
upon his brother, that he may bestow upon you a blessing this
day. Be utterly on his side. Now, how am I to go about that? How am I to go about that? Well,
let's begin right here. You've got to begin at the right
place or you'll never get to the destination. Let's begin
right here. Do you want to be on the Lord's
side? Hear this carefully. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
I know whom I have believed. There is no salvation apart from
believing the gospel. And the gospel is who? I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded. I'm convinced. God convinced him of this. You
know, the only way you're going to be persuaded is when God persuades
you. And when he persuades you, you're
persuaded. I am persuaded that He is able. I'm persuaded in His ability. I'm persuaded that I'm nothing
but sin, and I'm persuaded that He is able to keep that which
I have committed to Him. What have you committed to Him?
the entire salvation of my soul. I'm not looking for a thing out
of myself. I'm looking wholly to Christ. If what he did is not enough,
I will not be saved. I'm committed to that. All my
eggs are in that one basket. Christ only. Now, that's being
on the Lord's side. Not on man's side, man's works,
man's anything. I don't want to be like Gamaliel.
He thought he was in a safe position. I'm not going to commit. Maybe
it is of man, maybe it's of God, I'm not sure. Let's just stand
back and look and see what happens. I'm not going to commit. A safe position is the most dangerous
position you can be in. Christ is either all to me or
he's nothing to me. There is no in between. Christ is either all to me, all
of my salvation, or he is nothing. You cannot be neutral regarding
him. There is no neutral ground. May the Lord deliver us from
neutrality and cleave to Christ only. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would deliver us from this lukewarm, cold or hot, neutral,
neither cold nor hot, neutral state and cause us to be on the
side of thy son, the side of thy grace. Lord, cause us to
have no regard for what men think, but only what you say in your
word. Lord, cause us to identify with
thy gospel. Cause us to love you more and
love one another more. Lord, what a blessing it is to
be numbered with those people who are on your side. And Lord,
that's where we want to be. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. Cause your gospel to overcome the heart of every person
in here. And Lord, grant us all that faith
in Christ that looks to him only. Lord, do a mighty work of grace
in our midst. Bless your word for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.