In the book of Acts, we're looking
at Acts chapter 28. I'm taking the title for the
message from what is said in verse 24. Some believed, that's
a miracle. When any sinner believes the
gospel, that's an absolute miracle of the sovereign grace of God.
Some believed the things which were spoken. What did Paul preach? He preached the gospel from the
word of God. Some believed the things that
Paul had spoken. Some were blessed to believe,
and some believed not. Some were left to perish in their
own wicked, wicked sinfulness. Some believe and some believe
not. Now what a precious miracle saving faith in Christ truly
is. It's a miracle. for it is a sovereign,
perfect gift of God that he gives to whom he will. For by grace
are you saved through faith, that not of yourself, it is a
gift of God. Every good gift and perfect gift
comes from above, comes from God. We have faith as a gift
of God, as a sovereign, precious gift of God. Peter calls it that. 2 Peter 1, Simon Peter, a servant,
an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like
precious faith with us through the righteousness of God our
Savior Jesus Christ. Faith is the precious gift of
God that's obtained through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
of Christ, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth
on the Son hath eternal life. Faith is the means the Lord has
ordained to receive salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
author and finisher of our faith. Without faith, no one is saved. Without faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, no one is saved. For without faith, No man can
please the Lord without faith. A man who is without faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ is a man who is without salvation. He
that believeth on the Son hath life. He that believeth not the
Son, whatever else he has, he does not have eternal life. Now
that's just plain and simple. After Paul had spent three months
on this island of Melita, Three months there preaching the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, healing all those who were sick. Now
we see him finally arriving at his destination at Rome, that
great city of Rome. the center of civilization. And
that day they said all roads lead to Rome. But even as he
makes his way from the port city of Petulio, going north toward
Rome, Paul is blessed by meeting believers along the way. Look at verse 14, Acts 28 verse
14, where we found brethren. and were desired to tarry with
them seven days, and so we went toward Rome." They went toward
Rome, and then in verse 15, when the brethren heard of us, they
came to meet us, as far as Appii Forum and three taverns. who
when Paul saw, he thanked God and he was encouraged. Meeting
brethren along the way. What a blessing it is the Lord
gives us in this life to meet brethren along the way in this
journey of life. I was reading over in Revelation
chapter one, I believe it is, where John, their island on that
island, put out on that island of Patmos and he said when he
writes to the churches he said I'm your brother and I'm your
companion in tribulations and that's us. We are brethren and
we are companions in tribulation and we have these things in this
life. When Paul saw them he thanked
God and took courage. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ
enjoy the sweet and constant fellowship in the Lord for they
are one family. They're members one of another.
They've been blessed of God to hear the gospel. David in the
Psalms writes about it this way, behold how good, behold how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Believers are members
one of another. Believers have All things in
common, for we are sinners chosen unto salvation by the Lord Jesus
Christ. He chose us in that eternal covenants
of grace. We are sinners bought with his
precious blood. He said, for you're no more your
own, you're bought with the precious blood of Christ. God bought the
church with his own blood. We are sinners born again by
the Spirit of God. For by one spirit are we all
baptized into the one body. We are sinners saved by the sovereign
grace of God. We can all say with the Apostle
Paul, can't we? I am what I am by his grace. And the only grace that this
Bible knows anything about is sovereign grace. Grace reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. It says
down there in verse 17. Well, let's back up. When we
came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain
of the guard, but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself. with the
soldiers that kept him, and it came to pass." You see verse
17? It came to pass. Now, I love
that statement in Scripture. It's just not a simple slogan
or a phrase or a catchphrase. It came to pass because God brought
it to pass. Everything that comes to pass
comes to pass by the sovereign purpose, will, and grace of God. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. It came to pass. What a glorious,
marvelous statement. All things are of God. The scriptures teach that. All
things are of God. Of Him, through Him, and to Him
are all things. Take that and run with it as
far as you want. all things are of God. He's the
first cause and last end of all things. That gives the believer
comfort. It came to pass. It came to pass
that after three days Paul called for the chief of the Jews together
called the chief of the Jews together and when they were come
together he said to them men and brethren though I've committed
nothing against the people or customs of our fathers yet I
delivered prisoner from Jerusalem to the hands of the Romans who
when they had examined me would have let me go because there
was no cause of death in me but when the Jews spake against it
I was constrained to appeal to Caesar not that I had ought to
accuse my nation. For this cause, therefore, have
I called for you to see you and to speak with you, because that
for the hope of Israel I'm bound with this chain." Paul requested
a meeting with these local Jewish leaders to tell them and explain
to them why he is in Rome in chains. One would think after
the Jews in Jerusalem had repeatedly, on occasion, plotted to persecute
him, plotted and attempted to kill him, that's the last group
of people he wanted anything to do with. You would think that
naturally, wouldn't you? The last people he wanted to
see was a bunch of Jewish Pharisees and Sadducees. You would naturally
think that. but still he desires their salvation
and is seeking opportunity to preach the gospel to them. We
have seen this repeatedly in the book of Acts, how Paul, look
back at Acts chapter 17, I'll give you one example of this,
Acts chapter 17. when Paul came to Thessalonica
and there was a synagogue of the Jews, Acts 17 verse 1, and
Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them three Sabbath days,
reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging
that Christ must need to have suffered and risen again from
the dead, that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Some of them believed. and consorted
with Paul and Silas, and devout Greeks, a great multitude, and
of the chief women not a few." Paul preached the gospel, and
again God granted faith. Some believe faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of the Lord. But the thing that struck
me about this, the apostle Paul, wanting to meet with these Jewish
leaders. He knew these people. He knew
them through and through. He was one of those Pharisees.
And yet he writes, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He wanted these
Jewish self-righteous leaders to hear the gospel and to believe
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to foster that
kind of spirit, that kind of attitude. to my neighbors, to
my community, to those to whom I know, to preach the gospel.
Now, this one statement in verse 20, he said to them, for the
hope of Israel, I'm bound with this chain. Now, what is the
hope of Israel? It's not the law of Moses. By
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. What is the
hope of Israel? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the hope of Israel. He said, Paul said, I'm in this
chain, but I want you to know I'm not a prisoner of Rome. I'm
a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer has this
same hope of salvation. It is the hope of salvation in
Christ. There is just one gospel, there's
just one Savior, there's one righteousness provided in Christ,
and there's one hope of salvation. We have an everlasting consolation
and a good hope through the grace of God. It's through the grace
of God that we have this good hope through grace. Christ in
you is the hope of glory. Paul writes in another place,
saying we have such a good hope of salvation in Christ, we use
great plainness of speech, boldness of speech. There's just one hope.
It's not hope in a hope, it's hope in a person. 1 Timothy 1
says, God our Savior, God our Savior, Paul said I'm an apostle
by the commandment of God our Savior, our hope, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is our hope. He is our hope. There's just one hope. for the
redemption of our soul, one hope for the forgiveness of our sin,
one hope of salvation, and that's Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
everything he is and everything he has done for us. Now notice
their answer. Paul said, I have just one hope,
the hope that we have in Christ. There's just one way of salvation. And they said to him, Verse 21,
we neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither
any of the brethren that came showed or spake anything of thee,
but we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest, for as concerning
your hope, Concerning this sect, this heresy, that word is heresy. Concerning this heresy, we know
that everywhere it's spoken against, against. Now, you hold your place
here. Remember back in Acts 24, turn
over there, Acts 24. when Paul writes about when they
accused him of being a heretic in a way of heresy. In Acts 24
verse 14, but this I confess unto thee, that after the way
which they call heresy, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing
all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.
What does saving faith believe? I believe in all things which
are written in the law and the prophets." The way they call
heresy, that's the way I worship God. That's what he's saying
there. Their answer was revealing, wasn't
it? The statement they made about the gospel. They said the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken against, and it was. They called
the gospel Paul preached heresy. Sinners are no different today.
especially religious sinners. Men by nature still hate the
gospel of a sovereign grace of God concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. They hate the God of absolute
sovereignty. It's not that they hate the sovereignty
of God, they hate God who is sovereign, and they have great
respect and love for themselves. The scripture says they love
darkness rather than light. The scripture said the natural
man received the things will not receive the things of God.
The carnal mind is enmity against God. The natural man receives
not the things of the Spirit of God. The gospel of the sovereign
grace of God is still offensive to the natural man. You call
a man a sinner, that offends his wisdom. You call a man a
guilty sinner, a vile sinner, that offends his pride. You call
a man and tell him that his righteousness that he's going about to establish
is filthy rag before God, and you've got an enemy to deal with. Paul said,
and I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I suffer
persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. If you compromise the gospel,
and preach up creature will, man's righteousness and morality,
and say that God does all he can do and the rest is waiting
on you. Well, that's not offensive to the natural man. Salvation
by the sinner's work, will, and wishes is not offensive. That's
not offensive to the natural man. Well, he wants to hear that,
how good he is and how much he's done for God. But you tell him
he's nothing, dead in sin, unless God has mercy on him, he's going
to hell. Well, that's offensive. But shut him up to the sovereign
grace of God and you'll have a fight on your hands. I'm telling
you, you will. You plainly tell a sinner, a
self-righteous religious man, that salvation is out of his
hands and God's hands. God may have mercy on him and
he may not. It's up to God. You've got a
fight on your hands. Our Lord said this, As many as
received him, to them gave he power, right, or privilege to
become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which
were born. not of the will of flesh, not
of the will of man, but born of God. We only receive him and
believe him because God's given us life by his sovereign power. You have to be quick until we're
dead. Saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the fruit of
being regenerated by the grace of God. We don't believe to be
regenerated. We don't believe to be born again.
Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, he's already born
of God. The reason you believe the gospel is because God's given
you life in Christ. He's begotten you with the word
of truth. Many of these Jews, verse 23
and verse 24, and when they had appointed him a day, There came
many to him into his lodging, to whom he expounded unto them,
and testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, both out of the law of Moses
and out of the prophets morning till evening." Paul was ready
to preach the gospel to those who were at Rome. Remember, he
wrote that in Roman chapter one, for as much as in me is, I'm
ready to preach the gospel to you. For I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. It's the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believe us. Now, three things I want
to look at here in verse 23. Paul preached from morning till
evening. And the thought came to my mind,
I wish I could have heard that sermon. You know, there's a sermon
very similar to what he preached here, I'm sure. We studied it
in Acts chapter 13, you might make note of it, Acts 13, 14
through 39, where he took the word of God and preached unto
them the Lord Jesus Christ as a fulfillment of all scripture.
Now, let's look at these three things. He expounded unto them,
expounded unto them about the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom here is the rule
and reign, the sovereign reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
remember over here in verse 31, chapter 28, Acts 28, 31, preaching
the kingdom of God, teaching those saying concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding. He expounded
unto them about the lordship of Christ. You remember from
Acts chapter 2, Peter preached at Pentecost. He said, this same
Jesus whom you crucified, he's both Lord and Christ. He expounded
unto them. It reminded me of this scripture.
Turn to Luke 24. Luke 24. Someone else did that
very same thing. Acts, excuse me, Luke 24, verse
25, "...be said unto them, O fool, slow of heart, to believe all
that the prophets have spoken." This is the risen Christ speaking
to those two men on the road to Emmaus. "...ought not Christ
to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?"
Luke 24, 27, and beginning of Moses and all the prophets, he
expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself. It's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ, all about him. The kingdom of our Lord Jesus
Christ is not a Jewish kingdom. It's not an earthly kingdom,
it is a spiritual kingdom. He said to Pilate, my kingdom
is not of this world. The scriptures declare the absolute
and total sovereignty, the sovereign reign of the Lord Jesus Christ
over all things, especially concerning this spiritual kingdom. He is
king and Lord in his kingdom. He is king of kings and Lord
of lords by the decree of almighty God. Now turn over here to John
17. John 17, he is king in his kingdom. We studied last Wednesday from
Psalm 47. God is king over all the earth. God reigneth over the heathen.
God sits upon the throne of his holiness. Now, John 17 verse
one. These words spake our Lord Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As
thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given to him. And this is
life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God,
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I've glorified thee on
the earth. I've finished the work you gave
me to do." So when we expound the gospel concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ, we expound his sovereign rule and reign over
all things. Isaiah writes about it this way,
how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publish peace, that bring good tidings of good,
that publish salvation, that say unto Zion, what the message
is, thy God reigneth. Thy God reigneth. He will have
mercy on whom he will have mercy. So our message in preaching is
that salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ and it's given by
his sovereign will, purpose, and grace. It's not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth. but of God that showeth mercy. Remember from Roman chapter nine,
our Lord is king in salvation who accomplished salvation by
the sacrifice of himself. Psalm 74, 12 says this, for God
is my king of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. And
that's what the Lord Jesus, he's king in salvation, he's king
in providence, he's king in every way. Every knee will bow and
every tongue will confess that he is Lord. Right? The glory of God the Father.
So the first thing the apostle Paul did, he expounded enlarged
upon and preached the sovereign rule of the king, king in salvation. The second thing he does here,
he testifies. He testifies of what he knows.
He gave personal testimony and witnessed that the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ was true and the only way of salvation. Now hold your place there and
find 1 John chapter 1 this time. 1 John chapter 1. A witness,
what is a witness? A witness is someone who has
seen something and he tells what he knows by experience. 1st John chapter 1 verse 1, that
which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon our hands
and handled of the word of life, for the life was manifested and
we've seen it. and bear witness unto you and
show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and
was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us and
truly our fellowship is with the Father. And with his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So a witness is one who tells
what he knows. And that's what the Apostle Paul
did. He gave witness of the grace
of God that he experienced in his life and in his heart. He writes this from prison. Here's what he writes. I'll just
read it to you. 2 Timothy chapter 1. For God
hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love,
and a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor me his prisoner, but be thou
partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power
of God. God who saved us and called us, what a holy calling,
not according to our works but according to his own purpose
and grace, given us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. So we expound and then we testify about the grace of
God in our Lord Jesus Christ. In the book of Titus, chapter
3, he says, After that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward
man hath appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being
justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. That's our testimony. That's
Paul's testimony. That's every believer's testimony.
salvation by the grace of God. And then thirdly, it says here,
he persuaded them concerning the Lord Jesus out of the word
of God, out of the prophets from morning till evening. Now, our
Lord did the same thing. Turn back to Luke 24. Luke 24,
our Lord did the same thing. Did he not the risen Lord when
he appeared to those apostles? In Luke 24 verse 44, these are
the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then he opened their understanding
that they might understand the scripture. So Paul took the word
of God and expounded and testified and preached unto them the Lord
Jesus Christ." Now I'll give you another example of that.
If you look back to Acts 19 and then persuaded them concerning
Christ. Acts 19 verse 8. Turn back over
there. Acts 19 verse 8. When he went into the synagogue
of the Jews, verse 8, Acts 19, he spake boldly for the space
of three months, disputing, persuading the thing concerning the kingdom
of God. So there it is again. expounding,
testifying, and persuading these things are true. Paul was always
about declaring the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
his person as God, his redeeming work as successful and effectual
to the salvation of his people. God commended his love toward
us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died to save
his people. Now, what's going to happen? There's a morning Afternoon and
evening session, 12 hours the Apostle Paul preached. Remember
one place he preached all night to the next morning. What's the
fruit of gospel preaching? Well, here's the fruit of it.
Some believe. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of the Lord. Some believe the things which
were spoken. Some believe not. Some believe
the things which are spoken and some believe not. Some who heard
the gospel preached were blessed to hear with understanding and
were brought to the Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith. Some
who heard the same message, the same gospel, they heard the same
man speak the same words. Some were blessed to believe
and some were left to perish in their sin. Some came, some left the same
way they came, lost and dead in sin. Now ask the question, what made the difference? Or
rather, who made the difference? Let's see if we can find out.
If you remember what happened, the same scenario happened. Turn
back to Acts 13. Acts 13. Remember, Paul was preaching
here, Acts 13, 44. And the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city to hear the word of God, Acts 13, 44. But when the Jews saw the multitude,
they were filled with envy and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and
Barnabas whacked bold and said, it was necessary that the word
of God should have first been spoken to you. But seeing you
put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I've set thee to be a light of a Gentile, that
thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, glorified the
word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life,
what happened? They believed the gospel. This
is the predestinating purpose of God. Any sinner who believes
the gospel is because God purposed that person by his grace to believe. We only believe by the working
of his mighty power. He will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy. As I said in the beginning, there
are just two kinds of people in this world, those who believe
and those who do not believe. Now, let me ask you this question. What do people believe who do
not believe the gospel? What do people believe? We know
what people who believe, we know what they believe. They believe
that Jesus Christ is everything in salvation. They believe in
salvation by the grace of God alone. They believe in salvation
by his sovereign love and sovereign mercy. What do people believe
who do not believe the gospel? They believe anything and everything
but the truth. They will believe a lie and be damned. It's only by the
grace of God that we believe the truth. I know an organization
that I grew up in, they call themselves something other than
what they were founded upon. They tried to hide their lies
and deceits. They call themselves now the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I grew up that way. My sister, my mom and dad, my
whole family grew up that way. And they recently told me, said,
we don't go by Mormons no more. We're not Mormons anymore. We're
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 15 million
people have believed the lie that salvation depends upon what
you do. What do people believe who do
not believe the gospel truth? They believe anything and everything
but the truth. They believe salvation depends
upon you. It only works when you cooperate
with God, when you cooperate with God, when you add your part,
when you bring your whatever. They believe that salvation is
by works, not grace. They believe salvation is something
other than Christ. They believe that morality, their
morality is righteousness before God. We don't drink alcohol. We don't smoke. We're righteous people. We don't
even drink coffee or tea. Coffee or tea is sinful. We certainly
wouldn't drink a beer. You see, their morality is their
righteousness. They have believed a lie. What
do people believe who do not believe the truth? They believe
salvation depends on them. rather than Christ alone. They believe salvation's upon
the sinner's free will, they say. They say salvation's by
man's free will. Man's will's not free. You know
that, don't you? If man's will was free, as I've
said oftentimes, walk out that door and start flapping your
arms and fly. You can't fly, you'll never fly. Why? You're bound by your nature. A man is bound by his wicked
nature, is always self-ward and downward, never God-ward and
upward. Man's will is like free-running water. You pour some water out
here in this parking lot and I guarantee you which way it's
gonna go. It's gonna go toward the creek, toward the creek,
they say in my part of the country. So, many believed by the grace
of God. Some believed. Some believed
the things that were spoken. Some believed not. Now, let's
end on a positive note. Turn back to John chapter 3 and
let's look at this for a moment. Some believed. Some believed. We believe according to the working
of his mighty power. Some believe, some were granted
and given faith. John 3.36, he that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abide on him. Turn to
John chapter five, verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
John 5.24, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that
sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. He that believeth on me
shall come to me. And those that come to me, John
6, 37, turn over there. Go back to verse 35, John 6,
I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. As I said
unto you that you also have seen me and believe not, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will then know why is cast out." Coming to Christ is believing
on him. As my pastor used to say, come
to Christ and don't move a muscle. Don't move a muscle. Come to
Christ in your heart by faith. I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this
is the will of Him that sent me, that all which the Father
has given me, I'll lose nothing but raise it up again at the
last day. This is the will of Him that sent me. Everyone which
seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life,
and I'll raise Him up at the last day. What a precious gift
faith is. the gift of God.