Acts 24, let's turn over there.
I'm so thankful Bob read that 23rd chapter. It gives you a
background of our text. Now the apostle had
been taken into custody. You heard Bob read that by these
religious leaders who would have killed him. But being a Roman
citizen, he was a Roman citizen. He was a Jew, Hebrew of Hebrews,
but he was a Roman citizen. Being a Roman citizen, he was
brought before Felix, the Roman governor. And he had quite a
crew against him, some influential, powerful men. Acts 24, verse
1, after five days, Ananias, the high priest, Now this is
the man who had Aaron's office, the high priest, descended with
the elders, the elders of Israel, and with a certain orator named
Tertullus, who informed the governor against
Paul. And when he was called forth,
Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, This is what he said
about Felix. He bragged on the governor first.
He says, seeing that by thee, Felix, we enjoy great quietness
and that very worthy deeds are done unto the nation, this nation,
by thy providence, we accept it always and in all places,
most noble Felix, with all thankfulness, notwithstanding that I be not
further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear
us of thy clemency a few words." Now he begins to charge the Apostle
Paul with being a troublemaker, an agitator, one who stirred
up the people against their religious leaders. Paul, a source of disturbance
among the Jewish people. Listen to him in verse 5. We
have found this fellow, a pestilent fellow, an agitator, a mover
of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world. And then
he calls him here a ringleader of the sect, the heretical followers
of Jesus of Nazareth. That's what he's talking about.
He says, and he's a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
Who also, now watch this, he says, he accuses Paul of profaning
the temple. The house of God, defiling the
house of God, defiling it. He says in verse 6, who also
have gone about to profane the temple. Whom we took and we would
have judged according to our law. We would have judged him,
in other words, we would have dealt with him after the law
and stoned him. That's what we would have done.
Verse 7, But the chief captain, Lysias, Elysius, came unto us,
upon us. And here's the first charge of
police brutality here, I think. And with great violence took
him away out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come unto thee,
by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all
these things, whereof we accuse him." I notice they didn't accuse him
of what he was really doing. He was preaching the gospel of
Christ. He was preaching the resurrection of the dead. Preaching
the redemption, grace, mercy through Christ Jesus. Verse 9,
And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so, And then Paul was permitted to
speak for himself, starting with verse 10. Then Paul, after that
the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch
as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this
nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself, because that
thou mayest understand that there are yet but twelve days since
I went up to Jerusalem for the worship. And they neither found
me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the
people, neither in the synagogue nor in the city." God's people
are not disputers. God's people are not debaters.
They're not arguers. They're not agitators. God's
people are men and women of peace and goodwill, and readily submit
to all authority as long as it's in the Lord. Submit to authority
in the Lord. But God's children are not troublemakers. These people accused Paul of
being an agitator, a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition,
a propainer of the temple, and that's not so. We don't argue,
we don't quarrel. We don't debate. We don't do
that. We know that the mysteries of
Christ and His gospel are not learned by debate. We didn't
learn it that way and others will not learn it that way. The
mysteries of the grace of God in Christ Jesus are not learned
by arguments. The mysteries of grace and the
glory of redemption must be revealed to the heart by the Holy Spirit.
I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. This is what we know. We don't argue and debate with
men and quarrel and cause trouble and stir up folks. We are people
who love peace. In 2 Corinthians 10 verse 3,
Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4, for
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ." How is that done? By quarreling? Debating? Arguing? No. Preaching Christ and the
Spirit of God applying it to the heart. That's how that's
done. Our Lord said, turn to John 6. I read part of this this
morning, but let me read some more of it. John chapter 6. You
know, verse 45, I read this morning where the master said, John 6,
44, No man can come to me, that is, believe on me, receive me,
be brought to a living union with Me, no man can come to Me
except the Father which sent Me to draw him. And I'll raise
him up at the last day." How does the Father draw him? Listen
to verse 45. It's written in the Prophets, "...and they shall
be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
learned, hath heard and learned of the Father, he'll come to
Me." Now turn over a page. to verse 61, verse 60, John 6,
verse 60. Many, therefore, of His disciples,
when they heard this, they said, this is a hard saying. Who can
hear it? When Jesus knew in Himself that
His disciples murmured at it, He said, does this offend you?
What, and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He
was before? If hearing about His glory offends
you, think how you'll be offended when you see it. Read on. But it's the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. Let's keep that in mind. The
flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak to you,
their spirit and their their life. So Paul says to this ruler,
Felix, he said, I'm not a debater. I'm not a disputer. I'm not an
agitator. Verse 13 of our text. These people
can't prove the things where they now accuse me. I'll tell you, we're not debaters.
We're not quarrelers. We're not disputers. We're not
troublemakers. We're people of peace. People of peace. Thirty-nine
years ago, when I talked to the men in that meeting at Pollard Baptist
Church, where I had pastored for four years, an assistant
pastor for eighteen months, and I talked to those men that night
in the meeting, some of them are right here in this service
tonight, And I said to them, I said, I'm tired of fighting,
aren't you? You remember this? I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired
of it. I'm tired of the conflict. I
want to go somewhere and worship God in peace. And they said,
we do too. And that's why we're here. We're
not quarrelers. We're not debaters. Nothing is
accomplished by that. Just quit it. And we don't hate
the enemies of the Gospel. No siree. We don't hate them,
nor do we seek to harm them, nor do we seek to put them out
of business. This is a free country. A man's
got as much right to go to that Catholic church as you have to
come to this church. And we've got to keep that avenue
open, too. We've got to fight for his right
as well, because he loses his, you lose yours. It's just as
important. And we want to love them and
pity them. Because except for the grace
of God, I'd be one of them. In fact, I'd be one of the leaders.
These Pharisees and Sadducees that were making war on Paul,
he was one of them. At one time before God met him
on the road to Damascus and saved him, wasn't he? One of them.
In fact, he was on his way to kill some of them when God met
him. Pharisee of Pharisee. So let's don't ever forget that.
Believe it or not, I was reading Sherlock Holmes the other night.
I like Sherlock Holmes. I like this A. Conan Doyle that
wrote Sherlock Holmes. And I came to the end of one
of his stories. And Sherlock Holmes was watching
a man go through the door that had committed a terrible crime. He'd killed his partner. murdered
him, hit him in the head with a rock and killed him. And Sherlock
Holmes made this statement in the book. He said, as old Richard
Baxter said, you know who Richard Baxter was? Preacher of the grace
of God. Sherlock Holmes pointed to the
man going through the door with his shoulders slumped, having
murdered with a rock, a man that was one of his dearest friends.
He said, He quoted this, there but for the grace of God, goes
Sherlock Holmes. And you point at any rotten,
filthy, guilty rebel in this world, you just point at him.
Whether he's lying in the gutter or sitting in the legislature
somewhere stealing from his constituents and you say, there but for the
grace of God, It's Cecil Roach, Mike Barton, Jonathan Thompson,
Chuck Staple, Henry Mayer, Ron Bobb, Richard Luke. Everyone of us can say it. There,
but for the grace of God, goes Henry Mayer. Now see if we can
put that in here. Let's put it in here. Turn to the book of James a moment.
James chapter 1, verse 17. Let's always remember this. When
we're prone to get a little edgy and a little put out with our
loved ones and children and sons and daughters and relatives and
religious friends, verse 17 of James 1, every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above. And cometh down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no variableness, near the shadow of turning, of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should
be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved
brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and mighty
slow to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God." Won't help. Just fling a fit,
it won't help. It won't help. God's got to do
it. God's got to do it. Alright, go back to my text.
Paul says, but. I'm not a debater. Acts 24, back
to the text. Verse 14. I'm not a debater.
I'm not an arguer. I'm not a disputer. I'm not an
agitator. I'm not a disturber of men. But,
this I confess unto thee. that after the way which they
call heresy, and I believe he pointed to these religious fellows
that had accused him, he said, I will tell you this, I'm not
these things they said, but I say, I confess, this is my confession,
I confess that after the way that these religious leaders,
the high priests, the elders, and all the rest of them, what
they call heresy, what they call heresy. After that way, so worship
I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the Law and the Prophets. And I have hope toward God, which
they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." Paul is saying
this. And this is what I say when the accusations are brought
against us. against this pulpit, against
you, against our missionaries, against our fellow pastors, that
after the way these fellows call heresy, the way they say is error
and blasphemy, the way of grace and mercy, sovereign, free, mercy
and grace in Christ Jesus, the way they oppose, the way they
try to destroy, the way they despise, is exactly what I believe. Exactly what I believe. And the
way that I worship the living God. And I believe all things
which are written in the Scriptures, the Law and the Prophets concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm going to give you some
of those things that they say are heresy. First of all, We
believe that our Lord Jesus Christ created the world. I believe
it exactly as it's recorded in the first few chapters of Genesis,
don't you? I read a statement in the Ashland
Daily Independent several years ago. I had it written in my files.
Listen to it. This is what I read on the editorial
page. Ashland Daily Independent. I wish I had the dates. I don't.
No longer does anyone of any education or any understanding
believe in the creation of the world and the creation of man
as related in the book of Genesis. I do. Don't you? What they call heresy, nobody,
they said, nobody, there's nobody left. of any education or any
understanding. I know we don't claim to have
a lot of education, but we do have some understanding. But
I believe exactly what God has written in His Word. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. I believe that. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. And all things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made that was made." I believe
it. Oh yes, many believe it. In fact, though the world and
the religious world now calls it heresy, I say that all who
know God believe what God says about the creation. All who know
God. A man cannot believe evolution
and believe the Word of God. It cannot be. And I'll give you
some reasons. First of all, evolution says
that the world just came to be. The Scripture says God made it. Evolution says that man was created
low and is climbing higher. God said he was created high.
And he fell low. That's the opposite. Evolution
says that man is climbing on his own, leave him alone, he'll
make it. God said man fell, leave him
alone, he'll stay where he is. God has to send a Savior to wash
him, cleanse him, save him, and lift him. That's the opposite.
So whether it be a preacher, an educator, or whomever, young
people, You cannot believe God and believe evolution. Impossible. I believe God. Secondly, I believe
the Scripture account of the fall, don't you? Let's see, the
book of Genesis. Take the book of Genesis. What
does the word Genesis mean? The beginning. That's what Genesis
means, I believe, the beginning. And it says here in Genesis 1,
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's
where it starts. That's where it starts. The book of Genesis,
the beginning. God created the heavens and the
earth. And what did He say? Good. Good. Do you know the last words in
the book of Genesis? Turn over there and let's see.
Genesis 50. Genesis 50, the very last verse. This book, which
begins with God, ends in a coffin in Egypt. This book, which begins with
life, ends with what? Death. A coffin in Egypt. That's bad. Somewhere between
in the beginning God created and that coffin in Egypt, something
drastic, something awful happens. to send this wonderful, beautiful
creature of creation to a coffin in Egypt, to a rotten, decaying
mass of death in Egypt. What happened? Tell me what happened.
I know what happened. That man fell. That's what happened. That man fell. That's the only
thing you can come up with. Adam failed." That's what I'm
saying. They call it heresy. They call it original sin, imputed
sin, total depravity, or like the boy said, Sandy, terminal
depravity. Call it what you want to, but
it's a fall. And that's why we're in the shape
we're in. That's why one of these days, My mind's gonna keep getting
worse. My eyesight keep getting worse.
My hearing keep getting worse. My body keep stooping lower and
getting frail till it's broken and it winds up somewhere in
the dust. Somebody else waiting on me. The fall. The fall. I believe it. By one man, sin entered this
world and death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
spiritual death and physical death, for all sin. By one man's sin, many were made
sinners. You just remember that sometimes.
That which started so beautifully, ends so ugly. That which started
with life, ended in a coffin in Egypt, because this man failed. But thank God for the man who
restored us. We'll get on that in a minute.
They say it's heresy. All right. But what they call
heresy is the way I worship God. Thirdly, I believe that our sovereign
Lord, who is sovereign in creation, who is sovereign in providence,
that's what Bob prayed a while ago. That's what he prays, what
I believe. Everything that takes place in
our lives is ordered by our God. I purposed it, I'll bring it
to pass. I've spoken it, I'll do it. Our sovereign God, whose
sovereign in creation and providence, is also sovereign in salvation.
And He willingly, on purpose, lovingly, chose a people before
the foundation of the world, and gave them to Christ, put
them in Christ, loved them in Christ, accepted them in Christ,
and made Christ their servant. to bring them home. And Christ
said, all that He gives me, I'll lose nothing. I'll raise it up
at the last day. You know that. What's the first
time the word grace is used in the Bible? Well, let's look and
see. You know, I tell you this over and over, the law of first
mention. When you find a word in the Bible, the way it's first
mentioned, the old timers used to say, the way it's first mentioned,
It gives it its meaning all the way through the Word. And here
in Genesis 6, verse 7, And the Lord said, I will destroy man
whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and
beast, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the air. It
repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. I talked this morning about old
Mephibosheth as he looked at those relatives of his from the
same family hanging on a tree, seven of them, and him standing
here free. And he knows there's one reason
why he's here and he's not there. Why he's blessed and not damned.
Why he's preserved and not destroyed. The grace of David given him
in a covenant because he loved his daddy. And there's one reason
why I stand where I stand and believe what I believe and have
what I have. You too. It's the grace of God
in Christ Jesus given me before I was born. That covenant that
preserved Mephibosheth was made with his father before he was
born. Yea, before he fell. That's heresy, okay. But like
Paul said, I point and I say, I'm not a disturber, I'm not
a debater, I'm not going to argue with them, because it wouldn't
do any good anyway. But what they call heresy is
the way I worship God. You do too. Fourthly, I believe
that the Scriptures teach that the obedience and sacrifice of
our Lord Jesus Christ was on behalf of all His people. I'm
not ashamed or embarrassed to declare, I believe that His atoning
work was both, watch these two words now, His atoning work,
His sacrifice on Calvary, His precious blood, was sufficient
and effectual. And in plain English, these are
the words. Charles Spurgeon said there are
two words that if you learn them, you learn the gospel. Substitution
and satisfaction. Sufficient, effectual. He stood
in my place and he paid the debt. That's the gospel. Now watch
it. Listen to me. I know that the
Lord Jesus bought the right to do with this universe and every
creature what He will. Now you settle that. He bought
the right. He's Lord. He died that He might
be Lord of the dead and the living. Isn't that right? He bought the
right. The crown rights are His by purchase. He bought the world. In a sense, He bought the world.
He bought the right. to dispose of every creature
and this world as it pleaseth him. He said, All authority is
given unto me in heaven and earth. The Father judgeth no man. He's
committed all judgment to the Son. He said, Thou hast given
me authority over all flesh, that I should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me. Write that down. He's the
Lord and the King. Everything belongs to Him by
decree, by design, by death. Secondly, I know that whether
he saves one sinner or one billion sinners, he's got to do the same
work. It doesn't matter. If you're the only sinner God
saves in this whole universe, Christ is going to have to still
come down here, be born of a woman, under the law, obey the law,
walk the same path, climb the same mountain, die the same death,
go to the same grave, rise in the same justification. ascend
to the same place and intercede for you. It won't change. It's not how much blood He shed,
it's whose blood. It's not how long He suffered
or the causes of whose suffering. Who He is makes effectual what
He did. And I know that. If He saves
one sinner or one billion sinners, the Lord has to die one death.
By one or three, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,
whoever they are. And I know this, I know there's
a sense in which everybody, just and unjust, benefit from the
death of Christ. When our Lord was in that boat,
those disciples, and the Lord was crossing the sea, and the
wind arose, and the waves arose, and that little boat was going
like this, and the disciples were scared. That little boat
was going like this, but every other little boat was going like
that too. You think that's the only boat on that sea? Every
other boat was going like this. And they went back and told the
Lord, said, don't you care if we die? He said, oh, you have
little faith. Where did you die? And he stood
there and he said, peace be still. And those waves and that ocean
settled down like a shepherd dog at the feet of its master.
Calm. And those disciples fell down
and worshipped Him. What manner of man is this, that
even the wind and the waves obey Him? What were those fellows
in the other boats doing? Calm down for them too. And one
of them said, I'm dee glad that that storm's over. He didn't
worship God. He didn't thank God. He blankety
blank, blank, blank, I'm glad that's over. See what I'm talking
about? And when He died on that cross
and brought mercy to this world and grace, even the unjust profited
by it. I want to tell you this, you
profit by the gospel that's preached from this pulpit. This whole
town profits by the gospel preached from this pulpit. God will bless
a town for the sake of His people. That's right. He'll keep these
mills prosperous so you can earn a living so you can help the
missionaries. I believe that. I don't have a doubt in my mind
about that. It's no accident you men got
jobs and you ladies. God gave them to you. That's
the reason I prayed a while ago, keep the channel open. Keep it
flowing. The dead sea is dead wide. It's
got no outlet. That's right. Think about that.
Now, the dead sea is dead wide. It's stagnant. The water comes
in. It don't go nowhere. It's got
no current. It's stagnant. And you want to
watch that now. The blessing come this way, they
need to go that way. That's right. Oh, yeah. But the Lord Jesus, when He died
on that cross, He redeemed His people. He was wounded for our
transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. They say heresy. It's alright. It's alright. But that's the
way I worship God. And I'm saying this, you listen
to me. Christ is not a way, He's the way. And these are not deeper truths. This is the truth. I hear people
say, well, I saved and I learned the truth later. No, this is
not a system of theology. This is the gospel. This is substitution. This is effectual redemption.
It's not a deeper truth. It's just the truth. The grace of God is not something
we learn after we're saved. It's the word of truth we learn
when God saves us. That's right. Isn't that right,
Ken? I believe that. The gospel of
the grace of God is not an addition to the gospel. It is the gospel. It is the gospel. This is the
way we worship God. We're not preaching the sovereignty
of God. We're preaching the God who's sovereign. I'm not preaching the redemption
of Christ. I am, but I'm not. I'm preaching
the Christ who redeems. That's the key. A man can know how God saves
sinners and not be saved himself. That's right. A man can preach the five points
of Calvinism and know Him in his head and not know Him in
his heart. Because it's not a doctrine we preach, it's a person. It's
not the new birth we're preaching, it's the Lord who gives life
to sinners. That's what we're preaching,
life! Christ is our life. You don't arrive at Christ through
doctrine, you arrive at doctrine through Christ. You find out
who He is and all these things flow in. Isn't that right, John?
They all flow in line when you find out who He is. We're not preaching the perseverance
of the saints as if it's something they did. We're preaching the
Lord God who has the power to keep us. We're kept by the power
of God through faith. He that hath begun a good work
in you, he's going to finish it because he's got the power
to finish it. And so this Paul stood there
and told them, I confess, That after the way these fellas call
heresy, and what this world calls heresy, that's the way I worship
God. That's the way I worship God.
And that's the hope that I have. I'll tell you this, we believe
the Spirit of God calls men, awakens men, quickens men, and
brings men to Christ. Effectually, our Lord said, my
sheep, they'll hear my voice. They'll hear it. And they'll
follow me. And I'll give them eternal life.
And they'll never perish. Never perish. Heresy? Well, to some it is. But to you,
it's the beloved, precious promises of our God in which we delight,
in which we find peace and joy and rest. I have a good hope
Because He chose me. Because He called me. Because
He taught me. Because He loves me. And because
He'll never let me go. All right, might come lead us
in a hymn, if you will, please.