this morning, to Acts chapter
28. I know you're encouraged by those
words, and I am. I'm just, I'm encouraged. I believe Gary Shepherd said
when he read that letter yesterday, Gary or Kent Clark, one of the
fellas, said when he read that letter, I thank God he let me
live long enough to find out who he is and what he did for
me. And Gary, I believe, said, well,
that'll encourage you. to go on, and it does, doesn't
it? It encourages you to go on. Somebody somewhere hears, I believe,
I do believe, and I speak in honesty, I believe I can say
with the Apostle Paul, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
my friends and people whom I know and whom I don't know, that they
might be saved. I believe I can say that. I let,
you know, the scripture said, God's in the heavens and you're
upon the earth. Let your words be few and let
them be carefully chosen. Don't make any idle vows or boast
before God. But I believe God is my witness.
I want to see people come to know Christ. I'm not interested
in building a great following. Men who follow me and fall. Men
who follow God persevere. I'm not interested in building
a large church even in this town. I believe I can sincerely say
that my main and primary interest is that people to whom we preach
might come to know Christ, to love him, to believe him, to
walk with him, whether they walk with him in Connecticut or Florida,
whether they walk with him in Australia or Ireland, just so
they know him. I wish that I could say with
Paul, I've never been able to say this, I've never been able
to intercede like Paul did. I never have. I wish I could.
You know what he said? He said, I have such heaviness
of heart for my friends that I could wish myself a curse from
Christ for their sake. I can't do that. No way. I've
never been able to. That's intercession. If we ever
learn to pray like that, something might happen, mightn't it? I
never learned to do that. Nor like Moses. You know what
Moses said to God? He said, if you're going to deal
in wrath with Israel, if you're going to cut them off, blot them
out, then blot me out of your book. God said, I'll blot out of my
book whom I will. But the Lord heard that intercession. But I do want people to be saved.
Now listen, I don't labor under the impression, please understand,
I don't labor under the impression or the foolish notion that everybody's
going to be saved. Everybody's going to come to
know God. Everybody's going to finally be converted. I'm not
foolish enough to even think that for the moment. It says
here in our text in Acts 28, 24, look at it, some believe
the things which were spoken and some believe not. Now that's
true in Paul's day, and that's true in our day. Some believe
the things which are spoken, and some believe not. That's
the final word. That's what it comes down to.
You see, everyone has to believe himself. I can't believe for
you. I remember one time speaking to my brother on the telephone.
I forget where he was, in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, or where
he was, but he was an Army career officer. and was in the Army
some 30 years before he died of a heart attack when he was
serving with NATO over in Germany as a colonel. But he said to
me on the phone one time, we was talking, and he said, how
are things going? And I said, fine. He said, well,
he said, I hope you've got enough faith for both of us. But I don't. I don't have enough
faith for me. Christ is my all. I'm not depending
on my faith. I'm looking to Christ. And I
can only look for myself. And you can only look for yourself.
That's just so. I know that. And I know some
will look and some won't. I know some will believe and
some won't. But I know our Lord sent his disciples out to preach.
And he said, you go into all the world, all the world, wherever
you go, you preach the gospel. And you have my authority behind
you because I have all authority in heaven and earth. And you
go preach the gospel. And he that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." Some are
going to believe and some are not going to believe. I know
that. But I do know this, that God
hath chosen by the foolishness of preaching. I know if men believe,
if they do believe, they'll believe what's preached. You see what
I'm saying? They'll believe what's preached.
And whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, and that name
of the Lord indicates his attributes. The name of the Lord is his character. When you call a person's name,
you are indicating who that person is, what he does, his appearance,
his attributes, his character. When you call a person's name,
you are identifying that person. So whosoever shall call upon
the one who is identified as the Lord Lord by decree, Lord
by design, Lord by death, Lord by God Almighty's purpose, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord, the right one, that's not
just any Jesus, no ten-cent store Jesus, that's the name of the
Lord, he'll be saved. But now how are they going to
call on him of whom they haven't heard? That's what I'm saying.
You can't call on someone you don't know. You can't call on
an unrevealed Christ. How shall they call on him of
whom they haven't heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? See what I'm saying? So God is
chosen by the foolishness of preaching. And a lot of times
we think it's foolishness. People come and say it. And a
fellow gets up in a pulpit. And they all sit there and listen
to it. Some nod, and some listen, some amen, and some uh-uh. And
they say, that's foolishness. Well, some preaching is foolishness. God didn't ordain by the preaching
of foolishness, but by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And here Paul, the apostle, was preaching. He was preaching. He was a prisoner. He was a prisoner,
he was in his own dwelling, and a soldier stayed right by him
all the time, and he evidently had chains on him, bonds. But
he sent for these religious fellas. And he probably knew some of
them, because, you see, Paul was one of them. Paul wasn't
a young man when God saved him. He was over 40 years old. Paul
was a man, let me tell you something about his background. He was
born in a religious home. His mother and father were both
Hebrews. Very religious home. He was born of the tribe of Benjamin. That's the beloved tribe, the
tribe of Benjamin, son of my love. And he was educated in
the highest and most influential schools of his day, the school
of Gamaliel. There were two schools then.
And Gamaliel had the most prestigious school, and that's where Paul
was educated. In fact, one ruler said to him, you've studied so
much, you've lost your mind. That's what he said. They knew
him. Paul's name was a household word when he was Saul of Tarsus.
It was a household word among Christians, too. They were afraid
of him. You remember Ananias, when God told him to go preach
to Paul, he said, I've heard of him. I've heard of him. I've heard how he persecuted
the church. Isn't that right, John? I've heard of him. a name
well known, both in the pharisaical circles, the religious circles,
and among the church people. That's prayed of. And when he
was 40 years old, he met Christ. And that's the man we're talking
about here. And he suffered for Christ. His whole ministry spanned
only about less than 15 years, his missionary ministry. Did
you know that? He preached about 15 years. And he was in prison
here at Rome, and he sent for these religious buddies, these
fellas that knew him, these fellas that knew his name, knew his
background, and out of respect they came. And he said, I want
to talk to you. He said, I've been accused of
things of which I'm not guilty. He said, I'm not a traitor. He
said, I'm not guilty of treason. I'm not guilty of stirring up
the nation. I've got nothing against my people. He said, I'm
preaching Christ. I want you fellows to hear me.
Now let's see what he said. Now remember this. Please remember
this. His audience, the people in this,
when he brought this message, he wasn't talking to a bunch
of illiterate heathens. He wasn't talking to a bunch
of pagans. The Apostle Paul was speaking here to men who believed
in God. They believed in God. And he
was talking to men who believed the Bible was the Word of God.
The Old Testament. Every one of them. You wouldn't
find a man in that group that didn't believe the Bible was
the Word of God. And then he was talking to people who believed
in the moral law. Right along with these television
fellows, they would have fought abortion. Yes, they would have. They would have fought this,
that, and the other. They'd have been right in with the moral
majority. Every one of them. They were religious. They weren't
a bunch of heathens. And these were men who were zealous
for the holy days and the Sabbath days, they kept the Sabbath day.
And they were pretty rough on folks that didn't. And they,
listen to me, these men to whom he was preaching here, even,
were looking for a Messiah. They were looking for a deliverer. Because Christ asked him one
time, the Lord asked him one time, he said, what think ye
of Christ, whose son is he? And they said, he's the son of
David. They were looking for a Messiah. And yet Paul knew,
he knew these men who gathered together with him that day and
for whom he had sent, he knew that these men, in spite of their
religion, in spite of their belief in God, in spite of their orthodoxy,
in spite of their morality, did not know God. I know that's a
serious charge. And I'll tell you, when we stand
up in front of people and claim that people don't know God, do
not know God, they do not know God, that's a serious charge.
It's a serious charge, especially when we're talking about men
who are equally zealous or more zealous than we are, to say they
don't know God. Well, I'm just good as you are.
That's right, you are. Wouldn't question that a moment. I'm just smart as you are. Smarter. Wouldn't question that a moment.
But I believe in God just as much as you do. Well, there's
a good possibility you do believe there's a God just as much as
I do. And these men were standing before Paul or sitting there
when he spoke. He knew they didn't know God.
And you know how he knew it? Because he had sat where they
sat. That's exactly right. He'd been engaged in the same
dead, dry letter, lifeless religion. He'd been engaged in it just
like they were. Just like they were. He said,
those things that were gained to me, that were important to
me, upon which I put so much emphasis and trust, I count them
but loss. Yea, even dawn. He sat where
they sat. And then Paul knew this. Paul
knew they didn't know God because the only way a man can know God
is to know Christ. Right? I emphasize that with
all that's within me. It's impossible to know the living
God apart from Jesus Christ. Now, the Bible says that. The
Word of God says this, no man knoweth the Father save the Son. and he to whom the Son will reveal
him." Is that not what it says? The disciples one day asked the
Lord Jesus, they said, show us the Father, show us God, let
us see God, reveal God to us. David said, the heavens declare
the glory of God, the firmament showeth his handiwork. He said,
there is no tongue or nation in which the sounds of God are
not heard, the voice of God is not heard, and the power of God
is not seen. And they said to the Lord Jesus
Christ, show us God. And he said, he that hath seen
me hath seen the Father. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. My friends, there is none other
name unto heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
Paul knew that. Whatever else I know, whatever
else I declare, this fact is as certain as the sun is in heaven
today. God has given us eternal life,
and this life is not in a church, it's not in a moral code, it's
not in a religious ordinance, it's not in a religious ceremony,
it's not in a religious law, this life is in his Son. And he that hath the Son of God
hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God, whatever else he has, knows, or does, does not have
life. Is that right? Well, that's what
the Word says. He is made unto us of God, wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. I want you to look in the text
at four or five things that Paul said when he preached to these
people. Now, suppose you were assigned
To preach to your old religious friends, what would you say? Well, Paul said four things.
There are four things about this message that I see in verse 23.
And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him
into his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified, point
number one, the kingdom of God. My friends, God has a kingdom. Do you believe that God has a
kingdom? You can call it the kingdom of
heaven or the kingdom of God or whatever you will, but I tell
you this, this kingdom of God is not of this world. It is a
spiritual kingdom. And I tell you, we're just engaged,
all of us, all of us are guilty. We're engaged in making our lives
more comfortable. The scientists and the doctors
are putting hearts in people and transplanting organs and
we're taking vitamins and we're doing all these things. You know
what we're doing? We're trying to deny death. We're trying to
deny that supporting those men wants to die. Now that's a fact.
We're trying to get around death some way. We're trying to establish
some kind of kingdom here on earth. We're trying to make this
our eternal dwelling place. We're giving ourselves to getting
more land, and bigger houses, and finer cars, and nicer clothes,
and better food, and longer years on this earth, and more security,
and all these things. Christ said, My kingdom is not
of this world. Turn to John 18. Let me show
you something. John the 18th chapter. John 18,
verse 36. Listen to the Master. John 18,
verse 36. Jesus answered, My kingdom is
not of this world. It's not of this world. If my
kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight. My servants
would fight. His is a spiritual kingdom. I
tell you, we're not going to long remain here. I love, this
flag represents something that I have great respect for in this
nation. I keep it up here. I'm thankful
God's given us what we call a free nation. But this, the United
States is not synonymous with the kingdom of God. It's not. This is not the kingdom of God.
This is still spiritually a heathen nation. That's right. It's a heathen nation. Contrary
to what a lot of preachers are saying, this nation wasn't born
in a prayer meeting. This nation was born in a meeting
of economics of men who wanted some freedom of economics and
this sort of thing. That's right. This is not a Christian
nation. Christ's kingdom is not the United
States. It's not even a democracy. It's
a spiritual kingdom. And preachers that give their
time to flag-waving and patriotism and all these other things are
just Satan's pawns. Now, don't get mad at me, but
they're just Satan's pawns to divert your attention from the
true issue, and that's Christ and salvation from sin, not the
establishing of little Americas all over this world. That's what
some missionaries have made the fatal mistake of going to a heathen
nation trying to make Americans out of. Unfortunately. What they need
to know is no Christ. No need to change their culture,
their way of government or something like that. That's not going to
help them. They can, well, that's enough of that. But Christ's
kingdom is not of this world. He said in John chapter 3, listen,
except the man be born again, he can't enter the kingdom of
God. Except he's born again of the Spirit of God. So his kingdom
is a spiritual kingdom. My kingdom is not of this world.
If it were, my service, my true service, would organize. And
they would organize organizations and movements, and they'd fight. His kingdom is not only the spiritual
kingdom, it's the kingdom of his dear son. Peter called it
the kingdom of God's dear Son. It's the kingdom of Christ. It's
the kingdom over which Christ is the supreme and absolute head. He's the absolute monarch. This kingdom is the kingdom of
His dear Son. It's a spiritual kingdom. It's
a kingdom that lives in the hearts of men. And it's a kingdom of
righteousness and a kingdom of peace. That's what it is, a kingdom
of righteousness. Not our righteousness, but His
righteousness and His peace. And that's what Paul talked about,
the kingdom of God. I tell you this, I'm an American
and I'm thankful. And I believe that God has brought
me to see that the baddest of history have held pretty close
to what this word teaches. I know that some others have
too. But I'm thankful that he's given me some background understanding
into the verbally inspired word, the incarnation of Christ, the
crucifixion. I know clearly the truth. I'm
thankful. But I'll tell you this, the kingdom
of God is a spiritual kingdom. It's in the heart. You got that?
Notice the next thing Paul said. He testified of the kingdom of
God and he persuaded them. Now listen to me, he persuaded
them. It wasn't just cold, dry doctrine. Somebody said, you
preachers become emotional. How can you persuade anybody
without emotion? The house is burning down, the
fellow says as he stands outside, Mr. Smith, there's a matter of
grave importance. of which you ought to be informed,
and that matter of grave importance of which you ought to be informed,
I take it upon myself to relate to you. It seems to me, and to
many who are of the same opinion, that your house is on fire."
You know, that's without emotion. That's not persuasive. Paul said,
I persuade men. I beseech you by the mercies
of God. I beseech you. I don't want to
bug you. I don't want to irritate you. I don't want to agitate
you so you'll avoid me. But I do want to persuade you."
And he persuaded men. Well, he persuaded men about
what? He persuaded men concerning Jesus. Concerning Jesus. Now, turn to Romans chapter 1.
One page. What do you suppose Paul persuaded
them concerning Jesus? What did he have to say concerning
Jesus? Well, here's what he said to
the Roman church. Paul, chapter 1, Romans 1, verse
1. Paul. Just Paul. That's all.
I'm not a father or a bishop or an archbishop or a cardinal
or anything else. I'm just Paul. And I'm a servant. I'm a bond slave of Jesus Christ. And I'm called of God to be an
apostle. And I'm separated, obsessed with
the gospel of God. Now verse 2 is in parenthesis. It's a parenthetical statement
that can be lifted out without doing any damage to the sentence
whatsoever. He's identifying that gospel
of God to which he's separated. He said it's the gospel he promised
before by his prophets in the Old Testament. See that? So just
lift it out. Just lift it out. And listen
to what he said, I'm separated to the gospel of God concerning
his son, Jesus Christ. That's what the gospel is concerning.
It's concerning his son. Who is he? Who is he? Listen.
He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. That's
what we just talked about the last few days. In Bethlehem,
in a cow trough, 2,000 years ago, a child was born. Paul and Edward had it out here
on the bulletin board for a while. A child is born, and that child
was of the seed of David. He was the house and lineage
of David. The Messiah was to be the son of David. The son
of David, the son of Abraham, the son of the virgin. That's
what Scripture said. And Paul reasoned and persuaded
them concerning Jesus. He's the son of David, but watch,
he says something else. And he was declared. He wasn't
made to be. He was declared to be the Son
of God. So that's what he said concerning
Jesus. He said, this Jesus whom you
crucified, God hath made him both Lord and Christ. He's God,
but he's the God-man. I can't understand that. I can't
explain it. You say, God can't become a man. God, he can become
a man if he can create a world. If he can create a world, he
created a world out of nothing. He made all things, he sustains
all things. He has an eternal heaven. I can't
explain how God can become a man, but I know that God can do all
things. Nothing is too hard for God. And the Son of God and the
Son of Man met in one person, Jesus of Nazareth. who he is,
and I believe Paul persuaded them concerning not only who
he is, but what he did. I believe he took them back to
the Old Testament and showed them all their pictures and patterns
and types and promises and all these things, and showed how
that Christ was the fulfillment, how that that rock was Christ,
and that brazen serpent was Christ, and that atonement was Christ.
And then he told them why he did it. That we might have a
perfect righteousness, that God Almighty might be just and justifier,
and he told them where he is now. He's ascended to the right
hand of the majesty on high and is sat down as our mediator. Paul told them that concerning
Christ. And that Jesus Christ is coming again. Paul persuaded
them concerning Christ. And then notice our text again,
back one page. to verse 23 of Acts 28. Listen to it. And now where did
he get his material? Well, he testified the kingdom
of God. He persuaded them concerning
Jesus out of the law of Moses and the prophets. He went back
to the Old Testament. The law of Moses is not meaning
the Ten Commandments that God gave through Moses. The law of
Moses is talking about, listen to me, the first five books of
the Bible. Moses wrote the first five books
of the Bible. And the old religious Pharisees
said to Christ, we have Moses. We don't need you, we have Moses.
And they meant by that the law of Moses, the word of Moses.
And Christ said, if you had believed Moses, you would have believed
me. Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote of me. To him give
all the prophets witness. To him give all the prophets
witness. He said in Luke 24, the things that are written in
Moses, in the Psalms, in the Prophets, all concerning me,
all concerning me, the Law and the Prophets, all concerning
me. Who was it sat down and talked
to Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration? Was that Moses and Elijah? And
the disciples looked and they said, Moses and Elijah speaking
to Christ. Moses is the Law, Elijah the
Prophets, the Law and the Prophets. And what were they talking about?
His death that he would accomplish at Jerusalem. And then I'll tell
you this in Luke 16, read it for yourself. Our Lord told about
a man who was in hell. And he said to Abraham, I don't
understand this, but he said to Abraham, I've got five brothers
on the earth. I wish you'd send Lazarus back
to the earth to warn my brothers. And you know what Abraham said?
Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets. That's exactly
what our text says here. Look at Acts, look at that verse
again in Acts 28-23. It says he spake concerning Jesus
out of Moses and the prophets. Out of Moses, the first five
books, the writings of David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Olive, Zechariah,
Zephaniah, But the rich man said, but Father Abraham, if one rose
from the dead and came back to earth, they'd believe. They'd
believe. If old Lazarus walked in the
room, they'd believe. They'd believe. If Lazarus walked
in the room, somebody said, well, there's Lazarus. He's been dead
25 years. What's he doing here? It's a
miracle. It's a miracle. And you know what they talked
about? They wouldn't have talked about Christ, they'd have talked about
the miracle. They'd have talked about Lazarus. And Abraham replied,
now listen, this is God's Word. Abraham replied, son, if they
believe not Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, though
one rose from the dead. You never persuaded anybody to
believe Christ by working a miracle. Men are persuaded to believe
Christ by the Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And that's what Paul did. Paul
didn't get that bunch of religious Jews around and start healing
people. He didn't get that bunch of religious
Jews around and start working miracles, John. They all sat
down, and Paul talked to them about the Kingdom of God. And
he talked to them about Christ, and he talked to them about the
Word of God. That would be the foundation of any man's ministry.
Now, how long did he talk? I want somebody to look at this. Everybody accuses me of preaching
too long, and I do. I sweat over it. He preached
from morning to evening. From morning to evening. That's
right, he did. They sat there all day long. Wouldn't it be wonderful to find
somebody interested enough in the gospel to sit all day long?
I'll bet you there, if you was going to die at midnight tonight,
we'd stay here all day. I'll bet you a dollar and a half,
as Ralph said, and a cow and a calf, that if you was going
to die at midnight, we'd spend this whole day trying to find
out who God is and how men are saved. But I'll tell you what
I'm doing with this point here, is that Paul, from morning till
I say that that's a minister's whole life, from the time he
starts preaching to the time he quits, preaches Christ from
morning till evening. I'm almost to the evening, been
30 some odd years. And I tell you this, I'm encouraged
to believe I'm preaching the same message I started preaching
34 years ago. And that's Christ, the Kingdom
of God and Christ. But here's the final word, verse
24. And here he was, and this wraps it up, he preached about
the kingdom of God concerning Christ, persuading them out of
the scriptures, out of the word of God. Here it is right there.
When he got through in the evening, some unbelieved what? The things
that were spoken. The things that they believed
what was spoken. And you just close the book on
it. That's the way it is, that's the way it has been, that's the
way it is, that's the way it's going to be. Some believe, some
don't. I believe. And I say in my prayer
with the centurion, you can't improve on this prayer, Lord,
I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Give me faith. The disciples
said, Lord, increase our faith. I tell you this, if you want
to believe, I know faith is impossible, it's a gift of God. I know it's
not the flower that blooms in the garden of the natural human
heart. I know it's God plants it. Faith is the gift of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. But why
can't we ask for faith? Why can't we pray for faith?
Why can't we seek faith? Why can't we say, God, give me
faith? And increase the faith I have. Give me more faith.