to see you out this morning.
Remember those who requested prayers. She got a word last
night. Gary Shepherd's daughter Stephanie is back in the hospital.
She's had a rough couple of years. She's lost some toes. She's had
Crohn's disease all her life. and they fixed her back with
some screws and bolts and things a while back and her back has
become inflamed around that area and they've been talking about
maybe having to go in there and removing those bolts and things.
Remember her in your prayer. Remember Gary too as he ministers
to her and seeks the Lord's help for her. Next Sunday is the Lord's
table so we'll have morning service at the Lord's table and no afternoon
service after dinner. Other than that, I can't think
of any announcement the following week. That'll be the 30th one. The following week, we'll be going
on that Wednesday morning. I'll make an announcement. But
we'll be leaving that following week on the Wednesday, so we
won't have a Wednesday night service that week. This week's fine.
but uh... and then Sunday brother Sam's
going to preach on the 6th I believe it is the 4th or somewhere on
the 6th on Sunday I'll be preaching up in Missouri okay all right
that's all I can think of for announcements remember those
like I said who requested prayer Cynthia's operation is set for
the 2nd 2nd of October knee replacement so remember her that's not going
to be any fun Loretta's got Harperitis this
morning. So she got her hands full, bless
her heart, chasing that youngin' around. Okay, let's begin our worship
service with hymn number 37, How Great Thou Art. In awesome wonder, consider all
the world thy hands have made. I see the stars. I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout the universe
displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior. How great Thou art. Then sing
my soul, my Savior God, to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. When through the woods and forest
glades I wander and hear the birds from lofty mountain grandeur,
and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art. Then sings my soul, How great thou art, how great
thou art. And when I think that God his
son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art Then sings
my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art, how great
Thou art Christ shall come with shout of acclamation. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art Then sings
my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art, how great
Thou art after scripture reading and prayer
we'll sing hymn number 205. Turn if you will in your Bibles to the
Acts of the Apostles chapter 24. I think I got a text from verse 14 this
morning but I'm going to read the first 14 verses and after five days Ananias the
high priest descended with the elders and with a certain orator
named Tertullius who informed the governor against Paul and
when he called forth Tertullius began to accuse him saying seeing
that by thee we enjoy great quietness and that very worthy deeds are
done unto the 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 thou wouldst
hear us of thy clemency a few words. For we have found this
man, that is Paul the Apostle, we have found this man a pestilent
fellow and a mover of sedition among the Jews throughout the
world and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. who also
hath gone about to profane the temple, and we took, and would
have judged according to our law. But the chief captain, Lysias,
came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of
our hands, commanding his accusers to come unto thee by examining
of whom thyself may take knowledge of all these things whereof we
accuse him. And the Jews also assented, saying
that these things were so. Then Paul, after 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
thee more cheerfully answer for myself, because thou mayest understand
that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem
for to worship. And they neither found me in
the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people,
neither in this synagogue, nor in the city. Neither can they
prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess
unto thee, and after the way which they call heresy, so worship
I the God of my fathers, believing all things that are written in
the law and in the prophets. Let us pray. Our Father, most
gracious Lord, kind and generous, good to all your children. Nothing in this world can keep
you from being good unto them. We glorify you for your goodness,
your kindness, your grace, and your mercy. We thank you for
the proclamation of the glories of your son and his sufficient,
successful accomplishment of the redemption of your people
by his blood sacrifice. We thank you for your word, which
is a true record of the history of your people in this world. We are thankful that we are continually
reminded of our need for the Savior, our need for your grace, We pray for those of our company
who are sick, going through trials, especially Stephanie Shepherd.
She faces these things, and Gary is a minister to her and also
Sheila. We pray also for Frank Tate, diagnosed
with his cancer. We pray you'll be with him. For
the others who requested prayer, Lord, we ask your help for them,
strength for them. I pray for our congregation,
it might be a lighthouse on a hill, it might be a hospital for sinners,
to come and hear how it is that the God of all glory condescended
to take upon himself the form of a man and being found in the
fashion of a man who was obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. Because of that, he's been highly
exalted and given another name. above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess
that he is the Lord through the glory of the Father. For this
end your word declares he died and rose and resurrected that
he might be the Lord of the living and the dead. Help us to bow in humility and thanksgiving
for all that you've done for us. We have no hope in ourselves,
no hope in our friends, no hope in our bank accounts, no hope
in this world. The only hope we have is Jesus
Christ. Help us every day to be mindful of what we are and
what you have made us to be in him. Help us this day to worship
you in spirit and in truth. We pray in Christ's name. M number 205. Free from the law, O happy condition, Jesus
hath bled, and there is remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall, grace hath redeemed us. ? Once for all, oh sinner, receive
it ? ? Once for all, oh brother, believe it ? ? Cling to the cross,
the burden will fall ? ? Christ hath redeemed us once for all
? ? Now are we free, there's nothing to fear ? Come unto me, O His sweet call. Come and He saves us once for
all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. ? Christ hath redeemed us once
for all ? Children of God, O glorious calling ? Surely His grace will
keep us from falling ? Passing from death to life at His call
? Blessed salvation Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Lead to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Can Steve and Malcolm please
sit down for a moment? Let us pray. Father, in the name
of Jesus Christ, we come again into your presence to give thanks
and praise. For we know that what we have,
we have according to your mercies and the riches of your grace
is returning to thee. That which you've given us, let
us do so with joy, thanksgiving, knowing of what a privilege it
is for us to do so. We ask this in Christ's name.
Amen. I invite your attention back to
Acts chapter 24. For many years, I thought heresy
was defined as a cacophony of examples of error that was too
broad to enumerate. But I was wrong. The word means
to choose, or to vote, to prefer, or to assume, or suppose, or
to have an opinion. That's what the word means. The word translated heresies
in the New Testament means debate, division or schism. That word
then presupposes the exercise of an opinion for what else would
cause a schism or a debate. Nothing would. In each of these
defining words there is a principle of holding one thing over against
another thing. Heresy then is not an island.
It cannot stand alone but must be in reference to something
else, and that something else, according to scripture, when
it's used in scripture, is the truth. In normal life, in the natural
realm, the word is rarely used except in jest. Because in natural life, so-called,
or truth, so-called, is subjective, and nothing more than personal
perception or preference is usually called truth. That is why men
can say of other men's words that they are his truth or her
truth or their opinion. Among men, in the scheme of fallen
humanity, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone to actually be
a heretic. In the Bible, however, heresy
is much plainer, much more easily defined. Heresy is decidedly
simple because the Bible defines and declares the truth. In fact,
the Bible is the truth. Our Lord said that the truth
did not come by Moses, but it came by Jesus Christ, and He
said, My word, or Thy word, is truth. Heresy exists only if truth exists. And here is the rub. There is
truth and therefore in light of that fact you may exercise
no opinion. Let me say that again. There is truth. There is truth
and therefore in light of that fact that there is the truth. you have no right to exercise
your opinion concerning the truth. Since there is truth defined
and declared, your opinion and my opinion concerning the Bible,
if we have an opinion, amounts to heresy. Your opinion doesn't
matter. You remember there was a popular
bumper sticker several years ago. You saw it on cars. God
said it. I believe it, and that makes it so. Well, God said it,
and that makes it so, and the fact that you claim your belief
had something to do with it is heretical. It's heresy. To decide that the Bible is truth
is heresy. Think about it. To come to the
conclusion that the Bible is truth is heresy. To vote that the Bible is true,
as some have said, is heresy. To suppose that the Bible is
truth is heresy. And the word suppose means to
come under the influence of a poser. That's where you get the suppose. And a poser is a debater. So
if you've come to the conclusion that the Bible is true because
you've heard both sides of some debate, that's heresy. have an opinion is heresy. Why? Because in all these things
the intellect and the reasoning power of human logic is the standard
that makes the Bible true because you have an opinion that it's
true. In scripture the word translated sect is the same word that was
used to describe the Christians here when we read here in Acts
chapter 24 the word sect It's the same word that is translated
heresy. Sect is a prejudicial word that
means to hold on to something other than the truth. This word
may be used based on fact or perception. The Pharisees and
the Sadducees were called a sect because they would not receive
the Lord Jesus Christ who is the truth. They were called a
sect, the sect of the Pharisees. They're called that in scripture,
which means the heresy of the Pharisees. They had an opinion
about Christ. Pharisees and the Sadducees called
Christians a sect because Christians did not adhere to what they perceived
to be the truth, which was the law. Heresy is very broad in scope
but very narrow in definition. Several years ago there was a
movie was told a sappy love story of an angel who fell in love
with a mortal and desired to become mortal and leave his estate
of angelhood in order to be with this woman, Miss Meg Ryan. The process that culminated in
the angel becoming mortal was called a fall. The angel must become a fallen
angel to be mortal which would result in getting some sugar
from Meg Ryan. And when the angel in question
was discussing this process with an angel who had already fallen
and wondering how this fall could take place, the fallen angel
said everyone had a free will. And that in order to fall, all
he had to do was choose to fall. I reckon that the writer of the
script felt that this story should pose a moral delimit. So he had
the fall to result in bruises and cuts in order to have a date
with Meg Ryan. And once kissed, and having experienced
true love with a fallen angel, the young blonde walked out in
the road and got ran over by a logging truck. I guess free will has its drawbacks. There was another movie a while
back about a man who gets to be God for a day who was told
by God that as God, the fellow who was deity for a day, could
do whatever he wanted to except for one thing. He could not mess
with or overcome or override man's free will. This is in the
script. The fact is that free will is
heresy. It is heresy because there is
truth. It says, it is not him that willeth
nor him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. The primary
definition of the word heretic in the original language is one
who's fitted or able to choose. So you think about the thrust
of what is called religion today and what they preach and teach
that salvation is by decision or choice or whatever. It's all heresy. Every last bit of it is heresy
because they tell people that they are fitted and able to choose
Salvation. And that, my friends, is heresy. Who knew? Who knew? If a heretic is one who's able
to choose in the presence of truth, then that person who is
not a heretic is one who's unable to choose in the presence of
truth. Who is unable to choose to have an opinion in the presence
of truth? Only one kind of folk, a believer. in truth, believes,
believes. A believer is one who is unable
to render an opinion concerning the truth. He bows to it, believes
it, doesn't question it. Belief, we know, is the act of
faith, and faith is the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. It's given by the grace of God.
concerning truth and opinion is heresy. Heresy, no matter
what malignant form or shape it takes, is unbelief. One does
not need to join a cult or openly disavow the truth or openly express
hatred for the truth to be a heretic. All he has to do is be able to
choose. All he has to do in light of
truth is to be able to opine, to have an opinion. That makes
him a heretic. I've been called even by those
who love me narrow and hard. Mama used to tell me that, bless
her soul, she's going on to glory, she knows now. I'm not narrow,
hardly the one. My answer was always the same
to such an accusation, and I have yet to be as narrow as the truth. The more I look into this book,
the more I realize that narrow is not even a word to describe
truth. It is singular. It is absolute. Concerning truth, narrow is too
wide a description. So singular is the truth it can
only be believed. It cannot be adjusted. It cannot be messed with. It cannot be opined upon. can only be believed, vowed to,
cannot be debated or subject to opinion or choice. The believer
says concerning the truth, I have no opinion. I have no opinion. I believe that. I believe that. In our text,
Paul is responding to the accusation of heresy. Pharisees and other religionists
have accused Paul of sedition, of being a ringleader of the
sect, which is the word heresy, of the Nazarenes, which was a
common slam, which meant follower of Christ. He was accused of
dissension and division, of profaning the temple and leading men astray
from teaching the law. What had Paul done? He had preached
the gospel. I looked up the time Paul was
in prison in Acts 24. Somewhere around between 55 and
67 A.D. That means at least I know one
book had been written. One epistle had been written,
I know that for sure. And that was an epistle of first
corrections. That was the first epistle that Paul wrote. Wrote
that in about 52 A.D. And so I know what Paul was preaching
when he was accused of all these heresies. Because he said in
1 Corinthians chapter 2, I determined to know nothing among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This was his message throughout.
He said in verse chapter 15, I preached unto you the gospel
by which you were saved, how that Christ died. according to
scriptures and was buried according to scriptures and rose again
the third day according to scriptures. That's the gospel. That's what
Paul preached. Now, he's being accused of all
sorts of things, but what he really did was preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that gospel, which set all
of humanity's possibility of salvation and the absolute salvation
of the elect in Jesus Christ alone. This is nowhere else.
Wait a minute, we have the temple, we have the law, we have the
covenants, we have the priesthood, we have all of this stuff. It's
nothing. This is it. This is all of it. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is my only hope in this
world. And that's what Paul preached. He preached the gospel. He preached
Christ being crucified for the fulfillment of the law, the setting
aside of the first covenant, and that no human being could
keep the law for righteousness before God. He preached that
righteousness was imputed or charged to a person based on
the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that meritorious
sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that men and women
were found in God's favor by no other means. By no other means. one who rested in his own merit
and if you're doing that today, you're a heretic. A believer
rests in the merits of Jesus Christ and nothing else. Look at Paul's response. He says
in verse 14, But this I confess to you, they said, you're a heretic
He said, This I confess unto you, that after the way which
they call heresy, so worship I God, the God of my fathers,
believing all things that are written in the law and the prophets,
and to have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow,
that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, and of the just
and the unjust. And herein do I exercise myself to have always
a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men, after
what you call heresy. That's how I worship. Paul here is using a literary
tool, a literary tool called irony. Irony is defined as the use of
words to express something different from and often opposite of their
literal meaning. An expression or an utterance
marked by deliberate contrast between apparent and intended
meaning a literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or
rhetorical effect. Paul is taking the word that
they use to accuse him and making a deliberate contrast to the
meaning and doing so with humor. Paul is saying to the Pharisees
that their view of heresy is how he worships. You say, I'm a heretic. Well,
that's the way you call heresy. That's how I worship God. That's
how I worship God. Note that he does not say that
what they call heresy is what he calls worship. He's not rendering an opinion
to their view of heresy, but rather merely stating that what
they call heresy, what they have rendered an opinion on is actually
truth. They, therefore, are the heretics,
and not he. Well, that which Paul states
is the opposite of heresy. He states not that he can prove
his position or debate by use of his ample skills as a lawyer,
or that he can defend his position. The way, Christ, which they called
heresy, is the way, Christ, which how I worship God. They called
the way, and that's how they referred to the Christians. They
called, I'm gonna do something about that way. do something
about that way, they talk about. That way is Jesus Christ. He says, I believe all things
that are written in the Law and the Prophets. Now they may have had that Book
of First Corinthians, but the only Bible these Pharisees knew
about and accepted as Bible was Genesis to Malachi and the Old
Testament. This is a mighty statement of
faith. It's an indictment against those
who say they believe the Bible but do not believe Christ. This phrase is the center of
the preaching of the gospel. The Old Testament, which was
all the Bible that was available at the time, was about Christ. Not about Jewish history, though
that's contained. It's all about Jesus Christ. It was the truth about Jesus
Christ. It's what they had. How do I
know that? When Peter was preaching in Acts
chapter 10, he said, introduced to the men about Jesus Christ.
He said, this is whom all the prophets gave witness. Acts 10
43. And our Lord himself said to
the same kind of folks that's accusing Paul right here. He
says, you do search the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. But they are they which testify
of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. The whole Bible is about Christ.
In the garden, the Lord slew beasts to cover his sinful pair. The blood of those beasts pictured
the blood of Jesus Christ, Abraham's king of righteousness and priest
of God and king of peace, Melchizedek. That's Christ. Isaiah's suffering
substitute, Isaiah 53, that's Christ. Jeremiah's new covenant,
is Christ. Daniel's Messiah is Christ. Micah's ancient child is Jesus
Christ. Nahum's God like no other is
Jesus Christ. Zephaniah's mighty to save is
Jesus Christ. Zechariah's lowly king riding
on a coat into town, that lowly king is
Jesus Christ. Malachi's messenger of the covenant
and refiner of fire is the Lord Jesus Christ. The opposite of
heresy is belief of the truth. And in belief of the truth there
is hope. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. And there is a conscience void
of offense toward God. The believer knows that no accusation
can be made against him that won't stand. Oh, people will accuse you. I've
been accused of everything you can imagine and some other things,
too. none of it will stand. Why? Because
before God, His people have been rendered righteous in Jesus Christ. A man free from his blood. Paul
said, I preached to you Jesus Christ so I'm free from your
blood, I'm free from the blood of all men. Because I've told
them what the truth is. Heresy is unbelief of the truth
in whatever form it takes. personal it's here market well
through you have we heard as if it was God speaking
Himself, as if God had spoke the words
Himself. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13 and 14 and 15, Paul
gives thanks for the believer because they are chosen of God.
Brethren, beloved of the Lord, we are bound to always give thanks
to you. from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the
truth whereunto he called you by our gospel to the attainment
of the glory of God in belief in the truth. Jesus Christ said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. Everything outside
of him is of no value whatsoever in the salvation of your soul.
Father, bless us to understand and pray in Christ's name, amen.