(Notes of an Address on Acts 28:23-31, &c.)
THERE are ten thousand roads to hell, but there is only one way to heaven. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). If you have not found the way yet, and will take the advice of a plain man, you will find that road at once.
Turn to the last chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, verses 23, 24: “And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.” There is something very charming in this closing page of the history of a man like the apostle Paul. This is clearly the closing page of the history of his’ life. You have some of his letters afterwards. But where the man is before you described by God’s Spirit, this is the last scene, and a very lovely one it is.
And what is it? Well, we have a hired room, and the apostle sending out and inviting people to come and there he was
“PERSUADING THEM CONCERNING JESUS,”
both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. It was a long sermon. Ah, look at the fervor of the man, look at the burning zeal that filled that dear aged servant of Christ. What made him so earnest? I will give you the secret of his earnestness in a minute or two. What strikes me here is the deathless energy of the man, and the lovely work he has in hand. He had before him a company of immortal souls, and he was “persuading them concerning Jesus.”
I am not Paul, but I am in my own hired hall, and here you are, and what I want to do, my unsaved friend, is to “persuade you concerning Jesus.” You see you have never been persuaded yet. You have often heard of Jesus. Some of those people had perhaps never heard of Him before, but that is not the case with you. From your very childhood you have heard of the Lord Jesus. But somehow or other the devil has managed to come in between your soul and the truth, and you have never yet been persuaded to thoroughly receive Christ. You would not deny that He is a Saviour. How, do you know He is a Saviour? Has He saved you? No? You cannot talk from the experimental knowledge of another person. Has He saved you? I repeat. No! Then you do not believe in Him. The very fact that you are not saved shows you do not believe.
If you had felt your need of a Saviour, if you had got a sight of your danger, if you had known what the love of God was to you in giving His Son, you would have closed in with God’s offers of mercy. But you and the devil are very close intimates. You have managed between you to escape the effect of the gospel — your soul’s salvation. God save you now, my friend. It may be the last chance you will get. Indeed it may.
“Persuading sinners concerning Jesus” is glorious work. Oh! such a Saviour as He is, such a blessed Saviour 1 Jesus, Jehovah the Saviour. God’s Son, man’s Friend, Satan’s Victor, the One who has annulled death, and broken all the bars of the tomb, Jesus, a living Saviour at God’s right hand, but soon to be the Judge. Happy must Paul have been, as he from morning to evening expounded to them out of the Scriptures. I should have enjoyed that twelve hours. Would not you have also, fellow-Christian? How your heart has been refreshed many a time, as you have read what Paul has given us in his epistles. But it must have been something perfectly delicious to have been there and heard Paul glowingly speak of Jesus.
Now, what was the effect. “Some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.” He sought to persuade his hearers that Jesus was the Son of God, that He was the Messiah of whom the Old Testament Scriptures spoke, that He was the Daysman whom Job sighed for, and the Man of sorrows of whom Isaiah wrote. Above all He was God’s Son, man’s Friend, and the Saviour of sinners. And when he had finished what was the result?
“Some believed,” and “some believed not.” Just the same will it be here, some will believe, and some will not believe. Have you believed in Him? If so, own it, acknowledge it, I pray you.
To persuade men concerning Jesus is the evangelist’s business. That is all. Without Christ there is no hope; with Christ, every blessing. If you know Jesus, oh what a priceless, precious Saviour you have. God help me now to persuade you concerning Jesus. Tell me, what has He done to you that you should not come to Him? Why should your heart be opposed to Him? Why should you not receive Him? Has He not been your friend? Oh, He is the Friend of sinners. “This Man receiveth sinners.” Listen to the truth, that in glory there is a Saviour for you. But mark, if you do not have Him as a Saviour, you must meet Him in an entirely different character. You must either have to do with Him now as a Saviour, or you will have to meet Him as a judge. You will have to be in His presence. The heart that knows Him loves to get near Him. The heart that does not know Him flies from Him. But you will have to meet Him. You must face Him. How soon, I do not know, I cannot tell.
God is now giving you an opportunity of meeting Him as a Saviour — the sinner’s Friend, the One who has glorified God about sin. Oh, be persuaded to trust in Him, to confide in Him. Some believed then, and some believed not. That is generally the effect in a meeting like this, but one does not always get the tidings about the conversions on the spot.
What we want today is broken material, brokenhearted men and women, convicted of their sin and guilt. Have you been so convicted? You have heard God’s Word over and over again. Has it affected you? The very mark of death may be on you this night, and I want you to know where you are going to spend eternity. Why have you never been persuaded concerning Jesus yet? Oh! a lost eternity is an awful thing. There are ten thousand roads to hell, I repeat, but I believe the most thronged today is “Procrastination Road.” Oh, may you believe tonight. “Some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.”
Just before his hearers went away Paul quoted a very solemn scripture: “And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Acts 28:25-27). What a happy thing it is when you see with the eye. See what? God coming to you in grace. You see God drawing near to bless you. If your ear were opened what would you hear? Tidings of love, tidings of mercy and grace. And if your heart were opened you would understand. And the next thing, you would be converted. It is a fine thing to be converted. Paul applies, Isaiah’s solemn prediction to those that were hearing him that day. And then he adds, “Be it known therefore unto you, that THE SALVATION OF GOD is sent unto the Gentiles, and THEY WILL HEAR IT.” Nov that is a very sweet word, beloved friends. Paul says, Listen to this ere you go, the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and they will hear it. The Jews as a nation would not have it. See to it that you get it. What is sent? SALVATION. Who sends it? GOD. To whom is it sent? THE GENTILES. You are a Gentile, are you not? What happy news for you that the salvation of God, that is Christ, is pressed on you.
Christ, the blessed Son of God, has come here, lived in this scene, and passed out of it by death on the cross, where He glorified God about sin. Paul knew Him as the risen, triumphant, ascended Saviour, and boldly says, “The salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and they will hear it.” I repeat again, What is sent? Salvation. Salvation is for a lost man. It is for you, and God sends it. It is God’s own gift, wrapped up in the Person of His own blessed Son.
Now no person could read this scripture without at least feeling a deep admiration of Paul. His heart, so full of the enjoyment of the love of Christ, and the thoughts of God, was deeply desirous that others might know the grace he knew, and get to know the salvation which he enjoyed. Though a prisoner he does not rest until he has got others brought under the sound of the Word. And for two long years he went on with the same thing. He is just a picture of what every Christian should be. Now what was it made this man so very earnest? He tells us this elsewhere, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:10, 11).
“WE PERSUADE MEN.”
What a mission, and well Paul carried it out! The judgment seat of Christ and the terror of the Lord gave him tremendous impulse. I would not miss the judgment seat of Christ in the glory, for it will reveal to every saved soul the Lord’s infinite grace, but how different will it be for a man who has his sins on him, and who dies in his sins. For him the judgment seat of Christ is the Great White Throne. Do you think anybody is saved at the Great White Throne? Not a saved soul is there, not one. How is this? Because those who stand there are all dead (see Rev. 20:11, 12). And that is why the apostle says, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” My dear friend, the judgment seat of Christ, although it be a very solemn thing, has no terror for the Christian, because it will show the unspeakable grace of the One who there judges. The question of sin He settled for the believer by bearing his sins on the cross, and blotting them out. At the judgment seat He will appraise and reward the works of each child of God. You may say, I have done very little. He will not forget the little. A cup of cold water given in His name, will not be forgotten. That is the point. And therefore, the judgment seat of Christ for the Christian, although it be solemn, is a place of unspeakable blessing. But for a sinner, oh man! “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” That is what moved Paul. He knew what the terror of the Lord was.
There is no forgiveness at the Great White Throne. There is no one there to plead for you, and you cannot plead for yourself. It is nothing but judgment for an unsaved man. Now, my unsaved friend, listen to me, how will you do there? I tell you what the devil will do when you come to die. He will draw near and give you a draft to soothe you, and drug you, as you are dropping into eternal damnation. Your friends will then say, “He died peacefully.” Oh yes; Satan has a patent soothing recipe for every sinner that dies without Christ. But stop a bit, what is it that comes after death? “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” How will you do there? “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Oh man, for God’s sake, for your own soul’s sake, wake up Oh flee you from the wrath to come!
Oh, let me implore you, never stand as a sinner before Christ’s judgment seat. “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”
I do not doubt there was something else that moved Paul’s heart, for he adds immediately, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead” (2 Cor. 5:14). There were two things that moved the heart of Paul: “The terror of the Lord” impelled, and “the love of Christ” constrained him. Ah, man, by grace I too long for your soul. Will you come to Jesus now? Won’t you take God’s salvation now? Let me implore you. Oh do not let this appeal rise against you in the judgment day. Do not compel lost golden opportunities of salvation to rise in that day as witnesses against you. Oh friend, let me beseech you, get down before God, own your guilt, own your sinfulness, get down before God in the acknowledgment of what a sinner you have been, and let Christ save you. Oh, He is such a Saviour! The love of Christ constrains us. That mighty love which brought Him down to death. Do you know why He went down into death? That He might bring you and me into life. He took all the punishment of our sin, He took the distance that we might get the nearness. He took the strokes that He might heal us. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). Why don’t you let Him heal you, heal the deep wound in your soul that sin has made, and that none but He can heal? “By whose stripes ye were healed,” says Peter; “for ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (1 Peter 2:24, 25).
Well, you say, will everybody be persuaded? Oh dear no. I will show you three classes that hear the Word of God. Some are never persuaded, others are almost persuaded, and some are altogether persuaded. Which class are you in? Let us turn to Luke 16. We have there a solemn unfolding of the future, from the lips of Christ. I see there a class which one looks at with sorrow: they are —
THE NEVER PERSUADED.
Lazarus died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom; the rich man also died, and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments (vs. 23). Observe now that this is from the lips of our Lord Christ. The One who agonized on Calvary’s tree, and who went down into death that He might bless us and heal us, it is He who tells us this story; and you may depend upon it, that these terrible words from the lips of Christ portray the truth as to the eternity of a lost soul.
Oh, but it is only a picture, say you. I admit it, but what will the awful reality of a lost eternity be? One word describes it. Torment. Man, look ahead. Torment. Listen, careless, godless man. Torment. Three times over you get it (vers. 24, 25, 26). If it be nothing else but this, that you have the sense in your soul forever that you might have been saved, but are not, it will be torment. You have had your opportunities. You can never say that forgiveness was not preached to you. But fancy, what will conscience say then? I know now you indulge in your lusts. Yes, you go in for the thing you love, and your lust is damning you. Oh friend, I believe the Lord’s Word. Torment is a terrible word. Thank God, I shall never know it. Why? Because the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah tells me that “he was tormented for our sins.” That is, Jesus, blessed be His name, passed through atoning agony that He might deliver His people from the judgment of God.
This wretched rich man dropped from the lap of luxury into the lake of fire, and torment is his own description of his state. True, a prayer comes from him, but it is not answered. “Have mercy on me,” he cries all too late. Mercy has been pressed on you, and have you despised it? Look at his prayer. Did you ever think of his prayer? One drop of water to cool his tongue. Well, understand this, that drop the parched soul can never taste. There is thirst in hell, but no water. Oh! friend, if you are wise, you will stoop down now and drink and live. You will drink of the water of life, you will drink deep draft of the grace of Christ.
But see what follows. Abraham tells Dives that deliverance is impossible (vs. 26). I know that we have heard a great deal lately about “the larger hope.” The larger hope, viz., that all men will eventually be saved, is a nineteenth-century delusion, hatched by the devil in hell, and proclaimed by his servants on earth. What hope had Dives in hell? None. It is perfect folly. There is neither a larger hope, nor a smaller hope for the man that dies in his sins. Thank God there is salvation for you now, where you are. You may now drink of the living water, and live forever.
Now observe the earnest desire of the man in torment that others should not be his companions, as he begs Abraham to send to testify to them. “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them,” is the reply. But he continues, “Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent.” Carefully note the rejoinder: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” There are some people that are never persuaded. They decline God’s Word. My friend, if you are in that class your future is awful. You say, “I have my doubts about Scripture.” Well, I have no doubt you have, but I tell you frankly that I have no doubts. Its plain statements should lead you and me to feel that hell is an awful place. If I were commissioned of God to go to the dungeon of the damned this hour with a gospel message of pardon and liberation, ere I had spoken fifteen words I believe the place would be empty. Sinner, don’t you go there. Unconverted man, don’t risk it. “Oh, I’ll risk it,” says someone. Very well, I tell you something else you will do — you will taste it. Thank God I shall not. Why? Because I believe the awfulness of it, and that my Saviour has loved me and died for me to deliver me from it. “The love of Christ constraineth us: because we thus judge, that if one died for all then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.” Are you not going to be persuaded? Has not Christ risen from the dead? Yes. Is it not a striking thing that although you know Christ has risen from the dead you have never been persuaded yet? Let not the words, “Neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead,” be true of you, my friend.
It is possible that you are saying, “I am almost persuaded, I will think about these things.” Well, I will show you a likeness of yourself. Turn to Acts 26, where we get the story of one who was
ALMOST PERSUADED.
Paul is telling the story of his conversion, and presently Festus said, “Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.” “Oh no,” he says, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness” (vs. 25). What was he preaching? A risen Christ, an exalted Saviour at God’s right hand. “This thing was not done in a corner” — the whole world knew about it. And then he says, “King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.” He says, I know you believe, you cannot refuse the testimony of your Old Testament Scriptures. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” Some people are never persuaded, but there are crowds of people who are almost persuaded, yet never reach Christ. They are still outside the door of salvation. Do you not think you had better get amongst those who are
ALTOGETHER PERSUADED?
I can understand Paul as he says, “I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.” To be only almost persuaded is to be still altogether unsaved. “Almost persuaded” ground has a great many standing on it, but there is not a saved person among them, not one. Are you almost persuaded? Yes. Are you saved? No. You prove what I have said. There is not one single saved person upon “almost persuaded” ground.
Let me come to an altogether persuaded man, for there are such people, and hear him speak. “I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.” I too can say similarly. I am a sinner saved by grace, loved of the Lord, and on my way to eternal glory without a shadow of a doubt as to my getting there. I know the joy of being a child of God. My friend, I can commend my Saviour to you and my Master also.
Would to God that you were almost and altogether such as I am by grace.
Let this witness, Paul the aged, say one other word to you. Will you read 2 Timothy 1:7-12? Now what does the gospel do for a man? It saves him. The apostle speaks of “God who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works (we can do nothing) but according to his own purpose and grace... now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Observe that in verse 8 he says to Timothy, “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner.” Then in verse 12 he says, “I am not ashamed...” And in verse 16 he says, “The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain.” Here are three men, Timothy, Paul, and Onesiphorus, who are not ashamed of Christ and His testimony. I know many a man who has been ashamed of the testimony of Christ Be not like such, but let this witness lead you to simple confession of Christ. “I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (vs. 12). He is a persuaded man, out-and-out persuaded. Christ had won his heart. Christ had got hold of him absolutely, and now he is passing along through this scene in the joy of the gospel, a persuaded man.
Now I ask you, which of the three classes are you in? Never persuaded, shall it be? Take care. Almost persuaded? No, better. Because the moment may come soon when God will take you away, and then it is all over with you. There is only one secure path. What is that? Altogether persuaded. Shall not Christ from this hour have the confidence of your heart? Oh, surely. Have I been successful in “persuading you concerning Jesus”?
W. T. P. W.