Now, I'd like to ask you to open your Bibles now once more to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. I've been preaching through this book for some time. We'll be here for a while longer. This is one of the earliest books written in the New Testament. First Thessalonians, Galatians, James, and maybe the Gospel of Matthew were some of the earliest books written. We don't know for certain. They didn't have time stamps on their documents in those days. But there are things that are mentioned, things that come up, that kind of give us an idea of when and where they were written. Some internal evidences, obviously from 1 Thessalonians, kind of give us the idea of the time frame. So, that being said, we know that it was early in church history. And so if this is some of the earliest writings that were placed on papyrus, it would do us good to find out what did Paul think was very important that this young church be hearing and reminded of and learning. And so today we are looking at chapter 2 and verse 13. Now, before this, Chapter 1, verse 4, he says, knowing, brethren, beloved by God, your election, his choice of you. And then he goes on the list a number of ways that he knew that they were actually believers, that God had actually done a work in their lives, that they were of the elect, that is, those that God is calling to salvation. Because in chapter 1 verse 5, he says, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, with full conviction, just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. And so there was a response, a visible response, to the gospel. And that's one of the ways that we can know whether God is at work in someone's heart and life. They claim to know the Lord. Well, what's their response to Scripture? What's their response to the preaching of the Word? And so, he goes on into more detail today in chapter 2, verse 13. He had called them last week. We see in verse 12 that they would be walking in a manner worthy of the God who calls them. very same words in Ephesians. He says the same thing to the people of Ephesus, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you. And so, you see in verse 13 then, he says, for this reason we constantly thank God that when you received from us the Word of God's message, you accepted it not as the Word of men, but what it really is, the Word of God. This is so important. How do you respond to the Word that is preached? Now, I know there are a lot of preachers who preach a lot of other stuff, just their ideas or, you know, five steps to a happy life, or that kind of thing, or various topical sermons. But when we're talking about the Word of God, and not using the Word of God merely as a jumping off place for their next rant on whatever it is, but rather carefully taking the Word of God and applying it, you are hearing God's Word. It's not that that preacher is divinely inspired, but if he is rightly handling God's truth, the Holy Spirit uses that to apply it to your heart and life. And to sit in church and hear the Word preached with no response at all is a very bad sign regarding your faith. What is your response to the word preached? It's important to search our own hearts. How do I react when I hear the word preached? And granted that it must be preached carefully and rightly and all of that, but If you're hearing God's Word preached, how are you responding? And it says, you receive from us the Word of God's message. You accepted it not as the Word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. And we've talked before about this, and we'll look at it some more, that there are always two responses to the Gospel, at least two. and one is outright rejection and one is acceptance. Now, within that there are various levels, you know, sometimes the rejection is merely to turn and walk away, sometimes it's to throw rocks at you, you know, and sometimes that acceptance can be merely like, well, yeah, that sounds right, or it applies directly to the heart and life. And so, we'll be looking at some of those things today. Paul was thankful. That God did a work in them. That the Word of God performs its work in you. You see, when we talk about sovereign election, that can, man, that can just bring up a whole bunch of questions. Well, is God being unfair? You know, if God's elected, what about the ones that aren't elected? Wasn't God fair to give them an equal chance? You know, all of that nonsense that comes by talking about that. The reality is, mercy is undeserved. It's undeserved. If everyone on earth deserves mercy, well, then they don't need any. If you need mercy, well, then it is only God who has the right to dispense that. And if He has mercy on some and not others, you ought to be wondering, why would He place His mercy upon me? One who has no merit and no dessert other than His judgment. And that's the real question. But as we talk about that, how does God, if He has elected a people for Himself, how does He save them? How does that happen? Well, in one sense it's forensically, what we talk about in heaven, and what took place with the atonement. But in real time, God does a work in human hearts to draw lost men to Himself. How does He do that? Well, He does it by means of the Word, and primarily the Word preached. If you look at, for instance, Romans chapter 10, Paul says in Romans chapter 10 verse 12, there's no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him. For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And then he goes on to make this clear, why did they call? How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? And so God has ordained the means of bringing in His elect, and He does so by means of the word preached. Now that doesn't mean just on Sunday morning from this pulpit. That means God's people proclaiming the truth of the gospel. In one sense, every Christian is called to preach. That is, in proclaiming the truth of Scripture. Proclaiming what God has done in their own heart and life. In another sense, yes, there is that special calling for a pastor, preacher, teacher type person. And we have a role in the church. But how will the world hear of Christ unless We tell them. And so, that's a great mystery. Why does God do it that way? Because He's God and He said that's the way He wants to do it. We don't have a right to say, well, He could have done it some other way. Well, yeah, maybe. But apparently the only way is the one that He chose. There is no other way. Why do we pray? Doesn't God know everything? God is omniscient. He knows everything I need. He's all-sufficient. Why should I pray? Because He told you to. And He chooses to answer the prayers of His people to accomplish His purposes. For us, that's very mysterious. But isn't it a wonder that the God of the universe condescends to include us in his plans. It's just amazing. What a wonder that is. And he includes poor, stumbling, foolish men like myself to proclaim the gospel. Aren't there more talented people, better-looking speakers, better-sounding speakers, more charismatic in the sense of attracting attention? Strangely enough, the men that God appears to use most often are not that kind. Now, there have been some powerful preachers of God's Word in the past. We recognize that. There are men proclaiming the gospel in pulpits that you've never heard of. Men who are proclaiming God's truth to small little congregations around the world that we know nothing about. And yet, in God's eyes, they may be some of the best preachers there are. God has ordained that it is His Word that would accomplish that. Look with me at Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. A very interesting verse here. I've heard a lot of preachers who talk about asking Jesus into your heart. Nowhere in Scripture are you told to do that. But in Acts 16.14, there is an interesting incident here where Paul is preaching in the city of Philippi, well, just outside the city. It says, in a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening. And the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. The Lord opened her heart to hear the gospel. She didn't have to pray a little prayer to ask Him into her heart. He came in of His own accord. I tell folks that when the Lord came to me, He didn't knock on the door, He kicked it in. A dead man can't open the door, can't be done. I needed somebody to come in and raise me from the dead, and He did, praise God. He opened their hearts. And that's exactly what happened in Thessalonica, is that God did a work by means of the gospel preached to reach those people. Look at what Paul says about the gospel that he preached. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. I was saying there's always basically two responses to the gospel. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14. But thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one an aroma from death to death and to the other an aroma from life to life. and who is adequate for these things. For we're not like many peddling the Word of God, but as from sincerity, as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God." So it's clear that the aroma that is coming out is what they're preaching. Notice how he says it, we're this aroma of life to life and death to death. You may notice something, a curiosity about the Greek language that you get a glimpse of here in verses 15 and 16. When we give a list in English and then talk about it later, we go back through the same list in the same order, don't we? It's not how they did it in Greek. They go through the list and then as they talk about them, they go backward through them from the last to the first. And you see that in, that this would help sometimes in some Bible interpretation where people get wrong ideas if you look at it this way. We're a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. First the saved, then the perishing, you read. Then it goes to the one and aroma from death to death. Well, that's the perishing. See how he works backward through his list and the other, an aroma from life to life. Now that's just a little insight into understanding how the Word is written, but to our English ears, that sounds a little backward, doesn't it? But if you understand how they thought and how their language worked, it's okay. And so, you and I go out and share the Gospel with people, and many times they react badly to it. Almost like you'd opened a skunk spray or something. Ugh, they hate it. They run away. Why is that? That's the Lord's work. And the thing is about that is that even when they react that way, it's not your fault. Not as long as you're not being deliberately offensive and being mean-spirited and all, people are going to be offended by the gospel. That's just the way it works. And yet there are some... Look with me at Acts chapter 17. There's time after time, you see this same thing happen over and over again. Paul preaching in Athens at the end of chapter 17 of Acts. He says, now when they heard of the, this is verse 32, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer. But others said, we shall hear you again concerning this. So Paul went out of their midst. But some men joined him and believed. Among them was Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. Two responses. He preaches the gospel, he talks about the resurrection of Christ, what that means, Sins can be forgiven and the greater part of them go, what is this? And they just make fun of it. And then there's a few who say, we want to hear more. Why does that happen? Well, that's the work of God. That's how God works. And so, my question for you is, how do you respond to the Word of God when it's preached? Is it affecting you? Does it drive you back to the Word and go, I want to know more about this? I want to find out more about that doctrine that preacher was talking about. You folks remember years ago, there was a young couple that used to attend here. They moved to another area. When they heard the gospel, she responded immediately and was just overjoyed to hear the gospel. And her husband was very angry. I still remember how he spun his tires leaving the parking lot and kicked gravel all over the building because he was angry at what he heard. Well, she would come to church and he would stay home and she'd come home and he'd say, well, what did that guy say today? And God began to work in that young man's life, and it wasn't very long. They started reading the Bible together, and the Lord miraculously saved him as well. So don't be discouraged if their first reaction is not a good one. It may have been that rock into the pack of dogs, the one that yelps, is the one that got hit. It may have had some effect. I don't really feel bad when people react badly to the Gospel. They actually heard part of it. They at least understood something of it. What's worse is when it's just like I made no impression at all. Here's another instance. I take you to these various places on purpose so that you can look at your own life and say, am I responding to the Gospel? In John chapter 4, we have the incident with the Samaritan woman, the woman at the well. And the people of Samaria, in verse 41, it says, many more believed because of His Word. And they were saying to the woman, it's no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world. When you hear about Christ, what is your response of your heart? This is my Savior. This is the one who took my sin penalty. This is the one who intercedes for me before the Father. Does it affect you that way or? Yeah, I believe Jesus died on the cross. Like you believe George Washington was the first president and all of that. What does it mean? How does it affect you? I'd like you to look at another couple of passages in the Old Testament of response to the Word of God. If you would turn to 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 22. This is late in the kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom, the northern ten tribes have already long ago been carried off into captivity. And late in the history of Judah comes along as King Josiah. He was only eight when he became king. And he decrees that they're to clean up the temple. And in the cleaning of the temple, they find something. Verse 9, it says, And Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to the king and said, Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord. Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. And it came about when the king heard the words of the book of the law that he tore his clothes. This was a sign of grief. to just tear at your clothes, just, oh, no. You'll see people do that in times of great grief. They'll grab themselves, they'll hold themselves. Why do they do that? Well, it's just a human response. He responds in grief at hearing the Word of God. Imagine an entire nation that had forgotten the Law of God, had no Bibles available, and they find one hidden in this dirty old building they're cleaning up, and they bring it, and they read it before the king, and he falls apart as a result. Does the Word of God affect you that way? When you read in the Word of God about things that perhaps you ought not to be doing, what is your response? Make excuses? Rationalize? Oh, that was for another time? Or whatever? Or does it cause you to have a broken heart? That is one of the responses of hearing the Word of God in your own language. How do you respond? Josiah's response was to seek the Lord, and the rest, as they say, is history. There's another passage in the book of Nehemiah. My favorite character in the Old Testament. Some people really love David and Daniel. Nehemiah is my guy. Construction manager, you know, kind of guy. I can identify with Nehemiah. I understand what he was doing there. But one of the things about Nehemiah is he was committed to the Lord and he had a compatriot of the name of Ezra. And God brings about a great revival. In Nehemiah 8, chapter 8, verse 1, it says, And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the water gate. And they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel. Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it. before the square, which was in front of the water gate, from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand, and all the people were attentive to the book of the law." Are you attentive to the book of the law? Does your time with the Lord and reading the Word, is that important to you? If not, why not? Are you spending time daily in the Word of God? It is amazing to me how many professing Christians have never actually read the whole Bible. It's incredible. I was guilty of the same thing for many years. Why do we do that? Well, laziness mostly, but Here were people who, they're out there from early morning till midday. I have heard of churches where people complain, well, he reads such long passages and it's boring. Ever heard that? There's a reason why I use so many different passages as I preach. I want you to know that what I'm teaching you is based not just on my opinion of Scripture, but on the whole, what they call the analogy of Scripture. All of it together fits together. I want to be careful about that. In verse, I won't go on and read all of this passage, but In verse 8 it says, they read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense, so that they understood the reading. Their Bible was written in Hebrew. They had actually moved on and were speaking a form of language similar to Hebrew called Aramaic, but it wasn't the same thing. And so they needed someone to interpret that for them and put it into language they truly understood. You ever wonder why we preach from a pulpit? Well, verse 5 says he opened the book in the sight of all the people, he was standing above the people, and he actually had this, they built a pulpit. Verse 4 says he stood at a wooden podium. Why do we do this? Well, there's some example of it. But they read from the book, and look at the response. Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites, who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep, for all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. it broke their hearts, because they realized they had broken every single one. How do you respond to the Word of God? And when Paul came to the Thessalonians, those people there, they had never even heard the Gospel before, and God opens their heart to receive it, and what a shock to find out that all of your ancestors were wrong. That's why it's so difficult in foreign countries when you go in and proclaim the gospel, like in places where I've been, like Mexico or Peru, and you're telling them about the gospel, and they come to realize that, my parents didn't believe that, and my grandparents didn't believe that, and my great-grandparents didn't believe that. And if I believe that, it will separate me from my entire family. Belief in the United States is of such poor quality and without cost that we don't understand that. I knew a lady from Mexico that when she was baptized as a believer, her family held a funeral. They never spoke to her again. She was dead to them. That's why when a person in one of these other cultures that has not grown up like we have exposed to Christianity, it's a big deal. It's a big deal. How do you respond to the gospel? The people of Thessalonica had responded with belief. They accepted that word that they heard. Why did they accept it? God opened their heart. Let's turn back now to 1 Thessalonians. Now with all of that in mind, There's other places I could go. Another great passage to look at is Daniel 9 and Daniel's prayer. But I don't have time today to expound on that as well. But go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. You accepted it not as the Word of men, but what it really is, the Word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. Look what happened next. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God and Christ Jesus that are in Judea. Well, that sounds nice. They began behaving like those Christians in Judea, and they were having the same kind of worship services, and they all got the same kind of band, and... No, that's not what it's talking about. Read the rest of the verse. For you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews. One of the ways that you can know that you're living for Christ is if people hate you for it. That's one of the ways you can know. If they're gonna hate you for it, well, make sure it's for what's real. But it's true. There is this whole teaching out there today that God doesn't want you to suffer, that God would never allow His church to suffer. Really? What history book are they reading? Oh, my dear ones. We are probably in our lifetime going to see more and more persecution against the church. We have only seen just little bits and pieces here and there. You know, we've had some like demonic graffiti sprayed on our building in the past. That's nothing. Nothing at all of what will come. If you don't think so, just look beyond our borders. my friend Mike that was arrested for quoting John 14 6. That's hateful to say that only Jesus is the way to heaven. It's coming, my dear friends. And so, when this happens, He says, you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ. You also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews. Here's something else to understand. It will be people close to you who will turn against you. Why? Because they know you. And your life in Christ offends them. If you are living for Christ and walking with Him and proclaiming Him, there's people in your family that are going to be really mad at you. Goody two-shoes, you're so churchy, so heavenly-minded you're no earthly good. You know, you've heard all those things. And it gets worse. And then he says, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. We need to understand that, yes, we are called to proclaim the gospel to the Jewish people, but understand that for the last 2,000 years, the vast majority of them have been rejecting the gospel very strongly. and still do, and the earliest persecutions did not come from the Romans, but rather from the Jewish leadership of that day. It's just a matter of history. Paul, his great love for his Jewish brother said, I would rather that if I could give up my salvation that they would be saved. But that's not how God works. But that is the reality of the day in which they lived. Look at Acts chapter 8, verse 1. This is immediately following the murder of Stephen, his martyrdom. It's interesting in Paul's life, he's there approving of Stephen being stoned. Stephen's name means a crown. Paul says at the end of his life, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Isn't that interesting? And it says, and Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death, and on that day, a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Persecution started early, early in the church, and like I was saying, it began from the Jewish leadership. Look at chapter 9. Verse 1 says, Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And then on the way to Damascus, he used his free will to accept Christ. No. Not exactly how it happened, was it? Look with me at John chapter 16. Verse 1, Jesus says, this is right before His crucifixion. The night before His crucifixion, He's telling them this. These things I've spoken to you that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue. But an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. Why do Muslims behead Christians? They believe they're offering service to God. They believe they're atoning their sins with your blood. I guess Jesus was right about what was coming. And so these people in Thessalonica, We're seeing the same things coming at them, and Paul is writing this letter to encourage them. He's telling them, this isn't anything different than what's already happened. 1 Thessalonians 2.15, he says, "...who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men." There were Jewish rabbis who even said that it should be a death penalty for a Gentile to read the Torah. It was only for them. Aren't human beings amazing? We're amazing in our hatred and self-righteousness. Paul says, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles. Remember later in Paul's life when he's arrested in Jerusalem, what was he arrested for? Well, he brought an uncircumcised Gentile into the temple. Wasn't true, but that was the accusation. He tells in other writings that also that the Lord had told him to go to the Gentiles and when the Jews in Jerusalem heard that he had been sent to the Gentiles away with such a man from the face of the earth. Do we understand that kind of bigotry? Oh yes, we do. Oh yes, we do. I knew a Baptist preacher years ago that told about his father, who was also a preacher, being run out of his church because he had invited black children to the VBS. And the deacon stood at the door and refused entrance to any black people. Can we do such things? Christian people? Yup. It happens today in all kinds of insidious ways. Oh brothers, we're no better than any others. Don't think that you're somehow immune, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved. My goodness. Look at Romans chapter 1 and you'll see this. Romans chapter 1 verse 18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. It's a sense of pressing down. Close it off. Shut up about it. Don't you dare speak that name here. Don't you dare pray in the name of Jesus. hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved, with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. And then there's this strange sentence, but wrath has come upon them to the utmost. What does that mean? Wrath has come upon them. At this point in the writing, Jerusalem was still not destroyed by the Romans. That didn't happen for another 15, maybe 18 years in the future. So what is he talking about? There's a far worse wrath than your city being destroyed. Turn back with me to Romans 1 and I'll show you. In Romans chapter 1, Paul lays out before us here what all men have done. They've suppressed the truth. In what way? In 19 it says, Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. I ran into a young lady recently who had been raised in a home of atheists. And she said, I know that doesn't make any sense. She said, all you have to do is look at the world around you and you know someone made it. She'd been raised in it and knew better. Since the creation of the world, its invisible attributes, its eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. This is for the person also who says, well, what about that native on the island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific that never hears the gospel? Will he be saved? No. Not unless he hears the gospel and responds to it. Why is that? Not a single human being on earth has ever sought God rightly. Not a single one. And so that whole business of the poor person who never hears the gospel is a myth. There is not any person out there, oh I wish someone would bring me the gospel. They don't exist. This is who we are as human beings. Look what else he says. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man, birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures. Does this only apply to Gentiles? Jew and Gentile alike are found right here. Have you read Exodus lately? While Moses was on the mountain getting the Ten Commandments and all the instructions for the tabernacle, they were having a party around a golden calf. They broke that covenant before it ever started. Hence the need for an eternal covenant. This describes you and me. You and I will invent ideas of God to satisfy our own desires. Every time you hear somebody say, well, I like to think of God as it's going to precede a denial of something of God. I like to think of God as but, not, Something else. Therefore, and here we have that wrath of God poured out. And you say, in what way? Look at what it says. Therefore, God gave them over in the lust of their heart to impurity. Verse 26, is this the reason God gave them over to degrading passions? Verse 28, they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind. Over and over He says, God gave them over. You want to know what the wrath of God is? He will give you to your lust. Go enjoy it. And what was happening in Paul's day, he could see it happening around him that God had given over, and in this case, most of an entire people. It's interesting that when the time came for the Romans to come and attack Jerusalem, Of course, by that time, they'd already run off, many of the Christians, in those first persecutions. And then the Lord Jesus, in Luke chapter 21, The Olivet Discourse, Luke 21-20. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are amidst the city depart. Let not those who are in the country enter the city, because these are days of vengeance in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled." And here's the interesting thing. The Christians that were still in Jerusalem when the Romans arrived, They remembered Jesus' words. These Gospels were already disseminated among them. They were studying God's Word. They were understanding what Jesus had said. And here's the curious thing. The Roman army came, surrounded the city, and no one knows why they withdrew. They came up, they surrounded the city, they withdraw, and guess who left? All the Christians. Why? They believed Jesus' words. They escaped to a city called Pella up in what's now Syria. About 10,000 Christians survived. Romans came back, destroyed the city exactly as Jesus said it would be. That's pretty amazing, isn't it? He told them exactly what to do and they obeyed it. And so yes, eventually that was fulfilled. Titus came in and Josephus said there were no trees left around the city because they'd all been used for crosses. Thousands killed. And so, he says, wrath has come upon them to the utmost. He's not saying this gloatingly. He's not saying, ha ha, they're finally getting theirs. No, this is the heartbreak of Paul's life to see his own people rejecting the Gospel. And what was his response? He kept preaching it to them. The last thing you have from him in Acts is, who does he call in? The Jewish leaders in Rome, to share with them the Gospel. Look with me at the very last chapter of Acts. In Acts chapter 28. He meets with these men and in verse 23 it says, when they set a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers. And he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and from the prophets from morning until evening. Don't you wish you could have heard that sermon? And some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe. Remember what we were talking about? The word preached? Some people, it's like, that's the best thing I ever heard. And others are, what? It doesn't make any sense. We preach Christ. And how did Paul preach Christ to the Jews of his day? Moses and the prophets. Is there a place for us to preach from the Old Testament? Well, last year I finished preaching through Genesis. Yes, there is. And we saw Christ everywhere, didn't we? Absolutely everywhere. The Old Testament is about Christ. And Paul preached that from morning till evening. And dinner on the grounds, as they used to say, in the old camp meeting days. And some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe. And look at Paul's response when they did not agree with one another, they began leaving Paul after began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word, the Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your father saying, go to this people and say you will keep on hearing but will not understand, you will keep on seeing but will not perceive, for the heart of this people has become dull. and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and I should heal them. Let it be known to you, therefore, that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, they will also. My goodness. What was God's judgment upon the Jews? By and large, the Gospel went away from them. Now in recent years, there have been a lot of outreach to Jewish people, and there are Jewish people coming to know the Scriptures and to know Christ. And that's happened down through the ages, but there seems to be more now than in time past, but by and large, if you've ever shared the gospel with a Jewish person, they don't want to hear it. Very hard. Very hard. I have, personally, I have found it easier to share the gospel with Muslims than I have with Jewish people, which is a heartbreak. I personally believe that there is coming a day when God will call many to Himself. Because Paul says that in Romans 11, that for Gentiles not to be prideful, but God can graft in His own. He says in Romans 11, 25, I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and thus all Israel will be saved. That's not saying that every single Jew will be saved. It's saying that all of the spiritual descendants of Abraham will be saved, both Jew and Gentile. Just as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from Jacob, and this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. He says, from the standpoint of the gospel, they're enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice, they're beloved for the sake of the fathers. He says further on, For God has shut up all in disobedience that he might show mercy to all. There is coming a day, I believe, when God will bring about a great revival among the Jewish people. I pray that is so, that God would do that. Oh, my dear friends, as you look at your own response to the gospel, What is it when you hear of Christ dying on the tree as the atonement for the sins of His people? How does that affect you? Do you see there your name written in the wombs? for the Thessalonians. Those people in Thessalonica, as they heard that gospel, God opened their heart, like Lydia and Philippi, to hear it. It may be today that God has opened your heart and for the first time you realize there is a Savior who actually saves. I must have Him. I'm tired. I don't know about you, in my own life, I was just tired. I was so tired of trying to prove how much I loved God, that God that I'd invented. I was so tired of trying to prove that I was a Christian. I didn't do all the things that all my friends did. Surely, I must be a Christian. Maybe you're tired like I was of running from Him. All I can say is give up. Just give up. Surrender. Come out with your hands up. Unconditionally, He calls you. to come, and everyone who comes, he accepts. No exceptions. How do I know if I'm one of the elect? Well, come! If you come, you are! It's as simple as that. Let's pray. Father, save your people by means of your word. Thank you for it. In Jesus' name, amen.