You know why I have to put up
a whiteboard in my shower? Because some of my best thoughts
come to me there, and then by the time I get out and dry off,
I forgot them. Well, I had been wrestling with
this passage of scripture for a while, and then I took a shower,
and I says, oh my goodness. So here's what came out of a
shower. In the book of Acts chapter 7,
we have watched Stephen. We have heard Stephen. We've
been blessed by Stephen's message from the Old Testament. And we
have to remember that's all he had. He did not have the New
Testament. He had only the Old Testament.
And he brought to those people that were on that council, the
Sanhedrin court, he brought to them their own history. Now,
it wasn't strange to them. It wasn't novel to them. They
knew what he was talking about. But when He brought it down to
the fact, preaching the gospel through the Old Testament, when
He brought it down to the fact that they had crucified their
Messiah, we have the results of that. Now today's message
is the results of preaching the gospel. The results of preaching
the gospel. So if you'd look with me here,
It says in beginning of verse 54, this is the result. Now,
he had just preached the gospel. He is good about that. He is
faithful about that. You know, as he has been taken
captive in a sense, I can't help but believe that they thought
they could bully him into stopping what he was doing. They just,
we want you to stop. Well, when they gave the opportunity
for him to speak, it just opened up the well of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. So, instead of him being bullied
to silence, he began to rehearse what God had done for their nation. Now, before I read this, I want
us to know that that promises that God had made to the nation
of Israel were conditional promises. We're going to find that as we
read a passage in the book of Jeremiah. He's going to make
a covenant. He made it before the world began.
He brings it out through the scriptures. He made a covenant
of the forgiveness of sin, and it was not based upon being related
to Abraham. This is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, and as part
of that, it was the forgiveness of sin that was never promised
under the Old Testament. It is promised in the New Covenant.
All right, it tells us here what happened when they heard the
gospel, when He brought to them their own history and pointed
out that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and that He has been
crucified. Now, from a heavenly point of
view, that is to the glory of the church that He was crucified.
To the earthly view, they had taken an innocent man and they
nailed him to a cross. So He brings that up. Now it
says, when they heard these things, They had heard some things. Now,
it wasn't new things that they heard. It was old things that
they heard, but they had never had it affect them like it did
right here. When they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart. Now, that word means sawn asunder. Their heart was sawn asunder
by the words that Stephen had brought. And they gnashed on
him with their teeth. Now, the interpretation of that
is they would have pulled him apart if they could have. They
were so incensed, so upset, so angry at what he brought to them,
and in fact, they do take him out. Let's follow this out and
said, but he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly
into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on
the right hand. William Mason said, saints shall
have suffering grace for suffering times, and we certainly see that
coming out here with regard to Stephen. He had suffering grace
for suffering times. And he says there he saw Jesus
standing at the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see
heavens open, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand
of God. Then they cried out with a loud
voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon Him with one accord,
and cast Him out of the city, and stoned Him And here we are
introduced for the first time to an individual that we'll find
many times later on in the New Testament. It says here, and
when we read about Paul writing the letter to the Ephesians,
we're not reading about a good man's beginning, we're talking
about a man under grace. All right, here is this man,
the witnesses, and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a
young man's feet whose name was Saul. Now later we'll know him
as Paul. And they stoned Stephen, calling
upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Now that's
what Stephen is saying as this whole issue is going on. And he kneeled down and cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep. That's the same
word that Jesus used with regard to Lazarus. Lazarus sleepeth. Well, the disciples didn't understand
what he said. He said, well, Lazarus is dead.
So in Christ, we sleep. All right. Let's look at a few
places in the Bible, and I'm going to spend my time in the
Old Testament, because the Old Testament shares a whole lot
about the results of preaching the gospel. What do people do
when they hear the gospel? What do people do when they read
the gospel? Well, turn with me, if you would,
in the first place, is over in the book of Genesis. Would you turn with me to the
book of Genesis, chapter 3? If God ever reveals to us a little
bit of the truth found in the first few chapters of the book
of Genesis, we will have very little trouble with the rest
of it. God here in the first few chapters declares his greatness,
his might, his power, his sovereignty, and his creatability. And he
shares with us that when I show you that I create man and give
him the first birth, it is necessary that I also do that if I give
them the second birth. The birth, the new birth is not
something that we conjure up. It is something that is given
to us. And we find out that John writes to us, you must have this
if you ever want to be in the kingdom, you must be born again.
Well, here in the book of Genesis, chapter three, we are introduced
here about to Adam and Eve. And, you know, the gospel was
preached unto them. You've got all these blessings. Look at
the blessings you have. Look what you have here. You
have this whole garden. You have all of the creation
of God. And then we find out that Adam and Eve went against
the good news of God and ate a forbidden fruit and fell into
darkness. Now, that darkness was spiritual.
They were blinded to the things of God. Now, let's notice here
what God does in this situation. In Genesis 3, verse 18, we read
here in this passage of scripture what God does in this situation. It says here, In verse 18, thorns also and
thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the
herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
till thou return unto the ground. For out of it thou wast taken,
and for dust thou art, and dust shalt thou return. You know what
we read there? for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There's not a good thing we can
do. We are thorns and thistles from
the beginning, and that is part of what must be preached when
we preach the gospel, and that is ruined by the fall. It is
absolutely essential that we have some knowledge of being
ruined in Adam, as we read here. Now, it says that Adam called
his wife's name Eve because she was a mother of all living. Now,
notice here in verse 21, as God declares the gospel unto them
in a very specific way, it says there in verse 21, unto Adam
also and to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins
and clothed them. Before God put those clothes
on them, those skins of animals, I believe it was sheep skins.
I think just the context shares with us as we move through the
Bible that this was a sheep, a lamb, that these skins were
made out of, several of them probably. But before He could
do that, what were they wearing before that? They were wearing
leaves, fig leaves. Now, did God cover those fig
leaves with those skins of animals? No, He could not have. It would have been anti-typical
of everything else He is ever going to give us. We find out
that those fig leaves must first of all be stripped off of them.
And God strips of us of all our righteousness when He gives us
the gospel. He takes away all the things
that we're depending upon in this world. before He gives us
Christ. He tears it away. He rips it
away. And here we have Adam and Eve
standing before Him, absolutely without any covering, and what
does He do? He covers them with the skins
of animals. Now, that animal had to shed
its blood, and we read later that without the shedding of
blood, there is no remission. Blood is a symbol of taking a
life, and we find that this is pointing to Christ and Him crucified,
His shed blood. Now, what did these two people
do that we read here? Do we find them, God, I haven't
given you permission yet. God, I haven't done blah, blah,
blah, blah. You know, this is what natural
religion is. We have to do something. You
know what those folks did? The only thing I can see them
doing with regard to the rest of the scripture is God raised
their hands and clothed them with the skins of animals, and
they said, thank you, Lord. They did nothing. They didn't
slay the sheep. They didn't skin the sheep. They
did nothing. They were there. They were absolutely
gave resignation to God and said, do with me as what pleaseth you. You remember the woman that said,
if thou wilt, if thou wilt. All right, if it's
in your purpose. So we have here, the substitute
was slain, the covering was provided, the covering was placed upon
them, and what a statement about how God does His business with
regard to the gospel. What was their reaction? Submission. They submitted to what God had
said He must do in order to cover them. Now, let's move just a
little further in this fourth chapter, and we find out two
reactions to the preaching of the gospel. One of them is beneficial. One of them demonstrates Christ.
One of them shows us that a man was brought to Christ. And the
other reaction to the gospel is what we find with regard to
Stephen and what they did with him. Cain and Abel present to
us a beautiful picture, a beautiful type and shadow of what it is
to hear the gospel and how we're going to react to it. Well, if
we go over here to the book of Genesis, chapter 4, we read here
in the very beginning, verses 1 through 8, it says, that what God said in Genesis
chapter 3 and verse 15, that there would be one come who would
slay the serpent, that one would come, would bruise his head,
and I believe she thought she had him in her hands. The Messiah had already come.
I have gotten a man-child from the Lord. Well, we know that
it's going to be several centuries before that happens, but that's
the attitude that she has. And then we go on to say, she
bear his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but
Cain was a tiller of the ground. Now, that's not the problem.
Whatever avocation God gives you, it says in the scripture,
be thankful. Whatever job God gives you, be
thankful. Do it as unto the Lord. That's
not the problem. It's not because Abel was a tender
of sheep and Cain was a tiller of the soil. It is because one
of them obeyed the commandment of the gospel and the other one
did not. Let's read on here. It says,
and in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought
of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. Now here
we have a problem. I am convinced that Cain and
Abel had the same training by their parents. They did not take
Abel aside and give him special training on the gospel and to
the exclusion of Cain. I think they sat them both down
and says, let me tell you what happened here. We were in a perfect
condition before God, and we disobeyed God, and his word was
fulfilled in us, and we died spiritually. They were truthful
and honest with their children. And they said, the only hope
that we can have is in the grace of God that He would do as He
did for us, come down and demonstrate what salvation is, and that is
a covering that comes from God. Their instructions were there's
going to be some sacrifices made and they must be Typical of this
great glorious gospel. They must be typical of a lamb
slain. They must be typical of Christ
and him crucified Every sacrifice in the Old Testament was a declaration
of that, those sacrifices that were given by people in an honest
manner. All right, it goes on to tell
us here that Abel also, he also brought of the first things of
his flock and the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto
Abel and to his offering. Now, there's a couple of things
that we notice here. One of them brought the work
of his hands. What does that say? In the process of time,
It came to pass that Cain brought the fruit of the ground and offering
unto the Lord. There is no blood sacrifice here.
There's no typical Christ in him crucified here. It is the
work of his hands and he's bringing that to God with the expectation
that that will satisfy God and give him salvation. That's the
normal course that we all have. that by the works of our hands,
we can please God enough to overcome the faults that we have, my good
things will outweigh my bad things, and I will be okay with God.
Well, we're going to find out that from the very beginning,
God said, not so, not so, not so. It tells us here in the book
of Genesis chapter four and verse four, Abel, he also brought of
the first things of the flock and the fat thereof, and the
Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. Now keep your
finger right there if you would, and would you turn with me over
to the book of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews. In the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, Now this
is the chapter that speaks about those great faith people. We find out their faith is the
same faith that God continues to give today in the preaching
of the gospel. It's not a special faith that
they had, it's a faith that God gave them. Yesterday I had a
conversation with a young man and I just said, you cannot give
your faith to God because it's imperfect. Our natural faith
is imperfect, and God only takes perfection. He does not take
imperfection. He's going to save people that
are imperfect, but He's not going to accept their imperfect offering. He is going to take perfection.
So what's the answer? Christ is the author and finisher
of our faith. So our faith is the faith that
God gives us, and we give it back to Him. Well, here in the
book of Hebrews, it talks about this man, Abel. Book of Hebrews
chapter 11, and there in verse 4. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse
4. Now, notice this with me. This is the commentary on what
we just read over there in the book of Genesis. This is the
New Testament commentary on what we read in the book of Genesis.
Here it says, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained witness, now notice this, that
he was righteous. What does that mean? What does
being righteous mean? It means made whole in Christ. It means being made perfect in
Christ, that He has given us Himself, and it is such perfection
that He gives us. It is the perfect Christ that
He gives us, to be made righteous, to be made one with God. God
testifying of His gifts, and by it being dead yet speaketh. So God testified to Him that
this did not give you righteousness, but it is a demonstration of
the righteousness that God has given you. Our works are not
to gain righteousness. Our works are demonstrations
of already being righteous. That's what honest works are.
We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
Now we find out that Cain, the response to the gospel that Cain
had, is he brought the firstlings of the ground. He brought watermelons
and tomatoes and all the things that we think of. He brought
that and offered it to the Lord. Now, when we find out God speaking
to him, let's go back there to the book of Genesis chapter four.
In Genesis chapter four, we read this about Cain, Genesis chapter
four, and it says in verse six, it says, the Lord said unto Cain,
why are you wroth? Why are you angry? Why are you
upset? And why is that countenance fallen?
I've had respect on his, but I have not respect on yours.
If thou do us well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou
do us not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall
be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. God spoke to him
the honest truth. He gave him the truth of the
gospel. Here's his reaction to the truth
of the gospel. It tells us in the next verse,
and Cain talked with Abel his brother. Can you imagine what
they talked about? You snob. You, you favorite. Mom and dad have always favored
you. You know, we could come up with lots of stuff. But notice
the reaction he had towards the gift that Abel gave. It says there that Cain rose
up against Abel, his brother. How typical, how pictorial, how
declarative this is of what took place in Acts chapter 7. It says
he rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him. He killed
him. He murdered his brother. Over
what? the gospel of Jesus Christ, that
Christ is the sacrifice. And it's not tomatoes that we
bring. It's not our good works that we bring. It is what God
gives us to bring, and that is the person Christ. Well, there's
another example I'd like to go to, and that's over in the book
of Ruth, chapter one. I love the book of Ruth. It has
such a count, such a story. You know, we have a lot about
droughts in this place and that place. God brought a drought
on Israel. for one purpose that we know
of. Now, we don't know all the other
things that took the place of it, but here in the book of Ruth,
during the days of the judges, we're studying the book of Judges
on Wednesday night, and during that period of time, we have
Ruth mentioned. We have Naomi, first of all.
It says here, now it came to pass in the days when the judges
ruled that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man
of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and
his wife and two sons." Now, I've mentioned this in the past,
but commentaries will say, these folks, they did wrong. They should
have stayed put in Israel. That's where God was. Well, you
know what? God moved on them through a drought
to go to another place because there's a lady there that God
intended to hear the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace,
and her name is Ruth. Now, they go over there, the
two sons marry Moabite women. One's name is Orpha, the other's
name is Ruth. We remember Ruth a whole lot
more than we do Orpha, but Orpha's testimony is found here in the
book of Ruth, chapter one. As we follow this down, they're
married, the husband dies, the two sons die. And the mother and mother-in-law
decides, by the grace of God, to go back to Israel. All right,
it's, then she arose with her daughters-in-law, verse 6, that
she might return from the country of Moab. For she had heard the
country of Moab, now that the Lord had visited his people and
given them bread. Who had visited his people and
took away bread? Who had caused that to happen
so this family would go over to Moab, which was a place that
they're not supposed to go? But they went over there, and
they knew something about the gospel, and they preached the
gospel while we're there, and we're going to find out the results
of it. Now, the results are twofold. Orpha's reaction to the Gospel
and Ruth's reaction to the Gospel. Wherefore, verse 7, she set forth
out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law
with her, and they went on the way to return unto the land of
Judah. And Naomi said unto her two daughters,
Go, return each to his mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with
you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant
you that you may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband.
And she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.
And they said unto her, surely we'll return with thee unto thy
people. Both of them said that. We'll
go with you. We'll go with you. You're our
mama. We'll just travel with you back to Judah. And Naomi
keeps bringing up, you know, there's no reason for that. Just
stay here. This is where your family is.
And it goes on to tell her, and Naomi said, turn again, my daughters.
Why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in
my womb that you shall, may be your husbands? You know, it was
the tradition in that time that if a man married a woman and
he died, his brother married that woman. That's brought up
to the Lord by the Sadducees about whose wife will she be
in the resurrection. Seven brothers have had her.
Well, he said, you don't understand the resurrection. In heaven,
there's no marrying and giving in marriage. He just stifled
it. All right, it says here in verse
13, would you tarry for them till they were grown? Would you
stay for them and having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grieved
me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out
against me. And they lifted up their voice and wept again. And
Orpha kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave unto her. Now, that's not that bad that
far, is it? My goodness. One wants to stay
in her country and the other wants to go with her mother-in-law. But as we follow this up, she
said, behold, thy sister-in-law's gone back unto her people. Did
you notice the next phrase? And unto her gods. She had never, ever left her
gods. They were still important to
her. And that's a sure sign that she
had never known the grace of God. You cannot go back to other
gods once you have ever known the God. I love what we read
over there in the book of 1 Thessalonians 1. You've turned from idols,
dumb idols, stupid things, to serve the living God. And that's
what happens. God takes us and turns us. That's
what true repentance is, to have a different view of the God,
a view that is scriptural. So she went unto her own gods,
returned thou after thee, thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said,
entreat me not to leave, or to return from following after thee.
For whither thou goest, I will go, and whither thou lodgest,
I will lodge, and thy people shall be my people. Now that
sounds pretty good, doesn't it? I'm going to go home with you
because I like you. Look at the next phrase, thy God, my God. She had heard something. That's
why she went back with her mother-in-law to Judah. We find then that she
married Boaz. And there's the line that we
find leading right down to David. Ruth the Moabitess, here's the
gospel. And when it comes time to separate
from her land or to stay there, there was no gods there that
attracted her like attracted her sister-in-law. She went back
to her family. That's fine. But she went back
to her other gods, too, and that's not fine. There's no hope in
the other gods. So we have the gospel preach.
One of them, when they heard the gospel, says, it's okay for
me to go home and I'll worship the other gods. And the other
one says, no, I'm going home with you. Why? I'm gonna have
your God as my God. What a reaction to the gospel.
All right, another example that I wanna look at is found over
here in the book of Jeremiah chapter 36. Jeremiah chapter
36. What a telltale passage of scripture
we find here with regard to the gospel. There's two thoughts. These are gonna be two kings.
Their reaction to the gospel, two kings. They're gonna hear
the word. and the reaction of these two
kings to the word of God here in the book of Jeremiah chapter
36. If you turn there with me, Jeremiah chapter 36, and I'm
going to have to start with verse one. You know, there's just some
places. At the same time, excuse me, chapter 36, I'm sorry. Chapter 36 of the book of Jeremiah,
verse one. And it came to pass in the fourth
year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this
word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Take thee a
roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken
unto thee against Israel." We heard this morning about inspiration. Write down what I give you. Now,
Jeremiah left to himself would have never written this. but left to God, he was willing
to write it. Against Judah, and against all
the nations, for the day I speak unto thee from the days of Josiah
even unto this day, it may be that the house of Judah will
hear all the evil which I have purposed to do unto them, that
they may return every man from his evil way, and I may forgive
their iniquity and their sin. Then Jeremiah called Barak the
son of Nerah, and Barak wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all
the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon
a roll of a book. Now let s drop down here to verse
20. We have a book. We have the word of God. Probably
the book of Jeremiah. You know what Jeremiah says?
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Jeremiah says, writes that I'm not going to follow this, continue
to follow this covenant that I've made with the house of Israel
because they broke it. They broke the covenant, but
I am going to make a covenant with them. We'll read that in
just a moment. In Jeremiah chapter 36 and verse
20, we read this, the reaction to hearing the gospel, the word
of God. And it is in the book of Jeremiah.
If you only had the book of Jeremiah in your hands for all your life,
you would find the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
preached there. Because the disciples used it. Jesus explained in the book of
Jeremiah all the things concerning himself. So this is inspired
word, the book of Jeremiah. Here in the book of Jeremiah
chapter 36 and verse 20, we read this. And they went into the king,
into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of
Leshemah, the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of
the king. So they have now this roll. Jeremiah wrote the word
down, they have a roll. Jeremiah was inspired by God
to give to a clerk, write this down, write this down, write
this down, write this down. Now, it's wonderful that he didn't
have to worry about forgetting something because God continued
to give it to him. All right, so he's got it written
down. We have a scroll with the book of Jeremiah. And they went
unto the king and to the court, but they laid that roll up in
the chamber of Elisha, the scribe, and told all the words to the
king. So the king sent Jehuadi to fetch the roll. Oh, hallelujah. The king is going to read the
word of God. My goodness, if we just get him
to read the Word of God. Well, the king said to Jehuadai
to fetch the scroll, and he took it out from Elashimah, the scribe's
chamber, and Jehuadai read it in the ears of the king and in
the ears of all the princes which stood before beside the king.
Oh, we're going to have a revival right here in Judah because they're
reading the scriptures to the king. Oh, the reaction of the
king is going to be so positive now because he's hearing the
Word of God. He didn't hear the word of God.
And what he heard, he didn't like at all. Because he goes
on, now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month, and
there was a fire in the hearth burning before him. And it came
to pass, read this with me. I can't make this stuff up. The king is sitting in his winter
house, has a nice warm fire, warming himself, having cookies
and milk. and they start to read this book
to him, this scroll to him. And it came to pass that when
Jehoadi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the pin
knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth until
all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. They'd roll out a piece, they'd
read it, he'd reach over there with his pin knife, cut it, and
throw it into the fire. What a reaction to hearing the
gospel. Until it was all gone. Now I'm
so thankful that there somewhere else was that roll. Because we
have it today. The book of Jeremiah. In the
book of Jeremiah, would you back up with me to the book of Jeremiah
chapter 31, as we think about that king, he hears what Jeremiah
has to say, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked, and then he reads many other things, or hears many other
things, he cuts them out and throws them into the fire, thinking
that's going to take care of his problem. I'll just get rid
of the word. Well, in Jeremiah chapter 31,
verse 31, we read this, that God is going to share with Israel
that I'm not any longer going to have that old covenant. I'm
not going to follow it. You broke it. God's patience
with them, His patience, His faithfulness to them, His patience
is so much how He was with them for centuries, and led them for
centuries, and still their heart was deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked, and could not see any reason to follow
God. Well, let's read here. It says
in verse 31, Behold the days come, saith the Lord. This is
part of the message that the king heard. Behold, the days
come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand, and to bring them out of the land
of Egypt, which my covenant they break." They broke the covenant. They said they would keep it.
They broke it. They could not keep it, number
one. Although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord, but
this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel. Now, this house of Israel is not national Israel. This
house of Israel is the church. This is spiritual Israel. This
is the covenant he will make. That's the new covenant. That's
the covenant we are under, the covenant that God has blessed.
After those days, saith the Lord, I'll put my law in their inward
parts. write them in their hearts and we'll be their God and they
shall be my people. And they shall teach no more
any man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least even
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive
their iniquity, and will remember their sin no more. What a blessing of the everlasting
covenant. What a blessing with the covenant
that God made with the church. Now he never promised that under
the old covenant. He promised them that they could
have their land if they were faithful and they were unfaithful.
They could not keep the law. So here we have God saying, I
have an everlasting covenant that I will give you. And in
this covenant, one of the great benefits we have, I will remember
their sin no more. This king heard this message
and what did he do with it? He cut it into pieces and cast
it into the fire and said, ìIíve done away with that. I wonít
be responsible for that. All right. In the short time
I have left, would you join me about another king?î In the book
of II Kings chapter 22. 2 Kings chapter 22, as we look
at the results of preaching the gospel, of hearing the gospel,
there's going to be those that will be like those who set their
teeth upon Stephen and killed him. There will be those like
the group on the day of Pentecost. Oh, Lord. What shall we do? That's the first thing that lost
people say when they have a problem. What shall I do? What shall I
do? What shall I do? Nothing. Can't do anything that
will please God. God will take care of it. He'll
do His work. He's done His work. All right,
here in the book of 2 Kings chapter 22, 2 Kings chapter 22 and verse
8, 2 Kings chapter 22 and verse 8, it says, And Hilkiah the high
priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book
of the law in the house of the Lord. Now how long that had been
there? But one day, one man goes in,
he's got his broom and his dustpan, and he's in there cleaning up,
and he said, what is this? And he begins to unroll it, and
it says, Here I have found the book of the law in the house
of the Lord. Verse 9, And Shaphan the scribe came to the king,
and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered
the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it
into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight
of the house of the Lord. And Shaphan the scribe showed
the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book.
And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when
the king heard the words of the book of the law, what did he
do? He rent his clothes, which was a sign of, oh, me. Oh, me. The other king just cut
it up and threw it in the fire, didn't make any effect on him.
This king, when he heard the word of God, when God brought
him the word of God, at the appropriate time, they found the word of
God in the temple of the Lord, brought it out, read it to him,
and this king was brought low before God. Oh, what a mess we're
in, as we hear the apostles, oh, wretched man that I am. He
goes on, The king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahaiacum the
son of Japheth, and Echnor the son of Mahiah, and Shaphan the
scribe, and Azahiah the servant of the king, saying, Go ye and
inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, for all Judah
concerning the words of this book that is found. Go find out
more. All right, jump with me to the
next chapter. 2 Kings chapter 23. 2 Kings chapter 23, the results
of preaching the gospel. To one king, it's nothing more
than fire. It's just a little more wood
for the fire. Cut it up. There's no more. And
he walked away and said, that's enough of that. I'll deal with
it no more. And to another king that was brought the word of
God, he rent his clothes. A sign of, oh, so much of the
heart. And then here in 2 Kings 23,
and in verse 21, 2 Kings 23, verse 21, it says here, And the
king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover unto
the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. What's the Passover mean? Christ
and Him crucified. that account given in Exodus
chapter 11 and 12 about the Passover lamb, a lamb of the first year
without spot, without blemish, slain, blood collected, blood
applied to the doorpost, roasted over a fire, eaten by the people
of God. Those who had blood on the doorpost
when the Lord came to the land that night. He said when I see
the blood I'll pass over you When I see the blood now in all
the houses of Egypt They had death in the household because
there was no blood applied in all the houses of Israel There
was death in the household The lamb slain, a substitute. And he says, keep the Passover.
Surely there was not hold in such a Passover from the days
of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings
of Israel, nor in the kings of Judah. But in the 18th year,
King Josiah, wherein was Passover was holding in the land to the
Lord in Jerusalem. What did he want those people
to know about? Christ and him crucified. The reaction to hearing
the gospel, the reaction to preaching the gospel. To one side, it's
nothing more than get rid of the speaker. Cain did that, get
rid of the speaker. That Sanhedrin court did that
with Stephen, get rid of the preacher. One king said, I'm
gonna get rid of the word. That king, he just cut it up
and threw it away. You know that happens today?
I was visiting with a young man yesterday, and in about half
the Bible, he'd cut out and throw away. But he won't tell you face
to face. He just says, I won't preach it. I don't believe it.
You know, that's just, there's no better than cutting it out
and throwing it away if you're not gonna use it or believe it.
So here we have, we just throw it away, throw it away. Or our
hearts are rent when we hear the word of God. God's great
gospel given to us. We'll have a reaction. You know,
the apostle Saul of Tarsus, he reacted one time to the hearing
of the gospel, and that is he consented to the death of Stephen.
But a little bit later, God was not through with him. On the
road to Damascus, God appeared unto him. And you know what?
God overcame him with great power, and he said, Lord, what will
you have me do? He consented. He went along with
God because he was given a new spirit. So what's the result of preaching
the gospel? Some will go away and say, thank you, Lord, for
your great grace to me. And some will go away and say,
you know, I think I'll just cut that part out of my Bible. I
won't deal with it. I've met a lot of preachers.
I used to be that. I had family, it was that. Just
cut it out. And I know I've known people
that says, oh my goodness, that gospel brought me peace, that
gospel brought me hope, that gospel brought me Christ, that
gospel settled me. And now the book is precious.
The book is Christ and him crucified on the behalf of his fallen people.
Brother Mike.