Thank you. Good morning. Such a treat having
Joy in town. Having a live piano is nice for
us. Those for you out of town. Oh,
well, happy birthday, Joy. You should know that. I put it
in the bulletin. Happy birthday, Joy. There it is right there.
I should know. But anyway, we'll have her for
one more service on Wednesday night. So that's a good thing
for us. All right, let's open this morning's
service with hymn number 47 in the soft-backed hymnal. The soft-backed
hymnal, number 47. Let's all stand together. The
covenant, ordered and sure. Father and the Son and the Spirit,
three in one. In eternal ages past, made a
covenant sure and fast. God my Father chose His own in
the person of His Son, and ordained that I should be one with Him
eternally. God the Son agreed to come in
the flesh to bring me home. He would keep God's holy law
and retrieve me from the fall. Christ in love so willingly Stood
as my great surety, For my prize he offered blood, To appease
the wrath of God. God the Spirit, heav'nly dove,
promised to come down in love, bringing life and peace and grace
to the chosen, purchased race. He seeks the lost, heals the
lame, and he brings us to the Lamb. By his mighty sovereign
call, God's elect are gathered all. This poor sinner is secure,
for God's covenant will endure. It is sealed by God's own word,
by His Spirit and His blood. Blessed Holy Covenant God, I
am yours by ties of blood, ties of grace and ties of love. Hold me to my God above. Please be seated. That is the gospel. What we just sang, I hope that
you were able to Join your heart and voice with some understanding
of those words. David said, although my house
be not so with God yet, he has made with me an everlasting covenant. That covenant was established
by a sovereign God in eternity and will last for eternity. David
went on to say, this is all my salvation, all my desire, although
we make it not to grow. I'm so very thankful that we
serve a God who is omnipotent and sovereign, who is a God full
of mercy and grace, who is a God who has accomplished our salvation. The salvation of sinners is not
an offer, it's an accomplished work. What a great joy we have
in that. We're going to spend a few minutes
this morning in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. And my hope this morning
is that you will be blessed with some assurance of your election. What are the marks of election? How do I know that God has been
pleased to choose me? And in First Thessalonians, the
Lord gives us some answers to that question, and I hope that
he will be pleased to bless them to our hearts. So let's pray
together and ask his blessing. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we come before thy omnipotent throne rejoicing in knowing that
it is a throne of grace. that we have an advocate, Jesus
Christ, the righteous one, who ever lives and intercedes on
behalf of sinners. We ask, Lord, that you would
be pleased now to send your spirit in power to minister grace to
the hearts of your children, to open the eyes of our understanding,
to enable us to know the mystery of your gospel. and to rest in
the accomplished work of our Savior. For it's in his name
we pray. Amen. 1 Thessalonians 1, beginning
at verse 4. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Oh, I want to know that I'm one
of God's elect. And we're not here this morning
or ever here to debate the doctrine of election. It's not a controversy
for us. We're here to declare it. It's
a given. It's not some in-house debate,
as some men would say it is. It is the heart and soul of the
covenant of God's free grace in the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Without electing grace, you have
no grace. It's the only kind of grace there
is. It is essential. for the salvation of sinners,
that God would sovereignly be pleased, according to his own
good pleasure and will, to choose a particular people before time
ever began, to see them in Christ for all eternity, to write their
names in the Lamb's Book of Life, and to be faithful, to be faithful
to redeem them through the blood of Christ, to regenerate them
through the power of the Holy Spirit, to keep them from falling
and to present them faultless before. Salvation is of the Lord. It begins with election. And what Paul is saying to the
church at Thessalonica and what the Lord is saying to you and
me is, O beloved, my brethren, that you might know your election
is of God. Turn with me to Romans chapter
9. Romans chapter 9. We're here not to defend electing
grace. We're not here to debate it.
We're here to declare it. And the scripture makes it very
clear in Romans chapter nine, beginning at verse 11, for the
children, speaking of Rebecca's two children, Jacob and Esau,
for the children having not yet been born, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, God declared that the
older shall serve the younger, for Jacob I have loved and Esau
I have hated." Now I know, and you read the, we're going to
read a few more verses here, man says that's not fair. That
is not fair. You know what the apostles said?
In John chapter 14, verse 22, one of the apostles said this,
Lord, how is it that thou hast manifested thyself unto us and
not unto the world? That's not a not fair statement.
That's an amazement. Lord, why? Why would you have
mercy upon me? Why would you be pleased to choose
me? I'm completely blown away. I'm just humbled before you,
Lord, that you'd be pleased to choose me. The religious world,
as Paul makes clear in Romans chapter 9, the self-righteous,
the free willer, the Pharisee would say, well, that doesn't
seem fair to me. Let's read on. Verse 14, what
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Does that mean that if God is
pleased to place his love on one and hate another, if God
is pleased to choose one before they're ever born, before they
do anything good or evil, that God, according to his purpose
and election, might choose one over the other, does that mean
that God is being unfair? That's the question. So the Lord
anticipated the question of the of the self-righteous, didn't
he? For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. It's my will, not your will.
It's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, it's
of God that showeth mercy. I will have mercy upon whom I
will have mercy, and whom I will, I will have compassion. So then,
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth salvations of the Lord. If salvation's going
to be a work of grace, it must start with election. It must. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose I have raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. God said, I raised up Pharaoh,
who wasn't one of my elect, in order to demonstrate my power. You see, in the end, in the end,
the only thing that matters is God's glory. That's the only
thing that matters. And without election, Without
election, God's not glorified. Man's glorified. Man's elevated. Man's given the credit for his
salvation if there is no election. And so God's saying, I raised
up Pharaoh for this reason, that I might show my power in him.
Therefore, verse 18, therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will
have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Hey, but old man,
who art thou that replyest against God? Again, you can just feel
the resistance on the part of man. Let me say this, child of God,
those of you who believe that our God has the sovereign right
to elect whomsoever he wills, be gentle as Paul said to Timothy,
with those who would oppose themselves, peradventure that God would bring
them to repentance and deliver them from the snare of the devil. And remember, who maketh thee
to differ? We're not standing here in some
sort of angry condemnation against the against those who reject
the truth of the gospel, or pleading with you to believe what God
has said? Oh, believe God. Believe God. It's the only gospel
that there is. But nay, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay? It's so simple. All of humanity is likened by
God as a lump of clay. And God being the potter has
the right to make from that same lump of clay some vessels of
honor and some of dishonor. No man can say unto him, what
doest thou? No man can resist him or change
his purpose. He is God. The amazing thing
is that man by nature Man by nature sets himself up on the
throne of God, and man prides himself in his ability to make
choices. He prides himself in his power
to make choices, and he spends all of his life saying that God
can't choose, but I can. What greater evidence is there
that man has made himself to be God than that? I'm the one
to determine. my own salvation, robbing from
God his glory and setting himself up on the throne of God. I've
got the right, but God doesn't. Paul goes on in Romans chapter
11 to say, even so then at this present time also there is a
remnant according to election. There's a remnant. a very small
part of man that God has been pleased to choose, and it's according
to His electing grace. And God's people rejoice. They
rejoice. If the Lord's given you ears
to hear the gospel, this is not a point of contention. This is
not a point of fear. This is a truth worthy of our
great joy and worship because we know that had he not chosen
us, we never would have chosen him. Lord, your electing grace
is the only hope I have to be saved. The only hope I have is
that you would choose me. Turn with me for just a moment
to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7. Verse 6, for thou art an holy
people. a separated people. That's what
that word holy means. It means to be made separate.
It means that God has chosen out and made you separate. For thou art a holy people unto
the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth. Why? The Lord did not set his
love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number
than any other people. For you were the fewest of all
people. He's not just talking about numbers in terms of heads. He's talking about, he didn't
choose you because you were better than someone else. No, he chose,
the scripture makes it clear, he chooses the weak things of
the world, the things that are not, the things that are despised. He chooses his elect not from
the top of the pile, but the bottom of the barrel. That's
where he chooses us from. There's no reason for pride in
this. The Lord made it clear that this
is something I've done in order to bring glory to myself. In
order to bring glory to myself. Go back with me to our text. How do we know? 1 Thessalonians
chapter one. How do we know? if we are one
of God's elect. Verse 5, for our gospel came
not unto you in word only. This wasn't just a proposition. This wasn't just a doctrine.
This wasn't just something cold and calculated that needed to
be thought through and noodled out and somehow concluded to
be true. This was a message of God's free
grace that came to your heart. Came to your heart. You know,
the man said, well, you got to have it in your mind before you
can have it in your heart. Oh, the Lord, when he brings his
word, look what he says, for our gospel came not to you in
word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in
much assurance. The word of God brought the gospel
to the heart in the power of the Holy Spirit, bringing to
you the assurance, the assurance of its truth. and the assurance
of your hope. And I know if you're like me,
there's times when you wonder if election is for you. And in
every case, you've got your eyes off of Christ and you're looking
at your own sin. Every single time. But even in
those moments, even in those moments, you have no question
whatsoever in your mind that the God who is sovereignly elected
a people, that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished their salvation. You may fear whether you be one
of them, but you have absolute assurance that the gospel must
be by grace. You're not debating this glorious
truth. You know that God is God. You
know that he has the right to have mercy upon whom he will
have mercy. You know that he will harden
whomsoever he will harden. You know he's the potter. You
know that men are the clay. You know he has the right to
make the same vessel, some of the same lump, some vessels of
honor and some of dishonor. You know that. You don't debate
that. You don't question that. Why? Because the truth of the gospel
has come to your heart. You've been taught of God. The
scripture says they shall be all taught of God. Now if this
is something that you just learned from another man, one man talks
you into something, another man can talk you out of it. But if
it's come in the power of the Holy Spirit by the Word of God
to your heart, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast hid these
things from the wise and the prudent, and revealed them unto
babes, even so, Father, it seemed good in Thy sight. God teaches
you, you can't be untaught. You just know it's true. You
know it's true. And oh, for those moments of
rest, when the Lord enables you to believe, to believe that it
was for you. to set your affections on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, not
on the things of the world, to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ
is interceding on your behalf, to believe that he shed his precious
blood for you, to put away your sin once and for all. That's
a ministry of the Holy Spirit. I can't convince you of that.
Your parents can't convince you of that. You can't convince your
spouse of that. But oh, when the Holy Spirit
ministers assurance to our hearts, then we're able to, oh, yes,
yes. He is my hope. He's all my hope. Lord, thank you. Thank you for
being pleased to choose even me, even me. to be quickened by the Word of
God. That's the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says
that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. And James put
it like this, of His own will, of God's own will begat, birth-tee
us by the Word of Truth. So the Lord, what are we doing
right now? We're preaching the gospel, the gospel of God's free
grace in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, believing
that the Holy Spirit will take this message of truth and apply
it effectually to the hearts of God's people and give them
hope and comfort and rest and joy in Christ. That's our hope. And we know that He's going to
do it. We know He's going to do it. We're not here to try
to make goats look like sheep. We're not here to try to build
a big program and get a bunch of folks. We would rejoice if
the Lord was pleased to have mercy on a large number of people. That's our prayer, but that's
not our objective is to be faithful to the gospel and to believe
that the Lord has a people and that they will believe it. They
just will. And I know they will. And here's another thing, and
I would say this to parents and, well, all of us, all of us. If a person, Chris and I were
talking about this the other night, if a person belongs to
the Lord, he's gonna keep them. He's gonna keep them. It's not
our job to go around trying to whip people into shape, trying
to fix everybody else's problems. I can't fix your problems, I
can't fix my own. I have a hard enough time taking care of myself.
But I know that if you belong to the Lord, He'll fix you. He'll keep you from falling.
And He's gonna do it through the preaching of the gospel.
When the gospel is preached, God's people are corrected. God's
people are grown in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They're brought to be grieved over their sin.
They're brought to faith in Christ. And as your pastor, that's my
hope, that the Lord's gonna keep every one of us. Much assurance, how do I know? It is the Lord that gives hearing
ear and the seeing eye, for he hath made it, the Proverbs writes. When Paul went to Philippi, he
went down to the river and found some women having a Bible study
and he preached the gospel to them and the Lord was pleased
to open Lydia's heart and she believed. If the Lord's pleased
to open your heart, you'll believe the gospel. You will. And you'll
believe that the God who is, is an electing God. There is
no other God. There is no other God. If you
don't believe that God has the sovereign right to choose according
to his own will and purpose, and that that's the only hope
that you have of being saved, then I'm here to tell you with
as much urgency as I can, you are an idolater. The God that
you have manufactured in your own imagination doesn't exist. He doesn't exist. You've just
fashioned him out of nothing, and he is nothing. He is nothing. The God who is reigns sovereign
on the throne of the universe. He's not threatened. He will
have his way. And one day, every one of us
will stand before him. Oh Lord, bring me before your
throne of grace now, lest I have to stand before your throne of
justice without an advocate, without a savior. The word of God, Paul said, our
gospel came unto you in power by the Holy Spirit and gave you
much assurance. The word of God is that which
is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, able
to divide asunder and expose the intents of the heart. When
the gospel is preached, sinners see themselves for what they
are. Lord, I have no righteousness. I have no hope of being saved.
I have nothing to bring to you. I can't bring my will. I can't
bring my works. I can't bring my knowledge. I
can't bring anything to you. I'm completely dependent upon
you to save me. How else do we know that we are
one of God's elect? I cannot tell you how many times
over the years people have come and they've
heard as clear a gospel message as we can deliver and leave here
thinking that what they're hearing here is the same thing that they're
hearing at their free will, man-centered, works, religion, church. They cannot discern the difference. Oh, they think, well, you maybe
just have a little different distinction as far as your doctrine
is concerned, but we worship the same God. And my preacher
preaches about Jesus, and he uses the Bible, and we're all
doing the same thing and going to the same place. You know that
when you're one of God's elect when you are able to discern
the difference between one who is bringing you the word of God
and one who is bringing you the word of man. You are able by
the Spirit of God to try the spirits to see whether they be
of God. Here it is, look. The gospel
came to you not by word only, but also in power and in the
Holy Ghost and in much assurance, for you know what manner of men
we were among you for your sakes. You knew that this gospel that
we preached was God's gospel, that we had learned it from him
and you discerned the difference. Turn with me to Jeremiah, Jeremiah
chapter 29. Well, let's begin in Jeremiah
chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23. Look with me at verse 16. Thus
saith the Lord. Don't you love that? I love that. You know the word heresy? The
scripture says it is necessary that heresies be among you in
order that those who are approved of God might be made manifest.
It's necessary that lies be told so that the elect of God can
be made sure of their salvation by their ability to discern the
difference between the truth and the lie. The word heresy means opinion. And your opinion and my opinion
is worth nothing. It's worth nothing. I'm not here
to declare my opinion, and I'm really not interested in your
opinion. And you could say to me, I'm not interested in your
opinion, preacher. Tell me what God says. How many times in God's
word it says, thus saith the Lord, and that's what preaching
is. Preaching is just declaring what God has said without any
if, ands, or buts about it. We're not adding to it. We're
not taking away from it. We're just declaring the word
of God. And the word of God is so clear.
It's so simple. It's mysterious to the natural
man because he's unable to hear it. But why? Because he comes
to the Word of God with presuppositions that are contrary to what God
says. And so he's trying to reconcile
what God has said to what he believes is true. And it doesn't
work for him. So rather than throwing out the
bondwoman, And her child, he keeps the bondwoman and throws
out the free. Hey, hey, hey. When God says, thus saith the
Lord, just believe God. And if that means that you, part
of salvation is being brought to repentance. And repentance
is the work of the Spirit. And the word repentance means
to have a changed mind. That's what it means. Our minds
need to be changed. Our whole thought processes need
to be changed. Why? Because my ways are not
your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
As the heavens are high above the earth, so are my thoughts
above yours. Oh Lord, enable me to repent
of my blasphemies, repent of my idolatries, repent of any
thoughts that would be inconsistent with the truth of who you are.
Teach me, Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
hearken not unto the words of the prophet that prophesy unto
you. They make you empty. vain. They speak a vision of
their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say, still unto them that despise
me, the Lord hath said, you shall have peace. And they say unto
everyone that walketh after the imagination of his own heart,
no evil shall come upon you. Just pray this prayer. Just make
this decision. Just accept Jesus into your heart.
Or just follow this rule and this regulation and you'll have
peace with God. The elect of God can discern
the difference between a false prophet and a man sent of God
to declare the truth of the gospel. They're able to say that's a
lie. Paul said, O beloved, that you might know your election,
how that the gospel came unto you, not in word only, but in
power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. For you
know what manner of men we were among you. You believed that
the message that we preached had been given to us by God,
and you were able to discern the difference. Look at verse 21 in that same
chapter. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet
they prophesied. They're telling you lies. They're
telling you lies. And men love to hear lies, and
they believe lies. You're there in Jeremiah. Turn
to Jeremiah chapter 29. Any gospel message, any message
of salvation that says God loves everybody. God wants all men
to be saved. Christ died in order to make
salvation possible for all men. Man has a free will and man has
the ability to choose or reject the gift of God resulting in
the salvation of his soul or the lost condition of his soul
is a lie. Everything I just said is a lie.
It's a lie. How prevalent is that message
in religion today? How prevalent is it? Jeremiah chapter 29, look at
verse 8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, let not your prophets and your diviners that
be in the midst of you deceive you, neither hearken to your
dreams which you have caused to be dreamed. For they prophesy
falsely unto you in my name. Oh, they use the name of Jesus.
They talk about God. They use this book. And they
twist the word of God to their own destruction, merchandising
men's souls to the damnation of sinners, because they're not
telling you the truth. Paul said, you know that you're
elect of God, because you knew, you knew what manner of men we
were when we came to you. You knew that God had sent us.
You knew the message we preached was, thus saith the Lord. It
wasn't a false gospel. It wasn't a man-centered gospel.
It wasn't a freewill gospel. It wasn't a works gospel. It
was a gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. And if you weren't
elect, you wouldn't have believed it. And if you're abutting it right
now, then you have reason to fear whether or not you're one
of God's elect. But if you're able to say, Amen,
Amen, I rejoice in knowing that all my salvation is a work of
grace. That I don't have anything to
do with it. That God's not considering anything that I've put my hand
to for the hope of my salvation. He's looking to Christ alone. He's looking to the righteousness
of Christ. He's looking to the person of
Christ. He's hearing the voice of Christ. Pray for me and intercede
for me. He's looking to the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ for the covering of my sin, and that's
it. Nothing else. Nothing else. They prophesy falsely. They say,
peace, peace, when there is no peace. Let's go back quickly
to our text. How do I know if I'm one of God's
elect? The gospel has come with power. The Holy Spirit has convinced
me and he's given me assurance of it. And the only assurance
that I ever enjoy, the only time that I ever really have assurance
of my salvation is when I believe that God's grace is electing
grace. It's the only time I have assurance.
If I think that God is looking to me for anything other than
His sovereign purpose in election, I lose my assurance. I lose my
assurance. Verse six, for you became followers
of us and of the Lord. How do I know if I'm one of God's
elect? Because you are in lockstep conformity
to the Word of God with every other child of God. Christ is not divided. We don't
have denominations among God's people. We don't have doctrinal
emphases that are different here and there and everywhere else.
We've got brethren here from two or three different churches
right now. And your pastors preach the same thing I'm preaching,
don't they? And you believe the same thing we believe. And you
can go anywhere in this world. I was in Alaska two weeks ago,
met with some brethren up there, and they rejoiced in the same
gospel you rejoice in. You go to Mexico, you meet with
God's people there, you rejoice in the same gospel, the same
Christ, the same glorious truth of God's free grace, You see eye to eye. You just
do. It's not because you're being
pressed into some mold by another man to be in conformity to a
man, but the Spirit of God. Why would God teach one of his
children one thing and another one of his children something
else? You don't do that. You gave all of your children
the same principles of life as you raised them, didn't you?
You didn't pick and choose and say, well, this is right for
you and this is wrong for you. No, you gave them all, you taught
them all the same thing. So the Lord does that. He teaches
each one of his children. You have to approach your children
differently based on their personality. And the Lord does that with each
of it. He knows our needs. He knows how to teach each one
of us. But at the end, he teaches us
the same thing. What's he teach us? Salvation's
of the Lord. I'm a God who elects, chooses
according to my will, and your will doesn't have anything to
do with it. And Christ is all, and he's in all. And every one
of God's people believe that. They just believe the same thing.
You become followers of us and of the Lord. We're all following
Christ together. We're all in agreement. That's
why we, you know, we might rub each other the wrong way or have
disagreements about other issues, but by God's grace, we're able
to forgive and it's the gospel that binds our hearts together. One church, one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and father of us all. Isn't that what scripture
says? Look at the rest of verse six,
and I'll conclude with this. How do I know if I'm one of God's
elect? The gospels come to me in power.
By the Holy Spirit, I am sure of it. And by the ministry of
the Holy Spirit, I am sure of my salvation. I'm able to discern the difference
between those that are sin of God and those that are sin of
men. I'm in agreement. I find fellowship. I like the definition. I heard
one brother say of that bunch of fellows in the same ship.
And I've been, I was in the Navy and I've been on ships and boats
most of my life. You got to be in agreement when
you're on a boat. When you're on a, you got to work together
for that ship to move in one direction. And that's the way
God's people are. They're in fellowship together. Fourthly, You received the gospel with
much affliction and joy. with much affliction and joy. When the gospel came, the prophet
said, when I ate the word of God, it was sweet to my taste,
the joy of the gospel, and it was bitter to my belly when I
swallowed it, the belly a picture of the flesh. And so it is when
the gospel of God's grace comes to each one of his children,
we receive it with affliction. It afflicts our flesh. It puts
us to death. It causes us to see what we are.
vile, mercy-begging sinners before God with no righteousness. What a dark day it is when the
Gospel first comes. You're broken by the Spirit of
God. You realize, oh Lord, if this is true, I'm hell-bound. I've got no hope. Look at me. Everything about me is sinful.
And the darkest hour is just before dawn, so that the Lord
takes you through that valley of the shadow of death before
the sun rises on the horizon in your heart, in the face of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And with great joy, your affliction
is turned to joy. You see that your righteousness
better than you ever thought it was. You thought your righteousness
was good before. Now you know that your righteousness
is nothing but filthy rags, but His righteousness is acceptable
before God. And you have great joy and great
hope and great assurance before God in Christ. You know what
the other affliction you have? When we were in religion, we
interpreted the affliction of the gospel as those who were
immoral looking down at us because we didn't do what they were doing.
That's what we thought affliction was. You've seen what's happened
in Eastern Kentucky with this woman that, what is she? She's a, what is she? Clerk of the court. And she's
refused to sign marriage license. because of her stand against
marrying homosexuals. Well, I don't mind her taking
that stand, but she needs to resign. She needs to resign. The religious right is going
to milk that for... She's in jail. They just put
her in jail yesterday. And the religious right is going
to milk that for all they can get out of it. Oh, look how we're
being afflicted by the world. Look how we're being persecuted
because of our stand. I'll tell you why she won't quit
is because she's got an $85,000 a year salary. That's the reason
she won't quit. But isn't that the way we were?
We thought our affliction was the world looking down at us
and persecuting us because of the moral stand that we took
against the evils of the world. Never, never did we experience
what the Lord said would come when he said, I did not come
to bring peace, I came to bring a sword to divide you from members
of your own family over the gospel. Over the gospel. Now the affliction
comes, not because you're self-righteously taking some stand against immorality,
but because you're standing for the truth of the gospel. And
those who hate Christ, those idolaters in the world, which
mostly is the religious right, mostly is the moral majority,
mostly is the people who would take a stand with that woman
in Kentucky, and they hate you. I hate you for the gospel. You receive the word with much
affliction. We never knew about that kind
of affliction until the Lord taught us the gospel. Okay.