We'll have a word of prayer asking
our Lord's blessing on the preaching of his word. But before I do,
I want to ask the church to be remembering the day his wife
Rhonda has asked for prayer. She's going to have some tests
that's going to be given, and they've requested
our our church to remember him. So be remembered, Rhonda. Turn with me to the book of Acts,
chapter 17. Let's ask the Lord's blessing. Our Father, we thank You this
evening that we can be here. It's a wonderful joy and privilege
to be able to assemble ourselves together in Your Name and to
hear from Your Word. Lord, would You bless the preaching
of the gospel tonight? Bless it to our heart and our
understanding edify us, teach us, comfort us,
we ask. Pray for Rhonda, for David, for
those in our midst, Lord, that's sick. Pray your blessing for Christ's
sake. Amen. The Spirit of God had revealed something in the
last passage that we dealt with last week that was truly an amazing
passage of Scripture. I still go back and just read
the passage of Scripture, just taken back with the depth of
what was said in verse 11 of Acts 17. These were more noble. than those in Thessalonica. Their nobility was evidenced
in that they were searching the Scriptures, receiving the Word
of God with all readiness of mind, and looking to see if what
Paul was preaching was so. Now there is the evidence. of
God Almighty doing something for somebody. They want to know
what does God Himself have to say. Not traditions of men, not
what we've always heard, just what I've always thought, but
a believer. They want to know what and who. is my hope. Tell me about Him. They've been made to see their
need of Christ, and that's a wonderful position, to know and to believe
that I need Him every hour, that He has saved me, He is saving
me, and He shall save me. Many people believed in that
city, in Berea. And the Lord was pleased out
of a number that no man can number, out of God's elect, a people
chosen before the foundation of the world. And that's what
Paul was preaching. He was preaching the sovereignty of God, that
God is the author and finisher. of our faith. Verse 13 says,
When the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of
God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came further also and stirred
up the people. It never fails but that the animosity
of the carnal heart manifests itself against the truth. 2 Timothy 3.12, Paul writing, says,
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, all that will
stand upon the Word of God, all that will live godly in Christ
shall suffer persecution. Men despise those that God has
called out of darkness and has revealed something of His sovereignty
to because it exposes their condition of being lost. This is what they
come to the conclusion. If what you're saying is so,
then what I believe is wrong. Or now they may say, well, if
what I believe is so and what you're believing is wrong, but
they hate what they hear. And that's what these Jews, unconverted
Jews in Thessalonica, they realized that Paul was now in Berea and
he's stirring up and he's exposing, he's preaching Christ, the one
that Peter had previously said concerning those just like them,
you with wicked hands, have taken and crucified. The Lord of glory. God's Christ. You did just exactly
what Almighty God had purposed in you taking him with wicked
hands and crucifying. You have absolutely done exactly
what God Almighty purposed to be done, and you did it. And
you'll answer, wicked hands. False religion cannot remain
silent against the truth. Well, verse 14 says, immediately
the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea, but
Silas and Timotheus abode there still. The brethren were the
means by which the Lord got Paul out of Berea. It says that they
went as it were, as he was going to the sea, but that's not the
way that he went. appeared as though that they
were going one way, but the Lord was pleased to send his servant
through these brethren to another place to preach the gospel. God Almighty allowing men to
do what they wanted to do, come after Paul. God used other of
his servants to send Paul to another place. where the gospel
might be preached. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. But as I said, the Lord never
leaves it up to His people to decide where they're going to
go. They that are led by the Spirit of God, they're the sons
of God. Paul had to go to another place. Well, verse 15 says, "...that
conducted Paul brought him unto Athens, and receiving a commandment
unto Silas and Timotheus, for to come to him with all speed
they departed." We're not told why Silas and Timothy didn't
come with Paul at that time. Obviously, for reasons known
to the Spirit of God, Paul went with the group by himself. And
Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea continuing to preach. There were
some believers there. that the Lord had called out
of darkness. And they were there, and these
two preachers stayed there and preached to them. And Paul went
to another place, this place in Athens. All we know at this
point is that Paul knew that some persecution was coming.
He knew the Lord had said, if they persecute you in this place,
go somewhere else. He waited on the Lord and he
trusted the Lord and the Lord sent him by these brethren to
a place that God Almighty would have him go. He was like Abraham. He was looking for a city whose
builder and maker was God. Not Athens, obviously, but by
way of Athens and Berea and Thessalonica, Almighty God had purposed that
Paul was going to come to these places and finally leave this
world. finding that city whose builder
and maker was Almighty God. So, Paul comes to this place,
Athens. As soon as he gets there, he
tells the people that brought him there, he said, now I want
you to go back and I want you to send Silas and Timothy here,
that they can be with me. Now, while Paul waited, for them
at Athens. His spirit was spurred in him
when he saw the city, holy, given to idolatry." This is where I'm
going to stay for just a few minutes tonight in this verse
of Scripture. Paul was brought by the Spirit
of God by himself. Silas and Timothy, so that Paul
could be shut up by the Spirit of God to be in a place where
he was going to have to do something that except for the grace of
God is very hard to do. Wait. Wait. While Paul waited, Waited means to expect. He waited. He was where he knew
God would have him be. He knew that he was in a place
and while he waited, while he was expecting, a place where
a man must expect from God. There's a great lesson learned
in having to wait. I'm a very, let's get it done
type thing right now. I heard Brother Scott said this,
let's get it done and get away from it. That's the way I am. That's not the case when it comes
to preaching. We are convinced that Almighty
God is going to call His people out of darkness. We know that
the preaching of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. But I can tell you this, you
can know that it's the power of God unto salvation, and you
know that you're not ashamed of it, but you're going to wait
on God. There's some folks that I know,
I've told you before, in my family. There's times that I'll just
have it go through my mind, people in my family back in Louisiana,
that I think to myself, if they'd leave this world tonight, they'd
leave without God. And do you know There's only
one thing that I can do. I can wait on God. I can ask. I can seek. I can pray. But I'm going to wait because
men are not saved. Men are not saved by blood. They're
not saved by the will of the flesh. They're not saved by the
will of man. They're saved by the grace of
God. They're going to wait. wait while Paul waited for them. David said in Psalm 25, 5, "...lead
me in thy truth." Think of what he was praying.
Now just think of these words. "...lead me in thy truth." Isn't
that what God's people want? "...lead me in your truth. Direct
me..." Listen, I'm going to tell you something. Believers govern
their life around this book. They govern their thoughts around
this book. They govern what they do and
what they say concerning the Scriptures. Leave me in thy truth
and teach me. For thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all the day. Leave me according to your truth,"
is what David said. A taught believer knows and feels
his ignorance. Teach me. Teach me. Why? Because you're the God of
my salvation. I have no salvation but you. I wait. Boy, I'm here. We're assembled here. There's a group of people, good
group of people, nice group of people who preach, but we wait. What's the Lord going to do?
Whatever He's pleased. We expect. Is God going to do
something in His service tonight? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. What's He going to do? He's going
to do whatever He's pleased to do, and His Word is not going
to return void. It's going to accomplish the
purpose for which it's sent. What is that? Whatever He purposed. What do we do? We wait. We just
wait on the Lord. All day, David said, do I wait
all the day. We're not going to expect from
God in vain. His will. Waiting. While Paul waited for them. Waiting. Expecting. You know, if you think waiting
is doing nothing, no, waiting is not doing nothing. Waiting
is worship. Worship. The essence, remember,
of worship is obedience. Remember that illustration? One
of the best I can think of. Sacrifice your son. Abraham,
why don't you take your son Isaac, your only son. And your offering
unto me is a burnt offering." Abraham and Isaac and the men
that was with him, they came to the place and Abraham said,
the lad and I are going to go yonder and worship. What was
he going to do? He was going to sacrifice that
boy. Obedience. Obedience is worship. Worship. Waiting on the Lord. Praying. Asking. Lord, we're
here tonight, and Your Word is preached. Lord, would You speak
to me? We wait on You. We wait at Your
feet. Paul was waiting. He waited for
them. Who? Silas and Timothy. But he
expected from God. He waited for them, but he waited
on the Lord. There's a big, big difference. The Lord blessed to Paul what
he started. He sent Paul to a place called
Athens. And while Paul waited, while
he expected on God, expected from God, he waited for them
at Athens, and his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the
city wholly given to idolatry. Agitated, that word stirred means
agitated with pity and distress or it means aroused to anger. This city was the center of the
arts of the known world, cultural prosperity, Innovative thinking,
I mean, Athens was it. If you want to know where it
was, it was in Athens. Beautiful, I mean, majestic stuff. I mean, I was thinking every time we go
back to Franklin, I mean, there's just something else. It's just
stuff. It's just stuff. It's just, I
mean, every way you look, I mean, it's just this, this, this, this,
this, this, just, I mean, it's this shop and that shop over
here. And there's a, you can go to another restaurant every
night for a year and never go to the same one ever, ever. Couldn't you? I mean, it's just,
you know, what kind of food, what kind of clothes do you want?
What are you looking for? You know, what kind of, you know,
what kind of car are you looking for? You know? Man, I'm thankful
for Katie. Man. Paul went and he got to
Athens and he got to looking around while he was waiting on
Timothy and Silas. And the Scripture says his heart,
his spirit, his new man, that new man, that new created, not
the old one. Everybody else was there in Athens,
and they were busy, and they had their shopping bags, and
they had this and that and the other, and they had their gods,
and they had all kinds of stuff. And Paul saw one thing. This whole city is given to idolatry. As Paul could see, there's no
respect of God here. His heart was stirred. His anger
was roused up. Let me ask you something. When
you drive down the road and you see a sign on a church building
and it's got some disrespectful, you know, it's got C-H, blank,
C-H, what's missing? You are. It's got something disrespectful. There's something in a believer
that's stirred within him that's just, you're thinking, that's
disrespectful. You say you worship God Almighty,
and you're disrespectful. They're stirred up. You know
people, they go and they They search after and they seek after
and they long after whatever their heart dictates. And Paul
saw in all of this prosperous stuff, you'd think, man, you
know, the will says the blessing of God that gains godliness.
And Paul had a heart that saw that this whole thing is ungodly. And it aroused him. You saw that
city wholly given to idolatry. Ephesians 4.26 says, Be ye angry,
and sin not. Let not the sun go down on your
wrath. You know, anger is an attitude
of displeasure. This is what it is. Anger is
an attitude of displeasure against that of which we don't agree.
That's anger. And I know in men, anger is generally
uncontrolled. I have a hard time controlling
anger. I get, you know, and I'll bet
you I'm not the only one in here. I'll bet you I could pick out
every person in here and you the same way. We don't easily
control our anger, but when that something is against that which
we agree with, we're angry. But obviously, based on this
Scripture, be ye angry and sin not, there's an anger that's
not sinful. An anger that's not. Paul was
stirred. His spirit was stirred. He was
angry. Why? Because of the honor of God Almighty. The honor of God. Paul had been
called out of darkness, spiritual darkness. God had shown him some
things. He had said, I knew a man 14
years ago, in the Spirit, out of the Spirit. I don't know.
But he said, I saw things that are unspeakable. And because
of the abundance of the revelation, because of the abundance of the
knowledge, a messenger of Satan was given me to buffet me lest
I should be exalted above measure. And Almighty God had taught this
man something. And he saw the disrespect He
saw the love of this world and the idolatry in this city. Angry. Almighty God had told
Moses that he was to go to Egypt. This is back in Exodus 4. And
Moses gave the Lord an excuse. This is what he said. He said
he wasn't eloquent. He said, I've got a slow tongue. Slow tongue. Backward in speech. I don't know if he had a speech
impediment. I don't know if he just felt like he just butchered
the Hebrew language. I don't know what. But he told
the Lord. When the Lord told him, he said,
I want you to go into Egypt. I can't do that. The Scripture
says in Exodus 4.14, And the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Moses. And you know, God Almighty is
justly displeased with rebellion. Justly displeased. Though He
was angry, I mean to tell you, when I read this and the anger
of the Lord was kindled against Moses, I wanted to know what
that meant because, you see, I can find myself in a position
as being a believer that would be tied in there with Moses. Therefore, if the Lord's anger
was kindled against Moses, I wanted to know what was actually going
on. God Almighty, the Scripture says
that the anger of the Lord the passion kindled against Moses,
but he never rejected Moses. He had everlastingly loved Moses.
The justice that was due Moses and all like Moses was absolutely
dealt with in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute. the surety of God's elect, the
surety of God's sheep. Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ
died at Calvary, do you think that He was absolutely, as Brother
Scott was just telling us, the sin that was imputed to Him? Do you think that it was truly
guilt, and do you think that God was angry? Do you think that
the wrath of God was spewed out upon the Lord Jesus Christ? Absolutely. And when Almighty God told Moses,
going to Egypt, and Moses disputed his word, the Scripture says
the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. But listen to
this, Psalm 106-7. Listen to the mercy of Almighty
God that deals with us even now. Our fathers understood not thy
wonders in Egypt, They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies,
but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless,
he saved them for his namesake, that he might make his mighty
power to be known." Turn with me to this passage, Psalm 103.8.
Psalm 103.8. I started by saying all this.
There is an anger that is not sin. And I'm dealing with right
now Scripture that talks about the anger of the Lord. God Almighty forgives His people.
Do you think that the rebellion of God's people, I'm talking
about right now, and if we say that we have no sin, we make
God to be a liar. Do you think God is just oblivious
to this? Well, no, He's not oblivious
to it. but for His mercy's sake. Psalm 103, verse 8, The Lord
is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide. That means manifest His displeasure. He will not manifest. He's slow.
He's long-suffering. He will not always chide. Neither will He keep His anger
forever. He has not dealt with us after our sins. nor rewarded
us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. For
as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed
our transgressions from us like a father. Like as a father pitieth
his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knows our frame, He remembers
that we are dust. Oh, but for the grace of God,
when we, I'm talking about as God's people, but for God's everlasting
covenant, what hope would we have? God's anger was kindled,
but for His mercy's sake. He dealt with Moses in mercy,
and He does. But I'm telling you, His honor
His honor. Paul's spirit that was directed
and led, they that are led, the spirit that is within a man,
the new man, led by the Spirit of God, stirred in him when he
saw the city wholly given. God's people are stirred when
they behold disrespect before Almighty God. Paul's saying nothing
but filth and stench of rebellion and idolatry whenever Moses came
down off the mountain. I mean, you read this passage
of Scripture, and I mean, you're thinking there is no way in the
world that they could have actually said what they said. Here was
Moses. He went up and received the two
tablets of God's law. He came down. And what he saw
was a golden calf. And he threw these two tablets. He was angered at the disrespect
of those that God Almighty had delivered out of Egypt. And Aaron
says, they gave me all this gold and
I just threw it in the fire and this golden calf just came out
of it. And Moses took it and burned
it, ground it up, put it in the water. They didn't drink. Whenever
the Lord Jesus Christ was in this world, and he came into
the temple, and there were money changers who were selling, well,
they were selling sacrifice of these doves and things like that. It was a business. All it was
was a business to them. Here was Athens and there were
idols. There were gods everywhere. And
it was a business. That's all it was. And Paul saw
it in the Spirit of God within him that led him and taught him. He was stirred up and angered. at the disrespect. Let God's
honor, God's name, God's glory be our concern. The care of this
world pales. If God be God, follow Him. Follow Him. Those called out
of spiritual darkness, taught, by the Spirit of God, made to
realize something of God's mercy toward them, long to see Him
magnified." And when someone... It's a game. It's just a game. It's not real. The Lord says,
with their mouth, they do honor Me, but their heart's far from
Me. Anger. Psalm 69, 9 says, For the zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them
that reproach thee are falling upon me. Zeal for God's honor. Now, listen to this. I thought
this through before I wrote this down. Zeal for God's honor. If there is zeal in a man or
a woman, if there is zeal there, that's by the grace of God. That's
an amazing thing, to find true zeal for God's honor. A believer will look at himself
and say, You know what? I don't see any zeal in me. I
just don't. But true zeal for God's honor
is little understood, and the world will question the sanity
of those that possess it. They look at you and say, Man,
you've gone over the top. Don't you think of anything else?
Those who religiously blaspheme Almighty God will curse God's
servants too. Paul seeing the city wholly given
to idolatry means he was zealous for the Lord's honor. Isaiah
62.1, this is obviously the last verse speaking of The Lord Jesus
Christ speaking these ultimately, for Zion's sake, for the church's
sake, for the church, the bride of Christ, for Zion's sake, will
I not hold my peace? For Jerusalem's sake, I will
not rest till the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. Why? Let
me ask you this. Why? Do we continue doing what we
do? Recently, we've been supporting
the missionaries down recently. I've tried to speak to as many
of you men as I could. These men down there preaching.
And the Lord's blessed it. And we want to do what we can. Not so that they can say, well,
I'll tell you what, Katie Baptist Church, because I'll tell you
this, I'm sure that there's other churches that probably give more
than we give. But why do you do it? Why do you do it? Why
do you give? Why do you come? The zeal of thy house. The zeal
of your honor. The zeal of your glory. Your grace and your mercy. has
eaten me up." Thankful. Thankful. Paul came to this city,
waited, expected from God. What did the Lord do? He hemmed him up. And it got
Paul looking around. And when he looked around, he
saw all of this prosperity. But what was it? This was their
God. This was their God. As we go on in, he gets to talking
to a group called the Epicureans and the Stoics, and he saw an
altar that says, To the Unknown God. And Paul says, This is the
God I'm going to tell you about. Not all these other gods that
you've got here, but I'm going to tell you about this God. But
before Paul was ready to preach, before Paul was put in a position
to where he knew what to say, God hemmed him up and taught
him something. And taught him something by making
Paul wait. Wait. He waited for them. And while he waited, his spirit
was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Oh, may God Almighty stir our
hearts, that we might behold and long after and seek after
the glory of Almighty God. This life is but a vapor. Paul the Apostle, as far as this
life is concerned, dead and gone. Man, everybody we read about
in here, humanly speaking, they're gone. But those that God called
out of darkness, they're alive today. beholding Him who is their
hope, beholding Him who is their salvation. May God Almighty,
for this church, for every member of God's elect, every member
of God's bride, may God Almighty stir our hearts. That's not a crazy request. May God Almighty stir our hearts. that we might seek after and
long after and long after his honor and glory and his praise
and our good, his glory. May God stir our hearts for that. All right, Gary, why don't you
come lead us in a closing?