Let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter
2, and we'll read verses 1 through 13. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2,
beginning in verse 1, and we'll read through verse 13. For yourselves, brethren, know
our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain. But even
after that we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated,
as you know at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto
you the gospel of God with much contention. For our exultation was not of deceit,
nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. But as we were allowed of God
to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak. Not as pleasing
men, but God which trieth our hearts. For neither at any time
use we flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covenants,
lest God is witness. Nor of men thought we glory,
neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome
as the apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you,
even as a nurse cherishes her children. So being affectionately
desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not
the gospel of our God only, but also our own souls, because you
were dear unto us. For you remember, brethren, our
labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would
not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the
gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also,
how holy and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you
that believe, as you know, how we exhorted and comforted and
charged every one of you as a father doth his children, that ye would
walk worthy of God, who hath called you into his kingdom and
glory. For this cause also, thank we
God, without ceasing, because when When we when he received
the word of God which he heard of us he received it not as the
word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which affection
like word of all thing also in you that believe. We thank you
again our father for the privilege of getting together. Thank you
most of all our father that you've imparted to us a word of truth.
You've allowed us to believe. On your son, we thank you, Father,
for everything that has taken place as best that we know how. Oh, our Father, would you show
mercy to us one more time? Give us a service here, Father,
that will be honoring unto you and bring comfort unto your people,
we pray. Care for us as we leave. Lord,
you know the situation here in every place, and we pray, Father,
that you might be pleased to grant us traveling mercy as we
Go south. Care for us, we ask. We pray
it in your name. Amen. Take your Bibles, please, and
turn with me to the book of Acts, Chapter 17. Acts 17. The passage of Scripture that
Brother Carl just read was a portion of a letter that
Paul the Apostle wrote to the Church at Thessalonica. And what he said to this group
was obviously of great comfort. relating to them that they were
quite aware of how he had been treated at Philippi. And what I mean when I say that
is how that he was taken, beaten, not even given a hearing, thrown
in jail. Obviously, all that did that
meant it for evil. God meant it for good. because
the Lord called a Philippian jailer out of darkness. But it was still inexcusable
what they actually did. Men do what they do because that's
what they want to do. And though God Almighty takes
it and turns it and works it for good, still men are without
excuse. You know that after Paul and
Silas Timothy had been escorted out of town by the magistrates
that Paul had said, We're not going to let them just send us
out of town like common criminals. The name and the honor and the
character of Almighty God was set forth and such that Paul
was not going to just leave under the cloak of darkness and let
people assume these vagabonds somehow pulled a few strings
and got out. No, he said, ìNo, you tell them
to come out there, and they can escort us out kindly, at least
outwardly kindly.î And they did. in Acts 17 with this journey,
this missionary journey that these preachers have been on. It says, now, when they had passed
through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, and
there was a synagogue of the Jews. Now, something was just said. that
if we're not careful, we'll miss, which is very easy to do. You
know, you read something, and you read it, and you just . .
. It's said that they went through two cities, Amphipolis and Apollonia. And those two cities are mentioned
one time in Scripture, right here. They're never mentioned
again. Now, obviously, this is what
we conclude from that statement, that verse of Scripture. The
Lord didn't have a people there. There was no one in that place
that Almighty God at that time, that Almighty God was pleased
to stop these men and have them preach the gospel. The Spirit
of God just was pleased to just lead them right through those
cities. They walked through. According to that Scripture,
they didn't say anything to anybody. Nobody said anything to them.
It was just two men, as far as this, or three men that this
city knew about, and they just walked through there, and that
was the end of it. The disciples had been commissioned
by the Lord. to go into all the world and
preach the gospel. But they're directed where they're
going to go. This is not just left up to man's
discretion to where we think, well, we'll just raise up a church
in this way. No. I was talking to Brother
Walter Groover, and I asked him one time. Walter, I said, you're
down here in the Yucatan. How does a church... I know the Lord is going to raise
up a church. How is it manifested? He said, well, we'll go somewhere,
and He said, I'll ask the person in charge of the city. Do you
mind if we set up a place? Maybe show a little film. It
may just be a nice little movie. Just something to get the people
to come. He picked something. And after
he gets the people there, he preached to them. And he said,
we may try that a time or two or half a dozen times. And he
said, and see whether or not the Lord will move upon someone's
heart in that place to say, would you come to my house and preach? I'd like for my neighbors to
hear what you had to say. And he said, we'd just watch
and see, and see if the Lord raised up a church. And if nothing
happened, they'd go somewhere else. Wasn't trying to, you know,
whip a dead mule. They'd just see if the Lord's
going to raise up a place. And so these men were sent to
Thessalonica. They went through two cities.
The Lord didn't stop them. And so they continued on. You know, back in Acts 16.6,
I want to show you something that's very, very marvelous here. Acts 16.6 and 7. Remember, it says, Now when they
were gone through Persia and the region of Galatia, and were
forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, After
they were come to Mithia, they assayed to go into Bithynia,
but the Spirit suffered them not." Now, what happened? The Spirit of God didn't let
them go to Asia. It didn't let them go to Bithynia.
But I want you to turn over to 1 Peter 1.1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. The Lord
had a people in Asia and Bithynia, but not at the time of Acts 16. They weren't there. It could
have been that someone hadn't been born yet. Someone hadn't
moved there yet. You see what I'm saying? I mean,
we're here tonight to preach the gospel. This is the most
serious thing that we will ever do. Nothing is more important
than this. And here we are tonight to hear
the message of God that Almighty God has ordained that He will
allow to be preached here tonight. You see how important this is.
Who knows? God may call someone tonight
out of darkness. Almighty God might be pleased
to bless this message tonight. What if it was your child? What
if it was your mother or dad Sister, you see what I'm saying? This is so serious. Here they
are. They're going to Thessalonica. Almighty God is sovereign in
that which he does. He sent them. He sent them to
a place where before, he wouldn't allow them to go. Why? Because he's God. This is the
God of this Bible. This is not the God, Bob, that's
being preached today, where men are trying to get God to do something. God Almighty does as He will. The Lord says in Amos 4, 7, I
caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon
another city. It hadn't been raining down in
the southeast part of the United States. Why? Because God didn't
send rain. Why is there a drought there?
Because God Almighty sent a drought. There is a hole in the ozone
later. No. God Almighty does what He
does according to His will. They passed through these two
cities, and they were going to Thessalonica. God had a people
there. Well, verse 2 and 3, Paul, as
his manner was, in unto them, and three Sabbath
days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging
that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead,
and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ." Paul, he
reasoned with them, Scripture says, reasoned with them out
of the Scriptures. Now, the apostle, because of
the way that he did, every time he went somewhere. Obviously,
he had found, under the leadership of the Spirit of God, the way
that Paul would preach. He was preaching the gospel,
but his manner, the way he preached. Two men can be preaching the
same message, but there may be some differences in their mannerisms. Paul had found by experience
that the best way was to go to the synagogue where the Jews
were. There were Gentiles usually there,
and he would find that by going to a place where God was openly
admitted to be believed, that he would have a healing. He would
be able, and he reasoned with them. out of the Scriptures.
Now, that reasoning there, what it means is question and answer.
Now, we don't have a question and answer session here. We prepare
a message and we preach. And I've told people before,
someone would say, well, I'll tell you what, man, I've got
a friend. I try to talk with him, but every
time I try to talk with him, Well, they ask me something,
and I don't always know exactly how to answer it. My answer is
this. Invite them to come. Invite them
to come. I'll have 45 minutes, and I've
got a captive audience. And no one is invited for any
questions, unless Brother Scott wants to ask a question. It's not a question and answer
session. But Paul found by sitting down
with these Jews, He would reason with them out of the Scriptures,
and he alleged that Christ must, needs, have suffered and risen
from the dead again. He openly set forth the Word
of Almighty God. He laid it out and said, now
this is what the Scripture says from the Old Testament concerning
the Christ. He who would come, what would
happen, what the signs would be. And then he related and said
the Lord Jesus Christ who was crucified, he is the Messiah. He was the Messiah that was here.
He said Christ must needs have suffered. Why must he needs have
suffered? Why? Well, first of all, to fulfill
the Scripture. God's Word is so. He must have
suffered. Isaiah 53 says, "...it pleased
the Lord to bruise him." Isaiah 53 said that. So when the Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world, he must need have suffered. Number two, he must need suffer
to accomplish God's will, to save a people. He must suffer. He must suffer. He must suffer. Why? Well, Exodus 33, 19, out
of the Old Testament now, Paul would take the Old Testament
scriptures and he would reason with them. Ask him a question,
he'd answer them with scripture. Remember this, if you ever want
to, if someone asks you a question, the Word of God. That's the only
basis. Someone came to Brother Henry
Mahan one time and asked him, said, I want to ask you a question.
And he said, well, OK, and they asked him a question. He said,
well, let's see what the Bible says. She said, I don't want to know
what the Bible says about it. I want to know what you say about it.
He said, well, I don't have an answer for you then. The scriptures. What sayeth the scriptures? Exodus
33, 19, the Lord said, I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious.
I'll show mercy on whom I'll show mercy. So who must needs
have suffered for God to show mercy, for the Lord to show mercy
to me? Christ must die. He must suffer
that God will show mercy to me. Thirdly, he must suffer that
the demand of God's law be satisfied for God to be just and justify
a people. When the Lord Jesus Christ said
out of Psalm 22.1, here again Paul takes the Old Testament
Scriptures, Paul said, when David wrote, My God, my God, Why hast
thou forsaken me?" He said, those were the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ on the cross. He must needs have suffered to
fulfill exactly what David said, under the inspiration of the
Spirit of God, he would say. He said he must needs have suffered
and he must needs have risen again, again to fulfill Scripture. Why? Psalm 1610 says, For thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine
Holy One to see corruption. He must come out of the ground.
Why? Because his body would not see
corruption after three days. If that body didn't come out,
it's going to start seeing corruption. His body would not see corruption.
He must have risen. Secondly, he must rise for the
justification of God's saints. Romans 4.25 says, He who was
delivered for or because of our offenses and was raised again
for our justification or because God had justified us. Almighty
God had justified His people in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ before the foundation of the world. to show, to set
forth that God had justified his people. When Christ came
out of that grave, he came out proving, setting forth because
God had justified his people. And thirdly, I'll tell you why
he must needs have risen again. To attest to his deity, he said,
I have power to lay down my life. I have power to take it again.
He came out of that grave. He said, I'm gone. I can lay
down my life and put away guilt, and I can take my life back again. Who could do that for God? Well,
look at the effect of God's blessing on this. Verse 4 of Acts 17,
And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas,
and of the devout Greeks of great multitude, and of the chief women,
Not a few. There were some in this area
of Thessalonica at that time that believed what Paul was preaching. Why did they believe it? Well,
you know this. Because Almighty God had chosen some. Not all of them, because I'm
going to tell you something. Verse 5 is going to show the attitude
of those that God left to themselves. But there were some. that the
Lord had chosen a remnant according to the election of grace. And the Spirit of God blew upon
the Lord's garden, and God gave them a new heart. And they heard
what Paul was preaching, and they said, I believe that. I
believe what you're saying. I believe that the Scriptures
I never saw that before now. Isn't it amazing how things that
you read and you read those things, and all of a sudden, the Lord
gives you some light on it and you think, that's good. I didn't realize that that's
what it was talking about. And boy, a believer just sees
something, their heart just rejoices and they think, that's speaking
of my Lord. That's speaking of Christ. I
enjoy that, and they consorted with Paul. What they associated
with him is what it means. They wanted to be with him. You
know, birds of a feather, this is true, whether good, bad, or
indifferent, birds of a feather flock together, don't they? They
do. Believers want to be around believers,
and unbelievers want to be around unbelievers. These right here,
they believed. That's what it says. Some of
them believed, and they associated, they aligned themselves with.
They wanted to be around Paul, wanted to hear what he had to
say. There were some that believed, and some of the devout Greeks,
a great multitude, and of the chief women, not a few. Salvation,
not of blood. It is not of the will of man,
not of the will of the flesh. It is of God. God blesses and
He calls out those that He has everlastingly loved. He sent
these two or three preachers there, and they preached because
God had a people. Oh, how tender is the new heart
that is created in righteousness. The gospel is to those that believe. It's life. Now unto life. Unto eternal life. But to those
that believe not, it's death. They just tolerate it. They just,
you know, how much longer? How much longer is he going to
be? Aren't you about done? These men, they hung around. They listened. But the Jews,
which believed not, moved with envy, took upon them certain
lewd fellows of the baser sort, gathered a company, and set all
the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought
to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not,
they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city,
crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come
hither Now, unbelieving religious. You know, there's a lot of unbelieving,
but then there's a group that I'm referring to now, and that's
what these were, the Jews which believe not. That right there,
that Jew, the Jews that believe not, this is talking about religious
people. As I've said before, you could
go back, I guarantee you. I always had it in my mind that,
you know, I'd read about it in the Old Testament and there would
be Jerusalem. I thought you'd take the whole city of Jerusalem. And everybody, I thought everybody
went to church. Everybody went to the synagogues,
you know. It was just the thing that everybody did. But there's
many times that I would read where the Jews that believed
not would get a lot of the people of the city and get them in on
it. Well, evidently what it means
is it means that they did just what we do today. There's a lot
of religious folks, but then there's a lot of folks that just
don't ever care to go. They don't ever go. They don't
go anywhere. They just go to work and then they're off on
a weekend. They just do their thing. They, you know, hunt and
fish and whatever they want to do, they just do. These fellows
right here, these Jews, religious people. They got them
some guys that weren't Jews, took them certain lewd fellows
of the baser sort, gathered a company. Isn't it amazing how people that
have no interest whatsoever in the gospel, but you can get some
religious folks and they get them riled up against those that
are truthfully preaching the truth. And boy, I'll tell you
what, here again, boy, they could get them together, you know,
and just, you know, Caiaphas and Pilate and all those, those
guys didn't like each other. But when they found a common
enemy, the Lord Jesus Christ, that's when they bonded together,
wasn't it, Brother Scott? You know? Boy, I'll tell you
what, they were all big buddies then. These guys got together. They could not refute. Neil, you and I talked about
this the other night, couldn't refute what Paul was preaching. They had the Scriptures. They
had the Scriptures. And Paul was setting forth that
the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he showed in reason with
them, alleging, setting forth, and told them, said, this is
who. The Scripture spoke of you saw
him. Many of you were here. You witnessed
it. This is the Lord hadn't been
gone long. They couldn't refute what he
was saying. So I said last Sunday. Take the
scriptures. Show me from the Scriptures where
what we're saying is wrong. Show me. from the Scriptures
that man is in control of his own destiny, and God is not sovereign. Show me that, and we'll believe
it. But if you can't, then this Word
stands, and it does stand. You know it does. They couldn't
refute what Paul was preaching, but they would not deny their
false gospel, their false religion. They couldn't disprove what he
said, but they had that attitude, I'm not going to have that man
roll onto me. So they attacked the messengers
of God. Do you know why men hate that
message? Because it exposes what they
believe is a lie. What you're telling them is this.
If what this Bible is preaching is so, then what you believe
is wrong. They can't handle that, Rob. These troublemakers, here again,
just like the troublemakers in Philippi, they meant it for evil. God meant it for good. And these
street thugs accused Paul and Silas of doing what they truly
did for the glory of God. have turned the world upside
down, and they've come here also. That's right. Yeah, they sure
did. Turned the world upside down. How's that? Well, by God's power
and purpose and grace, they preach the only message that turns men
from trusting idols to the true and living God. The only message
that the Spirit of God blesses that turns me. That's what the
prophet said. Lord, turn me. Turn us and we'll
be turned. That's what he said. You turn
us, Lord, and we'll be turned. We can't turn ourselves. These
men preached the message that refuted free will, religion,
free will, false salvation, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
to be solved. Turned them from the love of
sin to the love of Christ. Turned them in. Verse 7 said,
"...whom Jason hath received." That's what they were saying.
This Jason, evidently, doesn't exactly tell who it was, but
obviously it was one of the believers. And he had consorted with Paul
and Silas and Timothy. They said, "...whom Jason hath
received, and these do all contrary." to the decrees of Caesar saying
that there is another king, one Jesus. There was. There was another
king. See, they were trying to accuse
these men and make what these men were saying to be a bad thing,
and they couldn't. They just couldn't do it. These
men turned the world upside down. Well, according to God's purpose,
Almighty God turned whomsoever He will. These men are preaching that
there's another king besides Caesar. There is a king. He's the king of Caesar. He's the king of kings and the
Lord of lords. Psalm 26 says, "...Yet have I
set anointed my king upon my holy hill Zion." He's the king
by appointment. by power, and his subjects love
to have it so. God's people love the thought,
we have a king, and he rules in righteousness. He's right,
he's fair, he's just. His empire is spiritual, and
it's eternal, and it's not of this world. He rules righteously. I'm telling you, it's the most
blessed thought to realize that though men try to accuse, falsely
accuse, and try to make God's preachers look bad and downcast
and try to take anything they can find that is a weakness in
his physical condition or anything. They'll lie on him if they have
to. They did to you, brother Scott. You know they did. They'd
lie, they'd just deny it. Trying to put any kind of dispersion
on God's men. But Psalm 45, verse 6 says, and all that God has purposed
to do from that throne. Raise up a church at Katy? Keep
it here fifty years? There's some here that realize
what a blessing that is. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. He is a lawful monarch. He's the king. Even when he shall
order his enemies to be cast out, he's right. Men may not
recognize or bow to his throne now, but you listen to me, and
you know what I'm about to say is so. There's not a person in
this room, there's not a person in this town, there's not a person
in this universe that not one day is going to bow. And they're
either going to say, Lord, you're God. Thank you for having mercy on
me. Or they're going to bow and they're going to say, Lord...
That's what they're going to say. Every man is going to confess
that he's Lord. They're going to say, Lord, you're
right for casting me into hell. You're right. And I'll spend
eternity remembering. I'll spend eternity remembering,
especially if they ever heard the gospel. It'll be worse on
them. That's what Scripture says. It'll
be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than it will be for
Capernaum where they heard the gospel. Why? Because they'll
remember. I heard it. Oh, I heard it. I remember. I remember. Yeah, he's the king. In the last
two verses, and they troubled the people and the rulers of
the city when they heard these things. And when they had taken
security of Jason, they set a bond. They made them
pay. Made them pay to turn these guys
loose, you know. They accused him of something,
and somebody had to pay a bond to get him out. Boy, the love
of money is the root of all evil. When they had taken security
of Jason and of the other, they let him go. You know, these last
two verses set forth the attitude of men left to themselves, troubled,
void of any understanding of God or God's people. But thanks
be to God. Brother Carl read, this was the
last verse that he read a while ago out of 1 Thessalonians. For
this cause, Paul wrote to that church years later, to the church
at Thessalonica. He visited it here. And later,
I don't know how long later, but later he wrote him a letter.
And this is what he said, for this cause also, thank we God
without ceasing, because when you receive the Word of God which
you heard of us, you received it not as the Word of men, but
as it is in truth, the Word of God which effectually worketh
also in you that believe. You know, a believer, Truthfully,
and I think I could say this right as a preacher. I could
truthfully say, I thank God for everyone that God calls out of
darkness. Everyone that the Lord gives
a heart to believe. I thank God. I can't thank you. I can't thank myself. What have
we got to be thankful for in ourselves? Nothing. I thank God
without ceasing that when you heard the Gospel, that you received
it. How? By Almighty God giving you
a heart, giving you a new mind, a new understanding, a new will. I thank God that God didn't leave
you to yourself. I thank God that God didn't leave
you to the care of this world. I thank God that He called you
out of darkness and gave you a mind and a love a desire for
Him. It kept you. It kept you. I thank
God that when you heard the Gospel, Paul says, you didn't receive
it as the Word of men. These are not, as Paul says,
cleverly designed fables. We're not just taking up time
on a Wednesday night. I thank God that God would call
His people out of darkness, and that they would receive that
Word, not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word
of God.