Some of you who hear me speaking, if you were to die this hour, would stand before God without
an advocate to represent you. And that ought to be reason enough
for you to give your full attention to find out all you can about
the Son of God, Christ Jesus, the only hope for sinners. He willingly took the form of
a servant and willingly went to the cross
and was willingly made sin for offensive, God-hating sinners
who had no desire for Him, no love for Him, He might make those very sinners
righteous before God. That ought to give us reason
to want to pay attention and find out all we can find out
about Him. There are folks, you fellows
in this church and your mothers and your fathers who have given
a great deal of themselves, time, prayer, money to pay the rent
on this place, to support a pastor so you could have someone to
preach the gospel to you, who've waited a long time to have somebody
to preach the gospel. That ought to give us cause to
want to make sure we pay attention and listen to hear what God has
to say. There are 168 hours in the week,
and most of us are awake for somewhere around 112 hours. If we work 50 hours, and for
you that are in school, by the time you go to school and do
your homework, And if you have a part-time job or something
like that, you still end up with about 62 hours left over. We only meet here three hours
a week. Just three hours. And just one
hour at a time. And some of that is singing. We ought to be able to pay attention
and give ourselves to listen, to hear what is Christ doing? What is the Lord Jesus Christ
doing? I want you to give me your attention
tonight because the point of this message has to do with why
the preaching of God's word is so vitally important. In Acts 14.1, It says, it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together
into the synagogue of the Jews, this is Paul and Barnabas, and
so spake that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of
the Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred
up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against the
brethren. Long time, therefore, abode they
speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the
word of His grace and granted signs and wonders to be done
by their hands. But the multitude of the city
was divided, in part held with the Jews. and part with the apostles. In this short passage right here,
we learn what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing right now from
his throne in glory in this earth, wherever he sends his gospel. Verse three says, long time,
therefore a bold day speaking boldly in the Lord. which gave
testimony unto the word of his grace and granted signs and wonders
to be done by their hands. The literal translation says,
long time indeed therefore did they abide speaking boldly in
the Lord. Who, the Lord himself, who is
testifying to the word of his grace and granting signs and
wonders to come to pass through their hands? I want to look at
two things here. I want to look at the work Christ
begins through the gospel and then the work Christ continues
through the gospel. And I want you to see why this
hearing this word and giving your attention to this word and
listening, why it's so important. Verse one says, it came to pass
in Iconium that they went both together into the synagogue of
the Jews and so spoke. So wherever the King of glory,
wherever he's pleased to send forth his preachers, they go
forth with the Lord abiding in them, and thereby they abide
in the Lord. The miracle of grace of raising
up a pastor is in itself one way in which Christ testifies
to us of His grace, and it's one of the signs and wonders
He performs. But with those He raises up,
He's with them always. Remember what the Lord commanded
His witnesses when He sent them forth? He commanded them and
He gave them a promise. He said this in Matthew 28, 19,
and 20. He said, go ye therefore and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with
you always, even until the end of the world. Amen. It's true
that Paul and Barnabas went both together into the synagogue.
But truly, the reason that they spoke so was because Christ,
along with Paul and Barnabas, both went together into the synagogue. I want to go with Christ. I don't want to go by myself.
I want Him to go with me. It does no good for me to go
by myself. I want Him to go with me. Verse 3 declares that he
spoke boldly in the Lord. or that they spoke boldly in
the Lord. And it was the Lord who testified, who bore witness
to the Word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to
come to pass through their hands, as the Lord Jesus sends forth
His Word through His preachers. Just what we're doing here. It's the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
If you're going to enter into this and understand this Word
and be arrested, held up, stopped in your tracks to where you hear
what's being said here in the heart, it's going to be because
Christ speaks in your heart, testifies to you in your heart
concerning His Word of His grace. The signs and wonders which the
Lord Jesus Christ performed when He walked this earth, those signs and wonders which
were performed by the apostles all declared what sinners, like
you and me, what we need to have Christ do for us in the heart,
in spirit, and in truth. Like Lazarus, We're buried, we're
dead, and we're buried by nature in the grave clothes of sin and
depravity. The stone of the law has sealed
us in our tomb. Like the woman with the issue
of blood, we could spend everything we have, all our time, all our
money, all our energy, everything we have trying to heal ourselves
of the issue that we have in our blood, and we won't profit
from it. Like all those with physical
infirmities, our spiritual senses were lost when Adam sinned in
the garden. The Lord healed those who were
blind. We're blind to the glory of Christ. We were, as we come forth from
our mother's womb, we're deaf to His Word. You can hear me
talking physically. Why can't you believe it? Why
haven't you believed the Word of God? Because you're deaf to
what the Word's really saying. Deaf to what's truly being said
about you who don't know Him, who don't trust Him. We come forth not in our right
mind. You think you are pretty smart,
don't you? Have a pretty good mind about
you. If you haven't believed on Christ, you're insane. You're
absolutely deserving to be locked away in a loony bin somewhere. And we're impotent in our feet.
We can't walk after the Lord. We can't follow the Lord. We
can't walk in the Spirit and walk after righteousness. And
yet through the gospel, The Spirit of Christ works in the hearts
of sinners. Wonders and miracles of His grace
making us to behold Him as the wonder and the sign from the
Lord of hosts who sits in Mount Zion in Heaven's glory. Christ
is our life and therefore His gospel, through His gospel, Christ
Christ cries out in the hearts of sinners and says, Lazarus,
come forth. And we come forth alive because
He's given us life and He is that life. He's the light whereby
we see. He's the voice who speaks whereby
we hear. He's the wisdom. whereby we speak
and understand the things that are freely given to us, whereby
we have the mind of Christ to know these things, to understand
these things, and to delight in these things, and believe
these things. And He's the one who, through His blood, heals
us of our issue of blood, that we can't heal ourselves. And
He's the strength whereby, through the Spirit, we're able to walk
after Him and to follow Him and to believe on Him. When the Lord
Jesus Christ, through the Spirit, through the Word, through the
Gospel, effectually works a work of grace in a sinner's heart,
He purifies the conscience from Those things that we think are
good works, those things that we think commend us to God, and
He causes us to behold those things as dead works, as works
that can never make us accepted of God. And He separates us. When He purifies a sinner and
reveals Himself in a sinner, He separates a sinner like they
could never be separated. and keeps them separated. He makes Himself sanctification
to us. And He makes Himself our sanctuary. Have you noticed in that message
from Sunday in Isaiah chapter 8, and we'll look more at this
this coming Sunday, Lord willing, but have you noticed when you
look at Isaiah 8 and you look at Hebrews 2, Notice that word
sanctuary, what the Lord was declaring there, and what the
Lord is declaring in Hebrews 2, that He that sanctifies, and
they who are sanctified are all of one. He's declaring that when
He separates us into Him, our sanctuary, therein we're sanctified. Therein we're separated. Therein
we're protected. We have a refuge. We worship
and we dwell all in Him. And the Lord begins this work,
all of this amazing, amazing, miraculous work, He begins through
the gospel, through preaching, through His Word. That's how
it's going to happen. It's this way. You look here
with me, that's what happened in Iconium, and that's why we
read Verse one, it came to pass in Iconium that they went both
together into the synagogue of the Jews and so spake that a
great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks,
believed. And long time, therefore, they
speaking boldly in the Lord, because a great multitude believed. And they stayed there and kept
preaching. Immediately, when the Lord works a work of grace
in the heart, this is going to come across to you who don't
yet trust Christ. This will come across to you
as probably being, you'll probably say, well, why then do I want
to trust Him? But listen to this now. Immediately, when the Lord
works a work of grace in the heart, the believer's warfare
begins. Everything up to that point hasn't
been a warfare. You might get frustrated and
angry and upset and feel like you're just battling everybody,
but it's all battling to have your way and to have the lust
of your flesh, what you want to have happen, when you want
it to have happen, how you want it to have happen, all because
you want it to have happen. But then when he does something,
there's a warfare that begins that's altogether different from
that one. And one of the first battles that the believers often
faced with is it comes from those who never even had any fault
with us beforehand. Never had any fault with us at
all before. Look with me here in verse 2.
But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the unbelieving Gentiles and
made their minds evil-affected against the brethren. Verse three,
long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord.
What was it that caused the unbelieving Jews to stir up the unbelieving
Gentiles against these brethren? What made them so angry? It's
because the gospel declares all who do not believe Christ to
be just exactly alike no matter how hard we try to put a difference
between ourselves. Verse 1 says, A great multitude,
both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. The Greeks
were heathen idolaters. Let me tell you what that means.
That means they didn't have a Bible like you have. They didn't have
the Word of God at all. You might think of some tribe
somewhere that you've seen on a Discovery Channel or something
like that who are just out in the middle of nowhere somewhere
in a country somewhere where they're back in the middle of
a jungle and they don't have the Word of God. That's what
these Greeks were They were idolaters. These weren't Gentiles who normally
dwelt with those Greeks are called Gentiles. These are called Greeks
here because these were ones who didn't have the oracles of
God. Now the Jews had the word of
God. They had the law and the prophets.
And yet both of them, both the believing Jew and the believing
Greek, repented from the same thing. That's important because it means
prior to God giving them faith to believe Christ, both Jew and
Greek were in the same camp. They were in the same boat with
one another. You mean those who had the Law
and the Prophets and those who didn't have the Law and the Prophets?
You mean you who have a Bible, you who have mothers and fathers
who trust the Lord, you who come from a family who endeavors for
you to hear the Gospel, brings you to hear the Gospel, And yet,
you who don't believe the gospel yet, you mean you are in the
same camp with those folks you see on TV wearing loincloths
over in a jungle somewhere, drinking the blood of a goat, thinking
that's going to bring them to God? You're in the exact same
boat with them. Exact same boat with them. And
not only that, but those who are sitting up in the in the
grandest cathedral in the largest congregation in the finest pulpit
in this nation who don't know Christ and don't trust Christ
are in the same boat. Turn over to Philippians 3. This might help you to understand
something of what they repented of. In Philippians 3, whenever Paul
talks about what he gloried in once and what he repented of,
we begin in verse 5 here. And I want to just kind of go over this, not necessarily
verse by verse, but it says here, Paul, he said,
I once gloried in the fact I was circumcised the eighth day. That
meant that his mother and his father had him circumcised when
he was eight days old, when he was an infant. And all his life,
there's folks who have their babies sprinkled. There's folks
who have their babies go through some kind of ceremony, christening
or something, or what they call it. And all their life, they
put confidence in that, thinking, that has commended me to God.
Well, when the Jews and the Greeks both repented, They repented
from that and believed Christ. And by the Greeks, whatever outlandish,
crazy ceremony that their fathers might have put them through when
they were but infants. They said, we repent of it too.
And they declared to all that no ceremony, absolutely no ceremony,
even a ceremony given by the Lord, none of them could make
a sinner accepted of God. It says here, he said, I gloried
in the fact I was of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews, The Jews turned from putting any confidence
in their natural ancestry or in their heritage whatsoever. I went down there last year to
Mexico and the heritage and the tradition of the people there
is so ingrained in the natives of that country that the bias,
the prejudice against the gospel, being in Christ alone, goes against
everything that they stand for. If they believe that, they're
going to have to renounce what their father believed, what his
father believed, what his father believed, and what their whole
nation believed. But that's what happened here,
and the Greeks confessed none of their earthly relations profited
them before the Lord. And then it says here, he says,
as touching the law, I was a Pharisee. The Pharisees prided themselves
on their knowledge of what the law and the prophets said. And
when the Jews believed Christ here in this synagogue, when
Paul and Barnabas preached, and the Greeks believed, When the
Greeks turned from the wisdom of the world, they loved philosophy. The Greeks considered the word
of Christ foolishness because they loved the wisdom of the
world. And when they turned from their
wisdom and delighted in Christ, and the Jews turned from every
bit of vain confidence that they had put in their knowledge, how
well they could quote the law and the prophets. I'm not too crazy about when
we start having classes for the young people. I'm not too crazy
about having them memorize the books of the Bible or memorizing
verses and what have you because that's what the Pharisees put
confidence in. They were confident in the fact
that they had all these things memorized. They could quote the
law inside and out. They could quote the prophet.
They could quote them. I tell you, if you said something
wrong, if you paraphrased a verse, they can say, that's what that
verse says. They correct you on it now, but that's where in
their righteousness rested. That's what they boasted in.
They knew the law inside and out. Well, these turned from
that and said, that hadn't profited us one bit. They turned from
putting any confidence in their former zeal. Paul says concerning
zeal, persecuting the church. The Jews considered the fact
that they wouldn't have anything at all to do with the Gentiles.
They were zealous for their own way and their own tradition.
It wouldn't have anything to do with the Gentiles. They considered
that to be part of their righteousness. And the Greeks felt the same
way about the Jews. They wouldn't have anything to
do with them. There's some folks that say, I won't have anything
whatsoever to do with somebody who drinks wine, or goes to see
a movie, or was to do something on the Sabbath day. I won't have
anything to do with anybody like that. Well, your zeal counts
for zero. It counts for nothing. It doesn't
count for anything. And they repented of that. And
then they turned from trusting their outward obedience to the
law of Moses. And the Greeks didn't even have
the law of Moses, but they were a law unto themselves. You see
these countries that don't have the law of Moses, but they have
laws. They know what it is to steal
a chicken from somebody, and you get your hand cut off if
you steal somebody else's chicken, because you're not supposed to
steal from somebody. They're a law unto themselves. They have
the law of God written on their conscience. So you can hide the
Bible and never look into the Bible and go all your days, the
rest of your life, trying to say there is no God. I don't
believe there is a God. And every time that you give
any kind of assent to something being right or wrong, you bear
witness to the fact that you know there's a God. You've got
His law written on your conscience, and you know there's a God. Those that try to come to God
in the law will be judged by the law, and those that come
to God without the law, Romans 2 says, they'll be judged without
the law. So that none are without excuse. But these believing Jews
and Greeks confessed that though they had exalted themselves over
each other using these various forms of religion, The reality
was they were both the same, without Christ, without hope,
and without God in the world. That's what they confessed when
they turned from those things. That's repentance. They repented
of those things and believed Christ. They repented and believed
Christ. They counted all those things
that they once considered gain, that they once gained some assurance
from as dung, that they might win Christ and be found in Him. You know what it is to win Christ?
That means I'm not trying to gain rewards in heaven by my
obedience and to get something better than the next fella. That's
religion of the world. To win Christ is to, that's the
prize. I want Him, that's my reward.
That's who I want, is Christ. And to be found in Him, not having
any righteousness of myself, and any righteousness of myself
has to be by the law. But to have that righteousness
which is by the fidelity of Christ, through faith in Christ. That's
what they confessed they wanted. By repenting and believing on
Christ, they confessed that God was really in Christ, reconciling
the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto Him. That's
what they confessed. And they confessed, God hath
made Him sin for us. Him who knew no sin, God hath
made Him sin for us. He took all of that sin that
I thought that I, all that sin I committed in taking God's law
and using it unlawfully, taking God's word and using it unlawfully,
and all the sin of every evil thought I ever had, of every
evil word I've ever said, of every deed, what I am, what I
am, He was made. that I might be made in the same
way that He was made sin, be made righteousness in Him. And they confessed that. And
by believing on Him, they confessed that they wouldn't glory anymore
in themselves. They would only glory in Christ. That by Him, They were crucified
to the world. They were dead to the world.
And the world was dead to them. They said to those Jews who didn't
believe, who were the rulers and who were the ones who ran
the show in the synagogue, they said to them, I'm dead to you
and you're dead to me. You can't touch me anymore. You
can't have any claim on me anymore. You can't say anything to me
anymore. I'm dead to you and you're dead to me. I'm dead to
your religion and your religion is dead to me. Death is all it
is. And they said this, in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision avails anything. The law doesn't avail
anything or not having the law doesn't avail anything. That's
what we're being told here when we're told that Jews and Greeks
believed. One had circumcision, one didn't. And yet, they both were made
one in Christ Jesus through faith, declaring loud and clear that
it's not whether you have the law or you don't have the law
that matters. It's a new creation. It's being
made a new creation in Christ Jesus. And therefore, the unbelieving
Jews and Gentiles who were of the world who were of this world's
religion, who put all their confidence in some work of their hands,
whose only means of separating themselves from others was by
using those very things that these Jews and these Greeks said,
it's useless. That made them mad. It made them
hate these fellas because these fellas said, we have We have
the only one who truly separates sinners. We have now, we believe,
the only one who is truly sanctification, who is separation, who has separated
us from this world completely. We have him. And all of these
things, fellas, whether you're Jews or you're Greeks, And in
those Jews and Greeks there was a thousand different beliefs. And I said to them, all of y'all
can boast in what you believe in all you want to, and try to
exalt yourself over one another using those things, and you're
all still in the same camp. You're all still in the same
boat. None of you are any better than
the other. And we, they're saying, and we were not any better than
any of you either. And there's nothing about us
now that makes us better than any of you. We're not trying
to put a difference between ourselves and you because of something
in us. But we're saying, we don't have anything but what we receive
freely by God's grace. And He alone is the one who makes
the difference. And that made those folks mad. That made them angry. That upset
them very much so. And the unbelieving Jews, verse
2 says, stirred up the unbelieving Gentiles and made their minds
evil affected against the brethren. Now, that's what the Lord does
at first, when He first starts this work of grace in the heart.
Now, here's what the Lord continues to do through the Gospel. And here's why hearing this Word
is so important. Listen, verse 3. A long time,
therefore, a bold day, speaking boldly in the Lord.
And the Lord Himself giving testimony unto the Word of His grace, and
granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands, But the
multitude of the city was divided, and part held with the Jews and
part with the apostles. Now, a great multitude of unbelievers
held with the Jews. Sin abounded. Sin had dominion
over them. You know what it is to have dominion
over something? William, William Keller, if you
do something in your house, Can your daddy stop you? If he don't
want you doing it, can he stop you? Because he has dominion
over you. Long as you're under my roof,
that means he has dominion over you. Well, sin had dominion over
them. You know who has the dominion
over you right now who do not believe Christ? Sin does. Sin has dominion over you. You
can't do anything to please God because sin is your ruler. Sin is your king. Sin has dominion
over you. I'm not talking about things
you do that you don't want mom and daddy to find out about.
I'm talking about what you are. You can't bring yourself to God. sin has dominion over you. And
sin had dominion over a multitude in this city. And therefore,
they refused to believe Christ. They refused to believe the gospel
preached by the apostles. They preferred the husks of falsehood. They preferred the heavy, burdensome
yoke of Satan's taskmasters who made their lives bitter with
hard bondage. They preferred to live by the
sword and die by the sword. But be sure you catch the amazing
grace of God and what He continues to do through this Word. Because
this very nature still abides in the old man within the believer. Because it still abides within
us. And because just like these unbelieving Jews and Gentiles,
it abides all around us in this world. Long time, therefore,
abode Paul and Barnabas speaking boldly in the Lord. And where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Every time the gospel
of Christ's perfect atonement was preached to these believers,
Christ Jesus continued testifying of the word of His grace in their
hearts, saying to them, Sin shall not have dominion over you. You're
not under the law. You're under grace. You're under
my dominion. When you hear the word of this
gospel preached, and you rejoice in what great things Christ has
done, and you behold that all that is left for you to do is
rest in Him, that's the Spirit of Christ speaking in your heart
saying, sin's not going to have dominion over you. You're not
under the law. The strength of sin is the law.
The strength of that sinful dominion is the Law's dominion. And when
the King of Glory satisfied the Law and put away sin, He took
dominion. And He says, therefore, sin's
not going to have dominion over you. The Law's not going to have
dominion over you. I'm your King. You're under grace,
and my yoke's easy and light to bear." And so every time they
heard it, that's what they heard Christ say. And He continually
testified in their hearts that they were signs and wonders of
His grace, kings and priests unto God. And so they hailed
with the apostles. Do you see that? They hailed
with the apostles. Rejoicing with Paul, who said,
I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. In the life I now live, I live
by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. Isn't that how you live? Isn't
that how you live? I can't say it's by my faithfulness.
I can't say it's by my faith that I live. is so feeble and
faltering and foolish. And if He wasn't faithful to
keep me, holding on to me, there's no way I'd hold with Him. There's
no way I'd hold with the apostles. But because this Gospel continued
to be preached, and He continued, Christ Jesus the Lord Himself
from His throne of glory continued to testify, bear witness in the
hearts of His people through that Gospel, The sign and wonder
of all is a great multitude of Jews and Greeks held with the
apostles. They trusted the Lord. They followed
Christ and couldn't be moved. They could not be moved. They
couldn't be moved. You go out there to the shore
and you go out in a boat and you drop down an anchor. And
you can get out there and push on that boat and try to move
that boat. Wind can blow on that boat. Waves
can pound against the side of that boat all you want to. You
ain't getting that boat to move. It's anchored. It's anchored.
Well, our anchor is within the throne room of God. Our anchor
is Christ Jesus the Lord. And as long as He's testifying
in the heart of His people, as long as He's bringing us to hear
His Word and to rest in Him and keeps us, keeps witnessing to
us in our hearts, as long as He continues to do that, we have
an anchor and we can't be moved. We're held in place because He's
got hold of us. So not only does the Lord Jesus
Christ sanctify us by giving us the Word of Life in our hearts
in the beginning, but once He creates this division between
the believer and the unbeliever, between our old man and our new
man, between the spirit and the flesh, once He's created this
division, He continues to keep us separated through the same
Word of Grace. Do you see that? That's what
I'm trying to show you. A long time, therefore, Bowday
speaking boldly in the Lord. And he gave testimony to the
Word of His grace. Now, I want you to hold your
place here. And I want you to compare this, what happened here,
and what I'm trying to teach you, with what our Lord said
in His intercessory prayer in John 17. Turn to John 17. Hold
your place here in Acts 14. When the Lord walked this earth,
When He was on this earth, when He got ready to depart, and He
prayed this prayer, this is what He said concerning those who
trusted Him. Concerning those that believed
Him, here's how He said they believed Him. John 17, verse
14. Does it say, I have given them
thy word? John 17, verse 14. Here's what He said. have given
them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Now hold
your place right there and look back to Acts 14.1. It said, as
Paul and Barnabas spoke, he testified. of His grace, the word of His
grace. Christ Jesus the Lord did. What does it say there?
Verse 1, it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together
into the synagogue of the Jews and so spake the Lord giving
testimony unto the word of His grace that a great multitude
both of Jews and also of the Greeks believed. You know why
they believed? Because just as surely as He
walked up to His apostles and gave them His word in the He's
doing that right now. That's what he did in Iconium
as they preached the gospel. He said, I gave them thy word.
And what was the result? The world hated him. The world
hated him because he gave it to them. Now, likewise, back
there in John 17, likewise it's through the preaching of the
gospel of Christ that our Savior is pleased to keep us sanctified
from the evil of this world. Look at verse 15. He says, I
pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through
thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast
sent me into the world, even so I have also sent them into
the world, and for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they
also might be sanctified through the truth. Now go back to Acts
14.3. A long time, therefore, abode
they speaking boldly in the Lord. which bore witness unto the word
of his grace in the hearts of those to whom they spoke. And
he granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. And
the result was the multitude of the city was divided, part
held with the Jews, but part held with the apostles." Do you
see what I'm trying to show you there? Sanctify them through
your word. Your word is truth. And he said,
Therefore, long time they abode there and kept preaching and
he kept them separated. He kept them holding to the truth
because that's how he keeps us holding to the truth. Now let
me give you a few words here. It is of utmost importance that
you attend to the preaching of the gospel for these two reasons. First, if you'll be separated
from the carnal heart of unbelief into his marvelous light and
belief of the truth, it will be through the word of truth,
through the spirit of Christ, as Christ testifies of his word
of grace in your heart. That's how it's gonna happen.
And secondly, if you and I will continue in the faith, separated
under Christ, kept from the evil of the ungodly, It'll be the
same way, the same way. When folks find out they have
an illness, something like cancer, we'll seek out the best physician
we can find, and we'll go sit down with him. We want a one-on-one
consultation with him. And we'll go sit down, and we'll
listen to his prognosis, and we'll listen to his diagnosis.
And we'll take out a pen and a piece of paper and we'll write
down every single thing he tells us because we don't want to go
astray one bit. We want to do exactly what he
tells us to do. Because if we don't, we're going
to die. Why is it that we take lightly
the words of the great physician? Is it not that we don't believe
we truly need Him? I wish that I would attend this
Word with the same diligence that I attend to things that
will not profit me whatsoever. I heard somebody say this week
in a message, We take better care of the rug out on the back
porch than we do the Word of God. We become threatened by the unbeliever,
by the one without, and the one yet abiding in our old nature. And by threatened, I mean the
tools and the tricks and the craftiness of the deceitful heart,
whether it's that old heart, that old nature of ours or somebody
else's. It creates awful waves of concern. And it takes little things, little
things like the high price of gasoline or our busy work schedule,
or our bodily infirmities, or opposition within our family,
and we become so easily distracted by those things, they hinder
us from hearing the gospel of life and peace. When such distractions
arise, we go in one of two directions. We say, well, we're going to
cut back on hearing the word of the Lord spoken because of
some little distraction like it's costing too much to get
over there. So what we'll do is we'll just go once now and
again. You know what happens when that
happens? The price of gas gets outrageous. Our car gets less gas mileage.
Our bank account has less money. Our schedule at work gets far
too busy. Our family is bickering to no
end. Every excuse, every reason in
the book that we can have not to hear the word is as big as
a mountain keeping us from going and hearing the word. And yet when we by God's grace,
by him, by the one who won't let us go. When he makes us,
forces us, drives us, draws us to hear his word. The gas, the price of gasoline
could keep going up. The schedule could get overloaded
and the stress at work could get overloaded. All of those
things could be infinitely worse than they were. It's not that
they are removed. It's just that He keeps testifying
of the word of His grace in our hearts. And those things just
don't matter. They just don't matter. They
just don't matter. Do you think that when these
believing Jews and Greeks heard the Word of Christ preached by
Paul and Barnabas, when they were sitting there and wherever
they went to hear them preach, and they were sitting there listening
to them preach there for however long a time it was that they
stayed there in Iconium preaching, do you think that while they
were sitting there listening to that Word of God's grace that
they even cared whatsoever what the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles
were conspiring to do, never gave it a second thought. When
you're sitting here listening to this Word, does it really
matter what else is going on? Does it really matter about those
other things? Oh, that we could just know that
the only thing that will keep those things not mattering is
that this is all that matters. The Word of God's grace is all
that matters. If we would attend to this Word,
we'll find out that those things just, they can't move us. They just can't move us. Let
me close with this. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2.13. This is not something I came
up with. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Do you think that just
meant that first hour you believed? That means all our days. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to have saved us, to be saving
us right now, and to continue to save us through the preaching
of His gospel. Now listen. What did the apostle
say? 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, We
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we saw tonight. That's what happened in Iconium.
Now look at this other word. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether
by word or our epistle. That's just clear, isn't it?
That's just clear. The word of this grace, the word
of His grace, that's what we got to have. The word of His
grace.