Born is here, born as angel,
we are spoken. I am city of my God. His work cannot be broken, only
for him I shall go. Thank you, Sherry. Thank you,
Gabe. Let's go to the book of Acts
now. Acts chapter 17. We read Isaiah 59 because it goes well with what we're going to look at.
Acts 17. Let's read the first seven verses. Now when they had passed, Paul
and Barnabas, through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. Thessalonians. We have two books
to the Thessalonians. We're going to look at those
in a little bit. They came to Thessalonica where
there was a synagogue of Jews. Paul, as his manner was, his
customs, his habit, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days,
three weeks, reasoned with them out of the Scripture, preached
the Word, opening and alleging that Christ's must needs have
suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus
whom I preach unto you is Christ." And amazingly, some of them believed
and consorted with Paul and Silas. It means they became fast friends,
bosom buddies with Paul and Silas. And the devout Greeks, a great
multitude of the chief women, not a few. But the Jews, which believed not, though religious,
though very devout, though Sabbath keepers, though said they believed
God and read the Word, they believed not. And they moved with envy. They took unto them certain lewd
fellows of a baser sort, gathered a company, a crowd, and set all
the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason. Verse 7 says,
Jason received the apostles. Jason was one of those believers
there at Thessalonica who took Paul and Silas into his house.
They assaulted his house and sought to bring Paul and Silas,
verse 5, out to the people. But they found them not, so they
drug Jason and certain brethren of the believers under the rulers
of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside
down are come here also. They said, Jason hath received
them. These do all contrary to the
decrees of Caesar. And they say that there's another
king, one Jesus. These that have turned the world
upside down. That's what the Gospel does.
That's what the truth does. When the truth comes to a place
by the mercy and grace of God, when God Almighty chooses a people
and sends that truth, the gospel, where they live to the community,
to the place where they live, that truth turns it upside down. Thank God. When God's Word is
preached, and that's what these men did,
and that's all men sent by God do. They preached this as the
Word of God, not the words of men. They stood up and they said,
this is God's Word. This is not Isaiah's Word, it's
God's Word. This is not Jeremiah's Word,
it's God's Word. This is not Moses' law, it's
God's law. This is God's Word. It really
is. People say, oh, we don't believe that. When the truth
of God, that God is God, God is God. I'm not trying to
be. God never has, does not now,
nor ever will try to do anything. The God who is God worketh. All things after the counsel
of His will. He says, I will. Done. Yeah, but no, it's going to be
done. Just as soon as He willed it.
Before the world began. God Almighty says, I purposed
it. Done. That's God. That's who's God.
When that God is declared, It turns things upside down.
He's not trying to be God. He doesn't want to do anything.
God doesn't want to do anything. Nowhere in the Bible does it
say God wants you to know. When the truth of man, the truth about man is declared,
that is what God says about man. And you read. You search. any
place in this book and finds where God says something good
about man. Brother Coffey quoted it to us,
Isaiah 1. He said this is what God's Word
says. It says, from the sole of the
feet to the top of the head, There's no sound of sinners.
Not one good thing. Not one good thing. That turns people upside down.
When the truth of the God-man, you know that Jesus, His name
was Jesus. Still is Jesus. But that's not
His only name. That's not the name He bore before
He came to this planet. That One named Jesus that they
named, the angels named, that Mary, He said, you'll call His
name Jesus. That Jesus, that baby that was
born, that child that was born, that they named Jesus. You know
who that is? It's God. Now, I don't just mean
the Son of God. God who created all things. Without whom nothing was made
that was made. Very God. A very God. In whose hands our breath is. The one in the arms of that woman was
really her God. That's right. You declare that, it turns this
world upside down. That man that came here, Jesus,
yeah, we believe in Jesus. He's God. Oh, no, no, wait a
minute. Wait a minute. It turns him upside
down, doesn't it? And he came here. Yes, he was
killed. Yes, he was despised and rejected.
Yes, he was meek and lowly. But do you know who killed him?
God did. Pleased the Lord to bruise him.
make his soul an offering for sin. And why he came anyway was
to save God's elect. Oh yeah, known unto God are all
his works from the beginning. The foundation of God standeth
sure, the Lord having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
here. And before the world began, before the foundation of the
world, God chose a people, an elect. How often do we don't
look? That's the truth. Yeah, but that's the truth. That's what God said. Whom he hath chosen before the
foundation of the world. And sent Jesus Christ down here
for the express purpose of saving every one of those in need. And
he came and he found every one of them. And he went to Calvary's
tree and had their names written on the paw of his hand. That's
what Scripture said. had his name written on his shoulders,
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of all his people, his
name written on his breastplate, in his heart. He went to Calvary's
tree with the names of all of God's chosen in his heart, engraved
on his hands, in his mind, on his shoulder, And he bore their
sins, their sins, not everybody, their sins, and by that one sacrifice
he put away all the sins of all of God's elect for all eternity,
and every one of those people are saved eternally. No possibility
that one single one of those sheep for whom he died shall
perish. It's not possible. They will
all be in glory someday because God chose them, because Christ
came to justify, because Christ died, and because the Holy Spirit
is sent through what I'm doing right now, the preaching of this
Word, the declaration of this Word, and finds them out wherever
they are in time, puts that gospel in them, gives them life, repentance,
faith, bow the knee, confess with the tongue, baptize, confess
Him before men, grace is imparted, salvation is imparted, imputed,
call it what you will, it's up to the Lord, and they're going
to be in glory some day. Why? Because salvation is up
to the Lord. Completely. One hundred percent. It doesn't
have anything to do with man. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Yeah, but I must... It's a God that worketh in you
to do whatever you do. If you repent, if you believe,
if you bow, if you're kept, He kept you. If you believe, He
gave it to you. If you repent, it's the goodness of God that
gave it to you. Salvation is of the Lord. That's the truth. The whole truth. And nothing
but the truth. Anything less or more than that
is not the truth. Jesus Christ is the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Him. But I can tell you this, everyone
that does come by Him will shall be saved. That's the truth. There is no other gospel. If
anybody preaches anything else, he's going to go to hell. And
everybody that believes it, well, that's what Paul said in Galatians
1, didn't he? And I preach the same gospel.
The very same Gospel. He does. He does. And every man
that stands in this pulpit preaches that same Gospel. The one true
Gospel. The Gospel of God. The Gospel
concerning His Son. The Gospel that says salvation
of the Lord 100%. Now you preach that, it will
turn the world upside down. Inside out. Inside out. It just caused an uproar in Thessalonians. An uproar. Everywhere Christ
was preached. Everywhere God was proclaimed.
Since there was a division. You know, when the prophets came,
alright? Moses. The Lord chose Moses,
didn't He? Sent Moses to whom? The whole world go out Moses
and try to convince all of Egypt. No. No, he wasn't sent to Egypt,
to the world. He was sent to his people who
were in Egypt. They didn't look much different.
They didn't even know God by the standard. But that's who
God sent him to. But when Moses came back to Egypt,
remember that? When he came back, It turned
that place inside out, didn't it? Upside down. Pharaoh, everything
about Egypt was turned upside down. Why? One little old shepherd? Well, it wasn't him. It's God's
Word. Thus saith the Lord. Think about
it, John. Moses walked into Pharaoh's court. A man with a staff. Walked in
before Pharaoh, the mightiest king on earth, and thus saith
the Lord, Let my people go. Pharaoh and his court looked
at him. What? Who are you? They found
out, didn't they? Even his people, when Moses
came to Egypt and his people, remember he rescued one of those
one of his brethren, and they said, Who do you think you are?
Are you a ruler over us? Yeah. And God said through Moses, I
am come down to bring you out, to bring you up. They didn't
want him when he came. But God. Oh, but God. Robin, you said that's your favorite
verse, isn't it? Mine too. But God, in rich and mercy for
His great love, wherewith He loved those worthless Jews, quickened
them all. Brought them out. Moses represents
the Lord. Then Joshua. When Joshua came
to Jericho, ok, here comes Joshua. Joshua's a conqueror. He's both
the Savior and a destroyer, isn't he? Joshua's name is Jesus. Joshua came to Jericho. What's
going to happen? Walls are going to come down.
That place is going to collapse with just a word. The blowing
of the trumpet, the breaking of the pitchers. And one harlot and her family. They're coming out. Joshua came
to Jericho. Jonah came to Nineveh. What happened?
Turned that place inside out. God Almighty brought a great
revival, didn't He? Repentance. And all of them,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, came to Jerusalem. The Lord came
to earth. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
to earth, and when He left, the Scripture says when He was hanging
on Calvary's tree, He said, the earth shook. to the earthship. The whole earth
trembled. And he said, once more, in the
end of the earth, I'm going to shake the earth. Everything in
it is going to be turned upside down. Inside out. Well, these apostles came, and
that's what happened. When the gospel comes to the
town where we live, It really does. There was a man back in
1950 that came to Ashland, Kentucky. What happened? Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
former seminary professor in a Bible college there whom the
Lord revealed Himself to. His name was Ralph Martin. John
the Baptist of our generation. And the Lord sent him to all
places to Ashland, Kentucky. And it turned that place inside
out, didn't it? Upside down. Upside down. Inside out. And they said back in chapter
16, look at verse 20. Verse 20 of chapter 16, I think this was at Philippi. This was at Philippi. See, the
same thing happened at Philippi. They said in verse 20, these
men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city. These fellows
are causing trouble. Everything was fine until they
got here. That's what they're saying, Sam.
We were all just fine until you got here. You're causing trouble. That's what they said to Elijah.
That's what Ahab said. He's the one that's troubling
Israel. That's what they said about Micaiah. Remember that
prophet Micaiah, Ahab and Jehoshaphat? You remember that story? Well,
anyway, Jehoshaphat knew that Micaiah was a true prophet. And
he said, we need to call him, see what he says. And Ahab said,
don't call him. He never says anything good.
That's what he said. He said he never says anything
good. was the truth. He told the truth. He wasn't troubling the city.
And you know, really, truly, when a man comes preaching the
gospel, it's good news, but not until you hear the bad news.
There's no good news until you hear the bad news. And the gospel
first starts with this. We're in trouble. preacher, the truth doesn't cause
trouble. It reveals we're in trouble. That world preachers, false prophets
stand up and tell a world that's in danger that God's all right. God loves you and everything's
going to be all right. Jeremiah 23. And God said to them in that
chapter, Ron, God said, where did you hear me say this? That's
what God said. Where did you get that? You don't
stand up and tell everybody without exception, God loves you. What
you say is, God is holy. God is just. God is sovereign. Fear the Lord. God is angry with
the wicked. God is going to destroy this
place. And our sins, Isaiah 59, our
sins have separated us from God. We're not one with God. We're
far off. But, look, you see this man on
the Calvary tree? God killed him. God did. Why? Because that's us. That's what we deserve. Because
God has laid on him the iniquity, the sins. This is what we deserve. But God, rich in mercy, wants
somebody. Could be you. I don't know. Could be. If you look, it is. This is what God has to do to
sin. And to the Jew, that's a stumbling
block. No, we'll get to heaven. We'll
work. Look at us. We're doing a good job. God's
pleased with that. No, He's not. To the Greek, to
the wise, that's foolishness. Blood? Our God's not like that. It doesn't require blood. Peace
offering? We're above that. That's the
truth. That's the truth. And you declare
that in the 21st century, stand up and declare without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission of sin. Now that's a bunch of foolishness. We don't believe that anymore. Well, that's the truth. That's
the truth. And I read to you, we read together
Isaiah 59 because it says, truth is fallen in the street, cannot
enter. It says judgment is backward,
it's upside down, inside out. What we're preaching, what you're
hearing right now, they call foolishness. They call it a lie. Call it a lie, don't they? But
Brother Henry, what they're saying, the Lord Jesus Christ called
them workers of iniquity. Didn't He? They're the ones troubling Israel,
not men who tell the truth. Oh no. Paul once said that. Am I to become your enemy because
I tell you the truth? No. Best friend I ever had for
warning me. And he told the Ephesians that.
His last words to the Ephesians were, I have fully warned you
in the space of three years, night and day, warned you. Preaching. And Isaiah 59 says it's turned
way backwards. Well, God says in Psalm 50, that I was altogether such a
one as thyself. But, he said, I'm going to set
things in order before your eyes. Talking to his people, he said,
I'm going to turn you upside down. Inside out. God Almighty sends his gospel
to his people, his Word, and he turns them upside down, inside
out. When the gospel comes to you,
It turns you inside out, upside down. It changes everything the
way you thought it was. Nearly everybody in here was
religious before you heard the truth, aren't you? And when the
gospel came, and Nancy, I think you heard it from this fellow
over here, didn't you? Turned you for a loop, he would
say. Turned you for a loop. Wait a
minute. Didn't he, Henry? Hold on now. Well, my God. You're God. This is a different
God. I thought it was this, but it
ain't like it is. Like the old preacher once preached,
it ain't like you thought it was. It turns us inside out,
upside down when the gospel comes. What it does is kills a man's
God, kills his idol. It takes his dagon, cuts his
head off, cuts his arms off, makes him realize, I didn't have
a God at all. I didn't even know God. Kills
that profession, that false profession, that refuge of lies that we had,
trusting in, well, I made my decision years ago. Your decision? Well, aren't you glad that our salvation
is according to a decision that was made before the world began?
Aren't you glad now? Well, now turn to 1 Thessalonians
1. What happened here at Thessalonica
happened here in Rocky Mount. It happened to each one of you. Like that fellow Jason and others,
the truth came and turned that city upside down, inside out,
but there were some that believed. Most of them didn't, but some
did. Thank God. And what this gospel does, yes,
it turns the world upside down, but it turns God's people from
their idols to the living God. It turns them from darkness to
light. From death to life. If He doesn't
turn us, we won't be turned. Look at it. 1 Thessalonians.
One, it says in verse 2, we give thanks to God always for you
all. Thanks to God. Because it was
God who did this. Look at verse 4. Knowing, brethren,
beloved, your election of God, because our gospel came, not
in word only, but in power. And in a holy goal, in much assurance. Do you believe this Gospel? Do
you believe what's being preached? Do you know how few people there
are in this town, this county? Do you? You do, because you talk
to them. Do you know how few there are? When you try to talk to somebody,
they say, what? You believe what? Don't they? But do you believe this gospel?
Now, Ed Berry, do you believe this gospel? How many people
at least your publisher do? There's not a meeker man on the
planet than Ed Berry, is there? You know of a nicer, sweeter,
kinder, more Christ-like man than Ed Berry? I don't. You think
that he could do anything to offend anybody? No. But his gospel
does. The God he believes. Oh, Ed Berry,
blessed art thou among men. Blessed is the man whom God hath
chosen. Huh? Why? To do what? Believe
the truth. Oh, we're bound to thank God
for you, Ed. Much assurance. You've heard
a lot of preaching and you still listen to it sometimes, don't
you? Much to your pain and suffering. Could anything today convince
you that this is not the truth? Do you think you see or hear?
Much assurance. Do you believe and are sure,
John Cheesley, that this is the truth, that there is no other?
Do you? Much assurance. And you must be one of the elect.
Read on. And it says in verse 6, you became
followers of us and of the Lord, received the Word in much affliction
with joy. Verse 9 says that you turn to
God from idols to serve the true and living
God. Turn to God from idols. I love
what old Hosea said. Ephraim shall say, what have
I to do any more with idols? I've heard him. I've heard him. Well, well. See, Paul was in
prison. Well, not here, but he wrote
to the Thessalonians this letter. When he left, You know, it was
in an uproar. And it was that way when he left.
And they assaulted Jason, a believer, in the house. And from then on,
the believers, though there were quite a few, they were still
in the minority. Look at 2 Thessalonians. Look
over there. He wrote another letter. I'll
close with this. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Look at this. He wrote another
letter. He said in verse 2 and 3, Grace
unto you, O my peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus
Christ. We're bound to thank God always for you, brethren. See who is thanking? It's me, because your faith groweth
exceedingly, and the love that God has shed upon your heart
to one another. In verse 7, he says, You who
are troubled, rest with us. The Lord's coming. He's coming.
Oh my. Chapter 2, he says, now this
mystery of iniquity. Verse 7, the mystery of iniquity. Where is iniquity at work the
most? In the bars and the honky-tonk? Religion. Religion. That's who gave Paul
and Silas all the trouble. That's who set the city on uproar. Wasn't it? And he said, Iniquity. Isaiah 59. He was talking about
the Jews. Iniquity. And our Lord said,
many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, we preached in your name.
And he says, you're workers of iniquity. Well, in verse 10, in chapter
2, it says, All deceivableness and unrighteousness deceive a
lot of people, and them that perish, because they received
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Brother Walter Gruber is the
one who pointed this out to me first. They receive not the love
of the truth. It's a gift. Not only is the
truth a gift, faith a gift, but it's not believing in the head. It's a love of the truth. Love
it. Love it. Heart. Heart. Out of the heart of the issue.
You can't keep a man away from the truth in his heart, a woman. You can't convince them otherwise
if it's their heart, if it's their love, their first love,
true love, heart. He said, they receive not the
love of the truth that they might be saved. And God, verse 11,
shall send strong delusions that they believe a lie. that they all might be damned
who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness,
that is, any righteousness that is not true righteousness,
Christ. This is why we're bound, bound,
must give thanks always. Verse 13, always to God for you,
brethren, beloved, foreloved, for whom He did foreknow, loved
of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you,
and you, and you, and you to salvation, to save you, to spare
you, Through sanctification of the Spirit. What's that? The
Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the gospel, separates me.
How? Belief of the truth. Belief of the truth. You hear
two men come in, or a man and a wife. A son and a father, a
woman and a mother, they come in. The truth is proclaimed. Lo and behold, one of them embraces
the truth, just thinks it's the greatest thing they've ever heard
in all their life. The other one sees nothing and
goes away on the loose. Who did that? God did. God did. And whereunto He called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory. To the obtaining
of the glory. You know, we've already obtained
a little glory. A little bit. For whom He justified,
He glorified. We've already seen something
of His glory, haven't we? I look into the faces of people
whose faces shine, whose countenances shine like Moses at times, because
they've beheld His glory. Oh, one day. And it doth not
yet appear what we shall be. And it goes on, Nancy, to talk
about that. Comfort one another with His Word. Oh, but we know
when He appears, we'll be like Him. Glorious people whom God
has chosen for Himself to reveal His Son not only to you, but
in you. That's the hope of glory to them. Bound to give thanks to God always.
Let me close with this illustration, okay? I think it's a good illustration.
When the Gospel comes, like it did in that town, it just turns
everything upside down. When the Gospel comes to a person. Scripture talks about the Lord
killeth the maker of the life. That's what happens to every
believer when they hear the gospel for the first time. Kills them. What does it mean? Isaiah says,
I'm undone. I don't know you're not. Live. It wounds. It's not a life-changing thing,
it's life-giving. Life has begun. But it's a violent
thing. The kingdom of heaven suffers
violence. For instance, it's like a young man falling in love.
I think this is a pretty good illustration. Because this is
what happens. The Son of God, like Boaz, comes
to a Moabite woman and woos and reveals Himself to her. And she
falls head over heels in love with her until she's lying at
the feet of her kinsman Rediglin. And it's the same with every
believer. The Lord comes and reveals Himself. Patrick, I'm going to pick on
you. Like the day when you fell in love with that woman sitting
beside you. What happened? Were you ever the same? It turned you inside out, didn't
it? She did. Turned you upside down, didn't
she? Your life was never the same, was it? Never the same.
Still isn't. Look at you. Look at all these
babies. Seriously. This love for this woman, he
fell in love with her and she became your life, didn't she?
Everything about her. And nothing and no one would
stop that. Once that happened, not even
her daddy is going to keep you away from her. No fear. Ain't scared, he said. And believe me, I know I'm a dad.
You weren't good enough. But she's yours. I am my Beloved's and He is mine. Nothing to nobody. Nothing nobody's
worth it. Christ my all and my in all.
Your world is turned upside down, inside out. Take the world. I've
got who I need now. Or rather, he's got me. Patrick
thinks he found her. That ain't so. That's the way it is. And the
Lord, my, my, like old Phillip, we found him. Yeah, right. It really is an experience. We're not trusting an experience.
But what it is, am I right, Pastor? It's the love of God, love for
God, love for Christ, love for the truth, love for His people,
love shed abroad in the heart to where that person loves God
supremely. Over and above the world, everything
and everyone in it. And from that day on, they're
married, Until the day they get, and they're not the faithful
ones, he is. But until the day that that marriage is consummated
in heaven and they're finally with the one they love forever. Never be separated. That's what
it is. And it's an experience. Not a one-time thing,
but an ongoing thing. Don't wait for one of these things. But I'm telling you, when it
happens, you'll say, give me Christ or I die. Christ or nothing. That's what will happen. Alright,
Brother Gabe, what was that last hymn? 152. 152. We'll sing this to the tune of
angels from the realms of glory. We'll sing the first and last
verse.