Go back with me now to Acts chapter
seventeen, Acts seventeen. You read with me that story of
Paul and Silas and Timothy when they first came to this city
of Thessalonica, which is in the country of Greece, and it
is still there, that city is still there today. And we're
going to go back over that story. Another amazing story of the
sovereign power and saving grace of our Lord in sending his word,
sending his gospel into a city and calling out his people. And
it says there weren't just a few. There were quite many. Paul,
Silas, and Timothy had just left Philippi. And chapter sixteen
that's another amazing story isn't it if you've read it story
of the church at Philippi, which was up the road about seventy
miles and that's where the Lord remember Lydia and some women
were down by the river and Paul. Paul wanted to go into Asia and
preach, but the Lord wouldn't allow him to go there. But a
man appeared in a dream in Macedonia. to come over there. Well, Paul
didn't go into Asia, and that happened to be where Lydia lived
in Asia. But being one of God's elect,
she wasn't home. She was down in Macedonia, or
Philippi. Amazing, isn't it? That's where
the Lord sent Paul, to Philippi, and where he preached, and the
Lord saved Lydia. He had her living there at the
time, and her whole house, her whole house And then the Lord
put Paul and Silas in jail. Well, that just stops the work,
doesn't it? No, there's a man in jail that the Lord is one
of the Lord's elect. That's why Paul is in jail. And
the Lord saved that man, a jailer, and so the church at Philippi
was born. Well, he got out of jail and
he headed down the road and the scripture says he passed through
a couple of towns. He didn't stop there. You see,
the Lord saves whom he will, like the article. He calls unto
him whom he will. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed or destroyed. He doesn't have to save anyone.
But he's merciful. And in his sovereign mercy, saves
whom he will. He does show mercy when he passed
through two towns, two cities, to get to Thessalonica. the and
if so he came and verse one says they came were a synagogue of
the Jews walk the Jewish synagogue and Paul was a Jew. And after
his manner. Former rabbi Pharisee he always
went. To the synagogue on the Sabbath
day to worship. Even after the Lord saved him
he still had to find a place to worship. And he did and there
he went in and began to reason or preach out of the scriptures
and he preached Christ. That's who he prayed. And verse
4 says some of these Jews believe and consorted. The only time
that word is used. We have a place called a consortium. That means a gathering together
of those of like man but. These people became best friends
and followers and and buddies with the apostle Paul and silence
they just. Clung to them and wanted to stay
with them they consorted with first for Paul and silence and
the devout Greeks devoted these were Sincere and genuine seekers
at the time. Like old Simeon. Devoted, devout. Sincere seeker. You seek, the
Lord said, and you'll find. You'll find. And so they did. The Lord sent the Gospel, verse
4. And a great multitude believed, and of the chief or devout women,
not a few, but many, many. But the Jews. These unbelieving Jews, the ones
that believed not, it says they were moved with envy. They couldn't
stand it that these people believed God's word and believed Christ
and were no longer under bondage to them, their little minions. And so they took unto them, it
says, some lewd fellows. They gathered together a bunch
of no good fellows, and they set the whole city in uproar. They hated the truth, they hated
the gospel, and they caused a citywide uproar against Paul, Silas, and
Timothy. And they went to the house where
Paul and Silas were staying. Jason was the man's name. And
the Lord blessed Jason, don't you know? Like the house of Obed-Edom,
like the house of Lydia, you know where Paul whom the Lord
sent the gospel to was Lydia. Well, she took him into her house.
After they got out of jail, Paul went back there and stayed with
her. And the Lord blessed Lydia, didn't he? Blessed the house
of Lydia, the house of Obed-Edom because of the gospel, the house
of Jason. Although they experienced great
persecution, Jason was assaulted. He was greatly persecuted. But
the blessing far outweighed the persecution didn't. And so they
came and they took Jason and some others Paul and Silas were
not there and they took them to custody of them and brought
them before the magistrates and tried to press charges against
them for sedition and so forth. Now go down to verse ten the
brethren. They sent Paul and Silas, they were worried for
the safety of Paul and Silas, and that night they sent them
away unto Berea, right down the road a piece, and there was another
synagogue there. And so what did Paul do? You
know, if ever anyone had a reason not to show up for church, so
to speak, that Sunday, it would have been him, wouldn't it? His life was in danger. Nothing
but trouble, everyone was out for his life. No, no, he's not
looking for reasons to stay away, but he's got to find where God's
people are worshipping the Lord. That's his manner, he said. And
so he goes there and immediately he begins to preach. He begins
to preach. What did he preach? Oh, he said in another place,
woe is unto me if I preach not The gospel, which is Christ and
him crucified and risen and ascended and exalted. So he preached there
in the synagogue in verse 11. You know, this verse, it says
these Bereans were noble. They were more noble than the
Jews in Thessalonica in that. Here's what makes a person wise
and noble. They received the word. This
was God's word that Paul and Silas was preaching. They couldn't
deny it. Why would they want to? But with
readiness of mind, they received it. You know, if a person is
truly seeking, as we say, and here's the word and searches
the scriptures as they search the scripture, Paul and Silas
preach from the word. So what did they do? They had
a Bible and they took their Bibles home and they search through
those scripts. I'm going to see if what he's
saying is so. And John, they began to search and lo and behold,
it was so. They were preaching from the
word and they were telling the truth, and these Jews believe
the truth and the Lord saved. Well, the Lord saved them, so
that's why they believe the truth. And so if you seek and search
Lord will, he will be found. He's promised that. Well, the
Jews from Thessalonica down the road. They heard that Paul and
Silas were in Berea preaching. You remember what our Lord said
to those Pharisees? He said, you will not go in yourself
and you won't suffer others to go in. Remember that? Well, these Jews came down to
Berea and they started trouble there. They didn't want anybody
to hear this gospel. They didn't believe it and they
didn't want others to believe it. You remember the story I told you
of Brother Greg Elmquist going down to the Dominican Republic
to preach the gospel? You remember that? Well, Brother
Greg, I'll refresh your memory. This is very applicable. Brother
Greg went down there to preach the first one, as far as we know,
and there was a group of people that asked him to come, and he
went there. Well, when A fellow heard that
Greg was coming there. A fellow who had been speaking
to these people. He wasn't a gospel preacher.
And he heard that Greg was coming there. And he knew that they
were going to meet that day. He went early and told them all
to disband. He said, you can't do this. Leave.
You cannot listen to this man preach. He forbid to let them
hear this man preach the gospel. And you know the story. Now that
brother Greg and the man who went with him that night at midnight
were sitting in a cafe drinking coffee. And lo and behold, one
of the men from that meeting was looking for them all over
the city. That's a big city, isn't it? A million people or
so. And he found him. And he sat
down and Greg preached the gospel to one man. And you know the
rest of the story. went down there and began to
preach to that same group. Well, this still happens, doesn't
it? Those who don't believe the truth don't want others to believe
it and hear it either. But verse fourteen, immediately
the brethren sent Paul away by sea to Athens. Athens was quite a ways away,
four or five hundred miles, long journey, but Silas and Timothy
stayed there. Now, before Paul left, I know
this is so from his letter. Before he left, he told Timothy. He said, now I'm leaving and
I'm real concerned about the church at Thessalonica. I want
you to go there and see if they're OK. When I left, Jason was in
jail and some brother and the church was being persecuted.
He said, I want you to go there and I want you to preach the
gospel to them and see how they're doing. And you come back and
you tell me how they're doing. I'm worried about. Yeah, he's
a man. He's worried. And so they did, Timothy and
Silas, we believe, did. And so Paul left for Athens and
when he got there, You know, the rest of this chapter. Says
he was waiting on them, what they do while he was waiting.
He start preaching, that's John, when he went to Mars Hill. And
that's when he preached this great message from Acts 17, but
that's not my text. I wish it was. But I got a good
one. While Paul was there and then
when Timothy and Silas came to them, Paul sat down and wrote
a letter. To vessel or not. First that's alone. That's why
you have we have this letter. OK. While he's at Athens he wrote
this letter to the Thessalonians and he wrote actually both letters.
While he was there two letters he wrote one waited awhile and
sent another letter to the church from Paul. And now, Timothy came
to Paul, and here's what he said. Paul, Brother Paul, I went to
Thessalonica, and they're doing well. They're rejoicing in the
gospel, Paul. Those that believed it are holding
fast the beginning of their They loved it. They're still meeting
Paul, in spite of all the persecution and trouble and those that don't
want them to meet. They're determined by the grace
of God to have a church there and meet there. Paul, they're
still meeting together. And when I went there and preached
the gospel to them, they just rejoiced. And oh, I rejoiced. We had such a good meeting. Paul,
don't worry about them. The Lord's keeping them. The
church is there and established there. And so Paul wrote this
beloved letter. He's encouraged, and he says
to the church, verse 1, Paul and Silas and Timotheus, under
the church of the Thessalonians. The church. Church is a blessed
term. I don't bandy that term about
anything and anyone or any place. Don't call buildings churches
anymore. The church is a blessed term
reserved for God's people. The church is not a place, but
it's people. Persons. God's elect. God's beloved elect. The church
at Thessalonica. When you think of the church
at Crossville, do you think of a building? What do you think
of? Rather who? Sister Ruby and on
and on it goes. Brother Larry. Don and Mary and
others, don't you think about these persons, the church at
this lock and Paul writing this letter and he thinks of Jason,
he thinks of various ones that he knew and loved. The church,
read on in verse 1, that is in God the Father, in his love. It was a love of God that sent
Paul down there. God foreknew, foreloved these
people before the world began and sent Paul to preach to them.
Yes, it was a chance meeting. It wasn't an accident. It was
the loving will of the Lord to send the gospel to them. In the
love of God, in the heart of God. He said, I've engraved you
on my heart. I've engraved you on the palms
of my hand. In God, in His covenant. Everything
concerning them is in the covenant. And in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, they've been chosen, loved, blessed by God, put in Christ,
accepted in Christ, redeemed by Christ to the praise of the
glory of his breath, wherein he hath made them accepted in
the blood. Oh, my. The Church in God the
Father, the blessed family in the care of In the love of the
Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the loving Lord and
Savior. My, my. I'd like to preach that
someday, as it is. Grace, he says unto you. Oh,
my. The grace of God has come to
you. The God of all grace, yes, saving grace has come to you.
Grace, keeping grace has come to you. Eternal grace. God, the
gifts of God are without repentance. What he gives, he won't take
back. Grace unto you and peace, he said, from God, our father,
not the father, but our father. Who have given us this spirit
of adoption whereby we can call Abba, Abba, A blessed, familiar
term, but still in fear. How about peace? Peace from God. God's not angry with his people.
We think he is, but he's not a man. I want to preach sometime
from Habakkuk 11, I believe it's verse 9, where he says, I'm not
a man, I'm God. And so he says, I can't put you
away. your mother and your father,
maybe he says, I've gone. I'm not a man. I want to preach
peace from God, our father, peace through the Lord Jesus Christ,
the blood of his cross, from God, our father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, our peace. We give thanks. Verse two, we,
Paul, Silas, Timothy, we give thanks to God always. Always,
we give thanks to God for you all. You know, Paul was a grateful
man. Paul was an appreciated man.
He gave honor to whom it was due, thanks to whom it was due,
didn't it? You know good and well if someone
did something for him, he would give thanks to them. Thank you
for doing that, brother. I know he thanked them, the people
treated him well. I know he was the most thankful
guest that Jason ever had in his house. But concerning this
thing of salvation, when it came to this thing of salvation, he
said, I am bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord. He only said this four or five
times throughout these letters. The next letter, the second letter,
I just quoted it, 2 Thessalonians 2.13, we're bound to give thanks
to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. He thanked
God for them, not vice versa. You see, it was of the Lord's
mercies that made them brethren. Yes, they loved the Lord, they
loved Paul and they proved their love, but they loved him. Why?
Because he first loved them. So that's where thanks is due,
chiefly, primarily unto the Lord. He says we give thanks to God,
always giving thanks to God for you all. All of you. Do you love these brethren? How
many of them? Some of them. All of them, don't
you? Is there anybody in here that
we could do without? Anybody expendable? Anybody that you think, well,
if they're gone, you won't miss anything? Anybody? We give thanks for you all. Paul
said, I give thanks for the old as well as the young. Male, female. weak as well as the strong. I
give thanks for you all, he said. And I make mention of you in
my prayer. If you love someone, this is
the greatest proof, really, that you love someone. You know it?
You pray for it. You pray for it. And it's the
greatest, no greater service can you do for someone. You know
that there's nothing greater that you can do for someone than
to bring them before the Lord. Lord, bless them. Lord, have
mercy upon them. Lord, would you lead God? Would
Lord, would you prosper? Paul, John. John wrote in his
second, I, beloved, he said, I wish above all things that
you would prosper. John wasn't prospering. He was
hurting, but he wanted them to prosper. He wanted them to know
he said I make mention of you in our prayers always any verse
three says I remember I can't quit thinking about your three
things work of faith for that work of faith and labor of love
and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ three things in
the sight of God and I can't quit thinking about this your
faith, your work of faith, labor of love and your patience and
your hope in the sight of God. God sees this, and so did Paul. He saw this, this work and this
labor. What is it? What is this work,
this labor? Well, it was the service and
support of the gospel, is what it was. And the church, the brethren,
they help one another and they help those who preach the gospel.
And they did it out of a heartfelt belief of the truth, faith, heart,
and love for the gospel. And they were patiently. By the
grace of God, they were enduring these trials, this church was
going through great trials and persecution. We can't imagine. We cannot imagine what they and
do afflictions and. And now, so Paul writes to them
and says, I can't quit thinking about what all you've done in
faith and love to the gospel and patience of hope, waiting
on our Lord Jesus Christ and during these trials in the sight
of God. And he says in verse four, I
know. Knowing bread. Beloved, I know
you're one of God's elect. You're God's elect. I know you
are. Knowing, brethren, beloved, you're an election of God. The
title of this message is The Beloved Elect of God and How
They're Known. He says, I know. Paul had not
seen the book of life. wrote a book, and it's called
the Lamb's Book of Life, and he wrote this before the foundation
of the world, and he put names in that book. They're the elect
of God, put in the Lamb's Book of Life, who's a lamb as it had
been slain before the foundation of the world. And God, in his
purpose according to election, put those names in a book and
sealed it. And it was never to be opened
until the end of time. and then God will Christ the
lamb is going to take that book. And open it up and read those
names and every one of them will be. How do you know. God said so. The old and the
children which that is given. How does Paul know their He hasn't seen that book. Nobody's
seen that book. How does he know? Can we know? John wrote a whole epistle and
he's and I want to put you on this side. Some things we know. And he said over and over again,
hereby, we may know that we passed from death. Hereby, we may know. How do you know? How do you know? Well, Paul saw something. One time, he sent Barnabas down
to, where was it? I forget the city. He sent Barnabas
down to see how they were, how they were doing, enduring under
trials and so forth. And it says that Barnabas, when
he had seen the grace of God, He rejoiced and went back and
reported to Paul. He said, I saw. And Timothy came
back to Paul and said, I've seen it. The grace of God. These are
God's elect. How do you know? Well, here's
how you know, OK? Look at the next line. Here's
what will happen. Here's how the elect are known. Verse five,
our gospel. I know your brethren. I know
you're one of God's children, brothers. I know you're beloved
of God. I know he loves you. I know you're
one of the elect of God. Why? He sent our gospel to you. Our gospel. Not this perversion. Not this deception. Not these
strong delusions that God sends to many, that blinds eyes and
deafens ears. But our gospel. Paul said, My
gospel, the gospel, the gospel of God, God's gospel, that's
who it started with. God's gospel, he's the one that
purposed it, concerning his will, his word, his purpose and his
covenant. It's the gospel concerning God's
Son, isn't it? That's how you know the gospel,
and it's our gospel, the gospel of God's Son. completely 100%
concerning in by through to for the son of the Most High God.
That's our gospel. It's not in our hands, it's in
his blessed hand. That's the gospel, this gospel,
our gospel, the gospel of God's glory. where God gets all the
glory, the Son of God gets all the glory, when salvation is
of the Lord and for the praise of the glory of His grace. That's
the gospel. That's my gospel. Is that your
gospel? No, then that's our gospel then.
Our gospel, the gospel of God's will, God's will, mind you, God's
choice. Aren't you glad all things are
according to his will, not yours? Aren't you glad he's the one
that did the choosing, not you? This is what makes our gospel
good news. When Christ said to the disciples,
Have not I chosen you? They hadn't chosen him. They
would not have chosen him. They weren't interested in him.
He'd been around Galilee for a long time. They were fishing,
Brother Kelly. They knew this fella named Jesus
was down there preaching. They weren't interested. Thank
God he was interested in them and came where they were with
our gospel and called them. You're coming with me. The gospel of his choice, the
gospel of his power. I need a gospel that's all powerful. Don't you, Jeanette? I need a
gospel. that will save me and keep me
safe, don't you? That will not let me go. The
gospel of God's power, God's mercy, that will endure forever.
When God says, I will show mercy, it's forever. Aren't you glad? Our gospel of God's love, he
said. Our gospel. The gospel. of our God, who is love. His love cannot fail, will not
fail. He said, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. And that means he'll always love
you. And that means he'll save you.
That's my gospel. That's our gospel. The gospel
of God's grace. And I got to go on. But that's
it. That's that's our gospel. Aren't
you glad that this gospel, the gospel, our gospel, came to you? You see, God, he has a she. And how you know your election
is by your call. Peter says, you see, you don't
see your name in the book. But Peter says, give diligence,
brethren, to make your, in this order, to make your calling and
election sure. For whom he did foreknow, he
did predestinate. Whom he did predestinate, he
called. By what? Our gospel. He called. Every sheep that God
has will hear this call, our gospel. Christ said, My sheep
hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. Our gospel. And it came to you. When God has an elect, even if
it's one, out in the middle of the desert in a chariot heading
where he will, he's going to hear that gospel. Be he a black
man from Ethiopia a thousand miles from home and headed down
the desert as fast as he can. God sent a preacher. Put him
up in a chariot and saved him. Yep, my sheep will hear my voice.
He sends our gospel. I know you're one of the elect.
I know you're God's beloved. I know you're his children and
my brethren because our gospel came to you. Not just in word
only, not just in doctrine only, not just in theology only. That
won't save you. That'll convince you that it
won't save you. Not just in doctrine, not mere
mental assent. I gave mental assent to the doctrine. All my youth gave mental assent. I agreed wholeheartedly, and
it could argue the truth with whomever. I didn't know Christ. Oh, it doesn't come in word only,
but comes in power, he said. Not in word only, but in power.
What kind of power? Heartbreaking power. I believe
men were sinners, but it wasn't, the gospel didn't come to me
until it, I believe I'm a sinner. Oh, I believe in the depravity
of man. That didn't come to me until I believe I'm depraved.
Power heart breaking power and heart blessing the heart. God
breaks. You'll bless them. The gospel
will be more than just a word, but it'll be the joy and rejoicing
of your heart. Heart blessing, heart breaking,
heart blessing, heart rejoicing, heart piercing. Did not our heart
burn within us? Eye opening. Eye-opening, ear-opening,
mind-changing. I said eye-opening, eye-watering.
Eye-watering power. Oh, my. Life-giving power. We're not indoctrinated into
the kingdom of God. We're born into the kingdom of
God. And you ladies, those of you
who experienced birth, it's a violent thing. So he says, our gospel came to
you not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost.
You know, the Lord sends the Holy Ghost upon everyone who
hears, truly hears the gospel savingly. He comes upon you. Yes, you have been, you have
the Holy Spirit, if you're in Christ, if you've heard the truth,
you have the Holy Spirit. What happened when the Holy Spirit
was sent to the church in the early days? You have the stories
there in Acts 2 and other places. It says the place was filled
with cloven tongues as of fire. And the people began to speak
in languages that they had never spoken in before. You know the
same thing happens now? The exact same thing. Talk about
fire. And I've already quoted it. When
the gospel really comes and pierces your heart, your heart will burn
within you. Your heart will burn within you.
The gospel of clove and tongue, that man that preaches to you,
it will cease to be just a sermon to you. It will be the voice
of God speaking to you. And you'll know, you'll think,
that's for me, he's talking to me. and and this tongue or rather
languages you began to speak in a language you never used
to speak in before. You began to talk about things
like mercy. You didn't even know what it
was before. Didn't even know you needed it. Now you'll start
talking about it. Mercy. Grace. A language you
didn't know. You began to say you used to
all you spank Like the deaf and dumb man who had a speech impediment. Used to be it was all, well,
I, I, I. But when our gospel comes, it
begins to change to thy, thy, thy. Not my will, but thy will
be done. Not me, but thine. Not unto me,
not for me. Self will be denied. Hated. You will begin to loathe
yourself. and love him. All things change,
all right. The Holy Spirit. That's the Holy
Spirit. You know what Holy Spirit preaching
is? Holy Spirit filled preaching and Holy Spirit filled services.
You know what that is? Our Lord said it. He said when
he has come and the Holy Spirit has come, here's what's going
to happen, he said. He's going to take the things
of mine and show them to you. And you're going to rejoice and
not be talking so much about the Holy Spirit and the tongue,
the language. You're going to be talking about
me. You're going to be talking about Christ. You're going to
go out of there rejoicing in this Lord seated on a throne
and what great things he has done for you. That's the Holy Ghost, that's
Holy Spirit, and verse 5 says, and you had much assurance. Our
gospel came that gave you much assurance. What is assurance? Well, assurance is not, you don't
look to yourself for assurance. You're not trying to see something
about you to convince you that you're a Christian, a believer,
a child of God. No, sir. What this assurance
is, is being assured of Him, being assured of His Word, knowing
Him, believing and persuaded of Him. This is assurance. The only thing we can be assured
of about us is that we're sinners. But here it is again. This is a faithful savior and
worthy of all acceptation, especially by sinners such as we, that Jesus
Christ, you can be assured of, you can be certain of this, that
if you're a sinner, he came to save you. Now, there's assurance. You can have full assurance if
you completely and fully look to Jesus Christ. And our gospel,
you see, doesn't point you to you, but point you to him and
gives you assurance. Well, this one thing I know,
that I was blind and dead and dumb, and he healed me. I know
this, salvation is of the Lord. And I'm a sinner and he's a saint.
I know that. I'm sure. Peter said it on behalf of all
of us. We know and are sure that thou art the Christ. the son
of the living God. That's how. Our gospel came with this assurance
and he said, you know what manner of man we were. You know what manner of man we
were, you know, God sends a true gospel and he sends true man
to preach it. The second chapter, he talks
about himself and the other man. He said we weren't there in guile
and deceit, but we weren't pleasing men. We weren't flattering you.
You know that he said we didn't flatter you. If you want to get
a big crowd, tell people how much God needs them. You want
to get a big crowd and keep people coming back, keep them happy.
Get a big crowd. You sure don't want to call them
worms. You sure don't want to tell them
you're worthless, no good. Stinking like the Spirit. Don't
do that. You'll run them off. No, you're
just telling the truth. And if their God Sheba won't
run them off, you're wrong. If you're out for God's glory,
you can't glorify man. So that's what they do. He said we weren't flattering
you. We weren't covetous. We didn't seek glory, a name
for ourselves. We were interested in God's glory
and in your salvation, not your admiration. He said, you know
what matter of men we were. And he says in verse six, and
you became followers of us. And you received the word, having
received the word in much affliction, you know, all. In his next letter,
he writes and says, This affliction, this suffering, it's a token
of God's judgment and election of you. It's proof. Where there's
persecution for the truth's sake, the truth must be there. Where
you're hated by all men for his name's sake, you must be loved
of God. And, you know, we don't want
people to hate us. We want people to believe the
truth. We want people to come. But if they don't. And if they
do persecute us. Our Lord said rejoice. That's
the way they did the prophets of old. He said they hated me. You know this. They hated me
before they hated you. You don't want them to. But it's
proof. That the truth must be there,
but he says, I will call my sheep and he says in verse seven and
I must quit. You were examples. Faith and
love. Charity to all that believe verse
eight from you sounded out the word of the Lord. spread abroad people say if I
believe like you believe that I wouldn't believe in missions
or preaching or all that. No that's not so that's not so
if you believe like we believe you'd be on the radio. If you believe the truth you'd
believe that God has an elect out of every tribe kindred nation
and tongue under heaven you'd send a missionary find them.
Yeah you would. If you know there's fish in a
pond, you're going to go fishing? Well, sure. God says, I have
a people. Go! They're going to hear my
voice. So, from you sounded out the
word. We're on a trail of God's sheep. And Paul said, every place has
heard of you. All the churches of hell have
heard of you. And they themselves, verse nine, they show what manner
of entering in we had under you and they come to visit you and
they see how you turn to God from idols. Every one of these
people, Scott, were a bunch of idol worshiping heathen. Oh,
they had a zeal, according to, for God, but they didn't know
the God of the Bible. But now they do. Because our
gospel came to them and they turned from that other whatever
from these other gods who are no God at all to the living and
true God and his true Christ and his truth. They turned so
you can have that and know the whole world go after it. You
can have that. What have we to do anymore with
idols? Hosea said, I've heard him. So this is where I'm going. And
they began to wait, verse 10. So what they did was meet together
and wait. What are you waiting on? Waiting
for his son from heaven. Yep. He whom God raised from
the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from what? See, here's the gospel. Here's
our gospel. Let's not go into the world and
tell everyone how much God loves you, but tell them, preach the
terror of the Lord. That it will be only of the Lord's
mercies if we're not concerned. That God is angry with the wicked
every day. That God, this whole thing, is reserved under fire
against the Day of Judgment and will soon pass away. But God
is merciful. is love, the love of God though
is in Jesus Christ, that ark which is Christ. Come on, get
in the ark. It's only one place. Outside
of Christ, our God is a consummate God. And there is no other gospel,
there is no other sacrifice for sin. Come on. Come on. And that's our gospel. It doesn't
exclude anyone. No, no. It includes. Okay, how do you know you're
elect? God called you by our gospel? Okay, Brother Gabe. I don't know. I don't know. Thank you. you