The church at Thessalonica, that's where this place was,
Thessalonica. Church there must have been a
fine group of people. I read through both of these
epistles, these letters by Paul, and they must have been a fine
group of people. They must have been a solid church,
people that were solid in the faith and loved one another, loved each
other. They were certainly very special
to the Apostle Paul. It's clear by his language throughout
these letters. He had very little admonition
for them, mostly encouragement They must have been a group.
When I read these letters, I thought they must have been a group of
believers, a lot like Central Baptist Church. I did. I thought that. I really did. Everything Paul says, as I read
it, everything Paul said, I can say with confidence from the
heart concerning most of the folks who attend here. Paul was
so thankful to know these people. And he said this many times look
back at first Thessalonians one. He he expressed his thanks for
them and God. Forgive me. May you forgive me
if I don't express my thanks to you enough. Kind of like a parent with a
child you know you you you feel like you're too hard on them
too often and don't ever really. Express to them or show your
love and appreciation enough. But the fact that you are do
come down and are so concerned. That's that's because you do
love. And you worry about you worry,
I mean, you lose sleep. I mean, you lose sleep over those
you love. You pray for him. You concern
and worry. Paul let these people know he
was thankful for them. Look at chapter 1, verse 2, 1
Thessalonians 1, 2. We give thanks to God. And he
was speaking for Silas and Timothy, too. And I could be speaking
for Don Bell and Henry Mahan. I could write this letter and
say, Paul and Hank and Don, or Henricus, Henricus and don't
meet you here. Sylvanus and Timothy. I could
write you a letter in the same fashion and say, we give back. We, verse two, we give thanks
to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayer.
But the Todd and Iverson, every time I talk to him, he says,
tell, greet the brethren for me. Every one of these fellows,
greet the brethren for me. Greet the brethren. Donnie says
hey. Stan Todd says hey. And they love you. They really
do. They thank God for you. And I'd
say the same thing about Todd's Road Grace Church, 13th Street,
Lantana. That's some people, some dear,
dear people. And I just think of with affection
when I think of, when the name Lantana Grace Church comes up,
I think of some faces, not place. I think of faces. Chapter 2, look at verse 13. 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, For
this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when
you receive the word of God, you heard it You heard of us,
you received it, not as a word of a man, but as it is in truth,
the word of God. Verse fourteen, you became followers
of the churches. Followers. This church is a church
of followers. That's the best thing you could
say about somebody. A bunch of followers. That's
the thing I noticed about this congregation when I came here.
Green, I'm still green, but I came here green, so wet behind the
ears, don't say it is. Green, not very experienced at
this thing, but the thing I found in this group of people, so,
you followed me. In spite of my mistakes and youth,
you followed me. That's a good sign. That's a
sign of meekness and submission and humility and thankfulness
to God and faith and trust in God that he sent a man that you
can follow. That's a sign. It's a good sign. It's the best thing you can say
about somebody. It really is. I've heard that from other men,
too. Those people are so and submissive
and meek and easy to preach to and lead. They're easy to preach
to. They believe what you preach. Well, they ought to. But they
do. It's a sign of true humility. Look at chapter 2, verse 9. I had it written down wrong. Look at chapter 3, verse 9. What thanks can we render to
God again for you? All the joy wherewith we joy
for your sakes there before our God, night and day, praying exceedingly. What thanks can I render to God
for this congregation? The joy that, Mindy, the joy
we've had here for seven, going on eight years. You know, I remember telling
you that preachers told me at first that I would write them and tell them
how good it was here, what sweet fellowship. And some of them
would write back and say, well, the honeymoon will end. Well, I'm here to tell you, I
don't believe it has yet. Forgive me. Oh, don't forgive
me. What thanks can we render to
God for you? Look at 2 Thessalonians. Second Thessalonians, chapter
1. And believe me, people, I go
home at night after every time I preach and think, have I been
too hard? Look at 2 Thessalonians 1, verse
1. He says, Paul and Silas and the
church of the Thessalonians. And like I said, I could write
this to you. Verse 3, he said, We're bound to thank God always
for you. Bound to thank God. Chapter 2, look over there. Chapter
2, verse 13. He said, We're bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren. Brethren. So I can preach this from the
heart. I can. All right, back in chapter 1,
because I feel the same way for you. and forgive the show of
emotion, that it is not a show. Verse 1, he says, Paul and Silas
and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians, in God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Church in God and the Lord Jesus Christ. To
be a member of the church, the church, not a church, The church,
there's one church. It's what this fella, I was talking
to the other day, and he was saying, he said, well, there's
many ways, there's Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, and all
that. I said, no, no, there's one way,
there's one Lord, one faith, one Father, and everybody who
has that Father believes the same way about that Father. It's
one family, it's one church. I told that man, I said, men
made up those titles, denominations, Baptist, And remember, I told
you I'd like to take the name off this building. Well, it may
be too late for that. Baptist. Because we don't espouse
and believe and hold to and cling to Baptist theology or Baptist
doctrine. It used to mean something, but
it doesn't anymore. It doesn't anymore. It's just
a denomination made up by men and Methodists and all that.
That's not in the Bible. They were called, believers were
called, the church. Where do you go to church? The
church. Where are you a member? The church.
I'm a member of First Baptist or First Methodist or Second
Church of the Heresy and the church. To be a member of Christ or the
church is to be a member of Christ's body. And they're not divided, are
they, Henry? That's what I say, that they're one. They're one
in thought, in belief. They don't believe in any different
way. They just don't do this thing. They believe the same
thing. Why? It's one body. My hand doesn't believe one thing
and this hand another. Isn't that ridiculous? My hand didn't go in this direction,
my foot the other. It's my body. Well, what are my hands and feet
and everything doing? Serving my head. Well, who's the head of the body?
Christ. And my hand's not going over
here, my foot over there. It's serving the head. And Christ
is the head. He's the head of the church.
If you're a member of the church, that's who you're taken with.
That's who preachers are preaching. That's who peoples are worshiping.
Peoples are worshiping. That's who people are worshiping.
The head. Read it for yourself sometime,
old Philippians. He says that some people are
not holding a head. Don't learn now. He says some
people are not holding a head. I know of one denomination. Well, I'll just tell you who
they are. They're called Landmark Baptists, and they have the doctrine. They believe right down the line,
the doctrine. I mean true doctrine. But they're
more concerned with and are taken up with the church than they
are with Christ. It's almost Catholicism. If you're
a member, if you're a Baptist and you can trace your baptism
all the way back to John the Baptist, they really believe
that. If you can trace it all the way
back to him, you're baptized by a Baptist. who was baptized
by John the Baptist. You think I'm kidding? I'm not
kidding you. And they say, well, you're safe
then. You're saved. Well, they're not holding the
head. They're holding the body. Ed,
you know what I'm talking about, don't you? They're lifting up
and taking up with the body, not the head. And so is all our
men in a worldly religion, more taken up with men and exalting
men and women. What we're doing for God, not
the head. Well, the church is to be in
God. Look at it there. He says, unto
the church, and then he specifies who he's writing to or where
this church is, this local church of the Thessalonians. in God,
the church in God. See, to be a member of the church,
and that's just another name for the people of God. Barbara
Church means the people of God, who have one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one Father, who's in them all. In God, the church
in God, the people of God, who are in God. Well, the Scripture
said that of God are you in Christ, for your life is hid with God
in Christ. What it is to be in the Church
is to be in God, in Christ, be found in him, not having your
own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ in him. and you're
in this by faith in him. It's to be hidden in him. It's
to be found in him. In him, in God. It's for God
to say you're mine and put you in him, in his bosom. In his bosom. To the church in
God and to be in the church is to be for loved by God. Romans 8 says all of this. For
whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate. And whom he did
predestinate, he called by the gospel. Everybody he loves, everybody
he foreordains to be in his family, he calls them by the gospel. They all hear the gospel. Whom
he called, he justified. They believe and they're justified. from all things. And then they're glorified someday. Glorified. Going to be with Him
and His children, His family, His church. His church, elected
by God, redeemed by the Son, regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
You don't join the church. You're joined to the church.
you're joined to the body of Christ read Romans eleven grafted
in read Romans eight adopted. You don't join the church. You
say I have decided what you decide what. What if I went down to the adoption
agency and was thinking about picking a child to adopt and
one little toe-headed rat It's not not in no dirty little rascal
rug rat came up and said, Hey, I decided to let you take me
home. It's not his to decide, is it? Neither is salvation man's to
decide. It's God to decide. And he adopts
to be, is to be joined to the church by God. God say, there's
John Davis. I've loved him with an everlasting
love, therefore with lovingkindness through the gospel of lovingkind,
I've drawn him. And now he believes that he's
mine. I mean, he's mine forever. I've joined him. I've vitally
united him. He's not his own. He's married
to another. I've betrothed him to my son.
He's her bride, they're married, and they're going to live happily
ever after. Yeah, that harlot there. God joined him. But when John
realizes what God has done, he'll come and publicly say, hey, and
he'll confess this Christ to be his husband. And he'll confess
the place where he's at. to be vitally a part of and publicly
want to identify with this church. This is the truth. That's what
you'll say when you're baptized and you so-called join the church.
You say this is the church and I'm in it and I'm here to stay. I am, as it were, married to
these people. I'm a member of the body, and
this is where I'm staying. You don't move your letter. What
is that, Sherry? People have written to me and
say they want to move their letter, and I've looked for it, but I
can't find their letter. Huh? Where is this letter? The heart, the heart, that's
what is joined, and in the body will follow. Well, read on. Verse 2. And he says to this
church, and I say to you, grace unto you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace. This is the
gospel, people, in these two words. And Paul starts every
letter, every letter, with these two words. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians, Thessalonians. Grace, and sometimes he adds
mercy. Grace, mercy, and peace to you. This is the gospel. You want
to know the gospel? It's found, and it can be found
in these two or three words. Grace. This is the gospel, Joe
Parks. By grace are you saved. If you're
saved, old buddy, it's by grace. Hey, Joe Parks, God saved you.
How'd he do it? Grace to you. Amazing grace. I mean, you didn't deserve it,
but he gave it. You couldn't live it, but he
did it. You can't keep yourself, but
he will. Grace to you. To me? Yeah, you. Unto you. And peace. God ought to be fighting
mad at every one of us, angry with us. He's angry with the
wicked every day. He hates all workers of iniquity,
and I don't know about you. Well, I do know about you. I
know about all of us. I know that which is flesh is
flesh, and we're all together sinful. Everyone here, I don't
care how religious, how moral we appear to each other. Within,
we're sinners. You know it. I know it. Starting
here, I'm the chief. But God's not angry with me.
Thank God. God's not mad at me. Thank God. God's not going to punish me.
Thank God. Why? He punished Jesus Christ
instead. Why is God at peace with me?
Because I promised to do better. I tell you. Is God at peace? He said, well, boys will be boys,
and if you promise not to do it again, I won't No, because
Jesus Christ made peace by the blood of his cross. That's what
the scripture said. God is at peace with you. He's
not angry with you. Why? Because he got angry with
his son in your stead. When he saw Christ, his son,
hanging on the cross, he saw that rotten, no good, worthless,
unthankful Terry Kinsley hanging on that cross. And he said, he hasn't glorified
me, he hasn't loved me, he's sinned against me, and he killed
his son. But it wasn't Christ, it was
you. He killed that day. Nevertheless,
you live. But it's not you that live, Christ
in you. Now he sees Christ's righteousness
imputed to you. It's not you, he said. Doesn't
have anything to do with you, does it? Grace to you, Terry.
Grace to you. And peace. Peace. Doesn't that give you peace?
Give me peace from God. Do you see that? From God and
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he says in verse
3, he said, we're bound to thank God for you always. Bound to
thank God always for you. Every time we go to God in prayer,
every time we pray to God, we give thanks to God for you. We always thank God. That's what
prayer is all about. That's what this is all about.
Why do we meet here this morning? Well, we're met here to thank
God. That's what worship means. That's what praise means. We're
met here. This is a group of people who
are thankful to God. And we don't need another reason
to be here. Who do we stand? How much does the Lord bless
you, Stan Anderson? Look, you don't have to look any further
than sitting beside you. What a dear, sweet, precious
woman that stands here to thank God, and vice versa, right? Huh? Look sitting here with you, Deborah,
both your children, Nancy, all three of your children
and your grandchildren. Well, okay, we're going to sing
thanks to God this morning. Nancy's going to sing the loudest,
or ought to. Come we that love the Lord are
thankful, and let our joys be known. Let those refuse to sing
who don't know anything about this God. But children of the
heavenly King may speak their joys abroad, the scripture says.
Thank you, Lord. That's why we're here. We're
bound to thank God. I'm not going to, you know, I'm
giving thanks to God for you people. I'm commending you. But I'm really commending completely
the grace of God. He's done it all. The only reason
you hadn't fired me a long time ago is the grace of God. The
only reason I haven't quit is the grace of God. The only reason
you haven't quit is the grace of God. The only reason we're
not just mad at one another all the time, and we do some of the
time, but not all the time, is the grace of God. The only reason
this thing hadn't split a long time ago is the grace of God. We are what we are by the grace
of God. Who maketh thee to differ? God.
The grace of God. We're bound to thank God always
for you, brethren. You see that? Look at verse 3.
It's meat. It's meat. That is, it's fitting. We ought
to thank God. I hear, I get to see these preachers
get up on Sunday morning and thank so and so. We're so honored
today to have a distinguished guest in our midst today. Dr.
So-and-so is here with us this morning. Dr. William Hodges.
John William Hodges is with us this morning. I stand out and
have everybody greet Brother Hodges. Thank you for coming. We're bound to thank God. We're
here to thank God. It's John William Hodges' privilege
to be here this morning. It's an undeserved privilege. By the grace of God, John William
Hodges is here this morning, right? He's not graced in this
place. God's graced him. You see, we
don't thank people. We don't recognize mothers on
Mother's Day. Every day's the Lord's Day. Her father's on Father's Day.
We got one father we recognize. Try to, every time we meet. Right? I'm going to brag on daddy. I'm
going to brag on the grace of God that makes a man a faithful
father. If it wasn't for the grace of God, he'd have left
mama and son a long time ago. Right? That's why we're here. We're bound to thank God always. Brethren, it's meat. It's filling. To read on, I'm getting carried
away here on the first three verses. I've got to read on. Because it's fitting, and thank
God always, because your faith groweth exceedingly. Your faith. And most especially, I thank God
for the young or new believers. to obviously growing, growing
in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I worry
more about the older, long-time people than I do the new ones.
I really do. And let me just say this by word
of warning. I would be remiss if I did not say it. By word
of warning and rebuke, I worry about those older ones who at
times appear to maybe coming gospel-hardened, who ought to be teachers, but
have become dull of hearing." Oh, my. But, by and large, this
faith growth is exceeding them. And faith is his gift, isn't
it? We don't give him credit for
that even. He's not giving the Thessalonians credit for faith. He's not doing that. He's saying
we're bound to thank God because your faith grows. He gave it
to you, and he's making it grow. He hath begun a good work. I'm
confident he'll make it grow. Oh, how I know that more and
more. He must give the encouragement,
and he's doing it. I do see growth and grace in
the knowledge of Christ. young and old alike. I do see
it. Hopefully, you see it in me. Oh, and he says, read on. He says, your charity, every
one of you, the charity of you all toward each other aboundeth. You're growing in love one to
another. You're growing in love. You're entertaining one another. You're having one another in
your homes and you're buddying up a little more. That's a good
sign. Good sign. Love is growing. Verse 4, "...so
that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God." We glory
in you. In other words, brag to other
churches. Wherever I go, I brag on you
people. They would think, wherever I
go, they'd think, and boy, he never has a problem. That it's
just like that home on the range. You know where that is, you know,
the skies are not cloudy. There's never heard a discouraging
word. You know, I'm on the raindrops.
Well, they must think I live there. They do. That was always Brother Don Fortner
has a good trait of his. You know, every time he called
him, how are things going? Great! He could have a man or
a woman just, just hating him and wanting him gone and fighting
tooth and nail and breaking his heart, and he said, great. Well, I don't, I'm a little,
I'm not, I show my feelings a little more than that. But I never have any reason to
go anywhere and express anything but just sheer pleasure at being
here with these people. How are things going at Central
Baptist? Great. Sometimes I say, couldn't be
better. It could be a little bit better. But in reality, knowing human
nature, knowing myself, my own poor attempt at what I'm doing
and how we're all so lacking in every area, it's great. It's
just great. Knowing flesh is what it is.
It's great. we're bound, aren't we bound to give thanks to God
for his grace here? Some of you have been there.
Joe Parks told me he sat on his bed years ago and just, wasn't
he crying, Nancy, after leaving one of those church business
meetings where men get in a fight with
one another. And he said, surely it's got
to Well, is there, John? I know people look for the perfect
church, and you're not going to find it here. You're going
to find a bunch of sinners. They've got a lot of problems.
We've got a lot of problems. It starts here. You're not going
to find the perfect pastor. You think this one's bad. Maybe he is the worst, but you
just go someplace else, and what you're going to find standing
in that pulpit is a man. But if this fellow is true to
God's Word and has you on his heart and loves you and it's
obvious, you're in a good spot. Verse 4, he says, We glory in
you and the churches of God for your patience and faith. And
once again, he's not bragging on them, but he's just thanking
God for patience he'd given and faith and all their persecutions
and tribulation. You see that? Isn't that what
we talked about Wednesday night? Isn't it, John? We talked about
persecution. And he said in verse five, this
is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God. In other words, because you're
the O church, it's a token that God's here. The O church, you remember that.
Because you're persecuted and hated, and I don't take pride
in this at all. Not at all. We're not trying
to be exclusive. Not at all. We don't want people
to hate us, not at all. We want people to believe this
gospel. But we're not going to change it so people will believe
it. Not going to take the edge off the knife. Not going to take the cutting
edge off so more people will believe it so we can slip some
more members in here. Not going to do that. People, I'm telling you, and
you know it's true, that the majority of the so-called places
in this community would be just happy if Central Baptist were
closed down forever. And they can get along, most,
everybody can get along with one another to some degree. And
even so-called worship together and join together. But not this
one. This is a, they think of it a
maverick church, a lawless church. They hate what we stand for.
They always have, haven't they, Bible? Your son was preaching
here. They hated him. They hated this
church. Why? That's right, Henry. Henry pointed at this. Henry
pointed at this. He said, well, this is a clear
sign. He said in verse five, it's a
manifest token. That's what that means. It's
a clear sign. of the righteous judgment or
dealings, judgments, dealings of God, that you're counted worthy
of the kingdom of God for which you suffer. You see, listen to
me. Listen carefully. And turn over
to Matthew 10 while you're turning, okay? Matthew 10. I've been 30
minutes. Would you give me a few more?
Matthew 10. Very quickly. Listen to me, everybody. Newcomers,
old comers. Listen to me. The gospel, the
gospel is called this. The offense of the cross. Isn't it? Huh? It's called the offense of the
cross. The gospel is called. Hard things. Aren't they, John? You've read
those verses of Scripture where Christ said something and they
said, these are hard things. Who can hear them? And most of
his disciples walked away and said, we won't have that. And
Paul, Sammy, doesn't Peter say, Paul said some hard things, that
they that are unlearned and unstable rest the Scripture to their own
destruction. The gospel is called the offense
of the cross. In other words, the gospel is
offensive. Everybody doesn't love it. It's
not something everybody just receives and loves in the whole
world, in the whole bandwagon. Everybody's wanting to get on
the bandwagon of the gospel. No, it's an offense. Isn't it? Isn't that what the
gospel is called? The offense of the cross. Now listen, from
the beginning, from the beginning of time, There have been many
called, but few chosen. In Noah's day, Noah, the day
of Noah, biblical historians, they account
there were as many as seven billion people on the planet then. Yes,
billion. I said billion. Some of them
say there was many. How many people got on that boat? And Noah was a preacher, wasn't
he? But Noah was Noah. He was a preacher
of what, Stan? Righteousness. Whose, Stan? God's righteousness. Sodom. Sodom and Gomorrah was
one of the largest cities of that day. A quarter of a million,
half a million people, who knows? A lot of people. How many people
escaped? The Lord said, if I find ten
righteous, ten righteous. Who's righteous, John? Those that are made righteous,
John, aren't they? Romans 10 is clear about that.
Romans 10, and he couldn't find ten that were trusting Christ
alone. I'm saying, I bet you they were
all religious. They probably had homosexual
churches. Yes. How many people escaped? Three. The prophets, Isaiah, the prophets
in his day, he said, Lord, he said, Who hath believed our report? Didn't he? In Isaiah 52. He went
all over the land preaching the truth. And he, and very few would hear,
and he said, Lord, who hath believed thy report? To whom is the honor
of the Lord revealed? The apostles, when the disciples
left, the apostles said, Lord, are there few that be saved? After years of walking and preaching,
they said, are there few that be saved? Why is this so? And it is so. Look at this little group. I
don't know how many there are. I haven't counted. I'm not going
to count. I know a man who did count, David, and he got in trouble
for it. Why is this so? Because the gospel
is an offense to pride. Self-worth. The gospel which
said everything's mercy, everything this side of hell is mercy, that
offends man's dignity, his self-worth. Vicki Mann thinks he's... God
needs him. Mankind thinks that there's something,
some innate quality in him, you know, since he was created in
the image of God, that God must, that every man deserves a chance
because he's in the image of God. He thinks he's worth something.
Scripture says he's not. Doesn't share it. Vanity of vanity. He says, lighter than the dust
of the balance. He says, not sufficient to burn. And he says if God saves anybody,
it's mercy. It's mercy. And that offends
me. And then it offends his self-righteousness. Grace offends man's self-righteousness. Grace. When God Almighty says
everything is going to be done for you, I'm going to have to
do it. When God says that you come short of the glory of God,
I'm going to have to choose you, give to you, keep you, clean
you, give you, give you, give you, give you, keep you, clean
you, clean you, give you, give you, give you, give you, keep
you till the day you die and lift you, pick you up, lift you,
pick you up, lift you, take you home, do it all for you. Grace! And that offends man. is self-righteousness
and his ability to do something. I can do something. Yeah, you
can. You can sin. And this offends it. And the
gospel says you can't figure this thing out. The gospel says
in 1 Corinthians 2, the natural man receiveth not the things
of God, neither can he know their foolishness to him. They're spiritually
God has revealed them. That is, it's a revelation. That's
the smartest man on earth. As a matter of fact, Christ looked
to heaven and said, I thank you, Lord, that the doctors and lawyers
can't figure this thing out. But the laborers and the harlots
and the publicans can, because I've revealed it to them. It's
a revelation. It's a revelation. And that's grace. Ain't nobody
comes to any conclusion or figures this thing out. It's revealed
to them. And that offends the wise and
the proved. It doesn't offend the nobodies,
the nothings, the no nothings. The gospel that says God's on
the throne, man's in his hand to do with as he pleases. Man
hates that. Hates that. Man has it the other
way around, you see. He hates that gospel. And so
man says, no, God is in our hands to do with us we please. They
love that gospel. But the gospel. And if you believe it, Henry,
you didn't love it either, did you, before? You was one of those
Armenian rascals. That's a light word, isn't it?
Who hated this same gospel, didn't you? But now you believe it.
You hate what you once loved and love what you once hated.
That's a manifest token that you're one of God's. And now
you try to tell everybody it was just like you. You say, hey,
that's a lie. That's not the truth. And once
again, Barbara's not leaving because she doesn't believe this.
Now, Charles is not angry. Charles is smiling. Bye, Charles. She's going to work. Have a good
day. They love this. And there's not a woman in here
who's persecuted more for telling it. Is she? I've been in a restaurant with
her before. I love that woman. I've been
in a restaurant with her, and somebody's talking my hand up.
just come back from church or something, somebody talking about
something and Barbara turned around and said, that just ain't
so. That's a lie. And she's persecuted. They think
she's a crazy woman. Fool, for Christ's sake, what
she is. I had you turn to Matthew 10
for a reason. It said here, our Lord, see he
started out. in Matthew 10 with the disciples.
He started out by telling them this when he first chose them.
Look at verse 16. When he first chose them, he
said, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of nice people.
They're going to receive you and love you. No. Sheep in the
midst of wolves. He said in verse 17, beware of
men. They'll deliver you up. They'll scourge you. Look at
verse 21, the brother will hate you. Your brother, your own sister,
Henry, will hate you. Why, Henry, are you a hateful
guy? No, you're a nice fellow as far as nice fellows go, but
she hates that gospel you believe. You don't like that, do you?
You want your sister to believe it. He said in verse 22, You
shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that endureth
to the end shall be saved." And that was it, the first. All right?
Three years went by, Stan. Look at chapter 24. Three years
went by, nearly. Three years. And in the end,
as our Lord was about to leave, let's hear what he says. Things
changed. The world more peaceable now,
and people more receptive to the gospel. Now, after three
years of going out into the world and preaching the gospel, people
weren't receptive to it. Look at chapter 24, and he's
talking about now. Verse 9, they shall deliver you
up to be afflicted and kill you, and you shall be hated of all
nations for my name's sake. Verse 14, this gospel of the
kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness.
And then shall the end come. And that's what I see in 2 Thessalonians
3, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Timothy 2, a turning away, stopping
of the ears to the truth. It's now more than ever. And
back in the text and in closing, now more than ever, he says,
It's a token. It's a token. The manifest token,
the righteous judgment of God. To you who suffer, why? Just because you believe the
truth. And Deborah and some of you,
all of you, they believe it. You suffer things that you suffer,
indignities and wrongdoing. They're going to they they are
Lord said Matthew five you said blessed are you and men shall
persecute you and revile you and say all manner of evil against
you falsely. And it may not be directly related
to something you have said or. At that time, but the real reason
is your stand for the gospel. That's behind it all. They can
just purge this world of these believers, those that believe
this way, that way. It's true. You're going to suffer. But rest. He said in verse seven,
you who are troubled, it brings you trouble, doesn't it? God's
going to recompense. And it troubles you. Verse seven,
it troubles you. It troubles me that People are against me, but it's
not me. It's not me. I really haven't
done anything. Stan, you haven't done anything
against anybody, have you? People you work with, John, you've
been a... Christ said, he said, it's not
you that hates me. Verse seven, you who are troubled,
rest with us. Rest. Why? The Lord's going to
be revealed. He's going to come from heaven.
The Lord. Who? What Lord? Our Lord. The one we've been talking about
all this time. Not this Jesus. It's, read it
on there, it says, Who shall heal flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them that know not God. Not just outwardly, openly wicked
people, but those that don't know this God. They don't obey
this gospel. Vicki, Romans 1 says that that
which may be known of God, they were not thankful. Though they
knew God, they were not thankful. Gave themselves over. He gave
them over. Remember when it says that? Oh,
they're without excuse. And they don't want to have this
gospel. Men don't want to have this gospel. Don't want to have
this Christ. Him and him alone. I do. And
it says that he's going to come in flaming fire. This doesn't
sound like this sweet Jesus you hear about today, does it? Does
it? Flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them. Verse 9, who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.
I mean the Lord. From the glory of his power.
Oh, when he comes, you're going to be glorified in the saints,
admired in all of them that believe our testimony in that day. Wherefore,
we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of
this. Peter and the boys came back from being beaten and rejoicing. They were beaten, whipped, and
they came back rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for his name. I rejoice, John, that people
at work hate you. And I don't know, I think you
know what I'm saying, because it means God loves you. Yes, it does. Marvel not if the world hates
you. You know that it hated me, he said, before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But
since you're not of the world, therefore the world hateth you. But rejoice. Don't make them hate you because
you're hateful. Don't do that. We give them enough reason for
that. Wherefore, we pray always for you, our God would count
you worthy of this calling." What calling? To suffer. "...and
fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, the work of
faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may
be glorified in you." I mean really glorified, not out to
make a show, but really trying to glorify Christ. And you in
him, you're going to be glorified someday with the saints. And it's why, why? Everybody
read it out there in the lab. And why? Why is all this? Verse
11, or the last verse, says, according, verse 12, according
to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. When it's
all said and done, it's His grace. It's grace. And you'd have quit a long time
ago. You'd have renounced this faith. Like Peter, you remember
when Peter said, and boy, they were hated and
they were persecuted. Nobody liked them. Nobody. Didn't they? They all ended up
dying for what they believed. Didn't they? They all were killed.
And Peter, there at the end, Peter said, I'm so tired of this. Let's go back fishing. Let's
go fishing. Let's get out of the ministry.
Let's quit being hated. Let's just be one of the guys.
Everybody loves an old fisherman. And the rest of the fellas, what'd
they say? Remember Stan? They said, we
go too. We're going too. Yeah. Tired of this persecution. But the Lord said, you go tell
Peter, you go tell Peter that I'll be waiting on him. He's
going to come back. He's not going anywhere. He's
going to suffer great things for my name. But after it's all
said and done, he's going to have joy unspeakable. A little shame, a little persecution
for a little while. Still a little while. You're
going to be a fish out of water, Rebecca. You're going to be unlike
the rest of them. You're not going to be one of
them. But in a little while, you're
going to see. You're going to know. And you will know as you have
been known. And you're going to be singing
to the top of your lungs for eternity. Grace. Grace. Grace. What it's all about. All of grace. All right, Joe,
you have a hymn picked out? you