Good evening, let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 232. 232. Christ our Redeemer died on the
cross, died for the sinner, paid all his due. Cover your soul
with the blood of the Lamb, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood, When I see the world, I will
pass, I will pass over you. Chiefest of sinners, Jesus will
save, All He has promised that He will do. Wash in the fountain,
open for sin, And I will pass, will pass over you When I see
the blood When I see the blood When I see the blood I will pass,
I will pass over you judgement is coming all will
be there each one receiving justly is due hide in the saving sin
cleansing blood and I will pass will pass so will you when I
see the blood when I See the blood, I will pass, I
will pass over you Oh great compassion, oh boundless love Oh loving kindness,
faithful and true Find peace and shelter under the blood And
I will pass, will pass over you When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass
over you. Be seated, we'll sing hymn number
112. Up Calvary's mountain, wonderful
Lord. Walk Christ my Savior, weary
and poor. Facing poor sinners, death on
the cross. ? That he might save him from endless
flaws ? Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer ? Seems how I see him
on Calvary's tree ? Wounded and bleeding For sinners pleading,
Blind and unheeding, Dying for me. Father forgive him, Thus
did he pray, Meanwhile his lifeblood Flowed fast away. Praying for
sinners while in such woes, No one but Jesus ever loved so. Blessed Redeemer Precious Redeemer
Seems now I see Him On Calvary's tree Wounded and bleeding For
sinners pleading Blind and unheeding, dying for me. Oh, how I love Him, Savior and
friend. How can my praises ever find
Him? Through years and others on heaven's My tongue shall praise Him forevermore. Blessed Redeemer Precious Redeemer
Seems now I see Him On Calvary's tree Blood in Him bleeding Our
sinners bleeding Blind and unheeding Good, good song selection. Acts
chapter 14. Got 18 verses to deal with. I'll
read the first seven, then I'll deal with them after that. So we'll have to read them all
at the same time. But Acts 14. And it came to pass in Iconium
that they went both together, Barnabas and Silas now, into
the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude,
both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. But the
unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds
evil-affected against the brethren. Long time, therefore, abode they
speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the
word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done
by their hands. But the multitude of the city
was divided, in part held with the Jews, in part with the apostles. And when there was an assault
made, both of the Gentiles and also of the Jews, their rulers,
to use them despitefully and to stone them, they were aware
of it, or made known about it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe,
cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about.
And there they preached the gospel." Our blessed Father, our gracious,
eternal God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that one
that bore our sins, oh, bore them away, took them upon himself,
made them to be his, so, Lord, your righteousness could be ours.
Lord, we bless you and praise you for this glorious, glorious
gospel of grace, this gospel of redeeming love and power in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you that salvation
belongs to you, And Lord, you give it and you give it to us. And when you give it to us, Lord,
you sustain it. You keep us believing, keep us
looking to you. And Lord, we bless you for that.
And Lord, we've gathered tonight to worship. We've gathered tonight
to look into your precious word. And Lord, we thank you for those
who's come out and we pray for those who are not with us through
weakness of body, through sickness, through providence, that they
weren't able to come. But Lord, we pray your blessings
upon them and pray for grace sufficient. And Lord, please
have mercy upon our loved ones. Oh God, that's without God, without
Christ, and without hope in this world. Please stir them up from
their sin. Make them feel their guilt. Meet
with us tonight. Bring glory to yourself. who
ask these things in our blessed Savior's name. Amen and amen. Number 334. 334. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart, Naught be all else to me, save that Thou By day or by night. Waking or sleeping, Thy presence
my light. Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my
true word. I ever with Thee, and Thou with
me, Lord. Thou my great Father, I Thy true
Son. Thou indeed dwelling, and I with
Thee, Lord. Riches I heed not, nor man's
empty praise, Thou mine inheritance, now and always. Thou only, first in my heart. I, King of Heaven, my treasure
Thou art. I, King of Heaven, my victory
won. May I reach heaven's joy, so
bright, heaven's sun. Heart of my own heart, whatever
befall. Still be my vision, oh ruler
of all. All right, let's look here together
again in Acts chapter 14. Title of my message this evening
is Faith and Unbelief. We see both of them vividly in
these verses I'm gonna deal with tonight. Now the apostles had
gifts and abilities that were given to them and them alone.
They was the only one that had them. And the reason being that
the Gospel was being established. You know that everywhere they
went, a lot of folks didn't even know who Jesus Christ was, didn't
know anything about Him. And so the Gospel was to be established,
and they were going to a lot of places where Christ had not
even been known, especially even to some of the Jews. And so Jesus
Christ of Nazareth MUST be made known, He HAS to be made known,
and He has to be made known as the only Savior. He has to be
made known as the only Savior. He has to be known as the only
Mediator between God and men. He must be known as the only
begotten Son of God. He must be known as one who was
crucified, who was buried, and risen again, and sits at the
right hand of God with all power and authority vested in Him,
and that He is the only Redeemer. And these men were given these
gifts to work signs and wonders, but let me tell you something,
a sign or a wonder has never, ever given anybody faith. No,
it doesn't. It doesn't do it. REPENTANCE
WITHOUT THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON THE HEART. SIGNS
AND WONDERS. THE JEWS ALL THE TIME ASK, SHOW
US A SIGN, SHOW US A SIGN. THE FIRST SIGN THAT THERE WAS
IN THE SCRIPTURES WAS BY MOSES, AND WHEN HE TOOK THAT ROD AND
THREW IT DOWN IT BECAME A SNAKE AS THE FIRST SIGN IN THE SCRIPTURES. AND SO THE JEWS FROM THEN ON
THEY WANTED A SIGN, THEY WANTED A SIGN. THEY WANT SOME EVIDENCE,
THEY WANT SOME EVIDENCE. And listen, faith does not ask
for evidence. Christ gives us faith, and without
repentance, without the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart,
and all the way through these verses we're going to see faith
and unbelief. The first thing I want us to
look at in these seven verses that I read at the beginning
was the city was divided. Look down in verse 4, But the
multitude of the city was divided. Now they're in Iconium, and part
held with the Jews and part with the apostles. A city divided. What do you reckon that divided
them? What made them divided in this city? What was it? Huh? And the scriptures tells
us there in verse 33, what made the city divided? And long time
therefore they abode, speaking boldly, with great liberty is
what that means, without any fear, without any favor, spake
boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his
grace, and getteth signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
And oh, they spake boldly, and you know what they testified
to? Grace! Salvation by grace! And how come
He talked salvation by grace? Look back down to verse 48 of
chapter 13, and THIS is why He's speaking of grace. And when the
Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word
of the Lord, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. They understood that salvation
was by grace! Election is by grace! Salvation
is by grace! And if grace is not inherent
in us, that grace has to be given, and they testified of grace,
they preached grace, they preached that God has to do something
for you, and so these fellas got all upset. And then they
done signs and wonders so folks could understand that God was
with these men, and they spake boldly. And when they was testifying
of the word of God's blessed grace, You'd think that people
would greatly, greatly rejoice in the message of grace. You'd
think, Boy, that's the most wonderful thing I've ever heard! That salvation
is by grace? That God comes and shows favor
to sinners? That God comes and shows favors
to rebels? That God comes and opens men's
hearts and minds and does something for them that they cannot do
for themselves? And I've often said that grace
is God saving us in spite of ourselves. And I tell you, once
He saves us by grace, I tell you what He does, He just keeps
giving grace upon grace upon grace upon grace. And He never
stops giving grace. And we never stop testifying
of the grace of God. But you'd think that when they
heard that message, they would start rejoicing, start rejoicing
about it. And then back up in verse 1,
There were some who believed, and it came to pass in Iconium
that they went both of them together in the synagogue of the Jews,
and spake, and so spake that a great multitude, both of the
Jews and also of the Gentiles, they believed. Some believe this, some believe
this, but oh, my! I tell you what, God made some
men to be believers. He made them to be believers,
and said these men were preaching, and that's where they would go
and start preaching at, in the synagogues. And look what it
says now. And a great multitude of them
was believing, but look what happens next. Verse two, but
the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their
minds evil-affected against the brethren. You know, they done
exactly the same thing when they were in Antioch. They stirred
up the people. The Jews stirred up the people.
They done the same thing here. Now, this is what I don't understand.
If they didn't believe, if these men chose not to believe, It
said, no, I don't believe salvation's by grace. I don't believe in
the electing grace of God. I don't believe that God saves
a man, and without his will, without his power, without giving
him a chance, I just can't believe that, and I'm not gonna believe,
and I'm not gonna believe that salvation's by grace, because
I'm gonna be saved by my works. I'm gonna be saved by my law.
I'm gonna be saved by my ceremonies. I'm gonna be saved by my rituals.
Now, if they didn't believe that, why didn't they just leave them
alone? Just leave them alone. That's what I do. When I run
across... You know, our Lord said, when you find a hog, don't
throw pearls to it. When you find a dog, don't throw
pearls at it. And that's what it is. When you
find people that don't want to believe, and they choose not
to believe, and they want to fuss and fight and argue with
you all the time, just leave them alone. That's what I do
with people that don't believe. I just leave them alone. I tell
them what I believe, tell them what I know, and if they don't
want to believe it, that's fine. Listen, that's why we pray for
our children. That's why we pray for our grandchildren,
is because God's got to do the work. There's born unbelievers. You and I was born unbelievers.
You and I was born sinners, and we lived sinners until God brought
grace to us. And I tell you what, why didn't
they just leave him alone? But look what it says about them
believing just stirred them up. And listen to this line. Made
their minds evil affected against the brethren. Made their minds evil affected.
They stirred up these people. Now let me tell you something.
Man by nature has got an evil mind. So you get somebody that's
got an eviler mind than you and get your evil mind stirred up,
and that's what happened here. These fellas got to talking to
these people, got to stirring these people up and start talking
about what Simonides was and what they were preaching and
that there's nothing to them, nothing to their message. There
gets Moses. They?re against the law! They?re
not preaching that there?s one God! They?re preaching that there?s
only one Savior! And they?ve got these people
all stirred up! Oh, my! Evil affected! We was talking earlier, I remember
there?s a man that?s got in contact with me and with Todd and Greg
Elmquist, and I used to know him, I?ve known him when he was
just a young man. And I went to preach for him
back in 1980, it means Billy Argeropoulos, and now he s down
in Florida preaching, and God s taught him the gospel, so he
s been in touch with us. But I remember preaching for
him in 1980, and I preached the gospel over there, God s sovereignty,
God s electing grace, and those people were scared to death.
I mean, they just Billy said one night, said, I feel like
God s in this place, and I m afraid to move. And then some fellas
come along, and I could tell you their names if I was pleased
to do that, but they come along and said, you better stay away
from Donnie Bell. He's a hyper-Calvinist. And I still don't know what a
hyper-Calvinist is. Do you, Bruce? I've never figured
it out. I still don't know what a hyper-Calvinist
is. I wish somebody would teach me
what one of them is. I'd like to be hyper about something. Most of the time, I'm too laid
back. But oh my, but he says their
minds will leave, and that's what they do. Their minds are
evil affected. And Bruce has had people's minds
evil affected against him. And it's awful when somebody
takes somebody that believes the gospel, somebody's preaching
the gospel, and a bunch of folks get together and go over there
and start, these people are awful. You understand what they're preaching?
And how did you know? And they get them stirred up,
get them stirred up. And when it says their minds,
the mind in the scriptures is the same as the heart, as the
soul, and as the person. When you talk about your mind,
you're really saying something about your heart, who you really
are. And your mind is who you are,
your heart, your soul, your person. And that's why you know the scripture
says, love the Lord thy God with all the heart, mind, and soul. They're all one and the same.
And I tell you what, and these fellas, here they come. They come here and the evil affect
these people's minds. And they done that, and I tell
you what, and when Paul talked about sin, war and against the
law of his mind, he said, the law that is me, that's in my
mind, in my heart, that I had. And he said, sin come along,
and it accused me and condemned me. The law that I was trying
to keep, it come along, and it started a war in me. Started
a war in me. I wanted to keep the law, but
I couldn't. I wanted to do good, but I couldn't. Evil was right there with me.
And that's what he's talking about. When he's talking about
his mind, he's talking about who I am as a person. And so
I'll tell you, and I'll tell you that scripture tells us in
lowliness of mind, heart and soul, in lowliness of mind, let
others esteem others better than themselves. So let your heart,
your soul, your mind be that way. And then look what happened
now. I wish those folks, you know,
people would just leave people alone, but they can't do that.
They can't do that, because these fellows, these preachers are
coming along tearing their playhouse down, you know, showing them
how lost they really were. When people start getting lost
and getting upset over their condition, they're going to fight.
They're going to defend their idols. They're going to fight.
They're going to argue with you. They're going to debate with
you. They get mad. They get really mad. And oh,
listen, in verse 5, And when there was an assault made, both
of the Gentiles, that's what they've done to these fellows,
the gods were stirred up, they're going to assault them. And when there
was an assault made, both of the Gentiles and also of the
Jews, their rulers, to use them despitefully and stone them.
They stirred them up so mad that they said, we're going to assault. They went after them fellows.
They were going to beat them. They were going to stone them.
They're going to lay hands on them. They want to abuse these
men. It's not enough to let them alone.
They want to hurt them. They said, Let's assault them.
And a whole bunch of them got together and said, We're going
to go after them preachers. And oh, my. Well, they became
aware of it. And they fled into Leicester
and Derby and cities of Laconia. There's an assault. And I tell
you, these men had hazarded their lives for the gospel and for
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say, you see, that's what
he meant, their lives were hazarded for this. And they left, and
all these places that you read about, Alconium and Antioch and
all them, all of them are in Galatia, and these little old
cities are just little old dots on a map, and it's all in Galatia. And they went to Derby and the
cities of Iconia and under the region that lies out there. They
went off, and what did they do when they got there? There they
preached the gospel. You know, they already had to
leave Antioch over a bunch of Jews. And then they go to Iconium,
and they have to leave over because they're hated so much. And then
they get to Lystra, and there they preach the gospel. There
they preach the gospel. And I'll tell you, the other
day somebody said something about the three R's. I might have told
you this Sunday. But somebody said something about
the three R's, and I said, every preacher that ever preaches,
if he's preaching, he's gonna deal with all three R's. He's
gonna deal with how man's ruined by the fall. Christ is the Redeemer
to redeem you from that fall, and the Holy Spirit must REGENERATE
you after Christ redeems you. And I tell you, and that's what
we just got through, how EVIL minds are affected. Man's born
with an evil mind, and then they ASSAULT him! They're people that
BELIEVE! And so here we go, and wherever
they went, they preached the Gospel. Now, here's a picture.
Now, let me go on down to verse 9 and 10, Look and start down
here in verse 8 now, And there sat a certain man of Lystra,
impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never
had walked. The same heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him,
and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud
voice, Stand upright on thy feet, and he leaped and walked. And when the people saw what
Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the speech
of Lyconia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of
men. But now here s a picture of salvation. Now here's faith,
here's faith. We've seen people who believe
and some who didn't believe, but here's faith. It says there's
a man, he's sitting there, and he's listening to Paul preach,
and it makes a vivid description of him. There's a certain man,
impotent in his feet. From the day he come from his
mother's womb, he was a cripple, and he had never walked. So you
can imagine, if we sent somebody like that today, they'd be in
a wheelchair. And their legs, no doubt, were just little old
bitty things. There couldn't be no muscle on
them because he couldn't walk. Couldn't be no strength in them
because he couldn't walk. And so, you know, he's sitting
there, his legs all shriveled up, and look what it says, who
had never walked. Well, he was hearing Paul preach.
He was hearing Paul preach. This man was impotent. His feet
was dead, no ability. He didn't have no ability to
come to an altar. He didn't have no ability to
come to Christ unless he had to walk to Him. He's helpless
to do anything for himself, and his mother's helpless to do it.
You know his mother would have done anything if she could have
to have him walk. He had NEVER walked and didn't
believe he ever would walk. Didn't know anything but the
life that he had. And every time you can get out
of bed and stand up on your feet and walk, thank God, thank God. Not only can we walk good, we
got the best shoes that money can buy to walk in them. And
oh my, here's a man couldn't walk, couldn't walk. And then
it says, and he heard, in verse nine, the same heard Paul speak. Oh my, he was listening. Paul
was preaching. And they all listened. And he
was listening to Paul. And let me tell you something.
He was listening, but somebody has to preach the gospel. Somebody
has to tell us the gospel. God does the work, but God, you
got to hear the gospel. You see, someone had to teach,
someone had to preach. Faith cometh by hearing. So here's
this man sitting here. Listen to Paul preach. Listen
to this man speak. And I tell you in this hell,
it says, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. And
this man was beholding Paul, looking right at him, listening
at him preach. And while he was looking straight
at Paul, Paul looked down at him and said, boy, that man's
really zeroed in on us. He's really zeroed in on the
gospel. He's paying attention to what I got to say. And Paul
looked down at him and said, he's got faith. He's believing
what I'm saying. And I tell you, did he perceive
that this man had faith? And I tell you what, when Paul's
told to him, he said, in verse 10, said with a loud voice, stand
up right upon thy feet. And listen, it didn't just say
he stood right up on his feet. The first thing he did is he
leaped. He said, stand up. I can't stand
up on my feet. But he did. That's the same thing happened
over in Acts 3. But here's a man who had never walked a day in
his life. And the scripture said, when
Paul said, stand upon your feet, the scripture said the first
thing he does, he leaped. He leaped. He didn't stand up
and say, boy, oh my goodness, what's going on here? I can walk. No, he went straight up. Oh, he leaped, and then when
he landed on his feet, they held up. His legs held up. He was able to walk. He was able. Oh, my. Oh, you think about a
man taking his first step when he's an old man. Taking his first
step. You know, he takes a step by
faith, just like we take steps by faith. Oh, my. He leaped. His joy was so great. And when he landed back down
on his feet, he just, oh, he was overjoyed. I would say now,
you know, there's so much in the scriptures that we just have
to You know, like when they talked about grace, when they said just,
that means that they preached grace, testified about grace
all the time, continually. It's not just a statement there,
but that means that was the tenor of their life, the tenor of their
message. And when you hear about this, This man walking here and
leaping in that, I would say, it's just like it was in Acts
3, I would say this man went up and hugged Paul. I believe
he throwed his arms around Paul. And I believe he started crying.
I believe he started offering thanks to God. He said, I believe,
I'm so thankful that God sent you here. I'm so grateful that
I heard something today that done something for me that enabled
me to walk. Uh-huh. I believe those are things
that you can, people say, well, read between the lines. That's
what I'm doing, I'm reading between the lines. But I mean, you know,
you just think about how somebody would react. When somebody makes
a profession of faith in our congregations now, all of us
starts crying, every one of us wants to go hug them. Oh, my. So, oh boy, listen, now
here we go. Here's an example of foolishness
and faithfulness. Start in verse 11. I hope I'm
not taking too long. And when the people, down verse
11 now, these people of Lyconia, and when they saw this happen,
this miracle happen, this man walking and leaping and rejoicing
in the Lord. And when the people saw what
Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech
of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of
men. and they called Barnabas, Judah,
and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the
priest of Judah, which was before their city, brought oxen and
garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with
the people. When the apostles Barnabas and
Paul heard of this, they rent their clothes, and ran in among
the people, crying. and saying, Sirs, why do you
these things? We also are men of like passions
with you, and preach unto you that you should turn from these
vanities unto the living God. which made heaven, and earth,
and the sea, and all things therein, who in time past suffered all
nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he left not
himself without witness, in that he did good, gave us rain from
heaven, fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."
And oh, look what it said. Here's the first thing they said
about these two men when they saw this miracle. They said,
The gods will come down. The gods are come down. That's the way, you know, that's
the way people feel about great men. That's the way they feel
about great men. When there's a person supposed
to be great, and powerful, and mighty, and successful, and these
preachers are supposed to come in, do these signs, and these
wonders, and people throw their crutches away, and get up out
of their wheelchairs, and do all that kind of stuff, they'll
say, the gods have come down. Oh, that's the way people feel
about great men, idol worshipers. And oh, and I tell you, some
love to have it that way. They love to have it that way.
And I tell you what, some folk, and there's these gods that they
say, God's Jupiter and Mercury, they was deaf, dumb and blind.
They couldn't heal this man. They couldn't heal their gods.
Mercury and Jupiter couldn't do anything for anybody. And
they was fixed off for sacrifices. And that's the way great preachers.
Our Lord said, a man comes to you in his own name, you'll receive
him. And you'll honor him and you'll
glorify him. But he said, if I come in my
name, he said, you don't want nothing to do with me. I come
in my own name. I come with the glory and power
and majesty of heaven itself. And you won't have a word to
do with me. And all my Oh, they'll say a great preacher's coming.
There'll be signs and wonders. Oh my, yeah, I'll tell you what
kind of sign. Sign of the devil in a preacher
in fleshly worship. It's like Herod, when that day
Herod was preaching, and they said, it's the voice of a God,
it's the voice of a God. God killed him, God killed him. And then they gave him names.
Oh my, Jupiter and Mercurius, Mercury. But oh, listen, you
think these preachers, most folks would have loved to have been
recognized. Most preachers would have loved to have been recognized
and treated like this. Oh, they would have. And I'll
tell you, look what happens now, what Paul in Barnabas does. And
oh my, they was getting ready to offer sacrifices. In verse
14, the apostle Paul and Barnabas heard of this and they ripped
their clothes. And that ripped their clothes,
that means that they were very, very disturbed by what's going
on. And that was something that the Jews did, meaning that they
really, it ripped their heart, that it hurt their heart. And
so they would take their clothes, just like me taking and ripping
a button off. That's what they would do. And
then this is what it says here, and they ran among all these
people. all this people getting ready
to offer sacrifice. I mean, you know, this is a big
deal. There's a big priest there, and there's a big glocks in there,
and there's all kinds of flowers there. And I'll tell you, they
come up there, and they run right in amongst all these people.
And I mean, they're excited, boy. I mean, these old gods.
The gods just come down. They all shook up. They're excited.
They're excited. But they ran among the people
crying out. And oh my, oh they were so faithful. And they rent the clothes and
ran in among them crying out. And what a question right here.
Listen to this question. And I asked myself this back
in 1978, 77, 76, 77, somewhere in that neck of the woods. Saying,
sirs, why do ye these things? Why are you doing these things? What a question. What a question. Most people don't know why they
do the things they do. Why they worship the way they
do. Why they carry on the way they do. And they didn't know. He said, why do you this? What
a question. What a question. Oh my, why do
you do the things that you do? What's the reason that you do
this? And then the next thing they said, Oh, sirs, why do you
these things? And we also are men of like passions
with you. We're just men. We're men. We have our heartaches. We have
our troubles. We have our passions. We have
our emotions. And we preach unto you. And listen to this now. We preach
unto you that you should turn from these vanities. And that's
what they are. They're empty, empty gods. and turn unto the first of all
he said to the living God these gods are dead you turn to the
living God the gods who's alive and then he began to describe
this God this God that you ought to turn to he made the heaven
and the earth he's the creator this heavens you looking up at
these stars you looking up at he made them this earth that
you're on here he made that he made that oh my And I tell you,
but I've got a message for you. And I tell you, turn to God,
turn from your idols, turn from these idols to the living God.
That's what the Thessalonians did. They turned from the idols
to serve the true and living God. You know why these men did
this? They were jealous of the glory
and honor of God Himself. They were jealous for the glory
and honor of God. I don't want no-they said, I
don't want no praise. And then he says, and listen,
he said, and then he starts describing God. I'll hurry up here. And
then they said, Who in time past allowed all nations to walk in
their own way. He said, All nations, you want to worship these gods?
Let God and these other gods. He let people do that. He allowed
them to do that. Let men walk in their own way.
But yet, he said, nevertheless, He didn't leave himself without
a witness to all these nations. He had a witness to all these
nations. He didn't leave himself without
a, you know, and he's still letting people walk in their own ways.
Nations do that. But he left not himself without
a witness to all these nations that he let do what they wanted
to do. And this is the first thing he said, he did good. He did good. GOD HAS DONE GOOD
TO EVERYBODY ON THIS PLANET, AND MOST OF THEM WOULD NOT, THEY'RE
LIKE HOGS, THEY NEVER LOOK UP TO SEE WHERE THEY'RE GETTING
THEIR FOOD FROM. AND HE DID GOOD, HE DID GOOD TO ME. HE'S DOING GOOD TO AMERICA IN
SPITE OF IT. HE'S DOING GOOD TO ALL NATIONS
IN SPITE OF IT. HE DID GOOD. HOW DO WE KNOW HE'D
DONE GOOD? HE GAVE US RAIN WHEN WE NEEDED
RAIN. Your garden needs rain, boy, it's about to rain. God
gave us rain. Gave us rain. Filled up our rivers,
filled up our reservoirs, gave us water to drink. Oh, my. And then He gave us fruitful
seasons. He gave us seasons where we had plenty to eat. And He
gave us fruitful seasons where, you know, they had seven years
of plenty in Egypt and then seven years of famine. Who gave us
fruitful seasons? God did. And He gives us fruitful
seasons, blesses us, gives us plenty, lots of food. And listen to this, and filling
our hearts, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Oh my. I come home, you know,
and I get hungry and Shirley's got something good fixed to eat.
Fills my heart with gladness. He really does. I'd hate to have
to go home and fix something for myself. If it didn't come
out of a can, didn't go in the microwave, I'd be in trouble. But I mean, you know, God gives
us his fruitful season. He gives us food and He gives
us gladness of heart. Oh, what a, no wonder it says
He did good. He did good. And I'll tell you
what, and I'm about done. You know, creation, creation
will leave every man in this world without excuse. These fellas
go out in outer space and they take all these pictures, these
black holes, and they go out there and see how many galaxies
out there, millions of light years away. And oh, they stand
in astonishment. I just look at the stars and
I stand in astonishment. And I say, what is God, what
is man that you mind, beloved? Oh my. And then look what it
says here now in verse 18, and I'm done. And with these sayings,
with these sayings, what they preached to them, scarce restrained
they the people that they had not done sacrifice unto them.
Now let me tell you something about the God that he mentioned
here. He's the same today, yesterday, and forever. Huh? Faith and unbelief. I believe. Oh, hell, I believe. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, Thank you for allowing us to meet here
tonight. Thank you for your precious word. Oh, God. Your word does
something for me that nothing else in this world does. And,
Lord, when it says you did good, oh, every day that we get up, this
world gets out of bed, no matter where they live. You do good. You do good. Men do evil, but
you do good. Men hate you, but you do good.
You do good. And Lord, thank you for giving
us food and gladness of heart. And Lord, we believe, we believe
we don't want to be fools. We don't want to stir people's
minds up, evilly affected. We want to love and be kind and
gracious and tender and forgiving. And Lord, help us to bring glory
to you. meet the needs of this body of believers who ask for
it in Christ's blessed name. Amen. Amen. He's the Savior of
my soul. Jesus, my Jesus, He's the Savior
of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul. And bless His name. See you Sunday,
God willing. Glad to have these visitors with
us tonight.