Okay, today now back to our study
through the book of Acts, and we come to chapter 17, where
Paul is starting a campaign of preaching the gospel in a city
known as Thessalonica. And I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said in verse 3. And this is such
a powerful statement. Acts 17, verse 3, opening and
alleging that Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, must, must need
have suffered. Now, why must the sinless Son
of God suffer? Why must the Lord Jesus Christ
suffer like no one ever suffered before? Remember in the book
of Lamentations where the Lord said, Behold and see if there
be any sorrow Like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, is it
nothing to you? He's a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, but why does he suffer so? He had no sin, knew no sin,
and did no sin, but why does he suffer so? upon Calvary's
tree, because God laid on him the sin of his people, and where
sin is found, judgment must fall. God is too holy to look upon
sin with favor. In 1 Peter 3, Peter writes this,
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, one suffering, one
sacrifice offered one time because it got the job done. The just
for the unjust that he might bring us to God. The only way
God can justly bring us to God is through the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The just one suffering for the
unjust that he might bring us unto God, being put to death
in the flesh but he did stay dead, quickened by the Spirit
of God. He bare our sins in his own body
on the tree. What amazing love. No wonder
when John writes about it, he said, here is love. Here in his
love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and that he
sent his son TO BE THE SACRIFICE FOR OUR SIN. THE ONLY WAY GOD
CAN SAVE HIS PEOPLE JUSTLY FROM THEIR SIN IS THAT OUR SIN BE
PUNISHED AND OUR SUBSTITUTE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. AND THAT'S
EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. GOD MADE HIM TO BE SIN FOR US
WHO KNEW NO SIN THAT WE MIGHT BE MADE, MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS
OF GOD, THINK ABOUT THAT, THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN Him. How righteous do I need to be?
How good do I need to be to stand before God accepted? As good
as God. A preacher, you're not as good
as God. Not in me I'm not, but in Him. When God sees His people, He
sees them and loves them and justifies them in the Lord Jesus
Christ. In order that God may be just
and the justifier of the ungodly. In order that God might be just
and the justifier, a just God and Savior, the only way that
can happen is for the Lord Jesus Christ to justly die for our
sin as our substitute, and that's exactly what happened. That's
the good news of the gospel. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. Sinners, if I can ever find a
sinner, I've got good news. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST CAME, NOT
TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS, SINNERS, SINNERS TO REPENTANCE. NOW AS
WE COME TO CHAPTER 17, PAUL AND SILAS AND TIMOTHY HAD FAITHFULLY
PREACHED THE GOSPEL IN PHILIPPI, AND THE LORD USED THAT AS A MEANS
TO CALL OUT HIS SHEEP AND REGENERATE THEM BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND
HE USES THE SAME MEANS TODAY. THAT'S WHY WE INSIST UPON WHEN
WE COME TO THE PULPIT and we come to worship that we preach
the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. God has
ordained that as the means to call out his people and the means
to quicken them with the word of truth. Faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of the Lord. in chapter 16 we saw that
paul preached the gospel to lydia and her house god opened her
heart and then when paul was put in jail he preached christ
to that philippian jailer the jailer said what must i do to
be saved paul said don't do anything Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And God saved that jailer and
his family as well by the grace of God. The church in Philippi
had a small beginning. but the Lord had an elect there
who must hear the gospel and believe the gospel and were saved
by the sovereign grace of God. And I love what Paul writes when
he writes to those in Philippi, he said, God being confident
of this very thing, that God who hath begun a good work in
you, he'll finish it. God doesn't leave anything undone.
Now, as we come to Acts 17, We see verse one, when they had
passed through Amphiphilus. He's speaking of the Apostle
Paul and his companion, his fellow workers, Silas and also Timothy. Notice they pass through two
cities, Amphipolis and Apollonia. Now from what I can read, these
two cities were larger cities. They had more people in these
cities than Thessalonica, but Paul passed right through them.
and came to this place, Thessalonica. Why? The Lord had a people there. Now, Paul may have went back
later to these cities and preached there, I don't know. We don't
have a record of it. But we do know this, God will
send the gospel where he will, when he will, to whom he will. And that's what happened here.
They came to this city, Thessalonica, and in this city there was a
synagogue or assembly of Jewish people. The Jews who were looking
to the law of Moses for salvation, the Jews who were going about
to establish a righteousness of their own had not submitted
themselves to the righteousness of God, which is the Lord Jesus
Christ. So they came to this synagogue
of the Jews to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. One
of the greatest blessings The Lord can give to any city, any
people, is a faithful, God-called, God-sent preacher who has the
message of the gospel of God. One of the greatest blessings
God can send any people. one who was sent of God, who
was not ashamed to declare the gospel of the sovereign grace
of God. Every time he's given an opportunity
to preach the gospel, he must preach Christ and Him crucified
as everything and all in salvation. I remember hearing a sermon that
1969, When Rothbarnard passed away,
Brother Henry Mahan preached his funeral. It's on Sermon Audio,
you can listen to the message. But one of the things that Brother
Mahan said of Brother Rothbarnard when he came to Ashland in 1950,
he said that this old town will never be the same. When the gospel
comes to a city, this old town will never be the same. That's
what happened in Ashland in 1950, and that's what happened here
in Thessalonica when the apostle Paul, when God sent the gospel
through this man to this city to these people, this place was
never the same. Never the same. God has a gospel
ministry that he's going to establish in this city, and nothing anyone
can do, even though these people revolted against it, for the
most part. Some believed, some did not believe. Some caused a great uproar in
the city, but the Lord, in spite of all that, established a gospel
church there. who were not ashamed of the gospel
of God. Now notice verse two and three
is what we want to spend most of our time today. As Paul and
Paul as his manner was. Now, it's a good thing to have
habits, if they're good habits. Paul's habit was to find a synagogue
of Jews on that Saturday Sabbath and go in the midst of these
lost religious people and to set before them the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it's a marvelous thing how
the Lord opened the door. for Paul to preach the gospel
to these people, not once, not twice, but enter into this synagogue
three times on three separate Sabbath days and declare unto
them the gospel of God. As his manner was, he went in
unto them three Sabbath days and reasoned with them out of
the word of God. Paul had great compassion on
those Jewish people because like himself as Saul of Tarsus, knowing
their condition, most religious and most lost, Paul had a great
desire for them to hear the gospel and that the Lord might be pleased
to save them by his grace. You remember in Romans 10, he
said, brother, my heart desire and prayer to God for Israel,
these Jewish people, that God might save them. Well, Paul,
how's he going to save them? Through the preaching of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's going to call his people
out. And that's exactly what the Apostle
Paul did. He went there to the synagogue,
and he used the same scriptures that they were reading, and he
preached unto them the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember, Peter declared
to him, give all the prophets witness. All the prophets tell
us The Lord Jesus Christ is coming to accomplish salvation that
God has determined, that God has purposed, and that God has
decreed. He reasoned with them out of
the Scripture. Our Lord said to those Jews,
in His day you search the Scriptures, and in them you think you have
eternal life, but they are they which testify of me." Remember
what the Lord did, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he went to his hometown
synagogue in Nazareth? And they delivered him the word
of the Lord from Isaiah. And he stood up for to read and
he read the word of God. And then he said, he sat down
and he said, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ear. The Lord has anointed me to set
the captives free. And that's exactly what he did.
And he fulfilled all things concerning the gospel concerning himself. And three days he reasoned with
them. opening and alleging that Christ's
must needs have suffered. Now, he reasoned with them out
of the word of the Lord how God, through Christ, has fulfilled
every prophecy, every type, every picture, every shadow in the
gospel. And I got to thinking about that
word, reasoned with them. You know, it's only reasonable,
isn't it? Reasonable for you to believe
God. That's reasonable, is it not?
I thought of this scripture. You remember in Isaiah chapter
1, he said, come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord.
Isaiah 118. Come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet. they shall be
white as snow. Though your sin be as crimson,
they shall be as the wool. How can that be? How can sin,
my sin, your sin, how can our sin be put away? ONLY BY THE
BLOOD SACRIFICE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THROUGH HIS BLOOD, WHEN
HE BY HIMSELF PURGED OUR SIN BY HIMSELF WITH HIS OWN BLOOD
AS WE HAD ON THE RADIO PROGRAM THIS MORNING. HE OBTAINED FOR
US ETERNAL REDEMPTION WITH HIS OWN BLOOD. IT'S ONLY REASONABLE,
IS IT NOT, TO BELIEVE GOD, TO BELIEVE HIS WORD? YOU KNOW, IT'S
IMPOSSIBLE. THERE'S SOMETHING GOD CANNOT
DO. HE CANNOT CHANGE, HE CANNOT LIE. IT IS REASONABLE TO BELIEVE
THE GOD OF TRUTH, THE TRUE AND LIVING GOD. ISN'T IT REASONABLE?
YOU KNOW IT'S UNREASONABLE NOT TO BELIEVE HIM. COME, LET US
REASON TOGETHER, SAITH THE LORD. AND THEN HE SAYS OPENING, VERSE
3, OPENING AND ALLEGING. NOW THIS WORD OPENING HAS A REFERENCE
TO EXPANDING, AND I LOOK THAT VERY WORD UP. Opening in the
scripture and I found several references where it said their
eyes were opened and their ears were open That's what God must
do for us Open the Word of God and he does that through his
ministers through his preachers opening to you the Word of the
Lord That's what I'm trying to do every time I come here He's
trying to open to you the Word of the Lord now hold your place
there and find Acts 28 Hold your place there in Acts 17. When
Paul was winding up the ministry in Acts 28, he's in prison. Verse 23 of Acts 28. And when they had appointed him
a day, there came many to him into his lodging, to whom he
expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning
Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets,
morning till evening. Some believe the things which
were spoken, and some believe not. Expounding and testifying."
He's doing the same thing. Same manner, taking the word
of God and opening the scriptures unto them and preaching Christ. And then thirdly, it says there,
opening, reasoning, opening, which is expounding, and then
alleging, and that means setting forth, setting forth the gospel,
setting forth the Lord Jesus Christ that he must need have
suffered risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, not
another, this one, one from Nazareth, the one that's despised and rejected
of men, the one who was hung upon Calvary's tree, suffering
in the stead of God's people, this Jesus, the Savior, whom
I preached unto you, he's the one, he's the Christ. He is the
anointed, the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible,
the whole message of the Bible is Jesus Christ alone is everything
in salvation. He reasoned with them, he expounded
to them, proving them, proving through the scripture three essential
things. find here in these verses. Verse 3, verse 2, and verse 3. Jesus Christ, now here's the
first thing I want us to see. The last part of verse 3. This
Jesus whom I preached unto you is the Christ. He is the the
Anointed. He is the Messiah, the promised
Anointed Redeemer and Savior of His people, and none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of peace that brought again
from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of
the sheep THE BLOOD OF THE EVERLASTING COVENANT. THIS WAS PETER'S CONFESSION
ALL ALONG, JUST LIKE PAUL. LET ME SHOW YOU A COUPLE PLACES.
BY MATTHEW 16, FIRST OF ALL, THIS JESUS IS CHRIST. HE IS THE ANOINTED. HE IS THE
CHRIST OF GOD. LET'S SEE WHAT PETER SAID AS
WELL AS PAUL. IN MATTHEW CHAPTER 16. Matthew
chapter 16, verse 13. When Jesus came to the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, whom do men say
that I, the son of man, am? And they said, well, some say
that you're John the Baptist. Some say you're Elijah or Jeremiah
or one of the other prophets. And he said unto them, but whom
do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Thou art the
Christ. And the Lord said, blessed, oh,
you're a blessed man if you know that. Simon Marjona, for flesh
and blood have not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. Now I'll show you another confession
by Peter. Turn over here to John chapter
six. John chapter six, remember, Our
Lord said in John 6, 63, it is a spirit that quickeneth, John
6, 63, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, they are life, but there are some of you that
believe not. FOR JESUS, THE LORD JESUS, KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING
WHO THEY WERE THAT BELIEVED NOT, AND WHO SHOULD BETRAY HIM. AND
HE SAID, THEREFORE, SAID I UNTO YOU, THAT NO MAN CAN COME UNTO
ME, EXCEPT THEY WERE GIVEN UNTO HIM OF MY FATHER." OH, SOVEREIGN
GRACE, SOVEREIGN MERCY. FROM THAT TIME, MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES
WENT BACK AND WALKED NO MORE WITH HIM. HE SAID, WE CAN'T TAKE
THAT. WE CAN'T TAKE THAT EXCLUSIVENESS OF CHRIST THE ONLY WAY OF SALVATION. VERSE 67, JOHN 6, THEN SAID JESUS
UNTO THE TWELVE, WILL YOU ALSO GO AWAY? SIMON PETER ANSWERED
HIM, LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO? THOU HAST THE WORDS OF ETERNAL
LIFE, AND WE BELIEVE AND WE ARE SURE THAT THOU ART THAT CHRIST. the Son of the Living God. We
believe and we are sure the Christ of God. Now, after the Lord's
resurrection and ascension, if you want to turn with me, you
can. If not, I'll just read it to you. You remember Peter at
Pentecost, what did he preach? And Acts 2 verse 36, therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God had made that
same Jesus whom you crucified, God had made him both Lord and
the Christ. He's the Christ of God. Paul
is preaching the same thing that Peter and all the ministers and
apostles preach that Jesus of Nazareth whom I preached unto
you He is the Christ of God. He is the Son, the Eternal, the
Only Begotten Son of God, manifested in the flesh to take away our
sin. Now, when we read the word in
Scripture, the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the word means
that He is anointed. in all of his office by God the
Holy Spirit. Remember, John said he had the
Spirit without measure. Now, we as believers are in dwelt
with the Holy Spirit, but we have it in measure. Thank God
we have a part of measure. But the Lord Jesus Christ had
the Holy Spirit upon him, the anointing of the Holy Spirit
without measure in all of his office as a God-man mediator,
he's blessed and anointed with God to accomplish all our salvation. Preacher, you mean all my salvation
depends upon him? Absolutely. You mean nothing
depends upon me? Absolutely, nothing depends upon
you. The Lord Jesus Christ in all
of his office, I've given this to you many times, have I not?
He's the prophet of God. Remember God said, I'll raise
up a prophet from among the brethren, him you will hear. And those
who will not hear him, He said, I'll require it at your hand.
He is a prophet that must be heard. He is a prophet that will
be heard by his people. And he's a prophet of God to
reveal the way of salvation unto us. He's the one who represents
God to us. He represents God to us as he
reveals the gospel unto us. He's that prophet who reveals
unto us. You remember our Lord said, he's
hid these things from the wise and prudent. and has revealed
them unto his children, unto his babes. So he is a prophet
that does reveal unto us. He is that priest like Melchizedek,
like Melchizedek, the eternal priest of God. And he's a priest. What does a priest do? Prophet
represents God to the people. A priest represents the people
to God. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ is to us. He is our great high priest after
the order of Melchizedek. He is the eternal priest of God. We had it on the radio this morning,
how the priest of God, not with the blood of bulls and goats,
but with his own blood, how he entered into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us with his own blood. He is the priest of God to redeem
us. with his blood. Wow. He is the Redeemer who really
redeems, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sin according to the riches of his grace. And then he is
the anointed king. You remember Psalm 2, God said,
I've set my king upon my holy hills iron. He is a king to rule
and reign over his people. He's a king who has all power
over all flesh, and he should give eternal life to as many
as the Father hath given to him. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven, earth, sea, and all deep places. So he's a prophet to reveal,
a priest to redeem, a king to reign. He's king of kings and
lord of lords. But not only that, I thought
of seven things, seven things. How he's anointed. He is the
only Redeemer of his people. What does the Redeemer do? He
delivers us from our sin. How does the Lord redeem us?
Well, we are redeemed not with silver and gold, BUT WITH THE
PRECIOUS BLOOD OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. HE ABSOLUTELY BOUGHT
US WITH HIS OWN BLOOD, REDEEMS US, AND HE'S ANOINTED ABUNDANTLY
ABOVE ALL TO SET THE CAPTIVE FREE THROUGH HIS REDEEMING BLOOD. SECONDLY, HE'S THE ONLY ANOINTED,
BLESSED, AND SENT SAVIOR OF THE SHEEP. HE'S THE SAVIOR OF THE
SHEEP. CALL HIS NAME JESUS. His name
means Savior. He shall save His people from
their sin. None can perish for whom the
Lord Jesus Christ died. There's no one in hell for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ died. He is the effectual Redeemer
who obtained for us eternal redemption. And He's the only Savior of the
sheep. Neither is there salvation in
any other. for there's no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Thirdly, he's
the only surety of the covenant. He's the surety, the guarantee
of the covenant of grace. This covenant of grace is ordered
in all things and it is sure. Fourthly, He's the only good,
great, and cheap shepherd of the sheep who laid down his life
for the sheep. He's anointed to do so. And he
did so because of love to his people and for the glory of God. And he laid down his life for
them and We live and move and have our
being in him. Fifthly, he's the only anointed
mediator. I mean, you need a mediator.
You need a mediator and a priesthood son of God. There's no other
mediator but the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the anointed mediator. One
God, one mediator between God and men, who is it? The God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only advocate, number
six. He's the only advocate. John writes, my little children,
these things I write unto you that you sin not. But when you do, We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. You mean preacher,
you're confessing that you sin against God all the time. Every
time I take a breath, I need an advocate. Every time I take
a breath, I need a mediator. Every time I take a breath, I
need a redeemer and a savior, don't you? An advocate, a mediator. And then seventh, the seventh
one, he is the only anointed intercessor. There's a good article
on the back of the bulletin, I believe it's the back page,
by Brother Fortner, where it says, and he uses that verse
that I love to quote all the time, in Hebrew 725, wherefore
he's able to save them to the uttermost. He's able to save
them to the uttermost, seeing that he ever lives to make intercession
for us. He is able to save them, able
to keep them, and able to present us faultless before the presence
of God's glory with exceeding joy. Now, having said all that, he's
the Christ of God. Here's point number two. DOWN
IN VERSE 3, THAT CHRIST, THIS ONE WHO IS EVERYTHING THAT I
JUST SAID HE IS AND MORE, THAT CHRIST MUST NEED SUFFER. HE MUST SUFFER. THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST MUST SUFFER FOR THE SIN OF HIS PEOPLE. GOD IS HOLY AND
GOD MUST PUNISH SIN EVEN WHEN HE FINDS IT ON HIS LOVELY SON,
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. AND THAT'S WHY HE SAYS FROM THE
CROSS, MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME? And it's quoted
from Psalm 22, but in Psalm 22, the answer comes back, because
thou art holy. And then it says in that same
Psalm, the Lord Jesus Christ says, I am a worm. When God found sin upon the Lord
Jesus Christ being laid upon him by the decree of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ must suffer for the sin of those people. He must suffer for the sin of
those people. the sin that was laid upon him. There's no other way. No other
way for God to be just, a just God and Savior. You remember again in Matthew
16, don't turn, let me just read it to you. You remember when
our Lord set his face like a flint to go toward Jerusalem? In Matthew
16, verse 21, from that time forth, Jesus began to show unto
his disciples how that he must go to Jerusalem. Why must he
go there? because him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. He must go to Jerusalem. He must suffer many things of
the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and must be
killed and must be raised again the third day. It's a must. There's
no other way. No other option. Peter took him
and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord. This
shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter,
Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me.
Thou savourest not the things that be of God. The Lord Jesus
Christ dying as a sacrifice for our sin is no accident. He dies
at the appointed time. FOR THE APPOINTED PEOPLE, FOR
THE APPOINTED REASON, TO ACCOMPLISH ALL GOD'S PURPOSE, TO FINISH
OUR SALVATION, AND TO SECURE EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS. REMEMBER OUR LORD SAID IN JOHN
CHAPTER 3 TO NICODEMUS, HE SAID, THE SON OF MAN MUST BE LIFTED
UP AS MOSES LIFTED UP THAT BRAZEN SERPENT IN THE WILDERNESS. and
they were instructed to look to that brazen serpent and live,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but shall have everlasting life. Without Jesus Christ crucified,
we have no atonement for sin, do we? Absolutely not. Without Jesus Christ crucified,
we have no pardon or forgiveness of sin, do we? Not at all. Without Jesus Christ crucified,
we have no peace with God. He made peace for us with his
own blood. Without Jesus Christ crucified,
we have no salvation to receive. Without Jesus Christ crucified,
we do not have and will not have salvation by the free and sovereign
grace of God, for He justifies us freely by His grace through the redeeming blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He must not only die for our
sins, but he must die for our sins according to the scriptures.
He must die for our sins according to the scriptures, and he most
assuredly did so. Not only that, but it says there,
he must be risen from the dead. Now, if he died and didn't walk
out of that tomb on the third day, we have no salvation, and
he's proved himself to be an imposter. If the Lord Jesus Christ
is not raised from the dead, we are yet in our sin and our
preaching is vain. Thank God he raised him from
the dead. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Preacher, how do you know? What's
the evidence that he's raised from the dead? I believe what
the Word of God said. He was seen of those apostles,
of the women, and above at one time 500 brethren. I believe
the Word of God, the record of God. He said, I am he that liveth
and was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore,
and I have the keys of hell and death." He must be raised from
the dead. That's the great theme through
all the preaching of the book of Acts. You read it in all the
preaching of the book of Acts. It says what? God raised him
from the dead. You crucified the Lord of glory.
God raised him from the dead. God raised him from the dead.
It's absolutely vital that the Lord not only be raised from
the dead, not only die for our sin, not only be raised from
the dead, but ascended to glory and is seated at the right hand
of the throne of God Almighty. That's our salvation. IN HIM
WE HAVE ALL THAT GOD HAS PURPOSED FOR HIS CHURCH TO HAVE IN CHRIST. HE'S BLESSED US WITH ALL SPIRITUAL
BLESSINGS IN THE HEAVENLY, IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. NOW, WHAT'S
GONNA HAPPEN? LOOK AT VERSE 4 IN CLOSING, AND
SOME OF THEM BELIEVE. WHAT A MIRACLE. FAITH IS THE
SOVEREIGN GRACE OF GOD. Faith comes as a sovereign gift
of God, the sovereign grace of God. Some of them believe. THEY
WERE GRANTED FAITH. FAITH COMES BY HEARING, AND HEARING
BY THE WORD OF GOD. WE ONLY BELIEVE ACCORDING TO
THE WORKING OF HIS MIGHTY POWER. SOME OF THEM BELIEVED AND WERE
NOT ASHAMED TO JOIN UP. THAT WORD CONSORTED MEANS TO
JOIN UP. THEY IDENTIFIED WITH GOD'S SERVANT. THEY IDENTIFIED WITH GOD'S GOSPEL.
THEY SAID, I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED, AND I'M PERSUADED HE'S
ABLE TO KEEP THAT WHICH I'VE COMMITTED UNTO HIM AGAINST THAT
DAY. SOME BELIEVED. WHAT DID THEY BELIEVE? Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus is the Christ. That's faith.
Faith always looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking unto Jesus
who's the author and finisher of our faith. And that great
multitude believed, and of the chief women of the Greeks, devout
Greeks, a great multitude believed, And of the chief women, not a
few, but many. Many believed the gospel. Now, let me go back to First
Thessalonians, chapter one. Remember what Paul writes here,
knowing brethren, he's writing about this same crowd. First
Thessalonians chapter one, verse four. Knowing brethren, beloved,
your election of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word
only, but in power. and in the Holy Ghost and much
assurance. And they believe the gospel of
the grace of God. And they turn to God from their
idols to serve the living and true God. And then it says in
chapter two, THEY RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD,
NOT AS THE WORD OF MEN, BUT AS THE WORD OF GOD, WHICH EFFECTIVELY
WORKS IN THEM THAT BELIEVE." AND THEN LET ME READ THIS TO
YOU. IN SECOND THESSALONIANS 2-13, SECOND THESSALONIANS 2-13,
WHERE HE SAID, WE'RE BOUND TO GIVE THANKS ALWAYS TO GOD FOR
YOU, BROTHERS AND BELOVED OF THE LORD. That's why they believed
the gospel. They were beloved of the Lord,
writing about the same people that he preached to for three
weeks, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit. That's the new birth,
that's regeneration, which leads to what? Believing the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. THEY HEARD THE WORD OF GOD, AND
THE WORD OF GOD WAS BLESSED BY GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT TO THEIR
HEART. HE REGENERATED THEM, CALLED THEM OUT OF DARKNESS UNTO GOD'S
MARVELOUS LIGHT, AND MADE THEM NEW CREATURES IN THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST. WE ONLY BELIEVE ACCORDING TO
THE WORKING OF HIS MIGHTY POWER. IT IS THE WORK OF GOD THAT CAUSES
US TO BELIEVE THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. IT'S A MIRACLE.
Some of them believed, and we're gonna see next week, many of
them revolted and assaulted believers, so much so that Paul had to skedaddle
out of town lest he be killed. Christ must need suffer for our
sins.