Yes, Acts chapter 13 verses 42 through 52. Acts 13 and verse 42. Thus says the word of the Lord. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles beg that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation had broken up, Many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with envy, and contradicting, and blaspheming. They opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first, but since you rejected and judged yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth." Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region but the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city raised up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region, but they shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, the living word of God. Lord, we have come for nothing less than to hear your word.

And Lord, I pray that you would grant much grace and help through the power of the Holy Spirit this morning, Lord, to interpret and to explain, Lord, what this word means for us in this day. Help us to understand, Lord, help us to grow and grace in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And even as we just sing, Lord, our desire is that this word would build the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we would be strengthened and Lord that you would be glorified throughout all the earth. And Father we ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.

You may be seated. One of the fascinating things about the Word of God is that it cuts both ways, if you will. It not only brings a blessing, but nearly without exception, it also brings with it controversy. I expect nothing less this morning. There will be a blessing upon many of you and also I believe that there may be something said, something within this text that would also stir up a little controversy within your own soul.

And it should be this way. God has come to confront you. He has come to confront you with the Word of God. He has come to set you before the mirror of the word so that you would not be the same, so that you would leave here a different person. And I pray that the difference is is that you have more joy, that you are filled with the Holy Spirit of God, that you have great joy and that your affections are turned to the Lord Jesus Christ with more passion and with more zeal.

But it is also very likely that some may be hardened against what is said today. And I pray that that will not be the case, but I must say as we read the scriptures, we see it over and over again. You know, the last time we were in this passage, we finished up with the Apostle Paul having an amazing opportunity to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Jews and to those God-fearing Gentiles right in their own synagogue. They went to the synagogue to be there on the Sabbath day. And as they were there, once the word was read, they looked to the Apostle Paul and said, brothers, do you have anything that you would like to say?

That was a most humorous thing in my mind, asking the Apostle Paul if he had something he would like to say. Of course he had something he wanted to say. He was going everywhere with something to say. Much like me, every time I get here, I don't come with nothing to say. I come with something to say.

Sometimes it's more than you want to hear. Sometimes it's longer than you want to hear, but I do have something that I want to say to you this morning. And I want you to see throughout this text that God's word does bring a blessing and also a controversy, not only in this city, but also even within your own heart. So we'll get to some of this later as we go down, but I just want to point out just a couple of things that is very typical for Paul in his fashion. He had quite a bit to say And as we will see in this week time period here that we see within this text, that he made some of the hearers very hungry for the word of God.

They came to the point where they begged him, we want more of this, We want more of the Word of God. They begged him for it and yet there were some there who were made so mad that they ran them out of town. They stirred up a persecution against them so that he would leave the town. And so as we consider these things, I want you to hold those two things in your mind. But for now, I want us to pick up with Paul's closing remarks from last week, because that will usher us into with context, if you will.

It's been two weeks, I said last week, it's been two weeks since we were here. So I want us to grab a little bit of that context so that we'll understand what it was that so stirred up this group of people, one, for the desire and begging of the Apostle Paul and of Barnabas to give us more and also for those Jews and and those resisting the Word of God. What made them so upset? So look with me in Acts 13 and verse 38 and we'll read down to verse 41. And this is what Paul was saying, this is part of his sermon if you will, part of his message to this group of men at the synagogue.

He says, therefore, let it be known to you brethren that through this man, now this man of course he's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, he had laid out his argument there of who Christ was, that he was the Son of God, that he died and it was crucified, that he was buried, but more importantly even than that that he was resurrected from the dead. He did not see corruption as David did. He actually fulfilled the promise of God throughout all of the scriptures and throughout the prophets. And so let's pick up again that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins." What could be controversial about that? But something was very controversial about that.

We are we are speaking and seeing this message coming to a group of Jews and proselytes, Gentiles who became Jewish if you would in their religion and they were holding very strongly to the law of Moses. They wanted to hold on to these to the sacrificial system. They wanted to hold on to some degree because they loved to boast about their self-righteousness that they could keep the law of God when in fact no one can. But they heard this message from the Apostle Paul that through this man, Jesus Christ, is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. This is a radical statement in their ears.

In verse 39, and by him, everyone who believes is justified from all things which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now this is the sticking point where it really ruffles their feathers. You're telling me that through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I can be forgiven of my sins and justified. I can be accounted as righteous before God and I couldn't through the law of Moses." That's what you're telling me. Yes, that's exactly what Paul was telling them.

You could see that this was an affront for thousands of years they had held to the law of Moses. They had some promises that they were holding on to they could not see them clearly. They had a veil just like Moses veiled his face when he was in the presence of the glory of God. So they had a veil on their eyes. They could not see that the veil was removed through Jesus Christ and what he did upon the cross and through the resurrection.

The veil remains. Even to this day, the veil remains for those who were outside of Christ. They cannot see what is right in front of them. But how could this be possible? How could it be that through a man, Jesus Christ, whom we know is more than a man, he is the God-man, they could be forgiven of their sins.

Brothers and sisters, visitors here this morning, I want you to understand something. This is the greatest need of all of humanity. You will hear all kinds of people say all kinds of things. Let me just tell you, it's not free bus rides in New York City that you need more than anything. It's not rent control that you need more than anything.

It's not a better job. It's not a better education. Although there's nothing wrong with those things. You don't need better health. You need to be forgiven of your sins.

That's what you need. Because here's the deal. We all have a sin problem and there is only one remedy to that sin problem and if you want to be made right with God because there's coming a day when you will stand before Almighty God and you will be judged by God you will either be judged based upon your merits that will be dreadful or you will be judged based upon the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that my friend is glorious. Because it is through this man that everyone who believes, it's not through everyone who works, it's not through everyone who strives to keep the law of Moses is made justified.

No, he says in verse 39 that by him everyone who believes is justified. This is scandalous. How could this be that we could be justified with God by faith alone? And yet that is what he was proclaiming to them. It is not through the law of Moses, but it is through faith in Jesus Christ.

It is through the works of another, not yours. You know, all men love to boast a little bit about their self-righteousness. We love to talk about the things that we can do and the things that we can accomplish and things that we already have accomplished. But I want you to know something, that when you hold all of your accomplishments, when you hold them all up before the perfect standard of God's righteousness, you will be like the apostle Paul and consider them all rubbish. They will be worthless when you stand before God.

It is only through the merits of Jesus Christ that you have any standing. You see, it is through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is only here that we have hope in the forgiveness of sins. However, if they did believe, the warning that was spoken to them did not take effect. But if they did not believe, Listen to what he says.

There is a warning here. Beware. I want to say that to you this morning. If you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're not trusting and resting your full hope upon him, I have a word for you. Beware.

Beware. Beware, he says, therefore lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you. Or what was spoken in the prophets. They knew what was spoken, but he tells them. He's quoting what these despisers and who these unbelievers really are.

He says, behold, you despisers marvel and perish. For I work a work in your day, a work which you will by no means believe. There's going to be something that takes place that though one were to declare it to you, you would not believe it. This morning I am acting the part, if you will, not of a prophet of inspired revelation but of a prophet with preaching the inspired revelation of the Word of God. And I want you to know something this morning.

I say it with all authority of God. Beware, lest what came upon your fathers comes upon you. If you do not believe, though one declare it to you, I'm here this morning. I want to declare something to you. I want to declare to you, each and every one of you, that there is no forgiveness of sins apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is no other way. It is only through faith in Him. You see they were presented here with these two options. They could believe on the promise of God or they could reject this glorious promise of God. For many the promise was too good to be true.

How could it be possible that just simply believing would give me forgiveness and justification? But this is the truth of the gospel. That's why it's called good news. It's not only good news, it's glorious news. It's wonderful news.

It's great news. It's the best news you will ever hear. There's no other options. I want you to know this morning you came here, perhaps you think I decided to come to church today. Well guess what?

God brought you here this morning. And He brought you here to be confronted with something. You are going to be confronted with only two options. There are no more. You are going to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or you are going to reject the offer of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the only two options. You cannot sit back and say, no, I just want to remain neutral. That's fine for you. I'm not judging you for it. All is well.

All is not well. You cannot be neutral. I'm telling you this morning by the authority of the Word of the Living God, you cannot be neutral this morning. You will accept the Lord Jesus Christ and his offer of salvation and forgiveness of sins that he will justify you, make you right, count you righteous before the Living God or you will reject that offer and you will have this warning come upon you, behold, you despisers marvel and perish. The truth of this will hit you, if not today, on the day of judgment.

And you will remember this day if you reject it. You will remember this day. You see, there's no neutrality. And I want us now to pick up with our current text, and I want us to see how Paul's audience responded, because guess what? Most likely, that's how some will respond here.

Maybe not outwardly, but there will be some inward turmoil that takes place no doubt today. So let us see what he says. The first thing I wanna look at, and I'm not gonna stick with all the verses right in order. I'm gonna look at a category. I want us to look first and foremost at the response of those who believe the message, and then we're gonna look at the response of those who rejected the message, and then we're gonna look at how Paul and Barnabas and the disciples responded to those who rejected the message.

That's where we're going this morning. It seems here in verse 42 that there was something fascinating that took place. Look with me in verse 42. Please have your word open. I want to stick to it as tightly as I can.

So when the Jews went out from the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Again, I think this should strike all of us as What a fascinating response. Paul gives his final words of his message, and I don't know if the words put it into the service, or if the rulers of the synagogue said, that's enough, sit down, you're out of time. I don't know what it was, but this was the end of the message, at least that we have. And when it was over, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.

They couldn't get enough of this. They could not get enough of forgiveness of sins through belief in Jesus Christ. That news was too great, it was too glorious. Tell me more. I say that every day.

Tell me more of this glorious gospel that I can be accounted right with God through the merits of Jesus Christ. There's nothing better than that. You see, this often happens when the gospel is being preached. For some it couldn't be over soon enough. Some of you this morning will be glad when it's over.

And some of you will be unhappy that it's over. You will say give me more. I want to hear more of this glorious gospel. And the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, it is so glorious that they beg to hear more. You know it's important to note that this desire was not solely coming from the Gentiles.

It almost sounds like it in the first verse there, but we'll see as we move to the next verse that this was a desire not only of the Gentiles, these proselytes, these God-freaking Gentiles, but it was also a desire of some of the Jews who were in this synagogue because we are told in the next verse that it was both. But these promises of God that were made to them, it did something within their heart. These words of Paul, they were sweeter than honey to their soul. It was something where it's like a little child, is one chocolate chip cookie enough? No, it's not.

They come back and say, mommy, can I have one more? Can I have just one more? And then one more becomes two more and two more becomes three more. That's the way these people were with the Word of God, the sweeter than honey Word of God. They wanted more.

Give me more. They begged them. This is not a light word. This is a word that describes something that they're pleading with Him. Give us more of this because we've never heard anything like it.

Who has heard something like this? It's glorious. And then in verse 43 we see, or back up, I can't get finished with verse 42. They said the next Sabbath day, but in reality I want you to know something that a week was too long to wait to hear more. A week was too long to wait.

You know, there's some Christians professing believers, I'll say, who read their Bible once a week at church on Sundays. Some people will leave their Bibles here all week long. I hope that doesn't mean you only read it on Sunday when you hear it. I hope it means you've got another one at home that you keep there and you're reading it too. Because listen, for these new, I will call them believers, and I'll show you why in just a minute, the gospel good news was too great to wait until the next Sabbath.

It's too good. They followed Paul and Barnabas to hear more. Verse 43 tells us, now when the congregation had broken up, this was nothing violent, It was just the end of the service. Many of the Jews and devout proselytes, they followed Paul in Barnabas. Now I don't know about you.

If I started on my way and somebody started following me, I would be probably a little nervous about what's taking place. They walked everywhere. They weren't in driving, you know, in their cars or necessarily riding horses or anything, but there was a group of people. Thankfully, this is, well maybe thankfully, this has never happened to me after I preach and I'm leaving, that a group of people follow me. That would be somewhat unnerving.

But here's what happened. This group of people followed Paul and Barnabas, but they did it while they were begging for more. Give us more. And they followed them. Paul and Barnabas, you know Paul I said he was eager to preach.

Barnabas was eager to encourage and I believe both of them were doing this. It says here in verse 43 we see that neither Paul nor Barnabas, they didn't leave them empty handed. They gave them something to take with them that would bring them through until the next Sabbath day. It says that Paul and Barnabas, as they were being followed, who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Continue in the grace of God.

I want to say that to you this morning. If you're a believer I want you to continue in the grace of God. I want you to continue to walk and to abide in Jesus Christ and continue in the grace of God that has been poured out upon you. This idea of persuaded though, it does carry with it the connotation of convincing them to do something, to persuade somebody, but it also, it has more than this. It means believe and trust and even obey.

It refers not only to the act of persuasion, but also to the responses appropriate of being persuaded. So it seems as if they were persuaded. They followed them out of the synagogue, give us more, and they persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And so in a sense, I believe what was happening here, they did not leave them with simply the message of the gospel, but rather they told them the proper response to the gospel. I don't want you just to believe on the gospel.

I want to persuade you to continue in the grace of God. And this is where obedience comes in. Obedience does not come before justification. You will never be made right with God through obedience. You're made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ who was obedient on your behalf.

After justification, there is an obedience that God requires that you continue in the grace of God. This grace that is being poured out upon you day by day. Continue in that grow in that. John Gill says Paul and Barnabas took notice of these who were following them and by their conversation they had with them found that the word had reached their hearts and that they had embraced the doctrine of the gospel. Wherefore they spoke this word of exhortation to them beseeching them to continue in it.

It's springing from the grace of God and being declared of it and particularly in those special doctrines of grace which had been insisted upon, namely this, Listen, here's the things that they insisted upon, the remission of sins or the forgiveness of sins and the free justification by the blood of Jesus Christ in his resurrection. That was the doctrines that they insisted upon and that they could not get enough of. How do you feel about the doctrines of the grace of God? Does it not bring joy in your heart? Does it not bring just gratitude?

Are you not thankful for what God has done? Do you not want to just say, Lord, show me more, give me more of this. I want to hear more. That's what these men were doing. So it doesn't, it doesn't, what it means is to continue in the grace of God in such a way, I would explain it like this, that you continue to believe that justification, in other words, being accounted as right with God is through faith apart from works of the law and believing this, your response is now to live in obedience to Christ and his commands.

So don't fall away from that. As Paul says in Galatians to those that you have fallen from grace, Don't turn back again thinking that you can be made right through your flesh and through the keeping of the law. Don't fall from that. Continue in the grace of God. You believe.

Keep believing. I want to say keep believing this morning. Keep following the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep believing in the grace of God and walking in it. Now this is some good news indeed because can you imagine being told that the only way to be right with God is through keeping the law and sacrificing animals over and over and over and over again, and it's never enough.

What if that was our message this morning? Have you messed up even one time this week? I'm here to bring judgment down upon you. Whew, That would be heavy. Where's the joy?

Knowing that we're going to have to continue to offer blood sacrifices day after day and week after week and even the priest has to do it for himself. That's not the gospel we came with this morning. That's not the gospel I'm here to preach to you this morning. Can you imagine the miserable feeling of always falling short? And then hearing this, that if you will believe in Jesus Christ, that you are justified from all things from which you could not be justified in the law of Moses.

Brothers and sisters, this was exceedingly good news. They had rested upon the grace of God. And there seemed to be no hesitation in Paul and Barnabas's mind, that these believers were believers. They were following in the grace of God because they told them to continue in it. And conversion had taken place.

And the truth of that conversion would be seen through the bearing of fruit and of faith as they continued and remained and grew. And it's the same way with us. We praise God when there's professions of faith. We rejoice in it and then we also look for the continuing fruit. We look for abiding in Christ.

We look for continuance. For he who endures to the end shall be saved. And so that's what we hope for. But what happened during this week before the next Sabbath? Look with me in verse 44.

On the next Sabbath, so we've skipped a week here. There's six days in between verse 43 and 44 that we don't have, but we know the response to that week. I want you to look. On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the Word of God. What happened?

It was just the synagogue and some gentile proselytes and some Jews. But now this week has elapsed and they come together and nearly it says the whole city has turned out. Can you imagine what was taking place that would invigorate a whole city to turn out for one purpose and that purpose was this he tells us to hear the word of God. May God make it so that the whole city would turn out to hear this glorious good news. It's astounding.

I don't think necessarily that all of these people who turned out were believers. I think maybe some of them were hungry to hear something. Some of them may have been scoffers. I think we see that because there are some Jews there who weren't real thrilled about what was taking place. These men who got to preach in the synagogue and now they got the whole city here.

Now I don't know all the details of that but I think we can pull some truth from it. We see this two things happening. It was stirring up something in the city that the people who had believed and were continuing in the grace of God were not silent. They were not silent. Many believers believe the wonderful things of God and remain silent.

Clothes, lipped, Baptist, That's terrible. We need to be open-mouthed. We need to be proclaiming and testifying and telling and thanking and sharing the gospel of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. That's what happened. Obviously this is what happened because it stirred up the whole city that everybody wanted to hear what in the world is it that these men had to say.

What is it that caused such a ruckus? What is it that caused such a stir in this city? It's truly amazing to see what happened. It was the greatest good news that could ever be told. I'd lean towards this idea that they were sharing, and also there was a stir among those who were contradicting because we see both of them coming to this point.

God not only gave Paul and Bartabas a tremendous opportunity to proclaim the gospel in the synagogue, but now they have this opportunity to preach in town hall, or outside town hall in front of the whole city, if you will. They're coming together. And what is their response to God's promises to the Gentiles? Now we're going to get to the response of the Jews in the next point, but I want us to look on down in verses 47 and 48. We're sticking with the Gentiles right now.

And I want you to see, well not just the Gentiles, let me correct that. We're following those who believed in the message. It included Jews and Gentiles. And this is what happens next in verse 47. In verse 47 we see this, For so the Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

This wonderful promise was wonderful to the Gentiles, but not so thrilled were the Jews. They didn't really hold this. This wasn't something they like to quote every week and say, boy this is my favorite verse. It's mine. Isaiah 49 verse 6, indeed he says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant.

He's speaking of Jesus. That you should be, God is speaking to Jesus. That you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. Too small. It's too small.

He goes on, I will also give you, Jesus, as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. To everyone you will be my salvation, a light that shines in a dark place to the ends of the earth. And the Gentiles heard this. Can you imagine the Gentile response? Their only hope before this was to become a Jew and be a proselyte and obey the law of Moses.

But now they have the gospel preached to them. Now they have a hope beyond hope that was the greatest hope that could be hoped. They were believing now in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're hearing this. You mean to tell me in the Old Testament that God promised that He would give His Son, His servant to be a light to us?

That he should be God's salvation to the ends of the earth? That was something that stirred up in these Gentiles, something that we see in the first part of verse 48 look what he says, now when the Gentiles heard this they were glad. That seems like an understatement. They were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. Amen.

That makes me glad. Guess what? I'm a Gentile. That makes me very glad. Guess what?

I think everybody here just about is a Gentile. There may be a little bit of mix of some other things. Who knows? We're a mixed bunch, aren't we? But God has blessed us by hearing the gospel as Gentiles.

It's a glorious thing. They were glad and they glorified the Word of the Lord. They glorified what God had said in his word. It was so wonderful. You know, this verse 48 has been a very helpful verse to me personally, but I believe to many people, and I hope it will be here for you today, because it not only tells us how they responded to this wonderful truth and it's a good and proper response but it also tells us something else it tells us here a it shows us here a heavenly perspective of how this happened How is it that these Gentiles came from death to life?

How is it that their eyes were open? How is it that the veil was removed? How is it that they saw something that they had never seen before? That they were once in darkness but now they're in light? How does that happen?

How, Listen, how do you take a dead man spiritually and make him alive spiritually? If I could only, there would be no more dead men here or anywhere. But I want you to know me proclaiming this gospel to you is as far as I can take it. I can throw this word and it will go into your ear. That's all I can do.

But God can take that word and go from your ear to your heart. He can take it and bring it down into the recesses of your soul. He can make it come alive to you and I pray that God would do that for you right now, that God would take this word and that he would bring it from your ears to your heart so that you would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I wanna show you how that happens. God gives us a little glimpse from heaven's perspective and he says this in the second part of verse 48, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

That's astounding. To live in a world where we think The will of man is sovereign. We come to a verse like this that says, no it's not. Now I don't want you to think that God takes anyone kicking and screaming to the kingdom. Notice the first part of verse 48.

Remember, they were glad and they glorified the Lord. They were thrilled to be a part of the kingdom. They weren't upset that God had appointed them to eternal life. Who would be upset with that? I'm not.

I'm thrilled that God has appointed me to eternal life. Not because of anything good that I have done, but simply by His grace He saved me. You see, it does not say the opposite of what it says, which is typically what men hear. We typically want to hear and as many as believed, he appointed to eternal life. That's the natural man's view of salvation.

That's not what it says. It says, but as many as have been appointed to eternal life believed. There was something sovereign over their belief. There was something that God did in eternity past that caused them to believe. I believe that whosoever will, I do believe this.

The question is, who will? Only those who have been appointed to eternal life will believe. Now you may think this is a little harsh. I don't know. I think most of us here would rejoice with these things.

But I want to read something to you in the Gospel of John. Listen to what Jesus says regarding this in John 6.37 through 40. He says, All that the Father gives me will come to me. That sounds pretty absolute. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out.

Praise God. That's eternal security right there. He'll never cast you out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all that He has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

And this is the will of Him who sent me that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life. Do you see Him this morning? Do you see the Son and do you believe upon Him? And if that is the case you will have everlasting life. This is the promise of God's word.

That is the truth of God's word. Mr. Barnes says it this way. He says this implies the doctrine of election. It was in fact that doctrine expressed in an act.

It was nothing but God's disposing them to embrace eternal life. And that he does this according to a plan. His plan in his own mind, a plan which is unchangeable as he himself is unchangeable is clear from the scriptures. The meaning may be expressed in few words who were then disposed and in good earnest determined to embrace eternal life by the operation of the grace of God upon their hearts. If you have ever made a inkling of a step towards the grace of God and embracing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, you can just stop right now and say thank you Lord that you are drawing me to yourself.

There's nothing in you good enough or you have no ability enough to draw yourself to God. You're dead in sins and trespasses. In fact, we hate the light as natural man because it exposes our sin. But here, we see what God is doing. And then Jesus says again In John 6 43, Jesus therefore answered and said to them, do not murmur among yourselves, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day.

That is my prayer. God, draw your people, Draw these people. Everyone here this morning, I pray that God would draw you into himself because no one can come to him unless he does so. That means you don't have the ability. You know, your good English teacher or good homeschooling mom, when a child asks a question, or the child asks a question of his mother, Mom, can I go outside?

And the mom says, I don't know, can you? You have the ability to go outside, but the question is, do you have my permission to go outside? Can means ability. And he says no one can unless the Father draws him. So, this is a work of God.

Now, this word spread and we saw this again in verse 49 and the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. Again they could not be silent. They kept going to tell the gospel. They kept telling more and more people. It's not limited to the city now, it's to the region.

They're spreading out with the good news. That's what Christians do. We spread out with the good news and we tell everybody that we come in contact with. This is the way it has always been. This is the way it should always be that we take the word.

However, know this, whenever the word of the Lord is spread around and gladly received, do not be surprised when there will be strong resistance to that word which is being stirred up. It will be resisted. Not it may be, it will be. There will be a resistance from someone. This is the way it is.

And now we come to this most decidedly different response to the gospel. We're going to now look at those who rejected the Word of God. And I pray that no one here is in this category, but I'm going to preach it the same. There's a warning here. Let's look at verse 45 through 47 and we'll turn our attention there.

The unbelieving Jews and how they responded. To realign our context, I want to read verse 44 again to see exactly what it was that they were responding to. So look at verse 44. On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitude, They were filled with envy and contradicting and blaspheming.

They opposed the things spoken by Paul. They weren't mealy-mouthed about what they thought. They weren't just a silent opinion. This is something that they were passionate about. This word envy here is the same word used elsewhere of zeal.

They had a zeal towards this thing. You see, Paul addresses this type of resentment or jealousy or envy, this earnest envy or this earnest concern that they have that was described here in this word as they were filled with envy. What made them envious? They saw the multitude. They saw that these preachers had more people than we normally do, and they were filled with envy.

They were filled with envy and jealousy and resentment. You know, Paul addresses this same type thing in Romans chapter 10 regarding his own countrymen. He says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved, for I bear them witness that They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. You see, there's the breakdown. They have a zeal for God.

They're jealous towards God, but their jealousy is based upon ignorance of who God is and who His Son is. And Therefore, Paul goes on to say, they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Listen, this is so important. They being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." There it is again.

You see, that's the heart of man who wants a works-based religion. We want to establish our own righteousness. You know, when you have children, you see within them, some of them can be outwardly troubling to you. You say do this and they say no. You say put that down and they pick it up.

There's all sorts of things that you can see in little children who are rebellious. You see in some though very very pleasing children. Yes they do exactly what you want them to do. And it seems as if by nature this child is just obedient and wonderful. Not all the time.

Which one scares you more? The second one scares you. You see the first one is very clear, not only to me and to them and to everybody else that this little child needs the Lord Jesus Christ. But that second little, maybe passive, obedient, very submissive little child who never seems to do anything wrong may be doing this, seeking to establish their own righteousness. And that, my friends, is deadly.

Deadly. It is harder, I believe, it is harder to win a self-righteous person than it is a person who clearly sees their fallen sinful nature. That's what Paul was dealing with here in Romans. They would not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. They would not understand that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone.

And so they not only were envious or as I said jealous and zealous for for all of their the feelings that they had towards Paul but they contradicted him. Speaking it means to speak against someone. They came with contradicting. They wanted to do it, it was a continual thing that they were doing, they were saying contrary to things. So Whatever it was that Paul and Barnabas were saying, boy have you ever been in that kind of situation where you're trying to share the truth with somebody and you get a contradicter over there on the other side and they're just constantly contradicting everything.

Trying to throw mud on all that you're saying. But they didn't end there, they blasphemed. They were blaspheming it says. It means to revile and to slander and to malign and to defame them. Now this response was for the most part the majority response of the Jews.

They could not grasp the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ, and therefore their zeal and their blinded envy it closed them all to seeing the truth. They doubled down on their aggression and their aggressive response towards Paul and Barnabas. They doubled down not only with envy and contradicting, but then blasphemy. They blasphemed their message. It could be that they were blaspheming Paul and Barnabas, but it says in verse 44, they contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed, there's another word that they were doing, they opposed the things spoken by Paul.

It's very often the case that the messenger and the message get lumped all in together. When they throw stones at Paul, they didn't just throw it at his writings, they threw it at him. When they crucified Jesus, they didn't just crucify the things he said, they crucified him. When they come after you, I want you to know this, when they come after you, they're gonna be blaspheming you and what you say because of what you say. How do you separate the things that somebody says from that person itself is very nearly impossible to do.

They're gonna come after you. They're gonna blaspheme you. They're gonna revile you. They're gonna say all kinds of ugly things about you. They're gonna lie about you.

This has already taken place, we've seen it. It's all over the internet. They lie about us. That's okay. Guess what?

This means that we are like our master. We're like our master. Jesus says in John 15, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. You're not the first one to be hated. Get over it.

They hated Jesus first. But listen to what he says, if you were of this world, the world would love its own. Yet because you were not of this world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they would keep your word. They will persecute you because they persecuted Jesus Christ. They will. Verse 45, what was another response? They, as I said before, oppose the things spoken.

It's always the way it is. Those of the world always oppose the Word of God and the person by whom it comes. They will oppose you and they will say all evil things against you. What else did it do to the Jews? In verse 50, we'll skip down to verse 50 to see how else the unbelieving Jews responded to this glorious gospel.

It says in verse 50, but the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and chief men of the cities, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. Now, it may strike you, or it may not, how this is written. The Jews who were envious, who were contradicting, who were blaspheming, and who were opposing Paul, they responded by doing something. They put actions beyond their words. They stirred up who?

They stirred up the devout and prominent women first. That's not written by happenstance. I want to tell you something. I want to speak very plainly to our ladies here. I thank God for you.

All of you ladies, I thank God for you. But I want you to understand something. There is a grave danger in the nature of a woman where she can do things to stir up their husbands towards evil or stir up their husbands towards good. And I thank God that for the vast majority of everything I know, you are stirring your husbands up to godliness. Keep it up.

Keep doing this. But know yourself there is a danger that you could be used to stir up your husband to do something that God would not happen to do. I'm not making this up. I'm not picking on women. This is how it all started.

In the Garden of Eden, Satan went to Eve first because he knew the weaknesses of Adam. And he knew that if he got Eve off of kilter, it would draw her husband out of kilter, and sure enough it did. So I want you to understand, God has given you great influence. Use it for godliness. Encourage your men, encourage your sons, encourage all of us men to do godly things, to be men of God.

But I want you to understand, most commentators describe these women as being the Gentile proselytes of that congregation, these devout and prominent women. These were devout in the sense of being zealous in their newfound religion of Judaism and then also prominent in the sense of their place in society. As Jameson Fawcett Brown says, the devout and honorable women were female proselytes of distinction. He says they were jaundiced against the new preachers by those Jewish ecclesiastics to whom they had learned to look up to. So these Jews stirred up these women.

They knew they could stir them up because they looked up to them. The potent influence, he says in Jameson Fossett Brown, this commentary, the potent influence of the female character both for and against the truth is seen in every age of church history. You need to know this. Know yourself, know your temptations, know the dangers, and stand on the Word of God alone. Do not be stirred up to evil.

Do not be. Matthew Poole, he goes on and he says, of great repute and esteem these women being accounted more earnest in what way so ever that they were taking, and to be sure, he says, even Eve was first seduced and in the transgression. Now, John Gill believes that these women, these devout women and prominent women, were the wives of these chief men of the city. And so these Jews went to the prominent women to stir them up, to stir up their husbands. And what was the result of this?

They raised up a persecution. They raised up a troop, if you would. They had influence and prominence and therefore had the power to stir up the people. You know it's true to the nature of unregenerate man that in a crowd, individuals feel isolated from the prick of wrongdoing personally because the crowd is doing it. This is being seen in our day right now and it's seen throughout history When a crowd, that's why the Bible tells you in Proverbs, do not join the crowd towards evil.

That's not exact, but that's the Proverb, that's what it says. Don't join a crowd to do evil. Because in that crowd, you will have this sense of a removal of the prick of the sting of your conscience. Because guess what? Everybody else is doing it.

It must be okay. So this is what happened. They stirred them up. They raised up a persecution and they did not end with the persecution. They expelled them from the region.

Their actions did not end with words, but they forcefully expelled them from the area. Now, we don't know all the details of that. I think there's some hint of that later and possibly what was read this morning is some hint of that of what happened to Paul and Barnabas when they were expelled from the region. We know that when they tried to expel Jesus, they were getting ready to throw him over a cliff, but he walked through the midst of them, not because it was not his time. But many times Paul and his companions received physical abuses and stonings and rods and all sorts of things that would expel them from the region.

But now I want you to look lastly at these few things, the responses of Paul and Barnabas, and then I want to include within that in that last verse the disciples which I believe includes Paul and Barnabas but I think also encompasses some others. In verse 46 so we're jumping back to verse 46 what was Paul's response and Barnabas's response to this to the to the contradicting to the blasphemy blaspheming and to the opposition that they were experiencing. In verse 46, then Paul and Barnabas grew bold. What's your response when you're being blasphemed and contradicted and spoken against? Well, these men, they grew bold.

God, by the power of the Holy Spirit emboldened them to do something and it says they grew bold and said it was necessary that the Word of God should be spoken to you first but since you rejected and judged yourselves unworthy of everlasting life behold we go to the Gentiles. Think about what he's saying. You have judged yourselves unworthy of everlasting life. What kind of an insane person would do that? The type of insane person who rejects the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's how he describes it. You have judged yourselves unworthy of everlasting life. Because there's only one way to have it, and that's through belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. That was one response that they had. They grew bold.

They spoke plain. They laid it out. They told it like it was. But then the next thing they did in verse 51, but they shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to Iconium. Now in Matthew 10, we know that Jesus tells his disciples then, now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy and stay there until you go out.

And when you go into a house, greet it. If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you and whoever will not receive you nor hear your words when you depart from that house or city. Shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable in the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." I guess the question that comes to my mind is when is the time to shake off the dust of your feet towards the city?

I don't know that I have the answer to that. I do know this, these men, we are told over and over and over again, were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were being literally run out of town on a rail. I think at that point, that might be a pretty clear indication. Go ahead and do a little feet wiping as you're going out of town because that's shaking off the dust of your feet and that is a judgment upon that city.

However, God still had believers in that city. Don't forget that. He still had believers in that city that stayed. Okay? And then lastly is this.

What was the response in verse 52? Probably the most joy-filled verse that we have today. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Now what part of this, of their persecution and being blasphemed and being opposed and being contradicted and being hated and having a whole crowd stirred up against you and being persecuted and being run out of town, what part of that gives you joy? Let me tell you, the part that says you are like your master Jesus Christ.

That's the part that gives you joy. You're not just joyous in the pain and in the suffering and in the blasphemy and the lies that they speak against you. You don't rejoice in those things, but you rejoice because you've been counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus Christ. It was the oddest thing when we were down in Wake Forest at the Pride Festival. These people were coming up in our faces and banging their drums and blowing their horns and saying evil things against us.

The strangest thing happened in my heart. I was not angry at them. God produced in my heart a joy, not in what they were doing, but a joy to think we, these brothers of mine and I, we are counted worthy for these people to blaspheme and contradict and hate us for the name of Jesus Christ and singing hymns in his name. That brought joy in my heart. So it helps me to understand just a little bit here that why these disciples were filled with joy.

Jesus suffered persecution. And they saw Paul suffering persecution and it says the disciples were filled with joy as well. Christians are strange critters. We are odd people. We rejoice when we're persecuted.

That's what makes us so different. Why? Because we know our Father. We know our Savior. We know we're like him when we suffer.

But then this, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. That's the key to joy. Are you lacking joy? Are you filled with the Holy Spirit of God? He will give you joy in the midst of persecution.

He can give you joy in any circumstance. Jesus said, blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Isn't that wonderful? You can be a joy-filled, persecuted Christian full of the Holy Spirit. That's a glorious thing.

So we've come to the point of decision. And I just want to say this, choose you this day whom you will serve. Who are you resembling in this passage? Are you gonna be Like these men who gladly receive the word of God and rejoice in what God was doing that salvation had come to them. Are you going to gladly receive salvation as a free gift of God through faith whereby you can be forgiven and justified in his name.

I pray that's the case. Or are you going to be the person who ends up like these agitators, these people who contradicted, these people who were offended at the Word of God? Yes, God's word will offend you. It'll tell you all about yourself, things that you don't like. But it gives you the great reward of knowing that you can be forgiven for all of those things.

You know, that pray today you will not falter between two, but that today would be the salvation of your soul and that you can leave this place like these disciples filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. May God make it so. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, please answer this prayer. Lord, I pray that you would save souls today.

Lord, I pray that the veil has been removed today. I pray Lord that faith in your son has been granted today. I pray oh Lord that you would do such a marvelous work, or that you would increase the joy of your people and create the joy in new believers today, that they would be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. May it be so. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.