Acts 17 and we will begin in verse 1 as we hope this week to complete what was started last week. Acts 17 and beginning with verse 1, Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul as his custom was went into them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded. And a great multitude of devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.

But the Jews who were not persuaded, Becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city crying out, these who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Jason has harbored them and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying, there is another king, Jesus. They troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things so when they had taken security from Jason and the rest they let them go. Let us pray.

Our gracious Father in Heaven, Lord we thank you that you have brought us here this morning before the Word of God. Lord, we have not come to hear anything else. We desire to hear from you this morning and Lord I just pray that you by your spirit would so take your word and translate that word into the very hearts, transmit it to the very hearts of your people. Lord you know the the battles that rage even around us at this moment that we do not see. Some of us feel these things, I believe, Lord, because, Lord, you have shown us in your Word, and even as we read just moments ago of the battle that is raging and Lord you have told us to put on the whole armor of God.

Lord our battle is not with flesh and bone. Lord our battle is a spiritual battle and Father I pray today that your Word would be demonstrated before your people, would be laid out before them so that every soul here this morning would be persuaded to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to understand His death, to rejoice in His resurrection, and to live for His glory. And Father, this is my prayer for your people today in Jesus name amen you may be seated worship is warfare There's a temptation for us that when we come to church we know that we're going to be among people that we know and love, people that we are in covenant with, people that we enjoy, we like to be together. As often said, we eat together at least 52 times a year to enjoy a meal together But one of the things that we so often don't recognize is that When we come together to do this to worship the Living God There is warfare That takes place We don't fully understand all that's taking place. Paul references these things, he shows us these things in the Scriptures, but there's also battles going on even within our own mind, within our own hearts.

Even our emotions will be screaming one thing to us and our minds are trying to battle the things that we feel. But this morning I so desire that that we would see these beautiful things. There's a warfare in this passage before us. There is a spiritual battle raging. And we see in this passage of Scripture that Paul and Silas, They persevered in preaching Christ.

They did not give in to the warfare. They did not fall back. They did not turn. But they faced the battle head on, and they proclaimed the gospel in the enemy's camp. And that is so my desire, is that we would always be faithful to proclaim the gospel even in the face of the enemy.

The enemy's here this morning to distract and to dissuade and try to turn your attention away from these things, the very Word of God. But my prayer is for you, that you would hear and that you would believe. So let us look into this wonderful passage of Scripture. You know that last week we spoke mostly about the sufferings of our Savior and the glory that is revealed through His suffering. We considered this topic of persevering and preaching Christ and how Paul and Silas were so faithful that they did not retreat from the battle.

They did not retreat even in the face of difficulties. We know that from when they were in Philippi and many other places. The difficulties that they faced did not keep them from preaching the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They persevered. The difficulties they faced for preaching the gospel were manifold.

Nevertheless, they persevered. It wasn't only a spiritual battle that they faced. The spiritual battle broke into a physical thing for them so often where they were stripped and beaten and arrested and so many other things. They tried to be killed numerous times, yet they persevered. A worthy and noble task it is that they had undertaken for the sake of Christ and His bride.

And one really that I want all of us to strive for to the degree of our station and calling in life. Every one of us to some degree are called to be faithful and to persevere in proclaiming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't think any place that you are, if you're a mother at home, guess what? You're in a spiritual battle where your job is to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're a man at work, your job is to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you're a pastor in a pulpit, Your job is to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're a pastor in a pulpit, your job is to preach the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter. If you're a child, guess what? You have brothers and sisters that need to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and you should persevere in this great calling.

To persevere in preaching the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is in truth to persevere in preaching the gospel of God Himself. This is God's gospel. This is what He has called us to proclaim. It's God's gospel and in fact we must not turn from it, neither to the left nor to the right. God has called us to stay the course.

This is the gospel for which we strive. There are many things in this life, as you well know, that are there to distract you from this great and high calling. Whether it be from distracting you from actually speaking the gospel or to distract you from your very thinking about the Gospel, the mental attacks that take place, Paul wrote about, that we are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, because guess what? There are many thoughts that will attack your mind that are contrary to the obedience of Christ. They are against Christ, and you must put those things in their place.

And so there are things also that would seek to draw our affections away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. The cost brothers and sisters to persevere in this may be high, but I want you to know that the cause is worthy. It is for the glory of God, it is for the salvation of souls, and as we considered last week and we talked about the sufferings of Christ and His resurrection we see now in this passage where we are in verse 4 that there's actually great and glorious fruit from this worthy calling that Paul and Silas had come and proclaimed here at Thessalonica, that most loving and sacrificial act of our gracious Savior. To rescue. He broke through the enemy's camp to rescue those who were dead in their sins and trespasses.

In Romans chapter 5, we read these wonderful words, For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrated His own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God." Let me read that again.

For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. This is the most glorious and inspiring good news that a man could ever proclaim. To think about that, that when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, that we were the enemies of God. And God wanted to demonstrate His love to the extent that while you were an enemy of God, He broke through and reconciled you to Himself.

While you were an enemy. What possibly could be better news than that? He rescued me from my sin, He rescued me from my wrong thinking and from the life in which I was living. This great God, what God is there that does such a thing? There is only one, Only one God, the Father, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who would love His enemies like this.

Every other God that is make-believe in this world destroys those who do not worship Him and those who are His enemies. But not our God. Our God is gracious, He is merciful, He's full of compassion. He rescues His enemies. He delivers His enemies from death And He makes them not just His friends, but His very children through adoption.

And that's what He has done for so many of us here this morning. He has adopted you into the family. He has made you His very own. Only God would demand such a price and yet pay it himself. Think about that.

Think about the gospel. Think about your salvation. Think about what God the Father demanded and think about what He was willing to do because He knew you could not do it. He sent His only begotten Son to suffer, to die and to be raised again. What a demonstration of a one-way, self-sacrificing, sinner-saving love.

This is the love of our God. Our God this morning and every morning and every moment of every day throughout all eternity is worthy of our praise and glory and adoration. Brothers and sisters, let your souls arise. As the song says, our God is reconciled. His pardoning voice I hear.

He owns you for his child. You can no longer fear. With confidence we now draw nigh, With confidence we now draw nigh, with confidence we now draw nigh, and Father, Abba, Father, cry. Praise the Lord! What a Savior!

This is our God who has rescued us. And In this passage we are going to see, and we are going to consider here, the fruits of preaching such a Christ-centered gospel. What should we expect to see? With this great good news, the greatest good news, How will it be received by those who so desperately need it? Even this morning, that's the question that's been on my mind.

How will you, who are not His children this morning, how will you receive this most glorious good news? It seems only logical that you would embrace it wholeheartedly and gladly and rejoicingly say, Yes, what a Savior! How could you not? He demanded the price, He paid the price, He rescued you while you were an enemy. And He made you His own child.

That's His offer. How could anybody reject such an offer as this? But to some degree, you know how it will be received. You've read the text. You've lived long enough as a Christian to see that there are those that Paul lays out for us in 2nd Corinthians that are described in this way when we proclaim the gospel.

He says, now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us. He diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. Look at that picture. He diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

That's what a Christian is. We're a fragrance. We're a fragrance of Christ. We exude this glorious fragrance to those who are saved. This morning We're exuding the fragrance.

We are doing that this morning. Hopefully it's a pleasant thing to dwell together as the body of Christ. And we are experiencing the beauties of Christ together. When I heard you pray this morning, I was blessed. That's part of you diffusing the fragrance of Christ.

When I heard you singing these glorious songs, I thought, there is Christ. He is here among us. We dwell together in unity and where the body is, Christ is. But he goes on and he says this in 2 Corinthians 2, to the one, we are an aroma of death leading to death. And to the other, an aroma of life leading to life.

How is that? The same aroma but totally different outcomes. For most of you here this morning this is an aroma of life leading to life. You're feeding on the Word of God. The great shepherd is leading you into the green pastures.

You are being, you're able to lay down beside the still waters this morning. And it's going to feed your soul, this word is going to feed your soul. But to others he says it is an aroma of death leading to death. How is that? He says at the end, and who is sufficient for these things?

That's truly how I feel every time I stand here. Who is sufficient for these things? Who is sufficient to take this and to proclaim it and to demonstrate it and to explain it and to expound it and to just proclaim this glorious gospel that I know that every time I do for one it is an aroma of life unto life and to others it is an aroma of death leading to death. Who is sufficient? The great question that we'll consider as we think about these things is how will you receive it?

This aroma of Christ, is it leading to your life or is it leading to your death? There's no other option. This is it. This is the moment of truth. Are you being led unto life or are you being led unto death?

If you receive the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is life and health to your body and to your soul. If you reject the gospel and what Christ has done for you, this same preaching, this same gospel will lead you to destruction if you reject it. We will consider this morning two or really three responses when this glorious gospel is proclaimed. You know, there's a third here that I really don't have outlined per se. The reality is it's part of the second, but it's a silent part of the second.

It's just toned down quite a bit and doesn't show its head so quickly. But first let's jump into verse 4. And some of them were persuaded. I'm glad we get to start with the good news this morning. And some of them were persuaded.

How is it that only some of them were persuaded? When you think about the gospel, when you think about the apostle Paul here, he's explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded. How is that possible? I think about this and what does it mean to be persuaded then?

Well, it means that they believe the preaching of the Apostle Paul. They believe that Jesus was the Christ. They believe that their greatest need was the forgiveness of their sins to be made right with God. They believe that only a suffering Savior and a risen Christ could secure them the forgiveness that they so desperately needed before a holy God. They believed that this Jesus whom Paul preached was the Christ.

He was the promised one, the one mentioned throughout all of the Scriptures. And they believed what Paul and Silas had told them. They were convinced what Paul had explained and demonstrated to them. They were convinced that it was true. Are you persuaded this morning that this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ?

He is the Christ. So much so that Paul later writes in Thessalonians, he says to this regarding them, he says, They turned to God from idols and served the living and true God, And they were waiting for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, Even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. These people were radically changed. They were persuaded to such an extent that it is said of them, they turned to God from idols. That's called repentance the idols are now behind them not in front of them God's in front of them the idols are now behind them they had turned to God from idols I don't know if this statement arrests your attention as it has mine, but again this word, some, and some of them were persuaded.

It's shocking to me. And some of them were persuaded. This statement for those who have tasted and seen that the grace of God is sweet. It's a good thing that God has done for us. And we found that God is so good that this becomes actually a shocking statement.

And some of them were persuaded. Again, how was it that everyone was not persuaded? The same message went out. The same good news. To one, they were overwhelmed with the sense of the grace and mercy of God and that He would send His only begotten Son to suffer and die and rise again.

And when they heard that, their hearts were moved and they were persuaded and they turned to God from idols. They were changed, it says later, and they joined Paul and Silas. And yet the others heard the exact same thing and nothing. I want you to know that it had nothing to do with intellect. It had nothing to do with ethnicity.

He makes it clear. It had nothing to do as to whether you were a Jew or a Greek. Because both here were persuaded. Male or female? They're both here.

What is it? And we're going to look at that. What is it that made the difference? What do we learn here? And I believe that this passage and this idea right here declares to us at least two things that I want to look at.

Number one, the deadness of sinners. And number two, the sovereignty of God. When it comes to the point of salvation, and we look at this and we see that two people, or a group of people, and within that group of people, You can have part of these people be so persuaded that they're willing to reject everything they knew. They reject their idols. They reject their gods is what they did.

They turned away from their idols. The things that they worshiped. You want to know how to get somebody riled up as you put your finger on that very place of their worship. Offend their God. That's when you'll see anger spring forth in anybody.

We get angry when somebody offends our God and Guess what so do they you want to know why people are so angry and wrathful out here in this world Because you're messing with their God But why was there a difference Well first the deadness of the sinner Just how dead is a dead sinner? They're pretty dead. They're not alive. They're dead in their sins and trespasses. I declare to you that they were and we were and those who presently are separated from God are dead and cannot believe in the gospel.

Now that's not my thought, that's Paul's thought. Which is not Paul's thought, it's God's thought. This is what God says in the book of Ephesians. And you, He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once conducted ourselves, who's left out of that one, we all did, it was in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath just as the others." All of us were there. Dead, dead, dead.

There's a funny story in our my wife's family goes back a little ways and this person worked in the ER and This man who was a professing preacher who actually handled snakes had come into the ER. He had been bitten by a snake. And they said to him something to this effect, you realize that you could have died. And he said, I knew I could die. I just didn't know I could die, die.

Well, guess what? Before Christ, in our sins, we were just dead. We were dead, dead. We were totally dead in our sins and trespasses. In fact, we could do nothing to save ourselves.

Was it Whitfield I believe that said something to the effect that thinking that you could somehow be righteous enough to get to heaven on your own merits would be like trying to climb a rope made of sand to the moon. Impossible. You couldn't do it. It's impossible for the dead man to make himself alive. In John 6, 44, Jesus says, No one can come to me.

No one can. Can is the word for ability. No one has the ability to come to me. Well, how can you be saved? Well, he answers his own dilemma.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day. Romans 3 tells us how dead we were. He says, what then? Are we better than they? Not at all, for we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable.

There is none who does good. No, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. How dead are they? Their breath smells like death because they're dead.

Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues, they have practiced deceit. You know the difference between that and Jesus? It says, nor was deceit found in his mouth. The poison of asp is under their lips whose mouths whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes so how dead is the one separated from God, pretty dead, hopeless.

But it also speaks here, secondly, of the sovereignty of God and salvation to take him or her who was dead and make them alive. Since man is dead, how can he be made alive? Well, Ephesians again answers that question, and you, he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sin. Who made you alive? He did.

He made you alive. In Acts 13 48 he says, Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and listen, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Ephesians 2, 4 says, But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved." This is the work of God. Colossians says the same thing and You being dead. I kind of get the hint that He's wanting us to understand that we were dead.

We were dead. Dead in our trespasses and in the uncircumcision of our flesh. He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses." That's a glorious good news, brothers and sisters. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. That you were dead and He has made you alive.

Acts 16, 14 says that we just learned about just a few weeks back. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. So though it is not specifically said, all of Scripture testifies to the fact that though they were dead, some were persuaded.

How were they persuaded? They were persuaded just as Lydia was persuaded. The Lord opened their heart to heed the things and to believe the things that Paul had spoken. And when they did, they were no longer dead. It was an aroma of life unto life.

They heard what Paul and Silas said. They were persuaded by what they said. They were made alive through the power of Jesus Christ. Through what the Holy Spirit had done. In this text we see that God opened the heart of some of the Jews.

He opened the heart of a multitude of devout Greeks. He opened the heart of not a few leading women. This is what God did. Let's just go through here just for a moment with the Jews. This was a pattern throughout the book of Acts that though the Jews often resisted the Gospel, God in His grace rescued many of the Jews.

Paul is a chief example of that. He rescued Paul, didn't he? And he rescued the Jews here, some of these Jews who were in the synagogue, who were hearing what Paul had said over a three-week span of time, They were persuaded. This man knows what he's talking about. He's telling us the truth of the gospel.

I believe what he says. He's laid it out for me. There is no room for doubt. I believe. That's what happened.

We know that though it was limited in number to the Jews to some degree, this was also the plan of God. Scott preached this months ago in Romans 11. He says, For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. Here's a mystery. Lest you should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Be careful. This is a warning. Be careful that you are not wise in your own opinion and boast against the root. The branch that was not grafted in but it was natural. Don't boast against that.

You need to understand that God is doing a great mystery here. He didn't want us to be ignorant of that mystery. That hardness or blindness in part has happened until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Paul himself, Silas, it was the testimony that Paul here is a man of God who was a Jew and he is a man that is now following the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart and seeking his own countrymen to be saved who made the statement that he said he wished himself, he could wish himself even to be accursed for the sake of his countrymen. I can't wrap my mind around that.

Paul said it. He loved his countrymen. And he was going to take the gospel to them. It's interesting, you know, after he said at one point, I'm done with the Jews, I'm going to the Gentiles, he keeps preaching to the Jews everywhere he goes. Every town he looks for what?

He looks for the synagogue. Why? Because there's Jews there. Why? Because he knows the Word of God is there.

Why? Because he needs to tell them who the Messiah is. It's Jesus Christ they needed to hear and they needed to believe. But then we see next this great multitude of devout Greeks. What is meant by this?

Matthew Henry says these were proselytes of the gate. They were the godly among the Gentiles. So the Jews would call them. They did not submit to all the ceremonial laws of Moses, yet they had renounced their idolatry and their immorality. They worshiped the one and only true God.

These were admitted to join with the Jews in their synagogue worship, And now they are beginning to understand who the one true living God is. Paul was going to say to them, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Messiah. He is the one that you're hearing about in the synagogue. The Jews, some of them believed, many of them did not. They rejected that Jesus was the Messiah.

But many of these devout Greeks heard this, and God opened their hearts to receive and to believe all the things that were being spoken to them. And then they delighted to receive it and they rejoiced to receive it. And then not a few leading women. Interestingly, Here we have leading women who were persuaded of the truthfulness of the gospel, but back in Acts 13 we had leading women in Antioch who were stirring up the persecution against Paul and Silas and trying to drive them out of the city. What's the difference?

What's the difference? All I can say is that God has mercy on whom He wills and whom He wills, He hardens. God was doing this great work and then Paul proclaims in Romans 11, 33, and I do as well, when I hear and see these things, oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. Have you ever considered the mystery of how a man could proclaim the gospel in a group of people and some of them are so transformed and radically believe what is being spoken and others are so stirred up to wrath and anger about the same thing being said.

This is a mystery that is beyond our understanding, of which I'm just trying to scratch the surface of explaining this glorious mystery of how God works, His judgments are past finding out. His ways are wonderful. And then they join Paul and Silas. What is meant by this? Again, this was not just a word.

This is something that means they they literally turned to God from idols, is what Paul says in his letter to the Thessalonians. And they served, he says, to serve the living and true God. Get the picture there. They were serving the dead gods. They were serving idols, and they turned to serve the true and the living God, and they forsook the false and the dead gods." That's what he's saying.

And that's what happened to us. You might think to yourself, well I wasn't serving idols, I wasn't bowing down to idols. Yes you were. Everything that you had hope in that was not Jesus Christ was a dead false idol. You were serving dead idols and so was I.

And many of these idols are the very idols of our own thinking and of our own making. You know if you have a God and you name Him Jesus and He only loves everything you love and hates everything you hate, guess what? You have an idol. You've just named Him Jesus. It's not the Jesus of the Scriptures.

That's an idol that has to be cast down. Once a person follows Christ, it means that he is no longer following the things that he was following. 1 Peter mentions this in this way, Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of the time in the flesh for the lust of men, but for the will of God." That's the difference there. Don't live for the lust of men including yourself, live he says for the will of God.

For we have spent, I like this, for we've spent enough of our pastime in doing the will of the flesh of the Gentiles. When we walked in lewdness and lust and drunkenness and revelries and drinking parties and abominable idolatries, in regard to these things, he says, guess what? Guess what your friends are going to think about you? Here's what they're going to think. They think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation and they will speak evil of you.

When you turn away from dead idols to serve the living God, they're going to think you're strange. And guess what we are. We're a peculiar people. We love the true and living God. And it's strange that we do not run with the same dissipation as all the world does.

And guess what? If you're here this morning and you're still running with them, you've not been born again. You've not been changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A Christian does not continue to run in those same ways. Ephesians 4 says it this way, This I say therefore in testifying the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind.

Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God. Because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all in cleanness, with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and you put on the new man which was created to God in true righteousness and holiness. What a contrast! Totally different.

Once you have turned to God from idols, You can no longer go back and live for the idols. The point of this for all of us is that what have you turned your heart to? Where are your affections right now this morning? If you have turned to God, you profess that you have, does your life prove that out? Are you professing Christ and following the world?

Those two things are contrary. 1 John says this, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Which way are you headed? Who are you following? Who's your shepherd? We are sheep. We either have the great shepherd as our shepherd or we've got a bunch of dead false idols as our shepherd.

Which is it? Well you'll know by the pathway you're going down. Is it the broad path leading to destruction full of all kinds of people? Or is it a narrow path that is constrained at least to life? Where is your shepherd leading you?

But now comes the second response to this gospel preaching And it's this, some were not persuaded. Some were not. But the Jews who were not persuaded becoming envious took some of the evil men from the marketplace. Let's look at this. 1 Peter says it this way, Therefore to you who believe, he is precious.

But to those who were disobedient, the stone which the builder rejected has become the chief cornerstone, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumbled, being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, who were once not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. But think about these who had stumbled. What did they stumble at?

They stumbled at this rock of offense. They stumbled at the Word that was spoken. And He says to this, they were appointed. It was Not simply that they were not persuaded, but their unpersuasion just took violent action against the truth and against the messenger of the gospel. You see, those who are not persuaded, when they are provoked by the truth of the gospel that calls them out, it strips them of all self-righteousness.

They cannot get their hands on the shirt and the collar of God. They'll get their hands on your shirt and collar for telling them the truth. They can't harm God. They can shout and scream and jump up and down, cut themselves all day long. And they cannot touch God.

Because they cannot touch God, they will pour out their wrath towards you. Because you are the fragrance and the aroma of Christ. We need to be ready for this. They became envious, so filled with jealousy. What is it that motivates these people against God?

Is it pride, is it jealousy, is it selfishness? No doubt part of what motivated this attitude was the fact that the Jews and the devout Greeks and these leading women had turned away from them. They rejected their counsel, they rejected what they were teaching, and they were following thou, Paul, and Silas after the true and living God. And they were upset with that. They were angry at that.

They had created a God to their own liking. And the natural man, the Bible says, loves darkness rather than light. In John 3, he says, and this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world. And men love darkness rather than light. Why were they angry?

Because they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. For everyone who practices evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God." But this envy and this jealousy and this anger and This wrath that they had did not just stay in their heart and in their bosom, but it poured forth and it wanted to act upon that hatred. You see, you're going to have some, and I'm going to mention here just for a second, this third type of person that's actually silent here. We'll see him briefly in just a moment.

But notice what these angry men did, these envious men did. It says in verse five, they took evil men from the marketplace. Who were these people? They weren't in the synagogue. These were the, let's just call them the spiritual sluggards if you would.

These were those who were apathetic to religion at all. They didn't care for the synagogue, they didn't really care for what Paul was saying. They're just sitting in the marketplace. They're evil men, they're bad, they're morally corrupt, they're worthless, they have a serious fault, they have no value. This is what the word means.

They are of what's called the baser sort. They just they were loungers in the marketplace. They were those who did not work. They were those who were laying around. They were those who were busy bodies.

You know, it always amazes me how people have time for rabble rousing. I don't have time for that. There's a lot of things I just don't have time for. Why? Because I'm working, because I have a family, because I'm trying to do the things that God has told me to do.

How do these people survive when they just sit around in the marketplace or on the street corners doing nothing? Now I understand I'm not just talking about people that we see, but I'm talking about in general throughout history you've had people that just sat around and did nothing. They were apathetic to either side. They didn't really care, but they were evil men. They had worthlessness in their hearts.

They were of no value is what this word means, evil men. They loved to be idle. They loved to draw their sustenance from those who did work. They love to feed upon the generosity of others. Many of those in the riots that we've seen in the past few years are this type.

They typically have somebody paying them to travel to another state to call some sort of riot. Don't they have jobs? Do they have a family? How do they have time for this? Well these are those that are this kind of third group that's actually part of the second group, they're spiritual sluggards.

The danger, listen, this is an extreme example of what I've painted for you here, but did you know that there are possibly spiritual sluggards among us this morning? And what I mean by that is, if you're apathetic to the things of God, yeah, I left my Bible at church last week, it's alright, I'll pick it up when I go back. Like, You have no care for your soul. You're apathetic. It'll be alright.

I'll just listen to what He says. You're not praying. You're not seeking the things of the Lord. You're not really concerned about your soul. If you're not concerned about your soul, that tells you something.

We have believers come for counseling on a fairly regular basis. I'm just worried that I'm not really saved. I don't have assurance. I've never met an unbeliever like that. Unbelievers don't care.

They think they're perfectly fine. They think they're in good shape. Hey, I'm fine. I'm not as bad as these guys, so I'm good. But those who are believers, they're concerned about the state of their soul.

I'm not saying that you should go around always be doubting your salvation, but I'm saying that if you have ever doubted your salvation, at the very least it tells you you care for your own soul. And that's a good thing. But we don't want you to stay there in unbelief. We want you to mature in these things and say, Yes, I know that Jesus is my Savior. These things have I written to you that you might know that you have eternal life.

That's what John says. But they these rabble rousers here these Jews who were not persuaded in verse 5 they gathered a mob up and as I said we've seen this in many of the riots throughout our country We're seeing it now in other countries. We saw it even to some degree when we were hymns singing, mobs being gathered together pre-planned and pre-approved and primed and ready to come up and rattle things and beat drums in your face. They had set these people on edge. They had stirred them up to resist.

You know it's easy for evil people, though they seem apathetic to be stirred up, if you put your finger on the right spot. If you speak the right words, how do you rouse up a group of people to create a mob? Well, you begin to point out all the ways and to mark out all the ways in which this person or these people are disgruntled. Whether it be towards religion, whether it be towards society, whether it be towards the rich, whether it be towards the CEOs, whatever it is, all you have to do is begin to stir that pot a little bit in that area where they are dissatisfied and disgruntled and they believe that they deserve more than what they have. They love to blame others and everyone else for their problems.

They love to point out that their circumstances are not of their own making, but it's because of them. That's what these Jews were doing. They were stirring up the mob, and they were letting them know that these men who had turned the world upside down, in other places they were destroying their idols, and they have proof positive right now here, there were Jews, and there were devout Greeks, and there were leading women, and they were turning their city upside down, and These people are turning away from their idols. They were rejecting the common gods. And they were stirred up to create a mob.

What next? In verse 5 it goes on, halfway down there, they set all the city in an uproar. Boy, you can get a mob going. You get some dissatisfied, disgruntled people who think that they should have it better than they do and they don't like the circumstances. You get them worked up and they're ready.

Sometimes they don't even know. When they were there at Ephesus crying out, Diana of the Ephesians, They didn't even know why they were there. Why are we here? I don't know, but let's shout. Keep going.

They're thoughtless. They're stirred up. The whole city was in an uproar. Why? What did they want to do?

They were shouting. They were clamorous. And they were wanting blood. They didn't even know what was going on. And yet they wanted blood.

Now how do you know that? How do I know that? Why would I make this statement that they wanted blood? They attacked the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people. Code.

They wanted to bring them out and beat them and stone them. They didn't want to come out and have a conversation with them. Tell us what you were actually saying. What did you mean by this? No, you don't attack somebody's house and drag people out to the people so that you can have a conversation with them.

You do it because the mob was stirred up, and it says that the whole city is in an uproar, and they attacked his house, and they sought to bring them out. They wanted to bring out, not Jason, they wanted Paul and Silas. Bring them out! Bring them out! And they were thirsty for blood to attack them.

They needed a vent, they needed a face to expel their frustration and anger that they had been stirred up with. And when they couldn't find Paul and Silas, what did they do? They grabbed a hold of Jason and they took him. Jason wasn't quite as bad, he didn't do it, but he did let them stay in his house. They sought to bring them out, to have them abused, and then they grabbed a hold of Jason.

Look down in verse 6, And when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, these who have turned the world upside down have come here too. These are the ones who are messing up everything. These are the ones who are rejecting your beloved false gods. This is a fruit of preaching the gospel. Let's not lose sight of that.

How could a glorious gospel produce this kind of fruit? Well, it did it in city after city after city. Don't forget they crucified Christ. He had no deceit in his mouth ever. When he was reviled he never reviled in return.

When he suffered he never threatened. Can you imagine the threats that he could have given? Never a threat. And they crucified Him. The fruit of the Gospel is not only that some will be persuaded and believe and turn to God from idols, but others will be so envious and so proud and so angry and They're not content with keeping anger in their heart.

They're bitter and they'll spread that bitterness to everyone that they can find. They'll stir up the worthless people who don't even know what's going on. And they will be willing to kill if that's what it takes in order for you to stop destroying their idols. Remember what I said, if you put your finger on their God, you will get people angry. I don't know if you've noticed, but people don't like to have their world turned upside down.

And yet God has called us here not simply to turn it upside down but to set it upright. John Gill says, these have turned the world upside down, the whole earth, the Apostles according to the city of these, of the cries of these men had thrown the whole world into disorder. Isn't it interesting that a world that is in disorder when you try to order it they think that's disorder. No relation here to a child's bedroom when you want them to go in and clean it up. They're like, no, no, I won't know where everything is.

Like that, you're like, this room is chaos. There's no order here. No, I'll never find my shoes. That's how they felt about this. They were like little children having their world turned upside down and God was coming in with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and He was ordering their disorder.

That's what we are called to do, brothers and sisters, to go and order the disorder. We're to go with the gospel, and that's what it does. He goes on, John Gill says, and he turned men from their old ways of worship to another way of worship. They say they are coming here also to make the like disorder and disturbances as they did everywhere else. Yes, we are!

We are come! And we are going to order the disorder through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what we're about. We want to turn it upside down. We want to shake out all the false idols.

They were mad at this Jason because he had received them into his house and he said that they were acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar. They had to find something that would stick. They had to say, they're going against Caesar and proclaiming another king. And guess what? They were, and I am, I'm proclaiming that there's another king, and his name is Jesus Christ, and there is no other name under heaven given among men By which you must be saved and your disorder will be put into order And so my question for you in closing is this Have you bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ?

Are you willing to have your disorder idolatrous life set aright and are you ready to follow the true and living God? Brothers and sisters we need to pay close attention to this. We need to be mentally and spiritually prepared that when the Gospel begins to make strong headway into a society to the point that the people are changed from their normal course of living, that they turn away from their idolatry and that they turn to the true and living God. There will be opposition. And that opposition will sometimes be aggressive and violent.

And they will say that you are stirring up this world. They will say that you are against the government. They will say that you're against the king. And the devil, listen, the devil does not give up ground without a fight. And we're here to take ground.

That's the spot at which we all say, Amen. We are here to take ground with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be ready as we make the advancements with the Gospel, and souls are turned to God. And let us persevere as Paul and Silas, and remember the sufferings of our Savior, and remember His resurrection, remember His ascension, remember There's a throne of grace open to you. And let us remember to go boldly to that throne of grace.

Be bold. Be courageous. Act like men. Stand strong. Fight the good fight.

Preach the gospel. Christ is worthy. Amen. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, O God, take Your Word and plant it deep within.

O God, give us the strength that we need, Lord, to stand against the wiles of the devil. Help us to take the whole armor of God, to be ready, Lord, to notice and to recognize the areas of the battle. Help us to also know, Lord, that when we proclaim the glorious gospel of Jesus that there will be those who are persuaded and we will rejoice there will be joy in heaven over one sinner and Lord at the same time we hold this to be true, at the same time that to others we will be an aroma of death. Death to their old way. Death to their idol.

And unfortunately, Lord, death to their eternal soul. We so desire to deliver them Lord from the wrath to come. Lord I pray if there's anyone here your God please rescue them today. Only you can by your spirit oh Lord persuade them that the things that they have heard are true. And we ask it in Jesus name.

Amen.