The Gospel Unites

Paul & Silas in Thessalonica Acts 17:1-9| Alex Sands

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“We exist to glorify God by making disciples that CONNECT passionately with God and His family, GROW progressively to spiritual maturity, SERVEselflessly with their gifts and talents, and GOrelentlessly into the world with the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Kingdom Life Podcast. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross over 2,000 years ago is the foundation of our faith. Yet following him was never promised to be easy. The Christian walk is not a life of comfort, but a life of calling, endurance, and bold obedience. There was still a gospel to preach, heart to read, and truth to proclaim. Today's message, Pastor Alex says, takes us to Acts 17, 1 through 9, where Paul is silent, holding declared to the testimonials that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise from the dead. Through that powerful truth, we witness how God brings conviction, transformation, and unity within the body of Christ.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Oh, can anybody say he made a way for you? All the things that he has done, man, we owe him our praise. And the price that he paid, we owe him our praise. What I love about that song is that song is grounding, it's centering. Meaning that it brings us back to center. What it's really all about. Because sometimes as believers, we can get just kind of caught up and forget the price that Jesus paid. Sometimes we get caught up in what we want him to do instead of reflecting on what he's done. So it's a worship song that grounds us, that centers us, that reminds us that Jesus paid a price for us. He suffered for us, but he rose. Every first Sunday of the month, we take communion. And communion is a reminder of the price that Jesus paid. Communion is a reminder of the sacrifice, how expensive sin is. And Jesus paid it all to purchase us, redeem us, because we were slaves to sin. This the juice, the wafer, their symbols to center us, to remind us of what he's done. This is for believers. If you are a pre-Christian, parents, you have children who are pre-Christians, they continue to pray. This, you know, is not for you, this is for believers to remember who have made the sacrifice. If you need the elements, if you need the juice and the wafer, just raise your hand, we'll bring it to you. Keep your hand up lifted high. Oh man. Man, Kerwin, you are. I'm trying to hold it together. Praise you. Killing me in a good way. One more time. And if you need gluten-free wafers, we've got those too. You can wait, raise your hand up high if you if you want to make sure every it's a blessing to be able to take communion on Resurrection Sunday on East. It's a blessing to be able to do it. It's a reminder that listen, our salvation, it comes because of the price Jesus paid, but it's not an individual thing either. When you are when you place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you become part of a family. God becomes our father, Jesus is our elder brother, and we are siblings in Christ. It means we are one. Different places, different backgrounds, different socioeconomic positions, whatever. What binds us is the blood of Jesus. This is centering. Peel back the film, first layer you get to the bread, symbolizes the body of Christ. Christ who himself suffered on the cross, gave himself up for us. Let's take a remembrance of the Lord's sacrifice of his body for us. Second, uh, peel back the second foil. Get to the Jews. It symbolizes the blood of Jesus that he shed to pay for our salvation, to pay the price for our sins, the penalty, what it costs to redeem us. We weren't redeemed, as Peter says, with corruptible things, things that perish like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Let's take in remembrance the Lord's sacrifice. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we just love you so much. We're just so thankful. Our hearts are filled this morning for all that you've done, the price that you paid. Our hearts are filled with praise. Thank you for loving us. We don't have to ever wonder or question whether or not we are loved. We can just consider the cross. And we know we're loved. We can look at the cross and the price that Jesus paid and know we have value with you, God. We may not be valued by anybody else. We may look in the mirror. We don't even like ourselves sometimes, but you value us such a precious, wonderful way. And Lord, also we look back to the cross and not just at the cross, but at the empty tomb. And we realize, Lord, we have hope. Because the tomb was empty. And Jesus, as you rose, we will rise too. Because we placed our faith and trust in you. So Lord, looking back, we know we're loved. Looking forward, we know we have hope. Lord, we are centered now. Today, thank you. Thank you for what you've done and thank you for what you're going to do. In the name of Jesus Saints, let us all say amen and give thanks to the Lord. And clap of thanks and praise to the Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. Praise God. Amen. Again, thankful for the Lord. Are you thankful for what He has done this morning? So our worship and taking communion together is part of the centering, reminding ourselves of what it took for us to have a relationship with God and to call him Father. Communion symbolizes the suffering of Christ and His, you know, His resurrection. Those are two. His suffering, his resurrection, and we could be, we could rise with Him. The fact that He suffered and the fact that He rose. That's the foundation of our lesson this morning as we return to the book of Acts. We are studying the book of Acts chapter by chapter, verse by verse, moving our way along, and God has brought us to this place. And the book of Acts is often called the Acts of the Apostles, and it's the only book in the New Testament. This genre is purely history. It's the history of the church the first fifty, thirty years, after the resurrection of Jesus. And how this church spread. The theme of Acts is the unstoppable advance of the kingdom of God. The kingdom arrived when the king arrived. Jesus. And even though he ascended and is at the right hand of the Father, his kingdom continues to move forward. As people hear the good news of what he's done and believe and place their trust in him, his kingdom advances. And so it's what we see in Acts is that it's unstoppable, even though people have tried to stop it, tried to snuff it out. It's unstoppable. And what Jesus had said in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, you, speaking to the disciples, will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses. You will witness of my life, my teaching, my sacrifice, my resurrection. You will be our witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That is the blueprint for Acts, how the unstoppable gospel moved from where it started, where Jesus was crucified, Jerusalem. Spread outward like in concentric circles. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Hey, that's that's us. It's still reaching out. It reached us. It is still reaching and still going. And where we are in Acts is Acts chapter 17. We're at the ends of the earth part. In chapter 16, we've seen the gospel moves to Europe. And Paul and his company, Paul, Silas, Luke, and Timothy, they go into Philippi. They go into a region called Macedonia, and one of the cities was Philippi. And there they preached the gospel, and God set a girl free who had been possessed of demons, and there was an uproar about it, and Paul and Silas were wrongfully, horribly treated. They were beaten with rods and thrown in prison wrongfully. But that's not where the story ended. Jesus, uh the doors, God caused the door, an earthquake, and the doors flung open so that the jailer could come in. Not that Paul and Silas could go out. Share the gospel with the jailer. The jailer gave his life to Christ, he and his whole family, and there was a celebration. And Paul and Silas went back to prison. And that morning the police came and said, Oh, yeah, y'all can go out. Paul said Silas said, No, no, no, no, no. That's not how it's going to end. You threw us in here, beat us publicly. Y'all gonna take us out publicly. That was to protect the church from any negative reputation. Paul and Silas were not troublemakers. Look at how the magistrates escorted them out of prison. They leave. Verse 17, verse 1. Says, when they had passed through Empiphilus and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. They make a journey westward. Remember, it's going westward to the ends of the earth, is going westward. And about a hundred miles from Philippi. You go through these two cities here and you get to Thessalonica, which was the capital of Macedonia, the capital of the whole region. And it had about 200,000 people. It was an influential city, it was an important city, a city where it had a lot of commerce and traffic that went through it. It was a perfect place for a church to be planted, and people would pass by and hear about Jesus. So the Holy Spirit had them set down in Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Now, notice in verse 1, it says they had passed through Ampiphilis. Luke apparently remained behind in Philippi. Chapter 16, we saw the wheeze. Luke was part of it. Well, now it apparently he is not with the team. Apparently, he stayed in Philippi. You see, you need people who are advancing, you need missionaries going forward, and you also need shepherds. People who will care for those who are have been saved. They had passed through, came to Thessalonica, and there was a synagogue there. Unlike Philippi, there was a synagogue there where the Jews would gather for instruction and prayers. There was a synagogue, and Paul went in. As was his custom. And on three consecutive Sabbath days, excuse me, three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead. His custom was to go in the synagogue, go into the synagogue where the Jews assembled, and they understood the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah. They understood God's promises and so on. And so it wasn't just Jews, it was those also Gentile God fearers. They were what assemble as well, those who were not born ethnically Jews, but they believed in Yahweh. They would go to the synagogue as well. And so it provided a ready pulpit for Paul and Silas as they came in. And people who were already looking for the Messiah. He always started there. Jesus was a Jew, and the word went first to the Jews. It was his custom. And for three Sabbath days, three Saturdays, three Sabbath days, three weeks, three Sabbaths, he reasoned. Everybody say reasoned. He reasoned from the scriptures. He reasoned with them. Now it's important to understand what reasoning means. To reason means to discuss, to dialogue, to exchange truth in a back and forth way. Do you see dialogue in the in the Greek word? That word that's uh in the italics, that's the Greek that is translated into English. That's the conversation. This is the going back and forth. He reasoned. And how did he reason? We also get that too. Do you see it in verse 3? Explaining? Right? And what else did he do? Proving that it was what? Necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead. Necessary for the Christ, the Messiah, to suffer and to rise from the dead. So listen, understand that the Jews assembled there at the synagogue, their understanding of Messiah was a visible king that would bring victory, triumph over Roman oppression. That's what they were looking for. When you hear Messiah, that's what they thought. That's what they were thinking. So he had to break through what they had been taught to help them understand. Jesus came first to deal with the real enemy. There was a greater enemy than Rome. It was sin. There's a sin problem, and the Messiah came to handle that problem. The church, Christianity isn't about feeling good. The term reason again means to dialogue, to exchange, to think, to process. And so he explained. You see the Hebrew there? It reads like diagnosis. To open fully. To make plain what was closed. To open things up. No, you know, church, we need more open Bibles. We're not doing anybody any favors by not teaching the Bible in church. We need it open. He brings it over, he explains. And not just explained, he proved. And that means to set before, to lay out evidence so it can be examined. He reasoned. And how by explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead. Two things. Well the first, he had to suffer. And then next, he had to rise. Explaining and proving that it was necessary. It had to happen. Necessary means what must be done. A duty. In some uh locations where this word is used in the Greek, it means inevitable. This is God's plan. It was necessary for him to do this. Now Jesus chose the cross because he chose us. And what Paul does is that he explains and reasons through Scripture that the Messiah had to go through this to fulfill the plan of God. My charge today is to do what Paul did in the synagogue, to use scripture, Old Testament. The Old Testament. That's what Paul was referring to. To help everyone to understand, to explain, to prove that the Christ, the Messiah, had to suffer and had to rise from the dead. He used it from Scripture. And I'm sure that he used passages. First, the first thing is to suffer, right? He had to suffer. That's number one. He had to suffer. I'm sure he used passages like Isaiah 53. That word, you know, to suffer, to endure pain, to endure uh suffering pain. We saw pictures of it in our Good Friday service on Friday night. Jesus suffered on the cross. And Isaiah 53, it's the closest picture that you have that that shows us the suffering that Jesus endured. And it was some like Isaiah lived 700 years before Jesus was born. This is centuries before Jesus came. And you read chapter 53 of Isaiah, this prophet him writing, it's you it's almost like he had a front row seat to Jesus' crucifixion. But it talks about God's servant, the Messiah, and his suffering. Take a look with me at Isaiah 53, verse 3. I'm just gonna pull out a few verses out of it. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hid hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. The servant, God's servant, will be rejected. That's what Isaiah prophesied, would be rejected, despised, not esteemed. Continuing in verse 4. But surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. Not for anything he's done, but for our transgression. If you take what Isaiah is saying there, again, 700 years before Jesus was born, he speaks of our transgression. If he's on the money there, that word transgression, it means rebellion. And he says, our everybody. And if you take that, transgression and iniquities means to be bent. To be bent. There's what's straight, and then there's what's bent and crooked. Sin is rebellion, and our can and continual sin shows our bent. How our nature goes away from God. There's a mark, and we missed it. That's what sin is missing God's mark. And if this is the case, our transgressions, not for his transgressions, our transgressions, our iniquities, then man's condition is worse than we can possibly imagine. Because it's comfortable to look upon the news, social media, and say, oh, those are some bad folk right there. But Isaiah 53 indices everybody in saying our transgressions, our iniquities, that this servant, the Messiah, that's what Christ means. Christ is anointed one, Messiah. Christ was not Jesus' last name. Just be, just you know, make sure everybody understands. Continuing forward, in Isaiah 53. Verse 10, yet it was the will of God. Oh, not yet. Let's get back. Verse 5, again, speaking of his sacrifice and speaking of our transgressions, iniquities, and the chastisement that brought our peace. The discipline, the suffering that brought our peace, with his wounds, we are healed. That speaks of a substitutionary sacrifice. That speaks of him suffering not for himself, but for others. For their iniquities and their wrongs. Sin is not a small thing. Sin is expensive. It's not like an oopsie. Sin is rebellion. And the standard is God, not us and not other people. Because it is easy to look at other folks and say, what other folks need to do, and they're wrong, and they're wrong. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All of us have done it. Have you told a lie? Of course you've told a lie. If you tell me you are not telling, you haven't told a lie, you're lying right now. One of the Ten Commandments is not to bear false witness. Have you ever coveted what someone else had? Ever in your life? Man, we came out coveting. We coveted what our friends had, our siblings had. We wanted their Tonka truck. We wanted that. That is. With all the other ten commandments, you could see their with the nine out of the ten commandments, you could see that. But that tenth commandment, that heart, that covet, that's a heart issue. Coveting is a heart issue. Once have you ever lied, ever coveted then against God's standard? That's sin, and sin is expensive. It had to be covered. For God to be just, sin had to be dealt with. God can't be a good, just God and not judge sin, not judge wrongdoing. It had to happen. And the servant, oh, he took it upon himself. Verse 10 yet it was the will of God to crush him, necessary. He has put him to grief. And when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. And out of anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, the Messiah, the Christ, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, to be credited, to be accounted as being righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. His servant, in order to bear the iniquities of others, he couldn't have any iniquity of his own. He couldn't bear other sins if he couldn't pay the price for his own sins. But Isaiah was saying there's a man coming, a servant of the Lord, and he's going to suffer. But it won't be for anything he did wrong, but it'll be for our transgressions because of our transgressions, our sins, our iniquity. And he'll suffer. But by his suffering, my righteous one who hasn't done any wrong will make others righteous. Because he could pay the price that no one else could. Sin is expensive. Jesus didn't have any sin of his own to have to pay for. The blood of goats and lambs and all that, oh, that's all pointed to the ultimate sacrifice. The Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. He was the ultimate sacrifice that all the other sacrifices pointed to. It was these sacrifices that the Jews made. It was meant to let them know sin is expensive. And what the law showed is even when you want to do right, you still do wrong. You can have a perfect law and still break it. Because of the sin nature. But not only that, what else? Not just suffer, he would also what? Rise. He would also rise from the dead. I'm sure he pulled out of the Old Testament verses like Psalm 10, 16, verse 10, that speaks of how you will not abandon my soul to Sheol to the place of the dead, or let your holy one see corruption. David wrote that, but he died. He did die. Who was he writing about in there? He's speaking of his descendant, a descendant that would come, that same servant. A descendant of David, who Isaiah talked about. He's speaking there of a descendant. One of his family. This is tight. You can't mess it up. God has let us know through an old testament what he's saying is the Christ had to suffer. He had to establish, Paul, he had to establish this fact. If you look through the text, if you want to see it, you'll see God lay put evidence there of what the Christ would do. You're looking for a savior. The savior would suffer. You have in your mind this conquering warrior. But he came to suffer. He came to suffer. But death didn't hold him. He had to rise. Because my righteous one will not see corruption. And his resurrection would show and expand and show the world that he was vindicated by God. He had the righteousness to be vindicated by God and therefore be a substitute to be able to stand in man's place. And verse 3, so he explained and he proved that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead. That is his argument from Scripture, the Old Testament. And then he transitions at the back half of verse 3 and says, This Jesus, this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you is the Christ. This Jesus of Nazareth that I've been talking about, this Jesus of Nazareth, that carpenter. This put a timestamp on it. This was about 20 years after the resurrection of Jesus. 20 years. Listen, 20 years they're talking about the resurrection of Jesus. People, look, this is not a myth. This was real. You have to have time for a myth to cultivate and develop. There wasn't enough time for a myth because people were alive and could say, oh, he really died. I know where his grave is. There wasn't enough time for that. Here he is, about 20 years afterwards, saying that Jesus you know, because this wasn't done in a corner. This wasn't done in a corner. This was public. This Jesus of Nazareth, I have been proclaiming to you, He is the Christ. Jesus, he suffered. You would know that he was crucified. They would know. Jesus, that Jesus of Nazareth, he suffered. He was hung on a tree, a cross. He suffered, and he rose from the dead. Those rumors that you heard about the empty tomb, they're real. Our faith is based on a fact, an event in history. And you have to decide whether or not it happened. But I tell you what, there's no rational explanation for the empty tomb besides the fact that Jesus rose. His resurrection, says Romans chapter 1, verses 3 and 4, concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. Jesus, Christ our Lord. Jesus, the Messiah, our Lord. Resurrection proved that he was the Son of God. And then in uh you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 3 and 4, our faith is established, is built on that fact. For I delivered unto you, Paul says, of the first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. I brought it to you. He went to Corinth and brought the same thing he was at. He said at Thessalonica, he proved and explained that Jesus the Christ, he had to suffer, and he had to rise, and it was all you can go back to the Old Testament and you'll find it. It's in accordance with the scriptures. That brings us to our first kingdom truth. And when I say kingdom truth, what I mean is doctrine. This is unchangeable. This is doctrine. We have to understand, we have to understand truth. Christianity is built on truth. And the truth is the Old Testament promises of a coming Messiah are fulfilled in Jesus. If you're looking for a Savior, your search is over. Look no further than Jesus. He checks all of the boxes. Descendant of David, sinless life, suffered on the cross to become a curse for us to bear our sins and went to the grave, but the grave couldn't know. He checks all the boxes and now is seated at the right hand of the Father, having received all authority. He is seated at the right hand of God. All of the boxes are checked. Your search is over. If you're looking for another Savior, you're looking for love in all the wrong places. Because there's no greater love that you'll find than this. That Christ died for our sins. And the scripture said it would happen. That Jesus, the Messiah, would do this. Listen, everything was a shadow leading up to Jesus, where now things make sense. And that Messiah is Jesus. That's the truth we all you have to accept if you're going to become a Christian. It's a non-negotiable. It's a non-starter. We're not if you if we can't go back to the suffering and resurrection of Jesus, we have there's no foundation, no common ground. Here's the life application. The kingdom life principle. The application is this. Saints, there is hope. There's hope in this broken world. Jesus' suffering is proof that the world is broken because he'd never done any wrong yet. He was executed. The world is broken, but it's Jesus' resurrection is proof. God is going to fix it. Oh, saints, friends. No one can look out at the world today and say everything's just fine. Nobody can just say, walking through uh a mall, walking into uh schools or children, no one can say everything is okay. The world is broken. There's a problem, and education can't fix it. Morality can't fix it. Even when you want to do wrong or do right, you still do wrong. There's something broken. The world is broken because of our brokenness. And what the gospel shows us is that God didn't run and hide in a corner. He entered into our pain, becoming a man and living life in the real world. And he suffered. Are you in pain? Are you feeling alone? Are you struggling? You're just kind of feeling like you're just drifting along. Well, understand, Jesus went through all the things that man goes through. He had to sleep, he had to eat, he did all of those things, but he lived perfectly and sinlessly and says, You can have a better life than what you're living right now. Because I, the presence of the Holy Spirit, I can live inside you. I can give you my peace. You're looking for peace. I know you are. I don't know, you're anxious. You're here, but but you're you're in your heart, you're you're struggling with anxiety, and you have no peace. The tomb is empty. We know how it ends. God is in our situation. He didn't abandon the world, he came to the world to save you and I. There is hope. There is hope for all of us. If you consider all that transpired, you know, from the prophecies that time again, Isaiah, 700 years. And even though emperor rose here, king rose here, you know, an empire rose, fall, all of that, it couldn't stop the coming of the Messiah. And if God brought the Messiah through all of those changes, all of man's doing, if God did that, what do we have to worry about? We don't have to be anxious. God's going to finish what he started. There is hope for you and me because forgiveness is real. Jesus' suffering for our sins was real, and his resurrection is real. Our hope in him is real. Anchor yourself on that. I want to encourage those who don't know Jesus and those who do. You do know Jesus, don't get caught up in the panic of the world. We know the end of the story. The Lord, as he left, he is coming back, and he is going to make everything right. Let me show it to you. The last book of the Bible, Revelation, chapter 21. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. There'll be no more sickness, no more disease, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Jesus said, I've gone away, but I've gone to prepare a place for you. What I have for you can't be taken away. I'm preparing a place for you, and this place there'll be no more tears, no death, no disease, no harm, no hurt, no pain. Verse 5, and he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. And he said, Write this down, John. These words are trustworthy, and they are true. They're trustworthy. You can trust what it says. He's gonna make everything new. What was lost in the Garden of Eden, that perfection, what was lost because of sin and Adam and Eve's choice, what was lost will be restored. In the new heaven and new earth, it'll be restored in the kingdom. Jesus is the King. He was humanity's second chance, He was the second Adam. And he got it right. We don't have to remain stuck in hopelessness. And as Paul reasoned and gave a defense, I just want to say for all believers, this is our charge as well. I just brought brought it to reason and explain that's what we need to prepare, be prepared to be prepared to do. 1 Peter 3:15. But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy. Set him apart. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. Because you're no better than anybody else. You're no worse and no better because we're all sinners. And it takes grace for anyone to be saved. The cross is the great equalizer. Having established that, he has laid out the gospel. He has said this is the word, and at that point, people have to make a decision. You have to choose whether you're going to believe it or not. And listen, there's some who believe it, there's a positive response, and some there'll be a negative response. What we had in Thessalonica first. Luke describes the positive response, and some of them were persuaded. Some of them were persuaded, they were won over. To be convinced, to come to confidence in what was heard. Look, Paul's labor was not in vain. He continued over three weeks. It was his present tense. He kept sharing and kept sharing. He kept going back to scripture, proving suffer, rise, suffer, rise. And for some they believed. And they received that word. They believed it. Understand, to be persuaded means to think. Christianity, you have to think. Reason, it's not all emotion, and it's not kind of vague spirituality. There are facts, truths that have to be believed. And some believed. And they joined Paul and Silas. And to be joined, to attach oneself, to be joined together with their decision was evidenced by their action. It was proven by what they did. If you believe something is true, you will adjust your behavior. If you believe Jesus is the Lord and the King, you will adjust your behavior. You will find what does the king want? Now, part of the problem in America is we vote and don't understand kings. I'm in the same boat. I'm struggle too. The Lord had to set me right. This is not, there's no election here. I am the king. It's either yes, Lord, or he's not Lord at all. You can't say no, Lord, in the same sentence. Yes, Lord. And if you make that choice, there will be action that follows. They joined together with Paul and Silas, meaning they became a part of the fellowship. They became part of the family. We want to learn more. Because they were persuaded. When you're persuaded, it's not a casual interest. True faith cannot remain hidden. But look at this. First, it said that some of them. Well, who are the them? Speaking of the Jews there, some of them were persuaded, but it wasn't just Jews. Who else joined Paul and Silas? A great, great many of the devout Greeks. That means God fearers, Gentiles. Outside of the covenant, hadn't received all the promises, i.e., just like us. Some devout Greeks. They believed also, and not just them. What else does it say? A few of, and not a few of the leading women. One of the things about Thessalonica is their perspective on women was different than most of the other world. Women had uh many cases had property, had businesses in the Macedonia. It was different than other parts. You think of Lydia, we just talked about it last week. She had a business, she had uh money. So the leading women, he's speaking there of women who have influence, women who are uh uh uh educated and persuaded, influenced. Now we've got a whole different tier of individuals coming to faith in Jesus. Do you see the diversity in the church? There is not a separate gospel for white people and black people. There's no white man religion, there's no black man religion, there's only the gospel, there's only truth. There's no Asian or Japanese gospel gospel. Listen, the gospel works, and the gospel unites because there's one blood and there's one body, one church, one church, not five, five million. There's one that everyone is placed into when you believe and place your faith and trust in Jesus. There are essentials and then there are non-essentials, but the essentials are the non-negotiables Jesus suffered, and he rose from the dead, being our sacrifice, our replacement. Different backgrounds, different stories, whatever your story is, whatever your story is, there is room at the foot of the cross for you. For all of us. Second truth. The gospel has universal appeal because it is the universal cure to man's you uh to the it is the universal cure to man's universal problem, which is sin. Uni, one, universal. All of us have the same problem, sin. And that's the reason why there's brokenness. And there's only one solution, one cure. His name is Jesus, because only Jesus can transform the heart. You can adjust someone's behavior by making laws, putting laws in place. You do this, you're gonna have to be fined, or you're gonna be put in jail. You can change people's behavior, but you can't change the heart. Jesus changes the heart. And when there's a heart transformation there, the behavior changes, he is the solution. And it's for everybody. 1 Timothy 2, verses 3 and 4. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. He desires all people, everyone, everywhere, to be saved. Question Life application: have you been persuaded to follow Jesus? Have you made the decision that you believe? I pray that you have. And maybe if you're on the fence, I pray that you continue to think about it and just process: was the tomb empty? And if it wasn't empty, what's my explanation? Just start there. If someone could have found the body of Jesus, they would have. If Jesus didn't rise, all the disciples lied. Twelve folk don't die for a lie. Well, 11 out of the 12 were martyred for their testimony that Jesus rose from the dead. People don't die for a lie that they made up. Along with another group, and they saw someone else die for that lie? No, that doesn't happen. Have you been persuaded? I hope that you have. And understand, some people think they've been persuaded, but they don't join. They don't walk in it. It's not just about believing Jesus died on the cross and all that. It's not just about believing that fact. You got to follow him. Connect yourself with Jesus, behaving, acting differently, submitting to him perfectly. No. We will be glorified. We'll be in a perfected state after this life. But in your heart, you repent and you turn to Jesus. Have you been persuaded? It is real. This is real. I pray that you have. And if you haven't made the decision, process it. And and look, Paul had three weeks. It didn't happen just the first time. It took time to continue to share the news. There was a positive response, but there's a negative response. Verses five through nine is the negative response. But the Jews were jealous. And the Jews, they're speaking of the synagogue leaders, they were jealous. Now watch this. Those who had believed and were persuaded, that was a mental thing. But the Jews who saw all of these influential folk going and believing and leaving this, you know, and being swayed and not sitting under their teaching anymore, but going to Paul and Silas, they got jealous, emotional, bitter, resentful. They became jealous. You know what? I think they were they would be fine if it was just somebody like a slave or someone like that. But the fact that it was reaching devout Gentiles, it was supposed to be our folk. They were jealous, but they could not find an art. They could not go to reason. They could not go to the Old Testament and prove that Paul and Silas were wrong. So they got in their feelings. Boy, I tell you what, there's always, you can always tell when you share the good news and somebody gets in their feelings. Because they begin to act inconsistently with their uh what they say, what they express, they act inconsistently with what they confess. So watch this. They got jealous and they took some wicked men of the rabble. What's the rabble? There were some dudes that were laying around in the marketplace, could work, but didn't want to work. But you could pay them to revolt, to get mad, you could pay them to do anything. So the rabble just sitting around, just not having a job, but not wanting a job, just hanging around, and the religious leaders who were jealous of people becoming righteous, go to the rabble to pay them to do wrong. That's where that jealousy, that's where that heart, that's where all that will lead to, that's where it'll bring irrational behavior. You can share the good news with somebody, and they say you are intolerant and not realize they're being intolerant towards you. You are intolerant, you are this, you are so judgy. Really? How about what you're doing right now? And it goes on and on, and you begin to really un when you hear somebody they respond that way, and you begin to deconstruct their arguments, you realize it's not about logic or reasoning. They just got pricked, and they didn't want to repent. Pricked in their heart. They formed a mob, set the city in an uproar with the mob, and attacked the house of Jason. Jason was just, he was hosting the church. He wasn't Paul or Silas. Look, they they went in the city, attacked the house of the house of Jason, because that's where the church was meeting at, trying to find Paul and Silas, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. But they couldn't find them. Look at God. Oh, you can't put God in a box. In Philippi, Paul, and Silas, they didn't escape. They were drugged and beaten because God had a plan. Here, God had Paul and Silas off doing something else. And the opponents show up at Jason's house. This time, God said, No, no, this is not how I'm going to advance the gospel in Thessalonica. It won't be this way. So, what did they do? They didn't go home, they being the religious leaders, they grabbed Jason. All he did is believed in Jesus and said, Y'all can come to my house. Hospitality can cost you something. Don't think there's anything light and easy you can do. I just have somebody at the house. Understand, somebody's watching who you have at your house. There could be repercussions. Just affiliating yourself. You come on to my home and you can be just a new believer. The fact you're associating somebody can get upset. They bust into Jason's house, drug him out, and some brothers who happen to be there too. Drugged them out, brought them before the city authorities, and were shouting, These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. Speaking of Paul and Silas, they turned the world upside down. And Jason has received them. Jason, we just brought up, he received them, he welcomed them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. Now, what they say is both right and wrong. There's truth in it, and there are lies. So the lies are that they're going against the decrees of Caesar. They're trying to suggest that Paul and Silas and the others, you know, the others are trying to promote an insurrection. That's not what they were doing. They weren't inciting a revolt. To be a follower of Jesus means you're a good citizen. You don't try to cause others harm and try to bring down you're a good citizen, but you're not going to cross the line and go into sin. That was a lie. But saying there is another king, Jesus, that's the truth. Because there's a there were kings, little K, and then king, big K, singular. Kings, but king. There's another king. Oh yeah, that's true, and his name is Jesus. At the deepest level, everything they that part there, that was right. Last truth, the gospel is not merely advice for private living, it's an announcement of royal authority. Jesus is the unrivaled king of kings, and he is coming. And he's going to establish his kingdom on earth. He's coming. And so it's not just about me being better. I'm coming to Jesus so I can be better. Understand, he is the king, and we're announcing that he's coming, and his advance of his kingdom's already started. Get on board now and bow now, but understand, you will bow now or later. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God. And the saying that Jesus is king and he has authority, that's what hits the heart because self is at the throne. All of us have put ourselves on the throne, and Jesus has come to dethrone self. And so there's a carnal reaction to it at first. No, I can get myself right. No, I'm not as bad as that. No, no, that's me wanting to control my destiny. That's self. Jesus came to take self off the throne. And that is what can cause people to get upset because listen, the gospel demands a response. Is he king or not? It has to be decided. And if Jesus pushes against all of our other loyalties and everything else, have you been persuaded? Application. Understand there's always a price for following Christ. But don't mistake opposition with failure. There's always a price. Jason, listen to verse 8 and 9. The people in the city authorities were disturbed. Oh, just more, you know, caught up in their feelings. When they heard these things, we don't get Rome to get on our backs. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Bond payment. So they took money and then let them go. If there's any kind of issue, whatever, you losing all of this, and da-da-da-da. It was bond. All they did was host the church. Following Jesus will cost you something. But understand, Jesus says count the cost. It will cost you, but understand Jesus is coming and payday is going to come. You don't pay now or pay later. You better do it now. Submit now to Jesus. Make him your Lord today. Jesus is king and his kingdom cannot be shaken. Understand this. If you're ridiculed for Christ, hey, that's a good Jesus said you're blessed. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. You're really blessed because you're walking in my footsteps. Oh, Church Jesus is He's alive. That's our hope. He suffered and He rose from the dead. Hallelujah! I pray you're persuaded, not just intellectually, but that your intellect changes your actions. You repent and you believe you can follow him. You take self off a throne. That's repentance. And that will carry a price. But it's worth paying, and every believer would say the same. I'm so glad I chose Jesus. The thing is here, the gospel hit Thessalonica. It's a new city. But the response was the same. Some believe, some don't believe. Same gospel, same savior. Some hearts are receptive, some hearts are hardened. Which is yours? Jesus is the King. And as kingdom authority, I encourage you to submit to him now. Rejoice that death did not win. But understand what that means. He was the most important person to ever walk on the earth. And he is to be followed. I pray you choose the King. King Jesus. Let us pray. Father, thank you so much for the hope that we have in the resurrection, the hope that we have in Jesus, that all of our sins, He paid it all, bore it all upon Himself. Thank you, Lord, for what you've done. Thank you for the price that you paid, suffered. Jesus, you rose that we could rise with you and have new life. And we look forward with anticipation. We have hope for the future. You're going to make all things new. We are anticipating that. We look forward to that and say, Jesus, you are King. May you reign forever. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.