The Gospel Turning the World Upside Down

[00:00:00] Let's get our bible turned to the book of acts, chapter number 17. We are entering into one of the famous chapters in the book of acts. For good reason too. [00:00:13] Acts, chapter 17. We will read this morning verses one through nine. [00:00:24] Acts 17, verses one through verse nine. [00:00:31] The Bible says now, when they had passed through Amphippoulus and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them. And three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must, needs, have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you is Christ. [00:01:06] And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas, and some. And of the devout Greeks, a great multitude. And of the chief women, not a few, but the Jews, which believed, not moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort and gathered a company and set all the city on an uproar and assaulted the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people. [00:01:34] And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, these that have turned the world upside down are come hither also whom Jason hath received. And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason and of the other, they let them go. Let's pray together. [00:02:07] Our father, thank you for your word. Thank you for not only what you have given to us in your word, but the fact that you have preserved these great acts of the Lord Jesus Christ through the apostles and through these early christians for us today. [00:02:22] As we look at these things, I pray that you would give us understanding and wisdom. I pray that your spirit would be among us, teaching us, instructing us, admonishing us, exhorting us, and, if need be, reproving us. [00:02:38] Help these things. Help us to grow. Lord, we commit this time to you. Lord, I ask for your help and your grace to enable me to help your people. And, Lord, give us all ears to hear and eyes to see that we may receive these truths and they may sink deeply into our hearts, that they would not just be like the water on a duck's back and just roll off, but they would sink down deep. [00:03:07] I pray that no matter what, we would go away from your word this morning, having been improved, having been encouraged to do your will, that the truth would be laid before us plainly. [00:03:22] So, Lord, we thank you for the time to meet together as your church. Please continue, Lord, to work in the hearts of each and every person in Jesus name. Amen. [00:03:33] So in acts chapter 17, Paul and Silas, and we found out later that Timothy is there, too. In verse number 14, they go from Philippi, and they have their prison stand, of course, we remember, in Philippi, and so they're sore at this moment. We don't know how long they have been in Philippi, how much they have recovered from the stripes they received. But now they're going from Philippi, and they pass through two smaller places to get the Thessalonica. Thessalonica is a city, a rather large city in Greece to this day. And right in the middle of it, you can see the ruins of the roman forum, which is the market, as well as the baths. And the other places, the old city wall and stuff is there as well. So it's a place that exists to this day. And so Paul went there, and this is just a marvelous event. Verse number two says, and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days, reasoned with them out of the scriptures. Now, the Jews were not in all of these places. We know this is not Israel. [00:04:42] The Jews in these places are not a majority. They are a minority. So Paul is intentionally going to these synagogues, it says, as his manner was. So he had a policy, he had a way that he did things. And whenever he went to a new town, if there was a synagogue, he went to the synagogue first and foremost. Now, he did this for two reasons. [00:05:07] The first reason is because it was God's intention that the Jews, if we might say, have first dibs on the gospel, that the gospel be given to the jew first. Because, after all, the Lord Jesus Christ was a jew. He came to be, to seek and to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Right? So the Lord, in his wisdom, in his foreknowledge, designed that the Jews be offered the gospel first, not only on an individual level like we see here, but also on a plan level, like in God's major plan. Because, of course, we know that up until the stoning of Stephen in the Book of Acts, the Jews were almost. They had the gospel almost exclusively. So the first reason he did this is to prioritize the Jews. But there was another reason, and we see it here. [00:05:58] You see, Paul desired to go to an audience that would likely be most familiar with the scriptures and would be receptive to the truths of the gospel. And that's actually what you see here. Because in verse number four, the Bible says that some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the chief whim, not a few. So there were some people in that synagogue that were not Jews, and we've seen this in other places in the Bible, but they were receptive to the God of Israel. They had perhaps turned away from idolatry, and they had begun to worship with the Jews, even though they had not taken that, as we've studied already, that full step to become a proselyte. [00:06:47] And it's just generally speaking, it's easier to give the gospel to somebody who's already familiar with the scriptures, and we'll study this later on tonight. But the scripture is the whole basis of what we do. And so if we meet somebody who already knows the scripture, there is a certain familiarity with it. And I know as a missionary that was the case. [00:07:10] It was much easier to get into a conversation and get to the gospel with someone who was at least familiar with the claims of Christ and with the scriptures than it was somebody that had no knowledge of it. And so Paul starts there. [00:07:25] He starts there. He's hoping to find a receptive audience. Verse number three says, he opened, opening and alleging, that is, he revealed, he made known, and he claimed and contended and asserted that Christ must, needs, have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. So Paul's message is no different than our own. And listen, if our faith is based upon the scripture, there should be a high level of consistency, should there not? There should be, and there is. So Paul went into the synagogue. And what did he say when he went in, as his manner is, he went in and he said, number one, the messiah that you have been waiting for was prophesied in the scripture, that he must suffer and that he must rise again from the dead. And number two, that this messiah who has prophesied to suffer and rise again from the dead is Jesus, and he fulfilled all of those things. This is the message. Now I want you to listen to this. [00:08:41] Luke, chapter 24, verse 46 and 47. Say this. Now. This is the words of the Lord Jesus himself. Jesus said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. This is exactly what Paul is doing now. It doesn't specifically mention repentance and remission of sins, but it's certainly here. [00:09:13] And so Paul is just saying what Jesus said to tell people. [00:09:17] So he's laying claims down to the Jews. And verse four says, and some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas. And of the devout Greeks, a great multitude. And of the chief women, not a few. [00:09:34] So you'll see these devout Greeks, as I mentioned before, you'll see them in a number of different places. We've already come across Cornelius, who was a devout man, that is, he worshiped the God of Israel. He went to the synagogue in the time of Christ. Before Christ died upon the cross, the Lord met gentiles who, centurions and such, who worshipped God and who did not follow the religion of their ancestors, but followed the true and the living God, the creator. And even though they didn't know him and had not fully become Jews, as it were. And so we drop down to verse number five. [00:10:11] But the Jews, which believed, not moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the Baser sort and gathered a company and set the city on an uproar and assaulted the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people. Now, notice this. It's not Paul doing anything wrong here. These Jews are filled with envy. They're filled with. This is just naked jealousy. Why? Because there are these gentiles now, these non jewish people who've been coming to the synagogue, and all of a sudden they're now consorting with Paul. And the Jews have no more influence in their life. And it just infuriates, you know, this is exactly what the Bible says, as we've already learned. But envy, jealousy, driving them to lie. Now, listen, these are religious people. [00:10:59] These are people who go to church. These are people who read the Bible, they pray, they have their rituals and all that, and they are the same ones that are doing this. In fact, these lewd fellows of the baser sort, you don't see it so much here. But if you've ever been to a developing nation, you see people that just kind of hang around looking for trouble. You've seen that. You saw it in Bulgaria. Didn't you go to the market? You go to where they are, and they just kind of loitering, just waiting to get into something, trying to find an opportunity to take something, or they're immoral and they're idle, they don't work. [00:11:43] And these Jews would have disdained, have anything to do with these people. Except that you always find, even with Herod and Pilate, even with the different factions of the Jews, when it came to Christ, they all seemed to kind of coalesce, right? Kind of join together, even if they hate one. [00:12:00] The, this is the first century version of intersectionality, right? [00:12:05] They joined together to resist the Lord. It tells you that there's more going on here than just a bunch of guys who don't like Paul and Silas. There's a satanic element to it trying to. And you'll see this on multiple levels in just a minute. [00:12:21] They were filled with envy. [00:12:24] Now you see this man, Jason. [00:12:26] Jason. They assaulted the house of Jason because Jason had received Paul. Apparently it housed Paul. And verse number six says, we'll come back to Jason in a minute. But verse six says this. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, these that have turned the world upside down are come hither also turn the world upside down. [00:12:59] Now think about who's saying this. [00:13:03] The people saying this are not friendly to Paul and Silas and definitely not friendly to the gospel. These are enemies of the gospel. And we should always take note when the enemies of the gospel make statements about us. Sometimes, as in verse number five, they make false accusations. [00:13:25] They're doing things against the decrees of Caesar. They're breaking the law. They're saying this, they're saying that, and that's true. But some of the most honest and helpful assessments come by means of those who intend to do us harm, because without their knowledge, incidentally, these people are actually tacitly admitting that the gospel is having an effect in Thessalonica. They're admitting that they're causing an uproar to turn upside down. Just simply means it's an overthrow, it's disorder. They're messing everything up. And so what these enemies of the gospel and enemies of the cross are doing is they're admitting that the gospel is having an effect upon the people there. It's disturbing what they're doing. [00:14:23] It's disturbing what they're doing. [00:14:26] In first Thessalonians chapter one and verse five, the Bible says this. Now remember, I just said, first Thessalonians, chapter one, verse five. So this is a letter written by Paul, who's the subject here, about what's happening here. So that's the context. He says this, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. [00:15:00] So when Paul preached, there was an effect. The gospel had an effect. [00:15:08] Now we have to take into account the perspective of the person speaking. [00:15:13] Now, these Jews are enemies of the gospel. Here's what they're saying. They're saying, before Paul, before these rabble rousers came, our life was just fine. [00:15:24] Everything was going well. We had a certain level of order, and we had a certain way of life. And ever since they have come, it's just been disorder. Everything's upside down. But before, everything was fine. [00:15:41] Now, think about it. [00:15:44] Prior to the arrival of these missionaries, the world of the Thessalonians was nice and orderly. What was that world like? [00:15:53] It was full of sin and idolatry and immorality and wickedness. [00:16:03] That was what in first Thessalonians chapter one, does Paul not say to them how that ye turn to God from idols to serve the living and the true God? That was what they were before. But they said that was order. That was right side up. [00:16:21] Sin and its terrible effects had become so commonplace that it was normal, it was accepted as a part of their life. And they were satisfied with that. Listen, now. [00:16:33] They were satisfied with that. [00:16:37] How many of you remember before you came to know Christ, before you were really ever confronted with the gospel? For those of you, especially, maybe were saved as teenagers or later, that you were perfectly content in your sin at times, right? That the world seemed right side up and nice and orderly, and you lived your life just like normal. [00:17:02] To you, the world was right side up. That was your normal. [00:17:08] When sin. Listen. Permeated every part of your life. It was at the base of every desire that you had and that I had. [00:17:16] It's what drove you and drove me to do the things that we do when our life was sin. That's what was normal. And so we looked at somebody else and we thought, that's weird. [00:17:32] That's out of the ordinary, right? [00:17:37] But I want to remind you of something. That's a terrible place to be in, to live in sin, that is, without God, without hope, on your way to the lake of fire, living in sin, not just the eternal part, and that's terrible enough, but also the temporal part, where sin is doing its work in you. Destroying your mind, your heart, and degrading you and making you dirty, destroying your families, destroying your friends, your relationships and all, destroying your body, even. Listen, that's what sin does to us. It's not harmless. It kills us. [00:18:21] We think it's normal. [00:18:23] They write songs about it. Taylor Swift, she'll write songs about it and sing it on her tours, and billions of people will listen to it. [00:18:32] It's not normal. [00:18:34] Or I should say, it's normal, but it's not good. [00:18:39] And after sin chews us up and spits us out, after it's done with us, we're left broken. A life that's broken, yes, fun at the moment, but in the end it's death. And after all of this is over, then we go to hellfire. That's terrible. [00:18:58] There's nothing good about that. [00:19:03] The pleasure is just brief. [00:19:06] You know what? There's no way out of it. [00:19:11] After everything that's done, you still perish without hope, still stand before a holy God to give an account for what you have done. [00:19:24] But I want to tell you something. [00:19:26] When these missionaries arrived in Thessalonica, do you know what that indicated? [00:19:32] It indicated that a loving God in heaven was not going to allow them to continue in that normal because he loved them way too much. [00:19:50] He was willing to disturb their sinful normal so that they could be turned upside down. [00:20:03] He was willing to make their life disorder so their lives could have eternal good, so that they could be freed from sin, so that they could be made right with God, have real peace and joy. Not the temporary fake stuff you get out of bottles and out of immorality and out of drugs and out of all the pleasures that we find in this world. No, the real thing that comes from Christ. The lasting peace and joy that comes from relationships where the grace of God is present. [00:20:38] And then after all of that, you get to go be with Christ, where Miss Muxlow is right now. [00:20:47] You see, God was not going to sit there and allow them to live in this normal. In reality, they thought they were right side mean. This is life, right sin up to our eyeballs. We love it. We're absolutely in love with wickedness. That's our life. [00:21:04] And God was not going to allow them to remain there undisturbed. So you know what he did? He took the glass and he turned it upside down. [00:21:12] He took the glass and turned it upside down. [00:21:16] Listen to this verse. [00:21:21] Psalm 146, verse nine. Says this, in fact, hold your place here and let's look at it, if you would. [00:21:30] Psalm 146, verse number 19. [00:21:42] The Bible says, psalm 146, verse nine. The Lord preserveth estrangers. He relieveth the fatherless and widow. [00:21:52] But the way of the wicked, he turneth upside down. [00:21:58] Now, I know very well you could look at this and you could say that God overthrows wickedness, and that's true. [00:22:04] But you could also just as well say that God disturbs the way of the wicked like we see here. Does God prefer to just send people to hell or does he prefer to turn the wicked upside down with the gospel? Which does God prefer? [00:22:24] God's heart is for the wicked. Does not the Bible say, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will what abundantly pardon God's desire. Is not that the wicked, like we're reading here, these people, that they just go to hell in peace upside down as they right side up as they think, but that he's going to intervene and listen to me, please. [00:22:58] Anytime God intervenes in the life of a sinner, it's going to appear to and feel as if he is upturning their life. [00:23:08] And so it should be, because God, the Lord Jesus Christ, first Timothy 115, came into the world to save sinners. That doesn't mean to save just from hell. That means to save them from sin. [00:23:23] And when our life. Listen, before I knew the Lord, and see, I was up to sin in my eyeballs. To my eyeballs, my whole life was that. Yeah, there was a lot of things that had to be overturned when the gospel came. [00:23:36] And when the Lord met you, he overturned some things in your life. [00:23:42] You think about all the ways he overturns our life. He turns us upside down. He disturbs and creates disorder out of what we thought was order. In reality, he's not turning anything upside down. In reality, he's turning it right side up. He's putting it the way it's supposed to be. It's just that our perspective is we think the way we have lived is right and good and the way it's supposed to go. And it's not. [00:24:07] It's not what God intended, and it's not the way of peace at all. So God overturns it. [00:24:15] He transforms our faith in know, especially around Greenville, all these people I'm describing to include myself up to center in our eyeballs, they all go to church somewhere. We knock on their door like we did yesterday, and they all go to church somewhere, all of them. [00:24:33] But when God overturns them, it's different. We talked about that here. [00:24:39] It affects and alters our affections and our circle of friends. [00:24:44] It changes our family relationships. How many of you got saved? And it affected your family relationships in some ways. It's affected it in a positive way, and sometimes it puts strain, right? [00:24:58] In the case of the prodigal, it would have affected it in a very good way. Right. When he returns back to his father, because he went away from his father. [00:25:08] But in the case of someone who has a circle of friends or family who are happy that their loved one is sinning with them, that's not so much the case. [00:25:19] Either way, it turns it over. [00:25:24] When God overturns us, he sets a new direction in our life. He gives us a new value system, a whole new set of principles and priorities by which we live. He exchanges our love for sin, for a love for righteousness. [00:25:39] You know what? Sometimes that offends people. [00:25:42] We don't mean to offend people. [00:25:46] When we say, I don't go there, I don't do that anymore. Our desire is not to offend anybody. [00:25:54] When we say that our desire is singular, it is only to do what the Lord wants us to do, nothing else. It's pure and simple. [00:26:03] But that still sometimes offends people. [00:26:08] And so they think we've been overturned. [00:26:11] They think we've been turned upside down when, as a matter of fact, this is the first time in our life that we've been able to see uprightly. [00:26:19] Sometimes it alters the way we raise our family. It alters and changes what we take joy in. It alters our very purpose for living when God takes us and turns us upside down. [00:26:32] This is exactly what these people are saying. Paul and Silas. And not just Paul and Silas, but the gospel that they are preaching is know modern Christianity, not the kind in the Bible. Christianity and air quotes. [00:26:49] Modern Christianity imagines that when the gospel enters a person's life, it's going to somehow add value, right? You have all these trendy catchphrases, right? It's going to add value. [00:27:05] It's going to promote well being and self respect or something like that. [00:27:11] In other words, modern Christianity describes when a person believes in Christ as Christ comes and just comes right alongside them to make them happy. [00:27:23] Listen, that is not biblical salvation. [00:27:26] You will have happiness and joy that comes out of righteousness and peace with God. Listen. [00:27:35] But God must overturn a sinner's sin. [00:27:39] Look at your life. [00:27:44] When you trusted in Christ or when you made your profession of faith in Christ, you said that you had believed in Christ. Was your life overturned? [00:27:55] How has your world been turned upside down by the gospel? [00:28:00] Has it been overturned? [00:28:03] Or is it just words? [00:28:06] Paul said in first Thessalonians, I just read it. Our gospel came not unto you. In what's the next phrase? Word only. [00:28:15] You see, if our life, when we as sinners come to God, if we make a profession, we're saying, I am believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if our life is not overturned, and it doesn't throw disorder into our sinful lifestyle. Listen, that ain't the real thing. And you can see the real thing is active here, because even those enemies of the gospel are seeing everything's going in disarray. They're messing everything up. Everything we're used to is over. [00:28:46] They don't like it, but God overturns us for good. [00:28:51] When Christ enters someone's life, that life is overturned for good. [00:28:59] But I have another question I want to ask you as a believer, and this really has weighed on me the last few days. [00:29:10] When we go out and we knock doors and we try to witness to people, try to tell people about Jesus, do we not often feel like it's just words that just kind of bouncing off? Sometimes we feel like that, don't it? [00:29:27] Sometimes it feels like that. [00:29:32] So I asked myself the question. Does the gospel that we bear and tell people, does it turn worlds upside down for Jesus? [00:29:45] You know, whether people receive the gospel or whether they reject Christ, when we tell them, listen, please listen. [00:29:54] We must, as faithful witnesses, we must endeavor, we must endeavor to ensure that they are not left without having to decide. [00:30:13] When we confront somebody with the gospel, it should not be, well, this is some good information for you to think about. No, the Lord calls every man to repent. [00:30:23] He calls every man, every woman to come to the place where they're faced with a choice. [00:30:30] But as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God. Right? The Lord wants us to confront people. [00:30:40] But I think our prayer ought to be, Lord, when we tell people the gospel, let it have an effect like this. [00:30:49] And this is kind of the bird of my heart, as I see so much ministry done, and the word of God goes forth, and there seems to be such a lack of effect. [00:31:01] Maybe in my own heart, I feel an effect. Maybe in your heart, as the Lord works in you, you feel an effect. But listen, the gospel and the word of God should have an effect on us. [00:31:13] We should grow and we should change as believers. And when people that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, when they are confronted with the gospel, it ought to be a pivotal moment in their life. And we ought to do. I know we don't have complete control over this, but we ought to do everything in our power to make sure that they understand that they must choose to receive or reject Christ and their future. Yea, their eternity hangs in the balance. [00:31:40] And sometimes the response of that is good, but sometimes the response of that is negative. But at least there is a response. [00:31:48] You see what I'm saying? At least there is a response. At least the work of the gospel has done its job. [00:32:00] Let us endeavor not to speak so blandly. I'm talking to me, listen. I'm talking to Adam Wood here. Let us not speak so blandly about Christ and the gospel that people can just dodge. Know, we should let people know. Listen, just like we see here, that, and I did this in Cambodia sometimes when I was witnessing to people, and after several meetings with them, and again, we had to go back, usually to creation and that kind of thing. But once we got to the gospel, I would tell them. I would tell them about Jesus and why he died and his resurrection. I would tell him those things. And sometimes I said, now listen, if you choose to receive Christ and trust in him, it's going to affect your know, your family might not like it. [00:32:52] This is counting the cost, but listen. [00:32:57] And sadly, I knew people that said that they had trusted in Christ, and it made no difference. [00:33:05] Their life continued on like it ever had been. [00:33:11] There was no change. There was no overturning of anything in their life. And in the context of being a missionary, it was the same idolatrous festivals were practiced, the same idolatrous worship. Everything's the same. The same alcohol, the same immorality. Everything was the same. In other words, if God takes us and shakes us up and turns us upside down, that's going to affect the way we live, is it not? Now, living different doesn't save you at all. But my goodness, if the Almighty has entered into our life, there should be some upside down things happening. Am I wrong? [00:33:50] And then there were some people, and that's exactly what happened. And it was hard for them on that mission field, for their family to cast them out or throw them out of the house, or cut them off of the inheritance, or mock them or ridicule them because they wouldn't take part in this or that. But you know what? The Lord shook them up. You know what? That shaking, that overturning, rippled to other people. And so listen, now, I'm talking about real people now, and I'm not just talking about those people. I'm talking about these people, too. [00:34:24] When those ripples start to go through, the people around you and the people around them, they look, and they look at that, and they hate it. They don't like it. What they see, people that don't know the Lord, they don't like it when they see it. But they cannot deny, they cannot deny that God has done something real in that person, they cannot deny it. [00:34:51] These could not deny it. [00:34:55] And this should be our prayer. When we try to talk to people, we try to be a testimony combined with giving people the gospel. [00:35:07] Now, last I want to say is about brother Jason. [00:35:13] In verse number five, we see that Jason was, his house was assaulted because they thought Paul was there. Because in verse seven, they said, whom Jason Hath received. They caught Jason. They couldn't find Paul, so they drew him out to the rulers of the city. They drug him out there. And they said, jason Hath received has received this man, these crazy people. Paul is causing us so much trouble and disorder. [00:35:38] And then verse nine says, and when they had taken security of Jason and of the other, they let them go. Jason's life was turned upside down in more ways than one. [00:35:47] First of all, by the gospel, right? Jason trusted in Christ. He's housing Paul. [00:35:55] But not only that, Jason's life was turned upside down because of his association with Paul. And not even for what? Anything he's doing, he's not doing anything. He's just minding his own business. But because of his association with Paul, he is being also targeted. [00:36:14] Jason had received Paul. The mob sought Paul at Jason's house. Jason was accused of whatever Paul was accused of. Verse seven, look what it says, to whom Jason Hath received. And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar. See that? He got lumped in with Paul. [00:36:31] His association with Paul costs him money, essentially bail. In verse number nine, security. [00:36:39] And Jason's legal troubles didn't end when Paul left town because when you take security of somebody, that means there's going to be a follow up. So Jason was in trouble for one reason. Because of his association with Paul, his world was turned upside down. [00:36:59] Let me tell you something. [00:37:01] The devil, the wicked devil, uses things like this to isolate people like Paul. [00:37:14] You see, what he does is he sweeps others up in these accusations and he seeks to discourage people like Jason from following the Lord because he didn't do anything and he's swept up with it. And the idea is the goal is to get Jason to kind of back away and withdraw from Paul, and then Paul will be left alone. And hopefully Paul being discouraged that people have left him like he was in second Timothy a number of times, he'll quit. [00:37:45] And Paul often dealt with this problem, especially considering all the prison and jail time he spent. [00:37:54] People did frequently withdraw from Paul because of the danger associated with the danger that came with association with Paul. Two Timothy one, verse 15, says this, this thou knowest that all they which are in asia be turned away from me. Of whom are Phi jealous and homogenese? [00:38:18] All they he was abandoned. Why? Because they were afraid. [00:38:24] Paul had a target from Caesar himself on his back. They didn't want to get swept up in that. [00:38:32] Chapter four, verse ten of two, Timothy says this, for demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world and departed, and is departed unto Thessalonica. That's ironic, isn't it? [00:38:48] Cretians to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, verse number 16. Look what it says. At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. [00:39:03] See this discouragement? Yeah, I mean, I hear it. I mean, the lord's sustaining him, but people aren't helping, or at least not many. [00:39:14] But not so with Jason. [00:39:17] Look at Romans 16. We'll be done. [00:39:20] Romans, chapter 16, verse number 21. At the benediction in Romans, Paul mentions several people who are his work fellows. He says, timothyus, my work fellow, and Lucius and Jason and socipitor, my kinsman, salute you. So Jason faced some hard things. He said that in first Thessalonians, that they received the gospel. The Bible says, in much affliction, it was intended to discourage them and cause them to withdraw from Paul, but they didn't, because God had shaken them up and overturned their life and did something real. Would God do real things among us? [00:40:16] Real things in me, real things in you. Real things in people that you want to see. Come to the Lord as well. Not just words, but power. [00:40:29] But I want to ask you, as I close, brother, are you can come on if you will. [00:40:37] Has your life been overturned by the gospel? Has Jesus turned you upside down? That's what I want to know. [00:40:47] That's what I would like you to consider. [00:40:51] The answer is yes or no. And if your life. Listen, please. If your life has not been absolutely overturned by the gospel, and it's not obvious, likely not real. [00:41:07] This is what the gospel does to people. [00:41:11] This is what Jesus does to people. [00:41:14] He overturns them and sets them a right, and the effects of that are permanent. Amen. Permanent. [00:41:26] So I ask you, each one of us, to examine ourselves, and I want to extend an invitation to you. If that's not you, if the Lord has not truly overturned your life, I invite you to come down here and talk to us, and we can show you from the Bible how you can have eternal life for certain.