Automated Transcription
It is time for us to begin. We have finally arrived in acts chapter 14. I know some people thought we weren’t ever going to get there, but we are in acts chapter 14 this evening. And we’ll pick up there in verse one, right after we opened with word of prayer, let us bow our gracious father in heaven. We come before your throne grateful for the day that you’ve given to us grateful for the health that we have to assemble together.
The ability that we have that and the freedom that we have and the beautiful day that you’ve blessed us with, we pray for those who are unable to be with us because of illness or injury or difficulties. We pray that they might have the strength that they desire returned back to them. We pray for those who may not be with us because of spiritual problems.
And we pray that they might repent of the things that are the struggles in their lives, that they might come back to their understanding and their faith of what you would have them to do. And obedience to you and return to you as Israel so often needed to return to you. We pray that you will be with us as we go through this period of study,
may the things that we say, be in accordance with your will and may we always strive to do what is right in your sight? All this we pray in Jesus name. Amen. The end of chapter 13, we read now when the Gentiles heard this, this that we are referencing there in verse 48 is when Paul says for, so the Lord has commanded us and then quotes.
Isaiah. I have set you as a light to the Gentiles. The you there in the text is God’s servant, but Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy spirit will say, this servant is a reference to the faithful who are in Christ and are. And so he will say, yeah, I, I just realized I didn’t launch zoom. Hold on just a minute.
I got distracted. Now that everyone’s with us. So here in acts, chapter 14, well, 13 is we’re getting started when Paul says to those Jews and Gentiles, the Jews having rejected the message that now the gospel is going to go to the Gentiles and he doesn’t say, you know what? This was a whim decision. I’m sorry, it’s just too bad.
We’re going to go. No, he says, this is what the Holy spirit had in mind from the beginning. This is what God prophesied all the way back there with Isaiah, that would happen. And so he says, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. Jesus said,
you are the light of the world. He is speaking at the moment to the disciples. All of whom were Jews. He doesn’t say you Jews are the light to the Jews. He doesn’t say you Jews are the light to the faithful. He says, you Jews are the light of the world. That light is a pit mised in Christ. I mean the,
the Through his sense of the light was Christ himself Was a Jew. And the truest Sense of God’s servant in Isaiah, It is Christ. And yet through Christ as the body of Christ, we become the light. We show the light of God and Paul wants it to be clear that the light was not intended for the Jews. Only God did not send his servant Christ and the body of Christ out into the world for the Jews only.
That was never what he intended. And so bringing all of this in, because in chapter 14, we’re going, we’re going to have another section that was going to lead us right into chapter 15. And chapter 15 is what this whole discussion is going to be about. Does The gospel get to go to the Gentiles and do the Gentiles get to stand on equal footing With the Jews?
Because under the law of Moses, they weren’t under the Moses. They were never at equal footing with the Jews as, Or as the law was concerned because the law wasn’t given to them. And yet now under Christ, the gospel Is going to go to them. And salvation is going to go to the ends of the earth. Now, when the Gentiles,
This, that the gospel, I was going to go to them the same way. And an equally, as it went to the Jews that the light was going to go to the entire World, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as Many as had been appointed to eternal life believed in the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region.
But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women. And the chief men of the city raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their reading. Have you ever heard a child say, well, I’m just going to take my ball and go home. And they have the only ball. Have you ever seen that happen? A bunch of kids are playing one child.
Doesn’t like what the other child does. And the one child who owns the only ball says, Hmm, well, if I’m the, can’t get my way, nobody Playing. And that’s basically what the Jews do. If they can’t have it their way, then they’ll stand in the way of anyone else hearing the gospel. And so then they stir up the D you know,
it All throughout the new Testament, women play an important Role. In this occasion, they’re playing a negative important role. The Jews don’t just go to the leaders of this. They go to the devout women, the prominent women in the city, and they say, do you know what’s going on? We need to put a stop to this. And they will Use the influence of the women as well as the Chief men of the city to Cause Paul and Barnabas to be expelled Verse 15 One.
But they, Paul and Barnabas shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to<inaudible>. And the disciples were filled with joy. And with the Holy spirit, the reference there is the disciples. Those who had been converted, who were there At Antioch romance, Same there. And they were filled with joy and with the Holy spirit, now it happened in,
I conium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews. Okay. So this is going to be the pattern that you’re going to see. Paul and Barnabas and Paul and Silas, Paul and Timothy, anybody Paul’s with Paul will come into a city. And if there is a synagogue, That will be his first stop. That will be the First place he will speak from.
He will always go to the synagogue first, if there is one. So Paul comes into the city, or they come into the city, they come to the, go to the synagogue and so spoke with a great multitude, both of the Jews and of the Greeks. Let me read that again. And So spoke that a great multitude, both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed.
So they come in and they begin to preach. They come into the synagogue and they preach, well, what is it? They’re preaching? What was it that Paul would preach in the synagogue? All right. He preaches Jesus Christ, but he preaches Him as who? The son of God, specifically, or The Messiah, the One who was being waited for now.
I’m not saying he doesn’t preach him as the son of God. He does all together. He wants them to understand. He is both the son of God, but for the Jews, he’s the Messiah. He is Deuteronomy chapter 18 fulfilled. He is the one, the prophet that Moses said, God will raise up one, like unto me from among you,
him, you need to hear And G or Paul will come in and he will preach Jesus in the synagogue. Jesus, the Messiah, Jesus, the prophet Jesus, the son Of God, Jesus, God in the field. So he goes into the synagogue there. And I conium, and not only do many Jews believe, but many Greeks, many Gentiles believe at the preaching of his word,
but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. One of the things we need to be careful about, one of the things we need to be observed Of is the influence that unbelievers have on Those who are prospects for the gospel. Too many times, You have individuals who have sway over someone and you’re trying to teach them.
And that person is trying to keep them from being taught. And that’s what happens here. The unbelieving Jews, those who hear the word, see the truth and reject it. Okay. It is important to note these aren’t ignorant Jews. These aren’t Jews who never heard the gospel, these aren’t Jews who don’t know the truth. These are Jews who heard the truth and rejected it,
who then move to keep others from hearing it. And so these unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles. That is those Who are pagan In their background. Those who would have seen the gospel as a threat to them, to their religion. They go, as it were to make friends of their enemies, the pagans wouldn’t have been friends to the Jews and the Jews wouldn’t have been friends to pagans.
I mean, these would be people who a Jew would not even go eat in their house. They would wash themselves when they came in from the marketplace, because they may have come in contact, physical contact with one of these People, these Jews weren’t Weren’t buddy, buddy, with these unbelieving Gentiles. But they would become friends To oppose the gospel. They would become allies to defeat their common enemy,
which is the Christian. Therefore they stayed there a long time. Speaking boldly in the Lord who was bearing witness to the word of his grace granting signs and wonders to be done by them, Their hands. One of the clearest passages right here for the purpose of miracles. Here they are. They’re speaking the word of the Lord. What does God do?
As they’re speaking the word of the Lord, he shows a witness of himself Held by the miracles. They perform. Miracles were always a testimony that the message Was true. And yet Message was always have the greatest impact. And especially is here iterated. But the multitude of the city was divided part sided with the Jews and part with the apostles. So they’re going to divide the city as it were one group of people say,
Whoa, this is the truth. We’re going to follow it. The other part go, we’re going to side with these Jews and we’re going to get rid of these guys. Okay. And when A violin attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews with their rulers. So notice the cohort that’s this Bron brought together. Here’s here’s the axis forces as it were the Jews together with the Gentiles together with the leaders of the city,
the leaders of the city don’t want this. The Gentiles who’ve minds have been poisoned by the Jews. Don’t want it. And the unbelieving Jews don’t want it. And they’re going to bring together a violent Mob to Try and deal with Paul and Barnabas. So violent attempt was made both by the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to abuse and stone them.
They became aware of it and fled to Listrak and Derby cities of Lyconia and to the surrounding region. And they were preaching The gospel there. So when they left Antioch, the one in chapter 13, what was going on with the Jews there were they happy about their preaching? All right, that’s right. They counted themselves on worthy of eternal life. They thrust them out of the region and out of the city.
So the Paul and Barnabas shake the dust off their feet. When they’re leaving, they come to I conium and the Jews do what the exact same thing. And now they’re trying to abuse them or kill them. So they move on. They continue though. Here’s what they don’t do. They don’t quit preaching everywhere. They go everywhere. They’re rejected everywhere.
They’re attacked. They don’t throw up their hands and say, well, I guess the only thing we can do is just quit. They never do that. They always continue breaching and enlist stra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting a cripple from his mother’s womb who had never walked. Okay. So, so what’s the problem with this man.
He can’t walk. He, he, he was born in, in whatever situation his feet were in. They didn’t form properly. They didn’t, they didn’t develop properly. And so from him from birth, this person had no ability to walk. He is crippled. When a person was crippled, typically speaking in that type of society, what is he unable to do?
Work, earn a living, provide for himself. You remember when David encountered the son of Saul who was crippled? David did what for him, took him into his household, treated him as his own. Actually he was son of Jonathan, wasn’t it? Yes. It was the son of Jonathan. Grandson of salt. Took him into his household. Let him sit at his table,
gave him meat at his table. He provided for him because he was inherently in that society in capable of providing for himself. And here’s this man who is at a or who, who had never walked this man heard Paul speaking, verse nine, Paul observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, stand up straight on your feet.
And he leaped and walked. Now some will come to this passage and say, see if a person doesn’t have enough faith. They can’t be healed. It’s not the faith. It’s not the, it’s not the power of God. It’s this person’s faith. And usually that said by someone who claims to be able to heal people, but can’t heal who don’t believe,
right? That’s not what this passage means. You read in the account of Jesus being in his home region, that He didn’t do many of the miracles That he did elsewhere in his home region because they didn’t believe. And yet the emphasis is not, he had no power because they had no faith. The emphasis was the miracle was always first and foremost about a person whose heart was all ready,
willing to have faith in God and obedience to him, not about just performing a miracle, not about just resolving a physical malady, but it was about one who understood what God could do for them spiritually, above and beyond what God could do to, for them physically And Paul, as he is preaching, this man is not there to be healed. We don’t read that anywhere.
We don’t read. This main showed up to get his physical malady solved. This man is listening And Paul puts his eyes on this person And he sees him listening. And Paul through the Holy spirit understands the person’s face. Not about a miracle, but about a message. And as a Results of his faith in the message, Paul will perform the miracle To heal his feet.
So notice what we read. He said with a loud voice, stand up straight on your feet. And he leaped and walked. Oh, of course. You know, he had to go through six months of therapy. Just, just to get his, get his strength. No, no, no, no. He, the, the man who’s lowered through the roof by his friends and Jesus heals him.
He doesn’t say, if you can get up and get home, let your friends help you walk home. He goes beyond that. He says, you Carry your own bed, not get up and walk home and let your friends tote your bed back with you. Now, when he was healed, he was healed and he could not only carry himself, but his bed to this man stands up and leaps and walks.
Now, when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices saying in the Lyconia and language, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men, they see the miracle and they miss interpret it because of their pagan beliefs. But it’s important that Luke tells you that what they declared was not in the Grecian language, the common language,
this declaration was made in what alright, the local dialect. I mean, for lack of a better description, that was, it was made in their local dialect quite often. And, and anyone who travels the world much will find out that it, that Americans are one of the most ignorant groups of people in the entire world. We’re one of the few groups of people that only speak one language.
You, you go to a lot of places and they speak their local language and they speak trade language, whatever the economy happens in, whether that’s English or Russian or what, the, depending on the part of the world, they’re in, they most, in a lot of places, they grow up bilingual because you’ve got the language spoken at home and you’ve got the language.
You got to go do business in. And so here in America, we’re going now English dead. But that’s the case with these people, Paul and Barnabas, aren’t teaching them in Lyconia in language. They’re teaching them in Greek, but they understand both Greek and this local dialect. And when they make this declaration, they make it in the local dialect.
Okay? Which the Holy spirit doesn’t interpret for Paul and Barnabas. He doesn’t miraculously make them able to hear the words and understand what they said. And they’re going to be ignorant of what was stated, because notice what happens. They make this declaration, the gods have come down to us in and in the likeness of men and Barnabas. They called Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker.
Then the, of Zeus whose temple was in the front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the Gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. These events are going on. Paul and Barnabas are teaching and preaching. The miracle gets performed. The people see the miracle and they assume they make the declaration. The gods have shown up. So the priest gets busy.
Having witnessed all this, either all of the gods are going to show up. We better offer some sacrifices. And so The priest gets busy. He starts gathering the oxygen, gathering the garlands, gathering everything together. Start offering sacrifices to the gods who were present in Lyconia or sorry, enlister it. And so notice what happens. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this,
they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out. As These events are starting to occur, as they realize what’s going on, Their reaction is profound. Now you need to take in your mind the reaction in chapter 14 and go back to chapter 12. Because in chapter 12, we read verse 20. Now, Harriet had been very angry with the people of tire inside,
but they came to him with one accord in having made blasted the King’s personal aid, their friend, they asked for peace because their country was supplied with food by the Kings country. So on a set day, Herod arrayed in Royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting the voice of a God and A man sound familiar.
Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God. Notice the difference in the reaction, Paul and Barnabas, when they realize what the people believe based upon what they have witnessed in the miracle that was done, they tear their clothes as a sign of the fact that they disagree. So the Heman with vehemently with this,
and they run into The crowd, and this is What they say. They say, men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature is you and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living. God, They don’t say, well, you know what? We don’t want to. We don’t want to make them mad.
W we’ll just let it, let it go. And then we’ll, we’ll teach them later. We’ll explain it to them later. Just let them go on with their, I mean, this is what they always do. No, they won’t let this stand. So they go in and they try and convince them otherwise. And he says, you should turn from these things to the living.
God who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. And notice we don’t have time to go into it, but notice that word aloud. God allows a lot of things. God, doesn’t approve of a lot of things happen in this world that God doesn’t approve of,
but God doesn’t step in every single time somebody does something he doesn’t approve of. And stop it, go read Romans chapter one and go read the background of what Paul says. These people have done in their own minds to take the creatures that are around them and turn them into God’s to take the world that is around them and turn them into God’s to take the people around them and turn them into God’s all for sin.
God allowed these things who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he did not leave himself without witness in that he did good, gave rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings, they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them. They were barely able to keep them from offering these sacrifices to them as if they were gods.
But Paul says, listen, no matter how ignorant people have become, no matter how long they’ve been steeped in lies about the world, around them every day they wake up and God declares to them that he’s there go to Psalm 19 Psalm 19 Salmas writer says Evans declare the glory of God. And the firmament shows his handiwork day. And today utter speech and night,
and tonight reveals knowledge. There is no language, excuse me. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. This almost writer says every single day and every single night, God declares in a language that is unique Reversal because it’s human experience. He declares that he’s there. He dis declares his power. He goes on to say yes,
Where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world in them. He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run his race. It’s rising as, from one end of heaven and its circuit to the other end.
And there is nothing hidden from its heat. Every day, every day, God says I’m here. And every day God says I exist. And every day God does something for everyone who’s ever been born that they couldn’t do for themselves. And they couldn’t stop it. If they wanted to hear absolutely Genesis eight 22, Paul will tell those in Athens, when he stands There and declares to them,
the God that they ignore Currently worship that God commands all men, every where to repent, because God has declared himself to all men everywhere. But notice what we read verse 19, then as If trouble followed them everywhere It went. Cause it did Then Jews from Antioch and I conium came there and having persuaded the multitudes. They stoned Paul And dragged him out of the city,
supposing him to be dead. You ever hear the phrase, follow, not a multitude to do evil? Well, just, just a little warning here, mobs that are for you can quickly be turned against you because a mob is a mob, no matter who they’re for or who they’re against. So the mob being aroused, who’s willing to offer sacrifices to those who think,
who they think are gods turn around and add the influence of the Jews. Romania. And I conium turned around and instead of worshiping them stone them, they stoned Paul and they dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. These Jews for manioc for my conium. They weren’t satisfied with Paul and Barnabas not being in their city. They followed them the same way that Jews would follow Paul all the way to Rome,
to accuse him and get rid of him. And these Jews will fail as badly as those because they’ll cause Paul to be stoned. And yet God says, I’m not done. I’m not done with him yet. So at the beginning of his time in Lister, there’s a man who can’t walk, who receives the power to walk. And the end of his time,
enlist rhe. There’s a man who can’t walk because he’s been stoned and they don’t, he doesn’t walk outside the city and fall down. They drag him out, believing him to be dead. Some would suppose based upon the text that perhaps he was dead and that God raised him back up. Some have suggested that perhaps this is the occasion where Paul references later on that there was an occasion where he went up into the third heaven.
Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but they thought he was dead. And I, he looked like he was dead and he stands up and what’s he do? He Rose up and left the city, right? No. He Rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby Paul aren’t you tempting fate. They killed you once.
They stone you, once they dragged you outside of the city, thinking you were dead. And then you go where right back into the city. One of the things about Paul and it wasn’t always in his favor, it wasn’t always a good thing. But the man, once he set his mind to do something was going to do it. He wasn’t always right in that regard.
For instance, coming up here in chapter 15, when it comes to to John Mark, he said his mind too, John Mark is not going with us. And he made up his mind so much so that he separated from Barnabas. Once Paul made up his mind, he was going to do it, but then notice what we read verse 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city,
that is Derby and made many disciples, they returned not only does he go into the city, but then he goes on to Derby the next day. Then he returns to Listrak after converting many in Derby and then two I conium. And then Danny strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying, we must through many tribulations,
enter the kingdom of God. And you might’ve imagined he could have just shown them the marks of the stones because you don’t don’t don’t imagine that these Jews who traveled all the way to list DRA to kill Paul left the disciples alone in their own cities. So Paul exhorts them that we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. So when they had appointed elders in every city and prayed with fasting,
they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And after they had passed through passivity of, they came to Pamphylia. Now, when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to a Telia. From there, they sailed to Antioch. This is the other Antioch, the one where they started this journey, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work,
which they had completed. Now, when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them. And that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. So they stayed there a long time with the disciples. So they make the circuit, they go all the way as far as Derby, and then they go back and as they go back,
they don’t just bypass all those people that they’ve converted. They stop in and they teach them further and they exhort them further. And they appoint elders in these churches. How much time has passed a good enough time that some of these people are no longer novices. Now the, also the point might be made that some of these, especially who were Jews who were converted,
weren’t novices in the word of God to begin with, they were converted as knowledgeable people in the word of God. The only thing they were lacking was the gospel, the new Testament. And so some of these would have been men who had spent their entire lives being schooled in the scriptures and obedient to the old Testament and the law of Moses. And these men were prepared to lead the church.
And so Paul and Barnabas would come in and they would appoint elders and they would commend them to the grace of God that they would continue the work there in those cities. Then they make it as far back as Antioch. And they give the report of the things that God has done through their hands to the Gentiles. Now that’s not going to make everybody happy.
The, the news in Antioch is good. The, the reception in Antioch is good, but the news is going to get back to Jerusalem. And it’s not all going to be good. As far as the reception of the things that have happened, let’s go through the questions real quick. And then we’ll close. Describe the occasion of Paul and Barnabas leaving.
I conium. Okay. All right. The occasion was the attempt to abuse and stone them a question too, even when God allowed nations to go their way, how did he leave witness of himself? Rain seasons, The produce of the ground, the heart’s filled with food and gladness. Why did the people of re Listrak call Paul and Barnabas? God.
Okay. Okay. Because of the miracle, it was performed, giving the man the ability to, to stand. What did Paul and Barnabas say and do when the people of LR tried to worship them, Okay. They ran into the crowd, tearing their clothes and they declared. We are what men, just like you are Jews from Antioch. And I conium went to list DRA and a blank,
Right? Stoned Paul, Number five, when Paul and Barnabas returned through LR Iconia manioc on their first missionary journey. How did they encourage the disciples? All right. They appointed elders and they exhorted them to continue in the faith through tribulation. Number six, discuss the selection of elders in Lister. I conium and Antioch just simply the idea. They appointed them and they prayed with them and fasted.
They commended them to the work of the Lord. Number seven, Paul and Barnabas began their first missionary journey at Antioch and ended it at Antioch to whom did they attribute the success of their journey. God. All right. Thank you for your attention. It is now. Thank you. I got a long list of announcements, so we better get at it so I can get through for dark.
Good to see everybody, especially the college out again tonight. They good to see them always and good to have everybody here. Our sick list is Diana Shafir. She’s still recovering a little bit from her thyroid surgery. Barbara dealers waiting three months to have her shoulder operated on Joan. Springer is still at home trying to get better. And the Wilsons are still struggling with their ailments.
Janie Marlin is still having problems with her AFM and BJ. Clark’s still recovering from pneumonia that didn’t take long. Did it? Aaron is gonna lead singing. Noah Olson has a devotional and mercy prayer had a closing prayer Turn and Mark number 923, 923 as the invitation song. And then we’ll sing number 578, 578 sing all four verses. We will glow red five King of Kings.
We will glow red five. We will glow red five Lord of Lords. Churro is a gray Lord hall. The reins and majesty we will bow before is the Rome. We will worship him and righteousness. We will worship him ah, long. He is<inaudible>. He is Lord<inaudible> saw praise to him. We<inaudible> hallelujah to a King of Kings.
Hi, Layla.<inaudible><inaudible> is a gray and hi, Good evening. I think this is on. I want to talk about something tonight, concerning assurance. When you look at Christians, we are, or we can be assured of many things. I just want to look at some things that we, as Christians can be assured of that can give us some comfort.
And because assurance is not a, well, I hope it’s the case. It is. We know it is. You can be assured of it. And there are many things that we can be assured concerning the Bible. And firstly, we can be assured of God’s love. We can be assured of God’s love. We know John chapter three and verse number 16 for God.
So loved the world that he gave. His only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. We can be assured that God loves us. How can we know that? Is it off of a blind faith? Now there’s evidence. Firstly, we know that he loves us through what he’s given us. He’s given us his creation.
That’s such a beautiful thing. Is it not the things that he has given us? The things that he has, he has allowed us to have to sustain our lives so we can live good lives here on this earth. Psalm 19 verse one as was read in our Bible class. Look at it. Look at the creation. Marvelous is God’s will let’s look at Psalm chapter 19 and then verse number one.
So I’m 19 in verse number one, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show with his handiwork. God’s creation is beautiful. You look at his creation. That’s an evidence of his love for us and we can be assured of that love. But what about through spiritual revelation, which is simply his, his word. I can know his love through that.
I can know what he has given me through his son. I can be assured that God, the creator of this unit universe loves me, loves all of us. Number two, I can be assured that that absolute truth is attainable, that I can obtain absolute truth in John chapter eight, verses 31 and 32. Jesus talks about this and something that we can note and sadly in our world today,
sadly many will tell you that you can’t know the truth. Truth is what you decide. Well, it’s not what the scriptures teach at all. And John chapter eight verses 31 and 32. Notice what Jesus says. And so Jesus to those Jews, which believed on him. If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
James. One verse 21 tells us and receive with meekness, the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. I can know the truth. We as Christians, we can be assured that God’s word is truth. That should be a blessing to us. That should be encouraging to us. So that every time that I open God’s word, there’s no contradictions.
There is no errors and I can trust that can help me or it is the ultimate test key for the ultimate test. Is it not? Why don’t we take it? Why don’t we take the key that has been given to us so we can pass the ultimate test, but law and last but not least Christians can be assured of eternal life. One of my favorite verses I love from,
from, from John is writing in first John chapter five and verse number 13. I love this idea. Notice first John five and verse 13, Christians can be assured of eternal life. These things have I written into you that believe on the name of the son of God, that you may wonder if you have eternal life right now, you may question that you may,
may, may ponder that you may know you have eternal life, right? You may believe in the name of the son of God. Christians have the hope of eternal life. Paul would say the same idea in Philippians or excuse me, second, Timothy four and verse number eight, henceforth. There is laid it for me. The crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge will give me at that day. Not to me only. He says, well, that’s also all of them that love his appearing. Christians can be assured of eternal life. And that should be a blessing to us that we can know we have eternal life and we can know that we’re faithful. If we can. And the word that God has given us.
And perhaps there was one here tonight who is living in doubt, not living according to those things. And you’re not assured of your eternal state. You, you know that if you were to be, if your life were to end tonight, you would not have that hope of eternal life. Maybe you’ve never obeyed the gospel. Would you believe that Jesus is the son of God and repent of your sins,
confess Christ before man. And let him be baptized for the remission of sins to be added to the church, the body of Christ, perhaps you you’ve done. So you’ve obeyed the gospel. You were faithful. You were assured of eternal life, but you’ve lost that. And you know that you would not be able to meet God and right condition. Why don’t you come back to God before it is?
Everlastingly too late. He wants you. He wants you to repent because he loves your soul. If anyone is subject, why don’t you come as we stand? And as we sing<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> You bear with me, father in heaven. We’re thankful for this day that you have made and, and given it to us, we’re thankful for the opportunity we have to assemble and hear portion of your word,
call hula EPAs, to be attentive and learn. As we study that word and father be with those that are sick and struggling with health problems, we ask that you would give us of our sins Lord and help us to ever keep that forgiveness, that a repentance with us so we can be clean and a sight. He thinks that we ask in Christ’s name.