1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,200 Now let's open our Bibles together, 1 Thessalonians 2, as we begin to look in verse 13 at our 2 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:15,760 text today, a message entitled, Your Decision, Please. 3 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:21,600 It really is not enough merely to know the facts of the Bible. 4 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:29,520 We must allow what we know to determine how we will choose to live. 5 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:34,280 I suppose that all of us come short in some respect to putting into practice in our lives 6 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:39,240 what we have learned from the Word of God. 7 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:43,760 It is a terribly dangerous thing to allow that to accumulate and to build up in our 8 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:44,760 lives. 9 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:50,560 For example, the Pharisees knew the intricacies of the Old Testament law. 10 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:57,280 They knew a lot of the Old Testament verbatim, but as was proven when Jesus came, their hearts 11 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,520 were far from God. 12 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:05,640 There's a basic principle in the Word of God that says that the greater one's knowledge 13 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:11,280 is, the more strict one's judgment will be. 14 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:18,120 A person's attitude toward the Bible, the Word of God, is decisive. 15 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:22,880 That attitude determines his destiny. 16 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:29,520 In verse 13 we read, And for this reason we also constantly thank God, that when you received 17 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:35,280 from us the Word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it 18 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:44,040 really is, the Word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. 19 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:48,920 For your brethren became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in 20 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:50,680 Judea. 21 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:55,920 For you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as 22 00:01:55,920 --> 00:02:03,040 they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. 23 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:09,640 They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to 24 00:02:09,640 --> 00:02:16,120 the Gentiles that they might be saved, with the result that they always fill up the measure 25 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:17,640 of their sins. 26 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:24,360 But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. 27 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:33,560 You and I are accountable to God for what we do with the truth that we know. 28 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:43,040 Actually we are better off not to know very much and to apply it, than to know a lot and 29 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:48,200 fail to be changed by it. 30 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,880 When you come right down to it, there are only two possible responses that one can have 31 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:57,000 to what the Word of God says to him. 32 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,680 One can accept it or one can reject it. 33 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:02,880 It's that simple. 34 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:11,240 In our text today, we find one group who received it, and we find another group who rejected 35 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:13,680 the Word of God. 36 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:18,360 And if we pay attention, we'll learn some things from these two groups and their responses 37 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,720 to the Word. 38 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:26,080 Regarding the reception of the Word, we find the example of the Thessalonians in verses 39 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,480 13 and 14. 40 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:34,000 Really there are three steps to the process of receiving the Word of God in the deepest 41 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,160 sense and the apostle points them out to us here. 42 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,120 The first one is implied, and it is that they heard the Word. 43 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,080 The Paul has said that outright earlier. 44 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:51,240 But the first step in receiving the Word of God is in fact to hear it. 45 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:55,500 For unless one can hear it, he cannot receive it. 46 00:03:55,500 --> 00:03:57,500 That is elementary. 47 00:03:57,500 --> 00:04:01,200 It is simplistic, but it's true. 48 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:09,720 No one can be right with God until first he hears what God has to say to him in the Word. 49 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:17,600 The Word of God tells us the only way that one can have a relationship with God. 50 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:22,400 By the way, that's why we emphasize missions in our church. 51 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:30,720 That's why we're talking about the 2.7 billion people yet who have never even heard the Word 52 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,480 of God. 53 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:40,200 Because they cannot have a relationship with the only living and true God until first they 54 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:41,800 hear. 55 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:48,240 And so we are involved in the great commission of sending those who will proclaim the Word 56 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:50,280 of God that they might hear. 57 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:53,780 That's step number one. 58 00:04:53,780 --> 00:04:56,480 Step number two is receiving the Word. 59 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,880 The apostle speaks of this directly. 60 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:08,760 He says that when you received from us the Word of God's message, this word received 61 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:16,320 here means literally to receive alongside of one. 62 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,760 The idea is they took it to heart. 63 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:22,380 They brought it into their minds. 64 00:05:22,380 --> 00:05:29,620 It did more than just go in this ear and wind its way around and come out this ear. 65 00:05:29,620 --> 00:05:33,800 It stopped in between the two ears. 66 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:39,940 The word received here means that they intellectually accepted the message. 67 00:05:39,940 --> 00:05:44,800 So thus they accepted it but not in a saving sense. 68 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:51,680 What they did was necessary, but it was not enough to make them Christians. 69 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,440 It was a limited reception of the Word of God. 70 00:05:55,440 --> 00:06:00,400 Just like many people who come to church and they go to the service and they hear the Word 71 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:05,280 of God and they think about it, it goes into their minds and that's as far as it goes. 72 00:06:05,280 --> 00:06:10,080 It's necessary for it to go to the mind, but it must go further than that. 73 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,640 The apostle gives us that third step. 74 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:18,000 He says you accepted it for what it really is, the Word of God. 75 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,180 This is a different word than the word received. 76 00:06:21,180 --> 00:06:25,120 The word accept in verse 13 means to welcome. 77 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,580 It means more than just to bring it alongside of you. 78 00:06:27,580 --> 00:06:31,040 It means to embrace it. 79 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:39,700 It means actually to appropriate the Word of God, to make it one's own. 80 00:06:39,700 --> 00:06:45,360 You fishermen can appreciate the fact that you prepared the lure well. 81 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:50,800 You try to decide just what the fish are biting on at this particular season and with the 82 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:55,800 weather out just like it is and the sunlight and so on and you try to figure out what will 83 00:06:55,800 --> 00:07:00,800 entice the fish and you throw that lure out there. 84 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:06,040 So now we go underwater and we see that lure hit and it comes down beside our friend fish 85 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:07,040 here. 86 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:09,560 We'll call him Fred. 87 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:14,240 And so Fred swims around the lure and it seems very interesting to him. 88 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,500 He thinks about it. 89 00:07:16,500 --> 00:07:19,500 If a fish has got a brain. 90 00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:20,720 He looks at that lure. 91 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:26,880 He decides that it does in fact look enticing and it might taste good. 92 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:32,520 And so he takes the fatal step and he begins to eat it. 93 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,600 And when he takes it in, it's got him. 94 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:43,800 It's that third step of taking it in that is in view when the apostle says you accepted 95 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:45,920 the Word of God. 96 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:48,360 Now why did they accept it? 97 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:50,400 Well because of the outlook they had. 98 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:57,080 They realized that this was not just a message that came from men. 99 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:00,520 That in fact it was the Word of God Himself. 100 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:02,680 They realized that. 101 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:08,200 It did not originate with Paul and with these friends of his that came to their city. 102 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:10,060 But it originated with God. 103 00:08:10,060 --> 00:08:14,520 That outlook caused them to do more than just think about it. 104 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:16,940 They accepted it. 105 00:08:16,940 --> 00:08:22,800 And the outworking of this is that it began to perform its work in them. 106 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:26,240 Interesting idea. 107 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:32,680 The word perform its work here is actually one verb in the original language. 108 00:08:32,680 --> 00:08:35,200 It's where we get our word energy. 109 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,280 Energeo is the word. 110 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:44,040 And it means to powerfully and productively operate. 111 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:47,040 It's like turning the switch on a dynamo. 112 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:49,920 It begins to work. 113 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:50,920 What happened? 114 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:51,920 Well they believed. 115 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:54,580 That's the same thing as appropriating. 116 00:08:54,580 --> 00:09:01,740 They believed the Word of God and so the Word of God then began to energize them. 117 00:09:01,740 --> 00:09:06,320 It began to function within their lives. 118 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:14,240 In and of itself it began to operate and powerfully produce fruit in their lives. 119 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,200 That fruit was that they became imitators. 120 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:22,280 Now Paul has used that word before, imitate. 121 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:28,320 But he again points to the fact that they were imitators, this time of some other believers 122 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:31,040 whom they had never met. 123 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:38,860 The churches back in Palestine, in that area called Judea, he says you have become imitators 124 00:09:38,860 --> 00:09:41,680 of them though you've never met them. 125 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:50,520 You've copied their example of faithfully suffering for your Savior. 126 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:55,160 Thank God for churches like those in Judea who set an example. 127 00:09:55,160 --> 00:10:01,020 I thank God for the churches today that set examples for us. 128 00:10:01,020 --> 00:10:05,760 Churches that are oriented toward the mission that God has given them. 129 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:10,760 Churches that are setting a pace that cause all of us to say, wow, we want to do something 130 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:12,880 like that. 131 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:17,520 I hope that God will also make us that kind of a church, an example church that others 132 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:20,040 will want to imitate. 133 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:25,240 Oh, these Thessalonians were turned on by the Word of God. 134 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:26,240 Why? 135 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,880 Because they received it. 136 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:33,920 But it's possible for people to do something else than receive the Word of God. 137 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,280 It's possible to reject the Word of God. 138 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:43,960 The apostle points to a group that they knew that did not accept the Word but rejected 139 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:48,480 it and that is their fellow countrymen. 140 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:57,000 He says you endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own fellow citizens in Thessalonica. 141 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:03,000 Even as they, those believers down in Judea did, at the hands of their fellow countrymen, 142 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:05,320 the Jews. 143 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:10,960 So we have the rejection of the Word of God in verses 15 and 16. 144 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:18,840 Now Paul at this point begins an outburst. 145 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:24,540 One commentator says that the outburst that follows in these two verses is without any 146 00:11:24,540 --> 00:11:28,600 parallel in any of Paul's writings. 147 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:34,960 It's as though something has been welling up inside of him and what he has just said 148 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:38,760 about suffering pricks that emotion. 149 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:44,960 And it bursts out of him as he begins to write regarding the Jews. 150 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:50,720 He points first to the privilege which they enjoyed. 151 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:54,180 The Jews were in fact highly privileged. 152 00:11:54,180 --> 00:12:00,080 They had more revelation from God than any other people at that time. 153 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:04,600 In order of sequence, the apostle mentions these, but in order of sequence it's the 154 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:09,200 Old Testament prophets who came to them. 155 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:15,900 And then the Lord Jesus himself, the Son of God, came to them. 156 00:12:15,900 --> 00:12:20,220 The fullness of all that God is is revealed in Christ. 157 00:12:20,220 --> 00:12:25,000 He came to the Jewish people, not to the Gentiles. 158 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:30,400 Though his coming brought blessing to all people, he came to the Jews. 159 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:36,120 And then thirdly, the apostles began at Jerusalem, just like the Lord told them to. 160 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:42,600 First at Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. 161 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:46,000 And in Acts you see them fulfilling that. 162 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:52,960 And he says that these Jewish people had tremendous privileges in that they had the Old Testament 163 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:56,640 writings and the prophets who revealed God to them. 164 00:12:56,640 --> 00:12:58,880 They had the law of Moses. 165 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:03,840 They had the Lord Jesus Christ himself who came and was born as one of them among them 166 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,560 to reveal God. 167 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:10,960 And then they had the apostles of the church who began right there in the capital city 168 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:16,760 of Jerusalem the privileges that they enjoyed. 169 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:21,040 But it's not enough merely to have privilege. 170 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:25,600 It is not enough just to have revelation declared. 171 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:30,320 One has to respond to it rightly, and that's what the apostle talks about. 172 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,620 And he begins a pronouncement upon these Jewish people. 173 00:13:33,620 --> 00:13:35,560 He charges them with three things. 174 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:41,360 The first thing he charges them with is that they spurned their privileges. 175 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:47,840 He says they killed the Old Testament prophets, not all of them, but many of them actually 176 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:51,800 were martyred by the Jewish people. 177 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:59,620 And as a whole, as a nation, as a group, with some individual exceptions, but as a whole, 178 00:13:59,620 --> 00:14:03,520 they turned away from the Old Testament prophets. 179 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:08,360 When Jesus came, there were some who followed him. 180 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:13,720 But as a whole, as a nation, as a group, they killed him. 181 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,000 They put him on the cross. 182 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:21,000 And then they had the apostles who proclaimed the word of God to them. 183 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,780 What did they do with that privilege? 184 00:14:23,780 --> 00:14:30,920 They drove them out of the country, a very strong term that means actually to drive them 185 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:38,920 out as though they were driving a pack of cattle or wolves. 186 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:48,000 And so the Jewish people spurned the privileges that God gave to them by persecuting the prophets, 187 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:52,080 killing the Lord Jesus, and driving out the apostles. 188 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:59,180 They hounded them and harassed them until they scattered and left. 189 00:14:59,180 --> 00:15:06,340 He charges them secondly with the fact that they please not God. 190 00:15:06,340 --> 00:15:13,560 Actually what he says here is they are highly displeasing to God. 191 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:18,920 A very strong term to a proud race that claimed that of all the peoples of the world, they 192 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,560 were accepted by God and pleased him. 193 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:28,120 And the apostle Paul declares, having been one of them, having been one of their leaders, 194 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:36,980 he says they are highly displeasing to God because of their pride, their self-sufficiency, 195 00:15:36,980 --> 00:15:40,280 and their rejection of the word. 196 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:45,320 And thirdly, he says they are contrary to all men. 197 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:47,400 Now what does he mean by that? 198 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:49,940 Well he explains it. 199 00:15:49,940 --> 00:15:56,880 In verse 16 he says that not only do they themselves not believe, but they have tried 200 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:02,240 to keep us from ministering the word to the Gentiles. 201 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:03,240 Did that happen? 202 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:08,440 Oh yes, go back and read even what happened in the city of Thessalonica when Paul was 203 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,040 there. 204 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:15,680 They tried to keep the apostles from speaking even to the Gentiles. 205 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,080 So they are contrary to all men. 206 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:24,080 Not only will they themselves refuse to believe, but they refuse to allow others to hear that 207 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:29,400 they might believe. 208 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:37,880 I have known some parents that way who themselves rejected the word of God and refused to allow 209 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:43,080 their children to continue to go to Sunday school or to the youth group. 210 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:51,960 They refused, lest their children also might hear and receive the word of God. 211 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:58,080 The Lutheran commentator Linsky points out, the worst feature of unbelief is not its own 212 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:08,320 damnation, but its effort to frustrate the salvation of others. 213 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:13,280 This is quite a charge which the apostle brings against the Jewish people. 214 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:22,240 And you see how it applies to the fellow citizens there in that region. 215 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:28,600 For the city of Thessalonica had the word of God proclaimed to it, one of the few cities 216 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:34,240 where the apostle preached actually himself in that time. 217 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:38,480 What privilege they had, but they spurned it. 218 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:42,840 Not only that, they drove out the apostle Paul. 219 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:46,760 They began to persecute the believers who were there. 220 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:52,880 So you understand why Paul compares what happened to the Thessalonians to what happened to the 221 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,080 churches down in Judea. 222 00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:03,480 This is a hot denunciation, I tell you, of the people whom Paul dearly loved. 223 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:11,600 Let no one accuse the apostle Paul of being anti-Semitic. 224 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:15,640 For in the book of Romans he said that if it were possible, he would be willing to go 225 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:25,080 to hell if only the Jewish people might come to faith in their Christ. 226 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:28,560 That is not an anti-Semite speaking. 227 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:42,880 But what he is saying is true, that this highly privileged people rejected the word of God. 228 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:48,320 We live in a country not a lot unlike that today. 229 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:53,440 We live in a nation that has had privilege beyond any other nation in the history of 230 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:55,800 the world. 231 00:18:55,800 --> 00:19:04,720 The advantages, the blessings, the opportunities which the United States and its citizens have 232 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:08,760 had are unparalleled in history. 233 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:14,520 Unless it be the Jewish people, perhaps there is a parallel there. 234 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:18,360 People in our country can turn on the radio, they can turn on the television, they can 235 00:19:18,360 --> 00:19:25,000 pick up a book, they can go to thousands of churches and hear the word of God. 236 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:30,680 But what has our country as a whole done? 237 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:35,720 It has rejected the word of God. 238 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:38,920 Marvelous exceptions to that. 239 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:43,040 Even some large exceptions to that. 240 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:50,520 There are places, there are cities where there is a large minority of believers. 241 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:56,920 And I think we happen to live in one of those areas, Minneapolis-St. Paul. 242 00:19:56,920 --> 00:20:02,840 There are a lot of believers here, far more than the average city across America. 243 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:09,360 But as a whole, our nation has done the same thing which happened in Thessalonica, the 244 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:13,560 same thing that happened in Judea of old. 245 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:16,320 It has rejected the privileges. 246 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:22,120 It has rejected the revelation of God. 247 00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:28,200 The apostle closes by pointing to the punishment which they then encountered. 248 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:36,040 Because you see, one cannot reject God and His Word with impunity. 249 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:40,400 To reject the Word of God brings judgment. 250 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:49,920 The apostle points to the wrath of God which he describes as accumulating and assured. 251 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:54,400 He says they are filling up the measure of their sins. 252 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:55,400 What does that mean? 253 00:20:55,400 --> 00:21:05,000 Well, the picture is a cup that has wine dripping into it until finally it comes to the brim 254 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:13,040 and there is that last drop that falls and it causes the cup to overflow. 255 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:17,360 And he says, so it was with the Jewish people. 256 00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:20,960 And so it would be with the Thessalonians. 257 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:28,120 And I tell you so, but by the grace of God will it be with our country. 258 00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:37,040 God is exceedingly patient and God's justice grinds slowly, but grind it does. 259 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:48,680 And the sins keep dripping into the cup until finally the cup is filled and overflows. 260 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:55,800 Paul's words says Dr. Hebert, imply that there is a certain measure of wickedness which God 261 00:21:55,800 --> 00:22:08,760 will allow a nation, a group or an individual to complete before His judgment falls on them. 262 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:16,320 There are those who take the patience of God for granted and interpret it to mean that 263 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:27,040 God will never punish, that God will not judge, but God always judges sin. 264 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:35,280 At last it will come and the apostle closes our text by saying wrath has come upon them 265 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,540 to the utmost. 266 00:22:37,540 --> 00:22:41,960 At last God's judgment arrives. 267 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:49,320 The danger of rejecting the word of God is that every time one does that it brings a 268 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:54,000 judicial hardness to the heart. 269 00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:03,100 When one willfully says no to God, it brings a greater blindness to his eyes until finally 270 00:23:03,100 --> 00:23:15,320 there is a point of no return when a person cannot be saved because he will not be saved. 271 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:20,680 Now there are some who mistakenly think that they can take middle ground in this thing. 272 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:27,560 They say, oh wait a minute now, I may not have really received God's word, but I haven't 273 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:34,240 rejected it, I'm sort of in the middle somewhere. 274 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:40,880 But the Bible clearly says that there is no middle ground, that to neglect the word of 275 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:45,960 God is the same thing as rejecting the word of God. 276 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:54,600 It's either on or off, it's light or dark, we either receive the word of God or we reject 277 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:57,280 the word of God. 278 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:04,640 The fact is that every time we hear the voice of God we inevitably respond to God one way 279 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:06,920 or the other. 280 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:14,600 Even if we think we've made no decision, by that indecision we have chosen against the 281 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:22,880 word of God. 282 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:34,640 We are responsible and accountable to God for what we know from the word. 283 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:38,540 I may be speaking to someone today who knows how to become a Christian. 284 00:24:38,540 --> 00:24:44,680 You have heard over and over again what it means to become a genuine Christian. 285 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:49,500 It doesn't come by dedication as we did with these babies this morning, it doesn't come 286 00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:57,680 by baptism, it doesn't come by confirmation, it does not come by church membership. 287 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:09,440 Salvation comes alone by receiving Jesus Christ and the promise of God as an act of faith. 288 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:13,260 You know that, but you've not done it. 289 00:25:13,260 --> 00:25:19,800 Your judgment to this point is greater than that heathen person who has never yet heard 290 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,200 the word of God. 291 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:27,960 The condemnation that awaits your soul in hell is far greater than the one who has never 292 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:32,840 yet had the privilege of hearing the name of Jesus Christ. 293 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:43,360 Because having heard, you have to this point refused to receive, and not to receive is 294 00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:52,580 to reject and to place oneself under the wrath of God. 295 00:25:52,580 --> 00:25:59,600 He who believes on the Son has everlasting life, but he who does not obey the Son of 296 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:16,600 God does not have life, and the wrath of God abides on him, says the word. 297 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:23,800 The story is told of an event that happened in a frontier town years ago. 298 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:33,880 A horse with a wagon, a hitch to it bolted away from its owner, and there was a little 299 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:38,880 child there in that wagon. 300 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:45,020 Seeing that a child was in danger, there was a man who risked his life by running out into 301 00:26:45,020 --> 00:26:54,280 that dusty street and standing and grabbing the horse as it came by so that he might stop 302 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:55,280 it. 303 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,160 He saved the life of that child. 304 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:06,440 The child who was rescued grew up to become a criminal, a law breaker, and having committed 305 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:15,400 a terrible crime, he stood one day before a judge to be sentenced. 306 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:23,000 As he looked at the judge, a smile came across his face as he recognized that this judge 307 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:30,800 was the very man who years before this had saved his life on that dusty street. 308 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:38,360 And so he pled for mercy on the basis of that experience years ago, but the judge spoke 309 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:41,840 from the bench solemn words. 310 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:48,920 When he said, young man, then I was your savior. 311 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:58,480 Today I am your judge, and I must sentence you to be hanged. 312 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:06,080 Jesus Christ is this day offering himself to you as savior. 313 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:11,260 The word of God reveals what he has done on your behalf and the promise of God that if 314 00:28:11,260 --> 00:28:15,800 you believe on Christ, you will be saved. 315 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:20,960 That you need not work and try and perform. 316 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:28,400 All you have to do is release your self-righteousness, acknowledge your sins, and appropriate him. 317 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:36,960 To this point, you have heard and you have received in the sense that you've brought 318 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:46,280 this truth alongside of you, but will you now appropriate it for yourself? 319 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:50,880 Will you believe and be saved? 320 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:59,080 Let's bow together. 321 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,080 Sing with me this chorus. 322 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:27,800 Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, 323 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:54,840 And that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. 324 00:29:54,840 --> 00:30:00,980 Our heads are bowed. 325 00:30:00,980 --> 00:30:01,980 Your decision, please. 326 00:30:01,980 --> 00:30:07,800 What will your response be today to the word of God? 327 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:16,400 Will you receive it and make it your own, or will you dare to reject it and go your 328 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:17,800 way? 329 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:24,120 Eternity, my friend, hangs in the balance. 330 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:33,120 Your attitude toward the word of God determines the destiny of your soul. 331 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:38,240 Right where you're seated, will you open your heart to Christ? 332 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:44,240 Will you receive him right now as your own Savior and Lord? 333 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,320 Tell him so. 334 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:50,200 Say Jesus, come into my heart. 335 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:57,000 I believe on you as my only hope of salvation. 336 00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,760 I trust in you. 337 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:14,280 I come to you and bow my knee and trust you alone to save me. 338 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:19,040 Many of us here have done that, but there may be other areas of the word of God where 339 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:24,400 we have struggled and rejected. 340 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:32,200 Where we have not proclaimed Jesus to be the Lord of our lives, and we have heard the word 341 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:43,520 of God, we know what it says, but we have not yet acted upon it. 342 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:49,720 We would have been better off not to know, but we do. 343 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:56,720 And now that we know, we're responsible. 344 00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:02,920 Whatever area where the Holy Spirit may be putting the spotlight, may we deal honestly 345 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:08,760 with that area this morning, yielding it to him. 346 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:15,600 Let's stand together, please, with our heads bowed and sing one more chorus before we go, 347 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:20,400 one which I hope reflects the attitude of all of our hearts. 348 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:29,880 I have decided to follow Jesus. 349 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:40,080 I have decided to follow Jesus. 350 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:50,200 I have decided to follow Jesus. 351 00:32:50,200 --> 00:33:00,360 No turning back, no turning back. 352 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:23,040 Amen.