Has the Gospel Come to you in Power?

The Gospel Comes in Power: The Foundation of Election

0:02 I would direct your attention to 1 Thessalonians 1 and the key text in our study, though we shall range backwards and forwards throughout the entire chapter, the key text in our study is verses 4 and 5. 1 Thessalonians 5, knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance.

0:38 Outside of the first verse, which is a typical Pauline salutation, a greeting in which he takes up the common literary form of his day and sanctifies it, making it a vehicle of conveying spiritual truth, outside, I say, of that first verse, the rest of the chapter, verses 2 to 10, are very much similar to Ephesians 1, verses 3 to 15, in that they form a record of Paul's praise to God for that which the grace of God had wrought in the lives of the people of God at Thessalonica.

1:22 He says,

1:52 1 Thessalonians 5, knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in much assurance.

2:22 Outside of the first verse, which is a typical Pauline salutation, a greeting in which he takes up the common literary form of his day and sanctifies it,

2:52 making it a record of Paul's praise to God for that which the grace of God had wrought in the lives of the people of God at Thessalonica. I'm convinced in that they were the elect of God. Well, you'll notice that his conviction that they were the elect of God was rooted in the fact that the gospel had come to them in a certain way.

3:36 See the connection between verses 4 and 5? Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. And you see, I...

3:53 to us the connection in his thinking. He was convinced of their election of God because the gospel came to them in power. The gospel came to them in the energy of the Holy Ghost. It came to them in much assurance. Now that leads to another question. How did he know

4:18 the gospel came to them in power? Well, there's only one way Paul could know it, only one way you can know it. It's in terms of the effect that the gospel produced in their lives. And the whole key to that is found in the next verse. Notice, and ye became. Now put

4:39 the two phrases together. Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, how that the gospel came and ye became. Whenever the gospel comes in power, we become something that only the power of the gospel can produce. 1 Corinthians 4, 20 states, the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. You see, the gospel not only

5:12 announces and promises an application of divine forgiveness to all who believe, but it also announces and promises an operation of divine power upon all who believe. And those two are always together. Let me give them to you again. The gospel not only comes promising and announcing an application of divine forgiveness. He that believeth is not

5:42 condemned. That's the gospel. He that believeth is not condemned. But it not only announces and promises an application of divine forgiveness, but it announces and promises an operation of divine power. If any man be in Christ, he will be in Christ. And if any man be in

5:59 Christ, he is a new creation. And one of the saddest things in the professing evangelical church today is multitudes of people who say, they wouldn't say, I'm elect of God. That would be a naughty word to them. But they would say, I'm certainly loved of God and I'm certainly a Christian. And you say, what makes you think you're a Christian? They say,

A Call to Personal Examination: Is Your Faith Genuine?

6:22 why, I have believed the word of the gospel. But you can look almost in vain for any evidence that they've experienced the power of the gospel. All right, having established the principle in the text, now I press a question upon your conscience as you sit here in the presence of God. The question is, has the gospel come to you in word and in power? Now, see, we've been dealing with

6:57 the Thessalonians. That's pretty easy business. They can be quite comfortable. But now I press the question upon your conscience.

7:03 Has the gospel come to you in word and in power? It will produce in you, you will become what it produced in the Thessalonians. And I remind you, as we enter into a period of what will be intense personal examination, that it's only the counterfeit which suffers from close scrutiny. Go to the bank to deposit some money tomorrow morning and place on the teller's little shelf five $20 bills. And if,

7:48 as he's collecting them from you and about to check your slip and stamp it and pass it back that $100 has been put into your checking account, he comes to the fifth and he looks at it a minute and says, Mr. Smith, excuse me a minute. I'm not quite sure that this is the real thing.

8:05 The only thing that stands to suffer is the counterfeit. If that's the real thing, he can look at it under a magnifying glass. He can scrutinize it. He can have it tested. All it can do is assure you that of the five, that really is the real

8:18 thing. If it is the real thing, it's only the counterfeit that stands to suffer from close examination. Do some of you already find yourselves drawing back saying, oh, no, no, no, don't, don't, don't put that under the magnifying glass. I know it's real. Don't do that. My friend,

8:38 you have a solemn obligation in the words of second Corinthians 13, five to examine yourself, to prove yourself, whether you be. And I know of no better chapter in all the word of God to do it with than the chapter before us. All right. Having then established the principle that's in the text, let us now proceed. First of

Evidence 1: The Impartation of Basic Christian Virtues (Faith, Love, Hope)

8:59 all, what was the evidence that the gospel had come in power? Well, the first evidence was that there was the impartation of the three basic Christian virtues. Look at verse three. We give thanks to God always for you all making.

9:17 In our prayers, remembering without ceasing three things, your work of faith, that is work, which flowed out of the grace of faith, your labor of love, that is labor that flowed out of the grace of love and your patience of hope, that is patience or endurance, which flowed out of your hope. Now, you see, it was the presence of these three fundamental Christian virtues of which Paul speaks in another place, saying, now abide of these three faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love. This trinity of Christian virtues that comes out in

10:01 no fewer than probably about 10 passages in the New Testament. They are the fundamental graces of a true Christian. And it was the presence of these graces which were an evidence to Paul that the gospel had come in power. And because it came in power, it came in power. And because it came in power, it came in power.

10:17 He knew them to be the elect of God. So then, we must understand something of what these virtues are and then ask, are they present and resident in me? First of all, he says, your work of faith, that is a life, the characteristic of which was works that constantly bore witness to the fact that the Thessalonians were the ones who were the ones who were the ones who were the ones who were the ones who were the ones who were the ones who were the ones who were the ones who were the men and women of faith. And in this sense, the most simple definition I know of faith is this.

11:01 It is that hand that grasps the unseen world of spiritual reality. The hand that grasps the unseen world of spiritual reality. Initially, it is saving faith that reaches out to lay hold of Jesus Christ as the only hope of forgiveness. That lays hold of him in the sufficiency of his person and work as a mediator. But saving faith always gives birth

11:33 to the disposition of faith so that the man who is justified by faith begins to walk by faith. The totality of his life begins to be regulated by the unseen world of spiritual reality. He can say with the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4, 18, we look not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 5, 7, we walk by faith and not by sight. See the

12:09 contrast? He said we are not governed by the things that we see and touch, though we live amongst them and partake of them. No, no, he says our whole perspective is governed by the things that we do not see.

12:23 Is that a description of your life? That's the question you must ask of yourself. Knowing, brethren beloved of God, our gospel came to you in power because it's nothing but the gospel attended by the power of the Holy Ghost that can take creatures like you and me, whose affections are wedded to the earth and to the flesh and to the world of sense and time and wrench us loose from that and fix all of our deepest longings.

12:58 And all of the most fundamental regulative principles of life, fix them and anchor them and attach them to the world of unseen spiritual reality. But then we must hurry on. The second fundamental grace, he says, is love. There was the work that flowed out of your faith, your energies being dispensed to values that are heavenly and eternal. But he says, and he uses a more intensive word, there was your love.

13:30 There was the labor of love. This is labor unto pain and unto agony. And he says that which produced it was love. And the best little working definition of love for our use tonight that I know is this, that selfless affection, which seeks the delight of its object at personal cost. Love seeketh not its own. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

14:01 Here they were. They were laboring and toiling. For whom and for what? For the Savior, whom they had come to know through the preaching of the gospel. And when people saw them laboring in enterprises even unto agony, and they asked them, what in the world are you doing this for? What kind of return do you get? They say, the smile of my Savior.

14:24 Someone says, yeah, that doesn't put bread on the table. Why are you doing that? Ah, for the approval of my Lord. Yeah, but let's be practical.

14:36 Ah, they said, look, this is the most practical thing in all the world. Live or die, I'm his. He's mine. That's all that matters.

14:45 You see, that was the thing that Paul saw in them in those early days amongst them. And apparently reports began to filter back that they were continuing to be motivated by this love for the Savior. Love that produced labor for him. This is one of the mysteries of the gospel that separates it from all.

15:08 All false religions, that the more pure is our understanding of the freeness of God's grace, the more diligently we'll labor to please the one who gives that grace. All false religions say, labor and toil to elicit his favor. The Christian message is, embrace his favor, the one deserving. And then labor to prove.

15:38 And then labor to prove your love to the one who has favored you.

15:44 Now, is that grace operative in your breast tonight? A love for the Savior that drives you, that motivates you to do things that worldlings see and scratch their head and say, what in God's name is wrong with that fellow? Is that for no return? He could be doing this, he could be doing that.

16:08 What makes him tick? The answer should be, the love of Christ. The love of Christ constraineth me. That's it.

16:20 The gospel, when it comes in power, not only proclaims the love of God to sinners, but it implants love to God in the breast of the sinner, so that freely forgiven, he fervently loves. Is that true of you?

16:38 Peter had no qualms about describing Christians in this beautiful little phrase, whom having not seen, we love. That's the description. That's the description of a Christian. He loves an unseen Christ.

16:53 And you know how you know if you love him?

16:56 Jesus said, there's one way to know that you love him. If you love me, he will keep my commandments.

17:03 And what is the primary commandment he gives?

17:07 He says, love those who say they love me. Ah, that's where love is put to the test. I've met some people who can sing lovely songs about loving Jesus, and who can give lovely testimonies about loving Jesus, but you know what he says? He says, if you really love me, here's the proof.

17:24 Here's one of my imperfect disciples and followers, and I'm going to put him right next to you, so you can see all his imperfections, and I'll love him. And John says, if you don't love your brother whom you see,

17:38 how can you love God whom you don't see? Isn't the Lord gracious to hedge us up from our sneaky, devious ways? Hmm? We sit around really thinking, boy, we really are loving the Lord with great fervor and immense, expansive depth.

17:57 And the Lord plunks one of his imperfect children right next to him and says, all right, now you really love me? Now you get along with that child. Yeah, but Lord, he says, I know all about him. I know a lot more you don't know.

18:07 But you love him.

18:10 You love me. This is the love of God that we keep his commandments. And what is his commandment? That you love one another.

18:17 You see that cyclical reasoning of John in the book of 1 John. He that saith, I know God, and loveth not, is a liar. He that loveth not, knoweth not God. For God is love, and how is love shown?

18:31 John tells us, if you see your brother have need, and shut up the bowels of your compassion, how dwelleth the love of God in you? You see, you don't need to do like some mean, depraved creature might do when he sees a man in need, walk over and stomp on him. The Lord says, just look at him in his need, and fail to open up your heart and respond to that need according to your ability. And God says, how does the love of God dwell in you?

18:55 You see, God's love is never a dormant principle within his own breast. And when he implants it in ours, it's never a dormant principle to be looked at and admired like some beautiful diamond behind the glass. Or like the beautiful crown of some queen or king that's put on display for people to look in at it. No, no, the love of God is always moving outward to its objects.

19:18 God so loved the world that he gave.

19:24 Hereby know we love. He sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And though the degree is never the same, and though the quantity is never the same, the quality of love implanted in the heart of a man or woman who receives the gospel in power is the same as God's love.

19:48 Quantitatively, never the same.

19:54 Extensively, purity, never the same. But the quality, it's the same kind of love. It responds to the need of the brother, of the sister. Is that grace of love to God, the triune God, and to God's people active within your breast?

20:12 Moving you to bear with their weaknesses? In the words of Peter, to cover a multitude of sins? Do you profess to love God while your eyes are two huge magnifying glasses, three inches thick, focused upon every fault of your, brethren?

20:37 No, love has a wonderful way of putting blinders on the eyes. Seeing the fault and saying, Lord, it's sin. But I'm so encompassed with sin. Not the kind of sin that needs discipline.

20:49 No, that's another whole subject. But Peter says it covers the multitude of sins. Those areas in all of us that yet need the sanctifying grace of God. And then he says there was their patience of hope.

21:05 That is an endurance in the midst of hardship, ruthlessness, and hope. That fervent yearning, confident expectation, and patient waiting for the promised blessings of a completed salvation. And he said that hope put within their breast when they were called of God is what produced endurance. They were confident that the best was yet to come.

21:33 There's a new worldliness invading the church in some good reformed circles. They say, look, the action's here and now. Let's not talk about heaven by and by. Let's roll up our sleeves and get with the issues now.

21:48 Well, there's an element of proper nowness about the gospel. My friend, if I have any acquaintance with the New Testament, again and again, the whole perspective is that the best is yet to come. And the best we'll ever see down here is a mess.

22:08 Yes. Now, I don't have the pessimism that says, there's nothing else to expect the Lord to do. Let's just dig a rock, lay down in it and look up and say, even so come Lord Jesus. I don't believe that's the way that prayer was prayed in Revelation.

22:24 It was prayed by a man who in the midst of suffering was encouraging suffering Christians. And how did he encourage them? By showing from one perspective and another that the Lord Jesus is King. All His enemies shall be vanquished and vanquished.

22:42 And be laid at His feet. Whether He shows them as the Lamb in the midst of the throne who prevails to open the book. Whether He shows them as coming upon His white charger and His vesture dipped in blood. What's the whole perspective of the book of the Revelation?

22:59 The triumph of the Son of God over all His enemies, seen and unseen. So I'm not speaking now of the pessimism that says we can't expect to see the gospel capture perhaps even whole communities and influence whole nations. No, I'm not saying that. But I'm saying even if there will be such mighty triumphs as will astound us, the Bible teaches that the best down here will always be a mess compared to what we'll have up there. Otherwise you'd get too settled.

23:37 Yes you would.

23:40 And so the hope within the breast of the Christian is a very real thing. I ask you tonight is that hope within your breast?

23:50 Is your life governed by it? Your whole perspective?

23:56 Well this is the first thing that happens when the gospel comes in power. There is the impartation of these basic Christian virtues. Now they need development. Granted.

24:08 They need to be increased. Granted. They need to be cultivated. Granted.

24:12 But if they haven't been implanted by the Holy Ghost, you're not a Christian.

24:18 You have no grounds to claim you're a Christian. For when the gospel comes not in word only but in power, that's its first effect. Secondly, verse 6.

Evidence 2: Diligent Adherence to Basic Christian Standards

24:30 There will be a diligent adherence to basic Christian standards. Notice how Paul states it. The gospel came to you not in word only but in power and ye became mimics. Would be a literal translation or a transliteration from the original. Ye

24:52 became imitators of us that is the apostles. And of the Lord.

25:02 And that is nothing more or less than a diligent adherence to the basic Christian standards. And what are those standards? The apostolic instruction. Secondly, our Lord's life and words.

25:18 Now let's look at them in that order for a moment each. He says ye became mimics of us. When the Spirit of God applies the gospel with power to the heart of any sinner, one of the first actings of that newborn heart is to recognize in the words of the apostles recorded in scripture the divine standard for his own life. The same Holy Spirit who spoke through the apostles as the specially commissioned representatives of Christ, who now dwells in the heart of a believer, the Spirit in the believer

26:02 answers to the Spirit in the Word given by apostles so that without even consciously thinking about it, the reflexive response of a new man in Christ is to take seriously the instruction of the Word of God. This idea that you've got to sit down with a new convert after you've led him through a decision and then say now from this point on you must begin to read the scriptures. You must begin to obey. You don't need to tell a man who's been saved.

26:31 Is that? You don't need to tell a man that. Tell a newborn babe now you must be hungry and start opening your mouth looking for something to eat. With life there is hunger. Sure there is.

26:49 Now they need to be exhorted to increase in their hunger. Granted, as newborn babes longed with the sincere will, I'm fully aware of that. But the response of a new man in Christ to the standard of apostolic instruction is not something that needs to be coached and pushed.

27:11 Who was there to coach and push? These Thessalonians. Paul was only there three weeks. And they would think back and remember everything he did and said and would seek to pattern their lives accordingly.

27:25 And then the second basic Christian standard is our Lord's life and words. What is the commission binding upon the churches now? Given originally to the apostles and now that apostolic commission has become part of the church's total responsibility. You know the words. You could quote them to me.

27:45 Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them, that is those who have been made disciples, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe. Now notice whatsoever I have commanded you. Now in John 16 he had given promise that when the Holy Spirit would come further revelation would be given through the apostles. Granted. But the

28:15 he never inferred that the further revelation of apostolic instruction was to cancel the binding nature of his own instruction.

28:28 And so when we turn to the gospels, we have our Lord's life and words set before us. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Take no anxious thought for the morrow. Set your affections on those things that are eternal.

28:50 Don't lay up treasure on earth where moth and rust corrupt and thieves break through and steal. If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out. If thy hand offend thee, cut it off. If it would smite thee on one cheek, turn the other. All of that

29:04 rich instruction of the sermon and the mount, our Lord's sermons in the gospel records. These are basic Christian standards binding upon the people of God.

29:19 Now to Paul. Adherence to these basic Christian standards of apostolic instruction and the standard of our Lord's life and words was evidence that the gospel had come in power. May I press the question to your conscience? Do you make serious conscience of implementing the guidelines of the word of God?

29:50 Let me repeat the question. I've chosen every word carefully. Do you make serious conscience about implementing, not just listening to, but implementing the standards of the word of God?

30:08 What about you children who profess to be Christians, to be saved, to be trusting in the Lord Jesus? Do you take seriously what the apostle Paul said? Children, honor thy father and thy mother. Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

30:28 You profess, to be joined to Christ by faith. Obey your parents in the Lord, in the light of your union with Christ and your professed subjection to Him demonstrated by obedience to His word.

30:45 Wives, be subject to your husbands in everything. As the church is subject to Christ so let the wives be to their husbands in everything.

31:01 Do you take that seriously? I'm not asking if you're a you obey it perfectly. If you said you did, I'd call your husband up to witness against you.

31:10 But do you take it seriously?

31:15 Well, you say, Pastor, hurry on to the next question. No, let's sit on that one for a little while. Do you take it seriously? The only way you know if you take it seriously is in those instances where your will and your opinion and your desires come on a collision course with those of your husband.

31:37 You don't know if you're obeying out of principle when you agree with his decision.

31:43 It's when you have a differing opinion. And after due respect to you and discussion, your husband says, Dear, I believe this is the decision that I must make before God. What do you do with that?

31:59 Do you take seriously? Wives, be subject to your husbands in everything.

32:10 What about you husbands? Do you take seriously the next word that comes in Ephesians 5?

32:17 As Christ loved the church so ought husbands to love their wives as their own. Do you take serious conscience about regarding them with the tender selfless affection with which Christ regards his church? Do you take that seriously?

32:40 And the only way you know if you do is those situations in which everything your wife has done and is at a given point would provoke everything other than love. And at that point you say, Lord, your command is not changed. Though my flesh wants to react with sharp words and though my flesh wants to react with unkindness, Lord, I'm bound by your word. I must love her as you love me even in my disappointments of you.

33:14 Even in the recovery of my weakness, you love me, Lord. I will to love my wife as you love me. God, give me the grace.

33:26 That's what it means to take it seriously. You don't make conscience of that command. And in those situations where it's natural to do what love dictates, it's in those circumstances where it's not natural.

33:46 You say, Pastor, there you go again. No word for us singles.

33:51 Oh, there's lots of words for you singles.

34:00 You haven't been reading your Bible if you made that statement in your conscience.

34:05 Plenty of words.

34:08 Be ye holy, for I am holy.

34:13 Abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul.

34:18 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying.

34:26 Lie not one to another. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.

34:41 Just quoting at random from Ephesians 4.

34:46 Do you take those things seriously? That's my question.

34:51 Can it be said of you, you became a mimic of the apostolic directives and of the Lord Jesus? Not a perfect mimic,

35:02 but a serious mimic. That's what the word means. He became imitators. That's the second great evidence that the gospel has come in power.

Evidence 3: The Opposition of the World and Apostate Religion

35:15 Not only will there be the impartation of basic Christian graces, there will be this diligent adherence to basic Christian standards. Now I shall just have to give you the other heads quickly so that you can see something of the overview of the chapter. The third thing, there will always be the opposition of the world and of apostate religion. Look at the next phrase.

35:40 He became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction. Acts 17 is a commentary, verses 1 to 9 on how and by what means the affliction came. And the affliction came from apostate religion and from ungodly worldlings.

36:06 Do you know anything of that opposition?

36:09 Some of us found it coming from the most unlikely quarters when we were converted. And I speak by experience. Some of the very people who prayed for me in my days of open indifference to the gospel when God really saved me were the ones who opposed me. Isn't that strange?

36:33 Because what God did was a little bit more than they were asking for. And it showed up what they had as being empty and lifeless.

36:50 It was disturbing to them that I wanted to go on the street corner and proclaim to men what Christ had done for me. Disturbing for them. Instead of sitting up and necking till 12 o'clock, I wanted to pray half the night with my buddies. Disturbing that I became so impalanced as to wear out a new Bible, a Thompson Chain reference Bible in two years.

37:13 It looked like it was used for 20 years. Disturbing that all I wanted to talk about was my Savior. All I wanted to do was pray. Disturbing that I no longer wanted to be involved in competitive sports for they were my God.

37:26 And God smashed the idol and gave me more joy in prayer than in putting my head into some linebacker's gut and bowling him over and taking the ball for seven yards.

37:41 They don't want this fellow to go to hell. They want him to have enough of Christ in religion, but not so much as to rock the boat, you see.

37:50 That's what happens when the power of the gospel comes. Not always in the same degree, not always in the same way, but sooner or later there will be the opposition of apostate religion, and of course the opposition of the world is very clearly described in John 3. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. And basically the antipathy of the worlding to the Christian is his attempt to extinguish the light.

38:17 That's what they did to our Lord and our Lord said their treatment of him is the pattern of their treatment to his people.

Evidence 4: The Exhilaration of True Religion (Joy in the Holy Ghost)

38:27 And I'll just give you the heads of the other and then we'll close, alright?

38:31 The fourth thing that will always come when the gospel comes in power is what I'm calling the exhilaration of true religion. Notice how he describes it, the latter part of verse 6. He received the word in much affliction with joy, joy of the Holy Ghost. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

38:55 Christian joy. Some when their joy is at its height, they've got to express it in such a way that the whole neighborhood would know it. And if you're of that nature, fine, just don't do it at midnight, you might get your neighbors upset. Some people, their joy is expressed in their face, but not everybody. This idea, oh I could tell he was

39:14 a Christian by the smile on his face. A dear missionary friend of mine forever knocked that thing where it ought to be knocked and into the place where it ought to be put when he showed some wonderfully beautifully looking, smiling people from some savage tribe and everyone would do an answer. Look at the joy of the Lord on their face. He says, let me tell you about the joy of the Lord. A week before I took the picture,

39:34 that guy killed so and so, this one killed somebody else. They were nothing but unconverted, unregenered people who probably had a full belly of somebody that they had just cannibalized and were happy. So, no, no.

39:49 Now when the Bible talks about joy, it doesn't mean a 32-tooth grin. It doesn't mean some kind of ebulence and exuberance that will be shown necessarily externally. But it's that which is produced by the Spirit. Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy.

40:08 A joy not dependent on natural or physical circumstances because he says here, joy in much affliction. But it is that deep settled awareness. That the greatest conflict in all of heaven and earth between me and the living God has been resolved through the blood of the cross. And who cannot have some measure, but have some measure of inward rejoicing in the knowledge that sins are forgiven.

Evidence 5: Exhibition of Reality to Others (Becoming an Example)

40:41 Then there is the exhibition of what I'm calling reality to those about us. Verse 7, and ye became an ensample. To their children, to their friends, people around them. These people mimicking the apostles became a model for others to mimic.

40:59 He says ye became imitators and the imitation was so effective you then became an example to others. There's the exhibition of reality in the life. Whenever the gospel comes in power to some degree, this must be true. Verse 8, they began to be engaged in the propagation of the truth. From you have

Evidence 6: Engagement in the Propagation of Truth

41:24 sounded forth the word of the Lord. That word which they received in power and transformed them, they begin to be concerned with its propagation. There's no such thing as a Christian who doesn't long to share the message with others. There are many Christians who find great difficulty in knowing how to share it. There are many

41:48 Christians who find great difficulties in when to share it. I'm not dealing with that problem. What I'm stating is that in the heart of every true Christian who's felt the power of the gospel is the yearning to share its message with others and to pray that God will attend it with power, that they might know its transforming effects. And then last of all, verse 10, 9 and 10, they experienced what I would call the renovation of a sound conversion.

Evidence 7: The Renovation of a Sound Conversion (Turning from Idols)

42:20 Ye turned unto God, from your idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven. What a vigorous description of a sound conversion. Isn't this so much more healthy and got a lot more a higher blood count than these anemic little phrases of making a commitment? It just sounds bloodless next to this.

42:46 Ye turned from your idols to repentance. Ye turned to what? To do what? Not to take the something from it, but to serve it.

42:58 Ye turned to serve. There was a change of government. The idols were smashed. The true God was enthroned. And then they

43:09 had this hope that the best was yet to come. They were waiting for His Son from heaven. They turned from their idols, anything that was occupying the place of God, whether it be a literal stone idol, whether it be pride, our heritage, our religious privileges, whatever it be, we must turn from our idols. And when the gospel comes in power, it always comes with idols smashing authority.

43:39 And then it turns us to serve the living and the true God, to wait for His Son from heaven. I submit that this is why Paul knew they were elect. Because they became what we see in the chapter. I close now where we began.

Concluding Challenge: Embrace the Power of the Gospel

43:58 Are you,

44:01 beloved of God, and elect? You say, how can I know? The answer's here. Have you become what they became? Has the

44:12 gospel come to you in power? Or has it come in word only? That's the question you must ask. And ask with judgment day honesty.

44:25 And if you face it with judgment day honesty and say, O God, you know that in the light of what we've seen from your own word, this is all I've done. You must admit I haven't told many stories.

44:39 I've tried to expound the word of God to you. In the light of what you've heard, you say, O God, I don't know that I have any grounds to believe the gospel's ever come to me in power. What do I do? Ah, my friend, that very conviction is a good sign that that word is coming to you in power. For one of

45:01 the most manifest and profound exercises of divine power is the stripping away of a false hope and bringing an unconverted professing Christian to the place where he says, I don't have the real thing. Jonathan Edwards who lived through revivals and dealt with many, many people under great distress of soul said this, a sound conversion is a very rare thing. But when God strips a man of his professed conversion and brings him to genuine conversion, this is the rarest thing yet.

45:42 Oh, my friend, if God's been doing his stripping work, and I don't know what he's been doing as the word's been preached,

45:52 then don't take that as just the influence of the preacher.

45:57 Ten thousand preachers could never strip the false hope from a man who cherishes it. That's the evidence that God's been pleased to hear our prayer and attend his word with power. Bow before him. Say, O God, you found me out.

46:16 By your grace, Lord, do in me what the gospel's supposed to do. Lord Jesus, thou mighty conqueror, come out of Zion. Come to me. Lord Jesus, smash the idols of my heart.

46:30 Lord Jesus, enable me to embrace you as my prophet, my priest, my king. He promises mercy to all who come. He says in his own word, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. O dear friend, if that's your

46:56 state, throw yourself upon him. You may slip through life knowing only the word of the gospel, but you'll never make it into eternity and safety. You must know the power of the gospel. And dear Christians, my final appeal to you would be, will you not renew your prayers to God that the gospel preached from this place and in every place where the biblical gospel is preached, that God would attend it with such unction that to many it would come not in word only, but in power.

47:35 That we would see people becoming what the Thessalonians became. That we would see people wrenched loose from their idols, wrenched loose from a course of self-pleasing, brought captive to the Lord Jesus. Begin to evidence the graces of faith, of love, and of hope. Begin to be serious adherence to the standards of the word of God.

48:04 Begin to be examples to others. Begin to evidence the exuberation of true Christian joy. Begin to evidence something of that walk before God that will stir up the opposition and the enmity of mere empty religion and of world things. I think one of the saddest commentaries on any Christian is that he can be ignored.

48:29 God help us when we can be ignored. May the Lord make us a force to be contended with.

48:36 That men may know that there is a God in Zion. To this end, dear fellow Christian, let us cry to God that we shall yet see in our day the word coming in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.