The old Moravian brethren, coat of arms, was a shield and on the shield was an ox, and the ox was facing both a plow and an altar, and the motto in Latin underneath the ox that was facing the plow and the altar. Red, ready for either, meaning the ox was ready for either, ready for either the plow or the offer, ready for either service or sacrifice. These Christians knew that that's the way it is for the Christian, the Christian is like the ox, the Christian is facing the altar, the plow or the altar, where we're always facing this is, and we're ready for either, we're ready for either service or sacrifice, either service or perhaps even martyrdom. That's the way we find Paul, and when the world turned up the heat, Paul just didn't back down, and you know I wonder if we wouldn't even blame him if he did, that we know Paul, but I might say Paul, it's understandable if you sort of, if you want to be a little gunshot, after all you've been through, we might understand if Paul thought that it might be time now before going to Octonium to take a little beat or take a little time off, and perhaps think about another setting in which to preach, but she knows well as I do, that's not Paul. There was a certain confidence about Paul, persecution, who cares, persecution just grows sunshine, rejection, who cares if you reject me, I'll reject you, I'll walk out of here, I'll dust my feet off, I'll shake the dust off my feet and walk out of here with joy, and the Holy Spirit, as we learned a couple of weeks ago. How do you have that? How can we use Christians, and how do you have that kind of confidence? How is it that you can stand there like an ox? And really mean in your heart of heart, I'm ready for either. I'll walk out of this sanctuary, it's not one day religion for me, it's seven days a week, and I'll walk out of this sanctuary into Montgomery, Alabama, and I am ready for either one, the plow or the altar. I'll tell you how Paul did. It was really in what he found his confidence. In one word, the message, his confidence was in what he knew to be true about the word of God, about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul knew, I'll say, I mean, he really knew he didn't just say it because there was perhaps even socially acceptable, and it might help him along in Eccolonia. He knew better than that. He knew that the gospel was the power of God and the salvation. He knew that when he preached the word, when he preached the gospel, that people would be saved. He knew that those to whom God had appointed eternal life. He knew they would be irresistibly drawn by the Spirit. He knew that as he preached that the Spirit was working in the lives of his audience, the lives of his congregation. He knew there were some of God's elect listening, and he knew that those elects would not, they could not reject the gospel. In the modern church and those that feel those culprits when they experience failure in the ministry, the attitude is run for your life. Run from the message, run from the gospel. We're going to make a beeline for Madison Avenue. We're going to find a substitute, something with bells and whistles on it. I circus anything to grab the attention of the congregation so that they won't leave me, so that they'll keep coming back. We'll give them a show, not the apostles, not Paul. May I say by the grace of God, not me. I won't do that.
We have a number of people. You may not even know this, but we have a number of people. If you ought to stand in my office and see what it feels like to have worked, let me 15 hours on the sermon and you're putting on your robe and you look out your window and now the education building go not one or two. We have a number of our membership at attend only Sunday school. And someone may say, well what do we do? We need to bend over backwards. We need to woo them. We need to do what we can. I say no. They know where the word is. They know what happens here in this part of the church. Perhaps that's why they run. Perhaps that's why they don't want to sit under the preaching of the word. I don't know, but it's not just them. It's not just those in our own membership that forsake the gathering of believers. It's others, even within the community, it's the unbelievers. It's those elect of God from eternity for whom Christ died. They will be drawn to the Word. I know they will. They will be drawn by the foolishness of preaching. That's what God says in His Word and they'll be saved again by the foolishness of the preaching. Those for whom Christ died will be drawn and they will be saved. Don't think I'm standing up here wanting about it. I'm not. It doesn't surprise me. It doesn't surprise me because and I'm talking about among our own membership and those who may come to study school and not come to church and whoever has whatever excuse to have, not to be here at 10.30. It doesn't surprise me because it's exactly what happened in our country. The word is preached. There are people who gathered and hear the word. There are conversions. And then there is division. And there might even be persecution. Certainly from the world, perhaps even from our own congregation. But do you know what the end result will be? If we stand firm, do you know what it is elders? It's a good thing your students are close. Church growth.
If you'll stand your ground, the result will be church growth. Notice first the multitude that believed in verse 1. Now it happened in Iconium. So that they moved from Presidio and Antioch. They travel 80 miles east to Iconium. They're still in modern day, Turkey. At the time, Iconium was a very influential city. Paul and Barnabas will spend more time in Iconium than they do in any other city in this, their first missionary journey. Another pattern that we've already mentioned in weeks previous that is set forth here. Again, they had end of the city. They had immediately put a synagogue with a worship with a Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles. They're given an opportunity to preach. They take the opportunity. They seize it. They stand up. They preach the Word of God. And we're led to believe they preach in such a way that people believe. When we learned in chapter 20 of verse 21, they preach faith. They preach repentance. And the response is favorable. Look at the rest of verse 1. That they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude, both of the Jews and the Greeks believed. The meaning of the Word believes there is the Word. The meaning is persuaded. The Gospel is preached in such a way that there is a persuasion. It is preached faithfully and people's lives are changed. Their hearts are changed. They'll never be the same again. And it's again the emphasis there. It is through the preaching of God's Word that those who are previously unpersuaded are now persuaded. We should expect no less in our church every week. Every Lord's day, we should expect inversions. Do you think that way? In my spirit, I want to put no out of handling. We should pray for it. We should expect it. If there are not conversions happening in our church, in our worship, in our witnessings, if we're not seeing conversions, we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing. We're failing. High birthrights are growing. That's very encouraging to a church like you, young couple. That's very encouraging. Grow the church in the nursery. Transfer growth is very encouraging. But high birthrights and transfer growth won't do it. It's not enough. Conversions, we must see conversions. How are we going to say it? You've got to bring them. That's your job. When was the last time you brought somebody? When was the last time you picked them up and told them? Invite them, friends, acquaintances, and then when you're here, you pray. You pray for the preaching. You pray during the preaching of the Word. There's a foolishness that is weak attempt at preaching God's Word and you're praying all the while because it's the weakness of the minister, the weakness of the preaching of the Word that God has made strong and you have no edits. You made a through. I wish you wouldn't say that when I bring the deliverance and yet God knows God has offered. That may be the very word that God uses to save that individual. You can pray to order salvation. You men can find the order in your men of the covenant, material, but you can all the while pray it. I think every week that every week in the church there would be the Holy Spirit calling individuals. Calling those that God has put beforehand chosen to say and created when they sit here that the Holy Spirit will regenerate them, give them faith, give them repentance, give them justification, adopt them into the family, sanctify the believers, persevere the believers, and every one of those steps are taking place every more today in every one of our service. Then you expect God to do it through preaching and through your witnessing. You'll find that the city will be divine. It's the city of Montgomery will be divided over you. That's what happened in Akone. You realize, of course, Jesus came to divine. Now, I wonder how many Advent Turnmins have been preached today across America, teaching that Jesus came to divine. We don't want to hear that. You might even say, why are you saying that, especially at Christmas? You're always preaching Newities. You're always preaching to where a family where one, where do you get that? I get it from Jesus himself and Luke 12 verse 51, do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? Actually, you're not at all, but rather division. From now on, five in one house will be divided, three against two and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, mother in law against daughter in law, and daughter in law against mother in law. Then from Matthew 10 verse 34, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. When it is determined by a church that from their pulpit will come to truth, then you better wash out. Because when a man stands in the pulpit and says, this is truth, he is saying this over here is false. When that happens, there is a division. Sometimes even right down the middle of a family, it won't come from those non-religious pagans. It won't come from the air religious. They don't have any convictions anyway. It's going to come from the religious. It's those that have a strong religious conviction and they'll come to the floor and they'll say, how dare you? I'm not going to sit under that. How dare you criticize the beliefs of someone else or how they were you to say that they're wrong and you're right, you know, whole generations have grown up on this. They've been brought up even, even whole denominations brought up on this idea that the gospel is law, that the gospel is some indiscriminatory, what's the word? I did it to you all the time on earth. I'm discriminating emotion. You know, law means never having to say I'm sorry. Love means never, never making a distinction between right and wrong. Love means acceptance of everyone. It means acceptance of every day. Love means toleration. In there what we're hearing today, you would hear that the greatest sin is being intolerant. That's what we say in the courts and plotted it. It's rampant in our nation.
You better believe if you're a church that takes survival seriously, you will be controversial. You will. You have to accept the fact you have yourself and I going to be that way. Do I want to be a part of a church like that? Jesus says, for example, Jesus I am of Himself. He said, I am the way. The Church, the life. That's quite exclusive. He's not saying that he's one way or among many other ways. He's saying I am being singular way to the Father and just to make sure there's no, just for him to remove all doubt of ambiguity. He said, no one comes to the Father but through me, he says of himself, through Christ and a churchman. There's been baptized in the spirit of the age. Says again, how dare you? How dare you say to me that my moral and religious works are worthless? How dare you call me a sinner? That's steps on my toes. How dare you say that I'm helpless? Nobody says to me, you're helpless. Very priceless. You don't know what I've done. You don't know what I've, what kind of business I've built up. I was building a business before you were born through a year to tell me I'm helpless without Christ. What's the meaning of telling me that that you can only be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone? How I'm loving, how intolerant that is. You may not feel bad about myself. You heard my feelings. People will say when they sit under the preaching of the Word. My psychiatrist tells me I'm supposed to feel good about myself. And you tell me that my good deeds are filthy ones. You're telling me that I'm wicked in my sin and that I'm going to go to hell if I don't submit myself to Jesus, how I'm loving you are. I demand an uplifting message. And there are many churches giving people that, tickling their ears, giving them what they want to hear. Do you know that what I've just said, even that, that oration of what might come from a churchman baptized by the Spirit of the Eighth? That's just 20th century language of what was happening in Oconium. Paul faced this generation, this culture that was accustomed to a religion of merit. And he told those Jews, you will not be saved by the law of Moses. You'll be saved by grace alone. He said to this Gentile, you must forsake your pagan ways. You must forsake your pagan practice. And you know what happened? It led to division. The some would have choose Paul of being the trouble maker. We know better. Look at verse two, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. What was the result? Look at verse four. But the multitude of the city was divided, part-sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles. How do you respond to opposition? How are we going to respond? Someone gets upset. Someone that comes in bitter. Someone begins their poison themselves, or they go and they poison other people within the church. How do we respond? Do we back off? Do we change our message? Do we say, well, we're not going to be as offensive as we were? No. Because Paul is our example. Look at verse three. Therefore, they stayed there a long time. I love they stayed here a long time speaking boldly in the Lord. It was being witnessed to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. And I always thought boldly, they stayed a long time and then God confirmed what they were saying through signs and wonders. They don't get the idea if they just went out on the circuit and had this little healing ministry. It was like a circuit that once they started healing, there were people who would come, they would gather a crowd, and then they would hit them with an evangelistic message. That's modern day. That's not the early church. That's not Paul. They were in dichoties to preach the Word. And there were occasionally healings. But the healings were only God's way of validating the message. And then we're given a description of what had become a way of life for Paul fleeing from danger. Look at verse five. When a violin attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to abuse and stone them, you see in the end, it wasn't enough for these enemies of the gospel to just stay unbelieving, to just stay unpersuaded. It wasn't enough to poison the minds of the other brothers. It wasn't enough to fit and bitter them against the brethren. There was so much hatred for the message. It became so and it's the only thing they could do was stop the messenger. Sometimes that happens in churches as well. They poised in the minds of the people to get rid of the messenger. Here the situation might even mean death of the messenger for speaking the truth. See that word attempt. Verse five, last part to abuse, which is, now the first part, when a violin attempt, that word attempt, if you have an inavise, really better translate their plot, it connotes impulsive reaction. Their hatred is so intent that it leads to this irrational plot against Paul and Barnabas, an irrational plot to abuse them. This was going to say a minute ago, abuse means mistreat or mishandled them and stone them. They move on to Lystra, about 18 miles from myconium, and then to Derby, which is about 55 miles further. What an impact Paul and Barnabas had on his church, though, when I come in. What an impact the members of the Church of the Iconium had on their city through their lives and through their commitment and through their boldness. First you want our church to be in a place that we believe when we come here, that we sit here and we worship God and we want to really believe that what's happening in our lives right now is going to impact generations to come simply because we decided in the year 2000 that that was the way we were going to live our lives. That was going to be our commitment. That was going to be our boldness. That's the way it was where I come from. How did they endure it? I mean, how did they endure the persecution? The persecution? I mean, inside of its negligence, how did they survive? They survived because it was a work of God. It was his church so they thrived. They were great. Let me tell you, Trinity Church is a great church. If I say that and you think, yeah, because of me, talking about you, yourself, you say, yeah, it's great because of me, you're prideful then. And I fear even saying you're great because I'm scared you're going to get the bit.
But you know why you're great because you are a work of God. And you are obviously a work of God. People are talking about you. You will thrive because God has His hand on you.
But I'm saying it and I want to encourage you as the year 2000 comes to a close because I don't know what 2001 holds. None of us do. But if 2000 were the year of the gathering of Trinity Church, the gathering, the year of unity, 2001 may be the year of division. I don't know because what I do know is the word of God divides. The gospel will separate the sheep from the goats. You can preach one message and the same message is heard and there are two different responses to some of you. But I have said this morning, you just ate it up. It's a fragrance of life. It's the aroma of Christ to you. To some of you, you're wandering, you're looking at your clock and you're saying, we still got to do communion. I'm hot. I got to get out of here. It's the stench of death. Every time the word is creased, it's like scattering seed. And this is what's going to lead us to communion by the way. But it's like scattering seed. And for some of you to you now, you don't even know that you're hearing the word of God because Satan is like the birds come and take that seed up and take it away. That's what happens in your life. The enemy comes in and you don't even know what's happened. Some of the seed falls on the rocky soul. It's not as some of you. You're like the rocky soul. You soul. You receive it delightfully. But then you walked out of here and you said, well, I didn't know it's going to be that hard. I didn't know I was about to take that kind of stand. And you just sort of fade away. For others, it's thrown the seed, it's thrown among thorns. It means that it's the worldly care. Shoke out what is being said from the pulpit in your life because the world is more attractive than the gospel. And you live a one-day-a-week religion. You look good on Sunday. But you don't see it in your business. We don't see it in your family. For others not. Most of you, the seed falls on good soul and you love it and you want more of the word and you look forward to the Sabbath. It bears fruit in your life. It brings you joy. That's what that is. It is with that group. The fourth soul is the only soul that's Christian. It is that soul that comes to this table to be fertilized. As I can say, that reverently, to be nourished for your soul, that where it's taken root now, you have something, the bread and the wine to nourish you, but if there's ever a division made, it happens right here. If there's ever a place where we are one, one cup, one body, it's here. But if there's ever a place that we separate the sheep from the goats, it's right here. You must know him as your Lord and Savior. You must be repent of your sins. If you're visiting, we ask because this is our way of protecting the table. We ask that you be a member in good standing in an evangelical church, a church that preaches the truth, a church in which you have put yourself under their authority, a church that teaches the word of God as his an errands or the hymn that will take us to the end of the day.