The Acts Church: Turning the World Upside Down?

The Book of Acts tells the story of a handful of men and women who,
by the power of the Holy Spirit, did not leave their world the same way
they found it. They were ordinary people whom God enabled to do
extraordinary things. It was the beginning of a movement that
continues to this very day.
On the Day of Pentecost, about 120 believers were gathered together
when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Everywhere they went, they were
ridiculed and opposed and persecuted and physically assaulted for
their beliefs. Some were even put to death. Yet within a period of about
30 years, this original group of 120 and their converts came to be
known as those who turned their world upside down. When we see
their fearless preaching and their expectant prayer and willingness to
obey, these Christians almost seem radical.
But it isn’t that they were radical; it is just that we’re not radical
enough. We are living a watered-down version of the Christian life.
What we see in the Book of Acts is normal, New
Testament Christianity.
Could what happened in Acts happen again? Could we see another
great movement of the Holy Spirit? The answer is yes, we could. But it
starts with you. It starts with me. Let me ask you this: What if
everyone in the church behaved just as you do? How well would the
church know the Bible? What kind of a prayer life would the church
have? How many people would be hearing the gospel? What kind of
church would it be?

Turning the World Upside Down

“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here
also ... saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
Acts 17:6-7 (ESV)
One of my favorite books of the Bible is Acts of the Apostles. I love
seeing the commitment of the early Christians, the conversion of Paul,
the change in the Apostles after Pentecost, the community life of new
churches, and of course, the way the entire world was shaken by the
Gospel.

In Acts 17, we see an accusation of just that, when Paul and Silas come
to Thessalonica, proclaiming Jesus as King.

"These men who have turned the world upside down have come here
also," the rabble yells, "... saying that there is another king, Jesus."

How? By proclaiming that Jesus is King.

Now this particular accusation was against Paul and Silas in

Thessalonica, where Paul was speaking in the synagogue about Jesus
Christ, but that’s not the only way to proclaim Christ’s kingship.

We proclaim that Jesus is King every time we show love for His sake.
Every time we speak truth into someone’s life, offer material
assistance to someone in need, invite supporters to participate in the
lifesaving work in our organizations, begin to mentor a young woman
or man, we proclaim that there is some authority higher than this
world.

And every time we do it, we turn the world upside down – for the
good.
This world that says women can’t have kids and an education or
career, that encourages women to take an “easy way out” through
abortion – that tries to convince us that freedom means no
consequences – that shouts about claiming rights for women by taking
away the rights of their children.

It's a world crying out for a Christ-centered upheaval and we're just
the ones to do it.

If you can’t see this world being turned upside down, there’s plenty of
evidence. Life is winning. There are national political gains, visible
drops in the number of abortions performed in the United States, and
even public opinion turning more and more pro-life.

It’s not always easy to see how our daily work is making the difference
on the world scale, but every woman, man and child who lands in our
centers is going through a major world change. We are there to make
sure it’s a positive one.

We turn a woman's world upside down when we show her the love and
support she needs to be a mother. We turn a new father's world upside
down when we challenge him to step up as a protector for his child.
We turn a child's world upside down when we help ensure that he or
she is born and loved and cherished.

And it’s our commitment to Jesus Christ, King of Kings, that continues
to turn the world upside down today, just as Paul and Silas did in Acts.

What a tribute to Paul and Silas! Wherever Paul went, things

happened. Souls were saved, people took sides, feelings were stirred,
decisions were made, and lines were dawn. Paul did not slip into town,
hold a few quiet meeting, enjoy some good home cooking, pick up a
generous honorarium, and slip back out of town again without anyone
knowing or caring that he had been in town.

How did the early disciples turn the world upside down? What was the
secret to their success?
I. They turned the world upside down through the power they
possessed.

1 Corinithians2:1-4

A. He did not rely on persuasive arguments

"excellency of speech or of wisdom" - refers to human rhetoric or of

human wisdom. He did not come with eloquent language. He did not
come as a Christian salesman. He did not come with clever sale pitches
to get them to make a profession. He had determined that he was not
going to use gimmicks.

We do not need to be clever in our presentation.

B. He did not rely on personal ability

"I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling"

Paul was a man who had several physical weaknesses. He knew when
he attempted to reach others that he was physically limited. When he
considered on one hand his supreme weakness and limitations and on
the other hand the importance of the message, he recognized it would
take God to do it through him. There was a fear in the face of the task
that had been committed to his trust.

See verse 4. It was not Paul’s ability but the Holy Spirit’s ability. Paul
did not trust on his own natural talents (see 2 Corinthians 3:5).

It is the Holy Spirit that must convict, convince, and convert the
sinner. Paul was the proclaimer, the Holy Spirit was the persuader.
Paul recognized the Holy Spirit’s power.

Paul’s preaching had carried conviction because of the power of the

Holy Spirit.

Organization will not turn the world upside down; personality will not
turn the world upside down; money will not turn the world upside
down.
Ordinary men and women filled with the power of the Spirit of God
will do it.

The Holy Spirit is present in every believer, prominent in some

believers, but He was pre-eminent in the early believers of the church.

II. They turned the world upside down through the praying they
practiced.

Every problem the early church encountered, there was but one
response -PRAYER. They were confident in the ability of prayer.
See Acts 4:17,18, 23, 24 and Acts 12:1-5, 6,7.

Satan might wall them up, but He could not roof them in.

There was a black preacher who had just finished preaching his
candidate sermon and closed out the services of the Lord’s day
pleading with God of the things that he thought the Lord should grant.
After the services a deacon approached the janitor and asked him what
he thought of that prayer.

"Why that man asked de Laud for things that the other preacher did
not even know de Laud had."

All too often we pray when we there is nothing else to we can do, but
Jesus want us to pray before we do anything at all. Prayer does not fit
us for the greater works: prayer is the greater work.

Prayer is not an escape from responsibility, but rather it is our

response to God’s ability.

A. The early church brought to God their frustrations in prayer

B. The early church brought to God their feelings in prayer

C. The early church brought to God their foes in prayer

D. The early church brought to God their friends in prayer

F. The early church brought to God their failures in prayer

G. The early church brought to God their future in prayer

III. They turned the world upside down through the person they
preached

Acts 2:22-24

The all consuming desire of the early church was to introduce others
to the Jesus Christ of the cross. They were absolutely unconcerned
about everything in the world but one thing, and that was teaching and
preaching Jesus Christ.

a. They expounded the person of the cross

B. They expounded the purchase of the cross

C. They expounded the power of the cross

D. They expounded the pardon of the cross

Getting the message of the cross out is the TRUST of the church, the
TASK of the church, and the TEST of the church.

IV. They turned the world upside down through the price they paid.

Many of the early church were martyr for their service of Christ. They
rejoiced that were counted worthy to suffer for the cause of Christ.

As we approach the 17th chapter, the apostle Paul, along with his
friend and co-missionary Silas, have just been released from jail in
Philippi. Actually, God did the releasing. He shattered the jail by an
earthquake. The church in Philippi has been established in the –
namely the name of Lydia and her household and the jailer and his
house. And there’s a little congregation of believers there.

The pressure was on. The local gendarmes, along with the rulers of
Philippi didn’t want Paul and Silas or Timothy around. For that
matter, they probably didn’t want Luke around, though he remained.
But as we come to chapter 17, Paul and Silas and Timothy of have left
Philippi after a harrowing experience, Paul and Silas having been
beaten with rods and just bruised and bloodied. They had been thrown
in a dark, inner dungeon. They had gone through all kinds of pain in
the stocks that stretched their limbs and cramped their muscles.

Through it all, Jesus Christ had been glorified, and, consequently, they
had rejoiced. And now they have left Philippi. And it might be a time
when you would assume that maybe they would go about thinking
about whether or not it was worth it and contemplating whether this
whole idea of missions couldn’t be done some other simpler way with
less pain, but that is not the case.

As they left Philippi, they went immediately, verse 1 of 17 says, to

Thessalonica. And here we see, again, this tremendous, undaunted
spirit that characterized Paul. David Livingston said, one time, “I am
prepared to go anywhere, as long as it is forward.” And he really
echoed the sentiments of Paul. The idea of going backwards, of, say,
“This is rough; let’s go back and retrace our steps and get back with
some people we know and get a little comfort before we blast into new
territory.” That kind of concept never entered his mind.

Now, Paul and Silas were characterized by the people at Thessalonica

with a most interesting characterization. And it’s in verse 6 of chapter
17. I want to use it as jumping off point. At the end of the verse, the
people, in determining the characterization of Paul and Silas chose
some interesting words. They said this, “These that have turned the
world upside down are come here also.” Now, that’s a very interesting
definition of two people: these that have turned the world upside
down.

Now, let me say, that’s amazing. It’s amazing just the statement itself,
that any man or any men could be men who so affected the world, that
the people said they’re turning it upside down. That’s tremendous. I
mean there are people, you know, who live their whole life, and the
world doesn’t even know they’re alive. There are Christians who have
absolutely no effect on anything.
Here were two people of whom the world said, “They’ve turned us
upside down.” But if you think that’s amazing, get this; they’ve only
been to one town: Philippi in Europe. And already, through the events
of one few days in one town, the world is convinced these men are
turning it upside down. And the rumor has drifted all the way to
Thessalonica, which is over a hundred miles away. When you turn the
world upside down in your lifetime, that’s going some. When the
world says you’re turning it upside down, and you’ve only been around
a few weeks, that’s really going some.

As we look at these two individuals, Paul and Silas, the amazing

consequence of their ministry in Europe can really be based on some
very, very key factors. There were reasons that they did what they did,
and there were reasons that they had the effect that they had.

Somebody said one time, “There are – there are people who watch
things happen, and there are people who make things happen, and
there are people who don’t know what’s happening.” These were
people who made things happen. Every time they took a step, the
world shook. They had an effect; they mattered.

One writer said, “There are only two people that count in the modern
world: a committed communist and a committed Christian. Everybody
else is along for the ride.”

Some people count. Some people are just sort of – you know, I used to
call them kind of eternal ding-a-lings. You know, they just never
amount to anything. They just go along. You know? They float. They’re
in limbo. Then there are people who count. There are people who
make waves in this world. There are people who upset the system.
There are Christians who disturb the comfort of sinners.

Paul and Silas were those kind of people. You know, God’s always had
those kind of people. God’s always had people who made waves. God’s
always had people who upset Satan’s apple cart; who took a placid,
sinful situation and threw it into chaos.

Now, there was one that I particularly like, and I’ll just share a few
illustrations real quick. Elijah. Oh, Elijah made waves all over the
place. He was always hassling Ahab. Ahab would have made a black
mark on a piece of coal; he was bad. And he had a woman that was just
as bad by the name of Jezebel. But it came to pass, when Ahab saw
Elijah, Ahab said unto him, “Are you he who troubles Israel? You’re
the guy messing up the system.”

And I love Elijah’s answer. He says, “No, I haven’t troubled Israel; you
have. You and your father’s house in that you have forsaken the
commandments of the Lord and followed Baalim.” Elijah made waves.

There was another guy, and he did it in a different way, this fellow. He
was kind of a – more of a – a soulful, kind of sensitive person, and his
name was Jeremiah. But Jeremiah created havoc because of the kind
of man that he was. In Jeremiah 38, let me just read you a couple of
verses here, verses 2 through 4. Listen, now here’s Jeremiah’s
message. He tells Israel this, get this, “Thus saith the Lord, ‘He that
remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the
pestilence’” – Jerusalem is in for it – “‘but he that goeth forth to the
Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prize and shall
live.’” He’s talking about the Chaldeans are going to come down and
wipe out the city and take some people captive. “Thus saith the Lord,
‘This city shall surely be given into the hands of the king of Babylon’s
army, which shall take it.’”

Now, he says Babylon’s going to knock off Jerusalem. Now, that is

what God says. Now, you want to get the reaction. What an
announcement. You see, I mean the Israeli army, at that point, may
say to themselves, “Now, we got to get armed up and get ready to go,
because Babylon may come over here. We’ve got to have this thing in
hand.”

“Therefore, the princes said to the king, “We beseech you, let this man
be put to death” – kill Jeremiah. What do you want to kill him for?
“‘For thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in
the city’” – what do you mean?

“He’s wrecking the morale of everybody. Here we’re getting ready to

fight Babylon, and he’s saying, ‘Nope, God says you’re all going to get
wiped out.’ What do you think that’s doing for the morale of the
army?”

“‘He’s speaking such words, and this man seeks not the welfare of the
people, but the harm of the people.’”

So, old Zedekiah turns him over and says, “Okay, he’s in your hands.”
You see, Jeremiah made waves, and they wanted to get rid of him
because he disturbed the complacency of sin.

There was another man, a simple man. He was kind of a farmer, really,
but he made some waves. His name was Amos. In Amos chapter 7,
verse 10, “Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam, king of
Israel,” and this is what he said, “‘Amos has conspired against thee’” –
which was a lie; Amos was speaking the truth, and these guys are
propagating error – “‘Amos has conspired against thee in the midst of
the house of Israel’” – listen to this – “‘the land is not able to bear all
his words.’” Get rid of that guy, we can’t take him. And it wasn’t that
he was personally offensive, it was that what he said offended.

Now, beloved, God has always had people that made waves when they
confronted the system and the sinners that make up the system, you
see. When you come to the book of Acts, you got another guy, and it’s
Paul. Every time he put his foot down, something rattled. Inevitable.
In Acts, he didn’t go into a town and just, you know, gently leave an
impression; he turned towns into chaos whenever he ministered there.

Now, in Acts chapter 21, verse 28, he had been in Jerusalem just a
little while, and they were so upset, they just stirred up all the people
and had a riot. He created riots everywhere. And they started yelling,
“Men of Israel, help.” See? “We got to get this Paul; help us. This is the
man that teaches all men everywhere against the people and the law
and this place. And further, he brought Greeks into the temple and
polluted the holy place.’” They didn’t say he did that at all. It says they
thought – they saw him talking to a guy named Trophimus, who
happened to be from Ephesus, so they assumed he took him into the
holy place. It’s all trumped up.
Well, verse 30 says, “The whole city was moved. The people rant
together, took Paul, drew him out of the temple. At once the doors
were shut. And as they went about to kill him” – we’ll stop there. You
know they didn’t. But everywhere he went, he created a mess. He
created chaos. Why? Because of what he said. Keep that in your mind.
Because of what he said.

Now, if you create trouble because of what you are, you’ve got personal
problems. If you just make trouble, you say, “Well, I get out there, and
I try to witness, and I get into all kinds of trouble,” well, then maybe
it’s because you’re an offensive person; that’s a personality problem. It
wasn’t Paul that offended; it was what he said that offended.

All right, chapter 22 gives us another illustration, in verse 22, “They

listened to him until this word, and then lifted up their voices and
said” – listen to this – “‘Away with such a fellow from the earth’” –
now, that’s serious. It’s not, “Get him out of town;” it’s, “Get him off
the globe.” “‘It is not fit that he should live.’”

Now, you know, these people were upset. You know how I know they
were upset? The next verse, “As they cried out, they threw their clothes
off.” They were upset. They started tearing their clothes off. Now, if
that wasn’t bad enough, it says, “They threw dust in the air” – they
were like they’d gone bananas, tearing their clothes and throwing dirt,
see? What does that express? It expresses a tremendous frustration.
They’re trying to release their hostility, and they’re just tearing their
clothes and throwing dirt. They were really upset. And all he’d done
was preach Jesus. See? He made waves.

Now, he did the same thing in chapter 24, verse 5. He – and I love this,
“We have found this man a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition among
all the Jews throughout the world” – isn’t that interesting? They
thought this guy had – he had actually turned the world on its ear.
“He’s a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He goes about to
profane the temple” – and so forth and so on. And they said the same
thing about him in chapter 28, verse 22, “We desire to hear of thee
what you think, for as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it
is spoken against.” You know what he had done? He had made
Christianity the issue everywhere he went.

Now, what is it that makes it in Elijah? What is it makes a difference

between a no-name and a Jeremiah? Between an Amos and a Paul and
a nobody, a Christian who just never amounts to anything? He’s just
there, but no one really cares. No one knows.

Why have we forgotten 10,000 times 10,000 missionaries, and only

vaguely remember names like Livingstone and Carey and Martyn and
Adoniram Judson? Why? And why have we forgotten hundreds of
thousands of preachers and vaguely remember Savanarola, and Huss,
and Wesley, and Luther, and Calvin, and Melancthon, and Edwards,
and Spurgeon, and Moody? And vaguely we remember those names,
but we don’t remember most.

What is it that makes a man who really shakes the world? Well, I think
the characteristics are right here in our narrative in chapter 17. It’s not
listed here in order; it’s in the text implied. As we watch these men
operate, I’m not only interested in what they do, I’m interested in why
they do it. You see? I want to get behind the actual activity. It doesn’t
do me any good to study, well, they went to Amphipolis, and they went
to Thessalonica. I don’t have to go there. What were the principles
operating in their ministry that made it what it was?

And there are five things here that we put down in the little outline for
you. And you have one there in your bulletin. There are five things that
made these men men who shook the world, men who turned it upside
down, who upset the system. The five are these, and they need
definition, and we’re going to define them: courage, content, converts,
conflict, and concern.

Now, because these two stories are so closely parallel, we’re going to
take them together. Rather than going through Thessalonica down to
verse 9, and then straight on through Berea, we’re going to just take
the passages together. We’ll compare the verses. That’s why we put
them thusly in the outline. And we’re going to see spiritual principles
that made these men men that really turned the world on its ear. And
these are exciting principles.

Now, these two towns – Thessalonica they were in, in the first 9
verses; and Berea they were in, in verses 10 to 15 – were very different
towns. Thessalonica was big time. Thessalonica had been named in
315 B.C. by the wife of Cassander, one of Alexander’s main men.
Cassander’s wife, who named this town, incidentally, after herself, was
the – I think step-sister it was to Alexander the Great. This had
become a very famous city. It was a city of 200,000 people at least. It
was a city that was the capital of Macedonia. Three great rivers came
through it and converged into the sea. And so, it was a very important
port.

Also, the Egnatia Highway went right through the middle of

Thessalonica, which made it the great place where the armies all
marched through, and everybody who was traveling east and west
came that way. Incidentally, today, if you go to the area that was
Macedonia, you’ll find that city is still the most important city in that
part of the world, and the name of it is Salonica.

On the other hand, Berea was nowhere. Berea was strictly the
boondocks. Approximately 50 miles – some say 40; some say 50;
some say 60, the original site – south and west of Thessalonica was an
off-the-beaten-track, out-of-the-way place called Berea that never
would have amounted to anything, probably, had not Cicero reflected
upon it and had not the apostle Paul gone there.

And so, we have two different cities: one on the highway, and one on
the byway, but you have the same thing going on in both places that
illustrate to us the principles that make a man the man that turns the
world upside down.

Now, I don’t know about you, but one thing I’ve always wanted to do
all my life, and I hope it’s a holy ambition, is I’ve always wanted my
life to count. I couldn’t think of anything worse than – than to think
that I never would have any effect on anything.
When I used to grow up, my dad always used to use reverse
psychology. And whenever I’d goof off, he’d say, “Oh, you’ll never
amount to a hill of beans.” That was always what he said to me.

I mean it was wise, because I always convinced myself, “I will, too,

amount to a hill of beans.” That’s just about what I’ve amounted to.
But I – I’ve always had this fear that I would never really count for
God, and that’s a haunting fear. I hope it’s one with you. I hope you
want to matter. I hope you want to be somebody who because you
lived there’s a difference.

Well, as we look at these men in these two cities, we’re going to see the
same features that illustrate to us in a double dose what the principles
are that make a man a man who changes the world.

Principle number one: courage. Courage. We’ll see it in Thessalonica;

we’ll see it exhibited in Berea. Now, over and over again, before we
look at the passage, we have seen that courage and boldness was a part
of the early Church genius. We saw, from the very beginning, how they
would go into a town, and they would run into pressure, and
immediately they would get courageous, wouldn’t they? And the more
pressure, the more courage; the more courage, the more dynamic
message they had. It was a fantastic ingredient in the ministry of the
early Church. It still is. Courage, boldness, fearlessness. The apostle
Paul had this. There’s no question about it.

Over in Acts 20, verse 22, he says, “I go bound in the Spirit to

Jerusalem, and I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Well, you know
what he meant by that? He knew it was all going to be bad; he just
didn’t know what kind of bad.

You say, “How did he know it was going to be bad?”

“The Holy Spirit witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and
afflictions await me. But none of these things move me. Neither count
I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy and
the ministry.”
“I’m going to finish the ministry God gave me to do if it kills me.” And
it did.

But, you see, he was that kind of a man. He was an undaunted man.
Believe me, and this is so basic, no one ever – I say it again – no one
ever really affects the world for Christ who doesn’t have the courage of
his conviction and the courage of his calling. You can be convicted
about things, but if you’re not willing to tell somebody about it, it
doesn’t do any good. You need not only the courage of your conviction,
but the courage to carry out the calling God gave you. It is courageous
people who make a difference.

Look at verse 1, and let’s see the courage illustrated. Now when they
finished up in Philippi, they left – you remember they had made
situations secure for the Christians there, Paul telling them he was a
Roman citizen, and that kind of set things in order. They were scared
of him from then on, because they had persecuted a Roman citizen,
which was against the law. So, the Christians were going to be able to
rest for a while at Philippi. So, they press on.

“And when they had passed through Amphipolis” – now, that was 33
miles from Philippi; they went from Amphipolis to Apollonia. That
was 30 miles from Amphipolis. And then they went to Thessalonica,
which was 37 miles from Apollonia, which was 30 miles from
Amphipolis, which 33 miles – and don’t you ever forget it – from
Philippi.

And what’s the significance of that? The significance of that is that

they had their mind set on Thessalonica. They probably stopped for
the night in Apollonia and Amphipolis. If they went that way and did
cover 30 miles a day and stayed overnight at those two places, which
were perfect points, it is, as some scholars tell us, evidence that Paul
didn’t walk everywhere he went; he probably hired horses, which is an
interesting thought. But nevertheless, they just stopped overnight at
Amphipolis and Apollonia, likely, that isn’t in the text; that’s a likely
conclusion.
“And they came to Thessalonica” – now watch – “where there was a
synagogue of the Jews” – now hang on, what had happened on the
first missionary journey? Every time Paul went into a town, where did
he go first? To the synagogue. And what happened every time? One
word, and it starts with P – persecution. Every time they went to the
synagogue, they got it.

Now, there was a synagogue in Thessalonica.

You say, “Oh-ho, I’ll bet he’s learned.”

Look back in chapter 13, every time he got near a synagogue – wham –
he got it. And that’s right; he did. Chapter 13, verse 6, they had gone –
they had met a sorcerer in verse 6 of chapter 13. The first place they
went, the Isle of Cyprus, they met a sorcerer who was a Jew. Every
time they got close to the Jews, they got persecuted and confrontation
with Satan.

Go to verse 45, it says that when they came into the area of Galatia,
“The whole place came together to hear the Word,” verse 44. “When
the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, spoke against
these things which were spoken by Paul, and contradicting and
blaspheming.”

Look at verse 50, “The Jews stirred up the devout and honorable
women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against
Paul and Barnabas, expelled them out of their borders.”

Chapter 14, verse 1, “They went into the synagogue of the Jews. There
were some Jews who believed.” That just stirred up trouble. Verse 2,
“The unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles.” And they tried to stone
them in verse 5. They fled in verse 6. Go down to verse 19, they threw
them out of the city of Lystra, stoned them there. And it was always
the Jews, the Jews, the Jews who persecuted Paul in his ministry.

You say, “Well, now, when he goes there at Thessalonica, boy, I’ll bet
he’ll avoid that place.” Look at verse 2, “And Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them” – stop there. In unto whom? The Jews in the
synagogue. Now, that, my friends, is courage. He had just gotten over
terrible pain. He had just had excruciating agony in Philippi that we
described last week, but which beggars words to describe. He had been
through pain and terror and threat every time he went to a synagogue
on his first journey.

He goes to Thessalonica; he’s just been in jail. He doesn’t want a

vacation; he goes right back into the synagogue again. Why? Because
that was God’s calling to him. The man not only had the courage to
believe what he believed, but he had the courage to do what God had
called him to do. That’s courage, and that’s basic to have an effect on
the world.

You know, he said in Romans 1:18 (John meant verse 16), “I’m not
ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s the power of God to them
that believe; to the Jew first, also to the Greek.” And so, the priority in
his mind was to go to Israel. He said in Romans 10:1, “My heart’s
desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved.” He had such a
heart for Israel he could almost wish himself to be accursed for their
sake. He went there, knowing exactly what he was to expect, and
believe me, he got it. He always got it.

I’m not going to take the time – I could take you through the rest of
the book of Acts, and you’ll find that every time he went to the
synagogue, the same thing happened. But, you see, that did not move
him because he did not count his life dear unto himself, but he knew
there was joy in finishing the ministry that Jesus had given him to do.
That’s courage.

You say, “Well, hey, it could have been a new beginning. I mean, you
know, it wasn’t the synagogue in Philippi, so he hadn’t gotten into that
deal yet. He’d been in a lot of trouble just recently from the Greeks,
but not the Jews. Maybe this was a new time. I mean, after all, the
Macedonian vision had been a man from Macedonia, and after all, he
wasn’t the apostle to the Jews; he was the apostle to whom? I mean
here was Europe, a whole new ballgame, maybe we could just kind of
cool it and avoid the issue.”
No, you just don’t know him very well. He never avoided issues; he
created issues. In spite of all the pain, he had a love for Israel; he had
an obedient spirit to the Lord, and the Spirit was leading him to go to
the synagogue, and he went. And it’s amazing. He went right in there,
as his manner was, and he never had a thought for the pain that he
was going to have.

Now, he did the same thing in Berea when he got there later. Look at
verse 10, “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by
night unto Berea” – now, look at that. When you – when they’ve sent
him away by night, you know they’re trying to get them out of trouble.
He ran into trouble in Thessalonica, and we’ll see that later.

But what happened, when he got to Berea – they shuffled him out at
night, down the road there, about 50 miles, and they stuff him off in
Berea. They figure, “Man, he’s safe here; there’s nothing going on in
this town. This is dead. Just cool it and rest. And look at this - “by
night unto Berea, who coming there” – what did he do? – “went into
the synagogue of the Jews.” There was no other way. He knew what he
believed, and he knew where he wanted to take the message. And it
didn’t matter to him one bit that he just jumped out of one fire into the
next. He didn’t rest in Berea, lick his wounds.

Do you remember, back in Lystra, chapter 14, they stoned him? And
that was a horrible thing. They stoned him so badly they thought he
was dead. They threw him out of town and threw him on the city dump
heap. And the Bible says he was on the dump heap, and the people
came out to look at him, the Christians did, and all of a sudden he rose
up, dusted himself off.

You say, “What happened? Was that a miracle?”

I hope to tell you it was a miracle. He dusted himself off and beat it for
the hills. No. He dusted himself off, in chapter 14, verse 20, and went
back into town. You see? That’s courage. He had the courage of his
conviction, but he also had the courage of his calling. He not only
believed what he believed, but he wasn’t afraid to say it to whom he
needed to say it.
You say, “Boy, John, I tell you; I’d like to have that kind of courage.
How do you get it?”

Well, you don’t just get it by sitting around thinking about it.

You say, “What’s that kind of courage based on?”

I’m going to give you three steps to that kind of courage. Write them
down; they’re very basic. Three steps to that courage.

Step one – now, this is going to sound simple. It is. Aren’t you glad the
Bible’s simple? It includes all of us, you know? Step number one: trust
God. Now, I’ll show you what I mean by that. Trust God. Psalm 27 –
this is terrific. David, he was in trouble all the time. So, here he is in
trouble. So, what does he say? Listen to this, “The Lord is my light and
my salvation; whom shall I fear?” You like that? That’s like Ephesians
6, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of” – what? – “His might.”
You don’t go in there in your own strength.

You say, “Oh, I don’t know if I can handle that. Oh, boy, if I get into
too much pressure, oh.”

You’re going in your own strength. You know what’ll happen? You
won’t handle it. He says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?” Listen, “The Lord is the strength of my life; of
whom, then, shall I be afraid?” When God is on your side, who are you
going to fear? Who are you going to fear? “When the wicked, even
mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they
stumbled and fell.” He said, “I – as if I saw my enemies running after
me, and they all fell down in front of me. I didn’t do a thing; God did it
all. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.
Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One
thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the Lord, and enquire in His temple.

You know what he says? The thing to do is when you get all this
problem going on and all this trouble coming after you and all this
persecution, just focus on the Lord. He says, “One thing I desire, that’s
to focus on him.” As long as the believer really puts his trust in God, he
has absolutely nothing to fear. Do you believe that? That’s easier to
believe than it is to practice.

And he goes all the way down through it like this, but he comes – I like
this in verse 13; it starts out, “I would have fainted unless” – watch –
“I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord” – do you see that? You
know, Christian, you will – you will faint; you will poop out in every
stress situation if you don’t trust God, because you’re going it alone on
your own strength.

Then he says, “Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage” – how can you
be of good courage? By waiting on the Lord, by letting it be his battle. I
always think of the battle of Israel. Remember when the Lord said,
“Israel you don’t have to worry; put the choir in front.” Can you
imagine an army with a choir in front?

You say, “Why?”

The battle is not yours; the battle is the Lord’s. Just get the praising
out there and don’t worry about the fighting. That’s the point. “Wait
on the Lord and be of good courage; He shall strengthen thine heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord.”

So, you see, any kind of courage you’re going to have depends upon
your theology. If you’ve got an inadequate doctrine of God, you’re
going to be a coward.

Over in Psalm 31, verse 23 – this is good – “O love the Lord, all ye His
saints, for the Lord preserveth the faithful” – isn’t that good? Just –
just trust God; He’ll take care. Well, we could talk about it - it’s in
chapter 34, 42, all over the place - how that if we trust God – listen,
don’t ever go out into battle against the foe on your own strength.
Always trust God. Always trust God.

Second thing, confess sin. You know, if you go into battle with known
sin in your life, there’re not going to be much victory. If you go out to
witness to the world, and you’re living a sinful life, and you wonder
why you get shot down, that’s why. If you’re going to be a vessel unto
honor, you’re going to be a pure vessel - right? - 1 Timothy. Listen to
this, Psalm 7, verse 1, “O Lord my God, in Thee do I put my trust. Save
me from all those who persecute me, and deliver me lest they tear my
soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there’s none to deliver. O
Lord my God” – and then he says this – “if I have done this, if there be
iniquity in my hands, if I have rewarded evil unto him who was at
peace with me, let the enemy persecute my soul and take it; let him
tread down my life on the earth, and lay mine honor in the dust.”

What’s David saying? David’s saying, “God, if there’s sin in my life, I

deserve everything that comes. But, God, if I’ve lived a pure life,
deliver me and show your glory.”

Now, verse 10 – listen to this – “My defense is with God” – but listen –
“who saveth” – what? – “the upright in heart.” Boy, if you’re going to
go to battle against the enemy, you better be sure, number one, you
trust God; number two, you confess sin and you’re pure.

You know, remember the breastplate of righteousness in Ephesians 6?

If you go out to battle with a hole in the breastplate of personal
righteousness, Satan will jab you every time.

Third thing, in the midst of all of it, not only trust God, confess sin, but
thirdly thank Him in advance. Do you know what that does for your
attitude when you go into battle and say, “God, I’m going out there and
be bold, and I’m going to put it on the line; I’m going to say what I
need to say; I’m going to thank you for the victory that hasn’t been
won yet”? Boy, that’s great.

You say, “Whoever did that?”

Paul. Acts 28:15. I love this; he thanked God and took courage. He’d
just arrived in Rome. He says, “Thank you, God, for victories. We’re
going to have a great time here,” and just moved in. So, there’s that
have courage. Trust God.

Now you say, “Well, how can I trust Him?”

You’ve got to know Him.

“How are we going to know Him?”

Read the Bible. Dig into the text. You’ll get to know Him. The better
you know Him, the better you trust Him. Right? The better you trust
Him, the better you’re going to be able to enter into battle with
confidence and not fear. God will deliver you. He’s in the business.
Deliverance. One of His products.

So, courage, then, depends upon your theology. If you’ve got a lousy
doctrine of God, you’re not going to have any confidence. So, the first
feature, then, of effectiveness in turning the world upside down is
boldness or courage. They had it.

Second thing - you know, a lot of people have courage, but they don’t
have that second one which is content. You know, when you go out, to
really turn the world upside down, you’ve got to be courageous, but
you’ve also got to be right. You need to speak the truth. There are a lot
of people with a lot of boldness and a lot of courage; they just don’t
have anything to say. You know, I’m amazed how courageous the cults
are and some of these weird religions. I mean they are bold, aren’t
they? Just unbelievably bold. They put us to shame.

But the problem is that you’ve got to have courage with content.
They’re heavy on the courage; they have none of the content. Amazing
how courageous they are in the propagation of error, but that’s been
true for a long time.

You know, many people don’t make waves, because they don’t ever say
anything that’s divisive; they don’t ever bring up issues. They just sort
of, you know, gently slide in and out of every issue. Not Paul; he
created waves. He smacked the world head on, nose to nose, with
issues. When right content is declared, you’re going to have effects.

Now, some people say, “Oh, you know, I – I’ve been a Christian a long
time. I work, and I – there’s never any trouble. I have no effect.”

That’s terrible to admit. You know why? One, you’re not courageous,
or two, you haven’t got anything to say. Paul, you see, never got into
trouble because of himself; he got into trouble of his message. You
see? His content. And that’s – that’s basic.

You know, there are Christians who are offensive, and it’s maybe
they’re personality, or their breath, or whatever. You know? I mean
there’s all kinds of ways to be offensive. But Paul was never offensive
personally; he was offensive because of what he said. Do you see? And
it wasn’t just his dynamic person that created the stir, it was his
content.

You know, you say, “Well, I don’t want to offend anybody.”

Oh, yes you do, beloved. You’ve got to offend people. The one thing
you do want to do is take a whole lot of complacent, placid sinners who
are just rolling along in their sin, and you want to blast them to pieces.
You want to rattle their securities, don’t you? Read Romans chapter 1.
He goes all down through there, talks about sin, and then in chapter 2,
he approaches all the securities of the Jew and the Gentile and blows
them to bits and leaves them stripped bare, stark naked in chapter 3,
and then offers them Jesus Christ.

We’re in the business of exploding securities and offending sin. Listen,

God’s been offended long enough by sin; it’s time we offended some
sinners. The Gospel has to offend. Romans 9:33, he says, “I lay in Zion
a stumbling stone, a rock of offense,” doesn’t he?

1 Peter chapter 2, verses 6 through 8, he says, “The stone which the

builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner.” And
what stone is it? It’s the stone of stumbling, the rock of offense. And
who is that? Jesus Christ. And people have been stumbling over Him
and been offended by Him ever since the propagation of the truth in
the Old Testament that He was coming.

You need to offend sinners. Now, I don’t mean you’re obnoxious. I

don’t mean you’re belligerent. I don’t mean you’re distasteful and
unloving. I just mean that you hit the issue head on. Right? You
haven’t done anybody any good unless you’ve confronted them with
the honest issues. And that’s exactly what Paul did.
Now, if you’re going to talk to the Jews in the synagogue at
Thessalonica, what do you think the issue is? The issue is who is
Messiah? Not only that, what was the biggest hang-up the Jews had
about Jesus being the Messiah? The fact that He died; they couldn’t
see a dead Messiah.

Paul says in Romans 1:18 and 1:23 that the cross to the Jews is a
stumbling block. They can’t see that. So, what’s – what’s the issue?
The issue is Jesus is Messiah, and He had to die. Now, what do you
think Paul’s going to talk on: the weather, religion, social issues? No.
He’s going to talk on Jesus is the Messiah, and He had to die. That’s
the issue. That’s exactly what he does, bangs right in there.

Verse 2, “And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three
Sabbath days” – three Saturdays in a row – “he reasoned with them
out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs
have” – what? – “suffered” - you see, that’s the issue – “and risen
again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is
the Messiah.” I’m telling you, I love the fact that he got right at the
issue.

Some people say, “Well, you can’t really witness; you can’t really get
going. You’ve got to warm up and get to know them.”

You’d have a hard time defending that scripturally. Don’t beat around
the bush. It took him three Sabbaths, and he nailed that thing every
time.

Now, I want you to see how the pattern went. “As his manner was, he
went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned” – that’s a most
interesting word; it’s a word from which we get words like dialogue
and dialectic, and it indicates not just a formal sermon. He didn’t just
get up there and preach; he allowed for questions and dialogue. And
the imperfect tense indicates a renewed kind of repeated questioning.

So, there was an interchange there. This is exciting. This guy knew his
stuff. Now, when you’re going to go into the synagogue, and you’re
going to say, “Now, here’s my message; any questions, I’ll be happy to
answer them,” you know what you’re talking about. Why, Peter said
we should be able to do that. Shouldn’t every question be able to give
to every man – what? – a reason for the hope that is in him? An
answer. An answer.

You know, we present Christianity, and then when questions come, we

shrivel up. It’s amazing how many Christian people are always asking
questions, “Well, so-and-so said this, and what do I say? Well, what is
the answer to this? Well, what...” You see, this is where you need to
study the Scriptures. Now, we’re happy to answer questions, because
that’s one way you learn the answers. But you need to pursue the kind
of a testimony that can present the content and then defend it. Right?
Christianity ought to be defensible.

And so, there’s old Paul, standing on his feet three Sabbaths in a row,
firing out the message, and they’re giving questions, and he’s giving
answers. You know, this became his pattern in the synagogue. It
worked so well, God just kept using it. Chapter 18, verse 4, “And he
reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and
the Greeks.” See, he used the mental – the mental approach of
dialogue. Now, keep this in mind, nobody ever got saved by
emotionalism. The only people who ever get saved are people who
believe in their minds the true facts of the Gospel.

So, salvation is then, first of all, a mental thing. It’s not emotional; it’s
mental. You must perceive the truth. Now, it becomes an emotional
response, doesn’t it? But salvation is a mental thing. You don’t want to
get somebody all mushed up emotionally into salvation. No, no, no.
You want their mind to be clear so they can truthfully apprehend the
facts. So, Paul used reason, and he persuaded them, in their own
minds, that these things were true; then the Spirit had the truth to use
to open their hearts. You see? Just like Lydia.

So, that’s in 18:4; 18:19 does the same thing again. “He came to the
synagogue in Ephesus and reasoned” – the same term again, the same
idea. He used the dialogue approach. Chapter 19, verse 8, the word
“disputing and persuading” was what he did there in Ephesus. And
then in verse 9, he was doing it in the school of a guy named Tyrannus.
Disputing, again, is the same idea: dialogue. And in chapter 24, you
have the very same thing again. There it’s translated preaching, but it
shouldn’t be.

So, it was the idea of dialoguing and discussing, on his feet. He was
defending Christianity. Man, this is terrific. True evangelism is
defensible. It is a defensible presentation of Christianity. It’s not hit
and run. It’s being able to stand your ground and give answers.

Now, you say, “Where did he get his information? Where did he start
from?”

Look at verse 2; I love this. Here’s the greatest – greatest approach to

apologetics. “As his manner was, he went in to them, and three
Sabbath days he dialogued with them out of” – what, philosophy? –
“Scripture.” You know what? He was an expository preacher. Now, I
don’t want to get on my hobby horse, but let me just say this, there’s
really only one effective activity to teach in the long run, and that’s to
teach the Scripture.

You say, “But he didn’t have the New Testament.”

That’s right, and he taught the Old Testament. And if they were
expositors of the Old Testament, how much more carefully should we
be expositors of the New Testament? What he did was this, he took the
Old Testament – whenever you see the word “Scriptures” in the New
Testament, it always refers to the Old Testament – Paul took the Old
Testament, and from it, “He opened and alleged” – that means he did
an exposition – “that Christ must needs to have suffered” – now, the
word “Christ” does not necessarily mean Jesus Christ; it simply means
anointed; it is the New Testament word for Messiah. So, Paul took the
Old Testament and showed that Messiah had to suffer and die and rise
from the dead.

Now, say I gave you an assignment. You’re going to speak to a whole

lot of Jewish people. Your assignment is to prove to them that Jesus is
the Messiah. Here’s where you’d begin; you would take the Old
Testament and you would show that whoever the Messiah was going to
be, He would have to die, and He would have to rise from the dead.
Now, if you were going to show that He had to die, what Scripture
would you use? Isaiah 53. And you maybe would go down through
Isaiah 53, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb
before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was
taken from judgment,” etcetera, etcetera, and go all the way down, and
His crucifixion with the thieves is even mentioned in chapter 53. The
whole picture of the cross in detail. And when you got done with that,
you’d go to Psalm 22, and you’d say, “There it is, right there, ‘My God,
my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?’ They cast lots for His garment.
They looked upon Him, and all His bones were visible,” and so forth
and so on, “they pierced his hands and feet.” All of that’s in the Old
Testament.

You’d take them to other places in the Old Testament all the way
through. You’d say, “Now, you see, He must die. You see, He must
die.” Then you’d say, “Now, I want to show you He’ll arise.” And you’d
take them over to Psalms 16, and you’d take them to verses 8 through
11, and you’d read him this, “Thou will not suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption. Thou wilt not leave His soul in Sheol.” God says, “I’m not
going to leave my Holy One dead; He’s going to rise from the dead.”
That was the text of Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2.
See?

So, you would take all those Old Testament passages and a lot more
that I haven’t suggested, and you would say, “You see now, beloved,
what happens? He must die, and He must rise.” And then you would
say, “Now, may I introduce to you one who has?” And then you would
introduce Jesus Christ, and you would open and allege from Scripture
that the Messiah would fit all these qualifications, and then you would
open and allege from history that Jesus did.

Beloved, the most convincing argument for the truth of who Jesus
Christ is is the absolute and total fulfillment of prophecy. And that’s
exactly what he did; he just took the Old Testament, did an exposition
on it, and showed exactly what was going to happen to the Messiah,
and then he said, “This” – look at it in verse 3 – “This Jesus, whom I
preach unto you, He is the Messiah” – by virtue of the fact that He fits
the Old Testament Scripture patterns. He fits it all.
I’m telling you, friends, that was a powerful shot. You know, the Jews
didn’t hardly know their Old Testament. Did you know that? Did you
know that in Matthew chapter 16 – let me read you something very,
very insightful into the Jewish problem of ignorance; he says in
Matthew 16 – well, let’s go to verse 21-22, “From that time forth began
Jesus to show unto His disciples how He must go to Jerusalem” – now
listen, He started telling about that – “and how He must suffer many
things from the elders and chief priests and scribes” – watch – “and be
killed, and be raised the third day.”

Now, here’s the Messiah. He’s arrived. He says, “I’m going to have to
die and be raised the third day.”

You say, “Oh, the disciples probably said, ‘Oh, You are the Messiah;
You are the Messiah.’”

No. Big-mouth Peter opened his mouth. He late Satan talk through
him and said, “Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee.”
Do you know that even the disciples didn’t understand the Scripture?
They didn’t know the Messiah had to suffer and die. They blew it.
There were two of them crying, after Jesus rose, and walked along the
road moaning and groaning. And all of a sudden, Jesus joins them.
They don’t recognize Him. In Luke 24 He says, “O fools” – you dodos
– “slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken. Ought not
Christ to have suffered these things and then enter His glory?” Then
be resurrected and enter glory? And beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning Himself. They were all there; they just didn’t know it; they
didn’t read it; they didn’t learn it.

And so, you see, they – they only saw the kingdom thing; they didn’t
see the suffering and death and the resurrection. Well, that was his
approach. Content. I mean he got right to the issue, presented the
truth of Christ, and defended it. He knew the Scripture. He could take
the Scripture and use the Scripture to present his point. He could
match the life of Christ with the Scripture. He was able to do the Old
Testament and the New Testament together, to be a convincing
argument. He was a student of Scripture. That’s basic, beloved. If
you’re going to turn the world upside down, you got to know the Word.
The Word is the lever; it does the job.

Now, look at Berea, same thing. He came to Berea and gave the same
message. Then verse 11 says, “These were more noble than those in
Thessalonica” – there’s a better class of people there.

You say, “Does that mean aristocracy?”

No, they were noble for this reason, “They received the Word with all
readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those
things were so.”

You say, “Why were they noble, John?”

They were noble because they were so open-minded to the truth. You
know that it says in – and this is interesting; catch this – in verse 4 it
says, “And some of them believed.” The actual Greek there is peithō to
be persuaded. Some of those people in Thessalonica were actually
persuaded. The idea is against their - their own desire, against their
own preconceptions. Paul had to persuade them.

But look here, in verse 12 it says, “Therefore, many of them believed” –

in Berea, and it’s not the word peíthō, it’s the word pisteuō – they
believed – and it’s not passive; it active. They weren’t persuaded; they
believed on their own. What was the difference in the two groups? One
of them Paul had to – had to persuade into the truth; the other one
was so ready and so open they searched it out all by themselves. That’s
the difference in the nobility of the Bereans; they didn’t have any of
those terrible prejudices.

Do you know that when the persecution came in Berea, it came from
people who followed him from Thessalonica because the Jews of Berea
were open-minded and honest seekers of the truth and had no
prejudice? They weren’t hung up by Gentiles getting saved. They
weren’t hung up at all on that.

And so, they were noble in the sense that they were open to Scripture
and they were honestly desiring the truth. And Paul, to them, spoke
the same truth, but he didn’t have to stand there and persuade them
into it; he just spoke it to them, and they went right back to their own
Old Testaments, yanked out the scrolls and started looking it up
themselves. The difference in their character was just their open-
mindedness and sensitivity to the truth in an unprejudiced way.

The word for – notice it says that they searched the Scriptures every
day. The word for “search” is to examine. It was a word to speak of
judicial investigation. They sifted the evidence carefully.

You know what I believe? I believe that a man who honestly sifts the
evidence of Scripture is going to come to the right conclusion. I think
Scripture can defend itself; don’t you?

Jesus had said in John 5:39, He says, “Search the Scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life” – and watch – “they are they
which testify of Me.” He says, “You go ahead, study your Old
Testament. You know what you’re going to find? Me.”

In verse 46, the same chapter, John 5, “For had you believed Moses,
you would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me.” And He says, “And
how shall you believe Me if you don’t believe him?” Over in chapter 7,
verse 17, He says, “If you really want to do God’s will, you’ll know the
truth.”

Remember in Luke 16, the rich man and Lazarus? The rich man died
and went to Hades, and Lazarus died and went to Abraham’s bosom.
And the rich man, being in torment, said to Abraham, “Abraham, dip
your finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this
flame.” And then he says, “Would you please send somebody? Send
Lazarus back from the dead to warn my brothers.”

And Abraham says to him, “No sense in doing that. If they don’t
believe Moses and the prophets, they won’t believe the one raised from
the dead.”

You say, “Are you sure that’s true?”

I’m sure it’s true. One raised from the dead, and they didn’t believe
Him. They still don’t. It’s all in the Old Testament. They searched the
Scriptures, and believe me, God reveals Himself. Paul said to Timothy,
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the
man of God may be mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good
works.” “You study the Old Testament,” he said to Timothy, “and you’ll
find the truth of righteousness there.”

And so, these noble folks didn’t need to be publically persuaded; they
sought it out themselves. They were such noble people.

Now, notice something, beloved, I close with this; the Gospel we

preach must have two things. It must have qualities that can be open
to public questioning, that’s Thessalonica; and it must have quality
that can be open to private research, that’s Berea. Do you have that
kind of content? Can you present a message to this world and stand on
your feet if the case needs it and defend that message biblically?
Secondly, can you present such a message that sends them to the
Scripture and finds its defense there?

Beloved, it behooves us to know the book. To know the book. People

who make a difference in the world, people who turn it upside down,
people who affect this world are people who know the Word of God; I
believe that with all my heart. And there are people who can stand on
their feet, eyeball to eyeball with people and defend what they believe,
and there are people who can take people where they’re at and say,
“Here’s what I believe. You take it to the Scripture and let it stand the
test of Scripture, and you’ll find it confirmed. You give men answers
that you can defend on your feet and answers that you can defend
through the Word of God, and you’ve given them answers.

You say, “John, I’d like to be able to do that. How? How can I do that?
How can I have content like that, can make me turn the world upside
down?”

One – four points – this is like the three I gave you on courage. Get
them real quick, I’m just going to fire them out. If you’re going to have
content, one, confess and repent of all sin. That’s where you start. You
don’t start by Bible study; you start by confession.

You say, “Why?”

First Peter 2:1, “Laying aside all malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, and evil
speaking, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word.”
Before you can ever get into the Word to grow by it, you have to lay
aside sin. Purify. That’s point one.

Two, study. You’ll never know the Bible; there is no shortcut; there is
absolute – believe me, if there is a shortcut, I’d have found it a long
time ago; there’s none. Paul said to Timothy, “Study to show thyself
approved unto God.” What does that mean? Be such a good student
that God is excited about the fact that you know the truth.

You know the thing that haunts you all the time when you’re a
preacher? When you’re a teacher? The fact that this is supposed to be
approved by God, not by you. We can get away with murder with
people; you can’t get away with anything with God. So, one, purify,
confess sin. Two, study. There’s no shortcut, absolutely none. Study
the Word.

Three, personalize the Word. What does that mean? Translate what is
academic into your own life. Into your own life. The things that you’re
going to be effectively teaching other people are the things that you
have learned by your own living, right? For me to put something on a
piece of paper and teach it to you is one thing; for me to teach you
what God has been doing in my life is something completely different.

What do you mean by that? Paul says, “Be renewed in your mind.” In
Colossians and in Romans 12:2 he says, “Be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.” In other words, you know the Word and it
changes your life and you speak out of experience. So, you confess sin,
you learn the Word, and then you personalize it.

Now, I’ll give you a last one. Share it.

“Oh,” you say, “I’m going to learn it, and when I get it all learned, then
I’m going to come out of my room and say it to somebody.”

Oh, that’s ridiculous. You be talking about it as you’re learning it.

There’s no better way to learn than to teach. Right? We who teach find
out that what we teach we learn. Listen to Philippians 2:15, “Be
blameless, harmless, children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a
crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the
world; holding forth the Word of life.” That’s part of our responsibility.
Don’t bottle it up; stick it out.

You say, “John, I wish I had content. I wish I could defend the Word. I
wish I could send people to Scripture that they could learn it. I wish I
could build a framework for people to really examine the truth.”

Here you can do it. Confess sin, study the book, personalize it, make it
your own. Before you have any right to tell anybody something, you
ought to have it in your own life. What does the Bible say? “Be ye not
hearers of the Word only, but” – what? – “doers. For if you’re only a
hearer, you deceive yourself.”

You say, “Oh, I learned that. I learned that.”

You didn’t learn that. Who are you kidding? You never learned it till it
operated.

And then lastly, share the Word. Share the Word. Well, we’ll cover the
last three – and they are important – in a few weeks. Let’s pray.

Father, we’re grateful that You have given us patterns of these men.
And we even hear Paul’s words to us, “Be followers of me as I am of
Christ.” And we hear him say to these Philippians, “What you have
seen and heard in me do.”

Father, we pray that we might be able to emulate Paul’s courage and

Paul’s content; that we might have the kind of courage that comes
from trusting God, having a pure life, really leaning on His strength
and not our own, and praising Him in advance; that we might have the
kind of content that comes only when we are pure, when we study
diligently that we might know, when we make things our own, and
when we share them with those who are around us.

God, help us to be people who have an effect, who make a difference,

that Jesus Christ might receive all the glory, we pray in His name,
amen.

How Did the Apostles Turn the World Upside Down?

A few months ago, we looked at the characteristics of Jesus’

Movement. The most important foundation of all we do in DMMs

should be what Jesus taught and did, not Peter or Paul. After reflecting

on Jesus’ ways of working, we can learn much from His disciples as

well,
Let’s discover some basic characteristics of the Jerusalem movement,

led by Peter and the earliest apostles. This movement began after

Jesus rose again.

What did the Jerusalem Movement look like?

We’ll look at seven characteristics that affected the apostle’s

fruitfulness. These reflect the idea that Peter and the apostles were

disciples of Jesus, and followed what He taught and did. We should

remember that teaching and practice were integrated. They

should not be separated.

1. When the Kingdom of God was announced, wonders and signs

followed.
Jesus gave the apostles power and authority over all demons and

to cure diseases (Luke 9:1-2). These signs showed that the Kingdom of

God was real, and helped many people believe.

In Acts we see that “many wonders and signs were done through the

apostles” (Acts 2:43).

For example, Peter and John healed the lame man at the temple gate

called Beautiful (Acts 3:1). Jesus had healed lame people at the temple

before (Matt 21:14). Peter and John’s healing opened the door to
proclaim Jesus (Acts 3:12-18). The result was that the number of

believers increased to about 5,000 men, just like Jesus (Acts 4:4).

2. Growth of disciples through Peter and the Apostles

Let’s look at four important things about the growth of disciples.

A. Discipleship started with repentance and baptism

At Pentecost, when the people were cut to the heart and asked what

they must do, Peter answered they should:

(i) Repent

AND

(ii) Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

Just saying “I repent” was not enough. They were baptized in water at

the same time. (Acts 2:41).

There wasn’t a long time between repentance and baptism. This is

what John the Baptist practiced. The people confessed their sins at

baptism (Matt 3:6, Mark 1:4,5).

Like John, Jesus also proclaimed repentance (Mark 1:15). At

first, Jesus himself was baptizing (John 3:22), and later His disciples

were baptizing (John 4:1-2).

(iii) They would receive the gift of the promised Holy Spirit. Jesus

had set the example of water and Spirit baptism coming together.

From Pentecost onwards, those who believed were to receive the gift of

the Holy Spirit also (Acts 2:38, 39).

We will look more closely at baptism in a future article. For now, it’s

enough to highlight repentance and baptism in water and Spirit

happened together for the new disciples after Pentecost.

B. Number of disciples grew quickly

Great numbers followed Jesus (Luke 6:17). The largest recorded

number being 5,000 men (Luke 9:14). This rapid growth was also true

for the Apostles. When Matthias was chosen to replace Judas, there

were about 120 disciples (Acts 1:15). At Pentecost, they grew by about

3,000 (Acts 2:41). That same year their numbers grew to 5,000 men,

not including the women and children (Acts 4:4). That is rapid growth

of disciples!

C. Generational growth
In Acts, we observe the Jerusalem church (meaning the disciples who

gathered in and around Jerusalem) growing generationally to regions

beyond. Jerusalem was the first generation. Then, Philip, Peter, and
John played important roles in making second-generation churches in

Samaria and Judea (Acts 8:5-13; 8:25; 8:26-39). Antioch Syria was

another second-generation church started by disciples from Jerusalem

(Acts 11:19). From Antioch many third-generation churches were

started by Barnabas and Paul.

D. “People of Peace”
As with Jesus, “People of Peace” played important roles in seeing the

spread of the Gospel, Cornelius is an example (Acts 10:23-48).

3. The Movement spread widely

Through generational growth of churches, the Gospel spread far and

wide. However, it wasn’t only Paul and his companions who did this.

The Ethiopian Eunuch took the Gospel to Ethiopia. The Roman church

was formed long before Paul got there, perhaps by visitors from Rome

at Pentecost (Acts 2:10).

4. Focus on raising up leaders

As the Movement grew, the number and type of leaders also grew.

Matthias was added to the eleven (Acts 1:15-26). Prophets such as

Agabus arose (Acts 11:27). Philip was an evangelist (Acts 21:8). Elders,
like James, brother of Jesus, were appointed (Acts 11:30; 12:17; 15:12-

29).

Those who performed “acts of service” were appointed as deacons.

Stephen and the seven oversaw the daily distribution for widows (Acts

6:1-6). They weren’t deacons serving the communion table. They led a

compassion ministry in the church.

As the movement grew beyond Jerusalem, others such as Barnabas

and Paul were appointed apostles (Acts 14:14). There were also

prophets and teachers (Acts 13:1).

5. Persecution didn’t stop the Movement

Persecution came at different levels at different times. The martyrdom

of Stephen led to great persecution, but the assembly continued to

multiply (Acts 8:1; 9:31). The persecution by Herod, and the

martyrdom of James, brother of John, did not stop the growth and

multiplication either (Acts 12:1-5; 12:24).

6. The Apostles made disciples who made disciples
The Great Commission became a reality as the apostles made disciples

who made disciples (Matt 28:18-20). The apostles discipled Barnabas,

who discipled Saul, who discipled Timothy and so on.

7. The Apostles discipled in public places and in homes

Jesus discipled in public places (including synagogues and the

Temple), and in homes. The apostles followed Jesus’ example

and did not own a single place of worship of their own, nor

did they desire one.

Their growth and multiplication were not tied to owning buildings.

The disciples met and were taught in private homes (Acts 2:46; 5:42).

In the Temple, they met at Solomon’s Portico in the Gentile court

(Acts 3:11; 5:12). This was a common meeting place for Jewish Rabbis

to teach their disciples.

The patterns that Jesus started, continued through the apostles and

the Jerusalem church. This was the mark of raising up disciples of

Jesus – they followed the teachings and practices of Jesus.

In a future article, we will look more closely at the daily activities of

the Jerusalem church. They set the pattern for future assemblies

(churches) in other places.

What Will You Do To Obey?

As you read, you likely noticed differences between your practices and

those of the New Testament movements. What action will you take to

see your disciple making efforts more like the model in the New

Testament?

The World Turned Upside Down

"These that have turned the world upside down are come hither
also."—Acts 17:6

This is just an old version of an oft-repeated story. When

disturbances arise in a state, and rebellions and mutinies cause blood
to be shed, it is still the custom to cry, "The Christians have done this."
In the days of Jesus we know that it was laid to the charge of our
blessed and divine Master, that he was a stirrer of sedition, whereas he
himself had refused to be a king, when his followers would have taken
him by force to make him one, for he said, "My kingdom is not of this
world;" yet was he crucified under the two false charges of sedition
and blasphemy. The same thing occurred with the Apostles. Wherever
they went to preach the gospel, the Jews who opposed them sought to
stir up the refuse of the city to put an end to their ministry; and then,
when a great tumult had been made by the Jews themselves, who had
taken unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a
company, and set all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house of
Jason, and sought to bring him out to the people, then the Jews laid
the tumult and the uproar at the door of the Apostles, saying, "These
that have turned the world upside down are come hither also." This
plan was followed all through the Roman empire, until Christianity
became the state religion. There was never a calamity befel Rome,
never a war arose, never a famine or a plague, but the vulgar multitude
cried, "The Christians to the lions! The Christians have done this."
Nero himself imputed the burning of Rome, of which he himself
doubtless was the incendiary, to the Christians. The believers in Jesus
were slandered as if they were the common sewer, into which all the
filth of sin was to be poured; whereas, they were like Solomon's great
brazen sea, which was full of the purest water, wherein even priests
themselves might wash their robes. And you will remark that to this
day the world still lays its ills at the door of the Christians. Was it not
the foolish cry a few months ago, and are there not some weak-minded
individuals who still believe it, that the great massacre and mutiny in
India was caused by the missionaries. Forsooth; the men who turned
the world upside down had gone there also; and because men broke
through all the restraints of nature and of law, and committed deeds
for which fiends might blush, this must be laid at the door of Christ's
holy gospel, and the men of peace must bear on their shoulders the
blame of war! Ah! we need not refute this: the calumny is too idle to
need a refutation. Can it be true, that he whose gospel is love should be
the fomenter of disturbance? Can it be fair for a moment to lay mutiny
and rebellion at the door of the gospel, the very motto of which is,
"Peace on earth, good will towards men?" Did not our Master say,
"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the
things that are God's?" Did he not himself pay tribute though he sent
to the fish of the sea, to get the shekel? And have not his followers at
all times been a peaceful generation?—save only and except where the
liberty of their conscience was touched, and then they were not the
men to bow their knees to tyrants and kings, but with brave old Oliver
they did bind their kings in chains, and their nobles in fetters of iron,
as they will do again, if their liberty ever should be infringed, so that
they should not have power to worship God as they ought.
 We believe that what these Jews said of the Apostles, was just a
downright wilful lie. They knew better. The Apostles were not the
disturbers of states. It is true, they preached that which would disturb
the sinful constitution of a kingdom and which would disturb the evil
practices of false priests, but they never meant to set men in an
uproar. They did come to set men at arms with sin; they did draw the
sword against iniquity; but against men as men, against kings as kings,
they had no battle; it is with iniquity and sin, and wrong everywhere,
that they proclaimed an everlasting warfare. But still, brethren, there
is many a true word spoken in jest, we say, and surely there is many a
true word spoken in malice. They said the Apostles turned the world
upside down. They meant by that, that they were disturbers of the
peace. But they said a great true thing; for Christ's gospel does turn the
world upside down. It was the wrong way upwards before, and now
that the gospel is preached, and when it shall prevail, it will just set the
world right by turning it upside down.
And now I shall try to show how, in the world at large, Christ's
gospel turns the world upside down. and then I shall endeavor, as well
as God shall help me, to show how the little world that is within every
manis turned upside down, when he becomes a believer in the gospel
of Christ.
I. First, then, the gospel of Christ turns the world upside down,
WITH REGARD TO THE POSITION OF DIFFERENT CLASSES OF
MEN.
In the esteem of men, the kingdom of heaven is something like this.
High there on the summit, there sits the most grand rabbi, the right
venerable, estimable and excellent doctor of divinity, the great
philosopher, the highly learned, the deeply instructed, the immensely
intellectual man. He sits on the apex: he is the highest, because he is
the wisest. And just below him there is a class of men who are deeply
studied—not quite so skilled as the former, but still exceeding wise,—
who look down at those who stand at the basement of the pyramid,
and who say to them, "Ah, they are the ignoble multitude, they know
nothing at all." A little lower down, we come to the sober, respectable,
thinking men, not those who set up for teachers, but those who seldom
will be taught, because they already in their own opinion know all that
is to be learned. Then after them there come a still larger number of
very estimable folks, who are exceeding wise in worldly wisdom,
although not quite so exalted as the philosopher and the rabbi. Lower
still come those who have just a respectable amount of wisdom and
knowledge, and then at the very basement there come the fool, and the
little child, and the babe. When we look at these we say, "This is the
wisdom of this world. Behold how great a difference there is between
the babe at the bottom, and the learned doctor on the summit! How
wide the distinction between the ignorant simpleton who forms the
hard, rocky, stubborn basement, and the wise man of polished marble,
who there stands resplendent at the apex of the pyramid." Now, just
see how Christ turns the world upside down. There it stands. He just
reverses it. "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye
can in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." "Not many great
men after the flesh, not many mighty men are chosen; but God hath
chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, heirs of the kingdom." It is
just turning the whole social fabric upside down; and the wise man
finds now that he has to go upstairs towards his simplicity. He has
been all his life trying as far as he could, to get away from the
simplicity of the credulous child, he has been thinking, and judging,
and weighing, and bringing his logic to cut up every truth he heard,
and now he has to begin, and go up again: he has to become a little
child, and turn back to his former simplicity. This is the world turned
upside down, with a vengeance; and therefore the wise seldom love it.
If you wish to see the world turned upside down to perfection, just
turn to the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew: here you have a
whole summary of the world reversed. Jesus Christ turned the world
upside down the first sermon he preached. Look at the third
verse. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven."Now, we like a man who has an ambitious spirit—a man who,
as we say, knows how to push his way in the world—who looks up—is
not contented with the position that he occupies, but is always for
climbing higher and higher. And we have a very fair opinion too of a
man, who has a very fair opinion of himself—a man who is not going
to bow and cringe. He will have his rights, that he will, he will not give
way to anybody. He believes himself to be somewhat, and he will stand
on his own belief, and will prove it to the world yet. He is not one of
your poor, mean-spirited fellows, who are content with poverty, and
sit still. Hewill not be contented. Now such a man as this the world
admires. But Christ just turns that upside down, and says, "Blessed are
the poor in spirit, for their's is the kingdom of heaven." The men who
have no strength of their own, but look for all to Christ—the men who
have no spirit to run with a wicked world, but who would rather suffer
an injury than resent one—the men who are lowly and of a humble
carriage, who seek not to lift their heads above their fellows; who if
they be great have greatness thrust upon them, but never seek it—who
are content along the cool, sequestered vale of life, to keep the even
tenour of their way—who seem to have always ringing in their ears,
"Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not"—"the poor in
spirit," happy in their poverty, who are content with the Lord's
providence, and think themselves far more rich than they deserve to
be. Now, these men Christ says, are blessed. The world says, they are
soft, they are fools; but Christ puts those on the top whom the world
puts at the bottom. "Blessed are the poor in spirit for their's is the
kingdom of heaven."
Then there is another lot of people in the world; they are
always mourning. They do not let you see it often, for their Master has
told them when they fast, to anoint their face, that they appear not
unto men to fast, but still secretly before God they have to groan; they
hang their harps upon the willows; they mourn for their own sin, and
then they mourn for the sin of the times. The world says of these,
"They are a moping, melancholy set; I would not care to belong to
their number;" and the gay reveller comes in, and he almost spits upon
them in his scorn. For what are they? They love the darkness. They are
the willows of the stream, but this man, like the proud poplar, lifts his
head, and is swayed to and fro in the wind of his joy, boasting of his
greatness, and his freedom. Hear how the gay youth talks to his
mourning friend, who is under conviction of sin. "Ah! yours is a
morbid disposition; I pity you; you ought to be under the hand of a
physician. You go mourning through this world. What a miserable
thing, to be plunging through waves of tribulation! What a dismal case
is yours! I would not stand in your shoes and be in your position for all
the world." No, but Christ turns the world upside down; and so those
people whom you think to be mournful and sorrowful, are the very
ones who are to rejoice. For read the fourth verse, "Blessed are they
that mourn; for they shall be comforted." Yes, worldling, your joy is
like the crackling of thorns under a pot. It blazeth a little, and maketh
a great noise: it is soon done with. But "light is sown for the righteous,
and gladness for the upright in heart." You cannot see the light now,
because it is sown. It lies under the clods of poverty, and shame, and
persecution, mayhap. But when the great harvest day shall come, the
blades of light, upstarting at the second coming, shall bring forth "the
full corn in the ear" of bliss and glory everlasting. O ye mourning
souls, be glad; for whereas the world puts you beneath it, Christ puts
you above the world's head. When he turns the world upside down, he
says you shall be comforted.
Then there is another race of people, called "the meek." You may
have met with them now and then. Let me describe the opposite. I
know a man who never feels happy unless he has a law-suit; he would
never pay a bill unless be had a writ about it. He is fond of law. The
idea of pulling another up before the court is a great delicacy to him. A
slight affront he would not easily forget. He has a very large amount of
meek dignity; and if he be never so slightly touched, if a harsh word be
spoken against him, or one slander uttered he is down upon his enemy
at once; for he is a man of a hard temper, and he casts the debtor into
prison, and verily I say unto thee, if thou gettest in there by his writ,
thou shalt never come out until thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Now the meek are of a very different disposition. You may revile them,
but they will not revile again; you may injure them, but they know that
their Master has said, "I say unto thee, resist not evil." They do not put
themselves into airs and passions on a slight affront, for they know
that all men are imperfect, and therefore they think that perhaps their
brother made a mistake, and did not wish to hurt their feelings, and
therefore they say, "Well, if he did not wish to do it, then I will not be
hurt by it, I dare say he meant well, and therefore I will take the will
for the deed, and though he spoke harshly, yet he will be sorry for it to
morrow; I will not mention it to him,—I will put up with whatever he
chooses to say." There is a slander uttered against him: he says, "Well,
let it alone; it will die of itself; where no wood is, the fire goeth out."
Another speaketh exceeding ill against him in his hearing; but he justs
holds his tongue; he is dumb and openeth not his mouth. He is not like
the sons of Zeruiah, who said to David, "Let us go and take off that
dead dog's head, because he cursed the king" He says, "No, if the Lord
hath bidden him curse; let him curse." "Vengeance is mine; I will
repay, saith the Lord." He is quite content to bear and forbear, and put
up with a thousand injuries, rather than inflict one; meekly and quietly
he goes his way through the world, and people say, "Ah! such a man as
that will never get on; he will always be taken in. Why, he will be
lending money, and will never get it back again; he will be giving his
substance to the poor, and he will never receive it. How stupid he is!
He allows people to infringe on his rights; he has no strength of mind;
he does not know how to stand up for himself, fool that he is." Ay, but
Christ turns it upside down, and he says, "Blessed are the meek, for
they shall inherit the earth." Is not that provoking to you graspers, you
high spirited people, you lawyers, you that are always trying to bring
your neighbor into trouble touching your rights? you do it in order
that you may inherit the earth: see how Christ spites you, and treads
your wisdom under feet. He says, "The meek shall inherit the
earth." After all, very often, the best way to get our rights is to let them
alone. I am quite certain that the safest way to defend your character is
never to say a word about it. If every person in this place chooses to
slander me and utter the most furious libels that he pleases, he may
rest quite assured he will never have a law-suit from me. I am not
quite fool enough for that. I have always noticed that when a man
defends himself in a court of law against any slander, he just does his
enemy's business with his own hand. Our enemies cannot hurt us,
unless we hurt ourselves. No man's character was ever really injured
except by himself. Be you among the meek, and you shall inherit the
earth. Bear all things, hope all things, believe all things, and it shall be
the best, even on this earth, in the end.
Do you see that very respectable gentleman yonder, who has never
omitted to attend his church or his chapel twice every Sunday ever
since he became a man. He reads his Bible too, and he has family
prayers. It is true that there are certain stories flying about, that he is
rather hard upon his laborers, and exacting at times in his payments,
but does justice to all men, although no further will he go. This man is
on very good terms with himself; when he gets up in the morning he
always shakes hands with himself, and compliments himself on being
a very excellent person. He generally lives in a front street, in his
opinion, and the first number in the street, too. If you speak to him
about his state before God, he says, that if he does not go to heaven
nobody will; for he pays twenty shillings in the pound to everybody; he
is strictly upright, and there is no one who can find any fault with his
character. Isn't he a good man? Don't you envy him?—a man who has
so excellent an opinion of himself that he thinks himself perfect; or if
he is not quite perfect, yet he is so good that he believes that with a
little help, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Well, now, do
you see standing at the back of the church there, a poor woman with
tears running down her eyes? Come forward, ma'am; let us hear your
history. She is afraid to come forward; she dares not speak in the
presence of respectable persons; but we gather thus much from her:
She has lately found out that she is full of sin, and she desires to know
what she must do to be saved. Ask her. She tells you she has no merits
of her own. Her song is, "I the chief of sinners am. Oh! that mercy
would save me!" She never compliments herself upon her good works,
for she says she has none; all her righteousnesses are as filthy rags; she
puts her mouth in the very dust when she prays, and she dares not lift
so much as her eyes towards heaven. You pity that poor woman. You
would not like to be in her case. The other man whom I have just
mentioned, stands at the very top of the ladder, does he not? But this
poor woman stands at the bottom. Now just see the gospel process—
the world turned upside down. "Blessed are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled;" while the man who
is content with himself has this for his portion—"As many as are of the
works of the law are under the curse;" publicans and harlots enter into
the kingdom of heaven before you, because you seek not the
righteousness which is of faith, but you seek it as it were by the works
of the law. So here you see again is the world turned upside down in
the first sermon Christ ever preached.
Now turn to the next beatitude—in the seventh verse—"Blessed are
the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Of this I have already
spoken. The merciful are not much respected in this world—at least if
they are imprudently merciful, the man who forgives too much, or who
is too generous, is not considered to be wise. But Christ declares that
he who has been merciful—merciful to supply the wants of the poor,
merciful to forgive his enemies and to pass by offenses, shall obtain
mercy. Here, again, is the world turned upside down.
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." The world
says, "Blessed is the man who indulges in a gay life." If you ask the
common run of mankind who is the happy man, they will tell you,
"The happy man is he who has abundance of money, and spends it
freely, and is freed from restraint—who leads a merry dance of life,
who drinks deep of the cup of intoxication—who revels riotously—
who, like the wild horse of the prairie, is not bitted by order, or
restrained by reason, but who dashes across the broad plains of sin,
unharnessed, unguided, unrestrained." This is the man whom the
world calls happy: the proud man, the mighty man, the Nimrod; the
man who can do just as he wishes, and who spurns to keep the narrow
way of holiness. Now, the Scripture says, Not so; "Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God."
"Blest is the man who shuns the place
Where sinners love to meet;
Who fears to tread their wicked ways,
And hates the scoffer's seat,"—
the man who cannot touch one thing because that would be lascivious,
nor another because that would spoil his communion with his Master;
a man who cannot frequent this place of amusement, because he could
not pray there, and cannot go to another, because he could not hope to
have his Master's sanction upon an hour so spent. That man, pure in
heart, is said to be a Puritanical moralist, a strict Sabbatarian, a man
who has not any mind of his own; but Jesus Christ puts all straight, for
he says, these are the blessed men these are the happy ones. "Blessed
are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."
And now look at the ninth verse. What a turning of the world upside
down that is! You walk through London, and who are the men that we
put upon our columns and pillars, and upon our park gates, and so on?
Read the ninth verse, and see how that turns the world upside down.
There upon the very top of the world, high, high up, can be seen the
armless sleeve of a Nelson: there he stands, high exalted above his
fellows; and there, in another place, with a long file up his back, stands
a duke; and in another place, riding upon a war horse, is a mighty man
of war. These are the world's blest heroes. Go into the capital of what
empire you choose to select, and you shall see that the blessed men,
who are put upon pedestals, and who have statues erected to their
memory, who are put into our St. Paul's Cathedral, and our
Westminster Abbey, are not exactly the men mentioned in the ninth
verse. Let us read it. "Blessed are the peace-makers; for they shall be
called the children of God." Ah! but you do not often bless the peace-
makers, do you? The man who comes between two beligerents, and
bears the stroke himself—the man who will lie down on the earth, and
plead with others that they would cease from warfare—these are the
blessed. How rarely are they set on high. They are generally set aside,
as people who cannot be blessed, even though it seem that they try to
make others so. Here is the world turned upside down. The warrior
with his garment stained in blood, is put into the ignoble earth, to die
and rot; but the peace-maker is lifted up, and God's crown of blessing
is put round about his head, and men one day shall see it, and struck
with admiration they shall lament their own fully, that they exalted the
blood-red sword of the warrior, but that they did rend the modest
mantle of the noon who did make peace among mankind.
And to conclude our Saviour's sermon, notice once more, that we find
in this world a race of persons who have always been hated—a class of
men who have been hunted like the wild goat; persecuted, afflicted,
and tormented. As an old divine says, "The Christian has been looked
upon as if he had a wolfs head, for as the wolf was hunted for his head
everywhere, so has the Christian been hunted to the uttermost ends of
the earth." And in reading history we are apt to say, "These persecuted
persons occupy the lowest room of blessedness; these who have been
sawn asunder, who have been burned, who have seen their houses
destroyed, and have been driven as houseless exiles into every part of
the earth—these men who have wandered about in sheep's skins, and
goat's skins,—these are the very least of mankind." Not so. The gospel
reverses all this, and it says, "Blessed are they who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake, for their's is the kingdom of heaven." I repeat
it: The whole of these beatitudes are just in conflict with the world's
opinion. and we may quote the words of the Jew, and say, "Jesus
Christ was 'the man who turned the world upside down.' "
 And now I find I must be very brief for I have taken so much time in
endeavoring to show how Christ's gospel turned the world upside
down, in the position of its characters, that I shall have no space left
for anything else. But will you have patience with me, and I will briefly
pass through the other points?
I have next to remark, that the Christian religion turns the world
upside down in its maxims. I will just quote a few texts which show
this very clearly. "It was said by them of old time, eye for eye and tooth
for tooth; but I say unto you, resist not evil" It has generally been held
by each of us, that we are not to allow anyone to infringe upon our
rights; but the Saviour says, "Whosoever would sue thee at the law and
take thy cloak, let him take thy coat also." "If any man smite thee on
the one cheek, turn unto him the other also." If these precepts were
kept, would it not turn the world upside down? "It has been said by
them of old time, love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy;" but Jesus
Christ said, "Let love be unto all men." He commands us to love our
enemies, and to pray for them who despitefully use us. He says, "If
thine enemy hunger, feed him, and if he thirst give him drink, for in so
doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." This would indeed be
turning the world upside down; for what would become of our war
ships and our warriors, if at the port-holes where now we put our
cannons, we should have sent out to some burning city of our
enemies—for instance, to burning Sebastapol,—if we had sent to the
houseless inhabitants, who had been driven from their homes, barrels
of beef, and bundles of bread and clothes, to supply their wants. That
would have been a reversal of all human policy, but yet it would have
been just the carrying out of Christ's law, after all. So shall it be in the
days that are to come, our enemies shall be loved, and our foemen
shall be fed. We are told too, in these times, that it is good to a man to
heap unto himself abundant wealth, and make himself rich, but Jesus
Christ turned the world upside down, for he said, there was a certain
rich man who was clothed in scarlet, and fared sumptuously every day,
and so on, and his fields brought forth abundantly; and he said, "I will
pull down my barns, and build greater;" but the Lord says, "Thou
fool!" That is reversing everything in this world. You would have made
an Alderman of him, or a Lord Mayor; and fathers would have patted
their boys on the head, and said, "That is all through his frugality and
taking care; see how he has got on in the world; when he had got a
good crop, he did not give it away to the poor, as that extravagant man
does who has kept on working all his life, and never be able to retire
from business; he saved it all up;—be as good a boy as So-and-so, and
get on too." But Christ said "Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be
required of thee." A turning of everything upside down. And others of
us will have it, that we ought to be very careful every day, and always
looking forward to the future, and always fretting about what is to be.
Here is a turning of the world upside down, when Jesus Christ says,
"Remember the ravens; they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather
into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feedeth them, are ye not
better than they?" I do believe that at this day the maxims of business
are clean opposed to the maxims of Christ. But I shall be answered by
this, "Business is business." Yes, I know business is business, but
business has no business to be such business as it is. Oh! that it might
be altered, till every man could make his business his religion, and
make a religion of his business
I have not detained you long upon that point; and therefore I am
free to mention a third. How Christ has turned the world upside down,
as to our religious notions. Why, the mass of mankind believe, that if
any man wills to be saved, that is all which is necessary. Many of our
preachers do in effect preach this worldly maxim. They tell men that
they must make themselves willing. Now, just hear how the gospel
upsets that. "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy." The world will have an universal religion
too; but how Christ overturns that. "I pray for them; I pray not for the
world." He hath ordained us from among men. "Elect according to the
foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief
of the truth." "The Lord knoweth them that are his." How that runs
counter to all the world's opinion of religion! The world's religion is
this—"Do, and thou shalt live." Christ's religion is—"Believe and live."
We will have it, that if a man be righteous, sober upright, he shall
enter the kingdom of heaven; but Christ says—This thou oughtest to
have done; but still, not this can ever cleanse thee. "As many as are
under the works of the law are under the curse." "By the works or the
law shall no flesh living be justified." " Believe and live," is just the
upsetting of every human notion. Cast thyself on Christ: trust in him.
Have good works afterwards; but first of all trust in him that died
upon the tree. This is the overturning of every opinion of man. And
hence mortals will always fight against it, so long as the human heart
is what it is. Oh! that we knew the gospel! Oh! that we felt the gospel!
For it would be the upsetting of all self-righteousness, and the casting
down of every high look, and of every proud thing.
II. And now, beloved, spare me a little time, while I try to show
THAT WHICH IS TRUE IN THE WORLD, IS TRUE IN THE HEART.
Instead, however, of enlarging at full length upon the different topics,
I shall make my last point the subject of examination.
Man is a little world, and what God does in the outer world, he does
in the inner. If any of you would be saved your hearts must be turned
upside down. I will now appeal to you, and ask you whether you have
ever felt this—whether you know the meaning of it?
In the first place, your judgment must be turned upside down.
Cannot many of you say, that which you now believe to be the truth of
God is very far opposed to your former carnal notions? Why, if anyone
had told you, that you should be a believer in the distinguishing
doctrines of free and sovereign grace, you would have laughed him in
the face. "What! I believe the doctrine of election? What! I ever hold
the doctrine of particular redemption, or final perseverance? Pshaw!
nonsense! It cannot be!" But now you do hold it, and the thing which
you thought unreasonable and unjust, now seems to you to be for
God's glory, and for man's eternal benefit. You can kiss the doctrine
which once you despised, and you meekly receive it as sweeter than
the droppings of honey from the honeycomb, though once you thought
it to be as the very poison of asps, and gall, and wormwood. Yes, when
grace enters the heart, there is a turning upside down of all our
opinions; and the great truth of Jesus sits reigning on our soul.
Is there not, again, a total change of all your hopes? Why, your
hopes used to be all for this world. If you could but get rich, if you
could but be great and honored, you would be happy! You looked
forward to it. All you were expecting was a paradise this side the flood.
And now where are your hopes?—not on earth; for where your
treasure is, there must your heart be also. You are looking for a city
that hands have not piled; your desires are heavenly, whereas they
were gross and carnal once. Can ye say that? Oh! all ye members of
this congregation, can ye say that your hopes and your desires are
changed? Are ye looking upward, instead of downward? Are you
looking to serve God on earth, and to enjoy him for ever? Or are you
still content with thinking "What ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink,
and wherewithal ye shall be clothed?"
Again, it is a complete upsetting of all your pleasures. You loved the
tavern once, you hate it now. You hated God's house once; it is now
your much-loved habitation. The song, the Sunday newspaper, the
lewd novel—all these were sweet to your taste; but you have burned
the books that once enchanted you, and now the dusty Bible from the
back of the shelf is taken down, and there it lies wide open upon the
family table, and it is read both morn and night, much loved, much
prized and delighted in. The Sabbath was once the dullest day of the
week to you. you either loitered outside the door in your shirt-sleeves,
if you were poor, or if you were rich you spent the day in your
drawing-room, and had company in the evening: now, instead thereof,
your company you find in the church of the living God, and you make
the Lord's house the drawing-room where you entertain your friends.
Your feast is no longer a banquet of wine, but a banquet of
communion with Christ. There are some of you who once loved
nothing better than the theater, the low concert room, or the casino:
over such places you now see a great black mark of the curse, and you
never go there. You seek now the prayer meeting, the church meeting,
the gathering of the righteous, the habitation of the Lord God of hosts.
It is marvellous how great a change the gospel makes in a
man's house too. Why, it turns his house upside down. Look over the
mantle-piece—There is a vile daub of a picture there, or a wretched
print, and the subject is worse than the style of the thing. But when the
man follows Jesus he takes that down, and he gets a print of John
Bunyan in his prison, or his wife standing before the magistrate, or a
print of the apostle Paul preaching at Athens, or some good old subject
representing something Biblical. There is a pack of cards and a
cribbage board in the cupboard; he turns them out, and instead he
puts there perhaps the monthly magazine, or mayhaps few works of
old divines, just here and there one of the publications of the Religious
Tract Society, or a volume of a Commentary. Every thing is upside
down there. The children say, "Father is so altered." They never knew
such a thing. He used to come home sometimes drunk of a night, and
the children used to run up stairs and be in bed before he came in; and
now little John and little Sarah sit at the window and watch till he
comes home; and they go toddling down the street to meet him, and
he takes one in his arms, and the other by the hand, and brings them
home with him. He used to teach them to sing "Begone dull care" or
something worse, now he tells them of "Gentle Jesus meek and mild"
or puts into their mouth some sweet song of old. A jolly set of
companions he used to have come to see him, and a roaring party
there used to be of them, on a Sunday afternoon; but that is all done
with. The mother smiles upon her husband: she is a happy woman
now; she knows that he will no longer disgrace himself by plunging
into the vilest of society, and being seduced into the worst of sins.
Now, if you could take a man's heart out, and put a new heart right
into him, it would not be half so good, if it were another natural heart,
as the change that God works, when he takes out the heart of stone,
and puts in a heart of flesh—
"A heart resigned, submissive, meek,
Our dear Redeemer's throne
Where only Christ is heard to speak,
Where Jesus reigns alone."
I put, then, the question to you again: Have you been turned upside
down? How about your companions? You loved those the best who
could swear the loudest, talk the fastest, and tell the greatest
falsehoods: now you love those who can pray the most earnestly, and
tell you the most of Jesus. Everything is changed with you. If you were
to meet your old self going down the street, you would not know him,
except by hearsay; you are no relation to him at all. Sometimes the old
gentleman comes to your house, and he begins to tempt you to go
back; but you turn him out of doors as soon as you can, and say,
"Begone! I never got on so long as I knew you; I had a ragged coat to
my back then, and I was always giving the publican all my money; I
never went to God's house, but cursed my Maker, and added sin to sin,
and tied a mill-stone round my neck. So away from me, I will have
nothing to do with you; I have been buried with Christ, and I have
risen with him. I am a new man in Christ Jesus, old things have passed
away, and behold all things have become new."
I have some here, however, who belong to a different class of
society, who could not indulge in any of these things; but ah! ladies
and gentlemen, if you are ever converted, you must have as great a
sweeping out as the poorest man that ever lived. There must be as true
a turning upside down in the salvation of an earl, or a duke, or a lord,
as in the salvation of a pauper or a peasant. There is as much sin in the
higher ranks as in the lower, and sometimes more, because they have
more light, more knowledge, more influence, and when they sin, they
not only damn themselves, but others too. O you that are rich, have
you had a change too? Have the frivolities of this world become
sickening things to you? Do you turn away with loathing from the
common cant and conventionalism of high life? Have you forsaken it?
and can you now say, "Although I am in the world, yet am I not of it;
its pomps and vanities I do eschew; its pride and its glory I trample
under feet; these are nothing to me; I would follow my Master bearing
his cross, through evil report and through good report?" If such be not
the case, if you are not changed, remember, there are no exceptions;
one truth is true for all—"Except ye be born again, ye cannot see the
kingdom of heaven." And that amounts in substance to my test: except
ye be thoroughly renewed, turned upside down, ye cannot be saved.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;" for he that
believeth shall be sanctified and renewed—shall he saved at last—but
he that believeth not must be cast away in the great day of God's
account.