 All right, over there in Philippians chapter number three, went down, if you will, at verse number 17. This is going to be our verse to start off the sermon this evening. In Philippians 3, verse 17, the Bible says this, Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them, which walks so as you have us for in a sample. So Paul here is saying that you should point out the people in your life. You should identify the people in your life who are your good examples. He's saying follow me, follow people like me. And he kind of says the opposite in verse 18. He says, well, why would we follow good examples and why would we want to make sure we're following people like you, Paul, who are doing the right thing and doing what we're supposed to do? Here's why verse 18, he says, for many walk, of whom I've told you often and now tell you even weeping. So he's obviously pretty upset about this, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things. So what Paul is saying here in verse 19 is there are some people who are enemies of the cross. They are enemies of the gospel. They are enemies of the truth. They are enemies of everything we stand for here at this church. Turn to 2 Timothy 2, 2 Timothy 4, sorry, 2 Timothy chapter 4. And whether it's in your personal life or maybe even at work or at church, especially out soul-winning, you're going to notice that some people don't mind the things of God. I'm just talking about unsaved people. Just the unsaved people out there. Some people don't mind the things of God. Maybe some people don't agree or some people really don't like what we're saying. Maybe these are the people who are a little annoyed when you knock on their door and they're saying, oh, I'm not interested or maybe they even slam the door in your face. But there's these other people who it's not just that they don't like the truth or they don't really agree with what we're saying, they absolutely hate it. These are the people Paul is talking about and the people we're going to be talking about in the sermon tonight. You're there in 2 Timothy 4, look at verse 14. 2 Timothy 4, 14. There Paul says, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord award him according to his works of whom be thou where also. For he hath, don't miss this, greatly withstood our words. Most people, they may not like you or they may annoy them what you stand for and they may not agree with you, but there's these other people who will greatly withstand our words. And like I said, it's a different class of people. And before we get into the sermon, let me make this disclaimer. This sermon is not meant to be a checklist for you to go around deciding who's a reprobate. It's not meant to be a checklist for you to say, oh, well this person doesn't like me, so therefore they're a reprobate. Or this person was annoyed at me, therefore they're a reprobate. That's not the goal of the sermon. The title of the sermon tonight is The Enemies of the Cross. And I just want to look at three different ways from the Bible that are very true today. Three ways that enemies of the cross will try to stop the truth, that they will try to hinder the truth from spreading in an application at the end of how we can respond to it. Turn to Acts 13 and 6. So let's just get right into it tonight. First tonight, enemies of the cross will try to stop the truth from being heard. Enemies of the cross will try to stop it from being heard. Here they're in Acts 13.6. There the Bible says, and when they had gone through the Isle onto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus. And let me just pause here. This isn't what I'm going to read about in these verses here, but this is a good example of why you can't just use this as a checklist on who's a reprobate. Later in this story, we're going to find out that this Bar-Jesus, who's later called Elimus, he was a reprobate. The Bible makes that clear. But you can't just pick this up and say, okay, well he's a sorcerer, and he's a Jew, and he's a false prophet, so therefore everyone that meets those criteria is a reprobate. Do you know there's other people in Acts who were a sorcerer, and were a Jew, and were a false prophet, and got saved, and were baptized? And maybe they had some issues at first, because of their background, but you can't always use this just to go deciding with your own understanding who's a reprobate. Verse 7, it keeps talking about this sorcerer, which was with the deputy of the country, Sergio Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul in desire to hear the word of God. So there's this deputy there with this sorcerer, and he wants to hear the word of God. He's receptive to it, he wants to hear what Paul and his team of missionaries have to say. I'm sure at this point in the book of Acts they've been kind of already causing a scene, and people know about them, and he wants to hear the word of God. He's open to it. But Elimus the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, withstood them. Say why? Why would Elimus care? Why would he want to stop? Why would he have any problem? Why would he withstand Paul? What's his issue? Why would he care? Here's why, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. You see, people like this, one way the enemies of the cross will try to attack the truth or stop the truth is they're going to stop it from being heard. They're going to stop it from spreading so people can't hear it. That's exactly what Elimus is doing here. He's seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Verse nine, then Paul, then Saul, which is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, and his eyes on him and said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil. So this guy was a reprobate. Thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord. And now behold, thou hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed. So the deputy did get saved, believing, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Now in Paul and his company, loose from pathos, they came to Perga and Panphilia, and John departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. Turn to Acts 19. This is exactly what one main thing, and even today, this is what people will do. Enemies of the cross, they'll try to stop the truth from spreading. They'll shut down the YouTube channel. They'll try to stop other people from hearing it. This is why I think sometimes when you're giving the gospel, when you're giving the gospel to a group, there's that one person, there's that one person that's trying to distract everybody else and keep other people away from hearing the gospel in the Philippines. One thing that, more than one people had happened to them is they'd be giving the gospel to a group of maybe five or six people, and there'd be a sodomite in the group. And it's funny, because the sodomite's always the one trying to cause distractions, sodomite that's always trying to turn other people away and keep people from hearing the word of God, right? And that is what they will do. They're in Acts 19. The Bible says this, after these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit when he had passed through Macedonia and Ikea to go to Jerusalem saying, after I have been there, I must also see Rome. So he went into Macedonia, so he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him to Motheus and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a season. Verse 23, in the same time there also arose no small stir about that way. So we're going to kind of read about a ruckus that happened here. Verse 24, for a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen, whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation. We'll just pause there. So there's this man named Demetrius, and what he does, what his trade is and what he makes money off of, is making altars and shrines for this false god Diana of this area therein. And so he got this Paul going around telling people that there are no false gods, and that's obviously affecting his business. So he gets all the other men like him who do the same thing, and he talks to them. Verse 25, whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation and said, Demetrius, you know that by this craft we have our wealth. He's saying this is how we make our money. Moreover, you see and hear that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that there be no gods which are made with hands. So that not only our craft is in danger to be said and not, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence should be destroyed whom all Asia in the world worshipeth. So he's saying if this Paul guy keeps going and keeps spreading what he's saying and keeps convincing more people, we're going to go broke. This is how we make our money by making alters for this God. And let's see what he does. Verse 28, when they heard these sayings, so he goes and he gets all these other guys fired up, they were full of wrath and cried out saying great is Diana of the Ephesians. And this Paul guy can't keep doing this or we're in trouble. What do they do? They try to cause a distraction and keep people from hearing the word of God. Verse 29, in the whole city, because they're going around just shouting great is Diana of the Ephesians, great is Diana of the Ephesians. And the whole city was filled with confusion. People didn't even know what was going on. And having caught Gaius and Aristachus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions and travel, they rushed forward. But when they knew that he was a Jew, notice this, notice what they caused to happen, all with one voice about the space of two hours, cried out, great is Diana of the Ephesians. So they basically go out and cause a riot is what they do. And the whole city is just confused and this isn't the only time the Book of Acts has happened. Everyone's just freaking out and this is what they're trying to just stop people from hearing out during Galatians 5-7. They're trying to stop the truth from spreading. That's why they did this. They were trying to stop it from getting to more people. You don't have to turn there, but while you're going to Galatians 5, I'll read you Luke 1152. Luke 1152 says, Woe unto you, lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You enter not in yourselves and then they were entering in you hindered. So he's saying, not only are you not saved, not only do you not like the truth and you refuse to hear the gospel and not only are you not going to go to heaven, not only are you going to burn in hell, but those that are entering in, those that are receptive to the gospel and that might get saved who God has given a chance, you hinder them. You're taking them to hell with you. That's why Jesus later in this passage would say, you're making people to fold many other people to hell with you. You're trying to stop other people from hearing the truth. Galatians 5-7 says this, you did run well. Who did hinder you? You're saying who slowed you down? Who stopped you? That you should not obey the truth. Because this doesn't only apply to stopping people from hearing the gospel, but this can you all here tonight are saved. This can be trying to stop you from obeying the truth. People can try to stop you from hearing the truth so that you are hindered in your Christian life. And we need to make sure we're watching out for that. And we are aware of what these enemies of the cross are trying to do to us. Let's take a break from Acts. Turn to Nehemiah 4. Nehemiah 4. So the context of Nehemiah is Nehemiah is going back to Jerusalem to build the walls. And you see both in Ezra and in Nehemiah they had a lot of opposition from the same people. But you see people didn't like what they were doing. People realized they were trying to do this work. In their case it was their rebuilding Jerusalem, rebuilding the walls, rebuilding the temple. And they didn't like to see this going on. Nehemiah 4 look at verse 11 there the Bible says this and our adversaries said they shall not know neither see till we come in the midst of the problem. Why? And cause the work to cease. You see in this church this church here in Fresno and other churches who do the same thing people there is a work going on here on Thursday evening there will be a work going on here. And on Sunday morning there will be a work going on here on Sunday evening Sunday afternoon Saturday morning there is a work going on here that may not it may not be is out there destination and when people see this work going on they are going to promise you this they are going to try to cause the work to cease there are people out there who hate work like this and they hate what we are doing here and they are going to try to do anything and like I said we are not talking about the people who just maybe don't agree with us or aren't Christian we are just talking about people who hate it we are talking about people who are trying to cause the work to cease turn to Acts 5 Acts chapter 5 Acts chapter 5 this is our chapter for this morning says I'll start reading verse number 12 says, And by the hands of the apostles were many signs of wonders wrought among the people and they were all with one accord and saw them as porch and of the rest there is no man joined himself to them but the people magnified them and the believers to the Lord multitudes both of men and women. So things are going great in Jerusalem. There's this new church. It's going great. People are getting saved. They have favor with all the people there. I mean, just people getting saved left and right. It's this giant revival that's going on in Jerusalem. Great things are being done. Skip down to verse 17. All these verses we're skipping are basically just verses of all the things they're doing, of all the lives they're changing and all the work that they're doing there. Acts 5 verse 17. Then the high priest rose up. Uh-oh. Then the high priest rose up and all that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with indignation. Again, same thing. When there's a work going on, when great things are being done for God, they're going to be people that are going to be full of wrath, that are going to be filled with indignation. Verse 18, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. The angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said, go, stand and speak in the temple to the people, all the words of this life. The angel came and got them out of the prison and said, keep going. Go do the same exact thing you're doing when they grabbed you and threw you in prison. And when they heard that, they entered into the temple and taught. But the high priest came and all that were with him and called the council together. They're all getting ready to have this little trial for the apostles that they think are still locked up in prison. And all the senate of the children of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. So they sent someone to go to the prison to bring them out. They're all gathered together in verse 22. But when the officers came and found them not in the prison, they returned and told saying, the prison truly found we shut with all safety and the keeper standing without before the doors. But when we had opened, we found no man within. So they're saying, we went to the prison, all the guards were there and they were everything was all locked up. We opened the door and they're gone. And normally when people escape from prison, they go, you know, they hide somewhere in the middle of nowhere or they, they go into hiding or they try to get away. They try to make sure that that they're not found. These guys come back and say, they're gone. You know, where do they go? We don't know where they went. Here's where they're at. I love anyone who says the Bible is boring or doesn't have humor has never read the Bible. Verse 24, now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these things, they doubted of them, where into this would grow. See, they're just, they don't want to spread. They don't want more people to hear it. Verse 25, I love this verse, then came one and told them saying, behold, the men whom he put in prisoner standing in the temple and teaching the people. They're saying, they're back in the temple teaching the people doing exactly what they were doing yesterday when you threw them in the prison. Right? Verse 26, then went the captain with the officers and brought them without violence for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest asked of them, saying, did not we directly command you? What do they want? What do they want from the apostles? What did they command them? What is it they wanted from them that you should not, they should not teach in this name. They were basically saying, didn't we tell you to shut up? Look, keep reading verse 28, behold, he has filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Exactly. That's the goal. Our goal here should be to fill Fresno with the gospel, saturate it as much as possible. And what they're telling them is, we told you not to do it anymore. We told you to, to shut up. We told you to not keep spreading this. And they're, they're frustrated. What are they frustrated at? What are they mad at? They're mad that this truth has spread all across Jerusalem. That is what these people are trying to stop. Verse 29, amazing verse, then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. So turn to Luke 23. So first tonight I said, enemies of the cross will try to stop the truth from being heard. They're going to try to stop it from being, from, from spreading. They don't want people to hear it. They're going to try to hinder people. They're going to try to stop people from hearing it. Second tonight, enemies of the cross will attack those spreading it. You're there in Luke 23, verse one. So this is, of course, talking about Jesus Christ when he has been, he's, he's about to be crucified and the multitude has, or the multitude has taken him and they're taking him to pilot. He's already gone through Caiaphas, the high priest. Now they're taking him to pilot because he can't just grab somebody and say, hey, we want to kill this guy. And the whole multitude of them arose and led him unto pilot and they began to accuse him. It's like I said, they needed a reason saying, we found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is Christ a king. Now they're not even, they're not even stretching something Jesus said. They're just flat out lying, right? How do you accuse somebody who is innocent and perfect? You just lie about them, right? And that's what they did. They're basically saying, oh, he says he's a king and he told people not to pay their taxes because he's a king. And it was funny about this is Jesus actually said the exact opposite. Isn't that true? Someone will preach a sermon and someone will say something and they'll make it clear what they said, but the world that just take that five second snippet be like, see, see, this is what he believed. This is what he says, right? This is what they're going to try to do because how do you accuse somebody who never did anything wrong? You have to take them out of context. You have to lie about them because they never did anything wrong. And it's funny. I'll just read you Luke 20, 25, because Jesus said it so many different ways. He said it. There's tons of verses where he said it. He told people the opposite. He told people to pay their taxes. Luke 20, 25 says, and he said unto them render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar, and unto God the things which be God's. He was always telling people to pay their taxes. This was just a flat out lie. You don't have to turn there. Turn to Jeremiah 26. While you're turning to Jeremiah 26, I'm going to read to you Mark 14, 55. The Bible says, in the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death, and found none. Here's what they had to do. For many, they're false witness against him, but their witness agree not together. Because they're all lying about him and saying false things and they're just not making sense and they're contradicting each other. Because, of course not, he was innocent. Verse 57 says, and they're well certain and bear false witness against him saying, and they go on with their lies. But Jesus was not the only example. He was far from the only example in the Bible of this. Jeremiah 26, verse 8, here's an Old Testament example. Now it came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end to speaking all that the Lord commanded him to speak unto all the people that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying thou shalt surely die. Jeremiah had a very hard message. His whole, pretty much the entire book of Jeremiah is dedicated to him just preaching on this one event. It's the destruction of Judah. It's the fact that the captivity would come and he's preaching this and he's telling them, it's not a very pleasant message. It's not very uplifting. He's telling them that Babylon's going to come and kill everybody. They're not going to spare anybody. Young, old, him that stoop for age, they're going to kill everybody. They're going to destroy everything and look at people's reaction and all the people took him. Well, let's go a few words before that and that the priests and the prophets, all the religious people, right? All the people who are supposed to be standing up for the Word of God and all the people took him saying, thou shalt surely die. You know what's really a shame is when you have all the crowd of the people who hate God and hate the truth and they're attacking the man of God and amongst that are other so-called Christians, right? And they're mixed up in that too, right? Verse 9, why is thou prophesied in the name of the Lord saying, this house shall be like Shiloh and this house shall be desolate without any habitant and all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house under the house of the Lord and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house. Verse 11, then the priests and the prophets then spake the priests and the prophets under the princes and to all the people saying, this man is worthy to die for he has prophesied against this city as ye have heard in our years. What do people do when they want to stop the truth? Well, they try to stop people from hearing it but they're going to try to stop those spreading it. They're going to try to attack the people who are preaching it. Turn to Jeremiah 1, you're already there. Jeremiah 110. Jeremiah 110 is one of my favorite verses because it shows that preaching and preaching the whole word of God is not all just, you know, happy things. It's not all just what you want to hear. Sometimes there are some harsh things of all. Jeremiah 110. Here's God when he called Jeremiah. See, I have this day set over the nations and over the kingdoms to do what? To root down and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant. See, it's not preaching when someone preaches the whole word of God, when Brother Jared gets up and preaches to you the word of God, don't expect it all just to be building and planting. Now that's part of it and there's going to be building and planting but before you can build and before you can plant you need to rip some things down first. Right? And don't be surprised when a man of God gets up and he goes and he rips down and he roots out everything that you have been taught and everything that the world has taught you. Don't be surprised when he rips things down and he tears things down and people attack him for it. Because those same people that want to stop the truth from spreading are going to turn right around to the people spreading it and attack them. It's just going to happen. Think about Elijah. There's so many examples of the Bible. We could go on and on and on. Elijah, right? When he went and he did something for God and he killed the false prophets, what happened? Then Jezebel was after his life, right? She went after him because he was doing great things. He was a threat so she was after him. What about Micaiah? If you remember when Ahab and Jeroboam are about to go out to battle at Ramoth Gilead, Ahab has all these prophets, you know, many, many prophets and they're telling him, oh, God's with you and you can go ahead and do it and God's going to fight for you. All these, you know, many Joelsteins, you know, God's with you. Nothing, nothing's going to happen. You know, whatever God, God loves you no matter what. And Micaiah comes and it's funny because when Micaiah, we don't have time to turn there but when Micaiah went there and someone actually told him saying, hey, just, just, just speak what all the other prophets say, right? Just, just, just say what they say and everything will be fine. He said, you want what God tells me to speak, that will I speak. And, and when, what happens when he does that? He gets up and he says to Ahab, King of Israel, he says, you're going to die and you're going to, Israel is going to be scattered. And what happens? He says, he says, get him out of here, put him in prison, right? What about all the, all the other countless prophets in the Old Testament when they'd stand up to a king and what about Zachariah when he stood up to Joash and he stood up to him? He killed him and all the sons. And this is, this is what happens when someone is doing something great for God, when someone is, they're not only going to try to stop what you're doing, they're not just going to try to stop what you believe, they're going to try to stop you. They're going to try to stop the individuals who are spreading it. What about Paul? Turn to Acts 16, 16. Poor Paul. We could go to so many examples of people after Paul. We're not even going to read the example of when they tried it, when they stoned him and almost killed him. Acts 16. Acts 16, verse 16, there the Bible says, and it came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with the spirit of divination met us, which brought her master as much gain by Suze saying the same followed Paul and us and cried saying these men are the servants of the Most High God which show unto us the way of salvation. And she, this she did many days, but Paul being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that same hour. So Paul basically casts out a devil. People don't like this, verse 19. And when her master saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them, the individuals who were spreading the truth, into the marketplace, unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrate, magistrate saying these men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city. And again, what do you do when you're trying to, when you're trying to convict someone who's innocent? You gotta lie about them. Verse 21, And teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive. He's breaking the law, neither to observe being Romans. Is that true? Were they teaching people to break the law? Were they teaching people to do things contrary to the law? No. Well, apparently it doesn't matter. No one saw if that went to see if that was true or not. Because verse 22, And the multitude rolls up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes and command it to beat them for something they didn't even do. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in stocks. Turn to Acts 21, 28. Acts 21, 28. Just as a side note, you know, whenever things are going on like this and you're being persecuted or things are happening, you know, there's always a point to it. There's always a purpose. You say, when Paul and Silas were beaten for something they didn't do and thrown into prison and there's many stripes laid upon them, maybe they were thinking, what's the point of this? What's the purpose of this? This is stupid. What's the reason for this? Well, you know that same jailer who threw them into prison? Do any of you quote Acts 16, 30 out soul winning and brought them out and said, sir, is what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. That's the jailer right here. It is this jailer right here who later ended up getting saved as a result of them being here. And so there's always a purpose to persecution and tribulation. And they're in Acts 21. This is one of my favorite stories in the book of Acts. Acts 21, 28. It's going to seem like we're kind of jumping into the middle of the story, but verse 28, crying out, men of Israel help. This is the man that teaches all men everywhere against this people in the law and this place and further brought Greeks also into the temple and have polluted this holy place. So basically what happens is Paul had returned to Jerusalem. He went into the temple. He wasn't even preaching. He just went in there to worship. He wasn't even preaching to anybody or anything like that. It was just, he was just going in there. It wasn't causing the scene or anything. In long story short, someone turned around and said, it's you. And they realized who it was. And basically, it's the same thing in Ephesus. They basically cause a big scene crying out, men of Israel help. This is the man that teaches all men everywhere against the people. Verse 29, for they had seen him before with him in the city of trophomess and Ephesians, whom they suppose that Paul brought into the temple. So someone recognized him from some other city, verse 30, and all the city was moved. It shows you how much they hated Paul. You know, someone looks and realizes it's him and the entire city just instantly goes into chaos. And all the city was moved and the people ran together and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple and forth with the doors were shut. They just dragged him out of the temple and they just shut the doors. Verse 31, as they went about to kill him, now they're going to kill him. Tidings came onto the chief captain of the band that old Jerusalem was in an uproar who immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down onto them. And when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. So the Romans go down with the soldiers and they basically save his life before he dies. They're beating him. They're trying to kill him. And then the chief captain came near and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains and demanded who he was and what he had done. I told my coworker what I believed and I think I heard their feelings. Local Paul went through. Someone recognized him. Someone who had seen him in one of the other cities recognized him and he almost dies. The whole city, everybody in the whole city instantly is in an uproar. Everything's turned upside down. But this persecution is nothing to anything we face, right? Of course the Romans come down and the chief captain comes and saves his life and he doesn't only get what's going on. He just sees like the entire city beating this one guy. So he assumes there's something he did wrong. He bounced him with chains. Verse 34, and some cried one thing, some another among the multitude. And when he could not know for certainty for the tumult, people are just crying so many things and yelling so much. He doesn't even know what's going on. He commanded him to be carried into the castle when he came upon upon the stairs. So it was that he was born of the soldiers for the violence of the people for the multitude of the people followed after crying away with him. And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said under the chief captain, may I speak into the who say, canst thou speak Greek? So the the soldier here is about to say something to Paul and it shows what the people were telling. Here's what the people, the story that people are spreading around about Paul to get him in trouble. Art though not the Egyptian, which before these days made us an uproar and led us out into the wilderness for four thousand men that were murderers. He's saying that you know that's what people are telling me. Are you the guy who like you like led four thousand murderers into the wilderness? Is that was that you? This is how much they're lying about him and how much they're just they're they're doing anything to stop not just what he's saying not just the truth but the individual who is who's making such an impact. They're not gonna have just a problem what you say they're gonna have a problem with you turn to Matthew 27. Matthew chapter number 27. First tonight I said enemies of the cross will try to stop the truth from being heard. Second tonight I said enemies of the cross will try to attack those spreading it. They're not just gonna try to stop the truth they're gonna try to attack you too. Third tonight enemies of the cross will stir up the majority. You may have already kind of noticed it with the stories we're looking at but one common theme is is is there you see there's not everybody who just completely hates the Bible but those few people see those few people those few reprobates or people just who hate the Bible who hate the Word of God they're not enough to make an impact against you. They're not enough to try to cause trouble for you so what they have to do is they have to stir up everybody else. They have to turn everybody else against you. How else could so few people cause a ruckus they have to get everyone else involved. If they're Matthew 27 look at verse 20 but the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Abbas and destroy Jesus. The chief priests and the elders they weren't enough to try to convince Pilate that this innocent man should be put to death because Paul didn't want to have Jesus put to death. Paul was pretty convinced or Pilate was pretty convinced sorry that Jesus was innocent that he didn't do anything wrong. Paul Pilate wasn't saved but he knew Jesus was innocent so this group of chief priests and elders they weren't enough to try to convince Pilate to put Jesus to death so look what they had to do and persuaded the multitude. That's how you end up that's why you read it's the multitude's crying out crucify him just because the chief priests went up and stirred people up. Turn to Acts 13. Acts 13 42. You don't turn there but while you're going to Acts Mark 15 11 says it's a parallel passage it says but the chief priests moved the people that he should rather release Barabbas unto them saying concept they're just going around trying to stir everybody up to turn them against the man of God. In Acts 13 42 the Bible says this and when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue the Gentiles be sought that these words might be preached unto them the next Sabbath. So Paul and his team of missionaries and the group of people who are with him they're in Antioch of Pisidia and Paul's preaching in the synagogue and he preaches this great sermon and everyone loves it. Everyone's receptive to God everyone likes it and they want Paul to come back and preach again. Verse 43. Now when the congregation was broken up many of the Jews in religious proselytes followed Paul and Barabbas who speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. So everyone does is it has favor with them and they want them to come back next week and preach more but when the Jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barabbas waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing he put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life. Low we turn to the Gentiles. So this is a side note I always love this phrase here because you know people who mostly people who just don't go soul-winning they'll say oh well you can't who are you to judge people's salvation? Who are you to go and decide who's saved and who's not? Who are you to judge when it comes to people's salvation? Look when we go soul-winning when we go out trying to find out if people are saved so we can preach in the gospel we're not judging anybody they're judging themselves worthy or unworthy of everlasting life. If people Jesus said by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words shall be condemned. We don't we don't go and we ask people and realize that they're not saved that doesn't that's not what condemns them to hell. What judges somebody unworthy and what condemns somebody is what they believe and what they decide to believe. Verse 47, for so hath the Lord commanded us saying I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that thou should be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. When the Gentiles heard this they were glad. See most people when you go out when you preach in the gospel and you get them saved they think it's a good thing and they like it and most people don't have you know they may maybe they won't they'll be like oh I'm cooking ramen noodles and I'm busy or you know I got something going on but most people aren't just going to hit you for just because you're out the door with the Bible in their hand. I remember one time in Sacramento I was I was with soul-winning with Moses a friend of mine and this is an uncommon story I'm sure this has happened to many of you here something like this and we were soul-winning and I knocked on the door and a guy opened the door and I said hi we're from Verdi Baptist Church just inviting people to church and he saw the Bible in my hand he said is that a Bible? I said yeah that's that's a Bible and he's like have a good day let's shut the door. Most people aren't like that right most people are going to be like I'm cooking ramen noodles or you know I gotta leave or I'm getting ready for work but most people aren't just going to be against you like that and hate you know you have a Bible in your hand and they just instantly hate you most people aren't like that verse 49 and the word of God was published throughout all the region so what do they do? Everybody loves what they're saying everybody's with Paul the whole the whole city wants him to come back next the next Sabbath and preach unto preach the word of God to them and everybody just loves them and everything is going great for them so what do they do here's what they have to do verse 50 but the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of their cults when Verdi had their protest in 2016 a lot of people weren't even sodomites they were just sympathizers because you just need to stir everybody up you don't necessarily need the when persecution comes it's not always just from the the the reprobates and the haters of God it's all it's them that small group and all the people they stirred up right because it's they're not enough right they're not enough I one pastor one pastor I heard put it this way I was kind of stuck with me he was talking about the sodomites and they said they're a minority but they're a loud minority you say well how they're only one or two percent how do they how do they cause such persecution from people they stir everybody else up and they depend on that they did the the chief priest they depended on everybody else they stirred up to crucify Jesus these people here depended on all the people they stirred up to persecute Paul verse 51 but they shook off the dust of their feet against them and came unto Iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost it's the same exact thing today nothing's changed just just a few people who stir up the whole internet right who stir up the whole city to cause persecution so let's keep reading in Acts 14 let's just continue into the next chapter this is a major theme and even just the book of Acts and it came to pass in Iconium so they they just shook off the dust of their feet they went into the next city in Iconium and it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude both of the Jews and also the Greeks believe same thing they go into another city every people get saved it's like it's a soul winning marathon in Iconium everything's going great but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil affected against the brethren see that's all they have to do they just have to stir people up so don't be surprised when a family member or a friend of yours or a co-worker who really doesn't like what you stand for goes and stirs everybody else up it turns everybody else against you and and that's why that's another reason you can't just go you gotta be careful in who you call a reprobate because if five people in your workplace or something don't like you and they're against you and they're persecuting you for what you believe which is is rare today it's they're probably just what if they were just stirred up by one person right not everybody when when the when these Jews here would turn an entire city against Paul the whole city wasn't a bunch of reprobates right it would have been wrong for it would Paul would have been wrong if he just went and said oh they're all persecuting me they all hate what i'm saying they're all reprobates no that's because they stir everybody else up right there's tons of stories like this you don't have to turn there by act 17 3 act 17 13 says but when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached to Paul preached up Paul at Berea they came through there also and stirred up the people acts 21 27 we already read this but says and when the seven days were almost ended the Jews which were of Asia and they when they saw him in the temple stirred up all the people and laid hands on him and another one acts 6 12 says and they started the people and the elders in the scribes and came upon him and caught him and brought him to the council so all that to say don't be surprised when that happens to you and don't don't go calling everybody a reprobate because the last thing you want to do is just call it unsaved person a reprobate because when you sign someone off as a reprobate you're not going to try to give them the gospel right you don't want to take someone who might get saved later on and and just never give them the gospel because you just were mad and you thought that they're a reprobate right so just use them to sermon of course turn to Romans 12 17 so we talked about we're talking about enemies of the cross and ways that they're going to try to stop the truth and first we looked at how enemies of the cross will try to stop the truth from being heard they're going to try to stop from spreading second we looked at how enemies of the cross will try to attack the individuals they're going to try to not just attack what they're saying but they're going to attack the actual people third we looked at how enemies of the cross will stir up everybody else and they'll stir up the multitude before we end the sermon tonight I just like to give a quick application how do we respond to it right when this the when these things happen to us and we realize they're going to happen to us in the future because it's what the bible says how do we respond I mean obviously we keep preaching the word of god and we keep we keep doing what god has command commanded us but you know sometimes when people attack you or they persecute you there's something deep inside that kind of flares up and you get angry and you want you just you just you get angry at that we need to understand this kind application for the sermon tonight we need to understand that vengeance is not ours because god is going to eventually set it straight either in acts 1217 the bible says recompense to no man evil for evil whether they're saved or they're unsaved or they're a reprobate recompense to no man evil for evil provide all provide things honest in the site of all men if it be possible as much as life in you live peaceably with all men you say how does that work with someone's unsaved and they're attacking me or even they're a reprobate and they're attacking me how do I recompense to no man evil for evil here's why dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place into wrath for it is written here's why vengeance is mine I will repay say it the lord Paul say you know what you don't need to worry you don't need to depend to depend on recompensing evil to evil here's why god vengeance is gods and and here's the thing if I could choose either myself or god to avenge myself I'll take god any day because god will do a more righteous job god will do a better job right we don't need to take vengeance into our own hands the verse 20 therefore find enemy hunger feed him if he thirsts give him drink for in doing thou shall he calls a fire on his head be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good when someone attacks you or what you believe or what you stand for like I said I get it you know you you that thing deep inside of you flares up and you want to you get want to come back and you and you want to you want to strike back but turn to 2nd Timothy 2 14 let's see what Paul said 2nd Timothy I'm sorry 2nd Timothy 2 4 there is no 2nd Timothy 2 14 if I have you turn to 2nd Timothy 2 14 I have the wrong bible 2nd Timothy 2 4 while you're turning there I'm going to read you Deuteronomy 32 35 this is god talking he says to me belong in vengeance and recompense their foot he's talking about their enemies he's saying their foot shall slide in due time he's saying don't worry about avenging yourself don't worry about getting all worked up he said to me belong in vengeance and recompense their foot shall slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make haste he says don't worry they're gonna I'll make sure they get what I get what they deserve they're in 2nd Timothy 2nd Timothy 4 this is where we'll end tonight Alexander we already read this Alexander the copper Smith did me much evil so what do we do when people do as much evil what whether they're reprimanded or they're just unsaved what do we do what did Paul say the Lord warned him according to his works so let God take care of it probably deal with it God will set it straight he'll avenge me I don't need to worry about it God will take care of it that's exactly what Paul's saying and I think it's funny because you know here Paul's at the end of his life let's just keep reading verse 15 of whom thou be thou where also for he hath greatly withstood our words and my first answer no man stood with me but all men first took me I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge and you know you're reading 2nd Timothy 4 and it's kind of the end of Paul's life and he's saying you know I I went through a lot and I fought a good fight and I finished my course and he kind of at this point he's kind of talking about all the people who betrayed him and well Luke's with me this guy betrayed me and this guy first took me and you know you you'd you'd you'd think you'd ask you know don't you want revenge Paul aren't you angry Paul aren't you hurt Paul by all the fellow believers that stabbed you in the back and the people who has stood you wouldn't aren't you mad Paul don't you want revenge Paul here's how he got through it here's how he settled in his mind verse 17 and that was standing the Lord stood with me and striking me because it doesn't it doesn't matter what other people say it doesn't matter what's going on in your life whether it's persecution or anything else or any other hard time that's going on it shouldn't matter because verse 17 notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion in verse 18 and the Lord shall deliver me this this is how he got through it this is how he got and I'm sure it hurt and I'm sure there was a lot of frustration and hurt when people stabbed him in the back but this is what got him through it verse 18 and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work he's not denying that the evil things happened to him and he's not denying that people didn't hurt him and turn against him and attack him his whole entire life but the point he's trying to make is that God delivered him and will deliver them through it all anyway so it doesn't matter and the Lord should deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever amen see that's what that's how Paul got through it and you know when you realize that and and when we realize that when persecution comes or even maybe not persecution just hard times when this comes when we get this idea that when we when we understand that it's up to God and God's going to get us through it and vengeance isn't ours we don't have to worry about it God reward them according to their works nothing else really matters right it's a guarantee it's basically a guarantee that everything is going to turn out great right so when people try to stop the truth from being heard and when people try to attack you as the individual who's spreading the truth and believes the truth and when they try to stir up the multitude against you just let's just remember that vengeance isn't ours God will take care of it and we really don't have to worry about a thing let's pray dear Lord thank you for this idea in the Bible God thank you for these these stories in the Bible God that show us how these people work God and and giving us even just an application on how to deal with it not just telling us what they do but how to deal with them and and thank you for delivering us through everything God no matter what whatever happens God is always going to be on our side and thank you for being with us God and help us just remember that no matter what happens we're on the winning side in Jesus precious name we pray amen