The Word Made Plain

Tony Clark: Can you do like Paul did? Convince someone that Jesus is the Messiah strictly using the Old Testament? Now we're talking. Because there are people out there, and there are some Jewish people that will accept the Old Testament. And can you preach Jesus to them?

We want to help you. We're here to help you with these things because this is very vital for us to be able to understand. In the first coming of Jesus Christ, when he came as a babe in Bethlehem, did you know he fulfilled over 300 prophecies in his first coming? The chances that one man will fulfill over 300 prophecies is like one in 10 to the 23rd power.

Let me break it down a little bit more. It's like filling the state of Virginia and West Virginia. No, we have to go a little bit bigger than that. It's like filling the state of Texas. Let me just pause right here. I drove through Texas. I was driving from Texas when I was in the Marine Corps. I was driving from Texas to go to California, so I drove the width of Texas, 846 miles.

I didn't think I was ever getting out of Texas. I thought the whole United States was Texas. I really did. I had never seen a state that big before. I dropped my wife off in Georgia, in Atlanta, and I drove. It took me 14 hours to get to Texas. It took me 14 hours alone to get through Texas. When I got into New Mexico, I thought I was going to get out and just kiss the ground. I didn't think I was ever leaving Texas. Everything's big in Texas.

Now, fill Texas with silver dollars three feet deep. Take one silver dollar and paint it red. And then we blindfold you and just drop you down in the middle of Texas. The chances that you will find that particular red silver dollar is one to 10 to the 23rd power. That's one with 23 zeros behind it. I'm no mathematician, but I just know your odds are slim to none. Those are the odds that one man could fulfill all 300 of these prophecies, meaning that it's next to impossible.

Surely they were blown away by how Paul tied all of the Old Testament prophecies to Jesus. Notice, from morning until evening. The Greek word for "persuading" in verses 23 and 24 is *peitho*, and it means to convince by argument or by going back and forth, having a discussion. Paul wasn't just preaching from morning to evening like a sermon. No, they were having some give and take and some going back and forth.

As I mentioned earlier, some were persuaded in verse 24 by the things spoken and some disbelieved or refused to believe, meaning they heard the compelling argument by Paul that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior of the world and they refused to believe it. It reminds me of 2 Peter 3:5 in the Old King James. It says, "for they are willingly ignorant." Or the New King James says, "for this they willingly forget."

Now, I want to draw your attention to the Greek word "willingly." It's *thelō*, and it means to determine or choose or prefer. It speaks of a deliberate action. In other words, no matter how much proof they saw, they refused to believe it. They're willingly ignorant. And there are people that are like that today. You can have all of the arguments of Christianity and they will still say, "I refuse to believe that."

Every time someone is confronted with the truth of the gospel and they refuse to believe it, their hearts get a little bit harder. The same way, if you are a believer and you hear what the word of God has to say and you refuse to obey it, your heart gets a little bit harder in that area.

If you hear that husbands need to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and you're like, "No, my wife stinks. I am not doing that," your heart gets a little bit harder there. If you see that wives should submit to their husbands, and you're like, "I'm definitely not doing that," your heart gets a little harder in that area.

If you hear that the word of God says that you need to tithe 10% of your income to the Lord, and you say, "I'm definitely not doing that," your heart gets a little bit harder. No matter what it is, the truth of the word of God, if you're a believer and you refuse to obey in that particular area, your heart gets a little bit harder.

Then pretty soon you can hear that truth and it won't even phase you. You'll be willingly ignorant and turn your head. This is what the Bible calls "stiff-necked," where you just refuse. That's the implication that is talked about here. I bring this up because there are many of you here who will leave here today after hearing God's word about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how he came to die on a cross for our sins and offer us eternal life, and it will go in one ear and out the other. You will willingly forget what you heard here and go back to your old life.

There are some like that. Praise God, there will be those of you who will be persuaded that you need to get your life right with Jesus Christ. You need to repent of your sins and accept him as your Lord and Savior. God bless you when you do that. Thank God when you do that. But just understand, out of all the people who are here today and all the people online, only 25 percent, one in four, will respond favorably to the gospel.

The rest? In one ear, out the other. "I went to church, checked that off my list for the week, and let's keep doing what we do." We're going to pray for you and pray that your hard heart will get softened. But there are people who are like that. This was so freeing to me because I used to get so upset. I said, "This is God's eternal word. What's wrong with folks?"

The Lord said, "Only one in four is going to respond favorably." When that truth really hit me, which was in 2020, I said, "I got it now. I got it." And it just set me free. You don't see them, but I have wings and I'm just set free like a bird to just be the dispenser of information. However that word falls, it falls and I'm good. I used to be so bummed. "Why didn't they respond? That word was clear. It was precise." The Lord said only one in four is going to respond favorably. Which category are you going to fall into today?

Look at verses 25 to 27. So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers saying, 'Go to this people and say, hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing. Their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.'"

In the midst of this discussion, Paul saw them have a discussion amongst themselves. Surely those who believed were probably backing up what Paul was saying, and those who disbelieved were there refusing to believe what the word of God said. Paul had the final word and said that the Holy Spirit rightly spoke through the prophet Isaiah to our forefathers. Then he quoted Isaiah 6 in verses 9 and 10.

I want you to see what unbelief will do to us. It will cause us to hear and not understand, see and not perceive, and cause our hearts to grow dull to the things of God when we take the position of being willingly ignorant or willing to forget. We harden our hearts. We clog up our ears to hearing spiritual things. It blinds us to our sin and our lost condition in the eyes of God.

One of the things I pray every Sunday morning as I'm driving to the church at zero dark 30 and all I can see are the streetlights and the porch lights. Because it's at zero dark 30 and very few people are up. I just say, "Lord, open our eyes to our true spiritual condition that we're lost. That we're lost before a holy God." As I'm driving down streets and I'm seeing neighborhood after neighborhood, home after home, I'm like, "Oh, Lord, wake us up." They're sleeping right now, but they're also asleep spiritually.

Wake us up to our lost spiritual condition. Let us wake up with a sense that we are lost unless you save us. That's my prayer every Sunday. Sometimes driving just through the week, I see all the cars and I say, "Lord, how many of these people know you?" They're driving, going here and there and they're in a hurry and they're darting in and out of traffic, not using turn signals, which drives me crazy. They're just going. I say, "Lord, where are they going? They're in a hurry for some reason." I'm just like, "Lord, help us. Open up our eyes to our lost spiritual condition."

Look at verses 28 to 31. It says, "Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles and they will hear it. And when he had said these things, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him."

Paul concluded by saying, "I have talked to you from morning to evening about Jesus Christ and you refuse to hear. Now I will take this gospel to a group of people who will hear it." When he said this, verse 29 said that those Jewish leaders were hot and had a great dispute amongst themselves on the way home. Please remember this truth whenever anyone doesn't receive the gospel from you. God has prepared a group of people for you to talk to.

Everyone isn't against Christianity and the church. Yes, Christianity is spoken against everywhere, but not everyone is against it. There are people who are eager to hear. "Why do you do the things you do? Why do you go to church? Why do you read your Bible?" There are people that God has prepared who are going to receive everything you have to say and ask questions because they truly want to know.

We see that Paul dwelt here in his own rented house in verse 30 and received all who came to him. He was preaching and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence. This is amazing to me because Paul made the best out of a bad situation. Even though he was in prison, on house arrest, he still preached the gospel to all who came to him.

We also know that it was from here that he wrote the books of Ephesians, Colossians, and Philippians, commonly called the prison epistles or letters from Paul. He even wrote a personal letter to a friend that we call the book of Philemon. No matter what prison or unfortunate situation you find yourselves in, you can make the best out of it by sharing Jesus Christ with people, either by letter, email, text, phone call, or social media. Paul is an example of this.

You know what amazes me more than anything? That Paul wrote the book of Philippians from this prison situation. The book of Philippians is all about joy and having joy. He was able to write a letter to encourage the church in the city of Philippi to have joy when he was in prison. That just says a lot. No matter what ball and chain you think you have on your ankle, no matter what prison situation you feel like you're stuck in, you can make the best out of it.

You can have joy in the midst of your prison situation. Paul is our example. Yes, we know Christ is the ultimate example. But Paul is our human example of how to do this. Look at your situation that you feel is very unfortunate. You can still have joy in the midst of it. Maybe it's your job. "I can't stand this job. These people, they stink. Their attitude. I'm just so sick of them. Every time I see them, they have a look on their face. They just lack joy."

Maybe you're there to bring the joy. Just a thought. People are struggling and most people hate the job they're at and they're only doing it because they need some money. Maybe you can go there and God use you as the instrument to be the lifter of their heads. Bad company corrupts good habits. It's so easy to get around them, then next thing you know, you're yelling and you're complaining and your lip is turned up and you're looking sideways at folks.

Maybe God has us there to be like Paul, to bring joy in the midst of an unfortunate situation. Because I'm telling you, most people hate their jobs. They're only there for the money. But you can make the best out of it. I remember I didn't want to go into the military. I was on an academic scholarship in college and I wanted to go the baseball route and then ultimately go into robotics.

It was right when technology was really taking off in the eighties. That's what I wanted to do. I didn't want to go to anybody's military. I used to tell people I wasn't cutting my hair for nobody. I had a Jerry curl all down my back. But I end up going to the military. That's where God saved me. I got saved when I was in the Marine Corps.

God began to fashion my attitude. I was just counting down to my four years being up. God had worked on me so much to the point where I said, "Okay, Lord. I'm about to get out." I couldn't believe I was able to pray this prayer: "Lord, do you want me to stay in a little longer?" I ended up putting in a package to get the job I was promised when I came into the Marine Corps. I said, "Lord, if you cause this package to go through, I know you want me to stay a little bit longer."

It didn't go through, so I told the Marine Corps, "Deuces, I'm out." But God had to work on my attitude because I couldn't stand it. There were times I was walking down the street in my uniform and of course you see an officer coming your way. I remember just walking with a look on my face, saluting, and being mad at the world. God said, "I have a screwdriver for you to tune that attitude up of yours. You'll never share the love of Jesus Christ with folks with that attitude."

The Lord began to work in me. I began to make a bad situation out of a four-year prison term I thought I had. God gave me a heart. I hated going to the field because I had to leave my family. But it was at the field that I had a whole big giant tent of Marines. We didn't have hotels. We were in the Marine Corps, not the Air Force. We weren't in hotels with credit cards and stuff.

We had to stay in tents. Inside those tents, they were asking, "What about this in Christianity?" I said, "Okay, hold that thought. Let me finish answering him there. Okay, I know you have another question, but let me go back to this guy." I had the best times sharing about the Bible and Jesus Christ when I went into the field because everybody was under one tent and we just had our discussions. It was the most wonderful time, but God had to get my heart right.

He said, "You look at this as a prison term, but I want to use you as a glorious opportunity to share my gospel with people." I had to get my attitude right. When I did, there were a bunch of folks coming to the church from my platoon and they gave their lives to the Lord. It was a beautiful situation.

I brought that up because maybe you don't like your job and maybe you're glad it's a pandemic so that you can work at home and don't have to be around those stinking people anymore. Just know that pretty soon, you're going to have to go back to that building. How are you going to go back with the same stinking attitude? No, God wants to fill your heart with joy so you can share joy with those people.

In this message, we saw how not everyone will respond favorably to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Most will hear and refuse to believe the claims like we saw in these verses. How will you leave here today? Refusing to believe that you need to change and repent and accept Jesus Christ? That you need to surrender your life to him and you're like, "No, I'm good on that. I'm not doing that at all."

I hate that you would leave with that attitude, but the majority of people will leave here like that. I bring that up because you heard me mention before George Barna, the guy who studies these types of things. This was pre-Rona now. He said that 50 percent of the people who fill churches around the United States are not even Christians at all. That means half of the people.

If that is true and he has a large sample size, then half the people in here are not Christians. You may think you are, but you're not. That's unfortunate. But you can repent and get things right with God today. Maybe you need to come back home to the Lord. This is something that only you can do in your own heart. Only the Spirit of God coming upon you can show you your need to repent and get right with God.

I'm just the dispenser of information and I'm set free. I will fly out of here today, go home, and I will lay on my pillow with a great bit of peace saying, "Lord, I gave them your word. Now it's up to the Spirit of God to take the word and apply it to your hearts." Whether you accept it or not, the choice is yours.

Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you so much that you give us your word. The power is in your word. The power is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit will begin to search hearts and minds today. Lord, I pray if there's anyone here who has lied or stolen anything, looked with lust, murdered people in their hearts, been covetous, lied, oh God. That's the standard by which you're going to judge us by.