Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of Acts, chapter 17. The name of the message today
is the Bereans. The Bereans. Now, the Berean
Jews were no different than the Jews at Thessalonica or anywhere
else. They're just sinners who need
to be saved. There's something that they did
that's a good lesson for us. It's a good lesson for us to
do when we hear a gospel message preached and to do it continuously. They searched the scriptures
to see if what Paul said was so. And that's why they're called
more noble. They weren't any different than the Jews at Thessalonica,
except for the fact that they searched the scriptures to see
if it was so. And that's a good thing for us
to do. That's a good thing for us to do. Search the scriptures. And remember, Paul's preaching
and Silas is preaching out of the Old Testament, right? So
they're preaching the Messiah. They're preaching Christ is the
Messiah, right? And as they're preaching Christ
the Messiah from the Old Testament, the Bereans, and they were there
for multiple weeks, I believe, as they were sitting there, and
they would go home and search the scriptures to see if it was
so, or they would search the scriptures right there to see
if it was so. Is this, is what this guy's saying? truth. And you know what? The Holy Spirit,
Brother Travis, opened up and illuminated the Scriptures for
them, and they saw the Messiah. And they saw the Messiah. They
didn't just take Paul at his word. You know, there's a lot
of people you talk to them, and they say, well, that's what my
pastor says. Well, what if your pastor says what he's saying
is wrong? Well, it can't be wrong because
my pastor said it. Search the Scriptures to see if it's so. You know, that's what I love
about you guys. You know, multiple. Karen came up last week and asked
me about the noble woman. And they're there again today,
this message. And I looked at it and dealt
with it and put it in the message. But that was wonderful, because
I didn't touch on that last week. Who are they? Well, let's find
out. It's wonderful. So today we'll
be in the Book of Acts. We'll be looking at verses 10
to 15, and notice too, we're introduced here to the Bereans,
but where does God send Paul and Silas according to his eternal
purpose? Right to the synagogue. Right
to the synagogue. Right to the synagogue of the
Jews. And watch in awe, beloved, as we stand up and read this
portion of scripture, how we see God's eternal purpose unfold
before us in this wonderful text. Let's stand up and read verses
10 to 15 together of Acts chapter 17. And the brethren immediately
sent away Paul and Silas by night into Berea, who coming thither
went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than
those in Thessalonica, In that, they received the word with all
readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether
those things were so. Therefore, many of them believed. Also of the honourable woman,
which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. But when the Jews
of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached
of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people. And then, immediately, the brethren
sent Paul to go, as it were, to the sea, but Silas and Timotheus
abode there still. And they, that conducted Paul,
brought him into Athens, and receiving a commandment unto
Silas and Timothy for him to come to him, with all speed they
departed. Now look at, you see God's eternal
purpose unfolding here? Look at this. They're in, in
verse 10, they're in Thessalonica, then they're in Berea, and then
Paul's on his way to Athens. All according to the eternal
purpose of God. Oh, my. I love it. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Look
at verse 9. Look at this. We'll start right
away. Look at verse 9 Acts chapter 17, we see that Jason and the
brethren who were taken by the rulers of Thessalonica, they
were released. Remember, Paul was staying at
Jason's home, and there was brethren gathered there. Paul and Silas
weren't there, but the folks in the city didn't care. They
were all riled up, and they just wanted to go and get someone.
They wanted to go get Paul and Silas, and they heard they were
at Jason's house, so they went to Jason's house, and they just
grabbed whoever was in there, happened to be Jason and some
other brethren, and they hauled them out, took them to the magistrates.
My, oh, my. Well, we see in verse nine, when
they had taken security of Jason and of the other, they let him
go. Now, think of this, too. Think of this. There's a little
piece here. God, by having them take them
into custody, protected them from the mob. The mob was riled
up. They wanted blood. Lord protected
them. Lord protected them. and had
them released. And that all the things they
were saying about them was lies. My, oh my. So Jason and the other
brethren were released by the rulers of the city after they
told them, we're not trying to overthrow Rome. Because that
was one of the, that they were trying to overthrow Caesar. And they said, we're not trying
to overthrow the rulers of the city. So they saw him as no threat,
and they let him go, all according to God's eternal purpose. Now
let's read verses 10 to 12 of Acts chapter 17. And the brethren
immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who
coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These
were more noble than those in Thessalonica, And here's the
only reason they're more noble. It's not because of any standing
in them or anything. It's because they received the
word with all readiness of mind, and they searched the Scriptures
daily whether these things were so. They wanted to make sure Paul
was telling the truth. Oh, my. Any preacher that gets
upset that you do that after their message, There's something
wrong. This is wonderful. This is wonderful. Therefore, many of them believed
also of the honorable woman, which were Greeks, and of the
men, not a few. So we see here that there was
Jews and Greeks who were saved and some of the honorable women.
That means the wives of rulers within the city. My, oh, my. And they were probably
Jewish proselytes because they were in the synagogue preaching
the gospel. My, oh, my. So we see in verse
10 that the brethren at Thessalonica, they were concerned for the safety
of Paul and Silas. So they take him at night and
they get him out of the city. And all according to God's eternal
purpose, Paul and Barnabas now, or Paul and Silas now, Barnabas
is with John Mark, Paul and Silas now, they're on their way to
Berea. Why? Because there's a bunch
of lost sheep there. Isn't it amazing how we've seen
this? The unfolding of the eternal purpose of God in taking the
preacher and putting him in the spot where he needs to be? Oh, it's absolutely amazing. It's absolutely amazing. Because
faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, they must
hear the gospel, right? They must. They must hear about
Christ dying for sinners, the perfect sacrifice. And all this was providentially
arranged by God before it even occurred. before it even occurred. And
that's true even with our salvation. All this is happening according
to God's eternal purpose. Why? For the furtherance of the
gospel. And we see God's eternal purpose
unfold because, again, he's got some lost sheep in Brea. They
have to hear the gospel. They must. They must. So God sends Paul and Silas to
the city. Again, all according to his eternal
purpose. You're going to hear me say that a lot in this study. And again, marvel at God's protecting
hands, not only upon Jason and the brethren there, but also
upon Paul and Silas. And having the brethren get them
out at night. The Jews at Thessalonica, they
wanted to get a hold of Paul and Silas and take care of them.
The unbelieving Jews. My oh my. I wonder how many times
God's protected us and we didn't even know it. My oh my. Oh my. He does all the time. So we see God's protecting hand
upon his servants. Sometimes our great God allows
his servants to suffer. We've seen that, haven't we,
through this study? We may have even experienced
that in our lives, too. Not suffer like they did, but
suffer from persecution within family and friends, and we may experience that. Don't
be surprised. And remember, people are enemies
in their minds by wicked works towards God. And so sometimes he keeps us
from persecution, which is what we're seeing here. Remember,
Paul was beaten and stoned and they thought he was dead. Well,
here, God gets him out of the city before anything happens.
So marvel, beloved God, because we've seen God's protecting hand. We've seen his sovereign hand.
And again, all this is happening for the furtherance of the gospel.
The gospel must go from Thessalonica to Berea. And so them getting centered
at night by the brethren is all according to God's will and purpose
for the furtherance of the gospel. I love it. It's so exciting. And remember, the word will not
return unto him void. So what's going to go out and
accomplish? Right? Either salvation or judgment,
as Brother Zane said when I was talking to him this week, right?
Salvation or judgment. One or the other. My oh my. In Marvel here, again, it's God's time of love
for the lost sheep that are at Berea, that must be saved at
this time by the power of God, because salvation is of the Lord. And think of this, these saints
that the Lord's going to save, they've already been redeemed. They just don't know it, do they? Did we know it before the Lord
saved us? Didn't have a clue, did we, Brother
John? But he redeemed us. See, keep praying for your friends
and your family members who don't know Christ. Keep praying to
them until they have their last breath. Because we don't know
if they're the Lord's sheep or not. Keep lifting them up. My, oh, my. So it's God's appointed time
of love for some of His chosen blood-washed saints in Berea.
And Paul and Silas are the ordained instruments that our Lord was
pleased to use to preach His gospel to them. And for Paul and Silas to be
at the appointed time for the deliverance of God's elect. Now
think of this, too. In order for them to be at the
synagogue at the appointed time that God has determined for the
salvation of those lost sheep there, this has to occur. And this has to occur at the
exact time. Isn't it amazing? Again, like
I've been saying, we're seeing the unfolding of God's eternal
purpose right before us. And this happened in our lives
too, beloved. When we heard the gospel, we
were where we were supposed to be. At that appointed time, how am I? And whether we were
in the church or listening to a sermon, When the Lord saved us, because
faith cometh by hearing, and whether we were reading the word
of God, and having Luke preach to us, or John, or Matthew. God, the Holy Spirit regenerated
us at that perfect time, the appointed time, didn't he? Oh my. I had a brother out west. I had the honor of preaching
to him for five years before he went home to be with the Lord,
and he was a Mormon. He said he was at home reading his Bible. The Lord saved him just like
that. He forsook Mormonism and never stopped following Christ
by the grace of God in Christ. He kept them. You know what he
said to me? He said, now I know that my family
is going to get to hear the gospel when I die. And they did. And there was about
300 of them. And they heard the gospel. And
Paul would have loved that. But that all happened according
to God's eternal decree. My oh my. So for Paul and Silas, this all happened according to God's eternal will
and purpose. Let's read verse 10 again. And
the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night
unto Berea, who coming thither went into the synagogue of the
Jews. So Paul and Silas, they went right away into the
synagogue of the Jews. Do we have to guess what they
did? Brother Zane, do we have to guess
what they did? Amen. They preached Christ. They preached
Him. All they had is the Old Testament
scriptures, right? And they showed them, this is
the Messiah. Christ is the Messiah. He was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And they take Him to the end
of, of, of, Isaiah 53, and say, look, look, God's satisfied with
the sacrifice of Christ. Oh, my. And we don't have to
wonder what they preach. They preach the same thing that
I preach and what other gospel preachers preach. They preach
Christ. That's what they preach. It's wonderful. They preach the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Messiah, as the sent one. And we see, and we know from
last week they reasoned with the people, because they would
have done the same thing here as they did in Thessalonica.
They reasoned with the people in the Jewish synagogue out of
the scriptures. And we see in verse 11 that again the people
were more noble, called more noble than those in Thessalonica. in that they received the word
with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily,
whether these things were so. Let's read verse 11. These were
more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word
with all readiness of mind, they were very attentive, and searched
the scriptures daily, whether these things were so. Now this
is good instruction for us, isn't it? Right? Study that shall thyself approve.
A workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. Right? Paul and Silas, what'd
they do? They took them right into the
Holy Inspired Word of God, right into the writings of the Old
Testament, and they proved by the preaching of the gospel that
Jesus that they preached was the promised Messiah, that Jesus
Christ our Lord was the Messiah. And God the Holy Spirit took
those words, and what'd he do? Regenerated them. Born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. And they believed. God gave them
faith to believe, didn't he? Just like that. Do you know God
can save you in your seat without you moving a muscle? Isn't that wonderful? Because
it isn't our work, it's God's work. Oh, my. And we see by the grace and mercy
of God that they received the word with all readiness of mind. In other words, they eagerly
embraced the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that's implying.
They eagerly embraced the Lord Jesus Christ. They were glad. They rejoiced. And they embraced the gospel truths
that they were preaching. that Christ was the Messiah.
They manifested a sincere, joyful spirit that only a true, born-again,
blood-washed saint could manifest. And we see in verse 11, not only
did they receive the word with all readiness of mind, but then
they searched the scriptures to see whether this was so. Now, the Berean Jews at once showed a readiness of
mind. They eagerly embraced it right away. You know why? Because God, the Holy Spirit,
has already been tilling the soil of their hearts, hasn't
he? Remember the seed that falls on good ground? That ground is
called prepared ground. Brother Neil, before you plant
a crop, you prepare the ground to receive that seed, right?
It's all prepared. Prepared ground. Good ground. Good ground. Oh, my. God, the Holy Spirit's working
on their hearts, just like He does for every born-again, blood-washed
saint of God. Oh, my. They had an eager desire
to attend to the gospel and embrace it, and they received the word
preached to them, And they searched the Scripture to see if what
Paul and Silas were saying was true about Christ being the Messiah. They examined the Scriptures
to see if this was true. They judged what Paul and Silas
proclaimed by the Scriptures, and by the grace of God, they
received it. They received it by the grace
and mercy of God. Now, it's a miracle because we
know that to the spiritual man, the preaching of the gospel is
foolishness. Who made them to differ? Only
God. It's amazing. It's absolutely
incredible. and marvel how the Holy Spirit
can give this wonderful understanding and faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's not something we can muster
up. He has to give it to us. And we see it right here. People
say, well, how do you know they were saved? Well, they received
the word with gladness. With gladness. They searched
the scriptures. They're born again, beloved.
Natural man doesn't want anything to do with it. We were there,
weren't we? Oh my. They assented to the words of
the gospel, the preaching of salvation through Christ alone,
by his shed blood alone, and his resurrection from the dead, not only spiritually and experimentally,
but they felt the power of the gospel in the forgiveness of
all their sins. See, no matter how down we can get
in this world, we still have a joy, beloved, because all our
sins are forgiven. This world isn't easy, is it?
It's rough. But praise God, we're saved.
Praise God, the Lord saved our souls. And he's going to carry
us right through it all. We see a mountain come up before
us, and we think, oh my, I did a little bit of that this morning.
I got all worked up about something. And my dear bride said, the Lord's
got it all in control, Wayne. See, I'm no different than anyone
else. I'm like, yeah. Thank you for
reminding me of that. That's why we need to hear the
gospel all the time, isn't it? To remind us God's in control. He's in control. My oh my. And they enjoyed the comfort. Now think of this. They enjoyed
the comfort of the fact that there was no condemnation in
Christ for them. They're saved by the grace and
mercy of God. Just like we enjoy our salvation
in Christ. And we can talk to each other
and get excited about the word of God. Look what Christ has
done for me. He saved your soul, brother.
He saved mine, too. And it pleased him to do so. My. And so they were rejoicing
because, remember, the Jews were supposed to be looking for the
Messiah, right? There he is. Oh, would that fill their heart
with joy? He's come. He's gone. My, oh my. So they compared scripture with
scripture. They received what was taught by the Holy Spirit
from the Word of God with readiness of mind, and they were determined
to know the truth of God. So they further searched the
scriptures. It's amazing. And the Holy Spirit holds these
Bereans before us as an example to follow if we would receive
spiritual good for our souls by the preaching of the Gospel.
So let us be wise and attentive to the Word of God, just as the
Bereans did here, praying that God, the Holy Spirit, would teach
us the things of Christ. Increase our knowledge about
Christ, not so we can boast, but no, so we can be in awe of
what Christ done for us. Now let's read verse 12 of Acts
chapter 17. Therefore many of them believed,
also of the honorable woman, which were Greeks, and of men,
not a few. Again, this all occurred by God's
grace and mercy. Look at this, many of them what?
Believed. Believed on who? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
the sent one of God, the one who said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. They were
born again and given the gift of faith, and they believed. And like I said, God can save
you just like that without moving a muscle. My, oh, my. My. And we see that many of the
Jews believed and were converted from Judaism to Christianity,
and many of the honorable Gentile women and a multitude of Gentile
men were also given true saving faith. This is amazing. The honorable woman who were
Greeks, again, would be ladies and wives of leaders in the city,
or also wives of wealthy men with influence. So let us look at this with awe,
as we once again see the gospel came, not in word only, but in
power. The power of God, the Holy Spirit. It's wonderful. In what? We know in much assurance, right?
Oh, in much assurance. Proving that those believers
were God's elect. They were God's elect who had
been purchased at Calvary's cross with the precious, precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it wonderful? They were bought with the same
blood we were bought with. They're born again by the same
spirit we are. And now they're in glory, and
we soon shall be. Oh my! Our life's like a vapor. Long time to us, right? But not
long in the eyes of the Lord. One day to Him is a thousand
years. My oh my. This is amazing. So marvel at
what we've seen in the last few weeks. We've seen Paul move from
all these places, all according to God's eternal purpose, and
where he's moved to, he preaches the gospel, the Lord saves some.
He moved somewhere else, the Lord saves some. Persecution
rises up, you gotta leave there, go to the next city, the Lord
saves some. And this is all happening according
to the eternal purpose of God and all for the furtherance of
the gospel. Because think of this, the gospel spreading as
he goes to these different cities. There's a church in Philippi,
right? With Lydia and the jailer and their families. Oh my. There's a church in Thessalonica.
Church in Berea, all according to the eternal purpose of God. My, and remember, remember how
Paul was sent to Philippi by a supernatural vision in the
night. Do you know God will always have the messenger of mercy cross
with the object of his mercy at his appointed time. And it's
his perfect timing. His perfect timing, all according
to his eternal purpose. So Paul had a supernatural vision,
go to Philippi. Why? Well, it's a time for Lydia
to be saved. according to the will and purpose
of God. And then the apostles were beaten and imprisoned at
Philippi. Why? Because it's the time of love,
time for the Philippian jailer to be saved. And God's going
to save him, isn't he? He's going to get his sheep,
isn't he? No matter what. Talking to Zane this week about
our children, and he said, we don't have to worry if we pray
for him. But if they're the Lord's sheep, he's going to get them.
But oh, do we pray for them? Yes. Yes. Our family members? Yes. Oh,
my. So he's sent there to Philippi
for Lydia, the Philippian jailer. Then the officials at Philippi
pleaded with Paul and Silas. Remember, they're like, leave.
We didn't know you were Romans. Go on. And then Paul went into Lydia's
house, and the next day they departed, right? To go to the
next place that God ordained him to be. Which was Thessalonica. Well, there's some elect sheep
there, lost sheep, the Lord saves some, starts a church there.
Then those beloved brethren say to Paul, hey, we need to get
you out of here. OK. And where do they go next? They go to Berea. Look what's
happening. And after this, they're going
to go to Athens, where Paul's going to preach at Mars Hill.
Acropolis? Acropolis, I think it's called.
My, oh, my. So there's many we see at Berea
who God and his providence had ordained to eternal life. They
must hear the gospel. So our great God sent Paul there
and Silas. So let the eye of our faith,
beloved, let the eye of our faith see the overruling hand of divine
providence. Isn't it amazing? He's overruled wicked men who
seek to kill Paul and Silas, seek to destroy them. And he's
overruled their wicked deeds and sent and moved his servants
to a place where he wanted them. Our great God did that. You know
what I'm reminded of? The scripture in Psalm 76 10
that says, surely the wrath of man shall praise me, praise thee. the remainder of wrath shalt
thou restrain. Matthew Henry wrote about this
section here. The devil was outshot in his
own bow, as he thought by persecuting the apostles it would stop the
progress of the gospel. But it was so overruled by God
as to be made to further it. Isn't that amazing? Man will
rise up, and desire to destroy the church or destroy, they wanted
to destroy Paul and Silas. And God will overrule them, beloved.
And use it for the furtherance of the gospel. That's amazing. That's absolutely incredible.
So Paul and Silas, we see, they went right into the Jewish synagogue
in Berea, and they preached the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ to a mixture of Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles were Jewish
proselytes. Let's look at verse 12 again.
Therefore many of them believed, also of the honorable woman,
which were Greeks, and of the men, not a few. So here we see
right before us the grace of God working, in those bereaved,
number one, to make them more noble-minded, to make them desire
to search the Scriptures more, and then the Holy Spirit's working
to enable them to receive the Word, because natural men won't
receive the Word. Oh, that's why we must be born
again. And they received the Word with all readiness of mind,
and many of the Jews believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't
that wonderful? Believe on same Jesus we believe
on. The only one true living God. God who became a man to
save us from his own law and justice and his own wrath. Because he's loved us with an
everlasting love. My oh my. God's preachers have learned
through the years that persecution comes upon those who have the
honor of preaching the gospel, the one true gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace, just as Paul and Silas did. And whenever
the actings of men in wickedness, in high-handed rebellion, whatever
they are, they're made subservient to the establishment of divine
counsels of grace. And so much so that even the
wrath of man is yoked to the chariot wheel of God's decrees. Even the wrath of man is yoked
to the chariot wheels of God's decrees, as we have seen in our
previous studies. They sought to destroy them. God's will and decree must be
accomplished. Oh my. Next we see, here comes
more persecution for Paul and Silas. They're rejoicing with
the Berean brethren. Oh, they're rejoicing. Here comes
more persecution from the Jews of Thessalonica, the unbelieving
Jews. They get word that Paul and Silas are now in Berea preaching
the gospel, and they come to stir up the people there. My, oh, my. Do you know what the distance
is from Thessalonica to Berea? It's about 50 miles. That's a long way back then,
beloved. They didn't have cars like we do. Oh, let's jump in
the car and go. No. They had to take wagons or camels
or walk. That's going to take a few days,
isn't it? They came all that way. They were so upset. And they came all that way. We're
going to put a stop to this. Oh, my. Save your breath for cooling
coffee, guys. But they won't do that. No. No. They're so full of hatred
and enmity toward the preaching of the gospel, toward Christ.
50 miles they come, 50 miles westward. And they come just to stir up
trouble. Look at verse 13. But when the Jews of Thessalonica
had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea,
they came thither also and stirred up the people. That's the whole
reason they came, stir up the people against them. These unbelieving
Jews, these Christ-hating Jews were like hungry wolves, beloved. Oh my, it's like they tasted
blood and they left Thessalonica and
headed for Berea as soon as they heard that Paul was preaching
the gospel in Berea. They were determined to try to
stop God's apostle and they had no idea, again, that they're
yoked to the chariot wheel of God's decree. They have no idea. They're yoked to the chariot
wheel of God's divine providence. And they're going to do exactly
what our Lord Jesus had determined beforehand for them to do. And
Paul, because of it, is now going to be on his way to Athens. Oh, my. Look at verse 14. And then immediately
the brethren sent away Paul to go, as it were, to the sea. But
Silas and Timothy abode there still. So they get word. They see the
stirring up of the people. And our dear brethren. Now, these
folks haven't been saved very long. But look at the love and
care and concern they have for our dear brother Paul. And notice
the anger and hatred of the Thessalonian Jews, the unbelieving Jews, seems
to be aimed mostly at Paul. Because Silas and Timothy stay
there. So their hatred is aimed right at Paul. My, oh my. As they figure if
they can cut the head off the snake, he'll be gone. They don't know who they're fighting. They're fighting the sovereign
God of the universe. They're yoked to his chariot
wheel of providence. And they don't have a clue. They're
going to be used by God to send Paul to Athens. Oh my, this is amazing. We see the brethren who are concerned
with Paul's safety, which again with the new converts at Berea,
they take Paul toward the sea. Now they're going to make it
appear, and this is what they do, they trick those unbelieving
Jews. They're going to make it appear
like he's going to get on a ship and sail away. But he's not. But they head towards the sea
to make it appear that way. They're going to walk with him
all the way to Athens. See, again, we see God's sovereign
hand of protection on his servants. It's absolutely amazing. Silas
and Timothy didn't go with Paul, which again tells us the hatred
of those unbelieving Jews was mostly aimed more directly toward
Paul than others. And we see Silas and Timothy,
they stayed there. Again, this is all according
to God's eternal decree. And think of this, the purpose
of that is to strengthen the brethren, to comfort the brethren. They get to preach to the brethren
at Berea still. until they're called to go to Athens. Look
at what the Lord's done. He's not going to just leave
this little young church, not little, but this young church
on their own. Isn't that wonderful? God protecting
His church. See, we can take great comfort
in that, too. God protects His church, doesn't He? We've seen
it. He watches over us. He cares for us. It's wonderful. And these new converts, again,
they manifested a true concern for the safety of Paul. They
pretended they were going to the sea and then turned towards
Athens, went to the coast, and then turned off. And those who escorted Paul bottomed
all the way to Athens. Look what it says in verse 15.
So they went with him all the way to Athens. Make sure he's
safe. What love and concern. Do you know the distance from
Berea to Athens is approximately 186 miles apart by sea? By sea, the journey takes three
days. By foot, it takes almost two
weeks. Imagine how these new converts
enjoyed every minute of that trip, beloved. Talking to the
Apostle Paul, we know what they talked about. They talked about
Christ. They heard Paul speaking of the
unsearchable riches of Christ. And what a joy that would have
been to listen to. for two weeks. Two weeks. They'd be just rejoicing. And you know they're talking
about it all the way home too. Vicki and I, when we went to
our first Bible conference, we went there. It was a five hour
drive. We went there. And that's where
I met Donny Bell and some of the other guys. And what a weekend. It was a wonderful weekend. First
conference I ever went to. On the way home, what, that five
hours home seemed like an hour all the way home. We were so
excited talking about what we heard. I've never heard anything
like this before. Oh, this is wonderful. Oh my,
I imagine they felt the same way. They'd be so overjoyed,
beloved, just like we do when we talk to one another about
Christ. Isn't it wonderful? My. And we see that before they left
to go back to Berea, Paul gave them specific instructions for
them to inform Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. And again, all this is falling
out according to the will and decree of God. Now in closing,
let us marvel at God's eternal purpose unfolding before us,
before our eyes. It was time for Paul to go to
Athens to preach the gospel to the Athenians. preaching unto
them Jesus Christ, his Lord, dying for sinners and his resurrection
from the dead. And glory be to God. God sent
him there, sent him there. Glory be to God for his wonderful
salvation. Is not his salvation wonderful,
beloved? It's wonderful, wonderful, all
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. Praise the
name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Brother Travis,
can you close us?