And I direct your prayerful attention
to Acts chapter 17 and reading for our text verse 11. Verse 11. 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. Acts 17 and verse 11. And what is specifically upon
my spirit is the receiving of the Word. They receive the Word,
the wonder of it, the wonder that they receive the Word. We
can get so hardened to many wonderful things that are set before us
in the Word of God and wonderful happenings and do not actually
see or continue to see the wonder of them. Wonder means a feeling
of amazement and admiration. Now here the apostles had been
preaching the word and as our Lord had said, that when they
persecute you in one city, then go to the next. That was how
the Lord would show them where he would have them to preach
the word. And it does us well to remember
this. In another way of putting it
would be, if a door is shut in one place by persecution and
rejection of the word, then go to another place. We must always
remember that. whether it be in a place, a town
that we go, whether it be, whether we've been giving the Word of
God through Bibles to one location, maybe it be to a school, and
then that school closes the door, won't have it anymore, we go
to another school, they have that Word again. And in this
way, the Lord directs his servants so that they don't waste their
energies or so that they're directed where they are to actually go
and when as well. And so we see this actually walled
down in the case of the apostles. Trouble in one city, persecuted,
they're not receiving the word, so then they go to the next city,
then to the next city, And we find that in this very chapter. And we certainly have the contrast
here then between those of Thessalonica and those in Berea. And in our text it says that
those were more noble. Those in Berea more noble than
those in Thessalonica. Now there's two meanings of the
word noble. When you think of noble or nobility,
it could be meaning rank or title or by birth in the aristocracy. We think of in the Word of God,
those about the kings were referred to as nobles. Well, it is not
in that way that they are spoken of at Berea more noble than in
Thessalonica. What it does mean is the definition
of having or showing a fine personal qualities or high moral principles
and they're more noble in the way that they actually receive
the word. And so the text says they were
more noble than those in Thessalonica in that or in this way they are
more noble, they receive the word This was an observation at this
particular time. It is a contrast between the
Thessalonians and the Bereans. God often uses contrasts. We see the contrast of the They're
two thieves upon the cross. They're two thieves, they're
both thieves, they're both crucified, they're both in the same condemnation. But then God saves one of them
and brings one to see who the Lord is and to be blessed with
saving faith in the Lord. And so we have a contrast between
a believer and an unbeliever there. We have a contrast with
how God dealt with Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy
Ghost in the early church when they made out they sold their
land and gave the whole amount to the church, when in actual
fact they were only giving half of that to the church, and they
were struck down dead. But whereas Paul, or Saul, as
he was named then, was persecuting the Church of God, hailing men
and women to prison and sending them to their death. But the
Lord converted him and saved him. He didn't strike him dead.
And we see these contrasts, the differences. Two people, the
same, like Cain and Abel, both came to worship. One worshipped
right way, one worshipped the wrong way. One worshipped with
the shedding of blood and the sacrifices as God had shown,
and the other just with the fruits of the field, the bloodless sacrifice. And we need these contrasts. We should always look for them
and notice them and how the Lord so often used them in his own
preaching, in the parables. There's hardly a parable in which
there isn't showing those that are lost, those that are saved,
a contrast. Of course, we think of a contrast,
a piece of white paper, you put something white on it, there's
no contrast. You put something black on it,
and the white on black, there is your contrast. And we're used
to having to need that, especially in photography or something of
that nature. If we're going to clearly see
something, we need a contrast. And that is very evident through
the Word of God. And we have it then here. The
contrast is how the Jews and Spiraea received the Word, the
effect upon them, as contrasted with those in Thessalonica. But we would remember, when we
come to the letters that Paul writes to the Thessalonians,
he actually refers to two places. One, they received the Word in
great affliction. So they did receive the Word
and it was in much affliction. And of course if we look back
at the earlier part of this chapter, we have a division amongst the
Thessalonians. There were those that did believe. They did receive it, but they
had amongst their own people, those that were rejecting it.
Can you imagine how The Thessalonians, their belief fell when they saw
Paul and Silas go away because of the persecution, but they
believed and they were left there in affliction and in trouble
and in trial. Then we have the time with the
Thessalonians and the letters to them where they receive the
word not as the word of men but as it is in truth the Word of
God. So we're not at all saying that
the Jews and the believing Jews even in Thessalonica were less
than those of Bria, but it's in this specific particular that
they were more noble. Well, the receiving of the Word,
the miracle of it, the wonder of receiving the Word. I want
to, not with the Lord's help, add four things to consider. Four things this morning, and
each one of them is the wonder of it. I'll introduce those as
we go along, as we have four points. Firstly, the wonder of the Word
given. When we think of the Word given,
We could divide that up into three areas. Firstly, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the incarnate Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the wonder of that, we can
meet so often in the Lord's house, we can have the Word preached,
Great is the mystery of godliness. God manifests in the flesh. That great wonder that was looked
into by Job as he knew of the prophecies of the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, but how can a clean
thing come out of an unclean? How can that be so? He puzzled
at how that could happen. And it has happened. We know
of the virgin birth. We know how our Lord actually
came. But we cease to wonder at it.
If we were to go back to Job and say, Job, now you can see
how that has happened. How the spotless Son of God has
come. How he is sinless. How he is
spotless. How he is a real man. And yet
he has never sinned. And Job would say, what a wonder.
wonderful thing how God brought this to be about. Then you could
go back to Solomon and you could hear him dedicating the temple
and he is saying, Heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much
less this house that I have built for will God in very deed dwell
upon the earth. And he is just full of wonder
as to how this could possibly be the case. Well you brought
him then to see how it was the case. To see the Lord Jesus,
Jesus of Nazareth, born of a woman made under the law to redeem
them that are under the law. And yet we cease to see the wonder
of it. I'm sure Solomon would have really
wondered when he saw and how God had brought that to pass.
And so may we think of the wonderful promises of the coming of the
Lord, the Messiah, the seed of the woman that should bruise
the serpent's head, and look afresh at his birth, at his growing
up, at his ministry, his perfect and spotless life, and of his
death, his sufferings at Calvary, and how they so perfectly fulfilled
that told in In Psalm 22, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? And Isaiah 53, as a lamb that
is done before her shearers, so opened he not his mouth, brought
as a lamb to the slaughter. All of those precious things
fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. And we are to wonder
at this, how God could provide such a way that the debt owed
by His people is fully paid and satisfied at Calvary, how their
need of righteousness is fully supplied in His perfect life
and obedience, and that put on His people's account. All that
is set forth in the Gospel is set forth in our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. You take Him away, there is no
need for the Word of God, there is no need for the Gospel, there
wouldn't be good news of salvation without the Lord Jesus Christ. So the wonder of the Word, the
Word given, is firstly in Christ, but then secondly in the Gospel
itself. Those grand Gospel facts of which
we have said, Christ's righteousness, Christ's death, Christ's sin
atoning death. And the Apostle Paul here in
this account, we have in verse 3, opening and alleging that
Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead
and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. This is the word that is given. It is the word that is the gospel
itself, the gospel facts, the presentation of the good news
of salvation what Christ has done in redeeming His people,
saving His people. His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. We are to wonder
at the very facts of the good news of salvation, all that is
revealed to us as to what has been accomplished and done. We
are also to wonder at the word given, the inspired word of God,
the Holy Bible as we have it here. All scripture is given
by inspiration of God. It is based upon the promises,
it is based upon the actual facts of Christ's coming, it is based
upon the actions of the apostles as we have in Acts, and the letters
that they sent. So the word given without the
facts would not be given, but that word that is given, the
very words that are chosen to describe those facts and those
historical events, and those very words given to convey the
work of God from God, is given by inspiration. God breathed
into the word of God. The Holy Spirit is the author
of the Bible, author of the Word of God, and that is actually
given by Him. You know, and this is one of
the thoughts, the illustrations that have been on my mind, you
know, we can write a letter, and we can sit down and we can
get a piece of paper and a pen, and we can write a letter, words
on that piece of paper, that we have determined should be
on that piece of paper and we can put it in an envelope here
in England and we can then send it and it goes over say to Australia
and the person in Australia receives that word they open up the letter
and they read that letter and they might think A week ago,
this letter, this piece of paper was in England. And a week ago,
a pen was being used to write these words on this paper. And I didn't know a week ago
what the person writing in England was thinking, or what they were
saying to me. But now, by this piece of paper,
I can read it and I can understand it and know what they're thinking
and saying to me. I have received it. They put
an address on the envelope and that address has made sure it
has come right where I am. And because it has come near
where I am, then I can read it. It hasn't gone astray in the
mail. It hasn't gone to another person who's come to me and I've
received it. It is in that way the Word is
actually given and then traced right through to coming where
it is received and read and the effect on that Word. So it is a wonder, it is a miracle
in that way. So we have these three things,
the Word given, the wonder of the Word given, Christ, the coming
of our Lord, the Gospel facts itself, and the inspired Word. May we wonder at all these three
aspects of the Word given. Well the second thing to wonder
at is the Word being sent, the wonder of the Word being sent. When our Lord ascended up into
heaven, he commissioned his disciples, and he said to them, Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, that
he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth
not shall be condemned. And so that very word, Christ,
The Gospel, the inspired Word, was by the authority of God sent
out into all the world. We mentioned in the beginning
how God had said, how our Lord had said, that how they would
know to go from one city to the next because they would be persecuted. Some would receive the Word,
some would not, and so then they went to the next city. But the wonder of it actually
being sent out and going out. You have in the 13th chapter
of Acts, the Apostle clearly saying to the brethren as they
went forth and preached, men and brethren children of the
stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you
is the word of this salvation sent." To you is the word of
this salvation sent. Now there's the wonder of that. You think in the broad sense
it is sent to men, to mankind, but then it is sent to every
place where that word comes, and to everyone that hears it.
You know, it must have been a wonder to those of the Jews scattered
throughout Asia Minor to think here was an apostle, here was
a preacher of the word, and the word actually came to them. We
are used to the idea that God's servants are sent. They must
be sent. God must send them. But when
they come into each place, how easy it is to lose sight of them. And we start complaining, or
arguing with the word, or wrestling with the word. Our Lord said,
he that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me
receiveth him that sent me. The Lord was sent by his Father,
the Lord came, the Lord then sends his servants, and his servants
bring the word, and that word then is to be received. May we be very clear, the Lord
then does send his word. And in doing that, some places
are stopped up, some are forbidden. At one time then, Paul was forbidden
to go into Asia by the Holy Spirit. And then with Philippi, before
this account, come over into Macedonia and help us in a vision. And so Paul, he goes to Macedonia. So the wonder of the Word being
sent and sent out, and it is still being sent out, you might
enlarge this as well, sent out through His servants preaching
the Word, sent out like from the Bible societies, Trinitarian
Bible societies, Sent out of the free Bibles from us as a
church and other churches as well. Sent out maybe in the form
of tracts or in the various media that is used today. Sent out. The Word being sent, it goes
out. Maybe think of the wonder of
that and the wonder of it actually coming to us. Why was I made to hear thy voice,
hear the word of the Lord, even in a literal way? There are many still in this
land and in other lands that have never had the word, never
heard the word. But we can be sure where the
Lord has his people, he will send his word to them. So there's the wonder of the
word being sent. Then thirdly, there's the wonder
of the word being received. We've got the illustration of
the letter being sent, and we know that we don't have an address
that is a complete address. If perhaps the house number is
wrong, or we don't have a house number, or this is the wrong
place, then that parcel or that letter won't get where we intended
it to be. But the Word of God, we can be
sure is sent by God, it will be received by those to whom
it is sent. My word shall not return unto
me void, it shall accomplish the thing whereto I sent it,
and it shall be received. And you might say, well, what
about the many that didn't receive the word? Well, in one sense
there's two ways of receiving it. Even where the word was sent
to a city, of which some did not believe and they rejected
the word and they cast the apostles out, the word had still come
neither. They still had restricted it,
it still had come into that place. We can have a parcel delivered
to us, or a letter, and we pick it up, but we say we don't want
this. the person says you received
it, you've had it, but then you say I don't want it, so you're
rejecting that. So there's two aspects of that
receiving. It's one wonder to actually receive
the word, have it, it's a greater wonder to actually receive it
and embrace it. One of our hymns says, nor are
men willing to have the truth told, the sight is too killing
for pride to behold. And so the Word of God, it has
a message, it has a message about us, that we are sinful, we are
fallen, we are under the condemnation of God, under the wrath of God,
And then it has the remedy in the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel
provision, the help sent from God to save a sinful people from
condemnation. And that word is to be received. There are many that will say,
we're not sinners, we haven't done too badly, we do good to
our fellow men, We don't receive what the Bible says about us.
We don't believe that's true. We're offended at it. We don't
like to hear this. But others that God has touched
their hearts, opened their hearts. They fall before that word. They
receive it. They say, it is true. I am a
sinner. I do need saving. I am lost. I cannot save myself. I cannot
turn myself. And they receive that. Then they
hear the gospel, and they receive that as well. It is good news
to them. Good news that there is a way
of saving sinners and save those who are on their own. They're going to hell. That God
has made a way that they can go to heaven. And that word as
well is received. It got where the Lord would have
it to be. and where God's children are,
where his people are. We read when the word was preached,
as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed. And another way of putting it
here, in the way of the context of our text, is the word actually
being received. You know when Paul preached,
or Peter preached rather, in Acts 2, and he charged the people
of Pentecost with the death and crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, they were pricked in their hearts, they fell under
it. They realised they were guilty
and they said, what shall we do? Now the Apostle has pointed
them to repentance, appointed to believe, appointed to be baptised,
but they received those tidings. Often a real test of whether
one is really being touched by the Holy Spirit of God, whether
they receive the facts of the malady first, the sin in their
hearts, it is God alone that is able to show that. Often think
of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who had a dream, but
He couldn't remember what the dream was. And he didn't only
need his wise men to tell him the interpretation of the dream,
he needed them to tell him what the dream was in the first place.
And those wise men, they said, nothing has ever been asked of
a king like that ever before. It's a most unreasonable request. But Nebuchadnezzar, he said to
them, you've just prepared lying words for me. If I tell you the
dream, you'll just make up anything and make sure it's a nice long
time away so you won't be found out that you've lied to me."
And so he says to them, you tell me the dream and I will know
that you are able to tell me the interpretation thereof. Well
Daniel was able to do that because God knew the dream that Nebuchadnezzar
had So God showed that to Daniel and the interpretation, and so
Daniel was able to tell both things to the king, what the
king had dreamed and what the interpretation was. Of no doubt,
as soon as Daniel started to tell the king the dream, the
king would have said, ah, that was it, of course it was, that
was my dream. He would have recognized it immediately. Immediately he would have known
that Daniel had been miraculously, wonderfully shown really what
was that secret. And the two go together. What would we think of a doctor
who says, I'm a wonderful doctor. I'm able to cure all sorts of
diseases and things. but in no ability whatsoever
to be able to diagnose the illness or to find out what was wrong
and to show what was wrong. Some of the things that we are
willing to pay the most for in our lives, whether it is a car
that goes wrong or a house things that go wrong in the house, is
to have someone that could really tell us what is wrong. We could
spend thousands of pounds on someone trying to find out what
was wrong, changing this, changing that, but it never makes any
difference. It still is wrong. And then you
get someone that says, I know what's wrong. That's happened
to me before. This is what is wrong. And they
can in a very, very short time find out exactly what is wrong
and apply the remedy. Well, it is receiving that that
is wrong, the word of God, shows what is wrong, it shows us we're
sinners, it shows us the need of a saviour, and that is to
be received, and it's a great wonder that it is received, because
we are proud, we are proud people, we don't like to be told that
we're wrong, we don't like to be told that we're going to hell,
we don't like to be told that we're lost, and to actually receive
that, to take it meekly as it were, to take it and fall before
God and acknowledge it, against Thee, Thee only have I sinned
and done this evil in Thy sight. That's what David said when he
had sinned with the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah. A confession of sin, an acknowledgement
of it, is a wonder, is a miracle, is God's work. to convince us
in and bring us to receive that malady and then receive the remedy. So that's our third point, the
wonder. Maybe at this point just think
of it and apply it to ourselves. Have we ever wondered that we have received the Word. When
we think of us in unregeneracy, think of times that we've despised
the Word, perhaps spoken very harshly to maybe our parents
or those who have been believers. We're not going to receive that.
We're not going to believe that. We're not going to walk in the
ways of the Lord. We're not going to go to the
house of God. We don't want to hear those things. Some of those things I have painful
memories of saying to my parents. And yet the wonder of the time
that I actually received the word myself. Wanted to hear it
and did hear it. Maybe think of it in our own
cases. Every believer is a miracle A
miracle of grace is a wonder and it should leave with us a
feeling of amazement and admiration that God should so work with
us and so speak with us and so make us willing to receive the
word and to fall under it. Maybe we have lost that wonder.
Maybe we don't see ourselves as a miracle of grace. We don't
see what God has actually done for us. We forget to give thanks
and to glorify God for what we are by His grace. Maybe a sense
of our sinnership and our failures day by day and our poor prayers
and our poor following has just overclouded everything. And we
don't actually realize that though we are poor, The Lord has brought a miracle
with us, and we have beautiful encouragement, especially in
Romans 5. If while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us, how much more, or when we are enemies
he died for us, how much more being reconciled shall we be
saved by his life. If when we hadn't got any care
of the things of God, God cared enough to send His Word and to
make us to receive it, how much more now that we have received
the Word, when we may know even more keenly what sinners we are,
shall we not have that expectation the Lord would still send us
His Word and He would still cause us to receive that word, whether
it be in chastening, in correction, in guidance, instruction and
teaching. The wonder of the word received
should give us that desire that the Lord would still speak to
us. David says in that Psalm 51,
Be not silent unto me, lest if thou be silent unto me, become
like them that go down into the pen. If the Lord does speak then,
how will we receive it? And that's the thing I want to
look briefly at. The fourth point is the wonder
of the effect of the Word. It's said here with these Bereans
that they received the Word with all readiness of mind. That's
how they received it. They didn't shut their mind to
it. And then it had the effect that
they searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were
so. I don't believe they searched
it in the way of a critic who was thinking, Paul, I don't believe
you, this is not right. But they searched it as these
things that were set forth by Paul, he was preaching, the Word,
and they had the Scriptures. Now remember, these are the Old
Testament Scriptures. The Jews in the time of Christ
often accused him that he was going against Moses. He was going
against all that they'd been taught. But the Lord, on the
way to Emmaus, He spoke in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself. And these Bereans, as they compared
what Paul was preaching, they would have seen what he was saying
about Christ's sufferings. It was foretold in the Psalms.
It was foretold in Isaiah. He was the seed to the woman
that should bridge the serpent's head. It was the promises given
to Abraham. It was true that the word had
been prophesied in Isaiah, but it should go to the Gentiles
as well as the Jews. and they would have seen all
of these things. The Word had an effect on them
that lasted longer than just, shall we say, in the chapel or
in the house of God. After Paul had finished preaching,
the Word hadn't finished with them, and they hadn't finished
with the Word. They went back to their Bibles,
as it were, back to the Scriptures, not just one day, but daily. And in the beginning here we
read that their Paul was going three Sabbath days with the Thessalonians
in their synagogue, and no doubt with the Bereans as well. And
there's those occasions of preaching, one day, maybe again in the Sabbath
days. But here we find the Hebrews
of it, Well, not just one day, but every day they were searching
the scriptures, going from one passage to another passage, and
one stepping stone to another stepping stone, with this desire
of knowing these truths, and that these were truly so. It
had an effect, and the wonder of that effect, that one should
be willing to do that. Have we been willing to do that?
Do we do that? Can we think of the text that
we had last Lord's Day? Did we in the week go over that
text? Did we look further through it?
I'm sure the minister hadn't exhausted all that was to be
found in that text. There was many other things we
could find throughout the Scriptures on it and the things that he
had said. Did we look into them further?
Did we test them through the Word or perhaps we just let the
Word finish and when it was preached that was the end of it for us? It is a miracle, it's a wonder,
the effect that was here. And more so, or I say more so,
maybe it is not so. the effect was in verse 12, therefore
many of them believed. It was a thing that flowed out
from that readiness of mind in searching the scriptures that
they believed. In that sense it shouldn't be
a wonder to us, it should be, this is what we expect, this
is what God would have, the blessing, upon the receiving the Word and
studying and searching the Scriptures daily, no doubt praying over
them as well, that it will have this effect, that we truly believe
and have the comfort and joy of believing. But is this effect,
what effect has the Word had on us? In the past, going back
maybe months or years, the effect that the Word has had upon us. Rindo is not universal, we spoke
with a contrast here. We might have heard the same
things happen to us as others, heard the same things as others,
but the Word has had a different effect on us, a gracious effect,
a powerful effect, a lasting effect on us. Sometimes you hear
it goes that have been baptised and they said we heard this sermon
and it had such an effect on us and that we felt we must be
baptised. There were many others in that
congregation that hadn't been baptised that heard the same
sermon but it didn't have that effect on them. But why on that one? It's a wonder,
it's a miracle where the Lord causes the Word to have an effect.
My word shall not return unto me void, it shall accomplish
the thing whereto I sent it. For may we have the same spirit
as the Bereans, and may we also wonder at it and truly marvel
that the word should have this effect, that the word should
be given. that the Word should be sent
and sent to us, and the Word should be received and not rejected,
and that the Word should have an effect on us. Sadly, in our
churches, there's many that receive the Word. There's no effect on
them whatsoever. They've yet to know all of the
doctrines and the truths of God, but it never touches them, and
it's never applied to their hearts, doesn't change their lives, they
don't have true faith in Christ, which it makes it all the more
wonder if it does have that effect it does, and does touch and move,
profoundly move our hearts, and to believe and to rejoice in
God's salvation. May the Lord act His blessing.
Amen.