I was thinking there as we sang
that hymn, Oh, how I love Jesus. I thought in my mind real quick
of a verse of scripture here in the Bible that says, Husband,
love your wives as Christ loved the church. And that convicted
me when I wished that I would have told my wife How much I
loved her. If I would have been obedient
to that scripture, I would have done so. Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ loved the church. Verse number 1, chapter
12. It is not expedient for me doubtless
to glory. I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above
fourteen years ago. Whether in the body, I cannot
tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth. Such an one caught up to the
third heaven. And I knew such a man whether
in the body or out of the body. I cannot tell, God knoweth, how
that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which
is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such and one will I glory. Yet of myself I will not glory,
but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to
glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth. But
now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which
he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. and lest I should
be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For
this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart
from me. But he said unto me, My grace,
is sufficient for me, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest
upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am
strong. Would you take your Bibles, please,
and turn with me to the book of Acts? Chapter 17. The passage of Scripture this evening
is a passage that I have looked at for the better part of a month, I suppose. obviously that it was coming
up since we're going through the
book of Acts. When I say what I'm about to
say, I mean this as truthfully as I've ever meant something. I do pray that the Lord has given
me some understanding into the message of this particular passage. It's a passage that I've read
years and years and years, as long as I can remember somebody
quoting Scripture or reading Scripture. I can truthfully say
that it is one that is of great soberness, I guess is the word
that I want to use, not to be looked over lightly. but one that is, I believe, in
absolute and direct connection with the passage that Brother
Scott just read. Before we begin, let's have a
word of prayer and ask the Lord's blessing. Our Father, we approach You in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, only You, by Your Spirit,
can give us understanding. We pray tonight that, Lord, what
is preached would be honoring to you. Lord, we need some help. We've assembled tonight to worship. Would you bless this passage
to our understanding? Bless it to our heart. May we
rejoice in Christ, who alone is our hope. For it's in his
name we pray. Amen. In the passages that we've looked
at coming up to this passage of Scripture, there was a woman
named Lydia. She obviously was a vessel of
God's mercy chosen before the foundation of the world that
Almighty God would send a preacher. He calls that preacher to cross
her path. He'd preach the gospel. The Spirit
of God would bless the message. Scripture says the Lord opened
her heart. She attended to the words that were preached by Paul. In that same town there was a
Philippian jailer that Paul and Silas got thrown in jail in order
for that object of God's mercy to hear the truth. And the Lord
saved that Philippian jailer and his house. That's what Paul
said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,
and thy house. If thy house believes on the
Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved. Some of the Lord's
people was in a place called Thessalonica. So the Lord sent
these same preachers, missionaries, to preach the gospel and bypass
two cities before they got to Thessalonica because at that
time, obviously, the Lord didn't have a people in that place.
And the Spirit of God so directed those two preachers to bypass
those two cities. Now, the Lord has been pleased
again to send his preachers to another place. Now, the reason
that Paul knew it was time to go. He was led by the Spirit
of God, but he had the authority of the Word of the Lord Jesus
Christ out of Matthew 10, 23. But when they persecute you in
this city, flee ye to another. That was a word to God's apostles,
to his apostles. You go into all the world and
preach the gospel. When the Lord was pleased to
move them, he used persecution. He sent them. That's how God
spread the gospel during that time. Now, these disciples knew
that the Lord controlled the means by which God was pleased
to send them. in all authority and confidence. They were in Thessalonica. They were in Philippi. And now, after they have left
Thessalonica, they come to a place, it says in verse 10 of Acts 17,
the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night
unto Berea, who coming further went into the synagogue of the
Jews." Now, Berea was about 60 miles from Thessalonica. The Lord was pleased to send
them during the night. It says that that was obviously
the best time for those preachers to be sent, and God Almighty,
knowing exactly what his purpose was, sent those two preachers
to this city. Paul, as his manner was, went
into the synagogue and preached to the Jews. They were the ones
that claimed, made claim, to believe the Scriptures. They
were the ones that they met together. They had an assembling place,
and so Paul, taking opportunity, wise as a serpent, harmless as
a dove, went to the place that those people said, we believe
what you're preaching. We believe the God that you're
preaching. Perfect opportunity. Now, there was something that
was recorded concerning the Jews that were at Berea that was quite
noteworthy. It says in 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. They were more Now, when I first read that,
I looked to make sure that I had an understanding of what the
Scriptures revealed these at Berea to be. The word noble there,
it means well-bred. Now, we understand what the word
noble means, the Queen of England. She would refer to herself as
nobility, blue blood, you know, upper echelon, nobility. And I'll tell you something,
the word is actually the same, well-bred. That's what it means,
noble-minded. You know the Scripture that says
there's not many wise, not many noble. That's what it means. There's
not a difference. These at Berea were gentlemanly
toward the gospel. Now when you start reading a
passage of Scripture like this, if we're wise, we'll just stop
for just a minute. and then go back and read it
again, and then look, and then pray about it, and then look. They were more noble. This is what I know about them.
They received the Word with all readiness of mind. They favorably
accepted with hospitality the Word of God with eagerness. They
had a sincere desire to be taught or right. And this is another
thing that was said about them. They searched the Scriptures
daily whether those things were so. They scrutinized, they examined,
and they judged what Paul was preaching according to the Scriptures. That's a wise thing to do. If Brother Scott or if I were
to stand in this pulpit and say, This is what that word means.
This is what that passage means. You'd be wise to look it up.
I do pray that the Lord would give us the sense, number one,
and the grace to do that before we got up here. To know, to pray
that we'd have an understanding of what we're preaching. But
search the Scriptures and see if these things be so. That's
what they did. But I can tell you this. While
these people at Berea, these believers, while they received
the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures
daily, they sifted through the evidence of what was being preached
and did it according to the Scriptures. Though that's what they were
doing, the source of their nobility was not. that they searched the
Scriptures daily and they received the Word of God with all readiness
of mind. That was not what made them noble in the Gospel. If
it was, then that would mean that they'd have something to
glory in. This would have been the attitude. Well, I'll be honest
with you. I'm more noble because I don't
take everything just at face value. I look it up. and so therefore
I'm more noble. No, that's nothing but pride.
That's all that is. They were more noble than those
at Thessalonica. And they did manifest that nobility
as they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched
the Scriptures daily. But that was the evidence of
their nobility. Let me illustrate Matthew 13,
23. I want you to look at a few verses
of Scriptures here because this is a very, very sobering passage
of Scripture, and I don't want to take it lightly. Matthew 13,
23. I believe that this passage of
Scripture that I'm about to read is directly joined to the nobility
of those at Berea and the nobility of any other. Matthew 13, 23,
the Lord had been giving a parable. It was about a parable of a sower. We've looked at that parable
many times. But this is what was said concerning
those that had good ground. There was good ground and received
the Word. And this is what the Scripture
says from the words from the lips of our Lord. He that received
seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and
understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth
some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." Now, according
to this scripture, the fruit that is being spoken of here
is the fruit of the Spirit of God. There is no fruit that is
produced even by a believer. We bear the fruit of the Spirit
of God. It is God's fruit. The Word of
God says that there is seed, that is, the Word of God that
falls on good ground. And the fruit produces. The Spirit of God produces. Some hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
some thirtyfold. Now, I said something last Sunday
that I know is right. If it is the fruit of the Spirit
of God, and it's some hundred, some sixty, some thirty, then
the quality of the fruit has to be the same. The quality of
the fruit is the same, though obviously the quantity obviously
is different. Where there is a greater increase
of fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, what does any man have to glory
in except the Lord Jesus Christ? If there is a greater increase,
if those at Berea are more noble, more well-bred, What do they have to glory in
save Christ? If Almighty God produces fruit
of His Spirit through one, and it's some 100, some 60, and some
30, what glory does that man or that woman have that Almighty
God was pleased to manifest Himself in a greater manner? What does
He have to glory in? It was by grace that God Almighty
manifested that fruit. In the passage that Brother Scott
just read, and I want you to turn over to 2 Corinthians 12,
and I want you to look at something, because I'm building up to a
point that I think very few people, if they absolutely understood
this truth of some 30, some 60, some 100 fold, If you understand all that's
being said concerning that, you almost would wonder, but
for the grace of God, I don't think I'd rather have that increase
of fruit, but for God's grace. Brother Scott read in 2 Corinthians
12, verses 1 to 10. I want you to look at verse 7.
While you're looking at this, I want to tell you something.
Paul the apostle, was a man that Almighty God was pleased to set
his affection and grace on before the foundation of the world.
Paul was an apostle that was chosen, according to the words
of our Lord, to be a vessel, a preacher. He's a chosen vessel
unto me. Almighty God was pleased to take
that man and to bless that man with a great understanding and
knowledge of the Scriptures. He taught him some things. In
fact, Paul the Apostle was the one that wrote, under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, this passage of Scripture to the church of
Corinth, the second letter to the church of Corinth. Paul said
there was a man, whether he was in the body, out of the body,
I don't know. He was caught up to the third
heaven. And he saw things, heard things,
that it's not lawful for him to speak. Paul was taught much. Now, was Paul a 30-fold, a 60-fold,
or a 100-fold? Nobody knows that but Almighty
God. That's God's business. Let me tell you that. The increase
in the manifestation of God's Spirit is God's business. that
Almighty God would take a man or a woman and bless them with
an understanding of the Scriptures, bless them with a manifestation
of the fruit of the Spirit of God. But the fruit of the Spirit
is love and joy and longsuffering and gentleness and meekness and
kindness. That Almighty God would bless
a man or a woman and manifest Himself by His Spirit in these
fruits that's being spoken of. And they were more noble in Berea. I'm convinced that the nobility
that is being spoken of there is there was a greater increase,
a greater manifestation of God's Spirit in those at Berea than
those in Thessalonica. Did they have anything to glory
in save the grace of God? No. No. But let me tell you something. Someone at first would think
immediately, oh, I would love to just be greatly blessed with
a great blessing, a great understanding of God's Scriptures, a great
understanding of God's blessing in His Holy Spirit and teach
me all things, unto whom much is given, much is required. Let me tell you what it cost
Paul the Apostle. A man caught up to the third
heaven. A man that wasn't looking for God. God was looking for
him. A man that Almighty God called out of darkness and taught
some things. But what did it cost him? Verse
7, He said, Lest I should be exalted above measure through
the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. Lest I should
be exalted above measure for this thing, I besought the Lord
thrice. that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my
strength is made perfect." It's manifested perfectly. This is
what he was saying. My strength, the best manifestation
of my strength is in your weakness. Paul said, Most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. I don't know exactly what the
infirmity was, the messenger of Satan. I don't know what it
was. But I can tell you this, that
whatever was the thorn in the flesh, God Almighty gave it to
him for one reason, lest he should be exalted above measure because
of the abundance of the revelations that was given him. That Almighty
God had chosen to set his affection mercy, His grace on Paul the
Apostle, and to teach that man some things that we might profit
by it, that we might learn from it. God was pleased to bless
some men and moved upon them by the Spirit of God and taught
them some things. Thirtyfold, sixtyfold, hundredfold
manifestation of the Spirit of God. They were more noble. They were well-bred. Not more
saved. Not more saved. No difference
in the quality of the Spirit of God, but the quantity was
different. But what did it cost them? What
did it cost them? He went through this life with
a messenger of Satan. and besought the Lord thrice."
I'll tell you what I think that thrice means. Not just three
times. It means over and over and over if the Lord would remove
that from him. But the Lord says, because of
the abundance of the revelations that I've given you, you must
have this. He had to go through this life
suffering. Nobility says this. With a true heart, John the Baptist
says this, he must increase and I must decrease. Some of the wisest, obviously
using the wording of Scripture, the most noble men and women
that I've ever known were those in this life that suffered the
most. It cost them dearly. it cost
dearly. I'm talking about not because
of anything they did. It's because God had chosen to
set his affection and to make them a vessel of his choosing,
a tool, the means. Whatever calling it is, those
were found to be more noble The Spirit of God, nothing else
is said about those in Berea except this, they received the
Word with all readiness of mind. I don't know what they went through.
I don't know. Nothing else is said, but I'll tell you this,
they wanted to know what the Scriptures had to say. They wanted
to know what was being preached. It wasn't a light thing to them.
It wasn't a carefree thing to them. And they searched the Scriptures
daily to see if what he was saying was so. It was life and death.
This was real to them. They wouldn't take it or leave
it. Evidence of nobility in the Gospel. Evidence of those that
God's been pleased to teach something to is that these men, these women,
they have a hunger and a thirst for God's Word. hungering and
thirsting. You're hugely fine. Those that
are most noble, and like I said, I'm not the barometer, and you're
not either. Almighty God alone knows thirty,
sixty, a hundred fold. To know that it's so, that the
seed fell on good ground and some of it brought forth thirtyfold,
some sixtyfold, hundredfold. The Lord said that. I didn't
say that. God said that. So I know it's
so. But whenever I find men and women
in the Scriptures, whenever I find men like Job, you look at this
man, Job, What did the Lord say to Satan? Have you considered
my servant Job? As there's a just man, and he eschews, he hates,
he despises evil. And what did Almighty God allow
Satan to do to that man? What did he take from that man? Well, humanly speaking, just
about took it all. Let me ask you this. Would you
consider One like Job to be one that God greatly used to teach.
I mean, if you want to know something about the sufficiency of God's
grace, that God Almighty would keep a man in the midst of great
trial and great adversity. What about Job? Man, that was
a time in my life, Brother Scott, I didn't even want to read the
book of Job. I was afraid God might do something to me like
that. Scared. Scared. David. King David. What did Almighty God teach through
that man right there? A man after God's own heart. Oh, you say, well, yeah, but
that's Job and that's David. I want you to turn over to Mark
12. Mark chapter 12. I read something and it just,
oh, it just blessed my heart. It blessed my heart and it convicted
me at the same time. Mark 12, verse 41. Mark 12, 41. And Jesus sat over against the
treasury and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury,
and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain
poor widow. She threw in two mites, which
make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples,
and he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor
widow hath cast more in than all they which cast into the
treasure. For they did cast in of their abundance, but she of
her womb did cast in all that she had, even all her living."
Let me ask you this. Who saw, who could see the manifestation
of the grace of God on this woman except the Lord Jesus Christ?
Who saw it? Nobody. Only Him who saw it. How much
did she put in? A couple of mites. What did it take to give this
woman a heart to give everything she had? All of her living, what
did it take? It took the power of God. Almighty
God was pleased to move upon this woman to give everything
she had and used her as an example, and recorded the event. Not even
her name. Just put the event in the Scriptures. How many fold manifestation was
there in this woman? I don't know. But I'll tell you
what it cost her. Everything. But you know what? She gave it gladly. The Lord
says she's given all that she had. The only thing that I can
say concerning those being more noble. They were more noble at
Berea than those at Thessalonica. As I've said, let me reiterate. Not more saved. Not more saved. They're saved. You're saved by
the grace of God. But they were more noble than
those at Thessalonica. Receive the word with readiness
of mind. Search the Scriptures daily.
Blessed are the poor. for theirs is the kingdom of
God. Therefore, many of them believed, also of
honorable women, which were Greeks, and of men, not a few." Three verses of Scripture concerning
a church at a little city that I don't think is even there.
anymore. Three verses of Scripture. What
these people sustained, what they went through, what they
suffered, and suffered gladly. That's what Paul said, I would
rather that the infirmities that I sustained, I'm paraphrasing
now, rest on me that the glory of God might be made manifest.
You know, we think about suffering And we're pretty proud of ourselves
that we just are able to maintain it. Well, you know, I've suffered
for the Lord. Paul said, I rejoice in the infirmities
that the glory of God might rest upon me. The Scripture says concerning
these at Berea, they were more noble. They received the Word
of God with readiness to search the Scriptures. And therefore,
because Almighty God was pleased to raise up a place where the
mighty blessing of Almighty God was on that place and brought
some people down, brought them down in their own estimation
of themselves, And the manifestation of God's grace, I have no earthly
idea how the Lord manifested that in that place. I don't know.
All I know is the epitaph that God gave them concerning their
attitude. More noble. Therefore, here was the result.
Many of them believed. God was pleased to bless His
Word. There were some that They heard the Word of God. Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And they
saw, some saw, I don't doubt it for a second, the grace of
God. I listen to these lying hucksters
on television. They're always saying, you know,
it's never God's will anybody ever suffer. Never God's will
anybody ever get sick. Ever God's will, anybody ever,
you know, go through any kind of trial, God's got a wonderful
plan for your life. And they sit up in those big
holding chairs, you know. Basically what they're saying
is this, if you're right with God, you'll send us your money.
And this blessing that you see around here where we are, this
is what you'll have if you get right with God. I'll tell you the blessing. the
blessing to a believer is to behold the indescribable grace
and mercy of God that would keep one of God's own in the midst
of great trial, great trouble, great sickness, great adversity,
to see the sustaining grace of God manifest Himself manifest
the fruit of the Spirit, love and joy, when somebody can't
even hardly stand up, when they can't even get around, when they're
truly hurting physically, emotionally, financially, whatever. And God
Almighty will not leave them to themselves. And they'll have
this attitude. It's been good to have been in
the house of the Lord. It's been good. It's been good to one more
time have worshipped and to see the grace of God keep a man or
a woman in the midst of trouble. Now, that's a blessing. To see
one of God's own truly, faithfully, faithfully, faithfully die in
the faith. That's a blessing. people. God keeps them right to the end. And they just leave this world
rejoicing, rejoicing in Christ. Therefore, therefore, many of
them believed, many of them believed that Almighty God had a people,
had a people in that place. Almighty God had sent these preachers,
also some honorable women. Prosperous is what it means.
That's what it means. Prosperous. 1 Corinthians 1.26,
Paul says, For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called
but their son. Their son. Scripture says that
there were honorable women. Some were women. Some were men.
There was neither Jew nor Greek, bond or free, male or female. They were all one in Christ. That's what it says. There were
some honorable women which were Greeks. Revelation 5 and 9 says,
For thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred and tongue and people, In nation, there were some Greeks. There were some Gentiles there.
And of men, not a few. In our day and age, there appears
to be but a few converted at any one time. There is a few.
There's just a few. It's just a remnant according
to the election of grace. But on the day of Pentecost,
Acts 2.41 says, "...then they that gladly received his word
were baptized. And the same day there were added
unto them about three thousand souls." 3,000 souls. You think, boy, that's
a lot of people. Yeah. That's not too many for
God. Almighty God would call out anybody
He's pleased to. All that He's eternally loved,
He'll call them out. Scripture says right here, there
was not a few. Relatively speaking, there was
a bunch of them in Berea. Peter and John preached in Acts
4.4, "...howbeit many of them which heard the word believed
in the number of those men by five thousand." You know, we
don't seek after numbers, but we do know this, there's a number
that no man can number but God. The reason we come and we assemble
ourselves together every week, every Wednesday, every Sunday.
We don't want to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
Know this, this is the manner in which God's going to call
out His own. I've said this before, what if
it's tonight? What if tonight was the night? What if somebody
in this congregation tonight, what if God Almighty was pleased
to take this word and just bring it to your heart and power, and
for the first time, you really cared. Before, you never cared. You heard, you just never cared.
What if tonight He made you to care? What if tonight He gave
you a heart for Christ? What if tonight you hungered
after Him? It would all have been worth it. All would have
been worth it. Well, Scott's been here over
50 years. I've only been here coming up on five. Of all those
years, if this was the night that Almighty God was pleased
to call you out of darkness, it was all worth it. Ever better. Almighty God, He alone knows,
some honorable, some wise, some mighty, some base, some men,
some women, but all that have been everlastingly loved, redeemed
by Christ, they'll all be called out by the gospel." That was
quite an epitaph to those at Berea. They were more noble. They were more well-bred. I've said before, not more saved. There is obviously a greater
manifestation of the grace of God, of the fruit of God's Spirit. There are some. There are some
Pauls and some Jobs, some Moses, some women with two mites, some
that sit in this congregation right here. I'm convinced of
this. More noble. You say, who are they? I don't
know who they are. I don't see the heart. I see
the outside. God sees the heart. But there's those that Almighty
God has been pleased to manifest a greater measure of His Spirit
in love toward Him, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, kindness,
graciousness, And nobody would ever be able to know it, measure
it. Nobody would ever be able to say, that's 30, that's 60,
there's 100. Let me ask you this. Who is deserving to see it? Save
him who gave it. See what I'm saying? Would you
ever thought, you know, I'll tell you what, I could see Job,
I could see, but I thought about that little woman that had two
mites. She's just standing over there
next to the wall, and there was the little change, and she probably
just came in, just dropped in her two mites, and that was all
that was done, and she walked away, and as far as anybody else
knew, nothing else ever happened, and God saw it. God saw it. Oh, it's not just those ones
that we read of. There's some that the Lord's
been pleased. to give their names. There are some that he never
named them. He just said they were more noble. What difference
does it make what their name was? With that nobility, though,
I can tell you this. There always appears to be great
suffering, great trials. Why? So that they wouldn't be
exalted above measure. And that was the way the Lord
is pleased to do it. Well, I pray that this has been a blessing
to you. As I've said, I've looked at this Scripture a long time,
prayed about it, and prayed the Lord might be pleased to bless
you.