May it please God to bless us
together as we consider his word for a few moments this evening.
We'll continue our meditation, the Acts of the Apostles, and
this evening we'll speak from the 17th chapter and the first
four verses. We'll just read them again. Now,
when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they
came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And
Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them and three Sabbath
days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures 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 and some of
them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas and of the devout
Greeks a great multitude and of the chief women not a few Well, last Friday we left the
Apostle Paul in Lydia's household. He and Silas had been set free
from the prison and they'd come into Lydia's house. And you remember, of course,
that Lydia had been blessed just previous to that. when Paul and
Silas had met with them by the riverside and had spoken the
word of life as they met for prayer and it had been blessed
to her and she had come to know the Lord and desired to be and
was baptized. Exactly the same then with the
case of the jailer, there he was in that prison trying to
keep Paul and Silas safe and there was that lovely lovely
example of Paul and Silas having gone to into Macedonia into Philippi
the command of Almighty God and now committed to prison and beaten
beaten very harshly and the lashes roar upon their back and we see
how the jailer after he was converted willingly washed their stripes
and fed them took them into his house you see what a wonderful
change there was, and we see God's grace wonderfully visible
in that account. And so we know now that they
had been in Lydia's house, and no doubt they stayed there for
a little while, perhaps until their wounds had healed, and
how they were bold in the things of Christ. And as we follow the
Apostle's journey, we see how concerned he was about preaching
the Gospel. It's a lovely, in these few verses
really, we read tonight, It gives us a wonderful example as to
what we should have central in our times of worship. how we
should desire to follow the example, the position which is given to
us in the Word of God. We should be so thankful we have
such evidence of God's blessing and favour, and those things
that we should do, and those things which we should say. And
it's interesting to note that when they left Lydia in Philippi,
they went through Amphipolis and Apollonia. And there's no
evidence that they actually stopped and preached the gospel in those
places. It would seem that the Spirit led them through those
places unto Thessalonica. And of course when they got there
they may have realized that there was a synagogue in the Jews there,
a place where they could preach the gospel, a place where they
would have a gathering of people to hear the word. It may be that
they therefore tried to get to this place as quickly as they
could. Well, they'd arrived there, and
we know that that Paul tells us or at least tells the Thessalonians
when he actually wrote that letter to them later on in the situation
in which he had been in and he reminded them of it so that they
did not forget the position that he'd come through and he tells
them in the first epistle of second chapter second verse he
says but even after that we had suffered before and were shamefully
entreated as you know at Philippi we were bold in our God to speak
unto you the gospel of God with much contention well that was
the testimony of Paul as he wrote to the Thessalonians, he was
able to remind them what he suffered in Philippi, but that didn't
stop him, that didn't hinder him with that great desire to
preach the gospel, so we're told. And Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the Scriptures." Of course, he only had the Old Testament,
but the Old Testament, as I hope you know, is so full of prophecy
with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that the
Jewish nation, including Paul before he was converted, were
convinced that Christ would come in a glorious situation. He wouldn't
come as he did. And yet the Apostle, knowing
the Word of God as we know, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, well-versed
in the Scriptures, was now under the blessed grace of God, able
to observe all those wonderful prophecies which spoke of the
Lord Jesus Christ going back right to Genesis in the Garden
of Eden, after that sad, sad fall of Adam and Eve, when they
committed that sin, that the Lord came and spoke to them and
told them the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head
or crush the serpent's head, and so it had come to pass. Therefore,
I'm sure the Apostle was able to go back right to that day
in the Garden of Eden, And then throughout the prophecies, the
Psalms, what we might term the minor prophets, and so many times
there is prophesied of what would occur, how Christ would come,
how he would be born, what he would suffer, what he would endure,
the place he would live in. Everything was prophesied. And
you see, it came to pass And so here was the Apostle Paul,
we can imagine him, can't we, in Thessalonica, moved by the
Holy Spirit, and giving these people, reasoning with them.
You see, they hadn't wanted to believe that Jesus was the Christ,
and therefore he came and he reasoned with them. as he pointed
out to them the scriptures which had been now fulfilled. He reasoned with them out of
the scriptures. It wasn't his own mind, it wasn't
his own thoughts, he reasoned out of the scriptures. And how
important is that for us today? We should look to the scriptures
We should reason out of the Scriptures. We should consider the great
plan of salvation out of the Scriptures. We should consider
ourselves described out of the Scriptures. The Scriptures give
us, my friends, today all that we need. What a blessing it is! Do we appreciate the Word of
God? Do we thank God for it? For the
wonderful Word of God, which is so descriptive of the sinner's
situation, of his case, and of the great salvation that the
Lord Jesus Christ has brought to pass. And so, that Paul, you
see, as his matter was, went into them on these three Sabbaths
and reasoned out of the Scriptures. And in this reasoning, what was
he doing? He was 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. Well, it must have been a wonderful
occasion. And we know it was because it
moved many to believe on the name of Jesus and to be saved. And my friends, that's what we
need today, isn't it? We need the same power of the Holy Spirit
to come and convince sinners of their true condition before
a holy God as the gospel is faithfully preached. And, you know, what
was Paul doing? He was concentrating on the centrality
of the Gospel, and that was on Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that today is exactly the
same. Oh, how important it is that
we concentrate on these vital things. There are many peripheral
things which in their way are important, but this has the priority. My friends, let us not be sidetracked
into minor piles, into minor things, and omit to concentrate
and to realize the great blessing that is to be found in the Word
of God, as the Apostle here then declared in this way, opening
and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered. That's a
very relevant thing, isn't it? That Christ must have suffered.
We might say, well, why must he have suffered? You know, many
people don't understand. Many people who go to chapel
don't understand. Perhaps we don't understand.
You know, there's much ignorance about. And I remember when I
was young, I was embarrassed to confess. I didn't know what
the truth was. I didn't understand. I've been
in chapel all my life. Things have gone over my head.
I sat and I listened, but I hadn't listened really. I never really
appreciated. The Scriptures had never really
been opened up to me. I never really understood the
glorious Gospel. Well, here we have then, perhaps
we can understand, here was Paul's concern to open up the Scriptures
and alleging that Christ must, needs, has suffered. Well, why
must he need to have suffered? because Christ, and only Christ,
could pay that debt which you and I owe because of our sin. We could not free ourselves from
the condemnation of sin, that condemnation which says, the
soul that sinneth it shall die. No hope in ourselves. Where must
we look? Where must we go to? The Lord
Jesus Christ. He then stood in our place. He bore the punishment instead. Well, I'm sure the Apostle would
have gone through the 53rd chapter of Isaiah I'm sure he would have
gone through the various prophecies in Jeremiah. I'm sure he would
have gone through many of the minor prophets. I'm sure he would
have gone through all those Psalms which speak so clearly about
the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ had to suffer. because there had to be bloodshed. Remember what the blessed word
tells us in Hebrews, without shedding of blood, there's no
forgiveness, there's no salvation. The blood had to be shed. And
how was that performed? It was performed through the
animals which were slain and typifying Christ dying. the blood shed, Christ shed his
blood, that signified his death and that through his death he
paid the price for our sins. He satisfied the demands of a
holy God so that his people should be washed, they should be clean,
they should be holy. That's the blessing of Almighty
God. Here you see the apostle pointing
out this, opening and alleging that Christ's needs must have
suffered. Well, how necessary. Perhaps
he mentioned the case of Isaac and Abraham, when Abraham offered
up Isaac as that substitute, and that substitute was taken
as that lamb caught in its horns in the thicket. Yes, substitution. So much you see. Must have been
a wonderful sermon, wasn't it? To open the understanding of
all these people who were blind, spiritually blind, but the Gospel
came and opened their understanding by the Holy Spirit. We need exactly
the same today. We need the power of the Holy
Spirit to open ears, unstopped ears, they might hear and open
blind eyes to see. Well, the Apostle then was preaching
to this multitude in the synagogue, opening and alleging that Christ
must need to have suffered and risen again. He conquered death. Death could not hold him. He
died to atone, but he rose again. Yes, my friends, if Christ had
died and that was the end, then Satan would have won. Christ
conquered sin, death, hell and the grave. He rose from the dead
a conqueror, triumphant. Do we today rejoice in a risen
Christ? Well, what an amazing gospel
this was for the apostle, to preach these people in Thessalonica. And he was preached, he was risen
from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you,
is Christ. They'd been looking forward to
the Messiah. They'd imagined him coming as
a mighty, worldly king. He did come as a king. He came
as the King of Kings, but in a very, very different way to
what they had anticipated. And therefore they had to have
their understanding opened to observe the Scriptures spoke
of how Christ would be born in those humble situations, that
humble circumstance in Bethlehem. And so, as the Apostle was able
to declare these great truths, what effect did it have? Did
he just preach into the air? Were the people just wandering
in their minds, not listening? What do we read? And some of
them believed. Not all. Not all. Sadly today
in the congregations there are those who don't all believe.
My friends, we don't really find amongst those who are the unbelievers
we want to be found amongst those who are moved by the Holy Spirit
of God to believe and have the evidence of the light of God
in our souls that glorious light which has shone into the darkness
of our heart by the Holy Spirit of God and so some of them believed
and consorted with Paul and Silas and of the devout Greeks, a great
multitude, and of the chief women, not a few." Well, we can imagine,
can we not? I hope we can. What a glorious
scene this was. A scene of thanking God, of praising
God, because the light had shone. They were born again by the Spirit
of God. They've been given that new nature.
And what a wonderful mercy and blessing it was. No doubt the
Apostle was so glad to be able to preach the unsearchable riches
of Christ. He didn't dilly-dally, did he?
He could have had a good excuse, well, I've been very hardly done
by and therefore I'm really going to have a rest. I'm not going
to preach the Gospel for a while. No, the Apostle was moved by
the Spirit of God to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ,
that was his great desire. That's what he loved to do. And
may that be so today, as God's servants, may they love to preach
the Gospel, and may the Gospel's joyful sound be made a great
blessing into the souls of many people in this day and age in
which we live. You know, one thing is certain,
The Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and
forever. And He is able to do great things. May we pray for it. May we earnestly
pray for it. We know it's a day of small things,
but nonetheless we'll be thankful for it. And remember the Word
of God tells us He will be inquired of by the House of Israel and
do these things for them. And may we be blessed with that
effectual fervent prayer, desiring that God would do great things
so that many, many souls may be born again and His great and
holy name honoured and glorified. Amen.