If you will take your Bibles
and turn with me to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17 and verse 11 will
be our text. Acts chapter 17 and verse 11. The title of the message this
morning is Noble Hearers. Noble Hearers. And we see this
in Acts 17, verse 11. It says, "...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." We read last week in our study
that the Apostle Paul and Silas had come to Thessalonica and
now they had preached the gospel there. And after they had for
three weeks reasoned with them in the Scriptures, After they
had opened the Scriptures to them, after they had alleged,
and you remember the word alleged, is that they used Scripture with
Scripture. They compared Scripture with
Scripture to show that Jesus is the Christ. And how He must
have suffered, how He must have died, and how He must have risen
again the third day. But we also read that these Jews
believed not. If you see that in verse 5, he
says, but the Jews which believed not. Friends, every time this
gospel is preached, every time the gospel goes forth, this will
always be the case, some will believe and rejoice and some
will not believe. This is always going to be the
case. The case of the gospel is not to be considered a pillow,
but a sword. The gospel is a sword. It divides. It divides between lost and saved. It divides between heaven and
hell. It divides between life and death. Every time it is preached. And so some will not believe. And I think if we get this into
our minds, if we know this ahead of the time when we witness to
others, we'll not be so disappointed. There will be some who will not
believe our gospel. Did this deter Paul when some
would not believe? No. And it should not deter us
in our witness of Jesus Christ. And now when these Jews, when
they did not believe, were they just content to not believe? Were they just said, okay, let
bygones be bygones. You believe and I don't, let's
just let it go. No, friends, they did not let
it go. They could not be content with
this, but rather they took to themselves, the Scripture said,
men of the baser sort. This again tells us to take heart
and courage, for the lost will never be content with just not
believing. They will take to themselves
rather base a sort than to consort with you. Would you close that
door for me please, Rick? Thank you. They will not be content
with just not believing, but rather they would take fellowship
with people that they used to hate over you. That's how much
you'll be hated for the gospel, is that they would rather take
their enemies into their bosom than to listen to what you have
to say or to be content with you out there witnessing such
things. And so when Paul and Silas did
not prevail, the Scriptures did not prevail on them, but rather
they did not prevail over the Scriptures. When they did not
prevail over the Scriptures, when they could not by their
logic or reason overrule the Word of God, they resorted to
cruel tactics. And this is what they did. They
took to themselves lewd fellows and they stirred up the crowd.
They began again to... stir up the people, just like
they did in Philippi. It was the same thing. They stirred
up the rulers and said, these people are preaching Jesus as
King. These are the people that turned
the world upside down. I like that. Look at that in
verse 6. He says, when they found them not, they drew out Jason
and certain brethren, the rulers of the city, crying, these that
have turned the world upside down are come hither also. Oh, to be accused of such a thing. I thought, what a privilege to
be accused of being one that turns the world upside down.
And this should be the desire of every preacher, my desire.
It's my desire to be accused of this by everyone that hears
this gospel and rejects it. That's a badge of honor, friends. It's a badge of honor to every
saint of God to turn the world upside down. Believer in Jesus
Christ, hear me, if you are faithful to witness of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, if you will be instant in season and out of season,
If you will preach that salvation is not of works, but of grace
alone, by the grace of God alone, if you will reason out of the
Scriptures alone, if you will open your Bibles, if you will
study and compare Scripture with Scripture to them, we will soon
be given this title. For if any man is to be saved,
my friends, his world must be turned upside down. His world
must be turned upside down. You see, he must see his religion
to be a sham, to be a fake, to be a hoax. A man must see that
he cannot by his will or works save himself. He must see that
there is only one way he can be saved, and that is he must
first be lost. If a man has always been saved,
that's too long. That's just too long. You see,
Paul was by this gospel exposing these Jews to be lost. And that's
what they needed. They needed to be lost. Why?
Because Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. If a man's never been lost, he's
never been saved. He's never been saved. His world
must be turned upside down. Now go, you go out of this place
and you go tell your Arminian friends that their Jesus they
worship is nothing more than a hoax. Go tell them. Go tell
them. He's a lie and a sham. And they don't preach the truth.
Tell them that. Go tell your religious family
that their decision to accept Jesus was nothing. And it cannot save their souls.
Tell religious folks of our day that salvation does not rest
in their hands, but it rests in the hands of the sovereign
God of the universe. Tell them that. Tell them. Don't beat around the bush. Don't
try to be accepted by them. Be tolerant with their religion. Tell them the truth. And when
you tell them, expect that they will hate you for it. Expect
it. Because they will. They will. Tell them that God will save
whom He will and pass by whom He will. And you too will be accused of
turning the world upside down. I remember talking to a man,
and I'll never forget his statement. If what you said is true, then
all I've believed all my life is a lie. And I said, you got
it. That's right. That's correct.
Everything you believe then is a lie. And from that moment on, he has
nothing to say to me concerning this gospel of Jesus Christ. Because I, by the gospel, seem
to turn His world upside down. But friends, if the Holy Spirit
doesn't turn someone's world upside down, He'll never save
him. Turn mine upside down. Turn yours upside down. Everything
you thought was right was wrong, and it flipped you upside. But
really, it's right side up. They're upside down. You're right
side up. If you know Christ, And so now
the apostles, because of this event, were taken by night out
of the city into a town called Berea. They were removed from
Thessalonica because of persecution, again, just like Philippi, and
they came to this little town of Berea. Now, I want us to see
a couple of things this morning. A couple of things from this
that the Lord God teaches us in this account. In our text,
in verse 11, it's talking about the Bereans. It says, "...they
were more noble than those of Thessalonica." Let's go back
to verse 10, I'm sorry. And it says, "...and the brethren immediately
sent away Paul and Silas by night into Berea, who coming thither
went into the synagogue of the Jews." The first thing I want
us to notice is their method and message did not change. You'll
notice that even though they've been through persecution, even
though that they have been cast out of this city, even though
they've been lied about and hated, when they were taken by night
out to save their lives, you'll notice that they didn't change
anything. Now, do you suppose for one minute
that the apostles, because of this persecution, changed their
message? Do you suppose that they had
a late night strategy session? They got together with Jason
and all those men and said, hey, we've got to get you out of here,
boys, but before we go, let's have a strategy session how we
can not do this again. How we can escape this kind of
persecution. Do you suppose that they were
talking about how to win friends and influence people? I know some people think that
the gospel is like a sales pitch. You've got to have your sales
pitch right. So you've got to change your message every once
in a while. You've got to tweak your message.
No. No, that's not what they did.
I'm sure Paul and Silas said... I'm sure Paul didn't say, Silas,
well, if we'd have just done this different, that wouldn't
have happened. If we had just been a little
bit more accepting of their view, Silas, I'm sure we wouldn't have
been tormented. I'm sure they wouldn't. But do
you realize when you give in to compromise, when you begin
to compromise the gospel, you see the offense of the cross
then ceases, Paul said, if you compromise. No, Paul and Silas
did not compromise, they did not change the method or message
by which they preached. They did the same thing in Berea
that they did in Thessalonica. Look over in verse 2 of chapter
17. It says, Paul, after his manner
was went unto them three Sabbath days and reasoned with them out
of the Scriptures. Where did he go? Verse 1 said,
the synagogue. He went into the synagogue and
he reasoned, he preached the gospel to them. And this is what
he does in Berea in verse 10. It says, Whom coming thither
went into the synagogue of the Jews. He didn't change. He did the same thing. He was
consistent with what he did. Consistent. He didn't change
one thing. The same thing he did in Thessalonica,
the same thing he did in Philippi, the same thing he did back in
Antioch, is the same thing he did in Jerusalem. He preached
the gospel the same way. The same message. He didn't change. You see, Paul again using this
means available to him to preach the gospel. Now, I told you last
week why he went into the synagogues. If you'll remember, he went into
the synagogues because the Scriptures, Christ had told him, we are to
go to the Jews first. And that's what he was doing.
He was going to the Jewish believers first. And he said, after they
rejected the gospel, then he went to the Gentile nations.
But he also went to the synagogues for this, because he had an opportunity. He knew as a rabbi that he would
be given the opportunity to speak. And he did. He used it. Paul was the man of God, and
he was sent with the message of God, and he preached this
same message over and over and over and over again. It never
changed. It never changed. He preached
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the only message of value.
That is the only message of substance. And so Paul was the man of God,
And as such, he was sent with the message of God to the people
of Berea. You see, Paul understood it was
by divine providence he was sent to Berea. Just as it was by divine
providence he was sent to the other places. And so this didn't
bother Paul. Providence never really bothered
the Apostle Paul. Why? Because he always knew it
was the hand of God doing it. And this should never bother
us. Providence should never hinder us. Because all providence, all
things that happen to us, happen by the hand of our God. Why then should we be discouraged?
Why should we be in an uproar? We shouldn't. We should look
for available opportunities to witness of Christ. And that's
what Paul did, and that's what we should do. He knew that these haters of
the gospel were not out of the control of God, but rather God
used their sin to further His gospel. And God does that all
the time. God does that. God uses even
the sin of men for His own glory, for His own purpose. And so then,
all men who preach the gospel are to do so with this mind and
this heart. The same mind and heart that
was in the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20 says, Now then, we
are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's head be you reconciled to God. Friends, I am the ambassador
of God. Every gospel preacher is the
ambassador of God to Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, be you reconciled to God in Christ's stead. This is the
same message that was preached by Paul and it's the same message
of every gospel preacher. Be you reconciled to God. And I'll tell you this, I may
be bold in this message. I will be bold in this message.
That there is reconciliation to God by Jesus Christ. Be reconciled to God. Be at peace with God. Now friend,
there's nothing of more value in this world than to have peace
with God. You can have peace with your
neighbor, Friends, the peace of this world only lasts for
a moment. But the peace that is of God
lasts forever. It lasts forever. And this is
a message I am bold to assert. Believe on Christ and He will
save your soul. That is a message from God. And friends, I'm not upset by
the rants and raves and rejections of this message. We're not sent
to please men. I'm not sent to please men. I'm
not sent to entertain men. That's not my mission. My mission
is to deliver a message. And that message is Jesus Christ.
Now then, I want us to see this, how this message was received
by the Bereans. Now this is vitally, vitally
important as to how this message was received. Look at this in
verse 11. It says, "...and these were more
noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the words." Now this word, noble, the Holy
Spirit here gives a special honor to these people, the Bereans. He gives a special honor. He
says they were noble. Now, that word noble means higher
rank, of higher rank or generosity. Now, this is definitely not speaking
about social rank or the rank of race, as the Jews thought
their race was higher rank than anyone else's. That's not what
this is talking about. This is not speaking about nobility,
but rather the Spirit here is telling us what type of hearers
they were. They were noble hearers. They
were noble in that they received the Word with all readiness of
mind and searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things
were so. Now these Jews here at this synagogue in Berea that
Paul and Silas preached to, they recognized something. They recognized
that these men were sent of God. They recognized that. And friends,
I'll tell you this, if you don't recognize that of me, you'll
never hear anything I say. If you don't recognize that God
has sent me to be an ambassador of Christ, you will never hear
what I have to say. If you see me as I am, only Fred
Evans, only your friend, if you only see that, then friends,
you'll never hear anything I have to say. These men recognized
something. They were sent of God. They weren't
just men. One thing a man told my earthly
brother, Brother is a lost man. But one
thing he recognizes is this, every time he talks to me, every
time he speaks to me of Christ, he recognizes this, that I'm
not his brother when I'm speaking of Christ. He recognizes that. And this is the only way he'll
ever hear anything, is he recognizes that I'm just not just anybody. but I'm sin of God with a message
for you." They recognized that these were
men's sin of God with an important message, and that they brought
this message, and when they brought this message, these Bereans recognized
this, they were ready to hear it. You'll never be ready to
hear the message unless you recognize it comes from God. Never. So unlike those Jews of Thessalonica
who heard the same message, they shut their ears to it, and whose
hearts were closed to it, and were ready to reject it, or to
passively hear it. Now friends, if you passively
hear this message, that's not noble. That's not noble. I tell you, there are many men
who, like these Jews, come to hear the preaching and are ready
to condemn it before they hear it. They're already ready with their
objections before they even hear it. Ready to find fault with
the preacher. And you'll find it. You're looking
for it. You'll find it. I'm sure many of them have been
taught something from their youth and they will not let it go.
I've met men like this all the time. They've been taught something
from their youth and when they don't hear it, they automatically
shut their ears and they don't hear anything else. But these men of Berea were of
higher rank in that they attended to the Word of God. from the
man of God. And so to everyone here, when
you hear the Word of God, you must hear it as the Word of God
from the man of God. Friends, when we come, may we
be like these Bereans when we hear the Gospel. You know, I
want to be this type of listener. When I hear the Gospel, I want
to be this type of listener. I want to be ready. These believers
were ready to hear. Have you ever been anxious about
something? Sitting on the edge of your seat,
can't wait. When I was a kid, Christmas was
coming. You know, when you can't wait. Oh, you're about to pull
your hair out. You can't wait to get out there
and get that stuff. That's how these people were
when they heard the Gospel. They were ready to hear. You
didn't have to pump them up. They were ready. They were ready
before they got in the door. And friends, if you're waiting
for the song service to get ready, it's too late. You've already
missed it. Train's done left. Train's left the station. You
missed it. You should be ready before you
get here to hear the gospel. You should be ready. You should
be ready the night before when you get ready. You should be
getting ready the night before, not the morning of. You see,
what happens is all of the things come in. All of the troubles
come in if you're not ready. If you're not ready. That's when
all the troubles come in. These people were ready listeners.
They were ready to come and worship. Their hearts were determined
and set to hear the Word of God. Was that your attitude when you
left this morning? Or was that just the attitude
when you got here? It should have been the attitude when you
left and before you left. Ready to hear the Word of God.
I asked my son this morning, I said, are you ready to go worship
God? He said, no. And he's not. He's not going
to be ready. Not until the Spirit of God moves
on him. But if God's people, if you've heard the Word, then
you should always be of a ready mind to hear it again. It should
never be stale and old. If it's stale and old, it's not
the Word, it's you. I promise. You can blame it on
me if you want to. It's okay. I can take that. I'm
sure I probably have my fault in that. But I promise you the
blame is not more on me if you haven't heard it. If you're not
ready to hear it, you should be ready. Let us not come tired,
but rested for worship. Let us come thirsty to hear the
Word of God. Let us come focused solely on
the worship of God. You have come in the presence
of God. And if you've not recognized
that, I'm sorry for you. I really am. If you've not recognized,
you've come in the presence of God who said, where two or three
are gathered together in My name, there I am in the middle of them.
And friends, He is. If you don't believe that, I'm
sorry for you. We should be focused on His worship. How often do some come with no
desire to hear the Word of God? And how often do people come
and spend their time asleep rather than seeing the importance of
every message? A noble hearer be ready. A noble
hearer be ready. These Bereans were alert, and
I guarantee you, they were taking notes. You know, in that time,
I don't think each one of them had the Bible like you have.
The Scriptures were the ones that were in the synagogues.
They left them there. And so what they had to hear
was what they had to memorize in their head, or what they wrote
down themselves. And friends, you should take
notes. You should take these things. These Bereans, they didn't
just take these things and hear them at the time Paul said them,
did he? Read the Scriptures. What did
they do? Look at this. They had a ready mind, but they
also searched the Scriptures. How often? How often did they
search the Scriptures? Daily. Daily. They searched the Scriptures
daily. These Bereans took the Word of God that Paul had spoken
and they searched it out to make sure it was so. They didn't take
their word for it. If you take my word for it, I'm
sorry for you. I know you love me, but you shouldn't be taking
my word for it. You should be searching these
things out for yourselves. They came with a ready mind and
a ready heart, but they also came with a ready pen. You should take God's Word for
it, not take my Word for it, but you should search it out
daily. How many people take their Bibles, open them today, close them after this is over,
and never touch? the Bible again until they come
back. How many times have you heard
a message, and by the end of the service, the message was
already gone, and you never thought about it
again? We live in an age of such convenience that we don't even
use them. Isn't that sad? We live in such an age where
we have such conveniences. You know how hard it was for
them to find paper to write on? It was tough. That was not easy.
And yet we have it abundant, and we don't use it. How many
of them do you think would give an arm or a leg to have a copy
of what Paul said, instead of having to remember it? You've
got plenty of copies. Do you use them? Do you use them? You should be. This message today,
it should be used. You should get a copy and use
it again. Hear it again. Study it for yourselves. I know a lot of people just put
them in the player and let it roll. Maybe you'll hear something.
Maybe you won't. I don't know. You just kind of
throw it up in the air instead of sitting down to make sure
what I said was true. You'll never grow. You'll never
grow if you're not studying these things. Friend, I only give you
a small portion of what I get. And how can you ever get what
I get if you're not studying like I am? If you're not taking
what I've said and studying. Many will hear the preacher And
never think to search out the Scriptures for their own souls.
I remember I was preaching to a man, and he confessed to me,
he said, preacher, if what you believe is true, then my family
is in hell. And I said, why would you go
also? I said, check it for yourself. Don't take what your mom and
daddy said, and don't take what I say for granted. Check it. according to the Word of God." Friends, I'm your pastor and
I love you, but I will not stand in the day of judgment with you.
You'll stand by yourself. Many people think that they'll
be able to stand before God and say, well, my pastor said this.
I don't care what your pastor said. What did you find out? Did you check the Scriptures?
Did you search the Scriptures? We should be searching the Scriptures
to see if these things are true. Peter said, make your calling
and election sure. Is there anything of more importance
than that? No. I'll tell you this, you know,
I love to hear you guys sometimes when the message is over. You
know, I love to hear people talk about the message among each
other, not to me, but among each other. And that's good. But if that's as far as it goes,
my friends, that's not far enough. It needs to be taken home with
you. It needs to be studied by you. It needs to be searched
by you. I pray that you, my friends,
would be like these Bereans. They believed the gospel, but
they were noble in that they searched it out for themselves.
And that's the title the Spirit of God gave them. And friends,
that's exactly the kind of here I want to be. And I hope that's
the kind of here that you want to be. I pray that God would bless this
message to our hearts this morning, that He would make us like these
Bereans, to be noble, to be ready to hear and to search the Scriptures.