Amen, i'm going to be reading
act 17 verses 1 through 11 and then we'll pick up uh in our
outline You should have a new outline And we'll be working
from there to see how far we get down the line As we continue
to make our way through the book. We are more than halfway through
the book of acts And this is a pivotal transition where we
are in act 17 And uh, there are some things to learn so we'll
read verses 1 through 12 and go back and start working through
our four points today and see how far we get. 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. But the
Jews which believed not moved with envy took unto them certain
lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set
all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason,
and sought to bring them out to the people. When they found
them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers
of the city, crying, These have turned the world upside down,
and are come hither also. whom Jason hath received, and
these all do contrary to the decree of Caesar, saying that
there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people
and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. And
when they had taken security of Jason and of the other, they
let them go. And the brethren immediately
sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea who coming thither
went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than
those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all
readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether
those things were so. Therefore many of them believed
also of honorable women which were Greeks and of men not Few
thus is the reading of God's Word We make our first consideration
on this portion of scripture. I'll call your attention to the
title This will help us once again revisit and affirm the
Apostle Paul's method to the Jew first, but Also to whom the
Gentiles to the Jew first also to the Gentiles If you look at
verse 1, you'll see why I say that it tells us that Now, when
they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,
where was a what? Synagogue of the Jews. That was
strategic. That was intentional. That was
purposeful because the apostle Paul was indebted to make sure
that his own Jewish brethren heard the gospel. You and I know
that this is his ethic, according to Romans chapter 1, 16 and 17
to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, right? So everywhere
he went, he would first look for a Jewish synagogue. Now there's reasons for it that
are pros and cons, but that was the way that Paul did it. And
if you guys remember, as we are working our way through the book
of Acts, what is the fundamental theme of the book of Acts? Evangelism. And if we don't remember that
and take that into consideration as we are working through this
historical narrative, we will miss the real lesson. Evangelism
definitely requires divine strategy as well as human wisdom, divine
strategy as well as human wisdom. And whenever you and I are sharing
the gospel with people, we have to make sure that we who are
the vehicles by which the gospel is communicated, understand our
target group. So if you are the subject, you're
the one that's doing the action, you're preaching the gospel,
shouldn't you know the people to whom you are speaking? Do
you think that it doesn't matter at all whether or not the group
of people, the culture, the environment, the society into which you have
now been cast as a seed Does it matter whether or not you
understand how they think, how they reason, what their worldviews
are, what their sympathies are, what their inclinations are?
Doesn't that matter? It matters in terms of effectiveness. If you and I are going to be
effective in the cause of the gospel, I ought to know my auditors. And so this is why you have Paul
driven according to 1st Corinthians 9 as well as other texts of scripture
and certainly Romans chapter 1. He said that I am a debtor
both to the Jew as well as to the Greek and I have become all
things that if by any means I might win some but I am certainly indebted
to my Jewish brethren and this is what we are working through
on Sundays as we are dealing with Romans chapter 11 as Paul
is explaining the mystery of the gospel. And think about this,
as God had revealed to him that the vast majority of his own
Jewish brethren would nine times out of 10 reject the gospel,
he was still compelled to go to them first. So I say that
because it's very important for you and I to understand the attitude
of the evangelist. We've talked about this before,
haven't we? We all would like to fancy ourselves as ready to
share the gospel with anyone. That's not true. You are not
ready to share the gospel with anyone. Just be honest about
it. Wouldn't we want the easiest
assignment possible? Right, because we're humans.
And you think about what Paul is doing. He's going to the most
incorrigible group there is. The most antithetical and antipathetic
group there is. He's going to the most oppositional
group there is, his own people. So he's actually operating against
nature to go to his people every time he does. Give him credit
for that and then mark that as the heart of the evangelist.
I remember when God saved me by his grace and I was 18 years
old and he made it very clear to me that I was called to preach
the gospel. Well, the first people group
that I was inclined to go to was my own African-American culture,
my black neighborhood, West Oakland and East Oakland. And I did. And I was met with the same indifference,
the same coldness, the same apathetic response that Paul did. And I
didn't get anyone to actually hear what I had to say for years. But over time, Because what you
do when you're an evangelist, and remember evangelism is simply
full-grown Christianity. That's all evangelism is. When
you grow up in Christ, then you're an evangelist. It's not some
special title or some marked gift. Every Christian is an evangelist
when they grow up. You're ready to share the gospel
with anyone, anywhere, anytime that God would open the door.
Is that true? Right. But you do have to grow up, don't
you? Because this is grown folks business. So if you will pull
the map up, let me share with our brothers and sisters the
excursion that Paul and Silas are making on their second missionary
journey so that we can see where they are in relationship to where
they were in Philippi once the map is up there. But what we
see in our first point, which is what I want to draw out, is
the synagogue that they were in sharing the gospel when they
first landed in Thessalonica, they were there for three Sabbath
days. How many days is that? 21 days. They were 21 days in the city
that Paul saw the vision about, remember? The vision of a man
waving him down. waving his consortes down to
come over into Macedonia and do what? Help us. Now you see
at the far left corner at the top, it says Macedonia. You guys
see that? That's the region in which the
apostles are doing ministry right now. And do you see Philippi
to the left end of the word Macedonia? Now do you see if you go down,
we would say Southwest, you see Berea. You see Berea Southwest? Everybody see it? And that's
about 37 miles from Philippi. 37 miles. So they have walked
down. Now remember where we were. We start at, let's say, 2. You
guys follow 2 all the way back to Antioch. You see Antioch?
All the way down here to the far right, down here toward the
end, Antioch, Syria, and Jerusalem. Well, if you see Jerusalem number
8, that's where they started. They moved into Antioch where
they are first called what? Christians. We are called Christians
at Antioch because it was at Antioch that there was a break
between Judaism and Christianity. So I want you to mark that as
we continue to lay down a sort of historical narrative in a
geographical framework before we get into the text more exegetically.
You will hear some people say i'm not a christian. I'm a disciple
That's goofy. I'm trying to be nice. That's
goofy All right. So, um, if you are a disciple,
then you are a christian Because to be a disciple is to be submitted
to and under the instructions of the lord jesus christ who
is teaching you to be like him That's what the term disciple
means And if we become like Christ, then what people will say when
they observe us is they are like Christ. Because that's what the
term Christian means. Did you guys hear what I just
stated? If we start to take on the mold of Christ, the mannerisms,
the ethics, the protocol, the priority of the kingdom of God,
and people say, well, that's what Jesus did. Well, now they
are calling us what they see. And that's not a bad thing, child
of God. So for them in Antioch, they
were first called Christian there because they became very distinguishable
between the Christian worldview and ethic and Judaism. Even though
it was Jews and Gentiles that made up the collective, what
became clear because of the hostility is that Judaism is not owning
Christianity. You guys got that? And because
they're not owning Christianity, Christianity is taking on a life
of its own. And for good reason, by the way.
So as we make our way up to Sicilia, Cappadocia, Icona, the regions
of Galatia, Phrygia, Antioch of Asia, of Asia there, that's
Asia Minor where the seven churches are. They continue journeying
all the way up to Symothracy and then Neapolis, that's Acts
16, Philippi is where we were, right? And so they are in the
regions of Macedonia where they were called. Now they slide all
the way down to Thessalonica. And here we are at Thessalonica
about to go over to where? Berea, right up the street. Now notice down further south
is a very famous area or region called Achaia, which is where
what is? Corinth. Now you see Corinth? We'll be there in the next chapter.
Chapter 18 puts us in Corinth. So in a moment, we will be there.
That's the vision that I want you to mark. So there's gonna
be two stops. One is real quick in Thessalonica. The next one will be where we
will largely consider the noble response of the Bereans in verse
10 and 11. So let's go back to work now.
Three or four sub points under our first category of thought.
They were in the synagogues three days. Now, what's so beneficial
about that? Why does he go to the synagogue?
Why would he speak to his own people? Well, largely and chiefly
because of this. His own people had the scriptures. His own people knew the scriptures. His own people were ready for
a theological dialogue that was rooted in a worldview that he
knew that they had already grown up in. Does that make sense?
So if we were used the hearts of men, um, by analogy like soil,
and that's the parable of the sower and the seed, right? The
Jewish soil was much more prepared for the word of God than the
Gentile soil. You see the wisdom of the evangelist.
So whenever he went into a new culture, a new city, a new society,
he was looking for people whose soil was prepared for the what
seed. And in this sense, we're gonna
identify the seed, not so much as the word of God per se, because
they already had what we call what? Torah. They had Torah,
but what we're gonna ask them about now is the seed of Torah,
which is whom? Christ. So now they're getting
ready to have the conversation about Torah relative to the seed.
Now let's look at the advantage of it. Under our first point,
they had the scriptures. And in having the scriptures,
now an opportunity for a dialogue through that medium takes place.
The blessing of meeting someone who knows their Bible is that
you don't have to now first tell them what the Bible says, but
rather now we can enter into the conversation as to what the
Bible means. Now I want you to mark two things
as we work our way through Subpoint 1. They had the Scriptures and
what Paul was doing was opening and setting forth the meaning
of the Scripture. Opening and setting forth the
meaning of the Scriptures. You see the term? Opening and
setting forth. What was he doing? He was explaining
the Scriptures. Explaining them. The term is
powerful. In our theological framework,
we would call this expository teaching. Expository teaching. What does that mean? That means
you start with the scriptures and you use the scriptures to
explain the scriptures so that the scriptures become clear to
you. You start with the scriptures
and you use the scriptures to explain the Scriptures so that
the Scriptures become clear to you. Do you notice in your Bible
it says, And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and for
three Sabbath days, what? Reasoned with them. Reasoned. Now, what is he not doing? He's
not arguing. He's reasoning. You know what
reasoning is? Reasoning is when you have a
door open to discuss rationally ideas and propositions in a back
and forth dialogue. That means people are willing
to hear you as you make an argument for a certain thing being true
or being false. So, the term opening there is
a powerful term. Because the Greek term there
means to fully and completely open up. It means to fully and
completely open up. And I'm just going to show you
some text to underscore what I mean. So now, it's not that
Paul simply quoted the scriptures, but that he, by the Spirit, explained
the scriptures in a thorough enough fashion for the scriptures
to open up. The analogy would be the opening
of a curtain so that you could see what was behind the curtain.
Now the curtain would be our ignorance of the Word of God.
You guys follow that? So I'm gonna make my way through
Acts going back to Luke to demonstrate what I'm talking about. This
word open is used in Acts chapter 7 verse 56 and let me see if
I can help you see it. This Greek term is used in Acts
7 verse 56 and it affirms the example that I'm using about
how the scriptures have to be open to us. Remember Stephan
the first martyr of the New Testament how that as he was preaching
the gospel they stoned him and so we read in Acts chapter 7
verse 54 when they heard these things they were cut to the heart
and they gnashed on him with their teeth but he being full
of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly into heaven and Saw the glory
of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Is that
what it says? I That's what Stephan saw, right? Did anyone else see
that? No! For them, the curtains were
closed. They saw the sky. They didn't
see the Savior. They didn't see the Sovereign
Lord. They didn't see the specific manifestation of the glory of
Stephan's mediator. But what had God done? God had
pulled the curtains back for Stephan. Did he pull them back?
He had pulled the curtains back so that Stephan could see that
his work was not in vain in the Lord Let me show you where that
word is in your text. Look again at verse 56 And he
said behold I See the heavens what? Opened That's our turn
What am I saying? I'm saying that the idea of an
opening and exposure of A revelation is the work of God pulling the
curtains back so that what is really there is now seen. And a lot of times, unless the
Spirit of God is working, we don't see the scriptures until
he pulls the curtains back. that true right so the Spirit
of God is the one that has to work through a proper approach
to biblical teaching with right heart to reveal these things
so now we will go to another verse to affirm this is the same
Greek term that we're going to use now as we go to Luke's gospel
Luke chapter 24 verse 32, Luke 24, 32. And in Luke's gospel,
you guys remember this particular historical account because it
also is what we call a major key as an example of biblical
exegesis and exposition. Our Lord has risen. And the two
men on the road from Jerusalem back to Emmaus now are befuddled. And the Lord Jesus now is ministering
to them. You guys remember the account.
And listen to what the text says as we work through it. Luke chapter
24, verse 32. Very simple truth, but it needs
to be seen. So we are told in Luke's gospel,
chapter 24, verse 32, these words. And I'll start back at verse
30. And it came to pass as he sat at meat with them because
they asked him to come into his house. He took bread and he blessed
it and broke it and gave it to them. So they are doing what
right now? Fellowshiping. They are fellowshiping. Now this
is also a strategic, strategic component to witnessing and evangelism,
more specifically evangelism. What are they not doing? Fighting
about dogmatic positions. What are they not doing? Having
a one-ups meant about biblical interpretation. What are they
not doing? They're not being pummeled by
one man that's unloading Bible verses on them as a kind of method
of subversion. What are they doing? They are
operating in an equal fellowship among men with barriers down
and freedom to just interact so that the hearts of the men
exposed to the Savior's teaching without threat or compulsion. Let me see if I can make that
point again. Remember, our primary objective
when we go through the book of Acts is to learn how evangelism
works. This is why our Lord told the
disciples in the gospel of Luke chapter 10, Matthew chapter 10
as well, when you go forth and preach, whosever house you go
to, If there's peace in that house and they receive you, I'm
gonna show you that in a minute, and they allow you in, stay at
that house. Because when a door is opened,
God opened that door. You don't kick a door in. You
wait for God to open that door. And when God opens that door,
what that means is He has prepared the soil of that heart to hear
you out. Also, there will be other tangible
evidences that you have an assignment in that place. That is, there
will be an advancement of the topics that you're discussing
in a fashion where people in that house will want to hear
more of what you are saying. That is, there will be an advancement
of the topic for people in that house where they will want to
hear more of what you're saying. So an aside or a qualifier as
we move forward. When you go to someone's home
to share the gospel with them and you find that you are having
a hard time, the soil is so hard that you can barely get the shovel
in. You're scraping up dust, not dirt. The tip of your shovel
is bending. It's sounding like you're hitting
on stone hard rock. And when you're done, you're
tired, exhausted and wasted. And when you look at your audience,
you discover that your audience is drowsy in sleep. When you
leave, please be sure you probably didn't have an assignment there.
Why do I say that, pastor? Because when an assignment is
given and the Lord is in it, the soil is prepared for the
shovel to go deep enough to break up the follow ground so that
the word can be brought into that heart and the hearts are
receiving that word. And you know the difference between
a person receiving what you're saying and tolerating what you're
saying. Is that true? Receiving versus
tolerating what you're saying. Right. And so this is so very
important. So listen to what it says here
in verse 30 then. Verse 31 now after we have looked
at verse 30. And their eyes were what? Opened
and they knew him and he vanished out of their sight. Now mark
what they say in verse 32. they said one to another did
not our heart what burn within us and I have to say this all
the time using the the sensitivity of the grammar the word burn
there doesn't mean heartburn let's get that over with real
quick this is not the burning in the bosom of the Mormons this
is what I'm trying to get at this is not the burning of the
bosom in the Mormons Right, but let's explain this so we can
be clear. What the Mormons would tell you is that there's this
kind of non-essentia, non-cognitive intuition or this non-rational
feeling that you get when you read the Pearl of Great Price
or the Book of Mormon and it lets you know then that you are
a Mormon. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Now when you talk about a feeling or an emotion or a
non-cognitive experience, you are not talking the work of the
Holy Spirit. I'm gonna bring that home again.
When he said, when they said our hearts burn within us, the
literal Greek word is photidso, from which we get the term photograph.
You know how when we take a picture it requires light? to flash and
illuminate the thing that's there. That's what we are talking about.
We are talking about a revelation that occurs, a flash that occurs
and that flash illuminates. It illuminates. Now we're not
dealing in the first century with the technology of our present
day. So in the first century, we're talking about a candle.
What does a candle do? It brings light to the house.
So what these men were saying is, as Christ opened the scriptures,
there was a work of illumination so profound in their hearts that
they couldn't stand it. You know anything about that?
Do you know anything about how the Word of God opens up when
it's properly explained like that? Do you guys get that? So
now that's radically different than an emotional sort of revving
up that occurs in a religious setting when you have all the
components together. The shouting, the screaming,
the running across the stage, the ham and organ playing. Do
you understand what I'm getting at? Big difference. There's a
big difference between the work of the Spirit of God on the road
to Emmaus sitting down in the middle of the night and all men
are doing and women are doing is talking about the things of
God and God is present. Do you understand? And here's
how big the difference is. The energy level is of a supernatural
status. The energy level is of a supernatural
nature where you can stay up hours. Anybody know what I'm
talking about? Hours. where he gives you grace
to overcome the natural inclination to go to sleep because you understand
that this moment, this moment, this experience is divine in
nature. And when that's happening, you
don't want food, you don't want water, you don't want anything
to interrupt the flow of the work of the spirit and keeping
your mind fixed on these rich, deep theological issues rooted
in God's word because you want to capture that moment. as a
reality of God in your understanding. And I'm going to show you another
place in the text why I actually used as a form of refutation
the Mormon burning in the bosom. Because in Christianity we carry
some of that stuff over from paganism as well. I just had
a feeling. Well you can have a feeling and
be taught a lie. You can be taught a lie and have
a feeling. Jump up and down get excited
get enthused and get motivated to do something and then discover
it was a lie Now god does not tell lies Does he? So what i'm getting at is very
important for you and I to know the difference between being
emotionally moved And then being spiritually quickened or spiritually
enlightened Verse 31 and their eyes were what? So it wasn't
their physical eyes was it? It was their spiritual eyes.
And notice what it says. And they what? Knew Him. And He vanished
out of their sight. So obviously they knew Him in
a different way than they knew Him before their eyes were opened,
right? That's called a revelation. An illumination. Okay? An epiphany,
if you will. And now all of a sudden you see
Him for who He is. And that's what's working in
this text. And I think one more verse for us to look at is verse
45. And this will underscore again, my point about how important
it is that the medium of revelation for us is scripture, scripture,
so that our faith is not shifted from scripture to experience,
but that the experience we have is based on the scripture. So
listen to what it says here. Then what opened he there? What? Ah, there it is. So the
word opening there once again is pulling the curtains back.
But what did he pull the curtains back on? Their what? Understanding. So prior to the curtains being
pulled back, they didn't have understanding. And neither do
you or I until the Spirit of God pulls the curtains back.
You guys got that? Well going back to our text in
so we can work further through this, uh, first point and get
to our next point The reason why paul is laboring in the scriptures. He's laboring in the scriptures
He's laboring that the spirit of god might assist him to open
the scriptures and that's precisely what god had told paul He would
be doing in the latter, uh parts of the book of acts that he would
open the eyes of the gentiles open the eyes of the gentiles
and that's specifically through teaching and preaching the second
word there is a is a very operative words. You see the term setting
forth? So he opens and then he does what? Sets forth. So he
opens and he sets forth. Now this is what God is doing
through Paul. He's explaining and then he's
also setting forth. I like this and I just wanted
to call your attention to it so that you can see the involved
nature of Luke's observation while Luke was there. What does
it mean that he set forth? He set forth. What it fundamentally
means is that he placed before the people the biblical text
in order and in a cogent fashion laid them out like the showbread
in the temple. In a cogent fashion, he laid
before them the biblical text in an orderly fashion, precept
upon precept, line upon line. His base text is defended by
other corollary texts. And as they are going from text
to text, they are beginning to see like the showbread in the
temple, the glory of God in Christ. Are you with me? After all, that's
exactly what the showbread was for. Two rows of six loaves where
the priest would simply look at it and they would be reminded
that God is the life giver of the people of God and that God
rains down manna from heaven to provide life for the souls
of his people. The priests who are privileged
to be close to God, and you and I are called a spiritual what?
Priesthood. We get to observe every day the
rolls of showbread. that God has symbolized in the
temple to let the priest know that the people of God will always
be provided for. And how do they see the rolls
of showbread? Because the rolls of showbread
are seated over against the menorah. And what does the menorah do?
Give light to the showbread. Are you guys following me? The
menorah is lighting the showbread so that the priests are always
seeing a connection between the revelation and the source. The
food, the provisio for the people of God is the Word of God, but
the revelation comes by the Spirit of God. So the Spirit is illuminating
the bread of life that we feed on. Are you guys hearing what
I'm saying? These are all of the artifacts
in the temple to reveal to us how God is our complete Savior. I just want to show you an example
of the setting forth as we use that over in Mark's gospel, Mark
chapter 6. This is a good one, and there
are many others, but I just want you to see this one. Now, for
our men, this matters, and it should be the case for our women
who are teachers as well. If you're going to be a teacher
of the Word of God, you should want to be able to explain the
Word of God in such a way that you are co-laborers with God,
where the Spirit of God is working through you to lay out the Word
of God in such clear fashion, the people get it. You guys got
that? Lay out the word of God in such
clear fashion that the people get it This is Mark's gospel
chapter 8 verse 6. Will you go there with me? This
is the time when when the Lord Jesus Christ had had done ministry
and the 4,000 and 5,000 men plus women and children were in the
desert it was too late to go home and remember the disciples
said they don't have anything to eat and And then the Lord
told them to go look and scrape up what they can. And here's
what we read in verse six, when they found, according to verse
four, look at verse four. And his disciples answered and
said, from whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in
the wilderness? And he asked them, how many loaves
have you? And they said, what? Seven loaves
to feed 5,000 men plus women and children. Is that gonna work
numerically? No. What's it gonna take in order
to satisfy the needs of all those people with such a small resource? It's gonna take God himself being
able to multiply the loaves in such a way that it satisfy the
needs of all the people. Is that true? So he was, the
Lord Jesus was taking an opportunity now to demonstrate that he can
do a whole lot with very little when you and I are walking in
obedience to him. What he did right here was to teach the disciples
something about the humility of availability and the usefulness
of the servant when they are available. So now think about
this for a moment as I unpack this. 5,000 people plus women
and children. 9 or 10,000 people all scattered
on the mountainsides because he was preaching outside. This
here is your Old Testament example of the children in the wilderness
crying out, can God furnish a table in the wilderness? That's your
New Testament paradigm. Can he? Well, he just did. We're
going to learn more of that in Psalm 23 next week, right? The Lord prepared a table before
me in the presence of my enemies. And so now look at this, look
at this. He tells them to all sit down. What is he telling
them to do? Rest. What is he telling them
to do? Trust me. What is he telling
them to do? Get ready for a blessing. Cause
now think about it. If the news has gone about through
the camp, ain't nothing but seven loaves of bread and it's late
and I'm hungry and I'm ready to just get up and get out of
here. Try, try to make them the seven 11 as fast as I can or
a Jack in the box or McDonald's or whatever. And then the Lord
Jesus say, sit down. Every instruction every imperative
that's now being uttered by Christ requires what faith? You have to believe God when
he says sit down and not run to the store before it closes
at 9 o'clock right Listen to what it says This is beautiful
and he commanded The people to sit down on the ground and he
took the seven lows and gave what? See, here's another secret. Somebody's going to be blessed
by this. Quit complaining. God bless you. Quit complaining.
Quit complaining. Quit complaining. Quit complaining.
Quit complaining. Quit complaining and start thanking
God. Quit complaining and start thanking
God. Quit complaining for what you don't have and thanking for
what you do have. That's how it starts. That's
how the grace of God starts working. Quit complaining about what you
don't have. Thank Him for what you do. Thank him for what you
do because here's what our Lord did because now remember the
Lord is Anthropos, right? He is both a man and he is God
is he not so as Divine God he has all confidence in his capabilities
But as a real man and a real representative for me He has
to trust God for himself as well as he does for me. Is that true? Did Christ walk in faith towards
his God? He had to or otherwise he couldn't
be my representative. He cannot tell me to do something
that he as my representative did not do. He cannot tell me
to depend upon God if he didn't depend upon God. If he operated
fully out of the prerogatives of his deity, he could not be
my substitute. If he didn't have to trust God
to come through, you know how we have to How many of y'all
Pope folks like your pastor? How many of y'all Pope? How many
of y'all learned how to rob Peter to pay Paul and become good at
it? I mean become, I mean good at it, right? We become good
at it, right? And we really, we actually really
thank God for being able to shift stuff over here and back up and
say, look at the Lord work, right? And still get to eat our beans
and cornbread. That's walking humble before the Lord your God.
I'm thankful for it. I'll be glad one day when there's a whole
lot more but right now I'm just thankful for what we would call
dexterity Dexterity how to work it how to just work it by the
grace of God, right? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is about to
see his God come through He's about to see his God come through
I'm drawing this point out because he said this are you ready? as
the father sent me so i'm sending you the parallels across the
board must be or else we are not valid disciples and he is
not a valid savior and the way i draw edification from the lord
jesus christ relative to my calling is to know that the same things
that i'm going through he went through them too Did his God
come through? Why? Because he trusted God.
Did he trust God? And without faith is what? Impossible. And did he walk in humility of
circumstances? Did Christ walk in humility?
Was he always humble? Now watch this. Now, this is
just a caveat. When Christ told them to sit
down and he asked for the seven lows, he put his God on blast. Did he not? He put his savior
on blast. The master now has to come through,
doesn't he? And did he come through? He commanded
the people to sit down on the ground. He took the seven loaves,
gave thanks, and did he what? Break it and gave it to his disciples.
Now watch this. Here it is. Here it is. This
here is also a procedural or process of ministry starting
from heaven leading to earth. God always works and he only
works, not that he has to, but that he wants to. God always
works, not that he has to, but that he wants to. He doesn't
need you and me. Let's get our theology right
right now. So when you go God needs, the
only other valid word after that adjective need is nothing. You got that? God needs nothing. This is what we call aseity in
theology. Absolute and total self-sufficiency
within himself, nothing in the creature that he needs to sustain
him or affirm him or glorify him as a necessity. God is self-sufficient,
autonomous, and independent from everything that he made. Are
you guys with me? God needs what? That's exactly right, but we
need God don't we? So in the Lord Jesus Christ walked
in faith and he received from the Lord The revelation of which
he is now giving his disciples and here's what he says to his
disciples here you you you join me Watch this now you join me
in the father being glorified so now he's passing to his disciples
a responsibility that requires the disciples to also do what
Can you now see now you and I know these brothers don't we know
these brothers? So so think about these 11 brothers Even Judas
was in on this and I know Judas didn't believe so he's walking
through the crowd Filled with doubt, but was not Peter also
filled with doubt James John Matthias Matthew Levi, they're
going now see now see this piece of bread that he giving me. I
to go share with this thousand people right here. Now he sure
enough get me in trouble. So I don't know what to do, but
just wait and see, right? Because he just broke seven lows. And i'll tell you if you understand
the grammar is seven small. It's not the big listen This
is this is not this is not french bread. These not the big french
bread loaves you get at safeway Let's let's keep this. Let's
work this grammar thing right quick. Okay, this here's a little
biscuit. This is the biscuit This is the
biscuit at best to get some of the biscuit So when you cut the
biscuit in half and you share it with the disciples, there's
12 of them. They get a slice of the biscuit and the Lord gets
one and the little boy gets one. We good to go, right? And they're
pinching off the biscuit. And as they pinch it off, it
keeps pinching. It keeps pinching. Are you guys
following that? It keeps pinching. How else is
it gonna be done? And every person that receives
it by faith, gets the blessing. So the disciples receive it by
faith, they give it by faith, the hungry people receive it
by faith, and by faith they are nourished and satisfied by that
process. You guys understand that? That's
how the gospel works. From heaven, through Christ,
by his obedient disciples, as they share it and people receive
it, God blesses it. And that's what happens in the
preaching of the Word of God. Also, what that means is ladies
and gentlemen, it might be very much So the case that right now
God is pinching off a piece of bread and feeding some of you
in the house right now Is he is he feeding some of you right
now now watch this if he is now stay with me now if he is feeding
you He has just fed you with just a portion of biblical truth
And how satisfying is a portion of biblical truth when the heart
is hungry and the process is being executed How satisfying
is a little biblical truth when the heart is ready to receive
from God. Do you see it? Do you see it?
He commanded them to sit down on the ground and they took seven
loaves and gave thanks break and gave it to his disciples
to set before them and they did set them before the what? Now
stop. My particular consideration was
the Greek term for setting forth, right? So what the disciples
are doing now is setting forth before the people the bread which
is a type of the word of god And they are receiving the word
of god that's being set before them as a servant would set a
plate out before them Are you guys hearing what i'm saying?
And that's exactly the way the text is working and that's exactly
the way god works Go back to our text. Let's work through
our final sub points here, then maybe we'll get into the obvious
before we close it down tonight. So they have the scriptures open
and the scriptures were set forth two long Greek terms, I'm not
gonna bother you by them, but God gave the increase, didn't
he? God showed up, blessed it. And so our second sub point is,
they were theologically prepared for Messiah as a tradition, weren't
they? They were theologically prepared
as a tradition. In other words, Jesus said in
John chapter five, verse 39, You are searching the scriptures
Got it. And in them you think you have
eternal life And they are they which what testify of me? So because they are predisposed
to the study of the scriptures on this day they were what blessed
Let me show you a Bible verse that's really going to underscore
the importance of my point. Go to 2 Corinthians 3, verses
14-16. Let me share with you that this
process that you and I are talking about right now is a process
for which we thank God any time that it happens, okay? In other
words, it's not a given that when you come to Bible study
or you open the Scriptures Are you engaged in listening to the
Word of God taught or explained that the process would work out
to where your soul is fed? That's not a given. How many
of you guys know that it's not a given that if you open your
Bible, you've got to see truth. That's not a given. Listen, now
let me make sure you get this. You will have days where you
read your Bible and all you're reading are black letters on
a white page. Just tell the truth. Just say,
God, I love you. It's your word. This is your
word. This is your word. But the pastor told me that the
curtains got to be pulled back. Now, for whatever reason, today,
the curtains are not pulled back. Now I'm gonna read now because
maybe later on down the line you might what pull the curtains
back and that text that I have just read that has no revelation
to it on any Pertinent and pointed way might again one day be open
to me. So I'm reading by what that's
right And faith is the substance of things what hope for That's
right So some days you guys are reading by faith and other days
you're reading by the compulsion and powerful work of the holy
ghost that's feeding you Is that true? Some days you're just reading
by faith Doing exactly what the psalmist says thy word have I
hid in my heart that I might not what? That's right with my
whole heart. Have I sought you therefore?
Let me not wander from your precepts. You have told me to seek your
precepts what diligently That's right. So we're gonna study the
Word of God. We're gonna read the Word of God. We're gonna allow the Word
of God to have its way in our life and we're gonna wait for
the Spirit of God to process that Word. So now watch this. Whenever he processes the Word
and gives us understanding, that's a supernatural act. Because prior
to that experience of illumination, we are blinded to the text. This
is the condition of Israel prior to conversion. Look at what the
text says. Let me start at verse 13. This
is Israel and Paul is talking about the distinction between
the mosaic law and the New Testament spirit that is given in the gospel.
He says not as Moses which put a veil over his face that the
children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of
that which is abolished. Now what is it that's abolished?
The law. That's exactly what he's talking
about, right? The law as a covenant is abolished, right? Now, this
verse here explains for us the failure of Israel as we are going
through Romans 11. Romans 9, 10, and 11 says that
Israel did not obtain righteousness because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were the works of the law. But the works of
the law could never ever bring them to what they were trying
to achieve, which is what? Righteousness. And the reason
for which they never obtained righteousness is because they
didn't follow Moses to the end. Had they followed Moses to the
end, Moses would have told them, you gotta go pass me to Christ. That's why I got a veil over
my face. Because if you follow me to the end, you will discover
that I don't have any saving glory. The veil was put over
Moses' face. so that Israel could not look
steadfastly to the end. They could not see past Moses
to Jesus. They were stuck on Moses like
a lot of people are stuck on Moses today. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? Listen to what it says. And a
veil was put over his face that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly look to the what? End. Now the end of the law for
righteousness is whom? Romans chapter 10 verse 4 the
end of the law for righteousness is Christ. What does that mean
pastor? You better allow the law to take you to the end and
tell you to get off this train and get on the train of grace
if you want righteousness Because the end to which I am taking
you is God But only God can give you righteousness so long as
you stay on this train You'll be veiled So long as you are
under the works of the law legalism works religion self-effort, self-works,
self-work, performance-oriented religion. Religion that starts
with you and not with God. You can never see the glory of
God. You have to get out of yourself. You have to be confident that
the end of the law, the goal of the law, the terminus of the
law is Jesus Christ. Am I making some sense? Now what
that would mean is, are you ready? If God had given you that revelation
when Moses came down, if you were a Jew in the wilderness,
and Moses came down off the mount after about three years, and
he had to veil on, because he got to veil on, assumedly because
of the glory of the law, right? He's got to veil on, assumedly
because of the glory of the law. And everybody says, he's doing
us a favor because he's got to veil on. No, he's not. I would
want to see the glory every day. I would want to fall down on
my face and say, Lord, thank you for your presence manifested
in the law, because there is a glory in the law. Is that true? I would want to see it every
day. But if I want to see the end of the law as typified in
Moses, all I need to do is sneak up to his tent. And when he goes
in, pull the tent back and watch, let me see what's going to happen
when he take that veil off. And when he takes that veil off,
all you see is a man. Now, you know, Moses is not the
end of the law. When you pull the veil off, you'll
realize that it's not by works of righteousness, which we have
done. That no flesh is justified by the works of the law. That
to depend upon Moses is to depend upon a delusion and not come
to the end. It's to still be stuck in works,
deluded because of the veil. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Moses would have quickly told them the glory that you
saw earlier has faded away Isn't that what our text is saying
in 2nd Corinthians 3 it faded away It had to give way to the
greater glory and that is the glory of God's Son Jesus Now
they would have known that if they would have followed Moses
all the way to the end And so the point is is that you and
I also are just as blind as the Jews are until God removes the
veil Is that right? Listen to what it says chapter
3 verse 14. But their minds were what? For
until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the
reading of the what? Old Testament. Stop right there.
See what my point was? See the veil is over it? The
veil is over the Old Testament. Is it there? It's over the Old
Testament. What does that mean? That the
minds of the Jew The legalist, the workmonger, the performance-oriented
person, the veil is over their minds. And so they don't see
the calamity of a law-based religion. They don't see the delusion of
what the law promises because while the law promises life,
it cannot actually produce life. It can't give you life. It can't
produce life in you. All it can do is show you what
life is. It can't produce it. Now, if
you don't believe that, you still have a veil over your eyes. Are you with me? And so long
as you have a veil over your eyes, you know what you're doing?
You're using all of the existential means of getting right with God,
the tools. Prayer, Bible reading, worship,
performance, good works, deeds, Matthew 7. Lord, didn't we do
all these things? Did we cast out devils? Didn't
we do this? Didn't we do that? Didn't we do the other thing?
All of that is performance-based religion where you're being congratulated
by God for something you do versus being thankful that your names
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? So here, now watch this. So the
compulsion to read must not be for meriting righteousness, but
rather to see God's righteousness in Christ. I want to read so
I can see. I want to read so I can see. I want to read so that God might
pull the veil back and show me Christ's glory. And when he shows
me Christ's glory, then I'm delivered from the compulsion to get right
with God by something I do. How many of y'all know what I'm
saying? So I can calm on down and keep teaching. Right. So
don't pick your Bible up. Wrap it around your soul as a
blanket as a garment for acceptance before God Your Bible is not
a covering Christ is your covering Did you guys hear what I just
stated the only thing you can do when you get full of the Bible
is to become proud It's the only thing you can do unless the Bible
is rightly divided and If it's not properly interpreted, all
you will become is proud. Do you hear me? Knowledge puffs
up. That's all knowledge does is
puff us up. It gives you the ability to argue
with somebody, beat them in an argument. You're both going to
hell. You just going with a little
bit more knowledge. Right, because when the Bible
is properly interpreted, watch this now, it humbles all of us. It lays us to the ground. It
causes us to say, not unto us, not unto us, but unto your name
be the glory. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Right. But their minds were blinded for until this day
remains the same veil untaken away. In the reading of the Old
Testament, which veil is only done away where? That's our point. So when you and I are able to
see the gospel as it's preached, expounded, or when you read your
Bibles and you can see the glory of God in Christ as our fundamental
anthem is, lo, I come in the volume of the book is written
of who? Me, to do thy will, O God. When you can read your Bible
and see Jesus in it, God has pulled the veil back. He's allowed
you to see your righteousness and that righteousness is in
another, it's in the person of Christ whom you are trusting. So we want this to happen, don't
we? We want that veil to be pulled back. Don't we? We don't want
verse 13. We want verse 14 To be the dynamic
now go with me to in your bible to first corinthians 2 share
with you one more principle there And we'll begin to shut it down
the experience of the apostle paul in acts chapter Uh 17 is
a wonderful experience because for the first time in a long
time His jewish brethren are are receiving him go back and
show you that before we enter into what we know is always the
work of the devil wherever the work of God is being done and
then we'll we'll open up the floor for a few questions and
shut it down 1st Corinthians chapter 2 are you there so I
want to remind you of what the scripture says in verse 10 verse
11 for what man is 1st Corinthians 2 11 for what
man knoweth the things of a man except the spirit of man which
is in him even so parallel cause the things of God knoweth no
man got that the things of God knoweth no man the things of
God no man knows intrinsically the things of God no man knows
naturally The things of God no man knows in his own personal
ontology, in his own personal makeup, in his own personal rationale. The things of God cannot be known
to us or by us of our own. That's what he's saying. I want
you to get that. In other words, in the same way that we can know
the things of men because we have a spirit like men, in order
to know the things of God, we have to have the what? Spirit
of God. So revelation and illumination
of scripture and epiphanies and insights into the biblical text
in a transformational way is the work of the Spirit of God.
It's not that you've gotten smarter. It's just that God has smiled
on you and said, come on, my child, let me pull back the curtain
and let you enjoy revelation. You got that? And now and then
I hear the saints go, you know what? I'm getting better. I'm
getting smarter. I'm getting brighter. No, you're
not. No, you're not. God's just being gracious to
you. That's all. Did you hear what I just said? I'm getting
better. No, you're not. You're not getting better. Stop. Stop.
Yeah, I'm getting better. Let another praise you and not
your own lips. Mirror, mirror on the wall, mirror, mirror. It better fall. It better fall. Cause once you start thinking
you're getting better, you're in trouble. According to first
Corinthians 10, Let he that thinks that he is standing on his own
beware lest he fall Let me let me go ahead on and close that
knot So when we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the lord
It is the advancement of the work of the spirit of god in
our life. It is not a natural ontology or a consequence of
our human makeup on any given day The teacher can stay at home
And let you run on your own and you realize just how dumb and
stupid you still are. Is that true? Some days we go,
man, that was dumb. And we're surprised. When you
shouldn't be surprised, we're dumb by nature. What you should
be surprised at is how long God has worked with you and blessed
you and used you. Every now and then the teacher
has to step back and say, okay, you do it yourself. Since you,
this morning you got up and you started studying your Bible without
praying. You started doing extra GCs without
humbly praying. You started drawing up frameworks
and outlines and, and, and concepts, and you got your quick sayings
and all of that. You ready to deliver your study without giving
me things. Can I get a witness? Uh-huh.
Uh-huh. The Holy ghost wasn't in none
of that. He wasn't in none of that. That is our arrogance and
pride. And such a lesson and labor falls
flat on its face. Because no flesh will glory in
his sight. Have you ever done it? Oh man,
I got a good study today. I can't wait to go deliver it
to somebody. Well, why didn't you deliver it to God first?
God loves listening at his peoples talk to him about his word. God,
he'll sit there as long as you want to talk to him about what
you discovered in his word. God loved to hear what you have
to say. But we run off and we talk to others because we're
trying to impress them with what we think we know. And it falls
flat because we didn't give God the glory for it. Am I telling
the truth? Exactly. For what Man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him.
Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God.
Look at the next verse. Which things also we speak, not
in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost, what? The Holy Ghost, what? Is that
what your text said? Oh, I'm sorry, you're at verse
12. Well, I'm at verse 13. Did she
catch up with me? Okay, go back there. Let me let
me see. Okay. Okay. So now okay. So I was at
verse 11. Okay, so now I was at verse Yeah,
I was at verse 11. Let me get past verse 12. So we can get
the verse 13. Now we have received not the spirit of the world,
but the spirit which is what that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. That was what I just stated
earlier verse 13, which things also we speak not in words which
man's wisdom teaches, but which the what Holy Ghost does what
so the Holy Ghost is the what Here's what he does. He compares
spiritual things with spiritual things or we compare spiritual
things with spiritual things While he teaches us you guys
see that He compares spiritual things with spiritual things
or we compare spiritual things With spiritual things while he
teaches us the construction allows for both interpretations in other
words He's the source but the process is still ours follow
this you and I still have to study and You and I still have
to analyze the text. You and I still have to seek
God's word. But it's the Holy Spirit that's going to bring
clarity and order and understanding to the text. Does that make sense? All right, so I'm going to just
make two observations about this verse, and then we're going to
close it down. I'll take a little Q&A just in
case you have it. Two observations. That last line
uses one word twice. Spiritual things with what? spiritual
that's right so what the phrase comparison means is to join together
to bring together now this is quite fascinating this will help
some of you exegetes if you want this interpretation and I know
that it's absolutely valid so what has often been stated about
this text is that we are dealing with the method of biblical interpretation
whereby we go scripture with what? Scripture, right? So you heard me earlier quote
out of Isaiah chapter 28 where we often say precept upon precept,
line upon line, here a little, there a little, right? So, and
we often attribute that Old Testament passage to this New Testament
passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and we say that we are comparing
Scripture with what? Scripture. And we are suggesting
that the scriptures are actually the spiritual things. Does that make sense? The spiritual
things that we are comparing. We're comparing scripture with
scripture. So we will be comparing spiritual
with what? Spiritual. Does that logic follow? Right.
Except for the fact that the first spiritual is scripture. But the second spiritual is not
scripture, because the scriptures are spiritual as a whole unit,
not divided. The whole of scripture is spiritual.
If we are to draw the conclusion that if you simply put one verse
with another verse, that you have properly interpreted scripture,
Well, that conclusion clearly falls on its face because what
we have are heretical teachings that are built on volumes of
scripture connected to other scripture. Do you follow the
logic? In other words, the safety is
not in you start with a premise verse and then you go get other
Bible verses to support that premise verse. That's pretexting.
Am I making some sense? Right, so we aren't saying that
when we use the text in 1 Corinthians 13 that the Holy Ghost compares
one scripture with another scripture and therefore we come up with
the truth. What we are saying is that the Holy Ghost, the word
compare is our little conjunction con anyway. It means to bring
together, to be together, to join together, to make, to actually
harmonize our work together. What the Spirit of God does is
takes the scriptures, which are spiritual and communicates them. That's what our word communicate.
He communicates. He joins together scripture. Are you ready? With spiritual
persons. Got it? You got it now? So what the Spirit does is takes
the scripture and communicates them to spiritual people. Got
it? So what the Holy Ghost does,
I'm going to shut it down right here, we'll pick it up next week,
is works through scripture to illuminate the truth of scripture.
Jesus said in John chapter 6, my word is spirit and they are
life. But he takes the scriptures which are spiritual and illuminates
them only to spiritual minded people. You guys got that? So
the teacher is the Holy Ghost who reveals the scriptures which
are spiritual to spiritual people. This is what we call a contextual
interpretation because the argument before was the natural man Cannot
receive the things of the spirit Got it only spiritual people
can And that's the reason back in acts chapter 17 We are seeing
success In the ministry of paul go back there and we'll close
here Acts chapter 17 verse verse 2 and 3 and Paul as his manner
was went in unto them three Sabbath days Reasoned with them out of
the scriptures opening That's to fully open and alleging that
is to set forth in an orderly cogent logical fashion that Christ
must needs have suffered and Risen again from the dead. Ah,
we have our theses of Scripture, don't we? What is it Christ? him crucified What does Paul
do he opens the scripture? He lays them out in order in
a clear Cogent fashion and what we see is Christ crucified If
we are seeing Christ crucified in the scriptures the Spirit
of God is opening the scriptures watch this Verse 4 verse the latter part
of verse 3 Opening and alleging that Christ must knees have suffered
and risen again from the dead the resurrection and that this
Jesus Whom I preach unto you is what? He's let me show you why I say
Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ When the Spirit of God is done
opening the text if he has communicated spiritual things to spiritual
people The next verse affirms it, right? And some of them what? Boom! There it is. You see what he did? He illuminated
the scriptures and he quickened the mind and he brought spiritual
things to spiritual people. He gave spiritual people a spiritual
reality of who Christ was. Am I making some sense? And they
advanced in the knowledge of the gospel in a way that they
became believers. And some of them believe and
consorted with Paul. Didn't I tell you this a couple
of weeks ago? One of the evidences of the fact
that you have actually been converted, are saved, are illuminated, is
you want to stay with the source that has brought you to Christ.
You want to stay with the source that has brought you to Christ.
the demoniac he did not want to leave Jesus said you got to
go back and now I want to stay Lydia said if you if you see
me faithful stay at my house the men on the road from Jerusalem
to a man said no don't go stay with us all night long the evidence
is the Spirit of God is working in our heart when the Word of
God is opening up is that we want to sit right there. Remember
James, Peter, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration? It
is good for us to be here. Don't want to go. Let's just
make some tents and just stay. Never leave this space, this
place, this realm, this dimension. Why? Because right now if God
is working among us, He is anywhere else that he is working where
he is taking spiritual things and comparing them or making
them known or Communicating them to spiritual people if God is
doing that this is as close as to heaven You will get until
you get to heaven This is as close as you get Are you guys
hearing me as close as you get? You get no closer to heaven than
when the scriptures are open to you No closer, no closer. The next step of revelation,
if God pulls the curtain back like he did with Stephan, you're
dying. Do you understand that? That's
martyrdom. That's the next level of glory. Prior to that, the
dimension of glory that God has privileged and promised us, is
the expository work of the Spirit of God in the Scriptures, illuminating
truth to our heart. When you and I leave here, until
the next time God grants us a hearing in His presence, it diminishes. Is that true? That's why we have
to frequently feed at the table of the fellowship of the saints
in the communion of the Holy Ghost, the grace of Christ and
the love of God the Father to strengthen our souls. Am I making
some sense? Because as soon as you and I go out these doors,
we're back in a warfare. We're back in a battle. We're
back in a conflict. The only thing we can do is take
what we heard and savor it. Savor it. Savor it. Savor it. Thank God for the experience
and look forward to the next time that I can sit under the
Word of God and the Spirit of God can minister to me. Let's
close in prayer. Father, thank you for this time.
Thank you for your word. Thank you for our brothers and
sisters who have come out. As we go our way now, give us
traveling mercies. And wherever our perspective
places of worship are, may you be called upon, honored, and
glorified in our worshiping you. You are worthy of it. And we
ask that you help us to do it with all of our heart, soul,
mind, and strength. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. God bless you guys.