Now again, we're looking at Acts
chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. The title of my message is today,
They Heard, They Received, They Examined, and They Believed the
Gospel. I pray the Lord to do that for
us today. May we hear the word of truth. May we receive it, not as a word
of men, but as a word of God. May we examine the Word, buy
the Word, search the Scriptures. In them you think you have eternal
life. Our Lord said, they are they
which testify of Me. Hear the Word, receive the Word,
examine the Word, prove all things. I don't mind if you take what
I say and compare it with the Scripture. to see if I'm telling
you the truth, see if what I say lines up with the body of Scripture,
with the message of the Word of God. Examine it, receive it,
hear it, and oh, may God give us grace to believe Him. Oh, how precious, how precious
is saving faith. We know it's a gift of God. But
we know that this gift of God, this faith that God sovereignly
gives, He gives it through the means He's ordained. What is
that? The preaching of the Gospel.
I tell you what, my friend, if you want to have faith, saving
faith, faith that looks to Christ, bury yourself in this Word of
Truth, because it will lead you to one person. It'll lead you
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I guarantee you that. You
study this word and you'll come to one conclusion. That in salvation
the Lord Jesus Christ is not something, everything. Christ is all and in all. He's all my acceptance before
God. Every bit of it. He is all my
righteousness before God. Every bit of it. He is all my
redemption, that is all my deliverance before God. He's every bit of
it. He is my Redeemer, my Savior, my Lord. How about you? God giving
you faith to believe Him and trust in Him. Now we see in our
story here how God is pleased to call out His people. God is
pleased to call out His elect. And we see the Apostle Paul going
here, going there. He had that special vision, remember,
about going into Macedonia, into that chief city of Macedonia,
Philippi. And he went there and he preached
the Gospel there in Philippi. And you remember what happened?
He met with some women down by the creek side. And he preached
the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And God opened the
heart of a woman named Lydia and saved her by His marvelous
grace. There was another man in Philippi.
You see, God uses means He has ordained to cross the path of
His elect and to call them out with the preaching of the truth.
Paul, you know the story there in Philippi, he got in trouble
because he stood firm for the gospel. He exposed idolatry,
didn't he? He stood firm for the gospel
and he ended up being beaten with many lashes, Paul and Silas,
beaten not according to Jewish law, which was 39 stripes, but
he was beaten under Roman law. And under Roman law it was unmerciful. If the executioner who was dealing
out the punishment was so disposed, he could beat you to death. And
Paul was lashed and put in jail for the gospel. You know who
was there? One of God's elect, the jailer. And he said, what must I do to
be saved? And Paul said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And he preached unto
him the word of the Lord, and God saved that jailer. You think
about this now, a pagan, hard-hearted, in his natural state, hardened
in sin, dead in sin, and God crossed his path with God's servant,
with God's gospel, and he heard that message, and God saved him. Do you know what happened? God
prepared the ground. And he put that seed in the good
ground that was plowed by God, and it brought forth fruit! Faith! He believed God. I desire that
for you. Oh, to believe God concerning
this gospel that's the power of God unto salvation. Well, we know what happened in
Philippi. He was eventually asked to leave town. And he went to
another neighboring town of Thessalonica. You see, this is God's method
and He's showing us and explaining to us how all this works. It's
by His marvelous providence and by His grace. So as He leaves
Philippi, He comes to Thessalonica. And what happens there? He goes
among the assembly of a mixed crowd of Jews and Gentiles, and
He declares, it says there in verses 2 and 3 of Acts 17, opening
and alleging, preaching and setting forth and showing by the Scriptures
that there's only one substitute, There's only one way of salvation.
The Lord Jesus Christ is God's Savior. Salvation in no other. And you know what happened? It
says there in verse 4, "...and some of them believed." You see
what happened? God was preparing the ground.
God was plowing the heart. And when the sower came along
with the seed, and he started spreading the seed, Some of it
fell in good ground, prepared ground, and it brought forth
fruit, fruit unto God, glorifying God. Now, we see again, the Apostle
Paul forced out of Thessalonica. Why is all this happening? You
see, God even uses the ungodly and the reprobate and the persecution
of ungodly men to the furthest of the gospel. You see, even the wicked deeds
of men will honor God some way or another. They did what? Those
old Romans and Jews, they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, but they
did what God determined before to be done. You see, everything
is ordered of God, everything is working to one glorious end,
to the salvation of God the elect and to His glory. So as He is
forced out of Thessalonica, verse 10, and the brethren immediately
sent away Paul in silence by night, They couldn't even leave
town during the day. They had to wait until the cover
of night and to leave town. And they came to Berea. Now why
did he go to Berea? Why didn't he go to one of these
other cities he's passed through, Apollonia or Amphipolis? Why did he go to Berea? You see,
the steps of a good man are ordered of God. Why are you here today,
my friend? Why am I here? I look back over
my life, oh, what a mess. What a mess. But I tell you what,
God was ordering all things for one glorious purpose, to cross
my path with the gospel and to teach me His truth. And that's
why Paul came to Berea and went again into the synagogue of the
Jews, verse 10, and these, it says in verse 11, these were
more noble That is, they were honorable people. They were serious. They were serious about their
method of worship. They were serious about their
religion. They were noble, they were honorable,
more so than those unbelieving Jews in Thessalonica. They received
the Word. They heard Paul. And they received
the message with readiness of mind and they searched the Scriptures
daily. whether those things were so
and you know what happened? It says there are many of them
believe, believe God. Now, the Apostle Paul knew this. He knew he was God's messenger. He knew that, didn't he? He knew
he had the message given of God. He knew he was sent to preach
the gospel. He calls himself, hold your place
there and find 2 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, he
called himself the ambassador for God. 2 Corinthians chapter
5, and this can be said of all of his servants sent of God to
preach God's gospel. Paul knew his message, he knew
God's method, and he knew that he had to deliver this message.
as God's ambassador, 2 Corinthians 5, look at verse 18, and all
things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
2 Corinthians 5, verse 18, and has given to us this ministry,
it's a ministry of reconciliation. How can this sinner be reconciled
unto God? Only through Christ. We have
peace with God through the Lord Jesus, to wit, namely, to wit,
to means namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto Himself. That doesn't mean all men without
exception. It's talking here about His elect,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, unto them, and hath
committed unto us this word of reconciliation. That's the Gospel.
Now then, verse 20, We are ambassadors for Christ. Would you listen
to an ambassador of Christ? Oh, what a privilege God has
given His people to send His ambassador with His message,
His gospel. We are ambassadors for Christ
as though God did speak to you by us. Well, that's pretty important
that you ought to listen. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."
As my pastor used to say, lay down your shotgun. Lay down your
rebellion before God. For He has made Him to be sin
for us. That is, God made Him sin for
us. He knew no sin that we might
be made to righteousness of God in Him. Would you hear that message
of substitution, satisfaction, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
I thought about this. Do you suppose, after all the
hardship that Paul and Silas and Barnabas had endured for
the message of the gospel, do you suppose that Paul and Silas
ever had this conversation? Well, Silas, you think we ought
to just maybe tone it down just a little bit? Silas, to Paul,
maybe we ought not try to offend those, maybe I'll just kind of
compromise and get along with those old Jews. Do you reckon
they ever entertained such a notion? No, they didn't. Oh, let's trim
it or tone it down? No, God forbid. God forbid. You see, my friend, to remove
the offense of the cross, to remove the offense of the gospel,
is to remove its power. That's right. You preach a gospel
that's suitable and palatable to the fallen, sinful, depraved
flesh, and you've preached another message. It's not the gospel
of God. Because the gospel of God is offensive to the natural
man. But the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the power of
God and the salvation to everyone that believes it and would hear
it and receive it. Now, I want to spend some time
here on verse 11. These more noble than those in Thessalonica. Now these Jews here in Berea,
these noble, and they're called noble Bereans, He gives some
good description of these people here. They received the Word
with a willing mind, readiness. There is a willing mind, an open
mind. They searched the Scriptures
daily whether Paul was telling them the truth. These in Berea. These in Berea. They weren't
like the unbelieving Jews who were ready to fly off the handle. who were so prejudiced and set
in their ways, trusting the tradition and ceremonies of Judaism, that
they would not hear Paul. These people here gave Paul a
hearing as he declared the Word of Truth, not as these unbelievers. Turn back to Acts chapter 13.
They were sincere and reverent in their worship, these in Berea.
They had a high opinion of God's Word. They had a noble attitude.
You see, God was preparing the ground for the messenger and
the seed. Their minds and hearts were not
hardened against the Scriptures by tradition and ceremony of
men. Their minds were open to what
Paul said from the Word. Acts chapter 13. Look at verse 44. And the next Sabbath
day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of
God. But when the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with
envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul,
contradicting and blaspheming." You see, these in Berea weren't
like that. They were open to the Word of
God and open to the message of God's servant. Paul and Barnabas wax bold, verse
46 of Acts 13, said it was necessary that the Word of God should have
first be spoken unto you. But seeing that you put it from
you, you judge yourselves unworthy
of everlasting life. Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
So back to Acts 17. Now we see four things said of
these noble Bereans. First of all, They had a reverence,
a sincere reverence for the Word of God. They had a high opinion
of, thus saith the Lord. May that be said of all of us.
I'm always quite encouraged when I talk to anyone and they have
a reverence for the Word of God. They believe that this is God's
inspired book and His Word. Now I could talk with a person
like that. And I can take the Word of God and take this very
Scripture and preach unto them Christ. May God give us that,
like these noble Bereans, to have a high opinion of His Word
and His truth. It says, secondly of them, it
said that they received the Word. They received the Word with all
readiness of mind, a willingness of mind. What was this owing
to? It's not something by nature,
it's something of God's grace. If you have a willingness and
an openness of mind to hear God's truth, it's because God has made
you so by His grace. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of God's power, like those in the parable of the sower,
the ground was being prepared by God to receive the Word of
God. I tell you, I'll give you another
example of that. Turn to Acts chapter 10. You
remember the story of Cornelius, the Gentile, and how God prepared
his heart to hear and meet God's servant and to hear God's Word? Acts chapter 10. When Peter came
to the house of that Gentile Roman soldier, in Acts chapter
10, verse 33, notice his attitude here. Immediately, therefore,
I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou art come.
Now, therefore, we are all here present before God, to hear all
things that are commanded thee of God. And Peter preached unto
him the Lord Jesus Christ." See, there was a readiness of mind.
There was a preparation of God in the heart of Cornelius and
his house. He heard the word of truth. He believed the word
of truth. by God's grace. I'll tell you
another example of this. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter
2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. There was a multitude in Thessalonica
who heard Paul and who did believe the truth. 1 Thessalonians chapter
2. Turn over there. It says of them
who believed there in Thessalonica. This is 1 Thessalonians 2 verse
13. For this cause also thanked we God without ceasing, because
when you received the word of truth, which you heard of us,
they heard the truth, the word of truth, you received, you heard
of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is
in truth the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you
that believe. They didn't just hear Paul and
consider these the words of Paul, but the words of God. They received
the Word. Now what did Paul preach? Look
back at Acts 17, verse 13. Paul preached the Word of God
to them. You see that? The Jews of Thessalonica
had knowledge that the Word of God was preached by Paul. They received the Word, preached,
and the Word preached. Paul preached from the Scriptures,
and Paul preached the written Word, and in that message, he
preached the incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. They heard
that message, and they had a readiness of mind, and a willingness of
mind, and an openness of mind to hear that Word. hear that
truth. And this is the work of God,
my friend, this desire that God implants in the sinner's heart,
and that's the preparing of the heart, and that's the work of
God. Now, something else. Thirdly,
it says of these people, in Acts 17 verse 11, so they received
the word, they had a reverence of the word, they heard the word,
they received the word, They examined the Word. You see that? And they searched
the Scriptures daily whether those things were so. They examined
Paul's message by the standard of truth, and that's the Scriptures. The gospel of God in Christ will
bear the examination and the scrutiny of the Scriptures. what you hear by the standard
of truth. Turn to John chapter 5. John
chapter 5. They went home. They heard Paul
with an open mind. They took down some notes and
they went home, dusted off their book and started searching the
Scriptures whether these things be so. Our Lord says this in
John chapter 5. Verse 39, search the Scriptures. Search the Scriptures. For in
them you think you have eternal life. They are they which testify
of Me. The Scriptures, if you make yourself
a student of the Word of God, the Lord God will bring you to
one right conclusion that in salvation is by God's grace through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Examine the Scriptures. Those
things preached that are contrary to the Word of God, what are
you to do? To reject them? But how do you
know? How do you know if what I preach
is contrary to the Scripture? If you don't examine the Scripture
yourself. Examine what I say. Those things
preached that are contrary to the Word are to be rejected.
Those things priests that agree with the Scriptures are to be
embraced, and they will be by the sheep of Christ. Someone
said the constant searching of Scripture is the best way to
keep our minds from error. The searching of the Scriptures.
And this is what we need to do daily. Search the Scriptures
daily. Search the Scriptures daily.
Now I know we're all busy, and I know all of you put a lot of
hours and time in, But I tell you, if you can't find a daily
time to set aside when you're driving or a quiet time in the
morning to search the Scriptures, you're too busy. You're just
too busy. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2.
Some of the best study time that I had during my years of working
on the road and driving many, many hundreds and hundreds of
thousands of miles was driving up and down the road, studying
the Word of God, listening to tapes, listening to gospel preaching,
studying the Word of God daily. Now, 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 2,
2 Timothy 2, verse 14, "...of these things put them in remembrance,
charging them before the Lord, that they strive not about words
to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers, Study to show
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth." So study the Word. Meditate
upon the Word. But shun profane and vain babbling,
for they will increase unto more ungodliness. Go back to that
statement. The constant searching of the
Scriptures is the best way to keep our mind from ever. So search the Scriptures, as
these folks did here. And this is what all of us need
to do daily. Make it a daily task of studying
the Scripture. Meditating upon the Scripture.
Now, turn back to Acts 17, look at verse 12. Now don't overlook
this verse right here. Verse 12, Therefore many of them
believed, also of honorable women, which were Gentiles, and of the
men not a few." Now, that message was blessed. Therefore, many
of them believed. Through the preaching of the
gospel, God opened their heart. God opened their mind. Through
the means that God has ordained, God has pleased God through the
preaching of the gospel to save them that believe. And through
the study of Scripture, the Lord gave them faith to believe Him. Now turn again and read this
for you. Turn to Romans chapter 10. Look at verse 13. You see, God has predestinated
the end, but He has also predestinated the means to arrive at that end. and the means that God uses to
call out His elect to regenerate them and to make them new creatures
in Christ is the Word. The sower went forth to sow the
Word, the seed. Romans 10 verse 13, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I believe that. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on Him in whom they have not believed? That would
be pretty hard to do, wouldn't it? And how shall they believe
in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a
preacher? God sent them a preacher. And how shall they preach, except
they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Who hath believed,
I report." Everybody who hears the gospel is not going to believe
it, but I tell you, he is a lech wheel. So then faith comes by
hearing. Faith comes by the message of
Christ, the Gospel, and this hearing, the Word of God. Many of them believed. Oh, how
precious is God-given faith. Faith. Many of them believed. How precious is this? Well, let
me show you this scripture. Turn to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. Many of them
believed. You know faith in the Scripture
is called, there's not many things in the Word of God that are called
precious. His precious blood, to you who believe He is precious,
but you know faith is called precious? Precious faith. 1 John chapter 5, look at verse
10. He that believeth on the Son
of God, 1 John 5, 10, hath to witness in himself he that believeth
not God hath made him a liar. Because he believed it was not
the record that God gave of His Son. This is the record that
God had given to us. Eternal life. This life is in
His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things have I written unto
you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. Look down to verse 20. And we
know that the Son of God has come. He's given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true. We are in Him that is true. Even in His Son Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and this is eternal life. Believe the
record that God gave of His Son. I pray the Lord will do that
for us right now. Lord, give me faith to trust
Christ. for all of salvation. Well, the
last part of this story goes this way. Turn back to Acts 17. God sent a gospel preacher who
preached Christ and Him crucified and many of them were given faith
and life in Christ to believe. Now look at verse 13, 14, and
15. Now here's this rebellious When
they heard in Thessalonica that Paul preached over in Berea,
immediately, Paul had to leave town again. These Jews came there
to stir up the people again, and Paul had to leave by sea,
and they conducted him down to Athens. Many believed, but you
know what? Many were offended. Many were
offended. Persecution broke out again,
forcing Paul to leave Berea. Now, two things here I know.
In conclusion, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a message
that the rebel will never find hope and comfort in, left to
himself. Let me show you scripture here.
1 Corinthians chapter 1. The message of Christ and Him
crucified. to the self-righteous, those
who are going about to establish their own salvation, will never
find hope, comfort, and peace in salvation in a crucified,
risen Redeemer. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, look
at verse 18. For the preaching of the cross,
that is the message of the cross, substitution, satisfaction, Christ
dying for the sin of His people, to them that perish, foolishness,
but unto us which are saved it is the power and wisdom of God. Now look down to verse 21, for
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom does not
know God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. Well the Jews require a sign
and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.
Unto the Jews, that's the most religious man, it's a stumbling
block, To the Greeks, the wise man, the educated man, is foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and Christ crucified
is the wisdom of God. How God can be just and justify
the ungodly. Many believed, many were offended. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ will never be a message that the rebel self-righteous
will find hope, comfort, and peace in because it exposes them
for what they are. Secondly, be sure of this, as
we contend for the gospel and preach the gospel of God's sovereign
saving grace in Christ Jesus and contend for the faith and
continue in the faith, know this, know this, persecution will come. Persecution will come. The apostle,
as he sat in that Roman prison, writing back to the young preacher,
he said this. Let's turn and read this, 2 Timothy
3. 2 Timothy 3. This is his last words to the
young preacher, and he says this. 2 Timothy 3. He said in verse 10, Thou hast
fully known my doctrine, my manner of life, my purpose, my faith,
my longsuffering, my love, my patience. Now remember, he's
in prison here. He's been sentenced to death.
These are his last words to that young preacher, his dear brother
in the faith. He said, Persecution and affliction
which came unto me in Antioch. We've studied that. Iconium.
We've looked at that. Lystra. Remember, he was stoned
at Lystra. What persecutions I endured,
but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus, they'll suffer. Persecution. Now, just
mark it down. You take a stand for the gospel
of God's grace among religious people today and persecution
will come. But I tell you what, be sure
of this, as we continue to preach the gospel and contend for the
faith and continue in the truth, persecution will come, but also
this, prosperity. Prosperity will come. God will
call out His elect through the preaching of the gospel. Now
turn to one more scripture, 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. God will call out His sheep with
the word of truth. He said, My sheep will hear my
voice. And that's what's happening through
the book of Acts, and that's what God is showing us. Paul
traveling from city to city, from house to house, Preaching
the same message, calling out his elect. 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13, We are bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. Now he is writing back to the
same people there in Thessalonica who heard the gospel and believed
it. He said you were chosen of God, Chosen from the beginning. Chosen to salvation. Loved of
God. Through sanctification of the
Spirit. That's the new birth. That's regeneration. And the
fruit of that? Belief of the truth. That seed
that was sown in the good ground. It brought forth fruit. Some
hundred-fold, sixty, thirty-fold. Sanctification of the Spirit.
Belief of the truth. Now look at verse 14. Here's
the means. whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Therefore, brethren,
verse 15, stand fast, hold, hold the tradition, that word there
is truth, which you've been taught, whether by word or by letter,
now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, who
loved us and have given us an everlasting consolation and a
good hope through grace, That's our hope. It's a good hope by
grace. Comfort your hearts. Establish
you in every good word and work. So my friend, let us contend. Let us continue. Let's keep preaching
the gospel here or wherever God sends us. Preach this message
and God will bless it to the salvation of His people. He will
call them out with the gospel.