Receiving The Word

Acts 17:10-15

Introduction

1.       In Thessalonica we saw the word of God being Resisted

2.       Paul witnessed

3.       Some believed, but not many of the Jews.

4.       Stern Resistance

a.       Envy

b.      Evil Associates

c.       Erroneous Charges

d.      Ejecting of the Missionaries

5.       Escape by night (10)

6.       Berea was about 46 miles southwest of Thessalonica on the eastern slopes of a mountain.

7.        Berea was “on the byway” instead of the highway, but it was where God wanted the missionaries to go. How refreshing it must have been to meet Jews such as those in Berea!

Receiving The Word

1.      Showed Readiness of Mind (11)

a.       They were eager and hungry for the truth of the word.

b.      Readiness = willingness

c.       Preparing your heart for the word.

d.      There would be no question as to whether they would obey God’s word…
the only question was what God had said.

e.      Matthew 13:23 "But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

f.        Ready mind and a tender heart.

2.      Searched The Scriptures (11)

a.       Search = investigate; examine

b.      They did not simply swallow everything they heard…”Well that’s good preaching?!?”

c.       They tested what the preacher said against the word.

d.      Every Day – they studied the word of God

e.      Not a “yeah hath God said” but a confirmation of what God had said

f.        Proverbs 22:20-21 "Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?"

g.       Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

h.      After their own Bible study they could firmly stand and say “thus saith the Lord” and not “my preacher always says”

i.         Ray Lindsey, “A dancing leg and a praying knee don’t grow on the same leg.”

3.      Sincerely Believed (12)

a.       “Therefore”

b.      Preaching the Word by the power of the Holy Spirit to ready hearts and serious minds yield results

c.       The Jews responded well, as did the Gentiles.

d.      Also…”honourable women”

e.      Why does it seem that many times women in a church are more apt to respond to the Lord than men?

f.        “and of men, not a few” – a whole heap

4.      Stirred Up (13)

a.       The unbelieving Jews from Thessalonica heard

b.      “that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea”

c.       Came

d.      Stirred up: incited the people

e.      Trouble can follow you. Wicked men are relentless.

f.        Hunters: Saul, Absalom; unbelieving Jews

5.      Speed (14-15)

a.       “Immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea” (14)

                                                               i.      Serious threats require immediate action

                                                             ii.      This is not the only time that Paul had to flee under cover of darkness.

                                                            iii.      “And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens” (15)

                                                           iv.      Escort to Athens

                                                             v.      Psalm 124:6-8 "Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth."

                                                           vi.      John 10:36-39 "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,"

                                                          vii.      John 8:57-59 "Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by."

b.      “With All Speed” (14b-15)

                                                               i.      Commandment sent with urgency

1.       Proverbs 26:6 "He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage."

2.       Proverbs 25:13 "As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters."

                                                             ii.      Commandment received

1.       Acts 10:30-33 "And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God."

2.       Not evaluated and then decided on.

3.       They heard, understood and obeyed immediately.

4.       Responding to problems…immediate response.

                                                            iii.      They departed

1.       Past behavior is the best interpreter of present conduct.

2.       2 Timothy 4:21 "Do thy diligence to come before winter."

3.       Bring Mark, the cloak, the books, especially the parchments (2 Timothy 4:13 "The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.")

4.       Here Timothy and Silas came and met with Paul at Corinth.