Jews Who Reject Jesus Reject Their Bible

[0:00] It is really, really nice to be here with you this morning. It is lovely to see you all and lovely to be worshipping with you and opening up the scriptures together this morning.

[0:15] First of all, let me bring greetings from your brothers and sisters at Caldewood. We love you very much. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we pray for you often.

[0:26] And it is very much a prayer that the Lord would continue to strengthen you and would continue to be at work in your lives together as you do life together as brothers and sisters and as you reach out to this community of Bells Hill.

[0:45] Well, just before I read this morning, just by way of introduction, Jillian and I love to watch the Bake Off. I don't know if there's any Bake Off fans in this morning, but we love to watch the Bake Off when it's on.

[1:00] And it's amazing how these excellent, experienced bakers can bake something that they've practiced loads of times before.

[1:13] They've done their practice runs, they've got their recipe, and then they go into the tent and they go for it. And even though they've practiced it, and even though they've really experienced it, and even though they've followed the recipe, it doesn't always turn out quite as it had before.

[1:31] They end up with a soggy bottom or burnt bits around the edges. And I wonder, maybe if you're a baker yourself, you've maybe followed the recipe and got to the end and taken it out of the oven and thought, what has gone wrong here?

[1:47] I've done what I always do, but it seems to look different from what it normally looks like. The method has been the same, but the outcome has been very different.

[1:59] And today's passage in Acts 17 shows us the consistency of the Apostles' message, but yet we see very different outcomes to that same message.

[2:12] So we're going to read the first 15 verses of Acts 17 just now. So if you've got your Bibles, you can turn there. That would be great. Acts 17. We're going to read the first 15 verses.

[2:29] This is Paul and Silas. Remember, they've been in Philippi before. And they've left Philippi. And now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

[2:48] And Paul went in, as was his custom. And on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead.

[3:03] And saying, This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

[3:20] But the Jews were jealous. And taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

[3:35] And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, These men, who have turned the world upside down, have come here also.

[3:48] And Jason has received them. And they're all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.

[4:04] And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.

[4:14] And when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

[4:30] Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too.

[4:43] agitating and stirring up the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea. But Silas and Timothy remained there. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athanas.

[5:00] And after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed. Let's pray. Amen. Father God, with our Bibles open before us, we ask that you might speak to us.

[5:24] Father, we thank you that you are a God who reveals himself and who speaks to us through the words that you have given us.

[5:37] Father, help us to hear your words this morning. We thank you for faithful men like Paul and Silas and Timothy.

[5:49] we thank you for the work you had for them to do. And Lord God, we recognize that we as your people have a work to do also.

[6:05] A work that is from you and a work that is inspired by your word. Amen. So our passage today takes us through the major city of Thessalonica and the rather unknown town of Berea.

[6:23] Thessalonica was the capital of the province of Macedonia. It was a major city of trade. It was a significant place.

[6:33] It was important. In contrast, Berea really was of pretty little significance. And Paul and Silas visit these two places and it shows us that even though they were very different places, the method as we'll see that these brothers used was the same in both places.

[6:59] There's an integrity in what they do and in how they go about their mission. They don't roll into one place and pedal one message and then roll into another place and peddle a different message.

[7:14] There's an integrity in what they do and how they go about their mission. And it's interesting, isn't it, because these are brothers who were willing and in fact eager to preach the gospel in prominent places like Thessalonica and in seemingly insignificant places in Berea.

[7:39] Because as long as there are beating hearts who do not know the Lord Jesus, then it is a worthy place to go and preach the gospel. So rather than look at these two parts of the scripture separately, what I want to do is look at these places together and contrast them together.

[8:06] So if you've got your Bibles open, I'll encourage you to look at verse 1. Paul arrives in Thessalonica. He arrives after the hundred mile trip from Philippi and where does his ministry take place?

[8:19] It tells us verse 1, there was a synagogue of the Jews. They go to the synagogue. It tells us in verse 2 that this was their custom.

[8:30] When they arrive in a place, they would go to the synagogue. And that's borne out when we scan down to verse 10 when they arrive in Berea. Where do they go when they get to Berea?

[8:42] They go to the synagogue. This pattern and this custom is consistent. Now this isn't just Paul's custom here in chapter 17.

[8:53] I'm sure you've noticed that throughout his missionary journeys, this has been the pattern. But where has it gotten? Well, again and again, we see Paul and his missionary team going into the synagogue, preaching the word, and being met with a largely hostile response.

[9:16] That has been the pattern that we have seen. Chapter 13 in Pisidian Antioch, it's the women of high standing and the leading men who are stirred up against them after they preach in the synagogue.

[9:26] In chapter 14, we're in Iconium this time, and there they try to stone them after they preach in the synagogue. In chapter 16 in Philippi, where you've just been over the last few weeks, having been at the place of prayer, the whole city is stirred up against them, they're dragged into the marketplace, and they're thrown into jail.

[9:50] What is it about Paul and these synagogues? in fact, you might be tempted to think that he needs to change his method, because after all, they've just escaped from jail thanks to this great earthquake that God used to release them from chains, and as they left Philippi, you know, walking out with the city to their back, they must have thought that they would have, you know, would they not tempted to say, right guys, let's do a wee bit of a review here, you know, let's reconsider, you know, what we're doing, because, you know, it just seems to be that every time we do this, things go wrong, what we'll do when we get to the next place, right, let's mix it up a bit, let's change it up a bit, let's try and see if we can have a different outcome, no, it's not what they do, you know, perhaps they would have been tempted to scale it back, let's just go in and maybe just not be quite as strong in what we say, maybe just let's just scale back what we say, perhaps it's time to change the method or change the word, because all of this is doing is just getting us in trouble and there's that saying,

[11:51] I remember having a boss when I worked in business who used to say this all the time, he used to say if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got, his point being if you want to make a bit more money, you can't just rely on doing what you've done the last five years, you've got to change it up, you've got to mix it up, you know, if you always do what you've always done, you always get what you've always got, and it's fair to say that that's true for Paul and Silas here, they do what they always do and the outcome is very often always the same, but Paul is utterly committed to this ministry, he follows the pattern that he writes about in Romans 1, the gospel is the power of salvation, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile, and so his custom is to go to the synagogue and to preach there despite the fact that so often it results in rejection, hardship and affliction, and it shows us, doesn't it, the fearless nature of

[12:57] Paul's mission, he was not put off by the afflictions that he faced, he didn't seek another way, an easier way, there's a fearlessness that Paul and Silas exhibit in the face of what would be a mob in Thessalonica, a mob that would attack the home that they were staying in, and a mob that would even follow them to Berea in order to turn the people there against them, but at no point do they pack it in or take a break.

[13:32] The missionary David Livingston said, I'm prepared to go anywhere as long as it is forward. I'm prepared to go anywhere as long as it is forward.

[13:44] And you feel that he would have got on well with Paul, you know, you feel as if they would have shared a lot in common. But of course we can think of ourselves, we can think of our own mission field that we have around us.

[13:59] have we become discouraged from sharing the gospel? Do we share that same fearlessness that we see in the likes of Paul and Silas and Timothy?

[14:13] Do we share that same zeal of the likes of David Livingston who said, I'm prepared to go anywhere as long as I'm moving forward in the gospel?

[14:25] Or perhaps we've become discouraged from sharing the gospel. Perhaps someone rejected us or perhaps we just think that people will reject us. It's so easy to become discouraged, to seek an easier way.

[14:47] So easy to try and find a safer way. Or perhaps we've simply given up sharing our faith our faith altogether because of the fear of the afflictions that we may face.

[15:07] But actually, when Paul writes later to the church in Thessalonica, he speaks of the fact that they received the gospel in much affliction.

[15:19] And when he writes to them, he writes it really as a positive thing. He doesn't kind of say, you know, well, the bad thing was that we had all this affliction, but at least despite that affliction, at least you heard the good news and came to Christ.

[15:34] No, he speaks of this receiving the gospel in the midst of affliction as a positive thing, because he says it shows that these people in Thessalonica were following in the footsteps of Paul, and following in the footsteps of the other apostles, and even following in the footsteps of Jesus.

[15:53] He says to them that receiving the gospel in the midst of affliction is actually a really positive thing. It's something that we ought to expect to happen because it's what happened in the life of the apostles and in the life of our Lord Jesus.

[16:10] And so it raises a question, what is our expectation of sharing the gospel? Do we expect it to be easy and without pain? When we look at Paul's ministry here and throughout the New Testament, Paul didn't expect it to be easy.

[16:29] He didn't expect it to be without pain. I wonder if you've noticed and certainly I've never came across one, there seems to be no lament, either here or indeed anywhere in the New Testament, where Paul laments the fact that Christ's mission includes sacrifice and suffering.

[16:52] There's nowhere that you find Paul crying out to God in prayer saying, oh Lord, why is it like this? Why do I endure all this suffering?

[17:06] Instead, when Paul talks about his suffering, he talks about it to commend his ministry, to say, look, I'm in this affliction because I'm following in the footsteps of Jesus.

[17:19] It is as if he expects it. And so we see this fearlessness in Paul and in his team.

[17:31] And alongside that fearless mission that they have is faithful proclamation. salvation. And what we see is alongside this pattern of going into the synagogues, there's a consistent method, consistent between what happens in Thessalonica and what happens in Berea.

[17:54] Paul and Silas teach from the scriptures. We see that in verse 2 and verse 3. they reason, they explain, and they prove from the scriptures, from the Bible.

[18:13] And this is important for us to see that the Bible is the consistent means to show people who Jesus is. As we'll see later, whether they accept Jesus or reject Jesus, is based on whether they accept or reject the word about Jesus.

[18:36] So verses 2 and 3 give us an insight into what they taught. And there's really two aspects to what they are teaching here. First, the necessity of the Christ's death and resurrection.

[18:51] And secondly, that this Jesus is, in fact, the Christ. Christ. And as we consider these two aspects of Paul's message, I think it can serve as a challenge because sometimes when I hear the gospel presented by well-meaning people who love Jesus, I so often hear perhaps of God's love, which is true, perhaps of the healing that God can bring, which is true, perhaps of restoration or of transformation, which are true.

[19:31] But I don't always hear people explaining why it was necessary for Jesus to die and rise, the very heart of the gospel message.

[19:44] Yet this is a big theme in Luke's gospel and then as Luke writes Acts. Jesus himself said before his death that it was necessary for the Son of Man to die.

[19:57] I wonder if you remember the story on the Emmaus road after Jesus has risen. And walking along the road, Luke tells us that from the scriptures, Jesus showed them why it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, die, and rise.

[20:23] so as they open up their scriptures, they're opening up that bit, aren't they?

[20:37] Because that bit wasn't written yet. So when they're opening up the scriptures, they're opening up the Old Testament as we have it. The New Testament was still being written.

[20:48] and they opened up the Old Testament in order to show, in order to show that it was necessary for God's Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead.

[21:04] We don't know the exact passages that they opened up when they were in these towns. Maybe they went to Psalm 22 where it records the words that Jesus spoke from the cross, that were written hundreds of years before Jesus went to the cross.

[21:20] My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Maybe they went there to Psalm 22 to show that it was necessary for God's Christ to suffer and die.

[21:30] Perhaps they went to the suffering servant passages in Isaiah, to the likes of Isaiah 52 or 53, the passages that would speak of the Christ being broken for the transgressions of the world, the iniquity of us all being placed upon him like a lamb being led to the slaughter.

[21:48] Perhaps they went to those kind of places to show that God's Christ, the promised Messiah, had to suffer. As they began to show that the Christ would rise, perhaps they would open up Psalm 16 and know how God's Holy One would not see corruption but instead would be at the right hand of God enjoying his presence forever.

[22:16] why was it necessary for their long awaited, long promised Christ to suffer and die? Why was it necessary for God's anointed king to suffer, die and rise again?

[22:31] Why was that necessary? Why did it have to happen? Because the Bible told them so. Jesus Christ suffered, died and rose in order to fulfill what had been spoken about the Christ.

[23:01] The scripture said that this would happen. The scripture said that the Christ would suffer, he would die and he would rise and so the greatest authentication to Jesus' identity as the Christ is the fact that he did suffer, that he did die and that he did rise again.

[23:22] And so they opened up the scriptures and they said, look, here is Jesus. The Jesus who suffered and died for the transgressions and sins of his people.

[23:37] The Jesus who was forsaken by his father for the sake of his people. The Jesus who experienced death and wrath, the ultimate punishment for sin, but was not abandoned to the grave, but who rose, who is alive with a resurrected body and who is at the right hand of the father where he enjoys fullness of joy.

[24:03] Paul takes the predictions of the Old Testament. And he says, look, this is the Jesus that we have witnessed. The Jesus that the disciples followed, look, this is him.

[24:20] This Jesus is God's anointed king. He is the long-awaited, long-promised king.

[24:30] I'm sure you've played the game Guess Who? You know, the plastic boards with the wee faces on it and they flip up and flip down.

[24:42] You've been around for years. Still going strong. All the faces on the board, you know, and you ask a question to the other person and you say, is your person bald?

[24:54] And they'll say yes. And so you've put down everybody who's all the different faces with people that have got hair and you're left with just the bald ones and you ask the next question and you know how it goes. Paul is doing Guess Who here?

[25:09] Guess the Christ. Does he suffer? Yes. Well, that rules out all these other people, doesn't it? Does he die?

[25:22] Yes. A few more go down. Does he rise again? Well, at that they all go down and only Jesus Christ is left standing.

[25:34] Only Jesus Christ is left standing. All the possible candidates for who the Christ could be.

[25:48] Only Christ is left standing. The only man standing at the end because he's the only one who fits the bill.

[26:01] The only one who fits the description. The only one who fits the scriptures. He's the only one who suffered and died for your sin and for mine.

[26:17] The only one who offers eternal life and who sacrifices himself as our substitute that we might have it. Jesus said said this in John 5.

[26:35] He said, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is the scriptures that bear witness about me.

[26:47] God will see what Paul and Silas are doing is they're living out that verse. They're living out that verse. It's when you search the scriptures and you believe that there you'll find eternal life.

[27:04] But what you need to realize is that when you search the scriptures what you'll find is that they're speaking about Jesus. because he is the one he is the one who gives life.

[27:15] He is the only one who has suffered died and rose again. And the message is clearly the same in Berea. Because when they get to Berea it tells us in verse 11 that they examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

[27:35] What things? The things that were mentioned in verse 2 and 3. Was it really so that Christ fits the bill as the promised Messiah?

[27:48] Was it really so that Christ is the only one who fulfills what is promised in scripture about God's Christ? And they go and they search with all eagerness it says.

[28:06] And many of them therefore believed. But even though it is the same message, there are very different responses.

[28:19] A few are persuaded in verse 4. Some of them were persuaded. Notice in verse 4.

[28:34] There's persuasion. But in Berea verse 12 there's belief. These things are very different things.

[28:51] And sometimes persuasion has to come before belief. But they are different. it's not enough to be persuaded in your mind that Christ is the king.

[29:09] But it must also be believed in our heart. same word is preached but there are very different outcomes.

[29:29] But notice they both accept or reject the word on the same basis. it's not that in Thessalonica they don't like Paul and in Berea they do.

[29:43] No. The Thessalonians reject Jesus because they reject their scriptures. And notice that the Bereans believed because they received the word and therefore believed.

[29:59] Notice that in verse 11. These Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

[30:10] Many of them therefore believed. They received the word and they believed. To believe in Jesus is to receive the word about Jesus.

[30:23] To reject Jesus is to reject the word about Jesus. And so Paul and his team demonstrate great faith in God.

[30:35] to work through his word. They're fearless. They're faithful. And they demonstrate great faith in God to work through his word.

[30:48] And it's this faith in God to work through his word that keeps them fearless and faithful. If they didn't believe that God would work through his word, then they would definitely go ahead and change the message or just stop sharing it altogether.

[31:05] But it's because they are convinced that God works through his word. It's because they're convinced of that, that they fearlessly keep on proclaiming it and they faithfully keep on proclaiming it.

[31:25] Perhaps that faith in God to work through his word has drifted in our lives. perhaps it's why we don't echo the words of David Livingstone, I'm prepared to go anywhere as long as it's forward and instead say, and I don't just say this about Bells Hill, I think this is true of so many of us as Christians in the West, that we say I'm prepared to go anywhere as long as it's safe.

[31:56] I'm prepared to go anywhere as long as it won't affect my family or my career or whatever it may be for us.

[32:14] But God does work through his word. His gospel is the power of salvation for all who believe. It's not one way to salvation, the gospel is not one way to salvation.

[32:30] Like some are saved through that and another are saved in a different way. No, it is the power of salvation. So whether you're a believer seeking to share Jesus with others or whether you're not a Christian yet, trying to work out if Jesus is truly who he says he is, let me say this to you as I finish.

[32:53] This Jesus can be found. He can be discovered. You can search the scriptures and you can find him.

[33:06] And when you search, you realize that all the scriptures are speaking of him, showing you that he is the only way to eternal life.

[33:27] And you know, if you aren't a Christian yet, if you're still trying to make your mind up about Jesus, I'd encourage you, ask someone to help you look at the Bible with him.

[33:43] Ask someone. someone. It can be a daunting task to open this as somebody who's not familiar with it.

[33:54] It can be a daunting task to try and work out where to begin and where to see Jesus and his offer of life. So ask someone. If you are a Christian and you're seeking to share faith with someone, be encouraged.

[34:23] It's not down to you having all the fancy words, the fancy answers. Paul and Silas reasoned and explained and convinced, not using their own fancy words ideas and philosophies, but using God's word.

[34:47] And so it may be as simple as asking someone to look at the Bible with you. If they look at the Bible and they reject Jesus, they're not rejecting you.

[35:03] They're rejecting God's word. But it is amazing it is amazing the age that some people get to in life. And they have never looked at this.

[35:19] Not really. Maybe get some thought about it that goes back to primary school assemblies.

[35:32] They've maybe got some ideas that they've picked up from the telling, but never really looked at it. They've never examined the Bible for themselves. They've never looked at the account of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.

[35:49] When they do, when they do, they can be utterly surprised that who they find is the saviour of the world and the one who offers them life.

[36:08] The very thing we've been searching for. Satisfaction, purpose, acceptance, meaning, joy, peace, peace, peace, all offered by Jesus in his word.

[36:32] One encourages not to lose faith in the power of the gospel. It is the power that brings salvation.

[36:49] God always works through his word. Don't ever become discouraged. Don't ever think that God has stopped working through his word.

[37:08] And if you're not a Christian, if you're trying to work out who God is, what he thinks about you, and whether there's a place for you in his family, look no further than his word, because where you will find the answer, the answer of Jesus Christ himself.

[37:41] let's pray. Father God, we thank you that your word is powerful to save.

[37:58] it is powerful to transfer us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light in your son.

[38:12] We know that, Father, because you have done that in the lives of so many of us here this morning, forgiving us, saving us, and transforming us.

[38:29] And, Father, that same way that you have saved us and transformed us through your word is a way you continue to work. May we trust you and trust your word.

[38:46] May we be those who would lovingly, winsomely, and boldly hold out your word, engaging with people, reading it with people, sharing it with people, that they might examine it.

[39:12] and that they might receive it, and that they might believe in the Christ, your son, and our Lord Jesus.

[39:26] Amen. We're going to close by singing together you're the word of God the Father.

[39:37] We'll stand and we'll sing.