Envy Against The Gospel

[0:00] Hallelujah. We thank God you've tuned into this message by David Entry at Caris Church. No hand can help you with the fulfillment of your destiny but the Word of God.

[0:11] May God's hand align you further into your destiny through this word. Acts chapter 17 from 1 to 15. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the Jews, and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days risen with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must need be, have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus which I preached unto you is Christ.

[0:57] And some of them believed and consulted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the cheap women, not a few.

[1:10] But the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of their base assault, and gathered a company and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

[1:34] And when they had found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down, have come with that also.

[1:47] Whom Jason has received, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.

[2:00] 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.

[2:14] And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

[2:25] These were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the word of God with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so.

[2:39] Therefore many of them believed also of honorable women, which were Greeks, and of men not a few. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge of that, the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also and stared at the people.

[3:02] And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea. But Silas and Timothius are both there still.

[3:15] And they that conducted Paul brought him to Athens and received a commandment unto Silas and Timothius, for to come to him with all speed, with all speed they departed.

[3:32] Here ends the reading of God's word. So when Paul and his companions came to Thessalonica, another major city of Macedonia, they preached the word to the Jews.

[3:45] They went to the synagogue, as we saw previously. So they went to the synagogue, and the Bible said, As Paul's manor was, his custom was, for three weeks, three weeks, every Sabbath he would go there, and risen with them from scripture.

[4:04] Now this is very important, because Paul had two things that were working for him. Number one, he was well trained and mighty in scriptures before he met Jesus.

[4:15] So when it comes to the Old Testament, he was an authority of the then scriptures, which was the Old Testament. But the interesting thing is, just like we'll find out later when we come to chapter 18, there was a gentleman in verse 24 called Apollos, who was mighty in the scriptures, but he didn't know the complete gospel.

[4:37] He didn't understand the complete gospel. So even though he was mighty in scriptures, he was handicapped because of his limited understanding of God's New Testament economy.

[4:49] So Paul met Stephen, and Stephen opened up the scriptures to Paul, and he tried to kick against the goats until he met Jesus himself.

[5:00] And his heart was open to really get into the scriptures. So before he became born again, he was an authority of the scriptures. And then, to add the icing to the cake, he now met Jesus.

[5:13] And in Galatians, he says, Jesus was formed in him. Jesus was revealed in him. He said, when he pleased God, who separated Galatians chapter 1, verse 15 and 16, who separated me from my mother's womb, when he pleased him to reveal his son in me.

[5:30] So, Paul's assignment, and that's our assignment, is that Christ will not just be revealed, first of all, be formed in you. Christ will be constituted into you. And then after Christ has been constituted into you, Christ will be revealed in you.

[5:47] Then not just Christ will be revealed in you, but Christ will live in you. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, Galatians 2, 20. Nevertheless, I live. Yet, not I, but Christ who lives in me.

[6:02] Christ is formed in me. Christ is revealed in me. And Christ lives in me. So, he says that, so when Paul came to Christ, Christ was in him, and he was also an authority of the Old Testament.

[6:17] And with the understanding he had of Christ, you know, Luke chapter 24, verse 45 and 45, actually. After resurrection, the Bible says, Jesus opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.

[6:32] So, that means they've been reading the scriptures, but their understanding was closed. And these were not some Judaizers. These were the disciples of Jesus who walked with him for three years.

[6:44] Yet, they didn't even get it. They knew about Jesus, but they didn't understand the Old Testament, the scriptures very well. And so, in Luke chapter 24, verse 26, the Bible says that, he said that you guys are so dull of hearing.

[7:01] Verse 25, next of it. Then he said, oh fools, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets pointing them to scripture. Then he said, ought not the Christ. This is very important in our studies today. Ought not the Christ, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and enter his glory?

[7:17] Where is he getting that information from? He said, ought not. You should have known that. From where? From scripture. The scripture clearly says that Christ ought to suffer. But you didn't see the suffering Christ.

[7:29] You only saw the ruling Christ. And he said, the ruling Christ suffers first before, and then he said, and enter into his glory. Then, look at the next verse. Then, beginning at Moses.

[7:40] I feel like preaching now. Then, beginning at Moses. Moses, that phrase means Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteron. The Pentatus. The first five books.

[7:51] It's called the five books of Moses. There is no six and seven books of Moses. So, beginning at Moses. The, so, beginning at Moses. And, all the prophet, not Sam.

[8:02] The entirety of the scriptures. He said, from the entirety. So, he expanded onto them. All, in all the scriptures.

[8:14] All the scriptures were actually talking about him. He could show you. He could point to them. So, that's what he did after resurrection. After resurrection, he did a crash course. The Old Testament crash course among Christ, who was always hidden, buried, concealed in the Old Testament, which men never saw.

[8:33] Even scholars never saw. So, Paul had this. And so, when he came to Thessalonica, he went to the synagogue. And, Bible says, he risen with them for three weeks. For three Sabbaths.

[8:45] Risen with them. Them from the scriptures. Look at the next verse. From the scriptures. Explaining and demonstrating. Now, watch this. That, the Christ.

[8:57] There is a particular Christ that every Jew looks forward to. Circumcision. If you are circumcised as a Jew, you observe the Sabbath. And, you always believe in Moses. So, the Sabbath was about this custom.

[9:09] And, all this custom was one thing. You have to do these things because God himself is coming. So, every good Jew looks forward to the arrival of the Christ.

[9:21] Who is a mystical figure. So, they look by his God in the flesh. He's the son of David. He's a very unique figure. So, they, and they had ideas. Different aspects of what the Christ would be.

[9:34] But, they had not been able to put all of them to formulate a healthy doctrine. A Christocentric doctrine. Because, it's so disjointed. It's hard to find it together. That's why Jesus had to explain from all the scripture.

[9:48] The things concerning himself. So, every Jew. That's why in Acts chapter 13, verse 27. Paul told them that the people of Jerusalem and their rulers. They read this thing every Sabbath.

[10:00] But, they fulfilled the things they are reading by killing the Christ when he came. Because, every Jew was expecting the coming of a Christ. You remember in John chapter 1, John chapter 1, from verse 41, 42, 43.

[10:13] Where, 41. Let's go to verse 41. Andrew told his brother. First found his brother Simon, thus Andrew, and said to him, we have found. Let's read that. Let's read for we have found.

[10:24] Let's go. We have found the Messiah. We have found the Messiah. So, they were expecting the Messiah. We have found the Messiah. And, look at the next verse. Which is translated the Christ. And, he brought him to Jesus.

[10:35] And, Jesus mentioned it. Then, the next verse. The next verse. Let's go to the following. The verse 44. 44. Philip found Atena and said, we have found him of whom Moses in the law.

[10:47] And, all the prophets ruled Jesus of Nazareth. We found him. That's how we found. The scripture has been describing and talking about him. He said, finally, every Jew was looking for his coming. That is why, in John chapter 1, verse 21.

[11:00] John. They went to John the Baptist. They said, are you the one? Who are you? Are you the one? Because, they were expecting the one. The one. It's just like a lady in waiting. And, a guy comes. Are you the one to come?

[11:11] I'm thinking, baby. The way this lady, this guy keeps smiling at me. Is he the one to come? Or, maybe I should look for another. So, they went and said, from verse 19. The Jews sent some people to go and ask John. Who are you?

[11:23] When did you send? Who are you? He did not listen. He said, he did not deny. He said, I'm not the Christ. He said, I'm not the Christ. That means, when they were asking the question, they had Christ in mind. He said, I'm not the Christ. Please, don't give that credit to me.

[11:34] I'm not. Because, he was so unique. For 400 years, they've never seen any one prophesying. They've never seen a prophet. Then, this guy comes on the scene. And, all of Jerusalem was going to him. And, he was so unique. He said, who are you?

[11:45] He said, who are you? Who are you? He said, who are you? He said, just to satisfy your curiosity, I am not the Christ. And, he said, okay, are you the prophet? He said, not. Are you one? He said, okay, then who are you? Tell us.

[11:56] So, we can tell those who said. Because, they want to find a word. And, then, he answered in the voice. He said, I am not the Christ. I am he who is sent to testify. Then, he says that, so if you are not the Christ, verse 25, why are you baptizing? They had this thing thinking, if you are not the Christ, why are you baptizing? He said, no, no, no, listen.

[12:07] I am baptizing with water. But, there is one coming after me. So, Christ was a figure all the Jews were looking for. And, yet, when he came, Paul said they killed him. Why? Because, he didn't know him. So, when Paul got born again, when he met Jesus, in Acts chapter 9, verse 20 and 21 and 22 and 23, particularly 21, Bible says that, verse 20 says, immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogue.

[12:41] That he, look at the topic of his preaching. As soon as he got baptized, he started his message. Immediately, he preached the Christ in the synagogue. That he is the son of God.

[12:54] All right, let's go to 22, 22 I said. But, Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in the synagogue, proving that Jesus, watch this.

[13:05] You see, so there is a difference. There was like, there is a Jesus and there is a Christ. They were expecting a Christ. Then, Jesus came. And, now, the job of the church in those times was to prove to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

[13:20] So, it's not that, the issue was not about whether there will be a Christ. They knew there will be a Christ. But, as to who was the Christ was a bigger issue.

[13:31] So, that is why when Jesus was crucified, his enemies made sure he doesn't rise from the dead. Because, he said, when he dies, he will rise to prove that he is a Christ.

[13:42] So, they said that, don't let him rise. Don't let him rise. Because, if he rises, it will be worse news for us than when he was alive. So, they went to seek authority to put God, because they said, he said, in three days time, Matthew chapter 27.

[14:02] In three days time, he will rise. So, you, we just need the tombs to be cured just for three days. And, they secured the, point just when I say, you have authority, do that and give God.

[14:13] And, they secured it, secured them. But, when the time came, the truth, the Bible says that an angel, even though Jesus said, an angel came from heaven. And, they were like dead men because of what they saw.

[14:25] Matthew 28. They were like dead men because of what they saw. They were shaking. So, they ran and went and told the, they went to tell the authorities that his reason, what we saw.

[14:38] And, they said, listen, let's give you some money. Don't tell anybody. And, if Pontius Pilate, because you are guarding a prisoner and he goes, guess that way, we will settle him. This is a political issue.

[14:49] We will sort him out. We will just, we will sort him out. So, their problem was Jesus shouldn't rise. So, Paul now comes to the synagogue and his message was, Jesus, this Jesus is the Christ.

[15:02] So, you are looking for the Christ. Now, I am showing the Jesus. Look at what the argument was in the synagogue when he went, Acts chapter. He said, for three Sabbaths, he reasoned.

[15:13] He reasoned with them from the scriptures. He said, explaining and demonstrating that, that, see, that Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead.

[15:26] So, first of all, he was showing them reasoning from data, written data, information that, listen, you have not been seeing this.

[15:37] He said, Christ will suffer. Christ will suffer. That's what Jesus said, ought not the Christ to have suffered. The disciples were disappointed, even though they believed it was the Christ. That's why Peter got it wrong.

[15:49] Who do men say, Matthew chapter 16. Who do men say, you are the, Peter, verse 16. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you. But my Father has revealed it to you.

[16:00] Blessed are you, Simon Bajonan. I tell you the truth, that you are, Simon, upon this rock I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And the Bible says that from that time onwards, he began to tell, he teaches disciples how the son of man must go to Jerusalem, must be delivered into the hands of the scribes and the Gentiles, and he will be killed.

[16:23] And then he said, but on the third day. He said, but, and be raised the third day. Then Peter leaves, forgets about the raising. He doesn't like the suffering.

[16:34] Then he takes him aside and says, no, God, far be it from me that you should, far be it from me, Lord. If this will not happen to you, what will not happen to me? The Christ ought to suffer. Why are you stopping the scriptures?

[16:45] The scriptures cannot be broken. He said, this cannot happen. But the scriptures that Christ must suffer and be raised again. What, what, what shouldn't happen? I should stay dead or I shouldn't suffer.

[16:56] That's why when he resurrected, he proves to them from the scriptures that the Christ, he said, ought not the Christ to have suffered all this in the book, Luke chapter 24. Ought not.

[17:07] Ought not. It was necessary from the scriptures. So now, Paul takes them into, educates them from the Old Testament. He says that, that he, he reasoned with them that the Christ ought to suffer.

[17:20] That Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead. Then he said, saying, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. That's a very nice preaching.

[17:32] So, first of all, he took them into the data of scripture and explained and described how the Christ is supposed to be like. And he said, look, this description of Christ I've given fits this Jesus person.

[17:45] And sadly, because for this Jesus person, for human, human being to fulfill all the dots of what the prophets have said, the probability, the chance is very low.

[17:56] But he fulfills it to the extent that he also resurrected. God was, the resurrection was the high point of who Christ was. He resurrected. So he's the Christ.

[18:07] He was able to convince them and see what happened. And some of them were persuaded. They didn't have a choice. And a great multitude of the devout Greeks. And not a few of the leading women.

[18:20] They joined Paul and Silas. But the problem was the five percent. But the Jews who were not persuaded became envious. But envy.

[18:31] So the religionists became envious. The Jews became envious. And through envy took some evil men from the marketplace. Wow. Not even from the synagogue.

[18:44] No. They recruited the guys. And they created a whole stair in the city. You see where the whole thing was coming from. So sometimes all the stairs they are creating, the source of it, the base of it is jealousy.

[18:57] Envy. Envy. When a church is in the city and is growing, others become very envious. And so we have to be very careful if we are on the side of Christ. Not to be envious about what is working for others.

[19:09] Not to be envious. None of us is pure. So when we come, when we join the church of Christ, we join it with impurity. The element that builds church is not of us. It's of Christ.

[19:20] So it's the Christ in you that helps progress the church. Not you yourself. You yourself slows the church. Christ in you builds the church. You can be a preacher, a singer, a dancer, an usher.

[19:35] Whoever you are, you yourself cannot build the church. The constituent component of church is Christ himself. So me, I can be preaching.

[19:46] Once myself comes in, I am becoming a witch on Christ's work. So, they contacted base people out of jealousy and created a whole set, set the whole city on an uproar.

[19:59] And assaulted the house of Jason. Because Jason was their host. Assorted the house of Jason and sought to bring the guys out. But when they couldn't find them, they caught Jason.

[20:10] When they couldn't find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, These who have turned the world upside down have come here. To understand, it was true, but then they have rather turned it upright.

[20:25] They think they have turned it upside down. Christianity is revolutionary by itself. And this is not a political issue. It was a religious issue. It is the religionists that have a problem with what the church has to teach.

[20:39] The biggest opposition to the church is people in religion. It's not Christianity. It's Christianism they practice. So they speak like they are in scripture, but they are actually of scripture.

[20:51] The problem of the church is those who are supposed to be spokes agents, agents for God. So, it said they have turned the world upside down. It's because they have come to set records straight when it comes to religion.

[21:05] So, he reasoned with them for three Sabbaths. They were upset. So, they stirred the whole, they brought Jason. And you know, Jason was given a bill.

[21:17] He paid money. Yeah. So, they dragged Jason to the street crying out. And then Jason, they said, Jason, how about them? And these are all actually contrary to the decrease of Caesar saying there is another king, Jesus.

[21:33] See, the way they twisted the whole thing. There is another king. One Jesus, another king. Yeah, he is king. But they are making it a political issue. It's just a religious stuff. They are making it a political issue, which wasn't.

[21:45] Jason said they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the cities when they heard this thing. They are all troubled. What's going on here? See, the thing was going on within religious circles. But they moved it into political circles.

[21:58] And it created a whole upheaval which didn't make sense. So, what happened? Verse 9 says that so, when they had taken security from Jason. Yeah. Yeah. They had to give a bond. They had to pay.

[22:09] Jason was charged, was given a fine. And they were released. And they released them. Then their brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.

[22:21] Say Berea. Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue. Did you see again? The synagogue of the Jews. But there is something about the Bereans. Look at the next verse. What it says about the Bereans. These were more fair-minded.

[22:34] No, no, don't take it for granted. Say fair-minded. Fair-minded. Let's read different versions and see translations of versions. NIV. Now, the Bereans were of noble character than the Thessalonians.

[22:47] Character. New American Standard Version, then English Standard Version. Now, these were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians. Those in Thessalonica.

[22:59] English Standard Version. It also is the same noble-minded. They were noble than the Thessalonians. And then the Amplified Version says that they were noble and open-minded than...

[23:14] So the Bereans, just because of where they were, there was a communal mindset and philosophy that made the Word of God had a greater impact.

[23:25] Because of the way the people in Berea, the Bereans, the way they think, the way they... Their philosophy of life was very healthy to reason with. Made it easy to reason with them.

[23:37] And so the Bible says that they were fair-minded than those in Thessalonica in that they received the Word of God with all readiness of hearts. Number one. And not just that.

[23:48] And then they searched the Scriptures. So they are also doing their own search based on, oh, it's really true. It's really true. And they were fair-minded. So truth is truth. It's how we are. And look at the next verse.

[24:00] It says that, therefore, many... Say many. Many. Look at verse 4. Verse 4 says that... Some. Some of those in Thessalonica.

[24:11] Some. But when it came to fair-minded people, many, their way of thinking and handling Scripture increased and boosted the conversion rate. There are places when you go and you're preaching, the impact is stronger.

[24:26] Other places you go and you're preaching, the impact is scanty because of the kind of people you are talking to. The way we are trained to think, the way we are trained to... We can be so arrogant and proud even when we don't have anything.

[24:42] We can be so condescending. So every society has a way that the people are trained and the people think. So you see the impact of the Gospel with the fair-minded people.

[24:53] The fair-minded people. The people who... Many. But the problem arose when the Thessalonians, those... The Jews in Thessalonica, they heard that Paul has preached and they've received him.

[25:07] So they sent missionaries, negative missionaries, 60 miles away. That's a long journey. To go to Berea. To go and create another stair there.

[25:20] Yes. They said, let's go there. So the problem didn't start with Bereans. It came from the Thessalonians. The envious Jews in Thessalonians. It's in the Bible, look.

[25:31] I'm not telling you stories. I'm just data. I'm just reasoning with you. But when the Jews from Thessalonians learned that the word of God was preached by Paul and Berea, ah, he's gone there.

[25:44] Let's go there. They came there. They came there. It was gone. 60 mile journey. They came. They don't have a job. They are missionaries. They don't have a job. They don't have a job. Yeah.

[25:55] So they were stared with envy and then went online and started attacking the word of God which Paul was preaching in Berea. And that one too, there was a stair.

[26:07] So Paul had to leave quickly. Brethren, immediately the brethren sent Paul away to go to the sea. Both Silas and Timothy remained there. But when Paul got to Athens, he said, bring me Timothy and Silas.

[26:22] I just can't be here alone. This mission requires company. He said, bring them. He said, I'll wait. Let them come. So go and, he gave instruction, bring them back quickly. So, while he was waiting, when you're going to preach in the city, it's good to be familiar with the city.

[26:36] He was walking around the city and his son was shocked him. The jury seems out there. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you for listening to this message by David Entry.

[26:48] We pray you have been strengthened and enlightened. You can connect with David Entry on all relevant social media platforms, including Instagram and LinkedIn. You can also hear more messages from David Entry on all relevant streaming platforms and the Caris Church app.

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