Participants: Tony Moore
Series Code: IFP
Program Code: IFP000010
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01:37 Paul and Silas had great success in Thessaloniki.
01:40 For three Sabbaths they witness in the synagogue that 01:44 Jesus was the Christ or the Messiah. 01:47 Luke describes how a great number of gentiles and a 01:52 number of Jews accepted the message and believed that 01:57 Jesus was Lord of all. 01:59 Let me read to you the tremendous story as Luke 02:02 describes it in Acts 17:4. 02:58 The authorities in Thessaloniki were more level-headed 03:01 than those in Philippi. 03:03 In Philippi, you remember, they beat Paul and threw Paul 03:07 and Silas into a prison. 03:10 But here they recognize this is a trumped up charge, they 03:13 made Jason and the others post bond and let them go. 03:17 Fortunately Paul and Silas were not there at the time. 03:20 So they escaped the trouble, but the brothers were 03:23 concerned and so we read in verse 10. 03:52 Luke describes how the missionaries turned westward and 03:55 traveled about 50 miles inland to Veria. 03:59 A city built against Mount Bermion. 04:02 This city was a great city, a beautiful city overlooking 04:07 the plains below. 04:09 It was in the very heart of Macedonia. 04:12 Macedonia played such a critical role in the ancient 04:16 world, and I thought we should travel 10 miles south 04:20 from Berea and examine the tremendous influence it had 04:24 through Philip of Macedon and his son, 04:27 Alexander the Great. 04:30 Philip's summer palace, the ancient capital of Macedonia, 04:35 is out at Berea and I want to travel out and share with 04:39 you this important story that shapes the context of our 04:44 series on the life of Paul. 04:46 Berea was in the heart of beautiful lush, 04:51 green Macedonia. 04:53 We have come here to Epirus, the ancient capital of the 04:58 Macedonian kingdom. 05:00 This was the palace of Philip the II of Macedon. 05:04 You can see the tremendous ruins that are here and the 05:08 powerful influence of this Macedonian king. 05:11 He maintained his capital down at Pella in the valley 05:16 below where his son Alexander was born. 05:19 Philippi arranged for the best of tutors for his son 05:22 including Aristotle who trained the young man. 05:26 The family had come to the Summer Palace to celebrate the 05:32 wedding of Philip's daughter Cleopatra. 05:35 As Philip was descending the hill, from the palace 05:39 to the theater below, an assassin set upon him 05:43 and took his life. 05:45 This event of a madman dramatically changed the history 05:50 of our world, for it thrust Alexander into a position 05:54 of leadership when he was only 19 years old. 05:57 Alexander consolidated his power over the Greek city 06:01 states and then to set out to spread Hellenistic culture 06:06 throughout the ancient world. 06:08 He conquered the provinces of Asia, and then push down 06:12 into Egypt and conquering that. 06:14 Then he went into Persia and all the way into India. 06:18 This provided a common language throughout the ancient 06:22 world, a common understanding with a common culture. 06:25 The Romans who would follow would adopt this culture 06:29 as their own. 06:31 They would provide a tremendous network of roads linking 06:35 the various cities of the ancient world and also provide 06:40 the Roman peace, this was the culture that permitted the 06:45 apostle Paul to move freely from city to city and 06:48 province to province spreading the incredible news that 06:52 Jesus Christ is Lord of all. 06:57 This was the cultural context of the world of Paul. 07:01 Paul and Silas came out to Berea under the cover of 07:04 darkness, and they follow the same pattern that we 07:07 have been seeing on all of their journeys. 07:10 They went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and they 07:14 share the message that Jesus was the Christ, that is 07:18 that Jesus was the Messiah and Lord of all. 07:21 Did you notice the tremendous response they got here 07:25 in this city? 07:27 Let me read it to you again. 07:40 What a tremendous complement Luke pays 07:43 to the Berean Jews. 07:45 They were more open-minded, or fair-minded, more 07:48 thoughtful than the Jews in Thessaloniki. 07:52 Now the word used in the original is, they were more 07:56 well bred, or of nobility. 07:59 Was he referring to their status in life? 08:01 I don't think so, he was really referring to their 08:05 attitude, they had an attitude of nobility. 08:08 An attitude of open mindedness and fair-mindedness. 08:13 They listen to what Paul said every day, then they 08:17 checked it in the Scriptures, that is they sifted what 08:21 Paul said, comparing it with scripture with scripture 08:25 to see if it was true. 08:27 They listened with an open mind and they sifted the 08:30 Scriptures and accepted those things that were true. 08:32 What a tremendous attitude they had. 08:36 This idea been well bred is very interesting. 08:39 Jesus was having a discussion with the Jews in Jerusalem 08:42 and they rejected what He was saying. 08:46 They rejected that saying that He was not well bred, 08:52 applying He was illegitimate. 08:54 Jesus said that actually you are the ones that are not 08:57 well bred, they contended we are children of Abraham. 09:02 Well bred indeed, Jesus said if you were of Abraham then 09:06 you would be doing the works of Abraham. 09:09 But as it is, you are trying to kill Me. 09:11 You are of your father the devil. 09:15 So this idea of nobility is not really who is our mother 09:20 or father, but what are our attitudes. 09:24 How do we relate in life? 09:39 Isn't that a tremendous quality? 09:42 Are you saying Tony, should I be open to every preacher 09:45 or every teacher that comes into town, or is on the 09:49 radio or television? 09:51 Should I be listening eagerly to what they say? 09:53 No not necessarily, nor should you read every piece 09:56 of religious mail that comes into your home. 09:59 My mentor, WD Frazee once shared this with me. 10:02 He said, I would rather know what I know and not know 10:06 what I don't know, than to know what I don't know, 10:10 and not know what I know. 10:12 There are some things that are very, very important to 10:15 know and when you settle those things, they settle a 10:18 host of other issues. 10:20 For instance, it is extremely important to know that 10:22 Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the Messiah. 10:26 Once you settle back, you don't have to check out 10:29 every New Age teacher who comes into town. 10:32 No, you have settled that Jesus is the Messiah. 10:36 So yes we listen with an open mind, we sift through 10:40 the Scriptures, and then we accept those things that 10:43 are true and in harmony with God's Word. 10:46 How do you balance what you do know with an openness 10:51 to new teachings? 10:54 How do you balance so that you are not blown about by 10:57 every wind of doctrine that comes by? 11:01 Well you know windows are very important in my house, 11:04 as I am sure they are in yours. 11:07 Windows provide two major functions. 11:10 They allow you to see out, and they let light come in. 11:13 In addition they allow fresh air to come in from the 11:17 outside and the stale air inside to blow out. 11:21 Windows are a wonderful invention, but there is a major 11:25 problem with Windows that most of us have, and that is 11:30 if you don't have screens the bugs come in too. 11:34 While we get that sunshine and fresh air coming in, 11:38 we also get mosquitoes, and flies, and so we need screens. 11:43 Did you notice the screen that the Bereans had? 11:46 Let me read the passage again, Acts 17:11. 12:04 They investigated, that is that they critically examined 12:08 what the Scriptures said. 12:10 It is good to be open to new ideas. 12:12 They were open to ideas that no one in their synagogue 12:16 believed, you see people in their synagogue, like Jews 12:20 throughout the land, had the popular idea that when the 12:24 Messiah came, He would liberate the Jewish people from 12:28 their bondage to the Roman oppressors. 12:31 But Paul and Silas were teaching about a Messiah who 12:35 came and was killed by the Roman oppressors, who was 12:39 actually put to death. 12:41 This was so different than what the other people around 12:44 them believed, and yet they were open-minded to hear what the 12:49 apostles had to say. 12:51 They weighed it by the Scriptures. 12:54 What screen should you and I employ today? 12:58 Let me share two examples with you. 13:00 When I was a young Christian, I had only been a Christian 13:04 a few months and I went to a very popular youth Congress 13:07 in Asheville, North Carolina. 13:10 While I was there I met some on-fire Christians. 13:13 Some of them invited me to a Bible study being held in a 13:17 motel, and I was thankful for that invitation and took 13:21 that piece of literature and shared it with 13:23 some Christian friends. 13:25 I told them about the Bible study and invited them to 13:28 come, they say will let me see literature and they looked 13:32 at and said well, you need to be careful and read this 13:36 very carefully about this group. 13:38 I read the material, and as I read the material something 13:42 didn't ring true with what I understood from the Bible. 13:45 The material was talking about the second chapter of 13:49 Daniel, where a great stone was cut out and came down 13:52 and destroyed the image and fill the whole earth. 13:55 The literature that I was reading said that that stone 13:58 was not Jesus, but the church. 14:01 The church was to crush the empires. 14:03 As I read it, it didn't ring true with scripture 14:06 and I decided not to go. 14:09 I am so glad that I didn't, for that group was the Branch 14:12 Dravidian's from Waco Texas. 14:15 A second point that I would like to share with you of a 14:19 personal testimony is this. 14:22 I had a friend who kept insisting that I listened to 14:25 some tapes of a good friend of theirs. 14:28 Tapes on the Jewish sanctuary and the Jewish Temple. 14:31 As I was listening to the tapes, something didn't ring 14:35 true, there was great information about the Jewish 14:39 sanctuary and Temple, but it did not ring true 14:41 with the Gospel. 14:42 It became apparent to me, that while the teacher had 14:46 a lot of good information, they didn't understand the 14:50 Gospel, the first sieve we need to have is the Bible. 14:54 Does it ring true to God's word? 14:56 The second sieve is, does it ring true to the Gospel? 15:00 Paul preached to the Galatians that there is no other Gospel to 15:05 be preached under heaven, and if anyone preaches a 15:07 different gospel let them be anathema or 15:10 accursed from Christ. 15:12 Many people ask, can you know truth? 15:14 When they asked me that question, I say do you think 15:18 Jesus wants you to know truth? 15:20 And then I have them read John 8:32. 15:31 Jesus says we can know the truth and the truth 15:34 will set us free, but He provides the key in verse 31. 15:47 We know the truth by examining the sieve of God's word. 15:51 That is what the Bereans were doing. 15:53 They had an open mind to listen to what Paul was teaching 15:56 and then they examined the Scriptures every day to see 16:00 if those things were so. 16:02 How can you know truth? 16:04 Let me share with you three principles from Scripture 16:07 about how to know truth. 16:11 The first principle is very, very simple and found 16:14 in the John 7:17. 16:29 The first important principle of knowing truth is. 16:35 If I have a willing heart, then Jesus says I will know 16:39 whether the doctrine comes from God or from man. 16:43 So every time I study the Bible, I want to have an open 16:48 mind by God's grace and Spirit to understand the Bible. 16:52 You see ultimately, the understanding of God's truth 16:55 depends more upon your heart, then upon your mind. 16:59 There are many people who know the intricacies of the 17:03 Greek and Hebrew and they know the various tenses and yet 17:06 they do not have a heart to follow God's Word. 17:09 They never come to an understanding of biblical truth. 17:14 When I have a willing heart, then God can teach me. 17:17 The second great principle I would like to share with 17:21 you is found in 1 Corinthians 2. 17:56 Paul says no one can know the things of a man but the man 17:59 himself, you cannot know what I am thinking except I 18:03 express it to you by my words or by my actions. 18:06 In a similar way, we cannot know what God is thinking 18:10 except that He has expressed it to us by His words 18:13 in the Bible, and by His actions in nature. 18:16 Since the Holy Spirit was the one who inspired the words 18:20 of the Bible, we need to pray to the Holy Spirit for 18:23 guidance to understand those words. 18:30 The second principle is for prayer to ask for guidance 18:34 of the Holy Spirit as we open God's word. 18:37 As we search the Scriptures, He will guide us into 18:42 understanding of truth. 18:50 Jesus used this very principle, Luke 24:27 19:02 Jesus recognize there are many misconceptions about the 19:06 Messiah, and so he went back to the very beginning of 19:09 the writings of Moses and work through all the prophets, 19:13 showing how these things were fulfilled in Himself. 19:17 Jesus allowed Scripture to interpret Scripture. 19:21 Let me share with you one more very important principle. 19:25 It is found in the Daniel 7. 19:52 He goes on to describe how a lion with two wings came up. 19:55 How a bear lifted up on one side with three ribs in his 19:58 mouth came up, how a 4 headed leopard flew out of the water 20:01 with four wings, and how a dragon like beast came up 20:04 with 10 horns and iron teeth and bronze claws. 20:08 Then how a little horn popped up. 20:10 What are these beasts? 20:12 I often ask people and they say well it must be the 20:15 devil, all those terrible creatures. 20:18 But actually the Bible interprets itself. 20:28 And verse 23 goes on to say. 20:33 In Bible prophecy a beast represents a King or a kingdom. 20:37 The Bible says that they came up out of the sea. 20:41 What does that represent? 20:43 Revelation 17:15 tells us that the water represents 20:47 the People's, multitudes, nations and languages. 20:51 We find another principle of scripture in Jeremiah 51, 20:55 that wind can represent war and strife. 20:57 So there was strife in the great populated areas of 21:01 humanity, and four empires or four kingdoms emerged. 21:05 That is a thrilling story however that we cannot 21:09 focus upon today. 21:11 There is one other sieve I must share with you about 21:13 knowing and understanding truth in the Bible. 21:16 That is the moral purpose of the Bible. 21:19 You see the Bible was not given primarily to be a science 21:23 textbook, it was not given to be primarily a book of 21:27 geography, it doesn't explain how to build a combustion 21:31 engine, or nuclear fission, the purpose of the Bible can 21:35 be found in two very important text. 21:38 The first one I want to read to you is John 5:39. 21:57 Jesus says you study the Scriptures because you think 22:00 that by studying them you will receive eternal life. 22:03 But these are the Scriptures that testify about Me. 22:08 The very purpose of the Hebrew Scriptures was to reveal 22:12 the Messiah, and yet the Jews of Jesus day thought that 22:15 they would receive eternal life from their studying of 22:19 the Bible, their diligent good study of the Bible. 22:22 Jesus said no, these are the very verses, the text, 22:27 the passages, that testify about Me and yet you refuse 22:31 to come to Me that you might have life. 22:34 The Bible properly understood. 22:40 Paul and Silas came to this town and were teaching the 22:43 Jews in a synagogue, that Jesus was the Christ, 22:47 or the Messiah, they listened with an open mind, 22:50 they examined the Scriptures daily, and they accepted 22:54 the teachings of Paul. 22:56 The second great moral purpose of Bible study can be 22:59 found in 2 Timothy 3:15. 23:11 Timothy, you have known the holy Scriptures since you 23:15 were a child, and these holy Scriptures are able to make 23:18 you wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. 23:29 How we can become to have faith in Jesus and be saved 23:32 through Him, that is the reason God's word was given. 23:35 It's amazing the number of books that are written today, 23:39 books about numerology and number codes and all kinds of 23:43 things that are so far away from the central teaching 23:46 of knowing Jesus and how we can be saved 23:51 through faith in Him. 23:53 That is why God gave the Bible primarily revealing how 23:58 we can be saved. 24:00 These are screens that we need to test all its 24:03 teachings by, Acts 17:10. 24:32 What a tremendous result, many of the Jews believed 24:37 verses a few the Jews in Thessalonica. 24:41 Many of the Jews as well as a number of prominent Greek 24:45 women, and prominent Greek men. 24:47 Yes the gospel took deep root in the hearts of both Jews 24:52 and Gentiles in this city. 24:55 They accept the message and Christianity was planted 24:58 deeply in their souls. 25:00 The teachings of both communities ran totally counter 25:04 to what they have previously understood, 25:06 what made the difference? 25:08 Why did one group hear and respond, and another group 25:12 reject what Paul and Silas were teaching? 25:15 It is because they listen with an open mind. 25:18 It was just a matter of time until the Jews of 25:21 Thessaloniki heard what was happening up on the Hill 25:24 in Berea, Acts 17:13 says. 25:41 Religious people on a mission can be 25:43 very, very dangerous. 25:45 William Barclay observed. 25:55 What made the difference? 25:57 The Jews of Thessalonica did not follow the three 26:01 principles that we have shared. 26:03 The Jews of Berea did, the Jews of Berea had an open 26:07 mind and they had a willing mind, they were willing 26:11 to be taught by God. 26:13 They prayed for guidance and they searched the Scriptures 26:18 daily to see if those things were true. 26:20 Yes it is good to have things settled, we should have 26:24 especially settled that Jesus is our Christ, the Messiah. 26:29 We should have the gospel settled in our hearts. 26:32 Yes these are good things, and yet we should have the 26:36 willing mind of a seeker for truth, someone who is 26:41 willing to follow wherever God would lead. 26:43 Yes their are two paths that are presented in our Bible 26:48 story from Berea, but path that goes to Thessaloniki and 26:52 there is a path that goes to Berea. 26:54 Most people will choose to go down the course to 26:57 Thessaloniki, they will go to closed mind and a closed 27:01 heart to the principles of the gospel. 27:04 Well my friend, I want to be like the Jews of Veria. 27:08 I want to have an open mind, I want to listen with open 27:12 ears praying for God's guidance as I search the 27:16 Scriptures, let's pray together. 27:18 Father in heaven we thank you for this very special spot 27:22 that commemorates the open-minded believers of Berea. 27:26 How they had an open mind to listen to what Paul and 27:30 Silas were teaching, even though it was very different 27:33 than what they had believed, or been taught 27:35 in the synagogues. 27:36 We see how they search the Scriptures daily, praying for 27:40 guidance and how You lead them to understanding of truth 27:44 as Jesus as their Messiah. 27:47 We thank you for the testimony of their lives and help us 27:50 to be faithful like they were. 27:52 Help us to study Your word with an open mind and an open 27:56 heart and by Your grace to follow wherever You lead, we 27:59 pray in Jesus name, Amen! 28:04 Off in the distance we can see the Haliacmon river that 28:06 goes to the coast. 28:08 Luke described in Acts chapter 17 how Paul was taken by 28:12 some of the believers down to the coast and on to Athens 28:17 where he entered into that great city of culture and learning. 28:21 A great city of philosophy that was filled with idols and 28:25 there he proclaimed the truth that Jesus Christ was Lord. 28:29 That will be the focus of our next teaching in this 28:33 series, the gospel comes to the city of idols. 28:37 The gospel comes to Athens. |
Revised 2014-12-17