True and False – Acts 17:10-12

The Bible tells us that Satan has the desire to usurp the place of Jehovah; he wants to be God.

But because he has disguised himself so well, if it were not for the revelation of God,

We’d probably never detect that there even was a Devil.

We’d certainly have a hard time figuring out what he was trying to do.

The Bible tells us that a part of his plan to overthrow the Lord’s government has been to create corrupted imitations of the things of God.

Just about every good thing in this world has a wicked counterpart:

Love, pleasure, beauty, music, art, government, humility, recreation, knowledge.

Even preachers, priests and pastors have their Satanic duplicates.

“Such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles Christ.

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

Just about everything that God created to bless man, has been used by man and Satan for evil.

And as far as the Devil is concerned it has been with the purpose of bringing down the Lord.

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

I suppose that every good pastor has wished that the members of his church were Berean-type Christians.

They have wanted their people to be more noble than those of Thessalonica.

They have wanted them to hear what they preach and to search the scriptures daily to see whether those things that he preaches are truly Biblical.

It’s not that those preachers are questioning the accuracy of their theology or their hermeneutics.

It’s that they know that 95% of what they preach will be lost if their people aren’t applying their own hearts and minds to examine and retain what they hear.

So they exhort their churches to be more noble and more Berean.

And I will include myself in that number.

But in the process of those exhortations, most of those preachers, myself included, have made a good application out of bad hermeneutics.

Luke was not commending a CHURCH of the Lord Jesus Christ here, but a SYNAGOGUE full of lost Jews.

Those people were at the time unbelievers,

And yet, by the grace of God, they were searching the scriptures to verify Paul’s messages,

And when they found that his quotations and conclusions were correct then “many of them believed.”

I won’t tell any pastor that he shouldn’t encourage his congregation to be noble and Berean-like, but I would encourage him to tell them the rest of the story from time to time.

Getting back to Satan and his falsified copies of good things,

I’d like you to notice four of them which are touched on in these three verses.

And I’d like you to examine your own heart and life to make sure that YOU have the God-given version.

First, there is nobility, and there is NOBILITY.

The word “noble” is found 4 times in New Testament, translated equally from 2 very different Greek words.

One of them is used twice during the trials that Paul had before the Roman governors back in Judea.

When the Jewish lawyer, Tertullus, addressed the court he said,

“Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence,

We accept it always, and in all places, MOST NOBLE Felix, with all thankfulness.”

And then when Paul spoke for himself before Festus he said,

“I am not mad, MOST NOBLE Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.”

That word “noble” is related to the Greek word for “strength,” and refers to the power of the governor.

It was apparently a common word of respect for the office, the way that judges are called “your honor.”

The second Greek word simply refers to a nobleman.

A nobleman is a person of some sort of high rank in society.

Sometimes that means that he has money, or perhaps his family has political power.

In some places it refers to kings, dukes and duchesses, earls and countesses, barons and viscounts.

Maybe that noble has some sort of influence over the community in other ways, such as educationally or culturally.

In a great many places even the clergy is considered some kind of nobility.

“Nobility” is one of those words that is kind of hard to pin down and define.

My dictionary seems to define “nobility” by using the word “noble”

And then it defines “noble” by using the word “nobility” without ever really explaining either one

And this confusion has even found its way into the Bible.

I think that Luke is telling us that the nobility of the Bereans was good.

But then we have I Corinthians 1:26:

“For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

That no flesh should glory in his presence.”

Thinking of Luke’s use of the word, this kind of nobility is obviously a good thing in his mind.

He considered these Jews as people of character, and humility, intellectual honesty, and a desire for truth.

It wasn’t that they believed everything that Paul told them, in fact they were probably skeptical,

But unlike most of the Jews in Thessalonica, they didn’t just throw his words out the window.

My heart wants to suggest that the synagogue in Berea had an exceptional leader.

He was someone who had, long before the arrival of the Apostle, encouraged his people to search the scripture and taught them that in those scriptures was the source of eternal life.

I had to laugh at A.T. Robertson in his commentary, even though he was very serious about a very sad subject.

He said that when he visited churches in Scotland, the people all came to church with Bibles in hand,

And when the preacher quoted verses or read from extended passages, they opened their Bibles and followed along as he read.

Robertson concluded that was a very commendable practice.

It may be so common among us that we tend to forget that in the vast majority of Baptist churches throughout the United States today the members do not feel that it’s necessary to bring Bibles.

Luke was clearly commending the people of Berea for their attitude toward the Word of God.

So there is nobility and there is nobility.

If you grow up and become mayor of Post Falls, Spokane or even Seattle,

If you become a congressman or a senator, a judge or even a Supreme Court Justice.

If people call you “sir” or even “your honor,”

But you have lost your love for the Bible; you have lost your respect for the Word of God, and you no longer study it,

Then you may be considered part of the gentry and aristocracy, but it will be the worldly satanic version.

The only nobility that matters is the eternal variety.

The only nobility that matters is that which searches the scriptures daily.

There is nobility and there is nobility.

And there is reception, and there is RECEPTION.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they RECEIVED the word with all readiness of mind.”

It appears to me that when Luke used the word “received” he was thinking about the people’s HEARING.

Those noble people HEARD what was taught and preached, just as the Jews in Thessalonica heard it.

But the soil of their minds had been properly cultivated, and it was prepared to ACCEPT the good seed.

Very likely on the first sabbath that Paul, Silas and Timothy were in town, the people of the synagogue were surprised and excited to have visitors in their synagogue.

As was the Jewish custom, scriptures were read out of the law, then out of the writings and the prophets.

At some point one of the men of the group read some Jewish commentary on those scriptures,

And then it was common to permit others to speak, especially if they appeared to be learned men.

On that first sabbath, Paul apparently was asked to speak,

And he began to explain from the scriptures how that Christ must needs have suffered.

He spoke for a while, quoting scriptures all along the way,

But then it was time for everyone to go home.

When asked, Paul said that he & his friends were staying with Jason and would be there for several weeks.

So when the next sabbath came along, I think that many of the congregation came to the service prayerfully asking for the Lord’s blessing and insight on these new interpretations of the old scriptures.

Probably many folk came with questions, and perhaps quotations from some of the more notable rabbis.

And when Paul spoke again, these good people were even more ready to RECEIVE the word.

By the way, I noticed that at least one commentary mentioned that Luke’s use of the word “word” was NOT a reference to Jesus, the Son of God, the WORD of God.

I heartily concur, and wonder if there really are people who think so.

That idea didn’t really cross my mind.

Paul was going to get to Jesus as the Word of God, but not yet.

Luke was talking about all of Paul’s words.

Now, I have to ask you:

There is reception and there is reception; how well do you do at receiving the word?

Some of you have a difficult time staying awake, and therefore your reception is not all that good.

Sometimes I wish that we didn’t have screens in the windows so one or two of you could get some fresh air.

But then I don’t have the faith to raise you from the dead, if you should happen to fall.

Some of you sit with glazed eyes looking toward me, but obviously not seeing or hearing me.

Some of you pick and choose what you’d like to hear me say;

You perk up when the illustration is good,

But when I’m explaining the definition of a word, you couldn’t care less.

Remember that there are eternal consequences in how well you receive the Word of God.

And God holds you responsible for your reception.

There is receiving, and there is receiving.

There is noble and godly receiving, and there is Satanic receiving.

Third, there is searching, and there is SEARCHING.

I suppose that it is not as common today as it has been in the past,

But it used to be that those who hated the Bible and rejected the Bible often intellectually knew the Bible.

My atheistic high school English teacher loved the Bible as an example of 17^th century literature.

Thomas Paine, one of the most noted skeptics and agnostics of the late 19^th century studied the Bible extensively, but his study was in search for things to criticize.

The same could be said of Voltare, David Hume and hundreds of others.

The Lord Jesus spoke of searching the scriptures as a thing very worth while.

But it needs to be done with a noble heart, an honest heart, and with a desire to receive the truth.

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: they are they which testify of me.”

There is Bible searching, and there is Bible searching; and then there is the ABSENCE of Bible searching.

Lastly, there is believing, and there is BELIEVING.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.”

If we got into our time machine and traveled back to Berea or Thessalonica about 2,000 years ago,

And we asked those Jews which attacked Paul and Silas, whether they believed the prophets or not,

I guarantee that they would say that they did.

But they would also say that Paul and Silas were infidels and heretics.

They would say that they believed the scriptures, but that they didn’t believe Paul’s interpretation.

Obviously, there is believing and there is believing.

The truly honourable Greek men and women, and those Jews that accepted the preaching of Paul, believed what he was teaching them, after they had properly searched the scriptures.

But it needs to be added that true faith extends beyond just nodding our heads in agreement with the truth.

I like what was said about the believers in Thessalonica:

“And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas;

And of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.”

“To consort” with someone is to join company with that person.

It is to fellowship with that person because they agree with one another.

To consort requires some sort of point of agreement.

These believers in Berea were GENUINE believers,

And their faith not only changed their minds, but their lives.

There is believing, and there is believing.

Now – what sort of believer are you?