Men Who Have Turned the World Upside Down

Acts 17:1-15

Message 6 in our 9-part series on the Acts of the Apostles.

Sunday, June 1, 2014Speaker: Doug Virgint

Outline

1. The cities

2. The listeners

3. The message

4. The reaction

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Outline

1. The cities

2. The listeners

3. The message

4. The reaction

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The cities - Thessalonica• Chief city of Macedonia

• Rich port city

• Main trade route between fertile farm land to west and ocean trade route

• Most imports and exports for all Macedonia passed by Thessalonica

• Founded by Cassandra (one of Alexander’s generals)

• Named for Cassandra’s wife (Alexander’s half sister)

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The cities - Thessalonica• Paul followed the “Egnatian Way” – an important

Roman road

• From Philippi, Paul traveled 33 miles south to Amphipolis

• Then on 27 more miles to Appolonia

• And a further 40 miles to Thessalonica

• Perhaps Paul wanted to get far away from Philippi

• And perhaps he wanted to work in a city with a synagogue and a large Jewish population

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The Egnatian way

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The cities - Thessalonica• Cicero called this city “the bosom of our domain”

• It was a “free” city – no Roman garrison

• They could make their own laws

• 200,000 people

• This was close to the time when all Jews had been banned from Rome because of riots.

• The political leaders perhaps feared losing their status if there was unrest.

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The cities - Thessalonica

• Paul preached only 3 Sabbaths in the synagogue

• But he must have stayed longer because Philippians 4:18 tells us that the church in Philippi sent money at least twice to support his ministry while he was in Thessalonica

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The cities - Thessalonica• The Greek word “city authorities” is “politarchs”

• This word appears only here in the whole Bible and is not used in any secular ancient Greek manuscript

• For many years people felt this was an error in the Bible

• Then, in 1835, an inscription over a city gate in Thessalonica was found

• 16 or more additional inscriptions found since

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The cities - Thessalonica

• Luke uses many words to describe the authorities in areas visited by Paul

• “Praetors” in Philippi

• “First man” for Publius in Malta

• “Asiarchs” in Ephesus

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The cities - Thessalonica• Despite doubts, archeology has proven that Luke

was right every time.

• Luke was a careful and accurate historian.

• And these are clear proofs that Acts was written at about the time of the events – titles changed so quickly.

• Sometimes a particular title was used only for a very few years – but it was always during the time of Paul’s visits.

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The cities – Berea

• Located 50 miles from Thessalonica

• Cicero tells us that it “was off the beaten track”

• Not on the “Egnatian way”

• It too had a synagogue and a Jewish population

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Outline

1. The cities

2. The listeners

3. The message

4. The reaction

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The listeners

• Jewish people from the synagogue

• Greek (gentile) proselytes and “God fearers”

• Highly placed and intelligent women

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Outline

1. The cities

2. The listeners

3. The message

4. The reaction

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The message

• It was necessary for Christ to suffer

• It was necessary for Christ to rise from the dead

• Jesus is the “Christ”

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It was necessary for Christ to suffer

• This universe was created by the Lord God Almighty

• All men and women exist because of the creative power exercised by the Lord God Almighty

• We owe our allegiance and obedience to Him

• But like our first father and mother, Adam and Eve, we have lived in rebellion against Him

• We are sinners and thus subject to God’s eternal judgment

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It was necessary for Christ to suffer

• God is just and must judge and punish our sin

• Because of his character He cannot just overlook our sin and rebellion

• But He is a God of love and mercy, and thus He has provided a way for our sins to be forgiven and for us to be reconciled with Him

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It was necessary for Christ to suffer

• The Old Testament is full of pictures that show us how God planned to forgive us for our sin

• It is through “substitution”

• The penalty for our sin is death – but in his mercy God has provided a substitute to die in our place.

• When Adam and Eve sinned, God killed an animal to provide clothing to cover them

• The patriarchs offered an animal as a sacrifice to temporarily cover their sin – a symbol of substitution 23

It was necessary for Christ to suffer

• In the temple the Ark of the Alliance was overshadowed by gold cherubim – powerful angels who symbolized God’s presence. The Ark was a box containing the law of God. These angels constantly looked down at this law – the evidence of our disobedience.

• Once a year the blood from a sacrifice was sprinkled on the Ark’s cover, symbolically hiding the broken law from God’s eyes.

• But these were all just symbols.24

It was necessary for Christ to suffer

• We know that we are sinners and that we have offended the sovereign holy God of the universe.

• Instinctively we are looking for a way to find forgiveness.

• Paul explained that all these Old Testament symbols pointed to Christ.

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It was necessary for Christ to suffer

• Jesus was the perfect Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, God Himself.

• He came to earth and took a human body.

• He was perfect and sinless.

• On the cross he offered himself as the only perfect, acceptable sacrifice.

• He took our sin on himself and suffered the punishment our sins deserved.

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It was necessary for Christ to suffer

• God treated Him as if He had committed every sin that we have committed.

• He was the perfect accomplishment of all those Old Testament symbols.

Story of the Cossack chieftain

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Necessary for Christ to rise

• How can we be sure that Christ is really God?

• How can we be sure that God really accepted his death as our substitution – that our sins have already been punished in Him, that our debt has been paid?

• When Christ was raised form the dead, it was the proof that God had accepted Christ’s substitutionary work.

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Jesus is the Christ• From the time of Adam and Eve, men have been

waiting for a Savior.

• He was promised throughout the 2000 years of Jewish history.

• Hundreds of prophecies gave hints and evidences so God’s people would know Him when He would come.

• Paul showed how Christ had accomplished every one of those prophecies.

• He is the Christ!29

Outline

1. The cities

2. The listeners

3. The message

4. The response

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The response

• Some people were not interested.

• Some people opposed the message of Christ, and caused a riot.

• But many people in Thessalonica and Berea received the message of Christ.

• In Berea they studied the Bible for themselves to make sure that what was being said was true.

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The responseThis morning, God requires that you receive Christ:

– That you accept His sacrifice for you.

– That you believe in Christ.

– That by faith you appropriate what He has done for you.

•Will you accept Christ this morning?

– It is the only way to receive forgiveness and the assurance of eternal life.

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