How Did Paul Make the Jews Envious?

Search the Scriptures Daily Program #2406d Transcript follows: UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES We resume our excursion through the Book of Acts. Here again are Dave and Tom: This is our Understanding the Scripture segment, we are in the book of Acts Chapter 13, and Dave, we pick up with Verse 44, and of course this, as I mentioned easily each week just before I go into this, this is Paul’s missionary journey, and he is speaking to the Jews in the synagogue, this is his first missionary journey recorded in the Bible. Verse 44: “And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.” Dave: He’s been preaching in the synagogue, as you intimated, now everybody, the non Jews say, Well, wait a minute, how come we can’t get in on this, too? So, you’ve got to have a bigger place to hold the crowd, and it doesn’t explain all of that, but anyway, almost the whole city comes together because---Tom, I’m reading between the lines now--- Paul is actually a fantastic artist, and he could just paint icons and paint Jesus and they prayed through these icons and that made them all feel closer to God. Tom: Dave, do I detect a little satire, sarcasm, Something? Dave: Yes, dripping from my words! It says, “almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God, okay. That’s what we need, but Tom, as you know--- Tom: Dave, we are a visual generation, I mean, how many times have I heard that! The American Society, one of their goals is to put the entire Bible on video, won’t that be wonderful! Dave: Tom, don’t get us started talking about that---it’s the Word, the Word of God, preach the Word. But anyway, they came together to hear the Word of God, and Tom, this is what we need in our churches. You talk to people, I talk to people all the time, I can’t find a church, they say, where they really preach the Word of God---they’ve got little skits and then they’ve got a video, and then they’ve got this, and they don’t really get into the Bible. This is the Word of God! Jeremiah said, “Thy words were found, I did eat them.” In Psalm 1, the man meditates on the Bible day and night, on the word of the Lord. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Okay, so let’s have the Word of God, and this is what Paul is giving them. Let me go back, Tom, and repeat myself again, but we call our ministry, The Berean Call, from Acts 17:11. We emphasize the Bereans search the scriptures daily, but that verse also says: The Bereans were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received THE WORD with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily to see whether what Paul said was true. Tom, we need to get back to them in our churches today. Tom: Dave, you know, there’s a practical side to this, and maybe there are some pastors who listen to the program. You know, there’s a phrase: What brings them in, keeps them in. If you bring them in and think you have to entertain them with all of these items--- Dave: To get them there. Tom: To get them there, well, you have to keep upping the ante. You have to push, as it were the envelope with regard to music and drama and production and all of that stuff to keep them---because you are appealing to their flesh. Well, that’s a bottomless pit. Dave: You are in competition with the world. Tom: Right. On the other hand, if you bring them in, as God’s Word says, as you just quoted from Acts 17:10 and 11, right in there, if you bring them in with the Word and they get excited about that, how wonderful could it be for a pastor. They are excited about the Word, I’m going to preach the Word! And, if it’s the Word being preached it takes the pressure, in a sense, off the pastor because it’s the Holy Spirit who is the teacher then, with His Word. Dave: Amen. Well, what surprises me about this, Verse 45, You would think that the Jews would be really excited---Look, Wow, God’s Word has come, look at the people responding, but here’s what it says: “But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things that were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.” Now Dave, we have to make a distinction here, because Paul’s a Jew, those who accompanied him on his missionary journey they were all Jews. They went to the prophets, the Old Testament prophets, Tanakh, to explain and teach the word. So this isn’t saying all the Jews were upset with it. Dave: Well, actually Tom, as we dealt with in the earlier chapters, Chapter 10, for example, the disciples, they thought this was only for Jews. And remember, God had to let a sheet down from heaven to convince Peter. It’s all through the Old Testament. When Jesus said, Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, didn’t that say, all nations? Didn’t that tell them? And it’s all through the Old Testament. Genesis 12, Verse 3, He’s saying to Abraham, Yes, you’re the chosen one, and your descendants from Isaac and Jacob and so forth, the twelve tribes, these are my chosen people, and the Messiah will come from them. But God said, In you and in your seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. He says the same thing to Isaac in Genesis 26, the same thing to Jacob in Genesis 28. So the disciples should have known this. All the ends of the earth shall hear, the scripture says, Malachi 1:11, The day is coming when the Gentiles--- My name will be great from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same among the Gentiles, and in my name shall the Gentiles trust. So, all I’m trying to say is, Tom, the disciples should have known, it’s all through the Bible, Jesus told them, but they didn’t as Jews because there were so many scriptures in the Old Testament---we talked about it---You’re my chosen people, the gods of the nations are idols, you know, you have the true God. And so they were so bound to this idea that they couldn’t see, Yes, but this God is the God of all people, and the Messiah is the Savior of all people. So now it’s not surprising then that Jews have this sense of exclusivity. You quoted, or read from Leviticus Chapter 20 Verse 24: I have separated you from all other people. So, they have got one side of the picture, and they are jealous now, Wait a minute, Gentiles can’t get in on this, too! So they began to bad mouth Paul. Tom: “They were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.” Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles” Dave: Boy, that made them angry, and of course Paul and Barnabas are going to get thrown out of the synagogue, not only here, but in other places. But this is the gospel, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. He came unto His own, John 1, His own received Him not. Okay, as many as received Him, to them He gives the power, the authority, the right to become the sons of God. We're born again through faith in Christ. It’s to the Jew first. Jesus, in fact, said: I’m sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, not to the Gentiles yet. But they crucified Him, and that made it possible for all mankind to be saved, and Paul says, to their rejection, the gospel is opened up to the world. So, it’s a tragedy, and Tom, today---and I have many, many Jewish friends. We had many meetings for Jewish people, we’ve had hundreds of Jewish people come to our home, and we present the gospel to them, the truth, the Word of God, and yet, to this day many Jews, most Jews, reject Jesus as the Messiah. Dave and Tom will resume their discussion on the topic of salvation next week, we hope you can join us. This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. This is T. A. McMahon inviting you to visit our home town of Bend, Oregon, and take part in a discernment conference titled: Today’s Seduction of Christianity. The theme is to alert Christians to beliefs and practices that are undermining the sufficiency of the scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Topics include: Church Growth Through Marketing and Purpose Driven Methods; The Psychological Seduction and Corruption of Counseling; The Catholicizing of Evangelical Christianity; The Emerging Church Mystical Movement; The Popular Perversions of the Bible; The Islamic Threat, and much more. Join me, along with Dave Hunt, Greg Durell of Reaching Catholics for Christ, and authors, Dr. Martin and Deidre Bobgan, for a time of great teaching and wonderful fellowship this coming November 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Don’t miss this terrific opportunity to come to beautiful Bend, Oregon, and meet the staff and visit the offices of The Berean Call. We hope you can join us for The Seduction of Christianity Today Conference at the beautiful brand new Riverhouse Hotel and Convention Center here in Bend. The conference will begin Friday morning with an open house at The Berean Call, and will conclude at noon Sunday after worship and a special message from Dave. Make plans to join us for this important seminar, The Seduction of Christianity Today Conference, November 3rd, 4th, and 5th, in Bend, Oregon, sponsored by The Berean Call. For information go to our website at www.thebereancall.org, or call us toll free at 800-937-6638. Space is limited and you can save substantially by registering before August 1st, so please make your reservation soon, call 800-937-6638. Would you like to expand your knowledge of God’s Word? We offer a wide variety of items that will greatly assist you from books and tracts to audio and video recordings, CD-ROM, our internet website and much more. For a complete list of materials, or to get a copy of today’s broadcast, write to us at POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708. Call us at our toll free order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit out website at www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast on tape or compact disc, ask for Program #2406, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. Get a pen or pencil ready, we’ll repeat our contact information in just a moment. Next week we will continue our series of programs based on Dave Hunt’s book, When Will Jesus Come? and, What makes the Jews so special? In Religion in the News, Jesus Married With Children? We’ll take a look at that story, and address the question: What about the DiVinci Code? We hope you can tune in. If you have questions of comments about this program, we urge you to contact our offices. Search the Scriptures Daily Radio Ministry is made possible by God’s grace, your prayers and your financial support. I’m Gary Carmichael, and for Dave, Tom, and everyone here at The Berean Call, I would like to thank you for joining us, and invite you to tune in again next week. Until then, if you desire to know God’s truth, search the scriptures daily. You’ve been listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. For more information about The Berean Call, write to us at POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call us toll free at our order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. Join us again next week for Search the Scriptures Daily, featuring Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon.