SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP SERVICE, 12 April 2026
Sermon Series: “The Acts of the Apostles” (#26)
Sermon Text: Acts 17:1-15
Main Points:
Introduction
I. The Word clearly proclaimed: God’s ultimatum announced
II. The Word powerfully divides: Faith or rejection exposed
III. The Word rightly received: Noble examination leading to obedience
Conclusion
Last week, news cycles were dominated by reports of a severe warning issued regarding the Strait of Hormuz. The message was unmistakable: comply with the demand, or face the consequences. This is the nature of an ultimatum. It is not a suggestion; it is a final demand issued when matters have reached a breaking point. It forces a decision. Delay is no longer an option.
This geopolitical tension helps us grasp a far more significant spiritual reality. Whenever the Word of God is proclaimed, an ultimatum is being issued—not from an earthly capital, but from the throne of Heaven.
Scripture is not a collection of ancient advice for ‘thoughtful discussion.’ It is a divine confrontation. As Hebrews 4:12 teaches, the Word is “living and active,” piercing to the division of soul and spirit. When the Word is preached, it does not leave us as it found us. It presses a demand upon the soul.
We see this clearly in Acts 17. When Paul entered Thessalonica, he wasn’t looking for academic debate. He reasoned from the Scriptures, proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise, declaring: “This Jesus… is the Christ” (v. 3). That is not a lifestyle suggestion – it is a royal summons. That summons carries weight: repent and believe, or remain under judgment.
In the book of Acts, particularly from our text for today, we find only two responses to such a royal summons. Some are persuaded and brought to life, while others resist and reveal the hardness of their hearts.
And that same reality is present here, right now. To the Word that is read and preached, people either receive it in faith, leading to life, or resist it, remaining under condemnation. As was in the time of the apostles, this has not changed – some believe and are saved, while others reject and remain under condemnation.
Today, we consider the nature of God’s Word: how it brings some to life and exposes others in their rebellion. May we hear it with a readiness to submit to what God has spoken.
I. The Word Clearly Proclaimed: God’s Ultimatum Announced
In Acts 17:2-3, we find Paul in the synagogue, reasoning, explaining, and proving. Notice his source material: the Old Testament. Paul traced the redemptive arc of history to show that the Messiah was not merely a conquering hero, but a Suffering Servant. Without the suffering of Christ, the entire OT sacrificial system remains a mystery without meaning. Every lamb slain and every drop of blood spilled pointed to a Saviour who would bear the weight of sin. Paul’s reasoning carries a sharp logical edge in two points:
First: the necessity of justice – sin brings guilt, and guilt demands judgment.
Second: the grace of substitution – Christ came to do what we, human beings, could never do; He bore that judgment in our place.
Paul is not just offering a ‘new perspective’ on Jewish history. He is pressing a terrifyingly personal implication – that is, ‘If Christ had to die for sin, then, you’re a sinner in desperate need of a Saviour.’ If He bore judgment, then, apart from Him, that judgment still rests upon you.
This is the heavenly ultimatum: Repent and believe in Jesus, the Christ, or remain under the wrath of God. This is not soothing rhetoric or a ‘self-help’ invitation. It is a summons that demands a verdict. The Word of God is never neutral; it confronts your status, exposes your need, and demands a response.
II. The Word Powerfully Divides: Faith or Rejection Exposed
To understand how this ultimatum unfolds, look at the two cities in our text: Thessalonica and Berea. Thessalonica was a bustling, cosmopolitan capital – a ‘Sydney’ or ‘Singapore’ or even ‘Perth’ of the ancient world. Berea was smaller, quieter, and more traditional. On the surface, you might expect the ‘sophisticated’ city to respond one way and the ‘rural’ town another.
But Luke, the human author of the book of Acts, shows us something far more consistent – and far more confronting. In both cities, the same division appears. Some receive the Word with faith, but others reject it in unbelief. Even in Berea, where the response is notably more receptive and the Scriptures are carefully examined, the outcome is still divided – many believed, but not all. The Word does not flatten all hearers into one response – it separates them.
This is because God’s Word does not function merely as information to be evaluated; it functions as revelation that exposes. It reveals what is already true of the human heart before God. Rejection of the gospel is, therefore, not simply an intellectual problem; it is a moral and spiritual resistance. The issue is not lack of clarity in the message, but resistance within the heart – a refusal to bow to the authority of King Jesus and to acknowledge the depth of one’s sin and need.
This is exactly what the Scriptures teach. As Jesus says in Jn. 3:19, “people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” The coming of the light does not merely illuminate – it exposes. And that exposure is never received neutrally.
Some are drawn by grace. Others resist because it threatens what they love. So, the Word of God does not leave people unchanged. It reveals, it confronts, and it divides. It brings some to faith – not because they are naturally more perceptive, but because God in His mercy opens their hearts. And it leaves others in their resistance – not because the Word lacks power, but because the heart resists its claims.
So, in every proclamation of the gospel, this division is already at work: the same Word that saves one will expose another; the same Christ who is received in faith is rejected in unbelief.
III. The Word Rightly Received: Noble Examination Leading to Obedience
Having seen how the Word of God proclaims a heavenly ultimatum, and how it reveals the hidden human heart, thus, divides its hearers into faith and rejection, we now turn to those in Berea who received Paul’s message with eagerness and examined it daily against the Scriptures. We do that not because they were better individuals, but because their response shows us what happens when God, in His grace, brings sinners to the truth that saves.
After the division we see in Thessalonica, the narrative turns to Berea in vs. 10-15, and Luke deliberately slows the account to highlight a very different posture. The Bereans are described as ‘more noble-minded.’ But this is not intellectual superiority, nor a natural openness to religious ideas. Their nobility is defined by their response to the Word itself.
Luke gives us a threefold description of that response. First, they receive the Word with eagerness. They’re not defensive or suspicious; they’re ready to hear. The Word is not treated as a threat but as something worthy of attention. There is a readiness to hear before there is any judgment made.
Second, they examine the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so. This is crucial. Their openness is not naïve acceptance. They do not detach faith from truth. They test Paul’s message against the revealed Word of God. But notice carefully: they do not place themselves above the Word – they submit all claims to the authority of Scripture.
Third, the result is clear: many therefore believe. Their examination does not lead to scepticism, but to conviction. Careful attention to Scripture does not weaken faith – it leads to conviction. So, their nobility is not merely intellectual discipline. It is a posture of heart: receptive, submissive, and responsive to God’s revealed truth.
This is where we must be precise about what saving faith actually is. True faith is not bare agreement with information. It is a yielded response to the truth of God – an embracing of Christ with trust, repentance, and submission. This is why the Bereans stand in contrast to Thessalonica, even though both heard the same Word. In Thessalonica, the Word is resisted and reshaped into hostility. In Berea, the Word is received, examined, and embraced in faith. The same gospel, the same proclamation, the same apostolic witness – but, radically different responses.
The difference is not explained by education, culture, or temperament. It is explained by the response of the heart under the authority of God’s Word. This is the consistent pattern throughout the passage: the Word does not merely inform – it confronts. And when it is rightly received, it does not produce pride or mere curiosity. It produces submission that leads to belief, thus, salvation!
But, we must go one step further. The decisive explanation does not ultimately lie in the Bereans themselves, as though they were naturally more perceptive or spiritually inclined. Scripture does not allow us to find the difference there. Rather, it directs us to God, who works through His Word by His Spirit.
The same Word that confronts the sinner also opens the sinner’s heart. Left to ourselves, the human heart does not welcome the truth – it resists it; it avoids the light; it refuses the authority of Christ. But when God, by His Spirit, works through the Word, He not only presents truth – He enables it to be received. He opens the mind to understand, the heart to respond, and the will to submit.
So, the Bereans’ careful examination of the Scriptures is clear evidence of God’s work. Their eagerness, their attentiveness, their movement toward belief – these are not signs of natural superiority, but marks of grace at work through the Word.
This guards us from a dangerous error – pride in our believing, as though faith were self-produced. Instead, it humbles us to see that even our right response to the Word is the result of God’s grace at work within us. After all, that is why the Saviour had to come and suffer and die, because we could never save ourselves. Then, He rose from the dead to show us what faith given through grace would do to all who believe – everyone who believes is free from sin and death, the wages of sin.
Conclusion
So, the Word of God has been proclaimed. It has issued its ultimatum. It has exposed the human heart, and it has shown us what it means to receive it rightly.
Now, to hear God’s Word is not a matter of interest or curiosity – it is a matter of life and death. To receive it with a receptive heart is evidence of God’s grace at work within you, but to reject it – whether quietly or openly – reveals a hardened heart.
And let us be clear: rejection of the gospel is not due to a lack of evidence, nor to any obscurity in the message. It is the result of moral and spiritual resistance to God Himself.
So, the question is this: will you resist and remain as you are, or will you receive and submit to Christ? Will you persist in the hardness of your heart, rejecting the heavenly ultimatum? This is not a moment for delay. The Lord Jesus warns, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Yet, His invitation still stands even now. He calls you today: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk. 1:15). And again, “Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you … believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (Jn. 12:35-36). Do not resist this grace at work within you, but respond in faith even now – for He who calls you will surely receive you! ***
St Columba's Presbyterian Church 