Day 79

The apostle Paul surely had his fair share of troubles. But most notably, he suffered most from the indignant Jews who simply would not believe the gospel he preached.

At the end of the book of Acts, Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah saying:

"Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand ; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing , and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." (Acts 28:26-27)

He cites this verse to let the Jews know that God had foretold their rejection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. But then Paul tells them that those who will hear and believe, even they will inherit the salvation of God. Ironically, it was the Gentiles (those who are not Jews) who did hear the gospel, receive the gospel, and believe the gospel.

I want you to understand this important point. What we read in Scripture does not mean that all Jews reject Jesus and all Gentiles believe in Jesus. What we ultimately learn is some will utterly reject the messiah Jesus Christ because they have no need of his salvation, while others receive him and believe because they are broken and hopeless and need his salvation.

Those who don't need Jesus think so because they believe they are good enough. Those who do need Jesus believe so because they are plagued by sin and they know it.

Sin touches us all. We are all sinners. We will read about this tomorrow. But those who receive the highest praise are not those who simply believe, but rather, those who examining the word of God for themselves:

"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." (Acts 17:11)

So what does the word say about you? Are you one hearing yet not believing, or are you one searching the Scriptures so that you may know your Lord Jesus Christ?

With love,

Jay