Sunday Morning Service

Acts 13:34-52 (Click title for audio access)

"Paul's Sermon, Part III"  •  9.25.11  •  Sunday Morning Service, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- The church is the steward of the gospel message, given to us by God to dispense to every person on the planet. It is a message of hope and life eternal.

- Sadly, the gospel is largely neglected by those who know and radically misunderstood by those who do not know because of those who claim to know!

- The gospel is not the entire Bible, though it is found throughout the entire Bible. The gospel is not that God wants you to be rich, happy or healthy.

- The gospel IS a synopsis of God's redemptive plan, focused on the person and work of Jesus Christ, designed by God to be the doorway into fellowship with Him eternally.

- As a result, any gospel presentation will contain the elements found in this section of scripture. It will begin with what we call "Gospel Events."

- Jesus Christ lived a perfect life according to the Mosaic Law and Holy Scriptures, He died on behalf of sinners, He was buried for three days and on the third day, He rose!

- In this section, we find Paul and Barnabas where we left them last: In the region of Galatia, at a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch.

- We left off with these words from Acts 13:33: "And we declare to you glad tidings—that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus."

- Paul is finishing up his treatise on the gospel events, showing that the resurrection was scriptural.

- God had made a promise to His children Israel, those of the Jewish race, that He would send a Savior. The religious leaders killed Him but God raised Jesus and fulfilled His promise.

- This idea of a resurrection, just like Christ's rejection, had been predicted in scripture.

Text

•  Acts 13:33b  : "As it is also written in the second Psalm: 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’"  :  These inspired words of King David apply to Jesus, not on the day of His birth, but on the day of His resurrection!

- Psalm 2 is about the ascension of a King to the throne, in spite of worldly opposition. The world plotted in an opposite way, but God laughed at them.

- On the day of the resurrection, Jesus rose to the glory of His authority, the realization of His reign as the King of Kings in spite of the world's opinion of Him.

- "You are my Son, Today I have begotten You." Jesus has always been the Son. God affirmed that truth several times during Christ's earthly ministry.

- God, on resurrection day, presented Christ in all of His glory, effectively endorsing once and for all, the perfection of Christ's sacrifice and His right to rule as King of Kings forever.

- The word "begotten" means to come into being. When the resurrection took place, Jesus came into His own. He had always been the Son of God. Now it was unmistakenly proven to all.

•  Acts 13:34,35  :  "And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.' Therefore He also says in another Psalm: ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.’"  : Paul puts two more scriptures together, from Isaiah 55:3 and Psalm 16:10 respectively. Isaiah 55 is a beautiful chapter, inviting people to come to life in God.

- Psalm 16 speaks to the relationship that Jesus had in His Father and that we would also have. The Psalm ends with the quotation, but the invitation: "At your right hand are pleasures!"

- The life that God would give to His people would be a resurrected life, one that would never return to corruption, the word referring to the decaying of the body and a promise of eternal pleasure.

- When God raised Jesus from the dead, it was a permanent condition. Others like Lazarus, had been raised from the dead, but all of them had returned to the grave. This was different.

- Jesus rose from the dead never to die again! God in raising Christ from the dead made Him the firstfruits of what resurrection would be like for His people perpetually.

•  Acts 13:36,37  :  "For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; but He whom God raised up saw no corruption."  : David was a great man. He served His own generation. That is at once,  a great statement and a great question: Are we serving our generation?

- Two things are said of David biblically. First, he was a man after God's heart by having obeyed the will of God. That was his living testimony.

- After he was dead, he had served his own generation by the will of God. They are connected by the will of God. Let us aspire!

- Paul says of David that he fell asleep. This is a distinctly Christian concept. Death is as natural and as harmless as falling asleep , buried with his Fathers, referring to Jerusalem.

- In other words, David could not have written these things about Himself.

- David faced corruption, meaning that his body could easily be found in some form! Not so with Jesus, whose body was nowhere to be found! Jesus saw no corruption.

- This ends Paul's section on the Gospel Events. His life, death, burial and resurrection. Now, he moves them to the "Gospel Call."

•  Acts 13:38,39  :  "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."  : Because the resurrection reveals that Jesus is God's Son and that His sacrifice for sin was accepted, let it be KNOWN to you. This is not a guess or a theory.

- Let it be known to you. This message is for the hearer. The gospel is not trivial pursuit. It is knowledge from God that will transform any life!

- The announcement is that through Jesus, to you, is the forgiveness of sins. Jesus is the vehicle through which God's forgiveness flows.

- The person who would view this as "good news" must first understand the "bad news."  That bad news is that every person who has ever lived is a bona fide sinner by birth and practice.

- That sin, in any measure, is an offense to the holy nature of God, who cannot and will not allow sinful humanity to enter into His presence.

- Paul asserts that through Jesus, forgiveness for those sins is a guaranteed but only through Jesus Christ. No other name is associated with forgiveness. Jesus and Jesus alone!

- It is through Jesus alone that forgiveness, release from spiritual bondage is possible. Think of it this way: Forgiveness is the removal of a mountain sized debt, taking the account to zero.

- God has always been a God of forgiveness, but as soon as the account was at zero, with the next infraction, the account began to build yet again. That's where this next part really counts.

- Through Him is forgiveness and by Him there is justification.

- In Jesus, everyone who believes is justified. Justification is for everyone who believes.

- Everyone who believes what? That Jesus is the culmination of God's redemptive plan.

- What does it mean to believe? The dictionary defines this Greek word as having come to trust and have full confidence in the statement as truth. That is the mental aspect of belief.

- The physical act of believing is to fully commit oneself to that truth, leaving sinful activities and submitting oneself to God's desire for one's life.

- Additionally, to believe in Christ is to actively reject any other notion of righteousness before God. We believe in Christ alone for righteousness.

- Now, let's turn our attention to the word "justified." The word means positively "to pronounce or declare righteous" and negatively, "to pronounce one guiltless."

- Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, totally committing themselves to Him, can be looked at as though they had never sinned.

- If forgiveness is the zeroing out of an account, justification is the line of credit that Jesus earned for His people!

- Christ's sacrifice opened the door for every nation! His sacrifice is sufficient for every person who has ever lived and believed to benefit from the reward due to Him!

- Everyone who believes. That is both the scope and the limit.

- For those who do not believe, it is implicit, but allow me to say it explicitly: There is no forgiveness, no justification before God! The law is alive and condemns that person.

- To those who believe, the law of Moses no longer has a hold over them.

- The law of Moses could never justify a sinner. The law could only show man that He is a sinner! Only belief, total commitment to Christ can justify the sinner.

- Paul moves from the Gospel Call to the "Gospel Warning."

•  Acts 13:40,41  :  "Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you: ‘Behold, you despisers, Marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, A work which you will by no means believe, Though one were to declare it to you.’" :  Here is the dangerous counterpoint. This is why Paul issues the "beware therefore." They were to contemplate their response carefully.

- Paul quotes from Isaiah 29:14 and Habakkuk 1:5.  These two verses declare a unity of thought. To not believe is to despise. To not believe in Jesus is to pridefully hold to another opinion!

- "I won't believe in Jesus because their must be some other way. God will accept me as long as I'm sincere and am a good person."

- That is the ultimate slap in God's face! If that could be true, then why send Jesus! Paul says to them and I say to you: "Beware!"

- Marvel and perish. There are those who think that what God has done is noble and selfless and they admire the possibility. They see the love and marvel, but it never moves them to believe.

- That is the warning here. God has not done all of this, fulfilling His promise in history, sending the Savior Jesus, and raising Him from death just to cause you to marvel.

- He has done this so that you could have a living relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ in the strength of His Holy Spirit!

- Finally, we get to see, at least in the case of the Galatians, the "Gospel Response."

•  Acts 13:42,43  :  "So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God."  : Verse 42 should read just a bit different. Many of the other translations note that "they went out of the synagogue of the Jews," likely referring to Paul and Barn.

- The Gentiles begged, repeatedly, that Paul and Barnabas speak these same things again the next Sabbath. They wanted to hear this good news again.

- Imagine living under the impression that God would never take you as you were. God would accept you only if you became a Jew through circumcision and kept the Mosaic law

- After the service was over, Jews and Gentile proselytes followed after the men. It's notable that they persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

- When you read Galatians, that book begins with an indictment of the church because it had not continued in the grace. This is an interesting moment.

- Paul and Barnabas had to persuade them. The word implies that they had to win them over. This was not a natural decision and there was obvious pressure to the contrary.

- These Jews and proselytes were likely the first converts in Galatia, but the lived in a hotbed of opposing viewpoints!

•  Acts 13:44-47  :  "On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, 'It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.'"  :  The next Saturday was epic! The whole city came to the Synagogue! The word had spread through those that had been persuaded.

- When the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with excitement to see just how positive the response was and how great the opportunity was now to love God together!

- Nope. They saw the multitudes and they were filled with envy or jealousy. They had never seen God work in such a powerful way. And here, He was doing it through their message! No fair!

- Immediately, they went out of their way to fight against this. They set themselves against Paul and when that didn't work, they insulted him.

- Instead of backing down, Paul and Barnabas grew increasingly bold or confident. They knew the truth. They knew there was life in Christ and they recognized this as a spiritual attack.

- They knew also a truth that it would be wise for us to discern. The Jews contradicted and blasphemed Paul and Barnabas, but it was the message that they rejected!

  - In effect, their decision was that they had judged themselves. Ultimately, God will only confirm that which was decided in the response of the individual.

- When a person rejects the message of the gospel, they are judging themselves in that moment. Their hardened hearts reveal the potential of their final separation from God.

- They were unworthy of the believer's reward. The word "unworthy" comes from the marketplace, where value was assessed on a scale. Weight was the determining factor.

- By their unbelief, the weight of their righteousness was nowhere near what the determined weight of righteousness was, which in this case, is belief in Christ.

- It was clear now to Paul, in the case of this region, that they would focus in on the Gentiles. This was not just a personal preference or done to spite the Jews. This was God's mandate!

- Paul quotes from Isaiah 60:3. God was shining the light of the gospel into the darkest place of the world.

•  Acts 13:48,49  :  "Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region." : Paul's words echoed in the hearts of the Gentiles. It worked well for them! To them, this was double good news for he did not need to become a Jew through circumcision to find the life of God.

- They glorified the word of the Lord. They glorified the gospel. They delighted in the gospel. Do you? Do you glorify and lift up the gospel of God? Do you delight in the gospel even now?

- That day, as the gospel was proclaimed, those that had an appointment to eternal life believed. They were ordained, assigned a place for eternal life.

- The word of the Lord spread yet again, this time in the region of Galatia where a church would quickly rise up, but would struggle because of the nature of the group in the next verse.

•  Acts 13:50-52  :  "But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."  :  The Jews of that synagogue had sought to contradict and blaspheme. When that failed, the incited a mob. Who did it begin with? Devout and prominent women!

- Talk about not fighting fair! They also added the chief men. These were important dignitaries, civil leaders, people with authority. These brought persecution and kicked the boys out of town.

- Paul and Barnabas did what Jesus taught His disciples. They rejected the news. They were unworthy of eternal life.

- A Jewish person would shake the dust from their shoes to show that they bore no further responsibility. After they left they came to Iconium, which we'll discuss next week.

- Now, notice this: The Gospel has been rejected. They have been expelled. There is a mob behind them. What is their response? They were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit!

- Neither the joy of the Lord or the Holy Spirit are gifts that only manifest themselves when things are good. The Apostles were filled with joy because they had been obedient to God's call.

- His Holy Spirit filled them to face what would come next.

Conclusion

- As we close, we have seen the Gospel Events. Every time we share the gospel, we must remember that it's about Jesus. He lived, He died, He was buried and He rose again!

- We then must tell them that the Gospel Calls them to believe, turning themselves to Jesus and repenting from all known sin, especially the sin of pride that believes in self-salvation.

- To all men, we would give the Gospel Warning. This good news is bad news if you don't believe it. If it is just a great story or if it is just a noble tale, you have missed everything.

- Finally, there will always be a Gospel Response. Some will oppose you, mock you and maybe even persecute you. But there are some who will have an appointment with heaven.

- The possibility of the latter is worth the risk of the former!