[0:00] Well, please take your Bibles and turn to the book of Acts, chapter 13. Acts, chapter 13.
[0:10] ! We're going to begin reading at verse 13. Chapter 13, verse 13, and we'll read through the rest of the chapter. Acts 13, 13.
[0:24] From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga and Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. From Perga, they went down to Pisidian Antioch.
[0:38] On the Sabbath, they entered the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the law and the prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.
[0:53] Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said, Men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God, Listen to me. The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers.
[1:04] He made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt. With mighty power, he led them out of that country. He endured their conduct for about 40 years in the desert.
[1:16] He overthrew seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to his people as their inheritance. All this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel, the prophet.
[1:33] Then the people asked for a king and he gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled 40 years. After removing Saul, he made David their king.
[1:43] He testified concerning him, I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.
[1:55] From this man's descendants, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised. Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel.
[2:10] As John was completing his work, he said, Who do you think I am? I am not that one. No, but he is coming after me, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.
[2:24] Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him, they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.
[2:46] Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
[3:00] But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.
[3:11] We tell you the good news. What God promised our fathers, he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm, You are my son, today I have become your father.
[3:24] The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words, I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David. So it is stated elsewhere, You will not let your holy one see decay.
[3:40] For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. He was buried with his fathers, and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.
[3:54] Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
[4:09] Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you. Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.
[4:22] As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
[4:44] On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.
[4:57] Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly, We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
[5:10] For this is what the Lord has commanded us. I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
[5:30] The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city.
[5:41] They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.
[5:54] And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Let's hear the preaching of the word. We're watching the Lord Jesus Christ building his church and we're finding that he wants more than one kind of building material in his church.
[6:13] not just Jews who've trusted in him but Gentiles, non-Jews from all the nations of the earth.
[6:25] The Lord Jesus wants his gospel to radiate out from Jerusalem like ripples of waves that would reach all the way out to the ends of the earth.
[6:39] And last week we saw the three-year-old church plant in Antioch of Syria, a church mainly made up of Gentiles, sending out two of their own teachers, Paul and Barnabas, as missionaries into the Gentile world.
[6:56] And we're starting to see this movement out to the ends of the earth and this book will end with Paul preaching the gospel in Rome. Now, today then we see Paul and Barnabas just beginning this missionary journey and now penetrating further into the kingdom of darkness with the light of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[7:22] A map will help us see just where they're going. Yeah, there we go. this is the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas and it took them about a year and a half to complete it.
[7:39] They were sent out from the church in Antioch, that's a long way from Jerusalem, up here in Syria. They came down into the port city of Seleucia, took a boat out to the home island of Barnabas.
[7:53] This is where Barnabas was from and they preached the gospel throughout the island and there in Paphos they preached and then they took a boat from there up to Perga.
[8:05] That's where John Mark left and went back down to Jerusalem and Paul and Barnabas went on up to Pisidian and Antioch. That's where we're at this morning, Pisidian Antioch, not to be confused with Syrian Antioch.
[8:21] So, hence the name Pisidian, just to make sure that we understand. It's not the same, it's hundreds of miles away, it's quite different. This whole region is present day Turkey. It's the region of Galatia and as Paul and Barnabas come up here, these believers will form one of the churches that make up the Galatian churches to which Paul will write later that epistle to the Galatians.
[8:49] So, we're seeing how it was that the gospel first came to this Galatian area and we're in Pisidian Antioch this morning. At Pisidian Antioch, we find these missionaries at their work, which was to preach the word.
[9:08] That's why they were sent out, that was the work to which they were called and we find them at it. And they're following their usual method, which was if there was a Jewish synagogue to go there first, to preach there first on the Sabbath day and that's where they go and sure enough there is a synagogue, there's a place where Jews are worshiping and even some Gentiles who have said, we don't like these pagan gods, we're going to worship the God of the Jews.
[9:36] And so, there's some Gentiles as well in the synagogue that day. Now, synagogue worship had readings. There was a reading from the law and then a reading from the prophets and after those two scripture readings, the synagogue ruler invited Paul and Barnabas to preach and we wonder if they knew what they were asking for when they asked that.
[10:01] Well, the Lord had obviously opened a door for Paul and he wastes no time in getting up and preaching Jesus Christ.
[10:12] So, he stands, he calls for their attention, listen to me, he says, I've got a message for you and this is the first recorded sermon that Paul preached.
[10:25] Not saying he didn't preach before then but it's the first recorded sermon so we can, we have a sampling here of the way that Paul preached. There's just two major points this morning.
[10:36] It's Paul's sermon and the people's response. His sermon is to proclaim the word of God and so it's loaded with scriptural quotations from their, the Jewish Old Testament scriptures.
[10:47] It's full of the history of the Jews found in their, their scriptures. Well known stuff to, to any Jew. And his whole concern here is to show that Christianity is not something entirely new but is rooted in the Jewish scriptures themselves.
[11:09] You can't dismiss Christianity as, as some newly invented religion as a, as a novelty because it has its roots in your own scriptures he's telling them.
[11:21] Your own history of long ago. So salvation in Jesus Christ is not some new thing but it's the fulfillment of all that your scriptures have promised.
[11:34] So he takes them on a quick overview then of God's dealings with his people in the Old Testament. fulfillment and he lands upon some of the main points in their history that would be well known to the Jews.
[11:47] So he says that this God of Israel chose your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Chose them to be his people and, and then he prospered them in Egypt and then he delivered them out of bondage there and he led them through the desert for 40 years and gave them the promised land after chasing seven nations out.
[12:07] And all this took about 450 years of history. And then he gave them judges to rule over them and then kings after the judges. First Saul then David a man after his own heart and that covers about another 400 years of history.
[12:26] And then Paul takes a leap a thousand year leap from David King David to Jesus Christ. He beats a trail to Christ as fast as he can go and so he doesn't just keep going about all the kings that came and went he just goes from David to that promised son of David Jesus Christ.
[12:50] In other words the message that he preaches is about Christ and that's why he gets there quickly. From David's descendants he says God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus as he promised as he promised Christianity is no new man-made religion that's how it was being pawned off and accused of being no no not at all rather it is the fulfillment of your own scriptures all your history all of your scriptures were pointing toward this coming Savior that God would send and he has sent him and his name is Jesus you see the Savior was not David or any other kings that came after him they were painfully aware of that none of their kings could bring about the salvation that was promised could bring about the deliverance the kingdom of God on this earth it wasn't
[13:58] David or any of the kings it wasn't John the Baptist he came and everybody flocked to him but he told him I'm not the one it's not me don't look at me he's coming after me and I don't even deserve to be the lowliest servant to him and so he came the Savior Jesus that's what he tells them he came and our rulers and the Jews they didn't recognize him he didn't fit their idea of the Messiah and of the Savior they were looking for one to deliver them and to save them from the Romans the Roman armies and Jesus came to save his people from their sins aren't you glad he didn't come to save the Jews from the Romans but that he came to save sinners from their sins how kind a Messiah Jesus is so they condemned him to die they didn't recognize him and they condemned him to die but you know what in doing so they fulfilled the very words of the prophets that are read every
[15:05] Sabbath you've just had a reading from the law and the prophets and those words are showing that Jesus is the fulfillment of those words down to the very detail what they did to Jesus was just fulfilling what your own prophets have said in the scriptures is being betrayed by a close friend it's in your scriptures is being falsely accused that they had no proper ground for a death sentence it's in your scriptures is being beaten whipped spit upon beard plucked out is being condemned to die and even the very kind of death that he would die by being hung upon a tree it's in your scriptures is being mocked and his thirst is being forsaken by God and man is being pierced and yet not having a bone broken is dying with thieves all of this is fulfilled in rich details in the very words of your prophets that are read every
[16:12] Sabbath day you see how he presses it again in verse 29 he says that when they had carried out all that was written about him what did they do to him all that was written about him then they took him down from the tree and laid him in the tomb it was all according to God's plan you see a plan that God revealed in their Old Testament scriptures he said he would do this and now he has done it in Jesus of Nazareth now here's an important lesson history is the account of what God has done in the world now kids they won't tell you that in the public schools that history is what God is doing in the world but it's the truth for all things are from him and through him and unto him and as we read history God is the main actor on the stage that's how Paul tells history he chose your fathers he blessed them in
[17:14] Egypt he set them free he kept them in the wilderness he drove out the seven nations you see history is what God does it's his story history and he works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will he plans it and then he works it out in time that's what history is and it includes such things as we see here the rise and the fall of nations driving out some planting others that's God's business the movement of nations the places where they settle and reside the putting down and raising up of kings and presidents that's his business the raising up and putting down of judges and prophets the sending of the Savior Jesus his life his death this is what God is doing in the world it's all happening according to
[18:15] God's plan I wonder if that's your view of history is that the way you view history who is controlling who is determining the events of history is there a divine plan behind it all that's being worked out or is it just all random human events with no real plan at all even in condemning and executing Christ nothing was done that God had not determined beforehand would happen yes even the the whores that were done to God's own son part of his plan it's his story it's his his work Matthew Henry says it's possible that men may be fulfilling scriptural prophecy even when they're breaking scriptural precept you get it it's possible for men to be fulfilling the decreed will of
[19:19] God even while they're breaking the declared moral will of God so they condemned and killed the righteous one well that's against the precepts the moral will of God and yet in doing it they fulfilled the plan of God the decree of God and yet God is not the author of their sin and he holds them responsible for what they did God is sovereign he's governing the whole plan every detail in it nothing from the throwing of the dice it's answer every time is from the Lord according to his plan Proverbs 16 33 and yet man is responsible for every action he takes they were not forced to kill Jesus God did not force them they did what they wanted they didn't like him he didn't fit the kind of salvation they wanted and they murdered him so God is sovereign man is responsible but let's take comfort as we read and view the news today we're in the midst of the taking down of one leader and the putting up of another do you know there's a plan do you know there's a story for the outcome of it all
[20:40] God is sovereign history is the account of what God has done in the world so as you watch the news make sure you don't factor God in don't factor God out of the news but to say oh this is what God is doing in the world today I don't understand why but I worship him I ascribe to him the fact that he is king over all the earth to know it's all fulfilling his plan whether we're talking about world history US history or your personal history well worship the God of history after executing Jesus he was taken down and put into a tomb but God it's one of the but God but gods of the scriptures but God raised him from the dead and he was seen by eyewitnesses and this resurrection of Christ from the dead was also foretold in your
[21:45] Jewish scriptures we're telling you that the good news that what God promised our fathers in the Old Testament he has fulfilled for us his children by raising up Jesus this too was foretold and he gives three different quotes from their own scriptures Psalm 2 Isaiah 55 Psalm 16 God promised David not to let his holy one see decay he wasn't talking about David David died his body decayed is in some grave over in Palestine to this day but not so Jesus God didn't let his holy one see decay but raised him from the dead and so the resurrection of Christ I tell you synagogue people the resurrection of Christ my brothers and Gentiles here was not some newly invented story not some absurd claim about Jesus of Nazareth that after he died he came it's in your book it's in your prophets you've heard them perhaps right here in this synagogue read talking about this resurrection and I tell you it's happened and his name is Jesus and so he's proving from their own scriptures that Jesus is God's anointed king and savior his messiah and he is alive and well
[23:09] Jesus is the sequel to the Old Testament prophets the Old Testament had its sequel and the new and Jesus fulfills the Old well he comes then to his conclusion which is the climax of his sermon and the conclusion is to move them to a believing response to the message that he's bringing them it's the whole point of the sermon he's been coming to this this is what he's after he's going for the jugular now he wants them to believe on this Jesus the only savior of sinners therefore there's the summing up word you see therefore light of all that I've said so far therefore do you know that whenever God speaks to men he expects a response from them this morning you are hearing God's word he expects a response and Paul's making that clear to them
[24:10] God never speaks without expecting a response this is the application this is what you're to do now in light of what God has said in his word therefore my brothers I want you to know this is something I want you to know I want you to know what is happening right now as I'm preaching to you in the act of preaching right now this is what is happening you're being offered something that you cannot refuse without eternal consequences the forgiveness of sins I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed right now to you the offer is on the table for forgiveness of sins that through him through Jesus everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses so don't sit passively under the preaching of the gospel
[25:14] God is making an offer this morning he is present with his gospel preachers and he himself is offering forgiveness of sins full forgiveness okay so take all your sins that have heaped up like a debt against God for which he's going to judge you and damn you and here's the offer you can be forgiven all of them they off the slate covered the slate clean slate right with God you'll be justified with God declared not guilty but but righteous before God so that as God and his law looks upon you the declaration as the gavel comes down is not guilty but righteous no problems between this man and my law no problems between this man and me he's right with me that's being offered this morning it was being offered 2000 years ago when Paul was preaching in Pisidian Antioch it's made whenever the gospel goes out don't just sit there passively
[26:20] God is expecting a response from you but this forgiveness of sins this justification and being made right with God is only through Jesus through Jesus through him the offer is yours through Christ salvation is found in no one else he's the only savior God's given us and it's in him that we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins there's no other blood that will cover your sins so well that they'll be gone remembered no more completely forgiven but Jesus blood does that and if you trust in him he will forgive you and don't think that just by being a good Jew you can be justified through the law of Moses no your obedience to the law is flawed you've never obeyed a commandment perfectly there's sin in your best obedience and so your efforts at trying to obey the law only condemn you you're still guilty of sin and as for the sacrifices of the mosaic law those endless sacrifices of the blood of goats and sheep and bulls they cannot cleanse from sin they were never meant to point the offer to the coming
[27:51] Lord Jesus Christ and so as they laid their hands upon the head of the little! lamb and confessed by faith they were seeing that their sins could be transferred from them onto the head of the innocent sacrifice and that's what they were doing as they waited for the lamb of God to come they were trusting that God will send a lamb God will provide the lamb and our sins can be transferred to him and he can stand and pay for all of our sins that we can be forgiven and right with God you couldn't be forgiven and made right with God by all your obedience and by all your sacrifices from the Mosaic law but through Jesus forgiveness!
[28:36] is being offered being right with your maker and judge notice he says it's promised forgiveness this salvation is promised to everyone who believes on Jesus through him everyone who believes is justified now remember Paul's speaking to mainly Jews and a few stragglers of Gentiles and he's making clear that they're all included everyone Jew Gentile rich free young old everyone that believes will be justified that's his message what about you are your sins forgiven are they never going to be brought up against you in judgment to condemn you are you trusting in Jesus to make you right with God Paul's final word is a serious word of warning I find it interesting that Paul was not afraid to send his hearers home with a warning ringing in their ear we don't have to come to the end of the service and get everybody feeling real good about themselves what does
[29:45] Paul do in Pisidian Antioch he ends with a sober warning and people leave with the sound of the judgment day ringing in their ears now that's not what church growth experts will tell you to do but that's what the apostle sent and guided by the spirit did on this occasion take care watch out take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you you read the prophets every Sunday here every Sabbath here make sure that what they have said doesn't happen to you and he quotes from Habakkuk 1 5 look you scoffers wonder and perish for I'm going to do something in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you Judah the nation had scoffed at the word of God God had offered them forgiveness it was a word of grace if they would just repent from going their way and return to the
[30:46] Lord and confess their sin and trust in him he would forgive them and heal their land but they scoffed at the word of the Lord and so he brought judgment look you scoffers wonder and perish I'm going to do something you that barbarian Babylonian army ruthless bloodthirsty just mowing down people with no care of their age their gender whether they were infants or old people I'm going to bring them in judgment down upon you so Paul's warning is that whenever people refuse God's word they invite God's judgments now I have just brought to you God's own offer it's on the table forgiveness being right with God through Jesus oh accept him accept him because if you don't you invite
[31:52] God's judgment such as you have never even imagined much less heard of you see they're beat in the heart of Paul the heart of his savior who warned men of the coming judgment and the hell to follow the wrath to pay for sin and if sweet will not win them perhaps the bitter will chase them into Jesus arms but they need to get there because it's only through Jesus that the forgiveness of sins is found it's Jesus or judgment and Paul tells them that as they leave so how will you escape if you neglect so great a salvation so great a savior as Jesus God's one and only savior well that's Paul's sermon that's where it ends it's bible based it's christ centered it's evangelistic it's passionate it's clear and it's applied to those who are present well we want to come then to the second part of the chapter and that's the people's response the people's response it's effect what effect did it have on the people who heard it and you must know that
[33:11] God's word never leaves you as it finds you you came in in one state of spiritual heart and mind and you will leave in another you don't leave as you came either the word of God will soften you and move you toward Christ or it will harden that heart and move you further away from him when God speaks his word has that effect either hardening away from Christ or drawing to Christ so what was the response well we see here in Pisidian Antioch what we see everywhere what we see everywhere in the book of Acts in the gospels Bible what we see in Bremen wherever you live it's a mixed response isn't it Jesus said that in the parable of soils!
[34:07] didn't he? these different responses and we find it no different today do we? it seems that initially on the whole the people were interested and wanted to hear more in fact they invited Paul and Barnabas come back next Sunday next Sabbath day tell us more about this in fact some couldn't even wait a week but as soon as they were dismissed they followed Paul and Barnabas and wanted to know more and they gave them more right there on the spot it seemed that light was starting to dawn well during the week the news of Paul's message spread like wild fire must have been the hot topic of discussion in every coffee house in every hair salon every little league baseball game everybody's talking about have you heard what these preachers have said so that by the time the next Sabbath rolled around nearly the entire town has come out to hear
[35:10] Paul and Barnabas they've come to synagogue now remember this is a Gentile city and so the synagogue the Jewish synagogue is crawling with Gentiles nearly the whole town can you name one town in the United States that has come out to hear the word of God I can think of any this is a phenomenal thing they're coming they're interested they want to know and there are many Gentiles among them well when the Jews and especially their leaders saw this interested crowd of Gentiles flocking to hear about Jesus they were filled with jealousy jealousy and at least on two accounts first they were jealous of Paul and Barnabas popularity we never drew crowds like this nobody ever came flocking to us and now here comes these two peddlers of of the religion of Jesus and people treat them like celebrities who do they think they are anyway and they were jealous of them they thought they were coming to steal their potential converts to
[36:21] Judaism these Gentiles who had an interest perhaps in becoming Jews and being circumcised and trying to keep the law of Moses and these are sheep stealers they were jealous of them but they're also jealous and offended at their message that salvation is being offered as freely to Gentiles as it was to Jews and it wasn't at all based on keeping the law of Moses but believing in Jesus of Nazareth you see the Jews prided themselves in being Jews being the circumcised the people of God and in keeping the Mosaic law and they thought that that gave them brownie points with God that God would forgive them and accept them in heaven and they would be immune to judgment because after all we're the seed of Abraham we're Jews but here's a message that cuts right through all that and treats Jews and Gentiles as equals as equals in being guilty sinners!
[37:20] under God's wrath without Jesus but also equals in that if anyone Jew Gentile believes in Jesus they'll be forgiven and made right with God all that rubbed them the wrong way that's why jealousy filled their heart so there's their heart and it's just plumb full of jealousy that means it was controlling them it ate them up and what fills our hearts will soon fill our mouths it's out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks and it says they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying jealousy in the heart did not allow them to say one good thing about Paul or his message they abused him with their language I believe it was the kind of words that we would not want to repeat this morning as they came down hard on
[38:24] Paul and his message wanting to discredit him in the face of the hearers just like Elemus the sorcerer did with the proconsul so they now too are not only rejecting the gospel themselves but they're also trying to turn others away just like Elemus did don't pay attention to these guys he tried to divert them remember now that's what they're doing here these Jewish leaders they're talking down Paul and his message you know that's the devil at the bottom of it all that's doing the devil's work to draw people's attention away from Jesus Jesus had those kind of people those kind of Jews in his own day Matthew 23 woe woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees you hypocrites you shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces you yourself do not enter nor will you let those enter who are trying to do so and so here are the religious leaders of the
[39:27] Jews and they see these Gentiles coming with interest in the message about Jesus and they slam the door in their face by trying to divert them away neither! they won't accept the message of forgiveness through Jesus and they don't want anybody else accepting it either that's devilish and what fickleness in the Jews that a week earlier were showing such promising interest in the gospel but now for the most part want nothing to do with it and we see this morning what we'll see throughout the book of Acts that opposition to the gospel arose more often from religious Jews than it did from pagan Gentiles and so even the religious folk sometimes are doing the devil's work in opposing the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone there's another lesson here and it's that those who reject the gospel of Christ are thrusting eternal life away from themselves when they reject the gospel they're not just pushing away the gospel the message they're pushing away eternal life they're judging themselves unworthy and unfit for eternal life that's what
[40:41] Paul and Barnabas answered they spoke abusively to Paul and Barnabas and Paul and Barnabas stood up and said boldly we had to speak the word of God to you first but since you rejected and did not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life we now turn to the Gentiles to reject God's word and savior is to judge yourself unfit for eternal life because this is the message that God has given concerning his son that he has given us eternal life and this life is in his son he who has the son has life but he who has not the son of God has not life when you reject Jesus you reject eternal life you say yourself I don't want eternal life I'm not I'm not fit for eternal I don't care to have it and so Paul says if you reject the gospel there are others who won't and so we turn now to the
[41:42] Gentiles and that becomes the pattern in Acts they'll go into the synagogue if there is one and they'll labor there with the gospel with varied interest and then suddenly the Jews will turn on them and they'll go out and take the gospel to Gentiles who will hear we see it here for the first time so clearly we turn now to the Gentiles why did they turn to the Gentiles well Paul tells us verse 47 for this is what the Lord commands us this is what the Lord has commanded us and the command he quotes is from Isaiah 49 6 where God says to his son Jesus it's too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept I'll also make you a light for the Gentiles that you might bring my salvation to the ends of the earth just saving Jews that's too little for you Jesus the father says I'm going to have you become a light to the Gentiles and bring salvation my salvation to the ends of the earth and Paul quotes that and he applies it to himself the reason we turn to the
[42:49] Gentiles is that God has commanded us but it's clearly a singular both cases where God is saying to his son I will make you singular a light for the Gentiles so that you singular may bring my salvation to the ends of the world the earth God's talking to his son Jesus he's the light of the world and he will enlighten the Gentiles and bring God's salvation to the ends of the earth why does Paul take that command and take it to himself because Jesus said as the father has sent me so send I you and how are the Gentiles in the ends of the earth ever to be enlightened with the gospel and to enjoy the salvation of sins forgiven unless you take that message Jesus the light of the world has lit you up so that now his light shines in you and you are now to be the light to the Gentiles and Paul himself was told on the day of his conversion that God was sending him to the
[43:54] Gentiles this was the fulfillment of the great commission that it's not just for Jews but God's heart is open to the Gentiles and so we turn now to the Gentiles we offered it to you first but we turned to the Gentiles and when the Gentiles heard this they were glad and honored the word of the Lord and all who were appointed for eternal life believed there's a lesson there the same message that made some mad made others glad same message it was the good news it was the gospel of forgiveness through Jesus and it made people mad does that not show the twisted perverted heart of man to take good news and turn it into mad news oh but the Gentiles were glad and for good reason they're being offered a full forgiveness of all their sins being right with God their maker and judge so they were glad and they honored the word of the
[44:54] Lord by believing the promise okay I'll take the offer I'll trust in Jesus to save me from my sins and so they were made glad no wonder they were glad happy is he whose transgressions are forgiven whose sins are covered I mean covered gone in the blood of Jesus happy is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him has rather the righteousness of Jesus put to his account on the books of heaven and so gladdened by the good news they honored the word of the Lord and believed these Gentiles notice the word of the Lord is honored by believing it it's honored when you believe it so God brings you his word you either honor it or dishonor it most of the Jews dishonored it by rejecting it these Gentiles honored the word of the Lord by believing it and then notice fifthly God is sovereign in salvation the gospel was offered to all everyone who believes is forgiven is justified through Jesus but who will believe only those whom God has appointed for eternal life you notice the end of verse 48 and all who were appointed for eternal life believed the gospel went out to all
[46:18] Jews and Gentiles every single one who was in the hearing of the apostle Paul that day and who believed Luke tells us as he writes this all who were appointed to eternal life believed notice it doesn't say the opposite it doesn't say all who believed were then appointed to eternal life no the appointing to eternal life came first and those are the ones who believed have you believed on the Lord Jesus to save you if so you can humbly acknowledge that it's only because God first had appointed you to eternal life had enrolled your name in the Lamb's book of life Jesus says all that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out but before they come to me the Father must give them to me all who were appointed to eternal life believed whosoever will may come so there's the gospel and over its door says whosoever will may come whoever believes anyone who believes will be justified and forgiven and you take him at his word and you believe on Christ and you go through the door of salvation and you look back and over that door you see appointed from all eternity to eternal life chosen in
[47:47] Christ before the creation of the world appointed to eternal life oh is it not humble us to see that God first had to do something or we never would have believed in Jesus where did you get your faith no one can come to me unless the Father draw him we had to have God work upon our souls sovereignly in order to make us come to Jesus well that's what he says all who were appointed for eternal life believed well our time is gone the word of the Lord spread through the whole region because they spread this good news the Jews being jealous stirred up some leading men and women Gentiles of the city and they in turn stirred up persecution and had them expelled from the city there's no neutrality to the gospel so expelled
[48:49] Paul and Barnabas walked out of Pisidian Antioch and as they did they left two things behind first they left the dust of their feet behind they shook it off in protest against them we don't want to have anything of you left on us because you're rejecting God's word and that brings judgment we don't want that and they shake it off of their sandals their robes but they left something else behind many happy newborn disciples of Jesus you see what it says they were they were joyful they were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit who gives the joy you see and well they might rejoice all their sins forgiven ready for the judgment Pisidian Antioch would never be the same because of the gospel that came to town that day it didn't leave them as it found them left some mad and rejecting Jesus persecuting the messengers expelling them left others glad forever what is the word of God done to you today made you rejoice in all that's yours in Jesus forgiveness of sins justification freely given you know this Jesus has brought this gospel all the way from Jerusalem to Bremen
[50:13] Indiana and Jesus is making that offer and many of you have taken him on the offer and you've trusted in Jesus amazing mercy that we've even heard the message when you think of how many never do you've heard what are you doing what will you do this morning believe right now and go home glad forgiven right with God and then go and tell others the good news of forgiveness through Jesus God Savior let's pray we thank you our father for giving us to see this morning the message that you sent out into the world in the mouth of the apostle Paul and we thank you that it's the same gospel that's saving people today here and around the world we thank you that it's reached us and that it's reached many of us indeed most of us with the power to change our hearts and to turn us from our way to casting our lot upon
[51:14] Christ and trusting in him to save us oh then let us rejoice and shout the message to others that our Lord Jesus saves! bless the day to us and the word to us that we've heard we ask in Jesus name Amen