Acts 13:13-52 - Jesus, Paul, & Psidian Antioch
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING Acts 13:13-16]
13 Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14 But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, “Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” 16 Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:
[PRAYER] Lord, help us to listen close…
[CONTEXT] Why would you go to strange places to tell strange people about Jesus when that going is so difficult?
Last week we began to study the first missionary journey of the Apostle Paul and although Paul and his companions had one confrontation with a Jewish false prophet, they were victorious by the power of the Spirit, and the beginning of this journey seemed smooth.
They were set apart by the Spirit, sent out by the Spirit, and filled up by the Spirit, what could possibly go wrong?
Well, in the second part of Paul’s first journey, difficulties arose.
One difficulty was John Mark’s departure.
He assisted them on the first leg of their journey, but for reasons unknown to us, he left them at this point and returned to Jerusalem.
Another difficulty was the rift between Paul and Barnabas.
Later in Acts its clear that Paul viewed John Mark’s departure as abandonment. Barnabas, however, saw it differently or forgave it more easily. It later caused Paul and Barnabas to split up their missionary endeavors, but the rift between them likely began developing just as soon as John Mark left.
Another difficulty was Paul’s sickness.
Pisidian Antioch was in the region of Galatia, and when Paul wrote his letter to the Galatian Christians, he said…
Galatians 4:13 (NASB95)
13 … you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time…
This illness left Paul in a pitiful state for he says in Galatians 4:14…
Galatians 4:14 (NASB95)
14 …that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.
And this illness may have affected Paul’s eyesight because he also says to them…
Galatians 4:15 (NASB95)
15 For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.
These were the difficulties experienced by Paul and his companions as they left Perga in Pamphylia, traversed the Taurus mountains, and entered Pisidian Antioch in Galatia.
They were a man down, at odds with one another, and Paul was seriously sick.
Why would you go to strange places to tell strange people about Jesus when that going is so difficult?
Because the glory of God in Jesus Christ is worth the trouble.
Because in every place God has His people, but we don’t know who they are until we preach the good news, the Gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.
Because when the lost hear the Gospel, those God chose from before the foundation of the world believe and God is glorified..
Those chosen by God choose Jesus.
There were some in Pisidian Antioch who were appointed to choose Jesus.
That’s why, despite the difficulties, Paul and Barnabas went to tell them about Jesus.
They went into the synagogue, the local Jewish worship center, on the Sabbath day.
The service began with reciting the Shema, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God…” and so on.
Then there would be prayers, a lesson from the Pentateuch (i.e., the first five books of our OT), a lesson from the prophets (i.e., the rest of our OT), an expository sermon, and then a closing blessing.
Paul and Barnabas sat through the service. As faithful Jewish men, they were comfortable in that environment.
They reverently listened.
They patiently waited.
Then they were invited to say a few words of exhortation if they had any to share, and boy did they have words to share.
There were two distinct groups in the synagogue that day: the men of Israel and those who fear God.
The men of Israel were Israelites, blood-relatives of Abraham, the father of the Jewish people; they were the chosen people of God.
Those who feared God were Gentiles who, while not being blood-relatives of Abraham, nevertheless revered YHWH, the God of Abraham, the God of the Israelites.
Paul will preach the same Gospel to both groups—the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Those who are truly chosen by God and those who truly revere God will be revealed in their response to the Gospel Paul preaches, so Paul says, “LISTEN…”
16 Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:
[ILLUS] Listening to Paul’s sermon on Jesus is the most important thing we can do this morning.
This past Wednesday night, we had with us Bro. John Baldwin and Adoration, the ensemble he leads from FBC Fairhope.
They are preparing for their upcoming trip to Scotland where they will be sharing the Gospel through the songs they sing and the conversations they have.
Bro. John said that they would be visiting some churches on the smaller islands around Scotland where he said the people don’t say much and they listen a little harder.
Will you listen a harder to the message Paul preaches this morning?
Will you listen a little closer to this sermon on Jesus the Savior?
[CIT] The theme of Paul’s sermon is how ‘the God of the people of Israel’ (17) ‘has brought to Israel the Saviour Jesus, as (God) promised’ (23), (Stott).
Therefore, these Jews and Gentiles in Pisidian Antioch should trust in Jesus as Savior.
[PROP] We too should trust in Jesus as Savior.
[TS] So listen close as we look at three PARTS of Paul’s sermon…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Part #1: The Savior (vv. 17-39)
Part #1: The Savior (vv. 17-39)
17 “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it.
[EXP] Paul began his Gospel presentation with a point he knew his audience would agree with: God chose Israel as His people.
Paul said to his fellow Jews, “God saved us out of Egypt.”
Then Paul said, “God put up with us in the wilderness.”
18 “For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness.
Then Paul said, “God distributed to us the Promised Land.”
19 “When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took about four hundred and fifty years.
The time spent in Egypt, in the wilderness, and conquering the Promised Land was about 450 years.
Then Paul said, “God gave us judges, prophets, and kings.”
20 “After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 “Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 “After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’
In all of this early history of Israel in vv. 17-22, please notice that it is God who does it all.
HE saved them from out of Egypt.
HE put up with them in the wilderness.
HE distributed to them the Promised Land.
HE gave them judges, prophets, and kings.
And then Paul said that God has done something even greater; he said, “God has brought to us a Savior, Jesus!”
23 “From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,
In Jesus God brought…
…a greater salvation…
…a greater patience…
…a greater victory…
…a greater Judge…
…a greater Prophet…
…a greater King!
Sure, David may have been a man after God’s own heart, but he was still a great sinner in need of even greater Savior.
Jesus, the sinless Son of God, is that Savior David needed, and He is the Savior I need too!
[ILLUS] I have some men that I look up to; men that I consider to be my heroes.
Gary Permenter, my youth minister during my high school years, is one of them.
I look up to other preachers like Sinclair Ferguson and Alistair Begg.
I marvel at the grace of God in men like John Owen and Charles Spurgeon.
But all of these men would say, “Don’t look at me! Jesus is the Savior you need!”
True heroes point us to Jesus.
The Jewish people had heroes as well. They had heroes like Moses and Joshua and Samuel and David, all of whom are mentioned or alluded to in this portion of Paul’s sermon, but all of those men would say to Israel, “Don’t look to us! Jesus is the Savior you need!”
[APP] Do you see Jesus as the Savior you need this morning?
Do you see the sin and brokenness in the world around? Do you understand that the healing we need only comes from Jesus the Savior?
Do you see the sin and brokenness in your own heart this morning? I’m afraid so many of you are still playing the comparison game.
“Well, I’m doing better than most. I’m in worship this morning.”
“Well, I’m doing better than most. I’ve never been arrested.”
“Well, I’m doing better than most. I’ve provided for my family, been faithful to my spouse, and paid my taxes.”
But doing better than most is not the standard.
Perfection is the standard, and no matter how highly you think of yourself, you are not perfect!
And because you are not perfect, you need the Savior, Jesus!
Are you listening close this morning?
You need Jesus the Savior because He is worthy!
23 “From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, 24 after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 “And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
The Word of God in the OT said that a forerunner would come to pave the way for the Savior. That forerunner was John the Baptist.
Jesus said that no man was greater than John the Baptist, and yet John said that he wasn’t even worthy to untie Jesus’s sandals, which was the job of the lowest slave.
If the greatest man to ever live isn’t worthy to be Jesus’s lowest slave then Jesus is infinitely worthy.
You need Jesus the Savior because He is the fulfillment!
26 “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27 “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him.
Because they were hard-hearted, the Jews in Jerusalem didn’t understand the Scriptures that pointed to the Savior.
Because they didn’t understand the Scriptures that pointed to the Savior, they didn’t recognize Jesus as the Savior.
Even so, their rejection and condemnation of Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures about Him.
You need Jesus the Savior because He was crucified!
28 “And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. 29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.
He died for our sins according to the Scripture.
He was buried.
He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
You need Jesus the Savior because He was resurrected!
30 “But God raised Him from the dead;
He was raised to appear to witnesses who were testifying to His resurrection even as Paul preached!
31 and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.
He was raised just as God promised!
32 “And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33 that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; today i have begotten You.’
He was raised to never die again!
34 “As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ 35 “Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.’ 36 “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; 37 but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.
You need Jesus the Savior because forgiveness and freedom are found in Him alone!
38 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.
We sin when we disobey God.
Disobeying God in any way big or small is a sin.
One who sins is called a sinner, and because God is life and God is holy, every sinner deserves death. Every sinner deserves hell.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In other words, there is forgiveness of sins in Jesus who died our death to pay for our sins and rose from the dead to give us His new life!
This is has been the message of Acts since we began our study…
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
31 “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”
38 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
Are you listening close? Do you know that you need forgiveness? Do you know that you need freedom?
Our sin (our disobeying God) put us under the curse of death, and our best efforts are powerless to free us.
God gave His people His law, His commands. It was everything they needed to do to live free of the curse of death as much as possible.
But all God’s law did was show God’s people that they were slaves to sin.
No matter how hard they tried, even the best of them could not use the law to free themselves from sin.
But there is freedom from sin in Jesus!
Galatians 5:1 (NASB95)
1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free…
Galatians 5:13 (NASB95)
13 For you were called to freedom…
Romans 8:2 (NASB95)
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
John 8:36 (NASB95)
36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
Jesus died so we could be forgiven.
Jesus rose so we could be made free.
We are forgiven…
We are free…
…if we trust Jesus as Savior.
I trust Him as my Savior.
Please trust Him as your Savior.
[TS]…
Part #2: The Warning (vv. 40-41)
Part #2: The Warning (vv. 40-41)
40 “Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: 41 ‘Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish; For I am accomplishing a work in your days, A work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.’ ”
[EXP] This warning comes from the Prophet Habakkuk. The judgement of God was coming on Judah. And although it seemed unbelievable to the people of Judah, God was going to use the Babylonians to bring destruction upon His rebellious people. The people in Habakkuk's day scoffed at the idea of such a thing. It seemed ridiculous to them. And then they perished.
They were told.
They didn’t believe.
They perished.
Paul warned the Jews in Pisidian Antioch against following the same pattern.
Paul had told them about the Savior, Jesus.
Paul had told them about the destruction that awaited those that scoffed at Him.
Would these Jews believe or would they perish?
Would they believe or would they scoff?
[ILLUS] To scoff is to express disbelief in a dismissive, scornful way.
At the beginning of basketball games, there is the tip-off.
Once during a church-league basketball game, my team decided that I would jump for the tip-off.
Right before the ball went up, I heard a lady from our church scoff from the stands, “Oh Lord, Rocky’s jumping for this?”
She didn’t believe I could do it so she scoffed.
She might’ve been right, but if we scoff at Jesus we will be wrong.
[APP] Are you listening close? If we scoff at Jesus, if we scornfully dismiss Him in unbelief we will suffer eternal destruction in hell.
In that place the smoke of the unbeliever’s torment will go up forever and ever (Rev. 14:11).
In that place the devouring worm does not die and the consuming fire is not quenched (Mk. 9:44).
Hell is real.
Scoffing at Jesus in unbelief will send you there.
But hell is avoidable.
Trust in Jesus as your Savior and you’ll never see hell.
Jesus went through hell for you on the cross.
He took your sins to the grave for you.
He rose from the dead to give you eternal, resurrection life.
Why would you scoff at Him?
Why would you not trust Him?
[TS] Notice how those in Synagogue responded…
#3: The Response (vv. 42-52)
#3: The Response (vv. 42-52)
42 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath.
[EXP] Some wanted to hear more. These were the seekers.
But there were also some believers.
43 Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God.
But the next Sabbath day some opposed Paul and Barnabas. These were the blasphemers.
44 The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.
The Gospel of Jesus is the good news of God’s grace in Jesus Christ revealed by the Holy Spirit.
To oppose the Gospel is to oppose the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
To oppose the Gospel is to call God a liar, God’s Son a fraud, and God’s Spirit evil.
To oppose the Gospel is blasphemy.
In response to the blasphemy of those scoffers, Paul and Barnabas said…
Acts 13:46–47 (NASB95)
46 “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 “For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, That You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’ ”
The Gospel of Jesus is first for the Jews. He is the Jewish Savior. Thus, it was fitting that His Gospel be first preached to the Jews in Pisidian Antioch.
But when they rejected Jesus as Savior, they judged themselves unworthy of the eternal life offered in His Name.
In rejecting Jesus, they had chosen eternal destruction rather than eternal life.
Then Paul and Barnabas turned to the Gentiles.
While the Gospel is to the Jew first, it is also to the Gentile (Rom. 1:16).
Paul, Barnabas, and others would shine the light of Jesus among the Gentiles bringing salvation to the end of the earth just as the Prophet Isaiah said (cf. Isa. 42:6; 49:6).
These Jews scoffed at Jesus, and the Gospel went to the Gentiles.
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
God has His people the world over.
He chose them before the foundation of the world.
The preaching of the Word of the Lord—the Gospel of Jesus Christ—reveals those He appointed to eternal life as they trust in Jesus as Savior.
Although these Jews rejected Jesus, the Gospel spread throughout the region.
49 And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.
Although these Jews persecuted Jesus, the Gospel went to Iconium.
50 But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust of their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.
They rejected Jesus, and now the salvation that Jesus offered went somewhere else.
[ILLUS] Please listen closely: We need to embrace Jesus as Savior while we have the opportunity for we might not always have the opportunity.
They say opportunity only knocks once. After that, you’ve missed your chance.
Because God is abundantly gracious, the opportunity to embrace Jesus as Savior typically knocks over and over again, but we never know when it will knock for the last time.
Imagine Jesus stands at the door of your heart knocking this morning. He’s been at your door before. He’s persistent, but you’ve never truly opened the door to Him. The knocking stops, and you peak through the peep hole just in time to see His back disappear around the corner.
Will He call on you again?
Maybe so.
Maybe not.
I don’t know.
You don’t either.
You had better open the door to Him today.
[APP] Trusting Jesus as your Savior is a right now sort of thing. It’s not a “when you’re ready” sort of thing.
If He’s knocking, open the door.
If you continue to refuse, it won’t be long before He goes to knock somewhere else.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
The end of the matter is found in Acts 13:52…
52 And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus had been proclaimed as Savior.
Some believed.
Some rejected and even persecuted those who believed.
But the Gospel continued to go forth.
And through it all, the disciples of Jesus were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
If you’ve never trusted Jesus as your Savior, believe the Gospel.
He is the good news of forgiveness and freedom that perhaps you’ve been yearning for.
If you’ve trusted Jesus as your Savior, thank God for your salvation.
The God of the people of Israel has brought to you the Saviour Jesus as He promised.
Thank Him!
Rejoice in Him!
Be filled with His Spirit!
And go tell others about Him even when its difficult.
[PRAYER] Father, let your let shine on us this morning…