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Moving Forward for Christ
The Book of Acts - Part 45
Acts 13:38-52
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - June 8, 2014
*In the Scripture tonight, Paul was on his first missionary and was about to finish his tremendous sermon in the city of Antioch in modern-day Turkey.
As Paul finished preaching, he sensed that many of the Jews were rejecting the good news.
Those jealous Jewish leaders were about to make the most tragic mistake of rejecting Jesus Christ.
Not only did they reject Christ, they began to aggressively oppose the gospel.
It was a mistake that they regret to this day, and they will regret for all eternity.
*But spiritually blind people still oppose the gospel today.
The church has many enemies, and they seem to be growing stronger every day.
Whether they know it or not, and most of them don't, their leader is Satan.
And though his doom is sure, he still has awful abilities today.
*The devil will not be fully removed from the scene until Revelation 20, and we are not there yet.
So in Luke 22:31-32, Jesus said this to the Apostle Peter:
31. . .
"Simon, Simon!
Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.
32.
But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.''
*In John 10:10, Jesus called Satan a thief and said: "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.
I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
*In Ephesians 6:10-12, Paul said this to Christians:
10.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
*And in 1 Peter 5:8-10, Peter tells us:
8. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
10.
But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
*In all of these Scriptures we see the enemy at work, but more than that, we see the Hand of the Lord at work!
And Satan doesn't stand a chance against the Lord!
God's mighty Hand will prevail!
So, in spite of our enemies, we can still move forward for Christ!
How can we do it?
Tonight's Scripture helps us see.
1. First: We should encourage people to embrace God's grace.
*This is exactly what Paul and Barnabas here.
Notice again what happened as Paul began to close his sermon in vs. 38:
38.
"Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins;
39. "and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
40.
Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you:
41. '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.'''
42.
And when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
43.
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.
*Yes, there were Christ-despisers in the synagogue that day, but in vs. 42 we also see Gentiles who begged to hear the Word of God! How wonderful!
What a blessing to see people hungry for God!
And it wasn't just the Gentiles.
In vs. 43 many of the Jews were eager to hear more.
*I have met people like that.
There was a lot of that kind of hunger in Eastern Europe after the Iron Curtain fell.
Randy Alcorn has a friend who went on a mission trip to Moscow in 1990.
They were there passing out free Bibles to people.
Sadly, they ran out of Bibles, but a man saw one of the empty boxes and asked if he could have it.
Even though he couldn't have a Bible, he wanted to have the box, because it had held the Word of God.
(1)
*The first time I got to go to Ukraine in 1994, we went to a small house church that was packed with people.
We started passing out Bibles at the end of the service.
And some dear elderly Christian ladies were so hungry to have a Bible, they rushed the front of the church twice.
The pastor had to make them sit down, as he assured them that we had enough Bibles for everyone to have a copy.
*Some people are hungry for God and His Word.
And our job is to do just what Paul and Barnabas did in vs. 43: They "persuaded them to continue in the grace of God."
*We need to persuade people to keep trusting in the grace of God, because by the grace of God, Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and rose again from the dead!
*Patrick Morley boiled this great gospel truth down to 6 words: "Adam failed.
Jesus nailed.
Grace prevailed!"
And we need to encourage people to embrace God's grace.
(2)
*Charles Stanley got a lesson on grace when he was a student in seminary.
And he later said: "One of my more memorable seminary professors had a practical way of illustrating to his students the concept of grace.
At the end of his evangelism course he would distribute the exam with the caution to read it all the way through before beginning to answer it.
This caution was written on the exam as well.
*As we read the test, it became unquestionably clear to each of us that we had not studied nearly enough.
The further we read, the worse it became.
About halfway through, audible groans could be heard throughout the lecture hall.
*On the last page, however, was a note that read, 'You have a choice.
You can either complete the exam as given.
Or sign your name at the bottom and in so doing receive an A for this assignment.'
Wow!
We sat there stunned.
Was he serious?
Just sign it and get an A? Slowly, the point dawned on us, and one by one we turned in our tests and silently filed out of the room.
*When I talked with the professor about it afterward, he shared some of the reactions he had received through the years.
Some students began to take the exam without reading it all the way through.
And they would sweat it out for the entire two hours of class time before reaching the last page.
Others read the first two pages, became angry, turned the test in blank, and stormed out of the room without signing it.
They never realized what was available, and as a result, they lost out totally.
*One fellow, however, read the entire test, including the note at the end, but decided to take the exam anyway.
He didn't want any gifts.
He wanted to earn his grade.
And he did.
He made a C+, but he could easily have had an A."
*And Charles Stanley said: "This story illustrates many people's reaction to God's solution to sin.
Some people look at God's standard: moral and ethical perfection and throw their hands up in surrender.
'Why even try?' they tell themselves.
'I could never live up to all that stuff.'
Others are like the student who read the test through and was aware of the professor's offer but took the test anyway.
Unwilling to simply receive God's gift of forgiveness, they tried to rack up enough points with God to earn it.
*But God's grace truly is like the professor's offer.
It may seem unbelievable.
But if we accept it, then, like the stunned students who accepted the professor's offer, we, too, will discover that, yes, God's grace truly is free.
All we have to do is accept it."
That's why we must urge more people to embrace God's amazing grace.
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