The Sermon of Paul
Acts 13:13-41
October 28, 2012
As you know we have been following the church at Antioch
And their love for God and their subsequent missionary effort.
This church sought God
And God used them to reach the world with the gospel.
And having studied the beginning of this missionary effort,
Tonight we move a little further into this first missionary journey.
And as we dive into this a little
We will really begin to see the plan of God take over.
You will remember the words of the Holy Spirit
To the church at Antioch in response to their fasting and worship.
Acts 13:2 “While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
And we definitely remember what that work was.
Acts 9:15-16 “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
In the letter to the Galatians Paul wrote:
Galatians 2:7 “But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised”
Paul was God’s messenger to the Gentiles.
God had revealed the mystery to Paul
That Gentiles were fellow heirs with the saints of eternal life.
And now that first mission is underway.
However, even with all this calling for Gentiles
We have still yet to see this all-out mission to reach Gentiles.
In fact, you will remember that after Peter saw Cornelius saved he was in trouble. After Peter convinced the church that God was in this, we read the following:
Acts 11:18-19 “When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.” So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone.”
So the church knew Gentiles could be saved,
But were still less than eager to reach them.
BUT GOD WANTED GENTILES SAVED
• And so God brought about the conversion of Gentiles
• And God brought about the church in Antioch
• And God called out the missionary of Gentiles to be on his way
Well, even now Paul and Barnabas are God’s missionaries to the Gentiles and yet, where have they gone?
Acts 13:5 “When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John as their helper.”
They were still headed to the Jews, namely the synagogues,
And that is true even in our text here this evening.
(13-14) “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. But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.”
Now certainly this reiterates to us Paul’s extreme love for the Jews.
Romans 10:1 “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”
We understand Paul’s love for Israel.
But that does not change his calling to go to Gentiles.
What we start to see taking place here is that
Even though Paul is still seeking to reach Jews,
God will take charge and push Paul toward Gentiles.
At the end of this sermon we will note the response.
Acts 13:45-46 “But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “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.”
So in the grand scheme of the book of Acts,
We understand why Luke chose to include this sermon and this incident.
This was a pivotal incident in Paul’s life.
This was the event that really began to push Paul
Toward more of a Gentile ministry.
Paul will pour out his heart with a truly compassionate
And mercy filled sermon and yet Israel will reject it.
This event pushes him toward Gentiles.
It doesn’t mean he never preached to Jews again,
He does in the very next city, but this is where it really all started.
So we see that God is at work pushing the church to reach the Gentiles
And He is doing that through the stubborn opposition of Israel.
However it is also beneficial to see exactly what Paul preached.
And in this sermon we have Paul outlining
The tremendous love and patience and mercy of our God.
The tragedy is that Israel continually rejects it,
But it does our heart good to study it once again
And to be reminded of the God we serve.
There are six points to Paul’s sermon.
#1 THE REMINDER OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE
Acts 13:16-22
So we know that after leaving Cyprus Paul sailed north to Pamphylia
And it was there that John left them.
According to Acts 15:38 Paul says that John deserted them.
• We don’t know why.
• Perhaps the opposition of Bar-Jesus rattled him.
• Perhaps he felt overwhelmed.
• Perhaps he was homesick.
But John left and yet Paul and Barnabas pressed on.
They came to Perga and eventually Pisidian Antioch
Where they went to the synagogue.
(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.”
And so once again we see a door opened for the gospel.
• It isn’t quite the violent rushing wind at Pentecost…
• It isn’t the healing of a cripple by the temple…
• But it is still God opening a door, and Paul will step through it.
And as he begins his sermon
He begins by remembering the providence of God.
And if you will notice Paul has a purposely selective memory.
When Stephen gave a similar sermon in Acts 7
His memory focused on the failings of Israel.
Here Paul remembers the mercy and faithfulness of God.
And you can break this reminder into two main categories.
1) GOD, THE SOVEREIGN SAVIOR (16-19)
Paul references 5 very unique events by which God revealed Himself
In a sovereign way and as a definite savior to Israel.
GOD CHOSE US
(17) “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers…”
Abraham didn’t choose God, God chose Abraham.
God approached Him.
God initiated the relationship.
• Moses said (Deut. 7) Israel was fewest in number and insignificant…
• Ezekiel said (Ezek. 16) Israel was like a rejected baby squirming in blood…
Abraham was a Pagan
Sarah was baron
And yet God chose them.
GOD MULTIPLIED US
“and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt,”
God not only chose them, but He multiplied them an increased them.
Genesis 46:27 says that when Israel entered Egypt they were 70 in number.
But by Exodus 1:7 we read:
Exodus 1:7 “But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.”
God had told Abraham that his descendants
Would be like the sand of the seashore and they were.
God not only chose them, but multiplied them.
GOD DELIVERED US
“and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it.”
You will remember that Israel’s greatness threatened the Pharaoh
And he persecuted Israel and inflicted hard bondage on them.
So God sent forth a deliverer named Moses to lead His people out.
And God did this through miraculous plagues and miraculous deliveries.
It was a supernatural event.
GOD TOLERATED US
(18) “For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness.”
Now there is a true statement if ever there was one.
• We could talk about the golden calf
• We could talk about the grumbling at Meribah and Massah
• We could talk about their rejection of Moses
• We could talk about their affairs with Moabite women
These people continually pressed God.
God Himself said of them:
Hebrews 3:10 “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’;”
These people tested God over and over and over
And yet God tolerated them.
God put up with them.
• Yes they wandered for 40 years, but God never forsook them.
• Yes God moved outside the camp for a while, but He never abandoned them.
God stuck around.
GOD SETTLED US
“When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance”
And after 40 years in the wilderness
God then gave this people the promised land.
Under Joshua we have the conquest
In which God gave Israel a land flowing with milk and honey.
And we read “all of which took about four hundred and fifty years.”
That was the time from the patriarchs through slavery, to the conquest.
For 450 years God continually showed Himself
To be a sovereign savior of Israel.
He chose them and never abandoned them nor failed to deliver them.
God, the Sovereign Savior
2) GOD, THE PROVIDER OF DELIVERANCE (20-22)
Notice in these verses the verbs that are continually used.
(20) “He gave”
(21) “God gave”
(22) “He raised”
These verses picture God as a giver or a provider.
WHAT DID HE PROVIDE?
Deliverance
(20) “After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.”
WHAT WERE THE JUDGES?
Judges 2:13-18 “So they forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken and as the LORD had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed. Then the LORD raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do as their fathers. When the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them.”
The Judges were deliverers, raised up by God
To deliver Israel from her foes who beset her.
We know of Barak, Jephthah, Jehud, Samson, Gideon,
All the way to Samuel, who was the last judge and first prophet.
These men were raised up by God as deliverers.
But as you read, Israel didn’t particularly like the Judges.
WHAT DID ISRAEL WANT?
1 Samuel 8:19-22 “Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” Now after Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the LORD’S hearing. The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and appoint them a king.” So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”
The people didn’t like having judges, they wanted a king.
They wanted someone to organize an army
And go out and fight their battles for them.
And yet, even though it was a rejection of God, God granted their request.
(21) “They asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.”
They wanted a king, God provided a king.
But you remember that Saul wasn’t the greatest king in the world.
• He struggled with obedience…
• He struggled with reverence…
• He even dabbled in witchcraft…
And God rejected him.
And so what did God do?
(22) “After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have sound David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’”
So after they had A king, God provided a GOOD king.
And each of these kings was a deliverer for Israel.
AND THE POINT IS THAT THEY WERE ALL PROVIDED BY GOD.
• He gave the Judges
• He gave the Kings
God was a deliverer.
And that is what Paul reminds this synagogue of here.
We have a God who has chosen to be our Savior,
And who has never failed to provide us with a deliverer.
That is The Reminder of God’s Providence
#2 THE REVELATION OF GOD’S SAVIOR
Acts 13:23-25
After reminding of what God has always done in the past,
Paul now says, “AND GOD IS UP TO IT AGAIN.”
The same savior God, the same delivering God
Is still providing a deliverer.
“From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus”
He gave judges
He gave kings
Now He gives the Messiah
And Paul reminds that this king was announced to them before hand.
(24-25) “after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. “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.’”
Just as God provided deliverers in the past,
God has provided a deliverer today.
So, in essence, God hasn’t changed, He is still saving,
He is still providing a deliverer, just as He has always done.
God hasn’t changed, but unfortunately neither has Israel.
The Reminder of God’s Providence The Revelation of God’s Savior
#3 THE REJECTION OF GOD’S SAVIOR
Acts 13:26-29
God raised up a deliverer and Paul says, we are here to proclaim Him.
(26) “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.”
God has sent us to proclaim this Savior.
WHY?
(27-29) “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. “And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.”
• We are sent to proclaim Him because the people ignored John.
• We are sent to proclaim Him because the people didn’t recognize Him.
• We are sent to proclaim Him because the people rejected the prophets.
We are proclaiming this Savior
Because once again Israel proved true to form.
• When Moses was appointed to deliver, they rejected Him.
• When Judges were appointed to deliver, they rejected them.
• When Kings demanded righteousness, they ignored them.
Well, Israel hasn’t changed.
God sent a Savior / Deliverer and once again He was rejected
First they didn’t recognize Him.
Second they tried to condemn Him.
Thirdly they had Pilate execute Him.
Finally they buried Him.
So God has acted true to form by providing a Savior
And a Deliverer just as He always has.
And Israel has acted true to form by rejecting Him,
Just as they always have.
SO DID PAUL JUST COME TO RUB IT IN?
No.
This is a sermon that speaks of God’s continual mercy and patience.
• You didn’t deserve deliverance from Egypt, but you got it.
• You didn’t deserve God to hang around in the wilderness, but He did.
• You didn’t deserve the Promised Land, but He gave it to you.
• You didn’t deserve judges to deliver, but He gave them.
• You didn’t deserve a King to fight your battles, but He provided them.
• You didn’t deserve the Messiah to come, but He sent Him.
And now that you have killed the Messiah,
You don’t deserve another chance.
But, that really isn’t the nature of our God is it?
The Reminder of God’s Providence The Revelation of God’s Savior
The Rejection of God’s Savior
#4 THE RESURRECTION OF GOD’S SAVIOR
Acts 13:30-37
After killing the Messiah, you deserve to lost all opportunity,
But God is a God of second chances.
“But God raised Him from the dead;”
Now certainly the resurrection has huge theological implications
• It reveals Jesus as the Son of God.
• It validates His righteousness
• It verifies His work of justification
• It also makes His role as intercessor possible.
But aside from the theological points, the resurrection of Jesus
Is one of the greatest second chances God ever gave.
You kill the greatest Savior Israel ever had,
And yet God still gives you a chance to know Him.
God brought Him back to life.
And because this was such a difficult notion for Israel to swallow,
PAUL does spend some time proving the fact.
THE WITNESSES (31)
THE PROPHECY (34-37)
Those points are very similar to the points Peter made at Pentecost.
And that is good news, for look at what Paul says in verse 32
(32-33) “And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 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.’”
And there is Paul’s main point.
Your rejection did not stop the sovereign plan of God.
God made a promise to the Fathers that He would raise up a king on David’s throne and this king would not undergo decay.
God fulfilled that promise to us, by raising Jesus from the dead.
THE POINT?
God has been merciful and patient with Israel since the beginning
And that still hasn’t stopped.
You even killed His Son,
And yet God has still granted you a second chance of deliverance.
God is still putting up with you.
God is still long-suffering concerning you.
And here is what that means for you.
#5 THE REALITY OF GOD’S SALVATION
Acts 13:38-39
Since God has given you yet another chance through Jesus,
Here is what that means.
“that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.”
Now, through Jesus God is offering you two things.
1) FORGIVENESS
2) FREEDOM
Neither of which could be provided by the Law.
The Law didn’t forgive, they Law condemned.
Romans 7:9-10 “I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;”
Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
And thus the Law never gave freedom from sin.
Romans 8:1-4 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
THROUGH THE LAW YOU NEVER EARNED FORGIVENESS
AND YOU NEVER FOUND FREEDOM,
But through Jesus Christ, God has granted you an opportunity
For both of those things.
I know you rejected Him the first time,
But God has given us all a second chance and raised Him from the dead.
And now, you can be forgiven, and now you can be free.
That is the reality of God’s Salvation
#6 THE RESPONSE TO GOD’S SALVATION
Acts 13:40-41
“Therefore take heed”
In other words, this time pay attention.
“so that the things spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: ‘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.’”
If you are wondering what Paul is quoting, it is from Habakkuk.
And if you wonder what that unbelievable work
God was about to accomplish was, this was it:
Habakkuk 1:6 “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who march throughout the earth To seize dwelling places which are not theirs.”
God said the work I am about to do that you would not believe is
I am going to raise up the Chaldeans to come and annihilate you.
And they did.
But in Habakkuk’s day the people would not listen to the warning.
WELL PAUL SAYS, NOW PLEASE DON’T BE LIKE THEM.
• God has given you a second chance to accept Jesus Christ.
• God has raised Him from the dead and sent us to tell you about Him.
• This is God again being merciful like He has always been.
• This is God again being patient like He has always been.
Please take advantage of God’s great patience and mercy
And don’t be like the people of old
Who wouldn’t believe regardless of who came and told them.
AND SO YOU GET PAUL’S SERMON.
It is an all out heartfelt plea to the Jews of his day
To take advantage of the great patience and mercy of God.
The sad things is, as we will see next week, they didn’t.
Instead the Jews rejected again.
Which is why Paul will say:
Acts 13:46 “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “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.”
“You judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life”
What a tragic statement!
They chose to remain lost, but it wasn’t due to lack of effort by God.
And friend tonight I just want to remind you of
God’s great patience and mercy.
• If you are a believer then you can rest in His mercy and patience knowing that God is not the type of God who abandons His people.
• If you are not a believer then maybe tonight you see that God has opened another door for you to respond. God gives a second chance.
2 Peter 3:9-10
“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”
