Acts 13:13-52. Forgiveness of Sins and Freedom in Christ. September 5, 2021

in together before we sing a closing song so that's what's happening for the rest of the day uh you know each week as a pastor i have this great privilege of spending about two to three hours a week studying one passage of scripture i do this in preparation to stand behind or most the time actually on the side of this pulpit and preach to you the word of god i'm grateful for the privilege and i do feel the weight of this responsibility and i spend that time studying because i know that what you need is not some 41 year old's opinion about things i know that what you need are not my entertaining stories i know that what you need are not some lame dad jokes from a guy like i mean i like them and i've got one for you you want to hear one so uh this is not what you need i know it but so i went to the doctor this week and told him that i keep hearing this buzzing in my ears i asked him like what's what's the deal i keep hearing this buzzing in my ears and the doctor told me well there's just a bug going around so um so that's it see like you don't need that like you don't need me to do that every week so i don't like this might be the first joke i've told in like eight and a half years because my jokes are lame here's what here's what is powerful though what is powerful is the very word of god and so that's what i come into the pulpit wanting to communicate with you so i spend some time each week studying so that what the scripture text says is what i want to communicate what the tone of the text is should be the tone of the message that i share with you i want us to understand it i want us to feel it right i want us to be shaped and molded by it and changed because we sat under the preaching of god's word so i preach a sermon and there's application points i mentioned life groups we have life groups that are going to start to meet here pretty soon and those life groups will gather together and in part what they're going to be doing is digging a little bit deeper into the application points of the message because we don't want to be people that just hear the word but people whose lives are transformed by the word so i want to preach the word that we might hear it and allow it to affect how we think and how we feel and how we live today though we are looking at a longer passage of scripture we've been in this series in the book of acts and today we're looking at a passage that is 40 verses long the majority of the passage the interesting thing is the majority of the passage that we're looking at today is actually a sermon so i'm kind of preaching a sermon about a sermon okay so that's why if you look inside your bulletin there's a sermon notes page and you'll note that even the points of the sermon are sermon notes okay so we've got the setting of the sermon the text of the sermon application of the sermon and then response to the sermon is what we're going to look at today so our custom is usually that as i read the word of god the whole passage that we're going to be looking at that day we stand and we're going to do that but rather than me reading all 40 verses while we're standing we're gonna stand here in just a moment i'll pray i'll read the first four verses and we will by the end of the sermon have read through each of these verses but we're not going to do it all at once while we're standing up ready so let's go ahead and stand if you're able i'll pray and then read the first four verses here of this passage father thank you for your presence with us thank you that your holy spirit dwells in all of us who believe and i thank you that your holy spirit inspired luke to write every one of these words and i pray that your holy spirit would be at work now that you might build us up that we might be more and more molded by your word so that we are the kind of people that you call us and equip us to be in this world for the good of others and for the glory of your name in jesus name we pray amen acts chapter 13 beginning in verse 13. god's word says this now paul and his companions set sail from paphos and came to perga in pamphilia and john left them and returned to jerusalem but they went on from perga and came to antioch and passidia and on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down after the reading from the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them saying brothers if you have any word of encouragement for the people say it so paul stood up and motioning with his hand said men of israel and you who fear god listen amen you can be seated so that's the setting of the sermon right the setting is remember just a quick review for those of you who haven't been with us the book of acts is about how the work of jesus continues through holy spirit empowered believers who go to be his witnesses in jerusalem and to judea and samaria and now just last week we started this section in chapter 13 where the gospel is going now to the ends of the earth we saw the first overseas mission trip take place literally overseas as paul and barnabas and john mark get on a ship and sail to the island of cyprus in the mediterranean and now where we're at in verse 13 is they have finished their portion of the mission trip there and they've got on another ship and they're heading north to the mainland of what is modern day turkey so there's a map i think on the the next there we go map so they started in antioch of syria and they've gone over to the island of cyprus now they went up to perga and the setting for today's message is a different antioch it's not the one they left from it's antioch and pisidia which is in modern-day turkey not modern-day syria so you kind of get where we're at geographically um so that's that's the setting of the sermon and you noticed as i read that portion that it says on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down antioch in pisidia was a city in which many of the people in that city didn't worship the god of the bible many of them worshiped the roman emperor so that was what was most common in that city most people in that city would worship the roman emperor yet even though it was pretty far away from jerusalem it was a city where a lot of jewish people lived and because a lot of jewish people lived there there was a synagogue in that city and so on the sabbath day paul kind of as had become accustomed a little bit for him knowing that i'm going to find some jewish brothers here who will be ready hopefully to hear the gospel goes to the synagogue and in the synagogue the word of god is read the hebrew scriptures the law and the prophets and then did you hear that invitation allah i mean what a great invitation it said in verse 15 brothers if you have any word of encouragement for the people say it we just got invited to share the gospel with a bunch of people who desperately need to hear the gospel if you've got any word of encouragement say it so paul stands up and motions with his hand some of you make fun of my hand motions it's biblical paul did it so do i right so so he's motioning with his hands and um he says this men of israel and you who fear god listen okay he's just calling them listen and he's addressing them as men of israel and you who fear god so gathered in that synagogue are jewish people right but also god-fearing gentiles so so a mixture of jew and gentile gathered together in a synagogue and paul is now going to start preaching the sermon and he begins by saying listen so that's the sermon setting a jewish synagogue in antioch and pisidia now the sermon text he addresses the audience and then he getting out when uh when i preach a sermon most of the time it's about 15 verses or so that we cover on a sunday morning today's a longer one 40 verses paul's sermon text is pretty much the whole old testament and part of the gospels right so so he's biting off a big chunk of scripture to all share in one sermon so much so that he he has to be very selective you'll notice this right he's very selective in what he chooses to share but really in the first verse of the sermon verse 17 he's summarizing genesis and exodus first two books of the bible summarized in one verse verse 17. let's look at it the god of this people israel chose our fathers that's how his summary of the book of genesis the god of this people israel chose our fathers god calling abraham out of all the peoples on the earth making a promise to him so that's how he's summarizing genesis and then he summarized exodus this way and made the people great during their stay in the land of egypt and with uplifted arm he led them out of it so god beginning to fulfill his promise to make a great people they're in egypt and god rescues them from slavery that's the story of exodus he goes on verse 18 and for about 40 years he put up with them in the wilderness i love that translation you know like we so he's summarizing kind of the book of numbers if you read the book of numbers you see god's constant provision so he could have said and god provided for them for 40 years in the wilderness but in the book of numbers you also read don't you the constant complaining and whining of god's people and so instead of saying for 40 years god provided for them he's just honest he says for 40 years god put up with them in the wilderness right so god put up with them in the wilderness for 40 years going on to verse 19. now he's summarizing the book of joshua and after destroying seven nations in the land of canaan he gave them their land as an inheritance all this took about 450 years and after that he gave them judges until samuel the prophet so now he's summarizing the book of judges and first and second samuel then they asked for a king remember this and god gave them saul the son of kish a man of the tribe of benjamin for 40 years and when he had removed him he raised up david to be their king of whom he testified and said i have found in david the son of jesse a man after my heart who will do all my will so there is his summary of the old testament kind of walking us through god's promise to abraham and god's promise to david so he's walking us through the old testament and he's trying to prove one point he's not just telling retelling the story he's retelling the story in order to prove a point what's his point that all of this verse 23 was pointing to this of this man's offspring okay so so from the lion or a descendant of david god has brought to israel a savior jesus as he promised and so paul's summary of all of that he he quickly summarizes all of the old testament in order to say it was all pointing to this one jesus god fulfilled his promise by giving israel a savior named jesus one in the line of david and then he starts to summarize the early parts of what would be the gospels they wouldn't have had them a written copy of them at this point in antioch and pisidia but we have a written copy now where he says this in verses 24 and 25 before his coming john had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of israel and as john was finishing his course he said what do you suppose that i am i am not he no but behold after me one is coming the sandals of whose feet i am not worthy to untie so the most recent prophet early in the new testament gospels is a guy we call john the baptist he's now referring to him he too just like the old testament books before him pointed ahead to jesus the promised one the messiah the savior and that's what john came to do as well right now let's go back to verse 20 well not back go ahead to verse 26 because remember who paul is talking to he's talking to a group of people gathered together in a synagogue most of them likely jewish and also some god-fearing gentiles so knowing his audience he's going to start quoting a whole bunch of their scripture so look at verse 26 brothers sons of the family of abraham another way to refer to the jewish people and those among you who fear god that's the god-fearing gentiles right to us has been sent the message of this salvation so so there's kind of like a climax here a little bit as he says we've walked through all of your scriptures scriptures that you've been learning since childhood and i'm here to tell you the message of salvation is there and it's found in this person israel's savior and messiah jesus look at verse 27 then for those who live in jerusalem and their rulers because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every sabbath remember they just got done reading the prophets on the sabbath right and he's reminding them listen in jerusalem that stuff was read every sabbath but here's what they did fulfilled them by condemning him verse 28 and though they found in him no guilt worthy of death they asked pilate to have him executed so paul's getting to the heart of the gospel all of scripture was pointing ahead to this jesus and then here's what happened though he had no guilt in him he was condemned and executed he was crucified put to death on a cross right verse 29 and when they had carried out all that was written of him they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb so paul has an opportunity to stand up and talk to these people what message is he sharing he's starting where they're at you know the scriptures and i'm telling you all these scriptures point to jesus and as he gets to jesus he's make sure he's telling them of his guiltless life of his death of his burial and then the next verse verse 30 but god raised him from the dead of his resurrection the people there in antioch and pasitia needed to hear the gospel and the gospel begins with jesus life death burial and resurrection verse 31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from galilee to jerusalem who are now his witnesses to the people right a whole bunch of people after jesus was raised from the dead got to see him and they're out now they're they're his witnesses in jerusalem judea samaria now to the ends of the earth just continuing jesus work i love paul's proclamation of the gospel to the people there it's what jesus has done he continues then in verse 32 and we bring you the good news that what god promised to the fathers okay you've been waiting for the promise to be fulfilled what god promised to the fathers this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising jesus as it is also written in the second psalm you are my son today i have begotten you he is quoting there i told you he's going to start quoting a bunch of their scripture he's quoting psalm 2 verse 7 the resurrection of jesus is a proof that jesus is the king god's son that's what david that's what paul is saying in his sermon there then he goes on verse 34 and as for the fact that he raised them from the dead no more to return to corruption he has spoken in this way now he's going to quote isaiah 55 verse 3. i will give you the holy and sure blessings of david then he's got one more scripture quote verse 35 therefore he also says in another psalm you will not let your holy one see corruption that's psalm 16 verse 10. and then he describes it a little bit that's what you do in a sermon you share god's word and then you try to explain it so they get it he's making the connections for them he says this in verse 36 for david after he had served the purpose of god in his own generation fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption so he's just pointing out listen you all think like david was this this prime example of the king but david's dead so these psalms they weren't all only about david because david's dead he saw corruption verse 37 but he whom god raised up did not see corruption these are about jesus these things that you as the as the people of god have been gathering together to pray and to sing throughout the centuries the prophecies of the prophets and the psalms of the psalmist all of those things the law everything pointing ahead to jesus you've been waiting for the fulfillment of the promise and he is here so david certainly making a strong case using a great sermon text basically the whole old testament and what now we know as the gospels i think it's a great sermon but he's not done yet because a good sermon has some application points too right and what's the application point for the people there what's the application of paul's sermon for the people gathered there in antioch and pasidia let's look at verses 38 to 41. by the way let me just point this out when it comes to sermon application maybe some of you come from a tradition that heavily emphasizes like doing things so sometimes like maybe like church meant i go to church i hear a sermon and then i have a list of how to like a list of things that i need to go do now like i got homework from a sermon sometimes that is the right application sometimes scripture calls us to go and do something but that's not the only kind of application that there is there's also an application that is aimed at the mind sometimes the application of god's word is you need to change how you're thinking right and sometimes the application of god's word is your heart needs to be changed your desires need to be made new you're you're the the flame inside needs to be stoked a little bit so so a sermon is not just a homework assignment like i'm your teacher telling you now go do this and then next week we'll get back together and i'm going to check your work right a sermon is not just an information download right a sermon can be aimed at the heart as well and i think paul's really kind of doing all of these things but primarily his application is aimed at their minds you know you know how i why i think that is because he says it look at verse 38 let it be known to you therefore brothers right he he wants something to be known to them something that they didn't get before he's wanting to share with them some new information he wants what was unknown previously to now be known to them it's an application directed at their mind let it be known to you therefore brothers that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of moses two things that he wants them to know i tell you this whole story of your whole scriptures which you already for the most part probably knew i summarized all of that showed you how it pointed to jesus as the savior and messiah and i did this for two reasons that you would know two things one forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name if you want to be forgiven all of the things you've been doing with your diet because see there was this recognition amongst the jewish people that they knew that they didn't have on their own what it takes to be in fellowship with their holy god and so so they had all sorts of religious things that they would do from their diet to following a certain calendar and all of those things that they might come into the presence of god that they might be clean to enter the present paul is saying to them listen if you want forgiveness of sins like a once in all everything paid for forgiveness of sins it comes in jesus and number two thing for you to know number two thing for you to know is that everything you've been seeking after to free you from all of that guilt it doesn't work right in the end that's not the intention the law of moses reveals to you your sin and jesus has come that you might be freed from your sin you're you're enslaved to the law still the law doesn't set you free jesus sets you free man what do you think it would have been like for those people who had given their lives to try to live according to the law of god eating certain things and not eating other things being clean uh ritually in certain ways and being avoided avoiding being unclean all of that stuff yet here they're told forgiveness of sins comes in jesus and freedom doesn't come through the law but it comes through jesus you get why paul wants them to know this they need to know this and then he gives them a warning in verses 40 and 41 part of the sermon application is a warning too it begins in verse 40 with this word beware therefore lest what is said in the prophets should come about and now he's going to quote some scripture again this time from habakkuk look you scoffers be astounded and perish for i am doing a work in your days a work that you will not believe even if one tells it to you he doesn't want them to have this reaction where he's telling them listen forgiveness of sins and freedom comes through jesus not through the law he doesn't want them to have the reaction that says no i've worked too hard for this that they would miss out on the work that god has done because it's not about the work they've done it's about the work that god has done in christ and so he uses one of their prophets to warn them don't miss this god is doing a work god has sent his son israel's savior and messiah jesus don't miss it all right so that's the sermon and that's the application what do they do in response sing a song go home watch tv football's on now right is that is that what they're going to do what's the response well like we've seen a lot in the book of acts it's mixed let's look at verse 42. one thing we see is hunger okay the preaching of god's word has developed in the people gathered under the preaching of god's word a hunger for god's word look at what it says in verse 42. i would love this to be true about our church as they went out the people begged that these things might be told them the next sabbath like i don't know that's ever happened to me as a pastor i get done preaching people like ah we gotta you're gonna be back here right i need more of this next sunday we're doing it again right but that's what they're doing with paul they begged him that on the next sabbath he would say these things again like i don't care if it's the same sermon let's go back to that whole part about everything pointing to jesus just preach that one again right verse 43 and after the meeting of the synagogue broke up many jews and devout converts to judaism followed paul and barnabas who as they spoke with them urged them to continue in the grace of god they got encouraged by the church like hey keep at it brothers right then verse 44. there's still good news verse 44 the next sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the lord so there was there was something about their hunger for the the word of god that led them to talk to other people and so almost the whole city shows up on the next sabbath man it sounds really happy and then look at verse 45 but when the jews saw the crowds they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by paul reviling him so that's a possible response isn't it some people hunger for more some people reject and revile the message has been clearly heard but it's not brought up in them a desire to repent and believe and receive and rejoice but it's called up in them instead a rejection and a reviling of those that are proclaiming the message that's what we see in verse 45. so paul and barnabas they just give up no look at verse 46 and paul and barnabas spoke out boldly saying it was necessary that the word of god be spoken first to you man it must have pain paul to say this he's saying this to his jewish brothers and sisters listen it was necessary that the word of god be spoken first to you since you thrusted aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life behold we are turning to the gentiles from now on the target of paul's ministry is not going to be his fellow jews but having had an opportunity to receive the message but instead choosing to reject the message paul says all right i'm turning now the message is going to be aimed at the gentiles primarily and this isn't just like paul's decision this is what god had said that's what he says in verse 47 for so the lord has commanded us saying i have made you a light for the gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth now again he's just quoting their scripture he's quoting the prophet isaiah isaiah 49 verse 6 just saying to them this was god's intention god's intention was not just to save one people group of all the people groups in the face of the earth no he was his intention was that that that people would be a light to those around them and since you have heard this message and rejected it you are unworthy of eternal life if you reject the message of the gospel you are unworthy of eternal life and so he is now turning to the gentiles all right he doesn't tell us right now how the jews are responding to that but he does tell us how the gentiles did verse 48 and when the gentiles heard this they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the lord and as many as were appointed to eternal life believe and the spreading throughout the whole region a couple things to note there one i think we need to note god's initiative in salvation right those who are believed are the ones who got appointed to believe as many as were appointed believed and these gentiles who had always probably been made to feel less than even as they gathered together in the synagogue there were certain things i'm sure that they were not allowed to do as gentiles and not jews and here they're hearing this message that the god of the jews is welcoming them that the the full benefits of the gospel of jesus christ are not just for the jews but they're for the gentiles and so what's their response they're rejoicing right they're rejoicing this is this is good news they're rejoicing and then they go out verse 49 and the word of the lord was spreading throughout the whole region and then again there's opposition verse 50 but the jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city stirred up persecution against paul and barnabas and drove them out of their district so both what's the response to the gospel well some rejoice in it go share it with other people and others reject it and revile them persecution comes about those in high power influential positions use their influential positions to raise up people against these believers some wonder if this will become more common in our part of the world as people of high standing turn against the message of the gospel so it's good for us to be aware of how the apostles respond here look at verse 51 but they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to iconium they're like all right we we've we've preached the gospel there are now a number of believers here in antioch and basidia they're going to have to figure out how to how to but we got to leave so paul barnabas now leave and they go to another place all right we'll just go preach somewhere else then and then listen to verse 52. it's not like with an anger like oh man how dare they try to stop the spread of the gospel i'm gonna i'm gonna fight back against rump that's not it they've been persecuted and what's their response look at verse 52 last verse of the passage and the disciples were filled with joy and with the holy spirit filled with joy and with the holy spirit the the response to their preaching of the gospel is some people have received it and are rejoicing and sharing it other people are rejecting it and reviling them even persecuting to them to the point that it's dangerous for them to stay in the city and they need to leave what's their response joy right their response is joy they were filled with joy and with the holy spirit that they might continue to do the work so there there we have it paul's sermon preached at a jewish synagogue in antioch and pasitia a sermon where the text was really the whole old testament and part of the gospels a sermon where the point was this is who jesus is jesus is israel's promise christ and savior right and in a message that called for a response the application was you need to know these two things know that forgiveness of sins and freedom come only through christ and then we saw the response a pivot where now the gospel primarily going to be targeted to gentiles in the ends of the earth i just told you the story i just preached this sermon let me just say that the application that paul had for his audience in antioch and presidio in the first century is not all that different than the application for us in the 21st century in iowa falls today like those people we are guilty before god maybe you walked in here today with an underlying sense of guilt like you know even as we're singing songs of worship and praise you know that there's a gap between our creator god who is holy and righteous and you who can't seem to get it together right like you you you know that and there's so so i think the the jewish people and the god-fearing gentiles that paul was preaching to there was something about the human nature and about their religious background that reminded them again and again that they don't measure up and many of you even as you come in here that might be how you feel you sense your own guilt before god and you've tried hard to be good to be religious just like they had done but the guilt remains and you haven't been set free let me just share some bad news with you really quick you're right you haven't done enough you're right you don't measure up like i know some people would love to preach like a message like you can do it you got it like that that that's part of the message of the gospel part of the message of the gospel is you can't right you can't you you don't have what it takes you haven't you haven't worked hard enough to get there yet you haven't done enough that your sin before a holy god has been done away with and over like overwhelmed by your good deeds like you're not there and let me tell you this work really hard for like three four five weeks and you're still not going to be any closer that's the bad news but the good news is the same that it was for the the people there in antioch and presidio that forgiveness of sins and freedom comes through christ forgiveness of sins and freedom comes through jesus who lived a guiltless life who lived a perfectly righteous life who died and was buried and rose again from the dead that all who trust in him would receive his righteousness as he takes on our sin right this is the good news that we need to hear that jesus is the promised messiah and savior and you haven't done enough you're never going to be able to do enough but he has done enough he took on the full weight of our sin and the father's wrath so that all who trust in him receive forgiveness of sin and freedom from slavery to it so what's the application know this do you know this do you know this how have you responded to that truth one possibility for you is you could reject it and revile it you could believe the lie that i'm not even worthy of that you're getting close to the truth when you believe that you're not worthy but if that's where you stop you're not all the way there you've got to believe the rest of the truth that jesus who is worthy died in your place for your sin please don't be one of those who hears this message rejects it because if you do the result will be that you remain in slavery to sin and eternally guilty before god who is judge many of us are gathered here today because by god's grace we are people who have been appointed to eternal life and we have believed right we have received and we rejoice in it yes yes our past is a mess and yes we don't have it nearly as altogether as we try to make people think we do right that's true but just like the gentiles who always probably felt a sense of being less than the good news that we believe is that this good news is not just for some people but for all of us so it's said in verse 38 when the gentiles heard this they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the lord and as many were appointed to eternal life believed if you have received this good news if you have received jesus as savior then our response is to rejoice in what jesus has done i'm going to pray and then we're going to prepare for communion by singing a song that is a good reminder of what christ has done for us and calls us to join our voices in praise together let's pray oh we are amazed father at your great love for us thank you jesus for willingly dying for us in our place thank you for appointing undeserving sinners like us to eternal life thank you jesus for willingly bearing our sins and the wrath of the father in our place thank you holy spirit for dwelling in us thankful that your word says the holy spirit is like a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance we are unworthy to receive it but you willingly give it to us and we are grateful we're humbled by our sin we rejoice in our salvation and our hearts cry out hallelujah praise and honor unto you in jesus name amen amen i'm going to encourage you guys to just stay

Channel: Iowa Falls Evangelical Free Church

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Id: 9Id-BIIEj8U

Length: 39min 50sec (2390 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021