Acts 13:42-52 - Accepted and Rejected

[Music] acts chapter 13 open up your bibles there turn them on if you got an electronic bible lots of you do i know it i just pray you're looking at the bible and not playing some computer game or something father in heaven thank you that we can gather again on another sunday morning and give attention to your word it strikes me lord is a little bit strange here we are this book is thousands of years old but yet lord it speaks with power from heaven because we believe it lord or i believe it to be your word and so it lives it moves it works among us right here right now and so we believe you for that here today in jesus name amen we're in our third study here now in acts chapter 13 and it's taken us three different sundays to make it through the chapter because it's a big chapter 52 verses in all and we're going to conclude it this morning the the first part of the verse we saw when this group of missionaries of paul barnabas and john mark when they got sent out of the church at antioch and then we saw in the second part where they came to a place uh first cyprus and made their way around there and then they came eventually to another city called antioch but it was a different antioch in a different place and that's what we looked at last week how paul preached this great sermon in a place called pasitian antioch or antioch in galatia and we spent some time with that last week just discussing how paul came and in sermon he preached in the synagogue he delivered to them the word of god and he presented to them who jesus is and what jesus had done for them and it was a marvelous message that he did right there in that particular city uh pasitian antioch but now starting at verse 42 of acts chapter 13 we're going to get into what we didn't have time for last week we're going to get into the response to paul's message so picture in your mind paul has just delivered this wonderful message there at the synagogue there's been open hearts from both jewish people there at the synagogue but there were also plenty of visiting gentiles there who had a respect for the jewish religion and here's the response verse 42 so when the jews went out of the synagogue the gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them at the next sabbath 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 isn't that marvelous verse 42 tells us what the response was from this very direct preaching from paul and barnabas was there at the synagogue and i don't know if you remember it last week but it was pretty direct preaching at the end of that sermon that paul delivered in the synagogue he gave them a very stern warning right more more uh stern or or stronger than we're usually used to delivering in church from the pulpit or hearing from your sake but basically saying look if you reject this there's a high price for you to pay but but the strength of that warning it didn't take away from the response if anything it added to the response but people want to know people want to get the message straight up right listen preacher if heaven and hell are on the line tell me if we're just messing around have a little social club well then let's play those rules but but if we're talking about real people real lives and if heaven and hell is on the line please preacher do me the favor of telling me that's exactly what paul did for them and the response was marvelous verse 42 when the jews were now the synagogue the gentiles begged that these words might be preaching them again the next sabbath both jews and gentiles were present there at that synagogue service in antioch they responded positively yet if anything luke notes a greater response among the gentiles who were present now you should assume that it was a response from both the jew and gentile for a few reasons if you look at verse 43 it says many of the jews and devout proselytes followed paul and barnabas there was a continuing interest in their message and then if you look again verse 43 it also says that they persuaded them to continue in the grace of god in other words they had already started to trust in god and his gracious work and now paul and barnabas felt impressed that they had to encourage them to continue in that matter of fact i can't get away from that line in verse 43 would you look at it again verse 43 says that they persuaded them to continue in the grace of god i wish with all my heart this morning to persuade you to continue in the grace of god now i know that assumes that you've started in the grace of god and there may be a few of you here this morning and you haven't really started in the grace of god but but i'm going to speak to those of you who at least started in the grace of god i want to encourage you with all my heart continue in the grace of god did you know that a lot of christians sort of deliberately stop in walking in the grace of god they do it under this kind of thinking that grace is the initiation into the christian life that's how you make your way in but that's not how you live your christian life i'm here to tell you that you're to live your christian life and grace that you are to continue in the grace of god in the knowledge that who you are and how you stand before god is not based upon who you are or what you've done but on what jesus christ has done for you didn't you stand that all over again today do you wake up in the morning do you think about it at all during the day that jesus christ paid for your sins that you're standing before god isn't based on what a good boy or good girl you are but on how great jesus is because you've put your trust in him as your savior now i'll tell you that recognition that you're standing before god is rooted in what jesus has done for you not on what you've done for jesus that's continuing in the grace of god and that'll change your whole christian life absolutely it will it'll get you out of this performance mentality where you think that well your relationship with look god is like the you know the girl plucking the petals from the daisy right he loves me he loves me not he loves me he loves me not because when it's centered on who you are and what you do here's how it works when you're a good boy when you're a good girl god loves you right oh but when you sin when you failed him suddenly he doesn't love you much anymore does he can i tell you he loves you the reasons are in him they're not in you i wish you were so wonderful that all the reasons were in you but you're just not that wonderful but his love is that wonderful his love doesn't tell you how great you are his love tells you how great he is that's continuing on in the grace of god living day by day in that knowledge far too many people think of grace as just being the introduction into the christian life and now once you're introduced into it then you depart from it and start living on a system of law and works and performance and all the rest of it no god wants grace to remain your foundation in the relationship that you have with him so they persuaded them to continue in the grace of god i want to persuade you this morning some of you departed from grace you come back to a very legal relationship with god forget about that come back to the grace of god and go forward in that now verse 44. on the next sabbath okay so now we're a week later whatever it was they were doing all that time persuading them to continue in the grace of god speaking with them talking i bet it was a busy week right but now we're a whole week later verse 44. on the next sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of god but when the jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy and contradicting and blaspheming they opposed the things spoken by paul wow those are two heavy verses first of all it's heavy to hear what the response was you see what it said in verse 44 on the next sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of god it's a pretty easy to picture scene isn't it there they were at the synagogue the previous sabbath day and people were excited they were like wow this is great this is amazing paul there's one come back talk to us next week so polka sure i'd love to talk to you about it next week and of course through the week he's busy they're not just idle they're not just sitting around doing nothing they spoke with many interested people they're teaching them more about jesus and they probably also informally preached wherever they could so they did their work during the week but on the next sabbath day there's all this sort of excitement there's a sense of anticipation and when they come did you see what the text said it said almost the whole city came together to hear the word of god it's like wow we've never had a synagogue service like this before the streets around the synagogue are filled with people people are listening from outside the building in they're so anxious to hear what is going to be said by the apostle paul about who jesus is and what he's done for them that was a remarkable response don't you think and sometimes we wonder well you know why such a remarkable restaurants right then well i can't tell you there was sort of a cultural reason look let's face it let's think of the world at that time right most people in their cities or villages they lived fairly isolated lives especially isolated lives compared to the interconnectedness we have in the world today right and so you rarely heard from outside people you couldn't turn on the radio you couldn't turn on the television you certainly couldn't connect to the internet you didn't know what was going on in the outside world when you had a visitor come from the outside who had a message of what was going on in the world beyond you it attracted attention in the entire culture now we live in quite a different culture today don't we we live in a culture today where it's not like people are looking for things to be interested in we live in a culture today where we are buried under an avalanche of information right oh good heavens some of you right now and i don't mean this as a condemnation right now some of you right now are busily going through your twitter or facebook feed right now just to get just to gather information right it's right there it's so immediate it's around you all the time and so you could say there's a very cultural understandable reason why why back then they would be so hungry to receive something and why today people today seem kind of all filled up right well let me give you some information about jesus oh great what that's just what i need more information right well there's some cultural aspect to that today i understand that yet there wasn't just the power of novelty there wasn't just the power of some kind of cultural dynamic behind this there was more notably the power of the word of god at work this was the primary power that attracted the people and luke emphasizes it in their account i mean just look at what luke says about what happened here verse 44 the whole city came together to hear something new no to hear the word of god or go on to verse 46 where he says that paul and barnabas spoke the word of god to the jewish people there first then in verse 48 it says that the gentiles responded to the word of the lord and then in verse 49 it says that the word of the lord spread throughout all the region luke's really doing his best work to emphasize the fact that the response was that they brought the word of the living god to the people now i understand how that might sound strange in the ears of some people here i stand with a book in front of me open on this pulpit and i say that there's very excuse me that there's something very special about the word in this book that these are actually words from god to us i wouldn't be surprised if somebody who just walked in the street and sat here among us would think well that's very strange that that almost sounds superstitious or or frightening well let me just say if you look at the influence that this book has had upon individuals in a pound of society it's not frightening at all it's glorious and what this book does in our lives and in our culture is something absolutely wonderful and transformative now that's just one reason i could go on and on and on with reasons to believe why we should understand that this is the word of god but at the very least i understand that it's not scary it's not strange god's word is here and it has a power for us i mean look at us right here here we are many hundreds of people gather together right here on the morning to understand what this book speaks to us today does that not in itself speak to us about its power about its about its ability to do something in our lives i would just say this people need to have more confidence in the word of god now let me ratchet that up one more preachers need to have more confidence in the word of god there's far too many preachers they treat the book like something to avoid they they treat the book as something like this and i'll try to be as kind as i can but i can't be too kind when it comes to this they're preachers who treat this book like this now you guys really can't understand this so let me just throw out a few words from this and then i'll tell you something really interesting from the news today you know what friends this is what's interesting this is what's life transforming you get the news anytime you want you come here and i hope you hope to hear something from the word of god itself preachers need to have confidence in this book now that's all the good news but verse 45 introduces sort of a dark note if you notice it says right here verse 45 but when the jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy that dramatic response from the whole city coming and wanting to hear what paul and barnabas had to say in the synagogue on that following sabbath that that dramatic response it made the leaders of the synagogue envious and that's sad isn't it sooner they've been excited that so many people wanted to hear about the god of israel shouldn't they been excited so many people were interested in the god of abraham isaac and jacob and what they want but friends it's something oh boy it's something really bad and sickening in the christian world today in the religious world i'll just say that because it's not confined even just to christianity it's envy it shouldn't be that way among the people of god the people of god should not be motivated by envy or jealousy about what god is doing what other congregations are doing elsewhere now here back in antioch they were so envious because paul and barnabas could draw a crowd that they couldn't and it made them filled with envy i would say that's inevitable for anybody who's more concerned about being popular than they are about serving god therefore when somebody else becomes more popular you become filled with envy i'll just say this it's very sad when christian leaders and when christian ministries today become filled with envy and they begin attacking other people who are enjoying a season of success that's very sad listen i think about it in our own community don't you from time to time i think about our blessed brothers over at reality santa barbara who just a few weeks ago opened up their work over there on the city college campus and i don't know listen i i expect that pastor brit there and all all the leadership team they got better things to do than to pay attention to what comes forth from this pope but but i could say before you what i've said to them privately god bless you guys welcome to our community there's lots and lots of people in santa barbara who need to hear the message of the gospel and the more feet on the ground we can have to do it the better that's exactly i think what our attitude should be [Applause] the last thing anybody should be do is filled with any kind of envy or jealousy listen the right attitude is to understand that we're all on the same team and here's the point when you understand that then you rejoice in the blessings that other people enjoy you know why because it's my blessing also because we're on the same team when god works mightily through another congregation in the city that's good it's not bad because what we're on the same team right and our whole team is doing could you imagine if it was like this on a football team and you know on the football team you got the offense you got the defense and you got the special teams right and let's say the guys on the special teams go out make some spectacular play i don't know the recover of fumble score touchdown whatever you want to say it is and could you imagine the guys on the offensive defense saying well we don't like it that the special team guys succeeded so well what are you crazy you're all on the same team they're putting up points on your scoreboard thank heavens for that and so it's a glorious thing for us and it's listen the key thing in serving god is not to be focused on popularity or bigger numbers than other people the key thing is this is to be focused on faithfulness and on serving god because you know what everybody can succeed at that do everybody can be faithful in the way that they serve god every last one of us and that's our great opportunity so it's very sad that this wasn't the case here in ancient antioch but look what it says that he did in verse 45 it says contradicting blaspheming they opposed the things spoken by paul you see suddenly paul's preaching was opposed as if he was conducting a debate with his opponents contradicting him and blaspheming god that the blasphemy mentioned there probably has to do with abusive and degrading language that they directed towards jesus whom paul preached and you can imagine how this would have grieved paul and barnabas look guys we're just trying to deliver a message if you don't want the message fine but we're just here to deliver the message and there's no reason for you to be so contentious there's no reason for you to blaspheme the jesus whom we're preaching but they did and look what it says right there in verse 45 it says that they oppose the things spoken by paul it seems strange to me that these religious people who had waited so long for the coming of their messiah would now reject their messiah when jesus was presented to them and i tell you one of the great reasons why they would have did this in the synagogue at antioch was because they liked the division that was made between jew and gentile and if jesus was to be the messiah of all men then they wanted no part of him it's really an interesting thing isn't it jesus christ when he comes among people and does his work he breaks down walls of division he'll break down walls of division uh between races he'll break down walls of division between nationalities he'll break down walls of division among classes he'll make down walls of divisions among different categories of people on all measures and you know what let's just be honest there's some people who don't like those walls being broken down they'd rather keep them up i think that's one of the prime motivations why the people here in the synagogue in antioch would protest this so much friends if there's something like that in your own heart if you find that there's too much of a cherishing in your heart of a wall that jesus christ wants to break down among his people could i just tell you to confess that before the lord and ask forgiveness for it from him ask god to change your heart on that because it shouldn't be that way some people end up rejecting jesus because of the way he changes their relationships with other people some people would rather hold on to their bitterness and their animosity towards other people then come to jesus and be reconciled with them no no let jesus break down those walls so let's look at the response here verse 46. then paul and barnabas grew bold i i find that just funny they grew bold it's not like they weren't bold before good heavens i i want to see what it's like when they grew bold then paul and barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the word of god should be spoken to you first and he's pointing to the jews who who were opposing him it should be spoken to you first but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life behold we turn to the gentiles for so the lord has commanded us and then he quotes isaiah 49 verse 6 i have set you as a light to the gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth now when the gentiles heard this they were glad and they glorified the word of the lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed that they were bold they proclaimed this you can sense that there was some fire in their hearts and in their voices as they said in verse 46 since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life behold we turn to the gentiles you see paul and barnabas flat out they rebuked those who rejected jesus and they let those religious people know that it was a privilege that that message should have come to them first a privilege that they were now rejecting hey my religious friends you should have been pleased that the message came to you first you should have been pleased i came to your synagogue to deliver the message but now you're rejecting it i think it's remarkable how paul if i could say it this way paul received their rejection of the message it's remarkable that god gives you the choice if i could put it in these terms even though i really don't know if this is the right way to say it but i hope you catch just my heart with this it's even your privilege to reject the message god puts that in your hands look i i tell you how your sins can be forgiven by what jesus christ did for you on the cross there he is nailed to the cross and as he was on the cross it wasn't just about his physical agony although that was great but it was also about what he spiritually suffered and the bible makes it very plain that as he hung on the cross the father regarded him not just as a sinner but as the ultimate sinner as every sinner and that the father in heaven poured out upon him all the penalty all the wrath all the shame that was deserving of our sin and he put that on jesus christ on the cross so that if you put your trust in him if you repent and believe that his payment on the cross will be a payment for your sins and friends i lay that out before you and you know what god loves you enough to make you the offer god respects you enough to accept your rejection of it if you want to say no not for me i'll do it my way what a terrible thought i'll do it my way i'll go to hell but i'll do it my own way if that's he will accept your rejection if you are determined to reject what god offers you god will allow you to do it he respects you that much you know when i think about that it makes me think seriously as a preacher of the gospel that it's fine for me just to lay the message out but it also makes me say i need to be wary of any kind of way of manipulating people right i want to respect you if you want to say no i'll try to persuade you i'll appeal to your heart i'll speak to you but at the end of the day if you want to reject it then with with wet eyes i'll say this is what you've chosen to do but i pray you'll choose differently i pray you'll accept what god offers to you now because god will find some people right look at it here just because they rejected it now look at verse 48. now when the gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed you see paul and barnabas didn't only stop speaking to those who didn't want to hear it they also responded with more evangelism to open hearts and they now directed more of their efforts towards the gentiles in obedience to god's command they said god if you've given us an open door among the gentiles then we're going to take it and the gentiles responded to paul's invitation with a really enthusiastic belief that they learned with joy that that god does not hate the gentiles but that he offers them salvation in jesus christ and apparently some of those who believed they found out that they had been appointed to eternal life isn't that a great phrase in verse 48 they believed who were appointed to eternal life now some people this is very hard for them to get their head around and i don't blame it wait a minute those who believe they were appointed to eternal life so they were appointed to him that's why they believed how do i know how do i know if i'm appointed to eternal life i'll tell you how you know believe if you believe then you are appointed to eternal life well i i don't want to believe and i'm not happy that i wasn't appointed well listen if you don't choose god if you don't believe on him how can you be sore with him for not choosing you listen i'm not trying to to solve every theological dilemma here i'm just saying this if you want to know that you're appointed to eternal life then believe on him and you'll find that god has appointed you to this but i will say this paul showed great wisdom in not spending all of his time trying to persuade hardened hearts after this point in his ministry increasingly so he makes gentiles the focus of evangelistic efforts not exclusively he'll still speak in the synagogue where he has opportunities but more and more so he makes gentiles the focus of evangelism not because he didn't love his fellow jewish people friends paul was jewish he was jewish through and through his heart bled for the jewish people he wanted them to come to faith in christ and he rejoiced over those who had so greatly nevertheless he would say look god when you've opened up a door when there are people who will respond i'll speak to them when there's people who won't respond i'll try but i'm not going to beat my head against a wall i'll do what i can and this was paul's idea from there listen when you want to tell other people about jesus start with your own group have you started with your family finding a tactical way and listen with family you've got to use tact right there's not every well i'll just say i just throw some there's not every older brother who's just hanging on the words of a little sister you know to have her tell him about jesus you got to use tact you got to use wisdom but but look to tell people in your family but look to tell people in your workplace about the people in your immediate circle look to tell them about jesus man if you're a surfer look for some surfers to speak to if you're the computer nerd look for some computer nerds whatever you know you're just the circle of people that you're around look for them to but you know what if they reject it look for some other people don't stop saying jesus use me to speak to people i think paul and barnabas they went out and said we're going to preach in every synagogue we can and we're going to see a lot of people respond to the message just like we have responded to the message because paul and barnabas were jews through and through and they came to understand jesus was their messiah but it didn't work out that way did it not here in antioch well here's where it continues on verse 49 and the word of the lord was being spread throughout all the region but the jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city raised up persecution against paul and barnabas and expelled them from their region well the word of the lord is being spread that's the good news in verse 49 it was being spread through the efforts of paul and barnabas but i would say as anything it was also being spread through the changed lives of the people who were coming to faith in jesus christ friends it doesn't just all rest on the preacher not by any means not by a long shot most people come to some kind of faith in jesus christ not directly through the words of a preacher but but through the loving conversation and friendship of someone who cares about them and you are those caring people and i think it's amazing when you think about verse 49 where it says that the word of the lord was being spread it's remarkable to think that there was a church born in antioch in a little more than a week one sabbath paul and barnabas preach in the synagogue and there's a wonderful response the following sabbath there's a mixed response with some accepting some rejecting and they took the receptive ones and they said okay now we got a church and what do they do at that church that church verse 49 the word of the lord was being spread through that church throughout all the region that was a church that lasted for hundreds of years and through that church a very effective work was done i'm just saying that to say this is that sometimes remarkable works of god happen very quickly oh i know normally we plan a lot right you know we we have two year and three years and sometimes five year plans for launching churches and meeting things unless i'm not saying any of that's bad but what i'm saying there are seasons of god's work where manages happens and it happens unexpectedly fast and we should just rejoice for such seasons right we should even ask god to send such seasons but that's the good news here's the bad news verse 50 but the jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city oh they got the women going and they raised up persecut i didn't mean that in a bad way it says it doesn't it right does it say and the prominent women okay i'm not they got the men and the women going you know usually usually i just talk like that on sunday night you guys should really come to sunday evening someday you know we we have a sunday you know 5 30 service here and it's a it's a smaller crowd and for some reason with the smaller crowd i just feel freer to we don't tape those do we we're not taping sunday night right okay no tape on sunday night all right that was a little anyway uh they raised a persecution against paul and barnabas and expelled them from their region listen i'll just say this whenever god is doing a work the devil gets about doing his work doesn't he he just does you should expect opposition you should expect it don't don't get way laid by it don't give up just say okay there's some opposition god's going to conquer through it but whenever god is doing something good there's going to be some kind of opposition to it right don't don't let it freak you out don't let it panic you just keep going and that's exactly what they did verse 51 but they shook the dust off from their feet against them and came to iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and with the holy spirit they shook the dust from off their feet that was a dramatic way of saying we don't want to take anything from this city with us goodbye you don't want us here you want to reject the message we're bringing then fine we'll just reject it let's move on it doesn't make them think that there's anything strange with themselves they say we're just going to go on and keep preaching the message verse 51 and they came to iconium now we're going to talk more about iconium next week but they carried on the work they went next to iconium and they they kept going with the message i just love this can you imagine paul and barnabas if they were i don't know if i could say a lesser sort of men they would have been something like this they would have been oh they rejected us in antioch oh they don't like us oh our confidence is shaken to the core i guess people don't want to hear what we have to bring maybe it's too dangerous to do something else no it wasn't that at all they went about 115 miles to a place called iconium and they said we're going to preach there that's going to be our new field of endeavors and that's where they did the work and they they went right on notice it verse 52 they went right on filled with joy and with the holy spirit they weren't deterred in the least now here they were persecuted here they were run out of town literally run out of town and what were they filled with joy and with the holy spirit you know we can take it as just a confidence in our own souls that when things are difficult when opposition arises it doesn't have to affect our joy it doesn't have to affect our being filled with the holy spirit i'll i'll just end on that note i look at so many people here on a sunday morning and i think you know what there's at least a few you've had some tough weeks and you maybe you didn't get run out of town like paul and barnabas but maybe it should have been i don't know listen can you just say right now if you're in jesus christ you can be filled with joy and with the holy spirit your joy is not dependent upon everything being smooth in your life your joy is dependent upon continuing on in the grace of god and how great he is and how much he loves you i think god wants to pour it out here among us right here this morning to fill you with his joy and to fill you with the holy spirit so i'm going to conclude in prayer right now exactly towards that end father in heaven won't you fill us with your joy won't you fill us with the holy spirit i think lord jesus especially about those who have really been going through it i think about those lord good things are happening in their lives but lord it seems like an avalanche of opposition has come against them lord once you strengthen them and fill them with your joy and with the holy spirit we need this lord we need it from you this is something that we can't cheerlead into ourselves we need you to send it from heaven upon us so right now do that lord and father help us to put our focus on you as we sing some prayers unto you [Music]

Channel: David Guzik

Views: 493

Rating: 4.8666668 out of 5

Keywords: david guzik, guzik, enduring word, Acts 13:42-52, Acts 13, Accepted and Rejected, Jews, Gentiles, Paul, sermon, Pisidian Antioch, Pisidian, Antioch

Id: GetSuAVngkg

Length: 37min 22sec (2242 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 22 2021