Acts 13 (January 7, 2024)

Acts 13 and the Mission of God

Your Bible is Acts chapter 13, Acts 13 as we return to our series going through the book of Acts. You may remember when we started this, back at the beginning of the fall, we entitled this series, Conquer in the Name of Christ.

Because that's what we see in the book of Acts, we see the early church going out and conquering in the name of Christ. The book is a book about the expansion of the kingdom, the expansion of the church in the early days after the ascension of Jesus, when he hands off his ministry to the apostles and to the church who take up his work, being witnesses to him in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And at the beginning, we saw some of the similarities between the book of Acts and the book of Joshua. Remember in the book of Joshua, that's where Israel goes and they conquer the promised land, except for here in Acts, the land is the entire world, and instead of conquering with swords of iron, they conquer with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of.

God.

And so in short, you can say that the book of Acts is a book about mission, particularly we're going to see that it's a book about mission as we come to a transition point here in the book of Acts here at chapter 13.

See, thus far, the story of Acts has centered on Peter for the most part, but from 13 onward, Luke highlights the story of Paul. And we see a shift from Jerusalem to the lands of the nations of the Roman Empire.

And even though as Paul travels, he continues this pattern of going to the synagogues first, to the Jews first, we're going to see his focus increasingly shift to the Gentiles. The book of Acts is about the mission of God, and what I want us to see this morning as we go through Acts 13, I want us to see God's actions in the mission of God.

I want you to see what God does, that God is working, that God is active. See it's not primarily a mission for God, it's a mission of God. It is a mission for God, but primarily it's the mission of God that we participate in.

Because God is active, God is working, God is there, and He is not silent. God is there, and He's not sitting idly by. God is big, God is primary, and God is at work, and that's what we're going to see here in Acts 13.

Let's begin in verses 1 through 4 to see the work of God and the mission of God. Let's read. The word of God says, So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

Amen.

This is God's word to us this morning. I want us to remember, Antioch is a large cosmopolitan city, and we see here listed a pretty eclectic group of leaders, of prophets and teachers, men from different places that found their way to Antioch.

One of them was a childhood friend of the ruler here, the Tetrarch. But what I want you to see isn't the diverse group of leadership here, I want you to see the clear work of the Holy Spirit. Verse 2.

As they ministered to the Lord in Phasid, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then verse 4. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and then on to Cyprus.

So what we see here, is we see, and kids if you have the kid's sheet and you're taking the notes that are on there, you can listen, this is one of those here. We see that God the Holy Spirit calls, and God the Holy Spirit sends.

God calls, and God sends. These are the first couple of actions we see of God here in the mission of God. You see God sets apart Saul and Barnabas for the work that he called them, to send them out to preach the gospel.

Now God has made things in this world in such a way that he's often acting through others. He's acting through his representatives, he's acting through his messengers. I'm reminded of Isaiah chapter 6 here, when Isaiah is called up into the throne room of God and God has a message to deliver his people.

Now God could boom his voice from the heavens. He did that at the transfiguration of Jesus, right? He could have shouted that message to the Israelites, but instead he wanted someone to deliver the message, and he says, whom shall I send and who will go for us?

And Isaiah says, here am I, send me. See throughout the Bible God sends his prophets. Throughout the Bible God sends his messengers, and they bring the word of God to the world. Ultimately we see that God so loved the world that he sent his only son, which is the word of God himself.

And then Jesus in turn by his Holy Spirit sent the apostles, and by extension he sends.

Us.

John chapter 20 verse 21, Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, I also send you. And so there's this sense in which all Christians are sent. That is by our baptism we are commissioned in the service of King Jesus.

And by God's providence he has placed us here. He's put you where you are to do whatever it is that you do. He has put you there by his providence. And we can say that this providence is a form of sending you.

Sending you there in service of King Jesus. And so one question for us today is, are you living as one sent by King Jesus to represent him and carry out his will right where he has put you?

Wherever that is.

Not where you want to be one day, not where you used to be at some other point in time in your life, but right where you are today at this age, at this station, at this location. Are you living out your life as one sent by King Jesus to represent him and carry out.

His will?

You see God is active, God is working, he often acts through us. Through those whom he sends. Are you joining that work?

That's a question for us.

There's also a sense in which, and this is what we see in Acts 13, where God calls out from among his people, some for specific work, in this case specific missionary work. The church at Antioch sent Saul and Barnabas to take the gospel to places where the gospel had not yet been preached, where Christ had not yet been named.

We would like to do this at First Baptist. I long for a day when we have a commissioning service to send out a band to go plant a church or be part of a church revitalization somewhere in our state in an area of great need, here in northern Greenville County or somewhere else in South Carolina.

I long to see a day when we send out a young family that would be to go to an unreached place to take the gospel to an unreached people, to a place where Christ has not yet been named. I long for that day, or maybe to send out a retiree for a three month project, a six month project, a year long project with the International Mission Board.

Do you know that there's a huge opportunity for those who are retired to join on mission and serve somewhere among unreached peoples and places? Would you pray that we as a church would send out laborers into the harvest?

See, it's not just about who and how many people we bring in, it's about who and how many people we send out to expand the work of the kingdom. Because God calls, God sends. May he be calling you. Before we move on, I want to point out one thing and then ask a question.

So you see it in verse 3 that the church sent Paul and Barnabas, right? And having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away, they being the church there at Antioch. Verse 4 says the Holy Spirit, so being sent out by the Holy Spirit.

So who sent Saul and Barnabas? God, the Holy Spirit, or the church? And the answer there is yes, both. Here again we see the work of God and the work of man going together. We see God sending out Saul and Barnabas through the church at Antioch sending out Saul and Barnabas.

We see God initiating this work and the church responding. You see, God initiates, he called and set them apart and then the church recognizes that, recognizes what God is doing there and sends out whom he has called.

And so we can say that the work of God and the work of man here go together. But God is the first actor, he's the initiator. I bring that up because I think it can help us later on in this passage understand something.

Else.

But for now, we'll get there in just a bit, let's keep moving with verses 5 through 12. Verses 5 through 12, God's word says,. And when they arrived at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.

They also had John as their assistant. Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bargesus, who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man.

This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elemas, the sorcerer, for so his name is translated, withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, O fool of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?

And now indeed the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the Son for a time. And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead.

Him by the hand.

Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching.

Of the Lord.

Amen.

This is God's word. In these verses we see that in the mission of God, God demonstrates His power. In the mission of God, God demonstrates His power. Here we have a false prophet, a sorcerer, who is hindering the proconsul from believing.

This might remind you, you might recall, the magicians in Pharaoh's court, and how God demonstrated His power over them. I think of these magicians and how they were outwitted and outmatched by the power of God through the staff of Moses.

And here, in Acts 13, though Elymas sought to turn Sergius Paulus from the faith, God demonstrated His power in bringing judgment upon Elymas, and He brought the proconsul.

To faith.

You see, by the Spirit-filled words of Paul, God blinded Elymas. And when that happened, verse 12, it says, and then the proconsul believed when he saw what had been done. When he saw that God had demonstrated His power, he believed.

He was being astonished at the teaching of the Lord. You see, Saul and Barnabas had come when Sergius, this is verse 7, sought to hear the word of.

The Lord.

And hearing the word of the Lord and seeing the power of the Lord, he believed. God is active and God is working in the mission of God. He is full of power and He demonstrates it. One of my favorite biblical examples of this is Mount Carmel.

Elijah on Mount Carmel, you might remember the story, Elijah, basically, he challenges the prophets of Baal to this duel by fire fight on the mountain, you know, whoever's altar is lit up by fire from their God, wins.

And what does Elijah do? He drenches his altar in water. I mean, it fills up. The trenches around it are full of water. He drenches it up to the degree of difficulty. And then God, what did He do? He demonstrated His power, sending fire from heaven to consume the altar.

Meanwhile, not even a spark touched the altar of the prophets of Baal and Elijah mocked their gods. And so there, Elijah, he had hard words for the prophets of Baal. And here we see that Paul has hard words for the false prophet Bar-Jesus, also known as.

Elemas.

And I think it's worth considering for just a moment, Paul's confrontation with Elemas. Because you notice in verse 9, it says that Paul is filled with the Spirit. He's filled with the Holy Spirit. And then what happens in the very next verse, at the end of this verse, firstly, he looks at him intently.

This is direct communication. This is not indirect, kind of beat around the bush with Elemas. No, it is direct communication. He looks at him intentionally, and it is confrontational, and then filled with the Spirit.

What words come out? He's filled with the Holy Spirit. This means that what he's going to say is spiritual, it's not carnal, it's godly, it's not ungodly.

And what does he say?

He says, Oh, full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? Those are harsh words. The reason I draw attention to this fact is not to give Christians a license to be jerks for Jesus, to be harsh with others, but I do want us to realize that being quote-unquote nice is not always the same thing as being godly.

And that being quote-unquote mean, by some worldly standards, doesn't always mean being ungodly. In other words, Christians, especially Christian leaders, especially pastors, need to have at least two voices.

One voice to call sheep home. That voice is tender and gentle. Then there needs to be another voice to drive wolves away. And so the reason Paul was harsh with Elemas is because Elemas is trying to send Servius Paulus to hell.

He's trying to turn him away from the faith. So Paul's hard words, they're not unloving when you consider the whole picture. In actuality, those hard words were an expression of love for Servius Paulus.

They were an expression of love for God. For Pastor Doug Wilson, say it like this, to be gentle with wolves is to be harsh with.

The sheep.

And to be harsh with wolves is to be gentle with the sheep.

We want to be gentle with sheep.

And so my job as pastor is to tend sheep. To be gentle with sheep, and if that means confronting wolves and using hard language or harsh language to do it, I want you to know I won't abdicate that assignment from my Lord because we love sheep.

Here we see again, God, he's active in his mission. He's active through the ones he has sent, speaking through them, his word brought by the messengers. And what we see here, that word that he brings through his messengers, is both salvation and judgment.

It is both blessing and cursing. It is both promise and warning. We see that in Paul, here in his interaction with Servius Paulus and with Eleus, and we also see it in this sermon that he is about to give in the next part of the chapter.

Let's read, it's an extended part of the passage, but verses 13 -41, let's read together. Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga and Pamphylia. And John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.

But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, this is a different Antioch, there are several cities named Antioch in this region, came to Antioch in Pisidia and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.

And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, Men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people,.

Say on.

And Paul stood up, motioning with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm he brought them out.

Now for a time of about 40 years, he put up with their ways in the wilderness, and when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed their land to them by allotment. After that, he gave them judges for about 450 years until Samuel the prophet, and afterward they asked for a king.

So God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years. When he had removed him, he raised up for them David as king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.

From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus. And after John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel, and as John was finishing his course, he said, Who do you think I am?

I am not he. But behold, there comes one after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of salvation has been sent.

For those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not know him, nor even the voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause for death in him, they asked Pilate that he should be put.

To death.

Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb, but God raised him from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people.

And we declare to you glad tidings, that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm, today you are my son, today I have begotten.

You.

And that he raised him up from the dead, no more to return to corruption. He has spoken thus, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Therefore he also says in another psalm, you will not allow your holy one to see corruption.

For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep and was buried with his fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins, and by him everyone who believes is justified from all the things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken by the prophets come upon you, behold you despisers marvel and perish. For I will work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, though one were to declare it to you.

Amen.

Again, this is God's word to us. And in this sermon, Paul offers a sweep of biblical history. He outlines all of God's gifts to Israel and the promises that he made to Israel, all of which lead to Jesus, in whom is found forgiveness of sins.

And so, through Paul's actions and Paul's sermon, we see again God at work in the mission.

Of God.

In fact, we see that God has always been at work, as Paul outlines the actions of God throughout history, throughout the history of Israel, salvation history. He's always been at work, going back thousands and thousands of years.

For in these verses, we see that God orders history and God acts in history. God orders history as providence and God acts in history. And so what are some of the actions of God that Paul highlights? We see verse 17, God chose the fathers.

He exalted the people of Israel and brought them, delivered them out of Egypt. Verse 18, he put up with their ways in the wilderness. Verse 19, he destroyed the nations of Canaan and gave their land to the Israelites.

Verse 20, he gave them judges. Verse 21, he gave them kings. Verse 22, he especially gave them David. And from David, he said, he's going to come the one who would save Israel. Verse 23, from David's line, he raised up a savior for Israel, Jesus.

At this point in Paul's sermon, it starts to remind us of Peter's sermon in Acts chapter 2. There's a lot of similarities between what Paul is preaching and what Peter preached in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost.

He tells how Jerusalem didn't know him, didn't know Jesus, and the voices of the prophets.

And so what do they do?

They condemn this Jesus and put him to death. God's not done acting in history yet, for what does he do? He raises up Jesus. He raises him up so that his body would not see corruption. Verse 34, and so just like Peter in Acts 2, Paul, he quotes from Psalm 16, and he shows how Jesus is the greater David.

Jesus is the one, his body doesn't see corruption. David, he served his generation well, he died, he was buried, and anybody could go to the tomb of David. But Jesus was raised, his body to not see corruption, therefore, Paul says in verse 39, therefore, verse 38, excuse me, therefore, and this is where Paul gives just a white hot gospel presentation, therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.

And by him, everyone who believes is justified from all things which could not be justified by the law of Moses. Paul shows that throughout history, God has been actively working for the good of his.

People.

God has actively been working for the salvation of his people. One thing after another, one gift after another, all leading in the same direction, all leading to Christ, the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

And by this Christ who died for our sins, and by this Christ who was raised on the third day, everyone who believes is justified. What does that word justified mean there? In verse 39, what it means to be vindicated, it means to be declared righteous, to be put in proper relationship, particularly a legal relationship, moral relationship with God, means to be made right, set free, to be cleared, approved, accepted.

Put all that together in your understanding of what the word justified means, and that is for everyone who believes. To be made right with God, set free from sin, accepted by God, approved by God, cleared of unrighteousness, declared righteous, vindicated, and be put into right relationship with God.

God has acted for your salvation, God has acted for your justification, and in Christ you are made right with God. These are the words of promise, and if you read verses 40 and 41, you see the words of warning.

Beware lest what?

The prophet spoke come upon you. Words of warning there in verses 40 and 41. Let's pick up now in verse 42, reading through 48. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them 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. And on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came out 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. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God 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, 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 glorified the word of the Lord.

And as many had been, as had been appointed to eternal life, believed.

Amen.

You see, when the gospel is preached, there's basically two effects. Basically two results of that. It's either received as the aroma of life, or the stench of death. That is, it is either embraced and believed, or it is rejected.

There really is no neutral option when it comes to the word of God being preached. It is either embraced, submitted to, received, loved, or rejected. You see, God has spoken. It's either submission or rebellion.

At first, some of the Jews were persuaded to continue in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath, nearly the entire city, everybody, Jew and Gentile, was coming out to hear Paul and Barnabas. But when they saw the multitudes, the Jews were filled with envy and began to oppose Paul, speaking blasphemies and contradictions.

At this point, Paul and Barnabas, the word tells us, grew bold. And they declared that though they came to the Jews first, following God's pattern, they now turned to the Gentiles. And the quote from Isaiah, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for the salvation of the ends of the earth.

And hearing this good news, the Gentiles, they're filled with joy. They're glad they received what Paul's message, it says they glorified the word of the Lord. That is, they glorified Christ. They accepted the word.

They believed.

Verse 48, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life, believed. And in this verse, we see yet another action of God and the mission of God.

God saves.

God saves.

Like Jonah prayed from the belly of the great fish, salvation is of the Lord.

God saves.

Now, verse 48 gets into something that could be taken as a bit controversial, so I want to be sensitive there. And if you have questions from this section of the sermon, please, by all means, ask those.

Questions.

I encourage you to do so. Wednesday nights, Midweek Family Fellowship, every week we take questions or feedback or people share something kind of related to the sermon, so I invite you on Wednesdays.

As well.

Here's the thing, this sentence, verse 48, is in the Bible, and so we need to understand it, and we need to believe it, and we need to love it, because it's God's word. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life, believed.

Let's walk through this just a bit. Who believed? Well, those who had been appointed to eternal life believed. Next question would be, well, who appointed them to eternal life? God appointed them to eternal life.

Next question, how many believed? Verse 48 tells us, as many. As many as had been appointed to eternal life, believed. No fewer, as if God's arm is too short to save, but as many as God appointed, because God is mighty to save.

And so what does the word appointed there in verse 48 mean? I want to give you a range of meaning from a Bible dictionary. It means determined, arranged, devoted, established, assigned, set, disposed, framed, allotted.

It's kind of the range of that meaning of the word appointed. Now, I don't want to be a grammar nerd here, but if you'll allow me like 30 seconds of grammar nerdery, I would really be grateful for that.

The reason it's important. So the verb there, appointed, is a passive participle in the present tense. Now what does that mean and why is that important? It's passive, meaning somebody else does the action, right?

But for those who are appointed to eternal life, they didn't appoint themselves. They received the action of the verb appointed. They were appointed. It was someone else who appointed them. We said earlier, it was God.

So that's the passive part. The fact that it's passive in the present tense means that it's a past action that has relevance for the present. Something that happened in the past, relevant for the present.

They had been appointed. It has relevance for the present when they believe. So we put all this together, I think we can say this about verse 48. That God, in the past, determined, arranged, decided, assigned, however you want to package that word there, appointed.

King James has it as ordained. God appointed some for eternal life. And those people, from among those who were present that day, whom God had appointed,.

They believed.

It's consistent with what we read earlier in Ephesians 1. We read from Ephesians 1 earlier and it's just interesting how that fell out because I chose the gospel. I outlined kind of almost a year's worth of passages for call to worship and gospel focus and benediction back in July.

And so this just happened to be there today. It wasn't like, you know, I paired it up to match with the sermon. It just kind of fell out that way. But it's exactly what Ephesians 1, verses 3 and 4, we read from verses 4 to 6 earlier.

Ephesians 1, 3 and 4 says, Be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

Now why is this important? Why kind of double click on verse 48 here? Well, it's important because it magnifies God. It magnifies God. It magnifies His grace to sinners. It magnifies the love that He had for us from before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1 tells us.

And so God loves you, and He has for a very long time. It magnifies the love of God. It magnifies the grace of God. It's also important because it gives us hope for other sinners. People that we know and love.

People in our family, in our friend kind of social circle. People at our jobs that we love, but they're far from God. And we want them to be saved. We long for their salvation. Well, their salvation that we long for is of the Lord.

He is mighty to save. Their salvation is not up to us and our ability to persuade them or not. Their salvation is not up to them and their ability to finally get right with God on their own or not. Salvation is of the Lord.

It's important for our assurance of salvation. Jesus, He doesn't lose one. He doesn't lose one of those the Father has given to Him. No, not one. And no one can snatch you from the hand of Jesus.

Why?

I want you to notice what they're appointed to. They're not appointed to belief. They do believe, but they're not appointed to belief. It says they're appointed to eternal life. Your eternal life is secured by God.

If you're in Christ, eternal life and fellowship with Him is guaranteed for you. And no one can take that away. So you can rest assured. And the reason you can rest assured is that your salvation depends on God who appointed you.

And so God, we see, is sovereign in salvation. Now, that leads to a very reasonable question. Many of you may have, does that mean that people are just robots then? Like, what does it matter what we say or do?

If everything's been decided, so what? Nothing to do. And I would say, no, I'm not done with verse 48 yet. We still have another word. And as many as have been appointed to eternal life believed.

Believed.

Believed isn't a passive word. It's an active verb. The one who believes. They're the ones doing the action. And so who believed in this verse? Well, in this case, many of the Gentiles in Pisidian Antioch.

You see, God appointed, but man believed. Back in Acts chapter 2, beginning of our series, the book of Acts, maybe the second or third week, we saw that God's sovereignty and man's responsibility are not at odds with one another, but they are, as Charles Spurgeon said, friends.

The reason God's sovereignty does not mean that people are robots is because God does not only ordain ends, but he also ordains means. And so he ordains ends, eternal life, he appointed them to eternal life, but he also ordains means that Paul would preach the gospel and that people would be convicted of their sin and the darkness of their sin and they'd be convicted of the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ that they would believe.

And those means, they are real. We are responsible for how we use them or don't use them. We make real decisions that we are on the hook for, that we are culpable for. And I believe this fits the pattern that we saw earlier in Acts 13 in the sending of Paul and Barnabas.

Remember, who sent Paul and Barnabas, God or the church?

Yes, both.

God is the initiator, the Holy Spirit called Paul and Barnabas and set them apart for the work. And the Holy Spirit spoke to the church at Antioch and the church responded to God and participated in his work by fasting and praying and laying on of hands and sending out Paul and Barnabas to do the work that the Holy Spirit had called them to do by going and preaching the gospel.

And so here, verse 48, God had appointed some to eternal life and as many as he did, they responded to God's action with their own. They responded to the call of God by believing. And so, we see both the action of God and the action of man going together.