Sunday, March 10, 2024 AM

The Mercy and Salvation We Have in Christ

Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Lord, we thank You for the reminders today.

Of Your mercy, of Your grace,.

And of the promise that we have in Christ. How precious is this salvation at the cost of Your own Son, that He would suffer in our place and for our sake, that for us and for our salvation You would send forth Your Son to live and suffer and die and be raised and ascended to Your right hand for our good and for Your glory.

How precious this salvation is. Lord, we give You praise. We give You thanks. And ask that in the treasuring of it, in the treasuring of this gift, that it would be Your agenda and not ours.

It holds sway.

It holds sway in our lives, in our families, in our church, as we herald the good news of Jesus Christ. We pray for these mercies in the name of Jesus Christ, the one with whom You are well pleased. Amen.

The Gospel to the Nations in Acts 13

I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts 13. Acts 13, and we'll be reading verses 42 through 48. Acts 13, verses 42 through 48. We consider this passage that rejoices in the fulfillment of a prophecy about Jesus Christ being the light to the Gentiles, the light to the nations.

As we think about the preaching of the gospel to the nations, we recognize that this is the heartbeat of the book of Acts. The preaching of the gospel. Gospel preaching. Nation reaching. Gospel preaching.

Nation reaching. Over and over again. This is the 120 over 80 of Acts. This is the very heartbeat of Acts. In Acts chapter 1, Jesus told His disciples, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Well, in chapter 2, we find the Spirit-empowered preaching of the church, the Spirit empowering and equipping the church to preach the gospel to Jews from all over the Roman Empire in their native languages.

Chapter 3, Jesus heals a man born lame through Peter and John, and they bring this former reject into the temple where the gospel is preached for hours. And after being imprisoned because of it, in chapter 4, Peter and John and the whole church pray for God to continue to grant them boldness and power in preaching the gospel.

In chapter 5, the sick and the sinners from all the towns and villages around Jerusalem come into the city to hear gospel preaching from the apostles. In chapter 6, deacons are appointed to care for the Hellenist widows, those who grew up from afar, who weren't locals, and Stephen is arrested for preaching.

In chapter 7, Stephen is martyred for preaching Christ as the entire significance of Israel's covenantal history. In chapter 8, the church is scattered because of persecution, and the gospel is preached to the likes of Samaritans and Ethiopian eunuchs.

In chapter 9, the gospel is preached very far from Jerusalem, as Simon Bar-Jonah goes to Joppa. After chapter 10, the gospel is preached to Cornelius, and the Gentiles are brought into the kingdom. Chapter 11, the salvation of Gentiles is both described and defended.

God's sovereign grace is honored, and the Gentile Christians of Antioch care lovingly for the Christian Jews of Judea. In chapter 12, Herod's opposition to the gospel is at first thwarted, and then his life is ended.

In chapter 13, Paul and Barnabas are commissioned to preach the gospel abroad, and they do so through the whole island of Cyprus, and now they're in the region of Galatia, in the Roman colony of Antioch at Pisidia.

The gospel being preached everywhere, speaking to the nations. I invite you to stand with me as we read this passage, Acts 13, verses 42 through 48. This is the word of the Lord. 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. 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. 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 as had been appointed to eternal life believed. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. I want to make a recommendation from our church library to you. There is a series of documentaries called Dispatches from the Front wherein Tim Kazee talks about the gospel advance in many nations.

Some of you may have trouble accessing it as it is encoded on an ancient piece of technology called a DVD. But for those of you who are privileged enough to know how to work that particular technology and have the equipment to run it, you will be very blessed.

My family is watching through the Dispatches of the Front. Some of them can be very difficult for the smaller children and yet we're seeing the grace of God triumph time and again. And whether in Southeast Asia or the Balkans or West Africa or on the subcontinent of India, time and again we meet people.

Through the.

Film, through the documentary. They're all introduced initially, first labeled by their ethnicity or their tribe or their caste. But those man-centered designations begin to blur when the gospel shows up.

Those man-centered designations that introduce political lines drawn on militant maps that create ugly barricades erected over blood-soaked ground, suspicions and separations baked under a sun that has witnessed many genocides.

And yet, when the gospel enters into the fray, suddenly for the believers these categories.

Blur.

They don't.

Disappear entirely, but they are eclipsed by a greater glory, a more significant identity. It is not that their tribe or their culture is eradicated, but they are.

Subjugated to the.

Kingship of Jesus Christ so that you have men and women from previously warring tribes, men and women from previously warring regions that may sit together in the same church and have communion together.

Because the swords have been beaten into plowshares.

The.

Complexities of the world turn out to be the astigmatism of pride and the cataracts of bitterness. Jesus, however, gives sight to the blind. By God's grace, Christians begin to see by God's light, and the primary categories that now matter are more simple.

There are those who are outside of Christ and those who are in Christ.

What a simple way of looking.

At the world. What categories.

Are constantly handed to us to see the world by? How are we told to view the world and everybody in it by news stories? By the books we read? Conversations we have? How are we constantly being told to see people by man-centered categories?

Man-centered designations? Either according to somebody else's experience or even by our own. There are those who are outside of Christ. Some of them didn't care. Some of them were interested. Some of them were hostile.

There are those who are in Christ. There are the missionaries on the field. And there is miracle after miracle as sinners turn to Christ and their lives are transformed. So I recommend dispatches from the front.

I encourage you to take advantage of those. Good for your devotional life, your prayer life. We see four groups in our passage this morning. There were those who seem interested and were somewhat persuaded to continue in the gospel.

What will they? Because some of them turn out to be the greatest opposers, contradicting gospel preaching. And yet there were those who were commanded with gospel promise, preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, trusting in God's power.

And in the end, we count gospel people according to God's sovereign grace. We need to be careful that we don't obscure God's categories with our man-centered labels. We tend to sort people in our mind and in our heart based on politics.

We tend to sort people in our hearts and in our minds.

By.

Systems given to us by others, by the media, by whatever the current debate is. We tend to sort people in our minds and in our hearts sometimes by whether or not they agree with my personal philosophy or personal system of understanding things.

You're either with me.

Or against me. Sometimes we.

Sort people in our hearts and our minds based on what they can do for us or what they have done for us lately. These are all sinful ways of looking at people who are made in the image of God. How does God view us?

What are the categories that He uses? How are we to see people from His perspective? We begin to see this play out in this passage here in Acts chapter 13. First of all, who continues in gospel persuasion?

Verses 42 and 43. Let's read those verses again. 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. The synagogue lets out. What a finish for Paul's sermon. How he wraps up there in verse 41, quoting Habakkuk, warning them that they must not be unbelievers. Warning them that they must believe lest the judgment of God come upon.

Them. He had taken them on a.

Journey from Genesis to 2 Samuel. He toured the Psalms and the Prophets, and everywhere at every stop, Paul pressed home the significance. He kept on telling them in more than one way, everything that you are as Jews and proselytes is aimed at Messiah, and it's Messiah has come and died for our sins, and God raised him from the dead the third day.

And he.

Is indeed David's everlasting seed.

And that's.

Why Paul wraps up with this prophetic warning, don't reject the word of God. If you do not believe, you will be judged. Now what do the Jewish leaders ask for? Here's this.

Credentialed.

Pharisee who had studied it under the feet of Gamaliel and his friend, a Levite from the island of Cyprus. Wow. What did they offer him? They said, give us any word of exhortation, they said. Give us three points of poem and a parable about.

Puppies. Tell us a trick or two.

On how to triumph tomorrow.

What.

They got was gospel. What they got was euangelion, glad tidings of heaven's new king, and his authority claims, which encompass the earth. I wonder how full their hearts and minds were as they closed that session.

The priestly blessing given, the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face to shine upon you, be gracious to you, the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. The words trail off.

With the parting blessings of Shalom, they exit the synagogue. How does it weigh on them different, having heard this message? The daylight somehow of different quality than before.

The sons and daughters.

Swarm, flowing in their games. Wives and mothers conversing about what they had heard from the second room. The Jews, these God-fearing proselytes, trying to process what they've heard. The Gentiles, who were perhaps standing at the doorway, who had been specially invited on that day.

All of those who had been in the room and heard this preaching, they begin to try to think about what it means. And what's going on is that the shining light of the gospel of Jesus is sifting them.

Sifting them. Of what.

Type are you? Are you in Christ? Are you remaining outside of Christ? If you're outside of Christ, are you hostile to these ideas? Are you cold and uncaring about these things, or are you interested? They all begin to try to process.

Interestingly, the Gentiles, what did they hear? They heard in the sermon, by Him, by Christ, everyone who believes, everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

And that's a shocker. The God-fearers present that day in the synagogue were Gentiles. They were not Jews, they were from some other nation, and they had become proselytes. They were religious devotees of Moses.

And they knew other Gentiles in Antioch, and of course they would probably invite them from time to time to see if they wanted to be a part of synagogue. But the matters had all been unexplained to them.

Those who wanted to become part of the Jewish community, who were interested in following the Torah,.

Well, they were told that the way to.

Life was paved with the law of Moses. Jesus said the Pharisees and the scribes thought that the Scriptures contained eternal life, to give them the path, to give them the way of eternal life. They believed that the law was the way.

Now Jesus is the way? They had been told to memorize certain texts and to repeat them at particular times because the law, you see, was the truth. But now Jesus is the truth? They had been instructed in certain feasts and sacrifices and rituals that would accord them blessings because the law was their life.

But now Jesus is their life? Gentiles say, tell us more.

Paul, you're saying that the law.

And the prophets and the writings, that they're about Jesus of Nazareth, whom God raised up from the dead? Let's get back together.

Next week. Hey, next Sabbath.

Instead of just doing the synagogue thing, we want you to preach to us too. Tell us more about this message. They were excited. Those who heard, they planned on bringing everybody they knew because they wanted to hear this message.

Now,.

In verse 43, we see a more calm response from the Jews and the devout proselytes. They didn't want to wait until next Sabbath to hear more. In fact, they follow after Paul and Barnabas. They want to hear more from them sooner.

They want to speak more about the message. As they walk along, Paul and Barnabas, they amplify, they explain, they reason, they emphasize the glad tidings of Jesus' resurrection to these interested folks.

But what are they doing in all of this? Notice what it says in the text.

"...who.

Speaking to them...". A very general word for speaking, all the different manners of speaking. "...persuaded them...". You see this?

"...persuaded them.

To continue in the grace of God.". What goes on here? Well, they had heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. They desired to know more. That's why they follow Paul and Barnabas down the road to pursue some kind of follow-up.

Hey, you can't just leave.

I want to know.

More. I've got questions. You've got answers. I think some today would be ready to stamp born again on these folks' foreheads just for showing this amount of interest. But what do Paul and Barnabas do?

They urge them. They reason with them. They persuade them to continue in the grace of God. What grace of God is this? Well, the grace that they had received that day. There was the grace of gospel preaching.

The grace of gospel hearing. The grace of gospel interest. The grace of gospel fellowship. They are pursuing Paul and Barnabas down the road. It's not said here that they're filled with the Holy Spirit or granted faith and repentance or that they're baptized in recognition of a new birth.

What's going on here? Just what it says. Paul and Barnabas see that these folks are interested and they say to them, continue. Continue. Continue. They're persuading them to continue in this grace of God.

What grace is this again? The fact that the gospel was preached to them. The fact that they heard the message. The fact that they're interested at all. Paul and Barnabas are saying,.

Continue in that.

Continue in that. Why?

Because there's a sifting that must take place. There's a sifting that must take place. The shining light of the gospel of Jesus always sifts the nations into gospel categories. Sower.

Went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some of the seed fell upon hardened paths. Some of the seed fell on shallow soil. Some of the seed fell on ground choked with thorns. Some of the seed fell on good ground. Now, don't get it into your head that the sower was some kind of Marxist egalitarian walking around putting one seed per area so that everybody's equal.

He's a farmer. He's walking along. He has his pouch full of seed and he's just broadcasting the seed, broadcasting the seed, broadcasting the seed. He doesn't have all the limestone up out of that field.

There are some shallow areas. He doesn't have all the thorns weeded out of that place. And he can't help but that some of the seed falls upon the hardened walkway. What happens to the seed? Well, the seed that falls on the hardened pathway, the birds come along and eat it.

The seed that falls on the shallow soil where the limestone is just below the surface, it warms up fast, it germinates first, but it withers away because it has no root, it has no moisture. The other seed falls among where the thorns are also present and the thorns spring up and are stronger and choke out the life of the seed.

But for the most part, this is the good news, for the most part, that field produces 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold because the sower went.

Out to sow.

And when Jesus explained the parable to his disciples, he said that the sower was sowing the Word of God. The Word of God. And the parable is about how the Word of God, how the grace of gospel.

Preaching.

Impacts the hearers who are made.

In the image of God. I've heard.

Some folks say this should be called the parable of the soils, but I think the title is correct. I think it is the parable of the sower. It is the parable of the sower. Because it's not about people not getting their hearts together right.

It's not about people keeping themselves saved. It's about the impact that the Word of God has on those who are made in His image. And what happens? Sometimes the Word doesn't take root at all. The devil comes and snatches away the Word as soon as it's heard.

Sometimes the seed does take some root and there seems to be some sort of interest, some sort of excitement. They may follow the preacher down the road wanting to know more. But what does he say.

To them? Continue.

He persuades them to continue. He doesn't know if they're born again. He didn't know if they were ready to hear and God had already been working in their lives through the Holy Spirit. He doesn't know if they're just somewhat interested.

He has no idea. Persuades them to continue. The test of time will tell. Here comes some seed coming up amongst the thorns. There's no way to tell how this is going to pan out. Persuades them to continue in the grace of God.

This is about the grace of gospel preaching. The grace of gospel hearing. The fact that there's any kind of interest at all. That's what the grace of God is in view here in Acts chapter 13. This is the grace of God in view here in the parable.

There's no way to tell except for the process of time. The external call of the grace of God is made effectual by the internal call. When a man or a woman, a sinner is born again. And the seed bears.

Fruit. Now.

Paul and Barnabas do not pretend to replace God. They do not look upon this interest in the gospel preaching and then declare to them, thou art saved. They say, continue in the grace of God. In fact, they persuade them.

They encourage them. They exhort them. They compel them to continue in the grace of God. We need clarity about what's happening here is that we will be blessed and bless others. Gospel persuasion is both for the unsaved and the saved because of who Christ is and who we are made in God's image.

Church lets out. Church lets out. And there's the burble and tumble of all our daughters.

And sons. There's the.

Slow rise of conversation and fellowship. Some of us rush for the exit. Some of us rush for the nursery. Others rush for the.

Restrooms. But.

The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ should lay upon us. Somehow, the sun should shine differently as our thoughts are redirected. Certainly, there are some upon whom the message has no impact at all.

But for the most of us, it does. So what should we do? What should we do? Persuade one another to continue in the grace of God. Or put it in the way of Hebrews. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.

Let us consider one another to stir up love and good works. Let us exhort one another. Let us persuade one another to continue in the grace of God. Do you know that you need that persuasion? Do you know that I need that persuasion?

I've received some even today. And boy, did I need it. This encouragement is God's means of grace for our maturing and growing up in.

Christ. Husband,.

Does your wife show interest in knowing more about what was preached? Encourage her to continue in the grace of God. Parents, do your children speak of Christ and His good news and their desire to respond and know more?

Compel them to continue in the grace of God. But what if your family members and your neighbors and your friends, maybe they don't truly believe that they know facts, but they have not faith. They begin to recognize Christ, but they don't really rely upon Him.

But do they show interest? Do they hear at any level at all? Persuade them. Persuade them to continue in the grace of God. Why? Not because your persuasion is their salvation. Far from it. But because they must be sifted by the shining light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Things must be made clear to them. And what else am I supposed to say and do? What else am I supposed to say and do? My loyalty is to my King. My love is for my Savior. My zeal is for His glory. So I've got no other course of action.

Anybody in 20 feet of me showing any interest in the gospel of Jesus Christ, desiring to know something more about them, about Him, and I'm going to try to persuade them to continue in the grace of God.

What else.

Am I going to say? What if they're not interested.

At all?

Then you're the herald, declaring to them the news that they must must adhere to, take interest in, take note of. This is for everybody. Do not look at those within 20 feet of you and say, don't have to persuade them.

Don't say, they're not worth my time. Don't say, lost cause. Don't say, not my business. What labels are you assigning to these folks that would lead you to those conclusions? Not God-centered labels.

Those would be man-centered.

Labels. God.

Saves far more people than we would ever be comfortable with Him saving. He saves far more people than we would ever be comfortable knowing made it to heaven. He saves far more people, people that we would rather not.

We're more like Jonah. Very often in our bitterness, in our fear. But let's apply gospel categories, God's categories, and persuade them to continue. Because there's no way to tell initially if somebody is just religiously curious, or if they're actually regenerated in Christ.

People come up with all kinds of elaborate tests and trials, but none of them can adequately substitute for the factor of time. And thus we just persuade one another all the time. Continue. Continue in the grace of God.

Continuing.

In the grace of God means continuing in the hearing of the gospel. Don't shut it down. Don't turn it off. It means thinking and meditating and asking questions and pursuing answers concerning Jesus Christ.

Having begun in the moment, continue on. Do not stop. And the more that you continue in this grace of gospel hearing, the more clear your condition is, the more clear your need is, the more clear your direction becomes.

Don't identify yourself with man's labels. See yourself from God's point.

Of view.

I've had many, many conversations. Some of them repeated over long courses of time in which I persuade someone to continue in the grace of God. I remember one co-worker from 20 years ago. We had many gospel conversations until he was sifted, until he could clearly see that he was not a Christian.

But he'd been wearing the label. But he just didn't believe in the Jesus of the Bible. Until finally he saw that he was outside of Christ and therefore clearly in need of him.

I don't know.

What happened to Robert. Pray for him. But he knew when we left that he was in need of a Savior. When we first met, he didn't know that. I think of an acquaintance who later became my friend. How often I persuaded him to continue in the grace of God.

We never prayed some sort of program prayer. But his life was transformed. He came to faith in Christ and he still continues.

To this day.

So, do not fail to persuade those around you who have tasted the grace of gospel hearing to continue on to the feast of gospel believing.

Persuade them.

Encourage them. Exhort them. Confident that God has sent His Son into the world to save sinners. His business is the business that saves. Our business is the business of persuading and encouraging and praising the Savior.

The Envy and Opposition That Gospel Preaching Exposes

Well, who contradicts gospel preaching? Verses 44 and 45. Because the shining light of the gospel of Jesus never fails to sift the nations, very often it exposes those who are opposed. 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. Almost the whole city of Antioch turned out to hear the word.

These citizens of this Roman colony, Antioch at Pisidia, excited to hear gospel, excited to hear good news. Here was a euangelion unlike those constantly declared from the mother city, Rome. Here was a gospel from heaven.

From a different mother city, the New Jerusalem. And the whole colony turns out to hear the word of God, the heraldry of another, higher, far more powerful King, Jesus of Nazareth, who was risen from the dead.

What a moment. God had sovereignly ordained and prepared for the advance of the gospel in this place and at this time. His holy word had been scattered throughout the Mediterranean basin as Jewish exiles lived throughout the whole Roman Empire.

And every Sabbath, Moses was read. He, along with the prophets and the poets, declared Christ's glory again and again and again. But veiled were their readings. And veiled were their hearts. Nevertheless, nevertheless, the shadows still appeared and Jewish families and Gentile proselytes were in some way directed and edified to look to the Savior.

This synagogue had proselytes among them, which means that they had had some success in telling people, hey, this is the word of God and there's only one true God and stop being an idolater and come to synagogue with us every week.

And they had had some success. There were the Jews who had lived there for generations, but then there were also proselytes, converts. They had had some success. But now, though many had joined them in their synagogue from week to week, now the multitudes turn out and take over their Sabbath to hear Paul's message about Jesus.

Moses had won his thousands, but now the Messiah was winning his ten thousands. The result?

Envy.

Jealousy. Opposition. Notice the progression here in the text. Verse 45. They were filled with envy.

And.

Contradicting and blaspheming the opposed things spoken by Paul. It is not that they were filled with concern about how Paul was interpreting the Scripture or fear that their synagogue would be destroyed by the crowds.

They were filled with envy. Envy. How long had their Jewish community been there in Antioch, in this colony in Galatia? Hundreds of years they had been there. How long had it taken for them to build and grow and make inroads?

All that time it took them to have this modicum of success. But now,.

Here comes Paul.

And after one sermon, preaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, all the town turns out like it's the return of the exile under Ezra or the rebuilding of the wall under Nehemiah and they are angry.

These Jews can't stand the fact to see this sudden success. They see what glory is ascribed to Jesus Christ in contrast to the successes that they have known. And now what more can he have but the kingdom?

Indeed. Indeed.

Just the week before, the Jews were filled with interest. They were pursuing and being persuaded to continue in the grace of God. But now some of those very same folks are filled with envy. They no longer speak peaceably.

They no longer seek understanding. They are riled up with envy and so they speak combatively. They seek to contradict. They desire to showcase that they have a superior understanding of the law and the prophets and the writings than this Paul.

They contradict what Paul preaches. They contradict what Paul preached a week ago that they found so compelling at the first.

Now they.

Try to disprove Paul, delegitimize Paul. They even blaspheme. They blaspheme. Imagine the degrading accusatory things that they hurl at the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

How they desire.

In their anger to pin him against the wall. They consider themselves in a fight for their own cultural and religious survival, no holds barred. And they were in that fight. Because if what this Paul says is true and look at this massive onslaught of the Gentiles, what point.

Is there.

In continuing on with the rituals, with the sacrifices, with the feast days, and those careful dietary restrictions? If what Paul says is true, what's the point in continuing on in any of these things?

Given the glory of Jesus Christ, why would there be any further infatuation with Jerusalem? That was Paul's point to the Christians of this very region, Galatia, when he wrote the book of Galatians. Galatians 4 verse 21.

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman, remember Hagar, the slave, was born according to the flesh.

Sarah and Abram cooked up some scheme by which Abram could have a descendant by means of his handmaiden, Hagar, rather than by trusting that God would give them a son through his wife, Sarah. So he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through the promise.

God didn't make a promise that Abraham would have a son through Hagar, named Ishmael. God promised that Abraham would have a son with his wife named Isaac. Verse 24, which things are symbolic? Paul says we're going to use this as an analogy.

We're going to use this as a metaphor to understand the point. For there are the two covenants. You've heard of them, they're called the Old and the New. For there are the two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar.

For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children. So he says now think of Hagar, think of her as Mount Sinai where the law was given to Israel, and think of her as connected to the Jerusalem that is presently standing to this day.