WWUTT 638 Be Devoted to the Public Reading of Scripture?

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Paul encouraged Timothy that while he was there in Ephesus he was to be devoted to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and to teaching.

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You know what? That's what pastors are supposed to be doing in the pulpits even now, when we understand the text.

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You are listening to When We Understand The Text, committed to the sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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And don't forget our website, www .utt .com. Here's our host,

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We're back to 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 11 through 16, which

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I said we would finish up this week, but I've only been through about two verses here, so we'll see how far we get today.

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Paul wrote to Timothy, command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

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Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and to teaching.

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Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.

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Practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.

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Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

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So Paul said in verse 13, giving instructions to Timothy on what he is supposed to do while he's there in Ephesus.

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Until I come, he says, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture. Now him saying until I come is kind of curious.

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It seems to indicate Paul has intentions of coming to Ephesus and until he gets there, here's what

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Timothy is supposed to be doing. But we have pretty good reason to believe that Paul never made it back to Ephesus for a couple of reasons.

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Number one, in Acts 20, when Paul said farewell to the elders at Ephesus, he had them come meet him in Miletus.

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He couldn't go back to Ephesus because he knew that he would be killed. So while he was in Miletus, he sent for the elders who came to him and he gave them his farewell address and said to them,

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I know that I am never going to see you again on this side of heaven. Now maybe he had a pretty good idea that some of them might end up being martyred.

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There could be some truth in that. But I think that Paul understood that the spirit was never going to bring him back that way again.

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He was never going to set foot in Ephesus. Maybe Paul had an expectation or a hopefulness that the spirit of God would lead him back there.

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And maybe that's why he said, until I come. But I think that we could interpret this more fairly this way, that Paul would come to a location close to Ephesus and he would send for Timothy to come and join him.

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And that's the more likely scenario. If Paul made it back to Ephesus, it would have been in his fourth missionary journey.

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And we have no record of that. This also would have been after Paul's first imprisonment in Rome, which is when he's writing this letter.

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So sometime around 62 or 63 AD. And that puts him just about three or four years before he was martyred in his second imprisonment in Rome.

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He would have been martyred under Nero and about 66 AD. So that's kind of the window that we're looking at here.

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Those three or four years between his first imprisonment in Rome and his second imprisonment and eventual martyrdom.

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And in that span of time, we've got two or three years where Timothy is a pastor in Ephesus.

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Timothy wasn't meant to be a mainstay in Ephesus, but he was there longer than he generally spent in another area.

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Usually, Paul would send him to a particular location to visit a church, be there for a few weeks, maybe a few months, and then he would come and join

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Paul somewhere else and give him an update on how things were going in that church. But with Ephesus, Paul has a different assignment for Timothy.

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He wants him to be there for an extended period of time to correct the false teaching and set that particular house in order, which is a work of love that's going to take a little bit longer than the usual few weeks or few months that Timothy would spend in a particular area.

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So without getting too analytical, I think the best way to understand what Paul is saying in verse 13 is this.

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As long as I have you there in Ephesus, until I send for you or otherwise, here's what it is that I want you to do.

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I want you to devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching.

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And that really is the assignment of any pastor. That's what a pastor should be doing.

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He should be reading scripture to his congregation. He should be calling them to respond to it, which is what exhortation means.

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Like how does this pertain to you? What is your response to this supposed to be?

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The pastor reads the scripture, he explains it, and he tells his congregation to respond to it.

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That's the public reading of scripture. That's the exhortation. That's the teaching. That's what a pastor is supposed to be doing.

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John MacArthur, Mark Dever, Albert Muller, Votie Bauckham, Steve Lawson.

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These are just some of the men who have said that the regular diet of a church is supposed to be expository preaching.

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That doesn't mean that a church can't embark upon some topical issues every once in a while.

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A pastor would preach on a topical subject, which he should still do exegetically, certainly not exegetically, not imposing himself upon the text, but explaining what the text means.

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But the regular diet, again, of the church should be to go verse by verse through the scriptures.

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Now, some of you are probably aware that Andy Stanley said a few years ago that that kind of preaching, expository preaching, was cheating because that's easy to do.

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You can go through it verse by verse. It's all right there. I mean, there's no challenge to that at all.

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If it's so easy, then why isn't Andy Stanley doing it? He's absolutely terrible as a teacher, to be quite honest.

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He sounds good and he talks real fast. But when it comes down to it, the substance in his sermons is gravely lacking.

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But anyway, he caused this controversy by saying that expository preaching was cheating.

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Well, expository preaching is the model of preaching that we have from the Bible. It's not something that we made up after the

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Bible was written. Even in the Bible, this is the way that you see the teachers teaching.

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They do it just like this, just like we're doing right now as we go through First Timothy and take it apart bit by bit.

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Now, when these letters were first delivered to a church, like you're talking about the letter to the Galatians, the letter to the

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Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, etc. The letter would be brought before the congregation on the

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Lord's Day. Hey, we got a letter from the Apostle Paul. The whole church is gathered there. They're anxious to hear this letter read.

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One of the elders would stand up in front of the church and they would read the whole thing, chapter one to chapter six, in the case of the letter to the

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Ephesians. Now, there wouldn't have been the chapter and verse markers, but I'm just saying from beginning to end, they would have read the entire letter to that church there in in Ephesus.

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And then they would have read the letter again and maybe taken various parts out of it. Or tied some of the things that they read in that letter with what they were regularly teaching from the

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Old Testament, because all of these churches would have had the Old Testament scriptures to see how Christ fulfilled all the law and the prophets.

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And then as we had a growing number of epistles, the apostles continued to explain how

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Christ fulfilled what was written by the prophets of old and what godliness is supposed to look like in a believer today who believes the message of the gospel and is growing in it.

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That's what the epistles teach us growing in the Christian life. And a church in a particular city didn't just have the letter that Paul wrote to them.

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They probably had a collection of letters that had been written to other places. Some of the members of their church would go to those cities and would read those letters and write them down and bring the copies back.

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When we read in Colossians and Colossians chapter four, Paul says, go to Laodicea, read the letter that I wrote to them and also show them this letter.

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And Paul or I'm sorry, Peter mentions in second Peter, chapter three about Paul's growing body of work, the letters that he had written.

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So these letters that had been sent out by the apostles were being collected and taught in these respective churches.

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The more the letters were written and being sent out, the greater that collection had become. So the the public reading of scripture and this expository style of preaching is a model of preaching that has been given to us in the

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Bible. If you doubt what I'm saying, go to Acts chapter 13 and read it. There are some very popular chapters in the book of Acts.

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Acts chapter two is Peter's sermon at Pentecost. Acts chapter seven is

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Stephen's speech before being martyred. You have, let's see, Acts chapter 17,

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Paul's sermon at the Areopagus. You have Acts chapter 24, Paul before Felix.

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You have Acts chapter 26, the sermon that he delivers before Agrippa. These are the most popular chapters in Acts.

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I think Acts 13 tends to get overlooked. So I'm going to go ahead and read it starting in verse 13,

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Acts 13, 13. Now Paul and his companion set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia.

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And John left them and returned to Jerusalem. But they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia.

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And on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down, which was

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Paul's custom to first go into a city and teach in the synagogue on the Sabbath. After the reading from the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them saying, brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.

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So get that. All right. They've read the scripture before the synagogue. And now they're sending to Paul and to Barnabas to say something to the brothers to encourage them based on the scriptures that have just been read.

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So verse 16, so Paul stood up and motioning with his hand. That's what it says.

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I don't know if he learned that in his homiletics course or but anyway, men of Israel and you who fear

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God, listen, the God of this people, Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt.

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And with uplifted arm, he led them out of it. And for about 40 years, he put up with them in the wilderness.

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And after destroying seven nations of the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.

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All this took about 450 years. And after that, he gave them judges until Samuel, the prophet.

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And then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years.

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And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said,

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I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do all my will.

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Of this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior,

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Jesus, as he promised before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

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And as John was finishing his course, he said, what do you suppose that I am? I am not he no, but behold, after me, one is coming, the sandals of whose feet

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I am not worthy to untie. Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear

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God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

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For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every

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Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked

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Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

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But God raised him from the dead. And for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.

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And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising

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Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, you are my son, today

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I have begotten you. And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,

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I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. Therefore he also says in another

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Psalm, you will not let your holy one see corruption. For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom

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God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

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Beware therefore, lest what is said in the prophets should come about, look you scoffers, be astounded and perish, for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you would not believe even if one tells it to you.

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As they went out, that's the end of the sermon, okay? So now verse 42, as they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next

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Sabbath. Now understand what we've just read from the apostle Paul in his sermon that extended from, let's see verse 16 through verse 41.

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That's probably a paraphrase of the actual sermon that Paul gave. It would have been much longer than that, but he's giving a summary.

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He's giving an explanation of the Old Testament scriptures that would have been read there in the synagogue, and he is showing how

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Christ fulfilled all the work in the prophet, all of the, I'm sorry, all of the law and the prophets, and also using other

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Old Testament texts to prove the point, using scripture to interpret scripture. He's doing expository preaching, and the people loved what he was saying so much, giving understanding to this word that they previously did not understand, that they asked him to come back the next

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Sabbath and explain those things to him again. Let us hear it again. We want to hear it again.

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You can say the exact same thing that you just said, and we want to hear it, which is why we need the gospel over and over again.

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Next Sunday, I hope you hear the gospel in your church. I hope you heard it last week. I hope you hear it this Sunday.

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I hope you hear it again the Sunday after that and all year long. No matter what text your pastor is preaching from, he should be showing how the hope of the gospel is in Jesus Christ, our

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Lord. He is our hope and peace, and here is what this scripture says about that.

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Just as Paul was preaching there in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia.

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So after the meeting, I'm going to go to verse 43 here. After the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many

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Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with him, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

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The next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the

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Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.

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Ha ha. We've seen that happen before, haven't we? That was exactly the way they responded to Jesus. When the crowds would come to him, the

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Pharisees were filled with jealousy. Verse 46 and Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying,

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It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you, since you thrusted aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life.

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Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the

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Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Verse 48 And when the

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Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed, and the word of the

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Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing, and the leading men of the city stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.

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But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium, and the disciples were filled with joy and with the

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Holy Spirit. So they left many disciples in their wake, many converts that were there in that city because the

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Apostle Paul showed them the gospel in light of the text that was being read there in the synagogue.

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And I love verse 48. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed who ended up believing the gospel that Paul and Barnabas spoke, those who were predestined to believe the gospel according to the names that were written in the

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Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the world. That's who it was that came to believe in the gospel.

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We are part of this work that God has called us to, to actualize his elect before the day of Christ.

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We are to go out preaching the gospel and leading others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

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And that is that's part of God's divine plan for the sake of the faith of his elect.

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We don't know who the elect are. We don't even know how many number they are going to be. According to Revelation, chapter seven, it's an incountable number.

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It's just going to be a massive multitude in heaven together praising God forever. But we are part of that work now.

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We are those whom God is using to preach the gospel so that those whom he has predestined to believe will hear the gospel, be convicted in heart, repent of their sin, become followers of Jesus Christ, and so be saved.

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We are on assignment. We are included in this divine work. So do not neglect the responsibility that is upon you to preach the gospel.

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For Timothy in particular, as a pastor of this church in Ephesus, he was to be devoted to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and to teaching.

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Maybe you don't have the gift of teaching, but you do have the responsibility to be devoted to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and to teaching, meaning that you need to be attending church and you need to be sitting under good teaching, listening to the

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Bible, being taught as a member of that church. You also need to hold the church accountable to the sound words of the

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Lord Christ. Every member of the church is responsible for that. And you also have a call to share the gospel.

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According to 1 Peter 3 15, to give an answer for the hope that lies within you, but do this with gentleness and respect.

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You say, I don't, I don't know what it is that I'm supposed to say. Well, we have all of these examples in scripture, just like we saw there in Acts chapter 13.

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Just share the gospel. Tell somebody the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God who came to earth and took on human flesh, who lived a perfect life that we could not live.

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But as our substitute, he lived in his life, even as our substitute, all the things that we could not do, fulfilling the law and the prophets.

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He laid down his own life, dying on the cross for our sins, spilling his blood as a sacrifice, taking the wrath of God upon himself and drinking every last drop so that all who believe in Christ will never have to experience

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God's wrath to show that God accepted this perfect sacrifice. He raised Christ from the dead.

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He was seen by many hundreds of people, if not thousands in the 40 days between his resurrection and his ascension into heaven.

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He is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God, where he intercedes for us, mediating for us on our behalf.

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He is our advocate, speaking favorably of us before the father, all those who have turned from sin and worship him and believe in him.

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And if we remain steadfast in the faith to the end, then Christ, when he comes back, will receive us into his eternal kingdom.

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But those who do not repent of sin and believe the gospel, Jesus will destroy by casting them out into eternal fire.

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Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe.

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That's what it is that you need to be sharing with folks, the good news of what Jesus Christ has done.

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And it is by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ that we are saved from our sins and given the kingdom of God as an inheritance.

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Our heavenly father, your name is holy. Your name is great in all the earth.

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And I pray that we would revere this name as great. And we would take advantage of the fact that we can come before you, our all loving heavenly father, because of what

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Jesus has done for us. And by his blood, we have been adopted into your family. Please send your son back soon to take care of all of the evil in this world and to rescue us from it and bring us into your heavenly kingdom forever.

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Help us to have eyes and a heart that is fixed upon that kingdom.

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That is our longing. That is what we're hoping for. Not anything in this world, but the return of our

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Lord Christ. Keep us faithful and steadfast to the end until the day of his return.

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May he find us faithful servants, preaching his gospel and walking in godliness.

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That we might not be taken by surprise on that day, but we look forward to it with longing.

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In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

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Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.