Salvation to the Ends of the Earth, part 2 (Acts 13:13-41, Jeff Kliewer)

and not much of ourselves God you are worthy of all praise and as we contemplate the vastness of this universe how big our galaxy alone is let alone the billions of galaxies that are you are the

God that spoke these into existence with the word and I love how the

Bible says and he made the stars to Lord you spoke and they were and we're told that you know them all by name they obey you they burn for you and here we are on this small planet called earth living our little lives

I pray this morning that we would see you for who you are see ourselves for who we are and give ourselves entirely to you that our lives would be centered around you in Jesus name

Amen the opposite of being God centered is to be anything else centered many people center their lives around a sport or an activity a

TV show many people center their lives on things that are not God in fact the most common thing that people center their lives around is humanity whether themselves their own life or humanity in general humanism is the worldly philosophy that intentionally eliminates

God John Dewey was one of the signers of the humanist manifesto in 1933 he was born the same year that Charles Darwin wrote the origin of the species which was evolutionary and taught that there is no guiding force of God that made the universe but rather natural selection brought about the things that are he bought that line hook line and sinker and so John Dewey became a humanist so what exactly is humanism

I'll read you a couple definitions religious humanism considers the complete realization of human personality to be the end of man's life though we consider the religious forms and ideas of our fathers no longer adequate the quest for the good life is still the central task for mankind so humanism is about mankind realizing man's potential grabbing life taking the bull by the horns man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dreams that he has within himself the power for its achievement he must set intelligence and will to the task they write elsewhere instead of finding solace in prefabricated answers to the great questions of life humanists enjoy the open -endedness of a quest and the freedom of discovery that this entails in other words do away with God do away with the

Bible we will experience life on our own and humanity is all that is or all that's important they do have some religious people within humanism for example

Thomas Paine and Robert Ingersoll deists who believe that God created the world and then just spun it into existence and stepped out of the way and they can be humanist because they don't believe that God is actively involved in the world

God was merely the one who created it in the beginning but then like a divine clockmaker who wound everything up and set it off into motion he then steps out of the way and we're left here to fend for ourselves the manifesto in 1973 probably sums it up best no deity will save us we must save ourselves that is the humanist mindset it is entirely and definitionally man -centered but guys listen even if you're not part of the humanist society it's very easy for you and I to become man -centered in our thinking to begin to think that our lives are up to us that God is something that we encounter on Sunday morning for an hour as we sing and as we hear the

Bible but then we go back to the real world and our lives become oriented around ourselves neglecting

God in the activities of our day -to -day that's man -centered too so there's the negative example

I want to draw a sharp contrast and the sharp contrast the clearest example that I know of to bring this into focus is the life of a man named

William Carey William Carey around the turn of the century into the 1800s recognized that the churches in England were not going to the ends of the earth to preach the gospel he began to realize that it's okay for Christians who don't believe that man can do anything alone it's okay for us to use means to reach the ends of the earth he wrote an inquiry into the use of means to reach the heathen when he began to think this way that it was right to be intentional about going to foreign countries the reaction of the church was against it these were hyper

Calvinists hyper Calvinists who said listen sit down young man if God wants to convert the heathen

God will do it and so he argued with them and he tried to convince them no it's good for Christians to obey the

Great Commission and to go into all the earth to use means to convert the heathen he was rejected but finally a year later he formed his own missionary society and he and a doctor named

John Thomas and their families sailed to India this is a

God -centered man when he got there they realized that it was a lot harder than they even imagined they weren't able to make ends meet financially and within a short period of time

John Thomas left the mission field so writes

William Carey I am in a strange land no

Christian friend a large family and nothing to supply their wants but he also retained hope writing well

I have God and his word is sure deserted by his missionary friend left alone in India barely able to make ends meet he says well

I have God and his word is sure that's the thesis of my talk today well

I have God and his word is sure well it didn't just get easier from that point on for seven years he never saw one convert it wasn't until the seventh year that Krishna Pal became the first baptized believer seven years ministering without seeing any fruit would you become discouraged at that point after seven years well if that wasn't discouraging enough

Kerry contracted malaria and then one of his children little

Peter contracted dysentery and he watched him suffer and he watched him die his wife

Dorothy being overwhelmed by the pain of losing their son Peter began to lose her mind and was accusing

William of adultery and even took a against him and chased him around the house she had to be institutionalized for a time in that circumstance writes

Kerry this is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me but I rejoice that I am here notwithstanding and God is here this is

God centeredness this is believing that God is in it he remained on the mission field she was healed she recovered they continued on eventually

Kerry was used for the abolition of infanticide widow -burning and assisted suicide in India they founded colleges they won 700 converts during a 41 year ministry now compared to the billions of people in India more than a billion people in India 700 seems like nothing but how many missionaries were inspired by this first of the modern missionaries

William Kerry inspired David Livingston and Adoniram Judson so many of the missionaries who then would go off to the ends of the earth and now

India we know is being reached for the gospel William Kerry was

God -centered remember his line well I have God and his word is sure this is

God centeredness so as we turn to Acts chapter 13 the theme today is centering your life and your thinking on God I believe

Paul's sermon in Acts chapter 13 is the most God -centered sermon in the

New Testament we'll see that if you could pull up the map we talked about last week we talked about how the first missionary journey began from Antioch in Syria and traveling along that blue line that you see they went to the island of Cyprus arriving in Salamis from Salamis that port city they traveled 150 miles across the island of Cyprus preaching the gospel would have taken months they went throughout the whole island and finally they arrived and preached where the proconsul was located in Paphos and he became a believer but it wasn't easygoing was it

Elemis the sorcerer opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith

Paul had to strike him with blindness in the name of Jesus and preaching the gospel he came to believe so this first leg of the missionary journey is now complete it's time to leave the island of Cyprus and they sail across the

Mediterranean and arrive in Perga and travel up in to what is modern -day

Turkey and arrive at Antioch in Pisidia that's different than Antioch in Syria where the mission began this is

Pisidian Antioch north of Perga moving into central

Turkey and this is where the mission continues Acts chapter 13 verse 13 and following I want you to see in this first section the god -centeredness of these missionaries now

Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia and John left them and returned to Jerusalem but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia and on the

Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down after the reading from the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them saying brothers if you have any word of encouragement for the people say it so Paul stood up and motioning with his hand said men of Israel and you who fear

God listen notice first in verse 13 having completed months of ministry their assistant leaves them that's a hit that's painful there's only three on this first journey it's

Paul it's Barnabas and it's John Mark but John Mark loses hope why could it have been the hundreds of miles of walking the dangers the opposition the persecution could it have been that he was a little scared by that encounter with a false prophet who's a sorcerer and the dramatic way in which

Paul had to deal with him was it just a bit much for this young man in any case he turns back and he goes home missionaries have to deal with this a lot people leaving the mission field they go out together but some have to return there's a lot of saying goodbye there's a lot of pain on the mission field and in churches the case is also the same that sometimes people leave and it's painful the question is when that happens on the mission field in churches in your life when someone leaves will you remain

God centered it would be very easy at this point in time for Paul and Barnabas to say you know what

I think we need to go back to the other Antioch back to where we started we've reached

Cyprus God has done a great work let's head back it's been a long and hard journey already

God centeredness allows them to persevere through pain they continue on they endure in the ministry because they recognize that even the painful things come from God God is in those details as well he has a purpose for this happening they've lost

John but they haven't lost God God is here and his word is sure they persevere next in the text notice verse 14

I love this about when they come into Antioch they go into the synagogue what does it say and they began preaching really loud

I have a tendency to get loud when I'm preaching I'm excited I want to communicate what I'm trying to say but what does the text say about them they sat down good answer they sat down see that resting in the sovereignty of God recognizes that they can't go in there and do anything they need

God with them to create the opportunity and that's the case with evangelism you have to be both active and passive to be a good evangelist you have to be intentional to go out and preach but also sit and wait on God I think it just recently flying back from Florida we we called an uber driver to get to the airport and I had every intention of sharing the gospel

I prayed as a family we prayed that God would provide an opportunity and the uber driver came and as we got in the car he was a

Turkish guy talking about Turkey today he drove us to the airport and as we sat we just prayed and thought until finally the

Lord showed me something his radio dial has joy FM so I asked him about that and that became the introduction to the gospel and the

Lord then turned the conversation and for the rest of the ride we talked about the death burial resurrection of Jesus he showed signs that he's believing

I don't know that he's repented and been born again but I pray for a minute that uber driver it was an opportunity for the gospel but only

God could create it I couldn't force it you have to sit and wait but be intentional yet passive that's

God centeredness in evangelism waiting for the opportunity and yet intentionally looking for it that's what they do they sit down and how are they rewarded look at verse 15 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 now what do you think

Paul is about to say this is his open door and he walks right through it he's waited on God he's

God centered in his methods he's trusting that God is here so it says in verse 16 he stood up motioning with his hand said men of Israel and you who fear

God listen now before we go into that sermon I want you to notice what the people in the synagogue are longing for what are they wanting what do they need a word of encouragement

I just want to pause and take a little aside here to say guys almost everybody you know in your life is hungry for some encouragement a word of encouragement if you can come speak some positive word no matter what the situation people will soak that up because they need it there's that rule that you should speak ten positive things into a relationship before you say something negative if you don't do that the number of deposits that you've made into the love tank of the other person will not support the withdrawal in the criticism you have to offer it's important to be encouraging

I like to say offer nine encouragements and then one criticism why because in the church at Corinth that church was a mess

Corinth was a mess they were divided over anything and everything there was sexual immorality there was suing one another in court the spiritual gifts were run amok

Paul is about to rebuke one thing after another but the first nine verses of Corinthians is amazing encouragement he has nine positive things to say before he begins exposing the problems in the church guys be encouraging to one another be a person who's always building other people up speaking well into their life but also willing to say the hard things when that time comes that's what they were longing for but look they have good news to bring here look at verse 16 he motions with his hand don't you wish you knew what that motion looked like why does the text record that I figure it's something like this or maybe it's like basketball players you know they they do this thing and then they point to heaven is it something like that or is it more like this he just takes a moment to pray and to center his mind and thought on God and his body is crying out to God and they notice that there's something about his motions that's communicating something what proceeds from his mouth as we move on now is the most

God -centered sermon in the New Testament it's all about God it's about God you know

Albert Einstein never believed in the Christian God and one time in an interview he said why he didn't he said the

God of the preachers in this country sounds really small when I look through a telescope and I see the vastness of this universe if there's a

God that made it and he didn't doubt that there was if there's a God that made this how big is that God and yet the preaching that I hear is therapeutic and it's psychological and it's about do this small thing and life will be better but so little about the

God of the Bible he couldn't believe what the preachers were selling at least the ones he heard

I know my ambition I learned this from John Piper talks about the supremacy of God in all things my ambition in preaching is to make much of God and little of us much of God and little of us and yes we do care about social concerns we do care about our lives

God made us in his image but let's first of all make much of God and what he has to say to us in our circumstances you're about to see this in in living color here look at verse 17 and following the

God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt and with uplifted arm he led them out of it and for about 40 years he put up with them in the wilderness so much for for humanism and man -centered thinking

God is just putting up with the people and their abilities verse 19 and after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan he gave them their land as an inheritance yes

God has the right to do that verse 20 all this took about 450 years and after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet 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 and when he had removed him he raised up David to be their king of whom he testified and said

I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart who will do all my will of this man's offspring

God has brought to Israel a savior Jesus as he promised notice in what we just read that God is the subject of each phrase in fact there's eight verbs that correlate to the subject of God you see this it's

God who chose it's God in verse 17 who made the people great it's

God who's active he puts up with them he is the destroyer of the seven nations and he gives them land after that he gave them judges there's only one place where they do anything what's the one verb related to the people that's verse 21 they asked for a king so the one thing they did was wrong because God was to be their king they were a theocracy at that point in time they asked for a king but God gives them

Saul and finally removing him he raised up David finally this lead -up culminates in the ultimate gift of God that has nothing to do with our ability our ability to save ourselves or do anything for ourselves verse 23 of this man's offspring

God has brought to Israel a savior Jesus as he promised the activity of God with uplifted arm were told the strength of God displayed for his glory you want to know what the most

God -centered passage in the Old Testament is I think it's Isaiah chapter 48 verses 9 to 11 read it when you have some time what he does is for his sake for his namesake that he would not share his glory with another guys you know this

God is passionate about God the thing that God is most passionate about in the universe is himself now when we are that way when we're self -centered when we think of ourselves highly that's very unbecoming isn't it because that's not the place to which we belong but glory in fact belongs to God and God is right to delight in his own glory he's right to delight in his own glory and to be passionate about his name and it's for his sake that he does what he does notice he's the active one in our passage today moving on to verse 24 and 25 why does

Paul all of a sudden mention John the Baptist I mean he's already made it up to Jesus he's tracked this metanarrative of history to explain how

God is the active one that brought them this far he's introduced Jesus but now he takes two verses pausing in verse 24 and 25 to bring up John the

Baptist why did he do that in verse 24 and 25 before his coming

John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel and as John was finishing his course he said what do you suppose that I am

I am NOT he no but behold after me one is coming the sandals of whose feet

I am not worthy to untie God is here his word is sure

Paul is the most God centered preacher you'd ever want to meet as he is laying out the history of Israel he pauses and I think the reason he mentions

John the Baptist is because John the Baptist whom Jesus called the greatest prophet of all was the least of all here was a man who made nothing of himself he went about in camel hair with that leather belt he was eating locusts and honey and all he cared about was

Jesus and what did he say he must increase I must decrease John said and he could have picked out anything

John said but he Paul focuses on these words no but behold after me one is coming the sandals of whose feet

I am NOT worthy to untie I think

Paul thought of John because John so well exemplified decreasing becoming less important less centered on self and more and all about God and so then we come into the final section of the sermon where he presents the gospel the gospel of the

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ verses 26 to 41 we're gonna read it quickly as you listen to this

I want you to think about how God -centered the gospel is

I like to give you this mental construct to help you remember the gospel the gospel is the person of Jesus the work of Jesus according to the scriptures for the forgiveness of sin through repentance and faith we'll mention those five things again but here's what

I want to point out now the gospel is entirely about God it's who he is the father who sends his one and only son who later sends the

Spirit it's the Trinity it's the story of God him not about us it's his work he's the one who comes to save us it's nothing we bring to the table it's not our goodness our righteousness we have nothing we are wretches he comes to save us and he dies and he rises from the dead it's a story of his work it's according to the scriptures that's his word what he says is true it doesn't begin with our intellect what we can make for ourselves it doesn't begin with human reasoning it begins with the word of God the scripture his word and what's the problem it solves that we have sinned

David says it's not against other people although he did sin against Uriah the Hittite he did sin against Bathsheba he did sin against the whole army and the whole nation of Israel David knew he needed to be cleansed with Hisop Psalm 51 because his problem was he is a sinner who has violated the holy and righteous law of God the creator of the universe this is the problem the distance between a holy

God and a sinful man so forgiveness of sins is the issue that needs to be solved the sin problem needs to be solved that the issue is forgiveness it's a

God -centered gospel and finally the solution the way you're brought into that is by repentance and faith it's not by what you do it's by what

Christ has done and your part is only believe like Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness our part is to look to Christ lift it up and believe upon the one who died for us it's a

God -centered gospel now here Paul say at verse 26 and following here those elements as we read brothers sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear

God to us has been sent the message of this salvation for those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every

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

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 but God I got a pause right there for a second but God the

Ephesians 2 for but God when we were dead in our trespasses and said but God being rich in mercy raised us up that but God is is the core of the gospel we're dead in our sins but God steps in to save you see it throughout the scriptures 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 verse 32 and following and we bring you the good news that what

God promised to the fathers this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising

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

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

I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David therefore he says also in another song 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 father's and saw corruption but he whom

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 beware therefore less 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 will not believe even if one tells it to you you see the person of Christ he's raised up a

Savior Jesus you see the work of Christ how he was killed how he was buried in a tomb after being taken down from the tree verse 30 how he rose from the dead that's the gospel thirdly you see according to the scriptures do you notice how

Paul bases everything he's teaching out of the Word of God look at verse 27 it was the utterances of the prophets that they failed to see

God on the other hand at the end of verse 27 God fulfills the utterances of the prophets

God keeps his word verse 29 they carry out all that's written of him and then a little farther down you see a quote from Psalm chapter 2 would be worth reading that later about you are my son today

I have begotten you that Jesus is the Davidic King the promised son the nations will come to him ask and I'll give the nations to you the end of the earth will be your inheritance he quotes

I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David quoting from Isaiah 55 many quotes from Psalm 16 you will not let your holy one see corruption for David after he served the purpose of God just like you see the parallel in verse 26 with verse 25

John finished his course David served the purpose of God God's purpose all of this is a fulfillment of scripture and why do

I want to stress this so much because beginning in the 1800s and maybe a little earlier there was a movement afoot in Europe and it came to America called higher criticism that takes the

Bible and uses it like a specimen to dissect it not believing in the

Word of God it criticizes the Word of God and rejects the authority of God's Word it was happening in Charles Spurgeon's day in the 1850s here's what he had to say about it a chasm is opening between the men who believe their

Bible and those who are prepared for an advance upon the scripture the house is being robbed its very walls are being dig down but the good people who are in bed are too fond of the warmth to go downstairs to meet the burglars inspiration and speculation cannot long abide side -by -side we cannot hold the inspiration of the word and yet reject it we cannot hold the doctrine of the fall and yet talk of evolution of the spiritual life from human nature one or the other must go compromise there can be none this was what was called the downgrade controversy the

Baptist Union was rejecting the authority of scripture and Spurgeon saw it happening and he fought it to his death and it brought him to an early death and it happened here in America too there were battles fought as evolution was taught in the schools and the word of God was rejected there was one denomination that fought back in the early eighties it was the

Southern Baptists had problems of a different sort but here they stood for the word of God and in 1985 at a convention that had

I think the largest ever tens of thousands of people there because the battle was afoot which direction with the denomination go the preacher

Criswell took to the stage and he quoted from Spurgeon from the downgrade controversy and he says he's gone to India where William Carey went as a missionary and if this movement in the church continues he said there will be no more missions there will be no more missionaries there will only be social workers those mission agencies in those places of of evangelism that William Carey opened in India were closing at the time but by God's grace the

Southern Baptist Church did turn at that point and they elected Albert Moller to be the head of their main seminary he was only 33 years old and the conservative resurgence began in the

SBC here's the point there are still people today who are trying to unhitch the gospel of Jesus Christ from his word but it cannot be separated if you take the word of God away and you do not believe in what the prophets have written and what is written in the

New Testament by the Apostles you have lost the Christian faith it is gone there will be no more missions there will be no more

Christianity the gospel itself the person of Christ the work of Christ is according to the scriptures it's

God's word that establishes it all we're talking here about epistemology how do we know what we know the only way to know that Jesus is the

Son of God the God is Trinity that Jesus died and rose the only way to know these things is by the word of God this is the authority upon which everything else stands and if any church goes and departs from the word you'll notice it die a slow painful death history attests to it the gospel is

God -centered and the word of God is the basis the foundation of our knowing the last two points he makes in verse 38 and 39 forgiveness of sin verse 38

God is the one with whom we have to do and verse 39 everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed the path of salvation is by believing it's by faith alone sola fide this is the gospel of Jesus Christ this is what

Paul preaches next week we'll get to the response and we'll look at that carefully for the remainder of the chapter but look here in verse 41 it's almost like Paul knows look you scoffers be astounded and perish he quotes from Habakkuk 1 they're gonna be just like the

Israelites who asked for a king just like the Israelites who had to wander because they rejected

God in the wilderness you're gonna be scoffers a couple days ago

I was out at Laurel Acres Park we were witnessing sharing the gospel with the young man and there was like a hyena off to the side a friend mocking and heckling the gospel as we were sharing it with this young man oh are you really listening to them haha he pulled his friends aside and they laughed at us but the one young man was hearing the gospel we continued to share the gospel with the one while the mini heckled there was a point where I turned to him and I said let me tell you about how long hell is after a thousand years it's no shorter and after a million it's no shorter than it was before and a billion years from then the fires of hell are just as hot he didn't say another word

I pray God takes that and reminds him that the gospel is nothing to be mocked but in our society it is and so in closing we preach a

God -centered gospel a gospel of salvation it's about a Savior we must go out in boldness to preach that gospel not making it about ourselves but keeping it all about him

I don't know what each of us are going through there's pain but turn your eyes on Jesus don't depart from the faith the way

John Mark left them there's actually we'll get to this when we study Acts chapter 15 there's actually good news to the end of the story

John Mark has abandoned them and Paul won't take him on the next missionary journey but by the end of second

Timothy as he's signing off there's one person he's asking for Paul is asking for John Mark there's a good ending to that story but it was

God -centeredness that allowed Paul and Barnabas to persevere keep your mind and your thoughts on Jesus don't be conformed to the culture drive worldliness out of your thinking and this is the hard part because once we leave this building there's a lot of influence to make us humanistic there's a lot of things that will come creeping in on our minds and steal our attention be