Acts 13:48 and Biblical Evangelism

You messed up that last tent. You know that it's been totally rewritten there.

And my favorite line was missing. Some of you who are older, like me, know that in the second line it says,

Here I raise my ebonate circle. And I love to, my daughter just rolls her eyes every time

I remind her of what that means. But an ebonacer, it's a Hebrew phrase, it means a rock of remembrance, a stone of remembrance.

And it was what the Jewish people would set up, you remember in the Old Testament of times they would build a small monument, in essence, when

God did something in their lives, whenever they would see that, then they would remember that. And they went and took it out.

And I want my ebonizer back. I think you're with me on that one. I did want to mention that you already, here in Great Falls, have a distinction that you might not know about.

Over the past number of years, the Lord has taken me to a number of different places. I have had the opportunity the past number of years to be visiting the

United Kingdom fairly regularly. And so I've flown in and out of Heathrow and Gatwick, and I've been up in Glasgow, Scotland, and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

And just a few weeks ago, I flew one of those huge A380s, the largest passenger jet in the world.

You can fit like 800 people in this beast, all the way down to Sydney.

And I flew a 747 out of Brisbane, and JFK, and Atlanta, and LAX, all over the place.

And in all that time, only in Great Falls did it take me the longest time to get out of the parking lot in any airport

I have ever been in. Last night, 11 o 'clock on a Thursday night,

I don't know what that fellow was doing up there at the ticket booth. I think he was showing pictures of his grandchildren to every person going through.

But I honestly have gotten out of Boston Logan Airport. If you've ever been to Boston Logan Airport, it is without a doubt the worst airport in the world.

Even in Boston Logan, I get out faster than that. So it's something you can tell your grandkids and everything else.

There's something that you can take home and enjoy. It is good to be with you. I'm only disappointed about one thing.

I brought my leather jacket and everything, hoping for some cold weather.

What was that, wait five minutes? Well, okay, yeah. But tomorrow it's even going to be warmer than it was today.

And I'm just very disappointed. I was really looking forward to seeing my breath. Phoenix, don't get to see very often.

It was really exciting, but we'll have to try again some other time. If you think it's going to be bad here tomorrow, it's going to be 100 in Phoenix.

Which will not be the latest 100 we've had. On October 23rd, I think it was 2003 as I recall, it was 103 degrees for our high on October 23rd.

So that's the latest it has been, over 100 degrees. And if you're wondering, yes, I was there when we reached our all -time high on June 26th, 1990 of 122 degrees in the shade.

They had to shut down Sky Harbor Airport because Boeing had never bothered to program into their aircraft how to set flaps above 120 degrees.

So they had to shut down the airport for a while that day. It was lots of fun. Coldest I've seen there, about 27.

That's where you're all going, oh great, wonderful. That's why most of your folks, the younger folks go down where we are, not vice versa.

So I'm not seeing a huge influx of folks heading for Montana, but it would be nice.

It's a beautiful, beautiful place. The pastor does seem somewhat amazed that I would attempt your invitation to come.

Actually, I end up speaking to smaller groups regularly. The reason is

I'm not a politically correct person. And I've pretty much managed to offend every religious group on the planet, including a lot of folks who would actually normally like me.

So I actually enjoy having the opportunity of getting to interact with people. And for some reason, because of the things that I believe and emphasize, there are a lot of doors that just aren't open to me anyways.

So I really appreciate the fact that he was extremely patient. I don't know how long ago it was you originally contacted me, but it was a long process of well, maybe we can work it together with this, or maybe we can work it together with that.

And eventually, none of those things happened either. So we just had to sort of make it happen. So I'm very, very glad to be with you.

If you turn to your Bibles, please, Acts chapter 13, there is in the handout somewhat of a schedule with topics.

That is sort of not meant to be taken as prophecy and should not be taken as having a whole lot of substance to it.

So if you see like a particular subject you're all excited about, don't get too excited about that, because I want to be free to spend the time where we need to spend the time.

And tomorrow I'll be doing more presentations using the digital projector, looking at some of the apologetic issues then.

But this evening we want to sort of lay a foundation. I thought it would be best just to stay in the Word to do that.

And since the topic of our time together has to do with Acts 13 -48, I want to start with that and then move into the subject of how we defend this faith and present this faith, especially within the context of a world that is very much opposed to hearing the

Christian faith. We live in a day where our society has become more and more secular, where there is in fact a form of secularism that has become the dogma and doctrine of our society.

And I don't care where you are in the United States, as long as you have access to the media, you will be inundated with the images and the thought patterns of this world.

This society has changed much during my lifetime, and it's changing even faster as we speak.

So fast that some people have identified it almost as an earthquake in how our society and our nation as a whole is changing.

And especially our young people are surrounded by a secular way of thought that questions the existence of absolute truth, and especially causes them to think in ways that are directly opposite to the ways of the

Scriptures. That is, they are taught in essence to question the truth, they are taught to look at anyone who believes they know the truth with suspicion, and in essence they are being taught to look at all positions, especially in the area of religion, as having equality with one another.

That is, that all religious perspectives should be given equal respect.

There's a vast difference between being tolerant. I mean, I don't think that we should go running out the doors here and rush the

Mormon ward next door. You should be good neighbors. In fact, if you see some of the missionaries out tonight, invite them over tomorrow, we will be talking about Mormonism.

I'll be happy to have them in. I'll be happy to show them that we can accurately represent their beliefs, and then give a response to their beliefs as well.

That's showing proper tolerance. But it's not the same thing as saying, well, that means there is an equal truth value in the two messages, one being preached here and one being preached there.

Because the two beliefs are completely different. They can't both be true. And they can't both be respected in the same way as truth statements.

And yet, in our society today, that's what we're being told we need to do. And so, those of us of the older generations, we sense this, we see this.

And unless we have been very diligently speaking to our young people about the need to specifically cultivate a

Christian worldview, about the need to expose yourself regularly to the word of God, so that that word can be constantly counteracting the influence of the world, well, we wonder why it is that,

I'm not sure how they figured these things out, but 78 -80 % of kids raised in quote -unquote evangelical homes today by age 25 are no longer part of that faith community.

Now, why is that? Well, there might be a lot of reasons for that, but I think one of the main reasons is those of us of the older generations just haven't quite come to grips yet with how quickly things are changing and the constant incessant attack there is upon the

Christian worldview from our society. So, that's what we want to be discussing this weekend.

But, first and foremost, we want to look to the word of God and lay a foundation for some of these things.

This is not the first society that has had lots of troubles. In fact, as we look at the

Book of Acts, as we look at the Apostle Paul and Barnabas, as they are going on their missionary journeys, they are ministering in a world where there is a tremendous amount of paganism, there is a tremendous amount of idolatry, there is a disrespect for life, life is considered to be cheap, people die at a much earlier age at this time, there are periods of time during church history where you had to have ten children just to hope that one would make it through to adulthood.

And so, things have been a lot darker than they are in our day. Each generation tends to think that this is the worst it's ever been.

Well, that's not really the case. But certainly, as Paul and Barnabas went out to preach the Gospel, they encountered a tremendous amount of opposition.

In these earlier chapters of Acts, that opposition primarily comes from the

Jewish people themselves. As you may recall, it was the apostolic example. When you went into a city, here in Acts chapter 13, they go into Pisidian Antioch, to first go to the people who possess the

Word of God. And so, they go into the synagogues. And they go to the people who have already read the prophets before they then go to the

Gentiles who may have never read the prophets, and so they would have to provide much more of a context and things like that.

Now, you might say that took some temerity and some bravery to walk into the

Jewish synagogue knowing what Paul already knew. He knew what eventually was going to take place once the

Jews really began to understand what the Gospel message was. And yet, he still went into that particular location.

I can't help but think of the fact that, again, since I looked out the window and saw the Mormon War Chapel next door, we used to, back when

I was, I was once, I forgot to show the pastor and his wife this picture on my phone over dinner tonight, after mine would do that.

I have the picture of the night that my wife said that she would marry me, December 5th, 1982.

And the person in that picture is a skinny guy with lots of hair.

And that's the first response of everybody when I show it to them is, okay, that's your wife, but who's the other guy?

That's me. No, no, it really is me. I signed a contract, probably in my sleep, that I do all the aging and my wife does none of it.

But anyway, back around that time, as I was initially reaching out to Mormon people, we would go to the

Mormon War Chapels during the Fasting and Testimony Sunday, which is the first Sunday of the month.

And I remember very clearly going to the Sixth Ward of the Mormon Church in Glendale, Arizona.

And when they said, does anyone want to give a testimony? They didn't say, does any Mormon want to give a testimony?

They said, does anyone want to give a testimony? So I had prepared a number of verses, and I got up, and I started giving my testimony of salvation by grace through faith.

About halfway through, I folded up a bulletin. Remember those blue Mimeograph machines?

I'm really dating myself here, aren't I? The other people are going, a Mimeo, what? Anyways, it flies over my shoulder and lands on the pulpit, and it says,

Brother White, our time is up. Well, I knew that their time wasn't anywhere near up, but I was getting the cane around the middle, basically, and so I wrapped up and ended up spending quite some time with the

Mormon Bishop afterwards, discussing the universal sinfulness of man. So I have a little feeling of what,

I knew what the eventual reaction and result of my giving my testimony in the

Mormon War Chapel was going to be. And Paul, I'm sure, knew that eventually there was going to be a reaction to the proclamation of the gospel.

So if you'll look at Acts chapter 13, we'll just look at a few, just sort of do a little outline and then read a section, you'll notice that beginning in verse 16,

Paul begins his presentation. He talks about what happened with Jesus.

Beginning about verse 33, he begins giving the Old Testament foundations, the

Old Testament text about the coming Messiah, ties them all together, and then calls the people to faith in Christ.

Then beginning in verse 42, as Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next

Sabbath. Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God -fearing proselytes followed

Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. So these synagogues were places where you not only had the

Jews gathering, but you also had these God -fearers, called God -fearing proselytes here.

These were people who were attracted to the monotheism of the Jewish faith. They were repelled by the paganism of the day.

And they found this synagogue to be a place where they found consistent morality and ethics in the teaching of the

Old Testament scriptures. And they find the message of Paul and Barnabas to be very attractive. But then notice, the next

Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. But when the

Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming.

Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the

Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have placed you as a light for the

Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the

Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region, but the

Jews, inside of the devout women of prominence, and the leading men of the city, instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.

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

Holy Spirit. And so here we have a situation where the whole city comes together.

And when the Jews see this, well, they had never seen these kind of crowds before.

And so they are filled with jealousy. It wasn't so much that they had analyzed the message of Paul and Barnabas and had gone, this doesn't really fit the

Old Testament paradigms, this doesn't fit the theology that we've been taught, etc., etc. No, they see the crowds and they are filled with jealousy.

And we are immediately reminded of the attitude of the Pharisees that we see in the Gospels. And the fact that it wasn't so much what

Jesus was teaching, as the fact that Jesus was teaching without their approval, that caused so much of their animosity toward the

Lord Jesus. And so this same attitude, an attitude that continues to exist to this day,

I moderated a debate between a Christian and a Jewish rabbi a number of years ago at Arizona State University, and I'll never forget writing down about 10 -15 minutes into the opening statement by the

Jewish rabbi, the Pharisees live. Nothing had changed in 2 ,000 years.

It was like one of the Pharisees from Matthew had just come to life and was standing before me.

It was absolutely incredible. So while there are still Jewish Pharisees today, I do like to make a word of warning to all of us who possess the

Word of God, that there are no harsher words in the New Testament for any group than for the

Pharisees. Those who possess the Word of God, and yet who do not live in light of that Word, and who would abuse that Word and be complacent with that Word.

I think one of the greatest dangers for those of us who possess the Word of God in its fullness, maybe who have been raised in the church,

I'm the son of a preacher, the son of a preacher, the son of a preacher, through my father all the way back to preachers in Scotland.

And so a great heritage there, but it's very easy to become complacent in those situations.

And there is no attitude that is more reprehensible in God's sight, it seems, from what we read in the

Scriptures than that attitude of the Pharisees. Remember, it was to them that he was speaking when he spoke about the unpardonable sin, which

I think was calling white, black, and black, white. The danger of religious hypocrisy.

And so it is something that we should be constantly praying, Lord protect us from the attitude of the Pharisees. For he does not have anywhere near the words of condemnation for the publicans, the tax collectors, the prostitutes that he had for the religious hypocrites of his day.

Something that we should, I think, very much keep in mind. And so these who are in fact religious hypocrites are contradicting the things spoken by Paul.

Not because they truly disagreed, but because they were filled with jealousy.

Very often the motivations of those who oppose the Christian faith have nothing to do with truth, or a desire for truth, or a love for truth, or anything else.

Very often you're dealing with people who, when they hear your message, there's something else in their life.

Sin in their life, things in their history, whatever it might be. They don't want to hear about a

God who has a right over their lives to tell them what is right and what is wrong.

And the result can be rejection of the gospel message and contradiction of the gospel message.

But that contradiction isn't because of some in -depth study. It's not because of some real commitment to truth.

It has other reasons for existence. And so jealousy is what is motivating this contradiction of the things spoken by Paul.

They were blaspheming. They were blaspheming. They were speaking against the gospel and against the person of Christ.

And so Paul and Barnabas recognized that they're not going to have the same opportunity they had a week earlier to speak the word of the

Lord in this context. And they say, well, it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first.

Notice he identified that as the word of God. The message of God had gone to these individuals. But since you repudiated and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life.

Unworthy of eternal life. Now those are words that embarrass many today.

In what's called the broader Christian community. Ever since World War II and the

Holocaust. There has been, especially in Europe and now in the United States as well today. Especially in liberal circles.

A desire to expunge anything from the New Testament that could be considered quote unquote anti -Jewish.

As if people living back then are somehow exactly the same as people living today. But there are all these things that Paul said and did that cause people tremendous embarrassment.

And yet when we look at something like this we should not be so narrow minded as to say, ah, it's just about Jewish people.

Anyone who repudiates the proclamation of the word of God is judging themselves unworthy of eternal life.

Because there is only one source of eternal life. And that's one of the major problems with the thinking of our fellow citizens today.

We have embraced the idea that eternal life is something God owes us. He owes us the best that he has.

And so there must be many ways of obtaining eternal life. It's very clear from the apostles' teaching right here.

That the ever so popular pluralism of our day. The idea that there are many roads that lead to eternal life.

Many roads that lead to heaven. We don't want to be exclusivists. There's good in every religion.

There's truth in every religion. God's going to just love us all at the end. Oh, we hear that all the time.

The problem is to believe that is to call Jesus Christ a liar. To believe that is to make the cross of Christ a mockery.

And that is what our society wants us to do each and every day. They want us to be embarrassed about the cross.

Because what does the cross say? The cross says

God is the one who has moved decisively in one way.

To provide a right relationship with himself. And if there is any other way other than that.

Then that becomes a mockery. Is that not what Paul said in Galatians 2? If there is any other way of righteousness.

If there is any other source of righteousness. How does Paul put it? Christ died needlessly.

In vain. To no purpose. That's what our society wants us to adopt.

An acceptable form of Christianity. Because a Christianity was a cross that has no power.

Has no message and has no meaning. That's the only cross they are willing to put up with.

You see, when Paul spoke to these individuals. He said, putrefy yourselves in the word of eternal life. He didn't say, oh you are going to have to find eternal life in some other way.

He said, no you are not going to have eternal life. You have repudiated the word of God that has come to you.

You judge yourselves for unworthy of eternal life. Behold, we are turning to the

Gentiles. Now, to us, that's just like, yeah, okay. We have known that all along.

In hindsight, we see how this is all through the Gospels. And Jesus was preparing the disciples for this.

But you really need to understand how absolutely revolutionary it was. The attitude of the

Jews at the time of the coming of the Messiah. Was that we are God's people. And then you have got everybody else.

There are two kinds of people in the world. The Jews and everybody else. And we are the recipients of the promises.

God's Messiah is for us. He is going to deliver Israel. This idea of the

Messiah being a blessing to all the people. Yeah, it was there in Genesis 12. Yeah, it's there in Isaiah.

It's there in Jeremiah. But, especially when you are a persecuted people. It's easy to lose sight of those broad things.

And the expectation was very much focused upon the land of Israel. And the people of Israel. So much so that even after the cross.

At the Ascension. Lord, now? Is it time now? To restore the land to Israel?

And establish a kingdom? And they just didn't see until the Spirit comes.

And opens their understanding of the Scriptures. And so we are turning to the Gentiles. That was a radical statement.

That was a slap in the face. To the Pharisaical attitude. What do you mean you are turning to Gentiles?

You are going to take our sacred Scriptures? You are going to take the promises of the prophets? And you are going to turn to Gentiles?

How can this be? Well, they quoted a text of Scripture. To demonstrate how this could be.

Verse 47. From again Isaiah chapters 42 and 46. For so the Lord has commanded us.

I have placed you as a life for the Gentiles. That you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. To all the peoples.

And then notice verse 48. When the Gentiles heard this. They began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the

Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Now.

I do not believe. That it was Luke's intention. Or the Holy Spirit's intention for that matter.

In the penning of these words. To lay out for us an entire doctrine of salvation or election.

I don't believe that Acts 13 and 48. Is a place that is going to explain all of the questions we might have.

Concerning the sovereignty of God. But I believe what Acts 13 and 48 does do.

Is sort of two fold. First of all. It makes it very plain to me that to Luke.

This was just a given. This wasn't some grand controversial thing.

He doesn't take the next chapter to elucidate his statements. He simply says.

As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And Luke writes in a very specific form of the

Greek language. If any of you have ever studied the Greek language. I'm one of those freaks of nature called a

Greek professor. And I don't get to teach it nearly as often as I used to.

When Golden Gate first came into the Phoenix area. I was their first Greek teacher. And taught

Greek into this last decade. But then as the campus grew. They hired more and more staff.

And now I primarily do apologetics things. Rather than doing the Greek teaching. But it is a privilege of mine.

To have taught many young men Greek. Who have gone on to do their doctorates. Who are pastoring today and things like that.

I always try to teach young men to love the language. Not hate the language.

Which unfortunately in seminary is what you frequently end up doing. Because you don't have much time to teach it. And if you have studied the language.

You know that the three hardest books to translate in the

New Testament. Are Luke, Acts and Hebrews. If you were to rate the

Greek. On a scale of 1 to 10 for difficulty. The first book you always read in first year

Greek is 1 John. Baby Greek. It's about a level 2. Very simple.

Very easy to read. Luke, Acts and Hebrews is 8, 9 and 10.

On the difficulty scale. And so Luke is a very specific writer.

When he describes for example political figures. All through the book of Acts.

For a long time people wondered why did he use so many different words. To describe these political leaders.

But as archeological knowledge has increased over the past hundred years especially. We've discovered that just as you can go from state to state.

And you'll use different words. You know like down in Louisiana they have parishes instead of counties.

Down in Phoenix we've got ourselves a sheriff. We've got sheriffs up here. We've got sheriffs here too. Back east they have no idea what the role of a sheriff is.

And if a sheriff showed up in San Francisco he'd be arrested. So there's all sorts of different ways that people refer to these people.

And lo and behold the reason Luke was using all those different words. Is because that's how they referred to people in those particular places.

He was incredibly accurate. In his use of the specific words that were used by the people in those areas themselves.

So Luke is very specific. And here in this text. He utilizes the language in such a way as to communicate with clarity.

What he's saying. And what he's saying is that there were as many as had before this point.

Been appointed to eternal life. As a result of that appointment to eternal life. They believe.

He doesn't then stop and say now let me explain what that is. He doesn't have to expand upon it.

He just makes the statement. And so the first thing it tells me is that Luke. The apostles.

This wasn't a controversy for them. This wasn't something they wrote extra books about. And had debates amongst themselves over.

They recognized. Paul recognized. And he certainly expanded upon it in other texts. We'll look at them on the

Lord's Day. But they recognized that when they met with a group of people.

Here in Pisidia Antioch. Wherever else it might be. On Mars Hill. Wherever else Paul proclaimed the gospel.

That the gospel had a result. But it wasn't always the same result. There would be those.

You could have two men. Hear the message. Very similar backgrounds.

Very similar dispositions. One accepts. One rejects. What's the difference between the two? Well in synergistic systems.

Systems where salvation is worked out. By cooperation between God and man.

The idea is. Well one person was more sensitive. More spiritually sensitive.

More insightful. In some way shape or form. Better. But that's not the apostolic understanding at all.

Who makes men to differ? It is God who makes men to differ. I don't believe that when.

Eternity has been ushered in. The judgment has taken place. And those. Many myriads upon myriads.

Surround the throne. And they're absorbed in the worship of their God. That anyone of us could be able to.

Stand there and say. I'm awful glad I was a little better than those folks. Back there. Those who were undergoing punishment.

I was just a little bit better. I don't think that that's going to be the case at all. I think that there's going to be.

One five letter word that's going to make the difference. Between those two groups. It's a word called grace. And it's

God's grace. And so as many as were appointed. To eternal life believed.

It's not a treatise. On election. But it is a recognition. That this was a given.

Something was believed. But secondly I said there were two things. The second thing this text helps us to do.

Is to identify people who. Don't want to really allow. The word of God to have a say.

In their lives. Because I cannot tell you. The imaginative ways.

That I have discovered. That people have come up with. To get around this text. Some of you.

Have heard the name of. Dave Hunt. And Dave Hunt and I.

Have known each other for. A number of years. We have spoken at many of the same.

Conferences. Because as you know Dave does some. Apologetics things. But back around the year.

2000 or so. I think it was in May of 2000. I got a newsletter from Dave Hunt's ministry.

And in it was this lengthy. Attack upon. Reform theology.

What I believe about the doctrines of salvation. So we ended up doing a radio program. Together. And that then.

Led to a book that he wrote. Called What Love Is This. And in that book.

He tried to get around Acts 13. 48. In fact he even suggested. That the best rendering of the

Greek. It's all this scary. When people start talking about. The best rendering of the Greek. When they don't actually read the language.

That's always a dangerous thing. You need to be careful about that. It's been said many times.

The little Greek is a dangerous thing. And they were not talking about the guy. Down at the sandwich shop. They were talking about what happens.

When you start losing your compordance. The rendering of this text. That Mr. Hunt suggested.

Just happens to be the same rendering. Found in the New World Translation. Does anybody know.

What the New World Translation is? Yes. A couple people do. That is the one produced by.

Jehovah's Witnesses. It is a perversion of the Bible. Not really a translation of the

Bible. We may have time tomorrow to look at that. But it was amazing. The argumentation he presented.

So I demonstrated. In some articles on the internet. And then as we did a book together.

I think it is mentioned in the handout. The book that Mr. Hunt and I did together. Called Debating Calvinism.

That his arguments on this text. Were in fact fallacious. Now normally.

In a situation like that. You would think that someone would say. I stand corrected.

And come up with another. Understanding of the text. But instead. After that book came out.

Mr. Hunt came out with a new edition. Of what month is this? A revised and expanded edition. Without putting any footnotes in.

Saying I have changed all of this. He changed all of his discussion of Acts 13 -48. And he added a new twist.

He informed us. That the first 15 chapters of Acts. Were originally written in Hebrew.

And that those who had seen. This Hebrew version of Acts.

Told us that Acts 13 -48 meant this. And of course. Something other than what you have in your

Bible. He couldn't tell us. Where these Hebrew manuscripts were.

He couldn't tell us. Who these Hebrew scholars. Who had read them were either. And that's because.

No one had ever heard of this theory before. No manuscripts of Acts. In the ancient world.

Have come to us written in Hebrew. And no one could possibly figure out.

How the world, this Hebrew. Would have originally been written. Or anything of the like. So when all else fails.

Come up with a new original language. For the text description. That is just one of the many, many ways.

That men have come up with. To try to get around this. Normally what they do is they do this. Well the original language here.

You've got the word Tasso. And it's in the middle. And so it really means.

That they appointed themselves. Well the problem is.

You can look at Luke. You can look at his usage. And they're forgetting a little. Problem with the grammar.

They don't seem to understand. That this is called a paraphrastic instruction. And no that really doesn't work.

But. They keep coming up with reasons. And see what it does. Is it illustrates. The lengths that people will go.

To try to maintain. The sovereignty of man. In salvation.

The sovereignty of man. In salvation. I didn't say the sovereignty of God. Sometimes we hear that term.

Sovereignty. It's just automatically in our minds. The sovereignty of man. Because there are many, many, many people.

Who are willing to say. There could be no salvation. Apart from God. And if it were not.

For God's grace. No one could ever be saved. A lot of people. That are willing to make those kinds of statements.

Folks next door. Say that. Do you know the Book of Mormon says. God's grace is absolutely necessary.

To be saved. 2nd Nephi 25 .23. It's by grace you're saved.

After all you can do. It's right there in the Book of Mormon. Of course I would say it's by grace you're saved. In spite of all you've done.

But that's a whole other issue. Almost every religious group. On the planet recognizes.

The necessity of God's grace. And it has. Been a never ending.

Source of frustration. For me. That in our modern day. People who call themselves.

Protestants. Or non -Catholics. Have completely forgotten. What the Reformation is all about.

And when it comes to the discussion. Of Roman Catholicism. I. Think of one very very well known.

Protestant apologist. I remember him. Talking about Roman Catholicism.

He says well look all you have to do. Is you look at the Council of Trent. And the

Council of Trent. Specifically says. That without the grace. If you say you can be saved without the grace of God.

You are anathema. Isn't that wonderful? The Council of Trent. Anathematizes anybody.

Who says you can be saved without the grace of God. Well he's right. He's right. It's exactly what it says.

Of course that demonstrates. An abysmal ignorance. Of what the

Reformation was about. Because reformers never said Rome. Rome says you can be saved. You can be saved apart from grace.

Never said that. That wasn't the argument. That wasn't the debate. The debate of the

Reformation. Was never ever about. The necessity of grace. It was always about the sufficiency of grace.

And that remains the issue. To this day. In so many different contexts.

Sing amazing grace. All you want. If the grace you're singing about. Is this insufficient to save.

If it's not powerful enough. To save. Without additions. I'm not sure how amazing it really is.

And the amazing grace. Of the Reformation. Was a grace.

That saved. Completely. The message of the Reformation was.

All that stuff. About purgatory. The treadmill. Of sacramentalism that you're on.

The constant going to the priest. And confession. All of the penances that you're doing.

Your fear of purgatory. So that you buy indulgences. All the sacraments you engage in.

To try to gain grace. It's all for naught. God's grace.

Saves perfectly. And cannot. Even admit of admixture.

Or addition on the part of man. Now of course. What that leads to is the conclusion.

That the only one who's to be glorified for salvation. Is who? God. God alone.

There's no place for man. There's no place for man's. Will in the sense of puffing himself up.

And gaining just a little bit of the glory. And so people say. Oh 99 % of the glory.

Goes to God. But they always try to hold back. That one little bit.

The one deciding factor. God tries. Tries. Tries. But man disposes.

That becomes truly. The dividing line. Between a.

Biblical understanding. Of God's grace. And the centrality of God's grace. And a sub -biblical.

Perversion thereof. And so. When people.

Engage in all of this. Sophistry.

To try to get around. This text. This isn't the only one they do it to. Every clear text.

John chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 1. Romans 8 and 9. They've always got a way to try to get around it.

It becomes indicative. Of when we've run into someone's tradition. When all of a sudden.

The way they interpret the Bible changes. Anyplace else. They'll follow the right rules of interpretation. They'll let the language speak for itself.

They'll let the context speak for itself. When it's talking about the resurrection. Or the nature of the church. Well that's fine.

But then you run into one area. Where the word of God steps upon the toes.

Well that's when. Everything changes. And so here in Acts 13.

48. We are given an apostolic example. What made.

Paul and Barnabas so bold. As to show up. On that Sabbath day morning.

They knew it was going to happen. And they're going to keep doing this.

Even when Paul is stoned. And left for dead. They're arrested.

They're put in prison. Yet they keep going. I suggest to you that that phrase.

Is the reason. As many as have been appointed to eternal life. Believe it's not us. We are instruments in God's hands.

Paul will say later on. In Ryan Timothy. I endure all things.

For the sake of the elect. Paul didn't know where they were. For many many years.

18 years. In fact. Our little ministry made a trek. Northward from Phoenix.

Up to Salt Lake City. The first weekend in April. The first weekend in October of each year.

And you may know why. If you have the coverage. Up here on one of your television stations.

You may know that that's the weekend. Of the general conference of the Mormon church. In Salt Lake City. And at first.

When we first started doing that in the 1980's. They were still meeting in the Mormon Tabernacle. You can put about 10 ,000 people.

Into the Mormon Tabernacle. And so. Temple Square there in Salt Lake. If you've ever been there. Back then only had three entrances.

North, South and West. And so. With a small number of people.

Literally with only as few as six people. You could cover all of the entrances. To the general conference.

And so we would go up there. And we would be dressed nicely. We had tracks that I had attempted to make.

As well researched as I possibly could. And we proclaimed the gospel. To the Mormon people.

Toward the end of that time. They opened up their new meeting house. Across the street on North Temple. That seats like 30 ,000.

And that totally changed the dynamics. And how to track it and things like that. Became much more difficult. But you may wonder.

Why don't you continue to do so? The Mormons never stopped us. The King James Only Fundamentalist Baptist did.

They showed up. Beginning in the middle of this decade. With signs. And yelling and screaming at the

Mormons. And. Dressed very poorly. Giving a very poor witness.

This was their idea of witnessing. And I literally heard this. Line of Mormons going in.

To the general conference. And this is what they consider witnessing. It shouldn't be

Mormon. It should be Moron. And that's what they think is witnessing. The cops had to be brought in.

They had to be separated from one another. Because the. These street preachers were hanging. Temple garments from their signs.

And just being as abusive. And hate filled as you possibly could. Because in their mind. That's what makes it good.

Because we're being persecuted. And it's a sad, sad thing. So we had to stop that.

That work. But over those 18 years. Before that took place.

We had. Tremendous opportunities. Of witnessing people. And. I'll never forget the first time my son.

Before he had his growth spurt. Went with me. And he was just a little guy. And in fact.

He and I that day. This is very controversial now. But it wasn't nearly as controversial then. We were both wearing Rush Limbaugh ties.

And very bright, bright Rush Limbaugh ties. And if you've ever seen a Rush Limbaugh tie. It is very, very bright.

I'll have a very bright tie on Sunday. And that would just barely make it into the Rush Limbaugh range. And. I'll just mention to you in passing.

We got to pass out of track to somebody. Because we were wearing those ties. He and I were standing next to each other.

And we saw a guy coming. Those things are so bright. You see the tie coming before you recognize the person. And so we could see this.

This man striding toward us. Coming down South Temple. Toward the South Gate. And I could tell he was smiling.

So we're smiling because he sees my son. As one of these little 14 inch clip on lens on. And as he got close to us.

I recognized who it was. But since we were wearing Rush ties. And so was he. He took a track from us.

You know who it was? Senator Orrin Hatch. So don't put down Rush ties.

So anyway. We would stand there. And I remember the first time my son was getting ready to pass out of track.

He was a little bit behind me. This guy goes striding by. And he walks up to my son. He takes a track from him. And he flips it around the back.

That's what they always do. Who published this? And he takes it. And he tears it up.

And I'm starting to move toward this guy already. He grabs my son. He's wearing a white shirt. Opens up his pocket.

And stuffs the track in his pocket. And pats on it and goes on it. And here's my little son.

Just this look of. What do I do now? And so I just walked up to him.

And I said. Well son. I'm glad we got that out of the way quite early. It's going to happen more often. Just get used to it.

There are people up here who don't like what we're doing. But that's. You know what? Even that track was not wasted.

We call them fallen warriors when we find them on the ground. God is glorified when his truth is proclaimed.

Whether it is accepted or not. Keep that in mind. Especially in our society.

We need to be reminded of that over and over again. But you see. In all those years. There are all sorts of people who argued with us.

And there might be people who say. I just don't see if there's any use to this. It wasn't that many years ago.

That we got a phone message. On our answering machine. At the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church.

And it was a woman up in. North of Salt Lake City. Looking for me.

And alphabetic ministries. Because. She said. Years ago.

At the General Conference. Somebody handed my husband this book. And the book was called.

God's Sovereign Grace. Ironically the book is a presentation. Of the doctrines of grace.

It never mentions Mormonism. So I would have been. The only one that ever would have handed that out to anybody.

Up there in Salt Lake. It's not like we were handing that book out. I would have had a personal copy with me. That I would have given to somebody.

Maybe in a conversation. And I don't even remember this. In a conversation we were addressing the nature of grace.

And so I gave somebody this book. Years later. Over a decade later. Here is this voice on an answering machine.

I've read this book. I know. That what this book says is true. But I can't find anybody up here.

Who believes this. Can you help me? Well of course we knew.

Good believers up in the Salt Lake City area. Good church up there. And they drove.

The distance up to where she was. And. Actually there were people in that church.

That began bringing her down. I mean really putting themselves out. Each Lord's Day. Led to a planting of a church.

In that community itself. All those years later. Now could I have foreseen that?

But. I believed what Acts 13 .48 said. Amen. And that's why we did what we did.

And continue to do what we do. I don't know who the elect are. That would make my job a whole lot easier.

If the elect glowed green. You know something like that. Put on these special glasses. And oh there they are.

I can just ignore all the rest of them. Wonderful. Be great for pastors too. You can always figure out.

That troublemaker he's not glowing green. And that would be really nice and easy.

Doesn't work that way. We don't know. And so the wonderful thing that it frees us to do.

Is to proclaim the gospel. To all creatures. It's not up to me. I don't have to edit the gospel.

I don't have to use all these man centered. Crazy ideas to trick people. Into becoming a

Christian. That's not how you make a Christian in the first place. The gospel of Christ.

Is powerful in and of itself. The spirit of God. The same spirit of God. That caused these

Gentiles to rejoice. And glorify the word of the Lord. And to believe. Is just as active today.

As he was then. The spirit of God. The gospel of Christ.

Those are the only weapons. That have been given to the church. But those things change hearts.

Those things change. How people act. How they understand.

The world around them. And that truly is our power. And so when it comes to this.

Topic of the sovereignty of God. It does not kill evangelism. It powers evangelism.

It does change. The methods. Because we don't have to be dependent.

Upon trying to convince rebel sinners. To be something other than rebel sinners. We trust the spirit of God.

To change the heart. To take out the heart of stone. And put in the heart of flesh. And it's only that person.

Who is truly going to bow to me. To Jesus Christ. In the first place. So with that.

We are going to take a. Ten minute break. And I believe that there are.