The Effect of Paul's Sermon

[00:00:00] All right, let's go to Acts, chapter number 13. [00:00:03] Lord Willing, we're going to finish up the. The 13th chapter of Acts tonight in our study, the continuing acts of Christ through the Holy Spirit in the Church. [00:00:18] So acts 13, less. We'll. We're gonna start reading in verse number 33. But like this morning, we will begin with prayer before I begin reading, starting in verse number 33. [00:00:30] Let's pray together and then we'll read our. Lord, thank you for once again for the opportunity to meet together as the body of Christ, the Church. Thank you for the grace of God that you have bestowed upon each one of our lives. And then you've not just saved us, to have us be independent and separated from everyone and stand alone, but you put us together into a group, into a body, a functioning organism, the Church. And, Lord, we thank you. I thank you for Choice Hills Baptist Church and for what you're doing in the lives of each and every person here and in our church, corporately. Lord, and all the things that. The opportunities we have to spread the gospel and the way we have to affect and influence others. For your name's sake, Lord, help us to glorify you as we look in acts tonight. Lord, you know that we need your help. Lord, sometimes we forget that fact. But even as we look at your word and walk through the rest of this chapter, we pray that you would give us guidance and understanding, and you would help us to understand your word and that the things written in your word would truly teach us and instruct us in practical ways as well as doctrinal ways. And so, Lord, we commit it to you. Lord, we ask for your help. Lord, I need your help. And, Lord, your people also need your help. Lord, we need your word like our bodies need food. So, Lord, help us to profit and benefit from it and grow from your word tonight, in Jesus name I ask. Amen. [00:02:05] So we're going to pick up, right kind of where we left off this morning. Well, not really where we left off, but kind of in the middle. And I want to go over a few of the things we looked at this morning. We'll start in verse number. [00:02:19] Well, we know that verse 26, because it says men and brethren is kind of an inflection point starting .2 of Paul's sermon. So in, .2 He's talking about what? Anybody remember? Somebody remember? Come on now, .2 he was talking about the. [00:02:39] No, that was point one. [00:02:41] Point two is talking about the Gospel. The Gospel. And then .3 was the application. [00:02:46] So down in verse number, verse number 30. Verse 29. Verse 30. The Bible says Verse 29. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead, and he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. Now, what's interesting is, as you read this section where Paul, now you remember Paul. We've already studied how Paul came to Christ, how he was saved. And we know that he was a late comer. Right? He was a late comer. He was not one who, as far as we know, who met the Lord Jesus Christ and certainly was not a disciple. But yet the things he says about Christ and Christ's life, the Gospel from verse say 26, down through where we are in verse 30, 31 are verbatim what the Gospel writers wrote all the way down from John the Baptist, and not being unworthy to unlatch his Shoelatch it, all of those fine details. Now, how did Paul know that? Was it given to him by revelation like the Gospel writers? I don't know. Did he read the Gospel writers? Maybe that was the case. I don't know. But the details are uncanny here. And then in verse 31, he says, Christ was witnessed to have been Risen from the dead for many days. Verse 32. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again. Now, listen to this. This is kind of where we want to begin. He's talking about the resurrection of Christ. [00:04:39] And like Paul always does, it doesn't matter if you're in Galatians or Ephesians or Romans or Philippians or first Thessalonians. Whenever Paul makes a point, he almost always backs it up with a verse of scripture, right? He was a Bible Christian, all right? He didn't believe stuff just because it was tradition. That's kind of where it got him in trouble in the first place, right? But he backed up what he believed with the Scripture, say he believed it because it was in the Bible. And so he quotes a verse about the resurrection of Christ. Speaking of the Resurrection in verse 33, he says, as it is written in the second psalm, thou art my son this day have I begotten thee. Well, that's an interesting way to prove the Resurrection. Now listen, this is a proof text for the resurrection of Christ. [00:05:34] Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee. All right, now notice it says, where is that found? In where? The second psalm. So let's go there. Right. Let's go there. All right. Psalm two. [00:05:49] Psalm number two. [00:05:59] Of course, we know this psalm is quoted in many places in the New Testament in various parts. Most specifically in the persecution we've already studied in the Book of Acts. [00:06:11] Like, for instance, in verse one. Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together. Notice. Against the Lord and against his anointed. Now, the word anointed reminds you of another word, doesn't it? It should. What does the Word anointed remind you of, Ben? I know you have the answer. What is it, chosen one? Which is the Christ? See, the anointed here is the same as the word Messiah. Is the same as the word Christ. So in verse number two, you have a mention of the Lord. And then you have also in the same verse, the anointed. They're not the same. In this verse, they're spoken. I was going to say they're not the same person. But what I mean is, they are spoken of separately. Okay. In verse number two. But they're both included. Verse three. Let us break their bands asunder. And cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. Now look at verse six. You got to follow this because the speaker changes as you go through the verses. It's not the same speaker the whole time. Verse six says, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Now, who's speaking? [00:07:43] God. You say, God? Jehovah. You want to say it like that? All right, that's who's speaking? God. How do we know? Because he says, Zion is my holy hill. Zion. All right, so that's God's city. The God is the one speaking. And he says, I have set my king. Now, who is God's chosen king? [00:08:05] The Messiah. It's the same one as in verse number two. Right? The anointed. Okay, so in verse six, we see the same thing as in verse number two. Verse seven. The speaker changes. [00:08:17] I will declare the decree. [00:08:19] The Lord has said unto me. [00:08:23] Okay, stop. Who's talking now it's no longer. We might say, God the Father, Jehovah. No longer speaking. [00:08:33] Now, verse number seven says, the Lord has said unto me, thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. So who's speaking? The Son is speaking, right? The son is saying, Lord, you've given the decree to me. Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Now listen, you might not know this. This is the first occurrence in the Bible of the mention of the Son of God. First one, not the last. In fact, this verse will also be quoted in Hebrews chapter number one and in Hebrews chapter number five, as well, also as proof text for other points that are made in Hebrews. So here in Psalm two, verse seven, the Lord says, thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Now, going back to what we saw in acts 13, Paul used this verse in his sermon as a proof text of the Resurrection. [00:09:31] Now, we know the word begotten means to create, right? That's what it means to create. So you might read this at first glance and be like, okay, so that means God the Father created the Son. Well, if you thought that you would be an error, you would be an error. Because remember, God is one of the. We've gone into this a little bit, but one of the characteristics of the nature of God is that he is. Remember, he's eternal, he's omnipotent. We studied on Wednesday. These are characteristics of God that make him God and none else. Right? One of those characteristics that I did not cover was his immutability. That means God doesn't change. His nature is the same always. And you know, one thing about God's nature is God is a trinity. [00:10:21] He is a Trinity. The Father, the word, the Son, the Holy Ghost, he is a Trinity. You know what? He has never not been that. He has always been a trinity. You see that in the first chapter of Genesis, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Maybe that was chapter two. I think it's chapter one. [00:10:43] But God has always been a Trinity. And so if we look at verse seven. Now, here's why. I'm going to throw you a zinger. The cults look at verse seven and they say, see, Jesus was created. [00:10:58] He's not God. He was created. [00:11:01] And the truth is, if Jesus was created, you're right, he would not be equal with God. That's a fact. If that were true. But it's not, because verse seven is actually a reference to his resurrection, which is why Paul uses it. Now keep going down. He says, verse number eight. The Father's speaking again. [00:11:21] Ask of me, and I shall give thee at the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost part of the earth. For thy possession thou shalt dash them, break them, with a rod of iron, and thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Then skip down to verse twelve. We see this son again. He says, kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled. But a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Nestled in the last verse of Psalm two, you see this little sentence, that its truth reverberates all the way to our time, where God says, if you believe on the Son, you put your trust in the Son, you will be blessed. Now, in that word, blessed, it doesn't go into great detail as to what that blessing would be, but man, that blessing, as it turns out in verse twelve, is pretty large. Eternal life, renewed relationship to God, forgiveness of sin. I mean, we could go on and on and on, a home in heaven, all these things. [00:12:23] Okay, but I have to address this issue with this idea based upon verse seven. Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee that there are people that teach that Jesus was created. [00:12:36] All right? They don't believe that Jesus was eternal. That is, they acknowledge that he was born, and they acknowledge that he existed before he was born, but they believe that Jesus was created. I'm just stating the way that it's taught. This is the doctrine of the Aryans. Aryanism is what it's called, and it's believed in our day. It is believed right now by, in particular, Jehovah's Witnesses, but not only Jehovah's Witnesses. And it states that Jesus was created as God's first creation. And then basically, here's what happened. [00:13:16] The Father created Jesus, the Son, and then turned to the Son immediately after that and said, son, I want you to create everything else. [00:13:25] But as we saw on Wednesday night, if Jesus was created, he is not God by nature, right? By nature, because nothing created can be God. That's what we saw. We saw that from the Bible. [00:13:41] So what verses are often used to prove that Jesus was by these people, that Jesus was created? Let's look at a few of them. Let's look at Proverbs. Turn quickly, if you would, and we'll move on to the next thing. Proverbs, chapter eight. [00:13:55] This one is not a very good example, but I have to mention it, because if you ever engage with someone who believes in what used to be called Aryanism, they will go to Proverbs eight, thinking that you're not going to look at the rest of the chapter. Proverbs eight, verse 22. [00:14:12] Now, I'm going to set it up like they set it up so you'll understand the way it works. Proverbs 822 says this. [00:14:21] Speaking of Jesus, the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the worth was when the debt, where there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills was, I brought forth. [00:14:44] What's wrong with what I just said? [00:14:47] Jesus is not the eye. I said that. See if you'd catch it. Jesus is not the eye. [00:14:54] Jesus is not the one speaking here in this context, wisdom is speaking in chapter eight, verse one. Doth not wisdom cry? She standeth verse two. In the top of the high places, she cries. Here's what she says in verse five. O ye simple understand wisdom. [00:15:14] Verse 14, counsel is mine and sound wisdom I am understand. Okay. Is that sufficient? [00:15:22] People, I have had them. I have talked to people and they run to this. Verse 822-23-2425 those. And they say, see, Jesus was brought. He was created. It says right there, you can't let people do tricks on you like that with the Bible. That's why we got to know what it says. We got to know the context. Let's look at another one. Let's look at Colossians chapter one. [00:15:46] Colossians, chapter one. We are going back to acts 13, I promise. [00:15:50] One, verse 15, starting verse number 13 because we got to get the context. Of course. Colossians one, verse 13. [00:16:15] Now, if anybody who believes in this false doctrine ever brings you to Colossians, they are stepping in front of a Claymore mine. [00:16:24] It's going to end poorly for them, I promise. Colossians 113. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom in the Son we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who the Son is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature. Now what they do is they ignore the rest of the chapter and they concentrate on that last phrase of verse 15. The firstborn of every creature, which is. Here's. Here's how it goes. You see, Jesus was the first creature that God created. That's not what it says. [00:17:11] That's not what it says. What does it mean to be the firstborn of every creature? Well, in a family. What is the Firstborn in a family? The firstborn, yes, in a human sense, means it's the first person that is born. But the firstborn why did Jacob get one up on Esau when he got the birthright of the firstborn? Why did he? Because that was a status, right? It was given from Esau to Jacob even though he wasn't the firstborn. It was a status. Now, keep reading, though, and it comes perfectly clear. Jesus was not created. [00:17:49] Verse 16. For by him the Son were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible. Stop here. [00:18:02] The New World translation of the Jehovah's Witness adds the word other. So it would say, by him were all other things created. Isn't that sneaky? [00:18:15] But let's just read it as it says, whether they be Thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. Listen to this. All things are created by him. We're still talking about the Son now, not the Father, the Son. [00:18:27] And for him he is before all things, and by him all things consist. [00:18:34] This is a description of the Creator and nothing less than the Creator. So being the firstborn of every creature means that he is the top dog. He is over it all. He is, we would say, sovereign over all of creation. If it was created. This verse says, the sun is over it. That's what it's saying. It's not saying that Jesus is the first one that was created. Look at Revelation Three, if you would. [00:19:03] Revelation, chapter Three. This is another good one that's often turned to. [00:19:10] I've said this before, but these issues with these cults and things, it almost always goes back to who Jesus is. Almost always. That's always what they're getting at. They're always attacking the identity of Christ. And you know what? That's always been the case ever since the temptation of Christ in Matthew four, Revelation, chapter three, verse number 14, says this, and unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans, write these things, saith the Amen. This is now Jesus is speaking. That's clear. These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. [00:19:50] See, Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God. Well, that obviously means he's the first thing that God created, right? [00:19:58] It doesn't say that. It doesn't say that. [00:20:04] The beginning of the creation of God means that he is the source. [00:20:08] That's what the word beginning means, the source, the origin of the creation of God. And that's what we just read in Colossians. It meshes perfectly. Jesus is not the first thing that was created. He is the origin of everything that was created. Right? He created it by his power. And if Jesus is the Creator, as Colossians says. As this says, he is very God. He is God in no way lesser than the Father. He is equal with God. Now, why wouldn't revelation go back to chapter one? Because I want to go back to this point we were on in Acts 13 about how that Paul used the sentence, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Why does it say that? Talking about the Resurrection, revelation one verse number. [00:21:06] Drop down to verse number four. [00:21:11] John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you in peace. From him which is and which was and which is to come. And from the seven spirits which are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, listen to this next sentence. [00:21:29] And the first begotten from the dead, see that? [00:21:37] And the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. [00:21:44] That's the same terminology and language as what Paul's saying. [00:21:49] Now. There's one capstone we need to add to this to understand it. How that Jesus is the first begotten from the dead. That it's talking about his resurrection. The first chapter of Romans. I know we're turning to a lot of verses, but hang in there. Hang in there. We're going somewhere. [00:22:03] Romans one. [00:22:06] We're doing our verse studies on the front side, and then we'll move on through our text here in a little bit. Romans one, verse one says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, which he had promised before by his prophets in the HolY scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ. Notice the mention of Son our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. [00:23:00] You know what that says? [00:23:02] It says that the resurrection of Christ was the proof, the declaration that Jesus was the Son of God, that proved it, that proved his identity. We've already studied the fact of Jesus being the Son of God means he is equal with God. We've already seen that. We studied that previously. So when Paul says, hey, Jews, look at this verse in the second Psalm. Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. That's talking about Jesus, the one who rose from the dead. He is the first begotten from the dead. Now go back to Acts, chapter 13, if you would, acts 13 and verse number 34. [00:23:59] So moving on from there, he says, and concerning that he raised him from the dead. Now, no more. To return corrupt to corruption. He said, on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of you. Probably if I said, quote the Davidic covenant to me, you probably couldn't do. Could I know I couldn't do it? You know why? Because I looked it up this afternoon and had to read it. But the sure mercies of David. And you can look it up later if you're making notes. Two Samuel, chapter seven, verse 15, also found in Psalm 89, two through three, as well as verse 28 and 29. The sure mercies of David refer to God's sure promise that he would raise up one of David's descendants to have a throne forever. [00:24:52] That's what the sure mercies of David the Lord said, I will give you my mercy, and that mercy will never fail. It is sure, right. That's when he gave David that promise. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, that promise was broken. [00:25:11] But because God cannot break his promise, he cannot lie. Jesus rose from the dead. That's what he's talking about here. Verse 35. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Now, that's also mentioned in Acts chapter two, in Peter's sermon at Pentecost. But notice what he says here. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep. He died and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God raised again saw no corruption. So as the Jews are reading through Psalm 16, which is where this is quoted, as they were reading, they came across something that made them pause. This curious verse in verse number ten of Psalm 16 that says, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. And they're thinking, how can this be talking about David? David's dead and buried. He's long since corrupted. [00:26:12] His body's disintegrated in the grave. Even Lazarus. You remember, they didn't want to open the grave. And he had only been dead four days. [00:26:21] And so they looked at that verse and they said, well, then it can't be talking about David and Jesus. No doubt when he was on earth, pointed it out and said, no, this is talking about me. Because remember, he went through the Scriptures and showed them everything related to himself. [00:26:37] And so Paul is quoting the verses. You say, well, Pastor, you go through so many verses, and we turn here and turn there. Well, that's what Paul's doing. He's running the references. He's making the connections. [00:26:51] All right, verse 39. [00:26:56] Verse 39. I love this verse. [00:27:02] And by him, by Jesus. All that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified. By the law of Moses, that word justified. [00:27:13] Let me try to explain this as simple as I can. This is a fantastic Bible truth. [00:27:20] It's fantastic. [00:27:23] The word justified comes from the word that is also translated just sometimes. For instance, in Matthew 119, Joseph, Mary's husband, is referred to as a just man. Same word. Well, it's the adjective, and this is a verb, but it's the same word. [00:27:44] In Romans 310 says, as it is written, there is none. Somebody help me. [00:27:50] Righteous. No, not one. Same word. [00:27:54] Just righteous. [00:27:56] So it just means righteous. It's also translated righteousness as a noun. [00:28:02] Like in Matthew five SIx, it says hungering and thirsting after righteousness. [00:28:08] So when we read the word justified, it means righteous or righteousness. Just sometimes we say he's justifying himself. By that we mean he's making excuses for the bad things he's done. Right? That's what we mean when we say justifying. But actually what we mean is he's saying he's righteous. That's what we mean at its core. But we just don't use it like that very often. [00:28:34] But the word justified means to make righteous. [00:28:39] If I can put it to you like this, you say justified. [00:28:46] Righteous. Afied. Does that make sense? Righteous. [00:28:51] What do you do when you put a fied on the end of a word? [00:28:55] Like, if you like hamburgers, you go eat a bunch of hamburgers. You're going to hamburger a fy yourself. [00:29:01] We can add it to almost any noun, right? We can add it to anything. Violinify yourself if you practice too much, right? Well, in this case, when you are justified, you're righteousified. You're being made righteous. [00:29:18] This is fantastic. Listen to what 39 says. [00:29:21] And by Jesus. Look at it closely. [00:29:25] All that believe are justified. Made righteous from all things, all of the commandments of God. That we have violated all of the sins that we have committed by believing in Christ. Though we are sinners and unrighteous and have no claim of righteousness, God makes us righteousness on account of our faith. Our faith is counted as righteousness. This is not new to you guys. I know that. But notice what it says from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Remember, Paul is preaching in the synagogue to the Jews. Here's the problem. [00:30:12] They were trusting in their own righteousness. [00:30:17] They thought that by trying really hard to obey the law of Moses, they would be saved. [00:30:23] They thought that by trying to obey the commandments of God, they would be made righteous. [00:30:33] Paul talked about this in Philippians, chapter Three, his own righteousness. [00:30:39] And really, that's what all the Jews believed. This is, of course, not the first time we're seeing this in acts. We've seen this over and over and over. But this is a majorly important doctrine in acts and in all of the New Testament. A man, a woman is never made righteous by the good that they do. It is impossible because it can never take away the sin they've committed and the transgressions they have done. [00:31:08] The only way a man or a woman can be made righteous is by believing and trusting in the Savior. [00:31:18] And when God sees that faith, just like God saw the faith of Abraham, at that moment, that faith is counted to them for as if they were righteous, just that's what it means to be justified. Righteous. [00:31:35] That's fantastic. [00:31:37] We're not trying, listen, we're not trying to be righteous. [00:31:43] We don't have to try. [00:31:46] We're trusting our reliance. Our trust is resting on God's Son. If you get a hold of that, if I get a hold of that, that will give you assurance of salvation. [00:32:01] That will give you assurance of salvation, because it's not dependent on how obedient you are. It never was. [00:32:08] Now we know a person who believes in Christ. The evidence of that will be a life. Know faith without works is dead. That is true. Faith produces works. That's what James says, right? So the works will follow. But in the works, upon the works, we dare not stand. Oh, no. [00:32:29] It's in the blood of Christ. We're resting in him. Nothing else, right? Nothing else. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'name. [00:32:44] Is this not a fantastic doctrine? I'm excited about it. Are you excited about it? [00:32:50] If it was dependent upon us or our own righteousness, nerd. One of us, as Andy Griffith would say, would ever have any hope. Well, not even the smallest hope that we would go to heaven. [00:33:03] Paul is saying this by belief. Verse 39. Look at it. By believing on Christ, God grants you righteousness. Though you are not righteous, he counts your faith as righteousness. [00:33:14] Through the Lord Jesus Christ, you can be clean. Verse 39 says this from all transgressions, no matter what they are. [00:33:27] And in the end of verse 39, says, the law of Moses nor any other commandment can make you righteous. [00:33:35] It can never make you righteous again. We saw that on Wednesday night. Right? Or we studied it on Wednesday night, kind of as a review. The law was not given to make anybody righteous, but only to reveal sin. And so it does. [00:33:50] So they preach. [00:33:54] Paul understands keenly the religious mindset of these people. They think they're right by trying to keep the commandments, but they're not. [00:34:02] And so he's telling them, listen, exactly. Is it, Brother Mark, if you were witness, this is exactly what you would say to them, right? It's the same thing. I mean, our Gospel is no different than what Paul is saying. [00:34:15] Verse 43. And when the congregation was broken up. [00:34:19] Hold on a second. Look at verse 42. We'll come back to 42 in a minute. But you got to understand it. When the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them on the next Sabbath. Do you see the Jews agitated or bothered at this point in verse 42? Do they seem to be care what Paul and Barnabas said? No. They look like people that don't really fear God, right? They're like, okay, well, that was interesting. Let's go eat. Let's go down to the restaurant. [00:34:44] Right? Are they bothered? No. Keep that in your mind. Verse 43. Now, when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. What does that mean, continue in the grace of God as opposed to works. [00:35:10] The Jews were trusting their own righteousness, that they were trying to obey God's commandments. But Paul is talking about grace, where God grants you righteousness by the cross. Totally different. He was saying, now, listen, you guys, people are going to come after and they're going to try to convince, no, no, you really have to keep the law. And if you don't keep the law, then nothing about this Jesus matters. You really got to keep the law, and you better trust in your keeping of the law. He's saying, now, listen, Jesus is the way. [00:35:38] This is the grace of God. [00:35:41] Verse 44. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with Envy and Spake against those things which were Spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. [00:36:01] Remember what I said in verse 42, right. Did the Jews seem Bothered in verse 42 when they left the Synagogue? No. [00:36:08] Why are they bothered now? [00:36:13] Now, if the Jews weren't bothered as soon as they had heard the Message of Paul and Barnabas in verse 42, then that tells us that they didn't have a particular problem with the Message. Maybe they wanted to chew on it, whatever. [00:36:27] But in verse number 45. All of a sudden, they're mad. They're angry, but they're not angry because of Paul's Message. [00:36:36] They're angry out of envy. [00:36:40] They're angry out of envy. [00:36:43] This will not be the last time that the Jews chase after Paul. To Kill him out of envy. [00:36:53] You seE, those Jews had been in that City. They had had their Synagogue. And as we saw this morning, they were GEntiles that Attended the SynagoguE, apparently. [00:37:01] And there was an attempt in some degree made by the Jews to evangelize eyes. The BibLe. You remember, Jesus talked about how that the PharisEes Would Cross Land and SeA to make One ProSelytE. They were trying to bring people into their faith, into their religion. [00:37:25] And here Paul comes along with his message about Jesus, and all of a sudden the whole city is interested. [00:37:33] Even those GEntiles had been Attending their Synagogue. [00:37:38] It'd be like, we have visitors come to our Church, a couple here and there, whatever. And some Johnny come lately, comes and says one thing. They just flock after him. And so we go stone the man's house. No, I'm just joking. [00:37:51] Just joking. [00:37:56] They're Envious. But this is exactly what God Designed, that the GEntiles would provoke them to envy. Of course, we know that's found in Deuteronomy 32 21. We won't go there for time because therE's a couple of other things I want to cover. But God said, I will. In Deuteronomy, he said, I will provoke you to jealousy with a foolish nation talking about the Gentiles. And here these gentiles are believing in Christ. They're excited, and the Jews are like. [00:38:27] The Jews are enraged that the Gentiles are turning to Christ. It seems now that Paul and Barnabas have hijacked the Jewish religion with this new stuff. [00:38:39] They're saying they believe in the same God and the Scripture and all that stuff, but it's not. It can't be. [00:38:46] And so they oppose Paul and Barnabas. But let me ask you a question. Why did they oppose Paul and Barnabas? Was it because they did not like their doctrine and their teaching or some other reason? [00:39:06] It was a different reason. It wasn't the message. They opposed because, remember 42, they weren't bothered. [00:39:14] It was the end. Be. [00:39:20] Here's just a principle I want to leave with you. [00:39:26] Many people that oppose the truth don't oppose the truth because of the truth. [00:39:32] Many people oppose the truth because of some other reason. [00:39:39] You might find people that oppose the truth because when they were a child, they had been abused by a youth leader. [00:39:48] You might find people that are opposed to the truth because their parents were Christians and their parents mistreated them. [00:39:58] You might find people that are opposed to the truth because their dear grandmother was not a believer in Christ. And so they don't want, by believing this, to condemn their loved one. [00:40:14] No matter what the case might be. It's not the truth. [00:40:18] It's some other reason, some secondary consideration that is informing and animating their opposition. Listen, if you and I are going to be wise soul winners and wise witnesses, we have to be able to discern that as best. We can't. Can't read people's minds, of course. But you have to understand that many times people don't oppose the truth because of the truth, but they oppose it because of its effect or some other issue. [00:40:52] In this case, envy. And, you know, envy is a powerful, powerful emotion. [00:41:00] You see, the Jews were not motivated by the truth and defending it, but by religious pride and jealousy and hatred. And you know what? That was the very same reason that the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the elders in the days of Christ did what they did. You remember in John, chapter eleven, verse 48, just. You don't have to turn there. But I want to read it because I can get there. I'm already there, right there, right. Now, listen to this. [00:41:24] This is spoken in private in the plotting to kill Jesus. Listen. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him. And the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. [00:41:40] So they weren't opposing Jesus necessarily for Jesus'sake they were opposing Jesus because they were afraid of losing their authority. So it wasn't about Christ. It was about these other things. That's always the case. [00:41:54] It's always the case, the motivation. And listen, that is what God like, God's eyes, like a laser beam, strikes right down to that. [00:42:10] When he deals with people, he convicts them and convinces them of sin. It goes straight down to that. It's often the Lord puts his finger on it and they got to deal with that, or they can never be saved. That one thing. Because it's a motivation, you see. [00:42:28] Now go to verse 46, if you would. [00:42:31] Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you. But seeing ye put it away from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, Lo, we turn to the Gentiles. This is just in passing, I'll just say this is basically like a dispensational point. The Jews rejected it, so the Lord opened it up to the Gentiles. That's the way it worked. [00:43:02] And verse 48, Brother Mark loves this verse because it's a verse, an often quoted verse. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. [00:43:21] And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. [00:43:29] Now, at first glance, that verse appears to sound like God has picked and chosen who would be saved and who won't be saved. Right? God ordained some to get eternal life and others not. [00:43:44] Now, I just want to make a few thoughts on this. I'm almost finished, so just hang in there. [00:43:52] As many as were ordained to eternal life believed. [00:44:00] I'll admit that this is a difficult verse. [00:44:04] This is not an easy verse to explain. [00:44:10] And I'll also say that as someone who tries to study the Bible, a student of the Bible, which I hope you consider yourself a student of the Bible, you and I are not obligated to understand every verse in the Bible and to be able to explain every verse in the Bible. Now, we do need to study and to do our due diligence. And when we come across verses like this, we should pray over them and kind of search them out and see if we can come to an answer and ask God for wisdom. [00:44:40] But nobody understands every verse in the Bible. So when I come across a verse like this that seems to teach something that I don't believe is consistent with other parts of the Bible, I'm not going to wring my hands if I can't give an explanation about it, okay? [00:45:01] I don't have to explain every verse. [00:45:05] All right? [00:45:10] Some people believe that this verse teaches that God ordains some people to eternal life. [00:45:18] And they say, we'd look at verse 48 and they would say, see, God ordains some people to eternal life. [00:45:25] Okay? [00:45:28] But if you say that, you also have to then say that God also picks who does not get eternal life. Because you can't. Like, if you go into Walmart and you go down the cereal aisle and you buy the fruit loops, by making that decision, you are therefore excluding all the others. Right? I mean, that's a logical fact. So some people say, well, I believe God picks who's saved, but I don't believe that God picks who goes to hell. [00:45:57] Well, you can't have one without the other. [00:46:03] It's an inconsistent position that God does one and not the other. Because the truth is, if you say God picks who goes to hell, that sounds really bad. I mean, just as a matter of fact, it's either all or nothing. But there are, and Brother Stewart knows this. [00:46:22] There are honest people that believe in what is called unconditional election, that believe that God has picked who is going to be saved, and then those people get saved. There are those people that believe that doctrine, and they're honest people that aren't going to take it to its logical extreme. [00:46:44] Okay, but let's talk about that logical extreme a little bit. Just real quick. [00:46:53] If you take this to its logical end, here's how the doctrine goes. And I'm saying this not because I know what these people believe. The people I'm about to describe, I know what they believe. I've read the doctrinal statements. It's not hard. [00:47:08] They believe that God has chosen before he created even the world, before the foundation of the world, who would be saved and who would not, that some would be saved and some would not. And they had no input in that decision whatsoever before they were ever born, before they ever did anything. You said, you're going to heaven, you're going to hell. That's it. I have determined it. And those people that he has chosen, then he leads them down such a path so that eventually they believe the Gospel further. Jesus only died for those and did not die for everyone else. And some would even take it to say, Jesus only loves those and doesn't love everyone else. This is real, and many of you know this, but it goes even further. Some of these same people teach that God has determined everything that happens in the universe, everything good and bad. He has caused it. [00:48:10] And for those of you that are interested, this is what is stated in the Westminster Confession and in the London Baptist Confession of 1689 in the popular Confessions. It is in there. It is called absolute determinism, that God has determined everything that will happen. [00:48:28] All right, why do I bring that up? Because this verse is often used to describe it. [00:48:37] But here's my advice. [00:48:40] Stick to the text of Scripture. [00:48:44] The minute that we go off on these hypotheticals of these other things, these other questions and logical arguments and hypothetical arguments, we go off the rails fast, because inevitably, these arguments take you down a path that departs from the actual text of Scripture. And now you're arguing something that you can't argue from the Bible at all, good or bad. [00:49:07] And often these arguments have a logical End that is way off in left field. Like the idea that God only loves those he has chosen. That is utterly, easily proven false. The idea that Jesus only died for some and not all that is easily proven false, that is not true. But see, those are logical arguments. [00:49:33] So verse 48 is obviously not teaching, therefore, that whatever it does teach that an honest person might look and think about election. One thing it is not teaching is that God has selected a whole huge group of people to go to hell, and he has determined that from the foundation of the world and they have no choice, no input in the matter at all. And God has determined everything that happens in the course of history in the universe. [00:50:04] That's not what it's teaching because it doesn't say it. Stay close to the text. [00:50:12] So what do I think it is teaching? Okay, my view on this verse is that, and again, I don't think this seals it, but my view on this verse is that simply God has so ordained that all who believe will have eternal life. [00:50:35] That's what I believe is teaching. [00:50:37] God has ordained that everybody who believes in Christ will have eternal life. If you would look at first John and we'll be finished. First John, chapter number five. [00:50:57] This is a comparable verse that I think will illustrate what I'm trying to say it. Verse eleven. [00:51:11] And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son. [00:51:24] That's pretty clear, right? [00:51:26] I could say it like this. God has so ordained that eternal life will be in his Son and nowhere else. That's pretty clear. I mean, I think you could say that without making any stretch. [00:51:38] He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. [00:51:44] You see, everyone in Christ has eternal life because that life is ordained to be in his Son. So whenever you get in Jesus, you're in that decree, if you want to put it like that, predetermined. God has predetermined that. He's predetermined that everyone who is in Christ will have eternal life. That's what I think it's teaching. Now, there are many who think I'm stupid for believing such a thing, but that's okay. Again, listen, my only concern, to be honest with you and those of you that have studied Calvinism know about, know you're familiar with a little bit of this probably. [00:52:25] I only have to give an account to God that I have tried to tell you the truth the best I could. Right. I don't have to be able to answer every apologist on the Internet. Thank the Lord for that. [00:52:39] So Paul and Barnabas, they're rejected. [00:52:44] You know what they do? [00:52:46] The Jews raise up an assault, raise up opposition. They go to the leaders of the city in Antioch and Pasidia and they get them expelled from that area. You know what they do? They brush off the dust of their feet and move on. [00:53:06] Christ does not force anyone. [00:53:09] Does not force the matter. When he is refused, you know what he does when he's refused, what does he do? He moves on to another. [00:53:20] And wherever Jesus is received, you know what he does? He stays. [00:53:26] He stays. [00:53:28] And so that's what the apostles did. Let's pray.