Open up your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 13. We'll continue our study in this
letter, which the Holy Spirit had Luke as a secretary pen. Never forget, the writers of
the scriptures were just secretaries dictating and writing down what
God wanted them to write down. Never forget, Norm Wells told
me that a long time ago, and that just stuck, just stuck. Because the true author of the
scriptures is God the Holy Spirit. He's the true author of these
words. And last week, we looked at the conversion of the Roman
governor on Cyprus, and a man of authority, a Gentile, and
a man who was the highest authority on the island of Cyprus. The
only one above him was Caesar. what would happen was the emperors
would have these governors go to certain places and they would
rule in his name with full authority. With full authority. And here,
as I said last week, the scripture comes alive when it says, not
many noble God saved the foolish things of the world, which I
said last week, is common people, common people like you and I.
But note it didn't say not any, it said not many, noble. And
here we saw a Roman governor, a man of learned, very well learned. would have come from the upper
echelons of the Roman society. And the Lord saved him just like
that. My, oh my. It's wonderful, isn't it? It's
wonderful. Why? You wonder if he ever got
it together with any of them Praetorian guards that the Lord
saved when Paul was in Rome. Who knows? We don't know, do
we? We have no idea at all. Oh my. But he was a Gentile.
And he was born again by the power of God, the Holy Spirit.
when Paul preached the gospel, and he was given faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's, we're going to pick
up today in verse 13, and we're going to read verses 13 to 22.
Actually, we're going to look at verses 13 to 22, but we're
going to stand up and read. Let's stand up and read verses
13 to 16 for the context of our first starting of the verses
we'll look at today. Now forgive me with some of the
names of these cities. It says, now, let's read together,
verse 13. Now when Paul and his company
loosed from Pathos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John,
departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed
from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisadia, and went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading
of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent
unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have word of
exhortation for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning
with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. Now what we have here before
us, beloved, is an open door. What we like to call, the scripture
calls, a door of utterance. adorableness. All that means
is the ability to proclaim the gospel. A time opened up by the
Lord for Paul to freely preach the gospel. But we're going to
look at what he does before he preaches the gospel to them,
which will be next week's message, but we're also going to see the
gospel all through here too as well. And let us always remember
that God the Holy Spirit was with God the Father. and with
God the Son in eternity. When all the promised children,
whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, when their
names were written in there, God the Holy Spirit was there.
God the Father was there, God the Son was there, and God the
Holy Spirit was there. When our names were written in the Lamb's
Book of Life, that was an eternity, beloved. And the Holy Spirit knows where
our Lord's sheep are. He knows where the Lord's lost
sheep are. He found us, didn't he? He found us right where we
were. He found us. See, he knows where
the lost sheep of God are. We don't have a clue. That's
why we must preach the gospel to all. It's called the general
call. It goes out. Because only God
knows who his sheep are. Only God knows who his sheep
are. Only him. My, oh, my. And he knows the
ordained instruments that he's going to send to them so that
they could hear the gospel. Think of where you were saved
and you heard the gospel for the first time. And you were
amazed. Isn't it incredible? Born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. That was all ordained by God,
beloved. That was all ordained by God.
Now some of us can't put an exact date on it, right? Don't worry
about that. Are you born again? Are you trusting
Christ right now? That's all that matters. And
as a matter of fact, I always say this, because people always
say, well, you know, I fixed it up 15 years ago. Okay, but
who are you trusting right now? Right now, Christ. Amen, brother.
That's what's most important. We're resting our eternal souls
upon Christ. We're not looking back at a decision
we made or something we did. See, when the Bible says, make
your election and calling sure, people right away think, oh,
I gotta examine myself and, oh, am I doing this? Am I doing that?
What that means is, are you trusting Christ? Are you born again? Are you trusting
Christ right now? Because if you're born again,
you're gonna trust the Christ of the Bible, right? And your faith will be in Him
right now, right now. Now, I look back and I see God
drawing me all different times. Even when I was young and people
giving me gospel tracts, I wanted nothing to do with them. And
then later on as a teenager, people talking to me about Christ, I
didn't want nothing to do with them. And then meeting one guy and he asking
me, well, do you know Christ? Uh, have you ever read the Bible?
Uh, and I'm an adult now. And I'm like, no. And him giving
me a Bible and a box of tracts and said, take home, read these.
And reading those and going, oh my gosh. Right? And then,
and then get into religion and all this stuff. And then the
Lord saves me. But I don't have an exact date,
beloved. I just know I'm trusting the Savior. He's my all, is He
our all in all right now? Amen. We don't have to look back
to a time. What is he right now to us? He's
everything. He's everything. And by the grace
of God, he's everything to us, isn't he? By the grace of God. Oh, my. My, oh, my. And so, therefore, salvation's
not by chance, is it? It's not by chance. No, no, no. But by a predetermined purpose
of God, executed, at God's exact timing. At God's exact timing. Look at that governor last week.
He heard Paul preach the gospel, and it says he believed. And
then later on, Bar-Jesus, the false apostle, false teacher,
tried to sway him away. Right? But it says later on,
when he saw that Paul, by the power of God, blinded that guy,
it was God who did that. Right? And he's groping around
in the darkness. That's where we were before the
Lord saved us, right? And he says, I believe. Well,
scripture says a little couple of verses before that he already
had believed he'd already been born again. He heard the gospel, beloved. He
heard Paul preach the gospel to him. My, oh my. Now here's Paul in verse 13. Let's look at verse 13. Now when
Paul and his company, loose from Pathos, they came to Perga, in
Pamphylia, and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.
Now, I looked up Pathos, it was a coastal city on the west end
of the island of Cyprus. We looked last week, they traveled
all through Cyprus, right through the middle, and all through it,
from one side of Cyprus to the other side of Cyprus, right? Salminas was on one side, and
in this city, Pathos was on the other side. And they went right
through preaching the gospel. And before they got to Pathos,
remember, the governor said, oh, I've heard of you. And that's
why he asked for time with them. Come, tell me about what you're
talking about. He didn't even know he's the
lost sheep of God. Isn't that amazing? So they loosed the ship
from Pathos, and they're leaving the island to Cyprus. And we
know it's God that's guiding them and taking them wherever
he wants them to be. And they sailed through the sea of Pamphylia
and landed at Perga, a place in Asia Minor. And John in the
text there is John Mark. He's Barnabas's nephew, remember?
And we see he left Paul and Barnabas at Perga. Remember Paul and Barnabas
had a split? This is why. Over John Mark. We don't know why John Mark left.
We're not told why he left. We know later on, Paul calls
for him and says, he's profitable, come bring him back to me. So
whatever had happened was forgiven and let go. But it did cause
a rift. We don't see it yet, but it will,
future. Oh my. And so for some reason,
he leaves them at Perga and returns to Jerusalem. Again, we don't
know why, but it definitely displeased Paul. So much that, again, at
some future date, it caused a division between him and Barnabas. Now
remember, in the city of Pathos, we learned last week that there
was a temple to the false god Venus. Now the Holy Spirit has them
go to Perga. You know what Perga's famous for? Well, there's a famous
temple of Diana in Perga. The Lord sent them to the places
where idol worshipers are. Gentiles. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? Oh my. Now let's read verse 14. It says,
but when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisadia
and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.
Now this is not Antioch in Syria. It's the same name, but it's
a different city. Because remember in Antioch and
Syria, the church is there. And they were the ones that sent
Paul and Barnabas out by the power of God the Holy Spirit,
according to the will and purpose of God the Holy Spirit. So it's
a different Antioch. Just like there's different names
of different towns all over. I grew up in a town called Bolton
in Canada. I know where they got the name from, there's a
Bolton in England. Same kind of thing. So this is
Antioch, but it's in Pisidia. And that's to distinguish, when
it says Antioch in Pisidia, that's to distinguish it from Antioch
in Syria. And on the Sabbath day, Paul
and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and sat down. Paul and Barnabas weren't legalists,
not at all. Somebody says, well, why'd they
go to the synagogue? Well, they weren't, they're not legalists,
not at all. And they're not trying to keep
the law of Moses, no. But the unbelieving Jews still
observed the Sabbath day. And they still assembled on that
day for public worship. So, beloved God, Paul and Barnabas,
what'd they do? They took every opportunity,
every opportunity, to set before them Christ and Him crucified. They would take every opportunity.
If they got a chance to preach and proclaim Christ, they took
the opportunity, which again is a door of utterance opened
up by the Lord. Every week, the Lord gives me three doors of
utterances here to be able to preach the gospel, and you desire
to hear it. And when I go out in the community
and talk to people, I tell them about Christ, invite them to
church, come hear the gospel. I don't say come to church, I
say come hear the gospel. Come hear the gospel. There's
a difference, isn't there? There's a difference. There's lots of
churches. Come hear the gospel. Come hear the gospel of God's
free grace. And with a desire to preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ to this assembly, they go into the synagogue.
God the Holy Spirit is pleased to open up a door of utterance.
Never forget, if you get an opportunity to speak to somebody about Christ,
it's God the Holy Spirit opening up that door. Don't force the
door open yourself. It doesn't end well, I know.
I've tried that. But when God opens the door,
you're going to know it. And just tell them about Christ.
Tell them about Christ. So this door is open. And verse
15 reveals how the door is open. Look at this. Look how God and
his providence works. This is amazing. Look at verse
15 now, Acts 13, 15. And after the reading of the
law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them,
the unbelieving Jews, sent unto Paul and Barnabas, Tom, you got
anything to say? I like what Gina Harmon says. That's
like saying siccum to a dog to a preacher. Yeah, I got something
to say. You might not like it, but I
got something to say. Oh my, it's wonderful. I love it.
Look at this. And after the reading of the
law and the prophets and the rulers of the synagogue sent them to
them saying, ye men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation
for the people, say on. Tell us. That's an open door,
beloved. That's an open door right there.
And the reading of the Law and the Prophets was the way the
Jews began their worship service every Sabbath day. The first
five books of the Old Testament is what our text is referring
to when it speaks of the Law and the Prophets. And the writings
of Moses was divided into sections so that all of his writings could
be read in one year. The Law of Moses is what those
self-righteous Jews rejoiced in. They rejoiced in the Law
of Moses. They rejoiced in the law of Moses. They didn't see
Christ. And Christ is all through there, isn't he? He's all through
there. He's in the law and the prophets.
He said, they testify of me. They testify of Christ. But see,
they have unbelieving hearts. I was talking to my son this
week. And I told him, I said, I said, do you know why unbelievers
don't understand the scriptures? And I said, you know why you
don't understand the scriptures? Because he looks at it from a
literary point. He's very good literally. So
he looks at it from a literary point. And I said, but you will
never understand the scriptures until you're born again. He goes,
what do you mean? I said, and I told him what I've
told you guys, that before the Lord saved me, I read the scriptures,
didn't understand them. Now it's alive. The book is a
whole new book. I don't understand at all. I'm
not even close. I'm scratching the surface, just like a little,
right? All of us are. But now we have
the Holy Spirit of God in us. And the scriptures even proclaim
that the scriptures to the preaching of the gospel to natural man
is foolishness. They don't understand it. It's simple, yet they think
it's too simple. No, it's not too simple. It's
actually incredible, right? But unless we're born again,
we won't understand the scriptures. Why do we have an understanding
as God's people? Because we're born again. That's the only reason. Otherwise, we'd be groping around
in the dark like everyone else, which we were before, right? And so here, these men, they're
reading the scriptures, and they say they're looking... See, the
most important thing to the Jews was Number one, the Old Testament
scriptures, and number two, the promise of the Messiah. Well,
Paul's gonna tell them about the Messiah, but they don't see
him. Why? Because just like everyone
else in the world, and where we were, let us never forget
where we were, they're blind. They're blind. They don't have
eyes to see. And we can relate to them, because
we were there. We didn't have ears to hear.
We didn't have eyes to see. Now we do praise be to God, because
he's made us to differ, right? He's given us an understanding
of the scriptures. He gets all the glory. It's amazing. So,
here we are, the reading of the law has happened, and the Jews
believe God's blessing fell on them, not through Jesus Christ,
but through their sinful deception that they were able to keep the
law. They thought they could keep the law. But they can't,
just like none of us can. And after this reading, the rulers
and the elders of the synagogue sent word to Paul and Barnabas,
giving them an open invitation. We saw it, an open invitation.
Got anything to say? Got anything, a word of exhortation? Oh, my. I bet you Paul shot up
like a rocket. My, oh, my. And we see again
that God the Holy Spirit is the one who's opened this door for
them to speak about Christ through the proclamation of the gospel.
And all this, remember, all this is providentially arranged, beloved.
Just like our salvation. Just like when we heard the gospel.
Just like when the preacher preached the gospel to us. And all those
things through our lives that were slowly drawn us to Christ
were all providentially arranged, everything. Vicki and I were
talking today, and she said, you know, imagine if this hadn't
happened in her life, something happened in her life. And she
goes, my whole life would have been different. And I said, yeah,
it's amazing when you think about, like, scenarios, what could have
happened if certain things hadn't happened. But it's all part of
the mix of our lives, isn't it? It's all part of what makes us
who we are, the good times and the bad times. All the things
we've been through and seen and done, it's all made the mix of
who we are now. Isn't that amazing? And we wouldn't
be the people we are without some of those things. We wouldn't
be believers without the Lord regenerating us, without his
power and giving us faith to believe. Isn't that amazing? Oh, it's
amazing. When you start stopping and think
of the providence of God and how he moves, it's absolutely
amazing. So all this is providentially
arranged by God the Holy Spirit. And again, let us remember that
it is the power of our Lord Jesus that opens the door or shuts
the door for us to speak of him. And again, the Jews were interested
in two things, the Old Testament scriptures, they highly regarded
them, just like we should highly regard them, and the promise
of the Messiah. And we will see that Paul meets
them in the place of their interest. Note what Paul does here. Nody
doesn't debate with them. I told you all, I don't debate
no more. I just present the Word of God. Debating is, it's not
worth it. Nobody, you can't persuade anybody
by debating with them. If we are to be saved and turned
from our sins, it must be by the power of God and Him alone.
So we just present the truth, right? We just say, here's the
truth. And whenever I do that, I know I rejected it at one time,
but by the grace of God, now I received it and I love it.
So I always try to remember where I was when I'm talking to people.
Some people say, why do you keep constantly talking to some of
these guys? Because I was there. I was religious and lost, right? Oh my, it's amazing. So, note he didn't debate them.
He simply preached Christ to them. Let's look at verse 16.
So Paul and Barnabas, again, they'd be rejoicing at this invitation.
He'd be bubbling. Paul would be bubbling inside. which is true of all who are
ordained by God to preach the gospel. Each time we get to preach
the gospel, it's exciting. We desire to proclaim Christ,
to give him all the glory and honor and praise. And we don't
promote ourselves. Note all through this, Paul doesn't
promote himself. We don't try to pry doors open. I used to
in religion, I don't try to pry doors open now. If the Lord opens
the door, praise be to God, right? And God, why should we try to
pry something open that God's closed? Oh my. But if he's pleased to
open the door, and when he does, the door of others, we jump at
the opportunity, don't we? We jump at the opportunity to
proclaim Christ. Seeking to honor and glorify him. And then praying
that God would make it effectual. Because only he can do that.
Only he can make the words effectual. So when it came to preaching
the gospel, Paul, by the sovereign grace of our Lord, Jesus was
a wise master builder. Note here what he does here.
God the Holy Spirit's given the apostles special gifts. And they
were needed to gain the attention of any class of people. Remember,
he could go to anyone and preach the gospel. He preached Christ
to everyone, Jew and Gentile. And he's well acquainted with
the religious ceremonies of the Jews and the Gentiles. When Paul
was with the Jews, who were under the law, he conducted
himself as a Jew was under the law. Who was under the law. But he knew he wasn't under the
law. Turn if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. We're going to see
it here. When he was with the Gentiles who were not under the
law of Moses, he conducted himself as one who was not under the
law. Now he's not being a man pleaser by doing that. Not at
all. He knows he's not under the law.
He proved that when he rebuked Peter, remember? In Galatians. When Peter and Barnabas disassembled
from the Gentiles, and he said, you guys are wrong. You're trying
to lay chains on them that you can't even fulfill yourself.
Remember, they were like, well, we can't eat with Gentiles. Now,
man, before that, Peter was stuffing his mouth full of food before
the Jews came from Jerusalem. But when he saw them Jews, oh,
no, I got to move away from them Gentiles. And that's when Paul
rebuked them. He said, you're going to put the Gentiles under
things that you can't even do. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Look
at this. Look at this. 1 Corinthians 9,
verses 19 to 21. For though I be free from all
men, look at that. Paul says, I'm free. I'm free in Christ. I'm free from all men, right? Yet have I made myself servant
unto all. See, again, the preachers, we're
just servants. We're servants of the church.
We're bond slaves of Christ, just like you. That's why I keep
saying there's no little mound for preachers. We're all on the
same level, beloved, all of us. Yet have I made myself servant
unto all, that I might gain the more. That I might gain the more. And
unto the Jews I become as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law,
as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the
law. And look at verse 21. To them that are without the
law, that's the Gentiles, being not without the law, to God,
but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are
without the law." Hudson Taylor, amazing missionary, preached
grace like we believe. When he went to China, he was
a missionary to China, he would dress in their own outfits. You
ever see Jean-Claude, the pictures of Jean-Claude when he goes to
Africa and he's in the same African dress? That's what Hudson Taylor
used to do. He'd just assemble like one of
them. That's what Paul's saying here. He's free. He preaches the gospel
to the Jew and to the Gentile. He's not under the law. Oh my. So why did Paul do this? Well, he believed that the Lord
Jesus Christ had obtained eternal redemption for his chosen people.
And that he would call them to himself. He believed that God
would call his chosen people, his lost sheep who were among
the Jews, and he believed that he would call his lost sheep
who were among the Gentiles. It's God that has to do that,
isn't it? Not man. And he believed that he would
call them to himself with a personal, inward, efficacious call, an
irresistible call, just like he did for us. Just like he did
for us. And Paul also believed that if
he deliberately offended his hearers before he delivered the
message of the cross, that they would deliberately shut their
ears. I've had that happen. I've had that happen. Say something
to somebody, and they say, I don't want to hear nothing else. Nothing else. My, oh, my. Shut their ears to anything he
had to say. And Paul's desire was the salvation of God's people. So let's look at verse 21 and
22 again of 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Look at this. To them that
are without the law, as without the law be not without the law
to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them
that are without the law, or without law. To the weak become
I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things,
look at this, to all men, that I by all means save some. That doesn't mean he's believing
he saves people, it's not that. But he becomes all things to
all men. right, that he might preach the gospel to them. Some people say, well, I wouldn't
preach gospel to those folks. They'd never be saved. Well,
I wouldn't be surprised if someone said when I was younger and I
was in my days that, oh, the Lord will never save that guy.
I'm serious. I was horrible. I'm still a sinner
saved by grace. I know how I think. Oh my, right? I remember one preacher saying,
imagine if our thoughts and our minds, even as believers, were
tore open for 15 seconds for everyone to see. See, we're just a bunch of sinners.
Saved by grace. I was telling Sunday school this
morning, I was across the road this morning with Vicki for breakfast
and I ran into a friend of mine named Jay. And I was talking
to him and saying hello to him. And he had a friend across from
him named Kevin. And I was talking to Jay, and
Jay said, well, I might just surprise you someday, because
I've been inviting Jay to church for years, just saying, come
on, come on over. He's dying of bone cancer. And
so I've been inviting him and inviting him. He said, I might
just surprise you and show up sometime. And I said, well, that
would be wonderful. And his friend Kevin said, well, you might want
to reinforce the roof like this. And I knew exactly where he's
coming from, because I used to say stuff like that. And I said,
no, no, we wouldn't have to do that. And he goes, oh, I'm sure
you would with Jay. And I said, no, actually, no,
we're just a bunch of sinners over there. That guy's countenance
just changed like that. I mean, it changed on the spot.
And he looked at me. I don't think he's ever heard
a preacher say that. And I said, we're just a bunch of sinners.
He said, come on over. I said, Jay, you'd be welcome,
and so would you. Just come on over. And he looked at me and he said,
what? And I said, we're just a bunch of sinners. Now we're
safe sinners, aren't we? But we're still just a bunch
of sinners gathered together. If we're not sinners, we don't
have any claim on Christ, do we? Because Christ came to save
who? Somebody tell me. Sinners. He
came to save sinners. Praise be to God. My, that's
wonderful, isn't it? So Paul had been taught, as we
are, that the people of God have learned that the gospel of Jesus
Christ will always be offensive to natural man. It's always offensive
to natural man. Man doesn't want to hear that
they're sinners. Before the Lord saved me, was
it so for you before the Lord saved you? Did you want to hear,
Sister Dee, did you want to be called a sinner? Oh, we got offended
at that, didn't we? What? You call me what? Don't call me that. That's offensive. Oh yeah, it is. To natural man
is to pride. Oh, now we say, yeah, I'm a sinner,
saved by grace. And I can't wait till I don't
sin no more. I sin more than I want to right now. And I can't
wait till I don't sin ever again. Oh, it'll be glorious. It'll
be glorious. So Paul also believed that Our
Lord's amazing gospel is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believes, to the Jew and the Gentile. So he didn't
introduce his message by speaking out against religious customs.
Note, he gained the attention of his hearers, beginning with
the foundation, but his messages always point his hearers to Christ,
who he is, what he's accomplished, for his chosen people and where
he is right now. Where he is right now. He's the
exalted God-man. Oh my. And Jesus Christ is God,
our sovereign creator. He became a man so that he could
die for the sins of his people and atone our eternal souls.
Make atonement to reconcile us to God. When we fell in Adam,
we were separated from God. He's made us nigh, he's brought
us nigh, close to God by the shedding of his precious blood.
It's his blood, never forget the blood. It's the blood, the
blood, the blood. Someone asked me, why do you talk so much about
the blood? Because it's the blood that cleanses me from all my
sins. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission for
sins. In Christ, the Lamb of God shed his blood to save us
from our sins. That's the most wonderful news.
Oh, my. My, oh, my. All of God's preachers
know that salvation's of the Lord from beginning to end. I
can't deal with your heart, only God can. I proclaim the word,
but only God can make it effectual, right? I proclaim it with passion. I love the Lord. He saved my
soul. I'm proclaiming with everything I have. but he must save, he
must make the words effectual. Right? And we do have a sincere desire
as God's preachers that our Lord Jesus would deliver his chosen
people unto our preaching. Therefore, we don't water down
the message. I can't water down the message, beloved. I can't.
I refuse to. By the grace of God. Even though
I know the preaching of the gospel is offensive to man, I don't
set out to offend man. The gospel offends all by itself. Oh my. So Paul, being led by
the Holy Spirit, knowing that this would gain the attention
of his hearers, gives a brief account of the
history of the Israelites. Look at verse 17. The God of
this people, of Israel, chose our fathers, and exalted the
people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt. With an
high arm bought he them out of it. Who bought them out? The
Lord Jesus Christ, the great I Am. Remember he said before
Abraham was, I Am. Who delivered them? Tell them
I Am sent you. Tell them Christ sent you. Oh
my, I Am saved our souls, Brother Tom. Oh my goodness, the great
I Am. Oh, and now these unbelieving
Jews, they'd have perked up as soon as they heard this. Now
he's got their attention. Now he's got their attention.
Oh, they had heard they were God's chosen people. What they
did not know was that national Israel typified spiritual Israel,
and that those who were chosen in Christ by the Father before
the foundation of the world Those who Jesus shed his precious blood
for, those he redeemed out of every kindred, tongue, and nation,
were the true Israel of God. And these unbelieving Jews would
not have been offended by the deliverance of national Israel
from Egypt, because it happened. It happened. God himself delivered
them from Egypt. And even though God, speaking
through his prophet Moses, plainly declared that his glory is based
upon his sovereign mercy, that he raised up Pharaoh what? For
his destruction. You ever think of that? He raised
Pharaoh up to destroy him. That his power and might might
be shown, might be magnified. Pharaoh at that time, a lot of
folks don't know this, but Egypt at that time was one of the,
it was like a superpower. It was one of the leading nations.
It had a huge army. You don't hear much about Egypt
after that. Because all their prime young
men and their soldiers were drowned in the Red Sea, beloved. And
they had an army with chariots, Just ask the Romans how it went
with the British when they came at them with chariots. It didn't
turn out very well. Footmen don't do very good against
chariots with spikes. No, even a cavalry. You see a
cavalry come at footmen and they're shaking in their boots. Now,
they don't do what modern army does now, which is spread out
and all that, but they did different things like the wedge formation
and the diamond formation and all that to counter that kind
of stuff, and that helped. But you put cavalry against footmen,
and it's not a fair battle. My, oh, my. And the Romans had
auxiliaries that were cavalry, just cavalry, that would run
over the infantrymen first, and then in come the legions and
just mop it all up. My, oh, my. My, oh, my. And so all the Pharaoh's
army was just destroyed by the power of God. He raised up Pharaoh to show
his power by destroying him. And Israel was delivered from
Egyptian bondage, wasn't it? They couldn't deliver themselves,
could they? But they were delivered by the mighty power of the great
I Am. And we know the great I Am is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is a sovereign deliverer,
beloved. He delivered Israel from Egypt,
and he delivered us from the Egypt of this world, right? Egypt's
a picture of this world. And who did he deliver at Calvary's
Cross? All his people. Oh, I'll tell you, the pictures
and types are absolutely amazing, beloved. Absolutely amazing. And the keys of the kingdom,
they're already in Christ's hands. Oh my, which are his gospel truths
he entrusts with his preachers. And we boldly proclaim that Christ
is the only one who's able to save sinners, Jew or Gentile.
He is the only one. He is the only one. He's the
only one who's able to free spiritual Israel from our Egyptian bondage,
which is our sin. Our sin. John chapter 8 verse
36 brings us out, it says, if the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye, here's that word again, that little word, shall.
What? Shall, not maybe. If the Son,
therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Paul said, I'm free of all men.
I'm in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? No wonder
he said, Brother Brian, who can condemn us? It's God that justifies us. And
I'm not boasting about myself, I'm boasting about God. It's
God who justifies us, beloved. It's wonderful. Oh man, let man
say what they will. Don't matter anyways. Don't matter. I overheard a preacher one time
telling, oh my gosh, I'm not gonna say who it was, but I overheard
a preacher's son, and talking about us here, about six, seven
years ago, said, they're a strange bunch up there. I thought, there it is. We're
a strange bunch because we love the gospel. That's okay. Say what you want. It doesn't
matter. Somebody one time, I got on the
phone with somebody, and they went off about some church members,
and I went up one side of that guy and down the other side of
it. And I said, you will not talk about my family like that. I'll defend every one of you.
We're family. My oh my. And God defends us,
doesn't he? He defends us, beloved. We've
been taught, we're born-again blood-washed saints, we've been
taught that the preaching of the glorious gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ is, again, the ordained instrument that God uses to deliver
his chosen people from the prison house of unbelief. Yeah, oh,
we're so free. God has opened up the prison
house of sin. He's opened up the doors, the
chains fell off us, and we've gone free, beloved. Free. Look at verse 18. It says, in
about that time of 40 years, suffered he all manners in the
wilderness. So Paul continues this introduction
with brief historical accounts of Israel. And note here in this
verse that Paul is stressing the long-suffering of God. Those
unbelieving Jews, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
Think of how long-suffering God was with us before he saved us. Oh, my. He's so long-suffering. He's
so merciful with me, even now after I'm saved. He's so merciful. So think of this, though. They'd
just witnessed the sovereign power of God in delivering from the
most powerful king on the earth during that time. They'd witnessed
the power of the Lord as he sent plague after plague after plague.
And finally, the last one killed all the firstborn in Egypt. There'd be wailing going on and
didn't touch, not even a dog, not even a cattle. All them plagues
didn't even touch the people of Israel or their belongings. My, oh my. You all remember how
hells were falling down, killing animals in the field, destroying
their crops? Nothing. Cows over in Israel,
in Goshen, just living their life like they normally do. My, oh my. My oh my. And then the blood sprinkled
on the doors. And that death angel comes through.
And the firstborn of everyone who that blood's not on those
lanterns dies. So they witnessed the power of
God. Then they witnessed the power of God in the Red Sea. They're
looking back and here comes, here comes the Egyptian army.
And I mean they're flying. There's smoke or dust flying
in there. You could see them. There's dust
flying. And they're coming. And they're mad. We want them
back. And then they look here, and
the Red Sea just opens up. And the water goes up. And it
was no low point, beloved. Things on TV. I don't bother
watching. Oh, it was the low point. There was hardly any water
No, there wasn't there was why I actually like the old remember
the old movie with Moses in the Ten Commandments And you see
them walls of water. I believe it was like that walls
of water And they they look and Moses
says go forth And they walk on dry ground And there's not a
drop of water touching them. And then in comes the Egyptian
army. They're flying and they're looking
back and they start running, right? And here comes the Egyptian
army. They come flying in. And there
must have been a long area because they all got in there. You ever
think of that? They all got in there and they're
flying in their chariots. These are the young fit men,
soldiers. the prime of Egypt. Right? And all of a sudden, their
wheels and their chariots start falling off. Oh, what's going
on? Well, the God of physics, the
God who controls all things, I'll follow wheels. How is that
possible? He's God. He could make us disappear
like that, couldn't he? That's why when he's dying on
the cross and he says, I can call 12 legions of angels. I
could destroy the whole world. Put your sword away, Peter. But
he couldn't. He could've, but he didn't. He
could've, but he didn't because he must go to the cross to redeem
us. This is someone who's not to be trifled with. This is the
great I am. and all their wheels fall off.
Could you imagine the shock? And imagine some of those things
would hit, and they probably went flying. And then what happens? Israel makes it safe across the
other side, and all of a sudden, the water comes crashing down. And they disappear. Now I imagine they might have
seen a few bodies floating around, but they're that deep on the
water, And that water comes crashing down. A whole bunch of fish food. My, oh my. My, oh my. And they are utterly
destroyed. And then they get to the other
side and they're rejoicing. And then they get in the wilderness
and they start murmuring. That's all of us, too, isn't
it? Oh, my. We see the great things
that God's done for us and what he's done in the past, and we
start murmuring about what's going to happen tomorrow. We don't even know if we've got
tomorrow. Oh, what's going to happen? Oh,
what's going to happen? Oh, this is going to happen.
I'll tell you what's going to happen, whatever God wills. Right? And I don't mean put our
head in the sand. I'm not talking about that. Somebody asked me, well, what
do you think about the election? I think God's gonna put in power
whomever he will. I know who I hope he puts in, but I can't,
that's my own opinion, right? And I don't ever talk about that.
Especially from the pulpit. This pulpit's no place for that.
But I do know that God will put in whomever he wills. Right? That's it. So here he is, they've
seen all these miracles, they've seen all these things happen,
right? And they're murmuring. They witnessed the death of Pharaoh,
they witnessed the death of the Egyptian army, they witnessed
the walls of the Red Sea come crashing down upon them, and
they knew it was God's doing, and they knew that he took care
of them. There are just a few miracles. That's just a few of
the miracles that happened. God sent him food. He sent him
angel food. Their shoes never wore. What?
40 years, their shoes never wore. My shoes wear out every six months. Because I walk with a limp. One
shoe's got all wore down. The other one's like brand new.
My, oh, my. It's amazing. I wish I had a
pair of shoes that didn't last 40 years, I'll tell you that.
My oh my. But those are miracles, aren't
they? Those are miracles that God did. Their clothes didn't wear
out. My oh my. And the gospel was
preached to them through types and shadows too, all that time.
All those sacrifices pointed to Christ. Hebrews says this, in Hebrews
4.2, it says, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as
unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. So the gospel was preached, but they didn't have faith. Now
Abraham believed, didn't he? And it was counted to him for
righteousness. But that was because God gave him faith, like he gave
us faith. Why can we sit somewhere and hear the gospel and rejoice
in it and someone right next to us who doesn't know Christ
is wishing they could be out of there as fast as they can?
Because the word doesn't profit them. See, we come here and the
word profits us, doesn't it? We hear about Christ. That's why we're here. We're
not here just to check in our thing and say, okay, I went to church
this week. No, we're here to hear about Christ. We're here
to hear about the gospel. We're here to hear about the
mighty Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and what He's done, and
where He is now, and who He saved. He saved sinners. Look at verse
19. It said, And when He had destroyed
seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land
to them by law, each tribe. The land was divided up to each
tribe. Those who are allowed to enter into the land of Canaan,
the land of God's promise, were under the leadership of Joshua,
who's a type of Christ. He's a conquering captain. Joshua
means Jesus. It means Savior. And Joshua led
the Israelites in battle. But it was God who gave them
the victory, wasn't it? And he gave them the victory
over the seven nations, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
Perserites, the Hivites, the Jezebites, and the Gerserites. He gave them victory over them.
And it's the Lord who conquered all their enemies. It was him
that did that. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ
who conquered our enemies, right? Sin and death. So rejoice you
who are born again. The Lord is, if we're redeemed
by the Lord, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love
of Christ. Absolutely nothing. And then look at Acts 13, verses
20 and 21. Now, for many years, excuse me, God instructed his
people through his appointed judges. And Samuel was not only a prophet
of God, but he also was one of the judges. It was during the
days of Samuel that the people of Israel said, we desire a king
to reign over us. 1 Samuel 8, it says this, hearken
unto the voice of the people and all that they say unto thee,
for they have not rejected thee, but they've rejected me, God
says, that I should not reign over them. They already had a
king. They already had a king, didn't
they? He's the great I am. And they said, we don't want
him reigning over us. What does natural man say about
God? We're not have this man reign over us. The Lord even said that, folks
will say, we're not have this man reign over us. And we're
born into this world, and you know what we say by nature? We're
not have that man rule over us. And then after the Lord saves
us, we say, you reign, Lord. You reign over everything. What a change. It's all by God.
It's all by Him. So they desired a king. Well,
God gave them Saul. Israel didn't want God to reign
over them. They didn't want to be under his laws, his decrees,
his appointed judges, and prophets. So they desired a king like other
nations. Oh, we want to be like other nations. We want a man
for a king. But in doing that, our Lord again
said this in 1 Samuel 8. He said, he told Samuel, Samuel,
they haven't rejected you. But oh my, listen to this. But
they've rejected me. That's us by nature. That's natural
man. That I should not reign over
them. 1 Samuel 8, 7, if you wanted the address for that. 1 Samuel
8, 7. They've not rejected you, Samuel. They've rejected me. Oh my. Now, a lot of people think
they know God, they know who God is and how he works, but
it's a God of their imagination. And again, we were there at one
time, we were there. They embrace Jesus of their imagination, Jesus
that they can manipulate, that they can do anything, and
he can't do nothing unless they allow him to. That's very popular
nowadays. That's the kind of Jesus the
natural man wants to hear about. Trust me, it's all over the place.
But when you bring up the fact that the God of the Bible is
absolutely sovereign, that Jesus Christ is sovereign over everything,
they reject the one true living God. They say, I don't want to
hear about that. I have had one person say to
me, that's not the God I believe. And I said, you're right. And
when I was in Oregon, they said, that's not the God I believe.
I said, well, you're right, but that's the God of the Bible.
This was after a long discussion. He's sovereign. And God's preachers
and people declare these biblical truths. The same Jesus who suffered
and bled and died to accomplish eternal salvation of his people
has risen from the grave. And all power in heaven and earth
is given to him. He is supreme. He has all power
in heaven and earth to the resurrected Christ of God. And God the Father
has put into his hands All things. All things. Jesus Christ has
gone into heaven, is on the right hand of God. Angels and authorities
and powers being made subject unto him. Now if angels and authorities
and powers are subject to him, are not we? But man says, no. I've got free
will. I did it. Someone told me about
election. I said, you're nuts. before the
Lord saved me. And I was a religious man. I've
come to find out it's true. And now I rejoice because I know,
and Tom, we talked about this, if God hadn't have chosen us,
we'd never have chosen him. We even sing that song. We'd
never choose God. Praise God who chose us. Oh my,
it's wonderful. And God the Father has given
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's, He's, everything, everything's
subject to Him, including you and I. Saved and lost, we're
all subject to Him. And God the Father has given
His glorified Son power over all flesh, that He should give
eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him. All that the
Father gave Him shall have eternal life. Who are they? They're the elect of God. They're
the lost sheep. Do we know who they are? No.
So we preach the gospel to everyone. And God does the saving. Flee
to Christ. He's the only hope for sinners.
I'm one sinner telling other sinners where to find bread,
right? Where to find grace. It's only in Christ. The only
way all our sins can be forgiven is by resting and trusting in
Jesus Christ and His perfect sin atoning work on Calvary's
cross. Oh my. And I'll tell you, if
I had a knuckle for everyone I talked to professing Christians
who said, I don't believe that. I'd be a wealthy man. But it's
true. God is sovereign. You know what? People want to be entertained
nowadays. They want to be entertained.
One of our dear sisters here said, please, as long as I'm
alive, don't have a band in here, sister. And I said, you don't
have to worry about that with me. I like the piano fine and the
guitar and we don't need no drums and rock band. I had enough of
that when I was in the world. Right? That's not a place for
church. But see, people want to be entertained.
They want to hear about a God they can manipulate. We don't
want that. We want to hear about Christ
who saved our souls because we couldn't do anything to save
ourselves. Oh my. Tell me what Christ has done
for sinners. Tell me what he's done for me. Tell me about the
glory of God being manifested in the preaching of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Tell me about how I have no part
in my salvation, that it's all of God, all of Christ. And we see in verse 21 that God
gave them Saul, the son of Sis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin.
Look at this. And afterward, they desired a king, and God
gave unto them Saul, the son of Sis, a man of the tribe of
Benjamin, by the space of 40 years. Saul was a wicked king,
too. He was a wicked king, filled
with sinful pride. He had a very high opinion of
himself. And then look at verse 22. And when he had removed him,
he raised up unto them David. to be king, to whom also he gave
testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man
after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. And at his
own appointed time, God removed Saul and raised up David. See,
he has this leader here, and this leader here, and he takes
down that leader and puts someone else in, and he takes down this
leader and puts someone else in. God does whatever he pleases. and he uses means, right? He might have one army go in
here and invade a country, take down that leader, put in someone
else. He might have somebody try to go into that country,
get knocked out and have a leader there. That leader might disappear
and another leader come in. We just don't know. It's all
in his hands, beloved. We're just spectators. Really,
now we can protect our families. And I love this country. You guys know that. I tell people
this is the freest country in the world. Still, it is. That's why everyone wants to
come here. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. But we guard
our freedom, don't we? We hold it dear. How much more
our freedom in Christ? Guard it, hold it close. It's
wonderful. The Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. Right? We're set free from all our sins.
And God plainly stated that David would fulfill all his will, but
now this typified the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to fulfill the
will of God. He said, by the witch will we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. See, Christ offered himself up once for all his people. And we are saved by the grace
of God. Now see, Paul now has laid down
the foundation, beloved, for the preach of the gospel, which
we'll see Lord will in next week from verses 23 to 41. And marvel
at the fact of the delivering power of God, delivering Israel
from the Egyptian bondage, and how it pointed to what Christ
would accomplish for his people. He delivered us from our Egyptian
bondage, beloved. Both Jews and Gentiles. And praise
be to God that we're born again. We were once dead in trespasses
and sins, but now we're born again by the power of God, the
Holy Spirit. Spiritual life converted from being a slave to sin, to
being a willing slave of our adorable Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he is beautiful, isn't he
to us? He is beautiful. And what a blessed hope we have
of heaven. Jesus Christ alone is our blessed
hope. Let us rejoice, beloved God,
as all this that we've seen here today has occurred according
to the free and sovereign grace of God, shown to we who are held
deserving sinners, so that we can proclaim with the Apostle
Paul, by the grace of God, I am what I am. I am what I am. My oh my. Brother,