On your sheets there we have
carols just to remind us that the world's celebrating the birth
of a Jesus and we're here on a weekly basis to celebrate the
birth of another Jesus generally. So let's turn to our sheets thanks
to Aum and we're going to sing O Come All Ye Faithful. so For this happy morning, Jesus,
to Thee be glory. What of the Father, now in flesh
appeared? O come, let us adore Him, Thank you, that's a great hymn. It was a great passage of scripture
that Norm took us to there. It's remarkable, isn't it, that
Joseph was overcome. He was overcome with emotion
when he saw his brothers. What a great picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He wept. He wept. And he welcomes straying sinners
back to himself. And that's what the preaching
of the gospel is all about. We're, Lord willing, going to
look at Acts chapter 28. We're getting near the end of
Acts now. anxious about not finishing it
too quickly because I think there's so much beauty in what is said
and so much that's so incredibly significant in the events of
this culmination of Paul's life. And as I've said earlier, this
is the last testimony that Paul has, that any of the apostles
have, in the presence of the Jews that we have recorded by
the Holy Spirit. And so the events that happened
in this prison, this house arrest that Paul was under in Rome,
where he's chained to a Roman soldier 24-7, are extraordinarily
significant. And he had these Jews come to
him. He had these Jews come to him
and it says, in verse 23, and when they had appointed a day
these Jews, appointed him a day, there came many to him in his
lodging, to whom he expounded, which means to just to lay to
establish and testify. That word testify is the word
we get martyr from. It's to, in a sense, lay it down
in such a way that you are prepared to lose your life for it. It
is a matter of life and death. He testified the Kingdom of God
persuading them, persuading them. And that word persuading is the
same word that we have down in verse 24 about them believing. He persuaded them concerning
Jesus. And that's what preaching is.
I want to induce you, that's what the word means, to induce
you to believe, to trust, to obey, to have confidence in. And he did it both out of the
law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening. And
then some believed, some were persuaded, some put their confidence
in and their trust in the things which were spoken and some believed
not. I remind you yet again that this
group of Jews is an extraordinarily rebellious group of Jews. They
have, they have withstood the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. battering down their self-righteousness
for 20 odd years. These people were extraordinarily
religious and they were extraordinarily zealous. They had been expelled
from Rome years prior to this and for five years they were
out of Rome and they've returned and they've been back in Rome.
And you can imagine what these Jews are like. We often think
of the Jews as being wicked people. These were extraordinary religious
people in the midst of pagan Rome. they would have defended
their legalistic righteousness, they would have defended the
fact that here we are, we are the witnesses of Yahweh, we are
the witnesses of Jehovah, we are the ones that are waiting
for the Messiah to come. Not only have they resisted that
witness, they had the witness of the Roman Church for those
years as well. And yet, And yet to that rebellious
people, that rebellious people, that openly rebellious people,
God sent his servant Paul. God sends his servant only ever
to rebellious people. only ever to rebellious people,
and he persuaded them. Rebellious people are divided
into two groups, aren't they? There are just two groups in
this world, verse 24, and some believed. Some believed the things
which were spoken, and some believed not. Some were persuaded, some
were induced by words, some came to trust, to obey, to be confident,
to rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ and the words that were spoken.
And I remind you yet again that believing, real believing, comes
from God. He creates the fruit of lips.
He creates belief in the lives of his people. That word believe
is in the imperfect passive indicative. It's a passive. So if you're
passive, someone's active. If someone's active in believing,
the one person that's active in believing is God Almighty.
And some believe not. And there the tense of the verb
is active. So believing, really believing,
is a passive activity. That's why faith comes by hearing.
Hearing is a passive activity. Believing not is an active activity. What did Paul preach? He preached
from morning till evening. He started at Genesis 1.1 and
he preached to them. Seeing this as a Jewish audience,
I want us to go back and just quickly look at Acts chapter
13. Paul preached in a synagogue
in Acts chapter 13. He preached to the Jews for the
first time. They had read the Law and the
Prophets, and so Paul began by talking to them out of the Law
and the Prophets. And he stood up and said, Men of Israel, and
ye that fear God, give audience. And then I want to just read
through these verses quickly, but I want you to take note of
the fact that in all of salvation, I want you to notice how this
is God's activity from beginning to end. It's always God's activity,
and rebellion is man's activity from beginning to end. Salvation
is of the Lord. Rebellion is of man. He says in verse 17, the God
of this people, Israel, chose our father. Paul begins with
reminding the Jews of God's election, God's sovereign hand of election,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand. But
not only that, but in this election, he exalted the people. He exalted
the people, a people the Egyptians had subjugated, a people the
Egyptians had put into bondage and hard labor. And He brought
them out. He brought them out. This is
a picture of redemption, isn't it? He brought them out with
a high arm. He brought them out by a revelation
of His power. If He's going to bring you out
of this world, if He's going to bring you out of religion,
if He's going to bring you out of bondage, He's going to do
it with a high arm. We have election. We have redemption. certainly describes me. And,
verse 18, and about the time of 40 years suffered he their
manners. Has he suffered your manners?
He has to suffer my manners, I promise you. He suffered their
manners. He suffered their manners. It's
a picture of his preservation. Verse 19, and he destroyed. When he had destroyed, you would
have thought there was an Israelite army doing the work, but he says
he destroyed them. He did the work. He did it all.
He destroyed the seven nations. Verse 19, he divided. He divided
their land to them by lot. He creates the inheritance of
his people. He preserves them. He chooses
them. He redeems them. He preserves
them. He chooses their land for them and he gave them, verse
20, he gave them judges for 450 years. And then when they desired
a king, he gave them Saul. And we know what happened with
Saul, the king. In verse 22, he removed Saul,
didn't he? He'd removed him and he raised
up David. He raised up David. to be their
king, to whom he also gave testimony. He's the one that gives the testimony
of his people. I have found David the son of
Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. How did David finish his days?
God has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered and sure in
every detail, and it was all his salvation and it was all
his desire. He gave David testimony. Verse
23, and from him, so this is what Paul would have preached
in summary to these Jews. He would have given them their
history, and he would have given them their history through the
lens of who the Lord Jesus Christ. He raised up under, verse 23,
he raised up under Israel a Savior, Jesus. And verse 26, it says,
Men and brethren, the children of the stock of Abram, whosoever
among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation
sent. God sends the word of his salvation. He sends the word of who the
Lord Jesus Christ is and what he does. And then he says, verse 27, for
they that dwell to Jerusalem and their rulers, because they
knew him not. They had no idea who they were
dealing with when they were dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ. They
had no understanding of who God was. They had no understanding
of God's Christ. They had no understanding of
the scriptures. This is what it says. Because they knew him
not, nor yet the voices of the prophets. They had the words
of the prophets, they recited them every day. You could take
those Jews, and a goodly number of them could start at Genesis
1-1 and recite all the way through to Malachi. They could recite
all the Psalms. So they had the word of God,
and they knew it off by heart. But they never heard a word from
God. They didn't hear the voices of
the prophets. And even in that they're fulfilling
them, it says, doesn't it? They have fulfilled them in condemning
him. And though they found no cause
of death in him, yet they desire, they pilot, that he should be
slain. And when, verse 29, when they
had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from
the tree and laid him in a sepulcher. 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. And we declare We declare unto
you glad tidings, the same word that the angels used at the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ as a baby. We declare 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. And is it also written in the
second psalm, thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised
him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David. You don't earn the sure mercies
of David. The sure mercies of David come
as a gift from God. The sure mercies of David. I
have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. I'll give you the sure
mercies of David. He's quoting Isaiah chapter 55.
I'll just read it briefly for you. in Isaiah 55. These are the verses they knew
and they had no idea that they were related to the Lord Jesus.
He says in Isaiah 55, incline your ear, see Paul is persuading
them, Isaiah was persuading them, incline your ear and come unto
me here and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. The sure mercies
of David are the eternal covenant. where the Lord Jesus Christ was
the surety. He became the surety. He became
the guarantor. He took absolute responsibility
for all of the children that God had given him. He's responsible
for all their sins. He calls them my sins. And he's
responsible for all their righteousness. The sure mercies of David. It's
been promised. It's been delivered. It's been
witnessed to. And he says, in Acts 13, he goes
on to say, and as concerning that he raised him up from the
dead, verse 34, and now no more to return to corruption, he said
on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore
he saith also in another psalm, thou shalt not suffer thine holy
one to see corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, and was
laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised
saw no corruption. There was nothing in the Lord
Jesus Christ to bring on corruption, because sin brings corruption.
And he had no sin. He put away all that sin that
was on him. It was gone. There was no corruption
in that holy body in the tomb. Be it known therefore unto you,
he's persuading them, isn't he? Be it known therefore unto you,
therefore men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. It's only good news for sinners.
It's only ever good news for sinners. And listen to what he goes on
to say, and this is the verse that caused the Jews to be irate
in Antioch 20 years before Paul preached in Rome. And it's the
same message that causes the Jews in Rome to be incensed,
it causes the religious people, the Jews are a picture of the
religious people of this world. Religious in their own activities,
religious in their own righteousness, religious in their cooperation
with God. I love verse 39. And by him all
that believe. Everything is by him. Everything
has come from him. In all of the verses read, it's
all about God and what he does. And by him all that believe.
Where does believing come from? Believing is him. It's faith
that comes from him, from his faithfulness. By him all that
believe are justified. are justified from all things
from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. What is it to be justified? To
be justified is to be declared in the courts of God that you
have never sinned. according to His holiness and
His justice. Why? Because the sins are gone. The sins are put away. The sins
are cast as far as the east is from the west. They're bundled
up in a bag and God can't remember them. And why can't He remember
them? Because they don't exist. That is the glory of what the
Lord Jesus Christ did. I love that salvation and faith
is not what we believe about ourselves. I love that it's about
what we believe about him. If you go back to Philip's encounter
with the Ethiopian eunuch, he says, He'd been persuaded out of Isaiah
53 and Philipp said, what hinders me? Philipp said, if thou believeth
with all thine heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the
chariot to stop and he baptized him. Salvation, genuine faith,
is not believing about us and our reformed lives and what we
do. It's what we believe about the
Lord Jesus Christ. The religious people in Antioch
were offended and there was a division. Wherever this glory. Wherever he's proclaimed,
as we love to quote that verse out of 1 Corinthians 1 verse
30, he says, But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us. Wisdom. Is he all your wisdom?
Is he all your wisdom? He's made unto us wisdom. He's
made unto us righteousness. The only righteousness the child
of God has before God Almighty is the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is almost sanctification.
So this is where the Jews and the religious people of the day
go so incredibly wrong, is that they'll acknowledge that the
Lord Jesus Christ is the Christ of God and they'll acknowledge
all sorts of wonderful things about him. And then when it comes
to the business of sanctification, it's the cooperative activity.
God's done his bit and I must do mine. And look what I've done
to please God. And look what you haven't done
to please God. And you can come and join with
me in pleasing God. That's what these Jews in Rome
were doing. Is he all your sanctification?
Is he all your righteousness? Is he all your redemption? See, when people are persuaded,
1 Corinthians 1.31 is true, that according as is written, He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. All his boasting is going
to be in the Lord Jesus Christ. All his boasting is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul paused wherever he went. Wherever the gospel goes, there
is a division. There's a division amongst people. There's a division in those who
believe and those who believe not. And I want to remind you
that Paul had been in the unbelieving category for a long time and
he wanted to prove the depth of his unbelief by his rebellion
against them and his murder of Christians. There is what God
calls a time of love. There's a time when he comes
in power and there's a time when he reveals himself to people.
And when he reveals himself to his people he reveals himself
as he is in It was written and I hadn't heard.
It's been spoken and I never heard. He persuaded them. He persuaded them. I love what happens in Antioch. Paul saw, I'm sure, the hearts
of those people whose rebellion was raised up when it was told
that their works of righteousness are nothing other than filthy
rags. We've seen it ourselves, brothers and sisters. that all of their righteous deeds
are filthy rags before God. God has in heaven a perfect righteousness
now, and you cannot add anything to it, and nor can you subtract
anything from it. God's people worship and bow
and adore and praise. Verse 45 of Acts 13. In response to the whole city
coming together to hear the word of God, the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy, and they spoke against those things
which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. To speak against
the testimony that Paul gave of the Lord Jesus Christ is to
blaspheme God. Blaspheme God. Paul says I'm persuaded. I'm
persuaded. I know whom I have believed. I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded. Let's sing again and then we'll
have a break for a cup of coffee. We're going to sing Hark the
Herald Angels Sing. It's on your sheet there. Glory
to the newborn King, peace on earth and mercy mild, God and
sinners reconciled. Thanks. Peace. ? Hymns of peace ? ? Hail the song
of righteousness ? ? Christ, I love thee to holy grace ? ?
Christ, I love thee to holy grace ? ? Christ, I love thee to holy
grace ? ? Christ, I love thee to holy grace ? ? Christ, I love
thee to holy grace ? ? Christ, I love thee to holy grace ? ?
Christ, I love thee to holy grace ? ? Christ, I love thee to holy
grace ? ? Christ, I love thee to holy grace ? You will see