As it may please the Lord to
bless us together this evening, we'll continue our meditation
in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 13, and we'll consider
this evening from verse 40 to verse 43. 40 to 43, we'll just
read them again. Beware, therefore, lest that
come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets. Behold, ye
despise us, and wonder and perish, For I work a work in your days,
a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you.' And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogues,
the Gentiles besought that these things might be preached to them
the next Sabbath. 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. We previously had spoken on the
verses 38 and 39, which are two wonderful gospel verses, which
the Apostle Paul was preaching to these people at Antioch in
Pisidia. And he had spoken to them and
said, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man that's the law of Jesus Christ, is preached unto you,
the forgiveness of sins. And by him, all that believe
are justified from all things from which he could not be justified
by the law of Moses. So the apostles spelled out very
simply to these people who had gathered in the synagogue, both
Jews and Gentiles, and you remember that Paul and Barnabas had been
invited to address them, and Paul had jumped at the opportunity,
and here he was speaking to them and addressing them and directing
them to the Lord Jesus Christ. How he built up the case and
reminded them of their history, the Jews' history, and brought
them to this position to know that it was only through this
man, Lord Jesus Christ that there was to be forgiveness of sins
and that justification was also only through him. Well these
were great and wonderful truths which the apostle was able to
declare to the people and indeed how wonderfully true they are
and necessary for us today to realize the blessing of them
and the power which may attend them that it is only through
the Lord Jesus Christ. If it wasn't for him, there would
be no forgiveness of sins and there would be no justification. And we would be lost and we would
be ruined. We would be in a hopeless condition
throughout eternity. But tonight, can we not thank
God for his great love and for his great mercy in sending his
son, his only begotten son, into this sinful world to save sinners? so we come to this verse then
as the apostle moves on and he speaks to them and says beware
therefore he's warning them lest that come upon you which is spoken
of in the prophets now he's speaking there of the verse in Habakkuk
at the fifth verse in the first chapter and he's referring to
the prophets because of course Originally, these what we term
minor prophets were put together in one book, and it was the book
of the prophets. But in this first chapter of
Habakkuk in the fifth verse, the prophet tells us, behold,
ye among the heathen, and regard and wonder marvelously, for I
will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though
it be told you. Now that was precisely what had
occurred now. The apostle had spoken very clearly
to them, and they were amongst those who were not believing
the great truths that he spoke. And he says, Behold, ye despise
us, and wonder and perish, for I work a work in your days, a
work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you. And so he is speaking to them. The apostle was always very direct
and he tells them here that they are despisers and a wonder and
those who are perishing because they are not observing and hearing
the word of the Lord. They are turning their backs
upon it. And so he speaks to them in this way and tells them
to beware. Beware what they're doing, what
they're thinking, Beware therefore lest that come upon you which
is spoken of in the prophets and no less really today. We
need to always beware that we do not turn our back upon the
great truth of the word of God. You see the apostle is blessed
with these words to speak in this way to warn and how we need
to be warned. The people have always needed
to be warned, to beware. lest that should come upon us
which is spoken of by the prophets. Those things spoken by the prophets
were coming to pass and they had now come to pass and they
were being fulfilled and they will be fulfilled and woe unto
us if we turn our backs upon the word of God. And so he says,
behold ye despisers. They were despising the truth
of God again You see, the Jewish nation anticipated the Savior
coming in a very different form. They didn't expect him to come
as a humble and poor man. They expected him to come as
a natural king. He was, of course, the king of
kings, but not in the way that they anticipated. And therefore,
they despised the Lord Jesus Christ. How many people today
despise the Lord Jesus Christ? a blessing it is if you and I
receive grace that we do not despise the Lord Jesus Christ,
but we do look to him as our all-sufficient Saviour and the
only one that can justify us. And so the Apostle says, For
I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe,
though a man declare it unto you. And so the word was faithfully
declared as it has been down through the ages. And how many,
many people have heard the word, their ears have been stopped,
their eyes have been blinded, and they have not benefited from
the glorious gospel which has been set before them. Well, the
apostle tells us what the effect was, and it varied of course.
And when the Jews were gone out to the synagogue. Now we don't
know when that was. They may have gone out when the
Apostle Paul was preaching. They may have not liked to hear
the truth about Jesus because it was a different way of religion
to what they had anticipated and been brought up in. They
were brought up under the law which said, do this and live. They were relying on their works. And yet we're told that by our
works we shall not be justified. They were relying upon their
works. They didn't want to hear the
glorious gospel, by grace you are saved, not of works, lest
any man should boast. And so the apostle says, but
when the Jews were gone out of the synagogues, the Gentiles
besought that these words might be preached to them the next
Sabbath. They wanted to hear them again.
This is the first time they'd heard the Gospel preached and
it would appear it was good news to them. It was music in their
ears, that they wanted to hear it. They wanted to hear it again.
They didn't want to say, well that's the end and we won't hear
it anymore. No, they wanted the next Sabbath
to come when they could go and once again hear the Gospel preached
and so they desired that this might be so and they besought
and they asked that these words might be preached to them the
next Sabbath. Well it's a good thing isn't
it if we're our ears are open to receive the word of God and
we want to we look forward to the Lord's day by Lord's day
to go up to the house of God to hear the gospel preached that
it's the best day of the week to us the day when we hear to
profit for our souls of the day which does us real good, eternal
good, and may we look forward to it like these people did here
and desire that Paul might declare the glorious gospel to them.
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. observe
here do we not how Paul's concern was that they might hear the
truth of the gospel and therefore by the grace of God he was determined
that they might indeed be persuaded. Now we know of course it is the
Spirit of God which works but nonetheless it is a great privilege
to be concerned that people might truly understand the great truths
of the gospel and come to that true knowledge that the light
might really shine into their hearts as a glorious light which
reveals themselves as guilty sinners and the Lord Jesus Christ
as their great and glorious salvation and be led to Calvary and to
be led to the tomb, the resurrecting tomb and to be led to Bethany
the Lord ascended into glory and then by faith to view the
Saviour interceding for his church at the Father's right hand. And
so we see here the Apostle Paul and Barnabas who speaking to
them, they weren't silent, they were with them, they were among
them and they were persuading them about the things that they
had preached. They weren't speaking about every
other thing under the sun. They weren't talking about irrelevant
things. They were speaking about the
important things. They were speaking about the
things that they had preached. And they were speaking about
them in such a way that they were desirous to truly persuade
these people that they might continue in the grace of God. They might follow the example
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They might be true Christians
following a despised and crucified man. Well what a blessing and
what an example we have here in the Word of God as we read
through the Acts of the Apostles and we see how the Apostles reacted
to every situation. Surely it is an example for us
today to follow closely the example of the Apostles and to be willing
to do that which the Lord directs us in to not be silent, to not
just rest on our laurels, to not just sit at home in a comfortable
armchair, but as these apostles were, were concerned, and therefore,
what did they do? When the congregation broke up
and followed them, Paul and Barnabas spoke to them, persuading them
to continue in the grace of God. Well, may we, by God's grace,
be able to heed the gracious exhortations in the word of God
for his honour and for his glory and for the salvation of never-dying
souls. Amen.