May it please God to bless us
together for a few moments as we turn to his word. Let's once
again come to the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 13, and we'll
just read tonight the two verses 38 and 39. The Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 13, verses 38 and 39. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man 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." This is really the climax of
Paul's preaching in the synagogue to those Jews and Gentiles in
Antioch, in Pisidia, and as we've meditated on previously, how
he'd gone through really the history of Israel, and more particularly,
the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And therefore, he laid the foundation
very thoroughly. And remember, he was in this
company may not have heard the gospel before and this was a
wonderful opportunity and Paul was always willing to grasp every
opportunity that was presented to him and how then he took the
account back so the Jewish people amongst them would have been
familiar with the things that he brought to their attention
and then as he worked through he came to the time of the Lord
Jesus and Then, of course, not only with the Jews, but the Gentiles,
but also, no doubt, have been aware of that which had occurred. And that was a long way away,
Antioch, Pisidia, from Jerusalem, it was a long way away, but nonetheless,
no doubt, some of the news had penetrated that distance. And
so Paul here is speaking this way, and he comes then down to
these wonderful verses, this glorious statement that he's
able to make. And he speaks and says, be it
known unto you, therefore, men and brethren. He wanted the people
to know. And surely that should be our
concern today, that we should desire that people might know
the truth of God, and that they might know the Lord Jesus Christ. Because here the apostle draws
our attention directly to this, be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man and he'd been speaking
of course very clearly about the Lord Jesus Christ and he
was saying that through this man is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins. Now the Jewish people would have
been very familiar with the need it was for the forgiveness of
sins from a recollection of the ceremonies and the laws which
Israel had been given. And no doubt also, of course,
the Gentiles amongst them would have been aware of it because
of their conscience. Everybody realizes that they
are a sinner. And it's only the deception of
Satan that makes them perhaps consider, well, they're not very
bad. They may have perhaps done one or two sins. but the Spirit
of God, when that Spirit works in our hearts, it will show to
us the iniquity, all the sins which exist in our minds, in
our doings, in our words, they are so, so many. And we realize
that we cannot go to heaven unless we are forgiven of our sins and
strive as we might to remedy our position will find that sin
is within us. We still find that evil and wicked
thoughts penetrate into our mind, which we perhaps try to rid ourselves
of, but we will find the power of Satan, who knows every weakness
in our thoughts, penetrates and therefore we are unable to free
ourselves from the abomination of sin which was of course brought
into the world through our forefathers Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden. And what a necessity it is then that you and I are blessed
with the forgiveness of sins. Well everybody needs this and
the Apostle Paul here then speaks to them and tells them so very
clearly through this man that Lord Jesus Christ is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. Now that was surely great and
good news to all these people here in this synagogue. How wonderful
that Paul had been invited to speak to them and now he directs
them as he comes to the end of his preaching to this great need
there is and the great favour that is to be found in and through
the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ in his finished work.
Now, we of course have really a summary here, no doubt, of
what the Apostle preached. It wasn't every word, but it's
a summary of what he spoke. And what is very clear in that
summary, he spoke about the Lord Jesus Christ, who was indeed
crucified. He was indeed raised from the
dead, and how important that is. and to think then that the
Lord Jesus Christ, when he did die, what did he die for? He
died to atone for the sins of his church. He died so that they
might be made clean, so that they might be washed in the fountain
of his most precious blood. This is really the sum and substance
of the gospel. And here the apostle was able
to declare this freely unto these people, that through this man
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." Now, all of us here
tonight have heard the preaching of the gospel, but I wonder if
the preaching of the gospel has penetrated into our hearts, so
that it is actually a personal word which is spoken to us, and
it comes like this, preached unto you. The word of God is
preached unto you that we might receive the forgiveness of sins,
that we might believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, believe in
his sin atoning death, believe that God the Father sent him
into this world to save his people from their sins, to endure all
the curse and to face that ignominious death upon that cross at Calvary. Well here the apostle is able
to declare this, that through this man, well, the apostle desired
to exalt this man, the Lord Jesus Christ. What do you and I think
of this man? You know, I remember Pilate,
when Jesus was before him and he went out to the multitudes
and he spoke to them and he said, behold the man. Now they beheld
the Lord Jesus Christ in a physical way. We cannot view the Lord
Jesus Christ in a physical way today. And sadly, to most of
them, it was not a great blessing. It would prove to be a tremendous
condemnation. But to us, as we have heard the
gospel preached, as we have heard the Lord Jesus lifted up, have
our hearts been drawn out to this man. Do we really thank
God that this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, did come into this world
to die that our sins might be forgiven? No unforgiven sinner
would ever enter into heaven. And the only way that you and
I can be forgiven of our sins is through the merits of the
Lord Jesus Christ, to know, as we often say, that we are under
the blood. Well, what a great, important
blessing it is that you and I find ourselves in that position. And
so then the apostle goes on and he says, by him Again, he directs
their attention to the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't want to move
away from the Lord Jesus Christ. And my friends, may we not want
to move away from the Lord Jesus Christ. And by him, he draws
it together, and by him, all that believe are justified from
all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of
Moses. Now, if we are justified, we
are made righteous. And if we are righteous, then
we are fit to go and to be with Christ forever in glory. And the Apostle tells us here
a great and important truth. And by him, all that believe. Well, we might think, well, that's
a very simple thing to do. Well, it is a very simple thing
to do, but it's also a very precious thing, and it's something that
only you and I can do as we receive that ability from the Holy Spirit
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so as we have read
about the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we've been taught about
it, most of us from a young age, how important it is that not
only do we hear the Gospel, not only do we hear about the Lord
Jesus Christ, but that we receive that great and blessed and wonderful
grace to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. John Newton knew
it, and he tells us, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that
saved a wretch like me. He was not under any disillusionment. He knew exactly his condition,
and may you and I know our condition, and know it is indeed amazing
grace that has brought this wonderful favour that we have been able
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord says, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And by him,
all that believe are justified. You see, there is that justification
granted to all those who do believe. And again, just turning to that
first chapter in the Corinthians where, sorry, the first epistle
to the Corinthians and the sixth chapter where the Apostle speaks
to them having given a long list of the sinful condition of man. And he then points to them and
said, and such were some of you. There were none who were excluded
from being great sinners. And such were some of you, but
ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified. And how
is that in the name? of the Lord Jesus and by the
Spirit of our God. Well there in just a few words
is the truth of the Gospel and how important it is for us tonight
to realize that here was the Apostle preaching to these people
and my friends may the Word of God tonight speak to our hearts
so that we may realize just as these people did the truth of
it and may we know As Paul says, be it known unto you, may we
know therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, none other
name, whereby we must be saved, my friends, you and I, must be
saved. There is no alternative. We must be saved, otherwise we
shall spend eternity in hell, in that terrible place of eternal
misery. What an awful consideration.
What a blessed thought it is that if we are amongst the true
Church of God for whom Christ died, this is true, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by
him all that believe are justified. We are made righteous. We are
given that righteousness of the Saviour. It is put upon us. It is imputed to us and our sins
are imputed to him. justified from all things from
which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. You see
the law of Moses was very strict and the truth was that everyone
had to keep the law of Moses. If they failed to keep the law
of Moses then there was no hope for them. The truth is therefore
there was no hope for anyone because no one could keep the
law of Moses, that very just law, how true and righteous it
was, but nobody could be justified under that law. We can only be
justified through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. So let
us not look to the law, let us look to the Savior, as those
beautiful words in Isaiah 45, 22, look unto me and be ye saved,
or the ends of the earth For I am God, and there is none else. Amen.