The Lord be pleased to bless
us together as we consider further his word in the Acts of the Apostles
and the 13th chapter and continuing in this chapter from verse 14. And you remember that last Friday
we spoke about Paul and how he loosed from Paphos in Cyprus
and came to Perga in Pamphylia and John departed from them returned
to Jerusalem. So it seems that he spent just
a short time in Perga, which is of course on the north side
of the Mediterranean, and then they departed from Perga, they
came to Antioch in Pisidia. There are of course two Antiochs,
and this is the Antioch in Pisidia, which is north of Perga by some
100 miles. So you can imagine it wasn't
an easy journey Quite a rocky journey going that way, but yet
they travelled and they came to Antioch in Pisidia. And it's
good to notice what they did when they got there. On the Sabbath
day they went into the synagogue. And of course the situation was
that the Jews were still worshipping in the synagogues, as of course
they do today. But there wasn't that knowledge
of Christ which had clearly penetrated up to that area. And so Paul
was privileged to go there and to preach there. And it's very
wonderful to realize that the Apostle desired and took every
opportunity that was presented to him to preach the gospel. And his great desire was to direct
people to the Lord Jesus Christ. And let's hope that that's our
desire today, that whenever we gather together, our hearts and
our thoughts and our minds may be directed to the Lord Jesus
Christ. That was clearly Paul's desire. And we will note how he actually
tackled this to the Jewish people and followed through the generations
until he came to the Lord Jesus Christ. He would have gained
their attention as he pursued this avenue and then came to
direct them to Christ. Well, Paul came and he sat down
in the synagogue. They did sit down in the synagogues
and on this Sabbath day, And after the reading of the law,
we might sometimes wonder what that was. Well, the law and the
prophets was the first five books in the Bible, Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And it was broken down into about
53 sections. and those five books were broken
down into those sections and every Sabbath day one section
was read and it was so orchestrated that they would complete that
reading of those five books when they came to that day when they
would remember and rejoice in and participate in the Passover
remembrance of that. We have this picture then of
these Jews and the others, because 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 any word of exhortation
for the people, say on. Now it's important for us to
notice that here was Paul and he was asked whether he would
speak if he had a word. and he didn't pretend with any
mock humility that perhaps he didn't or perhaps someone else
should speak. No, the God had moved the apostle to preach the
gospel and the opportunity was given to him to do just that
and therefore he grasped the opportunity and how important
that should be in all of our lives if we have the opportunity
presented to us, an exhortation for the people we should really
desire the Lord to help and bless that word. So then we read, then
Paul stood up and beckoning with his hand really was to make the
people be silent so they might listen to what he was going to
tell them. And he addressed them in this
way, men of Israel, which was of course the Jewish nation and
ye that fear God give audience. The apostle didn't want to just
speak words into the air. He didn't want to be drowned
by the noise of conversation. He was speaking vital, important
things. And he wanted the people to listen.
And he wanted the people to hear. And so he speaks and he says,
the God of this people, of Israel, he immediately honed in, as it
were, on something which would attract their attention. the
God of this people of Israel chose our fathers and exalted
the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt
and with a high arm brought he them out of it." Well that was
a wonderful introduction, wasn't it? Because it was one of the
most amazing times in the history of Israel when after those 400
years or so when they were in Egypt, the Lord wonderfully,
miraculously brought them out And no doubt the congregation
was delighted to be reminded of that great and wonderful deliverance
and to thank God for the blessing that it was to them. And then
he reminds them, having come out of Egypt and the high hand
with which they came out in God's time, it was so, it was wonderful
to observe that Pharaoh was made willing in the day of God's power
so that the Israelites came out with that high hand. And about
the time of 40 years, suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And again, he doesn't therefore
then exhort the people. He speaks of what they were like
and how gracious God was. And he suffered he their manners
in the wilderness for those 40 years, and I'm sure we are familiar
with the various times when Israel rebelled against the Lord God.
They were not content with what God provided for them. He provided
that manner, angels food, but they weren't content with it.
They wanted a change. They wished for the things they
had back in Egypt. They were so ungrateful, and
they murmured again and again, and God dealt with them. time
and again because of their sinfulness. Yet when they cried unto the
Lord, he had mercy upon them. And when he had destroyed seven
nations, and let's notice this, when he had destroyed seven nations,
doesn't say when Israel had destroyed seven nations, it was God that
was with them. And so many times, of course,
in the word of God, we have that very clear indication that God
was with his people and God did marvelous things and God defeated
the enemy sometimes without anything being done by Israel. And so we read, and when he had
destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their
land to them by lot. They'd been promised the land
of Canaan. There'd be many obstacles, God's
promises came to pass. And may we be encouraged as we
read something like this in this chapter tonight, to think, yes,
God fulfilled his promise. The promise made many, many years
previously, and yet it came to pass. And may we still today
believe God's promises, perhaps spoken to us, And they may seem
very distant and very dim, they would have done to Israel, but
God was faithful and his promises were fulfilled. So they did come
safely into Canaan at last. And they destroyed, or more or
less, those seven nations in the land of Canaan. And they
entered into their lots. And after that, he gave unto
them judges. about the space of 450 years
until Samuel the prophet. And all through these years,
the Lord was gracious. He had granted them the Ark of
the Covenant. He granted them the mercy seat.
He granted them the building of the tabernacle. And although
it wasn't perhaps always in the right place, and sometimes it
was moved about, yet the Ark of the Covenant remained with
them. and how wonderful it was. All
those years the Lord raised up different people to judge Israel
until Samuel the prophet. And you will remember then in
Samuel's life Israel then got fed up partly solemnly because
Samuel's sons were not godly people. Who was going to follow?
Who was going to lead them? Who was going to be their judge?
And they looked around and they saw that other nations had a
king And therefore they asked Samuel if they could have a king. And of course, Samuel had to
tell them that they'd rebelled because God was their king. But nevertheless, the Lord permitted
them to have a king in the person of Saul, the son of Sis, a man
of the tribe of Benjamin by the space of 40 years. Of course,
part of that time when he was king, Samuel was still alive.
But he was not a good king. And yet he appeared to start
off well. But what did he do? He disobeyed
the word of God. He thought he knew better. He
thought he could adjust things to suit the situation. But we
cannot do that. God speaks and we are to obey
the word of the Lord. We are not to put our own interpretation
on it, and think, well I think I can do that. No, we are to
follow the word of God. That's what Saul fails to do. And a very solemn case is Saul,
and in the end, of course, he was slain in battle. And what
does the word tell us here? And when he had removed him,
God removed him. It's a very solemn consideration,
isn't it? Think of that. Disobedience to
God, and the effect, God removed him. We need to be very careful
in our own lives, don't we? That we do that which is right
and in accordance with God's word, so that we are not removed. And when he had removed him,
he raised up unto them David, to be their king. God raised
up David. Remember, David was the youngest
son of Jesse. Keeping the sheep, he wasn't
thought to be very much because as the sons were brought before
Samuel, David wasn't. Samuel had to ask, had Jesse
got any more sons? Yes he had. Bring him. and David
was brought. You see we can often misjudge
a situation. Samuel really misjudged the situation.
He didn't realise that God had his own elect person to bring
to this position. And so David was brought and
Samuel was commanded to anoint him. And so he found David the
son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart." Well, what a wonderful
statement that is. A man after mine own heart, which
shall fulfill all my will. Yes, to serve the Lord, to do
the will of God, and to have that same heart. Well, may we
desire in our lives we may also be blessed with a heart which
is after the Lord and that we will also fulfil the Lord's will
and not turn away and not choose a different path but desire that
we might indeed be a true follower of our Saviour. And so then the
Paul comes and he says, of this man's seed hath God, according
to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus. Well, see the Apostle Paul, had
as it were, wound up this account to come to this position. so
that he could direct these Jews in the synagogue on this Sabbath
day to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, they would have been familiar
that of course the Messiah had been prophesied right back as
I'm sure most of you know from those early days in the Garden
of Eden when the Lord came and told Adam and Eve that The seed
of the woman would indeed crush the serpent's head, and so it
came to pass. The promise was fulfilled after
so many years. And there were many other prophecies
which were recorded in the Word of God. We won't go through them
all, but just to say In the 25th, I think it is, of Jeremiah, we
have a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. I just can't spot it
at the moment. But it is indeed the 23rd chapter. Yes, 23rd chapter, and the 5th
verse. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise
unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is the name whereby
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness." Well, there were
many prophecies which were fulfilled relating to the Lord Jesus Christ
and very specifically here, the seed of David. and it was of
course many generations after that the Lord Jesus Christ was
born but nevertheless the promise was fulfilled and therefore Paul
was able to say of this man's seed hath God according to his
promise raised unto Israel a Saviour Jesus and surely here again is
an encouragement to us to realize that God's promises again came
to pass with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ. The fulfillment
that Israel had been looking forward to over all those centuries,
right from the fall in the Garden of Eden, when God spoke to Adam
and Eve. And again and again, there were
those words which encouraged Israel to wait for the coming
of the Lord. And now the Lord had come, and
Paul was able to go about And of course he travelled very widely
preaching the gospel, declaring the glorious truths concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it must have been a wonderful
occasion for in this synagogue on this Lord's Day or this Sabbath
morning rather, all the people there listening to the Apostle
Paul and he had gone through the history and he came to this
point and he told them very clearly, hath raised unto Israel, a savior. And he made a very clear statement,
Jesus. So there was no misunderstanding
of whom the apostle was directing them to. And what a favor it
was for these people in Antioch, all those years ago, to hear
the gospel preached and bless God today. Again, many years
since then, the Lord has maintained to us his word, his truth, so
that today I hope we can also look back and rejoice in the
fulfillment of God's word and to know the Lord Jesus Christ
did come into this world to save sinners and he died upon that
cross and to shed his blood that all our sins might be washed
away to think of the wonder of it the wonder of redeeming love
that our hearts might be moved as we consider him realizing
what came to pass would have been prophesied and it came to
pass. And so may we bless God we have
a record of these things and to realize how Paul was concerned
as he set out perhaps from Paphos or before then, he set out of
course from Antioch on the East Coast, the Mediterranean, he'd
gone to Cyprus and what was his concern? Always to preach Christ,
to bring the people to hear the gospel and to direct the conversation
to preach Christ. Well, may we heed such an example
and desire in our lives that every opportunity we have, we
may be able to direct people to the blessing and the wonder
of redeeming love through the shed blood of the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.