Turn back to Acts 13. Acts chapter
13. I titled this message, God is
faithful to His promise. God is faithful to His promise. This has been a good study for
me this week on God's faithfulness. I'm so glad He's faithful. You
know why the sun is shining this morning? It's because God is
faithful. You know why we have winter?
A lot of people don't like winter. They want to go south, go to
Florida and spend all winter there. Well, we have winter because
God is faithful. Look over in Genesis. In Genesis chapter 8. In Genesis chapter 8, God speaking
to Noah, He says in verse 22, while the
earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, that's why you and I
are not starving, cold and heat, that's why right now we have
winter, summer and winter, Day and night shall not cease. And God has kept that ever since. Why? Because God is faithful
to His promise. I'm so glad He's faithful to
His promise. Solomon said in, I believe it
was Proverbs 25, confidence. In an unfaithful man, in times
of trouble, it's like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint.
But our confidence is in a faithful man, isn't it? The Lord Jesus
Christ. He faithfully accomplished the
Father's will in redeeming us. Our confidence is in a faithful
man, especially in times of trouble. God said, call upon me in times
of trouble and I'll deliver you. He's faithful to do that. So
I'm going to work my way to verse 23, and then next week we'll
pick up on the rest of that. But God is faithful to His promise. Now in verse 13, Paul and his
company lose from Paphos. They came to Perga and Pamphylia. And you'll notice there, John
departed from them, returned to Jerusalem. John Marked. This
is what Paul and Barnabas had that contention over with John
Mark leaving the ministry. Some said he did not like to
serve. You know, this thing of preaching
and serving the Lord, especially here with the Apostle, it was
giving up and denying yourself of all things and following after
Christ. And that was just a little bit too hard at that time, apparently,
for John Mark. But later on, Paul said, bring
John with you, he's profitable for the ministry. But that happened
there. But here in verse 14 it says,
When they departed from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia,
that's a different Antioch, and they went into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day, and they sat down. Now Paul always went
to the synagogue on the Sabbath day if there was one in the area
where he was at. Because he was looking for that
opportunity to preach the gospel to them. He was not there to
keep their Sabbath. That was over with. Christ is
our Sabbath. Christ is our rest. But Paul
wanted to preach. He desired to preach the gospel
to his brethren. You know what a desire, a burning
desire he had to preach to those Jews. Because he was one of them. God plucked him like a branch
from the fire. And he wanted them to hear the gospel. He says
in Romans 10, verse 1, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He said, that's
my heart's desire. In one place he said, I could
wish myself a curse from Christ if it would save them. Could
we say that? Well, Paul said that. Paul said
that. He said, I could, that's how
much of a desire I want the priests, my brethren, and for them to
hear the gospel. And after reading the law and
the prophets, which they did every Sabbath, the rulers of
the synagogue sent to Paul and that company where they were
sitting and said, ye men and brethren, if you have any word
of exhortation, if you have any word of instruction, if you have
any word of comfort, For the people here, say on, let us hear
it." Well, God opened the door, didn't He? I tell you, we do
not have to push doors open. God opens doors. And He opened
this door, and Paul stood up and beckoned Him with his hands
for the audience to be quiet, to quiet down and listen to Him.
He has something to say. Oh, does He have something to
say. And it says, men of Israel, and you that fear God, give audience. Give audience. You know, the
first thing that struck me when I was reading this, when they
sent, they said, do you have a word of exhortation to say?
Paul did not say, no, you wouldn't believe me anyway. No, if I told
you, you wouldn't believe me. We ought to expect, we really
ought to expect people to believe the truth when it's told. We
ought to expect men to believe what we're preaching. It's the
truth. It's of God. This is of God. We ought to believe
God. God is to be believed. He's not
to be examined. He's not to be put on trial. He's to be believed. Paul didn't say that. He said,
no, you wouldn't do that. He said, you wouldn't believe this
anyway. He expected them to believe it. He stood up and he said,
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." He addresses them as men of Israel, and he
said, and ye that fear God, this message is to anyone who hears. Anyone who will hear, listen
to me, he said. And it begins with their history,
and what a rich history they have. No nation on earth could
claim to be God's nation. At that time, they could not
claim to be God's. This one did. This one could
claim. He rehearsed to them how they
became a people. And he began with the grace of
election. This is how you became a people. God chose you. God chose our
fathers. God chose you. They were the
fewest of all people on this earth. They were the fewest.
One. Can you get any fewer than one?
Abraham. It started with one. It started
with Abraham. He said you're the fewest of
all people on the earth. It says this in Deuteronomy 7,
7. The Lord did not set his love upon you. Know this for sure.
here in Deuteronomy 7. Know this, the Lord did not set
His love upon you nor choose you because you were more in
number. You were so impressive. You were
such a large people. That's not why He chose you.
No, He said you were the fewest people upon the earth. The Lord
chose you because He loved you. That's why. The only reason I
can give for why God chose any man, any woman in Christ is this,
He loved them. He loved us. And that love was
found in Himself. It was found in Himself. I thought
this when I was looking at this. The church started out as one. The Lord Jesus Christ. Behold,
He said, Mine elect. Then He chose us in Him. The
church started out with one. The Lord Jesus Christ. And we
were chosen in Him. Now this people here, Israel,
they were a favored people on this earth. They were the most
favored people on this earth. They had the prophets. God sent
them his prophets. They had the word of God, the
oracles of God. They had the tithes. No other
nation had what they had, what they were given. It didn't happen.
No other nation. They had these things. I know
this. God's true Israel. His true Israel
are the most favored people on this earth. You, the church,
you are the true Israel of God. You and I are the most favored
people on this earth. It may not look like it outwardly
to this world, but we are the most favored people on this earth. And it's His election of grace
that makes us so. It's that election of grace.
He chose us in Christ. before the foundation of the
world because He loved us. The Lord chooses whom He will. This is taught throughout the
Scripture. He chooses whom He will. Now you sit down and think
about that for a while. And to think that He chose man.
That He passed by millions. Look at all the nations that
He passed by at that time and chose and made Israel. He chose
them and made them into a nation. And you sit down and think about
all the billions of people that have lived on this earth and
God chose you. That's why you believe the Gospel.
That's why I believe the Gospel. God chose us and brought us to
faith in Christ. Don't ever give up that precious
truth. Don't ever back down from telling
it. God chose us in Christ. Now listen, in about the time
of 40 years He suffered their manners in the wilderness where
sin abounded. This scripture immediately came
to mind when I read that. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. We cannot talk about God's grace
without talking about our need of God's grace. I need, I desperately
need the grace of God every hour. And you need it. We cannot do
We cannot go forward. We cannot do anything without
the grace of God. Not at all. Now he says here,
he suffered their manners. Our manners, he said, in the
wilderness. Our manners, listen, our manners were what? Fleshly. Fleshly. That's our manners. Our manners by nature now, this
is by nature, our manners by nature are sinful. Our manners by nature are rebellious. We don't have good manners, do
we? We don't have good manners. We're not born with good manners.
You know, your children are not born with good manners. You spend
a good part of your parenting while they are young teaching
them good manners so they won't embarrass you in public. Really, that's what you're doing.
You don't want to be a public embarrassment to you and your
family. He says here, God suffered your
manners in the wilderness. And I thought, God has suffered
my manners since my birth. He has suffered my bad manners
since our birth. Even since the new birth. Even
since the new birth, we have bad manners. I wish we did. They break out on us every now
and then. Bad manners. But as a faithful father, he
corrects them. As a faithful father, he'll correct
our bad manners. But he suffers our manners, he
says, in this wilderness. It says this in 2 Peter 3, 9.
It says that the Lord is longsuffering to us worth. You know why? And this scripture is so abused. But here's why. He's long-suffering
to usward. Know who Peter's writing to.
He's writing to believers here. He's not writing to a bunch of
unbelievers. And this is not to unbelievers. When he says
usward, he's talking about God's elect. That's what he's talking
about. He's long-suffering to usward. Listen. Not willing that
any of his elect should perish. God is not willing that any one
of his children should perish. Not at all. but that they all
should come to repentance. He's not willing. I tell you
this, if God is not willing for you to perish, you're not going
to perish. If God's not willing for you
to perish, you're not going to perish. We are here this day because
of God's long suffering. I'm here today. You're here today
sitting under the gospel, believing the gospel, because God has been
long suffering with our manners in the wilderness. That's why. He's not willing
that any should perish, but that they all should come to faith
and repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why. And God providentially
brings us under the gospel, hear the gospel, and grants us faith
and repentance in Christ. This people that Paul is preaching
to, they don't realize it. There are some that are going
to realize it. Now, there are some that are going to realize
it. But God providentially sent them the gospel. Well, if there
are some sheep there, He's going to save them among those Jews
and Gentiles. And when He had destroyed seven
nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their lands with Him
by lot. God is ever mindful of His covenant. He is ever, ever
mindful. It's never, you know, I'm not
mindful of a lot of things. I can only be mindful of a few
things at a time and then those things are gone. But God is ever
mindful of that covenant that He made with the Lord Jesus Christ
concerning you. That's how God deals with me
and you is with His Son and that covenant. Ever mindful of it. He promised them a land that
flowed with milk and honey. And listen, they're going to
have it. They're going to have it. What God has promised us
in Christ, you're going to have it. That new heaven, new earth,
you're going to have it. Why? Because God promised it. That's why. He promised. And
it says, He destroyed seven nations. Seven being the number of perfection, meaning this, that He has completely
destroyed every enemy that would keep you out of the promised
land. God has destroyed, through the Lord Jesus Christ, through
His person, through His work, through His death, He has destroyed
everything that would keep His children out of the promised
land. And you and I are not getting
that promised land because of our righteousness. We're getting
it because of His righteousness. Everything God does with us is
for Christ's sake. It's because He's the Righteous
One and we're righteous in Him. I want to show you something
over in Deuteronomy 9. Deuteronomy chapter 9, see if
I remember this right. Look in verse 3. Deuteronomy
9 verse 3, Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God
is he which goeth over before thee. He's doing it. The work
is his. As a consuming fire. he shall
destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face. So
shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the
Lord hath said unto them. Speak not in thine heart, after
that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee." Now
remember who's doing the casting out here, the Lord is. Saying,
for my righteousness the Lord hath brought me into the possession
of this land. But for the wickedness of these
nations the Lord drove them out. And he says in verse five, not
for thy righteousness or for thy uprightness of thine heart
dost thou go to possess their land, but for the wickedness
of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out. God's
a just God. It was right for him to drive
them out, those wicked nations. He said, understand in verse
six, understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee
not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, not
because of your works and your merits at all. Here's what you
and I are by nature. Stiff-necked people. Now when
God chose us in Christ, when God chose everyone whom He chose
out of Adam's race, by nature we were a stiff-necked people. He's going to make us like His
Son. But I tell you, by nature, that's
not the way we are. We're stiff-necked people. But
He says here, He says here that He destroyed those seven nations
and He drove them out. He did it. The battle is the
Lord's. Listen, the battle is the Lord's and we are the benefactors
of His victories. We are the benefactors of His
victories. All that we have in Christ, He
earned. He won. He did. And He divided their land to
them by lot. He divided it to them according
to His will. I like the way He calls it here,
their land. He says here that He destroyed
the seven nations. He's going to drive them out.
And then He divides the land to them, to their land, by lot. They did not do a thing to earn
it. They did not buy it. They did not purchase it. He
gave it to them. Our Lord said, it is your father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. What we have in Christ,
now listen, what we have in Christ is really ours. It's mine. It's mine. Now listen, faith
is the gift of God. But if he gives it to you, It
is your faith. He said, Son, thy faith hath
made thee whole. Faith does get to God. When He
gives it, He gives it to you. It is your faith. He gave them
their land. He drove them out. The world
is God. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. They who dwell therein. But He says, this is
your land. I've given it to you. And they
could say, this is our land. If he gives it to you, it's yours.
And then he says here in verse 20, And after he gave unto them
judges to guide and direct them about the space of four hundred
and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet, and afterwards they
desired a king. And God gave unto them Saul,
the son of Sis, A man of the tribe of Benjamin. He doesn't
say a man hath found heart here, does he? I'll give him a king.
I'll give him one of the tribe of Benjamin. By the space of
40 years. Here's another sin in God's people. God gave them what they needed.
Judges. He gave them judges about the
space of 450 years. God guided. God directed them
through these judges. But they wanted what they did
not need. They wanted a king like the other nations. That's
what they wanted. They wanted a king that they
could see. They wanted a king that they
could see with these fleshly eyes. They were not satisfied
with the invisible God. They said, give us a king, one
that we can see, one that we can show all. Well, God gave
them one. He gave them one. God gave them
a king. They wanted a king like the other
nations, and God gave them They wanted to be conformed to this
world, so God let them have it for a little while. For a little
while. You know, this takes time to overcome. This thing of not
being conformed to the world. This thing of being weaned from
the world. It takes time to overcome. It really does. But never, I
don't think it ever completely in this life. It says in Romans
12 too, and be not conformed to this world. Well, this is
the way they do it. Well, so? So, what's that supposed
to mean? What does the Word of God say?
How does the Word of God say to do it? It doesn't matter who
else is doing what else, wherever else. What does the Word of God
say? Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Samuel warned them
as God's faithful servants do. He warned them that they wanted
that king. And God gave it to them. He gave them that king
for a while. For a while. He let them have
their way for a little while. But then in verse 22, And when
he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their
king, to whom he also gave testimony and said, I have found David
the son of Jesse, a man, now listen, a man after my own heart. Well, when he gave Saul, he gave
him a tribe of Benjamin about the space of 40 years. But when
he speaks of David, oh, when he speaks of David, he speaks
of a man after his own heart, which shall what? Fulfill my
will. This man, this king, this king,
which is my king, will fulfill my will. He said, when He had removed
him, I thank God He removes our will and ways in the end. I thank
God He does that. Sometimes He lets us have our
way, but thank God He does not let us have our end. I'm glad
of that. Now, the true King is revealed
here. The true King, it says, is raised
up. God raised this one up. God raised
this one up. This is God's King. The man after
God's own heart, that's God's king. David, he said, which shall
fulfill my will. We know this. We know that he's
speaking here of the Lord Jesus Christ of whom David was a titan.
Jesus Christ is the king of kings. He's God's king. He is the king
that fulfilled God's will perfectly, absolutely perfectly. It says
in John 5.30, I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear, I
judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will,
but the will of the Father which hath sent me. This King will
fulfill my will, the Lord Jesus Christ." That's who he's speaking
of there. And of this man's seed, of this
man's lineage, hath God, according to his promise, Raised unto Israel,
a Savior, and His name is Jesus. We know who He is. We know who
He is now. Jesus. Spurgeon said this. Spurgeon
said this is where we should always end up in our preaching.
This is where we should always end up in our preaching. Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. History,
listen, history is meaningless without ending it with His story. What's the use of history without
Christ? It's meaningless. It's meaningless. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is the Alpha and Omega
of it all. He's the reason for all things
existing. If you take Him out of it, there
is no reason for any of this. There is no reason for any of
this. None whatsoever. It says in Colossians, all things
were made by Him and for Him. All things. All under the power of the Holy
Spirit wisely brings them to Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Savior of sinners. That's where he ends up with
them. That's where he's going with them. He's not just giving
them a history lesson. Oh, they like to hear about that.
I have no doubt they like to hear about their history. But
if we don't end with his story, if we don't end with Christ,
you've just wasted your time and everybody else's. It's as
if, I thought this as I was reading this, It is as if Paul has been
climbing Jacob's ladder and he finally reaches the top, the
pinnacle of it, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the pinnacle of
that ladder. What a lesson in preaching and for preachers. End with Christ. Now let me sum
this up. God is faithful to His promise. Is this not our confidence? that
God will do just as He promised? Is that not our confidence? Is
that not our confidence this morning? You know, that's what
faith is. Faith is the confidence that
God will do just as He said He would. I'll read you these scriptures. It takes too long to turn to
them. In Deuteronomy 7, verse 9. Know therefore that the Lord
thy God, He is God, the faithful God. which keepeth covenant and
mercy with them that love him, and keepeth his commandments,
listen, to a thousand generations." He spoke that this morning to
the third and fourth generations. But boy, when it comes to mercy
and keeping that covenant, it's to a thousand generations, not
third and fourth generations. I'm glad there's an end to that.
But he said when it comes to God keeping his covenant, he
keeps it with them that love him to a thousand generations.
Unfaithfulness is a quality of men, but not of God. God's faithful. It says in 2 Timothy 2.13, if
we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. He cannot be less than he is.
He said, Moses, you tell them I am that I am. That cannot change. Cannot change. Look over in 1
Kings. You've got to read this one.
Over in 1 Kings chapter 8. 1 Kings chapter 8. Look in verse 56. Blessed be the Lord that hath
given rest unto his people Israel. He's given us that in Christ.
According to all that he promised, there hath not failed one word
of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses
his son. He said not one word failed. Not one word in the promise failed.
Not one. Not at all. Listen to this, Numbers
23, 19. God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said,
hath God said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and
shall he not make it good? Yes, he'll make it good. Did God not promise that the
seed of the woman would brood the serpent head? Shall He not
make that good? Did God promise Abraham that
through His seed all nations would be blessed? Shall He not
make that good? Yes. Did Christ say, Come unto
Me, all ye that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest? Shall
He not make that good? Yes. Yes. Yes, He'll make it
good. It says in Hebrews 10, 23, let
us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering these
promises. Why? For he is faithful that
promised. He'll do it. He will do it. If
God were not faithful, we wouldn't have any hope. We would not have
any hope. But he's faithful. It says in
Psalm 119, 138, thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are
righteous, are right, and very faithful." Take God at His word. I tell you, He is very faithful.
God is so faithful, He is even faithful in sending us our afflictions.
That is His purpose for our good. It says in Psalm 119, verse 75,
"'I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness
has afflicted me." So every time you receive an affliction or
a trial or whatever it is that comes your way, God is being
faithful to you in Christ. Now, as in faithfulness, he said,
afflicted me. This is part of God's faithfulness
to his children. It says in Psalm 89, 32, Then
will I visit their transgressions with a rod and their iniquity
with stripes, nevertheless. Nevertheless. My loving-kindness
will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness
to fail." My stupidity, my stumbling, and
all the failures that I go through will
not cause God's faithfulness to fail. It will not fail. Oh, I'm so glad of that. I'm
so glad of that. I'm so glad God does not say,
well, not today, you messed up. It's all on Christ who is faithful. He is faithful. He's the faithful
one. He said, my covenant will I not
break nor alter the thing that's gone out of my lips. And rest
assured of this, when all is said and done, God will deliver
us out of every trial. He will faithfully deliver us
out of every heartache. when all is said and done. It
says in Job 5.19, He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in
seven there shall no evil touch thee. It won't even touch you. Now let me get back to verse
23 and I'll close. God hath fulfilled, Paul has
said to these Israelites here, here in the synagogue, God has
fulfilled his promise to Israel. He has, of the seed of David,
raised up the Savior. You know, over in Psalm 132,
11, this is written, the Lord has sworn in truth unto David. He will not turn from it. He
says, of the fruit of thy body will, listen, now listen to this
language, will I sit upon thy throne. God says to David, of the fruit
of your body, I will sit upon the throne. Isn't that amazing?
God said, I'll do it. I'll become incarnate. I'll become
a man. I'll sit upon the throne. I'll send my king. The long-awaited
Messiah, Paul says to them and us. He said, the long-awaited
Messiah has come, and his name is Jesus. That name of humiliation,
that name they despised. He said, that's the Savior. He's
the Savior. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the
anointed Messiah. They said, brethren, do you have
any word of exhortation? Any word of comfort? You better
believe I do. Paul could have stood up and
said, you better believe I've got a word of exhortation. You
better believe I've got good tidings this morning. You better
believe it. And His name is Jesus Christ. That's my word of exhortation.
That's my word of comfort to every sinner under heaven. Jesus Christ. We have a Savior
from sin, from death, from Satan, curse of the law, from ourselves
and His name is Jesus. That's His name. Now listen,
I'll close. God made the promises to Christ. That's who the promises are really
made to. They're made to the Lord Jesus Christ and to us in
Christ. And Jesus Christ is the promise. Jesus Christ Himself is the promise. And you know what? And all the
promises of God in Him are yea and amen. All of it. All the promises of God are yea
and amen in the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful
to His promise. And all I say to you is look
to Him. Look to the promise, which is
the Lord. Okay.