Acts 13. We're going to look
at verses 42 through the end of the chapter. Acts 13. And let's go ahead and read this,
and then we'll come back. And when the Jews were gone out
of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words, which
Paul had preached and spoken to them, would 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. And the next Sabbath day, came
almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God. But
when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and
spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold and said, It was necessary that the Word of God should first
have been spoken to you. But seeing ye put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, We turn
to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have sent thee to be a light of the Gentiles,
and thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. And the word of the Lord was
published throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred
up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city
and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled
them out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of
their feet against them and came to Iconium, and the disciples
were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost." Now, we pick
up in the Acts here, chapter 13, in the verse 42 from last
week. Last week we noted that Paul
and his company, Barnabas and others, they were seated in a
synagogue in Antioch. And after the ruler of the synagogue
had finished speaking, he said, is there anybody who You men
and brethren, as it says in verse 15, if you have any word of exhortation
for the people, say on. And Paul and Barnabas, doing
so, they stood up and they preached the grace of God. They preached
the gospel to these people. Now, in this section, we notice
some Gentiles present. And they're wanting to hear.
Look at how it's worded. In verse 42, And when the Jews
were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these
words. That's the title of this message.
These words. They wanted to hear. The Gentiles
wanted to hear. They wanted to have these words
preached to them. And again, what are these words? It is none other than the words
of the gospel of the grace of God. Look at verse 43. Now, when
the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious
proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them,
persuaded them, encouraged them, exhorted them, pressed them to
continue what? In the grace of God. That's all
that these men, Paul and Barnabas, also, that's all that every believer
desires to hear, desires to speak of, and any
pastor that's worth his medal, it's the same thing. The words
of grace. The gospel of God's grace. Because you notice, he says that
in verse 42, that these words, what words? The grace of God.
That these words, the words that Paul preached, he didn't preach
law. He didn't preach to him what you had to do in order to
be saved. He didn't preach to him what Abraham, a person, or Moses,
a person. He spoke what those men who knew
the grace of God preached. Because we also notice, turn
back to chapter 11 in Acts, and look at verse 23, Barnabas,
He went to Antioch in verse 22. He was sent forth from Jerusalem.
The elders there sent him to Antioch to find out what was
going on. Barnabas, verse 23 in Acts 11,
who, when he came to Antioch, and had seen what? The grace
of God was glad. If he'd have seen these people
marching to denominational do's and don'ts, he wouldn't have
been glad. Had he seen among them strife and contention, he
wouldn't have been glad. But he saw the grace of God in
them. And how do you see the grace
of God in any sinner? You preach the grace of God and
they believe the grace of God. Now, if I preach the works of
man, if I preach the worth and merit of man. If I preach denominational
ordeology, the orders and church orders and church structures
and the teachings of men, when folks come in here, they'll say,
oh yeah, those people act just like John Calvin. Those people
act just like the reformers. And that's OK to some extent. But my point is, I'm trying to
make a point. They were called Christians first at Antioch. Why? Because they followed, they
loved, they worshipped Christ through that which was preached,
the grace of God. There's no other message. but
the grace of God. When they, the Jews, or the Gentiles,
when the services had broken up, they besought these, they
besought, Paul, in verse 42 in our text, that they might, that
these words might be preached, not debated, not discussed, not,
even though when we gather together, fellowship, fellowship is a,
the term is centered around a person. You And when we get together,
we discuss the things of the grace of God. I like what Spurgeon
said. When the brethren get together, instead of talking about the
weather and talking about this and that that we often do, we
ought to talk about the promises of God, what God has given to
us. He said, and then when times
get tough, he said, in Spurgeon's book, According to Promise, he
said, gather the promises. And you're reading the Word and
the Lord shows you a promise, we date it. I write it down,
I underline it, and I date it. And then Spurgeon made the comment,
because he was a believer who struggled like you and I, when
things get difficult, go back, he said, and then spend those
promises at leisure. But Lord, you promised. And it all has to do with the
grace of God. He says in verse 38 of this chapter,
Be it known unto you all, therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man, the Christ, the zenith of grace, is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. That's grace, not the works of
men, not what you do, ABCs, do or don't do. It's all in this
man, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, I have just a couple points
here this morning, and the first one is What these folks, the
Gentiles, what they desired to hear was none other than the
grace of God. And that's the only gospel there
is. Teach unto us, speak to us these
words. The gospel of the grace of God,
because you see it in verse 43, they persuaded them. They didn't
preach one thing and then say something else. There's pastors,
or so-called pastors, preachers, people, leaders of congregations. And Bruce and I, which she's
not down there any longer, because I was down there in Sykeston,
and they have the name of the pastor on there. It's not the
same guy. There's a church down in Sykeston. Bruce and I went
two years ago. And he talked about grace in
his study, but said he would not preach them. It's exactly
what he said, because it'll cause trouble. I would not want to
be that man in the day of judgment because he's going to have to
give an account. Which now, I look at it now, if the man wouldn't
preach him, he didn't know him. He didn't believe him. You cannot
deny what God has done for you if you know him. Now I know we
struggle and I know we sin. And you say, well, what about
Peter? Well, in any given moment, any given time, we will. But
God's grace is greater, and He will cause us to be so smitten
that we will die for Him. We will live for Him. We will
glorify Him. So, they wanted to hear these
Gentiles. The Gentiles said, preach these
words to us. And then they exhorted them,
in verse 43, to continue in the grace of God. They didn't preach
one thing and say something else. No double standards here. No,
we don't talk about this other stuff at home and then something
else here. No. No, I don't want to do this
in front of the people of the church because... No. What you
see is what you get. And that's what... When you go
to any of these conferences and you talk to... You stay with
people. Are you mingled with the brethren? It's the same thing. What you see is what you get. Now, they wanted to hear, I got
two points in this section, they wanted to hear the grace of God,
the gospel, the grace of God. They wanted to hear about grace
in Christ. The unmerited free favor of God
in the person of Jesus Christ, whereby Sinners are forgiven
and freely given the righteousness that God will accept, and that
is only the Lord Jesus Christ's righteousness. That's what they
wanted to hear. And we dissected, to some extent,
Paul's message in the same chapter earlier, and where did he start?
He started with God. Then Paul stood up in verse 16.
We're going to jump back to last week just a little bit. He stood
up, beckoning with his hands, men of Israel, you men that fear
God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel
chose our fathers. He started with God. He started
with Jehovah. He started with his sovereign
election. He chose a people. He chose our
fathers. And he delivered them out of
the hand of Egypt. He talked about his free salvation, the
way he delivers. He talked about God and His omnipotence
and His right to rule and reign and govern as He sees fit. And
then he speaks, he gets to the next thing, talks about the Lord
Jesus Christ, who would die and yet raise from the dead, who
is the only Savior, the only Savior, the only one that has
salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he spoke about sin. But these
Gentiles, they wanted to hear that message. as opposed to works. As opposed to works. And many in our day talk about
grace. They have it in their church's
name, like we do. But listen for a short time and
works creeps into the conversation or is evident in their church
order or in their programs. People talk about grace. If anybody's
religious, they'll talk about, oh no, we believe in grace. But
you listen to them, and their definition is not the definition
of this book. And these Gentiles, they wanted to hear of these
words. They wanted to hear about the
grace of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgiveness
from their sins and all iniquity. as opposed to what they could
do or what they couldn't do, because the Pharisees and the
Jews, because you've got two groups of people going on here.
You've got the Gentiles who want to hear grace, and you've got
the Jews who are steeped in law and works. God says, by grace, not something
like it or close to it, grace alone, Christ alone, the Scriptures
alone, which exalts God alone. As I've mentioned from this pulpit
numerous times, and Lynn and I were talking about this the
other day, again, there are only two religions in the world. There's
only two religions in the world. Able, Cain and Abel. Able, grace, and Cain works. Now, the believer is careful
to maintain good works. Don't misunderstand me, but that
flows from a heart that's been changed by the grace of God,
and then, like James says, James isn't confusing. It's not unto
salvation, it's after salvation. And we don't look to our works
at any time to make us feel better, or it was for a good cause, and
I felt good when I did it. Those are human terms. But if
we do anything that honors and glorifies God after He's redeemed
us, it's because of Christ in us, our hope of glory. And like
Paul said, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens
me. It's not anything of ourselves. Cain and Abel. And even in this
lesson and in this passage, you see both these groups and both
these religious ways and their prospective attitudes and actions. The Gentiles in verses 47, through 49 and 52, for so hath
the Lord commanded us, saying, I have sent thee to be a light
to the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation to the ends
of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard that, they were glad. Oh,
my. They were glad. And the word
of the Lord was published throughout all the region. And verse 52,
and the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Ghost.
And then you've got, that's grace, that's the religion of Abel.
Then you've got the religion of Cain works. The Jews represented
here are shown here. Verses 44 through 46 and verse
50. And the next Sabbath day almost
the whole town came together. Verse 45, but when the Jews saw
the multitudes, you would think that these men had healed some,
they'd helped some, just like our Lord Jesus Christ in the
book of Mark. All the things that they had done for the good
of that town and that community and that region, it didn't matter.
It's like all of this is bad karma. All it is is like politics. And that's why preachers especially
do not need to be mingling, any of that kind of stuff. Stand
up and preach the gospel and live the gospel and believe the
gospel. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled
with envy and they spake against those things which were spoken
by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. And Paul and Barnabas waxed bold
and look at what they accused these Jews. It was necessary that the word
of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing you
put it from you and judge yourself unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. And in verse 50, but the Jews
stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the
city and raised persecution against Paul and Barabbas and expelled
them out of their coasts. This reaction is not new, but
is expected. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
2. This reaction is nothing new, but rather, Paul and Barnabas
expected it. Because every time the gospel
is preached, you're going to get some kind of reaction. 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verses
14 through 16. Now, thanks Be unto God, who always causes
us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the Savior of
His knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a
sweet Savior of Christ in them that are saved, and also in them
that perish. To the one the gospel and the
message that is preached, this word of exhortation that speaks
this word of grace to us, we are the Savior of death unto
death, and the other the Savior of life unto life. The Gospels
preach, some people, it's life, and others, it's death. Works
in grace. The reaction here is not new,
as I said, but it's expected. And I tell you, and I exhort
you, if you were a believer here this morning, do not try to house
these two together. It can't be done. Law will never cooperate with
grace. Law will persecute grace. Grace
shouldn't persecute law. And that's why Paul says in a
later place, do not be unequally yoked. And when I'm looking at
this, look again at the Pharisees. But when the Jews saw the malt
they were filled with envy and they spake against those things
which were spoken by Paul, and contradicting the blasphemies.
If you're around people, Suffer me a little. If you're
around people that do not like your pastor, do not like what
he preaches, do not like those men that we've had in or anything
similar, those who we haven't had in but you know preaches
the gospel, get away. I don't know how much more plainer
I can be because it's not, is God going to keep you? Yeah,
He's going to keep you. Why do you presume upon the grace of
God? Separate yourself from such situations. Separate yourself
from such situations. This is Paul and Barnabas are
preaching and those people, they purposely speak against those
things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
Do you hate those people? No, there's no warrant in this
book to hate. We love our enemy, that we're
supposed to, and pray for them. I'm not saying that. When you speak the truth, and
they contradict. And I'm talking about people
at work. I'm talking about family and friends. You tell them the
gospel, because they're not going to hear it unless you tell them. But be cautious, because when
you speak these things, they're going to contradict, and they're
going to feel within me. They're going to speak against
those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming,
Paul says, you know what? We're just going to go our way.
He didn't. They were bold and they said
it was necessary that the Word of God should come to you first,
but you put it from you, you judge yourself unworthy of everlasting
life, we turn to the Gentiles. Don't stop preaching the Gospel. You keep on. But if people won't
hear it, you can't force them. And I know there's tough situations.
We all deal with difficult situations. And again, be sure you hear what
I'm saying. I am not saying that you are
unkind or unpleasant. But you must remember we're talking
about spiritual things and your best interest and the glory of
God. And you might think you're being
humble and you might think you're being used to teach or whatever.
In reality, you need to flee. I remember a gentleman, and Melinda
and I know this man very well, we thought that he understood
the grace of God, and certain situations happened to him, which
he would have called very difficult, and they happened to me, and
they happened to Melinda, and they've happened to us. So, there
was no difference in the things he went through. Some of the
things we went through, we went through together. And then, I asked him what he
was doing, and I got caught up with him, and he called, He was
at a church in Chicago that was completely 100% Armenian,
free will. But he said he was going to stay
there because he thought the Lord would use him to change
those people's minds. You're in enemy territory. And I told him, I said, a wise
man foresees evil and heard from him one more time
after that and he started questioning the very grace of God that was
so dear to both of us. I'm not so sure that's exactly
the way that says. There you go. There you go. The road to perdition is pleasant
The road to puberdition is easy. The second point is, we as believers, regardless of
the situation here or what we're in, we rejoice because God is
still in control and victory is sure. Look at verses 48, 51,
and 52. Verses 48, and when the Gentiles
heard this, the gospel. Some are going to hear. Some
are going to hear and believe. Look at verses 51,
but when they shook the dust off their feet against them,
they came to Iconium. And verse 52, and the disciples
were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. Let's take verse
52 first. joy because God God's will shall
be done that's why they rejoice they went through persecution
they got kicked out of a town that would be like the churches
gathering together in Jackson with the with the mayor you know
I know but I don't know how much that would do me any good in the in the different or not
the mayor but Anyway, members of the city council,
and I'd be like them all gathering together and saying, you know,
we know what you're about, and we don't think Jackson, you know,
I don't think Jackson wants to hear this anymore. And I could
say, well, you know, when I drive into Jackson, I think there's
a big old sign that says, you know, beautiful homes, beautiful
churches, you know, it's got all that in there. Friendly. Well, but not to that message. Not to those words. Rejoice. Be difficult. But we rejoice
and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.
Why? Because they knew God's will
shall be done. Secondly, joy because sinners
shall be saved. Until the last elect is redeemed,
this thing is going to go on. And thirdly, we rejoice because
nothing in heaven or on earth can thwart the purpose and goal
of divine grace. It shall be accomplished. Nothing
can thwart God's divine grace. Secondly, we rejoice, however,
because God is still in control and victory is sure. We rejoice
in verse 52, our joy. We have joy. And secondly, verse 51,
you go on your way. Do your duty. Enjoy your providence.
Verse 51, "...they shook the dust off their feet against them
and came to Iconium." They didn't spit on them. They didn't go
to the court against them and sue them trying to get money.
They shook the dust off. It's pretty harmless, humanly
speaking. They didn't lift a finger. They
said, God, You're the judge. You judge them. I like what Jackie said the other
day, and I'm not going to get into specifics, but she said,
she just prayed to the Lord to shut that thing down. You shut it
down. The place where the gospel is
supposed to be preached, but it's not being preached, shut it down.
Lord, if it be your will, that's the main thing. If it be your
will, shut it down. If not, we go on our way. We'll go on our way. We'll do
our doing. We'll enjoy our privilege. It may mean going the opposite
way of friends, family, jobs, or positions, but go your way.
his way. Shake the dust off, and they
went to Iconium. We don't have a church here.
Let's go here and start preaching gospel. Don't lose sight of why
you are pilgrimaging here on this earth. Set your eyes upon
Christ and honor Him. Be with the brethren. Be with
them in the Word, in the worship of God. Go together, serving
Christ in this generation. You're not responsible for what
happened in Jackson before you were born. You're not responsible
for what's going to go on in this place after you're gone. But while you're here, in your
generation, in my generation, go the way of Christ and keep
preaching Him and keep worshiping Him. And where these people are
gathered together, be among them and worship with them. And verse 48, There is peace
in all this turmoil. Look at verse 48, "...and when
the Gentiles heard this, that the gospel was going to be as
they desired..." Oh, I wish this whole city would... Wouldn't
that be something? Wouldn't that be something? Everybody's so religious, so
steep like the Jews in their tradition and in their works,
but wouldn't that be something? You know what? We want to hear
it. Okay. Here's the grace of God. There's peace to be had in all
this turmoil. Look at this. And when the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe That is straight and narrow Strong
doctrine right in the middle almost like an anchor for weary
preachers and weary people Persecution on the right hand, persecution
on the left hand. The Word of the Lord was glorified. The people were glad and rejoiced
in it. And incidentally, as many as were ordained to eternal life. There is peace because there
are some who will believe. They are chosen by God the Father.
They are going to be redeemed by the Son. And they are going
to be quickened by the Spirit. It sure as sure can be. Why? Because, let me re-read
that, the last part, as many as were ordained. The Greek word is assigned. You guys do assignments? Now, I know you do assignments
generally. This is the reading assignment.
You ever do specific assignments? For specific kids? For specific
reasons? on purpose. You decide if you
want to do that or not. Unless the kid came up and said,
I need some extra help. Here's the assignment. Joanne, and Bobby, and Steve,
and Carla, you four, are specifically assigning this. Yeah, Wayne, that's not fair. What's your name up here? The potter and the clay. What peace that affords struggling
sinners as many as were ordained, assigned to salvation by God,
as many as were ordained to eternal life. That word eternal life
means endless and perpetual. And the word believed is to have
confidence in one, in someone else, or in this case to have
confidence in Christ. It means reliance, total, complete
reliance. So, as many as were assigned
to an endless and perpetual life relied upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
sure as sure can be. Now, I close going back to verse
42. the thought that these words
might be preached to them. Do you desire to hear these words? It's like Peter said, like the disciples
said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Do you desire to hear these words? I tell you and beseech you, hear
them. Oh, believe them. and come to
Christ all the days of your life.