Thank you, Kara. Going to be speaking this morning
from Acts chapter 13. And I'm hoping this month we're
going to be able to meet publicly once again. And I really am looking
forward to that. And also, Don Fortner's funeral
was yesterday. And on YouTube, you can get the
message Bruce Crabtree preached. It was a fantastic message. And
if you haven't heard it, I would suggest that you get on YouTube
and listen to it. And it was a blessing seeing
this saint of God buried, and it was a blessing. I would like
to read verse 26 of Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, verse 26. Men and brethren, children of
the stock of Abraham and whosoever among you feareth God, to you,
to you is the word of this salvation sent. Let's pray together. Our merciful and gracious Heavenly
Father, we ask in Christ's blessed name
that your gospel would be preached in the power of your spirit,
that you would Cause your people to rejoice in your gospel. And
we pray that those who have not believed might believe as an
act of your almighty grace. Lord, we pray for the Fortner
family. We pray that you would be with
them. We pray for Brad and Jessica,
for your healing hand to be upon her. Lord, we pray that we might
be enabled to enter in to believing your gospel and all that that
entails. Accept our praise and thanksgiving
for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Paul's first sermon. Now this is not the first time
he ever preached. As a matter of fact, we read
in Acts chapter nine, verse 20, as soon as the Lord saved him.
The scripture says straightway, he preached Christ in the synagogue,
that he was the son of God. So he was preaching as soon as
the Lord saved him. But this is the first message
where we get the actual content of his message. And this ought
to get our careful attention. The Apostle Paul is the man that
God used more than any other man to expound the gospel of
his grace. Ananias said to him in this conversion
experience he had on the road to Damascus, the God of our fathers
hath chosen thee that thou should know his will and see that just
one, and hear the voice of his mouth, for thou shalt be his
witness to all men of what you've seen and what you've heard. And here we have the actual content. This is the first message where
we're given what he actually said. Now that ought, as I said,
to arrest our attention. Now, the way the
apostles preached is the way the gospel ought to be preached. I'm sure you would agree with
that. We ought to examine how Peter preached and how Stephen
preached and how Paul preached in the book of Acts, and we ought
to model our preaching after the way they preached. Now, I
want you to think with me. If you would ask the average
person, the average churchgoer, what should be the focus of preaching? What do you reckon they'd say?
I have no doubt it would be the love of God for man. That is
what ought to be preached, the love of God for man. And perhaps
they'd quote John 3, 16, a verse I love, but a verse that is abused. God so loved the world. that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life." Now, there the emphasis
is God's special love for the world, but the emphasis religion
puts on that is God's love for man. man and the love God provides
for him and all God can do for man. The emphasis is really more
on man than the love of God. But I think this is interesting.
If you would examine the preaching of the apostles in the book of
Acts, how many times did they mention the love of God in their
preaching? Not once. You would have never
heard the apostles saying, God loves you. Christ died for you
and wants you to be saved. You would have never heard anything
like that from the apostles. Now, obviously the love of God
is implied in everything that's said, the saving love of God
in a true gospel message. That's not saying the love of
God is absent, but the love of God is the assurance of the believer. the death of Christ, God loves
you and Christ died for you, well, that's the assurance of
the believer. And you don't tell an unbeliever something like
that. I think the unbeliever should, after hearing the gospel,
think, we're in trouble. We're in trouble. What can be
done for us? What can be done about our sin? And that is the way the apostles
preached. They didn't look at people and
say, God loves you. preach that way today and they
preach almost like men are entitled to the love of God. Like there
would be something wrong with God if he didn't love everybody. But we're going to see that that
is not the way the apostles preach. Now I want us to carefully examine
this sermon. What I'd like to do is look at
the whole sermon in Acts chapter 13 and then Lord willing in the
next few weeks to come go back and look what he said from the
Old Testament. Now, all they had at this time
was the Old Testament. They didn't have the New Testament like you
and I have. All they had was the Old Testament,
and that is what they preached from. And Paul, in this message,
actually makes several references to Old Testament events, building
up to the focal point of his message on the work of Christ.
Now, the first thing that strikes me is how Paul wanted these men
to believe. He was truly seeking their best
interests. He wasn't just trying to get
people to believe the way he does. He wanted these people
to believe the gospel. Look in verse 16 of Acts chapter
13. Then Paul stood up and beckoned
with his hand. I can just see him doing that.
It said, men of Israel and ye that fear God give audience Listen
to what I'm getting ready to say. This is so important. And then that verse 26 that I
read to open the message, men and brethren, children of the
stock of Abraham and whosoever among you feareth God, to you
is this word of salvation sent. He wanted these people to believe.
Look in verse 32 of this same message. And we declare unto
you glad tidings. Oh, the gospel's good news. We
declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was
made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their
children. Look in verse 38. He says, be
it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, we're not holding
anything back. Be it known unto you, men and
brethren, that through this man is preached, is declared unto
you the forgiveness of sins. Now, what we see from this message,
Paul's preaching, he wanted these people to believe. And my dear
friends, I want to believe and I want you to believe. I'm not
interested in trying to get someone to agree with my doctrine. I
want to be somebody who believes the gospel. That's my great concern
for myself and my great desire for you is that you actually
believe the gospel. Now that is how Paul was coming
across to these people who did not believe. These were men who
had not trusted Christ but he's calling upon them to do so. Now, he begins his preaching
where all true preaching begins, with God. Not with man and God's
ability to fulfill his needs. He begins his message with the
person of God. Look what he says in Acts chapter
13, verse 17, This is the very first thing he says, the God
of this people of Israel chose our fathers. Now he begins this
message with the God of election. Now that doesn't surprise me
because that's the first thing he heard from Ananias, the God
of our fathers hath chosen thee. And he begins this message with
the God of sovereign election. God, the God of this people of
Israel, chose our fathers. Now, I think it's interesting,
if that's the right word, that men try to dismiss the doctrine
of election because they talk about it, well, that just has
to do with Israel. God chose Israel and that's what elections
were referring to. It doesn't have anything to do
with today. Well, God did choose Israel. Indeed he did. And is that less
than God choosing an individual? That's a mass of individuals.
God chose Israel and he did not choose the rest of the nations. He made a special difference
with Israel. Against the children of Israel
shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast, so that
you may know that the Lord doth put a difference between Israel
and Egypt. God made the difference. Now
that's a great place to begin. God chose Israel. The God who elects is a good
place to begin because it establishes two fundamental truths that everybody
needs to deal with. God is God. He's in absolute
control of everything. He is absolutely sovereign. The concept of free will goes
out the door. If you believe God is God, he
really is God ruling and reigning in control of all things. I know
this doesn't prove anything, but I think it's interesting.
Stephen Hawking in his book on a brief history of time made
this statement. If God does exist. There is no
such thing as free will. You know, that's only logical.
If God is, there's no such thing as man being his own master,
making, God's God. And we preach the God of election,
the God who really is God, who controls everything. We're in
his hands, he's not in ours. And the God of election is a
statement regarding salvation is out of our hands. It's by
grace and not by works. The only time you're gonna cry
for mercy is if you see that salvation is altogether out of
your hand and it's in his hand, that's where he begins. The God
of election. Now, he says, the God of this
people, Israel, chose our fathers, and then he refers to what happened
in the Exodus. He exalted the people when they
dwelt to strangers in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm
brought he them out. He talks about the Exodus people
that God chose being delivered out of Egypt. And then in verse
18, he says, about the time of 40 years, suffered he their manners
in the wilderness. Now for 40 years, the children
of Israel were in the wilderness, going wherever he told them to
go. And there's never been a greater demonstration of unbelief and
wickedness than those 40 years in the wilderness. After God
had delivered them, the first thing they did, was make a golden
calf and worship it and said, these be thy gods, O Israel.
And you look at the continual complaining and murmuring and
unbelief. And I like the way it says he
suffered their manners. He put up with them 40 years
in the wilderness. And then he tells about what
happened in the book of Joshua, verse 19, when he destroyed seven
nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them
by lot. And then he gives a brief statement
of the history of judges. And after that, he gave unto
them judges about the space of 400 years, 450 years until Samuel
the prophet. And afterwards they desired a
king. That's when they wanted to be like the other nations.
The other nations have a king, we want one. They no longer wanted
the Lord to be their king. They wanted a human king and
they got one, Saul. And what a mess he made of things.
God gave unto them Saul, the son of Sis, a man of the tribe
of Benjamin, by the space of 40 years, and when he'd removed
him, he raised up unto them David to be their king. David, the
man after God's own heart, to whom also he gave testimony and
said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my
own heart, which shall fulfill all my will of this man see. Remember, Christ is called the
son of David. He was David's son, and he was
also David's Lord. Christ, the son of David. Of
this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel
a Savior. Oh, that's what I need. I need
a Savior. I need him to save me. Oh, the
need every one of us have of this Savior. When John, now he
talked some about John's preaching of him. And when John had first
preached before his coming, the baptism of repentance to all
the people of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course, he
said, whom think ye that I am? I'm not he, but behold, there
cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
unloose. He talks something about John's
preaching of Christ, and I'm gonna look at that sometime down
the road. And then he makes this statement, and I love this. men
and brethren, children of the stock of Israel or of Abraham
and whosoever among you feareth God. I love the word whosoever. I always want to incorporate
that in my preaching of the gospel. Here's why. I've got a bad motive.
I'm a whosoever. I don't know if it's a bad motive,
but I'm a whosoever. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm a whomsoever, that means
I get to call. Whosoever feareth God to you, to you. Are you somebody that fears God?
Are you somebody that's afraid to look anywhere, but Christ
alone is the only hope you have of salvation? That's somebody
who fears God. You're afraid of yourself. You're
afraid of sin. You're afraid of God. Whosoever
you are that fear God, to you is this word of salvation sent. Four, verse 27. Four, they that
dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him
not. All of these people, remember
this is shortly, this is the early part of the church. risen
from the dead all that long, perhaps a few months. And he's
reminding them of what took place. The rulers, because they knew
him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read
every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them. All they did,
although they didn't know the Lord, all they were doing was
fulfilling what the scriptures said they would do. And though
they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate. You see, they hated him. And
this was their desire. They desired they, the Pilate,
that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in a sepulcher. Now, these words are letting
us know that the death of Christ was the fulfillment of God's That's a big issue in the preaching
of the apostles. Do you remember how Peter began
his message on the day of Pentecost? He began with these words, ye
men of Israel, hear these words. And he spoke of him being delivered
by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now understand this about Peter.
The work of Christ, the cross, it's according to God's purpose. And everything that took place,
took place according to his purpose to fulfill what he said would
take place. Now don't miss that. You see,
the universe was created for the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Men were created for the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
fall was purposed by God for the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is called the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. That's such an awesome thought.
You know, I hope I never preach without some reference to the
fact that the cross is not God's plan B. It's not God's way of
straightening up a mess that man made. The cross of Christ
is the eternal purpose of God for the glorification of his
son. And that's the way he presented
it. I love the way he says, and when they had fulfilled all that
was written of him, that's what they did. Now they were doing
what they want to do. There's no doubt about it. And they will
be judged accordingly if they're not believers, if God doesn't
save them, but they fulfilled. all that was written of him,
they took him down from the tree and laid him in the sepulcher. He was dead. Now, he didn't stay dead. Look what verse 30 says, but
God raised him from the dead. Now he did die. And that's one
of the great mysteries of the gospel. He actually died. The Son of God, He who is life,
died. And I know this, there's only
one reason for death, sin. If there were no sin, there would
be no death. He truly took upon Himself the
sins of His people. so that he became guilty of the
commission of those sins. He owned them as his own. Second
Corinthians 521, for he hath made him to be sin. I wish I could comment as to
what all that means, but I can't. That's one of those things, take
it as it is spoken. For he, the father, hath made
him to be sin for us who knew no sin. that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. God raised him from the dead. Verse 31, and he was seen many
days, 40 to be exact. He was seen many days of them
which come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. who are his witnesses
unto the people. He was seen at one time a 500
brethren at once. And he was 40 days on the earth
after his resurrection. And now Paul says, and we declare
unto you glad tidings. Now understand this, the gospel
is good news. If it's not good news to you,
you've got problems. But it's good news to anybody
who believes themselves to be a sinner. It comes as good news.
It comes as glad tidings. And this is the way Paul preached
it. I've got good news for you. We
declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was
made unto the fathers, and he's talking about the promise of
the Son of David. He's talking about the promise
made to Abraham. In thee shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed. He's talking about the promised
Messiah coming through Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob,
through David, through Solomon. The promised Messiah, the one
he sent to save his people from their sins. That's the promise
he's speaking of. We declare unto you the glad
tidings hath of the promise which was made unto the fathers. God
hath fulfilled the same unto us, his children, in that he
hath raised up Jesus again. As it's written in the second
Psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Now, when God said, this day
have I begotten me, that's a thousand years before it ever took place.
But this gives us some insight into this title given unto Christ
five different times in the scripture, the only begotten Son of God. Now, think of that. This day
have I begotten thee. Now, that calendar day was not
gonna take place for another thousand years, but this is not
speaking of an event This is always the only begotten Son
of God. It's always as... I don't even
know how to use the language. This is an eternal thing. It's
not an event of time. He's always, at all times, the
only begotten Son of God. And at all times, the believer
is accepted through his begetting, his being raised from the dead.
He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And this is an eternal thing.
It's not just an event. This day, eternally, the eternal
day, this day, eternally, have I begotten thee. Oh, the power of the resurrection
is eternal. It's not just an event. I love
the way the Lord said, I am the resurrection. I am the life,
not an event, I'm it. Just like He's the way, I am
the way, I am the truth, I am the life, the glory of the Son
of God. This day have I begotten thee. And that's the glad tidings,
the resurrection of Christ. And here's why this is so important. We declare unto you the glad
tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he
hath raised up Jesus again, as it's also written in the second
Psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Now
in the next three or four verses, he does the same thing Peter
did on the day of Pentecost. He deals with the fact that when
Christ died, there was no decay of his body. As soon as I start
to die, or as soon as I'm dead, as soon as you die, your body
will begin the process of decay. When Christ died, there was no
decay. And the apostles made a big issue
of this in their preaching. I don't hear much about this
in today's preaching, but in the apostles' preaching, this
was a big issue. Now let's go on reading verse
33. or verse 34, and as concerning that he raised him up from the
dead, now no more to return to corruption, no more to see decay. He said, on this wise, I'll give
you the sure mercies of David. And wherefore he saith also in
another Psalm, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see
corruption. For David, the one who was writing
this, he wasn't talking about himself. For David, after he
had served his own generation by the will of God, he fell on
to sleep and was laid into his father's and saw corruption.
He's nothing but a pile of dirt right now. His body is totally
decayed. But he whom God raised again
saw no corruption. There was no decay in his body
whatsoever. Now, what is The point. The point is satisfaction. God's satisfaction. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. Isaiah 53 11. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. Now let's think of this thing
of satisfaction because that's the point behind the fact that
he never saw decay. Because he infinitely satisfied
God. Now this is such a glorious concept. God is satisfied with every person
that Jesus Christ died for. He's infinitely satisfied with
every person Jesus Christ died for. He's unchangeably satisfied
with every single person Jesus Christ died for. He is eternally
satisfied with everybody Jesus Christ died for. Yes, he's satisfied
with the son. Oh, infinitely so. and he's infinitely
satisfied with everyone in the son as he is. Well, how is he? Well, I'll tell you this, the
father's satisfied with him. Oh, he's infinitely satisfied with
him as he is. So are we in this world right
now. Now, hell is eternal. It's never going to have an ending. And the reason hell is eternal,
and I know that people struggle, how could God send somebody eternally
to hell? If we knew what sin was, we wouldn't
ask questions like that. We would understand why God sends
someone eternally to hell. But the magnitude of the crime,
the murder of the son of God is so infinite that the punishment
of a man can never satisfy God's justice. Eternally, his wrath
still goes on because there's no satisfaction. But you see,
when Christ died, it wasn't like me or you dying. I love the way
Paul said, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. It's not
some man like me or you. It's the Christ that died. When
Christ died, he who never sinned, he who worked out a perfect righteousness,
he who said, I do always those things that please the Father,
when he died, the justice of God against sin, the debt was
actually paid. I could never pay that debt,
but he did. The debt was actually paid in
full. And here's God's view of every
believer. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you are Complete. Nothing lacking, nothing missing
in Him. God, the Holy God, has full satisfaction
with you. That is how completely Christ
paid for your sins. He satisfied justice. They are
no longer. They're not. They're gone. Every
believer by the death of Christ is holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in the very sight of God. Now that's why Paul is making
this big emphasis and Peter made the same emphasis in Acts chapter
two. You can read it yourself. And they both draw from Psalm
16 to show that Christ saw no corruption. You see, his death
was glorious. Our death is because we're sinners. His death was glorious in what
he achieved from his death. Oh, the glory of the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ, what he accomplished by it. That's why
he never saw corruption. That's why his body never went
through the process of decay, because the moment he died, the
very second he died, satisfaction, complete satisfaction. Now, what
all happened during those three days? I don't know, but I know
this. God raised him from the dead
because God was completely satisfied with him. And we're satisfied
as well, aren't we? Aren't you satisfied to be saved
by the death of Christ only? Now look what Paul says, verse
37, but he whom God raised again saw no corruption. David did
and every other man did, but he didn't. Be it, now I love
this, be it known to you. We don't want this hidden. We
want you to see this. We want you to embrace this.
We want you to hear this as the most glorious thing you've ever
heard. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. Through this man. Lord Jesus
Christ, there's one God and one mediator between God and men,
the man, Christ Jesus, the God-man, through this man. Oh, we're only
preaching him through this man. Only through this man is preached,
is declared, is announced to you the forgiveness of sins.
Now, you'll never hear an apostle saying God offers you the forgiveness
of sins. That would have never come through the apostles preaching
because it's foolishness. God doesn't offer anybody the
forgiveness of sins. He forgives sins. Through this
man is declared unto you the complete, full, free forgiveness
of sins. Now, you and my greatest need
is same thing as you, the forgiveness of sins. That's my greatest need. That's your greatest need. the
forgiveness of sins. You see, I am a sinner. I need the forgiveness
of sins. I need God to forgive my sins. I am a sinner. What does that mean? That means
that all I do is sin, doesn't matter what it is. If I did it,
it's sin. It means that I cannot not sin. I can't take five seconds and
say I'm not going to sin. I cannot not sin. All I do is sin. I cannot not
sin. And I can't blame anybody for
this but myself. It's all my fault. I think where
the Lord said, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, My sin
is all my fault. I can't blame God. I can't blame
God's sovereignty. I can't blame Adam's fault. All
my sin is my fault. And because of my sinful state,
I can't sit in judgment on anybody. I don't care how bad they are.
I can't look down on them in judgment because of who I am.
And I know because of my sin, I've got no claims on God. I've
got no claims on His mercy. I don't have some kind of sense
of entitlement that God owes me mercy. If God sends me to
hell, just and holy, right and true is His name. And I've got
to say my amen to that. God is holy. Whatever He does
is right. And what I need is the forgiveness
of all my sins. I understand exactly what that
publican meant when he said, God, be merciful. be propitious to me, the sinner. You need to do something about
my sin because I can't do anything. If you don't do something about
my sin, I'm going to hell. If you don't do it all, I love
Psalm 51, all the things David says for asking the Lord to do
something about my sin. Do something about my sin. That's
what the publican was. I am a sinner. Now listen to
this message. First, let me ask you a question.
Are you a sinner? Would that describe you? Somebody
says, no, I'm not that bad. Well, I've got no Gospel for
you. I've got no good news for you. But listen to this. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. You're the only one, I'm the
only one, if I'm a sinner, that can even hear the Gospel in the
first place. The Gospel is for sinners. I declare unto you,
Paul says, the forgiveness, the putting away, the forgiveness
of Sins. And now look at verse 39. And by him. I love the way he
says by him. You see, this is the Lord's work. Salvation is by him. When he
had by himself purged our sins. By him. He's the author of this. He's the executor of this. By
him. All that believe. all that believe. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? You can answer that with a yes
or no. Do you believe that who He is and what He did is all
that's needed to make you perfect before God? By Him, all that
believe. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Do you believe he's God's prophet,
God's word, God's priest, who offered up his own blood, God's
king who rules and reigns? Do you believe? By him. You know, if you have this faith,
it's by him. He gave it to you. He's the author
and the finisher of faith. And by him, all that believe
are justified. Now, don't miss this statement. This is a deck without. I say unto you, that man, righteous before God, no sin
whatsoever. By him, all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Now, this justification is such
that there are no skeletons in your closet that can be brought
up at a later time. You are justified from all things,
which you could have never been justified by the law of Moses,
by your own works of obedience. I want to read a passage of scripture
in Romans chapter eight, if you want to turn with me, beginning
in verse one. There's therefore, Romans eight
verse one, there's therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after
the spirit. For the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death, the law of Moses. For what the law, he's talking
about the law of Moses, for what the law could not do in that
it was weak through the flesh. You see, the problem of the law
is not the law, but it's me. My flesh cannot conform to it. God sending his own. He says, by him all that believe
are justified from all things which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. And he ends with these words,
beware. Beware. Now, beware after you've
heard this message. You know, the most dangerous
thing a man can do, really, is hear the gospel. It's the safest
thing if you believe. It's the most dangerous thing
if you reject the message. Now, he says, beware, therefore,
lest that come upon you. Don't presume about this. Beware,
therefore, lest that come upon you which was spoken of in the
prophets. And he quotes a verse from the
prophet Habakkuk. Behold, ye despisers, and wonder
and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which you
shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. Now God says to those who don't
believe, he calls them despisers. Despisers. You hear the gospel
and you despise it. You belittle it. You think it
not the most glorious message. You're like the children of Israel
when they said concerning that manna that fell down from heaven,
our souls loathe this light bread. Oh, God doesn't take kindly to
someone despising the gospel of his son. He says, Behold,
ye despisers and wonder and perish, for I work a work in your days
right now, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a
man declare it ever so clearly unto you. Now, I don't want to
be one of these people. I don't want to presume I want
to believe the gospel. Verse 42, and when the Jews were
gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought. Now they heard
this message. They heard this message. The
Jews left, they were despisers, but the Gentiles besought that
these words might be preached to them again the next Sabbath. They too wanted to hear this
message. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we might not be among those who despise and belittle this
glorious message, but we might be among those who believe. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you give everybody listening saving faith to believe your
gospel. Bless your word wherever it's
preached for your glory. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
? Hides his smiling face ?