Acts 13:13-43

Please take out your copy of God's Word and turn to Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 13, our text for today is verse 13 through verse 43.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

There is much talk today in the church concerning vision for the church.

And that term is typically used, thinking of casting compelling dreams for the life of an organization.

And most talk of vision casting begins with a reference to a particular verse,

or I should say the first half of a particular verse, which is Proverbs 29.18.

Most often quoted from the King James Version, where there is no vision, the people perish.

You may be familiar with this.

Rick Warren, who is the pastor of Saddleback Church in California and author of The Purpose Driven Life and other books that start with purpose driven.

If you are a good Christian this morning, you may be wearing your purpose driven life boxers.

said,

My imagination influences my aspiration.

In other words, your dreams determine your destiny.

To accomplish anything, you must first have a mission, a goal, a hope, a vision.

And then he quotes the first half of 29.18 from the King James Version.

And without a vision, the people perish.

Bill Hybels, the pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois, one of the largest attended churches in America,

averages 24,000 in attendance each Sunday, wrote this.

Proverbs 29.18 says,

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained.

He's getting closer.

They can't focus.

Can't reach their goal.

Can't follow their dream.

An older translation says,

Without vision, the people perish.

I've seen it with my own eyes.

Without vision,

people lose the vitality that makes them feel alive.

The foreword to Andy Stanley's book,

Making Vision Stick,

reads as follows.

Noted author and pastor Andy Stanley points out

that if followers don't get the vision,

it's because the leaders haven't delivered it.

He reveals the three reasons vision doesn't stick,

and then he delivers three ways to make vision stick,

to make you a leader worth following.

So we have to ask the question,

is this fair use of Proverbs 29.18?

And it is not.

Proverbs 29.18 in the English Standard Version of the Bible

and pretty much every other version of the Bible

reads more like this,

where there is no prophetic vision,

the people cast off restraint.

And the rest of the verse reads,

But blessed is he who keeps the law.

In fact, the last part of the King James Version,

and let me say to you

that the King James Version of the Bible

is a good translation of the Bible.

It gets much of it very, very right.

But it's interesting that none of these men

or anybody who references Proverbs 29.18 this way

preaches from the King James Version,

nor would suggest that you study from the King James Version.

But even the King James Version,

the rest of verse 18 says,

But he that keepeth the law happy is he.

And to rightly understand Proverbs 29.18 is to see

that the Hebrew word for vision,

more closely got at with the ESV translation,

prophetic vision,

means a word from God.

So without a word from God,

the people cast off restraint.

Without a word from God to give guidance to the people of God,

the people of God throw off restraint.

They don't know where to go.

They don't know what to do.

And we know that's what it means

because the rest of the verse says,

But blessed, happy is he who keeps the what?

The law, right?

That's been given by the word of God.

And so, what people need is the Scripture.

What people need is the prophetic vision.

People need to see Christ.

Christ needs to be proclaimed to them by the Bible.

That's why here we preach the Bible.

And we do that humbly.

And we do it by grace.

It is with great fear and trembling

that I even attempt to tell you what this book means.

But we do that.

We labor in that because we love you.

Because we want what is best for you.

We want your blessedness.

Hear me.

I don't want you to follow me.

Don't follow me.

Follow Christ.

I'm only any good as a leader

if I point you to Him.

And how do we do this?

We do it with the Bible.

Today's text is Luke's first account

of Paul's preaching.

It is not the first time that Paul has preached.

He's been preaching now for years.

But it is the first record of his preaching.

And it is Bible preaching.

I want you to see that this morning.

See the example in Paul the preacher.

He preached the Bible.

So again, our text is Acts 13.

Verses 13-43.

Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos

and came to Perga in Pamphylia.

And John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

But they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia.

And on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down.

After the reading from the law and the prophets,

the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them saying,

Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.

So Paul stood up and motioning with his hands said,

Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.

The God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers

and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt.

And with uplifted arm, he led them out of it.

And for about 40 years, he put up with them in the wilderness.

And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan,

he gave them their land as an inheritance.

All this took about 450 years.

And after that, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

Then they asked for a king.

And God gave them Saul, the son of Kish,

a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years.

And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king,

of whom he testified and said,

I have found in David, the son of Jesse,

a man after my heart who will do all my will.

Of this man's offspring,

God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.

Before his coming,

John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance

to all the people of Israel.

And as John was finishing his course, he said,

What do you suppose that I am?

I am not he.

No, but behold, after me one is coming,

the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.

Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham,

and those among you who fear God,

to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers,

because they did not recognize him,

nor understand the utterances of the prophets,

which are read every Sabbath,

fulfilled them by condemning him.

And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death,

they asked Pilate to have him executed.

And when they had carried out all that was written of him,

they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

But God raised him from the dead.

And for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him

from Galilee to Jerusalem,

who were now his witnesses to the people.

And we bring you the good news

that what God promised to the fathers,

this he has fulfilled to us, their children,

by raising Jesus.

As also it is written in the second Psalm,

You are my son, today I have begotten you.

And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead,

no more to return to corruption,

he has spoken in this way,

I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.

Therefore, he says also in another Psalm,

You will not let your holy one see corruption.

For David, after he had served the purpose of God

in his own generation,

fell asleep and was laid with his fathers

and saw corruption.

But he whom God raised up did not see corruption.

Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers,

that through this man forgiveness of sins

is proclaimed to you.

And by him, everyone who believes is freed

from everything from which you could not be freed

by the law of Moses.

Beware, therefore,

lest what is said in the prophets should come about.

Look, you scoffers,

be astounded and perish,

for I am doing a work in your days,

a work that you will not believe,

even if one tells it to you.

As they went out,

the people begged that these things

might be told them the next Sabbath.

And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up,

many Jews and devout converts to Judaism

followed Paul and Bartimaeus,

who, as they spoke with them,

urged them to continue in the grace of God.

Beloved, this is God's word to us.

It was written for his glory and for our good.

We would all do well to listen to it

in order to believe its promises

and obey its commands.

And so Paul, given the opportunity in the synagogue,

preaches Christ.

He preaches Jesus Christ.

And we're going to cover that in three sub-points.

Paul preaches Jesus Christ

as the culmination of human history,

as the fulfillment of prophecy,

and as the justifier of the sinner.

Now we see that Paul and his companions,

this is Barnabas and John Mark,

have now left the island of Cyprus.

And I lost control up here.

If you don't mind getting that next slide for me, Adam,

just so you can see.

I'm a visual learner,

so I like to see the map.

You recall at the beginning of verse 13,

they traveled from Antioch down here,

bottom right corner just above the speaker,

to Seleucia,

then down to Salamis.

They traveled all about the island of Cyprus

preaching the gospel of God.

They went to Paphos,

where they were able to speak the gospel

to the governor and he believed.

They've now left from there.

They've gone to Pamphylia.

You can see it up on the coast there.

To Perga.

And then on to Antioch,

not to be confused with Antioch of Syria,

but Antioch,

Pisidia,

a common name of cities in that day.

Gainesville, right?

This is Antioch.

Pisidia is where they are eventually heading.

So you can see that John Mark leaves them.

Luke does not tell us ever exactly why,

although we get some evidence later on

as there's a dispute between Barnabas and Paul

about whether or not John Mark should go with them.

If you recall this, Paul really doesn't want them to go

because he had left them.

And the assumption that's made is that he left

because the journey that they're about to take

is an extremely dangerous one.

So you're going to make this journey from Perga to Antioch,

which was about 100 miles,

had two really, really hard river crossings,

rivers that often flooded,

had lots of rapids in them.

They weren't taking boats across.

They also had to travel across the Taurus Mountains.

The path actually went up on the cliff sides,

very treacherous.

And this area was known for bandits

that lived in the area and would ransack people.

In fact, a bunch of the Roman conquerors

had a great deal of problem with these bandits in this area.

It was kind of a stronghold still,

even against Rome,

and they liked to ransack Roman travelers.

I don't think that they were honorable men at all,

but in my mind, I think of Robin Hood a little.

When I think of these men,

it was a dangerous, dangerous place for them to travel.

And so likely, that's why.

Likely, that's why John Mark turned around,

said, I'm not for the danger that's about to happen,

and went back to Jerusalem.

But Paul and Barnabas, they press on.

Paul's comments in 2 Corinthians 11,

the first part of 26,

are likely concerning this route.

He says,

On frequent journeys,

in danger from rivers,

danger from robbers,

he goes on in verse 26,

but likely, this crossing,

which he did a multitude of times,

is what he's referring to,

the rivers and the danger from the robbers.

They arrive in Antioch of Pisidia,

and on the Sabbath day,

they go into the synagogue,

and they sit down.

They go and join the worship in the synagogue

on the Sabbath day.

And we're going to see this as Paul's persistent habit.

When he goes to a new place,

to a new city,

the very first thing that he does

is he goes to the synagogue.

And we should ask the question,

why?

Why is it that he does this thing?

I think it's twofold, the reasoning.

Number one,

he started with the people

who had a knowledge

of the God he was talking about.

They had the Old Testament Scriptures.

They believed in God Creator.

They believed they were the people of God.

And it gave them a starting point

to continue to tell that Gospel story to them.

To see the fulfillment

of all of those things,

human history,

prophecy,

in Christ.

But also,

I think he loved his people.

He had a concern for Jews.

The Jews had been dispersed

all across this area.

There were Jews living

in all of these places

as well as people

who had converted to Judaism.

And he's concerned for them.

He wants to seek their good

in these places.

Romans 9, verses 1-3

Romans 9:1–3

is some evidence of this.

Paul writes,

I am speaking the truth in Christ.

I am not lying.

My conscience bears me witness

in the Holy Spirit

that I have great sorrow

and unceasing anguish

in my heart.

For I could wish

that I myself were accursed

and cut off from Christ

for the sake of my brothers,

my kinsmen,

according to the flesh.

He had this deep heart felt

to the degree

that he would prefer

to be cut off

from Christ

in order that they might

know Christ.

And so we're going to see this

as a habit of his.

He's going to go first

to the synagogue

and first speak

to the Jews

and those who have converted

to Judaism

before he speaks more broadly

in each community.

And as would have been common

in the synagogue,

there's a reading

from the Law and the Prophets.

And the Law and the Prophets

was a common phrase

used to speak

of the Scriptures

in that day.

This would have been

our Old Testament.

Jesus confirms this

as our Old Testament.

We have it as 49 books.

The Old Testament,

boy, if I get this wrong,

I'm going to feel horrible

this morning.

My brain's suddenly

freaking out on me.

They had it as fewer books

because some of the books

that we have divided up,

1 and 2 Samuel,

for example,

was the book of Samuel

for them.

So fewer books for them,

but still the same text

that we have today

as our Christian Old Testament.

They would have read

somewhere from this text,

the Law and the Prophets.

And we see that they asked

Paul and or Barnabas

to speak.

Now this isn't because

they were guests.

This isn't because

they were like random individuals.

We don't ask,

if I've never seen your face before,

I go,

hey, would you like to talk

this morning?

Likely they had gotten

to know them a bit.

There was a little bit

of conversation happening

beforehand.

And because Paul

was an understudy

of the well-known

rabbi Gamaliel,

they would have been

interested to hear

what he had to say.

He had studied underneath.

It's like he had been

to the best seminary

in the land.

So maybe if we had

a guest on a Sunday morning

that I knew

had a PhD

from Southern Seminary.

I'm like,

hey, you want to talk

this morning?

Because I'm good.

You want to get up here?

I'd prefer to hear

what you have to say.

So something like this happens

and they ask

if they'd like to do so

and Paul seizes

the opportunity.

Sees it as something

that's orchestrated by God

for the sake of the people,

his hearers,

and he seizes the opportunity.

And he gives to them

across our text

three exhortations.

And I'm kind of

setting the stage.

Three exhortations.

Verse 16,

he says,

listen.

Tell them to listen.

He stands up.

He motions with his hand.

This is why I speak

with my hands.

He motions with his hand,

men of Israel

and you who fear God.

So those who are Jewish

and those who have been

converted to Judaism,

proselytites,

listen.

The things I'm about to say

matter.

They are important.

And I love here

that Paul doesn't tell them

a poem

or share a joke

to get their attention.

He just says,

listen,

and launches into a sermon.

In fact,

interestingly,

this is the longest

recorded sermon

that Paul preaches,

which doesn't mean

that he didn't preach

more and longer,

but this is the longest one

that Luke records.

So he says,

listen,

and he gets into it.

He also exhorts them

to beware.

Verse 40,

beware,

therefore,

in light of everything

that I've said,

beware,

lest what is said

in the prophets

should come about.

We'll talk more about that

in just a bit.

But he tells them

to listen.

He tells them to beware.

And then implied,

verse 38 and 39,

he exhorts them to believe.

Let it be known to you,

therefore,

brothers,

that through this man

forgiveness of sins

is proclaimed to you,

and by him

everyone who believes

is freed

from everything

from which you could not

be freed

by the law of Moses.

So he exhorts them,

and I'm exhorting you

this morning

to listen

to the words of Paul,

to beware,

and to believe.

The backdoor main outline,

Jesus Christ

as the culmination

of human history.

And we see this

in verses 17

through 22.

And while I can't,

we don't have time

this morning

to walk through

these things line by line,

or to develop it,

oh, like,

this morning I wanted

to talk about covenants

so much.

We're not going to talk

about covenants at all.

There's just not enough time.

There's so much to be said

from these verses.

But we see

Paul preaching Christ

as the culmination

of human history,

the high point,

the climactic point

of human history

as he summarizes

the grace of God

toward his people

from Genesis chapter 12

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

through the book

of 1 Samuel

in six verses.

It's a sweeping summary

of Jewish history

in six verses.

And in the midst of that,

what Paul is doing

is he's highlighting

God's gracious work

toward his people.

God's gracious work

toward his people.

Note with me,

if you will,

the way in which

he tells the story.

Who is acting?

What is the main character?

Certainly we have Israel,

God's people,

in his summary.

But who's the main character?

It's God.

Verse 17,

the God of this people,

Israel,

chose,

God chose our fathers

and made the people great

during their stay

in the land of Egypt.

He did it.

He accomplished it

through human means.

They were doing things

to be prolific

and grow in numbers.

But he did it.

And with uplifted arm,

he led them out of it.

God delivered them

from Egypt.

And for 40 years,

he put up with them

in the wilderness

and all of their unbelief

and all of their wickedness.

He put up with them

graciously.

Verse 19,

after destroying

seven nations,

this is God.

God destroyed seven nations.

He used the army

to do so,

but it was God

that did it.

He gave them their land

as an inheritance.

All this took

450 years.

And after that,

again,

God gave them judges

until Samuel the prophet.

Judges entered the scene

from time to time

as it was necessary.

As the people of God

needed some special intervention,

he brought along the judges.

Samuel was the last one,

also a prophet.

The people of God

asked for a king.

They wanted to be

like other people.

They didn't want to be

in a theocracy any longer.

They wanted to be ruled.

I would suggest

as a judgment,

God gave them

exactly what they asked for.

He gave them Saul.

And when he had removed him,

verse 22,

God removed Saul.

He raised up another king.

And that is David.

So see how Paul's

walking through

and emphasizing

God's gracious work.

And he's leading his listeners

to the culmination,

this climactic point

of all of these events.

Right?

He's taking them to David

and he's getting their minds

to rest for a moment

on David

who was so revered.

He was the king.

This was the high point

in Jewish history

at the time.

It had never been better

for the Jews

than when David

was king.

But he's pressing on

beyond that

in the rest of our text.

God's gracious work

finds its high point

in the life,

death,

and resurrection

of Jesus Christ.

It doesn't stop

with David.

Right?

It wasn't the best

it will ever be

in David.

It finds its high point

in the life,

death,

and resurrection

of Jesus Christ.

All roads

lead to Golgotha

and they emanate

from it.

We'll see it that way.

All roads lead to Golgotha,

the life,

the death,

and the resurrection

of Jesus Christ

and they all emanate

back out from it.

We're part of that story today.

Praise the Lord

that human history

has meaning

and it has bearing

because of Christ.

Come Lord Jesus

before January.

Second,

we see Paul

preach Jesus Christ

as the fulfillment

of prophecy.

There's so much

in here.

There's a lot

to be said.

I'm going to say

a little about it.

Verses 23

through 37.

Paul points out

that the Jews

in Jerusalem

were used by God

to fulfill

the prophecy

of Scripture.

Common questions

that would have been asked

abroad

by adherents

to Judaism.

Those who were looking

to the Messiah,

they understood

that the Scripture

taught this coming

of a Messiah.

They most often

misunderstood it.

They thought

that the Messiah

was going to come

and deliver them

from Roman rule.

We know now

that that's not the case.

Jesus Christ came

and delivered us

from the rule

of the dominion

of darkness.

A much bigger thing

was happening

than just a deliverance

from Roman oppression.

So they misunderstood it

but they were looking

to this Messiah

and they would have wondered

how is it

if this Jesus

was the Messiah

how is it

that he was killed?

That doesn't make

any sense to us.

So he shows

that the way

in which he was killed

was a fulfillment

of the prophecy.

Verse 27

for those who live

in Jerusalem

and their rulers

because they did not

recognize him

nor understand

the utterances

of the prophets

which are read

every Sabbath.

So they didn't get it.

They didn't know

who Jesus was

and because of that

they fulfilled them

by condemning him.

The last part

of verse 27.

They fulfilled

the prophecy

concerning the Christ

by condemning him.

And though they found him

no guilt worthy of death

they asked Pilate

to have him executed.

And when they had carried out

this verse 29

when they had carried out

all that was written

of him

when they had carried it out

all that was written

of him

all the things

that were meant

to come to death

the very specific way

in which he was meant

to die

they took him down

from the tree

and they laid him

in a tomb.

Paul points out

that the Jews

in Jerusalem

were used by God

to fulfill

the prophecy

of scripture.

Paul tells them

then the good news

of a resurrected Christ.

This is how

the Messiah

could have been killed.

He's no longer dead.

He's not dead

anymore.

Verse 30

But

God

my favorite conjunction

love it when the scriptures say

but

God

God intervening

God working graciously

amongst his people

but God

raised him

from the dead.

Praise the Lord.

And for many days

he appeared to those

who had come up with him

from Galilee

to Jerusalem

the apostles

who were now

his witnesses

to the people.

We have this evidencing

he did in fact

raise from the dead.

He was with

the apostles

and they are his witnesses

to the people.

And we

bring you

the good news

the euangelion.

We now bring

the good news

Jesus Christ

the gospel

that what God

promised

to the fathers

has come to pass.

Paul references

in this section

of our text

three well known

and well respected

prophets.

He knows his audience.

He's speaking to a people

who knew

these men.

The Old Testament

David

David the king

also a prophet

writer of many of the Psalms

and Isaiah

the prophet

prophet of hope

who preached Christ

long before Christ

was on the scene.

He also references

another prophet

that they would have known

John the Baptist.

That's who he's talking about

when he talks about John

offering a baptism

of repentance.

I like

some people like to call him

John the Baptizer

because he wasn't the first Baptist.

He didn't start

the Southern Baptist denomination.

He was John who baptized.

And they would have known of him.

They would have heard of him.

People had been traveling

for miles

and miles

and miles

to come and be baptized

by John.

Likely some of the people

in this congregation

had been baptized

by John.

And so Paul references him.

He uses things

that John said

to say

I'm not the Christ.

The Christ is coming.

I'm not even worthy

to untie

his

sandals.

He shows

how all of these prophets

were pointing

to Jesus.

And he does so

in the fulfillment

of three prophetic promises

concerning the resurrection

of Christ.

This is the primary thing

he's driving us to.

He's pointing us to.

Verse 30 again.

But God

raised him

from the dead.

They killed him

in the fulfillment

of what was written

but God

raised him

from the dead

as it was

written.

It's essentially

what he's going on

to say.

He shows

how they're all

pointing to Christ

in the fulfillment

of three prophetic promises

concerning the resurrection

of Christ.

Verse 33.

God

raised up

Jesus.

He has fulfilled

to us

their children

by raising

Jesus.

As also it is written

in the second psalm

you are my son

today

I have

begotten you.

This is

Psalm chapter 2

Psalms 2:7

verse 7.

I love that Clay read

I don't know if he knew

that that was

in this chapter

today or not

but it's wonderful

that he read it

either way.

Psalm chapter 2

Psalms 2:7

verse 7.

You are my son

today

I have

begotten you.

God the Father

talking to God

the Son

predicts not only

Christ's incarnation

but also

his resurrection

which magnified

Jesus'

sonship.

He is the Son

forever.

God raised up

Jesus.

God raised up

Jesus with

finality.

Verse 34.

And as

for the fact

that he raised

him from the dead

no more

to return

to corruption

he has spoken

in this way.

This is an

interesting one.

For the fact

that he raised

him from the dead

no more to return

to corruption

he has spoken

in this way

I will give you

the holy

and sure blessings

of David.

How do those

two things

relate?

Isaiah 55.3

I will give you

the holy and sure

blessings

of David.

Paul is saying

that God

had said that

in regards

to the fact

that he raised

Jesus from the dead

no more to return

to corruption.

So he has been

raised from the dead

he won't go back

to being dead

he won't be corrupted

by that they mean

decayed

he won't be thrown

in as many

crucified people

were into a

mass pit

he was put in a

tomb

but he was raised

he didn't see

corruption

he was raised

from the dead

how do those

things connect?

And I believe

they connect

because a dead

Christ could not

have been the

assurance of

promises made

to David

a king to rule

forevermore

it wouldn't make

sense that it

would be that

and his life

now is the

assurance of

that promise

the fact that

Jesus is alive

today and he

will no longer

return to corruption

is the assurance

of the promises

that God gave

to David

that he would

in the lineage

of David

raise up

a king

who would rule

forevermore

over his people

third

God did not

allow Jesus

to see

decay

mention that

to some length

right

he was raised

from the dead

after three days

verse 35

and 37

or excuse me

through 37

therefore he says

in another psalm

you will not let

your holy one

see corruption

that's psalm

16

10

and then he

uses a little

logic for us

right

who is it that

God is talking

concerning

right

as David writes

this prophetic

psalm

you will not let

your holy one

see corruption

well it's Christ

because

verse 36

for David

after he served

the purpose of God

in his own generation

fell asleep

and was laid

with his fathers

and saw corruption

right

David decayed

he died

he decayed

he didn't live

forever

on earth

verse 37

but he whom

God raised up

did not

see corruption

so these are

the ways

in which

Paul drives

that Jesus

is the fulfillment

of these prophecies

he is in fact

the Christ

the one that you've

been waiting

for

why does all that matter

like what's

what's the point

what is it that

we gain from

Jesus being

the Christ

well thirdly

Paul preaches

Jesus Christ

as the justifier

of the sinner

verses 38

through 41

this is really

the main point

the crux

of what

he has to say

to us today

let it be known

to you therefore

for everything

that we've said

about Jesus

being the Christ

brothers

that through

this man

forgiveness

of sins

is proclaimed

to you

and by him

everyone who

believes

is freed

from everything

from which

you could not

be freed

by the law

of Bovisus

now in the ESV

freed

could be rendered

justified

I like that better

I like the word

justified

better

justified

should not be for you

a high churchy word

you need to understand

what it means

the biblical word

you should understand

what it means

in simplest of terms

to be justified

would be like

standing for a judge

guilty of something

and being dismissed

of that charge

being let go

you're no longer guilty

there's no guilt

found with you

at all

in a broader way

in a more biblical

way

if we believed in Christ

not only has the debt

of our sin

been cancelled

but we've also been

granted his righteousness

and both are necessary

for us to be saved

we have to not

be guilty

of transgressing

the law

but we also have to

have kept the law

perfectly

there's two sides there

which is why Jesus

came and lived

that's why he didn't

just come

die

he came and lived

a perfect life

he amassed righteousness

he never sinned

so that we could have

his sinlessness

it's often called

his act of obedience

right

it's very important

he died

bore the wrath of God

for our sin

took

God never just says

eh

I'm just going to

overlook sin

can't do that

as a just God

he can't do it

he has to punish sin

he punished our sin

in Christ

so that the record

could be cancelled

the two sides

that's what it means

to be justified

that's why I think

freed is kind of

a weak word

when you think

of all

of that

right

let it be known

to you therefore

brothers

that through this

man forgiveness

is proclaimed

to you

and by him

everyone who

believes

is justified

from everything

from which you

could not be

justified

by the law

of Moses

Paul's listeners

were very aware

of this

they knew the law

and they knew

their inability

to keep the law

Paul writes later

in Romans chapter 3

Romans 3 · chapter mention

for by works of the law

no human being

will be justified

in God's sight

since through the law

comes knowledge

of sin

but now

the righteousness

of God

has been manifested

apart from the law

although the law

and the prophets

bear witness to it

the point we're making

right

point two

our need of

Christ

verse 22

Romans 3

the righteousness

of God

through faith

in Jesus Christ

for all who believes

for there is no distinction

Galatians 3

10

for all who rely

on works of the law

are under a curse

for it is written

right

as listeners would have

been aware of

Deuteronomy 27

26

cursed

be everyone

who does not abide

by all things

written in the book

of the law

and do them

never able to gain

favor with God

by our works

it's the beautiful thing

about the Christian religion

different from

every other

religion

and of course

I would suggest to you

it's the only true religion

that we now

having been justified

are obedient

as a gracious response

to what God has done

for us in Christ

right

we're obedient now

we keep the law

now because

we've been freed

from the penalty

of not being able

to keep the law

it's a gracious response

to that

not that we're driving

we're trying

we're trying

we're trying

to gain God's favor

right

by faith in Christ

we are justified

John Bunyan

familiar with

the old Puritan

John Bunyan

wrote a wonderful book

called

The Pilgrim's Progress

and you have to read it

if you're a believer

trade in your

purpose driven life boxers

for a copy

of The Pilgrim's Progress

and read this book

and in the book

it's about

a man named Christian

who's going on a journey

to the celestial city

it's an allegory

of the Christian life

and he has a

a co-patriot

with him

along the way

by the name

of Faithful

and there's a point

at which they meet

and Faithful is

recounting his story

of his journey

so far

he's encountering

some of the same

things that Christian

has encountered

and he's telling

his story

I love this

where he speaks

of encountering

Moses

so this is Faithful

speaking to Christian

about Moses

so soon as

the man

overtook me

Moses

it was but a word

and a blow

for down he knocked me

and laid me

for dead

but when I was a little

come to myself again

I asked him

wherefore

why

he served me

so

he said

because of my

secret inclining

to Adam

the first

because you're a human

born in sin

and with that

he struck me

another deadly blow

on the breast

and beat me

down backward

so I lay

at his foot

as dead

as before

so when I came

to myself again

I cried him

mercy

but he said

I know not

how to show

mercy

and with that

he knocked me

down again

so you see

what he's saying

the law of Moses

right

the purpose

that it served

was to convince

of our sinfulness

right

it doesn't know

how to show mercy

right

it's just law

like here's the standard

keep it

but we can keep it

we can keep it

we need another way

in Christ

and Bunyan

writes on

he had doubtless

made an end of me

but that one

came by

speaking of Christ

and bid him

forbear

stop

right

it's wonderful

it's wonderful

so he tells them

right

believe

this is the gospel

of Jesus Christ

you can be justified

from your lawlessness

in a way

that the law of Moses

could never

have done

for you

and he warns them

he says

beware

therefore

lest what is said

in the prophets

should come about

and he references

Habakkuk

Habakkuk 1:5

chapter 1

verse 5

it's a very

interesting

reference

to make

his point

Habakkuk 1

5

foretells

of the destruction

of Judah

by the Chaldeans

and the Chaldeans

if you care

about such a thing

are the southern

Babylonians

right

southern people

are always

the nastiest people

aren't they

he raises up

Habakkuk 1

5

says

a people

an evil people

as a judgment

against

wicked

Israel

now this happened

like

you could say

Habakkuk 1

5 was fulfilled

though

wasn't it

because in fact

the Chaldeans

did come

and they did

rout

through

Israel

and they did

bring destruction

to Judah

yes

but Paul

references it

here

for future

destruction

beware

lest the

final judgment

is what he's

using Habakkuk

1 5

to say

be true

of you

that you

don't believe

in this

Christ

and that

you're

utterly

destroyed

for being

disobedient

to God

only by

faith in

Christ

one be

justified

before God

Acts chapter 4

Acts 4:12

verse 12

Peter

another wonderful

sermon in the

book of Acts

preaching to the

council

the Sanhedrin

said in there

salvation

and no one

else

for there is

no other

name under

heaven given

among men

by which

we must be

saved

believe in

Christ

believe in

Christ

by faith in

Christ we are

set free

from the

condemnation

of the law

this date

November 13th

in the year

354

Augustine

of Hippo

was born

so it's

fitting that

we quote

him today

Augustine

once wrote

thus

a good

man

though a

slave

is free

but a

wicked

man

though a

king

is a

slave

for he

serves

not one

man alone

but what

is worse

as many

masters

as he

has

vices

be set

free

in

Christ

from the

condemnation

of the

law

by believing

in him

and then we

see in the

concluding two

verses that

Paul's preaching

bears fruit

as they went

out the people

begged that

these things

might be told

them the

next sabbath

I would

someday love

for somebody

to beg me

to preach

next Sunday

I'm kidding

I think you

guys know

I'm coming

back

and after

the meeting

of the

synagogue

broke up

many Jews

and devout

converts

these are

these proselytites

to Judaism

followed Paul

and Barnabas

who as they

spoke with

them urged

them to

continue in

the grace

of God

so we see

some evidence

of people

turning to

the truth

of God

to what

degree we

don't know

but clearly

Paul and

Barnabas

see the

grace of

God

working in

them

that they're

hearing the

truth

they're at

least hungry

to hear more

of the truth

as they

follow them

along

so in

closing I

want to

remind you

of Paul's

three exhortations

verse 16

particularly for

those who

aren't in

Christ this

morning

listen

listen to

the good

news

of Jesus

Christ

your judgment

is sure

and it is

coming

beware

lest what

is said

in the

prophets

should come

about

and believe

believe

believe

through this

man

through

Christ

forgiveness

of sins

is

proclaimed

to you

everyone

who

believes

is justified

from

everything

that the

law of

Moses

could not

justify

us

from

and I

want to

add one

additional

exhortation

beyond our

text this

morning

and that

is that

you preach

like

Paul

preach

like

Paul

if you

are a

Christian

it has

been

granted

to you

the

privilege

of getting

to proclaim

the good

news

of Jesus

Christ

it does

not mean

necessarily

that you

will preach

like

this

on a

Sunday

morning

from a

stage

with a

lapel

mic

it doesn't

necessarily

mean that

but it

has been

given

to you

the task

of heralding

the coming

of Christ

speaking

the good

news

of Jesus

to people

do that

with the

Bible

preach

like

Paul

it's

what

people

desperately

need

let's

pray

together