What Will You Do with the Good News?

Welcome to the Enduring Grace Sermons Podcast.

This is the home for the weekly teaching and ministry of Pastor Ben Hill.

Our mission is to share the timeless truth of God's Word with a world in need of hope.

For more resources, articles, and updates, visit us online at enduringgrace.com.

And now, here is this week's message.

If you have your Bibles, I want to encourage you to turn to Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

And I have a typo.

It's Acts 13, not Acts 12.

So go to Acts 13 this morning, and I want to ask you a simple question this morning as you make your way there.

And it's simply this.

What will you do with the good news?

I think we have last week's sermon on there, so you can get rid of it.

We'll go with outslides this morning, which is perfectly fine.

I'll make it clear for you guys.

So, what will you do with the good news?

It's the ultimate question in life.

Whether you're a first-time person in the church or whether you're a longtime churchgoer, the question of life is simply what you do with the good news.

What are you doing with the good news?

Have you received it?

Have you embraced it?

Do you proclaim it or have you rejected it?

It's kind of like in our early days of our nation, a man named George Wilson was sentenced to death.

His crime endangering the lives of the drivers of the United States mail service that he had robbed.

Think about that.

He was sentenced to death for robbing the mail service.

And it was by hanging.

This man, he sat in his jail cell, his family desperate to try to get an escape for him, began to work double-time trying to get the attention of the president of the United States.

Because if you get the president of the United States on your side, he can pardon you.

And so Andrew Jackson did just that.

He wrote a pardon for Mr.

Wilson.

But in an unremarkable turn of events, Wilson refused to receive the pardon.

He chose to stay in jail on death's row.

His family, undeterred, continued to fight that battle, thinking that maybe, just maybe, the Supreme Court would side with them, saying that he had to accept the pardon because it had been given, that he didn't have a choice in the matter.

Well, shortly after it got to the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice John Marshall delivered these remarks.

He said, A pardon is a piece of paper, the value of which is derived from the acceptance of the person to whom it is offered.

If it is rejected, it is no pardon.

George Wilson must be hanged.

That's the real question for the Christian.

Is what will you do with the gospel?

It is a pardon that you have received.

Will you proclaim it and share it with others?

Or will you hide it for yourself?

And if you're not a Christian and you found your place in church this morning, the question for you is, will you receive it?

Will you receive the pardon that God has provided?

Or will you reject it and keep your life on a path towards death?

So if you found your place in Acts chapter 13, we're going to be looking at verse 38.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Now, just prior to this, what we have seen is Saul and Barnabas have been commissioned for the mission of taking the gospel to the world.

They've been commissioned to be missionaries.

They've gone out on their first missionary journey.

In fact, they've already been to one location where they saw fruit from their efforts of sharing the gospel, and now they have made their way to Antioch of Pisidia.

Now, this is different than the Antioch we've already looked at, the Antioch of Rome.

This is the Antioch of the Galatian Empire or area.

And so if you think about the book or the letter of Galatians, this is very likely the church that is being planted that Paul would later write to.

So you're getting a little snapshot of the people that were in that area that Paul ministers to through his letter later in Scripture.

And he begins preaching.

So here was what their playbook was.

Paul and Barnabas would practice going to the people where the people were.

It was the Sabbath, and they would gather in the synagogue for worship.

And so they would go into the synagogue, listen, and if invited, they would share.

And that's what transpired.

They went in, they shared the gospel, and they began preaching.

And they outline how Jesus is the one who is not corrupted.

He's the only one who's never been corrupted by sin and death, for he is risen and lives.

Which leads them to our verse 38.

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 prophet 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.

He says, There is a pardon that Christ provides.

There is a pardon that Christ provides.

Verse 38, that through this man, this man Jesus, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

God has given you access to forgiveness of your sins.

In fact, the Greek word for forgiveness used here can also mean to pardon.

It means that God has given you a pardon from your transgressions through Jesus.

That you do not have to stand trial any longer, that you no longer have your sins against you because you have received Jesus if you're a child of God.

But if you have not received Jesus, then you have no pardon.

So what he's saying is that you can have forgiveness of sins through Jesus because he has proclaimed the good news to you through his death and resurrection.

That Jesus Christ is a promised Messiah.

And remember, these people have been looking for the Messiah for a very long time.

These are Jews He's preaching to, and those who fear God, that are worshiping with Jews, that he's sharing this good news with.

That is a glorious hope that we have in Christ.

That our sins no longer are held against us.

That's the reason why we sing.

That's the reason why we proclaim the good news.

Because we have no greater gift than the forgiveness of our sins that we've received from Jesus.

The pardon from our sins.

But not only that, we also see importantly in verse 39, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

He's telling the Jews, hey, listen, I need to have a conversation with you.

Your obedience to the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments and the Torah and all of that, it is great and all, but guess what?

It can't save you because none of us can live up to that standard.

In other words, your church service cannot save you.

Your singing on Sunday mornings cannot save you.

Your tithes and offerings cannot save you.

The fact that you grew up and were born in the church cannot save you.

The fact that your parents and great-grandparents and the great-great-great-great-grandparents all were Christians cannot save you.

You have to receive the pardon, the forgiveness, the freeing from sins yourself through Christ.

That's the only way that you can be saved.

Paul is telling them, hey, your religion cannot save you.

You need to be saved by Jesus.

That's through faith alone.

That's through faith alone.

And what he says is that if you receive Jesus, you are freed.

Now, this word freed is actually a legal term in the Greek, and it means to be justified.

It means that you have a right standing before God.

That when you receive that gift, that you're no longer dependent on church attendance or having that perfect Sunday school attendance that we all strive for as kids.

That we no longer are sitting there trying our best to look our best.

But the reality is that we're completely and totally surrendered to Jesus.

Only then do we experience the justification that comes from the Lord alone.

You don't justify yourself, it comes through Christ alone.

That it's only by the work of Jesus that you and I can experience true salvation.

Have you experienced that salvation?

Have you received the pardon that Christ provides?

But not only do we have the opportunity to receive a pardon that Christ provides, there is a real danger in this world.

And that danger is the peril that unbelief produces.

It is the peril that unbelief produces.

Keep in mind that these Jews, leaders in the synagogue, have invited Paul and Barnabas to share a word of encouragement amongst the brothers there.

And as they're preaching and teaching the good news, they respond at first positively, it seems.

Look at verses 40 through 45 again.

Beware therefore lest what is said in the prophet 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.

First, he tells them, Hey, I've got a warning for you.

Don't be a scoffer at what we're sharing.

In other words, don't resist, don't reject, don't belittle what we're sharing, which is the truth of who Christ is.

And then what it says is as they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.

They delay.

They go, hey, listen, hey, we really enjoyed your talk today.

We want you to come back and share it a little bit more next week.

Can you come back next Saturday and share again?

We would love to hear you.

We would love to hear all that you have to share.

And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

There's converts.

There are people believing.

They receive the good news.

And they're encouraging them.

Hey, by God's grace, keep going.

But here's the problem.

The next Sabbath, verse 44, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

You go, why is that a problem?

Look at verse 45.

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul reviling him.

Here's the real peril in church life.

In church life, we like the things we like.

We have our preferences.

We enjoy the things we enjoy, whether it's a specific worship style, or maybe it's a specific ministry, or maybe it's the way it flows, even.

It can even be the color of the carpet, the color on the walls.

We like what we like.

But if you do a little church history, you know what happens?

When things that we like become more important than they are, the church dies.

Did you know that?

That when we elevate our preferences above the mission of the gospel, that the church dies.

Just look at all the different churches across our region, even in our own state, and you will see that many churches are having to close their doors because they fail to reach their community.

Now, church family, I know we don't have that desire, and look at this room.

It looks wonderful.

Look at all the people in the seats.

But it won't stay that way if we're not willing to remain faithful to God and be willing to go where people are.

If we're not willing to say, hey, my preference isn't a priority, but the gospel is, then over time our church will die.

Paul said that he became all things to all people so that he might win some.

We have, as a church, to remember that our society changes.

The gospel never changes.

The good news of the Word of God never changes, but our society changes.

In fact, we're living in a post-Christian age.

Here in the South, specifically in South Carolina, we're a little bit, and by the way, we're in a rural part of South Carolina, believe it or not.

And even so, that means that we're in a little bubble.

As soon as you get outside that bubble, we're living in a more and more godless society than it's ever been.

Fact of the matter is, is that there are more people that are converting to non-believers or non-religious, that they don't believe in anything is what they say, than any other group out there.

The other reality that we have to wrestle with is if they're not there, there used to be an adage that if you build it, they'll come in the church world.

That is no longer the case.

They don't come.

We have to go to them.

Which is the reason why you're the most important part of the ministry of the gospel today.

That's the reason why our focus is one more this year.

Because we have all been called to take the gospel to one more person.

And then one more after that.

Because you are in the trenches of ministry.

Whether you believe it or not, the church primary primary primary focus is simply this.

To equip the saints for the ministry of the God.

We're in a ministry equipping class right now.

An encouragement session.

That you have the opportunity to change the world for Christ one person at a time.

But the peril and the danger is simply this we allow jealousy to interfere with that.

These Jews, they allow jealousy to hinder the ministry that was before them.

They see that Paul and Barnabas are sharing this good news, that a whole city gathers around, which I don't know where they gathered, but apparently it was a big place.

They're all gathered.

They're all listening.

And here are the Jewish leaders who have been ministering to the city for probably far longer than Paul's been alive for many of them.

And they go, who is this young whippersnapper that's in here talking to all these people?

That's not the way we want it.

That's not the way we like it.

And they harden their heart against the word of the Lord.

They allow their heart to be hardened against God and against what God was doing.

It's kind of like a doctor who had a patient that came in with a life-threatening illness.

The doctor tells the patient that, hey, you have a life-threatening situation, but if you take this medicine, your life will be saved.

The patient had been reading quite a bit lately about how all these pharmaceutical people have all the doctors under their thumbs, so he goes and seeks another opinion.

The doctor tells him the same thing, and then he goes to another, tells him the same thing.

Over the time of talking to all these second opinions, he determines that all of them are under the thumb of the pharmaceutical people.

So he's just not going to take the medicine.

He goes home, time passes, and before long, his family is gathered around his grave.

The man never took the medicine that would have saved his life because he simply refused to believe.

And he delayed taking it, and as a result, it led to his death.

None of us are guaranteed tomorrow.

And if you are not a child of God, if you've never received the grace of God, the peril of unbelief is that you're going to die and spend an eternity separated from God.

It requires a humility to submit yourself to the Lord and say, Lord, I can't do it.

I don't want to do it, Lord, because you did it for me.

I am surrendering my life to you and I'm receiving the grace of God.

But if you delay, the peril of delay is that you are not guaranteed this afternoon.

None of us are.

We could leave this room, hit this road, get hit by a truck, and die.

What have you done with the gospel?

Have you received it?

Or are you delaying?

Are you saying, Lord, you know, I can wait?

I'm young.

I have tomorrow.

I can wait.

The Lord doesn't guarantee that tomorrow.

Because the peril of delay will lead to your death.

Here's the real danger, too.

Many of us in this room have been in church all of our life.

All you've known is church.

But my question is simply this have you truly come to that place where you've truly repented?

Billy Graham is famous for saying he told uh in an interview one time that he believed 50% of those that attend church are lost.

We go to church because we go out of obligation because we've always gone.

And I think the peril that Satan has in many churches is that he's allowed you to be blind to your desperate need of forgiveness.

Have you received that gift?

Have you had the grace of God wash you clean and it is yours?

Not someone else's, but yours.

And church family, if we're gonna change the world for Christ, it's gonna require us to not be jealous, but to be excited about reaching new people for Christ.

I had a friend that went through a very difficult season in his church because they started having more people at church.

He started his ministry there.

They were a smaller church, and there was a handful of families there, and as a result, well, as the church began to grow, he noticed that more and more people in his church were becoming disgruntled that were there when he first got there.

He tried to have conversations with them, and basically, long story short, was that they didn't like the fact that there was a whole bunch of people they didn't know in their church.

And you know what he told them?

He said, that means that the gospel is reaching people.

That's good news.

And what they told him was that that's not what they're there for.

Needless to say, they ran off that pastor shortly after, and it would only be a few decades that they would go by and they would die.

So my encouragement to you, church family, is as we have more people here, you might not have your normal spot.

And you know what I want you to do when you see that person that's not in your normal spot?

Say, I am so glad you're here.

My name is, and then you just tell them, I am so glad that you're here, please sit and stay.

And then find another spot.

Because we got plenty of spots right now, but there's gonna be a day that there's not gonna be any spots left.

Right?

Because we're gonna reach our community for Christ.

And sometimes that means that things are gonna look a little different, feel a little different, and guess what?

That's a good thing, too.

Clay's doing a great job.

He's great, man.

I'm so proud of him in the choir.

Yeah, they're doing a great job.

And here's the thing is as we have more and more people committed to the choir and being a part of that, you might see a few praise people up here at some point.

And if you talk to Clay, you know what his big vision is?

He wants all you instrumentalists that are in the room playing instruments, using your talents.

We wanted to have to build a little bigger stage so that we can fit all the people on the stage.

And here's the thing, church, family.

Y'all are lead worshipers too.

Y'all sounded so good this morning.

If we're gonna change the world, that's the heart that we have to have.

We can't allow jealousy or a preference to take precedent.

Because as a result of faithfulness, what we will see is the power of that faithfulness proclaims good news.

The power faithfulness proclaims.

Watch what takes place in verse 46 through the end of the chapter.

It says, And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you.

Did you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life?

Did you notice what he said?

He put it back on them and said, Hey, you deemed yourself not worthy of eternal life.

Did you know when you share the gospel with someone and they reject it?

What they're saying is, I am not worthy of being a child of God.

I don't want to be a child of God.

I have no desire to receive the pardon.

Like our friend George Wilson, he did they decide to stay in the gel of sin and shame.

Unworthy of eternal life.

Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

Paul and Barnabas go, okay, Jews, you had your chance.

We're gonna go to the Gentiles now and proclaim the truth to them.

For so long, for so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

He goes, Hey, uh, I'm gonna quote a little passage that you should know that you are supposed to be a light to the Gentiles, that God made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

Guess what?

Jesus has been here, he's died, he's risen to the grave from the grave, he's living in his place of authority in heaven.

And well, guess what?

We're preaching to the Gentiles now because you've rejected your position.

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

They start preaching, and the Gentiles get saved.

They had a few Jews, but the Gentiles began to get saved rapidly.

The church begins to grow rapidly as God deemed fit.

And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.

They became a regional church.

They became an example.

Did you know I believe that First Baptist Georgetown in our rural town could be a regional church?

That we could make an impact, not just in Georgetown County, but all of the state of South Carolina.

In fact, I will tell you that you've already had a worldwide impact because you're in the top 250 SBC givers and taking the mission across the world through missionaries, through your faithfulness and your giving.

We're already a missional church.

We're already a regional church through your giving.

But we need to make sure that we're also taking care of home.

We need to be reaching our people.

We gotta do both.

And that's what we're doing.

And the world of the Lord, or the word of the Lord, was spreading throughout the whole region, but the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.

Notice what they did after they got driven out.

But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

They praised God.

What would it look like if Christians praised God every time they faced opposition?

What would it look like if you and I share the gospel with those that we come in contact with, and if they say, hey, I don't want anything to do with that, we simply say, Lord, thank you for allowing me to have an opportunity to plant water and see the heart of that person so I can pray more intently for them?

What would it look like if we simply remember that it is God who brings the harvest, not us?

What would it look like if we truly humbled ourselves and were faithful simply to proclaim the good news every day as we win?

The world would look different.

Our community would look different.

Our church would look different.

Because the gospel would be spreading.

Adrian Rogers once said that a man who won't stand for something will fall for anything.

Paul and Barnabas were willing to stand on the truth of who Jesus was despite whatever they faced.

Let me tell you, church family, we will always stand, as long as the Lord has me here, on the truth of God's word.

But that is not true for many churches in our society.

And if you compromise in one thing, the others fall quickly behind.

We must remain vigilant and faithful to God's word, even in the midst of difficulty.

That does not mean our preferences.

What it means is biblical truth.

Traditions are there and usually good, but sometimes traditions are not helpful in some seasons.

Traditions are usually very good.

But they are not the Bible.

And if the tradition lines up with scripture, guess what?

We're keeping it, baby.

Right?

Because it's good.

But if that tradition contradicts scripture, they can't stay.

We can look at some of our sister churches that have allowed tradition to supersede the Bible, and over time they become nothing but a religious group because they value the words of a leader over the words of Scripture.

We cannot allow that to ever be the case for us.

We're going to take this good news to the world.

Because we have a good news worth sharing in a world of bad news.

This morning, some of you have realized that maybe I don't have that personal relationship with Jesus.

That I'm not on this team, Jesus, trained, because I've never received grace.

I'm going to encourage you to do that this morning, to receive the good news of the gospel that Jesus died for you and rose from the grave, defeating sin and death, so that your sin can be blotted out, never to be held against you ever again.

For others and many of us, we've received that good news.

But the question is, what are we going to do with it?

How are we going to use it for the glory of God?

And maybe, just maybe, you've allowed some of your own personal preferences to hinder your own worship of the Lord because it's not quite the way you like it.

Maybe you found yourself divisive in your heart and complaining because it's not the way you want it.

I'm going to ask that you lay that at the feet of Jesus this morning and ask the Lord to give you a heart that is not full of jealousy and pride, but humility and a heart desiring to reach the world through the good news of the gospel.

And then there are others that this morning has been a rally, a rally call to get out and do God's work of sharing the good news with others.

Will you ask God to give you the boldness to do just that?

George Wilson, years later, still had family and friends that were fighting his fight for him.

In fact, once a new president, President Martin Van Buren, became president, he too wrote a pardon for Mr.

Wilson.

This time, Mr.

Wilson received it and was freed.

We don't all get second chances.

Mr.

Wilson did.

But here's the good news.

No matter what your life has been like before today, Jesus gives new life.

You can be free this morning.

And if you're a child of God struggling with sin this morning, you can rest assured knowing that God has freed you from that sin.

And that you can declare, I am free.

I have been pardoned because I had victory in Jesus.

So maybe a few of you this morning need to lay sins, unconfessed sins, at the feet of Jesus, saying, I am free because you have washed me clean.

Will you allow the grace of God to give you a heart of joy this morning?

With every head bowed and eye closed.