What is the Church to preach? Acts 13v13-43

Uh Father in Heaven, we do thank you for speaking to us in the pages of your word.

Please today help us to listen.

To listen and understand, to listen and submit, to listen and trust, to listen and be changed.

Please work in us for our good and for your glory.

Amen.

Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

And I'm going to read from verse 13.

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 hand, said, Men of Israel, and you who fear gods, 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 forty 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 four hundred and fifty 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 forty 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 Saviour, 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 sandal 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, to day I have begotten you.

And as for the facts 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 every one who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Beware therefore, lest what he 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.

And 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 Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

We thank God for his good words to us this morning.

In God's Word this morning, we take a trip with Paul and Barnabas to Turkey.

Not on summer holidays, but on our preaching expedition.

And they went to a city called Antioch, which is not the one we've already been in in Acts in chapter 11, but a different one in a place called Pisidia.

This Antioch was at the time sort of a major intersection, a highway intersection, a junction of the ancient world, the kind of place from which news spread quickly.

And on this trip to Turkey, we get to listen in to the first recorded sermon of the Apostle Paul's.

It was a sermon in some ways that sets out his agenda, what he will be preaching from then on.

And in many ways, we might see it as a sort of sermon that changed the world.

We'll see this week and next week that the response to it started folding in the Gentiles into the number of God's people.

And I get to preach a sermon on that sermon.

I'm fairly sure that this is the short version of Paul's sermon.

I imagine that he probably spoke for an hour or two.

But it is the sermon that would change the world, or the message of it would be what changed the world.

And right up front today, I want to tell you that the aim of Paul's sermon, and really the aim of mine, is salvation.

We picked that up a few times as we go through it.

Salvation.

Verse 23.

What did God bring to Israel?

Of this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a Saviour, Jesus, as He promised.

Verse 26, we are told that it is the message of salvation.

Verse 38 and 39, just towards the end there, 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.

The aim of this sermon was salvation.

And Paul wasn't prepared to let anyone walk out of there without having made sure they heard what he has to say.

He emphasized it a few times, isn't he?

Verse 16, men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.

You can't ignore this.

Verse 26, why have you got to listen?

Because this is the message of salvation, brothers.

Sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God to us has been sent this message, he says, You've got to listen.

Verse 32, we bring you the good news.

Verse 38, let it be known to you, brothers.

Don't ignore what I'm saying.

You need to hear this, however fine you think you are.

The aim of this sermon is salvation.

But maybe a problem then and for us now is the question, well, what if we don't really think that we need saving?

And that is a problem, isn't it?

What if we're hoping to zone out for the next 15 to 20 minutes and zone in for the last song?

What if we think that other people need saving?

Dirty politicians, criminals, bankers, bullies, but not me.

And if that's you this morning, just look at verses 38 and 39 again.

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.

And there seems to be a suggestion there, doesn't there?

That the normal person or his listeners are slaves in chains, not free.

And this idea of the law of Moses helps us see that.

It's sort of actually, you probably didn't notice it, but it sort of sandwiches in uh our text.

See, right before Paul's sermon, way back up uh in verse 15, they have the reading in the synagogue from the law and the prophets.

And right now, Paul brings them background to the law of Moses.

And there's a reason that the law is important here.

The law of Moses, it is, well, it's sort of God's moral and spiritual standard.

I guess we sort of know that about the law.

In the law, God spells out what he expects and demands of people like you and me.

The law of Moses, we know, contains the Ten Commandments that we read earlier, but there's also a lot more to it than that.

That law demands that God's commands be met, but it also demands that judgment be delivered when his commands are broken.

And the point is, I think, until we see God's standard, the law, it is possible that you and I might think that everything is fine.

That we don't need salvation, that we are pretty decent people, and certainly not as bad as him over there, and her over there.

Other people might need salvation.

You know, you read about wrongans in in the news every day, but me, I'm pretty sure that I am fine.

Well, friends, have you ever had that moment when you were faced with reality in a very humbling way?

Many of you you will know that a few of us in Emmanuel have played uh Monday night football for probably 12, 13 years now.

In those early days, we thought we were fine at football.

Actually, one year we came second in the league and we even got promoted, right?

We thought we were fine.

But reality, the first game of the next season in the top division arrived, and we were beaten 10-1.

We were not fine.

Those guys ran rings around us.

And I think at the end of a 14-game season, we had a goal difference of about minus 150.

We were not fine.

Yeah, all looks well, doesn't it?

Until you meet perfection.

And you can kid yourself that all is well until you meet the standard, right?

And the person that says, I don't need saving, well, what about the law?

What about God's standard?

We've read those Ten Commandments this morning.

Those first four are to do with God and how we love Him.

You shall have no other gods before me, you shall not make idols for yourself, you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain, you shall keep the Sabbath.

He sums it up in the Bible as you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, all of your strength.

And the second six have to do with other people.

Summed up as you shall love your neighbour as yourself, so honouring your father and mother.

Don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't lie, don't steal, don't covet.

When you meet the standards, do you still think that you're fine?

The law doesn't just demand perfection morally, it also demands perfection judicially, if you will.

God actually says in the law that I shall not let the guilty go unpunished.

God's law says that he must treat sin as it deserves, and that is a frightening thing.

That is why we all do need salvation.

We live in a world where lots of people basically live their lives publicly on social media, right?

Don't we?

Every YouTube short or every Instagram story or every tweet sort of declaring and outlining their lives for people to consume and enjoy.

But those we know aren't real, don't we?

They're edited.

They are only the best bits, the most only the most flattering bits get published.

And I don't think that any of us, if that was our thing, would be happy to have the unedited version of our lives on display for all to see.

Every action, every word, every rotten thought, because we are not fine, are we?

Even if we look fine on the outside, we need saving.

I need saving.

And so, people of Emmanuel, dear brothers and sisters, as Paul might say, I bring you good news.

I bring you great news of salvation.

Let it be known to you, therefore, that through this man Jesus, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

And by him, everyone who believes in Jesus is freed from everything by which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Now, this is a sermon about salvation.

And although we're halfway through, it comes in three parts, and let me tell you what they are, so that you know what's going on.

Okay?

Firstly, God planned salvation.

Secondly, Jesus made it happen, he delivered salvation.

Thirdly, you can have salvation.

God planned it, Jesus delivered it, you can have it.

So, firstly, God planned salvation.

This is sort of verse 16 to 23.

The first part of this sermon looks like a history lesson, but but it really is filling out the backstory of Jesus.

And as Paul works through history to get to Jesus, one thing that you can't miss if you're paying attention is that God is the planner and instigator of everything.

There are no accidents.

So just look from verse 17.

God chose, verse 17, God led.

Verse 18, God put up with.

Verse 19, God gave them their lands.

And it carries on.

God gave them the judges, God raised up David, God brought them a saviour, God does.

God is the one at work.

There's no accident to the history of God's people or the history of the world.

And his work, as described in this sermon, it only takes 145 words to sort of cover the vast sweep of the history of Israel up to King David's.

But it is all designed to zone us in on the one to whom it is leading, to Jesus.

All the way through, Jesus is the key to Paul's sermon.

Salvation is the goal, but Jesus is the focus.

And this part is sort of the backstory.

He deals with the origins of Israel in verse 17, the foundation of Israel, and verse 18, the inheritance of Israel and the land in verse 19, the emergence of the kingdom of Israel, verse 21, 22.

Sorry if I'm whipping through, don't worry about it.

But this is all getting to verse 23, where King David's offspring is discovered.

God has brought to Israel a Saviour.

Jesus, as he promised.

And I think Paul's point is a fairly simple one.

It is that Jesus did not come completely from left fields.

He was not unexpected.

It's not like God woke up one morning, looked out his bathroom window as he was getting dressed, and he peered down at planet and earth and thought, oh golly, that looks a bit of a state, doesn't it?

Realize things that got completely out of hand.

I thought, oh, let's see what's in my pockets.

I better come up with a plan.

I better do something.

No, the backstory of Jesus stretches right back into the history of Israel.

Now, Paul doesn't even mention Moses at this point of his sermon.

At this point, it is now all about Jesus.

He doesn't delve into the territory of Leviticus or Deuteronomy as he's going through the Old Testament.

And probably there's a good reason for that.

As we've said, they've just read the law and the prophets in the synagogue.

And they've heard that, but the context is sort of this.

Understand this, his listeners.

The law of Moses, it can't do everything.

You need to hear about Jesus.

God planned salvation.

It's really important for us to grasp that Jesus didn't come as a sort of last-minute Hail Mary from God, but that there is this huge backstory.

And it had been God's intention to send Jesus as the Savior right from the start.

God planned salvation.

And if you skip down, actually, to the last verse that we read, verse 43, there's a really lovely note there just before we move on.

Because having told them, these Jews in the synagogue about Jesus, Paul tells these Jews what?

He tells them to continue in the grace of God.

Jesus' arrival, his death, his resurrection, it is a continuance, a continuation of God's plan.

It has always been about Jesus.

An old testament Jew, though you didn't know his name, you have always lived in the grace of Jesus.

Now you do know his name.

And so continue in the grace of God.

God planned salvation.

And secondly, Jesus delivered it.

Jesus made it happen.

Jesus delivered salvation.

Verse 24 down to 37, the bulk of our passage here.

The passage sort of hinges, it changes at verse 23.

Of this man, David's offspring, God has brought to Israel a Saviour, Jesus, as He promised.

And from that point on, the sermon is all Jesus.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

Verse 24 to 25, John the Baptist prepares for Jesus.

From verse 26, the Jews crucify Jesus.

From verse 30, God raises Jesus.

Verse 34 to 37, we'll look at that a little bit more closely.

The resurrection of Jesus.

Well, it confirms his identity.

And it demands that all the blessing that God promised for a kingdom, that all the promises, the blessings that were made to King David, are now to be found for us in King Jesus.

So have a look at verse uh 27 to 29.

Here's a remarkable thing as we think about the plan of God.

Those who lived in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him Jesus, not understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, they fulfilled them by condemning Jesus.

And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have Jesus executed.

And when they'd carried out all that was written of Jesus, they took him down for the tree and laid him in a tomb.

Now you can see what Paul is saying here.

The Jews of Jesus' day failed to make sense of their own scriptures.

They failed to grasp just who Jesus was when he walked the earth.

When they crucified him, though they knew him to be innocent.

And in their defiant ignorance, they actually fulfilled the promises of their own scriptures.

That is a remarkable thing.

I'm sure Paul probably spent a good deal of time on it in his preaching.

That such was the sovereign plan of God that even the wicked ignorance of men absolutely failed to grasp the royal kingship of Jesus.

And even as they crucified him, they accomplished the perfect salvation that God had promised, that God had promised to them in their scriptures.

You couldn't make it up.

But, verse 30, God raised Jesus.

And for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to all the people.

And then what Paul does is he takes three key promises from the Old Testament to show us what all of this means.

To show us what the resurrection of Jesus confirms and establishes.

So three little bits from the Old Testament.

The first of them is Psalm 2.

You can see it in verse 33.

As it is written in the second Psalm, you are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

So God promised, if you know Psalm 2, that his king would be established on his royal throne forever.

There is a wonderful picture in that psalm of the nations of the world sort of shaking their fists at God and trying to overthrow God's king.

And God seated in heaven, he actually chuckles, he laughs to himself at the futile rebellion of men and women against his king, who he has installed for eternity on his holy hill.

This is God's Son, God's King, we are speaking of.

Now, Isaiah 55, it is a key passage that says that speaks of God's promise to King David, and that all the blessing that he has promised to him, well, that is now available to all of God's people.

If only they will come.

Well, now we know to Jesus.

And then Psalm 16, he continues.

He says in another Psalm, You will not let your holy one see corruption.

A promise with Psalm 55 that God's King, now raised, will reign for eternity, never to face the pangs of death again.

And notice again here the plan of God.

Jesus did not come as a bolt from the blue, he was long promised.

He stepped into a culture that was or should have been waiting for him, waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled.

We've got to understand Jesus in that context.

The design, the plan, the intentionality of God and sending Jesus to save.

And in these little Old Testament references, you get rule, resurrection, and blessing promised.

And through Jesus, it would come.

God planned it, Jesus delivered it.

And Isaiah 55, just with our minds there for a minute, it is one of the most famous prophetic passages in the Old Testament.

It goes on to say these lovely, these quite well-known verses.

He says, Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, he who has no money.

Come and eat.

Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money on that which is not bread, and you labor for that which does not satisfy it?

He's saying, Stop looking around everything else, to other things that will not satisfy you.

But come, come to Jesus, come to the feast which God has prepared.

Listen up and come to me, says God.

And through him I will make with you an everlasting covenant.

My steadfast, sure love for David, now available to all through him.

It is a huge invitation for anyone who would come to God.

It is the feast which he has prepared to come and have food without payment, free, a great feast.

God planned salvation, Jesus delivered salvation, and lastly, you can have salvation.

Verse 38 to the end.

And so we're back at salvation again.

And the idea that some people don't think they need saving.

We looked briefly at the law of Moses and we caught a little bit of it too a few months ago when we were reading James together as a church.

And sometimes back then we saw that God's law acts as a mirror.

Okay, do you remember the picture?

You get out of beds and there's hair and spots and dribble everywhere, and you look in the mirror and it shows you what you are really like.

You could walk around happily all day long, I guess, with toothpaste on your cheek if you don't look in the mirror.

But the law, it acts as a mirror.

You look into it and it exposes our dirtiness.

I guess another sort of image.

It's like, you know, those ultraviolet lights that detectives use at crime scenes.

You swipe it across and you see the dirt, the stains.

Well, the law, you swipe it across your heart and you realise just how stained it is.

The law reveals our sin.

But the problem with the scanner or the mirror is that whilst it shows you the muck on your face, it can't actually deal with it.

You need the sink, you need the soap.

And Paul says to the congregation, let it be known, therefore, brothers, that through this man, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him, by Jesus, the one who rose, the one who rules.

Everyone who believes is freed from everything which you could not be freed by the law.

By the law of Moses.

And that word freed, it is justified.

It's a legal word.

It's a word that speaks of God declaring a person in the right.

And through the death of Jesus, who died to carry God's judgment at sin, God can count us in the right.

If only we will come to Jesus for salvation.

If only we will come and eat without price.

God planned salvation, Jesus delivered salvation.

You can have salvation.

And there is the first sermon of the Apostle Paul.

The sermon that changed everything.

God and his plan, Jesus and His work, and salvation and our need.

That God is the basis of it, that Jesus is the heart of it, that salvation is the aim of it in real Christian preaching.

So true Christian preaching is about God and his plan, about Jesus and His work, about salvation and our need because of our sin.

That should be the essence of our message as a church.

Not about what men and women can achieve or how we can live a better life, but the salvation that we need.

And the God who has planned and delivered it through his Son Jesus.

Is there someone here who has never come to Jesus for that salvation?

Well, today, friends, if that is you, let it be known to you that through this Jesus, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

And by Jesus, everyone who believes in him is freed from every sin which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

It's a glorious message, it's a true message, and it changed the world.

We are being offered free forgiveness by the God who made us.

If you've never taken up that offer of free forgiveness, maybe today is the day.

Maybe pray, maybe speak to someone.

I'll be around at the back afterwards.

Friends, if that is you, if you know that salvation in Jesus, today is the day to love him for it.

To praise him, to thank him.

He has bought your life and bought it forever.

What a savior we have.

Let me pray.

Father in heaven, uh, we thank you for the gospel, the gospel of salvation that you planned and you enacted in your Son.

Help us to see Him today greater and more lovelier than we saw him yesterday.

Help us to trust him more deeply and more holy than we did yesterday.

Would he be our confidence?

Would he be our assurance?

And Father, I do pray that for those of us perhaps who have never known what it is to be saved by Jesus, that you in your mercy would grant that gift of life and life forever in Him.

Amen.