The Book of Acts 13:1-43 Paul's 1st missionary journey - Sabbath preaching

This is Paul's first missionary journey and it's kind of interesting and we'll show a map maybe on the third slide or so in terms of what we're about here. This is part of the first journey so we're going to kind of look at this sequentially. This is a tough section to divide and actually one is a fairly long section that really deals with kind of a historical perspective going from Moses through Christ. Whereas the rest of it is kind of introductory and then there's kind of a prologue to this section in the last two verses.

So let's start with Acts 13, 1-3 and let's go ahead and read those three verses. Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manian which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me, Barnabas, and Saul for the work wherein I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away."

OK, kind of an interesting introduction here. So describe who is present here and what role they may be playing. Let's just kind of speculate here a little bit. Well, let's just list them first. Barnabas, who's a Levite from Cyprus, Jewish heritage. Simeon, or Niger, is of African descent. This is a black-skinned person. That's kind of neat, if you think about it, in terms of the racial mixture very early in the church days. The third is Lucius of Cyrene, which is an area west of Egypt.

And there's a little bit more in the commentaries about, hey, I don't want to take time today to go into that. Maya is kind of interesting. This is the foster brother of Herod Antipas, or the Tetrarch, who is actually the son of Herod the Great. Of course, Herod the Great is the one who is responsible for whose death?

John the Baptist, right? Finally, Saul called Saul the one converted, taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, and now ten years later and soon would be called Paul. So we are thinking about a ten year interval from the time that Paul was converted on the road to Damascus from the period spent in the wilderness if you will with the Lord Jesus Christ and then ultimately time gone by until this first missionary journey began. So we are looking at a ten year schooling that Paul has had or Saul at this point has had before he is ready for his first missionary journey.

So what are these guys all about do you think? Why such an admixture Can you think about what kind of, you know, it's kind of a shift from, you know, we started in Jerusalem, the first nine or 12 chapters or so. Jerusalem's the focus. Now we're we're shifting to this very cosmopolitan city, Antioch. This sort of reflects that shift in. mixture of folks. Not so much Jewish-centric, it's going to be a mixture of Gentile-centric eventually.

And so notice that what occurred here was prayer, which seems reasonable for the new church, fasting, which was again, keep in mind that fasting for believers is really kind of new church stuff. There's really no command that we have to fast these days. That doesn't mean you can't do it. It's kind of new church age kind of stuff and it's fine. I mean they fasted and we don't want to define time to fasting here.

And they laid on hands and you know the laying on hands was kind of, if you will, was there anything miraculous going on here with laying on hands? It's in our identification that we're part of this. We are all part of a group. We are all laying on hands because we all agree with what is going to be happening here. We are blessing you and your activities to follow. There is nothing miraculous in terms of spiritual transition of one person to the other that occurs here with laying on hands.

I wonder if it is like doctors Patients say a lot they like when the doctor just kind of touches them. I'm in a clinic where there's not really a tremendous yield for another quick physical exam on people who are not doing anything but kind of updating their treatment and management going forward. I mean I deal with preventive cardiology in my clinic but I do a five to seven minute exam on everybody and I think there is some merit to that from a physician's perspective even though that exam may not be yielding in any sense.

I wonder if it could be some cultural as well. I mean when they you know the blessing from Abraham to Isaac and you know they have a lot of you know, holding hands and, you know, when they would pass down the inheritance, I'm trying to think of the words, but anyway, there is a lot of touching, yes, to symbolize, to say we are a part of this. Right, I think that is a very good point.

Alright, and the interesting thing that proceeded here was that Saul and Barnabas were isolated from the rest of these guys. So there are three kind of left behind. Saul and Barnabas are chosen and that only they were called by the Holy Spirit. Now lots of interesting questions here. Number one, how did this get communicated? I'm not sure we have answers for any of these. Second question. So what work were they called to? No information. Third point. Who fasted? Like everybody. And presumably.

And who sent them away? everybody else but yeah I mean these are all kind of questions you might have about the details of what Luke is describing here but we don't have answers to these and we don't really need to know them because I think what follows kind of answers part of this what they were called to do okay and presumably everybody there is the people that sent them they all these guys present a little laid hands prayed and fasted so presumably it's a team effort but again not clear exactly in detail what the answers are here. So the second part of this I've labeled the journey begins on to Cyprus and so that's kind of verses 4 through 12. I think maybe what we will do is let's read these nine verses and then the next section is very long and we will not read those. So verse four then.

So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed unto Seleucia and from thence they sailed to Cyprus and when they were at Salamis they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews They had also drawn to their ministry, and when they had gone through the Isle of Paphos, they found a captain-sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus. which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.

But Elimas, the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. And then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.

So there's a lot of interesting scenarios here, and I thought that's why this section was worth reading, despite its length here. All right, so Seleucia. It's the port city for Antioch, and it's really Beginning of a first journey which began, and these are approximate dates. I got these from a colleague. Apparently this period was from approximately April 47 AD, and lasted until they returned to the first Antioch in September of 18 AD. So we're talking about an 18 month journey here. So presumably, if you look at the geography here, you're going to find out that the geography isn't that far a place. And so 18 months, Paul Barbus must have spent a fair amount of time in these various areas that they stopped.

We don't get a good capital sequence as you read the text. And none of the events that ensued almost certainly all on Roman roads by the way. I mean keep in mind that if we're going to travel from Denver to St. Louis, we're not going to take two-lane highways. We're going to take I-70 presumably through Kansas. That's likely the way they traveled on Roman roads. The Romans had built the roads. Why wouldn't you use existing highways to traverse these distances that they were going to be taking to spread the gospel?

And at Salamis, which is a major, and by the way, the largest city on Cyprus, they preach the gospel in the synagogues. So this is a pattern that you see in Paul's ministries. Paul, initially, he goes to the synagogues first, and then ultimately the Gentiles. So this is kind of the pattern that's starting to develop in Paul's missionary journeys. And here in the first one, we see that evidence. I don't understand why the synagogues would let him in. Well, he's a Jew. Yeah, he's a Jewish.

But wouldn't they figure out by his teaching that he's not? They may not have known much about him here. Remember, he's traveling into new areas. The question is, how much has the Lord gotten around about Paul? I mean, he's ten years since conversion, spent most of that time out with the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no internet or YouTube.

Yeah, but I mean like, he would go to the synagogues where they're Jewish, and Paul would be, huh? Paul is a recognized Jewish leader. Yeah, but he would go in and he would start preaching about Christianity and you would think the Jewish leaders would say like, hey, this isn't Jewish stuff, get this guy out of here. Well, that's happened and will continue to happen as time evolves here. Tom, do you have a point? No, I'm just thinking about it. Yes.

I kind of think we have to remember that at that time period the synagogue was a place to discuss theology, a place to... you know, so we don't leave it at today, like somebody coming in to preach and start preaching blasphemy immediately. you know it was people gathered and discussing and so you know and like we've seen in the messages he started out with things that they agree on you know here is our Jewish history and then he went into and he tied that in and so but it was a place of theological discussion and you know things like that so I think our view Like it was a church service. We're going to get to this in a separate section here in a few minutes. This is an oversimplification.

Synagogue first, Gentile second. Within the synagogue, the Torah was read first and then ultimately the prophecies were read and then following that there were leaders or elders of the church that could stand up and volunteer some things to ponder and discuss. And that's where Paul really gets his entrance in the second part of this text we have today, his first sermon. So this is kind of the standard way Paul goes about doing things.

Notice that John Mark was with him. Where'd this guy come from? He didn't show up. Maybe he was already there. Who knows? Well, we weren't told that he was part of the original five, were we? So anyway, John Mark shows up. Yes, Jerry. Well, he learned about him in the other chapter when they were after the right. Whatever. Chapter 12. Because when Peter got out of prison, that's the house he went to was John Mark's mother's house.

And when Paul and Barnabas left Jerusalem, they now had John Mark with him because apparently he is now some type of a. Not questioning the word of God in terms of what's been provided, but we weren't told that were we when these five guys were gathering and laid hands on Paul, Saul, and Barnabas and sent away. There's no John Mark there. John Mark's going to be a problem coming up here. We're going to come to that shortly too, because he's separated from them fairly soon. Paul calls him a deserter. We'll look at that scripture here in a second.

Now on Pathos, which is the capital and where the Roman government was centered in Cyprus, they were confronted by our Jesus, which by the way translated means son of Jesus. And he has another name, a.k.a. Alemus the Sorcerer, which is Arabic. So he's got kind of two names, just like Saul and Paul. We'll come back to that too. And he's declared to be a false prophet.

And then this proconsul, Sergius Paulus, shows up. And he's presumably a Roman leader who really is present in that community at the time. And he kind of just is there too. Was Jesus a popular name? Like were more people? I don't think so. So there were a few Jesus ones. Like Bob? What about Bob? I hear this all the time. I should ask her what about Bob. She will give me an answer for sure.

So Barthes is a false Christ. This is a guy claiming to be He is using the term Jesus, son of Jesus, but yet this guy in no way is a Christian. In fact he is a sorcerer, he is coming with false messages. My question to you is, has this personification changed much today? I mean, think about the way, this is a wolf in sheep's clothing kind of guy, right? And he's kind of in the presence of these people and kind of declaring to be the son of Jesus, but yet he in fact is anything but that. And in a sense, probably Satan's greatest work today is within the body or close to the body in terms of presenting confusion and distrust and lack of loyalty to the Word of God.

Any thoughts there, Paul? I think this is exemplary of maybe what goes on in the church today. All right, good. Now Saul and Barnabas are summoned, in which the Greek term says are called unto. So the question I have for you, and this is kind of a fun thing to discuss, was this because Sergio Paulus wanted to hear the word of the Lord? What do you think? So let's picture the scenario here. We've got Barth Jesus, a sorcerer, this false Christ who's bringing wrong messages and trying to take away from the truth of the Word of God. And then we've got this guy who's kind of shows up who's part of the Roman government. And then he's for some reason asking Saul and Barnabas to come and kind of respond to what's going on.

Yeah, Tom. keeping information about the natives current to him and all that, and maybe having something to do with the things of the Lord, but somewhat peripheral in his case because he has other things for their fish to fry. Roman responsibility. But do you think he has a hunger for the truth of the word of God? Has to be.

I mean, why would he otherwise come to Paul? Well, let me raise another possibility. And I don't know what's right here, because I think that's why I posed the question. This term called does not necessarily imply that this is anything but part of his job description. Maybe he's, you know, Keep in mind, what the Roman leadership is doing is trying to provide surveillance over what's going on in the region. And maybe seeing Saul and Barnabas kind of representing one perspective, and this false Jesus is something else. And just trying to get clarity in terms of, I'm kind of an authority here.

This is our area. What are you guys doing here? Yeah, help me sort this thing out. Is it Jesus this, Barnabas Jesus that, what? Yeah, right. I mean, there could be simply some uncertainty, some lack of clarity. And he basically needs some help. He's not necessarily wanting to get saved. I mean, it's possible.

Maybe he really does have a hunger, but he may not have ever heard the word of God, right? I mean, so I think this is a guy, a Roman consulate who's simply doing his job, kind of paying attention to what's going on around here. Obama does say he sought to hear the word of God in the last part of 7. 7b says, This man summoned Barabbas and desired to hear the word of God. There was a desire to hear the word of God. But that occurred after this false prophet was there. So let me hear the other side.

I'm just painting out a possible scenario that this guy wanted to hear the other side of the story, being very judicial and trying to see what's going on here. Now it's possible that he really had a hunger for the order. I mean, whatever, he's going to get saved.

So it probably doesn't make any difference where it's coming from, right? Now Saul for the first time now is going to be called Paul. Why and why now? The scripture doesn't tell us. But what could it be that they're moving? He said he's the apostle to the Gentiles are moving his ministry to Gentiles. It's going to come and come to fruition basically in this first pyramid here.

So maybe we have a more Gentile kind of name. Yeah, it could be the time of transition of what he's all about, that ultimately ministering to the Gentiles of the non-Jewish world relates to his Roman name, right? His Roman name is Paul. His Jewish name is Saul, right? I mean, in a sense, he had two names. But now the Lord would see him as Paul, ultimately, I think, being able to open the door, perhaps, more so to the Gentile nations. I don't know. I think that's one explanation. The scripture doesn't tell us why now. Any other thoughts?

What was the nobleman's name that he just went to see? Sir, yes, Paul was. Paul was. Since we're in the midst of speculation, perhaps at that point, Paul became acquainted with the ministry that he had just acquainted. You know, we're making a difference here, guys, between who heard the truth and who proclaimed the truth. So I'm going to tell you it was Paul. who was known as Saul that proclaimed the truth, but it was Paulus who heard the truth and believed. And so there became a distinction then to say, now this is the guy that was also called Paul. But it's interesting to note the the perspective with which the author writes this.

Because he didn't say, he went to see, we came and saw, because we were summoned Sergius Paulus, he says, it happened and we came and saw the sorcerer. Well this is not about the sorcerer, as we think through the passage, but it is because it shows that the power of God, the word of God, has dominion over the sorcery, over the Jewish religion, and in the happenstance, we would say, of proclaiming that Sergius Paul had believed because he saw the truth.

Neat. Okay, James doesn't have to take the final exam. All right, so Paul challenges him, he calls him, you're full of guile, you're the son of the devil, you're the enemy of righteousness. What else could he have said to make it clear what Paul thought of this guy, right? Not a lot of translucency here, is there? OK. Why do you continue to pervert the right ways of the Lord? What the heck's wrong with you, anyway?

Paul's never met this guy before, but he identifies who he is immediately. Paul and the power of the Holy Spirit blinded Bar Jesus. And I'm going to ask you, remember Paul? What's Paul remembering here as this sorcerer Bar Jesus is blinded? It happened to me, it can happen to you. And we're told in the scripture that it happened for a period of time. This was not a permanent blindness. Keep in mind, Paul didn't blind him, the spirit did. So keep in mind, and Jan, this is worthwhile for you to understand.

At the time of the early church, there were all kinds of miracles going on like this. But after the church was complete and the Bible was written, ultimately we believe that these miracles don't happen anymore. Not that God can't do them, it's just that for the church age in which we're living, these kind of miraculous things just aren't occurring anymore. So at the time, they were occurring here, there, and everywhere, right? And the disciples, the apostles, Paul exemplified this. Through the power of the spirit, blinding this guy. I'm sure Paul recalled his being blinded on the road to Damascus. How long did that blindness last for Paul?

Three days, I'm guessing. Is that correct? Answer B. I think it was three days, but we have to check back on that. Not important really. This was told here for a period of time, immediately he was blinded, he needed help getting around and it was for a season, right?

All right, and Sergius Paulus believed when the Word of God was preached. So in a sense, he desired to hear the Word of God. I think he wanted to hear it because he wanted to contrast it with what this sorcerer was saying. And by the way, A versus B, I'm going to choose B. I like B better. And I'm a believer. What Paul has to tell me, or saw, I guess Paul now, I'm convinced, is the truth.

Well, do we think that this Sergius Paulus witnessed the blinding of the sorceress? I see no reason why he didn't. He saw it happen. So he actually saw it happen. Verse 12 tells you that. So would this have been an example where the blindness of this gentleman ultimately convinced him to come to the Lord? Well, it said he was astonished. What was he astonished at? Was he astonished at the power and the display? Or was he astonished? The scripture says you're astonished at the doctrine, at the teaching. But it would seem to me that it would be the whole package. I think it was.

We go into the whole aspect of the book. And we see how your faith is displayed through what you do. And we have all sorts of difficulties with understanding our past. But apparently, Sirius Paulus had no problem. He said, their teaching is demonstrated by what they are doing.

And I believe in teaching because I see the playing out in their life. Let me tell you, I got saved. Remember, I am in science. I study science. I am a doctor, but the point is, I got saved by seeing what the Lord did to my first wife in terms of changing her. It was like a pregnancy, it took nine months and I got saved by seeing her get changed by the Word of God.

And so here, this occurred much more suddenly. But I think it is the whole package, I think. The fact that he heard the word, he was seeking the word for truth or for hunger. And here's this guy immediately blinded by the power of the spirit, all wrapped into one, I'm going to believe. Yes, Jeremy. Two quick points. First of all, it's interesting that we mentioned Saul was blinded at Damascus. So in two instances where God is using blindness, for Paul, Saul, it was more for his own benefit.

Part of the power of God, and God used that in his life. In this case, it's not only sort of punitive for this false prophet, but also because of that, God uses it to show his power and this other person gets saved. So I think, I mean just, that tells us the same event, really the same event happened, but we get that perspective that God is using it in much different ways. And I think from our benefit, we can look, it's easy for us to look at something, oh that happened because of this. You know, the prosperity gospel, this person is having hardship, they must be doing something wrong. Well, we see an example where God uses essentially the same event, And he's using it for completely different purposes. And we don't always have that heavenly perspective, but we can know that we don't automatically know why something is happening in our life.

And this is a bit of a sidetrack there, but it's interesting that Paul rebukes this teacher. And I read this article this week about This one guy, this Christian guy was talking about, you know, Jesus went in and threw out the people in the temple and Jesus rebuked the Pharisees.

We need to have that same type of... We need not to be afraid of rebuke sin and evil people when we saw it. And this guy was using it, you know, basically for anybody that's not talking about Christian values. We need to rebuke them. Well, both Jesus and Paul, whenever they rebuke somebody, this was somebody claiming religion or a false... It wasn't just... secular people, it was directed towards religious.

And I think that's important for us to understand. When we see people standing with some type of religious, in a religious framework, saying things, if they're saying false prophet, saying things that are false, we ought not to be afraid to stand up against that. For what we believe is true.

But that doesn't mean that, okay, this secular person is spouting something that has nothing to do with Christianity. That doesn't mean we take that same force in denouncing them. if that makes sense. We shouldn't be so quick to be harsh against the secular world as we should against people that are in the religious world saying things that are against the doctrine of God, if that makes sense.

We don't have justification to you know, oh, this so-and-so political leader is not talking Christian things. Let's be harsh and denounce them and call them evil or vipers or whatever Jesus or Paul would say to the religious leaders. Their harsh language was reserved towards religious leaders, not just political leaders.

I mean, there's teachers who teach about, you know, Christian teachers who teach like kind of the law stuff. I mean, we'd be rebuking everybody. You know what I mean? Well, I'm more talking about, we like, we can look at Paul and say, oh, look how the harsh language Paul used and then just apply that to everybody that's not teaching truth.

I think their harshness was reserved towards religious leaders. And I think we need to be careful when we're standing up against falsehood that if it's an unbeliever, should we have the same amount of directness of speech that we would towards somebody who is claiming to be a Christian and saying false doctrine?

That's all I'm trying to say. I think the point's well made. It's false teaching that's being challenged here by Paul. It's not the individual, it's what he represents, right? Because, I mean, you could kind of, like the whole Catholic religion, you'd say there are believers in the Catholic religion and, you know, and it would be the whole religion. Is that what you mean or no? You can make general statements about any type of sect, cult, religion, denomination. We could say Episcopalians. Let's generalize about Episcopalians. Let's generalize about Lutherans. We don't need to go there.

All of those bodies are individual people. There may be believers within each of those groups. Just in context, I think False teaching is something we need to be alerted to and challenge false teaching. Within the Christian body itself, the preaching of laws, the way of life is not doctrinally sound, correct? But the way we deal with that is a little different than it would be with someone outside of religion like Jesus here who is preaching true non-gospel related messages.

We need to move on, we have a lot to cover here. There is no more job description for this guy. One very important way the Lord reaches people is ultimately through circumstances where in fact the truth is portrayed. Here it is a little bit more traumatic because of the nature of the blindness that occurred in Bar Jesus. So all these things, as James said, wrapped up into one. We really have a message that's transmitted very clearly. All right, here's this third section that I'm going to call The Journey Continues, and it relates to Moses through Jesus being reviewed. And we're not going to look at these texts.

So let's take a look and see where Paul's at. So here's the map that you have. So here's Antioch, where he started. and here is Salamis on Cyprus, and here is Papos here, and then he travels here to the mainland, and this little red area is I think the Pamphlovia, which is I think an island off the mainland, although they don't identify where this is on this map, and I got this out of the Blue Letter Bible maps, and so they didn't say what 5 was, but here is 6, back in Antioch here. The Antioch we are looking at now is a different Antioch from whence these journeys began. I think that is important to understand.

Now, John Barth is now back in Jerusalem. So something happened here. And let's just take a peek at that. John Barth, Paul calls him a deserter. Let's look at Acts 15, 36 to 38. I'm not sure who's going to be teaching this, probably a month or six weeks from now. But anyway, let's look at those three verses in Acts 15. If anybody pulls those up, go ahead and read them, please. And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again, and visit our brethren in every city, where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with him John, whose surname was Mark.

But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And that was all. OK. So using the term deserters may be a bit too punitive. But nevertheless, that's kind of the way Paul sees it. Keep in mind, I think Jeremy set the stage for what was going on previously.

And the question is, why? I think the issue is, by the way, John Mark was Barnabas's cousin. And the fact that those two would hang out together then and be additionally effective in spreading the word of God means that the Lord may have used this relationship between John Mark and Paul in a favorable way. In other words, it's kind of death of a vision but breath of a new vision in terms of additional ministry that didn't have Paul and John Mark together. Now just think about this a little bit.

As brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, You know, like it or not, there are probably personalities that we are really comfortable with, we have a lot of sharing, we really enjoy their time, and there are others, maybe, there just doesn't seem to be that same kind of, you have love for them in the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, love is unequivocal, it's not based on personality or character, but the issue is, we don't hang out with the same people for reasons, and I think that Paul and John Mark just didn't hit it off for some reason, but that doesn't mean the Lord is not using both of them. Right? I mean ministry can take place by being led by the Holy Spirit. The Lord didn't say that Paul and John Mark had to be linked at the hip here. And so I just think that there's something going on here that maybe Paul doesn't want John Mark as part of his ministry and John Mark is Barnabas's brother and Barnabas wanted John Mark as part of his. That is speculation, but I would just simply say that it is being human, right? The Lord is going to work through various relationships in very different ways to ultimately bring glory to himself.

I raised the question, is this an important issue? I think people could make it an important issue if they wanted to, but I don't see it really as anything other than two guys not getting along very well and maybe having a different view about how the word should be spread.

Any other thoughts here? Is this something we need to dwell on? The fact that it's all in one market and we'd like to hang out together? The scripture doesn't dwell on it either. It's in the greatest detail. So why should we? Yeah, so we don't need to turn into a Harper Valley PTA. Well stated, Tom. You also don't have to take the final exam. All right. This Antioch is not from whence they departed, but of Pisidia.

And by the way, this is identified as one of the first churches in the Galatian area. This is the location which is identified as the first Galatian church. And again, the synagogue is first entered. And notice now what Paul reveals to the men of Israel, the sermon. And here's Acts 15, 16 through 41 is the sermon, Paul's first sermon. He begins, as was typical, the Torah was first read, and then readings of the prophets with comments from elders to follow.

Look who stepped forward. I got something I'd like to say here. In other words, I'm not sure they knew who this guy was, but he was probably recognized as a Jewish leader. Paul didn't sign in at the door indicating he was now a born again believer. He's just showing up with a Jewish leadership. The Torah is read, the prophecies are reviewed, and here, I've got something to say here. And he was recognized as being a person who could ultimately voice his opinion.

Alright, and the fathers of Israel were chosen and exalted in the wilderness. He begins by taking the Jewish men, these are all men here by the way, remember the Jews meet as men and women, they don't meet together in their services. So these Jewish men, some leaders, some just attendees, are now brought back to the fathers of Israel. Who are the fathers of Israel? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I should have really noted this section. It's not Moses forward. I probably should have said Abraham forward. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And after many battles versus seven nations in Canaan, if you want to look at those seven nations that were defeated, Deuteronomy 7.1 lists all those nations that ultimately the Lord allowed the Israelis to be victorious over.

And God gave them the promised land for about 450 years. So Cain was the promised land that Israel presumably enjoyed and became productive and fostered for about four and a half centuries. Then came judges and then the prophet Samuel. And then, oh, by the way, they wanted a king, so they got Saul. And Saul hung out in his kingship for about 40 years.

And then came along David. Notice here in the text, a man after God's own heart. who would ultimately be proven to be the seed for the Lord Jesus Christ. So David gets wrapped up pretty succinctly in terms of someone they would identify with that was really the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ to come. The son of Jesse, da da da da da da. Then Paul goes a thousand years forward. So he jumps a thousand years forward. Who does he jump to?

John the Baptist. John the Baptist was the first to preach the baptism of repentance. It was not his shoes that they should look at, he is walking into those that would follow him, which of course was the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jewish men who fear God were then challenged. Notice the qualification. The Jewish men who feared God. Now maybe there were some there that didn't fear God. But anyway, those who feared God were challenged.

Brethren, children of the stock of Abraham and those among you that fear God, are these being addressed in verse 26? Are they the same ones or a different group than verse 27? What do you think? Let's read 26 and 27. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew and thought, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. So are these the same two groups in 26 and 27? Or are they the same? Are they the same or are they the same? Are they different? Yeah, the one is the group there, the synagogue. The other is the Jews in Jerusalem. Right. OK.

And so who fears God? Well, I think that his comment there is more of a convicting challenge. Do you say you're here, gathered together by the word of God? Do you fear God? If you do, then respond appropriately to the word of God. If you say that you believe in God, then respond to what he has taught you through the prophets, and respond accordingly. I believe he's saying that not so much that he knows their hearts, but more as a challenge to say, if you do believe this, Okay, so the Jews that crucified Christ are a different group of Jews who did not fear God. Is that our conclusion here? I think he's drawing a contrast here. you need to respond, not like these who did not believe and fulfilled these prophecies about Christ that we're demonstrating to you here.

Right, and I think that's the message here. We're talking about two groups of people here. You who fear, maybe you're willing to hear more about this, right? But by the way, your buddies back there in Jerusalem obviously were those that didn't appropriate this. And there's a distinction to make.

As we mentioned earlier, the religion of Roman Catholicism Well, the Pope says, and so I must, do you believe God? Then don't worry what the Pope says, okay? You have a responsibility before God to act accordingly. And so he says, you're going to hold back to Jerusalem? Don't hold to what Jerusalem believes.

If you fear God, then believe what you know the Word of God says, and then act accordingly. You have a responsibility before God not to base your faith on anybody else's teachings. but upon what the word of God says, and if you fear God, act on that and not upon what so and so says.

And James, don't you think that's why he begins with the fathers? To relate entirely from Abraham all the way through the prophets, I mean the judges, Samuel, the king, David, all the prophecies. He has to establish He has to establish a point of authority and a point of relationability with them. That's a word. It should be if it's not.

Just to say here's the authority that I have because we have a similar relationship going back here. But here's the authority that I have because you know these teachings that have been taught to you. And so now you have a responsibility not to what any person says but to where the authority lies and that's in the Word of God. I also think it's interesting that he points out that this information is relayed to them every Sabbath. That's good. I like that. The Torah, the prophecies.

By the way, who's this Lord Jesus Christ anyway? Your friends back there in Jerusalem. By the way, remember, we all know this, but we need to be reminded, we all crucified Christ Jesus by following the shirt of God's glory. The Jewish people were instrumental in that occurring. Pilate approved it, but yet my sin, James's, Margaret's, everybody else is what crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, it's easy to point a finger at the Jewish leadership. And in fact, it's all of us who are responsible for his death.

Now, Paul kind of gets to the point here. He says, but God raised him from the dead. Now, so in terms of the foundation of biblical Christianity, Resurrection is everything, isn't it? The prophecies are worthless unless Christ is raised from the dead. And Paul now hammers that home. But that was also prophesied. Well, sure it was. But that's what he's saying here. So, all of these other things, you believed all of this. and here now but God raised him from the dead and by the way they know that was prophesied.

And then he takes them back to David again in terms of using the Psalms and we will not look at that now because of time but a couple of very key verses in the Psalms talks about how David was really the seed of the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of how this prophecy has been fulfilled. Alright, and then the epitome of the sermon, and we're going to read this, Acts 13, 38, and 39. Be it known unto you, therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins, and by him, meaning the Lord Jesus Christ, everyone that believes is justified from all things, from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. Boy, talk about the grace law contrast right in their face. The law of Moses is great, how you doing at it, right?

But ultimately, it's this death and resurrection that ultimately gives the foundation for belief. It's interesting how Paul carries it through all his epistles. I mean, here he is, the minute we meet who Paul is, he's hammering with that and keeps on doing it. all right and then Paul saw Paul now warns the Jewish men, behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish, for I work a work in your days, and a work which you shall in no ways believe if you declare it unto you. So this is kind of a warning. Here's the truth now. You guys getting it? This is really something that you need to hear.

So what happened after the sermon was completed? Some of the Jews, we're looking at verses 42 and 43, now some of the Jews and the devout proselytes who presumably are converted Gentiles, right? Is that your understanding of proselytes? These are Gentiles who became Jews? That's my understanding. So there would be Gentiles in the temple? I don't know whether they entered the Jewish leadership or not, but what do we understand about these guys?

One says when the Jews were gone out of the synagogues. Yeah, I've got the impression they were outside the synagogue. And probably could hear. And actually probably could hear. There are no windows. They're just holes where the windows are. And they probably could hear everything that was being said.

Let's look at these verses, and when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. So this is one option. By the way, I'll show up next week, you know, chapter two or whatever. So, you know, I heard it, you know, maybe next week I'll hear it again.

And now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue the grace of God. So I seem to see two groups of people. One is people who want to delay and kind of come back and see what else is up for them next week. Then we got the people who kind of hang out with Paul and Barnabas. they really were a bit more impacted by what they were exposed to. And so ultimately, those who remained with Paul and Barnabas, I think, were those that were urged to continue in the grace of God. I don't know that Paul left that first group with that same message. He probably did. But anyway, I think that pertains to the second group. Yes?

Could we also allow the concept of, please stay, teach us more, instead of, oh, well, we'll hear you next week. I mean, in foreign and missionary fields, you know, you go and preach and they say, no, please stay, please stay. And I kind of get more of that idea. But I mean, we could allow that because this is something, you know, this is pretty exciting. This is the Messiah we're talking about here.

The reason I think I leaned a little bit differently towards this group of people is that we're not told about a third group who could care less, right? I mean, that first group could be some of those, but also could be some who were very skeptical and unwilling to accept the truth at that time. I don't know. I mean, that's entirely speculation.

Well, then, Bob, you know, in 44, the next Sabbath, the whole city shows up. Everybody shows up. Well, can you imagine how they talked about this? This was life changing. I want everyone to note that Roger himself, next week has assigned himself nine verses and he's given me 43 today. Now I don't want you to have to be led like the first prophet for wrong information but I'll let you think about this one and Roger has the condensed part which will end in heaven.

All right, any other points about today's lecture? I think it's interesting that Luke says, they encourage us to continue in the grace of God. Have we seen that phrase? We haven't. That's a good point. So the grace of God now showing up in Paul's ministry for the first time. And let's define grace versus law. Be unlimited. He's American, and you're a guy based on the total work of Jesus on the cross. Okay, let's capture that for the microphone, Tom. The unlimited, unmerited favor of God based totally on the completed work of Jesus.

How does that get applied to our lives? Does that mean, should I continue in sin that grace may abound? No. God forbid, right? No. Grace is that mat we walk on that assumes that we are fully righteous present in person and in spirit with the Lord Jesus Christ and that there is no condemnation. There is no living up to meet the standards of any legal principle.

It is just a platform of grace that requires our belief as much as coming to be saved, doesn't it? I mean, there are three components to salvation. One is believing the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, resurrected, and was risen and positioned above. The second is living the Christian life, which is one of belief also.

How do I live this life? Well, not by making a list and making sure I'm completing it, but more by trusting him to live his life out through us, by our faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit. And the third, and should I continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. No, it doesn't give us a license to sin, but what we do, we confess, move back in fellowship, and then get restored and move forward. So there's no looking back to say that, gee, Christ may have to die again to pay for that thought or that need.

And the third is having eternal life. And the first two are easy. Getting saved is easy. I believe in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And third, I believe I have eternal life. It's the second that challenges our faith, isn't it? OK, let's close in prayer. Roger, why don't you start? Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time today, Lord. We thank you for the blessings we have in our Savior. Thank you for these wonderful words of false missionary journey there. And thank you that you're in control of all things. In Christ's name, Amen.