"A Light for the Gentiles" (Acts 13:42-52)

Transcript:

Well, open now with me to God's word in Acts, chapter 13, verses 42 through 52. If you're using a Pew Bible, that's on page 1096. 1096.

Hear now the word of the Lord from Acts 13, starting in verse 42. 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. The next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.

And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying it was necessary that the Word of God be spoken first to you, since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life. Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles, for so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. 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. And 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. 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. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Please be seated.

And as you're taking your seats, let's pray together as we ask for God's spirit to guide us in our study of the Word. This morning. Pray with me. Gracious Father, we pray that you would give us your spirit again today. We are hard hearted, we are blind, we are deaf to the precious promises of Christ in the Gospel until your Spirit moves, until he works.

And so we pray that your spirit would again give us hearts to understand and eyes to see and ears to hear all that is contained in the good news of the Gospel of your son Jesus our Savior. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, it's been a few weeks since we have been in our study of the Book of Acts. Several weeks ago, we looked at the sermon that had preceded this, and then we looked at that passage again on Easter Sunday, because that Passage contains several Old Testament prophecies about the resurrection of Jesus.

But since then we've been in a stewardship sermon series. And now we're returning to our study of the Book of Acts and to give a little bit of lay of the land to reorient ourselves to what's happening here. We are beginning the section of the Book of Acts that is continuing the missionary expansion of the Gospel to the far ends of the earth. Remember, Jesus commissioned his disciples to be his witnesses in first Jerusalem and Judea and then from there into Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. And this is where we are starting to see the expansion of the Gospel all the way to the ends of the earth.

But what we are seeing here in this passage, and we are going to see then this become a model, what we are going to see in an ongoing way is that wherever they go, they first find the Jews. They first find the synagogues where the Jews are gathered. And with the Jews we find also a number of Gentile converts in various ways. Some had been circumcised and fully integrated into the life of the Jewish believers. Some were God fearers, Some were devout converts of varying levels of integration into these Jewish communities.

But there were Jews and Gentiles gathered, and wherever they went, the apostles and the missionaries that went out would preach the gospel first to these groups of people. But then what we are going to see, just as we see here in this passage, is that there are very different responses among both Jews and Gentiles to the preaching of the Gospel. And everywhere we see there are going to be really only two responses. Some will reject Christ and some will rejoice in Christ as he is held out in the preaching of the Gospel. Again, there are only these two choices.

But again and again, wherever the Gospel is preached, we are going to see those two polarizing choices emerge again and again and again because the world divides around Christ. This was true 2000 years ago and encapsulated in the statement of faith, the creed that we confess this morning. The world continues to be divided around the truths and that we confess about our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So that's our theme this morning to consider that the world divides around Christ. And this morning we are going to consider really only two parts to this text.

First, rejecting Christ in verses 42 through 46, rejecting Christ, and then second, rejoicing in Christ in verses 47 through 52. Those are the only two choices. Rejecting Christ and rejoicing in Christ. So let's start with rejecting Christ starting in verses 42 through 46. Before we get to verse 42, though, I want to remind us of the dramatic cliffhanger that we were left on in verses 40 and 41.

After Paul had preached this tremendous sermon in the previous section, preaching Christ through the Scriptures of the Old Testament, he pauses and ends on a cliffhanger, calling them not to miss the goodness of what had been preached to them, and indeed warning them of the danger of ignoring what he had preached to them in verse 40. Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the prophets should come about. Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish, for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe even if one tells it to you. And what Paul wanted them to grapple with is the idea that this work that God had done in their midst had now been told to them. It had been announced, it had been preached and proclaimed to them.

And so the question he was forcing upon them is, what will you do with this message? And at the very beginning, there's a powerful effect among the first hearers of this message. And so we read in verse 42, as they went out, the people begged. This is not the word simply for asked, inquired, you know, sort of the polite inquiries. As a preacher who shakes a lot of people's hands in a lot of different churches over the years, after the sermon, there is a polite.

That was very. That was a good sermon. Thank you very much. And there is a different kind of a response among those whom the spirit of God has really grabbed. Now, you don't have to be effusive every week.

I don't need that. I'm not searching and fishing for compliments as you make your way. I'll be at that door if you want, but I'm not looking for that week by week. What I'm simply saying is that sometimes the Spirit of God gets a hold of people and you can tell the difference. And here people are begging, tell us more.

We want to hear more about this Jesus. And we read that the group of people is both many Jews and Devout converts in 43. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas. They're not only begging to hear it next Sabbath day, they want to hear more. Now tell us more about this.

Please tell us more about Jesus. And so Paul and Barnabas continued to talk with them, urging them to continue in the grace of God. Now, before we go further, I want to ask, how are you responding to the preaching of the Word of God. Does God's spirit really prick your hearts today? Do you feel the Spirit of God grab a hold of you to convict your of your sin and appoint you to faith in Jesus Christ, maybe for the first time, maybe again after a season of backsliding, or maybe for the thousandth regular week where again and again you are refreshed and reminding yourself that Christ still saves his people.

I want to urge you, continue in the grace of God. Do not quench the Spirit of the Lord today. If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Don't allow the precious promises of the Gospel of Jesus to fall onto your hearts like hard soil to be plucked up and drawn away. Like the birds of the air would pluck up seeds, taken away so they take no root in your hearts.

Beg, demand to get satisfaction for your soul, peace for your conscience. Continue in the grace God. Because a lot can happen between now and the next Lord's day. Especially as we see in this passage, verse 44. The next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

Apparently news of what had been preached had spread. Apparently especially many Gentiles had come. Because we read in verse 45 that when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.

Now this was a place again they're in Antioch, Pisidia, and this is a place that was primarily Gentile. We don't know exactly how large this synagogue was, but I'm sure the Jews who are regularly gathered there, like many of you, have the pews that they are regularly seated in where they sit. And here, these faithful pious Jews who had come week by week, Sabbath by Sabbath, had come again into the synagogue to participate in the worship services. And there are Gentiles sitting in their seats. Now I'm sure none of you would be offended if you came in and some of you were sitting in your seats.

I'm sure there would be a very different responsiveness if the unwashed masses of lancing in the surrounding areas. We're sitting in your spot. But here these Jews are furious about it. And as they see these unclean Gentiles in their spots in the synagogue, they're quite angry at what's happening. Who are these Paul and Abarnabus missionaries who have come and disrupted their normal week to week activities and they realize they must be the problem, they must be the one who is threatening our way of life.

And so they begin to contradict the preaching of the Gospel. By Paul and they start reviling him. But although they are reviling and speaking against the message of the gospel that's being proclaimed, notice that this isn't a principled objection. They're not drawing out fine theological distinctions. They're not arguing in the face of what the Scriptures teach.

If they think the Scriptures actually point in a different direction, they are mad because people are in their spots in church.

There is a jealousy here that is not in according to knowledge, a zeal that does not align with the truths of the Gospel. And Paul and Barnabas speak out boldly, saying it was necessary that the Word of God be spoken first to you. You are the heirs of this promise. You are the one to whom these promises have been announced for centuries, and they have been fulfilled. And yet you reject Christ held out to you this morning.

And since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. Now, before we get to that, two questions. First of all, are you submissive to God's spirit as he glorifies his son, Jesus Christ? Is your heart made willing by the grace of God to continue in that grace of God, of God as he leads you further toward Christ? Are you eager to repent from the sins that entangle you in order that you might embrace Christ by faith and walk in new obedience in grace?

Or question number two. Are there parts of your life, and maybe your way of life, your lifestyle, your identity that make you resistant this morning to submitting to God's spirit? Places where your objection is not principled, not I think the Scriptures truly teach something different. But I have always done this thing this way and I do not want to change. Or maybe you flip it and say, God would not make me sacrifice something that I have always enjoyed so much, that's always meant so much to me.

Are there parts that make you resistant to what God is calling you in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ and the Gospel? One Response to the Gospel clings to the things of this earth like we talked about last week in the evening service, set your mind on the things above, not on the things below. Another sets our minds to the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. Where is your heart in relation to Christ this morning? What we are called to be are people who rejoice in Christ.

And this brings us to the second section of the sermon this morning in verses 47 through 52. Rejoicing in Christ. Now again, remember the Book of Acts. Jesus commanded that the Gospel first be preached To Jews. To Jews in Jerusalem and in Judea.

Before, the gospel would later go to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. But now as the gospel is beginning to go to the ends of the earth, and now as the Gospel is preached to these Jews. And Paul in verse 46 says, you have turned aside from this and judged yourself unworthy of eternal life. He says, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles, if you will not receive this Gospel, behold, we are extending it to the farthest reaches of the earth to say among the nations that the Lord reigns. And they say in verse 47 that this is what the Lord has commanded them.

Now the passage they preach in verse 49 or in verse 47, they are quoting Isaiah 49, 6 and this is really a verse that is prophesying the role of Jesus. He says, it's too light a thing that I should make you a light of salvation to the Jews only. But I have made you a light for the Gentiles so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. But they are acknowledging this was for Jesus, and in this commission, for the Messiah who was to come, our commission, the Lord has commanded us to proclaim who God has made his son Jesus to be the Messiah, not for the Jews alone, but for Gentiles bringing salvation to the end of the earth. Jesus is so precious and glorious that his light cannot be hidden under a bushel.

It has to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth. Now, again, how does your heart respond to this word? How does your heart respond to this gospel? Are you responding with stingy concern to others that you really don't care would actually come in to disturb our peace and quiet here? Or are you responding to this with joy, not only that the Gospel goes out to others, but that the gospel has come to someone so undeserving as you and as me?

We need this Gospel. And Jesus proclaims it to the ends of the earth. And the Gentiles here rejoice. They hear that the Gospel is for them too, and they rejoice. Verse 48.

And when the Gentiles heard heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Now, presumably, especially as we saw earlier, there were some Jews who did believe, who begged to hear more of it. But here we see that not all the Gentiles, only as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. There was a mixed group that is coming out of this.

But the emphasis here is that the Predominant number of those who believed were Gentiles. And they rejoiced that the Gospel had come to them. And in verse 49 we read that just as earlier, the whole synagogue was filled up, especially with Gentiles to hear the word lord, in verse 49 we read that now this first crop of Gentiles in this area that have come to faith, now they cause the word of the Lord to spread throughout the whole region. It's spreading like wildfire from one believer and one new believer to another. But as the Gospel continues to make progress in the region, just as it had been making progress in the synagogue caused there to be resistance.

So as it spreads in the region again there is more resistance. And we read in verse 50, 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. But they, the missionaries Paul and Barnabas, shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And far from being discouraged by this, we read in verse 52, and the disciples were filled, filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Just as we have so often seen in the Book of Acts, when persecution arises, it does not crush, it does not cause to despair those who are persecuted.

There is a special experience of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that He gives to his people in the midst of the suffering of persecution that causes them to rejoice in a way that is unexplainable according to the flesh. And in the midst of persecution, they know they are exactly where the Lord Jesus wants them and that he will indeed protect and provide for them. Well, how should we respond to this passage? This passage is after the sermon, and we are reading a passage about the responsiveness to that gospel sermon. So how then should we respond to this passage about a response to gospel preaching?

Well, the first application that we have to consider is just to ask, how do you respond to this gospel proclamation? I've been asking this the whole sermon. How are you responding to the Spirit of God as you hear the word of God, does this cause a desire to keep others out? Or is it a rejoicing that someone like you will would be let in the glorious gospel that is held out in the Scriptures. The gospel that Paul had preached in the previous passage is that the eternal Son of God, God, the Son who is very God of very God, that the eternal God, Son of God, loved the world so much that he willingly took to himself our nature.

The the one who is free from pain. The one who is free from suffering, the one who is free from the anxieties of life, came into this world so that he could be burdened and crushed under the weight of the sin of ours that he took upon himself so anxious in the garden of Gethsemane that he sweat blood as he looked upon the great task that he would have to do in going to the cross, suffering for the sin of the world. He, the spotless, innocent, perfect son of God, had to bear under the wrath of God for sinners like you and me. And in humility he undertook all of this for us and for our salvation. So he died on the cross and three days later was raised from the dead for our salvation.

And this salvation is what is being proclaimed to the ends of the earth. What mission started 2000 years ago, recorded in this history, continues to this day here in Lansing and the surrounding areas, and to the ends of the earth as Jesus Christ is preached. Does this message thrill your soul? Does this message give you hope for eternal life? Does this message give meaning to your suffering?

Or in your heart, do you resist something about it? Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the prophets should come about. Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish, for God is doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe even if one tells it to you. How are you responding to the Gospel of God? The second application question is then how do you share this gospel with others?

I think we see a number of biblical principles that are really helpful as we think about evangelism. We are called to go to the lost, to bring this word of God to the lost. And one of the simple things we see that these early believers are doing as they first come to hear and embrace the gospel. Even if you know very little about the gospel, one of the things that you can do is to invite someone to come the next Sabbath day. Invite someone to come the next Lord's Day to hear the preaching of the Gospel.

It would be wonderful if some of you were displaced from your pews next week because this was filled up with the unwashed masses from the surrounding area. And I pray that you will handle it graciously. If you don't get to sit in your normal spot, let's all smile and surround with welcoming. Those who have come next week, ask, invite, go into the hedges and the byways and compel them to come in. You know people who need this message of the Gospel.

Invite them to come hear it. But how then are we to go and continue to Go to these groups of people who maybe you've asked once and they say no, and maybe you've asked again and they say no, and maybe you've had a chance to tell the Gospel and they still say no. Well, as often as we are given opportunities, we see the Christian church continue to take those opportunities.

But there comes a time when the rejection is so fierce that the early church models what it looks like to move on. They shake the dust from their feet and they move on. And we see this especially and have to consider this in relationship to the Jews, because one of the patterns that is going to continue all the way to the end of the Book of Acts is we will see a persistent, persistent rejection by the Jews to the Messiah who has come from the Jews. Salvation is from the Jews, as Jesus the Jew proclaimed. Why then are the Jews rejecting their Messiah?

And how are we to respond from this? Well, we see Paul saying that they have themselves judged themselves unworthy of eternal life. And that causes these missionaries to go to the Gentiles. And as they are leaving this area, when the persecution stirred up by the Jews gets particularly hot, they shake the dust off their feet, just as Jesus told them to do, to bear witness against that place. But peek ahead to the very next verse.

Peek ahead to Acts, chapter 14, verse 1. When they come to Iconium. Now at Iconium, they enter together into the Jewish synagogue. The very first place they go again and again and again, is to bring the Gospel to the Jewish people whom God had chosen, with whom God had made his covenants, out of whose race God raised up his Messiah, Jesus Christ. And yet we are told there's this ongoing back and forth tension.

Or we are told, for example, in Romans 9:1:5, Paul wrestles with this particularly. He says he wishes that he could be accursed so that his fellow Jewish countrymen, his brothers and sisters, according to the flesh, would come to faith in Jesus, because to them belongs Jesus, the Messiah. But yet, Romans 9:6, not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham simply because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of promise who are counted as offspring.

The idea here is that God has chosen this people, but it is only those who believe in Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, who will be saved. And because of this, Paul was so relentless in bringing the Gospel to the Jews. And we should too. Because salvation has come from the Jews and salvation will only come through faith in Christ, whether for Jews or for Gentiles. And yet we live in a world with rising anti Semitism in the world and even in our country.

And sometimes the justifications given for the hatred of the Jews is because of their historic resistance to the gospel of Jesus. But that's not the responsiveness of the apostles. The example they give is that even when the Jews in a particular area reject the gospel, even when the dust has to be shaken off their feet to specific Jews, that never extends to the rejection of the entire race of the Jews. God has not rejected them. God continues to send missionaries to call them to faith in their Messiah, theirs and ours.

A light even to the Gentiles. We are called then to continue to bring the gospel to all, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. Because we will be rewarded to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. And we will be condemned to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. For God shows no partiality and we should not either.

But the continued aspect that we think about evangelism is that there are times when certain people that we interact with will reject Christ and sometimes fiercely so. What are we to do? Well, as often as God gives us opportunities, and God may later bring up opportunities that he doesn't now we should open our mouths to tell people about Jesus. But what we see also here is that we cannot get hung up and fixated and certainly not adopt some kind of defeatist mindset. Well, they haven't believed.

So now I'm not going to share the gospel with with anybody. That's not the way to go. Because Jesus says in John 10:16, he says, I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd.

So often we think about evangelism, as do I have enough knowledge and skill to convince the this person to follow Jesus. That's not what we are doing. We are sharing with others the gospel of the Messiah, the gospel of the Savior, and to those who have been appointed to eternal life, to as many as been appointed to eternal life. When we speak this gospel of Jesus, they will hear the voice of their good shepherd. And they will respond not to me, not to you, but to Christ.

So continue to preach the gospel. Continue to share the gospel. If some don't listen, go to others. Because there are sheep who don't know that they are sheep. They are sheep without a shepherd, waiting to hear the voice of their shepherd calling them home.

Pray for God to open hearts. Take whatever opportunities God gives you. Invite people to come next week to hear the Gospel of Jesus and continue to pray that God's gospel will go to the ends of the earth to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles. Until God brings in the fullness of his people. Until the day when Christ himself returns, brothers and sisters, continue in the grace of God.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, what hope we have in the gospel that you are doing something in our midst that we could never understand and would not believe even if you told it to us. Give us faith to believe what you do. Tell us. And we pray that you would cling to the promises of Christ, that we would look to him for salvation, to be bold and faithful in the ongoing spread of the Gospel of Jesus.

Wherever we have opportunity. Return your chosen people of the Jewish race into the fold and continue to bring in the full number of the Gentiles until the day when our Lord Jesus returns. It's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.