What Will You Do With The Word — Acts 13

0:00 Looking forward to to our bible study this morning. As as Devin mentioned, we're gonna be in the in the book of Acts. Wanna pray as we as we begin. I'd like to draw your attention to one of the songs that we sang, the the the one Hosanna. It said, I see a generation rising up to take their place with selfless faith.

0:22 I see a near revival stirring as we pray and seek. And so this morning, I just thought those were appropriate words as as we look to the scripture, we see what God's doing in this book of acts and relate it to what God's doing in in our life as believers here at WBF. So let's pray. Our heavenly father, we we do acknowledge ourselves before you this morning. We we we acknowledge and and recognize our full need and dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ.

0:57 We recognize our full need and dependence on on the very fact that we are we're sinners. We need a savior. We're... The Bible describes us as lost. We need a path.

1:13 We need our way. The scripture would give us... Would be that lamp, that light to our feet, that lamp into our path. And, father, we know... We're coming together this morning.

1:25 We need fed we need fed. We need nourishment. We need we need clarity on on what to do next in our in our own lives. And so as we look at the word this morning, father, we pray that you would you would answer our prayer. We pray that you would raise us up as a generation, whether we're young or old, to seek the face of God and to walk in a way well pleasing to you.

1:52 Father, we pray just now and commit ourselves to you in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Well, you can take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 13. That's where we're gonna be. That's where we're picking up.

2:03 But as we... As you turn to Acts chapter 13, I wanna do a little recap of of just kinda... Well, I I asked this... I asked myself this question. Where are we in the book of Acts?

2:15 You know, we might say we're about halfway through, but where where are we in the book of acts? I wanna remind us, you'll... Doug Torok challenges to to remember what's the first... The very first verse of of acts. And it says this, the former treaties I have made, Luke is writing this, old Theopolis, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up.

2:41 After that, he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. And so we think about the book of Acts, and we think about it in this context is that it's Luke writing. Luke Luke writing, he writes his gospel account of Jesus' birth, his birth, his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection. And then we have this part two, if you will, the book of Acts where Luke, he he picks up where Jesus ascends, and then he's he's go... He's got the holy spirit here in the earth going forward.

3:15 And so that's that's what we see in in this in this in this very first chapter. Verse eight says this, but you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, under the Lord Jesus Christ, both in Jerusalem, in in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And we look at that as like a little, maybe a key verse for the book of Acts, and we think about the the gospel starting in Jerusalem and expanding to do Judea, expanding to Samaria, and then ultimately to the uttermost parts of the earth. Now, as we've been tracking through Acts, we're seeing that occur. Right?

4:01 We're seeing that happen. And so, we think about the first 12 chapters and we just cut we cut out the first 12 chapters. We we recognize and notice Peter is right there as kind of a prominent figure, right? Peter Peter steps up. He he's instrumental in seeing the seeing Judas replaced.

4:22 Peter after the day of Pentecost gives gives a gives a clarification message. These guys aren't drunk as you think but here's what's happening. You know, Peter goes through. Peter and John, heal that man. Silver and gold, have I none.

4:37 You say, we got this and, you know, Peter is an instrumental figure in this first half. Now, there's other people coming along there too, but now remember, if we if we look at chapters one through 12, we'll notice that Peter has primarily been working in Jerusalem, Judea, and and just starting to edge into Samaria. You know, Peter was a was a critical link between seeing the gospel go. Samaria, you know, was the was the half breed, you know, like the the un... The the the ones that the Jews wouldn't wanna go to, but Peter had the...

5:13 God used Peter to help bridge that gap. The gospels even going to Samaria. You know? And so we see Peter in this way. Primary...

5:46 And we noticed that he's in the region... He starts going in the regions beyond Jerusalem, beyond Judea, beyond Samaria. And now we're starting to get just the very early fringes of the uttermost parts of the earth, referring back to Acts chapter one and verse eight. Now what have we what have we heard so far? Well, we've heard three major sermons in the book of Acts.

6:14 The first one I alluded to was Peter after the day of Pentecost where he stands up and he he he just he preaches the gospel. The second one, we read about in Acts chapter seven is Stephen. Stephen, I mean, that's a big long sermon. Who who preached that? Was that Don?

6:34 I think it was Don that got to got to do the the Stephen's sermon. Long sermon but still, I mean, solid, right through, and and then we're good. We'd let last week, Mason covered for us the the third sermon that we see is Paul's sermon that he preached right here in in Acts chapter 13. Now there's definite similarities. In fact, it'd probably be a little fun study to look at the similarities between these three major messages.

7:05 One thing that probably pops into your mind all all... Already is that they talked about the history of the nation of Israel. You know, the that goes all the way back to the promise that god gave Abraham. Abraham called out of the Ur of the Chaldees. God made this promise and so then they tracked through the nation the the the nation of Israel's history with with the the time of the judges, the time of the kings, the time of the prophets, and all leading up to Jesus Christ.

7:37 Now, I'll tell you this, Paul did it in Acts chapter 13 in the most efficient way because it only took him about six verses to get from Abraham to Jesus and so, we're gonna... We're we're we're we're right in the aftermath of Paul's sermon. But I want you to note that. I want you to note that that Acts has recorded for us three major gospel sermons. Peter's, Stephen's, and then Paul's that we're looking at currently in Acts chapter 13.

8:11 Now who are some of the folks that we've met along the way in this study of of the book of Acts? I'd like to remind you of three conversions that we've seen. Well, the first one was that fellow we refer to as the Ethiopian eunuch. He was reading in the book of Isaiah, and and Philip comes to him and and says, what are you reading? And you remember this conversation that goes back and forth?

8:38 And and the Ethiopian eunuch comes to understand he needs to be forgiven of his sin, and he understands from Peter... Philip's explanation that Jesus Christ provides forgiveness of sin. Well, then that was in Acts chapter eight. In Acts chapter nine, we meet a fellow by the name of Saul. Saul, a a Jew of the Jews, established, learned...

9:06 I mean, a man of high regard. In fact, Paul considered himself infallible, one who was able to keep the law. And so a Pharisee of the Pharisees. And Paul came to understand that he needed to have his sin forgiven. He needed a savior.

9:27 And we hear of his conversion. Then just following in in chapter 10, we meet a fellow named Cornelius. The scripture just describes him as a devout man. And guess what? Even though he was a devout man, even though he gave alms unto the Lord, even though he was a a generous fellow, he also need to be forgiven of his sin.

9:50 And he found that as Peter leads him and explains to him how to have his sin forgiven through the through the Lord Jesus Christ. All three of these messages go and explain how Jesus made the payment for sin. Jesus is the promised one. All three of these conversions that I just talked about represented a people group. And maybe maybe you're like the Ethiopian eunuch.

10:15 Maybe you're like the Paul. Maybe you're like the Cornelius. They kinda give us an example of people groups that are among us today, but we all have this in common, that we are all sinners, for all have fallen short of the glory of God, and we all need a savior. And so the savior has been provided. Now the prophet Isaiah says this, look unto me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none other.

10:57 Isaiah 45 verse 22. You may remember the Lord Jesus when he spoke these words. Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. John fourteen six.

11:15 Peter, writing earlier in the book of acts, says these words, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts four twelve. So where are we? Well, we're in Acts chapter 13. And so if you go there...

11:54 But this is gonna be our fourth message in Acts chapter 13. We started off with Denzel. He handled the first four verses where we see this, the Holy Spirit's at work, and the Holy Spirit comes to the group and says, separate me, Paul and Barnabas. And and there, we have this whole concept of commendation, which Denzel worked through with us. Then Brian came in and we've got Paul and Barnabas.

12:21 They're they're they're they're they're sending they're sent out and so they're going on their travels and the first thing they encounter is a false prophet. And so they deal they deal with that through the work of the holy spirit. They deal with that. Paul or excuse me, Saul's name gets changed in the first part of 13 to to to Saul to to... What's his name now?

12:44 Paul. Right. Yeah. So, you see, Saul was his given Hebrew name and named after King Saul himself. But this...

12:55 See, remember Acts is a transitionary book. And even even Saul, when he got saved, as as he's working with... As he's being sensitive to the leading of the Lord, he realizes that his future ministry... Peter was primarily to the Jews. Paul is primarily gonna be to the Gentiles.

13:15 And Paul is his Roman name. And so he changes... He goes through this name change, and and he is now gonna be preaching primarily to the Gentiles. And then we had... Last week, Mason covered for us Paul's actual sermon that began in in verse 14 and and runs into runs into the forty forty second verse.

13:44 So that's where we are. That's where we've been. I hope that's helpful to kinda give us a little bit of overview of where we are in the book of acts and how we're gonna proceed forward. Now we've got we've got these balance of the of the chapter 42 through 52 of the verses to cover. Now let me just give you a little bit of a...

14:06 I'm just gonna give you a quick little synopsis of of what is going to occur in the balance of this chapter. Remember, Paul has just preached the message. He's just given a great gospel message. Well... And and I'll remind ourselves of this.

14:22 He was visiting in the synagogue. He and he and Barnabas were visiting the synagogue. The scriptures were read, and then the Jewish leaders of the synagogue say, hey. We noticed that we have Paul and Barnabas visiting with us. Fellows, do you have any word to say?

14:39 And so they invited them. They invited them to take... You know, stand up. Tell us. And Paul, beckoning with his hand...

14:46 You know, he stands up with his hand saying, look. I do have something to say. Let me tell you, men and brethren. And he preaches the gospel to them. He preaches.

14:56 He goes right back to their Jewish lineage, takes them through it, brings them right to present Christ. And and so the the response is very positive. The people are like, wow. I kinda get the impression... Remember, when Jesus was speaking, they said, never a man spake like this man did.

15:18 They were... They wondered and were amazed. That was the kind of response that that Paul got while he's preaching this message. Now I'll tell you this. It's something we need to understand, is that there I don't know if we would call it a mixed multitude.

15:33 That's kind of like a Bible phrase that we... But there's there's there's multiple... There's Jews in the audience. There are Gentiles. Your Bible, some translations are gonna say, proselytes, and all that means...

15:47 It's like a Cornelius. You know? Cornelius was a Gentile, but he was seeking after God. Some people converted to Judaism all the way. And when I mean all the way, like they did circumcision, the whole the whole nine yards, you know?

16:01 Other people were just friendly toward Judaism or or toward, you know, trying to say, okay, this... The God of the Jews has got something going on. I wanna see that. So there... You got this mixed group of people.

16:13 Well, they very much responded to Paul's message so much so that they said, hey, look. Can you come back again next week? You know, like, oh, you know, okay. So he got the he got the invitation to come back the following week. Now the next Sabbath day or the next Sunday or the next Saturday, whichever we're in here, when it rolls around, it's...

16:36 We're told this. Almost the whole city turned out to hear what Paul and Barnabas were gonna talk about the next the next Sabbath day. And then as soon as as soon as... Well, let me just tell you this. They preach.

16:56 Some believed, some rejected. But as soon as the crowd came, those Jewish believer... Or those Jewish folks, well, they got a little jealous. Scratch that. They got a lot jealous.

17:11 And they got they got so much jealous. There's so much envy boiled up inside of them that they... There was contention. There was strife. So much so that they stirred up the crowd, and Paul and Barnabas are getting the boot.

17:25 In one week's time, went from the invite to the exit. And and it says that they kicked them out of the coast, and then they they they took them all the way out. But Paul and Barnabas, full of joy, full of the Holy Spirit. So that's what happens in these next ten verses. Okay?

17:45 That's what's gonna happen as we as we take a closer look at some of these things. So you can track along and you understand what's going on. Now I wanna make a little... I'm gonna do a little overlap just for for the sake of context and continuity. I wanna start reading in verse 38, please.

18:19 Now before we read verse 38, I want you to lay your peepers on verse 23. Okay? Look at verse 23. Verse 23 is one of the main points of Paul's sermon. Of this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a savior, Jesus.

18:45 Remember, he's speaking to... He's in the synagogue. He's speaking to his brethren, the Jews. He's speaking to ones that are seeking after God. And so we...

18:55 He he makes a statement of this man's seed. This referring to David's seed, God's promise. According to his promise, he raised unto Israel a savior, Jesus. Don't miss that. Verse 38 says this.

19:10 And and so we're picking up here, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, and he... When he says man, he's referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. We think about Jesus Christ. We call him Immanuel, god in the flesh, god made human, god dwelling with us. For for through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.

19:37 And that's what was being presented. Right? Remember we said, every every person that we've seen so far in the book of acts when, like, the Ethiopian eunuch needed forgiveness of sins. Paul or Saul needed forgiveness of sin. Cornelius needed forgiveness of sin.

19:55 You and I needed forgiveness of sin. Everybody in that honest... Audience that day needed forgiveness of sin. And now it's been preached to you the forgiveness of sin. And by him, Jesus Christ, all that believe are justified from all things.

20:12 Can you you see that? All that believe are justified from all things. If if if you will confess your sin, the lord is faithful and just to forgive us of your sin and to cleanse you from what? All unrighteousness. He he he cleanses me.

20:31 He he he forgives me of all my sin, past, present, and future. I am made clean. I am made ready for relationship with him. And so this is the first time we see the word justified in the New Testament. And who's...

20:49 Who says the word? It's Paul. Paul, he says justified. And you know what? He liked the word justified and the concept of justified so much.

20:58 He wrote a whole book about it. Romans. You know, go check it out. We we we see this, and and we know that justified, you you see, you connect it. I am cleansed from all my sin.

21:12 The penalty of sin no longer hangs over me. The penalty of sin is no longer applied to me. Some people have used that word just as if I've never sinned. That's justified just as if I've never sinned. And the concept is right.

21:26 But, you know, the fact is we have sinned, but you've been forgiven of your sin if you ask for forgiveness from Jesus Christ. Right? And so in that way, it's... You're made back clean just as if you have... Were never dirty.

21:41 Right? But we wanna remember that we were dirty and remember where we came from. Now look at this. He... He's gonna say in verse 39, you're you're justified from all things, made clean.

21:54 Notice the second part, which is... This is so key. From which you could not be justified by the law. The law couldn't clean you up. The law couldn't save you.

22:06 You needed a savior. The law just pointed out where you were failing. The law pointed you to the fact that you have... You couldn't keep up to God's standard. Remember in in first Peter, Peter writes, referencing the Lord Jesus Christ, I...

22:24 Be ye holy as I am holy, thus says the Lord. That's his that's his standard, holiness. You and I know all of my holiness, all of my righteousness is as filthy rags before a holy God. And so I need I need to be pointed in the way of being cleansed from my sin. The law could not do it.

22:50 And you notice this is Moses. Moses was the bearer of the law, but Jesus came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. And we see Jesus, the man not of the law, but of grace. And so now verse 40. Beware...

23:34 Don't be like the people that that were prophesied in the Old Testament. Everything everything that, God prophesied in the in the Old Testament when there was coming judgment. Like, take for example, Sodom and Gomorrah. They were they were told to repent. We're told to turn.

23:52 Nineveh, told to repent. Told to told to return to the Lord their God. Other cities, you got going throughout there and whenever there was getting ready to be a an invasion from Babylon. Every time it was predicted by an old testament prophet that judgment is coming, it happened. It it occurred and so he's saying, don't be like those guys that didn't give heed to the warning.

24:19 Judgment is coming and so that that's what Paul that's what Paul is telling telling him. You believe it or you suffer the consequences. Now verse 42. And when the Jews were going out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged the salt or begged these words that they might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes, those are the folks that that were the Gentiles that were that were seeking God.

24:56 They followed Paul Paul and Barnabas. And Paul and Barnabas speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. We'll we'll point out the contrast between the law of Moses and the grace of God. Continue in the grace of God. And that's something that we would even say to ourselves this morning.

25:16 We want to continue. You know what? You and I, we're walking the Christian walk. What is a walk? It's putting one step in front of another.

25:24 What is, well, like Wayne shared with us about the ninety day challenge. You do day one. You do day two. You do you do day do day three. You're continuing.

25:36 You see? What am I doing? I'm following the lord. I'm continuing. I'm continuing.

25:43 There's this aspect that the book of Acts presented to us in chapter two and they continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread, in the apostles' doctrine, in prayers, and in the working together, in fellowship together. You and I, as believers, own this Christian path. We are continuing. Right? Where Paul describes it another time, we're reaching.

26:05 We're pressing toward the mark. And so, yeah, where is today? Tomorrow is gonna be tomorrow, and we're gonna continue. We're gonna continue and continue in the grace of the Lord. His mercies are new every morning.

26:21 Hey, it's fun to be a Christian. I mean, we're we are we're... We we we submit ourselves to god and we look out for what he's got for us next. You know, yes, Lord. Raise us up as the next generation.

26:36 Let us be an example for those around us. Let me be a a help to my brother or sister. Let me be a witness to my neighbor. Let me be a witness to my coworker. Let me be a preacher of for the forgiveness of sin to the world and I'm going to continue.

26:55 I'm not going to get tired. Well, yes, I am. I am going to get tired. You know, I and I'm gonna get battered, and I'm gonna get beat up, but I'm gonna continue. And we want this this little spoiler alert.

27:08 We want what's at the very end of this chapter. And they were filled with joy and of the Holy Spirit. Look, the Holy Spirit is a constant. The Holy Spirit helps you track. The holy spirit says, put one foot in front of the other.

27:23 I... You know, Jesus himself, he said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will be with you. You will endure till the end. And so we have this whole aspect of continuing in God's grace.

27:54 One, two, three. What did they come to hear? The word of God. Hey, did they come to hear a person? Didn't say that.

28:01 Did they come to see some kind of sign or miracle? In fact, I find that quite interesting in these great gospel sermons that are given right here in the book of or in chapter 13, we don't see any signs and wonders accompanying this. Right? But you know what we do see? The word of god, the living word of god that's sharper than any two edged sword, piercing and dividing asunder, and that's what they're using.

28:25 They're using the word of god. Now signs are gonna still happen in chapter 14. Devin's gonna get to get to dabble in some signs and wonders. But right now, they came to hear the word of God. Hey, the word of God is rich.

28:41 You know, one reason that we wanted to do the ninety day Bible challenge is that so we could place an importance and a priority on the word of God in our everyday life. They came back to hear the word of God. And you know what the word of God told them? You can have forgiveness of your sin. You can have new life in Christ.

29:05 You can have purpose. You can have meaning. You can have fulfillment. You can know you can know where you're going when you die. You can be in relationship.

29:14 You can receive adoption. Be a be a son and a daughter of God. This is the word of God. And they came back to hear the word of God. And you know what?

29:28 They weren't disappointed. We read on in in this little passage. In verse 45... Oh, here it comes. There's the but.

29:45 Verse 45. Things are going great. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy. Uh-oh. Yeah.

30:01 Enter enter the heart of man. Enter the sinful nature. Oh, we'll we'll think about that in a little bit. But just like here, they they saw the multitudes, and they were filled with envy. And now I want you to catch this next little phrase.

30:26 And they spake against those things which were spoken by Paul. What did we just say they came back to hear? The word of god. They spake against the word of god. Wow.

30:43 You know what else they did? Remember what Paul preached? He said, I have just preached to you the forgiveness of sins. They spake against that. They spake against the forgiveness of sin.

30:53 They spake against the word of god. They're the religious leaders. They're in the synagogue. They're saying, hey, everybody. Be here at this time.

31:05 We gotta gotta read them all. We gotta read the Old Testament. Be here. They're the religious leaders, and they spoke against the word of God. Oh, what?

31:17 Me... Would would I ever do that? Yes. We read about all these things in the Bible, and we say, oh, I'd never do that. But you remember, you and I are are...

31:38 Well, if we've broken one law, we've broken them all. If if we we have fallen short, well, we fell short. I'm not saying that to be demoralizing or anything like that. I'm just saying like, okay, but note the reality. We don't want to do that.

31:56 We we want to realize what what we're doing and it what a good concept to have when I choose to sin, wouldn't it be good to understand what I'm doing and the outcome of that? That might be sin prevention. Right? If we take a minute and consider what am I doing, they were just moved with envy and see, this is what happens. They're moved with envy and they they they make a mistake.

32:21 They say, well, if Paul is speaking the if Paul is speaking the truth of god, well, I'm going to be opposed to him. That's the that's the absurdity of what's going on, but it's it's true. It's... It happened. It's real.

32:38 It happens in our in our world, in our experience. And so they spoke against the word of God. They spoke against the things that Paul was trying to to to communicate to him, contradicting and blaspheming. And, boy, look, the... Again, this is the religious leaders.

32:57 What did they... What what did they claim that Jesus Christ did? Blasphemy. He's... He spoke blasphemy.

33:08 Crucify him. Now they're doing the exact same thing. They're guilty. They're truly guilty. Jesus wasn't.

33:16 They're truly guilty of blasphemy, the very thing that they had Jesus Christ crucified for. Then verse 36... Or excuse me, 46. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold. Now look.

33:38 They they they said, okay. Alright. We've got we've got opposition. We've got contradiction. We've got blaspheming.

33:46 We've got them telling us we're doing something wrong. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first have... Be spoken unto you. But seeing that you put it that you put it from you and you judge yourself unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Man, you talk about a lot going on in a verse.

34:12 Alright? There's a lot going on. Let's just capture this. That that... I want you to recognize.

34:19 I want you draw your attention to this, that look at who's look at who's in control here. Okay? Look at who's in control. Paul and Barnabas, they wax bold. So they're they're motivated.

34:38 They're under the control of of say... Or, well, they're in control of their own of their own words. They said, it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken unto you. So here's Paul and Barnabas. You know what they're doing?

34:56 They're continuing. Remember we talked about that a little bit? They're continuing. They met opposition. They're continuing.

35:03 Now... But look at look at, the Jews or, I I I guess, I'm gonna say the hearers, the listening audience. But seeing you put it from you, who put it from you? The Jews themselves were in control with what they were gonna do with the message. They heard the word of God.

35:20 They heard the forgiveness of sin, and they took it and they put it from them. They took it away. They they heard... You know what I think of? The parable of the sower.

35:30 Here comes here comes the seed. The Jewish heart was so hard, and it was snatched from them. Snatched from them. Right? You you...

35:42 The word has been spoken unto you, but seeing, you put it from you, and you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life. Let me ask you this question. Did God judge them unworthy of everlasting life? No. They judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life.

36:00 Now there's a fine line between this whole concept that, like, if I would say, am I worthy of everlasting life? I say no because of my sin. But if I've been forgiven of my sin and cleansed from my unrighteousness, am I worthy of everlasting life? Only through Christ's righteousness. Then that's what was being presented to them.

36:19 You can be made clean through Christ's sacrifice. You can be made clean through Christ's payment for your sin. And so... But they said, no. They said, no.

36:33 And so now we turn to the Gentiles. We think about that that parable that Jesus spoke when he says the the the supper is made ready. We've gone out into the... We've gone out. We've invited all the guests, but there's there's there's room.

36:46 We'll go out again. Go out into the highways and the byways and and and invite them in. Go out to even the undeserving. Go out to the unclean. Go out to those that aren't dressed to come to the feast.

37:00 And so here it is. Listen to these words. He came unto his own, the Jews, and his own received him not. He preached to them the forgiveness of sin, and they took the word from them, and they judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life. They judge themselves un...

37:22 Uninterested of any relationship with the true and living God. This is this is what they did. Verse 47, for so hath the Lord commanded us saying, I have sent thee to be a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. We read earlier in verse 39, and by Jesus, all that believe, all that believe, this message, this gospel message is for all. It's for everyone.

38:13 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of God. They glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained or appointed unto eternal life believed. Now we've got this... We wanna we wanna notice a few things here.

38:35 When the Gentiles heard, they were glad. When the Jews heard, they were envious and mad. When the when the when the Jews heard, they spoke against it. When the Gentiles heard, in this particular example, they received it. You see that contrast going on there?

39:08 We also find this... Some of you have the word ordained. Some of you have the word appointed. Some of you have the word disposed. This is...

39:21 This would be one of those passages that... Well, it's got a couple of different suggested meanings, if you will. There's two major views. There's two major views of this verse. One is that some people think that God placed...

39:38 Now... Well, just some people think God placed people into eternal life. Okay? That's one view, and it's a very popular view. Other people would look at this and say, God allowed the people to choose.

39:55 They believed, you know, saying that they believed. The word ordained itself or appointed in your... If you're... Raise your hand if you have appointed. I wonder how many people have appointed.

40:07 Yeah. Okay. So the word appointed would mean something to the regard of, like, they were prepared to believe. They... They're there.

40:18 They're hearing. They're open. They're prepared. And that... You know, we'll we'll see.

40:22 So you've got those two different major thinkings, if you will, two different major meanings of that word. G Campbell Morgan says this, the word ordained in acts thirteen forty eight has no reference whatsoever to any act of God. It refers to the attitude of the people themselves. Paul... Or excuse me.

40:45 Luke uses this word ordained or translated ordained, six times, never means chosen. Or, you know, there's words for that that doesn't... We don't see it used in that way. More could be said on that, but I wanna I wanna finish wrap up in our... Wrap up our our time by making it through the rest of the chapter here.

41:08 The word of the lord was published throughout all the region. The Jews... But the Jews stirred up the the honorable and devout women, the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coast. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them and came into Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.

41:35 So if I were to outline this this chapter, we're gonna we're gonna wrap up. We're gonna do the whole rapid wrap up thing. Okay? If I were to outline this chapter, I'd give you three... Or this little portion of these verses that we've just read.

41:50 I'd give you three points. One was that the the word was preached to all. The second would be there were responses to the word. Some believed, some rejected. By the way, whenever...

42:04 If you follow follow the context, we're talking about that tricky passage where there was multiple definitions. If you if you would say, we don't read that God made the Jews refuse the word. We don't see that God God made them judge themselves unworthy. Right? And so you gotta be consistent with how that goes through.

42:29 But... You... They preached the word to all. The second point is some believed, some rejected of their own volition. It was in their own power.

42:36 They heard the word. They did what they did what they thought they should do. They either believed and received, or they heard and rejected. Right? And then then the third the third thing is the disciples continued.

42:50 Disciples continued filled with joy and filled with the Holy Spirit. There's a couple of things that we see in in in this fact of these three major sermons and even in Paul's sermon as we think about it on the back end. God governed. He governed. He he he made a promise.

43:08 He rose up leaders, and we see his hand. We see God's governance, his hand throughout all of history to bring about the Lord Jesus Christ. I love that little song. He's got the whole world in his hands. Right?

43:22 We see God's governance. We also see God's love. And if we think about the sermon, the... Paul's sermon, God presented himself and explained who he was. He ex...

43:32 He explained everlasting life, and he explained how to deal with sin. And so the truth of God touches the heart. The truth of God touches the heart, and that's the reason you saw some reject and some receive. You said we see God's governance, we see God's love, but we also see the people's reaction. Before I mentioned there was contrast.

44:01 Here they are really quickly. They... Believed, some blasphemed. Some were filled with jealousy, some were filled with joy. Some were unworthy, some were appointed.

44:12 Some contradicted the word, some glorified the word. Now I wanna ask you this question. Why did these people refuse? The ones that refused, why did they refuse? Pride, envy, selfishness.

44:33 It was this attitude. I'm okay. Have you ever heard anybody say that? I'm okay. I don't need God.

44:40 I'm okay. Pride, selfishness, envy. Why did the people receive the word? They wanted forgiveness of sin. They knew when they laid their...

44:52 They they laid their head on their pillow that I'm guilty of sin. My sin separates me from God. I need a savior. They wanted a relationship with God. Why did they why did they accept?

45:08 They wanted forgiveness of sin. They wanted a relationship with God. So you've got these two opposing each other. I'm okay. I need a savior.

45:21 The refusal of God's love shuts down intellectual activity. That's why people remain closed even when faced with logic. In that parable of the sower, Jesus tells that story. And one thing that I noticed in studying and preparing for this message, in Luke's gospel, which the writer that we're writing, it says that he went out to sow that seed, and we know it fell upon the hard ground, and it got snatched away. It fell among the rock and it sprang up, but it withered, and it fell among the thorns and got choked out.

45:55 And then some fell among the good ground. And when Jesus is explaining this parable in Luke, he says this, the good ground is the heart of man, and it's the honest heart. The honest heart. Luke eight fifteen, I believe it is. That's what he's looking for, the honest heart.

46:18 The truth of God touches the heart. Would you be honest with God this morning? Would you be honest with God this morning? And what category do you put yourself in? I'm okay or I need a savior.

47:21 Father, we pray again as believers. We pray, root out the pride, root out the selfishness, root out the envy. And, father, if there would be any here this morning that don't know Jesus Christ as their savior, we pray that they would not judge themselves unworthy. We pray that they would believe and receive. They would not reject and push away.

47:45 We ask this now in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.