Transcript
I want to come before you this
morning and present to you a treat. I want to present to you what
will arguably be the greatest sermon ever. I’m not talking about my sermon
this morning, but actually one that is recorded of the Apostle
Paul in Acts chapter 13. If you would turn to Acts chapter
13, that’s where we’ll be this morning in arguably one of the
greatest sermons ever delivered. Peter and his ministry have been
the focus through the first 12 chapters of the book of Acts.
And now Luke turns his attention primarily to the Apostle Paul
for the remainder of his historical account of the early church,
its establishment, its growth, its development. Perhaps from time to time you’ve
had people tell you about a particular sermon that you just have to
listen to. A great message that some pastor
preached and you’re given a link or a CD. Perhaps you’re even
dragged across the country to some conference to hear some
special speaker or preacher. May I suggest to you though that
we have before us in this passage this morning arguably one of
the greatest sermons ever preached. And I’m not going to argue about
or evaluate Paul’s style and present that to you. to examine
and criticize his cadence, whether it was varied or not, his intonation,
whether it was appropriate, whether he used alliteration or not,
whether his illustrations were effective. When I say that this
is one of the greatest sermons ever, I’m talking about the content
given the context. I’ve had occasions to preach
in an amazing number of different kinds of contexts. And I would
say that given the context here before Paul, it is one of the
most amazing messages ever preached. He was before arguably a hostile
audience, an audience that was not inclined to what he had to
say. And yet Paul delivered masterfully
God’s message to them. When we consider Paul’s audience
here and the particular message that he delivers, I think you
will find as well that it is one of the most exciting, most
powerful moments ever. In the passage before us, we
have one of scripture’s crown jewels. It is the longest, most
complete sermon of Paul’s that the Holy Spirit preserved. In this sermon, we’re not only
introduced to Paul’s intense passion for the things of Christ,
but we’re brought in and we’re seated, as it were, in the very
front row of one of the great sermons of church history. Acts chapter 13. And it begins
in verse one. As we begin to set the context,
Luke records, now there were at Antioch, in the church that
was there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas and Simeon, who was
called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manan, who had been brought
up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were ministering to
the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me
Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
You have here the beginning of Paul’s first missionary journey. And Barnabas, who had been associated
with the church from its very inception, now pairs with Paul
and is sent out by the church to preach the gospel. It is a
profound moment. Look at verse 3. Then when they
had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent
them away. These were dispatched with God’s
blessing to go out and proclaim the gospel. Now if for the sake
of time you would jump down to verse 13. Acts 13 verse 13. Now Paul and his companions put
out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John
left them and returned to Jerusalem. Now, if you’re a student of the
book of Acts, you know that this is the incident that created
no little skirmish later. This is John basically bailing
out on the ministry. Young John Mark, who also was
Barnabas’s cousin, and therein lay the difficulty that they
would face in the future. He quits on the ministry, and
that would bring up a big issue later over which Paul and Barnabas
had no little disagreement. That’s the scene. Look at verse
14. But going on from Perga, they
arrived in Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went
into the synagogue and sat down. After reading of the law and
the prophets, the synagogue officials sent to them saying, brethren,
if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it. Now,
I’ll just tell you, as a pastor, as a preacher, that’s the kind
of golden opportunity that you long for. Would you like to say
anything? Well, Paul didn’t even hesitate,
and he stands up and impromptu, without any other notes likely
than his Bible, Paul stands and delivers this masterful sermon. Look at verse 16. Paul stood
up and motioning with his hand said, men of Israel and you who
fear God, listen. The God of this people, Israel,
chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay
in the land of Egypt. And with an uplifted arm, he
led them out of it.” Now let me just tell you, if you’re a
Jew, sitting in synagogue that morning, and this is how the
sermon starts, Paul has already set the hook. They’re eating
it up. He’s already appealed to the
men of Israel. And He’s already taken them back
to the glorious history at its various founding. The God of
this people Israel chose our fathers. There was nothing over
which Israel was more proud than that. And He made the people
great. He made them into a great nation,
great in number. They grew And they literally
outgrew Egypt. And it says that God’s own hand,
His uplifted arm brought them out. It was the strength of God,
Almighty God, bringing them out of the land of Egypt and leading
them through the wilderness. It brings them back to that powerful
history that every Jew, every Jew celebrated and rejoiced. Verse 18. For a period of about
40 years, he put up with them in the wilderness. When he had
destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed
their land as an inheritance, all of which took about 450 years. Now what you have here is you
have the introduction of the wilderness wanderings. And any Jew could look back on
that and even with a bit of disdain and see how foolish their forefathers,
their predecessors had been and how patient God had been with
them. But then ultimately God begins
to bless them. And He does so through these
seven nations as they are conquered before Israel, God begins distributing
or redistributing the land to them. And Paul has them in the
palm of his hands. Look at verse 20. After these
things he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. And now they
know he’s literally just walking through the history of Israel.
He gave them these judges that would oversee and decide skirmishes
and arguments among them. And then They asked for a king. They wanted to be like all the
other nations. They asked for a king, and God
gave them Saul, the son of Cush. Now this wasn’t Israel’s best
years, but they asked for a king. God gave them a king. From the
tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years he reigned. They knew that it
could only get better after Saul, and it did. It came in the form
of the greatest king. Their hero, David, verse 22,
after he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king,
concerning whom he also testified and said, I have found David,
the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do all my will. David was their hero. And Paul
is taking him through this history and He has them in the palm of
His hands. You know when you’re connecting
with your audience and when you’re not. Well, Paul’s connecting. And
in verse 23, he turns the corner and now begins to dial in to
the focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. from the descendants of this
man, David, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a savior,
Jesus. After John had proclaimed before
his coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel,
and we, as we have begun our study in the gospel of John,
have just seen that. John the Baptist has come, he
preached a baptism of repentance, calling people to a readiness
for Christ, and now Christ has come. Verse 25, and while John
was completing his course, he kept saying, what do you suppose
that I am? I am not he, but behold, one
is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy
to untie. That was a scripture that the
Jews would readily recognize. Paul’s first order of business
is to recount God’s incredible faithfulness to the nation of
Israel. He chose this people. He overwhelmingly
blessed them. He exercised exceedingly great
measures of patience on this wayward and disobedient lot.
He took from the hateful heathen nations and redistributed all
their lands to Israel. He provided them leaders. And
when they childishly clamored for a king in order to be like
the neighboring nations, God graciously provided them that
too. First Saul, then David, who would be the head of the
promised lineage, fulfilled ultimately in Jesus Christ. It’s a masterful
sermon thus far. And Paul had the Jews right where
he wanted them. But the best is yet to come. Paul’s just getting
warmed up. He has a point to make and having
only mentioned Jesus, he now moves to zero in on his purpose. Look at verse 26. Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and
those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation
has been sent. And their rulers, recognizing
neither him nor the utterances of the prophets, which are read
every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning him. And, though
they found no ground for putting him to death, they asked Pilate
that he be executed. When they had carried out all
that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross
and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead.
And for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him
from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses
to the people. We preach to you the good news
of the promise made to the fathers. that God has fulfilled this promise
to our children and that he raised up Jesus. As it is written in
the second Psalm, you are my son, today I have begotten you. As for the fact that he raised
him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, he has spoken
in this way. I will give you the holy and
sure blessings of David. Therefore, he says also in another
psalm, you will not allow your holy one to undergo decay. For
David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation,
fell asleep and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay. But he whom God raised did not
undergo decay. Therefore, let it be known to
you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed
to you. And through Him everyone who
believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed
through the law of Moses. Therefore take heed so that the
things spoken in the prophets may not come upon you. Behold,
you scoffers, and marvel and perish, for I am accomplishing
a work in your days, a work which you would never believe, though
someone should describe it to you.” Paul had four points to his message. Homiletically, it was well crafted. Paul wanted to drive home the
point of the purpose of the resurrection. Paul wasn’t going to leave this
stone unturned, as it were. Paul wanted to drive home that
point to these listening Jews, to this incredible occasion that
had been opened to him by invitation to preach the gospel. What Paul
wants to do is extol to them the blessings of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. And we see it come quite rapidly
as we jump into this passage. First of all, the resurrection
of Jesus Christ is a miracle that has been verified in history. In verse 26, Paul says, Brethren,
sons of Abraham’s family and those among you who fear God,
to us the message of this salvation has been sent. Note how winsome
Paul is here as he has been throughout this entire message. In addressing
his countrymen, he puts himself in right with them. He reminds
them that he too is a Jew. And he continues his address
to them without missing a beat by expanding upon the great blessing
that God has given to Israel and to the world. the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He merely mentions Christ in
verse 23, from the descendants of this man, David, according
to promise, God has brought forth to Israel a Savior, Jesus. But having seized upon that Christ,
Christ is going to expand upon it. As often as he can, Paul
places himself along with his countrymen within the circle
of Israel, brethren and sons of Abraham’s family of whom he
was, and he essentially says that just as God has always provided
for His people, whether it was judges or kings or patients in
the wilderness, he essentially says that just as God has always
provided for His people in sending the Savior, He has done it again.
Here’s Paul’s justification. Look at verse 27. For or because
those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, recognizing neither
him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every
Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning him. Watch what Paul does here. In the most gracious manner,
he indicts them. along with all Jews. Granted,
he specifically indicts the Jews living in Jerusalem, but there
can be no doubt that they represented the Jewish position everywhere
with regards to Christ. He points to those Jews living
in Jerusalem and says that even though their own scriptures pointed
to the Messiah and clearly identified Him, they simply did not recognize
Him. They didn’t understand who He
was. They didn’t receive Him for who He was. They had read
about this Messiah their whole lives, but suddenly when He was
presented before them face to face, they disregarded Him and
worse, not only did they disregard Him, they ultimately condemned
Him. Peter likewise condemned his own countrymen.
with the same charge in Acts chapter 3, listen just briefly,
and now brethren I know that you acted in ignorance just as
your rulers did also, pointing to the Romans, but the things
which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets,
in other words he says you knew, you knew by the things which God announced beforehand
by the mouth of all the prophets that His Christ would suffer
He has thus fulfilled, therefore repent and return. And Peter
would graciously call them, just as Paul here called them to repentance
for that condemnation, for that rejection of Christ, even though
those were the very fulfillment of scriptures. But Paul wants
to focus on the condemnation mentioned. Look at verse 28.
And though they found no ground for putting him to death, one
of the great conundrums in all of life, that Jesus came, he
sat before this fake court on false charges and endured a really
bogus sentence. Let me take you, my purpose was
to just have you listen. Listen to the gospel accounts
of what is recorded here in one quick sentence. And though they
found no ground for putting him to death, they asked Pilate that
he be executed. Here’s how it came about. In
John chapter 18, They led Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium
and it was early and they themselves didn’t enter the praetorium so
that they would not be defiled but might eat the Passover. Note
the hypocrisy. That they didn’t want to go into
this prison because they would be defiled but condemning an
innocent man to murder was not such a big thing. Therefore Pilate
went out to them and said, what accusation do you bring against
this man? They answered and said to him,
if this man were not an evildoer, he would not have been delivered
to you. So Pilate said to them, take
him yourselves and judge him according to your own law. The
Jews said to him, we are not permitted to put anyone to death
to fulfill the word which Jesus spoke, signifying by what kind
of death he was about to die. Therefore, Pilate again entered
into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, are you
the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, are you saying
this on your own initiative or did others tell you about me? Pilate answered, I am not a Jew,
am I? Your own nation and the chief
priest delivered you to me. What have you done? Jesus answered,
my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then my servants would be fighting. so that I would not be handed
over to the Jews, but as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. Therefore Pilate said to him,
so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say correctly
that I am a king. For this I have been born, for
this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone
who is of the truth hears my voice. Pilate said to him, what
is truth? And when he had said this, he
went out again and said to the Jews, I find no guilt in him. Three times Pilate would declare
essentially that same statement. But he found no guilt in Christ.
The last time that he did it, recorded in Luke 23, what evil
has this man done? I find no guilt in him demanding
death. Nevertheless, as the Jews clamored,
ultimately Pilate gave in, and he condemned an innocent man
to be killed. Glance down at verse 29 of Acts
13. When they had carried out all
that was written concerning Him, not only the abuse and the evil
treatment of Christ, but ultimately the crucifixion, His death, His
burial, All of it. All of it was in fulfillment
of the Scriptures. And when they had carried out
all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from
the cross and laid Him in a tomb. In other words, Paul says here that
when they had carried out everything that the Scriptures had declared,
he points to the fact that there were numerous prophecies fulfilled
in His condemnation, fulfilled in His suffering, fulfilled ultimately
in His execution. As one pastor said, the people
of Jerusalem in the person of their rulers showed their ignorance
of the true meaning of the prophecies. And they failed to recognize
in Jesus the deliverer, the Messiah, to whom those prophecies pointed.
And it looks bleak. By now there’s silence in the
midst of the synagogue. It’s tense. We put him to death in fulfillment
of the scriptures. But look at verse 30. Paul is not content here just
to indict the Jews. He’s preaching to them the good
news. Look at verse 30. But God raised him from the dead. In the midst of this blind, foolish
folly in the rejection of Christ in the crucifixion of him. God
has not lost control. God’s purposes are going to be
fulfilled. What he points to here is the
fulfillment of the promise to Abraham ultimately. Paul says
in his opening words to the Romans that Jesus Christ was declared
the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. This was the proof
that His sacrifice was accepted. Look at verse 31. Not only was
He raised, but for many days He appeared to those who came
up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. the very ones who are now witnesses
to His people. He says, you know what? This
is a verifiable historical fact. He appeared to His apostles,
recorded in Matthew chapter 28. He appeared to Simon in Luke
chapter 24. He appeared to the women who
came to His tomb. In John chapter 20, John there
records that He appeared to all of the disciples. Peace be with
you, he said. And when he had said this, he
showed them his hands and his side, and even those who doubted,
believed. In Acts chapter 1, they were
all gathered, presenting himself to his gathered disciples. Acts 1.3 says that he presented
himself alive by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over
the period of 40 days, speaking of the things concerning the
kingdom of God. Jesus Christ was alive and He
proved it. It’s a historical fact. And there
they stood as He was ascended into the heavenly realms. No wonder 1 Corinthians, Paul
writing there, records that He appeared first to Cephas, then
to the twelve, then He appeared to more than 500 brethren at
one time, some who have fallen asleep, then He appeared to James,
then all the apostles, It’s a historical fact. But Paul is coursing through
this sermon. He’s detailing the glories of
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he’s really only touched
upon one point, and to do it justice, we move to the second. The resurrection of Jesus Christ
is a miracle that has been verified in history, but secondly, it
is a miracle that has fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. We’ve
already seen hints of that already, but in verse 32, Paul says, we
preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers.
This is the proof that God has fulfilled this promise to our
children in that he raised up Jesus as it is written in the
second Psalm, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Paul
says in the strongest possible terms that God’s promises had
been fulfilled, completely fulfilled in the raising of Jesus from
the dead. This was the capstone, the ultimate proof that Jesus
was the Messiah of prophecy. And he quotes Psalm 2-7. And up to this point, most Jews
assumed that it was referring to David. It wasn’t. You are
my son, today I have begotten you. At the end of verse 33, by the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul interprets that to mean
that he pointed not to David’s birth, but to Jesus Christ’s
resurrection. And he offers still more proof.
In verse 34 he says, for the fact that he raised him from
the dead no longer to return to decay, he has spoken in this
way, I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.
He quotes here another Psalm, Psalm 1610, and he points this
also to Jesus Christ. The point that he makes is that
David ultimately died, he fell asleep there in verse 36. He
was laid among his fathers, he was buried like the rest of us,
and he underwent decay. But Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ
didn’t suffer the same fate as you and I. He whom God raised,
verse 37, did not undergo decay. This verse has no reference to
David at all. The reference is to Christ Jesus.
The reference is to the Savior. It fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. But the resurrection of Jesus
Christ is a miracle not only that has been verified in history
and fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, but thirdly, it is marvelously
applied to sinners’ greatest need. Look at verse 38. where Paul says, therefore, let
it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness
of sins is proclaimed to you. And through Him everyone who
believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed
through the law of Moses. And Paul starts this section
in verse 38 When he says, therefore, he’s drawing a conclusion, essentially
because of God’s raising of Christ from the dead, there is application
to the sinner. And Paul here declares the application
of Christ’s resurrection. What does it mean? The church
has been all too willing to let go of the great doctrine of the
resurrection, as if it’s unimportant. Paul says it’s absolutely crucial.
Paul says here that the resurrection of Christ, rightly applied, brings salvation. It appears, does this verse,
almost as if it has several points to it or thoughts, it’s really
only one, that through faith in Jesus Christ, and His resurrection,
we have what we could never enjoy strictly by trying to live up
to the law. In or through, and only in or
through, faith in Jesus Christ, whose death was God’s confirmation of acceptance
of Christ’s payment on our behalf. And it’s only in or through our
faith in Christ and His finished work that we have forgiveness
of our sins. This is a glorious truth. This
is the main point why I would suggest that this is one of the
greatest sermons ever preached. Essentially what Paul says here
is that God sent his son and that Jesus Christ came willingly
and obediently and faithfully. He died on the cross to atone
for the sin of the world. He was dead and buried and in
order to prove his acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice, God raised
him from the dead. And the Greek is very clear here.
It says that Paul was in The very act of proclaiming forgiveness
to His hearers. Here He is in this synagogue
preaching the gospel. They were face to face with the
greatest opportunity, the greatest sermon, the greatest news that
they could ever hear. that God has stepped in and interceded. And whereas people for centuries
had sought to earn their salvation by adhering to the law, by trying
to be good enough and live good enough. Now suddenly it is introduced
to them that faith in Christ alone is all that is needed for
salvation. This is the best news ever. What Paul says here is that the
forgiveness that Christ has secured is not piecemeal or partial.
It’s not occasional. You don’t have to keep coming
back to Christ for salvation as if you lose it and regain
it time after time. But he says the sinner, when
the sinner comes and approaches Jesus Christ in faith, he is
granted that forgiveness. and eternal life with it once
and for all. He is justified before God. He
is justified by faith. And this preaching, this message, the proclaiming of the gospel
was part of God’s very plan from the beginning for not only Paul
but Peter. Peter preached essentially this
same thought in Acts chapter 10. Peter preaching there said, we
are witnesses of the things which he did both in the land of the
Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put him to death by
hanging him on a cross. God raised him up on the third
day and granted that he become visible, not to all the people,
but to witnesses who were beforehand chosen by God, that is to those
who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. And he
ordered us to preach to the people and to solemnly testify that
this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of
the living and the dead. Of him all the prophets bear
witness that through his name everyone who believes in him
receives forgiveness of sins. You see the Jewish people for
centuries had made this serious and ultimate effort of saving
essentially themselves. By this strict adherence to the
law, doing the best they could. And people still do that, don’t
they? They still try to do good enough
to please God, and it will never work. Ever. Merely attempting
to live according to the law does not, will not save anybody. We would have to keep the whole
law perfectly every day for the rest of our life. Never having
one sin laid to our account. We cannot. We cannot do that. No one ever has. And so God supplied
by way of the Lord Jesus Christ, by way of His payment on the
cross. Not another way. The only way. The only way of salvation. Paul
declared it elsewhere, we maintain that a man is justified by faith
apart from the works of the law. Paul isn’t undercutting what
the Old Testament had said. It’s theoretically possible that
if someone ever could live according to the law perfectly, he could
be justified before God. The problem is no one ever has.
No one has ever done that. Paul said to the Galatians, as
well as the Romans, a man is not justified by the works of
the law, through faith in Christ Jesus. Even we have believed
in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith. Faith in Christ and not by the
works of the law. Since by the works of the law
no flesh will be justified. Paul cried out. as one who had
lived according to the works of the law, not just a good Jew,
he was an excellent Jew, he was among the best Jews of his day. And he details that in Philippians
chapter 3 and comes to the conclusion that His one great desire was
to be found in Him, that is in Christ, not having a righteousness
of my own derived from the law. No amount of goodness that I
could achieve would ever be good enough. But that which is through faith
in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis
of faith. Jesus Christ’s death, His death
on the cross was not only a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, it
fully satisfied God’s justice. And he fully accomplished our
salvation in doing so. And he paid for our sin and secured
our forgiveness. For all who place their faith
in Christ, there is forgiveness from sin. And God put his stamp
of approval on that by raising Christ from the dead. Paul writing to the Romans, you
know the verse well, Romans 5, Therefore, having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have obtained our introduction by faith into
this grace in which we stand, and we exult in the hope of the
glory of God. Paul didn’t want to let go of
the resurrection, to him it was the key point of his message,
to the Jewish people and to all people. The resurrection is proof
that God put His stamp of approval, His acceptance forever in what
Christ accomplished. As J.C. Ryle said, we need not
wonder so much that so much importance rather is attached to our work
of the Lord’s resurrection. It is the seal and headstone
of the great work of redemption which He came to do. It is the
crowning proof that He has paid the debt which He undertook to
pay on our behalf. He won the battle which He fought
to deliver us from hell and accepted as our guarantee and as our substitute
by our Father in heaven. It’s God’s seal of approval on
what Christ accomplished on our behalf. But Paul wasn’t finished just
yet. Paul, remember, is seeking the
salvation of souls. And he knew that there were probably
many who were there just to listen. After all, steeped in this Greek
culture where listening to oratory was part of the daily life. In
a sense, it was kind of their form of entertainment. And there
were likely many in the midst who just were hearing just one
more great oratory, or were they? In Paul’s case, he had already
set the hook. He had already gathered the attention
of any Jew sitting in his midst. And he had already drawn them
in, coursing through the Old Testament history, the history
of Israel. And he had introduced them very
carefully and very clearly to the Lord Jesus Christ. And now
he had already pointed out that the resurrection of Christ was
historically verified. He had pointed out that it was
an absolute fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. And by now
you have Jews sitting up, likely thumbing through their Old Testament,
finding some of the very scriptures that they thought pointed to
who know what, And now they find, now they find that it points
to Christ. Not only was it verified and
fulfilled, but now they saw that Paul was talking directly to
them, appealing to them for their salvation. That if they would
only embrace this Christ, this Christ whom God had proven in
raising Him from the dead, If they would only understand and
grasp the value of the resurrection, they would be saved that very
day. And it’s with this in mind that
Paul can’t skip point four. Point four is that the resurrection
of Jesus Christ is a miracle that is soberly enjoined upon
all. Watch what Paul does here. Therefore,
take heed so that the things spoken of in the prophets may
not come upon you.” The Jews had likely read these verses
so many times. They had read them and read right
over them. They couldn’t possibly apply
to me, could they? Behold, you scoffers! and marvel,
and perish. For I am accomplishing a work
in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone
describe it to you.” Paul says, take your fingers
out of your ears, sit up, and wake up, and apply this to your
own life. Consider your own mortality before
God. Consider your spiritual standing,
because you stand right now in the very crossroads of life itself. The passage refers back to the
Chaldeans and to Nebuchadnezzar who ultimately would come in
and decimate the land. And the Jews didn’t know quite
how to apply this passage forward, but Paul masterfully, in the
power of the Holy Spirit, takes this verse, Habakkuk 1.5, and
he applies it right to the Jews in his very midst. And he says,
don’t listen casually to this message. Don’t disregard this
message. Don’t ignore this plea. And he quite soberly appeals
to them, pleads with them, warns them. He enjoins the gospel upon
them. And He says, take heed. Don’t ignore this message or
you’ll be just like your forefathers, scoffers who look and wonder
and never exercise faith and ultimately perish. Is the resurrection important?
What did Paul think of the resurrection? The resurrection was so important
to Paul that he pulled out all the stops and preached arguably
one of the greatest sermons the world has ever heard. One pastor said, if our Lord’s
record ended at the cross, it should drive us to despair. But
He is declared to be the Son of God with power by His resurrection
from the dead. The fact that He was raised from
the dead makes us see the merit, the power, the great reward of
His death. This is our Lord Jesus Christ. of whose death is the source
of our salvation and whose resurrection and eternal glory are the guarantee
and foretaste of our heavenly bliss. Let’s go before him in
gratitude. Our merciful King, we come before
you grateful in what you have preserved down to our day, Not only did you infuse the Apostle
Paul, stirring his heart to preach your message, but Father, you
preserve that in full for us. Lord God, we thank you and praise
you that this great message of the gospel, one of the greatest
in history. Because of the context and to
which it was delivered, context that really is no different than
our own day and age. People caught up in trying to
appease and please Almighty God in doing good and being good,
thinking that that will save them. Oh, Lord. Also clearly declared that it
was because of the resurrection and it’s through Christ alone
that anyone is ever saved. And so not only was this a message
that was the greatest in the day in which it was preached,
this message, the message of the gospel, is the greatest message
even today. Lord, for those of us who have
placed our faith in Christ, we know this to be true. Our sins
are forgiven. And we stand eager and ready
to be in eternity with Christ. We
thank You even now that we can live a life knowing that our
sins are forgiven. And Father, if there is even
one, if there are any among us who do not know Christ, they
have heard the greatest sermon ever preached. They’ve heard
about Christ. They’ve heard that You raised
Him. They’ve heard that this is a fulfillment of Old Testament
prophecy written hundreds of years before it occurred. They’ve
heard that this is the means. This is the means of salvation.
Father, if there are any who do not know our Lord Jesus Christ,
bring them to repentance. Repentance for their sin. Bring
them to faith. Faith in Christ and Christ alone,
even this very day. Lord, we rejoice before you in
the gospel preached. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
amen. As we close, if you would take
your bulletin and let’s stand and sing together Jesus Messiah.