Okay, Shabbat Shalom. I'm going to read today the portion that we didn't conclude in our last meeting together. This is the book of Acts. Will you please turn with me to Acts chapter 13. And I want to see, by the grace of God, if we can look at the second half of this chapter. It's a long chapter. Acts chapter 13. Last ministry meeting we read the first 13 verses. And we talked about the selection of God who have chosen Shaul and Barnabas. And he told to the believers in Antioch to separate unto himself Barnabas and Shaul for the work of the ministry. And here they went out. And they began to preach the Gospel. And we have concluded, if you remember, with the verses that pointed out to the departure of John Mark, who returned back to Jerusalem. And so now I'm going to read from verse 14, please, Acts 13, verse 14. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Shabbat day and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, The rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and he signaled with his hand, said, Men of Israel and ye that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt. And with a high arm brought He them out of it. And about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness. And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land to them by lot. And after that He gave unto them judges, about a space of four hundred and fifty years, until Shmuel the prophet. And afterwards they desired a king. And God gave unto them Shaul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Binyamin, by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king, to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Yishai, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. of this man's seed has God, according to His promise, raised unto Israel a Savior. When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But behold, there cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwelt at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Shabbat day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead. And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers God had fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he has raised up Yeshua again, as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said, On this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore, he says also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to seek corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised again saw no corruption. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets. Behold, ye despise us, and wander, and perish. For I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Shabbat. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next Shabbat day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you. But seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee as a light unto the Gentiles, that thou should be for salvation unto the end of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the regions. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium, And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. This is the end of Acts chapter 13. It is an amazing passage because brothers and sisters, as we study the book of Acts and we look back at the presentation of the gospel, We can see that just the same like the Gospel was preached by the Apostle Peter in the city of Yerushalayim, in the beginning, the foundation of the Church of Yeshua the Messiah. Here the Apostle Paul, Shaul, is presenting the Gospel in the synagogue of the Jewish people which from there on in that place called Antioch from there on the gospel will move on into the rest of the nations of the world you can see the interesting thing that God used the presentation of the gospel first of all to the Jewish people in the city of Jerusalem in the beginning when the church was born but also when it's come to now when the gospel is moving on to be presented to the gentle world He began it at the synagogue of the Jewish people in the city of Antioch, where the Apostle Paul presented the first public message of his as he was moving along to present the gospel to other nations in Asia Minor. Now, we are here in chapter 13, and we have already mentioned that in the first 13 verses was the call of Paul and Barnabas. By the Spirit of God who said, Separate unto me Barnabas and Shaul for the work of the ministry which I have entrusted unto them. The brethren in the local assembly in Antioch. This is a different Antioch. In Antioch, the capital city of Syria. They laid their hands on them and they commended them to the work of the ministry. And they sent them away. And as the Apostle Paul, Shaul, and Barnabas left the city of Antioch, this capital city in Syria, Antioch of Syria, they moved on, and they got to Salamis, and remember that they went straight to the synagogue of the Jews. They went again to the synagogue of the Jews, because the principle that the Apostle learned from Yeshua the Messiah, that the Gospel is going to go to the Jewish people first, and then to the rest of the nations of the world. So they move on and they preached in Salamis. From Salamis they move on to Pappos and if you remember then they got to Perga and in Perga John left them. We do not know why John Mark left them. We just mentioned some believe that because they have fear of persecution. They have the change in his life being a young Jewish man and he started to see that the gospel is being preached to the gentile world and he saw paganism and idolatry and he just went back to the city of Yerushalayim And once we have gone back to the city of Yerushalayim, we read now in chapter 13, beginning from verse 14 on, that now the Apostle Paul takes the lead. And from here on, you notice now that he began to move from the place that is called Perga all the way to Antioch in Pisidia. This is a different Antioch. Apparently, some say that there were seven cities that were called Antioch in the Roman Empire. And the Antioch that is in Syria mentioned in chapter 13 verse 1. And Antioch which is in Pisidia is mentioned in verse 14 of Acts chapter 13. And their brothers and sisters, they're going to the synagogue of the Jewish people. They're going to their own brethren, first of all, to present to them the message of the Gospel. Now, here, brothers and sisters, look at this. There is a custom that we always have in our own synagogues in Israel and elsewhere in this world. There is a custom, there is a weekly cycle of the reading of the Torah, this is the five books of Moses, and the Nevi'im, this is the prophets. It is a custom that every Shabbat, there is a portion that is being read of the Torah and a portion being read of the Prophets. And so as we read here, you notice that in verse 15, and after the reading of the Law and the Prophets. This is constantly being done even today. You're going to go to a synagogue today, and you will find out that there is a portion being read of the Torah, the Law, and there is a portion read about in the Prophets, and this is a continuing cycle. That's how there is an ongoing reading until in one year you finish the whole Scripture. the law and as well the prophets. But another custom that is being even today being practiced is that when a guest come, they would give them an opportunity to give a word from God, a word from the scripture. And of course most likely it will be a person that they will know about and they will recognize that he is perhaps a rabbi from another location or person that was known in another city in another town because after all the Jewish community is always connected. The synagogue in the city of Antioch of Pisidia knew and get information with what's going on in Jerusalem or what's going on in Antioch in Syria. There is always a connection between the Jewish community around the world. And it was no different then. So when the Apostle Paul and Barnabas coming to the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia, we find that they have invited them to say something. Look what it says here in verse 15. The rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, and they say, Ye men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. And it is an interesting custom because it's an opportunity for certain rabbi or certain leader from another location to give a word of encouragement, some word of exhortation to the Jewish brethren. You remember Yeshua himself when he was in Israel before he died, he went to the city of Nazareth. And in Nazareth he went, they gave him the scripture, and he read the prophet Isaiah. And you remember after he read the passage from the prophet Isaiah, he gave it back to the leader there, to the servant there. And then he sat down, and everybody looked at him and he said, this day, this scripture has been fulfilled in your midst, he said to them. And the passage that you read from the prophet Isaiah has to do with the fact that the Messiah was going to come. And the Messiah was going to heal the broken hearted, to give sight to the blind, to provide salvation. And he says this day, this scripture had been fulfilled in your midst. You read it in the book of Luke, in Luke chapter 4. And everybody was amazed at the speech of Yeshua the Messiah. And then He began to expound to them and to share with them. Because He came to provide redemption and salvation. Judgment is delayed. Judgment is going to come, but later on. But now, today, the scripture has been fulfilled in your midst, Yeshua the Messiah said. Well here, Shaul, Paul, they ask him to speak if they have some exhortation. And look what he said, brothers and sisters, in verse 16, Shaul, though he became a believer in Yeshua, he never for a moment thought that he is not part of the nation of Israel. Though he accepted that Jesus, that Yeshua was his own Lord and Messiah, he always talked to his Jewish people, and he always understood and embraced the fact that they were his brethren, they were his people. He was part of the nation. And so in verse 16, Paul stood and he does something very similar to what Stephen have done years earlier in Acts chapter 7, which we have already looked at. Stephen, who was another Jewish believer of first century, who was speaking to the Sanhedrin and telling them and rehearsing before them the history of our people, the people of Israel. And so notice he says in verse 16, Paul stood up. any beckoning or signal with his hand and he said men of Israel and ye that fear God give audience. He quiet everyone down in the synagogue. And he says, listen, I want you to give audience. And he called the men of Israel. And ye that fear God, apparently there were some Gentiles there from the Goyim, from the nations, who have embraced the God of Israel and accepted that the true and living God and they became part of the synagogue. And by the way, the word synagogue in Hebrew simply mean Beit Knesset. Beit Knesset mean a house, Beit Knesset, of gathering. It is a house where there would be the gathering of the Jewish community on a Shabbat day to read the text of the scripture, to worship the God of Israel. And so there were those from among the Gentiles who have embraced the God of Israel and they become what we call God-fearers. And they came in and they gathered on that Shabbat day. And now the Apostle Paul began to rehearse before all these people the history of his own nation, the nation of Israel. And I want you to notice, brothers and sisters, from verse 17 to verse 25, Paul reviews Israel's history before his Jewish brethren. He reviewed before them all the history. And you notice, you see the hands of God in the history of our nation Israel. It is always the hand of God. He doesn't point to focus on men, but he focuses here on what God has done. And now you notice how many times we find the word, He. Notice that, if you notice that first of all in verse 17, God chose Israel. Notice 17b, God exalted Israel. As it says, He exalted His people. Notice again in verse 17, He had brought Israel out of Egypt. It was God who had brought Israel out of the land of Egypt. And Shaul, Paul, remind his own Jewish brethren in the synagogue of Antioch, of Pisidia, of the faithfulness of God. He brought Israel out of Egypt. Notice now in verse 18, He led Israel in the wilderness for 40 years. Can you imagine? Look at this, verse 18. In about the time of 40 years, he suffered their manners in the wilderness. God not only had chosen them, not only exalted them, not only delivered them out of Egypt, but he led them for 40 years. And Paul is saying, he suffered their manners. You know how Israel grumbled and complained and were dissatisfied and didn't want this and rebel against Moses and against the Lord just like you and I do it against the Lord ourself in our life as believers in Yeshua. We grumble, we complain, we are unsatisfied, we are unhappy and we always have this human nature rises within us by complaining against God and Israel have done it the same thing these 40 years in the wilderness journey. And that's why he continues now in verse 19, not only that he suffered their manners in the wilderness, but in verse 19 he says, he destroyed the seven nations there in the land of Canaan. In other words, he brought them from Egypt to Canaan and then he brought them into the land. And those seven nations, you know, the Jebusites and the Girgashites and all those names that we have in the book of Exodus, God have dealt with those nations when he brought Israel into the promised land. and he continue in verse 20 and ultimately he speaks about the judges it says in verse 20 and after that he gave unto them judges for about the space of 450 years and you know brothers and sisters we are studying now the book of judges for 450 years in the history of our people Israel. God raised a judge, he led the people to victory, and when the judge died, Israel back into sin and disobedience and departure from the Lord. And he raised another judge, and this judge delivered them from all the bondage, and then for a while Israel had peace, had shalom, and then when the judges died, back they are going in disobedience to the Lord. The cycle that we mention in the book of Judges that existed among our own nation. Sin that brought judgment of God. That brought a cry for help and mercy from the Lord. That the Lord raised a judge and delivered our people from the hands of those that oppressed them until the cycle continued. And this is so true because we see it in ourselves. This is the same thing. We see it in the life of the church. The same thing. God raises men and women who are godly for a season. The people have been moving in the right direction. And then when those gone away, the new generation that was born, they forget the things of God and they are back away from the Lord. And then God had to raise and to make a revival and to stir up the people of God to be restored to himself. It's the cycle that we experience as well. This is the period of the judges where every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Until Samuel, notice that now in verse 20, and Samuel the prophet, in Hebrew we call him Shmuel HaNavi, the prophet whom G-d had raised him to introduce to the nation of Israel the man that is after G-d's own heart, David the king. And so we find out that afterwards Israel desired a king. Verse 21, and again I want you to see that God allowed Israel to have their own hearts, a king after their own choice, by the name of Shaul. And Shaul was the son of Kish. He was the man of the tribe of Benjamin, and He allowed him to rule over them because they wanted to be like other nations. And then Shaul reigned, but Shaul didn't obey God. And you remember when God told Shaul through Samuel, through Shmuel, Saul, destroy the Amalekites, don't leave anyone alive. And Shaul, instead of listening to the word of God, through the prophet Shmuel, he disobeyed God and he allowed the king of the Amalekites to remain alive. And he kept all the flocks and so on. And then God had to tell him, why didn't you obey my word? Because he disobeyed his word, he ripped away from him the kingdom. And Sha'ul lost the kingdom. And again, I want to say that there is a reason why God took away from Saul the kingdom. Because Saul was a man of the flesh. He was not a man after God's own heart. And the Amalekites speaks of the flesh. They were the enemy of God's people right when they left Egypt. They were opposing the people of God. And again, God had to remove him. And then, finally, look at this, brothers and sisters, you find out in verse 22, after he removed him, and again, look what God is doing, it says here, and he raised up unto them David to be their king. Then notice this wonderful touch. It says, to whom he gave testimony. He says, I found David a son of Yishai, son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Now, people ask me sometimes, Brother Gideon, how could David be a man after God's heart? Look what David did. Look at the sins that David have committed. God could say that David is a man after God's heart. It's not because David was a perfect man. Because there's nobody that is perfect. There's only one. His name is Yeshua. But he could say that David was a man after God's heart because David was broken when he sinned against God. He did not have a persistent rebellion against God. He was broken before the Lord and he says, Lord I've sinned against you. Against thee only have I sinned. And he repented. And he turned to God. And God found pleasure when we repent of our evil doing and turning to Him. Because He knows we are failing people. He knows we are sinners. It's not catching Him by surprise, but a man or a woman after God's heart. is a man or woman who are broken before the Lord and saying, Lord, I have gone wrong. I have sinned before you. Help me to turn around. And you know David did so. David was broken before the Lord when he failed the Lord. And he had God's glory and purpose in his own heart because he wanted the Lord to be glorified. And that's what makes someone a man after his own heart. Just turn for a second to 1 Samuel. The scripture shows us concerning David, a man after God's own heart. 1 Samuel chapter 13. Where we read when Samuel was going later on to bring a king for Israel. We read here in verse 14. 1 Samuel chapter 13 verse 14. But now thy kingdom shall not continue. That's what Samuel is saying to Saul. The Lord had sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be captain over his people, because you have not kept that which the Lord commanded thee." And that's what Shaul was told by Samuel. that the Lord will raise a man after his own heart. And here Paul is repeating it when he's saying to these people at the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia that God will raise a man after his own heart which shall fulfill all his will. Now brothers and sisters, you notice how many times Paul pointed to the plan and the purposes of God. Verse 17, the God of his people. Verse 18, he suffered their manners. Verse 19, He destroyed seven nations. Verse 19b, He divided them a land. Verse 20, He gave unto them judges. Verse 21, He gave unto them Shaul the son of Kish. Verse 22, He removed Shaul. Verse 22b, He raised up unto them David. Again and again, it is the story that Paul was speaking about what God was doing on behalf of the people of Israel. And why does he say all this? Because he was ultimately wanted to lead to the person of Yeshua the Messiah. And so verse 23, 24 and 25 of Acts chapter 13, he leads now in his message to the person of Yeshua the Messiah. And so he says, look, Of this man's seed, that is of David, has God, according to His promise, raised unto Israel a Savior, Yeshua. Notice that it was according to His promise. When you look at the record of God's Word to the nation of Israel, He promised that the Messiah will come, how He's going to come, through which tribe He was going to come, through which family He was going to come, where He will be born. He promised this in the Hebrew Scripture and they knew that. He's not talking to people outside of the synagogue here in Antioch of Pisidia. He's speaking to his own Jewish brethren. He says, listen, God made a promise that the Messiah will come of the seed of David. Do you know today there is no one in our own people that doesn't know that the Messiah will be a descendant of David? He is going to be a descendant of David, the King of Israel. Everybody knows that. And they knew that when Paul was reading to them the scriptures and telling them about the history of our nation Israel. And then he pointing out, listen, and by the way there is no coincidence because the words for Savior and the word for Jesus is the very same word. In Hebrew, Yeshua means a savior or Yeshua. The name of Yeshua and the action of Yeshua is the same thing. When you say Yeshua, you say salvation. When you say Yeshua, you say a savior. When you say Yeshua, you also call him by his name. So there is no coincidence here or there is really a fulfillment of what we already read in Matthew chapter 1. And you shall call his name Yeshua for he shall save his people from their sins. And so now, in verses 24 and 25, it says here that when John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his cause, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But behold, there cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to unloose. And so the Apostle Paul brings the history of the promise of the coming of the Messiah from the time that he has chosen Israel since Abraham, through the wilderness journey after coming out of Egypt, all the way from the judges, all the way to Samuel, all the way to the kings, and ultimately to John the baptizer. God sent Yohanan Hamadbil, John the Baptizer, to be the announcer of the coming of the Messiah Yeshua. And he himself have announced. And he said, listen, I am not the Messiah. And he's actually pointing here to what John said in the Gospel of John, in John chapter 1. He said, I am not he, but the one that is coming, I am not worthy to lose his shoes. John the baptizer said, I'm not worthy to even lose his shoes. He is the Messiah, the Son of God. I'm just a prophet, just a servant, announcing to you, Israel, the coming of the Messiah. And so after the apostle Paul rehearsed before the Jewish brethren of his in the synagogue of Antioch of Pisidia the history of Israel. Now in verse 26 to verse 37, Paul declared before his Jewish brethren the Lord Yeshua as the promised Messiah. And again, brothers and sisters, I want you to know that this is the first time that Apostle Paul had a public preaching. And he's beginning, as we mentioned this in Romans 1 and verse 16, I am not ashamed of the Gospel of the Messiah, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. And He says to the Jew first, and then also to the Gentiles. And He began here in the synagogue, and now He's presenting before them the Messiahship of Yeshua. And He began in verse 26. He appealed to the Jewish brethren in the synagogue, and we read, He says, men and brethren. You know that He called them brethren? They are not saved yet. He is a believer. He is saved. But they are brethren. They are Achim. Because they are part of the nation. They are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And then He called them the children of the stock of Abraham. And whosoever among you who feel God. This is the proselyte. To you is the word of the salvation is sent. He is now pointing directly to those people who are sitting in the synagogue. He says, you know what? Oh yes, that's the history of our people. That's the promises of God that come to pass. But all this is for your benefit, he's saying to them here. He says, brethren, men of the stock of Abraham, God-fearers, he said, to you is this word of salvation was sent. It is for you, He is saying to them. And then the next verse is 27 on. He is moving on and He is pointing to the Israeli ruler in the past who rejected the Messiahship of Yeshua. Remember, Paul was not just simply talking down about his own people. He cared for them. So when he was pointing to them, he says, look how even our own forefathers who rejected the Messiah, they really fulfilled the Word of God. Look, he says now in verse 27, they that dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, Not yet the voices of the prophets which they read every Shabbat. They have fulfilled them in condemning Him. Do you see what happened when the leaders of Israel in the city of Jerusalem, when they have rejected Yeshua the Messiah, actually they have fulfilled what was already written in the Hebrew prophets. You remember what Isaiah said, who has believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord had been revealed? You remember what he said? He already had prophesied at least 700 years before Yeshua came. He was speaking to the nation of Israel prophetically about the Messiah, and he was telling them, He was prophesying concerning the rejection of the Messiah. You remember even Yeshua himself being prophesied through David in Psalm chapter 22. He's one of the prophets where David says, my God, my God, why have thou forsaken me? And Yeshua has spoken that on the tree, when He was raised in Matthew chapter 27 on a Roman tree, on the cross, He cried, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? But it was already prophesied by David in the Psalms, that He will be rejected, and He will be despised, and He will not be acknowledged by the nation at His first coming. So Paul is saying, look, they that dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not know, know the voices of the prophets. They are read every Shabbat. They have fulfilled in condemning him. They didn't know. Now we know that they knew, and God know that they knew, and God know that people know today very clearly that when they reject the message of the gospel that they know very well that they reject the Messiah. They know it, and God knows it. But Paul is showing to them here they knew it, but they were blinded. Satan blinded them. and they were blinded they did not know even if they read the scripture even if they read the prophets every Shabbat day brothers and sisters it is being read today every Shabbat day and our own people don't even realize that it is prophesying concerning Yeshua the Messiah I like you please to turn with me just to another verse in the book of Corinthians 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 please I want to point out to what he said elsewhere the apostle Paul to the Corinthian believers 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, he says there in verse 11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech, and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But their mind were blinded, for until this day remains the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in the Messiah. He's saying, up till today, there is a veil over the hearts of our own nation, the people of Israel, that the only way that this veil will be taken out when they read it and see it as it is pointing to Yeshua, the Messiah. But as long as the law is read every Shabbat day without seeing it the person of the Messiah, the veil is still remaining over the faces of our people. And no wonder when we talk to our mothers and our fathers and our brothers and our sisters we can see that they just don't get this because of the rejection of Yeshua the Messiah. They don't see that it is pointing to Yeshua the Messiah. And those of us who are Jewish can say I know that by experience because I read it and I heard about it myself and I never saw it in the scripture in the Torah that it is pointing to the Messiah Yeshua and so It says him that even if they read the scripture every Shabbat day, they do not understand and they do not see. And that's why it says here now in verse 28, And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired their Pilate that he should be slain. You remember when they brought Yeshua to Pilate, John tells it, the evangelist in the Gospel of John. And he asked the Jewish leader, he says, do you find anything? He said, I found no fault in him. There's no wrong. He have done nothing wrong. But the leader still did not want to accept him. They accused him. Three times Pilate said, I found no fault in him at all. And yet, as it says here, even though they found no cause of death in him, desired they Pilate that he should be slain. Now Pilate was guilty as well because his wife told him, have nothing to do with this just man. But you know, Pilate washed his hands in water and he says, I am innocent of the blood of this innocent man. And then he sent him to be crucified. There was no fault in Yeshua. There was no sin in Yeshua. There was no guilt in Yeshua. He had done nothing wrong. He had been such a blessing to the nation, such a blessing to the people around Him. And yet men have sent Him to the cross. That's what happened here. Notice that the Apostle Paul is pointing out actually to the resurrection of the Messiah. Because here it says that when they have fulfilled all that were written, they took him down from the tree. And I'm reading now verse 29. And they laid him in a suppoker. But God had raised him from the dead. See Paul giving them the Gospel. The life of the Messiah. The death of the Messiah. The burial of the Messiah. The resurrection of the Messiah. This is the Gospel. The perfect sinless life of the Messiah. No fault in him. And yet he had to die. They place him on a Roman cross. And then he had to be buried in accordance with the psalmist. And then he had to be resurrected. And he said here, but God had raised him from the dead. He's talking to his Jewish brethren as the audience. He's saying to them, listen. Men rejected him. Men despised him. Men put him on a cross. But God raised him from among the dead. God was satisfied with the work of Yeshua the Messiah. Romans tells us this. He was put to death by men but he was raised for our justification. God raised him from among the dead because he was satisfied with the work of Yeshua the Messiah. So the Apostle Paul pointing to the Gospel. And that is the Gospel brothers and sisters. The Gospel is glad tidings, good news. Somebody paid the price for our sins. Somebody had to die that the sinner can be forgiven. That is the gospel. The life of the Lord, the death of the Lord, the burial of the Lord, and the resurrection of the Lord. And he's moving on now, and look at this, brothers and sisters, he's speaking in verse 31, and he said, and he had been seen for many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you the glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children. in that He had raised up Yeshua again. You notice now, He used the same word fulfilled. In earlier verse, if you remember in verse 27, we read that Israel had fulfilled. You notice it says there in verse 27, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him. Now we see in verse 33, that God had fulfilled in raising Him. You see, the scripture had to be fulfilled. God had to fulfill his word because God is the one who wrote it in the scripture. He is the one who said in the scripture that the Messiah had to die. And remember, Shaul, Paul, didn't have with him a New Testament text. He only have the Old Testament, the Tanakh, with him. So he couldn't quote Acts because he was acting Acts. He couldn't quote Romans because Romans was not yet in existing. He just began the ministry. So there is no New Testament at all here. It's only the Tanakh, only the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scripture. So he's quoting three verses from the Tanakh, the Old Testament, to prove to them that that was already prophesied in the Hebrew Scripture. And they are reading it every Shabbat. Psalm 2 and verse 7 speaks about the resurrection of the Messiah. God's a begotten here. It's not that it have to do with his birth, but it has to do with his resurrection. He begotting Him out of the grave. He raised Him from the grave. Look at this, verse 34. And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption. He said, same thing, it is written. He said on this wine, I will give unto you the sure mercies of David. He's quoting Isaiah chapter 55 from the Hebrew prophet. In verse 3. Again, He is now continuing, and again in verse 35 and 36, He said, Wherefore He saith. It is written. Also, in another Psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. This is Psalm 16 and verse 10, which we have read earlier. That has to do with the body of Yeshua the Messiah remained in the grave only 3 days and 3 nights and he rose from the grave from among the dead because his body would not see corruption. And remember Psalm 16 is a Psalm of David. David was the one who was writing this Psalm. Psalm 2 is a Psalm of David. So David was speaking. David, the king, was a prophet, yet he was a king. He was speaking forth the mind of God concerning the coming of the Messiah, Israel's Messiah. And so now he continues and he's kind of nailing it to the end because, you know, we look so much up to David, our king. You know, when we talk about Israel and the promises of God, we always look at these three men. Abraham, our father. Moshe, our lawgiver. David, our king. These are the three great men that we as Jewish people, as Israeli, looking always to. Moshe, Rabbenu, he's the one who gave us the law. Avram, he's the one who's chosen. And David, he's the king. David, Melech Yisrael, David the king of Israel. But you can see now that Paul is showing to our brothers and sisters of old, the Jewish brethren, he's showing to them about the reality of the resurrection. And he's saying to them now in verse 36 and 37, he says, David, After he had served his own generation by the will of God, he fell on sleep. In other words, he died. And he was laid unto his fathers, and he saw corruption. See, David's body did not rise as yet. He was a believer. He's a child of God. He will be resurrected in the future day. But his body saw corruption. He hasn't been resurrected as yet. So Paul is giving them this understanding. He says, listen, even though David wrote Psalm 16, even though David wrote Psalm 2, but David have not been resurrected yet. David was speaking of the coming Mashiach, the coming Messiah. And then he continues, he said, but he, verse 37, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. And indeed we know very well that David saw corruption, but Yeshua saw no corruption. On the third day he rose from among the dead, and now is seated at the right hand of the Father on high." So, verses 14 to 25, Paul rehearsed before his Jewish brethren Israel history. Verses 26 to verse 37, Paul declares before his Jewish brethren Yeshua as the Messiah. And finally, at the end, the conclusion of this chapter, verses 38 to 52 of Acts chapter 13, Paul now applies the need of the Gospel to his Jewish brethren. And I would emphasize this. All what we read up to now has no value to any one of us unless we apply it to our own hearts. All what Paul mentioned about the history of our brethren, our nation Israel, and how it pointed ultimately to the Messiah, unless they have applied it to their own hearts, it has no value for them. Every individual have to apply it to his or her own heart. And look what the Apostle Paul is saying here to them now. First of all notice verse 38 and 39 Paul point to the fact that faith in Yeshua the Messiah give one justification. Look, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, this is Yeshua, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And verse 39, He elaborates, and He says, And by Him, this man, this Yeshua, all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now, this is amazing to understand. The word justified, in Hebrew, it is Yitzdak, or Lehitztadek. You know it was Job who asked in Job 25, how can a man be justified with God? He asked this question. He was in a dilemma, like many today, in a dilemma. How can a sinful man be justified with God? This is a question of the ages. Everyone wants to know that he's right with God. All of us need to know if I leave this scene today, this world today, if I die today, am I right with God? Are my sins forgiven? That's the question that Job asked years ago. How can a man be justified with God? And man does not have this answer unless he come to the scripture and he see it in the person and the work of Yeshua the Messiah. How can a man be justified with God? Look what the Bible says. Clearly verse 38 and 39, Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, this is Yeshua, is preached unto you forgiveness of sin, and that by him, by Yeshua, all that believe are justified from all things. And the word to be justified simply means to be declared righteous. How can God take you and I, a sinner, and say, I declare you righteous? I know I'm not righteous. I know I'm a sinner. But how can God, a holy God, can declare a sinner righteous? One has to accept the Righteous One, the Messiah Yeshua Himself, and to be justified, just as if never seen. God look at us. He says, listen, I see you in the Messiah. I see you as if you are the one that have never seen. Why? Because sin have been dealt with. My son, the Messiah of Israel, the descendants of David, have paid the price for you on the tree. And He said justify from all things, past, present, future, all things, the big things that we have done, the small things that we have done, from all things to be justified. By the deeds of the law shall no man be justified. But through faith in the Messiah, he declared everyone that believed on him to be justified. Paul elaborates on that in the book of Romans in chapter 3 from verse 20 to verse 28. When you have a time, read that text and you will see that he said there, by the deeds, by the doing of law keeping, no one can be justified. Because the law is like a mirror that condemn us and show us how wrong we are. God expect from us that high and we never measure up to his expectation. We always fall short of the glory of God. But God said, now when you accepted my son, I judged him on the tree. He was buried and he rose. Now I can declare you just if you only believe on him and accept what he has done for you. So it is not from some things, you know, but from all things. And oh brothers and sisters, if you would have an opportunity to look at the record of your own life, and we see the things that we have done, that God could judge us for what we have done, the thoughts in our hearts, the words that we say, the things that we looked at, God could condemn forever and ever, and now he can say on the basis of the work of my dear son, I declare you justified. Really, this is an answer to Job, who said, how shall a man be justified with God? Job, here's the answer. Believe on the Messiah, the Savior Yeshua, and God will declare you justified from all sins. And you remember the jailer, he asked Paul and Silas in the book of Acts later on, what must I do to be saved? Acts chapter 16. And Paul said to him, believe on the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and you shall be saved. just to believe, just to accept His work, just to trust Him to say, Lord, I'm accepting what you have done for me. So, you could not be justified from all things by the deeds of the law He said to them in verse 39. And moving on in verse 40 and 41, He now warns them against rejection of His message. There is a warning, because he says here in verse 40 and 41, Beware! Be careful! Therefore lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets. Again, he's quoting the prophets. And now he quotes the prophet Habakkuk, the embracer of Israel, who loved his people so much. And God, through Habakkuk, was presenting to the nation of Israel. He says, Look! Behold ye despises and wonders and perish, for I work a work in your days. A work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you." You see, God can harden hearts as well. He is warning Israel. He warned them through Habakkuk. He is warning those people in the city of Antioch or Pisidia. Don't you be like the one that Habakkuk was speaking about many, many years ago. And you remember what he said to them? He says, listen, don't be despisers. Don't be those that are not accepting what God telling you. He says, listen, I'm going to work a work in your days that you will not believe. This is a judicial hardness of the heart. Not only that there was the willful hardness of the heart, but that will bring about a judicial hardness of the heart. like Pharaoh had experienced when he rejected the God of Israel. Then you move on now in verse 43 and you see here, now you can see that there is some response to the message and it's so precious. Again, Shaul, Paul, and Barnabas are in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia. There are those who responded to the message. And sometimes you feel like you are talking, and you are talking, and many preachers feel the same. And I'm sure Paul felt, and I'm sure Stephen felt, and I'm sure Peter felt. And they are preaching, and the preaching of the message. And sometimes you feel like it falls on deaf ears. And look what we find out here in verse 42. It says, When the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached as well to them on the next Shabbat. Notice verse 43. And when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews Jewish people and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas who speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. That is so wonderful to hear because you see that in that synagogue many of the Jewish people responded to that message. They wanted to accept the person of the Lord. And Paul and Barnabas spoke to them, and they persuaded them to continue, not in the law, but in the grace of God. Continue on. Yes, it doesn't mean that you are not to follow what God says in Scripture. Law of Moses is pure, is holy, is undefiled. There's no problem with the law. The problem is with men, and men need the grace of God. That's why he's saying continue in the grace of God. You began with the grace of God. When you receive salvation through Yeshua the Messiah, continue in the grace of God. You know, the problems in the Galatians is that they began with grace, but they continue with law. They began with grace and they continue with legalistic ways. And that's why the apostle had to write them such a strong letter to the Galatians. He said, you started with grace and you want to finish with law, with works. And here he said, they persuade them to continue in the grace of God. We need the grace of God, not only for salvation, but we need the grace of God every day of our life as believers. And so he continued now as we head on, there is opposition. You know, every time when you preach the word and you share the message, there are some believers Praise God, some accepted the message, but immediately you see that there is an opposition. In verse 44 and verse 45 you can see the opposition of those who did not respond, who opposed the Gospel. In verse 44, the next Shabbat day, notice another Shabbat day, again he's in a synagogue there. Next Shabbat day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. You see, those are the other group among the Jewish people who did not accept the Messiah. So when they saw the whole city coming now and hearing that message of the Messiahship of Yeshua from the mouth, from the lips of Paul and Barnabas, they were amazed, they were surprised, and then they began to oppose it. They didn't want their own brethren to come to know the Messiah, and then now the Gentiles coming, and the whole city is coming to hear the Word of God, and they began to oppose it. Again remember, Acts chapter 2, they oppose Peter. Acts now, chapter 13, they oppose Paul. Why? Because they harden their hearts. And they didn't see the Messiahship of Yeshua. And it's not only that the Jewish people are hardening their hearts. We see it now in the church age around the world. How many from among the gentile world who oppose the message of the Messiahship of Yeshua and reject Him. And so, it says now in verse 46 on, Paul and Barnabas respond to the opposition. In the next verses, verse 46. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and they said, it was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you. But seeing that he put it from you, and not judge yourself worthy of eternal life, he said, we turn to the Gentiles. See what Paul is saying that now we are going to turn to the nations of the world, to the Gentiles. They began with the Jewish community. They began in the synagogue. But when the leaders of the Senegal did not want to acknowledge that, they were opposing that message. Now Paul and Barnabas says, But seeing ye put it from you and judge yourself unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the gentle. This expression, everlasting life, already have been spoken earlier in the Gospel. One of the most famous verses that we all probably know by heart is John 3.16. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Faith in the Messiah is giving us an everlasting life, an eternal life in association with God, with Yeshua the Messiah. But they counted themselves unworthy of everlasting life. So what does He do? He says, we are turning now to the Gentiles. Even though he said, we are turning to the Gentiles. If you notice that every time you read about the Apostle Paul, the first thing he does when he go to the Gentile city, he's going to the synagogue of the Jewish people to spend a time of the preaching of the gospel to his own brethren first. And then he continue to the Gentiles, to the nations around. In verse 47, For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, that thou should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. Verse 48, And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and they glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the regions. One or two points to mention here. You know the three times the word Gentiles is mentioned here. In verse 46, we turn to the Gentiles. In verse 47, that God have set thee, this is Yeshua the Messiah, to be a light unto the Gentiles. In verse 48, when the Gentiles heard this, they glorified the word of the Lord. You see, Israel as a nation still is a nation that is called to share the message of the Gospel to the world, to the Gentile world. In the Messianic Kingdom, Israel will ultimately fulfill what God has actually called this nation to be. But when Israel the nation as a nation failed, the Messiah himself now become the one that was going to be the light to the Gentiles. So when the prophet Isaiah in chapter 42 and verse 6 and 7 spoke about the Messiah and those who will preach about the Messiah. He says, I have set thee, that has a reference to Yeshua, to be a light unto the Gentiles. What Israel, the nation, failed to fulfill, Messiah Yeshua have fulfilled in His person and in His work. He became a light unto the Gentiles. And look how many Gentiles over the 2000 years of church history became believers in the Messiah. And it is He who became a light unto the Gentiles. Now, look at this, brothers and sisters, the second point that I want to point out in verse 48. You know, I know sometimes we don't believe in what you call election. Now look what the Bible say. I wouldn't write it this way. Look what it says in verse 48. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, they glorified the word of the Lord. And listen, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Now, if I would write it, I would write it different. As many as believe they were ordained to eternal life. That's how I would write it. But look what the Bible says. And as many as were ordained to eternal life. Believe, the word ordained in the Greek is tasso. Tasso simply means assigned or appointed or set to be. And it is the same thing that we have in other verses in Matthew 28 and in Romans 13. You remember we read about Romans chapter 13 verse 1. Let every soul be subject unto the higher power, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. That's the same word, taso in the Greek. Every power that we have in the world are ordained of God. This government, they are ordained of God. We don't understand it, but that's what the scripture declares. And so we find here that as many as were ordained to eternal life, they believed. Here we learn of election. God had chosen them in eternity past to be part of the redeemed company, to ordain them to eternal life. And so the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. And then the concluding remarks of this Acts chapter 13 verses 50, 51 and 52, we see that there is an opposition. And the opposition is by those that were the leaders, unfortunately, in this city. It was those from the Jewish community that opposed the message of the Gospel, especially, first of all, because it is the Jewish people who have accepted the Messiah there. It says here in verse 50, but the Jews, this is the Jewish leaders there, they stirred up the devout men, and the devout and honorable women, and the chief men of the city, and they raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. See, they have caused a lot of opposition and they end up sending Paul and Barnabas outside of their cities. And you know what Paul and Barnabas did? It says in verse 51, they shook the dust of their feet against them and they left and they went to another city, another place called Iconium. they left. And this shaking of the dust from the feet is something that Yeshua already told the disciples much earlier in the gospel of Luke. If you remember in chapter nine, he said to them, if you go to a city and they reject what you share with them, they reject the word of God. Just shake. The dust from off your feet is an expression of saying really we did what we wanted to do. You refuse the message. We are not responsible in the direction that you are going. We are shaking the dust from our feet and we are just moving on. And this is an expression of saying, listen, if you reject the Word of God, it is really your responsibility before the Lord. One day, everyone will have to stand before the Lord and give account to Him, and He will ask that simple question, what have you done with the message of the Gospel that I provided for you? I've sent my Son, I've sent the Messiah. Have you acknowledged Him? Have you taken Him into your heart? Have you confessed your sins? Have you believed on Yeshua the Messiah? And if not, you will end up to be eternally separated from God. But if you accepted Him, you will be the one that will have eternal life, eternally connected with Yeshua the Messiah. So, the last verse of this chapter is the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. This is in Iconium. When Paul and Barnabas have gone there, the brethren were so happy, they were filled with joy, the believers there, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Well, this is the first message that Apostle Paul preached. In the synagogue, among his brethren, in the city of Antioch of Pisidia, and there he presented the Gospel of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. May the Lord bless these thoughts to our hearts.