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There's a certain way that you
have to go out, and there's a certain way that we do go out, I guess.
Anyways, it's so good to gather together. We've been going through
this first recorded sermon of the Apostle Paul. It's not the
first one he ever preached, but it's his first recorded one in
the Book of Acts. And last week, we looked at,
again, his appeal. In other words, again, he preached the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he tells them what to do with
this gospel, and it's simply this, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ for forgiveness of sins. You know, if you believe on Jesus
Christ, all of a sudden you're free from all of the confines
that happen to begin of the law, that we have no condemnation
because we are in Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus forevermore.
And it's a glorious grand truth, isn't it? And he ends off, again,
with a warning. You know, there's so many that might be there that
might look at that gospel message, that might, again, look at it
as it's not applicable to me. I mean, after all, we're Jews.
We live this righteous life. And he warns them, don't be like
the Israelites of old. Condemnation will come against
you. Judgment will come against you if you ignore this great
grace of God. that has been given. And so when
we look at that, the sermon ends off, again, with that appeal,
right? To do this with the sermon. And any preacher that's worth
any weight of salt or whatever, weight of gold, has an appeal. There's something that they want
the congregation to do with this message, right? Something to
do with God's truth. And that's what we see here.
And when we look at the response, we realize that there's an appropriate
and inappropriate response to the gospel, isn't there? And
it's always that way. You know, we are to respond how
to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Through belief. You know,
but there's many, again, who continue in unbelief. And there
really is only two responses to the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's either this idea, again, of belief or unbelief.
There's this idea of acceptance or rejection of the message of
Lord Jesus Christ. And why? Because there's only
two roads, right? There's many ways to reject Jesus Christ,
but basically, again, it's rejection of Jesus Christ. There's only
two roads. There's a wide and broad road that leads to destruction
and a narrow road or a narrow path, you know, with one gate
to go through, and that gate is Jesus Christ. And that's the
only way, isn't there? There's only one sheepfold, you know,
and so there's those that belong to Christ's sheepfold and those
that don't. There's sheep and there is gold.
There's those that happen to begin in light. There's those
that happen to begin in darkness. There's wheat and also tares. There's those who happen to be
God's children and those who happen to be the children of
the world. And the whole significance of
this is there's only really two ways. And so when you look at
this passage, and you look at the response of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ right at the end, it's telling us, you
know, these two ways. And seeing these two gospel responses,
again, I think are so important, because it really informs us
what to expect when we preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, right? Because like I say, many people
will even say that they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but
you can believe in the Lord Jesus And then just continue on any
way that you want, because sin really does not matter in your
life. I mean, it's amazing, isn't it? Because when you look at
that whole scenario, if sin did not matter, then Jesus Christ
really didn't need to die. You know, God didn't just come
to deliver us from the penalty of sin. but also the tyranny
of sin, the control of sin that happens again in our life, deliver
us again from its power, right? And we realize that. And it's
amazing to look at the book of Acts, because when you look at
conversions in the book of Acts, their whole life changed, right?
Didn't it? You know, they used to be over
here in the pagan religions, and they're no longer. They used
to be over here in Judaism, they're no longer. And they identify
with the Lord Jesus, and they begin to live with Him. And I
believe beyond a shadow of a doubt, even as the word of God, as the
gospel is preached in such clarity, with conviction that this is
the greatest need that mankind have. You have a response, again,
over here that's glorious, that's grand, that's zealous, as far
as belief, repentant belief in Jesus Christ. But I think, again,
the other response, you know, in the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is presented clearly. is a vehemence, is an anger,
is a frustration with that gospel message. In fact, I think there's
a greater frustration, a greater opposition, the more clear that
message happens to be heralded. But knowing all of this helps
us respond, right? Because when we see a strong
and adverse response to gospel preaching, this is the thing
we have to realize. There's nothing wrong with the message. Isn't
it? You know, the same human heart that existed in the time
of the apostles of Paul right here, exists today. You know,
and we realize that manifests itself, but it's amazing. You
know, in the midst of that hostility, in the midst of that rejection
many times, God uses that to really sanctify us, to change
us more and more in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
we realize the greatness of what he has really done in our human
hearts, don't we? And here's the other kicker.
when we realize the fruit that comes through the preaching of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, somebody
responds in the appropriate way, the way that God wants them to
respond. That fruit, think about it, lasts
for all of eternity. In other words, there's somebody
going to be glorifying, praising our great God, praising our great
Jesus forever and ever and ever. And I wonder as we look at that,
are we willing to go through the persecution? Are we willing
to go through the opposition to make Jesus known? You know,
of all the difficulties and all the trials that happen to begin
in our life, do we have a gospel centrality so much so that whatever
it takes to get this gospel out, whatever it takes, again, to
preach Jesus Christ, are we willing to do it? You know, I really
want us to encourage, you know, to prepare our hearts for, if
we're going to be gospel witnesses, if we're going to live out, if
we're going to speak forth the gospel to those that happen to
be around us, I really want to prepare our hearts to what to
expect. You know, to truly see the glory that is truly brought
to our Lord and Savior. So I want to see both those responses.
I want to see the positive response, because there is a positive response
to preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see
this in verses 42 and 43. It says, as they went out, the
people begged that these things might be told to them the next
Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many
Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who,
as they spoke with them, urged them to continue. in the grace
of God. You know, I think one thing that
catches our attention, you can't help but see it, is how great
the opposition against Christianity is. You know, if you haven't
seen that, I doubt that you're true followers of the Lord Jesus
Christ, because it really is everywhere. It's in our politics,
it's in our entertainment, system, it's everywhere that
happened to be around us. It's in society, right? We realize
there is a rejection. We realize there's an obstinance
against all things Jesus Christ, isn't there? And we realize that.
But I think that even though that catches our attention and
our thoughts, you know, even as we preach, even as we teach
the gospel, even as we witness those that happen to be around
us, one of the things I think really we fail to see is the
greatness of the response. And how many people really respond
to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? How many hearts are really
touched? How many hearts are really changed through the preaching,
through the testifying of the Lord Jesus Christ? I mean, it's
absolutely amazing, isn't it? You know, and the other thing
I think catches our attention many times is how many people
walk away from Jesus Christ? I mean, we see it. If you've
been a Christian for any amount of time, you know people who've
walked away from Jesus. You know, they've lived that
life. They say they praise Christ, that they've trusted in Christ,
but somehow in their life, they have walked away. And we even
see that among prominent Christians many times. And it's incredible,
because that gets our attention. But you know the thing that should
catch our attention? is how many people continue on in serving
Jesus Christ. Isn't it amazing? You know, they
go on and on, and they praise God through thick and thin, through
up and down, through trials and difficulties, through sufferings
that happen to begin in their life, and they make much of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I think, again, many times
we look at the rejection, we look again at people walking
away, and we fail to see the work of God. I mean, do you know
in Canada, that there's hundreds of thousands of individuals,
and I'm talking about born-again individuals in Bible-believing
churches across our country this morning that are praising and
glorifying our great God in our country alone, maybe even millions.
And doesn't that encourage your heart? You know, because we realize,
again, the one who has orchestrated that through the preaching, through
the testifying of God's people is none other than our great
God. And He can use our hearts. There really is this positive
response to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because look
at verse number 42. It says, and as they went out, the people
begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.
And let me just say beyond a shadow of a doubt, I really can't relate
to Paul right here. You know, I've never come, somebody up
to me and begged me, please be here next week, please be preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm thankful that people
come back, but no one's hung on my leg. Please come back,
please come back. No one's ever done that. But
it is an amazement, because I think we can all relate to this. That true biblical preaching,
that true biblical, that's saturated in the Word of God, that's Christ-centered,
creates an appetite in each one of us, doesn't it? It creates
a hunger. We want to know about our Lord.
We want to know about our Savior. We want to know about Jesus.
Right here, after Paul concludes, and this would have been basically
the synagogue leaders that came up because they were responsible
for who would be preaching, who would be teaching on the next
Sabbath. They're begging him that they want to come out. This
is a good response. We want to learn the word of
God. We want to learn these truths
about Jesus Christ. Now, they didn't understand everything.
In one sense, it's a great response, isn't it? But in the other sense,
I think again that this is really a negative response. Because
the call of the gospel is not to put off faith, is it? Today is the day of salvation.
Today is the day of repentance. Today is the day to trust and
believe on Him. Because this is what happens
so often. We delay, people delay in coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what happens when you
delay? We harden our hearts, don't we? You know, and I don't
know how many times that has happened to me. You know, I can
remember just recently a young man came up to me and he was
shaken because of conviction of sin. You know, and he said,
again, he needed to get his heart right. And I said, can we talk?
And he said he can't talk now. You know, he'd give me a call
this week and he would certainly be back at church the following
week. And guess what never happened?
The call never happened. Guess who never came back to
church? That individual never came back to church. And why? Because when we delay in truly
trusting Christ today, this is what happens. The heart is hardened.
And so many people think that they can control the time, the
circumstances of the grace of God really touching their heart. Isn't it true? You know, oh,
there's things, you know, I'm just not ready. There's things
that I want to experience that happen to begin in our life as
if Jesus is trying to destroy our lives. You know, there's
nothing greater than recognizing sin's forgiven in an eternal
relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing more
exuberant, more exciting, more joyous, than really is more fulfilling
than serving this Lord and Savior. But it's incredible, because
you harden your heart. And the first time you harden your heart,
you're shaking and everything. You know what you should do.
But the next time, again, you reject. It's a little easier.
Next time, you reject. It's a little easier. Next time, you reject.
It's a little easier. Next time, you start to get even a little
more. animosity towards those who haven't
begun preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's
my plea, if you have not trusted Jesus Christ, today is the day. That grace of God, that conviction
as far as the weightiness of your sin and what Jesus Christ
has done for sinners like us might not be available next week.
You might have hardened your heart in that disposition, so
much so that that grace is no longer available to you. Today
is the day of salvation. But there is a positive response,
and it's in verse number 43. And it says, and after the meeting
of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism
followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as he spoke with them, urged
them, to continue in the grace of God. And I love the time element
right here, right? Because there is a contrast in
between the time element of the other. You know, come back next
week and we'll hear more. And the time element is right
here, is right after last, amen. You know, right after the last
amen, I have to get this taken care of. You know, I have to
talk about this. And you can imagine, because
some of them have probably trusted Christ. Some of them have probably
believed in him. And here they are, full of joy,
wanting to know more about the Lord Jesus Christ. Some have
a heavy conviction of sin, and they really want to know more
about this gospel. They want to see how Jesus Christ
really can be appropriate in their life. But they can't wait.
You know, they need to take care of this. They need, again, to
have, to learn of this Christ and know of this Christ and walk
in this Christ. I love this because there was
a large crowd, right? It says many, many follow Paul and Barnabas. Many came again to talk to them
right here. I love also that Paul and Barnabas
may make themselves available because I think that's one of
the things in our Christianity we do not do, right? Let me just
say what Christianity is. Christianity on a human sense
is servanthood. Isn't it? It's about me making
myself, it's about you making yourself available for the spiritual
welfare of others. And I think, again, one of the
things, I'm just too busy, I'm just too busy, I don't want to
do that, I don't want to relate to that person, or whatever it
happened to be. We're just not available. And how often are
we making ourselves available, you know, to do that glorious
gospel work that God might do, that glorious gospel work through
us? One of the things that God wants us to be is available to
those that happen to be around us, for the household of faith,
for those who happen to be getting outside. you know, that we might
have these redemptive relationships with the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so we're not told when these individuals, and it
seems again like these individuals, because they go out in all the
city, we'll see this, and start preaching Christ and testifying
Christ, so much so that a large crowd gathered next day, next
Sabbath day for the preaching. But we don't know when these
individuals really came to Christ. They could have come to Christ
when Paul was preaching. They could have come to Christ in
these private conversations afterwards. But I really love the way this
verse ends, because it ends this way, as they spoke with them.
In other words, Paul and Barnabas spoke with them. They urged them
to continue in the grace of God. And I really love that, because
that's really showing a heart of others, right? That's really
showing, again, true Christianity. True Christianity, this is what
it is. It's no more and no less. This
is what true Christianity is. It's continuing in the grace
that we began in, right? The grace of Christ, the grace
of our great God that brought us to Jesus, right? That's what
Christianity is. And it's one of the clearest
signs that you happen to be a born again believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ is what? Is that you persevere in the
faith of the Lord Jesus. You know, have you ever wondered
about your salvation? Have you ever wondered if you truly are
in Christ? Have you ever wondered what you
did? In the past, maybe you were in a gospel preaching church,
maybe again the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ would preach
to you, and all of a sudden again you recognize it, you confess
your sins before this holy God, you trusted in Jesus Christ.
You know, and scripture tells you, you have a new status forevermore. You're a new creature in the
Lord Jesus Christ. But as you struggle, as you go through all
of these difficulties and all these things, we start to examine
what happened back then. We start to examine, did I really
believe? Did I really trust? You know,
am I truly a born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do
I truly have my sins forgiven? And you know what one of the
clearest signs to answer that question is? And I think a lot
of believers struggle with that. One of the clearest signs is
not what was done back then. The clearest signs to authenticate
what was done back then, here it is, it's what's going on today. You know, listen to what the
writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter three, verse number 14. For we have come to share in
Christ. And just leave that verse up there for a second. For we
have come to share in Christ. So he's looking back, right,
and saying, I have come to share in Christ. Share in Christ is
salvation, isn't it? We are in Jesus Christ. We are
all joint heirs with him, right? It's talking about salvation.
And then he says, if. This is how I know it's true.
So how do I know what's true back then? This is how. If indeed
we hold our original confidence firm to the end. How do I know? Because I'm trusting Jesus Christ
today. If you're not trusting Jesus Christ today, what to say
about what happened back then? It's what? It's faulty. I never
trusted him back then. I might have trusted him again
to ease the burdens in my life, or maybe I wanted these friends
to happen again over here, or maybe I felt bad about a few
things that I did. You know what? The evidence that
I truly came to Christ, I'm truly in Christ, here it is. Let it
continue. You know, if in the future, all
of a sudden, I depart from the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ,
then we can know this beyond a shadow of a doubt. You can
know this beyond a shadow of a doubt. Whatever I professed, whatever I did for
Christ was inauthentic. And why? Because the greatest
sign that we are born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we've
passed from death to life, we are in that light, not in darkness. We are one of his children, is
that we continue on. And so you can imagine right
here, here's these individuals that trust in Christ, and Paul
cares about them. Paul really cares about them,
so what does he do? Urges them. This is an absolute necessity
in your life to continue in that grace that you started in. And
I think it scares us many times, doesn't it? I mean, we look at
our hearts, and they're so fickle many times. We fail in so many
different areas that happen to be in our life, and we know people
who have fallen away from the faith, and we wonder if we will
be among that lot. It's incredible, because our
lives, you know, the lives, again, of Christians are filled full
of trials, temptations, you know, and you look at that, and it's
absolutely incredible. And I think a lot of times, Christians
think it's gonna be easy. Don't they? They think the sanctification
process is easy. You know, I think one of the
greatest trials, especially in young men's life, in young Christian
men's life, You know, and I don't think it's gonna come as a very
big shock as lust. You know, and a lot of times,
I'll be asked, can you give me a couple of verses? You know,
pastor, can you pray for me? And what they want, beyond a
shadow of a doubt, is this, microwave Christianity. You know what microwave
Christianity is? I got this juicy chicken with
sauce all over it, and I stick it in, and two minutes later,
guess what I get to do? I get to eat it. They want instantaneous
change. And they don't realize that how
God has chosen to conform us into the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ is this way. Through this hard and difficult
process of putting off and putting on, I'm tempted to give up. You
know, and through that battle, that's what Christianity is.
It's a battle in this life. And what God calls us to do in
those moments, right, is to continue in the grace. You know, in the
midst of those trials, in the midst, again, of those weeks,
and one of the greatest ways, one of the greatest tools that
God uses in the midst of that battle, here it is, is the preaching
of God's word. You know, the more that we come
under that preaching, whether it happens to be, again, on a
Sunday or a Wednesday, or whether it happens to be in our fellowship
times, or whether it happens to be just gathering with other
believers and talking about the struggles, talking about our
difficulties, talking about these things, and how this relationship
of the Lord Jesus Christ intersects, how this God, again, of all glory,
of all grace, of all goodness, of all faithfulness intersects
with our lives. You know, and we realize this,
don't we? And we're called to keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I know, you know, the scripture tells us, and here's
where the encouragement should be, because we look at it and
we say, God, I'm gonna fail, I'm gonna fail, I'm gonna fall, I'm
gonna fall, I'm gonna fall, gonna wander away, gonna wander away.
And I realize the road is narrow, but you know why the road is
narrow? It's because it's contrasted with what? It's contrasted with
the amount of people on this broad road that are going to,
here it is, judgment, isn't it? I mean, aren't you surprised
because so often we're looking over there and looking over there,
and so often, again, we're not looking at how many people make
it to the end. Isn't it true? There's individuals
in this church right now that have followed Christ not only
for a year or two, but for years, and here it is, decades. Guess
what they're doing? Still following Christ. I don't know how many funerals
I've done and they've always been a privilege to do. I've
done far more funerals where people have finished well rather
than people who have given up. A lot of times we don't see that.
The encouragement that happens to begin right here is we can. We can continue on and why? Because
we continue not in our own strength, but in this grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the more that you see that, the more that you
see the power of the gospel in our own lives and what God can
do, the more we want to be a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
more that we can say, oh, look at this gospel. And we can profess,
even as Paul says in Romans chapter one, verse number 16, for I am
not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for what?
For salvation to who? To everyone who believes. I mean, incredible truth, isn't
it? It really changes. You know, the destiny changes
the person forevermore. There's power in the blood. There's
power in the message. You know, the more that we're
convinced of it, the more that we can see the truth, again, that happens
to begin right here, the power, again, that comes through the
preaching of God's word, the more we preach, the more we testify
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It really has the power to change,
again, the most crooked heart that happens to be there. It
really can change the leopard spots. Now, that's one response,
isn't it? But there is another response,
and we also have to prepare our hearts and prepare our lives
for the other response. And you have that other response
in verses 44 and 45, and look at what it says. The next Sabbath,
almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
But when the Jews saw the crowd, they were filled with jealousy
and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling
him. Now, think about that. We asked this question, I think,
last week. And if not, I am 61 years old and I am claiming age.
And anyways, thank you for laughing at it. Somebody did, praise the
Lord. Yeah, yeah, amen, amen, there we go, there we go. I think
I said this last week and I'm gonna say it again. What do you
think the greatest problem in your life is? You know, if, exactly,
exactly. You know, because I think the
greatest problem we always think beyond a shadow of a doubt is
external. Isn't it true? You know, and you look at it,
if I could just change people, if I could just change circumstances,
if I just could change life that happens to begin over here. You
know, rather, you get into the problem many times, and even
for these Jews that were really religious, the problem wasn't
that they did not know the word of God. They did not know the
will of God, because it's right there that happened to begin
in his word. The problem was, I mean, think about it. You know,
we want to hear, you know, we beg you to come back next week,
and then all of a sudden, next week comes, and guess what? There's
this opposition that this passage describes about. And what has
changed? What's different? And here's
what's changed, what's going on in the human heart. And I
always find it amazing because, again, many times we can look
at this passage and say, uh-huh, uh-huh, they rejected, they put
off, they put off what they should have done the last Sabbath, and
now that hardening of the heart, that hardening of the heart,
that disposition, that pride, that arrogance, that jealousy,
that envy, again, of other people is coming to play that happened
to be right there. And we say, uh-huh, uh-huh, but let me tell
you, what's the biggest problem that happens to be in your life
as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? Because I really think,
I think much of the frustration, much of the sin that we have
in our life towards others, this is what we say, if you would
understand what I was going through, if you understand what I had
done, or what they had done, you would get it. And maybe I
would get it, but guess what? It's still wrong. You know, there's
still another option. And that option, again, is making
much of Christ, obeying Him, loving Him, cherishing Him, forgiving
others. Isn't it true? But I really believe,
and the reason why I say this, again, so vehemently, the reason
why I say it so zealously is because of this. I really wonder
if we know that at one section of our brain, but in the living
out of our theology, we don't believe it. And let me say, beyond
a shadow of a doubt, that your greatest problem is not your
spouse. Your greatest problem is not
your child who's rebelling. Your greatest problem is not
the store clerk who didn't give you what you wanted. The greatest
problem, again, is not your boss who doesn't recognize, again,
the hard work that you do. The greatest problem is not that
congregant who always seems to say the wrong thing. The greatest
problem is not a pastor who might not see, again, all of your abilities,
all of the things that you do in your life. The greatest problem
in your life is not external, it's internal. It's what's going
on in your heart. Because as you look at his passage,
I mean, everything seems to be going great. And let me just
say this again. If you're serious about serving
Christ, if you want to make much of Christ, if you want to glorify
Christ, if you want to praise him in your life, if you want
to publish him all around, let me say beyond a shadow of doubt,
you will have opposition. Right? You will have opposition.
We shouldn't be surprised by that. If they had opposition,
if, here it is, if Paul had opposition, if Jesus had opposition, let
me say beyond a shadow of a doubt, we'll have opposition in our
lives. But everything seems to be going great, and I love this
verse that we're gonna read here in a second, because it really,
again, I have to ponder this. How empty are the world religions? Have you ever thought about that?
Here's all these people, and all these people, again, are
religious in one sense and one sort that happen to be there.
How empty are they? And not only the ancient religions,
but how empty are all the religions that happen to be getting around
us? And it shouldn't surprise us, and guess why? Because there
is only one name where, here it is, eternal and substantial
hope is found, and that name is what? Jesus, isn't it? Because look at what it says,
and this would have been the outcome of that many that gathered
with Paul and Barnabas after the last Sabbath, but it says
the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the
word of the Lord. Now, think about this, because
this wouldn't be taking place in a synagogue. And the reason
why is the synagogue would have been too small. So as they heard
about more people, more people wanted to come out, wanted to
come out, wanted to come out, they had to make another arrangement
for somewhere else to preach. And it probably was in an open
space, an open square that happened to begin in the city. Maybe they
contacted city officials and said, again, we're going to have
a preaching service that happened to begin right there. And there's
another thing that you have to realize, that in the city, if
all the city were gathered together, there were more, here it is,
Gentiles than Jews, right? There are more of this world,
and again, a Gentile, again, is just a non-Jew, but it happened
to be, again, of the world, all these various different pagan
religions that happen to be around us, and that's where the problem
comes in. You know, as you look at this,
You know, these things just seem to be a real good thing. They
seem to be, again, a positive thing. But here's where the problem
comes in. And the problem is, and I want you to realize this,
it is with the synagogue leaders. These are the very best people.
Remember this? Come next week, come next week.
These are the very same people who begged them to come the next
week but would not respond to Christ. And we read again right
here in this passage of scripture, but when the Jews saw the crowds,
they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what
was spoken by Paul reviling him. Now, where did this adverse response
come from? And there's an external stimuli,
isn't there? And the external stimuli is basically
this, a large crowd had gathered to hear them. That's the external
stimuli. Now it interacts with what's
in our heart. If there's a love for Christ, we're praising God,
aren't we? If there's not a love for Christ, it's interacting
with our human hearts, and there's a different response that comes
out, right? It's not saying that this has
to be the response. It's a response because of what's
going on in our human heart. I mean, imagine this morning
if we came out, and as I went through my message this week,
I did imagine that this might happen, and I wish it would have
happened. But praise God, this is the congregation that God
has ordained for us to meet this very morning. But imagine if
you came out and all of a sudden there were so many people that
happened to be getting in our congregation. All the seats were
filled. Maybe all the fellowship hall was filled. Maybe we had
people standing around and they wanted to hear the gospel. They
wanted to hear the word of God. As we looked at the parking lot,
the parking lot was full. They might have been parking in the
business right next to us just to find, again, accommodation.
And all of a sudden, we decided, look, we can't do this here.
We can't accommodate all these people. So let's take a mic. Let's take some speakers. Let's
go out in the backfield. And let's proclaim Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Now, here's the thing. What would
our response be? What would our response be? Well,
it's cold. It's rainy. You're not spitting
out there. You know, what would our response
be? I think the response, again, of most of us would be, praise
God, this is great, this is grand, this is glorious. But it's amazing
because this is not the response of the Jewish leaders when a
Jewish Messiah is going to be proclaimed as the answer. I mean, is it? And what was the
problem? Because they saw, everyone's
seeing the same thing. And the problem is this, it's
right there in the text. It says this, they were filled
with jealousy. Now think about that because
you have to understand that. What does the word filled mean? Anyone? What does the word filled mean?
If I say you're filled with anger, filled with vengeance, filled
with Jesus, filled with goodness, filled with lust, filled with
revenge. I mean, what do we mean by that?
And I simply mean this, whatever we're filled with controls us,
right? It's something inner, right? As I look at your heart, I can't
see what fills it, but if I hang around long enough, whatever
comes out, I can see. And that's what it means. In
fact, it's used in a positive sense two times in this chapter.
In verse number nine, it says that Paul was filled with the
Holy Spirit as he confronted the sorcerer that happened to
be again right there. He's controlled by what? He's controlled by the
Spirit of God. He has a word of God saturating
his heart that what comes out is a spirit kind of result that
glorifies a great God that happens to be above. And the last verse
that happens to be in this chapter says this, We're filled with
what? Joy and the Holy Spirit. Both of those things are interacting.
Holy Spirit, we recognize the significance of our salvation.
We recognize the significance of what God has done in our life.
We realize we don't deserve this salvation. We don't deserve this
calling that happened to be in our life. That gratitude, that
thankfulness, that overwhelming sense of peace between us and
God creates what? A joy. Right, that's what controls
a life. But here's what's controlling
their life, and it's gonna control their behavior, isn't it? And
it happens to begin jealousy. Now, think about it. What are
they jealous of? And they're jealous of this.
This is what you have to realize. That you have to realize, for
the Jews back then, Judaism, that happened to begin, there's
not the religion of the Old Testament, but something that has been corrupted.
And it's been corrupted in this way, that it was a way of righteousness
before this great God. In other words, a way of being
right and being found right in this great God. And here it is,
we are the people, the exclusive people of God. We have preeminence,
we have position, we have standing in God. Not all these other people.
And think about it, because of the gospel, here it is, this
Jewish messiah is being preached, he came and lived that perfect
life, he died that substitutionary death for sinners like us. If
that is absolutely true, and appropriating Jesus Christ in
our life is just through simple repentant faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, all of a sudden that preeminence, all of a sudden
that position, all of a sudden that standing, all of a sudden
that special place in God's heart is obliterated in their theology.
And may I say this, the Jews, both the Jews and the Gentiles
that Paul talked to after that Sabbath recognized the significance
of that message. And that's why they went everywhere
in that city publishing that message. That's why there's so
many people that are gathered together. And why? Because they
got that message. They got that glorious message.
But here's the amazing thing. The jealousy that's in the heart
causes us to pose the actual work of God that's going on.
The problem is not biblical. It's not, again, that they can
look things in the Old Testament and see where it doesn't jive
with the Lord Jesus Christ. The problem is that they are
filled with jealousy. And I believe, again, jealousy
is one of the most blinding, other words, we don't recognize
it's going on in our human hearts, one of the most blinding and
destructive sins that there happens to be. You know, think about
it. Think about it from this action.
You know, the synagogue leaders, are the purveyor of truths. You
know, truth comes through me. It doesn't come through Paul. It doesn't come through Barnabas.
And it doesn't come through this guy named Jesus. It comes through
us. And that kind of blinding, jealous
pride is absolutely destructive. I deserve that friendship more
than others. I should have that in my life.
You know, so and so, maybe pastor should have asked me to do that
ministry, not someone else. I'm so much more qualified. I'm
so much more gifted. You know, and we have these various
different things that happen to begin in our lives, right?
You know, I deserve the recognition. Maybe we look at somebody else's
family. We think we're such a good guy. We think we're such a good
gal. We look at somebody else's family. We look at our family
falling apart. I deserve to be married to a spouse like that.
I deserve to have children like that. Have you ever been there? Because I'm gonna tell you something
that jealousy cannot do. Jealousy cannot give thanks to
God for the blessing in other people's lives. Isn't it true? Whoever you're jealous of, right? Paul says to weep with those
who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. And I think it's
really easy to weep with those who weep. But I think it's a
lot tougher to rejoice with those who rejoice, especially when
we think beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are more deserving of
these blessings than other people that happen to be around us.
And you just can't. You can't be thankful, oh God,
even if they didn't deserve it. I'm thankful that you blessed
so-and-so in this way. I'm thankful that through their
grace that you gave them this position, you gave them this
authority, you gave them these relationships that happen to
be in your life. God, you are an all good God. And God, you
even give me what I don't deserve in my life. But you can't do
that. And here's the thing you have
to realize about jealousy. Jealousy is never contained inside, but
it will work itself outside. And you can see that in the passage
because it goes on, right? Jealousy leads to what? It leads
to them, here it is, contradict. And they contradicted whatever
Paul had said, whatever he taught. And have you ever known people
like that? You try to have a conversation with them, you tell them about
politics, or you tell them something about the Bible, and right away
they're looking for a way to contradict it, contradict it,
contradict it, and contradict it. And why? Because they're
the avenue of truth. They're the avenue, again, of wisdom
that happen to begin right there. And so many, again, people that
happen to begin like that. And when that happens, it gives,
right here it is, jealousy in the heart, we start again speaking
vocally, and then all of a sudden, it even goes further, because
look at how this verse ends off, because it ends off this way,
began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. Now, I want you to think about
it, just keep it up just two seconds longer. Here's the thing,
I want you to look at the two last words in that verse. It's
reviling him. And here's the thing, the translators
of the ESV to help us understand this verse added the last word. And so think about it, because
it says, began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, and
then the verse actually ends like this, reviling. Now why is that so significant?
Do you know what the actual Greek word is? The actual Greek word
is blasphemy. And then we ask, you know, that's
a word that's directed this way, they certainly wouldn't be doing
to Jehovah God again in the Old Testament. So here's the question,
who are they blaspheming? And it's Jesus, the Christ. I
mean, isn't it amazing? I mean, how sinful, how corrupt
is the human heart if in one week we can go from conviction
of sin, one week going to being challenged about Jesus Christ
being the Messiah, Jesus Christ being the answer to a human sin
problem, to the next week in public cursing that very name,
blaspheming the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this is what you have to understand about jealousy. When it's allowed,
we're not seeing it, we're not looking in the scripture, we're
not looking at our hearts, we're not examining our hearts to see
our greatest problem. Jealousy, if it remains unchecked,
will cause you to do things and cause you to go places and do
things that you never thought you would do. And here's the
kicker, like the religious leaders, it's all done in the name of
God. Amazing, isn't it? Now, let me
wrap all of this up with two quick challenges, and one is
basically this. If you're serious, Christian. If you love the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you realize, again, that people are gonna
exist for all of eternity, and God has given us a mission here
on planet Earth, and we want this God to be glorified, we
want Him to be magnified, we want Him to be praised, let me
say beyond a shadow of a doubt, you are gonna suffer opposition.
There's gonna be trials, there's gonna be difficulties, there's
gonna be opposition that comes into your life. And let me also
say this, because this is the second thing, this is the corollary.
God, if you're willing to live that life for his glory, let
me say beyond a shadow of a doubt, God will do in your life through
you, right? He doesn't have to use you, but
he's chosen to use a vessel like us. He will use you as a vessel
of his grace, and he will bring fruit that is beyond all comparison
that happens to be in your life. I mean, think about it. Isn't
it a thrill to realize that some people will glorify God for all
of eternity because God has used feeble instruments like us. We
realize that ultimately He opens up the heart, He opens up the
life, but it's never apart from the preaching of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it amazing that somebody
will stand in the presence of Jesus Christ forever and ever
and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever, praising Him,
and God used us, you know, as that instrument. to make known
the Lord Jesus. Let me ask you, is there anything
greater, any greater enterprise that we can be engaged in in
the here and now than the making and maturing of disciples for
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? Let's be busy about our master's
work. Let's bow our hearts in a moment
of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you
so much for your goodness. We thank you for a grace in our
lives. We just ask that you be with us, Lord, especially as
we go to the table. And Lord, reflect once again
on our position. Reflect once again on what has
been done for miserable sinners like us that we might live before
you. We thank you. Just be with us
as we continue. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, I don't
The Response
Series Acts
| Sermon ID | 5425131223490 |
| Duration | 44:29 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Acts 13:42-47 |
| Language | English |
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