How to give the Gospel to a Jew

[0:00] You would take your Bibles and go to the book of Acts, please. Acts chapter 13, if you're visiting with us, you pull out that black Bible in the chair in front of you, go towards the back to page 103, 103.

[0:27] Acts 13. We're going to start reading verse 13 through verse 41. 13, 13 through 41. Acts chapter 13, verses 13 through 41.

[0:50] Again, page 103 in that black Bible. So I'll read the passage, then we'll do our study. Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga and Pamphylia.

[1:05] And John left them and returned to Jerusalem. But going on from Perga, they arrived at the city in Antioch. On the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.

[1:25] And Paul stood up, motioning with his hand, he said, Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. The God of his people, Israel, chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt.

[1:38] And with an uplifted arm, he led them out from it. And for a period of about 40 years, he put up with them in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed their land as an inheritance about 450 years.

[1:55] And after these things, he gave judges until Samuel the prophet. And then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, the man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years. And after he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, concerning whom he also testified and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.

[2:17] From the offspring of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus. After John had proclaimed before his coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

[2:30] And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, What do you suppose that I am? I'm not he. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I'm not worthy to untie. Verse 26.

[2:42] Brethren, sons of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, to us the word of this salvation is sent out. For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers recognizing neither him, nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning him.

[3:00] And though they found no guilt for death, they asked Pilate that he be executed. And when they had carried out all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.

[3:14] But God raised him from the dead. And for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now his witnesses to the people. And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers.

[3:29] That God has fulfilled this promise to our children. And that he raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second psalm, You are my son, today I have begotten you. That he raised him up from the dead, no more to return to decay.

[3:44] He has spoken in this way, I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. Therefore he also says in another psalm, You will not allow your holy one to undergo decay. For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers, and underwent decay.

[4:02] But he whom God raised did not undergo decay. 38. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through him, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

[4:13] And through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be justified through the law of Moses. Take heed, therefore, so that the things spoken of in the prophets may not come upon you.

[4:26] Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish. For I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you. Oh, in honor of the GOP presidential nominations that are going to be coming up, I thought it would be good to look at the top promises made by past presidents, or would-be presidents.

[4:52] How's that? One promise. To bring about nationalized health care. Harry Truman. To eradicate poverty.

[5:07] Lyndon B. Johnson. To cure cancer. Richard Nixon. To eradicate drugs.

[5:18] Excuse me. To eradicate drugs. George H.W. Bush. To create a global defense system. Ronald Reagan.

[5:32] To drive nothing but hydrogen-fueled cars. George W. Bush. And the promise to eliminate nuclear weapons.

[5:43] Jimmy Carter. I read those. I didn't know they promised those things. Did. Promises, promises.

[5:56] Now some believe these presidents, or would-be presidents, they'll do this or do that. Whoa. Others say, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is sad, because it means that we don't believe our government leadership.

[6:17] They're out to scam us. They're out to con us. Most likely. A bigger problem, though, is we carry that over to any type of authority over us.

[6:38] As a matter of fact, we carry that belief over, we carry that understanding about authority in our belief about God. that He's going to make promises.

[6:52] He's conning us. He's scamming us. We carry that over. No, friends. As we come to this part in Acts, just do it.

[7:05] Be who you are. Let God use us to fulfill His mission. We come to this part of Acts where He always keeps His promises.

[7:15] We proclaim and we believe that God always keeps His promises. He's not out to con us.

[7:27] He's not out to scam us. He will keep His promise. If He says this, He's going to do it. Another way to put it, this is a subtitle, How to Give the Gospel to a Jew.

[7:41] Some principles for you to take away. How to give the gospel to a Jew. God always keeps His promises. Let's say that together.

[7:52] God always keeps His promises. One more time. God always keeps His promises. Let me put the message in a statement for you.

[8:07] God graciously kept His promise by bringing, preparing, killing, and resurrecting the Savior through whom there is forgiveness of sins and justification before God.

[8:18] Listen and respond now. That's the sermon in one statement. That's this message from Paul in one sentence.

[8:30] God graciously kept His promise. He brought, He prepared for, He killed, and then He resurrected the Savior according to promise through whom there's forgiveness of sins, through whom there's justification.

[8:43] Listen and respond. This is the most developed, the most detailed sermon by Paul that's given to us in the book of Acts.

[8:55] He addresses Jews and God-fearing Greeks in this particular synagogue. And this is what He says to them. And this point is that God has fulfilled this promise of salvation in Jesus, who is both Lord and Christ.

[9:11] Respond to the message today. Respond to the good news. That Jesus has fulfilled God's promises made to David long ago, made to the fathers long ago.

[9:22] Don't reject it. Jesus is the Savior, the promise fulfiller, the Son, the Holy One who brings forgiveness of sins and justification to sinners who repent and trust Him alone.

[9:37] He's the one and only Savior. He's the one and only. If you're here today and you don't follow Jesus, you're not a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, this message is for you.

[9:49] You must respond today. You must turn to Christ and you can be saved. But also for us as followers of Jesus, what a perfect message how God sets this up for us to be able to partake of the Lord's Supper soon.

[10:10] Because Christian, God keeps His promises and He will keep His promise of forgiving you of all your sins and cleansing you of all your unrighteousness, 1 John 1.9.

[10:21] that you stand before Him and He will continue to transform and grow us through and in the gospel.

[10:33] Christian, He loves you in Christ and so when you take the elements, tangible, real things you can touch, you can taste, you're reminded how much God loves you in His Son.

[10:49] How much He's forgiven you of all your sins. And He embraces you because you've embraced His Son. And God will always be faithful to keep His promise to send His Son to return and judge this world and righteousness.

[11:10] So you won't have to worry about an election anymore. You won't have to watch the commercials anymore. You won't have to do any of that stuff anymore because there will be a dictatorship.

[11:21] but it will be a gentle, gracious, kind dictatorship of the one righteous God, Jesus Christ. He will rule and we will reign with Him.

[11:32] What a promise! So when we partake of the Lord's Supper, we proclaim it until He comes with the hope that He's going to come and return. So let's unpack this now.

[11:45] I told you God graciously kept His promise by bringing, preparing, killing, resurrecting the Savior through whom there's forgiveness of sins and justification before God. Listen and respond now. Let's take each one of those, the sentence, let's unpack it, let's take it apart.

[12:00] First, God graciously kept His promise. Verses 13 to 37. Starting in 13, preliminaries, Paul and his companions, they sailed to Asia Minor from Paphos to Perga and Pumphalia.

[12:19] Notice John Mark left them, returns to Jerusalem. We're not told why. We later find out, Paul was pretty ticked off about it though. Find out in chapter 15.

[12:32] They went north to Antioch of Pisidia. It was a Roman colony, a huge Jewish population. Notice it says, on 14, in verse 14, Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down.

[12:43] The synagogue service normally had the reading of the Law and the Prophets. So after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, and then they would have a word of encouragement or a brief homily, the synagogue officials sent to them saying, brethren, if any word of exhortation for the people, send it.

[13:02] Now we don't know if the officials knew Barnabas and Saul. We don't know if Barnabas and Saul greeted them before the meeting or what happened. But he asked them to come up. Obviously, this guy had no idea who he was talking to.

[13:16] And he had no idea what he was asking. Ha ha, little did you know. So God graciously kept His promise. And notice, let's unpack this now even more.

[13:28] First, by bringing the Savior, we're going to look at verses 16 through 23, how He brought the Savior. Paul, he stood up, motioned with his hand for attention, and then he did a short blast through a review of Israel's history to the Jews and God-fearers, men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen.

[13:51] Greeks, who respected the God of Israel, and my Jewish brethren, listen. Just as a side note, he masterfully touches Genesis, goes to Exodus, through Deuteronomy, to Joshua, and then one Samuel, then the second Samuel.

[14:07] Does it just perfectly. 17. The God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers, notice His identity, our fathers. He chose Israel to be His special people for His special covenant.

[14:24] He supported them, made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted army led them out. The Exodus, redeemed them. For Peter, about 40 years, in verse 18, He put up with them in the wilderness, or bore with them, or tolerated them, put up with their manners and moods.

[14:47] But God was still faithful, despite Israel's faithlessness. He says, to keep His promise. What's the promise? That in Jesus Christ, all the families of the earth will be blessed.

[14:59] That's the promise. Verse 19. He destroyed seven nations, the land of Canaan, distributed their lands and inheritance. It took about 450 years.

[15:11] Rounded off the numbers. Gave them judges, no, Samuel. Asked for a king, verse 21. Gave them Saul, the son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. After he removed him, he raised up David to be their king.

[15:28] Raised up, this one, notice how he describes David. He was a king after God's own heart who will do all my will. He would perform God's will.

[15:40] So he's setting this all up. Bringing us all the way up to this point. And then he says this in verse 23. From the offspring of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus.

[15:55] God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, who was the fulfillment of God's promise to David about having an everlasting dynasty. His promise about having a great descendant to come. The promise to the fathers that in the seed, Christ, all the families of the earth will be blessed.

[16:12] The promise, Savior, as given to David, was Jesus. He was the deliverer. So God's bringing this about, bringing the Savior.

[16:22] Savior. So Paul, he leaped over a thousand years of Israel's history to the promise of the son of David who would deliver God's people Israel and anyone who would repent and believe in that Savior.

[16:39] He would be this descendant who would bring the blessings of David along with the blessings given in Genesis to the fathers. So, God keeps His promise by bringing the Savior.

[16:51] Notice, then, by preparing for the Savior. Verse 24 and 25. So God kept His promise. He brings the Savior through the nation of Israel and then He prepares for the Savior.

[17:05] John the Baptist proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. A way of preparing them for Jesus' coming.

[17:16] He was completing His course or His mission there in verse 25 and He kept saying, you suppose I am? He was denying He's the Savior.

[17:28] I'm not the Savior. I'm not the one. I'm not He. And He knew this one would be so great that one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I'm not worthy to untie.

[17:42] God was preparing for the Savior. Interesting too. John baptizing Jews. This was huge. Because it implied that Israel was estranged from God needing His forgiveness.

[17:57] And that Israel, to be made right with God, need to be made right with Him. And they weren't. But Jesus would be the Lamb who would take sin away.

[18:08] for Israel and for the people of the world. So God, He kept His promise. He brings the Savior.

[18:20] He prepares for the Savior. And then notice the next point. By killing the Savior. 26 to 29. Brethren, sons of Abraham's family, those of you who fear God, to us.

[18:40] To us, the word of the salvation is sent out. The salvation message is for us. The message of deliverance is for us. He says this word of salvation, message of salvation.

[18:58] Salvation takes the hearers back to the fact that Jesus is the Savior who's going to bring salvation. God is keeping His promise. He brings the Savior. He prepared for the Savior.

[19:10] He's going to kill the Savior so that it can be salvation. Notice what He says in verse 27. For those who live in Jerusalem and the rulers recognizing neither Him or the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, they fulfill these by condemning Him.

[19:31] And they found no guilt for death. They asked by that He be executed. So notice how those in Jerusalem and the rulers, they failed in two ways. First, they did not recognize Jesus and His work.

[19:44] Second, they didn't understand what they read from the prophets each Sabbath concerning Jesus. So they condemned their Savior which fulfilled the Scriptures. they fulfilled their all the words all these words that they're reading coming out of their mouths from the Sabbath they actually did.

[20:15] Acting in willful ignorance they fulfilled their destined roles. And they killed the Savior.

[20:27] They had Him executed. there was no ground for death. But they asked Pilate to kill Him He did nothing wrong. But they carried out all that was written about Him and it was fulfilled.

[20:41] And they took Him down from the notice it says and when they carried Him out all that was written concerning Him they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.

[20:52] They took Him down from the cross literally from the tree. In Deuteronomy chapter 21 verse 22 cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree.

[21:06] He was cursed and they buried Him. There's no doubt that Jesus truly died on the cross and that His death was a cursed death because they hung Him on a tree on the cross.

[21:22] He was shameful and penal in His character. His death was needed though to make atonement for rebellious sinners who were cursed.

[21:34] So God had predicted this. He kept His promise. He brings the Savior. He prepares for the Savior. And then He kills the Savior.

[21:45] But then the next point by resurrecting the Savior God keeps His promise bringing the Savior preparing for the Savior killing the Savior and then resurrecting the Savior.

[22:00] Notice in verse 30 but God raised Him from the dead. And for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.

[22:14] But God back to Him is the subject. He raised Jesus from the dead. God acted on behalf of the Son of David by resurrecting Him. He kept His promise.

[22:28] And He was seen. Jesus was seen over many days by those who came with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. His disciples. And then Paul says these ones they are now His apostolic witnesses of His resurrection toward Israel toward the people.

[22:51] These eyewitnesses proclaim what God did through Jesus says one writer. So these disciples they guaranteed the message was real. The message was true.

[23:03] They didn't think of this on their own. They didn't come up and say hey they got a great idea. No this is God's plan. This is God's purpose. This was His promise.

[23:17] Friends when we think about Christianity and what this means Christianity is truly a proclamation of real historical facts about Jesus how God stepped into time to act on behalf of sinners by sending His Son to fulfill His promises for sinners.

[23:35] He was gracious kind loving and merciful by sending the Savior. So he brings to the table how God kept His promise by bringing the Savior preparing for the Savior killing the Savior resurrecting the Savior and now what Paul does I'm going to give you scriptural proof of the resurrection.

[24:01] in verses 32 to 37 here's scriptural proof His disciples testified to the historical event and now scripture confirms that the promises come in Jesus through God's vindication in His resurrection.

[24:18] God was pleased and He vindicated His Son and resurrected Him from the dead. And Paul says I'm going to show you from scripture. This was the case.

[24:28] Notice starts in verse 32 and we preach to you the good news that the promise made to the fathers. This is the good news of the promise.

[24:40] This is good news. This is why we're here to proclaim to you the message of hope that God kept His promise in resurrecting Jesus. I'm going to show it to you.

[24:53] A promise fulfilled and confirmed by three scriptures. First 33 God has fulfilled this promise to our children that He raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second psalm You are my son today I have begotten you.

[25:10] What does this mean? How does this connect to the resurrection? His sonship Jesus' sonship was confirmed or made evident by His resurrection.

[25:21] He didn't become the son at His resurrection but the resurrection confirmed He was the son. So because of His resurrection and ascension Jesus experiences His complete destiny as Savior Son Christ or Savior Son Messiah sharing God's royalty and sharing God's authority.

[25:48] So there's proof number one. Psalm 2 Psalm 2 says today Psalm 2 says You are my son today I have begotten you. It confirms that He's the son.

[26:02] Second verse 34 that He raised Him from the dead no more to return to decay He has spoken in this way I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.

[26:16] The promise made in Isaiah 55 verse 3 His resurrection means this raised promised one would not see corruption. In other words one writer puts it like this quote His resurrection was the means by which God distributed the promised blessings that were given to David for the people.

[26:38] Or to put it simply His resurrection is the means by which God gives the blessing of His covenant. His resurrection is the means which God gives the blessings of His covenant.

[26:50] So He has to resurrect from the dead. That's how Isaiah 55 connects to His resurrection. God's promises are faithful and holy wrapped up in the faithful Holy One.

[27:07] Third verse 35 therefore He also says in another Psalm which is Psalm 16 He will not allow your Holy One to undergo decay.

[27:20] Psalm 16 10 connects to Isaiah 55 3 and that the holy things of Isaiah it's linked to the Holy One of Psalm 16 and this Holy One would not experience decay a prediction of Jesus' resurrection and would come in the future.

[27:37] Why? Notice what He says in 36 for David after He served the purposes of God in His own generation He fell asleep. He served His purpose He died He was buried He decayed He's dead 37 but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.

[27:59] This Psalm Psalm 16 specifically Psalm 16 verse 10 it's a message of hope. It can't ultimately be about David because He's dead He's decayed It's impossible but someone greater than Him has come that's Jesus the Son that's Paul's point Jesus is the one God raised who did not undergo decay or corruption and thus is the one who fulfills God's promise He is the one who fulfilled God's promise to His people regarding salvation It's Him So notice what Paul does from verse 16 all the way to verse 37 He shows us how God kept His promise by bringing the Savior He prepares for the Savior He kills the Savior He resurrected the Savior and He shows the scriptural proof that the

[29:01] Old Testament was pointing to the fact that the Messiah had to resurrect the Savior had to be brought back to life therefore verse 38 therefore based on all this that it be known to you brethren that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you the next part of our statement so through the Savior there's forgiveness forgiveness through the Savior there's forgiveness Paul says I exhort you the first major benefit that comes only through Jesus Christ is forgiveness of all your sins it can only be proclaimed to you through the promise fulfiller it can only be done through the promise fulfiller it can only be done through the Savior it can only be done through Jesus only through the raised and living

[30:06] Jesus can anyone have forgiveness of sins anyone who responds to this Savior Son Holy One will receive forgiveness of all their sins come to Jesus today and you can be wiped clean of all your sins all your wrongs past present and future all of them will be forgiven forgiveness means it's taken away it's taken away he takes it all away you wipe clean Christian what great truth you have to grasp a hold of and and when we're going to partake of the elements you can remind yourself of the fact that God has kept his promise bringing preparing killing and resurrecting the Savior and through him all your sins are gone he does not write them down and hold it against you he is not angry with you and pour out his wrath on you he will not do that his wrath was poured out on the

[31:16] Lord Jesus Christ there's the promise there's the promise fulfilled so through this Savior you can have forgiveness of sins praise God Christian all your sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ but then there's more there's more not do you get just forgiveness of sins so through his through this Savior there is justification now let's see verse 39 is that right yeah and through him everyone who believes is freed or literally is justified from all things from which you cannot be justified through the law of Moses for those who believe you can be justified the law of

[32:17] Moses could never do this it can never justify you Jesus provided what Moses and the law could never do justify sinners make them right with God and that's what justification means the long definition justification is the legal or forensic act of God whereby he declares a sinner righteous God renders a favorable verdict upon the sinner how he credits a sinner with Jesus righteousness he was perfect in everything he was perfect in every way so that righteousness is credited to you and your sin is credited to him which is why he died he was a substitute for sinners so the law keeping the commandments it can't forgive you and it will never justify you the only way the only way one can be made right with

[33:34] God is through the resurrected savior son holy one Jesus is the only way another way to translate this verse everyone who believes in him is freed from all guilt and declared right with God your good works have no merit with God your good works have no merit with God only the merits of Jesus your good works they don't merit nothing with God but it's the merits of Jesus only his merits one writer says this quote justification and renewal are now available for everyone who believes who trusts in the promises of the gospel and relies on the work of Christ that makes them possible end quote and when you seek forgiveness to seek forgiveness means one repents because one recognizes the wrongs committed

[34:37] I've seen the wrongs and there's forgiveness I turn away from that and it also means one exercises faith in what God has done in the Lord Jesus Christ his person and his work friends the law of Moses the ten commandments specifically they will only condemn you it condemns you you're guilty you're guilty you're guilty we are but through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone one can be made right with God it's only Christ it's only in Jesus so for anyone to repent and trust Jesus Christ not only will that person receive forgiveness and taken away of all their sin past present and future but that person will be declared righteous you're credited with the very righteousness of Jesus himself his credit you're reckoned with that so when you partake of the elements this morning you will see remember you are not worthy of this but

[35:50] Jesus is worthy and his righteousness is credited to you and you remind yourself of the freedom that you have relationship with God through Jesus Christ look if you want to experience the blessings of salvation then you must repent and trust in Jesus Christ alone and it's to anyone respond this is why the good news does not help me to live a better life this is why the good news does not live your best life now that's not the good news the good news is I am a wretched sinner please be merciful to me and he is let's not get your life right that's not the gospel it's my life is really screwed up God please save me friends this is what distinguishes christianity christianity from every other religion of the world from roman catholicism to mormonism islam hinduism buddhism shintoism sikh and judaism the major religions of this world this is what distinguishes biblical christianity because one only needs to repent and trust in the lord jesus christ and you can be right with god that's that's it it's christ and christ alone that is the gospel we proclaim that is the gospel we embrace this is the gospel that we live and breathe and notice what paul does at this point in verse 40 take heed therefore which leads us to that last part of our sentence listen and respond take heed pay attention watch carefully hello take heed therefore so that the things spoken of in the prophets may not come upon you behold you scoffers and marvel and perish and accomplish in a work in your days a work which you will never believe for someone should describe it to you pay attention be careful watch be careful pay attention watch carefully lest you fall into judgment just like the prophets warned if you do not respond that will mean judgment upon you if you don't respond to the gospel if you haven't responded to the gospel you will be judged he quotes from

[38:36] Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 5 about the coming judgment that will take place upon Judah by the Chaldeans now if paul would say this a jew would this would be a hard thing for them to hear because they're basically saying I'm excluded from God I'm now threatened with judgment from God if I don't respond see Jews were under the impression that the promises of David were theirs by gift and by right I'm a son of Abraham I should have those gifts I should have that promise it don't work that way around here watch out must judgment come for not heeding for not believing God who has acted in and through his son who has acted in his son on behalf of sinners failing to embrace

[39:37] God Savior Jesus leads to judgment and by the way marveling at it is not the same thing as embracing it being wowed by it is not the same thing as believing it but saying well that's really cool that's not the same thing as saying well I'm going to live that I want that one must repent and embrace the son see what God is doing in and through his eternal son the Lord Jesus Christ and respond don't be a scoffer someone who despises or has contempt for the work God has done in and through his son his death his resurrection those who fail to believe or embrace the work God has done in and through his son will be destroyed or perish in judgment yes God is a God of grace compassion gentleness mercy and love for sinners yes but don't spurn him don't disregard and spit on his grace embrace grace don't spit on grace take heed listen and respond

[40:54] Christian listen and respond now even now you repent even now we trust Christ we continually are repenting and trusting Christ we continually must tell ourselves I do not deserve your compassion I do not deserve your love I should be a wretched sinner burning in hell right now but you're showing me mercy praise God Christian God will keep his promises forgiving your sins cleansing you you stand before him justified he will continue to transform you and grow you in and through the gospel what great hope you have what a great preparation for you people congregation great preparation for you for your heart where we will soon partake of the Lord's supper remind ourselves of the gospel remind ourselves of the fact that we do not deserve his grace and mercy which is why it's called grace right here's the truth to ponder so take a few moments have a few moments of silence for you to ponder the truth of the gospel you would take heed that you would listen and respond remind yourself that we must trust

[42:23] Christ alone remind yourself we turn from sin and trust Jesus alone take a few moments to ponder think and listen and we'll do our time of giving where you can respond by giving sacrificially or he acha what hemes as hard to vote to suck