Acts 13:40-52

So grateful for this time, being able to stand before you with God’s word, a warm welcome to all the guests that are here, praying for God’s comfort and strength in each one of our lives. So thankful for God’s continued favor in our lives as well. In spite of all the difficulties that we go through, we have a God that we can count on to sustain us and give us His strength, and we are so grateful for that.

As we continue with our series through the book of Acts, Church on the Move, today we’ll be focusing on Acts 13:40-52. Acts 13:40-52. We are almost to the final conclusive section of the first sermon of the Apostle Paul that is recorded to us in the book of Acts. As I’ve been telling you for the last several weeks, this is probably not the first time he has preached God’s word, maybe not even to an audience like this, but it’s the first one that Luke is recording to us from Acts 13:40-52.

The last couple of weeks, we have seen how he has shown to them the fact that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the descendant of David, but most importantly, through Old Testament passages, he has shown to them how He had to suffer and die, be buried in a tomb. And last week, we talked about the fact that He’s the only one who is able and has been able to fulfill the Old Testament promise that His body will not see decay. David’s prophetic word in Psalm 16, he would quote it. Other scripture verses that talk about the fact that the one that would be sent by the Lord would not see decay, and he would point to His resurrection, and he would end last week by talking about the fact that it is through only Him, His death, His resurrection, that you receive the forgiveness of sins and justification in each one of our lives.

So after giving them this positive message of the gospel very clearly on that day, now he gets to the final portion of his message, which is one of warning to the hearers. And this is an important concept that is missing a lot of times in the presentation of God’s word and in the gospel message these days. Everyone wants to hear about God’s love. Everyone wants to hear about God’s forgiveness. Everyone wants to hear about justification. Everyone wants to hear that we’re all going to go to heaven, and that sounds really good. And if we end our message with that, the word of God reminds us we’re not being truthful to communicate the full revelation of what God has revealed to us.

The dark side of the gospel message, so to speak, is one of warning and judgment. Every time the gospel message is presented, the hearers have two choices, and only two choices. One, accept it and believe it and receive the eternal life that God has promised to those who believe. The other side is one in which there is no coming back from. It’s an eternity without God in a place that we believe called an eternal hell. Eternal separation from the things of God. A second death that happens to those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Separation from God forever in a place that we cannot even imagine or fathom.

So it is very important for the Apostle Paul to end his message this way. I am here to tell you the way to eternal life, the way to be saved. But I also want to remind you that if you do not accept the message that I’m speaking to you today, the consequences are eternal and grave in nature, one from which you can never escape.

So it quotes to them from verse 40, Acts 13:40. “Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you. Take care that the prophets have said does not happen to you.” Here’s the heart of an evangelist, a pastor to his audience, reminding them, while all of what I’ve said to you is the truth, it is very important how you respond to it, for what the prophets have said will not happen to you.

Exactly what prophet is referring to is not evident right away in verse 40 of Acts 13. But a lot of warnings are given to us in God’s word. When Micah talks about the coming of the Messiah, he tells that He’s also coming as a God of judgment who is going to come with an unquenchable fire, and He is going to judge the world in that way. In Psalm 2, after talking about the glory of the Son, the Psalmist ends that Psalm with the word of counsel. He tells, “Kiss the Son, or lest He be angry and you be perishing in your way.” So there’s an option here. You either kiss the Son or give heed to the Son, or He will be angry with you and you will perish in your way.

And then in verse 41, he quotes directly from Habakkuk 1:5. “Look, you scoffers, wander and perish.” Habakkuk is writing. Habakkuk is prophesying to Judah. In this passage, he is telling them, look at what God is doing specifically here. He is prophesying about the rising of the Babylonian empire to take away and destroy the people of Judah, that God would raise up Babylon, the enemies of God, to do God’s work. And they would come, and they as a nation would come—Nebuchadnezzar would come—would plunder Judah, and the remnant would be taken away as captives back to Babylon, as we read about throughout the Old Testament passages.

Habakkuk would tell them, look, one day, you scoffers, you will wander and perish. You will wonder when you see the work of God, you will wonder at amazement. And do you know that there’s also a day in which the whole world is going to be in amazement at seeing the work of God? When you read the book of Revelation, we see that all often. When they see the coming of the Lord, they’re filled at first with great wonder and amazement at what is happening because it goes beyond what they can fathom. But a problem here is that it’s too late by then. What is the next thing that happened? Wonder and perishment happens to them. Their wonder does not lead them to a place of repentance or turning to the Lord, and because their hearts are so hardened and it’s too late for them, what will happen to them is perishment.

“I am going to do something in your days,” this is God speaking to Judah, “that you would never believe even if someone told you.” The prophet is saying, I’m here telling you, God is going to raise up Babylon, and they’re going to come against you, they’re going to destroy you, they’re going to plunder you and all these specific prophets in God’s word. Even after we have told you, when it happens, you will not believe it because you cannot believe that this is the work of God. We know that the Babylon invasion happened over a period of 13, 14 years. There were three invasions of Nebuchadnezzar coming towards Jerusalem. Who was prophesying in the midst of all this? Jeremiah. Guess what? In spite of exactly what God had foretold was happening, the word of God tells us, no one would believe in Jeremiah’s prophecy. In fact, all the people wanted to believe the false prophets who said everything was fine. And here Paul is saying, even the very thing they had foretold was happening, they did not believe even if someone told you.

In this context, Paul is saying, I’m standing before you for the last 30 minutes and 45 minutes, and I’ve been showing you from scripture after scripture how only Jesus of Nazareth, the one that we believe in, fulfills the Old Testament prophecies. He is the promised Messiah. He is the only hope. He is the only way for eternal life. And I’m telling you, this is the only way you can be saved, and nothing of the Old Testament can save you. You have seen Him crucified. You have heard about the empty tomb. You have seen the witness of the apostles. You have seen the signs and the miracles and the wonders that have been happening. Not only that, you have just heard me, a man who knows the Old Testament really well, tell you that it is only Jesus who fulfills all of these things. Let not what happened to Judah happen to you. Though they heard God’s word, they hardened their hearts, did not believe the words of the prophets. Let that not happen to you.

Look at Habakkuk 1:5, the word study quoted: “Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed, for I’m going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told.” This is a warning that is given to everyone who hears the gospel message.

Look at Hebrews 2:1-2. This is a verse that I often think about. This is a warning to the whole world. “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” So if you don’t pay close attention, you can hear everything that is being preached even on a Sunday morning, but if you’re not very careful, you can drift away. And this is why it’s so important to pay attention. “The message spoken through the angels was binding.” What was the message spoken to the angels? We know, and we preach about this so many times, that the Old Testament covenant was given to the people of Israel with a mediation through the angels. Please read that in many portions of God’s word. That was binding to the people of the Old Testament. They had to obey the old covenant. And every violation and disobedience received its just punishment. In the Old Testament, the covenant was given; every time the people did something against the covenant, what did God do? God punished them. And the punishment was immediate, it was swift, it was severe, it was without any chance often of even repentance and turning back to the Lord. But God punished His own people—His own people, descendants of Abraham—time and time again, based upon the old covenant that He gave to them.

Then the writer of the book of Hebrews says, if God did that to His own people, to a covenant that was mediated by angels, look at Hebrews 2:3-4. “How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?” And this is a question to the whole world today and even to the people that are sitting here. And the answer is given already in the question: you shall not escape. The only way of salvation is Jesus. If you ignore His message and His invitation, there is no other way that is given to us. And then he talks about the great salvation. “This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed by those who heard Him.” He says, you know what? This salvation that we are talking about did not come to you by angels. The Lord Himself came down from heaven and spoke this salvation to you. Jesus Himself told you, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” And then He didn’t stop there. In His grace, He appointed the apostles and the New Testament church to be messengers of His message—“was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.” Who are they? The apostles who got to listen to Him for many years are now communicating the very truth that He Himself taught.

“God also testified to it by how? Signs, wonders, various miracles, and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.” No one with an honest mind can look at the message of the New Covenant and the offer of salvation of Jesus and deny it unless and until their heart is already wanting not to believe in Him. The evidence is too overwhelming. Jesus of Nazareth is a historical figure. There is more evidence for His existence than any other person who’s ever walked on the ancient world. His death is a historical fact. His resurrection is a historical fact. The faithful witnesses of hundreds of people who saw Him risen from the dead is a historical fact. The fact that every one of them was willing to lay down their life is a historical fact. The fact that for the last 2000 years, millions of people have given their lives for this faith is a historical fact. And not only that, signs, wonders, miracles even happening around the world is an affirmation that this is the only way to go to heaven. And not only that, what about the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given to the New Testament church? Prophetic word, gifts of speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, gifts of discernment—all these gifts are evidence for the fact that we are believing in the one true God, and His way is the only way. Even after all that, the writer of the book of Hebrews will tell you, “How can you escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” The age of grace that we are living in does not mean that God is not a God of judgment. The God of the Old Testament did not suddenly become a different God in the New Testament. His principles, His precepts, His ways of doing things are eternal in nature. He is delaying His judgment, but that does not mean that if you neglect His word, you will escape the coming judgment. Paul would tell you, how can you escape? The answer is, you cannot. You will only be perishing if you choose to neglect the truth I have communicated to you today.

Then in verse 42, as Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. The first invitation came from those who were leaders of the synagogue. Now, probably by the end of this message, they’re regretting their decision to allow him to speak. Have you ever given a chance for somebody to speak and you’re like, I wish I didn’t do that? Yeah, we all have been there, right? That’s exactly what is happening here. The leaders of the synagogue were like, ooh, that’s not what we expected. We were expecting somebody to stand up there and sing “Kumbaya” and repeat everything that we just said. They never thought that this man would stand before them and basically tear down everything they have been teaching and preaching for the last many years and been hiding behind the people.

But now we come to verse 42. It’s not the leaders of the synagogue that want to hear them further; the people want to hear them more. The Holy Spirit has started working in the hearts of the people. In fact, the word that is used over there, “they were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them,” in some of your translations, the people were “begging” them. And the word there is for continuous begging. They’re leaving the synagogue, and the people cannot get enough: “Please, please make sure that you come next Sabbath.”

Verse 43: “When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas.” They cannot get enough. Church is over, but they want to follow after the pastors because we want to hear more about the message you were preaching. And look what Paul did. He talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God, which makes us understand that these were already believers who had already received the grace of God, and Paul is now telling them, continue in the grace of God. This is such an important thing that we all need to remind ourselves of. The grace that saves us is also the same grace that sustains us. It is a grace we are to be dependent upon to lead us in our Christian life. The grace of God that saves us is not a one-time thing. It’s not a one-time event. It’s not something that happens in one evening when you came forward and it comes to an end. The grace that saved you is a grace that will eventually lead you home. Depend upon it. Let it be the source of strength in your life.

Look at 1 Corinthians 15:10. Paul talks about it: “But by the grace of God, I am what I am.” How many of you are able to say that even this morning? By the grace of God, I am what I am. What a great confession of the New Testament church. It is not my might, it’s not my ability. It is not natural talent that is sustaining me. I am what I am by the grace of God. Anything that is lacking in my life is my own problem, but whatever is good in my life is only the grace of God. “I am what I am by the grace of God, and His grace to me was not without effect. No,”—and this is where our effort comes in—“I worked harder than all of them.” But look at that, look at the way glory is given. Even in that very sentence where he says, “I have worked harder than all of them,” he stops. A lot of us would stop right there. Oh, I’m really a hardworking pastor. You should see my schedule. I put in so many hours for the church. No, but look what the Apostle Paul does. He says, “I worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” What a way to say your testimony. The reality is that we are working harder; there’s effort in all of our lives, still life. But at the end of the day, even that hard-working is not my effort—it is the grace of God that is at work within me who gives strength at the end of the day. It is Him and Him alone. That is why He gets the glory for everything that we do. I am what I am by the grace of God.

Verse 44: On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. I don’t think this is hyperbole on the part of Luke. The city in Antioch was a mega city. It was not a small village. When Paul writes and says the whole city, what has happened throughout this week is what? The news of the message of the gospel is spreading throughout the city. And people are flocking from near and far, from everywhere. And they’ve come to the synagogue, and the synagogue is seeing for the first time the entire place filled up and probably overflowing with the people coming from the city.

America’s Great Awakening, the first real revival to ever come to the source of America, mainly happened through the preaching of one man, George Whitefield. He was only 25 years old when he came to America to preach the word of God. But you know, God gave him a powerful voice. It is said that in many meetings that were held in America at that time, he had no methods of amplification by which he spoke to thousands of people. It is said that in one farewell message, the first final message he would preach in America in the Boston Common, it drew 23,000 people in that time to come and hear George Whitefield preach. Here’s the amazing thing. 23,000 people at that time was more than the population of Boston at that time. That’s the power of God. Oh, my heart longs for a day when the entire city of Dallas will come to hear the word of God being preached. And there was no magic, there was no show, no music per se, no any kind of artificial means to attract the people, just the faithful preaching of God’s word in the power of the Holy Spirit. All this to say that God is still in the business of drawing the crowds. “If He is lifted up, I will draw all men to Himself.” And God still does that even today as well.

But there’s an old saying that says, when revival happens, it is not only the people that get revived, the devil also gets revived. And that’s exactly what happens in verse 45. “When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.” Jealousy. This is a dangerous problem, isn’t it? And even very devout Christians are not immune to it. Jealousy. We ministers have to constantly battle that in our lives as well. I’m being very honest with you. When we are in ministry, we constantly have to battle it.

I remember reading about F.B. Meyer, who was a great preacher. When he first held meetings in Northfield, Massachusetts, there were large crowds who came—until God brought another preacher to the scene, G. Campbell Morgan, all the way from Britain. When he started and came preaching to the same place, the crowds were bigger. And F.B. Meyer would say, I became very jealous because the crowds were bigger when G. Campbell Morgan was preaching more than what I was preaching. So here’s where I found the cure. I started praying for the ministry of G. Campbell Morgan. There’s a curious thing that happens when you pray for other ministers. You cannot become jealous anymore. So if you’re ever feeling jealous of someone, here is a good medicine. I’m a pharmacist, after all. I’ll give you a good medicine to take every day: pray for them three times a week, with or without food, and all the jealousy will go away. Pray—pray for them. It is really difficult to be jealous of someone’s ministry or accomplishments or their upliftment when you pray for them. When you pray, “God, increase their ministry. Increase their boundaries. Use them mightily, oh God. She’s a better singer than I am—oh God, use her more in the days to come. He is a better preacher than I am—God, use him more in the days to come.” It’s really difficult to be jealous of someone after you’ve prayed for them. I think that’s a cure that will work really well in all of our lives.

But look what they did. They began to contradict what Paul was saying, and they started heaping abuse on him. Verse 46: “Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: ‘We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.’” It was the plan of God that the message of salvation would come to the Jews first. But God was not through. God gave them a chance—it’s their own people. And he said, because you rejected it, you know what we’ll do now? We will now turn to the Gentiles. You have to believe. Jesus Himself told this very clearly. John 3:18: “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Jesus says, guess what? Every person born into this world is already born into condemnation. The only way you can escape that is by believing in the One that the Father has sent, Jesus Christ Himself. If you don’t believe in Him, guess what? You are gonna remain in your condemnation.

Verse 47: “For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” Here, Paul is quoting from the book of Isaiah, a prophecy not only about the people of Israel, but most importantly about the Messiah Himself, that He will bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And now we are witnesses of it, Paul would tell them. You remember Simeon at the temple when baby Jesus was presented to him? Oh, he would lift Him up in his hand and says, oh, now let your servant depart now, for I have seen what? A light to the nations of the world. He’s not just a light to the Jewish people; He’s a light to the nations of the world. Paul is reaffirming that by his testimony in verse 47.

Verse 48: Oh, who was happy to hear this? “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord.” Gentiles—this was music to their ears for the first time. They were second-class citizens. They were treated, even in the synagogue, as outcasts. They had to become certain Jewish people in order to be accepted by God. And here’s a message of God that says, you don’t have to go through the door of Judaism to enter into heaven. Jesus has come to remove all barriers. Both Jew and Gentile are equal in the sight of God. Anyone who believes on Him can have eternal life. And the Bible says Gentiles were glad when they heard it. The word as used over there is that they were rejoicing continuously when they heard the message of the gospel. And look at the next sentence: “All who were appointed to eternal life believed.” Do not get this backwards—that’s when you run into a problem. All believed who were appointed for eternal life. Who appoints first? He does. Belief is ours. I love this verse because this is one verse in which very clearly the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man come together in a way that you and I cannot explain away, but it is what the Bible testifies to. God is the One who did the appointment, but the belief is your responsibility. Only those who are appointed for life believe. What does that mean? When you’re sitting here in the presence of God this morning, no one has anything to boast about. He chose us first. He loved us first. We were appointed for eternal life, and because of that, we believed. It’s not the other way around. God is, through and through, from beginning to the end, the One who is responsible for your salvation. “For from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever and ever.” All those who are appointed for eternal life believed.

Verse 49: “The word of the Lord spread throughout the whole region.” How did the word of God spread throughout the whole region? These apostles would soon leave this place, but the word of God spread because the disciples who were formed that day were not quiet people. They would go to every region that they went back to. They would spread the word of God. They took it upon themselves to communicate to their neighbors, everyone who would listen to them: we heard the truth, we heard the message of eternal life—believe in Him. That is the only way to be saved. And because of that, the process of multiplication had started. What started in the synagogue spread towards the whole region because the disciples that formed that day were faithful to communicate the truth of God. What you hear inside Restoration Church to spread throughout the city of Dallas and beyond. Your pastor cannot be everywhere. Your preachers, your teachers cannot be everywhere. That’s where God wants to use all of us to spread His word in every region. Grand Prairie, Louisville, Carrollton, Garland, Mesquite, Sunnyvale—all need to hear the good news of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t ever assume they’ve heard it. They know it. Don’t make that mistake. You never know when the Holy Spirit is going to work in the life of a person; be faithful in all seasons to be people who communicate the unchangeable word of God, and leave the results up to the Lord. He knows what He’s doing.

On all these passages, what we see is the work of the word of God. Look at all these verses: verse 44, the whole city came together to hear the word of God; verse 46, Paul and Barnabas spoke the word of God to them; verse 48, the Gentiles responded to the word of the Lord; verse 49, the word of the Lord spread throughout the region. All of this is the work of God’s word. Oh, what power is contained in it.

Verse 50: “But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing” (by the way, this was something that was very much proven by history as well—the Romans did something very well in some of these places; they would actually appoint women to be magistrates, head of different government agencies. Even at that time, women held a lot of high positions). “…and the leading men of the city, they stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region.”

Look what they did. Verse 51: “They shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went 80 to 90 miles away in the southeast direction to a place called Iconium.” Why did they do that? They were only doing what the Lord Himself asked them to do. Matthew 10:14: “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.” This is something that Jews would do when they would travel to the region of the Gentiles. Before they would get back to the Promised Land, a Jew would take his shoes and he would dust his shoe—you know why? Even the dust of the Gentile ground should not come to the place of the Jewish people. But this is something God is asking them to do. This does not mean that Paul is giving up on the city in Antioch. What he’s doing is saying, we are not agreeing with your decision to reject the gospel message. Because of that, we have no longer any fellowship with you. Now it is up to the Lord to deal with you. We have done our part, and we’re walking away. In fact, when you come to chapter 14, they would come back to this region to strengthen the believers that were there, but they were following the admonition of the Lord.

And verse 52, I’ll end with this: “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” In the midst of persecution, in the midst of opposition—beautiful contrast—filling of the Spirit of God and joy that comes from it. The world gives you happiness; the Lord alone can give you joy. And joy is something that is a product of the work of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer. It doesn’t matter what circumstances are; it doesn’t matter what you’re going through. The Spirit of God that is in your life can fill your life with joy. That’s why the Psalmist should write in Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, O with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.” He gives us joy unexplainable through His Holy Spirit in spite of the circumstances we find ourselves in.

What I’m about to read to you is a note that was left by a third-century man who was about to die. And this is what he wrote: “It’s a bad world, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people are the Christians, and I am one of them.”

If you ever read Fox’s Book of Martyrs, Fox’s book on the persecution that faced the church in England, you know what he will write? Many Christians, when they were taken to the stake to be burned, would be clapping their hands, singing songs. There is even written a record of women wearing their wedding garments to be burned at the pyre. You usually wear your wedding garment on the day when you’re about to get married, on the most joyful day. But to these women, they’re about to go and meet their Groom, and because of that, they wore their wedding garment as they were taken to be killed. Where does that kind of joy come from? That joy comes from the Spirit of God that is filling their lives, that gives you unexplainable joy. No matter what you’re facing today, Christ can give you joy—joy that is not fleeting, joy that is not temporary, joy that does not depend upon circumstances, joy that comes irrespective of what you’re going through because the Spirit of God is filling your heart.

The disciples that were left over there had lost the ones who had led them to the faith, but the disciples were not disheartened. They were filled with the Spirit of God and the joy that came through it. I pray that we’ll be people who are known as joyful people, people who have a joy in the midst of whatever you’re going through that cannot be explained away because we have the Spirit of God living inside of us.

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your word that is convicting, but also a sobering reminder that reminds us of the day of judgment, that there is no escaping if we neglect such a great salvation. Help us not to be scoffers, mockers, people who deny You. I pray that You will give us a heart of humility to pay attention to what we have heard so that we will not drift away. We believe in the power of God’s word. May it continue to rule and reign in our church and in our hearts to transform lives, to spread like wildfire. We thank You for the joy that You’ve given to us in our lives. We pray, oh God, that joy will be increasingly evident in our lives, that others will want to know what is causing that joy, and help us to be faithful in communicating Your message, Your gospel, as opportunities are given to us. Thank You for hearing our prayers. It’s in the name of the Lord Jesus that we pray, amen.