Acts 13

Introduction

Acts 13 marks the beginning of a new part of the book of Acts. Up until now, the focus of the book has largely been on what the Risen and Exalted Lord Jesus Christ has been doing through the Apostle Peter.

So, on the day of Pentecost, it was Peter who stood up before the people and preached to them about Christ. And it was Peter who healed the man in chapter 3 who had been crippled since birth. And it was Peter who preached to the crowd which gathered after the healing. And it was Peter who addressed the Sanhedrin in chapter 4 and announced to them that salvation is found in no-one apart from the Lord Jesus, because there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. And it was Peter who confronted Ananias and Sapphira about their sin when they tried to deceive the Holy Spirit in chapter 5. And then, it was Peter who was sent to preach the good news to Cornelius and his family and companions in chapters 10 and 11. And in chapter 12 we read about Peter’s escape from prison, when an angel of the Lord was sent to release him.

And after his release, Luke tells us that he left for another place. And after that, the only other time we hear about Peter in the book of Acts is in chapter 15, when he addressed the leaders of the church who had gathered in Jerusalem.

So, much of the first twelve chapters of the book of Acts has been about what the Lord was doing through Peter. However, the remainder of the book is about what the Risen and Exalted Lord Jesus Christ has done through the Apostle Paul. Luke now focusses on Paul.

And in today’s chapter, Luke tells us about what happened whenever Paul and his companion, Barnabas, arrived in Cyprus. And then he tells us what happened whenever they arrived in Pisidian Antioch. And it’s one of these chapters which contains a lot of narrative. So, this happened; and then this happened; and then this happened. Luke is narrating for us what took place. But then, a large part of the chapter is taken up with the sermon Paul preached whenever he was in Pisidian Antioch. So, the chapter is a combination of narrative and preaching.

Part 1 of the narrative

Let’s start with the narrative, which begins in Antioch. It’s perhaps a little confusing, but there are two Antiochs in the book of Acts. There’s this Antioch, which we first read about in chapter 11. It was the capital of the Roman province of Syria. And then there’s Pisidian Antioch or Antioch in Pisidia which was in the Roman province of Galatia; and it’s where Paul and Barnabas travel to in the second part of this chapter. But the chapter begins in the Antioch which was in Syria.

Luke tells us that there were several prophets and teachers in the church in Antioch in those days and he names them for us. And he tells us that when the members of the church were worshipping and fasting one day, the Holy Spirit told them to set apart Barnabas and Saul — or Paul as we now know him — for the missionary work to which the Holy Spirit was calling them to undertake. Luke passes over exactly how the Holy Spirit spoke to them and made his will known to them. But the members of the church obeyed his voice and they set Barnabas and Paul apart by placing their hands on them and by sending them off. And in verse 5 we learn that John or John Mark went with them as their helper. We first met this man in chapter 12.

Luke tells us that they went to Seleucia and sailed to the island of Cyprus, arriving in Salamis, which was a harbour city on the east coast of the island. And when they arrived, they preached the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. As we go through the rest of Acts, we’ll see that this was normally Paul’s pattern: whenever he arrived at a new city, he began his ministry in the synagogue. However, Paul and Barnabas didn’t stay the whole time in Salamis, because they also travelled throughout the whole island, presumably preaching about Christ wherever they went. And eventually they reached Paphos, which was the capital city of the island.

The Roman proconsul sent for Barnabas and Paul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But this Jewish sorcerer and false prophet called Bar-Jesus and Elymas opposed Paul and Barnabas. He did not want the proconsul to believe the good news which Paul and Barnabas were proclaiming. According to verse 9, he tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.

And we’ll see the same kind of thing throughout the remainder of the book of Acts. Wherever Paul went, he faced not only unbelief, but opposition and even persecution. In some ways the book of Acts is the account of a great spiritual battle between, on the one hand, the Risen and Exalted Lord Jesus Christ and his people; and then, on the other hand, the devil and his people. It’s a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of satan.

This battle has been underway from the very beginning of the world when satan tried to overthrow God’s kingdom by tempting Adam and Eve to disobey their Lord and King. And it has continued down through the generations. And we see it very clearly in the book of Acts, because wherever the Lord sent his preachers to proclaim the good news of salvation to his people, the devil was also there, stirring up opposition and persecution.

And the battle is still going on in our day and it will continue until Christ comes again. But we know from the book of Revelation and elsewhere what the outcome will be, because the book of Revelation makes clear that in the end satan and all who sided with him will be overthrown. They will be defeated and punished for ever. And Christ and his people will be victorious and will enjoy perfect peace and rest in the new heavens and earth, where God will rule over his people for ever.

And since God is greater than satan, Paul, the servant of God, was able to look at the sorcerer in verse 9 and to denounce him as a child of the devil and as an enemy of everything that is right. By calling him a child of the devil, he means that the sorcerer was like the devil. They had the same wicked character. And Paul went on to denounce the sorcerer for being full of all kinds of deceit and trickery and for perverting the right ways of the Lord. And Paul told him that the hand of the Lord — or the power of the Lord — was against him and so he will be blind for a while. This temporary blindness was a sign to him that he was under God’s wrath and curse and he needed to give up his wicked ways to turn to God for forgiveness.

And the effect of Paul’s words was immediate, because we read that mist and darkness came over him immediately and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him.

And this part of the narrative ends with the news that the proconsul saw what happened and believed. And why did he believe? Not so much because of what happened to the sorcerer, but because he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. How are people convinced and converted to faith in Christ? Not through signs and wonders, but through the reading and preaching of God’s word and the proclamation of the good news about Christ the Saviour, who gave up his life on the cross to pay for our sins before rising from the dead. And everyone who believes in his name receives forgiveness and peace with God and the sure and certain hope of the resurrection and eternal life in the presence of God.

Part 2 of the narrative

The narrative continues in verse 13 where Luke tells us that they sailed from Paphos to Perga in Pamphylia. At this point, John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. And then they arrived in Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath Day, they went to the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the Scriptures, they were invited to speak to the congregation. And so, Paul stood up and began to preach to them.

We’ll come back to the content of his sermon in a few minutes. For now, we’ll jump to verse 42. The service is over and Paul and Barnabas are leaving. The people invited them to come back on the following Sabbath to tell them more about these things. However, many of them didn’t want to wait a whole week, and they followed Paul and Barnabas who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

And then, on the following Sabbath, almost the whole city turned up to hear the word of the Lord from Paul. But just as they faced opposition from the sorcerer in Cyprus, so they also faced opposition in this city from unbelieving Jews who saw they crowds and who were filled with jealousy. They talked abusively against what Paul was saying. So, like the sorcerer in Cyprus, they tried their best to prevent the people from believing.

And Paul responded to their opposition by telling the unbelieving Jews that he and Barnabas had to preach to the Jews first, but since they have rejected the good news, they will now turn to the Gentiles and will preach to them about Christ the Saviour. And Paul quotes from Isaiah 49 and applies it to himself and Barnabas: they have been appointed by God as a light for the Gentiles so that they might being salvation to the ends of the earth.

And when the Gentiles heard that it is God’s will that salvation should reach to the ends of the earth, they were glad and they honoured the word of the Lord. That is to say, they honoured it by believing it. Whoever does not believe God’s word dishonours it. But whoever believes honours it, because they recognise that it is the word of God which we should believe and obey.

And the word of God spread through the whole region. It spread as more and more people believed. But those unbelieving Jews stirred up opposition and persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from the region. And so, Paul and Barnabas shook the dust from their feet in protest and went on their way. But even though they were being persecuted, they were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

And so, that’s the narrative part of the passage. Paul and Barnabas travelled to Cyprus where they preached the word of God about Christ. Though they faced opposition, the Lord enabled the proconsul to believe. Then they travelled to Pisidian Antioch where they preached the word of God about Christ. Though they faced opposition, the Lord enabled many to believe. And as we’ll see, the same pattern was repeated in most of the places where Paul went. Wherever he went, he preached the gospel and encountered opposition. But the Lord enabled some who heard to believe.

And the same pattern is repeated around the world to this very day. The Lord sends out his preachers into the world to proclaim the word of God about Christ the Saviour. And Christ’s preachers still face opposition, because satan is always stirring up trouble for those who preach God’s word. He will do what he can to prevent preachers from preaching God’s word, because he knows that God uses the preaching of his word to convert sinners and to build them up in the faith. And since God uses the preaching of his word, then satan will do everything he can to stop it, because he wants to destroy God’s kingdom on the earth and he wants to build up and to extend his own kingdom of darkness. And whereas in some countries of the world, he does what he can to prevent the word from being preached by means of opposition, in other countries, like our own perhaps, he persuades even believers that preaching is powerless and ineffective and should be replaced.

But we must resist his evil influence and we must pray for the preaching of God’s word throughout the world and here in Belfast, asking God to use the preaching of his word about Christ to convert sinners and to build up believers so that his kingdom will come on the earth and satan’s kingdom destroyed.

Paul’s sermon

And when a preacher stands up to preach, what should he preach about? And when you have the opportunity to speak to someone about the faith — when someone asks you about what you believe — what should you tell them? Well, we learn from Paul’s sermon what a preacher should preach about and what believers should speak to people about. What a preacher should preach about and what a believer should speak to people about is Christ. We learn that from Paul, whose whole sermon is about Christ.

We can divide his sermon into four parts. In the first part, he shows that the coming of Christ is the climax of the history of Israel. Paul, of course, was speaking to Jews mostly in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. They were familiar with the history of Israel and we can imagine them nodding along in agreement as Paul recounted how God chose their forefathers and he made them great during their time in Egypt. And then, with mighty power, God led them out of Egypt in the days of Moses. And he then endured their conduct for forty years in the wilderness, when they rebelled against him continually and doubted his steadfast love and faithfulness. But at the end of the forty years, he enabled them to overthrow the nations in the land of Canaan and to take over the land, which God had given to them as their very own. This all took 450 years or so.

And then, once they were the Promised Land, the Lord gave them judges to save them from their enemies and to rule over them. Then, when the people asked him for a king, he gave them Saul and then he gave them David.

And, as I said, we can imagine the mainly Jewish audience nodding their heads in agreement as Paul went over this history of Israel. They were familiar with all of this. But then Paul announces to them in verse 23 that the history of Israel has been leading up slowly over the years to the coming of Christ. He tells them in verse 23 that from David’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Saviour Jesus. And Paul adds the words ‘as he promised’. So, this is what God promised to do for his people. This was always God’s intention. For instance, when God appointed David to be his king, the Lord promised David that one of his descendants will rule for ever. The Lord was referring to the coming of Christ, who is our great Saviour–King who died, but who was raised and who is now alive for ever and for ever.

And Paul also says that before the coming of Christ, John the Baptist preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. And he too made clear that Christ was coming into the world. The Saviour–King was coming.

And so, the coming of Christ is the climax of Israel’s history. When God chose their forefathers in the past, it was always his intention to send to Israel the Saviour who is Jesus Christ the Lord.

And then in the second part of his sermon, Paul tells the congregation what happened to the Lord Jesus when he came. He tells them in verse 27 that the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognise him. That is to say, they did not recognise or understand that he is the promised Saviour–King. And in fact, instead of recognising him, they condemned him to death. And though they found no proper grounds for the death penalty, they asked Pilate to have him executed.

Paul then says that they took him down from the tree. He means they took him down from the cross. But by describing the cross as a tree, Paul is no doubt referring to Deuteronomy 21 where it says that anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You see, Christ bore the wrath and curse of God in our place when he died on the cross, so that all who believe in him may be spared from God’s wrath and curse which we deserve for all that we have done wrong.

And having taken him from the tree, they laid his dead body in a tomb. But — says Paul in verse 30 — God raised him from the dead. And after he was raised, he was seen by many people who can bear witness to his resurrection from the dead.

And so, in the second part of his sermon, Paul told them what happened to the Lord Jesus when he came into the world. In the third part of the sermon, he makes clear to them that the coming of Christ and what happened to him is the fulfilment of the Scriptures.

And so, in verse 33 he applies Psalm 2 to the Lord Jesus, who is declared to be God’s eternally begotten Son: ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’ or ‘today I have begotten you.’ And when the Lord says ‘today’ in the psalm, he’s referring to God’s eternal today. So, from all eternity, God the Father begets his Son. And when the time was right, God’s eternally begotten Son came into the world as Jesus Christ.

And in verses 34 to 37 Paul applies Isaiah 55 and Psalm 16 to the Lord Jesus, because God the Father has blessed the Lord Jesus by raising him from the dead and by therefore keeping his body from decaying in the tomb.

And so, in the third part of his sermon, Paul made clear to them that the coming of Christ and what happened to him is the fulfilment of the Scriptures. And in the fourth and final part of the sermon, he applies what he has said to the congregation. Look at verse 38, where he says that he wants them to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.

So, the law of Moses commanded the people to offer animal sacrifices to God for their sins. But those sacrifices couldn’t provide lasting forgiveness for the people. That’s why the people kept having to repeat them day by day and year by year. In fact, those animal sacrifices only reminded the people that they were sinners. And those sacrifices could not justify the people. That is to say, no one was pardoned and accepted as righteous in God’s sight because they offered an animal sacrifice to God. But everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus as the only Saviour of the world is justified. They are pardoned and accepted. God treats them as if they’ve done nothing wrong and as if they’ve done everything right. And he treats believers like that, because of Christ who gave up his life on the cross to pay for our sins and shortcomings and who shares his perfect righteousness with everyone who believes in him.

And so, Paul applies the message of Christ to the members of that congregation. The coming of Christ is the climax of Israel’s history. When he came, the people put him to death, but God raised him from the dead. And his coming is the fulfilment of the Scriptures. And since all of this is true, then you ought to put your faith in him. You ought to believe in him as the only Saviour of the world. So, believe in his name. Trust in him for salvation. Believe and you will be saved. And take care: take care that you do not become one of those scoffers the prophets spoke about, who refused to believe the good news.

Conclusion

And so, what should preachers preach about? Or what should you tell someone when they ask you what you believe? Preachers should preach about the Lord Jesus; and you should tell people about the Lord Jesus. Tell them who he is and what he has done. And tell them that whoever believes in him receives forgiveness from God.

And will those who hear this great good news believe? Take a look with me at verse 48 where Luke writes something very important. He says when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honoured the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. That is, all who were appointed by God for eternal life believed. Or we might say, all who were chosen by God for eternal life believed.

Whether people believe the good news of the gospel depends on whether or not they have been chosen by God to receive eternal life. Those who have not been chosen will not believe. But those who have been chosen will certainly believe. Maybe not the first time they hear the gospel, or the second time, or the tenth time, or the hundredth time, but if they have been chosen by God, they will believe eventually.

And it’s because we believe this to be true that preachers keep preaching the word of God about Christ. And it’s because we believe this to be true that believers do not give up speaking to people about Christ whenever the opportunity arises. We do not give up, and we do not try to do something else, because we believe that all who are appointed by God for eternal life will certainly believe eventually. And so, we do not give up and we do not lose heart, but we persevere.

And since it’s true that no-one believes unless they have first been chosen by God, then everyone here who believes should rejoice and give thanks, because the reason you believe is not because of any goodness of your own, or because of anything you have done. No, the reason you believe is because of the infinite goodness of our God who chose you before the world was made for eternal life in his presence. And so, we have no reason to boast in ourselves and we have every reason to boast in and to praise our great God and Saviour who chose us in Christ for eternal life and who sent his Son to give up his life for us and for our salvation.