Sharing The Facts Of The Gospel

Transcript

And hello, radio friends. How are you today? Doing all right? I certainly trust so. I’m so grateful to God for the privilege of sharing something from the Word of God with you. This blesses my own soul as I trust it may bless yours. We’ve come to Acts 13, and we’ve just been looking at verse 13, where John Mark quit on the job, and went back to Jerusalem. Whether he was in love with a pair of pretty brown eyes or whether he was offended because the leadership in the gospel team had changed from Barnabas and now to Paul, whatever, I don’t know. But, any case, he left. And we remarked the last time we get together that the way to restore young John Mark was to take him right back to Cyprus and start over again, where he lost it, you know. And that’s what Barnabas did for him later on. Interesting, wasn’t it?

Now, let’s go on. It said, “When they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia”, this is another Antioch now, “and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.” This was typical procedure, incidentally, if you were visiting in a town you would look up the synagogue, you’d go in, and after the standard procedure of reading the law and the prophets and all of that was done then, because you were a visitor, you would be invited to give a word if you wished to. This is standard procedure. All right, they’re in this synagogue, and so it says they sat down, and after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rules of synagogue said, “ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.”

So, all right now, this is a chance to give your witness, and Paul is going to give them the gospel. So he did. He gives them a rundown of Jewish history leading up to the birth of the Lord Jesus, and His suffering on Calvary, and His resurrection. We will be going on into that now in these next few days, as we look at Paul’s discourse there in Antioch of Pisidia.

What does he say? Well first of all, he says, “The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm brought he them out of it. And about the time of forty years he suffered their bad manners in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after that he gave them Judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a king; and God gave unto them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.

And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Of this man’s seed, David, hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour Jesus.” Now, there’s his rundown. I think we do well to realize that although this was a, what you may call a specialized approach in that it was given to Jewish people, still you have the realization that this is the way God has done it. He is the Living God. He chose a people for Himself. He led that people down to Egypt and back out again, and into the Promised Land. He preserved that people through the period of the Judges, and then up into the kingship of David, following Saul’s reign. He promised David, that of his seed, he’d raise up a Savior, and that lineage has now come to be fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Living God, The chosen people, The Word of God and the Son of God, there you have the combination of what we have to say to our world or to any generation. Would you try this yourself sometime? Would you try talking with people on this basis? That there is a Living God, that He has a chosen people; that through that chosen people He preserved His Word, He made His promises, one of His promises had to do with the Savior, the Lord Jesus, coming through the lineage of David. And that the Lord Jesus was born, did live, did die, did rise up again, and is alive today to be God’s Savior for those who trust Him. Try that simple statement of the facts, and see what God does. I’ll tell you one of our problems is that we talk around the point oftentimes, wouldn’t you say so? We talk around point. We talk religion, instead of just giving the gospel.

Now for those who already know the Lord Jesus there’s much of Christian nurture that can be learned. I agree. But for those who do not know the Lord Jesus as Savior, nothing will equal the simple statement of the facts. You’re not required to argue them. You’re only required to present them in the power and enablement of the Holy Spirit of God. The letter killeth, just a dead recital of facts will kill, but the Spirit giveth life. And if your life is full of God, you can give the facts about the Lord Jesus in power and in the enablement of the Holy Spirit, and people will be brought to Christ. Or if they refuse Him, they’ll end up attacking Him and you. That’s their choice, not yours.

Would you remember this? Wait on God until you know your life is filled with the blessing and power of God, and then just share with people the facts about God. There is a Living God. He has made the world. He did choose a chosen people. He did preserve them through the years of the Judges, and the Prophets, and the wanderings. He did give His law to them. He did promise a Savior through the seed of David, and He has kept that promise, and the Lord Jesus Christ is that Savior; virgin born, sinless life, atoning death, resurrection the third day, alive today to say, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord”. Great, great, great message we have for our world, right.

Let’s take a break here. How are you getting along at your house? Is everything going all right? I think so often of the many, many people who have written to me and you’ve shared a little something of your life. I appreciate that. Somebody has a dear one at home who’s chronically ill and everyday is a new assignment of taking care of that dear one. Somebody else has been forsaken by husband or wife, and you walk through any given day with a heavy load of heartache upon you. Somebody else is ill yourself, and you fight arthritis and rheumatism and aching joints, and so on. Somebody else wrote me the other day, and said, I have terminal cancer, but I’m really living while I live by the grace of God. What a triumphant letter that was.

So I know that many of you as you go on through the day, you have a big assignment of responsibility, or of burden, or of pain, or of heartache, or of whatever. But just remember, God is still God. He knows all about you. He won’t make any discoveries about you between now and bedtime. He knows it all, and He loves you, and He has plans for you. So fit into them, and yield yourself to Him, and make it by God’s grace a great day.

Well, they sat down and after the reading of the law; they were invited to speak here at Antioch in Pisidia. We’re back in Acts 13. “Paul stood up and beckoning with his hands said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.” Now this is a phrase in apposition “men of Israel, “and “Ye that fear God. This will include not only Jewish people, but proselytes who may have been there as well, from the Gentile nations.

When you’re talking to any given crowd, remember that God may have somebody in that crowd that does not fit into your particular set-up. Will you remember that? God reserves the right to bless people who don’t always agree with you in everything. And God reserves the right to use people who don’t always belong to your way of doing things. Just remember it will you. We don’t all have to belong to the same religious group in order to be blessed. We all have to know the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. There’s the difference, you see. And so you had different kinds of people even in this synagogue. You had Jewish people, and you had Gentile people who feared God. And the gospel was being given to both of them at the same time. Don’t make a distinction, will you, in ministering to folk. Be willing to minister to people who may not fit into your setup. But people, whom you know God loves, and for whom Christ died.

So I said Paul’s approach was the Living God, the providential choice of the chosen people, the preservation of God’s people, the raising up of God’s Word, the promise made to David, and the keeping of that promise in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he says, “Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised up unto Israel a Savior, Jesus.” Incidentally, don’t be afraid of the name of the Lord Jesus. You say, “Well I don’t want to offend anybody”. Who would you rather offend, Jesus or people? If it’s a matter of not going to offend anybody, whom would you rather offend? Your Lord Jesus or a human being? You are not ashamed of your mother, are you, or of your father? Somebody comes into your home and you bring forward that aged mother, and you say “this is my mother”. And you say it with pride, and with joy, and with the shine of love in your eyes, don’t you? If by summary, mote reason, this visitor might have turned out to be someone who disliked your mother, well, what would your choice be? Would you say to your mother, go back and stay in the kitchen until these people are gone. Oh no, you’d say, “this is my mother and I love her and I’m proud of her”, regardless of how you feel about her.

And so I think we have to face the world, and say this is my Jesus, my Savior, and I love Him, and I’m proud of Him regardless of how you may feel about Him, He’s mine. Oh I’ll tell you there’s no substitute ladies and gentlemen, for being proud of Jesus. Don’t you flinch at the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s have frontal, overt, unopposed, unflinching love for the Lord Jesus Christ. His name? His name is Jesus. Do you love Him? Be proud of Him.

Paul mentioned Him by name, “God hath raised up unto Israel a Savior, Jesus.” Well, our time is going and I want to pray with you, and we’ll get back into this discourse that Paul made unto Antioch of Pisidia the next time we get together God willing. Be proud of Jesus today, will you. Let God the Holy Spirit use you just to give the wonderful facts of what God has done through our Lord Jesus Christ, and see God work through your life as a result.

Now let’s pray, Dear Lord I pray that all of our life today may be a blessed miracle of grace as we walk with Thee, our Lord and our Savior. I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen! God bless you dear friend all the way, that’s all for now.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!