Continuing In the Grace of God (Acts 13:14-52)

Introduction

I have been preaching a sermon in the meetings that I do, and most recently in Springdale, Arkansas, on the astounding work of God in salvation. Now, you might remember that I preached that not very long ago here, and I just started using it in meetings, where I talk about the greater work that God has done in our salvation from Ezekiel 36 versus the part that we’re to play, that is, to respond in faith, and so I talk about God’s greater part in our part of belief. And that sermon went as about as it had in other places that I’ve done it, like College Station, and I came back to the hotel. Sherry was still with me at that point. I lay my head on the pillow, and a verse popped into my mind.

And I thought, wow, that’s sort of unusual. And that verse was Acts 13, verse 43. Many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them were urging them to continue in the grace of God. So as I’m thinking about that, now that verse has popped into my head as I’ve laid my head down, and I wake up in the middle of the night, and what I’m doing is I’m rehearsing everything that I had said the night before in the sermon. If you think a sermon’s over when it’s over, it’s not always the case. I’ll do this on Sunday night, just rehearsing what I said, how I said it, and I do that more in meetings even than I do at home.

And so I’m playing this over in my mind. I thought, what a perfect phrase, and I believe I mentioned it the next night. I said, addendum to last night’s sermon. You know, we might say a lot of things about continuing on in the work of God or the things of God. We might be more likely to say, continue on in the faith of God or faith toward God. But that’s not what the text says in Acts 13. I was also thinking about, as Wayland was making his comments about the Lord’s Supper, I was thinking about this text that I was going to preach, and Acts 13 would be another good text to be thinking about as you partake of the Lord’s Supper. As it talks about Jesus’ role in our salvation.

So I started thinking about this phrase, continuing in the grace of God. If you are in Christ, if you have been baptized for the remission of your sins, then you are here today continuing in the grace of God. I think sometimes we want to shy away from that idea. The favor of God. You are here because God had favor toward you. God expressed his favor. And there ought to be a certain kind of response or thinking that goes with that. And so I want to talk initially about the context of this statement and then moving on from this statement, look at some surrounding thoughts from which we can learn and have some application. This is a lesson that Paul and Barnabas are presenting in Poseidian Antioch.

That’s not the Antioch we read about in Acts chapter 11. That’s over on the right of the screen. This is in Pasidian Antioch. And quickly, as Paul goes through history, I don’t know if this is a condensed version of the sermon or not. It’s a rather lengthy sermon in the book of Acts, but might still be a condensed version of the sermon, where he goes into God’s dealings with the nation of Israel in the past. And he quickly moves in Luke’s rendering of this sermon to the example of David. And this is where you have the phrase mentioned only once in Scripture David as the man after God’s own heart. Now I go ahead and throw in verse 36 because he moves on and then comes back to David to make another point when it says, just in passing, he served the purpose of God in his generation.

And I’ve often pointed that out. That’s not the point that he’s making. He just sort of throws that in. But as we, as I urge you, to continue in the grace of God, may I suggest that’s what you’re doing. You’re serving the purpose of God in your generation. Just like David did. And thus I do urge you to continue in the grace of God that has been so bountifully bestowed on each one of us. But he flows on from that to talk about this descendant of David, who is a Savior for Israel. His audience is primarily Jewish. But then he goes on to say that while they read the scripture every Sabbath, they’re missing the point of what they’re reading. As they turn against the one who has come to deliver them from their sins.

And it says in verse 29, they had carried out all that was written concerning him. Isn’t it interesting that God accomplishes salvation, the astounding work of God? The amazing grace of God is extended. And he uses the evil intentions of the Jews, his foes, to bring about or to accomplish his redemption. They fulfilled all the promises, or at least some of the promises of the Old Testament that related to God providing salvation, his enemies, those who are opposed to Jesus’ work. And so then he says, the good news of the promise made to the fathers, your fathers, going back to Abraham, repeated to David, the patriarchs, the good news of the promise made to the fathers. That’s what I am preaching to you. Don’t ever forget it’s the good news of the promise.

And God fulfilled this promise. And it’s not just us. These blessings will flow down generations to our children. This reminds me of Acts chapter 2 and verse 38. Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. That would connect to verse 32. The good news of the promise, everything the Holy Spirit had been signifying and pointing to is coming to fruition right here, right now. Repent and be baptized, and you get it. And then the next verse to verse 39. For the promise, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promise. The promise is for you. And for your children, future generations. And by implication, the Gentiles for all who are afar off.

To everyone that the Lord our God will call through him. The forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

And so it reminds me that a lot of our response to God properly has to do with the way we look at things. Our perspective. And we talked about that on Wednesday night from Romans chapter 5, and the three times that the word exult is used in Romans chapter 5. And one of the times is not just about in hope of eternal glory, but it’s about even in our tribulations. And we think that’s the last thing we want. That’s the last thing that we need. But tribulations produce something good in us like faith in God and perseverance and proven character. And he says, therefore, we exalt. We see these things for what they are. They can be for our benefit. We exalt in them. Or as other passages talk about suffering for the name of Christ, that we glorify God in that.

So a lot of our experience as Christians has to do with just the way we’re looking at things. About your perspective. And that’s where I got onto this idea of continuing in the grace of God. Sometimes we look at our service as a have to kind of thing. It’s a duty, it’s an obligation. I noticed Weyland mentioned our privilege to give, and yet we’re, you know, maybe going, I don’t want to let go of that. But if you look at it as a privilege, it’s a blessing. To be involved in the work of God. This isn’t putting our time in this morning when we could have been sleeping a little bit longer. This is a privilege. This isn’t our work. We’re continuing in the grace of God.

See how that changes things? See how that makes your perspective different? It’s not, I don’t have to come back tonight at 5 o’clock if I don’t want to. I’m continuing in the grace of God. This is amazing. It’s about perspective. It’s not a drudgery. It’s exalting. And I love that word because I love the New American Standard uses that word. Sometimes it’s glory and rejoicing, but I like the idea of exalting. That just that just sounds exuberant, doesn’t it? Thrilled about it. Thrilled about tribulations? If you understand what they produce. And time would fail me to talk about 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I’ll never appreciate this context. I read it all the time. I introduce it in every meeting. I preach. I find a way to get it in.

I got to stick it in there somewhere. Especially when you get down to 16 and 18, where he says, though our outer man is decaying, the inner man is being renewed day by day. You know, we get so stressed out over the outer man decaying. And Paul says, and look, if you’re not stressed out about it, wait till you hit 50. You will be. Okay. For death works in us. How bad is it, Paul? Well, let me just describe it as death. I’m headed there very quickly. I mean, you look at some of the sufferings he’s endured, being stoned to boot, and all the times he’s received lashes and rods on his back. He says, Death is working in us. That doesn’t sound pleasant, but death is working in us, but life in you.

Look. Whoa, that’s perspective, isn’t it? We’re constantly being delivered over to death. Don’t worry, it’s all day long. Okay, you get that, right? Being delivered over to death all day long. Well, you’re a little slow on that. But the outer man is the king. The inner man is being renewed day by day. He says. And he says, and I love this. This is my favorite part of this. Our momentary light affliction. What? But it seems so severe. It hurts so bad. It seems so long. But Paul said, no. It’s momentary. It’s light, this affliction. And it’s producing for us an eternal, and he sets these three words against these three words. Momentary light affliction. It’s producing for us an eternal weight. That’s something like a scale, really heavy.

Eternal weight of glory. There’s this. This is all about perspective. Momentary light affliction. It’s producing for us an eternal weight of glory. And let me tell you about that eternal weight. Let’s measure it in the scales. My pain. What’s about to happen for us ultimately? An eternal weight of glory. How much better is it? The scales really can’t measure it. It’s far beyond all comparison. For we do not look to the things which are seen, but to the things which are unseen. The things that are seen, they’re short-lived, they’re temporal. The unseen things are eternal. And I could just stop right there, and some of you might wish I did. But verse 18 is our problem. What do you mean it’s our problem? If you’re having a problem spiritually, there’s your problem right there.

That’s it. We’re looking at the wrong things. Our perspective is messed up. We’re looking at the things that are seen rather than the things that are unseen. That is, anybody who’s having a spiritual problem, oh, it could be packaged in a lot of different things. It could be a lot of different problems, but it really all boils down to that. You’re not looking at things properly. You’re looking at things that are seen rather than unseen things. So we’re just, are we just trudging along in faith? Rather be doing something else. Or are we celebrating the favor of God? That’s why this verse popped into my head, and I was thinking about it again at 3 o’clock in the morning. We’re not just trudging along in the work of God.

Pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps to do what God bids us do, even though we really don’t want to. That perspective is wrong. Whatever you do for the Lord, whatever you’re commanded to do, whatever you feel obliged to do, whatever you sacrifice to do, why you are here this morning is to celebrate the favor of God. You get it? You get that? This has been a success. It’s not going to do you any good, though, if you forget about it by next week. You walk in these doors. I’m here to celebrate. Well, that ought to put a smile on your face. More on that at the end. I’m here to celebrate the favor of God. I want you to look at four things very briefly from this text that flows out of this idea of continuing in the grace of God.

1. Everyone Who Believes Is Freed From All Things

And I want to look at this very quickly with you. And I want you to notice this in verse 39. As he said previously, everyone who believes is freed from all things. If you’re in Christ, you’ve been set free from everything that oppresses you or is harmful to your inner being. Everything that shackles you, everything that is harmful to your life and spiritual well-being and eternity. Everything that might hold you back, he says, you’ve been set free from that. The devil only has power over you if you let him. His grip, his tyranny has been resolved in the blood of Christ. And if you continue in the grace of God, he can’t defeat you. I think sometimes we miss the point of this. And yet we look at this like it’s prison.

Oh my, I’m so hungry. When’s he going to be done? This is prison. When am I going to be out of prison? He’s done. Amen. Say the last thing the kids are saying. Amen. At the last prayer. Why don’t they say it earlier in the service? It’s always the last one where the kids chime in with amen. It’s over. We’ve got to go eat. The confinement. This isn’t prison. That was prison.

2. The Lord's Marvelous Work

We are the recipients of the favor of God. Nothing owns us any longer. Any obstacle bigger than our ability to conquer has been handled by Christ. And with God’s help, we can gain the victory. The second thing that I would notice in this context is the Lord’s marvelous work. A quotation in verse 41. He says, Take heed therefore, so that the things spoken of you and the prophets may not come upon you. And then he quotes Habakkuk of all things. Behold, you scoffers and marvel and perish. For I am accomplishing a work in your days. A work which you will never believe, even though someone describe it to you.

Wonder. Be astonished. I’m going to raise up the Chaldeans. To which Habakkuk says, not that. That’s not what I was asking for. Just fix the problems here. He knew what it meant. Babylonian destruction. The city of Jerusalem is going to be laid waste. The temple is going to be burned. People are going to be taken off into captivity. Yes, I’m going to respond to the errors in Israel. And you’re going to be astonished when it happens. And then Paul and Barnabas are taking that and making application to all the work of God. All the work of God is astonishing. And if I would take you then to Psalm 118, Psalm 118, as the psalmist is predicting the very thing that Paul is writing about in Acts 13, the marvelous work of God in salvation, as he talks about Jesus being rejected.

It says that he is the chief cornerstone. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Verse 22. This is the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. The day of salvation. O Lord.

3. The Devil Will Oppose This

That’s the word. Yasha’annah. We sing that. Yasha’annah. O Lord, do save, we beseech thee. O Lord, we beseech thee. Do send prosperity. This is the Lord’s marvelous work in salvation. That we are allowed to continue in the grace of God. But here’s the thing. He’s urging the disciples to continue on in this wonderful possession of salvation. These God fearing proselytes. These are non Israelites who have signed on to Judaism, who are listening to Paul’s message, and now they’re believing in Christ. So there’s some Jews and some proselytes who have embraced this message of salvation in Jesus. What immediately happens? And I notice this in the context of Acts 13. And the next Sabbath, nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy.

Hold that thought, coming back to that tonight. The Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming. And because they received such a rude reception from the Jews, they would ultimately now turn into the Gentiles, and many of them would embrace the message of salvation that Paul is preaching. We see that in verses 46 through 48. Here’s what I want you to notice. This happens all over the book of Acts, doesn’t it? Paul preaches the message of salvation, people embrace the message, and then all of a sudden there’s this conflict that erupts. Paul gets run out of town on a rail.

Sometimes it’s the merchants, like in Ephesus in Acts 19, who raise a ruckus over the teaching of Paul. Who do you think is instigating all of that? The devil’s behind all of that. And I’ll just tell you this.

If that’s how you think Christianity works, you’ve not read the book of Acts. Because everywhere the gospel went and was proclaimed that people were being saved, the devil was there trying to throw a monkey wrench at the whole thing. And what that means here is if what I’m teaching is God’s saving truth about Jesus Christ. There’s somebody not really happy about that. And he’s not just going to allow us to slide off into eternity and to glory together without difficulty and opposition. He’s going to want to wreck this.

Another little hook for tonight.

Oppose the work that’s going on. Be a troublemaker. Be a dissenting voice. To be divisive. Whatever he can do. He wants us. He doesn’t want the gospel to have an effect in your life. He doesn’t want your character to become more like Christ. He’s going to oppose that every step of the way. He’s going to want you to compromise. He’s going to want me to alter the message to make it less than genuine. Whatever he’s got to do to make it less than real that saves. That’s what he doesn’t want. What? The devil will oppose this. Don’t ever forget that. And don’t be surprised when difficulties come. Because, did I say this? The devil will oppose this. He doesn’t want your salvation. He doesn’t want your growth in Christ.

4. The Disciples Were Continually Filled With Joy

He wants you to feel like this is a drudgery. He wants you to feel like this is a lot of hard work and too much sacrifice. I’m here to remind you that all we’re doing is continuing in the favor of God, and we ought to be celebrating that. We ought to stay excited about that. And that’s what the true disciples did. The Gentiles, when they heard this message and embraced it says they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life, believed. What an incredible statement. And then in verse 52, there was still opposition. The Jews were still opposing. Paul and Barnabas must leave Antiochaposeidia, but it says, and the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

I believe that phrase is talking about the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, giving them the instruction that they need. But they were continually filled with joy. How is it? How is it that we lose that sense of rejoicing over time? I see that in so many. I see it in myself from time to time. How do we lose that? Maybe I’m talking to someone this morning who has lost it. Maybe it’s down to a flicker. They were continually filled with joy. Does that describe you? Or have you stopped exulting in tribulations and let the tribulations win? Continually filled with joy. We’re involved in the grace of God here. How is your perspective? What happens when people lose their joy over time? Number one, they’re not appreciating what they possess in Christ.

They’ve lost sight of where all of this is going. Or number two, they’re just far too enamored with the world. Far too enamored with things that their eyes see rather than the unseen. One of those two things are true. So I want to ask you this as I summarize this point. Is your mood? Is your mood driven by circumstances? Okay. Let’s all raise our hands if we’ve been indicted. Not really, but is your mood driven by circumstances or by what you know you possess in Christ? That’s why I preach this lesson. In the middle of the night, as I was thinking about this verse, and that I might want to preach on it sometime, and how it applied to the lesson I presented the night before.

Conclusion

When you’ve been up for about 30 minutes and you can no longer sleep in the middle of the night, you do what you shouldn’t do, and that’s you get out your electronic device and you look at Facebook. Said, well, that could make it even more negative, yes. But I follow a lot of preachers. And so they come up on my feed more than anything else. Maybe that’s a particular advantage I have. But what I saw, the first thing as I opened Facebook in the middle of the night during that gospel meeting, I think Sherry was awake at this point too. Don’t blame it on me. But I saw two statements by preacher friends of mine back to back. And I said, when I preach this lesson, I’m going to share those.

Dan Cheney, ask this question. What have you done today that will matter in eternity? I like that. We’re doing something today that matters in eternity. But what about tomorrow? Ask the question. What am I doing today that will matter in eternity? And then one of my peers, actually, he’s my age. We went to FC together. Jesus came from heaven for you. Where are you willing to go for Jesus? The gift, the promise of salvation, the forgiveness of sins. That gift is made available to you. If somebody told you this morning, you know that sweepstakes you forgot you entered? You won it. You get a million dollars coming to your bank account tomorrow. You would say, eh, no big deal. No, you wouldn’t. You’d be, you’d be off the chart.

You’d probably take us all out to dinner. And if that’s not what you’re thinking, you should be thinking that. You won the clearinghouse giveaway, you got a million dollars. Let’s all go eat somewhere. Rent a room. Males can’t hold us, but there’s some someplace that can. You’d be excited. What I’m talking about this morning is worth far more value than that. Have you embraced it? The forgiveness of sins that’s in Jesus. Have you turned to Him? And if you have done that, do you realize that all we’re doing is continuing in the grace of God? And what a privilege it is. Let’s sing the invitation. Let’s say