 Right now, we're going to take time to look at verses 14 to the end of the chapter, 14 to 52. I can do it. No, you watch. Oh, you little faith. You watch. So in Acts 13 beginning at verse 14, when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying, men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. And so this ministry team has left the island of Cyprus as we've been reviewing the travels in ministry of Paul. They have left the island of Cyprus. They're now in a city called Perga. Now Perga was on the coast of modern Turkey. From Perga, they left to the city of Antioch in Pisidia, which is different than the Antioch we've read of before that was in Syria. This is a city in the region of Galatia and it was an important city because it was a Roman colony. When you look at the ministry of Paul, and let me give you a brief introduction to this. Paul placed great importance on evangelizing chief cities. And that's because they were planted on strategic points along Roman roads. And so the roads were very modern. They caused the spread of the gospel to be much quicker. So Paul would choose very often to preach his message, not in kind of small places, but in the larger ones. If Paul, for example, were here in the United States, you would hear of Paul going to Los Angeles or Paul going to San Diego or Paul in San Francisco. Those are major cities. You wouldn't really hear of Paul going to Chino because the wages of sin is Chino. Now he may pass through holding his nose. I mean, there was a time when you knew where Chino was with your eyes closed, right? I mean, you know we were in Dairyland when the mascot and Chino's a fly and Paul would have passed on through very quickly. But he would go to major cities and that's what you see. And I'm encouraging you as you're with me in Acts and you see his travels. You'll notice very often that he's ministering in major cities because it was easier for him to reach greater crowds and all. And so he's there now ministry. Now in this particular city, there was a Jewish colony. And because it was a Jewish colony, that would mean that normally there would be a synagogue. And a synagogue where they would gather together in community was established wherever there were as many as 10 Jewish men. And so that's what's happening here. He's going to be going and goes into a synagogue. Now on upon the first Sabbath that they arrived, Paul we see enters into a synagogue. And as often happens, God opens the door for him to preach there in the synagogue. Now Paul had a special place in his heart for the Jewish people in Romans 10, verses 1 and 2. He said it like this. He said, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. So Paul was a Jewish man with a burden for Jewish people. He would go into the cities and you will see it often. He'll go into a synagogue. And that's what he's doing here. So he might have opportunity to communicate with them concerning the gospel. Now it says in verse 15, after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying, men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. So what he does in verse 16 is he stands up, notice, and he motions with his hand and he says men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. This reveals to us a few things. I'm going to develop this again as a platform of foundation. This reveals one, the composition of his audience. I want you to notice he says men of Israel. So that tells us there are Jews, there are men of Israel. But notice also he says, and you who fear God. That means it's a mixed congregation. God fearers are Gentiles. Gentiles appreciated the religious purity of Israel. You could be a God fear, meaning that you would go and attend the teachings and all, but you were not fully converted because in order to be fully converted as a male would require that you would be circumcised and that you would be dedicated as someone under the law. So the Gentiles very often would be referred to, the males would be referred to as God fearers. These are people who appreciated the teaching and the purity of the Jewish religion, but were not fully committed to becoming Jewish. So they were never circumcised and never became fully Jewish. Yet they would go to synagogues in order to hear the teachings and all that their lives might be impacted by the religious instruction of Israel. And what he is about to do here is he's going to trace Israel's redemptive history. He's going to outline the acts of God on their behalf. And he intends to outline the course of God's grace towards Israel. And what is instructive is how he went about to bring what is called a word of exhortation, because notice that's what it said in verse 15. When they said, they said, men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on, we're going to have an opportunity of seeing what a word of exhortation is. If you have a word of exhortation, say on, the word exhortation is a Greek word that speaks of an appeal. It can speak of a word of comfort or consolation. It can speak of a word that you're urging somebody to do something or encouragement. And so what he's doing is this, he's bringing to them a word of exhortation. How does he bring the word of exhortation? He brings a word of exhortation by preaching the gospel. That's the greatest encouragement you can get, is to hear that God loves you and he sent us unto die on the cross for you. The greatest encouragement that you can get, the greatest comfort you can get is knowing God. And so the first thing that he's doing is he's bringing this word of encouragement. The gospel is good news. And the gospel is the center of all Christian life and all Christian ministry. I was reading something today. A lady wrote it and she was just sharing how she said, she said, as a woman who had recently become widowed, she said, I don't go to church for the lights that I see on the stage. And I don't go to church services for the, for the smell of fresh coffee. She said, you know, my husband was a young man and he died at a young age. And she says, my children play during the day and they cry at night. Some of you understand what I just said in a very deep way. They play during the day, but they cry at night. They miss their dad. And so she says, for me, going to church isn't a time for me to see how cool the pastor can be. And it isn't a time for me to be entertained by good music. She said it's not a place for me to have a good cup of coffee. She says, I'm not knocking those things. She says, but that isn't what brings me comfort. She said, the church doesn't need another coffee bar. The church needs the preaching of the gospel because it's the message of the gospel that, that resonates in a broken soul. That's a hundred percent right. That's a hundred percent right. When Paul stands up, you're going to have an opportunity of seeing what a man does when given opportunity to speak. And here's something for us to think in a practical way. What if you went someplace and, and hopefully this doesn't sound like anything other than encouraging to you. And somebody said to you, what do you have to say? Would you like to share something today? Can you imagine what that would be like? Say, if you're in college and you're given an opportunity by the professor, come up and speak. You've got some, I'll give you five minutes. Say what's ever on your heart. See, that's why it's important for us to know the word of God. That's why it's important for us to be ready at any given moment to speak concerning the things of God. And, and, and you see, now you look at me and you say, well, you're an older man. You've been doing this for a long time. Of course you have a word on your tongue and you want to know something. There's a lot of truth to that. Yes. But you need to also, let me say it like this, know that I was doing what I'm doing right now when I was 25. I was doing what I'm doing right now when I was 24, when I was 23. I've been doing this for 43 years and, and I've been in secular college classes where the professor has said, stand up and give a word. What do you want to share with the people today? I've done that. I've been there and I learned at the age of 24, be ready in season and out of season. Be ready. Read the word. Spend time in prayer. Ask God for opportunity because that moment may come. That moment may come. You may be driving to work and you're in a car pool and one of the guys is talking and saying, what are you doing this weekend? And you say, I'm going to go to a men's thing. And they say, why do you do that? My wife makes me. No, you, you, she wants to go shopping. You, it's, it's your opportunity. It's your opportunity. And I'm not saying give three points, give a, you know, introduction, three points to summarization and invitation, receive an offer. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is, be ready instant in season and out of season. Be prepared. You're going to see how Paul is in the mighty city of Athens. And he's alone. He's awaiting some of his companions to, to arrive. And there he is in, and the scripture says in X 17 that his heart is pierced. It is troubled deeply because the entire city has been given completely over to idolatry. And there he is in his heart is pierced because this majestic, intellectual city is so filled with lost people. There's going to be a time perhaps in your life as you, as you grow in your faith in Christ and see how important the gospel is, where you're going to realize that you really will never again have another vacation. And what do I mean by that? I mean that, that when Marie and I have opportunity to take a few days off, very often we'll go and we try to relax. And we basically, we see it, we enjoy ourselves, but around us so very often are lost people. And I want to come home. And because I can't stand up and preach on a soapbox of these people when given opportunity, I share, but I want to go home and talk about Jesus with people who love him. And I want to encourage other people to know the Lord because that's what you do. And Paul is there and he sees Athens is given over to idolatry. And there's the Stoics and there's the Epicurean philosophers and they're there amongst the intelligentsia and they would invite people to come and share whatever the latest knowledge is because they were looking for all the latest things that were very trendy and all and they ask him to share. And then you look at that sermon in Acts 17 and he begins to speak to them concerning the fact he says that you're a very religious people and very superstitious in the King James, very religious people because I see that you have idols, statues representing all the gods, but you also have one that is dedicated to the unknown God in the event that you've forgotten to honor one. You put up an empty platform there for the unknown God. He says, well, it's this unknown God that I want to share with you about today. And he comes and he brings a message to them because he was instant in season and out of season because he wanted to tell people the truth about God. And that's what we have an opportunity of seeing here when he's there and the invitation is given and he's got this burden for Jewish people because they're his people, they're people after his flesh. He has an opportunity to share and we have an opportunity just to read and I'll touch on some of this, but it speaks pretty much for itself. I'll read a little bit too, but this is Hall, when he stands up and he gives a word of encouragement to the people. Hall, what is your word of encouragement? Well, he motions with his hand and he says, Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. Now he rehearses the history of Israel. The God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt. And with an uplifted arm, he brought them out of it. Now, for a time of about 40 years, he put up with their ways in the wilderness and when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed their land to them by allotment. After that, he gave them judges for about 450 years until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they asked for a king. So, God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years. And when he had removed him, he raised up for them David as king to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart who will do all my will. From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a savior Jesus. After John had first preached before his coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, Who do you think I am? I am not he, but behold, there comes one after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to lose. That's his introduction. What an articulate, intellectually, biblically solid, foundationally sure man the apostle Paul was. Let's look at this for just a moment and see some of the things that he's saying. When he says in verse 17, the God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers, exalted the people, when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt with an uplifted arm, he brought them out of it. And so Paul rehearses the history of the nation of Israel. It's similar to what we saw Stephen do earlier in the book of Acts. He uses certain words. Notice how Paul says he chose, he exalted, he brought them out. So the fact that Israel was chosen, exalted, and delivered could actually work to make them, as a Jewish nation, rather arrogant and proud. But what this was intended to do was actually make them humble and thankful. They were not to be proud and arrogant, but this ought to have caused them to become humbled because God chose them. When you read in Deuteronomy, for example, chapter seven, verses seven through nine, Moses writes, the Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were least of all peoples. But because the Lord loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Therefore, know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments. So he didn't choose you because you were greater, he chose you because you were least. In Deuteronomy nine, verses four through six, he continues to say, do not think in your heart after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying because of my righteousness, the Lord has brought me in to possess this land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff necked people in that kind. Your heart hardened stiff necked, you're resistant, you constantly do so. So God is revealed here as redeemer. He is the one who is revealed as giving them an inheritance. It speaks of his mighty uplifted arm. And when in that term, his mighty arm, his uplifted arm, well that would be speaking concerning his work in the Exodus as he delivered them from bondage. And so in Paul's preaching, that's the foundation of God's work. It is a work of releasing you from bondage. It's bringing you out of slavery. That's what salvation is. And that's what he's pointing to. He says in verse 18, for a time of about 40 years, he put up with their ways in the wilderness. That's another way of saying, God is patient. 40 years. I remember a young lady approached me, saying to me, I'm under a terrible trial. I just want to know when it's going to end. She says, I've been under such pressure for the last couple of weeks. And I smiled. She must not have been a parent. I smiled and I said, some trials last for years. Not just for a day or a week, a month, not even simply a year. Some pressures you live with are for years. And you know what? The Lord lived with a lot of pressure for years with the children of Israel. He put up with them for 40 years in the wilderness as a rebel and rejected him. And he's simply emphasizing to us the patience of the Lord and how he gives us so much time, so much time to repent, to get right with him. He speaks in verse 19 and it says, when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, seven nations. It took years for these seven nations to be destroyed. As I was looking at that, it's biblically the phrase, destroyed seven nations refers to certain nations that were destroyed. And so it's found in Deuteronomy seven verses one through three. These nations are mentioned. When the Lord your God brings you into the land, you're entering into possess and drives out before you many nations. And then he begins to list them. The Hittites, Gurgoshites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Parasites, the Hivites, Jebusites, and the Salulites and the Uptites and the out-of-sites and all the rest of thoseites. I added three. I always say that you know that. I'm sorry. Forgive me. Seven nations larger and stronger than you. And when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them. Show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Do not intermarry with them. Why? Because they will bring their false gods into your life and destroy you. That's why you don't intermarry with them is because their religious beliefs will destroy you. And we see that to be true. Solomon, the wisest king Israel had, was destroyed because the scripture says he had many foreign wives. He had 1,000 women in his life. 1,000. It's not so wise. No, I'm just teasing. 1,000 women, hundreds of wives in concubines. And the scripture says that as he grew older, his wives turned his heart away from the Lord. His heart was not perfect towards the Lord as his father David's heart was. Why? Because when you hook up with someone who doesn't love the Lord, they draw you away from God. That's why you're forbidden to have relationships in a marital sense with non-believers in the old as well as the new. They will bring you down. They will bring you into bondage. That's 100% true. And so they were to eradicate the land of this foreign foreign gods. It took years to do that because the Jebusites continued on even during David's reign. Now he goes on in verses 20 through 22 to speak about giving them judges for about 450 years until Samuel the prophet. So the, what is called the age of the judges. The age of the judges came after the death of Joshua. After Joshua, the Bible tells us a generation arose that didn't worship God. A generation arose that went into idolatry. There's, there's a certain truism concerning that. It's interesting. A biblical generation, it can be anywhere from 40 years. Sometimes some will say it could be as many as 60 up to 80 years. It's the general time it takes for one, one generation to grow older and die off for the next one to, to come. So it can go from 40 years and above. But it's interesting to note that when Joshua died, a generation arose who did not, did not consider the work that God had done through Joshua and through Moses. And one of the things I've noticed that even in our day, when the Lord was doing marvelous things and people were getting saved out of, out of very debauched lives. I mean, all you need to do is get to know some of the Calvary Chapel pastors and you'll know what redemption is because, because many of us lived just very ugly lives. It's just a fact. Some were, some were very decent sinners like Don McClure. Don was a very decent sinner. And some were, were horrible. You know, it just depends. But what happened is God saved a generation. And, and I'm watching this right now. I'm watching the, the older generation that I'm part of, of Jesus freaks and Jesus people. I'm watching younger generations coming up, coming up saying to us, get out of the way, old man. We have things that we want to do. We want to make things better. We have better ideas. And the sad fact is, is you can't improve on the gospel. You, you can improve on the salvation that God has to offer us. You can't, you don't want to package it and make the package more attractive than what you're offering. Because some packages are hiding things that aren't that good. When I was a little boy, my grandmother owned a little farm in Norwalk. And she had chickens. And my brother Frankie and my uncle Wettel and I got a box and found some chicken droppings and rotten eggs and dead chicks. And we packaged them and we made it look like a present. Yeah. And we went to a neighbor's house, knocked on the door and ran and left this beautiful package for them. Some packages have rotten stuff in sight. I learned that a long time ago. And sometimes we will take something that's not good and we package it as if it is. We need to keep the gospel plain and simple, easy to understand and attractive in its own right. The gospel of Jesus Christ saves people. Not great singing. That doesn't save people. Not entertaining speech. Not cool dress. Not cool environment. The gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what saves people. Don't forget that. Don't forget that because the church is moving. It's like a ship that has gone a degree off. You don't know that you're going in the wrong direction when you begin and you're only a degree off. But if you fly out of LA to Hawaii and you're one degree off, just one degree when you leave, you're not going to arrive at your destination. You're going to bypass it because you went in the wrong direction. It may not happen at the beginning. You don't even notice it. You're flying over the ocean. You don't notice it. But five hours later, there's still water and there's no island. And you begin to wonder, where am I? While you went in the wrong direction, you just didn't know it at the beginning. Be very careful. See, Paul isn't pretty enough the gospel here. You're going to see how he speaks in just a moment. He's saying, listen, let me give you the history. You need to understand how patient and gracious God has been to this nation because he's speaking to a synagogue full of Jewish people and God fearing Gentiles. And so he's just rehearsing that. And he's speaking concerning how they had hardened their heart. And because of that, they were given over to their enemies. Now, in verses 21 and 22 afterward, they asked for a king. So God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years. And so that was the first king of Israel, Saul. Saul was a man. When you look at his description in 1 Samuel, he was head and shoulders above every man in Israel. He is the tallest. He also came from a great family, tribe of Benjamin, and he also was extremely handsome. So it's been said that Saul had three unearned qualities. He had height, he had a solid family life, and he was very handsome. Those are the kinds of things, even to this day, that people will judge whether they want that person to be my whatever, president for that matter, whatever, to be the person representing those are the qualities that Saul had. And so Saul may have been beautiful on the outside, but his heart was not right with God at all. And he ruled, but he never ruled with the heart that God would have blessed. The man who had the heart that God wanted to bless is found in verse 22. When he removed him, he raised up for them David as king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart who will do all my will. He was small comparatively. He was ruddy in complexion. He was young when Saul first encountered him. And yet there was something about David that God saw that man didn't see. There was a heart in this man. And so he's speaking concerning this one named David, who became the king of Israel. And he says to us in verse 22, he removed him, raised up for them David as king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart who will do all my will from this man's seed. According to the promise, God raised up for Israel a savior Jesus. And now he's speaking concerning Jesus's earthly heritage. He's going to now get to the heart of the gospel. He's going to make it very clear that God has faithfully kept his promises and delivered the people through Jesus Christ. And what he's going to do is he's going to use scripture to present Jesus as the promised Messiah. He makes it very clear that Jesus is from the line of King David. Jesus in other words was Jewish in his humanity. You might want to mark that because there are people today that you may encounter to this day who will tell you that Jesus wasn't, that the Messiah isn't necessarily Jewish. There was a group of people. They called them Unification Church. They were known as the Mooneys. And I was in a parking lot, and I saw somebody walking from car to car, placing tracks on the windshield. Marie was in the supermarket, and I was just, and I'm watching this person. I could see them, you know, several rows in front of me, and they were coming in my direction. And so I moved my car so I could get closer to them so they could come and speak to me. And they did. And here comes this guy, and I said, he stops at my door and have my window down, and he says, Hi, how are you? And I said, I'm fine. How are you? What are you doing? I asked him. Oh, I'm passing out Bible tracks. Oh, I said, Oh, Bible tracks. You're a Christian. Yes. Yes, I am. I said, And what church do you fellowship in? He goes, Well, I go to the Unification Church. I said, The Unification Church. And he goes, Yes. And I said, Now that's followers of Reverend Sun, Young Moon, right? And he goes, Yeah. And I said, Isn't Sun, Young Moon saying that he's Messiah? And he says, Yes, Reverend Sun, Young Moon, taught all his followers that he was Messiah Jesus. He's the Messiah. So I said, You know, he's not the Messiah. He goes, Why, what do you, you know, he got upset? Why are you saying that? I said, Well, well, one thing is he's Korean. You're a racist. That's what he told me. You're a racist. I said, I'm a racist. Why am I a racist? Because you are judging him for being Korean. I said, No, I'm not. I'm saying Messiah is Jewish. This is what we just read. He's from King David, who is from Judah. He was a Jew. In 2 Samuel, chapter 7, verses 12 and 13, God said to David, When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body. I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. In verse 16 of the same chapter, your house, your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. He was giving the promise to David, a Jew. He was saying, From you will come Messiah. When you read the gospel, Matthew, chapter one, verse one, it simply begins the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. In Romans one three, it says Jesus Christ, our Lord was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. So he's just speaking concerning the promise that God made to the nation of Israel that out of David would come their Messiah. And so he's sharing concerning that. He goes on in verse 24 after John at first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, Who do you think I am? I'm not he. Behold, there comes one after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to lose. So once again, he's pointing to John in the life of Jesus who pointed to Jesus as being Messiah. John here is spoken of as a forerunner and he's saying, I'm an unworthy servant because the attention goes to Jesus and not those who proclaim him. In John 3 28 through 30, it says you yourselves know how plainly I told you that I'm not the Messiah. I am here to prepare the way for him. That is all the bride. The bride will go where the bridegroom is a bridegroom's friend rejoices with him. I am the bridegroom's friend and I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater. I must become less and less. He must increase. I must decrease. And that's what he's speaking about here. He's speaking concerning the fact that John pointed to Jesus Christ. I am not he. I'm not even worthy to unloose his his sandals. Now he goes into verse 26. Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent. For those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not know him nor even the voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause for death in him, they asked Pilate that he should be put to death. Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the tree, laid him in a tomb, but God raised him from the dead. Did you see how he introduced this? He rehearses their history. He comes to the promise of Messiah. He points to the forerunner and then he declares to them Jesus Christ. And he speaks concerning the Jewish authorities who rejected Christ and condemned him to death and the fact that Jesus Christ was placed on a cross. He also points out that though they had the scriptures, they didn't understand them. They had the scriptures, but they didn't understand them. They didn't see Jesus as was clearly portrayed in scripture. And because of that, they rejected him. This is the Jesus that he is proclaiming. When it says in verse 29, when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the tree, laid him in a tomb, but God raised him from the dead. Always remember, always remember that the heart of all biblical preaching is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The heart of all biblical preaching is the crucifixion, death, the burial, but the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that's what he's pointing to right now. He's telling them Jesus Christ was placed in a grave, but he was raised. Now, as we go on, I'll show you something here, verse 31. He was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people. Incidentally, when Jesus said, you shall receive power after that, the spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me. We are witnesses of his resurrection. That's what we witnessed, that Jesus Christ crucified, dead, buried, resurrected. That's what we do. And that's what he's speaking about, that we are witnesses to the people. We declare to you glad tidings or gospel, that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us, their children, in that he has raised up Jesus. Now he's preaching resurrection. As it is also written in the second Psalm, you are my son, today I have begotten you, and that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption. He has spoken thus, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Therefore, he also says in another Psalm, you will not allow your holy one to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God raised up, saw no corruption. Jesus was raised the third day, is the point that he's making. He's saying that David, though David and Isaiah wrote scriptures pertaining to the Messiah, David was not spoken of in Psalm 2, because David died and his body corrupted. So this has to be speaking of the greater one, which is Messiah, the one who was placed in the grave, but never was corrupted. And that's what he's saying in verse 37. But he whom God raised up, saw no corruption. So the Psalm, when it says, you are my son, today I have begotten you, is speaking of the Messiah, not David himself. In verse 38, therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. By him, everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you. Behold, you despisers, marvel and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, though one were to declare it to you. This is interesting as you're looking at him as he's preaching. They had said, give us a word of encouragement, give us a word of exhortation. And he's preaching to them a message that's saying, don't be guilty of rejecting Messiah the way your rulers did. Sometimes when you give the full gospel and you're teaching, sometimes you feel bad about that. You feel bad. There are times before I have come out to teach because the passage, if it's going to be taught properly, is going to be cutting. There are times, many times that I've been in the back saying, I don't want to go out and teach this today. Sometimes some of you who are in this fellowship, let me give you a little insight. It doesn't really matter, but I'll give it to you anyway. When I read certain passages, there are times I'll say, well, we're going to have a cherry time today, right? You've heard me say there's going to be a cherry. There's going to be, oh, and this is going to be fun because I'm already saying, Lord, I want the people's spirits to be lifted up. And if I rightly divide this, it has a way of actually bringing such conviction that people get hurt. And I'll be honest with you, sometimes the scalpel of the Lord cuts deeply and sometimes it can be painful. But what He removes from you is actually that removal is going to save your life. And a long time ago, I began to say to Lord, allow me to just teach what the passage says so that you can do your work. When Paul was speaking to this group of people and you've got to put yourself in his place, and he's seated there, he's rehearsing the history of Israel, and he's talking about the rejection of Messiah. And he's pointing to them portions of Scripture that they're very familiar with. But he's also saying these were scriptures known by your rulers, your leaders, your religious instructors, knew these things. And yet what they did is they took Messiah and they put him to death. He says, but death could not hold him. The third day he was raised from the dead. And there was a reason for this, so that your sins could be forgiven because in the Jewish religion, every year there's a remembrance of sin when they had the day of atonement because the blood of bulls and goats could not forever wipe away sin. But the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, could. And that's why the gospel is such great news because we don't have to continue coming and trying to make our offerings. That offering, one time for all time, has been offered on our behalf. And what we do is we receive from God the forgiveness of sins that He's given to us because of Jesus Christ. And we go on without the burden any longer, but free in Christ. And that's why you preach the gospel so that people will no longer have the burden and the pain of sin. That's what God does is He releases us from it when you turn your eyes on Jesus. And that's why you stand up like Paul is and you say, you may know these things, but you don't know these things. Let me remind you and let me show you. And this is Jesus. And this is what he did. And that's such powerful, powerful work. So what happens? Verse 42, when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now, when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. Wouldn't that be cool? Oh yeah. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and contradicting and blaspheming. They opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first. But since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us. I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. Now, when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. The Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from the region. But they shook off the dust from their feet against him, came to Iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. What happens when the preaching of the gospel? Well, some people are rejoicing. They say, oh, tell me I want to hear more about this. I have to tell you, that is a joyful experience when you have somebody say, I'd like to hear that. And they come back a second time. The very first Sunday morning service we ever had as a fellowship. We met in a house in Ontario and we had our Sunday morning. And I closed with prayer and I said, if you want to come back, we'll be here next week. I've always been surprised people came back from the first day. If you want to come back, we'll be here next week. And they came back. I thought, you must not have understood me. So the next week, if you want to come back, come back the next week. There's just something about having people saying that speaks to my heart. I want my life changed. I want to know more about God. So you have people like that. Then you have others. In this case, the Jewish religious leaders and the religious Jews who are upset at what's taking place. And they are so upset that they want him to stop speaking. They don't want to hear this anymore. Now the Gentiles are receiving the word of God. They've been included into the promises. Up to that point, remember with me, in order for them to have relationship with God, the Gentiles had to become a Jew. They had to be converted into the Jewish religion. But the Bible is telling us right now is God is welcoming in the Jew and the Gentile. And it's all under the same basis, the grace of God who delivers us from bondage through Jesus Christ. And so to hear this is just amazing. It's good news. It's great news. We want to hear more. But the Jewish religious people are stirring up, according to verse 50, the devout and prominent women and they're raising up persecution against Paul and Barnabas. And not only are they raising up opposition, but they're pushing them out of the city. What do they do? Do they cry and say, Oh, you know, I want to be liked by you. I'll change the gospel. No, they shook off the dust from their feet and they went to another city. They went to Iconium. They said, you know what? We're not going to waste our time here. We'll go where they want to hear. And that's what they did. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit, filled with joy, with the Holy Spirit. If there's anything, and let me close with this, if there's anything that the church has to offer that the world does not keep this in mind, it's joy. It's joy. It's joy. The joy of the Lord is my strength and the joy of the Spirit. The joy of the Spirit is part of the fruit of the Spirit that we have through Jesus Christ. You know, the world can have happenings. The word happenings really can be changed to the word happiness, because that's where the word happiness comes from. Happiness comes from happenings. Happening speaks about circumstances. Circumstances make me happy. So I have a boss and the boss is a businessman. And he's an unbeliever. And after work, I'm talking to him. And I say to him, and I was 25 at the time, I say to him, you need the Lord. He did. You need the Lord. Snotty knows 25 year old talk to a businessman married with children. What do you know? College educated man talking to me. And his attitude was kind of like, right, right. He says, I'm happy already without Jesus. And I said, you're happy because your wife is faithful. You're happy because your business is doing well. You're happy because your kids are small. They're not causing you problems yet. You're happy because of your circumstances. Let me ask you, what are you going to be if your wife goes out on you? What are you going to be if your business fails? And what are you going to be if your children, something happens to them or they go bad? Are you going to be happy then? And he's looking at me like, what nerve you have, but it's true. It was true. I said, you can have happiness because it's your circumstances. I've got joy because I've got Jesus. And there's a difference between that. And you've got to understand that. And that's a fact. Understand that. It's a fact because joy, God gives us a joy that passes all understanding. He does. I mean, in the midst of the pain, when other people would be falling apart, it doesn't mean that our hearts aren't grieved. We've lost somebody. We've lost a job. We've had a problem. I understand that. But I'm able to go and I'm able to put my head on a pillow at night. I'm able to say, but my God, my God is in control. My God has never failed me yet. And he never will. I know my God is in this. I know he is. I know he is. And I say that now, but I've been saying that since I was first saved. I have learned that deeper now because all these years of following him, he has never failed me. He has never proven to be wrong. He has always been on time. And that's why I know my God is faithful. And that's why I can speak the way that I do. Oh, you know, you're just a pastor. You play golf six days out of the week and you teach once. If there's anybody that's ever under attack, always know this. You may not be a member of this church, whatever your church may be. The number one person under attack is your pastor. Number one, if you, if you smite the shepherd, the sheep will be scattered. Never forget that. We go through attacks you couldn't understand. But my God is able. My God is with us and he is always giving us this. That's faith. I'm telling you and no, I'm not complaining and no, I don't want to whine and I'm not taking a special offering. Just telling you what it, it's just, it's just true. It is true. It is true because if the enemy can take me down, he doesn't take down David Rosales. He takes down Marie Rosales. He takes down four kids. He takes down eight grandchildren. He takes down my relatives. He takes down my sheep. He takes us all down if he takes me down, but he can't take me down because Jesus keeps me standing up. That's how it works. That's how it works. It's not that the enemy can't destroy. He tries, but my God is able. My God is able. So preaching the gospel, absolutely. It's the truth that sets you free. Preaching the gospel, do it when you can. Share about Jesus, know it well enough to be able to speak to an audience that would understand and watch what God will do. And remember this, at the end of the day, we have the joy of the Lord. We can rejoice in Jesus for all that he's done for us. My God is good and I love him with all my heart. He is so good to us. He is worthy of our praise and we need to worship him and we want to be filled with joy and we want to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.