THE TEMPORARY GOSPEL TRANSFER

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on January 25, 2023 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: January 25, 2023 from Acts 13:13-52

Theme: As this passage shows us, the gospel was rejected by the Jewish people, and the preaching of it was transferred—for a time—to the Gentiles.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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This morning’s passage gives us an important picture of the ministry of the apostle Paul. It contains a sample of what the apostle Paul preached when he entered a synagogue.

That was Paul’s missionary pattern, by the way. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news for the Jewish people first. He only preached it to the Gentiles after the Jewish people rejected it. In Acts 13:13-52, we get to see the gospel that he preached to his own people. And it shows us a pattern of what occurred throughout his ministry in the Book of Acts—as the gospel was transferred from the Jewish people (who rejected it) to the Gentile people (who embraced it).

Behind what we find in this portion of Acts is a divine plan of God. It was a plan to provoke the Jewish people to jealousy; so that they might turn to Christ. Paul explained this plan in Romans 11. In it, Paul told of how the Jewish people stumbled in unbelief; but not in order that they would be permanently rejected. He wrote;

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved … (Romans 11:25-26).

When the gospel first began to be preached, the Jewish people rejected it, and the Gentile people accepted it. But Paul wrote;

… even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown to you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all (vv. 31-32).

We might call this plan of God “The Temporary Gospel Transfer”. As this portion of Acts shows us, the gospel was rejected by the Jewish people, and the preaching of it was transferred—for a time—to the Gentiles. But this was only intended to—in the end—’provoke’ the Jewish people to jealousy so that they might be saved.

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Now; this portion of Acts continues the story of Paul’s first missionary journey. The last portion ended with the sad departure of John Mark back to Jerusalem—after the challenging events that the team experienced in Cyprus (vv. 4-12). So; after that, the first thing we see is …

1. THE INVITATION TO SPEAK THE MESSAGE (vv. 14-15).

Verses 13-14 tell us;

“Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down” (vv. 13-14).

This is a different ‘Antioch’ than what we’ve read about in Acts so far. That other ‘Antioch’ was in Syria. This ‘Antioch’ is in the region of Pisidia—and is thus often referred to as ‘Pisidian Antioch’. It’s in Asia Minor; about 150 miles northwest of the island of Cyprus. It was a Roman colony; and may have been viewed by the missionaries as another strategic city to win for Christ.

As was their custom, they went first to the synagogue;

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” (v. 15).

What an invitation to give to a man like Paul! Note here that the presentation of the gospel was not forced, but was invited. When God opens a door, it’s easy to enter.

So; that leads us next to consider …

2. THE MESSAGE THAT WAS SPOKEN (vv. 16-41).

And we can see the message broken up into four basic divisions. First, we can see that the recipients of the message are declared. We’re told in verse 16;

Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen …” (v. 16).

Do you notice how Paul was beginning to take the lead position in the missionary team? And Paul was speaking here to two groups. One group was composed of the Jewish people—the “Men of Israel”; or, as he called them later in verse 26, “sons of the family of Abraham”. The other group was composed of those non-Jewish people who “fear God”. The message is for the Jew first, and also for the Greek; as it says in Romans 1:16.

Then, we see that the foundation of the message is laid. In order for the gospel of Jesus to be clearly declared, Paul needed to explain how it is the fulfillment of the Jewish scriptures and in full keeping with the history of the Jewish people. In verses 17-19, he said;

“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 forty 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” (vv. 17-19).

Paul doesn’t mention the names of these seven nations, because the Jewish people already knew them well. But according to Deuteronomy 7:1, they were “the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites”. God drove those people groups out; and under the leadership of Joshua, distributed the land to the twelve tribes of Israel.

“After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty 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 forty 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—“ (vv. 20-23).

Underlying the Old Testament story was the promise of the Messiah’s coming. He is the great theme of the Old Testament scriptures—the Son of David. And this leads Paul to declare that the fulfillment of the message is announced. In verses 24-25, Paul says that Jesus came

“—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 loose’” (vv. 24-25).

These Jewish listeners would have known about the prophetic ministry of John the Baptist; and of how he had been baptizing people with a baptism of repentance in anticipation of the coming of the promised Christ. He even declared Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). This led Paul—in a very bold stroke—to declare that this ‘word of salvation’ was now being announced to his Jewish listeners. In verses 26-33, he said;

“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 and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people. And we declare to you glad tidings—that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus” (vv. 26-33a).

These are stunning words. He was saying that the Jewish people fulfilled the Scriptures by crucifying the Messiah! But he also made it clear that God Himself also fulfilled the Scriptures by raising Jesus from the dead. He went on to explain in verses 33-35;

“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’” (vv. 33b-35).

Paul was carefully making it clear to his Jewish brethren that the fulfillment of the message is now being declared to them as that which is according to their own Scriptures. He shows them that this is so from such clear ‘messianic’ passages as Psalm 2:7, Isaiah 55:3, and Psalm 16:10. And Paul was even careful to show them, in verses 36-37, that the Old Testament promises could not have been applied to David, but must have had application to One who came from him. Thus, Paul is careful to show that the message of the gospel of Christ is the fulfillment of the promises made to the Jewish forefathers:

“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” (vv. 36-37).

So; after all that, Paul issued the call for a response to the message. He said;

“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses” (vv. 38-39).

He issued that wonderful invitation. But with it, he also issued a stern warning to his fellow Jews:

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’” (vv. 40-41).

Those words were from Habakkuk 1:5; and the Jewish listeners would have known that it was a warning of impending judgment if repentance didn’t occur—and if resistance was maintained.

And all of this leads us to …

3. THE RESPONSES TO THE MESSAGE (vv. 42-52).

Initially, we see that many received the message. Verses 42-43 tell us;

So 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 (vv. 43-43).

But sadly, many of the Jewish people rejected it. Verses 44-47 tell us;

On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. 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’” (vv. 44-47).

Paul saw their response of rejection as a fulfillment of Isaiah 49:6. But this rejection on the part of the Jewish people resulted in the gospel going further into the Gentile world. Verses 48-49 tell us;

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. And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region (vv. 48-49).

Do you notice the wonderful expression of the sovereignty of God that these words contain? These Gentiles who believed did so under the divine appointment of God. This sad ‘rejection’ was actually in God’s plan for the salvation of many. It was His ‘temporary gospel transfer’.

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Now; verses 50-52 close with these words:

But 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 their region. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit (vv. 50-52).

The persecution of Paul and Barnabas on the part of the Jewish people continued into the next cities they went to—that is, into Iconium and Lystra. We’ll read about their troubles in those cities in Acts 14. But notice how the gospel—rejected by the Jewish people—went on to bear fruit among the Gentiles … just as God had intended.

This great ‘gospel transfer’ has a purpose. It’s so that, one day, God will save the Jewish people. We Gentiles should pray for them—remembering what Paul wrote in Romans 11:12;

Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! (Romans 11:12).

AE