Lesson by Pastor John Skaggs

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

P. O. Box 1173

Claypool, Arizona 85532

520-425-8345

Date: 12-17-00

Sermon Number: 029

Text: Acts 17:1-3

Topics Addressed in this Lesson

(The Gospel)

It was Paul’s practice to take the gospel to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. When he came to any given city he would enter the synagogue and begin teaching the scriptures. He did not attempt to flatter his hearers neither did he speak of things comfortable or entertaining. Rather, he was concerned with the souls of his countrymen and, therefore, spoke to them of Jesus. He preached the good news that Jesus is the Messiah and that He saves all who come to Him by faith. He did so of necessity for the Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of sinners. This was Paul’s method of evangelism, which kept him in danger all his ministerial life. The danger came for the Jews to whom he spoke for, most did not want to hear about Jesus.

Lets think about Paul’s method and message in this instance, which was typical. First, he preached the gospel and then he "reasoned with his hearers from the Scriptures." This was Paul’s method of teaching. In other words, there was an exchange during or after his presentation of truth. He would make a statement and then, in response to objections or questions, take his listeners to the scriptures, the Old Testament, to find the answers. We do not find this unusual because we do the same thing. But there was a major difference, Paul worked exclusively from the Old Testament for the New did not exist. Christians often forget that the gospel, the good news of salvation by faith in Jesus, is clearly presented in the Old Testament. Hebrews 4:1-7 reminds us of this fact.

Not only was the Gospel revealed and preached in Old Testament times there were many that believed the good news and were saved. Hear the prayer of the Psalmist. (Psalms 79:9 NASB) "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name; And deliver us, and forgive our sins, for Thy name's sake." Here is a man approaching God on the basis of faith, not works. He begs for forgiveness and salvation, "For Thy name’s sake." That is, save me and forgive my sins in order to bring glory and honor to your holy name. Save me and forgive me on the basis of who you are, not who I am or what I have done. Save me for Thy name’s sake. This is salvation through faith in the coming Messiah!

(Isaiah 45:17 NASB) "Israel has been saved by the LORD With an EVERLASTING SALVATION; You will not be put to shame or humiliated TO ALL ETERNITY." These words have to do with the salvation of one’s soul. It is an eternal salvation that was never offered or promised to keepers of the law or to those who sacrificed bulls and goats on an altar. Those things could never save. This text describes the unending nature of salvation by faith in the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Israel about whom Isaiah speaks is the Israel of God, the believing elect from every nation under the Sun.

The next reference is familiar to us because we have read it in the New Testament. The thing to notice is that it came from the Old. Isaiah 52:7-10 NASB. "How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings GOOD NEWS, Who announces peace (This is peace between God and the sinner by faith in Jesus Christ.) And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, (The salvation of sinners from the coming wrath of God by faith.) And says to Zion, "Your God reigns!" {8} Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, They shout joyfully together; For they will see with their own eyes When the LORD restores Zion. {9} Break forth, shout joyfully together, You waste places of Jerusalem; For the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. {10} The LORD has bared His holy arm In the sight of all the nations, That all the ends of the earth may see The salvation of our God." Once again, the Zion, the Jerusalem, the Israel, spoken of is made up of believers from every nation under the Sun. This is the Israel of God. Here is the Gospel in the Old Testament.

Listen to the prophet Isaiah once again. Isaiah 61:10-11 NASB) "I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; FOR HE HAS CLOTHED ME WITH GARMENTS OF SALVATION, HE HAS WRAPPED ME WITH A ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. {11} For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations." Isaiah knew that nothing good or acceptable to God dwelt in him. He knew that his good works were like filthy rags. He knew that he had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, he rejoiced in the salvation provided by God. He was a sinner wrapped in the righteousness of Jesus, his Messiah, his Savior.

The ultimate example in the O. T. of one being aware of the Gospel and being saved through faith is Abraham. (Romans 4 NASB) "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? {2} For if Abraham was justified by works, (keeping the law, being good, baptism, circumcision) he has something to boast about; but not before God. {3} For what does the Scripture say? "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS." {4} Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. {5} But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness, {6} just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: {7} "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, (The deeds of unbelieving men are never worthy of commendation. Quite the contrary, the best of his deeds are sinful and need to be forgiven.) AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. {8} "BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT." . . . . {13} For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, (Not by keeping the rules or traditions of the Jews, not even by keeping the law of God.) but through the righteousness of faith. . . . . {22} Therefore also IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. {23} Now not for his sake only was it written, that it was reckoned to him, {24} but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, AS THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN HIM WHO RAISED JESUS OUR LORD FROM THE DEAD, {25} HE WHO WAS DELIVERED UP BECAUSE OF OUR TRANSGRESSIONS, AND WAS RAISED BECAUSE OF OUR JUSTIFICATION." Here is good news indeed! True righteousness is reckoned to sinners who come to Christ by faith.

The last two verses of this reference bring us to the stone over which the Jews stumbled, that is the suffering and death of Christ, the Messiah. For the common Jewish view of the Messiah pictured Him as a conquering political ruler, or savior, who would defeat their enemies, restore their freedom, and usher in the kingdom. That the Messiah would come to die at the hands of His own people was something they could not accept. After all, what good is a dead savior? How could a crucified conqueror be a conqueror at all? The Jews stumbled over these concepts. This is why, or part of why, they rejected Jesus of Nazareth. He did not fit the expectations they had of the coming Messiah. When they tried to set Him up as their earthly King He refused, therefore, He could not be the Messiah. The Jews had failed to see that the promises of salvation made to the Jews in the Old Testament were spiritual in nature. They did not understand that the enemies the Messiah would overthrow were spiritual not physical. This was clearly taught in the O. T. but they did not understand. Paul’s method was to preach the Gospel from the Old Testament scriptures proving that salvation was by faith and that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah.

Now what of the content of His message? We see something of it in our Acts text. Acts 17:3. "EXPLAINING and GIVING EVIDENCE that the Christ had to suffer (and die) and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ." The good news is this. Jesus Christ the Messiah suffered and died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried and then He rose from the dead thereby accomplishing the salvation of all who come to Him by faith. To prove these things Paul might have turned to Isaiah fifty-three.

(Isaiah 53 NASB) "Who has believed our message? (the good news about Jesus dying for sinners) And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? (The message of the gospel must be revealed to the sinner or he will never understand.) {2} For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. {3} He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Hundreds of years before Christ actually came Isaiah spoke as if it were a done deal. He grew up, says the Prophet, like a tender shoot. He was despised and rejected by His own people. He was a man of sorrows as opposed to luxury and opulence. He did not come as a King with pomp, circumstance, and entourage. Rather, the scripture says he wasn’t too impressive, not much to look at. Elsewhere the prophets predicted that, "He would come riding on the back of a donkey", which is exactly what He did.

{4} Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. {5} But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; (Our Lord’s suffering had nothing to do with rescuing the Jews from their tormentors. Rather, He suffered and died for sins, transgressions, or iniquities.) The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. (This is not a reference to physical healing. The subject is sin. The healing in the atonement is the healing of our sin sick souls, which is a necessity becuase . . ) {6} All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him."

With these words Paul could show that Jesus had not come to save them from the Romans but from the tyranny and consequences of sin. Christ’s death was necessary since all have sinned by turning to their own way. Paul would say to his audience what I say to you today, "You/we sinners are the reason the Messiah was pierced through, crushed, and chastened by God." The wickedness that dwells in your/our hearts is why Christ the Messiah had to die. This is why God poured out His wrath on Jesus of Nazareth. The sinfulness of men is why . . .

{7} He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. (Why did Christ allow Himself to be led away by evil men to His death? He did so because that is what He came to do. He came to save His people from their sins and to do that He must die.) {8} By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living, For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? (Christ, the Messiah, was put to death for the sins of the very people who killed Him.) {9} His grave was assigned with wicked men, (This was fulfilled in that He was crucified like a thief and a murderer between two thieves.) Yet He was with a rich man in His death, (He was buried in a rich mans tomb.) Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. (Jesus was sin-free, sin-less, perfect in the eyes of God.) {10} But (in spite of His innocence) the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, (An offering to God for the sins of His elect people.) He will see His offspring, (That is, He would see the intended results of His suffering, i.e., the salvation of those for whom He died.) He will prolong His days, (He would die but rise again, therefore, His days would be prolonged.) And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. (That is to say, by the dying and rising of Christ the will of God would be done. That will was and remains the salvation of all His lost sheep. Therefore it is said . . .) {11} As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. (Jesus work had as its goal and purpose the justification before God of many sinners and He accomplished His mission.) {12} Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; (He will fight this battle with the forces of darkness and win the day carrying of the spoils of war.) Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors."

Using a passage like this our ancient brother could explain the true reason for the coming of Jesus. He could counter the Jew’s idea that the Messiah was to be an earthly and military ruler, a savior of the Jews from the oppression of their enemies. "Jesus came to save His people from their sins." And in order to do that He had to die for the scriptures declare that, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins".

Paul would no doubt hurry on to speak of the resurrection of the Messiah from the dead. For, what good is a dead Savior? And what Old Testament text might He cite in support of the resurrection of Jesus? Fortunately, we don’t have to guess at this for Peter reveals how they dealt with this. Look with me at the words of Acts two beginning with verse sixteen.

Ladies and gentlemen, don’t let anyone get away with saying that the Old Testament sinners were saved in a different way than we are saved today. I say this because many believe and teach that men were saved by keeping the law in the Old Testament and by grace through faith in the New. Not so, as I hope you have seen today. The Prophets of old, then Christ, then the Apostles, preached the Good News, that wicked, ungodly, sinners are saved by trusting wholly and completely in the finished work of Jesus Christ. This Jesus is the very man who would and did come from God, who was in fact, God incarnate! Who suffered and died the death of a sinner Himself. Who bore in His person the wrath and punishment of God for the sins of all his lost children. He who knew no sin actually, literally, intentionally, became sin for us that we might become the very righteousness of God in Him! He was and remains our substitute.

This is why the Christian’s testimony never points to himself. If the believer understands how he has been saved he will say, "Upon a life I did not live, Upon a death I did not die, Another’s life, Another’s death, I trust my whole eternity." That is the testimony of one saved by grace through faith in Jesus the Messiah, the Savior of all who come to Him by faith.

In Him, dear sinner you will find rest for your souls. Turn to Him today, without reservation, argument, ifs, ands, or buts, cast your soul into His everlasting care. He is the only resting place for sinners, one’s only hope of heaven. Let us conclude by listening to the warning in Hebrews chapter four once again.

Hebrews 4:1-7 "Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. {2} For indeed WE HAVE HAD GOOD NEWS PREACHED TO US, JUST AS THEY ALSO; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. (The Jews heard the Gospel before and after the coming of Christ. The reason it did them no good was that they refused to believe and obey it. They did not believe that Jesus was who the scriptures said He was. Therefore, they found no place to rest their troubled souls. They knew they needed to be right with God but they rejected His way of reconciliation. They sought righteousness, or acceptance with God, through works when it can only be obtained by faith in Jesus.

By faith, dear sinner, the righteousness of Jesus becomes our righteousness and that makes us acceptable to God. It is by the righteousness of Christ that sinners are saved. And it is only when we trust fully and completely in Him that we can rest from all work intended to impress God.) {3} For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST," although HIS WORKS WERE FINISHED FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. (Even though Jesus died at a certain point in time His redemptive work on the cross was effective the moment God determined that He would die for sinners.) {4} For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS"; {5} and again in this passage, "THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST." {6} Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, (Praise God, Christ still receives sinful men!) and THOSE WHO FORMERLY HAD GOOD NEWS PREACHED TO THEM failed to enter because of disobedience, {7} He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS." Rather, humble yourself before God and His way of saving sinners. Bow your proud heart in repentance of sin, cast yourself upon the Savior who stands acceptable to God for all who come to Him by faith. "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ." He is the sinner’s only hope of heaven.