Once again, although the sentence of “death” for Jesus could not be retracted, at least there was a chance that the opinion of those who made up the “court” could be reversed. And that’s exactly what Peter, John, and Stephen attempted to do in the days following Pentecost. As the people were stoning Stephen to death, there was someone in the crowd who watched over the coats of those who were throwing the rocks. His name was Saul, a self-righteous Pharisee who would later encounter Jesus as he traveled on the road to Damascus in order to apprehend Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial.

After his conversion (you can read about his initial encounter with Jesus in Acts 9), and after many years of listening to God and to the message of the Apostles, Saul’s name was changed to Paul, and he began to preach the word of Jesus throughout Judea. He later found himself at the church in Antioch where the followers of Jesus were first called “Christians.” And it was at this church, after spending time in prayer and fasting, that the Holy Spirit spoke to those gathered saying,

“Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2)

After hearing from God, they laid their hands on them and “sent them away.” Paul and Barnabas sailed to the island of Cyprus, and after spending some days there, they put out to sea again and sailed to Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and began to spread the word of God to all who would listen. One of their first stops was at Pisidian Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day. After the Synagogue leader read from the Law and the Prophets, knowing that Paul and Barnabas were guests from Jerusalem, he asked them if they had “any word of exhortation” for those who had gathered. Not to miss any opportunity to share about Jesus, Paul began to give his “appeal” to those who had gathered on that Sabbath Day. Those in the congregation were both Israelites and God-fearing Gentiles. Paul began with some biblical history:

“The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it” (Acts 13:17).

Paul began by recalling what God had done in miraculously delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians. Paul then reminded them how God “put up with them” for forty years as they wandered in the wilderness because of their rebellion and unbelief. But in the end, He

“…destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, and distributed their land as an inheritance” (Acts 13:19).

 And then Paul reminded them of how God gave them Judges until Samuel the Prophet anointed Saul of the Tribe of Benjamin as their king because the people kept asking for one; and finally how He raised up David to be their king, a man after God’s own heart. Without spending a lot of time on Israel’s past history, Paul gets right to the point by saying,

“From the offspring of David, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel” (Acts 13:23-24).

At this point Paul directs the attention to all of those in the congregation that “the word of salvation” is being sent out into all the world. And then Paul turns their attention to the rulers in Jerusalem saying,

“For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed, and when they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb” (Acts 13:27-29). 

Notice how Paul appealed to the Old Testament prophets who had foretold that Jesus would be condemned to death. But Paul doesn’t stop there saying,

“But God raised Him from the dead; and for many days He appeared to those how came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people” (Acts 13:30-31).

At this point, Paul finally gets to the real reason for his coming to Pisidian Antioch,

“And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus from the dead, no more to return to decay” (Acts 13:32-35).

 At this point, Paul begins quoting from David in the Psalms regarding the arrival of Jesus and his subsequent death, burial, and resurrection, lending prophetic proof to the fact that the resurrection of Jesus was all part of God’s plan, foretold long ago by David in the Psalms. And then Paul turns to the “Good News” by saying,

“Therefore, let it be know to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all those things from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39).

Paul is announcing the forgiveness of sins, both from it’s penalty as well as from it’s power, something that the Law of Moses could never do. It was God’s grace, His undeserved favor, that would grant the forgiveness of sins because of Jesus’ shed blood on the cross. So, what do you think happened next? Are you expecting that those in the Synagogue took them outside and stoned them? No, not this time, because,

“As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath. Now with the meeting of the synagogue was over, many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God” (Acts 13:42-43).

 On this occasion, open hearts led to those people wanting to hear more of God’s grace. Yes, Paul and Barnabas spent the next week sharing God’s word to all those who would listen, and when the next Sabbath Day arrived, they entered into the Synagogue once again. But this time, their reception was not quite as warm. We will see what happens next week, as Paul continues with his “appeal” at Pisidian Antioch.

This is the message of all the Apostles, including the Apostle Paul, who wrote to the church in Corinth:

“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15:3-4).

That’s a message worth sharing – It’s also a message worth believing. If you haven’t done so, by faith, believe the message that was delivered to the Apostles, that Jesus came to save sinners. Peggy and I send blessings to each of you as we enter, what looks like now, four years with a new president.