Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Karma Chaj podcast.
[00:00:07] Find Acts, chapter 13. We're at. And we're going to start from verse 13. Why don't you stand? We're going to read.
[00:00:22] Where are we? Yeah. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:25] 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. This is a different Antioch, okay? This is not Antioch where they were sent from. This is a different city. And they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after reading 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.
[00:01:06] Paul is here. Now, of course he's got something to say.
[00:01:11] I just want to say to you, when you're full of the Holy Spirit, you always have something to say. So whenever anyone invites you to give an account, Peter says, be ready. Okay. Then Paul stood up and motion him with his hand said, men of Israel, and all you who fear God, listen. The God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt. That word exalted means prosper. The NIV translates it prosper. With an uplifted arm, he brought them out of it. That's Egypt. 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.
[00:02:07] 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, son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years.
[00:02:23] 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 finished preach first. Sorry. 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 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 dwelt in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not know him. Or 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.
[00:03:47] Now, these next verse, two words are some of the most amazing words of the Bible. Okay? But God, you see, whenever you get to the place where it looks like everything's over, everything's finished, Jesus is in a tomb, dead.
[00:04:07] 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. We're going to stop there.
[00:04:35] Amen. Take a seat.
[00:04:41] I want to talk to you a little bit about the story of the God of the Bible.
[00:04:47] We need to understand God's story so that we can be invited into his story and understand our story. You see, wherever Paul and Barnabas go, they tell the story, the unfolding story of the revelation of God to his world. And the Gospel is a continuation of this unfolding story of the Bible.
[00:05:14] And we always start where people are at. We talked about Philip a few weeks ago, and he hears the Ethiopian eunuch reading. So he starts telling the story from exactly where he's at.
[00:05:27] And here Paul starts with Egypt.
[00:05:31] But when we're telling the story, often I have to start from creation. You see, the Jews worship the creator God, but Gentiles worship the created world.
[00:05:43] And in Genesis 1:1, we read in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. This is how it all starts. God created. You are not accidents. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made. In the secret place. You and I were woven together in the depths of the earth. All the days ordained for you were written in your book before the book of Heaven, before one of them came to be.
[00:06:22] I am created by the Lord for the Lord. You are created by the Lord for the Lord. Just humor me, all right, Say this. I am created by the Lord for the Lord.
[00:06:42] You see, the greatest lie that has ever been told has gripped the Western world for the last 200 years.
[00:06:51] And the lie is there was an explosion and you are all an accident that somehow evolved over billions of years. And with the age of enlightenment, poor old God got confused.
[00:07:07] Look, it wasn't poor old God that got confused. It was poor old us who got deceived.
[00:07:17] And you see, Paul talks about John the Baptist in these few verses we've read. He says he preached repentance.
[00:07:27] The first step into the story of God is to understand that you were created and of great worth. You are not an accident.
[00:07:39] You are of great worth to God. Repentance means change direction, change your thinking.
[00:07:50] And here in Acts, Paul starts with God delivering his people from Egypt into the promised land. Because he's talking primarily to Jews, this wasn't an issue. But as you see the gospel going into the gentile world, you'll see Paul talk a lot more about creation.
[00:08:08] You see, if God didn't create you, he can't save you because with the same breath he created you, he now transforms you.
[00:08:20] This is why Paul writes to the Romans. The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
[00:08:29] But people are confused by this story. And in school scientists will tell you, oh, no, no, no, no.
[00:08:40] It was this.
[00:08:43] There was this explosion and this gunge and you evolved out of this, you know, gunge stuff.
[00:08:53] Do you know the mathematical probability that a simple organism was formed is 10 to the power of 60. That's 10 trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion.
[00:09:08] The probability that you evolved is zero.
[00:09:12] Yeah. Let me put it this way.
[00:09:14] Have you ever driven past a junkyard where they pile all the cars up? Yeah. Well, just imagine that we go in and we blow it up and we're going to have a big bomb, we're going to blow it up and everything's going to go up into the sky.
[00:09:31] The probability that, that you were just from an explosion is that when all that stuff in the junkyard falls to the ground, it suddenly turns into a brand new Boeing 747 ready to go. And I don't care how many times you blow up a junkyard, you're not going to get a Boeing 747.
[00:09:54] We believed a lie, you see.
[00:10:02] I think I told a few weeks ago my doctor friend who was studying medicine and as he got to studying the human heart, he phoned and said, I need to know about the Creator. Who will tell me about the creator? This cannot be an accident, you see, you need to know the story of this book. And turn from the story of the world. You see, the story of the world says you're an accident.
[00:10:34] And why is this so important?
[00:10:37] Well, look, do you know what some of you will look in the mirror and go, I wish I looked like Tim.
[00:10:49] It's not funny. I'm being really serious. I mean, he takes good care of himself, you know, if only I could be as handsome as him. Amen.
[00:11:04] I knew he'd be all right.
[00:11:09] My curves aren't right.
[00:11:11] It's called that. I have love handles as well. It's not rude, right? That's not rude. No. Okay. You know, look, most of you are going to end up like me. Some of you may keep your hair, but hopefully the ladies will.
[00:11:26] You know, if you don't understand that God created you, he did not make a mistake. Because you have a different curve than someone else, or you look different, or your face is different, you are wonderfully made.
[00:11:49] And you see, it's understanding that God did this and we're part of his story.
[00:11:56] You see, when things go wrong in our lives, if you think you were just an accident, you just got dealt a bad hand.
[00:12:06] But if you are wonderfully created and your life has been written in the book of heaven, when things are going wrong, you can come back to the author of the book and go, help.
[00:12:21] But if you're an accident, what can happen? Well, if I'd have been born like Tim, everything would fall into place. But I haven't been. So there's no hope. But the Scriptures are clear. And the Holy Spirit testifies that when he comes into our life, that I created you and I have a purpose for your life. And I haven't made any mistakes.
[00:12:44] And so when we're going through difficulties or when we're, you know, you're going to see in the next few chapters, it's going to go crazy because some people are going to like the gospel and some people are going to hate the gospel, and we're going to have riots in towns and Paul's going to be thrown into prison. None of it's a mistake, because the Lord is with him. He created him and he has called him and he has ordained him.
[00:13:08] And you see, Paul tells them this Creator God chose a people, Israel, to be his own, to display his goodness. He prospers his people, wherever they are, with his mighty power, he leads them out. But for 40 years, they don't believe him.
[00:13:28] He endures their conduct, I think is what the scripture says. And then he gives them a land which takes 450 years. God is really patient.
[00:13:39] Really patient.
[00:13:41] But they want a king. And instead of trusting God, they want to follow a man. So God gives them David, a man after his own heart. He's just unpacking the story of God to them. Press pause for a moment. God always works to a plan.
[00:13:57] You know, God is not spontaneous. He tells his prophets what he's going to do before he does it. He's thought it through. So he's never thrown off balance by what happens in the world or what happens with his people.
[00:14:16] Okay? And so the people choose a king.
[00:14:20] But it was always his plan to give them a king. Just not a man king, a God king.
[00:14:27] And you see, Moses has said it before. They choose a king. He says, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. And I will put my words in his mouth and he will tell them everything. I command him. Who's he talking about? Jesus.
[00:14:40] He's saying, you better listen to him, otherwise you're going to be in trouble. And so the, the story of God is not hindered by what happens because of circumstances. Your story is not hindered because of the circumstances around you.
[00:14:57] Take your hand off the pause. We need to move quick.
[00:15:02] All the prophets are looking to the time when this king, whose kingdom will never end, will come. Jesus Christ.
[00:15:09] Isaiah says this king won't be a superstar. In fact, Isaiah says there will be nothing of the world in him, this Jesus, nothing of the world. The way he describes it is you'll look at him and you won't see anything that would, you would think, oh, that's, that's amazing because it's not about the glory of the world, it's about the glory of heaven.
[00:15:32] And Isaiah goes on and he says, but this person who's not a superstar, who has no, you know, no handsome or what the world would call beautiful features, why? Because he's been beaten to a pulp.
[00:15:51] But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him. And by his wounds we are healed. That's how Isaiah describes this king who is coming.
[00:16:06] And he's telling of the crucified Jesus, the servant king who he gives his life for many. And you see as the church, we have no other message. We don't have any self help talks. We have one message. Christ crucified for you and I and raised from the dead. And he's now seated at the right hand of the Father. And we gather around his presence.
[00:16:33] And Paul says, we tell you all the good news. What God promised our ancestors, he has fulfilled for us their children by raising up Jesus. So he's painting a picture of the story.
[00:16:46] And from now on the Story of the Bible is consumed by one person, Jesus Christ.
[00:16:53] And there is an invitation for each one of us to be part of that story.
[00:17:00] And he says, verse 38. Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin. That's really good news. A justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. What is he saying? Justification? Just as if I'd never sinned. So when you come to Jesus, your sin is removed from you just as if you'd never sinned. It's not covered. It's covered by sacrifices.
[00:17:30] But when you come to Jesus, the price is paid in full and you are freed from your sin.
[00:17:37] You were not able to.
[00:17:40] You were not able to obtain under the law by your own works. What he's saying is. And then. But then he says this, and we may not go much further than this. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you. Warning. You know, red lights flashing.
[00:17:58] Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish. For I am going to do something in your days, you would not even believe even if someone told you. I've got that verse on my wall. I'm going to do something that even if someone told you what I'm going to do, you wouldn't believe it. And he's talking to people of faith.
[00:18:18] God is going to do such a move that if he actually told us, we go, no, Lord, that's impossible.
[00:18:27] What's the problem? Unbelief.
[00:18:30] Unbelief is always the problem. You scoffers. The literal translation is, you scoffers be surprised and vanish. Poof. You think you were created by a puff of smoke. Well, you're going to go in a puff of smoke.
[00:18:42] Vanish. Vermoose.
[00:18:45] You mock the living God by your unbelief. He says, but I'm doing something. I'm doing something in your day, you see, what is God about to do? Exactly what the prophets have been foretelling throughout the story. He says, I will bring the nations to myself.
[00:19:05] You see, David was the king of Israel, but Jesus is the king of the world. You see, look round. And if there are people that don't look like you, it means that God is doing something quite wonderful.
[00:19:21] Because we might have different skin color, we may have different language, we may come from different nations, but we have the same breath of life in us, the Holy Spirit. And we gather around the King of the world.
[00:19:35] We're not gathering around King David, who is The King of Israel. We're gathering around King Jesus, who calls the nations to himself. It was always God's plan.
[00:19:46] And you see, what is happening is your life, when you give your life to Jesus, becomes part of this incredible story that has been unfolding since Abraham or since creation.
[00:20:02] We are part of that and he calls us into it.
[00:20:06] But we are not accidents.
[00:20:09] We are the anointed ones. We are the ones he has chosen. Look, I really do need to finish.
[00:20:15] I've made you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you will bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And then he writes this. All who were appointed for eternal life believed the Calvinists are going to go. Yes, I knew. I was right.
[00:20:28] All those who were appointed before the creation of the world to come to eternal life. I'm not going to get into this. But they believed.
[00:20:38] You see, the understanding of the story of this book enables you to believe.
[00:20:46] That's why we stand when we read it. It's not another story. It is the story.
[00:20:52] But the question is, do you believe?
[00:20:54] Do you believe?
[00:20:57] And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. This is the same breath that God breathed into Adam in. In Genesis 2, where life comes into his body.
[00:21:09] See, sin brought death into the world, but salvation brings life. And this life can only come through the cross of Jesus and his resurrection, receiving the breath of God into our lives. How do you know you have the breath? Joy.
[00:21:24] Firstly, as a result of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, because you know how the story finishes.
[00:21:31] You see, he never lets his people down. And the end is already set.
[00:21:37] I only watch films, okay, That I know. I hate watching a film. I don't know how it ends. I feel it's a waste of energy just to watch a film. Especially when it ends badly. The last we watched, I think it might be the last film we watched.
[00:21:52] Mission Impossible. One of the last Mission Impossible. We're watching it, it's tense. And then it just finished. It didn't end. I'd been completely cheap. We looked at each other and went, that was rubbish. Because now we gotta wait a year for Mission Impossible 150 to come out. Okay? So we had no idea how it's probably come out and gone and we've missed the ending. I've read the ending of this book.
[00:22:19] The lamb wins.
[00:22:22] You see?
[00:22:26] You see, God created.
[00:22:29] He started revealing himself to the world.
[00:22:34] He reveals himself to Noah. He reveals himself to Abraham. He reveals himself to David. And we start to see a picture of this merciful, loving God that loves his People. But everything was looking to the cross of Jesus. When the king would come, when Emmanuel, God himself would be born in earth. Because God so loved the world that he gave his only son and there was nothing to behold him.
[00:23:07] He didn't have the looks of Tim or me, but he gave his life for us so that we could live.
[00:23:17] Why is the story of God so important?
[00:23:21] We've seen him do the beginning, we've seen him do the middle.
[00:23:28] Jesus says, this gospel will go to the whole earth, and then the end I will return. I'm coming back.
[00:23:36] He's done the first bit, he's done the middle bit. The church has now been established. The message is growing across the world. Christianity. Don't believe the media. Christianity is growing at an unprecedented rate. Last week I was worshiping tens of thousands of people sweeping across the world of what God is doing. And once the world has heard, Jesus is coming back for his own, those that have called his chosen, you and I and we, our job is to tell the story, is to be the story, is to live the story. And it doesn't matter if you've got some curves that other people hasn't got. It doesn't matter if you walk with a limp. It doesn't matter if things are difficult because we've read the end of the book and God is for us.
[00:24:30] And, you know, some of you are desperate to find a husband and wife.
[00:24:34] I'm really off my note. I've got the look now.
[00:24:38] Look, if, you know some married people, especially girls, look at the guys, they're not that good looking.
[00:24:47] They're not. They're not often look at people and go, how did they get them?
[00:24:58] I mean, and if that doesn't give you a sigh of relief, I don't know what it is because it's got nothing to do with what you look like.
[00:25:05] It's got everything to do with your story, the story of heaven.
[00:25:13] That we're part of this incredible move of God. And once you realize that, yeah, look after yourself. I mean, I wash and I used to brush my hair, but the important thing is my story with Jesus and telling the story and inviting people into the story and being part of the story and seeing what he does. And when I lived like that, the joy of the Spirit is in me because I'm doing what I was made to do. And along the way I may pick up a wife, kids, all those kind of things and lead them to Jesus. And that's all good, that's for another talk.
[00:25:51] But what, Paul, I don't know how to finish.
[00:25:58] Sorry.
[00:26:00] Pick up a wife. I've got one that's all right. I don't need another one.
[00:26:14] Blessed. That's the word I'm looking for.
[00:26:19] And we just find ourselves in this incredible time, which Joel calls a valley of decision.
[00:26:26] And as we tell the story to our friends and family, sometimes we plead with them.
[00:26:33] Believe in Jesus. He has a plan and destiny for your life.
[00:26:38] Thanks for listening to the Croma Charge Podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship, and how to donate, visit our website at Croma Church.
