In Matthew 10 the Lord Jesus gave some encouragement and a warning to His disciples:
He said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”
This evening we have a brief, cobbled message that looks at the variegated effects of Paul’s sermon.
But after that I’d like to conclude with an even more brief examination of his exhortation to the believers.
As I said last Wednesday, when Paul referred to Habakkuk, he did so because he could see that some in his audience didn’t appear to be too friendly.
And verse 42 seems to suggest that the Jews left the auditorium rather quickly, leaving others behind.
Paul had told them the truth, but they weren’t interested in anything that seemed to differ from what they had been taught by their friendly neighborhood rabbis.
It was just a repetition of John 1:11: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”
But there were SOME people who wanted to hear more.
“And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.”
At the first glance this verse seems to be pretty self-explanatory, but the commentators really turn somersaults over it.
Who were these Gentiles?
And this is how I would ordinarily understand it.
But the way that this word is laid out against the reference to the Jews, it sounds like they were gentile proselytes.
And now that a gospel preacher had come and briefly opened up the scriptures under the power of the Holy Spirit, these earnest seekers for truth knew that they were on the threshold of Heaven.
And it also appears that those proselytes quickly began to tell others, who had not followed them earlier.
It may have been the Apostles’ custom to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath,
They liked to talk to people in the market place throughout the rest of the week.
As I was thinking about this I started musing on something:
It was the commission of Israel to be ambassadors for Jehovah, just as we are supposed to be.
But for a variety of reasons, just like us, they failed miserably in that job.
However, it could be that in addition to the working of the Holy Spirit, that the Jews of Antioch had in some way prepared their city for the eventual arrival of the gospel.
Should we attribute the gathering of the whole city to the work of the Holy Spirit apart from any human input except for the witness of the Apostles and these few proselytes?
Whatever the cause, the whole city was made curious about the message of these apostles.
But then there was a further sinful reaction by the Jews.
“But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.”
The word translated “envy” is the Greek “zelos.”
But the first three in order of use are: “zeal,” “indignation” and “envy.”
They were jealous and they were furious.
Their leaders began to quarrel and to contradict what the Apostles were saying about the Lord.
And they even went so far as to blaspheme.
The word “blasphemeo” ( blas-fay-meh’-o ) only means that they were speaking reproachfully.
We usually picture this word in the context of deity, but it doesn’t have to be confined like that.
They could have been calling the apostles “liars” and “false prophets.”
Some were earnestly seeking to learn more,
And others had already decided that this was heresy and blasphemy.
But then there was another group who not only heard the message, but received it and believed.
“And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”
Every single person, without exception, who wanted to be saved and delivered from their sins were saved.
And everyone of those saved people put their faith in Christ.
But only those who were first ordained to eternal life believed.
That is what verse 48 says.
So the whole city was CURIOUS about the message of the apostles,
But most of the Jews were CONFUSED, because of their faulty understanding of the scriptures.
The Holy Spirit broke through the blindness of some of those Jews and they accepted the gospel,
And some of the Gentiles believed as well,
But it was only those whom the Lord had chosen before the foundation of the world who believed.
Another result of the Apostles gospel ministry ended up in the form of PERSECUTION.
“But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.”
When zealous people can’t answer the logic or the spirit of other zealous people, they only have a few alternatives.
But if they are true zealots, they will be unable to leave the matter alone;
And if they are greater in numbers or position, their retaliation usually ends up as persecution.
And that resulted lastly in the gospel moving on.
So the various effects of the gospel included rejection, curiosity, acceptance, persecution and further evangelization.
What is it to continue in the grace of God?
I think that it is easier to describe what it is not.
The opposite to continuing in the grace of God is to return to the weak and beggarly elements that once chained and bound our souls.
Paul warned the Galatians, the people who lived just north of Antioch in central Turkey,
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”
As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”
“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
This was like pouring gasoline on the fire in the hearing of the Jewish Rabbis and synagogue rulers.
He was telling the believing Jews and their proselyte brethren not to return to the theology, rules and regulations of the old corrupted Judaism.
If a sinner is saved by grace then to be consistent, he must be kept by grace as well.
This subject is at the heart of the Baptist doctrine of eternal security.
We are neither saved by our human efforts, nor are we kept saved by those efforts.
Christians are not antinomians – against God’s law.
But we do not teach the law as the road, or even the road map, to Heaven.
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
“Continue in the grace of God.”
What should be our relationship to the moral law of the Lord?
“Continue in the grace of God.”
We should strive to keep God’s will, whether etched by Moses in stone tablets, or penned by the Apostles on vellum scrolls.
But we should strive to keep God’s will in order to bring glory to the Lord through our earthly lives and our day to day living.
We must not strive to obey to the Lord for the purpose of maintaining our salvation.
That ultimately is a very dangerous form of unbelief.
Have been showered on us by God through His grace – His unmerited favor.
And the Lord doesn’t expect us to ever be able to earn or repay Him for it.
As soon as we try to buy or maintain our salvation by our works, then the result not of grace but a debt,
“Continue in the grace of God.”
I’m sure that over the days that Paul and Barnabas had in Antioch, they expounded on the theology that is contained in that little phrase.
What it means is, “Don’t try to mess with God’s perfect salvation.
He saved you out of his grace and you must never let anything interfere with that thought.
Serve the Lord out of thanksgiving, but not to buy His continued grace.
That is something which cannot be done.”