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Keep Going Forward for God
The Book of Acts - Part 93
Acts 28:16-31
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - August 2, 2015
*Tonight, we finish our study of the Book of Acts.
John Phillips described the closing scene with these words: "That is where Luke put down his pen.
He gives us this final glimpse of Paul, living victoriously despite his bonds, seeking to engage the affections of all to the Lord Jesus Christ.
What better place could there be to end the inspired written history of the Christian church -- not just looking back but looking ahead!" (1)
*The Church of Jesus Christ must keep moving ahead, and it will keep moving ahead!
How can we go forward?
1. FIRST: KEEP SPEAKING ABOUT OUR SAVIOR.
*Keep spreading the good news about Jesus Christ!
That is what Paul did in vs. 20-23 when he spoke to the Jewish leaders in Rome.
*There Paul said:
20.
"For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.''
21.
And they said to him, "We neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you.
22.
But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere.''
23.
So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening.
*In vs. 20 Paul talked to them about the hope of Israel.
He wanted them to know that the hope of Israel and the only hope for the world is Jesus Christ!
Then in vs. 23 when the Jewish leaders came back, Paul talked to them all day long about Jesus.
The heart and soul of Paul's message was always Jesus Christ.
*Some years earlier Paul had written a much needed letter to the church at Corinth.
They were having all kinds of problems, and Paul dealt with many of those issues.
But as Paul opened his first letter to the Corinthians, it is impressive to see the intense focus he put on Jesus.
*Please listen to 1 Corinthians 1:1-10, and count the number of times we hear the name Jesus Christ:
1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2. To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,
5. that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge,
6. even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,
7. so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
8. who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10.
Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
*Ten times!
-- Paul specifically referred to Jesus Christ ten times in those verses!
And that doesn't count the pronouns.
Paul always kept the focus on Jesus, and so should we.
*Marilyn Anderes told the story of a devoted Christian lady named Cheryl Stephens.
Cheryl was a young mother who struggled with cancer, but was determined to keep ministering to others.
She went home to be with the Lord on November 19th, 2003 at the young age of 44.
Cheryl's friends said she lived out Philippians 1:21, where Paul said: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
*Please listen to a poem Cheryl wrote in 1984, long before she began her struggle against cancer:
-"Remember me not for who I was
-But for who Jesus was in me.
-Remember me not for the things I've done
-But for the things Jesus did through me.
-Remember me not as one who loved
-Without remembering that 'He first loved me.'
-Remember me not as one who gave
-But one to whom much was given.
-Remember me not as one who spoke of God
-But as one who knew God through His Son, Jesus.
-Remember me not as one who prayed
-But remember the One to whom I prayed.
-Remember me not as one who was strong
-But as one who cried out to God to be my strength.
-Remember me not as one who died
-But as one who lives forever because I have believed.
-Remember not my life and death
-For they will profit you nothing.
-But please . . .
remember the life and death of Jesus.
-For He gave His life that we might live.
-He died that we might never have to and He rose again
-That we might have eternal life.
-Remember not me, but do remember Jesus."
(2)
*That is the spirit God wants us to have!
We go forward by keeping the focus on Jesus.
So keep speaking about our Savior.
2. ALSO KEEP STUDYING THE SCRIPTURE.
*In vs. 23 Paul showed deep knowledge of the Scripture.
This verse tells us that Paul "explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening."
*This is the very same thing the Lord did on the day of His resurrection in Luke 24.
First in Luke 24:27, with two of His followers on the road to Emmaus: "Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."
Later in Luke 24:44-45, Jesus appeared to the eleven, He ate with them, and then said:
44. . .
"These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.''
45.
And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
*God wants us to understand the Scriptures: Both the Old Testament and the New.
There will never be a time in our Christian lives when God wants us to stop studying His Word.
And one of the things God wants us to know here in vs. 23 is that we can certainly find Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.
We find Jesus in prophecies, pictures, and Old Testament appearances.
[1] First, the prophecies.
*There were hundreds of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus.
For example, there were prophecies of His suffering like we see in Isaiah 53:4-6.
There God's Word says:
4. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
6.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
[2] In addition to the prophecies, there are Old Testament pictures of Jesus.
*For example, in Genesis 3:21, after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, an animal was killed.
Its blood was shed to provide covering for their nakedness.
*Then in Genesis 7, we have the picture of Noah's Ark.
That Ark was the one and only way of salvation.
Noah and his family were safe in the Ark, just as we are safe in Jesus.
*Genesis 22 gives us a picture of Christ in the story of Abraham and Isaac.
There God commanded Abraham to do what our Heavenly Father would do one day: Provide His only Son as a sacrifice.
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