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Acts 13:27-30  THE CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS

Introduction:

	In our previous text the Apostle Paul spoke to the people in the Jewish 
synagogue in the city of Antioch of Pisidia.  He reminded them that God had 
promised to raise up a Savior through the seed of King David of old.  He told 
them  that Jesus is the Savior that God had promised and now, through himself, 
God was sending them the message of salvation giving them opportunity to go to 
heaven.  
	In our text today Paul tells that same congregation of people about the 
crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  

I.  The crucifixion of Jesus

	V. 27, “For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they 
knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath 
day, they have fulfilled [them] in condemning [him].”  The Apostle Paul surely 
must have known that the Jews in the synagogue where he was speaking had heard 
the news that the Jewish leaders at Jerusalem, that is the members of the 
Sanhedrin Council, had rejected the idea that Jesus is the promised Christ, the 
Savior.  The members of the Sanhedrin Council, including the high priest, had 
been so convinced that Jesus is not the Christ that they had asked the Roman 
governor, Pilate, to put Jesus to death by crucifixion.  Yea, they did more than 
ask him to order the death of Jesus.  They pressured him, threatening to tell 
the Roman Caesar that Pilate had set free a man who was a known trouble maker 
throughout the whole land of Israel.  That, of course, was not true.  But that 
is what they would tell the Caesar.  
	Paul must also have surely known that Jews everywhere, as a general rule, 
just accepted whatever decision the Sanhedrin Council made on religious matters 
without question.  That included the members of that Jewish synagogue where Paul 
was presently speaking.  Since the Jewish Sanhedrin Council at Jerusalem had 
concluded that Jesus is not the Christ and that He deserved to be put to death, 
as a general rule, the people to whom Paul was speaking would accept what the 
Sanhedrin Council said without question.  
	Therefore, if Paul was going to persuade these people to believe his 
message that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior, then he must show them good reason 
to believe what he was saying rather than believing what the Sanhedrin Council 
had said.  
	So right off the bat, the Apostle Paul acknowledged that the Jewish 
Sanhedrin Council at Jerusalem had rejected Jesus as the Christ and had brought 
about the crucifixion of Jesus.  Thus, Paul immediately made this point.  He 
said that the Jewish leaders at Jerusalem had done so unknowingly.  He said, 
“...because they knew Him not.”  Paul said that they were just unaware that 
Jesus is the Christ.  
	Paul said that the reason that they did not know was that the Jewish 
leaders at Jerusalem did not know the voices of the prophets who had foretold 
the coming of the Christ.  Paul was not saying that the Council members were 
uninformed about the writings of the prophets.  In fact he said that those 
prophecies had been read in the synagogue services every sabbath day.  The 
Sanhedrin members were very familiar with the writings of the prophets.  They 
read them every sabbath.  
	The problem was that the Jewish leaders at Jerusalem did not understand 
those prophecies.  In John 5:39 Jesus had said to those same Jewish leaders, 
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are 
they which testify of me.”  Those prophetic scriptures were very clear in their 
testimony that Jesus is the Christ.  They testify that Jesus is the Christ.  The 
problem was that even though those rulers were familiar with those prophecies 
which testified that Jesus is the Christ, they just did not understand the 
scriptures.  In John 14:7 Jesus said, “If ye had known me, ye should have known 
my Father also...”  At His crucifixion Jesus prayed for them.  
“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do...,”  
Luke 
23:34.
	One of the Old Testament passages which identifies Jesus as the Christ is 
Isaiah 53:3-9.  The passage reads,  “He is despised and rejected of men; a man 
of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from 
him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, 
and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and 
afflicted.  But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for 
our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his 
stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every 
one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He 
was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought 
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he 
openeth not his mouth.  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who 
shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: 
for the transgression of my people was he stricken.  And he made his grave with 
the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, 
neither [was any] deceit in his mouth.”  This passage not only identifies Jesus 
as the Christ, but it foretells that the Jewish leaders would reject Him and put 
Him to death.  By putting Jesus to death, they helped to fulfill the prophecy.  
	V. 28, “And though they found no cause of death [in him], yet desired they 
Pilate that he should be slain.”  It was a well known fact that Pilate had said, 
“I find no fault in Him.”  But Paul said that the Jewish leaders themselves 
found no fault in Him.  They falsely charged Him.  They even hired men to 
testify falsely against Him.  They knew that the charges were false and they 
knew that the witnesses spoke falsely about Him.  The  very members of the 
Sanhedrin Council found no fault in Him.  But they carried Him to Pilate with 
their false charges and pressured Pilate into ordering His crucifixion.  
	This was all in fulfillment of the prophecies which had been written about 
Him.  V. 29, “And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took 
[him] down from the tree, and laid [him] in a sepulchre.”  They fulfilled all of 
the prophecies which had been made about His death.  When this was done He was 
buried by two of  the members of the Sanhedrin who happened to be God-fearing 
men and who also happened to believe that Jesus is the Christ.  He was buried by 
the tender and loving hands of Nicodemus and Joseph of Aramathea.  So far as I 
know these were the only two members of the Sanhedrin Council who did not 
participate in any of the actions against Jesus by the Council.  

II.  The resurrection of Jesus

	V. 30, “But God raised him from the dead.”  Man made the false charges 
against Jesus.  Man hired false witnesses to testify against Him.  Man carried 
Him to the Roman governor.  Man gave the orders for Him to be crucified.  Pilate 
and pressured Pilate to have Jesus crucified.  Man pressed the crown of thorns 
upon His head and beat it into His brow with a reed.  Man cut his back with a 
whip.  Man drove the nails into His hands and feet.  Man crucified Him.  
	But in contrast to this God raised Him from the dead.  The resurrection of 
Jesus  stands out as a great testimony of God’s approval of Him.  It stands out 
as a great testimony that He is, indeed, the Christ which God the Father has 
sent.  His resurrection stands out as the strongest kind of evidence that He is 
the Savior whom God had promised and whom God had sent.  
	God raised Jesus from the dead so that lost sinners can have assurance 
that He can raise them from the dead and give them a home in heaven.  
	As we look back upon this passage of Scripture we can see two primary 
things which Paul used to persuade his listeners that they should believe him 
concerning Jesus rather than believing the members of the Sanhedrin Council.  
The Jewish leaders at Jerusalem considered Jesus fake, a pretender who deserved 
to be crucified.  That is what they would want the Jews at Antioch to believe.  
Paul said that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Savior, the risen Savior.  That 
is what Paul wanted them to believe and, furthermore, that is what God wanted 
them to believe.  
	
III.  Jesus, the Savior

	Listen, Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Christ.  He is the promised 
Savior who would come through the lineage of  David.  Jesus is the Savior of 
men.  Jesus is the Savior of the world.  
	The world is lost in sin.  All have sinned and come short of the glory of 
God.  Jesus is the one and only Savior whom God has sent into the world.  Jesus 
is the only hope for the lost sinner.  Jesus was the only hope for those Jews 
who sat in that synagogue listening to the Apostle Paul.  Jesus is the only hope 
of any man, woman, boy or girl who lives today.  There is no other way that any 
of us can ever get to heaven.  Jesus is the only hope that you have of going 
into heaven. 
	But Jesus is a sure hope.  If you will repent of your sin and call upon 
Jesus and trust Him to take care of your soul’s need, He will forgive you of all 
your sin.  He will cause your spirit which dwells within your body to be born 
again.  He will save your soul and He will keep you saved throughout all 
eternity.  Jesus will keep you saved so that you will never be lost again.  When 
you die, he will take your spirit to heaven.  Then in the resurrection, He will 
return your spirit to your body and He will bring your body forth from the 
grave.  He will change you fleshly body into a glorified body that can never sin 
again, never suffer pain again, never get sick again and never die again.  
	You are already in this world and your are going to have to spend eternity 
somewhere.  You can be sure that it will not be here in East Texas.  In order to 
stay out of the fires of torment and to spend eternity in heaven in eternal 
happiness and bliss, you need to repent of your sins.  Jesus said, “Except you 
repent ye shall all likewise perish.”  Jesus said, “Come unto me all ye that 
labor and are heaven laden and I will give you rest.”  Jesus said, “He that 
cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.”  Jesus said, “He that believeth in 
me I will raise up at the last day.”  Jesus said to those who trust in Him for 
salvation, “I go and prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place 
for you I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye 
shall be also.”  

Conclusion:

	If you have already trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you should thank 
God again and again and again.  
	If you have never yet trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you should not 
waste another minute.  You should call on Jesus now and ask Him to save you.  
	If you are saved and you have never been baptized publicly been baptized 
you should present yourself to this church or some other Scriptural church and 
get baptized just as quickly  as you can.  It is true that baptism doe not get 
you into heaven, but it is one way of giving God the public praise that He is 
due for saving your soul. 
	If you are saved and have been baptized, but you are in need of a church 
home, then we ask that you consider placing your membership here in Pleasant 
Hill.  We are not perfect by any means, but I will assure you that you will be 
among people who love God and want to serve Him.