70 Acts 13: 40-41 A WARNING FROM THE APOSTLE PAUL Introduction: In our text today the Apostle Paul sounds a warning to the congregation in a Jewish synagogue in the city of Antioch of Pisidia. It is a warning which should ring out loud and clear to people today. I. What Paul had already told that congregation In previous verses Paul had already reminded this congregation that God had promised through the prophets of old that He would send a Savior. He reminded them that the Savior would be a descendant of King David. Paul had said to them that the good news is that the Savior whom God had promised has already been born. The Savior has already come. Paul declared to them that Jesus is the Savior whom God had promised. Paul said the bad news is that the Jewish leaders back at Jerusalem had rejected the Savior whom God had sent and they crucified Him. They put Jesus, the Savior, to death. But Paul said that the good news is that God was not defeated by the crucifixion of the Savior. In fact, it was in keeping with the plan of God that the Savior be crucified. That, too, had been foretold by the prophets of old. Isaiah said that it was through His stripes that we are healed. Paul said that God has raised the Savior from the dead. Paul said that God had raised Jesus from the dead. Paul said that the disciples of Jesus, who had come with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, were eyewitnesses to the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead. They not only saw Him, but they saw Him repeatedly before He ascended back to heaven from which He had come. Paul had said to them back in verse 38 that the good news is that it is through this man is preached unto them the forgiveness of their sins. The good news is that forgiveness of sins and the salvation of the soul was available to each and every man, woman, boy and girl who sat before him in that congregation. Furthermore, Paul said that the good news is that anyone who trusts in Jesus for salvation will be justified from sins. Every sin of his whole lifetime will be forgiven so that he will stand before God in the hereafter as thought he has never in his lifetime committed any sin. He will be justified from all things. The good news is that this is an offer which is made to all. Any man, woman, boy or girl who will believe in Jesus Christ, that is, who will trust Jesus Christ to save his soul, will be saved. All his sins will be forgiven and he will go to heaven when he dies. He will not only avoid the torments of hell, but he will spend eternity in glory. The good news is that God does not require a man do some extremely difficult thing that almost nobody would be able to do. God does not even require than man keep the Law of Moses. As great as the Law of Moses was, it is impossible for anyone to get to heaven by keeping the law. It is impossible because no man can keep the law. If it were required of him that he keep the law in order to get to heaven, then he would have to keep the whole law. But forgiveness of sin is offered to those who have already broken the law. They are already sinners. But in spite of the fact that they have broken the law, God offers to forgive their sin. He offers to forgive their every sin. II. The warning which the Apostle Paul sounded out V. 40, “Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets.” The warning which Paul sounded to that congregation is that even though God has made this offer to all, yet not all will be saved. Not all will be forgiven of their sin. Not all will be justified from all things. Not all will be justified from anything. Some will be left unjustified, unforgiven and unsaved. Some will remain lost and they will face God in eternity unprepared -- - unsaved. They will suffer for every sin which they have ever committed. They will suffer for every sinful deed and every sinful thought. Paul said that this warning was not originally given by him. Paul said that the prophets of old had sounded out such warning. God has offered forgiveness to all, but God has required that a man place his faith in Jesus the Savior to save his soul and it is up to each individual whether or not he will trust Jesus to save his soul. Paul said, “Beware lest that which the prophets of old have foretold should happen to you.” In the next verse Paul tells us what God had to say through one of the old prophets. V. 41, “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” This quotation is from Habakkuk 1:5. God, through Habakkuk had threatened that if the people did not repent and correct their ways that the Babylonians would come and destroy the city of Jerusalem including the temple in Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders just did not believe that the temple would ever be destroyed. They did not believe that this would ever happen. They just refused to believe what Habakkuk told them. Therefore in verse 5 God told those people, “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall not believe, though a man declare it unto you.” The armies of Babylon would come upon them and not only would the temple be destroyed, but their houses would be destroyed. :Many of hem would be killed and the others would be carried away as captives The Apostle Paul said to that Jewish congregation in Antioch to which he was speaking, “Now it is your turn. Even in our day God has performed a wondrous work in Israel. He has sent His Son Jesus to be crucified so that you may be saved. God has raised Him from the dead and provided eyewitnesses to tell the story. Today He has sent me here to tell you about it and inform you that through Him all your sins can be forgiven. Now you beware lest you refuse to believe and you perish as did the forefathers who refused to believe God’s prophet Habakkuk. The difference is that those men back in Habakkuk’s day perished at the hands of the Babylonians. They lost their physical lives. But the men to whom Paul was speaking were in danger of being cast into a Lake of Fire and Brimstone unless they would believe God’s message and repent of their sins and trust in the blessed Savior whom God had sent to save their souls.” III. The warning that I sound out today Back in the Old Testament times it was Habakkuk and other prophets of God like him who sounded out the warning to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. In our text it was the Apostle Paul who sounded out the warning to the members of the congregation in that Jewish synagogue. Today it is my task to sound out the warning to each of you. First of all, it is my privilege to remind you one and all that God has so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to this sin cursed world. He sent Him also to the cross of Calvary to shed His blood and to provide a way of salvation. It is also my blessed privilege to inform each and every one of you that by placing your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to save your soul that you can be forgiven of every sin. Let me say to you that even though you may have committed some very grievous sins, yet if you trust Jesus to be your Savior, you will be forgiven. You will be forgiven of every sin. The Apostle Paul has said that he had been the very chief of sinners and yet when he trusted in Jesus Christ Paul was forgiven of every sin. I am here today to tell you that Jesus Christ is able to save every lost sinner. I am here to tell you that Jesus Christ is willing to save every sinner. I am here today to tell you that every lost sinner who will call upon Jesus and trust in Jesus to save his soul will instantly become a saved sinner. There is not a man, woman, boy or girl whom Jesus is unwilling to save. Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” But God has this requirement of every person before he can be saved. He must call upon Jesus and he must trust in the Lord Jesus to do the saving. He cannot be saved by his own efforts to be good. He could never be good enough to qualify for heaven. Even the sacred Ten Commandments cannot save you. If you will examine the Ten Commandments they will tell you that you are a sinner and that you do not need justice from God. What you need is grace and mercy from God. And the way that you can get grace and mercy is to acknowledge your sin and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him to save your unworthy soul. It may sound absolutely too good to be true. It may sound like too good a thing to hope for. But it is most positively true. God has made you an offer that if you will trust Jesus to save you that you will be forgiven every sin. I mean 100 percent every sin. Not one sin will be left to condemn your soul and send you into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. Not one sin will block your entrance into heaven. The Devil and all of his fallen angels will not be able to keep you from going to heaven when you die. There is but one grave danger to your soul. That danger is that you will refuse to believe in the Savior whom God has sent to be your Savior. Beware, therefore, lest it happen to you like it happened to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem when the Babylonian army threatened to destroy their city and their temple. They refused to believe God’s word. They refused to repent of their sin. They refused the promise of deliverance that was available to them through repentance and faith. And they perished by the swords of the Babylonians. Beware lest it happen to you like it happened to the Jewish leaders at Jerusalem. God sent His Son to them to be their Savior, but they refused to believe in Jesus and they went to their graves lost in sin. Beware lest it happen to you like the rich man spoken of in Luke chapter 16. He became fabulously rich, rich in this world, but when he died he lifted up his eyes in hell and one day after his body is resurrected he will be judged and cast into The Lake of Fire and Brimstone. Beware lest it happen to you like it has happened to multiplied millions of people who never entered into the strait gate that leads to life everlasting. Beware lest it happen to you like it has happened to many many lost souls who will never never never enter into the portals of glory. Let me tell you that it does not have to happen to you like it happened to them. But it can happen to you. If you neglect to place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be your Savior, I can assure you that it will happen to you. The choice is up to you. Only you can make the decision to place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot make that decision for you. This church cannot make that decision for you. Your parents cannot make that decision for you. Your Christian wife or Christian husband or Christian friends cannot make that decision for you. You will make your own choice one way or the other. You will either choose to trust Jesus Christ to save your soul or else you will continue on down the road to everlasting torment. Beware lest you make the wrong choice. Once you have crossed over into eternity you will not be able to back up and correct your mistake. Make the right choice now. Place your faith in Jesus now. Call upon Jesus now and ask Jesus to save your soul. Conclusion: What lost sinner will come this morning and trust in Jesus to save your soul? What saved sinner will come this morning to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in Scriptural baptism? What Christian will come this morning to unite with this church to give your life in service to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? What wayward Christian will come this morning to rededicate your life to the Lord?