Paul Preaches the Gosepl in the Synagogue of Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:13-41)

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Paul Preaches in the Synagogue of Pisidian Antioch (13:13–41)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, April 27, 2025

Billy Graham has preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history—over 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories. Hundreds of millions more have heard the message of Christ through television, video, film, and webcasts.

I’ve been inspired by reading Billy Graham’s autobiography, Just As I Am.  In 1953 Graham was doing a series of evangelistic meetings in the Dallas Cotton Bowl.  In his own words, he recalls:

“One night my preaching did not seem to have spiritual depth or power, although a number of people did come forward at the Invitation.  After the meeting, John [Bolten, who was a close and trusted friend of Graham’s] and I took a walk together, and he confronted me.

“Billy,’ he said, ‘you didn’t speak about the Cross.  How can anyone be converted without having at least one single view of the Cross where the Lord died for us?  You must preach about the Cross, Billy.  You must preach about the blood that was shed for us there.  There is no other place in the Bible where there is greater power than when we talk or preach about the Cross.” 

Graham writes, “At first I resisted his rebuke.  The Cross and its meaning were more often than not, a part of my sermons.  But that night I could not sleep, and before morning came I knew he was right.  I made a commitment never to preach again without being sure that the Gospel was as complete and clear as possible, centering on Christ’s sacrificial death for our sins on the Cross and His resurrection from the dead for our salvation.”

That commitment to constantly preaching the cross did two things for Billy Graham: it brought him constant criticism from so-called intellectuals, and it resulted in revival and conversions wherever he went.

During Graham’s life he had to wrestle from time to time with feelings of inadequacy. In addition to the criticism he faced, he sometimes felt insufficient to preach at campuses such as Princeton and other prestigious universities since he did not have an advanced degree and had never been to Seminary.[1]

So, Billy Graham had to be convicted of preaching the cross. Today, let’s look at a passage when the Apostle Paul preaches a sermon, and let’s break it down because we will see that he preaches the whole Gospel. Paul does not budge on anything. Paul does preach the cross. Paul preaches the death, burial, and the resurrection. Paul also challenges the people to an application.

I have often taught the following gospel acronym. We see this acronym in Paul’s preaching:

God created us to be with him (Gen. 1-2).

Our sin separated us from God (Gen. 3).

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen. 4-Mal 4).

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again (Matt. – Luke).

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Rev. 22:5).

My theme today is that the whole Gospel is critical.

  1. In verses 13-25, Paul begins with the foundation.
    1. I am not going to read the whole passage, but instead I will summarize and read key verses.
    2. This is not to say that we always must begin with the Old Testament. But when declaring the Gospel, we must be wary of taking shortcuts and not giving someone the whole Gospel.
    3. Now, if you have been following along in my sermons on Acts, this sounds familiar. Stephen preached a similar sermon in Acts 7. They all preached the whole Gospel.
    4. Verses 17-25 are Old Testament history. In verse 17, we see that God chose. Later, we see that God found David in verse 22.
    5. We see an emphasis on God as sovereign.
    6. The Old Testament is the foundation for our faith. This does not mean that we must read through the Old Testament every day, but we should not neglect it.
    7. In sharing the Gospel, this is simple: God created us to be with Him. Yet, our sins separated us from God and sins cannot be removed by good works.
    8. Paul moves from the Old Testament to Jesus.
    9. Acts 13:23–25 (ESV)
    10. 23 Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
    11. In sharing the Gospel, this is the next part of the G.O.S.P.E.L. acronym: Paying the price of our sin, Jesus died and rose again.
  2. In verses 26-41, we see the emphasis on the death, burial, resurrection, and application.
    1. In verse 26 Paul addresses the people again as Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles. He is readdressing them.
    2. Acts 13:27–31 (ESV)
    3. 27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. 28 And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
    4. In a powerful way, the next few verses connect Jesus with Old Testament prophesy.
    5. I mentioned Billy Graham and the cross.
    6. Paul says that Jesus was executed without proper grounds for a sentence (verse 28).
    7. Paul tells them of the burial and the resurrection (verses 28-30 and 33-34).
    8. Paul emphasizes forgiveness of sins (verse 38).
    9. Notice that Paul does not leave out sin (verse 38).
    10. Notice that Paul boldly preached when given the opportunity; he stood up and spoke.
  3.  Applications:
    1. I already gave some applications, but let’s give a few more.
    2. 1 Peter 3:15 says to always be ready to give an answer of the hope that is within us.
    3. Notice the sovereignty of God in all things. God directed things throughout the Old Testament to lead to Jesus. God was, and is, in control.
    4. This reminds us that God is faithful, we can trust Him.
    5. We may see things in our life, things that we question, but we can know that God is faithful. We may not know how, but we can trust God is in control and God is taking care of things according to His divine plan.
    6. God can redeem hardships, and struggles.
    7. Romans 8:28: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
    8. If you love God, and you are following God, God works things together for good. You will still have those hardships, but He is working in them for good.
    9. Remember Romans 8:31: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
    10. We see in this passage how Paul preached the Gospel, we must also preach the Gospel. However, in the gospel narrative that Paul shares we see this emphasis on God’s sovereignty, we see how God is in control. We see that thread come through. So, that is an indirect application to remember God is in control. Never forget that.
    11. God is in control, and He permits or causes all things. However, He is with us in everything.
    12. Piper talks about sustaining grace, here is an example:
    13. In 1996, my wife was driving from Minneapolis to Atlanta, which is about 1,000 miles, and she had our two sons and our baby daughter. Abraham was 16. Barnabas was 12. Talitha was one, and I was not with them. On a Saturday night, the car broke down, and it was the radiator. They were one hour south of Indianapolis in Indiana in the middle of nowhere.
    14. So Noël is without her husband, the 16 year old isn’t driving, and she has a baby and a 12 year old with her. She pulled off on the side of the road because it was Saturday and nothing was open, and now what is she going to do? A man pulled up behind her, who happened to be a farmer, and she said to him, “I don’t know what’s wrong. There’s no water pressure or anything. It’s overheating. We’ll have to have a motel and see if we can find a place Monday morning to get it fixed.”
    15. Then he said, “Well, you could stay at our house if you’d like, my wife and I.” Now, that puts my wife in a really awkward position, right? He could tell she was hesitant, so he said, “You know, the Lord says that when we do something to somebody else, it’s like doing it to him,” which gave her some hope. And she said, “Well, could we go to church with you tomorrow morning?” to kind of test him out. And he said, “Can you stand a Baptist church?” not knowing he was talking to a Baptist pastor’s wife. So they agreed and they piled into his car and headed to his farm.
    16. Now, it turns out, this man was a retired aviation mechanic. He drove early Monday morning to Indianapolis and got a new radiator and put it in with his own hands before noon. And then they were on their way. They went to church together, and the icing on the cake was that my 12 year-old son, Barnabas, who is the only fisherman of all my four sons, pulled his fishing rod out of the car on the farm, found a pond, threw it in, and caught a 19-inch catfish. That made his summer. This was the best detour we’ve ever had.
    17. Of course, if God can arrange for there to be a farmer who’s a retired mechanic, who is generous, who’s a Baptist, who has a pond with a 19-inch catfish arranged to bite onto a 12 year old’s worm, he could have spared the radiator. It’s a piece of cake for him. There’s just not the least difficulty for God to spare my wife that trouble. But sustaining grace is not grace to bar what is not bliss, nor flight from all distress, but this: The grace that orders our trouble and pain, and then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.[2]
    18. So, please notice the sovereignty of God. Be encouraged by that.
    19. Lastly, let’s come back to the idea of sharing the gospel.
    20. Paul does give them the next two steps from our gospel acronym:
    21. Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).
    22. Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Revelation 22:5).

We must go and do likewise.

Do you know Jesus?

God created us to be with him (Gen. 1-2).

Our sin separated us from God (Gen. 3).

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen. 4-Mal 4).

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again (Matt. – Luke).

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Rev. 22:5).

Pray

 

[1] – See more at: http://claypeck.com/articles/there-is-power-in-the-cross-clay-peck/#sthash.2Tru0c65.dpuf

[2] Piper message published on June 29, 2006 on Desiring God. Accessed on 04.21.2025: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/will-we-last

 

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