The Gospel of Luke: A Survey of the Book of Acts

Transcript

JRNT 54
04/21/2024
The Gospel of Luke: A Survey of the Book of Acts
Acts 1-28
Jesse Randolph

Alright, well, we are now, if you can believe it, in our third week in our study of the Gospel of Luke. And as I’ve mentioned the last two Sundays, this morning we won’t even be in the Gospel of Luke at all. We’ll be in the Book of Acts. And remember, while in our English arrangement of our 66 books of the bible, the Gospel of John sits between Luke and Acts -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts -- the reality is Luke and Acts are ‘part 1’ and ‘part 2’ of Luke’s writing; Luke being part 1 and Acts being part 2.

And we’ve already established in the first two messages in this series that both Luke and Acts were written by Luke, the Gentile, the beloved physician, the detailed historian, the traveling companion of Paul. We’ve also established that the Gospel of Luke was likely written sometime around 60-61 A.D. and the Book of Acts, the sequel to Luke, was likely written sometime around 62-63 A.D. And we can confidently put both books in that time frame, because Luke makes no mention of certain significant historical events, like Nero’s persecution of Christians in 64 A.D., and Paul’s martyrdom in 67 A.D., and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. There’s no way that a precise and meticulous historian like Luke would have omitted those details. Meaning what? Meaning that he wrote Luke and Acts before any of those events took place, likely in the early 60’s A.D.

A final reminder I’ll give here this morning before we shove off the dock, is Luke and Acts having been written by one human author and having been directed by one divine author, the Holy Spirit, they fit together like two giant puzzle pieces. Do they stand on their own? Surely, they do. Are they sufficient on their own? Surely, they are. But at the same time, we can’t ignore the connectedness between these two books. With the Gospel of Luke giving this account of the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Book of Acts giving that account of the early history of the church which Christ bought.

And that’s what we’re going to be looking at this morning, in survey format, like last Sunday. This will be another one of those kinds of fast-moving bible college lecture type messages. We’ll be looking at how Luke, as he was directed by the Holy Spirit in writing the Book of Acts, gives us this account of the early history of the church which Christ bought. And we’re doing this now before we even get to Luke 1:1, because it’s my belief and conviction that Luke not only had Luke 1:1 in mind when he wrote Luke 1:1, but rather, as he wrote the opening words of Luke 1 and got into the birth of Jesus in that first account in his gospel, he did so with the entire gospel account in mind, including details about our Lord’s life and His death and His burial and His resurrection. I also believe that as he wrote Luke 1:1, he had in view what we now have in the Book of Acts, including details related to Jesus’ ascension, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the establishment of the church, and the expansion of the church from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.

Now, the references I just made to those two regions, those multiple regions – Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth -- that comes from Acts 1:8. In fact, if you would go ahead and turn with me to Acts 1:8. These are red letters, as it were, words of Jesus, our Lord. And they come right before He was taken up to heaven at His ascension. Look at Acts 1:8, actually, we’ll start all the way back in Acts 1:6. The disciples have asked this question, if “at this time You,” meaning Jesus, “are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” And Jesus replies, you see it there in verses 7-8, He says, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to ‘the end of the earth.’ ” You notice that three-part breakdown there, the disciples, these pillars of the early church, were told that they would be Christ’s witnesses in these three enlarging circles -- from Jerusalem, and out to Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.

And there really is no better outline for today’s message then what God has given us in His word. And so, what we’re going to be doing this morning is working our way quickly, using that three-part outline, as we survey very quickly the Book of Acts. Our first heading this morning is going to be “The Witness to Christ in Jerusalem.” The second heading will be “The Witness to Christ in Judea and Samaria.” And then the third heading will be “The Witness to Christ to the End of the Earth,”

Let’s get right into it, starting with “The Witness to Christ in Jerusalem.” We covered 24 chapters of Luke last week. We’ll cover 28 chapters of Acts today. It’s time to put the pedal to the metal. If you’re not with me already, look at Acts 1:1. It says, “The first account, O Theophilus, I composed, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.” So, right away, we see this link between Luke and Acts. You might remember in Luke 1:3, Luke writes, “it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in orderly sequence, most excellent Theophilus.” So then here in Acts 1:1 that same Luke writes, “The first account, O Theophilus, I composed, about all that Jesus began to do and teach.” So, the mention of Theophilus in both books, and the fact that Acts refers to Luke as being “the first account,” all point to the fact that these two books, Luke and Acts, really are a package deal.

Now, look at verse 3 of Acts 1 and note what it says here -- we don’t often catch this when we read quickly through the historical narrative of Acts -- as Jesus was giving orders to His apostles here. It says, “to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs.” But then, look what comes next, it says, Jesus was “appearing to them over forty days and speaking about the things concerning the kingdom of God.” Not the kingdom living within their hearts, not about living in the kingdom today, not about advancing the kingdom today. But this is a reference to the future kingdom reign of Christ on earth which will be ushered in by His second coming. Isn’t that interesting? Though here in the context His first coming is just about to come to a close before He goes and ascends to the Father. He’s already talking about His second coming; He’s already talking about His future kingdom. Keep that in mind when you’re dealing with those who will tell you that the future doesn’t matter. Or that eschatology doesn’t matter. Or all that you need to know is that Jesus died for us. Well, of course, to be saved you do need to know that Jesus died for you. Salvation by faith alone, through Christ alone, by grace alone, a triple amen to all of that. But we also have to be mindful of what we see here in Acts 1:3, which is that when Jesus was speaking to His disciples in those forty days He had with them, post resurrection, pre-ascension, He wasn’t giving them instructions on how to be better carpenters or fisherman. He wasn’t giving them instructions on how to transform the culture. He wasn’t telling them how gospel-centered they needed to be. No. It says here in Acts 1:3 during this time, He was “speaking about the things concerning the kingdom of God.” Alright, we saw this earlier.

But His teachings on the kingdom were getting through, they were getting through to the disciples, they had the kingdom on their mind. Look at verse 6 again, it says, “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ ” And then He says, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set by his own authority.” And then the passage which really frames this Book of Acts. He says, verse 8, “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to ‘the end of the earth.’ ”

Now, when we come to verse 9, we come across an essential and foundational, and often overlooked, Christian truth. Which is that not only did Jesus die and rise, but after walking forty days on earth in His resurrected body, He ascended to the Father. Look at Acts 1:9, it says, “And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.’ ” Now, there are several important truths about Jesus’ ascension that come from this passage.

First, we note that His ascension was witnessed and attested to, it says, “He was lifted up while they were looking on.” Second, His ascension paves the way for His second coming, which like His ascension, will be personal and visible and will take place in the same spot from which he ascended, namely, the Mount of Olives. Third, I would say that the ascension of Christ refutes any fanciful notions articulated by hyper-charismatic types about having personally seen or encountered Jesus in our day. There are a number of reasons why those claims are easily refutable, but one of those is that Jesus hasn’t yet returned. And getting more specific, He hasn’t returned in the specific way He says He will return. Zechariah 14:4 says, until our Lord’s feet are standing on the Mount of Olives, with the mount being split from east to west, we can take Zechariah 14:4 and now ignore any claims of having seen Jesus now personally today. Yes, Jesus will come back. The ascension account here in Acts 1 confirms and establishes that fact. But He’s going to come back in the very way, and only in the very way, that He says He will come back.

Moving on to Chapter 1, after Jesus’ ascension, Luke, next records the account of the apostles selecting a replacement for Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. That whole account is given in verse 15-25, that culminates in verse 26 of chapter 1, which says, “they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.”

Now, when we turn to Acts 2 some really significant events start moving forward and picking up steam. First, there’s the descent of the Holy Spirit at the Jewish feast of Pentecost. We’re told in Acts 2:2, that “suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues like fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.”
Now, note, when it says “tongues” there, “glossolalia,” my tongue is tied saying the word. Note, that that’s not gibberish. It’s not the gibberish that those who claim to speak in tongues today will say they’re speaking in tongues with. This is the Shamala Hamala nonsense that the Pentecostal movement will advocate. No. Tongues here refers to actual, recognized languages which were unknown to the speaker but understood by the hearer. We see the idea developed down the page in Acts 2:5, which says, “Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. So they were astounded and marveling, saying, ‘Behold are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language in which we were born?’ “

Well, the next major scene here in Acts is Peter’s sermon at Pentecost. That goes from verse 14 down to verse 36. A few things to note, just survey-wise. First, this sermon was very clearly aimed at the Jews of Peter’s day. We’re still in Jerusalem in the context here. Second, it was clearly recognized here that God’s sovereign plan was being worked out through Jesus’ crucifixion. Look at Acts 2:23 where it says, “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.” So, God was sovereignly working through the crucifixion, but Peter’s sermon also notes man’s responsibility in Jesus’ death. Look at the second half of verse 23, it says, “you nailed to the cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death.”
Peter’s sermon also testifies not only to the death of Christ, but to the resurrection of Christ. Look at verse 24 which says, “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”

In other words, Peter’s sermon at Pentecost had at its core what arguably every Christian sermon preached behind every Christian pulpit by every Christian preacher ought to have. Which is Peter gave them the gospel. Peter didn’t tell the Jews of his day about the wonderful plan that Jesus had for their lives. He didn’t tell them that Jesus was just so crazy about them. Or that Jesus didn’t want heaven without them. No. He gave it to them straight, he preached the death of Christ, he preached the resurrection of Christ. A message that never tires, a message that never fades, and ultimately a message that never fails as God uses it to draw sinners to Himself.

Peter not only gave them the gospel, though; he didn’t merely dump facts into their laps. No. As we read on, we note that he pointed his finger in their collective chests and he called for a response. Verse 36 of chapter 2, he says, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men, brothers, what should we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.’” Preaching takeaway from Peter here: the preacher’s job is not to be nice, the preacher’s job is not to be winsome. (That’s the cultural buzz word today.) The preacher’s job is not to be a goofy comedian or everybody’s best friend. No, what does Peter’s example tell us here? The preacher’s job is to be direct and the preacher’s job is to be clear, as he trusts the Holy Spirit to do His work in the hearts of those who listen.

And that’s exactly what we see after Peter’s Pentecost sermon. The Holy Spirit did convict as we see in verse 41 where it says, that “that day there were added about three thousand souls.”
And in verse 42, a familiar verse, “they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.” And then verse 47 says, beyond the three thousand, “the Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved.”

And we know, as we move into chapter 3, that it was not only through the teaching and the preaching that was happening, but through the miraculous ministry of Peter and others that the Lord was doing a work. But as we get to the second half of chapter 3, we see that though there were miracles happening, those miracles, those were pointing to ultimately, and to authenticate ultimately, the apostolic message that was being preached by the apostles. Look at Acts 3:18. This comes right after the lame beggar was healed. Acts 3:18 says, “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled,” This is Peter speaking, he says, “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.” So, central to this early ministry, was that very message of Christ having come, Christ being the Messiah, and now the call to repent.

And the context here is still Jerusalem as we’re in Acts 3. And Peter, whose apostolic ministry was to the Jews, was preaching hard, and he was preaching hard truths. And while there were many who believed, we also know there were many who didn’t believe. And not only were there those who didn’t believe, but there were religious leaders in Jerusalem who were determined to put a stop to the preaching that was happening during this time. Look at Acts 4:1-2 where it says, “Now as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, being greatly agitated because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jeus the resurrection from the dead.” That then leads to the arrest of Peter and the other disciples and then this whole kangaroo court proceeding before the religious leaders of the day. And that requires Peter now, to stand before these leaders and to testify on whose authority he had healed the lame man, back in Acts 3.

And look how Peter says it in Acts 4:8 as he stands before this tribunal. It says, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man, as to how this man has been saved from his sickness, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the “Stone which was rejected” by you, “the builders,” but “which became the chief corner” stone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.’”

Now, reading on in Acts 4, Luke tells us that Peter and the others were released. We see that in verse 21. And we see that upon being released, they didn’t retire to their quarters with their tail between their legs. Instead, they prayed, they prayed for boldness, boldness in their gospel preaching, as they went out and shared the truth of Christ. Look at verse 29, this is quoting their prayer, where it says, “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your slaves may speak Your word with all confidence.” And then the Lord answered their prayers, verse 31, it says, “And when they had prayed earnestly, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with confidence.”

So far, getting through Acts 4, the only opposition that these early apostles had faced was from the outside, from the Jewish religious elites of the day. But as we move into Acts 5 we’re going to see some internal opposition. There was the good example of the positive example of Barnabas and others who were selling all they had to distribute to those in the community of believers who had need. But then we come across in verse 1 of chapter 5, Ananias and his wife, Sapphira. And we know the story: they sold a piece of property, but then they held back some of the proceeds. This was an act of deceit and an act of lying. Peter confronts Ananias in verse 3 of chapter 5, saying, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?” And then, in Acts 5:4 he says: “You have not lied to men but to God.” And before Ananias can even say a word, issue a response, what happens? Verse 5 tells us, it says, “And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard.”
Three hours later, Ananias’ wife, Sapphira walks in. And look what happens to her, in verse 10. It says, “And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.” By the way, there’s a great John MacArthur sermon on Acts 5, this whole scene, called “When Sin Entered into the Church.” I highly recommend it, but I digress.

Reading on in Acts 5, we come across this second arrest and this second imprisonment of the apostles by the religious leaders of the day. But in Acts 5:10 it records that during the night an angel of the Lord broke them free. Not at all deterred, the apostles then go into the temple at daybreak and start teaching, only to be detained again, this time by the Council, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders, the religious leaders. And look what Luke records in Acts 5:27, upon this second arrest. It says, “And when they had brought them, they stood them before the Sanhedrin. And the high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We strictly commanded you not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.’ But Peter and the apostles answered and said, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’ ”

And then note, Peter here couldn’t constrain himself, he couldn’t stop himself, he simply had to preach Jesus and the gospel. Look at verse 31, it says, “This One God exalted to His right hand as a Leader and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God gave to those who obey Him.”
Well, the Jewish leaders of the day didn’t like that; they didn’t want to hear the gospel. Their ears were stopped up and their hearts were hardened. So much so, that verse 33 of chapter 5 says, “when they heard this, they were cut to the quick,” became furious, “and intended to kill them.” But then we know, as we read on in chapter 5, that this wise teacher of the Law named Gamaliel steps in. He persuades the Jewish leaders to stop their persecution of the apostles. Because if the apostles’ actions were shown to be “of God,” Acts 5:39 says, they might “be found fighting against God.” And so, the apostles were then released.

Moving on to verse 1 of chapter 6, here we have the selection of the seven table servers, who I would call proto-deacons, who through their service allowed the apostles, Acts 6:4 to “devote [themselves] to prayer and to the ministry of the word,” it says. And one of those seven proto-deacons was Stephen. We see him mentioned first in Acts 6:5. And Stephen was not only a table server, but Acts 6:8 tells us that he was a performer of great signs and wonders and miracles. Well, Stephen also was arrested and brought before this Council of religious rulers and we see what happens to him at his so-called trial in Acts 6:13. It says, “And they put forward false witnesses who said, ‘This man never ceases speaking words against this holy place and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.’ ”

And then, chapter 7:1, we see Stephen being asked by the high priest, “Are these things so?” And Stephen goes on to give this lengthy discourse, a sermon really, in which he brings up several dark chapters of Israel’s history. We will not go through all of Stephen’s sermon this morning for the sake of time. But I want you to note, at the very end of chapter 7, toward the end of chapter 7 verse 51, what Stephen says as he’s directly addressing the Jewish religious leaders of his day. He says, “You men --” this is Acts 7:51, “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears -- are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. And which one of the prophets did your father not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not observe it.”
Talk about being direct, talk about letting it fly. Stephen is preaching here, right in their face, with boldness and it was effective, because we’re told in verse 54, that “when they heard this, they became furious in their hearts, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.” And not only that, they began pelting him with stones. I think it was Steve Lawson who said, “that the only problem with preachers these days, is that nobody wants to kill them anymore.” Not so with Stephen in his time. Through his boldness, that brought about his ultimate death as the church’s first martyr. But not before we see in verse 60, he says, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”

Well, we turn to Acts 8, a new character is introduced in Luke’s narrative, a Pharisee named Saul. And look at what Luke tells us about Saul in Acts 8:1. It says, “Now Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him [meaning Stephen] to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he was delivering them into prison.”

We’ll get back to Saul in just a minute, in chapter 9. But now here in Acts 8:4 we’re at another major transition point in Acts. Going back to Acts 1:8, there’s this three-stage summary of the advance of the gospel, from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth. We’ve just looked at phase one, the spread of the gospel through Jerusalem. In this next section, Acts 8:4 to Acts 12:25. We’re going to see the gospel spreading to Judea and to Samaria. That’s our second point, if you’re taking notes, “The Witness to Christ in Judea and Samaria.” Again, this goes through Acts 12. We’ll start in Acts 8:4 here, it says, “Therefore, those who had been scattered.” Scattered? I mean, why scattered? Well, because of the persecution of the church by men like Saul. Reading on, it says that those who were scattered, they “went about, proclaiming the good news of the word.”

The next person that’s mentioned in the account is Philip and his ministry in Samaria. Acts 8 records Philip’s encounter with Simon the magician. That’s the gentlemen that offered to pay the apostles a fee to receive the Holy Spirit. Now we see Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch who ‘just happened’ to be reading Isaiah 53 from his chariot and wanted somebody to explain this messianic prophecy to him.

Then we get to Acts 9 and that records the conversion of Saul. We know Saul here is traveling to Damascus. Verse 1 of chapter 9 says, he’s “breathing threats and murder,” he’s planning to haul back to Jerusalem any Christians that he finds in Syria and Damascus. But then, in verse 3-4 is says, “suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’” Saul is then rendered temporarily blind. He goes into the house of Ananias in Damascus and it’s there, after Ananias lays hands on him that, Acts 9:18 records, “immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he rose up and was baptized.” And then he goes on, in the next verses we see, to preach Christ first right there in Damascus, and then on into Jerusalem.

Now, the rest of Acts 9 and really through Acts 11, we see the focus shifting, temporarily from Paul to Peter, as Peter proclaims the gospel to various groups of Gentiles in this broader Judean region. Including Aeneas in Acts 9:32-34, he’s a bedridden man; Tabitha, in Acts 9:35-42, she had died, but after Peter prayed over her, she rose; and then, Luke records Peter’s interactions with this man named Cornelius in Caesarea, in Acts 10.

And his interactions with Cornelius are especially interesting, because Cornelius was this Gentile, this partial proselyte, this man who had accepted Jewish beliefs but had yet to be circumcised. And the whole encounter involves Cornelius hearing the voice of an angel, and then Peter having this vision of a sheet, and then the two of them coming together. And then it clicks for Peter. Look at Acts 10:34, it’s going to click for Peter here, that the gospel of Christ was meant not only for the Jews in Jerusalem but for the Gentiles of the nations. Acts 10:34 says, “And opening his mouth, Peter said: ‘I most truly comprehend now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the one who fears Him and does righteousness is welcome to Him.’ ” And as Peter says these words look what happens in Acts 10:44. It says, “While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the word. And all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.” So, we’re seeing the gospel fan out to other people groups this morning.

Now, in the first half of the next chapter, Acts 11, Luke notes there were certain apostles and disciples in Jerusalem who were concerned about this report of the gospel spreading to the Gentiles. And in response to these concerns, Peter goes on to share the story about his vision of the sheet, his encounter with Cornelius, and he says to these Jewish leaders in Acts 11:17, “Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could prevent God’s way?” And then Acts gives us the response of the Jewish leaders back to Peter in verse 18. It says, “And when they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, ‘Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.’ ”

The rest of Acts 11 is about the spread of the gospel into Antioch. Antioch sits about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. It was the capitol of the Roman province of Syria. And here, too, we see in Antioch the gospel was spreading to both Jews and Greeks. In fact, take a look at verse 21 of chapter 11, which notes that these early disciples who went to Antioch were speaking not only to Jews, but it says, verse 20, they were “speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus.”

Acts 12 now, represents the tail end of this second section of Acts. We’re still in this context, Acts 12, in the vicinity of Judea and Samaria before the gospel spreads to the ends of the earth.
And Acts 12 kind of gives us a grab bag of other random events. Here you have King Herod of Judea ordering the murder of James, the brother of John. You have Peter being ordered arrested again. We’re up to his third arrest now. We have Herod himself, this self-glorifying monarch, being struck dead by the angel of the Lord and being eaten by worms.

And then we get to Acts 13 and Acts 13 signals the start of the third major section of the Book of Acts, and the longest one. If you’re taking notes, our third point this morning is ”The Witness to Christ to the End of the Earth.” And as we’re going to see, this section centers largely around the Apostle Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, and his three missionary journeys, before heading off to Rome.

Now, the first missionary journey spans the next two chapters, Acts 13 and Acts 14.
You see in the first few words of Acts 13:1 that Antioch was the launching point for this first missionary journey and from Antioch they headed in a southwesterly direction. Look at verse 4 of chapter 13, it says, “So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit,” from Antioch that would be, “they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus,” an island. And after ministering and proclaiming the word of God there at Cyprus, they sailed north to minister and share in a few different cities in Asia Minor, cities like Perga and Pisidian in Antioch. And there in Pisidian, Antioch, Paul gives this riveting sermon in a synagogue there, preaching the gospel to the Jews, and look what happens. Acts 13:45, we’re in Pisidian Antioch, we’re in the southern part of Asia Minor here. Acts 13:45, it says, “But when the Jews,” meaning the Jewish leaders there, “saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, blaspheming.” Then it says, “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.’ ” That’s the harsh message first to the Jews of the day. And then look at verses 48-49, now he goes over to the Gentiles, verse 48, and it says, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.”

Now, when we turn to Acts 14, we see that another wall is thrown up by more Jewish leaders in Iconium. Which leads Paul and his cohort to flee “to the cities of Lycaonia,” I’m in Acts 14:6 now, “Lystra and Derbe.” And note verse 7, it says, “there,” in those cities, “they continued to proclaim the gospel.” Now, that doesn’t deter Paul’s Jewish opponents though. Look at verse 19 of chapter 14, it says, “But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium,” basically they are following Paul around, “and after winning over the crowds and stoning Paul, they were dragging him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.” And as we keep on reading we know that Paul keeps on preaching. He goes on to Lystra, to Derbe, to Iconium, to Perga, before returning to Antioch, verse 26 of chapter 14. And after getting back to Antioch from where they started this first missionary journey, it says, “And when they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all the things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they spent not a little time with the disciples.”

Moving on to Acts 15, we come to the Jerusalem Council. So, the gospel has gone to Antioch on this first missionary journey; it’s launched from Antioch. Paul has just finished his first missionary journey; there is reason to praise and rejoice. Yet, controversy is already brewing and we can see the seeds of this controversy brewing in some of these verses here. Look at verses 3-5 for one side of the controversy, Acts 15:3 says, “Therefore ,being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, recounting in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brothers. When the arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.” So, that’s one side, there’s joy in the fact that the gospel has gone out to Gentiles, there’s rejoicing and praising happening. But we read on and we see in verse 5, “But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed,” meaning Jews who had been converted, “stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses.’ ” One side is praising, one side is saying something is missing here. Well, James, who is the leader of the Jewish church at the time in Jerusalem, (James, who wrote the book of James, by the way.) he’s heard both sides of this debate, whether these new converts, these Gentiles converts, need to be circumcised or not. He lands on the side of no-they-don’t-need-to-be-circumcised. He says more, but we don’t’ have time to go into that.

That Acts chapter 5 scene, the Jerusalem Council, was really an interlude between the various missionary journeys. We pick it up in Acts 15:36 where we see that there’s this desire now to get out back into Gentile territory. Look at Acts 15:36, this is right after the Jerusalem Council, or soon after, it says, “Now after some days Paul said to Barabas, ‘Let us return and visit the brothers in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.’ ”
He wants to get back on the road and get back into Gentile territory. It’s here where we know that Paul and Barabas have their disagreement over Mark and his usefulness for ministry. Paul doesn’t want to take Mark, Barnabas does. So, Paul takes Silas, Barnabas takes Mark. And that then marks the start of the second missionary journey here in Acts 15:36 and that goes all the way to Acts 18:22.

Now, on this second missionary journey, Paul’s launching from Jerusalem, where the Jerusalem Council has just been held, and they head north through Syria and Cilicia. And then one interesting detail, as we work our way through this, in Acts 16 specifically, is that if you were to look at Acts 16, where all these stops of the missionary team going in certain directions, the Holy Spirit prevents them from going in certain directions. If you look at it on a map, you see God actually actively stopping them from going east and north into certain parts of Asia Minor and redirecting them west into Macedonia and to the European continent, to cities like Philippi and Thessalonica and Corinth and Ephesus.

For instance, Acts 16:11 all the way down to verse 40, we see Paul’s ministry to Philippi. There he encountered Lydia, a seller of purple fabrics. There in Philippi, Paul and his companions were jailed. And we know in Acts 16:25, that as they were jailed, they were “praying and singing hymns of praise to God.” It was here in Philippi that they are freed from their jail cell when God sends an earthquake to this region. And it’s here in Philippi that, of course, they witness to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31, saying, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” So, that’s Philippi. They move on, Acts 17 now, to Thessalonica, where Luke records in verses 2-3, that “according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and setting before them that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is that Christ.’ ” Now, the Jewish leaders there in Thessalonica incite a mob who comes after Paul and his missionary team. That leads the missionary team now to Berea. And this group of believers in Berea, these individuals in Berea, are referred to this way in verses 11-12, it says, “Now these,” those in Berea, “were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore, many of them believed, along with not a few prominent Greek women and men.” Now, we note, as we read on in Acts 17, that the Jews of Thessalonica, they come down to Berea and they stir up the crowds as well, (They’re following Paul and his team all throughout this region.) and that leads Paul and the team to set sail next for Athens.

And Athens, of course, is the center of education and learning, and philosophical discourse. And Paul, being all things to all men, and knowing his audience, he preaches to the men of Athens as learned men, as inquisitive men, as thoughtful men. And you see his speech here in Acts 17, pick it up in verse 22, it says, “So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, ‘Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, “To An Unknown God.” Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to inhabit all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, “For we also are His offspring.” Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to suppose that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the craft and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now commanding men that everyone everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He determined, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead.’ ” In other words, Paul gave the Athenians the gospel. You can detect there he’s weaving in facts about God, he’s weaving in facts about mankind, he’s weaving in facts about Christ. And he’s calling on the Athenians, these sinners in Athens, to repent. And some sneered at his message, but others showed a willingness to hear more, verse 32, “We shall hear your again, concerning this.” Paul ultimately entrusted the results to God, and he moved on.

And he moved on, as he rounded out this second missionary journey, we see, to Corinth.
Acts 18:1 says, “After these things he departed Athens and went to Corinth.” There he meets Priscilla and Aquila. He settles here for a year and a half, as it says in verse 11. And then, as he did in other cities and regions on his missionary journeys, Paul starts with the Jews in Corinth and he moves on to the Gentiles. Look at Acts 18:5, it says, “But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly bearing witness to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles’.” So that’s Corinth.

From there, verse 18, Luke tells us that Paul set sail for Syria, and specifically, that they were going to set sail and go all the way back to Antioch before making stops in Ephesus and Caesarea and Jerusalem, before getting back to Antioch, where they would start now the third missionary journey. And that third missionary journey runs from this next verse, Acts 18:23, all the way to Acts 21:26. We’ll go through this one super-fast. The third missionary journey starts in Antioch, verse 23, chapter 18. It says, “And having spent some time there,” meaning Antioch, “he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.” It’s on this third missionary journey that Paul encounters Apollos. Acts 18:24 says, Apollos was “eloquent,” and “mighty in the Scriptures.” Acts 18:28 says, there in Ephesus, Paul “powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.”

And then, in Acts 19, it’s all about Paul’s ministry to Ephesus. We learn in verse 8 of chapter 19, that “after he entered the synagogue, he continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.” We learn down in verse 20 of chapter 19, that “the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.” And while that sounds great to us, as Christians today all these years later, this wasn’t the greatest news for certain people there in Ephesus. In fact, look at how Luke describes the situation in verse 23 of chapter 19: “now about that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way.” That’s how Christianity was referred to in those days, as the Way. And then Luke goes on in chapter 19 to give this account of the silversmiths in Ephesus, headed up by this man named Demetrius, who were upset that Paul was preaching against Artemis, the god of the Ephesians, because a large part of their business came from creating these silver shrines to Artemis, also known as Diana. Well, Paul was preaching that Artemis/Diana was a false god and that there was only one true God. So, business is now drying up for these silversmiths and that leads to this uproar in the city.

We turn to chapter 20, we see that after stirring the pot at Ephesus, Paul was next off to Macedonia, and then to Greece, and then back over the Aegean Sea to Troas, and then to Miletus. Miletus is where he summons the Ephesian elders to come to him. Lets’ take a look at an excerpt from Paul’s speech to the Ephesian elders. Because it gives us a clue as to where he wanted to go next and where he was headed. Look at Acts 20:22, it says, “And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that chains and afflictions await me. But I do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.” So, he wants to go to Jerusalem. And then he goes on to charge the elders of Ephesus, the Ephesian elders -- and really, any church elder of any church since then, has had these words from Acts 20:28 emblazoned on their hearts -- he says, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Paul then departs from the Ephesian elders with tears, kisses, embraces. That’s all at the end of Acts 20.

And then the first half of Acts 21 records Paul’s voyage at sea back in the direction of Syria and Antioch. Back in Acts 19:21, (I think I skipped over this) it says, Acts 19:21, that Paul had “purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia.” But by the time we get to Acts 21:4, we see that by this time, the disciples of Paul are “telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem.” So, he wants to go, they’re saying don’t go. As we drop down the page in Acts 21, there’s now this prophet named Agabus who comes down from Judea to Caesarea,, where Paul is staying at this point. He visits with Paul and his companions and look at what transpires in Acts 21:10. It says, “And as we were staying” there’s that first person plural from Luke, he’s including himself there, “And as we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, ‘This is what the Holy Spirit says, “In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.” ’ ” The message here was clear, if Paul was going to go to Jerusalem, he was going to die. That then leads his traveling companions to beg him not to go to Jerusalem. Look at verse 12, it says, “And when we had heard this, we as well as the local residence began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem.” But then he replies, Paul does, in verse 13, saying, “What are you doing, crying and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

And then, verse 15, Luke records: “Now after these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem.” And it’s there in Jerusalem, we know, as we keep reading, that James and the other leaders of the church in Jerusalem, they warn Paul that he had started, through his ministry, to stir up Jewish opposition in Jerusalem. Verse 21 of chapter 21 says that “they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.”
And then down in verse 27 and following, Luke reports that Paul was arrested while there in a temple in Jerusalem. Hands were laid on him. He’s dragged out of the temple. People seek to kill him. But much like in the days of Jesus’ eventual arrest and crucifixion, it’s at this point that the Roman officials get involved and they stop what otherwise would surely have been an execution. Paul, after the Romans engage in some crowd control, Paul is then given a platform to speak to the Jews who had arrested him and we see his speech in Acts 22. And if you look up the page, just right before Acts 22, it says, “he spoke to them in the Hebrew language.” He’s addressing the Jews in his speech in Acts 22. And then, if we were to go through this in detail, we would see that in this speech Paul shares about his former life, practicing Judaism. He shares about his persecution of the people of the Way, the Christians. He shares about his encounter with Jesus the Nazarene. He shares about his visit to Ananias, and his scales falling off. He shares about the stoning of Stephen, in a former life. But then he gets to this statement in Acts 22:21 and this is when the crowd has had enough. He’s reporting here, Acts 22:21, what Jesus said to him. It says, “and He said to me – ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ” And that’s when this Jewish crowd has had enough and that’s when they want to be done with him and to kill him. Look at verse 22, it says, “they were listening to him, up to this statement and then they raised their voices and said, ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!’ ”

And then, as the Roman officials were getting ready to take Paul away to scourge him, it’s here where he mentions to the officials that he’s a Roman citizen and he has all the privileges of Roman citizenship, including appealing to Caesar. And that’s when, Chapters 23 and following, we really see the ‘court case’ you could call it, start to unfold. First, in Acts 23, we see that Paul is taken before the Sanhedrin, this council of Jewish religious leaders. And he’s taken there so that the Roman rulers of the day can figure out which Jewish law Paul is accused of violating. But in this chapter, Acts 23, we see that the Council is made up of both Pharisees and Sadducees and they didn’t always get along. They were actually fighting among themselves in this Council so that they couldn’t even level a consistent charge against Paul.

Next, we see that Paul is whisked away to Caesarea, to stand before a Roman official named Felix, who was the Roman governor assigned to Judea. And in Acts 23:25-30, and this really highlights Luke’s attention to detail, we see the very content of the letter that Paul’s Roman handler, a man named Claudius Lysias, delivered to Felix, in which he explains the whole situation and why Paul was now being brought to him. And then Paul’s defense before Felix is laid out in Acts 24. And the accusers there, in his trial before Felix, were the Jews, represented by Ananias the high priest. There’s this attorney named Tertullus and he, the attorney, lays out these charges in verses 5-6 of Luke 24. He says, “For we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.” Paul then gives his side of things. After that, Felix takes the whole matter under submission. Paul is then put under house arrest while Felix decides which way he’s going to decide.

And then that decision never comes. Look down at verse 27 of chapter 24, the final verse of chapter 24, it says, “But after two years had passed.” So Paul was in waiting for two years; he did not get a speedy trial. It says, “Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul imprisoned.” So, now there’s a passing of the baton, power-wise, Felix is succeeded by Festus. And then Paul’s defense now before Festus is laid out in Acts 25. Acts 25:7 records that before Festus, “the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him,” around Paul, “bringing many and serious charges against him which they could not prove.” Paul, at that point, on the basis of his Roman citizenship, we see in verse 11, appeals to Caesar. These, the last words of verse 11, “I appeal to Caesar.” And then verse 12 says, and when Festus conferred with his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.”

Now, before Paul could be sent off to Rome for his appeal to Caesar to go forward, one more character enters the stage. And that would be the Judean, King Agrippa. He’s also known as Herod Agrippa the Second. This would be the great-grandson of Herod the Great, he who is on the scene at the account of the birth of Jesus back in Matthew chapter 2. And at the end of Acts 25, Festus is recorded as explaining this whole situation. So, the Roman governor is explaining the whole situation to this Judean King, Herod Agrippa the Second. And Agrippa says, Acts 25:22, “I would like to hear the man myself.” And then all the way through Acts 26, Luke records how those proceedings then went before King Agrippa. Acts 26:1 we’re told that “Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You are permitted to speak for yourself.’ Then Paul, stretching out his hand, began to make his defense.” And then again, the rest of Acts 26 is Luke recording Paul’s response to the various accusations that were made. But not only does he respond, he gives Agrippa the gospel; never one to lose an opportunity, he gives Agrippa the gospel. And Agrippa knew it. Look at Acts 26:28, after hearing Paul share his defense but also share the gospel, it says, “Agrippa replied to Paul, ‘In such short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?’” He knew what Paul was doing. And then look at Paul’s response in verse 29, it says, “I would pray to God, that whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am,” meaning a Christian, “except for these chains’.”

So, at this point, Paul has made his appeal to Caesar. So, he and his crew, which includes Luke, they set sail for Italy. And that’s what we see in Acts 27:1, it says, “it was decided that we would sail for Italy.” And the rest of Acts 27 is like this detailed travelogue of all that was happening with this crew at sea. You have the voyage itself, we have their shipwreck, we have them reaching dry ground eventually. We won’t work through this in much detail, but this is one of the most complex chapters in terms of the Greek language that’s used here in all of Luke’s writings. And Luke himself was already complex. But this chapter is even more complex, the geographic language, the nautical language, the chronological language, the meteorological language, the narrative language. It shows that he had a level of sophistication and attention to detail, Luke did, that would just blow our minds.

Turning to Chapter 28, the first half of this chapter describes the time Paul spends on the island of Malta where his crew had been shipwrecked. And we note there in that first half, that even on this island where they were shipwrecked, Paul was ministering, sharing. And then the second half of Acts 28, we’re given this brief glimpse into Paul’s ministry in Rome, which was his final destination here on earth. And we see there that to the very end he was preaching Christ crucified to those who were lost. And in doing so, he follows the same pattern that he has throughout, to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles. Look at verse 17 of chapter 28. It says that “Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews.” So, that’s his initial audience, the Jews in Rome. And then, look down in verse 23, it says, “And when they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly bearing witness,” this is his Jewish audience here, “about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.” And when his message was rejected by some in that group, he said in verse 28, Paul did, “Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God was sent to the Gentiles – they will also hear.” And then these final words in verses 30-31: “And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, unhindered.” Now, this last thing I’ll mention takes us outside the Book of Acts. But we do know that Paul would eventually be released from the imprisonment that’s mentioned here in Acts 28, only to be re-arrested and then martyred in A.D.67.

So there we have it, 29 chapters of the book of Acts. Luke has written of “The Witness to Christ in Jerusalem,” “The Witness to Christ in Judea and Samaria,” and then “The Witness to Christ to the End of the Earth.” We’ve now surveyed the four Gospels. We have surveyed the Gospel of Luke itself. We have surveyed the sequel, the Book of Acts. Now, we are ready, finally, to get into Luke 1:1. I’m very much looking forward to doing so, the next time we’re together.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for the patience of everybody here as we try to navigate through 28 chapters of an amazingly rich book, the Book of Acts. God, I do pray that handling this in survey format, as fast as it is, as fast moving as it is, reminds us just of the whole picture of what You are doing and have done throughout history -- with Luke and the Gospel of Luke and it’s testimony and recording of the life and the death and the burial and the resurrection of our Lord -- and in the book of Acts, with the birth of the church and the advancement of the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth. God, I pray that we would come away from these two survey lessons with a bigger picture focus on what You are doing, what You have done, what You continue to do, as that same gospel that Paul and Peter and others proclaimed, continues to go out to the furthest reaches of the earth. God, may we not tire of sharing that same gospel that they were proclaiming. May we follow the faithfulness of their example. And may we be faithful ambassadors for Christ, our Lord. It’s in His name we pray. Amen