"They Were Professing" (Acts 13:43b-44)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/2/2018 9:19 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  They Were Professing

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 13:43b

            Message of the verse:  [Paul and Barnabas] “speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God.”

            Once again this is the third sub-point under the main point of “The Initial Reaction.”

            It is hard to say if some of those people in the audience were really saved, as in some cases in the book of Acts we know for sure that someone has really received Christ, yet others it is hard to know.  At any rate they were told by Paul and Barnabas to continue in the grace of God.  There is a parable that is actually the first parable that Jesus speaks found in Matthew chapter thirteen, and it is the parable of the seeds.  There are different places where the seed is thrown out but only one that bears fruit.  Bearing fruit, also spoken of in John chapter 15 is how one can determine, (as best a human can determine) as to whether or not a person is truly a believer.  In some of the places where the seed had been thrown according to the interpretation that Jesus gave of the parable there was a change in the person, however later on that change did not continue, and so as we look at what is said in 13:43b we cannot tell if salvation occurs and we cannot tell if it is real.  Let us look at 1 John 2:19 to help us better understand if a person is a true believer of a person who demonstrated by the parable was not a true believer:  “19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”  John is saying here in this verse that the ones he is writing about were not genuine believers and so “they went out from us because they were not of us.”  Let us look at another passage that goes along with what we have been looking at:  “31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine (John 8:31).  I mentioned the story of the vine which is found in John 15:1-6 and so we will look at that now.

“1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2  "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”

Let us now look at Colossians 1:21-23:

“21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach- 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.”

John MacArthur writes:  “The key is the phrase ‘if indeed you continue.’  The writer of Hebrews makes the same point:  ‘For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end’ (Heb. 3:14).”

            I would like to add one another verse that goes along the lines that we are discussing in this SD: “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test?       (2 Cor. 13:5).”

            In many churches today the gospel is not really presented in a Biblical way and therefore this can give a false promise to those who think that they are really saved and on their way to heaven.  There are many churches that teach that you can lose your salvation which is impossible if you are truly saved.  In our verse from 1John 2:19 John is speaking of those that were not believers who went out from that church.  If someone has a problem with whether or not they are saved they need to seek out a church that truly presents the gospel and then take the time to talk to the pastor of that church, but as mentioned make sure that you find a good Bible believing church that preaches the gospel on a weekly basis, and by that I mean that even though the sermon may not be about salvation, salvation is mentioned at the end of the sermon so that if the Spirit of God is working in the hearts of anyone then they will hear the true gospel.

            We have one more short sub-point to look at this morning:  “They were Present” and this takes a look at Acts 13:44 “And the next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the Word of God.”

            John MacArthur writes the following:  “The interest shown by Paul’s listeners was somewhat sustained.  They were not like many who profess only momentary interest in the gospel.  On ‘the next Sabbath’ they were back, anxiously awaiting the message Paul had for them.  And because of their contagious enthusiasm, ‘nearly the whole city assembled to hear the Word of God’ proclaimed by Paul and Barnabas.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I remember when the Lord saved me and as I look back on when I was saved I realize that the one thing that caused me to understand that there was truly something different in my life was not using some four letter words that I used far too often, and tried to stop but could not.  However when the Lord saved me those words were taken away from me and I have not used them since.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that as I go over my Sunday school lesson for this up-coming Sunday that the Spirit of God will cause me to understand what I am going to teach and it will be used to bring glory to my Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The parable of the prodigal son” (Luke 15:11-33).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.’”

Answer in our next SD.

3/2/2018 10:07 AM