Preaching from Acts 13:38-41, Martin expounds Paul's synagogue sermon at Antioch of Pisidia as a 'simple signpost to the Celestial City' with four lines: forgiveness of sins is the central blessing of the gospel; this forgiveness is found only in connection with the Christ of Old Testament prophecy and New Testament history; it is received by faith alone; and it is freely and sincerely proclaimed to all without distinction. Martin insists that sola fide must never be obscured, illustrating saving faith as an empty hand taking a full Savior, a parched mouth drinking the water of life, and looking upon the bronze serpent. The sermon closes with an urgent warning from Acts 13:41 that the greatest sin damning the soul is not immorality but unbelief, and with a direct call to embrace the offered Savior rather than leave with admiration for the sermon's imagery.
Primary Texts
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Acts 13:38-41Paul's climactic gospel announcement in Antioch of Pisidia: remission of sins through Christ, justification by faith, universal proclamation, and warning against unbelief — the four lines of the signpost Martin expounds
Introduction: Simple Signposts to the Celestial City0:00
Paul's Sermon at Antioch: Overview of Three Headings2:54
First Line: Forgiveness Is the Central Blessing of the Gospel7:03
Second Line: Forgiveness Is Found Only in the Christ of Biblical Revelation12:21
Third Line: Forgiveness Is Received by Faith Alone13:06
Fourth Line: Forgiveness Is Freely Proclaimed to All Without Distinction17:25
Warning: The Asterisk — Unbelief Is the Damning Sin20:31
Key Quotes
“The gospel is like a many-faceted diamond. It has many planes and it shines in many ways because our needs as sinners are many and there is no other way to do it.”
“true forgiveness deals with the true God and with real sins that can only be dealt with with the real Christ of real biblical revelation.”
“let us never, never obscure the glory of sola fide. By grace are you saved through faith.”
“It is the unique capacity of faith to have nothing in itself upon which to rest and to go totally out of itself into another to find all of its needs met in that other. And that other is the Lord Jesus.”
“faith alone is the empty hand that takes a full and an adequate Savior. Faith alone is the parched mouth that breaks of him who is the water of life.”
“The crowning damning sin is the sin of unbelief.”
“My concern is will you go out with the savior or without him?”
“I don't care what you think about the sermon.”
Applications
All listeners
When you think of the gospel and what excites you about it, make sure forgiveness of sins stands at the center. It is not a peripheral benefit but the central blessing from which all other gospel privileges radiate.
Do not settle for seeing only 'there is forgiveness for needy sinners' on the gospel signpost. You must also see that this forgiveness is tied inseparably to the Christ of Old Testament prophecy and New Testament history.
Reject every version of Jesus that is not the Christ of biblical revelation. A nebulous, malleable Jesus invented to suit personal preferences cannot forgive real sins before the real God.
Preachers must never let the necessary qualifications of faith — its penitent and submissive character — become a parenthesis that obscures the glory of sola fide. Paul wrote 'by grace through faith' without qualification marks.
Understand the nature of saving faith: it is totally receptive. It brings nothing and takes everything from Christ. Any impulse to contribute something to your justification is a misunderstanding of what faith is.
Preachers who offer forgiveness must do so with the gravity of solemn declaration — as one standing in the presence of the living God testifying to all without distinction, regardless of hearers' backgrounds or sins.
Hold together the distinction between universal proclamation and particular promise: the offer of forgiveness is sincerely extended to all, but the promise belongs only to those who believe. Do not collapse one into the other.
Understand that the sin most likely to damn you is not gross immorality but the refusal to believe. The crowning damning sin is unbelief — treat it with corresponding gravity.
Do not walk away from preaching with mere admiration for the content or illustrations. The only question that matters is whether you will go out with the Savior or without him. Unbelief about what God says you are, or about what he says his Son is, will damn you.
Believe what God says about you — that you are a hell-deserving sinner — and believe what God says about his Son — that Christ is the only Savior suited to any sinner of any age. On that basis, embrace the offered Savior.
Come to Christ just as you are, with nothing to plead but his blood shed for you and his own invitation. Do not wait for better feelings or improved character — the model prayer is 'Just as I am... Oh Lamb of God I come.'
A full transcript is available on the
tab. 53 paragraphs, roughly 25 minutes.
Machine transcription
Introduction: Simple Signposts to the Celestial City
We began what will be a relatively brief series of messages entitled Simple Signpost to the Celestial City. Taking the term Celestial City from Bunyan's Immortal Pilgrim's Progress, used as a graphic synonym for heaven, this series of sermons will be an attempt to preach and to apply some of the most simple and clear texts in all of the Word of God, which indeed constitute signposts to heaven.
Texts which address the great issues of sin and of grace. Texts which call us to repent and to believe. On the Lord Jesus Christ.
Texts which contain the heart of the whole message of the Bible concerning the great and pressing question, What must I do to be saved? Well, tonight we're going to fix our attention upon another simple signpost to the Celestial City. A signpost taken from a sermon preached. By the great Apostle Paul.
Now, have you ever wondered what it would be like to have heard an apostle preach the gospel? As I have read biographies, I have wished that somehow I could be shot into a time capsule and taken back to some of the open fields in England and hear the great Whitefield preaching Christ with such passion, with such earnestness and burning, and almost seraphic eloquence. I have wished that I could have heard Spurgeon as I have read his biography and read accounts of everything from the captivating, mellifluous voice with which he spoke to the earnest, tender
passion with which he pleaded with sinners. But I must confess that beyond the yearning to hear Whitefield and Spurgeon and other greats of the past, I have wished that I could have been somewhere to have heard Peter preaching, to have heard Paul or one of the other apostles. Well, in the Book of Acts, God has given us a few at least shorthand summary statements of several of the sermons of these great apostles and one of them is recorded in Acts chapter 13 and it is to that chapter that I direct your attention and from which we shall, God,
Paul's Sermon at Antioch: Overview of Three Headings
God helping us discover another of these simple signposts to the celestial city. Here in Antioch of Pisidia, we have the record of Paul's sermon preached in the synagogue, beginning in verse 16 of Acts 13 and continuing through verse 41. And it should not surprise us that this sermon has three very clearly marked divisions. Now, not all of the recorded sermons or all of the shorthand versions of the sermons have clear divisions,
let alone clear divisions, three divisions, but this one does indeed have such divisions. You will notice Paul begins in verse 16, And Paul stood up, and beckoning with the hands, said, Men of Israel and ye that fear God, hearken. Here is a man determined to be heard. He raises his hand to gain their attention, and then he solicits the commitment of their ears, hearken.
And then through verse 25, he sets forth the history of Israel up through the coming of John the Baptist in preparation, for the coming of the Lord Jesus. So his first heading of his sermon in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia focuses upon Israel's history in preparation for the coming of Jesus. Then in verses 26 to 37, his second heading is the history of how God fulfilled his promises to Israel in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Notice in verse 26, And those among you that fear God, he's again addressing his audience. He's fearful perhaps he's lost their attention since he raised his hand and said, Men of Israel and you that fear God, listen. They were perhaps getting a little weary, so like a good preacher, he calls back their attention and says, Brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, those among you that fear God, to us is this word of salvation sent forth. And then he gives the history of how God fulfilled his promises to Israel
in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Then his third heading begins in verse 38. Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, having completed his statements with respect to the history, of the death and resurrection of Jesus, he now makes an announcement that the great blessings of salvation are now available to men and how they can obtain them. Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man, or more literally this one,
is proclaimed unto you remission of sins. And by him, every one that believeth is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken in the prophets. Behold ye despisers, and wonder, and perish.
For I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, if one declare it unto you. Here then, in verses 30 to 48, is that portion upon which we shall see etched a simple signpost to the celestial city.
First Line: Forgiveness Is the Central Blessing of the Gospel
The first thing we notice as we stand before it is this, that the forgiveness or the remission of sins is the central blessing held forth in the gospel. Now, when we get excited, when we get excited about the gospel, when we get excited about the grace of God, what is it that lies at the very nerve centers of the gospel that gets us excited? Well, if you'll look at our signpost, we read in verse 38, Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins.
And in those words, there appears on our simple signpost to the celestial city the truth that the forgiveness or remission of sins is the central blessing of the gospel. Now, the gospel is like a many-faceted diamond. It has many planes and it shines in many ways because our needs as sinners are many and there is no other way to do it. There is no need that we have as sinners which is not addressed in some marvelous facet of gospel privilege in Christ.
However, shining out of the deepest center of that diamond and radiating to every plane of every facet is its most marvelous provision and that is the blessing of forgiveness of sins. And hence, when the apostles, in his sermon there in that synagogue, comes to bring that sermon to a conclusion, having demonstrated in his first heading how God prepared the world through the history of his ancient people Israel for the coming of his Son, and how under his second head his Son had come in fulfillment of those prophecies
and had died and been raised from the dead, now on the basis of that mighty redemptive activity of God, he says, be it known, here is the great blessing procured by all of this work of the mighty, gracious, saving God throughout human history, this central blessing of the gospel, even forgiveness or remission of sins. But then there's a second line on this signpost that we're considering tonight and it is this, that this forgiveness is found only, in connection with the Christ of Old Testament prophecy
and New Testament history. Now you must not miss that. It's not enough to see on the signpost, there is forgiveness for needy sinners. Look at the second line.
It says this forgiveness is found only in connection with the Christ of Old Testament prophecy and New Testament history. You see that in the text? Look at it again. Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man or this one is proclaimed unto you remission of sins and by him everyone that believeth is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Through this one and by him. Now to whom is the apostle referring? Well, if we read back through the first two heads of his sermon, it's very plain to whom he is making reference. It is the Jesus who was the great magnet of all of the Old Testament prophecies.
It is the Christ of Old Testament prophetic foresight and utterance, the prophet speaking of the coming one who would be the deliverer of God's people. So, under his second heading, he is demonstrating that it is Jesus of Nazareth to whom John pointed and bore witness, of whom David had spoken that his flesh would not see corruption. It was this one, verse 31, who was seen for many days of them that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are now his witnesses. You see what Paul has been saying?
He has not been holding on. Stop some nebulous, ephemeral, mystical Jesus concept, some new age guru that you can make him whoever you would make him so long as you find meaning by having trust in him. Never. In this simple signpost to the celestial city, there is clearly printed the statement forgiveness of sins is the central blessing of the gospel.
Second Line: Forgiveness Is Found Only in the Christ of Biblical Revelation
But then underneath it, printed with equal clarity, is this statement that this forgiveness is found only in connection with the Christ of Old Testament prophecy and of New Testament history for the simple reason that true forgiveness deals with the true God and with real sins that can only be dealt with with the real Christ of real biblical revelation. There is the signpost. It tells us forgiveness of sins is the great and central blessing set forth in the gospel. It tells us secondly that this forgiveness is found only in connection
Third Line: Forgiveness Is Received by Faith Alone
with the Christ of Old Testament prophecy and New Testament history. But then there is a third line on this simple signpost. Look at it in our passage. Paul goes on to say, Be it known unto you, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins and by him everyone that believeth is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
What's the third line on this simple signpost? It's this. This forgiveness is received in Christ by faith alone. This forgiveness is received in Christ.
By faith alone. Yes, it will always be a penitent faith in which the sins for which I seek forgiveness will be detested and loathed and forsaken. It will be a submissive faith that disposes me to embrace the Lord Jesus not only as my sin bearer but my sovereign and my master. Yes, that is true.
And we take, second place to none in affirming and preaching and defending that truth. But my dear sinner friend and my dear preacher friend, let us never, never obscure the glory of sola fide. By grace are you saved through faith. And Paul does not put a big parenthesis.
Of course, I mean penitent faith, submissive faith, faith that leads to a holy life, faith that leads to, to a sincere embrace of the Lord. That's all true.
But he dares to say, by grace have you been saved through faith. He dares to say in this synagogue as he is etching this simple signpost to the celestial city right in a synagogue made up of Jews and of Gentile proselytes. By him, everyone that believes is changed. Justified.
You see, it is the unique nature of faith that it is totally receptive. It takes what is offered by another. It receives what is provided by another. Therefore, it is likened to drinking of the water of life.
It is likened to eating of the bread of life. It is likened to looking upon the serpent of brass. It is the unique capacity of faith to have nothing in itself upon which to rest and to go totally out of itself into another to find all of its needs met in that other. And that other is the Lord Jesus.
This signpost on which is written the words forgiveness is the central blessing in the gospel. The word, this forgiveness is to be found in connection with the Christ of biblical history and prophecy. It also says that this salvation is received in Christ by faith alone.
Faith alone. And that's the great stumbling block of the gospel, isn't it? That's the great stumbling block of the gospel. Man wants to have something plus Christ.
Something plus faith alone will give him the grounds to have something plus Christ. Because faith alone is the empty hand that takes a full and an adequate Savior. Faith alone is the parched mouth that breaks of him who is the water of life. But now I must hasten to look at the fourth line there on our simple signpost.
Fourth Line: Forgiveness Is Freely Proclaimed to All Without Distinction
And it is this. Look at it in the text. By him everyone that believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
And what did Paul do with that truth? Back up to verse 38. Be it known unto you therefore brethren that through this one is proclaimed unto you remission of sins. The fourth line in our simple signpost says this.
This forgiveness in Christ by faith is freely and sincerely proclaimed to all without distinction. This forgiveness in Christ by faith is freely and sincerely proclaimed to all without distinction. When Paul said be it known unto you therefore brethren that through this man is caught on gallows. Solemnly declared is the sense of that verb.
I'm not just shooting off the mouth because it's my job as an apostle to talk about Jesus. I am solemnly testifying as one who stands in the presence of the living God that there is no one here in this synagogue within the sound of my voice whether you are of the stock of Israel after the flesh whether you are part of those Gentiles who had come to embrace the God of old covenant revelation whatever your background whatever your sins whatever your blindness whatever your perversity I solemnly declare to all of you
freely, sincerely without distinction.
And then he moves from the general to the specific that everyone by him everyone that believeth to all is the proclamation made but the promise must be embraced one by one.
It's promised only to believers it's proclaimed to all.
Those are the four simple lines that God has etched on this simple signpost of the celestial city. You got them in your mind? Line number one says forgiveness is the great blessing held forth in the gospel. Forgiveness is to be found only in the Christ of biblical revelation.
Forgiveness is found in Christ only to those who believe. Forgiveness is sincerely offered to all and you are urged to believe.
Warning: The Asterisk — Unbelief Is the Damning Sin
But then as I look down at the bottom piece of that simple signpost simple signpost simple signpost there's an asterisk and you know what it says? It says warning. Warning. And the warning is against the greatest sin of all.
And you know what the greatest sin of all is that will keep you out of heaven?
It's not the sin of lying. There'll be many many forgiven liars in heaven. Thank God I'll be one of them.
There'll be many forgiven murderers in heaven. There'll be many forgiven adulterers adulterers and homosexuals and pedophiles and child abusers and every vile kind of sinner in heaven. But there's one kind of sinner that won't be in heaven. You know what that is?
An unbelieving sinner.
The crowning damning sin is the sin of unbelief. Beware therefore Paul says lest that come upon you spoken by the prophets behold you despisers and what you do wander and perish I'll work a work in your days which you'll in no wise believe if one declare it unto you. In other words they were listening to the word of the prophet in a spirit of cynical unbelief.
And he says such unbelievers will perish. You know the New Testament counterpart of that don't you? He that believeth not shall be damned. He that believes not the wrath of God abides upon him.
I would conclude our study of this second simple signpost to the celestial city by saying to every one of you kids and men and women and friends gathered here tonight look at the asterisk on that sign. We've looked at the four simple statements that constitute this signpost to the celestial city but here's the warning beware beware beware of going out and saying oh that was nice and I love you. I like that imagery of the signpost and that was clever how he my friend I don't care what you think about the sermon.
My concern is will you go out with the savior or without him? The concern beware beware lest having heard again you say either I don't need such a savior or such a savior is unwilling to receive me in either case it's unbelief about what God says you are or unbelief about what he says his son is.
You've got to believe what God says you are a hell deserving sinner whether you're three years old or thirty or ninety and that Christ is the only savior suited to any sinner three, thirty or ninety. Don't go out in unbelief but embrace the offered savior stand by that signpost and say oh God thank you for planting it in your word for bringing me near it in the preaching oh Lord I see beyond the preacher and beyond my mom and my dad and the friends and the visitors around me oh Lord I see that I stand
before you covered with my sins I see that there's no way to have them removed unless Christ takes them away I see that Christ alone can take them Christ is willing to take them and I want them taken what do I wait for just as I am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee oh Lamb of God I come
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors.
It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
Acts 13:38-41
Paul's climactic gospel announcement in Antioch of Pisidia: remission of sins through Christ, justification by faith, universal proclamation, and warning against unbelief — the four lines of the signpost Martin expounds
Texts Expounded
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Paul's synagogue sermon at Antioch of Pisidia, the main preaching text providing all four signpost lines
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Paul's first heading: Israel's history in preparation for the coming of Christ, up through John the Baptist
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Paul's second heading: how God fulfilled his promises to Israel in the death and resurrection of Jesus
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The announcement that through Christ remission of sins is proclaimed; the sermon's hinge verse and first signpost line
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Everyone who believes is justified from all things from which the law of Moses could not justify — the third signpost line
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Warning from Habakkuk: despisers will perish in unbelief — the asterisk at the bottom of the signpost