Acts 13 | Paul's Sermon

Zach Cunningham continues a series on the book of Acts.

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All right, good morning. Good morning, Hamasy. Hamasy, good morning. What's up, happy that you're here for every minute? My name is Zach, and I'm one of the pastors, and happy Labor Day weekend. And also, guys, what a weekend for the main green, okay? Guys, yesterday, if you actually watched the game yesterday, it looked pretty good against the national champs, okay? But also, not only were it good, guys. The UNT cross-country team walked away with a win this weekend, okay? And guys, guys, it's a big deal. Our our girl, yes, we're getting some of the yellows here. They look great, and the boys won the meet, okay? The guys dominated TCU uh down at the hornfrogs. But anyways, Acts 13, okay, if you have a Bible, we're jumping into Acts chapter 13. It's good to be back after enjoying some family time the last couple weeks. Uh, two weeks ago, we welcomed our third baby, uh, Winnie. She's in the back over there. And uh guys, it's been great, okay? Winnie's doing great. We love the three kid life. Uh, I will tell you this though, if you drop when you drop the third kid into the mix, uh, it changes everything. Okay, it changes the car you drive, where the kids sleep, uh what you eat, how much sleep you get. Uh, I've been sleeping great. Uh my wife, not as much, okay? But things are going great. And but you guys know this. When you drop something significant into a life, uh, it impacts things. It's not just having a third baby. Maybe you guys can think of other things that when it changes in the life, it impacts things. Uh, before pastoring this church, I served uh for like seven years as a college pastor at Michigan State University, go green. Oh, you want to talk about a team that has to cheat to win last night, guys. Michigan. Anyways, something I observed being a college pastor, uh, God did a lot of life transformation, uh, but there was other kinds of life transformation. Uh, one of the biggest like before and after transformations of a life is when a guy starts dating a girl. Okay, you guys know this? Uh, when a guy finally starts dating a girl, and we have some guys in the church who just started dating, um, it impacts everything about their life. Uh, personal hygiene levels go up, okay? What they wear, they actually care about what they wear, what they look like. Uh the songs they listen to change. The shows they used to make fun of, they're now watching. My point is this uh everything changes. When something significant gets dropped into a life, its fingerprints are everywhere, okay? In fact, you just saw this when Denton made the national news a few days ago. Do you guys see this? At a FedEx in Denton, uh, there was a shipment that was being shipped to China, and inside this shipment uh was 191 turtles. Uh seriously. And uh it was a big deal. Apparently, there's uh an international uh black market for turtles in Asia. And uh, and so Denton, they found this at the FedEx down the road. That so much so, like the Denton Animal Services had to come, uh they had to call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uh to open an investigation on turtles being found in our FedEx. Uh they're now at the Dallas Zoo. But here's what I think like anytime you find 191 turtles and drop them anywhere uh in your home, in a zoo, uh it impacts everything. And my point is this there are certain things that when it gets introduced to a life, its fingerprints are everywhere. And that's the idea we're gonna see here in Acts chapter 13. Because there are certain things when it enters a life, whether it's a new girl, a new baby, or turtles, a plethora of them, the impact of it is far reaching. But in Acts 13, we're gonna see something that is far greater and has far greater implications than a new baby. The question that we're gonna see answered in Acts 13 is this What happens when the gospel enters the equation? Like when the good news shows up in a life or in a church or in a city, what is the impact of the gospel? Does it do anything here? Does it impact the cut the culture, the country that it finds itself in? Is it something that you can just add and it doesn't impact anything, or is it something that by its nature changes things? Well, you're gonna see in Acts chapter 13, and if you follow Jesus, you know this, obviously. More than a third baby, more than dating a girl, the gospel, it doesn't arrive quietly, and it doesn't leave things untouched. No, what we're gonna see in Acts 13 is the gospel makes an impact. And it does it in a few different ways. Okay, we got a lot of text this morning, and I've got six points, okay? Six ways that the gospel is gonna impact a life and a culture. Okay, and we're gonna go through this, and here's what you got to do as we're doing this. We need to be a little bit introspective, okay? Has the gospel impacted your life in the ways it's gonna impact Acts 13? Sound good? Okay, a lot of text and six points. So with your permission, we're gonna fly, okay? Verse 1, chapter 13. If you got it, say got it. Okay, time for takeoff. It says this. Now in the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who is called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menaean, who's a close friend of Herod, uh, the Tetrarch, and Saul. And as they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart from me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them. And then after they had fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them off. Okay, so enter back into the story in Acts. Okay, we're back in Antioch. If you guys remember that place from two weeks ago, Luke, he's taking us back to Antioch, and he's taking us back to Saul, okay? Peter's story and the book of Acts, his airtime is behind us. Now we're gonna focus mainly on uh Saul or Paul, okay, and today we're actually gonna get both names. Uh, but notice something uh here in Antioch, okay? We're there, and there's this church that's gathering. And if you had to use one word to describe the church in Antioch at this at this moment, you'd probably use the word healthy. That's a healthy church here, right? We've got vitality, people are getting saved. It says we've got, look at it, it says we've got teachers, we've got prophets in this church. People are getting saved, they're worshiping, they're fasting, they're praying. Like things are going pretty great for the church in Antioch, but something's not right. You see, right in the middle of all of this, notice what the Holy Spirit says. Hey, set apart Barnabas and Saul. He says, Hey, send those two dudes out. Uh, not because things aren't going great in here, and not because you don't need them in here, but things are not going so great out there, and I need them out there. And you can see right here early in Acts chapter 13, we're reminded that this message, this gospel message is a message on the move, okay, which leads us to our first impact of the gospel in a life, and it's this it disrupts a comfort. That the gospel, if you read the scriptures, you know it disrupts comfort. And here's what I mean by that it could have been very easy for those early believers in that early church to get really comfortable in Antioch. Like things are going great. We got a great thing going on here, we're singing, we're praying, we got some big name leaders in the church. But guys, what the message of Jesus does to a people and to a church is it's constantly disrupting that and pulling them beyond themselves, beyond their comfort, their preferences, their music style. It's always trying to get us to look outward, not inward. Because the gospel that came to us is trying to go beyond us. Okay, we don't want to get too comfortable. It disrupts comfort. That's why, in a sense, as much as I don't like those little Cinderella chairs you're sitting on, they're small, they're uncomfortable. Zach preach a short sermon. Like I get it, but also it's a good reminder. It's a good reminder that we're not meant to sit in this room forever. We're not meant to get comfortable, to be satisfied with our faith living inside these walls when 99% of our life is lived outside. And there are thousands of people in our city that don't know the gospel. We don't want to get comfortable here. There's more work to be done. The gospel disrupts comfort. And you might be thinking to yourself, if you know the New Testament, wait a second, Zach, isn't God the God of comfort? Like, doesn't God want to comfort us? What do you mean God wants us to be uncomfortable? Which is a good question. But as Christians, you're gonna need to you need to learn to think in categories. Yes, God comforts us with his grace, but also true believers should also be growing in uncomfortableness with sin. Yes, as Christians, we're we're comforted by his grace. I'm so thankful to find comfort in my heart. But also, if you know Jesus, you should also grow more and more uncomfortable with sin, not just in your own heart, but in the world. Yes, I'm thankful of the gospel that Jesus forgave me, but also I'm uncomfortable with a number of people who haven't heard the scriptures. Yes, the gospel comforts our heart, but it moves our feet. The gospel, it's on the move. That's the first thing we see here. But notice what happens next. When this gospel moves around, it doesn't go places and encourage and affirm everything going on in a place. No, what does the gospel do? It confronts, it disrupts. And here the next point, it exposes darkness. That's the second impact of the gospel in a place. It exposes darkness. Look how it happens, verse 4. Let's keep plowing ahead. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. Arriving in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant. Okay, so they leave Antioch and they make it to this island that we've heard about earlier, the island of Cyprus. Uh, and the reason why they go there, I think, is because this is Barnabas's hometown. And so to kick off this mission trip, we got a homecoming. And so they move, they get to this island, and it says they move from one side of the island to the next, preaching the gospel where? To the Jewish synagogues. Okay, this island's diverse, but there's a lot of Jews living on this island so much that there's multiple synagogues. So they're gonna preach. Why? Because this is Paul's strategy. I'm gonna go to the big cities, I'm gonna preach the gospel to the Jews first, but then also to the Gentiles, which is what happens next. Okay, they're gonna make it to a place called Paphos, where Luke is gonna introduce us to two new characters in the story. Keep reading, verse 6. When they had traveled the whole island, as far as Paphos, they came across a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet named Bar Jesus. He was with the proconsul Sergus Paulus, who was an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. But Elamas, the sorcerer, same dude, that's the meaning of his name, opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at Elamas and said, You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, you son of the devil, an enemy of all that is right. Won't you ever stop perverting the straight paths of the Lord? Now look, the Lord's hands against you, you're going to be blind and will not see the sun for a time. And immediately a mist and a darkness fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by hand. Verse 12. Then when he saw what happened, the proconsul believed, because he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Okay, let's just go back to the story here. So they arrive at Paphos, and it's here that we see Saul start going by the name Paul. Okay, that's his Roman name. That's what they knew him by out there. And it says that God's going to use them to expose some darkness. Okay, the gospel gets confrontational right here, right? It has some strong language. And so they roll up and they come across two dudes hanging out: a sorcerer and the governor of the island. That's this proconsul guy. And it says the first guy, look at it, it says there's a Jewish, false prophet. Luke wants you to know this dude's a false prophet, who also happens to be a sorcerer. And his name is Bar Jesus. Bar just means son of, like Barnabas is the son of encouragement. So this guy's the son of Jesus, different Jesus. Okay, different Joshua. And it says right here that he's a magus or a magician. Okay, this is someone who studied incantations, or maybe they studied the stars, or they claimed to talk to the dead and give insight. Okay, this guy would have been known as a Jewish man who had insight. And oftentimes back then, magicians would attach themselves to political power. Okay, every king needs a merlin. Okay, that's what we see here. And so the question is this are there false prophets who claim to possess spiritual power? Yes, absolutely. Do they sometimes attach themselves to political power? Yes. Acts chapter 13. Okay, for my Lord of the Rings fans, uh, this is the Grima worm tongue who speaks to King Theodon. You guys know what I'm talking about? Whispering in his ear? It's far reached. Okay, but Paul. Paul doesn't like any of this. So he calls him out. Look back at verse 10. He says this, Bar Jesus, son of Jesus, no, you are bar Diablos, or son of the devil, who is full of trickery and deceit, and you're just like your dad. That's what he says here. And he says this, why are you making crooked or perverting the straight paths of the Lord? Or in other words, Paul says to him, You are manipulating spiritual language for your own power. And Paul doesn't like that. And uh, and neither do we, right? Like we don't like it when pastors or religious leaders just do it for the money or the power. And we especially don't like it when the clear and straight paths of the Lord, the things that are true and clear in Scripture, get crooked, get confused. Whether it's a pastor that does that, or a spiritual leader, or the Pope, or the politicians of our day, who claim to follow Jesus, but will say things like the Bible is silent on abortion, or will say things like Muslims and Christians all worship the same God, or say things like God is non-binary. And they will use Christian language to support those conclusions. And guys, that's the same kind of darkness and lies that we see happening whispered in Acts chapter 13, but also in Genesis 3 from the snake. And we want to be a church and a people who are so steeped in God's word, so steeped in the gospel, that we can very quickly see it and call it what it is, not just out there, guys, but also darkness in here, like in the heart. You know, one of the prayers you probably should be praying is, God, help me be more angry with my own sin than the sins of others. Because, guys, the question has to be where do we as Christians abuse God's grace to cover our sin? Where are we twisting the word of God to make ourselves comfortable? Okay, you have to ask these questions because the gospel is gonna expose us. In fact, I'd say this Christians who've been following Jesus for decades, if the gospel hasn't exposed darkness recently in your life, you probably should ask questions. If you're not confessing sin, if you're not seeing sin, you may not be as sober-minded as you think. We want to be people who can see the darkness and call it what it is. That's what Paul does here. Do it with grace. Guys, it would be a grace of Jesus if he exposes darkness in your heart today. It's kindness. And that's kind of what Paul does next. Paul says to this guy, Elamos, go blind. And it sounds harsh, but if you think about it, it actually is a it might actually be a method of kindness from Paul, because what happened to Paul? When he found himself on the wrong team, when he was spiritually blind, what happened to him? God caused him to be blind. Why? So he would realize he's not just in spiritual darkness, the physical darkness leads him to that. Paul says to this guy, hey, you're already living in darkness. Let's bring the metaphor all the way to real life. Let's make you blind. And it says he's groping around in the dark looking for truth. That's the same words used to describe Paul. And so that's what happens in the story. Proconsul gets saved here. But let's keep going because we got more ahead of us. Okay, they're gonna leave Cyprus, this island, and they're gonna make it to modern day Turkey. Okay, look at verse 13. Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos, and they came to Perga and Pamphylia. Uh, but John left them and went back to Jerusalem. There's a lot there, don't have time. They continued their journey from Perga, and they reached this place called Poseidian Antioch, okay, which is a different Antioch than before. Okay, it's 200 miles away, uh, which honestly it seems like a weird side quest to go to this place, 200 miles away. It's not preached the gospel along the way, but there are records that Sergius Paulus, that dude that just got saved, has family in Poseidian Antioch. He owns a lot of real estate in this area. So likely what happens is this dude gets saved and says to Paul, Hey, can you go share it with my family? You ever have a heart like that? You've tasted something so good, you want others that you love to see it. So that's probably what's happening here. Uh, and so he goes to this place, and here's what we're gonna get next, guys. That's a long sermon. Okay, Luke is gonna record in the rest of Acts three long sermons from Paul. And the message is always the same, but the method changes depending on the context and the audience. And today we're gonna look what is probably his textbook sermon, if the audience is are are full of Jews, okay? And so we're gonna get this story, and he's gonna start in a very unique way. He's gonna do a history recap of all of Israel, and it's where we get our next uh impact of the gospel, okay? And it's this that the gospel reframes the story. Okay, the gospel is gonna reframe this story, and I'll make sense of that. Keep going, look at verse 14. On the Sabbath day, they go into the synagogue and they sit down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, which is normal, like the leaders of the synagogue, they sent word to Paul and Barnabas and said, This, brothers, if you got a word of encouragement of the people, uh, you can speak. And Paul stood up and motioned with his hand and said, Fellow Israelites, Jews, and you who fear God, listen. And so Paul's like, Sure, I'll speak. And watch what he does. Okay, he's gonna retell the story of Israel up to this point at high speed. Okay. Verse 17, he's gonna start with Genesis, and notice, notice who gets all the verbs. Okay, as you study the scriptures, this is very important. Verse 17 The God of this people, Israel, chose our ancestors, Abraham, and made the people prosper during their stay in the land of Egypt. Now we're in Exodus. And he led them out with a mighty arm. And for about 40 years he put up with them in the wilderness, that's Numbers, and after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, Deuteronomy, he gave them a land as an inheritance, which is Joshua. This all took about 450 years. And after this he gave them judges, which is judges, until Samuel the prophet, in first Samuel said, Then they asked for a king. God, give us a king. And God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. After removing him, who did God did, God raised up David as their king, and testified about him. I have found David, the son of Jesse, to be a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my will. Okay, you can stop there. Guys, you can see what Paul's doing here. Like he's blitzing through the story, and he's showing how God is the primary author underneath. But also he's showing how the author is telling a story, that it's all moving somewhere. Like here's Paul's point. These are not a bunch of random stories in the Old Testament that are not connected. No, there's a story happening here. There is an author, there is a story, and there is a destination here, and then he's gonna give us uh the destination. He goes, Israel has got kings, and then there's David, and then look what he says next in verse 23. From this man's descendants, as he promised. God brought to Israel the Savior, Jesus. And there it is, right? The whole story, Paul's argument, has been heading to this moment. It was all building to Jesus, and that's what the gospel does, right? It reframes the story. Like everything that we read in the Old Testament now is in light of Jesus. All of history, when we're singing that song, same God, we're looking backwards from the cross. All of the Old Testament has now been reframed by the story of Jesus. In fact, you can make the argument all of history from day one has been building to the cross. And that's what the gospel does. It reframes the story. But it doesn't just reframe Israel's story, no, it also reframes my story. And it reframes your story. Because here's what I'm here's what I'm saying you can look at your life up to this point as a bunch of random events. Random disconnected moments, the things that you've done, the things that were done to you, all of your accomplishments, all of your failures, your regret, your pain and loss. And it can seem so random. But what the gospel does is it takes your little story and it places it inside of a bigger story. Can you see it here? And it reframes it. So now, if you're a Christian, like your past was a path to get you to Jesus. And so it reframes it. You look backwards, and I look at my life. Guys, all of the baggage in my life, all of the sin, like two divorces, two dads leaving my house, all the sexual sin, like all this stuff. I can now look backwards with the cross in mind and go, oh, dude, it was all building to the cross. It reframes my past. But not just my past. It reframes the present. Like my life, like the way I live today is in light of the story. And I'm trying to ask God, how do I fit into the overarching story of the scriptures? And it doesn't just reframe my present, it reframes the future. It gives me perspective. All of this, all of life is building towards that great day when he comes back. And I'm trying to ask God, how can I live in light of that day? Can you see it? The gospel, it reframes the story here. Even when it doesn't make sense, it makes sense in light of the gospel. And so Paul's going to tell him that. And then he's going to tell him why Jesus does this. Like, why does Jesus and how does he reframe the story? We'll keep reading. Verse 24. He talks about Jesus. Before his coming to public attention, John the Baptist had previously proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. Now, as John was completing his mission, he said to his disciples, Who do you think I am? I am not the guy, but one is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie his sandals. In other words, like someone is coming, it's not me. And verse 26, he says, Brothers and sisters, children of Abraham's race, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the word of salvation has been sent. Since the residents of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus or the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath, it talks about him. They have fulfilled their words by condemning him. And now we're at the end of Jesus' life. Verse 28. And though they found no grounds for the death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him killed. And when they carried out all that has been written about him, there is an author to this story. They took him down from the tree, put him in a tomb, and happy Easter. God raised him from the dead. And then he says this, and he appeared for many days to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. And we are now his witnesses to these people. He says, Hey, you can fact check this. He appeared to five hundred other people. And then verse 32, and we ourselves proclaim to you the gospel, the good news of the promise that was made to our ancestors. God has fulfilled this for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. Okay, which leads us to the next clear impact of the gospel.Anywhere the gospel goes, anywhere it is spoken clearly, the gospel exalts Jesus. It exalts Jesus. Literally, the word here is Jesus was raised twice here. He was exalted above every prophet, every king, every teacher, and every name, because every other person in the story, every other religious leader died and didn't come back to life. But this Jesus died and he came back. He was raised. Here's the point. If we want to preach a clear gospel and the truest thing about Jesus, we must preach. He is the resurrected, exalted king, which is what Paul does next with this David stuff. He's basically going to say next, hey, all those prophecies about David were ultimately about Jesus. Look at verse 34. As to his raising from the dead, never to decay, David, he has spoken in this way I will give you the holy and sure promises of David. Therefore, he also says in another passage, you will not let your holy ones see decay. For David, here it is, after serving God's purposes in his own generation, fell asleep, he died, and was buried with his father, and he decayed. But the one God raised up did not decay. Or in other words, David dead, decayed, but Jesus did not. And then we get this massive verse, okay, in verse 38. But therefore, like it's all built into this. Here's Paul's whole sermon, my whole sermon. He's talking about the history of Jesus, how he was buried, he was exalted, he didn't see decay. Why, Paul? Why? Therefore, look at verse 38. Therefore, let it be known to you, my brothers and sisters, that through this man forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed to you. That's the offer of the gospel. And our next impact of the gospel in a city, the gospel offers forgiveness. It offers forgiveness. Okay, guys, which is massive here, okay? If you've been following Jesus or you know about Christianity and your relationship with God, you know this. There's a lot of things you need to happen. Okay, you need holiness, you need a new heart, you need a new identity, a new family, you need a new last name, you need healing, you need salvation, you need cleansing, you need a lot of stuff. And it's hard to separate all those things, I just said. But you want to know what's at the top of the list, what's at the core of our needs? You need forgiveness. Forgiveness. That all of us are guilty, and we all need forgiveness. You don't come to Jesus just to get encouragement or just to get advice or like a better version of yourself. No, you and I and everybody in this room and in this world have sinned against the holy God. Because of that, we find ourselves guilty, and we need forgiveness. We need our sins forgiven. And that's what Paul says. He says, that's what Jesus offers to you. And so, how do you get it? Well, in the next verse, he's gonna tell us. Look at verse 39. Everyone who believes, praise God, is justified through him from everything that you could not be justified through the law of Moses. So, in other words, here's what he's saying. There are two ways, two paths that people try to find right standing before this holy God. Two ways. One way is through the law. Okay, in other words, hey, give me some rules. I will obey it to a T. Let me try to earn my spot. Let me try to make up for what I've done wrong. And what Paul says this, he pulls the rug on it. He says, You cannot be justified through the law of Moses, which is bad news for us until you get to the good news, because Paul says there is another way, and it's the path, not of works, but of grace. Can you see it? That forgiveness, it's not earned, it's given. And how do we receive this grace? It says this everyone who believes or has faith is justified through him. I was at the park like three days ago, and I met this woman, and she came up to me, and she's Catholic. And she told me she has two big qualms or frustration with us Protestants. Uh, the first is she has she has a problem with the fact that we can't lose our salvation once we truly have it, uh, which is an interesting conversation. But then she said this. She said, I have a problem with how you believe the gospel pays for all your sins. And she said this, no joke. She said, I like waking up every morning trying to earn my standing before God and prove to him that he loves me. And so I'm listening to this from this woman, and you know what I'm thinking? That's the same burden that Paul is trying to lift off people here. And so, if there are people in this room who are trying to figure out Christianity, or maybe you come from a background like this, I want you to hear this very clearly. You have sinned, yes. And you need forgiveness, absolutely, but you're only going to find that forgiveness through faith in Jesus. Not through working it up, not from waking up and trying to earn it, but by fully trusting the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. And so I say to all of us in this room, 38, therefore let it be known, brothers and sisters, that the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed through Jesus Christ. That is the offer that is before us, forgiveness of sins. And guys, that's an offer that demands a response. Okay, which is the final impact of the gospel. It demands a response, uh, which is how we're gonna end here in Acts 13. Because we're not gonna read it all, but Paul, he's gonna finish his sermon. And then look at verse 42. Skip down. It says, as they were leaving, the people urged them to speak about these matters next week. And so some people hear it and they're like, dude, tell me more about Jesus. And then the next verse, it says, Many gather, and then the next verse, like the whole town is coming to hear about Jesus. It's a great response. But then look at verse 45. Look down at verse 45. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what Paul was saying, insulting him. So what do you have here? The same gospel message, but a different response. Some people give us more, some people get angry, some believe, others oppose, some rejoice, and others reject. But guys, look at verse 48. Who gets the end of the story? Verse 48. But when the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced, and they honored the word of the Lord. And look at this. All who had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord spread throughout the whole region. Why? Because when you drop something significant in a life or in a city or a culture, it changes everything. And guys, the message of the gospel, it's not like other messages. You're gonna get dozens of text messages today that don't have a big impact on your life, but this one message is different than those messages. The claims of this gospel, they're too big and they're too far-reaching. You can't possibly do nothing with this. Okay, no response to the gospel is a response. You gotta do something with Jesus. And once you do, it changes everything. Like its impact on your life, like it disrupts comfort. Like you're at work and you feel like you should share the gospel with people. That's uncomfortable, but it makes you uncomfortable. It exposes darkness in your life, it reframes your whole story, and what it does is it exalts Jesus in your heart because he has given you forgiveness of sins, and you forgive other people, and you share the gospel in the city, and it changes everything, and it demands a response. And guys, if you've been following Jesus and you're like, yeah, it demanded a response when I heard the gospel for the first time. No, no, no, you misunderstand it. The gospel always demands a response. Every day it demands a response on our lives to again trust Jesus, to again expose darkness, confess sins. I talked to someone who claims to be a believer recently and I asked him, when's the last time you confessed sins? He said, five years ago. Guys, that's not it. We're called to continually bring out darkness in our lives to forgive, to reframe our story, because we're not the main character of the story. The exalted King Jesus is, and we play a part in that. And to that end, let me pray that the gospel would fall in Denton and in our hearts and change this room and change the world. Lord, I'm so thankful for a gospel that makes me uncomfortable even as I preach. One that just in the past week I have seen wanting people to show me more grace than I'm willing to show other people who cut me off in the street, who say something foolish, I think, to me. And I just get so upset, Lord. The darkness comes back in my heart. God, I pray for our people that you'd give them sober-mindedness, not just to see sin in leaders, in politicians, in other people in our lives. God, today, would you, like David, praise? God, show us our heart, the hidden things that we don't even see. Lord, would you reveal it to us? And would today be the day that we confess sin to other people? God, would it not be five years from now that we confess sin for the next time? Lord, let it be today. God, we're so thankful for forgiveness of sins. And so, Lord, as people do feel conviction of sin in their life, would they at the same time and in a sweeter way feel the forgiveness because of the blood of Jesus Christ? I'm so thankful that our hope is found in Christ alone. And God, as we sing about this Lamb that was lifted up, don't just exalt Jesus on a cross 2,000 years ago. Exalt Jesus in the hearts of every single believer. We pray. It's in Jesus' name. Amen.