In Scripture, we read how God appointed individuals for special roles throughout redemptive history. In this sermon, R.C. Sproul walks us through Paul’s sermon at Antioch, explaining why God chose David to be king: to be the ancestor of a greater King, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us turn our attention again to the book of Acts, where we will be reading from Acts 13:13–26:

Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.”

Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness. And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment.

“After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus— after John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not He. But behold, there comes One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.’

He who has ears to hear the Word of God, let him hear. Let us pray.

Father, as we have the opportunity once again to eavesdrop, as it were, on the Apostolic preaching of the gospel, we pray that You would give us the capacity to imagine we were there when Paul set forth Your Word to the people, and that You would give us the capacity to hear and believe the import of those words. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Paul and Barnabas’ Travels

In Acts 13, we have the first New Testament record of a sermon preached by the Apostle Paul. Before we look at the content of that sermon, we see a few words of transition from where we left off before in chapter 13, where Paul and Barnabas carried out a remarkable ministry on the island of Cyprus.

Luke tells us beginning in verse 13, “When Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.” These few words seem to be almost insignificant, just giving us a bit of geography and itinerary to prepare us for the sermon. But I suggest to you that between the lines, there are some weighty things being reported to us that we need to notice before we look at Paul’s sermon.

We are told that they set sail from the western boundary, the port of Paphos in Cyprus, which was a city known for its shrine to the pagan goddess Venus, who was celebrated through temple prostitution. They crossed the ocean into Asia Minor to what is now Turkey, where they landed on the coast at Perga, which was a pagan center of devotion to the goddess Diana, though not to the degree found in the great Temple of Ephesus that we will learn about later. But then, from Perga, they went inland to Pisidia in Antioch.

John Mark’s Departure

In the meantime, we get a footnote that when Paul and Barnabas began to set sail to Asia Minor, John Mark left and went back to Jerusalem. Luke does not tell us why he left, but he had signed up for the duration. We know in Acts 15 that when Barnabas wanted to bring John Mark back into their mission enterprise, Paul would have none of it because it was obvious that Paul was disturbed by John Mark’s early departure from this mission.

We do not know for sure why John Mark left, but most commentators feel free to speculate and guess the probable cause for his early departure. What was subtly announced here was a shift of leadership in this first missionary journey.

If you recall, it began when God set apart Barnabas to go on this mission enterprise, and Barnabas selected Saul, also known as Paul, to be his associate. Then Barnabas brought along his nephew, John Mark, as his helper. When they started out, Barnabas was in charge. But it is clear from this point through the rest of the book of Acts that the one in charge of this missionary enterprise was the Apostle Paul. That shift took place right here when they left Cyprus and went to Asia Minor.

From my experience working in organizations over my lifetime, any time new management comes in, people get nervous. Some of them revolt and rebel because they do not like to go through change, or they resent the one in the new position of leadership over them. They were accustomed to following somebody else, but now authority has transferred, and they are not happy. You see this regularly in workplaces.

It is somewhat comforting to me to know that this kind of thing went on even in the pristine purity of the early Apostolic community. But when those resentments occur in organizations, it is particularly difficult when somebody in a position of authority is demoted, and somebody who was under that person’s leadership is promoted over him. That seems to be what was happening here in Acts 13. John Mark did not like that his uncle had been displaced and replaced by Paul.

If that were the case, can you imagine someone being upset because, in the providence of God, they were called to follow Paul the Apostle? But that is the way it is. You can be as good a manager and leader as Saint Paul and still have to deal with this kind of thing that goes on everywhere. We must be careful that we are not like John Mark in response to where God has placed us in the enterprise of the kingdom of God. Rather, we should be willing to be faithful wherever God pleases to put us.

It is possible, however, that what I have just said was not the reason for John Mark’s departure. It is possible that when John Mark understood the itinerary, that was what sent him back to Jerusalem. We see that they went to Perga on the coast of Asia Minor, not to stay there, but to move inland to the city of Antioch.

The Perils of Antioch

We have talked about Antioch before. Does this mean that Paul and Barnabas have come full circle, and went back to where their missionary enterprise started in Antioch? No, this was a different Antioch. This was Pisidia Antioch in Asia Minor, which now is the country of Turkey.

If you went a few miles north of that city, you would find still a third town by the name of Antioch. All three towns that we hear of in the New Testament were named in honor of the successor to Alexander the Great among the Seleucids, the man known as Antiochus the Great. Three cities were built to honor him.

What is significant about Antioch’s location is that in the ancient world, the inland route from Perga to Pisidia Antioch went between mountains and was notorious as a haven for highway bandits and robbers. It was exceedingly dangerous to make that journey overland through a place surrounded by caravan robbers and so on.

In 2 Corinthians 11, when Paul defended his honor against the charges of his opponents carping against his ministry, he said: “If you want to talk like a fool, I’ll speak like a fool. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.” Paul went on and told them: “I have been in danger daily in my ministry. I’ve been in peril in the city, peril on the highway, and peril in the water.” He elaborated on all the places where his ministry had taken place in dangerous territories and situations. Some speculate that this trip to Antioch was one of the perilous locations he had in mind, so maybe that was why John Mark left, but we do not know for sure.

Paul Begins to Preach

When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Antioch, they went to the synagogue, as was the custom on the Sabbath day, and they sat down. Luke continues, “And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, ‘Men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.’”

Evidently, Paul’s renown as a rabbinic scholar had gone before him to these Jewish outposts in Asia Minor, so that he was probably known by name when he showed up on the Sabbath day as a guest in the synagogue. They likely thought: “This is Saul of Tarsus. This is the main student of Gamaliel.” A rabbi with those credentials was automatically given an invitation to address the congregation, just as Jesus was given when He came back to Capernaum to speak in the synagogue.

Saul took advantage of the invitation, and we read that he stood up, motioned with his hand, and said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God,” because the group contained not only the pure Jews, but also the God-fearers from the Gentile community who were there. He said to them, “Listen.” I say that to you now: listen to what the Apostle said.

Paul’s Summation of Redemption

Around Easter time, one of my favorite texts is the one that tells about the disciples walking on the way to Emmaus after what they perceived to be the calamitous events that had taken place in Jerusalem. They were walking along dejected and confused, and Jesus, whom they did not recognize, stepped alongside them and heard them talking about all the bad things that had just taken place in Jerusalem.

Jesus innocently said to them, “What things?” They told Him about how they put their hopes in a man they thought might be the Messiah but that He died on a cross instead. They recounted that some people were even saying He had been raised from the dead. He said: “Really? Tell me about it.” Jesus talked to these men.

We are told that on the road to Emmaus, Jesus, beginning with Moses, set forth from all the Old Testament Scriptures how the Messiah that was promised would die and suffer, be humiliated, and be raised from the dead. Notice that when Jesus first preached the gospel after His resurrection, He did it by giving an overview, a historical reconnaissance of the purposes of God throughout the Old Testament.

Paul did exactly the same thing. He gave a capsule summation of the history of redemption, beginning with the patriarchs. Listen to what he said: “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: The God of this people Israel chose our fathers.” He started with the doctrine that many ministers flee from, the doctrine of election: “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt.” That is a euphemism. They dwelt in Egypt as slaves.

Paul went on and said, “And with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it.” He called attention to the liberation of the slaves through the Exodus. He continued, “Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness.” That is a one-sentence summary of the wilderness wanderings in which the liberated people of Israel did nothing but murmur, complain, and wish they could go back to Egypt—back to the leeks, garlic, and onions where they thought they had it so good. Paul used the language of medicine in this text. He talked about God being a nurse who must help a child who is incapable of taking care of itself. God had to nurse the people of Israel through forty years in their wilderness.

Then God gave to them, as he says, “seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment.” Here we have the entire books of Joshua and Numbers in one sentence. Then, Paul says, “After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.”

From Patriarchs to Judges to Kings

Let us recapitulate. We start with the patriarch, the promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, then on to Joseph. Then they were sent down into Egypt. When the people of Israel were in Egypt, they became enslaved. They cried out, and God heard the groans of His people and sent Moses to lead them in the Exodus. Then, as He tenderly cared for them through the wilderness journey, God prepared them for the conquest of Canaan through Joshua. Then we have the distribution of the land through the book of Numbers to the tribes.

We are told, for about four hundred and fifty years, the Jewish people were ruled by charismatic leaders. They were not elected or reigning by royal dynasty. Rather, God raised up individuals and anointed them with His Holy Spirit to rescue God’s people in times of trouble. Gideon, Samson, Deborah, and so on; these were the judges who ruled over Israel.

At that time, Israel was a loosely federated group of individual tribes. But they were not satisfied. Their God delivered them time after time, but they wanted to be like everyone else. They wanted to be like the other nations of the world. They wanted to have a king. So, they clamored for a king during the ministry of Samuel.

In response to their crying out for a king, God said to Israel: “You want a king? Are you sure? You know what the king is going to do? He is going to put a tax on your property, a tax on your income, a tax on your horses, and a tax on everything else he can find to tax. Then he is going to take your sons and put them in his army and deploy to many places. He is going to confiscate your property for the general coffers.” He said: “That’s what kings do. Is that what you want?”

God is the kind of God who hears and answers prayers. You must be careful what you ask for because you might get it. In this case, God said: “The people have rejected Me as their King and they want a king like the nations. So, Samuel, find them a king.”

God directed Israel to Saul as their king. Paul went on to say that Saul, a Benjaminite, became king for forty years. Forty years of madness at the beginning of the monarchy. Nowhere in the Old Testament do we hear how long Saul reigned in Israel, but here in the New Testament, Paul said that he ruled for forty years, and that is the exact number given to us by Josephus in his Jewish history.

The Man after God’s Own Heart

Everything in Paul’s sermon that began with the promise to Abraham and the fathers and came down to Saul was pointing to one significant thing, and this is what we need to understand. Paul was bringing his hearers up to date with respect to David.

Listen to what Paul said about David. God gave them Saul, “And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’”

One of the things I love about the Scriptures is that the heroes and heroines of the Bible are profiled for us, warts and all. We know that before David ascended to the throne, he was ruthless and brutal in the wilderness, leading his troops in raids against the Philistines and others, and even against Saul’s troops. We know that after he became king, as brilliant as he was, as talented as he was, the shepherd-king, the poet-king, and so on, nevertheless, he became the chief of sinners in the scandalous episode with Bathsheba.

But in spite of his sin, in spite of his shortcomings, God saw something in David that no one else could see. He could see beneath David’s armor and into his heart. He said of David: “I will give them a king who is a man after My own heart. I’m not just going to give them a king who is big in stature, handsome, and qualified as a warrior. I’m not just going to choose someone who is a great administrator. I’m not choosing David because of his talent; I’m choosing him because he’s a man after My own heart.”

Christian, what God loves are believers who do not just give a casual interest in the things of God, who do not just show up in church once or twice a month for public worship, but then the rest of the time, they spin their wheels. They are not really, body and soul, throwing themselves into the things of God. David would not be satisfied with anything less than the heart of God. David was not satisfied with just His Word or just His house: “I want to know the heart of God.”

That should be what enflames our own souls. This is what Jesus had in mind in the Beatitudes when He said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matt. 5:6). Those are people who are after God’s own heart. Do you want His heart? That made David stand out from all the rest so that God could speak of him as the apple of His eye.

The Essence of the Gospel

Then comes this portion of the text: “From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus— after John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not He. But behold, there comes One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.’”

I am pressed by the clock this morning, but I am going to forget it for the next few minutes because this is too important. This is how Paul preached the gospel. Paul drove his words, his message, with the first major point: David. He reminded the Jewish people that when they looked back at the golden age of Israel, God made a covenant with David and promised them a kingdom that would last forever through David’s greater Son, who would also be David’s Lord.

Many years ago, I taught a course on Romans in Cincinnati, Ohio for an hour and forty-five minutes every Sunday night. We went for over a year. We went verse by verse, word for word, line upon line, precept upon precept. I labored with our people in the church over Paul’s teaching to the Romans and the gospel of justification by faith alone.

After I was past chapter 6, the session asked me to go to Fort Lauderdale and visit the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, which at that time was involved in explosive growth because of a new program called “Evangelism Explosion,” where the laity was mobilized to go out and give the gospel to people in the neighborhood. Clergy came to the Coral Ridge conferences to learn the program.

I went as a student, and I listened to their canned presentation of the gospel. I said: “This is contrived. It’s too simple.” The church laymen went out and talked to people, presenting a specific outline of the gospel, and I was saw many people converted.

They asked people certain questions, such as, “Have you come to the place in your thinking where you know for sure that when you die, you are going to go to heaven?” What would you say if somebody said that to you? I knew that if I said that to somebody, and they said to me, “I don’t believe there is a heaven,” I’d say, “Let me give you thirty-five arguments for the existence of heaven.”

Instead, the laymen would say: “Suppose there is one. Do you think you would go there?” That was the end of the discussion because all they wanted to find out from that question is where the people were in their thinking. Then came the big diagnostic question: “If you were to die tonight and stand before God, and God said to you, ‘Why should I let you into My heaven,’ what would you say?”

I asked my son that question when he was five or six years old. I said, “Son, if you were to die tonight and you saw God, and God said, ‘Why should I let you into My heaven,’ what would you say?” He looked at me like that was the dumbest question he’d ever heard. He said, “Because I’m dead.” Right then, I realized he was getting his theology not from his father but from the unbelieving world, because in our culture, the belief is justification by death alone. All you must do to go to heaven is to die.

I watched the evangelism method in action through the Coral Ridge Church and then went back to Cincinnati. The next Sunday night, we had our class on Romans, and I decided to ask everybody in that class those two questions. So, I went around the room and asked everyone—150 people—what they would say if they stood before God.

Of those people, 80 percent of them gave a works righteousness answer. They said something like this: “God, I try to live a good life,” or, “I regularly go to church,” or, “I go to Sunday school,” or, “I financially support the church.” They said just about everything except affirming that they had put their trust in Christ and in Christ alone.

I was almost in despair. I had just spent almost a year explaining the gospel to them and they did not get it. I was under the incorrect impression that all we had to do was educate people into the kingdom. It does not work like that. While I was going through all the details along the way, I never stopped and gave them the big picture, the big question, and brought them face-to-face with the essence of the gospel itself.

The Gospel Is Jesus

That was what Paul did. He spent just a few minutes going all over the Old Testament, but then he drove the point to Christ. What is Paul’s version of the gospel? When Paul preached the gospel, he did not say, “Let me tell you who changed my life,” or, “Let me tell you how you can have a wonderful personal relationship with Jesus.”

This is where Paul started every time he preached the gospel: Christ was born according to the Scripture as the seed of David. The gospel has to do with a proclamation of what happened in history in the person and work of Jesus. Paul took them from David and fast forwarded to John the Baptist—who in the early church was more famous than Jesus because he renewed the office of prophecy—and Paul reminded them of John’s testimony.

Paul said: “Don’t get confused. God promised the Messiah through the seed of David, and it wasn’t John the Baptist, by John’s own testimony. John said: ‘Why are you asking me who I am? I am not He. The One who comes after me is before me. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’”

In antiquity, the lowest task of a menial slave was to untie and loosen the sandals of the nobility. What a humiliating task. I am still struggling to get over a muscle problem, and I have come a great way. I can comb my hair, I can reach out, and I can raise my hand. One thing I still cannot do is put my socks on. Every morning is humiliating for me. I get my socks out of the drawer, and I say, “Vesta, honey, can you put my socks on?” She does not mind. She says, “I’m happy to.” But I feel almost like I am putting her in a position of slavery to have her stoop over to put my socks on. Well, John said, “I am not even worthy to help Jesus with His sandals,” because the gospel is Jesus.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.