The Word Made Plain

Guest (Female): Welcome to the Word Made Plain with senior pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 13, verses 42 through 47.

Tony Clark: All right, let's dive into the word of God together. Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 13 as we continue our verse-by-verse study through the book of Acts.

We find ourselves in verses 42 to 47 as we continue to go through the word of God chapter by chapter, verse by verse, and book by book. There is no better way of going through God's word.

And Father, thank you so much that you have blessed us to be here this morning. We pray that your Holy Spirit will come and brood over us, oh God. Give us ears to hear what the spirit of God is going to say to us today. And Lord, I just pray that you would speak into our hearts. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Acts chapter 13, looking at verses 42 to 47. The title of this message is "Cravings." Cravings. Now cravings can be described as a powerful desire for something. Most people have cravings for certain foods, especially you ladies when you are expecting. You have these weird cravings.

Others like me have cravings for sweets and desserts. I always have that craving. Always. And finally, there are those who crave attention, prestige, or power. However, the real question for us today to ponder is: do you crave the word of God, the Bible?

In these verses, we will see what happens when our craving for the word of God is at an all-time high. Now, by way of background, Paul is still giving a sermon to the people in the synagogue of the city of Antioch of Pisidia.

The purpose of this history lesson was to ultimately point these people to Jesus Christ. He brought up their greatest king, David, in verse 36 and how he was a great king and served his generation by the will of God. However, he died and was buried.

But he showed them that Jesus came on the scene and it was through him and his death on the cross and resurrection that we have forgiveness of our sins. However, he did not stay dead; God raised him from the dead according to verse 34.

Then Paul gives them in verse 41 a warning from the Old Testament book of Habakkuk in chapter 1, verse 5, that there are consequences if we reject the message of Jesus Christ. So what happened when the people heard this powerful message from Paul?

Look what it says there in verse 42: "So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath." So as the service was over and they were leaving, the Gentiles, who were the non-Jews, they begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.

The Greek word for "begged" is *parakaleo*, and it means to come alongside, to entreat, to exhort, or to console. The tense of this Greek word means that they came to Paul and they kept begging him to preach these words to them over and over on the next Sabbath.

And this is the power of the teaching of the word of God. Once it is taught correctly, it creates a desire for more of the word. I am reminded of what Peter said in 1 Peter 2:2. He confirms this truth: "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby."

The Greek word for "desire" is *epipotheo*, and it means an intense craving, a yearning, or desire. The idea is of a newborn babe—or the Greek word for newborn means a just-now-born baby—craves, desires, or yearns for the milk from its mother.

And that little baby will cry and kick and scream until he or she gets it. And the question we have to ponder in our hearts: do you crave or desire or yearn for the pure milk of the word of God this way? And do you kick and scream and yell until you get it?

This is how I was when I first got exposed to the verse-by-verse teaching of God's word through Calvary Chapels. I was listening to the Christian radio station called K-WAVE in California. And once I got exposed to this style of teaching through the Bible, it created in me, just like these people, a desire for more and more of the word.

I was begging for more. I could not wait until I got in my car again the next day to hear more. I wanted more and more. And as I listened, like these Gentiles, it created a desire for more, like it says there in verse 42.

I am reminded of what Job 23:12 says: "I desire God's word more than my necessary food." Job was saying that I would rather feast upon God's word more than—notice—more than my necessary food, meaning the food that I need to sustain myself, the fruits and vegetables and nuts and the things that are necessary for my body.

He said, "I desire God's word more than my necessary food." Is that the cry of your heart today? Do you desire God's word? Do you crave it to the point where you are going to kick and scream until you get it?

Do you crave and desire the word of God like Job did, like Peter said, like a newborn baby desires, yearns for the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby? Well, what happens is too often we are pigging out on the junk food of this world: on its music, on its entertainment, on its movies.

And it is robbing us of our desire for the pure milk of the word. We have no appetite for it because we are too full of the things of the world. Now, one thing that I love—and I know you health food people trip out—you will be okay. I love chips. Chips are just good. Doritos, good chips. I just love chips.

Now, I can sit down and I have to force myself to stop eating the bag or I will finish the bag off. Now, if I eat some chips and my wife is preparing dinner, it does not matter what she prepared, I will not have a desire for that good meal she prepared because I am pigging out on chips.

And many of you are pigging out on the chips of this world and wonder why you have no appetite for the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. I cannot grow physically on chips. Oh, I can grow around my waistline physically from chips, but no kid can grow up just eating chips and think he can just grow into a healthy person.

But that is how we look spiritually: malnourished, stunted growth because we are pigging out on the junk food of this world and we wonder why we have no craving, no desire, no intense yearning for the word of God. And when we think about reading the Bible, we are like, "Ugh." And we wonder why we have no appetite for it. And this is the reason why.

Look what he says there in verse 43: "Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God."

So as the congregation was breaking up, there were some Jews and devout proselytes. The devout proselytes were those non-Jews who had embraced Judaism and even perhaps submitted to being circumcised. They wanted to continue the conversation with Paul and Barnabas.

However, they encouraged them to continue in the grace of God. There is something I want to bring to your attention. It is one thing to be saved by the grace of God. Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, it is the gift of God, not of yourself, lest any man should boast."

But we need God's grace to continue in the faith as well. 2 Peter 3:18 says, "But grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." So yes, we need grace that saves us, but we need grace to continue in that salvation.

And he tells them, Paul and Barnabas told the new believers even in this city of Antioch of Syria where they came from (which is different from Antioch of Pisidia where they just left). Antioch of Syria, he told them in Acts 11:23, they encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.

The 3,000 souls that were saved in Acts 2:41, it says in Acts 2:42—the very next verse—that they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. The way that you know that your salvation is genuine—oh, please do not miss this—the way that you know your salvation is genuine is that you will continue in the faith.

And you will have an intense craving for the word of God. Or as Acts 2:42 says, you know that your salvation experience is genuine because you will continue steadfastly in God's word, in fellowship (or coming to church), the breaking of bread (celebrating communion together), and prayer.

I have to ask you: does this describe your salvation experience? Are you continuing in the faith? Do you have an intense craving for God's word? And are you a person of prayer? These are the marks of a true Christian. So they encouraged them to continue in the grace of God.

What happened next? Look at verse 44: "On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God." Oh, how I long to see this happen in our city, that you would be so excited for the word of God being taught that you go out and tell as many people as you can to come hear the teaching of the word of God.

Chapter by chapter, verse by verse, book by book from Genesis through Revelation. So the whole city would be coming out to hear God's word taught. Oh, how I long to see that happen. This is the philosophy of Calvary Chapels: healthy sheep reproduce.

And the natural byproduct of healthy sheep is evangelism. You will go out and tell others about Jesus Christ and the church feeding you God's word. For example, a shepherd does not have to tell the sheep, "Now, you sheep, reproduce right now."

He does not have to tell the sheep to reproduce; they naturally do it when they are healthy, when they are properly fed. The byproduct of healthy sheep: they will naturally reproduce. And this is what happened in the early days of Calvary Chapels and what happened in this verse.

They went out and talked about the teaching of Paul, and the whole city came out the following week. Oh, I long to see that happen, not only here in Newport News but in cities across this country, that people would come out and hear the teaching of the word of God.

There is another saying in Calvary Chapel: "Simply teach the word simply." And that's what we seek to do. We are not going to be up here trying to impress you with theatrics. We are going to just let the word of God feed you. You need to be fed the word because you are sheep, you are God's sheep.

Sheep need to be fed. Feed you the word of God, all that God says. And what happens is because the Bible says in the book of Isaiah it says that he shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God—speaking of Jesus. And he is a wonderful counselor.

And what happens is as the word of God is going forth, he's counseling you through the word of all kind of issues and problems and situations that you have. We leave you in God's hands. We do not want you co-dependent on us. We have nothing for you.

We just give you this word and leave you in God's hands. That is what they are doing here. Told them to continue in the grace of God, continue with the Lord. Do not look to us. And I'm going to tell you now: do not look to us. We are just giving you this word.

We are teaching you how to depend on God and look to him for your help because some of the mess and twisted up mess y'all got yourselves in, we cannot help you. Man cannot help you. There is not a man on the face of the earth that can untwine that web you spun.

We cannot help you. Only God can. And so this is why we are teaching you about the love of God, the grace of God, the forgiveness of God, the mercy of God, teaching you God's word, feeding you God's word so you can look to him because we have absolutely nothing for you.

"Can you help me, Pastor Tony?" No. No. God can. I cannot help you. I am not ashamed to say that either. Aren't you supposed to be the one who has the answers? No. I did not make this book. This is where your answers are.

I am so set free, you know that? I am so set free. "What is wrong with you? Oh, I got some real issues to deal with with these people." No, I don't. You are God's people. Leave you in God's hands. Amen. That is why I teach you what God's word has to say so you can look to him.

Oh, that is the greatest thing any pastor can ever do: to teach you to look past him and look to the cross, look to him. Look at verses 45 to 47. It says, "But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul."

"Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, 'It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us: "I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth."'"

Now, the conjunction "but" that starts verse 45 means that this verse is in direct contrast to verse 44. In verse 44, everyone was excited and wanted to hear the word of God, but when the Jews saw the multitude—almost the whole city came out—surely they were happy, right? Surely they had to have been.

No. They were filled with envy and they started contradicting and blaspheming. They opposed the things spoken by Paul. Instead of being happy about seeing the entire city turn to God, they saw that they were no longer in control of the religious affairs of the city.

Now Paul and Barnabas were. So they turned Paul's teaching into a public debate. And they started contradicting. That Greek word "contradicting" is *antilego*, and it indicates that they were continually speaking against Paul's message, attempting to refute him.

They were not content with a heated debate with Paul and Barnabas; they also were blaspheming by speaking against Jesus Christ. Oh, let me pause here to point out the classic signs of jealousy and envy. It can happen with family members and especially with people on the job.

When you are jealous or envious of someone who is being promoted over you or being shown favor, the first sign of your jealousy is that you will start to contradict what that person is saying or has said. The second sign is you will start to speak nasty, blasphemous things about that person, attacking their character.

Posting ugly things about them on social media. If you are doing this, you are a classic hater is what you are. A classic hater. And you are sipping on Haterade is what you are doing. Jealous, envious. And you are no different than these religious leaders.

As soon as they saw the entire city coming out to hear what Paul and Barnabas had to say, they start hating because they were the religious instructors of the people in the city of Antioch of Pisidia. And now everybody has come out to hear Paul and Barnabas.

So they started contradicting. And why did they not do that in the synagogue when they were all inside? It was cool as long as we're in here. Yeah, cool, okay, yeah, good job, good job. Then when the people start gathering around Paul and Barnabas, they're like, "Uh, what's going on here?"

And they started—they pulled out a nice six-pack of Haterade and started downing them one by one and started contradicting and blaspheming what was being said. And that can happen to any of us. Any of us when we allow jealousy and envy to creep in our lives.

And you see it all the time on social media, people posting all kind of ugly things, blasphemous things about people. You know what kills me more than anything else? I am amazed on how so many people know how to pastor a church better than a pastor.

"This is how you should do it. This is what you should have said. You should not have said that. You should not have gone there." What do you do for a job? "Well, I am an electrician." Then go be an electrician. Leave pastoring to us. If we are off base, God is going to deal with us.

I think God is big enough to deal with us. But people are nasty today. And social media is just bringing out what has always been in there and giving people a platform. People are nasty. So if you are a hater and you have jealousy and envy, it will come out. Just the right situation has not approached you yet.

But when it does, it will come right out and you will just start spewing, speaking blasphemous things and contradicting. "Well, you know, they said that this is the best way to do it, but you know, in my years of experience, I think this is the best—" See, you start speaking against what that person has said. You are hating on them. Stop. Stop. Repent of that nasty attitude because you will be no different than them.

However, Paul and Barnabas did not just sit back and take what they were saying. I'm glad. Verse 46 said that they grew bold and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first," which is a reference to the Jewish people as a whole.

"But since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles." They were the ones in verse 42 that came out of the synagogue and begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.

They said, "Okay, you guys do not want to hear this good old everlasting life? Okay, you heard it, now you rejected it. That is fine. We are going to turn to somebody who wants to hear it." And this is a classic thing. If someone rejects the message you are trying to share with them about Jesus Christ and the gospel, do not get in your feelings like they rejected you.

No, they did not reject you. They rejected the message. Just go—God has somebody else who wants to hear it that is waiting. They are begging for someone to tell them how to have everlasting life. So do not get in your feelings when people come against you like they did. Just go to the next person.

See, when a person hears the gospel message and rejects it, it shows that they are unworthy of everlasting life. I pray that this is not anyone in here today, that you hear the word of God and you are rejecting it. I pray that that is not anyone here today.

So what happened next? Well, you've got to wait until next week before we jump into a whole another section because we've got to finish up that chapter. Let me conclude with this. When a person hears the gospel message and rejects it, this is why the Bible says man will be without excuse when he stands before God.

Guest (Female): If the Word Made Plain has been a source of inspiration and encouragement to you, why not consider becoming a Word Made Plain giving partner to keep this listener-supported program on the air? As a giving partner, you join forces with Calvary Chapel Newport News's Kingdom vision of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can make your tax-deductible gift online at CalvaryNN.org or send your gift of any amount to 15531 Warwick Boulevard, Newport News, Virginia 23608 and receive a gift from Calvary Chapel Newport News as our thank you. In addition to your financial support, we ask that you pray for the Word Made Plain broadcast, that it touches hearts and generates change in the lives of people around the world. We pray you've been blessed by God's word today and hope you'll tune in next time to hear the Word Made Plain.