301 “But now those who are younger than I have me in derision,
whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs. 2 Of what use is the strength of their hands to me,
men in whom ripe age has perished? 3 They are gaunt from lack and famine.
They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation. 4 They pluck salt herbs by the bushes.
The roots of the broom are their food. 5 They are driven out from the midst of men.
They cry after them as after a thief; 6 So that they dwell in frightful valleys,
and in holes of the earth and of the rocks. 7 Among the bushes they bray;
and under the nettles they are gathered together. 8 They are children of fools, yes, children of base men.
They were flogged out of the land. 9 “Now I have become their song.
Yes, I am a byword to them. 10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me,
and don’t hesitate to spit in my face. 11 For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me;
and they have thrown off restraint before me. 12 On my right hand rise the rabble.
They thrust aside my feet,
They cast up against me their ways of destruction. 13 They mar my path,
They set forward my calamity,
without anyone’s help. 14 As through a wide breach they come,
in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves in.
15 Terrors have turned on me.
They chase my honor as the wind.
My welfare has passed away as a cloud. 16 “Now my soul is poured out within me.
Days of affliction have taken hold on me. 17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me,
and the pains that gnaw me take no rest. 18 By great force is my garment disfigured.
It binds me about as the collar of my coat. 19 He has cast me into the mire.
I have become like dust and ashes. 20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me.
I stand up, and you gaze at me. 21 You have turned to be cruel to me.
With the might of your hand you persecute me. 22 You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it.
You dissolve me in the storm. 23 For I know that you will bring me to death,
To the house appointed for all living. 24 “However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall?
Or in his calamity therefore cry for help? 25 Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble?
Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy? 26 When I looked for good, then evil came;
When I waited for light, there came darkness. 27 My heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest.
Days of affliction have come on me. 28 I go mourning without the sun.
I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help. 29 I am a brother to jackals,
and a companion to ostriches. 30 My skin grows black and peels from me.
My bones are burned with heat. 31 Therefore my harp has turned to mourning,
and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
311 “I made a covenant with my eyes,
how then should I look lustfully at a young woman? 2 For what is the portion from God above,
and the heritage from the Almighty on high? 3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,
and disaster to the workers of iniquity? 4 Doesn’t he see my ways,
and number all my steps? 5 “If I have walked with falsehood,
and my foot has hurried to deceit 6 (let me be weighed in an even balance,
that God may know my integrity); 7 if my step has turned out of the way,
if my heart walked after my eyes,
if any defilement has stuck to my hands, 8 then let me sow, and let another eat.
Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
9 “If my heart has been enticed to a woman,
and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door, 10 then let my wife grind for another,
and let others sleep with her. 11 For that would be a heinous crime.
Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges: 12 For it is a fire that consumes to destruction,
and would root out all my increase. 13 “If I have despised the cause of my male servant
or of my female servant,
when they contended with me; 14 What then shall I do when God rises up?
When he visits, what shall I answer him? 15 Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him?
Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?
16 “If I have withheld the poor from their desire,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, 17 or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the fatherless has not eaten of it 18 (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
her have I guided from my mother’s womb); 19 if I have seen any perish for want of clothing,
or that the needy had no covering; 20 if his heart hasn’t blessed me,
if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece; 21 if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,
because I saw my help in the gate, 22 then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,
and my arm be broken from the bone. 23 For calamity from God is a terror to me.
Because his majesty, I can do nothing.
24 “If I have made gold my hope,
and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’ 25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
and because my hand had gotten much; 26 if I have seen the sun when it shined,
or the moon moving in splendor, 27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, 28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
for I should have denied the God who is above. 29 “If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,
or lifted up myself when evil found him; 30 (yes, I have not allowed my mouth to sin
by asking his life with a curse); 31 if the men of my tent have not said,
‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’ 32 (the foreigner has not lodged in the street,
but I have opened my doors to the traveler);
33 if like Adam I have covered my transgressions,
by hiding my iniquity in my heart, 34 because I feared the great multitude,
and the contempt of families terrified me,
so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out of the door— 35 oh that I had one to hear me!
(behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me);
let the accuser write my indictment! 36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
and I would bind it to me as a crown. 37 I would declare to him the number of my steps.
as a prince would I go near to him. 38 If my land cries out against me,
and its furrows weep together; 39 if I have eaten its fruits without money,
or have caused its owners to lose their life, 40 let briars grow instead of wheat,
and stinkweed instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.
26 Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you. 27 For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn’t know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. 28 Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed. 29 When they had fulfilled all things that were written about him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people. 32 We bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33 that God has fulfilled the same to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm,
‘You are my Son.
Today I have become your father.’ [1] 34 “Concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ [2] 35 Therefore he says also in another psalm, ‘You will not allow your Holy One to see decay.’ [3] 36 For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, and was laid with his fathers, and saw decay. 37 But he whom God raised up saw no decay. 38 Be it known to you therefore, brothers [4], that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins, 39 and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 40 Beware therefore, lest that come on you which is spoken in the prophets: 41 ‘Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish;
for I work a work in your days,
a work which you will in no way believe, if one declares it to you.’” [5]
42 So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. 43 Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. 44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed. 46 Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, “It was necessary that God’s word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so has the Lord commanded us, saying,
‘I have set you as a light for the Gentiles,
that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.’” [6] 48 As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49 The Lord’s word was spread abroad throughout all the region. 50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their borders. 51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium. 52 The disciples were filled with joy with the Holy Spirit.
(Read Acts 13:14-31)
When we come together to worship God, we must do it, not only by prayer and praise, but by the reading and hearing of the word of God. The bare reading of the Scriptures in public assemblies is not enough; they should be expounded, and the people exhorted out of them. This is helping people in doing that which is necessary to make the word profitable, to apply it to themselves. Every thing is touched upon in this sermon, which might best prevail with Jews to receive and embrace Christ as the promised Messiah. And every view, however short or faint, of the Lord's dealings with his church, reminds us of his mercy and long-suffering, and of man's ingratitude and perverseness. Paul passes from David to the Son of David, and shows that this Jesus is his promised Seed; a Saviour to do that for them, which the judges of old could not do, to save them from their sins, their worst enemies. When the apostles preached Christ as the Saviour, they were so far from concealing his death, that they always preached Christ crucified. Our complete separation from sin, is represented by our being buried with Christ. But he rose again from the dead, and saw no corruption: this was the great truth to be preached.
(Read Acts 13:32-37)
The resurrection of Christ was the great proof of his being the Son of God. It was not possible he should be held by death, because he was the Son of God, and therefore had life in himself, which he could not lay down but with a design to take it again. The sure mercies of David are that everlasting life, of which the resurrection was a sure pledge; and the blessings of redemption in Christ are a certain earnest, even in this world. David was a great blessing to the age wherein he lived. We were not born for ourselves, but there are those living around us, to whom we must study to be serviceable. Yet here is the difference; Christ was to serve all generations. May we look to Him who is declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, that by faith in him we may walk with God, and serve our generation according to his will; and when death comes, may we fall asleep in him, with a joyful hope of a blessed resurrection.
(Read Acts 13:38-41)
Let all that hear the gospel of Christ, know these two things: 1. That through this Man, who died and rose again, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Your sins, though many and great, may be forgiven, and they may be so without any injury to God's honour. 2. It is by Christ only that those who believe in him, and none else, are justified from all things; from all the guilt and stain of sin, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. The great concern of convinced sinners is, to be justified, to be acquitted from all their guilt, and accepted as righteous in God's sight, for if any is left charged upon the sinner, he is undone. By Jesus Christ we obtain a complete justification; for by him a complete atonement was made for sin. We are justified, not only by him as our Judge but by him as the Lord our Righteousness. What the law could not do for us, in that it was weak, the gospel of Christ does. This is the most needful blessing, bringing in every other. The threatenings are warnings; what we are told will come upon impenitent sinners, is designed to awaken us to beware lest it come upon us. It ruins many, that they despise religion. Those that will not wonder and be saved, shall wonder and perish.
(Read Acts 13:42-52)
The Jews opposed the doctrine the apostles preached; and when they could find no objection, they blasphemed Christ and his gospel. Commonly those who begin with contradicting, end with blaspheming. But when adversaries of Christ's cause are daring, its advocates should be the bolder. And while many judge themselves unworthy of eternal life, others, who appear less likely, desire to hear more of the glad tidings of salvation. This is according to what was foretold in the Old Testament. What light, what power, what a treasure does this gospel bring with it! How excellent are its truths, its precepts, its promises! Those came to Christ whom the Father drew, and to whom the Spirit made the gospel call effectual, Romans 8:30. As many as were disposed to eternal life, as many as had concern about their eternal state, and aimed to make sure of eternal life, believed in Christ, in whom God has treasured up that life, and who is the only Way to it; and it was the grace of God that wrought it in them. It is good to see honourable women devout; the less they have to do in the world, the more they should do for their own souls, and the souls of others: but it is sad, when, under colour of devotion to God, they try to show hatred to Christ. And the more we relish the comforts and encouragements we meet with in the power of godliness, and the fuller our hearts are of them, the better prepared we are to face difficulties in the profession of godliness.
