301 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. 2 Yea, whereto [should] the strength of their hands [profit] me, [men] in whom vigour hath perished? 3 Withered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert: 4 They gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for their food. 5 They are driven forth from among [men]—they cry after them as after a thief— 6 To dwell in gloomy gorges, in caves of the earth and the rocks: 7 They bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together: 8 Sons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land. 9 And now I am their song, yea, I am their byword. 10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they spare not to spit in my face. 11 For he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me. 12 At [my] right hand rise the young brood; they push away my feet, and raise up against me their pernicious ways; 13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, without any to help them; 14 They come in as through a wide breach: amid the confusion they roll themselves onward.
15 Terrors are turned against me; they pursue mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away like a cloud. 16 And now my soul is poured out in me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me. 17 The night pierceth through my bones [and detacheth them] from me, and my gnawing pains take no rest: 18 By their great force they have become my raiment; they bind me about as the collar of my coat. 19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. 20 I cry unto thee, and thou answerest me not; I stand up, and thou lookest at me. 21 Thou art changed to a cruel one to me; with the strength of thy hand thou pursuest me. 22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to be borne away, and dissolvest my substance. 23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and into the house of assemblage for all living. 24 Indeed, no prayer [availeth] when he stretcheth out [his] hand: though they cry when he destroyeth. 25 Did not I weep for him whose days were hard? was not my soul grieved for the needy? 26 For I expected good, and there came evil; and I waited for light, but there came darkness. 27 My bowels well up, and rest not; days of affliction have confronted me. 28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up, I cry in the congregation. 29 I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion of ostriches. 30 My skin is become black [and falleth] off me, and my bones are parched with heat. 31 My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of weepers.
311 I made a covenant with mine eyes; and how should I fix my regard upon a maid? 2 For what would have been [my] portion of +God from above, and what the heritage of the Almighty from on high? 3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous? and misfortune for the workers of iniquity? 4 Doth not he see my ways, and number all my steps? 5 If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot hath hasted to deceit, 6 (Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;) 7 If my step have turned out of the way, and my heart followed mine eyes, and if any blot cleaveth to my hands; 8 Let me sow, and another eat; and let mine offspring be rooted out.
9 If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, so that I laid wait at my neighbour's door, 10 Let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her. 11 For this is an infamy; yea, it is an iniquity [to be judged by] the judges: 12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase. 13 If I have despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me, 14 What then should I do when God riseth up? and if he visited, what should I answer him? 15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not One fashion us in the womb?
16 If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 17 Or have eaten my morsel alone, so that the fatherless ate not thereof, 18 (For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided the [widow] from my mother's womb;) 19 If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, or any needy without covering; 20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs; 21 If I have lifted up my hand against an orphan, because I saw my help in the gate: 22 [Then] let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone! 23 For calamity from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency I was powerless.
24 If I have made gold my hope, or said to the fine gold, My confidence! 25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; 26 If I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness, 27 And my heart have been secretly enticed, so that my mouth kissed my hand: 28 This also would be an iniquity for the judge, for I should have denied the God who is above. 29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, and exulted when evil befell him; 30 (Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse;) 31 If the men of my tent said not, Who shall find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat?— 32 The stranger did not lodge without; I opened my doors to the pathway.
33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom, 34 Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door, ... 35 Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold my signature: let the Almighty answer me! And let mine opponent write an accusation! 36 Would I not take it upon my shoulder? I would bind it on to me [as] a crown; 37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I come near to him. 38 If my land cry out against me, and its furrows weep together; 39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have tormented to death the souls of its owners: 40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and tares instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
26 Brethren, sons of Abraham's race, and those who among you fear God, to you has the word of this salvation been sent: 27 for those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, not having known him, have fulfilled also the voices of the prophets which are read on every sabbath, [by] judging [him]. 28 And having found no cause of death [in him], they begged of Pilate that he might be slain. 29 And when they had fulfilled all things written concerning him, they took him down from the cross and put him in a sepulchre; 30 but God raised him from among [the] dead, 31 who appeared for many days to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. 32 And we declare unto you the glad tidings of the promise made to the fathers, 33 that God has fulfilled this to us their children, having raised up Jesus; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee. 34 But that he raised him from among [the] dead, no more to return to corruption, he spoke thus: I will give to you the faithful mercies of David. 35 Wherefore also he says in another, Thou wilt not suffer thy gracious one to see corruption. 36 For David indeed, having in his own generation ministered to the will of God, fell asleep, and was added to his fathers and saw corruption. 37 But he whom God raised up did not see corruption. 38 Be it known unto you, therefore, brethren, that through this man remission of sins is preached to you, 39 and from all things from which ye could not be justified in the law of Moses, in him every one that believes is justified. 40 See therefore that that which is spoken in the prophets do not come upon [you], 41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye will in no wise believe if one declare it to you.
42 And as they went out they begged that these words might be spoken to them the ensuing sabbath. 43 And the congregation of the synagogue having broken up, many of the Jews and of the worshipping proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. 44 And on the coming sabbath almost all the city was gathered together to hear the word of God. 45 But the Jews, seeing the crowds, were filled with envy, and contradicted the things said by Paul, [contradicting and] speaking injuriously. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly and said, It was necessary that the word of God should be first spoken to you; but, since ye thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the nations; 47 for thus has the Lord enjoined us: I have set thee for a light of the nations, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the end of the earth. 48 And [those of] the nations, hearing it, rejoiced, and glorified the word of the Lord, and believed, as many as were ordained to eternal life. 49 And the word of the Lord was carried through the whole country. 50 But the Jews excited the women of the upper classes who were worshippers, and the first people of the city, and raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and cast them out of their coasts. 51 But they, having shaken off the dust of their feet against them, came to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and [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.
