(14) But when they departed from Perga, they cam to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. (43) Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.  (44) On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.  (45) But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. (46) Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said “It was necessary that the word of God be spoke. To you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves I worthy of everlasting life, behold we run to the Gentiles.  (47) 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.’  (48) Now when the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord.  And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. (49) And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region.  (50) But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.  (51) But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium.  (52) And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. 

The Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke; physician, historian and dear friend to the Apostle Paul. In our verses today Luke is telling us of Paul’s strategy for evangelism – when he would arrive at a city he would seek out the Jewish synagogue and – as was the custom- when men were invited to address the gathering, Paul would step up and use the Old Testament and Israel’s history to prove that Jesus was the Christ – the promised Messiah of scripture.

Our verses tell us that Paul and Barnabus attended synagogue at Pisidian Antioch during their first missionary journey. Some of the Jews believed and followed the gospel but others rejected the gospel violently and drove Paul and Barnabus out of town. This was predictable as the Jews – the devout synagogue attendants – would have been threatened by what they heard. Their pride and jealously,  stirred by thoughts of loss of power and income and influence turned them from freely offered eternal saovation. Their eyes and ears were hardened.But the most thoughtful point in this passage concerns the the doctrine of election And this should have been familiar to the Jews. Their history is a history of a people chosen by God to be His people.

In verse 48, Luke tells us that as “many as had been appointed  eternal life believed”.  The Bible is very clear on this point. We are being told that God is active in  historY – that it is always up to God electing men and not the reverse.  It is up to us to respond and how can we respond if we have not heard?  And more important, our choice to believe the gospel is not why God chose us.  God chose us before we were born and God’s election is WHY we choose to believe.  Salvation is from God. From beginning to end