Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church

Adult Sunday School

10 May 2020
Romans 10:12-14 (KJV)

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over
all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not
believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how
shall they hear without a preacher?

Jesus Is Able to Save

(1) Jesus Is Able to Save

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over
all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.

One of the two criminals that hung on the cross with Jesus Christ at the execution
ground of the Jews outside Jerusalem called Calvary, confessed with his mouth and
believed with his heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Saviour of the world. He was
gloriously saved in the last moments of his physical life.

The other criminal could not understand how the cross judges the world – and every
one of us individually – by confronting us with our sin, our wickedness, calling us to
open repentance and challenging us to a high allegiance than anything we have known
before, to be reconciled with our Creator God, by a change of heart.

Jesus promised to the repentant criminal eternal life. He will be with Him in paradise
when he dies. This man rested in the truth that Jesus is able to save him by His atoning
death and resurrection three days later. There was a glorious transformation in this
man’s heart. It was miraculous and permanent. The converted soul is changed forever.
He is booked on a permanent ticket to heaven. He is snatched out of the torment of
hell fire forever.
The appetite and desire for this world suddenly wane and replaced by the desire for
holiness and heaven. This is the power of a true conversion. There is no longer a
longing for the things of the world.

I recall the music of the world no longer charms the heart but hymns that praise and
glorify God now captivates and fill the heart with peace and joy. There is a marked
change. There is a desire to worship God with the people of God in His house each

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Lord’s Day. There is a desire to come for prayer meeting. There is a desire to read
God’s Word and pray. A new desire and a new appetite for the spiritual!

That desire to come for prayer meeting has not waned since then. Praise God for His
grace.

(2) Salvation Grace

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over
all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.

This is a blessed day for the people of God as they remember Jesus rose from the dead
on Easter Sunday. Death is conquered. Hell vanquished. Sin is a defeated foe. Salvation
grace came upon all who are willing to call upon the name of Jesus. In the evening, I
receive the confirmation of God’s grace in the heart of an elderly gentleman above the
age of 90. His family members including spouse and children have accepted that the
father is now a Christian. They were willing to honour his choice to be a Christian and
baptism has been requested for their father. What rejoicing!

The riches of life with God is immeasurable. Though the outward man perishes, the
inner man is renewed day by day. It begins at conversion and stretches to eternity.
The blessings of God in Christ Jesus is limitless. We may not be able to understand it
fully now. But the truth of the resurrection will be experienced when Jesus returns.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (KJV) 13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no
hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the
Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent
them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the
Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Death has lost its sting. Jesus is risen. Hallelujah! We await the time of our change.

(3) Christian Mission

14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a
preacher?

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The Apostle Paul was moved by the Spirit of God to carry the gospel to the Gentile
world. He was empowered by the Holy Spirit to bring the message of the gospel from
Israel to Asia Minor and to Europe.

Acts 9:15-16 (KJV) 15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel
unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of
Israel: 16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

Before his conversion, He was a persecutor of Christians. God saved him by a bright
light from heaven that blinded him for three days. His sight was restored. He was
grateful that he will not live a blind man forever. He hearkened to Jesus’ call to bring
the gospel to the Gentile world. We are the beneficiaries of some men or women in
the past who were willing to take time often with great personal sacrifice to bring the
gospel to us. Thank God for such kind Christians who understood the mission to carry
the gospel to the unsaved.

May the Lord use you to speak to someone so that he or she may believe and be
saved.

The Acts of the Apostles is well outlined chronologically by Scroggie1 tabled below
provided for us the sending of God’s servants to preach the gospel:-

ACT II. SCENE 2

THE HISTORICAL EXPANSION OF CHRISTIANITY
The Book of Acts. A.D. 30-63=33 Years
Subject: WITNESS. Key- Acts 1:8
Period 1 Period 2 Period 3
JEWISH TRANSITION GENTILE
Acts 1:1-8:4 Acts 8:4-12:25 Acts 13-28
Central City Central City Central City
JERUSALEM ANTIOCH ROME
Jewish Gentile Universal
Christianity Christianity Christianity
Leader Leader Leader
PETER PETER and BARNABAS PAUL
The City The Provinces The World
A.D. 30-37 A.D. 37-47 A.D. 47-63
7 Years 10 Years 16 Years
DEPTH BREADTH LENGTH

1
W. Graham Scroggie, The Unfolding Drama of Redemption, (Grand Rapids, Kregel Publications, 1998), 183, 185.

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 The Church Established The Church Expanded The Church Extended

The Key Verse in Acts 1:8 is well summarized by Scroggie 2 with the theme - The
Christian Witness
(a) The Central Subject: Christ
(b) The Widening Sphere: From Jerusalem to the ‘uttermost part of the earth”
(c) The Exclusive Source: “Ye” which is the Christian Church
(d) The Unfailing Secret: The Holy Spirit

There are 12 dates that provided the chronology of events from the death of Jesus to
the Martyrdom of Paul and Peter from Scroggie3 is given below:

A.D. 30 - Death of Jesus

37 - Conversion of Paul (Acts 9)
44 - Death of James, son of Zebedee ( Acts 12)
44-46 - Paul and Barnabas at Antioch (Acts 12: 24, 25)
47-49 - First Missionary Journey (Acts 13-14)
50 - Conference at Jerusalem (Acts 15)
50-53 - Second Missionary Journey (Acts 16-18)
54-58 - Third Missionary Journey (Acts 18-21)
58 - Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem (Acts 21)
58-60 - Caesarean imprisonment (Acts 24-26)
61-63 - First Roman Imprisonment (Acts 28)
67-68 - Martyrdom of Paul and Peter, and perhaps of Luke.

The historian Philip Schaff who wrote based on his research of history provided a good
insight to for the period beyond A.D. 68 to the death of Paul and Peter:

The apostolic period extends from the Day of Pentecost to the death of St. John, and
covers about seventy years, from A.D. 30 to 100. The field of action is Palestine, and
gradually extends over Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. The most prominent
centres are Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome, which represent respectively the mother
churches of Jewish, Gentile, and United Catholic Christianity…The Acts and the Pauline
Epistles accompany us with reliable information down to the year 63. Peter and Paul
are lost out of sight in the lurid fires of the Neronian persecution which seemed to
consume Christianity itself. We know nothing certain of that satanic spectacle from
authentic sources beyond the information of heathen historians. A few years

2
Ibid., 203-204.
3
The Chronology of Acts is based on the works of scholars Bengel, Wendt, Zahn, Ramsay, Harnack, Holtzmann, Lightfoot,
Turner, and others. W. Graham Scroggie, The Unfolding Drama of Redemption, (Grand Rapids: L Kregel Publications, 1998),
173-4.

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afterwards followed the destruction of Jerusalem, which must have made an
overpowering impression and broken the last ties which bound Jewish Christianity to
the old theocracy. The event is indeed brought before us in the prophecy of Christ as
recorded in the Gospels, but for the terrible fulfilment we are dependent on the
account of an unbelieving Jew, which, as the testimony of an enemy, is all the more
impressive. The remaining thirty years of the first century are involved in mysterious
darkness, illuminated only by the writings of John. This is a period of church history
about which we know least and would like to know most. This period is the favourite
field for ecclesiastical fables and critical conjectures. How thankfully would the
historian hail the discovery of any new authentic documents between the martyrdom
of Peter and Paul and the death of John, and again between the death of John and the
age of Justin Martyr and Irenaeus.4

Here below is the relations of the Epistles to the Acts of the Apostles from Scroggie to
provide a map for the orientation of the accounts in the book with the internals of the
church given in the Epistles5:

Relation of the Epistles to the Acts

Within the Period of Acts Beyond the Period of Acts
A.D. 44-63 A.D. 63-96
44-49 James 64-67 1 Peter
52-53 1-2 67-68 Jude
57 Thessalonians 65-67 1 Timothy
57 1-2 Corinthians 67 Titus
58 Galatians 67-68 2 Timothy
62-63 Romans 64-67 Hebrews
62-63 Ephesians 66-68 2 Peter
62-63 Colossians 90-95 1-2-3- John
62-63 Philemon 96-97 Revelation
Philippians

The First Missionary Journey

(Acts 13:1-14:28)

4
Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, United States of America, (United States of America: WM. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1991, Electronic Version.
5
W. Graham Scroggie, The Unfolding Drama of Redemption, (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1998), Act II, Scene II, 8,13.

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Chart 1 Paul’s First Missionary Journey6

The first principle that can be gleaned from the first missionary journey is that the
missionary is church-based. Saul served as a teacher at the church in Antioch,
preaching the Word of God until the call came when he ministered to the Lord and
fasted, the Holy Spirit, the director of missions, said “Separate me Barnabas and Saul
for the work whereunto I have called them” (Acts 13:2). Paul described his calling thus
in Romans 1:1-5

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of
God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was
declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we received grace
and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake.

6
1st Missionary Journey, http://studylight.org/se/maps/browse.cgi?st=161&pn=33 ; Internet. Accessed 24th March 2007.