If you have been attending regularly in our Sunday morning services this summer, then you will know that I have been preaching over the last few weeks about the power of the gospel. I believe that is what Luke, the human coauthor of Acts is attempting to show us about the gospel of Christ. Way back in chapter 1, the Lord tells His disciples that they should wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, and then they would receive power to preach the gospel and to be His witnesses to the whole world.

So that is exactly what happened. On the day of Pentecost, as the disciples were praying, the power of the Holy Spirit manifested Himself in tongues of fire, and they began to speak in other languages, so that people from all of the various nations in Asia who were attending the feast heard the gospel preached in their own language. A language foreign to the apostles and foreign to the Jews.

Then immediately afterwards, we see the power of the gospel was manifested through the Holy Spirit as He worked through the apostles and dramatically built this great first church in Jerusalem. Then when persecution arose against the church the disciples began to spread out into the surrounding regions, throughout Judea, then into Samaria, and then into the far flung regions of Asia, and eventually even into Europe. And that is where we are today as we look in this chapter. The gospel has been taken by the Apostle Paul into Europe, and we have seen that the power of the gospel is undiminished even among the pagan European cultures.

So as we studied these last chapters we saw that the power of the gospel was able to save. We saw that the gospel is powerful to deliver from illness, it is powerful to deliver from not only the penalty of sin but also from the power of sin, that the power of the gospel is able to refute philosophy and science, that the power of the gospel is able to defeat anxiety and depression, and today we will see that the power of the gospel is able to deliver from demonic forces. The power of the gospel is greater than that of Satan. As 1John 4:4 says, “Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world.” There is no power in heaven or on earth that is able to defeat the power of the gospel. Jesus said, “I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” There is no power in heaven or on earth that is able to prevail against the power of God.

Now as I said, we are going to see the power of the gospel over demonic forces demonstrated in this passage today. And by way of introduction, Paul is in Ephesus, an extremely evil, pagan culture. One that practiced witchcraft and idolatry and every sort of depravity and sin. But by the power of the gospel Paul was able to establish a great church there which would impact the larger region with the gospel.

The text indicates that Paul started out, as was his practice, teaching in the Jewish synagogue. For about three months they were receptive to him and his teaching. But then as was typical, some of the Jews began to become resentful of his teaching, perhaps even jealous, and began to turn the Jews away from the truth so that they became hard hearted. So it says that Paul withdrew from them and began teaching in a school down the road.

Now we’ve seen this practice a couple of times lately haven’t we? Paul has some initial success, but the religious people start to resent him and are jealous and turn the people’s heart away from the truth, and so Paul leaves that company and goes down the street, or even next door as we saw in chapter 18 and continues to preach to those who will accept his message. We can learn a couple of things from that; one is that we should expect jealousy and resentment when we preach the gospel. We shouldn’t expect cheering crowds, at least not for long. We should expect people to get their feathers ruffled when they start to understand that one of the pillars of the gospel is repentance from sin. And especially when they understand that the sin you are referring to is their own. It’s one thing to speak about sin in a theoretical way, but when you rebuke their sin, then expect some people to get resentful and even try to affect others as well with their resentment.

So Paul met in a school house of some sort down the road and he began to preach daily it says.   Twice in this passage it describes Paul’s preaching as reasoning. I like that. As Peter said in 2Peter 1:16, “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” Peter goes on to describe the message as a more sure word of prophecy, and that prophecy is not of some private interpretation, but based on scripture which is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

There are a lot of so called prophets out there. There are a lot of people that would like to share their interpretations, their wisdom, their knowledge and especially their experiences. Some people love to hear themselves talk far too much. But the true messenger of God will realize that if his words are to have any real power at all, any power to deliver, then they must be the words of God as given in the scriptures by the inspiration of the Spirit of God.

So that is what Paul is doing. He is explaining, he is reasoning on the basis of scripture. That is what we saw Apollos doing in the last chapter. Refuting the Jews by scripture. By the wisdom of God, the truth of God. As Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” The word of God is the basis for all truth, and only the truth of God’s word can truly make you free.

Now Paul was preaching the gospel, the truth of God’s word for two years there in that school. And it says in vs.11 that God was attesting to the word that Paul was preaching by performing unusual miracles by the hands of Paul. Now I want you to notice that word, unusual. These miracles were not the usual, or ordinary miracles that one might expect. They were not only miracles, but were extraordinary miracles. And it goes on to say what these miracles were. There were handkerchiefs or cloths or aprons which were carried from Paul’s body to the sick and the disease or evil spirit went out.

Now let me hasten to add that this is not the sort of thing which you sometimes see on late night television with those televangelists who offer to send you a prayer napkin if you send them some money. Those people are frauds, playing on the superstitions and naiveté of gullible people. But notice that the word says this was God performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. Now why does God work this way at that time but not today? Well the answer is in Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth, in 2Cor. 12:12, where he said, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.” In other words, signs and wonders and miracles were the peculiar badge of an apostle, the means by which God authenticated their message.

See, God designed that the apostles would be the foundation of the church. That their doctrine, their word would become the written word of God which would be the basis for all that the church would stand upon and become. The church’s foundation is the word of God. And so in order to establish and show that the apostles spoke the truth of God’s word, God authenticated their word by miracles. That is why Jesus performed miracles. Jesus said to the men who brought in the paralytic to be healed, [Matt. 9:6] “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” Christ proved he was able to forgive sins because He had the power to heal.

You might also remember the woman who had hemorrhaging that could not be healed by any physicians, who said if I just touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, I can be made well. And so it was. It was God attesting to her faith in Christ whereby she received the miracle. And then in a previous chapter in Acts we saw that when Peter passed by his shadow falling on sick people caused them to be made well. All of those occasions, as well as the present occasion, were times when the authority of their word as the gospel was in need of being attested to by the power of God as a means of authenticating their teaching.

Now today apostles are no longer on the earth declaring “thus saith the Lord.” God has finished His revelation and it has been written down for us as a more sure word, even as Peter said. So there is no longer any need for apostolic gifts in order to attest to the fact that they were speaking God’s word. So therefore I can say with certainty that those late night charlatans who attempt to bilk old ladies of their social security income are frauds and cheats and there is no divine power in their handkerchiefs.

But I will say, that though God does not work such miracles by the hands of the apostles today, yet God still works miracles according to the dispensation of His will. And furthermore, I will declare that though God does not promise physical healing of every disease, yet God does promise spiritual healing of every sin. That much I know the Bible teaches. The power of the gospel is the power over sin. Paul said in Romans 6:6-7, “that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died [with Christ] is freed from sin.”

So all sin is subject to Christ’s authority, and all power, all angels, both heavenly and demonic are subject to Christ’s authority. And because Paul is the appointed spokesperson of Christ, His true apostle, God delivers people from sickness and from evil spirits even by an apron that Paul had worn which was taken to the sick or demon possessed.

Now I believe that even though the apostolic gifts of miracles has been done away with, because there are no more apostles today, yet there is still promised in the Bible that we can expect God to deliver from demonic influence or even possession. We are not commissioned to start an exorcism ministry. I do not believe that is biblical. But I do believe that God is able to deliver from demonic possession or influence.

Some of you are probably asking how is being set free from demonic influence different than being set free from illness, like cancer for instance? What is the difference? Well, I am glad you asked. Because I believe that the Bible teaches that demonic influence is directly related to sin in an individual’s life, whereas physical sickness in an individual is not necessarily related to sin in their life. (John 9: 2) Physical illness is the result of living in a fallen world, in temporal, human bodies. And God does not promise to deliver us from all physical illness.

But I believe the Bible does teach that demonic influence and possession are related to sin. I believe it is best expressed in the old adage, “if you give the devil an inch, he will take a mile.” That’s not in scripture, by the way. That is just a truism. But it is founded on spiritual principles. The principle is that when you harbor sin, it is corrupting, it is consuming. Sin cannot stay compartmentalized. So when you open yourself up to a sin, even what you might think is a minor sin, the devil uses that opening to get a foothold in your life, and then from that foothold he establishes a beachhead, and from that beachhead he can take over the whole body and soul.

Now that is born out in Ephesians 6:10-12 which says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

See, what Paul is saying there is that our spiritual battle is against demonic forces, and to withstand those forces we need to put on the full armor of God. And then Paul goes on to describe those pieces of armor. But here is the thing. What happens when you give in to the schemes or temptation of the devil and deliberately sin, is you have in effect opened up a chink in your armor. Now you have this open weakness that the devil will exploit. And let me warn you of this. That is why it is so catastrophic when a person harbors their sin. Because the devil is going to keep on hitting you in your weak spot, and open up a greater hole there until he is able to completely defeat you and overcome you. That is the reason that it is so destructive to have unconfessed sin in your life. And what is even worse, is to tell yourself that your sin is not really sin. Now you have deliberately given place to the devil in your life, and you are basically quenching the conviction of the Holy Spirit. So when that happens, who is that person worshipping? Well you worship whom you obey. So who is that person obeying? You are obeying the devil. And that can lead to full blown possession in an unsaved person, but even in a Christian it can lead to a destructive influence which can cause your spiritual shipwreck and even physical destruction.

That’s why Paul in Eph. 4:27 warns against sins of anger and lying and stealing and other old corrupt practices by saying “do not give the devil an opportunity.” When we continue in unconfessed, unrepentant sin, then we give the devil an opportunity. We let our defenses down. We open up our armor. And the devil can take that opportunity and work through that sin and bring about all kinds of iniquity, with the ultimate goal of destroying you and your testimony.

I believe that many of the problems that face our society today find their root in a sin problem. Sin is the arena that all societal problems arise from. I’ll give you one very pertinent example and one that I am very familiar with. And that is the problem of drugs in our society. I don’t know if you realize it or not, but there is an epidemic of drug abuse in our culture, and our country is doing nothing to truly address it. Instead we are legalizing it. We attempt to say it really isn’t sin.

I saw an article on Fox News yesterday about the new DEA chief, Chuck Rosenberg, who said that heroin usage was the number one problem in all 21 jurisdictions. It’s use has jumped 150% in the last couple of years and casualty rates doubled as well. In fact, deaths from drug overdoses in America total 44,000 deaths a year, more than car accidents or gun violence. And yet I see more enthusiasm in restricting legal gun sales than I do in addressing drug addiction.

But what I want to point out to you is that the Bible speaks of drug use and equates it with demonic influence. Did you know that? Turn to Rev. 9:20-21; “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”

Now I want you to notice the word sorceries. The Greek word for sorcery is pharmakeia. Pharmakeia is defined as the use or administering of drugs, sorcery and the magical arts. You notice it sounds like our word pharmacy which is obviously from where we get that word. Particularly in ancient demonic arts, in witchcraft and sorcery, there was a use of drugs in order to produce spells and so forth.

And what Revelation is saying there is that in the last days, men and women will not repent of their sorceries, or their drugs, nor of their immorality or their thefts. I don’t know about you, but I find that pertinent to my experience with drug abuse. I find that people who experiment with drugs tend to go off into all kinds of perversions, they turn against God, they become interested in dark things, demonic music, demonic influences. It promotes a culture of death. And sometimes I think that it leads to outright demonic possession. But without a doubt, I believe that drug use is a sin that Satan uses to control a person, and ultimately try to destroy them.

But what I want to impress on you today is that there is hope for the those under demonic control through drugs by the power of the gospel. Because at it’s root is simply sin. When Christ rose from the grave He triumphed over sin and death. The hope for this world in all it’s problems, in all it’s addictions, is not more government intervention, or more programs, or more money, or more resources. Those things may have some limited benefit. But the only real hope for the world, no matter how great the problem, is the power of the gospel. Only God can change hearts. Only God can change their desires. Only God can set free those who are held captive by Satan. As 2Tim.2:25 says, “God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

Once again we see that the power of the gospel is found in the truth of the gospel. Only the truth can set you free. A watered down gospel, a social gospel, a hipster gospel is not able to save. In order for the gospel to be able to save it must be the truth. The truth will set you free. But only the truth, not a half truth. And the devil is always working to water down the truth, to give an alternative gospel. To make you believe that there are different versions of the truth. And that is a lie of Satan.

We see that back in our text. There were these guys traveling from town to town, not unlike some of these healing evangelists that set up tent meetings from time to time. And for the most part they operate on the basis of superstition, or the power of suggestion. I think many of them utilize a form of hypnotism. I have studied these people to some extent, and I was surprised to find hypnotism was a common practice by many of these false teachers.

But there was a traveling family which were the called the Seven Sons of Sceva. These guys were exorcists and they seem to have established a reputation as such and traveled from town to town. These guys were the original Ghost Busters. And it was customary then as it is now to claim all kinds of things as having some sort of demonic origin and they would then produce all these incantations and supposedly cast out the demons for a price and then move on to the next town before anyone was the wiser. But in this situation they actually come upon a truly demon possessed person.

Now they have obviously heard of Paul and his success in casting out demons by the power of Christ. So they say to this demoniac, “I adjure you to come out by Jesus who Paul preaches.” So they are using a formula. A formula of using the name of Jesus to bind a demon. There are a lot of people who claim to bind Satan that way today as well. I would suggest that we have not been given the authority to bind Satan. The Bible says Satan will be bound one day and thrown into the lake of fire. But for now he is loose, and he knows that his time is short, and the Bible says that he goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Jude warns against the folly of thinking you can bind Satan. Jude 1:8-10 “Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.”

So we are to be careful not to overstep our authority, or rely upon some incantation or ritual or rite of exorcism. No one in the Bible uses a formula to cast out demons. It is simply the authority of Christ over the demonic realm of sin. That is it. I’ll give you the only formula that Jesus gives. It is found in Matt. 17, a man comes to Jesus and begs him to heal his son who is demon possessed, he says he falls into the fire or in the water, and says your disciples were not able to deliver him. Well, at an earlier time the disciples had been given authority by Christ to cast out demons as they went through the country preparing the way for Him. But this is sometime later, after that event. And the disciples evidently thought that some sort of power to do this resided in them. But they could not cast them out.

So Jesus says, if you say unto this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, and if you have the faith as of a mustard seed, it will be done. So here is this mountain, this impossible situation, this demonic beach head, but if you have faith not in your power, or in your word, but in the power of God, it will be cast into the sea. But Jesus adds, but this kind does not go without prayer and fasting. So the formula is intensive prayer, supplication to God that His power would be manifest over the power of darkness. And Jesus says that we have that resource available; the power of prayer combined with our faith in Christ to do what is impossible for men.

Well, these seven sons of Sceva said their little incantation, they said the name of Jesus, the name of Paul, and much to their surprise, the demon speaks back to them. I’m sure he spoke through the natural voice of the person he inhabited; “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the demon leaped on them and beat them up and sent them running naked through town.

Now that would have been fun to watch. I would love to see something like that happen to some of these televangelists one day. But here is the result that God used out of this; the fear of God fell upon the town and the name of the Lord was magnified. The townspeople recognized that demonic power was real, they recognized that the gospel Paul was preaching was true, and as a result they did two things.

First they confessed their evil practices, vs. 18. The whole town came out to church and started confessing their demonic practices, their idol worship. And then secondly, that repentance resulted in a change in practice. They brought out their books and so forth of the magic arts and burned them in the middle of the town.   And Luke tells us that their repentance had a price tag on it. I read somewhere that if you were to bring that sum up to modern standards it would be close to a million dollars worth of material that was burned up. We need to understand that; repentance often has a price tag. It costs you something to turn away from evil and turn to the Lord.

Some people here today need to have the fear of the Lord fall upon them. You know, the text indicates that this wasn’t just unsaved people that repented of demonic practices. It was believers, it says in vs. 18. Some of you folks here today may need to confess of some things that are demonic, that are idolatrous. Maybe some of you are holding onto drugs. Maybe you tell yourself it’s natural. It’s not addictive. You think you are in control. But today the Holy Spirit is convicting you of your drugs or perhaps alcohol which really has taken control over you. Satan is taking advantage of that sin, that weakness, and he is going to exploit it until he ruins you. Maybe it’s time for you to bring that and confess it to God as sin, and lay it down, burn it, be done with it and be free from it.

I don’t have time to address all the potential sins that could fall into this category. But I will briefly suggest that perhaps it may be music that glorifies Satan, it could be pornography that gives place to immorality, it could be movies or other media that promotes ungodliness. We could go on and on. The Bible says that whatever is not of faith is sin. I will leave it to the Lord to bring you under conviction of sin this morning. But whatever sin it is, I am here to declare to you that the power of the gospel is able to deliver you from the power of sin, and the power of darkness.

I will close by quoting from Isaiah 61. “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.” This is the favorable year of the Lord. God has provided salvation through Jesus Christ. God is able to deliver you today from captivity to sin. Won’t you humble yourself and pray and seek Hs face today that He might save you and deliver you.

In recent weeks, we have been looking at the power of the gospel. That the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to save from the penalty of sin, to deliver from the power of sin, is able to deliver from fear and anxiety, is able to overcome the wisdom and philosophies of man, and is able to defeat the schemes of the devil. And if you were not here for some of those messages, then I would encourage you to go on our website and read them when you get a chance.

So I will not review all of that today. However, I believe that our text continues that train of thought by elaborating on the nature of the power of the gospel. So what I believe this passage is presenting today, is that the power of the gospel is a person, and the person is nothing less than the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.

Now this text before us today is a very difficult text on several levels. It is very tempting to use this text as a trampoline to go bouncing off in a dozen different directions. And many preachers have done that to their own ruin. But for both clarity and the sake of time we are going to try to avoid tangents this morning. I want to show you from the scripture what I think is the primary message Luke is presenting here. Luke is not trying to teach the doctrine of the gifts of the Spirit. He is not trying to teach any number of doctrinal issues that might be touched on here in this passage. What I believe that the author Luke, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is trying to impress on us, is that the power of the gospel is not some vague purplish blob, like the boy who supposedly went to heaven and wrote a best selling book reported, nor is the power of the Holy Spirit some inanimate force, such as “may the force be with you,” nor can the power of the Holy Spirit be divided up and parceled out. But what Luke is illustrating here is that the power of the gospel exists in the third person of the trinity who is the Holy Spirit; through whom we are born again in our spirit, through whom we are given new life, through whom we are led and taught, and through whom we are empowered to live a godly life for the glory of God.

That is the point of this passage, I believe. It is to remind us of the necessity of the person of the Holy Spirit, without whom we cannot be saved. Listen to how emphatically Paul declares that fact in Romans 8:9 “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” Did you get that? If you do not have the Spirit of Christ, then you do not belong to Christ. Jesus said it another way in John 3:5, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

So that is the point of this passage, that the power of the gospel is the person of the Holy Spirit, who convicts us, transforms us, indwells us, and empowers us. Now Luke presents two illustrations to emphasize this practical theology. The first example is that of Apollos. First of all, Luke points out that Apollos was a Jew from Alexandria, so he was also a Greek citizen. Now Alexandria had the largest library in the world at that time, about a half a million books. And perhaps that is pertinent because Apollos is described as a man of great learning, an excellent orator, an eloquent man who also was learned in the scriptures.

Notice in vs. 25, it says he was instructed in the way of the Lord, he was fervent in scriptures, and he was teaching about Jesus. Now all that is quite impressive, is it not? An educated man, well spoken, an orator, who had studied the scriptures, and who was a teacher of the scriptures. That sounds like a description of many preachers today, doesn’t it? Surely then we could assume that this articulate, learned man who was teaching about Jesus was a Christian, couldn’t we? I would think that most people would just accept that someone with those kind of credentials was a Christian, a man who was truly saved if anyone was.

And yet, I believe Luke presents him here in this fashion because at this point in Apollos’ life, he was not born again. And the key to that is found in the phrase, he was “acquainted only with the baptism of John.” Now that is another way of saying he was acquainted only with the gospel of John the Baptist. At some point, Apollos had been in Israel and heard John the Baptist preaching the gospel of repentance. To get ready for the coming of the Lord. And Apollos believed and accepted that gospel. He would have been baptized in repentance. But then one way or another, he left Israel before Jesus began His ministry, and he found himself back in Europe. And so as a result, Apollos was still preaching the message of John the Baptist. He must have known something of Jesus, because vs. 25 says “he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus,” but he knew of Jesus only as far as John had presented Him which is that He was the One to come, the Messiah. That means he did not know about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Nor had he any knowledge of the coming of the Holy Spirit with power on the day of Pentecost.

So here is Apollos, probably 15 years or more since Pentecost, in a far away country, still teaching the gospel of John. That Jesus was the coming Messiah. But that was all that he knew. Now he is teaching that at the local synagogue in Ephesus and Priscilla and Aquila happen to be there that day. And when they heard him speaking, they realized that he did not know the full message of the gospel. So they took him aside after the service, maybe they took him home to have dinner or something. But they took him away privately and explained the gospel of Jesus Christ to him more completely.

Now I believe that was when Apollos was actually saved. Prior to that, he had knowledge, but not complete knowledge. He had zeal or fervency for the message he was teaching, but it was not the complete truth of the gospel. And so as a result, it didn’t produce salvation.

That is why I make such a point every week of quoting the words of Jesus who said, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” For salvation to be effective, for the gospel to be powerful enough to save your soul for eternity, then it must be the truth. And a half truth is not the truth. Jesus said in John 8:31-32 “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

The other day I hurt my ankle on a rock surfing. And though it wasn’t a terrible wound, it scraped away a fair amount of skin. Now I knew I should stay out of the water until it healed, but I kept going surfing every morning and getting it wet and so of course it got infected. So I went to the doctor’s office and they gave me some antibiotics. Now these antibiotics were like giant horse pills. I got choked up just looking at them. So I proceeded to chop them in half and took them that way. Now just imagine if I had only taken half and threw away the other half. And suppose I continued doing that until I had finished the medicine. Do you think that the medicine would have been effective if I had only taken half of it? No, of course not. It says right there on the label, be sure to finish all medications. If you want to be made well, you have to take the full prescription.

Well, that is exactly what the gospel is like. It is God’s prescription for mankind’s sickness. And our sickness is deadly. The consequences of our sin is death. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” See, the penalty is death, but the antidote is the gospel of Jesus Christ.   And just like with my antibiotics, half a dose won’t save us.

And neither did it save Apollos. Oh, he had some truth. He had the truth up to John’s baptism. But he didn’t have the full truth and so therefore he was unsaved. He had some knowledge. He had fervency. He had zeal. But he was unsaved. And consequently, he did not have the Spirit of God indwelling him.

Now I wonder how many people there are like that in the world today. I wonder how many might even be sitting right here today. They have some truth. They hold to a form of religion. They certainly believe in God. They even know that Jesus is the Messiah. But they have come short of the kingdom of God. They have not truly been set free. They may have a fervency of spirit for religion, but they are still laboring in the flesh to abstain from sin, to be a good person, to go to church on a regular basis. Some may even be a preacher or a priest, teaching the scriptures in ignorance. And yet they are unsaved.

See it was possible that Apollos could believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and yet not have saving faith in what Jesus had come to do. Because the Jews were looking for the Messiah to set up the kingdom of Israel again on the throne of David and kick the Romans out. So Aquila and Priscilla took him aside and explained all the truth of the gospel. They explained that Jesus lived a sinless life, so that He could be the spotless Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world by dying on the cross in our place, bearing our sins upon Himself. And then that those who believe in Him and repent of their sins, will receive the transfer of Christ’s righteousness to them, so that they may become the sons of God, and then having been made righteous, they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit who gives us eternal life, who lives in us to guide us and teach us, and empower us so that we might live like sons of God.

Now we know that Luke only gives us a summary here in this passage. But we can be certain that Apollos received the truth of the gospel gladly, because it says in vs. 27, that when he went to Achaia he greatly helped those who had believed through grace.   See, when Apollos understood the full gospel, then he understood that it was by grace you are saved through faith, it was the gift of God, not of works, and so everything clicked into place for him then. And as a result, the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, who Jesus called the Spirit of Truth, He illuminated all those Old Testament scriptures that he knew so well and now he was able to powerfully refute the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. That Apollos was now saved was evident because his message evidenced the illumination of the Spirit of Truth, who is the Holy Spirit. That was the evidence of His salvation. And his salvation was made possible by the Spirit of Truth who manifested the truth to him through the scriptures. That is one of the primary jobs of the Holy Spirit as Jesus Himself said in John 15:26,”When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.” And also in John 16:13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” That is a characteristic of a true believer, he has an appetite for the truth, he understands the truth, and he is obedient to the truth as revealed in Scripture.

Now the other illustration follows immediately after this passage concerning Apollos, and it is directly related to it. It is unfortunate that some editors separated the chapters at this particular place, because really they should be considered together. Because what we have here in chapter 19 is a continuation. Apollos leaves and goes to Achaia, which is Corinth, and Paul now comes to Ephesus.

And as Paul comes to Ephesus, he meets some disciples. Now the text doesn’t clarify what exactly is meant by disciples. I would suggest that they were disciples of John the Baptist, or even disciples of Apollos who had been teaching the gospel of John the Baptist. Disciple simply means a learner or a student. And many rabbis were known to have disciples. So Paul meets these disciples of Apollos, and he is immediately has a question in regards to their salvation.

So Paul asks them in vs. 2, ““Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.”

So here we have a group of about 12 men in Ephesus, and Paul immediately discerns that something is amiss. So he asks them a strange question; “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Now that is a strange question, isn’t it? Notice he doesn’t ask them, “do you believe in God?” Or, “are you a believer?” But did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

And their answer reveals that they did not, but they had stopped at the same place that Apollos had stopped, which makes sense if they were his disciples. Now in their answer they reveal that they did not even know that the Holy Spirit had been given. I think the translation there is lacking. All Jews that were familiar with the Old Testament scriptures, as these men undoubtedly were, knew about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is mentioned numerous times in the scriptures, starting in Genesis 1 and in the Psalms and Isaiah and so forth. And John the Baptist taught concerning the Holy Spirit. So what they were actually saying was “we do not know whether the Holy Spirit has been given.”

So Paul asks, ““Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” See, they have the same problem that Apollos had. They did not understand the truth concerning the gospel. They had a partial truth which was still just a variation of Judaism. At the point which Apollos left Israel, he had only understood the baptism of repentance, so they were ignorant of the salvation which is by faith in Christ’s atonement. So Paul said, John only preached the gospel of repentance, telling people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is Jesus.

Now again, Luke is giving us the summary of what transpired and we have to fill in the blanks. Paul would have undoubtedly filled these men in on all that transpired since Jesus began His ministry. Namely, His atonement for sin by offering Himself as a sacrifice on the cross in their place, His death, burial and resurrection, and the subsequent gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And just as had happened with Apollos, these men believed, and it says they were baptized once again in the name of Jesus Christ. They had been baptized into John’s baptism of repentance but that baptism did not save them because they did not know and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, but now they were baptized again in the name of Jesus because they trusted in His atonement for the remission of their sins.

So once again, we see a group of people, who were dedicated to their faith, who had a form of religion, who believed in God and even believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but who were not saved. They were still believing in an old covenant theology, which was based on keeping the law and offering sacrifices for sin and basically the requirements of Judaism. They did not know the truth about the gospel of God that states God put the penalty for our sin upon Jesus, and transferred His righteousness to us by the gift of God to those who have faith in Christ for their salvation.

And Paul would have told them that is not the end of salvation. That is merely the new birth which is brought about through the agency of the Holy Spirit, who then indwells the believer, giving him the power to be transformed, and giving him the power to live the life that the Spirit instructs us to live. That is why Paul prefaced the conversation by asking, “did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Because new birth is impossible without the agency of the Holy Spirit. Because the power of salvation is through the agency of the Holy Spirit. And the evidence of our new birth is manifested through the Holy Spirit.

See, the Spirit within the new believer writes the laws of God upon their hearts and minds. That is what Hebrews 10:15-17 says, “And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, ‘THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,’ He then says, ‘AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.’” So the action of the Holy Spirit upon the believer will be manifested by a new heart, by a new mind, by a desire for the things of God, by a desire to do the will of God.

Listen, I want you to understand this much if you don’t understand anything else today. I want to suggest that there are a lot of people running around today in the “church” that sort of act like disciples. They have a knowledge about Jesus but it is an incomplete knowledge of the gospel. They have a belief in God. They may be fervent in their faith. But they do not have the evidence of the Holy Spirit in their life. They do not have the witness that they have received the Holy Spirit in their life. And consequently they are not saved.

They do not have the witness of the Holy Spirit because they have no interest in keeping the law of God. They show no evidence of becoming conformed to the image of Christ. And very importantly, they do not know the complete truth of the gospel. I’m afraid that for many people today they have been deceived. They have a partial gospel, which really is not the gospel at all. Listen, if the gospel has been watered down or emasculated of it’s full truth, then the sad fact is that it cannot save. A half truth amounts to just a whole lie.    And the devil is very talented at presenting a lie as a partial truth.

There are a whole lot of lies out there today masquerading as the gospel, and much of it is being taught in our mainline churches. The half truths being taught today may be a little different than these twelve men were guilty of. But the end result is just as damning. I think the big lie today is a complete neglect of the doctrine of repentance and the doctrine of sanctification. One cannot exist without the other, but in most cases today neither is being taught. The other false doctrine is just as damning, and that is that all you have to do is believe. Believe what is up in the air. It is presented as if it’s a personal choice what you want to believe about God or Christianity. That you can somehow believe whatever you feel is right, whatever you want to believe, and as long as you’re sincere, God will accept you. But I am here to tell you today that if you harbor any of those half truths, then you cannot be saved. The truth will set you free, but a lie that robs the gospel of the truth will damn you to hell. And that has always been Satan’s strategy ever since the beginning. Jesus said in John 8:44, “[Satan] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Well, thankfully the 12 men recognize the truth of the gospel as taught by Paul, they believe it, are baptized in the name of Jesus, and they are immediately indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are given public evidence of it. Vs. 6, “And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.”

Now I don’t want to take the time this morning to teach the doctrine of spiritual gifts, of which this text is often used as a jumping off point. I just want to emphasize a few things that I think are Germaine to the main point here. First of all, note that the Holy Spirit is given to them immediately upon salvation. There is not some extended time where they have to seek for the Holy Spirit. Remember what Jesus said, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he is not of Christ. So these men are saved by Christ, they are baptized in Christ’s name, and so there is an immediate indwelling of the Holy Spirit who then gives evidence in a public manner of their salvation. Not only as a visible confirmation that they were saved, and that they were now part of the body of Christ, the church. But the Spirit also gives them gifts so that they might be a witness to the power of the gospel.

Wasn’t that the promise of Jesus concerning the Holy Spirit which is recorded in Acts 1:8? Jesus said, “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” So from the very beginning the power of the Holy Spirit was intended to make us powerful witnesses for the gospel to the whole world.

Now here is Paul and these 12 men, in the farthest reaches of the world, in Europe, in Ephesus, and the Holy Spirit is going to make them a powerful witness to the gospel. And so the Holy Spirit does that in two ways. Two distinct gifts. They are not the same gifts ladies and gentlemen. They are two gifts. The first is that of speaking in tongues. And for an explanation of that I would just point to 1Cor. 14:21-22 which says, “In the Law it is written, ‘BY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE, AND EVEN SO THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME,’ says the Lord. So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.”

So what is that talking about? Well it is saying that tongues are not designed to be a secret prayer language to God which no one understands. But they are designed to be a sign to unbelievers. And that was what happened at Pentecost, if you will remember. There were Jews there from every nation in Asia and they all heard the gospel being spoken in their own language.   And by men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers they heard the gospel being taught in their own languages, and yet they would not accept the word of the Lord so that they were saved. So then the first witness is given to the Jews. These twelve men are Jews and they are probably in the Jewish synagogue when this happens. So the Holy Spirit replicates the speaking of tongues or foreign languages that happened at Pentecost to be a sign to the Jews there of the power of the gospel.

And then the second gift is that of prophesying. Prophesying means to stand before the people and declare the word of the Lord. It’s not necessarily future telling, it’s forth telling. It’s speaking the word of the Lord, or explaining the scriptures. Now we don’t know exactly what these men said, but we do know that Paul said in 1Cor. 14, that tongues were a sign for unbelievers and prophesy was a sign for believers. So in some way, this prophesying edified the believers in the church by either expounding the scriptures through the power of the Holy Spirit, or by revelation of as of yet unwritten truth of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So the point being, that the salvation of these 12 men resulted in an immediate indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and that empowered these men to be His witnesses of the gospel to unbelieving Jews and to edify or build up the believers in the church. That is the evidence of the Holy Spirit that we still have available to us today. He empowers us to be His witnesses. He enables us to be able to preach the word. He gives us understanding of the scriptures as illustrated by not only these men but by Apollos. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, our Helper, who empowers us as He leads us and guides us as we walk by the Spirit of God in this life of faith.

So in conclusion, I would reiterate the same question to you that Paul asked of the 12. Have you received the Holy Spirit when you believed? Is there any evidence in your life that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you? Have you ever received new life, new desires, a new heart for the things of God? Have you the evidence of the Holy Spirit within you as you read the word of God? Does He reveal the truth of God to you through the scriptures? Or do you find the Bible dull and incomprehensible?

I would suggest that if you find yourself today with a knowledge of God, and a zeal for religion that prompts you to attend church and to try to live godly, but when you honestly consider it, you know that you don’t seem to have the power or even the desire to live the life of godliness, that there is no evidence in your life of the Spirit living in you, and you are not a witness for the gospel, then I would suggest you seriously consider this question. Have you received the Holy Spirit when you believed? Because He is the power that works within us, for the Holy Spirit strengthens us with power in the inner man, that we might know the love of Christ, and be filled up to all the fullness of God. Listen, that same Holy Spirit is available today, for everyone who believes by faith in Jesus as their Savior and Lord and repents and turns away from his sin. He is the power of God unto salvation. He is the power who works mightily in us. I would urge you to call on Jesus to forgive your sins and save you and fill you with His Spirit, to change you and make you a child of God, today. Today the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. Do not quench that calling of God. Today is the appointed day of salvation.

There comes different seasons in the life of every Christian of which some are harder to bear than others. And one such season is a time of weariness, of fearfulness, or even depression. Sometimes they are all of the above. Most often they come after an extended time of spiritual battle. Sometimes that may be compounded by physical trials such as sickness, or marital problems, or difficulties with children, or financial problems. I have known them all at one time or another. And chances are that if you are willing to admit it, if you are human and not some sort of avatar, then you have been subject to such times in your life as well.

There are a few sanctimonious types out there that will try to lay a guilt trip on those poor souls that are already discouraged, and say that such feelings are sinful. I do not agree. I think that they are indicative of our fallen nature. They are indicative of our human limits, our finite understanding. But as Paul said in 1Cor. 10:13 there is “No temptation [that] has overtaken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” In other words, such trials are common to the human condition.

And Jesus took on human flesh that He might be sympathize with our weaknesses, did He not? He suffered in all points like as we do, yet without sin. Notice, it says He suffered. Even for Christ, life was not a constant, cloud 9 experience.

I must confess I found myself in a sort of depression this last week. For some reason I started remembering hurtful things from the past, I started comparing myself with other preachers, other pastors, comparing our church with other churches, and horror of horrors, started looking at old facebook pictures of times gone by and people that are no longer with us, and before I knew it I was in a funk.

So I found today’s message particularly apropos to my own particular situation this week, and I have the sneaking suspicion that not a few of you folks have been dealing with anxiety and depression lately as well. So I am hopeful that this message will resonate with you, as it did with me, and that you will be encouraged as a result of being here this morning.

Now as we look at this passage we are going to have to go beyond this particular group of verses if we are really going to understand the context. What is not readily apparent is that as Paul finds himself now in Corinth he is suffering from a sense of fear and anxiety and even quite possibly depression. And that is born out by his letter written to the Corinthians sometime later when he describes this time when he first came to them. In 1Cor. 2:1-5 Paul writes, “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”

So Paul was weak (which usually indicates an infirmity), he was in fear, and in much trembling. And he had every right to be anxious and fearful and even a bit depressed. After all, he was once again alone. He has spent years laboring faithfully for the gospel all over Asia and now into Europe, and yet he found himself alone in Athens, and now alone again in Corinth. His message had been rejected out of hand by the Jews time after time, he had been stoned, he had been beaten, he had been locked up and run out of almost every town he had been in. And now here he is again, starting over again in a strange town, in a foreign culture, probably sick and no one was there to stand with him in this great battle he was waging for the kingdom. Not only that, but he now finds himself having financial needs which are not being met and so he has to go to work as a tent maker in order to support himself and yet is still trying to preach the gospel whenever possible.

I want you to know that many great preachers and prophets of God have found themselves down in the dumps, dealing with anxiety and depression. It is a common malady of those who are in a spiritual battle day after day. Moses was often discouraged in the desert during the 40 years of wandering. David was often depressed and anxious. You should read the Psalms of David if you are feeling anxious and depressed and you will find a kindred spirit in David. Elijah was so fearful at one point that he started running and didn’t stop running until he had gone 100 miles, and then he got depressed and despaired even of his life and asked God to take it from him. John the Baptist was depressed after spending his life in service to God only to find himself in a prison waiting to have his head cut off. Martin Luther said, “Because I seem to be always strong and merry, men think that I walk on a bed of roses, but God knows how it is with me.” John Calvin was so fearful that he did not want to preach but to hide in his studies. The great Charles Spurgeon was depressed and anxious especially towards the end of his life. And I could go on and on.

So I say all that to say to you today that are suffering from anxiety and depression; it is not a sin, what you feel is not a sin. What you may do as a result of your feelings may or may not be sin, but simply to feel fearful or depressed is not a sin. It is human to feel. And chances are the more you are trying to live for the Lord the more such feelings are going to be part of your experience.

The good news is that God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear, but will provide a way for you to endure it. And that is exactly what we see illustrated in this passage in the life of Paul. God is going to help Paul. He knows that Paul is His man, His apostle. And so God gives Paul 5 things to encourage him. Five things that should also encourage us as we deal with the spiritual battle around us and the resulting anxiety and depression that are often the result of such battles.

First, God sends Paul some companionship. When you are sick or fearful or anxious or depressed, God provides the fellowship of other believers to be an encouragement to you. And that is the first thing that we see happen with Paul. He is in this corrupt, foreign city, where he knows no one, and somehow, God brings these two mature Christians to become his companions and co-laborers. It’s not clear when or how Aquila and Priscilla are saved, or how they came to meet Paul. But one thing is clear, they became dear friends of Paul and were a great encouragement to him at a time when he desperately needed fellowship and help.

My thoughts are that they were already established, mature Christians who had been saved in Rome, and when Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome they ended up in Corinth just in time to meet Paul. They had a common background as tent makers or leather workers. The word could be translated either way. But the point is that they took Paul into their home. They showed him hospitality. They shared with him their resources. They became his family in the Lord in a strange city.

You know I can attest to the value of sweet fellowship of a couple of mature Christians that have come alongside us in our ministry and showed us friendship and hospitality at a time when we most desperately needed it. Aquila and Priscilla became the pillars of the church there in Corinth, which was a great help and encouragement to Paul. And I would just point out the obvious, that perhaps that is your calling as well. To step up in the church and become the pillars, the mature Christian man or woman that is dependable, that is faithful, that stands with the pastor and church as partners in fellowship. So then for all of us, God has provided encouragement through the companionship that we can find in the fellowship of believers in our local church.

And then the second way that God brought encouragement to Paul was through the coming of Silas and Timothy. Now it would have been very encouraging just for Paul to see his two close friends and coworkers again. But I think there is more to the story than what is presented here.

In 1 Thessalonians 3 we read that Paul said he had sent Timothy from Athens to the church in Thessalonica in order to see how they were doing. And so now when Timothy comes to Corinth he gives a glowing report about the churches in Thessalonica and how they were growing in the Lord. So Paul is encouraged by Timothy’s report as he says in 1Thess. 3:6, “therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you an all our affliction and distress.”

Silas on the other hand had been in Philippi checking on the churches there. Paul writing later to the church at Philippi in Philippians chapter 4 says “When I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me as concerning giving and receiving but you only.” So they had taken up an offering and sent it to Paul by way of Silas in order to support Paul’s missionary journey. So Silas came to Corinth with a love offering for Paul, and Timothy came with a good report of the churches. So obviously it was a great encouragement to Paul.

Now one very practical reason that Paul was encouraged was because he now had the resources to be able to stop working as a tentmaker and devote himself fully to the Lord’s work. Vs. 5, “But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word.” You know, it can be discouraging for a pastor to have to work on the side in order to provide for his needs. It isn’t that a pastor is above doing manual labor, but the Bible makes it clear that he is to get his living from the church. Paul wrote later in 1Cor. 9:14 “So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.” But when that fails for whatever reason, it is yet another way for the devil to attack God’s servant and make him feel that he isn’t as good a preacher as he should be or some other such thing in order to discourage him.

I can attest to the great encouragement that we have received from people like those Philippians, people that don’t live here, yet from time to time they send an offering to support this ministry. I can assure you that if that wasn’t the case, then there would have been many a winter that would have done us in. So God uses the love offering of others as an encouragement to Paul, as well as the testimony of the perseverance of the saints. As the Apostle John said, in 3John 1:4 “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.” That is a pastor’s great joy to know people he ministered to are still walking with the Lord. And on the other hand, there is no greater disappointment than to see people who you invested so much in fall away from the faith and make shipwreck of their lives. So God can use you to be an encouragement to others not only by your giving, but also by your testimony of faithfulness.

Thirdly, God encouraged Paul by giving him some key converts. When the Jews in the synagogue began to resist the gospel and blaspheme in vs. 6, Paul shook their dust off his cloak and said “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” You know, there are going to be people that reject the gospel. Far more in fact will reject it than accept it. And when they do some of them will undoubtedly become the enemies of the gospel. They may not see themselves that way, but that is exactly what they are. There are people in this community that are so incensed about what I am preaching that they will go out of their way to call or email or even visit people in this church and try to turn them against us. There are people that try to replicate what we are doing and hold their own services on the beach as a means to upset us and demoralize us. Yet I have to remind myself that they did it to Paul as well. That is part of the spiritual battle we are in.

But Paul says I am done messing with you. From now on I go to the Gentiles. And so he goes right next door and starts preaching in the house of Titus Justus whose house literally butted right up against the synagogue. So Paul begins to preach in the house of Justus as the synagogue is going on next door. And Paul probably was a really loud preacher like I am, and his voice must have been easily heard next door in the synagogue, because it says that the leader of the synagogue, Crispus, becomes saved. And not only was he saved, but so was his household as well as many others who heard Paul preaching. I can imagine the whole synagogue standing with their ears against the wall listening to Paul preach to the Gentiles on the other side. And the amazing result being that the people in the synagogue end up believing and are saved.

I have been told I have a loud voice. I have had a number of people tell me after a service that they were a couple of blocks away and they heard my message as clear as a bell. I can’t help but wonder how many lives have been impacted with the gospel by someone hearing it without actually sitting down here in front and joining the fellowship.

But the encouragement that really warmed Paul’s heart was seeing people come to know the Lord. Whole households came and then followed the Lord in baptism. To me that means that they were discipled. They were responsive and obedient to the gospel. Just a few weeks ago we had 7 people baptized here on the beach. Three of them were adults from one family. Two others were a husband and wife. I am so encouraged when I see families follow the Lord together. That is the pattern very often intended in scripture. Some one here today might come to be saved during this service and they might be the catalyst for their whole family coming to know the Lord. I hope so.

Fourthly, God encouraged Paul with the word of God. This is one we all can definitely benefit from. Vs. 9 and 10, “And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, ‘Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.’”

Now this is so rich I am going to have to break it down into 4 parts. The first part is this; “do not be afraid, for I am with you.” Oh folks, if we could just really get the principle into our heads that God is with us then it would remove so much fear and doubt. Lately I have been using Psalm 23 as a prayer guide. And when you meditate on the fact that the Lord is your shepherd, that He is with you and guiding you and protecting you in everything you do, then all sorts of comfort begins to open up to you.

God said Paul you are not alone, I am with you. And if you are God’s child, then you are never alone either, God is with you. I am comforted when I think of my kids out in CA, they may be out of my reach, but they are not alone, God is with them. When you consider that God is with us, no matter where we are, or how difficult the situation, that our powerful God of the Universe is with us, then that is an immense comfort. I would like to quote part of Psalm 139, which I would encourage you to bookmark in your Bibles to turn to in time of distress and depression.   It says, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,’ Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.” If you are a child of God, then the Lord is with you. That is your strength and comfort no matter what happens. Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

The second part of the word of the Lord is “don’t be silent, but keep on preaching.” I love that. Sometimes I hear the devil say in my ear, “you know if you just lightened up a little people might like you more.” “ Try telling a few jokes. Take some time off. Stop being so serious. Stop preaching repentance so much.” But God said, “don’t stop preaching.” Keep on preaching the gospel until God calls you home. And God will take care of the results.

The third part of the word of the Lord is, “no one can hurt you.” I like that. I’m not going to worry about some crazy person cutting short my ministry. I’m not going to worry about the government shutting us down. I’m the servant of the Most High God and He will protect me and keep me until He is done with me. And nothing can hurt you if you are the Lord’s child. Jesus said in John 10:28 “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

And the fourth part of the word of the Lord is, “I have many people in this city.” I love that. I love how that echoes what God told Elijah the mighty prophet of God when he became tired and scared and depressed to the point where he ran 100 miles and then despaired even of life. He wanted God to take him out. And God said, I have 5000 men in this place that have not bowed the knee to Baal. God has people who don’t know yet that they are God’s people. They don’t know yet that God has laid claim to them, chosen them before the foundation of the world. God has elected them to salvation and yet they are unaware of it at this point. But God knows, and He wants Paul to be encouraged because He has a plan to bring them to Christ.

So that is the encouragement of God through the word. And we have that same resource. We may not receive visions in the night from God, but we have, as Peter said in 2Pet. 1:19 “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” What Peter is referring to as a more sure word than the word of visions, is the written word of God. It is inspired by God and sealed by God and refined as pure silver. And it is written down for us that we might find encouragement and a word from God at any time, day or night.

Finally, the fifth way God brought encouragement to Paul was in defeating his enemies. You know, you can’t preach the gospel for 9 years in this town without creating some enemies. The gospel of God is offensive. And sometimes I have to restrain myself from wrestling against flesh and blood, if you know what I mean. But it is an encouragement to know that God is fighting for us and God has a way of vanquishing our enemies while we stand by and watch. I have to remind myself to let God fight my battles. When I do I find we achieve a greater victory I could have ever done if I tried to do it in the flesh. And that is exactly what happens with Paul.

One day when he is preaching, the Jews come in force and drag him off to the procounsel who was named Gallio. And they trumped up some charges against Paul saying that he was teaching things contrary to the Law. But just when Paul is about to open his mouth, God stepped in and intervened. Gallio basically dismissed the case. He said he wasn’t interested in judging matters about their religion. In other words, Gallio just gave Paul the green light to be able to preach the gospel without fear of the Jews taking him to court. Gallio is saying religion needs to deal with religion, we will not judge that in this court. And he ordered them out of his courtroom.

Now that was a great victory in and of itself. But the really cool part from my perspective is the prosecutor, the head of the synagogue, gets beat up by the rabble from his own group. They turn on the synagogue official and beat him up right there in the court, and Gallio could care less. So here is Paul, who is usually the one getting beat up in a courtroom or getting lashes or whatever, standing there watching his opponents not only defeated, but publicly humiliated and beaten for good measure.

But there is really another side of that story which is even more remarkable. Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, is publicly beaten, but it only serves to beat some sense into him. Some how or another, Paul must have reached out to this beat up enemy of his, Sosthenes, and led him to the Lord. Because listen to what he says when he writes the church at Corinth later on; 1Cor. 1:1 “Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth.” Sosthenes may have been beaten up and kicked out of the synagogue by his own people, but he was saved by the very gospel that Paul was preaching and led to the Lord by the very man that he was persecuting.   What a testimony that is. And what an encouragement that ought to be to all of us when we are faced with enemies of the gospel. We do not know the way God will work in the lives with which we are connected with. But we need to stand fast and wait and see the salvation of the Lord.

So it says in vs. 18 that Paul remained in Corinth many days longer. His ministry was fruitful. It wasn’t completed until God said it was completed. And that is our encouragement. God has called us to ministry. Each and every one of us is called to participate in the ministry of the kingdom of God. And if you haven’t found your place of service in it yet then you need to do so. You may not be called to leadership. You may not be called to be an evangelist. But maybe you have been called to be a Pricilla or Aquila. Maybe you have been called to be the pillars of your local church, to support your pastor, to use your resources in business or in your home to minister to the needs of the church.   Or maybe you are called to be like the Christians in Philiippi who purposefully supported the work of ministry with their offering even while actively engaged in their church at home. Or maybe you just need to be encouraged today by a word from the Lord, that He will never leave you nor forsake you. That He is always with you. That no weapon formed against you will prosper. That no one can harm you if you are doing the will of God.

Or maybe you are one of those people who don’t know yet that you are the Lord’s. You haven’t yet made a confession of your faith, haven’t yet publicly committed your life to Christ and followed the Lord in baptism and joined with the local fellowship of believers. Maybe you have been hanging around the outskirts of the fire, realizing that the gospel is the source of light and life, but as of yet not committing to come in to fellowship with Christ. I hope that today is the day you surrender to give yourself wholly to Him who is able to save you and make you a part of His body and give you the encouragement of the hope of eternal life.

Over the past few weeks we have been looking at the power of the gospel to save, even to the uttermost regions of the world. We saw in chapter 14 the miraculous power of God to heal the lame man as an illustration of the power of the gospel to give life to that which was not. And we saw the power of the gospel in chapters 15 and 16 as it confronted demonic possession and idolatry in pagan societies, resulting in transformed lives and churches being formed in formerly dark cultures.

Today, we will see the power of the gospel in even advanced civilizations. In all the world, there was no place more considered the cradle of civilization than was Athens. It was the birthplace of intellectualism; of education, philosophy and the arts and sciences that was unequaled in the world. It was the home of such fabled philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Seneca. It gave birth to the sciences of medicine and art and literature and reason and architecture that are still studied in arenas of higher learning today.

Now Paul finds himself in Athens at this particular time alone. He has left Silas and the rest of his entourage in Berea. In Berea the Jews had stirred up the crowds against Paul and the church there had sent Paul away to Athens because they were afraid for his life. So as Paul is waiting for them to join him he begins to walk about the city and in so doing he becomes provoked in his spirit by the hopelessness presented by the pagan idolatry of this city.

It was said that the city of Athens was so filled with statues of idols that it was easier to find a god than a man. One estimate was there were 3000 idol statues or temples that were erected in the city on public property, not including the private buildings which had idols as part of their architecture. So as Paul walks around the city he is struck with the propensity of false religions that abounded at every turn. There was an idol of a god of every possible sort, even the foreign gods of other nations were to be found there, as one writer puts it; “their hospitality to strangers extended to the gods too, being very ready to receive any strange objects or forms of worship.”

I think it is possible today to see a parallel in many cities in America to Athens. New York or Los Angeles for example are centers of fashion, of entertainment, of great architecture, of great institutions of higher learning, of the latest technology and science. And furthermore, in spite of the moral decline in America, there is still virtually a church on every other street corner in most cities across our country. Though America was once thought of as a Christian nation, it cannot be said to be anymore. But as America has become the melting pot of the world, we have assimilated the religions and philosophies of the world, just as the Athenians did, so that you are likely to see every possible religion represented in the average city.

So I want us to keep that perspective as we study this passage today. Because the gospel is not just some ancient, out of date, out of touch religion that was only valid many centuries ago. But I would like to show that as the gospel was powerful to save even amongst the advanced civilization of Athens, it is powerful to save as well today. As Hebrews 13:8 says, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. It is powerful to save everyone, and it is relevant to every culture, and every civilization.

Now as it says in vs.16, the spirit of Paul was provoked as he observed this city full of idols. That means he became exasperated as he saw all these idols. Because Paul knows that they are powerless, that they are false gods that have no power to save, no power to deliver, and he is exasperated at this culture and the hopelessness of their religions. So he begins to preach the gospel. That is the answer to the exasperation we may feel about our culture, by the way. The answer is not politics, it’s not philosophy, it’s not cleaner water or better housing or education. But the answer to the hopelessness of civilizations, the hopelessness of Chicago, or inner city Baltimore, or the ghettos of New York City, is the message of the gospel.

So true to his custom, Paul begins with the Jews. He seeks out some God fearing Jews and proselytes who had a synagogue there in Athens. And he begins to share the truth of the gospel with them. Then he goes into the marketplace and begins to proclaim the gospel with people that he met there. See, Paul is not ashamed of the gospel, because he knows it is the answer to the problems of the world. It is the antidote that the world desperately needs. That is why he would later say in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation, to every one who believes, to the Jews first and also to the Greek.” Paul was proving that statement right there in the marketplace, in the public arena of Athens, the heart of civilization.

Now as he is preaching the gospel, certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers hear him and converse with him, and they are intrigued by his message. Some say, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” And others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

Now I don’t want to bore you with a philosophy lesson so that we might know exactly what Epicurean and Stoic philosophy taught. I am not here today to teach philosophy. I don’t propose to be an expert in philosophy. I propose to know only Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I know Him to the be truth and the life. I don’t need to study philosophy to be able to debate with philosophers. I need to study the scriptures, even as the Bereans who it says in vs. 11, who proved their nobility because they eagerly searched the scriptures to see if these things were so, and were convinced because of the authority of scripture.

It’s like the old adage about counterfeit money. Experts in detecting counterfeits do not study counterfeit currency. They study authentic currency and become so familiar with it that they can easily spot a fake. So it is with human philosophy and false religions. I hardly need to waste my time trying to keep up with it all. I just need to spend time studying the truth and then I will not be fooled by false religion.

But suffice it to say that Epicureanism and Stoicism are but twists on the same old lies that Satan has been selling since the dawn of creation and is still selling today under different titles. As Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun. The devil just keeps repackaging the same old lies for each new generation. Epicureanism acknowledged existence of a type of god, but they denied that they had any power or control over nature. They believed that life ended with death, and so their motto was to “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” They loved pleasure and considered happiness the highest goal of man.

Today that view is very much in vogue. Modern man may tolerate a view of god to some extent, but they don’t see much evidence of him, they don’t believe that he can really affect the events of the world or do anything to help us. And so the average person on the street is living for today, living for pleasure, living for things that they think will make them happy. They tolerate religion, but they haven’t got much use for it.

Stoicism believed in a multitude of gods. It was called pantheism. That accounted to some degree at least for the thousands of gods displayed in Athens. And a parallel to Stoicism in our society is the view that all roads must lead to god. What we call God, someone else calls Allah, another calls Buddha, and so there is not one way to God but many. All are right, therefore none can be exclusively right.

Now there were a lot of variations on each philosophy, but both were at odds with the gospel. These philosophies were popular among the intellectual elite, especially among the people of Athens. And so some proponents of these philosophies ask Paul to come to Areopagus, or what was also called Mars Hill, where there was a council of judgment so to speak, made up of philosophers who judged every new philosophy. This was the same court that condemned Socrates, and was responsible for his execution five centuries earlier. By this date their judicial powers had begun to wane, but they still had the authority to debate philosophy and render decisions, and it was to the very spot that Socrates had been summoned that Paul found himself ready to give his defense of the gospel.

But notice how boldly Paul proclaims the truths of the gospel. He is not speaking here to men who knew the scriptures. He was speaking to men of science, men of the arts and letters, at the greatest institute of learning in the world and which is still revered today in educational circles. And yet he unapologetically preaches the gospel. Because he knows that philosophy cannot save, science cannot save, the arts cannot save, and false gods cannot save. There is only one power that can save, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that is what he preaches.

Now I would point out that what we have here before us is only a synopsis of Paul’s message. I think he would have expanded on many points that we see just briefly touched on. But Luke gives us an outline of his message, and I would like us to look at it, so that we might know how to present the gospel in a pagan culture, and even in a hostile culture. Both of which I believe our present culture is fast becoming.

First of all, note that Paul said in vs. 22, ““Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.” Notice that Paul is respectful in his opening remarks. He is trying to win them to the gospel, not to repel them or even condemn them. I think that is far too often the course of evangelists today who try to interact with the culture. A couple of weeks ago I was watching online a surf contest in Huntington Beach, CA called the US Open. And it’s always a huge event, with hundreds of thousands of people and exhibits and so forth. It’s hedonism at it’s worst. And there are always these people there at this event that hold signs and so forth and basically picket the contest, and the signs and the message they present is typically one of condemnation and impending judgment on immorality and so forth. I don’t think that they are serving the cause of the gospel in that way, but only serving to further alienate those they are supposed to be reaching. Paul will speak of the coming judgment as well. But he doesn’t open up with it. He speaks of a commonality that they have between them. Paul was certainly very religious. It occupied his every waking moment. So he builds a bridge to them by acknowledging their obvious zeal for religion as well.

But in the Greek language, Paul uses a word which classifies their religion as having more of a superstitious nature. And that was evident in the pantheism of Greece. They did not know for sure what to believe, so they believed everything, and worshipped every so called god.

Now it is necessary that we come to believe in the existence of God; that God is. The Athenians had come to believe in a form of god. To recognize that god is, that he exists. And that much is true and necessary. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” So it is good and necessary to believe that God exists. But that alone will not save you.

Because Jesus added that those who worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. So we must not only believe that God is, but who God is, and what God says. That is what it means to believe in God. To believe in who God truly is, and what God truly says concerning Himself and our relationship to Him. If God is real, then He cannot be the object of our interpretation, or of our creation. We must worship Him in truth, or we do not worship Him at all.

So Paul says, you know it’s great that you guys are very religious. It’s evident on every street corner in Athens and in all the temples in this city. But I have to tell you the truth about your religion. Your belief is based in superstition and ignorance, and I want to explain the truth about God to you. So in vs. 23 Paul says “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.”

And this is a brilliant tactic on the part of Paul. He takes what they worship, what they agree already exists and is deserving of worship, and says I am going to explain this God to you.

Now there is an interesting side note about this unknown god that should be explained. And that is that several hundred years before there had been a plague in Athens, and the people of the city believed that the plague must have come upon them because a particular god was angry with them. But they had no idea which god. They had thousands of gods represented in the city. So they came up with a plan, which was to drive a flock of sheep into the city and they supposed that the offended god or gods would draw the sheep to them and then they would offer them as a sacrifice to that god. So as the sheep moved around and settled down in the city, if they laid down near an idol, then they sacrificed those sheep to that idol, believing that the offended god had drawn them to him. But there were some sheep that laid down in an area that did not have a idol in that spot, and so they built an altar there to the unknown god and sacrificed those sheep to that unknown god. So that is why there were altars to unknown gods throughout Athens.

So Paul capitalizes on this desire to appease an unknown god, their recognition of a God beyond their pantheon of known gods, and he appeals to that interest. He says what you have been worshipping in ignorance I will proclaim to you. He says, I want to introduce the unknown God to you.

So in vs. 24, Paul says I want to introduce this God to you. I want to explain who God is. Who is He? Well, first of all, Paul says, He is the Creator. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Paul didn’t start quoting from Genesis 1:1. But I don’t know that for sure. However, we do have the synopsis of what Paul said in vs. 24, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.”

First point then is that God is the Creator of the world and all things in it. If you have been in our services for the last few weeks, then you know how often I have recounted the power of God as expressed in creation. God is the creator of the earth and the seas and the heavens and all that is in them. This is such an amazing statement and it is echoed in the scriptures so many times I cannot possibly recount them all. That is why the theory of evolution is so damaging folks. Satan struck a mighty blow to the church in America when he prevailed in the evolution debate and gained the education system of our schools and universities. I am convinced it takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe in creation, but the fact remains that our children are indoctrinated in it from the time they are toddlers. And as such, the gospel has lost one of it’s greatest testimonies as to who God is. Because according to Romans 1, the creation testifies of the invisible attributes of God.

As I said a couple of weeks ago, the fact that we cannot ascertain the fact that the earth is spinning at 1000 mph, and traveling through it’s orbit at 67000 mph, does not invalidate the facts of science that it is indeed traveling that fast. But for you sitting here today, it is virtually undetectable and cannot be ascertained by normal means. And in the same way, the God who made the world and everything in it can not be seen or felt or ascertained through human measurements, but He is and He exists and by His power all things have their life and being, whether or not we can deduct that through human senses or not. It takes just as much faith to believe science as it does to believe in God.

But that knowledge of God as our Creator is really the foundation of our faith. When we come to accept Him as our Creator, as the maker of everything, as the originator of everything, then we can come to the point of knowing God and knowing the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. If we believe in God who holds the earth in space and made the sun and the stars and who made all life, then it is but a small step to believe that He has the power to save and deliver man from sin and death. So Paul says that the unknown God is the Creator of the world.

And then secondly, Paul says, this unknown God is Lord of heaven and earth and consequently does not dwell in temples made with hands. I wonder if Paul would have quoted Isaiah 66:1”Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?” So God is not only Creator, but Lord of all. Oh, that is where most people fall away, is it not? This would have been the point that the Athenian philosophers would have started to squirm. They were willing to recognize this unknown God, but they would have a hard time confessing Him as Lord of all. That there could be no other god before Him. Jesus, who was the physical manifestation of God would say in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Ouch! Paul’s judgment panel of philosophers probably winced at that one. He is Lord of all. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Confessing God as Creator, but as Lord of all, our Master and the Ultimate Ruler of all is the foundation of our faith.

Thirdly, Paul says not only is He Creator and Lord, He is the Giver of life. Look at vs. 25, “nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.” What Paul is teaching there is nothing less than the doctrine of the grace of God which is necessary for salvation. We cannot give God anything. He needs nothing. He is all sufficient. He is all powerful. He made everything on earth, so He owns everything. And there is nothing that we can give Him to endear ourselves to Him because He needs nothing.

But rather God is the giver of all life. James 1:17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” He causes it to rain on the just and the unjust, so that as the scriptures say, the kindness of God calls them to repentance.

Next point in Paul’s sermon was that this unknown God controls man and his destiny. Vs. 26, “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”

The point being that man is made for God, to know God and to have a relationship with Him. He made all the nations of the earth from the first man, Adam, with whom that relationship was broken through sin. But because God gave us the second Adam, even Jesus to be our substitute, we can have that relationship is restored. Augustine said in his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” There is a God sized hole in every heart, which we cannot fill with anything other than Christ. Nothing else satisfies. And so God in His providence and grace, so orders the human psyche so that they should seek Him and turn to Him.

Then the last point describing this unknown God that Paul makes is that God is a revealer. God reveals Himself to those that seek Him. Jeremiah 29:13says “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” And Jesus said in Matt. 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Paul is making the point that as you see God in Creation and recognize Him, and as you understand that He is Lord of all and bow to Him, and as you realize that He is the source of all life and goodness and so seek Him and come to Him, then He will come to you and reveal Himself to you that you may know Him. That we might know Him that is Unknown. He has announced Himself in creation. He has manifested Himself in Jesus Christ. And He has revealed Himself in His Word. He is the Revealer of Truth as we are obedient to the truth that is revealed thus far.

That is the progression of the gospel of salvation. That we recognize the truth up to the point that it has been revealed to us, and then we are obedient to that truth, and then the Holy Spirit will continue to lead us and guide us into all truth.

And then like all good preachers, Paul quotes from a poem. For some reason or other, I haven’t advanced in my preaching to that point of habitually quoting poetry. But Paul quotes from two poets actually, Greek poets, not Christians by any means. But nevertheless Paul uses them to make a point and drive it home with these intellectualists. Vs. 28, “for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’” Now that poem was attributing that characteristic to a heathen god, but Paul is using it to say that your own poets have said that we have our being and life from God. And though you do not know this God, this Creator, this Lord of all, yet He is the source of all life, even eternal life, because He is the eternal God. And we are made in the image of the eternal God. In His likeness, in His image, we are made to be like Him, to be in fellowship with Him, and that fellowship is the source of eternal life and eternal joy.

See how high Paul sets the standard for God? It is not the purpose of man to live only for human pleasure, to live and let die, or to stoically endure the ups and downs of life without hope of eternity and without knowing the God who made them for His fellowship. To live that way is to live in darkness, to be blinded and miss out completely on the purpose of life.

So then Paul wraps up his sermon in one great sweeping closing argument, saying in vs.29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Paul is contrasting the infinite God who is the Creator, the Lord of all, the Giver of life and the revealer of truth, to their finite dumb gods of stone and wood and metal, the image of God formed by the art and thought of man. This is the idol of our age; that we form god in our image, according to what we think God is or should be like. We define Him and box Him in, and minimalize Him with one word descriptions like “love” and say whatever does not fit our description cannot be God. And so we worship nothing more than an idol of our own design.

But Paul then inserts the other doctrine of the gospel. The first doctrine he presented was the doctrine of faith, was it not? Believing God is, and who God is. That is faith. But as I have said over the last couple of weeks, there are two pillars of the gospel. There are two elements of believing the gospel. One is faith, but the other is repentance. That is renouncing sin, renouncing idols, turning away from darkness and following God. That is repentance. So Paul says in the time past you were ignorant, but now God declares that all men are to repent and be saved.

This is the other great stumbling block to virtuous, religious and intellectual people. They want to philosophize about God and religion, but they do not want to repent of their sins. This is the stumbling block, the offense of Christianity. When we recognize who God is, and what we are; sinners. Outside of the fellowship of God. Unable to ascertain God. Unable to give God anything with which we may barter for our salvation. But utterly dependent on His grace to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And then Paul presents the judgment. Paul saves judgment for last. Because the judgment is the last part of the gospel. It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. If you reject the free gift of God, if you reject the saving antidote for deadly sin of which we all are guilty, then the judgment will be that we will be forever separated from God who is the source of all life. And that results in eternal damnation for those that reject God’s gift.

Paul said that God will judge the world through Jesus Christ, whom He appointed to be our Savior, and furnished proof by His resurrection from the dead. And when the philosophers in this great university of higher learning heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but some others said we will hear more from you later. And I think that is very much the case today. Some hearing this message will sneer and think it foolish. Others will be convicted or perplexed and say I’ll think about it. Maybe I’ll decide later. But chances are they will let the moment of decision pass away.

But I pray there will be someone here today like the men and women in vs. 34, who believed and followed Paul. That is what it takes for salvation. To turn away from false idols, from false relgion, and turn and believe in the true God revealed in His word, and then follow Him as you are taught the truth in His word. I pray that you will believe in the God of the Bible, accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, and follow Him today.

Many years ago I was at a church where they were preaching through Acts, and I just remember feeling like I was taking a geography lesson about some ancient civilization. Whatever truth there was to be gained for me was obscured by the confusing and often boring geographical details of Paul’s missionary journeys.

So today I want to avoid focusing on all the stops of Paul’s journey and the various particulars of each city or culture, and instead I want to direct your attention to the point of Paul’s mission. The point of Paul and Barnabas’s missionary journey is the same in every city and every culture and for every person that they meet. And that is that they preached the gospel. As Spurgeon said, Paul may have changed his tone, but never his matter. The gospel is effective and powerful for every culture, every kind of person, every kind of situation.

In Romans 1:16 Paul writes later, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Don’t let familiarity with that verse dull it’s meaning. Paul is saying, having learned from his own experience, that the gospel is the dynamis of God. That is the Greek word – dynamis. It’s the root word for dynamite. The gospel is powerful, able to blow up and destroy fortresses. 2Cor. 10:3-4 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” But it actually goes even further than simply the idea of power, but it really means miraculous power. It is the power to save. Salvation means to deliver by miraculous, dynamic power.

You know, many of us fall into the trap of agreeing that theologically the gospel has the power to save our souls from hell, but then think it unreasonable to that the gospel alone has enough power to defeat the power of sin. Is it able to deliver a soul from hell, but unable to deliver a body from addictions? Which is harder? To heal the body or to heal the soul? Is the gospel God’s miraculous dynamic power to save or is it only effective in the spiritual realm? I emphatically proclaim to you today by the authority of the God’s word that the gospel is miraculously powerful to save and deliver from all sin, any sin, all effects of sin, the power of sin, and the penalty of sin.

Paul said it again in another place, 1Cor. 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Paul said that the preaching of the gospel is foolishness to those that are lost, but to those that are being saved, it is the very power of God. The power of God is immeasurable. The power of God holds the earth which weighs trillions of tons, and causes it to spin on it’s axis at 1000 mph, and then send it rocketing through it’s orbit at 67000 mph at just the proper distance from the sun. That is just the strength of one little finger of the power of God. And Paul is saying that same tremendous miraculous power is unleashed in the gospel through salvation. There is no force in the universe greater than the power of the gospel. Jesus said, things that are impossible with men are possible with God because God is a God of unimaginable, immeasurable power.

So Paul, wisely enough, as he goes from town to town, preaches the gospel. He doesn’t use the wisdom of men, he doesn’t use psychology, he doesn’t rely on entertainment, he doesn’t use technology, he simply preaches the powerful gospel of salvation to every people in every region, in every culture. No matter where he went it didn’t change. When Paul goes to Ephesus, he preaches the gospel. When he goes to see the Greek philosophers in Athens, he preaches the gospel. When he goes to Rome to see Caesar, he preaches the gospel. When he is taken before kings, he preaches the gospel. Because he knows the gospel does not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. And so we see that illustrated for us in this chapter.

Notice in vs. 1 Paul and Barnabas went first to the Jews in the synagogue at Iconium, and what did they do there? They preached the gospel. Then it says in vs. 3, in spite of the Jews stirring up bitterness towards them, they continued to preach the gospel for quite some time. Finally, persecution got so bad there that they had to flee town because they were about to be stoned to death, so in vs. 6 it says they went to the Gentiles in some nearby towns called Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe; and what did they do there? Vs. 7, “they continued to preach the gospel.” Boy, these guys were a one trick pony, weren’t they?

Then while they were in Lystra, Paul healed a lame man. We will talk more about that in a moment, but notice vs. 15 which says that Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel to them as well, which resulted in the pagan crowd first trying to worship them as gods, and then when they were finally convinced that Paul and Barnabas were not gods, they stoned Paul and left him for dead. But Paul got up and went right back into town and I suppose continued preaching the gospel right where he left off.

The next day, Paul and Barnabas left Lystra and went to a nearby town called Derbe, vs. 20. Guess what they did there? You guessed it, preached the gospel. Then after they had made disciples there, they went back to the cities that they had preached in previously and preached some more, strengthening the believers and appointing elders in the churches that were now started in those towns.

Then finally they traveled to Perga, and preached the gospel there as well. After all that preaching of the gospel to all these various regions, they went back to their home church in Antioch and reported to everyone there what God had done through them in their journey.

So preaching the gospel was the pattern to Paul’s ministry. He said later he relied not on cleverness of speech but the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But what exactly is the gospel? Literally, it is the good news. It is the good news that sinful, dying men and women who are under the penalty of death and cut off from God have had their penalty paid by Jesus Christ, who is the very God incarnate, that is God in human flesh, resulting in eternal life for those who believe. Paul says it very succinctly in 2Cor. 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Did you get that? God made Jesus, who was sinless, to become sin on our behalf, so that we might become righteous with the righteousness of Christ. God transferred our sins upon Jesus, put Him to death for us, and transferred the righteousness of Christ upon us, that we might be reconciled to God. That we might be made sons of God. That we might be given new life, eternal life in Christ.

Now that is the doctrine of the gospel, but how is it made efficacious for us? Well, the gospel rests upon two twin pillars which are repentance and faith. Repentance and faith; they are codependent. One alone cannot suffice. They must both be present for the gospel to go from theology, to being efficacious to your salvation. Jesus declared that in his first message recorded in Mark 1:15 saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” So repent and believe, the twin pillars of our faith. Listen how Paul sums it up in vs. 15, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, WHO MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM.”

Now look closely at what Paul is saying. He rebukes them first of all for worshipping false gods. They were actually thinking that Paul and Barnabas were the gods Mercury and Zeus and they were preparing to offer sacrifices to them. So Paul rebukes them and says no, we are also men the same as you, and we preach the gospel to you, which is that you should turn from vain idols… Now stop there for a moment. That is what repentance is, to turn. To turn away from sin. God’s law defines sin and at the very beginning of God’s law He says you shall have no other gods before Me. You shall make no graven image. But you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve. And Paul said that they needed to turn from that sin unto God. So repentance is not simply feeling sorry for whatever situation you find yourself in, or feeling emotional, but repentance is turning, 180 different direction, from following sin, to following God. Now maybe you are so caught up in your sin that you want to repent, you want to turn, but you don’t think you have the power to turn. Well, that’s typical. But thankfully the power to turn does not come from ourselves. You don’t have to sober up to come to God, or get cleaned up to come to God. You come to God asking to be changed by His power. The power to change comes from God through salvation. We simply confess our sins, our sinful nature, confess that we are trapped in it, and believe in faith that God is able to deliver us from it. That is when God applies the power of salvation. The power to deliver you. The power to forgive you. The power to save you. The power to free you. The power to heal you from the effects of sin that serve to trap you.

So the first pillar is repentance and the second is faith. Let’s finish Paul’s sentence; “that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, WHO MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM.” Repentance is turning as we have already shown, now then faith is believing that God is powerful enough to save you, powerful enough to deliver you, that He is powerful enough to make the earth, send it’s trillions of tons spinning on it’s axis, rocket it into orbit at just the precise distance around the sun (which He also made by the way) at 67000 mph. And that the same power of God that made the earth, and the sea, and the stars and everything that is in them, can certainly, surely deliver you from not only the penalty of sin, but the power of sin. If you believe that, then you have faith. Faith is not believing that you can do it, or that you need to clean up or sober up or get your life together first. Faith is believing that God’s power is enough to save you and deliver you. Faith is believing that Christ’s sacrifice cleanses you from sin and transfers you to the kingdom of God.

Now let’s see the effect of the gospel. Someone once said that every miracle in the New Testament is a parable, designed to illustrate physically what God can do spiritually. And I certainly think that is the case in the miracle of healing the lame man here in this chapter. It is illustrative of the power of the gospel.

Let’s look at what happened in verse 8. “At Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.” Now if you had written that sentence in English class your teacher would have probably marked your page in big red letters saying that is a redundant statement. The author Luke says that the man is lame in three different ways. Why? Well obviously, he wanted to emphasize that the man was lame.

But if you consider it more closely, you will notice Luke says that he had no strength in his feet. In other words, he was powerless. Then he says he was lame from his mother’s womb. In other words he was born that way. And then that he had never walked. He didn’t know how to walk. He had never walked. He had no experience of walking.

And I would suggest this lame man is a picture of all mankind in their fallen, sinful condition. We have no strength to walk after Christ. We are powerless to live the Christian life. We are powerless to reach God.   Secondly, we were born that way. Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” We are natural born sinners, and as such are bereft of God.

And then thirdly, we don’t know how to walk in righteousness. We have never walked in righteousness. Isaiah 64:6, “all our righteousness is as filthy rags.” We don’t have experience in righteousness. 1Cor. 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

So in every way, this lame man is a picture of the natural man who is unsaved. And then notice that Paul was preaching the gospel and this man was obviously very attentive. And Paul seeing him knew that this man had the faith to be healed. How did he know that? It was undoubtedly a prompting by the Holy Spirit as he saw this man listening and drinking in Paul’s message. He could perceive this man’s response to his message. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Our faith is not founded on our feelings, or on wishful thinking, but on the promises, the word of Christ.

And notice how Luke describes it in vs. 9: “This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had faith to be made well.” The Greek word for made well is the word sōzō. Guess what sōzō means? It means to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction. So it’s not just a physical healing that is presented here, but symbolically and literally I believe in the life of this man, a spiritual healing. As I said while ago, every miracle in the New Testament is a parable, designed to illustrate physically what God can do spiritually.

Then let’s look at the power of the gospel to save as illustrated in this miracle. Paul said in vs. 10 “with a loud voice, ‘Stand upright on your feet.’ And he leaped up and began to walk.” Here is the process of salvation. The lame man typifies repentance by the fact that he knew that he was lame. He knew he was born that way. He knew he could never walk. That is a picture of repentance. He wanted to be made well. And when he heard the gospel preached he believed in Christ, and all that Christ represented. Then Paul ordered him to stand upright on his feet. So the man had the faith necessary, but at that point it was all theoretical. He needed to act on that faith. He needed to stand up in obedience to Paul’s command even though he had never stood up.

We are told to obey to the call of the gospel are we not? To confess our sins, to repent of our sins, to believe and trust in Christ and to follow Christ. The first step to following Christ is obedience and then that is demonstrated by being baptized. Baptism symbolizes repentance and faith all wrapped up in this demonstration of your inward change.

So he had repentance and faith, and then notice the powerful result of salvation. The lame man leapt up and began to walk. Notice that this man who had no strength in his feet and legs leaped up. He didn’t grab hold of a walker and start to pull himself erect. He didn’t have to go to physical therapy class for 6 weeks to get his legs strengthened. This man who had no strength in his legs suddenly had the strength to leap up. Hallelujah. I feel like leaping myself just thinking about it.

And he began to walk. From a human, scientific, commonsense perspective, that just can’t happen, can it? He has to learn to walk. He has to build his muscles, build his strength, learn to keep his balance. But actually, no he didn’t. God was able to supernaturally heal him. Give him the full power to walk as a disciple of Christ.

Folks, I don’t know about you but I take great comfort in that illustration. I don’t have to worry that I have a sinful nature. God will give me a new nature when I am saved. I don’t have to worry that I have never been righteous. God will give me the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I don’t have to worry that I don’t know how to walk, God will give me the Holy Spirit to live inside me that will teach me and help me to walk as I step out in faith.

Some of you here today are thinking, wow, that sounds terrific. Sounds like good news. I wonder if I could have that power of salvation. I’m here to tell you that the message of the gospel has not changed. It is good for kings, for peasants, for Jews and for Gentiles. It is one size fits all. It is effective for you if you will just repent and believe. It is the power of God. And that power can and will deliver you from not only the penalty of sin but the power of sin.

If you recognize yourself in this portrait of the lame man, you recognize you are a sinner from your mother’s womb and the impossibility of your spiritual condition, then I urge you to accept Christ today. Turn from your sin and believe in Christ and know the power of salvation. It is available to everyone without cost. Jesus paid the price. All that is necessary for you is to repent, believe and be willing to stand up and walk in obedience to Him. He will supply the miraculous power of salvation.

So far in the book of Acts, we have studied the record of a couple of notable sermons, particularly the first message of Peter as well last sermon of the martyr Steven. Today, we look at the first recorded message of the Apostle Paul. As I noted last time, in this chapter, Paul transitions from being called Saul to being called Paul, and he is no longer called Saul on any longer, which indicates to me that he began his apostolic ministry at this point. This apostolic commission was attested to with signs and wonders as an attestation of the Spirit’s appointing him as an apostle, but it is interesting that Paul’s first attendant miracle is not that of healing but of cursing. He pronounced blindness on Elymas the magician as we saw earlier in this chapter.

And perhaps that illustrates the double edged nature of the gospel as Paul indicates in this sermon. That on the one hand is offered salvation for those who believe it and accept it, but on the other hand condemnation and judgment is upon those who reject the gospel. The gospel is a two edged sword, it cuts both ways. And we will see that illustrated in this sermon.

For the sake of time we will forego some of the geographical details that give the context for this sermon. But what should not be overlooked is that in vs. 13, after explaining the logistics of their trip, Luke says without fanfare or explanation that John Mark left them and returned home to Jerusalem. We are not given the answer to the question of why in this passage. And even later, in Acts 15, we are only told that Barnabas and Paul have a sharp disagreement over letting John Mark accompany them on a later mission due to the fact that Paul considered him a traitor to the cause on this first mission. And so at that point, Paul and Barnabas go their separate ways. I will add though that at the end of Paul’s ministry, he welcomed a much more mature John Mark in his company, so obviously there was reconciliation between them.

However, I think the point needs to be made that the young man John Mark is illustrative of a type of Christian that is unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary for the kingdom of God and departs from the ministry. And as such they can cause great harm to the cause of Christ. In addition to hurting their own testimony by setting aside their calling, they also can be a source of great discouragement, even to the pastors of the church themselves. I must confess I am so very often dismayed by young people falling away from the fervency of the ministry in favor of pursuing the desires of the flesh. I would to God that we had a few men who are more like Timothy, that served God from their youth and matured to be great men of God. But I’m afraid that so many today seem to fall victim to the appeal of the ungodly culture. And obviously, that sin is nothing new. It seems to have happened in the case of John Mark. And it seems to be flourishing today in our times as well. As mature Christians, we need to do all we can to try to encourage and strengthen the next generation so that they do not fall into the temptation of the world.

So skipping all the logistics, we find Paul and Barnabas in Pisidian Antioch, which is a town in Galatia rather than the Antioch of Syria you are probably more familiar with. And on the Sabbath day they go to a local synagogue and are seated most likely in the seat reserved for rabbis. Paul would have qualified for that position. And there was a certain order of service that was followed in the Sabbath meetings which is helpful for us to understand.

Notice vs. 15 says that after reading the law and the prophets. Now this wasn’t just a haphazard approach. But rather the Jews had a schedule for scripture readings that was practiced every Sabbath. The law which was read indicated the entire Pentateuch, broken down into 53 sections. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy were divided up so one section was read each week so that the entire Pentateuch was read through in a year’s time. And then following that there was read a corresponding section from the Prophets. Now commentators tell us that because of this schedule they can pinpoint exactly what passages were read on that occasion, even though Luke doesn’t specify them.

But I don’t offer that as an interesting tidbit just to teach you some neat little historical fact so you can impress people at some Bible study some day. The point I want to make is that Paul preaches his message as an exposition based on the very scriptures they had just read. I believe that what we have recorded here is actually just a synopsis or outline of Paul’s message. The opening words of Paul refer to Deuteronomy 1-3 and that would have been the law section for the forty-fourth Sabbath in the year, which fell in July or August; and the corresponding passage from the prophets being Isaiah 1:1-27, from which he also preaches. He starts, as was the apostle’s tradition, from the Old Testament scriptures as the text of his sermon.

I happened to listen to a sermon by a very close friend of mine the other day who is also a pastor of a fairly good sized church. And as I listened to him, I was struck by the fact that he began his message without any Biblical context at all. He just started talking about some topical thing going on in the culture. At one point about 15 minutes into his message, he gave a vague mention of a brief verse of scripture which he did not quote or give a reference for. At the 25 minute mark, he sort of paraphrased the first part the first sentence from Genesis 1:1. And at about the 35 minute mark, I cut it off. Folks, if we should attempt to preach without the scriptures as our guide, then we foolishly rush in where angels fear to tread. Paul preached expositionally, and that should be our example in the church as well.

So when they had read the passages of scripture, they invited Paul to speak. Now this was the normal order of their service. I suppose that they started out with 45 minutes from the praise band, accompanied by an interpretive dance number, and then followed that with a skit, you know one of those pantomime kinds where no one speaks, and then they showed a video clip of their mission trip, and finally Paul got up and cracked a few jokes for 15 minutes and closed with a heartwarming story. No, I don’t think that is what the text tells us. They read the scriptures and Paul stood up and preached from the scriptures. How antiquated.

Note also that Paul, like Peter and Stephen before him, preached the gospel from the Old Testament. Today we tend to think that the Old Testament needs be done away with in favor of the New. But in fact, 2Tim. 3:16 says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

So Paul starts out by prefacing his exposition by stating the historical context for the text.   His text is mentioned in vs. 18, which says “For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness.” And the translation of the words “put up” is an unfortunate rendering. Because where Paul gets this idea is from Duet. 1:31 which was the text which was read in the law. And that text speaks of God providing for His people all during that time, nurturing them, as a man might bear his son. Listen to how the Deuteronomy text reads, Deut. 1:30 “The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place. But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God.”

The text in Deuteronomy is talking about the rebellion of Israel, God’s chosen people and how God carried them even though they rejected the sovereign rule of God. Please understand something. The children of Israel were supposed to be a foreshadow of the church. Old Testament Israel is not one dispensation which did not work out so it was thrown away and in it’s place the church was placed and we don’t have any relevance to the Old Testament nation of Israel. On the contrary. It was a picture, a foreshadowing of the church. God dwelled in the midst of them in the Holy of Holies, just as God dwells in the hearts of His church today. So what happened to Israel serves as a lesson for us. Israel, from the very beginning rejected God’s rule, as Paul illustrates in his message.

Paul goes on to say that for about 450 years God put up with them, God nurtured them, proving Himself to them over and over, rebuking them at times, even causing many of them to die in the wilderness because of their unbelief, but being patient towards them, that they might know the good news of His promises to them. Then after that, Paul reminds them that they were given the judges up until the time of Samuel. Then came the climax to their rebellion. They asked for a king like the nations of the heathen. God was supposed to be their king. They lived in a theocracy. But after hundreds of years of God’s kindness and providence towards them, they rejected the rule of God over them and asked for a human king.

The heart of God concerning this rebellion is found in the text from the Prophets that was read before Paul’s message. It is found in Isaiah 1. I’ll read just a few of the verses there to give you a taste of what the scripture said concerning Israel’s rebellion. “Sons I have reared and brought up, but they have revolted against Me.An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know,My people do not understand. Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away from Him. Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah. What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me? Says the LORD. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies– I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD, Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Oh, what a contemporary warning for the church, is it not? The Lord said, I hate iniquity in your solemn assemblies. When you spread your hands in prayer, I will not listen. Wash and make yourselves clean. Remove the evil deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil and do good. That isn’t a message preached very often today is it? If you continue to rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. This idea that we can sin and get away with it is not a Biblical principle ladies and gentlemen. To rebel is as the sin of witchcraft. To call sin good, and good sin, is to rebel against the word of the Lord. It’s to lie against the truth, and it is time for judgment to begin with the house of God. I fear for the greater church today in America which is lying and subverting the truth of God’s word for a PC version dictated by the culture.

Well, Paul says that Israel continued to rebel by asking for a king, so God gave them a king, he gave them Saul. Saul was a man that people admired. He was good looking. He was tall and handsome and looked like a king. But his heart was not right with God and he rebelled against God’s word. So God removed him from power and gave the kingdom to David, a man after His own heart.

David sinned grievously in the sight of God, but David also repented with a broken and contrite heart which God did not despise. The great danger to the church is not that we sin, but that we desire to justify our sin, as Saul did in his rebellion. We want to say that what God declared as sin is not really sin.

Paul shows a contrast between the rebellion of King Saul, and the willingness to do the Lord’s will of King David. David was called a man after God’s own heart. He had faults; he committed sin; but who does not sin? He was guilty of great offences; but he also evidenced sincere, humble repentance, and consequently God forgave Him.

Then Paul uses David to introduce Jesus, saying in vs. 23, “From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.” To an Israelite, they looked for the promise of the coming Messiah to be a King, the son of King David, who would restore unto Israel the former glories. But Paul shows that the Messiah is not only to be King, but a Savior, to restore man to his former glory with God before the fall.

To see Christ as King and not Savior was to miss the purpose of the Messiah and the point of salvation. And just as grave an error can be made in reverse, which is to see Christ as Savior and not King. The Jews were guilty of the first error, and the church guilty of the second. We live without regard for the fact that Christ is King over all.

Hence it is necessary in order to receive Him as Savior that there would first be a baptism of repentance. The baptism of repentance; so it is called in Matthew 3:2; repentance being a precondition to receive the mercies of God in Christ resulting in eternal life. Faith is the outcome of repentance. One cannot exist without the other. To think faith is simply believing in the existence of God or Jesus Christ is to say that the Jews who witnessed Jesus’ life were already saved. Believing in God doesn’t save you. James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!”

Believing in Christ unto salvation requires first repentance, acknowledgement that you are a sinner, without hope, lost, and being willing to give your life completely to the charge and care of God so that you might be changed. It requires a change of direction. Salvation is not adding religion to your life. It is not adding some Jesus to your life. But it is dying to your old life, and being given new life in Christ so that we might live for Him.

That is why Paul points out in his sermon that before Christ could come, John the Baptist came and preached baptism of repentance. Matt. 3:6 speaking of John the Baptist: “And [they]were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.” Lots of churches practice baptism today, don’t they? Some may sprinkle, some may dunk, we go out in the surf. But do they teach that baptism is a mark or sign of repentance? That we bury the old man in the water, and the new man is raised out of the water? That is repentance, ladies and gentlemen. It is not feeling sorry you got caught. It is not feeling emotional, or weepy when you hear that Jesus suffered on the cross for you. It is coming to the point of dying to sin. Dying to the world. Dying to your will. And being raised up in newness of life. Old things are passed away, all things become new.  And by the way, how does an infant confess their sins when they are baptized? I don’t think they can. You need to be baptized as a sign that you have repented and are saved, not as a means of salvation.

Paul then gets to the heart of the gospel message, and that is it is for you who fear God. Vs. 26. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We fear God because we know that we are sinful, we know the depravity of our sin, and we know the judgment that God promises towards those who rebel against His word. The gospel is for the lost. Jesus said I came to seek and to save those that are lost. Not those that are satisfied, those that are self righteous, those that claim to be religious. But to save those that recognize that they are lost.

Then referring back to the prophets, Paul says that the rulers in Jerusalem unwittingly fulfilled those prophecies, by putting Jesus to death. Though they found no fault in Him, yet they persuaded Pilate to execute Him. But though the rulers of the Jews condemned Jesus, God proved Christ’s righteousness by raising Him from the dead. God proved not only His righteousness, but also His divinity.

So Paul quotes Psalm 2 to prove that Jesus Christ was not only the promised King and the Savior of the world, but also the very Son of God. Vs. 33, quoting Psalm 2, “YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.” And also he quotes Psalm 16:10 in which Christ is called by God “My Holy One.”

Paul uses these Psalms of David to show that it could not of been of David himself that it was written, because David was buried and his body underwent decay. But Christ who was raised from the dead so that His body did not suffer corruption. Vs. 36 “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.”

And I would also point out that years later Paul would write in 1Cor. 15:23 that Christ is the first fruits of those that are Christ’s. Meaning, that we that are saved will have the same benefits of Christ. As Paul said in our text, the holy and sure blessings of David. Which are spoken of again in Romans 8:11 which says, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

The point being, that as Christ was raised, so we too will be raised to eternal life. But not only after we fall asleep in Christ, but also it has import on how we live in this present life. As Matthew Henry said, “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.”

The great reformation theologian John Calvin said something similar; “Because we have the truth hereof in Christ, whilst that being buried together with him we put off the old man; therefore the old figure is past.” What that means in layman’s terms is that the promise of Christ is for you as well, that promise of not seeing corruption; both the eternal corruption of the dead, and the practical corruption of the living. Salvation frees us from not only the penalty of sin, but the power of sin. Sin no longer has power over us if we have died to sin, buried it in the baptism of repentance. So that we might no longer live to sin, but live to Christ. That is the promise of salvation, that we might be freed from the corruption that is in the world. In fact, that is one of the great benefits of the church to the world; that we are the salt of the earth. We are the salt that prevents total corruption on the part of a dead and dying world. But let us remember what Jesus said about that salt in Matt. 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.” Beware Christian, that you do not lose your saltiness. You are the light of the world. Therefore, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

The final point of Paul’s message is the great invitation to be saved. Vs. 38 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.” Notice that Paul repeats “to you”, “to you” and says, “everyone who believes.” The good news of salvation is given to you, to everyone who will believe. It is not exclusively a Jewish religion. It is not only for the righteous. But salvation is freely given and paid for with the blood of Jesus Christ to whosoever will call upon His name.

However as I said at the beginning, the gospel of salvation is a double edged sword; it cuts both ways. It saves on one side, and condemns on the other. Because as Paul indicates, some will be scoffers, some will not believe, and they will surely perish as the former prophecy of Isaiah warned they would. The same Messiah King who came the first time as a Savior will return the second time as a Judge. And woe is he who disregards His sacrifice for sin and continues in his rebellion.

Well, that is Paul’s first sermon, what was the response on the part of the congregation? I would suggest that it was pretty typical of the gospel message as it is preached everywhere. There were some who were excited about it and asked for Paul to preach again the next week. And then after the meeting was over their were some that followed Paul and Barnabas. That means that they became disciples. You know being saved is not the end, it is the beginning. It is beginning a new life in Christ in which you walk after the Spirit. It is becoming a disciple, a follower of Christ. And that is why in vs. 43 Paul was urging them to continue in the grace of God.   What does that mean, to continue in the grace of God? Well, it means to continue to follow Christ, to walk as Christ walked.

You know I was talking to a young person the other day and we got on the subject of Buddhism. And this young person was sort of complimentary about the nature of Buddhism. The proponents of that religion seemed to them to try to be nice people, they didn’t hurt animals, they didn’t believe in war, they tried to meditate and be kind and pursue peace. It sounds good, but I tried to explain that this religion had no real hope for the afterlife. The best that they could really hope for was to find some sort of transcendent state where they blocked out reality and found some sort of tranquility by eliminating all physical distractions, pain, loss, hunger, sleep or whatever. Just training themselves to block out reality. And I tried to point out the hopelessness of that existence, because all that stuff is still there when you come out of your meditation.

But then I tried to point out to this young person that if the church was keeping the commandments of Christ, then we would be the type of people that the world would admire, like they admired the Buddhists. We would not only be able to offer them hope for eternal life, but we could offer a better existence here as well. If we truly loved our enemies as Christ taught, if we forgave those who mistreated us, if we gave to them that needed, if we did onto others as we would have them do to us. If we loved one another. If we served one another. I’m not talking about replacing the gospel of salvation from sin for a social gospel of doing charitable deeds and yet neglecting their salvation. But I am saying that the response of salvation is to do  works that glorify God. That we might be a light to the world. As Paul said, to continue in the grace of God. As God gave you grace, show grace. Continue in it.

Back in our text, the Jews saw a crowd coming to synagogue the next Sabbath to hear Paul and Barnabas and got jealous. So they stirred up some people and started contradicting what Paul was preaching. They were even blaspheming. I think that still happens today, people get jealous of our preaching and so that start backbiting and contradicting our teaching to keep others from coming to Christ.

Well Paul got wind of it and he never was one to mince words. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.’”

Then he and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet in protest and left town for Iconium. See when the Israelites had to go over pagan territory outside of the nation of Israel they didn’t even want the dirt from that country to be carried on their shoes into Israel. So they would make a big deal about stopping on the border and taking off their sandals and dumping the sand out of them before going into Israel. Because they thought they were righteous and everyone else was heathen. So Paul and Barnabas turn the tables on them. As they are leaving town, they stop and shake the dust off their feet, indicating the were leaving the town of the heathen unbelievers. Jesus said in Mark 6:11, “Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.”

Well, Paul laid out the gospel pretty clearly. I cannot improve upon it. I would just remind you in closing of the choice that he laid before you. To believe in Christ as King, as Savior and as the Holy One of God and in repentance and faith receive the forgiveness of sins. Or to reject Jesus as King, as Savior and as your God and continue in self righteousness and rebellion. One way leads to life incorruptible, one way leads to death and decay.   To you the gospel has been preached. To you the choice is given. I hope that you will turn from your sins and trust in Christ as your Savior today.

Last week we looked at government’s attack upon the church as evidenced in chapter 12 when Herod imprisoned Peter. And through that study we understood that though governors and rulers of government are granted their authority from God, yet at the same time they are often used by the ruler of this world, Satan, to bring persecution upon the church of God.

Now this week we are looking at another passage which illustrates the two pronged strategy of Satan’s attack on the church. He uses external means, such as governments, to attack the church, but he also uses internal means to attack the church. And I would have to say that from my perspective, which is also supported by Scripture, the internal attack is more effective.

The internal attack against the church is more effective because it comes in disguise. 2Cor. 11:14 says that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. I just saw on the news that they are going to unveil a statue depicting Satan in Detroit before planning to move it to Arkansas where it will stand next to a monument of the 10 Commandments. And this statue features a man’s figure topped with a goat’s head. Satan is often portrayed in literature and art as a menacing figure. But in reality the Bible teaches just the opposite. It teaches that he was the most beautiful of all the angels that God created. So these depictions that we often see are dramatic interpretations at best, and find an audience among the naïve and superstitious.

Satan is real though, no doubt about that. But according to the Bible he would rather come in disguise than be seen as he really is. The Bible says he is a thief, and what he steals is the truth. He twists it and subverts it, yet all the while claiming that it is still the truth. And as such he is very effective. The Bible says that he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. That means that he is a ravening wolf that wants to destroy the church, while pretending to be a shepherd.

Now in the new Gentile church they were seeing great ground being gained for Christ. And the beachhead of this new Gentile church is in the town of Antioch, which was also one of the most depraved cities in Roman Empire. But in spite of the depravity of that culture, there is a mighty work of God there. That illustrates the principle that God often works most mightily in those who seem the least unlikely.

And to that end, God had brought together in this church a group of men from various backgrounds and cultures to be the leadership of this new church. Now this was a Spirit led, Spirit filled church. And God presents this Gentile church to us as a template for our church today. And in the process of looking at how Satan attacks this church, we will also note the characteristics of a godly church that will not only withstand but triumph over those satanic attacks.   As Jesus declared, “I will build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Yet we dare not take lightly Satan’s schemes. They are a very present and real danger to the church, and many have fallen away from the truth because of Satan’s deceptions. But if we follow the paradigm set forth here with the Antioch church, then we can be triumphant over Satan’s schemes.

The first thing we should notice about this church was that it was led by spiritually gifted men. Vs.1 lists these men. “Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.” It’ so obvious a point that it could easily be overlooked, but to be a church that triumphs over Satanic attacks, there needs to be the right kind of leadership.

Now though the text gives two titles, it is really just one position; prophets and teachers or you could say preachers and teachers. But though it describes two different styles of discourse, it is speaking of only one position. Today we would call that person a pastor. A pastor is a preacher/teacher. Don’t be misled by the word prophet that is found here. A prophet is simply one who proclaims the truth of God. In the case where we have the scriptures which are the inspired word of God, then we are prophets in the sense that we proclaim what God has said. In times past when there wasn’t the written word, then they spoke the words that they had been given by Christ when they followed Him as disciples, or they spoke the word of God which was being given to them directly through divine inspiration. Today we have the complete, inspired word of God written down for us. So there is no new revelation today being given through prophecy. There are no new scriptures being given. We proclaim and preach the written word of God which has been preserved for us in the Bible. So we need to understand that prophecy is not just future telling, but primarily forth telling. Proclaiming the truth of God.

That is job one of the pastor, by the way. If the pastor is not preaching the whole counsel of God as it has been given, in it’s completeness, rightly dividing the word of truth, then he is abrogating his most important responsibility of leadership.   Ephesians 4 says that when Jesus ascended on high He gave to the church gifts and the first priority of those gifts were it’s leadership. Ephesians 4:11-13 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians says that these men are given to the church, to preach the word in order to build up the body, to equip the saints for the work of service, so that the church grows up to maturity and in unity of doctrine.

And we see that evidenced here in this church in Antioch. These spiritual leaders were engaged in ministering to the Lord, vs. 2. “While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting…” What does it mean to minister to the Lord? Well, it means to serve the Lord. The pastor’s job is to serve the Lord. To faithfully proclaim the message that God has given them to the people. And whoever serves in the church should do so as unto the Lord, don’t we? When I explain to a man and woman the responsibilities of marriage, I tell them that according to Ephesians 5 they are to serve one another as unto the Lord. When Ephesians 6 says to servants, or workers how they are to work for their employers, it says to do their work as unto the Lord. Children are told to obey their parents as unto the Lord. Whatever we do, we do it as unto the Lord. That is how we serve the Lord in all we do. And if you can’t do something as unto the Lord, then you need to stop doing what you’re doing.

You know, in the armed services when a soldier leaves his unit and goes off on his own, it is called going AWOL. Absent without leave. And you can be court martialed for that. And in the Christian life if you are not a part of a local body of believers, then you have gone AWOL as well. When you became a Christian you were joined to the body of Christ, and your duty is to be a part of that local body. There are no free agents in the Christian church. All are called to submit to the local authority of a church and take responsibility for the role you are given there. There is a dangerous practice emerging today of treating church like a smorgasbord, going here one week, and there another week, and failing to understand your responsibility to support a local, Bible teaching church.

But as a pastor, it’s important that we are focused on serving the Lord, not just serving the people. It’s easy to become focused on pleasing the people, thinking that in order to win them to the Lord we need to concoct all sorts of programs and devices to try to please people. But instead, we need to serve the Lord, preach and proclaim His word, and let God take care of the people’s response. It’s His word, it’s His church, and our job is to declare His word, rightly interpreting it, and teaching it, knowing that as teachers we will receive a greater judgment for what we teach or fail to teach.

Now not all programs are bad. There are some good programs that the church can do, but it may not be in the best interest of the pastor to do them if it deters him from the ministry of the word. For instance, in the beginning of the church in Jerusalem the needs of the widows was being neglected. Taking care of the widows was a good thing. But the apostles said pick 7 godly men full of the Spirit to do that, as for us, we must not neglect prayer and the ministry of the Word. That is our calling, our responsibility, and without it the church cannot survive the attacks on it by Satan.

The word minister is an interesting word which comes from the Greek word litourgeo. It was used to describe the duties of the priests that served the temple. The temple was the place where God met with His people in the Holy of Holies. It was the place where worshippers came to offer sacrifices and offerings.

I think it’s part of the diabolical plot of Satan that the word worship has been co-opted today to mean something different than the Bible teaches. Today in most churches, worship is merely singing, or listening to people sing, maybe raising or clapping your hands. And that’s it. But worship in the Bible is always pictured as coming to God in submission, bowing before Him, even prostrating oneself on the ground. And worship is always pictured in conjunction with a sacrifice. We’ve lost the sense of sacrifice today. We’ve lost the sense of coming to God with an offering, with our gifts, and with our sacrifice.

Yet these Old Testament worship rituals were not meant to be forgotten about in the new covenant, but were meant to be examples to us as pictures of how we are to worship. Today we don’t slaughter a lamb for our sins. But we should understand that Jesus was slaughtered for us on the cross so that His blood atoned for our sins. We need to understand the principle that a sacrifice cost something. Every sin in the old covenant required a sacrifice. So if I lied, I would bring a sacrifice to the temple. That dove, or that lamb cost me something. I had to watch it die in front of my eyes, so that I might understand the significance of my sin. I had to pay out of my pocket the cost of a lamb so that I might be redeemed from the penalty of that sin.

Now the New Testament teaches that by one sacrifice of Jesus Christ all my sins have been atoned for. But woe is me if I do not value the blood of Christ as much as the cost of a lamb. Heb. 10:29 “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”

God still requires sacrifices from those who would worship Him. David said in Psalm 51:16-17 “For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

And Romans 12:1 describes another kind of sacrifice that God desires. “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”   How do you offer your body as a sacrifice to God, how do you worship God? Vs. 2, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” We set ourselves apart from the world, and are transformed through renewing our mind as we are taught the scripture and apply them to our lives, so that we might do the will of God.

There is another aspect of their ministry, not only the preaching of the word, but the ministry of prayer. They were fasting and praying. Fasting is often misunderstood. It’s not a means of twisting God’s arm. I don’t think God cares if I eat chocolate for a month or not, or if I swear off ice cream for 40 days. But what God does care about is my heart. If the desire of my heart is to hear from God, to know the will of God, then God is pleased with that. And one way that we manifest that desire is that we shun our physical needs for the sake of our greater spiritual need. Our desire to hear from God is greater than our desire for food. Fasting is an indication the fervency of your prayers.

I asked last week, how often do you pray intensely? How many times have you prayed all night long for something or someone? How many times in the last week or month have you prayed for a solid hour? I’m not suggesting a legalistic approach to prayer or fasting. I’m just suggesting that if you want to hear from God, then you need to become someone who is willing to forsake the world and even your physical needs in order to be able to pray effectively. We need to set aside time for prayer.

Well, these pastors were in the habit of praying and fasting. They were in the habit of daily ministering to the Lord, of daily preaching and teaching in the church. And in the process of doing that, God speaks to them. We aren’t told if it was audible, or in a vision, or if He spoke to one or all of them. But somehow, Luke tells us, the Holy Spirit said to them, “set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” To set apart is to separate. Church leadership should of all people be an example of being separate unto the Lord. He’s not talking about joining a convent or going into a monastery. He is talking about separating from the world to perform a particular work of God. To be unique, set apart, for a specific task. It means to be consecrated to a holy purpose, as a chosen vessel for God’s use. Whether you are called to be a pastor or whatever position God has called you to in the church, we are to be consecrated to that responsibility, holy as unto the Lord.

And then we see that the church supported them. The church laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul to show solidarity with them. Laying on hands did not somehow elevate them to another level or confer some gift to them. But what it did was show affirmation with what the Holy Spirit had already indicated. The Holy Spirit called them and set them apart. The church simply confirmed the call of the Holy Spirit.

Listen, this is important; pastors are called by God, not by men. Not by seminaries. Not by denominational boards. God calls a man to ministry, not a church board. The worst thing possible for most churches is to convene a pastor search committee made up of the most diverse members of the congregation and give them the authority to hire a pastor. The pastor is not a hireling. He is the undershepherd of Christ and called by Him, gifted by Him, and given to the church by Him. No wonder the church en large is in such disarray today. Some poor guy was hired by a committee based on his looks, his personality and his wife’s wardrobe. I can promise you this, in most evangelical churches today the Apostle Paul would never get the call from the pastor search committee. He just wasn’t funny enough. He didn’t make people laugh. He didn’t look very cool on stage. He was a bent over old Jewish guy with a bald head and a beak nose. And on top of that he had this really sickening eye disease that caused his eyes to discharge corruption all the time. Remember what the church at Corinth said about Paul? 2Cor. 10:10 “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.” Sounds like what they say about me. “Oh yeah, Roy preaches the word of God, but he isn’t very uplifting. I want someone who makes me feel good about myself. I want someone to make me laugh.”   Well, take it up with God. God wrote His word, I just declare it.

I want to say something else about the calling. In the lineup of pastors in Antioch, Barnabas was listed first, and Saul was listed last.   But when God calls two men, he calls Barnabas and Saul. Now Saul has been working with Barnabas for a while now, possibly several years. And up to this point he did nothing noteworthy. Nothing has been extraordinary about him. Considering his background, he probably was not the sort of guy that you wanted to promote to a major position in the church. After all, he used to persecute Christians. And if you really wanted to attract the best people in society to the church, then you should really consider Manaen. He was the foster brother of King Herod. Talk about connections. He had a royal upbringing. He knew people that could bankroll the church. He was educated in the finest schools. He would have been the most likely candidate.

But God called Saul. And this is the last time that he is called Saul. From now on he will be called Paul. I believe this is when Saul is elevated to the position of an Apostle by the Holy Spirit. You know after Judas killed himself, the apostles promoted Matthais to his position. Perhaps now that the Apostle James has been martyred as we saw in the last chapter, Paul has been promoted by the Spirit to take his place and to particularly be the apostle to the Gentiles. But unfortunately, we get the sense from Paul’s epistles that he is always having to defend his apostleship. The greater church at large did not seem to give him the respect that he deserved. But at least from our standpoint in history we can be assured that Paul was perhaps the greatest of all the apostles, though at the time he was considered the least. God often uses the weak things to confound the mighty.

Now a lot of what we have covered concerning the church of Antioch has focused on the leadership of the church. And leadership is important because as go the leaders, so go the church. They are to be the examples to the flock under them. Notice that the church sends Barnabas and Saul out in vs. 3, and then in vs. 4 it says the Spirit sent them out. The Holy Spirit uses people to work His will. We don’t just sit back and wait for the Spirit to do everything, but we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do what the Spirit tells us to do. That’s the way the Spirit works.

But now let’s turn our attention to the satanic attack against the church and see how the leadership responds. Barnabas and Paul start out at one end of the island of Cyprus and work their way across, going from synagogue to synagogue preaching the gospel. This is going to be the pattern for Paul as he goes on all subsequent missionary journeys. He looks for Jews first, many times going to the local synagogue where God fearing Jews would gather and there he would preach the gospel. Then from there he would branch out to the Gentiles. But his pattern according to the pattern of scripture, is that the gospel would be given to the Jews first.

So when they got to Pathos, word of their ministry had obviously spread and even the governor of the district had heard about them. In fact, he wanted to hear more about the gospel. So he invited Barnabas and Paul to come preach to him. But there was a man with the proconsul or governor called Bar-Jesus who Luke tells us was a false prophet. He was a Jew, but he practiced magic. This indicates that he claimed to be able to foretell future events by means of the stars or some other form of divination. And the text tells us that he was opposing Paul’s message to the governor, trying to turn him away from the faith. To keep him from being saved.

Now let’s notice a couple of things about this guy Bar-Jesus. That’s his Hebrew name, by the way. His Roman name was Elymas. But let’s focus on his Hebrew name, Bar-Jesus. His name means son of Jesus, or son of salvation. Now Luke tells us that he is a magician. You know, I can’t help but see a parallel here between the man called Simon Magus who was rebuked by the Apostle Peter earlier in our study of Acts and this man. Both were considered magicians. And both had a reputation in the district as a man of wisdom, a man who could do wonderful things by some magic power which we are told was satanic in origin and both opposed the apostles teaching. And what that tells me is that Satan uses the same strategies in the church over and over again. There is nothing new under the sun. Satan just repackages the same deceiving strategies for each generation and passes them off as something new when it’s the same old tricks.

Remember the verse I quoted at the beginning that said Satan disguises himself as an angel of light? Well, here he is in the person of this magician, this trickster, and yet he calls himself the son of salvation.   He pretends to be an angel of light. A messenger of salvation but actually he is deceiving the people and trying to prevent this proconsul from becoming a Christian.

And here is another interesting principle. As soon as an unsaved person seeks to hear the gospel, Satan has one of his false prophets right there to try to deceive and trick them. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen this worked out in the church. I’ve seen young men who couldn’t find a girl to save their life, one day start to show some interest in salvation and suddenly they are the like a contestant on the most eligible bachelor or something. They suddenly get a girlfriend. And off they go, forgetting all about the need to get right with God.

Or I’ve seen someone come under conviction by the Holy Spirit, and before they can come to a place of confession they talk to someone else who convinces them that what they really need to do is go to Catechism class. And so they spend six weeks in Catechism class and come out a better Catholic, but still unsaved. However, now they feel a lot better about themselves. They got religion.

So here is this false prophet, opposing the witness of God’s true prophets Paul and Barnabas. Trying to turn this man away from the truth. Listen, this is the greatest danger to the church. The greatest danger to the church is not the homosexual agenda. Not the liberal media. Not the abortion advocates. Not the political liberals. No, the biggest threat to the church is from within, from false prophets masquerading as angels of light, pretending to be shepherds, when in fact they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. And their purpose is to ravage the church. 1Tim. 4:1 says, “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.”

I tell you, if I had no other witness that we were in the last days, it would be the fact that many have fallen away from the true faith, by paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons which run rampant in the church.

God gave me a verse of scripture when He called me to be a preacher of the gospel. It is found in 2Tim. 4:2, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” And so I have attempted to do that for the last 9 years. But over that time I have seen many people who claimed to be saved turn away from the gospel I preach for another gospel. And the next verse in 2Tim. 4, vs. 3 explains why that happens. It says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”   And I would not be so concerned if that was where it ended. They go their way and I go mine. But that is not the way it works. Many of them go out of their way to try to keep others from coming to the knowledge of the truth. They cause others to stumble by their rebellion and by deliberately trying to turn them away from the truth, just as Bar-Jesus did.

I wish I was as bold as Paul was in confronting that sort of thing. But then again, I’m not Paul. But what Paul teaches us is that the way to deal with false prophets is to call them out. To unmask their hypocrisy. To uncover their deceit. See the devil loves to stay in disguise. But Paul calls him out and he doesn’t mince any words.

First of all Paul fixes his eyes on him. I have to laugh at that one. I have a bad habit of locking eyes with one person sometimes when I am preaching. Especially on Wednesday nights. And it’s not because I’m trying to give them the stink eye or something.   It’s usually because they are the only one in the congregation that is brave enough to look at me. Everyone else tries to hide behind a lamp or something. So the poor guy that is willing to look at me gets locked on like a laser beam and I stay on him all night. But Paul isn’t doing that. I think Paul just locks his gaze on him in order to make sure this false prophet gets the full intent of his message.

And so Paul, full of the Holy Spirit, note that. He’s not full of vitriol. He is full of the Holy Spirit. It’s the word of the Holy Spirit that condemns this man, not Paul. He says, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?” I love that. Starts off by calling him a deceit and a fraud. You promise people life but only bring about death. You promise people truth and give them a lie. That is what false prophets do.

And then he says he is the son of the devil. Remember his name was son of Jesus, or son of salvation, but Paul says no, you are a son of the devil. The enemy of all righteousness. Will you not stop making crooked the straight ways of the Lord?

And then notice the curse. I don’t have the power to curse anyone. I don’t think anyone does. But God does. And so filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking by the power of the Spirit the words of God, Paul pronounces a curse upon this man. “Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.”

Now as I’ve said many times recently, very often a miracle in the physical realm is a picture of a spiritual reality. This man was blinded in order to demonstrate the spiritual blindness that such false prophets cause. I believe that is what is presented here. False prophets cause spiritual blindness because they hide the light of the gospel. Satan wants to keep men in darkness. And so God blinds him that he might be seen as a leader of the blind, the blind leading the blind.

But that wasn’t the victory of the church. Damning the lost is not the triumph of the church. The triumph of the church is winning the lost. The gates of hell, the minions of the devil, cannot stop the gospel from winning the lost. We are in a war, but not against flesh and blood, but against angels, against angelic powers and principalities. But we do not war with weapons of carnal warfare. We war in the power of the Spirit, by the ministry of the word and with prayer. And in that manner we see the victory in this passage. “Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.”

That is how we triumph over Satan as a church. Winning one soul at a time. Robbing hell of it’s citizens and making them disciples of Christ. We faithfully follow godly pastors who preach the word of the Lord. Who rightly divide the word of truth and who reveal false teaching for what it is. We pray earnestly and intensely for the ministry and seek the Lord’s guidance and counsel in all that we do. And in that manner we defeat the schemes of the devil. Because greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world. When the church is set apart unto Christ, worshipping and serving Him in Spirit and in truth, then we can be confident that He will preserve and defend His church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.

Recent decisions on the part of the government, not only in America, but also in various other countries, have amounted to nothing less than an attack on the church. And I believe that this is just the beginning of a wholesale attack on the church which will continue to get worse and worse as we go forward. The Bible makes it clear that in the last days, perilous times will come.

Paul described such days as this in 2Tim. 3:1-5 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”

Difficult times are coming for the church. We stand on the authority of God’s word, and as such are in opposition to those types of people, who want not only to be allowed to continue in their rebellion against God, but want to make us agree with their rebellion and redefine morality so that what they do is no longer considered sinful. It’s not enough for us to allow them their immorality, the church must be forced to condone it and even celebrate it in order for them to be satisfied.

So I believe that these are the beginning of perilous times for the church in America, especially. It is a difficult time for the church because we live in a country with a representative form of government that is managed by a peculiar type of leader called a politician. And a lot of politicians are willing to cater to whatever crowd will keep them elected. Many politicians seem to be willing to embrace anything that will endear them to enough people to guarantee their reelection.

But as I alluded to last week, I would encourage you not to be dismayed and give up hope. Over the last 2000 years, nations and governments and political despots have risen and fallen, and yet God’s church still stands. Jesus promised Peter, “I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.” The church will survive until Jesus returns one day to reclaim it as His bride and there is nothing the world can do to stop it.

But that doesn’t mean that there will not be persecution of the church. I believe wholeheartedly that the church will endure persecution in the last days. I do not subscribe to the post millennial doctrine that things are going to get better and better until the whole world is saved. Neither do I subscribe to the pre-millennial view that the church will escape unscathed by a secret rapture. I believe that the church will go through the tribulation, and it has already started and will continue to escalate and will consummate with the second coming of Christ.

As Jesus Himself prophesied in Mar 13, saying, “And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. … For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect… But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, … And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.”

Persecution is coming, but we should not be alarmed by it. Rather we should understand that God uses all things for good, even persecution, for them that love God, and to them that are called according to His purposes. (Rom.8:28) God uses even the death of His saints for His purposes and to build His church. As Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

The problem is that we value too much this present world, and value too little the next. We should remember that in Christ we have already died to the world, and if they should take our life, then so much the better for we will be present with the Lord. “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

In chapter 12 today we see a perfect illustration of the principle that God will preserve His church against the attacks of the enemy. What I want to show you from this passage is three principles that we can be assured of as the church endures persecution from governments or any organization used by Satan to attack the church. The first is the persecution of the saints. The second is the protection of the saints. And the third is the judgment upon the wicked.

So first let’s look at the persecution of the saints. In this chapter we see persecution against the church ramps up from merely religious persecution by the Sanhedrin, to political or government persecution against the church. And yet, God illustrates through this passage that He is on the throne and in control. This passage illustrates that rulers and politicians are granted their power from above, for such a time as God sees fit. And when God decides that their time is finished, He can remove them from power.

Jesus told us in John 16:33 that we should expect tribulation; “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

As I mentioned, persecution at this stage takes the form of government persecution. It comes in the person of King Agrippa the 1^st.   He was the grandson of Herod the Great who had all the babies under 2 years old killed at the time of Christ’s birth. And like father like son, the Herod’s were an immoral, murderous lot that only were concerned about acquiring power and keeping power. His jurisdiction was practically all of Israel, which he had acquired in piecemeal through cronyism with Roman leaders. Furthermore, he was not a pure Jew by birth. He was an Edomite who had been circumcised and thus was considered part of Judaism, but never really accepted by the strict Jews.

If you remember though, in the last chapter Herod had intervened for the Jews with the Emperor Caligula to keep him from erecting his statue in the temple, which would have desecrated the temple. And the Jews were appreciative of his efforts. So when he saw that he was appeasing the Jews, he sought to further ingratiate himself to them by attacking the church. Because the church now was accepting Gentiles, and as such were even more odious to the Jews. So as it says in vs. 1 and 2, Herod began to attack the Christians in Jerusalem, and one of the most famous ones was James, one of the sons of Zebedee, the brother of John. And to please the Jews, Herod had him beheaded.

And then when Herod saw that it pleased the Jews, he arrested Peter as well. He obviously intended to put Peter to the death also. And I just want to emphasize here that Herod had no legal grounds to arrest these men or have them killed. He just did it for political expediency. It was the politically correct thing to do.

I’m afraid we live in a culture today when it is politically correct to try to silence the church as we know it. The world has always been an enemy of the gospel, but in the past it was somewhat more discreet, today it is out in the open. There is a downright animosity, hatred even towards Christianity today that is unbelievable. The internet in particular seems to be a breeding ground for this hatred.

But as much as I am dismayed to see this today, I am reminded that Jesus foretold this 2000 years ago. Look again at Mark 13:12-13 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.”

Now I want to show you an important principle here regarding trials and persecutions. God did not deliver James from death, but He did deliver Peter. And if you are like me you cannot help but ask why? Why would God allow Peter to be delivered but not James? They were both apostles. They both were a part of the inner circle of Christ.

And here is the first part of that answer, the second will be given in the next point. Why did God allow James to die while Peter was delivered? The answer; it was the sovereign will of God. It wasn’t a lack of faith or prayer or any effort of man. It was the will of God. Remember when Jesus prayed to be delivered from this cup in the Garden of Eden He prayed “Not my will but your will be done.” And it was the will of God that Jesus suffered and died on the cross. It was the will of God that virtually all the apostles and close disciples of Jesus would eventually die as martyrs. I don’t claim to know the mind of God or all the purposes of God. I have to trust His wisdom. But I can tell you this, James was immediately with the Lord, and as Paul would say later, that is very much the better. And I believe these men understood that better than anyone. They knew the reality of the resurrection. They knew that Jesus said in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” They believed that from the bottom of their hearts, and that is why I think they were so bold in their commitment to Christ and willing to die for Christ.

I wish that more of the church had that kind of assurance today. The fact is that if we have truly died to the world to follow Christ, then there is nothing that the world can really do to us. Rom 6:8-11 “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” That’s the secret to enduring persecution, to know that we will never die if we are Christ’s.

Then the second point we see in this passage is the protection of the saints. Peter is arrested at the beginning of the Passover Feast which lasted for 8 days. And during this time he is chained to a guard on either side, with two others guarding the cell. And there are four such squads of soldiers guarding him 24 hours a day. Undoubtedly, Herod had heard that Peter had escaped from jail before and so he wanted to be sure that he kept him locked up until after the Passover, when he expected to have Peter executed.

But on the night before Herod was going to bring Peter out to be killed, an angel of God appears to Peter. And Peter is sound asleep. So soundly asleep that the angel has to smack him on his side to wake him up. I would suggest that is not due to Peter’s sleepiness so much as it must have been that the entire guardhouse was put into a deep sleep by the angel in order to effect Peter’s deliverance.

So back to our question, why does God deliver Peter and yet He did not deliver James? The first part of that answer was the sovereignty of God. It was His will that James would become the first martyr of the apostles, and it was His will that Peter would live for several more years.

But I think I can add something to that answer by saying this; I think God rarely works to bring about a personal miracle unless it serves the greater good of the kingdom. And in Peter’s case God wasn’t finished with him yet. After this chapter, Peter sort of disappears from the book of Acts for the most part. The emphasis turns to Paul and his ministry. But God was still going to use Peter. Peter would go on to write two epistles, 1^st and 2^nd Peter, and he would also mentor a young man that is introduced in this chapter, vs.12, John Mark. John Mark would eventually just be known as Mark, and he would be Peter’s interpreter as Peter continues his ministry to the Gentiles. But even more importantly, Peter teaches this young man the words of Christ which eventually are written into the Gospel of Mark, one of the four gospels.   So Peter’s deliverance illustrates my principle which is that God rarely works to bring about a personal miracle unless it serves the greater good of the kingdom. And the greater good that God wanted to accomplish through Peter is the furtherance of the gospel through the written word of God.

We see that principle in the Old Testament as Joseph was delivered from prison after 17 years as a slave and prisoner and elevated to the second in command of Egypt. God performed a miracle in Joseph’s life because he was going to be the deliver for the children of Israel. He preserved the kingdom of God through his position. But that principle is also illustrated when John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, and he was beheaded because his ministry was finished. His ministry was to herald and prepare the way for the ministry of Christ. As he himself would say concerning Christ, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” His ministry was completed, so God took him home to glory. So much the better.

But there is another reason suggested by the text for Peter’s deliverance. And that is the prayers of the church. The church that was meeting at Mary’s house (who was the mother of John Mark) had been engaging in a week long prayer vigil for Peter. They knew that James had been beheaded by Herod, and so they were under no illusions about Peter’s destiny. So they earnestly were gathered together praying.

The church in Mary’s house had been praying for a solid week. I think that kind of prayer comes as the result of persecution. I’m afraid that kind of prayer is lacking today in the church for the most part. Yet we are commanded to pray like that. 1Thess. 5:17 says, “pray without ceasing.”   Jesus told a parable in Luke 18 about a woman that petitioned a king and wouldn’t give up, to teach that we should pray at all times and not lose heart. Rom. 12 says be devoted to prayer. Eph. 6:18 says “pray at all times.” Peter says in 1Pet. 4:7 “The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.” And James says in chapter 5 that the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Jesus was a man of prayer. He prayed all night on a mountain top alone many times. I asked the Wednesday night group last week the question, “When was the last time you prayed all night for your children or loved ones?” Jesus did it. This church in Mary’s house did it. I would estimate that it was after midnight at least when Peter came knocking on their door. That may have been why they didn’t think it could have been Peter outside. Maybe it wasn’t so much that they didn’t believe God could deliver him as much as they didn’t think it would happen in the middle of the night.

Jesus rebuked the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane because they could not pray with Him for one hour. How about you? Have you ever prayed for one hour- much less all night, how about one solid hour of prayer? If not, why not? Jesus prayed so fervently in the Garden that He sweated drops of blood. Can you imagine that? Lord, if the church would get an urgency about prayer then I think we could still turn our communities, if not the world upside down. Prayer is one of the only two weapons that we have at our disposal according to Ephesians 6. The word of God and prayer. And most church members avoid both of them like the plague. No wonder we are in the mess we are in today. I would suggest that the mess we have in America is a mess of our own doing. We have neglected our duty and our responsibility, due to our romantic entanglement with the world.

Listen, God gave a promise about prayer in 2Chron. 7:14 which we would do well to remember is a promise given to the church! “If MY people, which are called by MY name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” We don’t need to worry about the pagans and the atheists becoming more sinful, ladies and gentlemen. We need to consider our own sins. The church needs to get on our knees before God Almighty and repent from our wickedness and call upon the Lord to hear us and heal us, and then He will heal our land.

Jesus said we are the salt of the earth. The church is what is supposed to stave off corruption in the world. But if the salt loses it’s saltiness, then Jesus said it is worthless and should be thrown into the road to be trampled underfoot. We need to humble ourselves and pray, ladies and gentlemen. As long as God is on His throne we need to pray.

There is one more reason I can think of why God did not allow Peter to be killed. And that is because of the promise of Christ.   Jesus had promised that Peter would live to an old age. Jesus said to Peter in John 21:18 “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.”

I would suggest that is another reason that Peter is sleeping so soundly. He knows that Jesus predicted his death, and it would be when he was old. Peter wasn’t old at this point, it being only about 10 years since Jesus’ resurrection. Listen, that teaches an important principle. Our faith is not founded in wishful thinking. Some preachers teach that if you just believe hard enough you can get whatever you pray for. That is not taught in the Bible. The church in Mary’s house shows their lack of faith and yet God answers their prayers. But when we pray according to the will of God we pray the promises of God. If God said it, then I can trust Him to perform His word. But God is not some genie that responds to our incantations and mutterings. No God is sovereign, and I am His servant and so therefore I can trust Him to protect me as long as He needs me here.

Finally, the last point that the passage makes about the attack on the church is the judgment of the wicked. And we see the judgment of the Lord upon the wicked illustrated in the life of Herod. Herod was a wicked man, like his grandfather before him. He has imprisoned Christians and killed James for no reason other than political gain. And after Peter is delivered, Herod shows once again his ruthlessness by having the guards put to death. Very likely, that meant all 16 guards were executed for something that was obviously a miracle of God. This miracle should have been a reason for Herod to repent of his wickedness when he realized that he was working against God. But instead he hardens his heart and puts the guards to death.

But soon afterwards Herod leaves Jerusalem and goes to spend time in Caesarea. And while he was there the people of Tyre and Sidon try to appeal to his vanity in order to gain food for their cities. So to gain an audience with Herod they bribe his chamberlain, named Blastus, and he arranges for Herod to address the people.

Now Josephus, the Jewish historian tells us some additional details which Luke does not. Josephus said that Herod dressed in his royal attire which was made of silver threads, and when he came out into the sunlight to address them from the rostrum, the sun shining on his garment made a dazzling spectacle. And the people seeing this dazzling light emanating from Herod, and hearing his oratory, began shouting praises to Herod, calling out that he was a god and not a man. And it pleased Herod’s vanity. He accepted their praises, and he did not give glory to the true God of Israel, but accepted their praise. And the Bible says that the angel of God smote Herod with worms and he died. Josephus adds that he immediately fell down and was taken out in the middle of the ceremony, and then died a horrible death four days later.

Listen, the church needs to be assured that the judgment of God upon the wicked is a certainty. The word of the Lord assures His church that He will reward the iniquity of the wicked. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay.

Psalms 2:2-6 declares that “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”   Do you understand what David is saying? He says the kings of the earth don’t want the constraints of God’s law upon them. They cast away the cords of restraint that God establishes in His word. They want to do what they think is right in their own eyes. They want to do as they please. They think that they are autonomous. And they forget that it is Jesus Christ the Soveriegn King that grants them any authority that they have, and Jesus can and will remove all authority that opposes His will when He sees fit.

You remember when Pilate told Jesus that he had the authority to put Him to death, Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.” It would behoove our elected officials to remember this statement, that God gives them their authority, especially in light of recent events. But even more in light of what happened to Herod. God delivered Peter, but he judged Herod, not only in his flesh eaten by worms, but for eternity in hell where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. And the Bible teaches that there are degrees of punishment in hell. We aren’t given specifics as to how that works, but if the statement concerning teachers is that we are under greater judgment because we are teachers of the gospel, then it must be equally true concerning governors and officers of the state that they are also under a greater judgment and will be held to a higher standard for what they have done with the responsibility that God gave them. “To him who has been given much, much shall be required.”

Oh church, do not be dismayed because the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing. Peter wrote in 2Pet. 3:9, “The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, but is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish, but all to come to repentance.” Christ came the first time in mercy, but He comes the second time in judgment to vindicate His church and execute revenge for the death of the saints.

John, the brother of the martyred James says in Rev. 19:11 says “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

O Church, do not be dismayed at the persecution that has come upon you. Peter writes in 1Peter 4:12-13 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” He goes on to say in vs. 17 “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?”

Jesus is coming again as the Judge of the whole earth. Kings and princes will bow down to Him. Every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord of all. Judgment is coming. But our job as the church is to preach the gospel, the good news that Jesus has made it possible for man to be reconciled to God, for man to be saved from the judgment to come if they will just repent of their wickedness and believe on the name of Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

And that is what we see described in vs. 24 “But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.” The church continued to grow and spread the gospel and people were being saved in spite of the attacks against the church. That is the purpose of the church. And the gates of hell will not stop the word of God from going forth and accomplishing it’s goal. Let us not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which has come upon us. But let us be about the Lord’s business of spreading the gospel. Let us be men and women of fervent prayer. Let us be citizens of a higher kingdom, servants of a greater King. The Lord is coming soon. As we see these things going on in the world, as we see the persecution against the church ramping up, let us keep looking up. Jesus is coming soon.