Preach the gospel

Good morning, and a blessed and Merry Christmas to you. We'll be going over Acts, it should be 14, verses 1 through 7. And however, two things. One is to let you know we'll first be answering some questions from earlier in the book of Acts, from Acts 11, 17 to 13, 38 and 39.

And also to let you know that this last week, if you see things not quite the way they ought to be, was a crazy time. Thursday morning, my desktop computer decided that was a good time to die. And then that afternoon, my Wi-Fi decided that was a good time to die. And that wasn't all. So anyway, I have a CD with my Word program jammed in the CD. player, and that was Friday. So anyway, it's been a great week for computers.

So anyway, we're going to begin by answering a question that's been brought up, and this comes out of the book of Acts. It's a question that's not going to end with these passages we're going to refer to, because we're going to see it again. And one is we see in Acts 11.17, which is Peter describing to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, about his bringing the gospel to the house of Cornelius and what happened there. And so one of the statements we made there is we said that legalism is standing in God's way. That was Peter's observation with the people. The book of Acts is actually going to progressively reveal that we in the body of Christ are not under the law of Moses. nor any part of it, nor any principle of law, not even in the least.

Acts 10.1-11.17 also puts it this way, Legalism and the body of Christ is standing in God's way.

It's interesting that most of Christendom does not understand what is said here. that the law of Moses, as Peter said it in Acts 11.17, was standing in the way of what God wanted to accomplish there with Peter and those Jews who were with him, as well as the house of Cornelius. And so that's a very sobering thought, particularly as much of Christendom still continues to press for some aspect of legalism. So, another that we ran across is just a couple weeks ago in Acts 13, 38, and 39. We heard from the lips of Paul, formerly Saul the Pharisee. He says, the law of Moses frees nobody. Nobody is freed from the law of Moses. This is, of course, a message that we see in the book of Romans, as well as the book of Galatians. Not one of the 613 individual statutes, nor all of them together, pick one, pick 613. By the way, how many of 613 memorized? Got those? Individual statutes, nor all of them together, can get anyone declared righteous, that is, justified.

Not going to happen. It won't get them redeemed. It won't get them forgiven of sins ever at any time. Not going to happen. Doesn't work that way. The Law of Moses doesn't help to free anyone, get them declared righteous, redeemed, or even forgiven of any sins. It helps not one bit in those things.

But it could get an eternally saved person stoned. Let me give you a for instance. Suppose there is a person, a Jew, who was saved by faith. He believed in God's provision for salvation. He is saved by faith, and therefore he's eternally saved, and he won't lose that salvation. He is going to spend eternity with the Lord.

However, if he picks up his firewood a half hour too late on a Friday afternoon, That's enough to get him stoned to death. So it was possible, under the law of Moses, to be eternally saved and yet die under the law of breaking just one law. By the way, every single one of the Ten Commandments, breaking them, what's the penalty? Death. We'll talk about that in a minute.

So what's good about the Law of Moses? All 613 of the statutes given through Moses are inspired by God. It is all, every single one of them, are all taken out of the first five books of Moses, sometimes repeated in there. But all 613 statutes are in the first five books of the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Those five books have all 613 sometimes repeated Some of them showing up in Genesis, some showing up in Deuteronomy, but all throughout there. So they're included in those first five books.

They are inspired by God. The finger of God written on stone, ten commandments are repeated or referred to in the New Testament. And so people will say, now wait a minute, aren't all of them in the New Testament? Especially those folks out of, say, the Seventh-day Adventists or groups like that will say, hey, wait a minute, they're all in the New Testament. And in fact, the law is holy, righteous, and good.

That's out of Romans 7.12. So is the law bad? Not the problem. The law is not bad. It's holy, righteous, and good. The Apostle Paul wrote that himself. But, we have to understand, one cannot just sign up for one or a select set of individual statutes given in the Law of Moses. People like to say, well, I try to follow the Ten Commandments. Good luck with that. Was there ever any authorization for anyone to follow just the Ten Commandments? The answer is no. There was never any authorization for Jew, Gentile, anybody to follow just the Ten Commandments.

And by the way, all ten of the commandments require, if you break them, that someone is stoned to death. And if you fail to stone them to death, you're breaking the law. So make sure you keep all ten and all the rest, right? Breaking just one of the individual statutes of the Law of Moses breaks them all. The Law is a complete set. You cannot just simply, oh, I'm just going to break this one and have it separate. The Law is like a pane of tempered glass. You break it at one point, you break it all.

That's James 2.10, okay? That's in the New Testament. One breakage and you've broken the whole thing. With Moses, it's all or nothing. One cannot just pick one or ten or some other subset of the law of Moses.

Also, it was given to Israel, that's Psalm 147, 19 and 20. It was given to Israel. To no other nation was it given. Was it given to the United States? No. Was it given to Egypt? No. Was it given to Germany? No. You can go down all the list. It was not given to any other nation. It was given to Israel then.

Here's Galatians 5.3, and I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. Now, I decided not to have a picture of a circumcision in this picture. This is, however, a picture that we'll see later on in chapter 16 of the book of Acts of Timothy, who is circumcised as an adult, and we'll find out why when we get there.

But, even volunteering for one, and here's one other thing, between circumcision and the Ten Commandments, which takes priority? Which is more important, circumcision or the Ten Commandments? Well, first of all, if you volunteer for one, you volunteered for them all. But circumcision is ahead of the Ten Commandments. Why? Because you are to circumcise on the eighth day, even if that's the Sabbath. Circumcision overrides the Ten Commandments and is a higher priority than the Ten Commandments.

Here's James 2.10, for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point has become guilty of all.

Psalm 147, 19 and 20, he declares his words to Jacob. There are two alternate words for the people of Israel. One is Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation. Any other name For any other nation you can put in there, He has not dealt that way with them. As for His ordinances, they have not known them. Praise the Lord.

This is out of the book of Psalms, right out of the Bible. So, if the law of Moses is inspired, righteous, holy, and good, then can there be any issues with it? Is the law bad? Well, it might be. Okay. So, this guy Moses came up with it, right? Okay. So the law of Moses was given to the people of Israel. That's part one. Was it given to you? No. Any other nation?

No. Fallen mankind is not up to holy, righteous, and good character. We've all fallen short of the glory of God, right? Man is not up to it, and that is the problem, okay? Man is not up to it because man does not have holy, righteous, and good character. So giving it the old college try, doing your best, giving your best to the Master is not what God has in mind.

The sin nature in human beings is stirred up by the law. That's what they'll be looking at in Romans 7. Romans 7, 7-12, that spells it out. The sin nature, one law. By the way, one of the ten is all it takes. That's what Romans 7 says. Thou shalt not covet. What is that? That's one of the ten. And what does the sin nature do with that? The sin nature does one of two things. Sign me up, oh yeah! The other thing sin nature says is, oh yeah! And rebels. It's happy with either one, by the way.

But God's word makes it clear, Romans 7, 1-6, Galatians 2, 19-21, we died to the law. God dealt with our human insufficiency for the law of Moses or any principle of law by crucifying us with Christ first, so that we died in relationship to the law. This is said in multiple places in the New Testament. We've made the reference here to Romans and Galatians, but you can find it in others as well. Even here in the United States, the courts will not put a human corpse on trial. The person has died. They won't put a corpse on trial. Why? They have died to the law. That's true no matter where you go.

Here's Romans 7.6, But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve the newness of the Spirit and not an oldness of the letter.

Galatians 2.19.20 For through the law I died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered himself up for me." So, what was God doing with that? In order that our relationship to this principle of law be totally replaced by grace, so this is completely gracious, we were made to die with Christ, including our relationship to the principle of law.

This was so that the living out of the holiness and righteousness and goodness that the law required is accomplished not because we have the law written on our heart. That is a mistaken and very wrong teaching that goes on among a great many churches in the United States and elsewhere too. The law is not written on our hearts. The law was what we died to.

Life gets lived out in holiness and righteousness and goodness as Christ lives his life through us. That's how it happens. The holiness and righteousness and goodness that the law requires gets accomplished by the life of Christ in and through us. We're going to see that in the passage here in Acts.

So why is the law of Moses in the New Testament? In the Gospels, We'll find Jesus presented the Law of Moses to the Jews in Israel who were still under the Law of Moses. So when the people say, oh, but it's in the New Testament, yes, a good deal of it is there where Jesus is talking to them about the Law of Moses and various aspects of it because they were still under law. The apostles, even Paul, taught that believers under grace had a lot to learn from the Law of Moses.

So 1 Corinthians chapters 9 and 10 would be good examples of talking about things out of the law that we church-age believers can learn from. The Law of Moses was presented in some cases, however, to show that we're not up to it. This is the reason for presenting one of the ten, thou shalt not covet, in Romans 7. Are we up to it? No. Does it stir up the sin nature? Yes. Are we to live under the law? No. Right?

So, grace then is a contrast to the ministry of death and condemnation under the law of Moses. Because we live, however, under the ministry of righteousness and the Spirit. It's a very different set of principles. Now, a prosecutor will seek to establish motive, means, and opportunity, and the critical differences between the application of law and grace are likewise motive, means, and opportunity. So let's step into the courtroom here. The prosecutor's trio fits us here. There is much in common between the morals and ethics of the law of Moses and the imperatives of the New Testament. Let me give you an example.

Here in the Sermon on the mouth Jesus says forgive Why what's the motivation in order that you be forgiven? He's talking to Jews In the land of Israel during the time when the law was applied, right? Jews in the land of Israel. He says forgive in order to be forgiven in Ephesians 432 what does he say? He says, forgive just as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Are you to forgive under both principles? You're to forgive, yes. You're to forgive under the principle of law in order to be forgiven. Under the principle of grace, because you've been forgiven. Forgiveness is the matching or identical ethic and moral, but the basis for it under grace is because you've been forgiven. That's grace motivation versus law motivation, okay? For us in the body of Christ, the motive is grace. Forgive because you've been forgiven. It is the means is through the life of Christ and through the ministries of the Holy Spirit. The opportunity has been prepared by God.

This is Ephesians 2.10, right? Now, stepping into our passage here in Acts, which is Acts 14, 1 through 7, Okay, so we have this map here on page two. This is the path that Paul and Barnabas are taking. They have stepped into Antioch and Pisidia there, which is kind of the upper central part of the map. They have gone to Iconium, and so we're going to be reading what happens there. And looking at that here as we step into the passage.

So Acts 14.1, in Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks. So it was the custom of Paul and Barnabas. They went to the synagogue early on as they came into Iconium. Because what was the pattern? They went to the Jews first and then to the Greeks.

This is out of Romans 1.16 with a related principle presented twice in Romans 2. So the Jew first and then the Greek was the pattern.

So this verse here tells us, Acts 14.1, tells us that their speech to those who are gathered in the synagogue was very effective.

This was because of the work of God in the hearts of the people and the work through, as we'll see, Paul and Barnabas. The combination of the two, very effective. A large number believe, some of the translations for those same words have great multitude. So there was an immense response. as they went there, first to the synagogue, because of course those who were Gentiles, sometimes just referred to as the Greeks, could listen as well to what was said in the synagogue. The response to this message, evangelistic message of Paul and Barnabas, it was huge, it was very, very substantial.

So, let's ask this question. Just since there was a great response, was everything going great? Would Paul and Barnabas not experience any difficulties or persecution because there was such responsiveness? After all, it seemed like they were being very obedient to the Lord, so would everything be nice for them? Well, we're going to find that out as we look at the will of God here.

So one of the things it says, a large number did what? They believed. They believed the content of the message that Paul and Barnabas had preached to them. So Paul and Barnabas preached to them the gospel message, and they believed that. They didn't super-believe. There was not some, I believe and I believe and I make him Lord, and something called lordship salvation these days. There's nothing to indicate that. Their belief was practical, that is, they put their trust and confidence in the content of the gospel message. One of the things to remember here is, well, wait a minute, what do you mean by belief?

Well, in fact, you've demonstrated it here this morning. Do you realize that there is space underneath the floor here? There's quite a bit of space, right? And you're all believing, and so am I, that this floor will hold you up. And that the pews you're sitting in will hold you up. And that's why you came in the room. I noticed there were not a lot of people at the back discussing whether or not they thought the floor would hold them up, and whether or not the pews were safe to sit in. Not a big discussion there.

You believed, and so you put your trust and rest and confidence in those in order to be able to walk in and proceed here. So it's that same putting the rest and trust and confidence in Christ for salvation on what He has done and what He has accomplished in order to depend upon it. That's really what it's talking about. It's not just intellectual ascent, but it's also not some super belief, not some believing that says you'll never have any issues, never have any doubts, and you'll never do anything wrong from then on out.

Here's Acts 14.2, but the Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brethren. So those Jews who did not believe the message that Paul and Barnas had brought to them acted out their disbelief. They didn't just say, hmm, but they stirred up the minds of the Gentiles. So what happened is you have the Jews present, you have Gentiles listening in. to what was being said there, and caused them to be antagonistic to the Jewish and Gentile believers.

That's ultimately what this word is saying. There's an antagonism against what they're saying. So disbelief, stirred minds, and antagonism were not valid indicators of what was true. And this is something for us to ponder going through different feelings and difficulties of mind and whatnot, are not guidance regarding God's will. We'll be taking a look at God's will here towards the end.

Acts 14.3, Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands. This is a very pivotal verse.

So, Dr. Luke wrote here, therefore they spent a long time there. Did they spend a long time there because there was no resistance? No, that wasn't it. They spoke boldly rather than timidly. As a matter of fact, you can find places in various parts in Paul's letters where he would say, pray for me that I would speak boldly. Speaking boldly was important.

They spoke boldly in reliance upon the Lord, not on themselves. And one of the things that this makes it very clear, this is in reliance upon the Lord that they carried these things out. God did not delegate to them, okay, you guys go out and do this, and when you check back with me and when you're all done, we'll see how you did. It is in ongoing and continuing reliance upon the Lord as they carried this out.

This is also pivotal as we look at what is God's will and as we proceed through the book of Acts. So, and notice too what it says, it was the Lord who is testifying of the word of His grace, there, the Lord who is granting that signs and wonders be done through Paul and Barnabas in the city of Iconium. So was this first missionary journey Paul and Barnabas project? It was really the Lord working through them as they went through this. They were relying upon the Lord, and it was the Lord who was really pulling this off as they went through this missionary journey. The Lord was the one who was actually carrying out the evangelism. The Lord was the one who was granting that signs and wonders be done through them.

It wasn't them giving their best efforts. One of the things we talked about in the elective just before this is we're not called to give of our best to the Master. You know why? He doesn't want it! He doesn't want our best. That's not what He's looking for. He's looking for a reliance upon Him.

Only when life shall soon be past, only what's done by Christ will last. Acts 14.4, but the people of the city were divided.

Some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. There were in fact some Jews who sided with Paul and Barnabas. So there were Jews there in Iconium who were responsive, as Paul and Barnabas depended upon the Lord. And there were other Jews who didn't, and they formed the opposition.

So the division here among the groups and the opposition didn't determine how long they stayed nor the character of their ministry. They didn't say, boy, these guys are resisting a lot, I think I'll try extra hard. These guys are resisting our ministry a lot, therefore I think we better go. Those didn't determine what happened, huh? There was still good reason for them to stay there so far.

Let's talk about the use of the word apostles. Now, wait a minute. Who are the apostles? I thought the apostles were these twelve guys that we started off the book of Acts with. You know, we had the eleven and then Judas was replaced by Matthias, right? So there's the twelve apostles. What are we doing here? We've got Paul and Barnabas. And are they apostles? What's the deal here? Is this confusing or what?

Well, one of the things we see here, it's this exact same word apostle used here, even the same one that's used in the Gospels. The word apostle conveys the idea of a special messenger. And if you think about it, who sent Paul and Barnabas initially? who were sent by the direction of the Holy Spirit from the church at Antioch. They were special messengers on this first missionary journey, therefore apostles, even though not one of the original twelve. It was a matter of recognizing they were on a special commission, They had a special assignment for this first missionary journey. That's what it's talking about and the reason for using the word apostles. When we look at the word, we want to be careful we don't just kind of go brain dead and go with a simplistic definition. We look at the context. We look at the context.

So these two are apostles in that they were sent from the church at Antioch under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and were therefore special messengers on this mission, having been directed by the Holy Spirit to go on this mission. They continued to depend upon the Lord. So they were special messengers that continued their dependence upon the Lord. So, Paul is the only one who is an apostle officially. He is God's designated apostle to the Gentiles.

And what does that mean? That's really shorthand. He is the designated apostle to the Jews in Gentile lands and then to the Gentiles. See that? Both of them have been sent on this mission under the direction of the Holy Spirit. They are both called apostles here because of that, not because either one of them were part of the original twelve. So the Greek word and the English word are the same. How do we know the difference? By context. We examine the context. Very important.

Acts 14.5, when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to stone them, So the Gentiles and Jews in opposition to Paul and Barnabas and Iconium are at a serious point, and the word there that's translated mistreat, it means to shamefully and even viciously mistreat Paul and Barnabas.

So there was that intent. That particular word was a word used among the Gentiles for how they would be shamefully and viciously mistreating them. The Jewish method of carrying out capital punishment, typically in the case of blasphemy, was to stone the blasphemer to death, which is what they attempted to do here. We're going to see later on in this chapter that there is a group of Gentiles, actually, who become more successful at this, at least apparently. Here there was word that they were going to attempt it.

And that's what brought about the action. So, verse 6, "...and they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, and Derbe, and the surrounding region." So, at what point did Paul and Barnabas take action? They took action when they became aware of it. Apparently, likely with the cooperation of the other believers there in Iconium.

We're not told how they became aware of it. In some cases, as we get farther on in Acts, we're going to get some insight into how they became aware of different things, and Paul in particular. In this case, we're not told. We're just told that they became aware of it.

So how about, did they stick around and face the music? And just say, hey, you know, it just comes along with the territory. Did they just figure that God would miraculously protect them from all ills? especially since they were being obedient. I mean, weren't they relying upon the Lord? Does that mean the Lord's going to make everything, you know, smooth? And even though people were granting some, you know, people were given some, you know, insight here, did they just stick around? No. That's not what they did.

They fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lustra, and Derbe. and to the areas surrounding each of those cities. So they not only went into the cities, but they went into the towns and villages surrounding each of those. They fled because they knew that God had further assignment for them. They went to the nearby cities and towns of Lycaonia, Lystra, and Derbe to take advantage of the spiritual opportunities that the Lord had made available there. So, here's Acts 14, and now we'll go on to verse 7, and there they continued to preach the gospel. That is at Lycaonia, Lystra, and Derbe and the surrounding region.

They continued to preach the gospel. Their effort was evangelistic at this stage. What we're going to see a little farther down the line here is that they're going to come back through these and have another purpose than evangelism. But at this point, it's still evangelism as the primary intent. And this, by the way, is a picture of Lystra, the archaeological remains of the city of Lystra. So as they went to the towns, they went and continued to present the gospel, the good news that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and rose again. That's what they're going to continue to lay out to these people. It's helpful for us to think about what these two men did and did not do. They fled, but not right away. They didn't expect God to make it easy, but they looked for opportunity. One of the things we began last week, and we'll continue on here, is the big picture on God's will. And we represent that with three circles.

The outer circle, being God's sovereign will, is fixed and irreversible, includes your position and possessions in Him. It's one of the reasons why I'm particularly excited about the electives that we have. Ephesians is about three quarters about your position and about what God's doing. Romans, roughly a half, the first half particularly, focused on our position. It's issues of position. And finally, the unfathomable riches in Christ, the entire elective is focused on our position.

That's what is included in this outer circle, if you will, regarding God's will. So we're looking at setting a good foundation, no matter which elective you take, Am I selling the electives? Not just one? Yeah, I guess I'd have to say so. That there is a good foundation talking about our position in Christ, no matter which elective that you go to there. God's sovereign will is fixed and irreversible, includes your position and possessions in Him.

As we look through the rest of the aspects of God's will, one of the things that we see as we go through the book of Acts, is when they saw opposition, that was not time for them to leave, right? When was time for them to leave? It's when they saw, okay, this is going to end our ability to carry on our mission, right? Now it's time to leave, right? And not just when difficulties come.

They didn't expect that God would make things easy and simple. But one of the other things that we see is they went through this, they depended upon the Lord, they relied upon the Lord through this. And this is key for us to know God's will. For us to know God's will, it is critical for us to be relying upon the Lord, to be walking in fellowship with Him, abiding in Christ, in order to seek God's will. It isn't a matter of simply discovering the yellow brick road, right? but rather walking with Him, and only in the midst of walking in fellowship with, and depending upon, and relying upon the Lord, and abiding in Christ, and walking in the Spirit, all those terms, in the midst of that, that's how we're going to know God's will personally and individually. So this is key, and as we look and as we proceed through the book of Acts, one of the other things that we see is as the Lord made changes clear, they looked for spiritual opportunity. Where is there spiritual opportunity next? This is a key thing for us to look at as we look at things like, should I move to this house? Should I take this job? Should we do this or that? Should we make this or that decision? And do you know what's critical in that?

What spiritual opportunity is next? What is the spiritual opportunity? This is what Paul and Barnabas were looking at. They moved to these places not just to get away from the pressure and persecution which was getting serious, although it was, but they moved to these places to take advantage of God's next spiritual opportunity. And that's key for us. Always, what is the spiritual opportunity that the Lord is opening up for us? What is he laying before us? What's next here? Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you. Boy, as you've laid these things out, we've seen some really amazing and astounding things happen as we see Paul and Barnabas continue on this missionary journey. At the same time, Lord, we see for us a direction about some very important things that you are wanting for us to depend upon and rely upon you and continue in fellowship with you. And in the midst of these things, to be looking for the next spiritual opportunity. We thank you for that. We thank you for the direction that you've given us in this. and that you desire that we be growing in these things. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.