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biblestudy: Acts (Part Fourteen)

Acts 14: Paul and Barnabas at Lystra; the Council of Jerusalem
John W. Ritenbaugh
Given 20-Dec-88; Sermon #BS-AC14; 85 minutes

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Well, we are going to begin in Deuteronomy 23 and in verse 2. I I chose to answer this. I guess you might call it a difficult scripture. And then it was not until later, as I was going through Acts 15, I began to realize that I had chosen a scripture to. Expand there that has in a way very much to do with what we might get involved in a little bit later in, in the book of Acts when we get back there. At any rate, the verse that I want to Expound at the very beginning here, Deuteronomy 23 and 2, it says one of illegitimate births shall not enter the congregation of the Lord, even to the 10th generation. None of his descendants shall enter the congregation of the Lord. Now some have wondered about that and felt that wow, that was awfully unfair of God to, to pick on those people who by an accident of their birth anyway were excluded from something that seems like Anybody who was born would have the right to be a part of. But I think that the law has a great deal of wisdom to it. And I think that that when you begin to see it, why I, you'll see that that there is wisdom involved there. It says here that This person of illegitimate birth shall not enter the congregation of the Lord. Now it does not mean that these people were not accepted into the community. Certainly their birth could not be denied there they were and they were certainly very likely a part of some family somewhere. The phrase the congregation, not enter the congregation has to do with not being free to hold a public office. In other words, they would never be able to be a priest. They would never be able to be an elder that sat at the gate. They could never be a judge. Uh, maybe they could be a dog catcher or something like that. I'm not sure if they had things like that in those days. But specifically it refers to not being able to hold public office. We have to remember the context of the time. As we are going to see just a little bit later in this explanation. Uh, he involves in a similar kind of circumstance, those who are Ammonites and, and Moabites, and there are those commentators who feel that included within verse two are those who are racially mixed. I do not know whether I'm prepared to go that far, but at least commentators feel that that might be involved there. OK, we have to remember that God was dealing with A carnal, unconverted nation. Whose interests only had to do with what we would say today with the flesh, meaning that which was physical. Uh, there was no particular spiritual ramification to this as far as we are able to see. But the basic reason was to for the law was to encourage. The nation to keep themselves physically pure. Now when you think about that you think about what's going on today. Uh, who is it? That at least up until this time has been responsible for the spread of most of the sexually transmitted diseases. Well, I think it has to be those people who are most sexually promiscuous. We might begin with prostitutes. Uh, we might step from there to those who are homosexual and have involved themselves in homosexual perversions. They were aware, you see, is the syphilis and the gonorrhea and the chlamydia and the AIDS, you see, getting its start, it's Genesis. You see it spreads out into the, well, let's call it the straight world. But if it had never gotten started in the world of perversion, maybe it never would have gotten into the straight world at all. The law was given primarily to Uh, try and attempt to inhibit the spread. Of sexually transmissible diseases by putting an impediment in front of people, that if this occurs and there is a child, in a sense that child is never going to get into a position of honor within the nation. Now, in addition, Uh, this is the 2nd application. Is that someone who comes from that sort of a background, getting into a position of honor or leadership. It is not generally good for the rest of the nation. These people generally, I'm speaking in generalities, are people with psychological problems. I mean, children of adultery, children of fornication. Now why is that so? Well, it's because of the kind of life that they are introduced into after they are born. It's not the fact of That they were just conceived out of wedlock. It's what happens after they are born. These kinds of people then have a tendency not to be as stable as those who would come from a, from a normal family life. They're the kind of people who tend to bear grudges. are rebellious. I'm speaking here in generalities, not getting down to specific at all. Who feel that the world is against them because all their life they have been battling uphill against a society that has been basically looking down upon them. Now when a person like that gets into public office, He bears those same psychological scars with him, and they in turn then become a Means of the wrong kind of leadership. You know, let's go back to Jeremiah, the 31st chapter in Jeremiah 31. Where God threw Jeremiah. Prophesized of a change. Jeremiah 31 and verse 29 and verse 30. In those days, that is looking down to our day, looking down to the the time or the era of the church. In those days they shall no more say. The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. Now he's explaining or showing here a cause and effect. Only instead of the cause and effect taking place within the person who actually commits a sin, he is showing by this proverb that what the Father's cause, the children pay the penalty for. Now you, you take that principle right back to Deuteronomy 32 and you begin to see some of the wisdom in what God says there. The fathers commit a sin. But the children bear the pain. And that literally does happen, and that pain brings upon those children psychological scars which, if put into a position of leadership are not good. then the whole country tends to take on. Some of the characteristics of the person who's in the position of leadership was not it Henry David Thoreau who said that every institution is but the length and shadow of one man, meaning that an institution's behavior or characteristics or personalities can be traced back to its finder or the person who is in a position of leadership. What God is showing there in Deuteronomy 232, when you're dealing with the carnal people, people who are not converted, people whose minds and hearts have not undergone a change, then you better have some kind of a regulation that at least in some way ensures that those who do get in a position of leadership are going to be as sound minded and stable as possible. OK, now here in Jeremiah. 3129. He is showing that the time is coming. When That law in Deuteronomy 232 is not going to be in force. See, in those days, they shall say no more. The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge, but everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. OK, now today, God is building a spiritual house rather than a physical nation. And for one to become a part of that spiritual house. Requires a change of heart, requires repentance. You see, a change of direction in the person's life, so that a person who has, let's say been born of these unfortunate circumstances. Now they have an opportunity to actually have a position of leadership within God's house. Because Of God's spirit. Because a change, a transformation has taken place in their heart that might enable them, if they work with God's spirit to get rid of the things that would normally encumber. The carnal heart You know, in, in Ezekiel 18. Probably just a few years later. When God announced this change in Uh, Jeremiah, if we'd gone a little bit further, we would have the announcement beginning in verse 31 of Jeremiah 31, the announcement of the New Covenant. And what we read there was sort of a prelude to the announcement of the New Covenant. Now here we have Ezekiel, who was in a different location at basically the same time as Jeremiah. Maybe he made his statement here a little bit after Jeremiah. OK, in Ezekiel 18, And in verse 19, Yet you say, why should the son not bear the guilt of the Father? Because the sun has done what is lawful and right and has kept all my statutes and done them, he shall surely live, God says, the soul who sins shall die. See, now that agrees exactly with Jeremiah 31. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the Father, nor the Father bear the guilt of the Son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, himself. And the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all my statutes and does what is lock on right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. They kind of have to read into, into this some of the things that Jesus said about a person, you know, why did he come? He came that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. When you read the word live, God is not talking here about existence. He's talking about a quality of life, a person whose life has changed radically, drastically from the way he was headed because he repented. In verse 22, none of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should turn from his ways and live. long and the short of this, at least at this point, is that Neither parent nor child is prevented from receiving eternal life, and you see, taking a position in God's house, in God's family, in God's government. Because of the addition of God's spirit, the repentance, the change of heart, the change of life, the change of conduct. See God wipes away. The restriction And gives that person an opportunity to take his place in the congregation, you see, in the body. So neither father nor son or mother or daughter is prevented from receiving eternal life and a place in God's family because of the sins of the other. What God is pointing to here is that our relationship with God depends on our own actions. We saw, we just saw there in Deuteronomy 23. That the place in the congregation there could depend upon the actions of the Father or the mother. And now back in John in chapter 4. And in verse 23. The hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. True worshipers worship God in spirit. Therefore, Physical ancestry does not prevent one from being a part of God's house. The hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. Let's go back to that verse in Deuteronomy 23. Only this time in verse 3. See if we had followed through just one more verse, why we would see. The extension to have that same principle. To the Ammonite and the Moabite, someone who was of a different ancestry. So an Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter the congregation of the Lord, even to the 10th generation, none of his descendants shall enter the congregation of the Lord forever. Now there he points to a particular act. Of misconduct In verse 4, which we will not go on to. But now through Uh, God's purpose that he is working out through the church that is set aside. Now, just to show you some more con confirmation, turn back to the book of Acts. In chapter 17 in verse 30. Paul was talking to those people. In Athens, Truly, verse 30, Paul said, these times of ignorance, God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. The all man, everywhere. Not just the Israelites. Now a little bit further back in Galatians 3. In Galatians 3, And in verses 28 and 29, In verse 26, it says, for you, these Galatians who were Gentiles are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many as you of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus, and if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now one more place in 2 Peter. II Peter 3. And in verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some count slackness, but his long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You see that person Who was born of that unfortunate situation back in Deuteronomy 23. could not change what he was. There was no possibility. God understood that what the Fathers or the mothers had done were indeed going to be passed on to the children, and there was no escaping it, and there was going to be psychological damage to a child who was born under that circumstance. There was going to be lax. In their character and their personality development as a result of not being raised in the right kind of a stable home-like situation, and because God was not calling these people to a spiritual repentance and conversion, it was a way, just one law, it was a way of ensuring that Israel would have an opportunity to have the very best carnal leadership possible. We're not saying here that this worked out perfectly. The Israelites were not perfect, but it was a way to protect. The possibility Of those getting into leadership who were born of unfortunate circumstances and would carry the scars of that all their lives and then give them to the rest of of the of the people as a result of how they began and lived life, so. What we are looking at here is one of the better promises of the New Covenant. It gives people who in a sense were not even responsible the opportunity to have their minds cleaned and changed as a result of God's mercy in granting them repentance. OK, let's go back to the book of Acts. As I mentioned to you before, when I started to answer that question, I did not even think of it until after I began studying for Acts again. Well, the principle that is involved there has very much to do with this collision course that we are on in the book of Acts. Uh, with The Jews butting heads against one another over the conversion of the Gentiles. That's not going to really reach ahead until we get to Acts the 15th chapter, but we are in Acts 14, and I see no reason why we will not get to Acts 15 tonight and pretty far into it. OK, one thing that Rome did. Is that When I say Rome, I'm talking about the Roman Empire, I'm talking about the the emperors. is that they promoted A great deal of building. much of the building was instigated by the kings and governors that they set up. I think buying with one another for honors and saying that, well, they built this great, great city for Caesar. But it did have the The good spinoff of providing perhaps a somewhat better environment in which people could live. Now, because Rome's empire was so far flung the Roman government itself instigated the building of roads. And it was these roads that later became the means by which the apostles did a great deal of their traveling. It certainly made their traveling a great deal easier than it would have been before, and it certainly made it not only a good deal easier, but because of the influence of Rome, it probably made it a great deal safer than it ever would have been before as well. Much in the same way as I think the work of God has benefited very greatly from the interstate highways, the ministry is traveling back and forth over these things constantly every day. And it certainly has made the travel from one place to another a great deal quicker and safer than it otherwise would have been. In addition to that, we have benefited a great deal from the zip codes. It has made the administrating of this work, the mailing of things, a great deal simpler than it otherwise would have been as well. Governments can do those things. Well, the Romans were great builders, and they built roads to tie the empire together. And the cities that we are reading about now were along what was called the the Villa Sebaste. Now the villa Sebaste was nothing more than Caesar's Road, Sebaste being nothing more than the Greek word for Caesar. So it was Caesar's Road, and this particular road went from Ephesus all across the southern part of what is today Turkey, and it went to Antioch and beyond, Antioch in Syria. I have to make that clear because I think I mentioned to you the last time there were 14 Antiochs. In the Middle East and this particular one was in Syria. So, it went beyond Antioch, by the way, and went all the way over to the Euphrates River. So it was the major east-west road between the western end of Turkey and all the way into the area of Mesopotamia. Now this area that we are talking about had two capital cities. Each one was the capital of a province or a division. One was Antioch in Passidia, and the other was Lestra. Now Iconium, which we are going to be talking about briefly. Uh, was A little bit different from the other cities in that it was off the beaten track. And because it was off the beaten track that it was not on the main road between Ephesus and Babylon. It remained largely Greek in character and personality. And its name has a very interesting background, by the way. It comes from a Greek myth. That involved Prometheus and Athena. It seems as though, according to the Greeks, Prometheus and Athena recreated mankind after a devastating flood. Does that sound familiar to you? And they did it by forming people or images of people. Out of the mud, see? They dobbed them all around until they looked something like Noah and his children, I guess. But at any rate, after they form these mud images, they breathe life into them. OK, now the Greek word for image is icon. Now where do you think this was supposed to have taken place? This recreation was supposed to have taken place in the area of Iconium. See Iconium. So the city got its name for the icons or image, images that Prometheus and Athena were supposed to have made. Now the area when you read about it in some of these, these books, sounds like a paradise. Anybody would want to live there, you know. It was blessed with abundant water, a very genial climate, lush vegetation, great prosperity. It sounds like Miami Beach, you know, something like that. Even today, there is still a thriving city there whose major business is tourism. Because of of the just very genial area. OK, now we find that the apostle Paul and Barnabas go into the synagogue first, and many believe. OK, verse one. Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude both of Jews and the Greeks believed. The unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. OK, again, Paul and Barnabas follow their their. Their set pattern. First to the synagogue, they talked to the Jews and also any God-fearing. Gentiles, proselytes. Who happened to be in the congregation. But again, we see that the Jews follow their, this, their same pattern as well. A similar pattern of persecution. And then we find that the Jews who were offended by the things that the apostle Paul and Barnabas said, went to the Gentiles and tried to get them stirred up against Paul and Barnabas. Verse 3. Therefore, they stayed there a long time speaking boldly in the Lord who was bearing witness to the word of His grace. Now the word of His grace means the gospel. And forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ and granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. Now Somehow or another, at least at first, the Disbelieving Jews were unable to stir up the The Gentiles, and so the apostle Paul and Barnabas were able to stay there long enough to solidly grind ground a fledgling congregation. Now, there was a tract that was written. Can't remember the man's name now, but he wrote it about 185, 195 AD, which would have put it about 140 years after this occurrence. But It's interesting in that it is one of the very, very few accounts that we have. That describes the apostle Paul and what he looked like. We do not know how accurate it is. But I'll give you what it says at face value. Now the reason I'm mentioning it here is because the author of this tract said that he got this description from people in Ionia. And so, the track describes the apostle Paul's Preaching in that area. OK, Paul is described in this tract. As being small of stature. That is that he was a short person. And rather Uh frail and slight of bill. He had crooked legs. Uh, did he wear a short Roman toga so that they could see it? I, I do not know. Did he, did he wear he must not have worn a long robe, maybe that genial climate there. Paul had on a shirt, Roman toga, I do not know. At any rate, he had crooked legs. However, he is described as not being unhealthy, as being in a good state of health, of being a very vigorous and vital person. He is described as being redheaded. And of having very thick bushy eyebrows. That go straight across, you know, they, they do not, they meet in the middle. I mean, there is no clear division where his nose is. That his nose was somewhat hooked. And he is also described as being An extremely friendly person. That's all. Doesn't say whether he had a high pitched re-like voice, whether it was deep and booming. That did not survive. Maybe they were not, were not interested in that, but they were interested in what he, what he looked work like. OK, verse 4. But the multitude of the city was divided. The the the disbelieving Jews of the synagogue were out there trying to stir the people up. The apostles were continuing to preach. God gave them signs and wonders, but the multitude of the city was divided part sided with the Jews and part with the apostles. But when a violent attempt was made by both the Jews and the Gentiles, that is the Jews who were beginning to stir up the Gentiles with their rulers to abuse and stone them. Now, who their rulers were is unknown, whether it's referring to Jewish rulers, whether it is referring to Gentile rulers. Oh, Nobody knows. But you can see here that a plot is brewing. And so incidentally, the word apostle just caught my eye here. In verse 4, There is only 2 times in the book of Acts that Luke calls. Paul an apostle, this is one of them, and the other is just a few verses later in verse 14. Uh, which is kind of interesting. OK, verse 6. OK, they became aware of it. Now they is probably Paul and Barnabas and fled to Leystra and Derby. A life story is about 1618 miles away from Iconium. And then Derby was another 55 miles beyond Leisttra. So the opposition must have reached at least a sizable enough proportion that Paul and Barnabas became very concerned and so they left. Now, they moved into Lystra. which was only about 18 miles away. However, In so doing, even though they were fairly close, they moved into another administrative district. So it was like The police could not touch them where they went because they were beyond their line of jurisdiction kind of thing. They went over into another area of jurisdiction. And Because communication was reasonably slow in those days because they were in another area of jurisdiction that enabled them to stop there for a while and do some preaching there. So it says in verse 8 that they were cities of Lycaonia and into the into the surrounding region, and there they were preaching the gospel. OK, verse 8. And in Lystra, a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb who had never walked, and this man heard Paul speaking, and Paul observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand up straight on your feet, and he leaped and walked. Now There is no mention of a synagogue. Which probably means that there was no synagogue there. Uh, that's a probable an assumption. Uh, because again, when we get back on the journey, we find that the apostle Paul almost invariably went to a synagogue first. So if there is no mention of a synagogue, then it's likely that there was no synagogue there. Now, this miracle was probably put in here. Bye Luke, in order to affirm or confirm. That Paul and Barnabas were given the same powers as Peter and of course also of Jesus. It's important to understand that the same spirit was working through them as it was through Peter and Jesus. Now that becomes important when we get to Acts 15. OK, now the response of these people. It was different from what it had been in the other areas very superstitious attitude toward the things that occurred. Now verse 11. Now when the people saw what Paul had done, when I mean a superstition, their attitude was different. It was different from what Jesus experienced. In Jerusalem, where there was disbelief and anger. Because he had done it on the Sabbath, and then with Peter as well, persecution arose from the Jews, see, because of the association with Jesus. Now here we find a different reaction altogether. Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices saying in the Lionian language, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. So here they are, real excitable. They're amazed. Uh, and so they begin to make associations with their gods. Verse 12 and Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul Hermes. Because he was the chief speaker, and then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gate, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. Now why they chose Barnabas as Zeus and Paul as Hermes Probably had something to do with their physical appearance as well as What they were doing. I think that we can deduce from this. Plus what we just got of what Paul looked like. That Barnabas was probably more regal and godly looking. Therefore, he looked like the boss. Now my wife and I were tricked into this. Whenever we were first visited by two men from at that time was the Radio Church of God. These two men showed up at our home, both of the ministers, and the one had a stately, quiet, dignified bearing. He was tall, muscular looking, and The other one was short, a little bit roly-poly kind of carubic looking, and our immediate assumption was, was the tall, good looking, dignified one was the leader. No, he was not. The short Charubi. One was the leader of the two. Appearances are deceiving, and I think that that kind of happened here that Barnabas was better looking than Paul. Maybe he was graying at the temples, you know, so he looked like he had a great deal of wisdom, everything that a God should look like. Now here is Paul, crooked legs, short of stature, eyebrows going straight across, hooked nose, red hair, you know, all those kind of things, and he doesn't look so good and so he's He's Hermes. Now, that probably was not really enough to set them off. There is a very interesting story about something that happened. Again, or, you know, it was a local legend. And it happened a number of years before. Now we get this story from the, the Roman poet Ovid. You've probably heard of Ovid some time or another in your school life. Anyway, he records in his book of poems called Metamorphoses, Metamorphoses. Anyway, he tells in poetry of a legend. Of that area of iconium, I've already given you one and now here is this one of Lystra. It seems as though according to this legend that Zeus and Hermes did visit the area. Only they visited the area in disguise. So that nobody would recognize who they were, so they asked for logic. Well, they spent all their time asking for lodging. They went around according to the legend to 1000 different households and nobody would take them in. They looked like bumps. Who was going to take in a bump, you see? But see, really, these were the gods in disguise. Well, finally, I guess at 10001. They came across an elderly couple, couple of poor means. And they took them in. Not only did they take them in, offer them a bed, but they also fixed up a meal. From whatever scraps or whatever they had lying around the house there. And Put them into their thatched roof. Well, in the morning, when the couple got up. They found out that they had entertained Zeus, the Father of gods, and Hermes, the messenger of the gods. Well, as a reward for their kindness. The gods turned their thatched hut. Into a temple with a golden roof. And then went out and destroyed the homes and the lives of the 1000 people who had refused to take them in. OK, now. You suppose that these people might just have been thinking of that legend. Here was Zeus and Hermes visiting them again. They did not want their houses to be destroyed. They were going to bow down and worship them lest the same kind of destruction fall upon them. Boy, they were motivated. Now that's a possibility. And they were, they were indeed, might have, might have been thinking of that and they did not want to incur any more wrath. From the gods. They had learned their lesson. So they were going to, to make sacrifices for Barnabas and Saul or Paul. And of course, Paul and Barnabas were not going to put up with that. Now it seems if you read this, It seems as though this thing developed for quite a while, you know, I do not know how long before Paul and Barnabas. Recognize what was going on. Uh, that was entirely possible that though Paul and Barnabas communicated to them in Greek. These people began their excited babble about worshiping, sacrificing, and doing honor to Zeus and Hermes in their own local language, and Paul and Barnabas did not understand it until they got the oxen and they were all decorated, and they began to recognize, hey, these people are going to make a sacrifice to us. OK. And that's in verse 13. Verse 14. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran among the multitude, crying out and saying, Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you and preach to you that you should turn from these vain things to the living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea. And all things that are in them in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he did not leave himself without witness in that he did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness, blasphemy. That's why they tore their clothing. It was to create attention and help these people to see that they were not at all pleased with what was going on. They had, maybe there was a lot of noise and at least at first, and they had to do something to gain these people's attention and when they saw them beginning to, to tear their clothing, that would get begin to get their attention and get them to, to quiet down. So that Paul in this case, I am sure it was him. Because he was the main speaker, that's what Hermes was. He was the speaker. He was the member of the gods. He began to then Preached to them about the futility of idolatry and the goodness of the of the Creator. He was contrasting the two. Now what you're seeing here in form is virtually exactly the same thing that he said to the people in Athens when he talked to them about the unknown God. Only I am sure that what he did in Athens was a refinement for a more cultured audience than he gave here, but basically you will find that he did, he said the same things here in Acts 14 as he did in Acts 17 when he was confronted with that situation here. Now what he said basically is this. In verse 17, Nevertheless, he, God did not leave himself without witness. In that he did good, he gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness. Paul is saying there that these people should have recognized that there is indeed a Creator God. And when I read things like this, it makes me wonder about how much God expects that we should know just from observation of what is around us. If he expected these people who had been reared. Being educated in dumb idolatry to understand that there is indeed a living God who who rules his creation and provides for men what does he expect from us who were reared in an atmosphere in which at least the Bible was given lip service. What does he expect of us? It would seem to me that he certainly expects more of us than he did of those dumb eye daughters. I should say ignorant idolater. And with these sayings, They could scarcely restrain the multitudes. From sacrificing to them. Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there. Here come the bad guys. At least Those poor people there in Lystra. Recognize that there was something unusual and to them unusually good. And what the apostle Paul and Barnabas were doing. Finally, Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there. And having persuaded the multitudes. You can imagine playing on the disappointment of these people. In their failure to be able to sacrifice the Barnabas and Paul. And disappointed at having this great party denied them. Their minds were easily persuaded. They began to see them for less than than what they really were before they were seeing them as more than they were. Now they are seeing them as less than they were. They go from one extreme to the other and say boo, you know, if we can't have our party our way, we are going to stone you to death. So, The lystrins The conclusion was that they were not gods, they must be impostors. So they stoned Paul. I do not know what happened to Barnabas. Maybe he could run faster than Paul's crooked legs. I do not. I, I do not know, but somehow or another he escaped it, and maybe he escaped it simply because Paul was doing most of the talking. And they dragged him out of the city supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city, and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby. It's very easily to Easy for us to read into verse 19. That the apostle Paul was dead and that he was resurrected, but it doesn't say that. The Bible does not place anything miraculous to his rising. Oh, I maybe should have looked a little bit more closely. But my new new King James said that the Jews supposed him to be dead. Which seems to indicate that God is saying no, he was not dead. He was severely damaged, to be sure that he was not dead. So at any rate, he revived. And then went on to Derby, which was another 55 miles to the southeast. Now it's very interesting in light of The description that we just had there that I gave you that came from Paul's ministry in Ionia. And yet Paul says in II Corinthians 12, That he had a thorn in the flesh. Now is it possible that this stoning left him damaged in body? And left him from that time on infirm. Probably to a considerable degree. Uh, there may very well have been lingering effects from that, and it continued to To bother him for the rest of his life. In all probability, Something good came out of this. And that is Timothy. was from Lystra. Now it doesn't say when we first begin to meet Timothy, that he was converted as a result of the apostle Paul's work in Lystra at that time. But it is probably Likely. That if not Timothy, At the very least, His mother and grandmother. And that Timothy was A young man, a young boy, maybe a teenager at the time. And very strongly influenced by his mother and grandmother and uh. God opened the way for Timothy's conversion. Timothy was from Lystra. So two things probably came out of that. I, I think that that one is an assumption and that is the assumption being that Paul's horn in the flesh came from there. That is a possibility. I think a distinct possibility, the lingering effects of the stoning. Came from there and the other thing of course is that Timothy came out of Leicester. OK, verse 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city that is in Derby. And made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. Now how about that? Right back into the trouble. Boy, that guy had guts, he had faith. And It's also possible that this was the way he reasoned. that his penalty was paid. If I can put it that way. For disturbing the peace. In Lestra And he had never done anything in, in Iconium for which they had stoned him or anything, he stirred up the Jews, but He figured that the penalty would have been paid if he went back through Lystra. It's highly unlikely that the people would have done anything. As long as he did not do the same thing that he did before. And so what he very likely did is when he came back through those areas. He stopped and met with the people that had been converted as a result of his original efforts in those areas, and he confirmed them more thoroughly in the faith, although he did not do much in the way of any public preaching. Thus it gave him the opportunity to confirm the people in the faith and then go on to the next city. So he went then right back through the Lystra Iconium and then back on to Antioch. Now we have to ask another question. I mentioned to you before that the general direction that he was going was southeast. Now, do you know anything at all about what is today Turkey or let's say Asia Minor in those days and where the location of the city was in which Paul spent most of his life. OK, he spent most of his life in Silesia. And in Silesia in the city of Tarsus, Silesia was further east. Of these cities that that we just mentioned, Antioch. And Iconium and Lystra they were further east. Now why did not he continue east? He could have gone into Silesia. And that would have put him to the major city there which was Tarsus, which was then just directly north of Antioch. He could have gone over to Silesia, over, I mean over into into Tarsus, went around the northeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and then south into into Antioch. Well, the probable reason is That Paul had already evangelized those areas. Remember those 9 years that he spent. Away from Antioch. It's very likely that what he was doing when he was up in his home area of Tarsus was that he was preaching around in those general areas and that he had already evangelized those areas. There are other Verses that we are eventually going to get to that kind of confirmed that that's what was going on. So when he got as far as Derby, that's as far as he wanted to go because he had already evangelized those areas and so he then backtracked and went through Lystra Iconium and Antioch because it gave him an opportunity to ground the churches a little bit further there. OK, verse 22, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying that we must through much tribulations enter the kingdom of God. What he is basically saying here is That the same pattern of suffering as one sees in Jesus' life will be seen in his disciples' lives. Now that's interesting, is not it? It's interesting because Nobody did things better than Christ did. And we like to think that if we do things well, If we are law abiding, if we are in a good attitude, if we are studying, if we are praying, we are doing everything that God says to do, we ought to have smooth sailing. Everybody ought to like us and be kind to us in return. Say, boy, aren't you wonderful. Have this promotion. Instead, you see just the opposite happens. If you're going to live a godly life. You're going to have trouble. So just expect The people will not accept. Your good works as evidence that God is working in you, and there is a good reason why. That Satan is alive and well, and he stirs people up. He puts it in people's minds to be against you. So just be aware that that that is taking place. God is aware of your good works. He's keeping track of them. And he loves you for it. But just be aware that you have an enemy, you have an adversary, and he's going to stir people against you regardless, even if you were as good, as righteous as Christ, you would still have trouble. In fact, maybe more than you'd care to have. Maybe we just be better, just better be thankful with the trouble that we do have. Let it go at that. OK, now, just a little summary here is he is telling you and me to understand that the church must, I am underlining that, must live in a hostile environment. That is so easily shown. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. If the Church of God is God's church and it has God's spirit and it is living according to God's law, the world can't help it. They're going to be against it and you. So the church must live in a hostile environment. OK, verse 23. So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And after they had passed through P Pasidia, they came to Pampilia. Now they are heading south. See, after getting to Antioch, now they are heading south through Posidia and on to Pampilia. Now when they had reached preached the word in Purga, Perga is the chief city of the area of Pamphilia, another province in Asia Minor, today Turkey. They went down to Italia, and Natalia is the port city of Perin. Did I tell you why they had port cities? I think I did the last time. They put the main city inland, 8, 1015 hours in order miles, pardon me, in order to protect it from invasion. They would put a little port city out there right on the ocean, and that distance of 15 or 20 miles usually enabled the main city to put up its defenses, to be warned and put up its defenses in case there was an evasion invasion. So Italia was 8 miles south of Perga and it was the port city for Perga. Now from there they sailed to sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. And when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, so they stayed there a long time with the disciples. Now Undoubtedly what they did was Report to them the pattern that they had developed that they felt that God had showed them of going to the Jew first, of using the synagogue for that means, and then turning to the Gentiles whenever the Jews rejected the message of God, and it brought them excellent results, although we are finding that some in Jerusalem did not cotton to it, and we will get to that in just a little bit. So their procedure needed to be tested. by the council in Jerusalem, and we are going to see that in in chapter 15. Now it says that they stayed there a long time and How long was their journey and how long was their time in, in Antioch? Well, the commentators feel that roughly the journey probably took somewhere about a year. And the time in Antioch was also about one year. These are just ballpark figures, not intended in any way to be exact. They are approximate, probably reasonably close. OK. Acts 15. Now the stage is all set now for This council in Jerusalem. A decision had to be made. Because of the Or to determine the theological rightness or correctness. Of what Paul and Barnabas were at the forefront of doing. Because that was being called into question by some people there in Jerusalem. Now the basic issue was this. Could a Gentile be saved without the keeping of the whole law? Now it is on This issue I will not say that this is the only issue, but this is a major issue in which this world's Christianity jumps the track. They see the law as being of a single monolithic structure. And that if one takes one brick out, The whole thing has a tendency to crumble. They make this very basic mistake because of an assumption. And that assumption is that God offered Israel salvation. And that the keeping of the law was the means through which an Israelite gained salvation. Now this is one of the major things that God revealed through Mr. Armstrong. God never did offer Israel salvation. He never did. The covenant that God made with Israel was strictly physical in nature. It had no spiritual component to it that would lead to eternal life. There were spiritual overtones to it. But those spiritual overtones were merely for the guidance of their daily life and for national blessing. And national stability. Those things had nothing to do with the offering of eternal life and salvation. You can find no offer of God's Holy Spirit connected with the Old Covenant. Those things all come later as God prophesies of something that he is going to do in the future, not something that he is working out in the present. By present I mean in the Old Testament present. Through the covenant that God gave to Israel. God never even offered them the forgiveness of sin. That's a spiritual factor. Now we do not find that out until the New Testament. We do not find it out until Hebrews, at least as far as I know, Hebrews is the 10th in the 10th chapter in the 4th verse is the first to me solid indication by actual scripture said that it was not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to forgive sin. It's an assumption that those people had their sins forgiven. If they did have their sins forgiven, it was because of the same reasons that we have our sins forgiven today. Only instead of us looking back on the blood of Jesus Christ, they would have to understand to look forward. To the blood of Jesus Christ and because of a change of heart, a change of attitude such as David experienced. And is recorded there in Psalm 51. Now man's body of laws. It is not a single monolithic structure either. If one law is repealed, Or even a whole body of laws pertaining to, to a particular area, all the law is not done away with. Well, neither is God. Now God has laws in this book concerning religion. We might subdivide that into things concerning morals and ethics and ceremony. He has laws regarding health. And we might subdivide that into diet. Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14, sanitation. And quarantine. All things having to do with health. He has laws that regulate the executive and judicial branches of government. He has laws that regulate economics and finance and education and agriculture. Now the laws fall into 3 major categories. Spiritual, Civil And ceremonial. Now for the subject that is going to be covered in Or let's say the argument. The dispute Or the judgment that's going to be made here in Acts 15. It's more important that we recognize these three basic categories. Of well let's call it religion or spiritual, civil and ceremonial ceremonial than whether a law is called a commandment, a statute, a judgment or a law or a precept. Now that has some value. But what a law is called when, when that kind of a term is used is less important. OK, now let's go to Romans the 3rd chapter. We'll eventually get back to Acts 15, but in Romans the 3rd chapter and in verse 20, Paul makes it very clear. That the law was never intended to save anybody. It can't save anybody. It can't save anybody today. It never saved anybody under the Old Covenant either. In Romans 3 and in verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For here it comes. By the law is the knowledge of sin. You know, the law has two aspects to it, one negative and one positive. The negative aspect is to tell us what sin is. Now the flip side, see, conversely, its positive aspect is to show us the way to go. It gives us direction. It guides. So positively it guides negatively it tells you, oh buddy, you have sinned. That's its purpose, its intent. They've done in verse 27. So where is boasting then? It is excluded and by what law of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude. That a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. The keeping of laws cannot justify. They cannot clear a man. They cannot exonerate him. They cannot make him right before God. The law does not have the power to do that. That is not its intention. It's to guide in a way of life. It's to point out to us what sin is. It cannot justify. It cannot clear us of guilt. God has provided a way for that to be done. Justification comes by faith. It comes by believing. In the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In believing in his death, in believing in his atoning death, in believing who he was and what he did. He was gone. And God in the flesh died. It took a God To die for us, for us to be justified. Because only the life of the Creator is great enough to clear the scales. Of the penalty that is against us. The only other thing that will suffice is if we die. If we die for our sins, then the penalty is paid. But then what hope is there? If we pay the penalty ourselves, there is no future. So God had to find a way in which we could be cleared of guilt and still have us live and have us have hope and have the hope of eternal life. Because God's purpose is to build character, it takes a living being to to have character. It takes a living being who is free to make the right kind of choices after he has been cleared of guilt. And has God's spirit. So people under the Old Covenant. Had to receive grace too. That's the only way. God was not trying to save the Israelites. Their time will come. Paul shows that very clearly in Romans 89 Romans 9:10 and 11. All three chapters are devoted to that. OK, now what Paul is saying here is that the keeping of law in the present does not alter the sins of the past. See, therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. The keeping of the law in the present does not change what happened in the past. Or is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Remember Deuteronomy 23. Yes, of the Gentiles also. Since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith, do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. We do not do away with law. Because of faith, I'll show you that in a bit. On the contrary, he says we establish law. That's interesting in the light of what this world's Christianity believes. Let's go back to Roman or Galatians 3. This question had That first era of the church in a tizzy. And especially It had those Jews who were reared under Phariseaism. In a tizzy. Oh, chapter 3 and verse 1. Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. Where was Paul preaching? He began to understand this doctrine. Well, I feel certain. That he was preaching in the area of Tarsus, in Silesia, in Galatia, which was in that area. This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? What Paul was saying is that their previous lawkeeping did not earn them God's spirit. Never owned the Jews, God's Spirit. It did not earn the Galatians, God's spirit either. Because God's spirit is not earned by lawkeeping. So Paul's conclusion was It was not until Christ was portrayed before them. Through the preaching of the gospel and his forgiveness through his crucifixion. His shed blood and faith in his blood. That the past, the present, and the future could be altered. Now what was hanging over the heads of these people? What we find in verse 13 that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. The curse of the law is the death penalty. And if a person has the curse carried out on himself, he dies. But if through faith, The person has the blood of Jesus Christ applied to them. Then the past can be altered. And so can the present. So can the future. Because it opens up the way to forgiveness and the receiving of God's spirit. So the past is altered in that the death of death. For sins committed could be erased through faith in Christ's blood. So then the person is cleared. He's exonerated. The record of sins, as Paul says in Colossians 2, is wiped out. It's erased. It's gone. There is no past debt than that a person owes God. The curse is lifted. It no longer exists. He not only forgives, he forgets it. It no longer is even there, so the past is, is. Altered, it's changed. It's not that the events did not occur. But the record is no longer there. OK then, the present is altered. In that through God's spirit, which one receives because of his faith in Christ, now one understands God's purpose, and so one now lives with that purpose in mind and so the present. is altered as well. And so is the future. Because instead of facing death, now we face eternal life in God's kingdom. So the past, the present, and the future are altered by faith. Not by lawkeeping. Now what I have just said. is not intended in any way to denigrate even one jot or tittle of any of God's laws. Because God's laws are perfect, and we should never ever allow ourselves to look at any of God's laws as being done away. Though it may not have no longer any direct application to us. Are we not to live by every word of God? Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4. And that law that is Set aside or done away is still written back there and we are supposed to live by it. So we cannot really say that it's done away. If we are to live by it, it's still there for our instruction. But what God is showing here very conclusively in beginning with Acts 15, he's been leading up to this point, is that now God is changing his focus. And this is what those Pharisaical Jews. In Jerusalem could not see. They could not get. Somehow or another, it was escaping them. That God was shifting his The attention of his focus somewhere else. OK, now what made it necessary For some laws to be set aside. Well, there were 2 related causes. Number one, That God was beginning his spiritual work in earnest through the church. In parentheses rather than Israel. So then the same book of Galatians. Paul calls the church the Israel of God. Now there are two Israels. There is the Israel of the Old Covenant. There is the Israel that sprang from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and we are a physical nation that had been under the Old Covenant. But now we've got the Israel of God as well, and God began that work through His Son Jesus Christ, and now it has shifted to the apostles. Christ has gone back to heaven. But the work of the church, the Israel of God, is continuing. And #2, is that God was taking his work to the Gentiles. It was no longer restricted to Israel. But now it was going out to all the nations. That's all the word gentile means. It means nations. Be somebody other than an Israelite. And so we have then the Israel of God being formed, and the Israel of God is going to be formed from those who are both Jews and Gentiles. Now, in other words, his people, God's people. We're no longer going to be located in one specific area ruling over a portion of land. That would be made up of scattered individuals whose only commonality might be our relationship to God through Christ. God was putting together a spiritual body. Now that's covered in the book of Ephesians. That's what Ephesians is about the unity of the body, the spiritual body of Christ. I'll just read you one verse here. Well, 2 or 3, for he himself is our peace. Who has made both one Jew and Gentile. It has broken down the middle wall of division between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity. That is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace that he might reconcile them both to God in one body. That is the church or Christ's body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. So, The goals and purposes of life are radically altered. No longer are they national and physical, but now they are spiritual and eternal. Now this changes then the priorities in regard to law. Since the church is not a nation that is set in one place ruling over a land. And since now we have a spiritual ministry. It means That the civil and the ceremonial laws. Slide right into the background as far as their actual physical application is concerned. So we read then in Hebrews 10 and 4. That it's impossible for the blood of bull and goats, bulls and goats to forgive sin. We read here in Galatians 3 and verse 24. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. The ceremonial law. are not needed in their physical application. That is the actual doing of sacrifices because they were nothing more than types of Christ and the Holy Spirit. And the same principle also applies to the civil laws. They're wonderful laws, the best laws that any nation ever had, but they no longer apply physical because physically because the church is not a group of people under a central government ruling over a land. This was the issue that they were facing there. And Acts 15. Now, the setting aside. Of laws. Well, there is one thing that I wanted to interject here, setting aside of these laws, this the church did not do. God did. As we are going to see from the testimony of both Peter and Paul in Acts 15. The church merely recognized what God was doing. Now you add to that the evidence of the prophecy which James gives in his testimony in Acts 15. And events The church did not set them aside. They just recognized what God had already done. And they have been trying to get the church to understand for a number of years. See this console brought it to a head. OK, now the setting aside of these laws or these groups of laws. The civil and ceremonial does not do away with our responsibility to the spiritual law. The 10 Commandments or the spiritual intent of the civil and ceremonial law we are supposed to live by every word of God. Rather through faith. We now see the real reason for keeping them. Therefore, faith establishes the law just like Paul said. Faith puts law in its right perspective. We understand it can't save us, but it is absolutely necessary if we are going to be guided in the right way of life and if we are going to build the kind of character that God wants in his family. Without the law, that would be impossible. But see, faith establishes it to its right into its right perspective. Indeed, I think we'd have to say that the keeping of law. In the spirit becomes intensely more important to us than it ever was before.

JWR/aws/drm

 

 

Sermon Topics

False Gospels

Jesus Christ's Return

Life after Death

Repentance

Resurrection

The Gospel

The Kingdom of God