Books of the Book: Acts

Through Much Tribulation

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jim & Mark Howard

Home

Series Code: ABOTB

Program Code: ABOTB00016B


00:02 Welcome back to Books of the Book.
00:03 Before the break we were looking here in Acts chapter 14 at a
00:08 miraculous story of healing by the Apostle Paul in the city of
00:13 Lystra. You know, Mark, we read through this story but there are
00:18 a couple points that are very important to take a look at.
00:23 In verse 9, it says that when this lame man, this cripple who
00:27 was crippled from his mother's womb heard Paul speaking, Paul
00:32 observed him intently. Now first of all, this kind of speaks to
00:38 the fact that Paul is always watching and looking for the
00:41 heart of his hearers, looking for the response of those,
00:44 that's right, looking for signs of conviction, looking for those
00:48 who may be open to the truth that he's sharing. And he looks,
00:52 and he's observing this crippled man intently and it says that
00:56 from an observation, it says, And seeing that he had faith to
01:01 be healed said with a loud voice Isn't that fascinating. He's
01:06 speaking and the Bible says...
01:08 Sometimes you get the impression in the New Testament that it's
01:11 up to the apostles who they heal. I'm going to pick this guy
01:14 I'll pick this guy and I'll just heal them but...
01:16 That's right. But it didn't seem that way. He was intently
01:19 looking and he saw probably from the words that he was speaking
01:23 and the openness that he could see, perhaps the longing eyes of
01:28 wanting something better and he was looking at this man...
01:31 Perhaps tears in his eyes as he heard about Christ and his
01:35 crucifixion... And it says he saw that he had
01:39 faith to be healed. It makes me think of a story in the gospels.
01:43 I want to look at a story in the gospel of Luke and chapter 5
01:47 where it says the same thing about Jesus. If you look in Luke
01:53 chapter 5 and verse 17. It says, Now it happened on a certain day
01:59 as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and teachers of
02:02 the law sitting by who had come out of every town of Galilee,
02:06 Judea and Jerusalem and the power of the Lord was present
02:10 to heal them. Then behold men brought on a bed a man who was
02:14 paralyzed whom they sought to bring in and lay before him.
02:17 And when they could not find out how they might bring him in
02:21 because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him
02:25 down with his bed through the tiling in the midst before Jesus
02:29 So here you see this paralytic and he's got four friends who
02:33 see that Jesus is an opportunity for him to be healed and so they
02:38 come to the home and there's no room for them. There's too big
02:41 of a crowd and you would think that they would walk away, that
02:44 that would be it. We can't get in, there's no way to get in.
02:49 But they had such confidence that Jesus could heal and they
02:53 had such desperation in a sense that the only hope for this
02:57 paralytic was Jesus that they climbed up on the roof and they
03:01 removed some of the tiles and they lowered the man down and
03:05 the Bible says in the next verse in verse 20, When he (that is
03:10 Jesus) saw their faith... You know we think of faith as an
03:16 internal belief, but it is visible when acted out in our
03:21 life and Jesus could tell by the fact that these men went to such
03:27 pains to bring this man in. He knew that they must believe that
03:31 he was able to heal. And faith, if it is real and genuine, will
03:36 always lead someone to action and we see that all throughout
03:40 the Bible. And here we see it in this story where Paul observes
03:44 that this man had faith to be healed. We don't know exactly
03:48 what it looked like but we know that it can be seen, it can be
03:51 visible because we saw that in the story of Jesus. But after he
03:54 heals him and he's walking and leaping just like the man did
03:57 in Acts chapter 3, it's fascinating to me that these
04:02 Gentiles in Lystra say the gods have come down to us in the
04:07 likeness of men. The gods have come down to us in the likeness
04:12 of men. It's the gospel even though they didn't understand
04:17 it. In fact, Jesus is God and Jesus did come in the likeness
04:23 of men. They almost say it in a disbelieving way and yet we know
04:29 that it's true that Jesus did come in the likeness of men.
04:33 But unfortunately the record says...
04:35 Well you know, Jim, it makes me think of Daniel chapter 2 when
04:41 the magicians of Nebuchadnezzar when Nebuchadnezzar had a dream
04:45 and he wanted to know the dream they said the only one who
04:49 knows the dream are the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh
04:53 In other words, for them the gods don't have anything...
04:56 You know we are not worthy of their notice.
04:59 That's right, that's right. And we recognize that even for those
05:03 who were understanding of the true God that the Bible says in
05:08 John chapter 1 and verse 11 that he came to his own but his own
05:12 received him not. So God did come to his own and this is a
05:18 primary distinction between true Christianity and all false
05:23 religions and these were pagans. They had understanding of false
05:27 religion which gives you a sense that if you want to be accepted
05:32 by the gods you need to go to them. You need to somehow
05:38 improve your behavior to be brought into their favor or, as
05:44 you remember when the prophets of Baal danced around the altar
05:49 on that day when Elijah stood on Mt. Carmel, that they were
05:53 crying out to the gods and cutting themselves thinking that
05:57 they had to do something that would show their dedication and
06:01 sacrifice in order to cause the gods to look favorably upon
06:05 them. And you look at the different religions of the world
06:10 Islam and the eastern religions Hinduism and the like. The
06:15 deities involved all are seeking for humanity to do something to
06:21 gain favor, whereas in Christianity God did come, God
06:26 did come in the likeness of a man. He came after us instead of
06:30 us having to reach after him.
06:31 And we see that actually picked up as in the response of the
06:35 apostles. In verse 14 it says, When the apostles, Barnabas and
06:39 Paul, heard this they tore their clothes and ran in among the
06:42 multitude. Now this was a Jewish custom of tearing the clothes
06:46 which was expressing rending the heart, deep, intense anguish and
06:51 in this part it says, They ran among the multitude crying out
06:56 saying, Men why are you doing these things. We also are men
07:02 with the same nature as you and preached to you that you should
07:07 turn from these useless things to the living God who made the
07:12 heaven, the earth, the sea and all things that are in them.
07:17 Now first of all, I think back just a few chapters where Peter
07:21 was delivered from prison and the angel touched him and woke
07:24 him up. And at the same time the angel touched Herod and struck
07:29 him. Herod was vaunting himself and the people said, He is a god
07:33 and how men like that praise. What an honor. But Paul and
07:37 Barnabas are not looking for that. They're wanting to direct
07:42 the attention to the God of heaven and they bring a few
07:44 interesting things up about him. First of all, he is the living
07:48 God, not like these other gods. He made the heaven, the earth,
07:51 the sea and all things that are in them. That's characteristic.
07:54 He's the creator God. Then it's interesting in verse 16 he says,
07:58 Who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in
08:02 their own ways. Nevertheless, he did not leave himself without
08:07 witness in that he did good, gave us rain from heaven and
08:10 fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness
08:12 and with these things they could scarcely restrain the multitudes
08:16 from sacrificing to them. Now I just want to touch on that.
08:20 God allowed the nations to walk in their own ways. God never
08:24 forced anybody to serve him, but he always left a witness of
08:28 himself and notice what he says, He gave us rain, fruitful
08:32 seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness.
08:33 It's interesting that there are many people today who say well
08:36 I can't believe in God because of all the evil in the world.
08:39 Well what about the good in the world? What about the blessings?
08:44 You know, if we're going to tag God out because of the evil then
08:48 we've got to give him the same credit for the blessings and
08:50 what the Bible is saying here is... And the fact of the matter
08:53 is the Bible tells us that he's not the author of the evil, but
08:56 he is the author of the blessings, of every good and
08:58 perfect gift. The apostles say here that he did not leave
09:02 himself without witness. We've got the evidence of his
09:06 creatorship, we've got the evidence in the good that we see
09:09 in the rain, the providence we have, the food on our tables,
09:13 etc., that the Lord is seeking to bless and wanting to draw us
09:17 to himself. You know, I see in that verse
09:19 also, in verse 16, Who in bygone generations allowed all nations
09:22 to walk in their own ways, but you get the sense that he's
09:25 saying, But not anymore. I mean the gospel is going to the
09:29 Gentiles now and there's this clear sense that there's a
09:34 message coming that they need to now respond to. He's allowed
09:37 them in bygone generations, but now the times have changed.
09:40 That's right. And of course they are just not pleased with this
09:44 message. So much so, it says, that they take... Having
09:47 persuaded the multitudes, it says, the Jews from Antioch
09:50 and Iconium came there and persuaded the multitudes and
09:52 they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing him to
09:56 be dead. Wow! That's incredible! You know
09:59 you look here in verse 18. It says that they could scarcely
10:03 restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them and yet
10:07 these Jews come down and stir up the crowd again. This is a
10:12 continual theme. And they persuade the multitudes, so much
10:17 so that they stoned Paul and dragged him supposing him to be
10:21 dead. I mean that's miraculous. In verse 20 it says, However
10:25 when the disciples gathered around him, as if to say, Oh our
10:29 beloved Paul is gone It says, He rose up and went, where? Back to
10:34 the city. I can't even believe it. It says, And the next day he
10:38 departed with Barnabas to Derbe. Business as usual. I mean it's
10:43 incredible in verse 20. He is stoned, dragged out, and he goes
10:47 back in just for good measure before he leaves the next day.
10:50 Just say I wasn't intimidated by it. I'm moving on. I've got a
10:54 mission. So in verse 23 it takes us on to the fact that, it says,
10:58 They appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting
11:01 we saw that earlier in chapter 13 when he and Barnabas were
11:04 sent out with prayer and fasting They commended them to the Lord.
11:07 They moved on through Pisidia, Pamphylia, Perga, Italia and
11:11 then they come back to their home church in Antioch, report
11:14 what's happened and the Bible says there they stayed for a
11:17 long time with the disciples. And so they complete that first
11:20 missionary journey and what a powerful ministry.
11:24 Amen, amen. You know there's a couple verses that we passed
11:26 over there that we need to focus on there as we bring this to a
11:29 close. In verse 21 it says, And when they had preached the
11:33 gospel to that city, okay, Derbe and made many disciples, they
11:38 returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch strengthening the souls
11:42 of the disciples. Now at first reading that just sounds kind of
11:47 like a common verse. They returned to Lystra, Iconium and
11:51 Antioch. But look at where they actually returned. You look at
11:56 chapter 13, verse 50. That's Antioch. After Antioch it says
12:00 But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and
12:03 the chief men of the city and raised up persecution against
12:07 Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. So they
12:10 are going back to Antioch where they were expelled from. Then
12:14 if you look at chapter 14 verse 5, it talks about what happened
12:18 at the end of Iconium. And when a violent attempt was made by
12:21 both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to abuse and stone
12:25 them they became aware of it. So back in Iconium there was a
12:29 plot to abuse and stone them. They went back there. And then
12:32 if you look at verse 19 of chapter 14, we just read it.
12:36 The Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and having
12:39 persuaded them they stoned him. So these three places where they
12:43 were clearly kicked out or stoned or plotted against are
12:47 the exact placed that Paul went back to. And that's why it says
12:51 in verse 22, there, Strengthening the souls of the
12:54 disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying
12:58 we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom
13:01 of God. Wow! You know, the thing I like about the Apostle Paul is
13:06 he practiced what he preached. He said, you know what? It's
13:09 through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of
13:14 God. And friends as we look at this passage in Acts chapter 14
13:19 and we think about the difficulties that we experience
13:22 and the challenges in our own Christian life, we have to
13:25 remember that they are all preparing us. That tribulation
13:29 is producing perseverance and character and hope and we can
13:32 be sure that God will see us through just like he did the
13:35 Apostle Paul. We'll see you next time on Books of the Book.


Home

Revised 2014-12-17