God selected Paul and Barnabas to carry out His first missionary assignment.
They were not self-appointed, nor were they appointed by men.
As they were serving the Lord, the Holy Ghost called them out, saying, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work...”
They were APPOINTED BY GOD, SENT BY GOD, AND WERE ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD.
In this l3th chapter of Acts, we read of certain men chosen by God for a certain ministry. Soon they found they faced opposition in the form of a false prophet named Elymas.
God, through Paul, struck Elymas with a blindness, and he had to be led away.
Can we assume that now that was taken care of, there would be no more opposition? We cannot!
Satan will continue to oppose as long as the gospel of Christ is preached, even unto the day God casts him into his final place of torment. As long as we tell lost people this gospel, we are going to fight one battle after another.
Illus: Paul compares the Christian life to a boxing contest. A boxer has to fight his way up, and once he is on top, he has to continue to win fights against all who would challenge him, in order to stay on top.
Paul was in constant conflict with Satan wherever he went.
Look at verses 13-15, we read, “Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.”
Notice the Bible tells us Paul and Barnabas, “…went into the synagogue on the sabbath day...”, as soon as they had reached their destination.
Why? Because this is something that Christians do, they look for places and opportunities to worship the Lord, and to be with His people.
WHEN THEY ARRIVED IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, WHAT HAPPENED?
The same thing that has happened to almost every preacher. Someone will look at them ask, “Are you a preacher?”
Well, Paul and Barnabas were just sitting there and after the scriptures were read, the rulers of the synagogue said, “...ye men and brethren. if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.”
Basically, they were saying, “Are you fellow preachers and do you have anything from the Lord for us?”
Well a congregation should never give a preacher a chance to open his mouth if they do not mean it.
Jesus had promised that the gospel would go to the ends of the earth, and now we see the beginning of the fulfillment of that promise, as the gospel was preached to the people of Asia Minor.
Let’s look at this INVITATION to preach God’s Word.
Look at verses 16-22, “Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it. And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.”
Paul began his sermon with a little history lesson. He did that for several reasons.
Keep in mind, that was a predominately Jewish congregation --
• He shared something with them that they all had in common, their history.
• He wanted to show them that they, the Jews, were God’s chosen people, and remind them that the nation once was led by judges, then by kings, and from the lineage of David came Jesus.
Now much of the sermon that Paul preached in verses 19-41, did not bother the Jews who were there.
• Paul could have talked all day long about Israel being led by Judges for four hundred fifty years.
• He could have talked all day long about how they had asked for a king, and that Saul, the son of Cis, had been their first king.
• In fact, it thrilled them to hear Paul talk of King David.
But then he said something they were not so thrilled about.
• He said in verse 23, “0f this man‘s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus.”
• Things got even stickier when he said, verse 28, “And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.”
• Worse yet, after Paul said that the Jews had killed Jesus. He went on to say in verse 30, “But God raised him from the dead.”
Those Jews could live with killing Jesus, but they did not want to be told that Jesus was alive, and they still would have to deal with Him.
But whether lost man wants to hear it or not, IT IS THE TRUTH, THEY HAVE YET TO DEAL WITH HIM AS THEIR JUDGE!
Illus: When Charles G. Finney was a young lawyer, he was sitting in a village law office in the state of New York. It was very early in the morning and he was all alone, when the Lord began to deal with him. He said the Lord spoke to him, “Finnev, what are you going to do when you finish your course? Put out a shingle and practice law? Then what? Get rich. Then what? Retire. Then what? Die. Then what? And the word came trembling, “The judgment!”
The Jews did not want to hear about a Savior that they rejected, and killed.
Look at the reactions to what they heard.
I. THE REACTION
There were two kinds of people there.
A. THE HUNGRY
Verses 42-44, “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God..”
While many of the Jewish religious leaders rejected what Paul had to say, many others, along with many gentiles, wanted to hear more, and the next Sabbath bore testimony to how the Word of God had spread.
Look at verse 44, we read “And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.”
It certainly would be a blessing if folks were that eager to hear God’s Word today.
Illus: It has been estimated that 95% of the professing Christians have never even attempted to lead a soul to Christ. This is a good indication of how unexcited people are about the Lord Jesus.
Illus: For over thirty years the Salvation Army, and William Booth in particular, were subjected to some of the most vile persecutions Christians have suffered in modem times, but the general lived to see the day his army would be honored around the world. His own King Edward VII invited him to Buckingham Palace in 1904. All the persecutions and trials of the previous decades must have seemed insignificant to Booth as he heard King Edward say, “You are doing a good work--a great work, General Booth.”
When the king asked Booth to write in his autograph album, the old man - now seventy-five - bent forward, took the pen, and summed up his life’s work:
“Your Majesty,
• Some men’s ambition is art.
• Some men’s ambition is fame.
• Some men’s ambition is gold.
• My ambition is the souls of men.”
The men and women that heard Paul must have had that same ambition, because the next week they had almost the whole city out to hear God’s Word.
But there was another group there also-
B. THE HATERS
Look at verse 45, “But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.”
Notice that the scripture says, “...But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy.”
Anytime the green-eyed monster of jealousy pops up, there is trouble. People do not degrade people that they love, they degrade people they are jealous of.
The Bible says the “ Jews ... were filled against those things which were spoken by Paul. contradicting and blaspheming.”
Illus: Charles Cotton said, “For one man who sincerely pities our misfortunes. there are a thousand who sincerely hate our success.”
Those Jewish leaders were envious because of the multitudes who wanted to hear Paul expound the Word of God.
II. THE REMINDER
Look at verse 46, “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.”
Some folks have the idea that meekness is synonymous with weakness, and they expect Christians to be meek, and to cower down to them.
Paul did not do that. He knew he was sent by, directed by, and anointed by God.
When the devil tried to oppose God’s work, he reminded that crowd of rejecters that the gospel was first sent to them, but since they did not want it God would give it to the gentiles.
A. THE MESSAGE.
Look at verses 47-49, “For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.”
The gentiles had been taught for years that God was a God of the Jews only, and that they were not worthy of the gospel, so it thrilled them to hear Paul say that God had sent Paul to them, and that they were worthy of the gospel.
B. THE MADNESS
Look at verse 50, “But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.”
Those men did not know what they were doing. That town was in the midst of a revival like they had never seen before - almost the whole city was turning out to hear about the Savior Who had died for them.
The jealous leaders instigated opposition that resulted in Paul and Barnabas being expelled from their coast. Here we see two tragic things:
1. MEN AND WOMEN IN AUTHORITY MISUSED THEIR AUTHORITY
Even today we see this. How sad it will be when politicians stand before Christ to give account for using their power and influence to fight the things of God.
Illus: The governor of California, in December of 1999, pushed through a law giving full rights to the homosexuals in California, and that the public schools are ordered to teach homosexuality is an acceptable alternate life-style.
2. JEALOUS LEADERS TRIED TO EXTINGUISH THE REVIVAL FIRES THAT WERE TRYING TO SPREAD
Illus: Governor Gray Davis of California, signed three homosexual-rights bills on October 4th. The bills:
(1) Award official government status and quasi-marriage
benefits to homosexual partners.
(2) Require that public schools teach that homosexuality is
morally equivalent to heterosexuality.
(3) Allow massive lawsuits, investigations, and fines against
Christian business owners and landlords who take into
account sexual orientation in hiring or housing decisions.
These three laws go into effect January 1, 2000 (Focus on the Family Citizen, 11/99)
Listen, there is not much revival in this evil land in which we live, but men like Governor Davis are doing everything they can to rid this nation of godliness.
Had those evil men during the days of Paul not opposed the work of God, only God knows what would have happened there.
But, whatever could have happened in a greater way did not happen, and those men still will have to answer to God for what they did.
In Antioch, the Jewish leaders were angry, and had Paul and Barnabas expelled “…out of their coasts.”
C. THE MANEUVER
Look at verses 51-52, “But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.”
Paul and Barnabas may have had to change their plans, but the gospel they preached remained the same.
Jesus told the disciples in Mark 6:11, “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them....”
This is exactly what Paul and Barnabas did. Notice, “.. for a testimony against them...”
Could it be that the Lord will use that very dust on judgment day, as evidence that Paul and Barnabas were there with the gospel and they rejected it? It very well could be!
NOTICE, Paul and Barnabas did not allow the sad condition of those men to rob them of their joy - “And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.”
Conclusion:
I. THE REACTION
II. THE REMINDER
