Introduction
On March 17, we will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Patrick was born in 373 A.D. on the banks of the River Clyde in what is now Scotland.
His father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest.
When Patrick was about 16, raiders descended on his little town and torched his home.
When one of the raiders spotted him in the bushes, he was seized, hauled aboard ship, and taken to Ireland as a slave.
There, he gave his life to the Lord Jesus.
‘‘The Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief,’’ he later wrote, ‘‘so that I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God.’’
Patrick eventually escaped and returned home.
His overjoyed family begged him never to leave again.
But one night, Patrick dreamed of an Irishman pleading with him to come and evangelize Ireland.
It wasn’t an easy decision, but Patrick, about 30 at the time, returned to his former captors with only one book: the Latin Bible.
As he evangelized the countryside, multitudes came to listen.
The superstitious Druids opposed him and sought his death. But his preaching was powerful, and Patrick became one of the most fruitful evangelists of all time, eventually planting about 200 churches and baptizing 100,000 converts (Robert J. Morgan, Then Sings My Soul Special Edition: 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymns Stories [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010]).
Patrick’s dream of the Irishman pleading with him to come and evangelize Ireland is similar to a vision the apostle Paul had three centuries earlier of a man calling to Paul to come over to Macedonia and help them.
In today’s lesson, we will learn how God sovereignly directs the spread of the gospel.
Scripture
Let’s read Acts 16:6-10:
6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Lesson
Acts 16:6-10 teaches us that God sovereignly directs the spread of the gospel.
Let’s use the following outline:
1. God Sometimes Closes Doors (16:6-7)
2. God’s Guidance Comes Through Continued Faithfulness (16:8)
3. God’s Guidance Comes Through Revelation (16:9)
4. God’s Call Requires Obedience (16:10a)
5. God’s Plan Is Best (16:10b)
I. God Sometimes Closes Doors (16:6-7)
First, God sovereignly directs the spread of the gospel by sometimes closing doors.
After their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas returned to their home church in Antioch and told the people about all God had done during that journey.
Then some men came from Judea teaching that the Gentiles had to be circumcised to be saved.
This created a controversy among the people, so the Antioch Church sent Paul, Barnabas, and others to Jerusalem for a definitive answer about what was required for salvation.
The Jerusalem Council convened with Jesus’ brother James as Moderator, the apostles, and elders.
Paul and the Antioch Church contingent asked the Jerusalem Council, “Is circumcision required for salvation?”
The answer from the Jerusalem Council was essentially, “No. Circumcision is not required for salvation. All people—Jews and Gentiles alike—are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.”
The Jerusalem Council gave some guidelines for how Gentiles should accommodate Jewish sensibilities, but these were not salvation issues but fellowship and service issues.
The Antioch Church contingent returned from Jerusalem, along with some others—such as Silas—to confirm the Jerusalem Council's declaration.
Paul and Barnabas continued their teaching and preaching ministry in the Antioch Church. (Wouldn’t it have been great to have them as regular teachers in the church?)
After some days (some scholars think it could have been as long as several years), Paul wanted to revisit the churches they had established on their first missionary journey to assess their growth in the Lord.
Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them, but Paul adamantly refused because John Mark had deserted them on their first missionary journey.
After a sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.
Paul took Silas and departed from the Antioch Church on the second missionary journey.
In Lystra, one of the towns that Paul visited on his first missionary journey, he met a young Christian named Timothy, who was likely converted to Christ on Paul’s previous missionary journey.
Paul was impressed with young Timothy, and so Paul invited Timothy to join the missionary team for the rest of their journey.
Timothy became one of Paul’s most faithful associates and served with him for many years.
In verse 6, we read, “And they [that is, Paul, Silas, and Timothy] went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.”
Paul wanted to travel west to Asia, to towns like Colossae, Laodicea, and Ephesus.
However, Luke wrote that they were “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.” I will come back to this in a moment.
Eventually, Paul and his party arrived in Mysia, northwest of Asia. Luke tells us what happened when they got there in verse 7: “And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.”
How did the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus prevent Paul and his team from going where they wanted to go and spreading the gospel?
We don’t know.
We are not told how the Spirit forbade Paul from doing what he believed to be the best place to reach sinners with the good news of the gospel.
Perhaps they learned that there were road blockages.
Or perhaps there was unrest in the regions they wanted to visit.
Or perhaps Paul got sick.
We don’t know how God closed the doors for Paul.
However, God closed the doors, and it was clear to them that he was not to go to those places.
I was talking to a colleague this week. He is planting a church in Ohio that is busting at the seams.
The church plant had been meeting in a rented facility they had outgrown.
He told me that he and the elders have been looking for a much bigger location for the church’s worship for several months.
They found a large church building that has perhaps thirty worshipers each Sunday. However, the host church is unwilling to change its worship meeting time.
So, my friend and his growing church plant will relocate to the new host church and change the times for their worship service and Sunday school.
He told me, “Of all the bad options, this was the least ‘bad’ option. We have prayed about it and believe the Spirit is leading us in this direction.”
You have found God closing doors for you, too, right?
You apply to college and you don’t get accepted.
You put an offer on a house, and the offer is refused.
You apply for a job, but someone else gets selected.
As you seek to honor God in every area of your life, you will discover that God sovereignly directs you by sometimes closing doors.
So, be attentive to God’s guidance when he sometimes closes doors for you.
II. God’s Guidance Comes Through Continued Faithfulness (16:8)
Second, God sovereignly directs the spread of the gospel by guidance that comes through continued faithfulness.
In verse 8, Luke tells us, “So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.”
Troas is on the west of the region of Mysia and is a coastal town on the Aegean Sea.
We know that Paul’s passion and calling was to proclaim the good news that Jesus was alive and changing lives.
Paul later wrote to the Corinthians, saying, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16).
Paul probably did not understand why the Spirit forbade him from preaching the gospel in certain places, even though he knew that there were sinners there who needed to hear about Jesus.
But Paul did not just sit around and do nothing. He did not fret and say, “I am not going to move until the Spirit guides me.”
He kept pressing forward through continued faithfulness to find where the Spirit wanted him to proclaim the good news.
As a young Christian, I attended meetings at what was the equivalent to our Reformed University Fellowship, with which you are familiar.
I attended the Student Y on the University of Cape Town campus. On Wednesday evenings, we had about 150 students attend our large group meetings.
I remember a poster with a large ship in the middle of the ocean. The words on the poster read, “A ship standing still cannot change direction.”
No, it could not. The prevailing currents and winds would push it about.
But a ship that was moving could easily change direction.
This is what Paul was doing.
He was pressing forward, trusting that the Spirit would eventually guide him and change his direction the way the Spirit wanted him to go.
As you seek to serve God and share the gospel with family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues, keep pressing forward in faithfulness.
God will eventually reward your faithfulness by showing you what he wants you to do.
That brings me to my next point.
III. God’s Guidance Comes Through Revelation (16:9)
Third, God sovereignly directs the spread of the gospel by guidance that comes through revelation.
While Paul and his team were in Troas, Luke tells us what happened next in verse 9, “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ ”
This sounds remarkably similar to what happened to St. Patrick three centuries later.
Scholars have speculated about the identity of the man of Macedonia.
The fact is that no one knows the identity of the man of Macedonia.
All attempts to identify him are futile because Scripture does not reveal his identity to us.
We do know that a man from Macedonia appeared to Paul in a vision and urged him to come to Macedonia and help them.
Macedonia is about 150 miles northwest of Troas.
Macedonia is notable because it is considered to be in Europe, whereas Paul's previous locations were in Asia.
The Spirit wanted Paul to take the gospel to what we know as Europe.
Paul did not announce to his companions that they were going to Macedonia.
No, he discussed it with his companions because verse 10 indicates that they all agreed that the gospel was to spread to Macedonia.
Dreams and visions no longer direct us.
The revelation that guides us today is found in the Word of God.
God will never guide us in ways that are contrary to his Word.
If God commands us to do something, then we must do it.
If God forbids us from doing something, we must not do it.
So, spend time reading, studying, meditating, and memorizing God’s Word so that God can guide you through his revelation.
IV. God’s Call Requires Obedience (16:10a)
Fourth, God sovereignly directs the spread of the gospel through his call that requires obedience.
In verse 10a, Luke tells us, “And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia.”
Finally, Paul and his companions were assured that the Spirit guided them to Macedonia.
I am sure they were thrilled!
They did not first go sightseeing and check out Troas’ various restaurants.
No. Immediately, they sought to go into Macedonia.
By the way, to whom is the “we” in this verse referring?
Luke, the author of the book of Acts, has now joined the missionary team.
Every time you see “we” in the rest of Acts, you know that Luke has joined Paul and was part of his team.
I believe it was Gordon MacDonald who once said in connection with raising children, “Delayed obedience is disobedience.”
That is certainly true for children.
But it is true for us as well.
When God has guided you to some truth, you must obey him immediately.
If you sense that God is calling you to repent of a sin against a brother or sister, do so immediately.
You may sense that God is calling you to correct some wrongdoing you have done to someone else. If so, do it immediately.
If you know that God is calling you to do a certain thing, do so immediately.
Don’t dilly-dally. Do it immediately.
God’s call requires obedience.
V. God’s Plan Is Best (16:10b)
Finally, God sovereignly directs the spread of the gospel because God’s plan is best.
In the second part of verse 10, Luke wrote, “...concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
The missionary team was on its way to Macedonia after concluding that God wanted them to go there.
Paul’s original plan was to head directly west into what was called Asia from Iconium.
But the Spirit forbade them from proclaiming the good news in Asia or Bithynia.
It became evident that the Spirit wanted them to spread the gospel in Europe.
So, Paul and his team took the gospel to Europe.
God blessed their ministry there, as we shall see in future messages.
Europe eventually became the first continent to be fully evangelized.
God’s plan is always best.
Let me encourage you to follow God’s plan in every area of your life, every moment of every day.
Conclusion
There are a little over 8 billion people living in the world today.
I understand that about 3.28 billion people have never heard the name of Jesus.
Last year, in 2024, Lausanne held its 4th Congress in Korea.
I was stunned by one statistic of the report that came out of this Lausanne Congress. This is the part that stunned me:
As much as 77.3 percent of missionaries are serving among people to whom the gospel has already reached. About 19.4 percent are among the unevangelized. Only the remaining 3.3 percent live among the 3.28 billion who have never heard the name of Jesus (https://lausanne.org/global-analysis/the-whole-world-and-the-unreached#endnote-2).
Now, the book of Revelation teaches us that there will be people in glory from every people group in the world.
Moreover, we know that Jesus will not return until the gospel has been preached to all nations (people groups).
I have noticed that the missionaries we have supported as a church have relocated to the United States over the years.
A few of our missionaries are still serving overseas in missions.
Those serving overseas are reaching unevangelized people, which is a good thing—a very good thing.
Our church's Missions Team is looking for a missionary unit (a family or a single person) to serve or be willing to serve in an area where people have never heard the name of Jesus.
Will you pray with the Missions Team that they will find a suitable missionary unit that we can support as a church?
Will you pray about God’s call on your life, too?
Could God call you, like he did the apostle Paul, to go to a place where the gospel has never reached people?
Yes, that is certainly possible.
Whether you eventually end up on the mission field or stay home, remember that God sovereignly directs the spread of the gospel. He wants you to apply these principles to your daily life.
The principles in today’s lesson are not merely for those who are being called into vocational missionary service.
These principles apply to every Christian every day.
Remember that God sometimes closes doors.
God’s guidance comes through continued faithfulness.
God’s guidance comes through the revelation of his word.
God’s call requires obedience.
God’s plan is always best.
I pray that each one of us will be attentive to God’s daily call on our lives as he sovereignly spreads the good news about Jesus. Amen.
