THE SAINT AND THE SORCERER
Acts 13:2-13
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. After the Flood subsided, Noah opened the door to the Ark and sent the animals out. As each pair of animals left, he would say, “Go forth and multiply.”
2. Finally a pair of snakes slithered out, and he said, “Go forth and multiply.” One of the snakes answered, “But Noah, we’re Adders!”
B. TEXT
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. 4 [They]...sailed from there to Cyprus...6 There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord. 13 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.
C. THESIS
1. Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea, about 50-60 miles from Israel’s coastline. Cyprus has an area of about 3600 square miles and is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.
2. In N.T. times there was a strong Jewish presence on Cyprus, as Luke tells us that there were “synagogues (plural)” in the town of Salamis. When God sent them to Cyprus, they did have one extra advantage - Barnabas had originally come from Cyprus (Acts 4:36).
3. Today’s story occurs in Paphos, on the west coast. It had a temple dedicated to Aphrodite/Venus. There were probably other pagan temples there as well. There they met a Jewish false prophet, who was also a sorcerer, named Bar-Jesus.
4. The title of this message is “The Saint & the Sorcerer.”
I. HOLY SPIRIT DIRECTED MISSION
In verse 2, the Holy Spirit spoke and sent Barnabas & Saul on a missionary journey. The Holy Spirit is a living, separate Person of the Godhead, with the Father & the Son. He is ‘on-location’ to be our personal trainer to prepare us for heaven. He “guides us into all truth (Jn. 16:13),” “teaches us” (Lk. 12:12, Jn. 14:26; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Jn. 2:27) and reveals things to us” (Lk. 2:26; Eph. 3:5).
A. INSTANCES WHERE THE HOLY SPIRIT DIRECTED THE CHURCH IN THE BOOK OF ACTS
1. Acts 8:29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
2. Acts 10:19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you.”
3. Acts 11:12, “The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them.”
4. Acts 13:2, “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” See Acts 15:28.
5. Twice the Holy Spirit would not allow Paul to enter some region to minister, Acts 16:6-7.
6. Acts 20:23, “I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.” (Probably through prophetic utterances.)
7. Acts 21:11, “Coming over to us, [Agabus] took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”
B. MISSIONS IS THE PROVENANCE OF THE H.S.
1. Zech. 4:6, It’s “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.”
2. The church in Antioch, led by prophets and teachers, received a directive from the Holy Spirit to set apart Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for a mission’s assignment. This ended up being Paul’s 1st missionary journey and set the pattern of how the church should send missionaries for all time.
II. OPPOSITION FROM THE DEVIL
A. THE SORCERER’S OPPOSITION
1. At Paphos, Paul & Barnabas sought audience with the Roman ruler of the island, a Proconsul, named Sergius Paulus, who was doing his best to govern Cyprus in an intelligent, honest, manner.
2. It was one of Paul’s strategies to try to witness to the high-ranking leaders about Christ because of their influence; he did it all through Acts.
3. A false prophet named Elymas made it his business to withstand Barnabas and Saul, like the magicians of Egypt, in Pharaoh's court, withstood Moses and Aaron. 2 Tim 3:8.
4. Satan, even today, concentrates on controlling famous, wealthy, and those with political power, because he knows that they can influence many.
B. OPPOSITION SHOWS WE’RE DISTURBING THE DEVIL
1. The same spirit that challenged Paul in Acts 13 is still here with us in 2026...trying to discourage us, to shut us up, to make us doubt & fill us with unbelief.
2. Don’t equate a challenge or conflict to God’s absence or inactivity. Opposition is evidence that God is with us in our struggle.
3. You need never be afraid of the devil, voodoo, satanism, witches, etc., because “Greater is He that is in you than he that’s in the world.” Satan is under our feet. Luke 10:17. We CAN cast out devils. No Weapon can be formed against us. “Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel” Num. 23:23.
4. “In Christ” you’re: “a new creation” 2 Cor. 5:17; “blessed with every spiritual blessing” Eph. 1:3; “seated in heavenly places” Eph 2:6; “more than a conqueror” Rom. 8:37; you’re “always led about in triumph!” 2 Cor. 2:14. No evil spell or curse can touch the people of God because we’re INSIDE OF CHRIST and He’s blessed forevermore!
5. The devil can’t cross the Blood of Christ, with which we’re sanctified. “IF GOD BE FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?” If GOD is on our team; what other team can beat us? There’s no adversary more powerful than God! There’s no way we can lose! PTL
C. HUMOR
1. I heard a HUMOROUS STORY about an old man who went to see a Wizard. He asked the Wizard if he could remove a curse he’d been living with for 40 years.
2. The Wizard said, "Maybe...but you’ll have to tell me the *exact* words that were used to put the curse on you."
3. The old man said, "I can do that, I remember them well. The man in robes said these words, ‘I now pronounce you man and wife.’"
III. GOD’S JUDGMENT ON THE DEFIANT
Verse 9 says, “Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said...” See how the Holy Spirit filled and inspired Saul/Paul just before he went into spiritual warfare. We all need this kind of infilling!
A. HE IDENTIFIED ELYMAS’ TRUE CHARACTER
1. A CHILD OF THE DEVIL. Elymas was called Bar-Jesus— “son of Jesus”(Savior), but Paul said he was really a child of the devil - he bore the devil’s image, and did his works, John 8:44.
2. AN ENEMY OF ALL THAT’S RIGHT. He identified him as an ‘adversary’ of heaven and of God.
3. FULL OF DECEIT & TRICKERY. His trickery wasn’t just pranks or vexing people—he was defrauding people of eternal life!
4. PERVERTING THE WAY OF THE LORD. Elymas was a Jew and had been trained in God’s Word as a boy, yet he had abandoned God and started working for Satan and the kingdom of darkness.
B. SENTENCE EXECUTED IMMEDIATELY
1. “There fell on him a mist and a darkness,” as on the Sodomites trying to get into Lot’s house, or the Assyrian soldiers coming to arrest or kill Elisha.
2. This mode of punishment Saul/Paul understood because he remembered when it happened to him! In Acts 9, he was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians. God blinded him by a light from heaven! He was blind for several days until Ananias of Damascus came and prayed for him. It was a mercy because it brought Saul to repentance.
3. Elymas was immediately struck blind and wished for someone to lead him by the hand. Elymas had time to think and, I hope, repent of what he’d done.
C. EFFECT ON THE PROCONSUL
1. When the Proconsul saw the miracle which God performed, how Paul's power transcended that of the magician, and how Elymas was baffled and confounded, he converted and became a believer in Christ Jesus!
2. I’m sure that he, as a Christian magistrate, helped influence people and spread the Gospel in that island. Tradition says that Sergius Paulus was later installed by Paul as bishop of Narbon in France (when Paul went to Spain).
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. One particular time John G. Paton incurred the wrath of three witch doctors who declared they would see him dead before next Sunday by the power of their sorcery. The story goes that to carry out their task they had to get hold of something that Paton had partially eaten.
2. Paton publicly obliged the witch doctors by taking a bite out of three pieces of fruit and giving one to each of them. To the amazement of the natives, the next Sunday Paton strolled into the village heathy and spry as ever. Their incantations had failed.
3. The only explanation the witch doctors had was that he was a “holy man” like they were, but that his God was stronger than theirs. It is said that from then on Paton was able to win more natives to Christ than ever before.
4. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds!” That’s what God did on the island of Cyprus – He pulled down the strongholds and Cyprus became a CHRISTIAN STRONGHOLD! PTL!
B. THE CALL
1. A fire broke out at the power plant in Akiachak, Alaska. The plant managers called the fire department, which sent a brand new fully equipped fire truck they had just bought for $100,000.
2. But the fire raged on and caused $250,000 damage to the power station. Why? BECAUSE NO ONE KNEW HOW TO THE FIRE TRUCK OPERATED!
3. The question is, DO YOU KNOW HOW TO USE YOUR SPIRITUAL WEAPONS? If you don’t it’s just as bad as not having any at all! [Sermon Resources, November 4, 1983]
4. Let’s ask God to clothe us with power and to give us wisdom to know how to use the equipment God has purchased for us at great price.
5. Prayer.
