[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Expound, our
verse-by-verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. Now, in the 13th chapter of the
book of Acts as you turn there, we're in a new section. There's been a transition. I just want you to
know what that is. Beginning in chapter 13,
to the end of the book, it has been sometimes
referred to as the Acts of Paul the Apostle. Now, that's not the name
of the book, of course. It's the Acts of the Apostles. Some call it the Acts
of the Holy Spirit, but this section,
from chapter 13 onward has been dubbed
the Acts of Paul, because he becomes
the dominant figure. The limelight is now off
of the Jerusalem apostles like Peter, James, and the rest. And it shifts to this
recently converted, within the last decade,
converted rabbi. Radical Rabbi Saul of Tarsus,
who will be, for the first time in this chapter,
referred to as Paul. So we're watching that. Now, this is a transition
that is anticipated by Jesus and, I would say, expected,
in a sense, for all believers. There seems to be a natural
spiritual growth that takes place. This is how natural
spiritual growth at least should take place. First a person becomes
a saved person, but after that, he
didn't stop there. He becomes a serving person. He gets involved using gifts
that he or she has been given by the Holy Spirit,
discovering what they are, being fulfilled in using
them in the local church. So he goes from a saved person
to a saved and serving person. Then I would say he becomes
a sensitized person. He's sensitive to the
working of the Holy Spirit. And just what it
is God is wanting he or she to do, not
just in the church, but purpose in the world. Then he becomes a
saturated person, filled with the Holy Spirit, but
then he becomes a sent person. So you go from saved to
serving to sensitized to saturated to sent out. And this is what Saul,
also known as Paul, does. He has been saved. He is now serving. You will see him
sensitized and saturated, filled with the
Holy Spirit here. And now sent out, just
in the first few verses. And he's going to go on
a missionary journey, one of three journeys. He'll take four
trips all together, the fourth trip will
be his prison trip, where he's incarcerated
and eventually killed, but this is his first
sent out mission trip. So that is a
natural progression. It's what Jesus anticipated when
he told his men, his followers, "but you shall receive power
after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost
parts of the earth. Jerusalem has been
saturated with the gospel," Acts chapter 5. The complaint of the enemies
of the Christian church said, you have filled
Jerusalem with your doctrine. So what a wonderful
thing to hear. I wish we could hear
today, you have filled Albuquerque with your doctrine. Amen, may that happen. But it happened in Jerusalem. And so after that, a
few were sent to Judea-- Peter was. Philip was sent to Samaria. And now God has gotten a
hold of Saul of Tarsus, who will become
the Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. And he's going to go out
in Gentile territory. Now interestingly, the
chapter opens in Antioch and closes in a
different Antioch. Now, I brought this
up a couple weeks ago. I said, we're going to talk
about Antioch, that's in Syria, but then there's another Antioch
I tell you about later on. We're going to get to that here. So he goes from
Antioch in Syria. Don't be thrown by that,
there's different cities that have the same names. We went through that last time. Just like you have Cuba
and Las Vegas, New Mexico, but they hardly
bear any resemblance to the other Las Vegas
and the other Cuba, but they're the same name. So you have an Antioch
named after Antiochus, a common Seleucid name. And you have a different
Antioch in Pisidia, or in what we would call southern Turkey. So it opens in one
Antioch, closes in another, because Paul will be sent from
the church in Antioch to Cyprus and he's going to end up
in Antioch of Pisidia. That's how the flow
of the chapter goes. So it says, "Now in the
church that was at Antioch--" now, that is Antioch in Syria. You may be wondering
why Paul and the team wasn't sent from the
church in Jerusalem. It was, after all,
the mother church. It's where it all started. Yes, it was-- Jerusalem was the mother
church, but Antioch becomes the mission church. And that is because the
persecution in Jerusalem has reached such a fever pitch. People are losing their jobs
that are temple-related jobs. And so a lot of them have
fled, many of them to Antioch because there's a Jewish
population, an enclave, there. And so the gospel
take root among them. Barnabas went there,
strengthened the church, calls for Saul to come from
Tarsus to Antioch of Syria. And they'll go 16
miles to the coast and they'll go on their
first missionary journey. Now, we did read
where it says, "Now in the church that
was at Antioch." You already know
what church means. We have been over
this so many times. You know the Greek word
ekklesia, "called-out ones," but let me just tell
you that, originally, the idea of a church, even
in the Greek New Testament, the original idea was
a group of people. And it had at first a
legal meaning, purely a legal provincial meaning. That is, it meant
a group of citizens who were called
out of their homes to meet in a public setting. So in Ephesus, the pagan crowd
in the theater of Ephesus shouting for hours, "Great
is Diana of the Ephesians," they are called an
ekklesia, a church. They are called an assembly. So that's its original meaning. As time went on, it
became more associated not with the legal
Greek culture, but the spiritual
Christian culture because people would gather
together as the church, as a group of called-out
people to gather together for a purpose. Now, the reason I'm
bringing that up is just to refresh your hearts
that a church is not a place. It's a people. And so you've heard that, you
know that, but we often say, I'm going to church. No, you're actually
going to a place where the church will
be gathered together. This is not the church. This is, well, it's a
redeemed soccer field. It's a nicely-lit Tuff Shed. It has had several
purposes and now it serves the purpose
of you, the church, being called out of your
homes, me out of my home-- I was going to say homes,
but I have a home-- and gathering together to
be instructed in the word, to worship the Lord,
to wait on the Lord, to be mutually edified,
then to be sent out. So it's never a place. It's never a "where," it's
the people who gather at that place. That's what it's all about. So back to verse one
that I never finished. "Now in the church that was at
Antioch--" this is Syria now-- "there were certain
prophets and teachers." Quick remark-- these
are the two gifts that were dominant at first. And that is partially because
there was no New Testament yet. Has not been written. So you have apostles,
they're like the kingpins, they send people out,
but there were already people with these
gifts, recognized gifts as prophets and teachers, those
who would give instruction. Now, there's five altogether
that are mentioned-- "Barnabas--" remember
Barnabas, Son of Encouragement? First name was Joses,
he was called Barnabas by the early church
in Jerusalem, means Son of Encouragement. He is a Jew from Cyprus. That's where they're
going to go first. Logical starting point--
he's familiar with it. Next on the list is "Simeon
who is called Niger." Niger means black. It is assumed that he
was a black African. Some believe that this Simeon
was the Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross-- the last section--
of Jesus to Golgotha. Can't be proven. It's simply an assumption. Scholars remark on this. We can't be sure,
it's possible, though. Then it says,
"Lucius of Cyrene," it's also on the
African continent. But look at this name, "Manaen
who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul." Now, it's an interesting bunch. These five people
mentioned in verse one, it's an interesting mix. Very diverse crowd
and I love this. It shows that in
the early church, there was no discrimination,
no racial discrimination for those in leadership or
in fellowship whatsoever. You have people with
diverse backgrounds, from different places, all
having this leadership role. And they're sharing
that together. So there's no
discrimination as far as racial boundaries
are concerned. But Manaen is interesting
because it says, "Who had been brought up with Saul." Now, the actual
word, the wording in the verse where it says,
he's been brought up with Saul-- with Herod the tetrarch. The wording is foster brother. Manaen was the foster brother,
somehow related to Herod. Now, I went through all
the weird Herod stuff last time, so I'm not
going to repeat that, because that was just
very complex and sordid, but the Herod referred to here
is Herod Antipas who murdered John the Baptist and in front
of whom Jesus stood trial as he was sent from Pilate to
Herod and Herod back to Pilate. You know that story. It was that Herod-- Herod Antipas, the
tetrarch of Galilee. So Manaen was the
foster brother, grew up with Herod Antipas,
the creep, but boy, did they make different
decisions once they grew up. One beheaded John the Baptist. One is serving the church and
is in some leadership capacity. Boy, does a choice
make a difference. One choice, then another
choice, then another choice, and where that road can end up. And for Manaen, it has ended
up, so far, in a great place. And then finally Saul. This is Saul of Tarsus,
whom we know so well. So there's five of them. Verse two, "As they ministered
to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said--"
how did he say it? Well, keep in mind there
are prophets in the church. There are people who will
speak on behalf of the Lord, giving a word of the Lord,
a prophetic utterance in that assembly. "And the Holy Spirit said,
'now separate to me Barnabas and Saul.'" Notice the order-- Barnabas is first,
Saul is second. That's going to change. The Holy Spirit,
recognizing Barnabas, "Separate unto me Barnabas
and Saul for the work to which I have called them." A couple things to notice about
what the Holy Spirit said. First of all, it says they
were ministering to the Lord. It doesn't say they were
ministering for the Lord. Or they were
ministers of the Lord, but rather, they were
ministering to the Lord. The Greek word is leitourgeo. Leitourgeo is where we
get the term "liturgy," or it could be
translated "worship." That's the idea. Some translations-- couple
of the new modern ones-- will translate it as, "they
were worshipping the Lord." The Holy Spirit said this. But here, the exact wording is,
"they ministered to the Lord." So leitourgeo was
a word that was used of the priest when they
ministered in the Tabernacle and in the temple. They would have prayers
of thanksgiving. They would offer up incense. All of those were liturgical
works focused on the Lord. So here is the early
church worshipping, praising, ministering
to the Lord. Have you ever had someone tell
you, boy, what you just said ministered to me. Or, that song really
ministered to me. You blessed me. I know you've had
people tell you that. Well, imagine God
saying that to you. Boy, you really
ministered to me. You really blessed me. You think of that in
terms of your worship and it will change your worship. Well, I don't feel
like worshipping. It ain't about you. It's about Him. "As they ministered
to the Lord." As they're focused, they're
preoccupied with him-- I love this. That's what true worship is. I'll make a confession. It was several years ago
and someone came up to me, visiting, after a service. Maybe I was a little
tired, but not an excuse. They said, we're visiting. And just the tone of his voice-- we're visiting and we're just
seeing what you have to offer. And I remember I looked at
him and I should have bit my tongue, but I didn't. I said, well, we're
glad you're here, but I have a question for you,
what do you have to offer? It's not about what I have to
offer-- we have to offer you. The church is not a commodity. It's a place where we
focus and abandon ourselves on the living God. And if it's a place where
you can consequentially be fed and instructed, good,
but it's not about you or me. It's about Him. What do you have to offer
Him, because your worship ought to be preoccupied
with Him, the living God. And it was here in Antioch. They were ministering to
the Lord, they were fasting. Blessing the Lord--
just think of that when you sing, when you
worship, when you pray. That the Lord is going,
oh, that blesses me. David said, Psalm 34, "I will
bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall
continually be in my mouth." So "As they ministered
to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said,
'now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work
to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and prayed
and laid hands on them--" as a way of recognizing that
dispatching work of God. It's simply, you
are related to us. There's nothing magic in a hand. It's not like, ooh, lay
your hands on me, preacher. The only thing in hands are
germs, but it's an act of faith that God has laid
His hand on you and we recognize and ratify
what God is doing in your life. And so they laid hands on
them and they sent them away. They sent them away,
but the Holy Spirit was sending them away. So they were ratifying
what God was doing. That's what an ordination,
by the way, is. If a person gets ordained
into the ministry, it's not suddenly
they get a gift. An ordination is the recognition
that that person already has the gift. And we're just
saying, yep, amen. And so this is more of a
formal ceremony, the laying on of hands, the prayer. And they sent them away. And so-- I love this-- so, "they
sent them away," verse three. But look at verse 4, "So, being
sent out by the Holy Spirit--" cooperation. "They went down to
Seleucia," that's the seaport, 16 miles
away from Antioch. So they just went from
the Orontes River, that's where the town
was, down to the seaport. "And from there they
sailed to Cyprus. And when they
arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God
in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John Mark
as their assistant." So saved, serving,
sensitized, saturated, sent-- I love that progress. They're being sent out
by the Holy Spirit. One of the things you
discover about God is that God is a missionary God. He has and always has had
missionary sensibilities. It's always been in His
heart to send people places. All the way back in Genesis
in chapter 11 and 12, saying to Abraham, get up
and leave your country, your family, your people
to a land, to a place, that I will show you. Why would God want to displace
a person from their home? Well, he says that in you
all the nations of the earth can be blessed. That's the purpose of missions. I'm sending you
out so that people in that area, those
families, can be blessed. You can carry the gospel to
them and in carrying the gospel to them, they'll be blessed. In you, all the families of
the earth shall be blessed. So God has always been
about sending people in order to spread the blessing. When we get to
the New Testament, we discover that Jesus
Christ essentially was a missionary sent
from heaven by the Father to the earth. And he himself gave
a purpose statement-- I have come, the
son of man has come to seek and to save
those who are lost. He was sent on a mission, a
rescue mission from heaven to earth. That's a mission. When you get to
the book of Acts, you discover the Holy Spirit
it's all about sending people. Sent out by the Holy
Spirit, here in chapter 13. And all through
the book of Acts, you see Him activating,
sensitizing, and sending people in different places. Think of the followers
of Jesus, the apostles. As the Father has sent me-- finish the sentence--
so I also send you. I'm sending you, just
like the Father sent me. I came from heaven on a mission. You're on Earth-- I'm
sending you somewhere to go spread the blessing that
through you all the nations of the Earth can be blessed. So God has always been about-- and he is still here about-- sending people out, turning
disciples into apostles, you might say. You know "disciple" means
a follower, an adherent, a student of-- but "apostolos" is
one who is sent. So God is about turning
disciples into apostles. And so at some
point in your life-- as you take in truth, as
you assimilate scripture, as you grow, and as you
learn, at some point-- if you don't get
sent somewhere-- even locally in
town-- to do something and to share your
gifts with others, you'll become a
fat, sassy believer. Spiritually obese, taking
in but never exercising, being saturated but
never sent, being a disciple but not an apostle. So the Holy Spirit
sent them out. "From there," end of verse
4, "they went to Cyprus." Now that's logical, because
Barnabas is from Cyprus. He's a Cypriot Jew. "When they arrived in Salamis,
they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews." Salamis was the
largest commercial city on the eastern side of
the island of Cyprus. It's sort of divided-- still is today-- east and west. Back then, the
eastern side, which is where they ported,
Salamis had the largest population, and
evidently a large number of Jews who lived there,
hence synagogues-- plural. So that was Paul's deal. He believed the Gospel
goes first to the Jew then to the Gentiles,
so he'd always begin-- and you'll see a pattern
throughout the book of Acts-- starts in the
synagogue, speaks to the Jews. When they want nothing
to do with him, he'll share it with
the Gentiles who seem eager to hear the message. So the religious folks become
his enemies time and time again. Verse 6-- "Now when they
had gone through the island to Paphos, they found
a certain sorcerer--" now in another town-- "they
found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew
who is named Bar-Jesus--" Son of Jesus-- "who was with the
proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for
Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the
word of God--" proving he's so intelligent. Anybody who seeks to hear the
word of God and hear the truth is an intelligent person. "But Elymas the sorcerer (for
so is his name translated) withstood him, seeking to
turn the proconsul away from the faith." Now I believe that
part of my calling is to teach people not just
the applicational truths of the Bible, but the
history behind it, just so you get a
fuller understanding. You see the word proconsul? That's a governor. That could be confusing to you,
because we talk about Pontius Pilate being a governor. And he was a governor, but he's
not given the name proconsul. He's not given the name
governor or procurator, which Pontius Pilate would
have been given, but proconsul. So let me tell you how it worked
within the Roman government. Both a proconsul like
this guy and a procurator like Pontius Pilate-- both of them governed areas. The difference is, for a
procurator like Pontius Pilate, like Antonias Felix,
like Porcius Festus-- names that you're familiar
with from the latter portion of Acts. Those were people who
were called to govern and their orders came directly
from the emperor himself. Not so a proconsul. A proconsul was given his
orders to govern a province by the senate, the Roman senate. So Cyprus was a senatorial
province of Rome. The Roman senate gave Sergius
Paulus, this smart guy, this intelligent guy,
the right to govern. So that's how the Roman
government was set up, that's the difference
between those two. So he's intelligent-- smart guy. At the same time, he's
spiritually hungry. He wants to know more. He's sort of mesmerized by
this message called the Gospel. That by believing in Jesus
Christ, sin can be eradicated, washed away. And you can be new before God. That was something he
had never heard before, but he was interested. He was intelligent. Who better to reach an
intelligent inquisitor in that kind of a culture
than another intelligent man like Paul the Apostle? Paul was quite
advanced in learning. And Peter will write later on,
maybe even having Paul in mind, that we should always be ready
to give an answer, a reason to people, for the
hope that lies in us with reverence and respect. And so there is Paul, able
to share with him the gospel, but there's a problem. There's a guy who's a sorcerer. Notice what he's called,
"a certain sorcerer," verse 6, "a false
prophet, a Jew." The reason that's
unusual is Jewish people, because of the Old Testament,
had an incredible aversion to sorcery. It was prohibited in their
text, in their holy book. It was outlawed. That was it was capital
punishment if you were a sorcerer in ancient Israel. So to find a Jewish person who
is a sorcerer is quite unusual. And in fact, in reading this, it
puts a question mark in my mind until I read the
fuller description. It says he was a false prophet. Ah, now that helps me,
because what I see him doing is mixing his religion that
he grew up with, Judaism, with some of the
other belief systems from different places--
maybe astrology. And so he took and he mixed up
what he believed in as a Jew and what others had taught
him about spirituality. And this is a form of
what we call syncretism, where you combine
different faiths and you make it
sort of your own. It's like a smorgasbord. I want a little of
this, little of that. I don't like this,
but I like that. You sort of make
your own deal up. Now, why is this happening? Well, at this point
in history, there is a phenomenon that had
occurred called the Roman road system that has
essentially connected the east and the west. In the west, people are very
logical in their thought processes. In the east at this time,
people were very mystical in their thought
processes and religion. Some of that probably filtered
on those roads from the east to the west, got a hold
of this Jewish guy. Goes man, I'm open. I have an open mind,
I'm open to anything. See and the problem with
having too open a mind, is that if it's open all the
time, your brains leak out, basically. One was an intelligent
man, Sergius Paulus. Not this guy-- he's so open
minded his brains leaked out. Sorry to put it
that way, but I'll tell you an underlying
truth because it's not only 2,000 years ago
in this ancient text, but it happens on every mission
field I've ever been a part of. Satan uses religion to deceive
people more than anything else. And religious systems
become typically the enemy of most mission movements. Every missionary
I've sent, when I ask them the kind
of opposition, it's usually not from
atheistic unbelievers as much as it is from
religious groups. Even, and especially
in many cases, organized churches,
traditional churches. So Satan is all about
deception and he uses religion and
religious systems, whether it's in Ephesus,
where they shouted, great is Diana of the Ephesians. Or in Athens, where they
had a God on every corner and Paul even found a
inscription to the unknown God. Or a syncretism like this. So one guy's very interested. The smart guy's really
interested in the Gospel, but the sorcerer, the
Jewish guy, the syncretist, tries to persuade him,
don't listen to Paul. He's against it. It says, "seeking to turn the
proconsul away from the faith. Then Saul--" now watch this,
first time he's called this-- "who is also called Paul." It's the first time
you read his name. And he'll go by that
name from here on out and I'll tell you
why in a moment. "Then Saul, who was
also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked intently at him." Now before we find
out what happened, let that little phrase
turn around in your heart, in your mind, for a minute. Paul, filled with
the Holy Spirit. Now you're probably
going to picture, yeah, filled with the Holy Spirit, he
looked at him and loved on him. Because that's what people
filled with the Holy Spirit always do. They just say sweet,
nice, disarming things. OK, hold that
thought, because he was "filled with the Holy
Spirit, and he looked intently at him--" and I'm
just trying to picture what that look was like. "And said, 'oh, full
of deceit and all fraud you son of the devil, you
enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting
the straight ways of the Lord? And now indeed the hand of the
Lord is upon you and you shall be blind, not seeing
the sun for a time.'" So before you, I want to be
filled with the Holy Ghost. OK, it might look
one way or another. "And immediately a
dark mist fell on him and he went around
seeking someone to lead him by the hand." Before I jump into
that, first of all, the name Saul versus Paul. Saul was his Hebrew name. It was the name he was given
on the eighth day of his life when he was a child, circumcised
according to the law. That was the name
he was given, Shaul. That's the name
daddy called him. When dad and mom called
him in for dinner, it was, Saul, come on
in, supper's ready. Got the hummus on the side,
got the falafels going. Come on in, Saul. But on the ninth
day of his life, little Saul was given
his Roman name, Paul, which means diminutive
one or little guy. Now, it doesn't mean he
was necessarily small, because, after all,
he was given that on the ninth day of his life. So it's not like he's an
adult, and say, well he's a short little guy--
because he's a baby. Now he could have
been a small baby, but it wasn't an
uncommon name, Paul. And in fact, Sergius Paulus, the
intelligent guy, the proconsul, is named the same. So it was a common name,
but that's his Roman name. One's his Hebrew name,
one's his Roman name. So mom and dad are
calling him Saul, but all the kids
in the neighborhood are calling him Paul. That's how he grew
up, with both names. Saul, who was also called Paul. And he will be
referred to as Paul, by his Gentile name,
because after all, he's going to be the apostle
to the Gentiles. That's going to be what
he traffics in mostly is getting the Gospel out to them. So here's a quick portrait
of him, a composite of him. He's a Roman, legally. He's a Greek, culturally. He's a Jew, religiously. And now he's a Christian
by the grace of God. He was legally a Roman
because his Father had Roman citizenship. So he was called free born. He didn't have to purchase
Roman citizenship. He was born a Roman citizen,
so legally he's Roman. Culturally, he is Greek. He'll stand up on the
areopagus in Athens and quote two Greek
philosophers off the top of his head, no notes. So he's quite well read in
Greek culture, Greek customs, Greek literature. He's religiously a Jew,
trained rabbi at the feet of Gamaliel in Jerusalem. So interesting cat,
interesting mix, interesting dude, but
now born-again believer. In love with Jesus, in love with
the Gospel, unafraid of people. And becomes, really, a
role model for the church. I just love studying about
Paul, but back to what he said and what he did. So he looks at a
guy real intently. Goes, oh, you son of the devil. Whoa, question, think
about it honestly. Was he harsh? Because it sounds like it. If you tried that today-- let's say I'm talking to
somebody after church. And I said, you
son of the devil. I'm sure the crowd listening
around me would say, what's up with Heitzig? That dude is acting
gnarly tonight. Did he like, eat
something weird or what? I mean, that's harsh. But before you
say Paul is harsh, you'd have to also
say Jesus was harsh. Jesus, who overturned
tables and took a cord and made a whip out of
it and drove people out of the temple in Jerusalem. That's harsh. Jesus, who, in Matthew 13, time
and time again said, woe to you scribes and pharisees,
you hypocrites. Or like Jesus in
John chapter 8 who said that you are
children of the devil-- same kind of phrasing-- whose works you do. And it just happened
to be the truth, because any time
you deceive a person or turn a person away
from the truth, that is exactly what Satan wants. Anything or anyone that tries to
keep people from hearing truth can technically become
an agent of Satan. So what's interesting about
this guy is his name, Bar-Jesus. Means son of Jesus. Not that that had any
connotation to Christianity, but it's an interesting
name, that he's called the son of
Jesus, but Paul calls him the son of the devil. So you can have a name
that you're a Christian, but not really be
one, is my point. In Revelation chapter
3, Jesus writes a little postcard to
the church at Sardis. And he says something
very fascinating-- you have a name that you are
alive, but you are dead. He says that to a church, you
have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. This guy had a good
name, son of Jesus. Oh, would to God that
he was a child of God. Paul said, not true. So now he says in
verse 11-- and I know I'm kind of
creeping through this. "And now indeed, the hand
of the Lord is upon you--" not in a good way. Like boy, the hand of the
Lord is upon that guy. That sounds good, but not here. It's a bad hand of
the Lord upon you. "And you shall be blind, not
seeing the sun for a time." Now, I wonder why
Paul said that, if he decided to say that. If he could decide what
the punishment will be or if the Lord
said, tell him this. But why would Saul tell a man
who is turning somebody away from the faith, OK,
just for that, you're going to be blind for a while. Here's why, I believe-- of all people, Paul, Saul,
knew the power of darkness. Meaning, on the road to
Damascus, he saw the Lord, he was blinded for a few days. Couldn't see anybody, had
to be led by the hand. In that blind
situation, where he couldn't be distracted
by anything visual, he was just sort of shut
off from the world, his mind and his heart could think. And it was a powerful time. Those three days of blindness
for Saul were powerful moments. He knew the power of
a situation like that. So he thought-- I think it was a merciful act. And so he had to have someone
lead him by the hand as well. Verse 12, "Then the proconsul
believed--" bingo, pay dirt. That's the glory. "The proconsul believed when
he saw what had been done, being astonished at the
teaching of the Lord." He heard the teaching
and he saw the effect of the miracle and the miracle
equated to the teaching. So all of that
together was the power of the teaching of the Lord. "Now when Paul and his
party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga
in Pamphylia." Just go up, take the boat
north on the Mediterranean Sea and you'll hit the southern
coast of Turkey, today-- in ancient times, Pisidia. "--and went to the synagogue
on the Sabbath day and he sat down." Oh, verse 13, look at this,
"when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos,
they came to Perga and Pamphylia and John-- that's John Mark--
departing from them, returned to Jerusalem." Now, we got to just look
at this because this is going to come up again. And it's going to
become a sticking point to this missionary
team for a long time. John Mark, the cousin of
Barnabas, is with them. He's their assistant, he was
called a few verses earlier, means an under
rower, somebody who would help out doing whatever. So he went from
Antioch in Syria, went over to Cyprus with
Uncle Barney or cousin Barney and Saul-Paul. Now they're going to another
place and he decides, I'm out of here. I'm not going to
continue with you and be your
assistant any longer. I'm going back
home to Jerusalem. The question is, why does
John Mark leave them? We don't know. Don't necessarily think the
worst, but we just don't know. Can I give you a couple
of possibilities? Possibility number one,
he was not too excited that Saul of Tarsus,
now known as Paul, is sort of upstaging
cousin Barney. And he is seeing a
change in the leadership and he takes umbrage to it. He didn't want to support it. He's not going to
be part of that. So long as Barney's in
charge, he'll be part of it, but not this guy. That's a possibility. Number two possibility--
he's a Jewish believer. He's already been stretched
seeing the Gospel go to Jewish/ partly Gentile people,
guys like Cornelius, etc. But now just to do this
whole Gentile adventure and preach the Gospel
of grace without having to be Jewish or
keep the law, that could have been
a little too much for his Jewish
sensitivities to handle. Number three-- he was sick. Maybe he got ill, didn't
want to go any further, because Perga, Pamphylia,
that Antioch of Pisidia that we're looking at-- was known for carrying
malaria in ancient times. And in fact, Paul the
Apostle does get sick, we believe, around this time on
his first missionary journey. How do we know that? Well, in Galatians chapter
14, verse 13, he says, the reason I preached
the Gospel to you is because I got sick
when I was there. So maybe he had some
sort of sickness like malaria that brought on
severe headaches, eye aches-- because he talks
about, you would have plucked out your own
eyes and give them to me, in Galatians. So it could be that Paul was
starting to already get sick. He's going into
malaria territory. John Mark doesn't want
to be a part of that. So he bails out. Here's another
possibility-- he's homesick. He misses mom. Maybe his mom's a widow. Don't be too hard on him. His mom could have been a widow. We know that the
church met in her home. We looked at that last time. So he wants to go back home and
care for his widowed mother. That's a possibility because
her husband isn't mentioned. Whatever the reason is
though, good or bad, Paul doesn't look at it as good. Paul looks at it as
really, really bad. Now, I think you
need to know this, because this is going to create
a rift with Barnabas and John Mark for years that will
not be resolved until later on in the ministry of Paul,
when he's like, on his deathbed. But if you look at verse
13, there's a simple word, it says that,
"John, departing--" notice the word
departing-- "from them, returned to Jerusalem." The word is apochoreo,
which simply means, he left. Means nothing more than that. However, turn with
me to chapter 15. So this will make
sense, especially when we read through chapter 15. This is after the first
missionary trip is done. They're thinking
about number two. Verse 36 of chapter 15,
"Then after some days, Paul said to Barney, let's go
back and visit our brethren in every city where we have
preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing. Now Barnabas was determined
to take with them John called Mark, but Paul insisted
that they should not take with them the one who had
departed from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with
them to the work. And the contention became
so sharp that they--" Paul and Barnabas-- "parted
company from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark
and sailed to Cyprus, but Paul chose
Silas and departed, being commanded by the
brethren to the grace of God." Now look at verse 38
and notice in that verse the word "departed." Do you see it? That's a different word. That's a Greek word,
aphistemi, which means to revolt or to rebel against. It's somebody who runs away. That's the word Paul uses to
describe the simple leaving of chapter 13. Paul says he's revolted,
he's deserted us. So whatever it was, Paul
sees it as a desertion and not following through. Whether that was a weakness
on John Mark's case or on Paul's case, I'm not
going to pass judgment. Just so you know that,
whatever reason it was, Paul took this very personally. And it won't be resolved
for quite some time. So they departed. We've covered 13 verses. Verse 14, back in Acts 13, "But
when they departed from Perga and they came to
Antioch in Pisidia, they went into the synagogue on
the Sabbath day and sat down." This is what he does. "And after the reading of
the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogues
sent to them saying, men and brethren, if you
have any word of exhortation to the people, say on." Now, this is cool. And this is why Paul
went to the synagogue. There was a liturgy
service in every synagogue. It began with the shema,
Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our
God, the Lord is one." They declared that. [SPEAKING HEBREW] That was
just part of their service, followed by, after
the shema, the prayer. After the prayer, the reading
of the law and the haftorah, as they call it-- different
portions of scripture. They would have the reading. Followed by a section
where it would be commented on either
by the leader in the synagogue and
then a visiting rabbi or just a visiting rabbi. Paul was a visiting rabbi. Paul, come on up here,
man, share with us an encouraging
word from the Lord. OK, so why is this cool? Because we have now
the first recorded, written-down sermon
of Paul the Apostle. And it's big, I mean,
the whole thing's written down, presumably. So if you wanted to study
the preaching of Paul, study this sermon, because
it's him preaching the Gospel. And it can even be outlined. I've looked at it and I can
see the breakdown of it. I could actually outline it. I don't want to presume
to give Paul an outline, but I see an outline here. Where he begins by talking about
the anticipation of the messiah in Jewish history, followed
by the action of the messiah in coming, in dying, in rising. Followed by the application
and appeal to the crowd. It's a very easy format, kind
of a one, two, three punch. Maybe a one, two,
three, four punch, but it's cool because it's
his first recorded sermon. And it seems to be in totality. So with that, let's
see how we do. Verse 16, "Paul stood up,
motioned with his hand. Said, 'men of Israel and
you who fear God--" that is, Gentiles, God-fearers who
haven't fully converted. Listen, he says, "the
God of this people Israel chose our fathers
and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers
in the land of Egypt. And with an uplifted arm,
He brought them out of it. Now for a time of
about 450 years, He put up with their
ways in the wilderness. And when He had destroyed seven
nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land
to them by allotment. After that, He gave them
judges for about 450 years, until Samuel the prophet." Now by the way, when he
talks about 450 years, he is counting 400
years in Egypt, 40 years in the wilderness, 10 years
conquering and settling the land to the
time of the judges. And afterward they
asked for a King. So God gave them Saul--" whom
he was named after, by the way, since he is of that tribe. "The son of Kish, a man of
the tribe of Benjamin--" Saul of Tarsus was
also a Benjamite. "For 40 years. And when He had removed
him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also
He gave testimony and said, I have found David the
son of Jesse, a man after my own heart who
will do all my will. From this man's seed,
according to the promise, God raised up for
Israel a savior-- Jesus-- after John
first preached before his coming the
baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And John was finishing
his course he said, who do you think I am? I am not He, but behold,
there comes one after me the sandals of whose feet
I am not worthy to loose." So that's the first part of
his sermon, the anticipation for the messiah. Now what Paul does
here, you should know, was something the Jews
were fond of hearing. It's called historical
retrospection. They would often rehearse their
own history to other Jews. Psalm 107 is a great example. There's a couple
psalms that do that-- I think Psalm 97, Psalm
94, and Psalm 107. But anyway, so they talk
about their history. Why? To encourage them--
God worked in the past, God's going to work
in the present, God's going to
work in the future. They would always
tell their story from one generation to the next. He's employing that. By the way, Stephen did
the same thing, chapter 7. When he preached, he went
through a whole litany of their history, more
detailed even than he does. Verse 26, "Men and brethren,
sons of the family of Abraham, and those among
you who fear God, to you the word of
salvation has been sent. For those who dwell in
Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not
know Him nor even the voices of the prophets
which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them
in condemning Him." His second point is the
action of the messiah. This is what Jesus did,
this is how He was received, and this is how He was treated
by people who read the Bible. He was maltreated and
killed by Bible students. So he's trying to
get their attention. I think he's quite
successful at it. You meet here every
week in the synagogue and you read the scriptures. So did the people in Jerusalem,
but they killed the very one the prophets spoke about. So you can have a full
head and an empty heart. Jesus said, you search the
scriptures, for in them you think that you
have eternal life, but these are they
which testify of Me. So he's saying they
ignored that testimony. Verse 28, "And though they
found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He
should be put to death. And when they fulfilled all
that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the
tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him
from the dead." Now, in New Testament preaching,
in the sermons in the book of Acts, this is the common
thread of all New Testament, biblical preaching-- by
Peter, by Paul, by all, by y'all, by 'em all. The Resurrection is the capstone
and the arch of Christianity-- remove it, the whole
thing collapses. You have a dead savior,
does no one any good. The Resurrection is
a necessity for there to be any victory
over sin and death and promise for eternal life. So it's always central to, "but
God raised Him from the dead." Atoning death,
Resurrection-- that's the Gospel-- part of the Gospel. And according to Paul,
it is the validity that the redemption found in the
death of Jesus Christ is real. If somebody dies-- oh, he
died and because he died, we're saved. Well, you could say
that about anybody, but the guy that
rises from the dead? He gets the A on
the test, right? He's the one. "But God raised
Him from the dead. He was seen for
many days by those who came with Him from
Galilee to Jerusalem who are His witnesses to the people. And we declare to you
glad tidings--" Gospel-- "that promise which was
made to the fathers. God has fulfilled for
us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the
second Psalm, 'you are my son, today I have gotten you.' And that He raised
Him from the dead no more to return to corruption. He has spoken thus, 'I will give
you the sure mercies of David.' Therefore He also
says in another Psalm, 'you will not allow your
Holy One to see corruption.'" So he's quoting
lots of scripture. And again, he's just standing
up because he was asked. He's probably
collecting thoughts because he knows the
custom in the synagogue, but he's fired up. He's ready to go. And it's saturated
with scripture. If you want God to use
you, know much of the Bible as you possibly can. Then God has something
to work with. And you'll be in a situation,
in line at Starbucks, on a construction site,
in the OR at the hospital, and God can use you to speak
into the lives of people the truth of God because
it's part of your life. "For David, after he had
served his own generation by the will of
God, fell asleep--" that is, he died,
kicked the bucket. "But was buried with his
fathers and he saw corruption; but He whom God raised
up saw no corruption. Therefore let it be known
to you, brethren, that through this man is preached
to you the forgiveness of sins. And by Him everyone
who believes is justified from all things
which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest
what has been spoken in the prophets come
upon you-- 'behold, you despisers,
marvel and perish! I will work a work in
your days, a work which you will by no means
believe, though one were to declare it to you." There's a little too much for
me to really do justice to that, so I'm going to save
that for next time. But Paul, being an
intelligent man, brings up a very
important issue because it would become a concern. It would become a accusation. And that is, if you
go back, in verse 31, Jesus was seen for
many days by those who came up with Him from
Galilee to Jerusalem who are His witnesses to the people. Now he addresses a
very important issue. It will become an
issue, especially in psychiatric circles
in years to come. When people will say
as an explanation for the Resurrection, Jesus
never rose from the dead, people had hallucinations
that he rose from the dead. And I don't know if you've
spent much time with people in the mental
health world, but I know people have
seen a lot of things. I saw a lot of things
for different reasons in my before-Christ days,
usually hallucinogenic drugs. But I saw things and
they were hallucinations. People have seen, for a number
of reasons, hallucinations. People say, these people
just saw hallucinations, that explains the Resurrection. It does not, because any
psychiatrist worth his or her salt will tell you that
hallucinations happen under certain cases to certain
types of people, usually who are very imaginative
and high strung for a number of reasons. And I told you my own reasons. But one of the things
hallucinations don't do is happen the same
way to a whole bunch of differently disposed people. So you have Thomas, a doubter. You have Peter,
who's astonished. You have Mary at
the tomb weeping and other women who are weeping. You have the road
to Emmaus disciples who are down and discouraged. To all different emotional
states, Jesus appears to them. Not only that, 1
Corinthians will tell us that Jesus appeared to
500 people at one time. And any mental health
expert will tell you, a group of people don't
get a hallucination. If 500 people at one
time see the same thing, something happened. That's an event,
not a hallucination. So when he's talking
about the Resurrection, it's as if he's
anticipating what some will have as
a false explanation for the Resurrection. It can't be a hallucination. It is a Resurrection. Jesus is alive right now. And the best part
is yet to come. So we'll wait till next time. Father, thank you that
we could spend this time in part of this chapter. And just explore this
incredible transition of Saul, Rabbi Saul
to the Apostle Paul. One who was of
notoriety as Saul, but one who became
small, humble. And saw himself as the
least of all the saints, one whom you powerfully use and
spoke to and spoke through. Lord, I pray that
that progress would be a part of our
Christian experience, that we who are saved would
be those who are serving. And those of us
who are serving, we wouldn't do it in the
energy of our own flesh, but we'd be sensitized
to what gifts we have and saturated by
your Holy Spirit and sent next door, next
city, state, across the world. For your glory,
that the Gospel will go through Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost
parts of the earth. May we, by our
testimony and witness, fill this city with your
doctrine in Jesus' name, amen. For more resources from Calvary
Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig, visit calvaryabq.org.
