"The Unhindered Word of God" (Acts 12:20-13:12)

Transcript:

Now open your copies of the Bible to the sermon text for today, which will be from Acts, chapter 12, verse 20. And we will read through chapter 13, verse 12. If you're using a Pew Bible, this is on page 1094. 1094. Hear now the word of the Lord from Acts, chapter 12, verses 20 and following.

Now, Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord. And having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace because their country depended on the king's country for food. On an appointed day, Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting the voice of a God and not of a man. Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give God the glory.

And he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

Then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole land as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar Jesus. He was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

But Elymas the magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy. Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. And as you're taking your seats, let's join our hearts together this morning in prayer. Gracious heavenly Father, we pray that as we come your word that you would help us to understand your word for what it really is by your spirit.

We pray that you would give us hearts to understand eyes to see and ears to hear all that is contained in the good news of the gospel of your son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Well, in this morning's passage, we have three very different scenes where three very different things are happening. In one, we have sort of a political gathering where a king is addressing those under his jurisdiction. In another, we have a private gathering of the church. In the third, we have the missionaries of the church on the frontiers of the mission field going out in public and declaring the word of the Lord to those who do not yet know and believe in Jesus Christ. Although there are many similarities between these three scenes, there is one or many differences between these three scenes.

There is one similarity that binds them all together, that in each of these scenes, there are different responses to the Word of God. But in each of these themes, the Word of God continues to advance without hindrance. Whether people believe the Word of God, whether they substitute their own voice as the voice of a God for the Word of God, or whether they outright oppose the preaching and teaching of God's Word, it doesn't matter. At every moment, at every juncture, the Word of God goes right on without any hindrance. There is no one capable of holding the Word back.

Now, the temptation that all of us feel throughout the week, maybe on a Tuesday morning at work, maybe on a Friday evening after a long week of work, is to look at this book and to take stock of how strange some of it seems written about foreign cultures, written about miracles that we've never seen firsthand in the way that they're described in this book about people that we will not meet in this life. And we look at this book and we say, how can this be true? Or how can this be relevant for me, it seems so far, it seems so distant, it seems so foreign. Some of it is so hard to believe. What does this book have for me?

And I'm reminded of one of the things that C.S. lewis wrote when he was talking about the way that modern people relate to God. And there's actually a book that's by the title God in the Dock. It's a collection of essays by C.S. lewis.

But the idea of the dock, this is where in the British court system where the defendant would sit. The defendant is in the dock as his case, the case is made against him and as he awaits hearing his fate. And what CS Lewis said is that in ancient ages, ancient peoples always understood that they were in the dock. They were the ones who had to give a defense of their life, their conduct and their actions and behaviors and their thoughts and words and deeds. Before some God, they might have believed in different gods, but that relationship to the gods was always understood.

But modern man looks at God very differently. We are not the ones in the dock. We believe that God is in the dock. And so we believe that God should have to answer for all of the atrocities that have happened throughout the world. We believe that God should have to defend this book, seeing how strange it is.

And we believe that. Well, we're willing to listen. Maybe God has a very good explanation for all of these things. But make no doubt about it, we will be the judges of the explanations that God will give to us. God is in the dock, we are in the judges seat.

But here we see different people relating to the word of God in different ways. And do you know who doesn't have the final word in any of these cases? It's any of the people involved. In every case, God's word advances. And the question is, which side of that word are we going to be on as it advances?

And so our theme this morning is the word of God advances without healing, hindrance. The Word of God advances without hindrance. And we'll look at this in these three scenes. First of all, rivaling God's word, so setting up one self as a rival to God's Word. Second, obeying God's word.

This is the church, the scene of the church obeying God's Word. And third, opposing God's word. And this is the action of Bar Jesus or the action of Elymas, Elymos the magician. So let's start with rivaling God's word in verses 20 through 23 of chapter 12. If you remember a couple of weeks ago, because we, we had a different sermon on the Lord's Supper last week.

But if you were here a couple of weeks ago, when we looked at the previous passage in the Book of Acts, it was a story of how Herod, that is Herod Agrippa, the first, historically led a wave of persecution against the Church in which he killed the apostle James, James, the brother of John, and he arrested the apostle Peter. Now, in that story, the Lord dramatically rescued Peter out of prison by night by an angel who powerfully opened the doors and got Peter out of that. That doesn't mean that Peter would always be delivered from persecution. Eventually Peter would die as he was a martyr for his faith. But in this case, Peter escaped Herod's grasp by the power of God.

The question is, will there be justice for Herod? Does he just do whatever he does and there's no consequences ever, or will there be justice against him? And some of this passage reminds us of stories like what we read in the book of Exodus, where Pharaoh consistently raises his head and his hands against God, people trying to harm them however he will, believing that there can be no consequence brought against him by the God of the Hebrews. But just as Pharaoh was crushed under the mighty right hand of God, even though he had lifted and exalted himself against God many times, so this is what happens to Herod in this passage as well. Now, the way Luke tells this story starts in verse 20 by telling us of a political issue that Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon who were under his jurisdiction.

But they came to him and it seems like they negotiated some kind of audience with him through a court official, Blastus, the king's chamberlain, where they were asking for peace and they needed this because their country depended on the king's country. Food, literally, that's the royal country for food. There's going to be a lot of words in here that emphasizes the royalty of Herod. That shows something of the puffed up hubris of Herod as he enters into this scene in verse 21, where on an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes. There's another word talking about his royalty is majesty.

He took his seat upon the throne. This is the same word that's used for the judgment seat of Christ, the Bema. He sat upon his judgment seat, his throne, and he delivered an oration to them. This word for an oration is not just a speech. This wasn't just a simple ribbon cutting ceremony.

This was a royal oration and all the pomp and the circumstances. Now you may look at this story and say, well, that's interesting. I wonder if it's true, especially when this story ends with Herod being immediately struck down by God in his pride and his hubris. But this is one of the stories where we have a very full historical corroboration by Another non Christian, actually Jewish historian, a man named Josephus. Josephus tells of this story.

And if you grab a copy of the sermon notes, I've included an excerpt, a lengthy excerpt where he's telling this story. But again, he's not a fan of Christianity. He's not trying to promote the historical reliability of the Book of Acts. This just happened. And so he's telling the same story in the records as he has it.

And so we read about the royal hubris of Herod in these royal robes, as Luke describes them. Well, Josephus says that these were made wholly of silver and they shined dazzlingly in the morning sun. We read about all of this that Luke mentions the royal country, the royal robes, the throne, the oration. Josephus is bringing a lot of that out too. This was a day where there were lots of celebrations and pomp and circumstance.

And we read also that the people were flattering Herod on that day. Josephus calls it impious flattery to call Herod a God and notes that Herod did not reject the this flattery. But then Josephus tells us about the painful and violent death of Herod. Josephus, as he records it, tells us that Herod was racked by pain in his belly, where he died over a miserable, torturous, anguished five days. Luke tells us that after the people were shouting the voice of a God and not of a man, immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give God the glory and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

It doesn't say how long it took him to breathe his last. It may have been five days, if Josephus is to be believed. But we read about very similar accounts in both historical documents. Now, Herod is a man who had long ignored God's word. He had ignored the preaching of the Gospel, which emboldened him for political gain to curry favor with those under his jurisdiction by persecuting the church by putting James to death and arresting Peter and intending to kill him as well.

But now he's doing something different. He is flattering himself as speaking with the voice of a God. He is rivaling God's word with his own voice. He's substituting the authority of God's word for his own oration. Now, I was reading this passage last year in my personal Bible reading as I was going through the McChain Bible reading plan.

And on the day I was reading it, this passage really stood out and convicted me. Because whatever was happening at the time, I don't remember the details, but I remember that I was starting to notice how irritated I was when people did not listen to me. When people did not do the things that I wanted them to do, I said things. And that did not immediately return results. And as I was reading this, I realized I would never solicit or stand for that kind of public praise.

The voice of a God and not of a man. But I was so convicted in my heart that internally that's exactly how I wanted to be treated. And so I started saying this to myself. Whenever that old sinful pride and arrogance would arise in my heart, why aren't they listening to me? I would start to say, oh, oh, the voice of a God and not of a man.

Huh? And wanting to avoid being eaten by worms. That can get my attention pretty quickly. I'm not a God, I'm only a man. Even as a pastor, the only authority I have comes from the word of God that I declare unto you.

Anything else I say, you're entirely free to take or leave. But how about you? Are you substituting your own word, your own authority? Maybe in the places where you have authority or feel like you should have authority for God's Word, are you feeling, even though you would not accept it potentially outwardly, that when you speak it is with the voice of someone who should be listened to as though you were a God? Maybe a way of asking that.

Another way is to ask and consider how fully or how quickly you respond in obedience when God himself does speak in the Word of the Lord contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. That brings us to our second section, obeying God's Word. Herod, like Pharaoh, has now been struck down for exalting himself as a rival to God himself. But on the other hand, after Herod is struck down and removed from the scene, look at what happens in the Word of God in verse 24. But the word of God increased, multiplied.

Herod's voice is short lived, no matter how publicly it is proclaimed and acclaimed. But God's word increases. That's an agricultural term. It's in the parable of the Sower, when the sower scattered his seed and there was an increase of the seed that grew up from that. And then God's word multiplied.

That's a mathematical term, to multiply and to grow in that sort of a way. And so we read that the Word of God increased and multiplied even as Herod's voice was silenced. But then we read about Barnabas and Saul. Where have Barnabas and Saul? Well, they have been at work, busy They've been ministering the word of God, but particularly we read that they were returning from Jerusalem.

If you remember, back in chapter 11, verses 29 and 30, there was a prophet named Adam Agabus who declared and foretold that there would be a great famine over all the world that took place in the days of Claudius. Now, again, there are other independent historical records that confirm that there was indeed a famine during that time that affected Judea greatly. A prophet in those days foretold it. And so in that time, the church, outwardly in Antioch took together a collection to take to the saints who were suffering in Judea in Jerusalem. And apparently they're coming back from that relief mission, back from providing for the needs of these saints who are going through this famine and struggling and hungry to find food.

And so when they had completed their service, Barnabas and Saul, they returned from Jerusalem bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark. Now, this John, whose name was Mark, we read a little bit about in Acts, chapter 12, verse 12, where we read about his mother. His mother had the house where the church was praying in when Peter was miraculously delivered out of Herod's prison. But John named Mark, we probably know him better today as the one who is the author of the Gospel of Mark. We read then.

Now, there were in the church at Antioch, because again, Saul and Barnabas, who have brought with them John, whose name was Mark, they returning from Jerusalem to come to Antioch. And that's where believers were first called Christians. And at this church, this thriving, predominantly Gentile church in Antioch, we read that there were prophets and teachers. And we read a list of several of them. We know Barnabas, we know, we know Saul, but there are a few others we don't know.

But there were prophets and teachers. Now, we do know about prophets in the church who prophesied future things like agabus in chapter 11, verse 29, verse 28. Excuse me, but here the prophets and teachers are probably a little bit different. The prophets and teachers they're talking about here are probably something a little bit more along the lines of pastors, those who declare God's word and those who teach God's word. Now, the day when this was happening, and the reason these are called prophets is that this was a time, by definition, before the scriptures of the New Testament had been written down.

You know, even if they've been diligently transcribing everything as has been going on, they only have less than half of the Book of Acts written down. So much more still has to be written Saul, which we read about soon is going to be named Paul. He has presumably not written all of those tremendous letters that form such an important part of our New Testaments. So in that time, before there was a written copy of the New Testament Scriptures, the word of God was revealed through prophets. And those prophets would declare God's word about Jesus Christ and him crucified.

And then they would patiently teach the meaning of that within the context of the church. And so we read this church being gathered, and they are the prophets and the teachers are active in this worship service. And we read in verse two, while they are worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Notice here, the word of God is coming again, presumably through these prophets, not predicting something to happen in the future, but instructing the church about what they were to do on this particular day, namely, to set apart two individuals whom the Holy Spirit had chosen for the mission that he had appointed to them.

And so they respond, but not by rivaling God's word with their own message and claiming to speak with the voice of God as Herod had done. Instead, we see nothing here but prompt obedience. They fasted, they prayed, they laid their hands on them, and they sent them off. This is the second method, the second way of responding to God's Word. Now, sometimes we talk about seeking God's will.

And this passage is giving us a story that is setting us an example that's meant to confront us with whether we are necessarily inclined to follow what God's word has to say. Now, again, you think about this early church, and you think about Barnabas and Saul and how important these figures have been in Antioch and the established establishment of this church. When Barnabas went to find Saul and to bring him to Antioch to labor in the church, they were there for a long time, a year, teaching and building the church up. They don't want to lose these ministers in their midst, but yet they promptly obey what God tells them to do. How willing are we to do the same, especially when we're faced with big decisions, especially when we live in an age where the word of God does not come so clearly in terms of the exact things that we are supposed to do.

How do we figure out what on earth God wants us to do? Well, I want to say, as someone who's recently had to make a decision like this about whether to leave one ministry Context and come here to another ministry context. This may take a very long time to discern. You may not be entirely sure along the way, but one of the things that I learned through experience is the Lord answers. He really does answer every question along the way.

When I was coming here, fasting and prayer was an important part of seeking the Lord's will, especially in the midst of major lingering questions that I had. My wife and I talked about whether we could really leave. It was a really hard thing to think that we could leave. And I wished, oh, how I wish that God would just write the answer in the sky, or that I would hear in the midst of a worship service set apart for me, Jacob, to send him to Lansing. That would have been really, really convenient.

But that's not the way it works. What I learned that I had to do in. I've never had a time in my life where I learned this so concretely as I had to take all of these questions and lay them before the Lord in prayer. And all these questions just unanswered questions. What's going to happen here?

What's going to happen there? And one by one, as I was studying the Scriptures, I would find teaching from the Scriptures that would give clear insight into answering those questions. Not as simple as should I stay or should I go? But real questions I had that I was wrestling with. I was afraid to leave.

The Word of God said, you can't fear to follow where the Lord would send you. I was worried about leaving my family behind. But you read all kinds of stories in the Bible of God sending people to leave their household and their father's house to go to a land that they have not yet seen. I worried about my old church. And I was reminded from the Scriptures that Jesus loved my former church and will always love my former church far more than I could.

And I was reminded of what Jesus said. What is that to you? You follow me. One by one, all these questions were answered. And I found when I finally had confidence that the Lord was indeed leading me to accept a call to serve here, that suddenly everything shifted.

Because then everything became so clear. And he continued one step after another to confirm that calling at every juncture. This was by far the most perplexing question that I've ever had to wrestle with. But it's been the most extraordinary experience of my life to see how God has led and guided. So what about you?

Are you listening to the Lord? Are you facing a very significant decision or crisis where maybe you need to set apart days for fasting? And prayer. What we see at every juncture is that the Holy Spirit who calls us into big changes and small changes is the same Holy Spirit who provides for every one of our needs, even when God's people will immediately leave the frying pan to escape into the proverbial fire. Even when going out from one place to another means they find themselves in immediate confrontation with enemies.

Now, I'm not talking about anyone in this room. I'm talking about the next section of the passage where we come to opposing God's will, the third way of responding to God's word. In this third scene where Barnabas and Saul, we read in verse four, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went all over. They went to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus and they arrived at Salamis.

And we read that just as we had seen Saul do or Stephen do in Acts, chapter 6, verse 9, and Saul do in Acts, chapter 9, verse 20, the first place they go is to the synagogue of the Jews. That's where they have people who have studied the scriptures of the Old Testament. They should be familiar with promises and prophecies about the Messiah who was to come. So to start there and declare this Messiah whom you have been waiting for, he has indeed come. And he suffered and he died.

And he rose again on the third day. And now he is reigning from heaven, and he will come again. But as they begin to minister there very quickly, we read that as they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came across a certain magician. Now, of course, the Old Testament is very clear that magic and these dark arts are ways of trying to gain power and knowledge apart from God. They are demonic and they are destructive.

And this man is held in captivity to his sin and his wickedness. And he is a false prophet called Bar Jesus in Aramaic, the son of Jesus or the son of Joshua, if you are using the Old Testament version of that name. We read here that like Wormtongue in the Lord of the Rings, he has the ear of a certain proconsul. But he has not entirely persuaded this man. This is a man of intelligence.

And Sergius Paulus, this man summoned Barnabas and Saul, seeking to hear the word of God. He'd been hearing from this false teacher, from this evil magician, this false prophet named Bar Jesus. And he wanted to hear what the word of God said. He wanted to compare the two, to hold both of them up, to see which way he should go, which word he should follow. Well, when Barnabas and Saul come and they are declaring to him the word of God.

We read that Elymas the magician in verse 8 opposed them, seeking to keep the consul from believing, to turn the proconsul away from the faith. And this is where we see that Saul is filled, filled with the Holy Spirit. And a couple things are interesting from this point on. First of all, after this passage, he is no longer called Saul. Again from this point.

And we are told that Saul, who's also called Paul in verse nine, Saul was also called Paul. Paul, that he's going to be called Paul. And you wonder, is this the point where he really steps into the apostolic ministry that he is called into? Because you also never read it. Barnabas and Saul.

Again, you read it Saul and Barnabas or Paul and Barnabas. Everywhere they go from here on out. Now, it's probably not that Saul was a different name than Paul, that he was given a new name. At this point. The word Saul is Hebrew language name.

The word Paul is a Roman Latin name. And as they're moving into the Gentile world, that Roman name would have made more sense to people. In the various places that we went, they went. But we are seeing Saul filled with the Holy Spirit, who really takes the lead in addressing this man. And because he is filled with the Holy Spirit, it's important to understand that he's not feigning, he is not faking speaking with the voice of God.

He actually is speaking God's word to this man. This is the Holy Spirit addressing and judging Elymas or Bar Jesus and telling him a word of condemnation, saying, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not sleep? Stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord. And then from here on, he says that this man for a time is going to be cursed by being blind and unable to see the sun. Now, you may remember that Saul himself, when he was called to faith in Jesus for a time, was also blinded.

And so some people wonder whether this is Saul sort of reliving his own conversion experience, maybe holding out hope that this man may be converted. The text doesn't tell us any of that, but it certainly symbolizes both for Saul and now for this man, the spiritual darkness in which they are existing. They are unable to see clearly spiritually, and their physical blindness is a sign that exemplifies that. But when this happens, when this miracle happens, that immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. In verse 12, we read then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred.

Why? Interestingly enough, not because he was really, really impressed by the miracle he believed. Why for? Or because he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. The miracle and the teaching come from the same power, from God's Word.

The Word of God is proceeding unhindered here. But the miracle confirms what is truly remarkable, the teaching that they were bringing. Because the teaching declares what we confessed earlier. The teaching that God the Father Almighty sent His only Son into the world for us and for our salvation, and that the eternal Son of God himself is truly God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father. And this God so loved the world that he took upon himself a human nature in which he could suffer and bleed and.

And die a more agonizing death than even Herod had faced. Why? Because upon him was the wrath of God against the sinners like you and me who had transgressed God's holy Word. And he put himself in your place so that you could be forgiven, so that you could be cleansed, so that you could go free through faith in Jesus Christ. For all those who look upon Christ to be saved.

Well, in every scene we've seen the Word of God advancing without hindrance. For those who pridefully and falsely claim to speak God's Word with God's voice, there's judgment. For those who believe and obey God's Word, promptly there is great blessing. But for those who oppose God's Word, there is judgment which leads to faith. For those who see God bring that judgment.

Why? Because the Word of God is the power of God unto salvation by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And here's the question that's pretty to every one of us. Are you believing this? Are you astonished by the teaching of the Lord contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments?

Are you by faith trusting in Jesus Christ as he is held out to you in the Gospel for your salvation?

But how, we should possibly ask, how will the Word of God advance in your life if you do not hear it? Well, thankfully, we live in a place and speak a language where we have an embarrassment of riches in the Word of God. We have translations, so many translations, faithfully, accurately seeking to capture what was written in the autographs, in the original versions of the Hebrew and Aramaic and Greek, of God's Word written down by his appointed servants. We have plans for personal Bible reading. It's still not too late to get on the McShane Bible reading plan.

There are audio recordings of someone who will read it to you. The words can just wash over your soul day by day. You don't even have to open your eyes for that. For your families, there are very simple plans for leading family worship. Reading God's Word, singing God's Word together, praying together in the church.

In this church we have two sermons, two services every Lord's Day. We have Bible studies throughout the week. There are beyond this endless books, recorded sermons, Bible studies and articles available. There is no lack of opportunity to hear God's Word. That's not the question.

The real question is, is your heart inclined to relate to what God says in faith and obedience? Or is your response one of the other responses? Do you believe that you can sort of make up your life and your religion for yourself? Do you believe that authority rests in you, that when you speak you speak with the voice of God? Or do you oppose God's Word undermining it, whether publicly or even in the privacy of your own heart?

Reviling the blessed gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ. Understand, the Word of God is infinitely powerful. It was by God's Word that he created all that exists out of nothingness. God's Word is powerful to soften the hardest heart. It's powerful to overturn kingdoms, to strike down arrogant kings and would be gods, and even to transform you by the renewal of your mind.

So the big question is, how are you relating to God's Word? Morning. God's Word, make no mistake, will continue to move forward in this world, to advance in this world without any hindrance. The question is whether you will ride the wave of God's Word or whether the wave of God's Word will come crashing upon you like the parted sea fell down on Pharaoh and all of his armies when they stood against God, God and his people. Your mundane day to day experience is not the standard.

You are not the judge. The Word of God is the standard. The Word of God is the judge. God is not in the dock. You are in the dock.

How will you respond to his judgment and his gospel? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would humble us under your mighty hand, that your spirit would bring us low in our sin, that we might repent and flee to Christ who stands ready and willing to save the most defiled and guilty sinner. We thank you for the Gospel that we have in Christ Jesus and him crucified. And we pray glorify Christ in our midst by the faith of every person here.

We pray this in Christ's name Amen.