Seeking for the help of the Lord
and your prayerful attention, I direct you to the Acts of the
Apostles. Acts of the Apostles chapter
16 and reading from our text, part of verse six. Acts chapter 16 and part of verse
six. forbidden of the Holy Ghost. These words in the middle of
this verse, forbidden of the Holy Ghost. To put it in context, I will
read to you from the beginning of the chapter. This is the Apostle
Paul, who some 20 years after the sacrifice of our Lord at
Calvary is now heading off on a second missionary journey. And the intention was declared
in the previous chapter that they were to go through the churches
and strengthening them where they had preached the word before. Let us go again and visit our
brethren in every city where we have preached the word of
the Lord and see how they do. It's very sad at this first time
we find human nature even amongst the apostles that Barnabas wanted
to take with John, whose surname was Mark, but Paul did not want
to because John had turned back from them on an earlier mission. And because of that contention,
they separated and the Lord overruled it, but very sad thing amongst
brethren, but the Lord overruled it so that Barnabas took Mark. They went into Cyprus, the word
of God going there. And Paul then takes Silas and
they go through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. So Paul's
first intention was to strengthen those churches that he had established
on the first journey. And then how, when he goes through
the cities, and if we take up the part in verse four, and as
they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees
for to keep that were ordained of the apostles and elders, which
were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established
in the faith, and increased in number daily. Now when they had
gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden
of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were
come to Messiah, they said or tried to go into Bithynia, but
the Spirit suffered them not. and passing by Mysia came down
to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood
a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia
and help us. And after he had seen the vision,
immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto
them. So that is the context. The word
of our text, forbidden of the Holy Ghost, is the Lord saying
no, and that is the the message, the subject, I want to speak
to you, the Lord's help this morning, when God says no. And Paul and Silas, they had
two no's. No, don't go and preach the word
in Asia. No, don't go into Bithynia, but
go into Macedonia. Now we know that later on there
were many churches in Asia, We think of the seven churches that
the letters were written to in the Revelation, and how there
were the churches there, and the Lord had his people there.
It wasn't that the Lord was never going to have the gospel preached
there. But at this time, there was a
people that were ready to receive the word in Macedonia. And in effect, he was turning
from Asia to the first church there on European soil. And so the Lord directs his servants
where they are to preach, when they are to preach, when they
are to go to one place and when another place, and part of that
direction, as with the Apostle Paul here and Silas, was to no's
before a yes and a direction where they were to go. A praying people at that time,
a people ready to receive the word in Macedonia. So there is really as much direction
in a no as there is in a yes. And We were created as upright,
perfect, in God's sight, in the creation, but with a free will. And in the fall, that free will
corrupted, and our will, so often, it wants to go, in fact, by nature,
it always wants to go in an opposite way unto God's way and to God's
will. And it's like, really, with a
parent and a child, a young child, a lot of the learning of a young
child is by the parents saying no. The child wants to do things
that are forbidden things, they are dangerous things, they're
things that are not good for them. They try, they venture
to do it. And when we were young parents
and with the children young, it seemed forever that it was
no. No, no, all the time. And it was by that way that the
children were to learn what was acceptable and to bring them
into conformity to our will and what we saw as right and good. And so the Lord uses this method
and way for his people, for mankind, that he speaks to them very often
with the word of no and in our text here it's put in this way
forbidden of the Holy Ghost. So this morning then I want to
speak this subject when God says no and I want to look with the
Lord's help at three Three points. Firstly, when God says no in
the law of God, that law which we have read. And secondly, when
God says no in the gospel. And then thirdly, when God says
no in providence, when he guides and directs in our lives like
he was doing here with the Apostle Paul. But before we come to these
three points, I want to look at two introductory points that
are very necessary before we proceed further. And the first
is this, who is it that is speaking here? We are told it is forbidden
of the Holy Ghost. Who is the Holy Ghost? Who is it that says no? And we
think of the Trinity, God, one God, and yet in that Godhead,
three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Ghost. We read in the creation that
in the beginning, God and the Spirit of God moved upon the
waters And then, when man was formed,
let us make man in our own image. God is three persons. The Father sent the Son. The
willing Son obeyed and came as the Saviour, the Redeemer. And the Holy Spirit impresses
and teaches in the hearts of God's people those things that
God has revealed and what the Lord Jesus Christ has done at
Calvary. And we would remember as well
that the Holy Spirit is the author of the Word of God. Holy men
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. All scripture
is given by inspiration of God. So when we read forbidden of
the Holy Ghost, we are to remember this, the work of the Holy Ghost
is the Holy Word of God that we have before us here. We'd also remember that this
who is speaking and each person, Father, Son and Holy Ghost is
God, is our maker and our creator. He has a sovereign claim over
us each to do with us as he will. We are his creatures, formed
of the dust of the ground, and into our nostrils is breathed
the breath of life. And it is before him that we
must stand at the last judgment day, after death the judgment,
and we must all appear in the presence of God. We must all
give account of the deeds done in the body, whether they are
good or whether they are bad. The Lord hasn't just made this
earth and then handed it over to man and that neither is no
requirement of man whatsoever. He is the God of heaven and of
earth. He brought it into being, He
destroyed it in Noah's day with the flood and saved Noah alive. And He has said that He is reserved
under fire against that last great day when the world shall
be no more and Christ shall come with power and great glory in
the heavens. And we are to remember this,
that it is He that speaks through the Word and that it is He to
whom we must give an account The Lord sometimes gives the
comparisons in the word that if we have fathers and we gave
them reverence, how much more should we give reverence to God
himself and to a heavenly father? And we are in a position under
God. Man thinks that he is as God's
and shakes his fist at God. and will go on his own way, but
God says no, and God is the one that shall have the last word
and the last say in these matters. The other aspect of who is speaking
here, God as also the Saviour and the Redeemer. It is by God
that the law was given, and by God also the Gospel is given
and the way of escape from the wrath to come. And it is then
he who speaks and says no when there is a way that is not the
way of salvation. He stops up the way of death
and he opens up the way of life. And so we are to remember when
we have set before us a God that says, no, who is this God? And I'd appeal to those of you
here that know this God, those that have been called by grace,
those that believe in him, those that know his kindness and mercy
and love to you in your lives. When he says no, there must be
a good reason for it. There must be love at the bottom
of it. The same as a parent with a child
doesn't say no to persecute them, make their life hard and to rob
them of things that they'd love to do. It is this God that we
do know that has not failed us. that has done us and shown us
good all the days of our life. That God that David says, surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and
I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. We are to consider
who He is, who he is that stops up our way, forbids us as the
apostle here, forbidden of the Holy Ghost. Do you know what
comes to mind? Dear Moses, going through the
wilderness. Moses was a type of Christ. Moses knew his God. And yet, because he did not sanctify
the Lord before the children of Israel, In bringing forth
water out of the rock the second time, God told him to speak unto
the rock. But as the people had been murmuring,
Moses, instead of speaking, he smote the rock twice. And he
spoke in a very harsh way. He said, must I bring you water
out of this rock, ye rebels. And God said, because Moses hadn't
sanctified him before the children of Israel, hadn't done as God
had commanded Moses, and hadn't been free in giving of that water. The Lord said, just speak to
the rock. The rock had already been smitten
early on in the journeys, a type of Christ smitten at Calvary.
But because of that, God said that Moses would not go into
the promised land. He was forbidden to go in. He
had to die in the wilderness. And there were several times
that Moses pleaded with the Lord, asked of the Lord that he might
go in with the children of Israel. But he was forbidden to do so,
even Moses. God, when he says no, then he
means no. And even if it be Moses, even
if it be the Apostle Paul, He forbids of the Holy Ghost. Dear friends, are there things
in our lives, are there things that we also have heard the voice
of the Lord and know the Lord's hand forbidding us not to walk
in this way, not to go one way, but then it may be in His time
and way showing us another way. The second thing that we must
think of in looking at this text before we come to our main points
is how does God speak to men? We're told here that Paul was
forbidden of the Holy Ghost. How did the Holy Ghost forbid
him? We're not told exactly, but we
do know how that God does speak to men. We are told in the epistle
to the Hebrews in the very first chapter there, and verse one
and two, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, various times,
different ways he spake to them, and he spoke to them by the prophets,
hath in these last days, these gospel days, the days from Christ
to the end of the world, spoken unto us by his Son, that is the
Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, whom he hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. He has spoken in the gospel He
is spoken through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we are to remember
that one of the titles of our Lord is the Word. In John we
read, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God. And right through the scriptures
it is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking, it's not just through the words
that are written in red in some Bibles, the words our Lord spake
on earth, the whole of the word of God is the word of God and
is the word of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, especially as
speaking to us in his beloved Son. Our Lord Jesus Christ is
ascended up into heaven He sits on the right hand of the throne
of God, but he has given the promise that he is with us always,
even unto the end of the world. And he has sent forth the Holy
Spirit to bring to our remembrance all things that he has said unto
us. And it is to the law and to the
testimony, if they speak not according to these things, it
is because there is no life in them. The word of God must not
be added to nor taken from. It is by this, primarily, that
God speaks to men. No man today can say that God
has revealed something to him and spoken to him that is contrary
to or separate or in addition to the word of God. Thy word,
O God, is settled in heaven. Now the Lord said, heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And the psalmist David in Psalm
119, he says, thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my
path. He says regarding a young man,
wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto
according to Thy Word, and the whole of the Scriptures is spoken
as Thy Word. And so we must be clear that
when the Lord speaks to His people today, He speaks to them through
the Word of God. He also speaks through His Spirit
as being the remembrancer bringing to our remembrance the Word of
God, impressing it upon our hearts, and drawing our attention to
those parts that the Lord would have us to know His will in. And we must be very careful with
the Spirit, that the Holy Spirit compares one scripture with another,
so that we have the true meaning of the Holy Spirit. We're not
to take a text out of context or a word out of context and
base what we do upon that when that is not what God is saying
in that passage. Yes, indeed, there may be verses
that by comparing many other scriptures, we know that that
does speak to us, the word of God. We have the word that we
have here, forbidden of the Holy Ghost. Does God say no? Yes, many times, right the way
through the scripture, and that is the subject that is before
us this morning. Another way that the Spirit is
a director and speaks to us is when he gives us no liberty of
spirit. God says of his people, thy people
shall be willing in the day of my power. When he sent his prophets,
their response was, here am I, send me. And the Lord made them
willing, though at first they may not have been willing, been
backward like Moses was, and he brought them to be willing. And so, as well as that way,
we can find a restraint upon our spirit. There's some things
that we have felt, certainly I have felt in my life, that
they have been according to the Word of God. It has been ways
that have been opened up to us, but felt no liberty of spirit
to actually proceed, whether it was to take a new job, whether
it was to buy a new house or to sell a house, whatever it
was, and to know that restraint of spirit that you can't press
through and is by that way that the Lord also holds his people
back so that they cannot proceed in a matter. Another way is through
providence itself. Nothing happens by chance. is ordering not just our lives,
but the lives of other people as well. If we apply for a job
and the person that we apply to says, no, I'm not going to
give you the job, I'm going to give someone else the job, then
there's no way that we can break through that. God has spoken
and revealed his will to us and stopped up that way for us in
a way of providence that we cannot break through. We are warned
in Proverbs that whoso breaketh through and hedge, a serpent
shall bite him. And sometimes we can try and
force providence. We can try and force through
a way that is stopped to us and hindered to us, not listening
to the Lord, not hearing his voice. We think of the most solemn
case that of Balaam, where God said to Balaam, he was not to
go and curse the children of Israel when the king of Moab
had sent to him, he was a soothsayer, and the king Balak, he sent to
him, come and curse the children of Israel as they're going through
the wilderness of the promised land. But God said to him, no,
he was not to go. He had the word of the Lord,
no, But then he went anyway. And so then God stopped up his
way and caused him to know that what he was doing was against
the will of the Lord. He had blessed that people, they
were not to be cursed. And really the Lord gave him
another no. No, you will not curse them.
And instead he had to bless the children of Israel. If the Lord
has given us a word no, then we can be sure if we try and
break through that, if the Lord has mercy upon us, then he'll
bring other ways in providence to make sure that the answer
still is no and our way is stopped up. And so we need to Watch Providence. We think of Jehoshaphat and his
son also, when they made ships to go to Tarshish to get gold,
and they went with the servants of Ahab, which was a wicked king,
and the Lord broke those ships. The ships were broken. And a
prophet told Jehoshaphat that the reason why they were broken
was because he was joining with the ungodly. And when Ahab's
servants then wanted to send their shipmen in the ships with
them, presumably thinking, well, they would make a better job
of it, Jehoshaphat would not go. He knew God had forbidden
him to go, and he'd learned that lesson by what happened the first
time he sent those ships. And so we need to be clear in
this to expect how the Lord does speak to us through the Word. Sometimes it is through the ministry
as well. The Lord's servants bring the
Word of God and preaching that Word of God and He's opened up
to us what the will of the Lord is for us at that time. In this case, when it was to
go, it was a vision And God does sometimes speak to his people
through dreams, not often nowadays, but he does, restraining their
spirit. We read of it in Job. We read
of it how God restrained Laban from speaking either good or
bad to Jacob when Laban was pursuing after him. And so the thing is
with God's people that They know their God, they know the Lord
as their shepherd, and they hear his voice and they follow him.
And if we have a tender conscience and if we really fear the Lord
and know that he is guiding and directing our lives, it won't
take much for us to discern the frown of the Lord and to realise,
no, Some of us have known what it is to have a parent that we've
loved, and when we've started to do something wrong, they haven't
had to say a thing. We've just had to look at their
face, and we just can know that what we are doing is wrong. And it's good to discern the
frown of the Lord, to be tender in his fear, and to hear his
still small voice in the Word, still small voice in providence
and hearken to that and listen to it as a no and very obviously
here with the apostle he knew what it was to say and to hear
the no and to obey that and he knew what it was also yes and
it is one thing in the lives of God's dear children that by
the experience through their lives, they will learn lesson
after lesson, occasion as occasion, the same as a child learns from
a parent, when the Lord is saying no, and when the Lord is saying
yes. So who it is that says no? It is our God, our triune God,
the eternal God. and how he speaks through the
word, through providence by his spirit to men. Now let us then consider our
three points. Firstly, when God says no in
the law of God. Now we read together in the law
of God in Exodus. And before we come to that, I
want to go right back to when the law was first given because
that in Exodus was not when the law was first given. Man was
given the law from God right at the very beginning when he
was created. And we have in Genesis chapter
2 and verses 15 to 17, the Lord God took the man and put him
into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord
God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Regarding that tree, the
knowledge of good and evil, God had said no. But then we read in chapter 3 how
that the serpent, Satan through the serpent came and he said
to the woman, and remember that commandment was given to Adam
before that Eve was made from one of Adam's ribs. Adam conveyed
that law to his wife. She was under it as much as he
was. And yet Satan said, yea, hath
God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Satan
is questioning a no of the Lord. He's saying, is it really no? Is God's motive really right
in saying no? And the woman said unto the serpent,
we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
has said you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it
lest you die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, You shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the
day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as God's known good and evil. Satan blackened the
Lord, insinuated that he had an ulterior motive of keeping
them from that tree, directly contradicted that know. And dear
friends, do be mindful of that. This is in the times of man's
innocency, And how Satan, when God will say no, he will find
a way to say yes. Dear friends, be very, very aware
of that. That when God has said no, Satan
will be one that will undermine a prohibition of God, a direct
command of God, and try and get you to do what God says no. And so then sin entered into
the world, and death by sin. Man lost his innocence. He immediately
came under the condemnation that God had said, in the day that
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And so man died immediately
spiritually. His communion, his fellowship
with God, his ability to know God, to have communion with him
was gone. and he was to be banished then
from the garden of Eden, and man in due time then would die. And ever since that time, whether
he's lived long or short, man must die. And the graveyards
around the chapels and the experience of every one of us is that there
is no man living that shall not see death. And that is because
God is executing the sentence that he has said. Like when a
judge makes sentence to a criminal, then it is because of that judgment
that that sentence is carried out, whatever that sentence is. And God is carrying out that
sentence of death. The law is broken already. The
sentence is being executed on us already. We have fallen in
Adam and we come into this world constantly doing what God has
said we should not do. We, along with Adam, are rebels
against God. We rebel against his commandment
and we do that which we should not do. And so because of that,
then God brought the law and gave the law to the children
of Israel when they came up out of Egypt and he brought them
to Mount Sinai. Israel were a typical people,
it was the people through whom the Lord Jesus Christ should
come. And God had given in the Garden
of Eden, when he gave the sentence, he also gave a way of escape,
a promise of a saviour, a hope of being saved from that wrath
to come and the eternal judgment of God. to be banished to hell
forever and ever. But then the law was given to
the children of Israel in Mount Sinai. And in that law, there
is no, no, no, again and again. No other gods before me. No making of graven images and worshipping
them. No taking the name of God in
vain. No work on the Sabbath day. And in a sense, that commandment
is more of a positive one. It is that thou shalt remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It is the last of the four in
the first tables of the law which are toward God. And in one sense
it ends in a positive way, remembering that one day in seven, hallowed
and set apart in creation, that should be for God. Six days we
have to labour, and the seventh is for the Lord our God. Then the law continues and again
in the next table of the law, which is our relationship to
man, it starts with a positive one. Honour thy father and thy
mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee. But then it goes for the rest
of those commandments on that table, Again, it is no, no killing,
no adultery, and that speaks of any sexual deviation from
God's institution of marriage between man and a woman alone. No stealing, no bearing false
witness, no coveting. It is no No, no. And in that way the law was given,
and it has this message, there is no eternal life through obeying
the law of God. The law of God is holy and just
and righteous and good, but whoso offendeth in one point is guilty
of all And by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law was
given that sin might be seen to be sin, and God might be seen
to be as just in executing his judgment. It is none of us can
look at this holy law of God and say that we have not broken
every one of these commands. It is the law of God that gives
us that knowledge that there is no salvation, no deliverance,
no saving through obedience to the law of God. That already
is broken. Already there is condemnation
under it. And you and I and every single
person that is born into this world is born under that law
of God. We may say as well that our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ was also born under this law. He was made of a woman, made
under the law, for the express reason to redeem those that were
under the law. He came into their place, but
he came not as a sinful man, but as a spotless, pure, eternal
Son of God with no sin, and with no cause of death in himself
and yet he was made under that law and in his life he made that
law honourable by never breaking one of these commandments in
thought, in word, in deed, in any way at all. You might say,
how was it you know that he didn't? Because he always did that which
pleased his father And when he laid down his life, and no man
took it from him, he freely laid it down as a commandment from
his Father, and he freely took it again. If there was any sin
in the Lord Jesus Christ, that offering would not be a freewill
offering, and he would not have risen from the dead, because
death, like it has over you and I, would have had the mastery
over him as well. There is no one that has ever
freely laid down their life and then taken it again in this world. The Lord miraculously raised
up many from the dead, but in the end they did die again. That
miracle was given for that time. But none by their own power has
raised again from the dead. Our Lord Jesus Christ did and
could because the sacrifice that he offered was accepted, and
because he himself was sinless and spotless. So our Lord was
made under the law of God. It was satisfied in his birth
and the requirements under the ceremonial law, and it is satisfied
in all his life. So when God says no in the law
of God, He says, no, in each of the commandments they are
prohibiting certain actions, lifestyle, things that we do,
things that we think, things that we say. And the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. We are under condemnation. And what the law's message is
saying, there is no escape from the wrath to come. by the deeds
of the law because we cannot fulfill the law, we cannot keep
it, we are sinners, we have transgressed the law of God and the message
then that God tells us under the law is no, forbidden of the
Holy Ghost that there should be any salvation, any way of
escape from the wrath to come through the law of God. But then secondly, we have when
God says no in the gospel. Really what we have just said
concerning the law of God and that there is no salvation there,
is one of the first ways that the Lord deals with his people
and shows them the gospel. It is to shut up that way that
is a way that will never obtain salvation and deliverance from
death. The Apostle Paul in Romans 10,
he spoke of those of his countrymen that were ignorant of the righteousness
of God and we're going to establish their own righteousness. All
the while that you and I are trying to get to heaven by our
good works and we do it, we lean to that way all the time, we
will never get to heaven and we will never embrace the gospel
and love the Lord Jesus Christ and trust solely in him for salvation. And one thing in the gospel that
is very necessary is that the law as a schoolmaster brings
us unto Christ. The law all the time saying no
and showing us we've broken it and stopping that way. And I'd
say to any of you here or listening this morning, if you have any
thought, if any time it comes up, well, I'm going to get to
heaven, I'm not so bad as others, I do charity deeds, I've done
good works, I'm kind to my neighbours. If there's anything, even just
one little thought that you are thinking and let alone speaking,
and many they will say it, they will speak it. There's many I've
tried to point the Gospel to and to take away from them a
hope in their works. And after I've spoken to them
at great length, they'll say, well, I just do the good I can. I believe God will accept that.
And they show by those few words that they are totally ignorant
of the gospel and that there is no hope for them while they're
walking in that way. And so the best good news that
God can really convey to a sinner and press upon his heart that
all his own works are but as filthy rags, they're not acceptable
to God, and he's not to look there for salvation at all. We
come then to another note of the Gospel, and that is with
a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. And he is praying to his Father,
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thy will be done." And in effect, the Father
says, no, this cup must not pass. You must lay down your life. You must take this cup. You must
redeem the people of God with your own blood. You must endure
the wrath of God for them. You must endure the curse for
thy people. Christ be made a curse for us. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And so the know of
the gospel brings the Lord Jesus Christ to Calvary. Then we have another no of the
Gospel, that there is none other name given among men, whereby
we must be saved. Our Lord says, if ye believe
not that I am he, ye shall perish in your sins. There is no other
way, there is no other name, there is no other way of escape,
but one name. He hath given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow. Remember that no of the gospel. And dear friends, we don't need
any other why. We don't need any other name. We only need that one name. But
remember in this aspect, no. no way but Christ, no salvation
but Christ, no heaven but Christ, Jesus only. Then we have a beautiful
no in the experience of God's people, those that believe the
gospel, those that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, those
that trust alone in his salvation and in what he has done. we have in Romans 8. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. What a
blessed no of the gospel, no condemnation. It implies the
other way, that if we are outside of Christ, ignorant of Christ,
we are under condemnation. But in Christ, in believing and
in trusting in what he has done at Calvary, in his precious sin-atoning
blood, there is no condemnation. And the effect of that will be
that we walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. We'll follow
the Lord, we seek to obey his word, not with a thought of gaining
heaven, but because we love him and desire to serve him, and
to walk in his ways like a child, instead of suddenly having to
have no, no, no all the time. That child has learnt their father's
will. They desire to walk in their
way. Of course they don't do it perfectly, and there will
be times of correction and chastening, as with the people of God. But
for the hope of heaven, It is now looking to Christ alone. And our servitude is a willingness
and is the fruit of our love to the Lord. Lord, what will
thou have me to do? And so we have this then, know
of the gospel. And we could bring in another
way as well. The know of the gospel, the Lord
restrains Satan. He restrains him. We mention
with Balaam. Balaam could not curse but only
bless the people of God. We know it in a literal sense.
We have the sea coming in and out on our shores. And God says,
hitherto shalt thou go and no further. Thy proud ways be stilled. Why doesn't the water just go
up over the land? Because God has said it is in
its bounds. And so when Satan desired to
destroy Job. The Lord gave him permission,
but only so far, no further. We read, the wrath of man shall
praise thee, the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. The Lord has a know in the gospel
is to protect and preserve his dear people in the midst of a
world that is hostile to the gospel and to the word of God.
and in the midst of Satan's temptations and hatred against the people
of God. We have a last then, a last no,
and that is when God says no in providence, that is in our
lives. Many times it will be in a path
of prayer. We read in the gospel according
to Mark how that we have James and John coming to our Lord and
asking that they might sit, the one on the right hand and one
on the left, in his kingdom. And the Lord says, no, that was
not his to give. It was a place appointed for
others, not them. The apostles, his own disciples,
making a request and God saying no. And then later on in that
journey to Jericho, there is blind Bartimaeus by the wayside.
And the Lord asked him what he would do. Lord, that I might
receive my sign. And that dear man, he got his
petition. That was according to the will
of God. It was a yes. I often think of
that passage, what a contrast. The different petitions, and
no to one and yes to the other. We think of the Apostle Paul,
he who is in our text, when it was that He was so blessed on
that Damascus road, given such views into heaven. The Lord gave
him to balance that so he wasn't lifted up in pride, a messenger
of Satan, a thorn in the flesh to buffet him. And the apostles
saw it three times that that be taken away. And the Lord says,
no, that will remain. And you might be like that, have
some affliction, some trial, some illness. You pray and pray
to the Lord, Lord, take it away. And the Lord says, no, that shall
remain. But like with the apostle, the
Lord says, I will give you grace. My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. And the apostle was pleased with
what the Lord had chosen for him. He said, oh, therefore,
rather rejoice in my infirmity. When I am weak, then am I strong. Sometimes the Lord doesn't deliver
us out of our trials, but gives us help in them and help to continue. And so in the providences of
the Word of God, the things that we do, and this is the context
here, the Apostle Paul in our text, as they seek to go through,
they go through Phrygia, go through Galatia, that area now, which
of course is modern day Turkey, and they try to go into Bithynia,
but the Spirit suffered them not, and before that, forbidden
of the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia. Forbidden of the
Holy Ghost. God said no. And their course
and where they went changed. And it may be in your life and
mine as well that our course and where we have gone and where
we have lived and where we have worked, that that has changed
because God has said, no. And as we said at the very beginning,
a no is as much direction as a yes. The Lord himself says
he is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning, the ending, that when
he shuts, no man opens, and when he opens, no man shuts. And it is a mark for good when
we desire to know and do the will of God. And when we venture
in things, some people, they will say, well, I'm not going
to even venture or try and do a thing unless I have a word
for the Lord. But with the apostles here and
the path of the people of God, they venture according to the
word of God. They venture tenderly and listening
and watching. And blessed be God when the Lord
says, no. What if the Lord was to say to
us, it's all in your hand. You make all your choices. If
you make them bad, that's too bad for you. I'm never going
to say no. I'm just going to watch on when you go and do harm
to yourself and take a wrong passage. But what a comfort it
is if the Lord says, I'll watch over your way. You venture. You seek to be guided by my word. When you turn to the right hand
and when you turn to the left, then you shall hear a word behind
thee saying, this is the way. Walk ye in it. It shall be the
Lord shall hedge and direct up his people's ways. You think
of dear David. David, he sat in his house and
he says to Nathan the prophet, I have a house of cedar. But
the ark of God, it dwelleth within curtains. There was only a tent,
the tabernacle at that time. And Nathan, he thinks, I know
what the Lord's will is here. Go and do all that is in thine
heart, David. You build a house, you make a
seat, a house for the Lord. But that night, the Lord appears
to his prophet, Nathan, and he has to go back to David and say,
no, you will not build a house. Your son shall build a house.
And yet David was promised many promises for a great while to
come, really. And what God told him, he pointed
him past that literal temple to David's greatest son, to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And David was greatly humbled
and blessed, even though he couldn't build the house of the Lord.
He prepared for it, and Solomon, his son, built it. But David
was made willing when the Lord said no. And may we also be willing
as well. There's that response, isn't
there? And just in closing, just to
think of this with a believer. There are some times that we
say no as well. You think of the disciples when
the Lord had been teaching them hard things and many went back
and they walked no more with him. The Lord said to his disciples,
will you also go away? In effect, they said no. To whom can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. It's a blessed thing that when
men, women, are trying to tempt us away from the word, away from
his ways, that we say no. We will go. We will go with the
Lord. We will stay with him. or if
we like, Joseph that was tempted by his master's wife, and he
says no, and he flees and gets him out rather than go in the
way of temptation. To join with those Hebrew children,
the Nebuchadnezzar says, bow down to my image, and they said
no, we will serve God and serve him alone. To Daniel, that he
is said that he should not worship and should not supplicate any
other god but the king for 30 days he says no and he still
prays to the god of heaven the apostles preaching they were
forbidden to preach any more in the name of jesus christ but
god had given them that commission they said no and we will continue
to preach there are times that the people of god they answer
no, and it is because the Lord has shown them the right way,
and they will not go the wrong way. But may we know something
of the blessings of a God that says no and leads to the gospel,
that says no condemnation, and then shall bring us at last to
heaven, where he shall not say no, He was to say of his dear
people, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. May the Lord bless
us with hearing the no's here below, but to be shepherded to
the gospel and brought to heaven at last. May the Lord add his
blessing. Amen.