Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. I've titled this message, The
Lord Saves a Prudent Man. Sergius Paulus, who was the governor
of Cyprus, ask for Barnabas and Paul to come preach the word
of God to him and in so doing he had his spiritual advisor
before meeting Barnabas and Paul was a Jewish sorcerer by the
name of Bar-Jesus and Bar Jesus tried to restrict Sergius
Paulus from hearing the gospel. And the Apostle Paul curses Bar
Jesus with blindness. And then when Sergius Paulus,
who's the governor of all of Cyprus, sees what's happened,
He believes the gospel. And this is just such a wonderful
demonstration of how God can take a man who has no hope of
knowing the truth and bring to him the gospel of his grace and
open the eyes of his understanding And though he, by nature, is
referred to in the scriptures as a prudent man, he didn't know
anything. He didn't know anything. The
word prudent here means discerning. It means intelligent, well-educated. It means a man who has got things
figured out, and it must have served him well as far as worldly
matters were concerned, but it provided him no benefit whatsoever
for understanding or believing the gospel. Let's read these
verses together and then we'll try to make some application
of these things to where we are. Verse one of Acts chapter 13.
Now there was in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets
and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon, that was also called
Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Menaeum, which had been brought
up with Herod the Tetrarch. Now that brought up with Herod,
this Manahem was the step-brother of Herod the Tetrarch. And Herod
the Tetrarch was a evil, evil man that persecuted the church. And yet God calls out of that
family one of his people. In verse 12,
and they ministered to the Lord and fasted, and the Holy Ghost
said, separate Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have
called them. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their
hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth
by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia, and from there they
sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis,
they preached the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews.
They had also John, this is John Mark, with them to minister. And when
they had gone through the Isle of Paphos, they found a certain
sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus. Isn't it Bar, in the scriptures,
is son of, and isn't it interesting that this man has the name of
our Lord as his own name, and yet he's an enemy of the gospel. And he's doing everything in
his power to try to keep his governor from hearing the gospel,
lest he lose his own power and his own position. But here he
is, a sorcerer. And when they had
gone, verse 6, through the isle of Paphos, they found a certain
sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus, which
was the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man. Sergius Paulus. Sergius translated
means of the earth. This is an earthy man. He was
a very powerful man. He was a very understanding man when it came
to worldly matters and yet the natural man cannot receive the
things of the spirit for they are foolishness unto him. He
cannot know them. And so we see in this Sergius
Paulus, his search for truth brings to him a Jewish sorcerer. What a combination. And yet,
is that not what we see in religion today? the mixing of the Old
Testament with the New Testament, with a little sorcery, and taking
the name of the Lord to give credibility to it all. And he's
got no understanding of God and no hope of salvation. Verse seven, which was, with
the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, who called
for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. Here's a great example of the
power of God. Give this man, with all of his
power and with all of his influence, a desire to hear the word of
God. He didn't want to hear a man. He wanted to hear what God had
to say. Isn't that why we're here? Just preachers, just tell
me what God says. Don't give me your opinion. And
don't, you know, don't try to flower it up. Just tell me very
simply what God says about his son and about how it is that
I can have my sins forgiven and how I can have hope of eternal
life. Tell me what God says. But, verse 8, Elemas, the sorcerer,
for so his name by interpretation means, he was just a soothsayer,
a magician. withstood him, seeking to turn
away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, who also is called
Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him and said,
O fool of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil,
thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cause but ceased
to pervert the right ways of the Lord. And now behold, the
hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not
seeing the sun for a season. And immediately they fell on
him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to
lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw
what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine or
the teaching of the Lord. It is amazing to me how the most
intelligent, well-educated people will check their brains in at
the door when they go to a religious service and swallow anything
that is given to them. Here's Sergius Paulus, a prudent
man, a very accomplished man, a man I'm sure that was very,
this word prudent means that he was very critical. He didn't
just take anything at face value, he investigated it and he made
judgments about things and he discerned the real reason behind
everything. And that's the way people are
today. The most critical, well-educated, discerning individuals when it
comes to worldly matters will swallow hook, line, and sinker
every lie that's being told by the sorcerers of false man-made
religion. It really is. You see it. They won't question the things
that are being said, though the things that are being said are,
in fact, nonsense. They will come and they will
listen to someone talk about a God who is sovereign and who
is omnipotent. And yet when that God comes face
to face with the free will of man, he loses his power. Now
that doesn't even make sense. How could an intelligent person?
Well, Sergius Paulus did. And people do it all the time.
and they'll listen to a Jewish sorcerer by the name of Bar-Jesus,
and they'll latch on to whatever he says for the hope of their
salvation, not knowing the truth and not knowing the word of God.
They will hear someone talk about how God loves everybody and how
God wants everybody to go to heaven, and yet most of the people
that he loves, he's going to send to hell and punish them
for all eternity. That's just nonsense. It doesn't
make any sense at all. They talk about an atoning sacrifice
that died on a cross for the sins of all men, and yet most
of the people that he died for are not going to be saved. It
doesn't make sense. They will speak of a law that's
been satisfied and yet turn right around and tell you that that
same law that's already been fulfilled is your rule of life
and that you have to measure up to it and somehow live by
it. Or they'll spew some sentimental
dribble or some pious platitudes hoping that, you know, men will
come and just bow to the nonsense of religion. That's exactly what
Sergius Paulus was doing. Or they'll, this is a big one,
they'll confuse entertainment for worship. They'll call it worship, and
yet there's nothing more than entertainment, and they can't
discern the difference between entertainment and worship. Well, what made the difference
with Sergius Paulus? Same person that makes the difference
for you and me. It's the third person of the
triune Godhead. It's the Holy Spirit himself.
Notice in our text, go back with me if you will to verse one. Now there was in the
church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas,
Simeon, Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, which had been brought up with
Herod, and they ministered to the Lord and fasted, and the
Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work
whereunto I have called them. So they being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost. That's the difference. The Spirit
of God has to send a preacher to declare the word of God in
order for prudent men to hear the truth, or they will believe
whatever false prophets have to tell them. This is not to glorify the preacher,
or it is to glorify the one who sent the preacher, the one who
gave him the message of salvation. It's to glorify the Holy Spirit
and the person of the Holy Spirit. Separate unto me and I will send
him. The Spirit of God is a person. In the same way that the God
the Father is a person and God the Son is a person, so the Spirit
of God is a person. He's not some sort of nebulous
power or spiritual entity. He is a person. He can be, the
scripture says, offend not the Spirit of God, grieve not the
Spirit of God. When our Lord spoke of the Holy
Spirit, it said in John 1426, the comforter, which is the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall lead
you into all truth. What I'm saying to you, brethren,
is that we are completely dependent. We come to this place. We are
saying, oh, Lord, send your spirit. Send your spirit in power. If
the Spirit of God doesn't come, we'll not hear. We'll believe
what other men believe. It doesn't matter how discerning
or how intelligent you are apart from the Spirit of God. That's
why the Lord said to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you've got to be born
from above. You've got to be born by the
Spirit of God. And if the Spirit doesn't come,
then we're just left to ourselves. This teaches us also the full
Godhead of the Spirit of God. This is the deity of the Holy
Spirit. Just as the Father and the Son
are absolutely sovereign, and just as they are omnipotent and
immutable, so is the Spirit of God. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ
is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, the Spirit of God is
the fullness of the Godhead spiritually. He is eternal, he is self-existent. We are dependent upon the Spirit
of God in his ministry to teach us. to give us faith, to take out
our heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh, and to open
the eyes of our understanding and unstop our ears, we are completely
dependent upon the Holy Spirit for that work of grace. And what
a miracle of grace it is when the Lord does for us what he
did for Sergius Paulus, and he causes those who are made from
the earth to want to hear the word of God. And then to be to
be astonished at what is being as what has been done and to
believe on Christ. That's a miracle. That's not
anything that we can do for ourselves or that anyone else can do for
us. It is the Holy Spirit that lifts
up the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts. It is the Holy Spirit
that convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because
we believe not on Him. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father. And of judgment, because the
Prince of this world has been judged. It's the Holy Spirit
that does that. Apart from the Spirit of God,
we can't... Look at me at verse 12. Then the deputy, when he saw
what was done, we can't see what the Lord Jesus Christ has done
apart from the spirit of God. But in order to see what the
spirit of God has done, God has to give us a desire to hear the
word of God. In, Nehemiah chapter 8 when the
children of Israel came back from the Babylonian captivity
and they rebuilt the temple and they discovered the scriptures
for the first time. Seventy years they had not had
the word of God. They gathered together for worship
and Ezra the scribe took the book and he stood up And he opened
it and he began to read. And the scripture says, and the
people wept. They hadn't heard from God in
over 70 years. And they began to weep and to
rejoice. And the scripture says he read
the scripture and he gave the meaning of the scripture. So
Ezra was just preaching to them. This is what the scripture means. And the people rejoiced. When the spirit of God gives
faith, the means by which he gives it is his word. No question about that. Faith
comes, Sergius Paulus had to hear the word of God. And he
had to have a preacher to preach the word of God to him because
all the other wise men of his day were just like Bar Jesus. They were Jewish sorcerers. that were telling lies and there
was no hope of knowing God through them. I need to hear what the Lord
has to say. Faith does come by hearing. hearing
does come by the Word of God. Turn to me to Romans chapter
10. This is so much of what we have
going on today. There's no difference. It's exactly
the same. Look what Look what Paul said
in Romans chapter 10, or the Lord said in Romans chapter 10,
brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. I bear them record. They have
a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Just Jewish sorcerers. They have a zeal for God, but
not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness go about to establish their own righteousness have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, for
Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Most men will tell you what you
need to do in order to be saved. And what did Sergius Paulus hear? What impressed him? Look at verse
12 in our text of Acts chapter 13. Then the deputy, when he
saw what was done. Now, stop there with me with
the word saw for just a moment. When the Lord reveals through
the eye of faith what the Lord Jesus Christ has done, what you
see is more clear than what you see with your physical eye in
the physical world. You know, I was thinking about
blind Bartimaeus. Blind Bartimaeus had his sight
before he had his sight. He saw what was most important
before he was able to see the physical world around him. Jesus
son of David have mercy upon me. Where'd he get that from?
He had heard, he had heard that Christ was in town and he believed
what he heard about him. You remember in second Kings
chapter six when Syrian army came to kill the
prophet Elisha, and Elisha sent his servant out, and the servant
came back in, and he said, Master, what do we do? The whole army's
here. They've got us surrounded. We're
dead men. And Elisha, without any concern, said, they that
are with us are more than they that are with them. And the servant
thought, well, the old man's lost his mind. He's not esteemed
what I saw out there. And what did Elisha say? Lord, open his eyes that he might
see. And the young man went out and
he saw chariots of fire surrounding the Assyrian army. Truly they
that are with them were greater. Oh, the Lord has to do that. Open my eyes that I might see.
And once the Lord gives you eyes to see what has been done, Oh,
you know it's true. You know it's true. It's clearer
to you than anything that the physical eye can can see in this
world. Notice notice what he what he
says in verse 12. Then the deputy. He wanted to. He wanted to hear the Word of
God. He wanted to hear what God had said. And what God said was what had
been done. Now, in direct reference to what
he's talking about here in verse 12, then the deputy, when he
saw what was done, you're talking about the blindness of Elenus,
the Jewish sorcerer, bar Jesus, his name was. But when the Lord
gives us eyes to see, we We see how blind the rest of the religious
world really is. When you see Christ for who he
is and what he's done, you know that anything contrary to what the
Lord has revealed to you is nothing but blindness. It's nothing but
blindness. And as Paul said to Elemas, he
said, how do you say it? Look at verse 10. And he said
it to him, oh, you full of subtlety and mischief, thou child of the
devil, thou enemy of the gospel. That's what the lives of religion
are all about. Jude speaks of that. Will you
turn to me to the book of Jude? Verse four of Jude, for there
are certain men crept in unaware who were before of old ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of God
into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord
Jesus. I will therefore put you in remembrance
though you once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the
people out of the land of Egypt afterwards destroyed them that
believe not. Look at, go back with me, go back with
me to our text. These are men who are blind,
the Lord said, leaders of the blind, and they all will fall
into the ditch. I don't wanna be a part of that. Those that oppose the gospel.
Are blind and anytime the Spirit of God is pleased. To. Provide the preaching of Christ,
there will always be those that will oppose the gospel. Always. Turn back with me. To Acts chapter
13. What is it that Sergius Paulus
saw done? Well, the difference between
the gospel of God's free grace in the glorious person and accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ can be defined very simply between
the difference between do and done. The self-righteous religion
of Man's free will and of works is all about what you do in order
to earn favor with God. You've got to do this. You've
got to do that. You've got to not do this and not do that.
It's all about what man does in order to in order to save
himself. The gospel is all about what's
been done. What has been done? Justice has
been satisfied. We just read in Romans chapter
10, the law has been fulfilled. God is satisfied with the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he said, I must finish the
work, which the father has sent me to do, and then he bowed his
head on Calvary's cross, and what did he say? It's finished.
It's finished. Sergius Paulus was astonished
at the teaching of God, because the teaching of God declared
the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He actually put
away the sins of his people. He didn't make an offer of himself
to us for us to have to do something in order to make it work. He
offered himself to his father. It's done. He saw what had been
done and he was astonished at the teaching of God. So here
we have Here we have the saving of a prudent man, a worldly man,
a very wise man, a very powerful man who had nothing but a sorcerer
as his spiritual advisor until the Spirit of God sent a preacher
of the gospel to speak to him the word of God and put in his
heart a desire to hear what God had to say. I want to hear God's
word. Send Barnabas and Saul over here
to preach, preach to me. And when they preach Christ to
him, he saw what was done. He saw what was done, what was
finished. He saw that salvation has been
made sure. He saw that everything that God
required of him was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. He
saw what was done and he was astonished at this teaching.
This teaching is different than anybody else's teaching. This
teaching is different from everything else that's being taught in the
world. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 12. Here's what Sergius Paulus saw. This is what caused him to be
astonished Verse 12, but this man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. The father said to him, I have
made you to be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Sit thou here at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy
footstool. It's done. It's finished. The work of salvation is accomplished. Look at verse 13. From hence
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering, the offering of himself, he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified, set apart, and made holy. That was all done. when the Lord Jesus Christ finished
the work of redemption on Calvary's cross. This is what Sergius Paulus
heard. He was no longer listening to
the nonsense and the dribble of Bar Jesus, his Jewish sorcerer,
who was always giving him something to do in order for him to be
saved. Now Holy Spirit sent God called preachers
come and tell him what God says, the word of God. And he's, and
now that he sees what's been done, he believes. Look at verse
Look at verse 15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
witness to us, for after that, he has said before, this is the
covenant that I will make with them. After those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts and in their
minds will I write them. This is the new covenant. the
covenant of grace when God reveals Christ to the heart and shows
us through the eyes of faith what he has accomplished. It's
no longer based on something that we do. It's all based on
what he has done. Man's covenant. God says in Isaiah
chapter 28, a covenant is a promise. It's an agreement. What was Sergius
Paulus doing? As a prudent man, he was always
making agreements with God. Okay, I'll do this and I'll do
that. In return for the reward of salvation. And God says in
Isaiah chapter 28, your covenant will be disannulled. This is
the only covenant that's gonna last. The covenant of eternal
grace. When God, you see, this was done
actually. in eternity past. It was done
in the covenant of grace. When the Lord Jesus Christ became
the surety of his people and entered into a covenant relationship
with his heavenly father before the world ever began, he is the
lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. Done. Done. And when the governor saw
what was done, He believed and was astonished at the teaching
of God. Does it astonish you that the
Lord Jesus Christ has done it all? Does it astonish you that
he would allow you to hear the gospel? That he would be pleased
to give you eyes to see? Look at verse 17, we're still
in Hebrews chapter 10. And their sins and iniquities,
well, I remember no more. Now that's done. That's done. Behold, the Lamb of God, Adam,
you read it, was taken away the sins of the world. He's taken
them away. He separated them from us as
far as the East is from the West. This is what's been done. This
is exactly the same message of salvation that Paul and Barnabas
preached to Sergius Paulus. And when he saw what was done
to his sorcerer, turned blind, and when he saw what was done
through the word of God in the finished work of Christ, he was
astonished and he believed. Nothing's changed. Exactly the
same way the Lord saves his people today. He sends his spirit in
power. Look at verse 18. Now where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. You're going
to add to what crisis done with your commitments and your works
and your will. And no, When Sergius Paulus saw
what was done, he believed and was astonished
at the doctrine of God. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way which he hath consecrated half consecrated, past tense,
done. The Lord Jesus Christ, the veil
was rent, the blood was put on the mercy seat, everything that
God requires. And he says to us, come. having
a high priest over the house of God. Look, he consecrated
through the veil, that is to say his flesh and having a high
priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith. What is our assurance? What is
our assurance of faith? That it's done. That's it. That's our assurance, it's done. I can't add to or take away from
what he's done. And having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he
is faithful that promise. What is the profession of our
faith? It is finished. That's our profession of our
faith. Christ Jesus is all, and he is in all, and he's done it
all by himself. And we're astonished when we
hear about what was done. Nothing left for us to do in
order to make what he did work. It's done. He actually saved
his people at Calvary's Cross. He actually secured successfully
the salvation of all those whom God chose in the covenant of
grace before the foundation of the world. And Sergius Paul has
heard this gospel of God's grace in Christ, what was done. And he was astonished and he
believed. The Lord Jesus Christ destroyed
the works of the devil on Calvary's cross. He broke down the gates of hell. He said gates of hell would not
be able to prevail against this gospel, this gospel. Nothing, he turned to me and
Isaiah 42. Look at verse four. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall
not fail nor be discouraged till he has set judgment in the earth
and the isles shall wait for his law. Look down at verse eight
of Isaiah 42. I am the Lord, this is my name,
and my glory will I not give to another. Now the bar Jesus is of this
world. The Jewish sorcerers of this
world. Are robbing the Lord Jesus Christ
of the glory. Of his glory. The heat that he
gets for having done the work by giving men something to do. I listen to preacher just yesterday
on TV. You gotta be willing. You gotta
pray this prayer, make this decision. You've got to, God can't override
your will. That's a lie from a bar Jesus.
That's a lie from a Jewish sorcerer. No, he makes his people willing
in the day of his power. And when God, by his spirit,
sends his gospel and gives us a desire to hear the word of
God and the faith to believe what's
been done. We believe and are astonished. Same a prudent man. You see, all of our prudence
will benefit us nothing when it comes to the gospel. Nothing. The natural man cannot receive
the things of God. They're foolishness unto him.
Cannot know them. God has to reveal them, and when
he does, when he does, just like Sergius Paulus, a man of the
earth, believing that Christ has finished the work. Our heavenly father, bless your
word and glorify your son, lift him up and cause us to look on
him, to believe on him and to rest all the hope of our salvation
in him. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Number 15, spiral hymnal, let's
stand together.