I might please the Lord to bless
us together for a few moments as we consider the verses that
we read together in the 15th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles
from verse 8 down to verse 18. This section of the Word of God
refers us to the occasion when a cripple who was at Lystra was
wonderfully healed. And we observe that there was
this certain man, again we're not told of his name, it's not
relevant, the truth is that God appeared and God healed him,
that's the great issue. And he had this impediment, he
was impotent rather, in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's
womb who never had walked. Now, we're not told he was a
beggar, He was a man who was a cripple and he was clearly
unable to walk and he was sat there and as he sat there he
heard Paul, the same heard Paul speak. Now we know, do we not,
that whenever Paul spoke, Paul was speaking on the things of
God. It was his great privilege and his great joy that he was
ever able and every opportunity was grasped and he was able to
proclaim the great truths of God. And so here this man, he
heard Paul speak and it apparently had an effect upon him. He had
such an effect upon him that as Paul looked upon him, who
steadfastly beholding him, Paul looked at this man and he perceived
that he had faith to be healed. Now clearly the Spirit of God
indicated to Paul by this man's demeanour, by the way that he
looked at Paul, perhaps by the way he'd listened to the preaching
of the gospel. Avidly and concertedly we see
the effect it had upon him. And so the apostle perceived
that he had faith to be healed. And so he said with a loud voice,
and many times in the word of God, We read a statement like
this. It was with a loud voice. These things were not done in
secret. They were not done, you see,
inside a building just by themselves. It was done in an outward way
so that there were those who would hear. And he spoke loudly. He said with a loud voice, stand
upright on thy feet. And he leapt and walked. That's
interesting, isn't it, that Paul gave this command to this man?
And the effect was he heard the voice of Paul and he believed
what Paul told him to do and therefore he stood up. He had
faith to believe the words that were spoken by Paul were true
and he could therefore stand upright on his feet. lessons for us, aren't they,
here? When we hear the Gospel spoken, the Gospel preached,
we may perhaps be oppressed, we may be timid and think, well,
that doesn't apply to me, and in actual fact, of course, I'll
never be able to do that, I'll never be able to say those things. Well, this man, he didn't. He
didn't say, well, do you know I'm a cripple? I can't do this.
Do you realise that it's not possible for me to stand up?
He stood up. He had faith to stand up. What
a blessing it is when God gives us faith to perhaps do things
which we might think were impossible. Remember the things which are
impossible with men are possible with God. God gives grace. God gives strength. God gives
help. And we should never underestimate
the greatness of God He is able. He is willing. Doubt no more. This man didn't doubt, did he?
Sometimes we're burdened with doubts and fears, and they often
emanate from the adversary of our souls, the devil. He doesn't
want us to be blessed with living faith. He wants us to doubt the
truth of the Word of God. He doesn't want us to hear the
Word of God and to obey it. Well, here was the word of Paul
speaking this man, and he stood upright, and he leapt and he
walked. A wonderful outcome, wasn't there? He didn't just get up and he
leapt. And again, a wonderful thing,
isn't it? When the Spirit of God comes into our soul, and
as it is, we leap with joy at the good news of the Gospel.
It may be perhaps when the good hand of our God heals us in a
spiritual way, He sends out his light and his truth into our
heart. It's good news of the gospel
and the effect is we leap with joy in our heart for that which
God has done for us. Well, here was this wonderful
picture here, this man and he leapt and he walked. And when
the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices
saying in the speech of Lycaonia, the gods have come down to us.
in the likeness of men. Now, they'd heard the Apostle
speak, they'd heard him preach. Clearly, they weren't blessed
with the same faith that this man was. This man who was impotent
in his feet. No, it didn't have the effect
upon them. They looked at it in a natural way. And how easy
it is for us to look at things sometimes in a natural way, rather
than realising We have a great God who is able to do great things
above what we can ask or even think. And so here we see these
people looking on it as a natural thing and thinking that these
men were really the spirits and they called Barnabas Jupiter
and Paul Mercurius because he was the chief speaker. And then
you see the local priest, the priest of of Jupiter, which was
before their city. He brought oxen and garlands
under the gates and would have done sacrifice with the people. See how deceived he was. He didn't realise this was an
act of Almighty God. He didn't realise that Paul was
just a mere instrument. He thought he was perhaps some
great object that needed to be sacrificed to. so he brought
these garlands and oxen and would have done sacrifice with the
people which when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard it well
they were distressed that such an outcome should ever be seen
to think that they were anything other than themselves and so
when they when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard they rent their
clothes and ranted among the people, crying out. They wanted
to stop them from any idolatry like they were trying to perform. They wanted them to understand
they were just ordinary people. And therefore they cried out
and said, Sirs, why do you do these things? We also are men
of light passions with you. He didn't pretend to be anything
different. They told them they were just the same as they were,
light passions. as they had with you, and preach unto you
that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God."
Well, how important that statement was, and how good it is if there
are those who hear such words as this to turn them away from
idolatry. And idolatry takes many forms.
It doesn't just mean bowing down to physical wooden stone idols,
but there are many idols which people bow down to today. And so the apostle cries out
in these words, he says, we're like you, but he preached unto
you that ye should turn from these vanities. Where were they
to turn to? Was it a void? Was it a vacuum? No. Paul told them where they
were to turn. Where were they to turn? turn
from these things, these vanities, unto the living God. And then
he outlines the greatness of this God, the living God. And he says, which made heaven
and earth and the sea and all things that are therein, who
in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless,
he left not himself without witness, in that he did good and gave
us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, fulfilling our hearts
with food and gladness. So he points them to the very
clear evidence that there was a great God who had made everything,
who performed for them, who appeared for them, who provided for them. So they were not under any misapprehension
as to where these things came from. They weren't of their own
providing. They emanated from this great
God and he's pointing them back to this great God who was the
God who had brought about the healing of this impotent man. Oh, he desired that God would
have all the glory. Follow the word of God through
and you will see that Paul constantly becomes smaller and God becomes
greater and more glorious. And how that should be so in
your life and my life, just like John the Baptist said, he must
increase, but I must decrease. And with these sayings, scarce
restrained they the people that they had not done sacrifice unto
them. Yes, the apostle had great difficulty
in stopping them, looking to him as that one had done this
miracle. And that's why he went to this
situation and to this extent, to prove to them that it was
the great God who ruled and reigned who had healed this man, so that
the name of the Lord might be honoured and glorified. Well,
may it be a good example for us in our lives to always be
looking to see the work of God, to be able to proclaim it and
to testify that it was the work of God, not the work of men,
so that his name may be honoured and glorified. Amen.