May I please the Lord to help
us as we consider his word again in the Acts of the Apostles and
this evening we'll commence chapter 14 and we'll speak from verse
1 down to verse 7. You may remember that at the end
of the last chapter we noted that Paul and Barnabas had shaken
off the dust of their feet from Antioch in Pisidia and now they
were in Iconium. And so we read, and it came to
pass in Iconium that they went forth together into the synagogue
of the Jews and so spake. And it's really the same pattern,
isn't it? We have a lovely pattern here
in the Acts of the Apostles of the work of God through his servants
and we see here that Paul and Barnabas continue to preach the
gospel, that word which the Lord had given them, that calling
that they've been blessed with, and we see they continue, whenever
the opportunity is presented to them, to preach the gospel. And what opposition they met,
and yet they still continued to preach the gospel. The opposition
did not deter them. And what a good thing if we think
of that today in our lives. There's many things to deter
us today, aren't there? In our spiritual life, in our
church life, in the world situation, there are many things to deter
us. But we have a clear picture here
of the Apostle's work and how he was concerned to preach the
Gospel, that the Word might be made a blessing to those that
heard it. And we might think today that
we live in dark days. Well, they were living really
in dark days then because the people had not heard the Gospel.
And yet, you see, when they came to Iconium, what did they do? They went into the synagogue
of the Jews and spake. And what blessing attended the
word that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of
the Greeks, believed. It was not just an occasion for
bringing people together and speaking a word and there was
no profit. My friends, there was amazing
blessing. And so we read this statement
here, and both of the great multitudes, both of the Jews and also the
Greeks, believed. Surely that's our great desire
today. There may be many may be brought
to believe the truth of the gospel and by believing be saved with
that great blessing of eternal life. And so we see the position
here and then we read on, but the unbelieving Jews will have
always been unbelievers. They've been, always have been,
always will be those that oppose the gospel And here we have those
that opposed it. But the unbelieving Jews stirred
up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against the
brethren. That's the cunning work of the
devil. He stirs up people who speak against the things of God
and tries to weaken the work of the Lord. But thankful you
should be that the Lord's work continues. The devil can only
go so far as he is permitted by Almighty God. And it is so
here. And the apostles then, they were
confronted with this situation. Did they give up? No. Long time
therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord. They were
not put off by the opposition. And it's good today. We have
much opposition in the world, much opposition in our nation
today against the gospel. And it's a good thing if we can
proceed in this way. They were not timid. The gospel
was precious to them. It was essential to them. And
therefore we read, and they spoke boldly in the Lord, boldly, which
gave testimony unto the word of his grace, Well, that's the
gospel, isn't it? A word of His grace, the unmerited
favour of God. And here the apostles were proclaiming
this great truth, and for a long time. Clearly they went in and
out amongst the people, proclaiming the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the great blessings which to be known through that knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that was the Apostle's great
concern and his great aim. And so we read, Long time therefore
abode they speaking boldly. They weren't there for a long
time, resting and taking it easy. They were speaking boldly the
things of God. They were not indolent. They
were not lazy. They didn't put other things
first. their great call was to preach the gospel and that was
their great concern and they did it joyfully and they did
it boldly. which gave testimony unto the
word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done
by their hands." Well, we know in the apostolic age, the age
of the apostle, the almighty God through the Holy Spirit ordained
that it should be those miracles performed by the apostles to
demonstrate the great power of God There was the need of it
in those days to show forth that which was truly of God. Now today
we're blessed with the history of those things. We don't need
to see those things demonstrated and outperformed today. We have
the Word of God which declares to us those things which did
occur and how wonderful they were. And so the apostles were
blessed with this gift. But again we see the opposition.
The multitude of the city was divided. How the devil divides. That is his great aim, to divide. If he can divide and cause division,
one side against the other, taken up with things which perhaps
are not so great. And here there was that division.
The multitude of the city was divided and part held with the
Jews and part with the apostles. Well, we bless God, there were
those who held with the apostles to the grace of God which was
proclaimed by them. And when there was an assault
made, both the Gentiles and also the Jews with their rulers to
use them despitefully and to stone them. It wasn't a light
thing, was it? There was very considerable opposition. We're not told all the details,
but we're told that with their rulers, to use them despitefully
and to stone them. So there was that despiteful
using and then stoning. You imagine today, if we were
to go out of this building and there was a multitude waiting
to accuse us and to despitefully use us and to stone us. You know,
stones were very powerful in those days. They were used, weren't
they, as a form of destroying and killing people. It was not
an easy thing, was it, to withstand this great opposition. But you
see, Paul and Barnabas, they continued. They didn't give up. They were blessed. They were
strengthened. And as we read on in this chapter,
we come to God willing later, we see that the Apostle was stoned
almost to death. You see how easy our life is
today, how smooth by comparison our pathway is today. Perhaps
we wonder, there's not the blessing. Well, there's not the opposition,
is there? If we're honest, well, we may have sometimes people
that may speak against us and may mock us, but we don't see
this demonstration of hatred as there was in these things. And so there was this stoning
and they were aware of it. and fled unto Lystra and Derbe,
cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth about."
Well, they'd been opposed greatly, the same as they'd been opposed
in Antioch. You see, the preaching of the
gospel is not that which is received by so many. The devil hates the
gospel being preached. It's the last thing he wants.
to be done. So he will do all he can to rise
up opposition, to produce things which make it very difficult.
And Paul needed much grace, and we today, my friends, need grace
to go forth boldly proclaiming the truth of the everlasting
gospel. So here they were now in Lystra
and Derby. And what did they do? Did they
have a rest? No. They preached the gospel. Nothing greater was there than
preaching the gospel. And what was the gospel? The
gospel was to set before the people their sinfulness. To show
that they had fallen. That they were evil in their
nature. and to set before them the truth
that he that sinneth shall die, and then to demonstrate to them
and speak to them of the glories of the life and the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and to point them to the only way of
salvation. And the only way of salvation
was to believe the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins
and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel hasn't changed. The gospel is the same today. What a blessing it is when the
gospel is preached. Now we should be thankful we
should be not today in our nation. We are still privileged to be
able to preach the gospel lawfully. People cannot stop us preaching
the gospel. There may be those perhaps who
preach in the street who may be opposed, but the law is on
our side in the present time. And we should make the most of
the opportunities which are presented to us. You know, as our brother
prayed in prayer, we used to be called the land of the book. Sadly, we are no longer the land
of the book. And sadly, we are no longer a
people that follow, therefore, the Word of God. Most of the
people follow their own way. They do that which is right in
their own eyes. And sadly, the Bible is left
aside. The Bible is not read. It's not
followed. It's not believed. The Gospel
is not preached. The Word of God is not believed. and therefore we've come into
a very sad day and age in which we live. But we should be thankful
that we are still able to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. And as the preaching of the gospel
in these days was attended with much opposition, yet the true
word of God was proclaimed and it was blessed. My friends, may
it be blessed today, the day and age in which we live. May
we pray earnestly and urgently the Lord God will apply the Word
with divine power. The Holy Spirit may come and
move hearts, touch hearts, produce a blessing in the souls of many,
so there may yet be a time of spiritual blessing, a time of
spiritual revival. The Word of God encourages us
to pray for these things. The Lord has said that he will
be inquired of by the House of Israel to do these things for
them. Now, let us not forget the time
in which this occurred had been an exceedingly dark age. But now the Gospel was proclaimed
and it's the Gospel that brings light into darkened hearts. What a blessing, my friends,
if the Gospel has brought light into our hearts. so that we have
the evidence of that light, enabling us to discern the truth of the
Gospel and be able to say, one thing I know, whereas I was blind,
now I see. And it is the light which has
shone into our hearts, the light of the glorious Gospel. Well,
it was proclaimed faithfully by the Apostle. It had a gracious
effect. My friends, may it be proclaimed
faithfully still in our day, and may it truly have a gracious
effect. We ask it for Jesus' sake. Amen.