May I please God to be with us
for a few minutes as we consider his word, and we'll turn to the
Acts of the Apostles again, and this time chapter 8, and we'll
meditate on the first 8 verses. The first 8 verses of this 8th
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. We read them together just now,
so I won't read them again. And it starts off as, and Saul
was consenting unto his death. That of course follows on from
the end of the last chapter, where Stephen was stoned. And this word here, consenting,
really means that he was delighting in the death of Stephen. It's a very solemn and a very
sad situation, but a very true situation. Here was this man,
Saul, who as we know later was known as Paul. They were so pleased
that this had happened. And there was this solemn occasion
and at that time there was great persecution against the church
which was at Jerusalem. It would seem that this was really
the beginning of these times of persecution which hadn't really
existed in the same measure before. And it was starting here at Jerusalem. Great persecution against the
church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad
throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. The apostles were staying in
Jerusalem. The Lord had commanded they should
commence the work there and they were commencing God's work in
Jerusalem. And that was the place where
there was all this great uprising. And it's just of interest to
note that Philip was actually in Jerusalem. And the Philip
we read of in a few verses later on was not Philip the apostle.
It was, in fact, Philip who was of the ones that were elected
in the sixth chapter. We read, and the saying pleased
the whole multitude and they chose Stephen, a man of faith
and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Lycanor, and
Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicodus, the proselyte of Antioch. So,
it would appear that was the Philip because the other apostles
were in Jerusalem. So we see the sad situation which
existed and how the people scattered abroad throughout the regions
of Judea and Sychar except the apostles. And then we see how
the saints of God were concerned about Stephen, a man so greatly
blessed and these men, they carried Stephen to his burial and great
lamentation made a great lamentation over him. Truly they were sad
and sorry that he had died and been stoned and therefore they
lamented his death. Indeed we would lament people's
death like that today. People who were great pillars
and blessed to the Lord and able to speak forth the word of truth
if they were solemnly destroyed, how we would lament their death. Now that was true but then we
read about Saul. He made havoc of the church,
entering into every house and hailing men and women, committing
them to prison. We can think today, can't we?
The scenes are not dissimilar, are they, in the Middle East
today. We see the atrocities which are occurring now. And
this was really an atrocity of a similar nature, was it not?
Stephen being stoned, and then you see all these people persecuted
at Jerusalem, and then we see Saul making havoc going from
house to house and hating men and women, committed them to
prison. So we see very clearly Paul's
situation. We see how against the gospel
he was and it's all the more wonderful when we see how the
Lord so graciously and gloriously called him by grace. We're thankful
to know therefore that nothing is impossible with our God. Things
which are impossible with men are possible with God. And therefore,
because of what he was doing, they were scattered abroad and
they went everywhere preaching the Word. Now this is a blessing,
isn't it? We know that through the preaching
of the Word, the Lord ordains blessing. It's the ordained way
which the Lord has commanded, to preach the Word. And we're
thankful after so many, many years that preaching the Gospel
is still attended with the blessed power of the Holy Spirit to convert
souls, to encourage souls, to strengthen souls, to correct
souls. We're thankful for the great and glorious Gospel which
is preached today. And therefore, because of this
situation, they were scattered abroad and they went everywhere
preaching the Word. And we read then, Philip went
down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. We
should not forget, and I'm sure we won't forget, the woman of
Samaria, the Lord Jesus in the 4th of John. It was a need to
be that he go through Samaria. And we know that he went into
Samaria. He sat at the well at Sychar and there the woman came
to him and he told her all things that ever she did. And she said,
is not this the Christ? And we know the blessing which
ensued from that. She went and told her neighbours
and friends. And they went out and heard the Gospel. And so
there was a time of great blessing there. And here now, a few years
later, again a wonderful blessing in this place of Samaria. Philip
went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. No greater blessing, is there?
To preach Christ, there's no greater blessing than to hear
Christ preached. And oh, what an effect it had
as the Holy Spirit applied the Word in those days. We're thankful
that the Holy Spirit has lost none of His power today. We're
thankful that today He can still apply the Word with divine power. We pray it may be so. It may
be much, much blessing attending the preaching of the Gospel.
And so the people with one accord, one accord, they all gave heed. They listened to the things which
Philip spoke, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. They
heard the Word, they heard the preaching of the Gospel, and
they were confirmed in the truth of it by the things that Philip
was unable to do. The miracles that he performed
for unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many
that possessed the devils, and many taken with pauses, and they
that were lame were healed. So we see the gracious effect
that the Holy Spirit had upon these people. So the people with
one accord gave heed. They gave heed to the things
which were spoken. They didn't discharge and didn't
say they were of no value. They gave heed to them and they
were blessed to them. And what was the effect? The
effect was this, and there was great joy in that city. I believe as the great and glorious
Gospel of Jesus Christ comes to us, comes into our hearts
with power from on high, it does bring joy, spiritual joy, heavenly
joy, to know that we as unworthy sinners of the earth have a great
and glorious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who no doubt Philip
would have preached in all faithfulness, would have preached the great
salvation and how it was brought about by the death the resurrection
of our great and glorious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He must
have pointed them to that day of the crucifixion, the same
way that Peter had spoken that day at Pentecost, and clearly
defining the situation, that it was the fault of those who
had been there that had caused the death of the Saviour, so
that they were all without excuse. And of course we today are also
without excuse because of our sins which caused the Lord Jesus
Christ to suffer upon Calvary's cross and to die that death,
that sin-atoning death, to shed His most precious blood that
you and I might receive the forgiveness of all our sins. And as our brother
said, clothe with his righteousness. What a wonderful thing it is.
What a wonderful exchange. We can never get over the exchange,
can we? Sin taken away, placed upon the
Saviour. Righteousness given, His spotless
robe, given to us, taken from the Saviour, given to us unworthy
sinners as we are, so that by His grace we are complete in
Him. Now as the Holy Spirit gives
us some knowledge of the great wonder of this blessing, I believe
this is true, there was great joy in the city, I believe in
our hearts there will be great joy to know that Christ has died,
and rather, is risen again, and he's died, that we might live,
that we might receive the great and glorious gift of eternal
life. And so as we ponder these things
tonight, may we indeed realise the truth of these words, and
there was great joy in that city, and may there be great joy in
our hearts. Amen.