That man knew something of the struggle in the flesh that believers have
in trying to worship. other law that wars in our members. That's a good hymn. Acts chapter
thirteen now. Acts thirteen. I hope this will be a blessing
to you. It was to me in studying it. It should be very instructive,
very informative, very helpful, hopefully comforting. My comfort
in preaching, though, is, as I told you before, I write
everywhere in my notebook where I can see it, this statement,
liberty is relative. So many things can change what
you think is liberty. It is so relative to outward
influences and how you feel, and this and that and the other,
and how the people react. But the truth is unchanging. And that's my comfort in preaching.
I don't often, sometimes don't have liberty
in preaching, don't feel like preaching, such is the case tonight,
but I know that there's something here for you. And if I just declare
the truth, God will honor that. So that's my comfort in preaching,
that I don't have to make it interesting, I don't have to
try to hold your attention, that God Almighty will bless his word.
If I just say something from his word and relate the gospel
to you, God will bless it. All right. And my father also,
let me add this one note. He wrote an article recently
in his bulletin and said, he asked the question, which
is Who has the greatest responsibility, the preacher or the hearer? And
he said he concluded that both have an equal responsibility.
So my responsibility is to preach the truth, stay close to this
word and exalt our God, exalt Christ, point men to him and
stay as close to the word as possible. Yours is to prepare
to hear it. All right, Acts chapter 13, this
is another story of our Lord's providential dealings in his
early church, how that he gathered his elect and cast off others,
how he saved some and made the gospel a savor of life to some,
but a savor of death to the dead. And all of this story is related
to the preaching of the gospel. The gospel of God's sovereign
grace. There is no other gospel but that. Now remember that.
That everything that takes place here is about preaching the truth
and what God does with people in relation to that truth. His
word is never void or empty. It is always accomplishing something. It always brings a reaction. No reaction at all is a reaction.
You know that no reaction at all is a reaction. And that tells
me those that don't react at all tell me they're not interested.
That's a reaction. Barnard used to say that we need
to preach for a verdict. I've related that to you so many
times. How that's he said. If we preach the word clearly
enough, men and women should go away with one of three reactions. They should go away either mad,
not liking what they've heard, or sad, it convicting them, or
glad, rejoicing in what they heard. And it's never, never,
the word of God is never void. And I'll add this, we need to
say something and say it plainly, say something, and say it plainly
enough that someone will hear us. All right? Now, there were
in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers. Now, as I said before, there
were prophets still at this time, because the Bible was not yet
completely written, so there were still prophets about. And he calls them, he says they're
prophets and teachers. And that's much like Ephesians
four eleven when Paul talked about God giving some pastors
and teachers one in the same thing. And that's significant. Prophets the prophets were teachers
right. Not just foretellers of future
events but teachers teaching men of God and of the Messiah. They were teachers. prophets
and teachers, like someone said that word is really one of the
same pastors and teachers, pastor, teacher, prophet, teacher. Our
Lord was a teacher. He was that prophet, wasn't it?
But he was a teacher. He said in on the Sermon on the
Mount, he sat down and taught them there. He was a teacher. The spirit of Christ is called
a teacher. The Scripture says that he will
teach his people all things teach what. What does the prophet teach
what does the pastor teach what did the Lord teach what does
the spirit teach. Prophecy. What is a prophet teach
prophecy or eschatology. Yes but not speculation and endless
questions about horses and dog and may God in this man the other.
The test as well as revelation nineteen ten says this the testimony
of Jesus is a spirit of prophecy. Remember that revelation nineteen
ten the testimony which is another word for the gospel of Jesus
Christ is the spirit. The essence of all prophecy that's
what all the profits all the profits gave to him give all
the profits That was what all of the Old Testament prophecy
was about. It all related to the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the person and the work of Christ.
All the Old Testament prophets preached the gospel. That's what
they preached. That's what they taught. The
Old Testament told of Christ's coming, what he would be like,
what he would do in detail. gave it to these men in detail,
what Christ would do, what he would be like, because we need
to have the right one. When he comes, we've got to know
he's the right one and not that we should look for another. And
that's what the Old Testament prophets did. The New Testament
prophets like these here, as Christ said, they will remind,
in the Spirit, they will remind you of what I've already said.
what they've already heard and they'll tell of his first coming
and what he did and what he said and bring to remembrance everything
he said. So the message of Christ is a
spirit of prophecy. It is a subject of all teaching
the message of Christ Christ is who the prophets prophesied
of and who the teachers teach about. Jesus Christ. All right here's the man that
that were Prophets and teachers in that day said Barnabas. And
who is called the son of consolation in chapter four and simeon. That was called Niger. Now that
means black. Evidently he was a black man.
That's where we get the word Nigerian from. Simeon was a black
man. Barnabas Lucius of Cyrene. Lucius and man. which had been
brought up with Herod. In other words, he was Herod's,
the margin says, Herod's foster brother of all people. Herod's foster brother. And Saul, Saul of Tarsus, who
was later Paul. Another motley crew that our
Lord had come up with, like the other apostles. You will not find many mighty
or many noble, many wise in that group right there. All right,
verses 2 and 3. And it says, As these men ministered
to the Lord. Now, how could they minister
to the Lord? What could they do for the Lord? How could they
minister to the Lord? The Lord is in heaven. We are
on earth. He is the Spirit. Jesus Christ
was not on the earth and how could they minister to the Lord?
His body, right? To his body. That's how they
ministered to the Lord. That's what they did for the
Lord. They ministered to his body.
In other words, they preached the gospel and then ministered
to the needs of. In word and deed, they ministered
to the Lord's body. And it says they fasted. They
ministered to the Lord and they fasted. I'll not go into much detail
here, but fasting is not what people think it to be, so much a willful denying of
the body's wants and so forth, such as food and drink on purpose. But fasting is more a person
being so taken up with the things of God that he does not have
time nor even think about his own personal needs. eating, such
as eating. He's too busy. He's too engrossed
in what he's doing. That's the spirit of fasting.
All right? Now it says, The Holy Ghost said,
the Holy Spirit called, spoke, and said, Separate me Barnabas
and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when
they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on Barnabas
and Saul, they sent them away. That is, the church sent them
away. Now, I don't know if this was
an audible voice. I don't think it was. There's no recollection
of the Holy Spirit speaking in an audible voice. But I believe
it was an impression and a calling, an impression upon the church
that certain men were gifted and chosen by God to the gospel
ministry. And the Holy Ghost called and
said, these are the men, these are the ones. And God Almighty,
if you notice here, God Almighty is the one who calls men to the
work of preaching. And he makes it plain to everyone,
makes it plain. He does not leave people in doubt. He calls and he makes it very
plain to others who he calls. That is, to other spirit-filled
people. He fills with the Spirit. People
recognize that. And to his spirit-taught and
led and filled people, he makes it plain who his preachers are. And it's serious work to those
that are called. Very serious call, as we see
by the reaction of these people. Not only the people that sent
them, but the people who were sent. They fasted, it said, and
they prayed, and they laid hands, they had the fellowship, and
so forth. They got together and talked about and conversed concerning
the ministry that the Lord called these men to. And most preachers
today, if you want to call them that, just so you know who I'm
talking They are not preachers, but most of these fellows today
are mass-produced from preacher factories. That's all seminaries
are, preacher factories. And they treat the ministry as
if it were any other job. They treat it as if it were any
other job to try out for, to candidate for. God doesn't send
candidates. They try out for positions and
then these are the things they consider primarily. I know what
I'm talking about from experience. I've heard it from their very
mouths. They consider things like this first and foremost
when they consider going to a place. They consider the salary. They
consider the benefits. They consider the location of
the church. They consider the schools for
the children. They consider the retirement
plan. I'm serious, this goes on. They consider these things
primarily and foremost and give no thoughts whatsoever to the
calling of God. The people don't do it and neither
do the men. The people seem to be more concerned with their
credentials and their resumes, letters of recommendation like
Paul talked about. their ability to deal with people
and social, their social habits and so forth, their bedside manner.
But not these men. You don't see any of that in
this calling. Not these men, nor are any true preachers like
that. All right, verses four and five.
So they, these men, Barnabas and Saul, being sent forth by
the Holy Ghost, sent by the Holy Ghost, they were sent to do one
thing. Look at it, go read on. Departed and went, sailed to
Cyprus, the island, and when they were at Salamis, they preached
the word of God. Doesn't say they visited from
house to house or immediately went to the hospitals. It says
they preached the word of God. They had this primary mission,
to preach God's truth. In the synagogues of the Jews,
and look at this, this is significant. It said they had also John to
their minister. John was there. either accompanied
them or was there when they got there by God's providence, by
God's good providence. By this time, John was in his
fifties. John the Apostle, an old-season, experienced, faithful
preacher of the gospel, the beloved disciple, John. I'd like to have
him around. These new preachers And this
is what I wanted to point out from that says they had John
to their minister. These men were not without pastors
themselves were that. These fellows still had a pastor
and they had this wise experienced preacher of the gospel whom they
observed they consulted and they hearken to his his wisdom his
experience and this is this is the way God does it. This is
the way God calls his man is a train his preacher. This is
the way God trains his preacher Joshua. Had Moses then. Joshua had Moses as his mentor. Elijah. Had Elijah as if it is
his mentor didn't get enough. The apostles. You say who do
they have. They had Christ himself, didn't
they? Paul and Barnabas had John here,
didn't they? Timothy and Titus had Paul. This is the way the Lord instructs
his young preachers. This is the way he calls them.
He calls them out of the church, John, after they've been sitting under
the sound of a faithful gospel preacher. They learned to be
pastors that way. They learned the gospel from
a man just like everybody else would. Just like other people
were learning from men. Not in a seminary where men have
never been in a pastorate and don't even know the gospel. That's
not where God calls his preachers from. He calls them out of the
church. Is that clear? It's clear throughout the work
of God. All right, read on. Verses 6 through 8. And when
they had gone through the aisle unto Paphos. They found a certain
sorcerer, ran into a certain sorcerer. This Isle of Papus
is the Isle of Cyprus right now, just outside of Lebanon and Syria
there. It's still there, the Isle of
Cyprus. And it says they ran into a certain sorcerer, whose
name was Elimas, his first name, which meant sorcerer. And Bar-Jesus,
or son of, that's what bar means, wherever you see it in the bar
in the scriptures, like Bar-Jonah. Bar Jesus son of a man named
Jesus as his last night of the last names back then. All right
they ran into this fellow false prophet a Jew whose name was
Bar Jesus last name which was with the deputy of the country
or that is he was the right hand man come to down a a servant
of a kind of a spiritual advisor to this man named Sergius Paulus. The deputy this man was a deputy
or a sort of like a lieutenant governor. The debt of the. Roman. Procurators that they say was
the head of the country and this deputy was kind of like much
like our lieutenant governor today. All right it says he was
a prudent man. Yes Sergius Paulus was a prudent
man or man who was a thinking man, was a rational man, was
a reasonable man, or that is, he was a man who had some good
common sense. He weighed things when he heard.
He was a practical man. It says that he had called, look
at it, verse 7, he was a deputy of the country, a prudent man
who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word
of God. He called for Barnabas and Saul
and desired to hear the word of God evidently he had heard
about these men preaching the gospel perhaps he had gotten
the tape or he had heard overheard somebody talking about at any
rate he had heard about these men preaching. And he called
for them and wanted to hear the message. This is significant
as what the book of Acts. Listen to the book of Acts shows
us the Lord's providential openings of doors, how he providentially
opens doors for the gospel. You won't find men or women in
the book of Acts, anywhere, accosting people, obnoxiously accosting
people, trying to win them to Jesus. You won't find that in
the scriptures, not in the book of Acts. He won't find them trying
to force the gospel on people that don't want it. He won't
find them in restaurants anywhere grabbing the waitress by the
collar and saying, are you saved? He won't find that. But God the
Holy Spirit sovereignly, effectually opened doors for the preaching
of the gospel. This man called for them to come
preach the gospel to him. And the Lord, you see, has a
sheep. And he said, they're going to
hear my voice. They're going to hear it. And the Lord providentially,
by his Spirit, opens doors of opportunity for these sheep to
hear the gospel. And he puts them through those
doors, and he preaches the gospel to them. He draws with the cords
of a man, with the cords of love, but he doesn't hog, tie, and
corner. Not at all. The Spirit works
before we do. Men try to bypass the Spirit
today, don't they? They don't have the gospel, for
one thing, but then they try to bypass the Spirit and do his
work for him, don't they? The Holy Spirit works first,
Joe. prepares men's heart. To do that for the preaching
of the gospel, I'm not giving any of us an excuse for laziness
or for cowardice or not. Going out with the gospel, but
what I'm trying to say is the Lord opens door. And this is
clear from the book of Acts that the Lord opens the door and he
he gives a hearing for his work. When this man evidently heard
of these preachers And they're preaching, and he called for
them, called, he wanted to hear the message. And true seekers,
and that's who we're looking for, isn't it? True seekers.
Says this man was a prudent man. We're not looking, you and I
both, we've all run into too many gainsayers, arguers, haven't
we? And we've all cast our pearls
before swine, people that just want to trample on and argue. I don't feel like arguing. with
them. Do you? I don't feel like striving
with the potsherds of this earth. You won't. You won't find our
Lord doing that. He didn't argue with the Pharisees. He didn't
deal with them. He didn't go out on the streets
and preach in the street, did he? No, he didn't. He preached in
the synagogue. And God brought his sheep into
here. Right? All right. It's our job. Now, we're looking for people
that are seeking pearls, those that are really seeking the truth,
seeking some answers. Those are the people we're looking
for, aren't you? Wouldn't you love to run into
somebody who really wanted some answers, who wanted to know the
truth? And we're seekers of pearls, seekers of truths. And our job
is to show them one pearl and that great price of redemption,
one pearl. This man named Sergius Paulus,
he wanted to hear the gospel. He wanted to hear the gospel.
And Henry, he heard it. Anybody who wants to hear the
gospel, they'll hear it. They'll hear it. And I, sheep,
will hear my voice. Verse 8, But Elimas, this sorcerer,
Elimas is his name, the sorcerer, so is his name by interpretation,
he withstood them. He withstood the apostles or
stood against them, seeking to turn away Sergius Paulus from
the truth, from the faith. He sought to keep this man from
hearing the truth or the faith. Does that phrase sound familiar?
The faith? When did you hear that last,
the faith? Sunday morning. We dealt with it in depth. The
faith. May that phrase again. The faith being. The character
of God, the person and work of Christ, or in one phrase, the
faith is salvation is of the Lord. Not of man, but all of
God. All of God, all for His glory.
Not any of man in it. Not of works, but all of grace,
all of God's work, all of God's grace, all of God's gift. Salvation
is His gift, not of works. that's him willing to accept enough
except that him choosing us by his great and this is what Sergei
is heard the message. This is what he heard the faith
salvation is of the Lord. This is the doctrine of the Lord
Jesus Christ his person and his work and this is what Sergei
is heard and this old Armenian trickster name elements. This
old sorcerer didn't like this gospel of sovereign grace. He
didn't like it at all, and he withstood the apostles, or tried
to, because now his job was in jeopardy. He was making a living,
you know, off of Sergius and others. Now his job was in jeopardy. Now men wouldn't look to him
anymore. They'd look to Christ. Sergius wouldn't be looking to
him for answers anymore. He'd be looking to Christ. And
his glory and his honor and his prestige and his position were
in jeopardy. So he tried to withstand the
apostles and withstand the truth, but you can't do it. You'll find
yourself be fighting against God, as we saw in another place.
He tried to stop the gospel from coming, but the gospel is the
dynamite of God and no man can stop it. And no host of men or
devils can stop it. Tried to turn them away from
the faith, and you can't do that either. You can't turn anybody
away from the faith if God, in the day of His power, makes somebody
willing to believe. God's elect will hear His voice,
they will believe, they will come to Christ, and Satan and
all the demons and devils and hell can't prevent them from
coming to Christ, nor hearing the gospel, no matter what anybody
tries to do. And that's my comfort. as being an under-shepherd or
preaching, that I don't have to police God's sheep, I don't
have to worry so much about what they hear or who they hear, but
if I merely preach the Word, God will keep them by His power. And a stranger's voice they won't
hear. They won't hear a stranger or nothing. All right, read on.
Then it says Saul. Then Saul, who is also called
Paul, who also was filled with the Holy Ghost. That is, he was
a man full of faith. We looked at that in Stephen,
didn't we? To be full of the Holy Ghost is a man who is full
of faith in Christ, not a man who just speaks with languages
or has certain powers, but a man who is full of faith in Christ.
That's the primary job of the Holy Spirit, is it not? To fill
us with the knowledge of Christ, to fill us with Christ. Paul
was a man who was full of faith in Christ, knowledge of God's
word, knowledge of the gospel, and a zeal for God's glory. That's
Holy Ghost filling. Filled with Christ. Two things.
Two things pretty much comprehend what it is to be a Spirit-filled
man. It's to be filled with a knowledge
of Christ and have a zeal for Christ. A knowledge of him and
a zeal for him. And Paul had this. Paul. And it says that he set his eyes
on that man. He looked him right in the eye.
And he, Joe, he gave him a good cussing. Yeah, he did. A holy cursing. He cursed him
out with a holy cursing. This is what he said. Oh, he
said, oh, full of all subtlety. And this is the chief device
of Satan, isn't it? and his ministers. Subtlety,
they use subtlety. They're cowards. Christ said
they're ignorant of the word of God. They do err, not knowing
the scriptures, nor the power of God, nor what the gospel is.
The gospel is the power of God, isn't it? They do err, not knowing
the scriptures. They're ignorant of the scriptures.
I don't care if they're masters of divinity or doctors. They're
ignorant of the scriptures, because they don't know who the scriptures
are speaking about. And they do err not knowing the Scriptures
nor the power of God. What is the power of God? The
gospel. If they knew that, they'd quit
resorting to all these other gimmicks, wouldn't they? If they
knew and really believed in their heart that it was God's truth,
God's gospel that saved people, they'd quit resorting to gimmicks
and they'd just preach the gospel. But they're ignorant. They're
ignorant. So they resort to all manner of subtlety and psychology
and man-made trickery and and gimmicks and so forth, don't
they? Huh? And you wouldn't believe. Time
wouldn't allow us to tell some of the... Brother Joe Terrell said this
one time. And this this is so so good. He said. These preachers today are trying
to. Trying to get people to fall in love, they're trying to get
people to accept Jesus as their personal savior, he said, is
kind of like. It's kind of like a. Somebody trying to to get
somebody to marry. an ugly bride that they don't
want by offering them a large dowry. Then that's sum up preaching
to them. Men don't want Christ. They don't
see any beauty about him. They don't see their need of
him. So what are they doing? They're trying to get people
to accept Jesus by offering them a large dowry. Well, he'll give
you heaven and he'll give you health and wealth. Man, that's
blasphemous. Preaching of the gospel is a
setting forth of the excellencies of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
And people fall in love. They see his beauties, his glory,
and they fall in love with him. They beg to marry him. You don't
have to ask them. They'll ask you. Please. Let me confess him. But they're
full of subtleties, subtle hints and innuendo, and they have to
be subtle against the truth because the truth is so plain. It's so
clear from God's word and they have to use subtleties subtle
hints subtle innuendos against the truth. Well I know it says
that. Yes we believe in election but. Yes we believe in it and I've
got an article going in this Sunday's bulletin about the popular
movement that's afoot in Southern Baptist religion. You know it's
getting popular today to say you believe the doctrines of
grace. get popular. There's a movement going on,
and they're toying with doctrine. What they're doing is sabbing
their own conscience a little bit, and they can't deny these
truths, so they're dabbling in them enough to satisfy people's
curiosity, and they're sure not preaching them very plainly from
the pulpit. Well, they use little subtle
hints, you know, against the truth and accusations against. They resort to accusations, innuendos
against preachers of the truth and believers of it and so forth.
And by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
Paul says you're full of subtlety and all mischief. Mischief is
up to no good. These fellows are up to no good,
Joe. They do it all in the name of God, don't they? But it's
not for God's glory. It's not for God's glory and
man's eternal good, but their own selfish aims and goals and
money and ambition. He said, You're a child of the
devil, a child of the devil. Christ said to Peter one day
when Peter rebuked him, he said, Get thou behind me, Satan. Thou
savourest not the things of God, but the things of man. And that
sums up the devil's children, doesn't it? And his workers,
his minister, he said, your enemies of right. You're an enemy of
righteousness, all righteousness. See that you're an enemy of all
righteousness, though you do it in the name of God and the
name of righteousness, morality. You're holding the truth in unrighteousness. As Paul said, enemies of Christ's
righteousness, going about to establish your own righteousness.
He said, you pervert the right ways of the Lord. What are the
right ways of the Lord? Well, there's a right way to
worship the Lord. There's a right way to come to God. How's that? What's the way? Christ is that
way. No other way. His person, His
work, His righteousness, His shed blood, and God is a spirit.
Christ said this very plainly. God is spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. God is
not worshiped with men's hands, not with all this outward pageantry
and shows of religion and paganism and all gimmicks and all that,
but merely worship from the heart and in truth of the gospel. That's how he's worshiped. There's a right way, a right
way to approach the Lord, the right ways of the Lord. The way
to worship him, the way to seek him, the way to to be about the
things of God. Now, verse eleven, Paul said,
Now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt
be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately
there fell on this man a mist and a darkness, and he went about
seeking sun to lead him by the hand. Over in Matthew thirteen, I really,
let's just turn over there real fast, I just want you to see
what the Lord said here in prophecy. And this came to pass in our
story here Matthew thirteen you know her. Matthew thirteen. I've got a few more men. Oh oh love it elements he became
he was in darkness before and now John he was in double darkness
he was blind before with the Lord doubly blinded him. And
this is what the Lord said would happen. Here in Matthew chapter
13, look at verse 10. It says the disciples came after
the Lord told that parable of the sower and came to him and
said, why are you speaking parables? In another place, they said,
these Pharisees are offended by that. They're offended by
you speaking in little simple stories. Well, what really got
to them was they couldn't understand what he was saying. They thought
it beneath them for him to talk a little story, but they didn't
understand what he was saying. And the Lord said, he answered
and said unto them, because it's given unto you, bless God, he's
hid these things from the wise and the prudent, but revealed
them unto babe. He was always ready to answer the questions
of the apostles. Every question they asked him, he answered it.
But hardly any of the questions that the Pharisees asked him,
he answered. They'd ask him a question, he said, I'll ask you one. And
if you answer that one, I'll answer yours. Because it's not
given to them. And he said, it's given unto
you to know the mystery, but to them it's not given. 4, verse
12, look at this. Whosoever hath, to him shall
be given. That is, whosoever hath faith
in Christ, hath a knowledge of Christ, who has a love for Christ,
who has a trust and a reverence for Christ and fear of God and
a love for his truth, he'll get more. He'll go on from faith
to faith, glory to glory, grace to grace. He has grace. And it's
all a gift of God. It's not this man figured it
out. It's God gave him the truth. But whoever believes it and receives
it and loves it, he'll give him more and just keep giving more
and give him more until he grows up to the measure, the stature
of the fullness of Christ, the scripture says. But whosoever
hath not from him shall be taken away even what he has." What
little bit of knowledge he thinks he has, what little bit of faith
he thinks he has, he'll end up with nothing. He'll be ever learning
and never coming to a knowledge of the truth. Therefore, he said,
and go on, he explains it, therefore speak I to them in parable, because
they see, they see me, the Christ, they see my works They hear my,
they hearing, and they hear not, they hear my words. Remember
Nicodemus said, no man can do what you do except he come from
God. And another man came back and said, no man spake like this
man. They heard, they saw, they were without excuse, weren't
they? But they believed not. They hardened their heart. Neither
do they understand. And this is fulfilled in the
prophecy of Isaiah, which said, over in Isaiah 6, Nine and ten,
by hearing you shall hear and shall not understand. You'll
hear something but won't understand. See and you shall see and shall
not perceive. This people's heart is waxed
gross. They've hardened their heart, the scripture says. They've
closed their ears. They're dull of hearing, they've
closed their own ears. Their eyes have they closed, lest at
any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their
ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted
and I should heal them. God doesn't get to blame, but
men do. They get to blame for their own
obstinance and rejection of the gospel, because they see and
hear the same things we do. And the only reason you believe,
and because blessed are your eyes, they see your ears, for
they hear. God gave it to you. Men and women have the same Bible,
same gospel, don't they? So they're to be blamed. And
we give God all the glory if we if we believe and we see these
things. Back to the text now. Verse 12.
He said, Then the deputy. Back to the text in Acts 13. So on this Elymas darkness fell. And he was doubly dark, wasn't
he? Doubly blind. He'd reprobate. But the deputy,
this Sergius Paulus, I believe he was one of God's elect. It
says, when he saw what was done, he believed. Now, that wasn't
what came first. Look at it. Read it all. It says,
when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine
of the Lord. He heard the gospel first, Henry. And evidently, Paul and Barnabas
came to him, and he heard the gospel from them, and this was
when old Elymas took him aside later also don't believe that
that's not true don't know that's that's it that's that's hard
to live. That's hypercapitalism don't
believe that God wants everybody because my will and then you
know the argument took him aside to turn him from the faith and
he heard the. And that's when God struck this
element and later he saw what happened to those to this man
who withstood the gospel. That came later, you see. So he heard first, and then he
saw and believed. And that's the significant statement
in this whole message is this. He was astonished. He was amazed. He was taken by, in awe of, the
doctrine of the Lord. He received it. He believed it.
He bowed to it. I believe he was one of the elect.
It seems to indicate that, doesn't it? Now, when Paul and his company
loosed from Paphos, they came to Pergamum, Pamphylia, and John,
departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. And then we're
going to get into next Sunday, no, next Wednesday, Paul's message
there, which is a great one. The fact that you haven't rejected
the gospel, that you believe it. The gospel came to you and
you received it. The love of the truth. It's a gift of God. He's great.
Let's stand. Our Lord, we thank you for the
gospel. The gospel of our salvation. The gospel of your glory. The
gospel of your son. gospel foretold and prophesied
in the scriptures. We have a firm foundation. We
may know that this is the gospel, this is the faith, and it is
able to make us wise unto salvation. It is able to save our very soul
through coming to Christ through simple childlike faith. Lord,
we do believe, Lord, we ask you to help our unbelief and deliver
us from those gainsayers and those that would would withstand
us, keep us from the faith, and keep others. Lord, we ask that
you would open doors for the preaching of the gospel, for
the witness of the gospel by those out in the workplace and
wherever. We ask that you would open doors,
bring your sheep in to hear the gospel, and enable us to see
open doors and go in them, and give us opportunities, Lord,
more opportunities. May we be looking for them and
use whatever means available, but not running ahead of you,
not without looking to your leadership, the leadership of your spirit.
Lord, bless the gospel. We know you will. We ask that
you would get the glory from all that we do and all that we
say here, and bind our hearts in love with Christ and with
this gospel, and keep us ever looking to Christ for all of
our salvation and all of our strength. He's an ever-present
help in time of need. In His name we pray and ask these
things. Amen. you