Turn back to Acts chapter 16.
Acts chapter 16. This is a much better place to
meet this morning than down by the river, isn't it? Anytime you get a little bit
depressed being underground in a bomb shelter, there are people who have met
in workplaces, they had to meet down by the river. But they met. They gathered together. Evidently,
there were not many of them, so there were not enough Jews
there in Philippi to have a synagogue. So, what little congregation
they had, they would go down by the river and pray. And God sent the Gospel to them.
What I want us to look at this morning and see, and Lord willing,
next week, I want to deal with Lydia's conversion, but I'd like
us to see all that led up to it. And we can see this for ourselves
and when you look down your own life and how God brought you
under the Gospel and how He sent a preacher your way, providentially
arranged, pre-arranged marriage, arranged everything. God did
that. I titled this message God guides
his preacher. I tell you, since I've been doing
this, I'm sure glad he does. It's not until you stand up here
for a while that you realize how weak you are. And how much
you need his guidance. He must guide us. He must be
our teacher. He can see tomorrow. I can't
see the next minute. But he does. He created the minute. And he created tomorrow. Now, chapter 15, we looked at
last week, most of it, it ends on a sad note. It says in verse 35, Paul also
and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word
of the Lord with many others also. What a good time they were
having. Good preaching. Good gospel preaching
going on. And some days afterwards, Paul
said to Barnabas, he said, Barnabas, we need to go and visit our brethren
that we've preached to. We need to go and visit our brethren.
In every city where we've preached the word of the Lord and see
how they're doing. Encourage the brethren. And Barnabas determined
to take with him John Mark. You know, Barnabas says, OK,
I think that's a good idea. Mark, you ready to go? You know,
John Mark left the ministry. Because he said he did not like
to serve. And so Paul thought it not good
to take him with them. who departed from them from Pamphylia
and went not with them to the work. And the contention. The contention was so great and
so sharp between them that they had to depart from each other.
Now, who would have thought this? These men were traveling together
as missionaries. They came down here. Barnabas
sent for Paul to come to Antioch, if you remember that. He said,
come down here. The Lord's doing something. And
they preached and established this church. This became a pretty
large church. And the contention became so
strong that they had to part company. They couldn't be with
each other anymore. They had to separate. And when
they separated, we hear Barnabas no more. Barnabas should have
submitted to the Apostle. He should have submitted to the
Apostle. Although, Paul later on said, bring John Mark for
he's profitable to me in the ministry. I'm glad we don't get
kicked out the first time when we mess up. But we hear Barnabas
no more. Barnabas took sides with his
kin. That was his sister's son. And he took sides with him and
split up with Paul. It's sad when believers divide
and it's not over the gospel. That's a sad situation. And you
know this went throughout all the churches. You know this division
between Paul and Barnabas. Satan no doubt took it and ran
with it. But you know some of the best
medicine comes out of the most poisonous plants. We'll see that as we go along
here. Some of the best medicine comes out of the most poisonous
plants. God is always, always able to take our failings and
our fallings and turn them out for the good of His people. He
can do that, and He does it quite often, really, quite often. God
used this to spread the gospel. Barnabas went his way, and no
doubt he would continue preaching, and Paul went his way. And then
what happened? Paul met young Timothy. What a blessing that became to
Paul, and what a blessing that became to Timothy, to be able
to sit under the ministry of the Apostle Paul. They became
very close to one another. God raised up Timothy to replace
Barnabas in that area. And Paul became like a father
to him. In fact, he said over in 1 Timothy 1-2, he called Timothy,
my own son in the faith. My own son. Then Timothy's mother, it speaks
of his mother. It speaks of his family. Was a Jewish woman. Here's another
thing where God turns around. Here's another, what I'm saying,
here's something else that God turns around to the good of his
church. And his father was Greek. Well,
that was not even supposed to be allowed. A Jew was not strictly
forbidden to marry a Gentile. You can see that over in Deuteronomy
7. I'm not going to turn there, but Deuteronomy 7, chapter 7,
verse 3, they are strictly forbidden to marry a Gentile. And this
Jewish woman did what she was not supposed to do. Just like God took that relationship
between Bathsheba and David, that wicked situation. And you
know what came out of that? Solomon. Look over in Psalm 103. Psalm
103. I was thinking of this while
I was sitting there going over that note. Psalm 103 in verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. She did what
she wasn't supposed to do. And yet, what did God do? He took that son and turned him
into a gospel preacher, Timothy. And Timothy, it says, was well
reported of by the brethren. And this is a requirement for
one to be in the ministry. He must be well reported of within
and without. Look over in 1 Timothy chapter
3. Let me show you this. Let's look in
the Word of God and see this. It says in those first six verses,
this is a true saying, if a man desires the office of a bishop,
he desires it good work. A bishop then must be blameless,
the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given
to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker,
not greedy, a filthy lucre, not patient, not a brawler, not covetous,
one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in
subjection with all gravity, for for man know not how to rule
his own house, How shall he take care of the church of God? Not
a novice, lest, being lifted up with pride, he fall into the
condemnation of the devil. This is the requirement that
a man must meet if he's going to take this office of a bishop,
the office of a pastor. He said this is the requirement.
And let this first be proved. And not a novice. You know, Timothy
sat under Paul for a good while before Paul turned him loose.
Who a man is at home and at work is who you end up with. That's
who you end up. I've learned this. I've learned
this. Me and Jeremy have learned this.
The real employee shows up about two months later after you hire
him. That's the truth. You can hire a man, but you have
to let, you pretty much have to let a couple months go by
before the real man shows up and the real personality starts
coming out. That's why he says, let this
first be proved. Then Timothy's childhood here.
Timothy had a good upbringing. His mother taught him the Scriptures.
She took the Word of God and sat down and she saw to it that
her son was taught out of the word of God. Not according to
the Greek's way, but she said, Timothy, I ain't no doubt that
bedtime at night, she would take him aside and read the word of
God to him. And of course, she was brought
to faith in Christ, so she would speak of Christ to him. She taught
him, no doubt. His mother taught him the scriptures,
which were able to make him wise unto salvation through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Teaching, this is so important,
is to be done at home as well as the church. Probably more so at home because
that's where they see the examples. The examples is what they see.
That's what teaches. I'd say examples teach probably
more than words. That's why he says in Ephesians
6, he says, parents bring up your children in the fear and
admonition of the Lord. Bring them up that way. Maybe
God will save them. Maybe He will. Now Paul does
something with Timothy that seems odd or maybe even wrong. In verse 3 he takes Timothy and
he has him circumcised. What did they just fight about
over there in chapter 15? Over in chapter 15, we looked
at that last week, it said a certain man, which came down from Judea,
taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised after
the man of Moses, you can't be saved. Now what does he do? They
settled this matter about circumcision and keeping of the law. It was
absolutely not necessary. So he takes Timothy and he has
him circumcised. Well, here's the reason. Paul, by wisdom, removed all stumbling
blocks out of the way for Timothy to minister to the Jews. You know, he had family members
that were Jewish. You know, he'd go over to his grandma and grandpa,
they were Jews. Half of his family were Jews.
And Paul removed all the stumbling blocks out of the way so that
he could minister to the Jews, and he removed all the stumbling
blocks that he could out of the way of the Jews so that they
could hear without being prejudiced. That was wisdom on Paul's part.
This had nothing to do with salvation, as it did over there in chapter
15. And Timothy knew this. Timothy knew this. He knew that
this had nothing to do with salvation. It was just an advantage that
Paul was going to give him in preaching where he lived to those
Jews. This was wisdom, as I said, on
Paul's part. But listen, it was also a show of submission on
Timothy's part. Because Paul said, Timothy, we
need to do this. And Timothy said, okay. As painful
as it might be, okay. And he submitted. Barnabas should
have done that. Barnabas should have submitted
to him. Paul removed anything that would unnecessarily hinder
the furtherance of the gospel. Paul said in one place, he said,
I became all things to all men. Look over in 1 Corinthians. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter
9. Look in verse 19, Paul says,
For though I be free from all men, I am not under bondage to
any man, any system, any law, I am not under bondage to it,
yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain them
more. Unto the Jews I became as a Jew,
that I might gain the Jews, that they would listen to me. To them
that are under the law, as under the law. that I might gain them
that are under the law. Now not for salvation, you know
that. Paul didn't go under the law and claim salvation by it,
but as far as he could go, he did. To them that are without
law, as without law, being not without law to God, but under
the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law.
To the weak, Paul said, became I as weak. He became like those he preached
to. not an idolatry, you know that,
that I might gain the wings. I am made all things to all men,
that I might by all means save some through the preaching of
the gospel. And this I do, listen, for the
gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. That's
self-denial, isn't it? That's self-denial. We looked
last Wednesday, and the Lord said, this is the fast that I
have proclaimed. And we deny ourselves. It's self-denial. It had nothing to do with salvation.
Because, listen, when Titus was compelled to be circumcised over
in Galatians 2, let's look over in Galatians 2 real quick. When he was compelled to be circumcised
over there, Paul would not have anything to do with it. He wouldn't
let it happen. Both Titus' parents were Gentiles. And Paul would not budge an inch.
He wouldn't budge an inch when it came to salvation by grace
alone and Christ alone. When it came to Titus, because
with Titus, it was a matter of salvation. And Paul would not
let him circumcise Titus. But he did Timothy because it
had nothing to do with salvation. It wasn't an issue. It was not
an issue at all. What did I say? Galatians 2.
I put over Ephesians 2. Let me show you this. I'm holding
Galatians 2 and verse 3. He says, but neither Titus, who
was with me being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
I wouldn't allow it. And that because the false brethren unawares
brought in, who came in privately to spied our liberty, which we
have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage,
to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the
truth of the gospel might continue with you." Timothy, it had nothing
to do with the gospel. It had nothing to do with salvation.
Titus, it did. Paul made a stand. And after
this happened, they went through the cities to deliver the letter
concerning this matter of circumcision and keeping the law. They went
through the cities to deliver the letter written from the churches
in Jerusalem about this matter. And God, it says, and God, in
verse 5, blessed the churches. And He added, He added to their
numbers daily. Can you imagine? Every day. And I believe that's
what it means. Every day God was saving Gentiles
and bringing them into the church. Every day. Daily He did this. And they became established,
it said, in the faith. This is the effect of sound preaching. This is the effect. If you want
to establish the church, you don't do it by organizing ball
teams and building gymnasiums and having social events. You do it by preaching the gospel.
Just what we are doing, preaching the gospel. That's what he says
over here in 1 Timothy. Over in 1 Timothy chapter 4,
Paul says, Over here in 4.16, Paul said
to Timothy, take heed unto thyself, that is your conduct, your study,
your prayer, everything that has to do with your spiritual
life, and unto the doctrine, the gospel. Continue in them,
for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that
hear thee. The churches became established
in the faith. And then we see God's sovereignty
here now. His providential guidance of
Paul. In verse 6, they were forbidden to preach the Word in Asia. And
my friend, that was judgment against Asia. Now, later on, down the road,
they did go over there, but at this time, that's judgment against
where God keeps the gospel out of. That's judgment, man. That's judgment against that
people. ought to have the gospel. And the only reason we can give
for this is this. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in thy sight. It was not time for Asia to have
the gospel. Because he's on the trail of
one of his sheep. And it leads this way, not that
way. And Paul learns, no doubt, and
we learn as we go through this life, don't we? Paul learned
to trust God. He learned through all this to
trust the Lord, to guide Him, direct Him. The Gospel travels
throughout this world by divine direction. It did not come here,
what, 50-some years ago by accident? Now, they thought they called
Him on the spur of the moment because they needed to come up
with somebody. Bill, did they know that God had this man set
and prepared to come into this town and preach the gospel and
raise up a man like Henry Mahan and for 50 some years have a
powerful gospel ministry, I think, in the whole world at this time.
It was going on. Would you have foreseen that? No. No. And he didn't either. To have the gospel is to have
God's favor. And you cannot put a price on
God's favor. Not at all. And God sends the
gospel to his sheep and he calls them out of darkness into his
marvelous light. when He's pleased to, when it
pleases Him. Paul said, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and revealed His Son in
me. That's when the gospel will come
your way. And then in verse 7, they thought,
well, we won't go to Asia, so we'll go to Bithynia. And they were not allowed to
go there either. God shut the door on Bithynia. He providentially
hindered them from going to Bithynia. God is directing their steps
all the way. This whole way God is directing
the steps of His preacher. And He's preparing a woman down
there by the river. That's what's happening. We'll
look at that next week. That's what's happening. He sends
the gospel to His people when He's ready. He didn't allow Paul
to go to Bithynia. He directed Paul's steps. You
know, there is an appointed time for the sinner to meet the Savior. We have several ladies in here
pregnant. There is an appointed time for
that child to be born. And there is an appointed time
for every child of God to be born. And when it's time, it
will not be a minute late or a minute early. Jason was two
weeks early than what the doctor said. Jeremy was right on the
money. But God is never late and never early, but right on
time. Providentially, He just, I mean
to write down to the minutest details, He's bringing things
about. to bring His sheep under the
gospel and to hear and meet their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He directs the whole thing. Over in Ecclesiastes, I have
to read this. You've read this, I don't know how many times,
but in Ecclesiastes 3, to everything there is a season and a time
for every purpose under the heaven. Thank God there is a purpose
to it. There's a time to be born, and there's a time, a set time,
to die. The time to plant, and the time
to pluck up that which is planted. The time to kill, and the time
to heal. The time to break down, and the
time to build up. The time to weep, and you know
what? All these times are really spiritual
times too. There's a time for God to break
you down, and there's a time for God to build you up. There's
a time for God to make you weep over sin. There's a time for
God to make you laugh and rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
a time to mourn. There's a time to dance. David
danced, didn't he? His wife got jealous. She said,
oh, you showed yourself in front of all those women. She got all
upset and jealous. David said, well, I think that's
something. You should hang around. It'd
be more vile if that's what you count as vile. The time to cast
away stones and the time to gather them. But you can go on down
and read that. I'm going to get off the message here. There's
a time and purpose for everything under heaven. And when God opens
a door, we're to go through it. And when he shuts the door, we're
to leave it alone. It says over in Revelation 3,
7 and 8, when he opens, no man can shut. And when he shuts,
no man can open. If he shuts the door to Asia,
Paul, you're not going to Asia. Because if you do, you'll make
a bigger mess out of it than it already is. You're not going. If we wait on the Lord, sooner
or later, God will make it known what we should do. The key word
there is waiting. Oh, this nation, this nation
is the most impatient nation on earth. I stopped at McDonald's
here a couple of weeks ago and I had to pull aside. I thought,
what kind of service is this? I had to pull aside and I pulled
aside for about three minutes. What kind of fast service is
this? Impatient. Well, God gives a vision here
in verse 9. He gives a vision, He gives a
calling, and He gives an open door into Macedonia. Paul, this
is where you're going, Macedonia. And God called Paul to preach
the gospel here in Macedonia. The servant doesn't pick his
place of service. If he did, we'd all either be in Florida
or Hawaii. That's exactly what we would
do. We would pick some tropical place to go preach. The Virgin
Islands, not Africa. and not Mexico. But the servant
does not pick his place of service. His master chooses it for him. Every sheep has its time and
place to be born, and every preacher that God raises up, He'll send
him on time to that place. Where there's a calling, there
will be an open door. I've struggled with this for
years. You don't know how I've struggled with this for years. And you just have to sit and
wait until He opens the door. If He doesn't send, you don't
go. If He doesn't make it evident,
you don't go. There will be a people to preach
to, and God will give a hearing. People want to hear this man.
And God will give the message in power. You know, when Paul
went to the Thessalonians, let me see if I can find it. I had
it marked. When he went to the Thessalonians, over here in chapter 1, he says,
Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God, for our gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power. That's what
happens when God sends the Gospel to a people. And He sends them
that man to preach the Gospel. It comes in power and in the
Holy Ghost and in much assurance. And you know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction.
They didn't receive the Word easily, as we do. They put their
lives on the line for confessing Christ. with joy of the Holy
Ghost. That's what happens when God's
in it. That's what happens when God Almighty sends His man, sends
His message to His people. Power. Power of God's own. And the message will be the same
no matter where they are sent. It'll always be Christ crucified.
It'll always be concerning ruined by the fall, redeemed by the
blood, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. It'll always be
concerning those same. It'll always be who was crucified? Christ, the Son of God, that's
who was crucified. Why He was crucified? That He
might present us thoughtless before His throne. He might save
us from the wrath of God. And where He is now? Seated at
God's right hand. And you know what? It says in
verse 10, Paul's obedience. Paul did not fight and struggle
and say, I don't want to go to Macedonia. He was obedient. He packed his bags and headed
for Macedonia. It says there, And after he had
seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia.
You see in verse 9, it says, A vision appeared to Paul in
the night, and there stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed to him,
saying, Come over here, Macedonia, and help us. We are lost. That's what he's saying. Come
over here. This vision he saw was a man
from Macedonia saying, come over here to help us. We're lost.
We need to hear the gospel. And Paul said, this is of God.
This is of God. So he packed his bags and he
took off. I know this. God not only makes
His people willing in the day of His power, but He makes His
minister willing in the day of His power to go where He sends
them. And they go with confidence. You'll notice Paul said that
here in verse 10, Assuredly, gathering that the Lord had called
us. Well, this is not something easily
determined. And this is something everyone
who preaches the gospel wants to know. Assuredly, God's called
me to this. Assuredly, God has done this. Well, I tell you this, it will
become evident through the Lord's providential dealings and leadings. If Paul had gone where he wanted
to, it would have been a mess, wouldn't
it? It would have been a mess. God would not have attended his
ministry. He wouldn't have attended his preaching. It would have
been awful. But God's purpose begins to unfold
in verse 11 through 14. Therefore, loosing from Troas,
we came with a straight course to Samothracea, And the next
day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the chief
city of that part of Macedonia, and they colonized. And we were
in that city abiding certain days. And on the Sabbath day,
we went out of the city. We found out there were some
people meeting down by the river. There were some ladies meeting
down there. Paul said, we found this out, so we went down by
the river. We went down by the riverside where prayer was wont
to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted
there. And a certain woman named Lydia,
a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which, you know
where Thyatira is? You know where that's at? It's in Asia. That's in Asia,
where they were forbidden to go. That's in the part of the
country, God said, no, you're not going over there, Paul, you're
going down to Macedonia. There's a woman from there that's
going to be in Macedonia. And you're going to go down there
and you're going to preach the Gospel. And I'm going to say this one. Isn't that something? Isn't that
amazing? She was from the city of Thyatira,
which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened as
she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. So
God's purpose is now starting to unfold, isn't it? Paul was
just going this way, preaching the gospel as he travels, and
there's a woman down there waiting, just like that woman at the well.
If we could but learn to trust Him for the outcome of all things,
not just some things, I mean all things, because all things
are in His hands. Paul had no idea that a woman
named Lydia would be saved at Philippi. All he knows is that
God said, you're going to go down there and preach. You know
what Philippi is known for? Philippi is known in history
for that great battle between Octavius, Brutus, and Cassius. And Brutus and Cassius were defeated. Two generals. And this is where
Caesar took over. That empire fell to the feet
of Caesar at this time. That's what's known about Philippi
in history. It was a big city. Philippi was
named after King Philip, who's the father of Alexander the Great.
That's where he was at. But little, little is thought
of God's providential dealings here, isn't it? This will not
go down in human history. Little is thought of it as being
the place where Europe first heard the gospel. The greatest
thing that ever happened to Europe and Philippi was when Paul walked
into town and preached the gospel of God's glory. And Lydia was
the first convert from Asia. Isn't that amazing? I've just enjoyed that. I wanted
to jump right over to Lydia's conversion. But after reading
that, I thought, you've got to set the stage here. You've got
to deal with this. God's providential dealing in
the way He sends the gospel to His sheep. Sent it here 50-some
years ago. How long He'll let it stay here?
I don't know. It has its time. Look over history. The gospel goes through like
a tidal wave. Centers are saved. Churches are established. Time
rolls on. That tidal wave is going on.
And this place is no more. And that happens time and time
again. All these churches were established over there. Where
are they now? Well, I'll tell you where they're
now. They're in heaven. They're with the Lord. But they're not
over there. In all these places. And this
is what I want to say. This is so precious. Numbers
don't matter. You know, it's just like I've
learned this. The length of a sermon is not
important, it's the content of it. And the numbers in a crowd,
that's not the importance. It's that we have the gospel.
We have it.