Acts chapter 13. I'm taking the
title for the message from what is said down here in verse 12. Acts 13 verse 12. Then the deputy,
the deputy of this country, this little island by the name of
Cyprus, the deputy, we know his name is Sergius Paulus. When he saw what was done, he
believed. Being astonished at the doctrine,
notice it doesn't say doctrines, it's the doctrine of the Lord.
Whenever we find the word doctrine in the scripture, when it's in
reference to the gospel of God, it's always singular, doctrine. Whenever we read about the doctrines
of men, it's always in the plural, the doctrines of men. The gospel
is the doctrine of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Astonished
at the doctrine of the Lord. This was a response of this ruler
in Cyprus to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel
is called the doctrine of God our Savior. In Titus chapter
2, it says this, that we may adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior in all things. The gospel is a gospel of God.
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are granted and given
God-given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are truly and always fully
amazed and totally amazed at the amazing grace of God. The
amazing grace of God is given to such a sinner as me. I'm amazed at the grace of God.
I hope you are amazed and overwhelmed at the grace of God given unto
you. You have a desire to hear the
gospel? You have a faith to believe the gospel? That's a miracle
of God's grace. He hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babe, even so, father,
for so it seemed good in his sight. Aren't you amazed that
God would save you? I am amazed that God would save
this sinner that I am. I can say with the Apostle Paul,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? Oh, I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. The only way God can be just
and justify the ungodly is in and by and through being justified
freely by His grace through redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That God in His eternal and sovereign mercy would choose a sinner like
me, that's amazing. I'm amazed at the miracle of
God's sovereign love to unworthy sinners like Paul, every sinner
who knows the grace of God and who believes the gospel can say
with Paul, this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all that
temptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ, he came to save sinners. I'm the chief one. I'm the chief
offender. We can say with the apostle,
as he said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. You see, if you know you're a
sinner, God will teach you there's a savior. Grace is for the guilty,
mercy is for the miserable. A man who thinks he's justified
by his doing will never seek salvation in Christ. He'll always
go about to establish a righteousness of his own, but those who have
been stripped and know they're guilty, And though they're miserable
sinners, mercy's for the miserable. Grace is for the guilty. The
Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. He didn't come to call
the righteous. He came to call sinners unto
repentance. Can you find your place there?
Can you take your place there before God? I'm really not that
bad." Yes, you are. You are that bad and worse. Worse. Now, in chapter 13 here, when
Paul and Barnabas had returned from Jerusalem back to the church
in Antioch, You remember they had spent one whole year teaching
and preaching the word of the Lord there in Antioch, and the
Lord was pleased to bless that ministry. And out of that one
year of gospel preaching, the Lord established a church, and
he also called out sinners and translated them into the kingdom
of God their son, but he also called out a number of men, sinners
saved by the grace of God, to go and preach the gospel in other
places. This place in Antioch was known
as a preaching center, a place where the gospel was preached.
teaching and preaching the word of the Lord. And where the Lord
would send out men to travel and to preach the gospel, to
fulfill that command the Lord has given to his church. Going
to all the world and preach the gospel unto every creature. And they took that commission
seriously. And they fasted and prayed unto
the Lord about this endeavor of what we call evangelism. that
is traveling and preaching the gospel wherever God would open
the door for us. Look at verse 1 now, Acts chapter
13. Now there was in the church,
the church there is his body, those who were called out of
darkness into God's marvelous light. They lived in this city
north of Jerusalem named Antioch. And there were certain men, prophets,
who were preachers and teachers. We know about Barnabas. We don't
know much about this man, Simeon, called Nagyr, and Lucius of Cyrene,
and Mayanaean, which had been brought up with Herod, the tetrarch,
or Herod the governor, and this man by the name of Saul. These
five men the Lord called out, and as they ministered to the
Lord, that is, to the Lord's people, They fasted, they were
serious about seeking the Lord's will. The Holy Ghost said, the
Holy Spirit spoke to their heart and said to them, laid this burden
on their heart. No doubt they were praying about,
Lord, who shall we send to go preach the gospel? Who will go
for us? And they prayed about that, they
fasted about that, and God laid on their heart to separate unto
this ministry Barnabas, and solve for the work. Notice it's called
a work, not a leisure. We labor in the Gospel. We labor in the Word of the Lord. Whereunto I have called them. The Lord raised up these faithful
men, these five men, and among those five men, the Lord sent
out his Gospel missionaries. These men were sinners who were
saved by the grace of God, who had experienced the saving power
of God in their heart, and were blessed of God to preach the
Gospel to others. They tasted that the Lord is
gracious, and they were eager to tell others about the bread
of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember what I've said about
preaching? Preaching is one beggar. telling
another beggar where he found bread. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the bread of life. Salvation is in him. And as they
ministered to the Lord's people, feeding them with the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, WE ARE CHARGED TO FEED THE CHURCH
OF GOD WHICH HE PURCHASED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD. THESE MEN WERE
FASTING AND PRAYING AND SEEKING THE WILL OF THE LORD ABOUT PREACHING
THE GOSPEL. AND IT WAS MADE KNOWN BY THE
SOVEREIGN CHOICE OF GOD THAT PAUL AND BARNABAS WOULD TRAVEL
AND PREACH THE GOSPEL. PREACHING THE GOSPEL COMES BY
THE CALLING OF GOD. NO MAN PUTS HIMSELF IN THE MINISTRY. PAUL WAS NOT SEEKING THE MINISTRY. SAUL OF TARSUS WAS NOT EVEN SEEKING
SALVATION, BUT THE LORD WAS SEEKING HIM OUT. AND GOD RAISED HIM UP
TO BE A PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL. NOW, LET ME READ THIS TO YOU,
FOUND IN EPHESIANS, CHAPTER 3. EPHESIANS, CHAPTER 3, WHEN PAUL
WRITES ABOUT BEING CALLED AND PUT INTO THE MINISTRY, HE SAYS
THIS, In Ephesians chapter 3, wherefore I was made a minister
according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by
the effectual working of his power unto me who am less than
the least of all the saints is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles, what we preach, the unsearchable riches
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we preach. GOD PUT
HIM IN THE MINISTRY ACCORDING TO THE EFFECTIVE WORKING OF HIS
POWER. THE CHURCH OF ANTIOCH SENT THEM
AWAY AS THEY FASTED AND PRAYED, VERSE 3, THEY LAID THEIR HANDS
ON THEM, THAT IS, THEY RECOGNIZED GOD'S CALLING TO THESE MEN AND
THEY SENT THEM AWAY. They sent them away with their
prayers, praying for them all the time. They sent them away
with their full support, financially. And spiritually they prayed for
them, and financially they backed them. They didn't have to go
and labor as a priest. They were provided for by this
church here in Antioch. And that's what we do today.
We send out our missionaries and We support them. This church has ever since it
was assembled as a gospel preaching church. Now look at verse four
and five. So they being sent forth, sent
forth by God, God the Holy Spirit, they departed from Cilicia and
from thence they sailed to Cyprus. Now you can look on your map
and you can find out the distance and so forth, but traveling that
day was difficult. It's not like it is this day.
Traveling that day was difficult. You couldn't hop on a plane or
a train or a car. It's either by boat or by wagon
train or by foot. Verse five, and when they were
at Salamis, this is the capital of Cyprus, they preached the
word of God in the synagogue of the Jews, and they had also
John, John Mark, to their ministry. Now, a couple things here. Barnabas was from this island
of Cyprus. That was his home city. You remember
what the Lord, why did they go to Cyprus first? Well, that was
the burden of their heart, and the Lord called them to that.
But remember when the Lord saved that wild gathering? You remember
what he told him? Go home and tell how great things
the Lord had done for you. And evidently this was so heavy
upon the heart of Barnabas that he told his dear friend, Paul,
let's go to my hometown and let's start right there preaching the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's what they did. That's
what they did. Now notice when they came to
Salamis, They came to the synagogue of
the Jews, and we're gonna see this repeated over and over again.
The gospel was to the Jew first, and then also to the Gentile.
We're gonna see that later on in this chapter. The synagogue
or the assembly of the Jews, but here's what they did. They
preached the word of God. THEY DIDN'T GIVE THEM ANY OTHER
ADVICE OTHER THAN POINTING THEM TO THE WORD OF GOD AND THE GOSPEL
MESSAGE FOUND IN THE WORD OF GOD. THEY PREACHED UNTO THEM,
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, HOW HE DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO
THE SCRIPTURES. NOW, WE HAVE AN EXAMPLE OF THAT.
JUST ACROSS THE PAGE, WE HAVE A RECORDING OF PAUL'S Message
in Acts 13 verse 23 and we get a sense of his ministry And what
they preach when it says they preach the word that means they
preach Christ of this man seed have God according to his promise
raised unto Israel a Savior the Lord Jesus Christ they preach
Christ and him crucified look further on in Acts chapter 13
and Verse 37, this is the same sermon,
whom God raised up again, God raised again and saw no corruption.
Talking about the risen Lord, how he died for our sins according
to the scriptures. You remember 1 Corinthians 15?
How he is raised again the third day according to the scriptures.
God raised him up, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
SO WHEN IT SAYS THEY PREACHED THE WORD OF THE LORD, WHAT DID
THEY PREACH? THEY PREACHED CHRIST AS EVERYTHING IN SALVATION. READ
ON, ACTS 13, 39, AND BY HIM WE HAVE FORGIVENESS OF SIN. BY HIM
ALL THAT BELIEVE, WE BELIEVE BY HIM ACCORDING TO THE WORK
OF HIS MIGHTY POWER. All that believe are justified
from all things which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. So they didn't preach the law
for salvation. They preached the Lord Jesus
Christ for salvation. Now does that sound familiar?
That's what we preach. We preach Christ and him crucified
as everything in salvation. NOW, AS THEY WERE PREACHING THE
GOSPEL IN THIS CITY OF SALAMAS, THE CAPITAL, VERSE 6, AND WHEN
THEY HAD GONE THROUGH THE ISLAND UNTO PAPHOS, THAT IS, FROM SALAMAS
IN THE EAST ALL THE WAY TO THE OTHER END OF THE ISLAND, THEY
FOUND A CERTAIN SORCERER WHO WAS A FALSE PROPHET, A JEW WHOSE
NAME WAS BAR JESUS, OR SON OF JOSHUA, Verse 7, which was with
the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus. Sergius Paulus was a
prudent man. He was a wise man. He was a governor
of this island who called for Paul and Barnabas and Saul, we
know as Paul. Now here's the point I would
make. He desired to hear, not from Barnabas or Saul, he desired
to hear the Word of God. What did they preach? They preached
the Word of God. What did he want to hear? This
word desired means that he had a craving. He had an earnest,
he had a longing to hear not just what Barnabas' opinion was
or Saul's opinion, he wanted to hear what thus saith the Lord. And God gave him this desire
in his heart. If any man has a desire to hear
the word of the Lord and to hear the gospel, it's only because
God works that in you. IT'S THE WORKING OF GOD IN YOU.
THE CARNAL MIND WILL NOT RECEIVE THE THINGS OF GOD. THE NATURAL
MAN WILL NOT RECEIVE THE THINGS OF GOD. IF YOU DESIRE THIS MORNING
TO HEAR FROM GOD, I HOPE YOU DIDN'T COME HERE TO HEAR FROM
ME. I WANT YOU TO LISTEN TO WHAT
I SAY, BUT I WANT YOU TO HEAR GOD IN HIS WORD, IN THE GOSPEL. IF YOU HAVE A DESIRE THIS MORNING
TO THE THIRSTY DEER IS BECAUSE GOD
HAS GIVEN YOU A HUNGER AND A THIRST FOR THE BREAD OF LIFE, FOR THE
WATER OF LIFE, SEEKING SALVATION IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THAT'S
A DESIRE TO HEAR FROM GOD, SALVATIONS OF THE LORD. ISN'T THAT WHAT
YOU WANT TO HEAR? You don't want to hear about my experiences.
They won't do you any good. You don't want to hear about
my thoughts. They won't do you any good. I
want to tell you what God says about the way of salvation from
the word of the Lord. This false prophet, who was a
Jew, whose name was son of Joshua, He was with this deputy. Evidently,
he was his political advisor or his counsel or something. But God sent this man, Sergius
Paulus, a gospel preacher. But watch what happens. And this
is always what happens when the gospel is preached. Where the
gospel of God's grace is boldly and plainly and publicly declared,
you know what you'll have among the religious people? Opposition. We're going to see that all the
way through our study of the book of Acts. who was a trickster. He used,
like Simon Magus, he was a magician who used the art of deceit and
deceiving people to make himself to be somebody. He withstood
them seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Now you
can see what's going on here. This man Eliamus was in league
with Sergius Paulus. He was his advisor, his counsel. And when this man, Sergius Paulus,
desired to hear the word of the Lord, Eliamus stepped in and
said, you don't want to hear that. You don't want to hear
those fellas. You don't want to hear the word
of God. You want to hear what I say. Well, Paul plainly calls
him the child of the devil. He turned you away from the word
of the Lord. Now, false preachers, false preachers
and false prophets always seek to turn away people from hearing,
look what it says there, to turn away the deputy from the faith. What is the faith? Well, there's
one faith, one Lord, one gospel, one baptism. False preachers
always want to turn people away from the way of salvation in
Christ alone. There's just one faith, there's
just one way, there's just one salvation. It's in Christ. Our Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, the life. No man come to the Father but
by and through me. Now, no different in our day.
When the gospel of God's grace is plainly declared, all preachers
will always try to turn people away from the Lord Jesus Christ
to something else or something less or something more. Mark it down. They always will. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
plus anything, is not salvation. Christ alone is the Savior. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and we stand complete in Him. False preachers
are always opposed to what God calls the truth, the doctrine
of the grace of God, the sovereign grace of God, in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This man, because he was given
faith in Christ, Sergius Paulus, believed, being astonished, at
the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the doctrine
of the Lord Jesus Christ? You remember what, let me see
if I can find this over here in 2 John, I believe it is. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ, hath not God, he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ,
hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you,
and bring not this doctrine, receive him not in your house,
neither bid him God's speed." The doctrine, the gospel of God
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Now often we use the word T-U-L-I-P,
tulip, to with a systematic way of describing the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I've given this to you many
times, T-U-L-I-P. You know what those five things
stand for? We are what they call five-point Calvinists. What does
T stand for? Total depravity. Total depravity. What happened in the garden?
Sin entered in. And death by sin. And that sin
and guilt and condemnation passed upon all men. Total depravity. That is the doctrine of God. That's what the gospel of God
teaches. We are sinners through and through.
Total depravity. And then We have what we call
TU, stands for Unconditional Election. That is God in eternity
chose a people unto salvation. That's what this book teaches.
That is the doctrine of the gospel. Notice singular, doctrine of
the gospel. What happened in the garden?
What happened in eternity? God chose a people unto salvation.
And then what happened at Calvary? The L stands for limited atonement
or definite atonement or particular redemption. For whom did the
Lord Jesus Christ die? He did not die for all the sins
of all men. He did die for the sin of his
covenant people. And they shall be saved because
he put away their sin. We're not ashamed of that. A
lot of people call themselves four-point Calvinists. They want
to hedge on the thing of the atonement. His redeeming blood
was not shed in vain. He laid down his life for his
people, his sheep, and he saved them by his grace. And none for
whom Christ died can perish. That is his atonement. T-U-L-I stands for invincible
grace or effectual call. God doesn't try to save anybody. He calls them affectionately
by His grace. And they will, He said, my sheep,
hear my voice. I know them, I call them, and
they do follow me. And I give them eternal life.
We call that the effectual call of God, the Holy Spirit. And
that's what happens when God saves a sinner. when he gives
him a new nature, makes him a new creature in Christ. And the P
stands for perseverance and preservation. God's people are preserved by
the grace of God, and because they are preserved, they persevere
in the faith. They die in faith. They die believing
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Sergius Paulus
believed, being astonished, verse 12, at the doctrine of the Lord. That's what we preach, and that's
what we believe, the doctrine of the Lord. Now go back to verse
nine. Then Saul, who was also called
Paul, Paul was his Roman name, Paul being a Roman citizen, And
his name, Paul, means small. Remember he said, I'm the, I'm
less than the least of all the saints. I'm not worthy to be
called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. I am what
I am by the grace of God. He took this title to himself
saying that I am an insignificant sinner saved by the grace of
God. But he's filled and he's full of God, the Holy
Spirit. And this is true of every believer.
THE HOLY SPIRIT ABIDES WITHIN THE BELIEVER. AND NOTICE WHAT
HE DOES. WHEN HE FOUND OPPOSITION IN THIS
MAN, THIS SORCERER, ELIAMUS, THE SORCERER, AND WHEN THAT MAN STOOD AGAINST
THE APOSTLE PAUL AND OPPOSED THE MESSAGE OF GOD'S GRACE, HERE'S
WHAT HE SAID, VERSE 10, YOU'RE FULL OF ALL SUBTLETY,
ALL MISCHIEF, He says, you are a child of the
devil. These are strong words. You're
an enemy of all righteousness. Will thou not cease to pervert
or change the right ways of the Lord? Now, here's what false
preachers always do. They're an enemy of righteousness. Now, they're not against morality. Right? False preachers aren't
against morality. They want you to be a good citizen,
a good husband, a good worker, do all these things right. They're not opposed to morality,
but what these false preachers are opposed to is the imputed
righteousness revealed in the gospel. Blessed is that man to
whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without work. False preachers
are always opposed to that. They preach going about to establish
a righteousness of their own. All subtlety and all mischief,
this is Satan's lie. This is Satan's lie. Salvation
by works is Satan's lie, it's not God's truth. You're a child
of the devil. A message of the devil will not
save, a lie will not save. You remember what we read in
John 8? You should know the truth and the truth will set you free.
He said to those Jews, you're a father of the devil because
you will not believe the truth. An enemy of all righteousness,
an enemy to the Lord our righteousness. and they always want to change,
that word pervert, to change the right way of the Lord. Now, neither is there salvation
in any other, right? There's no other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. That's the same thing
that Peter preached to that Jewish council in his day, salvation
in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Strong words of condemnation.
Paul did not seek a compromise, but rather a strong, bold stand
for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he would not back
down. If you believe the truth and
preach the truth and stand for the truth, you cannot compromise. AND BE GOD'S SERVANTS, THOUGH
WE WERE AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN PREACHING THE GOSPEL UNTO YOU,
AND THAT WHICH WE PREACHED, LET HIM BE CURSED, LET HIM BE DAMNED. NOW, TWO THINGS HAPPENED, AND
I'LL CLOSE WITH THIS. AND NOW, BEHOLD, VERSE 11, TWO
THINGS HAPPENED. THE LORD CONDEMNED ONE AND JUSTIFIED
THE OTHER. Look at verse 11, and now behold
the hand of the Lord is upon thee. God's gonna blind you,
judicially blind you, not seeing the sun for seasons, physically
blind and judicially blind. And immediately there fell on
him a mist and a darkness. so much so that he went about
seeking some to lead him by the hand. God, he was already spiritually
blind, but God gave him a physical blindness to remind him of his
spiritual blindness, being dead in sin and in condemnation. The hand of God sent judgment
upon this man, but also the same hand of the Lord sent mercy to
the deputy when he saw what was done, verse 12. He heard what
Paul and Barnabas had preached. He heard the word of the Lord.
When he saw what was done, believed, being astonished, not at this
man's condemnation, astonished at the doctrine of the Lord,
that God would have mercy upon him, the sinner. You see, the
Lord will have mercy upon whom he will. He will harden whom
he will. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. The
same hand that dealt out justice, or the same hand that dealt out
mercy. THE LORD WILL SAVE WHOM HE WILL. AND I'LL TELL YOU WHO
HE'S GOING TO SAVE. IF YOU FLIP THE PAGE, THE LAST
PART OF THE APOSTLE PAUL'S MESSAGE IN ACTS 13, VERSE 48, AND WHEN
THE GENTILES HEARD THIS, THEY WERE GLAD AND GLORIFIED THE WORD
OF THE LORD And as many as were ordained to eternal life believe
the gospel. God has appointed a multitude
of people unto salvation by his grace and predestinated them
to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.