Acts 14:1-20

Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day, you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2022, we'll make it through the book of Acts, all the way through the book of Philemon. We're at Acts chapter 14, the first 20 verses. It's a real humdinger today, full of some unexpected twists and turns. Let's go ahead and have some coffee.
We'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. And we pray, Lord, that as we read your word this morning, that you would let us be filled with faith, that we would follow after you, that we would trust in you. Lord, we pray that we would believe in your word and that we would bring you glory in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, here we go, Acts chapter 14. Really is a fun story of what's gonna happen with Paul and Barnabas here. Let's go ahead and turn in the text together. I've been working on realizing that I can't read 8.5 font very well, so I'm gonna put on my glasses. My wife pointed out to me that I need to start wearing my glasses more so I stop messing up at reading. So here we go.
Now it happened at Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided. part sided with the Jews and part with the Apostles. And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to abuse and stone them, they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lyconia, and to the surrounding region, and they preached the gospel there.
Well, what happens? Remember, they're up in Antioch. They're kind of in the upper region or southern regions of the area of Galatia. And as they're there, they're run out of town. And so they go down now to Iconium and they preach the gospel there. People respond in faith. People are believing. because they're preaching in the Lord. A great multitude believe, but not everybody. And so what happens is there's a certain amount of disbelieving Jews, people who don't want to hear it.
And it says they poisoned their souls or embittered their minds or embittered their souls against them. And eventually they turn the rulers of the city against them too. And they're about to stone them. And so what do Barnabas and Paul do? Well, they do what any sane person is going to do. They leave. There is a danger in the Christian faith that we see with the cult of martyrdom. It's going to become especially prevalent in the upcoming centuries, right after the apostles, where there are people who think that unless you're a martyr, you're not going to be saved, or somehow if you're a martyr, you're made into some type of super saint. But it's clear here that Paul and Barnabas leave.
They get word of it and they go. It's not always going to be the case. They're not always going to get word of it ahead of time. But the Lord gives them this harvest there. Many Jews and Gentiles do believe and become followers of Christ. And then picking up in verse 8, where do they go?
And in Lystra, a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, crippled from his mother's womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, When the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Laconian language, The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. In Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.
Then the priests of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this they tore their clothes and ran in among the multiple multitude crying out and saying men Why are you doing these things? We are men, also, with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways, nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness. in that he did good, gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these things they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.
Oh, what an interesting part of the story there. So they hightail it out of Iconium as they're about to get stoned, and they make their way down south and further east, and they end up at Lystra, and as they're there, Paul sees a man, and he's been lame his entire life from his mother's womb. He's never walked, but he sees that he has faith, and so what does he tell him? stand up right now and walk and he springs to his feet and he starts walking and people are absolutely amazed by this. Now, this is an interesting part that happens. They call Barnabas Zeus and they call Paul Hermes. Why would they do that? Well, in Lystra there's this old story of when Zeus and Hermes, Jupiter and his son Mercury came down and they visited with the people of Lystra. They tried to find some type of lodging in the town. Nobody would listen to them. Nobody would let them in. And so they finally found this small little thatched roof house and an older couple was there and they give these two men lodging. And as they give these two men lodging, they care for them.
They recognize that these men are not humans, but somehow they're gods. And so they try to make a sacrifice. And so Zeus and Hermes say, no, don't do that. And they take them up on a high hill. They destroy the entire town in judgment, but they leave just these two alive. They transform their house from a hut. into a palace or into a temple and they say, what do you want from us? And they say, make us priests and don't let either of us see one another die.
And so they grant them those wishes. This is the old story, the old legend, the old tale from Lystra. And so here two men come and they visit And this poor man who's never walked in his entire life hears their message, receives their message, and all of a sudden he stands up and is walking. And so either the people of Lystra think, oh, these people are Zeus and Hermes, and we need to sacrifice to them out of joy, or we better learn from the past and we don't want our town destroyed again. And so they come out and they try to do it. And Paul and Barnabas are totally distressed by this. They rip their clothes. and they do everything they can to dissuade them.
No, no, no, we're just like you, of the same nature. We have flesh, we have bone, we have skin, we have hair. We are not gods. But there is one God. There is but only one God. Turn from these useless things to the living God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them. They go directly at the idolatry of their whole system of gods and sacrifice, and they say, whoa, hold on, stop, stop. This is what the good news of Jesus Christ is all about, is that there is one true and living God. And so don't turn there. Don't do this. Turn away from that idolatry. And they tell them that this God is gracious. He's the one who brings the rain. He's the one who brings the seasons. He's the one who does all these things. And even though they are pleading with them, we're not gods, they do everything possible to try to keep them to sacrifice, and they barely do it. But then, in verses 18 through 20, the tides change. Sorry, 19 through 20.
Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he arose and went into the city, and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. Well, that was an unexpected turn. You would think that after they'd said this there would have been a great revival and all these people would believe and all these people would come to the Lord. But no, what happens, they simmer the crowd down and then the disbelieving Jews from further west and north came to Lystra.
They come and they dissuade the people. You can imagine this wouldn't be hard to do. They've just denounced all their gods, and they convince them to stone Paul. Paul, they think, is the chief spokesman here. He's the one who's talking the most, so he's probably the younger of the two, and so they stone him. And they take what they think is a lifeless corpse, and they throw it outside the city walls. And it's there that the disciples gather around. And he's not dead. He goes back into the city. And what happens the next day? They leave. They go to Derby. Stoning is a death sentence.
Remember what Jesus had told Paul? That he had much to suffer for Jesus' name's sake? Paul was the one going around and stoning the Christians, or sorry, dragging the Christians out of their homes to take them back to Jerusalem, persecuting Christ. And now Jesus has considered Paul worthy to suffer for his name. And God will not share his glory with any other.
But you're starting to see a pattern here, aren't we? Of how this happens as Paul is going. He goes and he talks to the Jews, and then he talks to the Gentiles. There's many people who believe, and there are many people who don't believe. The people who don't believe then stir up so much trouble that Paul and Barnabas have to leave the town. And this is how the gospel spreads, under persecution. Well, amazing stories.
Which camp of people are you in? What type of people are you? Are you of the believing camp? Or would you chase the good news out of your own heart? Would you plug up your own ears? Would you cover your own eyes? Or would you receive faith? Would you believe this good news that Jesus Christ has come to save sinners?
Let's pray. Father, we thank you that your gospel cannot be stopped. We thank you that in amazing and miraculous ways, you have saved your people. You have spread your gospel. and that absolutely nothing will stop the advancement of your kingdom. Lord, we pray that we would follow after you, even in the face of persecution, but that we would also be wise when that persecution should come. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you rest in Jesus Christ. May you believe the good news, and may you have hope that would last for all eternity. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.