Acts 14:8-18 Stand Firm Against Satan
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Acts 14:8-18 Stand Firm Against Satan
We continue this morning in our study of the Book of Acts. We are in the middle of the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas. We saw last week Paul and Barnabas in Iconium, where once again they ran into resistance. Dr. Luke recorded that many Jews and Gentiles believed the Gospel message Paul and Barnabas delivered. The large number of new believers contrasted with the resistance to the gospel that was stirred up by the Jewish leadership resulted in a divided city and threats on the lives of the missionaries. The threats forced Paul and Barnabas to flee to Lystra and Derbe. Of course, being on the run for their lives did not prevent Paul and Barnabas from preaching along the way.
Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.
We need some historical geographic context here. There apparently were not mot many Jews in Lystra. Paul and Barnabas typically would go to the Synagogue first, but instead, Paul went to the Gentiles. Lystra had been made a Roman colony about 50 years earlier, principally so Rome could control the pagan tribes in the mountains to the east of town.
There was a legend in Greek mythology that Zeus and Hermes had once visited Lystra in disguise. The people of the town did not recognize them; only a couple of peasants did. Zeus and Hermes got so angry that no one recognized them they destroyed the town by an earthquake. The two peasants were spared and told everyone what had happened. In rebuilding the city, a temple to Zeus and Hermes was built, and the two peasants became its guardians. Since that time, the people of Lystra were constantly on the lookout for Zeus and Hermes to return to the city. This explains why the people of Lystra were so quick to jump to the conclusion that Paul and Barnabas were Zeus and Hermes.
Go back to verse 8. Dr. Luke records for us that Paul and Barnabas run across a man who was crippled from birth. We know that God is sovereign, so I think we can conclude that God decreed this man to be crippled from birth for this particular moment in which He would authenticate Paul as a servant of the sovereign God.
Question: What principle is presented in this pericope?
A sovereign God has the right and the power to use anyone and anything He wants to serve Him. In fact, every person, everywhere, in all times, is used by God to bring Him glory ultimately. I want you to think about this for a moment. This man was born crippled so that at some point, he would be healed by Paul to authenticate the gospel message he was preaching. All of God’s decree sets out what God wants the world to go through, so He ultimately is glorified. It is all about Him and not us.
As Paul began presenting the people of Lystra the gospel message, this crippled man listened to what Paul said. The Holy Spirit must have been giving Paul a heads up because he was looking intently at the crippled man as he was speaking. The sense of the word “intently” is that Paul was fixed on the man. He was staring at the crippled man. I don’t know if Paul knew what all was going on or was just following the direction of the Holy Spirit, but he knew that this man was at the center of what was happening. We know that Paul recognized that the crippled man had faith; how he recognized that, I could not say.
So Paul said loudly that the man should stand upright on his feet. The man responded and sprang up to his feet.
Question: What is the miracle here? Wait for an answer.
I would argue that several miracles are going on here. First, the feet are made whole. Second, the man could walk immediately. He did not have to learn to walk. Third, I think we should recognize the work of God to bring this man to this place when Paul would be there preaching. Forth, we should see the work of the Holy Spirit to lead Paul to preach what he did and see the man sitting there. All of these things illustrate for us the sovereignty of God and how He works to bring us to salvation.
And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.
Well, you just have to know that for Paul, things are not going to go easy. As soon as the people of Lystra saw the crippled man healed by Paul, they all began to shout and proclaim that Paul and Barnabas were Hermes and Zeus. Paul was called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. Every picture I have in my mind of Paul is that he was a type-A personality and did not hesitate to speak up. So it makes sense that they called him Hermes. IN Greek mythology, Hermes was considered the “herald” or proclaimer of the Greek gods. So it makes sense to call Paul the herald.
Remember what we discovered in our historical context. The people of Lystra had been waiting for Hermes and Zeus to return to Lystra, so when Paul healed the man, there was no doubt in their minds it was Hermes and Zeus.
Question: What does the town’s people thinking Paul and Barnabas were Hermes and Zeus tell us?
It tells us that Satan will counterfeit religion to accomplish his goals. Satan will even counterfeit God Himself to accomplish his goals. We must always be on the lookout for ways that Satan will make things look proper and right when they are anything but proper and right.
Defiling or perverting the gospel message is right where Satan focuses a great deal of his attention. If Satan can make the message sound right but not be right, he wins. So we have to make the Biblical Gospel message as clear and plain as possible, focusing on what God Himself told us. That message is that we are sinners in that we violated God’s character. As sinners, we are an enemy of God, and apart from the grace that He alone gives us, we have no hope of eternal life or relationship with Him. God can give us grace because Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross to pay the penalty that God’s righteousness and justice demand. God called us to be His before He created, and then He orchestrated the events of the world to bring us to the place and time we are given the faith to trust Him. Just as God brought this man, who could not walk, to the place and time Paul was preaching the gospel. God then gave the man the faith to believe.
We must keep that message clear and in front of people. It is not about the work we do or how good we are. Satan confuses people by putting those ideas out there for people to gravitate to.
And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.
Zeus and Hermes were in town, and the whole town was going crazy hearing about it. The priest of the temple outside of Lystra was ready to begin offering sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. There was no way they would allow Hermes and Zeus to come back into town and not be worshiped. Satan was working on the people of Lystra but also on Paul and Barnabas. Think about what was going on there in Lystra. Paul, by all accounts, Paul, as a type-A personality, was susceptible to pride.
Philippians 3:4–6 (ESV)
though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Clearly, Paul struggled with the reality of pride; I am right there with him in that. Satan knew this and knew this might be a good way to sideline Paul. If the entire city thought that they were gods, that had to be a boost to the ego of these two men. If Satan could get them to fall for all this attention, even if for a little while, he could weaken if not end their ministry.
But it was not that easy!
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.
I have played this scene over and over in my mind. Wait, wait, don’t do this; this is not right. Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes. We know from Rabbinic writing of the time that the tearing of clothes was a proper reaction to blaspheme. Certainly, Paul would have known that as a Pharisee. It may also have been simply an overt way to get everyone to see they were men just like the crowd.
Paul went on to speak again to the people, asking them why they were doing this. Paul would go on that they were men just like they were; they were not gods. Paul then moved back into the gospel message he had been presenting. Paul did not want anything to prevent the gospel message from being preached and heard.
Paul sets the example for all of us to follow. No matter what happens as we share the gospel, we should not give up and quit. We should never let what Satan brings up around us prevent us from doing what God wants us to do.
Paul’s message to the clamoring crowd was to turn from these false gods and toward the creator/sustainer of the universe.
In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”
God had allowed the people of the world to go their own way. There is just so much theology in this verse. One of the prevailing views, even in the church, is that God reacted to Adam’s sin and had to come up with a new plan. But look what Paul said: God allowed all the nations to walk in their own way. God was not surprised by Adam’s sin or the fact that the entire human race was sinners. God allowed it to occur. It was part of His plan from the beginning. Otherwise, God would have had no reason to call us before He created us. What I want you to see here is the reality that God is completely sovereign, and nothing happens outside of His decree, including a sinful world.
God revealed Himself to the world through His creation. He gives rain to both the just and the unjust. That is called common grace. God knew that the world, despite being full of sinners, would recognize the seasons and the grace given to the world. Paul would later write to the Romans that the world suppressed the truth of God seen in creation and instead turned to worship that creation rather than the creator.
Paul and Barnabas were doing all they could to present the gospel to the people of Lystra, but the people did not want to listen. They just wanted to worship Hermes and Zeus.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Satan was attempting to thwart the ministry of Paul and Barnabas. He approached Paul with what Paul himself admitted was an issue, his pride. Satan wanted to sideline Paul and thereby sideline the gospel message Paul preached.
We need to recognize that Satan is a master student of humanity in general, and he knows his opponents better than we know ourselves. He knows our weaknesses, and he knows our strengths. He will use that knowledge of us to build ways to weaken us. We must always be on the lookout for those attempts by Satan to sideline us and our message.
We need to pay attention to what we focus on and what our desires are. Is satan doing things to grab your attention away from God? Is Satan using your own personality and desires to sway your intent to serve God?
God has called each of us to be His follower and has commissioned us to make disciples by baptizing and teaching the entire word of God. It should not shock you to learn that Satan does not want you to do that. Satan is going to do whatever he can to prevent you from being effective in making disciples. Jesus promised us a helper, the Holy Spirit, to be effective, but He also told us the path would be difficult. We need to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit and in His direction to stand firm against the work of Satan. This requires us to be tuned to our relationship with God and remain firm in our study and remembrance of His word.
Let’s Pray!