Revive Us Again | Week 12 | Acts 14

Acts 14 and the Call to Revival

If you would, at this time, please join me by taking your copy of the Scriptures and turning with me to Acts chapter 14. We will consider verses 14 through 17. Acts chapter 14, verses 14 through 17. This is the 12th message in this short series we're going through.

Let me pray.

O God, Lord, I call upon you in the name of Jesus. Lord, to at this moment, fill me with your spirit that I may speak to your people. Lord, it was a tough week of study, emotionally, time-wise. And God, if you do not speak through me today, I fear they will not hear from you.

Please, in Jesus' name, through your spirit, speak to your people.

Amen.

Let's begin with the reading of the text. Acts chapter 14, 14 through 17. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowds, 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 the living God who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

In past generations, he allowed all nations to walk in their own ways, yet he did not leave himself without witness. For he did good by giving you rains from the heavens and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

Our overarching theme through this series has been Revive Us Again. I want revival for the church. And what better way to know what revival looks like than to see it take place in Scripture? I have repeatedly said that revival is when God's people do what the Word of God tells us.

And I've been saying that for so long now, the church has been reading about it and has not been being about it. And me being a guy, I grew up in the streets, right? And having this attitude of being about what I say I am, right?

When I was this street guy, this gangbanger, and this set that I represented, believe me when I tell you, I was about it. And then coming to the Christian faith and being a part of a church and seeing that when I was hurting, no one was hurting with me.

When I had a problem, no one was willing to help me solve that problem. That was not so in the streets. When I was hurting, my boys, my friends would hurt with me. If there was a problem, they would help me solve it.

And it wasn't always good, right? And I'm not saying that Christians should be a gang.

We should be better.

When one of us is hurting, Brittany, when we're hurting, we need to hurt with each other. We need to be emotional. We need to weep with those who are weeping, and we need to rejoice with those who are rejoicing.

And that simple command is hard to find in churches these days.

I want revival.

I want for the church to be about what they read about. Paul Washer says this, quote, I don't want revival. I want Christ. And if we want Christ, there will be revival, end quote. Maybe the reason why the church hasn't seen revival is because the church doesn't want Christ.

Let me say that again.

Maybe the reason why the church hasn't seen revival is because the church doesn't want Christ. We portray the name of Christian, but do we want Christ? Are we willing to say that Jesus Christ can tell me what to do?

Did you know that in your baptism, that's what you're proclaiming? You're saying, Jesus Christ is my master, and Jesus Christ can tell me what to do. Well, how does he tell you what to do? Through his word.

And did you know that Jesus is the word? Maybe the question we should ask Christians, or ask ourselves, is do we want Christ? And if we do, are we looking to him in everything that we do? The theme for this message is mere men.

We are but mere men. We are not gods.

We are men and women.

Human beings.

And you and I are nothing more or nothing less than what we are. In the case of our text, it's speaking about human beings. We are mere men and women of the one true God who has been given the power of God, that is the gospel, and a voice to spread the message of Christ.

You see, I believe if we truly want Christ, we would want everyone we know and don't know to want this Christ. I've probably said this before, I can remember being a young teenager and having a crush on someone.

And then when I gather with my friends and begin to tell, hey, I have a crush on somebody, and I would tell them about it. And I'm telling them about it. I'm not that I want them to have a crush on her as well.

But I'm telling my friends, those who I'm around, about someone. And yet we're claiming as Christians to be in love and sewed out to Jesus Christ. And we're unwilling to tell our friends about him.

Shame on us.

Why Paul and Barnabas Were in Lystria After Preaching in the Synagogue

In our outline today, we're going to see Paul plead with a crowd of people not to sacrifice an ox on the behalf of him and Barnabas. And now what I want us to do is I want us to ask four questions concerning this text.

Question number one, why are they in Lystria? Question number two. Question number two is a, well, no, it's four questions, but three points. So the question number two is a compound question. Why were Paul and Barnabas?

Excuse me.

Why were Paul and Barnabas mistaken for?

No, excuse me.

Who was Paul? I wrote that wrong. Who were Paul and Barnabas mistaken for and why? And question number three, which is the fourth question. What was their message to the people? And as we transition in this chapter, we're going to see the dangers of sign gifts.

I know you probably never heard that before. But I'm telling you right now, there's a really good reason why the sign gifts have left. And we're going to see that today in our text. So question number one, why are they, Paul and Barnabas, in Lystria?

If you remember over the last two weeks, we've been walking through this and we see Paul and Barnabas. They went into a synagogue. It was on the Sabbath day and they were asked to speak. Paul, being the preacher that he is, preaches Christ, son of David, the fulfillment of prophecy and how Jesus, the son of David, is greater than Moses.

Just a real quick recount from the text. If you look in chapter 13, verse 38 and 39, says Paul speaking, Let it be known to you. So he's in a Jewish synagogue. Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man, speaking of Christ, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

And by him, everyone who believes is free from everything from which he could not be free from by the law of Moses. He is saying that freedom is in Christ and not in Moses. He's speaking to a group of people who are sold out to the Torah, as you should be, rightly divided.

Moses spoke about a prophet like him coming from among the brothers. And Moses said when he comes, listen to him. Listen to him.

Forget about me.

Listen to him. Gospel of John opens up chapter one, verse 17, that the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The old covenant representation that the head is Moses. The new covenant representation is Christ.

Paul here is introducing this Jewish synagogue to the new covenant, and he's showing how in the new covenant sins are not forgiven by you sacrificing lambs or turtles or turtle doves or pigeons. It's through the one lamb sent by God, Jesus Christ.

He is the once and for all sacrifice. There need be no more sacrifices. That God himself was going to send the sacrifice that would account for past saints, present saints, and future saints. There will not need to be anymore, and this is why through Jesus we are free.

We find freedom. After Paul's message, they were asked to come back the next week, and those who heard the message went out and spoke the message. Ladies and gentlemen, that's evangelism 101. You speak what you heard.

They went out telling everyone, hey, something new is taking place. Evangelism is telling what you know to be true. That in Jesus, son of David, they no longer had to make sacrifices. They went out telling people, we don't have to take our lambs or purchase a lamb at the temple and have a priest sacrifice it for us.

Because of John the Baptist, when he sees Jesus and he says, behold, the lamb of God, that's him, that's the guy, that's what the prophecies from the Old Testament is pointing to. When he would sacrifice that lamb, as they were killing the lamb, as they were consuming the lamb, as they were putting the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and on the mantle, it was pointing to something greater.

And that's what Paul is speaking about. He's saying, don't miss this, you no longer have to make a sacrifice. God himself has sent his son, and his son as high priest and sacrifice atones for our sins.

That message was spoken by the people, them hearing and telling, and the next synagogue day, the next Sabbath, the Bible says that almost the whole city came. They heard and spoke, and the next week, almost the whole city came to one place.

Oh, the power of speaking what you've heard. You want a church to die? Keep your mouth shut. If you don't want revival, keep your mouth shut. But if you're like me, and you want to be a part of a great move of God, I'm telling you what, speak what you have heard, and what you know to be true.

And I'm telling you, there will be a great revival. And because of this response, almost the whole city coming to that Sabbath, because of that response, the people, Paul and Barnabas, were ran out of Antioch.

They were kicked out of Antioch. We no longer want to hear you, because you are shaking up things. You are turning our city upside down. They want no part of it. Paul and Barnabas shook the dust from their feet and went to Iconium.

We're going to see this in verses 1 -5 in our chapter today, chapter 14. So look in chapter 14. We're going to read verses 1 -5. Now at Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number, both Jews and Greeks, listen, believed.

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their mind against the brothers. So they remained for a little while. Now in this part right here where it says a little while, this could be three days, or this could be a year.

It doesn't tell us how long this little while is. It just says that they were there for a little while. And in studying, it could be a day, it could be a year, no one really knows. Speaking boldly for the Lord and bore witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands, but the people of the city were divided.

Some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles, when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to mistreat them and to stone them. They spoke the word of God. God authenticated their message by giving to them signs and wonders.

And what came from it? A mob wanting to stone them. So they wind up in Lystria, which is in Iconium. These words are really hard to say, especially if you have to say them with one another. Lystria and Iconium, because they were forced out of Iconium, right?

Try saying all those words. Lystria, Iconium, and Iconium. According to verses 6 and 7, they hit the ground running with the gospel. Let's go back and look at verse 5 and we'll read to verse 7. When an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystria and Derbe, cities of Iconium and the surrounding countries.

And they... listen... And there they continued to preach the gospel. Threats of persecution and persecution itself could not keep them from preaching the gospel. Ladies and gentlemen, this is true Christianity.

In the face of tyranny. Oh, you want to kill me? Let me tell you what Christ has done for you. We have so much to learn. We have forgotten so much. Point number two, this is that compound question. Who were Paul and Barnabas mistaken for and why?

Now in order to answer who they were mistaken for, we need to know why they were mistaken for them. So look at verse 8. We'll read verses 8 through 11. Now at Lystria, 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 looked intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, stand up on your feet.

And he sprang up and began to walk. And when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices saying in Lyconian, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. Question, what was it that made the people of the city believe that Paul and Barnabas were some kind of gods?

Answer, signs and wonders. Signs and wonders. Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a world where people are more or less worshipped for performing false signs and worship. You don't believe me? Turn on your TV.

Go to YouTube. All this garbage we see false teachers being worshipped for false signs and wonders. And the teachers are accepting their sacrifice of praise. They're accepting men and women bowing down to them as they perform these false signs and wonders.

True, authentic sign gifts, as good as it would be to have them, could very well hindrance the ministry of the gospel. Why? Because we're so foolish. Remember what Nicodemus said to Jesus, we know that you come from God, because no one can do these signs that you are doing unless they are from God.

That's been flipped around. And all of a sudden, people are willing to sacrifice, whether it be an animal or even in praise and bowing down and worshipping people, whether they had the power or they don't, or whether it's manipulated, they are receiving this worship.

In Scripture, we see that they do not receive this worship. They know that they are mere man. Now, let's see how it plays out. Look at verses 12 through 13. Barnabas, they called Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker.

And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance of the city, brought an ox and garlands to the gate and wanted to offer sacrifices to the crowds. So they were mistaken for Greek mythological gods, Zeus and Hermes, otherwise known as Jupiter and Venus, and we do not have time to get into that.

But here's the story. So it's said, and I'm only going to tell the story, it's not in Scripture, but when you study this, and I won't get into everything about it, but it was said that Zeus and Hermes had come down to them in human form and they did not recognize them.

And so a curse came upon that town, that city. Zeus and Hermes came to that town. They did not recognize. Now, we know that they're false gods, right? But this is the story that's told in this to why this takes place, because there was a time when Zeus and Hermes came down, they did not recognize them.

So not wanting to miss an opportunity to recognize them this time, the priest of Zeus brought forth an ox to be sacrificed to them, to the people, which takes us to our third point. What was the message preached to the people?

The Blasphemy of Worshiping Mere Men

Look at verse 14 and 15a. When the apostles of Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowds, crying out, men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like nature with you and we bring you good news.

Ladies and gentlemen, the act of tearing one's garment at this time was a normal response to blaspheming. If you would, turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26. I want to read to you verses 59 through 65.

So Jesus has been arrested. We're in the process of Peter's denial. He's standing before Caiaphas at the council. 59, now the chief priest and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that he might be put to death.

But they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At least two came forward and said, this man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days. Now this is taken from John chapter, I want to say it's chapter two, could be chapter one, chapter two, yeah, John chapter two.

It was one of the ones, okay, John chapter two. Jesus at the temple, he flips tables, he's turning things over because they turned the father's house into a den of thieves. And he says these words, he says, destroy this temple.

He's speaking to them, destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days. But he goes on to tell us that the temple that he's talking about is not the physical temple, the temple of Herod, it's the temple that Jesus is.

And so they're manipulating the words of Jesus in this confession. So this tells you that this group, these two people, these two witnesses heard Jesus say these words. They were among the rulers when Jesus was speaking about this.

And they manipulate it. They say that he said that I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days. Jesus said, tear down this temple himself and I will rebuild it in three days. Verse 62, and the high priest stood up and said, have you no answer to make?

What is it that these men are testifying against you? But Jesus remained silent and the high priest said to him, I endure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said so.

But I tell you from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his robe and said, he utters blaspheme. What further witness do we need?

You now have heard his blaspheme. The high priest tears his garment saying that Jesus has blasphemed. How was it that Jesus blasphemed here? Because in the Old Testament, only God rides on the clouds.

And this also taken from Daniel chapter seven, speaking of the Son of Man, who goes before the ancient of days, riding on a cloud. And here Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man, who will be riding on the clouds.

The high priest hears this, thinks he's blaspheming and he tears his robe. In chapter 14 of our text, Paul and Barnabas tear their garments because the people of Lystria make them as gods. By doing so, they are blaspheming.

Think about it today with these false teachers, these false prophets, these false performers. What would happen today if this took place with them?

They would welcome it.

But no, we see true apostles of Jesus, true followers of Jesus being raised on a pedestal that they do not belong on, rip their garments and refuse their worship. And that is the dangers of signs and wonders.

In one city, they were going to be stoned for it. And in this city, they are worshiped for it. You and I as human beings are never to use our spiritual gifts in a way that takes glory away from God. And I want to take myself as an example real quick.

Though I am not a great speaker, I am a pastor teacher of the Word of God nonetheless. And I would be lying, listen to me, I would be lying if I told you that I enjoyed, that I didn't enjoy, how should I say this?

I would be lying if I was to say that I didn't enjoy hearing someone say to me that message blessed me. I would be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy hearing someone tell me when I stepped down that the message that I preached blessed them.

I would be lying to say that I didn't enjoy that. I want to know if I'm blessing someone. I want to be able to take that compliment from people and say thank you and give that glory to God. I want to be able to say bless God.

I'm so glad that God is using me in your life. But there's some preachers who would take that compliment, that little bitty compliment, your message blessed me. And they would soak that in and think that they were something special.

And not realizing that it's only God using them. It's tough for pastors sometimes and preachers who have a flock and they're going to have to stand before God one day and give an account for those that are under them and to hear their flock say my favorite pastor is someone they watch on TV.

The person that's never going to have to give an account for your soul. You want to talk about rejection? The things pastors have to go through.

Put up with.

Because what? The laboring.

Right?

To know that I have been laboring in the Lord over these messages and to come down and not hear.

Man that blessed my soul.

But let me tell you what we do here. If I misspeak, if I got a verse wrong, I guarantee you within a matter of seconds myself and every preacher out there will hear what they messed up. But hardly ever hear.

Where they bless someone.

And it's a fight.

Whenever we do hear that.

To receive the compliment.

And give it to God as well as it is that it's a fight to not take offense. Don't ever envy this position. We have decided when it comes to eldership to try our best to talk people out of it.

It's tough.

And I just wanted to use myself as an example.

And be vulnerable.

Because I don't want to take any glory from God.

But man, I would be lying.

If I was to tell you that with my labor in the Lord that it wouldn't be good to hear.

That was a good message. The Lord is using you in my life.

Now just think if I was able to say.

You back there.

Stand up and walk with your crippled feet. How much more that would intensify what I've just said here today. Imagine if one pastor had the gift.

And another one didn't.

My favorite healer pastor. Detention between churches. There's a reason why that gift is no longer here. It will get in the way of the message. Again, remove the messenger. There's some preachers who would take that compliment and think there's something special.

And I've said this before. No preacher, no pastor is to be put on a pedestal. I am just a member of the church. Your favorite pastor who is on the Internet is a member of the body of Christ. There's nothing special about him.

We are not gods. We are just men. Men who hope to be used by God. Paul in this text begins to take their eyes off of him and points them to God. Say that again. Paul in this text begins to take their eyes that are on him with a knife in their hand wanting to sacrifice that animal.

That oxen. And he takes their eyes off of him and he points them to God, which is what every true Christian should do. Now, before I move any further, just so you know, what's about to be said in verse 15 takes place.

It's going to take place. But know this. The Lyconians, because of the Jews from Iconium. Again, these things are hard to say together. The Lyconians, because of the Jews of Iconium, came to persuade the Lyconians, the Greeks and the Jews, who began to stone Paul.

These words are hard to say back and forth. The Lyconians and the Jews who came from Iconium, we're going to see later in this text. We're not going to see. I'm just kind of informing you right now. So those in Iconium that wanted to stone Jews, I mean stone Paul and Barnabas, come to Lyconia and they convinced these Jews to stone Paul and drag him out of the city.

Some believe that Paul died. Some believe that Paul didn't die. It says that after he was stoned, the brothers gathered around him and then Paul rose up. Some theologians believe that this is when Paul was taken to the third heaven, where he says, I know a man who was caught up into the third heaven.

Some believe that this takes place in this chapter. Now let's see the message that was preached. Look back at verse 15. In verse 15, Paul calls them to repentance and repentance here is them turning from sacrifice into false gods by turning to the living God and he also points to them as the living God being the creator.

Verse 15, man, why are you doing these things? We also are man 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 heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

What he is saying is basically this, stop worshiping false gods who were created and by definition cannot create and worship the living God who is the creator of all things. Ladies and gentlemen, right here, this is a partial, partial good news.

It's good news, but it's only part of the good news. Now Paul, what was Paul's message to them? Right here as we just read, what was Paul's message to them? And was it that they crucified the Lord?

No.

But that's what he said to the Jews. He's speaking to the Lyconians and he doesn't tell them that they crucified the Lord. It was that God left them a witness. The message was that God left them a witness and their witness was natural theology.

A living God who made the heavens, the earth, and the sea. Natural theology is a theology that we get from nature. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 3 says this,. By faith, we, that's you and I, understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of the things that are visible.

The visible points to the invisible. I've gave this analogy before. The building is evidence of the builder. The painting is evidence of the painter. The person that built this building, I don't know how long this building's been here, but let's say it's been here for 75 years.

The builder could have died 25 years ago. There's no evidence. We can't see him. We can't call him on the phone. We can't go and visit the builder. But we know that there was a builder because of the building.

And so natural theology is saying that the visible is evidence of the invisible. Again, let's go to Romans chapter 1. Very familiar text. We won't dive into it too deep. I just want to prove this point.

Verse 18. Romans chapter 1 beginning in verse 18. For the wrath of God, listen, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Right here.

For what can be known about God is plain to them. Remember that. It's plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power, divine nature, has been clearly perceived ever since creation, the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

So they, you and I,.

Are without excuse. Everyone knows there's a God because of creation. Natural theology is based upon the doctrine of creation. I hate it named to most and loved by some. I'm kind of in the middle. Thomas Aquinas tells us that natural theology is an incomplete truth.

Natural theology,.

Although it is incomplete, it is true. It's incomplete because natural theology cannot save you. Knowing there's a God can't save you. The blood of Jesus saves you. Repenting and putting your faith in Jesus saves you.

Knowing there's a God because of creation does not save you. In the case of our text, Paul points them to rain and fruitful seasons. Look at verse 17 and we're skipping verse 16. We'll come back to it.

Verse 17 of Acts chapter 14. Yet he did not leave himself without a witness for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons satisfying your heart with food and gladness. This is saying that a person should be able to look at creation as well as the things around us.

Think natural theology and know that there is a God. This is good news. God has left us a witness. Building builder, painting painter, watch watchmaker, creation creator. Everyone knows there's a God.

There's no such thing as an atheist. Ladies and gentlemen, they knew that there was a God and they formed their own God in the image of men, Zeus and Hermes. They knew that there was a God because of creation and that they was given rain and fruitful seasons and food and gladness.

However, they did not know the one true God so they crafted for themselves these gods. In the case of the Greeks, it was the false gods of Greek mythology. And as we come to a close, I want to point out something that I think is fantastic.

Look back in chapter 13 at verse 46. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly saying it was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you since you thrust aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life.

Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. So he's in this synagogue. They reject him and he's saying we're going to go to the Gentiles. Now look in chapter 14, verse 16. In past generations, he, speaking of God, allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.

We're going to see this again in chapter 17. But here in generations past, I believe he's speaking of God's dealing with Israel, the physical descendants,.

The Jews,.

And them bringing about the seed which is Christ. Now that the seed had came about, now that Christ has come, he has fulfilled what he was supposed to fulfill concerning the covenant of redemption. The light is now to go to the whole world.

Real quick, let's get a glimpse at chapter 17.

This is Paul speaking again.

I won't go into the details because we're going to get there in a matter of weeks. Look at verse 30. In times of ignorance, God overlooked, but now has commanded all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

He is saying no one is overlooked since Christ has come. God's dealing with just the Jews is over. Yesterday as I was preaching the funeral, I spoke on John 3 ,16 and I spoke about the word world. Now that word there basically just means all of earth.

There's another word that he could have used which is oikomene, which he would have just been saying that for God so loved the Jews, those people by the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. That's not what Jesus said.

This is actually how Jesus gets in trouble. If Jesus would have said God loves the Jews that he sent his son, they would have hurrayed him. Yay, God loves us. He's telling the cosmos that whoever believes in him, this is red, yellow, black, or white, your ethnicity doesn't matter anymore concerning this.

He's not just because you're white or just because you're black or you're not a Jew, you're excluded from this. He says no, everyone is included. Everyone is to repent and trust in Jesus. God is now calling everyone everywhere to believe in his son, Jesus Christ.

This is a day that he has fixed and this day has not changed and it will not change and when that day comes, which is the last day when he will judge the world in righteousness. This tells us that he's not gonna judge the world in love.

He's not gonna judge the world in mercy. He's going to judge the world in righteousness and if you're not righteous in Jesus Christ, you're going to perish. Ladies and gentlemen, the only way people are going to repent and believe in Jesus Christ is for those who have Jesus Christ to go and tell.

We have to go out and tell people to repent and believe.

You and I.

Don't just have to use natural theology, which is incomplete. We have special revelation also. We have the full word of God. Natural theology is a tool and it's a tool for the tool belt and it's one that I use often.

If you come out witnessing with me, I use natural theology quite often. Our main weapon is the word of God and in the word of God, the power, this bullet that's in the weapon that changes life.

Is the gospel.

When we witness, we can use fulfilled prophecy. When we're witnessing, we can use natural theology, but let me tell you what you must use, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether you're using fulfilled prophecy or as we see that they did with the Jews or whether you use natural theology as we've just seen that he did with the Gentiles, you better preach the gospel.