Salvation to the Ends of the Earth, part 4 (Acts 14:8-28, Jeff Kliewer)

For the chance to take of the body and blood of Jesus symbolized in that bread and juice. Lord, we ask now that your word would nourish us, that our hearts would be open to hear what you have to say. Speak to us, Lord.

We need to hear from you. We thank you, Lord, for your word and ask that you open our hearts to it in Jesus' name. Amen. We've been studying Paul's first missionary journey, Acts 13 and 14, and each week I take about five minutes to introduce you to a missionary.

The first week we talked about one of our own, that's why we had to turn the cameras off. The next week we talked about William Carey, who went to India, and the third week we talked about John Welch, who was the first to really bring the gospel to Irescotland.

This week we're going to talk about Adoniram Judson. Adoniram Judson was the first American-sent missionary around the year 1800. He was famous because he was part of that Haystack Revival prayer meeting.

He and a number of students at a Bible college on a stormy day made a run for it, got drenched and hid underneath a haystack and prayed, and many of them joined that first missionary trip as the first American missionaries.

When it was time to go, after first going to London and actually enduring a pirate invasion of the ship that they were on while they were raising funds, he got captured by the pirates, taken to France, held in prison, and eventually made it to England, at which time he raised funds and came back to America, and the time came for him to be a missionary.

Well, he got on board a boat. The journey was to take about a hundred and eighty days, first to Calcutta and from there to Burma, which is today Myanmar. He got on the boat, and it was time to push off, but the boat didn't leave.

One day passed, two days passed, three days, four days they sat at dock because the storm that was coming in from the ocean was too much for them to venture out into. I don't know about some of you, but after sitting on a boat for four days, I might be about done with my mission trip.

I mean, you haven't even moved for four days. You're sitting in a cabin. I think some of us would have just gotten off and said, hey folks, we're back, we're done. But these were, these were rugged people, tough, and they endured that and the long boat trip.

Anne was the wife, and I think the story of Anne Judson is just as powerful as the story of her husband. The things that she endured is such an inspiration to me. She gave birth while they were on the boat, and the baby died.

They had to bury that baby at sea. Finally arrived in Burma, she was so grief-stricken that she had to be carried off the boat in a chair. Her head was down and had cloth over her head. The first thing that revived her were the smiles of Burmese women who came up to her, and she didn't know that she would ever get her strength back.

When she saw the smiling faces of these women, her heart revived and warmed, and she began to love and.

Minister.

Not long after, a little boy named Roger was born, and within a year he also died. But Anne and Adoniram continued on in the ministry. In fact, they threw themselves into the work. Adoniram translated the entire Bible into Burmese, and Anne was just as active.

She wrote a 20 question and answer booklet about Christianity, which she also translated not only into Burmese, but also learning Siamese and translating into that as well. They endured great opposition because the government was hostile.

It was known as the Golden City, and they would overlay gold on all of the important buildings. The the king at that time was called the Golden Lips, and if you go before him, you have to go before the Golden Feet, and everybody would fall down in this great Golden Hall.

But they gained access, and they were allowed to work as missionaries there for a time, until the government turned hostile and Adoniram was taken into prison. For more than a year, he endured imprisonment.

In fact, it was harsh and torturous conditions. They would put his feet in the stocks at night, and then by some contraption, the feet were lifted up, and he would lay on the back of his neck with a rush of blood to his head.

He slept that way every night. As he wrote about it in his diary, he had to stop writing because he said, I cannot endure to live the memory of it during the day, knowing that I have to face it again every night.

But he endured it for more than a year. Finally, they were taken to a faraway place, and a lion was brought to devour them. Adoniram faced the lion, but Anne continued to provide for her husband. The guards would not provide food.

She would come in. She even brought her baby in to see him, a new baby, a little girl. And he didn't want to hold the baby because he knew he might be diseased, and he was so filthy. He might harm the baby, but he did that for Anne.

And she prayed about this lion as it was brought, that just as God stilled the mouth of the lion when Daniel was in the den, that he would do a similar miracle. And wouldn't you know, when they opened that gate to release the lion, rather than devouring, it had no strength left.

It had been deprived of food for too long, and it died before devouring the prisoners, eight British and one American. God stilled the mouth of the lion, and he lived on. Now at that point, having endured all of this, released because the war between Britain and Burma had ended, he was now released.

What would you do?

I think I'd be ready to go back home. It had been about 20 years, a little less than that, 13 years. But instead, they continued on in the ministry. The next year, Anne died, and he continued on, soldiering through, with grit, with muscle, with toughness, enduring the hardship.

Through many hardships, we must enter the kingdom of God. After 33 years, he came back to a hero's welcome at New York Harbor, and he was not pleased to be welcomed that way. He did not see himself as a hero.

He went back to Burma again for seven more years. Before, departing off that golden shore, looking for rest to get some sea air, he died just offside the golden coast of Burma, and entered the streets of gold, the heavenly Jerusalem, the true golden city.

He received his welcome in glory. That is the story of Adoniram Judson, the first American missionary. What are we to learn from it?

Well,.

The first word that comes to mind is grit. Grit, like on sandpaper. Sandpaper without any grit is useless, but grit is important in the Christian life. Perseverance, endurance,.

Strength.

Through many hardships, we must enter the kingdom of God. This is a story about missions not yet completed. But missions, and here's the main idea, missions, the goal to bring salvation to the ends of the earth, must be accomplished through gritty missionaries.

Undaunted by syncretized religion, we'll learn about that in the text today. Undaunted by hostile opposition, unwilling to see the church fail until grace has accomplished its work. That's what we're talking about today.

And guys, we're not just talking about missionaries in Burma. We're talking about ourselves, missionaries in Mount Laurel and Marlton and all the surrounding towns. We need to get some grit and learn.

You know, our 21st century grit is a little bit different than the 20th and 19th and even earlier centuries, because we have so much comfort. Comfort can really pacify us and take our edge off. But we need to get more grit.

So before we turn into the text, we're looking today at Acts 14, 8 through 28. You can find that place. I just want to review a little bit of where we've been. Is there a map we could pull up of the missionary journey that Paul.

Followed?

Beginning in Acts 12, 25, he returns from Jerusalem, down at the bottom here, and on a service project where they delivered help for a struggling Jerusalem church, they arrived back in Antioch, and Paul and Barnabas, along with Mark as their helper, are set apart for the work that God has called them to do.

The first place they go is this island of Cyprus, and there they travel this 150 miles, preaching throughout the entire island, until finally, in Paphos, they meet that crazy Elimus, the false prophet, Bar-Jesus, son of Jesus.

In fact, he was a false prophet. Paul has to blind him in the name of Jesus and preach the gospel the proconsul believes, and from there they continue on, just the beginning of their mission trip. They go from there, up to Perga in Pamphylia, and move north into what is modern-day Turkey.

In Antioch, we recall, that's where Paul preaches this God-centered message, all about God and His grace, His power, and according to the grace of God, many believe, but others don't. It's divided, and now persecution really intensifies.

They run for their lives, they go down to Iconium and preach the gospel there, they speak in such a way that many believe, and then they go to Lystra, fleeing persecution, because they were threatened with stoning in Iconium, and that's where we are today.

So let's pick it up in Acts chapter 14, verses 8 to 10. 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.

This is a gift of God's grace, a miracle, a miraculous healing, but what is the purpose? We find that in the context. Look at chapter 14, verse 3. The word of His grace, the message of God's grace in Jesus Christ, is confirmed by signs and wonders.

The sign and the wonder is confirming what Paul is saying with his mouth. You see that again in verse 7, there they continue to preach the gospel, and in verse 9, he listened to Paul speaking. So the purpose of this miracle is to confirm this apostolic message, this message of Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, that He died and that He rose according to the Scriptures, to forgive us of our sins if we'll repent and believe in Him.

This gospel message is confirmed by a miracle, and you'd think, okay, well, that's gonna do it for sure, right? I mean, if you saw a crippled man healed, wouldn't you listen to what they're saying? Let's read on, verse 11 and following through 18.

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. Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

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 sacrifices.

With the crowds.

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.

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.

Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. They were scarcely, barely able to stop them from sacrificing to them, even after describing all of these things.

This requires some grit. At this point, barely able to stop them from sacrificing, it would be very easy for Paul and Barnabas to say goodbye. Now, what was going on in the thinking of the people? Well, there was a legend in Lystra that at some point Zeus and Hermes had come in the form of men and received a poor welcome from the city of Lystra, except for one older couple.

The older couple welcomed Zeus and Hermes, but then, because they weren't welcomed by everybody, these gods destroyed the city and killed everybody but that older couple. So this legend is in the culture, it's in the minds of the people, when they see Paul and Barnabas, they try to synthesize what they already believe with the message that they're hearing.

This is very important because missionary work is very much about tearing down the strongholds of syncretized religion. Syncretized, when you take something of Christianity and something of what is already believed in the culture and marry them together, creating a blend, that's not the genuine pure Christianity, it's a watered-down,.

Distorted,.

Culture-twisted form that you still call Christianity, but it's no longer. You know, if you go as a missionary to India, it's not hard to get a Hindu to pray with you to accept Jesus Christ. They'll readily do it.

You know, what's hard to do? To get them to renounce the 1 million other gods they already believe in. This requires grit. This requires force. In the same way, if you go to Africa, it's not hard to get people to pray a sinner's prayer.

What's hard to get people to do is to release their animistic worldview of warding off spirits and other culture-informed aspects that they try to bring into Christianity. In Latin America, there is a blending of Catholicism with the genuine version of Christianity.

Now, there can be saved Catholics. However, in the traditionalism of Latin American Christianity, you will see men and women crawling on their hands and knees throughout Mexico City on a mile-long journey on their hands and knees to get to the Virgin of Guadalupe that if they could only kiss the image and depart, blessing will come into their life.

That is syncretized religion. It's not pure biblical Christianity. It's a marriage of traditional teaching with some aspects of what we find in the Bible, and it doesn't have the power to save nor to deliver.

What about in North America? This is where it touches closer to home. Do we take from this culture's humanistic worldview and inform our Christianity with things that are not purely biblical? Does our Christianity look like what we read in this book, or does it look like some blending of secular humanism and the Christian worldview?

There are many ways in which we do that, but I leave that to you to think. Is there a way in which you are conforming to the mold the world is pressing you into its mold rather than you being transformed by the renewing of your mind through the Word of God?

We all are subject to that, and the forces of this world and the powers of the darkness, which is the devil, and our own flesh all urge and push us into those forms. But here we're called to come out from among the world, to come to the pure and true message.

And how does Paul press this point? First, he goes to general revelation. Do you see this in the text? Verse 15. He sees the idolatry, and he says, men, why are you doing these things? We are also men.

He calls them to turn from those things to the living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. He talks about how God allowed nations to walk in their own ways. That doesn't mean allowed with approval.

Read Romans chapter 1. They're creating idols, and they're exchanging the glory of God for created things made to look in some way to be worshipped as an idol. He's allowing it, not approvingly, but they're under condemnation according to Romans 1 18.

Yet he did not leave himself without a witness. There was still a general witness. Romans 1 21, the eternal power and divine nature of God were still clearly seen through the things that were made and the common grace of a laughing child and good tasting food and a happy life.

Those things were still the gift of God to point them to the Creator. That's the general revelation of the Bible that God is God and we are created beings. But Paul was bringing something specific. Follow me now.

The general revelation tells us that there is a God, and he's eternally powerful. He has divine nature. Everything else is created and not to be worshipped. We know that much from the way things are made, but there is a specific reason why Paul was there.

It was specifically to preach Jesus Christ. And the message of our gospel is that Jesus is greater than all religions, all traditions that are man-made and invented by men. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

And after he provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. And so he inherited a name that is greater than the angels. Jesus is greater than angels. The author of Hebrews goes on to say that Jesus is greater than Moses.

So much so as the builder of a house is greater than the house he built. That's how much greater Jesus is than Moses. Moses is the house, and we are his house. But Jesus is the builder. He goes on to say that Jesus is greater than priests.

You have a priest here running up ready to offer a sacrifice, but Jesus is the great high priest who once and for all offered himself on the cross. He is the true and great high priest, and he offers a greater sacrifice than all the blood of bulls and goats that have ever been given.

But this teaching in Hebrews culminates in chapter 11, where we see the hall of faith. And there we see a people, a group who have been called out to worship God, who say that Jesus is greater than life itself.

These are people who are looking for a city whose architect and builder is God. And they're willing to leave the city of man to go to the city of God. They're looking with spiritual eyes, and they're willing to be sawn in two to obtain a better resurrection.

And by faith, they still the mouths of lions. They're willing to die rather than to be conformed to this world. They're looking for the eternal city. They count their lives as worth nothing compared to the value of knowing Christ.

Finally, in chapter 12, it's Jesus we look to as the ultimate example, who scorning the cross, scorning its shame, endured it and sat down at the right hand of the Father. The teaching of the Bible from cover to cover is that Jesus is the Son of God, and he is worthy of worship.

The word worship means to ascribe worth, to ascribe glory.

To ascribe worth.

When Judas betrayed Jesus, he valued him at the price of 30 pieces of silver. Just as Zechariah said he would in chapter 11, verses 12 and 13. That's the value that Judas put on the life of Jesus. Here's the question.

What value do you place on the person of Jesus Christ? Paul and Barnabas come to the town of Lystra. They value Christ as infinitely valuable. Value him more than life itself. They are willing to die, and that's the only thing that explains what comes next.

The grittiness of these missionaries comes from worship, from seeing Jesus as greater than life itself. Look at 19 and following. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. Antioch now is a hundred miles away, so they're just trailing them.

They've closed in. And having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city.

And on the next day, he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. Here you see the grittiness, the perseverance, the strength that's required to overcome hostile opposition.

Notice he gets back up. They supposed he was dead. The disciples gathered about him. That's a picture of prayer. The believers come and pray over him, lay hands on him most likely. And he rose up, but he entered the city again.

He didn't run off to the next place. He goes back into the city. And on the next day, he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. Imagine that. You guys know the story of Jonah, right? He travels from Israel and is heading the opposite direction of where God sent him.

And so he's thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish. Imagine after Jonah gets spit off on the shore and he goes into Nineveh. Imagine what Jonah looked like. Probably just whitewashed with the intestinal acids of this whale.

Can you imagine what Jonah looked like going into Nineveh? And the people took notice of this strange looking prophet. I think Paul looked just as bad as Jonah did. Imagine Paul, the next day we're told, walks into Derbe after having been stoned and left for dead.

Was there a place on his face that wasn't scarred? He was bruised from head to toe.

He looked a bloody mess.

And yet he comes in preaching, this is a gritty missionary, stoned and left for dead. He goes in preaching and many listen. Notice the summations verse in verse 21. They go preach the gospel to that city and made many disciples.

That term for making disciples, you'll recognize that from the Great Commission. And it only appears four places, in your notes you have it, four places in the New Testament. But it summarizes the work of the church.

To preach the gospel and make disciples. That's how Luke here summarizes what they do when they go to Derbe. And now they return to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. Now this one is amazing to me.

If you, I don't know if you can pull up the map again,.

Would it be possible to do that?

If you notice in the journey that Paul follows, he goes from Antioch and Syria over into Cyprus and travels north up into Turkey. And then as he gets to the northernmost point, he's circling back around towards Syria.

At this point in Derbe, the southernmost point on this journey, it would be very easy to travel by land on this large highway. He's on a Roman road at this point, a large road to just travel back to Antioch and call it a day.

He would have every reason to do this. He's been stoned and left for dead. He's been on a two and a half year journey. The whole journey will be 1400 miles, so he's probably 700 miles in. It would be time to call it quits.

But notice what he chooses to do instead. To turn right back around and to go back to the city that stoned him. And then back to Iconium where he was chased out in Antioch, where he ran for his life. Why is the question?

This is a missionary who loves the church. He loves the church. He doesn't want to leave these baby Christians as orphans. He wants to establish them. So real quickly, I want you to see seven things, and we'll just tick them off real fast, that demonstrate his love for the church.

Every one of these apply to us. If you love the church, this will mark your life too. Number one, he strengthens the souls of the disciples. He strengthens souls. How do you strengthen a soul? In Hebrews 10, we learn what we say to one another.

Let us, let us, let us.

Read that.

Hebrews 10, 25 and following. You grab a believer, you pull him under your wing, and you say, walk with me. I'm going to help you walk until you're strong enough to walk and disciple others. You strengthen souls if you love the church.

You disciple the younger. Women, you disciple women. Men, you disciple men. Fathers, disciple your children. That's the first thing. Strengthening the souls of the disciples too. Encouraging them to continue in the faith.

You encourage because it's a hard walk. The Christian life is a hard walk. So you become an encourager. You speak positive, encouraging words in the church. Number three, you say that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

You say that.

You know, I actually take this literally, and I tried this this week when I was studying. I said, I'm just going to say this to people. I said it to my kids where I was driving. I was like, hey kids, I got something to tell you.

They perked up and I said, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. And they just said, oh, okay. And then what was that about? And then Timmy said, he's a preacher. He says stuff like that.

But I take it literally. You say that.

You say that to one another because it will strengthen and it will set the right expectation for what this Christian life is. It's not a joy ride. It is hard, but it is good and he's with us. And in the end, we enter the kingdom.

And in the end, that little baby that was thrown into the sea will be resurrected and will be with the Judsons in glory. In the end, we enter the kingdom of heaven, but it's a hard road. Number four, in verse 23, when they had appointed elders for them in every church, this is the biblical model.

Notice the plurality there. It's not elder singular as if one pastor is running everything. It's a plurality of elders, but they're appointed in order to lead. So the congregation is led by elders. And so what we do in the church is we support the leadership and we submit in a godly way, in a humble way, to humble leadership from elders.

Paul appoints elders in every town for them in every church. In verse 5, I mean, chapter 23. I'm going fast because we're almost out of time. Chapter 23, the fifth thing with prayer and fasting. If you love the church, you will pray and you will even fast at times for your brothers and sisters.

Prayer and fasting. They committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Verse 24, then they passed through Pisidia and came to Panphylia. When they had spoken the word in Perga, they hit one last town before heading home.

It says they went down to Adalia and from there they sailed to Antioch. The sixth thing is speaking the word. Verse 25, you should be speaking the word to one another. You should be using scripture to encourage.

Second Timothy chapter 4, when Paul heightened the charge to young Timothy, he stressed it. He said, I charge you in the name of the Father and in the name of Christ Jesus. You know it's serious, right?

What does he say? Preach the word in season and out of season. And he warns there's going to be people who twist and pervert the word of God. So we need to be a people of this book to one another. And finally in verse 26, they returned to where they started.

This is the finality of this mission trip. They gather the church. Notice the church had commended to the grace of God the work that they had now fulfilled. Support missions. Give financially to the church to support others going.

Be a sender and pray for missionaries. Last two verses and we're done. I'll wrap it up with the conclusion. When they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

And they remained no little time with the disciples. Whenever God does a work, whenever you complete a work, however gritty it was and however much you poured into that, recognize all the glory goes to God.

All the glory goes to God for everything that God had done, that he had opened the door. It was to the grace of God that they were commended. And they give all the credit and all the glory to Almighty God for this trip.

And so in closing, this mission trip, the first ever, is now complete. But we're still on mission. I commend to you a website called joshuaproject .org. It traces the progress of our mission to the ends of the earth.

I want everybody to just take some time to go on that website and see what still remains to be done. Joshuaproject .org. You know, Adoniram Judson, before he became a hero in the eyes of American churches, he was a wandering atheist.

His dad was a pastor, but he rejected the faith of his father. In college, he met a man named Jacob Eames, who was an atheist and convinced him that he could do life without God. And so from then on, Adoniram Judson became a playwright and went from place to place writing plays and traveling and scheming out the innkeepers wherever he ended up.

He was on a wayward path. Until one night, he was looking for an inn to stay in and there was only one room left. The innkeeper said, I'll rent you this room, but I have to warn you, there's some young man in really dire straits.

He's making a lot of noise, so it'll be a rough night. Judson had no other choice, so he took the room. He laid down to sleep, but all night long, he heard the groanings of death. The man next door was in the death throes.

And as he heard those sounds, he covered his head with a pillow to drown out the agonizing sound. He began to think about his life. And he realized he had nothing to offer that dying man. And if the roles were reversed, that man next door would have nothing to offer him.

Because he didn't have the kingdom of God and the resurrection. The next morning, he walked out to the innkeeper. The sound of agony had faded at about two o 'clock in the morning. And he found out the man had died that night.

He asked about him and the guy said, you know, he was about your age. And he said, what was his name? The innkeeper said, Jacob Eames. Jacob Eames, the very man that led him to atheism in the first place.

And that was the wake-up call that Adoniram Judson needed to put his trust back in the living God. It took some time. He went to the college. It was a brand new mission college. And that's where the haystack revival happened, where they prayed and the first missionaries were sent.

The grace of God comes first. And he who loves much is the one who's been forgiven much. Adoniram Judson was a lot like the Apostle Paul. He was willing to endure for the sake of the gospel because he knew how much he had been forgiven.

And my question to you is, Christian, do you know how much the Lord has done for you? Do you recognize how much sin has been forgiven and covered by that blood? If so, what are you willing to do for him?

You can't do it in your own strength, but by the grace of God, going out in the name of Jesus, enduring persecution, enduring hostility, syncretize religions to build the church. Let's close in a word of prayer.

Mission, I mean, worship team, if you could come up.