WWUTT 2636 The Word of the Lord Prevails (Acts 13:1-7)

Over and over, we've been reading in the book of Acts that the Word of God prevails. And people are astonished at the teaching of the Lord. It is only in the hearing of the gospel that a person is saved when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary that we may be equipped for every good work in Jesus Christ our Lord. Please tell others about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky.

The Gospel Going Out to the Gentiles in Acts 13

In our study of the book of Acts, we come to chapter 13, and we're reading more about how the gospel is going out to the Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas going on to Cyprus and preaching in Pisidian Antioch.

Let me begin reading here in verse 1, and I'll go through verse 12. Hear the word of the Lord. Now there were at Antioch in the church that was there prophets and teachers, Barnabas and Simeon, who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Menean, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul.

And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And when they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they also had John as their helper.

And when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence.

This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elimas the magician, for so his name is translated, was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, and said, You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?

Now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time. And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.

Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord. And that is a theme that we have seen come up over and over again as we've gone through Acts. People being astonished at the teaching of the Lord, or that the word of God prevailed mightily.

We will see phrases like that come up again and again. I wish I had made this point more emphatically last week as we finished up chapter 12, because it's there in Acts 12, 24 that we read that the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

And then verse 25, which leads into the section we're reading today, and Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, fulfilling their ministry, taking along with them John, who was also called Mark. So there that statement in verse 24, the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

Now what is meant by that? I had contrasted that with the word of Herod as he had preached to the people and the people hailed him as a God. And so the Lord struck him and he died being eaten internally by worms.

So the word of Herod brought about death, but the word of the Lord is bringing about life as it continues to spread. People believe it, it prevails. Many are being saved and the church is growing. That's all being quantified in that statement, that the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

We see that it is the word of God that is causing the church to happen. People who are coming to faith and being added to the kingdom. And then the statement that we read here that comes to the end of this narrative, the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

It is the teaching of God. The word that is going out through the teaching of the apostles that is prevailing over everything that is happening in the world at this time and still happening in the world today.

The church that you attend exists because the word of God prevails upon it. So we're going to consider that even as we come back to this section here in Acts 13, one through 12. Now, again, this is Paul and Barnabas who is, they are going out from Antioch.

It is said at the end of chapter 12 that they returned to Jerusalem. But at some point in there, we have a jump in the narrative because then it comes back to Antioch and Barnabas and Saul are being sent out from there.

This was where they spent over a year preaching, remember? And then apparently they come back to that place, which was a common pattern with Paul. After he would preach in an area and churches would be planted there, he would either go back there or he would send other trusted servants, missionaries, fellow missionaries of his to go back there and check on those churches in order to encourage them and also bring word back to Paul about how they are doing.

So it's not unusual then that Barnabas and Saul go to Jerusalem and then they return to Antioch and are going to be sent out from there on what will essentially be Paul's next missionary journey. So it says there at the start, there were at Antioch in the church, prophets and teachers, Barnabas, whom we've already heard about long before.

Remember being a cousin of John Mark and Simeon, who was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Menean, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. Now, these are some interesting names that we have here.

And one of the other things that this seems to indicate, remember that the author of Acts is Luke. So it's part two of of Luke's account of the work of Christ and then the work of his apostles. So part one being the ministry of Jesus.

And that was the gospel of Luke. Part two being then Jesus sending out his apostles into the world to spread the gospel. And that's what we have in the book of Acts. So the detail that we have here beginning in Acts 13 indicates that Luke is probably present now with Barnabas and Saul at this time.

If you ever wonder where Luke comes into the story, because there's occasions later on where he will make reference to things and use the collective pronoun we or us. So he's he's clearly telling an account of something that he was an eyewitness to.

And it's probably right here in Acts 13 that he's now come into the action and he's witness to these things that are taking place, especially with the greater detail that he shares in some of the events that go on from from this point forward.

So at Antioch in the church, there were prophets and teachers. So you have some men to whom the will of God has been revealed and they are speaking the word of God to the people. And then those teachers who would expound on those things or even teach from the Old Testament and show how Christ was the fulfillment of the law and prophets, they they both, both the prophets and the teachers are in subjection to the apostles.

So you have Barnabas that's mentioned, of course, and like I said, that's a name we've been familiar with for a while, Simeon, who was called Niger. Now, that would indicate that Simeon was from Africa.

Remember, we read about the Ethiopian eunuch who had been taught the gospel by Philip and he goes on his way rejoicing, probably returning to the service of Candace, who is the queen of the Ethiopians.

And the gospel has been spreading about in Africa for the last several years now after that. So you have Simeon, who was called Niger, either had been converted in the continent with the gospel going forth after the Ethiopian eunuch, or it could it could have been like the Ethiopian who had come to Jerusalem to worship because he was a God fearing man that likewise Simeon had come into Judea to worship God and in the process of being there had come into hearing the gospel and putting faith in Christ.

But this is another figure from that continent who has come to faith because the gospel has been spread. And then you have Lucius of Cyrene. Remember that Cyrene was nearby to the area of Antioch. And he's just one of the men who were aware of Cyrene and Antioch, who had been taught the gospel in the time that Barnabas and Saul had been sharing it there.

And then you have now this is a more interesting name. You have Manian, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch. Remember that Herod the Tetrarch, who was Antipas the first, was the Herod who had been reigning at the time of John the Baptist.

He would have been the Herod that put John the Baptist to death and also to whom was presented Jesus of Nazareth when Pilate sent him under trial. So that's that's the Herod that we're talking about here.

He had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, Manian. Now, the way that's translated is that he was literally he had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch meant that he was the foster brother of Herod the Tetrarch.

So he was a brother, not by blood, but by relation of the household. So let me read to you here from this commentary that was written by Charles Ellicott, and he makes a reference to Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, where it's talked about here that a fellow by the name of Manian was a foster brother of Herod the Tetrarch.

So here we go. Here we enter on a name that has historical associations of some interest. In the early youth of Herod the Great, Herod the Great, remember, was the Herod who had tried to put Jesus to death as an infant.

This would have been Herod Antipas' father. So in the early youth of Herod the Great, his future greatness had been foretold by an Essene prophet of the name of Manian. When the prediction was fulfilled, he sought to show honor to the prophet.

The identity of name makes it probable that the man who now meets us was the son or grandson of the Essene and that Herod had him brought up with Antipas as a mark of his favor. Both Antipas and Archelaus were educated at Rome, and Manian may therefore have accompanied them.

By what steps he was led to believe in Jesus as the Christ, we can only conjecture, but it seems probable that the austere type of life so closely resembling that of the Essenes, which was presented by the Baptist, may have impressed him as he was living in the court of his early companion and that through him he may have been led on to the higher truth and in due time after the day of Pentecost, have become a sharer in the prophetic gift.

The fact that Herod the Great had adorned the city of Antioch with a long and stately colonnade may perhaps have given him a certain degree of influence there. So that's a very interesting historical note on a guy you probably wouldn't pay much attention to otherwise, just reading this name, Manian, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, but those who would have been reading Acts in the time that it was written and distributed to the churches, sent first of all to Theophilus, to whom it was written, but then as it would have been copied and distributed to the churches, those people at that time would have truly recognized that name, Manian, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch.

And it was surely amazing to have heard of this man who had been raised in the house of a Herod that came to know and believe the gospel. That's not the only person that we've heard about associated with the Herods that came to believe the gospel.

But again, this would have been a recognized name. And as Luke is trying to remember, write an orderly account of all of these things as he had introduced the letter at the beginning of Acts, he's name dropping here those people that others can go and interview and find confirmation of all these things having taken place by the eyewitnesses who were there and saw all of this.

I said Saul because that's the next name on here. So so Manian, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. OK, and here in a moment, it's going to say Saul, who was also called Paul. I'm going to make a note about that.

While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, so here we have the voice of the Holy Spirit of God that comes to them and gives them direction concerning the mission. The Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

Now, Luke doesn't provide for us here details on how the Holy Spirit spoke to them. So really, the most reasonable conclusion is that it was the audible voice of God that spoke to them and the voice that they heard of the three persons that make up the Trinity was specifically the Holy Spirit.

So we do have other occasions in Acts where the Holy Spirit speaks audibly. Remember that we heard previously the Holy Spirit say something to Philip and then the Holy Spirit had also spoken to Peter.

So there are occasions in which the Holy Spirit speaks. This is not some ambiguous voice in your head and you're trying to distinguish between your own thoughts and the Holy Spirit. This was very clearly, plainly the word of God to them.

It was not just some whispering in their mind. It was it wasn't some mental state or some idea that they had that they attributed to the Holy Spirit. This is God speaking to them. The voice audibly saying to them, set apart for me, for God, Barnabas and Saul, and they're going to be sent on to this next missionary work.

Then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And when they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.

And they also had John as their helper. Now, this is admittedly a little bit confusing because every other occasion in which Luke writes of John, who is John Mark, he will qualify that as John, who is also called Mark or John Mark.

And whenever he's talking about John the Apostle, he just leaves it as John. We had that mentioned even in the previous chapter where it said that James, the brother of John, was put to death with a sword.

And we've seen many other occasions in which John has played a role in the spread of the gospel here, even in the book of Acts. So it's unusual that as we get here to to chapter 13, verse 5, that he mentions John.

So John, who is also called Mark, remember, was mentioned right at the very end of chapter 12. So context would lead us to believe that this John in chapter 13, verse 5 is John Mark, even though for whatever reason, Luke doesn't qualify him as John Mark here.

And then later on in verse 13, it says that John left them and returned to Jerusalem. We know that John lived there at Jerusalem because of what was talked about in chapter 12. His mother, Mary, had a home where Christians would gather and pray and John Mark was there.

So he would live there in Jerusalem. So it appears as if later on in verse 13, John leaves them in. They came to Perga in Pamphylia. John left them and returned to Jerusalem. This is John Mark we're talking about here, because then later on at the end of chapter 15, Paul doesn't want to take John Mark along with them anymore because he abandoned them at Pamphylia or he left the mission at Pamphylia.

And we're not given any details as to why, but because that's definitely John Mark they're talking about at the end of chapter 15, then this has to be John Mark that they're talking about in chapter 13.

OK, so, yeah, it's unusual that Luke doesn't qualify it with the name John Mark. He just says John, but that's the John we're talking about. Keeping the context of what was said at the end of chapter 12, this is John, who is also called Mark.

So then they John is with them as a helper, it says. And when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar Jesus, who was with the pro consul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence.

This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. And we're going to stop there, we'll stop there in the narrative and come back to this again tomorrow and finish up this account that we read here.

But remember, the word of God is the showcase. It has been at the end of chapter 12. It has been coming into chapter 13. And we have it mentioned at the center mark of this story because he wants to hear the word of God.

And then at the end as well, in verse 12, where it says that he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord, the teaching of the Lord prevails mightily. It is the word of God that is going forth from the apostles who have been sent by Christ to preach the gospel to the world.

And we're seeing time and time again as we go through Acts, the power of God's word to convert the soul from dead to alive, from unbelieving to believing, from a person of this fallen world to now a person and citizen of the kingdom of God.

It is the power of the word of God that brings about this transformation. And the church continues to grow. But remember, the way that's worded at the end of chapter 12 is that the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

We're seeing not only the poor, not only Gentiles, not only even a remnant of Jews that are coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but even people of high position are coming to faith as we're reading here about this proconsul who believes in the word and becomes a Christian as a result.

And so may we pray that even in our days, the word of God would have such an effect. We would see many that would continue to come to faith. People would believe in the word that is proclaimed. They would be baptized.

And the church, the saints, the kingdom of God would continue to grow because of the gospel. Friends, the kingdom of God is not going to grow by our politics. And that's not to say that as Christians, we shouldn't be involved in politics.

I wish more Christians would get involved in politics and run for higher office. But politics don't change the world. Politics don't save the soul. What saves the soul is the preaching of the gospel. The gospel must be preached.

If a person is not hearing the good news of Jesus, who died and who rose again from the dead and putting faith in him for the forgiveness of their sins and to be reconciled to God and have eternal life, if that message is not being preached to people, then the kingdom of God is not expanding.

And it doesn't matter if we change all the laws in the country to be Christian laws, like there are laws that reflect the rules and commands and the moral law that we have laid down for us in the Bible.

You could change all the laws to be that you would save nobody. People are saved by faith in Jesus Christ because they heard the gospel of Christ who died for them, who rose again from the dead. And by faith in him, our sins are forgiven and we have everlasting life with God.

May the word of God continue to prevail in our days and we see it multiply among us. Heavenly Father, we thank you for preaching the word to us. You have sent someone someone to us to preach the word that we would believe in it and be saved.

It is only by this word that we are saved. And so may we understand that when it comes to sharing the word with others, it is only in the hearing of the gospel that a person can come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

We would love to see people even in higher office come to faith or run for higher office and spread the faith in that opportunity that they have in that public platform that they may be given. But we understand that salvation comes only through the preaching of the word.

And may that be our first priority, that we would share the gospel with others so that they would be saved. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study, When We Understand the Text.