Many years ago I was at a church where they were preaching
through Acts, and I just remember feeling like I was taking a geography lesson
about some ancient civilization.
Whatever truth there was to be gained for me was obscured by the
confusing and often boring geographical details of Paul’s missionary
journeys.
So today I want to avoid focusing on all the stops of Paul’s
journey and the various particulars of each city or culture, and instead I want
to direct your attention to the point of Paul’s mission. The point of Paul and Barnabas’s
missionary journey is the same in every city and every culture and for every
person that they meet. And that is
that they preached the gospel. As
Spurgeon said, Paul may have changed his tone, but never his matter. The gospel is effective and powerful
for every culture, every kind of person, every kind of situation.
In Romans 1:16 Paul writes later, “For I am not ashamed of
the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
Don’t let familiarity with that verse dull it’s meaning. Paul is saying, having learned from his
own experience, that the gospel is the dynamis of God. That is the Greek word - dynamis. It’s the root word for dynamite. The gospel is powerful, able to blow up
and destroy fortresses. 2Cor. 10:3-4 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we
do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of
the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” But it
actually goes even further than simply the idea of power, but it really means
miraculous power. It is the power
to save. Salvation means to
deliver by miraculous, dynamic power.
You know, many of us fall into the trap of agreeing that
theologically the gospel has the power to save our souls from hell, but then
think it unreasonable to that the gospel alone has enough power to defeat the
power of sin. Is it able to
deliver a soul from hell, but unable to deliver a body from addictions? Which is harder? To heal the body or to
heal the soul? Is the gospel God’s miraculous dynamic power to save or is it
only effective in the spiritual realm?
I emphatically proclaim to you today by the authority of the God’s word
that the gospel is miraculously powerful to save and deliver from all sin, any
sin, all effects of sin, the power
of sin, and the penalty of sin.
Paul said it again in another place, 1Cor. 1:18 “For the
word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God.”
Paul said that the preaching of the gospel is foolishness to those that
are lost, but to those that are being saved, it is the very power of God. The power of God is immeasurable. The power of God holds the earth which
weighs trillions of tons, and causes it to spin on it’s axis at 1000 mph, and
then send it rocketing through it’s orbit at 67000 mph at just the proper
distance from the sun. That is
just the strength of one little finger of the power of God. And Paul is saying that same tremendous
miraculous power is unleashed in the gospel through salvation. There is no force in the universe
greater than the power of the gospel.
Jesus said, things that are impossible with men are possible with God
because God is a God of unimaginable, immeasurable power.
So Paul, wisely enough, as he goes from town to town,
preaches the gospel. He doesn’t
use the wisdom of men, he doesn’t use psychology, he doesn’t rely on
entertainment, he doesn’t use technology, he simply preaches the powerful
gospel of salvation to every people in every region, in every culture. No matter where he went it didn’t
change. When Paul goes to Ephesus,
he preaches the gospel. When he
goes to see the Greek philosophers in Athens, he preaches the gospel. When he goes to Rome to see Caesar, he
preaches the gospel. When he is
taken before kings, he preaches the gospel. Because he knows the gospel does not rest on the wisdom of
men, but on the power of God. And
so we see that illustrated for us in this chapter.
Notice in vs. 1 Paul and Barnabas went first to the Jews in
the synagogue at Iconium, and what did they do there? They preached the gospel. Then it says in vs. 3, in spite of the Jews stirring up
bitterness towards them, they continued to preach the gospel for quite some
time. Finally, persecution got so
bad there that they had to flee town because they were about to be stoned to
death, so in vs. 6 it says they went to the Gentiles in some nearby towns
called Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe; and what did they do there? Vs. 7, “they continued to preach the
gospel.” Boy, these guys were a one
trick pony, weren’t they?
Then while they were in Lystra, Paul healed a lame man. We will talk more about that in a
moment, but notice vs. 15 which says that Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel
to them as well, which resulted in the pagan crowd first trying to worship them
as gods, and then when they were finally convinced that Paul and Barnabas were
not gods, they stoned Paul and left him for dead. But Paul got up and went right back into town and I suppose
continued preaching the gospel right where he left off.
The next day, Paul and Barnabas left Lystra and went to a
nearby town called Derbe, vs. 20.
Guess what they did there?
You guessed it, preached the gospel. Then after they had made disciples there, they went back to
the cities that they had preached in previously and preached some more,
strengthening the believers and appointing elders in the churches that were now
started in those towns.
Then finally they traveled to Perga, and preached the gospel
there as well. After all that
preaching of the gospel to all these various regions, they went back to their
home church in Antioch and reported to everyone there what God had done through
them in their journey.
So preaching the gospel was the pattern to Paul’s
ministry. He said later he relied
not on cleverness of speech but the preaching of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. But what exactly is the
gospel? Literally, it is the good
news. It is the good news that sinful,
dying men and women who are under the penalty of death and cut off from God
have had their penalty paid by Jesus Christ, who is the very God incarnate,
that is God in human flesh, resulting in eternal life for those who believe. Paul says it very succinctly in 2Cor.
5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Did you get that? God made
Jesus, who was sinless, to become sin on our behalf, so that we might become
righteous with the righteousness of Christ. God transferred our sins upon Jesus, put Him to death for
us, and transferred the righteousness of Christ upon us, that we might be
reconciled to God. That we might
be made sons of God. That we might be given new life, eternal life in Christ.
Now that is the doctrine of the gospel, but how is it made
efficacious for us? Well, the
gospel rests upon two twin pillars which are repentance and faith. Repentance and faith; they are
codependent. One alone cannot
suffice. They must both be present
for the gospel to go from theology, to being efficacious to your salvation. Jesus declared that in his first message
recorded in Mark 1:15 saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of
God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." So repent and believe,
the twin pillars of our faith. Listen how Paul sums it up in vs. 15, “Men, why
are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and
preach the gospel to you 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.”
Now look closely at what Paul is saying. He rebukes them first of all for
worshipping false gods. They were
actually thinking that Paul and Barnabas were the gods Mercury and Zeus and
they were preparing to offer sacrifices to them. So Paul rebukes them and says no, we are also men the same
as you, and we preach the gospel to you, which is that you should turn from
vain idols… Now stop there for a moment.
That is what repentance is, to turn. To turn away from sin.
God’s law defines sin and at the very beginning of God’s law He says you
shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall make no graven image.
But you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you
serve. And Paul said that they
needed to turn from that sin unto God.
So repentance is not simply feeling sorry for whatever situation you
find yourself in, or feeling emotional, but repentance is turning, 180
different direction, from following sin, to following God. Now maybe you are so caught up in your
sin that you want to repent, you want to turn, but you don’t think you have the
power to turn. Well, that’s
typical. But thankfully the power
to turn does not come from ourselves.
You don’t have to sober up to come to God, or get cleaned up to come to
God. You come to God asking to be
changed by His power. The power to
change comes from God through salvation.
We simply confess our sins, our sinful nature, confess that we are
trapped in it, and believe in faith that God is able to deliver us from it. That is when God applies the power of
salvation. The power to deliver
you. The power to forgive
you. The power to save you. The power to free you. The power to
heal you from the effects of sin that serve to trap you.
So the first pillar is repentance and the second is faith. Let’s finish Paul’s sentence; “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.” Repentance is turning as we have already shown, now then
faith is believing that God is powerful enough to save you, powerful enough to
deliver you, that He is powerful
enough to make the earth, send it’s trillions of tons spinning on it’s axis,
rocket it into orbit at just the precise distance around the sun (which He also
made by the way) at 67000 mph. And
that the same power of God that made the earth, and the sea, and the stars and
everything that is in them, can certainly, surely deliver you from not only the
penalty of sin, but the power of sin.
If you believe that, then you have faith. Faith is not believing that you can do it, or that you need
to clean up or sober up or get your life together first. Faith is believing that God’s power is
enough to save you and deliver you. Faith is believing that Christ’s sacrifice
cleanses you from sin and transfers you to the kingdom of God.
Now let’s see the effect of the gospel. Someone once said
that every miracle in the New Testament is a parable, designed to illustrate
physically what God can do spiritually.
And I certainly think that is the case in the miracle of healing the
lame man here in this chapter. It
is illustrative of the power of the gospel.
Let’s look at what happened in verse 8. “At Lystra a man was
sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had
never walked.” Now if you had written that sentence in English class your
teacher would have probably marked your page in big red letters saying that is
a redundant statement. The author
Luke says that the man is lame in three different ways. Why? Well obviously, he wanted to emphasize that the man was
lame.
But if you consider it more closely, you will notice Luke
says that he had no strength in his feet.
In other words, he was powerless.
Then he says he was lame from his mother’s womb. In other words he was born that
way. And then that he had never
walked. He didn’t know how to
walk. He had never walked. He had no experience of walking.
And I would suggest this lame man is a picture of all
mankind in their fallen, sinful condition. We have no strength to walk after Christ. We are powerless to live the Christian
life. We are powerless to reach
God. Secondly, we were
born that way. Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin
my mother conceived me.” We are
natural born sinners, and as such are bereft of God.
And then thirdly, we don’t know how to walk in
righteousness. We have never
walked in righteousness. Isaiah
64:6, “all our righteousness is as filthy rags.” We don’t have experience in
righteousness. 1Cor. 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually appraised.”
So in every way, this lame man is a picture of the natural
man who is unsaved. And then
notice that Paul was preaching the gospel and this man was obviously very
attentive. And Paul seeing him knew that this man had the faith to be healed.
How did he know that? It was
undoubtedly a prompting by the Holy Spirit as he saw this man listening and
drinking in Paul’s message. He
could perceive this man’s response to his message. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and
hearing by the word of Christ.”
Our faith is not founded on our feelings, or on wishful thinking, but on
the promises, the word of Christ.
And notice how Luke describes it in vs. 9: “This man was
listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had
seen that he had faith to be made well.”
The Greek word for made well is the word sōzō. Guess what sōzō means?
It means to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or
destruction. So it’s not just a
physical healing that is presented here, but symbolically and literally I
believe in the life of this man, a spiritual healing. As I said while ago, every miracle in
the New Testament is a parable, designed to illustrate physically what God can
do spiritually.
Then let’s look at the power of the gospel to save as
illustrated in this miracle. Paul
said in vs. 10 “with a loud voice,
‘Stand upright on your feet.’ And he leaped up and began to walk.” Here is the process of salvation. The lame man typifies repentance by the
fact that he knew that he was lame.
He knew he was born that way.
He knew he could never walk.
That is a picture of repentance.
He wanted to be made well.
And when he heard the gospel preached he believed in Christ, and all
that Christ represented. Then Paul
ordered him to stand upright on his feet. So the man had the faith necessary,
but at that point it was all theoretical.
He needed to act on that faith.
He needed to stand up in obedience to Paul’s command even though he had
never stood up.
We are told to obey to the call of the gospel are we
not? To confess our sins, to
repent of our sins, to believe and trust in Christ and to follow Christ. The first step to following Christ is
obedience and then that is demonstrated by being baptized. Baptism symbolizes repentance and faith all wrapped up in
this demonstration of your inward change.
So he had repentance and faith, and then notice the powerful
result of salvation. The lame man
leapt up and began to walk. Notice
that this man who had no strength in his feet and legs leaped up. He didn’t grab hold of a walker and
start to pull himself erect. He
didn’t have to go to physical therapy class for 6 weeks to get his legs strengthened. This man who had no strength in his
legs suddenly had the strength to leap up. Hallelujah. I
feel like leaping myself just thinking about it.
And he began to walk.
From a human, scientific, commonsense perspective, that just can’t
happen, can it? He has to learn to
walk. He has to build his muscles,
build his strength, learn to keep his balance. But actually, no he didn’t. God was able to supernaturally heal him. Give him the full power to walk as a
disciple of Christ.
Folks, I don’t know about you but I take great comfort in
that illustration. I don’t have to
worry that I have a sinful nature.
God will give me a new nature when I am saved. I don’t have to worry that I have never been righteous. God will give me the righteousness of
Jesus Christ. I don’t have to
worry that I don’t know how to walk,
God will give me the Holy Spirit to live inside me that will teach me
and help me to walk as I step out in faith.
Some of you here today are thinking, wow, that sounds
terrific. Sounds like good
news. I wonder if I could have
that power of salvation. I’m here to tell you that the message of the gospel
has not changed. It is good for
kings, for peasants, for Jews and for Gentiles. It is one size fits all. It is
effective for you if you will just repent and believe. It is the power of God. And that power can and will deliver you
from not only the penalty of sin but the power of sin.
If you recognize yourself in this portrait of the lame man,
you recognize you are a sinner from your mother’s womb and the impossibility of
your spiritual condition, then I urge you to accept Christ today. Turn from your sin and believe in
Christ and know the power of salvation.
It is available to everyone without cost. Jesus paid the price.
All that is necessary for you is to repent, believe and be willing to
stand up and walk in obedience to Him.
He will supply the miraculous power of salvation.
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