RESULTS FOR GOD
[p. 617] RESULTS FOR GOD
Acts 13:4-12; Acts 13:52; Acts 14:8-10; Acts 14:23
These two chapters furnish us with the account by the Spirit of God of the first missionary enterprise of Barnabas and Saul, particularly Saul, that is Paul; and these sections are read with a view to presenting the gospel from them, but more particularly to show the results for God, and for Christ too, from this great enterprise of these two servants of God. It is well to bear in mind that results for God are intended in the gospel, although incidentally relief and blessing for men are also included, or the word ‘gospel’ would hardly fit. It must carry good news, and what is immediately good news to those in distress from sin, is relief, a means of relief from the distress. If there are those here under pressure from sin, either directly or indirectly, let it be understood by all such that the aim is that there should be relief.
But these chapters are exemplary as indicating that in the relief there are to be results for God, and that in the way of assembly material, assembly material set up in assembly relations, and in these relations functioning under the eye of God here. That is what God has in mind; that is a great moral triumph, ultimately a great and glorious triumph for eternity as we see the assembly in heavenly glory, every member of it there, every member of it in his own history having tasted the gospel as relieving him, but now in glory with all his like. The Lord lays the whole matter out before us in that way, and the first element brought to our attention here as the result of these labours and journeyings is an intelligent man. That is the first idea. This man is not presented to us as suffering from sin, though of course he [p. 618] was a sinner like all of us. He was a deputy of the island, a man of distinction politically, but he is called an intelligent man from the beginning. The evangelists had a good journey to take before they found anyone that could be regarded as a real case, as we say, a case of blessing; it is a good phrase. They had journeyed down the island of Cyprus, full of evangelical feeling, patience accompanying it. They did not seem to have been discouraged by the paucity of cases in their immediate efforts; indeed, we read that “they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus”. A very unlikely case! Very unlikely soil! and it is not out of place to suggest that we are living in days in which the soil is very, very hard, and if we are susceptible to discouragement, we shall be discouraged in our evangelical efforts on account of the hardness of the soil. The Spirit of God, however, did not have this man in mind; he is not among those who are saved; we have to regard him among those who are lost. A terrible thought! “If our gospel be hid”, says the great evangelist, “it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ ... should shine unto them”, 2 Corinthians 4: 3, 4. A terrible thought that there are many such now! This man was one of them, and he was with another kind of man. Alas for that man, the deputy, that he should have such a companion as this! Companionship is used of the devil constantly to keep souls away from Christ. It may be that someone here has a companion, unsuspectingly, a companion that you do not think for a moment would divert you from Christ, but he may be doing it, or she may be doing it, and doing it in a pious way, for this man’s name was Bar-jesus; some religious profession attached to him. He is a sorcerer, however, a “child of the devil”, for it is [p. 619] not easy to discern at once what may be hid under such garments: it may be, as here, a qualified person, a qualified emissary of the devil, one who would hinder your soul from drawing near to the Lord, and too, hinder the Lord from getting near you. But it is your matter. If there is anyone here with such a companion in any degree, the matter is yours; the Lord is saying to you, You must get rid of that companionship or you will be blinded, as he is, or as she is. So the apostle spoke to him. His name is given to us in verse 8, “Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith”. As I said, things may not appear on the surface, but that companion is hindering you. You may bring him or her to the meeting, and you hear of Christ, and after the meeting you are still the more darkened; the influence is there.
Now the deputy was exercised, as we say; he sent for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. Bar-jesus did not suggest that to him. Thank God there was a power greater than Bar-jesus working with that man, as there is with everyone whom the Spirit has in His mind to secure for Christ, for the assembly. It is a question of the power of God, and this man was there by the side of the deputy to turn him away from the faith. Thank God it was clear at the outset that this was a faith matter. It is not a matter for mental enquiry; christianity is a faith matter or nothing, and anyone who takes it up otherwise simply whitewashes himself. It is a faith matter, and this distinguished man had that in mind. He had the idea of faith in mind, and the devil knew it. It is not simply, beloved friends, that we believe in the doctrine of justification by faith; that has been crystallized for three or four hundred years; it is a question of faith as the gift of God. The Lord in speaking to persons who gained by faith, calls it “your” faith; and evidently this man had faith, although the word has more meaning here than that — it is “the” faith. “The faith once delivered to the saints” is being set out by these great servants, and the devil would turn away this man from it.
Now as I said, one would appeal to young people as to their companionships; that is one point that seems to me to be urgent at this time: the use made by the devil of companions to turn away persons from the faith. The passage goes on to say, “Saul, who also is Paul”, and let us call him Paul henceforth, for it is his name spiritually, and it is well to have the spiritual touch in the use of names in the service of God, for personality enters into this, personality in those who serve, for those who serve are to be examples of what they are saying, and that is the idea in “Saul, who also is Paul”. His converts would notice this. No one is put forth more in Scripture as an example next to the Lord than this great servant, and every servant of Jesus is to be representative of Jesus, and worthy of being followed, at least, to a point. He will not let you follow him long if he is like Paul: we have “Paul and his company”. You might say, ‘Paul is a partisan man now’. Never! He tells the Thessalonians, “Ye became followers of us, and of the Lord”. He soon turns us on to the Lord. He will do what he can for us. Why should not every lover of Jesus do what he can for souls? — but not to make himself a party head. You get into excellent company, saving company, when you touch Paul and his company, and that is what you get here. I would advise every young one to get into that. You would soon find those who form this company are all set to get you into touch with Christ in an experimental way, that you may know Him as Head, as Leader, the Leader appointed of God, the appointed Leader of our salvation; that is what He is called. The word signifies [p. 621] that the Lord Jesus has gone before and He has set out the idea of salvation; then He becomes the Saviour in it, the Captain of our salvation. So that Paul and his company here are not to be questioned; they are over against the deputy, Sergius Paulus, and this man Bar-jesus; the latter is a bad companion, a dangerous companion. One, an elect one to be a participant in the blessings of the gospel; the other, a child of the devil using every possible effort to turn away the man who is seeking after the faith and the mind of God — to turn him away from the gospel, to turn him away from the faith. I warn everybody here against such a companionship; even though it may not be such an one as this, there may be persons very like him, whose faces are toward the world, and they will drag you into it if they can. Cut that companionship at once; it stands between you and blessing; it is Satan thwarting your salvation and your blessing.
So the apostle Paul exposes this man in the most dreadful terms — “child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” He is exposed. We can thank God for the exposure of such a companion. So here Bar-jesus is exposed and comes under the judicial dealings of God, for God is always acting judicially; day and night it is going on in our favour in order to make a way for the gospel. He acts judicially: He may take that friend away, or He may take you away and make you sick so as to get you away from him. He wants to bless your soul. This man is exposed and the deputy is secured, and he marvels at the teaching of the Lord. It is a question of teaching; and we have the kind of material that is greatly needed. It is the first element here. A man who is called an “intelligent” man is delivered from his evil companionship, he is a believer in the Lord Jesus, and he is wondering at the teaching of [p. 622] the Lord. You would like to meet a man like that! He will soon be in fellowship! He is ready for the Scriptures, ready for any ministry that tells him of the Lord. It was well worth traversing the island of Cyprus in order to secure him, and he is secured in faith, marvelling at the teaching of the Lord! Many get blessing through the preaching, and teaching is made very secondary. Relief comes into the conscience and, of course, that is intended; but then, the teaching is the next thing. Young souls, young converts, need teaching, and this man presents that side to us. He is the subject of the work of God secured through the gospel, and now wants divine teaching. You marvel at it, you are thirsting for it, and the Lord has provided for you in what are called “pastors and teachers”. The order of the Lord’s provision, as above, as gone up into heaven, is “apostles” — that is, the authority of God; secondly, “prophets” — that is, the mind of God forced into your soul; and thirdly, “evangelists”, and fourthly, “pastors and teachers” — persons who love your soul. They will go any distance to help you, and at the same time bring to you the teaching of the Lord. Well, that is the first element; the next is the result at Antioch.
We have first an intelligent man, wondering at the teaching of the Lord; secondly, believers who are said to be filled with joy; we need those, the testimony needs those. It is a remarkable thing how joy in heaven is linked up with conversion, with persons who repent. Heaven is not so doleful as some might think; heaven is very active, there is no night there, it is a place of eternal joy. You may say, ‘Because of conditions up there’ — but it is rather because of what happens down here, what is happening down here from the east to the west all day, namely, souls repenting — not simply once and for all, there is no such thought as that. The idea [p. 623] of a repenting sinner is characteristic; a characteristic repenting sinner occasions joy all the time in heaven. It may be you have never thought of contributing to the joy of heaven; heaven is contributing to your joy as here, but think of being able to contribute to the joy of heaven! That is an item to be received into the mind. Am I to be slothful in that? It is a very practical matter because there are many offences and transgressions; you know there is a good deal of this current amongst the Lord’s people, and a great deal of slothfulness in repenting. Of course, there is more in it than I am speaking of. I am speaking now of making history in heaven, that it is in my power, in repenting of that false charge, that bit of slander; it is in my power to cause joy in heaven through that, “one sinner that repenteth”. You may say, ‘But that is a sinner’! But you are a sinner if you are making a false charge against anyone, or doing anything like it. We are all brought into it, dear brethren, as to affecting heaven. Some of us have been speaking about influencing heaven to do things down here, but it is a very delightful thought that I can affect heaven in the way of causing joy up there in the presence of the angels of God; and then, heaven in its turn causes joy in you. It fills you with the sense of its approval.
So the second part of this chapter deals with the work at Antioch in Pisidia. Paul is the speaker; he, like Stephen earlier, enters on the history of the testimony. You say, ‘What is that to do with me if I am convicted of sin here tonight?’ It has a great deal to do with you, because the testimony has had to do with persons like you from the very beginning; from Adam and Eve down to the present time, the testimony of God has had to do with persons like you — sinners. Adam was one, Eve the first one. Let it not be forgotten by the feminine side, the woman was in the transgression by herself: Scripture [p. 624] holds her to that. God had to do with her, the testimony of God had to do with her. God had to make clothes suitable for Eve, woman’s wear. That was history. That is a bit of history that should affect every person, that God is thinking of Eve, the first sinner, she who lent her ear to the devil, who listened to the devil speaking against God too. So the apostle Paul makes a sign with his hand, knowing the Jew so well. He knew how to get people’s attention. An important thing in ministry is to get people’s attention. You do not speak to Jews as you do to gentiles: remember they are Jews and speak to them accordingly. He made a sign and he calls them, “Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience”. That is a fine introduction to what he has to say. He is not saying anything against them; it is not indictment. The gospel is not an indictment of men, not that it does not convict men of sin, but it is only to forgive them. There is no penalty attached to the charge made, it is a question of interesting you. “Give audience”; listen to me! And he gives a bit of Israelitish history, appealing to the instincts, their national instincts, and what we find is that in coming down the history he touches on most interesting men. He touches on David; he says, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will”; but he means Jesus. See how beautifully he brings in Christ in giving a little bit of history, the history of God’s ways in grace with His people. Why do you not come into this? That is the intent. Why will you not come into this bit of history? It refers to you.
So that we find the apostle saying to them, “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins”. That is the point, coming down to every individual sinner. Where is the repentant sinner [p. 625] now? He has been making joy in heaven; now heaven is going to make joy in his heart through this wonderful message. “Be it known unto you ... that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins”. That is what you need. One would like to put oneself in the position of a sinner to have again the joy that comes into the soul in forgiveness. Is there one under pressure of sin here? The word is for you. And moreover, it says, “By him all that believe are justified from all things”. What a sweeping matter this is! How thorough is the gospel! If there is anyone here at all interested in what I am saying, do not question it, accept it in its greatness and fulness, its completeness, justification from all things, however bad, and they are bad. The more he goes on with God, the more the truly repentant sinner judges sin, he finds out the nastiness, the meanness of what he is. He needs the thought to be carried right through; hence we have this word justification from all things. No one can bring a charge against you. It is triumphant.
Then we are told that “as many as were ordained to eternal life believed”. Now we come down in this remarkable testimony at Antioch to the counsels of God; your name is there beforehand. We need not fear, dear friends, to look at this side of the matter, for, after all, it is this, “Whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified”, Romans 8: 30. “Ordained to eternal life”, not ordained to forgiveness, but to life, which is a matter of counsel. Eternal life was promised before the world was, and God had someone in mind in promising; the promise is made to someone and all those here are included in that promise. They were ordained to eternal life. You may say, ‘Why do you bring in that side?’ It is very establishing. It is an establishing truth, and believers do well to take it in.
[p. 626] If I come into the joy of forgiveness, I have already caused joy in heaven, but now I find my name has been known beforehand. I have been ordained: think of that! Everyone who is a christian has been ordained to this great matter, to the promise of God, purpose too: “For God so loved the world”, in order to reach this “that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”, John 3: 16. As soon as that “whosoever” believes, he finds out he was ordained to it; it is a double security. There is no question about it, and do we not need it? With the terrible winds blowing around the young people they need to get into their souls the fact that believers have been ordained to eternal life. And so, as you might expect, they were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. The joy is mentioned first, as if the Holy Spirit takes up His abode in a heart filled with joy. Why should He not? We talk about the Spirit almost entirely in a theoretical way, but there is such a thing as the Spirit dwelling, perfectly at home with nothing to disturb. The heart is made joyful by the gospel and by the knowledge of the counsels of God regarding him. Think of being named before the ages, before the world was! Let us let the thought in, for it is gospel. Why should it not be gospel? To think I have been known before and “ordained to eternal life”! Does it not fill the heart with joy? It does.
Finally, there is this man spoken of in chapter 14: 8. “There sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked: the same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked”. This is another bit of material. First, we have an intelligent person, then we have persons [p. 627] ordained of God before the world unto eternal life; and now we have persons who are upright, balanced. He sprang up on his feet. He had never walked. The testimony needed a man like this! It is said these servants went in together into the synagogue of the Jews. What lovely men they are, those two servants of Christ, heaven’s witnesses! Let there be no hesitation in two brothers taking on gospel service; that is a divine way, and how lovely they are! Lovelier than ever Saul and Jonathan were, although David speaks with such pathos of them, they were not like these two men. These two men are unique. Paul and Barnabas entering together, full of evangelical feeling, full at the same time of the sense of Christ’s love for the assembly, for the bride. His companion for ever. They are full of that! They are not evangelists only, they are lovers of Jesus; they are in sympathy with Him as the three mighties were in sympathy with David about the well of water at Bethlehem. They are heaven’s best, going together into the synagogue at Iconium, and they so spake that a great number, or multitude, both of Jews and also Greeks believed. That is, attention is called to the speaking, another feature of service; in order to get what is needed there must be right speaking. “They ... so spake”. It says both of them, “they ... spake”. I suppose they spoke one after the other. It would be very lovely to hear Paul and Barnabas speak, one after the other. How delightful! The apostle Paul speaks of himself and Silvanus and Timotheus preaching the Son of God. One would like to have heard! Paul speaking and Silvanus speaking and Timotheus speaking! Maybe they had three meetings going on at the same time in Corinth. I should think there were a good many meetings in Corinth, for the Lord says “much people”, and much in His account is much. These three men preached the Son of God. I would love [p. 628] to hear them preach the Son of God: it is the way they speak, and it is remarkable that Paul is called the chief speaker. Some of his rivals in Corinth said that his speech was contemptible. Think of what the devil would do against a servant of Christ; an opposer is forced to say an illogical thing against a servant. Here he is the chief speaker, and he so spake that a great multitude believed. It is a question of the speaking, and then there is this one man singled out in Lystra. Beautiful as these men were, they were persecuted and flee the town.
So they come to Lystra, and here was this man, an impotent man, a lame man — he had never walked. I suppose he represents the gentiles. It is emphatically said that he never walked; it does not say this of the man in chapter 3. Now the word is for anyone here who is failing in his walk: a christian, it may be, who has had light in his young days, and now is damaged. You came in here tonight to hear the word of God and it enlightens your soul. That is what it is intended to do. Paul saw this man, and he heard Paul speak: that is the idea. This man would never forget this speaking, for in his turn he will speak too. Our meetings, assembly meetings and prayer meetings, are often very dead because of a mute brother, mute people. Of the Lord it is said at one time that He was casting out a demon, and it was dumb. He was doing it. It is not a historical thing merely, but the sort of thing that goes on. The Lord sees the need of it amongst us. It is a question of the assembly; the previous chapter deals with the furnishings of the assembly. Now the point is not that he speaks, but Paul speaks and with a loud voice. These early ministers of Christ could hardly use these amplifiers. We have to learn to speak with a low voice. It is a humbling thing that we have to accommodate ourselves to them, we have [p. 629] to use them. We hope one day they will accommodate themselves to us, for surely a minister of Christ must be actuated by feeling. The Lord Himself cried with a loud voice, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink”. That would not be through an amplifier but spoken by the blessed lips of Jesus. “If any man thirst”, He cried. It is very interesting to follow up the cries of Jesus: that is one of them.
So Paul, here, we are told, “said with a loud voice, Rise up straight upon thy feet: and he sprang up and walked”. He sprang up. That is a question of the energy that is needed in the assembly; these are all assembly features. It is assembly material that is in mind. Luke has that in mind right through the gospel. Not only that I should be in heaven, but I am to be here for God now having these features. It is a question of the spring in the soul, and a walk in keeping with it; so that no one can point a finger at me, for my walk is right. “Rise up straight upon thy feet”, the apostle said; and he did. It is a question of balance, but that of a man who heard Paul speaking. He is imbued with the thought of the speaking of this great servant of Christ.
Then finally, the apostle is concerned that this material, such as it is, precious gold, should be housed, and it comes, as it were, under the dignified word “assembly”, trustworthy, representative not only of the grace of heaven, but the order of things — heaven itself is brought down into every locality where these people are; hence, the apostles made selection of elders. The word ‘ordained’ is that they chose them. They ordained elders in every church and prayed with fastings, and committed them to the Lord, persons who would take care of this precious gold. In Timothy and Titus we get the qualifications required, not simply that they had grey hairs. These are to be set up in the towns where the apostles had [p. 630] laboured, so as to be representative of heaven. Think of the greatness of the divine thought in a provisional sense, what the Lord needs us for now in our localities, to be representative of heaven, set up like the boards of the tabernacle, in which the testimony is preserved! May God bless the word.