Acts 14:11

The same heard Paul speak, and as he was speaking of this lame man, who was steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had the faith to be healed, he said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." The man leapt up and walked. When the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lyconia, "The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men." They called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercury because he was the chief speaker.

Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before the city, brought oxen and garlands under the gates and wanted to sacrifice with the people. When the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the people, crying out, "Sirs, why do you do these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and we preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God, who made heaven and earth and the sea and all the things that are therein. In times past, He suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave us rain from heaven in fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." With these sayings, they scarcely restrained the people from sacrificing to them.

Let's pray. Father, as we look now into Your Word, You who are, as we just sang, worthy of all our adoration and praise. You are the great King of kings and Lord of lords, God of all creation. I pray that You would speak to us, Lord, by Your Word and by Your Spirit, that You would continue to transform us by the renewing of our minds, Lord, that we would be able to make application from this passage this morning. We pray in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, "Amen." You can be seated.

Paul and Barnabas are on their first missionary journey. They are in the region of Galatia and now the city of Lystra. You remember that they are preaching the gospel there, and we see this great miraculous healing of a man who had been lame his entire life. It says in verse 8 that he was impotent or disabled in his feet. Being a cripple from his mother's womb, he had never walked. Paul beheld this man intently, God giving him a word of knowledge, I believe. He says to him,

Stand up on your feet. The man leapt to his feet and walked—an absolute miracle in the presence of all those who were gathered, hearing the gospel preached that day.

We read in verse 11 that when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices in the speech of Lyconia and said, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men." Paul and Barnabas likely did not understand or speak the language of Lyconia. They were probably preaching in Greek, which the people in that region would have spoken. However, there was also a dialect there, the language of Lyconia. The people exclaimed, "The gods have come down to us," while Paul and Barnabas had no idea what they were saying. There was great excitement; no doubt Paul and Barnabas were thrilled to see a miracle performed in their midst. The man who had been healed was jumping up and down with excitement, and now all the people were excited. I'm sure Paul was thinking, "This is great!" until they realized what the people were really excited about.

These people were crying out in their own language, proclaiming that the gods had come down to them in the likeness of men. This may seem odd to us, but it was not abnormal for the Greeks in that day. In fact, there are many legends among ancient peoples where gods or beings from another place came down among the people. In our day, 2,000 years later, one might think that sounds strange, but there are still people today who believe such things.

I did a search on Amazon.com this morning and found over 316,000 books about aliens and alien abductions. Even today, we still have this idea that extraterrestrials come down, perhaps from outer space, and interact with humans. The ancient Greeks referred to these beings as gods. This brings up an interesting discussion, as the Bible has something to say about it. Many people in our modern day sincerely believe that aliens and alien abductions are real, that they absolutely happen—what the ancients may have called gods.

Often, the ancient legends, whether among the Greeks or other civilizations, are grounded in some sort of kernel of truth. Something happened that led them to develop these ideas, which they sincerely held as truth. But what is this all about? I do believe that there are such things that probably do exist.

I would say they're demonic and not extraterrestrial. They're not little ETs or little aliens. In fact, the Bible has an interesting passage in Genesis chapter 6. If you want to turn there, the very first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 6, we'll pick it up in verse 1. Isn't it great when the preacher says Genesis? You can turn there like you're an authority on Scripture.

Genesis chapter 6, verse 1 says, "Now, look at this," and in verse 4, we find something intriguing. The word "giants" in verse 4 is an interesting word in the Hebrew language. It's the word "nephilim," and it's a hard word to translate. Most of your Bibles will just say "giants," but it could also be translated as "fallen ones" or "those causing others to fall."

The term "sons of God," or "ben Elohim," in the original Hebrew is applied in other places in the Old Testament to angelic beings. In fact, nowhere else in the rest of the Old Testament is it applied to people. There are some within the church who say that these sons of God were actually the descendants of Seth from Adam, representing the godly line of people. However, many ancient Jewish rabbis taught that these were actually fallen angels, the fallen ones who came down and began to procreate with women. From them came this strange, corrupted line, these ones that were called the men of renown, these giants.

It's interesting because even among the Greeks and other ancient civilizations, there are legends about these beings coming down from above and having children with the daughters of men, which created these kinds of superhuman demigods.

If you studied Greek literature, you might have seen some of those things and thought, "Well, it's just a strange legend." They came up with these interesting stories, but people devoted themselves wholeheartedly to these things 2,000 years ago and even before that.

An interesting passage deals with the Nephilim. In fact, in Aramaic culture, the word "Nephilia" referred to the constellation Orion, and they believed that the Nephilim were beings that came down from space. This is an interesting thing to consider, especially when we look at the Book of Jude, the second to last book of the New Testament. It's a small book, only one chapter, just before Revelation.

In Jude 1:6, Jude tells us that God has reserved a special judgment for a group of angels that left their first estate, the place that God had created for them to dwell. In verse 7, he says, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."

There is an indication of some sort of immorality that took place. The same sort of immorality that was occurring in Sodom and Gomorrah is similar to what these fallen angels were doing. This unnatural union produced an unnatural offspring, which ultimately corrupted the earth to such an extent that God determined to destroy mankind with a flood in Genesis 6.

Many times, we think that the whole reason God flooded the earth was simply because man had gone off into sin. However, this incident in Genesis 6:1-4 seems to play into it. These angels that left their first estate caused a strange corruption upon the earth. Even today, while I don't fully recommend it, if you watch these alien abduction documentaries about people who have been abducted, they often talk about very immoral things that take place—demonic and immoral.

In my opinion, the perfect setup for one day, if perchance we are all gone in the twinkling of an eye, is what will they say? Well, the aliens abducted them all. It's a perfect setup. This idea of the gods coming down to us in the likeness of men among the Greeks was not foreign to these people. Now, they see this miracle performed in their midst and they say, "Hey, we have two gods in our presence."

This intrigues me because the one true God has performed an awesome miracle, and yet the people of the city of Lystra attribute this miracle to their foolish false gods. Oftentimes, we wrongly imagine that if God would only perform a miracle, then our friends, family members, or co-workers who are skeptics would believe. We think that if they saw a genuine miracle, they would come to faith. However, I believe that to be wrong.

We are very prone to misinterpret the awesome works of God. The people in Lystra applied or attributed the miracle they saw with their own eyes to their foolish gods that they already worshipped. If one of your family members or friends who denies God and is a skeptic saw God perform a great miracle, they would likely say, "Well, you know, it was a natural phenomenon." They would attribute it to what they already know.

So, while we think that miracles are essential and necessary, and they do show the glory and power of God, they are often misinterpreted by men. In the city of Lystra, the people called Barnabas Jupiter; some translations will say Zeus. They called Paul Mercury or Hermes because Paul was the chief speaker. In Greek mythology, Zeus was the father of gods, and Mercury, or Hermes, was the herald of the gods, the speaker. Since Paul was the speaker, they concluded that he must be Mercury.

The people of Lystra already had an understanding of these two gods because there was a legend in that city that Zeus and Hermes had visited their land disguised as mere mortals centuries before this ever happened. The people of that city did not give any hospitality to these two gods when they came, and in their anger, Zeus and Hermes wiped out the inhabitants.

The entire population of Lystra, except for two people, was very insistent that they had to be hospitable to Paul and Barnabas. The last time these apostles were there, the people had messed up, so they were quick to honor them. The priest of the city of Jupiter brought out oxen and garlands under the gates, intending to sacrifice to the people. When the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of this, they tore their clothes and ran among the people, crying out.

Paul and Barnabas didn't understand exactly what was going on. They didn't speak the language of Lyconia, and when they saw the people bringing out an animal to sacrifice, they realized this was not a good situation. Tearing their clothes was a common way for Jews to express frustration, grief, or anger. In this case, they were showing the people that they were just flesh and blood, just humans like them.

Before we move on, notice in verse 14 that it says, "when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their clothes." The title of "apostle" is an important concept to consider in the New Testament. Often, when we think of the apostles, we think of the eleven—those twelve minus Judas—and then ultimately Paul, who was an apostle outside of time. We typically apply the term "apostle" only to them. However, the New Testament author, Luke, ascribes the title of apostle to both Barnabas and Paul.

There was a definite authority that God had given to the apostles He had ordained and called—those who had seen Him and been a part of His ministry. Yet, in the New Testament, there were also others who went by the title of apostle. The word "apostolos" in Greek means "one who is sent with a message." In one sense, you could say this is akin to a modern-day missionary—someone sent out with a message.

But it's not just the missionaries we send to other countries; we, as the people of God in the Church, need to recognize that God has called each of us and sent us out with a message. In one sense, you are an apostle—not in that you have apostolic authority, but in the sense that you carry a message from God.

To write Scripture, God has called you, equipped you, and sent you and me out into the world. We are ambassadors of Christ, as Paul says in another place in the New Testament. When we gather together here for church on Sunday morning, we are not just coming as customers seeking to receive some good music, a little cracker, and some juice, or to be prayed for and encouraged. We gather together to be equipped with one another through the Word of God and prepared to go outside of these doors into the ministry that God has called us to.

We are apostles, those sent with a message. When we were sent, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 28, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and earth." He instructed us to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. He assured us, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

You might say, "I can't do that. I don't have enough power or strength." That's okay, because Jesus also said, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth." In Acts chapter 2, we see that when the body of Christ was gathered together corporately on the first day of the week in the upper room, the Holy Spirit was poured out. They went out from there, ministering in the strength and power of God, preaching the gospel with boldness.

When we gather together corporately on the first day of the week, we come to be empowered by God's Spirit. We need this empowerment because we leak. We come to be enabled through His Word, built up through fellowship in the body of Christ, and then we are prepared to go out from here and take the Word into the world as those sent with a message. We are not here just to put on a show; we are here to be readied for the work that God has called us to.

In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul says that God has created good works before the foundation of the world that you and I should walk in them. This means that God has already created good works for you personally for this afternoon, tomorrow, Tuesday, or next week. Those good works that God wants you and me to fulfill can only be accomplished if we are thoroughly equipped for every good work. That is why we gather together in this setting or on Tuesday nights for the ladies or Tuesday mornings in the Women's Bible Study.

On Thursday nights with the guys, or Wednesday evenings as we gather together here, or whatever night or day of the week we come together to go through God's Word, we are equipped and readied to take that message into a lost, sick, and dying world. But what do we preach, and what do we say?

Paul and Barnabas are ministering among a predominantly Greek-oriented culture. As we continue through the book of Acts, we will see this more and more, especially as they move in their second missionary journey, with Paul and Silas entering the region we would today call Europe. They are ministering among people with a certain worldview and mindset that was predominantly Greek. In 2009, we in America, Western Europe, and throughout most of the modern world are also shifting into that same first-century Greek mindset.

The message that Paul gives in this passage, as he runs into the middle of these people with Barnabas tearing their clothes, is really important for us to learn from. Notice what it says in verse 15: "They ran into the midst of the people crying out, saying, 'Sirs, why do you do these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and we preach unto you.'"

Now we get a little snapshot, a peek into the message that Paul would preach 2,000 years ago, which is just as appropriate today. He says, "We preach unto you, number one, that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God." The first thing that Paul emphasizes is the need to turn from what you've been doing already. Turn away from these vain things.

The word "vanities" there means devoid of force or lacking truth and purpose. It refers to something that is ultimately useless. As we look around our nation today, we see that there are hundreds and thousands of worldviews, ideas, and so-called truths. For those who are predominantly moving towards a secular humanistic perspective, this message is particularly relevant.

In today's mindset, people are often looking for something to create meaning for themselves and to establish purpose. However, their truth is devoid of force, truth, purpose, and power. This situation is no different from what Isaiah observed 2,700 years ago in his time.

Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 44. This passage of Scripture is one of my favorites to teach on when I cover it in my class at the Bible College. In Isaiah chapter 44, God speaks against the foolishness of idolatry among the children of Israel. After Isaiah chapter 40, the context of the book shifts, and God begins to prepare His people for the judgment that will come through the Babylonians. The primary cause of the judgment they were to receive was their idol worship. They entered Babylon as idol worshipers and were essentially rid of all their idol worship while they were there.

Notice what we read in Isaiah chapter 44, verse 9. I will read it in the English Standard Version. It says, "All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things that they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know that they may be put to shame."

In verse 10, God asks the question, "Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing?" Why would anyone do this if it brings no profit? Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble and stand forth; they shall be terrified and put to shame together.

The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches a line and marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He forms it into the figure of a man, the beauty of a man, to dwell in his house. He cuts down cedars, chooses cypress trees or an oak, and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar, and the rain nourishes it.

Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes part of it and warms himself. He kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also, he makes a god and worships it. He makes it into an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns with fire, and over half of it he eats meat, roasts it, and is satisfied. He warms himself and says, "Ah, I am warm. I have seen the fire." The rest of it he makes into a god, his idol. He falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god."

They know not, nor do they discern, for He has shut their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, "Half of it I burned for the fire. I also baked bread on its coals. I roasted meat and have eaten, and shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?" He feeds on ashes. A deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"

Notice what Isaiah is saying here: the foolishness of idolatry. A man goes out into the forest and looks for the strongest, hardest tree that he can find. He looks among the cypress or the oak. He cuts one down, and while he's out there, he becomes cold and famished. So, he kindles a fire with some of the wood, bakes a meal over it, and eats that meal. He warms himself by the fire, and then he takes the rest of the tree and fashions it into a god. He bows down to it and says, "Thank you for feeding me and making me warm." Where's the logic? Absolute foolishness.

It's the same as what the psalmist says in Psalm 115, verse 4. The psalmist states, "Their idols," speaking of the idols of men, "are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths but do not speak. They have eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear. Noses they have but do not smell. Hands they have but they handle not. Feet have they but they walk not. Neither speak they through their throat." The psalmist here says, "Listen, the gods that man bows down to, they're just made with temporal things, silver and gold, and they form them so that they may look...".

Like an animal or a man, they have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see, and feet but cannot walk. Notice what he says in verse 8: "They that make them are like unto them, and so is everyone that trusts in them." The psalmist here keys in on the foolishness of idolatry. The God that you worship, the God that you devote your life to, could be any number of things. Every single person in this world has something they have devoted their life and trust to.

The God that you worship will become the God that you serve with your time, money, and efforts. Whatever it may be, the God that you serve will be the God that you ultimately become. If your God is a foolish, stupid, temporal thing that is dead, one day you will end up foolish, stupid, temporal, and you will die, and your God will profit you nothing.

This truth also applies to serving the one true God. If you worship the one true God and begin to serve Him, you will become more like Him in the way you act, think, and talk. God desires that we become more and more like His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen? The God you worship is the God you serve, and the God you serve is the God you will become. "They that make them are like unto them, and so is everyone that trusts in them."

As Paul is in Lystra preaching to this group of people, he says to them in verse 15, "Turn. We have come to preach unto you that you should turn from your vanities." But we cannot stop there, because for a person to turn from one thing, they must always turn to another. He continues in the same verse, "Turn from your vanities unto, number one, the living God."

Where do we turn? To the living God. Paul and Barnabas make a clear contrast between the gods that the people of Lystra were bowing down to and serving—those things were vain, empty, and dead. But the God that Paul and Barnabas were preaching is alive. His vitality, His life, is provable. The life of this living God is provable. The late Francis Schaeffer.

A number of years ago, I wrote a book called The God Who Is There. In it, I discuss the truth that God is present and not silent. Paul, in his message, emphasizes the importance of turning away from vanities and turning to the living God. He begins to expound upon who this living God is, as seen at the end of verse 15: "Turn to the living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all the things that are therein."

This living God, if you're taking notes, is the creator God. The very first thing we learn about God in the Bible is that He is the creator. Genesis 1:1 states, "In the beginning, God created." On the very first page of the Bible, in the very first verse, we are introduced to the creator God.

I've been told on numerous occasions, while discussing Christ and our walk in following Him, that there are so many millions of religions. People often ask how we can know that there is really a true religion. Do you realize that there are only three religions that believe in a creator God? If science is honest and truthful in its endeavors, it proves creation. However, you will never hear that in elementary school, junior high, high school, or even at the college level. Science repeatedly supports the creation account.

Physics, a number of years ago, proved that the universe had a beginning. Scientists who believe in evolutionary theory had to develop a theory that would fit the scientific evidence. They proposed that the beginning was a big bang. But what caused the bang? All this matter condensed into something the size of a pin drop, and then—boom! Where did all that stuff come from? I don't know; we haven't figured that out yet.

One of the most outspoken atheists of our day is Dr. Richard Dawkins, who wrote The God Delusion. Many of you probably saw him in the documentary film Expelled.

It was done about a year ago. It's very interesting to see him a little bit tongue-tied at the end of the documentary, where he admitted intelligence had to be involved. When he said, "Well, perhaps it was aliens that seeded the earth," I thought, "Whoa! Time out! Wouldn't you maybe call that God?" That's the first initiation there. You know what? No, no, no. He sued them; he didn't want them to show that.

Paul says to turn to the living God, the Creator God. God is introduced in Genesis 1:1 as the Creator. Peter, the psalmist, goes on to speak a little bit more about this in Psalm 19, where he tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God and the earth shows forth God's handiwork. Day unto day they utter speech, and night unto night they show knowledge.

You see, the psalmist says that when you look at the heavens, the same psalmist, David, in Psalm 8, says, "When I consider the heavens, the moon, and the stars, what is man that you're mindful of him?" David, 3,000 years ago, was able to look up into the stars at night and recognize that there is a God. When he looked at those things, he said the heavens declare the glory of God. They show that He is powerful enough to create that.

The earth shows forth His handiwork. Whether you look through a telescope out into space and see the immense power of some of these stars and the hugeness of the universe, you think, "Man, God's powerful." Or if you take a microscope and look here on the earth at the smallest things that we can possibly see with atomic microscopes, you say, "God, He's got some serious handiwork." Day unto day they utter their speech; night unto night they show knowledge.

Verse 3 of Psalm 19 hits hard. It says, "There is no speech nor knowledge where their voice is not heard." You know what that means? There are skeptics out there who say, "Well, it's just not fair. If there is a God, how come He hasn't revealed Himself through His word to everybody? Not everybody has His word in their language." Have you heard that before? Well, Psalm 19 says God has given us evidence through creation that He exists, and there is not a single language out there that doesn't see that. There is no speech nor language where the voice of creation is not heard.

Of God, the Creator, and His intricately ordered creation, it cries for man's attention and ultimately for his devotion. We'll talk more about that in a moment because Paul is going to expand upon this a little bit more in his message.

He first told them that they need to turn from their vanities. Secondly, he told them to turn to the living God. Thirdly, he tells them about this living God. This living God is the Creator. The fourth thing he tells them, a little bit more about this living God, is found in verse 16. He says, "who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways." Not only is this God the living God and the Creator God, He is the long-suffering God.

You see, there are some who wonder, "Why should we turn to God?" Paul is telling these people they should turn to God. Some people say, "Why should we turn to God? He clearly is okay with how things are going here on earth. If He really had a problem with how things were happening here, He'd intervene. He'd do something. But obviously, since He's not doing anything, He must condone the behavior that's going on here on earth. He must find it acceptable."

Is that true? Is this line of thinking correct? Paul says that God, in times past, suffered or permitted the nations to walk in their own ways. Why has God done this? Why is it that God allowed the nations to walk in their own ways in times past? Is it proof that He accepts how things are here on the earth?

You see, that's kind of the mindset of the deist, moving from theism, which believes there is a God in heaven who is intimately involved in the workings here on earth, to the aspect of deism. Probably the two most famous deists in the founding of our nation are Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. You'll always be pointed to them. The authors of the book, "The Godless Constitution," point to them consistently. They don't talk about the other 54 signers of the Declaration of Independence, more than half of whom were seminary graduates, and many of them were preachers in their day.

But Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were deists. They believed that, yes, there is a God, but He wound up the clock and just let it go. He's not involved; He doesn't care. There are people who have that mindset that obviously God just doesn't care. If He did, He'd do something. But we're told here...

In verse 16, in times past, He suffered the nations to walk in their own ways. God is long-suffering. I think God in the Old Testament oftentimes gets a bad rap. I hear Christians say that the God in the Old Testament is different from the God in the New Testament. They portray the God in the Old Testament as some sort of punk high school kid looking for someone to destroy.

But you know what? If you actually read the Old Testament—novel idea—you find that God in the Old Testament is merciful, gracious, and long-suffering. There was a guy by the name of Enoch back in the book of Genesis. He was the fifth from Adam, fifth from creation, and he was a prophet. God told him, "I'm going to destroy mankind because mankind is sinful." He said, "When your son dies, then I'm going to destroy everything." So, he named his son Methuselah. Long name, hard to write on a check, but his name meant, "When he dies, judgment."

Enoch was probably telling everybody in his day, "Hey, you see this kid? He's special. Why is he special? When he dies, you're all toast." Now, he probably didn't say that; that's how I would say it, but he probably didn't say it that way. So, when he dies, you're all toast. I imagine that every time Methuselah fell down and skinned his knee, everybody would gasp.

Do you know that Methuselah was the oldest man in the Bible? He lived 969 years. I see God's grace in that. For 969 years, he was a testimony to every single person that when he dies, God is going to judge. You better turn from your vanities to the living God. You know what? Nobody did. Only eight people survived: Noah and his family.

Yes, there will be skeptics who say, "I don't believe that." But that big canyon over there in Arizona is proof of a worldwide flood, I guarantee it. Now, you go there today, and if you go on a tour, they'll say, "Millions of years and a little bit of water." I say, "A lot of water and a few hours." 969 years.

That's God's grace. God sent His people, the children of Israel, into the land of Canaan with the intention for them to destroy the peoples of that land because of their sin. Some may say, "See, He is mean." However, let's back up. He gave them over 400 years to repent, and they did not repent.

Exodus chapter 34 reveals that God is merciful, gracious, and long-suffering, holding forgiveness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet, it also states that He will by no means clear the guilty. God will judge sin, but He is patient and long-suffering. How many of you here today are thankful that God has been patient in your life? How many of you are super glad that He is merciful? Amen.

The Apostle Peter tells us this very thing in 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 9. He says, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but He is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance." This means that all should turn from their vanities to the living God.

Number one, they were to turn from their vanities. Number two, they were to turn to the living God. Number three, this God is revealed as the Creator God. Number four, He is long-suffering.

In verse 17 of Acts chapter 14, we read, "Nevertheless, He left not Himself without witness." What does that mean? It means He is the revealed God. He has revealed Himself. God has not left Himself without witness; in other words, He desires that we would know Him. He revealed Himself for a purpose. He didn't just wind up the clock and sit on the other side of the universe, twiddling His God thumbs, however that would look. He has revealed Himself and desires that we would know Him.

As we saw in Psalm 19, there is no speech nor language where the voice of God through creation is not heard. God cries to man through creation. Paul speaks a little bit about this in Romans chapter 1. In Romans chapter 1, verse 16, Paul says, "The gospel of God, the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Gentile."

The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." But notice what he says in verse 18: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold or suppress the truth in unrighteousness." Why? Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it unto them. The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that man is without excuse.

What Paul reveals here is that God has revealed Himself to humanity through two things. First, through the internal conscience of man, the moral law that God has written upon every heart. This conscience either excuses or accuses you. Even when you're five years old, you know you’re not supposed to kick the cat, even though Mom and Dad never told you not to. Conscience is hardwired into every single one of us. You have to basically destroy your life to get rid of that hard coating in your heart. Some people don’t have it anymore, and that is a scary place to be. Beyond feeling, their conscience is seared with a hot iron, as the Scripture says. Their end is destruction.

Secondly, in verse 20, Paul states that the invisible things of God from creation are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that man is without excuse. What we are told in Romans chapter 1 is that the conscience God has given every human being, along with the creation He has made around us, is sufficient evidence to convict you on the day of Christ Jesus and to condemn you to eternal judgment. Man is without excuse.

But what does man do? In verse 21, we read that when they knew God, they did not glorify Him. They knew God; He showed Himself in creation and through the conscience, but they refused to glorify Him. Neither were they thankful. Instead, they became vain or empty.

In their imaginations, their foolish hearts were darkened. Verse 22 stands out to me in a culture that is so oriented towards education and professors. It says, "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." What did they do? They changed the glory of God, the uncorruptible God, into an image like unto corruptible man.

You see, man is created to worship. Idolatry is just misplaced worship. When man rejects God, he says, "I don't want to be thankful to God. I don't want to retain God in my knowledge. I just want to get away from God." He will worship something. So, he takes the glory of God and fashions it into something made like a man, or birds, or four-footed beasts, or creeping things.

Wherefore, God also gave them over to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. The debauchery, sin, and sickness that we see in our culture today is a result of the rejection of God. It is the result of misplaced worship and idolatry. That is why Paul goes into Lystra and says, "Turn from your vain ways to the living God, the creator God, to the long-suffering God, the God who has revealed Himself."

Not only do we read that in Paul's message in Acts chapter 14, but moving from the revealed God, he says, "Nevertheless, he left himself not without witness." In verse 17, he explains how: "In that he did good and he gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." This is the creator God, the long-suffering God, the revealed God. He is the loving and benevolent God.

Not only has God revealed Himself through creation and the conscience within, but He has also lovingly and benevolently revealed His character to man in the fact that He has given us abundantly so much. Look at this creation He has given to us—phenomenal! Science can't even duplicate the things that this creation manufactures for us. It's absolutely amazing, and God has freely given that to all mankind.

He didn't just go, "Well, I'm only going to give it to the select group over here that I kind of like." He gave it to all mankind. This is extremely important for the group of people that Paul was speaking to because they had a Greek mindset and background. They worshipped, served, and sacrificed to a multiplicity of gods and goddesses, but they did so for what they could get from them.

What do I mean by that? If you were going to war and wanted to be successful, you would sacrifice to the god Ares or the goddess Athena. If you were a farmer seeking a good harvest, you might bring an offering to the god Demeter. If you needed good health, you might turn to Apollo. If you were looking for wealth, you might turn to Hades. These people served and bowed down to gods for what they could gain.

What Paul reveals is that the living God, the creator God, the long-suffering God, the revealed God, is loving and benevolent, and He has given in abundance. Why? So that we would recognize Him as God, as the giver, and that we would turn to Him in loving devotion and serve Him. One author described this as worship like dogs.

What do I mean by that? How many of you have dogs? Many of you do. You feed your dog, take care of your dog, and some of you even clothe your dogs. You wash your dog and do all this stuff, and what does your dog say? "You are God. You take care of me."

How many of you have cats? You feed your cat, take care of your cat, and do all these things for your cat. What does your cat think? "I am God."

We have a loving and benevolent God. The people in the Greek culture served and sacrificed to these gods for what they could get. The sad fact is that many people bring this Greek-oriented mindset into their Christianity. It happens like this: If I pray, if I go to church, if I read my Bible, then God will do A, B, C, D, and E for me.

If things aren't going so great, some people think, "I just need to fast more." When their lives don't seem to be looking up, they might say, "If I just read my Bible more, then God will do this." Sometimes, they even express their frustration by saying, "God, you're not doing this, so I'm just going to go on a hunger strike. I'm going to fast until you do."

We seem to think that we can order God around in this way. However, God is not one of these foolish, vain, empty Greek gods. He is the living God, the loving God, who desires to give good gifts to His children so that we would seek Him. He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

When you seek the one true God, you find that you are a sinner in need of salvation. God has supplied provision for that too, through His Son, Jesus Christ. I believe that in too many ways, we have brought Greek idol worship into our Christianity. We seem to think that if we just do certain things, then God will bless us. There are many teaching this false doctrine, this idol worship, in churches all across our nation and on television.

Sometimes, we also wrongly assume that if we just preach the gospel, everyone will turn to God. However, Paul's great message was clear. He went to the people and said, "Listen, you need to turn from your wicked ways to the living God, who is the Creator. He is long-suffering. He has revealed Himself. He is loving and benevolent. Turn to Him."

Yet, we sometimes think that simply preaching the gospel will lead to wholesale repentance. Notice verse 18: "And with these sayings, scarce restrained they the people that they had done sacrifice unto them." I believe that Paul's preaching was powerful, but it did not bring about a complete repentance in Lystra. It only barely kept them from offering sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. At the very least, they recognized, "Okay, yeah, you're not gods."

Furthermore, look at verse 19: "And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the people, and they stoned Paul. They drew him outside of the city, supposing him to be dead." If we have any budding politicians here in the room today, something you should learn from Scripture is that public opinion changes really quickly.

One day, they're saying, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." The next day, they're saying, "Crucify him." We don't know how long a time went between verse 18 and verse 19, but one day, they wanted to sacrifice animals to Paul and Barnabas, and the next day, they were dragging him outside of the city and stoning him to death, or at least thinking they had stoned him to death. They supposed that Paul was dead; however, as the disciples stood around him, he rose up and came into the city.

I don't know if it's insanity in Paul or outright boldness, but I lean more towards outright boldness. They stoned the guy with rocks, thinking he was dead, yet he got up and went right back into the city. The next day, they departed. Now, that's smart. With Barnabas, they went to the city of Derbe, and when they had preached the gospel to that city and taught many, they returned again to Lystra.

I don't know about you, but if I were Paul, I probably would have said, "Barnabas, I don't know about Lystra, man. You go on ahead. I'm just going to take a detour." But they went back to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples. Notice it doesn't say "converts." It says "confirming the souls of the disciples" and exhorting them to continue in the faith. They encouraged them to stand strong in the faith, explaining that we must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom of God.

Now, that's probably not one of your top memory verses, but we should recognize that the Bible teaches that life as a believer and follower of Jesus Christ is not easy. Jesus said, "In the world, you will have much tribulation." He also said, "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." We read in Paul's letter to the Corinthians that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. However, in this life, we may enter the kingdom of God through much tribulation.

When they had ordained elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed. In Paul the Apostle, here in this passage and in the rest of the book of Acts, we see a man who was incredibly devoted with extreme endurance to the cause of Christ. It amazes me the things that we will often endure in this life that have very little significance.

If none at all, eternal value. A lot of things that we will devote ourselves wholeheartedly to and endure, and yet beyond this life have no value whatsoever. The cause of Christ is the only thing worth that kind of full-fledged endurance.

That's not to say that we shouldn't be involved in other things where we commit ourselves wholeheartedly and endure through hardship, but we should recognize that if we're doing that for a job or for a sport, then our lives should be devoted even more so to the cause of Christ. Endurance in the life of the believer is essential because through much hard tribulation, we grow.

After they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. When they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Adalia and sailed to Antioch. From there, they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. How cool is that? They finished the work that the church at Antioch had sent them forth to do, and they went back to share with them what had happened.

When they had come, they gathered the church together and rehearsed all that God had done with them and how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. They abode a long time with the disciples. I'd like to get into that. We, of course, don't have any more time today, but we'll discuss it more fully next week.

Before we pray and finish, we should recognize that we are living in a similar Greek cultured society today, even though it's been 2,000 years. The message that Paul preached to them is the very same message that we need to remember, study, and commit to our hearts, speaking boldly in this world.

People have devoted themselves to all kinds of vain things that ultimately will result in nothing. They have no force, no purpose, no ultimate end. We know the living God, the creator of all things. He is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish. He has revealed Himself to us that we might know Him. He is loving and benevolent, desiring that we would come to Him.

That's the message we have. I have found that although it may not bring about wholesale repentance of every single person you talk to, there are a lot of people out there that need to hear the word of God. Amen?

We need to recognize that the God of the Bible is not a quid pro quo God. He does not operate on the principle that if I do this, He'll do that. Every other religion is like that; they require me to do good works in order to be saved. But not the God of the Bible. All He desires is that we would seek Him and follow Him. Amen?

Let's stand together. Father, I thank You for Your Word. Lord, we thank You as a church that You sent Your Son. You spared not Your only Son so that we would be able to have fellowship with one another, but ultimately fellowship and peace with You, the one true God.

Lord, would You give us boldness as we prepare to go from here to speak the truth to everyone we come in contact with, that they also may know the God who is there. We praise You and we thank You. Lord, I thank You for forgiving me for going over. I pray that the church would as well. In Jesus' name, Amen.