Resisting of Satan
Natural men have insurmountable obstacles to their believing. First of all, they are dead in sins (Ephesians 2:1), separated from God who is life. As “alienated from the life of God,” their understanding is darkened, and they are ignorant, because of the blindness of their heart” (4:18). Besides the blindness of a dead man, they are also blinded by Satan, “the god of this world,” who has “blinded the minds of them [the lost] which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The Devil concentrates his blinding power to keep the sinner from believing. He does not care how moral or religious a man is, as long as he does not believe on Christ for his salvation.
Satan works at hindering the preaching of the gospel to the lost. In the Book of Acts there is an attack of Satan upon every movement to advance the gospel. See Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira in Jerusalem; chapter 8, Simon, the sorcerer, and the gospel to Samaria; chapter 13, Elymus, the sorcerer, on the first missionary journey; chapter 16, the demon possessed slave girl on the second journey; and chapter 19, the Satanic stronghold at Ephesus on the third journey.
Acts 13:12 addresses our fourth point. “At Paphos on the island of Cyprus, the Roman deputy, Sergius Paulus, was interested in hearing the word of God Paul and Barnabas preached (v. 7). But Bar-jesus, nicknamed, Elymas, the sorcerer, was “seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith” (v. 8). Paul’s reaction was to rebuke the false prophet as a “son of the devil,” and being filled with the Spirit struck him down with blindness (note “the hand of the Lord”)(vv. 9-ll). Now see verse 12: “Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.” It was the teaching of the Lord that he believed, but the interference of Satan had to be removed first.
Our warfare is not with “flesh and blood,” for our foes are spiritual (Eph. 6:10-17) and our weapons are not fleshly but spiritual and mighty (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Look again at the armor of God Paul reveals the believer has for the spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:13-17) and see that the battle is fought in the spiritual realm by prayer. “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit . . . for all saint” (v.18). Paul wanted to be included in these prayers: “And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel” (v. 19f).
We are not only to pray to God for ourselves and other men, but we must also pray against Satan. He is a defeated foe (John 12:31-32; Colossians 2:14-15), and we are overcomers (Revelation 12:10-11; 1 John 2:13-14; 5:18). We must do our best to protect our families from occult and new age influences, and our churches from “seducing spirits and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1). We must seek to deliver sinners from Satan’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13) by prayer and patient witnessing. May we heed Paul’s word in 2 Timothy 2:24-26:
And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Regenerating of the Sovereign
As we proceed through the history of the Acts of the Holy Spirit we see how God’s eternal plan of redemption is being worked out progressively and geographically (Acts 1:8). We see that God gives repentance to Israel (5:11) and to the Gentiles (11:18) and individuals (2 Timothy 2:25). He opens the heart of Lydia while she is listening, resulting in her conversion (16:14). We must recognize it as God’s program being fulfilled. In Acts 13 we read the record of Paul’s sermon in Pisidian Antioch. We see the Gentiles becoming more enthused about the message than the Jews (vv. 42-44), prompting their envy and rejection of the gospel (v. 45). Paul turned to the Gentiles (v. 46), seeing it as the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Lord’s Servant, the Messiah, who would be a light to the Gentiles (v. 47; Isaiah 42:6), which causes rejoicing (v. 48a), “and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed”(v. 48b)[x]
We cannot escape the divine side of believing, the sovereign electing grace of God. Instead of owe our election to our faith, we owe our faith to our election.
Sadly some hate this doctrine, saying it is the enemy of soulwinning and missions. But this verse is in the middle of Paul’s first missionary journey. It does not hinder evangelism and missions. It encourages them, because it guarantees their success. Simple Simon may fish in a bucker, but real fishermen go where they know there are fish. God has ordained the means of preaching the gospel to bring his elect to salvation. Consider 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14:
But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved on the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Wherefore he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We give out the external, universal call to all, and the Spirit of God gives the internal, effectual call to God’s elect in his setting apart work (“sanctification”) of bringing them to “belief of the truth” and “salvation.”
In another missionary journey, his second, Paul was encouraged by his Lord with the words, “For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city” (Acts 18:10). Did he sit back in the armchair of hyper-Calvinistic do-nothing? No, the next verse says, “And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them” (v. 11). Paul was faithful to the gospel unto the end. From his final prison cell he wrote to Timothy:
Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory (2 Timothy 2:10).
Many have a problem trying to reconcile such teaching with the responsibility of man. It may be a mystery, but there is no contradiction. Both are taught in the word of God. Both are true. It’s called compatiblism. See it in one verse, Jesus’ word in John 6:37. Note the sovereign grace of God: “All that the Father giveth me [election] shall come to me [effectual calling].” All given to Christ by the Father in eternity will come to him in time. All given in secret will come to him openly. Now see human responsibility: “him that cometh to me” [believing]. Finally, the promise of sovereign grace: “I will in no wise cast out.” The divine purpose in giving them to Christ will be accomplished. All given, will come, and will never be cast out.
Dear reader, if you are not a believer, pay attention to Jesus’ promise. It is to “him that cometh.” Now who is a “him”? It does not say if he is a Jew or a Gentile, male or female (it is generic), young or old, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, a big sinner or a little sinner. It means ANYONE! You may come! You must come, if you would be saved! What does it mean to come” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Unbeliever, God has a people he has purposed to save. The good news is that you can be one of them. “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17d).
May we just believe God’s word. Let God be God and do what he wills, and let us get on with what we are told to do (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Relevance of the Soul Winning
Now let’s look at the other side further. Acts 14:1 reveals a human equation in bringing men to believing:
And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of Jews and also of the Greeks believed.
This verse speaks of the manner of communicating the message (“so spake”) that resulted in a great many believing.[xi]
The verse in the first part of the verse can be translated, “they went together into,” or “they went in the same way.”[xii] Luke appears to be saying that the two followed the same pattern as they did in Pisidian Antioch and had the same results, conversions and persecution.
“So” would mean they spoke “in the manner described.”[xiii] Thus, Paul and Barnabas did not change their message or methods when they moved to Iconium. They did not try to make the gospel more acceptable, more palatable to their hearers, to avoid rejection and persecution. This is what we see happening today in our postmodern age. In an effort to reach our culture, which is commendable, the message is too often compromised and the authority of Scripture undermined for pragmatic reasons, which is abominable. We find this in the market, seeker sensitive mentality and the emergent movement, and in the man-centered gospel that have been preached for decades.
This does not mean that the place and condition of the hearer will not mean an adaptation of our presentation. We must start where they are and build a bridge of communication tothem. To the Jew Paul started with the Old Testament in presenting their Messiah and had many believe (Acts 17:4).
But with the pagan Gentiles he began with creation and general revelation and moved to the NT gospel and also saw many believe (Acts 17:34). But he did not compromise the message or avoid issues that may be offensive to the natural man (1 Corinthians 1:22-24). He trusted the Spirit of God to do the convincing (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).
“So” can also mean “in an effective way.” How we communicate our message does relate to its effectiveness. To “so speak” will mean we will proclaim the gospel accurately, clearly, simply, sincerely, lovingly, compassionately, confidently, zealously, enthusiastically, honestly, with integrity, with holiness, with wisdom, and with much prayer (2 Corinthians 1:12; 2:17; 2 Timothy 2:24-25).
Response of the Sinner
The sinner also has a responsibility before God in the face of the free offer of the gospel. He must have the attitude of the Bereans. When Paul had to leave Thessalonica because of persecution he fled overnight to Berea 60 miles away. There he went to the synagogue and found a receptive audience (Acts 17:10).
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
Acts 17: 11-12
Luke describes the Bereans as “more noble,”[xiv] “more gracious minded” in comparison to the Thessalonians. They accepted the word “with all readiness.”[xv] They eagerly welcomed what was being revealed. They did not just dismiss some other viewpoint as unworthy of their consideration. They “searched the scriptures daily.” The word “searched”[xvi] Luke uses is a legal term, meaning to put on trial, i.e., they were willing to examine the evidence, open to the possibility that what they were hearing may be true.[xvii]
With this kind of open minded attitude no wonder it says, “Therefore many of them believed.” In Jesus’ parable of the soils, only one out of the four received the seed and brought forth fruit. The good ground represents the heart that will hear the word and receive it (Mark 4:20) with understanding (Matthew 13:23), honesty and obedience (Luke 8:15). This applies to a seeking sinner and a growing saint as well.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Acts 16:31