If you would remain standing and turn now in the copy of your scriptures, we're going to be looking at Acts, chapter 16, verses one through 15. I think you will find it a benefit to have the word in front of you to follow along as we read and then consider the text.
Acts chapter 16, beginning in verse one, reading through verse 15. But before we read, let's go to the Lord in prayer, Father, we thank you for giving us your word, Lord that we might know Christ.
Lord, glorify Your Son today, that we would make much of him, that we would decrease but his glory would grow all the more.
Lord, I pray that you will bless your people, that your Word will go out now powerfully, knowing that it will not return void, that you will strike us to life that you will not let us harden our hearts. Lord, let your spirit not open up our hearts.
Please. Let it do that that we might hear it and receive it and believe it and then be saved in Christ alone. We pray, Amen, People of God, here God's word for us this morning from Acts chapter 16, beginning in verse one, Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.
Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem, so the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in number daily.
And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, and having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word to Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, a man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
So setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days, and on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized and her household as well, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us.
He who has ears let him hear the Word of God. Please be seated.
Can you remember a time when you have walked up to a door thinking that it would be opened just to find that it was locked, it was closed recently. Our family was in Virginia for vacation. We were in a more rural area, and we just arrived.
It's late and it's dark and we need some somewhere to eat. Look on Yelp. Where do we go? Well, there's a burger place that everyone says has the best burgers around. The kids are complaining they are hungry.
It's late, but it's going to be worth it, because these reviews are pretty good. So we go out of our way, and we get to the burger place just defined. It is closed, the door is locked. They don't sell dinner. It's only a lunch joint, and I didn't know it well, maybe you've had that experience physically, but what about also figuratively, a door, some place where you feel like God is directing you to go, or that you feel a longing that you want to do or be and when you attempt.
To open that figurative door of leading of your heart, you find that door is closed, suddenly slammed, bolted, and it can't be opened. And you might even say, Lord, I'm trying to follow you.
Why would you stop me from going to the store? Isn't this a good thing? Isn't this a good desire that you've put on my heart? Is this not something that I should pursue? Is this not a door you should open? Why is the door closed?
Well, Acts 16. The text that we just read, I think, gives us the answer, God is sovereign, not only on the doors that he opens up to us in our life, but also sovereign on the doors that he closes. When we talk about sovereignty, it refers to God's supreme authority and rule over all things. It speaks to His absolute power to do whatever he pleases, whenever he pleases and however he pleases.
God's sovereignty means also that nothing occurs without His will or permission. God is sovereign over what happens in your life over, where you go, who you meet, and even, as we will see here in the Gospel, even who responds to it, who responds to the gospel. That's all here in our text, this text is a reminder that even the great commission that has been given to the church, that we will be his witnesses and go into all the world, it will go nowhere.
It goes nowhere unless God Himself moves it forward. I think that's one of the reasons, as we have been reading the book of Acts, why we see the church praying so much, and then why we should be a people of much prayer, because we recognize we can do nothing, and the gospel will go nowhere unless God Wills it, unless he allows it, that we are wasting our time here, unless God opens up our hearts to receive the Word of God. So let us be a people who are pleading god. Please do not shut us out, but that we might receive the gospel.
The church is not built by ingenuity of men, no matter how gifted a preacher might be, no matter how clear a sermon, no one will believe the gospel unless God Himself opens up the heart, and God has brought you here this morning, not by accident, but by his sovereignty. He has brought you here this morning that you might hear of Christ, that you might hear that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ, Jesus, our Lord.
Now, as we get into the text here, we find that Paul has begun his second missionary journey. Remember his first missionary journey? He was with Barnabas, and they went around and they visited various churches. They've come back the Antioch. There was a council that happened about circumcision, how one is right before God, that matter is settled, Christ alone, Christ plus nothing remember, and now the church is rejoicing. They are grateful for the gospel clarity. And Paul says, let's go visit the churches. There's a great dispute that happens between him and Barnabas, and they actually part ways. Paul will then take Silas, who is from Jerusalem, and Barnabas will take John Mark. But here our text focuses now on the work of Paul, and they are traveling now to check on the various churches that they had went to in the first missionary journey to encourage them, to share with them the letter from the Jerusalem Council to remind them, salvation is found in Christ alone, received by faith alone. It is by grace you are saved, not by works, not by sacraments, not by circumcision, not by keeping the law, will you be saved? It is a work of God's grace in your heart. Receive it by faith. And the churches, we're told, are strengthened in their faith, and God continues to add to the number, to add to his church.
And now Paul and Silas, they come to Lystra and Derbe. And you might recall the last time Paul was in Lystra, they beat him to death. The last time he was in this city, they beat him so bad that they thought he was dead, and they dragged his body out of the city so it could rot out.
Side and be consumed by birds and beasts, but God, sovereignly protected Paul's life. He's revived, and he gets back up, and the next day, he goes back into the city and continues to preach the gospel and encourage the saints who are there, and also to remind them that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.
But this time, on his return into Lystra, there is fruit of the gospel being proclaimed and preached. They find a young man named Timothy, well spoken of, raised on the scriptures, as we will find out later by his mother and grandmother. He's been raised and nourished in the Scriptures young ones and and he is a he's talked well of because he knows the word of God. Now he's a humble young man. He's a bit timid, but he's teachable, and so what Paul says is, we want you to join us on our missionary journey, Timothy, come with us, and Timothy agrees. So now their party of two is a party of three. So now you have Paul Silas and Timothy as Timothy Goes with them.
But then we come across something very unexpected and very shocking. Verse three, we are told that Paul has Timothy circumcised, and we might hold on, stop what's happening here.
Didn't we just didn't Paul just fight tooth and nail about this whole circumcision thing in the previous chapter? Has he flip flopped? Isn't he a hypocrite here? Hasn't he compromised what's happening? Well, one, I don't it's not the main point of the text, but let's address it.
Here's what's happening when circumcision is demanded for salvation, as it was of the that Pharisee circumcision, parting, going to Antioch, remember they said you have to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses, unless, and if you don't, you're not saved.
When circumcision is demanded for salvation, that is when Paul steps up and fights it tooth and nail with all of his might. But when circumcision is merely a cultural obstacle that would hinder Timothy from reaching and sharing the gospel with Jews, Paul is ready to remove that obstacle. Maybe Timothy not so ready as Paul might be, but Timothy agrees to it. They do this, that Christ might be the only stumbling block to the Jews, not whether Timothy is circumcised or not, because his dad's a Greek, and he probably wouldn't have done that. This is what we find in this text. Is First Corinthians. Nine lived out. I became all things to all people that by all means I might save some this is them using their Christian liberty for the sake of missions. This is a secondary matter. This is not a matter of salvation. It's that we're going to remove whatever obstacles there might be that they might just hear about Christ.
Now, Paul has it on his heart to go to Asia, we are told, and that makes perfect sense. Asia, at this time, has many large cities filled with lots of people who haven't heard the gospel. And so Paul's like, let's go there. And that makes sense, right? Let's go to the major cities that haven't heard the gospel.
But something also very unexpected happens there in verse six, they are forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
Well, then Paul desires, okay, that door is closed. Let's go north to Bithynia, which is modern day Turkey. Again, the Gospel hasn't gone there yet.
Let's go and again, something very unexpected happens in verse seven. We're told the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.
No, it doesn't say that they're trying to share the gospel here in Asia and then in the north, and then Satan, he just is coming in. It's like, I'm not going to let it go there. You're going to have to go somewhere else. It says this is the Spirit of Christ that is not letting the gospel reach these lands.
And also, just as a reminder of the title of this book of Acts, remember, sometimes it's called the Acts of the Apostles, but remember, I think a better title would be the continuing acts of Jesus, by the power of his Spirit, through His apostles. Everything that we have been reading in the book of Acts has been through the work of Christ, who is alive and working by the power of his Spirit in the church. Remember acts is to teach us that God did. When Jesus ascended, he didn't just go sit at the right hand of God, and he's just sitting there, and he's like, Man, I.
Hope those guys really they figure it out. We'll see what happens. I guess. No, he sends his spirit the day of Pentecost to guide and to move and to direct, and they'll allow the Great Commission to go forward.
Because unless Christ does it, it doesn't go forward. We fail.
Christ wins. You.
It.
This is also a reminder here that hearing the Word preached to you today, it's not a right.
You are not entitled to the Word of God. You are not entitled to Jesus or salvation. At any moment, God may stop the good news of Jesus coming to you. It is grace. It is a gift of God that allows the gospel to come to you, even now to us now, to not take the church for granted, to not take hearing the gospel for granted, week after week after week, that we don't make idols in our lives, that that we follow and forfeit the gospel that we are to as Mary does when she hears the gospel news presented to her, that we treasure these things that we hear now in our heart, that we desire the word more, as David says, more than much fine gold that it is sweeter to us than honey from the honeycomb.
God is sovereign and free. And he is not only free and sovereign over the mercy that he pours out, but he is also sovereign and free in his judgment.
And what is God's sovereign will for Asia at this moment, judgment, they will not hear about Christ, and they will die in their sins.
And God has every right to do that. We are creatures from the dust who have offended a Holy, Holy, Holy God, and it is only the grace of God that we might find life in his son, such amazing love that the second person of the Trinity would come to take on flesh and die for sinners like you and me, that we might be saved.
It is not our works. It is not our entitlement. We aren't good enough people or spiritual enough people. Of course, God would want to do that. No, The wages of sin is death, spiritual, eternal, physical death is what you and I deserve.
That's what we are entitled to, and nothing more. And we even see at this time, that is what God justly and rightly gives out. I also want you to think about too in the Old Testament, really, unless you were within a particular geographical range, you would never have heard about the Messiah, and most of the world would perish. The gospel has gone out, but still, most of the world is not embracing the gospel, but at least the word has gone out, and it's come to even now to you that you might embrace it, Romans nine reminds us what is the molded to say to the molder, remember the pot to the potter. Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump, one vessel of honorable use and the other for dishonorable use? And I think that's what we see here, that God is not letting the gospel go forth and judgment is going to come. But if you have heard the gospel, treasure it, embrace it. Do not take it for granted, because not all hear it, and even those, some who hear it with their ears do not embrace it with their hearts to not take the Gospel for granted, but praise the Lord that You have heard it and that he's worked in your heart to receive it. God is sovereign over who hears the gospel, isn't he?
Door after door is shut to Paul and they are walking on rocky roads. They don't know where they are going or where they will stop. It is exhausting, probably for Paul and Silas and now Timothy and then, I would guess, probably also frustrating door after door is closed. And maybe you've experienced that in your life. You feel like, I Lord, we really wanted to go here or do this or this to happen in life, and it's not happening. And door after door it's closed. But what's happening here God's plans and God's will is happening. He wants the gospel in Macedonia, and Paul receives a vision of a man in.
Macedonia saying, come over and help us.
This is a vision of a spiritual, helpless man who is calling out help us. And he's not calling for Paul to come over here to Macedonia and help us with the economy and well, things will be better. He's not crying out to God and what's in the vision come over and help us. And we need better education systems.
What we really need over here is affordable housing. He is crying out for the good news that the greatest need of all humanity is Christ.
We need Christ more than bread and water. We need help. We are broken. We need forgiveness. We need redemption. You remember pilgrim and Pilgrim's Progress, he feels that weight of the burden that is on his shoulders that represents sin, and he needs deliverance. He needs help, and where can he get it? There is one place where that burden falls off, isn't there one place where your sins are removed, and that is at the cross, and that is what they are crying out help us. And this is the world crying out to you. Bey Haven, help us. This is our calling, that we go out to help.
And how do we help by being witnesses and declaring Christ crucified for sinners.
Verse 10, and when Paul had seen the vision, immediately, we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Getting the vision must have been a relief. Finally, right?
Finally, we get some direction.
Finally, a door is opened. I also want you to notice there, if you look at verse 10, how suddenly Luke inserts himself into the text. Now, Luke No longer is a they or a he, but a we. Someone's been added to their missionary party.
It is now Paul Silas, Timothy and Dr Luke.
And so from verse 10 now through the rest of Acts, Luke is traveling with Paul.
Paul submits his will to the sovereignty and Providence of God. Now his plans didn't work out, but God's plans always do, and again, that is us.
Sometimes. I never planned to be here in Tampa, but the Air Force sent me here, or should I say, God sent me here, right? And I never planned to be a church planner, and here I am, and hopefully, too, if you've lived long enough, maybe some of you young folks might not see it, but hopefully you've been able to recognize that in your life, maybe when you were in younger and you felt so much pain and so much sorrow about a door closing or something not going right.
But some time has passed, and God has allowed you to be able to look back and you can see clearly he was through it all.
It was painful. I don't want to go through that again, but he was working through that, that broken relationship, that lost job, whatever it is, God is working through it to make me more like Christ, that I might know him, that I might rest upon him more. Remember Proverbs tells us trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.
So he arrives in Philippi, a major Roman colony. Philippi is in modern day Greece. It's a proud city. It's a strategic city. And now, surely, after all these doors have closed, they've traveled about 400 miles to get to Philippi. God is about to do something great, isn't he about to do something marvelous?
Right? Surely, after all, that God's just going to wow them.
But what do they find when they come to Philippi? There's not even a synagogue there. There's not even 10 Jewish men that would be required to have a synagogue. It's pretty much all Gentiles. They aren't then greeted by the pro council or leaders. There's not a welcoming party. There aren't crowds who are gathering together to hear the gospel. In fact, we're told that they remain in several days and nothing. On the Sabbath day, they finally go to a river.
Because if there's not a synagogue a river, maybe that's where some ceremonial cleansings might occur, rituals, and they find a few women praying.
Well, this is not the audience they would have chosen, but at least all these women will respond to the gospel, and they'll take it back to their husbands and change Philippi, right? How many of these women respond?
One, one, only one woman responds.
Now these women are praying.
It's also just an indication praying doesn't save you. Christ saves you. Look at verse 14, the Lord opened a.
Her heart. It's not she opened up her own heart. It wasn't that Paul's eloquence and great illustrations opened up her heart.
It's not the setting was perfect, and she finally believed the Lord did it. We are told the Spirit of God worked in her heart as it must in your heart to enliven your soul. Lydia, we are told, is a successful entrepreneur, seller of purple goods, which was a difficult commodity at the time to acquire. It was a status clothing. Pretty much royalty would wear it because it was so expensive. She is probably either a widow or a single woman without a husband. And the irony here, though about Lydia, she's from thadatira. That attire, though, is in Asia. So the same region that Paul was forbidden to enter, God closed that region and a whole other region that one woman might hear the gospel and embrace it. Now that sounds actually a lot like Jesus. Do you remember Jesus says he's making his way to the cross, and there's just one poor, blind beggar named Bartimaeus, and he cries out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, and Jesus stops everything for one, that one might come.
When God opens Lydia's hearts and her spiritual eyes, everything changes for her. She believes, she rests upon Jesus by faith, she's baptized, she receives the sign and seal of being cleansed by Christ and her whole household receives that covenant sign, echoing the pattern of Genesis 17, that this promise for you and your household. In Genesis they received, the household would be circumcised, but now the whole household is baptized.
He opens up her heart, and that leads her to open up her home, not to impress but to be hospitable, to say that this home isn't mine, it's the Lord's, and this is ends up being the first church in Europe is born.
Now, I was, I was reading this text. I was just maybe put it to you. Does that sound a little familiar? God opens up the heart of a particular woman who opens up her home, and what happens after that, a church is sprouted. Does that sound familiar, Bay Haven a little bit, doesn't it, because that's our story in many ways.
And Paul will eventually write a letter to Philippi, the Gospel.
If you think how it starts here with Lydia and the church in Philippi, it spreads through all of Europe. And then how does the gospel get to the United States, and then even the Tampa through Europe. So if you think about even how you have heard the gospel, it's starting here with one woman, Lydia, but it's hard for the church, and I bet the apostles and or Paul and Silas to see the significance at that time. I bet maybe they're even a little discouraged one woman in this great city, only one.
You know, when we judge God, when things don't go so well, when we try to assess God's plans, we often throw the numbers at it, right? And remember the killer bees? And we think, well, bodies. We only God's if we have a lot of people, a nice building, lots lots of money, then God must surely be blessing. But here he just brings in one woman.
But God is working. He is sovereign over that His ways are higher and better than our ways, and he just calls us to be faithful, to preach, because we cannot change anyone's heart. We won't change anyone's heart. He must do it. God is sovereign over every aspect of our lives.
Remember that theologian RC Sproul says there is not one Maverick molecule in creation.
Everything submits to His will.
So we can be encouraged by that.
And again, just as Lydia did not come and sit and pray by the river by accident or by coincidence. It was God's sovereign will. So you too are sitting here not by accident or by coincidence, but by the sovereign will of God that you might hear about Jesus, that you might hear about his death, the death that you deserved He took upon Himself on the cross, that you might hear about his life and rising from the dead and earning eternal and everlasting life, that you and I cannot and will not earn ourselves, that you would hear that He alone can save, that He alone can free.
Give that He alone can redeem you.
Today, the Lord Jesus calls you to respond to the gospel, and if you hear his voice this morning, do not harden your hearts, but believe, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And then say, along with Joshua, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Let's pray, Father. We, thank you for your sovereignty. We, thank you for ensuring that the Great Commission goes to all the world. Lord, stir our hearts and work in our hearts and use us as your instruments in a mighty way to make the gospel known. Lord, the world needs help. It is crying out for help. And let us go and be your messengers. Lord, we also pray that you will give us a peace that is beyond all understanding. We all have various doors in our life that you have closed, and it has brought difficulty and sadness and frustration, but help us to remember that not a hair will fall from our head apart from your will, that even though we might not understand, just like Job didn't understand, that we might remember that you are God, that you are working all things out for your Glory in our good, even if we do not understand but Lord be merciful to us, encourage us. Would you even be pleased at times to reveal to us various ways that you are working, that we might be encouraged and see and strengthen our faith?
Lord be merciful we pray in Jesus's name. Amen.