ACTS 13:6

Concerning the first missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, the Bible says in Acts 13:6-12, “And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man: who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer(for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.”

We see some things that are immediately noticeable about this false prophet who opposed Barnabas and Paul. It appears as though the false prophet was in the employ of the deputy of the country. That is one of the reasons that the false prophet was against Barnabas and Paul. He saw them as a threat to his position near the deputy. Sinfulness is selfishness. Selfishness and paranoia and mean-spirited competitiveness in a career cause people to commit great sins. Of course, the false prophet had other problems in addition to these. Paul said that he was “full of all subtilty and mischief.” He was conniving and scheming with evil intentions. He always had a plan to advance himself and to hurt others when necessary. Looks like he would have been right at home in the modern corporate world.

Paul said that this false prophet was a child of the devil. That is the opposite of being a child of God. Everyone in the world is one or the other. “He that hath the Son hath life, but he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Which are you? Are you a child of God or are you a child of the devil? One spiritual force or the other controls you. Because this false prophet was not of God, he was opposed to the things of God. Those who are opposed to the things of Christ will be opposed to that which is good. And so Paul said that this man was “the enemy of all righteousness.”

Perhaps the worse thing that this false prophet did, and it is the worse thing that all false teachers do, is indicated in this passage when it says that the false prophet was “seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.” A good teacher teaches people things that help the people turn to the Lord, and if the hearers are not saved, they will believe the things about salvation in Christ that will result in them living forever in heaven. But a false teacher will teach people things that will keep them from being saved and keep them from going to heaven. There is nothing worse than having such an influence on people. No wonder that it is written of false teachers in Galatians 1:9, “As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed.”

Often we find in the gospels where a blind person was given his sight miraculously by Jesus. Of course, that is symbolic of salvation. Those who do not perceive the truth of the gospel are spiritually blind. Once they are saved through faith in Christ, their blindness is gone forever. Here the opposite happens: a person who could see was made blind, because he was already blind spiritually speaking. The day will come when everyone who refuses God’s salvation will be in the blackness of darkness forever and ever. Jesus is the Light. Come to the Light when you see it begin to glimmer around you, or else you are in danger of all light being taken away from you. Those who have darkness in their soul are usually those who have rejected the Light of Christ that they could have had.

Notice the reason that Sergius Paulus became a believer: it was a combination of what he saw Paul do and what he heard Paul teach. Acts 13:12 says, “Then the deputy when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.” If you want to be a witness to the people of the Lord and to help them become believers, then you need to remember these two things. First you must do the right things that a servant of the Lord should do. People will know how you live. You cannot hide that. To the unsaved people of the world, you will either be like everyone else, or there will be something different about you that will catch their attention. That was the case with Sergius Paulus. Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” That is what must come first. If you do not have the life that backs up what you claim to believe, and then if you use Christian words, you will look like a hypocrite and people will reject your words. Of course, you must have the right words also. “How shall they believe except they hear?” So many people hear the wrong teachings and are led astray by them. Sergius Paulus was touched by the “doctrine.” That means the teachings. Too many Christians do not say the things that they ought to say concerning the teachings and the doctrines when they are around lost people. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”

The Bible says in Acts 13:13-15, “Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphilia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.” Synagogues existed before church buildings. The idea of a church building and how the services were conducted undoubtedly largely came from how things were done in the synagogues. The original Christians were almost all Jews, and so it was a very ordinary thing for them to go into a synagogue on the Sabbath day. They certainly could not go into a church building because there were not any. It was common sense to go where people wanted to hear the Bible preached. If you go where people do not want to hear, then they will not listen. You need to try and find a receptive audience to make the best use of your efforts.

The only thing that is said about the synagogue is the fact that people sat down in it. In other words there must have been chairs or pews or something to sit down on. It was a building designed for practical purposes and not to impress people with its beauty. A church building should be most of all a meeting place. The building is not the church. The purpose of the building is so that people can meet together, sit down, and hear the Word of God. That is exactly how this service started in the synagogue. They started off by reading the Word of God, and then they did something that you may have never seen done in a church; but it may be a good idea to do it especially if your visitor is the Apostle Paul.

They invited one of their visitors to be the speaker for the day. I have seen people welcome visitors as they should, but have never seen anyone ask a visitor to be the speaker for the day. That may not turn out well in the day in which we live. The Bible says in Acts 13:16-17, “Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and you that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.” In his brief greeting Paul made it clear to whom he was speaking. Of course, being in a synagogue, he was speaking to Jews and thus he said, “Men of Israel.” But Paul clarified that a little bit and said also that he was speaking to those who “fear God.” You will not get much out of hearing a good sermon unless you have the right attitude. Jesus said, “He that ears to hear, let him hear.”

In the sermon that Paul preached, initially he points out some of the highlights of the Old Testament: how God always took care of His people and had a plan for them. We will see as we go through this message that Paul did what everyone should who use the Old Testament: he related the Old Testament to the current day and to the fulfillment that was seen in the person and life of the Lord Jesus Christ. The things that God did for the children of Israel in the Old Testament were all leading towards the coming of Christ; just like all the events today that God is doing are leading towards the Second Coming of Christ.

Paul starts his sermon with the children of Israel and how God delivered them out of Egypt. They were strangers in the land of Egypt, but God delivered them. Today those who believe in the Lord and are walking with Him are also strangers in the world. And just as God delivered the children of Israel, He will also deliver us from this present evil world and from its judgment that will surely come. Notice how Paul described the deliverance that was given to the Israelites. Paul said in Acts 13:17, “With an high arm brought he them out of it.” For people who lived in days when all wars were fought by soldiers in hand-to-hand combat, the strength of a soldier’s arm was everything. It made the difference. Of course, God is not limited in power. By definition, there is nothing that God cannot do. Just as He delivered the Israelites from their difficult circumstances, He will deliver you if you trust in Him.

Paul said in Acts 13:18-19, “And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot.” Verse eighteen reminds us of how patient and merciful and kind God is. The reason that the children of Israel were in the wilderness for forty years was because of their failures and lack of faith. But God did not destroy them, just as He does not destroy us when we fail. God remembers our frame, that we are but dust. That is a good thing to be reminded of, because each of us are dependent, not upon our own goodness, but upon the mercy of God towards us through Christ. It is because of that mercy that we can always have confidence that He will continue to work in our lives to accomplish His will in our lives.

Acts 13:19 says of God that “he divided their land to them by lot.” God had something for the Israelites to do just as He does for everyone that He puts on the earth. It is a privilege and an honor to have something to do for God. Just as God carved a piece of land out and gave it to the Israelites to occupy and use for His glory, God will do the same in your life, if you continue to follow Him, even though you may have some wilderness experiences along the way.

For all the people of God, as they follow Him in this world, it is very important to hear from heaven and to have teachers and pastors from whom they can hear the truth and have their souls nourished and their faith strengthened. Jesus said to Peter, “If you love me, feed my sheep.” If we are going to be spiritual people, we need to be nourished and we need to be fed from heaven. God calls certain people in order to fulfill that service. Today God calls and gifts pastors and teachers and evangelists. For four hundred and fifty years God gave the Israelites judges and prophets. Acts 13:20 says, “And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.” God knew that such leadership from judges and prophets would have been the best thing for the Israelites. They could have had the greatest freedom, and they would not have had a ruling class if the Israelites had stayed with judges and prophets and not desired a king. The judges would have resolved their disputes and provided leadership. The prophets would have heard from heaven and then turned around and given that message to the people: just the message that they needed.

The people of Israel did not walk as close to God as they should have or could have. They saw the way that the world did things: they saw that other countries had kings over them, and so the Israelites thought that they needed a king. God gave them their wishes, and God gave to them the best person He could find to be a king over them. The first king, Saul, was a good man when he started; but power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. God had to remove this man, and find a better one to be king. If you do not properly fulfill the calling that God gives to you, then God may take it away and give it to another.

The Bible says in Acts 13:21-22, “And afterward they desired a king; and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.” Hopefully you are a person who wants to fulfill all the will of God. Remember that this is the will of God: that you believe on Him whom he hath sent.”

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