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From Sacrifice to Stoning!
When you go to a video store you can go to many different sections: drama, comedy, and action to name a few. Our own lives probably have all of those at times. Hopefully our lives are horror! I like a good action movie. As I read the book of Acts I see a lot of action. And this is not Hollywood, this is real life!
This morning, we will see the apostle Paul and Barnabas in an adventure once again. Just imagine that you are in their shoes and see what they go through. If we serve God, we too will live an action packed life. Now it will not always be the type of action we like, but it will not be dull. Unbelievers have this idea that the Christian life is dull, well I would not call Paul and Barnabas’ life dull!
Acts 14:8-10
Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he sprang up and began walking.
We have seen a pattern in the book of Acts. This pattern consists of the preaching of the gospel and then God performing a miracle to confirm the gospel. That is exactly what happens here.
Here was a man who was “crippled,” literally “powerless” is what the word means in his feet. He was born with this condition. But he was listening to Paul. Now what was Paul saying? No doubt Paul was preaching the gospel. As with anyone who has a physical infirmity, the spiritual state of that person is the most important. Many a lame people will be made whole in heaven, and many who can walk will be crippled in hell for eternity!
Now as this man was listening to Paul, Paul looked right at him. In fact, the text has the idea of an intent staring. So Paul was staring at this man intently. But what did Paul see? Paul saw that this man had faith? Now what does that mean? I mean what does faith look like? What it means is that the Holy Spirit had impressed upon Paul that this man had faith. But what type of faith?
The NKJ says that he had faith “to be healed.” Now listen to what I am about to say, because I have an important point to make here. Different translations translate the end of v. 9 differently. Let’s consider a few: (And I am going to belabor something for the next few minutes, but please hang with me because I have a point to all of this.)
NKJV = “to be healed.”
KJV = “to be healed.”
NIV = “to be healed.”
NASB = “to be made well”
ESV = “to be made well”
Young’s Literal Translation = “to be saved”
Now the text literally reads “to be saved.” The reason almost all of the translations read to be healed or to be made well, is because the context is stressing the healing of his physical infirmity. In other words, he is being saved from his physical disability. But I am pointing this out because I think that more than him being saved from his physical disability, this man was receiving eternal salvation.
This man, who had never walked before in his life, was literally standing and this physical act of standing was a picture of what had spiritually taken place in this man’s soul. He had been made will in his soul through salvation.
We need to remember and see the parallel between this man and the lame man that Peter healed in Acts 3. In both cases the men were lame from birth. In Acts 3:4 we see that Peter looked at the man who was to be healed as did Paul here. In Acts 3:8 we see that the man Peter healed jumped and walked just as this man.
But getting back to this issue of salvation. We see this in Acts 3:16
Acts 13:6
When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.
That man, too, was eternally saved not merely healed.
In Mark 5:34 Jesus said this when healing a woman:
Mark 5:34
And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."
Here we have the same thing as in our text this morning where the words “to be healed,” or “to be made well,” are literally “to be saved.” This woman was also eternally saved, not just physically healed. In fact, I believe that MacArthur in his study Bible says that. I was pleased to see that because that was the first time I saw another commentator say what I was thinking.
In Mark 10:52 we read this:
Mark 10:52
And Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
Here again we find the same words which are literally “saved you.” So here this man named Bartimeus was saved eternally along with being physically healed. We see the same thing in Luke 17:19.
Now why am I pointing this out in great detail this morning? Because there are some who falsely teach that if a person is not physically healed then it is always because they lack in faith. Some false teachers even claim that people they have healed have had a relapse because they began lacking in faith and so the physical disability came back.
Many of those false teachers will point to the verses that I have just highlighted and say, “see you must have faith to be healed and if you are not healed then you do not have faith.” But again the faith in these verses points to the fact that these people became saved. Yes, they were healed physically, but their faith saved them.
In fact there are many instances in the Bible where people were healed and faith was never even mentioned. So not everyone who was healed became saved; and not everyone who was physically healed had any faith.
For instance in Luke 22:50-51, Jesus healed a man named Malchus who far from having faith was an enemy of the Lord. And so my point is that the healings in the Bible were not based on the faith of the person, but on the will of God. And many who were healed physically were also saved. But not all who were healed physically were saved.
Ok, now let us get our minds back to Acts 14. Paul has healed this man and the people of Lystra were watching.
Acts 14:11-12
And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.
Now this was a part of the world that was a bit different for Paul and Barnabas. Most of the areas they ministered in spoke Greek. But here in Lystra people had their own native language. And so apparently, Paul and Barnabas did not know exactly what they were saying at first.
In order to properly understand the people’s thinking we need a bit of background here. A man named Ovid wrote a book entitled Metamorphoses. In this book, Ovid collected the mythological stories that had to do with people changed into one thing or another; that is what metamorphosis refers to. One such story involved Lystra. The legend said that Zeus and Hermes once visited the village of Lystra. They went door to door and the people would not let them lodge with them. They finally found a couple, named Philemon and Baucis who allowed them to stay with them. The next morning the supposed gods, Zeus and Baucis took this couple up on the mountain top and they looked back and saw Lystra destroyed by flood. But Zeus and Hermes had turned the little shack that this couple had into a great temple with glittering gold.
And so the people saw Paul and Barnabas as Zeus and Hermes. They did not want to be killed so they were going to go out of their way to be hospitable to them.
Acts 14:13-15
And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.
Paul and Barnabas were aghast that people would even think of doing this! They never stopped for a moment to enjoy the lime-light, so to speak, they realized what a terrible sin this was on the people’s part
Now Paul began to preach to them. He tells them they must repent – “and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God”
I also want to point out something important. Paul always knew his audience. It is important for a speaker to know his audience. When Paul spoke to the Jews he would often reference OT stories that they could identify with. The people of Lystra would not have that knowledge. So he started where they were.
Paul began by appealing to Natural Revelation. He presented God as the Creator: “living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them”
Acts 14:16-17
In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."
Here he presents God as the God of providence.
Acts 14:18
Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.
And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.
Even having said that, these people were still stuck on their presuppositions and they wanted to make sacrifices.
Now what does v. 16 mean, by the way?
Now we do not know if Luke just doesn’t record it, or if things got so out of hand that Paul could not share the entire gospel. Next week we will pick up on this action packed story. We will also discuss v. 16 more and answer the question of what happens to those who have never heard the gospel?
