And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: Who in times past 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, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.
Idols, Truth, and Trust
Beloved
of the Lord……Today's lesson deals largely with the First Commandment,
and the foolishness of man, his idolatry wherein he worships anything
and everything under the sun, rather than the True God, the Creator of
heaven and earth. As Paul said in our lesson, so
it is true for all men, we should all turn from these vanities unto the
living God, which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things
that are therein. Every day of our earthly existence it is the Lord above who is daily doing good to us. He gives us rain from heaven, fruitful seasons, "filling our hearts with food and gladness." Yet so often we are much like dumb animals on a farm. We are fed daily by our Master, but we barely know He is there. We
eat and drink and enjoy life without thinking or remembering or
thanking our good Lord above, who is the Giver of every good and perfect
gift.
The first commandment is "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." This means "we should fear, love, and trust in God above all things", but we don't. Like
these foolish people of Lystra, our corrupted hearts put their trust in
earthly things, or earthly powers, rather than trusting in God above
all things. Whatever our heart trusts more than God, that is our god for the moment. For example, many people trust their money in the bank, or their million dollar life insurance policy. Others feel secure because their house is paid off, and still others trust their spouse will always be strong. Many also trust in the strength of their government and they feel secure. Even by the title "Social Security" we are led to believe this system will keep us secure, yet Psalm 118:9 says, "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes." Psalm 146:3 specifically commands us, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help."
It
is by repentance and faith then dear Christian, you are daily to turn
your heart away from your earthly idols which cannot save and instead
"fear, love, and trust in God above all things." If
God then in His goodness causes your earthly idols to crumble,…..if
friends betray you, if your nation falls apart, if your health fails or
you go bankrupt, by all means remember the True God above is the Helper of the Helpless. Your Triune God above did not fail to send and give His only-begotten Son. God
literally moved heaven and earth to deliver you from everlasting hell
and damnation, and He was willing to do so by the laying down of His
life on the cross, giving and shedding His divine and holy blood…..all
for your sins. "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." That is why in Hosea 13:9 the Lord says, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help." Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Son of God who came down to this earth in the likeness of men. Therefore
today as we hear of idols, truth, and trust, let us hear the Words of
our Father who spoke from heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him."
I. "How do you know that there is a God?" We begin this morning with a little background. Paul and Barnabas were on Paul's first missionary trip. Last week they were in Antioch of Pisidia. After the Jews expelled them from Antioch, they preached at Iconium. "But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren." Hearing
of a plan to assault and stone them, they "fled unto Lystra and Derbe,
cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about: And there they preached the gospel." Lystra is in our modern day Turkey. It was after this Gospel preaching that Paul noticed a certain lame man seated before them in the audience. "The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked." This is why the people of Lystra were so impressed they said, "The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius."
Here is the height of man's folly! Paul
had just preached the Gospel, namely identified the True God as Jesus
Christ, who came earth in the likeness of men to save all men by the
cross, "But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with
faith in them that heard it." Instead they made gods of Paul and Barnabas, and were ready to sacrifice to them. How foolish! That
is why the response of Paul is swift and strong, "Sirs, why do ye these
things? We also are men of like passions with you", namely they also
were sinful creatures of flesh and blood. Yet we
"preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living
God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are
therein."
By this reference to the divine Creator of heaven and earth, Paul is appealing to their natural knowledge of God. This means all men by nature know from the existence of the world, there has to be an Almighty Creator of everything we see. The sun, the stars, the moon, the planets……these did not create themselves, but they are God's creation. Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork." Hebrews 3:4 says, "Every house is builded by some man, but He that built all things is God." Just
as we don't expect a house to build itself, but it takes at least one
man, so all the stars and planets did not create themselves, but the
Lord alone is the Creator of them all. All plant
life is likewise His creation, and we as men could not exist, if God did
not design all these things together for our benefit. From
all these good things it should be more than evident God is good, for
He gives us "rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts
with goo and gladness." This goodness of God alone should lead all men to repent.
There should thus be a book entitled "Evolution for Idiots". If man evolved from apes, why are there still apes? Since
every animal has DNA, namely a blueprint for how their own bodies are
shaped in the womb, where did this blueprint come from? Where do the lungs of an animal come from so he can breathe? How did these animals invent their own eyes to see food to eat, or their enemy to run from? If animals evolved over millions of years, they first must have had very short legs and arms. Can
you imagine a wolf with two inch legs chasing his prey so he can eat
and live?......and doing this successfully for millions of years? Where does science show us that mutations successfully and consistently reproduce? How
did the first female animal evolve her female body parts to reproduce,
and wouldn't the male have to evolve at the same time, and how could
either exist without the other? Do we laugh or do we cry at such stupidity? Yet the Bible says, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no god." We can use reason to defeat the evolutionist, but the Word of God is stronger and sharper than any two-edged sword.
Besides creation, man's own conscience is another natural and powerful witness to the Lord above. Romans
2:15 says the Gentiles "show the work of the Law written in their
hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the
meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." The conscience is not the law itself which God has written in every heart, but the conscience bears witness to God's law. Every man's conscience is like a little judge in our mind. If we have done evil this little judge says "guilty" and if we have done good this little judge says "innocent." This little judge then constantly reveals our sins and we can never get rid of him. As for the law itself written in our heart, we call this the "Natural Law" because all men know God's law by nature. Even
if a pagan has never heard of the Ten Commandments, he still knows its
wrong to hurt, hate, murder, steal, lie or commit adultery.
In
Matthew 7:12 Jesus Himself revealed that the Natural Law and the Ten
commandments are equal or the same when He said, "All things whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them; for THIS IS
the Law and the Prophets." Of this passage Luther said, "Note that the entire Law which was handed down is nothing else than this Natural Law which cannot be unknown to anyone. Therefore no one can excuse himself" (WLS2312). Paul agrees. Romans
3:19 says, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God."
Where does this bring us? First like Paul, we can use man's natural knowledge of God to at least help him see his folly. But more importantly, by speaking the Law of God, we seek only to sharpen or awaken their knowledge of sin. We know when we speak God's law, their own conscience, the little judge within, will agree. The law always convicts the guilty conscience of sin, and there is no lack of sin within us. At
the same time also we need to help them see, there is an Almighty Judge
above us all which sees and knows all our sins, and on the Last Day God
will judge all men for their sin. The Bible
says, "Our God is a consuming fire" and "We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
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