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August 22, 2023
<Mission trip to Cyprus and Antioch>
Key verse 4: "Now when they had been sent out by the Holy Spirit, they came to Seleucia, and from there by ship to Cyprus."
One can divide the Acts content into two parts: Chapters 1-12 and 13-28. In 1-12 chapters, Luke tells of the nationwide spread of the Gospel in Israel, namely of the evangelization in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samara.
Beginning in chapter 13, Luke reports the worldwide spread of the Gospel. And the church in Antioch plays like a springboard for the worldwide spread of the Gospel.
Today, we want to get to know Paul's evangelism on the island of Cyprus, in Antioch and Pisidia.
1. Against Barjesus the sorcerer on the island of Cyprus (4-12).
Luke wrote that Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit. The ruler of the world evangelization is not a man, but the Holy Spirit or God. The Holy Spirit leads His people wherever He wants.
Barnabas and Saul, sent out by the Holy Spirit, came to the city of Salamis on the island of Cyprus. The governor on that island was named Sergius. And this governor was eager to hear God's word.
When God's Spirit wants to lead people to faith, one should expect the devil's resistance. This time, the devil resisted God's saving work through "Barjesus". The name "Barjesus" literally means "son of the Savior" or "son of Jesus." In reality, he is a child of the devil.
Devil in Greek ("diabolos") means "slanderer." "Devil" in Hebrew means Satan. Satan means enemy or adversary.
This sorcerer was also called Elymas. This Barjesus-Elymas was a servant of the devil. He tried to keep the governor from believing in Jesus Christ.
Satan works in various guises. He mostly works through human logic to make people not believe in Jesus Christ. There are many people who have been captured by unbelief because of their own logic.
I had great difficulty believing in Jesus Christ because I could not believe in Him because of my human logic. But Jesus Christ helped me to understand and believe in God's word from John's Gospel with my human logic. I could believe with the help of God that Jesus is God incarnate who reveals God to us (John 1:1, 4, 18). That's when the Kingdom of Heaven dawned on me. I experienced heavenly joy and the grace of salvation.
Jesus Christ often explains the Gospel based on human logic so that people can understand and believe in the gospel.
From time to time, Satan uses evil spirits to bring people under his power. Jesus, however, frees people from the power of evil spirits.
In Mk. 5, the healing of a possessed man from Gerasa is reported. The man was possessed by the many evil spirits. Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" to help him recognize his state of captivity by the evil spirits. To this the Gerasenes man replied, "Legion is my name, for we are many."
Jesus then commanded the evil spirits to come out of the man. And the Gerasener was set free.
Satan also uses a sorcerer or a false prophet like Barjesus-Elymas from time to time to work against Christ. This Barjesus was called a son of Jesus or a child of Jesus. But he is really a son of the devil.
Then Saul, whose name was also Paul, full of the Holy Spirit, said, "Son of the devil, full of all guile and wickedness, enemy of all righteousness, do you not cease to make crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, and shalt not see the sun for a season!"
Then on the spot darkness and gloom fell upon Elymas, so that he groped about in the dark, looking for someone to lead him by the hand.
When the governor saw all this, he became a believer.
This incident reminds us of Paul's words, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Eph. 6:12).
We are to be aware of spiritual reality and not fight with flesh and blood. Rather, we are to fight with the power of God against the powers of darkness and actively preach the gospel.
2. Preaching in the synagogue in Antioch, Pisidia (13-52)
Paul and his co-workers separated from John Mark and came to Antioch in Pisidia. They attended services in the synagogue on the Sabbath. When the leaders of the synagogues asked that Paul speak God's word, Paul stood up and began to speak.
Because the audience was mostly the Jews, Paul preached the gospel based on the history of Israel.
God chose the fathers, led them into Egypt, made them a great nation, led the people out and gave them the land of Canaan. God first gave them judges as their rulers. But when the people asked God for a king, God gave them Saul as their king. But Saul was cast out because of his unbelief in God. God gave them David as their new king. David pleased God by his faith and humble repentance. To this David, God promised to send the Messiah from his descendants.
When the time came, God sent Jesus Christ, one of David's descendants, as Savior. But the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not believe in Jesus as Christ, even though they read the Old Testament written about Christ every Sabbath. Rather, they had him killed by the hand of the Gentiles. This Jesus, however, God raised from the dead. The resurrected Jesus appeared to his disciples several times. And we proclaim to you the fulfillment of Scripture concerning his resurrection: >>You are my Son, today I have begotten you<< or >>You will not admit that your Holy One sees decay.<<
Paul proclaimed the Good News to them based on the history of Israel.
Let us look at verses 38-39: "Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through him is preached unto you forgiveness of sins: and in all things wherein ye could not be justified by the law of Moses, he is made righteous that believed on him."
Paul let the audience know clearly that one cannot be recognized by God as a righteous person by keeping the law, because it is impossible to keep the law perfectly. This does not mean that one does not need to keep law. Rather, it means that every person has broken some law and is therefore a sinner before God. Therefore, every person needs forgiveness of sin. How can people receive forgiveness from God?
By confessing one's sin and believing in Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb. Jesus Christ is God's Son and does not have a single sin. However, he died in our place for our sin. He then rose from the dead on the third day.
Through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, anyone can receive forgiveness of sins and be recognized by God as a righteous man. When someone receives forgiveness of sin from God and divine recognition as righteous, he has eternal life. He will rise from the dead and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He will receive a warm welcome from God.
This is good news for everyone. This is an invitation to receive the forgiveness of sin and eternal life. With his sermon, Paul invited all listeners to personally receive the forgiveness of sins.
This message is always relevant for us. We are not righteous because of our deeds, but because of the grace of forgiveness through the sacrificial death of Jesus. We are all actually sinners because we have broken some laws. But Jesus Christ died for our sin.
That is why Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9:
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
I would like to explain the forgiveness of our sin with the help of three basic colors of light:
The incident light is split by a prism into the three primary colors: red, green, and blue (RGB color system).
If you mix red and green in the same ratio, you get yellow;
red and blue gives magenta (=purple, i.e., red-blue);
blue and green gives cyan (blue-green).
If you mix all three primary colors of light, you get white.
The red color means Jesus' blood, thus Jesus' death and resurrection, because Jesus Christ shed his blood for our sin, died on the cross, but rose from the dead.
The blue color means our repentance for our sin. Everyone should recognize his sin and repent for it.
The green color means our faith in Jesus' death and resurrection.
Jesus Christ died for our sins and shed His red blood on the Cross.
If we repent for our sins and believe in Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection, all our sins will be blotted out, so that all our sins will be blotted out as white as snow, just as all dirt is covered by white snow in winter.
God sacrificed Jesus Christ for our sins. When we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ, our sins are completely blotted out.
That is why the prophet Isaiah said concerning the gospel, "Though your sin be red as blood, it shall become white as snow; though it is red as scarlet, it shall become (white) as wool" (Isa. 1:18).
May God help us to recognize our sins and receive forgiveness and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen!
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