The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 16, verses 4 through 8.

Tony Clark: Let's dive into the word of God together. Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 16. We're going to be looking at verses 4 through 8 as we continue our verse-by-verse study of the word of God on Sunday mornings. As you know, on Wednesdays we've already wrapped up the book of Ruth and we'll be going into 1 Samuel soon. I am looking forward to going through the word of God, but most importantly having that word go through us.

Father, thank you so much for this tremendous honor to share your word with your precious people. Lord, soften hearts today, unclog ears so the spirit of God can speak to each person here a timely word. Lord, reveal the secrets of our hearts here so that we may leave here saying God was in this place because you spoke to us so clearly and so personally. Speak into our hearts today in Jesus' name. Amen.

Acts chapter 16, looking at verses 4 through 8. The title of this message is "Lord Lead Us." This is part one of this message. The Lord has always led his people. In the Old Testament, he led the Israelites through an audible voice, a prophet, or a king. We saw how God led them as they were going through the wilderness or the desert. He led them by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night.

But what about today? God isn't leading or speaking by these things, but he is still speaking and the primary way he is speaking is through Jesus Christ and his word, according to Hebrews 1:1-2. However, there are some secondary ways that God can speak to us and give us direction. We will see them in these verses because we want to be led. If there's one question I get asked the most as a pastor, it is, "How can I know God's will for my life? How can I know God is leading? How can I know God is speaking?" Well, we're going to see one of the ways that God is speaking, and it's going to surprise you.

We left off seeing Paul go on his second missionary journey to see how the churches he planted five years earlier were doing. As he came to the cities of Derbe and Lystra in verse one, he heard about a young man named Timothy who was a believer and well-spoken of by the people there. Paul, wanting to take him along with him in verse three, had him circumcised because of the Jews who were there knew that his father was Greek. Now we pick up the story in verses four and five.

It says, "And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. And so the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily." We see in these verses that they went through the cities proclaiming the message of the gospel, which is salvation by grace through faith alone. In other words, a person didn't have to become a Jew first and keep the law of Moses before they can become a Christian.

This is what the Jewish Christians were telling the Gentile believers that they had to do. As they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which is a reference to the decision of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 and verse 29. These were to abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. The true purpose of giving these decrees to the Gentile Christians was so they could have fellowship with the Jewish Christians in the church.

The way that the unbelieving Gentiles used to worship their false gods or their idols was through sexual immorality, offering up sacrifices to idols, and eating raw meat or meat with the blood still in it. These things were very offensive and an abomination to the Jews. Now Jews and Gentiles are coming together as one in the church. The Jerusalem Council decided to give these decrees to the Gentile believers so they would not unknowingly offend their Jewish brothers or sisters.

This is called living by the law of love, meaning laying aside certain liberties in order to not offend your brother or sister. In a society like today that is offended by the slightest infraction, we must be sensitive in this area because the ultimate goal is either to win them to Christ or to have a relationship with them, all in the name of Christian love. We don't want to do things that would offend them and keep them from hearing anything we may have to say about Jesus Christ. This is huge because I am old school. We used to say back in the 80s when people tried to say they were offended, "So what? Get over yourself."

But today things are so different. There are people out there that we ultimately want to win to Christ. We want to win them to the Lord. We don't want to knowingly do or say things that will offend them and keep them from hearing anything we have to say about Jesus Christ. This is living by the law of love. This is something I'm learning because I'm old school. I'm just like, "Get over yourself. So what if you are offended? I'm offended that you're offended. So now we are both offended." But the goal is I will win the argument but lose the soul. Ultimately, I want to win the soul.

I don't want to purposely do or say something that will keep them from hearing anything I have to say about Jesus Christ. I'm learning this lesson because I want to win the soul. I can win all kinds of arguments. I'm wired for debate. That is just how I was. I taught apologetics in our Bible college. When it comes to arguments, as you're talking, I've already got a rebuttal. I'm wired this way. But ultimately the Lord is saying, "What's the goal?" I want to win them to the Lord. I want to win them to you, God. Then you have to pump your brakes because you don't want to say or do something that will keep them from hearing anything you have to say. I said, "Okay Lord, you have to help me with this." I'm in the process of learning this myself.

This particular problem with the Jews and the Gentiles was huge because the Gentiles worshiped their false gods and the Jews kept the law of Moses. Now these two groups are coming together under the same roof and it's called the church. They have to know how to get along with each other. There was a problem in the church in the city of Corinth. In 1 Corinthians chapter 8 and verses 8 through 13, a dispute arose with the Jew and Gentile believers. The Gentiles were saying that they were at liberty to eat whatever meat they wanted to eat. It was good meat. Who cares that it was once used to sacrifice to idols?

But the Jews were saying that Satan attaches himself to idols, and how can you eat meat that was once used to worship Satan? Paul writes to the Gentile believers in Corinth and told them to be sensitive to their Jewish brothers. You don't want to wound their weak conscience and sin against Christ. This is why everywhere Paul and Silas and Timothy went, they told these decrees to the Gentile believers because they knew that Jew and Gentile were coming together as one as the church, and they didn't want them fighting each other because there's a reason behind that.

As a result, verse five says that after they gave the decrees, the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. That Greek word for strengthened is stereoo and it means to be made solid or firm. The church was made solid or firm because of the unity they had within it and the oneness they took with them outside of the church to reach their cities for Jesus Christ. The result was they increased in number daily. I just wonder if this could be the reason why so many churches aren't growing today, because of the disunity within the church.

It wasn't until Paul came and gave them these decrees that they were strengthened or made firm and they increased in number daily. We don't realize that the world is watching us. They want to know our Jesus. But we are too busy fighting each other, bickering and seeking to devour one another with things and issues that have nothing to do with eternity. Whether women can wear makeup or not, or whether you sing from the hymnals or chorus, or whether you have a choir or not. These things have nothing to do with eternity. We're going to fight and bicker and argue and talk about the church down the street over issues that have nothing to do with eternity.

The world is looking and says, "No thank you. I have better unity with my boys at the bar or with my girls at the club or with my boys on the basketball court than I see with you churchgoers." This is a sad indictment on the church. This bothers me because I want God to increase our numbers daily. Last time I checked, there are seven days in the week. I'm expecting for at least seven people to give their life to the Lord every week. That's the minimum. We don't see a lot of this going on because of mess that's going on within the church.

This is why I've always said if you have beef with somebody that comes to this church, you better grill it up and eat it. It's grill season. Grill it up and eat it because we don't want anything to hinder the Lord adding to his church here daily. I remember we had a sad indictment, a season at our church where there was just so much mess going on. It had to get cleaned up. When it all got cleaned up, including me, the next year, the Lord added a thousand people to our church in one year.

That was once the mess got cleaned up. God put everyone over his knee. I couldn't sit down for weeks. He got all of us. We had to get this mess together. We had to clean all that mess up and God did. He cleaned it all up and cleaned many out. Then the Lord said, "Okay, are you done? Now let's get back to the business of church." Look at what it says in verses six and seven. "Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them."

As they were leaving the cities of Derbe and Lystra in the area of Galatia, they traveled west to Asia. Now, this area will become a very important area where many of the churches will be established in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Colossae, Sardis, Pergamum, and Thyatira. However, for now, verse six says that they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. This is not Asia the continent, this is the Roman province of Asia or modern-day Turkey. We are not told how the Spirit forbade Paul from going west to Asia Minor, and how he forbade them from going north into Bithynia.

What we do know is that Paul didn't take "no" easily. For example, in Acts 14 and verse 20, he was stoned and left for dead in the city of Lystra, but he got up and went back into the city the next day, still trying to preach to them. In Acts 21 and verse 10, the prophet Agabus took Paul's belt and tied him up and said, "So shall they do to the man who owns this belt." Paul said, "So what? I'm going anyway." Once Paul decided to do something, nothing would deter him.

How did the Spirit stop someone as determined as Paul from going into Turkey? Some Bible scholars believe that Paul was struck with a sickness, an Asian fever that was so severe that it affected his eyesight permanently. He refers to this in Galatians 4 in verses 13 through 15. I believe that this is what happened because we will see in verse 10, the pronouns "they" and "them" are replaced with "we" and "us" as Dr. Luke joined them to possibly attend to Paul's medical needs.

Sometimes those of us who are stubborn or bullheaded like Paul, and I am in that category, the Lord has to guide us through infirmities. I'm not saying that every illness is a word from the Lord. For example, if you sneeze, do not ask, "Lord, what are you trying to tell me?" Don't be fooling around. There are times, though, like David said in Psalm 23 and verse 2, where God has to make us lie down in green pastures. The way that he accomplishes this is through infirmities.

If you don't believe this, Paul confirms it to us in 2 Corinthians 12 in verses 7 through 10, where he tells us how God allowed a messenger of Satan to buffet him. Why? Because of all of the things God was showing him, and God didn't want Paul to all of a sudden be puffed up with pride. Paul said, "I prayed three times that God would remove this messenger of Satan." God said, "Nah, I'm not going to do that. My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness."

Paul said, "Okay, if that is the case, then I will boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Paul was saying that when I am weak or sick, that is when I'm really strong because that is the time that the power of Christ is resting upon me. This is why we believe that it was through sickness that God forbade him from going to Asia Minor and Bithynia. What does this mean to us? It means that the Holy Spirit guides us just as much by closing a door than by opening a door. Revelation 3:7 says God opens doors no man can close and closes doors no man can open.

So often we just look at God guiding us through the open doors, but God guides us through closing doors as well. This may not be a permanent closed door because we know that Paul established churches in all of the major cities in Asia Minor. This is a lesson in God's timing. This means "no, not right now." Please keep in mind, God can guide us just as much through saying "no" than by saying "yes." And "no" could mean "no, not right now." This is why we need to be sensitive to God's voice speaking through us through the word of God and prayer.

As we become a person of prayer and a person of the word, we become familiar with the will and the ways of God. When God is moving, you'll know. You'll say, "He worked like that in the Bible." You will be familiar with his ways. God answers all of our prayers. It's either "yes," "no," or "wait." The "wait" means "no, not right now." Do you know the difference between "no" and "no, not right now"? Many of you don't because you may take a "no" as a permanent "no" when it's a "no, not right now."

The only way that you're going to be able to discern what is going on is if you are a person of the word and a person of prayer. We speak to God through prayer; he speaks to us through his word. When things are happening in your life, you will have a sensitivity to God speaking through his word and you'll say, "Oh, this is a 'no,'" or "this is a 'no, not right now.'" You have to know the difference. Many of you are clueless to what God is doing in your life because you're not people of prayer and you're not people of the word.

God wants to guide you. He wants to direct you. He wants to lead you. He is doing things in your life and you're clueless to what's happening because you're not a person of this book and you're not a person that spends considerable amount of time in prayer. God is speaking; we're not always listening. This generation is struggling with silence. We have so many devices and so many things going on. We have so much music in our ears. We have devices that give us thousands upon thousands of songs and endless music.

We don't want to be left with just our thoughts because it is scary. That's why many of you don't even go to sleep without something in your ears. It is on that pillow that God may speak to you and bring you face to face with yourself. We don't want to see us, so we drown him out. God is trying to speak and we are wondering what he is saying. God wants to speak, lead us, and guide us. This is how he guides us. If you would just be a person of the word of God and of prayer, he would guide your life. He would guide you beside green pastures and still waters. But you have so much going on in your life. You go to sleep to music, you wake up to music, you wake up to the TV, and you get in the car and it's the same stuff all over again because the Bluetooth connects.

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