Acts 14:1-2 ESV
“Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.”
When we are teaching the truth of the gospel and not a
half-truth (lie, false) gospel which coddles people in their sins, we will be
opposed. We will have people who will take us to task and who will criticize us
and who will accuse us falsely of teaching “works-based salvation.” And they
may also attempt to turn others against us, too, even lying about us to them
hoping to convince them that we are the enemy and of Satan, and that we are to
be ignored.
And the object is to poison the people’s minds against us,
but not just us, but against what we stand for, and against what we teach,
which is the whole counsel of God, not a diluted half-truth gospel intended to
tickle itching ears. So the opposition is really against the message, and since
we are the messengers, then we are opposed, too. But the real enemy to the true
gospel of Christ, taught by Christ, is this half-truth false gospel.
But this half-truth false gospel did not create itself.
There are people who are behind this who have created this and who have convinced
the vast majority of the people professing the name of Jesus to believe in it.
But that is only half their goal. The other half is to destroy the true message
of the gospel, to discredit it and to vilify it, and to attempt to also
discredit its messengers and to vilify them, too.
And so they paint us as legalists, self-righteous, egotistical
and judgmental who are teaching a lie of Satan, so that the people will be
discouraged from listening to us. And they paint the gospel we teach, which is
the whole counsel of God which Paul and the other apostles taught, as the lie
which is to be rejected in favor of what they claim is the truth, but which is
really the lie which is hostile towards God and is at war against Jesus Christ.
Now what the true gospel teaches us is that by God-given
faith in Jesus Christ we must be crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we
must be raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be
like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our old self is to be put to death
with Christ so that we are no longer enslaved to sin but we are now slaves to
God and to his righteousness. For now we are to walk no longer according to the
flesh but now according to the Spirit in the power of God for the glory of God.
The true gospel also teaches that these walks of faith must
be continuous until the very end, and they must include daily dying to sin and
to self and walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands. For if we say that we
know God or that we are in fellowship with God while we still walk (in conduct,
in practice) in sin, and while we do not walk in obedience to his commands,
then the Scriptures teach that we lie and that we will not inherit eternal life
with God regardless of what faith in Jesus we have professed with our lips.
But this false gospel, which is vehemently opposed to the
truth of the gospel, teaches a faith in Jesus Christ which is of the flesh and
not of the Spirit, which requires no deeds, no repentance, no obedience, and no
submission to Christ as Lord as part of believing faith in Jesus Christ. And so
one can “believe” and be “saved” and be on their way to heaven, according to
them, while they continue to walk in deliberate and habitual sin against the
Lord Jesus Christ. But that is not what Jesus or his apostles taught.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom
6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Tit
2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-2; Eph
2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13]
Acts 14:3 ESV
“So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.”
I love this! Our enemy Satan wants to discourage us from
teaching the truth of the gospel and so he will fight against us and he will
use other humans to come against us, too, but we can’t let that dishearten us.
Even if all hell breaks out against us and we are smeared in public and we are
painted in a bad way, and even if many people turn against us and speak evil
against us, we are to persevere and leave the opposition into the hands of God.
And this is because this isn’t about us. This is about the
salvation of human lives, and they are not going to be saved if they believe
the lie and if they reject the truth, and if they continue in deliberate and
habitual sin against the Lord and if they refuse to walk in obedience to the
Lord. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will
enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one DOING the will of God the Father
who is in heaven (Matthew 7:21-23).
Acts 14:4-7 ESV
“But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel.”
Well, the people are definitely divided, but here in America
it appears that well over half of those professing faith in Jesus Christ are believing
that they can believe in Jesus and be on their way to heaven but that no works
are required of them – no repentance, no obedience, and no submission to Christ
as Lord. And so they remain dead in their sins, still in slavery to sin, and on
their way to hell but on the promise of heaven when they die.
And this is why it is critical that we teach them the whole
truth of the gospel, not a diluted version which cuts out the necessity of
walks of obedience to our Lord and dying to sin daily. For one day we are all
going to stand before God and we are going to be judged by our works and many
people are going to claim that they are saved but the Lord is going to say, “Depart
from me you workers of iniquity. I never knew you,” because they didn’t obey
him.
Have
Thine Own Way, Lord
Words
by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907
Music
by George C. Stebbins, 1907
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine
own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine
own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just
now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine
own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine
own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway.
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z11avpKNLsA
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