Paul and Barnabas Witness on Cyprus (Acts 13:4–12)

Prepared and preached for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, February 23, 2025

Tony Evans writes:

The reason why we don’t do more evangelism is that we’ve lost our concern for the lost. Most people are not concerned that they are lost. They’re like the little boy at Disneyland who was enjoying Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He was enjoying the Ferris wheel and the roller coasters. He was having a marvelous time and in the midst of the crowd got separated from his parents. When he got separated from his parents, he didn’t know that he was lost because he was having so much fun on the rides.

Satan has so constructed this world order to give you enough distractions so that you don’t know you’ve gotten lost in your spiritual Disneyland. We’ve got a world full of people who don’t know that the fun in this world and all this world is offering them—the movies, the parties, the clubs, the social relationships, the money, and the job—is all a satanic camouflage to keep them from realizing that they have been separated from God. Mankind spends so much time having fun that they don’t know that they are lost.

However, the parents of this particular child were looking for him. They knew he was lost at Disneyland. They went to an officer and told security that they couldn’t find their child. The security man led the parents to the lost child, who didn’t even know he was lost.

God wants to find lost people. We are the security guards to bring lost people into contact with the God who wants to regain fellowship with them. That’s our task in evangelism. We are the ones God has chosen to deliver this message.^260,[1]

My theme today is:

Paul and Barnabas Witness on Cyprus

1. Context-
   1. In the previous verses, the Holy Spirit told them to set apart Paul and Barnabas for the work the Lord called them to.
   2. They prayed over them and sent them out.
2. We see the openness to God’s Word (Acts 13:4–7):
   1. Their message is well received throughout the island, especially by the governor, Sergius Paulus.^[2]
   2. Acts 13:4–7 (ESV) ⁴ So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. ⁵ When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 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. ⁷ He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
   3. Now, we are getting into the geography of the book of Acts.
   4. They leave the city of Antioch and sail to Cyprus.
   5. Cyprus is an island.
   6. They go to the city of Salamis.
   7. They begin proclaiming God’s Word in the synagogues of the Jews.
   8. Notice that they always go to the Jews first.
   9. Verse 5, Acts 13:5, says that they had John to assist them. 
   10. Look at Acts 13:6: they had gone through the whole island, as far as Paphos. Paphos is the other side of the island.
   11. Now, they see this Jewish magician. There are some extra details about him.
   12. He was a Jewish false prophet named, Bar-Jesus.
   13. The NET Bible reads: Named Bar-Jesus. “Jesus” is the Latin form of the name “Joshua.” The Aramaic “bar” means “son of,” so this man was surnamed “son of Joshua.” The scene depicts the conflict between Judaism and the emerging new faith at a cosmic level, much like the Simon Magus incident in Acts 8:9–24. Paul’s ministry looks like Philip’s and Peter’s here.^[4]
   14. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence.
   15. This man summoned Barnabas with Saul (That is Paul) to hear the Word of God.
   16. Proconsuls in Acts governed a Roman province.
   17. Archaeology has turned up evidence for many of the proconsuls of Cyprus. At least one inscription bears the name “Paulus,” but he is too late to be Sergius Paulus.^[5]
   18. We will see more about this man in the next few verses.

• The opposition to God’s Word (13:8–11)
  1. 1. Elymas’s blasphemy (13:8): This false prophet and sorcerer (also called Bar-Jesus) attempts to prevent the governor from accepting Christ.
     2. Acts 13:8 (ESV)
     3. ⁸ But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
     4. Now, he is called Elymas.
     5. One source reads: Possibly Elymas is a Semitic word, as is Bar-Jesus, and “sorcerer” is its translation. In any case, true to his demonic influence, Elymas tried to keep Sergius Paulus from embracing the gospel.^[6]
     6. So, now they face opposition.
     7. Acts 13:9-11 (ESV)
     8. Elymas’s blindness (13:9–11): He is blinded by the judgment of God at the hand of Paul.
     9. ⁹ But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? ¹¹ And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.
     10. Notice verse 9 now calls “Saul” “Paul.”
  
  
  1. 1. Paul is filled with the Holy Spirit.
     2. Paul looked intently at him and spoke to him.
     3. “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? ¹¹ And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.”
     4. The NET Bible points out: This rebuke is like ones from the OT prophets: Jer 5:27; Gen 32:11; Prov 10:7; Hos 14:9.^[9]
     5. Verse 11, Acts 13:11, reads that this happened just as Paul said.
     6. Again, from the NET Bible: The term translated mistiness [mist] here appears in the writings of the physician Galen as a medical technical description of a person who is blind. The picture of judgment to darkness is symbolic as well. Whatever power Elymas had, it represented darkness. Magic will again be an issue in Acts 19:18–19. This judgment is like that of Ananias and his wife in Acts 5:1–11.^[10]
     7. Wow!
     8. Take note, this punishment as only “for a time.” He could repent later on.
     9. Rydelnic (Moody Bible Institute) believes that Luke shows that Paul can do the same miracles with Gentiles as Peter did with Jewish people.[11]
  
  
  1. The obedience to God’s Word (13:12): The governor becomes a believer.^[13]
  2. Acts 13:12 (ESV)
  3. ¹² Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
  4. The “proconsul” believed. This would be Sergius believing.
  5. One source adds:

• The signs normally associated with conversion in Acts (baptism, reception of the Spirit) do not appear in this account of Sergius Paulus’s conversion. Possibly Luke just abbreviated his account, but it is also possible that Paulus’s belief amounted to nothing more than his being astonished at the teaching and the blindness that befell Elymas.^[14]

1. Applications:
   1. In verse 4, we see Paul and Barnabas go to work sharing the gospel. They were on mission. We must also be on mission.
   2. Do we follow through with commitments in a timely way? In Acts 13:1-3 they are commissioned, and the next verse records their departure.
   3. Do we care about taking the Gospel to those who have never heard?
   4. Do we care about evangelism?
   5. Do we have a burden for those lost?
   6. Paul and Barnabas did. They were on mission to share the gospel.
   7. In verse 5, they proclaim the gospel to the Jews first. There are several applications, but one of which is, do we care to take the gospel to our culture and people? Many times, we will go serve on mission trips far away, but missions begins at home. Yes, they traveled, but they began with their ethnicity. In Romans 10:1, Paul writes about his heart’s desire and prayer to God is for the Jewish people to be saved. He started with the Jewish people.
   8. In verse 5, we see John Mark is there to assist them. Are we comfortable to be an assistant? Are we comfortable to be an understudy?
   9. In verse 6, we see they took the gospel to the whole island. They were not satisfied with “good.” The book “Good to Great” begins with “Good is the enemy of great.”
   10. In verse 7, we see a man, Serius Paulus who wanted to hear the Word of God and they shared with him. Are we sensitive to those who want to hear the gospel?
   11. In verse 8, we see Paul confronts the magician.
   12. It says that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit. Do we seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Do we seek to be Spirit-led?
   13. Paul boldly confronted the magician. Do we follow the Spirit’s lead?

Tony Evans writes:

About four or five years ago in Texas, a pilot left the motor running on a plane and somehow this plane engaged itself. It was without a pilot and took off. It was flying on its own. It stayed in the air for over ninety minutes. Then, the inevitable happened: it ran out of gas, crashed, and was totally destroyed.

For a while, you can fly on your own. For a while, you can take off and be somebody. For a while, you can act like God does not exist. For a while, you can play a little religion, but not be serious about subordinating yourself. And for a while, you can fly.

I know there are atheists, and they look like they’re flying. I know, sometimes you look at evil people and you say, How come they can be so evil and can fly so high? I know sometimes you are jealous when you look at folk who have no respect for deity and seem to be flying high. Keep watching, because sooner or later, they will run out of gas, crash, and be destroyed. When you fly your life without God in the pilot’s seat of your life, that’s what happens. That’s why the Bible says don’t be envious of the evildoers. Just because they are making money and getting ahead by doing wrong, don’t get jealous of them. One can only fly high on their own for a while, but there will come a point where they will run out of gas and will discover in an abrupt way there is a God who is Lord over the universe.^264,[15]

^[1] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 93.

^[2] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ac 13:4–7.

^[3] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Ac 13:5.

^[4] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Ac 13:6.

^[5] Stanley E. Porter, “Acts,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1741.

^[6] Stanley E. Porter, “Acts,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1741.

^[7] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2109.

^[8] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Ac 13:9.

^[9] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Ac 13:10.

^[10] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Ac 13:11.

[11] Open Line, Moody Radio, 02.18.2023)

chaps. chapters

^[12] Stanley E. Porter, “Acts,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1741.

^[13] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ac 13:8–12.

^[14] Stanley E. Porter, “Acts,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1741.

^[15] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 94.

The Antioch Church Commissions Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1–3)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, February 16, 2025

Do you have a calling? How do you know if God has called you to something specific? How do you facilitate an atmosphere to hear God speak?

How do you know God’s will? Are you seeking God’s will?

Do you treat God like He is the owner of the universe and the creator? I was at the store when Mercedes was almost three years old. Meagan said to grab some potatoes. I went to grab some potatoes. Mercedes said, “Those aren’t the right potatoes.” I said, “Yes, they are.” She said, “No, they are not.” I said, “Yes, they are.” She said, “They are not the right potatoes, Daddy!” I said, “Mercedes, you have been alive for three years; how do you know?” Is that how we act with God? We act like Mercedes. We act like we know it all to the Supreme Creator, and maybe we do not seek His will when He knows it all.   

In Acts 13:1-3, the church in Antioch hears God’s call to set aside Paul and Barnabas for God’s mission. They follow through with that. I want to talk about this passage for a few minutes and show you that the call to missions was heard because they were worshipping and fasting. They were seeking Him. They were putting God on the throne.  

Acts 13:1–3 (ESV)

13 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

This is a pivotal point in the Book of Acts. Paul the apostle was just introduced in chapter 7. At that time, he was a young Jewish man persecuting the church.

Then, in Acts chapter 9, Saul became a Christian. Jesus confronted him.

Now, between Acts chapter 9 and Acts chapter 13, around 12 or 13 years have passed. Paul was converted in about A.D. 33; now it is around A.D. 46 or 47. In Acts chapter 13, the focus changes from Peter to Paul. The rest of the book of Acts is predominantly about Paul. Look how it happens.

1. The setting:
   1. Verse 1: they are in Antioch. Antioch would be north of Jerusalem in Syria. In Acts 11:19ff, we read about how they got to Antioch.
   2. Verse 1 tells us there are prophets and teachers in Antioch. Verse 1 lists four of these specific prophets and teachers. Now, prophesy was a spiritual gift. The Holy Spirit would speak through a prophet to proclaim God’s truth. This might be a conviction about sin or some future event.
   3. Barnabas and Saul (Paul) were listed among these prophets. There is also Simeon called Niger. Niger is Latin for black, so it is likely he was from Africa. Lucius of Cyrene is also a Latin name, and he is likely from an area in Northern Africa, too.
   4. Then there is an interesting note about this man, Manaen. He was brought up with Herod. This is the same Herod who had James killed and brought Jesus to trial and others. Manaen was brought up with him. The Greek wording suggests having the same wet nurse. It is possible that Manaen was the child of one of their slaves. Herod grew up in Rome, and it was common for the children of slaves to grow up with the master’s children. The children grow close, and the slave is freed when he or she is an adult. Either way, Manaen is now serving the Lord with the gift of prophecy or teaching.
2. Verse 1 showed us “who” and verses 2 and 3 show us “what.”
   1. Verse 2 says they were worshipping the Lord and fasting. Isn’t that an interesting intro? What is about to happen, happens while they are coming into the presence of the Lord in worship and fasting.
   2. There are other examples of significant things happening during worship. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah was called while in the temple performing a priestly duty.
   3. Fasting means abstaining from food and possibly other pleasures to seek God. The people of Antioch were worshipping the Lord and fasting. They were seeking God for input. God is about to give them His guidance.
   4. They were worshipping and fasting, and the Holy Spirit spoke to them. The Holy Spirit likely spoke through one of the prophets. The Lord wanted Paul and Barnabas set aside for His work. This idea of setting aside means to set apart for a special purpose. The Lord wanted Paul and Barnabas set apart for His purposes.  Back when Paul became a Christian, the Lord said that He would use Paul to reach the Gentiles. That is about to happen.

• The response:
  1. Verse 3 is about the church’s response. The church obeys. At this point, the Lord hadn’t told Paul or Barnabas where they were going. It doesn’t matter. Paul and Barnabas made themselves available. The church gathered together, and they laid hands on them. This is comparable to ordination. They were sent out.
  2. From Acts 13:4- 14:26, we can read about the missionary journey that resulted from this. Many people heard the Gospel because the church in Antioch was in an atmosphere to hear God.
  3. They were worshipping and fasting. Then Paul and Barnabas obeyed. Paul had taken the Gospel to the known world by the end of Acts. He might have taken it as far as Spain. He took the Gospel to Rome. Things happen when you intentionally create an atmosphere to hear God.
  4. This happened to Meagan several years ago. She was working at McDonalds at the time. She was spending some time in prayer before work when she heard the phone ring. We usually don’t need to interrupt our time with God by answering the phone. But in this instance, she received a job offer. This happened during prayer time.

This Scripture passage shows us a few things. One is that foreign missions are essential. This is Paul’s call, and they go far away. Secondly, this text shows how to hear God’s call by being involved in the spiritual disciplines. These are prayer, worship, fasting, Scripture reading.  

People need the Lord everywhere. While Paul was going around the known world with the Gospel, James was pastoring the Jerusalem church. James, the half-brother of Jesus, stayed home to pastor the church. Missions are important, local and foreign.

Missions is about ministering to temporary felt needs and eternal spiritual needs.

You need to know that you will not hear God if you are not in the spiritual disciplines. Prayer, reading Scripture, worship, and sometimes fasting are imperative to hearing God. Maybe God will call you to a short-term mission trip. Maybe God will call you to full-time missions. Maybe God will be calling you to a new ministry around here. Maybe God will call you to do something else. Will you hear God’s call?

Chuck Swindoll shares the following (this is a copy of the transcript, I apologize for anything that doesn’t read correctly):
“Several years ago, I was asked by an organization that I have loved for many years, the Navigators, to come to their reunion at Estes Park, Colorado, and to be one of the speakers. I was thrilled to be able to do that.
And I traveled there and I found out after I was there that they hadn’t all gotten together for 17 years. So it was a great reunion of this fine Christian organization. The camp was just full of people with stories and hugs and embraces and wonderful moments together.
And it was kind of a sort of reliving the past for that whole week. Well, we finished our time there and a man was to drive me back to Denver to catch a plane back home. On the way back, he said, can I tell you my story?
And I said, sure. He said, actually, it’s a story of closed doors. Great, I said, I’ve had a few of those.”

“So tell me what yours was. He said, we could not find peace in any manner staying in the States. And while at a conference with a number of the leadership of the Navigators, it fell my opportunity to be the man who would open the work in Uganda.
Uganda. He said, I could hardly spell it. When they pointed to me and said, perhaps that’s where the Lord would have you go.
He said, I went home, I told my wife and told our children, I think they had three at the time. Their oldest son was just about to go into school. Not quite.
So there are three little kiddos. And he said to his wife, honey, are you ready to take on the challenge of Uganda and all the holes? She said, if that’s where God wants us, I want to do that.
So they flew to Nairobi, Kenya. Now, couples, for a moment, picture it. You got three kids, one of them still in diapers, one of them should be, they’re all little.”

“You got them flying over to Nairobi, you land, you put your family up in a hotel, you’ve got limited amount of money, you rent a car, a land rover, and you drive from Nairobi into the country of Uganda. Remember, this was just after Idi Amin’s terror reign. He said, one of the first things that caught my eye when I came into the little town, the village, where I was going to spend my first night, and it was dark, were eight, nine-year-old kids with automatic weapons.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, shooting them off in the sky. And I’d drive by, it was like, they’d stare at me and point at me. I thought, no, no, no, no, no, not now.
You know, it took me enough to get here. But it was that kind of context. It was that kind of volatile setting.”

“And he thought, Lord, are you there? He pulled up at a little place, a dimly lit hotel, and he thought, well, I’ll spend the night, lonely, unable to connect with his wife at the hotel back in Nairobi. And he goes up to the counter, and the man that’s taking care of the registration is asleep.
So he wakes him up, speaks a little bit of English, and he registers, there’s one room left, one bed available. So he goes up two flights of stairs, and he gets to the room, opens the door, turns on this little naked light bulb hanging over a table, and one bed is unmade, and his bed is still made up. And he realized, I am sharing this room with somebody.
He said, I dropped to my knees, and I said, Lord, look, I’m afraid. I’m in a country I don’t know, in a culture that’s totally unfamiliar. I have no idea who sleeps in that bed.”

“And he said, just as I was finishing my prayer, boom, the door opens, and here’s this 6 foot 5 inch African saying, what are you doing in my room? Beautiful British English. And he stood up, and he said, I stood there, because this fellow is kind of short, and he said, believe me, I got this bed, and I won’t be here but just one night.
And the fellow said, what are you doing in my country? He said, well, I’m with a little organization called the Navigators. And he broke into this enormous grin, put his arms around this guy, and hugged him.
He said, he lifted me up off the floor and just danced around with me, is hugging me. Praise God, praise God, says this African. And he’s thinking, praise God, let me down.”

“You know, and they sit down at the table, and this brother in Christ, this fellow Christian, this African said, for two years, I had prayed that God would send someone to me from this organization. And he pulls out a little verse pack, and at the bottom of each of the verses, it says, the navigators, Colorado Springs, Colorado. He said, are you from Colorado Springs, Colorado?
He said, I was, but I’m coming to Uganda to begin a work for the navigator. That man became his best friend, a member of his board, helped him find a place to live, helped him rebuild a section of his home, taught him about the culture, helped him with a little bit of the language needs that he had, and he became his best friend for those 14 years they were there.

After 12, 14 years—I forget the exact number of years—they finished their work there. It was established.
Others from the staff of the Navigators came and picked up the work, and this dear little family came back. He had not been back quite a year. His son was finishing his high school, and the high school class was to go to Washington, DC for one of those field trips.
You know what they often do with high school kids? They take them there to look at the monuments and let them see the White House and these great scenes across the nation’s capital. He said to his boy before he left, put his arms around him, and he said, Son, here’s $40.
I want you to buy something that will be a great memory for you so that you can put it in your room and just call it all your own. This is your money. Do with it as you please.
So the kid goes to Washington, DC. They stay almost a week and he comes back with his package. He says, I want to surprise you, Dad”

“So he doesn’t let him come in his room until he finishes. And they walk in his room and the kid had bought a huge Ugandan flag that he put over his bed. He said, those are the best years of my life, Dad.
Talk about perspective. He feared that by going to Uganda, he would destroy or hurt or cripple his family when in fact, his son has a passion now for God’s work outside the borders of these United States. He would have never had that if he had not obeyed and walked through the open door.
God is full of surprises. And if you have come to a closed door, be very, very sensitive.”[1]

[1] From Insight for Living Daily Broadcast: Closed Doors, Open Doors, Part 2, Feb 13, 2025
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/insight-for-living-daily-broadcast/id89603501?i=1000691549656&r=838
This material may be protected by copyright.

First, Do you know Jesus yourself?

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

The Death of James, Peter’s Deliverance From Prison (Acts 12:6–19)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, February 9, 2025

Maybe you have seen the 1960’s television show Hogan’s Heroes? Colonel Hogan was the leader of a group of POWs in a German prison of war camp during World War II. The show is comic and reveals how many times the POWs can spy on the Germans to get information to the American and Allied forces. As all of you know, being a prisoner is never that comic.

In my research, I read of a US Army Air Core pilot flying back to England and hitting some flack. He crashed in Germany and was placed in a Stalag. He was eventually released (probably after the war); however, he could never see the men he was on the bomber with again.

In the Bible, there is one comic story about Peter, the Apostle, being miraculously released from prison. Let’s read Acts 12:5-19, and then I will show you that God answers prayer and we serve an amazing God who is not limited.

Acts 12:5–19 (ESV)

⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

⁶ Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. ⁷ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ⁹ And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. ¹¹ When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹² When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. ¹³ And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸ Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

Let’s talk about this passage:

1. God hears our prayers (verses 6-10):
   1. In verse 5, we heard the people were praying.
   2. In verse 6, we see that Peter was asleep.
   3. Would you be asleep in a prison?
   4. He is asleep between two soldiers. More soldiers were guarding the doors, and he was sleeping. The prisons were probably not that comfortable.
   5. It was customary back then to have your right hand chained to a soldier’s left hand; however, it appears Peter was chained on both sides to a soldier.
   6. Peter could be content because he knew and followed the Scriptures: Peter was content with the situation. He had faith and knew everything was going to be okay. This could be because he knew he would die an old man (John 21:18-19), or he was just not anxious (Phil. 4:11).
   7. Peter knew other principles: “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for Thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety” (Ps. 4:8). Or, “Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness” (Isa. 41:10).
   8. Peter wouldn’t be asleep for long.
   9. In verse 7, a light shines in; Peter is still asleep; however, now the guards are asleep too. Note, these are Roman guards. These are the best of the best, and they are sleeping!
   10. An Angel comes in and knocks him to wake him.
   11. The chains just fell off. Imagine that. How neat is that? Imagine being in a dark, dirty prison, and now it is all lit up by an angel, and your chains fall off.
   12. The angel tells him to put on his sandals and cloak.
   13. One of my sources suggested that Peter may have thought of this every time he laced his sandals and put on his cloak.
   14. Wow! What a thought, but think about this: this is a life-altering, life-changing experience. Would you forget it? An angel wakes him up.
   15. In the following few verses, Peter thinks this is a dream. He didn’t think it was real. They got up and went through some gates, including the one in the city. The gate opened by itself, and then the angel departed. The gate opened by itself. Realize that garage door and gate openers were not sold at Lowe’s in their day. This was God’s doing, and this is amazing. The angel just disappeared. Puff, gone.
   16. In verse 11, Peter realizes this is real. Peter had been thinking this was a dream the whole time. Peter did not think that this was real.
   17. I find that somewhat interesting. Peter witnessed the resurrection. He witnessed all the miracles of the resurrection. Remember Acts chapter 10, he witnessed that vision, but he did not think this was real. He could have thought this was simply another vision of what God wanted him to do. But he did not think it was real.
2. Peter at the house (Acts 12:11-17).
   1. Peter knocks on the door.
   2. A servant girl named Rhoda comes to answer; she hears Peter’s voice, and before she lets him in, she goes and tells the people he is there. They don’t believe her. However, she insists. They then say it is his angel. Peter keeps knocking, and eventually, they let him in.
   3. Peter tells them what happened and to tell James and the rest.
   4. They were praying for his release, and when he showed up, they did not believe it was him.
   5. Do we ever pray for something and not believe God will follow through?
   6. The story ends with Peter going to another place and Herod killing the guards.

Close:

Unfortunately, all prisoners of war do not get an escape like that. But wait, was Peter a prisoner of war? Yes! He was. We are all in a spiritual battle with the devil. They prayed, and God answered that prayer. We need to always pray about all things. We need not be surprised when God answers. Pray for God’s will and expect God’s will to come through. Also, remember there are many Christians right now being martyred for their faith. Pray for them.

Remember who you are in Christ.

Swindoll shares

Reading, in a little book called Jesus Makes Me Laugh, clever work, good humor, but underneath it is a real message, writes toward the end of the book, I remember going home from the Navy during World War II.

Because he is faithful.[1]

[1] From Insight for Living Daily Broadcast: God’s Mysterious Immutability, Part 2, Feb 5, 2025
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/insight-for-living-daily-broadcast/id89603501?i=1000688999795&r=1216
This material may be protected by copyright.

Let’s pray

God is Holy (Isa. 6:1-7)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, February 2, 2025

Once upon a time, there were two brothers, eight and ten years old, who were exceedingly mischievous. Whatever went wrong in the neighborhood, it turned out they had had a hand in it. Their parents were at their wits’ end trying to control them. Hearing about a priest nearby who worked with delinquent boys, the mother suggested to the father that they ask the priest to talk with the boys. The father replied, “Sure, do that before I kill them!”

The mother went to the priest and made her request. He agreed, but said he wanted to see the younger boy first and alone. So the mother sent him to the priest. The priest sat the boy down across a huge, impressive desk he sat behind. For about five minutes they just sat and stared at each other. Finally, the priest pointed his forefinger at the boy and asked, “Where is God?” The boy looked under the desk, in the corners of the room, all around, but said nothing. Again, louder, the priest pointed at the boy and asked, “Where is God?” Again the boy looked all around but said nothing. A third time, in a louder, firmer voice, the priest leaned far across the desk and put his forefinger almost to the boy’s nose, and asked, “WHERE IS GOD?” The boy panicked and ran all the way home.

Finding his older brother, he dragged him upstairs to their room and into the closet, where they usually plotted their mischief. He finally said, “We are in BIG trouble.” The older boy asked, “What do you mean, BIG trouble?” His brother replied, “God is missing, and they think we did it.”[1]

I don’t remember the date. I think it was a Sunday afternoon. A group of us went to a mall outside of Cincinnati. The group included Meagan and I, my brother, and my now sister-in-law. None of us were married at the time. I was twenty-one years old. While at the mall, we entered a jewelry store and looked at rings. It was not in our plans to look at engagement rings, but I could tell the one Meagan liked. It was a “princess cut” diamond ring. It was under the light and absolutely beautiful. The light made the diamond sparkle. It was the ring I knew I had to purchase for Meagan. I gave her that style ring a few months later as I proposed marriage to Meagan.

Do you ever notice that the jewelry looks more beautiful at the store? Why? The jewelry is clean and displayed in a way that shows its beauty. The light shows how gorgeous the diamonds are.

One could argue that the jewelry in the store is holy. That is a generic sense of the word. It means set apart for a purpose. That is very generic. It does not compare to the subject today, but I did want to use it to explore the holiness of God.

God is holy.

God is set apart. God is completely other than who we are.

My theme today:

God is holy; understand and take seriously the holiness of God.

Application:

Respond like Isaiah- woe is me…

Receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. The only way we can come into His presence is through Jesus.

1. Isaiah in the temple.
   1. Look at Isaiah 6:1 (ESV) In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
   2. This gives us some context.
   3. Understand that Isaiah was already a prophet of the Lord. We can read about that in Isaiah 1.
   4. Now, King Uzziah had died which was 740 B.C. This marks the end of a lengthy reign of prosperity (2 Chron. 26).
   5. Uzziah ascended to the throne when he was sixteen years old. He reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. Think of it, fifty-two years!^[2]
   6. How many presidents have we seen in the last fifty-two years?
   7. Biden, Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, and Nixon.
   8. I like how R. C. Sproul shares: But when Isaiah entered the temple he saw another king, the Ultimate King, the One who sat forever on the throne of Judah. He saw the Lord.^[3]
   9. C. Sproul shares that the village of Rome was founded the same year Uzziah died. Also:
   10. He points out that most scholars think Isaiah is not seeing this in the temple but seeing into the Lord’s heavenly temple. Further, God created everything with what they need. He created fish with fins. God created Seraphim with the ability to cover themselves from the holiness of God.[4]
   11. So, Isaiah sees the Lord seated upon the throne.
   12. Did he see this? Yes.
   13. Was God literally there, or was this a vision?
   14. It was a vision, but we know it affected the temple Isaiah was in (verse 4).
2. The Holiness of God.
   1. Look at this. Isaiah sees the Lord upon a throne, high and lifted up.
   2. The train of His robe filled the temple.
   3. Isaiah is seeing the Lord in majesty.
   4. Once upon a time, I was in the sanctuary. I started with “once upon a time,” but this did happen. I was walking through and spending time in prayer. It was a Saturday evening, and it was dark outside. Then I thought I heard voices. Eventually, I did hear voices. After some phone calls, I realized that a radio station was coming through the speakers in the narthex. Now, that was quiet. However, what Isaiah sees is not quiet.
   5. Isaiah sees the greatness of God.
   6. How big is your view of God?
   7. I believe if we would only begin to recognize the awesomeness of God we would not trifle with Him.
   8. You are thinking, “I do not trifle with God.”
   9. Yes, you do.
   10. How seriously do you take worship?
   11. How seriously do you take sin? Do you realize that our sin is high treason against the creator of the universe?
   12. What if I told you that this facility had been exposed to a deadly virus and that anything you touched would contaminate you? What would you do? Would you hurry to wash your hands, clothes, and everything else? Would you wash them extra well? Would you try not to touch anything before you leave?
   13. Of course.
   14. Why don’t we think of sin that way?
   15. We are exposed, we are contaminated, and we do not care.
   16. God redeems us through Jesus, but we are not eager to seek Him to get help from our sins.
   17. God is holy.
   18. Isaiah 6:2–3 (ESV)
   19. ² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;  the whole earth is full of his glory!”
   20. This is more detail.
   21. There are angels.
   22. What do the angels do? They cover their faces, possibly because no one can see the Lord.
   23. They cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts…”
   24. Do you know this is the only attribute of God repeated like that?
   25. In Hebrew, we cannot use the term “holiest.” No, they must repeat something three times to express that God is the most holy.
   26. Sproul shares: Nowhere else in scripture is an attribute of God repeated three times.
   27. Nowhere do we hear that He is “love, love, love.”
   28. Many scholars think that holiness is not a single attribute but one that captures all the others. Holiness makes Him unique. Holiness points to the transcendent majesty, the superlative greatness, the otherness that characterizes God and makes Him unique and worthy of our worship.[5]
   29. Isaiah 6:4 (ESV) ⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
   30. What Isaiah saw affected creation.
   31. There was an earthquake.
   32. There was smoke.
   33. This was Isaiah experiencing the holiness of God.
   34. Timothy Keller shares:
   35. One of the more hilarious examples of the presence of the holy is in Mark 4 where Jesus is in the boat with his disciples. There is a storm that comes up, and they’re all afraid. He calms the storm, and they’re terrified, because the rescue is more terrifying to them than the peril from which they were rescued.
   36. The storm isn’t anywhere near as terrifying as to realize you’re in the presence of God Almighty. They were terrified. They said, “Who is this?” I don’t know what Ludwig Feuerbach and Freud thought about Mark 4. Those are the guys who tried to explain religion. They said, “Religion grew up because when human beings were primitive we were scared of nature. We were scared of the storms, so we had to invent a God we could go to and get help from. We were afraid of impersonal nature, so we had to invent a God who would enable us to deal with the frightening world we lived in.”^[6]
3. Isaiah’s response.
   1. Isaiah 6:5 (ESV)
   2. ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
   3. How do we respond to the holiness of God?
   4. If we read Scripture and something convicts us, do we repent? Do we ask God for help so that we can do better? Do we get help? Do we repent to those we sinned against?
   5. How do we respond if we are convicted in a sermon like this?
   6. Isaiah 6:6–7 (ESV) ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
   7. Sproul shares: A recent survey of ex-church members revealed that the main reason they stopped going to church was that they found it boring. It is difficult for many people to find worship a thrilling and moving experience. We note here, when God appeared in the temple, the doors and the thresholds were moved. The inert matter of doorposts, the inanimate thresholds, the wood and metal that could neither hear nor speak had the good sense to be moved by the presence of God. The literal meaning of the text is that they were shaken. They began to quake where they stood.^[7]
   8. How is God boring?
   9. I think too often, we try to entertain people because they find God boring.
   10. Again, Sproul: The doors of the temple were not the only things that were shaking. The thing that quaked the most in the building was the body of Isaiah. When he saw the living God, the reigning monarch of the universe displayed before his eyes in all of His holiness, Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me!”^[8]
   11. Do we know that we need forgiven?
   12. I saw in a video of a man getting pulled over by a police officer. The man quickly said, “I think I know why you pulled me over. Can I step out of the truck?” The officer said, “Yes.” The man said, “Can I step to the back of the truck?” The officer said, “Yes.” The man said, You see, the woman in the front seat is my wife. The woman in the back seat is my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law came to visit, and she and my wife started arguing. Eventually, my mother-in-law said to take her home right away. Officer, I am trying to get her home as quickly as possible. They may start talking if I take too long, and my mother-in-law may want to stay longer. Do you understand my problem?” The officer said, “Yes, I understand. I am going to give you a police escort. We will use the lights and everything.” They then left.
   13. That man will need to be forgiven for that one. Obviously, that is just for humor.
   14. Ha ha!
   15. Martyn Lloyd-Jones gave the illustration for this in one of his sermons I’ve never forgotten, and some of you have certainly heard it. He says if somebody comes to you and says, “I’ve paid one of your bills,” you have no idea how excited to be. It could be they’ve paid postage due, paid a couple of dollars so a package that had postage due could be received. On the other hand, maybe they paid $40,000 of your back IRS taxes. Until you know the actual amount of the debt, you don’t know how joyful to be. The size of the debt actually determines the magnitude of the joy.^[9]
   16. Do we recognize the holiness of God?
4. How do we respond to God?
   1. In Genesis 15:9-17 we see the account of the covenant ceremony between God and Abraham.
   2. God is making a covenant with Abraham.
   3. Abraham brings God a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
   4. The goat and the heifer are cut in two.
   5. A deep sleep falls upon Abram.
   6. God walks between the animals.
   7. That is an ancient covenant ceremony in which God was saying, “If I do not keep my covenant with you, may I be like these animals.
   8. Two thousand years later, Jesus was stricken for us.
   9. The Israelites and we did not keep the covenant with God. Yet, our holy God was stricken for us.
   10. Romans 5:8 (ESV) …but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
   11. Jesus went to the cross, and He was stricken.
   12. Jesus went to the cross, and He was cursed.
   13. Jesus was slain for us.
   14. Why?
   15. Because God is holy, and we needed a holy sacrifice for our sins.
   16. Receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. The only way we can come into His presence is through Jesus.
   17. How can we come into a relationship with a holy God? Only by receiving Him as Lord and Savior can we know Him. Jesus went to the cross for us.
   18. God is holy. That is why we need a Savior.

[1] https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/humor/where-is-god.html

^[2] R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1993), 27.

^[3] R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1993), 29.

[4] Renewing Your Mind. 03.10.2021

[5] Sproul, Renewing Your Mind; 03.11.2021

^[6] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[7] R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1993), 39–40.

^[8] R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1993), 40.

^[9] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).