Paul Preaches to Pagans

Acts 14:8-20
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, December 13, 1998
Copyright © 1998, P. G. Mathew

In this passage from Acts 14 we are impressed by the love of God for unworthy sinners. Here we read of how God from all eternity ordained the salvation of a crippled pagan–a man crippled from birth, a man who had never walked. It reminds us that though we are sinners, weak and unable to save ourselves, ungodly and at enmity with God, God loves us and sent his Son as our Savior in fulfillment of his covenant promise. When we read how Paul told the crippled pagan man, “Stand up straight!” and he leaped up, stood straight, and began to walk, we see a picture of the salvation that Jesus Christ, the only Savior, grants to those who place their trust in him.

Preaching the Gospel to Pagans

This passage gives us an example of the preaching of the apostles to pagans. Whenever the apostles preached the gospel, they tailored their message somewhat to their audience. For example, in Acts 2 we find Peter preaching to biblically literate Jewish people who were assembled in Jerusalem. In this great Pentecostal Day sermon, Peter quoted liberally from the Old Testament, because he knew his listeners were familiar with the Scriptures.

The same is true of Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7. As he stood before the Sanhedrin, Stephen reviewed God’s dealings with his people Israel and then presented Jesus Christ as the Prophet which Moses had spoken about and the Savior which God had long ago promised to the Hebrew patriarchs.

Paul’s sermon in Pisidian Antioch showed the same pattern as Stephen’s. Like Stephen, Paul knew he was preaching to literate Jewish people and God-fearing Gentiles who understood the Old Testament, so in Acts 13 we see him introducing Jesus Christ as the Savior given in fulfillment of God’s dealings with Israel and God’s promise to the Hebrew fathers.

Later on, Paul found himself preaching to pagans. Here in Acts 14 and later in Acts 17 we find brief outlines of sermon to pure pagans, meaning Gentiles who were ignorant of the Old Testament and history of the Jewish people.

The Division of the Gospel

On each missionary journey, Paul’s custom was to go first to the local synagogue, if there was one, and preach the gospel to the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles. As he preached, some would believe the gospel and others would reject it. The preaching of the gospel always brings about an instant division of people, and this always happened when Paul preached. Typically, the believers would follow Paul while the unbelieving Jews would stir up trouble in collusion with unbelieving Gentiles and the governing authorities of the city and try to murder or expel Paul from the city.

This is nothing new. Remember how the Gadarenes reacted when Jesus healed a demonized person in their region? The people of the town came together and asked Jesus, “Please go away, Jesus. We don’t want your salvation. We are materialists, interested only in worshiping money and raising pigs. We have no interest in the salvation of our souls. Get away from here!”

In the same manner, whenever the apostle Paul preached in a city, some would believe while others would foment trouble for him. We can imagine what his enemies would say: “Paul, get out of here! Don’t you ever preach the gospel to us! We are very satisfied with our lives the way they are. We don’t need a righteousness that comes from God. We can establish our own righteousness by keeping the law–by our good works. Don’t you know about pax Romana? You are disturbing it because Christianity is a religio illicita–an illegal religion–and the Romans will punish any city in which the peace is disturbed. We don’t want to be punished because of your preaching. Besides, what you are preaching is not true. Didn’t our leaders in Jerusalem refuse to believe it? That is why they crucified this blasphemer Jesus. Get out, Paul, and take your gospel with you!”

Let me assure you, the reaction to the gospel is still the same. This division that the preaching of the gospel causes was prophesied by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 10:34-36: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law–a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.'” It is Jesus Christ, as Simeon told Mary, who is “destined to cause the falling and rising of many” (Luke 2:34). Whenever we mention the name of Jesus, society splits in two. It is Jesus Christ who divides all society.

We see this division in John 3:18-19, where Jesus said, “Whoever believes in [God’s Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world”–Jesus Christ is that light–“but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” And in John 3:36 we read, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” There is the receiving and the rejecting of the gospel, the receiving and rejecting of Jesus Christ.

Paul himself tells us in his own words of this experience of some people receiving the gospel and being saved, while others would reject it and be damned. In 2 Corinthians 2:14 Paul wrote, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.” Through us! God’s ordained means is the preaching of the gospel by his people, and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. We must understand this: the gospel, the knowledge of Christ, is the fragrance that gives life. “This is eternal life,” Jesus said, “that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

Paul continued in verse 15, “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” Notice the division, which can happen even within the same home. You may have two children: one may believe in Jesus Christ while the other refuses, or both may believe, or neither one may believe.

But then Paul says, “To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.” In other words, life and death are administered by God through us by the preaching of the gospel. So we must never be surprised if somebody rejects or if somebody receives. Of course, we should be excited when somebody receives the gospel and loves God. But we must not get depressed when somebody does not receive and even takes up stones to stone us. The preaching of the gospel brings division, which frequently is followed by ill-treatment and expulsion. As Paul later said in Acts 14:22, “We must go through many hardships to enter into the kingdom of God.”

The Growth of the Gospel

Irrespective of the reactions of people to the gospel, the word of God necessarily grows and multiplies when it is preached. Why? Because the apostles are not left alone to rely on their own abilities. Didn’t Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe, say, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”? (Matt. 28:20). In Matthew 16 he said he would build his church and nothing can stand against it.

Nothing can prevent God from his purpose of saving sinners! In Acts 13:48 we read, “All who were appointed for eternal life believed,” and that is always the truth. How do I know if a person is appointed to eternal life? He will believe in the gospel and trust in Jesus Christ alone. How do I know if a person is not appointed to eternal life? He will reject Jesus Christ and try to establish his own righteousness. Such a response to the gospel will indicate to me that a person is not appointed unto eternal life, and yet I cannot get upset or worry about that fact. I must still declare the gospel and spread the heavenly fragrance everywhere, knowing the same fragrance will raise the dead to life or put the living to death.

In Romans 8, beginning with verse 28, we read, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” And in verse 29 we read, “For those God foreknew”–this is divine election, God’s love–“he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called . . . .” Look at it. From all eternity God chose a specific number of people to be appointed unto salvation. “. . . and those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

That is why I am not very upset when someone does not want to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, I do feel tremendous pain in the sense that such a person is going to an eternity of damnation. That is a serious issue. No one can explain the eternity of that hell, but it is the reality, and people go there because they reject the gospel.

So there is preaching, division, and persecution, and yet the word of God grows and multiplies, and God establishes churches. Why? He is in the business of saving those whom he has planned to save from all eternity.

The apostles understood these things, and we must also understand them. The Holy Spirit, not the church, appointed them and sent them out to preach the gospel, as we read in Acts 13. The Holy Spirit guided them, helped them to preach, confirmed the word with signs and wonders, and effectually called sinners through the apostles’ gospel by regenerating them.

We must preach the word! We must spread the fragrance everywhere God sends us, beginning with our own homes. It will be a tragedy if we do not spread the fragrance of God’s gospel to others, especially to those in our own family. Then we would be like the Gadarenes, more interested in pigs than salvation and we would have to ask the question Jesus asked, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

Context of Paul’s Preaching

What is the context of this sermon of Paul to the pagans? First, it occurred in the city of Iconium. Expelled from Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas traveled southeast to Iconium, which is now called Konya. Surrounded by fertile plains, Konya is the fourth largest city in modern Turkey.

A second century author named Onesiphorus gives a description of Paul when he came to Iconium: “[He was] small in size with meeting eyebrows, with a rather large nose, bald-headed, bow-legged, strongly built, full of grace. For a time he looked like a man, and at times he had the face of an angel.” We find this description in an apocryphal book, the Acts of Paul by Onesiphorus.

To this city of Iconium Paul and Barnabas came. Even though Iconium was a Greek city, it had a Jewish synagogue where Paul and Barnabas, as their custom was, went to preach. There, as always, some people believed the word of God while others refused to believe.

The unbelieving Jews stirred up trouble in collusion with the Gentiles and the authorities of the city against the apostles. But the Holy Spirit came upon these apostles and they refused to go. They stayed in Iconium for a long time, preaching the gospel, and God performed signs, wonders, and miracles to confirm the words spoken by the apostles. After some time, the apostles found out that there was a plan by the Jews and Gentiles to kill them. In accordance with God’s command of Matthew 10:23 to flee persecution, the apostles fled to the cities of Lystra and Derbe in Lycaonia.

In verse 6 we read that when the apostles found out about the plot to kill them, they “fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe.” There was a man named William Ramsay, a nineteenth-century Scottish classical scholar, who studied the book of Acts for the sole purpose of trying to disprove Luke’s credibility as a historian. A liberal Christian, Ramsay did not believe in the authority of the Bible and thought that there were so many contradictions between the Bible and historical evidence that Luke’s account could not be trusted. He raised money, traveled to Turkey, and worked very hard to prove Luke wrong.

Before Ramsay began his research, he knew that on this one point that a number of other authors previous to Luke said that Lystra and Derbe belonged to different provinces. So Ramsay did a lot of research and discovered that the authors previous to Luke were correct: Lystra and Derbe did belong to two different provinces. But also he found out that the boundary marker was moved at one point and during the period from 37 A.D. to 72 A.D. these two cities both belonged to Lycaonia. Thus, Ramsay discovered that Luke’s words were accurate. In fact, these two cities only belonged together to Lycaonia in this short period of history–not before nor after.

This discovery and others proved to Ramsay that Luke was correct in what he had written. As a result, Ramsay became a champion of the fact that Luke/Acts can be trusted historically. He who started out as a liberal, rejecting the authority of the Scripture, by his own research came to have greater faith in God’s holy word.

The Miraculous Healing in Lystra

The first point we want to examine in this account of Paul’s ministry to pagans is a miracle performed in Lystra. The apostles had fled from Iconium to Lystra, which, as we said, was located in the province of Lycaonia. Lystra was a Roman colony, and so its rulers were Romans, but its educational system was in the hands of the Greeks. The vast majority of the population were Lycaonian people, natives from a certain Anatolian tribe. They were, for the most part, illiterate worshipers of Zeus and Hermes, as recent archaeological discoveries clearly show. There was no synagogue in Lystra, but we know there were some Jews there.

Acts 14:7 tells us Paul and Barnabas “continued to preach the good news” in Lystra and Derbe. In the congregation at Lystra there sat a man crippled from birth, a cripple who had never walked, like the crippled beggar of Acts 3. But one thing we notice about this man is that he did not come to beg for money. For whatever reason, he wanted to go to this meeting. Someone probably carried him and placed him in the midst of this congregation consisting mostly of the illiterate, superstitious Lycaonian people.

This man’s feet were dead, but his mind was active. You know, there are many people who come to church whose feet are all right, but their minds are not working. In other words, they want to relax in church, not think. But this man was ordained by God from all eternity to be saved, and so his mind was working. The text says he was listening intently to what Paul was preaching.

Do you listen to the preaching of God’s word? You should, because life comes through the word. Paul looked at this crippled man and the text tells us he knew by the Spirit of the living God that this man had the authentic faith he needed to be saved and healed. So in a loud voice Paul said, “Stand up on your feet!” and the man stood up, for the first time in his life. And if you study the Greek, it says “then he started walking.” I am sure he was walking, leaping, and praising God, just as the congenitally crippled man of Acts 3 did.

What had happened to this man? The Holy Spirit had regenerated him. He was ordained from all eternity to be saved and so God brought his apostle all the way from Iconium to Lystra to preach the gospel. As Paul was preaching, the Spirit of God regenerated the cripple and granted him faith to believe in the gospel.

Now, we must clarify that the gospel is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and faith is faith in that gospel. It is not faith in nothing. When we read about authentic faith, it is always faith in the person of Jesus Christ. Do you remember that when Peter commanded the cripple in Acts 3, he said, “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk”? That is faith in Jesus Christ. In the same way, Paul always preached Jesus Christ. In fact, Paul said he didn’t want to know anything other than Jesus Christ and him crucified. The question is, do we believe in this Jesus Christ preached by Paul, Peter and others? If you want to be saved, you have to believe in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Who is Jesus Christ? God’s word declares that he is very God and very man. Now, you can mock that response. But if you do, I would draw the conclusion that you have not been appointed by God from all eternity to be saved. Jesus is very God and very man, the Son of God, incarnate, perfect God and perfect man in one person, the one who died on the cross for our sins and was raised for our justification, the one who rules and reigns over all. Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and of the increase of his government there is no end. He is the only Savior of the world, the good news of great joy, as the angel said, for all people. He is King, Savior, Christ, and Lord.

Have you trembled before this Jesus Christ? Have you fallen down before him and worshiped him? Have you committed yourself completely to him to save you? If so, he will save you. Don’t rely on the church, your parents, your country, or anything else. Trust in Jesus Christ the way this cripple did. He told him, “Rise up straight,” and he rose up.

How was this crippled man healed? In the context of Paul’s preaching, the Holy Spirit saved, strengthened, and lifted up this beggar. This was all God’s plan. God ordained from all eternity to save this crippled Anatolian illiterate weak man. Jesus of Nazareth, whom Paul himself had persecuted, saved Paul and appointed him as an apostle of Jews and Gentiles, and brought him to Lystra to preach the gospel. Then he caused this man to come to Paul’s evangelistic service conducted, perhaps, in an open field. And as the crippled man listened to the gospel, the Holy Spirit made him spiritually alive and he was saved forever.

Is the Spirit of God doing anything to you when you come to hear the preaching of God’s word? That will make the difference. By the power of the Holy Spirit, this man understood the gospel, trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, and was saved.

We must understand how God works in the salvation of sinners. In Acts 16 we find St. Paul in the European city of Philippi speaking to a group of women. In verse 14 we read, “One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira,” which is in Turkey, “who was a worshiper of God.” This God-fearing woman was in Europe doing business. Now, notice, “The Lord opened her heart to respond to the gospel.” When the gospel is preached, God the Holy Spirit is also working in human hearts, making them alive and granting them faith to trust in Jesus Christ alone. It is he who causes people to be saved and to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Before God works, our hearts are locked shut. But when God comes, he opens them, and we begin to love Jesus Christ and his gospel. Only then will we trust in Jesus Christ, pray to Jesus Christ, and understand his person and his work so that without any difficulty we know that Christ died on the cross for us. All that is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Paul looked at this man and knew he had faith. He called out and the man stood up, instantly obeying. In fact, the text says “he leaped up.” That tells us he did not get up on his own. God was performing his saving work in this man.

In Acts 3:16 Peter gave the reason for the salvation of the crippled beggar, and this is certainly the reason for the salvation of the crippled man from Lystra also. Peter said, “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know, was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.” In other words, it is not our piety, our power, or anything else that will save us. It is Jesus Christ who has all authority in heaven and earth to save sinners.

When he heard the gospel, this crippled man believed. I suppose there were others also present who believed, such as the young Timothy, his mother Eunice, his grandmother Lois, and many others. How do I know that? In Acts 14:20 we read of a company of disciples from Lystra.

The Reaction of the Pagans

When the Lystran pagans saw the miraculous healing of this crippled man, they had a very interesting reaction. In Acts 14:11 we read, “When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, ‘The gods have come down to us in human form!'”

There was a history behind their reaction. In his book Metamorphoses the Roman poet Ovid tells a story which took place in the hill country of Phrygia, which is in the area of Lystra. Ovid wrote that the Greek god Zeus and his son Hermes assumed the roles of men and went incognito throughout the hill country of Phrygia, knocking on doors to see if anyone would offer them hospitality for the evening. No one invited them in except an old couple, Philemon and his wife, Baucis, who lived in a hut. (PGM) The next morning the gods took this old couple to the mountains for safety. Then they flooded the valley, destroyed all the people in the region, miraculously turned their hut into a great beautiful temple, and designated Philemon and Baucis priest and priestess of this new temple of Zeus and Hermes. And as I said before, archaeological research has revealed that in this area the people did worship Zeus and Hermes.

This story was probably in the minds of the pagans living in Lystra in Paul’s day. Consequently, when they saw the miraculous healing of the crippled man, no doubt they began to shout, “The gods have come down to us again, and we shouldn’t do what they did before. We have to honor these men! If we don’t, we will be in great trouble.” So the Bible says the priest of Zeus and the people brought bulls and wreaths so that they could honor the apostles by making sacrifices.

When Paul and Barnabas realized what was happening, they were horrified. They were Jews, and they knew that to worship a human being as God was a crime abhorrent to the living God. They knew only God is to be worshiped. Now, certainly they knew that many men throughout history had wanted to be worshiped as gods, such as Antiochus Epiphanes. In their recent past King Agrippa I accepted honors that belonged to God, and they knew how God had killed him.

The apostles were horrified at the reaction of the pagan crowd and tore their clothes in great grief. Then Paul began to preach to the crowd: “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you” (v. 15). In other words, “We are not gods,” Paul was saying. “We too are only men, human like you. However, we are bringing you good news.”

Turn from Idols

In the midst of this confusion, Paul began to preach to the crowd of Lystra. We want to examine what he said to these pure pagans. These people were not literate in the Old Testament so Paul could not speak about the history of the Jews and what God has done to Abraham and the people of Israel, as he did in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch. These people knew nothing about the patriarchs and kings of Israel. So what did Paul say?

The first thing Paul told the crowd of Lystra was that they should turn from idols. “We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God,” Paul said.

What are idols? Worthless things, Paul declared. They are creations of human hands and minds, impotent to save anyone. Whether idols of things or of ideas, all idolatry, St. Paul was saying, is the worship of creation rather than Creator, who is blessed forever. And in 2 Kings 17:15 we read that God expelled the Israelites from his country because they had worshiped idols and become worthless themselves. That is true. When you worship idols, you become worthless. And so you notice that people are either becoming increasingly worthless, useless nothings, like the idols they worship, or they are being changed into the likeness of God, as we read in 2 Corinthians 3:18.

We read about idolatry in Psalm 115. In verse 1 we read, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us but to your name be the glory. . . .” and in verse 2 there is the question, “Why do the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Verse 3 gives the answer: “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him,” meaning God alone is sovereign and almighty. The psalmist continues, “But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.” That is true, isn’t it? Even in this country what everybody is saying is, “The economy is good. We worship the economy. It is good.” The psalmist goes on, “They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear.” This describes those who worship the idols of philosophical ideas springing from their own heads–mental idols which cannot save anyone. “They have ears, but cannot hear; noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”

So Paul told these people to turn completely from worthless idols. That is the requirement. There is no compromise, no negotiation. This is the message that God was giving to the pagans of Lystra, and Paul and Barnabas were brought by God to declare it. They must forsake all idols and idol worship.

In 1 Corinthians 10:18 we find the statement that all idolatry is demon worship. And when I look at all the philosophers and scientists and rich and powerful people in the world who refuse to worship Jesus Christ, I see them as idol worshipers, energized by demons whose business it is to blind their eyes so that they will never see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Paul asked the crowd, “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you.” But Paul and Barnabas were not just mere men. They were men with a message which would bring life to these pagans and their city. So Paul continued, “We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God.”

When God looks at humanity, he sees a division. A few people worship the true and living God, but the vast majority worship worthless idols and have become worthless. So Paul was saying, “Yes, we are men like you but we are men with a difference, because we are coming to you with the good news of Jesus Christ. We are bringing good news for all pagans, idol worshipers, cripples, and superstitious nothings of the world. We are bringing good news to all who are weak, sinful, at enmity with God.”

Turn to the True and Living God

The second thing Paul told the crowd was they must turn to the one true and living God. Paul was not referring to a god who is a creation of a human imagination. No, he was telling the crowd to turn to the one true and living God, who is further defined as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of heaven, earth, the seas, and all that is in them. Turning to this God is what repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ means. And when we do that, we receive the righteousness of God freely offered to those who have faith in Christ.

In Acts 17 we find Paul preaching to the pagans of Athens. There he said, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance” meaning the ignorance of idol worship and going one’s own way. In other words, Paul was saying, God let all nations go their own ways, even though, as we read in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” But then Paul said, “but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”

We have a choice. We can worship the idols of this world, or we can turn from worthless things to the true one living God. So Paul began to challenge the people of Lystra. In essence he was saying, “Do you want to know God, you pagans? Look at creation. It declares his everlasting power and divinity. He says he also gave you a witness of his goodness. It is God who sends rain, who produces grain, who gives us bread from the grain, who produces wine, and fills our hearts with bread and joy. No one else does so. Certainly, the devil does not do so! The devil comes only to steal, kill and destroy. It is the true and living God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, who cares for even the rebels of the world, filling their hearts with food and gladness. So get out of this ignorance, this darkness, this stupidity, this idolatry, and this worthlessness. Turn to God, and he will save you.”

Paul later preached a similar sermon on his second missionary journey in Thessalonica. When they came to Thessalonica, they preached to the pagans there. In 1 Thessalonians 1:8-9 we read what happened: “The Lord’s message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia–your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols. . . .”

If someone is an authentic Christian, he will forsake all idols totally and completely, without negotiation or equivocation. That is what happened to the Thessalonians. Paul wrote, “They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead–Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”

Whether idols of ideas or idols of silver, idols of gold or idols of philosophies and self-opinion, if you are worshiping anything besides Christ, I urge you to forsake it totally and completely. And I can assure you that if Jesus Christ saves you, you will forsake all idols, turn to God, and love him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.

That was the message of Paul to the citizens of Lystra. And as we said before, whenever the gospel is preached, there will be a division: some will believe and others will not. Some will eagerly accept the righteousness from God through Jesus Christ, but others will say, “Forget about this righteousness through Christ. I want God to accept me because of my own righteousness.”

The Living and True God

Paul told the crowd of Lystrans to turn “from these worthless things to the living God,” and then he gave some explanation of who this God was. Paul wanted the Lystrans to know that he was not speaking of some force or energy. He was speaking of the only true God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ–the infinite, personal, holy, transcendent, mighty God of all majesty and power.

First, Paul said, this God was the one “who made heaven and the earth.” In other words, God is the Creator of the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. We notice Paul was not quoting from the Old Testament to prove his point to these biblically illiterate pagans, but he was telling them the truth about something they could observe–the natural world. He was not speaking of evolution, which is a negation of the infinite personal God.

Then Paul said, “In the past, [God] let all nations go their own way” (v. 16). As we said before, there are ways that seem right, but they lead to death. Paul was saying that in God’s own mysterious providence, the vast majority of the people of the world had chosen to go their own way in the past.

This is still true today. Just listen to the conversation of pagans, and you will understand how terrible, meaningless, hopeless and purposeless their lives are. This is the empty way of life handed down to us, which we read about in 1 Peter 1:18. And in 1 Peter 4:3-4 we find a contrast between Christian and pagan lifestyles, “As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do–living in debauchery and lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation and they heap abuse on you.” That is what happens when God permits people to go on in their own ways.

God chose to give the nation Israel a certain revelation of himself as the Redeemer God. However, God was also faithful to give pagans a testimony and witness about him in creation, as we read in Psalm 146:5-6, Romans 1, and many other places. When we look at creation, it speaks about the everlasting power of God and his divinity. The heavens declare the glory of God, in other words. There is a witness built into God’s creation; thus, we can look at a flower and deduce the great power and divinity of this almighty God.

Not only that, God gives all people a witness about himself in their consciences, as we read in Romans 2:14-15. God’s moral law is written in our hearts, and it actively accuses and excuses us. God gave the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai to Israel, not to the vast majority of nations. But he gives everyone a built-in knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, because everyone is created in the image and likeness of God. We are all image-bearers of God, even though this image of God suffered much because of the fall.

Not only that, God gives all people a witness to himself in common grace, meaning the goodness and kindness God shows to all his creation. We read this in Acts 14:17, “Yet he has not left himself without testimony. He has shown kindness. . . .” God gave a testimony of himself to the people of Lystra by showing kindness to them. Kindness means doing good, and God is a doer of good. In Acts 10:38 Peter said Jesus Christ “went about doing good,” and there he used the same Greek word which is translated as “kindness” here.

What kindness did God show to the people of Lystra? Paul said, “by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons.” In Matthew 5:45 Jesus Christ spoke also about God giving his rain and sunshine even to his enemies. In other words, a testimony of God is found in divine providence.

God gave rain to these pagan Lycaonians, these Anatolian tribal people. What else? “He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy” and the Greek word means to be filled with abundance, not just a little. Paul was speaking about every human being. Every human being in this universe, whether he loves or hates God, is fed by the true and living God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By doing so, God gives every person a witness about his existence. God gives rain, produces grain, and gives us bread and wine, filling our hearts with a sense of joy. Praise God for his common grace even to pagans!

Therefore, as Paul says in Romans 1, there is no excuse for not knowing about and worshiping God. God has given a witness about himself to every human being. But what have people done with this knowledge? Romans 1 tells us they suppressed and smothered it, exchanging it for a lie. What did God do in response? Three times in Romans 1:21-28 we read the refrain, “he gave them over,” meaning he abandoned them to their sins and perversity. Do you think that committing abortions and engaging in homosexuality and every other kind of reprehensible thing demonstrates a profound attainment of human genius? Oh, no. The fact that people do these things demonstrates that God’s judgment is being meted out upon those who suppress the truth about God and reject him. This is what Paul meant when he said God “let all nations go their own way.”

God’s Program of Salvation

After Paul explained more about who the true and living God is, the account of his sermon in Lystra ends. We are told that the Jews came, incited the crowd against him, and caused him to be stoned. But we can assume that, had Paul resumed preaching, he would have said something similar to what he spoke to the pagans of Athens, as recorded in Acts 17.

In Acts 17:29 Paul said, “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone–an image made by man’s design and skill.” Here, as in Lystra, Paul was not quoting from the Old Testament, as he would with a Jewish audience; rather, he was reasoning with the Athenian pagans. Paul continued, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”

Do you know what the significance of the word “now” is? “Now” as used by Paul means the time of the Messiah, as Jesus said in Luke 4:18-21. “Now” means the day of salvation, as we read in 1 Corinthians 6:1. “Now” means the time of the incarnation of Christ, the time when God came in Jesus Christ, who died, was buried, and rose again. “Now” means the present time in which Jesus is ruling as King of kings and Lord of lords and inviting all people everywhere to repent and be saved through faith in him.

God has a program of salvation for all people now. So Paul said in Acts 17:30, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” To accomplish God’s plan of salvation, people must know that God raised a person from the dead, and that person Jesus Christ, is the Judge and Savior. That is why we have to preach the gospel.

God has a plan to save all people of the world who will repent and believe on him. In fact, God chose Abraham so that in his offspring all the families of the earth be blessed. That is why Jesus commissioned his disciples to go into all the world. That is why John tells us in John 3:16 that “God so loved the world.” That is why Jesus told his disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” God’s program is to save people.

The gospel of salvation was now coming to the pagans of Lycaonia through the ministry of the apostle Paul. Because of opposition from the Jews, Paul broke off his preaching, but we can assume he would have later told the crowd at Lystra, “But now God demands all people repent and believe on Jesus Christ.” I am also sure he told these Lycaonians, “Jesus Christ died, was buried, and was raised up, and is coming again as the Judge of all mankind. I urge you to trust in him this day and be saved.”

Paul Is Stoned

What happened when Paul finished preaching? Acts 14:19 tells us some Jews came and won the crowd over. These Jews had followed Paul and Barnabas from Pisidian Antioch, over one hundred miles away, to Iconium and then to Lystra. Why? They hated the gospel and the apostles who were preaching it. They came to Iconium, poisoned the minds of the people there, and then traveled to Lystra. There they won over the crowd which, a few hours earlier, had wanted to honor Paul and Barnabas as gods. After being roused up by the Jews, the crowd began to consider Paul and Barnabas to be criminals. They started stoning Paul in the city. Then they dragged him outside and left him for dead.

These actions of the crowd are clear examples of why I don’t depend on human praise. Remember what people said on Palm Sunday concerning Jesus Christ? “Hosanna! Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel!” But what did they say on Good Friday? “Crucify him! Crucify him!” People are fickle, so don’t rely on public opinion.

Paul was stoned, dragged out of the city, and left for dead, and his Jewish enemies probably began to celebrate, just as they had celebrated the death of Jesus Christ. The Bible does not tell us whether Paul died or not, but we read that the disciples, probably including Timothy, his mother, and his grandmother, went outside the city and stood at the pile of stones where Paul lay. What do you think they were doing there? I am sure they were praying. And all of a sudden there was some movement, the stones fell away, and Paul rose up.

God healed, strengthened, vitalized and energized Paul to continue the work God had commissioned him for. We read in Acts 13 that the Holy Spirit sent Paul out to preach the gospel. This same Holy Spirit raised Paul up from the rubble and enabled him to go right back into the city of Lystra. And we read that the next day Paul and Barnabas left for Derbe, walking sixty miles to preach the gospel there. This was a miracle of God.

God Saves Pagans

What was the result of Paul’s preaching to the pagans of Lystra? A church was established. As we read in Acts 13:48, all who are ordained to eternal life will be saved. We read later in the book of Acts about the church of Lystra, which included Timothy, his mother Eunice, his grandmother Lois, and others. We read of Paul returning to Lystra where he exhorted, encouraged, and taught the congregation and ordained elders to govern the church.

I am very certain that God will save everyone who is ordained unto salvation–Jews, Gentiles, pagans, cripples, men, women, boys and girls–through the preaching of the gospel. If you are a Christian, that is how you were saved. God loved you from all eternity, chose you unto salvation, caused you to hear the gospel, regenerated you, and you believed.

There is one more thing. Do you think this saving God will take care of you for the rest of your life? My answer is, “Yes.” Didn’t he say, He said, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”? God has already granted us eternal life, and he will take care of us here and in the life to come.

Praise God for his mercy and love for us! Paul had fled to Lystra from Iconium because the Jews were trying to stone him for preaching the gospel. But Paul boldly preached the gospel in Lystra also, because there were people in Lystra whom God had ordained from all eternity to be saved through his preaching and by the work of the Spirit of the living God.

May God help us to persevere and preach the gospel, even when we are persecuted. And if you are not a Christian, may God help you to turn from all idols and turn to the true and living God so that you may serve him and wait for his Son from heaven, Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who is coming to rescue us from the coming wrath. I pray that you will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ even this day and be saved. Amen.