Amen. Amen. Let's turn now our confessional reading this evening. Lord's Day 10, question and answer 27. Upon looking at Acts chapter 14, saw that not only do we have in God's providence a passage that would focus on the providential control of God in 1st Samuel, but in Acts 14 we have really two different passages right after another that go well with question answers 27 and 28. So we're going to slow down for just a little bit. We're going to take Lord's Day 10 in two parts, each question and answer. So Lord willing we will come back to the next verses in Acts 14 for question and answer 28 and focus more upon the providence of God and upholding those Christians who are persecuted. We are going to read question and answer 27 tonight and focus more upon the overall power of God and even the blessings that the power of God gives to all those who live on this earth, whether they acknowledge God or not. But our confessional reading will be question and answer 27 tonight. That's page 211 in the smaller forms and prayers. A little bit longer, but also perhaps a more familiar question and answer. So we'll say it together. I'll read the question. Let's say, answer 27 together. What do you understand by the providence of God? Providence is the almighty and ever-present power of God by which God upholds as with his hand heaven and earth and all creatures And so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things in fact come to us, not by chance, but by His fatherly hand. So our confessional reading, let's turn to Acts chapter 14. And again, the catechism is the answer of a believer, and we'll be focusing on what providence means, even for the persecuted believer next week, Lord willing. But we're gonna really be zeroing in on the first part of answer 27, that God upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, including those in rebellion against him. And we see that and the sovereign rule of God declared in Acts chapter 14 in the city of Lystra. And so we'll read, we'll read verses eight through 18, and we'll focus on verses 15 to 17. Acts chapter 14, page 1,147, 174 in most of the pew Bibles, Acts chapter 14, we'll begin our reading at verse eight. Let us hear the word of God. Now at Lystra, there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking and Paul looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well said in a loud voice, stand upright on your feet. And he sprang up and began walking. And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices saying in Lyconian, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, Man, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like nature with you, and we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living God. who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations, He allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways, yet He did not leave Himself without witness, for He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness." Even with these words, They scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. The grass withers, the flower fades. The word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, imagine there's a young man and he receives a job position that can make him wealthy. It's an excellent job position. And then this same young man becomes very sick. He becomes so sick he's in need of a new kidney. And the same man who gave him the gift of that job position, essentially secured it for him, the same man who did that now becomes his donor and provides his kidney. And so now the young man is living in more ways than one off of the gifts this person has provided. And yet, the young man makes zero effort to even know who has given him these gifts. He makes zero effort to give any word of thanks to this man. Sometime later, a friend of the young man, who knows who the gift giver is, knows that the gift giver's in town. And he would actually like to speak to the young man to which he's given so much. And he says, young man, my friend, the giver of these great gifts you've received, he's right here in this town. And the young man pretends that not only does he not want to see the giver of these gifts, but he pretends the giver of the gifts doesn't exist at all. He declares himself to be a self-made man. He pretends that he's never needed any help. He's never needed any help to live a healthy life. He's never needed any help to get the position that he secured which allows him to have food and so much more. Now, this would be rather an insane kind of picture. How could someone be so ingrateful. This is some modern parable, isn't it? Well, it is a modern parable, and it's a modern parable which is only a very dim reflection of the reality of the ingratitude of man to God. Why can man live? Why can man work? Why can man have health and gladness? It is all from God. even your food, even your gladness. Yes, God gives so much more to his people whom he has chosen in Jesus Christ. But all creatures are upheld by God's hand. Everything you have is from him. And yet, we would pretend that we are self-made. We would pretend that we do not have everything we have from the creator of the universe. And in many ways that is what Paul declares to the people of Lystra in his emergency sermon here in verses 15 to 17. And our theme this evening is this, that we would not scorn, we would not forget the good rule of God, and we're gonna look first at God, the distinct ruler, and we're working basically 15, 16, 17 for our verses tonight in our points. Verse 15, the distinct ruler, and then verse 16, God, the forbearing ruler, and then verse 17, our third point, God, the generous ruler. Well, first, let's consider the distinct ruler, Paul and Barnabas. They're here in Lystra, though Luke does not record every single detail of all that they have said. They have already spoken the basics of the good news in Jesus Christ, for that's the only way that the man who was healed could be described as having had faith in verse 9. And so they've said the basics of the good news, at least to some who are hearing, who are interested. One man hears, believes, he's healed, he's made well. He gets up, he walks. But the crowd sees this miracle and they're not interested in hearing more about Jesus. No, they get caught up in hysteria over this healing power and they think Paul and Barnabas, they must be the Greek gods, Zeus and Hermes. Now, this is Lystra. There is an old legend about this very city. The ancient poet Ovid records it for us. There's an ancient legend that Zeus and Hermes once came to Lystra in human form. No one was hospitable to them. Everyone disregarded them. No one paid any attention to them except for one old couple in the city of Lystra. That old couple received them, took them in, Hermes and Zeus then honored that couple, destroyed the rest of Lystra in a flood, and the city was rebuilt with that old couple as those only ones who survived and living in a place of honor. It's possible, it's possible that Paul and Barnabas, when they passed the Temple of Zeus at the entrance of the gate, passed a statue commemorating, remembering that old legend and myth. Now, people of God, we might say there's a sense in which that explains this hysteria. There might be a sense in which that explains this hysteria, but it does not excuse it. This is actually true for many of our sins, is it not? We might be able to explain in some way how it makes sense, how we got to where we are, but sins are not excused. The Apostle Paul, when they realize what's going on, they're speaking in the local dialect, not in Greek, so at first the Paul and Barnabas don't realize what's going on. But when they catch on to what's going on, they don't stand there and say, Oh, I really understand. You've got this. Is this what that statue was about? You've got this legend of Zeus and Hermes. You really don't want to offend them again. You don't want to be flooded again. You've got this old flood tale. This is part of the heritage of your city here in Leicester. We really understand what you're doing. You probably shouldn't do this. No! Paul doesn't say that. Some sins. can be explained in a sense, understood in a sense, and it's good to understand people. It's good to seek to understand ourselves, but sin is not excusable, even when we might say it's understandable, and that application applies to all sin. Sin is not excusable. And so the apostle does not come with some weak word. He speaks a word of confrontation of this idolatry. They are visibly grieving. They tear their clothes, the symbol of deep Hebrew grief for a Hebrew man. They tear their clothes. They're visibly saying, no, do not do this. Let us pause again. People of God. When the name of God is dishonored in our presence, are we grieved? Are we grieved? There is only one God. We are all men. When we would see any man, any human thing being elevated to worship status, does it grieve us? When we see how sports stars and movie stars are elevated to the level of gods and goddesses, does it grieve us, pain us. Now, we're not Hebrews, so we probably won't tear our clothes, but do we do something similar? Or does it just kind of gloss over us because it's so common? When a football stadium is called a sanctuary, does it make us want to vomit? Really, does it bring us physical grief when God is not honored? There is no excuse for sin. Even if in some way we might say it's understandable. This is what they believe. They don't want to be flooded again. But we are all just men and there's only one God and He's the only one that can be worshiped. That's what the Apostle Paul says. Even in saying that, he's rebuking their view of what God is. The Romans, following the Greeks and even adopting their gods into their pantheons, they think that gods do have a nature like men, even sharing in things like lust. And Zeus is the worst example of that, supposedly having all kinds of offspring because of his lustful, like human passions. But the Apostle Paul says, do not worship us as Zeus or Hermes. Do not worship Zeus or Hermes. Worship the living God who is distinct, who is different than we are, who does not have a nature like us, who is not man, but is God, the creator of all things by the very power of his word. Verse 15 is a rebuke of the false religion of the day, even as it is an urgent cry that God alone would be worshiped. God is distinct. God is separate from man. He is the only one to worship. Paul and Barnabas are not being religious fanatics when they rip their clothes and cry this message out. Blasphemy is a horrible sin and all forms of idolatry, ancient and modern, should grieve our hearts and minds and make us visibly, even visibly concerned for the honor of God. So the apostle is careful. to show that God is distinct, God alone deserves worship. Let's notice one other thing before we move to our second point, that the apostle is careful to start where the people of Lystra need to be started with. He goes to the basics. Now when Paul goes to the synagogue, he goes immediately to explaining who Jesus is and that Jesus is the Messiah. Because when Paul goes to the synagogue, they already know at least the basics. They already know something about God as creator. They already know something about the Old Testament. But here, we know Jesus Christ is always the central message. And even here, because the healed man had faith, we can say they've already been speaking some about Jesus Christ. But when there is such an ignorance, that even something as basic as in the beginning God created is not known. That is a critical piece that needs to come alongside the message of Jesus Christ. When there is such an ignorance of the basics of how we got here, who God is and what God has done, we should bring those very basic things in as well. I think this is something that's going to become increasingly important in our nation, even in places like La Paz. You know, there's this general knowledge of scripture in much of our nation. And for many people, they need us to go straight to Jesus Christ, because that's where the misunderstanding is. They know that he was born in a manger. They know something of the story of scripture. But they need to be explained that Jesus is not just some baby in a manger that He's the God-man who died on the cross for our sins, and he's the only Savior. And that is always where we go. But increasingly, we may find that there are those, even in our own community, who don't even know, in the beginning, God created. And so we're gonna need to say something of that basic truth, as the Apostle Paul made that basic truth part of the focus of his message in Lystra, and at the Areopagus, and when he's not in the synagogue, that all would know how we got here, who God is, that we are created beings, and that there's one distinct creator, living God. And that this God, this takes us to our second point, is a forbearing God. Now God has not only created all men, God has also shown a certain level of patience with all men. Sometimes God brings direct judgment. Once in the days of the flood, God judged all men except for Noah and his family. But in this emergency sermon by the apostle, the general truth is stated, the general truth that God forbears with rebellious mankind and allows them to walk in their rebellion, even in Old Testament ways in a way that God doesn't allow exactly the same today. They were allowed to go their own way and forget God. And when we read all nations here, we read all Gentile nations. There's only one special nation. And the exceptions in the Old Testament are when the nations are confronted. The exceptions are when Jonah goes to Nineveh. The exceptions are when the false gods of Egypt are systematically destroyed by the 10 plagues. Each of the 10 plagues is attacking one of the false gods of Egypt. Those are the exceptions. The rule is that God doesn't even confront them. The rule is that they are allowed to continue in their own sinful ways, walking into their own destruction. God not judging them immediately, but allowing such rebellion in his forbearance. Now, who is better off? Let's just think about Egypt for a moment. Egypt, the 10 plagues, one of the things that maybe even some of our youngest members begin to be familiar with before even many of the other histories recorded for us in the Word of God. Who's better off, Egypt or some of the more distant nations that have forgotten God and not been confronted at all? I mean, the 10 plagues, that's a strict judgment, right? All of those kinds of judgment, destruction against your personal property, destruction against your personal health, destruction of your beasts, destruction of finally the death of a firstborn son, all those things. Who's better off? Egypt is much better off. Because when they are confronted, some of them believe. When Israel leaves in the exodus, they leave, there's these wonderful two words in the Old Testament, they leave as a mixed company. You see, when Egypt was confronted in their unbelief, some of them believed. Some of them left with Israel. It may have been many. I think that might be one of the ways we have such huge numbers of those departing. It may have been many in this mixed company, Egyptians confronted with the absolute powerlessness of their unbelief and believing in the true God and marching to the promised land with the Israelites. They are a mixed company. It is much better when God would not allow us to go our own ways. Now I'm gonna bring this out of Egypt and out of the Old Testament. We're gonna bring it right here. Do you want God to just let you go your own way? Do you want the Lord God to just let you walk away from church? Walk away from Him, His people. Do what you want to do. Are you thinking you don't need to hear the gospel and the call to repentance anew time and time again? You don't want to hear that you're living in sin. You don't want to be a part of one of the rare churches where there would be brothers and sisters and then finally elders and pastors who would confront you in your sin. You just don't want to have any part of that. You just want to go your own way. God might let you, in a sense. far too many churches today might let you, in a sense. But that is not where any of us should ever desire to be. We must know that it is good when God would confront us in our unbelief. It is good when God would have brothers and sisters and shepherds of the church confront us in our unbelief, face our sins, that we might repent of our sins and depart from the sinful land of Exodus, depart from our sinful desires and go toward the promised land. Go in that mixed company which is now so mixed because God's forbearance is not the same. You see, now God allows outright rebellion sometimes, even for those who know his word, have some familiarity with his good news. But the difference is, God has now brought the gospel to the nations. Now they're not just forgetting God, they're outright denying him. It is different now, though God is still forbearing. But may we always be those who would repent, truly repent, because going our own way is always a bad way. We need the good news of Jesus Christ to correct our course, to give us life. So in the past, God has permitted tribes and nations to forget Him slowly. And God has allowed many to and deny him outright today, even when the gospel has gone forth to the nations. But let us not ever think that going our own way is a good thing. It's something God permits in his forbearance, but we need to come to God. Let's come then to our third point, the generous ruler. Because God not only forbears, He even gives good gifts to all people. Paul and Barnabas are speaking here to the pagans of the pagans, those who don't even know the basics. And they're telling these pagans that God has given them witnesses. He has given them reigns. fruitful seasons. He's satisfied them with food and gladness. And where does food and gladness for anyone come? The pagans of Lystra, those who believe in God and trust in God, and the pagans of everywhere, and the believers of anywhere. Any food and any gladness comes from God. God is the giver of gifts. Think back to the modern parable of our introduction. It is only a faint, faint picture of who we are standing in absolute need of the giver of good gifts, God himself. God created it, God sustains it, God gives every good gift with a certain kind of grace. Yes, it's not his saving grace, but I think it's right to even call it his common grace, his common goodness. the common gifts that are given to all. Your hearts, you pagan people of Lystra, and everyone who has ever lived, have been filled with a certain measure of food and gladness. Maybe we shouldn't use the word filled, but you've been given food and gladness from God. Let's think about gladness. Let's think about as someone who wins a gold medal. The Olympics, the Summer Olympics were on not too long ago. The Winter Olympics will be on in not too long from now. Now, when an athlete wins a gold medal, they're usually joyful, and some of them give glory to God for that, and we give thanks to that, but some of them are all about their own glory, and they are not living in proclaiming the glory of God and trusting Him. And so when those non-Christians win a gold medal, I don't think they're faking their gladness. I think they're really excited. I think they're actually happy. They have a certain measure of gladness. Now, it's not a lasting gladness. It's not a full gladness. Having a gold medal won't make you happy for the rest of your life. But they're really excited. That's not made up. Now, where did that gladness come from? Let's say that they're a track and field athlete who just won a race. Where did their joints come from? Where did their muscles come from? Where does the breadth of their life come from? What about the earth that they're running on? And what about the gravity that's holding them down so that they can run? And what about the fancy rubber and air track that they're running on that was designed by Well, where did man get the creativity to design something that helps make you faster? Well, because they're made in the image of God and because they're lesser inventors, lesser creators. Every single thing about that race is only possible because of God. And yet, how many people have won an Olympic gold, have won all kinds of things, and not given any thanks to the God who made every single part of it, every single ounce of it, possible? Do we see how ungrateful the ingratitude of mankind to the One Creator, Living God, is? This is no small thing. Even as each one of us failing to count our blessings and give all thanks to God is no small thing. Because even when God would take hold of us, we only begin to give thanks and praise to God as we should. Gladness, food, it is only possible because of what God has given. Now I'm going to use the word fullness of joy. Now let's consider the difference between the measure of gladness which God gives to all and full joy which God gives can only give to his people. Turn with me please to John chapter 15. Turn with me please to John chapter 15. We'll begin reading at verse 7. This is the word of Jesus, the section that begins with the words that I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. That's 15, one and two. We're gonna begin reading together at John 15, verse seven. If you abide in me, And my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. By this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." People of God, we can go through this life with measures of food and gladness, even if we're living in outright denying rebellion of God. And so it is with every measure of gladness that's ever been given to anyone on the face of this earth. But we can only have full joy in Jesus Christ. Even there, it says maybe full in the sense that because of our sinfulness we're still gonna struggle with assurance and that can happen but people of God in Jesus Christ is the only place to move from gladness to full joy is the only place where we are brought out of being rebellious against all that God has given to being made right with the living God because of what Jesus Christ has done It is only in Jesus Christ that we are taken there. And so may we, as those who would look and trust to Jesus Christ, may we know that all we have and more, the great saving grace of Jesus Christ is from God alone. God is not merely some human philanthropist. God has created all life. God is perfectly just and good. And God deserves more than just Thanksgiving. God deserves all of our worship and praise. Let us bring it to Him and serve Him. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, God Almighty, God of Lystra, God of Wapan, God of the 1st century and God of the 21st century, God of all times and places because you created time and places.