"Two Fold Witness" 8-11-19

Overview

The Twofold Witness at Lystra

When Paul healed the man lame from birth in Lystra Acts 14:8-10, the crowd reacted in a way unlike any other miracle account. Steeped in a local legend that Zeus and Hermes had once visited the region in disguise—and that those who failed to welcome them had been destroyed—the people concluded that the gods had come down again. They called Barnabas "Zeus" and Paul "Hermes," and the priest of Zeus rushed forward with oxen and garlands to offer sacrifice Acts 14:11-13. Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes—an ancient sign of deep distress—and ran into the crowd to stop them. Their response forms a clear, twofold witness that still shapes Christian testimony today.

First witness: "We are mortals just like you" Acts 14:15. This is far more than the casual phrase "I'm only human" we use to excuse a mistake. Scripture's understanding of mortality runs much deeper. We are dust, and to dust we shall return Genesis 3:19. None of us is righteous Romans 3:10. Our lives are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes James 4:13-14. Paul reminds us elsewhere not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought, but with sober judgment Romans 12:3. We are not omnipotent, not omniscient, not omnipresent. We cannot speak the world into a different shape. We care, we love, we work, we pray—but we are not God.

Second witness: mortals need God—not invented gods or idols of our own making, but the one true triune God who made heaven, earth, and sea Acts 14:15-17. Notice how Paul adapts his approach. To the synagogue audience in Acts 13, he reasoned from Old Testament history and Scripture. Here in Lystra, among Gentiles with no biblical framework, he begins with creation itself: look around you—Someone made this. That is a model for us. When speaking with someone unfamiliar with Scripture, we begin where they are. But creation-talk alone converts no one. The gospel must follow, and it clearly did, because disciples were made in these very cities Acts 14:21-22.

Pastoral application. The good news mortals need to hear is that Jesus Christ has borne our sin on the cross and risen from the tomb, overcoming the death that defines our mortality and the unrighteousness that separates us from God. He has opened heaven to people like us—where there is no frailty, no sickness, no mourning, only the light of Christ. Who in your life needs to hear this twofold witness this week? You have already thought of a name. Go to them—one mortal to another—and share about Jesus.

Transcript

As one studies the miracles of our Lord, we see various reactions that occur. 0s

I think for example of the miracle in which Jesus comes the wind. He's walked on the sea. 8s

He's then with the disciples and the disciples turned to Him and the reaction is truly 16s

you are the Son of God, truly. For there's the funeral 23s

possession that indeed Jesus interrupts. It's of the Son of the widow. 31s

He stops the procession. He raises the man to life and the scripture says that they were filled with 38s

here and they glorified God. Or then there's the healing of the man with the withered hand. 45s

There the Bible tells us that the Pharisees didn't take to kindly to that. And what they decided to do 56s

was to seek to destroy Jesus, various reactions to the miracles of our Lord. 63s

And then you come to the miracle in Lystra. It gives rise to a reaction that provides a 73s

twofold witness. Let's say. Let's go to verse 11, please of chapter 14 of the book of Acts. 85s

There the scripture says, when the crowd saw what Paul had done, what's being referred to here, 97s

jump back up into verse 9. There you'll recall from our study last week that there was a man who had 105s

been lame from birth. And the scripture says halfway through verse 9, and Paul looking at him 112s

intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed. Said in a loud voice, stand upright on your feet 119s

and the man sprang up and began to walk. So here's this man who had been lame from birth. And 128s

now there is a healing and recall from our earlier studies that God gave the early apostles the gift of 140s

healing that validated their message, right? That went out of business then when the scripture was 148s

codified because then what validates the message is the scripture itself. Does God still heal? 157s

Absolutely. Does God give people the gift of healing like he gave the early apostles? 163s

Nope, we see that diminish. So God heals here this man who is lame and what is the reaction? 168s

Go into verse 11, please. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the 181s

way. What's the backdrop to that show? In Greek mythology, there's a whole series of gods. 198s

And the story was told that Zeus and Hermes came to earth one day. They came in cognito. They went 209s

around seeing who would house them and who would provide them food. Well, they continued to be 220s

buffed, except there was this older couple that was really poverty stricken. They took Zeus and Hermes, 226s

the Greek mythology story says into their home. Well, the people that did it angered the gods. 237s

And so the gods then sent a flood that killed the inhospitable people. But the two old people that 246s

brought them into the home, their home was transformed. The story goes from this humble cottage into a 254s

palace where the gods could be worshiped. And the couple became a priest and a priestess. And when they 263s

were transformed into two stately trees. Well, that's the backdrop to the cry that says, 273s

the gods have come. Notice what it says. Verse 12, Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul they 287s

called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. Just a little aside there. Another word for Hermes 297s

or another designation in Greek mythology is Mercury, you know the FDD logo, the floral delivery 304s

service there, that little logo, that's Hermes that they use on there, on to the logo. This Greek god. 311s

So here are the people here. They've got the backdrop of the story that had been circulated. 320s

They certainly, they certainly don't want to repeat of what had happened before because they 324s

believed this myth. And so all of a sudden the priest who's the priest of Zeus gets all excited 330s

about this situation. The very next verse, verse 13, the priest of Zeus whose temple was just 339s

outside the city brought oxen and garlands to the gates. He and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifice. 345s

Can't you see this priest just coming running here with all this stuff here? I mean this is 352s

the big deal here. If you believe in all these Greek gods here, now you've got Zeus and you've got 358s

Hermes here. So he's got the oxen. He's got the garland and he's going to make this great sacrifice there. 363s

What's the reaction of Barnabas and Paul? Verse 14, 373s

When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd. 377s

To tear your clothes in ancient day was an expression of of deep grief, distress. 393s

They were anxious over what had happened. I think of the high priest in Matthew 26. They're 403s

the scriptures says, then the high priest tore his clothes and said he has blessed me. So here 410s

they're going to offer sacrifice to them. They think they are the gods Zeus and Hermes that have 418s

come down. They don't want to repeat the mistake that had been done before as the story went. 425s

And the response, verse 15, friends, why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you. 433s

We're mortals just like. 452s

Paul writes in Romans 12 chapter, he says, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, 458s

not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober 469s

judgment. Think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, think of yourself with sober judgment. 477s

But when you've got a group of people that think you're a god, 488s

that can be pretty heavy stuff, can it? But they resist the temptation to 497s

try. The mortals, I said, or mortals. So often you hear the phrase, I'm sure you've used it, 509s

I have. I'm just human. Just human. When we use that phrase, so often we use that phrase when 525s

we've made a mistake. When we say, I'm just human. I forgot about that or didn't quite say that 535s

is exactly as I like on that. I'm just human. And yet the biblical understanding of our humaneness, 546s

of our mortality, is so much deeper than the understanding that a bounds with the phrase, 560s

I make a mistake. So much deeper than that. Genesis, the third chapter says, 568s

you are dust and to dust, you shall return. We are mortals and that means we die. 579s

We are mortals. We don't live forever this side of heaven. 593s

Indeed, we live forever. It becomes a matter of where, right? Heaven and hell. 601s

But the fact that we die, it points to our mortality, the fact that we return, 609s

to dust. Bible tells us in Romans, the third chapter, there is no one who is righteous, not even one. 619s

That's so much deeper than the phrase, I'm just human. I make mistakes. 632s

None of us are righteous. That means we sin against God and thought word indeed by what we've 641s

done and by what we have left on done. Indeed, we will stand before a righteous God on judgment day. 646s

That indeed, our sin deems us in the eyes of God as unrighteous. We need a Savior, 654s

see it's deeper. It's deeper than I make mistakes. I'm human. 670s

No, we die. We are unrighteous because of our sinfulness. Left to ourselves, we're doomed. 679s

James, the fourth chapter tells us. Come now, you who say, 692s

today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a town and spend the year there doing business and 699s

making money. Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring, what is your life for you are a 706s

list that appears for a little while and then vanishes. We are limited and we are free. 716s

I will tell you, as the Barnabas and Paul rushed out and said, we are immortal. 735s

Just like you, we are immortal. That is an important confession for each one of us to make. 744s

Because we are tempted. We're tempted not to believe it. We're tempted not to believe the reality 760s

of our humanness in the biblical sense. We are tempted not to believe our own mortality. 773s

We are not God. We're not God. That means we are not omnipotent. We don't have all power. 781s

We are not, we are not God. We are not omniscient. We don't have all knowledge about all situations 798s

at all times. We don't know what the future will hold. We are really good at forgetting the past 809s

and we model through the present with a whole bunch of details that we don't have any knowledge 818s

about. Sometimes we can be tempted just to make our own knowledge up in the present because we're 825s

not omniscient. We're not even though we try to convince ourselves that we are, we can't be omnipresent. 835s

We can't be in more than one place at one time. I guess suppose you can be some place physically, 851s

but mentally you're thinking about something else. But literally we can't be everywhere 860s

at the same time. We're limited to here where we are. Now, we're not God. We're not God. 870s

We don't have the ability to speak and the landscape is changed. We don't have the ability 888s

to simply snap the finger and all of a sudden reality is changed. We don't have that ability. 899s

We care, we love, we work, we pray, but we're not God. We're not God. And we need to remind 913s

ourselves of that. We're not God. We're mortals. Just like you. We're mortals. 934s

It was a twofold witness and that was the first aspect of the witness. The situation 957s

of what was occurring biblically certainly differs from our situation now, but the applicability 966s

is the same. They're not God neither are we. We're mortals. We're mortals. They said. 973s

It's the twofold witness. We're mortals. And here comes the second aspect. 987s

And we need God. Not some invented gods like Greek mythology, not some kind of idols 996s

that we create with our hands or with our minds. The one and only triune god, father, son, Holy Spirit, 1006s

one god, three persons. We are mortals and we need God. And notice how they now move into that 1014s

they make the witness, we're mortals. And now comes the witness and we mortals need God. 1024s

Go back to our text chapter 15. Friends, why are you doing this? We're mortals just like you. 1034s

And we bring you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living 1045s

God. See all these worthless things. You're zoos in your hermisen and your whole list of 1053s

gods. It's simply born out of your imagination that you should turn from these worthless things 1059s

to the living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is invented 1064s

for 60. In past generations, he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways, 1074s

in past generations, he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways, in other words. 1086s

He did not give a written witness to himself to the nations with the exception of the people of Israel. 1092s

But that didn't mean he left himself without a testimony. We're very next verse. 1103s

Yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good, giving you rains from heaven and 1109s

fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy. This is fascinating. 1115s

That here in the 14th chapter, he's speaking in Lystra, which there's no recorded synagogue here. 1126s

So he is in Gentile territory, non-Jewish territory. Notice how he is preaching differently, 1134s

Barnabas and Paul, then the sermon that was given in Acts 13 when he's talking to a primarily 1141s

Jewish audience. What was going on in 13? Why there was reference to Old Testament history? 1147s

There is quoting of Holy Scripture, recounting of the Salivific story. And now of a sudden he's talking 1154s

with Gentiles who have no clue about anything. That no clue about the Scriptures. You've got no clue 1161s

about that at all. And so where does he start? He starts with creation. 1171s

He says, look around you, you see this? He was created by the living God, created by the living God. 1180s

That's instructed for us, isn't it? If you're talking with someone who has some assemblance of an 1188s

understanding of Scripture, you might want to take the Acts 13 approach. If you're talking with someone 1195s

who says, who's Jesus? You're not going to immediately go into an Acts 13 sermon, right? 1202s

You're going to say, look at look around you, look around you. Look at the complexity and the beauty 1210s

of creation. Someone created this. It's God. Now let me tell you what the Bible tells us about this 1217s

so that's what Paul and part of us did. It didn't start like they did with the Jews in Acts 13. 1228s

They started with creation and they said, let me explain this. Now, did they get to the gospel here? 1233s

No, they didn't. They didn't look at verse 18. Even with these words, they scarcely restrained 1242s

the crowds from offering sacrifice to them. They didn't get to the gospel here. Does that mean they 1249s

didn't get to the gospel? Nope. They got to the gospel. How do we know that? Because conversions occur. 1258s

Inversions occur. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know that? Jump down into verse 21. 1266s

After they had proclaimed the good news to that city of that's derby. We see that at the end of 1276s

the 20 and it made many disciples, they returned to Lystra then onto Iconium and Antioch. There, 1282s

they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith. 1294s

So what does that tell us? It tells us that converts by the operation of the Spirit were made 1301s

in Lystra. That then tells us that the gospel was preached to them. The gospel that indeed, 1308s

Jesus Christ has borne our sin on the cross that indeed he has come out of the tomb. You see, 1316s

no one is converted to a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ by simply talking and saying, God is 1324s

created everything that there is. No one is converted off of that. That's just the opening remarks. 1332s

You want to get to the gospel whereby people are converted and that's exactly what we see happening 1340s

here as we read on. Two full witnesses. We're mortals and we need God. 1346s

We need God. And why do we need God? Because we have sinned against him and thought word indeed 1362s

by what we've done, by what we've left undone. Because we can't redeem ourselves. We need God. 1373s

Love of God. The good news is that which us mortals need to hear. Us mortals need to hear it, 1383s

right? The good news is indeed death has been overcome by the Lord Jesus Christ. 1400s

We see how only our humanists we see are mortality. As death surrounds us, 1410s

we understand our mortality and the Lord Jesus Christ has overcome death through his sacrifice 1421s

on the cross and his being raised from the dead. We understand, biblically, our mortality 1430s

in the reality of our sinfulness that should separate us from God for all of eternity, but the Lord 1439s

Jesus has taken our sinfulness upon himself on the cross and paid the debt that we could never, 1447s

pay. Death has been overcome. Our sin has been taken by him on the cross and God has opened up 1457s

for the likes of us, the beauty and reality of heaven, where there is no limit and there is none of our 1467s

frailty. There is no sickness, there is no mourning, there is no night, there is only the light of Christ 1475s

and we bask and rejoice in the very presence as we adore the triune God, Father, Son, 1483s

and Holy Spirit for all of eternity. It's the twofold witness. We are mortals, 1490s

and we need God. 1501s

What mortal needs to hear that this week? What mortal do you know? 1513s

And needs to hear that. The twofold witness. What's his name? 1524s

What's her name? 1535s

I don't think there's one person here that hasn't thought of a name. Go to them. 1539s

One mortal to another and share a botch Jesus. 1554s