Acts 16:6-10

Please take your copy of God's Word and join me in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

! The book of Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

!

The record of Jesus' earthly ministry, now His second being the record of Jesus' ascended ministry,

through the agency of the Holy Spirit in the lives of His church.

See in chapter 1, verse 8, the command for them to be still,

and when they receive power from the Holy Spirit,

that they'll be Jesus' witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

So, we find this happening.

We find ourselves in the midst of this narrative.

The Gospel witness of Stephen in chapter 7

finds him at the end of chapter 7 as the first Christian martyr.

And a man named Saul, who we are now calling Paul in our text,

his Roman name, stood and gave approval of such a thing.

And this event scattered the church abroad.

It was the hinge on which the gates swung open.

And now, Paul himself, having been saved by grace some chapters later in our narrative,

is a major agent in this to the ends of the earth effort of the ascended Christ

by the agency of the Spirit in his life.

So, we find ourselves here witnessing a portion of Paul's second missionary journey.

He's completed the first with Barnabas.

They found themselves back in Antioch.

And we saw in the past couple of weeks,

Paul part ways with Barnabas in Antioch

and take Silas with him to Derbe and Lystra,

where they pick up Timothy to join them.

So, the missionary band of two becomes three.

And we saw last week,

Timothy exercised his freedom in Christ

for the sake of the souls of those Jews in the region

by being circumcised.

And we concluded in verse 5,

so the churches were strengthened in the faith

and they increased in numbers daily.

And so, that's the stage set for verses 6 through 10.

And so, before we read it,

let me remind you that this is God's Word to us.

It was written for His glory and for our good.

And we would all do well to listen to it

in order to believe its promises

and obey its commands.

And I begin reading in verse 6 of Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia,

having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit

to speak the Word in Asia.

And when they had come up to Mysia,

they attempted to go into Bithynia,

but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

So, passing by Mysia,

they went down to Troas.

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night.

A man of Macedonia was standing there,

urging him and saying,

come over to Macedonia and help us.

And when Paul had seen the vision,

immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia,

concluding that God had called us

to preach the Gospel to them.

So, let's continue to set the stage a bit

so as to wrap our minds around

where Paul and his companions are traveling

before we consider what we should

and what we shouldn't learn from such a text.

And so, in the hopes of serving you,

I've got a map we're going to put up here,

although the details of it are tiny.

I have a laser pointer pen whose batteries are dead,

so I was going to point for you.

If you're using the ESV translation of the Bible,

you likely have this exact same map in the back.

So, if it helps you to be able to see it

a little bit better,

to give you some help.

First, this is Paul's first and second missionary journey,

both of which started in Antioch,

which is up in the northwest corner of Syria.

You can actually see it labeled starting point

if you can read that from where you are.

The little word bubble says starting point there.

The first missionary journey,

they set out him and Barnabas

and went to Cyprus first,

and they worked in this clockwise direction

going through Lystra, Iconium, and Derbe,

and then they cycled back around back to Antioch.

Chapter 14, the Jerusalem Council.

They're back in Antioch now.

They've likely been there for about two years.

Paul and Barnabas part ways,

and this time, Paul leaves with Silas,

and he goes counterclockwise

through Tarsus to Derbe and Lystra.

I can't, I can't, I can't mind.

I'm just going to walk up a point.

I'm not that tall.

So you're seeing the region of Galatia comes down,

reaches down in there,

and you're seeing the two cities at the bottom of that,

Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, just north of that.

So that's where they've picked up Timothy

in this region,

and they're now beginning to travel around Galatia,

and Phrygia is what our text says for us.

Now, Phrygia, you may or may not be able to see

as running, they've got the word running parallel up like this.

It was a sub-region of Galatia.

So complicated ancient times, Roman rule,

they're always dividing and pushing lines out

and having governors of various regions.

So it's a sub-region of Galatia, right?

And they're traveling around in this area,

and the text says,

having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit

to speak the word in Asia.

Now, if you will track with me

and note the way the solid arrow goes up from there, right?

It goes up through where?

The region of Asia.

So isn't it interesting in our text

that the text records they were traveling about

in Phrygia and Galatia.

Our previous text from last week,

the beginning of Acts chapter 16,

Acts 16 · chapter mention

says they were going about

and they were preaching the gospel

in the form of delivering this letter

that the Jerusalem Council had formed

to inform the Gentile believers

that they didn't need any further burden,

meaning they didn't need to be circumcised

to keep the Old Testament commanded of circumcision.

So they're going around strengthening churches

in these places.

So when you read it, it's interesting

because the way the ESV punctuates it,

it seems like they're traveling

in the regions of Phrygia and Galatia

because they've been forbidden

by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

But then quickly after that,

they go into Asia.

Isn't that interesting?

I'm not sure that the punctuation follows.

Maybe it does,

and we don't need to get into it this morning.

But in brief, it almost seems like it should say,

and they went through the region of Phrygia

and Galatia, period,

having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit

to speak the word in Asia,

and when they had come up to Mysia.

Are you tracking my logic there?

Because they're in a region

and they're about to move through a region.

The way it's punctuated in the ESV,

if we read it that way,

would mean that they were staying

in the region of Phrygia and Galatia

until they decided to move through Asia.

But nonetheless, this is what's happening.

This is where they are and what's going on.

Asia, also a region.

And you find it here on the map.

Modern day Turkey,

not Far East Asia,

as most of us would think of.

So this would have been the region of Asia.

And you see the sub-region

above the word Asia there of Mysia.

So that's where they are heading through

to the sub-region of Mysia.

And they attempt to go into Bithynia,

which is another region north,

just there south of the Black Sea.

But they are, again,

prevented,

but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

So they pass by Mysia.

They skirt it to the north.

And they find themselves in the town,

in the coastal town of Troas.

Okay?

So they went down to Troas.

It means they went downhill to the sea.

They went down to Troas.

And it is in Troas that Paul sees a vision,

likely in a dream, right?

It says that at night,

so likely in a dream,

a Macedonian man saying,

urging him and saying,

come over to Macedonia and help us.

Now it's interesting at this point in our text,

in Luke's narrative,

Luke switches from third-person narrative

to first-person plural narrative.

It's likely at this point in his record

that he joins up with the missionary troop.

He's been writing now,

looking back to these events,

gathering accounts of it,

but now he's first-person.

He's there, first-person.

You'll see the third-person narrative

signified by the pronoun they

in verses 6,

verses 7,

verses 8,

and the pronoun him

in verse 9.

But in verse 10,

you see the switch

to first-person plural narrative

signified by the pronoun we.

When Paul had seen the vision,

immediately we stopped to go into Macedonia,

concluding that God had called us,

another plural pronoun,

to preach the gospel to them.

So it's likely this is where

Luke joins them

and begins to accompany them

on their missionary journey.

Note also in our text

that when they consider

a request for help

seen in the form of a vision,

their proper assumption

is that the help requested

is a desire for the gospel

to be preached.

So this vision,

the Macedonian man does not say

come and preach the gospel to us.

He says come and help us.

And so they go to meet

the Macedonian's real need

and not any felt need,

and the real need

is for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This event in the book of Acts

is significant.

It's very significant

in that it takes Paul

and his companions'

!

missionary efforts to Europe

for the first time.

Macedonia is modern day Greece.

So it takes it across

into another continent

for the very first time.

Caleb, you can take the map off

there now.

So as we witness these events,

remember this is historical narrative,

so we're just seeing

the record of events.

We should glean out of it

what we can learn,

but before we do that,

I want to talk about

what we shouldn't learn

from such a text.

So what might we be tempted

to learn from this text

that we shouldn't learn

from this text?

There's a phrase in our text

accompanied by general activity

of the Holy Spirit

that our generation tends

to make many mistakes with.

And that phrase is this.

God had called.

And the general activity

of the Holy Spirit

is His forbidding in verse 6,

His not allowing in verse 7,

and His giving of a vision

in verse 9.

Now I will not deny

that God has specific intention

for them to travel to Macedonia.

The Spirit of God gives a vision,

a very specific calling

for them to travel to Macedonia.

They were correct

in their conclusion

from Paul's vision.

And I will not deny

that God works

through the agency

of the Holy Spirit

to accomplish His intention.

What I want to keep us from doing

with this text this morning

is taking Luke's ambiguity.

Like he's not very specific

about how it is

that the Spirit forbids

and does not allow.

Specific about the vision,

but not specific

about the prevention

of their moving

and sharing the gospel.

I don't want us

to take that ambiguity

about how exactly

the Spirit forbid

and did not allow

and turn it into a license

to feel our way

through God's calling

for our lives.

An incredibly common

Christian phrase

in our day is,

I feel called by God

to fill in the blank.

Go here,

marry this person,

take this job.

I feel called

to do such and such.

Many of you have said

something very much like this.

I have myself.

But what does it mean

to feel called?

Can you describe

to me said feeling?

How do I know

when I am feeling called?

This is dangerous,

extra-biblical language.

And I see two common,

all too common,

unfortunate results

from such thinking

and use of language.

Number one,

these are the two errors

I see most often,

which are at least

in part a result

of this kind of speaking.

Many Christians

do nothing at all

waiting for some

unknown feeling.

We live in a culture

of people saying

that they feel called

to things

and I haven't felt that,

so I do nothing

until I wait

for this feeling

that everyone's

talking about.

And that's happening

both passively,

people who just do

nothing at all,

waiting for that,

or actively

in that people

are always trying

to figure out

exactly what

their feelings are.

Have you ever

used language like,

I just don't feel

a piece about this?

Not biblical language,

beloved.

The Bible doesn't

speak in those terms

to us,

that we feel like

something's the right

decision to make

and therefore

we make that decision.

Let me give you

a bit of an example.

We also use the

language of doors

being opened,

which is biblical

language,

praise God,

but I think we use

it too often

in unbiblical ways.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 16:8

chapter 16,

verses 8 and 9,

this.

He's talking about

his longing to come

see the church

in Corinth.

He says,

but I will stay

in Ephesus

until Pentecost,

the future,

the celebration

of Pentecost.

Verse 9,

for a wide door

of effective work

has opened to me.

So there's that

biblical use of the

language of why

door has been opened.

Like Paul is saying,

look, I have so much

ministry I can do

in Ephesus.

And most of us

kind of stop there

and we think

that doors being

opened means easy.

Right?

There it is.

It's a thing.

And you've heard

that sometimes God

closes the door

and he opens up

a window.

Right?

That you don't,

the easiest route,

right?

We follow the easy

path like water does.

But the rest of

verse 9,

Paul says this,

and there are

many adversaries.

And there are

many adversaries.

So we may not

feel like something

is going the way

it ought to do,

but it could very

well be the very

right thing to do.

And we'll talk

about how we

establish that.

And it may be

sometimes that we

have to kick

the door down

because it is

what God

has called us

to.

So I see

many Christians

who just do

nothing at all

whether passively

or actively

because of

feelings.

And secondly,

some Christians

are left

confused

because the

thing they

felt called

to

doesn't work

out the way

they thought

that it would.

Some of you

may know somebody

who has felt

called at some

point in their

life to world

missions.

And the

circumstances of

life prevent

them from

ever taking

their feet

off American

soil.

And they're

confused.

What was this

thing that I

felt that

didn't get

accomplished?

Young people,

some of you

probably have a

friend or may

be guilty of

feeling called

to date somebody

and that person

disagrees with

you.

And suddenly

we don't know

who hears

God.

You're just

feeling your

feelings.

We are not

instructed anywhere

in the Bible

to feel our

way through

life's decisions.

Praise God

for that.

My feelings

are way

too fickle

to be any

source of

direction.

And if you

know me for

very long,

you know I'm

not much of

a feeler.

I'm much

more cerebral

in the way I

function,

but my

feelings are

not to be

trusted.

Most of

this week,

up until some

moments ago,

I did not

feel like

preaching.

I didn't

feel like it.

I would have

gladly canceled

this morning

for inclement

weather,

or asked

someone to

take the

task from

me,

but I am

convinced in

my mind by

the instruction

of the

scripture of

the centrality

of preaching

for the good

of God's

people.

And I am

moved by that

truth to

prepare,

anyway,

and to

pray that

God would

have me

feel what

I ought

to feel

when I

come to

preaching.

But it

does not

change what

I do.

I pray that

my feelings

would be

consistent with

the truth

of my

calling.

I don't

always feel

like serving

my wife

and my

children.

Have you

ever felt

like doing

dishes?

dishes?

But we

do it

anyway.

There's

many times

I don't

feel like

getting on

the floor

and playing

with my

kids.

I am

tired and

I am

getting

older and

it hurts

to be on

the floor.

But I

am a

dad.

And of

this I

can be

sure that

God is

giving me

the

responsibility

to love

my

children.

many of

you

did not

feel like

getting up

this morning.

An alarm

went off

way too

early and

it was

storming

outside and

it was

cloudy.

It was so

much darker

than it

should have

been this

morning for

us to

wake up.

You didn't

feel like

doing it but

you did it

all the same

because you

didn't want

to neglect

the command

for us to

gather

together.

There are

some people

who are not

here with us

this morning

because they

didn't feel

like being

here.

Many are

traveling but

some just

didn't feel

like being

here this

morning.

In our

text this

morning I'm

convinced that

Luke does not

tell us exactly

how the

Spirit forbid

and did not

allow because

that is not

the point of

the text.

It's not the

point of the

text and so we

should not learn

that.

From the

text that

the Spirit

is working

in some

strange

mysterious way

and we look

at that and

we look at

our experience

and our

culture and

go well it

must be that

they didn't

feel like they

should preach

the gospel in

Asia or they

didn't feel like

they should go

to Bithynia.

We don't know

what intervened

in those cases

but I can tell

you this because

of the larger

context of the

Bible it was

not because

of their

feelings.

So it leaves

the question

I hope that

the phrase

that they

were concluding

that God

had called

them to

preach the

gospel gives

you some

hope.

God's given

us general

call but

he's also

working the

specifics out.

Very

specifically

God is

having them

move through

a region in

order to

get to

a place

and we

get to see

so much

of what

unfolds in

that place

God's

good

sovereign

purpose

but to

hang on

that to

go ooh

God's

calling in

very specific

ways

we should

consider that.

So what

can we learn

from this

text about

God's

calling for

our lives?

Can we

know with

specificity

what God

would have

us do

with our

lives?

And there

is much to

be said

about this

so this

will be

in

brief

this

morning.

I want

to encourage

you to

continue to

consider the

biblical

teaching on

these things

beyond this

morning but

in brief

let's talk a

little bit

about that.

Can we

know with

specificity

what God

would have

us do

with our

lives?

And in

considering

that question

my attention

was drawn

to the title

that Luke

uses for

the Holy

Spirit the

second time

that he

mentions him.

He mentions

him first

in verse

six but

secondly he

uses this

title for

the Holy

Spirit in

verse seven

the Spirit

of Jesus.

The Spirit

of Jesus.

Luke seems

to be giving

possession of

the Spirit

to Jesus.

You could

say Jesus'

Spirit

did this

thing.

Now that

is not a

name often

used for the

Holy Spirit

in the New

Testament.

In fact it

is only used

here in this

exact form

the Spirit

of Jesus

but also

we won't

be too

picky

the Spirit

of Jesus

Christ

in Philippians

Philippians 1:19

chapter 1

verse 19

and the

Spirit

of Christ

in 1 Peter

1 Peter 1:11

chapter 1

verse 11

and in

Romans

Romans 8:9

chapter 8

verse 9

which we're

going to look

at momentarily

Romans 8

Romans 8:9

verse 9.

Let me say

this to you

a valuable

hermeneutic

principle

right?

Hermeneutics

is the study

of how to

study the

Bible.

A valuable

hermeneutic

principle

is that

where

Scripture

is less

clear

we use

more

clear

text

to

Scripture

to

interpret

it.

So when

something's

a head

scratcher

and I

would suggest

to you

that these

verses

are these

five

verses

we need

to look

in a

broader

context

and what

the Bible

says

in more

clear

ways

to help

us

understand

what's

happening

here

in

this

narrative.

So let's

explore this

title

the Spirit

of Jesus

a bit

further

by looking

in the book

of John

at another

title given

to the Spirit.

So I'm coming

away from the

Spirit of Jesus

title but to

help us

understand it

I want to

look at

another title

given to

the Spirit

this time

by Jesus

turn to

John

John 16 · chapter mention

chapter

16.

You can

mark

Acts

16

We're

going to

be away

from it

for a

little

while

though.

Now the

book of

John

in a

sense

places

Jesus

on

trial.

John

is a

follower

of Jesus

Christ

but the

way

in which

he

presents

the

book

of

John

is

meant

to

drive

us

to

understand

that

Jesus

is

the

Christ

and so

he

in

very

specific

ways

brings

out

witnesses

the first

12

chapters

of

John

this is

what

he's

doing

and

he

states

for

us

much

later

in

the

book

in

John

John 20:31

chapter

20

verse

31

these

words

are

written

so

that

you

may

believe

that

Jesus

is

the

Christ

the

Son

of

God

and

that

by

believing

you

may

have

life

in

his

name

so

the

book

of

John

is

filled

with

the

language

of

witness

and

testimony

it

is

in

this

context

that

John

records

Jesus

farewell

discourse

you

really

should

study

Jesus

farewell

discourse

chapter

14

15

and

16

in

John

John 16:7

chapter

16

verse

7

Jesus

says

the

following

to

his

disciples

I

tell

you

the

truth

it

is

to

your

advantage

that

I

go

away

for

if

I

do

not

go

away

the

helper

will

not

come

to

you

but

if

I

go

I

will

send

him

to

you

so

now

the

English

word

helper

some

of

your

translations

might

say

comforter

is

the

word

paraclete

paraclete

and

there's

been

a lot

of

debate

about

what

this

word

means

I'm

going

to

read

to

you

a

brief

quote

from

Sinclair

Ferguson's

book

the

Holy

Spirit

this

is

one

of

the

best

treatments

of

the

topic

of

the

spirit

so

if

you

really

want

to

know

more

and

I

hope

you

do

about

the

third

part

of

the

trinity

this

would

be

a

!

book

to

pick

up

so

he

writes

this

much

attention

has

been

devoted

in

Johannine

studies

of

John

Johannine

studies

to

the

meaning

and

identity

of

the

paracletos

a

compound

of

kaleo

to

call

and

para

alongside

the

term

denotes

someone

who

is

called

to

one's

aid

or

defense

a

paraclete

is

in

the

older

sense

of

the

word

a

comforter

someone

who

comes

to

strengthen

so

we're

all

familiar

with

that

kind

of

idea

of

the

spirit

of

God

comes

along

as

a

comforter

as

a

helper

brings

strength

acts

one

eight

however

it is

now

more

generally

recognized

that

in

John

the

term

has

a

forensic

connotation

not

important

phrase

the

spirit

is

the

witness

advocate

who

testifies

to

Christ

it's

we've

come

to

understand

right

through

much

study

not

our

study

other

people

study

that

the

word

paraclete

means

to come

alongside

and to

serve

as a

witness

so in

the

context

of

John's

letter

being

about

being

a

witness

to

Jesus

as

the

Christ

can

be

understood

that

the

spirit

is

Jesus'

witness

Jesus'

advocate

that does not nullify

the strengthening

and the comforting

and the helping

that the spirit

is to

us

but here

what

St.

Claire Ferguson

is suggesting

is that

the helper

is

Jesus'

helper

more than

it's

our

helper

so how

does

the spirit

serve

as the

witness

advocate

of

Christ

back up

a little

bit

in

John

John 16 · chapter mention

chapter

16

I'm not

sorry

sorry

don't

back

up

go

forward

verses

8

through

15

and

when

he

comes

this

is

the

helper

the

paraclete

spirit

of

Christ

he

will

convict

the

world

concerning

sin

and

righteousness

and

judgment

concerning

sin

because

they

do

not

believe

in

me

so

he

will

come

those

who

have

not

placed

their

faith

in

Jesus

Christ

the

helper

the

witness

advocate

of

Jesus

will

bring

about

conviction

for

people

who

have

transgressed

the

law

which

is

everybody

right

verse

10

concerning

righteousness

the

perfect

requirement

of the

law

our

need

of

righteousness

to be

accepted

by

God

because

Jesus

says

I

go

to

the

father

and

you

will

see

me

no

longer

right

him

living

out

the

perfect

righteousness

of

God

before

them

he's

leaving

so

the

helper

is

going

to

come

and

bear

witness

about

his

perfect

righteousness

and

our

need

of

it

he'll

be a

witness

to

the

world

in

that

way

verse

11

concerning

judgment

because

the

ruler

of

this

world

is

judged

because

when

Jesus

died

right

the

death

knell

had been

told

for

Satan

he has

yet to

die

completely

but

he

has

been

judged

and

judgment

will

one

day

come

to

the

world

so

the

paraclete

the

spirit

of

Christ

serves

to

defend

Christ

as

a

witness

to

the

world

but

not

just

that

look

on

in

verse

12

through

15

Jesus

says

I

still

have

many

things

to

say

to

you

but

you

cannot

bear

them

now

when

the

spirit

of

truth

comes

another

title

now

given

to

the

paraclete

when

the

spirit

of

truth

comes

he

will

guide

you

into

all

the

truth

for

he

will

not

speak

on

his

own

authority

but

he

will

glorify

me

for

he

will

take

what

is

mine

and

declare

it

to

you

all

that

the

father

has

is

mine

therefore

I

said

that

he

will

take

what

is

mine

and

declare

it

to

you

so

the

paraclete

also

is a

witness

to

us

of

what

Christ

Jesus

that

he

is

the

Christ

that

the

gospel

is

true

and

the

primary

way

that

he

does

this

is

!

he

!

in

men

a

book

that

tells

us

all

that

we

need

to

know

about

Jesus

and

all

that

we

need

to

know

to

follow

him

so

the

paraclete

witnesses

!

to

the

supremacy

of

Christ

to

us

and

to

the

world

through

us

before

Jesus'

declaration

in

John

16

7

John

draws

a

parallel

for

us

between

the

spirit

and

the

apostles

Jesus'

words

Jesus

says

John

John 15:26

chapter

15

verse

26

and

27

I

hope

I'm

not

losing

you

in

the

midst

of

all

this

when

the

helper

comes

there

again

paraclete

when

the

helper

comes

whom

I

will

send

to

you

from

the

father

the

spirit

of

truth

who

proceeds

from

the

father

he

will

bear

witness

about