Reaching the Resistant

A generation ago, D.A.

Carson was speaking in a conference and we had the privilege of hearing him, the staff guys. He said a generation ago, the truthfulness of the gospel was offensive. In this generation, the exclusiveness of the gospel is offensive.

In Paul's day, the inclusiveness of the gospel was offensive, that a Jew and a Gentile could be included as equal partners of the faith. Are there people in your life who are resistant to the truth of Christianity? Have you ever tried to tell someone the truth only to be met with resistance or even worse, with hostility? How do you reach unbelieving family members or friends when they have different perspectives and responses? And how do you respond when those you're trying to reach resist you? Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen Davey continues through this vintage wisdom series from the book of Acts.

This message is called Reaching the Resistant. Open your Bible to Acts 21 as we get started. I sort of leaned back in my chair and began to think of the different categories of people.

And let me suggest a few to you and you could add to the list. But I've thought of those people that I've attempted to witness to that I could categorize as skeptical and disillusioned. Be the first category. These are the people who have been burned by some earlier commitment to a church or maybe even a cult. They may even have a testimony of some decision they may have made at a rally or a meeting. And life never really changed and they never seem to turn the corner. And now they're more disillusioned than ever about what happened to them. There are another category of people. There is another category we could call the confused and the uncertain. These are the spiritual wanderers that you may know.

They go from one experiment to the next are always searching for connection. They are the spiritual pilgrims. I was on an airplane and and pulled an article from you know their their gift they give to anybody who wants them.

U.S. Airways magazine. It was an article entitled sacred sites and talked about pilgrimages that people make around the world. Millions of people every year like the journey to Soto. They journey from all parts of Haiti. The article wrote to this little town where they immerse themselves under a waterfall that is supposedly possessed by water deities had a picture of them dancing and singing and laughing and and having just this incredible to them spiritual experience under the waterfall that represented the aquatic deities or Guadalupe where hundreds of thousands of people travel annually to see the image of Mary which had been supposedly miraculously burned into the cloak of an Indian peasant after she visited him in fifteen thirty one people flock there and claim to be healed and all sorts of things or Benares in India another place there's fourteen or so of these and I'm just pulling a few it's a sacred trail along the Ganges River where millions of Hindus annually who believe that if they bathe that these five sacred crossings that they will be they will be sped along their way toward paradise.

They also believe that their cremated ashes are one day scattered on the sacred river. Their souls will be hastened to paradise searching but more confused perhaps than ever and certainly in their hearts knowing they haven't arrived at the satisfaction of the answer. There is another category that we could call angry and turned off. These are the people that as soon as you mention religion they have their message already. It's usually going to be something about the church is filled with hypocrites and all they want is what they can get out of me and so on and so forth and they don't want to hear what you have to say unless they want to talk about it and say it themselves. Another group could be called the apathetic and nonchalant. They're a little confused at why you would ever want to spend more than an hour or two a year in church.

Christmas and Easter would satisfy this category of people. They can't quite figure out why you'd want to open your Bible and read it regularly. They think that maybe you're a little too carried away that this has become more than some guideline that this is actually what you call a manual for your life and they don't quite catch that. There's another category we could call the resistant and unyielding for some reason and you're not sure what it is but they dig in their heels and they never seem to go over that invisible line of resistance and accept what they may even admit to you is truth and you're frustrated as you as you hope for something to say and some illustrative thing that gets them to move and you can't. Then there are finally what I think we could call the intellectual and proud and these are the people that would tell you that you know if that's what you need and that's the prop that you need or the crutch you need to lean on well that's great for you and go ahead but I've my life is figured out and I don't need to do that kind of weak stuff and these are also by the way the kind of people that will argue typically with you that every way is a right way that if you find the truth of religion you'll discover that it is all embracing and that everybody's right. Ultimately everybody's going to paradise or heaven or Nirvana or whatever they want to call it. I was on the plane some time ago and and we were traveling from New Delhi to Hyderabad and David Williams was on he'd been given the aisle seat and I had got the luck of the draw was given the window seat and right in the middle with a poor guy from Canada was scrunched in between us and we had about I don't know about an hour and a half David I see there about an hour and a half flight I think and so this guy wouldn't go on anywhere and so David starts praying and we start talking in this and this fellow had just returned from a sacred journey of his own to the Lotus Temple and he was a Canadian executive and he was so excited about having been to worship at this Lotus Temple which is one of the signature temples of the Baha'i faith which he was a member of the Baha'i faith basically means that everything is okay and we can all we can all somehow be right even though we we disagree and and so we went back and forth and it was this verse and this quote and this illustration and everything I could possibly think of and he would always come back with it doesn't say that that Jesus didn't really mean what he said when he said I am the way the truth in life no one comes to the Father but by me and I'd scratch my head think well boy that it's it's hard to come up with anything else there but and we'd look at other verses and and you know it didn't really say that you can't add or take away from this book of the prophecy or you'll be condemned that that isn't what it really meant even though it said it and and Jesus really wasn't the Messiah even though it's it was said of him that he was and on and on and on and and and I was I knew our flight was we'd been at this for about an hour and and I hadn't been able to find any chink at all anywhere in this guy's armor and what's more he just smiled at me all the time as I'm becoming very frustrated and I'm not smiling I'm not happy and so at any rate it I finally just saw this newspaper that was in the flap in front of him and it occurred to me as I could read the bold headline that this may be something and and the bold headline said woman killed in auto accident and I pulled the newspaper out and I kind of stuck it under his nose I said look at what what does that say and he said woman killed in auto accident I said isn't that amazing this woman was killed playing tennis and he looked at me and that's what his legs started shaking like a kid waiting for the recess bell to ring I knew he wanted out you couldn't get anything out of those words other than she was killed in an auto accident not she broke her leg not she was playing tennis not she bought a car nothing and but I remember and still he just he just then you know smiled and shook his leg and and that was kind of the end of it and I was so frustrated that I hadn't had something to say that I felt ill-equipped and unprepared and maybe maybe you have felt that way as well as you've wanted something better and there are certainly things we can learn and we're offering things by the way here in our catalyst program to help you learn but you've tried everything you know to do is you deal with that angry and turned off relative as you deal with that that apathetic spouse as you try to administer to that co-worker or that neighbor or that roommate who experiments with everything but the truth if you could roll all of these categories up into one audience you would have the audience in Acts chapter 22 and I want us to take encouragement and insight from this as Paul begins to give his testimony to this audience you remember if you were with us last Lord's Day in our study back in chapter 21 they began to beat him they said that he had brought a Gentile within the inner sanctuary it lit us beyond the court of the Gentiles and it wasn't true but it inflamed the crowd and they began to beat Paul and and the soldiers rushed down to rescue Paul the soldiers were stationed in Fort Antonio which was built on a precipice overlooking the temple grounds and they were always watching the Jews because especially during these festival seasons things could break out and they were responsible to the governor and to even beyond to the Emperor to quell any rioting so they rushed down in chapter 21 verse around 32 you notice they immediately rescue Paul and then it may be surprising to discover that they chained him now why would they chain him they don't know what happened they don't know what he did they just he's being beaten and they rescue but then they chain him and we don't know the answer until we get to verse 37 which is where we left off so let's pick our study up there we're going to actually go through the entire next chapter I know you'd rather me preach five sermons out of this chapter to stay in acts as long as we can but it's like a lady came up to me this morning she said this is great but she said it's kind of being in my other church where we covered a whole chapter at one time and I said well are you sad and she said no I thought it was great so at any rate we're gonna cover one whole chapter here as we deal with a narrative of Paul with that encouragement we'll keep going verse 37 as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks he said to the commander may I say something to you and he the commander said do you know Greek Greek was the lettered language of the cultured educated man then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the assassins out into the wilderness oh this is why Paul was chained by this Roman a general the Jews thought he was a heretic the Romans thought he was one of the ten most wanted men on their list at this particular time an Egyptian terrorist who was leading a gang of men known as the assassins assassin is the word that comes from the Latin word Sica or dagger these men used to carry the dagger around hidden in their cloak and they would go into the marketplace and they would pick out their target the one they would assassinate as he would probably be a Jew that was collaborating with the Romans or maybe even a Roman leader and they would mingle with a crowd and stab this individual and then mix back into the crowd or maybe even become part of the the mourners these were a dreaded group of men who were known as simply the assassins and this this soldier this leader thinks that he has caught the Egyptian but Paul instead in verse 39 said I am a Jew of Tarshish and Cilicia a citizen of no insignificant city and I beg you allow me to speak to the people and when he had given him permission Paul standing on the stairs motioned to the people with his hand and when there was a great hush he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect I saw what's Paul doing here is he proving that he is no intellectual slouch that he can speak fluently and two languages no he's beginning his testimony and he will accomplish several things that I want to provide for you in principle form several things that provide for us a good example of what it means to be a testimony to those who are angry or apathetic or turned off or searching or confused or all of those categories we've just mentioned the first thing he did was this Paul spoke in a language that they understood and respected in other words he spoke to them in their mother tongue the Hebrew dialect more than likely the Jewish Aramaic and you notice the effect it had on this lynching mob verse 2 of chapter 22 when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect it became even more quiet and this is something he did literally but it had a profound effect on them and I think we could make some allegorical application if if you forgive me of that and that is simply this when we speak to people about the gospel speak in a language they understand depending on their age their background what you know of them use terminology they understand speak to them and something that they would respect and appreciate the second thing that Paul did here just in these first few words was disarm their anger by showing respect now I want you to go to verse 1 of chapter 22 the very first words that this beaten bleeding apostles spoke were these words brethren and fathers brethren and fathers how about who do you think you are you you just tried to kill me I am I'm bleeding and broken you don't know the truth and may my blood be upon your head and the head of your forefathers there's something good like that you know that's what I would want to say I think why Paul is living out Proverbs 15 one a gentle answer turns away what wrath now for the moment they are hushed and he gives us what we could call our next principle he recognized the gospel could only be offered and never forced would you notice again verse 1 brethren and fathers here my defense which I now offer to you the word defense comes from the original word apologia that gives us our word apology or better yet it gives us our formal English categorical term for the theological apologetic or the theological defense of the gospel when you talk about providing an apologetic for the gospel you're not apologizing you are simply giving a defense based upon what has happened in your own personal life so Paul is saying if you will allow me I would like to give you my formal defense of the truth of the gospel of Christ now had this crowd begun to scream and shout and and and say further away with him what would have happened to his apologetic he would not have offered it right and I think that's a good principle to learn as you attempt to witness to those you give the gospel to those who want to listen one more principle before we go further he ignored their accusation and he focused on the issue at hand their accusation was that he had brought a Gentile into the temple within the inner part reserved only for Jews he ignored that and focused instead on the issue at hand and that's that was the gospel now let's just sort of slip in here and listen and we'll read through it and make a few comments let's begin in verse 3 I am a Jew born in Tarshish of Cilicia but brought up in this city educated under Gamaliel strictly according to the law of our fathers now you notice how he clearly establishes his background in accordance with the law they assumed also he didn't care about the law now he says something amazing I was zealous for God just as you all are today can you imagine giving that kind of response you're beaten you're bleeding and you attribute to them your potential murderers the best possible of motives he identified with their zealous hearts knowing they thought they were doing the right thing even though they were doing a terrible thing but he gave them the best of motives now Paul continues and in fact identifies with their hatred verse 4 and I persecuted this way to the death that is I'm responsible for Christians dying binding and putting both men and women into prisons as also the high priests and all the council of the elders can testify from them I also received letters of the brethren and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished it's interesting he says listen I know what you're doing and why and and I can identify with how you are personally feeling with your zealous hearts for God and I want you to know that I used to do exactly the same thing what a tactful gracious beginning and this man has been beaten he is hurt he's bleeding and he comes out with this it is amazing now verse 6 came about that I was on my way approaching Damascus about noontime a time a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me Saul Saul why are you persecuting me and I answered who art thou Lord and he said to me I am Jesus the Nazarene you can imagine the shock in Paul's life and to the listeners here the Lord of glory uses that human term that had been run through the gutter Jesus of Nazareth nothing good comes out of Nazareth I am Jesus the Nazarene and those verse 9 who were with me beheld the light to be sure but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me and I said what shall I do Lord that's critical to understand he now attaches again the word Lord now to Jesus the Nazarene he didn't change his title he kept it and now attributed it to this God man and those who have rightly come to understand who this God man is that he Jesus Christ is indeed Lord can only come out with that next question Lord what do you want me to do with my life once you acknowledge who he is you can do nothing other than that what shall I do Lord when the Lord said to me arise and go into Damascus and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do but since I could not see because of the brightness of that light I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus in a certain Ananias a man who was devout notice this again by the standard of the law now he attributes a Christian to having respect for the law and well spoken of by all the Jews who live there came to me and standing near me said brother Saul receive your sight and at that time I looked up at him and he said the God of our fathers oh now the Old Testament fathers are brought into this the God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will and to see the righteous one the one he just seen was the righteous one a messianic title and to hear an utterance from his mouth and you will be witnesses for him to all men of what you have seen and heard and now why do you delay arise and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on his name what an incredible conversion experience we call the Damascus Road now here's a verse by the way that we just read at the end that might trouble you it's used as a proof text by the Church of Christ and other denominations that believe baptism saves or at least that salvation cannot occur without baptism I'll touch on it just quickly here since I dealt with it thoroughly in our discussion of Acts 2 and you may want to go back and and get involved in that study but I'll mention at least in relation to this verse the confusion is simply created by the English language the controlling participle in this verse is the verb calling you could underline or circle the word calling or calling on his name the antecedent in the Greek text to this participle is the phrase wash away your sins not be baptized they are two separate verbs in other words it is the calling on his name that washes away your sins hang with me here it is the calling upon his holy name that cleanses us from every sin you could literally be true to the Greek language to translate this verse by simply reversing the verbs so that they all emanate from this controlling verb and that's what you've allowed me to spend time doing this week so let me read you the translation having called Eris tense having called upon the Lord and your sins Eris tense having been washed away arise and be baptized now verse 17 and it came about when I returned to Jerusalem and I was praying in the temple that I fell into a trance and I saw him saying to me make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly because they will not accept your testimony about me and I said Lord they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in thee and when the blood of thy witness Stephen was being shed I also was standing by approving and watching out for the cloaks of those who were slaying him and he said to me go for I will send you far away to the Gentiles now notice verse 22 and they listened to him up to this statement and then they raised their voices and said away with such a fellow from the earth for he should not be allowed to live everything sounded interesting until he suggested that a Gentile could be equal with them as an inheritor of the gospel of Christ a generation ago da Carson was speaking in a conference and we had the privilege of hearing him the staff guys he he said a generation ago the truthfulness of the gospel was offensive in this generation the exclusiveness of the gospel is offensive in Paul's day the inclusiveness of the gospel was offensive that a Jew and a Gentile could be included as equal partners of the faith and that's where they began to respond look at verse 23 can you imagine thousands of people responding and as they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks stating that he should be examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him you know what's going on this this soldier knows Greek he doesn't know Aramaic he doesn't know Paul has just said all he knows is Paul just said something and everybody starts throwing dirt in the air and ripping off their cloaks and shouting away with this man well something's going on here we're gonna beat this man further and find out just exactly what he's done to offend all these good people so he prepares to beat him and while verse 25 they stretched him out with thongs Paul said to the centurion who was standing by is it lawful for you to scourge a man it was a Roman and uncondemned and when the centurion heard this he went to the commander and told him saying what are you about to do for this man is a Roman and the commander came in and said to him tell me are you a Roman and he said yes and the commander answered well I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money now we know that the Emperor Claudius and his wife Messalina came up with a neat idea to put coins in the coffers and that is they offered citizenship to those who could store up the money and and pay this exorbitant bribe really to have the rights of Roman citizenship and so this soldier saying well you know what I saved up enough money and I was able to buy it Paul says oh well I want you to know I was born a citizen as my father was a Roman in other words Paul kind of digs his heels and he has taken stonings and beatings not many survived the scourging and he's willing to give his life for the Lord but he knows now's not the time he wants to give it so he flashes his ID card and says by the way you're messing with a Roman well boy that change come off the shackles and they start apologizing and polishing his shoes and everything else now verse 29 therefore those who were about to examine him immediately let go of him and the commander who was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman and because he had put him in chains that is his apologetic before this crowd and we'll stop there and move through all of the different defenses he will make before these audiences two things before we close two reminders for us before we stop number one the responsibility to share the gospel is ours whether they respond with anger or they're apathetic or you don't seem like you're clever enough or they box you in the responsibility to share the gospel of Christ is ours for those who are angry by the way and upset and turned off and disillusioned I think one of the best things you could do is let them see the gospel in you as an authentic truth from God that has changed your life but eventually they have to hear it but remember secondly the responsibility to save the unbeliever is God's I hope the truth of this message has encouraged you today you're responsible to share the gospel but only God is responsible for saving unbelievers thanks for joining us today here on wisdom for the heart Steven Davies series from the book of acts is from our vintage wisdom archives the book of acts is an extremely important and practical book if you'd like to dive deeper into acts we have a resource to help you Stevens written a Bible study through acts it's a resource you can use if you teach or lead a class or a group Bible study and it's also perfect for personal study as you dive deeper into God's Word for yourself Stevens teaching through acts is a three-part series this current series is the third and final part but we have a Bible study for all three you can get any or all of them in our online store when you navigate to our website wisdom online org you'll see a link for our store we can also help you over the phone give us a call at eight six six forty eight Bible that's eight six six four eight two four two five three thanks again for joining us I hope you'll be with us for our next Bible lesson as we continue through acts right here on wisdom for the hearts you