“But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand,” Acts 13:8-11.
I am inclined to believe that this response by Paul to the evil withstanding of God’s message of mercy as he and Barnabas sought to win the deputy of the isle of Cyprus, Sergius Paulus, to Christ, was the cause of John Mark leaving the apostolic band and returning to Jerusalem and the eventual sad division between Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:36-40).
Sad
Barnabas was wrong. I think that is evident from the fact that his name never appears again in the record of the Acts of the Apostles!
There can be no doubt that there was aggression in Paul’s response. Many feel that ‘aggression’ (a readiness to stoutly confront an opponent) is wrong in a Christian.
Sad Lack
Personally, I feel that there is a sad lack of ‘Christian aggression’ today on the part of some Free Presbyterians, in the face of the ever-increasing attack by the devil and his agents, against God and His Word and His honour is plainly visible! Where is the enthusiasm shown by David when facing Goliath? “And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine,” 1 Samuel 17:48.
Something of a distancing of themselves from the zealous actions and protests back in the 1960s is somewhat evident within the ranks of Free Presbyterianism. Closer links with the camp of the apostasy and a putting of ‘clear blue water’ between themselves and the bold and zealous protests and witnessing of former days is the inexplicable desire of some!
The great prophet Elijah, he who was privileged, along with Moses, to appear with Christ on the Mount of transfiguration, said: “I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword,” 1 Kings 19:10.
The words, “I have been very jealous” stem from the Hebrew word meaning “zealous”. It must be remembered that the Lord says of Himself: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,” Exodus 20:4-5.
The Hebrew word used of the Lord in the above verse is from the same Hebrew source as the word Elijah uses of his attitude in 1 Kings 19:10. The Lord is pure and holy in His jealousy, while Elijah’s would have been somewhat tainted by the sinfulness of his nature. As a son of Adam, he was, like David, born in sin and shapen in iniquity (Psalm 51:5).
Nevertheless, there is obviously a kinship between the feelings of the Lord and His servant with regards sin!
We are after all, commanded to be holy like the Lord. “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy,” Leviticus 11:44, (1 Peter 1:16).
Foolish
I realise that ‘zeal’ can lead to folly and we must guard against it. John and James, the ‘sons of thunder’, were guilty of such and rebuked by the Lord. “And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village,” Luke 9:52-56.
Well meaning intentions do not excuse ungodly actions! We must guard against fleshly impulses.
The Saviour’s scourge of small cords
The gentle Saviour, Who is rightly considered as ‘meek and mild’, could also show aggression!
“And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up,” John 2:13-17.
“And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves,” Matthew 21:10-13.
Beginning and End
Thus, this “zeal” for the honour of His Father, marked the beginning and the end of the Saviour’s earthly ministry! That is something preachers, who would wish to emulate the Saviour, should note!
John the Baptist was, in the Saviour’s words, amongst the greatest of the prophets.
“Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear,” Matthew 11:11-15.
None enter the kingdom of heaven but those, moved by the Holy Spirit, who vigorously respond to the gospel call! The same vigour is intimated in the words of the Saviour found in John 6:27. “Labour (hard graft, ‘working with our own hands’, 1 Cor 4:12) not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed,” John 6:27.
The same emphasis is found in Luke 13:24, where the Saviour says: “Strive (fight, strive for the mastery-1 Cor 9:25) to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”
Thus I think I have demonstrated that in this world the Christian faces opposition and resistance to his seeking to obey God to such a degree that he must be defiantly aggressive if he is to succeed!
I. I MUST STRESS THAT PAUL’S AGGRESSION WAS BORN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Lest I be misunderstood in what I am advocating, I am speaking of a forwardness that is of God! “Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,” verse 9.
1. This boldness is seen only in those filled with the Spirit of God. We can never “wrestle . . . against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,” (Ephesians 6:12) except by the power of Holy Spirit.
2. Thus, the righteous are defined as lions. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion,” Proverbs 28:1. The word “bold” means ‘a confident trust in one’s power’. Such is the lion and such is the believer who is filled with the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.
3. Thus it was in the demeanour of the apostles as observed by their enemies. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus,” Acts 4:13. There was a “Jesus-like” boldness about the two disciples.
4. This aggressiveness is aroused by the defiant sinfulness of the enemy of God. It was what Paul saw in Elymas the sorcerer, for it says, he “set his eyes on him”, that stirred the apostles to his verbal assault. Elymas “withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith” and that brought about Paul’s counterattack by the grace of the Holy Ghost!
Sin is a great provocation to the servant of God, even as it is to the Lord. The Lord warns us all against provocoking Him. “Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him,” Exodus 23:21. The children of God, who are “partakers of the divine nature,” (2 Peter 1:4) cannot be anything other than likewise similarly provoked by man’s rebellion against His Heavenly Father.
II. SINFUL MAN MUST LEARN THAT THE ULTIMATE PRICE OF PROVOKING GOD IS MOST DREADFUL!
A mild and spiritless presentation of the gospel is, in essence, a denial of the consequences of its rejection.
1. There is a most heavy price to be paid for defying and provoking God. Heed these verses.
“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone,” Revelation 19:20.
“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever,” Revelation 20:10.
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire,” Revelation 20:12-15.
The Greek word translated “cast” is explained as meaning ‘to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls.’ Damnation entails the casting away of the sinner by God, never to be thought of by Him again!
That is an immeasurably dreadful eternity. We are cast, as it were out of the mind of God and engulfed eternally by His wrath.
Heaven will be a place of ‘holy forgetfulness’! There will be no memories amongst the redeemed of their sins or indeed of sinful acquaintances! Heaven would not be heaven if we carried with us throughout eternity an awareness of our past sins, far exceeding any awareness we have here on earth. That must be self-evident. The Lord says of His new creation:
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying,” Isaiah 65:17-19.
“The former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” That is this present earth, defiled our sins, will never be remembered.
That also applies to all those who rejected the gospel of mercy and love, pardon and peace, and who journeyed on in defiance, down the “broad way . . . that leadeth to destruction,” Matthew 7:13.
Rev Brian McClung, Secretary of the Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony, preached from the text: “The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot,” Proverbs 10:7, at the memorial service for Dr John Douglas in Olivet House, on Saturday 26th of April. It is worth hearing the recording of that message. (Memorial Service for Dr. John Douglas).
During his message he stressed that there will be a rotting away of the names of the wicked, into the oblivion of utter forgetfulness!
2. The Christ-rejector will thus reap what he sows! “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God,” Psalm 9:17. Christ rejection entails a casting of the Lord behind the back. “But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back,” 1 Kings 14:9.
So it will be done to the rejectors!
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms,” Ezekiel 23:35.
3. How different for the repentant sinner who humbled themselves and confessed their sin and trusted in Christ for salvation. “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back,” Isaiah 38:17.
The Lord has cast all our sins away, even the memory of them. The message of grace to all that repent is that promised to Israel long ago.
Glorious Words
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,” Isaiah 1:18.
“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins,” Isaiah 43:25.
“I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee,” Isaiah 44:22.
“In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve,” Jeremiah 50:20.
“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea,” Micah 7:18-19.
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began,” Acts 3:19-21.
Truly, in the gospel there is offered to sinners an ‘end’ to sin and the damnation it brings!
Sad Record
Sadly, the record of mankind is akin to that of Israel’s response to the mercy of God.
“And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy,” 2 Chronicles 36:15-16.
III. BEWARE OF CROSSING THE LINE OF MERCY!
There is a line that may be crossed and then the door of mercy slams shut.
“Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil,” Proverbs 1:24-33.
There is a verse in the last book of the Bible which sums up the foolish sinner’s realisation of their fate, but when it is too, too late.
“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 6:15-17.
If you are not saved today, the gentle, loving Saviour will one day come as the wrathful Lamb to judge the rejector and the rebel.
Therefore, “To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest,” Hebrews 3:7-11.
Please remember the word of the Saviour in His ‘Olivet Discourse’ — “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not,” Matthew 25:6-12.
May the Lord give you grace to respond, in repentance and faith, to His message of salvation.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
1st May 2025