New Road Church

The greatest revolution in world history was also the most unlikely. The leader was taken and killed seemingly while at his peak, and his small band of followers ran away. However, when the boundaries of the kingdom blew wide open with the gospel, the figure of Jesus was understood to have been the central figure and instigator of this quiet revolution. The revolution which the modern-day believer is part of unusual in its gentleness. We don't take over territories with guns. We don't threaten people with execution if they don't worship God. We turn the world upside down by worshipping God and sharing the testimony to God's grace which we have.

Two unusual and simultaneous occurrences come together to confirm to a jailer that the message of his captives is true. It isn't that earthquakes are unheard of, but coming at the exact time that all the prisoners' chains fall off and cell doors open confirms for him that this event is miraculous. The jailer receives mercy in that all the prisoners stayed put, and he informs the jailer of this in time to stop the man committing suicide! Overcome, he asks the apostles what he had to do to be saved. Their answer could not have been better. There were no calls for a period of outward contrition or other works. The instruction was to merely believe. To trust in the one they had been preaching about: Jesus of Nazareth. He is Lord, and this term was understood as a lot more than "master"; this title implied divinity. Here was another fairly classic conversion like Lydia's. The word was heard. The Holy Spirit used the message to change the jailer, granting him repentance and faith. He submits to baptism, together with other converts in his house, and fruit immediately follows with hospitality shown to the apostles and praise rising up to God.

The end has come, the dead are raised, and the Great Judgement seat of Christ comes into the view of all mankind. As well as the untold billions who have ever lived, every angel will be present. There is a binary separation between the elect and the non-elect (or reprobate), figuratively described as sheep and goats. Yet for the goats, the congregation of Satan, there will be degrees of punishment. Contrary to the hierarchy of sin which we might construct, it is those who have rejected the clear gospel who will fare the worst in this dispensing of justice. The men of Sodom, with all their history of all types of deviancy will suffer but also marvel as they witness far more respectable people in even worse torment. For these people were those in the countries of the Bible who heard the gospel many times and ignored it, a gospel which, had it been preached in Sodom, would have resulted in mass conversions to Christ. The believers, too, will be judged but in a different way. The kingdom of Satan observes that, after thousands of years of hard work, they were not able to bring down even one of God's elect. God saved every one. Any works of men not done in faith will be burned up. The few good works remaining will be the evidence in the courtroom of God that their faith was genuine, and they will inherit everlasting life.

The righteousness of God is that moral and ethical perfection of his. That of man falls short of this supremely high standard, yet this is what he needs to be able to be admitted into the presence of God. The solution is found through a gift of God whereby he makes a man righteous. On the basis of this grace work, God can declare the man to have the very righteousness of Christ himself and thereby be fully acceptable to God both now and forever.

The first of this triad of sin, righteousness, and judgement, is considered. Sin is a lack of conformity to God's standards, although we note that those which he sets are not the same for everyone. However, within the Mosaic Law, the Law of Christ, and the healthy conscience of man, exist everlasting moral standards of God, and all men fall short of them. This tendency towards sin is universal to man, it runs deep; "total depravity" is not merely about every aspect of our nature being adversely affected but an absolute sinfulness. It is God's restraining hand alone which prevents the world from descending into violent chaos. Sin necessarily brings severe consequences from the Lawgiver, Almighty God. No choice remains for man except that he either consents to accept whatever punishment is coming or he looks for the saviour who gladly took others' sins as his own so that they might escape condemnation.

Paul for a time tolerates the witness to the gospel exclaimed by a slave girl. However, he is well aware that she is inhabited by a demonic spirit. He presumably decided that it would harm the mission if the gospel was being spread by such a person as this diviner, especially as God had clearly shown his hatred of the whole business of using mediums to see the future. Getting back to the task in hand, Paul and Silas have false charges laid against them and are detained in prison. They will, though, get out of that place and preach the gospel which gives repentant men and women not a familiar spirit but the Holy Spirit.

Lydia is often held up as an example of a noble, hard-working, lady. We perhaps think that she was so virtuous that all God had to do was give her a nudge. A little thought will do away with such romantic notions. Above all else, the account describes how a sinful woman was delivered by the mercy of God. We see someone with a faint interest in God being brought into his kingdom. It begins with an inward work of God, a gift given to some and withheld from others. This heart change caused her to listen to the gospel and believe. Following this was obedience: baptism, witness, and the showing of hospitality. We ought not to hold Lydia up as a great lady but instead hold up God as a great saviour.

Guidance is what all believers want. Yet instead of specific guidance, they must work with principles from scripture and have such faith that they can know the Lord will direct their paths. Here, Paul and his companions are directed by God in this trinitarian work to go exactly where he wants them. He withholds the gospel from some and grants it to others, having no obligation to have it taken to all. Within the general call there is an irresistible call to the elect only. Again, the sovereignty in God's grace is seen in that he grant his Spirit to those he has ordained to salvation and withholds it from the rest.

Paul and Barnabas have a falling out, a row. They go their separate ways. However, we might say that the Lord meant it for good; two missionary expeditions took place instead of one. All discord has its origin in sin. Were we not "men of unclean lips" living among a world of men of unclean lips, there would be no trouble. The secret to harmony and peace is Christlikeness. To those who wish to separate from a congregation, they do well to heed the advice of Calvin and others; don't leave at the drop of a hat. Explore every avenue, reason with the people, and pray hard. Leaving a church because of some offence is easy. It is like having a weight removed from your shoulders. But the Christian life isn't meant to be easy. We must take up our cross daily, and this includes confronting our troubles and working through them.

In the face of pressure from the Judaizing sect of the new way of Christianity to have converts to Jesus conform to the Law of Moses, a council is convened at Jerusalem. The conclusion was a temporary compromise whereby Gentiles would only be advised to adhere to a few basic Levitical rules—enough to satisfy the Circumcision Party but not too burdensome for them, and no doubt Paul was satisfied with the irenic decision. The most important point in all this is that grace, not law, is that by which we are saved. Law does not add the finishing touches to the work of the cross. To put it another way, Moses does not compete what Jesus begins. The Mosaic Law and Ten Commandments have therefore nothing to do with the believer or the sinners to whom the gospel is preached.