Acts 13:12

Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed.

Two Pauls and a blinded sorcerer

Note--

I. Opposition to the faith.

1. Elymas “withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.” This is true the world over. The greater the opportunity the greater the opposition. The devil is ever on the lookout to defeat the servants of God and hinder the effect of truth.

2. But opposition is overruled for good. The intense opposition of Elymas only served to draw the attention of the deputy more intently to the doctrine of God’s Word. But more than this: when Saul pronounced upon him the solemn judgment of God, the proconsul saw that it was in very deed the Word of God. The blinded sorcerer, seeking someone to lead him by the hand, was a visible witness for the truth against which he had fought. So that the overthrow of the opposition made the victory of truth the more conspicuous. And this is always so.

II. Aids to faith. I have not called miracles causes of faith, for they do not cause it, although they may lead up to it. What Sergius Paulus saw did not make him believe, but it helped him to believe. What did he see, then?

1. The great courage of Paul. In another case boldness struck a blow at unbelief, for when the rulers saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled. In this case the effect would be the same. Saul fixed his eyes on Elymas as though he were perfectly master of the situation--as indeed he was, and without hesitation or apology addressed him, “O full of all subtlety,” etc. Intense conviction in the mind of Paul led him to speak thus plainly and sternly, but it was not the heat of his own spirit, for he was filled with the Holy Ghost. Let every teacher of Christ be thus filled, and then let him speak boldly, as he ought to speak. Come not forward with your “ifs” and “buts” and “peradventures” to prove God’s Word. Tell out the message God hath told thee, as from Him, and not as thine own opinion!

2. God’s judgments. If Sergius Paul was deeply impressed with Paul’s boldness, he was still more deeply moved when he saw Elymas stricken with blindness.

3. God’s wonders of mercy. Conversions are the standing miracles of the gospel, the best attesting seals the truth can have. I knew a man who was of a fierce temper, a troubler to his own household; I have seen that man since his conversion, and the lion has become a lamb. We have seen persons revelling in licentiousness, but they have heard the gospel and become chaste. What has wrought this? What teaching must that be which accomplishes such marvels?

III. The source of faith. It is “doctrine,” or faithful teaching, which brings men to Christ. Let those who despise doctrine beware, for the doctrine of the Cross is only foolishness to them who perish. Under the influence of the Holy Ghost the plain teaching of the Word of the Lord leads men to believe in Jesus. I do not think it is any great good for a preacher to cry, “Believe,” if he never tells you what is to be believed. There is plenty of this kind of preaching about, and the result is sadly transient and superficial. If we do not preach the great doctrine of the atoning sacrifice, we have not put before men the basis on which their faith is to be built. Justification by faith and regeneration by the Spirit must be taught continually. The proconsul was, no doubt, astonished to see Elymas blinded, but he was a great deal more astonished at the doctrine which Paul preached when he began to tell him that salvation was not by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ; that the way to be accepted of God was not by presenting to the Lord anything performed by us or felt within us, but by laying hold upon the righteousness which Jesus Christ has wrought out and brought in. When he heard this good news he might well be astonished, and yield his heart to Jesus. The most astonishing thing in the world is the gospel. Come, then, and candidly study what is to be believed. If you desire to know God you shall know Him. The great Father is not far from any one of you. There is the light! It is not dim, nor far away. The fault is in your eyes if you do not see. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The conversion of Sergius Paulus

I. He saw. Probably no special stress is laid upon the seeing, yet the fact that opportunity was given him to see is worthy of emphasis. Had the Church of Antioch loved their own better than the things of Christ, the missionaries had been kept at home. If we turn over the opportunity of Sergius and examine its obverse side, we shall find written thereon a duty and a privilege. Paul, who felt it and obeyed it thus early in his career, later states it (Romans 10:13). The great salvation is provided for all; let it be carried to all. No violence is done human thought or the spirit of the gospel by discerning, in the proconsul’s opportunity to see, the Church’s opportunity to send. Paul came and preached, therefore Paulus saw and heard.

II. He was astonished. The transition from sight to faith is explained in the astonishment produced by the matter and manner of the doctrine of the Lord. Two teachers, each professing to possess the oracles of the Highest, had confronted each other with contradictory doctrine. The mind of the heathen deputy, unrestful and discontented with the fables of Roman mythology, must have been perplexed with these rival claimants for his faith and devotion. But the purer doctrine had the prevailing power, and Paulus wondered at the doctrine of the Lord, and admired it. Then came the proof that the story of Divine love was no bright fiction nor sweet poem, but a genuine fact and power in the world among men by the method of the teaching--persuasively to him who was ready to hear--judicially to him who was determined to resist. It could sue or subdue.

III. He believed. The simplicity and freshness of youth adorned and invigorated the gospel of that early day. The deputy’s mind was not perplexed by half a dozen kinds of faith, each with a technical name requiring special instruction to understand. The story of the living, personal Christ, what He had said and done, and what He wanted and waited to do, was the simple and unformulated theology of that earliest day. Sergius Paulus, in believing, was conscious of no such abstract process as that of accepting a theory or adopting a system. This might come afterwards; but when he believed he simply trusted himself into the care of God, he took Him at His word. The Roman proconsul became the Christian disciple; faith gave him a higher rank and a sublimer title. He had before represented the emperor of the world. He then represented the One “seated on the right hand of God.” The name “Roman proconsul” pales before the title Heir of God. (J. R. Danforth.)

Paul’s first convert from heathenism

When Napoleon landed on his return from Elba, and one man came and presented himself as willing to serve the Emperor, “Here,” said Napoleon, “is one recruit at least.” So may we say when we have converts, “Here is one recruit, and thank God for one; for the same attractive influence which draws one will draw multitudes more.” We have got the right medicine, we have got the right power, and therefore let us hope that there is a harvest to be reaped now. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The conversion of one soul

The conversion of one soul by the gospel should be to you a hopeful sign that God intends to convert others. For see, the cholera is raging in certain towns, say, on the continent, and a physician has been studying the disease. He has administered a variety of drugs, but in every case without success. He has prescribed different methods of treatment, but in no case has he succeeded in effecting a cure. At last he has hit upon the right drug, and, administering it, he sees his patient rallying, strength evidently given by the medicine; the struggle ends favourably, and the patient rises to life and health. “Now,” says the physician, “I know that I shall have a harvest of men who will be preserved from this disease, because the same medicine which heals one will heal two, will heal twenty, will heal a thousand, or even twenty thousand; it only has to be administered; that one person has been healed by this compound, and it is clear that as many more may be healed as are willing to receive it.” Brethren, we do not lack this sign with regard to the gospel. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Opposition helpful to the gospel

In all probability the opposition of Bar-Jesus may have called the attention of Sergius Paul more intently to the doctrine of the Word of God. When a certain doctrine is neglected and half forgotten by the Church of God there rises up a bold heretic who rails at the truth most bitterly, and then Christian people remember it, defend it, and propagate it. A Colenso attacks the story of the Exodus, and all eyes are fixed upon Moses and the tribes of Israel. Some critic or other attacks the Book of Deuteronomy, and straightway we get a host of books about Deuteronomy; all the scholars of the Christian Church begin to study it, and as a part of the Word it is valued exceedingly. This Elymas finds fault with the gospel, and Saul and Barnabas are thus called upon to clear up the points at issue, and by refuting the magician’s malicious errors they make the truth the more apparent to the mind of the proconsul. So far so good. (C. H. Spurgeon.)