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CHAPTER11

Continued from Chs. 8,  9 and 10

LET THE LEADER LEAD

THE LORD'S LEADING

C) ITS HISTORICAL EXHIBIT -

testimonies of its working

PHASE 3

THE LAND OF LIGHT

Now we turn to New Testament exhibits in the realm of LEADING, and in particular of conformity, even intimate and consistent, between the WORD concerning who the Lord is, His nature and ways, and the ACTS of what the Lord has done, in particular since the passion and atonement of Christ for His people, including all who by faith with repentance, set on the rock of His strength in resurrection by the entry of His blood reconciliation with God, Himself the pathway in, and the very Word of God. Proceeding from the inner sanctum of deity, it is He who leads back to the friendship and peace with God.

HOW did He act by His Holy Spirit in the days of the ACTS ? What is the exemplar following the paragon ? HOW did things proceed ? HOW did He lead ?

In this, we shall ponder for profit, some 14 cases.

THE FIRST : PHILIP I

Notice the REGULAR procedure of Philip to Samaria. Here was the Gospel to all peoples (Isaiah 42:6,  49:6, Psalm 100), and would it not  THEREFORE GO to Samaria, though Jews were unpopular there ? Of course. We do not know what private preliminaries were in the deacon's mind, but we do know that he went and preached with such great acceptance, in Samaria, that the record declares this:

"and the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did".

Indeed,  the spirits of evil driven out, the paralytic made to become human auto-motive marvels, and the lame restored to agility once again. How gratifying such things were, for  it is a marvel how we humans are indeed self-moving creatures, able to plan rationally and to implement without wheels but rather our own  members, deploying the equipment automatically provided! The wonder of it is made more obvious when it has ever been lost …

In fact, when this power is lost through malfunction, disease, then to have it miraculously restored is not only arresting to thought, but always refreshing, a thing of joy in that the Creator is drawing near to help what He has made. This was the setting. What do we then read within Acts 8:11-13, "... when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ  they were baptized ... then Simon himself also believed ..."

Is it possible that Philip was the marvel-worker, just as Simon the sorcerer had been before ? While Philip's healings were doubtless of a far more staggering and direct kind, there was a common element of wonder. When Philip showed the compassion and the power, the healing of such a diversity of disease especially those of the gravest character, the whole ordered in the presence of the God of creation, then his works being there, his words preached Christ, and so in the view of the multitude,  HE WAS TO BE BELIEVED! Did they however fasten on the man, and conceive his wonder-working power with too little comprehension of what lay beneath, and who presided above Philip ?

It seems so, since the sorcerer, with diverse ulterior motives also "believed" Philip, being superadded to them, in this listing. Thus it was not until the emphasis was shifted in their hearts to the Saviour, not only in word, as always, but in the realisation at the level of life itself, that the Holy Spirit was freely poured out on them. Indeed, this outpouring and this realisation are intimately connected (cf. SMR pp. 476).

These things came when Peter and John coming down, laid hands on people. Sometimes this laying on of hands is recorded, sometimes not: it is obviously a symbolic matter not prescribed, but sometimes seen, like speaking with a loud voice when preaching. Perhaps you do it, perhaps you do not. It is a circumstance of choice. As such, therefore, it is not susceptible to generalisation.

Moreover, this reception of the Spirit, in Acts 8:14ff., came after prayer that they might receive the Spirit, for when the apparently unconverted sorcerer may in the same sentence or sequence of words be said to have 'believed' in the description likewise applied to the rest, it is apparent that the phenomenon in this case, has lacked reality! Simon for his part offered money for the power to lay hands on people with such results! Actually,  "simony" has become the name for those, ostensibly in the Christian Church, who trade with money in their pestiferous pretences, to forward exalted pretensions and appalling devices (cf. I Peter 1:18).

Does it ever lack reality in other cases where the words of a preacher seem to come from a godly man, who is credited with too much, or through a Gospel which is credited too little, so that people simply do not realise in their hearts that it is a living faith in the living God that is needed, rather like blind people who being given sight, forget to open their eyes ? Assuredly this may occur, for it is precisely for such reasons as these that some revivals have such effects in many churches: the form has become the norm, not the function of actual faith in the living Saviour, so that when this is realised, results accrue.

In terms then of our interest in the Lord's leading, in these chapters, let us realise that the apostles were, again like Philip, being men of prayer, evidently divinely LED to come to Samaria on hearing of Philip's 'success'. This is not at all to disparage Philip's work, but to show that as yet it was incomplete in this very new and astonished locale of Samaraia, where ANYTHING from the Jewish people, would not readily be received! Special cases may require special attention and procedures, as in any operation, in order to ensure that the word of God in its power and reality, has penetrated past the conventions of culture and has impacted to reach the dimensions of dynamic and actual knowledge of the Lord.

It is not in any signals and signs that this is to be wrought, any more than the use of some kind of special cardiac apparatus in medicine, in some cases, indicates that without this you cannot work on the one hand, or that it is always applicable on the other. The issue is effectiveness, not modality; and the reality is the Gospel which must be REALISED within, past all the forms of mere cultural alliance, its thrust to the Christ like an impelling wind (cf. John 3).

When the Gospel is received simply or partly as a cultural norm, or event, or custom, or option, then of course it has nothing to do with God Himself, who does not derive from the cultural tics and antics of men; but rather it is men who derive from the creative triumphs and orders of God, and whose condition similarly must be changed by this same power. Accordingly, we note the fatal omission in II Timothy 3:1-5, of the power of God, in many churches as the time of the end of this Age comes near. That is where so many Pentecostals are in profound error, mistaking possible means of manifestation with the actualities of the power of God, who is no showman, but uses what He will when He will. On this matter of Pentecostal signals, see A Question of Gifts, which considers the scriptural teaching in detail. Alternatively, some Liberals without biblical truth, often fail to transmit the Gospel clearly or at all, so that where showmanship spoils one presentation, slowmanship, or slovenly and polluted presentation, spoils the other. There are many errors; but truth is one, and it is written (cf. John 14:6, 26).

Thus there is a SPIRITUAL  desire to bring the Gospel even to the most HOSTILE PLACES, and to REINFORCE with the most HOLY CONCORD of those sent. This is an IMPLICIT aspect of the leading of the Lord in these cases. The Great Commission SENDS to preach and teach the Gospel and Christ's commands respectively (Matthew 28:19-20); the call of duty alone may incline one's heart, and the wisdom of Christ, sought may unleash liberty and opportunity to fulfil this. Such is our first case, where these all went to Samaria.

THE SECOND : PHILIP 2

Now, almost as if to remind us that the SAME person can be used in widely DIFFERENT ways by the One Creator and Redeemer Jesus Christ, we turn to the sudden, and indeed amazing CALL of Philip, this by recorded immediacy of direction from the Lord, to LEAVE this staggeringly 'successful' site, where Simon the sorcerer had been exposed in his lusts and foul longings, and told to repent if by any means the Lord might pardon his wicked design. Yes, Philip was constrained by the Lord to leave the favourable site, even though people were indeed realising the meaning of salvation in Christ. How could this be ? Would a forest labourer in lumber leave one of the best groves to be seen, while the trees began to fall ?

Possibly, if under some direction from the overseer for one of the manifold purposes he might have ... Possibly all the more if there were OTHER foresters on site, as now, with Peter and John, was the case!

 So the Lord, for one of the multiple purposes HE had, directed Philip to leave this scene of spiritual splendour, and go INTO THE DESERT! (Act 8:26). The "angel" referred to here may be a form for the presentation from the Lord, this meaning one sent. The point is that Philip gathered assuredly that the Lord was directing him OUT of the fertile functions he had just been so deeply concerned in, in Samaria, INTO a place of apparent uselessness for the Gospel - a desert!

Sometimes missionaries, like Gladys Alward (The Little Woman), can be led in ways quite spectacular in their apparent hopelessness; but just as surprising in their profound fertility when the case comes into fulfilment! In the desert, there was on that occasion to be found a treasurer of the Queen of Ethiopia, and at that TIME, he was puzzling over Isaiah 53.

Let us see it happen graphically! The Spirit of God LEADS Philip to draw near to the chariot of this exalted functionary of another land, so that the missionary work in this case is being done almost 'at home', for the one selected to hear the Gospel, this foreign official has come to a site relatively near to Philip, but far from his own land.

Since in this case "the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go near and overtake this chariot' ," as the man mused (known to the Lord), then it is in vain for some sorts of pastors to tell their people that such leading cannot happen. It is equally vain for some people to tell their pastors or others that they INSIST on such leading. Whether one is following a general RULE (as in Matthew 28:19-20), or a specific leading, BOTH these things are ways of being led. There are no inclusion or exclusion notices except one, or rather two, that you trust and love the Saviour as your own, knowing Him personally, and that you trust and seek in all things to follow His word, the Bible, as you go.

It is for the LORD to select the leading mode, not the one led. Sheep do not TELL the shepherd how to lead them, with crook or staff, with voice or hands, with call or flicker of the eye (a method of guiding a horse which can be most effective, the mere train of vision communicating itself perhaps in the change of one's balance on its back, as a desire to turn - cf. Psalm 32:8.

THAT is the way it often is on horse-back, and very exhilarating it is too, to have such almost integral unity with the horse! Thus also may the Lord, as in the above Psalm's notation, lead with His eye.

Then Philip HEARD the man reading Isaiah. Leading does not exclude but uses what God has already provided for us. This is an example: he did not CLOSE his ears, but alert, watched what was available. He could hear the words of Isaiah from the chariot, so he asked a question, for as to speech, this too is for use, not abuse.  DO YOU UNDERSTAND what you are reading ? he queried.

It would have been good if he did, but it needed to be made clear, no assumption being made in either direction by Philip. One had to find out: this was the case with Philip, so he found out by asking.

HOW CAN I! declared the frustrated official, unless someone guides me!

This indicating two things,

1) that the man had tried and

2) that he had not succeeded, and implying another,

3) that he wanted help.

Accordingly,  Philip acted to show him. He was ASKED to do so! This was teaching by invitation, in a desert, where a lonely looking chariot was still enough for an outsider to hear the voice of the person carried. That, it was the leading of the Lord.

Reading from Isaiah 53:7 in particular, the treasurer enquired whether Isaiah was speaking of himself or another. "In His humiliation, His judgment was taken away." To whom does this refer? he asked.

Philip spoke, and beginning at this scripture (that is, at the place where the official's attention had independently of himself, been riveted), he "preached Jesus to him." Thus presumably the nature of Messianic prediction, the coming of the Messiah, His power and purity, compassion and meekness, boldness and strength, healing power and gracious sacrificial discipline, leading to the atonement for sin, these were all mentioned, leading on to the breach of the very power of death, just as securely predicted in Psalm 16, even bodily corruption or rotting after death being crushed by the power of the resurrected Christ. This had been the nature of the preaching in Acts 2-3, and presumably was not different here, the apostles and Philip being obviously in great accord.

The treasurer then took the initiative. Seeing water, he asked to be baptised. He was so. Before this piece of symbolism was enacted (cf. News 51, Questions and Answers 11 - see also 9 and 10 on different 'baptisms', Member Notes 25) however, there was a preliminary. Mere symbolism though such a sacrament is: yet, as with an engagement ring, it is not insignificant because not the actual marriage itself. It is not at all the marriage, being a thing; but it is not at all indifferent, being something with signification. It declares in ways well understood, that the marriage has occurred.

So with baptism. It cannot convert you as Peter is most emphatic to declare (I Peter 3:21-22), any more than money in ANY sense can BUY you into the kingdom (cf. I Peter 1:18ff.); but it has a special place, like an engagement ring, and those who value marriage would not be likely to play the fool with the ring either, let alone its presentation or acceptance!

Hence Philip made that epochally important point in answer to the request for baptism. This came so SOON and so SUDDENLY; yet it was not at all in any isolation from the point of it all, but rather in intimate concourse with what had preceded. Thus the biblical investigations which had just been made concerning the Author of salvation, the Messiah, these doubtless were heard such vital interest and keen application on the part of the troubled Treasurer of Queen Candace.

What then was Philip's response to this request ? If, he declared ... "if you believe with all your heart, you may." ALL must be forsaken to follow Christ; you CANNOT have a parallel desire to be rich, famous, popular, lead a quiet life or whatever appeals. There is ONE GOD and there is for ANY person a complete necessity to serve Him as GOD, or to forget it. Christ says the same in Luke 14:27ff., for there we find that unless NOTHING is left of your ultimacy of desire, but HIMSELF, you not only are not a disciple, but CANNOT BE ONE! If He is not Lord, then He is not Saviour, for He cannot be divided into two!

Down to the place where water was by the road, they went, and the baptism proceeded. This reminds one of an occasion as a House Master in a religious College, when one was met by two boys who asked if they could become Christians. One challenged them to realise that this met a complete dedication of life, surrender of it indeed to the Saviour. They returned the next night to indicate that this was very acceptable, so that the matter could then proceed. It was most delightful to see such resolution from those of relatively young years; and it had been necessary to ensure that it was there.

What then happened after the baptism occurred ? Then the Spirit of the Lord moved Philip powerfully, so that he did not linger, but came to another place. This is fascinating, since it is a case of CONSTRAINT to go elsewhere, just as there had been a leading to go to the desert earlier.

There are as in horse riding, ever so many ways of communicating your wish, and one of the best is to have a hearty relationship with your horse, so that you CAN communicate with a feeling, not a reeling, of closeness. REASON might have suggested that a correspondence course or the immediate sending of an emissary to Ethiopia was an obvious need; but if so, there is no record of this, but rather of Philip going at once, away from this man whom he had helped to such an extraordinary degree, and in such a miraculous manner by the LEADING of the Lord. In fact, the man indeed had the scripture, or some significant part of it, and had very probably been in the company of religious people for a long time, perhaps even attending some Jewish ceremony, festival or event at that time.

This is not to say Philip's action was unreasonable, but that just as there are in life so many variables and unknowns relative to other people, so there are times when the apparently prudent action may be left for the one which is actually right, the Lord knowing the difference, and LEADING one to realise this for the particular case. There was nothing immoral in Philip's so leaving; it is for the Lord who discovered the official for Philip, to know all, which none of us has the privilege on earth of doing.

What then is the case for Philip himself ? It is for him to be willing to continue to be led! We must ABIDE in His word written, and WITHIN those confines of truth and direction, be willing to be led of the Lord as He will, knowing that wisdom is always available by promise (James 1, John 15:7, 8:31, II Timothy 3:16, Romans 11:18,24), that the scriptures are there for deep inward communion with the Lord and that He by His Spirit can constrain or arrest as He will. Of doing what is WRITTEN, there is no question; it is to be done. Of applying it to a case, however, especially where the generic principle does not immediately cover the particular instance, there may be many ways.

In any friendship there is a closeness which tends to prohibit misunderstanding and a love which assists perception, and when it is with the Lord, there are no regions hidden, there is nothing exempted or excepted, and the concourse of one's spirit with the Lord is one of the most delightful facts of Christianity. Of course, as we see in Acts 4, and 13, while there is the individual, there is also the group prayer, and there is a unity which is always to be sought with fervour, amongst the brethren, but yet not so much as to imperil the friendship with the FIRST FRIEND, the Lord, by straying for ANY reason from His word! (cf. Titus 3:10, Romans 16:17).

THE THIRD : ACTS 4

(WITH REFERENCE TO ACTS 13)

In his case, you see the almost inordinate passion and fellowship of the saints, after the persecution of Peter and John, arrested after healing a man lame from the womb, and let go reluctantly by the incensed authorities. It was they who had ordained Jesus' crucifixion, and now, after a ringing and fearless testimony on Christ as the scripturally predicted Rejected One, they were aroused and no doubt being convicted within. What did the now released apostles then do ?.

In Acts 4:23ff., you find that,

	"being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
	So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said,   'Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them {clear on creation!}, who by the mouth of Your servant David said,   'Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things ? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the LORD and against His Christ.'
	"For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus who You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.
	Now Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus."

"And when they had prayed, the place where there were assembled together was shaken;
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness."

{Clearly this is in intelligible words for challenging occasions, for there is nothing relative to boldness about being incomprehensible.}

There you see that their prayer was followed by a sort of confirmation of the immediate power and the presence of the Lord, in that the place was shaken, reminiscent of the individually intimate fire fingers, and the loud retort at Pentecost. The Lord uses what seems to Him good to encourage His people, and in this initial phase, much were the signals in action! Here we see an after-the-event confirmation of their prayer for BOLDNESS in testimony, FOLLOWING the actual boldness in testimony of Peter and John which they showed as in Acts 4:19, a declaration soon to be followed up with more delightful audacity in truth and fearless declaration, of the same category, as in Acts 5:29ff..

It is a simple fact that that increasingly missing as our Age grows old,  is that sort of clear testimony, fearless declaration, pointed pronouncement, direct challenge in areas where there is political, social or psychological danger. This  is passing out of fashion, as more and more bodies called churches, consider the most psychic advantage, the best propaganda or communications mode, fashioned after the hearts of this world, and the most adroit ways of avoiding confrontation, whether with heretics or adversaries from the secular realm.

While doubtless many DO continue so to speak, many are the large ecclesiastical bodies, religious groupings seek to pretend there is no division, until indeed there IS no division,

	and the sharing of idolatrous practices,
	such as Moslem anti-christian movements,
	inventing a new christ 600 years too late, through a false prophet,
	or (literally) anti-Christ movements from some of the Jews,
	or new and mutated Christ thrusts from Romanism,
	or inclusivist approaches in schools, even Jewish and Romanist on one occasion being reported:

these becomes a repeat version of the fall of ancient Israel.

Then too, before Israel in the northern part of the land came to its END, there was just such a desire to worship the Lord and to serve other gods, a sort of ten bob each way, bet situation.

You see the trend as far back as Judges 10:10-16:

"And the children of Israel cried to the LORD, saying, We have sinned against You, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the LORD said to the children of Israel,

"Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken Me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.

"And the children of Israel said to the LORD, We have sinned: do to us whatsoever seems good to You; deliver us only, we pray You, this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel."

 

How often has the Lord  returned to deliver His people, pardoning and empowering. How often did Israel then continue in sin, sooner or later, acquiescing to the obvious, combining other religions and the like, until, as it states in II Chronicles 36, "the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy." What had happened as well in this interim ? This: "... they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets ..."

 II Kings 17:32-34 gives the classic concept and formula for disaster:

"So they feared the LORD,

and from every class they appointed for themselves priests for the high places {forbidden} ...

They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods - according to the rituals of the nations ...
To this day they continue practicing the former rituals:
they do not fear the LORD, nor do they follow their statues or their ordinances or the law
 and the commandment which the LORD has commanded the children of Jacob,
whom He named Israel."

It was part of the covenant (17:38), not to mix it up, not to serve other gods.

Hence disaster struck this Northern kingdom at the very time when King Hezekiah of the South (Judah and Benjamin, and including Jerusalem) was busy seeking the Lord, co-operating with Isaiah, finding the mind of the Lord and following His way. As the believing South prevailed and were delivered, the ruthlessly synthetic religionists of the North were destroyed as a nation.

Thus it happened that the self-same rampaging army of Assyria, which ravaged the North, was itself ravaged in a confrontation with power that was simply that of God, who protected the South, answering faith with a fiasco for the Assyrians. Their king returned form the decimated army, in time to be murdered by his children, in the temple of his arid gods (II Kings 19:36-37).

Thus it was made clear that it was not a matter of armaments or power or size, but of the Lord; and that the way to trust in Him, is not to find the most subtle or acceptable social mores for religious compromise, but to be honest and to be forthright and to have faith, and to act in the way which the Shepherd who came to die for men, and by His risen power to direct their paths, has provided!

This then is the testimony in both  Testaments, Old and New, of the unity in faith, according to the ruling of God through His word and according to that word; for the living that God keeps, as distinct from what, immersed in cultural filth, contrary to all faith and even reason, masquerades as 'religious', what He has said, being faithful. As for the concept that false religion is to be 'respected' and mixed with as dirt with a carefully prepared plate of fish, like arsenic with flour, this is as far from the word of God as anything could well be. It is PEOPLE whom one must love, and whom one is not to judge as if some sort of superior being; but it is not FALSITY which one is to love or even respect, any more than a doctor 'respects' SARS.

The contrary way of synthesis, first in fellowship and then in doctrine, this is as treacherous as Judas, as futile as Balaam, as feeble as Pharaoh before the Lord,  as rebellious as Saul and as appealing as a serpent, from which, in a figure, it proceeds! (cf. II Corinthians 4, Revelation 20:2).

THE FOURTH : ACTS 7

Now to Stephen we turn, fellow deacon to Philip; and this not for a substantial visit, but to discern aspects of divine leading in this context, as it sits like a pearl in the shell, amid the great and epic events of Acts.

From his speech, it is obvious that case-hardened Moses-devotees, not as is just, regarding the words with due gratitude as scripture given from God, but as is unjust, regarding their binding and blinding traditions as associated by their own wisdom with the word of God, as sacred, has called a halt to this talk of Christ the transcendent. The stress on Christ, as we have just seen in Philip's conversation with the Ethiopian official, posed to them some sort of competition, in which they preferred the old, the Mosaic. Maybe Christ could for them be part of a mosaic, but certainly not the criterion. That Moses it was who predicted Him, seemed lost on their closed minds and traditional dominion over scripture (cf. John 5:44-47, 12:48-50).

Their fathers, said Stephen, had resisted the Spirit of God, had grieved the Lord, and just as these did, so were his detractors and persecutors, soon to become his murderers. Tracing the history of his race, Stephen showed how there had been resistance at first even to Moses, and now that the prophet predicted BY Moses (Deuteronomy 18) was come, there was resistance again. Did they not, even when they followed his leadership, make a calf in the desert, a golden image of an idol, such as was sacred in Egypt, their hearts not accompanying for many, their feet as they first of all fled, and then journeyed on FROM Egypt TO the promised land at that time!

A temple was indeed built, but as Solomon himself was to be made to realise of God, " 'Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool, what house will you build for Me ? says the Lord.' " Addressing his persecutors firmly, Stephen like Peter and John, made no slides for psychological self-preservation, declaring roundly: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you."

"Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute ? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers ..."

"The Just One" is He of whom Peter spoke as shown in Acts 3: "You denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses."

This Peter said after a miraculous healing, in Solomon's portico in the Temple area. Killing the Prince of Life was assuredly no mean degradation of human life, but it can scarcely be too often repeated that such is the REASON for the GRINDING on this globe; for life, vitality and spiritual dynamic of stable proportions and holy ground, is indispensable. Not its quittance in quest of oddments, but its affirmation in terms of its Creator, and its deliverance in the scope of His salvation, this is needed. Neglect this, and in what way is the result better than for those who slew Him, with enormous irony thereby enabling His sacrificial task to be performed, in the flesh!

What then do we learn procedurally from the Scripture, seeing these who attested Him were so inspired: Stephen so blessed, declaring that he saw the Son of Man at the right hand of God, as they stoned him, his face shining like that of an angel, Peter so anointed and appointed as keys-bearer, these and many others performing in the open, in the name of Christ, works of stupendous power and compassion, and deeds of consistent and persistent spiritual felicity in the sight of all ?

We learn that the boldness to cut no strings that bind, to utter nothing soft and pappish, to give no credence to error, to mix with no suave substitute for faith was nothing less than a criterion, like that of the Statue of Liberty for America, of the early Church. So were they inspired, full of the Holy Spirit, to speak, to teach, to confront, to challenge; and so did some of them die, in the practice and process of such pure and fearless pronouncements.

To deny Christ, an artful practice some may desire who yet in some sense name Him, is not a desirable act of faith, courage or consistency for such, and its end is that HE will be ashamed of those who do it! (Luke 9:23-26). To be ashamed of HIM is to mix Him with what is not God, to dare to do so, with heretical reconstructions from the mind of man, such as Islam's invention 600 years afterwards, or any of the sects' constructions. Such was as far as the East from the West in the case of the early Church, led of the Lord, as we watch spirit-filled practitioners, apostle or deacon, at work!

So were they led, so was their Lord honoured, so did they not fear as they had been instructed, and so did they find that the Holy Spirit did indeed give them what to say when arraigned and persecuted (Luke 21:14ff.). Even your present author has found this in the massive Assembly case in Sydney as noted elsewhere, and often enough otherwise. It is miraculous, marvellous and the thing of salt! According to your faith, so let it be done to you! The Lord is gracious as those who know Him, find in the laboratory of life.

Speaking of faith, let us turn now to the LEADING of the LORD shown in some instances of the life of Saul of Tarsus, soon to become Paul, apostle of Christ to the Gentiles (cf. Galatians 2:7ff.).

THE FIFTH : ACTS 9

Saul of Tarsus, vehement and cruel persecutor of the Church, taking people in chains, forcing them to blaspheme, casting his vote for their death (Acts 26:10-11), was LED to the Lord by His pungent conviction, like that of a speed cop coming up with lights, unsparing, and  blaring with sound strong.
Pull over please driver! Did you realise ...

Saul himself was on the road to Damascus and a light appeared so tangible that it struck him blind, and a voice was heard so loud and distinct that others were aware of it, but did not discern the words (case similar to that of Daniel in Daniel 10).

Very precisely and powerfully this directed him. WHY are you persecuting ME! asked the voice. It was that of Jesus, who then LED Saul to go to Damascus, though like a little child in a fine metaphorical symbol, he had to be led there because of the blindness which followed the confrontation on the road.

Saul was directed in a vision,  to see a man who also was independently directed to find him, and when this man, Ananias initially in prayer, queried this sending to such a persecutor as Saul, to the Lord, he was told of Saul's conversion, and that he had no occasion to be afraid of this erstwhile Sanhedrin tyrant.

In fact, Ananias was even told that Paul had seen a vision of him, with the name Ananias part of the data transmitted to him, and that this included the laying upon him of hands, so that he might receive his sight.

This staggeringly exercise in divine symmetry in leading, was soon to be proceeding to the equally stupendous results. Ananias obediently went to find Saul, and declared, "Brother Saul, , the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared to you in the way as you came, has sent me, so that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost." At this, Paul's eyes lost their scales (another fine metaphorical exhibition of his state!), and he was designated to be filled with the Spirit, and so, being a circumcised Jew, merely, he was baptised. It is fascinating that Ananias was able IMMEDIATELY to call him 'brother'.

In this leading drama, there was one further highly factual, detailed piece of data transmitted. Ananias was told by the Lord, more concerning this dangerous man whom he had to meet (Acts 9:15-16)

"Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake."

How unlike modern, sybaritic propaganda is this initial depiction of suffering! But it is suffering not for vanity or inanity, but for the beauty of truth, the salvation of the lost, the fulfilment of the desire of the Creator, and the design of the Redeemer. What a privilege to suffer for anything so godly, so kind, compassionate and effectual for man! The data was all clear, precise, ordered, organised, and the instruction competent, comprehensive for all things needed.

Concepts that the Lord's leading, therefore, is to be limited by nature to not-data type feelings, or inclinations or constraints, are incorrect. How He uses this or that mode of guidance and leading is entirely His own affair; but it is the affair of those who seek to follow Him to realise that there is to be NO LIMIT, in terms of the scriptures which have been to be profitable for our instruction (II Timothy 3:16). He does it how He will, and such episodes as these are found throughout the Bible, in respect to detail, challenge, call and coverage.

There is no excuse for such limitations (cf. Psalm 78:41), and in fact, it was precisely this, the limit of disbelief to the liberty of the Lord, like the traditionalising pathology which added human notations to His word, so intruding on His divine scope, or even misrepresenting it, which so brought devastation to the unfaithful residents of ancient Israel, often enough!

To be sure, one must be careful to live by faith that IS faith, and not presumption; that DOES keep a good store of the meat of God's word to hand and in heart, that DOES test all things, that realises that NOTHING contrary to the word of God will be required in any leading, that the Lord has many servants, that is seemly; but at the same time, one must not limit the Lord, for these two ells go but ill together!

Do you say, But it is only for apostles ?

Philip was not an apostle.

You say, perhaps, It is not just for any servant of the Lord! but who was Ananias. Perhaps someone may  object, But it is only for great events ? Yet while the Ethiopian eunuch gave a great opportunity, this was not a national matter; and while Peter was told to go, after divine deliverance from prison, and despite the peril of re-imprisonment, to tell all the words of this life, was indeed a case of an apostle, it was still a HIGHLY PERSONAL and intimate piece of guidance to this humble servant (I Peter 5) of the Lord.

Thus again, in Hebrews 2, we see no limitation to officers of the church in the record of "God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will." We cannot and dare not specify to the Lord what He does not specify, making imaginary rules out of the mere authority of our own minds.

As to Hebrews 2 as above: These gifts, itemised in Ephesians 4, Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12, are not for this or that officer, but decidedly and decisively and indeed categorically for ALL, for all are members of one body.

Either doubting the Lord's power and grace, His love and mercy, His leading and life, or presuming to tell Him HOW to guide, gird or deliver you: these are indeed two errors, as is a failure to realise the reality of the grouping of the brethren; but in the end, like Peter and John, like Ananias, a person has to realise the insuperable gift given (I John 2:27), so that although it is expedient that many minister in this and that to each other, yet the ONLY RESOURCE in the end, is the Lord.

When churches return in greater numbers to this simple fact, then their subversion will cease to be as vast as it has become in our generation. The Lord's stirring is by no means limited to officials (as the notable case of Medad and Eldad in the Old Testament so dramatically illustrates (Numbers 11:26-27)! He loves and uses all His people.

In passing, above, Peter's deliverance from prison was noted; and in fact, this occurred twice, and it is well to note the sort of leading he had there.

THE SIXTH, SEVENTH  : ACTS 5:17ff.; 12

Peter's words in Acts 5:29 have already been noted. "We ought to obey God rather than men"; and this is even presented further in the earlier challenge, which this later case more succinctly sums, as in Acts 4:19, where the sense is this: "Work it out for yourselves whether it be right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God!"

With answers like those, to their intimidatory tactics, the temple crew were hostile and aroused; but then, without such noble and faithful confrontation, they might well have become the more be audacious and pugnacious. They were to some extent surrounded by their own deeds which were in effect implied  in Acts 4:11-12, and categorically exposed in 5:30-32, where they in their rebellious violence,  are shown as mere travesties of truth, in the face of the power and testimony of God.

In prison, as noted in Acts 5, the case where the exposé was more explicit, Peter was miraculously released by an angel of the Lord, who also opened the prison doors and brought him out. The dire word to follow, showing that Peter like Moses of old, was not being delivered in a merely personal venture, but as an apostle of truth, was sent for Christ, Himself once murdered, to bring His Gospel to sinnning man and nation, were these:

	"Go, stand in the temple
	and speak to the people all the words of this life."

Thus this guidance, this leading was altruistic, gave scant regard to peril, ignored the fact that the men whose official will was flouted by Peter's release might be hungry for their honour when they saw him strangely free. Nothing of this weighed. In the very heart of the city, in the Temple itself, Peter, prison escapee,  was to speak boldly and clearly, not only despite the danger of arrest, but despite his being there after being arrested and brought out of prison, just as Christ had been brought out of the tomb! Such divine power seemed not so good to those who opposed its source! It was so also in Communism's assault on the Christian faith, where violence of prodigious quantities and qualities was poured forth like lava, or to use the image of Revelation 12, like a flood to pursue the Lord's people.

Violence in matters of faith is not merely, however, irrational, since force is not faith, but it is an expression of failure. You might as well seek to cut off the head of your chess opponent, in order to establish the superiority of your play. Life is not violence; and where its meaning is concerned, violence is vile. It comes only in judgment when all is lost by preference for darkness in the very face of light (John 3:16-19,26).

As to rubbish at war with reality, rubbish that defies reality, if it is to be burned, it is better than having it intact in eternity. It is better for one and for all. It was C.S. Lewis who pointed out that everlasting destruction involves a change of state!

To return however to our situation of guidance and grace, courage and confronation, let us ponder further. In what way then did these apostles act ? For self-preservation of themselves (or as they might have argued, the church which needed them) ? was this the constraint ? Far from it! Prudence is for the glory of God and His kingdom, not for the saving of a neck.  THAT was the sort of prudence (Isaiah 52:12ff.), which Christ had, bringing Him to the Cross as you see developed the prophecy of Isaiah concerning His atonement.

This is by no means to suggest that that the neck, that excellent column for the head is unimportant; but it implies that the heart must be willing to show love by what it does, not satisfied with lingering in the shadows of sallow pseudo-Christianity, ignoring the need to speak IN THE NAME of the Lord, and to act for the deliverance of those oppressed by wolves' gospels, and secular cant (cf. Isaiah 58:7ff.), a thing much blessed with the company and companionship of the Lord with His own people who in these things, follow Him, as did William Wilberforce in his sacrificial and costly efforts, crowned with victory at last, to remove slavery as a gross sore on the body of 'Christian' England! Rats rebel when the opportunity comes, mice flee, but men of God, and women of the Lord, are supposed to show by their deeds the faith which activates their lives. Indeed, how would you NOT show what is ... there! If faith without works is dead, faith that lives cannot help working! This is BECAUSE it is there.

As in Proverbs 24:12, so the leading is of the God who is LOVE^*1, whose sacrificial splendour invented His cancellation of debt due on the Cross, for all who by faith avail themselves of it (Galatians 3). Hence there is no MERE escape, but escape in order the better to imbue things with the reality of the Gospel. Thus Peter was let out, so that he could let himself, if you will, become 'in for it,' to use the idiom. But what does Proverbs say, for self-centred 'Christianity', with its success-stories and its use of Christ as a means of worldly advancement. It is this:

.

                           And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?"

Such was his leading and such his direction, and - this is vital - THIS IS WHAT HE DID! Peter thus did speak in that very central and highly focussed place, the words of this life!

In this aspect, consider simply this: Since it is the LORD who is doing the leading in our study of the records, and since GOD IS LOVE (I John 4:7ff.), then ought we not to suspect that at any given time, love, including that which chastens (cf. Revelation 3:19, Hebrews 12), should inform the action that we take! To be sure, there may be times when, all love despised, every remedy ignored, all contempt augmented, in the very face of love judgment must come, as in the notable case of Sodom and Gomorrah, which some parts of Australia would seem to be seeking if not to emulate, then perhaps to surpass (cf. Genesis 18:22-33). Reality without mercy can be hard! Mercy despised, in the end,  is reality unleashed.

Truth does not bow to anything, and at the very same time,  love is fulfilled to the uttermost before any judgment as so carefully declared in Colossians 1:19ff., Ezekiel 33:11, Luke 19:42ff.. God does not cease to be loving because some in the end show affinity irresolvably without force, for the prospect of garbage (Mark 9). He has PAID to the uttermost enough for all, and it is APPLIED remorselessly to any who thirsting come (Isaiah 55). His predestination does nothing to prevent anyone, as His motivation in Colossians makes perspicuously clear, but rather enables; and the patience He has shown, in the face of ever so many most sanctified theological persons tainting His love with their words in contradiction of scripture,  is one of the exquisite wonders of His nature!

Love therefore should be expected to be a signal and obtrusively apparent aspect of leading; and as you see in Peter's release followed by instruction so to act as to expose himself to the uttermost peril, and arrest again if need be: this played immense part in the actual history of the case. How many spoke boldly, so that later some believed, and perhaps paid the price! Yet in paying, they often rescued many in the process.

Faith has legs, and life has impact, whether it be from God, for good, or without God, for vanity, confrontation, indifference or self-will, be this 'moral' or 'immoral', the rebellion unchanged through its autonomy. What a blight on the name of God do those deliver who imagine they are more knowledgeable than God, more merciful, more organised, who make for themselves their own Gospel, and thus their own God! What an impudent assault on the testimony of the Ages, from the taunts of the flesh, implicit or explicit (cf. SMR pp. 100 cf. pp. 92ff.).

In Acts 12, we see the developing case.  Again, in a new episode,  Peter is in prison, the King Herod having thought that it was a good political ploy to kill prominent Christians as a gesture apt for popularity, it seems. Again Peter is delivered by an angel, and this time led quickly away, where he knocks on the door of a household engaged in prayer for his release, that latter labour being done with such power and persuasion, that when he actually got to the door and was announced by the maid, they thought her out of her mind!

Such again is His lovingkindness and patience with us all; but this is no leading to be lax, but rather in the admiration for such love, to be exceedingly devoted to Him, His word and His purity, in patience likewise seeking for the lost. It is NOT however in any way a licence to ignore Romans 16:17 and the numerous such passages (see Separation 1997), as if this were patience, rather than a shared rebellion! It is one thing to fail in some instance; it is quite another to pursue false teaching, thus making right wrong and wrong right, a confused scenario from which the Christian in his fellowship is required to be ABSENT in this word of Paul!

Let us then look further at the acts in the Acts of the apostles, for our theme. Peter is then used, after this amazing deliverance,  in many key actions. His deportment and manner, however, is not as if he were in power to proclaim in his own commands - you see in Acts 15 that in fact it was James who took a lead in being decisive and chairman-like (cf. I Peter 5). In fact, it is made clear in this part of his epistle, that Peter hates the concept of mere brothers acting like lords with their dissipated self-will or authoritarian acts and manner, as if there were more than ONE Master (which there is not, on the authority of Christ, Matthew 23:8-10).

Rather deftly and in quietness and confidence, as in John 20:21ff. with Matthew 18, may Christians join together to bind what must in and for the Lord according to His word, be bound: provided only it is asked for in terms of the word of God and not the caprice or anger of man. 

With such humility and grace, but decisively, then, Peter acted.
 

He acted

	to confirm the Gospel to Samaria as we saw in the case of Philip, and
	to do the same relative the Gentiles, as we have yet to see in the case of Cornelius, Acts 10, he himself being LED in the most gracious way to REALISE the thing for himself;
	in the acknowledgement of Paul's writings as scripture in II Peter 3:16,

an interesting numerical coincidence with the scriptural affirmation of II Timothy 3:16 and the marvellous depiction of the coming of God as man in I Timothy 3:16, just as the Gospel is John 3:16.

As to this number, all  this shows is this, that the arithmetic serves us, and not some dizzy imagination by which people get interested in strange mathematical deals, for words are for their content and portent, not the careers of uncertain mathematical mysticism.

	In addition, of course, Peter was one of thoese who gave Paul the right hand of fellowship, recognising that just as they were apostles to the Jews, so was Paul to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:9),
	as in bringing to the assembly the account of the Gospel to the Gentiles, which had such a vast impact (Acts 11).

These reflections then relate to our topic in terms of the leading of God for Peter to continue in the uttermost boldness while under deep and immediate challenge from the ecclesiastical authorities of what then became Judaism, and yet not to remain when merely the political aspirations of a king were involved; so that then, in the love of God, he might continue to perform his function and so help the church to form.

He then stayed alive for a time, so that certain episodes might occur, in terms of his apostolic calling, and so that they might be wrought in grace and tact, with wisdom and care, prudence and self-control, a very statue of humility and non-self-assertion, one might almost declare. Where strength of utterance was required, it was given; where meekness had to be obvious, so it was, where leadership was called for, the Lord enabled him, and where he needed significant correction, he seems to have taken it extraordinarily well, since the pith of the matter for Peter was not Peter, but Christ and the truth (cf. Galatians 2:11ff.).

Paul is at pains to dismiss any tendency to make pillars of men, rather than to see the Majesty of Christ the only Master (cf. Galatians 2 in all its aspects).

SO does God lead us all, who believe and watch in prayer according to His word, as He will, by the means selected according to His will; for HE is not to be taken as a rubber-stamp, but as the living God who LEADS, with wisdom and comprehensive knowledge, according to His word which, being His, is not susceptible to human addition, control or subtraction. Wisdom does not add to it (Proverbs 30:6), and must not take away (Revelation 22:19ff., Deuteronomy 12:32, Matthew 28:19-20).

In all these ways, the divine LOVE as written, and the divine SOVEREIGNTY as also written, are shown in just that same holy harmony in deed, as in word, that word of the Lord, the Bible!

THE EIGHTH  : ACTS 13, 15

This love is not limited to one's delight in God, but extends to the brethren. This however is far from constituting any excuse for making this a criterion, to the detriment of the word of that God who, being love, is Himself its criterion (cf. I John 5:2). How do we know we love the brethren ? If, says John, we love God and keep His commandments.

Thus when seeking the missionary programme, the brethren were serving the Lord in seeking His face, and fasting. While they so associated as one family, the Holy Spirit told them to assign Barnabus and Saul to missionary outreach. More, the word was rather this, ' for the work to which I have assigned them.' This features the fact that it is not mere program per se, but a labour of which the Lord is the director and the One who calls. It was not a church which was the author, but God; not a proposition which was in view, but the Lord. How ludicrous this modern missionary procedure for many which would have them assessed by secular psychology, when the world by wisdom did not even KNOW GOD, far less HOW to follow Him! (I Corinthians 1:20ff.).

What does it say ? This:

^"Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?

"Where is the disputer of this age?

"Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

"For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

So has man become his own god more and more, and this lamentable cultural adjunct to the current international approach to spiritual insanity which has its own testimony in statistics, is invading some bodies called churches,

	as if it were some kind of advance to regress,
	or some kind of knowledge to be ignorant, and to share the apathetic moral engineering of the Tin God Towers which this world loves to erect.

Not so is the leading of the Lord, where God Himself assigns the commentary and the interpretation, and where He led His Church! It is not a matter in essence of return to the 'good old days', but to the 'good spiritual ways' of the Lord who does not change. If the present is worse, it is not worse because it is present, but because so many absent themselves from the divine donation which is better than present or past, the wisdom not of flesh with its unbelief marked on the very hide of so many seminaries, like condemned cattle: but of God. It does not change. His ways do not change (Habakkuk 3:6).

From this beginning came such a plethora of power and purity, such a wonder of missionary work that the world has rarely seen its like. Soon were they in Cyprus, with marvels occurring, while Paul was to move in various company through Asia (of that day), to Europe, founding churches, apparently even moving to Spain, to Rome as a prisoner, fares paid by the State it seems in that case, to Rome as a testimony. What could he do there then ? He could speak even to "those of Caesar's household" very possibly, his message proliferating to many people during his considerable period of confinement in a villa, a time for  great depth and portent.

Barnabus, who first worked with Paul, later disagreed with the apostle regarding his projected non-use of John Mark, who had failed them in Cyprus to the extent he returned to Jerusalem. That departure occurred, on the part of Mark,  while their missionary journey continued, the young man notwithstanding. returning to that city. Paul saw the danger of non-continuance with a suggestion of unreliability, perhaps - and we do not know why Mark returned when he did on this first occasion. Barnabus sensed the necessity of continuing to expose young Mark to missionary work.

Hence the older Barnabus continued at first again  to Cyprus (Acts 15:37-40), with the younger Mark, who eventually became like a son to Peter, and according to tradition, worked with Peter's memories as promised (John  14:26), under the Lord, to write Mark's Gospel.

Perhaps Barnabus, expert in gracious help, was used while Paul, in the work of great self-discipline continued on his spiritual invasion of Europe! In this way, both Paul and Barnabus were used together, and that in their individual specialisations, and then separately, so that God was glorified soon, in that the work proceeded with BOTH, each with a new partner for the labours in view; and later, indeed through the millenia in the writings given to Paul and to Mark!

How manifold are the Lord's operations, how great His wisdom, and how love that continues in this way or that, is vindicated, each specialisation intact, each insight rewarded, neither incompatible; but just as some works are good training grounds, some are not, and when all is realised and performed in grace, nothing contrary to the word of God, then is that salutary realisation enhanced, that with God, there is completeness, with man, there are various gifts, and the disposition of forces and people, this is the office of the Lord Himself!

THE NINTH  : GALATIANS 2, ACTS 22:18

The reference to Acts 22, it should be realised, is to a recounting of an earlier action, that at Damascus, which Paul is making in giving testimony of his actions, and the Lord's dealings, in Jerusalem when faced with a riot and possible murder. Thus we do well to go back in time and then to move forward a little, with such earlier events in view.

Paul too had been required to begin his missionary activity, though not at first in any formal church sense,  after his conversion; and it was in Damascus that he had given his testimony of Jesus as the Christ, following the curing of his blindness through Ananias' faithful and courageous coming. Let down by a basket, to escape probable extermination programs of those in Damascus who wanted no Messiah in Christ, he made his way in three years' time to Jerusalem, where the impact seems to have been considerable. Here the Lord, at this time, it seems from Acts 22:18 and Galatians 1:18-23, spoke to him to leave that city, for they were not willing at that time to "receive your testimony concerning Me", and there  the Lord did not admit the relevance of Paul's plea concerning his earlier life of Pharisaic persecution of Christians. No, DEPART, He exclaimed to Paul, MAKE HASTE,  "for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles." Former bonds can readily become chains!

Here we learn that leading involves the PERSONAL waiting on the Lord of each sheep; for the Shepherd is most personal, and has made personality, and knows how to guide. Paul proceeded to an extensive missionary program, but did return to Jerusalem years later in the matter of the circumcision which arose (Acts 15), when things had changed with the growing maturity of the Church, and the need for such as Paul to be present in the disentanglement of doctrine from the heretical Judaising of some (cf. Galatians 2:4-5) made the visit wise.

Concerned, he came. Here is a message to any who imagine that there is no wisdom in the multitude of counsellors after all, or that there is no need for more than a simple independent church situation, or for any form of church to church association, which allows the sort of facing of issues of common and wide character, as was done in the meetings recorded in Acts 15.

Speaking of circumcision, the apostle considered the doctrine some sought to impose and noted this of certain action, that it was (Galatians 2:4)

"...because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privately to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you."

Paul did not dally, dither or delay, compromise or seek to keep the 'boat from rocking'. It was in peril already, and to seek artificial balance for a wild and witless voyage is less important than finding the resolution of the storm. AT ONCE, not for one hour waiting, he took the issue troubling the church to the meeting in Jerusalem. When you do not operate on some cancers, later you cannot!

Here is the impetus coming from the NECESSITY to keep the church free from bondage, and on this topic Paul is given great teaching in Galatians 3 and 5, asking them if they had by keeping the law been converted, and insisting on keeping in the Lord, not by meritorious works, let alone those already fulfilled in their signification, and no longer applicable (like circumcision), but by the same faith without works as a BASIS through which they had been saved (cf. Romans 3:23ff., Ephesians 2:1-10). Naturally works are good (cf. Galatians 2:10, Titus 3:8), but emphatically NOT in that part of the building of faith!

In fact, Christ showed fruits as the result of abiding in Him, who does the works, and bringing forth fruit is a result of what you are, and in the Christian, of what you have been born again to become, so that it is a function brought to fruition, not a performance to be an exhibit (Matthew 7:17-19). A good tree CANNOT bear bad fruit, nor a corrupt one good fruit. This is the word of Christ. Trying to plant yourself or to make yourself by fruit is ludicrous. HE makes and plants you first (Isaiah 61:3, John 3, Titus 3:5ff.), and then, so made and placed, and so watered by His Spirit, you bear fruit as a matter of course. THIS is the undoubted teaching and indeed emphasis of Christ.

So did the Lord use them, each in specialised ways, to build for all! So He led them in a prepared way, even on the highway of holiness, so different from the new churches with new morals and new doctrine, a new gospel for a new Age which is becoming old before its time, together with those long astray in their fruitless search for making a way in by their fruit, in whole or in part, already haggard and hapless!

 

THE TENTH: ACTS 16

After our little interlude relating to Acts 22 and Galatians 2, with Acts 15, let us come to a critical development, pivotal and epochal indeed, seen in Acts 16.

 Just as Paul has been led as they prayed in co-ordination and sought with joint labours the will of 
 God for missionary work, so now Paul, on the field, in a matter therefore of intense interest for 
 missionaries, was a given a personal vision of a Macedonian man, across the sea in Europe,
 calling  him to come over and help.

 This startling European call came after most industrious work in what was then called Asia, but now
 Asia Minor, so that it has a past history to precede it. In fact, as they moved from the Derbe, Lystra
 and Iconium area, and on from the earlier Cyprus work, they had been "forbidden by the the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia"  (Acts 16:6), thus limiting their actions in an authoritative manner,
 and making clear that something new was in view.


 Not only so, but they "tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them." This points to the importance of sensible sensitivity to what the Lord has in mind. Not only is it true that man proposes, God disposes, but WISDOM that comes from above (James 1) is to be sought by FAITH FROM THE LORD!

It was then, not pushing vainly on closed doors, or trying to infiltrate through tiny pores, that Paul received his famous 'Macedonian vision' as noted above. What did he then do ? "Immediately he sought to go"! Why ? It was because, with this given to him, he was "assuredly concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel there."

Here is plain the FAITH with which the apostle had been led to accept that particular vision, and the action, for faith has legs and feet. Just as its doctrine is not decapitated, so its feet are not amputated!

It is not that the decision was wild; what more wonderful than to cross to so place of so rich a past, so great a metropolis in its midst! However, what more foolish than to try to go when it is not ready for you, or you are not ready for it. Therefore personal conviction was a part of this proceeding; and what results followed are to be seen in Acts 16-20, for they have shaken this world!

 

THE ELEVENTH : ACTS 18:9-10

Paul in his "journeyings often", being led into one of the most staggering feats of missionary labour one could even well  imagine (as seen, for example in the accounts in I Corinthians 4 and II Corinthians 4), came in due course to Corinth, where he stayed with Aquila and Priscilla who were themselves later to be led to work effectually for the Lord in other parts (cf. Acts 18:18,24-26). Such was the tempestuousness of the impact of the Gospel on the various currents of religion there, that we read (18:9) that "Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ."

In the midst of a regular and potentially dangerous confrontation (as it became in the cases of Iconium, Derbe and Lystra! - Acts 14:5-20)  such indeed as could become a murderous mêlée (Acts 14:19-20), Paul received further guidance from the Lord:

"Do not be afraid but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city."

He continued there for 18 months, before the next species of insurrection, at which he left to return to Antioch.

Here then,  is a compassionate, personally intimate communication, in which personal strengthening, divine comradeship and data for missionary development all appear; and such was the Shepherd who led His sheep in the paths of righteousness, and such the way he went, that the word and the deed matched as in some exquisite tartan, and yes, the result with it all!
 

THE TWELFTH : ACTS 21:11-13

We move now to much later in Paul's missionary work, and he is proceeding to Jerusalem for Pentecost (cf. Acts 20:16). He is moving down the coast from Asia to this target, and time and again he is warned of coming imprisonment if he in fact finds Jerusalem! You see it in Acts 21:4 and 11. The prohibition on Jerusalem was however not to AVOID it but to REALISE that here there was indeed imprisonment coming. They told or impelled him "through the Spirit" not to go to Jerusalem. However the urging appears to have been from their own concern for Paul, whereas the information of his capture was indeed divinely assigned, and utilised in this manner by themselves, out of affection and regard for the apostle.

Thus, it appears that their words were used to urge Paul, in terms of what the Lord had shown them. It was through this revelation that the urging occurred; but the revelation itself was not a prohibition, but an index to coming events.

Of this Paul became assured.

It became a contest, of those so warning him, and testing him through the tender carefulness of their love, pleading with him not to go, just as when Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted, the temptation real enough, and needful enough even though the devil himself was to be at it!  What is sound is shown so.

Eventually, after having had his very feet bound in an extemporary action by Agabus, a prophet, in a dramatic illustration of what was assuredly coming (Acts 20:11), show that this was what would certainly happen to him if he went to Jerusalem, he broke out to those well-intentioned disciples of Christ and said,

"What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart ? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."

They then realised nothing would be gained by continuing in this way. Warned, he went, going he knew it was a suffering that came, like a storm at sea, but his direction was clear, so the storm would be weathered for the sake of the One who sent him, and led him yet.

From this we learn that the Lord's leading needs to be sensitively interpreted, and that each person must have a deep and mature relationship with the Lord, not disposed to ignore what is urged by others, nor yet supinely or superficially to be persuaded contrary to an inward conviction, gained in faith as wisdom. This is far removed from ignoring the challenge of others, in such a case; but it is also not identical with a guideless, rudderless acceptance of things so given without personal awareness of the Lord's personal will.

NOTHING replaces the combination in faith  working through love,  of careful appraisal in the Lord, of His will (cf. Peter's appeal to Christ Himself not to die! Matthew 16:22-23, and the rebuke he gained!), with delicate discernment as the brethren plead with this or that understanding.  It is HE who is reliable, who knows HOW to lead His sheep, and His means are no more categorisable as to type, than a work by some great composer; nor less than assuredly in conformity with His written word, since it is His who also leads with it, and through it.

In the end, then, it is the LORD WHO LEADS, and only in love is this going to be understood. Paul loved the Lord, they loved Lord and treasured Paul; but he had his marching orders clear, and it was thus that he proceeded to his grand destinations to follow.

THE THIRTEENTH : ACTS 23:11

Eventually, the apostle reached Jerusalem and was duly taken prisoner. There had been no question of what was coming, only of Paul's going!

Thus as the forces of the unfaithful mounted their charges and challenges against him, the Lord appeared to him and this is the word given: "Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome."

Thus was the constraint Paul had gained to go forward to Jerusalem, AT ANY COST, moving into the realm of ROME, with this stark confirmation. THIS was the way he would go to the imperial headwaters!

Suffering was not an issue; getting the work done, this was; and the love of Christ was such that Paul wanted to go, and was led to go to that vast metropolis and spend a protected time there, even if his liberty was decreased. It was not incommodious altogether, and there was provided a working situation, when he got to Rome (Acts 28:23-30). Paul in fact rented a house and "preached the kingdom of God... teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him"!

THE FOURTEENTH : ACTS 27:23ff.

On the way to Rome, Paul experienced trial enough. One example will suffice.

Great was the opportunity to learn patience. Thus he warned those conveying him as a prisoner to Rome,  in a certain port NOT to set out till the Winter was over; but they insisted and the ship was wrecked. Such is the plight of the prisoner! However, as the fateful time came when the ship would hit the rocks, Paul received the message,

"Do not be afraid Paul, you must be brought before Caesar and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you."

This is a very tender revelation, since it makes it virtually certain that Paul was with considerable empathy praying for the lives of the crew! THIS is one of the three main things in the message, the other two being his safe-conduct assurance from the Lord, to get to Caesar, in the place where work was to be done, and that there was no need to fear.

So in various ways did God lead His people,

	by vision, or revelation of a particular need,
	or constraint, or by challenge, or test,
	or by encouragement, or by direction,
	or by deep movements to the very heart, as in the binding episode noted above,  at Tyre,
	by deliverance amidst murder,
	by boldness, by fearless exposure and by suffering as a badge of endurance (cf. Acts 5:41-42),
	by patience required,
	by confirmation never expired,
	by presence, by company
	and by containment of the enemy by this means and that, until the work was done.

How marvellous it therefore seemed to Paul, when the great race neared its end on this earth.

After for so long a period of having been led of the Lord in the objectively commanded work of PREACHING the Gospel and TEACHING all things whatsoever the Lord had commanded (Matthew 28:19-20 did not cease to apply to this apostle as one born out of due time!), and in the inwardly constrained manner, both with the prayers shared with the brethren, and in a measure of independence when this was called for:  his time came to depart to that same Lord.

Hear what he says (II Timothy 4:1-8), and consider how greatly he had been delighted in
the LORD THE LEADER, and in LETTING THE LEADER LEAD!

"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

"For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. "Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing."

Thus did the end mirror the beginning, and the midst echo the first and call to the last, one Lord, one power, one leading, one grace, one love in all and with all, and toward all, and thus did the action of the Acts of the Apostles show in the practical laboratory of history, the holy wisdom of the Leader, allied with that compassion both for His worker and for those for whose blessing he worked, diligent in tribulation, deterrmined in difficulty, loving amidst outcry, fearless in exposure, clear in exposition, till the end became a mere episode in the whole, directed with the same thrust to the Lord for whom he went, now that he was coming to Him, who came for him.

NOTES

*1 See Outline of I Corinthians 13.