“OVERCOMING SATANIC OPPOSITION”
ACTS 13:1-12

I. Introduction
“You cannot defeat an enemy you will not acknowledge or even name!” How many times have you heard a statement like that used against the current leadership in Washington when it comes to the world-wide fight against radical Islamic terrorism? Much of the current de-bate over who will be the next President centers on that very point, doesn’t it? One side sim-ply refuses to call it what it is. But haven’t the terrorists declared war on us? Yet some of our leaders seem to think that if they downplay or even ignore it, it will just go away.

“You cannot defeat an enemy you will not acknowledge or even name!” I would argue that the very same problem exists in the church. However, it isn’t radical Islamic terrorism that’s in question. Rather, it is the reality of Satan and his demons that is so often downplayed or even ignored by much of the church. But hasn’t Satan declared war on God’s people? Do we think that if we downplay or ignore him and his demons they will just go away?

We don’t like to think about terrorism or Satan, but as long as we live in this fallen world, they are both realities that we must come to grips with, and face head on. Does that frighten us? Probably so! But all true Christians have this absolute and unchanging promise that our God will be with us.
1 John 4:4
4 You are from God, little children, and have (already) overcome them (demons); because greater is He who is in you (the Holy Spirit) than he (Satan) who is in the world.

That is an unconditional promise! Every true Christian is indwelled by the Holy Spirit. So you need have no fear of Satan and his demons. You cannot be possessed by them. How-ever, you certainly can be oppressed by them. That reality takes us to another promise of God; one that is conditional. It is conditional based on your attitude.
James 4:6b-8a
6b God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8a Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

There is the condition! Before you can resist the devil, you must humble yourself before God. Listen, when it comes to personal evangelism, we need to remember that we are going into battle, not against the person with whom you are talking. But you are going into battle with Satan and the powers of darkness.

Remember that Satan is the ruler of this world. In John 12:31 Jesus said, “…now the ruler of this world shall be cast out.” Satan was defeated and sentenced at the cross.
That sentence will be carried out at the Second Coming. Revelation 20:10 says, “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire…” In Matthew 25:41 Jesus identi-fied the lake of fire as, “…eternal fire which has been prepared for Satan and his angels.”

But in the meantime, as the gospel goes forth, the battle rages on. And Satan does all he can to stop it. He hides the truth from unbelievers, and he attacks you.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4 in whose case the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbe-lieving, (so) that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

God has given us all the instruction we need to withstand Satan’s attacks. It begins with what James has already told us. Listen to him once more.
James 4:6b-8a
6b God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8a Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

And here is how you do it…
*Ephesians 6:10-18
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.
11Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with (1) truth, and having put on the breastplate of (2) righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of (3) the gospel of peace;
16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of (4) faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.
17 And take the helmet of (5) salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is (6) the Word of God.
18 With all prayer and petition (7) pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.

The fact that we face satanic opposition in all of our efforts to tell the truth about the Lord Jesus and spread His gospel should surprise no one. The devil has always stood against God and His plan of salvation. Jesus said so when He confronted the Pharisees in John 8.
They claimed that God was their Father, but Jesus told them He was not. He said…
*John 8:42-44
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I pro-ceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.
43 “Why do you not understand what I’m saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in Him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

These truths about Satan and the opposition we face in this life must be clear in our minds as we continue our verse-by-verse study of the Book of Acts. In today’s text we come to a ma-jor turning point in the progress of the gospel. Saul of Tarsus will become the Apostle Paul, and we will go with him and his companions as they set off on what has come to be known as the first missionary journey.

Guess what! Their first encounter will be satanic opposition to them and to the truth they are bringing with them.
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II. Review
After Stephen’s martyrdom in Acts 7, the persecution of the new Jewish Christians intensi-fied in Jerusalem. As a result, many of them fled to the four corners of the Roman Empire. But they took the gospel with them and faithfully preached it wherever they could. And as result of that, many Gentiles came to saving faith, and they began to plant churches. The most prominent among them was the church at Antioch in Syria.

When word of the church started by Gentiles in Antioch (#7 on the map) reached the Chris-tians who had remained in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to investigate. What he found was a good and growing church. It was hungry for truth and needed teachers. So in Acts 11:25 Barnabas remembered Saul and went to Tarsus (#8 on the map) to find him.
*Acts 11:26
26 …and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for an entire year they met with the church, and taught considerable num-bers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

The rest of Acts 11 tells us of a great famine that was about to sweep through the region. So the church at Antioch sent Barnabas and Saul to Jerusalem with an offering to help feed the brethren who needed the food. The scene then shifts to Jerusalem where, in Acts 12, Herod Agrippa I has the Apostle James executed and Peter thrown in jail. Acts 12 concludes with Peter’s miraculous release from prison and Herod’s death –
God struck him down and, “…he was eaten by worms and died (v. 23).”
*Acts 12:24-25
24 But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.
25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them, John, who was also called Mark.
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III. Text
And with that the scene shifts from Jerusalem back north to Antioch. (#2 and #7 on the map)
*Acts 13:1-12 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
1 Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teach-ers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2 And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
5 And when they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John (Mark) as their helper.
6 And when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus,
7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the Word of God.
8 But Elymas the magician (for thus his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
9 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him,
10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?
11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.
12 Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.

The Book of Acts can be divided into three parts. Acts 1-8 tells of the birth of the church in Jerusalem. Acts 9-12 tells of the gospel going out to Judea, to Samaria, and to the Gentiles in Caesarea. Now, beginning in Acts 13, we will see the gospel go out to the whole world.
Jesus’ prophecy in Acts 1:8 is coming to pass. He said, “…you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of earth.” And it is here, beginning in Acts 13, that the focus will shift from Peter and his ministry in the Jew-ish church, over to Paul and the spread of the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. From here on, the “home port” of the Christian church will be in Antioch, not in Jerusalem.

We’ll meet new people and go along with them as the gospel goes in new directions… and Satan does his best to stop it.
*Acts 13:1
1 Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teach-ers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

These prophets and teachers formed the core of the leadership in Antioch. Both the prophets and the apostles preached God’s Word and were responsible for the spiritual safety and well-being of the early church. In those years before the NT was completed, the prophets often received new revelation from God. But once the NT was written and God’s revelation was completed that function was no longer necessary. The canon of Scripture was complete – all that God wants us to know in this age is found between Genesis and Revelation and in the other sixty-four books of the Bible.

While the prophets were receiving doctrinal instruction from God, the apostles were receiv-ing practical instruction. The necessity for this is clear. They did not yet have even one of the twenty-seven books of the NT. But again, when the NT was completed there was no longer any need for the apostles to receive direct revelation from God.

Yet many in the church today like to call themselves prophets and apostles. The Roman Catholic Pope is looked upon as both a prophet and an apostle. The Mormons are led by their prophets and apostles. Many in the Pentecostal/Charismatic/Word-Faith movement like to call themselves prophets and apostles. And in a variety of other denominations and churches those titles are given to both men and women. But they are all misapplied.

The confusion seems to be centered around the fact that while the work of prophets and apostles goes on today, the offices (and titles) of prophet and apostles ceased at the end of the first century (the “Apostolic Age”). So when I preach and teach the Word of God, I am doing the work of a prophet, but neither I nor anyone else today is a prophet. And when you talk to someone about the Lord Jesus and His gospel, or when you go onto the mission field, you are doing the work of an apostle, but neither you nor anyone else is an apostle.

Listen, the power and authority God gave those men was massive. It served a purpose until the Scriptures were completed. When they passed from the scene, that power and authority passed with them. But what if I, or some other religious leader, could convince you that he had the same power and authority that the first century prophets and apostles had?
Think of what they could do. Look at what they are doing today! It’s easy to see how false teachers and cult leaders can blind the minds of the unsuspecting and untaught, isn’t it?

The five men we meet in Acts 13:1 were true prophets and apostles. It is through their min-istries that the church in Antioch was growing in the faith. Who are they? We already know Barnabas. He was a Levite from the island of Cyprus who had sold some of his land and gave the proceeds to the church in Jerusalem (Acts 4:37). He was the one who convinced the apostles that Saul’s conversion was genuine (Acts 9:27). He was the one who brought Saul into the ministry in Antioch (Acts 11:25-26). And he, along with Saul, brought the offering from the Christians in Antioch to the Christians in Jerusalem. Even his name – Barnabas –means “Son of Encouragement.” It’s easy to see what kind of a man he was.

But little is known of Simeon, Lucius, or Manaen. Simeon, a.k.a. Niger (“black”), may have been African or he may simply have had darker skin. It’s tempting to think of him as Simon of Cyrene, who carried Jesus’ cross in Mark 15:21, but there’s no evidence to connect him with that. It’s also tempting to tie Lucius to Luke, but there’s no evidence for that either. Manaen’s story might be fascinating if we only knew it. He may have been educated together with Herod when they were children, or he may have been one of Herod Antipas’ foster-brothers, or. In any case, he had an earlier connection to the household of the Herods.
*Acts 13:2-5
2 And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
5 And when they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John (Mark) as their helper.

These five men – Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul – were doing what spiritual leaders are supposed to be doing – they were praying. They wasted no time on activity plan-ning and program development. Rather, they were concerned with serving God by oversee-ing the church, ministering to the flock, and seeking ways to obey the Great Commission. By the way, church leaders are called to give themselves first to God and then to others.
Colossians 3:23-24
23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men;
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

2 Timothy 2:15 (the “AWANA” verse)
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.
In Acts 13:2 these church leaders prayed with fasting. Scripture often connects prayer and fasting. The point is that when we are deeply involved in prayer, there is no desire to eat. That is to say that meal times may come and go by unnoticed when spiritual issues take cen-ter stage. Now here’s something to think about. The Bible never commands us to fast. But Jesus assumed that His disciples would periodically do so.
Matthew 6:16-18
16 “And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
17 “But you, when you fast, anoint you head, and wash your face
18 so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” (back to Acts 13)

In Acts 13:2-5 we see the results of their prayer and fasting. The Holy Spirit directed them to send Barnabas and Saul off on the first missionary journey. (#7 on the map.) They took Barnabas’ cousin, young John Mark with them, went down to Seleucia (Antioch’s seaport), and boarded a ship bound for Salamis, the main port city on Cyprus, Barnabas’ home. (#9 on the map.) Upon their arrival in Salamis they immediately began to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
*Acts 13:6-8
6 And when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus,
7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the Word of God.
8 But Elymas the magician (for thus his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

Paphos (#10 on your map) was the Roman seat of government on Cyprus. It was also one of the places where the goddess Venus (a.k.a. Aphrodite) was worshiped. The great annual fes-tival held there was called the Aphrodisia (from where we get the word “aphrodisiac”). The tem-ples in Paphos were little more than houses of prostitution. It was into this atmosphere that Barnabas and Saul brought the gospel. And it was here in Paphos that they encountered a false prophet who called himself “Bar-Jesus (“Son of Salvation”),” but his real name was Elymas, an Arabic word for “magician.” Elymas had been having a great influence on the Roman provincial governor, Sergius Paulus.

But v. 7 says that Sergius Paulus was “…a man of intelligence” who was interested in what the men from Antioch had to say about spiritual things. And in v. 8, Elymas, realizing his influence with the governor may soon be lost, tried to turn him away from Barnabas’ and Saul’s preaching. And so the battle was on! It had nothing to do with the eloquence of the men involved. It had everything to do with the spiritual war for the souls of men.
J. Vernon McGee makes no bones about it. In his “Thru the Bible” commentary he says,
“This is satanic opposition. This man (Elymas) had the governor under his influence… there are a great many rulers today who are under the influence of all kinds of cultism which is in opposition to the Word of God and… the gospel.” (p. 567)

John MacArthur’s take on this speaks to something we’ve often talked about before. In his commentary on Acts 13 he says,
“It is well to remember the lesson of these verses. Leading someone to Christ is not merely an academic exercise, nor is it a matter of making a successful sales pitch. Rather, it is an all-out war against the forces of hell. Saul and Barnabas battled Bar-Jesus for the soul of Sergius Paulus.” (p. 9)

Listen, when you want to speak to someone about the Lord, be prepared, be “prayed up,” if you will. Pray that the Holy Spirit will be your guide. Pray that God will open the heart of the one with whom you will speak. And pray that the forces of hell will be thwarted and even defeated! You are going into a spiritual battle!

Years later Paul would remind the church at Ephesus – “…our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this dark-ness… (Ephesians 6:12).” It’s here that we first see Saul of Tarsus become the Apostle Paul.
*Acts 13:9-12
9 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him,
10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?
11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.
12 Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.

As the Apostle Peter had pronounced immediate judgment on Ananias and Sapphira for the sin of lying to the Holy Spirit in Acts 5, so now the Apostle Paul pronounces immediate judgment on Elymas for the sin of passing himself off as a true prophet of God. Paul’s pro-nouncement against Elymas – who called himself “Son of Jesus” – went directly to the heart of the matter. Elymas wasn’t a son of Jesus, he was a son of Satan, and he would be judged. Only true apostles were given the power to pronounce the immediate judgment of God.

This is the first time Saul (his Jewish name) is called Paul (his Gentile name). From this point on Luke will refer to Barnabas and Saul as Paul and Barnabas. Paul’s ministry has begun. And in v. 12 Luke records the first fruits of that ministry.
The Roman governor, Sergius Paulus, comes to saving faith in Christ. At first glance you may think he was persuaded by the blindness of Elymas. But that didn’t persuade him at all. He was familiar with the magic tricks and sorcery that went on around him. No one is ever saved by sight (or lack of it) people are saved by faith! Hebrews 11:6 says, “… and without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is…”

Look again at Acts 13:12 – the miracle authenticated the messenger, not the message. It was not Elymas’ blindness that convinced Sergius Paulus. It was the “…teaching of the Lord.”
• Once again, it should be clear that it’s only the power of God’s Word that can save a soul. You need to rely on it.
• Once again, it should be clear that you do not need to perform miracles to see a soul saved. You have to speak God’s Words.
• Once again, it should be clear that you do not need to be eloquent to see a soul saved. You have to speak God’s truth.
• Once again, it should be clear that you do not need anything other than the purity and simplicity of the gospel to see a soul saved.

Paul would later write…
Romans 1:16a
16a For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…
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IV. Conclusion
Let me close with a little history of Sergius Paulus, the first Gentile Christian saved on the first missionary journey. In the nineteenth century Scottish archeologist Sir William Ramsey tried to prove that the Book of Acts was a hoax. He said there was no evidence that Sergius Paulus ever existed. But in 1877 the American archeologist Louis di Cesnola, while digging on the island of Cyprus, unearthed an inscription near the city Paphos that identified Sergius Paulus as the Roman proconsul. But there’s more.

Later, both Cesnola and Ramsey uncovered evidence that the governor’s daughter, Sergia Paula, and his grandson, Gaius Caristanius also converted to Christianity. So not only was Sergius Paulus a real person, his conversion was real too. All of this serves to remind us that you can trust your Bible as being true and accurate when it comes to spiritual things. And you can also trust it when it comes to historical things.

But the main thing to take away from this morning’s text is this: In the battle for the souls of men we are always opposed by Satan. You can be sure that won’t change, but you can also be sure God will win the war. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me shall come to Me… (John 6:37a).” What a privilege it is to be used by God as warriors in that battle as we watch others come to saving faith in Christ!
~ Pray ~