THE KING’S BUSINESS
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( multitude), crying out, and saying, Sirs, Why do ye these thingst We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you {bring you good tidings ), that ye should turn from these vanities (vain things'), unto the living God which made (add, the) heaven, and (add, the) earth, and the sea, and all things that'are therein {in them is').” Paul and Barnabas quickly showed the stuff o f which they were made. As soon as they saw what the people were up to (hey refused their proffered homage with mingled horror and sorrow. Their action was instant and very energetic, they sprang tight into’ the midst o f the multi tude and protested against their folly and their sin. Would that more o f us today had the spirit o f Paul and Barnabas! Alas! so many of us are so ready to receive the homage and worship and adoration that belong only to God. Paul and Barnabas would permit no mistaken notions about themselves, they would have it clearly understood that they were o f' the same stuff as other men. Not a few today would rather like it if men would think o f them as belonging in a class by themselves, not quite o f the same make-up as ordinary mortals. “Why do ye these things?” they shouted. These Lycaonians had probably never stopped to a$k that question. They just did these things without asking. It is a great thing to get people to asking themselves w hy'they do the things they do. If some o f us would stop to ask our selves why we are doing some things we are now doing we would soon quit doing them. It is a great thing to get people to -thinking. It is the first step toward repentance (Ps. 119:59; Luke 15:17, 18). It -is a very significant change in the Revised Version when the word “preach” is rendered with a stricter regard to the Greek by “bring you good tidings:” it is : indeed “ good tidings” to proclaim ,unto a man that he ,can turn from idols unto a God who lives, a God who. does things today, a God who has mighty power and who is ready to hear and help those who trust and serve Him. The idols o f the
Lycaonians were “ vain things,” because they could not hear, nor answer, nor help, nor save (cf. Isa. 45:20 ; 46:7; Jer. 10:5; 14:22). The idols o f the world today are different from the idols ,o f these Lycao nians, but they are essentially the same in character. They are “vain things” in which there is no help and no power to help, but the God o f the Bible is the “ living God,” not the god o f the rationalist and deist, a god who once lived and worked, but the God who lives and works today, the God who hears and answers prayers, the God who actually and experimentally saves today, the God who. puts forth His hand and heals, the God who takes a part in our every day affairs and brings things to -pass, who “made the heaven,' the earth and the sea, and all that in them is,” and therefore, “there is nothing too hard for” Him (Jer. 32:17). There is a simple and excellent definition o f conversion in the fifteenth verse. Conversion,is-simply turn ing to God from idols to serve the living and true God (cf, 1 Thess. 1:9). Conver sion, therefore, is a very rational thing. vs. 16-18. “ Who in times past {the gen erations gcfhe by) suffered all (add, the) nations to walk in their own way. Never theless {And yet), He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven (gave you from heaven rains), and fruitful seasons, filling our {your) hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done {multitudes from doing) sacrifice unto them.” God has never in the darkest heathenism left Himself entirely “ without witness” (cf. Ps. 19:1-6; Rom. 1:20). His care for men in doing them good and giv ing rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, and filling their hearts “with food and glad ness,” have born witness to His fatherly love and His forgiving grace (cf. Matt. 5:44, 45; Luke 6:35, 36). Even with these wonderful words Paul found it very dif ficult to keep them back from their pro posed idolatry, and it is hard today to keep men and women back from idolatry even
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