In this message we see an encouraging example of how God uses the evil actions of men for good.  What God had decreed in eternity, men will demand in time.

Teaching Notes:

The Sovereignty Of God Over Evil

Acts 8:1-4

“A very wealthy man we will call Mr. Rich had a beautiful estate covered with every kind of tree. He treated his trees the way some people treat their pets. He even gave each tree a name. Mr. Rich had one particular tree that was his favorite. Unfortunately, he also had an enemy (we will call him Mr. Evil) that hated him and desired to hurt him. However, the enemy could not find a way to carry out his evil desires. One night Mr. Evil thought up a way to deeply hurt and wound Mr. Rich. Mr. Evil climbed over the fence into the orchard and proceeded to chop down Mr. Rich’s favorite tree. The very thought of how hurt Mr. Rich would be when he saw his favorite tree destroyed made Mr. Evil work all the harder. Finally the tree began to fall. Mr. Evil was so excited that he ran the wrong way. The tree fell on him and pinned him to the ground. Shortly after daybreak, Mr. Evil saw 2 men walking toward him and the fallen tree. “I know I am caught, and I know I will be punished, but I don’t care. I ruined your favorite tree!” The poor man was so filled with hatred that he kept saying, “I ruined your tree! I ruined your tree!” Mr. Rich looked at him and said, “The man with me is a building contractor. I must cut down one of my trees to build a summer house for my parents, and I had chosen this spot right here. I brought this gentleman out to show him which tree we would have to cut down, but I see that you have saved me that trouble. Thank you!”

This little fictitious story is a beautiful illustration of the Sovereignty of God Over Evil. This morning I want to examine our text in order to focus first on The Evil Actions of Men (8:1-3), and then on The Sovereign Purpose of God (8:4).

1.   The Evil Actions Of Men:  8:1-3. 

Let’s read all the passages that deal with Saul’s persecution of the church, and then we can try to piece the puzzle together:

Acts 8:3 “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”

Acts 9:1 “But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

Acts 22:4 “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness.”

Acts 26:9 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.” 

1 Tim.1:13 “though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.” 

John 16:2 “Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.” 

So, what picture emerges when we put all this Biblical data together.  Saul, out of an ignorant zeal strove with all his might to stamp out this new sect, this Way, these disciples that worshipped and followed Jesus, all the while thinking he was serving God. 

What approach did he take? He entered house after house.  This tells us a couple of things. First, it tells us that this was not just a few isolated incidents. Saul was doing his dead level best to destroy the church in Jerusalem, so he was going to all the houses where disciples met together. Saul was ravaging the church. This refers to wholesale and extensive damage and harm done to the church. No wonder Luke refers to this as a great persecution. It must have been a horrific time of suffering, grief, and anguish for thousands of believers to uproot themselves, leave their jobs and homes, and flee to another location. 

Second, this tells us that the early Christians met in homes. They met from house to house. I’m sure it was at this time that these early Christians stopped meeting at Solomon’s Portico in the temple precincts. It was just too dangerous to hold public meetings like that. No, they went underground, meeting secretly. Whenever Saul got a lead on a home where believers were meeting, he would break in with his letter of authority from the high priest, and drag off not just the men, but also women to prison! So, what is the end result? Families are being split apart. In some families, the father has been imprisoned. In other families both parents are imprisoned. This would produce wives who were practically widows; and children who were practically orphans. Try to imagine the stress this would put on the mother whose husband was imprisoned to somehow eke out a living and take care of her children, while she is trying to visit and support her husband in prison. 

Some of those who were arrested were brought to the synagogues where they went through extensive questioning by the authorities. Saul even tried to make them blaspheme.  He would put them on the witness stand and then demand that they answer the question, “Who do you believe Jesus of Nazareth is?” If they said, “He is the Son of God, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Savior of the world, the coming King”, he would cry “Blasphemy!” And as we saw in Stephen’s case, the penalty for blasphemy was death by stoning. When the Council took a vote as to whether these Christians were guilty of blasphemy and should be executed, Saul heartily cast his vote against them. In all likelihood, there were many other martyrs besides Stephen who died in this great persecution, probably by stoning.

Try to imagine what this was like for a believer at that time. The church must meet secretly, like they do today in China. Every time they meet there is the fear that the authorities may break into the home at any time and drag away some or all of them to prison, and execute others. Many have already been imprisoned, many families have been split up, many wives have become single parents, and many children have been left without parents, so that the other family members or the church had to take them in. There is weeping, grief, mayhem, and havoc. The suffering has become so intense that multitudes are packing up and leaving in the night, fleeing anywhere, just to get away from this awful persecution. 

The actions of these persecutors was evil. They were inflicting pain and suffering on innocent people, whose only crime was to believe in and follow Jesus of Nazareth. They were guilty of heinous crimes, and one day God will render just retribution to those that are guilty of them.  1Thess.2:14-16

2.  The Sovereign Purpose Of God:  8:4
Notice the words Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria in 8:1. Do those 3 words coupled together like that ring a bell? Do you recall another place where we find them together? Go back to Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  Jesus here is stating the sovereign will of God – what will take place. Did they do the will of God? Well, 1/3 of it. They were Jesus’ witnesses in Jerusalem. In fact they had filled Jerusalem with His teaching by the end of chapter 4. However, they hadn’t taken one step outside of Jerusalem to bear witness of Christ. Is their reluctance or discomfort with evangelizing outside of Jerusalem going to thwart the sovereign purpose of God? Absolutely not! Well, how then is God going to accomplish His purpose to have them bear witness to the end of the earth? He could have done it in a number of ways. However, He chose to do it as a result of this great persecution. Acts 8:4 says “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.”  Acts 11:19-20 tells us that some traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch and preached to gentiles. So here “the end of the earth” is beginning to be reached.

Notice that God is accomplishing His sovereign purpose by using the evil actions of men.  Is this the only place in Scripture where God does that? No!

·         Joseph’s brothers: They sold Joseph into slavery because of jealousy. Their actions were evil. Yet Genesis 50:20 says “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”  God knew that a great famine was going to arise and that many would starve to death, including Joseph’s family, so He sovereignly purposed that Joseph would be sold into slavery, and then rise to the 2^nd in command over all of Egypt, have divine dreams whereby he would store up food in preparation for this famine. So, was God only sovereign over the good actions in the story? Of course not! He was sovereign over all these events, including the treachery, lies, and betrayal of Joseph’s brothers.

·         Isaiah 10:  God decided He would use the wicked nation of Assyria to accomplish His purposes of judgment against Israel and Judah. 10:5-6; 12; 15. Assyria is the rod of God’s anger. God will send Assyria. God uses Assyria to finish His work on Mt. Zion and Jerusalem. Assyria is like an axe or a saw in His hand. Assyria is a tool that God uses to accomplish His purpose. Well, does that mean that Assyria is not culpable for her actions? No! 10:7 – it is not in Assyria’s heart to accomplish God’s purposes. Instead they want to destroy and cut off nations. They do this out of greed for more power and spoils. They are arrogant and boastful (10:12).  So, what is God’s response? He punishes Assyria. 10:12,16. 

·         The Cross of Christ:  here we have the most wicked act in human history – the murder of the Prince of Life. Did God have a sovereign purpose in the cross? Acts 4:27-28. Absolutely! The salvation of His people. Does that remove any moral responsibility or punishment from those who crucified Him? Absolutely not! Acts 2:23 – the hands of the men who crucified Him were lawless. What was the only thing that would satisfy the justice of God? The death of Christ. What was the only thing that would satisfy the hatred and envy of the Jewish religious leaders? The death of Christ. What God decreed in eternity, men will demand in time.

So, what principles of truth can be derive from these Biblical accounts?

1.  God uses evil to accomplish His purposes

2.  Men commit this evil freely. They are not forced or coerced by God. God does not put a gun to their heads to do what they don’t want to do.

3.  God holds men responsible for their evil actions and punishes them for it. 

“What God decreed in eternity, men will demand in time.”

 
Life Application:

1.  Take heart when you consider all the evil in the world. It is tempting to just despair when we contemplate all the horrific evil in this world. Yes it is evil, and it is blameworthy, and God will punish it. Yet, God is going to use all of it to accomplish His good ends. Eph.1:11 – “God works all things according to the counsel of His will.” Without this truth, we would have reason to despair. There would be no reason or purpose in any of these evil acts. Take heart. Trust that God is doing something good that only eternity will reveal. One day all wrongs will be righted.

2.  Take heart when you consider all the afflictions in your life. All of our bodily pains and sufferings, heartaches, griefs, losses and sorrows have a purpose. God has ordained these afflictions, but He has a good purpose in them. Rom.8:28. Should a stone complain of being chipped and hammered on when being fitted for a place in the Temple of the Lord? Should a vine complain of being pruned in order to bring forth abundant fruit? We should not be so concerned about getting rid of our trials as of them being made to the good of our souls. No matter how intense your sufferings, you can always rejoice that God is using them for your good and His glory.

When all you can see is Mr. Evil chopping down your favorite tree, just wait and trust God. In His time, we will see that what is taking place is exactly how God has planned it all along, and His plans are perfect!

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