Turn in your scriptures to Acts
13. I want to do two things this morning. to look at this extraordinary
scene in this church service in Antioch in Turkey, what is
modern day Turkey. As we've been looking for some
weeks, we have come to see that Paul went to this place under
the clear and direct direction of God, the Holy Spirit. to achieve
a purpose of God the Father, that the Son would be lifted
up. And in the preaching of the Gospel,
according to those remarkable words in Acts chapter 3, when
the Gospel is preached by God's servants sent to God's people,
it says, Times of refreshing, Acts 3.19, times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send
Jesus Christ, which was before preached unto you. What a remarkable
promise from God, that in the preaching of the gospel, the
Lord Jesus Christ himself comes, and where the Lord Jesus Christ
himself comes, there is an exposure of humanity for what they are. In Him being exposed, humanity
is exposed. And these, this is the second
Sabbath day in Acts chapter 13, these verses that we're looking
at. I'll just read from verse 34. He'd warned the despisers
in the previous verse, and when the Jews were gone out of the
synagogues, the Gentiles thought that these words might be preached.
to them the next Sabbath. Now, when the congregation was
broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed
Paul and Barnabas, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue
in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath day, almost
the whole city came together to hear the word of God. And when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy and spoke against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming." So here we
have this tumult outside this synagogue on this second Sunday. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold. The furor that had been created
by these unbelieving Jews didn't hinder the proclamation of the
gospel. They waxed bold and said, it
was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken
to you. But seeing ye put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles, who were right there beside them. For so hath
the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee, this is the
Lord speaking about his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, I have
set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest
be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad. When the Gentiles heard about
the Lord Jesus Christ and the absolute sovereignty of God and
the wonder of his successful redemption of his people, and
that he had come and sent these servants of his to proclaim them,
they were glad. They were glad. So there we have
This division between people, the Lord said he didn't come
to bring peace on the earth, he came to bring a sword and
to bring a sword of division that would reach to families
and would reach to synagogues and churches. A sword of division
on one side of that division of people who were despising
and contending against the simple, simple declaration of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the Gentiles were glad. And what did they
do? They glorified this, 13 verse
48, they glorified the word of God. They glorified the word
made flesh. They glorified the word that
spoke of the word made flesh. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. So they were glad because they
believed. They were glad because the word
of God had came to them. And it was a word that was glorious. But he did say to these people
the previous week, they were glad this week because the previous
week he'd said to them, in verse 43, he said, to continue in the
grace of God. He persuaded them to continue
in the grace of God. What a remarkable week that must
have been. What a remarkable series of events
we have laid out before us. What a remarkable testimony to
the work of the Lord in the lives of His people. What a remarkable
testimony to the power of the Word of God. So what is it for
these people? to continue in the grace. In
verse 43 they followed Paul and Barnabas. In verse 42 they besought
that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. They had heard the word of God
and they wanted to hear it again. When you hear the good news of
the grace of God, when you hear the good news of the Lord Jesus
Christ, there's one thing that is worked in the hearts of people.
They want to hear it again. Tell me the same old story. Tell
it to me again. That's why they followed Paul
and Barnabas. In verse 43, They listened to
them. They spoke to them. And verse
44, they gathered with others. The word had gone out. They gathered
with others to hear the word of God. And when the Gentiles,
verse 48, when they heard this, they were glad. It says in Mark
12, 37, that the common people heard him gladly. Someone remarked last week to
Ben that we are an amateur show. That's really good, isn't it?
We're here for the common people. The common people hear him gladly. He called on these people, that's
the call of the Lord on all of us, isn't it, to continue in
the grace of God. to continue, in Acts 11.23, similar
words are used in those people, they clave unto the Lord, they
cleave to the Lord. In Acts 14.22, it's to continue
in the faith, and you remember those earlier chapters in Acts,
they were of one mind, of one heart, and they gathered together,
they gathered together. they continue. But to continue
in the grace of God is to be reminded that there is a beginning
and you don't depart from that beginning. See, Peter said at
the end of his letter, he said to grow in the grace and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But to grow in grace is to be
more aware of your depravity, to be more aware of your demerits,
to be more aware of your absolute and utter need and total dependence
upon the Lord for absolutely everything. for absolutely everything. And it's to be reminded again
and again, it's to grow, isn't it? It's to grow down. It's to
grow down and to grow dependent, to grow, to be more childlike
in your simple trust in what God says in these scriptures. To grow in grace and to grow
in knowledge is to be growing in that awareness of the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ and his hold on your lives. And as we've read in Psalm 48
earlier, that he will be your guide. I need a guide. A child needs a guide. These Jews that contradicted
and blasphemed didn't need a guide. They thought that they had a
guide. their own religion and their own traditions and their
own wisdom. You just become, to grow in grace
and knowledge and to continue in grace, you just become more
deeply settled as grace reigns. Grace is not an inactive element. Grace reigns through faith. It is grace that establishes
your heart. In Hebrews 39 it says it's a
good thing that your heart be established with grace. It is where our hope is, isn't
it? We are dependent upon the grace of God. The grace of God
had sent Paul and Barnabas to this particular city in Turkey,
to that particular group of people on that particular day, to that
particular gathering of those Jews and Gentiles. The grace
of God sends the word of God to those people. And it's where
your hope is. These people were glad because
now these Gentile believers had a hope. They'd heard the Word
of God. They'd heard about the Lord Jesus
Christ. They hadn't heard about what
they must do. They'd heard about what God has
done. They heard about God and his
sovereignty and his reign. They heard about the glory of
his son, that he'd sent him on a mission and that mission was
successful and he raised him from the dead and that now he
reigns over this universe. That's where our hope is, isn't
it? The hope, as 1 Peter 1.13 says, hope to the end for the
grace that is to be brought unto you. You continue in grace because
grace is going to be brought unto you. That's how dependent
we are. Grace is to be brought unto you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation, when God reveals
himself. This grace brings salvation. You continue in this grace because
it's the grace of God, Titus 2.11, that bring us salvation.
You continue in the faith, says Paul to the Colossians, grounded
and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Ephesians says, for by grace
are you saved, through faith and I love what it says next,
and it's not of yourselves, it's not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. Both the grace and the faith
are the gift of God. Now I wonder Paul would say,
as he says to these people, he says to the Colossians, as you
have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
him. No doubt, No doubt these people,
in the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as all who meet
Him, as His Word is declared and as His Spirit moves in their
hearts, they are all made to realise that they are by nature
undeserving of anything from God whatsoever. We drank Satan's
poison personally in the garden. We were there according to the
word of God, and we did it. And we believed the lie that
you shall be as gods. You will be the ruler. You will
know good and evil, implying, of course, that knowing good
and evil, you will know how to choose the good and turn from
the evil. We are all born into this world
dead. Totally dead. Spiritually dead. Spiritually blind. Morally depraved. And we think, we think in our
blindness that our moral activities are in some way worthy of God's
applause and approval on our lives. You'll be as gods is what
we believed. See, when we speak of depravity,
when we speak of people being dead, we just mean simply what
it means. To be dead is to be dead, is
to have no life, to have no feeling, to have no sight, to have no
hearing, to be completely and utterly unresponsive to any stimuli
whatsoever. That's what it is to be dead.
It's worth noting that as we see these men go on their path,
What was the end result of these Jews who contradicted and blasphemed? These men were zealous. These
men were moral. They were living in the midst
of a pagan land as Jews and their morality would have been on display
to show the difference between them and the others. They were
religious, they were devout. They came to church every Sabbath.
They read the scriptures and prayed and they were witnessing
successful. They brought the Gentiles into
their church. And there they were obedient to the law, like
Paul was obedient to the law. And they sincerely thought, they
genuinely, sincerely thought that they were worshipping God.
Saul did that. What did Saul end up being? You see, when the Gospel comes,
when the Gospel comes, people are exposed. These men, if you'd
said to those men as they walked down to church on that first
Sabbath morning, if you'd said to those men that you in your
hearts are murderers, They would never have believed it, and yet
a matter of weeks later, there they are, pursuing Paul like
a dog, and there they are inciting people and joining in to put
him to death, exactly as Paul did. You see, that depravity,
in our depravity, now, we want to say, that's not what me, I
wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. If I'd been
in Jerusalem, I wouldn't have been part of that crowd that
said, crucify him, crucify him. I'm better than that. And in our bust, about ourselves,
we actually reveal what we really are. And we reveal in that depravity,
we reveal in that depravity our need of grace. You see, our inclination
always is to think that I wouldn't be like those other people. I'm
better than that. And what does God say? Who maketh
thee to differ? Who maketh thee to differ? What
do you have that you didn't receive? And why do you boast as if you
hadn't received it? Why do you boast, 1 Corinthians
4.7? See, the only difference between
these murdering Jews and these rejoicing Gentiles is the grace
of God. The only difference. See, grace
exposes. The Gospel proclaimed exposes
people. It reveals the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, but it exposes men before God. The verdict of
God is that light comes. When the Gospel comes, light
comes into the world. This is the condemnation, says
the Lord Jesus in John 3.19, this is the condemnation that
light has come into the world. And what was men's response to
the light that came into the world? That light, which is the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the condemnation. This
is the crisis where the gospel is preached. That's what that
word means. Transliterated just means crisis.
This is the condemnation that light has come into the world
and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. I'm wanting to show what Paul
means when he says continue in the grace of God. I'm wanting
you to see what it is to receive this word gladly. That the Lord
Jesus Christ has taken away that darkness. Men loved darkness. All of us loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to a light, lest
his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought
in God. Paul took these people in this
service in Antioch, he took them to that remarkable passage of
scripture in Isaiah 49. In Isaiah 49, 49.9 declares the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that thou mayest say to the prisoners,
go forth. To them that are in darkness,
show yourselves. and they shall feed in the ways
and their pastures shall be in the high places. It's a glorious
picture of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The grace exposes,
grace reveals, grace saves. Our God saves. He doesn't try. Continue in the
grace. Continue rejoicing in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Continue rejoicing in who He
is and what He has done. This is what it is. This is what
it is. to be someone who receives the
word gladly. We turn in your scriptures to
Isaiah 49. We read earlier that the people
heard this word and their hearts were glad. They were glad. The Gentiles heard this, Acts
13, verse 37, they heard the words of Isaiah 49. And I'd like
as briefly as I can, given the weather, to actually take us
to those words of Isaiah 49. It is a good lesson to remember
that when you come to an Old Testament reference in the New
Testament, that the people of the of the New Testament days
had just one book. And they knew it well, generally.
They knew the Old Testament. And so it is a wise and proper
thing to do. And you can follow your brothers
and sisters from thousands of years ago by reading the rest
of the passage. Read around it. We didn't have
chapter and verse numbers until about the 13th century, they
began to bring them in. And so when Paul mentions a verse,
when Paul is led by the Holy Spirit to quote scripture to
people, They had in their minds all of that section of scripture,
and Isaiah 49 is one of the most remarkable pictures in the Old
Testament of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. His birth,
His life, his sufferings and death and the triumph of all
of that. And the triumph of it all for
a people, for a particular people, that grace might reign. That
these people, like these Gentiles in Turkey and like people in
Nauru and people scattered throughout this world and scattered throughout
time might experience the same thing that Isaiah who wrote it
experienced. Isaiah wrote this and when he
finished writing he must have been glad because he was writing
about a saviour who was glad for the joy set before him. He will see the travail of his
soul and he'll be satisfied The Lord Jesus Christ is God, and
God the Father saw the travail of his soul, and he's satisfied. So we might just read the opening
verses of this chapter of Isaiah for brevity's sake, but just
Let's begin in verse 1. It says listen. In fact, the
word listen is the only time in this particular passage of
scripture, it's the only time it's used, it's translated listen. In all the other occurrences
in the Old Testament, it's always translated here. In fact, it
is like the words of that Famous verse that the Jews learnt off
by heart, the very first verse they learnt as children, was
Deuteronomy 6 verse 4, and it's here, O Israel, the Lord thy
God is one God, Lord Jesus Christ quoted it, and all the Jews knew
it off by heart, and the word shamar is the word that's used
here, so it is listened in our translation, but it also means
to hear. In the shadow of his hand hath
he hid me, And made me a polished shaft, in his quiver hath he
hid me. And he said unto me, Thou art
my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said,
I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught,
and in vain, yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work
with my God. And now, saith the Lord, that
formed me from the worm to be his servant, to bring Jacob again
to him, though Israel not be gathered, yet I shall be glorious. in the eyes of the Lord, and
my God shall be my strength. And he said, this is God the
Father speaking to God the Son, and he said, is it a light thing
that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved of Israel? I will also give thee,
this is the verse that caused these Gentiles to rejoice, I
will give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest
be my salvation unto the ends of the earth. Thus saith the
Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One. To him whom
man despises, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant
of rulers, kings shall see and arise. Princes also shall worship
because of the Lord that is faithful and the Holy One of Israel. And
he shall choose thee. Paul's sermon began with a choosing
God. Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable
time I have heard thee. In the day of salvation have
I helped thee. and I will preserve thee and
give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth
to cause to inherit the desolate heritage. that thou mayest say,
that the Lord Jesus Christ may say to the hearts of his people,
say to the prisoners, go forth. To them that are in darkness,
show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways,
and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst,
neither shall the heat nor sun smite them, for he that has mercy
on them shall lead them. Even by the springs of water
shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains
away, and my highways shall be exalted." There's a highway for
the children of God. that's exalted. Behold, these
shall come from afar. He began by talking about those,
the people who are from afar, are afar away. Behold, these
shall come from far and those, these from the north and the
west and these from the land of Sinim. May God be our guide as we look
at these verses which gave such extraordinary encouragement.
It gladdened the heart. of Gentiles and it gladdened
the hearts of the saved Jews in that synagogue. And we don't
even know from what's recorded whether there was a synagogue
service that day. Maybe Paul and all those who
followed him and believed went somewhere else and had a service
underneath a tree in the dust somewhere and left the synagogue
to the Jews. The offence, of course, as we
saw over this last few weeks, the offence is the description
of the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. The offence is
the fact that he is a sovereign God and he saves his people.
The offence is that you're law-keeping and you're works. and not a contributor
to your salvation in any way at all, that you will be justified,
if you are justified, you'll be justified by a sovereign act
of God, revealed to you by the Holy Spirit, revealing the Lord
Jesus Christ, the one that is only righteous. The Gentiles
were glad. I want us to go from here with
gladdened hearts as we look at these verses. It begins, doesn't
it? Listen, O Isles, our God is speaking. Hear, hear, O Isles. God is calling on us through
his word, through the preached gospel, he's calling on us To
here. The greatest desire of any preacher's
heart is that God would speak to him, but ultimately more than
that, that God would speak to you and speak to your hearts,
to speak to a part of you that no man can speak to you and speak
to you in a way that no man can ever speak to you. To hear him
say, that you are justified, to hear
him say, as Paul had preached in that sermon, to hear him say,
your sins are forgiven. To hear him say to those who
are bound in the prison, there are all sorts of prisons in this
world, aren't there? There's the prisons of drugs
and there's the prisons of addictions of all sorts. There's the prison
of materialism and wanting to have and to have and to have.
There's the prison of your own self-righteousness and your own
worth that you want and take and take and take and you want
everything to be done for you. And for your satisfaction, there
is the prison as I saw the lady who was addicted to ice, the
prison as she was screaming on the street outside here this
morning, so darkened by what had taken her captive. And the prison that is before
us in Acts 13 is the prison of religion. It is a far deeper
and darker prison than you can possibly imagine. Satan's greatest
deception is to get people involved in religion where their righteousness
and their works are affirmed again and again and again. And they are told that salvation
is in their hand. God speaks through his word. I want him to declare his grace. I want him to declare his mercy
and his love to the hearts of his people. I want him to declare
again and again to those who are his, that he's loved you
everlastingly, children of God. He's loved you everlasting, and
as Jeremiah 31 says, Therefore, because He's loved you, therefore
with loving kindness will He draw you. To hear His voice,
to hear the Shepherd's voice, is to be drawn to Him. To be drawn to Him and not drawn
to men. I don't want you to follow men. I don't want you to follow me. I want you to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. I want to hear His voice. I want to hear Him say, your
faith has made you whole to that woman who had no other hope.
Go in peace. Go in peace. Only by the grace of God can
we hear the voice of God. That's why Paul encouraged those
people in Antioch to continue in the grace of God. The greatest
need we have is to hear from God, to hear him speak. We came, as we saw earlier, we
came into this world spiritually deaf and blind. Those people
in that synagogue, they knew the history, and they knew the
words of God, and like the ones that Paul mentioned earlier in
Acts chapter 13, they knew the words of God. They knew them
off by heart. But Paul said, Two things about
them, they didn't know him, they didn't know the Lord Jesus Christ,
even though they had the most extraordinary evidence of who
he was, both in the scriptures and in the history lived out
before them. They didn't know him and they
didn't hear the voices of the prophets. It's more than just
hearing words, it's hearing hearing from Him. And what's the response
of the child of God? Lord, I want to hear. Lord, give
me ears to hear. The hearing ear and the seeing
eye, they're both from the Lord. Give me what You've promised.
Enable me to hear the sweet words of my Saviour. What did he say to Peter on that
night before he was to be crucified? Let not your heart be troubled.
What was going to happen to them? Everything that could bring trouble. And yet, like the people outside
that synagogue in the midst of all of those, that noise and
confusion and trials, they have a word from God that caused them
to be glad. Faith comes by hearing. Faith comes by hearing. Faith comes by hearing. Faith doesn't come by understanding
or intellectual pursuit. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
the Word of God. And what happens to people who
hear the Word of God? The Gentiles, Acts 13.48, the
Gentiles heard this and were glad, and glorified the word
of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life, worked
and worked and worked and worked, as many as were ordained to eternal
life, believed. They simply believed the word. They believe that He is, and
that He is the Rewarder. So God is saying in Isaiah 49,
hear, listen to me speaking to you, and hearken, listen intently,
and listen well. Listen well. I remember saying
over and over again in the early days of our church that there's
one thing that I want us to be characterised by, and that was
simply that we believe God. We believe God. We believe what
God has said in the scriptures. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them. They follow me. And he sets us,
according to Psalm 85, he sets us in the way of his steps. So hear, O Israel. Hear, O Isles. Hear. Hear when God speaks. Listen,
hear, what are the isles a representation of? The isles are representations
of islands cut off from nation Israel and surrounded by water,
and water is a picture of chaos in those days. Hear, hear, oh
isles, unto me, listen to my voice. And hearken ye people from afar. Hearken ye people from afar. All people are afar from God. in our fall with our father and
in our father Adam in the garden, we were far, far removed from
God and God set those angels and that flaming sword and there
is no way back, there's no way back to the tree of life, there's
no way back into the presence of God unless God calls and God
comes. Listen, what do you listen to?
The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of
my mother hath he made mention of my name. We're about to enter
that season where all the world in some way, mercifully, is caused
to think about the Lord Jesus Christ as a baby. If only they'd
think about him as a baby in the context of Isaiah 49, they'd
do away with a whole lot of the nonsense and that they would
be rejoicing. If the Lord gave them grace,
they would be standing in awe and wonder of His Majesty. The Lord hath called me from
the worm, from the bowels of my mother. He hath made mention
of my name. What shall his name be called?
Do you remember the story of the incarnation? Joseph found
Mary to be with child and he was desired to put her away and
do it quietly. I think he still loved her, but
the rumours going around that town must have been appalling
to him. And yet an angel came to him and said, this is from
God. This, as Luke says, is that holy
thing that is in her. And what was the angel's word
to Joseph? You shall call his name Jesus. for, or because, He shall save
His people from their sins. He shall save His people. He
won't come and try and save His people. He shall save His people. That's what His name means. Traditionally
it's translated, Jehovah saves, but it really, really more accurately
is, Jehovah is salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is salvation. He came to save. He came to save
and He did save. He came to save. He came to save
our eternal souls. And He did save our eternal souls. Save me from myself. Save me. Save me that I might
stand in your presence. Hide me in your Son. Save me. Do you pray that prayer? Lord, save me. Save me. I know you saved your people
from eternity. I know you saved your people
on Calvary's tree. I know you're saving your people
throughout time. I know that all of your saved
people will be in heaven with you forever. Lord, save me. Lord
save me, let me hear him say, your sins are put away, it is
finished. What a wonderful thing for the
Lord to say to your heart, that he remembers your sins no more,
they're put away. He came. He came as salvation. Hear, O Isles. Hearken, my people. You people
from afar. You people from afar. You people
in Turkey, this was spoken to on that day in the city of Mandiyok.
You people in Nowra. You people in Bega. You people
scattered throughout all of this world. Listen. How are you going
to listen to the saving of your soul? Exactly like the people
in Sidi and Antioch did, isn't it? If God is intending to save
your soul, he will come to you. If you are going to be given
the grace to hear and believe the Gospel, God comes to you. He will send Jesus Christ. He will send him in the preaching
of the Gospel. He will send him in a way that
will cause you to believe. You are far off. We are far off. We are like the isles, surrounded
by water, surrounded by this world of chaos. You're a far
off. You have no way back if you're
a far off in that day. You can't get there. You cannot
save yourself. You can't get to the tree of
life. Verse 2. God made mention of his name,
and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword." The word of God
is sharp, Hebrews 4.10. Sharp, and it cuts and divides.
We've seen what the word of God did to those people in that that
synagogue in Antioch, those people who were outwardly so moral and
so righteous, weren't they? The Word of God came. The Word
of God came and it's quick, says Hebrews 4.12, and it's powerful. It exposed things that could
never have been exposed before. It's sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and
to the joints in marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart." The Word of God comes. Powerfully,
the word of God comes effectually. The word of God comes to discern
and to divide. In the shadow of his hand he
hath hid me. and made me a polished shaft. In his quiver he hath hid me."
Isn't it remarkable that the Lord Jesus Christ is the light
of the world, but he's actually hidden. He's hidden by the hand
of God, only to be revealed when God chose him. He's hidden in
a quiver. The quiver, of course, is his
word in these scriptures. The Lord Jesus Christ is hidden
in these scriptures. Those people in Jerusalem just
proved the truth of that. The people in Sydney and Antioch
who were contradicting and blaspheming were just living out Isaiah 49. The Word of God was hidden. He
was, as verse 7 says, this Redeemer, he was a man despised and a man
the nation abhorred. He's hidden from people. What
a wonder to have him revealed. What a miracle of grace to have
him revealed. It's the only divine light. Simon
spoke about it and read those verses out of 2 Corinthians 4,
those remarkable verses that describe the coming of the gospel. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our heart to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. A divine light must shine. A God-ordained divine light shines,
and you see Him. And the proof of seeing Him is
simply that you believe. You simply believe. He's hidden. And He said unto me, He said
unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Thou art my servant, O Israel."
You might recall the first mention of that name, Israel, in the
Scriptures in Genesis 32. You know well the story, I trust,
of Jacob coming back in fear. He'd divided up his flocks and
there he was, trying to appease Esau, frightened for his own
life. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
and wrestled with him all night long, if you recall. So the Lord
Jesus Christ came to Jacob. And Jacob keeps asking a question
of the Lord, doesn't he? He says, what's your name? Tell
me your name. And there appears to be no answer.
But the answer's there in the text, as plain as it could ever
be. What's the name? What's the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ? It's Israel, prince with God,
son of the king. The Lord Jesus Christ, as he
does with all of his bride, he gives them his name. He gives
them his name. To be salved is to have his name
as your name. So that God the Father sees you
and his son as one. He's no longer Jacob. In the
rest of the scriptures, whenever it's a reference to Jacob, Jacob
who was a deceiver and a supplanter, whenever Jacob is referred to,
it's Jacob in his human nature. And whenever he's referred to
as Israel, he is the Israel of God. Have you ever wondered like
me when you read Hebrews 11 and you read that great list of those
extraordinary emblems and tokens of grace and emblems of faith.
And you read of what they are, and there's not a single mention,
there's not a single mention of their sin. And you think of
the life of someone like Samson, who was so remarkable in so many
ways, and yet so depraved in so many other ways, and prey
to the wiles of women, and ended his life in tragedy, having had
so much promise to him, and there's not ever a mention. Is Hebrews
11 right? It absolutely is, because how
God sees them is how they are. You'd have no idea from the life
of Lot that Lot was a righteous man, but God says he's righteous. And He is righteous. He is. There's that wonderful verse
in Acts 13 that we looked at. He's justified. Their sins aren't mentioned because
their sins do not exist. Because they and the Lord Jesus
Christ are one. That's why. Thou art my servant,
O Israel. 49 verse 3. In whom I will be
glorified. God will be glorified by his
activities in the lives of his people, which reflect the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ in saving grace. To be glorified. You might remember to be glorified
is to be part of that eternal covenant, to be glorified is
to be one with the Lord Jesus Christ. Let this mind, Philippians 2,
let this mind be in you which also is in Christ Jesus, who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. He was happy to be a servant, but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient under death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him and given
him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth
and things under the earth, that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, Jesus Christ is God over all, to the glory
of God the Father. is a servant, O Israel, in whom
I will be glorified." And then we have, as remarkable in the
Scriptures, we have these conversations between God the Father and God
the Son, and we actually, by the Scriptures, are allowed in
to hear them talking one to the other. And this is the Lord Jesus
Christ talking in the sadness and the loneliness of him on
Calvary's tree. He said, I have laboured in vain. If you were looking from that
cross, could you see anything of any reward? I've laboured
in vain. I've laboured in vain. I have spent my strength for
naught. and in vain. On Calvary's tree, abandoned
by God, abandoned by all of his closest friends, left alone with
just the sins of his people upon him, at the time of the greatest
evidence of his faithfulness, was the greatest depth of his
abandonment. It may well have seemed that. But he believed God. In the midst of all of that,
when he sees nothing around him that could cause there to be
seen by men any profit from this work at all, as men mocked and
despised him and spat upon him and mocked him for who he said
he was. He says, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. He believed God. He believed
God. He was obedient unto death. See, what does God require of
you? He requires faithfulness. What sort of faithfulness does
he require of you? He requires perfect faithfulness. faithfulness unto death. And
he was. No wonder Paul could say, I'm
crucified with Christ, yet I live, yet not I. The life I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God. It is his
faithfulness that his bride wears as her robe. He believed God. He believed God all the time,
in all circumstances. What did he believe? He believed the Scriptures, brothers
and sisters. He believed the Scriptures. He
believed Isaiah 49. He believed what God had said.
And then he says, verse 4, yet surely my judgment is with the
Lord and my work with my God. He was that surety from all eternity. He believed God that he was going
to be rewarded. He believed God that in that
eternal covenant, those details of that eternal covenant that
were worked out in his blood, that he was going to be, as David
said in 2 Samuel 23 verse 5, yet the Lord has made with me,
even though my house not be so with God, these could be the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ, yet he has made with me an eternal
covenant, ordered in sure and in every detail. It's faith,
he trusted the word of God. His faithfulness. We bring His
faithfulness back to His Father. And verse 5, Now saith the Lord,
deform me from the worm to be your servant, to bring Jacob
again to Him. Though Israel not be gathered,
that must be a reference to nation Israel because he gathers all
of his people and none of them can be lost. Yet shall I be glorious
in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength. In the midst of all of this,
my God shall be my strength. And he said, it is a light thing
that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee
for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation to
the ends of the earth. He's going to raise up the tribes
of Jacob. that this God, this Saviour has
a people that's scattered throughout this world and he must bring
them in. They'll come from the north and
the east and the south and they must come in and these Gentiles
in Antioch heard that. They heard this and it was glad
tidings. Thou mayest be my salvation to
the ends of the earth. So He's not offering anything. He is a successful Redeemer. Next verse. Thus saith the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel. He wasn't trying to redeem anyone
and His Holy One to Him whom man despises, to Him who the
nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers. Kings shall see and
arise. Princes also shall worship because
of the Lord that is faithful, the Holy One of Israel. He shall
choose thee. These people were rejoicing in
a God who is sovereign, a God who gathers people, a God who
makes promises. Thus saith the Lord in an acceptable
time, I have heard thee. And in the day of salvation I
have helped thee. God the Father heard his Son,
he saw the travail of his soul, and he's satisfied. Justice,
holy justice is satisfied. I have heard thee. I have helped thee and I will
preserve thee and give thee for a covenant of the people. He gives his son. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the covenant. It's the covenant in his blood.
He is the covenant. He is that eternal covenant to
establish the earth, to cause, to inherit the desolate heritage.
Are you glad? Are you glad about a sovereign
God? Are you glad about a God who
can now, because of his successful work, because of that eternal
covenant being enacted, because of that eternal covenant in his
blood being ratified on Calvary's tree, and then The outworking
of that is the gathering of these people from all over the world,
the gathering of the Gentiles, and the gathering is going to
continue, brothers and sisters, until the Lord has gathered the
last of His own, and then there is no reason whatsoever for this
earth to continue another second. He's gathered the last, and they'll
all be with Him. Have you been a prisoner? He
says, go forth, verse 9, have you sat in darkness? Show yourselves. Are they glad words? They're
glad words to the sinners in Antioch. I'll just read some
more of them. He shall lead them. He have mercy
on them and he shall lead them. Even by springs of water shall
he guide them. We need a guide through this
world, a guide unto death, a guide who is faithful. We need a guide
who causes us to come before his father robed in a righteousness
that God declares to be holy. We need a guide. We need someone
to take our sins and bear them in his own body and take them
away. That's why in verse 13, the heavens
are singing. And be joyful, O earth, and break
forth into singing, O mountains, for the Lord has comforted His
people. He closed thus. Go down to verse
18 and we'll finish there. As I live, saith the Lord, thou
shalt surely clothe thee with them all. He's robed. He's robed with his bride. We are all children of God, hidden
in him. And he binds them to himself,
as a bride does. I couldn't believe what I read.
Brad gave this to me some considerable time ago. This is what religion
is saying just up the road from us. It says, your decision determines
your destiny for eternity. Just like in marriage, God has
made his choice. He said, I love you, I do. Now it's up to you to respond
to his love and say, I love you, I do. Our God is bigger than
all of that. He has a bride, a scattered bride,
a desolate bride, a bride in prison, a bride in darkness. a bride that he's loved from
everlasting, a bride that he died for, a bride that he'll
come and get, a bride that he'll send his gospel to, a bride that
he'll send the light, the light of the blessed Holy Spirit will
shine upon the words of scripture and show us the Lord Jesus Christ. A light, a freedom, a comfort that made the hearts
of the people in Antioch glad. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we pray
that we might find gladness and comfort in the things that your
people of old have found gladness and comfort in, Heavenly Father,
that your dear and precious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, bore our
sins in his own body on the tree and bore them away and robed
his people in the very righteousness of God. Heavenly Father, Cause
our hearts in the midst of all that surrounds us to simply find
ourselves at rest and at peace in who you are, a sovereign,
electing, choosing, redeeming God and Saviour. And may we,
Heavenly Father, be led again and again to remember Him, to remember
His broken body, to remember His shed blood, and simply, Heavenly
Father, by Your grace, to just cling to Him, simply believing
who He is, what He has promised. Heavenly Father, grant us the
faith to live in remembrance of Him. Grant us the faith. to
drink that blood, to eat that body, that it might be very life
to our souls, our Father. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.