Well, we do have people away.
Thank you for praying, Simon, for them. So as you look at empty
chairs, think of those people. We're thankful for those that
are gathered. And thank you, Gerry, for coming and encouraging
us yet again, for Ben coming from Bega. Hopefully in a couple
of weeks' time, Gerry's going to be back with us. And so if
you find your mum and dad, have you heard, are they fine travelling?
You don't know? Good. the blessing of not having social
media. Anyway, we miss them. Turn in your scriptures to Acts
chapter 11. In Acts 11 we're looking at this
remarkable event. in human history, in world history
and in redemptive history, the remarkable event of the Lord
Jesus Christ having suffered death at the hands of men, having
risen gloriously from the grave, and having come and borne witness
to himself for that six-week period, and then being raised
up to heaven with that great promise that as they saw him
go, in like manner he'll come back again. But his witness in
this world, until he comes back, his witness in this world is
through his church. He says to the people of his
church, those apostles that first proclaimed the gospel, he says,
you'll receive power. You have to have power from God
to witness. You shall receive power from
God after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall
be, every shall in the scriptures is a promise from our God, you
shall be witnesses under me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and in Samaria and under the uttermost parts of the earth. And so in this journey through
Acts, we've seen the Gospel proclaimed in Jerusalem, we've seen it proclaimed
in Judea and Samaria, and now we see it proclaimed in the uttermost
parts of the earth. The Gospel is the glorious declaration
the great and glorious witness. It's called in the scriptures
the testimony of God. It's God's testimony about God's
Son. It's God's testimony written
in the scriptures by God the Holy Spirit. It's God's testimony
about his people, and so the history of Acts is the history
of every individual. The gathering of God's people
all of those years ago is exactly the same as the gathering of
God's people together these days. Nothing ever needed to change
in the providence of God. But at the end of Acts chapter
11 we have this remarkable passage of scripture that I'd like us
to spend some time in today. It's a passage of scripture that
shows the activities of that early church. They were gathered
together by the grace of God, they were gathered together around
the Lord Jesus Christ, they were gathered together with preachers
of the gospel, but they were gathered together They were gathered
together because the Lord Jesus Christ gave. He gave. And therefore the gathered people
are a giving people. And that's really the topic of
my sermon this morning, that they gave because He gave. He gave. Let's just read from
verse 26 of Acts chapter 11. Barnabas, previously to this,
had gone to find Paul. He'd come from Jerusalem to Antioch
to that church that was gathered. And he ministered in that church,
and then he went to find Paul. And when he had found him, he
brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole
year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much
people. And the disciples were called
Christians first in Antioch. And in these days came prophets
from Jerusalem unto Antioch, and there stood up one of them
named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should
be great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass
in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man
according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren
which dwelt in Judea, which also they did. and sent it to the
elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul." It's a great picture. I trust the Lord will bless his
words to our heart. Whenever we're preaching, we
just long. We long for our friend to come and steal your heart
away. To steal your heart away. as
the great lover of the souls of sinners, to steal your heart
to love Him, to steal your heart to give all to Him, to steal
your heart to give all for Him. Just this little time we have,
just this little time we have, the only time in all of our lives
where we have the opportunity to live in faith and to bear
witness to Him, to live in hope and to bear witness to Him. This little time, this little
time And this church begins its public activities after gathering
around together. This little church begins its
gathering by being a church that gives. Not because the law says
to give. There are all sorts of ways of
getting people to give, aren't there? There's plenty of ways
that the legalists want people to give. They can get them to
feel guilty. They can get them to have witnesses laid before them
who are great givers. There's a whole bunch of ways
of legalism causing people to give. One of the wonderful things
in the Book of Acts is that the Gentile churches are never put
under the law. In fact, there's not a mention
of the law of God to them in this first church. This is all
the activity of the powerful God. witnessing to himself. He gave. He gave and therefore
they gave. He gave himself. He gave himself. He gave himself
and God the Father gave him. God the Father gave to him a
bride. God the Father gave to him a
people in all eternity. In that covenant of grace, he
gave that bride to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then God the Father,
it says in Hebrews 10.5, he gave him a body. He gave him a body. A body such that he could stand
before the holy law of God and having perfectly obeyed it. Having
done what Adam could never do. Having done what Norms told us
about, that righteousness, that righteousness that exceeds the
Pharisees, having lived in that body, lived a life of perfect
faithfulness in that body, that body that could bear the sins
of all of the people of God, that body that could bear the
infinite wrath of a holy God upon that body. that body that
could bleed, for without the shedding of blood there is no
remission of sins, that body that could die, the wages of
sin is death, and he paid, he paid our Saviour, a body that
enabled him to come amongst people and to be a servant. To be a servant. To be a servant
to people who thought they were kings. To be a servant. The Son of God came as a servant. And the Son of God rose up in
glory to heaven and in his ascension, we've read some of those promises
in Acts chapter 1, but there are these great promises in Ephesians
chapter 4. Now that he ascended, he ascended He ascended, that he might fill
all things, Ephesians 4.10 says, that he might be supreme over
all things, ascended up far above all heavens. And he gave, he
gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists,
and some pastors and teachers. And there's a purpose for this
giving. We see it in that church in Antioch, we see it in the
church in Jerusalem, we see it in the church wherever it's gathered
throughout this world, for the perfecting of the saints. Isn't
that a lovely word? For the perfecting of the saints. For the work of the ministry. You see, the people who work
in the ministry are perfected saints. You don't go into Christian
service to be a giver until you are a perfected one. for the
edifying of the body of Christ." That's what all these gifts are
for, aren't they? These gifts of proclamation,
these gifts of witnessing, these gifts, these apostolic gifts,
the gifts we read about here of prophecy, are for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ, till We all come in the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect
man. Unto a perfect man. What's that? Unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ. The quotation, as you may well
know, comes from Psalm 68. And in Psalm 68, verse 18, well,
prior to that it talks about how great our God is. He gave a word in the and the
great company, there was a great company of those who published
it, and it talks about the armies of this great God, and he scatters
the kings, and it says, the chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands
of angels, and the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy
place. The angels of God encamp around
the children of God. We are in the presence of the
angels of God, thousands of angels. Thou, this great God, our Saviour,
Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou
hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious." I love
that. He's received gifts for men.
He's received gifts to be given to men for the rebellious. Dear, oh dear, what a great description.
What a great description of us, brothers and sisters in Christ.
For the rebellious also, fancy the rebellious receiving a gift,
a blood-bought gift. And the purpose of it is that
the Lord God might dwell among them. the Lord God might dwell
among them. The promise of our great God
is that when he gathers his church together, having given those
gifts and borne that witness, and given all those promises,
he comes amongst them and he ministers to them. And I said,
there's a lovely parallel in what we see in the church in
Antioch as compared to the church in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit
came. Just as the Holy Spirit came upon that group in Cornelius,
there was this Holy Spirit that came with a mighty rushing wind. And people went out and they
proclaimed the wonderful works of God. So there was the blessing
of the Holy Spirit coming as that wind. And He comes, He comes
not known by men, in a way not understood by men. As John, as
the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, He comes as He wishes. He does His work as He wishes. And you cannot tell whence he
come or whither he goeth. So is everyone born of the Spirit. The birthing of people by the
Spirit of God is a miracle beyond the understanding of men. It's
not something done by some religious formula. It's done by a mighty
powerful operation of our great God. He comes. He comes and then there's a witness.
He came with Cornelius and there's a witness. They magnified God. They proclaimed the wonderful
works of God. And then there's this gathering
of these people together. The purpose of God is always
to gather his people together. The ultimate purpose of our Lord
Jesus Christ The Scriptures declare that he knew the end from the
beginning. What is the end? What is the
end of all of God's purposes? He knew the end. He determined
what was going to happen at the end. The end is that all of his
blood-bought children All of those who are redeemed and made
to be exactly like the Lord Jesus Christ in so many remarkable
ways will live with Him in the new creation, perfectly free
of sin, better than Adam could ever have imagined to be, and
live there for eternity. That was the goal. That was the
end. And therefore, this great work
that we see going on throughout time is always working to that
point. Always working to that point.
Adam had to be born. Adam had to be made. He's made. Let us make man in our own image.
Who was his image? Who was he made in? There was
only one image to be made in, wasn't it? He was made in the
image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam had to fall. When you eat
of the fruit of the tree, Adam had to fall. Adam had to fall. And a Redeemer had to be proclaimed. A saviour for sinners. A saviour
for the rebellious. And all throughout the Old Testament,
there is just this proclamation that this saviour, this glorious
God, is coming to do his work. He's coming to do it powerfully.
He's coming to do it effectively. He's coming to do it. He's coming
to do it through the instrument of the weakest thing in all of
creation. The most pathetic thing in all
of creation, He uses. Sinners like us. Why? So all the glory goes to Him,
brothers and sisters. He gets all the glory. The Church
is about the Lord Jesus Christ getting all of the glory. But
also in Acts, we see this church that's gathered becomes, they
gather together and they become one and united together. They
are knit together by God the Holy Spirit. And it says in Acts chapter four,
and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and
of one soul. Neither said any of them that
aught of the things which he possessed was his own, but they
had all things in common." They had all things in common. There
was, in the church in Jerusalem, there was instantly a giving,
a giving. because God had given. God's
children are giving children. The church is a giving church
because our great God has given so much. But also, Also we see
in Acts that there's a move now where the centre of God's activities,
the centre of Christian activities for the rest of this Gospel age
has moved away from Jerusalem and is now centred on Antioch.
In fact the great apostle to the Gentiles cannot begin his
ministry, his public recorded ministry to the Gentiles until
he's come back to Antioch until he's been a member of the church
for a year, until he's joined that church, because God is not
going to have anyone do anything that doesn't honour his church.
He's not going to do anything that doesn't cause the glory
of him in the presence of his church to be the centre of all
activities. Paul was sent out from the church
in Antioch. Paul was sent out from that church.
And Paul reported back to that church, he and Barnabas. Paul, in all of his endeavours,
had one focus in mind as he proclaimed the Lord Jesus Christ, that in
proclaiming him, people would be gathered together. There would
be a gathering of God's people. And this is the beginning of
that gathering of God's people which spreads throughout all
of that world and has spread to the ends of the earth. So
even spread down to little old Australia, into little old towns,
and it's spread for a time and a purpose. There's a little town
down here near Canberra called Braebu, which is just a little
pipsqueak of a place. You can drive through it in a
minute. And yet, a hundred years ago, there was a gospel church
in that town, and there were people there who believed the
things of the Lord Jesus Christ that we believe. The church is
precious. The church comes for a time to
bear witness to a particular group of people. The Lord Jesus
walks amongst the candlesticks. So the gathering of the Lord
Jesus Christ with his people in church is a precious thing
in all of our lives. It is the most precious, important
thing, the most important activity that we're ever involved in.
And Acts proclaims that again and again and again because of
the promise of our great God. So there was a movement, the
movement of this church From Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus Christ
made a declaration about Jerusalem. There was a famine that was going
to come. The prophet came from Jerusalem to Antioch. The prophets,
the men who declared the word of God prophetically. There were
some to be apostles and some to be prophets. There was in
the early church this prophetic gift, this special prophetic
gift. But these prophets now had left
Jerusalem. There was, as we go through the
book of Acts, we find the church in Jerusalem becomes more and
more troubled, and the church in Jerusalem is more and more
to be destroyed. And that Jerusalem, Jerusalem
that the Lord Jesus spoke of, is a Jerusalem that has and will
suffer the judgment of God because of their rejection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. their ongoing rebellious rejection
of him. So this famine This famine in
the land of Judea, this physical famine, is emblematic of the
spiritual famine that had come upon Jerusalem. They had rejected
the Lord Jesus Christ. We think of the church and we
rejoice in the size of the church in Jerusalem, but we know from
the rest of the book of Acts that the church in Jerusalem
was scattered by persecution. The Jews in Jerusalem despised
the gospel. And the more they despised the
gospel, the more they clung to their religion. And the more
they clung to their religion, the more they hated the notion
of the Gentiles being saved. In fact, Paul, in Acts chapter
22, goes back to Jerusalem before he's sent to Rome. And he's allowed
to speak to the Jewish people. And he speaks to them and declares
the things that God has done to them. He just bears witness
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Until... He repeats the words
of the Lord about the Gentiles. And soon as he says the word
Gentile, there is this eruption against him, and he is taken
and protected, remarkably, by the Romans. The Romans protected
the gospel preachers in those days, and the Jews persecuted
them. Nothing has changed, brothers
and sisters. Nothing has changed. The religious
people, the self-righteous religious people, who think that somehow
salvation has got to do something with them and their works, that
somehow God is put under obligation by the things that they do. That
self-righteous religious people represents a famine, represents
a famine. They have rejected the Word of
God. They live with all of their pomp and ceremony and all the
things that are seen and esteemed by men. They live with all of
that. and without the presence of God. Without the presence of God. The Lord Jesus said to them in
Luke 13.35, he says, behold, behold, your house is left unto
you desolate. That's your house, left unto
you desolate. And truly, verily, I say unto
you, you shall not see me until the time come when you shall
say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. O Jerusalem,
O Jerusalem, he says, which killeth the prophets and stonest them
that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings,
but you would not. there is a judgment of God upon
that religious city. And if you ever get to read Josephus'
account of the destruction of Jerusalem, you will know that
within 30 years about of these events in Acts, the Jews thought
the safest place in all of the world was to be as close to Jerusalem
as possible. And God took all of the Christians
out of Jerusalem. It's a picture of what happens
at the end of the world. God took all of his people out
of Jerusalem and all of the Jews from all of that nation, as many
as possibly could, they gathered there in Jerusalem. And while
they were all gathered and put close together, they were squabbling
amongst themselves And then when the Romans came, they would then
stand and fight the Romans. A million Jews died in Jerusalem. And God destroyed, God destroyed
that city. God destroyed that city and he
destroyed that temple, he destroyed that whole religious paraphernalia,
he destroyed the genealogical records so that the Jews could
never rise up in honesty and say, this is a Messiah, this
is the Messiah, this is the priest. There was no salvation left in
that place. It was destroyed. And it says
that the Romans left that whole complex. at the centre of their
religion like a ploughed field. And they left that great wall
there to show how great the victory was as they destroyed it. But
these are all the acts of God, aren't they? They're the acts
of God to show us the emptiness of man's religion. They're to
show us the emptiness of man's religion, especially man's religion
which claims to be the religion that is honouring God. And yet,
has man's work in it and is not just a sovereign act of pure
and free grace. There will be a destruction because
the Jews caused the name of God to be blasphemed because their
religion, their religious devotion and their religious duty hid
the glory of God from the very people that needed to hear from
him. They shut the gates on heaven.
They're not going in themselves and they hinder others from going
in. The physical famine that was
to come upon Jerusalem was emblematic of the spiritual famine for their
rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the famine shows, doesn't
it? It shows that God is sovereign. Because men in religion believe,
believe that they are fed by their own activities. Just like
men in this world believe that they are fed by their own activities,
and yet they are ultimately, and God will show it again and
again, that they are fed, life is sustained by Him. Not by men's power or might. God sends the famine. And in sending the famine and
sending this word, there is, as there is in so many pictures
in the scriptures, there is a picture of judgement and a picture of
grace. It was a grace gift of our great
God that this man Agabus came. and signified by the Spirit. He spoke by the Spirit of God,
Agabus. He didn't speak of his own mind,
he spoke by the Spirit of God, that there should be a great
dearth throughout all the world. God's preachers and God's prophets
speak the truth of God. They speak the truth of God because
their truth is associated with the Gospel of God. You might recall in Matthew 7,
the verse that we quote so often, that there are some who will
come to the Lord Jesus Christ on that last day and say, have
we not prophesied in your name? And he doesn't deny the fact
that they've spoken prophecies, but he says the most chilling
words in all of scripture. He says, away from me. I never knew you. The true prophets
of God They were. They were here for a time. These are the last of the real
prophets of God. Because once the scriptures are
written, we no longer need the prophets of God. We have the
Word of God complete. The true prophets of God are
the ones who speak the truth of God. That's why it says, which
came to pass. They speak the truth of God.
In Deuteronomy 18, there is a description of the true prophet of God. It speaks about the prophet.
There is a prophet that will rise up. There is one true prophet
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of the other prophets
speak truthfully about him. Agabus came from the church and
he was associated with the church that preached the gospel. The
Lord God will raise up you, Deuteronomy 18, 15, the Lord thy God will
raise up unto thee a prophet in the midst of thee, of thy
brethren, like unto me. Unto him shall ye hearken. He will come, and he will speak,
and his people will hear his voice. They'll hear the voice
of the shepherd, and they'll respond to the shepherd's voice. I will raise up a prophet, verse
18, raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto
thee. And I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak
unto them all that I command him. And it shall come to pass
that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall
speak in my name, I will require it of him. Jerusalem will be
in famine because they had the prophet come and speak the words
of God amongst them. The judgment of God is always
just. People who fall under the judgment
of God will have no one else to blame ever. It is entirely
their responsibility. And those who are, by the grace
of God, brought to hear the words of the Prophet, they will know
that their hearing is all the work of God. all the work of
grace. But a prophet, the prophet which
shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not
commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other
gods, that prophet shall die." The world is full of people who
claim prophetic ministries. The world is full of religious
people who claim to speak on behalf of God. If they knew him, they would
be terrified. And yet they go on in pride like
the people in Jerusalem did until finally destruction comes upon
them. there is a prophet. Isn't it
remarkable the providence of God, we've looked at the providence
of God in gathering this church together, the providence of God
in sending Peter to that place and sending Peter to Cornelius,
the providence of God in Cornelius having those remarkable visions,
the providence of God in gathering this church together in Antioch
with people who had been forced out of Jerusalem by the opposition
and now the providence of God in that the brethren in Judea
are going to suffer enormously. It's said that many, many people
died of starvation during this famine, according to the records.
The famine came to pass, but the brethren were protected,
weren't they? Because prior to the famine coming,
God had raised up a church in Antioch, and the church in Antioch
was raised up such that when the famine came, there were believers
that could care for other believers. The prophet came. The prophet
came and the grace of God by the Holy Spirit takes the words
of a man and he brings them to the people. He gave some to be
prophets. And he causes the people to hear
those words. So it is with God's message throughout
this world, isn't it? He brings that message. And God,
by His grace, causes that word to have an impact in the hearts
of God's people. You see what it says in verse
29? It says, then, then, they heard, they heard the word of
a man, and they heard the words of a man as if they were the
words of God, then. Then, then the disciples, I love
that what the word means. Disciples means learners. Learners
necessarily are humble people who don't know everything for
themselves and need to be taught. The disciples were learners.
Christians, they were anointed ones. See, without the Holy Spirit,
no man can deliver God's message, the testimony of God. And without
the Holy Spirit, no man can believe and respond to God's message.
This camp famine came from the Lord, but then the disciples,
every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto
the brethren which dwelt in Judea. Every man, every man in this
church, according to his ability, there's no mention of how much
they sent. There's no mention of how much
is given, because that's not the issue. The issue is the work
of God in the hearts of his people, determined to send relief. You see, there is no compulsion
here. There is no law given. There is no mention of tithing.
Every time a Christian hears of some church proclaiming tithing,
they ought to be absolutely horrified. God's people aren't taxed to
give. God's people give, and give. They give because He has given
them. God, the Lord Jesus Christ, has
sent, and He sends, doesn't He? He sent Peter, and He sent Barnabas,
and He sends Barnabas to Paul, and He sends Agabus to them,
and then He sends Saul and Barnabas to Jerusalem. They send, determined
to give. determined to give? Why were they determined to give? When I was in religion, it was
almost a matter of course that there was something told about
giving all the time. It was a big deal. I've been
in churches where they have the offering boxes, a big glass perspex
container so that everyone can see how much is in there. You
might recall what happened in the temple when the Lord Jesus
was there and he saw all of the money being thrown in and it
was apparently they had this big chest and there was a big
sort of trumpety type thing and if you were throwing in a lot
of coins you could make a big rattle. But the coins that the
widow threw in, and that's all she had, the coins that the widow
threw in were just, I've seen pictures of them but I had someone
describe them to me, they are just unbelievably tiny. When
her little coin went in that big trumpet, there was not a
sound, there was not a sound. It's not the noise. It's not
the noise in the outward activity, isn't it? You can get people
to give. You can get people to give by law and works and obligation
and duty and constrain. You can get them to give by guilt. You can get them to give by looking
at others. What about them? Look what they've done. It's
the religion of man. You can get them to give for
a reward, can't you? But if I give this to God, then
God's under some obligation to give something back to me. That's
what happens in Pentecostal churches all the time, isn't it? You sow
into the kingdom, which means you sow into my bank account,
and then out of that, out of where that's sown, you will receive
Some of the most horrifying things I witnessed in India were these
lying preachers with a mass, thousands of poor, really poor
people in front of them. And all of these bishops in these
Pentecostal churches, they'd be on this great stage and they'd
be flogging these people to give. And they would say, well, if
you give, if you give like we've given, you'll end up up here
with all the rewards that we have in all of their fine robes
and things. God's children give. What was the process that caused
these people to be determined to give in Antioch? Quite simply,
the providential hand of God had drawn them to hear the gospel. They just heard the gospel. They heard the Lord Jesus Christ
and him crucified. They heard about Him. They heard
about Him and His giving. The love of God, the work of
the Holy Spirit in the hearts of His people, the work of the
Holy Spirit revealing the Lord Jesus Christ to people, constrains
and compels them, and it creates love for the brethren. It's one
of the sure evidences, according to the Scriptures, of God's work
in the hearts of his people. If in that great work of redemption,
the Lord Jesus Christ was raised up to draw all people to himself,
when he draws them to himself, he necessarily draws them together. And so that their pains are our
pains. The struggles that they go through
are struggles of ours, because all the struggles and all the
infirmities and all the difficulties that you have are shared by your
saviour as well. There is nothing that comes into
our lives that bows us down and weighs us heavily that is not
shared by Him. Hereby, hereby perceive we the
love of God, 1 John 3.16, because He laid down His life for us,
that we ought lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath
this world's good, and see his brother have need, and shut us
up his vows of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of
God in him. My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and truth. God's children give. God's children give. The world
might give, but God's children give from a different heart. The world gives that it might
be seen to be good and seen to be generous and seen to be esteemed. God's children give because of
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in their hearts. God's children give in response
to gospel preaching. That is the heart of the matter.
How do you get people to give? You tell them about the Lord
Jesus Christ. How do you get people to live in this world
in ways that honour him? You keep telling them about the
Lord Jesus Christ. You just keep telling them about
him, about him. These people gave because the
Lord Jesus Christ gave. Gave. in eternity, in eternity, in
those covenant transactions when he became surety, as he and those
given him by his father were so united with ties of love and
promise that they really were one. The brethren in Judea and
the brethren in Antioch were really one. Let what God has
joined together, no man tear asunder. No man is ever going
to tear asunder the union of the Lord Jesus Christ with his
bride in all eternity. In God's eyes, they have never
been parted. Never been parted. He gave himself
as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God sent his son
into the world. The son came as a giver. He came to give life. He came
to give light. He came to set the captives free. He came to reveal himself, to
reveal in himself the very glory of God. He came to give. He came to give. And one of the things that's
really extraordinary in that giving, that giving that culminated
on Calvary's tree, is that the great transactions, the great
transactions of the Lord Jesus Christ in giving himself to his
people, in saving his people from the fall of Adam and from
the sin that is in their lives and infects them always, to save
them from Satan's clutches, to save them from the demons, to
save them from this world and its captivity of us. The great
transactions are hidden from men. They are hidden from men. The great transaction in eternity
is hidden from men. The great momentous events of
that last day of the Lord Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry
in Gethsemane. It was in the darkness and it
was hidden from men and even the men who were there appointed
to watch with him fell asleep. It was hidden from men. God sent
that darkness that could be felt over the world on the cross. because it was hidden from men. It was hidden from men for a
purpose. It was hidden from men's prying
eyes for a purpose, that God might reveal it to His people
through His Word by the Spirit. Because these things aren't known
to men, naturally. They're known unto God. They are known unto God and to
those to whom He chooses to reveal them. It was hidden. He was hidden in the tomb. And
I don't know what happened in the tomb, but what a remarkable,
remarkable event when the Lord Jesus Christ, when that dead
body, that dead and battered and bruised body was raised to
newness of life, into that glorious resurrection body. that glorious
resurrection body, what must it have been like for him to
awake in that tomb? But they're hidden from us. They're
hidden that we might find them revealed to us in the scriptures. God's children give because the
Lord Jesus Christ was a giver. I'd like us to think and ponder
some of that, some of what it cost him in giving his life for
us. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he says, oh my father, if this
cup, if this cup, and I have no doubt about what that cup
contained, that cup was all of the sin of all of God's people. That cup that cup that brought
judgment. He says, if this cup may not
pass away from me. So he had it with him. If it
can pass away from him, it was there. It was given to him in
promise in all eternity. It was given to him in that garden
in such a way, he says, that cup pass not away from me unless,
except I drink it. Thy will be done. being in agony, Luke 22, 44,
being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was
as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground. Great
drops of blood falling to the ground. Now, Lord Jesus Christ,
when he was arrested, Lord Jesus Christ, when he came
up from bowing in that garden and
sweating those great drops of blood, was a blood-covered saviour. The blood was shed in a transaction
between God the Father and God the Son long before those Roman
soldiers ploughed his backs with stripes. He went from outside
of the garden into that city and he went from that city outside
to Calvary's tree. He went there as a sovereign
saviour and a great God. He went there with a determined
purpose. He went there determined to give. He went there determined to honour
His Father. Thy will be done. And He went through all of that.
We mustn't think that He was defeated. He was defeated by
those stronger than Him. In John 18 there is the most
remarkable event recorded for us. The Lord Jesus Christ came
out. He went forth. He went forth
as a conquering hero. He went forth and he says to
Judas and all of that band, he said, whom seek ye? And they
answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus saith unto them, I
am, and I love our King James translation, it's honest about
the words that are added by men to make the sentences read better.
But he's declaring, I am God. I am the God who met Moses. I
am whom I am. I'll save as I wish to save in
the manner in which I save. I am the great Jehovah. I am. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. And as soon as he had said unto
them, I am, they went backward and fell to the ground." Just
at a word, in the presence of God, all those people fell to
the ground. So that we would know We would
know for an absolute fact that everything else that happened
in that next evening and that next day were the activities
of a sovereign God. He was perfectly in charge. God's
Word was being perfectly fulfilled. His Father's will is being perfectly
done. This is not men getting away
and getting power over God. This is God giving himself. And
I love what he goes on to say. They asked him again, whom seek
ye, John 18, 7. And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And Jesus answered, I have told you that I am. I've told you
that I'm God. I told you that I'm God at the
beginning of my ministry three and a half years ago. I told
you that I was God all the way through my ministry. You had
three and a half years to test this lamb. You had three and
a half years to examine this lamb, to see if there was any
blemish on this lamb. You had all that time, and I
stood before you, he said, and I said, can any one of you accuse
me of any sin? There was no sin on him, no sin
in him that could be seen. He was the spotless Lamb of God. But he says, I have told you
that I am. Verse 8 of John 18 is a lovely
verse. It's a remarkable verse about
our Lord Jesus Christ giving himself. He says, if therefore
you seek me, let these go their way. You can have me, you can
have me, but you can't have these. Thy will be done." He said to the holy justice of
God, you can have me, but you let these go. He said to God's
holy law, you can have me, but you let these go. He said to
every obligation that was ever required of any of Adam's children,
you can have me, but you let these ones of mine go. He declared
his deity. He declared His sovereignty,
He declared His purpose, and He declared His people, and then
He put out His hands, and He, those blood-stained hands, were
bound by men. But they were bound by Him, they
were bound by Him in cause of eternal love. They were bound
by Him, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. He
gave, He gave Himself. It says, He gave his back to
the smiters. He gave. They didn't take it.
He gave his back to the smiters. That blood-stained back from
Gethsemane's garden he gave to the smiters. He gave his cheeks
to them that plucked out the hair. But that hair, that beard
of his was already blood-soaked beard. He gave His face to shame
and spitting, and it was a blood-stained face. When they put that crown
of thorns on His head, they put that crown of thorns into blood-soaked
hair. You see, the blood of the eternal
covenant is the blood that matters. He gave them His seamless robe,
and it was a blood-stained robe. He gave himself before the people,
and he said to them, behold the man. He gave himself. And on Calvary's
hill, he gave that bloodstained body to be cursed. Christ has redeemed us. Christ has bought us back. He's paid a price and he's got
a possession is what it is to redeem. He has redeemed us. He's redeemed a particular us.
He's redeemed his church from the curse of the law being made
a curse for us. For it is written, curse it is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. He gave that bloodstained body. He gave himself as the Word of
God to fulfil the Word of God. He gave himself to God's holy
justice. He gave himself to God's infinite,
infinite, We talk about words like that
and we have to acknowledge that we have absolutely no idea of
what we're saying. We have no way of entering into
what it was for the Lord Jesus Christ to be in that agony of
spirit. We have no idea what it was for
the Lord Jesus Christ to cry out, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? And in Psalm 22, he knows exactly
why his God forsook him. Because thou art holy. Thou art
holy. for that son, the son of the
Father's love, to become the object of the Father's wrath,
for him to pour out that wrath upon his son. Until justice cries
out, it is finished, it is finished. They are all redeemed. He gave himself to be pierced. He gave himself to death. He gave himself to burial. He gave himself for us, brothers
and sisters. He gave himself for that redeemed
people. I do love Galatians 2.20. I love
quoting it. I love quoting it. I am crucified with Christ. That's why he was bound. That's
why that blood of Gethsemane's garden was carried through all
of their transactions. It's the blood of the eternal
covenant. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Why can Christ
live in a blaspheming, self-righteous, religious man like Paul? Why
can Christ live in someone like you? Why can Christ live in someone
like me? because He's redeemed us, and
sin is gone. You can have me, but let these
go. Let these go and let these come
to me. For Christ liveth in me, and
the life which I now live in the flesh, I live, I live now
by the faith, the faith of the Son of God. Life now, Christian
life now is a life lived by faith. Why did the people in Antioch,
that church in Antioch, why did they give away? Because they
had everything. If you own a universe, what is
it to give away a few bits of dirt? If you have eternal life,
what is it to give away a little bit of what you have here? What
is it? Dear oh dear. Dear oh dear. What wickedness entered the hearts
of Adam's children when we fell? What wickedness reigns in this
Adam flesh that keeps saying, I want to have. I want to have
my way. I want to have my things. I want to have my will done. And every time we say it, we
necessarily say to those around us, I'll have what I want and
you can go wherever. The life I now live in the flesh,
I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me. When did he love him? When did
he love that Paul? He loved him in eternity, brothers
and sisters. His love never changed. He loved
him when he was there at the stoning of Stephen. He was loving
him. He loved him when he was persecuting
the church. He loved him, and his love never
changed for him. I don't know about you, it just
warms my heart to think that God loved me from before the
foundation of this world. That God loved me when I blasphemed
him. God loved me when I was in religion,
thinking I was self-righteous. God loved me. God loves me. And he gave himself for me. He
gave himself for me. He gave himself for me. for His people, gave Himself
for our sins. He's determined to give, therefore
His church is determined to give. They're not only determined to
give, they're determined that the givers get the gifts, or
the receivers get the gifts. When God gives, always, always
the receiver gets. He never gives in vain. He always gets. He always gets his reward. As we close, Psalm 116, what
shall I render? What shall I render under the
Lord for all his benefits toward me? What shall I render? What
do you render? What does he delight in you rendering
now? I will take, I will take the
cup of salvation that he gives and call upon the name of the
Lord. I'll take the cup. And I'll call upon the name of
the Lord. I'll delight. in his name, I'll
delight in his character, I'll delight in his person, I'll delight
in his presence, I'll delight in his redemption, I'll delight
in his reign, I'll delight in his return, and I'll delight
in his people. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we pray that you might take your words and apply them to the hearts
of your people, that we might be caused by the miracle of sovereign
grace to look away from ourselves and look away from the things
of this world and fix our eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Heavenly
Father, as we take these elements that remind us of his shed blood,
and that broken body, may we be reminded of what He has given
and what a delight it is that He causes His people to receive
with joy and thankfulness. Work in us, Heavenly Father,
to honour Your Son for His great gift. Amen.