To be a learner is to be someone
who is aware of the fact that there is an awful lot that they
don't know. Our God is so big that when He is magnified, magnified
properly, He fills this whole world. He fills this universe. As He is magnified, He becomes
bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. He becomes more glorious
and more glorious and more glorious. So here we have in these descriptions
of what happened in Antioch, a description of what happens
in every church. So what were they teaching? What
was Paul teaching these people? I wanted to look at a couple
of passages. I'll look at one briefly for a little bit now,
but we read some of the references to it in in 1 Peter chapter 2,
but if you go back to Isaiah 28, Peter was referring to a
passage in Isaiah 28 that is well known. And it's a lovely,
lovely description. This is a lovely description.
This is a description that magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose
of gospel preaching is for the Lord Jesus to fill the view. As you look through that telescope,
you see him filling everything. Bigger and bigger and more powerful
and more important and more secure. Verse 16 of Isaiah 28 speaks
of him. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, behold I lay in Zion for a foundation. I lay in the church
of God for a foundation. We're talking about looking at
Acts in light of the fact that this is the foundational, these
are the foundational documents of the New Testament Church.
Everything else that is written in the rest of the New Testament
is in some way built upon this foundation. This first Gentile
church is the forerunner of all of the Gentile churches throughout
time. It is typical of all the Gentile
churches that are in this world today. What a great description
of our God. Thus saith the Lord God. Behold,
I lay in Zion for a foundation. The foundation of the church
is laid by God himself. The foundation of the church
is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just him and him alone.
It's a foundation stone. It's a tried stone. It's a precious cornerstone. a sure foundation, and he that
believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the
lion, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the
hiding place." This great rock, this great foundation, will sweep
away all of the idolatrous notions that people had of God. It will
bring the people of God to understand that He only is my rock and my
salvation. He is my defence. I shall not
be greatly moved, says Psalm 62. There is this foundation,
and the great foundation of the Church is the glory and the character
of our triune God as He is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, as
He is revealed particularly in the Lord Jesus Christ, as He
fulfills all the Old Testament promises and prophecies. Everything
in the Old Testament scripture points to Him and to His glory. There is no other foundation
to be laid. These people had this foundation
taught to them, didn't it? To him, says Acts 10.43, give
all the prophets witness, all the prophets witness the fact
that this is the foundation stone that the church will be built
on. We have received not the spirit of the world, but the
spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that
are freely given us of God. See, the Gentile believers, both
in Cornelius' house and in this first church, were taught about
the grace of God, the power of God to achieve his purposes.
They weren't given and they weren't directed back to the law. They
weren't directed back to the moral law. They weren't directed
to their works or their activities at all. They simply had Christ
preach to them. And Paul and Barnabas for 12
months did exactly what Peter did in Cornelius' house, what
Peter did in Jerusalem. They just keep preaching him.
And God blessers, when the hand of God is upon the preaching
of the Gospel, God's people believe. And God-given faith rests on
God revealing the Lord Jesus Christ as the Yay and the Amen. He's the Alpha and the Omega
of all things, all things written in the Scriptures. The Bible
begins with the words, don't they? In the beginning, God. Who's that? That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Bible finishes in Revelation
22 by saying, Even so, come, Lord Jesus." So
he begins the Bible about himself, he finishes the Bible about himself,
and it's about him and about his grace. Simply saving faith. These people received the grace
of God and they believed. A great number in this Antioch
church believed. They believed. See, faith looks
to Him as He's revealed in His Word. Faith relies on Him to
do as He has promised, that He is able. He's able to keep that
which you've committed unto Him. He's able to perform that which
is promised. Saving faith gives glory to God
as a promise-maker and a promise-keeper and a promise-fulfiller. That's
why he's the foundation, isn't he, in Isaiah 28, to go back
to Isaiah 28. He is the foundation, and no
other foundation can any man lay. All of the idols of this
world, all of the idols of so-called religion and so-called Christianity,
all of them are idolatrous notions of him if he's not declared to
be the Christ of God. He's not declared as the Old
Testament Scriptures declare him. He is, as we read in 1 Peter
2, he's an elect. stone, and a precious stone,
and he's a living stone. And I love what it says, unto
whom coming. God's people are coming. Come
unto me, he says. Come unto me and I will give
you rest. Come unto me and you will find
yourself at rest on this foundation stone. Come unto me and keep
on coming. God's children are coming children
all the time. He is described as a stone. The
psalmist says, lead me to a rock that is higher than I. We need to have a stone as a
foundation. A rock is unmovable. It's the firmest foundation in
the world. It is that security from sinking.
It is a place to rest. When you're sitting on a rock,
you feel secure. It is a foundation stone. It's
a tried stone, says the scriptures. He was tried. The Lord Jesus
Christ was tried by his father in the secret council. Nothing
in all the world, nothing in all of creation could stand the
weight and carry the load that the Lord God put on his son. All of His glory, all of the
glory of the name of God rested upon the perfect work and finishing
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was tried, and the iniquity
of us all was laid on Him. And that sure foundation, that
tried stone, carried it. And God the Father poured out
all of His holy wrath upon the sin that was laid on Him. All
those fierce arrows of wrath. And he stood at all. He was obedient
unto death. He was tried. He was tried in
the courts of men. He was, he was tried. And he's tried by believers.
He's tried because of our sin. And he's tried, he's tried by
us, by our faith. Have you ever found him to fail? you'll never find him to fail. He's tried by his enemies. They find him, as we read in
1 Peter, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. And he
could say to them just before his crucifixion, can any of you
accuse me of sin? They had to declare that the
only reason they were putting him to death was because he claimed
to be God. The only reason they could put
him to death. He's tried by his enemies and
his enemies will find that he will grind them into powder.
He's a precious stone. He's precious in value and he's
precious in worth. He's precious because nothing
in all of creation could ransom a soul from sin. No one in all
of creation can set captives free from Satan. No one can defeat
death. except our Lord Jesus Christ.
No one could stand the judgment of God except our Lord Jesus
Christ. What can you give? What can you
give? Micah 6 says, Will you give the
fruit of your body for the sins of your soul? There's nothing
you can give. It's freely given of Him. In
Revelation, the church, in Revelation 21, the church is pictured as
that glorious building with these foundation stones of all those
precious stones. Even the gates are single pearls. Everything about the church of
God is precious because everything about the church of God reflects
He who is precious to it. He is beautiful. He's a tried
stone. He's a sure foundation. All the
weight, all the weight of your eternal soul's meeting with God
can be laid upon this sure foundation. You lay all of the weight of
your sins, past, present and future, you lay all on Him and
that sure foundation will stand them. You lay all of your duties
and your performances and all the other act that you lay them
all on him, and he carries them all. He bears all of his people. He carries us into the holy of
holies. I love that picture of the high
priest. He carried the names of the children of God in two
places. He carried them on his breast,
close to his heart, and he carried them on his shoulder. The government
shall be upon his shoulders. He carries them. He carries his
people into the holy of holies. And then he says to his people,
take my yoke upon you because it's easy. Take my burden upon
you because it's light. Why is it easy? It's called a
yoke. And it's called a burden. Why
is it easy? Brothers and sisters, it's easy because He carries
the load. He carries the load. We offer
spiritual sacrifices to Him. Whom have I in heaven but Him? What is your beloved more than
any other beloved? He's elect. He's an elect stone. He was chosen by God. And all those who are elect are
chosen by God with him. And he's a living stone. He's
a living stone, says Peter. He says, because I live, you
also shall live. He says, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. Living stones, those stones that
touch him and are touched by him are made alive. And then he builds them together.
That's what was happening in Antioch. He builds them together. The church is the place where
God the Father has promised that this is the God the Son will
get his glory in the gathering of his people. which is why it's
so important that Paul, before he began what in the rest of
Acts is Paul's missionary journeys to the Gentile world and this
gospel that goes out to the Gentiles and floods this world, Paul has
to spend 12 months in the church because Paul is going to be sent
from the church. And Paul, when he comes back
from his missionary journeys, he goes to the church. And when
Paul goes down to the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, he's sent
from the church. See, God will do nothing in this
gospel age apart from glorifying his people gathered together. Even the Apostle Paul, appointed
and anointed by God, will begin his days as a teacher and a preacher
and a pastor in a church. What a precious thing, brothers
and sisters, to be in that church. Let's sing again.