We'll take your Bibles and turn
with me to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. We'll be looking at verses 1 through
12 this morning. Acts chapter 13, verses 1 through
12. The title of the message this
morning is, The Purpose of God's Church. The Purpose of God's
Church. The Scripture says, Now there
were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and
teachers, as Barnabas, and Simeon, which is called Niger, and Lucius
of Cyrene, and Mannan, which hath been brought up with Herod
the Tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord
and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul
for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had
fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them
away. So they being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost departed unto Seleucia and from thence to Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis,
they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.
And they had also John to their minister. This is John Mark.
And when they had gone through the isle of Paphros, they found
a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus. which was the deputy of the country,
Sergius Pelagius, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul
and desired to hear the Word of God." Now, in this text of
Scripture, we have for us the purpose of God's church in the
calling of Saul and Barnabas to preach the gospel. Now, if
you'll notice from this point on, from Acts chapter 13 to the
end of the book of the Acts, you'll notice that Jerusalem
is no longer the central hub of evangelism. Before this time,
Jerusalem was the central church. It was the church that sent out
people into other places. It was the hub. And now from
this point on, the church of Antioch will be the main focus
of the gospel in sending out men to preach the gospel, namely
Saul and Barnabas here, and eventually it will be Saul and Paul and
Silas later on. And so we see the shift of God
turning from the Jews and turning to the Gentile nations. Why would He do this? Because
this was always His purpose. This was always God's purpose
to send forth His Gospel into all the world. What it took to get the gospel
out of Jerusalem was persecution. They had to be persecuted in
order for the church to be scattered out. But here, we see the willingness
of the church to send men into the world to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ. This has always been God's purpose
and plan from the beginning to save His elect people. And the means by which God has
chosen to save His people is through the instrument of the
church. Is through the instrument of
the church. Now, through the centuries, and
even in our day, the church has been, they've tried to bypass
the church in this matter of salvation. They've tried to bypass
the gospel of Jesus Christ and bypass the church, but God will
not have that. God has chosen the means, and
through the instrument of the church, God has chosen to preach
the gospel and call His people. But in our day, what is the church?
When people think of church, what do they think of? Usually
they think of some charitable organization whereby they can
get food and clothes and groceries so they can spend their money
on other things. I have encountered many people in this city who
they use the church as a means to pay their electric bill or
pay their gas bill or pay all their necessities while they
spend their money and their time on other things. So they view
the church as some charitable organization. They view the church
as some daycare. They view the church as some
building or place where they can have their children into
all of these programs and activities. So when you say church to some
people in our day, this is what they think of. They think of
a nice place where a man can stand up and you get some self-help
advice. They think that they come to
church to get self-help instructions on how to have a good marriage
or how to have good finances. To the religious people of our
day, they think church is a place you come and get a pat on the
back by a good speaker and a pep rally. It's nothing more than
a glorified pep rally to most folks. It is a place where they
go to feel good about themselves and listen to a man tell them
how much God needs them. That's what church is to most
people today. But this was not the purpose
of the church of Antioch, was it? Can you see any of those
things in the church at Antioch? I do not. The purpose of the
church at Antioch is still the same purpose of this church here
today, right now. This is their purpose. What was
their purpose? To minister to the Lord and to
send men to preach the Gospel. And so it is with us. This is
our ministry. This is our purpose. To preach
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me ask you, have you ever
asked yourself, why are you here? Why are you still here? What is the purpose of you being
here? Why did God, when He saved you,
why did God not usher you into His very presence and save you
from a lot of pain and heartache? Why is that? Why did God leave
you here? Is He vindictive? Did He do this
to be mean-spirited to you? We know that's not the truth.
Why then are you here? What is your purpose? Are you
not already fit for heaven? The Scriptures tell us that we
are. Colossians 1 and verse 12 says, giving thanks unto the
Father which has made us meet, made us qualified to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered
us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His dear Son,
in whom we have redemption Through the blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Now God has already done those
things for us. He has already qualified you
for heaven. Why are you not there? Why are
you still here? What is your purpose? What is
your mission? What is our purpose for remaining
then? Dear church of God, hear me, dear redeemers, redeemed
sinners, chosen saints, our purpose is one. Your purpose for being
here and my purpose for being here are one purpose. We all
should have one goal, one aim, one focus, one meaning of our
existence. And that is to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ to every creature. Isn't that what He commanded
you? Isn't that what He commanded me? Mark 16, 15, Go ye into all
the world. Not go him, go ye, go you personally. This is your calling, this is
your ministry. Go you into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. This is the command of our God
to each of us. This is why we are still here
in this world to declare the free and sovereign grace of God
to lost, depraved, dead sinners. That's our mission. This is our
focus. To this dead religious generation,
you are to preach the gospel. Now, in Acts 13, I want us to
see some lessons that we can learn concerning the church and
its purpose. Concerning the church and its
purpose. The first thing that I see in this is that God gives
His churches faithful pastors. Faithful ministers of His gospel. Look at this in verse 1. He said,
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets
and teachers. In this church, as well as all
churches of God, God has given churches a gift. A gift. It is the gift of a faithful
pastor. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and
28, it says that God has set some in the church, first apostles,
Second, prophets. Thirdly, teachers. And after
that, miracles and gifts and tongues. Now in this church,
there were some apostles, weren't there? There was one. There was
one. It was Saul of Tarsus. He was
the Apostle Paul. He was one in this church. He
was a gift to this church. But then it says something about
prophets. Now what is a prophet? I mean,
the first thing that comes to mind, obviously, is someone that
tells the future. Isn't that what first comes to
our mind? We think of a prophet much like a fortune teller, which
is not necessarily the case. A prophet is not always just
limited to seeing things in the future. Although at this time
there were prophets that did that. Remember Agabus in chapter
11. He foretold of a famine that was to come. So at this time
they were given gifts of the prophets to see some things regarding
the future. But this has a greater meaning
than that. These weren't just glorified
fortune tellers. A prophet was someone that received
their word from God and gave it to the people. Isn't that
what you find in all of the Old Testament? That a man received
a word from God and he gave that word to the people. That's what
a prophet is. We remember we studied on Sunday,
last Sunday, concerning God had spoken to the fathers by the
prophets in different times and different manners, right? Hath
in these last days spoken to us, how? By His Son. So these prophets were not speaking
in the different ways and means of the old prophets. These people
were tellers of the Old Testament. They were preachers of the Old
Testament. They were preaching Jesus Christ
from the Scriptures. So they were pastors. These are
what we would call pastors, as well as people who had gifts
to see things ahead of time. And it says, He also gave them
teachers. Now, what's a teacher? Well,
this is speaking of a lesser office than a pastor. Before
I became a pastor, I was a teacher. I was a preacher in the church
that I was a member of. I would teach Sunday school class
and I also preached the gospel at the hospital as an extension
of the ministry of our church. You see, I did not hold the office
of a pastor, but I did preach the gospel. And that's what these
people here are. But what is the purpose of these
offices? Why did God give these offices? He gave these offices
in the church that they might, look at verse 2, minister to
the Lord. Verse 2 says, as they ministered
to the Lord. They ministered to the Lord.
Friends, when I preach to you the Word of God, it is first
of all for the glory of God. I love you. I love you and I
long for you to hear the gospel and be edified. And that is part
of what I do. That is part and parcel of what
I do. But by doing that, I must glorify
God first. God must receive the glory of
every message that I preach. I minister, I serve the Lord
first. You see, He is to be praised,
He is to be worshiped, He is to be honored in every office
of the church. When I preach, I give glory to
God. When the deacons fulfill their ministry of the church,
as an officer of this church, they are doing it for the glory
of God. That's what we do everything
for. We minister unto God first. We preach for His glory and His
honor. And these prophets and preachers,
they ministered to the Lord and gave Him glory in preaching the
gospel. And friend, these people are
a gift to the church. They're God's gift to the church.
How to know that? Ephesians 4 tells us that when
He had led captivity captive, He gave gifts unto men. What
were those gifts? He gave some apostles, some prophets,
some pastors and teachers. You see, He gave these gifts
unto the church for His glory and for the edifying of the saints.
We preach the gospel of Jesus Christ for this message, for
this purpose. When I preach Christ and Him
crucified, I glorify God. But at the same time I glorify
God with that message, I also am perfecting the saints. I'm
perfecting the saints for the edifying of the body of Christ.
That's what it's for. Anything less than the preaching
of God's sovereign grace in Christ is a worthless venture. It's
a worthless sound that has no value to the eternal souls of
men. I must point all men to Christ. This morning, again, I point
you to Christ. I point you to Christ and declare
that salvation is completely and absolutely of the Lord God
Himself. That if a man come to God by
his will or by his works, he will be rejected, but if he comes
empty, he'll be made filled to overflow. He'll be filled with
the Spirit of God, filled with all righteousness, and made meat
to be partakers of heaven. How? By the blood and righteousness
of Christ as His only hope. I say, behold the Lamb of God. Don't look at me. Don't behold
me. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold
Christ. This is the message of every
faithful preacher of the Gospel. And every preacher that preaches
this message faithfully is a blessing to a church. Number two, let
us notice that God calls men to this work. Verse 2, it says,
As they ministered and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate
me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called
them. As these faithful men We're given
gifts of the church. Now the Holy Spirit comes and
manifests Himself to the church. I don't want us to escape this
passage because I think it's very important in understanding
the Person of God. You remember that God the Father
spoke when Jesus Christ was here and He said, This is My beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. God spoke. Christ came and John
says, we have heard Him, we have touched Him, we have handled
the Word of Life. Christ spoke. And now then here
we have the third person of the Blessed Trinity and He is now
speaking to show and manifest to us His distinct person and
office. The Holy Spirit said, separate
unto Me. For the work that I have called
them to." The Spirit of God, you see, is a distinct person
of the Godhead. And this is His work. This is
His work. To call men to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ. And not only to call men, but
to regenerate men by their message. To use their message to regenerate
the souls of men. The office of a pastor, my friend,
is not a career choice. I did not become a pastor because
it is a great career move. I did not do that. A man must
be called to this office by the Holy Spirit. It is a divine,
God-given calling. It matters not if a man receives
the highest degree the religious world can give him. It doesn't
matter how sincere a man may be to desire to be a pastor. I know some men that long to
be a pastor, but they've never been called. Never been called. It doesn't matter how sincere
you are in that. It doesn't matter if you have
the biggest congregation in the world. If God the Holy Spirit
has not called a man, he should not preach. He should not do
it. In fact, there are only two people,
two people that should know this if a man is called. The man himself
and the church that sends him. That's it. The church that sends
him, the church that calls him, and the man himself. You see,
Saul and Barnabas were set aside by the Spirit of God and they
knew it. And you know what? So did the church. And if one
of those two things are missing, a man shouldn't go. If the church
doesn't send him and the man doesn't feel a calling, he shouldn't
go. But both of these things will be present. I recall that
this was present in my experience. When God called me, I knew it.
I knew God had called. I didn't know where God was going
to send me. I just knew He had called me. You see, I didn't have to promote
myself. I didn't promote myself to be here. I don't think men
should do that. I see some people trying to promote
themselves to churches. No. When God calls a man, the
church will know it and so will He. And friends, nowhere do I read
in Scripture that a man, a preacher, ever comes from a seminary. Nowhere. You'll never find it in the Word
of God. Every time that a man was sent, he was sent by a local
assembly, a local body of believers, a man was sent from that assembly. He was never sent to a school
to learn. If a man need to go to some other
place besides a local church to learn the gospel, then his
pastor has failed. His pastor has failed. Everything that I have learned,
I learned sitting right where you're sitting. When I learned
it, I learned the gospel sitting and hearing and faithfully sitting
and hearing a pastor who faithfully preached the gospel to me. This
is how men should learn the gospel. This is where pastors are brought
from. And notice what they did when they were sent. What did
they do? Read it. And so they being sent
forth, by the Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, departed." They left. When they were called, they went. When a man is called, he goes. He goes. He departed. Friends, God has an elect people
all over the face of this earth. All over this globe, from the
four corners of this world, God has chosen a people. And wherever
God has called men to go, they will go with one design and one
purpose, and that is to preach the gospel. Barnabas and Saul departed, and
they preached the gospel. Verse 5, it says, when they were
at Salmus, they preached the Word of God. That's what men
do when they're called to go, to preach the gospel. But notice this, everywhere the
gospel is preached, there will be opposition. Look at this in
verse 6. And when they had gone to Paphros,
they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose
name was Barjesus, which was with the deputy of that country,
Sergius Pelagius, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul
and desired to hear the word of God. But Amalius, the sorcerer,
withstood them, seeking to turn away from the deputy, from the
faith." You see, they come into opposition. Friend, everywhere
the gospel is preached, everywhere God sends a man, there will be
opposition to the truth. There will be opposition. Where this message is preached,
I tell you, religious men and non-religious men both will set
aside their differences to turn against you. To turn against
the church, they'll set aside their differences to fight you. To fight the truth of the gospel. But just as Saul by the Spirit
of God struck this man with blindness, I tell you that everywhere the
truth is preached, error is struck with blindness. Error is struck
with blindness. Error will always be silenced
with truth. Friends, the church is the pillar
and ground of all truth. This place, this place is a pillar
and ground of truth. God has sent me here to be your
pastor, to declare to you the Word of God. And this is the pillar and ground
of truth, and no matter who opposes it, it will be successful. And therefore, we preach and
we witness, knowing that not everyone will believe. Every
time I preach, I understand this, that not everyone will believe. But see, I take heart that the
success of the gospel is not dependent upon my abilities.
The success of this message, the success of the purpose of
the church does not depend upon me. It depends solely upon God. And God says, My Word shall not
return void, but it will accomplish that which I send it forth to
do. And what is that? To save His
people. So when I preach to someone and
they say, I don't like that. Okay. All right, move on to the
next person. Preach the gospel. We must be
preaching the gospel. This is the duty. This is the
duty of every gospel preacher. And this deputy here, this governor,
he was a chosen vessel of mercy. Can you not see the providence
of God in this and God moving all things to get to that deputy? Can you not see that? How that
it was time that the church of Antioch was now to be the center
of evangelism. And God had moved everything
for this. And God chose out Saul and Barnabas for what? To send
them to this island of Cyprus. What for? There was a man. There
was a man there in that island. I'm sure there were many more,
but this one was one that we can see in the Scriptures. This
man was a deputy of that island. He was a governor. And yet there was opposition,
but did that opposition stand very long? No. God had a man
that He was going to save. And God just moved all opposition
out of the way and got right to that man, and that man believed
the gospel. That man believed the gospel.
This preaching of Christ, this preaching of Christ is a purpose
of the church, and one of the instruments of the church of
preaching is the pastor. That is true. Missionaries. It's
another instrument that we use, that God uses. But you see, Pastor,
I'm not called to be a pastor. What's my purpose? It's the same
as mine. Whatever I've said of myself
is true of you. Friends, my purpose is to preach
the gospel to you in this place and to witness wherever I can.
Your mission is the same, to preach the gospel wherever God
has you. Do you think that you live in
a certain place at a certain location by chance? By accident? That you have a
certain influence of people that you know by chance or by accident? No. The reason you know these
people, the reason you are there with these people is for one
reason, and that is to preach the gospel where you are. To
preach the gospel where you are. Preaching of the gospel is not
just for the pastors, the teachers, or the deacons. It is for every
believer in Christ to witness of what great grace God has had
on them. This is your purpose. To preach Christ where God has
placed you. And friends, there's no reason
to be scared. There's no reason to be afraid.
The salvation of the person you're talking to is not dependent upon
you. It depends upon God. If God will
save them, that's wonderful. If He doesn't, is God any less
wonderful? No, He's still wonderful, isn't
He? He's still good. Declare the gospel where you
are. And friends, don't try to fit
the gospel in your life. The gospel should be your life. You have no other reason to be
here. You're not getting holier. You're
not getting more saved by the longer you stay. You're not getting
any better. Friend, you are the best that
you will ever be. In the eyes of God, you are perfect
as His Son. So why are you here? To preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't just try to fit it in.
A believer recognizes that the gospel is not part of his life,
it is his life. Is the gospel your life? If it
is, declare what you believe. Declare what God has given you.
As Saul and Barnabas was sent, so does the Spirit of God call
you to life and service A life of witnessing for the purpose
of calling God's elect to Himself. This is our purpose. To preach
the message of God's free and sovereign grace to ruin sinners.
And it will be the means, the only means by which God will
save anyone. I was talking to a believer the
other day about our children. Many today believe that Well,
they can't save their children, so they just kind of let them
go. Too much of a hassle. I was talking
to one lady, and she said, you know, it's just a struggle to
have children in the church. It's just a struggle, and sometimes
I'm tempted to try to find something for them to do so I can hear
the gospel. That's just a temptation of the
enemy. That's a temptation of the enemy. You see, our children
need exactly what we need. And if you desire your children
to be saved, then this is the place they must come. They must
hear the gospel. They must have the gospel preached
to them. And therefore, by His grace,
God has called us to this work. I hope that God will open our
hearts to see that He has called us to be His instruments in this
matter of salvation. That God has called the church
to be the sounding board of the gospel. Our preaching doesn't save, but
no one is saved apart from preaching. Our preaching doesn't save. God
saves, but He will always use preaching to do it. The preaching
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Without that, there's no hope. There's no hope. But in Christ, it's all the hope
a sinner needs. Preach that wherever you go. I pray God will bless this to
us.