You will take your Bibles and
turn with me to Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11 this morning, we'll
be looking at verses 19 through 26. Acts chapter 11, verses 19
through 26. And the title of the message
is, Called Christians. Called Christians. Now this text
begins in verse 19 of Acts chapter 11. Did I say 10? Did I say 11? I said 11. Okay, that's good. I started
out on the right foot. Acts chapter 11, verse 19. It
says, Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that
arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phinehas. Cyprus and Antioch preaching
the word to none but the Jews only. And some of them were men
of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake
unto the Gentiles preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the
Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto
the Lord. Then the tidings of these things
came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem. And they
sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.
Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and
exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave
unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full
of the Holy Ghost, and of faith. And much people were added unto
the Lord, Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. 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." Now, the previous verses, in
verse 18 of this chapter, We know that the Lord has manifest
to us, as well as to the early church, that repentance and life
was not only given for the Jews, but it was also given to the
Gentiles. That the gospel was now opened
to the Gentiles, and the gospel was preached to them at Cornelius'
house first. And the Lord opened their eyes
to see that it was not only the Jews that would be saved, but
also the Gentiles. And I want us to know that from
this point, from this reference of Scripture until the end of
the book of Acts and even unto our day, the Lord is manifesting
His grace toward the Gentiles. And the center of the church
will no longer be at Jerusalem. But the center of the church
now is going to be this church of Antioch. This is going to
be the anchor of the church. And where evangelism is going
to be most spread from is this church of Antioch. Now, we see
this shift of God's grace toward the nations of the Gentiles as
fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture. If you go to Isaiah
chapter 42, you don't have to flip there, I'll just read it
to you. Isaiah chapter 42 and verse 6, it says, I the Lord
have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and
will keep thee, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, and give thee
for a covenant of the people and a light for the Gentiles. Up until this time, up until
this gospel dispensation, you remember that only the Jews had
the gospel and only a very few of the Gentiles were saved at
this point. But now because of the grace
of God in the death of Jesus Christ, He has opened up the
gospel to the Gentiles. And as revealed, He called the
Gentiles as well as the Jews. Now, this church, which was started
in Antioch, I want us to also notice the situation, the circumstances
surrounding this church being established. If we read that
in verse 19, it says that, "...now they which were scattered abroad
upon the persecution that arose about Stephen." You remember
that Stephen preached the gospel and he was murdered, he was killed
for the gospel. And from that time forward, the
Jews put forth their hands to vex the church. And what seemed
to be a blow to the church, what seemed to be devastating to the
church, and a victory for the enemies was really a victory
for the church. It was really for the good and
growth of the church. I'm sure at the time of this
persecution that these believers that were scattered could not
see what God was doing. They could not understand what
God was doing by looking at the persecution of the church. But
what they did understand, was their responsibility to witness
and to preach the gospel. It was their responsibility.
They understood this. In verse 19, it says, they went
about preaching the Word. They went about preaching the
Word of God. Now this may be a great lesson for us. How many
times are we cast down and cannot see what God is doing? How many
times are we persecuted or we seem to be devastated by something
and yet we don't know what God is doing. We can't see. It seems
to be darkness before our face and we can't tell. We understand
that God has a purpose. We understand God will save His
people. We don't know how He's going to get there. We can't
see how to get there. But see, this is not for us to
see, it is for us to believe and to trust the Lord. They understood
that their responsibility was to preach the gospel no matter
what. And we should learn from this, that we should preach the
gospel no matter what to our generation. How many people do you know that
I will never know? How many people do you come in
contact that I will never see? You see, you must preach the
gospel where you are. You must witness of Christ wherever
you go, by your actions as well as by your words. Our hearts
are to be set toward the lost. We should have love and zeal
and compassion for man. for those around us to know the
truth of the gospel. And I'll tell you this, as the
hand of the Lord was with these believers, so will the hand of
God be with us as we declare the gospel to the lost. And I'll tell you what, our results
may not be the same, The results of these people witnessing, the
Scripture says that the Lord's hand was on them, and a multitude
came. Many people were turned to the
Lord. Does that mean that when we witness
that a multitude will come? No. That doesn't mean that. But
I'll tell you this, the Lord's hand is with us nonetheless.
The Lord's hand is with us when we witness. And I'll tell you,
if anybody comes, it won't be because of our abilities. It
won't be because of our fancy speaking. It will be because
of God's grace and His Spirit that men come to Christ. It is
only by God's grace that men come to Christ. And now from
this time in our text, we see that the grace of God has been
to call mostly Gentiles. Whereas before, the church was
mainly mostly Jews. But I'll tell you this, Paul
reveals this to us in Romans chapter 10. that when we come
to faith in Christ, we all become Jews. We all become the spiritual
Israel. So then, he says, the middle
wall of partition is broken down between nationalities. God is
no longer just going to one nation, but He is going to all nations.
And He will call His people from every nation. Every nation. And Paul says there's no difference
between Jew or Greek, for we have the same Lord who is rich
unto all. Have you called on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Have you believed on God's Son
for all your salvation? Then you are an Israelite indeed.
You are an Israelite indeed. And I'll tell you, you are more
of Israel than that little nation over there in Palestine. You
are more a Jew than any one of those. You are a Jew indeed,
an Israelite indeed. The church of Christ is the Israel
of God, and God has purposed that He shall save His people,
His elect people, and is moving all things right now for that
purpose. Just as He was moving all things
in this time, by the death of Stephen, by the preaching of
the Word and Antioch, by the calling of Barnabas, by the calling
of Saul to this church. You see, God is moving all things
so that His people will come to Himself. He's moving all things
to bring His people to Himself. He sent His Son for that purpose.
He sent His Son to redeem, and Jesus Christ has accomplished
salvation for His people. He sends His Spirit, and His
Spirit comes and resurrects dead souls of men, the dead souls
of His people. But I'll tell you this, the means
that God has chosen is by the preaching of the Gospel.
In other words, all this is just theory. until the Spirit of God
takes the Word of God that is preached and applies it to our
hearts. And friends, how are the people
around us ever going to come to Christ if they've never heard
of Christ? Now, they've heard of a weak, effeminate Savior.
They've heard of a Savior that saved no one. They've heard of
that. Tell them of a Savior that accomplished
salvation. Show them in the Scriptures that
Christ is Lord of all. He is ruling all things now for
the good of His people. Them are called according to
His purpose. That's what these people did,
and God was with them, and even so will God be with us as we
witness. Now, number two, I want us to notice that God gave the
church a faithful pastor. Look at this in verse 22. It
says, "...then the tidings of these things came to the ears
of the church which was in Jerusalem. And they sent forth Barnabas,
that he should go as far as Antioch. The Lord in His grace here moved
the church of Jerusalem as well as Barnabas, that they would
send him to Antioch, to pastor this church, to lead this church,
to be the under-shepherd of Christ at this church. Why? Because they needed a pastor.
Because they needed someone. They needed a faithful man of
God to lead them and to teach them and exhort them. Friends,
wherever God has called His elect people to worship, wherever God
has called a church to be gathered together, Wherever His hand is
with a work and a group of people, He will also always send a pastor
to the people. Wherever God's hand is, He will
send them a pastor. I know of many places that do
not have a pastor and they call themselves a church. Well, I
know that they're believers in Christ. They're part of the mystical
church. But every local assembly, every
place where God has set up a place of worship in the Word of God,
you will also find that God sends a man to preach to them. He doesn't
leave them alone to figure it out for themselves. God sends
a man to teach them, to faithfully preach unto them. In Jeremiah
3 verse 15, God says, And I will give you pastors according to
mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. I'm also thinking of Acts chapter
20 and verse 28 when Paul was speaking to the pastors at Ephesus. And he said, Take heed therefore
unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath
purchased with his own blood. This is what pastors do. This
is my calling. And this morning I pray by God's
grace that I feed you with the Word of God. And I pray by God's
grace that I continually faithfully study to bring you the Word of
God. Paul tells Timothy, that young
pastor who was called by God's grace to his sheep, he said,
I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and
his kingdom. Preach the Word. Be instant in
season and out of season. In other words, when men will
hear it and when men won't. When it's convenient and when
it's not. When the hearts of men are cold or when the hearts
of men are hot and zealous for the gospel. It matters not what
men do. It is our job, it is our calling
to preach the gospel, to preach the Word all the time. All the time. I must preach the
Word of God. And he says to reprove. Preach
the Word of God to reprove. That means to convict or to convince. We are to preach the gospel to
all men.