Turn with me if you would now
to Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11. You want me
to turn this off? Okay. In traveling out to Yuba City,
California, that's where I went. I wasn't sure where I was going,
and that's where I went, Yuba City. That was our first time meeting
the brethren there, with the exception of one couple who came
down to the conference in Orlando a month ago. I met one couple
down there. But we had such a heartwarming
experience meeting and getting to know the brethren and hearing
their their own experiences that led them to the gospel and led
them to Christ. And when I came back home. and
started thinking about what the message would be for tonight.
This particular scripture in this particular event came to
my mind and I just heavily related to this and I felt what a man
named Barnabas felt right here. And I want to show you tonight
what that was and what it is and To do that, I'm going to
give you a little bit of background information for this text, all
right? Give me just a minute here to
set up what is happening and then I'll show you what I want
to show you. This is chapter 11, Acts chapter
11. In Acts chapter 10, Peter preached
the gospel to some Gentiles, all right? Some Gentiles, not
Jews. He preached to the good news
of that gospel. He preached forgiveness in the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We just saying saved by grace. I'm going to tell the story.
I was saved by grace. And Peter preached that gospel
to these Gentiles and they believed it. And they confessed Christ
to be their only hope. And in chapter 11, verse 1, it
says, the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that
the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And I'm so thankful to hear that
because that's what we are. They heard that the gospel went
to the Gentiles. And that's exactly what we're
the result of that right now. We are the heathen, outcast,
wretched Gentiles. That's us. Verse one says, and the apostles
and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also
received the word of God. And when Peter was come up to
Jerusalem, which is Israel, They that were of the circumcision
contended with him. They did not like hearing that. They heard about it and they
didn't like what they heard. They thought Peter was casting
their pearls before swine. Verse three says, saying, thou
wentest in to men uncircumcised and didst eat with them. That sounds like what they accused
our Lord of, doesn't it? Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised
and didst eat with them. You received them and you ate
with them. They wanted to know why did you
do that? Why did you give the hope of
the gospel, the promise of God to his people? The gospel is
only for his people, Peter. only for his people. Why would you declare it to unworthy,
wretched, heathen, outcast Gentiles who don't want it and don't deserve
it? Why? Peter said, because God told
me to. Now, I'm not going to take the
time to expound on all this, but I'm sure most of you are
familiar with the fact that Peter had a vision. of a sheet that
was let down. The Lord showed a vision to him.
And it was about him preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. He
recalls it right here. Let me just read it to you. Verse
four. It says, but Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning
and expounded it by order unto them, saying, I was in the city
of Joppa praying. And in a trance, I saw a vision. A certain vessel descend, as
it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners,
and it came even to me, upon the which, when I had fastened
mine eyes, I considered and saw four-footed beasts of the earth
and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air.
And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter, slay and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord, for
nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
There were certain animals the Jews were not allowed to eat.
And the Lord told Peter to eat them. And he said, I'm not going
to do that. Verse eight. Not so, Lord, for nothing common
or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth, but the voice
answered me again from heaven. What God hath cleansed that call
not thou common. And that's the gospel for us. He said, if I have cleansed it,
don't call it unclean. What I have made clean is clean.
Verse 10, and this was done three times and all were drawn up again
into heaven. And behold, immediately there
were three men already come unto the house where I was sent from
Caesarea unto me. And the spirit made me go with
them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these six brethren
accompanied me and we entered into the man's house. So three
men showed up. and said, you know, would you
come with us? And he said, me and six Jews, six brethren went
with him, verse 13. And he showed us how he had seen
an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, send
men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall
tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on
us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of
the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but
you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then
as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand
God?" Peter said, that's the reason why I did it. Verse 18. When they heard these things,
they held their peace and glorified God saying, then have God also
to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. They just, they said, what amazing grace.
It just hit them. The, the other apostles. And the Jews there, they said,
what amazing grace. God really did come to save sinners
out of every tribe, kindred, and tongue on this earth. His
mercy truly does extend to the uttermost. His goodness really
is unto all whom he calls to believe." How amazing. They all
said, that blesses my heart, Peter. That's such a blessing
for me to hear. Verse 18, when they heard these
things, they held their peace and glorified God saying, then
hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
Verse 19 says, now they, which were scattered abroad upon the
persecution that arose about Stephen, you remember Saul of
Tarsus held the coats and gave the command for Stephen to be
stoned to death. And that was a persecution that scattered.
The Jews scattered God's people. Verse 19, they, which were scattered
abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled
as far as Pharncy and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word
to none, but unto the Jews only. That's who they were commanded
to preach to. The Lord said that the gospel
was to them first, to the Jew first. And as a matter of fact,
the Lord commanded in Matthew 10, he said, don't go into the
way of the Gentiles or the Samaritans. But he said, you go to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. That's who they were commanded
to go to Israel. But here's what they didn't know
yet that held true. But here's what they didn't know
yet. He's not a Jew, which is one outwardly. He's a Jew, which
is one inwardly. And it's not in the letter, it's
what God does on the heart. So they thought it was Jews only,
but verse 20 says, some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene,
which when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians,
the Greeks, 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. Wouldn't you love to see that? Verse 22, then tidings of these
things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem,
and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch. Now this is what I wanted us
to get to. The Jews sent Barnabas to Antioch to meet some Gentiles
that they had heard about. They had heard that there were
some people a long ways off who had heard this message and the
Spirit of God had moved on them and caused them to believe it
and to cast their all on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Jews
sent Barnabas to the Gentiles to meet them. Now you Gentiles
sent me to Yuba City to meet some other Gentiles. This is
where the comparison differs. All right. We're already outcast
heathen over here. And y'all sent me to go meet
a whole bunch of other outcast heathen. And I called them that
and they agreed with me. But in the family of God, the
outcome is exactly the same. Because in Christ there is neither
Jew nor Gentile, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian,
Scythian, bond nor free. In Christ, Christ is all and
in all. And they heard here that there
in a faraway place was a group of sinners that God's Holy Spirit
had come to and given them faith to turn from their idols. And
I will tell you, that's all that's out there is idols. And that's all that's here. It's
idols, they are idols everywhere. But they heard that there was
some, there was a group, a gathering. scattered abroad, scattered out,
that God had caused them to turn from their idols to worship and
serve Jesus Christ, the true and living God. And they sent
a man out to meet them and to preach to them, and this right
here was his experience when he went. All right? Verse 22,
it says, Then tidings of these things
came unto 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." This was Barnabas' experience. He went to them.
And he saw the grace of God. When he got there, he saw the
grace of God. And he was glad. And he said,
it's true. It was true what was told to
us about that group out there. He said, God has some sheep out
there. And we have some brethren out
there. How do you know Barnabas? He said, I saw the grace of God.
That's how I know. I saw the grace of God, and I
come back to you tonight telling you the same thing. I believe
I saw the grace of God out there. I believe God has some sheep
out there. I believe we have some brethren out there. I believe
we witnessed the grace of God. And for our message tonight,
I want us to understand what that means. All right, I want
us to just. Quickly, I'm already halfway
done, but just quickly, I want us to understand What it is to
see the grace of God. What is the grace of God? This is so important and it's
so particular and it's so tedious. What is it to see and hear and
experience the grace of God? What did Barnabas recognize when
he came to those brethren and saw the grace of God? I'm going
to tell you what it is right now. What is the grace of God? It's Christ alone. That's what
it is. It is Christ alone. He is the grace of God. He is the amazing grace of God. He is the gift. That's what the
word grace means. It means gift. The fact that the Father gave
Christ and then Christ gave himself, that is God's grace to us. Christ is the grace of God. The longer that I go in this
thing of studying and preaching and being a believer, the more
I realize that Christ is everything. The longer I go, the more I realize
that Christ is everything. I believe that my Faith and my
message is getting more and more narrow. I believe it is getting
more and more singular. The longer I go, Christ is everything. Christ is all. I believe had
I gone out there and just seen Calvinism, And a lot of people are not going
to understand what I'm saying. And so I'm going to try to make
it clear. A lot of people are going to hear this and they're
going to, they're going to think, what do you say? I don't understand
what you're saying. I'm going to try to make it very clear. Had I gone
out there and just seen Calvinism, which we preach, well, Gabe,
aren't you a Calvinist? Yeah. I mean, I prefer to say Christianist,
but I love John Calvin, but I don't
follow John Calvin. I don't even follow the Apostle
Paul. He said, follow me as we all
follow Christ. But had I gone out there, there's a lot of Calvinism
around here. There's a lot of people talk
about the doctrines of grace and all of these things, and
had I gone out there and just seen this doctrinal outline that
we preach. You know, honestly, Calvinism
without Christ is just dead doctrine. That's all it is. That's all
it is. And. Here's what I mean by that, let
me tell you what I mean by that. I have known men before who have
gotten a hold of election. And I've never gotten a hold
of Christ. The one we are elected in. Really? I mean, really, you can
get a hold of particular redemption and never get a hold of the fact
that we are the totally depraved centers who need particular redemption. This statement was made a long
time ago. I'm starting to realize how true this is. All right.
The statement is one can know. How God saves centers. and can yet not be a saved sinner. You know what you find when you
find the grace of God? You find a group of sinners. You find a group of people who
need mercy. Really. You find a group of people who
don't just know election, they are pleading election with all
of their might. What makes the difference in
those two types of people? Here's the answer. Christ. Christ makes the difference.
Doctrine didn't save us. Christ did. Christ saved us. He is the issue. He is the message. He is the
grace of God. Had I gone out there and just
experienced doctrine, even correct doctrine, I don't think I could have come
back nearly as glad. I don't think I could have. True
doctrine is good. Gabe, are you saying you're okay
with false doctrine? No. True doctrine is good, but it's
not Christ. It's not Christ. Doctrine alone
is not Christ. In order to have the grace of
God, we have to have Christ. The grace in election is Christ. We were chosen in him. The grace
in redemption is Christ. We weren't redeemed with corruptible
things like silver and gold. We were redeemed with the precious
blood. Of the Lamb of God. The grace
in the call to life is Christ. We live and move and have our
being in him. The grace that will keep us to
the end is Christ. We're being kept for his sake. That's why we're being kept for
his covenants sake. It has to be Christ. When the
spirit comes to God's people, he points them to Christ. He speaks of Christ and then
He causes them to speak of Christ. Hannah and I flew out last Thursday
afternoon. And our flight left at 5.58 p.m. Eastern Time. And we landed at
around 2 o'clock in the morning, our time. And by the time we
got to Rick and Denise's house, we got to bed at about three
o'clock in the morning. And, you know, we got a little
bit of sleep. But then we got up Friday and,
Had some coffee and we Rick and Denise picked us up and they
drove us home and we talked for a second in the car, but we immediately
went to sleep and kind of got to know each other first thing
Friday morning. And Hannah started talking with
Denise and I started talking with Rick. And I'm telling you
immediately. Our conversation went to the
amazing grace of God toward us in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Immediately. Brother Rick said I was talking
and he was listening and he was talking and I was listening and. As he was talking, he said. That
he gets lost sometimes in the wonder of the fact that God,
the Father, the Son and the Spirit has from a never beginning eternity. This is what he said to me. From
a span of time that no man or woman can fathom. He said, it
just amazes me to think about the fact that He has been thinking
about us. He has been loving us. When He
said, I've loved you with an everlasting love. He said, when
I think about when there was nothing there. darkness and void
and nothing was formed. In His mind, He thought about
us. And in His heart, He loved us
and He desired us. He said, I understand why we
love Him. But to think about the fact that
He loves us and He has loved us for all of this time. Just to think that Christ wanted
to do this for us. That's what He was talking about.
That we were His desire. This was the desire of His heart
and that desire was His people. He desired to lay down His life
for us because He loved us that much. He said, I'm just overwhelmed
by the thought of that. I was sitting there listening
to Him talk and I was sipping on my coffee and I was thinking,
He and I are going to get along just fine. We're going to get
along just fine. That was not doctrine, that was
Christ. I hope I'm somewhat making a
point here. We're talking about the grace
of God. And if you want to get to the
grace of God, you've got to go to Jesus Christ. You've got to get to Jesus Christ. When the grace of God comes to
a center, it will lead that center all the way to Christ. It will
not stop at doctrine. It will not stop at a head knowledge
doctrine. The grace of God will take that
center all the way to the person and the character and the attributes
and the will and the word of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Some of the brethren there in
California, and I've had many brethren in other places say
this, and it's a very familiar story to God's people, but they
were saying how they were lost in false religion. And then their
path was crossed with some correct doctrine, and they were so thankful
for that at the time. But then in the midst of all
that doctrine, they realized something's still missing. And they said that they stayed
in that condition until the Lord revealed Christ to them. That's
what the weekend revolved around, Christ. They saw Christ, they
saw the finished work of Christ, they heard the sovereign voice
of Christ and they rested in Christ. Every time I hear a story
like that, I'm so glad. Honestly, I'm so glad that makes
my heart rejoice every single time. That's the grace of God
to a center. I think I've been too long, but,
uh, I'd be really, really quick. Just, uh, just hold your place
here and let me show you two quick things and I'll be done.
Go to John 11. What I want to show you is two
examples of what I'm talking about here. Two examples of what
I pray we will see in us and in God's people and something
that makes a difference and makes a child of God glad. John 11, look at verse, this
is when Lazarus died, look at verse 21, it says, Then said Martha unto Jesus,
Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Verse
22, she said, but I know, okay, I know that even now whatsoever
thou will ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto
her, thy brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know.
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Now watch verse 25, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Martha, do you believe this?
She said unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God, which hath come into the world. That right there
is the grace of God. He brought her from doctrine
to Christ. That's what it is. He brought
her from doctrine to Christ. Brother Henry used to say that
salvation is roughly 18 inches. The distance it takes to get
from the head to the heart, from doctrine to Christ. Turn over
to John 4. This is the woman at the well. John four. Verse 19, this woman
at the well answered and said. This woman sayeth unto him, Sir,
I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this
mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain
nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship you know
not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.
God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him
in spirit and in truth." Verse 25. The woman saith unto Him,
I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When He has
come, He will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee, Amen. Doctrine to Christ. Doctrine to Christ. John 1.17
says the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. He is God's grace, and we're
told that in our text and we're left with this exhortation. I'll
close with this. Go back to our text. Acts chapter
11. He is the grace and this is exactly
what Barnabas told us right here. Acts 11 verse 22. Then tidings of these things
came unto 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
that very grace that had been given to him, the Lord, the Lord
himself. He is God's grace. He is God's gift. He is God's
love and God's favor and God's kindness and his tenderness and
his mercy to sinners. He is the peace that's given
to us. He is the comfort that's given
to us. Barnabas said, cleave to him
and him alone. Cleave to Him and Him alone.
And I say that same thing to us. If God's grace is going to
be found here, it's going to be found in us clinging to Christ
alone. Cleave to Christ alone. May it
never be said that we have strayed from Christ alone. If God will
keep us right there, we will be glad. We'll be so glad. Thank God for his grace in Christ. All right, stand together with
me and let's all turn to hymn number 17.