Acts chapter 11 to the passage
that was read to us earlier. This is where I want us to visit
today. I want us to visit the beginning
of the very first Gentile church. This is Antioch. Antioch. Acts chapter 11. This is in this
passage of scripture that was read to us. Really, we have a
couple of firsts. This is the first Gentile church. Up to this point, God has mainly
dealt with the Jews. And even in the book of Acts,
though there has been the visit of Simon Peter to the household
of a man by the name of Cornelius, and God saved several people
there, mainly up to this point. It's been the Jews that have
been dealt with by God's grace and He sent forth the gospel
to them. But here in Acts chapter 11,
this is the first Gentile church. The first Gentile church. That is the title of the message
for this morning and again this evening. And then there's another
first here. This is where Those who believe
the Lord Jesus, this is where they were first called Christians.
And you read that, and we'll be dealing more extensively with
that next Lord's Day. There what it says at the end,
verse 26, the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Well, let's talk about this first
Gentile church, and let me give you a little bit of background
information. You'll notice in verse number
19 of Acts chapter 11, Now they which were scattered abroad upon
the persecution that arose about Stephen, they traveled preaching
the gospel. We know back in Acts chapter
7, Stephen had boldly set forth the Lord's word to the Sanhedrin. Stephen was one of those deacons
that were selected back in chapter 6. He was bold to set forth the
message of God's redeeming grace. And his message was blessed of
God in a great way. In fact, go back to Acts, if
you would, back to Acts chapter 6. Look back at Acts chapter 6. Notice in verse 8, and we know
Stephen is one of those selected as a deacon, as also several
other men were selected. But let me read chapter 6 verse
7 first. And the word of God increased.
And the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. And even a great company of the
priesthood, the priests, several courses of priests who served
in Jerusalem and served in other synagogues. These were converted. They were obedient to the faith.
And in verse 8, and Stephen, Stephen full of faith, full of
faith, full of power. Oh, to have preachers who are
full of faith and full of power. Full of faith in the Lord. Full
of faith in the Lord Jesus for salvation. Full of faith in God
to do the work that needs to be done. Stephen didn't rely
upon himself, didn't rely upon his own gifts. He was full of
faith. He believed God. He believed
God had a people. He believed the Lord Jesus had
redeemed those people. And he believed that as the Word
of God goes forth, the Spirit of God will make the Word effectual
to the hearts of God's elect. He was full of faith. He just
believed God. Oh Lord, let me believe you.
Let me believe you. This is the thing that will honor
God more than anything else that you could do, more than any work
that you could offer. Let me, let the preacher, let
the congregation, let us just believe the Lord. Oh God, make
me full of faith. Full of faith. He's full of faith. Therefore, he was full of power. God gave him unusual gifts. And one of the gifts that God
gave him was the power to preach the Word. You know, God gives
His gifts according to His own will. And to this man, He gave unusual
might and power to deliver the Word of God. And some believed and some despised
the message. It says he did great wonders
and miracles among the people. Well, it aggravated the religious
leaders. His message irked them. The message of grace will always
irk self-righteous religionists. The message of redemption by
the blood of Christ alone will always irk those who are seeking
to earn God's favor by their works. Stephen goes out, he preaches
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He does it believing God has
His people. He does it believing God will
do His work. He is full of faith. He is full
of power. God gave him the ability to set
forth the Word in such a way that that Word was effectual
in the hearts of several people. He was bold. He was daring. In that day of great religiosity,
a day of great self-righteousness, a day in which men relied upon
themselves, A day in which men looked to the law of Moses and
said, if we obey the law, we can be saved. We will live by
the letter of the law. And he lifted up his voice, preaching
the gospel. Those who were opposed to the
gospel, they became very angry. They took hold of Stephen and
they brought him before the religious tribunal. That's the Sanhedrin. That's the highest religious
court in the land. They said, this man, he's guilty
of blasphemy. They hauled him in front of the
council. And as he stood before the council,
he wasn't fearful at all. The last verse of chapter 6 says,
and all that sat in the council looking steadfastly on Him. There they are, and they probably
didn't look this way, but I can just imagine them in black robes
and all of their sternness. Here we are. We're the greatest
judges on earth. You stand before this tribunal. And they looked at Him, and His
face was like the face of an angel. He had an angelic presence
among them. No fear. No dread. No nervousness. He wasn't being
cowardly. He stood there before them. And
the high priest said to him, chapter 7, verse 1, these things. These things accuse you. They
accuse you of blasphemy, of being against the law of Moses, of
preaching Jesus of Nazareth. Are these things so? And he started
preaching. Bold, full of faith, full of
power. And I mean he went all the way
back to Abraham. He goes through the history of
Israel. He gets up to Moses and he said, you know, you remember
Moses talked about the prophet that God would send. God's prophet. And he keeps on going. He gets
to the end of his message over here toward the end of chapter
7. He talked about the greatness of
God. Then in verse 51, this is how
he winds up his message. He says, ye stiff-necked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears. Evidently, Stephen missed that
class in seminary on how to win friends and influence people.
He missed that day. Oh, he's full of boldness. And
he knew he was talking to people who were stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and in ears. He said, you do always resist
the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, they killed
the prophets, so do you. He says in verse 52, which of
the prophets Had not your fathers persecuted, they've killed them,
they've slain them which showed before or manifested before the
coming of the just one. What did all the prophets preach?
They all preached the coming of the just one. There is but
One who is the Just One who came into this world. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the Just One. He is the
Righteous One. Nobody else is essentially righteous
but the Lord of glory who came down here to save sinners by
substitutionary death. And Stephen said, you despised,
just like the prophets, you despised that One who came into this world
and you killed Him, the Just One. The only righteous one. And the only one who can make
us righteous. He says in verse 53, "...who
have received the law by the disposition of angels and have
not kept it." God gave you the law, but you didn't keep it.
You can't keep it. There is this matter of righteousness. You've got to be righteous and
the only one in whom you can be righteous is the just one. The law condemns you and you
seek to be saved by it. You're like a moth flirting with
a flame of fire. It'll just consume you. And when
they heard these things, verse 54, they were cut to the heart. You know, back in the second
chapter, there were some people who were cut to the heart by
the Holy Ghost. After they heard Simon Peter
preach, and they said, men and brethren, what should we do?
We're in great trouble, what should we do? Well, these men
are cut to the heart, but it's not by the power of the Spirit
of God. They're cut to the heart because these words greatly offended
them. They gnashed on him with their
teeth like a pack of hungry wolves. But he, being full of the Holy
Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven. He saw the glory
of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said to them, He said,
Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on
the right hand of God. And that just like poured fuel
to the fire. They cried out with a loud voice. They stopped their ears. They
ran upon Him with one accord. They cast Him out of the city
and they stoned Him. And the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul, Saul of
Tarsus. I told Bible class this morning,
the man, he'd be the most, the least likely man that you'd want
to go and preach the gospel to because he just, this guy has
no possibility of him believing anything ever. And I said that
in forcing this point. You don't know who the elect
of God are. Just preach the gospel. The greatest of those who oppose
the gospel the most, they might just be vessels of mercy ordained
unto salvation from before the foundation of the world. So just
preach the gospel to everybody. You don't know. You don't know
who God's people are. They laid down their clothes
at a young man's feet whose name was Saul, and they stoned Stephen
as he called upon God, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
What a gracious man. What a merciful man. And when
he said this, he fell asleep. His body fell asleep, his soul
went back to God. His soul went to be with Christ
Jesus. That one who was standing at
the right hand of God, ready to receive Him. Who receives
all of His children when we breathe our last breath. When we leave
this world of agony, this world of sin and shame. He calls us
home to glory no matter by what means we go into His presence. And He's standing there to receive
us with open arms. Welcome home. Welcome home. I've prepared a place for you.
I've put your sins away. You're robed in my righteousness.
You're worthy to inherit this land. You're worthy to inherit
the kingdom of God. You come in. Welcome home. Welcome home, redeemed one. It
says then in chapter 8, Saul was consenting unto his death.
Consenting. That means not only agreed, but
he actually applauded his all for it. And at that time there
was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem.
They were all scattered abroad. Now, hold your place there and
go back there to Acts 11 verse 19 again. See, this is where Luke, and
Luke is the writer. This is what he's dealing with.
This is what he's referring to. Now, they which were scattered
abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, they traveled
as far as Pharnaces, and Cyprus, and Antioch. But the reason they
were scattered abroad was because of the persecution that arose
when Stephen was stoned. Now go back here to chapter 8
again. Notice again, at that time there was great persecution,
verse 1 again, against the church which was at Jerusalem, and they
were all scattered abroad. They're scattered. are scattered
throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, that is, everybody
except the apostles. God preserved them and they stayed
in Jerusalem. Now look at verse 2, And devout
men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over
him. We are always thankful for the
one who has died, that they've gone home to glory. But I tell
you, faithful men like Stephen, you sure miss them. You sure
miss them. You miss the Stephens in the
congregation. You miss them. They made great
lamentation over him. But as for Saul, he made havoc
of the church. He tried to ruin the church.
The word havoc means devastate. Oh, He is out to devastate the
church. In fact, entering into every
house and hailing men and women. What does that word hailing mean?
Forcibly dragging people out of their houses. He comes to
your house. If you are a believer, He is
going to forcibly drag you out of your house. It doesn't matter
who you are. It doesn't matter where you live.
It doesn't matter how much money you've got. He's going to come
to your house if you're a believer. He's going to drag you out of
your house, you and your wife and your children. He's going
to commit you to prison. Remember this, anytime persecution
has arisen for God's church, it doesn't hurt the church, it
purifies the church. You say, in what way does it
purify the church? It purifies the professing church. Because those that are just kind
of walking the middle line, not committed to the gospel at all,
when persecution gets heated, they're out. Persecution reveals who God's
people are. They stick with it. Now look
at verse 4, here it is again. Therefore they that were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the word. See that ties back
in to chapter 11 verse 19. They went everywhere preaching
the word. They've got to scatter the seed. Now remember this. Our Lord had given to His apostles
a commission to preach the gospel. Go back to Matthew chapter 28. Look at Matthew chapter 28. Let
me just give you a few verses here. Matthew chapter 28. This
is after our Lord's crucifixion and after His resurrection. This is just before His ascension. Matthew chapter 28, look at verse
16. Then the eleven disciples, these
eleven apostles, Judas of course, he's dead and he's in hell. Then
the eleven apostles or disciples went away into Galilee into a
mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw Him,
remember this, Jesus had appointed the mountain, He had appointed
the place, He always keeps His appointments. The Lord always
keeps His appointments. And when they saw Him, they worshipped
Him. But some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto
them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. He has all power. But hasn't
He always had all power? Well, as God, He has. But as
this one who is the son of man, he humbled himself, came into
this world, became a servant, went through his public life,
his public ministry, faithful to God, serving the cause of
God in truth, doing what God ordained for him to do in the
covenant of grace. Then he was obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore, on the basis of finishing
the work that God gave Him to do, the work of reconciliation,
the work of the removal of the sins of all of God's elect, the
work of bringing in everlasting righteousness, the work of absolutely
crushing the head of the tempter, The work of removing all evil,
all iniquity, all transgressions from His people and putting them
away forever. Having done the work that God
gave Him to do, God has exalted Him. God has lifted Him up. And God has given Him all power. The word means dominion and authority. He has all power, all dominion,
all authority in heaven and in earth. And then He says, Go ye
therefore. That is on the basis of the fact
that I have all power. I'm the one who's commissioning
you. I'm the one who's sending you
out. I'm the one who's giving you the message to go forth and
declare. And since I have all power, all
authority, and all of the governments of the world are on my shoulders,
you go forth and teach all nations the gospel I've taught you. And when they believe, baptize
them. In the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. Amen. Go preach the gospel, he
said. Look at the end of Mark. Look
at Mark chapter 16. Chapter 16. Look at verse 14. This is the last chapter of Mark.
Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at Me, and
upbraided them with their unbelief and a hardness of heart, because
they had believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen.
And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and confesses
that in baptism shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall
be damned. He sends them forth to preach
the gospel. Let me give you one other verse.
Look at Acts chapter 1. I go over to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1 and verse 8. He says to them just before His
ascension, Acts 1.8, But ye shall receive power after that the
Holy Ghost has come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto
me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto
uttermost parts of the earth. God has given them a commission.
He says wait for the coming of the Spirit of God. But when the
Spirit of God descends upon you as it did on the day of Pentecost
and acts the second chapter. He says, now go forth preaching
then. In Jerusalem, Judea, branch out into Samaria, then the uttermost
parts of the earth. Well, here's what happened. They
stayed in Jerusalem. They stayed in Jerusalem because
God was doing great things in Jerusalem. There was a revival
going on in Jerusalem, as it were. Thousands of people were
being converted in Jerusalem. But they weren't fulfilling the
Great Commission. You see, the Lord has a people
of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. And you know what? He who chose them unto salvation,
He who redeemed them by His precious blood, He is going to call them
by His Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel. Now, they've got
to hear. The gospel is like the precious
seed. We've got to scatter it. They're not out there scattering
it in the world. They're not out there scattering
it in other nations. Oh, it's a very precious seed.
It's the seed of life. It's the Word of the Gospel. It's the good news of life and
salvation and righteousness and forgiveness in the Lord Jesus.
But it's got to be proclaimed. You've got to hear the message.
You've got to hear. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
by the Word of God. The good seed has got to be broadcast. And they stayed right there in
Jerusalem. Well, how's God going to pry these people out of Jerusalem? Persecution. Persecution. And boy, things started getting
hot in Jerusalem. Folks packing their bags and
leaving. By the droves, going out. And as a result, the gospel went
forth. Now look at chapter 8 verse 4.
We talked about Saul committing people into prison. Look at chapter
8 verse 4. Therefore they that were scattered
abroad, they went everywhere preaching the word. Preaching
the word. And let me tell you something. These troubles of life, trials
of life, God brings them into the lives
of His people to fulfill His purpose. Now with the children of God
in Jerusalem, you've got a man like Saul of Tarsus, and he's
going house to house. He's going to go to your house.
He's going to your house. He comes to my house to house,
leading a posse empowered by the Sanhedrin. Do you believe
this gospel? Yes, I do. You mean you worship
Jesus of Nazareth as God? You believe in salvation by grace
alone? Yes, I do. Saul said, arrest
him. What about your wife? I believe
it's gospel too. Arrest her. What about your children?
Yeah, they believe it's too. Take them too. He goes house
to house. And I tell you what, it didn't
take long before that started happening. People said, we're
scared. We're leaving. And as they left,
as they dispersed, so did the gospel. You see, these things,
oh, it wasn't pleasant. There wasn't anything pleasant
about it. Somebody coming to your house, we think we got troubles.
We think we got hardships. And I'm not belittling anybody's
trials that you have. I have nobody particular in mind
now, but I know how I am. You know, the little inconveniences
of life and we lose sleep over them. Well, nobody is coming
knocking down our doors to take us and hail us away to prison. These things, they happen according
to God's will and purpose. Who's behind all of this? Oh,
you say the devil's behind all of this. That's not right. Now
wait a minute. We need to get our theology straight. Who is it that sits on the throne?
Who is it that we just read His words, He said, all power is
given unto Me. That's all power over the so-called
good things of life and the bad things of life. All of the joys
and all of the sorrows, all power is given unto me. All of the
smiles and all of the grief, they're given by me. I have authority
over all of that. There wasn't anything pleasant
about this. But you know what worked out
for the good of God's kingdom? I wish I could remember that.
I wish you could remember that. We're so... Lloyd made this comment
in our Bible class this morning. In response to something I said,
he said, we're self-centered. And that's the way we are by
nature. We're only concerned about ourselves.
Shame on us. Shame on us. There's something
bigger than you There's something bigger than me. This is not about
you, it's not about me. All my life, oh, woe is me, woe
is me. What about the cause of God?
You see, that's the big picture. We forget about the big picture.
It's about God's eternal purpose of sending His gospel into the
world. And He fulfills His purpose even
in these, what we call inconveniences of life, these troubles of life. He's fulfilling His purpose.
Hear the saints of God, they're hurting. They're hurting. This
isn't pleasant. There are many tears being shed.
People are broken hearted. But it's going to work out for
good. Just wait. Just wait. I wonder if the apostles there
in Acts chapter 8 before people were packed up and leaving and
the church met together one last time. I wonder if the apostles
said, oh brethren and sisters, this will work out for our good.
I probably won't see you again in this life. But oh brethren,
let's trust the Lord that He knows what He's doing. Goodbye. Hugging one another, goodbye.
Won't see you again. God's purpose is being fulfilled. Let me tell you something. Even
in your life. Even in the things that He's
bringing to pass in your life. Who knows what God is doing?
I'll tell you who knows. God knows. God knows. And all of these things will
work together for good. For good! For God's people. People who love God. People who
are called according to His purpose. His purpose. So they're scattered. They're scattered. Now, from
Acts chapter 8 verse 4, go back over to Acts 11 verse 19. You see, actually, Acts 11 verse
19 sort of picks up where Acts 8 4 beats off. And that which is in between
is sort of a parenthetical passage. See, from the death of Stephen
and the resulting scattering of the saints, Luke is led to
follow the ministry of Philip. Philip goes into Samaria. And there is a gathering of the
saints. gathering of the sheep and in
gathering of souls into the kingdom of God. And then Philip leaves
the work that's going on in Samaria and he goes and he preaches to
the Ethiopian eunuch out in the desert. And then the Spirit of God leads
Luke to tell us of the mercy of God to this man who held the
coats of those who stoned Stephen. He tells us of the mercy of God
in chapter 9 of Saul of Tarsus, who became the greatest of the
apostles. He is the twelfth apostle. He is the writer of most of the
New Testament. And Luke writes of his conversion.
The Lord found him. He didn't find the Lord. The
Lord found him. And the Lord stopped him in his
tracks. And that's what God will do with
every sinner that He's pursuing by His grace. He's going to stop
you in your tracks. And He's going to unhorse you.
You've been unhorsed. God will take you off your high
horse of pride. And I tell you what, I bet you
when he fell off, there was a great thud. when he hit the ground. He hit the ground before King
Jesus. And he said, who are you, Lord?
Who are you, Lord? He found out who Jesus is. He
found out Jesus wasn't an imposter. He found out Jesus is the Lord
of glory. That's who He is. The Lord showed
him mercy. God sent him a preacher. God
sent him Ananias. He appeared to Ananias in a vision
and said, Ananias, go preach to Saul of Tarsus. I told a Bible
class this morning, Saul of Tarsus, is that who you want me to preach
to, Lord? As if I was Ananias. I said,
Lord, I'd rather not go preach to him. I think I'd go anywhere
else to preach to anybody else, but I don't want to preach to
that man. He surely can't be one of your elect. He surely
can't be one of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Oh, Lord,
surely not. The Lord said, yes, he is. Well,
it doesn't look like one. What does a lost sheep look like?
You can't tell who the lost are. You can't tell who God's elect
are. You can't tell who the remnant according to the election of
grace are. You just go preach the gospel to everybody. God
will save whom He will. And Adam and Eve went and preached
to him. He said, Brother Saul, Brother Saul, I bet he was like
walking on eggs. Oh, and Saul was ready to hear
him. I tell you, when God's doing
a work of grace in somebody's heart, their mouth is shut and
they're ready to hear. They're ready to listen. So Luke
deals in chapter 9 with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Of Saul going
to Jerusalem. Then his departure back to Tarsus. Now here's what happens. With
the conversion of Saul, the persecution eased. Look at chapter 9 verse
31. Chapter 9 verse 31. Then had all the churches rest
throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified. And walking in the fear of the
Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied. God saved the church's greatest
enemy. He conquered him. I tell you,
the Lord, the Lord can conquer anybody he's of a mind to conquer,
can't he? There's no will too stubborn
but what he can't break. There is no heart too hard, but
what he can't, he can't smash it to pieces. He saves whom he
will. The church had peace. And from
there, Luke deals with, keep up with from the persecution
that arose, Luke deals with the ministry of Philip. Then he deals
with the salvation of the conversion of this man, Saul of Tarsus. From there, Luke is led to deal
with the ministry of Simon Peter as he goes forth into Caesarea,
preaches to this Gentile whose name was Cornelius
and his household. And then Peter gets back to Jerusalem
and the Jewish believers were waiting for him. And they said,
how come you've been to the Gentiles to preach? And then Simon Peter
tells them, well, the Lord sent me. And he kind of goes over
what the Lord did for these people. Now, when I said the Jews were
waiting for him, these are Jews who believe the gospel, you understand.
It's not the enemies. It's not the enemies of the gospel.
These are the Jewish believers who still have some some beliefs that the Gentile
dogs, they don't need the gospel. It's just for us Jewish people.
How come you went over there and preached to them Gentile?
Well, the Lord showed me a vision and said, I better go over there
and preach to them. So I went over there and preached to them.
They believed. Cornelius believed. His household believed. Some
of his servants believed. And Simon Peter, he just rehearses
what God did. The great things that God did.
Now go back to chapter 11 and look at verse 18. These Jewish believers, when
they heard these things, when they heard what God did, they
held their peace. And they glorified God saying,
then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. When they heard these things,
when they heard of the great work that God had done, when
they heard of the wonderful outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the Gentiles
under Peter's sermon, they held their peace. They stopped murmuring. They stopped grumbling about
the purpose and the providence of God in sending the gospel
to the Gentiles. They glorified God. They found
a better use for their tongues. You see, there's a better use
for your tongue than murmuring against God's good providence,
and that's glorifying God. That's a better use for the tongue.
That's a better use for the mouth. Oh God, next time when I'm murmuring
against You, put it in my mind and put it in my heart. Stop
murmuring. Stop complaining. Stop grumbling
and start praising the Lord. The Lord taught me the Gospel.
The Lord has saved me by His grace. The Lord didn't leave
me in spiritual darkness. The Lord didn't leave me in my
spiritual death. He sent the Savior who redeemed
me. He ransomed me from the pit.
I'm a child of God. Oh God, help me to stop my murmuring
and use my mouth for a much better purpose, to glorify your name.
That's what they did. They held their peace and then
they glorified God. And their declaration was, then
hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. Repentance unto life. And then verse 19, now they which
were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about
Stephen traveled as far as these different places. And you see,
here's what Luke does. Now it's like he goes back to
chapter 8 and verse 4. And instead of following the
ministry of Philip and the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and the ministry
in Caesarea of Simon Peter. Instead of following that series
of events, Luke takes us back and he says, now let me tell
you about something else that happened as a result of the scattering
of the saints. So it kind of goes back and starts
all over. He's going to show us another
series of events. And what he's going to show us
is how the gospel goes into Antioch. and how God saved a multitude
of people. And He's going to show us this.
He's going to show us that beginning here in chapter 11, and then
He picks this up more in chapter 13, it's not the Jerusalem church
that's in the center anymore. It's not the Jerusalem church.
All along it's been the church in Jerusalem. But now it's going
to be the church in Antioch. The church in Antioch. This is
what Luke, the beloved physician who's led of the Spirit of God,
to write both the book of Luke and the book of Acts. This is
what he's going to stress now. He's going to stress the gospel
going to Antioch, and Antioch becomes, as it were, the evangelistic
center, the city of the world. And you know who winds up in
Antioch? Saul of Tarsus. Because, as I'm
going to show you tonight, The church in Jerusalem, they got
wind that great things were happening in the church at Antioch in Syria. It's in Syria. It's the third
largest city in the world at that time. Antioch had a population
of about 600,000 people. Behind Rome and Alexandria, Antioch
was third. And now God has established His
gospel there. And from this city is going to
go forth The Word of the Lord. They are going to send forth
missionaries. Missionaries. They are going to send forth
Barnabas and the Apostle Paul. And they are going to send them
forth on their first missionary journey. And then we know the
second missionary journey, which we have already covered. It is
the Apostle Paul and Silas. And then they keep on coming
back to Antioch. They go out on third missionary
journey. So Antioch, it becomes the center
of the gospel work of God. This becomes kind of the headquarters.
It's not going to be Jerusalem anymore. It was Jerusalem. But Jerusalem is going to fall
on awful times. Because you read right there
at the end of chapter 11 that there was Agabus who came. He
was a prophet. He was a preacher. And he said,
tough times are coming for Jerusalem. And boy, they did. And the saints
of God in Antioch said, we need to take up a love offering for
them saints. And these are the same Jews who
said, we don't want the gospel preached to them Gentiles. And
the Gentiles and I said, we've got to help out our brethren.
And they take up a love offering. They send it back to them by
the hands of Barnabas and Saul. So this is what Luke is doing. He takes us back. He takes us right back after
the stoning of Stephen. He says, now let me show you
something else that happened. First thing he showed us was
after the stoning of Stephen, there was a disbursement of the
people, scattering of the people, and he emphasizes Philip's ministry,
the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and then Simon Peter going to
the Gentiles. And then Luke, it's like in chapter
11 verse 19, Luke is saying, And let me show you something
else that happened. After the scattering due to stoning of
Stephen, preachers went to Antioch and preached the gospel. And
God did a wonderful work. He did a wonderful work. He's
always doing His work, isn't He? He's always doing His work. And He uses folks like us to
accomplish it. Folks like us. May the Lord bless
His Word. Let's sing.