Now, Joe left me 10 or 15 minutes,
so you know what that means. If you want to follow along,
turn to Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11. I will begin reading in verse
19. Now when they which were scattered
abroad, and then look at that next phrase, upon the persecution
that arose about Stephen. You know why Christians are not
being persecuted today? Because most people who profess
to be Christians are not Christians, and they're not speaking the
truth of God in Christ Jesus. That's why. Now when they which were scattered
abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled
as far as Phenicia and Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word
to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of
Cyprus and Cyrene which when they were come to Antioch spake
unto the Grecians preaching the Lord Jesus. They weren't preaching
Jesus. Christianity, so called today,
always talks about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. They never call Him the
Christ. They never speak of Him as Lord.
They're irreverent, ungodly infidels is what they are. Now I know,
Joe, we're supposed to comfort God's people. But I'm also supposed
to reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.
And there's some here this morning, you may not ever heard somebody
preach the truth. I don't know. I don't know. And I'm not here
to play games. Elizabeth, I can't comfort you
this morning. If you're not already comforted, you ain't going to
be comforted. That's the way it is. These are
the facts. And as Paula Mahan said at the
last funeral I attended, I was out of weight the other day.
I may mention that in a moment. He said, I've never seen anybody
converted at a funeral, and I haven't either. But pray God that may
change and see that happen. I don't know. Some of them were men of Cyprus
and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the
Grecians, preaching to the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord
was with them. And a great number believed and
turned unto the Lord. We don't see that today. And the reason we don't see that
today is two-fold. One, God hadn't purposed it.
Because had He purposed it, it would be happening. And two,
a more, not technical, but a more practical reason is because the
truth of the Lord Jesus is not being preached today. And all
this turning we see is not unto the Lord. But it's unto another
Jesus, another spirit, and another gospel. Which Paul makes clear
is damning to the souls of men and women. But then listen, then
tidings of these things come unto the ears of the church which
was at Jerusalem. Now the people around seeing
what was going on in Antioch It didn't stir them up to nothing
but hatred. But when this word reached the ears of the church
at Antioch, it was different. Notice that? And they sent forth
Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch, who, when he
came, and look at this next phrase, and had seen the grace of God. I think of seeing the grace of
God was glad. And exhorted them all, exhorted
them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave, cleave
unto the Lord. How does anyone see the grace
of God. Does it take a placard? The grace of God is here. Is
that what does it? No. We have no evidence that back
in this time they even had their church signs even like we have
out here. Nothing like that, Matt. How
do you see the grace of God? when Barnabas had what? Seen
the grace of God. And it means what? To see it. These people here in Antioch
were not Jesus fans. You hear what I'm saying? They
were not Jesus fans. We've got a lot of Jesus fans
today. Years ago I used to go to rock
concerts. There's a lot of so-called Christian
assembly and so-called worship today. If I close my eyes, I'd
think I was in another rock concert. You worship God in accord with
the reverence you have for God. John, the apostle, who lay upon
the breast of Jesus Christ at the supper. Christ sat here. They were probably seated on
the ground, on pillows or something, as was the custom then. And John,
evidently, Joe, sat right beside him and leaned over upon him. Yet when he seen him, when? After
he had Raised up and been exalted at the right hand of God the
father the apostle who leaned on his breast Did what when he
seen Jesus? He fell at his feet as one dead These were not Jesus fans verse
20 says this these people were preaching what the Lord Jesus
This is God Almighty manifest in the flesh Jesus Christ of
Nazareth is none other than the God that you will all, all of
us will stand before one day either in Him or outside of Him. He is the creator of heaven and
earth. He is the sovereign of heaven
and earth. And he holds all men's destiny
in his hand. They do not hold their destiny
in their hand. That's a lie of modern day pseudo-Christianity. Have I comforted you yet Elizabeth?
It ain't about comfort. It ain't about comfort this morning.
Now, I'm not discrediting what you said, Joe. It ain't about
comfort. It's about the truth of God.
This is real. And the event that just took
place several days ago, if it don't show the reality of this
veil of flesh to you, then your eyes are blinded to the truth
of God. These were not Jesus fans. There
were no charismatic phenomena going on here. There was at some
other places, wasn't there? People were healed. People spoke
in tongues. Now didn't they? But yet the
church here sends someone down there. Why? Because all they'd
heard is preaching the Lord Jesus. But what happens? Barnabas gets
there and he sees. He sees the grace of God and
was glad. The grace of God is seen in the
recipients of grace. Barnabas seeing the grace of
God by seeing the people upon whom God had in sovereign free
grace acted in mercy and compassion. He had bowed these idolatrous
rebels down to his son. And that's what Barnabas has
seen. He's seen their reverence for
Christ. Men don't reverence Christ today.
Do they? They don't reverence Christ.
They think Christ is their buddy. He is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. But that's the whole point. You
will either be a friend than his brother, or you will be nothing
to him. And He'll say, depart from Me, you worker of iniquity,
I never knew you. That's the same Jesus that lay
in that manger over 2,000 years ago as a babe, is it not? That will say to a multitude
when they say, Lord, Lord, have we not? And He says, get away
from Me. I never knew you. That's God
Almighty manifest in the flesh. What Barnabas seen was their
reverence for Christ, their faith in Christ, their submission to
Christ, their devotion to Christ, their identification with Christ. That's what he's seen. That's
how you see the grace of God. And listen to me, that's the
only way you see the grace of God. Only recipients of grace can
see God's grace in its recipients. Did you know that? The people at Antioch didn't
say, oh boy, the Lord's doing a wonderful work here, aren't
we glad revival's come to Antioch. It didn't happen that way. The
people down in Jerusalem were, okay, what's going on here now?
They sent Barnabas up and he said, I see the grace of God
here. Only the recipients of grace
see God's grace in its recipients. Now hold that thought. As I said the other day, to make
a few notes, one of the first thoughts that
crossed my mind was death has taken David McCullough. And then
I realized I was wrong. No, Christ took David McCollum. Christ owned him as creator.
Christ bought him as redeemer. And Christ owns as redeemer David
McCollum's body, soul, and spirit. And Christ took the soul and
the spirit to be with him and left the body here with us. Christ took David McCollum and
Christ is life to every believer. Joe actually quoted it. Even
when what we see looks like death. Our Lord clearly stated it to
Martha. Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me. Now let me stop
a moment. You got to live in Him first
before you ever believe in Him. There's a lot of people believe
in Him. They've made professions of faith even under sovereign
grace. But they don't live in Him. They
just believe. They believe doctrines. They
believe about him. They believe concerning him. David McCollum
believed Christ. He didn't believe in him. He believed Christ. And he said, whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. And as Joe pointed out,
then he asked the question, believe us now this. He didn't ask you
or I if we understand it. He didn't ask Martha if she understood
it. He didn't ask us if we could comprehend it. He said, do you
believe this? Because Jesus Christ is life
incarnate. And whosoever lives in Him and
believes in Him, death has no warrant over them. The body may
die. It does die. But not the person. But when a lost person's body
dies, so does their soul and spirit eternally. Eternally. Scripture even calls
it a second death. The first text I got concerning David And I didn't even talk to her
about it. The first text was, David's gone.
I thank God, Elizabeth, you didn't say David's dead. Now there's nothing sinful about
the phrase. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. No doubt. I mean, that's fine.
But David's gone. He's not dead. And he's gone to us. He's gone
in this life. You will not see him anymore
Never and the relationship you had with him Is never anymore
other than the relationship you had with him in Christ Wife daughter son Friend whatever
all that's gone. Oh It's over with. As far as
David's concerned, not us, but as far as he's concerned, Mason,
it's done with. The only relationship we still have with Him is in
Christ. Christ didn't ask us to comprehend
His words, to be able to understand them. He said, do you believe
this? Now hear me this morning. I seen
the grace of God in David McCollum. And I'll tell you this, if it
wasn't the grace of God, then I don't have it either. Because
what David has, what I got. It's that simple. If it ain't
it, Mason, if I'm deceived about that, then neither one of us
has got it. But we had the same thing because not only does God's
Spirit bear witness with my spirit, but my spirit bore witness with
His spirit that we believe the same Christ, the same Gospel,
the same God. And listen, when Jesus said there
will arise false Christs, He meant what He said. When Paul
said they will come preaching another gospel, he meant what
he said. And we are surrounded by it today. I've seen the grace of God in
David McCullough. David believed and loved. Do you hear what I
said? He believed and loved the Lord
Jesus Christ. People perish not simply because
they don't believe. They perish because they don't
love. Go back and read 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. There are some, God's
even going to send them strong delusion so that they will believe
the lie of the devil. God's going to do it. And what
God's going to do in the future, He to some extent is even doing
today. What was their problem? Because they received not the
belief of the truth. No, they received not the love
of the truth that they might be saved. I'm not mad at anybody
this morning, but I care about your soul far more than what
some people even really realize. David believed and loved the
Lord Jesus Christ. Four days, just under four days
before he died, he sat and talked to Joe and I for an hour and
a half, and our conversation was over whelmingly about who? You, Elizabeth? He mentioned
you with great concern. Philip? Betsy? Katie? He mentioned
you. But you were not the paramount
of our conversation. Our conversation was about Jesus
Christ. He was thinking about His person.
He was thinking about His work and how much He didn't understand
about some of it. But thanking God for what He
did. In humility and still understanding the corruption and the sinfulness
that was Himself. And resting only in Christ. David followed Christ as the
good shepherd. You know what that means? Christ said, I have some sheep. I die, I'm going to die for the
sheep. There's some folk who ain't my
sheep. He told people, some of them personally, you're not my
sheep. You know what he was saying to them? I'm not going to die
for you. Now maybe some here, maybe you
ain't never heard somebody come right out and say that. Jesus
Christ did not die for the sins of everybody. David McCullum
didn't believe that. Neither do I believe that. This
group of believers here don't believe that. But it ain't believing
that that makes the difference. It's believing the Christ of
that truth that makes the difference. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. I believe Him. Not what so-called
Christians today say. Well, everybody can potentially
be a sheep. No, they can't. There are sheep and goats. You
are what you are by the eternal, immutable, sovereign purpose
of God in election or reprobation, one or the other. Either God
chose you to salvation in Christ before the world began, or God
purposed to damn you in the pains of the lost forever. Because
He's God. And He's in absolute control.
That's the God David loved. I look here, here's a man who
loved God. Gone from us. And look at this. Look, people would all be flocking
here, Joe, to rejoice that one of God's has went home. And yet
I went to a wake where there were probably, what was it, Penny? A hundred times more people than
this. And I knew that man too. And
you know what I heard? Oh, everybody loved him. He was
such a good fella. I knew the man. He was much like me. We're neither
one good fellas. Went fishing with him for years,
Mason. I knew the man. Walked my house off of him. We're
both sinners. But all this how was all about
how good I'm not talking about how good David was Because the
grace of God is what calls David McCollum to believe and love
this Lord Jesus Christ Because you won't unless you have the
grace of God in you You can't you're not able to I know because
I've been there. It's like I don't believe that
That's not who God is yeah, that's who God is David served Christ
David worshiped Christ. David loved Christ's gospel. He loved to hear it preached,
and he loved to give testimony of it to others. David supported
the gospel ministry with his hard-earned money. You hear what
I'm saying? But I ain't preaching David.
I'm preaching the grace of God, because it takes the grace of
God to do that. You know that? David would sit on one of his
pastors' porch and would ask, out of the blue, what can we
do for you? What do you need? Ain't not too
many folks that do that. David loved the assembly of the
saints when they gathered to worship. And let me tell you
something. If you don't love it, you ain't got it. As I've said here in the past
several years, when you love something, you spend emotion
on it, you spend time with it, you spend money on it, and you
devote your life to it. And when you don't, it proves
you don't have the grace of God. I don't care what kind of profession
you've made. And again, it says reprove, exhort,
rebuke. You can't do that with a smile
on your face, Mac. But it ain't out of hatred. As
Paul said, am I your enemy because I tell you the truth? No. And
I'm not preaching down to you. I think we put our pulpits up
here. I think maybe the congregation ought to be up there and the
preacher ought to be way down here somewhere. I'm not above you. No, it takes the grace of God
for that. I'm not preaching David McCullum.
I'm saying in every person that God has ever saved, He's done
that very same thing. It took the free and sovereign
reigning grace of God Almighty for that to happen. Those who've experienced the
grace of God in Christ love to be exhorted that with purpose
of heart they would walk, cleave. I will not Let Him go. And John said, you can't love
God and not love your brother. And if you love your brother,
you'll be with your brother. You'll gather with your brother.
You'll gather with your sister. You'll cry with your brother.
You'll cry with your sister. You will rejoice with your brother.
You will rejoice with your sister. You'll take money out of your
pocket to keep the ministry of the gospel going. That's what
you do. Well, I ain't got nothing to
give. Everything you've got, God Almighty gave it to you.
You remember what that widow cast in? What was it? Just two
little coins. But our Lord said it was more
than all that treasury that those rich people cast in. Why? She
gave all she had. And you remember that old whore?
That's what she was. She bowed down at the feet of
Christ, took that box of alabaster ointment. Some people say that
the cost of that was probably a whole year's wage. And she
took that box of ointment and anointed Christ's feet for his
what? His burial. She worshipped him. And you know
what? Christ said that would be a memorial of her throughout
time. And as Tim James said, you know what she did? She did
what she could. She did what she could. God's
people do what they can. And the reason some people can't
do? Because they ain't God's people. At least this, they haven't experienced
the grace of God. The reason you don't want to
be here? Because you don't have the grace of God. The reason
you don't want to support the gospel? Because you ain't got
the grace of God. No love, no devotion, no worship,
no gospel, no reverence, no identification, no assembling, no support, etc.,
etc., etc. No grace. No grace. You don't do those
things to get grace. But when God Almighty gives you
grace, you can't help but do them. Thirty years ago, I would have
been caught dead with a group of people like this. Folks, Joe
Galusa can testify to that. Did I act like I was ready to
follow after your Jesus, Joe? No, sir. But thank God it wasn't
up to me. That same Jesus knocked me off
my donkey, just like he did Saul of Tarsus, and put my face in
the dust before his son. And that's the same thing he
did to David McCollum. You know why? Not because Elizabeth
I seen back yonder, but I can see it continuing in his life.
You remember the wild maniac? After Christ had laid hold of
him? Said they seen him and where was he? Clothed, because he was
naked. Seated, he was running around
wild. And in his right mind. He was
out of his mind before. But where was he, Matt? at the
feet of Jesus. That's where He was. That's where
He was. I say it to you. I'm talking
about one or two of you here. I'm talking about every one of
us here. No love, no devotion, no worship, no gospel, no reverence,
no identification, no assembling, no support, no grace present.
I don't care what you profess. Where God's grace is, these things
will follow. Look at Hebrews chapter 11. By faith Abel just sat back and
said, well, since God's sovereign, I'll just wait for the end and
see what he purposed. No. He offered a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain did. By faith, Noah, being warned
of God, said, well, God's sovereign. I'll just sit back and wait for
the flood to come. And I guess I'll find me a stump to ride
on. No, God said build an ark. What did he do? Because he believed
God. He didn't just believe in God.
What did he do? He built an ark. By faith, when
Abraham was called, he got up and got out. Why? Because God
said, get up and get out. So if that's not the kind of
faith you've got, then the kind of faith you've got's useless. It's useless. Where God's grace
is, these things will follow. Why? Because we are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. And when God foreordains
something, it's going to happen. And you know what? The recipients
of grace will see that grace in other people when it starts
to take place. And they'll become aware when it seems like it's
not there. Red flags will start going up. Won't they? Red flags
will start going up. My sister Elizabeth, none of these things I said will
assuage your loneliness. It won't do it. Because your loneliness is real. And there's not a thing in this
world I can say that will assuage that. There's nothing I can say in
this world that will assuage the void of David's absence for
you and for you his children. There's nothing I can say that
will assuage that. But I'll tell you what I've said
about David this morning is us seeing the grace of God in David.
It is a testimony to the active and evident grace of God. To see the grace of God, something's
got to be active and evident, don't it David, right? Huh? That's how you see it. That's
how you see it. And as I said before, you come
and tell me you love me but you don't want to spend time with
me? Really? I believe you like I believe
my dog. Huh? When you love somebody, you want
to be around them. And Elizabeth, that's why you
feel that loneliness and that void. And only God Himself and time
and providence can assuage that. But your husband believed God.
And I'm not going to get up here and pitty-patter everybody. Well,
if he didn't believe God, neither do I. Because he believed the
same God I do. He believed the same gospel I
do. He rejoiced in the same Christ that I do. Our hope hinges on Christ. These things are a testimony
to the active and evident grace of God in David McCullum. And it could be seen. Seen by
those who have received it themselves. That's a testimony to God's grace. I come in here and it ain't pitiful. I may think, oh what a pity.
That ain't pitiful. It takes the grace of God for
there to be one person that rejoices in Christ. Remember in the days
of Noah, Noah preached for 120 years and how many people believed
him? Actually zero! Because the other seven already
believed with him and helped him through the whole ordeal.
For 120 years the man preached righteousness. That's what this
book says. And whose righteousness was he preaching? His own? No. He proved that as soon as he
got off the boat and could grow some grapes. Right? One of his sons proved how righteous
he was when he seen his daddy laying naked in the tid drunk. That was Noah. Now, I shouldn't
be telling little kids things like this, right? No, because
that's the truth of God. We'll sit here lie to anybody
about the truth of God God shows us for what we really are and
you will stay a corrupt Defiled depraved sinner until you awaken
his likeness But let me tell you he's going
to save you by his grace or you will never awaken his likeness
And if he saves you by his grace, it'll be evident to other folk
around you who's been saved by his grace. I You'll want to be
around them, they'll want to be around you. And that's just
the way it is. That's the way it is. Father, comfort our hearts and minds. But Lord, oftentimes our comfort
is concerning our own lusts and things that we have lost. Knowing
God that You own all things, that all things are yours to
dispose of as you will. Lord, God, bow our hearts and
minds down unto that. In Christ's name, amen.