Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. Now, isn't it
amazing? It's amazing when we consider,
as I mentioned in Sunday School, that God saves unworthy sinners,
such as we. That's amazing in itself. That's
absolutely amazing. That is Sister Kathy saying about
that God, God Himself purchased us with His blood. The Lord Jesus
Christ, God in the flesh, said that he purchased us. He gave
his life for us. And it's amazing that he brings
us to a place that he's ordained for the gospel to sound out,
which is a local church, right? A church. And then it's wonderful. We get to gather together with
like-minded believers who are unworthy sinners just like us.
And we get to gather together and have fellowship with one
another. That's incredible all by itself,
isn't it? That's absolutely amazing. But
you know the purpose for this church? You know the whole purpose? Now,
think of this, out of the purpose of this church, which is for
the gospel to go forth, It's the whole reason this church
is here, so that the gospel can go forth. But out of that, the
blessing of that, we get to gather together. We get to be with one
another. We get to partake in that work
of the gospel going forth. Whether it be by supporting a
work or whether it be by prayer, we get to partake in that. God
uses means, doesn't he? And the benefit and the blessing
of being a part of this church is just our fellowship with one
another. The love that we have for one
another. It's absolutely amazing. Now
again, the one thing, as I said in Sunday school this morning,
the one thing that Satan can't counterfeit is the love of Christ
in a believer, and also the love that one believer has towards
another believer. He can't counterfeit that. Donny
Bell told me a long time ago, he said, Satan can't counterfeit
the love of the brethren. He just can't. One thing he can't
counterfeit, because that's wrought in us by the Holy Spirit of God,
isn't it? And I've only been with you guys for seven years,
and I know how I feel for you and how I love you, but I can't
imagine that you guys have been together for, some of you have
been together for 40, 50 years. That's amazing. What a blessing,
what an honor for you guys to be together for that long in
a church where the gospel is going forth, right? And to have these relationships
that are going to last into eternity. Isn't that wonderful? All because
of what Christ did. All because of what he's done.
Nothing to do with us. It's just mercy, it's just grace.
And you know what the great commission is, right? Christ said, and Jesus
spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven
and earth. He's got all power. Men think they have power. Christ's
got all power. Any power a man has, he's giving
it to them. Think of that. He's just giving them just a
little bit. Just a little bit. What happens to we men? Well,
we get like my head in the picture, right? Get a little power, right? Whoa, man, look at me. Right? But Christ, Christ, he's
in charge. All power is given to him in
heaven and in earth. In everything. He says, and then
what does he tell us? Go ye therefore in the world, Go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to preserve
all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world." Do you know he's
right here in our midst today? You say, how can you say that?
Well, we're two or three gathered together in my name, and there am I in
the midst. He's right here with us. You know, he just said he'd
be with us till the end of the world, till the end of the age.
That's the end of the age. and then we'll be with Him. After
that, He's with us till the end of the age, and then after that,
we'll be with Him forever, all because of His grace and mercy.
Acts says this, but you shall receive power after that the
Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto
me, both in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, to the outermost
parts of the earth. Every local church set up by
God has a divine mandate. We have a divine mandate. You know what that is? The gospel
going forth from here. The gospel going forth. We are, our whole existence is
for the furtherance of the gospel. That's our whole existence in
this church. Isn't that wonderful? And that's
not even dependent upon us. Right? That's dependent upon
the Lord, isn't it? My oh my. And now every one of
us, we can say, well, this is our home church, isn't it? But
it's God's church first and foremost, isn't it? But it's our home church. And we're thankful for it. But
it's the Lord's work. What'll happen if I drop dead
tomorrow? God'll just raise up another preacher for you? That's
what he'll do. Work's not dependent upon me. It's dependent upon God, isn't
it? Now, I hope he lets me live for a long while and be with
you all, but I have no control and you have no control the day
that we die, do we? So if a preacher gets on his
mind that the work's dependent upon him, he's in a world of
hurt. Not dependent upon me. I'm watching
amazement at what God does with the church. It's absolutely amazing. But
he says, go to the outermost part, and here be with us, and
to the outermost parts of the world. Do you know this is an
oasis in the desert? You know that whole world is
like a desert? You know the gospel church is like an oasis? We're
journeying through this world, aren't we? There's an oasis. Aren't you glad we have an oasis
to come to? Aren't you glad we're not living
in a part of the desert where there's no oasis? Where there's nowhere you can't
attend? It's all works-based religion. Aren't you thankful? We've got somewhere to come,
don't we? And you can hear about the free grace of God in Christ,
the salvations of the Lord. And every local church set up
by God is a place where God's gospel is proclaimed. where the
free grace of God is trumpeted from the pulpit. That salvation
is in Christ and Him alone, plus absolutely nothing we do. Because
that's the truth, isn't it? We all know that. We've been
taught by God of that, that if a man adds anything to grace,
then it's works. It's no longer grace. It's what
the scripture declares in the book of Romans. And the fact that we are saved
by Christ alone, and in his work of salvation accomplished at
Calvary, based upon absolutely nothing in us, and that there's
nothing in us that would merit that salvation, that is the gospel
that we preach. When Travis comes up, he preaches
the same gospel as I preach. When preachers come in, they
preach the same gospel that I preach. Salvation's in Christ and him
alone. No other way. Neither is there salvation in
any other. Because there's no other name under heaven whereby
we must be saved. No other name but Christ. And from a church where the gospel goes
forth, the preaching is the center. We don't do, I've been to places
where they do 45 minutes of singing. Before the Lord saved me, I go
to this place, they did 45 minutes of singing. Before the message,
20 minute message and 45 more minutes of singing. You know
what's the most important thing that comes for us from here?
I love to sing. I love to sing with you. I sit in there just
rejoicing hearing y'all sing, Come Thou Fount. It's one of
my favorite songs. I just was rejoicing hearing you guys lift
your voices up in praise. But the most important thing
is this, the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's most important
right there. Christ and Him crucified. Christ the only Savior of sinners.
Christ the God-man. That's the most important thing.
He's the only way of salvation. In Paul's Letter to Timothy says,
but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest
to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of
the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Do you know
this is the church of the living God right here? And you know
the church isn't the building, right? It's each one of us. The ecclesia, the called out
assembly. each of us washed by the precious
blood of Christ. And you know what this is? This
is the pillar and ground of truth. Right there, this book is the
pillar and ground of truth. That's a fact, isn't it? You
know, every believer is a witness for Christ. Every one of us,
we're witnesses for Christ. Scripture says this, and the
Lord was speaking to the apostles. He said, then said Jesus to them,
peace be unto you as my father has sent me, even so I send you.
Now, the Lord doesn't just save us and take us out, does he?
That would be wonderful, wouldn't it? Could you imagine that? That thief on the cross was so
blessed. Now, he'd done enough sin, though, in his life, hadn't
he? He'd done enough sin. One sin merits hell. He's a condemned
man. I think of this, the Lord saved
him and he just went right home after he died. Woo! My! But the Lord leaves us in this
world, doesn't he? He leaves us in this world to toil, to
live in this world. And every sent preacher of God
is commissioned by God and sent to where he is to be. I was sent
here by God to Almonte, Michigan. Took a little time, didn't it?
That was God's timing, wasn't it? That was God's timing, but
I was sent here by God and kept here by God, right? And that's how it is. God sends
his preachers to where he wills to send them. And what am I sent
here to do? To preach the gospel to you.
That's what I'm sent here to do, to preach the gospel, to
be your pastor, to cry with you when we're crying, to rejoice
with you when we rejoice. I'm a fellow soldier with you.
Tom, you were in the military. When you have a platoon of men,
you're a unit. You're together. Now, you were leading them, but
you're still, they're your brothers. We're all brothers and sisters
in Christ, set to this place right here in Elmont, Michigan,
commissioned by God. And this is an oasis that we
can come to when we go out in the world for the week, right?
Out into the desert. And then we come in here. That's
why it's so wonderful to come to church and hear the gospel
preached. Because we get so much anti-God
out in the world. And we come in here and oh my,
we get to hear about He who is the refuge of our souls, the
Lord Jesus Christ. My oh my. And God's preachers are saved
men just like anyone else. Who the Lord saves. There's no
difference between me and you. There's no, I've told you guys
many times, there's no preacher mound at the foot of the cross.
It's all level. We're all standing there going,
oh Lord, you saved my soul. This is wonderful. Absolutely
wonderful. My oh my, look what God's done
for us. And every believer, we're a witness
for Christ. And when we get the opportunity,
we don't have to break doors down. And when we get the opportunity,
though, for the Lord allows us to tell even our family members
or our friends the great things that God done for us, then we
just tell them. God saved my soul. Flee to him. He's the only Savior of sinners.
He's the only one. And it's wonderful. And think
of this. We're all born again by the same
Spirit, aren't we? We have the same Father. We have
the same Savior. We now cry, I'm a father to God,
when we never did before. And whose name do we pray in? Christ, you see? He gets all
the preeminence. Used to be all about us at one
time, wasn't it? The world is all about themselves. You see it all the time, but
we are here. for the furtherance of the gospel.
We come here to hear the gospel, to be built up by Christ, right? Because if you just hear my words,
they're not going to do any good for you, but if the Holy Spirit
takes them and comforts your heart with them, right? Which
is what he does. That's amazing in itself. That
an unworthy sinner like me can get up and proclaim the gospel
and Christ takes it and blesses your hearts with it. That's amazing. My oh my, it's absolutely amazing. Turn again to Acts chapter 13.
That's a long introduction for us, but that's okay. So our business,
our goal, our occupation here in this world is to seek the
Lord's sheep. To send the gospel forth. As
Henry used to say, we're on the trail of God's sheep. Out goes
the message. Out goes the message. That's why we support the work,
And that's why we rejoice in what Christ has done for us.
It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. The
gospel's going forth into the world. Now let's read here. With
that on our minds, let's look and see what Paul and Barnabas,
you know Paul and Barnabas were set apart by the Holy Spirit
of God? Every one of us is set apart from this world. Every
one of us. were set apart by God, sanctified,
set apart, made holy by God. That's what that means. Isn't
that amazing? But you know, we're gonna see
here that Paul and Barnabas are set apart by the Holy Spirit
to preach to the Gentiles. Look at this, Acts chapter 13,
verses one to three. Now there were in the church
that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and
Simon, who was called Neger and Lucius of Cyrene and Mannion,
which had been brought up with Herod the Tetriarch and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord
and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me, Barnabas and Saul,
for the work wherein I have called them. They have a specific work to
do. Think of that with gospel preachers.
We're sent to places for a specific work, beloved. Isn't that wonderful? I rejoice
in that, that God sent me here to be with you. Part of the blessing
of being with you is I love you all now, and our hearts are knit
together. Isn't that wonderful? But we are, as a group, set apart
here in Elmont, Michigan for the furtherance of the gospel,
beloved. Oh, this is wonderful. Look what he says. And notice
who's saying this. It's the Holy Ghost saying this. He's fully
God, too. Remember that. The Holy Ghost
says, separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work wherein to
I have called them. And when they had fasted and
prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. Off
they went. Go and do the Lord's will. Go, go, go, go preach the
gospel to the Gentiles. Go on. Isn't that wonderful? There you go. Who's sending them? Holy Spirit of God. Right? Oh, it's amazing. Do you think
the Holy Spirit's gonna be thwarted in what he intends them to do?
Nope. Not at all, right? No man's gonna
say, well, Paul, you don't have the authority to preach. Look
at what we're seeing in Galatians. Paul goes up to Jerusalem to
them apostles, and they say, you're preaching the same gospel
we're preaching. Here's the right hand of fellowship,
brethren. Go and preach to the Gentiles. Oh, my. So if God's equipped
a man like Paul, he's equipped Paul, right, to preach to the
Gentiles. He's called him to preach to
the Gentiles. Now we're seeing he's sent to
preach to the Gentiles. Was he thwarted? Was the Holy
Spirit's will thwarted in this? Nope. What'd Paul do? He went
and preached to the Gentiles, didn't he? All by the will and
purpose of God the Holy Spirit. Isn't that amazing? We are right
where God wants us right now. Isn't that incredible? That's
amazing. That's truly amazing. And they're sent, Paul and Barnabas
are sent, what? To preach Christ. To preach salvation
in Him alone. To preach that it's His precious
blood that's ransomed our souls. Purchased our eternal souls.
That sinners can have all their sins forgiven in Christ Jesus
in Him alone. Remember? Remember that old Philippian
jailer? What must I do to be saved? What
must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shall be saved. That's the message I preach.
Believe on Christ and thou shall be saved. Saved. If you don't trust Christ, you're
gonna perish in your sins and go to hell forever. My, there's one preacher I was
listening to, John Mitchell this week, gonna go to a devil's hell
for eternity. But if you believe on Christ,
if you believe on Him, if you trust Him with your eternal soul,
you'll be with Him forever. And all your sins are forgiven.
When? Right now on this earth. Right now. I'm looking at a bunch
of people who've been saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Those
of you who are trusting in Him, I'm looking at you. You're washed
under the blood. All your sins are forgiven. Hallelujah,
right? Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful.
I'll tell you what. It's absolutely wonderful. Oh
my. All because of what Christ done.
My. And notice how the Holy Spirit
here, he's speaking in an authoritative way, isn't he? He's not saying,
well, I think I'm going to separate Paul and Barnabas. And I think
that maybe if they let me send them, I'm going to send them
to the Gentiles. No. Separate me, Paul and Barnabas. All right? Separate them for
the work whereunto I have called them. And then they're sent.
Then they're sent. Oh, my. And you notice this here
too. He doesn't say, set them apart
for the work God hath called them to, or set them apart for
the work that the Lord hath called them to. He says, set them apart
for the work I call them to. See, the three are one, beloved.
They're all in agreement. They're all in agreement. Isn't that wonderful? God, the
Holy Spirit, is as much God as the Father. You don't hear that
preached a whole lot anymore, but it's true. The three are
one. The three are one. The Lord Jesus
Christ is God in the flesh. So God, the Holy Spirit, ordained
Paul, and we know God the Father has, and we know the Lord Jesus
Christ has, ordained Paul to go and preach the gospel to the
Gentiles. And he did it, didn't he? And the gospel spread like
wildfire. You know why? Because Paul, he
plants. in Apollo's waters, but it's
God who gives the increase. It's God who gives the increase.
That's why. Nothing Paul and Barnabas did.
All they're doing is just sowing that seed, right? Casting that
seed out. Oh, praise God, some fell on
good ground. And you know what? They probably
cast some seed and left some places and never saw those people
again. And that seed, where it was ordained
to fall on good ground? Why is it good ground opposed
to stony ground? Because of God, amen sister,
because of God. God's prepared that ground to
receive that seed, to receive that seed. Oh my, it's wonderful. Now let's continue reading in
Acts chapter 13. Let's continue reading down to
verse 12. So they, being sent forth, look at that, by the Holy
Ghost, departed unto Sicily, 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.
So everywhere they're going, what are they doing? They're
preaching gospel. They're preaching the gospel. They're not preaching
how to be a better Christian, right? how to transform your
life in fifty ways. They're not talking about anything
like that. They're talking about Christ. It's wonderful. They preached
the Word of God. When they had gone through into
the Isles of Pathos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet,
a Jew whose name was Barjesus, which was with the deputy of
the country, Sergius Paulus. a prudent man who called for
Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the Word of God." Now
here's a sinner desiring to hear the Word of God. He desires to
hear it, doesn't he? So much so that he calls for
Paul and Barnabas. Now you see there, a seeking
sinner, right? But before there was ever a seeking
sinner, there's a seeking Savior. God's done something to this
man, and we're going to find out. You say, how can you say
that? Well, let's just keep reading. We're going to find out. But
Elemis, the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation,
withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
That's what false prophets always do. They always try to turn people
away from Christ. Even if they're preaching Christ
with works, they're trying to turn people away from the true
and living God, which is salvation in and through Christ alone,
plus absolutely nothing we do. They're always trying to turn
people away from the preaching of the gospel. Well, God's greater
than them, isn't he? Look at this. Then Saul, who
also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes
on him and said, O full of subtlety and all mischief, thou child
of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness. He called him
an enemy of God, because who's the Lord our righteousness, isn't
he? Our King. He's called the Lord our righteousness. He says,
thou enemy of righteousness. Look at that. Will thou not cease
to pervert the right ways of the Lord? What have we been learning
in our study in Galatians in Sunday school? That the false
prophets perverted the word of God, didn't they? They perverted
the gospel by adding circumcision to be saved along with Christ. So Paul's telling this guy, he's
just a false prophet. And now, behold, the hand of
the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the
sun for a season. And immediately, look at this,
the Lord doesn't mess around, does he? This is just a little
picture of God's judgment falling. Oh, for those who do not know
Christ and die in their sins. Oh my, look at this though. And
now she'll be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately
there fell on him a mist and a darkness. And he went about
seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy saw what
was done, believed. He's like, oh man, I believe
in the Lord. Because they'd already spoken
to him the gospel. Because this man, this man had
opposed it. Right? We can see that. That
he sought to, he withstood them seeking to turn them away from
the faith. He's like, quiet, quiet. But they kept preaching,
probably. Right? Faith cometh by hearing,
and what? And hearing by the word of God, right? How shall
they hear without a preacher? Well, Paul was preaching the
gospel. Look at this. And they went about seeking some
to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw
what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of
the Lord. See, the doctrine of the Lord, so he heard the gospel.
He wasn't just astonished at what had happened to him, but
he was astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Salvation in Christ
alone. Salvation by the free grace of
God. That God would have mercy on
undeserving sinners such as we. See, God, that seed, what did
it do? It fell on good ground, didn't
it? It fell on good ground, beloved. it fell on prepared ground. The
Lord had already tilled the soil of his heart, and he received
that seed, didn't he? Oh, it's all the work of God,
too, right? Now Paul planted, Barnabas might have watered,
but it's God who gave the increase. It's wonderful, beloved. He gets
all the glory. So marvel at this wonderful fact,
that God leaves us in this world until the time of His choosing,
and then He takes us home to glory. And while we're on this
earth, he equips us for his service. And the reason for leaving us
in this world is that we are monuments of his grace, monuments
of his mercy, to tell the great things the Lord had done for
us. He's placed us in this part of the vineyard to serve him. Norm Wells, when the Lord moved
me from Oregon to here, he said, Lord's just moving you to another
portion of his vineyard, Wayne. That's all he's doing. He's taking
you from this portion of the vineyard and He's moving you
over there. Isn't it wonderful? It's all He's doing. And I preach
the same message here as I preached out west. Salvation in Christ
alone. Turn with me, if you would, to
Colossians. Colossians chapter 1. You see, the whole reason
we're here too is to glorify God, right? The reason this work
is here is for the gospel to go forth. And then the reason
we're here is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Don't
forget that. Enjoy God. Enjoy God, beloved. Enjoy who He is. Enjoy the fact
that He saved our souls. Enjoy that. Rejoice. It's wondrous. He didn't have to, but He did
because it pleased Him to do so. So enjoy that. Marvel at
it. Marvel at it. The fact that we're
saved, unworthy sinners. Marvel at that. Think about that
this week. Rejoice. Look at this in Colossians
1, verses 10 to 14. There's this wonderful truth
brought forth before us, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing, being fruitful to every good work, and increasing
in the knowledge of God. And that's why we come, we hear
the gospel. And little by little, we increase
in the knowledge of God. How many times have we heard
a preacher get up and preach something and you go, I never
saw that. Never saw that, until now. Well,
God's pleased to reveal it to you now. And then have you noticed
too that as you look back and you can see and you think, wow,
look what the Lord's done for me. Look what he carried me through. Look how wonderful he is. Increasing in the knowledge of
God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power.
See, we're weak. We're so weak, we can't do nothing.
Without him, he said, without me, you can do nothing in John
15. Without me, you can do nothing. I've learned that. Have you learned
that? It's amazing. I've learned that. Being fruitful in every
good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, verse 11, right? Strengthened with all might according
to His glorious power unto all patience, longsuffering, and
joyfulness. As we go through this world,
we endure things that grow our patience. Sometimes we endure
with longsuffering. But look what it says, with joyfulness. We can rejoice in the worst situation. Because God saved us. He's redeemed
our souls. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet, to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption, how? Through his blood. The giving of his life, through
his shed blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Look at that. So we
have, we've been redeemed, which, oh my, that's wonderful. And
we also have all the forgiveness of our sins. Hallelujah. See the Greek word for meet there
in verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. Do you
know what that verse means? Sufficient, to make sufficient,
to render competent or worthy. Do you know that we are made
fit right now for heaven? But we're sinners. Yeah, but
we're clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful because of his
righteousness, because of what he's done. We're already fit
for heaven. We are the blood washed, born
again saints of God. We're fit right now. Oh, it's
wonderful. Every believer in Christ, praise
be to God, is made fit for heaven. We're completely forgiven of
all our sin. Everyone. I was sitting on my
bed there the other day, sitting on the edge of the bed, and the
Lord brought something in my memory that happened to me 30 years
ago. And I said, Lord, I know you've forgiven me for this,
but I'm gonna ask for forgiveness again. I know I'm washed in your
blood, but I'm gonna confess that. Right? And then you know
what came to my heart? I remember your sins no more. I remembered it! It's gone. It's gone! Isn't it amazing how
the Lord, this is what I mean with the scripture, how the Lord
speaks to us through his word. There was no audible voice or nothing
like that. It was a scripture that I had read, right, that
he put in my heart, and that came forth. It's his truth. You know, none of us have a hotline
to heaven. None of us have these charismatic, well, God told me.
Well, it wasn't God that told you, I'm telling you that. It
wasn't God that told you that. Oh my. So we're made fit, beloved. We're already made fit for heaven.
We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We're clothed
in the perfect, spotless righteousness of Christ. Some may ask, then,
why did God choose to leave us in this world, then? Why did God choose to leave us
in this body of flesh? Well, our great God has attained
and chosen to save sinners, to carry the gospel to other sinners. We're here for the furtherance
of the gospel, beloved. That gospel goes out from here. It's downloaded by other sinners.
And we don't have a clue. I'm glad we don't know. We don't
have a clue what God's dealing with. But we know, as you always
say, Brother Dave, that his word will not return on us him void.
Never, never. It's accomplishing something,
isn't it? It's accomplishing something,
beloved. And we rejoice. That's wonderful. Listen to what
Jack Shanks said this about Acts 13 here. He said, the Holy Spirit
is recorded for our learning the beginning of world evangelism.
In this chapter, God's eternal purpose that the gospel be preached
in all the world began to be fulfilled. Prior to this, the
center of the church was at Jerusalem. So that was the center of the
church. From this point forward in the book of Acts, it is the
Gentile city of Antioch. So Antioch now becomes the center.
of the church. Prior to this, the primary spokesman
was Peter, right? The apostle of the circumcision.
From this point on, it's Paul, the apostle of the uncircumcision.
He goes on to say, prior to this, the gospel has been preached
basically to the Jews only. From this point on, it's to be
preached to the Gentiles. Prior to this, the church was
still bound with many of the fetters of Jewish legal worship.
From this point forward, the chains of bondage are completely
broken. Hallelujah. They're broken. They're
broken, beloved. They're broken. Stand fast, Paul
wrote. Stand fast in the liberty, the freedom, wherewith Christ
hath made you free. Be not again entangled with the
yoke of bondage. Don't be entangled with man's works. Don't ever
let yourself be entangled, beloved, with man's works. Now, I'd like
us to consider seven things. It'll be quick. Seven things.
seven things about the work to which god has called us here
in elmont michigan the first point is god has a
lot of people whom he has determined to save in every part of the
world he has he has a people from every tribe kindred tongue
in nation i was in a zoom meeting with uh... norm wells watching
his guest preacher there brother bill And there was a lady in
there from Japan. And I thought, there it is. God
got people all over the world, beloved. He got people all over
the world. It's amazing. All over. You got Lance down in Papua New
Guinea, got brethren all over there. Every single place in
this world, God got a people. Or there's been a people saved
from that country. out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. Annie and I are proof that Canadians
can be saved, right? Yeah, there's hope for everyone
in there. Right? No, but it's out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, right? My, it's wonderful. So God has a people all over
the world. He's determined to save a people. We don't know
who they are, so we preach the gospel to everyone, right? Everyone. It was never God's intention
or desire or will or purpose that the gospel of grace would
be only preached among the Gentiles. It was never so. When I was in
dispensationalism, when I used to always say to people, well,
God bought salvation to the Jews and they rejected it, And so
now it goes to the Gentiles. Like, oh, you gotta go to plan
B now. It was never so. You and I are living proof. Every
one of us here are Gentile descent. We're proof that God has a people
among the Gentiles. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful, isn't it? Wonderful. My oh my. There are some people who God
will be gracious to. There are some people who must
be saved. Why? Because God's purposed it to be so. And that
includes us. Marvel at that. God purposed us to be saved.
Brother Brian, we talk about that all the time. It's amazing,
isn't it? God purposed me to be saved. Yeah. God purposed
you to be saved. Yeah. If you're a believer. Yeah,
he purposed that. He planned it. He sent you to
a place where you hear the gospel! Praise be to God, we're given
ears to hear, born again by the Holy Spirit of God. It's wonderful. He's got the elect all scattered
through this world. And remember that the true Israel
of God is the church. It's the elect. It's the elect
of God. So all those promises in the
Old Testament, you know who they're for? Us. Isn't that wonderful? We're unworthy
sinners! They're all for us, beloved.
Oh, I love it. I love it. The scriptures, the
word of God plainly brings forth that God's elective purpose has
never been limited to a singular race or a class of men. Because as
we saw in Galatians study this morning, God's no respecter of
persons, is he? out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. What do we all have in common
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation when we get
home? Worthy is the Lamb! Worthy is Him! Oh, He shed His
blood for us. Hallelujah. He died for me. He died for me. And His purpose of grace includes
people from every, every part of this world. Jews and Gentiles,
rich and poor, male and female. My, it all has to do with him. Listen to this in Genesis. It
says, that in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying
I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the
sand which is upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the
gates of his enemies. And thy seed shall all nations
of the earth be blessed. Remember, this is God speaking
to Abraham, wasn't he? Because who would spring out
of his seat? Christ. Christ. Because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Oh, it's wonderful, beloved. Absolutely wonderful. Look down
a little bit in our chapter that we're, look down in our chapter
in chapter 13. Actually, first of all, turn
to Acts chapter 26. And we'll see here Paul, a saved sinner,
See, God uses saved sinners to proclaim the gospel to other
lost sinners. Look at this in Acts chapter
26. Paul's preaching to the King
Agrippa, an unsaved sinner. Look at verse 13 of Acts chapter
26, and we'll read to verse 18. At midday, O King, I saw in the
way a light from heaven. He's giving his testimony. Above
the brightness of the sun shining round about me, and them which
journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to
the earth, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew
tongue, sal, sal. Why persecutest thou me? Is it
hard for thee to kick against the pricks?" So he's persecuting
God's people, but the Lord Jesus Christ here says, you're persecuting
me. Remember, he's the head and we're the body. And I said, who
art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. But rise and stand up upon thy feet, for I
have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister
and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of these
things in which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from
the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee. Look
at that. He's sending him. Christ is sending him to the
Gentiles. Now for the Jews, that was so foreign. The salvation would go to the
Gentiles too? The dogs? Hey, praise God. Oh, it's wonderful. Deliver indeed
from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom thou hast
sent thee, to open their eyes. Look at that. and to turn them
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they might receive the forgiveness of sins, and the inheritance
among them, which are sanctified, set apart by faith that is in
me." Oh my. And then look in our text, Acts
13. Look a little further down in
that chapter. I'll just have you turn back to Acts 13. Look
a little further down there. And God saves His people. I'll tell you why. He saves whom
He wills. He saves whom He's ordained to save. But when the Jews, verse 45 to
49, but when the Jews saw the multitudes they were filled with
envy and spake against these things which were spoken by Paul,
contradicting and blaspheming. There's the false false teachers
there again, just going against the gospel. Then Paul and Barnabas
waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you being the Jews, but seeing you put
it away from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. That was always God's purpose,
wasn't it? What did the Gentiles do? Look at this. For so hath
the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light
of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends
of the earth. Look at this. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad. Oh, it's not just for the Jews. Because that's what they thought,
too. It's not just for the Jews. This wonderful salvation in Christ
is not just for the Jews. It's for us. It's for us, too. And look at this, and they were
glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. Look at that. Isn't that wonderful? That's absolutely wonderful.
And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the
region. Out it went. Out went the gospel. Out it went. The second point I'd like us
to consider is that the instrument by which God accomplished his
purpose of grace in this world is his church. God's purpose of grace is accomplished
through his church. The church of Christ is separated
and called of God unto a work of what? Proclaiming the gospel.
The furtherance of the gospel. Throughout history, men have
attempted to bypass the church and do the work of evangelism
outside and apart from the church, but God's work must be done in
God's prescribed way, right? He has said that the preaching
of the word will go forth from a group, from a church, right?
It's amazing. No organization can replace the
church. No one else can or should do
the work that God has called us to do. The work of evangelism
cannot be done by any other means than the preaching of the gospel.
I'm evangelizing right now as I preach the gospel. As this
gospel goes forth, it's evangelism. It goes into the world, beloved.
Bragging on Christ. And the church of the living
God is the pillar in truth, the preserver of truth, the proclaimer
of truth. We are stewards. Do you know,
we have been, we are stewards of the gospel. It's been entrusted
to us, beloved. That's why we take, I take preaching
the gospel so serious. It's been entrusted to all of
us here at this work. Not just to me to proclaim it,
but to all of us as a group. It's wonderful. Stewards of the
mysteries of God. The third point is the Lord God
always raises up preachers within his church sufficient to accomplish
his purpose of grace. God is the one who raises up
his preacher. I didn't say, well, I'm going to decide I want to
be a preacher. I was doing evangelism. I was doing that. I loved doing
that. It was marvelous. Never thought I'd be a pastor. Never thought I'd ever be called
the pastor of church. But here I am. It's God who's made
me a preacher. I didn't make myself a preacher.
He made me a preacher. He equipped me, just like he
equips all of us. He brought me here. He brought
you all here. Isn't it wonderful? And here
we are rejoicing in the great things that Christ has done for
us. And out goes the gospel, beloved, from this place. Out
it goes. Out it goes. Look at this. We see this actually
brought forth in our text. Acts 13 verse 2 to 5. And 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, it set them away.
So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto
Cecilia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And when they
were at Samalis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues
of the Jews. And they had also John to minister. So there it goes. Sometimes we think there's not
many preachers in the gospel. Sometimes we can get caught up
in that. Oh, there's not many preachers in the gospel. But
never forget that God has sent his preachers to specific places
to preach the gospel. And there's always the exact
amount of preachers that God's ordained. Right? There's other people in this
world preaching the gospel. We don't know them, but I guarantee
you there are. I guarantee you there are. We
may never hear of them, but we're gonna meet them in glory. We're
gonna meet them in glory, beloved. It's wonderful. There's five
things that are true of all gospel preachers. They are called of
God, they are recognized by the Church of God as men gifted and
called to the work of the ministry, they are separated unto the work
of the gospel, they are filled with and led by the Spirit of
God, and they preach the Word of God faithfully. They proclaim
Christ. That's all you can tell. The
fourth thing is the preaching of the gospel and the power of
the Holy Spirit is always effectual. Always remember that, that the
preaching of the gospel is never in vain. It's never in vain,
beloved. I do not labor in vain. I do not labor in vain. God is
using the word as it goes forth. He's using it in your hearts,
and he's using it as it goes forth out into the internet. Now, I have no confidence in
myself, none at all, but my confidence is in Christ. It's He who strengthens
me. It's He who leads me to text to preach the gospel. It's He
who puts on my heart. And I'm just as amazed in my
study, I'm reading stuff going, oh, this is wonderful. This is
so wonderful. Look at 2 Corinthians. Turn,
if you would, to 2 Corinthians. I wish to hear that. It's always effectual. Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians
2. 2 Corinthians 2. God's preachers don't labor in
vain. His word will not return unto them void. Some believe
and some do not believe when the gospel is preached. But God
is honored, isn't he, when the gospel is preached? And his will
and purpose will be accomplished, no matter what. You listen, 2
Corinthians 2, verses 14 to 17. Now, thanks to be the God which
always causes us to triumph in Christ. Look at that. We always triumph in Christ,
beloved, no matter what the circumstances are. And maketh manifest the
Savior of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto
God a sweet Savior of Christ, and them that are saved, and
in them that perish. To the one we are the Savior
of death, unto death, and to the other the saver of life unto
life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not
as many which corrupt the word of God as of sincerity, but as
of God, in the sight of God speak we Christ. I'll tell you what,
when I talk to my preacher brothers, we always say this, who's sufficient? I'm not sufficient. See, God
makes the preacher, beloved. God enables us to preach. We're
not sufficient to do these things. I've talked to Noam about this,
talked to Donya about this, talked to several other preachers. We're
not sufficient. Bruce, we're not sufficient. But God's able. He's give us a word to speak.
Salvation in Christ alone. The fifth thing is God's ordained
means for the saving of his elect is the preaching of the gospel.
That's a fact, isn't it? Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 10. I got two more points after this, yeah. I got two more,
but I'm almost done. These are little points. Turn
to Romans chapter 10. God's method of grace is He who
has chosen to save them that believe by the foolishness of
preaching. Romans chapter 10, verses 13 to 17. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Period.
You call upon the name of the Lord, Scripture says here, you'll
be saved. Isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they've not believed? So that's all of us in our natural
state, right? We don't believe. And how shall they believe on
Him of whom they have not heard? See, I'd never heard of the God
of the Bible, so I'd never believed on Him before. And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach? This
is now speaking of we preachers. Except they be sent. We're sent by God. To what? To
preach Christ, that's it. As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Well, what's a good thing? Salvation
in Christ alone, through his precious shed blood alone, by
his work and his merit alone. The unworthy sinners. Oh, praise
God. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath
believed our report? You know, old Isaiah the prophet,
he writes, says, Lord, who's believed our report? What's the
report? The gospel. Salvation in Christ
alone. By the free grace of God alone.
So then faith cometh by how? By hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. Look at that. Isn't that wonderful?
So God has ordained means, hasn't he? The preaching of the gospel. He uses the foolishness of preaching.
to save sinners. Six, faithful witnesses will
meet with much opposition and suffer painful disappointments
in this world. We as a church, we will go through
things. That's what that's bringing forth. We're going to go through
things. We will. Just as Paul and Barnabas met
opposition, we will be opposed by false prophets and false religion.
Sometimes we may even be disappointed by our brethren. We may be. Men of sinful flesh
will always disappoint one another. We always remember that. That'll
allow us to have compassion with each other. We are of sinful
flesh. We're always gonna let each other
down some way. We don't try to, but we will. We will. Let us have compassion
on people. Let us have compassion on one
another. Remember John Mark, he let Paul down, didn't he?
So much so that Paul said, I do not want him to come with me.
But later on, down the road, years later, he says, send him,
send Mark to me, send him to me. He's a blessing to my soul. Oh my. And last, the purpose
of God and the cause of Christ will all well triumph at the
end. We are here for the furtherance
of the gospel, beloved, to trumpet the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ forth from here, to send it out into the world and let
God do with it whatever He's pleased to do. And you know what? Christ will be triumphant. He will be triumphant. Listen
to this. He says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. They won't resist Him, because
they're made willing by the Holy Spirit in the day of God's power.
Born again. And He said, in Him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. God says to His people,
I'm never going to cast you away. I'm never going to turn you away.
Never. My! Isn't that wonderful? He says, for I come down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will, which which has sent me,
that of all those which he hath given me, I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day. There it is.
He's triumphant. He's triumphant. And those he
raise up, that's you and I. Oh my, that's us. Gonna take
us home. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the sun and believeth on
him, may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the
last day. Christ has ransomed us, beloved, with his own precious
blood. Let us remember that when we
take communion, that it's in whom you have trusted after you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and
whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. Who do we believe in? Christ, in Christ
alone.