Well, good morning. If you would open your Bibles with me to Acts chapter 11. Acts, the 11th chapter, we'll begin reading in verse 19. Now 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, the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them. And a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. The entitles of these things came unto the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem. And they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch, who when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith, and much people was added unto the Lord.

Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people, and the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. And we'll end our reading there. All right, let's all stand together. Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship.

Revive thy work, O Lord, thy mighty arm make bare. Speak with a voice that wakes the dead and make thy people hear. Revive thy work, O Lord, create soul thirst for thee, and hungering for the bread of life, O may our spirits be Revive thy work, O Lord, exalt thy precious name, and by thy Holy Ghost divine, our love for thee inflame. Revive thy work, O Lord, and give refreshing showers The glory shall be thine alone. The blessings, Lord, be ours. OK, if you would, turn your hymnal to song number 56, I am His and He is Mine.

56. Loved with everlasting love. Led by grace that love to know. Spirit breathing from above. Thou has taught me it is so.

O this full and perfect peace, O this transport all divine, In a love which cannot cease, I am his and he is mine. In a love which cannot cease, I am his and he is mine. Heaven above is softer blue Earth around is sweeter green Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen Birds with gladder songs o'erflow, flowers with deeper beauty shine. Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine. Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine. Things that once were wild alarms cannot now disturb my rest. Closed in everlasting arms, Pillowed on the loving breast O to lie forever here Doubt and care and self-resign While he whispers in my ear I am his and he is mine. While he whispers in my ear, I am his and he is mine. His forever, only his.

Who the Lord and me shall part. Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart. Heaven and earth may fade and flee. Firstborn light in loom decline. But while God and I shall be, I am His and He is mine. But while God and I shall be, I am his and he is mine. Turn if you would to Psalm I'd like to read Psalm 99 this morning. I love that last line of that song, while God and I shall be. That's forever. That's eternal. To be one. Alright, Psalm 99. The Lord reigneth. Let the people tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims. Let the earth be moved. That's where the sacrifice is, between the cherubim.

The Lord is great in Zion, and he is high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy. The king's strength also loveth judgment. Thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob, in sinners.

Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy. Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name, they called upon the Lord, and he answered them. He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar, they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them. Thou answeredest them, O Lord our God, thou wast a God that forgavest them, thou tookest vengeance upon their vengeance of their inventions. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill. For the Lord our God is holy. May the Lord bless his word. Let's pray. Our holy and marvelous, loving God, We come before you this morning in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So thankful, God, that we can approach you and call you Father, being one with Christ. So thankful that you devised a way to be just, to punish sin, To maintain your holiness and yet show your love towards your people justify many in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a mystery that God should become man, live a perfect life and be made sin, that that sin should be punished on the tree. Our sin. that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. This is a mystery, Lord, a terrible and great mystery, and we're so thankful that you've revealed it unto us.

I pray, Lord, that you would send your spirit to be with us this morning, that you would leave us not alone, but that you would enable us to worship thee. Lord, we pray that you would give our pastor a word from me and that you would anoint the hearts of your people to receive it and to rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ. Remind us of our need, Lord, but keep us from looking inward and look to the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ that saves. I pray, Lord, that you would continue to bless this local gathering, that you would send your word forth from this pulpit for many, many years to come, that you would use the word preached here to bring your sheep into a fold, that you would feed your sheep.

Lord, we pray for our friends, our relatives, those who may not know Christ. Lord, if you will, you can save them. We pray that it would be your will to show your love to them in our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, especially for our young people of this congregation. Have mercy on their souls. We lift up those who are going through difficult trials, trials, Lord, that that we can't understand, trials that only through experience would we know. Whether it be trials of the body or mind, spirit, Lord, we know that you send these trials for the good of your people.

We pray that you would accomplish your will through them, that you would lift up comfort, guide, and most of all, cause us to run to Christ. Father, once again, we pray that you would be with us here this morning. Allow us to worship. Give us Christ. We ask all these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for our good and for his sake. Our text is going to be taken from Acts chapter 11 this morning, the passage we read to open the service this morning. I've titled the message, What Grace Looks Like. I took my title from the beginning of verse 23.

It says, Who, when he came and had seen the grace of God, was glad. Now Barnabas came to Antioch and he saw It says here he saw the grace of God. He saw saving grace. And that made me wonder, what did he see? What is it that saving grace looks like? I know this, you can't see the beginning of God's grace, can you?

It's eternal, given to us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. We can't see electing grace. We can't go into heaven and see our names written in the Lamb's book of life. We weren't around to see Christ crucified as he was suffering and dying for his people and redeeming grace. We weren't around to see that with natural eyes, were we? You can't see the Holy Spirit come in grace. He's like the wind. He blows where he listeth. You don't see him. You don't know where he came from. You don't know where he's going. We can't see those things.

But what Barnabas saw and what we can see is the results of grace, the results. And this is what I hope, that we can see in our experience this way that grace, God sends his grace to his people and the results of it. So the first thing I see about this is this. God's grace always sends a preacher preaching the truth.

In verse 19, Acts 11, now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia 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, the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus. Now God has a people that he intends to save, and he's gonna let them in on it by sending them a preacher who will preach Christ to them. Somehow, someway, I don't care where they are, how far flung they are, someway, somehow, God's preacher and one of his children, they're gonna find one another.

And that preacher's gonna preach Christ, and that sinner's gonna hear and believe. They're gonna believe on Christ because that's what God determined before to be done. See, faith only comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. We cannot believe on Christ till somebody tells us who he is. And when God sends a preacher to a city, It's because God's being gracious. He's being gracious to somebody.

And these people that went preaching, they went out from Jerusalem preaching in a very, very painful way. They were scattered abroad because of this persecution that arose concerning Stephen. It's hard, I mean you can imagine it for those of us that maybe have lived in this area all our lives or something, but you imagine how it was for those Jews.

They were living in the land that God promised them. They came to this land from Egypt, God miraculously delivered them from Egypt, miraculously gave them this land, and God said he's giving them this land forever. This is their land. This is their home. Everything that they had was all, probably most of them had never left Israel, never left the nation Israel. This is their home. They loved it. They were proud of it. They just, you know, this is the land God's given us. Nobody can take it from us. And because of persecution, they were forced out. I mean, they never would have left the place. And this is the land God gave us. I'm not leaving this place. But they were driven out, driven out by persecution.

And that was painful to them. Don't you think they just left going on this trip like it was a vacation. This is a painful, painful thing. Many of them escaped with the clothes on their backs. Men did wicked, wicked things in this persecution, how people suffered.

But this is God's will. being carried out. This is how he determined he's going to drive these people. He taught all these people in Jerusalem and Israel the gospel. Now he's driving them out to do what he told them to do. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Do you think anybody from Jerusalem would ever have thought, you know, I'm going to go to Antioch and preach? No, sir. God had to drive them out. And men did wicked, wicked things to the people of God. but exactly like Joseph talking to his brothers. You boys meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

Let me show you Psalm 76. God uses his sovereignty to override evil, to override that persecution, to spread the gospel to his elect. Psalm 76, verse 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee. The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Man does things in his wrath and God uses it.

He overrides it to accomplish his purpose. And if it's not in his purpose, he restrains that. He doesn't let them do everything that they would desire to do in their wicked hearts. He restrains that. And what he allows them to do, he overrides that evil to accomplish his purpose of good for his people.

And that's what the life was like for these Jewish believers. They were scattered, because this persecution, it was so painful. And they're really suffering. I mean, they are genuinely suffering. And this is such a great example to me. I've thought about this and thought about this and thought about it all week.

As much as they were suffering for Christ's sake, as much as they were suffering for the gospel's sake, If they just would have quit preaching Christ, their suffering would have been over. If they just would have quit insisting on preaching the gospel and gone back to the synagogue on Saturdays, the persecution would have been over.

But as much as they were suffering, they kept faithful. They kept faithful to preach Christ. They're driven out of their homes because of persecution, and everywhere they went, they went preaching the word. They went preaching Christ. They didn't understand why the Lord was doing it. The pain was real and genuine, and I'm sure they wished it would all end. But regardless of all that that was happening to them, they would not quit. I can't tell you how much I admire that, how much I long to be like that.

And it's easy to determine who God's preacher is. If God's being gracious to a people, he's going to send them a preacher. And really, it's pretty easy to tell who God's preacher is. He preaches the word. That's what it says that they did to the Jews only. They preached the word. They took the Old Testament scriptures, and they preached Christ from it. Here's Christ. Here's Christ. Here's a picture of Christ. This is what he came to do. This is who he did. This is Jesus Christ. He fulfilled all that.

They preach the word. They go verse by verse through the word. They don't dodge anything. They preach the word. This is what the word of God says. And it says these other men, they preached the Lord Jesus. They preached the Lord Jesus to the Gentiles. And you know what? They both are preaching the same message. Preaching the word is preaching the Lord Jesus. Preaching the Lord Jesus is preaching the word.

He's the word incarnate. And this is the only message that God will ever use to save any sinner. This is the only message God will use to bestow grace on his people. It's the preaching of Christ. It's the preaching of the truth. He's not going to use a lie to do it. It's the preaching of Christ. Well, here's the second thing.

God's grace moves the hand of the Lord in power. Verse 21 in our text says, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. You know, the message that God's given us of grace, God's grace, His unearned, unmerited, undeserved favor, that's a powerful message, powerful. Paul called it the power of God unto salvation. And wherever you see the gospel being preached in power, not just, you know, reciting true statements, you know, of the gospel, but when the gospel is preached in power, it's because of God's grace. God's grace causes that message to go forth in power. And the power of this message, it's the hand of the Lord.

It's his, it's not of men. You know, a powerful message is not a man being, you know, so eloquent. It's not him screaming and yelling. I love this brother, Greg Yonquist said this when he was in false religion. He put in his notes, weak point, yell. Us yelling is not what makes it powerful. Us yelling is not what strengthens the message.

Our message is the power of God, that he reaches down his hand and grabs hold of his people and will not let them go. He turns them to Christ. And for somebody who's not eloquent and who's not dynamic and not powerful, this is so comforting. Preach the word. Preach the Lord Jesus, the powers of God. Let the power be of him. And I love to think about the hand of God. The right hand of God we know is the Lord Jesus Christ, but the hand of God, and I'll read you a few scriptures. I look this up. The hand of God. Isaiah 59 verse one says, behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save.

Neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear. For a sinner who knows he's a sinner. who knows he's way down there at the bottom of the barrel. He's so far from God he can't get any farther. Isn't it good to hear? The Lord says, behold. Now look at this, pay attention to this. The Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save. As far as we've wandered from the shepherd, you cannot wander so far away from him that his hand can't get you and bring you back to God. God's hand reaches down and turns people.

It says here that the people, many people, believed and were turned unto the Lord. Well, that's what repentance is, turning to the Lord. Well, how's a dead sinner, who by nature hates God, how's he ever gonna be turned to the Lord? How's he ever gonna be turned to trust Christ?

The hand of the Lord. That's what Jeremiah said. Lord, you turned me, and I'll be turned. but I won't be turned otherwise. The hand of the Lord turns his people to Christ and keeps us turned to Christ. It's the hand of God that delivers his people from every enemy. In Exodus 7, verse 5, the Lord said, the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. Every enemy that we have, our sin, our unbelief, our weakness, our darkness of ignorance, the dead nature that we're born with. It's the hand of the Lord that brings his people out from all of those things and brings us to Christ.

He doesn't just bring us out of those things and leave us alone. The hand of the Lord is what brings us out of bondage and brings us to Christ. And it's that same hand that holds and protects his people so that they cannot be lost. No man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand.

And it's the hand of the Lord that governs everything that happens on this planet. Everything, everything, not just the planet, everything in God's whole creation. Solomon said, Proverbs 21 verse one, The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth it, whithersoever he will. Why does the king do what he does? Because the hand of the Lord turned him to do it. Why does a nobody like you and me do what we do? The hand of the Lord turned us to do it.

That's why. Everything that, whatever it is that happens, You just rest in this, even though like this persecution that arose because of Stephen, that drove these believers out of Israel, whatever it is that happens, happens to accomplish God's purpose, to reach his people with his gospel. That's God's grace. Now look at verse 21. Again, it says here that the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed. Well, after the Lord's hand turned them in power, turned them to Christ, how could they not believe?

If God ever turns us to Christ so that we see Him as He is, how can we not believe Him? He's the Lord Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. How can we not bow to Him? He's the Lord Jesus, God who became flesh to save His people from their sins. by suffering and dying as their substitute. What love, what grace, what pity, if we see that, how could we not believe him? That's why we preach Christ Jesus, because if God ever lets us see him, we will believe him.

You who believe, you've heard the gospel and believe Christ, why do you believe him? Is it because you're smarter than everybody else? Because you studied some doctrinal book and figured this thing out and decided to believe him? That's not it at all, is it?

God's gracious. God was gracious to me. That's why I believe him. All right, here's the third thing, and this just naturally flows from this. God's grace makes sinners glad. It says here that when Barnabas saw this, he was glad. He was glad. You know grace. is God giving us what we do not deserve. And I'll tell you when that grace will make you glad. When you get some sense of the wrath that you deserve because of your sin. God's a holy God. Dan read that to us, that song makes it so clear. Our God's holy. He will, he must punish sin. And if God gives me what I do not deserve. Instead of giving me the punishment that I deserve, He gives me what Christ deserves? Oh, that makes me glad. That makes me glad. I don't know that anything makes me gladder than God's grace, that He was gracious to me. And when you hear the gospel, you hear of Christ, you hear of His eternal love, for his people. You hear how he willingly sacrificed himself to put the sin of his people away. He's so glorious and high above us, yet he condescended to dwell among us, to become a man, to become what we are so that he could save us from our sin. We don't deserve any of that. He did that to give us what we do not deserve.

If that makes you glad, it's because you got a new heart. See, that can never make the flesh glad. You know what makes the flesh glad? The opposite of the gospel. Praising men. Telling men what they can do to earn God's favor. And the flesh just swallows that lie. But you know what makes the believer happy? When God gives us a new heart, what makes us happy is God's grace. We're happy because of His grace to us. We're happy.

I know that that the flesh hates the thought of electing grace. I love it. I love it. I love, I don't understand why God would choose me other than this, that he'd get such great glory and save a sinner like me. I love electing grace, because this is what I know. I'd never choose God unless he chose me first. I love his electing grace.

I love his redeeming grace, where Christ took all of my sin away. His precious blood cleanses us from all sin. The price has been paid by the blood of Christ and we're free. I love his calling grace. I love the irresistible call of the spirit that when he calls I can't do anything but believe Christ because he shows me who he is. I love the fact that he would call a rebel like me. Call me to Christ. It's just, I never cease to be amazed by it.

I love His grace that gives faith in Christ. So I trust Him. I mean, I can honestly tell, I trust Christ. I trust Him with everything. And the only reason for that is God was gracious by His grace. I trust Christ because He gave me faith. I love His keeping faith. or keeping grace, that he keeps me by his grace, that he won't let me go. I know that if God would take his hand off of me for just a second, I mean, it's hard telling what I'd do. If God would take his hand off of me, I'd turn this earth into hell in a heartbeat. But he won't let me. He's keeping, preserving grace.

And that grace should make us a glad people. A glad people. Now I'm not talking, acting like a fool. And you know what I'm talking about. This fake happiness and fake gladness. But I'm talking about in the heart. We should be a glad people. We really should glad. Let me read you a few verses. Psalm 34, verse two. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. You know who's glad about God's grace? The humble, who know they don't deserve anything, any blessing from God at all. It's those that the Lord's humble. They're glad because of God's grace. You know, we might not be much. I mean, I'm talking about each of us individually. We're nothing. I mean, we're nothing.

But we sure have reason to be glad, don't we? Because of God's grace. Psalm 126, verse three, the Lord has done great things for us. We're off, we're glad. We're glad. I always fear an over familiarity with the gospel. Yeah, I've heard that before and I've heard that before. I know that so well. So that what the Lord has done for us ceases to be great. ceases to be awe-inspiring to us.

What the Lord has done for his people, it's great. It's great. We're saved by great grace, by great love, by a great sacrifice, by a great Savior. To give the dead life, to save a sinner from their sin so that their sin is no more, What a great thing that the Lord has done for us.

Isaiah may have had that in mind when he says in Isaiah 25 verse 9, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. No matter how low the Lord may bring us in time of trial and difficulty, and this is something only a believer can understand, in your heart, you can still rejoice. Rejoice in his salvation. Rejoice in his grace to us. Oh, grace makes sinners glad, glad. And number four, grace keeps us looking to Christ. Look at verse 23.

Who when he came and has seen the grace of God was glad and he exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto the Lord, for he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and much people was added to the Lord." Now, no matter where you find believers, and I've done a little bit of traveling over the years that I've been preaching, no matter where you find believers in different cultures, in different countries even, different languages, wherever it is you find believers, here's one thing that they all rejoice in. They all rejoice in God's grace. They rejoice and believe and preach the same gospel. You know, these people who left Israel because of the persecution, they went and they were preaching the word. They were preaching the Lord Jesus. Now here comes Barnabas. What's Barnabas gonna do? You know, they're thinking, okay, I've heard these other, you know, I don't know this guy. What's Barnabas gonna do?

He preached the same gospel. And they rejoiced just as much hearing it from Barnabas as they did the first people that they heard it from. We've experienced this before, we're getting ready to do it again, the conferences that's coming up. In the conferences coming up, you're gonna hear the same gospel preached by different men with different personalities, but it's gonna be the exact same gospel that you hear here every week. And you're gonna hear it and be glad.

It's not because of the man, it's because of the gospel, the message of grace in Christ Jesus. And Barnabas told them, now you believe Christ, you've been turned to Christ and he exhorted them to go about this thing with the same purpose of heart. Go about this with the purpose of glorifying Christ. Not for our glory, but for the glory of Christ. Go about this thing with purpose, to preach Christ to our generation.

Now, let me ask you, what could unite people together so that they don't have all different agendas and different things that they're trying to get from the group? What could unite people together with one purpose? What could unite people together To say, you know what, I've got a right to do this, but I'm not gonna do it. Cuz it could hurt one of my believers, whether they're younger or older, and I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna sacrifice for that and not do that so that Christ can be preached here, so that Christ can be worshipped here, so that people are not distracted. What can possibly Make this selfish flesh, this flesh is so self-centered.

What can make us unite together with one purpose? The only thing I can think of is God's grace. It's God's grace. What can make us unite together in this purpose? We want to see the glory of God. It takes God's grace, doesn't it? And it tells you this is not something that just comes naturally. to the believer, does it?

You'd think, well, yeah, I mean, we all believe Christ. We all trust Christ. You know, we all have faith in the same person. This gospel is so precious to us. The same thing makes us glad. Why, you just never need to mention that we have the same purpose of heart, because of course we will. Well, apparently not, because Barnabas exhorted them to do this, to operate with the same purpose of heart. And he told them, y'all make sure you cleave to the Lord. Cleave to the Lord. Now, what can make a person cleave to the Lord?

You know, these people, I said how they came out from Jerusalem under great persecution. They probably lost almost everything. They lost their homes, their friends, their jobs. You know, they're going to a strange country. They don't know anything about this place.

But they kept faithful. to preach Christ everywhere they went. Now, what can keep a person faithful like that? So that they cleave to, I mean, they wrap their arms around him and will not let them go. What can make you do that? What can make you just say, you know what? This is going to be easier to my flesh if I just let go. What's going to stop you from doing that?

Grace. Keeping grace will make us cleave to the Lord So that you won't leave him so that you won't quit trusting in him and the only thing they'll make us do that is God's grace And it's very interesting to me that here in verse 24 says Barnabas was a good man Barnabas was a key.

He was he traveled all this way. He preached the gospel to them. He pointed them to Christ and He exhorted them to have the same purpose of heart. He exhorted them to cleave unto the Lord. Why was he willing to do that for these people? Why was he willing to go through all this hardship to go preach? It wasn't like he could just get in his car and drive. I mean, he had to walk all this way or ride a donkey or something. What made him do that?

Well, it says here he was a good man. And that word good, it means a kind man, a generous man. It means an honorable man. And I found this very, very interesting. You know what else it means? It means a servant who faithfully fulfills his duty. A servant who faithfully fulfills his duty. And that should be said about every believer. He's a good man. He's a good woman. Now, you know, that doesn't mean there's any goodness of ourselves. There's no goodness or righteousness in and of ourselves.

I thought about this, this thing of a good man. You know, if you're going to be a servant who faithfully fulfills your duty, that takes grace, doesn't it? If you're going to be kind and generous, not just mean and strike out at somebody because it makes you feel good, but you're going to be kind, you're going to be generous instead of being selfish. It takes God's grace, doesn't it? But I thought, what really defines a good man or a good woman? And this is just Frank talking here. A good man, a good woman is defined this way, as a man or a woman that would never say they're good. A good man will say, there is no good in me.

There's no good in me whatsoever. And whatever it is that I've done, I only did it because of God's grace. And I certainly wouldn't trust, I wouldn't trust any of my salvation. None of that rest on my kindness or my generosity or my faithfulness. I wouldn't trust in it a bit. Now, like I said earlier, sons of Adam are very selfish, very self-absorbed, aren't we? What can make a son of Adam not think he's good, but trust Christ only?

Grace. It's grace. If you can honestly say you trust Christ and nothing about you is good, you're a good man, a good woman, God's been gracious to you. God's been gracious to you. None of us would dare say, oh, I'm a good man, I'm a good man, but I'd say it about every one of you. Good men, good, because of God's grace. And you know, God's grace just keeps coming and coming and coming and coming. They heard these Jews preach who came out of Jerusalem. They heard Barnabas preach. Then they heard even more preaching. Look here at verse 25.

Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. And when he found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people and the disciples were called Christians First in Antioch. These people here in Antioch, they heard all these preachers that came out of Jerusalem.

They heard Barnabas. Then they heard Paul. Paul came and preached to them. Paul and Barnabas, I mean, these men were some of the best preachers in the early church. And they stayed in Antioch for an entire year. And you know what they did? They preached Christ. They taught people Christ.

God's grace just keeps coming and coming and coming, just buckets and buckets and buckets, doesn't it? Then here's the last thing. God's grace produces Christians. It says there in verse 26 that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Now this word Christian, it's a biblical word.

In the world, has almost ruined the definition of that for us. I worked with a woman once, said, oh, my family's a bunch of Christians. And I said, why is that bad? Why did you curl up your nose like that? And she said, oh, they're so judgmental. We have a family reunion. They won't let you have any fun. You've got to dress in uncomfortable, out of style clothes, and they just I feel judged all the time, they're judging me because of my life and I know I'm not as good as them. Stop!

That's not a Christian! That's a self-righteous person, that's not a Christian. This word Christian, it means a follower. A Christian is a follower of Christ. Now if you're following someone, you look to them, don't you? And you trust them, you follow them, because where they lead you, and you'll take your eyes off of them. Before I ever went to Mexico, I heard about men getting separated from one of the groovers in the market or something, you know.

And old Frank determined, that's not going to happen to Frank. So we went to the market, and Cody, is leading everybody through, kind of showing us stuff, and letting you look at stuff. Now, some of the men there, they might have been looking at all this stuff. Frank was right up next to Cody. I was watching Cody.

I mean, I'm not getting lost in this place where I can't talk to anybody. My eye is on him. And whatever way he goes, that's the way I'm going. That's a Christian. I'm looking to Christ. Now, Chris, if I'm looking to Christ, What's over here and what's over here can't compare to be looking to him, can it? It can't be. And if I'm looking to him, I'm going to follow him.

These disciples of Christ, they're believers. These are people that experienced the grace of God. Now, here's what I want to know, and I want you to know this. Am I a Christian? Are you a Christian? Well, you know, our text tells us what a Christian is.

In verse 21, these people heard the gospel preached and they believed. A Christian is a person who hears Christ preached. They hear the gospel preached and they believe. In the heart, they believe. They don't just believe a set of doctrines. They believe Christ. They believe Christ. That's what a Christian is. When they hear the gospel, they believe it. You know, I might read the text ahead of time and think, I don't know what that means. I mean, I just don't know what that means. And God's preacher gets up and preaches, and you say, that's it. That's what I believe.

That's Christ. A Christian is someone who turns to the Lord. If you believed Christ all of your life, you believed too long. There was a time every one of us believed in an idol. The idol of self, in some form or another, that's what we believed in. A Christian is someone who the Lord has turned to Christ, away from those idols, and now I trust Christ. Now I trust Him. When I hear the Lord Jesus preached, I believe Him.

He's the Lord of all. He's the sovereign over everything. Whatever it is that happens in this creation happens because it's the Lord Jesus' will. His will shall be done. And I'll tell you what, as much as I can, as much as the Lord will give me grace to do it, I want to rejoice. I want to rejoice. Even if it's painful to this flesh, I want to rejoice because He's Lord of all.

He's Lord. He's King. And I bow to Him in worship. I use His name reverently. I treat his word reverently. I treat the time that we worship him reverently because he's king of all and I bow. And this makes me so happy. This is what every Christian will say. The only reason that I'm saved is it was the Lord's will to save me. His will was done. He carried out his will.

Then, just like Barnabas exhorted them to cleave unto the Lord, a Christian cleaves unto the Lord. Remember, a Christian is a follower of Christ. They cleave to Him. I mean, they cleave to Him. I cleave to Him because I need Him. I mean, if there is anything that I know, I need Christ. I need His grace. I need Him. I cleave to him because I love him. I love him. I cleave to my wife, not because I promised to do it. I mean, I did promise to do it, but it's because I love you. I love you. You magnify that infinitely. I love Christ by God's grace. And by God's grace, I loved him. I cleaved to him.

That's what a Christian is. They're not going to leave him. And then last, it says here in verse 26 that the whole year they assembled themselves with the church. A Christian is somebody who assembles themselves together with the people of God. We all have the same Savior. We have the same love. We've experienced the same Same grace. We worship the same Savior. We love to hear His name. I'm going to assemble myself with the people of God wherever it is I can find them because that's where God's grace is. Now that's what grace looks like. And I sure hope that's something that we see in our experience that how the Lord has been gracious to us.

All right, let's bow together. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you. Oh, how we thank you for your grace to your people. Grace that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace that saves. Grace that calls. Grace that keeps us cleaving to you. Grace that causes you to never let us go. Grace that will one day glorify us together with Christ. Father, how we thank you for your grace.

How we thank you, Father, that you've given your people Not what we deserve, but what Christ deserves, what Christ earned for his people. Father, we're thankful. And oh, Father, how we pray you continue to be gracious to your people. Father, that you be gracious to continue to feed and edify, instruct, and comfort the hearts of your people. And Father, by your grace, that you continue to call out your people. Father, those here that know not thee, Father, peradventure, that they do not pray for themselves, we pray. Father, that you'd be gracious to them.

Call them to the Lord Jesus Christ. And surely, we'd give you all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory for doing it, because the work is yours. Father, it's in Christ's name. For his sake and his glory, we pray. Amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn in your hymnals to song number 204 and stand as we sing, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. 204. O soul, are you weary and troubled?

No light in the darkness you see. There's light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace. Through death into life everlasting, He passed and we follow Him there. Over us sin no more hath dominion, For more than conquerors we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. His word shall not fail you, He promised. Believe Him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying His perfect salvation to tell Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.