Sunday, March 17, 2024 AM

Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we give

You thanks for the many mercies You've already provided for us today.

We thank You for the confidence that You instill in our hearts, in the reading of Your Word, in our praying together, in singing these songs where we are confessing together

Your glory to our need, and Christ is our good. But ultimately, in our worship of You, that You indeed are worthy, and You have given us

Your Son, Jesus Christ, who has unfailingly revealed

You to all You have given to Your Son, that Your Son has always pleased

You, done all that You have given

Him to do, said all that You have desired Him to say, so that we may be brought into relationship with You.

You have promised us that this is eternal life, that we would know You and Jesus Christ whom

You have sent. And You have not left us orphans in Christ's ascension, in His glorification, in His worthiness.

At Your right hand, You have given us the Holy Spirit. We praise

You for Him. We praise You for this wondrous gift that we are in fellowship with You, and from our hearts, because Your Holy Spirit, that He indwells us, that we may cry out with confidence and with love, that You are our

Abba Father. And You have brought us here together today in this good news by Your good grace.

I pray that You would help us now as we look at Your Word, an unfailing Word, a truth -filled

Word, without flaw. And I pray that by Your Spirit, for the sake of Your Son, that You would give us a gracious, warm, and abiding amen in our hearts about Your will declared from heaven.

We pray these things for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen. I invite you to open your

Bibles and turn with me to Acts 13, the book of Acts chapter 13.

And we will be reading verses 42 through 48 this morning. Acts chapter 13, verses 42 through 48, as we consider this passage that looks back at an

Old Testament promise, prophecy about how Christ is the light to the

Gentiles. A lot of changes going on in the book of Acts.

Things were not like the way they once were. When you leave off in Malachi and you begin in the book of Acts, something has drastically changed.

And, of course, that is the coming of Jesus Christ, His life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and His sending forth of His Holy Spirit.

Now, everything seems to be different, and yet it's not absolutely, totally different.

There is a sense of fulfillment, not abandonment. And Jesus tells us that there is just no patching the

Old Covenant. When He was trying to show how things were going to work to His Jewish neighbors and His Jewish friends, as He was teaching

His disciples and trying to instruct the leaders of the

Jews, He tried to tell them, you can't patch the Old Covenant. It's not a situation of saying, boy, we sure need a

Messiah, because there are gaps here, here, and here. Jesus says you can't put a patch of a new cloth onto an old garment, because the new cloth will shrink and tear and ruin the garment even more.

You can't put new wine into old wineskins, because the old wineskins are brittle.

They are hardened, and the new wine will ferment, and the gases will expand and destroy and destroy that old wineskin.

So there's just no patching. There's no reducing or reusing or recycling here.

There is a fulfillment. So the New Covenant that we're seeing on display here in the book of Acts is not a renovation of the

Old Covenant. It is not a restoration of the Old Covenant. At the same time, it is also not a surprising aberration from the

Old Covenant. It is not a shocking deviation from the Old Covenant. It is a recreation.

It is centered around the resurrection of Jesus Christ, for these are the acts of the risen

Lord Jesus Christ. There's a new contrast going on in the

New Covenant. It is not a contrast of Jew versus Gentile. It is a contrast of old versus new.

And as we see that there's conflict in this passage, there's arguments, there's hostility, there are hurt feelings.

People walk away from the preaching of Paul demanding that he change his ways and incensed that he would ever say these things about Jesus and the

Bible. Trying to wrap our heads around that, what seems to be the problem?

Because the contrast has ceased being between Jew and Gentile, but between old and new.

And all of the Jews are being invited and encouraged to trust in Jesus of Nazareth as the

Messiah, as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Each one of them is being invited to take upon the same attitude that John the

Baptist had. Of course, Jesus said John the Baptist was the greatest of all of the Old Covenant.

He was the best example of an Old Covenant saint. And what did John say about Jesus and himself?

He said, I must decrease. He must increase.

And that's what Paul is saying to his synagogue audience in our passage.

All the glory has to go to Jesus. You must decrease in importance.

Christ must increase in all importance. And didn't Jesus say pretty much the same thing when

He said, whoever wants to follow Me must take up his cross, deny himself, follow

Me. Unfortunately, there's another example that the

Jewish audience might follow. Not the example of John the Baptist, but the example of King Saul, one of jealousy about the one anointed.

Remember, King Saul was king. He was the anointed, but he was under the judgment of God.

And then God had Samuel the prophet go out and anoint David, the shepherd boy. Now we've got a problem.

Now we have two anointed of God at the same time. And the days of one are drawing to an end.

And the days of the other are just beginning. And don't you know there was a lot of conflict between Saul and David, wasn't there?

But David was a man after God's own heart. And Saul's days were numbered. Judgment was coming, but he was very jealous of David.

And he persecuted David. And he attacked David. He tried to destroy David and all those who followed him, didn't he?

We have the exact same situation here in the New Testament era, where God's judgment has come upon the stewards of the old covenant.

Their days are numbered. And there's another anointed there at the very same time, one who is after God's own heart, one who is approved of by God in every way.

And his name is Jesus of Nazareth and all those who follow him. And that's why we're seeing conflict throughout the book of Acts between the older jealous and the younger anointed.

If you would stand with me, I encourage you to read the word of God with me.

Acts chapter 13, beginning in verse 42.

This is the word of the Lord. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the

Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now, when the congregation had broken up, many of the

Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.

But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and contradicting and blaspheming.

They opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first.

But since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the

Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.

Now, when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. How often in the storyline of Scripture do we see

God's favor upon the younger and the jealousy of the elder?

Almost from the very beginning. Remember Cain and Abel? How often as you read through the stories of the

Bible, do you see God's favor upon the younger and the jealousy of the elder and the elder being judged?

And the younger being elevated into God's service. Now, how are we supposed to interpret that?

We're supposed to interpret that in light of Jesus Christ. Not in terms of family policy and psychology.

This is a storyline about Christ. God is shepherding all of the details of the entirety of history and giving us the salient points in His word that we might see

Christ. The Father is ever speaking of the Son by the Spirit throughout the entirety of the Scriptures.

You remember the jealous brothers? The sons of Jacob, the sons of Israel?

How many years, even some of them for decades, had served their father well in the fields when

Jacob explained to Laban all the hardships he had had and tried to take care of the flocks, all the things he had to go through?

His older brothers were the sons of his least favorite wives. Yeah, things were messy.

But his favorite wife, Rachel, had had no children. And she was barren, and she was barren, and she was barren.

But when his favorite wife, the younger wife, the younger, the favored younger wife, had her firstborn son

Israel, Jacob, looks upon his firstborn son from Rachel and says, ah, my heir.

I don't care that Reuben's 32 years old. Ah, my firstborn. And he's going to give him the double portion and give him all the blessings.

And he gives him a famous coat of many colors. And the word in the

Hebrew is basically, he gave Joseph a business suit. These were not coveralls, okay?

This was a business suit. He made Joseph the boss man and sent him out into the field to supervise all his older brothers who were wearing the coveralls, who were doing the hard work.

That did not go over very well, that the younger would be so favored and elevated above the elder brothers.

They were jealous. And then Joseph began to have dreams, dreams about sheaves of wheat and the sun, moon, and stars all bowing down to him.

This too did not go over very well with Joseph's older brothers.

They couldn't stand it. They were envious, they were jealous, and they were violently so.

They hated the dreams. Prophetic ministry got offered to them through their brother and they plotted against him how they might do away with him, why?

Because they were all entrenched in their self -identities.

We're the elder. We've been here all this time. Look what we have accomplished. Here's our value to our father.

They would not and could not accord any glory to another because they were dedicated to themselves.

They could not, they would not give glory to another because they were dedicated to themselves.

Glorying in our identities. This is true all the way back to Cain, all the way back to Joseph's elder brothers and Saul and the jealous

Jews in Antioch where Paul is preaching. All the way to today, there's nothing new under the sun when people are glorying in their identities rather than in God, we are left in darkness.

Why are we left in darkness? Because we have to send away the

Word of God to maintain our commitments to our own identities.

No, thank you. I don't want to hear about how Christ is greater. I don't want to hear about the light of Jesus Christ. No, thank you.

I don't want to hear about how He's far more vastly superior and more important than I am and my entire life has to be seen in the light of who

He is. No, thank you. I'm committed to myself. And so you have to send away the Word of God in order to be committed to yourself.

That is what's going on in our passage. These Jews have a very special understanding of their own identity and their own importance.

And so they are in the process of sending away the preaching of Paul and Barnabas because Christ is too bright, too glorious, too important for them.

They're not going to be able to survive in their own self -understanding. Again, Jesus said, deny yourself.

Take up your cross and follow me. The shining light of the gospel of Jesus never fails to sift us, sift all of us, show us where we really stand.

Let's look at verses 46 and 47 and consider who it is who is commanded and commanding with this gospel promise.

Verses 46 and 47. This is after the opposition, the hostility expressed by the Jews of Antioch.

Not all of them, but a good portion of them. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold.

They grew bold and said, it was necessary that the Word of God should be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the

Gentiles, for so the Lord commanded us. I have set you as a light to the

Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. There is a conflict of authority.

The religious Jews committed to the synagogue there in Antioch at Pisidia are saying,

Paul, Barnabas, you are preaching incorrectly. You are saying things about the

Bible that are not true. You're getting the idea of Messiah wrong. Let us cite our scripture verses and let us also cite the official accepted interpretations of those scripture verses and they throw all of that at Paul and Barnabas and we see in the previous passage that the previous verses, they are contradicting and blaspheming as they do this.

Now, Paul and Barnabas respond and so they're going to cite scriptures and they're going to give the official interpretation of the scriptures.

We've got ourselves a religious conflict here. We have a doctrinal fight.

People are throwing Bible verses at each other and saying, well, your interpretation is wrong.

No, your interpretation is wrong. Don't you just love those moments? Some people think that those things are so bad and evil that they should never, ever happen.

But there is a way to understand them in a constructive way. And it's important that we do not sacrifice truth in the streets for the sake of peace.

What is it that goes on here? Paul and Barnabas, they cite the scripture and they give a

Christ -centered, Christ -exalting interpretation of the text. And this is the one the

Holy Spirit leaves us with. This is the one the Holy Spirit who breathed this passage into its perfection and preserved for us for these thousands of years comes down to us and says, here's how you got to read the

Bible. We're not left in the dark about it, you see. Notice that Paul and Barnabas grew bold.

So they respond to the hostilities with confidence, with confidence.

Uh -oh, we have our doctrinal disagreement. But they don't clam up. They don't tiptoe.

They don't walk around on eggshells. They don't dial it down and throttle it back. They let loose.

They speak freely. They square their shoulders. They make direct eye contact.

They speak from the diaphragm and then they gush gusto all over their opponents.

Why? Is that just a style? No, they did so with warrant.

They said it was necessary. So they put the situation in context. They say it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first.

Why was it necessary that the gospel be preached to the Jew first and then also to the

Gentiles? Why? Because to the Jews were committed the oracles of God, Romans 3, 2 says.

They were just in the synagogue the week before reading the scriptures together. And the

Jews were members of the Commonwealth of Israel. They were at home in the covenants of promise. They lived in hope.

They knew who God was by the scriptures. Jesus, when

He was ministering in Galilee and in Judea, He made preaching the gospel of the kingdom

His priority to the Jews and gave instructions to His disciples to also make that their priority, to begin here.

Even in the instructions in the Great Commission and in Acts 1 -8, there is a priority, begin here and then spread out.

It was necessary to preach the gospel to the

Jew first. They had received the gospel for generations by shadow.

And now that the substance had arrived in Christ, it was fitting in God's wisdom that they receive the preaching of the gospel first.

So Paul says, Barnabas says, with confidence, hey, this is the way it was supposed to be.

They're thinking about how it all fits together, the teachings of Christ and the message of all the scriptures.

And then with this confidence, putting everything in context, Paul and Barnabas hit these very hostile, angry people with sarcasm.

With sarcasm. Notice in the context that there's a bunch of criticisms and blasphemies being heaped upon Paul and his savior,

Jesus Christ. And obviously the religious Jews are going to be making judgment calls and making judgments.

They had numbered all these Gentile folks and they grew jealous. They grew jealous of their numbers.

They had weighed the gospel of Jesus Christ in their balances and they found him wanting, found him lacking, deficient.

However, they were not working with proper weights and scales. They had diverse weights.

They had unjust scales. They were importing false presuppositions.

They were imposing errant hermeneutics. They had made themselves out to be unbearably important.

If you're saying all that about Jesus of Nazareth, if that's the case, then we're nothing.

We've got nothing left. It's all him. Yes, correct.

You have understood it. People don't get upset with the Bible for being unclear. They get upset with the

Bible because it is clear. Now, there are, it's a disagreement in the field, but there might be either seven steps or six steps to achieve pure misery.

But the first step is agreed upon by all the experts in the field, and it is this. Make yourself unbearably important and you are well on your way to achieving perfect misery in your life.

That's what's going on here. No, no, you can't just, you can't just move us out of the way like that.

No, no, we're just too important. Notice how Paul lets the air out of the pompous gas bags in front of him.

He uses a serrated edge. He cuts effectively, but also notice evangelistically.

He's not being cutting because he's trying to exalt himself over them. Say, hey,

I'm cleverer than you. All right, this isn't a junior high attempt at sarcasm.

This is a PhD apostle implementation by the Holy Spirit of sarcasm.

Notice how effective it is. He says, since you reject it, and notice he says, judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life.

Well, since you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, in that case, we'll just take a different approach, won't we?

He's saying, you're not really judging me. You're judging yourselves. You've not proved me unworthy to declare these truths to you.

You may have felt like you've won the debate here today. You have dozens of you all together telling me that I'm wrong and you're right, that you have the official understanding of the word of God.

I'm just a visitor around these parts. Fine, but all you've done, all you've done is prove that you're too good to be saved.

Congratulations. By being completely right and having everything figured out in your system, you've just told the great physician, no thanks, already healthy.

You see how that happens? They judged themselves unworthy of eternal life.

Those who deem themselves worthy prove themselves unworthy of eternal life.

This is what Jesus said to the Jews of his day, that wicked and perverse generation he was speaking to so often with such detail.

When he says in Matthew 7, 14, narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life. And there are few who find it.

He was talking to the Jews in that generation during the Sermon on the Mount. Be careful.

This is not a declaration of how pitifully small God's mercy is concerning the scope of the atonement.

Broad was the way of destruction, and many were there who went that way talking about the

Jews who were rejecting his message, the false prophets, the false Jewish prophets he just spoke about there in chapter 7 of Matthew.

Luke's account is very much the same way. Far easier we see in the book of Acts for the Jews to stand with the

Sadducees and with the Pharisees, persecution of the church. Far easier for the Jews to stand with the sword of the state and the ruling council of the

Sanhedrin to kill Stephen and kill James. Acts 4, 5, and 7 and other passages show us a systemic hostility to the gospel, and it's certainly the case in our passage here this morning.

So Paul says to them, well, since you're too healthy to be saved, to be healed, and you're too righteous to need forgiveness, since you've judged yourself as unworthy of eternal life, then we are going to preach to the

Gentiles. We're just going to go directly to the Gentiles now. There's no need for us,

Paul is saying, to return to the synagogue. We're not going to work through your system anymore. We are going to continue a ministry of just taking up the

Old Testament scriptures that you think you have a monopoly on, and we're just going to bring them straight to the

Gentiles and preach Jesus, and we're not going to work through your system anymore. Now, he's saying that to these folks in Antioch at Pisidia, right?

He's not saying that he is no longer going to preach in any synagogues in any place. He's also not saying that he will not preach the gospel to Jews when he first comes to a new town, because as we begin reading

Acts 14, 15, all the way through chapter 28, we find that Paul's gospel ministry to the

Jews remains incredibly robust. What is he saying to the

Jews here in Antioch at Pisidia? He is saying that we are not required by the scriptures to preach the scriptures through the

Jewish synagogue system. We can go straight to the Gentiles with the message of the gospel, and this is biblical.

That's his warrant. So verse 47, he quotes a passage from Isaiah. Notice verse 47.

For so the Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the

Gentiles, meaning the nations, all the nations, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.

Now, this quote comes from Isaiah, chapter 42 and 49.

In that area of Isaiah, chapters 40 through 66, we find

God declaring hope to the Jewish nation because they are facing a coming exile and the shattering of their covenant artifacts and signs.

In fact, the whole section starts like this. Comfort, oh, comfort my people. What a wonderful phrase.

What a wonderful assertion. Comfort, oh, comfort my people. So what is God going to do?

How is he going to comfort? His people, this is a nation whose city is about to be broken.

Their mountain bloodied, their temple burned, their king deposed. What comfort can

God give these folks? How about a city that will not be shaken? How about a mountain that cannot be touched?

How about a temple that will live forever? How about a king who will never fail? He offers them the comfort that his servant, capital

S Servant, the Messiah will accomplish. That's the comfort for Israel.

They must find comfort in Jesus. And this same comfort,

Paul is declaring to these hostile Jews as they are criticizing him and blaspheming

Christ. He preaches to them their comfort, their hope of salvation, while at the same time saying,

I'm going to turn to the Gentiles and preach to them directly. Let's consider these passages from Isaiah, Isaiah 42.

Isaiah 42 verses 1 through 10. And then we'll read Isaiah 49 following that.

Isaiah 42 verse 1 says, Behold my servant whom I uphold. Brethren, let us consider

Christ. Put our attention there. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights.

Remember Jesus at his baptism. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased and the

Holy Spirit descended upon Christ in the form of a dove. And what does Isaiah say?

I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles, to the nations.

He will not cry out nor raise his voice nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised wreath he will not break and smoking flax he will not quench.

He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands will wait for his law.

Christ did not fail. He did not fail as the

Messiah in his living, in his dying, in his being raised, in his ascension. And he is not failing today in his reign and he will not fail in his return.

Thus says the Lord God who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it.

Verse 6, I the Lord have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will...

Notice he's speaking to the servant. He's speaking to Christ. He's the servant who fulfills the whole role of the servant

Israel. But what does he say to the Messiah? I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people as a light to the

Gentiles. What did Jesus say about his body and blood? This is the new covenant. He's saying, I am the new covenant.

And how far reaching is this new covenant to all the nations? And this is to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who stood in darkness from the prison house.

These are the passages Jesus preached from synagogue to synagogue, from marketplace to marketplace along the

Sea of Galilee. Verse 8, I am the Lord. That is my name and my glory. I will not give to another.

Remember that? For my praise nor my praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass and new things

I declare. The old is fulfilled. So new things I declare in the fulfillment of the old.

New things are being declared before they spring forth. I tell you of them. It's not yet, but I'm telling you it's going to happen.

Verse 10, sing to the Lord a new song. And his praise from the ends of the earth.

It used to be the song was sung there in the temple courts. It was sung there on Mount Zion.

Now the new song is from the ends of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that is in it, you coastlands, you inhabitants of them.

So there is comfort to the Jews and this comfort of the Jews is in and of himself the light to the

Gentiles. One and the same. Jesus Christ is the comfort of the Jews and he is the light of the

Gentiles all at the same time. He is the servant fulfilling capital

S servant. God called Israel his son lowercase s. He called

Messiah his son capital S son. He is in and of himself the covenant.

He is the new covenant, not just for the people of Israel, but all for the nations. And so all the people from all over the planet are called to sing a new song.

Why? Because the new covenant has a new choir that resonates with a new song. And we hear them singing it in Revelation five and seven.

Now, new watch this. New does not mean unplanned. It does not mean unanticipated because it has been long ordained to come to pass verses one through nine of verse 40 chapter 49.

Isaiah 49 says very much the same thing. Verse one, listen,

O coastlands to me and take heed you peoples from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb from the matrix of my mother.

He has made mention of my name. He's made my mouth like a sharp sword. Remember the picture of Jesus with a sharp sword coming out of his mouth in the shadow of his hand.

He has hidden me and made me a polished shaft in his quiver. He has hidden me and he said to me, you are my servant.

What does he call it? What does he call the Messiah? You are my servant, O Israel. What does he call

Messiah? Calls him Israel. In whom I will be glorified.

You understand that Saul could not remain king if David became king and that was the whole problem.

You understand that Israel cannot be the chosen servant of God now that Messiah has come. He's the chosen servant of God.

That's why they were so angry in Acts. That's why they were so upset. Now, what did

Israel have to say in Isaiah's day? Then I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain.

Well, that's what they're facing. They're facing the destruction of their city. They're looking at the loss of their of their autonomy.

Their king is going to be deposed and so on. And yet the hope of Israel, the hope of the remnant is what?

Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord and my work with my God. And so the faithful in Israel, the bad things are happening are saying there's something ahead.

God's going to keep his promises. It's all going to work out. Verse five. Now the Lord says, who for me from the womb to be his servant, to bring

Jacob back to him that Israel is gathered to him. So he's called the servant Israel in verse three.

And now he says this servant saves Israel and gathers Israel. You watching? How can it be that one man is the group?

That's the way kings work. That's the way God had already been dealing with Israel for many, many generations.

When he said the king will stand in for the people. If the king sins, the whole people is judged.

But if the king does well, all the people are blessed. Remember David? When David did well, all the nation was blessed.

When David numbered the people because he was sinning, then what happened? The whole people got cursed and plagued, didn't they?

One man standing in for the whole. This is what Jesus does as the servant, as the

Messiah. Verse six. Indeed, he says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

Meaning it's too small a thing that Jesus should save just the Jews. No, I will give you as a light to the

Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

The ends of the earth. So Isaiah 42, Isaiah 49, and so on and so forth. We learn that it is the servant, it is the

Messiah who is called to be the light to the Gentiles. Now I lay all of that out for you because I want you to see in the passage whether or not

Paul and Barnabas are rightly interpreting the Old Testament. They're citing scripture to their opponents, but are they interpreting it correctly?

What do they say in verse 47? For so the

Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the

Gentiles that you should be for the salvation to the ends of the earth. What's going on there?

I thought the passage was about Jesus Christ. I thought the passage was about the Messiah. Why are

Paul and Barnabas saying the Lord commanded us? To be a light to the Gentiles. Well, we're coming back to our theme, aren't we?

What is Paul's identity? What is Barnabas's identity? Wouldn't Paul say that himself?

I'm the prisoner of Christ and the apostle of Christ. I'm the slave of Christ, didn't he? Whatever the master wants, that's what

I'm about. Whatever the master says, I'm in agreement. Wherever the master sends me, there

I go. And God has said of Christ, that he is the light to the nations.

And Paul says, I belong entirely to him. Thus, I am for the nations. And I'm preaching the gospel of Jesus to all the different Gentiles.

You see how Paul is identifying himself completely in Christ. And those who are hostile to the gospel are those who are refusing to do so.

There's no reason to quarrel over who could be welcomed into Israel and into her customs.

All these Gentiles of the whole city turn out and they start taking over the Sabbath day. The Jews are very upset about that.

Like, you can't just do that. There's a process. You have to have feasts and you have to have ceremonies and you have to come in a certain way.

No, Christ has come. The substance has filled the shadow. All the sheaves should bow to this bread.

The sun, moon, and stars should all bow to this light. And it causes envy and violent jealousy among the older brothers, the sons of Israel.

And yet, it is this very jealousy that God turned into a tool to bring many

Jews to be grafted into Christ. You can read about that in Romans 11. Now, it is clear that all kinds of people,

Jews and Gentiles are welcomed into Christ. He's the light of the nations. Paul and Barnabas are seeing themselves as in Christ, upon Christ's business.

But let us be clear, this is Christ's business, okay? So this is the business of all

Christians who belong to Christ, meaning that the Great Commission is not for the apostles only, not for Paul only, not for preachers only, it's grace only.

Next verse, verse 48. Who counts, right? Who gets in? Who's in? Who counts as gospel people?

Verse 48. Now, when the Gentiles heard this, when the nations heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the

Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Man, what an impact upon these

Galatians. They rejoice, they magnify the name of God, the promises of God.

I don't know how they said amen and hallelujah, but they said it. They were rejoicing in this truth.

How often does this play out before the face of God? As a delight to his gaze, an everlasting glory to his name, that West African tribes clap and dance for the word of the

Lord is that Jesus has come to save sinners. Mongolian men and women laugh and feast in the joy of the

Lord as their savior. Argentinians shout over one another about the glories of the gospel.

And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believe and are saved from all the nations.

As many as have been appointed believe from Patrick with the Irish, the Pilgrims and the

Indians, from Athanasius in Alexandria to Kerry and Hudson in the Far East, from Paul and Barnabas among the

Galatians to Jim Elliott and Nate Saint among the Harani people. The gospel of Christ has been making the nations glad now for 50 generations.

We ought to be excited about that. We ought to celebrate that. We ought to be encouraged about that.

We ought to see the faithfulness of God and the victory of Jesus Christ in that. As Genesis 26, 12 reminds us, the promised seed of Abraham sows in lands that belong to the nations and he reaps a hundredfold.

As many as had been appointed to eternal life. What does that mean? Which is what it says. They did not appoint themselves.

They were appointed. It was not a present appointment, but a past appointment.

They had been appointed. Somebody else in the past, namely God, had appointed them to eternal life.

And that is the foundation of grace where they're saving belief in the gospel. The preaching of the gospel of Christ sifts the hearers of the gospel and we see what kind of a harvest

God has predestined. What kind of a haul, what kind of a catch God has foreordained his gospel and his spirit to bring in.

Many were appointed to eternal life and so they were born again by Holy Spirit power and gospel preaching and in this foreordained grace they believed.

Thank God. I'm serious. Thank God. Modern self -esteem gurus would have you amplify your self -status.

They would have you so inflate your own identity and importance that you should thank only yourself. It's a variation on that pharisee in the middle of the temple in the self -righteous pharisee

Jesus talked about. Standing in the center of attention, speaking thus with himself, I thank me that I am not like others who are worse off.

I thank me that I prioritize self -care and manifest my own flourishing. Man, that stuff's everywhere.

The Christian response is to thank God for our salvation. Why? Simply because He saved us.

He saves us. In this is love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

He didn't simply make a way. He didn't simply open up a life gate. He didn't simply provide a lifeline. God saves us in such a way that He doesn't share any of the glory with us.

That's what He says in Isaiah 42, 8. I don't share my glory with anyone. Now, let's rejoice in that.

That's liberating. Imagine having to take credit for it and walk around with that burden on your shoulders.

Galatians 6, 14, Paul says, but God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our

Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. So when you find all of your identity in Christ, all of your identity in your

Savior, you've got nothing left to take credit for, nothing else to say, this was me, that over there part was me, and the rest was

Christ. No, it was all God in Christ. Let me share with you one burden that relieves you in this way.

Some of you have watched the old, it's an old film now, Fireproof, if you remember.

And there was the comedic relief in the film. His name was Wayne in the film.

He was always boasting and making fun. He ended up coming to my seminary as one of the fellow students and we're standing in line for registration.

And he's a very gregarious guy and we had a great time talking. There was a third student in line and he was very burdened and Stephen just spent time with him and listened to his story.

And this student lived with his father. His father was not a Christian, did not believe.

And this student talked about all the variety of ways for years that he's been trying to witness to his father and trying to convince him of the goodness of God and the grace of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins.

And he began to share with Stephen and say, he said, I know, I know

I'm there for his salvation. I just, I don't want to fail at this because I know it's my responsibility.

All right, he's just broken up, broken up. He can't get his dad to believe in the gospel.

And Stephen just started encouraging him. He said, he said, brother, you know, that's not your job, right?

He said, you remember where it says that the heart of the king is in the Lord's hand and like rivers of water, he turns in whichever way he wishes.

You know, that's God's business. You be faithful, share the gospel, but it's God's business. You see how liberating that is?

But what if it is on you? What if it is on other people? What if we don't find our identity ultimately and utterly in Christ?

Paul had a similar urgency and burden for his brothers, the Jews. Did he not? Romans chapter nine. What did he say?

I could almost wish myself accursed. But then again, it's not up to Paul, is it?

How did he talk about the synagogue audience? He called the men of Israel, verse 16. He spoke of our fathers, you know, your fathers and my fathers, the same fathers, verse 17.

He addressed them as sons of the family of Abraham, verse 26. He called them, Paul says, you are my brethren, verses 26 and 38.

And so now these descendants of Abraham, these sons of Jacob, these sons of Israel are showing their antagonism and their jealousy against their brother,

Jesus of Nazareth. Why? Because their sentiments were the same in this moment as those who dwelt in Jerusalem and had opposed

Jesus. They were envious. They were envious. The father had favored Jesus, honored

Jesus, clothed Jesus with glory, made Jesus their master, but they would not bow. They were scattered chaff.

They would not bow. They were wayward stars. They would not have this man rule over them. And so jealous, envious brothers betrayed

Christ by lies. And many pieces of silver, they put them into the hands of pagan authorities. And yet what they intended for evil,

God ordained for good. And many nations were saved, are being saved by this crucified, risen and ascended bread of life.

As many as God had appointed to eternal life believed. How many is many? The sower went out to sow.

God has given the increase, some 30 fold, some 60 fold, some a hundred fold. Until out of every tribe, tongue, people and nation, there is gathered a redeemed multitude that no man can count.

Singing a new song to Christ. Worthy, worthy, worthy is the lamb who was slain.

May blessing and honor be to the lamb who reigns. A light, a light to the nations.

Let's praise him. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this word. We thank you for your grace.

We thank you for your well -planned, all -powerful grace of salvation in which you magnify your name through your son.

I thank you that here we are today of the nations, among the nations, proof of your grace, proof of your son's glory, proof of the power of the cross and the resurrection, proof of Christ's reign from your right hand.

We give you praise and ask that our worship to you would be in accordance with your worthiness.