The Gospel of Luke "Jesus Selects His Apostles" 03/12/2023

The evidence of things not seen, for by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are

seen were not made of things which are visible.

By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that

he was righteous.

God testified of his gifts, and through it, he being dead, still speaks.

By faith, Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found, because God had taken him.

For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God.

But without faith, it's impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is,

and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

By faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an

ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the

righteousness, which is according to faith.

By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance,

and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

And by faith, he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with

Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

And by faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she

was past the age, because she judged him, faithful, who had promised.

And therefore, from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the

sky, and multitude innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were

assured of them, embraced them, and confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to

return.

But now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country.

And therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the

promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, in Isaac your seed shall be

called, concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he

also received him in a figurative sense.

By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, concerning the things to come.

By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph in worship, leaning on the top of his

staff.

And by faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions

concerning his bones.

By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child,

and they were not afraid of the king's command.

And by faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather

to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,

esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the

reward.

And by faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, as seeing him who was invisible.

By faith, he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the

firstborn should touch them.

And by faith, they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so,

were drowned.

By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were encircled for seven days.

By faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies

with peace.

And what more shall I say?

For the time would fail me, to tell of Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, also

of David, and Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness,

obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of

the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the

armies of the aliens.

Women received their dead, raised to life again.

Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

And still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword.

They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented,

of whom the world was not worthy.

They wandered in deserts, and mountains, and dens, and caves of the earth, and all these having obtained a

good testimony through faith did not receive the promise, God having provided

something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

What a wonderful chapter.

Let's pray.

Our Father, we read in the book of Hebrews, that the just shall live by faith.

Lord, our faith is a living faith.

We order our lives in faith.

In Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

And we thank you, our God, that you were able to bestow upon us great blessing,

and that we're able to see great victories in our lives, Lord, through faith in Jesus Christ.

And yet we also see that sometimes, our God, you call your people to endure in faith through great

difficulty and hardship.

And there's some of us, our God, that are in faith, living accordingly.

They don't seem to receive the blessing that others enjoy.

They don't experience the healing that others seem to enjoy.

And yet, Lord, they continue to believe.

And in some ways, perhaps they're bringing greatest glory to you.

We pray that you would help us, our God, to be faithful, living before you.

Instruct us and guide us, our God, that we might live for you faithfully in this fallen world.

And now illuminate our hearts and minds to the truth that's in Jesus Christ, as we open your

word.

For we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, let's turn to Luke chapter six, please.

I realize there's an inordinate number of pages before you.

We're gonna have to do some skipping over some of them, because of the time.

But I felt that it would be good to have them in print.

Gospel of Luke, and today we wanna consider how Jesus selected his 12 apostles.

Now, last Lord's Day, we concluded addressing the contents of Luke five,

in which we read of our Lord's teaching regarding the distinctions of the

practice of fasting between his disciples and the Pharisees and scribes and John the Baptist's

disciples.

Jesus spoke of the reluctance and resistance of established Judaism to embrace the newness of what he was

teaching and bringing them to his ministry.

You recall Jesus had said, no one puts new wine into old wine skins, or else the

new wine will burst the wine skins and be spilled, and the wine skins will be ruined.

But new wine must be put into new wine skins, and both are preserved.

And no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, the old is better.

Well, the very next episode in Luke's gospel records our Lord in conflict with the

Pharisees over what was lawful on the Sabbath day.

And that's found in chapter six, verses one through 11.

The Jewish leaders had first reacted to Jesus and his disciples as they had walked through the grain fields on the Sabbath day.

And his disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.

And so the Jewish leaders accused them of laboring on the Sabbath day, harvesting,

which was forbidden by the fourth commandment, according to the Pharisees.

And then on another Sabbath day, the Pharisees and their scribes were angry with Jesus for having healed a man whose right hand was

withered.

And he did it on the Sabbath day in the synagogue.

And the reaction of the Jewish leaders was intense hostility.

And so we read in verse 11 of chapter six, they were filled with rage and discussed with one

another what they might do to Jesus.

The hostility toward Jesus was growing significantly as the narrative

unfolds.

The old wineskins were bursting by the new wine produced by Jesus.

They wanted no part of it.

Now you might assume this morning we would address the episode of Luke chapter six, one through 11, that would be our normal practice.

But we're skipping over this event to address what follows, verses 12 through 19.

The reason is because Pastor Jason is currently preaching on the fourth commandment.

And so we thought that it would be best if he addressed this episode of Luke

six, one through 11, next Lord's day, Lord willing.

And so we've chosen this morning to skip over verses one through 11 in order to give consideration to verses

12 through 19.

And so let's read these verses.

Now it came to pass in those days that he, Jesus, went out to the mountain to pray and continued all

night in prayer to God.

And when it was day, he called his disciples to himself.

And from them, he chose 12, whom he also named apostles.

Simon, whom he also named Peter, Andrew, his brother, James and John, Philip and

Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the

Zealot.

Judas, the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who also became a traitor.

He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of his disciples and a great

multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the sea coast of

Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and be healed of their diseases, as well

as those who are tormented with unclean spirits.

And they were healed.

And the whole multitude sought to touch him for power went out from him and healed

them all.

Here we read of our Lord selecting 12 of his disciples to become his 12

apostles.

This is a very significant event in the ministry of our Lord Jesus.

Remember, he only recently declared one does not put new wine into old wineskins, but rather

new wine must be put into new wineskins.

In our Lord calling 12 apostles, we see Jesus fashioning new wineskins,

which would be able to bear the new wine of his kingdom to the world.

It's a significant transition.

So let's first consider the calling of the apostles.

Verses 12 through 16.

We first read of Jesus at prayer.

Luke 6, 12, now it came to pass in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray and continued all

night in prayer to God.

Luke's gospel gives emphasis to the subject of prayer.

We'll find it repeatedly as we continue this study.

Jesus taught his disciples, men ought always to pray, not to faint, not to lose heart.

And here we see Jesus leading by example, for he was always praying.

Jesus had much opposition, but he did not lose heart.

He had much to do and in need of his father's guidance, and so he was much in

prayer.

He prayed all night.

Matthew Henry wrote about this.

This evangelist, Luke, takes frequent notice of Christ's retirements to give us an example of

secret prayer, by which we must keep up our communion with God daily,

and without which it is impossible that the soul should prosper.

In those days, when his enemies were filled with madness against him and were contriving what to do to him,

he went out to pray that he might answer the type of David.

David was the type, Jesus the anti -type.

Psalm 109, verse four, for my love, they are my adversaries, but I give myself unto

prayer.

As Christians face hostility toward them for their teaching and practice that offends the fallen world in

which they live, we must resort to much prayer, probably more

prayer than we've ever offered in the past.

We must pray for God's guidance and protection, as well as his great blessing in proclaiming the kingdom of Jesus

Christ.

Notice Jesus was alone, it would seem.

Doesn't state it forthrightly, but we can assume it.

He was alone before God, his father, in prayer.

He wished to have privacy.

He desired to be in a place of seclusion for a time, where there would be no

interruption, no hostility, no disruption in his communion with his father.

And he was long in prayer.

He continued all night in prayer to God.

So as one wrote accordingly, it was Calvin who wrote accordingly, he did not pray to the father in the ordinary

manner, but spent the whole night in prayer.

But if he who is full of the Holy Spirit implored the father with such ardor and earnestness to

preside in the election of apostles, how much greater need have we to do so?

Amen.

If we truly saw the great need we have for the mercy and grace of God in our lives as the body of

Christ, we would be much more in prayer and much longer in our praying to God.

I imagine most of us as Christians would say if there's one aspect of our Christian life we could improve upon, it would be our prayer

life.

That's a common concern.

Well, now we read that Jesus as a result of his praying is clear, chose 12

apostles.

Verse 13, when it was day, he called his disciples to himself and from them he chose

12 whom he also named apostles.

He didn't come down and sleep after praying all night.

He came down when it was day and called his disciples to himself and of them.

And apparently there were many of them.

But he chose 12.

And so this night in prayer in his human nature, he didn't call upon his divine nature

always.

He could have, but he didn't.

He sought wisdom from his father.

And so the father directed him to select 12 specific persons from among his many disciples

in order to appoint them as his apostles.

And in doing so, our Lord extended and expanded his ministry.

Now, although it was at this time and place the Lord called these men to be his apostles, there was no way these men

could have possibly known at this stage of life what this calling would entail and what

kind of life and ministry to which he was calling them.

How could they have known?

At this time, the Lord had many, many disciples.

They could not all follow Jesus personally and regularly.

So on this occasion, Jesus chose these 12 that they would be with him continuously from

this time until the day he was taken from them.

And by then he would have taught and trained them to assume their positions of leadership in the spiritual kingdom

over which he reigned.

Luke wrote here both of disciples and apostles, terms that we always use, but perhaps we do

not fully define.

And so for better understanding these matters, we should define and describe our terms.

What are they exactly biblically?

What is a disciple of Jesus Christ?

The ones from whom Jesus chose these 12 men were disciples.

What is a disciple according to the Bible?

Sadly, most evangelicals think that a disciple is some kind of special kind of Christian,

a devout or really committed Christian, one who's on fire for the Lord.

There is a disciple.

But this is a wrong understanding.

Every true Christian is a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

If you're not a disciple of Jesus Christ, you're not a true Christian.

This is extremely important for us to understand for in getting this right, it'll help us greatly in distinguishing

professing Christians, whether or not they are true Christians or just Christian in name only.

If you're not a disciple of Christ, you're no Christian.

First, let us be reminded about the Great Commission the Lord Jesus gave his church.

They were to go forth into the world and they were to make disciples.

This is simple, maybe simplistic, but it's important.

Matthew 28, go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the

Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and behold, I'm with you always to the end of the

age.

And thus concludes the Gospel of Matthew.

So Jesus said, go therefore and make disciples.

We have a responsibility to make disciples.

Jesus did not command us to make proselytes, but disciples.

That is, we're not merely to persuade people to embrace our belief system, to convince

them to believe like we do.

Now that's important, but that's not what it is to make a disciple.

Nor did Jesus command us to make believers, that is ones who may only embrace truth,

but it influences little the way they live.

We are called to make disciples.

Actually, our Lord's command is for us to disciple the nations.

The word disciples in this great commission of Matthew 28 is actually a verb,

make disciples.

Our Lord deliberately used this form of expression, this verb, to convey the force of a command,

disciple -maker.

We are to be making disciples.

He was telling his followers they must begin at once with this task.

The Lord was issuing marching orders to his followers.

This command of Jesus continues in force today.

I'm not concerned about making believers, we wanna make disciples.

There's enough believers in the world, just go ask them, everybody believes on Jesus.

Does it affect how you live, influence how you think?

Since it's great commission to make disciples as our main task as Christians, we should be purposeful and diligent in our

work.

But an essential prerequisite to this work is to have a solid biblical and precise understanding what a true

disciple is.

When this is in place, then the way to accomplish our task becomes clearer to us.

And so let's again answer the question in more detail, what is a disciple of Christ?

Well, the Greek word for disciple has a root meaning of being a learner, not just in the sense of a student to a

teacher, however, but as an apprentice to a craftsman.

One learns from the master while following his instruction and

observing his behavior.

And so a disciple is a follower or an adherent of another.

John the Baptist had disciples.

They were disciples of Moses, we read.

Pharisees had disciples.

We're concerned, of course, only with what the Bible teaches about being disciples of Jesus Christ.

But even when you define this group or describe this group, it's not always easily

identified in the Bible.

For the term disciple of Jesus is used to describe different groups of people.

I've listed a few of them, maybe all of them, but these are all the ones I could think of.

First, the term disciple is used of any and all who follow Jesus, even if a short period of time

or secretly.

John chapter six, verse 66 says, and many of his disciples turned back and no longer went with them.

See, they were temporary believers.

They weren't true disciples.

Second, the term disciples is occasionally used for the 12 apostles, the 12.

And third, the Lord spoke of true disciples.

In John eight, if you abide in my word, then you're my disciples indeed, which suggests that there

were some who called themselves his disciples who were not so, actually.

Fourth, the term is also used of those who believed on him, confessed him, were baptized and obedient to the faith.

That's a little bit more clearly defined.

And then fifth, of course, it's used of true Christians.

The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

And so here we see that one must be a true disciple of Jesus Christ in order to be a true

Christian.

How then may we define a disciple of Jesus Christ?

A disciple of Jesus Christ is a professing Christian, one who has purposed to devote himself

to obey the teachings of Christ.

We just read that in Hebrews chapter 11.

The just shall live by faith.

In Romans, when Paul quotes the just shall live by faith, he's emphasizing just.

The just shall live by faith.

It's not a works.

But in Hebrews, the emphasis is a living faith.

The just shall live by faith.

A disciple of Christ is one who has purposed to learn and follow all that Christ has commanded of his followers.

Make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Trinity, teaching them all things whatsoever I've taught

you, teaching them to observe all things, to obey.

Only true disciples of Jesus Christ are true Christians.

And only to them does God grant salvation from sin and the gift of everlasting life.

So again, if you're not a disciple of Jesus, you're not yet a Christian as the Bible defines a

Christian.

Again, Acts 11, 26, the disciples were first called Christians in

Antioch.

Well, what about an apostle?

What is an apostle of Jesus Christ?

Well, the word itself describes the calling and working of an apostle.

The meaning of the noun apostle is suggested by its Greek verb

form, apostello.

You can hear the sound.

Sounds like apostle, apostello, but it's a verb form.

The verb simply means to send forth.

The verb is used in Matthew 10, five, which reads, these 12 Jesus sent out.

And so an apostle is one who's sent forth by another to represent him.

An apostle is sent forth with the responsibility to proclaim a message and to accomplish a mission.

Jesus called these 12 apostles, giving them authority to represent him.

When they taught the message of their master, they taught with and in his authority.

When an apostle spoke, Jesus Christ spoke.

Our Lord also gave them authority that enabled them to heal all manner of sickness and infirmity.

They were given authority over the evil forces of Satan.

They were able to cast out demons and heal the sick.

The word apostle is used, however, to identify and describe several people in the New Testament other than

the 12 apostles mentioned here.

These 12 were called apostles because they were called by Jesus personally, sent by him.

Directly sent forth by him.

However, there were some men who were called apostles because they had been sent forth from churches

as representatives of those churches.

For example, the church of Antioch had sent forth Paul and Barnabas as missionaries from the church.

And in a sense, they were apostles of the church in that capacity.

We can read in Acts 14 of a reference to them.

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments, rushed out into the crowd,

cried out, men, why are you doing these things?

Here, Barnabas is called an apostle.

Now, technically, Barnabas was not an apostle of Jesus Christ for the Lord had not personally called him

to become his apostle.

He was an apostle of the church of Antioch.

Technically, we could refer to missionaries sent out from a church as apostles.

They're sent forth.

We don't use that term, but it would be biblical to do so.

Barnabas was an apostle of the church of Antioch for the church had called and commissioned him to go forth from their church on

an evangelistic mission on the church's behalf.

Paul was also, of course, an apostle of Jesus Christ because the Lord had personally called him to represent him.

Paul, however, in this context of Acts 14, was also an apostle of the church.

He and Barnabas were sent forth from the church because the church had called

Paul and Barnabas and sent them forth on behalf of the church.

In one place in the scripture, Jesus Christ is described as an apostle.

And again, the idea of being sent forth is being conveyed, Hebrews 3.

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high

priest of our confession who is faithful to him.

That is the father who appointed him just as Moses was faithful in all God's

house.

Here we see once again the basic meaning of the word conveyed.

The father had appointed or had sent Jesus.

The son had been sent in the name of and on behalf of the father.

The son represented the father, did the bidding of the father.

He came in the authority of the father in the same way that the 12 apostles ministered in the

name of, that is in the authority of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus spoke, the father was speaking.

The apostles represented Jesus, spoke with his authority for he'd given authority to them.

Our Lord declared the responsibility of people to heed the words of the apostles as they would heed him and his teaching.

He declared, most assuredly I say to you, he who receives whomever I send, there's the

idea of apostle, receives me.

And he who receives me receives him, that is the father who sent me.

Historic Christianity is apostolic Christianity.

Our New Testament is the written testimony of the apostles or an associate of an apostle.

Mark probably wrote his gospel according to Peter's recollection.

Luke, of course, had the apostle Paul as his source.

But historic Christianity is apostolic Christianity.

What the apostles taught, what they wrote, has equal authority with what the Lord Jesus taught.

And that's why it is a terrible error when you hear people argue, well, Jesus didn't

say that, that was Paul.

I heard that when I first arrived here in 1998.

Over women teachers.

Well, that was Paul, that wasn't Jesus.

Look at the red letter, Jesus didn't say that.

Well, that's a complete misunderstanding of the authority of the apostles.

When the apostles spoke, Jesus spoke.

The apostle Paul would later write to mostly Gentile church at Ephesus, so then you are no longer

strangers and aliens, he's talking to Gentiles, but now your fellow citizens with the saints.

In other words, your fellow citizens with the believers of the Old Testament, with the saints of Israel,

and those even before Abraham were fellow saints, members of the household of God, one

household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

There were prophets in the New Testament.

Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy

temple in the Lord.

Jesus is the cornerstone of the church, which is a spiritual temple, but the apostles and

New Testament prophets are also joined with him as the foundational stones on which this spiritual temple is

built.

This describes the important role and absolute authority of the 12 apostles.

If people do not receive the witness of the New Testament, the written record of the apostles of Jesus Christ, they do

not receive Jesus Christ.

If they reject the authority of the New Testament over their faith and practice, they reject the authority of the Lord Jesus

because apostolic Christianity is historic Christianity.

The Old and the New Testaments are binding upon all people who claim to know and believe on Jesus Christ.

All scripture, old and new, are binding

for the people of God.

Now, there's great importance in the fact that there were 12 apostles.

And frankly, there's very few people who really take this to heart or understand it.

The importance of this may be seen in the fact the term the 12 became an abbreviated title for

the 12 apostles.

And this is one place where we can abbreviate ourselves.

I'm not gonna read all those verses.

But notice in every one of those verses, the term, the phrase, the 12 is

used for the apostles.

He sat down, called the 12, and taking the 12, he said to them, when it was

evening, he reclined at table with the 12.

The 12 was significant.

But not only is the importance of 12 apostles seen in the number itself becoming an official title of the apostles,

but that there must be 12 is also needed the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot.

11 wasn't enough.

And so we read in Acts chapter one, how Peter stood up as they were waiting for the day of Pentecost,

and basically said, we've got to replace Judas who went out and hung himself.

Acts one talks about this.

And so they prayed and they cast lots.

I won't read that passage.

But you can read in the last sentence of that block quote, they cast lots for them and the lot fell on

Matthias.

And he was numbered with the 11 apostles.

I didn't put it in my notes, but I thought about poor Matthias.

When Jesus came down the mountain, he selected 12 apostles from all these disciples there.

I'm wondering what Matthias thought.

Why are these men being chosen and I was passed over?

I wish I was one of them.

Why were some of these chosen?

Simon the zealot, Matthew the tax collector, and I was passed by.

Well, the Lord had a purpose for him.

He became one of the 12 in the Lord's time.

Well, they believed it was necessary.

There should be 12 apostles in number.

And so they took steps to assure there would be 12 replacing Judah.

But the question still needs to be answered.

Why 12 apostles?

Well, here's the short answer.

The nation of Israel was comprised of 12 tribes.

The Lord appointed 12 apostles to become the new leaders of the nation of Israel.

Comprised of all true Israelites, whether Jewish or Gentile, who

embraced Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Lord through repentance and faith.

In other words, in Christ calling his 12 apostles, he was beginning to form spiritual Israel.

Our dispensational friends would have conniption fits over this.

But it's a truism.

Israel of the Old Testament was the type.

The church of the New Testament was the anti -type to which Israel pointed.

The Israel as a type foreshadowed and in which the purpose of God was fully

realized in the church.

The New Testament church is spiritual Israel, over which our Lord entrusted 12 apostles.

Charles Spurgeon declared this.

He wrote of the 12 apostles, the Holy Spirit does not object to truthful statistic.

There were 12 apostles.

Why?

Well, this was a complete number.

Neither too many nor too few.

And a number which linked the spiritual Israel with a nation that had typified it.

See that?

The nation of Israel typified the church spiritual Israel.

That's what Spurgeon taught.

And that's what all reformed people, that's what all Christians taught.

Whether Protestant or Catholic.

Up until about 1910, 1917 with Scofield's Bible that

separated them.

This was our Lord's intention.

The old wineskins would not receive that which was new, the new wine.

He'd have to fashion new wineskins.

And this is what he was doing.

Our Lord made this very clear.

He indicated from Matthew 21, here another parable.

There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress.

In it, put a tower, leased it to tenants and went into another country.

It's describing the Old Testament history.

When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.

And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, stoned another, referring to God's prophets.

Again, he sent other servants, more than the first.

They did the same to them.

Finally, he sent his son to them saying, they will respect my son.

Speaking of Jesus.

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, this is the heir.

Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.

They wanted to be the leaders of Israel.

They took him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Jesus foreshadowing his cross.

When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?

They answered him.

They knew what he ought to do.

He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in his

seasons.

And Jesus said to them, have you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected has become

the cornerstone?

This is what the Lord's doing.

It's marvelous in our eyes.

Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you.

He's talking to the Jewish leaders.

And given to a people producing its fruits.

And the one who falls on this stone, Jesus will be broken to pieces.

When it falls on anyone, it will crush him.

Well, when the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived he was speaking about them.

What could be clearer?

And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds because they held him to be a prophet.

And so the Lord Jesus rested the leadership of Israel, the professing people of God from the rule

and the grip of the wicked, unbelieving Jewish leaders.

And he entrusted the leadership of Israel to his 12 apostles.

They became 12 judges.

Not in the sense of a court judge passing sentence, but an Old Testament judge leading and ruling

the people.

Ruling over the 12 tribes of Israel.

And the Lord spoke directly about his intention to do so before his arrest and crucifixion.

Matthew 19.

Peter said in reply, we've left everything and followed you.

What then will we receive?

And Jesus said to them, top of page seven, truly I say to you in the new world, when the son of man

will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones judging

the 12 tribes of Israel.

The 12 apostles were called to lead the 12 tribes of

Israel.

The book of Revelation also described the church as the fulfillment and realization of the promised

destiny and hope of Israel.

We read in the second to the last chapter of the Bible of a vision of the new Jerusalem in which the 12 tribes

of Israel are mentioned and the 12 apostles in the same context, the one city.

John writes, he, this angel carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain, showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming

down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like

Jasper clear as crystal.

It had a great high wall with 12 gates, 12, 12 gates.

And at the gates, 12 angels, and on the gates, the name of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel

were inscribed, there you have the nation of Israel.

And on the east three gates, on the north three gates, south three gates, and on the west three gates, and the wall of the city had 12

foundations, and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the lamb,

Israel.

So what we have shown here just in the last couple of minutes is really devastating to the beliefs of many

evangelicals who are dispensational, is a term, in their interpretation of

the holy scriptures.

They believe and teach that God's primary purpose in history is for his blessing and exaltation of

the ethnic and political nation of Israel, and that this church age of

grace is basically a parenthesis.

They believe through this present church age and the plan of God, after a future pre -tribulation rapture snatching

away the church, God will return to his first and primary plan and purpose to restore the ethnic

and political nation of Israel, which will then rule the world in a future thousand year Jewish

millennium.

That is the belief of about, I would guesstimate 95 of Bible

believers, good people, but they're wrong in this.

The word of God teaches, however, that God's promises to Israel and his purpose in history

culminate and find fulfillment in the church, which the Lord purchased with his life and

death.

Those who oppose the teaching we set forth falsely charge us with the pejorative term

replacement theology.

They demonize us, in which they accuse us of teaching that the church replaced

Israel.

We do not teach that.

It's a false charge.

The church did not replace Israel.

Rather, the church is true or spiritual Israel.

The spiritual nation to which God promised to give salvation.

Peter wrote of the church as the Israel of God in 1 Peter 2.

You, he's talking to a Gentile church here.

You are a chosen generation.

Those are words that used to speak to Israel of the Old Testament.

You are a chosen priesthood, a holy nation, kingdom of God, his

own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous

light, who once were not a people.

You Gentiles once weren't there, but are now the people of God who had not obtained

mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

We're members of the commonwealth of Israel, according to Ephesians 2 in Christ.

And so here, the church of Christ is described in terms of what God had promised, Israel of the Old Testament.

It's comprised of all true Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, who are saved through Jesus Christ.

One holy nation.

The church of the new covenant is the Israel of God.

It's the physical nation of it, it is the physical nation of Israel reconstituted under a new

constitution, a new covenant.

God constituted the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai, a physical people.

He reconstituted the people of God under the new covenant.

The night our Lord was betrayed in drink of this cup, and this is the new covenant in my blood.

Physical Israel of the Old Testament was comprised of an ethnic people, Jewish people, physical descendants of

Abraham set apart by the physical circumcision of the flesh.

Spiritual Israel of the New Testament is comprised of a spiritual people, a Jewish remnant, and an

innumerable number of Gentiles who are the spiritual descendants of Abraham set apart by a

spiritual circumcision of the heart.

Those who have the same faith as Abraham are the true children of Abraham, to whom God's promises of

salvation are bestowed.

As Paul wrote to the Gentiles,

Gentile mostly churches of Galatia, therefore know that only those who are of faith are

sons of Abraham.

In other words, Jewish people by ethnicity are not children of Abraham

to whom the promises of God are given.

Only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel to Abraham

beforehand saying, in you all the nations, the Gentiles shall be blessed.

And then so Paul concludes, verse nine, so then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

Abraham is our father.

He's the father of many nations, those who believe like him.

Of course, having spoken of the importance of the 12 apostles, we recognize the New Testament speaks about a 13th apostle.

This, of course, is the Apostle Paul.

He described himself in this manner.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he, the risen Lord, appeared also to me, for I am the

least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.

And then in Romans 11, he said, I am an apostle to the Gentiles.

And so the 12 apostles were primarily directed initially to Jewish Christians, although their

authoritative message is binding on all Christians everywhere, whether Jewish or Gentile.

But Paul is principally the apostle to the Gentiles, although he would seek to

bring the gospel first to Jews wherever he went.

He'd first go to the synagogue.

Now let's consider the identification of our Lord's apostles according to Luke.

When it was day, he called his disciples to himself.

From them, he chose 12, of whom he also named apostles.

I'm not gonna read them all here.

The fact is, these are a very unlikely group of men to be chosen to such a high calling.

Our Lord commonly does this in his plans and purposes.

You and I wouldn't have chosen these 12 men.

The Lord chose them after praying all night long.

He commonly calls people into his work that have had some serious prior deficiencies,

as the world would assess them.

And if we had time, we could stand up, each of us, I imagine, give testimony about how we're disqualified to ever

stand up and represent the Lord, but he called us anyway.

God chooses people of no account so that when people look at them, they must conclude that only the grace of God can

account for them.

In Sunday school, we were talking about Scientology, how they're after celebrities.

Because L. Ron Hubbard said, you know, you get celebrities to embrace your religion, everybody will.

Christianity's just the opposite.

This is what Paul wrote, 1 Corinthians 1.

You see your calling, he's talking to his church at Corinth.

You see your calling, brethren, not many wise, according to the flesh, there's a few.

Not many mighty, not many noble are called.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.

God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty, the base things of the world, the things which are

despised.

God has chosen the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are.

Why?

Here's a purpose clause, for what purpose?

So that no flesh should glory or boast in his presence.

And that's why these 12 were chosen.

John Calvin wrote, of these rather unlikely men chosen by Christ, as recorded in Mark's gospel,

he called to him whom he would.

By this expression, I have no doubt, Mark conveys to us the instruction that it was to the unmixed grace of God and

not to any excellence of their own that they were indebted for receiving so honorable an office.

For if you understand him to say that those who were chosen, who were more excellent than others, this will not apply to Judas.

It couldn't have been the basis of choosing them.

The meaning, therefore, is the apostleship was not bestowed on account of any human merits, but by the free mercy of

God.

Persons who were altogether unworthy of it were raised to that high rank and thus will fulfill what

Christ says on another occasion, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.

To the same effect, Paul frequently speaks, extolling the purpose of God and bestowing on him the

apostleship.

Top of page nine, each of the three synoptic gospels have the same

12 listed, but with slightly different names.

They're listed for you.

Most of them are in the same order, but there's a little difference in order.

And again, these men were quite a gathering when you consider them.

They're not ones who would obtain recognition or distinction given their background.

Nobody would have given them any regard in and of themselves.

How does a tax collector, Matthew, have a good relationship with a Jewish zealot, Simon?

They're not compatible.

Somewhat like us, thrown into a church.

You know, we might not have anything in common except for Christ, and that's enough.

That's all there needs to be.

One once wrote, it gives one pleasant surprise to think of Simon the zealot and Matthew the publican, men coming from so

opposite quarters, meeting together in close fellowship in the little band of 12.

In the persons of these two disciples extremes meet, the tax gatherer and the tax hater,

the unpatriotic Jew who degraded himself by becoming a servant of the alien ruler, Rome, and the Jewish

patriot who chaffed under the foreign yoke and sighed for emancipation.

This union of opposites was not accidental, but was designed by Jesus as a prophecy of the future.

He wished the 12 to be the church in miniature or germ, and therefore he chose them so as to intimate

that as among them distinctions of publican and zealot were unknown, so in the church of the future, there should be

neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, bond nor free, but only Christ,

all to each and each to all.

Christian tradition tells us, aside from Judas Iscariot, each of these apostles met violent death for

the sake of the gospel.

That is except for John, the youngest.

Of the 12, only the death of James, son of Zebedee, is described in the New Testament.

Hare had killed him.

The other details of the other apostles' death, of course, are subject of legends to various degrees of

authenticity.

We don't know if they're true or not.

Peter is crucified in Rome upside down, apparently, in AD 64, at his

request.

He didn't feel worthy to be crucified like Jesus.

James, the son of Zebedee, beheaded, of course.

He was the first of the 12 to die.

That's recorded for us in Acts.

John, the son of Zebedee, there's no biblical record of death.

He's believed to have died of natural causes due to old age.

That's John who wrote the Revelation.

However, there is a tradition that says that in Ephesus, he got the authority so upset, they

tried to execute him, and they put him in a pot of boiling oil that did him no harm,

and therefore, they exiled him to Patmos.

I don't know if that's true or not, but it is a solid tradition.

Andrew, Peter's brother, was crucified upon a diagonal or X -shaped cross.

Philip, crucified in AD 54.

Bartholomew, also known as Nathaniel, was flayed alive, first skinned, then beheaded.

Matthew was killed by a halberd, a pole with an ax head.

Thomas was killed by a spear in India.

He was the apostle to India, to the east.

James, the son of Alphaeus, was beat to death with a club after being crucified in stone, and Jude was crucified,

probably not our Lord's half -brother and certainly not Judas Iscariot.

Simon the Zealot was crucified, and Matthias, the replacement of Judas, Acts 1, was

stoned and beheaded.

All of them.

The apostles were faithful men who gave their lives for the cause of Christ, just as the people of God suffered and

died in Old Testament times.

We've read about them in Hebrews 11.

We'll not reread that.

Scriptures tell us that when we live a godly life in this fallen world, we will encounter opposition.

Did you hear about the young man up in Canada, teenager, who was arrested

recently?

He was in a Roman Catholic school, and he was arrested by the Canadian police for

declaring that God created man, male, and female.

He was arrested, a teenager.

All that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

And the Lord one time said to his apostles, they shall lay their hands on you, persecute you, delivering you up to the

synagogues, into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my namesake, and it shall turn

to you for a testimony.

And on the night our Lord was betrayed, he said it to his apostles, if the world hates you, you know it hated me before it

hated you.

This whole ministry philosophy, if we can get the people of the world to like our church and

what we do here, that we're gonna win them.

No, if we're faithful to the Lord, they're not gonna like us.

We're not going to win the world by looking like them and becoming like them, but rather we'll win the world

by our distinctiveness from them.

It's a whole different philosophy of ministry.

Well, we have to wrap this up.

We read in verses 17 through 19, the conclusion of his ministry.

He came down with them, stood on a level place with a crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of

people from all Judea, Jerusalem, from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him, be healed of their

diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits, they were healed, and the whole

multitude sought to touch him, for power went out from him and healed them all.

So Luke records Jesus came down with them, that is with the 12, and had more fully into the

school of Christ with him.

What's implied is his apostles were now with him, would be observing and participating with him more directly in

his ministry.

Matthew, right after the calling of the apostles, he sends them out in a short -term mission.

We don't have that recorded for us in Luke's Gospel.

There was present with them a crowd of disciples, but in addition, there was this great

multitude of people.

They came to hear him, he was principally a teacher, but also to be healed by him, but notice from where they

came.

They were in Galilee, but they came from Judea and Jerusalem, 100 miles to the south.

But not only that, they were from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, that's Gentile lands, out on the coast of the Mediterranean

Sea.

Our Lord was beginning to expand and enlarge his ministry, even as he was training his apostles to carry out his work

after he left them.

We'll conclude with these words of J .C. Ryle regarding our Lord's selection of these 12.

There is something deeply instructive in the fact which is now before us.

It shows us that our Lord Jesus Christ's kingdom was entirely independent of help from this world.

His church was not built by might or by power, but by the spirit of the living God.

It supplies us with an unanswerable proof of the divine origin of Christianity, a

religion which turned the world upside down.

While its first preachers were all poor men, most needs have been from heaven.

If the apostles had possessed money to give their heroes or been followed by armies to frighten them, or an

infidel might well deny that there was anything wonderful in their success.

But the poverty of our Lord's disciples cuts away such arguments from beneath the infidel's feet.

With a doctrine most unpalatable to the natural heart, with nothing whatever to bribe or compel obedience,

a few lowly Galileans shook the world and changed the face of the Roman Empire.

One thing only can account for this, the gospel of Christ which these men proclaimed was the truth of

God.

And so we may take heart in this truth that God could call and use these men to shake the world.

Well, he can also use you and me, don't you think, to serve him acceptably in our

efforts to expand his kingdom?

May he do so.

May he raise up many sinners, converting them in such a manner, calling them to follow him so that they

may bring glory to him in this fallen world.

Amen?

Amen.

As we were singing these hymns today, several of them spoke about Christians as

being a military force, as it were, an army of God.

And this last hymn that we've selected, Am I a Soldier of the Cross, in the blue hymnal again, hymn number

482, ask that question.

Am I a soldier of the cross?

Alan, if you'll come please.