Let's give our careful hearing again this morning to the Word of God as it's read. If you have a Bible sitting next to you and you don't have it open, get it open and follow along. Please, you're going to want the Word open in front of you or get within eyeshot of somebody and follow along. Let's again give our careful hearing to God's Word. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menaen, a member of the court of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Solomus, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island, as far as Paphos, They came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the procouncil, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas, the magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the procouncil away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately, Mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the procounsel believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John left them and returned to Jerusalem. But they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia." We'll end our reading right there. The passage that's before us this morning is actually, and I don't know if you know much about the Book of Acts, but it is actually the account of the first real missionary work of the Christian church. In other words, up until this time, the spread of the gospel has happened primarily by people coming in contact with the church, rather than the church going out to make contact with people and tell them and preach to them the gospel of Jesus Christ. And therefore, this trip here that Paul and Barnabas embark on has become known throughout church history as the first missionary journey. When we were in chapter 19 and we were reading there of the account of the things going on there, that was, and we're going to get to that, Lord willing, that was the third missionary journey. But this right here is what is considered to be the first missionary journey. But it is interesting to see here that Luke begins this chapter with a description of the church there in Antioch, and here's the thing, being already, even before this first missionary activity, Luke tells us about the church there in Antioch being already a multi-national, multi-ethnic, multi-colored congregation. That is, in some ways, we might say the Church is already in seed form what it will become. So, it's worth our while, I think, to see first off here that we have a prophetic picture of the Church. At the end of the age, the church will be, and it is even now happening throughout the world, even as we sit here this morning, even as we experience what we're experiencing here this morning, the church will be, at the end of the age, made up of a people from every tribe and tongue and nation. But even before the very first official missionary work of the Christian church, has ever happened, the church leadership there in Antioch is already in, why don't you look at the passage if it's there before you. It's already made up of Barnabas. Well, who's Barnabas? We know from other passages he's actually a native of the island of Cyprus. It's where they're actually heading. That means he's a Cypriot. Well, we have also Simon called Niger or Niger. who is likely an African, or he is at least a man of dark skin color. That's what the word Niger means. It means dark. You have Lucius of Cyrene. Almost certainly he's an African, because Cyrene is in North Africa. You have Manane. He's kind of an interesting guy. Manane is most likely Samaritan. He was a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch. Not the Herod from the chapter before that we looked at last week. This is his grandfather that's mentioned here. And this guy Menaen is a friend of him. He's probably, and what a Samaritan was, is they were basically half Jewish, half Gentile. I don't know how you say that. Maybe they were June tiles or something like that, but that's that's what human name was. And then you have Saul, who by his own admission was a Jew of Jews. He was a Jew through and through. So here is the church in Antioch. And as manifested even in its leadership, it is already what the church is destined to become. And I think then that this can rightly be seen as, and I don't know why God did it this way, but I think we can see it as really a prophetic picture of the reality that the church is heading toward. And even though we're just beginning our look at this chapter, we're just kind of easing into it in these first couple moments of the sermon this morning, I think we need to draw two applications or points from this right away. And the first thing, the first thing I think we need to see and we need to grow in a conviction of, if we lack that at all, is that we need to come to recognize and to rejoice in and to marvel at the fact that the very thing that the world desires and strives after, in other words, the very idea of multi-ethnic fellowship and communion and equality and harmony, that is a reality that began in the Christian church 2,000 years ago. One of the great themes of the Book of Acts, and if you read the Book of Acts from beginning to end, you'll see the Book of Acts begins in Jerusalem with an entirely Jewish church. Every member of the church in Jerusalem, when it begins, is a Jew. And it ends, though, in Rome as a multinational phenomenon that now has universal scope and is already containing members, souls that have been won to Christ out of every tribe, every tongue, every nation. In other words, and this is the point of what we're seeing here, and we're seeing it incidentally, we're seeing it just in the fact of who's mentioned in this leadership, that is the gospel, Christianity is not just for Jewish people or for white people or brown people or black people or whatever color you are because, frankly, the gospel has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. Rather, it has everything to do, the gospel has everything to do with humanity being brought back into communion with God. And following that, having been brought back into communion with God, we are brought back into communion and fellowship with one another. The gospel reconciles. The gospel reconciles us both to God and then to one another. And there will be, and here's the message we have, but a message that we have often not been clear on, that there will not ever be true racial harmony until mankind comes and bows the knee to Christ. But secondly, we need to see that this reality of Christianity, this ethnic and racial harmony that we see already in the church 2,000 years ago, is actually, that is the fulfillment of the entire purpose of God in both creation and redemption. I noted a moment ago that the book of Acts begins in Jerusalem and moves to Rome, but you know, the entire Bible begins with one man, one man created on earth, and it culminates in a crowd that cannot even be numbered in heaven from every tribe, tongue, and nation. That is, it begins with Adam, and it ends with this. and a little more from all over the world. I mean, listen, I have some passages there in your outline. Paul will preach this in Acts chapter 17. As he's preaching to a bunch of pagans, he preaches, and he, speaking of God, he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. That means we are all blood related. From one man, God has made every nation, every nation of mankind, to live on the face of the earth. And then, at the end of the story, you read the book of Revelation. John is saying, this is what I've seen in heaven. This is the picture of where we are heading. And John says, and after this I looked And behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes, and peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb." That, congregation, is the message of the Bible. That's the whole scope and story of the Bible. That is the aim of the Gospel. And that is the purpose missions and therefore it must be said in the in the strongest possible way that racism has no place in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in fact it is absolutely inimical to the gospel in the in the strongest possible terms we have to affirm that as the church of of Jesus Christ, but it is also the case that the only way, I'll say it again, the only way that we will ever have true racial harmony and communion and a lack of strife is by the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel levels us all before God. It puts us all in the same condition and offers the same grace to each one of us. And that's why we've been given a whole Bible, and that's why we are, as the Christian church, we are whole Bible Christians. In other words, we are not just New Testament Christians. We start at the foundation of creation, one man, from one man, every nation, and then we go out and we proclaim the same grace to every single creature. heaven. That's the impetus. That's the foundation for all true mission work and we're seeing it beginning right here. This is the first missionary journey. This is the beginning of it all. But along with this multi-ethnic foreshadowing, along with this sort of prophetic picture here, just within the leadership of the church here, in Antioch, we also get a very sobering word or a sobering forewarning of the conflict, the kind of conflict that the gospel is going to encounter as it starts to go out into the world. And so let's consider secondly this morning a forewarning of the conflict. Now, I have to say I'm deliberately skipping over what I think is a ton stuff in verses 1 through 3 that I'm not able to preach on here this morning. If you look at verses 1 through 3, you might be wondering, oh, why aren't we talking about this? I mean, there is this whole phenomena of the Holy Spirit speaking to the church. What does that mean? And what did that entail? There's the very, I mean, absolutely radically important subject that we need to hear again today in the affluent West, and in our churches again, there's the whole subject of fasting. Jesus never said, if you fast, he said, when you fast. Shouldn't that convict us? This is a different picture than us, right here. There's also what these first three verses say about true ministry and true missions work. You have the church here laying their hands on these men and sending them out. There's a solidarity, there's an ownership to the work by the whole church. I mean, that's radically different than what we see today. Everybody decides for themselves, I'm going to be a minister. And then they go do whatever seems right in their own eyes. I'm not going to be able to get into any of those things this morning. In fact, I'm hoping in a few weeks, and it's weird to give a sort of a commercial in the middle of a sermon, but it's not really. It has everything to do with the building of the church and the gospel still going out, but Patrick McNeely, who's a member in our congregation still, started as a student of theology right here in our congregation, went on to the seminary. Patrick has been called to pastor a new church plant in British Columbia, Canada, and he'll be ordained and installed into the ministry, we'll be laying hands on him on April 11th up in Squamish. If anyone wants to go, we have room and it would be wonderful the more the merrier up there, but I think I'm going to be preaching on this beginning section of Acts chapter 13 at Patrick's ordination service coming up, but I'm skipping this all this morning because I want to get to this, what I think is the more relevant word for our congregation this morning, and that is what we see here in the conflict between this false prophet named Bar-Jesus and his conflict with the gospel of Jesus. Now, as I was reading this, and one of the reasons why I wanted you to have the passage in front of you is because there are a ton of names and places mentioned here. And if you're one of the few, no, I'm kidding, if you're in the majority of people who names from the ancient Mediterranean world just don't ring a bell, some of the very names, you hear it and it's like I turn into the parents in a penis cartoon, you know, as soon as you hear those sections read, it's just unintelligible. Who are all these people? Your eyes roll back and it's like, I don't get any of this. I don't understand why I need to know any of this. But let's, let me just rip through very quickly. Just some things, just to kind of orient us a tiny bit concerning the names and maybe even some of the anomalies that are here. There's five things I want to note for you first off. Did you notice, and here's the first thing, did you notice that there are two Antiochs? There's two places called Antioch that are mentioned here. It's right there in verse one. So we learn about the church there in Antioch. And then in verse 14, they arrive at Antioch. Now you could think, well, did they just go like in a big circle and come back? Well, they're going to do that. That actually is going to happen. They're going to end up back at the first Antioch. But there were actually two places called Antioch. And that's why the second one in verse 14 is called Antioch of Pisidia. They were about 200 miles apart. The first place they are, they're north of Israel. They're on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea. They're north of Israel. And this other Antioch, where our passage ends, is near, and you should know, you should hear, this should ring a bell, it's near an area called Galatia. That's where Paul writes a letter to the Galatians, the Galatian Christians, the church in Galatia. That's where the second Antioch is. They're roughly 200 miles apart. The second Antioch is where modern-day Turkey is today. So it would be located in modern-day Turkey. Second, did you notice in verse 4 and in verse 13, we read that they set sail. The first time they set sail is to Cyprus. And then later on in verse 13, they set sail from Cyprus. And that's because Cyprus is an island nation in the Mediterranean. It was then. It still has the same name today. And in fact, interestingly, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, our denomination, we have a congregation there today. I've been back at the seminary in Pittsburgh teaching a little bit. In January, and I'll be going back a little bit more in March, and one of the students there is a young Cypriot. He was born and raised in the island of Cyprus. And he's now studying at our seminary. This is where they were, the island of Cyprus. A third thing to note here is there's a lot of changing of names going on. You heard there's this guy named John. We were actually introduced to him in the previous chapter. John is also called Mark which is always kind of confusing. I think it's kind of like Mark Penson who's also called Buck. But sometimes we don't call him Mark Buck or something like that and sometimes you hear of John Mark. This John, when we find him in this chapter, he's not called John Mark, or John who was also called Mark, he's just called John. But the confusing thing is, is there's all kinds of Johns in the New Testament. There's John the Baptist, there's John the Apostle, who wrote the Book of John, or 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, the Book of Revelation. That's not him. This is another guy. And they're all called, they're all named Johns, but they're all different Johns. And while we're on names, did you notice that in this passage there are two Pauls mentioned? You have this guy, Sergius Paulus. That's simply the Roman version of the Greek name Paul. And then, in verse nine, I think it is, you have, we learn that this guy named Saul gets his name changed, or he's sometimes called, and from now on he's virtually always called, Paul, that's the Paul we know, the Apostle Paul, used to be called Saul, and now his name is Paul. So you have these two names, you have these two Pauls right here in the same passage. And finally, we're introduced to a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus, Bar-Jesus. But he too is also, has another name, he's referred to as Illumus, magician in verse 8. So now that you guys all have that entirely clear, tests afterwards in the second hour, let's consider where I really want us to get to and what I really want us to see now. The most important matter here is the conflict that arises. But as we move to look at the conflict that arises, I want us to move into this final section here, thinking about and having in our minds, in our hearts, and we have to hear this and think about this conflict in light of, and this is the key, in light of the beauty of the gospel and how the gospel reconciles us both to God and to each other. And maybe I can set it up this way or have us think about it in these terms. Doesn't it seem like the very thing that would bring racial reconciliation and true worldwide harmony? Doesn't it seem that something like that would be something that everyone would desire? and would welcome. Let me ask it of you this morning in a little bit more pointed way. Don't you, don't you desire the one thing that will not only reconcile you to God, but that can bring true peace on earth? Don't you desire that? Isn't that beautiful? and desirable to you. Isn't that something that you would want for yourself? Isn't that something you would want for your loved ones? Isn't that something you would want for your family and your friends and even for your enemies? In other words, what would possess a person to be opposed to the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ? Well, that is answered right here in the passage, as the conflict between Jesus and Bar-Jesus is recorded for us here. The name Bar-Jesus can mean various things. The word bar is simply son of, and then Jesus which means God is salvation. So this can mean son of Jesus. It can mean son of salvation. It can mean son of God's salvation. But no matter which way we translate it, this guy is no good. He is a fake and he is a false prophet. In fact, he is no son of salvation at all. Paul calls him exactly what he is down in verse 10, you are a son of the devil. And he is with this regional political leader, Sergius Paulus. And this guy, Sergius Paulus, actually asks to hear from Barnabas and Saul. He wants to hear them preach the word. He must have heard that they're preachers of the word. They must have told that to Bar-Jesus. It says in verse 6, they came upon this guy. They must have identified who they are and what they were doing. And so Sergius Paulus asks to hear from them. But did you notice there, and look at it in verse eight, we read, Elimus the magician, that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the procounsel away from the faith. And then strikingly, Paul, full of the Holy Spirit, stared intently at him. And we read there in verses 9 through 11, this is what he said, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately, mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. A lot here that's both instructive to us, or instructive to us concerning both the character and the state of anybody who would oppose the gospel of Jesus. Think about it. The character, you are villainous and deceitful. Think about the state, lost, blind, Darkened this is Let me get your attention for a second Where we're going you oppose the preaching of the word You seek to hinder someone from coming to the faith Your condition is you are a deceitful villain and you are in darkness You are lost you yourself blind and deceived. And since this is such a serious matter, and you think I was just speaking directly to you, let me speak very directly to you. If you oppose the Lord, or if you turn people away from the Lord, the Lord's hand will come down upon you. It was Jesus himself that said, if anybody puts stumbling block before one of my children, it would be better. It would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and them to be thrown into the sea. So let me say it this way. If you oppose, if you are a hindrance to somebody coming to the faith, if you are a hindrance to people hearing the word of God, you should pray for a millstone. You should pray for that kind of death. because God's judgment is going to be unspeakable upon you. You will be darkened and then you will be destroyed by God himself. Maybe you're sitting here this morning and you are thinking, what in the world does this have to do with me? What does this What does an ancient Jewish false prophet named Bar Jesus living on the island of Cyprus 2,000 years ago have, what does this have to do with me? Let me tell you very straight this morning, it has everything to do with you. It has everything to do with you because there are far more ways than simply one. to put stumbling blocks in front of others. There are far more ways than just this one to actually put stumbling blocks in front of yourself, to try to hinder others from hearing the word of God, to be in opposition to the gospel. Are you a husband? Are you a father? And are you putting stumbling blocks in front of your wife and your children? That might be in the form of them having to drag you to church because you don't think you need to be there. You don't think you need to hear the Word of God, nor do you care if they hear it at all. Are you a brother or a sister putting stumbling blocks in front of your siblings? You don't want to be serious about the faith, you don't want them to be serious about the faith. You never want to talk about the Word of God with them or have them talk about it with you, and so you distract them while they're trying to listen or pay attention. Are you a worker or a student or a roommate or a friend with such a questionable or almost non-existent witness so inconsistent that none of your friends or your workmates, your roommates, they have any interest in the gospel of Christ because of your life. You see, there are multiple ways that we can stumble others, that we can hinder others from hearing the word of God, and it's high time that you examine your life and you stop that if that's what you're doing. Are you a stumbling block for others coming to the faith or from hearing the word of God? And here's maybe the most sobering word of all. Opposition to the word of God is satanic. Opposition to the word of God is actually satanic. That's not hyperbole. That's an accurate description. Paul calls it here. Do you remember Jesus, his own apostle Peter, inner circle, close friend? He said, get thee behind me, Satan, when Peter was opposing the cross. In congregation, Satan wants nothing more than to keep you from hearing the word of God. And you need to recognize this, you need to hear this, I'm sorry, but you need to hear this. If you are uninterested in the word of God, then you are under the influence of Satan. You see, he'll use people, he will use pleasure, he will use personalities, he will use work, he will use play, he will use hobbies, he will use sports, he will use whatever to keep you from the life-giving word. of God. I mean, think about it. I mean, is it really that hard for us? Sometimes we are so darkened. But who do you think wants you to not like church? Who do you think wants you to have a problem with the pastor, his personality or something like that, so that you won't listen to him? Who do you think wants you to do something else on Sunday mornings, other than gathering for worship. Who do you think wants you to do that? Who do you think wants to distract you while the Word is being preached? I mean, seriously, do you think that comes from Jesus? You think Jesus wants you distracted. No, that comes from Bar Jesus, and there are many of those. But come back with me. Come back with me very briefly as we close. Come back with me to the beauty of the gospel. Because if the gospel was merely a self-help program, and if the Bible was nothing but nice moral stories, do you think that we would be even reading the account that is before us here this morning at all. If the gospel was merely a self-help program, if the Bible was just fairy tales or nice moral stories, do you think we'd even be reading about this conflict going on here at all? I mean, who would oppose motivational speakers who simply want to see people have their best life? But the gospel always provokes the devil. Why? Because he wants you as his slave. He hates God and he wants you to think that you are free. He wants you to think, I'm doing fine, I'm getting away with it. He wants you to think that you are your own self-made woman or self-made man. That you do not need, I do not need the grace of God in my life. I do not need the grace that is offered to me in Jesus Christ. That is, Satan likes you stupid. He likes you stupefied by magic and false messiahs, any kind of messianic claim, just like Bar Jesus tries to keep Paulus from hearing the truth. But real Jesus, But real Jesus used Paul to reach Paulus. And real Jesus is seeking you today. God offers grace in Jesus Christ for all who will come to Him. And no matter what your sin is, He will forgive it. Are you a racist? Well, there is forgiveness for you. in Jesus Christ. Are you a stumbling block? Have you been a stumbling block? Well, there is forgiveness for you in Jesus Christ. Have you been a stumbling block, not just to others, but to yourself? Has it been your practice, every time you come to hear the word, you deliberately distract yourself? I mean, you sit here metaphorically with fingers in your ears. You don't want to hear. Senator, there's forgiveness for you today in Jesus Christ as well. The gospel of Jesus Christ, it is the answer to your conflict with God and your conflict with everyone else. The gospel of Jesus is so beautiful and perfect, and it is so peaceful, and that is why Satan doesn't want you or others to hear it. He wants you somewhere else. He wants you hindered. He wants to distract you so you won't hear it. And we see here, we see this here. He has been, Satan has been opposing the spread of the gospel since the very first missionary journey ever. But here's the beautiful thing. We also see that he has been failing. ever since that first missionary journey as well. Here we are sitting here as those who have heard the gospel. Here we are as those who have laid hold of Jesus Christ. Satan is failing. And my call to you this morning is let's make him fail some more this morning. Let's sit here this morning or let's finish here this morning by saying and praying Lord, speak. We want to hear your word. We want you to speak to us. We want you to work in our lives. Beloved, I'm calling you this morning. Seek the Lord and seek his grace. Be a hearer and a heater of his word this morning. Let's pray together.