Well if you would stand with me in honor of the Word of God as we read From Isaiah chapter 49. Reminds me to be praying for Paul and Venus today. Venus is not feeling well. They got here and they had to turn around. And so please pray for her. Hopefully she's feeling better by now. Isaiah 49, verses 1 through 13. Listen to me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb. From the body of my mother, he named me. He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he has concealed me. And he has also made me a select arrow. He has hidden me in his quiver. He said to me, you are my servant, Israel, in whom I will show my glory. But I said, I have toiled in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity. Yet surely the justice due me is with the Lord and my reward with my God. And now says the Lord who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him. For I am honored in the sight of the Lord and my God is my strength. He says, It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also make you a light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One to the despised one. to the one abhorred by the nation to the servant of rulers kings will see me and arise princes will also bow down because of the lord who is faithful the holy one of israel who has chosen you thus says the lord in a favorable time i have answered you and in a day of salvation I have helped you and I will keep you and give you for a covenant to the people to restore the land to make them inherit the desolate heritages saying to those who are bound go forth to those who are in darkness show yourselves along the roads they will feed and their pasture will be on all the bare heights they will not hunger or thirst nor will the scorching heat of sun strike them down For he who has compassion on them will lead them, and will guide them to springs of water. I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways will be raised up. Behold, these will come from afar, and lo, these will come from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim. Shout for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth. break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. This is the word of the Lord. All men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Amen. This particular passage in Isaiah chapter 49 reminds us of a group of texts that we often refer to as the servant songs. These are a series of texts found in this latter portion of the prophet Isaiah reminding us and pointing us toward the servant of the Lord. who is the Lord Jesus himself. This servant is given a task by the Father of rescuing and redeeming his people. And it is Jesus's role as the servant that stands behind our text today in Acts chapter 13. And it is essential for us to be somewhat reacquainted with the idea of these servant texts in order to understand the thrust of Luke's record of Paul and Barnabas's ministry in the area of Antioch of Pisidia. Also, understanding the background of these servant texts will ultimately help us grasp the importance of this section of Scripture for the Church. regarding the unfinished task of reaching the nations with the gospel. So if you have your Bible, I would invite you to turn with me to the 13th chapter of the book of Acts, Acts chapter 13. So with that in mind, I want us to read from this particular section of scripture, but just a few things to kind of let you know where we're going this morning or this afternoon. I want us to read the text and we're going to read the text in order to get our bearings on Luke's narration. This is the beginning of the Apostle Paul's ministry. We sometimes refer to Acts chapter 13 and 14 as Paul's first missionary journey. So I want to kind of get us a big picture view of what's going on in Acts chapter 13. And then we're going to come back and we're going to narrow our focus in on two verses. Acts 13, 46, and 47. Because at the end of a very long sermon of the Apostle Paul's, Paul and Barnabas respond to a group of people who have rejected the message that they have just preached. And it's that rejection of the message by those that Paul is preaching to that kind of sets the most immediate backdrop to what's going to happen in verse 47. So when we come to verse 47, we're going to lay out four points, and these four points are already printed for you in your bulletin. Hopefully they're helpful. If not, just disregard and follow along. We will look at those in verse 47. And then finally we hope to leave off with maybe some things that we can take away in light of those four points Some ways that we can kind of carry that that text with us in the coming days So if you would look at Acts chapter 13 beginning in verse 13 Acts 13 beginning in verse 13. This is how Paul gets to Antioch of Pisidia Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. But John left them and returned to Jerusalem. Going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch. And on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue official sent to them, saying, brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it. Paul stood up. and motioning with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt. And with an uplifted arm, he led them out from it. For a period of about 40 years, he put up with them in the wilderness. When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance, all of which took about 450 years. After these things, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. After he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, concerning whom he also testified and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will. From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, after John had proclaimed before his coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, what do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie. Brethren, sons of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, recognizing neither him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning him. And though they found no ground for putting him to death, they asked Pilate that he be executed. When they had carried out all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead. And for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from galilee to jerusalem To the the very ones who are now witnesses to the people And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers that god has fulfilled this promise to our children And that he raised up jesus As it is also written in the second psalm. You are my son today. I have begotten you As for the fact that he raised him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, he has spoken this way, I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. Therefore, he also says in another psalm, you will not allow your holy one to undergo decay. For David, after he had served the purpose of God and his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay. But he whom God raised did not undergo decay. Therefore let it be known to you brethren that through him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you And through him everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed through the law of moses therefore take heed So that the things spoken of in the prophets may not come upon you Behold, you scoffers, and marvel and perish, for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you." As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath. Now, when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath, nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. Let's pray together. Our great Father, our God, we come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he whom you did not leave in the grave to decay, but indeed he who was raised, raised for our justification, raised to be exalted on high, raised to be enthroned, raised to rule, and raised to one day come again and receive us to himself. We pray, O God, this day that you would help us as we have read your word, help us as we seek to lay it out in preaching. We ask God for your encouragement. We ask God for your assistance, both to preach and to hear, both to give and to receive. We pray, O God, that Christ would be exalted in all these things this day. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Paul and Barnabas at this particular point in the narrative have offered to a particular group of people the gospel. If we didn't know any better, we might think we're back in Acts chapter 2, listening to Peter preach on the day of Pentecost. So many overlaps between Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 13. So many texts, so many similar texts that are used and quoted from the Old Testament. So many Psalms that Peter uses and Paul makes use of as well. Paul and Barnabas here in preaching this particular message to this group of people have brought the very gospel of God to them. They have brought the gospel of God to them first. And in particular, this group of people is designated over and over again as the Jews. I want you to pause here And note especially something about these Jews, and we'll say more about them in a moment, but I want you to notice the relationship between verses 46 and 47. It is verse 46 which sets up the statement made or the command given in verse 47. Again, verse 45 makes clear that the statement made in verse 46 to you was being made to a group designated simply as the Jews. Notice verse 46 first. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you. So the question is, who is you? Look back in verse 45. But when the Jews saw the crowds, They were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming. The first Sabbath that Paul comes and Barnabas comes, they find themselves in the synagogue there in Pisidian Antioch, and they begin to preach, they're asked if they have anything to say, and Paul stands up and motions with his hand, which is very typical for him as a Jewish teacher, and he motions, and he stills them and says to them to listen, and he preaches this sermon. That's the first Sabbath. At the end of that service, they want to hear more, they want him to come back the next Sabbath, the next Sabbath comes, and virtually the entire town has now become present. But there's this group, this group of agitators, known as the Jews, and they stir up the crowd, they engage with the crowd, they're filled with jealousy, they contradict the things spoken by Paul, they blaspheme God, They disturb things so much that Paul and Barnabas declare that they have to turn away from them and turn to the Gentiles. The designation the Jews in the book of Acts carries a lot of negative baggage for Luke. And I think it would help us to kind of think about that negative connotation. the phrasing, the Jews, occurs 52 times in the Book of Acts. I say that not so you can know that it occurs 52 times and you can now win the discussion about how many times the phrase occurs, but I want you to set that against the number 34, because 34 of the 52 occurrences of the phrase in the Book of Acts The phrase and those 34 occurrences is used to point clearly to a malevolent group that stands in opposition of the advancement of the mission of Christ in the preaching of the gospel by the apostles. Specifically, the apostle Paul. In fact, the phrase, the Jews, of those 32 occurrences pointing to that malevolent group that is opposing the advancement of the gospel, that phrase, the Jews, occurs in 33 of the 34 occurrences in relation to Paul alone. It's found one time in Acts chapter 12, verse 3, when Herod finds out that the death of James pleases the Jews. And so he decides he's going to kill Peter, too. So he has Peter arrested. As far as I can tell, in every other occurrence, 33 of them, every one is directed at the preaching of the apostle Paul. The phrase, in fact, doesn't even begin to occur in the book of Acts until chapter 9, which if you remember from just your knowledge of the book of Acts, that's where Paul recounts first his conversion. Paul tells his conversion story like three different times in the book of Acts, and Acts chapter 9 is the first one. This phrase is used in Acts chapter 9 verses 22 and 23 when Paul is preaching the gospel in Damascus following his conversion. The Jews are quick to respond to Paul in his proclamation. They are from the beginning, we might say, aware of Paul and afraid of Paul. Kind of gives a little bit of context to the statement that Paul makes in Galatians chapter 1, where he says that he was advancing in Judaism beyond his contemporaries. Paul was like the valedictorian, right? Paul was like the A student that every other kid in the class wanted to hate. And now Paul is a Christian. The Jews are afraid of Paul. In fact, the early Christian community is afraid of Paul. Remember, Paul is the one at the end of Acts chapter 8 who is standing there, or Acts chapter 7, the beginning of Acts 8, giving approval to the death of Stephen, probably overseeing the stoning of Stephen, and sets out on a rabid rampage to persecute the church in the opening verses of Acts chapter 8. In Acts chapter 13, verse 45, the text that we have here in Pisini and Antioch, we see the Jews dogging the heels of the Apostle Paul's Ministry again Acts chapter 14 verses 1 & 2 the Jews appear in Iconium as Paul preaches the gospel Acts 17 verse 5 they find him in Thessalonica Acts 18 verse 12. They find him in Achaia Acts 20 verse 3. They're with him in Greece in an Acts chapter 20 I'm gonna turn to this one Acts chapter 20 verse 19, you might recall this as the section of Acts where Paul is giving his farewell address to the Ephesian elders in Miletus. He's met them there and he says to them early on, he says in verse 18 that he said, you yourselves know, I'm in Acts 20, 18, you yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility, and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews." I can only imagine what it would have been like for Paul to preach in the church in Ephesus. Imagine in the middle of the assembly, the Jews begin to speak out against the Apostle Paul as he proclaims the gospel. It would be nice to think that maybe they were polite, you know, and, you know, Considerate and they waited till the service was over. I really doubt that was the case These men wanted Paul dead There was no time for politeness on their point from their point of view Paul was the one who was going to constantly and continually steal the God fears the Gentiles that were among them that they were hoping the Jews were hoping these God-fearing Gentiles would become proselytes notches on their belt and to build up their kingdom. And Paul came one by one, and he's taking them for the kingdom of Christ. Just let that sink in. The very people that the gospel intentionally comes to first don't want it. But that's not enough. It's not just that they don't want the gospel. They don't want you to have the gospel either. They have no interest in the gospel. You would think they would sit there and just say, then forget it. We're moving on. We're doing our own thing. No, they hate Christ so much. They don't want you to have the gospel either. I'd never heard of this phrase before. The dog in the manger. Maybe you've heard that phrase. I should ask, like, you know, those who've lived longer than I, if you've heard the phrase, the dog in the manger. Well, the dog in the manger apparently has some connection back to Aesop's fables. The dog in the manger is a dog... You ready? In a manger. Okay. He's a dog. You didn't see that coming, did you? He's a dog who has crept into the barn. And he's laid himself down in the hay. Now, he's not going to eat the hay. He's not going to do much with the hay. It's just now his hay. And along comes the ox. And the ox needs the hay. The ox wants to eat the hay. The ox is going to benefit from the hay, and without the hay, the ox will not have the nourishment that he needs in order to go and do the job that he has to do. The dog, though, looks at the ox and says, you can't have the hay. Here's a dog who doesn't really want the hay. He's not going to benefit from the hay, but he doesn't want you to have the hay either. FF Bruce uses this phrase, the dog in the manger, regarding the Jews. They don't want the gospel. They don't care about the gospel. And they hate the gospel so much, they don't want you to have the gospel either. Bruce says it this way, Paul and Barnabas gave a plain answer to their railing. It was right and proper, they affirmed, that Jews should have the first opportunity of hearing and believing the good news Had the Jews of Pisidian Antioch accepted it, they would have had the honor of evangelizing their Gentile neighbors. I was happy to find him saying that. I thought, that's what we've been talking about for the last several months. In fulfillment of Israel's world mission outlined in Isaiah 49, the text we read just a moment ago. But if they would not receive the light themselves, they could not be allowed to pursue a dog-in-the-manger policy. The life of the age to come had been brought near to them here and now as God's free gift in Christ. If they showed themselves unworthy of it by refusing to accept it, there were others who would appreciate it. It would be offered direct to the Gentiles. And thus, we are introduced to a pattern of events that was to produce itself in almost every place to which Paul brought the gospel. The local Jews almost invariably refused as a body to believe it. Though in every place, there were individuals among them who did believe, and it was accordingly preached to the Gentiles who embraced it in large numbers. One final text regarding these jews. I want to draw your attention to is in acts chapter 28 So if you would turn there with me for a moment Now we're not to the four things yet that are on your outline So if you're wondering where this is, this is just opening remarks You know, it's the first hour and a half of the sermon. Therefore. It's just introduction. All right We're just throat clearing at the moment. We'll get to the we'll get to the text here soon acts chapter 28 We'll start in verse 23. Acts 28, verse 23. Now Paul is in Rome. He says earlier back in verse 14, and thus we came to Rome, the long journey all the way to get to Rome. He's here, he's set up a day when he can speak to the Jews. It says, and when they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers. And this is the Jews in the context you can read earlier in verses 16 through 22. They came to him in large numbers, and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and from the prophets from morning until evening. Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe. And when they did not agree with one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word, the Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying, you can imagine this word probably hit hard. You can understand why they left. Go to this people and say, from Isaiah six, you will keep on hearing, but will not understand. You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive. For the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them. Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will also listen. When he had spoken these words, notice, the Jews, Departed having a great dispute among themselves And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him Preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness unhindered Bruce Sees a note of finality in the end of Acts chapter 28 in regard to the Jews. Notice what he says. He says, as before in Pisidian Antioch, chapter 13, Corinth, chapter 18, and elsewhere, so here again, but with a note of solemn finality, he announces that henceforth the Gentiles will have a priority in receiving the message of salvation, and that unlike the majority of the Jews, they, will accept it. Do you remember Jesus in the parable of the vineyard when he says I'm taking the kingdom away from you and I'm going to give it to a nation that will produce its fruit? It's much like what Paul says in Romans chapter 15 when he says I'm turning to the Gentiles and they will listen. FH Chase, another scholar, makes this common. He said, regarding Acts chapter 28, the narrative reaches a solemn climax, rejection on the one side, unchecked success and hope on the other. Now with this in mind, I think we might be somewhat ready to turn back to Acts chapter 13 and to see the statement that is made by Paul in verse 47. I will kind of lead up to 47 by reading again 46, and notice what it says. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, since you repudiated and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life. Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us. I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. Four things I'd like you to note regarding verse 47, which contains a command that is given to Paul and broadly to Paul and Barnabas. And we'll see broadly, not just to Paul and Barnabas, but to the whole of the apostolic band and to the church herself. I want you to notice about this command its divine origin, its unlikely recipients, its covenantal nature, and its broad scope. Its divine origin, its unlikely recipients, its covenantal nature, and its broad scope. I believe those are printed for you toward the back of the bulletin. Hopefully that will facilitate your listening. So notice with me first in Acts chapter 13 verse 47, Paul mentions a command and he begins by noting its divine origin. He says in verse 47, the reason that we're turning to the Gentiles, you have rejected this message. You have repudiated this message. You have judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life. And those two phrases there, repudiating the message and judging yourselves unworthy of eternal life. I don't want to take the time to turn there now, but you can write a couple of verses down. You could turn to Matthew 22, 28. Luke 20 verse 35 just mark those texts down Matthew 22 8 and Luke 20 35 in the margin somewhere I think that will help you understand what it means here. They repudiate the message They have judged the message itself and they don't want the message and in a sense They've somewhat when it says you've judged yourselves unworthy. They have in their rejection of the message They have self condemned themselves In other words, if there is no gospel message of Christ, if you reject that message, what's left for you? There's nothing. This is not to say that a Gentile could not repudiate the message and judge himself in that sense unworthy. It's not to say that you and I here today could not hear the gospel and repudiate the gospel and judge ourselves to be unworthy of that. People, in fact, every day, week in and week out, when the preaching of the gospel is done from pulpits across the world, they repudiate the message, and they judge themselves unworthy. They reject what is proclaimed to them about Christ. And friend, if you reject Christ, if you reject the salvation that is offered to you in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no other salvation. If you turn away from him, you turn away from the only hope you could ever possibly have of having sins forgiven, hell subdued, peace with God, and the joy of heaven. There is no other name given among men by which you must be saved. And it's not enough to hear about it. and not actively repudiate it. I mean, because many do that, don't they? Many hear the message. They don't actively come out and repudiate it. I mean, we don't actually hear the words come out of their mouths. Oh, I hate the gospel. I don't hear that. Let me ask you, do you love the gospel? Do you have an affection deep within your heart that draws you to Christ? Do you, in the words of the Apostle Peter, consider Christ to be precious? Maybe you've seen that little movie. I think it's about Spurgeon, the preacher. It's on the internet. You can find it. It's free to kind of watch. Spurgeon didn't want to be a preacher. In fact, Spurgeon was only converted somewhere around the age of 15 or so, and it was an unlikely conversion, a strange conversion. He's wandering through this field, and he's on his way to church. He's trying to get to this one church, and he can't get there, and he turns aside down this little road, and he comes upon a little band of primitive Methodists, and he makes this comment in his biography, and he talks about the primitive Methodists, and he's like, you know how loud they sing? They like hurt your ears. They sing so loud. And I should have mentioned that to my aunt this morning. She's a Methodist. But he goes to this little church and the preacher's not even there. And there's this really gangly looking guy that just doesn't look too impressive. And this guy gets up and he preaches from a passage somewhere in Isaiah. And in the middle of the sermon, the man begins to exhort those that are there to look to Jesus. And he takes his little finger and he points at Spurgeon. And Spurgeon, you know, feels like he's been zeroed in on. He's been struggling with sin. He's been struggling with his heart. He's been realizing how sinful he is. He doesn't know what to do. He's prayed, he's pled. And at that moment, his heart was open to respond to the gospel. And he did that simple thing. He looked. He looked to Jesus. Fast forward just a little bit in Spurgeon's life, and he finds himself. He's been sent with a friend of his out to a little cottage with about, I don't know, 10 or 15 people or so that have gathered there to hear a sermon on the Lord's Day. And the guy that sent them told Spurgeon that his friend was going to preach when they got there. But here's what happened. The guy that sent them also told his friend, when you get there, Spurgeon's going to preach. And I guess the guy was thinking, well, somebody will preach. And so Spurgeon drew the short straw. And apparently, he, you know, maybe they play rock, scissors, paper. I don't know what they did. But Spurgeon got the vote. And Spurgeon preached. And he preached out of Peter. He preached out of Peter, where it says that to you who believe, he is precious. Let me just ask you, let me really ask you to listen. Is Christ to you precious? Is he precious? Is he to your soul the most valuable thing ever? Nothing could surpass the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave his life. He's cleansed your sin. He's given you joy and the hope of heaven He has given you everlasting life. He's given you himself And that to you is the most precious thing Because friend listen if christ is not the most precious thing to you Then here's what you've done you've repudiated the gospel And you've judged yourself unworthy you have cast it aside. You have taken the pearl of great price and you have not given up all to obtain that one thing. You have taken that which is most precious and you've disregarded it. And we do that by just putting it down, we just put it down the list, you know, of the things that you have that are most precious to you. You know what it's like when you're a kid, you know, or you have kids, they get a kid meal, This is the best day ever. This is the best toy ever. You know, six hours later, you're stepping on it in their room, because it's of no value to them at all. This is the way sometimes people treat Christ. He is all, or He is indeed nothing. He is Lord, or He is not. You cannot have, as Martin Lloyd-Jones said, a half-Christ. You can't have a half-Christ. You can't just have part of him. I'll take the rest of him later. He will not be pieced out. He will be all, or he will not be yours. These men heard the gospel most clearly, and they repudiated the gospel, and judged themselves unworthy. Paul says that because of that, we are turning to the Gentiles. The Gentiles? Why would you do that, Paul? I mean, you're a Jew. Don't be unfaithful to your own people, the Gentiles. Why would you do such a thing? Because God has commanded us to do it. And God's commanded me to do something, I should what? I should do it. Here's the ultimate trump card. You know, you had your Judaism. You had your, I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. I'm a Pharisee of Pharisees. As to the law, I'm blameless. I was circumcised on the eighth day. And I had all these things in my bag of tricks. I had all these things in my list of things that were so wonderful and so amazing. But one day, Jesus came and everything was gone. It's that road to Damascus, right? Here's Paul on his way to persecute the Jews, on his way with letters from the chief priests, on his way to arrest people, on his way to kill people, on his way maybe picking up some stones on the way. And what happens? The Lord Jesus appears to him in a light from the sky and says, Paul, Paul, or Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And in that moment, we're told back in Acts chapter nine, that when Christ appeared to Saul, remember the, the little man he was told to go see, he's told to go see this, this man Ananias lives on straight street in Damascus. And he goes to Ananias and Ananias is a little nervous too, where the Jews don't like Paul, the Christians don't like Paul. Ananias is not too excited about taking Paul into his home. God comes to Ananias and he says to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. And you can trace the rest of the book of Acts. That's exactly what Paul does. He bears his name. He bears the name of Christ before the Jews. He bears his name before the Gentiles. He bears his name before the kings. You got Festus. You got Agrippa. Over and over and over, Paul is appearing in front of important people all the way to Rome. to proclaim the gospel in the presence of Caesar. Whether he sees Caesar or not personally, Caesar certainly hears about it. And those who attend Caesar were told in Philippians chapter 1 that many in Caesar's own household had come to faith in Christ. Paul received, in Acts chapter 13, he tells of having received a command from God. It is a command of divine origin, therefore it is unmistakable, it is undeniable, it is something that Paul cannot reject. The command here comes in the formation of a quotation from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 49 in verse 6. This is why we read that text from 49 1 of 13 earlier for so acts 13 verse 47 For so the Lord has commanded us. I Have placed you as a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth Well, it's a short text it took us about 40 minutes to get to the text, but let me just give you these four things I The text points to a command that is of divine origin. If we were to go back to Isaiah 49 in verse 6, we would see that it is God himself, or we might even say the person of God, the Father, who is pointed to as the dispenser of the command. But by the time we come to Acts chapter 13, there is clarity given. There's clarity given to the God who gives the command, and it says, for so the Lord has commanded us. And here the Lord clearly is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has commissioned Paul to be the light to the nations. Notice something else about this command. Notice it's unlikely recipients. It says, for so the Lord has commanded us. Now this is interesting because if you look at us, us is clearly plural, is it not? Barnabas and Paul, at least, are being referred to here in the us. But he says, the quotation itself says, I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. Two times in that text, the word you is used and it is singular. in keeping with how it's presented in Isaiah chapter 49, it is singular. In Isaiah 49, let's turn back over there for a moment. We read that earlier. Isaiah 49 in verse 6. Now remember we mentioned Isaiah 49 is one of the servant song texts, along with Isaiah 42 and Isaiah, I believe, 51 and 52 53 is the fourth and final servant song but here in isaiah 49 notice verse 5 Isaiah 49 5 now says the lord who formed me from the womb to be his servant To bring back jacob to him so that israel might be gathered to him For i am honored in the sight of the lord and my god is my strength He says it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also make you a light to the nation so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." It's the end of verse 6 that Paul quotes from in Acts chapter 13. In Isaiah 49, the U again is singular. But in Acts 13, Paul says, that which was declared to be for this singular servant in Isaiah 49, Paul is saying, this is God's command now to us, the plural. There is a transference here of responsibility for the fulfilling of the command in light of the original recipient. The original recipient is the servant, which clearly in the book of Isaiah, if we were to go through Isaiah 42 and 49 again and 51 and 52, 53, we would see clearly the servant of the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ. But here the responsibility to fulfill the command is transferred from Christ himself now to the apostolic band of men that are going forth preaching the gospel to the Jews, and now turning to the Gentiles. Now, if we were to take a lot of time to go back throughout the book of Isaiah, we would see that the servant language does not just apply in Isaiah to this singular future suffering servant. The servant language in the book of Isaiah also applies broadly to Israel as a whole. We find this in Isaiah 40, we find it in Isaiah 41, Isaiah 42, Isaiah 41 again, and 42 again. Let me just mention a few things about this. When we find Isaiah speaking to Israel as a whole, the nation, as the servant of God, There's something wrong with the service. Just a couple of texts. Let me just kind of draw you to a couple. Isaiah 40. We'll start there. Isaiah 40. I'm missing the servant language in this particular verse. Isaiah 40 verse 27. I'll have to find it later in the context. Let me just go ahead and mention this verse. Maybe we'll find it later on. But Isaiah 40 verse 27, he's speaking here to Jacob. And he says, why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and justice due me escapes the notice of my God? In other words, here is Jacob. Here is Israel, in sin, in rebellion. But they say, my way is hidden from the Lord. He doesn't see me. They're also thinking they deserve Something other than what they're what they're getting Justice has escaped them justice has escaped the notice of God. In other words. He's not treating us rightly. He's not treating us justly Look over in chapter 41 We'll start in verse 8 But you Israel my servant Jacob whom I have chosen I So again, I suppose we could go back in chapter 40 in verse 27. He speaks to Jacob, he speaks to Israel, and here he identifies clearly in 41.8 Jacob, Israel, as his servant. But you say, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham, my friend, you whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called from its remotest parts, you, and said to you, you are my servant. I have chosen you and not rejected you. Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Trying to pick and choose from the context on what to read because I don't want to read like an entire chapter. Well, May I borrow on your patience? One more moment. Isaiah 42. Well, sometimes when you look at things, they don't come together like you're wanting them to. We've seen this before, that Israel as the servant of God Is often seen as okay. Here we go. Isaiah 42 verse 18. I knew it was going to come out Isaiah 42 18 again. He's referring to jacob as his servant israel as his servant here you deaf and look you blind that you may see Who is blind? But my servant or so deaf as my messenger whom I send Who is so blind as he that is at peace with me or so blind as the servant of the lord? You have seen many things, but you do not observe them. Your ears are open, but none hears. I thank you for your patience. We finally got it. So the point being that God is speaking to Israel as his servant, but this servant can't see. This servant can't hear. If he can't hear, then he can't receive God's word and give it to the nations because he's to be this light to the nations. If he can't see, then he can't go and he can't deliver that word for any to hear. So here we find Israel, Jacob, complaining before God in Acts chapter 40, fearful and dismayed, deaf and blind, disobedient to God's commands. However, he is supposed to be God's servant. If Israel is to be the servant of the Lord, but he's blind, if he's to go forth but he's lame and he's deaf, he can't hear, he can't do the work that God is calling him to do, something has to happen to the servant. So what God does in the context of Isaiah and the chapters we have here is he sends another servant. Back to Isaiah 49. He sends a particular servant to go and to gather his servant Israel to himself. Notice in chapter 49 in verse 5. I want you to notice here how the servant that is spoken of in Isaiah 49 is distinct from, yet stands in relation to, Israel as God's servant. And now says the Lord who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him. Now we've already learned that Jacob is God's what? Jacob is God's servant. But here another individual is being spoken of as the servant who has the responsibility to go and to bring back God's servant to him. To bring back Jacob to him so that Israel might be gathered to him for I am honored in the sight of the Lord and my God is my strength. He says, that is God says to the servant, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also make you a light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." So Isaiah sees a people, the nation of Israel, Jacob. He sees him as the servant of God, but he's disobedient, but he's blind, but he's lame, but he's deaf. He can't fulfill the mission that God gives to him. So God appoints another servant to go and rescue that blind and lame and deaf servant, bring him back to him, and then through that restored servant, he is going to send the message out to the nations of the world. Let's go back for a moment to Acts chapter 13. Let's go one other place first. Let's go to Luke. Luke chapter 4. I think it's interesting that he uses this imagery of blindness, of being deaf, of being lame, of being rebellious. when Jesus comes in Luke chapter 4, when Jesus comes and kind of begins his public ministry in Galilee, we've looked at this text before, he stands in the synagogue in Luke chapter 4 and preaches to them from a text again in the book of Isaiah. I should notice Luke chapter 4 verse 14, It says that Jesus returned to Galilee and the power of the Spirit news about him spread through all the surrounding district and he began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as was his custom he entered the synagogue of the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him and he opened the book and found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. Now, what's interesting about this passage to me is, one, it's taken from the same section of Isaiah that we were just looking in about Israel being God's servant, being blind, being deaf, unable to hear, unable to respond. In that section, we also saw that God is going to appoint another servant, and he's going to take that servant and send them to Israel, send them to Jacob to do what? To recover them and to bring them back. Now, remember Jesus in the Gospels, he says numerous times in his earthly public ministry to his disciples, when he sends them out, go what? go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is a picture of the gospel going to the Jew first. It's Jesus' intention as the servant of the Lord to come to God's people, God's Israel, God's Jacob, if you will, God's servant, and to minister to them and to bring them back to himself. This happens throughout the earthly ministry of Jesus to the point that when we find the early church in Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2, it's a band of Jews that had been brought together. It's not a band of Jews and Gentiles. It's 120 Jews, and there they are in Acts chapter 1, gathered together in the upper room, led by 12 men, who again are what? They are Jews. The early church is distinctively, almost exclusively Jewish in nature. John Oswald, his commentary on the book of Isaiah, on the section we were just looking at there, he says that God has said that the lives of his servant Israel would be the evidence to the world that he alone is the Holy One. The section in chapter 48, verses 17 to 22, brings that thought to its climactic expression. How is it possible Will God simply ignore the sin that projected Israel into slavery in the first place? How will the blind, the deaf, the rebellious servant of Israel be any different just because Cyrus, and Cyrus is mentioned as being one who will deliver them, was sent to them? The answer is the servant, the ideal Israel, will give himself to be for and in Israel what Israel could never be in itself. God's mighty arm is about to be revealed in the book of Isaiah, and we find several texts in Isaiah 50, 51, 52, and 53 that show the arm of God being revealed. In other words, how is God going to rescue his people? He's going to have to bear his arm, which is his servant, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, and send him to them to win them, if you will, back. Back again to Acts 13. But Paul here says in Acts 13, and this is important to note, that it's not Christ who's going to win the nations, it's Paul. It's Paul and Barnabas. Or if we want to make this to extend to the early church, it's the whole of that new restored Israel of God. So it's not just a transference of the responsibility for the fulfilling of the command in light of the original recipient. The original recipient is Israel itself, the nation, that is to be alike to the nations. But they fail. That responsibility then transfers to Christ. Christ himself will then win Israel back and be alike to the nations. But here in Acts chapter 13, Paul says it's not Israel that's the light to the nations, it's not Christ that's the light to the nations, it is indeed Paul and Barnabas themselves. What I would see here in Acts chapter 13 is that Paul and Barnabas here are representing a restored remnant and through them the message of the gospel will go to the nations. One writer said that Paul is a light to the Gentiles only in virtue of the Christ that he preaches. So Christ is a light to the Gentiles as he is preached by them as his servants. Christ is not left behind in Paul's thinking if you look over in Acts chapter 26. Acts chapter 26 and verse 23. Notice in Acts chapter 26, Paul is making his defense here before Agrippa, the king. He is then going to be sent to Rome, but he says in Acts 26 in verse 22. Let's start there. So having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, Stating nothing, but what the prophets and Moses said was going to take place That the Christ was to suffer and that by reason of his resurrection from the dead he who? he Christ Would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and the Gentiles so again in Isaiah The group that is to be the light to the nations is Israel the nation. But they fail. They are blind. They are deaf. They are lame. They are complaining. They are disobedient. They're wandering far away. So God appoints another servant, a specific singular servant, the Lord Jesus, to go to that nation and to restore them and bring them back. But it's too light of a thing for him just to restore them, that one nation, so he appoints the servant, Christ, to be a light to all the nations of the world, to bring them in. Paul then says in Acts 13, that responsibility of bearing the light of the gospel to the nations now falls to me. and to Barnabas, and by extension to the apostolic band. And we've seen that, have we not, in Acts chapter 2, we've seen it in Acts chapter 8, we've seen it in Acts chapter 10, we're now seeing it in Acts chapter 13, we're going to see it again next week, Lord willing, in Acts chapter 15. That responsibility of being the light to the nations falls to the church. But When we take up the task of carrying the gospel to the nations, it is not as if we are supplanting Christ. It is not as if we're taking his place. It is not as if we're leaving him behind. For Paul's word here is that in his own preaching, Christ is doing what? Christ is preaching. This is one of the reasons it is such a travesty to reject the preaching of the gospel. Because when you reject the preaching of the gospel, you are rejecting Christ himself, who has come to you mercifully in preaching. I never knew. You never came and told me. Yes, I did. Every time the preacher of the gospel stands before you and holds the gospel faithfully before you, Christ is in that moment doing what? Preaching to you to come and to believe and to repent and to trust He, verse 23, He would be the first, and might we add He'll be the last, and everyone in between. He will proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles of the world. I often think back when I was a boy and I heard Dr. Kemp stand before me week after week after week, and I was disinterested. I didn't pay attention. I didn't know what was going on. But somewhere around 10 or 11, the Lord God got a hold of me. And I've often looked back on that nostalgic day and thought, oh, thank you, God, for Dr. Kemp. No, thank you, God, that your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, took use of an empty, weak, and pitiful vessel of a man and preached to me. so that I would hear the gospel, and I would see the light of the glory of Christ in the simple words of a preacher, and I would come to believe in Jesus. These are indeed, are they not, Paul and Barnabas, they are unlikely recipients of the gospel. I haven't forgot where we are. We are on this outline. They are unlikely recipients of the command. Paul was an aggressor, a violent aggressor, a murderer, a God-hater, a Christ-hater. And God picked him. Barnabas might have been more likely. He's the one that's called the son of encouragement. But Paul? This is why it was so hard for the early church to even believe that Paul was really on their side. Sometimes we look at Paul and think, what a champion that God won that day. And through that champion, that great man, Paul carried the gospel to the nations. Well, that's true in a sense, but we could also say, what a humble man, what a man who was nothing, what a man who saw himself as nothing. He saw every accomplishment of his life. He says in Philippians chapter three, everything to me became rubbish. It's embarrassing to almost talk about what the Greek word for rubbish means, skubalon, bodily waste. That's what he used to prize. But now Christ is precious, and that man God can use. I want you to notice something else in Acts chapter 13. I do have four things I want to say quickly by way of application, but I need to mention these other two things. Wonder is the covenantal nature of the command. We've seen its divine origin. It's unlikely recipients. It's covenantal nature And acts chapter 13 for so the Lord commanded us I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles and that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth." You can go back later in Isaiah 42 and Isaiah 49, and this idea being placed in the context of these sections, he says at one point, I'm giving you as a covenant for the people. He gives Christ, does he not, as a covenant for us. He cuts his covenant with us through the Lord Jesus Christ. Thinking about last week when Vishal was talking about Genesis chapter 15 and God cutting the covenant and setting the pieces aside. The Lord Jesus comes and he himself becomes the sacrifice and a covenant is established with us. And when we go out, when Paul goes out to the nations of the world, he is a bearer of that covenant. He is even referred to, is he not, in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 as a preacher of the new covenant, a minister of the new covenant. He's carrying that covenantal message about what God has done for men in Christ Jesus. The proclamation of the covenant that we often refer to as the new covenant, it is a covenantal message that says to those who hear it, everything has been done Everything has been made ready. Remind you of a parable? Jesus sends out his slaves. He sends out his messengers to the highways, to the byways, to compel people to come in. And he says to them, everything is ready. Everything's been done. The message of the gospel, friend, is not what? Meet me halfway? You do your part, God will do his part. God helps those who help themselves. That is not the gospel. I've seen the t-shirts sold in Christian stores and the bumper sticker for Christian's cars. If it's on your car when we're done today and we say the benediction, run out and peel it off before somebody sees it. That is not the gospel. That is not the gospel. We go forward with a covenantal message. We have been placed, we have been placed by the hand of God to carry that covenantal message to the world. But notice, lastly, the broad scope, the broad scope of the command. It's so simple, it's so clear. He says that, that you may bring, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. God is not pleased in the sense that God's purpose is not fulfilled until all the nations of the earth have heard and some from every tribe and tongue and language and nation have embraced the gospel. Well, let me just mention a few things about these four points that we've made, and we'll try to wrap up. What do I take with me from such a text? I mean, it's about Paul, right? It's about Paul and Barnabas. Well, hopefully you don't think it's just about them, but when I read in this text that this command came to Paul and Barnabas of divine origin, I'm reminded that this is God's command, which is expressive of God's will. That's another way of saying God's will, God's command, God's decree, God's determinations, what God wants, what God seeks. If God is the one that is giving such a command, this is expressive of the fact that this is something that God has designed, something that God desires. This tells us and reminds us that our God has a global vision when it comes to the fulfilling of such a command. God has on his heart, you've heard it said before, the nations of the world. God has a vision that in a design and an intention and a will that he will accomplish that encompasses the whole of the planet. Remember what happened in the greater context of Acts chapter 13. You have a group of people who have become very introspective, haven't they? The Jews are very concerned for their own self and for their own kind. But God says, my kingdom is not about ethnicity. My kingdom is not geocentric. My kingdom is not based on a small 50 by 100 mile piece of property. My kingdom encompasses what? It encompasses the whole of the earth. You know what's interesting about that? Even Abraham got that, right? Even Abraham knew that. God, remember Abraham and Lot? You know, you walk this way, I'll walk that way. And God tells Abram, you know, hey, whatever your soul, the soul of your feet touches, that's yours. And so you can see Abraham now, you know, walking a long way there in the Middle East, through sand, through valley, through hill, through rivers. And this is gonna be his. But somehow, in promising to Abraham that little bitty piece of property, he says, I'm going to use you to do what? Bless all the nations of the world. Abram hears that, and Paul tells us that he understands and knows that he was supposed to inherit not just that little piece of land. He was to inherit what? The whole earth. Abraham knew that. God has a global vision. We cannot limit the global vision of God by turning introspective with the gospel and thinking somehow it's just for us or just for people like us. The Jews did it in the time of Christ and the apostles. The church can do it today. You know what's interesting? If we were to trace the history of missions, this is just one example of how we do this. In the history of missions, when missionaries in the 19th century would often go into unreached people groups and plant a church, you know what they would do? They would take that church and they would make it look like America. They would make the natives dress like Americans, speak English. You got to speak the king's English because that's what you're supposed to do, because they have a King James in heaven or something like that. And missions would often take on a real a flair for the point of origin. In other words, if you came from America, an American missionary, you'd make them look like Americans, dress like Americans, talk like Americans. But is that what missions is about? In missions, are we supposed to go to the nations of the world and make them look like us, make them talk like us, make them dress like us, make them sing exactly what we sing? No. We do hold to the regular principle of worship. It is somewhat transferable, is it not, between various cultures of the world, but we're not trying to Americanize Africa. We're not trying to make Australia look like Britain. This is the way governments often take over countries, but it's not the way the Church is to spread the Gospel. We have a global vision because we have a global God. Notice, secondly, The fact that this is an unlikely inheritance, an unlikely recipient of the command, frequently in Paul's life, Paul is brought to points of humility where he realizes that he indeed is an unlikely subject to receive this calling. All Paul, all of Paul's life, he realizes here, is all by the grace of God. And this is something that ought to happen for the church as well. The church ought to see they are unlikely recipients of such a task of carrying the gospel to the nations. There is no place at all in the church for a point of pride, no place in the church for a looking down on those others that were called to reach. Humility will serve the mission of the church more than pride. Thirdly, We notice in this particular text the covenantal nature of the command to carry this gospel, the new covenant, to the far reaches of the world. Apart from a true covenantal message, our message or our mission would indeed be impossible. The only way we can have a true effect on the lost in the world is to bring them a message, that brings them the forgiveness of sins? Think what it would be if we took an old covenant message to the world, and we just encouraged them to swap their own law-keeping for our law-keeping. Would not be an effective message, would it? No, the message that we're called to carry is the message of the new covenant, a message of the completed work of Christ for the benefit of the nations of the world. And finally, one thing I see here, I know these are rather brief, Perhaps we can expand them later on. But when I think about the broad scope and the intention of this command to carry the gospel to the nations, it reminds me that the task that we have for missions in the world is not what? It is not done. It is not completed. We mentioned several weeks back, maybe a month or two ago, we talked about the statistics of the missions movement in the world that are simply staggering. I would simply direct your attention, maybe in the coming days, you can read the Harvest Field Prayer Guide that was put together. It focuses on Rwanda. And one of the things, I think, that ought to stand out to you when you notice this is almost 14 million people in this country. Small little country in the center of Africa. Almost 14 million people. And you read the statistics and right away you notice that 90% of the nation is Christian. 90% of the nation is Christian. You're almost thinking why are we praying for these people? I mean aren't there other countries where it's like, you know 0.02 percent christian? Let's focus on that but then stick with the statistics and this is why michelle mentioned to you guys in your bulletin This is why I put that in there because of the 90 of the nation that is christian Low 50s 52 or so percent i'm not looking at right now 52 or so is roman catholic, right? Another 10 to 15% is Anglican. They estimate 26% of the 89%, maybe that makes almost 20% or so of the whole. I don't know, I'm not a mathematician. You figure that out later on. Some of you are much smarter at that than me. Wouldn't take much. A third grader could be smarter than me at math. That's why Janice teaches math, not me. Maybe 20% or so of the whole nation, 20% of 14 million people are evangelical. And from what I know of Operation World and the Joshua Project, that's probably still overinflated. It's probably less. That's just, listen, that is one little country out of a world, out of a world of peoples. The task of reaching the nations with the Gospels with the gospel remains uncompleted. Jesus said, I am with you to the very end of the age. The message that we should get from the battle right now going on between Russia and Ukraine is not that the end is right around the corner, and it's an eschatological timetable, and Russia represents Gog and Magog, and it's all over, and the Antichrist is going to rise up soon. That's not the point. The message that you ought to be thinking of in terms of Russia and Ukraine is it's obvious the world still needs what? They still need Christ. They still need the gospel. In those countries alone, probably millions and millions and millions of people do not know Christ. The task for the church is unfinished. We need more prayer. We need more money given. to missions. We need more men to be called out to preach the gospel and to go to hard to reach places with the gospel. We need more churches planted. One of the things in Rwanda that makes this particular thing so striking is that back about 20 years ago or so, 20 to 30 years ago or so, most of the pastors in Rwanda were killed. We have a generation of people in Rwanda that are many Christians, yes, but they have no pastors. They have no one to teach them the things of Christ. One of the things that they're asking for right now is for men to be willing to go into Rwanda to teach the pastors that they do have to help them know how to study, how to preach, how to teach, how to shepherd. The task of reaching the nations with the gospel is not completed. Therefore, it behooves us as a church to do whatever we possibly can in prayer, in giving, in sending, in going. The last thing most mothers want to do is pray that God would raise up their little boys to be preachers in dangerous places in the world. But we need mothers and fathers to pray that God would give us boys who will go into hard to reach places in the world that are dangerous and may even lose their lives for the cause of the gospel. The Apostle Paul lost his life for the cause of the gospel. The Apostle Peter lost his life for the cause of the gospel. And church history tells us 11 of the 12 apostles lost their lives for the cause of the gospel. Many have lost their lives for the cause of the gospel. but the blood of the martyr is the seed of the church. And it's not for nothing, because I don't live for this world. I live for the one to come. You may not go. You don't have to go. This is not a guilt message. Only go if God calls you, and only go if you're sent. Don't just go on your own. You go because you're trained, you're equipped, you're ready, and you're sent. But everybody can pray. Most of us can give. Most of us can set these kinds of things in our hearts on a regular basis to consider there's something more of value than just my kid mill toy. There's something of greater value than just my job. There's something of greater value than just my family. There's Christ. Remember? He is what? He is precious. If he's precious to you, And your heart should swell at the hope that God indeed will revive the nations, awaken the church, send out the gospel, and see people in these unreached areas of the world one day come to Christ and join you around the throne singing of the glory of the precious Lord Jesus. Let's pray together. Father, we bless your name. We thank you for being a God who does indeed have a heart that encompasses the whole of the earth. We thank you that you have, by your grace, humbly chosen unlikely people like ourselves to be involved in the proclamation of the kingdom of Christ to the world. We have a message that proclaims the forgiveness of sins, for God in Christ has covenanted together to save a people. Oh, and indeed, this work is not yet complete. We thank you, O God, for your work of grace, and we pray, O God, that you would work that work of grace even powerfully here amongst us, work it in our hearts, work it amongst our children, work it against those who are not saved, who have yet to see the beauty and the glory of the precious Lord Jesus. Though every week we gather together, oh Father, it is highly possible and often likely that men and women would be in the proximity of the gospel, live around the gospel, but not get the gospel. So we pray, O God, that you would have mercy and open each and every eye that is here, that they would see Christ as precious. God, would you stir our church, not just our church, but our churches, our brothers and sisters and our sister churches, that you would stir all of your faithful saints across the globe. Oh, Father, to be faithful in praying, faithful in giving, faithful in sending, faithful even in going. Father, we bless you for the sweet, precious mercy that we have found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you for time in your Word. We thank you, Father, for the Scripture. We pray, O God, for your grace and pondering it, meditating upon it in these coming days. Might you watch over your Word in our heart to perform it. Bring about the purpose for which you send it out. For your word is not like our word. Your thoughts are not like our thoughts. Your word goes out and it does not return void, but will accomplish the purpose for which you send it. We pray, O God, that purpose today would be for redemption, that that purpose would be for opening the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, lifting up the hands of the disinterested to give praise and glory and honor. to Christ. Help us as we take the Lord's table today to remember the Lord Jesus and all he has done for us in his cross, his death, his bearing of our sin, that we might taste of the mercies of our God. We ask this God in Jesus' name.