Cleave Unto the Lord.” (1996 Conf. in CA)

Gratitude and Introduction to the Text

0:00 Now, before we turn to the reading and the preaching of the Word of God, since this is the only opportunity I have had to address primarily the assembly of God's people who meet in this place, Trinity Reformed Baptist Church, I do wish to take this opportunity, since it will be a gathering of many churches again tonight, to express on behalf of my wife and myself our sincere gratitude for the many kindnesses shown to us in our time in your midst, for the graciousness of the brethren who offered to pay my wife's airfare and to have her accompany me during this visit for the opportunity that God has given me to increase and deepen my friendship with your pastor, whom I have known for many years, but with whom, in the providence of God, we have not had many opportunities for intimate, face-to-face fellowship, and it has been a great delight to be in their home, to be the recipients of their love, and when I say theirs, I mean Mrs. Blackburn along with Caleb. They have made us feel very much at home,

1:24 and we are deeply grateful to God for all that our eyes have seen, of the work of God amongst you, your present unity, what God has given you in your new facilities, the leadership he has raised up, and it is biblical when one sees not only an ongoing faith in Christ and love for the brethren, but order in Christ's church, for in Colossians chapter 2, Paul mentioned that very thing, that he was full of joy beholding the love and the faith and the love of God. He was full of the order of the church at Colossae, and so I sincerely thank you for your many expressions of kindness and love, your prayers for me, for the ministry of the word. I believe that God has heard and answered our cries in granting us the sense of his felt presence when we have gathered for the public ministry of the word of God. And now will you turn with me in your own Bibles to the portion of the Bible that I have written for you today. To the portion of God's word that will be the focus of our study this morning.

2:32 I shall read just one verse from Acts chapter 9, and then we will turn over to a paragraph in Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter, I said 9, I meant chapter 8. Chapter 7 contains the account of Stephen facing the Sanhedrin, ultimately stoned, the first Christian martyr, put to death for his faith in the Lord Jesus. And we read in verse 1 of Acts 8, and Saul, that is Saul of Tarsus, was consenting unto his, that is Stephen's, death.

3:16 And there arose on that day, the day of Stephen's martyrdom, a great persecution against the church which was in charge, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. So we see the picture. The church is scattered upon the occasion of this intense, this mega, this great persecution that began on the occasion of the martyrdom of Stephen. But what men intended for, for evil, God, intended for good. And follow as I read one aspect of that good from Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 11, and I shall read verses 19 through 26. Verses 19 through 26. They therefore that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen traveled as far as, as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to none save only to Jews.

4:36 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who when they were come to Antioch, spoke unto the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned unto the Lord. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned unto the Lord. And the report concerning them came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas as far as Antioch, who when he was come and had seen the grace of God was glad.

5:13 And he exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave or remain in the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of faith, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and much people was added unto the Lord. And he went forth to Tarsus to seek for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that even for a whole year they were gathered together with the church and taught much people, and the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

Exposition: Occasion of Barnabas's Exhortation

5:58 Now the focus of our attention this morning will be upon these good words of a good man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. Words that are called an exhortation to this infant church found in verse 23. And he exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Now in handling the text this morning let me first of all give you what I will call without any fanfares or frills a brief exposition of the text then secondly an expanded pastoral application of the text and then thirdly a concluding observation in connection with the text. First of all then a brief exposition of the text itself and I will attempt this under three headings. The occasion of the exhortation of Barnabas, the substance of the exhortation of Barnabas, and the rationale for the exhortation of Barnabas. First of all then the occasion of the exhortation of Barnabas.

7:26 Why was this exhortation recorded in verse 23 given at all? And why was it given by a man named Barnabas? Well the occasion is very clearly set before us in the passage. God had moved these unnamed preachers who were scattered abroad upon the occasion of the persecution elicited by the martyrdom of Stephen and some of them had gone as far north as Antioch and while others preached only to the Jews these men whose background was from the isle of Cyprus and from a place called Cyrene on the northern coast of Africa they did something that up until now was entirely novel. They branched out in their gospel preaching and began preaching to non-Jews. Notice how clearly this is stated in verse 20. Some of them men of Cyprus and Cyrene who when they were come to Antioch spoke unto the Greeks preaching the Lord Jesus.

8:44 And as these men began to preach as they began to proclaim the truths that clustered around the person and work of the Lord Jesus they were not preaching the latest pop psychology. They were not preaching the message of self-fulfillment and self-actualization. They were men who were preaching the Lord Jesus. They were heralding the message concerning all that God had done in the person and work of His Son on behalf of needy, hell-deserving sinners.

9:25 And the passage says that as they preached the Lord Jesus the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number that believed turned unto the Lord. The success of their preaching is not attributed to their eloquence. It is not attributed to their cleverness. It is not attributed to their persuasiveness.

9:52 It is not attributed to their ability to be so market sensitive that they could adopt the gospel in such a way that it lost all of its offense and men could very easily without any divine intervention be brought to pray the prayer and make a decision for Jesus. The text says the hand of the Lord was with them. And that phrase the hand of the Lord is a Hebraism. The hand of the Lord means there was an outgoing of the mighty power of the living God Himself.

10:35 The hand of the Lord speaks of the imminent, present, direct intervention of the mighty power of the living God. When it speaks of God's hand is not shortened that it cannot save. It means there is no want of power and divine energy in God to save the neediest of sinners. And so as these men preached God sovereignly, God graciously attended their preaching with power and notice it says a great number that believed.

11:14 In other words their faith was the result of the putting forth of the hand of God and the manifestation of that faith was they turned unto the Lord. That is their whole souls turned in the direction of the Lord Jesus who was the substance of the preaching and they gave themselves up to the Lord to be saved by Him on His terms. This is not an account of a deeper life conference where after people had trusted Christ as Savior some preachers come along and tell them now you need to get fully surrendered and fully yielded and you need the baptism in the Spirit and this, that and the other and then the Lord worked in power and they turned to the Lord as a subsequent experience. No! This is baseline conversion. Anything less than this is bogus.

12:20 This is bogus Christianity. As the hand of the Lord was with them and caused a great number to believe and turn to the Lord the report of this came down to the Jerusalem church which is likened to a body that had a set of ears. The text says and the report concerning them came to the ears of the church that was in Jerusalem. And you remember from the Acts 8 passage the apostles, the divinely appointed guides and leaders in the church they were not scattered upon the occasion of Stephen's persecution.

13:01 The apostolate was still there in Jerusalem. And so hearing this report they select this man Barnabas to represent them to go up to Antioch and to see if indeed the report which they have heard was an accurate report. And so Barnabas is not some self-appointed prophet. He is not somebody who had established his own para-church ministry called Strengthen the Antiochian Churches Incorporated.

13:33 He was a man whose life was embedded in the church at Jerusalem. At the end of Acts 4 there is a beautiful description of how much he was an integral part of the life and ministry of the church at Jerusalem. And so the church through its appointed leadership sends forth Barnabas. Do you see that in verse 22?

13:57 And they sent forth Barnabas. He didn't wake up in the middle of the night one night and say I have felt a divine twitch in my left ventricle. God has called me to go up to Antioch. No one dare question my call.

14:14 Nonsense. When you think God is speaking through a twitch in your ventricle your problem is you probably need to have an EKG and find out what's wrong with your heart. When you think God is speaking to you in night visions my friend you just better check what you eat before you go to bed. God speaks in his word and God works by the instituted means that he has established.

14:39 And here the church a proven man like Barnabas with a background of a more cosmopolitan spirit is sent up to Antioch. And what happens when he comes there? Verse 23 Who when he was come and had seen the grace of God when he got up to Antioch and began to observe these who had professed to have turned to the Lord in faith he saw the grace of God. Now let me ask you this.

15:19 Is the grace of God a commodity like a glass of water? Like a pulpit? Like a microphone? Like a Bible?

15:27 Like a student one can see? I thought the grace of God was the kind beneficent disposition in God's heart to show mercy to the ill deserving. I thought grace was a spiritual commodity not something that could be seen yet the text says who when he saw the grace of God well the meaning is obvious. It is telling us that he saw things that defied any other rational explanation but that God in grace had worked in the lives of sinful men and women at Antioch.

16:12 He saw things for which there was no rational explanation but that God in grace had indeed brought forth his hand not in displays of his power that merely astounded people and filled them with temporary amazement and wonder and gathered the crowds. No, after the dust had settled and there was sufficient time to evaluate the lifestyle and the perspectives the conversation and the family life and the personal lives of these people Barnabas came to the conclusion there is no explanation for what I see. But the grace of Almighty God. And what did he experience when he saw it? The text says, look at it who when he was come and had seen the grace of God became squinty eyed and cynical and jealous because he hadn't been there to be a part of it. Alas, that's the way a lot of modern preachers are.

17:20 They can't rejoice in God's work any other place but where they are. And let God work somewhere else and they're immediately suspicious and squinty eyed with cynicism or worse yet green eyed with envy. But here, this leading man from Jerusalem with a great reputation of spiritual stature in the mother church of Jerusalem he comes and sees the fruit of the labors of some unnamed preacher of big shots, little shots unnamed. But through them God worked and he was glad he was glad one of the great texts of whether a man is a true man of God is whether or not he can rejoice with holy joy when he sees the grace of God even though he has had no part in the working of that grace. He's glad when God's grace is manifested and displayed. And so the occasion of his giving this exhortation was his being sent to Antioch his seeing the clear manifestations of the grace of God that had actually brought to birth a company of true Christians there at Antioch and had been with them

Exposition: Substance of Barnabas's Exhortation

18:48 and the preaching of the Lord Jesus had resulted in great numbers that came to faith and were now living in dependence upon Christ and under the sovereign rule of Jesus Christ. That was the occasion of the exhortation. Now look at the substance of the exhortation with me. Having considered the occasion as we expound the text what was the substance of the exhortation?

19:19 And here I want you to note two things what he exhorted them to do and how he encouraged them to do it. What did he exhort them to do? Look at the text. He was glad and he exhorted them and the form of the verb means he was continually exhorting them.

19:42 Whatever his text was whatever his theme was it always came down to this fundamental theme he was continually exhorting them encouraging them motivating them all of that is bound up in the Greek verb to exhort. He was continually exhorting them all and this is what he was exhorting them to do to cleave is the old authorized rendering the rendering of the 1901 American Standard to cleave unto the Lord. Some of the newer translations say to remain in the Lord some very inaccurately render it to remain true to the Lord but the very sense of it is captured in the older versions. He was continually exhorting them to be remaining in was continuing them motivating them to go on in this to the Lord The emphasis of verse 21 was they turned unto the Lord Now Barnabas comes along and is continually exhorting them

21:09 to remain in this posture of attachment to the Lord to cleave to the Lord to be continually abiding in the Lord to be remaining in the Lord Their conversion had brought them into real vital saving union with the Lord Jesus. You see they were not a bunch of moralists who simply had given up some external gross sins to more refined sins They were not formalists who were simply doing the right thing at the right time in the right place in the right way and therefore thought they were right with God and they were not hypocrites who were covering their true state with a mask They had truly turned to the Lord and when Barnabas is convinced of this he says to them You must understand now that in the Christian life you don't go from Christ to something else You don't begin with Christ and go on to someone else You don't begin with Christ and the grace of God and proceed to some higher level No! As the hand of the Lord was present to show you your desperate need of Christ and as Christ was preached to you as the Savior

22:36 sufficient for the vilest and the neediest of sinners and as you turned unto the Lord so Barnabas said I exhort you I entreat you I seek to motivate you to go on continuing to remain in the Lord to go on continuing to cleave to the Lord That was the substance of his exhortation as to what he exhorted them to do but now notice in the substance of his exhortation how he encouraged them to do it He did not encourage exhort and motivate them to cleave to the Lord in any old way but look at the text and I say to some who may be visiting and are not part of a church where this is what a preacher does week after week take you into your Bible open up the language of the Bible get out of the Bible if all he does is occasionally quote a phrase of the Bible and then make you laugh and quote another phrase and tell you stories and quote another phrase and tell you his own notions for the sake of your soul go where this book is opened up week after week as the meat and potatoes our brother said of the ministry don't be led away

24:04 with charismatic personalities and with people that make you feel good and stroke you and make you laugh and fill you with stories and anecdotes of their life go where men do what I'm attempting to do this morning unpack the scriptures let the message of the Bible come out of the Bible and into your mind and by the grace of God into your heart and then out into your life so what did he exhort them to do to cleave to the Lord but how there was a specific way he told them to do this and the text tells us it was this he exhorted them all that with purpose they would be cleaving unto the Lord with purpose of heart now this word purpose is an interesting word it means settled resolute determined active action it's the word used in Romans 8 28 for we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to those who are the called according to here's our word purpose when God calls a sinner to himself is it that he just wakes up one morning and says oh

25:31 I got a few more sinners to call let me see now who shall I call oh I think I'll call that sinner no no the scripture tells us that when a sinner is called out of darkness into marvelous light in his own space time history it is but the unfolding in time of that which God had a settled distinct determined purpose to accomplish from all eternity he hath saved us Paul said and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own here's our word again purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal his purpose has its tap roots in eternity that's the word that is used so when Barnabas was telling them cleave to the Lord remain union with the Lord he is saying do this with settled determined residence of what again look at the text with purpose of heart and when the word heart is used in a context like this it's not used in a technical sense it means from the very depths and the seat of your being what you are in your heart

26:57 is what you really are what has your heart has you the scripture says your life is the exegesis of your heart chapter and verse chapter and verse Proverbs 4 23 guard your heart above all that you guard for out of it are the issues of life the streams of your life are the revelation of the deep well of your heart can't see what's in your heart but I'll watch the streams of your life and I'll know what's there out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks your words exegete what's in your heart the streams and patterns of your life are the revelation of the deep well and pool the subterranean pool of your own heart and so when Barnabas was exhorting these young Christians he said look this is no light matter this is not something you're supposed to think about once a week or once a month he says to these Christians with settled resolute determination in the very depths of your being with purpose of heart you are to continue to cleave to the Lord remain in the Lord

Exposition: Rationale for Barnabas's Exhortation

28:27 be attached to the Lord now in expounding the text we've seen the occasion of the exhortation of Barnabas secondly the substance of the exhortation of Barnabas but now thirdly in expounding the text note with me the rationale of the rationale for this exhortation of Barnabas or for you kids rationale is just a big reason for saying why you do something so let's say why he gave such an exhortation alright and the text tells us he said what he said because he was what he was look at verse 24 begins with the connective for a logical word of connection he was exhorting them all that with purpose they would cleave unto the Lord for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith in other words his exhortation was what it was because he was the kind of man that he was and a form of the verb to be is used that speaks of the prevailing character of Barnabas when it says for he was a good man it doesn't mean he was and no longer is but he was

29:56 continually being in the status of one whom we could call a good man and full of faith and of the Holy Ghost now what do the words mean well they mean that he was first of all morally good or ministerially competent and he was a good man not good in himself by nature Barnabas was what all of us are wretched vile sons and daughters of Adam and Barnabas would have been the first one if we could resurrect him and say Barnabas a preacher came and opened up a passage where it said you were a good man now Barnabas tell us were you always a good man he would say I am the goodness of God well how did you become a good man I became a good man by the good and gracious operations of the Holy Spirit who pointed me to the Lord Jesus as the one who would pardon and forgive me and who by his spirit would transform me and put the law of God within me and give me both the desire and the grace and not the fruit of nature but he was a good man and that's

31:25 why he sought only the good in the well being of these Antiochian Christians you see when he came and saw the grace of God he knew many things that the grace of God would do for people he had been down at Jerusalem when the grace of God had worked so powerfully and this is what he said to the people who were giving up title to lands and possessions and voluntarily putting them at the disposal of the apostles and the deacons to be distributed according to need now if he knows the grace of God can make people so generous that they're willing as it were to throw their checkbooks down at the feet of the apostles and say use them however you need them it says that there was this tremendous spirit of benevolence and open heartedness had he seen the grace of God at work you see what he could have done he said well if God's grace is at work here's a people now who are generous and open handed and he could have begun to manipulate them to line his own pockets hear me now the great people in whom

32:54 the Holy Ghost is given a spirit of generosity to line his pockets to build his mansions to buy his boats is a false prophet on his way to hell he is not a good man I don't care if he claims to raise the dead and heal the sick he'll split hell wide open he has no inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ this was a good man so he didn't tell people open your pockets and help the servant of God he said hang on to Jesus hang on to Jesus cling to Jesus he was a good man morally good who sought only the well being of spirit and of faith well what's the connection between his exhortation his exhortation was not give me seed money and the Lord will bless you a thousand fold it was cleave to Jesus it wasn't send me ten bucks and I'll send you back a prayer cloth that I've

34:23 anointed no it was exhorting them with purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord but he was also full of the spirit and the faith and that's why he told them to cleave to the Lord and do you see the connection when a man is full of the spirit he is under the power of that person whose most delightful ministry is to point to Jesus Christ and to speak of himself he should take the things of myself and shall reveal them unto you he will take the things of myself and reveal them unto you may I say it reverently the Holy Spirit is the modest member of the Trinity he delights as it were to be in the wings behind the folds of the curtain manipulating all the lights and in seeing Jesus Jesus said he that hath seen me hath seen the Father and when a man is most full of the Holy Spirit the mark will be this he is most anxious that people be attached to Jesus Christ not to himself not to his cause not to his church

35:52 not to his peculiar doctrinal formulations he is his greatest passion is that people will know and see and appreciate the sufficiency and the glory of Christ and be more and more attached he was exhorting them to cleave to the Lord for he was full of the Holy Spirit and then it says of faith well what's the connection between faith and the exhortation he gave just this Antioch was no Garden of Eden like any city in the Greco-Roman world Antioch was full of sin and you had people who had all of the vulnerability and all of the remaining propensity to sin that you and I have living here in what I call Main Street Sodom West Coast we live Main Street Sodom East Coast Metropolitan Area we've got something in common we both live on Main Street these young Christians were living in Main Street Sodom and Gomorrah in the Greco-Roman world as were the saints at Corinth and Colossae and Thessalonica but because he was

37:20 full of faith he was convinced that had they truly turned to the Lord that Christ was enough to keep them from sin and therefore he was exhorting them to cling to the Lord Jesus to cleave to the Lord Jesus why because he had faith to believe that Christ was enough he wasn't exhorting them get all you can from Christ and then go to the local psychological clinic and go to the local gurus who will tell you that they are the experts he did not tell them to go from Christ to some other place he said having gone to Christ cling to Christ because he was a man of faith confident that all whom Christ brought to himself Christ could keep and Christ could bring them safely home to be forever with him well there's the text opened up relatively briefly but I trust accurately exposition of the text I want to give an expanded pastoral application of the text we've looked at the text and if I were now to just say now Lord bless your word and go home I would not be doing my job how do the words of a good man

Pastoral Application 1: Cleave to Christ as Sole Object of Trust

38:49 full of faith and of the Holy Ghost spoken nearly two thousand years ago in a totally different cultural and religious setting there in Antioch how do those words leap over the two thousand years and come and arrange themselves on your plate sitting on your lap this morning for you to feed upon and assimilate to yourself there the plate is on your lap how do the words come over the years and translate into the stuff upon which you are to feed your soul well as time permits let me make several pastoral applications for the next and the first is this and I speak particularly to this assembly you visitors with us we welcome you and I trust there will be something on your plate as well but I think particularly of the members and adherents of Trinity Church here and the exhortation is this that with purpose of heart you cleave to the Lord himself as the sole object of your trust with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord himself as the sole object of your trust for every part of your salvation for most of you who have

40:19 because the arm of the Lord has been put forth with power and you have believed and turned to the Lord there are many years between you and the door of death coming many of you will face many besetting sins that need to be overcome you will face many sins that will need daily cleansing and pardon you will face a whole spectrum of duties in the home and in the shop and in the classroom and in the neighborhood and in the shopping center and in all of your circumstances of life many duties to be performed many ministries to be undertaken you parents there will need to be great supplies of moral courage when the time comes when you need to take God's side against your own children you'll need the wisdom of Solomon in sorting out the naughty problems of being a godly parent who on the one hand is a conservative loving chastening and admonition and what is my exhortation to you with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ alone

41:47 as the sole object of your trust for every part of your salvation in Colossians 2 6 and following Paul sums it up in these words as you have therefore received Jesus the Lord so walk in him rooted and build it up in him and established in your faith as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving then he gives a warning take heed lest there be anyone that makes spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world and not after Christ , for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and in him are you made full or complete dear people of God in this assembly I would hide behind the good words of this good man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost and say to you with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord himself as the sole object of your trust for every part of your salvation don't look to yourself don't look to the church ultimately don't look to the servants

43:16 of God remember the exhortation of Hebrews 12 in the light of the marathon race that is the Christian life lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us and run with endurance the race that is set before us looking off unto Jesus the author and the perfecter of faith one of the joys when I come out to a place like this where I've not been for years and see people I haven't seen for years is to see this marvelous truth before my own eyes there's a dear brother now teaching down at Westminster I hadn't seen him in years and when he came through the room where I was preparing to minister and his eyes met mine and he walked across the room and we embraced you know my first words to him were my dear brother I'm so glad to see that Christ is still keeping you in the way I know that man well enough to know that he's got a thousand fifth columns within his own heart and that he no doubt has faced a thousand pressures from without that long ago would have taken him taken him out of the way but there he was looking me

44:46 straight in the eye with a good conscience before God and man embracing me as one who was still in the way and I in turn could embrace him as one who was still in the way and we stood there embracing rejoicing not in our great strength but in the grace of Christ who has kept us as we have kept him the sole object of our trust for every part of our salvation Bunyan understood it well didn't he in the well-known hymn Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see it was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved and grace will always teach you to fear before it relieves your fears how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed but through many dangers toils and snares I have already come it is grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will be me home

Pastoral Application 2: Cleave to Christ as Supreme Object of Affection and Loyalty

46:15 and how does grace operate in the orbit of clinging to Christ Christ himself Christ alone Christ plus nothing else and that's my exhortation to you dear people in this assembly from the words of Barnabas that with purpose of heart and you need purpose of heart a thousand voices will call you to Christ plus something else or something in the place of Christ with purpose of heart settled determined resolute disposition of your whole inner being cleave to the Lord himself as the sole object of your trust for every part of your salvation my second pastoral application is this that with purpose of heart you cleave to the Lord himself hear me now as the supreme object of your affection and loyalty cleave to the Lord himself as the supreme object of your affection and loyalty when God laid hold of these Antiochian people it says the hand of the Lord was with them that is the gospel preachers and a great multitude that believed turned

47:43 unto the Lord now follow me closely whenever the hand of God accompanies the preaching of the gospel of God and people turn unto the son of God hear my question now in what light does the Holy Spirit always reveal Christ to the heart in which he is working saving grace he always reveals him according to the words of Jesus in those kingdom parables of the field and of the pearl you remember Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man who found a treasure in the field and having found it he went and sold all that he had that he might purchase the field and have the treasure the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant seeking goodly pearls who when he had found one pearl of what great price sold all that he had that he might purchase it the whole the Holy Spirit never savingly reveals Christ in such a way that he is embraced with a divided heart he is at the point of conversion embraced as the pearl of great price that's why he turned in his own

49:12 earthly ministry Luke 14 25 great multitudes were going out after him it was a time of great popularity there was no big deal to be said to say oh I was following Jesus for a couple of weeks listening to his teaching watching his miracles and Jesus said there's great danger here people may mistake the nature of what it means to be my follower in Luke 14 25 says seeing the multitudes he turned and said unto them if any man come to me and hate not father mother brother sister yea in his own life also he cannot be my disciple he didn't mean hate in the sense that you had a negative disposition of ill will the parallel passage in Matthew 10 says he that loves father and mother more than me son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me when the spirit of God savingly reveals Christ he never reveals him as a savior worthy of only half of your heart that's why the great majority of modern evangelism stands condemned by scripture because you've got multitude praying the prayer walking the aisle professing Christ who have never seen him as worthy of an undivided heart of love and affection

50:41 but whenever God truly saves a person that's how he reveals him but the great difficulty is maintaining that heart of undivided affection one of the old Puritans said it this way the most difficult work in conversion is winning the heart entirely to Christ and the greatest difficulty of the Christian life is keeping the heart entirely with Christ that's it that's it in a nutshell the greatest difficulty in conversion is the winning of the entirety of the heart to Christ and the greatest difficulty of the Christian life is keeping the entirety of the heart with Christ therefore I exhort you with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord himself as the supreme object of your affection and loyalty don't allow any romantic interest to rival his place in your heart boys girls men or women I don't know what setting I set it in if I set it here forgive me for repeating it the past ten days are one blur I tell our people when they're wrestling with this thing with their kids and boy-girl relations I said well be prepared your kids are going to pass through three stages

52:10 there's a stage where when you're around little girls and you say boys they go yuck if you're around little boys and you say girls they say yuck then there comes a stage when you're around little girls and say boys and they go vice versa then there comes a stage when you're around girls and you say boys and they go hmm and you say boys what about girls and they go hmm so they go from the yuck to the to the yummy stage now some of you kids here you're still at the yuck or maybe the but there may be some of you beginning to be at the yummy stage and don't let anyone try to tell you when you get that first crush on that guy or girl that that ain't real it's real I can remember crying my eyeballs out and that little four foot eleven gal with big dough like eyes told me it was all over I'd cry myself to sleep at night she had my heart it was a teenage heart it was teenage love but I tell you it was real and you listen to me whether it's teenage crushes or adult romantic interest Jesus Christ will brook no rival to your heart not even

Pastoral Application 3: Cleave to Christ as Single-Eyed Object of Obedience

53:39 your wife or your husband he who loves husband wife father mother brother sister more than me he's not worthy of me it can be romantic involvement it can be things it can be career it can be personal ambition whatever it is remember Jesus words in Revelation chapter two to that healthy church at Ephesus I have somewhat against you you have left your first love oh dear people in the name of the God of heaven I plead with you hear the words of Barnabas hear them coming over the centuries now on your spiritual plate to be cut up and assimilated and masticated and swallowed until they become part of your spiritual system with purpose of heart plead to the Lord determined that he will not only be the sole object of your trust for every part of your salvation but he will have the place for you of unrivaled affection in your heart a third pastoral application is this with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord as the single eyed object of your obedience with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord as the single

55:07 eyed object of your obedience and what do you mean preacher by single eyed I'm using Jesus words from Matthew 622 where he said I'm not a single if your eye be single your whole body shall be full of light in other words if your purpose is narrowed and focused like the laser beam like that beam of light that went in on the back of my retina a couple of months ago and put 60 little tacks to attach a torn retina to the back of the eyeball that beam of light pointed concentrated what I'm saying with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord with single eyed obedience as you grow in the awareness of your duties you must remember that your duties never become detached from your Savior you must see your growing awareness of your duties as the out flowing of the heart of the will of your Savior and so when Paul speaks to wives he says be subject to the will to your husbands as unto the Lord husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church to church members he says remember them that are over you

56:36 in the Lord to servants he says render obedience to your masters as unto Christ remember the commission teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you dear Christian listen to me you must grow in your understanding of the details of the obedience required of you as a disciple if you're not you're not reading your Bible and you're not under a biblical ministry Jesus said baptize them teach them to observe whatsoever all things whatsoever I have commanded you all things extensive whatsoever intensive and you must be under a ministry that is giving you an ever growing corpus of understanding of what God requires of you but the danger is we can by degrees detach his commandments from his person and the Christian life becomes sterile and drudgery but Jesus said if you love me you will keep my commandments he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and therefore part of us understanding this said with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord he realized they had much more to learn he went and sought for Saul and for a whole year they were there teaching them the truth of God the ways of God the will of God

Concluding Observation: The Fruit of Cleaving to the Lord

58:05 but in the midst of it all they were with purpose of heart to remain attached to in vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ with purpose of heart cleave to him as the sole object of your hope I have no time to open it up with purpose of heart cleave to him as the sole object of your boasting you see you can take it out in all kinds of directions but having expounded the text having given this pastoral application of the text let me now complete our study by very briefly considering a concluding observation in connection with the text did these people at Antioch do what they were told to do and did they cleave to the Lord I don't know I believe the Holy Spirit has given us an account following the exhortation to make it abundantly clear that they took Barnabas' words to heart look at your book look at your Bibles look at the passage and what does it say it says that after this exhortation he went forth to Tarsus to seek for Saul and the Greek word is very intensive it pictures what happens when you're just about to go out the house Sunday morning you women know you just know that both of those shoes that were part of your matching outfit were together in the closet but when you went to slip them on

59:34 is the last thing you're going to do before you went to church lo and behold only one of them was there and the whole house was turned upside down gotta find the other shoe don't have time to change my dress change this change that gotta find it you seek you seek you seek that's the sense of the verb he went to Tarsus he didn't have any revelation as to where Saul was nobody apparently knew so he saw up and down until he found him and brought him to Antioch why was he so anxious to get Paul he recognized in Paul a greater endowment of gift and knowledge and understanding and these people were so cleaving to the Lord Jesus that Barnabas apparently had taken them as far as he could go in the knowledge that they desperately needed so he seeks for Saul and brings him that they might be taught more of the ways and the will of God and the worth and the glory of Christ and what was the reason that he was given and the result there was God given increase and fruitfulness verse 24 he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and much people noticed was added to the Lord not much people made decisions much people made professions they were added to the Lord that version is when people get attached to Christ by faith by the Holy Spirit anything less is bogus Christianity and then there was God given the word additional ministry and stability

61:02 Saul comes and teaches them but now look at the closing words there was God given consistency and credibility verse 26 it says and the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch disciples had always just been called disciples of Christ or peoples of the way as you read in Acts first time they ever called Christians you know what that word Christian is in the original it's a line it's a Latinized Greek diminutive of the word Christ Christianos it means they were called little Christs you Hispanics know how the diminutive can come in Teresa becomes Teresita Olga becomes Olgita Oscar Oscar Christianos they were called little Christs now we don't know whether it was called as kind of a diggy term but or a complimentary term but one thing is clear they took Barnabas' exhortation so seriously and they were so cleaving to Christ that as their impact was felt in Antioch and people interacted with them they'd say what in the world has happened to you man you used to be the guy who'd come in Monday morning with the best string of the latest six dirty jokes

62:30 now you don't tell them you don't listen to them what's happened to you man the gospel has come and I have embraced Christ as my Savior and my Lord and my tongue is His to speak only the things that are pure and true and then they watched the guy when he went to his bench he was the guy always took off two minutes early before coffee break time always back three minutes late now he was the last to leave his bench the first back at his bench and they say what's happened to your work ethic he said I now serve the Lord Christ and then they watched him when he'd go to his home he used to talk gruffly to his wife and treat her like a chattel and used to be brusque with his kids and now he would treat her with dignity and honor and treat his children with tenderness and compassion and his neighbors say what in the world has happened to you say Christ has changed my life now you multiply that by the great number that believed and the great number that were added and all through Antioch were people who were telling others that the change has come by Christ I am what I am by the work of Christ until finally they said let's give him a new name Christianos little Christs little Christs dear people dear people what a marvelous thing when a church is comprised of people so cleaving

64:00 to the Lord Jesus that whether by their friends or their enemies they must be designated little Christs not that they have power to save or they are to be worshipped or they are to be trusted no but that they so represent him and reflect attachment to him that's the only word they could give for him what a prostituted diluted word it is in our day anybody that taps tips his hat to Jesus in one way or another is ready to be called a Christian and take the name Christian think of all of those big overgrown boys that this day will cause millions in our nation to break the fourth commandment who claim to be Christian Christ's ones while they defy Christ's day only two things are given that peculiar designation of the Lord's day and the Lord's supper the day particularly the Lord's and the supper particularly the Lord's and if you don't know the Lord's you'll love the Lord the marks will be eminently that you'll love his day and you'll love his institutions particularly that which reminds you that all that you have flows from his cross

Final Exhortation to Believers and Unbelievers

65:27 well these are the words I wanted to speak to you people at Trinity Church this morning the words of Barnabas a good man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost but I'd be foolish to think that everyone sitting here is one who has turned to the Lord in faith and if you're not a Christian my final word to you is this if you've gotten nothing else out of the message I hope you got this if you ever become a real Christian Christ is going to be central in your life if you missed everything else I hope you got that it will be Christ to whom you look for forgiveness and pardon and acceptance of God it will be Christ the Lord to whom you turn and whom you trust and to whom you clean up and whom you obey and whom you seek to have in your heart as the Sovereign Lord loved with unrivaled affection and devotion and as you seek to obey him it will be out of attachment to him independence upon him may God grant that if the Lord delays his coming the fruits of the Antiochian Christians obeying the exhortations of Barnabas those from the Antiochian Church will continue to be manifested in this place much people added to the Lord

66:54 additional servants of God raised up to feed and to lead and to guide you until this community knows there is a difference between just saying you belong to Jesus and you are one of those Christianos may God make it true for his glory Amen