A Savior for the Nations | To the Gentiles of the Earth

Well, raise your hand if you're a Gentile here

this morning. Wow, Merry Christmas to you all.

How blessed are you to have your sins paid for

by Israel's Messiah? Amen? This morning I want

to set the tone for this message by describing

for you a picture that I hope that you can sort

of see in your mind's eye. It's a way to step

back and see the world and to see God's plan

for the world. from way above, from 40 ,000 feet.

Now, as I describe this, this is not my original

thought. This is something I heard John Piper

talk about some 20 years ago or so. But I think

it's beautiful, and it really helped me to understand

the big picture of this life on earth, salvation

here on earth. So picture in your mind an all

-wise, all -powerful artist who paints on an

expansive canvas. with more brushes than you

can even count. The artist, of course, is the

creator God, so you can't actually picture him.

He is spirit. He's not visible to the physical

eye. And obviously he knows that that is true,

so his intention is that his handiwork, his artistry,

be put on display as a visible demonstration

of his power and wisdom. He wants it to be seen.

He wants it to be appreciated. Now, this canvas

that he's working on is so large that we can

hardly even fathom it. It is the size of the

universe itself. So he is painting a picture

as wide as the universe, as old as creation,

and as lengthy as eternity. And what's so beautiful

and impressive about it is that God is painting

with thousands upon thousands upon thousands

of colors and shades and textures. We might even

call this painting human history. This unfolding

of successive moments in what we call time, whether

it's years or decades or centuries or even millennia.

And the central theme of this unfolding drama,

this human history, is God's preparing and calling

and drawing and the saving of a very unique people

that he has set apart for his own purposes, for

his pleasure and for his glory. And he's now

working through each of these set apart people

using them as his brushes. to paint on this canvas.

Now, most of these brushes are quite ordinary,

but as the artist guides them, each stroke of

his hand is essential to this overall picture

that he is currently painting. Can you picture

it in your mind's eye? Now, there's a reason

why that picture to me 20 years ago was helpful.

It's not only a way to see this in my mind, but

guess what? It's actually biblical. That is a

biblical picture. In fact, you heard that image

being subtly described in our call to worship

passage for this morning from Ephesians 3, verse

Ephesians 3:10

10, where Paul says that God has revealed to

us a mystery that had been hidden for ages, but

is now brought to light. And he's done it for

this reason so that, you ready? The manifold

wisdom of God might be known. Now, the word manifold

in the original Greek is a very funky compound

word that looks like that. Okay? The second half

of that word, right there it is, poikilos, refers

to a variety of colors. And then Paul puts a

prefix on it, paulus, which is the Greek word

for many. Many varied colors. So the wisdom that

God is making known to the world is described

in Ephesians 3 .10 as being fashioned in a variety

of shades and colors. Diverse, intricate, complex.

And the artist using all these brushes to produce

his masterpiece. The story of God in the Bible,

you guys, is so much bigger than we can imagine.

So much more than just what's right in front

of you, what you can see with your visible eyes.

And so sometimes we need to step back and go,

wow, look at this. We call this biblical theology,

right? Seeing everything from above. Now at the

center of God's painting, and this is the entire

story of the Bible, is what we often call mission.

And by mission, I'm referring to the means by

which God is gathering his people out of the

world, how he's drawing them to himself and how

he is saving them. They then become a people

who participate in that same work of salvation

by serving as the artist's ambassadors, proclaiming

the gospel and inviting others to follow after

Christ and then to form communities of faith

like ours here at Oak Hill. where the word is

taught and lived out in practical ways, all of

which then point back to God's goodness and grace

and serve as a testimony to his power and wisdom.

See how it works? It's easy, right? Question,

do you see yourself within the scope of this

big picture vision? Do you see yourself in it?

You should. Life is so much more than what's

right in front of you and what you can see. God

is using you, every single believer here this

morning, to paint in just a small portion of

his canvas. And we would each do well to recognize

that truth and embrace it and live it. Amen?

Grab your Bibles. We're going to turn to our

Advent theme passage once again. Acts chapter

Acts 1:6–8

1, verses 6 through 8. I'm going to put it up

on the screen. There it is. By the way, we're

going to be looking at lots of selected scriptures

this morning and we'll be moving quickly. So

I'm going to be putting verses on the screen

as we go along. But let's start in Acts chapter

Acts 1 · chapter mention

1. This is right before that moment when Christ

gathers his disciples before he ascends to heaven

after the resurrection. Acts chapter 1 verse

Acts 1:6

6 says, So when they had come together, they

were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this

time? that you are restoring the kingdom to Israel.

We looked at that two weeks ago, right? That's

what's right in front of these guys. That's all

they can see at this point is this must be the

time that the kingdom is gonna be restored. Now,

Jesus doesn't correct them about a kingdom being

restored. He just talks about the timing. Verse

seven, he said to them, it's not for you to know

times or epics, which the Father has fixed by

his own authority. But he says, verse eight,

you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has

come upon you. and here's the key part, and you

shall be my witnesses, my ambassadors, both in

Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, and even

to the remotest part of the earth. So you read

in that last verse what is often seen as three

concentric circles for the gospel to go out to,

right? Judea sits at the center, Jerusalem and

Judea, then to the north, Samaria, and then this

massive extension to the ends of the earth, and

that is our focus. for this morning. So far in

the Advent series, we've talked about those first

two groups, right? God's heart for the Jewish

people. And then last week, God's heart for the

Samaritans. Now, we're just going to go to the

ends of the earth now, nothing big. So this should

be a short message. Just kidding. By the way,

that idea to the ends of the earth, to the disciples,

who were, of course, first century men, would

have been beyond the world that you're really

familiar with, beyond the world that you're used

to. These men spent all of their lives in places

like Judea and Galilee, right? And so it's what's

beyond that. And you think about how hard it

was to travel back then. People didn't go on

vacations across the world. You know that, right?

So this is a relatively overwhelming concept

for these guys. They must have been thinking,

wait, beyond Egypt? The gospel is going to go

beyond Egypt or it's going to go beyond Asia

Minor or Persia? Wait, beyond Rome? Is that even

possible? Now, when you hear about all those

places, what do they have in common? People who

are not ethnically Semitic and people who are

not religiously Jewish. We call these people

Gentiles. You know, Gentiles, those idolaters,

those unclean dogs. that we Jews have to make

sure we're separate from. That's who we're talking

about here in Acts 1. I know it's hard for us

to fathom, but in the minds of Jesus' very Jewish

disciples in this point in redemptive history,

the idea that a Gentile would trust in Israel's

Messiah and enter into a restored kingdom of

Israel, as described in Acts 1, that would have

been super difficult to accept. Incredibly hard.

There's all kinds of religious and ethnic and

cultural barriers here to that concept. But here's

the thing. The idea that the Gentiles would be

included in God's plan, that was the plan from

the very beginning. The very beginning. Make

sure you understand this. The inclusion of the

Gentiles in God's plan of salvation was not a

New Testament afterthought. It was not plan B

once God saw that, oh, look, the Jews aren't

receiving their Messiah. So I've got to adjust.

That is not the case. The picture being painted

by the great artist always included his elect

from every corner of the earth, Jew and Gentile

from every nation, every tribe, and every tongue.

And through the revelation of his word, that

Bible that you currently have open in your hands,

the creator communicated that truth, communicated

to us about the Gentiles by leaving a long trail

of breadcrumbs. in the scriptures that we can

now look at and look back at and read and see.

So let me tell you a story about God. And I'm

going to start where we should start, which is

where? In the garden. It all goes back to the

Garden of Eden. After humanity's plunge into

sin and death because of the fall, immediately

we see the Lord promising a future restoration.

We see his intent to gather a people for himself

who will obey his commands and honor his name

and display his glory. And of course, then we

fast forward to Genesis chapter 12 when Yahweh

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

calls Abram out of Mesopotamia and calls him

into a promised land of his choosing. And Abram,

we're told, will not only be the founder of a

great nation, but through him all the families

of the earth will be blessed. Gentiles too? Yeah.

All the families, all the families. And five

chapters later, that is reinforced. Abram's name

is changed to Abraham because the Lord tells

him, I have made you the father of a multitude

of nations, not just Israel. Not just Samaria,

but a multitude of nations. And the covenant

that Yahweh then makes with Abraham is unconditional.

It doesn't depend on how well Abraham does. He

doesn't have to perfectly obey it for it to be

fulfilled. It's unconditional, and it's a good

thing because Abraham is not a perfect man. Amen?

God staked his own glorious name on three promises

that he gave to Abraham that he will fulfill.

Land, seed, and blessing. And then the rest of

the Old Testament focuses on how God deals with

Abraham's descendants, particularly Abraham's

grandson, who is Jacob, who is renamed Israel,

right? And then his sons, who become the 12 tribes

of Israel. Very good. So Yahweh chose the patriarchs,

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their descendants

to be his set -apart people. through whom he

would fulfill his promises, and, key, through

whom his servant, the Messiah and Redeemer, would

come to save and restore. We saw this two weeks

ago. Salvation is of the Jews. Amen? So it's

important to see this. God's choice of Israel

to be his people in no way contradicted his universal

intentions. Quite the opposite. It was the foundation.

on which his universal plan was built. And the

response of Israel to God's gracious choosing

of them was supposed to make them stand out among

all the other nations in the ancient world. They

were to be a holy people set apart from all of

the idolatry that was present in the surrounding

nations. But here's something important about

Old Testament Israel that you should know. And

this is one of many things that makes Israel

different than the church. distinct from the

church. We know that Israel was called by Yahweh

to be a light to the nations, right? You find

that language all throughout the book of Isaiah.

In fact, I'll give you a few verses. Isaiah 42

says, I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness.

I will also hold you by the hand and watch over

you. And I will appoint you as a covenant to

the people, as a light to the nations, he says

to his people, to open blind eyes. To bring out

prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell

in darkness from the prison. Does that language

ring a bell, by the way? The end of that? Jesus

cites that when he goes into the synagogue of

Nazareth, right? And he reads from the prophet

and then closes the book and says what? This

has been fulfilled today in your hearing. He

cites from Isaiah 42. Then in Isaiah 49, 6, we

see God promise his servant, the Messiah. will

be a light to the nations. Look at this verse.

Yahweh says this, it's 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. In other words, to the Messiah, he says,

your mission will not be limited just to Israel.

It's gonna be so much bigger. He goes on, I will

also make you a light of the nations so that

my salvation may what? Reach to the ends of the

earth. Same language as in Acts chapter one.

Make sure you see these connections between Old

and New Testament. They are critical to understanding

how God has been consistent from beginning to

the end. So catch this now. This is the important

part. Israel was not sent out by Yahweh. Israel

was not sent out. Israel did not receive a great

commission from Yahweh to go out and make disciples.

This is one of the things that makes Israel different

from the church. No Jewish missionaries were

sent out to the Ammonites or to the Moabites

or any other idolatrous nation. Instead, Israel

was called to be a light to draw people to it.

That's an important distinction. A light to draw

the nations to it. A light that would shine the

glory of Yahweh and draw the nations to Jerusalem.

Now, in a broad sense, you can still say, all

right, well, their set -apartness and their response

to the covenant did have a missionary intent

to it, but the consistent picture in the Old

Testament is of the nations being invited to

come to the light of Israel, not Israel going

to the nations. By the way, this is one of the

reasons why you don't see Jews today proselytizing,

do you? It's not in their religious DNA. It's

not in their practice of their faith. They do

not share Judaism with you or I. It's not called

for in the scriptures. So this is an important

distinction between Israel and the church, something

that our all -millennial covenant theology brothers

and sisters tend to overlook. And by the way,

yes, there is an eschatological feature in that

distinction. If you go back to Isaiah again,

Isaiah 60, the Lord speaks of a restored and

glorified Zion, Jerusalem, something that will

happen in the last days. Isaiah 60, verses two

and three says, Behold, darkness will cover the

earth in that day and deep darkness the peoples,

but the Lord will rise upon you, Zion, and his

glory will appear upon you. Nations will what?

Come to your light. Come to your light and kings

to the brightness of your rising. That's the

promise in the last days. It gets even more clear

if you go back to Isaiah 2. This is a long verse,

but listen carefully to the language here. Now

it will come about in the last days that the

mountain of the house of the Lord will be established

as the chief of the mountains. Imagine, the chief

of all the mountains of the world will be Zion

and will be raised above the hills and all the

nations will what? Stream to it. And many peoples

will come and say, come, let us go up to the

mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God

of Jacob, that he may teach us concerning his

ways and that we may walk in his paths. For the

law will go forth from Zion and the word of the

Lord from Jerusalem. And he, the Lord, will judge

between the nations and render decisions for

many peoples. So the only way to understand this

is that this is the Lord in physical form, which

can only refer to the return of God the Son,

Jesus, who will come to Jerusalem and the people

will then seek him. And then look at that last

statement. And they will hammer their swords

into plowshares. And their spears into pruning

hooks. Yes, global peace. Global peace. So obviously

this is distant future. This has to be the millennial

reign of Christ. There is no other logical explanation

for this passage in Isaiah 2. Now, it's not just

Isaiah that says this, but Micah. predicts this

exact same thing in Micah chapter four of his

prophecy. Look at it yourself, Micah chapter

four. Then there's Zechariah. Listen to what

Zechariah says in chapter eight. Many peoples

and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord

of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor

of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, in

those days, 10 men from all the nations will

grasp the garment of a Jew saying, let us go

with you. for we have heard that God is with

you. Has any of that happened yet? Not even close.

This remains to be fulfilled. Not to dredge up

an old sermon, but give me just a little bit

of latitude here. For all the people out there

saying, Israel's been rejected. Israel has no

part in God's future. Those passages we just

read are really difficult to explain. It's become

a trendy thing these days to claim that God is

done with Israel, that the land doesn't matter

anymore. But I wonder if the folks that are saying

that are listening to podcasts and looking on

Twitter for their theology, but they're not really

reading difficult books, admittedly, like Isaiah

and like Zechariah. They've never really dug

into the myriad of promises that are given to

ethnic and national Israel in the Old Testament.

And I know some of them will say, well, all those

promises have been fulfilled in Christ and now

assumed by the New Testament church. But how

does the language in those verses line up with

that idea? It makes it illogical completely.

So friends, I think it's clear there's coming

a day when Christ will return to the earth. His

feet will be on the Mount of Olives. Zechariah

says, and he'll come in great glory and he will

rule the earth from Zion. And in that day, the

nations will stream to see him because he is

God in the city of Jerusalem. Of course, they'll

stream to Jerusalem to see his light and to hear

him judge from Zion. And what a day that will

be, right? Man. Okay, so that was a rabbit trail.

Thank you for that. Back to our story. So Yahweh

has now established a chosen nation in his land

of promise, and there to be a light to the other

nations, and there to be the conduit through

whom the Redeemer will come and arrive. But as

we know, one of the main themes of the Old Testament

is the failure of Israel to be that light, correct?

They're described as a stubborn, stiff -necked

people. They're constantly running after foreign

gods. They're thumbing their nose, not just at

Yahweh, but at the prophets that he sends to

them to warn them. But here's the question. Did

that surprise God? Did that surprise the sovereign

God? Of course not. But to preserve his holy

name like any good father. The Lord disciplined

his children by sending them into exile. He had

promised that that would be the punishment for

disobedience. He's a good father, a faithful

father, and he did that. Yet, yet, in his faithfulness

to the covenant to Abraham, he preserved his

remnant of believing Jewish followers. Still,

as we close the Old Testament, it's a grim picture,

isn't it? Prophecies are unfulfilled. The Messiah

hasn't arrived yet. And Israel is still waiting

for its deliverance. But then comes Christmas.

Right? Are we not excited for Christmas? Then

comes Christmas. In what Paul calls the fullness

of time. God moved. Out of love for humanity.

Out of love for this picture that he is painting.

He moved. And he sent forth his one and only

son on a mission into the darkness of this world.

that desperately needed light. And the focus

of that mission was twofold. First, Jesus came

to reveal the identity and the nature of his

father. And he did that through his life and

through his teaching. And secondly, he came to

die for sin, right? As a ransom for sin. And

yeah, we saw two weeks ago that his primary mission

was the Jewish people. But guess what? He also

left us a whole bunch of breadcrumbs about the

Gentiles. About you and I. In fact, we get a

little bit of foreshadowing right out of the

gate in the Christmas story at the birthplace

of the Christ child. We just read about it. The

Weiss has just read about it. Who shows up to

pay him honor while he's sleeping there in Bethlehem?

Magi from the east. Probably from Parthia or

Persia. Guess what? They're Gentiles. They're

Gentiles. They appear to have messianic expectations.

They're looking for the one born king of the

Jews, but they're not Jews, they're Gentiles.

Right out of the gate, we get that sort of foreshadowing

of what's to come. But that is just the beginning.

If you look in Luke 13, Jesus tells this short

parable about the narrow door to salvation and

how some Jews are gonna be shut out of the kingdom

because he says God never knew them. Here's what

he says. In that place, There will be weeping

and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and

Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom

of God, but yourselves being thrown out. And

they will come from east and west and from north

and south and will recline at the table in the

kingdom of God. Behold, some that are last will

be first and some who are first will be last.

So see the four directions of the wind there

in that verse. That is a reference to every part

of the world. People will come from every part

of the world and they will be at the table in

the kingdom of God. It's a breadcrumb that's

left that even in America, even as far away as

America, will be able to come to the table in

the kingdom of God. That's good news. In John

John 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10, Jesus talks about sheep that are

not of the Jewish fold, right? And he says this,

he says, I'm the good shepherd. I know my own.

And my own know me, even as the Father knows

me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my

life for the sheep. Right? The lost sheep of

the house of Israel. I have other sheep, he says,

which are not of this fold. I must bring them

also. They will hear my voice, and they will

become one flock with one shepherd. Gentiles,

people like you and I, sheep from another fold,

but sheep nonetheless, who he will know, and

we will know his voice. That's good news for

us. And then we have the Gentile centurion in

Matthew chapter 8 of whom Jesus says this, truly

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

I say to you, I have not found such great faith

with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many

will come from east and west and recline at the

table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom

of heaven. Gentiles, Gentiles from the far expanses

of the world will come and recline at the table.

So Jesus leaves us these breadcrumbs. And then,

by the way, he clearly spells it out after the

resurrection. Remember, he said, I'll meet you

up in Galilee and we'll talk some more. And when

he gathers his disciples, he gives them the ultimate

missionary instruction. Go, therefore, and make

disciples of just Judea. No, of all nations.

All nations. baptizing them in the name of the

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching

them to observe all that I've commanded you.

And this, you guys, is this beautiful full circle

statement. Listen, just as the Father sent the

Son into the world to represent and reveal the

Father, now the Son sends his children into the

world to represent and reveal the Son. We're

just living out our family commitments as believers.

We get to share the good news of his kingdom.

As we get to the Great Commission, that now brings

us up to speed with our verse for Advent. Cue

Jesus talking to the disciples just before he

ascends. He says, you're going to be my witnesses.

Beginning here in Jerusalem and Judea, but also

to Samaria. And then, think really big. Think

really big. The ends of the earth. And of course,

again, the pattern that Jesus describes in Acts

1. completely unfolds just as he says throughout

the book of Acts. Acts is the story of the church

going out to those three circles. It's beautifully

designed for us. Now, at first, all the action

takes place right there in the center, right

in Jerusalem. Here's what we read in Acts chapter

six. The word of God kept on spreading and the

number of the disciples continued to increase

greatly in Jerusalem. To the point that even

a great many of the priests were becoming obedient

to the faith. So it starts in the inner circle.

But then we read about Stephen knowing. Stephen's

martyred for his testimony. And we're told that

on that day a great persecution began against

the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered.

Where? Throughout the regions of both Judea and

Samaria. And that persecution. Then drives Philip

into our second circle, to Samaria in Acts chapter

Acts 8 · chapter mention

8, where crowds of Samaritans embrace the gospel

with great joy. We saw that last Sunday, didn't

we? Fast forward then to Acts 10, and we see

Peter encountering another Roman centurion. This

guy's name is what? Cornelius. Cornelius is described

as devout, God -fearing, generous to the poor,

but still a Gentile. And that's problematic,

isn't it? But around noon on a certain day, an

angel appears to Cornelius in a vision and he

commends him for his prayers and his works and

commands him to send for a man named Peter who's

in Joppa. And Cornelius does it. He dispatches

some of his servants to find Peter. Meanwhile,

at the same time in Joppa, Peter goes up onto

the rooftop to pray and he gets a vision, right?

He sees a vision of a sheet descending from heaven

filled with what? unclean animals. Oh, those

things Gentiles eat, right? And then he hears

a voice commanding him to what? This is every

hunter's favorite verse. Rise, kill, and eat.

To which Peter protests, I would never do that.

I'm a Jew. I would never do that. But the voice

then says, what God has cleansed, no longer consider

unholy. which reveals to us a whole other aspect

of the mystery of Gentile inclusion, that now

the dietary laws are changing. As Peter's pondering

this, Cornelius' men arrive, and then Peter goes

back with them to Caesarea, and they enter into

a Gentile house. I know, gasp. Something an observant

Jew would never do. But Cornelius is there. And

you picture him with big arms open, right? His

close friends there are there, his family's there,

and he tells Peter about this vision. And he

falls at Peter's feet. Peter says, get up, don't

do that, right? But in response, in Acts chapter

Acts 10 · chapter mention

10, we hear this incredible statement. It says,

opening his mouth, Peter said, I most certainly

understand now that God is not one to show partiality,

but in every nation, how many nations? Every

nation. The man who fears him and does what is

right is welcome to him. And then he goes on

to preach this concise message about Jesus. And

mid -sermon, what happens? The Holy Spirit falls

dramatically on everyone in the household. They

start to speak in tongues. They start to magnify

God. Why is that happening? It's mirroring what

had happened among the Jews in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Now it's happening among the Gentiles. It's sending

a message. It's sending a message. That's when

we get this important confirmation, Acts 10,

Acts 10:45

verse 45. The gift of the Holy Spirit has been

poured out on the Gentiles also. So at this point,

there's no question that a fundamental change

in the way God operates with his people has taken

place. This is a new dispensation, as we say

in theology terms. God is now operating in a

different way with his people. Jews and Gentiles

together. And in the very next chapter, Jesus'

witnesses now move beyond Judea and Samaria into

the largest of our three circles, to the ends

of the earth. In Acts chapter 11, it says these

Acts 11 · chapter mention

scattered Jewish believers make their way to

Phoenicia and to Cyprus and to Antioch in Syria.

And in Antioch, they establish a church that

is purposely built to do what? To send out missions

into Asia Minor and into Greece. to the west.

It's all happening, isn't it? Look at the picture.

It's all happening. And by the time we get to

Acts 13, we have another confirmation of Gentile

inclusion in the kingdom. This is important.

One that is directly connected to the prophecy

of Isaiah. And this is so important. Old Testament

and New Testament coming together. In Acts 13,

Paul and Barnabas declared this to the Jews in

Asia Minor. It says, it was necessary that the

word of God be spoken to you first, you Jews,

but since you repudiate it and judge yourselves

unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning

to the Gentiles. Now, here comes the citation

from Isaiah 49. For so the Lord has commanded

us. What? Old Testament, Isaiah, now we apostles

under the new covenant have been commanded to

do this. What? For the Lord has so commanded

us, I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles

that you may bring salvation to the ends of the

earth. Wow. And when the Gentiles heard this,

this is us, you guys. We should be rejoicing,

right? Yeah. When the Gentiles heard this truth,

they couldn't help themselves. They began rejoicing

and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many

as had been appointed to eternal life, Uh -oh,

doctrine of election. As many as been appointed,

they believed. And the word of the Lord was being

spread through the whole region. By the time

we get to the Jerusalem Council, just two chapters

later, in Acts 15, the truth about the Gentiles

being included has been widely accepted by the

Jewish leadership, hasn't it? The only question

that remained was, okay. God's doing a work among

them. Now, what does he require for them to join

us in the kingdom of God? That becomes the question.

And with Paul and Barnabas and Peter all in attendance,

James takes the lead at the Jerusalem council

in Acts 15. And guess what he does? He cites

another Old Testament passage from Amos chapter

nine that says this, I will rebuild the tabernacle

of David, which has fallen, says God. I will

restore it so that the rest of mankind The rest

of mankind may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles

who are called by my name. That's the Jerusalem

Council quoting from the Old Testament about

the inclusion of the Gentiles. You see how it

fits together? Later, Paul will write to the

church in Rome, which, by the way, was filled

with Gentiles. The gospel is the power of God

for salvation to everyone who believes. First

to the Jew. but also to you Greeks. We looked

at that two weeks ago, right? But then he says,

look, all fall short of the glory of God, both

Jew and Gentile, all enter into God's family

through the promise given to Abraham long ago

by faith, not by works. Jew and Gentile. And

to the Ephesian church, he writes plainly and

bluntly to the Gentiles there, warning them that

they should be thankful for what has transpired.

He says this, remember, he writes, And Gentiles,

we need to be careful that we don't get arrogant.

That's Romans 11, right? We don't get arrogant

about this. He says, remember, you were once

separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth

of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise,

having no hope and without God in the world.

Gentiles, remember that. But now, he joyfully

reports, in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were

far off have been brought near by the blood of

Christ. Wow. It's all by his grace, right? For

he himself is our peace, who made both groups,

Jew and Gentiles, into one and broke down the

barrier of the dividing wall. He came and he

preached peace to you who were far away and peace

to those who were near, both Gentile and Jew.

For through him we both have our access in one

spirit to the Father. We have one Father. So

then he concludes, you Gentiles are no longer

strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens

with the saints. You are of God's household.

Man, this is good news for us. We who are Gentiles

living in the West, in America, so far from Jerusalem,

right? So far from Samaria, we're no longer strangers

to God. We've been brought near because of the

blood of Christ. We're now fellow citizens in

this new kingdom. We're members of God's own

house. We inherit every promise in scripture.

We are sons and daughters of the most high. We

are co -heirs with Christ. And according to Ephesians

2, 7, it's gonna take all of eternity for us

to discover the unsearchable riches of God's

goodness and glory that we have in Christ Jesus.

I don't know how we just go home after this.

I don't know how we just go back to regular life

after seeing the goodness of God in all this.

This should be life -changing, you guys. In the

very next chapter, we come to the passage that

we read earlier as our call to worship, Ephesians

3, 1 through 10, where Paul calls all of this

a mystery. I love this. He refers to it as my

insight into the mystery of Christ. He's not

boasting, by the way, than that. He's just saying,

look, this has been revealed to me so I can tell

you about it. my insight into the mystery of

Christ, which in other generations was not made

known to the sons of men. It's now been revealed

to his apostles and prophets in the spirit. This

has been graciously revealed to me by God. Then

he writes, to be specific, here's what I'm talking

about, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and

fellow members of the body and fellow partakers

of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Do you see the three fellows there? Three of

them. Gentiles, you are now heirs, members, and

partakers with Jewish believers in the promises

given to Abraham long ago. And here's the thing

we have to understand. Gentile salvation wasn't

unheard of in the Old Testament. It wasn't. There

are examples of non -Jews joining the community

of Israel under the law, under the covenant in

the Old Testament. They were called proselytes,

right? Think about Ruth, the Moabite. You think

about Uriah, the Hittite. We have examples of

this. What's new here under the new covenant

is the absolute equality of Jew and Gentile in

the promise of salvation. That's really what's

shocking and new. Absolute equality. One God,

one Savior, one Spirit, one faith, one people,

one body, one hope. This is the mystery of the

ages, Paul says. This is a mind -blowing truth.

We see this in Romans 11. We looked at this two

weeks ago, but I'm gonna expound on this. There

is this rich root of promises that God has made

to his people. And growing from this root, Paul

describes a cultivated olive tree, right? And

that olive tree is the archetypal example of

what? Of Israel. But because of Israel's unbelief,

Because they sought salvation by works and not

by faith, Paul says the door of salvation was

open to the Gentiles. So Israel's failure means

riches for you and I who are not Jews. Isn't

that good news? So he says, look, natural branches

from that olive tree have been cut off and thrown

into the fire because of disbelief. And believing

Gentiles, who are nothing more than wild olive

shoots, we've been grafted in their place. Now,

here's how you understand this metaphor. This

is so important. Wild olive shoots, and if you

go to Israel, you can talk to any farmer in Israel,

he'll tell you this. Wild olive shoots are useless.

In fact, they're less than useless. They're a

nuisance. Why? Because they produce terrible

fruit that can't be used. They just take up space.

No good fruit. They cannot be used. Wild olive

shoots are simply thrown out. But when those

shoots are grafted into the tree and they can

tap into that rich root, guess what? They produce

good fruit. That's when they produce the same

fruit as natural branches would because they're

tapped into the root, which are the promises

of God. Do you get the metaphor? And so Paul

is so humbled by this truth, by the fact that

God has chosen him to be the point man to declare

this mystery to the world. That's what he writes

in Ephesians 3. He says, to me, the very least

of all saints, this grace was given. That I get

to preach to the Gentiles, look, the unfathomable

riches of Christ. And this, last night as I was

pondering this, it blew my mind. Because we tend

to think of Paul as so wonderful, right? We admire

him. I would say the Bible calls him the most

outstanding of the apostles. But Paul doesn't

even see it that way. He says, I'm the least.

I'm the least of all. It testifies to his awareness

of his unworthiness, of how much grace has been

extended to him. And yet, and yet, this is so

important for us. As concerned as Paul must have

been about his past, a murderer, a persecutor

of the church, he doesn't let the past paralyze

him. He says, look, I'm at the bottom rung of

the kingdom. I'm the least of the saints, but

I will not let that stop me. I have been called

to a task. I've been forgiven. Christ has told

me I'm forgiven. I've been called to this mission.

I will push ahead by God's grace and by his power

and I will preach to the Gentiles what I know,

the unfathomable riches of Jesus Christ. And

that word unfathomable in the Greek refers to

something so high that you can never reach it.

If it were a reservoir, it'd be so deep that

you could swim and swim and never get to the

bottom. It's unfathomable. So Paul says, what

a privilege I've been given to preach this glorious

truth to a people who now have this opportunity

to be grafted into the tree of life. And then

Paul says this, it all has one ultimate purpose.

He says, so that the manifold wisdom of God,

the variety of colors and textures of God's infinite

wisdom might now be made known through the church.

Oh. There we are. Through the church to the rulers

and authorities in the heavenly places. So this

is the telos. This is the ultimate goal of God's

sovereign plan. To show off his gorgeous wisdom

in the way that he is saving and gathering his

people from every corner of the world, from every

nation. To see that there are no wasted strokes

on this canvas. It is gloriously intricate in

design. It is multinational, multiracial, multicultural.

all united in this living organism we call the

church. So dynamic. And notice how this beautiful

truth is communicated. Through the church it's

communicated. That's us, everybody in this room.

We are a part of this. We're the ordinary brushes

that God is using to paint the picture of his

power and wisdom in Santa Clarita and beyond.

Us. We're the brushes. Do we take that seriously?

Does this get lived out in our lives? Are we

taking this really small version of Christianity

and miss the whole big picture, the big canvas?

We, the church, visibly testify to God's wisdom

as we worship him together, as we glorify him

in our lives together. And that testimony is

aimed at who? Paul says, at the rulers and authorities

in the heavenly places. So get this, when they

see us together, the angels stand in awe of what

God is doing. Peter says they like to stoop down

and get as close as they can to the wonders of

redemption to see how God is doing this. He's

saving these sinners. He's gathering them into

his body and they're blown away by it. And the

demons, they see it too and they gnash their

teeth. So that truth should change the way you

view every time you gather with the body. When

this local church is worshiping the Lord and

loving each other well, as we say every week,

we demonstrate to the demonic powers in this

world that they are in fact powerless to stop

the progress of the gospel and the forward motion

of the church. Amen. As we gather in unity and

charge the gates of hell together. Big picture.

Big canvas. So let me wrap it up. Let's come

back to where we started. We are living within

this thing called human history. You are a part

of that. And each successive moment in time exists

to display the infinite power and wisdom of our

great God. By his mercy, God has seen fit to

include Gentiles like us in his sovereign plan,

and he intends to use ordinary paintbrushes like

us to keep painting on that canvas. Guys, every

stroke of the brush matters, both the good things

in life and the hard things in life. The victories

we get and the suffering that we go through,

it's all part of God painting that picture, and

we have to see it that way. It all matters. And

we trust that he's good. We know he's an infinitely

wise artist. We trust that he knows exactly what

he's doing with our lives. And so not one stroke

of his brush is wasted. This Christmas, are you

thankful for these things? It's an important

question. Oh, we love Christmas, all the feels,

right? All the vibes, enjoy it, that's fine.

But come back to this truth. about what God has

done for you in Christ. Are you thankful for

it? If so, does your life reflect the spirit

of thankfulness? Someday, you guys, the vision

that we see in Revelation 7 is not gonna be future.

It'll be present and for all eternity. And if

you're a believer here this morning, you will

be part of it. Here's what it says. John says,

I looked and behold a great multitude, which

no one could count. Think about that. From every

nation, every tribe, every people, every tongue.

all standing before the throne and before the

lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches

in their hands. And they cry out with a loud

voice saying, salvation to our God who sits on

the throne and to the lamb. That will happen

because long ago in the fullness of time, God

sent forth his son into the world with the message

of salvation to both Jew and Gentile. But listen

now, God's still painting. God is still painting

his instruction to go and to make disciples and

to baptize and to teach is still active today.

It still calls on you and I to play a role in

the work of evangelism and missions and discipleship.

Are we being obedient to our part in this? Oh,

the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge

of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and

how inscrutable his ways. Amen? I want you to

bow your heads. Father, thank you for your amazing

grace. Lord, we think distance -wise, we are

so far from Judea here in America, so far from

all of these things that happened in the book

of Acts. And yet you have told us, God, you have

promised us that we've been brought near by the

blood of Christ. And so I can't add anything

more, Lord, to what your word has already told

us. That, God, by your spirit, to ask you to

make us thankful people. To really understand

what we deserved and what we've been given. And

to understand that we have a role to play in

your great painting. That you are doing in this

thing we call time. Help us to see that big picture,

Lord. And help us even now as we sing, Lord,

that we would have those things in our minds

and hearts. and that we would give you the glory

that you deserve. So help us to sing well now,

we pray. In Christ's name, amen.