Spiritual Mathematics – Acts 11:22-24

I never thought that it was malicious or even a criticism, but my mother used to call my dad “a joiner.”

There was something in him that drove him to become a part of just about everything that had a membership list.

He was a church member, a member of the company choir, and the Canadian Legion, the American Legion, some military groups and a dozen other groups as well.

That didn’t mean that he was faithful to all the meetings.

And it didn’t mean that everything that he joined was a good organization.

And it didn’t mean that there weren’t better things that he should have joined;

For example he never joined a good Baptist church.

But there was no doubt about it, my dad really was “a joiner.”

Acts 11:24 makes reference to members of the most important “organization” in heaven or on earth.

“And much people was added unto the Lord.”

Luke, the penman of the Book of Acts, was simply saying that the Lord was blessing the ministry of missionary Barnabas.

There were great numbers of people who were believing and turning unto the Lord, verse 21.

But as I have said so many times, and even again in the last couple of weeks,

The very words that Bible uses and the precise way that Lord speaks to us is significant.

The Holy Spirit didn’t lead Luke to say that many people were being “saved,” or “forgiven,” or “delivered from their sins,” even though that is what he meant.

In this case the Spirit said, “much people were added unto the Lord.”

And in Acts 5:14 he said, “And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.”

Since the Lord seems to be telling us that there is some significance in this kind of language,

Let’s spend the next 25 or 30 minutes trying to grasp what it is that the Spirit is telling us,

Answering the questions: “who,” “what,” “how” and “why.”

WHO were these people being added unto the Lord?

The obvious answer needs very little comment:

They were Syrians of the city of Antioch.

They were, for the most part Greek-speaking people, living in the commercial hub of the northeast Mediterranean region.

I think that the majority of these people were Greek-speaking Jews, because verse 19 says that the first Christians to arrive in Antioch preached to “none but the Jews only.”

But then very quickly, the Lord started speaking to the hearts of non-Jews as well.

That is the simple answer to the “who” question.

But again, we need to consider the careful way in which this Bible statement was worded.

These people were obviously, previously – NOT people OF the Lord, or people IN the Lord.

Depending on your understanding about the meaning of this spiritual addition,

You may or may not think that this is an important question,

But for some people this is a big issue.

I don’t care what you think about the doctrines of election, predestination, the decrees of God or even the omniscience of God,

The Bible teaches that when a baby comes into this world, he is born with the same nature as his parents.

Everyone of us were born sinners, and in no time at all we prove that we are sinners by sinning.

Even new born babies, as cute and cuddly as they may be, whine and gripe and want their own way.

They not only want their own way they DEMAND IT with voices far louder than their little bodies should be able to scream.

And in case you’ve never heard: self, selfishness and self-righteousness are at the very core of sin against God.

As sinners we are all “dead in trespasses and sins.”

By birth and by nature we walk “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath.”

As sinners we are under the wrath of God because we were born children of wrath.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” – John 3:36.

There are some people who think that those whom the Lord eventually saves and takes to Heaven,

Never were children of wrath and never were outside the salvation of Christ.

That, my friend, is simply not what the Bible teaches.

Who were these people who were being added unto the Lord?

It might sound foolish, but the answer is: they were people who were not yet in the Lord.

Okay then, WHAT is it to be added unto the Lord?

First, it has nothing to do with being added to the Lord’s church.

This is not talking about church membership.

Certainly, Luke knew how to use the Greek word “ecclesia,” but he didn’t use it right here.

If the Lord had wanted to say “church” it would have been very easy.

This is not talking about church membership and it’s not talking about baptism.

Why do people want to read more into the Bible than it actually says?

The answer is quite easy: they have their opinions, their hopes and their heresies,

And so they try their best to force the Bible to agree with them or to prop up those opinions.

Even we are guilty of this, and we have to constantly be on our guard against it.

If the Lord Himself was here and speaking directly to us with the voice of a man,

We wouldn’t dream of trying to twist His words,

But the wresting, or twisting, of the scriptures is big business.

Scripture-twisting is the foundation of professional religion.

I hope that you will read Spurgeon’s quotation which I’ve put in today’s bulletin:

Elsewhere in the article from which I gleaned that quote, that prince of preachers said,

“You can justly read the Bible, as if it was spoken to you directly from the mouth of God.”

In other words, when the Lord said, “much people were added unto the Lord,” then you can be sure that is exactly what He meant to say.

The omniscient, all-knowing God, is not limited by poor vocabulary.

And He never uses a word incorrectly because He doesn’t know the proper definition.

“Much people were added unto the Lord.”

Let me use the scripture which we read earlier from Ephesians 2 to illustrate what that means.

Please turn to Ephesians 2:11 – “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”

I realize that Paul is writing to Christian Gentiles – non-Jews – about their former relationship to Christ.

They were aliens and shut out from Israel because of their non-Israelite birth.

And they were strangers or “foreigners” when it came to the promises that God made to Israel.

But more importantly, they were “without God” and “without Christ.”

When Paul said that they were “without Christ” the word that he used expressed “separation.”

There was a great gulf fixed between those sinners and the Holy Son of God.

There was a ravine so deep that they couldn’t see bottom and so wide that no human engineering could bridge it.

AND they were “without God.”

“Without Christ” and “without God” in our English sound almost alike, but they are very different in Greek.

Paul said that they were “separated” from Christ,

But when he said that they were “without God,” the single Greek word that he used was “atheos” (ath’-eh-os ).

In this case, they didn’t make a conscious choice to become atheists; they just very simply were atheists by their nature as unforgiven sinners.

And because of this atheistic Christlessness, they were ALSO completely without hope beyond anything in this life.

As I say, I know that Paul was writing specifically about Gentiles; people who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.

But the fact is even Paul himself had been without Christ and thus a stranger to many of the promises.

Ah, but that was then, and “now in Christ Jesus he who sometimes was far off had been made nigh by the blood of Christ.”

What is it to be added unto the Lord?

It is to be saved and delivered from the penalty of sins.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are IN CHRIST JESUS, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

To be added unto the Lord is to become a child of God through the new birth.

It is to be a new creature.

“Therefore if any man be IN CHRIST, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

To be added unto the Lord is to have spiritual hope and an home in Heaven.

It is to be hid with Christ in God – Colossians 3:3

It is to have life through Christ – Galatians 2:20:

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

It is to be sanctified and called to be saints – I Corinthians 1:2.

To those who have been added unto the Lord, Christ Jesus, “is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” – I Corinthians 1:30.

We are his workmanship, created IN Christ Jesus.

Among these things and a thousand more, to be added unto the Lord means to be a part of the blessed resurrection,

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,

And with the trump of God: and THE DEAD IN CHRIST shall rise first.

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,

To meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

What is it to be added unto the Lord?

It is the greatest and most important thing that can happen to any of the children of Adam.

When Paul was writing to the church in Colosse he described himself this way:

“I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

What is it to be added unto the Lord?

It is the greatest and most important thing that can happen to any of the children of Adam.

You need to be added unto the Lord, or you will spend eternity in Hell, separated from God for ever.

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

He that is in the Son hath everlasting life: and he that is not in the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Are you absolutely sure that you have been added unto the Lord?

.

Think about HOW does this blessed addition take place.

For those of you who know the rules of grammar, please notice:

The added people were passive in this great equation.

In other words they didn’t DO anything themselves to be added unto the Lord.

Although I believe in the importance of repentance, it was not because of their repentance that these people were added unto the Lord.

And although I believe that only those who put their trust in Christ are safe in Christ, it is not because of their faith that they were in Him.

The verse doesn’t say that many people joined themselves to Christ by their faith and repentance.

And it doesn’t say that much people were added unto the Lord by the Lord because of their faith.

Don’t read more into the verse than what it actually says.

It doesn’t say anything about JOINING the church, or even joining the Lord.

It talks about BEING joined to the Lord.

Do you agree that the Lord Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life.”

That is what He said in John 14.

John chapter 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

And again, the Lord Himself said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

My point is this: people who were formerly dead in trespasses and sins, are made alive BY BEING ADDED unto the Lord.

Christ is “the way the truth, and the life.”

And when those sinners are made alive, they prove their new life by repenting of their sins and believing on the Lord Jesus.

The dead can’t do anything else but wait for the Lord to give them life.

That is what this verse is saying.

So HOW were these people added unto the Lord?

It was not by agreeing to be baptized.

And it wasn’t because they became members of the church in Antioch.

It wasn’t because of Barnabas, and it wasn’t due to anything that the people themselves did.

“But,” someone says, “look at verses 20 and 21; look at verse 23 and see Barnabas and the others preaching the gospel to those people.”

Yes, I do see that, and I don’t minimize it for a moment.

I believe that the preaching of the gospel is absolutely essential in the great work of God.

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

But it wasn’t the preaching of the gospel which added those people unto the Lord.

The preaching of Christ was the means by which the Lord proved that those people had been added.

The preaching of the Gospel was the means by which the Lord told those people whom He had regenerated that they must repent and believe.

In other words those people were added unto the Lord by the pure and simple grace of God.

They were saved by the undeserved and unearned favour of the Lord.

The Lord didn’t base His addition because these people were in any way worthy of the Lord’s addition.

The entire work of salvation was by grace.

And WHY were these folk added unto the Lord?

Because God so loved the world that He chose to rescue and save a few of its miserable residents.

I won’t be so foolish to say that the Lord doesn’t delight to bless to us.

But the primary reason He saves sinners like us and adds us unto the Lord is not simply to bless us.

When wicked sinners like us are delivered from our sins and the eternal penalty of our sins.

When by His grace we are added unto the Lord, He is magnified and glorified.

When hundreds and eventually thousands of its citizens were saved, Antioch became a better city,

But the Lord didn’t save those people to make Antioch a better city.

And when those people saw the wickedness of their sins and they repented and forsook those sins,

They became better husbands and wives and citizens and human beings,

But the Lord didn’t save them simply to make them better people.

The Lord redeems sinners out of His heart, by His power and for His glory.

As our scripture in Ephesians told us: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

Have you repented of your sin before God?

Are you at this moment trusting the Lord Jesus, and Jesus alone, to remedy your sin problem?

Have you been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit?

All of this is another way to ask the question: “Have you been added unto the Lord?”