The Gospel to the Nations

This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang. Thank you for joining us.!

It's a part of our evening service, but when the church gathers for the Lord's Supper, it is a very significant time. Taking the Lord's Supper together helps to purify us, helps to unify us as the body of Christ.

And so, I want to just strongly encourage you, if you at all can, make sure you're back tonight at 5 o'clock as we worship through the observance of the Lord's Supper. We'll be singing together. You're going to get a chance to hear from our two youth interns that are serving this semester with us, so you can get to know them a little bit. They'll be sharing a word of testimony.

And then we'll be continuing on in our study through the armor of God. We started that a couple of weeks ago, and each Sunday, I'm here preaching on Sunday night. For the rest of this semester, we'll be studying through a part of the armor of God.

God, I have so enjoyed reading and studying and writing related to that passage in Ephesians 6. We kicked that off two weeks ago, and I'd love to invite you to come back tonight as we look at the very first piece of the armor that's mentioned for us there in Ephesians 6.

I believe you'll be blessed. I believe you'll learn something new tonight. And most of all, I pray that we'll leave better equipped to honor and obey the Lord. So 5 o'clock tonight, please make it a matter of priority to be here for worship, and we will culminate there in observing the Lord's Supper together.

It's going to be a great time of worship. Well, we have read this morning Mark 7, that I want to be in the forefront of your mind. And so let me invite you to open to Genesis 10.

What I want to do is just pause for a moment here in our study through Mark 7. We're still really looking at verses 24 to 30, but instead of going on to verse 31, I want to kind of show you how what's happening in Mark 7 that we've been looking at fits within the bigger plan that the Lord has revealed to us.

As I read a few moments ago in our Scripture reading in Mark 7, the lady that demonstrates faith is a most unlikely convert, a Syrophoenician woman, a descendant of the Canaanites.

She is a picture of the gospel going to all the world. We know that Mark is writing his gospel to a predominantly Gentile audience, and he is making it clear that the saving message of the gospel is not limited to just one geographical location.

The message is for all the world. Now, it's true in the Old Testament that Israel was uniquely the people of God, but it was never that the saving message was supposed to end with Israel.

They were to be a light to the nations. And they largely failed at their missionary role. But what we see in Mark 7 is that Jesus as the Messiah is going to do what the nation of Israel failed to do.

It was never that Israel was the end of God's salvific work. They were to be the means through which God's salvific work would spread throughout all of the world.

And as we read earlier in our scripture reading about this Syrophoenician lady, it says in verse 24, she was from the region of Tyre and Sidon. Even the Old Testament in Psalm 45 and Psalm 87 prophesied of the saving work of God reaching even into Tyre and Sidon.

This is all a fulfillment of what is expressed in Romans 1.16. That salvation is the power of God. It's for all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.

And what I want to do this morning is I want to show you how what we're studying in Mark 7 is just the fulfillment of what had already been revealed to us in the Old Testament of what the Lord was going to do in taking the message of salvation to all of the world.

Now, I need you to stay with me a little bit today because we're going to wade into the deep waters a bit this morning. And I'm going to ask you to turn to a couple of different texts. So if you would, be prepared to do that.

And I need you to listen carefully. And I pray at the end, if I've done my job, I pray that you're going to be able to understand and see how all this fits together and why I want you to see what we're looking at this morning as we walk through this passage in the Gospel of Mark.

So with all of that in mind, open with me for just a moment. We'll look at a few places to Genesis chapter 10. Genesis chapter 10. Listen as I read beginning here in Genesis 10.

These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth, Gomer, Magog, Medi, Javan, Tubal, Meshach, and Tyrus.

The sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz, Repheth, and Tagamah. The sons of Javan, Elisha, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

From these, the coastland people spread in their lands, and each with his own language, by their clans in their nations. The sons of Ham, Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

The sons of Cush, Saba, Hevelah, Sabta, Ramah, and Sabteca. The sons of Ramah, Sheba, and Dedan.

Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first on the earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore, it is said, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.

The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Echad, and Calna, in the land of Shiner. From that land, he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Ur, Calah, and Rezin, between Nineveh and Calah.

That is the great city. And you say, my goodness, what are all these names about? There are a number of names, in fact, in Genesis 10.

Seventy, to be exact. Make note of that. Seventy names referenced in Genesis 10. Why do we need Genesis 10?

Why do we need a chapter filled with 70 names that are hard to spell and challenging to pronounce? And what do we do with them? And what is the point? And how does this have anything to do with Mark chapter 7?

Well, I want you to make note of three things this morning. Number one, God knows the nations. God knows the nations.

Genesis 10, this listing of names, is not exhaustive. It does not list every single individual. It lists specific people. It lists specific people.

And it lists groups. And it does it for a purpose. This chapter in Genesis 10 shows that what God commanded in chapter 9, for Noah and his family to be fruitful and to fill the earth has taken place.

Some of the 70 names in Genesis 10, are individual people. Some are groups of people. For example, if you look in verse 13, Egypt fathered Ludum, where you see I am.

All of those names there in verse 13 and verse 14. When the word ends with I am, those are groups of people, not individual people. And in Genesis 10, all of these names, these 70 names, really are organized into three categories.

Each coming from one of Noah's sons. First, the sons of Japheth. That's listed in verse 2 that I just read for you. And if you were to look at the names and the locations and what we know about where they went, Japheth, his family, are the father of the Indo-Europeans.

Then, it lists the sons of Ham, Cush, and Egypt, Canaan. They went into northeast Africa. They went into Egypt. Cush is the Bible's term for what, we know as Ethiopia.

Put is what we know as Libya. Then, it mentions the sons of Shem. He's the father of those in the Middle East. The five sons of Shem are the father of the Semitic peoples.

Shem, in Genesis 10, is listed last because Abraham comes from this line and redemption comes through the line of Abraham.

Shem. Genesis 10, look at verse 21. To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber. Eber is the name from which we get the word Hebrew.

And all of this detail in Genesis 10, if we looked at it one by one, what it shows us is that the people God has created, He knows who they are, He knows where they go, and He knows what they do.

God knows the nations. Make note of Deuteronomy 32 verse 8. It says, when the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind, He fixed the borders of the peoples.

So, what you have in Genesis 10, after the flood, as people are being fruitful and filling the earth, and people are now moving all over, they're not saying in one place, they're moving, and they're having children, and their children are having children, and they're populating the earth, and they're moving all about, and these people groups are now forming all around the world.

And what I want you to understand from Genesis 10, is that as people are having children, and as they're setting up cities and communities, and moving all around, God knows the nations.

He sees. He knows. It even says, He has fixed the borders of where they go. There is no one in this world, outside of the knowledge, God knowing exactly, precisely, who they are, where they go, and what they do.

God knows the nations. But let's go a step further. Not only does God know the nations, secondly, God has a heart for the nations.

Genesis 10 is the beginning here of God's work to reclaim the nations. These people, by and large, have turned their back on God, which is really amazing, when you consider, that it was just recently, that the flood took place.

Genesis 6, and we're just now in Genesis 10. It wasn't that long ago, that the earth was so evil, and so wicked, that God destroyed, the humanity, other than those few who got in the ark, because of their wickedness, and their sin.

And we know that Noah, was a preacher of righteousness. He was preaching, and proclaiming for people, to trust in God. No one outside his family did. After the flood is over, and they get off of the ark, they begin to repopulate the earth.

You know, that as they are having children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, they are telling everybody, all about how serious it is, to honor the Lord.

The story of the flood, would have been passed down, to every single person, who is being born. And not much later, here we are in Genesis 10, and the people, by and large, jump head first, right back, into sin, and rebellion.

It really comes to a head, in Genesis 11, at the events known as, the Tower of Babel. If you look with me, in Genesis 11. Now the whole earth, had one language, and the same words.

And as people migrated, from the east, they found a plain, the land of Shiner, and settled there. And they said to one another, come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.

And they had brick, for stone, and bitumen, for mortar. Then they said, come, let us build ourselves, a city, and a tower, with its top, in the heavens.

And let us, make a name, for ourselves, lest we be dispersed, over the face, of the whole earth. And the Lord came down, to see the city, and the tower, which the children, of man, had built.

And the Lord said, behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning, of what they will do, and nothing, that they propose to do, will now be impossible, for them come, let us go down, there, and confuse their language, so that they may not, understand one another's speech.

So the Lord dispersed them, from over the face, of all the earth, and they left off, building the city. Therefore, its name, was called Babel, because there, the Lord confused, the language, of all the earth, and from there, the Lord dispersed them, over the face, of the earth.

In Genesis 11, it records for us, what their mindset was. They said to each other, in verse 4, let's make a name, for ourselves, so we won't be dispersed, over the face, of all the earth.

Their motive, their desire, was to make their name great, not the name of the Lord great. Which is always, what rebellion starts with, a desire to put ourselves, above the glory of God.

Their desire, was to make themselves great, one people, one language, one city, and they don't want, to be dispersed, and the Lord says, I'll do with you, what I want to do with you, and as a response, their sinfulness, they don't want to be scattered, but he's going to scatter them.

The goal of the nations, in Genesis 11, is for them to make, a name for themselves, to essentially, make themselves God. And the Lord, who just simply spoke, the universe into existence, now speaks, and disperses the people, and he confuses their language.

Chronologically, Genesis 11, happens before Genesis 10. Genesis 10, is telling you, how the people were dispersed, after the events, of Genesis 11.

God knows the nations, but he also has a heart, for the nations. I told you back in Genesis 10, there were 70 names, listed on that number 70, was significant, representing totality.

If I took you to Genesis 46, you would see in verse 27, it says, the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two, and all the persons, in the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were 70.

So Moses, who recorded Genesis 10, also records Genesis 46, wants you to understand, what God is doing. In Genesis 11, the people on the earth, are rebelling against God.

But God had promised, after the flood, to not destroy, the earth by flood again. He confused their language, he disperses them, he shows his power, and sovereignty over them, but he does not destroy them.

Go to Exodus chapter 1. Exodus chapter 1, verse 1.

These are the names of the sons of Israel, who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, and Naphtali, and Gad, and Asher.

All the descendants of Jacob, were 70 persons. Joseph was already in Egypt. Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation.

But the people of Israel were fruitful, and increased greatly. They multiplied, and they grew exceedingly strong, so the land was filled with them. What we see, our people are beginning to spread out, and the nations are taking shape, all over the earth.

We also see the number 70, again there in Exodus 1. Exodus 24, verse 9. Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel.

70 representing totality. So what do we have happening? God is created. In Noah's day, man rebelled, and God brought judgment.

After the flood, Noah's family populates the earth, fills the earth, and the people very quickly jump right back into rebellion. That comes to a head in Genesis 11, and as a result of their sin, and their pride, the Lord confused their language, and He scatters them.

But He knows exactly where each person goes. All of the nations that are being established, He knows exactly where they go.

Exodus 1, it continues, it spreads even further, and yet, again, the Lord knows exactly where they go. And He does not destroy them as He could have in their sin, because not only does God have a knowledge of the nations, He has a heart for the nations.

And third, and this is where it connects us back to Mark 7, God has a plan for the nations. In Luke 10, it says that Jesus sends out the 70.

We keep seeing that number. It's Luke 10, where it says, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. And what's happening in Luke 10, is God is sending the gospel to across the lands, to the very nations that rebelled against Him.

Mark 7 mentions the area of Tyre and Sidon. These are two places synonymous with evil and wickedness.

And yet, even in the Old Testament, it says that the message of salvation will reach even as far as Tyre and Sidon. Why? Because salvation is not limited to Israel.

Yes, salvation comes to the Jew first, but also to the Gentiles. Israel was to be a light to the nations, and now Messiah is going to complete that work.

And through the work of Messiah and the apostles, the gospel will go into the ends of the earth. And this is what we do as a church today. We take the gospel to the nations. You hear us say every Sunday that we take the gospel to the neighborhoods and to the nations.

Why do we do that? It is because it's the very plan of God from the beginning to take the gospel message to the ends of the earth.

God knows where people are. He knows what they do. And His plan is to use you to take the gospel to the nations.

This is why we send people on mission trips. I have a group that just got back a couple of weeks ago because we're taking the gospel to the nations. We've got 90 people from our church going out on the mission trip next week because we take the gospel here at home as well in the U.S.

We have ministries that take place all week long through our church right here in this city and to reach the surrounding areas because we take the gospel to the neighborhoods and to the nations.

This was always the plan of God to do this. Matthew 28, the Great Commission tells us that we are to take the gospel into all the nations.

Now turn with me one last place here. Go to the New Testament to Acts 17. Acts 17. Acts 17.

Look at verse 26. Acts 17. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

Where did that come from? That's Deuteronomy 32.8 that I read to you earlier. So as people are spreading all around the world, Deuteronomy 32 says the Lord has fixed where they are.

He knows who they are. He knows where they live. He knows what they do. The very same wording from Deuteronomy 32 is used in Acts 17 to remind us that as people spread throughout the face of the earth, the Lord is sovereign over the period of time and the places they go.

Verse 30. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere everywhere to repent. So when we take the gospel to the neighborhoods and to the nations, we are to call on them to repent.

And you say, well what authority do we have to go into another city, another state, another nation and call on them to repent? Our authority comes from the word of God itself where it says the very command of God is that people everywhere are to repent.

So you have the authority from God to call your children to repent. And to call your neighbor to repent.

And to call those following false teachers to repent. And to call those in another state or to call those on a mission trip to another country to repent.

If you're wondering what authority do we have, in part, it's Acts 17 verse 30 where God commands all people everywhere to repent.

And you say, but they're in a different nation. Yes, it is God who knows precisely who they are, where they are and what they're doing because God is sovereign over the periods of time and the boundaries of men.

Now what does that mean for us? It means that we have the authority of God to take the gospel to the neighborhoods and to the nations.

In Mark 7, this Syrophoenician woman that we studied about two weeks ago, the descendant of the Canaanites, the disciple said, Jesus, this lady's driving us crazy.

Tell her to leave us alone. And as I try to take you in great detail two weeks ago to understand what Jesus was doing and why he said what he did, is he was giving her a chance to display the genuineness of her faith because the apostles needed to see what genuine, tested faith looks like.

And they did not see it in Israel. And they did not see it from the scribes and Pharisees. They did not see it in the religious leaders.

Of all places, they found it in a Syrophoenician woman, a descendant of the Canaanites because it was always the plan of God for Israel to be a light and spread the gospel message to the nations.

And today, as the church, we've been given the command to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

And we call on people everywhere to repent. Stay in Acts 17, look at verse 31. Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

Let me help you understand this. If Jesus has risen from the dead, then you have the authority to call on all men to repent and warn them that the day is coming where they will be judged.

This is why the church has an urgent mission. this is why we teach our children and train our teenagers and disciple our adults and try to help people know how to communicate the gospel.

This is why we gather for worship. This is why we sacrificially give. This is why we support missionaries and church planters all around the world because God has commanded people everywhere to repent and has fixed a day of judgment.

Look again at verse 31. He has fixed a day. It's set. It's settled. It's non-negotiable. There will be a day when every person stands before the Lord and because of that we have an urgency and a fervency to take the gospel to all the neighborhoods and to all the nations and not waste a single day in the mission God has given to us.

And the apostles look at the lady in Mark 7 and say why are we messing with her? She's a Syrophoenician woman a descendant of the Canaanites get her away from us and Jesus says this is an example of true faith and this is a picture of what is happening as the gospel is going to all the nations.

It started in Genesis 10 it continued in Exodus 1 in our world today we are living in these times.

So we want to make sure that our hearts do not look like the hearts of the people in Genesis 11 where they sought to make for themselves a great name.

Genesis 11 in the Tower of Babel their problem was they were filled with pride and they wanted to make a great name for themselves. It's the complete opposite of the reason for which you've been created.

You have been created to glorify the name of God. Our church exists to glorify the name of God not ourselves.

This church is not about our name it must be about his name. And we must have the same heart that God has and that is that through us we would help spread the light of the gospel.

In the Old Testament it wasn't to end with Israel they were to be a light to the nations. In the church age the fact that we know the gospel and we have salvation let's make sure we don't make the mistake that Israel made.

It's not to end with us. It's not that we sit back and say we know the truth we're going to heaven we know Christ we're safe we're saved and we just leave it there no we take the truth that we know and now we go and spread that truth spread that light to the neighborhoods and to the nations calling on people everywhere to repent.

Isaiah 49 verse 6 I will also make you a light for the nations to bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. This was always the plan of God.

But Israel forgot that and they thought that simply because of who they are or where they live they were fine.

I can't help but wonder if so many people today even in the church have repeated the exact same mistake.

I'm in church every Sunday I'm fine. I live in America I'm fine. I grew up as a child going to church I'm fine.

I walked an aisle at a camp I'm fine. I got baptized in a church when I was a teenager I'm fine.

But the question is do you believe the gospel? Do you love Christ? Do you understand the truthfulness of who God is and the sinfulness of who you are and how in Christ God has become both just and the justifier as Romans 3 says.

He's just because his holiness is upheld. He's the justifier because he puts our sin upon Christ and our sin is paid in full.

have we forgotten that we are to be a part of taking the gospel to the nations? Have we in any way fell for the lie of our enemy that we want to make our name our own name great?

Genesis 10 the people disperse and God knows exactly who they are and exactly where they go and exactly what they do and his plan was to take the gospel to all the ends of the earth and he's doing that through you as the church.

Don't ever forget that's what we're called to do. To reach the nations. And we do that as we preach the gospel. We do that as we pray and we do that as we give.

Genesis 10 is what we know as the table of nations. nations. It shows the people being scattered and established. It shows languages in Genesis 11 being confused as the people are dispersed.

And after Genesis 10 chronologically coming after Genesis 11 what we're left with are people moving everywhere. Speaking different languages.

Living in different places. They were dispersed and scattered. And yet when you get to the very we started in Genesis okay let's go to the very end of the Bible in Revelation 7 verse 9 after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every what's your word nation.

Behold I looked and there was a great multitude more than anyone could number and it was people from every nation and all tribes and all peoples and all what's your last one languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb.

How does that happen? How do we get in heaven people from every nation and every tribe and every people group and every language?

Genesis 10 they were scattered and dispersed. Now in heaven they are united in one family in one language in one place praising the Lord worshipping the Lord how did that happen?

Here's how because God uses the church to take the gospel to the neighborhoods and to the nations so that from all of the world those who are called unto salvation will dwell forever with the Lord in heaven singing his praises and forever living as one family with one tongue praising one forever ruling king.

this has always been God's plan. Now why do we wade out into these deep waters this morning?

Because I want you to understand that what we're studying in Mark 7 is a part of what has always been the plan of God for the light of the gospel to penetrate to all the nations.

And you have a role to play in that. And so you need to be praying for our church here. You need to be praying for other Bible believing churches in our city in our state.

You need to be praying for churches across our nation and around the world. You need to be faithful to give so that as we financially can give we can send those dollars around the world to help spread the gospel light to all the nations.

You need to be ready to share the gospel whether it's with someone in your neighborhood or on a mission trip around the world because this has always been the plan of God and the greatest joy you'll ever know is being in step with the purpose and the plan of God.

Now just before we close let me bring this full circle go back back to Genesis 10 and look at verse 5 these were the sons of Japheth from these the coastland peoples spread in their lands each with his own language by their clans in their nations go to verse 20 these are the sons of Ham verse 20 these are the sons of Ham by their clans their languages their lands and their nations verse 31 these are the sons of Shem by their clans their languages their lands and their nations everybody spread in their land in their language and in their nation and yet to the grace of God one day all who are believers will be united in heaven people from every nation tribe peoples and language all united not to make for ourselves a name but to say worthy is the lamb who was slain let's make sure that we are in step with with the purpose and the plan of

God to take the gospel to all the neighborhoods and to all the nations calling on people everywhere to repent knowing knowing he has fixed a day of judgment and we can't waste one moment in mark seven it was an unlikely convert who gave us a picture of what was about to unfold and one day by God's grace there will be a number too high to count for those from every nation every tribe every people every language who have confessed Jesus Christ as Lord this is our calling this is why we exist live in step with the plan and purposes of God would you pray with me our

Lord we thank you for your word today and we do pray that we would be faithful to love the gospel and to take it to the neighborhoods and to the nations help us to be faithful to proclaim you you