Well, brothers and sisters, one of the truly remarkable things about the Bible, it shows that it is not a fictional account, a made up story, but that it is the word of God and not the word of men. is the fact that almost all of the heroes and leaders in the Bible are men who are flawed in one way or another, who are remembered not just for their great deeds, but for their defects and even for their failures to follow God as he calls us to do. Think with me about this for a minute. Think of some of the great leaders and heroes and men we have in the scripture. Think of Abraham. Abraham's the one that doubted the promise of God. God came and said that he would have a son, he would make of him a great nation. When this didn't happen right away, Abraham doubted God and tried to bring this about in his own way through his servant, Hagar, rather than trusting in what God had said. Or think about Moses. Moses may be the greatest leader in all of scripture, and yet we're told that Moses failed to obey God at the waters of Meribah. And so he wasn't able to enter the promised land. Or think of Aaron. Aaron was chosen to be the great high priest in the Old Testament. This was a position like no other. The high priest was to represent the holiness of God. And yet Aaron's the one, when Moses is up on the mountain, he's convinced to make a golden calf. in violation of the very things that God had said. Or think of someone like Samuel. Samuel is so remarkable in scripture because he serves in multiple offices, not only as a prophet. Samuel is a kind of priest and a judge as well. Samuel led Israel for so many years, and yet what do we read about him as well? He failed to train his sons, who ended up corrupt and didn't walk in the way of the Lord and were unfit to lead God's people, which is part of the reason that Israel asks Samuel for a king. Or brothers and sisters, think of David, probably the greatest king in all of scripture, used to defeat so many of the enemies of Israel, the one who has written so many of the Psalms for us in the scriptures, and yet David's the one who committed adultery with Bathsheba and to cover it up has her husband killed. And this isn't just the case in the Old Testament that we see leaders like this. Think about the New Testament. Think about John the Baptist. Jesus said of John the Baptist that among those born of women there is none greater, he says, than John. And yet when John is in prison later, when he's suffering, he doubts that Jesus is the Christ and sends messengers to Jesus asking him, are you really the one? brothers and sisters think about the Apostle Peter. The Apostle Peter's the one out of all of the other disciples. He confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Peter said that he would never fall away if all of the other disciples fell away. He wouldn't. He would die for Christ. And yet when Jesus is arrested, what happens? Peter denies him three times. This is what we find throughout all of scripture. Brothers and sisters, it's so clear that the Bible is not a book about perfect people, perfectly holy people. It's a book about unholy people who fail so often to trust God as they should and to live in the way that he requires us to live. And this is true even of the best examples, the best leaders, the best heroes that we find in scripture. And brothers and sisters, as I said, not only does this show the authenticity of the scripture, nobody would make this stuff up, but it also reinforces the message of the Bible, which is not about our worthiness. It's about the worthiness of Jesus and about our need for him. That's what my message is about this morning, the worthiness of Jesus and our need for him. And brothers and sisters, the reason I'm beginning this way and telling you about all of these flawed leaders in the Bible is because we're given another example of this from the life and ministry of Paul and Barnabas in the text we're looking at at the end of Acts chapter 15. Up to this point, we've seen Paul and Barnabas being used by the Lord as a team to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. In Acts chapter 13, they were commissioned both by the Holy Spirit and by the church in Antioch for this work, to take the gospel to the nations. They were sent out together. And what we've seen is that the Lord used them greatly to plant churches in all different cities, in Derbe, in Lystra, in Iconium, in Pisidian, Antioch. But sadly, what we're told at the end of Acts chapter 15 is that even as they planned, Paul and Barnabas to go out again to visit all of these churches and Christians, churches that they had planted, we're told that a disagreement arose between them. And that this disagreement was so great that it caused them to separate, to part ways. And what's important to understand is that this disagreement centered around the cousin of Barnabas, who was a man named John Mark. He has two names. So in scripture, sometimes he's referred to as John. Sometimes he's referred to as Mark. Sometimes he's referred to as John Mark. Sometimes he's referred to as John who's called Mark, but this is the one. that this disagreement was all about that really centered around. And we were first introduced to John Mark, you may remember back in Acts chapter 12, you may know that story when Herod has James killed and then he puts Peter in prison. We're told that the Christians were praying together at a house and were told that it was the house of Mary and were told there that Mary was the mother of John Mark. It was at John Mark's house that all the Christians were praying when Peter was freed from prison and appears there at the door. And later, in just the next chapter, in Acts chapter 13 and verse 5, we're told that when Paul and Barnabas were sent out by the church in Antioch and went to Cyprus, they sailed there. That was the first place, it says, that they had John to assist them, that John Mark went with them on their first missionary journey. But just a few verses later in that same chapter, verse 13, we're told that when Paul and Barnabas then sailed from Cyprus to the next place, Perga, that in Perga, it says, that John left them. returned to Jerusalem. Now we don't know why John did this. The scripture doesn't tell us. We don't know if maybe missionary life was not what John thought it was going to be like. We don't know if John was afraid maybe to suffer for the gospel. Maybe he lacked courage. Maybe he was even lazy. The Bible doesn't tell us. But it makes it clear that Paul didn't view this favorably. Paul must have thought of John Mark as a deserter because he had set out with them and they hadn't even gone very far and then John left and returned back to Jerusalem. For this is what creates the conflict here in Acts chapter 15. In Acts chapter 15 and verse 36 we're told that Paul had the idea that they should return It says, to visit all of the brothers in every city where they had proclaimed the word of the Lord. And Barnabas agreed with this idea. You can imagine him saying, that's a great idea, Paul. We need to encourage all these new Christians. We should go visit all of these churches again. Only Barnabas suggested, once again, that they should take John Mark with them. Barnabas wanted to give John Mark a second chance, but Paul didn't like this idea. He didn't want to take one, the scripture says, who had withdrawn from them, who had not gone with them in the work. Think about this for a minute. You can imagine this disagreement between them. Barnabas wanted to show mercy to John Mark. He wanted to give him a second chance. And in many ways, this is what Barnabas had done with Paul himself. If you remember, when Paul was converted, the Christians didn't trust him. They wanted nothing to do with this former persecutor. It was Barnabas that brought Paul to the people and said, you've got to give this one a chance. He's truly been saved and is preaching the gospel. Barnabas wants to do the same thing with John Mark. But Paul thought that John Mark had shown that he was not cut out for this kind of work. And we're told that this created such a disagreement between them that rather than working this out, they ended up separating. Barnabas took Mark and he went one direction. Paul took Silas and he went in a different direction. And brothers and sisters, I think there are really two ways that we need to think about this sad incident, two ways that we need to approach this text. First, we really need to avoid in any way trying to sugarcoat this event. We can be tempted to do this. Sometimes commentators will even do this. We want to maintain this sort of pristine view we have of the apostles. It's easy for us to make excuses for them or to make this event sound better than it really is. But brothers and sisters, we can't do that. And the reason we can't do it is because the text itself won't let us do that. The language that is used here is quite strong. When it says that there was a sharp disagreement that arose between them, the word that's used here can tend to include the idea of anger and exasperation. In fact, in the Greek version of the Old Testament, this word is used to actually speak of the wrath and fury of God. So that what is implied here, as Matthew Henry said, is that there were hard words spoken between Paul and Barnabas. This was not a simple disagreement. This was not a pretty event. And what this means is that if we're going to say anything rightly about this text, we have to admit that it is a sad example of Christian disunity. It is not something praiseworthy. In fact, you can imagine that this must have been a poor witness, both to the church and to the world. Dennis Johnson, in his commentary on the Book of Acts, says this, that wherever the responsibility for the breakdown lay, This breach between brothers, he says, was inexcusable. And Matthew Henry says that this is a just matter for lamentation, he says. That's grieving sorrow. He says we must own that it was their infirmity and that it is recorded, he says, for our admonition. Can't sugarcoat this event, brothers and sisters. We need to see it for what it is. It is a sad case that we're given in the scripture of disunity between two Christian brothers. But the second way I think we need to approach this text is to realize that God, in his wisdom, has included this incident in his word for our edification and for our growth in Christ. As Matthew Henry says, it's recorded for our admonition. What's remarkable is that God wanted us to know about this sad event. That's why he's included it in the scripture. He ordained it that we would be able to see in the pages of scripture the imperfection and weakness even of the apostles. And I believe that God has included this in the scripture because there are so many lessons. that we can learn from this event, even this sad event of disunity here in Acts chapter 15. And what I want us to do is to simply think about a few of the lessons, there's many I'm sure we can learn from this event, but I want us to think about a few lessons that we can learn from this sad example of Christian disunity. And I think the first thing that we learn from this is how much we need to be on our guard against disunity and disagreement, especially in the church, because it can rear its head at any time. In other words, because we are not yet perfected and we are all sinners, We are more prone to this than we think. If the apostles were prone to this, how much more prone are we? One of the things that really stands out, I think, about this incident is not just what takes place here between Paul and Barnabas, but when this takes place. Think about this with me for a minute. This example of disunity here in the scripture follows after what we might say is one of the greatest examples of Christian unity in the whole New Testament, what takes place at the Jerusalem Council. It's there that God uses the apostles to maintain the unity of the church. At the Jerusalem Council, the apostles refuse to allow the differences between Jews and Gentiles to divide the church. And think about this, what this means is if there was ever a time when we might think that the apostles would be less prone to this kind of division, it would be after this great event of the Jerusalem Council where there was such a sense of unity in the church that they had come together and that God had worked among them in this way to provide peace for the church. And yet it's right after this, think about this, how prone we are to this. It's right after this that the apostles allow themselves to fall into this kind of disagreement that leads them to actually divide and separate from one another. Brothers and sisters, if anything shows how prone we are to this sort of thing, this is it. It shows us how much we need to be on our guard against this kind of division in the church. And not just when we're going through times of difficulty. We know as a church or as a family, when you're going through difficulty, you've got to unite and work together. We need to be on our guard even when things are going well. God was doing great things. He was bringing unity in the church when this thing happened. And I think we forget sometimes that unity is something that doesn't just happen on its own. It doesn't happen in our families on its own. It doesn't happen in the church on its own. We almost think the default position, well, we'll just naturally be unified. We're sinners. Unity has to be maintained. The Bible presents it as something we have to work at in the church, because we are prone to this sort of division and disagreement. But there's something else I want you to think about, even on top of that, that really stands out in this text. What stands out also is the contrast between the nature of the issue that the church was dealing with at the Jerusalem Council and the nature of the issue that brings about this disagreement here between Paul and Barnabas at the end of Acts chapter 15. Think about this, at the Jerusalem Council, they were dealing with a matter of the greatest consequence to the gospel. We thought about this last week. It was a matter of how are we saved? That was the issue. Others were teaching a false gospel. And the question was, are we really saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone? The apostles at the Jerusalem Council were preserving the very purity of the gospel. But think about this, after agreeing in a matter of the greatest consequence, Paul and Barnabas end up separating over a matter of almost no consequence whatsoever, of little significance. Now when I say that, let me explain. I'm not saying here that the issue of whether they should take John Mark wasn't important at all. It was certainly an issue they had to think about and work through and talk about. But brothers and sisters, it was certainly not a matter that was essential to the gospel. compared to the issue that they were dealing with at the Jerusalem Council, this was a trivial matter. Think about it. Whether or not they took John Mark with them wasn't going to affect the whole future of the church. It wasn't going to affect the purity of the gospel. In many ways, it was inconsequential. And yet it's this inconsequential, trivial matter that they allowed to be the means of parting them and creating division between them. And this is a warning to us. We need to think about this as well. So often our greatest disagreements arise over petty matters, not matters that are truly important, not matters essential to the gospel, but trivial matters that we allow to become too important and to divide us. Brothers and sisters, you see this all the time in marriage. Think about this for a minute. If you're married, you know this. As husbands and wives, what's interesting is that you can agree over the biggest things in life, the most important things. How are you going to raise your children? Where are you going to live? Where are you going to go to church, right? How are you going to do devotions in your home, right? Who's going to discipline your children? You're going to tithe to the church. All of these things God calls us to do. You can agree as husband and wife about these things, but think about it. You will have your greatest arguments over the most petty and trivial matters. Where somebody left their dirty socks. How high you should turn up the thermostat in your house. Whether the husband or wife puts the cap back on the toothpaste container. These are the things that irritate us, that end up creating conflicts. Do you see how silly this is? When you see it in that perspective, you can agree as husband and wife about the biggest issues that are most important. And what will create division between you? the smallest, most trivial things that in reality don't matter at all. And brothers and sisters, the same is true in the church. We need to realize that. I wonder, and I seriously wonder this, how many times has it been the case that in the history of the church, think about this, that divisions and disagreements have arisen that have split denominations, that have caused so much problems in churches, not over matters related to the gospel or the essential truths of our faith, but over petty matters that are absolutely inconsequential, that we allow as Christians to become too important and to divide us. If you don't think that's true, I'll give you an illustration. Just recently, somebody who used to be a member of our church years ago told me about a congregational meeting that happened in this church, in this very sanctuary. It was probably 40 years ago. So this is quite a while ago. Do you know what the meeting was over? Whether the church should purchase a piano. That was the whole issue of the meeting. Do you know what this person told me? This was the most contentious, divisive, heated meeting that he was ever in. He described it as horrible. It was over a piano, brothers and sisters, not about the gospel, not about things that really are important. This is what we're prone to. If the apostles were even prone to this, how much more are we? We can create disagreements over the silliest things. Every single one of us is guilty of this. Even when God has given us unity in the big things that matter, we create disunity over silly and petty matters. This is what we need to be on our guard against. If Acts 15 teaches us anything, it warns us against the passion that we can tend to have for things that are trivial. And if we're gonna have unity in the church, this is what we need to be on our guard against. We need to have a passion for the glory of Christ more than we have a passion for things that really don't matter and are not that important. That's the first lesson I hope you'll think about from this text, just how much we're prone to this and we need to be on our guard against it. The second lesson I want you to think about this morning that I think this incident, this sad incident example of Christian disunity here in Acts chapter 5 teaches about has to do with the fact that God works for good and even to bring about glory to his name even through and in the midst of our failures. Think about this. It's remarkable to think about that God brings good even out of our sin and even out of our failures. This is truly a remarkable thing, and it's undeniable from what we're told in this passage. And yet it's something that we need to think about carefully. As I said, There can be no doubt that this argument between Paul and Barnabas here in Acts chapter 15 that creates this separation, this is not a good thing in and of itself. It's not something that's praiseworthy. It's something that we should grieve over, really. It creates this disunity in the church. It's a sad example, as I said, of disunity. And yet what is also undeniable from this text is that God brought much good out of this despite this. The fault, the failure on the Paul in Barnabas, God uses this to actually bring much growth and much fruit. And he does this in more than one way. You actually see this in three ways in this text. First, think about this. As a result of this, disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, instead of there being one missionary team going out to share the gospel, now there were two missionary teams going out to share the gospel. You had Barnabas and Mark going to Cyprus, and then you had Paul and Silas taking a different route, interacting with different people and going to different places. So through this, think about this, the witness of the gospel actually ends up being multiplied. In fact, in verse 5 of chapter 15, we're told that the churches were strengthened in faith and increased in number through the ministry of Paul and Silas. And think about this. How much more was this the case? Now that you had two missionary teams, not just Paul and Silas going to strengthen the churches and share the gospel, you had Barnabas and Mark going to do the same thing. This is part of the good that God brings out of even this sad event. The second way we see God bringing good out of this is that he used this to actually raise up new leaders. Not only does Paul take Silas because he doesn't have Barnabas anymore, he's got to get another partner. He takes Silas. Silas was one of the men who had brought the letter from the Jerusalem council to Antioch. Paul chooses Silas. So now he's raising up another man to serve as a missionary. But on top of this, we're also told in chapter 15 that Paul enlisted Timothy. Timothy was somebody who was probably saved during Paul's first missionary journey. And because he didn't have Mark as an assistant now, he enlists Timothy. And you may know that Timothy becomes quite an important figure in the New Testament. For years, Timothy serves with Paul, helping him to plant churches, raise up Christian leaders, teach as Paul taught him. Think about all this comes about because this disagreement between Paul and Barnabas in Acts chapter 15. The third way we see God bringing good out of this is in uniting Paul and John Mark again, restoring their relationship. This is what God ends up doing, changing Paul's attitude towards John Mark. so that they once again were able to work together to spread the gospel. We don't know how this happened because we're not told in scripture, but it's clear that this did happen, that God brought about a restoration between Paul and John Mark, because later, Paul writes these words in 2 Timothy 4.11. Just think about these words in light of this event in Acts chapter 15. Paul's writing to Timothy and he says this, get Mark, he says, and bring him with you. for he is very useful to me for ministry." It's almost shocking when you read that, because in Acts 15, Paul didn't think Mark was useful for anything, right? He didn't even want to have him along. But God changes all of this. He restores their relationship, and they're able to work together again to spread the gospel. Brothers and sisters, all of this shows the way that our God can do amazing things, amen? And one of the amazing things that God does is he brings fruit for his glory even out of our sin. It's remarkable to think about. Matthew Henry said that this is the really strange thing he says about this passage. He says the strange things is not that the apostles would have an argument like this. We read it and that seems the strange thing to us. How could they do this? Matthew Henry says that's not the strange thing. The strange thing is that God would use this, he says, for the furtherance of the gospel. That according to God's plan, he allowed this disagreement and then uses it to bring glory to his name and to further his purposes and to bring the gospel to the nations. Brothers and sisters, this is so often what God does. He works even through our failures to accomplish his purposes. And this is not the only example we have of this in scripture. We have many examples. Think of the story of Joseph, right? His brothers sell him into slavery, then they lie to their father and tell him that their brother is dead. Think about how horrible this act is. It's an act of the grossest kind of sin committed even against their own brother. They didn't care if Joseph lived or died. And yet amazingly, God uses this for so much good. God uses this to raise up Joseph to be this great leader in Egypt, to save many people, even to save his own brothers, who he humbles and has mercy upon through Joseph. And later, you may know these words later when they were reunited and his brothers were afraid that Joseph was going to have revenge on them, right? Joseph assures them he won't and he says these words, as for you, you meant evil against me, he says, but God meant it for good, he says. It was an evil act, there was no doubt about it. And yet, what did God do? He brought so much good for his glory out of that act. Brothers and sisters, as I said, there are many, many examples of this in scripture, but the greatest example of all, think about it, is the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was put to death because of the jealousy and hatred of men. It was an evil act in rebellion against God himself. And yet, think about what God did through that evil act. God used the evil done against Jesus, his suffering at the hands of men, to bring about our salvation, to free us from sin, and to give us the gift of eternal life. Brothers and sisters, our God is so good, he is so merciful, and he is so committed to his plan of redemption that he brings good even out of our sin and out of our failures. But as I said before, we need to think about this carefully. Just because God brings good out of evil, this doesn't excuse our sin, right? It doesn't make sin good just because God does good from it doesn't mean the sin itself is good. We can't say that this heated argument between Paul and Barnabas in Acts chapter 15 was itself good just because God brought good out of it. I hope you understand that sin is never good. It's never pleasing to God. And where we are guilty of it, we need to repent and to turn from it. But having said that, a passage like this also gives us hope in knowing that while we fall short in so many ways, God never falls short in fulfilling his promises in Christ. Even when we are failing, God uses those very things to continue to fulfill his promises to us and the things that he has promised he will do through the Lord Jesus. The fact that God brings good out of evil reminds us that his grace is greater than all of our sin. And brothers and sisters, think about it. You've probably experienced this in your own life. God's grace extends to us so many times, even in minimizing the effects of our sin and bringing fruit even out of our failures. And this reminds us that our hope is not in our faithfulness, and it's not in our righteousness. It's in the faithfulness of God. And our God is so faithful that he even uses our sin to bring glory to his name, and to accomplish his purposes, and to do the things that he has said that he will do. That's how faithful he is. And while that doesn't justify our sin in any way, and we need to repent of it, this is our great hope. Our hope is not in our righteousness or in our faithfulness. but in the faithfulness and mercy of God that he extends to us in so many ways. Well, this brings me then to the final lesson that I want us to think about this morning, that I think this incident, this sad case of disunity here in Acts chapter 15 teaches us. And this really has to do with how great our need of Jesus really is, how great our need of Jesus really is. And I would just say, before I go into this point, that this is something I don't think we realize enough. It's something that for me, continually, God is teaching me. I think I know how great my need of Jesus is or what a sinner I am, but then God continues to show me, no, my need of Jesus is even greater. And I think this is something we desperately need to realize as the church, how great our need of Jesus really is. It might be obvious to you when I say this, but I think it's something we need to think about. that this argument between Paul and Barnabas shows is that the apostles were mere men and that they were sinful men at that. The only reason that their ministry was fruitful in any way, the only reason we see them being able to do the things they did, plant churches, do great work, see people come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. All of this was not because of their ability or their perfection. What this text makes clear, it was only because of the ability and perfection of Jesus who was at work in them. They were mere men. And what this text shows is that they were sinful men at that. And brothers and sisters, if this was true of the apostles, that they could do nothing apart from Christ, they were sinners that needed a savior. Think about it. How much more is this true of us? That we need Jesus. And as I said, I believe that we need Jesus far more than we even realize. That we can do nothing apart from him. I said at the beginning of my message that even the best leaders in the Bible were flawed men. And I believe the reason the Bible shows us this over and over again is because the message the Bible is telling you from beginning to end is that the leader we need is Jesus. Think about this. When you see a great leader like Moses, as I said, he's the greatest prophet in scripture, failing to obey God. Do you know what the message scripture is saying to you? We need a greater prophet. We need a better prophet. A human prophet is not enough. We need some sort of better leader than this. When you see the high priest Aaron, who's supposed to represent the holiness of God, forming a golden calf against what God had told him to do, the message scripture is saying to you is, we need a better priest. This human priest is not enough to save us, we need a better priest. And when you see the greatest king in the Bible, David, who's supposed to be this man after God's own heart, falling into grievous sin, adultery, and then murder, the message the Bible is saying to you is we need a greater king. It's the message from beginning to end. And the better leader that we need, the Bible is telling us, the better prophet, the better priest, the better king, the leader that all of scripture is pointing us to is Jesus. And the failures of all of these leaders in the Bible, and your failures, and my failures, they're showing us the same thing, how much we need Jesus. He's the one and the only one that we need. Just think with me for a minute about some of the things the Bible says about Jesus. It says that every spiritual blessing that we need from God to be saved and live as children from God is found in Christ. It says that all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him. Think about that. Everything that you need to know to know God and to live in a way that's pleasing to God is found in Christ. The scripture says that he is our righteousness. How is it that we as sinful people can hope to ever be accepted by a holy God? It's because Christ is our righteousness and gives us his righteousness so that we can be accepted before God. The scripture says that in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. It says that by being raised with him, we can walk in newness of life. It says that the gift of God is eternal life. This is what we need more than anything else to be freed from death, to have eternal life with God. It says this is the gift of God. And then it adds these words, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you get what the Bible is saying? That's the smallest little smattering of what I'm sharing with you that the Bible says about Christ. Everything we need is found in him. Everything. It's in Christ. It's found in Christ, the scripture is saying. It's hidden in Christ. He is the one that we need. The Bible is proclaiming it in every way possible. And this is what I hope you understand, that there is not one area of your life where this is not true. Maybe you never thought about it this way, but there is not one area of your life where you don't need Jesus. There's not one area where you can stand on your own two feet and say, in this area of my life, I can make it on my own. I really don't need Jesus here. I just need him for sort of the big things. It isn't true. You need Jesus for everything. Because think about it, just like the leaders we've looked at in scripture, even our best efforts to follow God always fall short. We need Jesus to heal us. We need Jesus to forgive us. We need Jesus to change our hearts. We need Jesus to renew our minds. We need Jesus to fill us with the Spirit. We need Jesus just to empower us to be able to love one another. And the list could go on and on and on. Brothers and sisters, there is not one thing that you could ever do to bring glory to God apart from Jesus Christ. Do you realize that? It's not as if you need Jesus just for some things in your life. You cannot do one thing to glorify God apart from the work of Jesus in you. And brothers and sisters, when we forget this, and we do, When we start thinking that we have it together, OK, I know I need Jesus, but we think we're doing pretty good. When we start thinking too highly of ourselves, do you know what God does? He humbles us. He shows us how helpless we are apart from Christ. And do you know how he does this? He reveals our failures and our sins just as he revealed the failures of Paul and Barnabas in Acts chapter 15. I don't know about you, but this is what God keeps doing with me. Every time that little hint of pride starts to show its face, I'm doing pretty good. I'm a pretty godly man, right? Boom. God will knock your legs right out from under you, right? You think you're such a great Christian? You failed here and you failed there. This is what your heart really looks like. God will show you. And you know what? We don't like it when God does this. But we need to understand that's part of his grace, because the whole purpose is to drive us to Christ, that we would seek him. Brothers and sisters, think with me. about what Jesus said in Mark chapter 2. You may know these words. They should be sticking in our minds. Jesus said this, those who are well, he said, have no need of a physician, he said, but those who are sick. And then he said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Think about this. Jesus came, he suffered unto death, not for well people, not for people that think that they have it all together. Jesus came for sinners like you and me that don't have it all together, who are so needy and need Christ more than anything else. And this was true. This is what's so fascinating. It's true even of the best leaders in scripture. This is what's true of Moses. This is what is true of David. This is what is true of Peter. This is what was true of the Apostle Paul. They didn't have it all together. Do you know what the Apostle Paul said about himself later in 1 Timothy 1? We use this as our call to worship this morning. He said these words. The saying, he said, is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. It's just what Jesus just said. Only Paul adds this, of whom I am the foremost, he said. But I receive mercy for this reason, that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience. as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life. Brothers and sisters, think about this. Paul is one of the most godly men that probably ever lived. And yet, what does he say in the scripture? That he's the foremost of sinners. And Paul didn't say it in the past tense. He didn't say, back before I came to Jesus, when I was a persecutor of the church, I was the foremost of sinners. He says, I am now. even with all the great things that God had done through him. This is what he confesses. I am the chief of sinners, he says. I am in constant need of the mercy of Christ. The only way I've been able to do anything, Paul's saying, is because the patience and mercy that God has shown to me in Jesus as an example to other people. I say this to you again, if this is true of Paul, one of the most godly men who may ever live, how much more is this true of us? Brothers and sisters, we are unwell sinners in need of a physician, and the physician God has provided for us is Jesus. And I believe one of our biggest problems, and this is certainly my biggest problem, is that I don't realize this enough. I don't realize how weak and needy and sinful I really am and how great and merciful and able Jesus is to help me. Think about this for a minute. You can certainly make the error of seeking Jesus too little. This is what we do all the time. We don't realize how much we need Jesus. But you can never make the error of seeking Jesus too much. Our problem is not that we seek Jesus too much. Our problem is that we seek Jesus too little. We don't really realize how unwell and sinful and needy and weak we really are. We think that we can stand on our own two feet in certain areas of our life, but we can't. You can't do one thing to glorify God apart from Christ's work in you. If we understood how needy we really are, we would seek Jesus more and more and more and more. That's what we need more than anything else. God has provided us the physician we need. But many of you are like me. You don't want to ever go to the doctor. Sadly, we do it with Jesus. The problem is not that we go to Jesus too much. We seek him too much. We seek him too little. Think about this as I close. What takes place here at the end of Acts chapter 15, this sad disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, as I said, it's a sad case of disunity. There's no way to sugarcoat it. But it's included in the Bible for this reason. The reason is to point us to Jesus. God has included it in scripture so that we wouldn't think too highly of ourselves. Brothers and sisters, we are all fallen sinners. We fail continually. It doesn't matter if you've been a Christian for decades or you're a new Christian. Just a matter of weeks, we never live up to pleasing God the way we should. Like all the leaders in scripture, we fail. And if this was true of the apostles, how much more is it true of us? And what this shows us is how much we need Christ. We are great sinners, but God has provided us with a great Savior. And that Savior is Jesus. And again, the problem is not that we seek Jesus too much. The problem is that we seek Jesus too little. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.