If you have a copy of the scriptures, let me invite you once again to turn to the Gospel of Matthew and to the 10th chapter, Matthew chapter 10. If you've been worshiping with us, you know that we're in the midst on these Lord's Day mornings of an ongoing exposition of the Gospel of Matthew. And this morning we're in Matthew 10, and we're gonna be looking at Matthew 10, verses one through eight. Let me invite you, as you're able, let's stand in honor of the reading and the hearing of God's word. The Apostle Matthew, the tax collector, faithfully records, and when he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Now the names of the 12 apostles are these, the first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the publican, James, the son of Athias and Labius, whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. These 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, Freely ye have received, freely give. May God bless today, once again, the reading and the hearing of his word. And let's join again in prayer. Let us pray. Gracious and loving God, we do stand, once again, in the hearing of thy word. We ask that you would give us the illumination of the Holy Spirit, just as Christ opened the eyes of the blind, Just as the scales fell from the eyes of Saul who would become Paul, so open our spiritual eyes and allow us to see thy word, allow us to treasure it, allow us to embrace it. We ask this in Christ's name and for his sake, amen. You may be seated. Again, we're continuing today this exposition of the Gospel of Matthew, and we've noted several times that Matthew has told us that Christ exercised what we could call a three-fold ministry. We saw it back in Matthew 4, verse 23. And more recently, it was repeated in Matthew 9 verse 35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. So Christ went about teaching, preaching, and healing. That's his threefold ministry. And we have seen how Matthew, under the guidance of the Spirit, has shown us Christ exercising each of these ministries. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, we saw Christ preaching and teaching. And then more recently, we have seen in chapters 8 and 9, Christ exercising the miracle of healing. And so we have seen many miraculous deeds of the Lord. In fact, there are no less than 10 miracles that are recorded in Matthew chapters 8 and 9. And last Lord's Day we saw at the end of Matthew 9 that Christ at this point looked upon the multitudes. Many people were drawn to him in particular because he had been able to heal those who were sick, cast out demons from those who were oppressed spiritually. And so this drew people, again Christ was like a magnet drawing people to himself. And we looked upon these people, we're told in verse 36 that he was moved with compassion on them. They were like sheep without a shepherd, they were scattered. And then we saw how Christ then took that pastoral image, they were like scattered sheep and he turned it to an agricultural image. And he said to them, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. And then he had commended to his hearers, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. And now as we turn to Matthew 10, we're going to see that the intercession of Christ is immediately answered in the setting apart of those known as the 12 disciples or the 12 apostles. And these men will serve as the foundation of the Christian movement. In Ephesians 2 verses 19 and 20, Paul will describe the household of faith as being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. So Christ sees the massive need. He says, pray for the Lord to send out laborers. And then his intercessions are answered as he calls out the 12. And these 12 men are going to, learn from Christ during his earthly ministry. He'll be preparing them for the time when he will go to the Father awaiting his second advent. They are essentially enrolling in an internship with Christ. That'd be quite an internship, wouldn't it? To have an internship with Christ. And what we're gonna see now in Matthew 10, as I noted last week, is we're gonna see, again, Christ exercising the ministry of teaching. as he will teach these disciples. And you'll notice, as I pointed out last week, if you look at verse five, second half of verse five begins his teaching, go not into the way of the Gentiles. And if you have one of those Bibles where the words of Christ are in red from midway through verse five, all the way through to the end of this chapter, verse 42, are all words of Christ, recorded words of Christ. Words that Matthew was helped by the Holy Spirit to remember all the things that Christ had spoken so they could be recorded here for us. So starting today and in the next several Lord's Days to come, through the miracle of the inscripturation of God's Word, we're gonna be able to listen in on the instructions that Christ gave to the apostles. Now there are some things that Christ is going to say here that are specific to the task that was given to these men. We're going to talk today. These men occupied what we could call an extraordinary office. They were apostles. And so there's some things that were meant just for them. But there are other things in Matthew 10. that are meant for the spiritual profit of all disciples. So there are some things that we can learn from teaching that was given to the apostles. We are not and will never be one of the 12. But if we are believers, we are disciples, we are followers of Christ, and we too can sit at the feet of Christ and learn from our Lord. As we turn to our passage, we can divide our text into three parts. The three parts of the text are, first of all, in verse 1, we have Christ's calling of the 12. Then secondly, in verses 2 through 4, we have Matthew's listing of the names of the 12. And then finally, verses five through eight, we see the commencement, the beginning of Christ's teaching of these disciples. And we could call it the beginning of his commissioning of these disciples. And so let's walk through each of these three parts of the text. And we're going to begin in verse one with Christ's calling of the 12. It says in verse one, and when he had called unto him his 12 disciples. The language of calling in the New Testament has at least a double meaning. First, that term calling is often used in the scriptures in reference to the call to faith, the call to belief, the call to salvation in Christ. It's used this way by the Apostle Paul in what we know as the golden chain of redemption in Romans 8 verse 30 when Paul says, moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called. You know that golden chain of redemption, those whom he foreknew he predestinated, those whom he predestinated he called, those whom he called he justified. and those whom he justified he will glorify, right? And so those who are predestinated, they are called. And we talk about this as the efficient or the effectual call. And so calling is often used in reference to call to believe, call to faith. Secondly, however, call is also used in the scriptures in reference to service. And so in Galatians 1 verses 14 and 15, the Apostle Paul talks about how the Lord had separated him from his mother's womb and called him by his grace that Paul says, I might preach him among the heathen. And so the Bible talks about calling to salvation. It also talks about calling to service or calling to vocation. When Matthew speaks here in verse one about Christ calling the 12, it likely refers, in this case, to calling to service. Now, no doubt Christ had called these men to faith in him, Judas being the one exception. But now he is calling them to take on a position of service in his kingdom. In fact, we could even say he's calling them to an office. Much like as today we say someone is called to become an elder or called to become a deacon. In this case, these men were called to an extraordinary office, an office that doesn't continue today. A special office that could only be filled by men in this time who had been eyewitnesses of the ministry of Christ, eyewitnesses of his resurrection. And so he's calling these men to this special office of service as one of the twelve. Why are they called the twelve? Why did Christ choose twelve men to this task? The number 12 is no doubt spiritually significant. It's a historical number from the Old Testament. There were 12 sons of Jacob, and these 12 sons became the heads of what we know as the 12 tribes of Israel. By calling these 12, most assumed that Christ was giving a signal that he was, in fact, reconstituting and restoring the people of God. He's calling out his 12. They're gonna form the new covenant people of God, and his church is gonna be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, these 12. Although we assume this, it's not explicitly stated here. It just says he called 12. The closest we get to an explicit statement along these lines will appear later in the gospel in Matthew 19, verse 28, where we read, and Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you, that ye which had followed me in the generation when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. That's the closest we get to it. Christ says, you're gonna sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. After calling these men, Matthew then adds, in verse one, that Christ gave them power. Christ gave them power. And in fact, English word power is a Greek word, exousia. Sometimes it's rendered as authority. He gave them power or he gave them authority. Now, one of the interesting parallels we're gonna make as we look at this passage is this address that Christ gives to the apostles and another address he's gonna give at the very end of this gospel. In fact, the last words of Matthew are gonna be what we sometimes call Christ's great commission. So we've got a commissioning that happens in Matthew 10, and we've got a commissioning that's gonna happen at the very end of the gospel. And in Matthew chapter 28, just before Christ gives the great commission to the disciples, we read there that he declared to them, all power, all exousia is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And so he has power that he gives to the disciples in Matthew 10, and all power in heaven and earth is given to him in Matthew 28, and he's gonna give to the apostles, and he's gonna send them out to go and teach all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach the disciples to observe all the things that he has commanded them, and he will promise he will be with them to the end of the age. But now, early in his ministry, likewise, he gives power unto these apostles. And what is the power that he gives to these men who are filling this special office, this extraordinary office within Christ's church? What is this special power? Well, he's gonna describe in part here what this power entailed. Again, we should remember, this is a special granting of power that Christ is giving to these men. We should not expect that this type of power was given to all the disciples. It was not. Nor should we expect that this type of power is given to believers today, including those of us who fill what we call the ordinary offices of pastors, elders, and deacons. This was a special power given to these men in these times. Two things are cited here by Matthew. They were given power first against unclean spirits to cast them out. This means they were given the power to perform exorcisms, to cast out demons. Of course, that was a power that we've already seen that Christ had, a power that he demonstrated. Look back for a second to chapter eight, verse 16. This is when the Lord Jesus was at Peter's house after he healed Peter's mother-in-law. It says, when the evening was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word and healed all that were sick. And so Christ in his ministry had cast out demons. We've already seen, haven't we, in the last two chapters, some of this. Remember the two demoniacs, the two men who lived among the tombs. from the land of the Gergesenes in chapter 8 of Matthew, verses 28 through 34, and how Christ cast out the demons, and they went into the herd of swine, and the swine ran down the hill and were drowned. Think, too, what we most recently read in Matthew 9, verses 32 and 33, when Christ healed the dumb man, the man whose tongue had been oppressed by some evil spirit. And so Christ had this power, and now this power is being shared, it's being given to the 12. What do we make of exorcisms, the apostles performing exorcisms? You might remember that I said with respect to Christ's exorcisms that I suggested that I think that this was probably a type of malady that was permitted by God, especially at the time of Christ and at the time of the apostles, in order to demonstrate Christ's power. I don't think this sort of thing ordinarily happens today. It was a special malady that was permitted by God in order to glorify Christ and show the power of Christ. And now we're saying it's also going to be permitted in the time of the apostles so that they might also be shown before the world to have the power of God. And again, it's not something that should be considered normative in our day. Second notice in verse one, they were given the power to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. This also was a power that Christ had exercised in the midst of the multitudes. And this had included everything from remember him healing the leper in chapter 8 verses 1 through 4, healing Peter's mother-in-law, chapter 8 verses 14 and 15, healing the man who was sick of the palsy in chapter 9 verses 1 through 8, and more than just healing the man, what else did he do? He forgave his sins. And it also included, remember, healing the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years, chapter 9 verses 20 through 23, and the healing of the two blind men, Matthew 9, verses 27 through 31. And so Christ had the power of healing, and that power was given also to the apostles. This twofold description of the power that was given to the apostles, exorcisms and healings, is not, however, exhaustive of all the power these men had. If you look ahead to verse eight, we see also that when Christ sends them out, he commissions them not only to heal the sick and to cleanse lepers, but also to raise the dead and cast out devils. They will also be given the power to raise the dead, to resuscitate the dead, just as Christ had raised Jairus' daughter. from life to death in chapter 8, verses 24 and 25 of Matthew. Here is Christ calling these ordinary men to come alongside him and to labor with him in this extraordinary ministry in the fields that are ripe unto harvest. Maybe you know the phrase, many hands make light work. The more workers you have, the more easily the work can be done. And Christ is implementing that principle, calling these men to this special office to come alongside him, even during the course of his earthly ministry, taking them into an apprenticeship so that after the cross and the resurrection and the ascension, when he's seated in session, that these men can be prepared to carry out his ministry and to become the foundation for the church that Christ is building. And so we see that initially in this calling to service. Second part of our text, verses two through four. Matthew lists the names of the 12. Look at verse two. Now the names of the 12 apostles are these. Here we see that the term the 12 disciples is being used interchangeably with the term the 12 apostles. Sometimes they're just simply called the 12. In Greek, it's dodeca. They're just called the 12. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 5, when Paul is rehearsing the gospel and he says, he appeared to Cephas and then to the 12. Sometimes they were simply called the 12, sometimes the 12 disciples, sometimes the 12 apostles. The word apostle in English comes from the Greek word apostolos. That comes from a Greek verb, apostello, which means to send out. And so the 12 apostles were those whom Christ called and then those whom he sent out to exercise, again, this very extraordinary ministry in his name. Each of the first three gospels provide for us a listing like this one of the 12. In addition to what we have here in Matthew 10, we also find this list in Mark 3, verses 14 through 19, in Luke 6, verses 13 through 16, and in Acts 1, verse 13, there's a listing of the 11. Why 11? Because Judas had forsaken Christ, but there's still a listing of the 12 minus Judas in Acts 1.13. In the gospel listings of the 12, there are some things about these lists that are typically the same. Peter, for example, is always listed first. And Judas Iscariot is always listed last, with the note added that he was the one who betrayed the Lord. So there's some things the same. There are also a few things in each one of the list that's a bit unique. And we're going to point to a couple of things that are a bit unique about how Matthew, under the Spirit's inspiration, listed the names of the 12. You'll notice as we look here and go through these names in verses two through four, that Matthew presents the 12 in six pairs of two. And this may reflect the fact that Christ sent out the disciples at times in pairs. In Mark 6, verse 7, it says, he began to send them forth by two and two. And so the first pair that we'll look at is Simon Peter and Andrew, his brother. Look at verse two. Now the names of the 12 apostles are these. The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother. And I probably should have prefaced this sermon by saying that this is going to be a kind of sermon with quite a bit of teaching. We're going to come to application. This is going to require quite a bit of teaching. So please attend with me in this. Why is Peter listed first here? Well, Peter's listed first because Peter was appointed by the Lord to have a very special place among the apostles and to serve in a unique role as a catalyst in expanding the kingdom of God. We have the call of Peter and Andrew, remember, in Matthew 4, verses 18 through 20, they were fishermen by the Sea of Galilee and Christ had called them, He said, I'll make you become fishers of men and they had left all and they had followed Him. And Peter, again, would go on to take on a leading role. He will be the first of the disciples. In Matthew 16, 16, to declare, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Of course, after this, Peter will also fail miserably, right? He will deny that he even knows Christ three times when Christ is arrested and on trial. But after that, after that great failure, We can also turn to John 21, verses 15 through 17, and we'll read there of how the risen Lord met with Peter by the Sea of Tiberias, the Sea of Galilee, and three times he asked Peter, do you love me more than these? And he will give to Peter restoration, though he had failed and denied Christ. There's hope, friends, for everyone who's ever denied Christ, who professed faith and then denied Christ in word or deed. He restored Peter. And he gave him a new commission, feed my sheep, tend my lambs, feed my lambs. And so he restored him. And then as the disciples were gathered in Jerusalem after Christ had ascended, there were only about 120 of them. In Acts 115, it says, and in those days, Peter stood up among the apostles. The man who had been a coward stood up for Christ. And then in Acts 2, sometimes called the first Christian sermon, Acts 2.14 says, but Peter, standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice. And so Peter has that pride of place first in the list of the apostles. Of course, also listed there with him is his brother Andrew. The name Andrew means manly. It comes from the Greek word for man, manly. Interesting, a Jewish man of Galilee had a Greek name. But we think that he had probably been a disciple of John the Baptist. We read about this in John 1. And although Peter is first in the list, we know from John 1 that it was actually Andrew who had introduced Peter to the Lord. He had gone to his brother, John 1.41, and he said to his brother, we have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ. And then John 1.42, it says this, and he brought him, meaning his brother, Peter, to Jesus. And he brought him to Jesus. The next pair are two more brothers. Look at verse two. James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother. We also have the call of these men recorded in Matthew 4, verses 21 and 22. Remember, they too were fishermen, and when Christ called them, they left their father sitting in the boat, mending the nets. Christ said, follow me, and they left all immediately, and they followed after Christ. If you take these four men together here, Peter and Andrew, James and John, they were among the very earliest followers of the Lord Jesus. And we'll talk a bit more about James and John a bit later. The third pair that are listed here in verse three are Philip and Bartholomew. Philip and Bartholomew. John 1.43 says that Christ found Philip in Galilee and said unto him, follow me. And he adds in John 144 that Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. See, many of these guys knew each other. They were Galileans, they knew each other, they practiced the same trade, they were familiar with each other, and when they found Christ, they began to share this with those who were around them, those that they knew. Bartholomew is listed. The name literally means son of Ptolemy. Bar in Aramaic means son, right? Bartholomew, son of Ptolemy. Many believe that this Bartholomew is the same disciple who is identified in John 1 by the name Nathanael. Nathanael means God has given. According to John 1.45, it was Philip who told Nathanael about the Lord Jesus. And he said, we found this man, Jesus of Nazareth, the one about whom Moses and all the prophets have spoken. And you remember what Nathanael's response was in John 1 46? He said, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Is the Messiah really going to come out of Nazareth? And Philip had responded to him, John 146, come and see. Believers are always saying that to unbelievers, right? I found Christ. Is there anything good that can come out of Christianity, really? That uptight, fuddy-duddy, archaic religion? Come and see. Come see for yourself what it's like. Come see for yourself. who this man, the Lord Jesus Christ is, and what he does to people's lives. You come and see. It's interesting that Philip and Bartholomew here are listed together. We can imagine them as a ministry team sent out by Christ two by two. The fourth pair listed are Thomas and Matthew the Publican. Look as well as we get to verse three, after Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew the Publican. John's Gospel will tell us that Thomas was not present at that first Resurrection Sunday when Christ appeared before beneath or before closed doors where the disciples were gathered together. And because Thomas wasn't there, he didn't believe the report of the other disciples. And he said, I will not believe unless I can put my hands in the print of the nails in Christ's hands, and unless I can thrust my hand into the wound in his side. John 20, verse 25. Because of that, Thomas has become known to many as Doubting Thomas. But the next Sunday, the second Resurrection Sunday, the second Lord's Day, the Lord appeared to Thomas, and the first thing Thomas said is in John 20, 28. He said, my Lord and my God, my Kurios and my Theos, my Lord and my God, So when I've preached on that passage before, I've said, he should not be called doubting Thomas. He should be called confessing Thomas, confessing Thomas. Thomas is paired up with Matthew. And we've already looked in this series, haven't we, at Matthew 9, 9, the call of Matthew. And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. And he saith unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed him. And you may remember, you know, Matthew was a tax collector. He was, would have been considered a notorious sinner, a traitor to his nation. And I pointed out when I preached on that passage earlier that one of the things that's distinctive about Matthew's listing of the 12 is when Matthew writes the name of the 12 and he puts his own name in there, he's the only evangelist who writes after his name, Matthew the Publican. Because in the reversal of the gospel, he actually wasn't ashamed of what he used to be before he came to Christ. He was proud of the fact that Christ had taken him as he was and had made him a disciple. He never got over the fact that he was saved, and I think that's evident by the description of himself here in verse 3. The fifth pair is given to us also in verse 3. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Labias, whose surname was Thaddeus. James the son of Alphaeus is also known as James the less or James the lesser by church historians to distinguish him from James the brother of John, the son of Zebedee who was mentioned earlier. You might remember when I preached to the gospel or the epistle of James, I suggested that there's good reason to think that James the son of Alphaeus is actually the James who wrote James the epistle. And you may remember that we were talking about Matthew, that we noted that Matthew was also known as Levi. And in Mark 2.14, Mark records that he was called Levi of Alphaeus, Levi the son of Alphaeus. And so there's some good chance that Matthew and this James here, James the less, may also have been brothers. And this means that among the 12, there would have been at least three sets of brothers. Peter and Andrew, James and John, and perhaps Matthew and James of Alphaeus. The next fellow, Labius or Thaddeus. We know it was certainly not uncommon in those days for Jewish men to have more than one name. Labius apparently was also known as Thaddeus. And we know actually from Luke's account in Luke 6.16 and Acts 1.13, Thaddeus was also known as Judas, the brother of James. The sixth and last pair given to us in verse four are Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. We always get that note at the end, that Judas, he's last, and he's the one who betrayed Christ. The first of these fellows, however, is identified here as Simon the Canaanite. In Luke's Gospel, Luke 6.15 and in Acts 1.13, he is called not Simon the Canaanite, but he's called Simon Zelotes or Simon the Zealot. Most believe that this likely means that before this man was called to Christ, he probably had been a political fanatic. We would probably call him a terrorist. He was an Osama bin Laden. He had hate towards the Romans, most likely, wanted to overthrow them. He had aligned himself with the zealots. Maybe he was there when Christ was teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Love your enemies. Do good to those who persecute you. Maybe his heart was changed and he went from being Simon the zealot to being Simon the disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, sometimes people who have a misguided zeal in some fields, some people live and die for politics. It's very tempting these days, isn't it? To sit in front of your TV and take in the cable news channels or your favorite news feed from the internet and to get in an uproar over everything that's happening in the world. And I'm not saying you shouldn't be involved. There's a lot to get in an uproar about these days, friends, is there not? But if you're living and dying for that, you're living and dying for the wrong thing. And the Lord is pleased to take zealots and make them disciples and make them love and want to serve and follow after Christ. He's been doing it from the beginning. Among the 12 is one called Simon the Zealot. Judas Iscariot, the name Iscariot likely is a place name, Judas from Iscariot. In Christ's high priestly prayer in John 17, 12, Christ refers to him as the son of perdition. Later in Matthew's gospel, in Matthew 26, 24, Christ will say, the son of man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It had been good for that man if he had not been born. 12 disciples and there was a wolf among them. There was one who would turn against Christ. And there's a lot of teaching. Let's pause here and let me offer to you just some observations on this list. First of all, notice that although Christ had many disciples, even thousands who were following him, that he chose to set apart 12 to special service as apostles, to an extraordinary office. And no doubt, these were men who were known of Christ and who were close to Christ. And we see something here, the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true humanity, that he had those with whom he shared in close friendships. The Gospels tell us that even beyond the 12, that there were three disciples with whom Christ was particularly close. They were often with him when he went to the Mount of Transfiguration, when he went out to pray, he took with him Peter, James, and John. And John's gospel, we talked about James and John, John's gospel tells us that perhaps Christ's closest friend was John, John the Apostle, the brother of James. He refers to himself in John's gospel as the beloved disciple, the disciple whom Jesus loved. He's seated right next to Christ, at his side, as they gather in the upper room. This reminds us, friends, that Christian faith is a common faith. Christ has set the example for us, as have the apostles. We're not islands. We don't go about the Christian life alone. We need fellow travelers on this journey. We need those who will aid us on the way. We need fellow laborers. There's more than any of us can do alone. Many hands make light work. And so we need the traveling company, fellow disciples. Christ set the model for us. Second, notice that although the Lord Jesus had many women disciples during his ministry, many women followers, like Mary and Martha of Bethany, for example, when he chose the 12 for this office, the office of apostle, he set apart only men to this extraordinary office. Just as only men will be set apart according to Paul's teaching in 1st Timothy 3, for the offices of elder and the office of deacon within the church. Does that mean that Christianity is patriarchal and sexist and misogynistic? Of course not. Galatians 3.28, in Christ there's no male nor female, no Jew nor Greek, no slave nor free, we're all one in Christ. But the Bible recognizes the persistent truth and reality that we're also not the same. And God has different callings for different persons. And I don't know why it is, but the Lord was pleased to set apart men for particular areas of leadership within his church. God in his wisdom gave this task, not to all men, but to some men who were called to it. Third, notice that many of these men were brothers in the flesh. How wonderful it is when siblings share a like precious faith in the Lord. But more important than their relationship by blood as siblings was that they were spiritual brethren and they served Christ. Fourth, notice that of the 12, one of these betrayed Christ. Elder Clark and I were texting about this this morning. One wonders what power was given to Judas. How many sermons did Judas preach? Did he heal people in Christ's name? Did he cast out devils in Christ's name? This reminds us that one can have the name of disciple, one can even fill an office in the church and be unconverted. That should make us tremble when we think about it. That should make us tremble. Fifth, fifth observation. These were ordinary men whose lives were completely changed by meeting Christ and being called to serve him. They included fishermen, a tax collector, a political zealot. Ordinary men who met Christ were changed and were called to serve him. It's often been said that one of the greatest proofs for the truth of the Christian faith and for the reality of the resurrection is that these ordinary men, after meeting Christ and after being eyewitnesses to his resurrection, they went out and they turned the world upside down. In the book of Acts, Luke records one occasion where the apostles were preaching, fearlessly preaching in the temple. And the religious leaders note this, they arrest them, they try to stop them. And in Acts 4.13, Luke records this, now when they, meaning the religious leaders, saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. It remains true today that when men are around Jesus, They are transformed by him. Why are we always talking about the importance of coming to church? We can even use our reformed theological terms and say it's part of the ordinary means of grace. Elder Clark and I don't like being the church police. We really don't have a list and we don't take roll and mark off you're here or not here. Why do we care about this? And why do we care about it? Because we care for your souls. And because we believe that Christ told us that when two or more of us are gathered in his name, that he's here in our midst. And we have this idea that we think is drawn from scripture, that the more you're around Christ, the better it is for you. The more you're around Christ, the more you will begin to resemble him and act like him. And you could be like these men, unlearned and ignorant. But if you're around the Lord Jesus, he begins to change you. He transforms you, sanctifies you. And so we can take note of how the Lord worked in these ordinary men. We know that these men were even willing in the end, although some of them, like Peter, denied Christ three times, we talked about that. All of them fled from Christ when he was arrested, left him alone. We know that these men were willing to lay down their lives for Christ. There are historical traditions that I could cite here that provide narratives that are outside of the New Testament that describe for each one of these apostles how that all of them died as martyrs for Christ. Again, save accepting Judas Iscariot. But we gotta be careful about those extra biblical traditions, because we can only trust the word. And if we just limit it to the New Testament itself, we have two solid and reliable accounts of this within the New Testament. The first of these is in Acts 12, which records the death of James, the brother of John, the son of Zebedee, and he will be forever known as the first of the apostles to offer up his life for Christ. In Acts 12, verses 1 and 2, it says, Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, and he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. Likely means he was beheaded for Christ. In John's gospel, John records in John 21, after that scene where it describes how he restored Peter after he denied Christ three times. In John 21, verse 18, Christ said this. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. And if we didn't get the prophecy that Christ was giving to Peter, John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, explains it to us in John 21, 19. This spake he, signifying by what death he, meaning Peter, should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me. Follow me. We got other records that tell us Peter was crucified upside down. We don't know that for sure, but it just, it sure seems like Christ prophesied that just as Christ had been crucified, that Peter also would go to the cross and be crucified. He would follow after Christ, literally take up his cross and follow after Christ and meet death. And this was a man who was a coward, who did not even knew Christ three times. But he was restored, restored, given back his life so he could lose it again for Christ. Friends, you don't lay down your life for a fairy tale. You don't lay down your life for a myth. But you will gladly lay it down for the truth of God. And these men were all changed by Christ. Well, we've looked at the calling of the 12, We've looked at the naming of the 12, and let me just briefly talk about the commencement of Christ's commissioning of the 12. Verse five, these 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now, this is kind of stunning because Christ here sends out the disciples. He uses the verb here as Matthew describes it in verse five. He sent them forth. He apostoloed them, he apostleed them, he sent them out. But what's striking is that initially he told the disciples only to go to their fellow Jews, not to go to the Gentiles, not to go to the Samaritans. We know that Christ had a heart for Gentiles. We've already seen this. Remember in Matthew 8, verses 5 through 13, where he healed the centurion's servant. But here early in his ministry, Christ told the disciples to go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This was not a permanent commission. It was a temporary one that was given to the disciples. And the reason we know it wasn't permanent is we have to understand the first commission in Matthew 10 through the lens of the final commission that Christ will give in Matthew 28, 19, and 20. Because what did Christ say, the risen Lord, in the final commission? He said, go and teach all nations, all ethnic, Jews and Gentiles. But for this brief period in Christ's ministry, he demonstrated here his heart All of his disciples, by the way, are Jews according to flesh. His heart laid upon them for their fellow Jews. He reminds me here of the Apostle Paul who said in Romans 9, I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for my brethren. my kinsmen according to the flesh. And so Christ had that burden for his kinsmen according to the flesh. He sends them out to do two things. Look at verse seven. And as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand, this is exactly what the Lord Jesus himself had preached as he commenced his public ministry. You can look at Matthew four, verse 17. And secondly, verse eight, he sent them out to heal the sick, to cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead, to cast out doubles. He sent them out to do all the things that he had given them the power to do. Even as he had done, we've seen the 10 miracles, we've seen what Christ did, and now he sends them out to do this also in his name. And lastly, he says, freely ye have received, freely give. This is a reminder that authentic Christian ministry is not a business. Freely ye have received, freely give. We've talked about this several times. You know, we have the Keech Conference. Do you know what it costs to attend the Keech Conference? Zero. It's a conscientious thing for us. Freely we have been given, freely we desire to give. This church isn't a business. You ever heard somebody say, if the church would only be run like a business, it would be better. If we did this, that, and that, we'd meet the budget, and we'd finally have some money in the bank account instead of giving it all away, which we always do. Why don't we run the church like a business? Because it's not a business. We're not a business. We're not about making a profit. We're not about tit for tat. We're not about, if you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. We're not about manipulating the customer. We have no exterior motive other than serving Christ. We receive from Christ freely. We did nothing to earn it, nothing to purchase it, and with grateful hearts, All we can do is turn and give it as freely as we've gotten. I'm not saying we don't fall short of that sometimes. But brethren, this is the ideal. We have been, we have received freely, and we just turn around and give it away as freely as we've gotten it. I've been in some churches sometimes, but that's not the case. but it should be the way, it's the way it ought to be for us. Let me draw a few spiritual applications as we come to the end of our text. First, Christ calls men to salvation, and he also calls some men to particular offices of service. He called 12 men to be apostles. He gave them unusual powers. They held extraordinary offices, an office that doesn't exist today. That office has now ceased. But Christ does still call men to ordinary office. And the church is always in need of men to be called to ordinary office. The church is in need of men to be called to become preachers, to become pastors, and to become deacons. And one practical application of this is to ask men, may the Lord be calling some of you to serve in this way in the church. and to ask how might he prepare you for this? And even if he's not calling us, any one of us individually, he's calling us as a church to look for these men and to help identify them and to support them and encourage them so they might be called to office. Second, the apostles were given a historical role as the foundation of Christ's church. We know their names, they're listed right here. We know the names of these men. They were not anonymous servants. They weren't keyboard warriors on social media. They were men willing to be known by name. It's getting riskier and riskier in some circles in our culture today to be identified by name with the cause of Christ, isn't it? Sometimes it seems easier to want to hide. and not be identified by name with the cause of Christ. It might hurt your chances in getting that entrance into school or that scholarship or getting that job promotion or whatever. But these men were willing to have their names listed to say, I stand with Christ. And there's something significant in that. They were ordinary men given an extraordinary office and extraordinary power. Christ said they're the foundation of the church. How do we follow these men today? In Acts 2.42, there's a description of the church in Jerusalem, and it says of them, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. The apostles are gone, they've gone the way of all flesh and they're not here to continue to do the miraculous things that they were given the power by Christ to do. But what was the one thing they accomplished while they were here that we still have a touchstone with them? They were moved along by the Holy Spirit to write down the scriptures. That's one of the things they did. We have contact with these men right now through this book. We have their writings. How do we have contact with the apostles today? We follow after the writings which they have given to us. We love, we know, and we live according to the word. In Jude 117, Jude said, but beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Third, Christ called the apostles to go first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to go to those closest to them. And then at the end, he tells them to go to all nations, to all men preaching the kingdom. He called for two things, verses seven and eight here, for them to go out and preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then secondly, to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. He called for them to minister to men in their disordered states. Again, we're not apostles, and there are things about this commission that don't apply to us. They apply to the first, the men who held this office, and not to us. But, again, this is what's gonna require discernment all through this series, through Christ's teaching here in Matthew 10. There are things here that are applicable to us. We're not apostles, and our church doesn't have apostles any longer. But we do have ordinary officers, and we are the church, and we are still called out to do what? To preach the word, first and foremost? And we are also called to minister to men in their sick, diseased, spiritually dead, and captive state, and proclaim to them freedom, liberty in Christ. One might even say in verses seven and eight, we have a foreshadowing of the description of the ordinary officers that is preaching the word, that work done by elders and works of mercy and ministry to those in need, the labors of our deacons. And we have the same command that was given to the apostles, freely you have received, freely give. May we do so to the glory of God as his church and his people in this generation. Amen? Let me invite you to stand together. Let's join in prayer. Gracious and loving God, we do give thee thanks for thy word and for Christ's ministry, for his compassion upon the multitudes, for his crying out for laborers, and then for the immediate answer to that intercession as he set apart the 12 for this work. We thank you for the apostles, men who were changed by being around Christ, men who wrote down the scriptures so that we could have this invaluable record of the teaching and ministry of Christ. Help us to live in this generation for Christ in a way that honors and obeys the commandments of Christ that have come to us through the apostles. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.