All right, well good well, hey, let's uh, let's
grab our Bibles and let's turn to the book of
Acts together We are in Acts chapter 23 this
morning and Never want to take for granted what
we get to do right now, which is to Study the
Word of God together as a church family And we
get to do this every week book by book chapter
by chapter paragraph by paragraph, sentence by
sentence, and there's always something in God's
Word for us to learn. God has spoken to us through
His Word, and we get to hear from Him this morning
through the preaching of His Word, and working
our way through the book of Acts, kind of feel
like we've kind of... Hit the point where we're
descending now a little bit down towards the
end of the book And I don't want you to give
up on the rest of the book here and wait till
we get to the shipwreck at the end There are
some fascinating things that happened to the
Apostle Paul on his way to to Rome and I want
to highlight those things for us and see what
the Lord has for us and how he's going to speak
to us into our hearts this morning, but Uh, we're
gonna we're gonna look at chapter 23 And I want
to read for us just verses 6 down to 11 just
to get us into the text Um a little bit i'm gonna
pray for us and then uh, let's see what the lord
has uh in this chapter 23 verse 6 now when paul
perceived At one part were Sadducees and the
other Pharisees He cried out in the council Brothers,
I am a Pharisee a son of a Pharisee It is with
respect to the hope and the resurrection of the
dead that I am on trial. When he had said this,
the dissension arose between the Pharisees and
the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection,
nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge
them all. Then a great clamor arose and some
of the scribes and Pharisees' party stood up
and contended sharply, We find nothing wrong
in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke
to him? When the dissension became violent, the
tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces
by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and
to take him away from among them by force and
bring him into the barracks. The following night
the Lord stood by him and said take courage For
as you have testified to the facts about me in
Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome our
Heavenly Father Right now we're sitting together
with other believers in Christ with The Word
of God just right there opened up on our laps
What a privilege it is that we get to hear from
the Almighty creator of the universe this morning
and Every word that you have spoken is Profitable
to us every story that's told in the Word of
God is good for us every command that you Placed
in front of us through your word is is helpful
to us And this morning as we jump into Acts chapter
23 to hear Again more of the life of Paul. Would
you soften our hearts to receive the truth? Would
you allow us to grow this morning to become more
dependent upon you Would you help us this morning
to cast our cares and our anxieties before you
And would you just help us, Lord, to trust your
sovereign plan for our lives? We pray these things
in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, growing up, I was
in a household when, in elementary school and
junior high school and maybe even into high school,
when you got sick on a school day, your parents
would say to you, you're going to school. And
I would go to school. even if I claimed to be
sick or even if I really was sick and I would
go to school if I was sick because my mom would
not let me stay home and do nothing and so I
would go and if I was actually sick then I would
need to go to the nurse and take that giant leap
to say I need to go see the nurse and then when
I get to the nurse's office they would immediately
send send me home if I was sick and on the rare
days when I was home sick I would get to watch
on TV at 10 o 'clock on Channel 47, KNBR in Fresno,
The Price is Right. Because The Price is Right
was the only thing that was on. You guys know
this. You did the same thing I did. This is good.
Chicken noodle soup. It was chicken noodle soup,
me, and The Price is Right. When the Price is
Right was over, this is going somewhere by the
way, when the Price is Right is over, the next
show would come on and the next show was Judge
Wapner, The People's Court. And it was during
that time where I would fall asleep and wake
up and I would watch this ridiculous show called
The People's Court with these people coming on
trial for these... random things that they would
do to their neighbor or whatnot and then it turned
into Judge Judy after that which is maybe more
of this younger generation knows what Judge Judy
is and I just remember in my mind this this courtroom
scene all the time of Judge Wapner Judge Judy
putting these people on trial for something that
they had done because somebody had committed
some sort of crime or Allegedly there is a crime
that was committed Well, in our text this morning,
the apostle Paul has actually committed no crime
at all. All he did was sail into Jerusalem and
find a church. And immediately when he got there,
having said almost nothing at all, the apostle
Paul was already on trial. And here in chapter
23, in our chapter this morning, he is on trial
yet again, this time in front of the council,
the Jewish council there, the Sanhedrin, which
was the Pharisees and the Sadducees together.
Later on in the chapter, he'll be sent in front
of the governor of Felix or of Rome and yet in
front of another trial. And then in chapter 24
and chapter 25 and in chapter 26 yet we see Paul
again on trial after trial after trial. There
are, if you want to count, there are four different
trial scenes that happen within the next three
chapters of Acts. Just one trial after the next.
And the thing is, it's not so much that the Apostle
Paul is on trial. It's not so much that there
is a man who has committed a crime that is on
trial. Rather, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ
and the truth that is on trial. It is the truth
that Jesus Christ is... the Son of God and that
He has risen from the grave. It is the truth
that Jesus is the Messiah. That is what is on
trial over the next three to four chapters. So
how do you know that? Well, look at verse six
of chapter 23. Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son
of Pharisees. It is with respect to what? To
the hope and the resurrection of the dead that
I am on trial. It is because of the truth that
I am on trial. Flip over to chapter 24 and verse
21. He says this, other than this one thing that
I cried out while standing among them, underline
it, it is with respect to the resurrection of
the dead that I am on trial before you this day.
It is to the respect of the fact that Jesus Christ
rose from the dead, and because Jesus Christ
rose from the dead, all those who believe in
Him will also rise from the dead and be given
eternal life. Paul isn't on trial here. The gospel
of Jesus Christ is on trial. The truth is on
trial. And as I said last week, truth tellers
are not wanted in a culture of liars." This was
true when Jesus walked the earth and he spoke
the truth. He was killed and murdered for speaking
the truth, for even saying rightly that he is
the truth. Peter and John were arrested for their
faith, eventually killed for their faith. Stephen
was the first martyr for speaking the truth.
Philip, now Paul, Everyone who speaks the truth
about Jesus Christ will come face to face with
those who do not love and like the truth of the
gospel of Jesus Christ You can follow this all
throughout church history follow it all throughout
the reformations the Scottish Reformation the
English Reformation truth -tellers Were murdered
missionaries even now in new territories as they
go to new territories. They're not wanted there
killed for their faith. Christianity is a message
of hope. Christianity is a message of peace and
forgiveness. Reconciliation with your creator
yet is received all too much as a religion that
divides, a religion that is unloving, a religion
that doesn't let people do what they want to
do and have autonomy over their own lives. And
there is an attempt to silence this good gospel
message. And that is nothing new. The gospel
has been on trial and the gospel will always
be on trial So here's Paul a Spokesman and an
ambassador of Christ Doing what God had commissioned
him to do to go and to speak the truth to the
Jews first and then to the Gentiles he goes out
he does that in these three missionary journeys
and he comes back to Jerusalem and immediately
A riot breaks out He is arrested for barely even
speaking up. He has one time where he speaks
up, and that was in chapter 22, where he simply
shares what Christ has done in his life, a testimony
of the gospel of Jesus Christ in his life, and
he is arrested. Now, I don't want to spoil what
happens, but I'm almost certain most of you already
know what happens to the Apostle Paul in the
next few The next few chapters here, but let
me just give you the conclusion of these trials.
Okay, there's four trials Let me just let me
just kind of jump ahead and we'll work our way
back here His first trial is in front of the
sanhedrin and they're divided over it Right.
We read about that. We'll look at it again. They're
they're divided and they don't know what to do
with him So they actually don't come to a verdict
He goes before governor felix and he just takes
a pass on it Gosh, I don't know what to do. So
here's what we'll do We'll just put you in prison
for two years And then then I'll run out of time
here and somebody else will come in charge and
and they'll figure out what to do with you Well,
then after that he goes into governor Festus
and and he simply says and in 26 24 that the
Apostle Paul Here and he is out of his mind and
the Apostle Paul's like I'm not out of my mind
for this He doesn't know what to do with them
So he leaves them in prison Then he gets to King
Agrippa and King Agrippa comes to the end and
says hey if you were in front of Caesar himself
Well, he would let you go No, nobody actually
comes to a conclusion on what to do with the
Apostle Paul because he's done nothing wrong
his message is that of hope and forgiveness and
grace and Reconciliation and when he goes on
trial people don't even know what to do with
him Now remember this and I just alluded to this
the Apostle Paul his heart has always been set
on what city? Jerusalem Right even on his missionary
journeys. He couldn't wait to get back to Jerusalem
He'd go out and he'd he'd go all the way stretch
all the way into Europe planting churches and
strengthening churches, but in his heart he wanted
to get back to Jerusalem and finally He makes
his way back, even though people had said to
him, hey, maybe you shouldn't go back to Jerusalem.
He's like, no, in my heart, I know this is where
I need to be. I need to be in Jerusalem. His
heart is set to Jerusalem. He wants to be a witness
for Jerusalem. So he shows up in Jerusalem after
his his third missionary journey. He goes straight
to the church and and there is James, the head
of the elders. He's with the elders in the church
and they come to him and say, hey, hey, Paul,
I'm glad you're here. But. There's some people
here some Jews here who have heard that you're
not too fond of Judaism You're not too fond of
the law anymore. In fact, you're teaching against
the law. You're teaching against our festivals
You're you're teaching against our feast. You're
you're doing all these this teaching that is
that that feels as though it's anti Judaism and
It's true. The Apostle Paul did preach against
the law In the sense that the law cannot save
you Obedience to the law adherence to the law
cannot save you, but he was not anti obedience
to the law He was just anti obedience to the
law if you think that's gonna save you and that's
called legalism and so the Apostle Paul was anti
these things but but The problem was is that
there was such an uprising in Jerusalem of these
Jews who had heard these these rumors and these
stories about the Apostle Paul that seemed as
though he was anti all of these things that they
became against Paul without even confronting
or asking him. So the Apostle Paul, the elder
said, hey guys, why don't you take these four
guys and put them underneath the Nazarite vial?
Why don't you go ahead and pay for it for them
and show the people that, hey, I'm not anti,
you're not anti us. So Paul goes ahead and he
does that thinking, hey, this will appease the
crowd. Well, it doesn't appease the crowd. In
fact, the opposite happens. They get even more
upset and more upset. And because of that, there's
this massive riot that happens in Jerusalem.
All these people were stirred up against them
and they want Paul thrown out of the city. No,
they want Paul killed. Let's just kill him. Sounds
a lot like another man who made his way into
Jerusalem having done nothing wrong. Like another
man that was once cared for and then they turned
on him. Sounds a lot like the story of Jesus
when he went in Jerusalem. Here's Paul with his
heart set on Jerusalem. He gets there and it
didn't take long and Acts chapter 21 and verse
31 says that they were seeking to kill him. They're
seeking to kill him. He's arrested and Paul says,
can I have one word? He gives him a word. He
tells him his testimony. He shares about that
moment when he was with Christ. The light shone
on him. He came to know Christ and in that moment
he turned from being the great persecutor of
the church, the one who would proclaim Christianity
and be the greatest church planter and missionary
of all time. You talk about that. He comes to
the end of it. He says, hey, I'm a Roman citizen,
by the way. And they're like, really? You're
a Roman citizen? Are you sure? He's like, yes,
I'm a Roman citizen. So they couldn't beat him
for that. They couldn't scorch him for that.
because he needed a fair trial. He comes to the
end of that. Now you can look at chapter 22 and
verse 29. They take him. They are about to examine
him. They withdrew from him immediately. And
the tribune also was afraid. They were afraid
because he was a Roman citizen. They realized
that Paul was a Roman citizen and that they had
bound him. Verse 30, but on the next day. desiring
to know the real reason why he is being accused
by the Jews, right? Everybody's like, what did
this man do? He unbound him and commanded the
chief priests and the council to meet, and he
brought Paul down and set them before him. So
who is this council? What is this Jewish council?
Let me just kind of open this up to you guys
to see this, about what this council is. This
Jewish council here is a group of people that
come together that is filled with the Sadducees
and the Pharisees and the High Priest and the
High Priest at this time was Ananias. The Sadducees
are the party of the rich. They're the high priestly
families. They're the ones that were in charge
of the temple and its services. They were the
ones who were opposed to the oral law. They accepted
the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old
Testament, as the ultimate authority. The Sadducees
were materialistic in their outlook. They did
not believe in life after death or any reward
or punishment beyond this life. They denied the
existence of angels and demons. They did not
believe that God was concerned with what people
did. rather people were totally free. Okay, that's
the Sadducees and there was a group of those
Sadducees that were part of this council. There's
also in that the Pharisees. Now the Pharisees
constituted the most important group and the
largest group in Judea. They appeared in the
Gospels as the opponents of Jesus, right? And
it's true. Paul claimed that he was a Pharisee
before coming a Christian. They were the most
numerous of the group, although Josephus stated
that they were numbered only about 6 ,000. They
controlled the synagogues. They exercised authority
over the general population. They were developers
of the oral tradition, teachers of the two -fold
law written and oral. They saw the way of God
as being through obedience to the law, right?
That's what a Pharisee is. They obey and obey
and obey and obey in hopes to gain righteousness
before God. They were progressives of the day,
willing to adopt new ideas and to adopt the law
to new situations. Strongly monotheistic, they
accepted all the Old Testament as authoritative,
and they affirmed They affirmed the reality of
angels and demons And they even affirmed life
beyond the grave and a resurrection of the body
Then in this group you have someone that's in
charge of all of this and that would be the high
priest Ananias the supreme religious leader in
Jerusalem's temple He served primarily as a mediator
between God and Israel, holds significant political
power in the Sanhedrin. This is not the Ananias,
if you're wondering, of that in the Gospels.
If your mind went to, is this the same guy? It's
not the same guy. Different guy. He is notorious
as being one of the most wicked men of his day.
He was a crook. He had enemies who would be assassinated
at the drop of a hat. That's who this priest
is and Paul goes in front of this group Okay,
verse 23 or sorry chapter 23 verse 1 looking
intently at the council Paul said brothers I
have lived my life before God in all good conscience
up to this day and the high priest Ananias commanded
those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth
Then Paul said to him God is going to strike
you you whitewashed wall Are you sitting to judge
me according to the law and yet contrary to the
law you order me to be struck And those who stood
by said would you revile God's high priest? And
Paul said I did not know brothers that he was
the high priest for it is written You shall not
speak of a ruler of your people I mean Paul comes
out he just says hey guys, I've got a clean conscience
here Now that doesn't mean that that the Apostle
Paul believes that everything that he ever did
in his whole life was good and moral and right
No, he's just saying hey in regards to this situation
My conscience is clean In regard to what you
you're putting me on the stand for my heart is
settled. My heart is clean I I have done nothing
wrong. It is it is steady in the matter And in
that moment, Ananias, the high priest, he commands
somebody that's sitting around him to go strike
Paul in the mouth. Now, I don't know what kind
of response you would have in a moment like that.
Maybe you're like, OK, maybe I shouldn't say
I have a good conscience. Maybe that offended
somebody. But the apostle Paul wasn't known to
back down. And he turns, after getting struck
in the mouth, he says back to them God is going
to strike you you whitewashed wall basically
saying hey you may look good on the outside and
you may look clean on the outside but on the
inside you are dead you smell like death The
same thing that Jesus said to the Pharisees in
Matthew 23 27 pointing even out to the the tombs
outside of Jerusalem that were that were beautiful
and whitewashed but filled with death and decay
on the inside You're gonna judge me according
to the law yet contrary to the law you you have
me struck me Paul is a smart man But those who
stood by said will you revile God's high priest
basically saying this hey That's the high priest.
Paul said, I did not know brothers that this
was the high priest. I don't know if Paul was
speaking sarcastically there or it was a case
where they got everybody together and it was
so quickly that they grabbed everybody together
that the high priest wasn't in his normal garb,
his normal array that he would normally wear
there. Maybe it was the bad eyesight of Paul
where he was looking around. He didn't know that
the high priest was even present. We don't know
the case of what it is that Paul would say that,
but we do know this, that the Apostle Paul was
quick To repent when he was told that he was
wrong Guys, you're right Hey, I want to I don't
want to I don't want to tell you you have to
obey the law when I myself just broke the law
I don't want to say hey, you're the ones that
you just said you just struck me when you're
not allowed to do that yet Yeah, I just called
out the high priest when i'm not allowed to do
that He admits that he's wrong instantly repents
And even in this there's a there's a principle
here and it says that you shall not speak evil
of a ruler of your people They weren't allowed
to speak disrespectfully of the rulers even if
they didn't agree with them That's convicting
God put that ruler into a position of authority
into a position of authority over you God put
them in that position and Whether we agree with
them or not We have no place to be disrespectful
Goes on he says now when Paul perceived that
one part were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees.
It's all coming together now in this This council
that he's in front of he says brothers I am a
Pharisee a son of Pharisees It is with respect
to the hope of the resurrection of the dead that
I am on trial Paul gets to the heart of the matter
I'm here you want to know the truth about why
I'm here you want to understand why I'm here
why I'm standing in front of you I'll tell you
why it is because of the gospel of Jesus Christ
That's why I'm here I'm here to tell you that
the hope of Israel is found in the resurrection
of Jesus Christ Paul knew this everything in
Christianity hinges upon the resurrection if
there is no resurrection of the dead Then we
as Christians are to be the most pitied people
on the face of the earth And if you deny the
resurrection of Jesus you deny Christ and you
deny eternal life with him and There's great
hope in the resurrection This is why I'm here
Well in saying that It's caused a great dispute
and ascension that happened verse 7 He said these
things and ascension arose between the Pharisees
and the Sadducees Why I just right we just talked
about this one believes that there is a resurrection
of the dead and one doesn't believe that I See
you have these two parties now Split up divided
Verse 8, for the Sadducees say, what? There is
no resurrection. There's not even angels or spirits.
The Pharisees acknowledged them all, then a great
clamor arose. Some of the scribes and the Pharisees
of the party stood up and contended sharply.
We find nothing wrong in this man. Does that
sound familiar? We find nothing wrong in this
man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?
And when the dissension became violent, the Tribune
afraid of Paul. They're afraid that that Paul
would be torn into pieces by them. I mean they
are hot mad right now. I want to rip his head
off. I want this man dead. Get away with him.
Because of that what commanded the soldiers to
go down and take him away from among them by
force and bring him into the barracks. This group
of people that were united around finding fault
in the Apostle Paul were now divided sharply
and they didn't know what to do But in this moment
We think about the Apostle Paul and I want to
think about the Apostle Paul in this moment here
and point out some things this was not a Moment
that the Apostle Paul was hoping for Remember
the Apostle Paul came to Jerusalem to do what?
To evangelize the lost to share the gospel of
Jesus Christ The Apostle Paul came here in hopes
that he would be a spokesman for Jesus Christ
among the people Barely even had opportunity
had one speech that he was able to give and now
the opposite has happened The whole town is split
up. The whole city is upset at him. All the hopes
and all the dreams that the Apostle Paul had
to be a light in a city that he loved, in a city
that he desired to be in, all of that came crumbling
down because he claimed the truth of Jesus Christ.
All his hopes to help Israel all his his desires
to share the gospel to these people Now now all
of it was lost Have you ever had that moment
in your life Where things didn't go as you expected
them to go You ever had that moment in your life
where those hopes and dreams That you had We're
gonna go do this together and I I'm gonna go
and I'm gonna do do this thing and I and we're
gonna we're gonna we're gonna go and we're gonna
we're gonna get that dream job and I'm gonna
go for that dream job and that dream job is just
Just ripped out from underneath here i'm gonna
i'm gonna go my life is gonna look like this
i'm gonna i'm gonna go to my favorite college
and i'm gonna go i'm gonna go marry this person
we're gonna have children and we're gonna have
vacations and we're gonna we're gonna do all
these things you're gonna live in this house
in this city and and and all of a sudden It's
not being fulfilled You've ever been there Where
what you had hoped and dreamed for isn't becoming
a reality in your life You're so excited So ready
for for all these hopes and dreams that be realized
in your life and then just like that You come
to the realization that's not gonna happen Your
dreams are crushed Or maybe it is You had been
praying and praying and praying for years and
years and years for an opportunity to share the
gospel with someone And that moment arrives and
you're like, okay, this is it. I'm gonna share
the gospel is it I've got I'm juiced up with
the courage and the knowledge and I'm gonna go
before him and it and we're gonna have this gospel
conversation and and you go in to have that gospel
conversation and And you say something you wish
you had never said in the conversation And you
walk away from you go I am the biggest loser
missionary there ever was. I had my opportunity
and I lost it. I had my opportunity. I went ahead
and said that thing I should have never said
in the conversation at all. Have you ever been
there? That high expectation and then it's just
gone. Left you discouraged. Because life didn't
go as you planned it out to go. I think we've
all been there, overwhelmed by broken dreams,
hopes, missed expectation. Well, this is where
Paul was. Kent Hughes helps us with this. He
says this, he says, this is one of the darkest
nights of Paul's life. For years, he had hoped
to give fruitful witness to Jerusalem. But when
he arrived, he found a compromising church full
of legalistic believers who held him suspect
because of his contact with Gentiles. Now his
hopes of convincing the leadership of his people
had gone up in smoke as well. His dreams of effective
testimony to the Jews lay in ashes at his feet,
and his vision for successful witness in Rome
began to fade too. Paul's heart ached. He was
physically, emotionally, and spiritually tired.
Ray Steadman says this he says out of friendship
for Paul I Think Luke hides some of the painful
details from us here Leaving them to our imaginations
But you can imagine how Paul must have felt he
had his chance and he blew it now He sits in
a cell utterly humiliated dejected defeated deflated
disenchanted all his dreams of testimony to the
Jews are in ashes around his feet His hopes that
that this were the time when the nation would
turn back to God at last and recognize its Messiah
Would enter that golden era of peace and prosperity
when all of God's desires and plans for this
amazing people would be Fulfilled as set forth
by the prophets Are all dashed to the ground
Paul is simply utterly discouraged Ready Now
that is always God's hour God waits for a man
to arrive at that place. This is the way He heals
us. When we move forward in the self -sufficiency
of the flesh, He always brings us to this place.
He lets it all run its course until, broken and
defeated and deflated and discouraged and dejected,
we sit utterly bankrupt of any resource in ourselves.
That is God's hour. When you don't have any resources
left Do not have anything to count on when you
have to when you have to come to the end of yourself
You have spent it all you don't know what else
to do. You say I can't make it I've tried I've
done everything I know how I just can't make
it and saying that the Lord is standing standing
there saying great That's just where I wanted
you to come Just what I've been waiting for,
now it's my time. That is what's happened here.
The Apostle Paul comes to his end. He's tried
everything. His conscience is clean, remember?
He's got all good conscience up to this day.
But now he's in prison Not knowing how long he'll
be there Let me give to you now through the rest
of this chapter. I just want to give you four
four things that the Lord does in the midst of
broken hopes and dreams or in the midst of discouragement
Let me show you what God does in the rest of
this chapter Okay, watch with me how the Lord
works here's Paul He's in the barracks. Verse
11. The following night, the Lord stood by him.
Number one, the Lord showed up. The Lord showed
up. This could have been one of those moments
thinking of the stories of Daniel and the lion's
den. The Lord showing up. Here it is. This great
moment of discouragement where Paul is just thinking
wow, I don't know how I'm gonna get out of this
I don't know what's gonna come next. My heart
was set here to be in Jerusalem Now it's all
been crushed And what does the Lord do the Lord
the following night? He stood by him in our pain
and in our hurting and our wonder In our dashed
dreams, God shows up only to remind us that He
has always been there. Let me just give you some
verses here. I think this will be the most helpful
to us in understanding this principle. In Genesis
28, 15, it says, Behold, I am with you and will
keep you wherever you go. In Exodus 34, 14, my
presence will go with you and I will give you
rest. Deuteronomy 31 6 be strong and courageous
for the Lord your God goes with you. He will
not leave you or forsake you In Joshua 1 9 It
says do not be frightened do not be afraid for
the Lord your God is with you Wherever you go
and Isaiah 41 10 fear not for I'm with you. I
will uphold you with my righteous right hand
Isaiah 43 -2, when you pass through the waters,
I will be with you. In Psalm 23 -4, I will fear
no evil, for you are with me. Psalm 46 -1, God
is our refuge and strength and very present help
and trouble. Isaiah 7 -14, in Matthew 1 -23,
they shall call his name Immanuel, which means
God is with us. John 14 18. I will not leave
you as orphans. I will come to you John 14 16
and 17 He will give you another helper he who
dwells with you and will be with you in Romans
8 10 and 11 Christ is in you and the spirit of
God dwells in you first Corinthians 3 16 you
are God's temple and God's spirit dwells in you
Matthew 28 20 and behold I am with you always
to the end of the age Hebrews 13 5 I will never
leave you nor forsake you Romans 8 38 39 nothing
will be able to separate us from the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord listen
the presence of God is always with you and around
you no matter what you're going through church
He has not left you he has not abandoned you
he will not leave you as orphans In fact, he
has done the opposite of that. His presence is
abiding within your very heart And he cannot
take that away from you We need to remember that
I think sometimes it's easy and what Satan wants
us to do in the midst of of difficulty in the
midst of hardship and in the midst of loneliness
is Satan wants you to think that, hey, I'm alone
in this and God doesn't want anything to do with
my situation. Satan wants you to believe that
God has abandoned you and that God doesn't have
what's best for you and that that God has left
you alone to figure things out for yourself.
And the reality is the exact opposite of that
lie from Satan. He is with you and he loves you
and he cares for you and he wants what's best
for you and he wants to help you and His spirit
he has given to you to abide within you to lean
on him to trust in him to know him to follow
him And this is a great principle to remind us
of and and we won't get what Paul got here where
the the Lord is just Standing right next to him.
I mean, can you imagine that? This there and
he's like, oh, oh, oh, oh, okay. Hi Whoa Right
there in prison The Lord is always with us secondly
is this what did the Lord do number two the Lord
spoke up? The Lord spoke up. What did he say?
He's standing right next to me says take courage
For as you have testified to the facts about
me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in
Rome He he says this word take courage in Matthew
14 27 he Jesus said to his disciples take courage
it is I Do not be afraid and mark 650 says again
take courage. It is I do not be afraid In mark
1049 he says take courage stand up He is calling
for you. And this word here, it has to do with
having an inner strength within the soul. It
has the idea of being of good cheer. Don't be
afraid. Be firm in your faith. And he says to
Paul, hey, take courage. He speaks a word of
encouragement to him. And he assures him that
the work is not done. that the job's not done.
F .F. Bruce says this, this assurance meant much
to Paul during the delays and anxieties of the
next two years and goes far to account for the
calm and dignified bearing from which now on
marks him out as a master of events rather than
their victim. Paul, you're not the victim. You're
not the victim. This is exactly the plan of God
So often Satan wants us to think that we're the
victim And to push aside the providence of God
in our life Paul was there and the Lord knew
that Satan was probably whispering and into Paul's
ear you're a failure Paul You had your chance
and you blew it and the Lord comes in and says
to him take courage This is all going according
to plan Now notice in here what God doesn't say
to Paul, okay, what Paul doesn't say is this
hey You're gonna be in here for a couple of years,
okay About two. You got four more trials coming
up, okay? Just want to throw that out there now.
Let's just go ahead and get that out here now,
okay? It's gonna be a while. It's gonna be a
while. He doesn't say that, does he? He just
says, hey, take courage, Paul. This is all going
according to plan. Everything's gonna work out
according to my time. He's basically saying this,
hey, Paul, your ministry is not over. You still
will take the gospel to Rome You'll still go
there and you will be a witness for me in Rome
He's confirming here that Paul will in fact see
Rome He's saying to him no matter how dark the
days may appear to be That Paul can still be
certain that the work was not finished and that
he will still be used by God Can I tell you this
if you are a believer in Jesus Christ? And if
you are alive, that's all of you. OK, you're
all alive. You can still do ministry for God.
No matter your past failures. No matter, no matter
the times, whatever it is that you've done in
your past, and Satan keeps pulling that up and
thinking, hey. Remember what you did and you
think you're gonna be useful for God? You still
have a heartbeat. God has still left you on this
earth and he's left you here because the work's
not done in your life to be useful for the kingdom
of God. Take courage. Sit up straight. Be proud
that you're a Christian and go out and advance
the gospel of Jesus Christ This was the encouragement
that the Apostle Paul needed to hear Encouragement
that we need to hear the works not done the jobs
not over God has left you here. No matter what
happens in the past or has happened yesterday
or the day before, take courage, look forward.
God has you here. Keep going. Trust in Him. Number
three is this. What else does the Lord do? Number
three, the Lord supplies away. Yeah, He's in
prison. He's in prison here. They literally,
as we were told, Want to tear him apart? Okay,
well look what happens verse 12 when it was day
the Jews made a plot and bound themselves to
To an oath neither to eat nor drink till they
had killed Paul Okay, are we clear on how bad
they want to kill him? I think that's pretty
clear. All right. I'm gonna take an oath I'm
not gonna eat or drink till this man is dead
Hi, I mean they're they're serious There are
more than 40 who made this conspiracy They went
to the chief priests and the elders and we have
strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste
no food till we have killed Paul's to reiterate
this is what we're doing verse 15 now therefore
you along with the council give notice to the
Tribune to bring him down to you and as though
they're going to determine his case more exactly
we got to get to the bottom of this and We are
ready to kill him before he comes near now watch
this. This is so good Now the son of Paul's sister
heard their ambush So he went and entered the
barracks and told Paul Paul called one of the
centurions and said take this young man to the
Tribune Tribune and for he has something to tell
him So he took him and he brought him to the
Tribune and said Paul the prisoner Called me
and asked me to bring this young man to you as
he has something to say to you The Tribune took
him and by the hand and and going aside asked
him privately What is it that you have to tell
me and he said the Jews have agreed? To ask you
to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow as
though they were going to inquire somewhat more
closely about him, but Do not be persuaded by
them for there are more than 40 of their men
are lying in ambush for him We have bound themselves
by an oath neither to eat nor to drink until
they have killed them And now they are they are
ready waiting for your consent So the tribune
tribune dismissed the young man charging him
Tell no one that you have informed me of these
things now these guys this is like I should have
a movie Mean, I feel like Hollywood just came
on the scene here Are you kidding me his nephew?
We didn't even know he had a nephew And he goes
and he and he sees Paul and how does that well
because Paul's a Roman citizen He's allowed to
see people Paul's sisters in town. They got a
net. We don't know how old he is We have no idea
his age. He comes in he's just kind of hanging
out around the the horses there and around the
these Roman Soldiers there and they hear this
conspiracy that's that's going on. He's like,
whoa, wait, they're talking about Uncle Paul.
I got to go tell him. All right, I better get
in there because they're going to kill my uncle.
So he goes in. Hey, Uncle Paul. Yeah, I believe
this. There's 40 guys out there. They took an
oath. Not to eat or drink until you're dead Really
that you serious nephew. Yeah Okay, here's what
I need you to do. My life's on the line. I need
you to go and report this Okay, I need you to
go and report. I mean Does God not supply away
or what? So that's what happens he goes and he
tells them and Very dramatic -like, story -tale,
Hollywood -like story, God finds a way to get
Paul out and away from this threat upon his life.
Church, let me ask you something. Is anything
really too hard for God? Is your situation Too
hard for God Can you just say to yourself right
now God can do anything to help my situation
that the entire world is at the disposal of God
To help you and His ways are far more mysterious
than the plan that you have in your mind to fix
your situation You can be comforted. You can
be counseled. You can be exhorted. You can be
encouraged. Nothing is too hard for God God had
this plan to go. Hey, I'm gonna have Paul's sister's
son Hear this story go tell on them for this
story and this will be the way in which God supplies
for the very need of Paul to be rescued out of
this threat It's fascinating This is what happens
Let me remind you of a couple verses 2nd Corinthians
9 8 God is able to make all grace abound to you
so that having all sufficiency in all things
and at all times in Philippians 4 19 my God will
supply every need of yours according to his riches
and the glory of Christ Jesus Trust the plan
of God Trust the timing of God number four and
we'll be done. Okay. Sorry. I got a little excited
there ran out of time Number four the Lord protects
his own you guys are like you do this every week
Okay, okay number four the Lord protects his
own. Okay, watch this How does he get transported
verse 23? Then he called two centurions and said
get ready 200 soldiers with 70 horsemen 200 spearsmen
goes far as Caesarea to the third hour of the
night Also provide mounts for Paul the ride and
to bring him safely to Felix the governor Okay,
how are we gonna get him out of prison? Oh God's
like I've got a plan. I'll give you 400 to 600
Roman soldiers to get Paul out That's amazing
And that's how Paul gets out of Jerusalem With
an entourage Paul's just like yay come after
me. I Got 200 spearmen right here ready to take
you. I got a cavalry here to get you This is
what the Lord does This is how the Lord Lord
Lord supplies This is how the Lord protects Paul
would go protected some say up to 600 soldiers
from from Jerusalem to Caesarea protected by
the Lord and then eventually where would he stay
the night in verse verse 35 tells us that he
is commanded they commanded him to be guarded
in Herod's Praetorium the most safest place in
all of Israel for Paul to be protected by the
Lord This is how God works The moment of greatest
discouragement the Lord came through He showed
up. He spoke up He supplied his need and he protected
him all along the way Listen church if you're
discouraged this morning be encouraged by this
story God has not left you God has not forgotten
you God is right there with you and he has a
perfect plan If you would just trust him all
along the way Let's pray Lord, thank you for
our time. I Feel as though it goes by so fast.
I'm not sure if that's true for everybody else
here But Lord so many good truths for us to remember
you're always with us Nothing's too hard for
you You provide a way where there seems to be
no way and you protect us all along the way Or
remind us of these truths whatever hard things
People are going through would you bring them
comfort and encouragement today? Would you do
so? with a peace that surpasses all understanding
and that is found only in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In His name we pray. Amen.