Acts 22:29 - 23:35

William Leslie was a missionary to the Congo.

You might not have heard of him.

! Anybody heard of him?

Most people haven't.

He was from Ontario, Canada.

He was a pharmacist until he was converted in 1888.

Then he moved to Chicago.

He had a growing desire to tell people the good news of the gospel

and a growing desire as a medical missionary.

He started serving in the Congo in 1893.

In 1905, he and his wife Carly pioneered a work in Koala, Angola.

There he overcame a hurricane and more mundane obstacles

like charging buffalo and armies of ants.

Seven years later, they cleared enough of a leopard-infested jungle

along the Koala River for a new mission station to be opened in Kanga.

Some villages surrounding that station in Kanga

were still practicing cannibalism.

They spent 17 years, Mr and Mrs Leslie, in that place,

proclaiming the gospel.

It ended on a really rocky note.

William Leslie had a relational falling out with the tribal leaders

and he was asked to leave the mission field

without seeing any fruit from his ministry.

It didn't end like he'd hoped.

He went back to the US after 17 years, a discouraged man.

He believed he'd failed to make an impact for Christ.

He died nine years later.

Failure hurts, doesn't it?

Failure hurts.

It is common to all who seek to serve the Lord.

That feeling that you've failed

and you've not achieved the grand vision of glory

that you set out for yourself in early days as a Christian.

All the times you hoped you'd be able to share your faith

and you were unable to do it.

It hurts when you remember those times.

It hurts when you remember the times you've not owned,

you've not stood up for the name of Christ in the workplace.

It hurts when you've been asked a question

and you've completely messed up the answer.

It hurts, doesn't it,

when you've failed to do the things that you dreamed you would do.

Failure hurts.

And it's very, very common.

Jesus said,

Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest.

But it doesn't feel like that often.

Often we're crushed, aren't we,

by the expectation that we've placed upon ourselves

how often we have failed the Lord.

It's far easier, isn't it,

for you and I to remember the times of failure.

Isn't it?

And so how does this passage help us with that?

I've got three points.

The first point is this.

Paul, the apostle,

is smashed against the rocks in this passage.

Paul is smashed across the rocks in this passage.

I think the theme of the book of Acts,

the melodic line of Acts,

is one of wonderful encouragement,

that the church of Jesus Christ is unstoppable,

that the risen Lord Jesus Christ is building his church.

And as I've studied it,

and as you've heard it preached,

I hope you felt,

wouldn't it have been marvellous to go along with Paul

in some of those exciting parts of his journey?

Imagine being on the road to Damascus

when he's knocked off his horse

and he sees Jesus,

the risen Jesus,

in all his glory.

How exciting it would have been to follow him

when he preached at the Areopagus in Athens

and thousands of people listened to him.

Many people converting to Christ.

Imagine what it would have been like

to be with Paul in Ephesus

in those two years,

every lunchtime,

him arguing, debating,

preaching Christ.

Many people are coming to believe the word of the Lord.

Go to Acts 2 and Pentecost.

Thousands of people added to the church in one day.

The church exploding with growth.

In Ephesus, shaking the foundations of the economy.

But there have also been tough times,

haven't there?

Times when he was beaten up.

Times when he was left for dead.

Times when he was cast out of the city.

Times of amazing gospel fruit

and yet difficulties.

But exciting.

Acts 23 is not one of those passages.

If you could follow Paul anywhere,

you wouldn't want to follow him to Jerusalem.

And then on to Rome,

at least where he is now.

He's gone through a difficult time.

Do you remember last week?

He'd longed to go to Jerusalem.

He'd got this offering for the church there

from Gentile Christians to the needy church

and he arrives in Acts 22

and he gets a warm welcome at the beginning.

But then he begins to hear about Christians

who don't trust him,

who don't believe his motives to the needy church.

They think that he's trying to subvert God's law.

So James and him come up with this plan.

They come up with this plan

to convince the Jewish church

that Paul is a bona fide Jew

to the core.

He shaves off his head.

He goes to the temple.

He takes a vow.

He purifies himself.

And they hope that this is going to sort out

the division in the church.

But it's seen by someone

and they start to tell lies about him.

They say, look, here is a guy

who sought to bring a Gentile,

a non-Jew, into the temple,

which was forbidden.

And then an angry mob

drags him out to the streets

and they try to rip him to pieces

with their bare hands.

They throw rocks at him.

They try to maul him to death.

He's rescued by the Romans

because they want to prevent a riot.

Amazingly, he's able to stand up and preach.

Normally, in Paul's ministry,

when he starts to preach,

things get better.

He stands up to preach.

Loads of people become Christians.

But that isn't what's happened

in Acts 22.

At the start, everyone listens.

But at the end,

by the time he finishes,

they're baying for his blood.

There's no convergence here.

This is not a successful sermon.

They want him dead

and anything they can do

to grab their hands on him,

they throw at him.

The Romans snatch him away

and he ends up in a Roman barracks,

strung up,

and he's about to be whipped and scourged.

He's about to be tortured by the Romans

and he's saved by the skin of his teeth

because he's a Roman citizen.

And instead of being set free,

he's thrown into prison overnight

to face his accusers the next day.

It's not a great week

in the life of the Apostle Paul.

And that's where chapter 23 begins.

And it's at this point

we see a man under stress

and there's cracks in his armour.

He's shown remarkable restraint.

But in chapter 23,

he's brought to face his accusers

in the Sanhedrin.

And in verse 1,

looking intently at the accusers,

Paul says,

Brothers, I've lived my life

before God

in all good conscience

up to this day.

But then verse 2,

he's struck on the mouth

by the order of an unknown figure.

And Paul snaps.

You get the sense he's had enough.

Remember, he's been beaten,

he's been flogged,

he's been thrown in prison.

And then he says this,

he says,

God is going to strike you,

you whitewashed wall.

And you sit there judging me.

Are you sitting there

to judge me according to the law?

And yet contrary to the law,

you strike me.

He snaps.

He calls this Pharisee or Sadducee

a whitewashed wall.

What he says, in fact,

is not wrong.

But it's a brutal insult.

It's a way of talking about a tomb,

a decaying course.

It's the worst of insults

you can give to a religious leader

in that day.

He flings it at him.

And then he discovers

that it's the high priest

who gave this order.

And he very quickly repents.

Can you imagine

how it would have felt

to repent before that crowd

to say I got it wrong?

I did not know, brothers,

that this was the high priest

for it is written,

you shall not speak evil

of a ruler of your people.

It's not a great start

and things get worse.

He's probably at the end of his rope.

He doesn't know what to do.

He shouts probably

the most divisive thing

you can shout

in a room where there's Pharisees

and a room where there's Sadducees.

He says,

brothers,

I'm a Pharisee,

a son of Pharisees.

It is with respect

to the hope

and the resurrection

of the dead

that I'm on trial.

It is electrifying.

There is nothing

more divisive

and more dangerous

than he can say

in a room full

of religious zealots.

Half of the people

believed in the miraculous.

They believed in angels

and demons

and resurrection

and supernatural.

And the other half

did not believe

in any of that stuff.

And they forget

for a moment

that they are after Paul

and all of a sudden

they go at each other.

I was in the Shanachie pub

once outside

Ealing Broadway.

It's a remarkable place.

I was meeting,

I was late,

I was early for a meeting

so I went in there

and I was by the bar

and suddenly,

I don't know what happened

but a bar fight broke out.

And so I'm standing there

with my drink at the bar

and there are punches

being thrown

and I'm right in the middle of it.

I kind of joined it.

No, I didn't join it.

But there were stools,

there were broken windows,

there was no way out.

That's the scene here.

It's all kicking off.

It's like a wild west scene.

Tables flung over,

chairs get thrown,

they're trying actually

to kill each other.

And Paul's in the middle

of the chaos

and then the sheriff comes in,

he drags Paul

out of it

thinking he's going

to be ripped to pieces.

You might think

it's some kind of

clever tactic for Paul

but that isn't the case

because in chapter 24

and verse 20 to 21

Paul expresses regret.

He says,

or else let these men

themselves say

what room doing

they found me

when I stood

before the council.

Other than this

one thing that I cried out

that it is with respect

to the resurrection

of the dead

that I'm on trial

before you this day.

They can't find

anything wrong with me

except that I made this claim.

Of course Paul isn't

wrong in what he said

but he knows

it was a mistake,

he knows it was a blunder,

he regrets it.

And in the midst of this

Paul is thrown back

into a jail cell.

What happens in Acts

when Paul goes to jail?

Start singing,

church start praying,

there's gospel triumph

but not in Acts 23.

Instead we see Paul,

this image of him

not saying anything.

How would he feel

in that prison?

Failure.

That's how he would have felt.

And I think this is

probably one of the

blackest moments

in Paul's life and ministry.

Two simple applications

I want to point out to you.

Number one,

the weakness

and the humanity

of Christian leaders.

it's easy to put ministers

and elders on a pedestal

and to think that

they don't make mistakes

and that everything

they say is right

and we know,

don't we,

you know that that's not true.

And I don't want to go

into great detail on this

but it is obvious

that leaders

fail.

And when your leaders fail

please don't treat them

like the Sadducees

and the Pharisees.

Don't hurl abuse at us,

I trust

that you will treat us

with grace

as we seek to treat you

with grace.

It's an encouragement to me

that Paul here blunders.

He gets it wrong.

He lets people down

and he makes mistakes.

The second application

I want to make on this

is that if you've not faced

black and bleak days

in your service of the Lord

they will come.

You will.

Those days will come

when you let the Lord down

and they will be hard.

At those moments

when you are so broken

and you are so shocked

by your own inability

to serve the Lord

that you don't know

what to do

and you break down.

Have you ever experienced that?

If you faithfully serve the Lord

those days will come.

I've experienced a few

of those times in my life.

I can think of a church plant

that we tried early on

in my ministry

as a denomination

and we raised

ridiculous amounts of money

to do this plant.

We spent enormous amounts

of effort to do it.

And after four years

no matter how hard we tried

it just couldn't strengthen.

It put an enormous strain

on the planter

and his marriage

and after four years

it collapsed.

I was at the meeting

where I had to say

we've got to stop.

I caught the tube home

and wept on the tube.

It was heartbreaking.

Everything that had been

put into it

people that had given

their lives to it

and it didn't take.

I can think of a situation

in one of our congregations

where I was asked to help

and my input

actually made things worse

and kept making things worse.

I'd gone Zoom calls

thinking I was going to help

and come off the Zoom call

having not helped.

There have been times

when you've put your life

in my hands

as it were

as a pastor

and I've sought to try

and help and serve you

and to see the gospel

put you back together

and it's been like

it's gone away from me

I've dropped the ball.

And you carry that weight.

And if you serve the Lord

those matters

those times will come.

The question is

how do you face those moments?

How will you deal

with such a thing?

When the words of Jesus

who says

my yoke is easy

and my burden is light

seem like the biggest lie ever

how will you face that moment?

Well that's my second point.

My second point is

well first point was

Paul hit the rocks

the second point is

the rock of ages

stands by.

Look at verse 11.

Standing by the rock of ages

Paul is at the bottom

of the emotional ditch

he's in one of the most

discouraging passages

of his life

and we come across

one of the most encouraging verses

in the whole of the book of Acts.

the following night

the Lord stood by him

and said

take courage

for as you've testified

to the facts about me

in Jerusalem

so you will also testify

in Rome.

He hears in that cell

the Lord

himself

speak to him.

The Lord speaks

and says

as you've testified

to me in Jerusalem

you've not failed

so you will testify

in Rome.

and the words

from his master

and Lord speak to him

though he's failed

in his own eyes

the Lord himself

gathers him up

and claims him

for his own.

And that's not

what we would do.

That's not what

the world does

is it?

When we fail

and we want to

abandon ourselves

and when we want to

hide in our ditch

what would the world do?

The world will abandon you.

It will cancel you.

But Jesus will not.

That is not the way

he works

but it gets even better

than that isn't it?

The Lord himself

stood near to Paul

when he spoke those words.

It wasn't a voice note.

It wasn't a text message.

The Lord himself

stood near.

He didn't send an angel

to stand near Paul.

The Lord himself

the maker of heaven

and earth

came and stood with Paul

in a stinking Roman jail.

The incarnated Lord

left heaven.

He who was born

in a stable

the incarnated Lord

who left heaven

and died on a cross

leaves heaven again

and comes to stand

by his servant.

He stands with him

in that mess.

It's amazing.

He stood near Paul.

When did he do that?

On that night

the following night

he needed to hear

those words the most.

That is when he came

not a week before

not a week after

not a month

down the line.

Not when everything

was going well

right in the ditch

is the moment

the Lord showed up

and gave Paul

the most encouraging words

he could ever have.

When he proved true

those words

I will never leave you

nor forsake you.

What a wonderful saviour

to Paul

and to us Jesuses.

Paul has stuffed up

and Jesus steps in

and claims him

afresh as his own.

You know the phrase

Dutch courage?

In the First World War

soldiers were given

rum rations twice a day

and the medical reason

was that the rum ration

would combat

the cold.

But it did another effect

for a cold and frozen soldier.

It didn't just warm

his temperature

but also it warmed

a soldier's heart

they said.

And maybe gave them

enough courage

to stand up

for what they needed to.

Because courage

in a man at war

can be a very powerful thing

can't it?

But Jesus doesn't want us

to rely on Dutch courage.

He doesn't want us

to take a sip of whiskey

and then we do something brave.

He asks us to listen

to his words this morning

which are this

take courage.

Take courage.

And the Lord Jesus

he is the source

of all Christian courage.

courage.

The Greek word

that Jesus uses here

is only ever used

by Jesus

in the New Testament.

In Matthew 9 verse 2

Matthew 9:2

he speaks to a paralysed man

who's brought on a stretcher

to him

and he says

to that man

take heart

take courage.

It's the same word

as courage here.

Your sins have forgiven you.

In Matthew 9 verse 22

Matthew 9:22

there's a woman

who's been bleeding

for 12 years

who touches his garment

and is healed

and Jesus says to her

take heart

take courage.

Daughter your faith

has made you well.

And when the disciples

are afraid

and they think

they see a ghost

walking past them

on the water

past their boat

Jesus calls out to them

and he says

take heart.

Take courage.

Do not be afraid.

And this word

take heart

take courage

uniquely belongs

to Jesus.

And he says to Paul

and to all believers

who are afraid

in moments of failure

and moments of doubt

courage.

take heart.

I'm with you.

And Christian courage

solely belongs

to Jesus

and it only comes

from Jesus.

And the application

is this.

Jesus

is not far

from any of you

who serve him today.

He's right beside you

when you fall

and when you fail.

Jesus does not

reject you.

He stands by you.

And he's with you

as it's not

how the world works.

It's not how

we would work.

It's certainly

not how idols work.

But it is the way

that Jesus works.

And that's why

Jesus can say to you

take up your cross

and follow me

which is the heaviest

burden that you can imagine.

And then he says to you

my hope,

my yoke is easy

and my burden is light.

And he's not saying to you

take up your cross

and if you drop it

I'm done with you.

It's over.

He says to me

I love you.

I will not leave you.

I will not forsake you.

When we come to the

Lord's table tonight

will you come?

Because what do you hear

at the Lord's table tonight?

You hear the words

I love you.

I will not leave you.

I will not forsake you.

I've died for you.

And you hear the Father say

you are my child forever

and whoever the Father

puts in my hand

no one can snatch away.

And so your security

and my security

as children of God

is not based on

what we've done

but on the fact

that he claims you

because of the cross

as his own.

Nothing,

nothing works this way.

Only the gospel.

And if today

you're hoping for anything else

for your future

or for your children

or for your family

or for your security

it will fail you.

I promise you

it will fail you.

I guarantee you it.

You trust in a partner.

You trust in a marriage.

It'll never give you

the satisfaction

that you need.

You trust in having children

and having a family.

It'll never be

what you want to do.

You think that the job

will give you

the security

and the image.

Money will do it for you.

It won't do it for you.

But Jesus will never fail you

even when you fail him.

He died for us

when we were at our worst.

He died for us

when we were as far away

from God as we could be

and he's not going to

let go of you.

And that's my story.

That's the story

of so many

in this congregation

this morning.

Because it's true

isn't it

that in those moments

when you've

you've messed up

the most

it's in those moments

where you break down

that it's in those moments

you discover

what grace really means.

And so hear him

say to you

this morning

take courage

I am with you.

So the first point is

Paul is smashed

to the rocks.

The second point is

Jesus the rock of ages

is standing with him

and the third point is

you can be carried

through the rocks.

Paul's words

in verse 11

just look down there

with me

they are

they are the easiest

thing to say

but then

look at the next verse

they're the most

wonderful words

verse 11

but then look at

verse 12

the next morning

some Jews

formed a conspiracy

and bound themselves

with an oath

that we will not

eat or drink

until they'd kill Paul.

There's 40 of them

involved in this plot

more than that

but they go to

the chief priests

and the elders

and they say

that they are making

a solemn oath

not to eat anything

until we've killed Paul.

It's a vicious mob

of religious fanatics.

Sanhedrin gets involved

at this point

so much for God's protection.

There's a young man

we don't know how old he is

he's a young man

he's actually Paul's nephew

Paul's sister's boy

he hears about the plot

how did he hear about it

we don't know

and he goes

and he takes the news

to Paul

and then Paul takes it

to the commander

and he listens to the plot

and then this amazing thing

happens verse 23

and he called unto him

two centurions

saying make ready

200 soldiers

to go to Caesarea

and horsemen throughout

three score and ten

and spearmen 200

at the third hour of the night

and provide them beasts

so that they may set

Paul on

and bring him safe

and to Felix the governor.

And it looks like

everything's going wrong

isn't it?

But God uses

this insignificant person

we don't know his age

we don't know his name

we don't know what he heard

a person who everyone else

has forgotten

in order to bring about

this great rescue for Paul

and he doesn't just use

this tiny insignificant nobody

he uses the might of Rome

as well

can you see that?

To rescue Paul

and not to just rescue Paul

to take Paul

from Jerusalem

to Rome

to the ends of the earth

do you remember the theme

of the book of Acts?

You'll be my witnesses

in Jerusalem

Judea, Samaria

and the ends of the earth

that is Rome

and so in this passage

which on one level

is so depressing

on the surface level

we see that everything

in the world of the universe

of the economy

of everything

is in the hands of God

and from the tiniest person

the youngest person

in our church

to the mightiest army

in the world

that they are nothing

but a tool

in the hands

of almighty God

to fulfil his purposes

in this world

Paul goes to bed

of failure

and he hears

the words of Jesus

and he wakes up

and is given

a kingly escort

all the way

to Governor Felix

he wakes up

in jail

he goes to bed

in a palace

the next night

carried through

the rocks

God will see it done

the application

is really simple

isn't it

God will see it done

maybe you've been taught

maybe you've heard this

where people say to you

God has a wonderful

plan for your life

you heard that?

God has a wonderful

plan for your life

and I think it's told

a bit disingenuously

really

and tragically

that is often told

as God doesn't want

you to suffer

that God doesn't want

you to go through

a difficult time

God wants you

to have an easy life

and that is

not true

it is a lie

because anyone

who reads the life

of Jesus

and who reads

the life of Paul

will know it's not true

but it's not that God

doesn't have a wonderful

plan for your life

God did have a wonderful

plan for Paul's life

it was a life of living

for his king

of making much of Jesus

in every situation

in adversity

and in riches

whatever opportunity

he had

whether it was in prison

or the palace

he proclaimed to Jesus

and there's no more

wonderful plan

for your life

than that

but that doesn't mean

that your life

will be easy

in fact

the promise is

your life will be hard

but it is a wonderful plan

that Jesus is with you

as you go through it

it's true isn't it

I don't know who said it

but you are immortal

until you've achieved

the purpose

for which God created you

it's a wonderful plan

and so in summary

we get smashed

against the rocks

it is inevitable

in Christian service

but in those places

you find

the rock of ages

standing closely by

and Jesus is able

to carry you

through the rocks

I've told you

this story before

but there's a little boy

who was taken

to a piano concert

to the great

Padarowski

in the States

little boy

he was a bit bored

before the start

of the concert

kind of went off

from his mum

and he managed to find

a way onto the stage

where he's oblivious

to all the crowds

that are around him

he sits on the piano stool

the grand piano

and he starts to play

chopstick

on a very fancy piano

he's not playing it

very well

and the crowd

initially thinks

it's really cute

but after a few moments

they get a bit bored

and unruly

and they're thinking

to himself

where's this guy's mother

what's his mother

doing

and she's

hiding away

totally ashamed

in her seat

until the great

composer Padarowski

hears

chopsticks being played

he hears the crowds

booing

and he throws on his cloak

as quickly as possible

the great pianist

runs out onto the stage

he sees the boy

playing

and he leans over him

and he starts to play

a melody

on either side of him

he whispers

in the boy's ear

keep going my child

don't quit

keep playing

don't quit

I'm with you

it's a wonderful story

isn't it

it's a preacher story

so I don't even know

whether it's true

I want it to be true

alright

but it was

and so we trust

in Jesus

this morning

we know Jesus

and we all have a tune

to play

and we're tinkering

away at the piano

and often it feels

like we're playing

chopsticks badly

but we have a

saviour lord

who's filling in the notes

who's making

it beautiful

who whispers

in your ear

this morning

and at his table

tonight

keep going

my child

don't quit

keep going

I'm with you

I'm right by your side

do not give up

keep going

we'll make it

the beginning

of the story

sermon

I told you a story

about Dr. William Leslie

I didn't end very well

for him

but in 2010

a team of missionaries

went to the Congo

and Angola

to share the gospel

for what they believed

was the first time

they thought these people

had never heard the gospel

before

and what did they find

this is what they said

when we got there

we found a network

of reproducing churches

throughout the jungle

each village

had its own gospel choir

though they wouldn't

call it that

they wrote their own songs

and they would have

sing-offs

from village to village

they found a church

in each of the eight

villages they visited

scattered across

34 miles

they even found

a 1000 seat stone

built by hand

cathedral

in one of the villages

they learnt that this church

got so crowded

in the 1980s

with people

walking miles

to attend

it started a church

planting movement

and it spread

to the surrounding villages

apparently Dr. Leslie

crossed the great

river Kualu

he spent months

travelling throughout

the jungle

and he would teach

the bible

he taught the tribal

children how to read

and write

he told them

about the importance

of education

he taught them

bible stories

Dr. Leslie

started the first

organised education

in those villages

took some digging

by the team

in the states

to find out

who Dr. Leslie

was

they only knew

one of his names

and they didn't know

whether it was

his first name

or his last name

they only knew

the years

that he was there

and that he was

a baptist

by kind of

theological conviction

they discovered

that he was

Dr. William Leslie

who died

in 1984

in 1939

without knowing

any of the results

but William Leslie

closed his eyes

in this life

and he opened

them in glory

with Jesus

standing beside him

and he discovered

didn't he

what Christ

can do

when we take courage

with him

standing by our side

keep going

my child

don't quit

I'm right here

with you

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray