The Gospel on Trial

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

Acts 23 · chapter mention

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

Acts 23 · chapter mention

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

Acts 21 · chapter mention

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.