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Paul Vs. The World - The Blueprint Series
31 Plays23 days ago
In this sermon, Ridley Barron preached about the historical formation of America and the enduring relevance of the Apostle Paul's actions. He delves into the early disagreements among America's forefathers and the contemporary trend of elevating individual rights over communal well-being. By reflecting on Jesus's resurrection and Paul's integrity before the Jewish Sanhedrin, Barron underscores the importance of character, faith, and divine support. Through personal anecdotes and biblical references, he reassures listeners of God's constant presence, urging them to live boldly and embrace their God-given purpose amidst life's trials. Barron highlights the necessity of unity and action, encouraging open dialogue and accountability in faith and daily living.
Timestamps:
00:00 Paul faced opposition spreading the gospel in Jerusalem.
06:14 Obey authorities unless they contradict God's law.
08:07 Disagreement shaped America; selfishness divides us.
13:34 Paul criticized Pharisees' hypocrisy and misjudged Ananias.
15:35 Paul didn't recognize Ananias for several reasons.
19:49 Jesus stands with you during trials, always.
23:15 John Bunyan's skepticism of Quaker's claim.
26:56 Be satisfied; God's presence is true fulfillment.
30:07 Take courage; faith and Jesus conquer fear.
32:00 God's support makes you an unbeatable majority.
35:45 God supports and guides us toward kingdom success.
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Transcript
Paul's Return to Jerusalem and Opposition
00:00:01
Speaker
You got your Bible, return to Acts 22 this morning as we continue our journey. I wanna catch you up, especially if you weren't here last week. We are at the point in the journey where Paul returned to Jerusalem and in doing so, he was met by what seemed to be an impregnable barrier to the gospel. In in fact, Paul really in two different places was fighting a battle as he tried to take the gospel across Asia, even into Europe.
00:00:30
Speaker
One front, he was fighting against those who did not believe in the one true God, those who were worshipping Roman gods and Greek goddesses and those kinds of things, or even those who would be classified as non-believers at all. So there was that front where he had an issue, but on another front, and being equally in opposition to everything that Paul was trying to do, was Judaism itself.
Paul's Perseverance in Faith
00:00:52
Speaker
ah The Jewish people did not um did not open themselves up willingly to the gospel, especially the leadership of the Jewish church, and so there was tremendous opposition. In fact, if you remember last week, Paul was taken before different people. He was forced to give a defense. He was put into chains.
00:01:10
Speaker
he was threatened with his life as he had been many other times before. But there's this amazing calmness to Paul all the way through this story, this this assurance that maybe something bigger and something stronger than him was in charge of this whole situation. He didn't get this in despair. He didn't get crushed. He wasn't perplexed. He wasn't down. He wasn't discouraged. He always seemed to have this underwriting piece in every situation, no matter what the obstacle might
Europe's Decline in Christianity: A Warning?
00:01:38
Speaker
be.
00:01:38
Speaker
And today that's where I kind of want to focus our attention. I'm going to take you through the story today. It's a little bit lengthier story. I want to share some things with you to kind of lay the background, but I want to focus on this question of who is it that's giving you your peace? And why? Because I believe that time is coming and may already be upon us where we are going to face increased opposition to our speaking of the name of Jesus.
00:02:02
Speaker
You watch what's going on in Western Europe today. Western Europe used to be the seat of Christianity. It it was obviously where the Roman Catholic Church was involved. It's where the Protestant Reformation came forward. All the great churches that are over there, the great cathedrals. But here's what happened. And this is a cautionary word for us. The people of Europe began to take God's presence for granted.
00:02:24
Speaker
They thought, because we have the beautiful cathedrals, because we have the church hierarchy, because we have all the cool history here, surely God is ours. Sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? Same thing that the Jews did. And it happened in Europe, and this past week, one of the bishops of the Church of England came. He's a guy that's got a reputation for being very outspoken against what's going on in the secular world today. He came and his words to us was, vote this week because if you don't, you have nobody to blame for yourselves if you turn out like we are.
00:02:56
Speaker
because the name of Jesus has been removed from the public sector in Western Europe, continues to be done so in Canada as well. And guys, it's moving that direction. So increasingly, you and I are gonna be asked to speak the name of Jesus in front of people who don't wanna hear the name of Jesus. So I want you to be confident and assured. My goal is that when you walk out of here every Sunday, not only do you feel confident in speaking the name of Jesus, you feel confident in why you can speak the name of Jesus, not be afraid.
00:03:23
Speaker
So we're gonna look at this story today, Acts chapter 22. We're gonna begin in verse 22, and we'll talk a little like I said as we go through the story about some
Paul's Roman Citizenship and Legal Protections
00:03:32
Speaker
of the things here. It says, they listened to him up to this point, then they raised their voices shouting, these are the Jews, wipe this man off the face of the earth. How's that for public relations? He should not be allowed to live.
00:03:45
Speaker
As they were yelling and fleeing aside their garments and throwing dust into the air, the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this. The scourge is something most of you are probably very familiar with. It's exactly what happened to Jesus before his crucifixion.
00:04:04
Speaker
The scourge was done with a ah leather strap handle, pieces of leather that forked off in different directions, and in those pieces of leather were tied bones, ah scraps of glass, sometimes rocks. The whole purpose was to give as much pain to whoever it was that was being beaten with those lashes. Jesus went through it, survived it, but in most cases in that day and age, the Romans had perfected this to such a point that if you came away from it and were were a paralyzer handicap you were considered lucky. Most of them would die before they ever got to the end of the 40 lashes. So he's saying this and he's going to put them through the scourge in order to interrogate him to get down to the bottom the reason of why the Jews so badly want this man eradicated. Verse 20
00:04:51
Speaker
five As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is un-condemned? When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander saying, what are you gonna do? For this man is a Roman citizen. The commander came and said to him, tell me, are you a Roman citizen? Yes, he said. The commander replied, I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.
00:05:20
Speaker
but I was born a citizen, Paul said. So that day and age, it was very common practice and accepted practice that people would pay large sums of money to Roman officials in order to get their citizenship. You could buy a citizenship. Paul's was different and therefore was an elevated citizenship because he was a natural born Roman citizen. And just like with the protections we have under our constitution, Roman citizens were not allowed to be punished or tortured until they had received some kind of fair trial regarding the charges that were presented against them.
00:05:49
Speaker
says So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. It's like none of them wanted to be involved with this all of a sudden. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and had bound him.
Obeying Government Laws: A Christian Perspective
00:06:03
Speaker
so Paul is being challenged. Paul immediately speaks up and says, I'm a Roman citizen, you better rethink what you're doing. But let me remind you of something really important right here and I think the timing of this message is really, it's a Holy Spirit kind of thing. Romans chapter 13, Paul himself was the one who wrote the words that we are to live under the authority of every governmental figure because the government was placed over us for a reason and it's the Lord who places those people in authority over us.
00:06:33
Speaker
So what does that mean as we're approaching an election? If the government tells you to do something, you have a responsibility not just as a citizen of America, but as a citizen of God, God's kingdom, to obey the authorities who have been placed over you.
00:06:48
Speaker
That means if you don't like the taxes you're having to pay, you can protest them through your vote, you can protest them through marches, you can protest it any way you want to, but until it's changed, you have a moral obligation to obey the authorities that are placed over you. I knew there wouldn't be any amiens there, but that's okay. That also means if you think 30 miles an hour through Chapel Hill is too slow,
00:07:13
Speaker
You can vote against the alderman or the mayor who put it in place, but you do not have permission to set your own speed limit. You have a responsibility to obey the authorities. Now, the exception is this, the law of man stops where the law of God begins. And nowhere are you obligated to obey the commands of any man who requests that you disobey the commands of God.
00:07:40
Speaker
So let's be very cautious of that, be very careful of that. Let's speak up with boldness. We'll talk a little more about that. Not be afraid to do that. But if the law, the government, the authority that has been placed over us, if they speak, then we have an obligation to obey it. I don't know what's gonna happen on Tuesday, but I do know what needs to start happening on Wednesday. We need to start coming together as a country.
00:08:04
Speaker
We have government of figures who purposely are trying to keep us divided. That's why they call us names. That's why they point out the fault of everybody else. But guys, 250 years ago when the forefathers of our country came together and began to establish this great nation, do you think they all agreed on everything? If you think so, you did not pay attention in history class.
00:08:24
Speaker
In fact, the record of the history the the history records of what was going on in Independence Hall, the days that they were meeting for those long, drawn out, very hot days in Philadelphia, the reason it took so long is because they couldn't agree on everything. And as they were putting together the Declaration of Independence, as they were putting together the Constitution, there was disagreement there. But what they ultimately came to was the realization that this nation would be great because it would be great for all people, not just one or two.
The Origin of Rights and Legal Responsibilities
00:08:51
Speaker
And so what's happened in our country is we've become selfish. we We want our way or nobody's way. We want our rights or nobody's rights to the point now where we're making up rights. There are things we're calling rights that aren't even in our constitution anymore or never were. And by the same token, we got people saying, literally said this this past week, these people are crazy. They believe that God gave them their rights.
00:09:19
Speaker
Again, if you're paying attention to your history class, that's written into the very founding documents. That we believe that every right was given to us by the providence of God. We should we should believe in those rights. We should protect those rights. We should fight for those rights. But you still have an obligation to go 30 miles an hour through Chapel Hill.
00:09:43
Speaker
You knew I was gonna ruin it for you, didn't you? All right, verse 30, let's jump down. It says, the next day, since he wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him. He didn't release him for prison
Paul's Defense and Character in Faith
00:09:56
Speaker
at this point. He just released him from shackles, still had him under Roman authority. He released him and instructed the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to convene, all right? The Sanhedrin in that day was the legal ruling body of the Judaism for them. It was made up primarily of a bunch of different factors, but primarily three group, three different factions, the Pharisees,
00:10:17
Speaker
the Sadducees and the Scribes. The Scribes were basically the legal people who took the minutes of the meetings. They made sure that the Jewish law, the Torah, was obeyed. The Pharisees were the ones who believed um that the the resurrection will take place, that there is life after death. They believed in angels and all that kind of stuff. The Sadducees, on the other hand, did not believe in any of that. They did not believe in resurrection. They did not believe in life after death. They didn't believe in angels or spirits, and this is why they were sad, you see.
00:10:45
Speaker
in second
00:10:51
Speaker
Thank you, Patrick. I appreciate that. It's just a great way to remember the difference between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. And we're gonna point this out because Paul takes advantage of this later. Paul looks straight in into Sanhedrin and said, brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience to this day. Now it seems like ah just a simple sentence in the middle of the story, but I wanna underline it and emphasize it for you today. Because when you are standing before anybody, whether it's your neighbors, your friends, your family members, or complete strangers, and you're professing the name of Jesus,
00:11:22
Speaker
you better believe that your character matters. They're gonna pay attention to who you are before they pay attention to what you say. And if you have not lived like a follower of Jesus before you profess Jesus, they don't wanna hear about your Jesus. Because he's obviously not making an impact in the way you live your life. If you're just talking about Jesus without living like Jesus, then Jesus isn't making a difference for you. Paul was able to stand there and with complete confidence say, I have lived a life of innocence.
00:11:52
Speaker
That didn't mean he was perfect. It doesn't mean he always got it right, but it meant that he had rearranged his priorities according to the priorities of the gospel. So when he said, I have lived my life before God in all conscience to this day, they could not argue against that. It's important that you live because the world is watching your testimony and the way you live your life. It says the high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing next to him to strike him on the mouth.
00:12:20
Speaker
Then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. I don't know why that makes everybody laugh. Every time I read it, it makes them laugh. You are sitting there judging me according to the law, yet in violation of the law, are you ordering me to be struck? The reason he asked that question, because Jewish law literally said, for a Jew to strike a Jew is like a Jew who strikes the face of God.
00:12:44
Speaker
So you didn't do that kind of thing for Ananias to order it showed that his character didn't line up. And this is why jesus Jesus, I mean, excuse me, Paul used that phrase that Jesus actually had used earlier with the Pharisees. He called them a whitewashed wall or a whitewashed tomb in some translations. The reason they was calling him that is because According to Jewish tradition, Jewish law, you didn't come into contact with dead things, you avoided those at every cost. And so when they would put people, dead people, into tombs, which basically were in that day and age either caves that were natural or even sometimes hollowed out of hills, they would put them in there, they'd put the stone that blocked the gate of it, and then they would whitewash the wall outside of it to symbolize this as a tomb so nobody would come near it.
00:13:28
Speaker
So in essence, outside it was clean and pristine, but on the inside was nothing but death. And so as Paul and Jesus used this term with the Pharisees, he was saying, look on the outside, you look all good and nice, but inside is nothing but death and rot and corruption. How's that for Paul calling people out?
00:13:49
Speaker
says, those standing nearby said, do you dare revile God's high priest? I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, replied Paul, for it is written, you must not speak evil of a ruler of your people. So a couple of things I want to highlight here before we jump into the next section. First of all, this question of why was Ananias such an angry little old man?
00:14:11
Speaker
Okay, why did he order such a thing to be done? Because he knew the law better than anybody else did. ah One reason is probably the likelihood that Ananias legitimately thought that Paul was wicked. Because based on his improper understanding of Jesus, his improper understanding of what had taken place with the arrival of the Messiah, not seeing Jesus as the Messiah, he probably thought that what Paul was up to was nothing but undermining the traditions of the Jewish people.
00:14:40
Speaker
And so there's a good chance he thought Paul was indeed a wicked man. But the second more likely answer is this. Ananias himself was a wicked man. History tells us that Ananias' orders were unjust. He was a guy who loved to play favorites with his rulings and on behalf of the Jewish people. He would hobnob a lot with the religious elite of Jerusalem, and that ah impacted his decisions. And most likely he was not actually the true high priest. There's evidence that Rome just named him. Back in that day there was and sometimes multiple high priests because they were the ones who were selected according to their lineage based on the Jewish law, but there were also some who were designated by the Romans, and there's good ah evidence that Ananias was one of those.
00:15:27
Speaker
The other question here is, what did Paul mean by I didn't know that he was the high priest? There's been a lot of theories that are thrown out. um For instance, some believe that it was because this was not a regular meeting of the Sanhedrin, that Ananias may not have been in his high priest garb. He may have just shown up in regular clothes. And so maybe Paul did not recognize him like excuse me recognize him for that reason. Or maybe Paul and all the commotion and the chaos that was going on did not know who it was who gave.
00:15:56
Speaker
the command and so didn't recognize Ananias for that reason. um Also well documented that by this point in his life Paul's eyesight was going. It was getting really, really bad and so maybe he legitimately had not recognized him. And then a fourth theory is this, that Paul, because he had been away from Jerusalem so long, legitimately did not know who the current high priest was when he was brought in front of the Sanhedrin. That's what a lot of scholars offer. There is a fifth theory that I prefer.
00:16:25
Speaker
Paul was sassy. This fits Paul's personality better to me. I mean, this is who Paul was. But Paul's saying, you may think you're a high priest and you may call yourself a high priest, but there's nothing about you that acts high or priestly. Your behavior is out of character with one who would be selected to be the leader of God's people. And so I love that about Paul that he did not back down again, as is normally the case for him.
00:16:51
Speaker
All right, verse six. It says, when Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out. The Greek phrase there, cried out, is the present imperfect form of the verb, which means it wasn't one cry, but he had been crying out over and over again, continually crying out, guys, brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of fairf free Pharisees, I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.
00:17:20
Speaker
Can I just remind you guys, this is what our entire hope is based on. The same hope that Paul speaks of here, the resurrection of the dead. When you are called to give a testimony for who God is or what God is, you better make sure you're standing on something that is sure and certain.
00:17:37
Speaker
not your Not your opinions, not your personal preferences about how God is or what he says or what he does, those things don't matter. At the end of the day, you better make sure your stance is on the one thing that's true and that is that the tomb is empty and Jesus won. And that's the confidence that Paul had.
00:17:56
Speaker
keep ring He says, when he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees. I love it. Paul's smart. He says, let's start a war between the two of them. And so now Paul's no longer the attention of what's going on there. It's now the Pharisees versus the Sadducees.
00:18:12
Speaker
and it says the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees said, there is no resurrection and neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisee affirmed them all. The shouting grew loud and some of the scribes of the Pharisees party got up and argued vehemently, we find nothing evil in this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?
00:18:32
Speaker
When the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them and ordered the troops to go down, take him away from them and bring him into the barracks. So we're gonna stop the story there for today with one exception. We're gonna go into the next verse here, but I just wanna remind you again, the importance of what Paul displays as far as his reverence for the things that are important, but his irreverence for things that are against the law of God.
Divine Sovereignty in Elections and Authority
00:19:02
Speaker
It's important that we understand how we behave in those situations. When you're placed in a position where you come up against government, when you come up against authority, and it didn't have to be the government, it could be your schoolteachers at school. When people are placed in authority over you, you don't get to question you don't get to question the authority of a person who's been placed over you by a guy. God's already decided who's gonna win this election Tuesday.
00:19:29
Speaker
He already knows. It's already well within his understanding. What he is asking us to do is to be obedient followers of Jesus Christ when it wakes up when we wake up Wednesday morning. Whatever that leads us to.
00:19:49
Speaker
All right, so here's the part I wanted to kind of focus on this this morning, the last ah ah last verse of this little section, verse 11. It says, the following night the Lord stood by him and said, have courage for as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so it is necessary for you to testify in Rome. I want you to hear this this morning, the same Jesus who stood with Paul in this vision is the same Jesus who stands with you today.
00:20:14
Speaker
And whether it's testifying before the Lord and before the world or if it's just living out your life before a world that's watching you, whether it's a testimony testimony of a trial that you're going through or some struggle or some affliction you're in the middle of, the same Jesus who stood with Paul and his trials as he gave his defenses for his faith is the same Jesus who stands with you today.
00:20:37
Speaker
Now I want you to notice the verse. It doesn't say doesn't say the following night the Lord appeared to Paul. It doesn't say the following night Paul had a vision. It says that the Lord stood with him. Guys, you're on a pretty good VIP list as Jesus is standing with you.
00:20:56
Speaker
If Jesus is standing physically with you in the room, that means that you are some kind of high priority on his list. And that means that you better pay close attention to what he's fixing to say to you because it matters. And this is what happens with Paul. He has Paul's attention and he says to Paul, have courage. And I wanna share with you what we know from this verse, this one verse, what is true about our walk with Jesus Christ. Number one, the Lord knows us.
00:21:25
Speaker
The Lord knows us. Now, that can be taken two ways. That could be very, very encouraging. That means the struggle you're up against, the Lord knows. Not just knows, but He already knew before you ever got to it. The Lord knows. He knows what you face. He knows the challenges you have. He knows the doubts. He knows what keeps you awake at night and keeps you worried. He knows everything. The Bible says He knows the hairs on the top of your head. For some of you, that's easier than others.
00:21:51
Speaker
But he still knows everything about your existence. That should be encouraging. But it also should scare you to death. Because you see, you may walk in here on Sunday morning, you may dress up with a white washed outside. Jesus knows the inside. You may walk away from here and go, well, I fooled that pastor again this week. Which most of you don't fool me as much as you think you do.
00:22:20
Speaker
And then Monday morning, you show up living like you normally live. And Jesus goes, but I know you. I knew every step you were gonna take before you ever walked out of church yesterday. I knew every thought you were gonna have before you ever had it. The Bible says that he formed us in our womb, and in our mother's womb. And before that, he even knew who we would be. The Bible says that he has numbered our days, that he has caught every tear we've ever cried. He is all knowing.
00:22:49
Speaker
for all of us. And for those of you who sit back in the corners, you're not hiding. Brittany, behave. All right.
00:23:02
Speaker
um Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher, tells a story about John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim's Progress. You may be familiar with that. John Bunyan at one point was placed in prison in England, and he was visited by a Quaker pastor who had
Trusting God’s Plan Without Specific Prayers
00:23:15
Speaker
been looking for him. And according to John Bunyan, this is how the story went. Says the Quaker showed up and said, friend, the Lord sent me to you, and I have been seeking you in half the prisons of England. John Bunyan replied and said, no, that cannot be, for if the Lord had sent you to me, you would have come here at once, for he knows I've been here for years.
00:23:33
Speaker
I remember one time I had the opportunity to speak at a church, I can't remember where it was, I just remember the night. I was seated over to the side as we were finishing up the service and there was an old, one of those dear, dear saints, prayer saints, a sweet lady on the front row who had been praying every night of the event that we had been there. And I just remember one particular night just listening to her as she sat next to me and she prayed this prayer over and over, Lord, you know, Lord, you know.
00:24:02
Speaker
Lord, you know, and I thought about the power of that prayer, the faith of that prayer. How many times do you and I get frustrated because we go, oh, I forgot to pray for so and so. Oh, I was supposed to pray about this event. Oh, I've been thinking about praying for that. And I just, it slipped my mind. How much faith and confidence that woman displayed is night by night. She sat there and simply just said, Lord, you know, you know,
00:24:30
Speaker
You knew what I was going to be up against today.
00:24:35
Speaker
You knew what the doctor was going to tell me this afternoon. You knew the news that I would face when I got home tonight and my husband pulled me aside for a conversation. You knew what my boss had in mind. Lord, you know. You know. And because of that, we can have confidence.
00:24:56
Speaker
Second thing I want you to see is the Lord is with us. Not only does he know us, but the Lord is with us. Jesus' presence comforted Paul so much that later when he was in prison, he would write in 2 Timothy 4 these words, but the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. You hear, there's the word again. He stood with me. He didn't just appear to me, he stood with me.
00:25:18
Speaker
and strengthen me so that I might fully preach the word and all the Gentiles might hear. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The lion's mouth is a reference to Rome. Lion lion always symbolize Rome in scripture. The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. I want you to hear something today. This is really important news for you. If Jesus
00:25:48
Speaker
If Jesus went and did what he did, if God sent his son to die on a cross for you, do you think he would let you slip away that easy?
00:26:00
Speaker
So this morning, if you're feeling some kind of distance between you and God, I assure you it's not because God's gone anywhere. It's not because the spirit has been withdrawn from you. It's not because you are somehow more dirty than the person next to you. Like somehow you are more dirty than the Roman soldier who sat at the foot of Jesus's cross and said, surely this is the son of God. You're no more dirty than the crook who stayed on the cross next to him and said, Father, remember me when you get into your kingdom. You are no more dirty than the Paul who put people to death for believing in Jesus. He's not gone anywhere. So turn to him, he's there.
00:26:39
Speaker
because the God who sent his son to die for you is not gonna let you get away that easy.
00:26:48
Speaker
The Lord is with you. Look at this. Later, the Hebrew, the writer of Hebrews would write these words, keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.
00:27:04
Speaker
This thought struck me this morning and I have to be transparent with you. Read this passage more times than I can remember or count in my lifetime. And it just struck me that those promising words, I will never leave you or abandon you are at the end of a sentence that starts with keep your life free from the love of money. Do you think maybe the Holy Spirit was using that writer to say to us, quit trying to find your satisfaction in everything else. Material things will never give you peace.
00:27:34
Speaker
Material things you're not gonna satisfy and fulfill your soul. All the money in the world, the biggest bank account is never gonna give you the peace that only I can give you. Be satisfied with what you have, because what you have is me. I will never leave you nor abandon you. What an incredible promise. So the Lord knows us, the Lord is with us, the Lord is for us.
00:28:02
Speaker
That is shocking news for some of you because you've been brought up in a culture that says, what a mean old God he is because he wants to send people to hell. He is a mean God because he wants to send people to hell. Can I tell you that's the opposite of what the gospel tells us? The gospel tells us you are already on your way to hell. God saved you from it.
00:28:20
Speaker
You were already destined for that place that none of us want to go, but God said, ah I'm going to step in. I'm going to intervene. I'm going to die for you. So you don't have to go to that place. He is for you, not against you.
00:28:36
Speaker
And he he symbolizes this with a couple of things here. Number one, he gives them like this great exhortation, this great encouragement here. He says to him in the very first part of that verse, what is a Greek word, one Greek word, we translate it into two words, it is have courage, have courage. Some translations it says, take courage. How that must have soothed Paul's soul. Think about everything he's been through to this point.
00:29:04
Speaker
And at this moment, he's just spent the last few days being ripped at and torn at by Jews and romes Roman soldiers and everybody else. He's gotta think it really is Paul versus the world at this moment. And so for Jesus to appear, to stand next to him, to look him in the eye and say, Paul, don't give up hope, have courage. This is a one Greek word that is used only in the New Testament by Jesus alone. Nobody else uses it.
00:29:33
Speaker
Nobody else, no no Peter, no John, no James, nobody else, ah have courage.
00:29:41
Speaker
In all five instances, those words brought wonderful comfort to people who were struggling. The first time it was used, it was the paralytic on his bed as his four friends brought him to Jesus and lowered him through the roof. You remember Jesus said, take courage, the faith of your friends has saved you.
00:30:00
Speaker
Then there was the woman with the 12 year hemorrhage, the issue of blood who touched the garment of Jesus out of faith. And in fear, she backed away afraid she had done something wrong. And Jesus looked at her and said, take courage daughter because your faith has healed you.
00:30:17
Speaker
The third time comes in the storm on the Sea of Galilee when all of the disciples are scared they're about to go under and that this is the end of their life and suddenly Jesus comes walking to them on the sea and he shows and demonstrates his mastery over all creation and he says to those disciples, take courage do not be afraid. And then the last time he appears to the disciples in the up a room and has a conversation with them the night before his crucifixion as he's having that Last Supper with them and he says, take heart, take courage, do not be afraid for I have overcome the world. Hey, what's in the world?
00:31:00
Speaker
Here's the good news about that question. Everything you give me is going to be right. because everything is in the world. And the reason I ask that question is because if Jesus has overcome everything in the world, then what have you got to fear? Not one thing. Now, some of you are gonna be smart Alex tomorrow and email me and go, what about aliens? Well, when you prove there are aliens, we'll talk about that, okay? The reality is that everything you face Monday through Friday, everything you face at work, everything you face in your family, everything he has overcome.
00:31:33
Speaker
and he declares you to be overcomers with him. So he gives them that encouragement to say, do not be afraid, have courage. He also gives them a commendation. The commendation, look at the end of it, he says, for you testified about me in Jerusalem. You testified about me in Jerusalem. What was Jesus saying? He was saying, Paul had a boy.
00:31:55
Speaker
Good job. I gave you a job and you did it. Not only did you do it, you did it well. And I am very, very proud of you. And oh, by the way, I'm not done with you. I'm not done with you. Paul would ask later in Romans 8, verse 31, this very critical question that all of us need to ask ourselves and they'd be reassured with the answer. What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
00:32:22
Speaker
Who can be against us? Can I remind you? He's already overcome everything in the world. So what possibly could stand against you? Nothing. Probably would go on and answer that question with boldness and say, nothing, neither life nor death nor powers or principalities and they're good or bad, no you name it, it can't stand against you and God because you and God make a majority. So,
00:32:49
Speaker
Paul said, the Lord knows us, the Lord is with us, the Lord is for us, and the Lord isn't finished with us. The Lord isn't finished with us. Paul encountered a lot of trials along the way, and he would face many, many more over the next few weeks and months of his life. We don't know how much longer he was there, but Jesus was not
God's Purpose and Our Lifelong Trust
00:33:09
Speaker
finished with Paul. You may be asking me this morning, how do I know, how do I know if Jesus is not finished with me? It's a very simple test. Take a breath.
00:33:19
Speaker
because if you still got breath in your lungs, he's still got something to do with you. Now here's some reassuring news and please don't take this and knock at you if you're one of the healthy people in this congregation. I get that some of you love to eat the right things and you'll eat ah grass or whatever it is that makes you feel better. And that's awesome. But can I just tell you, you can take every vitamin in the world. You can do every treatment in the world. You can exercise seven days a week. And when God is done with you, he's done with you.
00:33:49
Speaker
It says, his days ah your days are in His hands. Your days have been numbered. So you can work out all you want to. When He's done with you, He's done with you. You can sit around and eat chocolate chip cookies all day long, which isn't wise.
00:34:05
Speaker
But when he's done with you, he's done with you. Now that is not a call for you to go out and do foolish things. It's not a call to go out there and say, hey, God's got me, let's see if I can fly. That's stupid. He didn't say go be stupid, but he did go see live with boldness because I have the number of your days in my hands. And when you're done, I'm done. And I will call you home at that moment.
00:34:29
Speaker
This is the confidence that Paul lived with. This is the confidence that Jesus reassured him with that night, hey, you're not done yet because we still gotta get to Rome. You're not done yet because I still have things for you to do, things that you were uniquely created to do just for me. So hang on, buddy. We still got more to go. And I will give you the strength it takes to get it done. The Lord knows us. The Lord is with us.
00:34:59
Speaker
The Lord is for us and he's not finished with us. And therefore we know the best is yet to come. Will you pray with me? Father God, I thank you for the testimony of your word that reminds us book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse of your deep and abiding love. Father today,
00:35:26
Speaker
I pray that everyone in this room, wall to wall, front to back, side to side, feels that embrace. The reassurance that there's nothing we have to face on our own, on our own that if God calls us to it, He will take us through it. He will not leave us, He will not abandon us, He will not forsake us, He will not forget us. There's never a moment where God looks at us and goes, oh, I forgot you were there.
00:36:02
Speaker
for us to succeed in our marriages, in our jobs, in our relationship with you. Not as the world sees success, that's not what we're talking about, but as the kingdom of God sees success. So this morning, if there's anyone in this room who needs just a little bit of an adjustment,
00:36:21
Speaker
I pray that today's the day they take that step and say, God, will you show me what the next steps look like? If there's anybody here who needs reassurance in their marriage or in their relationship with their kids or in the relationship with their neighbors or maybe just in their relationship with you, I pray that they would, with courage,