It's evident by verse 11 that at this
time in Paul's life he's tremendously discouraged, really
deeply discouraged.
And it can happen to a believer.
I mean, even his Christian friends seem to
have forsaken him.
You see no reference here from Luke that
anybody's praying for Paul.
It's amazing, it's almost 30 years after the
resurrection and Pentecost.
Peter's great preaching on the day of Pentecost
and thousands coming to the knowledge of the
Lord.
The Scriptures tell us that thousands of Jews
were coming to the Lord and living in
Jerusalem.
And at the time that Paul got there,
you remember they had begun, the Jews in
the city, to avoid persecution from the Orthodox
Jews began to compromise their faith and did
not make a distinction of their Judaism.
They began to incorporate some of the things.
In fact, when they had the council, you
remember they didn't want to offend the Jews
that believed.
And so it weakened the church.
And when Paul got there, they were a
little afraid of Paul.
It seemed like they had heard that wherever
Paul went, there seemed to be trouble.
He stirred things up because he would not
compromise.
And when you're around a Christian that does
not compromise, and if you've been around people
that do kind of just, you know, shade
things a little or take a shortcut or
they're maybe not just what they should be,
you make them a little uncomfortable.
Especially when you're with a crowd of unbelievers.
It's amazing, instead of being excited to know,
well, what's he going to share next?
You can sense there's a believer in your
midst who's a little uncomfortable, afraid what you
might say in front of their aunt or
their uncle or their friend.
Because you're not going to, you know, shade
things.
And that always creates a little bit of
an uncomfortableness with people who are willing to
put their faith in Christ but not go
all the way.
They'll deny Christ maybe a little or compromise
in such a way that they don't want
to raise anybody's ire or ruffle the feathers,
so to speak.
And so when someone like Paul is in
that believer's midst, it's amazing.
The believer gets uncomfortable.
Oh man, I hope he doesn't say this.
Aunt Harriet's a Catholic.
Oh, I hope he doesn't say this.
My dad's backslidden.
Oh my gosh, he knows that my uncle
drinks.
I hope he doesn't say anything about it.
And they get a little fearful.
And see, Paul didn't go in and play
Holy Spirit and start looking for something, you
know, to zero in on.
Paul just, you see, no compromise in his
life.
And so when he came to Jerusalem and
he was in trouble, there weren't too many
Christians coming to his aid.
And he felt kind of alone, kind of
discouraged, wondering, Lord, you know, what's going on?
And you remember, that's the fellowship of suffering
with Jesus Christ.
You're in good company when you feel like
even your Christian friends are a little uncomfortable
to be around you because you don't cut
any slack.
You love Jesus so much, you're just not
going to play that game.
You're so thankful for your redemption, for Jesus
Christ taking your sin and freeing you, that
there's no way you can deny your Lord.
And that's the way Paul was.
And you remember, Jeremiah was that way.
In fact, we'll be looking at it this
Sunday in Jeremiah 15, 17.
You remember, Jeremiah was all alone.
All of his townspeople, his own little town
was against him in Anathoth.
And he said, Lord, I have not sat
in the assembly of the mockers nor rejoiced.
Yet, Lord, I know that by your hand
I sit alone now and I'm filled with
indignation.
Lord, what's happening?
And so he was hurting.
It's awful to be rejected and wonder, Lord,
why are you allowing this to happen?
So-called believers now are uncomfortable with me,
simply because I love you with all my
heart.
And the Lord is mindful of that.
And it could be there's somebody here tonight
and you think, wow, does anybody even know,
does the body of Christ even know what
I'm going through?
And it's interesting, Jeremiah said, Lord, I know
this is by thy hand.
It's by thy hand I sit alone.
Well, it's by God's hand that Paul is
alone now.
And he's wondering, wow, Lord, maybe I have
blown it.
And you can tell by what he experiences
that he was greatly discouraged.
And it's interesting to me that nobody was
praying for him or coming to his aid.
There were no all-night prayer vigils like
there were for Peter.
And it's obvious to see that Peter was
not as stressed and disturbed when he was
in jail because he was sleeping.
Remember, he was sleeping, and they were praying
for him, and the angel came and woke
him up.
So he wasn't awake all night churning and
stressed out because, you know, just by preaching
the gospel, the Lord allowed him to be
put in jail.
But there were people praying for him, mindful
of his situation.
You don't get that with the Apostle Paul.
But it's interesting to me that, again, when
the prayer meeting was going on and people
were concerned for Peter, the Lord sent an
angel.
When no one seemed to care what Paul
was going through, not even his own brethren
or the church, this was a serious thing.
Jesus himself came to Paul's aid.
He said, I'm not going to use an
angel here.
He needs me.
And it's interesting to me that Paul wasn't
even crying out.
He was confused.
He was probably deeply discouraged.
Now, there's an interesting thing that goes on
in Isaiah 65, 24.
As he's prophesying concerning the kingdom age, what
will take place when Messiah is ruling, he
said, the love of God will be there
so quickly for the child of God who
puts their trust in the Messiah, who, as
Jesus said, before they even call, I will
answer.
Before they even call, I will answer their
need.
While they are yet speaking, will I hear?
And here's Paul.
He's discouraged.
He's wondering, Lord, if I've blown it, Lord,
nothing seems to be going right.
Nobody cares.
There's nobody praying for me.
I haven't gotten any notes while I'm in
jail.
No encouragement.
In fact, people are avoiding me.
There's another interesting text in Matthew 6, verse
8.
When Jesus is teaching about prayer, he says,
Your heavenly Father knoweth you have need of
this before you even ask.
Because you put your faith in Jesus when
it gets the most desperate.
He won't even use an angel.
He won't even use a prayer team.
He'll come to you himself.
That's how much he's concerned.
He measures the problem, and by the degree
of your distress, he decides how he's going
to comfort you and help you.
And here, Paul needed Jesus himself.
His friends had rejected him.
He felt alone, discouraged like he failed.
And so the night followed.
He's created a riot.
He's in trouble again.
And the night following, the Lord stood by
him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul.
No condemnation.
He needed to be encouraged and uplifted.
Be of good cheer, Paul.
For as thou hast testified of me in
Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at
Rome.
That's all Paul needed.
The Lord himself appeared to him and said,
Now, you must not only testify here, and
you have testified of me.
That's all that was required.
Do you realize that's all it requires, that
God requires of you and I, that we
just testify of him?
Now, there are some guys that just seems
like they really know how to close the
deal.
They're talking with someone for five minutes, and
they've got them saying the sinner's prayer.
They lead them to Christ.
And they can't wait to tell you, I
led three people to the Lord today.
How many did you lead to the Lord?
Well, I didn't lead anybody to the Lord.
When I get up to heaven, there's going
to be nothing but a garbage dump waiting
for me.
I'm not going to have any rewards.
I'm going to have an empty sack with
dust in it.
And we think that we measure success the
wrong way.
Jesus said, If you confess me before men.
You know, it's interesting.
We are actually to bring men to Jesus.
There's nowhere it says that you save or
you heal or I save or I heal.
All we're required to do is bring people
to Jesus.
He does the rest.
And if he decides to save, he'll do
it.
If he doesn't, he doesn't require that.
He doesn't measure success by you closing the
deal and having them pray the sinner's prayer
or be baptized in the Holy Spirit or
be healed.
It's your perseverance.
It's your faithfulness in what he's asked you
to do.
And what do you say to Paul?
There's been nothing but riots.
There's people been rejecting him.
And he said, Paul, you've testified of me.
Be of good cheer.
I'm pleased.
That's all he requires.
He asks you to confess him before men,
not to deny him.
Just to persevere.
To share what you do know.
I remember one time when I was very
young in the Lord.
And at that age, because of my zeal
and my love for Jesus Christ, I did
many, many rash, impulsive things.
Now, I pray a little bit before I
do a rash, impulsive thing.
But I'll never forget that we had a
financial need.
And I was really loving, walking by faith.
I took from one of my personal verses
to take no anxious thought for tomorrow what
I will eat or drink or wear ever.
And I never have.
I live from day to day, and I
refuse to be concerned about it.
Now, that created stress for Rosemary.
Because there were times when the utilities and
the house payment was due, and I'd put
my whole paycheck in the offering bag.
Because I just knew God was going to
some way do it.
I took him for his word, that I
need not take God.
I could take his word for what it
meant.
And the funny thing is, he always did
do it.
And Rosemary learned that also, as she saw
it.
It was very stressful.
One time we were in church, and I'll
never forget.
And we had some bills to pay.
And the amazing thing is, the bag came
by in the tent.
We were in a tent in those days.
And I reached in, and I had a
dollar in this hand, and she was looking
at me.
And I had my paycheck in this hand,
and I put the paycheck in the bag.
And she tried to reach in there and
grab it.
You used the wrong hand, you know.
And off the paycheck went.
And he was so faithful.
And it's amazing how he taught us through
that.
And it's been my life.
I've just lived that way.
And God's been faithful.
And I've learned that you cannot give God.
He will never be indebted to you.
And I remember one time that we had
another financial need.
The tuition for both my boys in Calvary's
Christian school was due.
And I think the rent was due.
And I was working as a carpenter.
And there happened to be a Baptist church
that was really attacking Calvary Chapel.
It was jealous of Calvary Chapel.
Because it just saw these ragamuffin kids with
long hair and bare feet and raggedy dungarees.
And, you know, going to church and just
crowds and a lot of joy.
And the worship was different.
And so they found fault with everything.
And here, this church, you know, they were
the frozen chosen, man.
They were dead right about everything.
And they were so cold you had to
wear a fur coat in July in that
joint.
But the interesting thing is one of their
bus drivers drove around the edge of the
building and caught it with the top of
the bus and tore the corner of the
roof off.
And they couldn't get anybody in their own
church to fix it.
And I got wind of it.
And they needed a carpenter.
And they were willing to pay.
And so I thought, well, praise the Lord.
It's a chance to, you know, meet the
needs, pay the bills.
And so off I go and I spend
a couple days working on their church, this
Baptist church, and fix the roof and everything.
And it came time to walk in and
give them the bill.
And I thought, I can't charge Jesus for
fixing this house.
And so I turned around and walked out.
And I had a beard and long hair.
And they were ready to write the check.
And I said, no, you know what, I
just can't charge Jesus.
This is his house and you're his people.
And I just love Jesus too much.
I'm not going to give you a bill.
And I turned around and walked out and
came home.
Well, it created a little stress.
And we went to a home, a Bible
study.
And one of the board members that we
knew, that we were friends with, had a
Bible study in her home.
And at that time, a pastor was teaching
in there.
And he came from a background of responsibility.
And he was old in the Lord.
And I'll never forget, that night he got
wind of it.
And he was kind of a Pentecostal type
guy and everything, a little noisy.
And he rebuked me in front of the
whole Bible study.
He said I was a lousy, no good
bum, worse than an infidel, that I didn't
take that money and I wasn't providing for
my wife.
And he laid me out.
And I was crushed.
And I'll never forget, after the Bible study,
I went home and I couldn't even sleep.
I was on the couch weeping and sobbing.
Weeping and sobbing.
I said, Lord, I know my heart was
right.
But I respected this older pastor because he
was my elder.
He was an older guy in the Lord.
And I thought, but Lord, you know my
heart.
And I was weeping and crying and I
couldn't sleep.
About 3 o'clock in the morning, the
Lord spoke to my heart and encouraged that,
I know, you did this as a gift
unto me, and I receive it.
And he spoke to me so clearly and
so beautifully.
I went to bed and slept like a
baby.
And you should see what the Lord did
for us financially.
I think he paid, at that point, I
think he paid several months in advance, both
boys, tuition.
We got a phone call from the church.
And one of the secretaries said, Rosemary, someone
just, the Lord's just taking care of both
boys' tuition for six months or something.
And next thing we know, there's, you know,
money just more than we needed to meet
our needs.
Now, I didn't live like that forever.
But I'll never forget, I was weeping and
so brokenhearted and just thinking, I blew it,
I'm just no good.
And he said so.
But the Lord came to me in the
middle of the night on the couch.
He spoke to me.
He says, I know you did it for
me.
I know you did it for me.
And so here's Paul.
You know, he's all alone, discouraged.
Far more discouraged than Peter.
So the Lord says, no, he needs more
than an angel.
I'm going to him personally.
Now, let me tell you this.
If you love Jesus Christ with all of
your heart, and because of your love for
Jesus, people are getting a little uncomfortable with
you.
And you're feeling a little alone.
Don't be discouraged because Jesus knows.
Maybe people reject you, and maybe even the
body of Christ seems to be indifferent to
your need right now.
Remember, the body of Christ doesn't meet the
needs Jesus does.
The church doesn't meet the needs Jesus does.
And if he knows that you're desperate, and
you're at that point, believe me, he is
faithful.
Before they even call, I will answer.
While they are yet speaking, I will hear.
He will be there for you.
But don't you be discouraged.
And never doubt the Lord.
He said, lo, you can be content with
the things that you have, for it is
a faithful saying, he will never leave you
nor forsake you.
Never.
It's interesting, now, three years later, Paul never
again had a question about anything.
Never discouraged again.
And it's amazing what he goes through the
last three years of his life.
As he goes down to Caesarea, put in
jail again for two more years before he
goes to Rome.
But he got to Rome.
He knew, he said, I'm going to Rome.
I know it.
God told me I'm getting to Rome.
So no matter what I'm going through right
now, God says, I'm going to finish my
course.
And that's the one thing he realized when
the Lord appeared to him.
You see, we sometimes think that when God
directs us a certain way, that there's going
to be no problems, no difficulties on the
way.
That I don't have to learn anything on
the way.
That I don't have to learn to trust
Him more on the way.
That I don't have to realize how faithful
He is on the way.
He's been faithful up to this time, but
I need to realize even in a deeper
way, maybe.
You remember in Mark chapter 6, the lesson
the apostles had to learn.
The Lord had just performed the miracles, and
it says, and He constrained them to get
into the boat, and He said, now go
to the other side.
Now, if He said, go to the other
side, that meant they're going to get there.
He didn't say, go halfway through and hit
a storm and panic and sink and die.
Because halfway through on the way to the
other side, they did hit a storm, and
they almost did sink, but they didn't.
He knew they wouldn't, but they didn't expect
the storm in being obedient.
And they forgot that He said, you're going
to the other side.
Now, Jesus has said through the Gospels and
through the preaching and through all the letters
of the apostles, that when you put your
faith in Jesus Christ, you're going to get
there.
He's going to finish and complete that good
work He's begun in your life.
No matter what you're experiencing right now, whatever
the storm is, whatever the thing, everybody seems
to be neglecting your life, or you don't
know what's going on in your life.
Does anybody know?
Does anybody care?
Jesus does, and He's going to make sure
you make it.
You need to keep your eyes on Him
and get your eyes back on Him.
He said, I give you eternal life when
you put your trust in Me.
Not temporary life or eternal life for the
next five years.
He said, I will be with you always,
even unto the end.
Now, some of you might be in that
area right now where the apostles were.
You're in a storm.
You think you're going to sink.
And you're wondering, Lord, are you real?
Are you there?
Will you be there for me?
Yes, He will.
He'll never tempt you beyond reason or beyond
your means or capabilities.
That's another promise.
Now, you say, well, I believe that.
No, you don't.
I didn't either.
We don't until we are in that situation
and we realize that He is faithful.
We mentally accept it and say, I believe
that He'll never tempt me beyond means, and
He'll never leave me nor forsake me.
And yet, we will only believe it to
a point.
So God says, I'm going to increase your
faith.
I'm going to prove myself more faithful.
So He puts us in a situation, and
it's amazing what we think.
Lord, the Lord has forsaken me.
It's not real.
I'm not going to make it.
We catch ourselves thinking, I'm not going to
make it.
And so the Lord comes to you and
proves to you.
Again, that He will never leave you nor
forsake you.
That He's going to be with you and
see you through whatever, until you're with Him
on the other side.
He was with Paul, and Paul got to
Rome.
Now, Paul didn't get to Rome the way
he thought.
He could not conceive the way God designed
his route to Rome.
I would imagine, and I shared this before,
Paul was so overwhelmed and grateful for his
salvation, and when he began to serve Christ
in the beginning, he said, Lord, all I
want to do is bring glory to You,
yield to You, and serve You.
I'm Your servant.
And he could not conceive how God would
design things for his life to bring glory
to him.
Maybe the first time Paul prayed for someone
and they got healed, he was convinced, I
have a healing ministry.
I'll never have trials again.
God will send me places and I'll have
meetings, and people will come forward after I
teach the Bible, and I'll pray for people
and they'll get healed.
Because he prayed for someone and they got
healed the first time.
No, he didn't have a healing ministry.
And miracles took place in his life, but
not always.
It's interesting.
Again, we're going to find out the Lord
appeared to Paul far greater than sending an
angel.
The Lord Himself appeared to Paul.
But it's interesting.
Paul had to make rational choices and decisions
and think clearly, and God used means to
deliver him out of his desperate situation, where
with Peter, He used the supernatural.
So you can never figure or understand or
know or predict how God's going to work
things out for you.
So you have to rest and trust and
keep your mind stayed upon Him and trust.
He may work something out supernaturally.
He may do something that you can't.
Man, it was just impossible to conceive that
way.
Or He may have you make a wise
decision, and He begins to open doors, and
then He brings someone else into that decision
and works with you, and He meets the
needs that way.
So He was greatly encouraged.
And when it was day, certain of the
Jews banded together and bound themselves under a
curse or a vow, saying that they would
neither eat nor drink till they had killed
Paul.
Now in Judaism in that day, the Jews
interpreted the law that if someone was a
threat to Judaism or maybe the moral code
of the land or a threat to society,
the rabbis and the Pharisees thought you could
murder someone.
In fact, God Himself had people assassinated in
the Old Testament by people.
God would direct people to assassinate people that
were dangerous.
And so the Jews, they would take a
curse.
They would take this vow, and it was
called the kereth.
And if they did not put someone to
death, they would put themselves under the death.
They would say, God, curse me, kill me,
if I do not bring this thing to
pass.
I'm making a vow, and they're never going
to eat or drink again.
That's the hatred that the Jews had for
Paul because he left their religion.
He was leading people to the Messiah, who
they didn't accept.
Now the Greek for that word is anathema,
let them be accursed.
In fact, Paul used that term for false
prophets.
Let them be accursed if they teach falsely.
And so they've made this vow, brought themselves
under the curse that if they did not
kill Paul, God, you kill me, we're not
going to eat nor drink until he's dead.
Well, it's interesting.
You wonder if they really meant it, how
godly they really were in their orthodoxy because
Paul lived.
You wonder how many of them starved themselves
to death.
You wonder who really meant it.
It's easy to make a vow, to make
some statement and then have things work out
opposite and then just forget the vow we
made, kind of blow it off.
You wonder how many of them really died
and kept the vow in their life.
Now, it's interesting.
Remember Judges chapter 11?
Jephthah, the deliverer that God raised up.
You remember he was the son of a
harlot and so he was rejected and kind
of set aside.
His people wanted nothing to do with him,
but he was a powerful man.
And here God was going to use him
to deliver the Israelites from the Ammonites.
And so they went to Jephthah and he
called out to God and he said, Lord,
if you will give me victory over the
Ammonites, the very first thing that comes out
of my home, I make a vow.
I'll offer it up as a burnt offering
unto you.
And to show you how powerful vows were,
his daughter walked out and he had to
keep that vow.
To offer up perpetually in virginity and it
broke her heart.
Some Bible scholars actually feel that because of
his vow he actually burned her alive.
He put her to death because he made
the vow.
But he kept the vow.
He had to.
And so these Jews made this kind of
a vow.
They brought themselves under the cureth or the
curse.
If they didn't bring it off and they
wanted to be cursed by God, they would
starve themselves to death.
And there were more than 40 which had
made this conspiracy.
Now you know why when Jesus speaks of
the synagogue after Christianity has been formed, it's
referred to as the synagogue of Satan.
Because you see, you go to a normal
synagogue, you go to the rabbis in Israel
today and they hate the name of Jesus.
In fact, I've been around Muslims and had
discussions on the Temple Mount with Muslims that
have a higher regard for Jesus Christ than
the Jews.
They have rejected their Messiah.
And so you see the Holy Spirit doesn't
work in Judaism.
The Holy Spirit is not working in those
synagogues in Israel.
And so it's referred to as the synagogue
of Satan.
Jesus himself uses that term.
And so you can see why it would
be very easy for these Orthodox, godly, Bible
-believing, Old Testament-believing Jews to take a
vow to kill a Christian.
And Paul's feeling all that.
Feeling that hatred, that rejection, and yet not
cutting corners to survive.
Rejected by his own family, friends, the church.
His love for Christ constrained him.
Sure, he was discouraged.
Sure, there's honest doubt.
But the Lord will never let you go
beyond the means.
He will come to you to encourage you.
Oh, how he loves faithfulness.
How he rewards faithfulness.
And we just hurt ourselves when we begin
to deny the Lord to survive.
When we begin to try to survive and
not deny ourselves and go all the way
to Jesus Christ, we just hurt ourselves.
But oh, when we are faithful to him.
Rather lose every human friend on earth than
the fellowship with Jesus.
No matter who it is.
And so they came to the chief priests
and elders and said, We've bound ourselves under
a great curse.
And we will eat nothing until we have
slain Paul.
Now therefore, ye with the council, signify to
the chief captain that he bring him down
unto you tomorrow as though you would inquire
something more perfectly concerning him.
And we, wherever he come near, are ready
to kill him.
Now notice how Paul delivers here.
Here again, by just using the brain that
he gives us.
So often, if we are maybe saved or
get caught up under the wrong movement, we
think that, man, the only way God can
be glorified, it has to be a miracle.
And so sometimes we just sit and do
nothing and call that faith, waiting for God
to work supernaturally.
And another year goes by, and nothing is
being done in my life.
Or things don't get any better.
I've prayed, and I've prayed once, and it's
by faith, and God is going to do
it.
Simply because maybe God worked supernaturally one time
before, we think that's the only way he
works that he can be glorified.
Hey, wait a minute.
No, he gave us the brain.
He's given us the mind of Christ.
Think.
He's given us the gifts of the Spirit
to discern, to have the word of wisdom,
to have the word of knowledge, and to
make decisions, to commit our ways unto him,
and to search the word of God, and
to direct our steps by the word of
God.
And if we get to a point where
means doesn't work, God has the supernatural means
from his side.
In this particular case, and Paul has seen
the supernatural.
Here's the man who was so busy working,
and he wanted to be a good witness.
He wouldn't beg for money that he would
send his sweat bands rather than quit work,
and it would trigger people's faith, and they
were healed, and he was even there.
He could call blindness on people.
He knows the supernatural.
He's seen the earthquake come in Philippi.
He could have walked away when God supernaturally
just shook the earth and destroyed the jail
around him.
In this particular case, notice how God works.
And here's the balance of the spiritual man.
Here's the maturity to know, I know this
is God.
Paul didn't say, well, he did it supernaturally
last time.
This is the Lord.
I'm just going to wait until the angel
appears.
He did it for Peter.
Well, I don't need to go to a
doctor.
I know so-and-so, and he had
the same thing, and he got prayed for,
and God healed him supernaturally, and I'm going
to just pump up the faith, and I'm
not going to go to a doctor, and
you might die.
I'm going to throw the medicine away.
So-and-so just quit taking their medicine,
and they're better.
Yes, but God told them and God led
them.
They knew in their heart that they could
do it.
They didn't do it foolishly, impulsively.
So don't you do it that way.
You take the medicine until God relieves you,
until God lets you know in your heart
it's not necessary anymore, and he will, because
it's all God working, and there's the balance,
the supernatural and the natural, God working it
all, because we're still in a natural state.
We're still in our human bodies.
We're still functioning.
So when Paul's sister's son heard of their
lying in wait, he went and entered into
the castle and told Paul, here's nephew, overhear
something.
It doesn't say how, but we do know
this, that you can be sure that God
controlled circumstances to have the nephew somewhere to
hear the plot, or maybe the nephew knew
someone involved in the plot, and so he
said, Uncle Paul, they're plotting to kill Uncle
Paul.
And so he goes to Paul, and Paul
called one of the centurions unto him and
said, Bring this young man unto the chief
captain, for he hath a certain thing to
tell him.
It's interesting, Paul didn't feel led to pray.
He didn't see it as an automatic thing
to pray and say, Lord, my life's on
the line, send an angel.
I know, Lord, you can do it.
He just started thinking quickly, making decisions, trusting
in the Lord, as the Lord gave him
direction.
So he took him and brought him to
the chief captain, and he said, Paul the
prisoner called me unto him and prayed me
to bring this young man unto thee who
hath something to say unto thee.
Then the chief captain took him by the
hand and went with him aside privately and
asked him, What is that that thou hast
to tell me?
And he said, Well, the Jews have agreed
to desire thee that thou wouldst bring down
Paul to-morrow unto the council.
That would be the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, as
though they would inquire somewhat of them more
perfectly.
But do not thou yield unto them, for
there lie in wait for him of them
more than forty men, which have bound themselves
with an oath that they will neither eat
nor drink till they have killed him.
And now are they ready, looking for a
promise from me.
So they're trying to get the Roman centurion
to go along with it.
Now remember, Roman law was very just.
And the law said, if that Roman centurion
allowed something to happen to Paul unjustly, because
Paul was a freed man, a citizen of
Rome, you see, the Roman centurion would have
been put to death.
And he knew that, so he couldn't buy
into that.
And so the chief captain then let the
young man depart and charged him, See thou
tell no man that thou hast showed these
things to me.
So right away he said, Wait a minute,
I've got to protect this guy.
And here again, here's the sovereignty of God.
Now first of all, Satan tried to kill
Paul before he even got to Jerusalem.
He couldn't do it that way.
Now here's how you learn the wiles of
Satan.
How quickly, like a serpent, he can go
from one person to another quickly.
And it's hard to keep track of him
if you're not aware of these things.
He tries to kill Paul before he gets
to Jerusalem.
He tries to kill him with Roman authorities.
He can't do it that way.
Then he tries to kill him with his
Jewish brethren.
He can't do it that way.
So immediately he goes back.
He tries to kill him again with Roman
law to get the Roman soldier to get
involved in it.
He goes to Jews.
He goes to Gentiles.
He's slithering around trying to get somebody to
work to get rid of this Paul.
And what does God do?
He uses the very agents and the very
government that's controlling the world, the very government
that Satan established to keep Jesus from coming,
the very government that put Herod in position
to kill all the babies when Jesus was
born.
Rome.
He uses Roman authority to protect his apostle.
And he thumbs his nose at the devil.
The very instruments that Paul would have been
put to death with by Satan if he
could have gotten away with it, God turns
it around and says, hey, this Roman centurion,
he's going to put 470 troops or soldiers
with Paul to protect him, to get him
to Caesarea.
The church didn't do anything to help him.
His Jewish brethren didn't do anything to help
him.
Why?
Because Satan had them frightened.
And Satan couldn't even get Rome to kill
him.
God uses Rome to protect him.
And again, you see, when you look at
your own life, if you are faithful to
Jesus, there's nothing that can touch you or
harm you.
Nothing.
No matter what Satan tries to do, God
will work it to the good for you.
He'll use the government.
He'll use that anti-Christ government, just like
He used Rome, to protect you, to show
you favor, to encourage you, to assure you
that you will get to your destination.
Now look.
So He called unto Him two centurions.
He said, make ready 200 soldiers.
Paul couldn't even have done that.
He couldn't have hired that many.
He didn't have the money to do that.
Can you see Paul, a Christian and a
Jew, going to Rome and Caesarea?
I have a very important dangerous journey to
go to Caesarea.
I want you to guard me all the
way down there.
Get out of here, you Jew.
Who are you?
But see, God's behind the scenes.
And God creates the circumstance by the hatred,
the rejection, the riot, the turmoil, that on
the surface looks like everything is going wrong.
But it's playing right into the hands of
God to give Paul a safe journey to
Caesarea to guarantee him safety.
And God's behind the scenes.
Even though hateful men are making decisions, God's
controlling it.
And there may be people making hateful decisions
against you right now.
You can be sure God is controlling it
and He will work it to the good
for you.
Always.
He just asks you to trust, to persevere,
to testify.
That's all He asks you to do.
Testify.
Do not deny Him.
Remember the Philadelphia church?
The church that was promised the escape of
the tribulation?
Why?
Because thou hast a little faith.
You have not denied my name.
I will keep thee from.
This thing is going to come upon the
whole earth.
This hour of testing.
Because thou hast not denied my name.
I have put before thee an open door
that no man can shut.
Whether it's an antichrist government that rules the
world, rules your country, that's changing the constitution
to limit your freedom, they can't shut the
door at the rapture.
They can't stop you from getting to your
destination.
Because God's on your side.
And if God be for you, Paul said,
who can be against you?
You see, there's nothing impossible for God.
So he says, get 200 soldiers to go
to Caesarea.
And horsemen, three score and ten.
Seventy men on cavalry.
And 200 spearmen at the third hour of
the night.
So he's going to move them down to
Caesarea with 470 elite troops.
The Roman marines and cavalry.
Personal bodyguard for one guy.
Now, it's about 65 to 70 miles from
Jerusalem to Caesarea as they go down through
the hills of Judea to the first place
where they went and sent some of the
troops back full of gorges and ravines.
It's beautiful.
It's on the Mediterranean side of the hills
of Judea, the mountain range there.
And it's really green and thick and foresty.
The Jews had tremendous battles on that side
when they won their independence from Jordan in
the 1948 war.
And you can see some of the burned
out tanks and armored cars they've left as
monuments on the way to the airport from
Jerusalem on the main highway in that area.
But it's a tremendous area for ambush.
And the Roman centurion knew that until they
got down to the plains of Ashdod in
that last 35 miles of Caesarea where it
was open and they couldn't be trapped or
ambushed.
And so to make sure Paul would be
safe, he sends 470 men the first 35
miles from Jerusalem at 9 o'clock at
night.
Right away.
He said, Provide them beasts that they may
set Paul on and bring him safe unto
Felix the governor.
And he wrote a letter after this matter.
Now Felix is an interesting guy.
He was, in the history of the Roman
Empire, he's the very first freed slave that
became a governor of a Roman province.
The very first one.
And Tacitus, the Roman historian, said, He ruled
with the prerogative of a king but the
cruelty and the mercenary of a slave.
Because he was once a slave.
He was very cruel and unmerciful.
But he was a mercenary.
Now the reason he got elected and was
given this authority in the Roman province, when
he was a young slave, he and his
brother Pallas were friends with Claudius Caesar.
Growing up together.
As slave boys, they played with the Roman
Emperor.
Probably his parents were slaves in Claudius the
Emperor's family's home.
Rich Romans.
And as they grew up together, they became
close friends.
When Claudius became the Emperor of Rome, he
made Pallas his favorite in his government and
he allowed Felix to become a governor in
one of the provinces and for a while
he ruled in Samaria.
And then at this particular time, two years
previous he was in Samaria, at this time
he was the pro-council or the governor
of Caesarea at the time.
And so this is who Paul is being
sent to.
He was so cruel and mercenary he was
replaced when Nero came into power.
But this is the very first person who
Paul is going to testify before as he's
headed toward the Roman government to reach the
most powerful man on earth, the Caesar.
He starts with his governor.
And again, you see, Satan would do everything
he could to stop this.
Not only has Paul been, you know, able
to reach the Jews and all the surrounding
area, you know, Judea, Samaria, the other most
parts of the world now, and now he's
on his way to Rome, the capital of
the world, to the Caesar, but under the
protection of God.
Here Satan's controlling the Roman government, he believes.
Satan's the one who's designed Caesar, the God
-man on earth.
That's what August means, the Augustus one, or
the August one, the God-man.
And so he's claiming to be God on
earth, ruling the world.
And here God is sending his man to
proclaim who the real God is, Jesus Christ,
the one who was crucified and risen, who's
coming back again.
God's ruling.
God rules all the affairs of man in
his sovereignty, and that gives tremendous rest and
peace to the believer who understands that no
matter what seems to be going wrong right
now, no matter what the storm of your
life is, how isolated you may feel, don't
you get angry at other Christians because they
don't understand or they seem to neglect you,
or you feel all alone.
God is designing it.
Remember, Jeremiah said, Lord, I am alone by
your hand.
It's by your hand.
And yes, he was filled with indignation.
That was God's plan.
And God didn't forsake him, and God won't
forsake you.
And you will get to the other side.
No matter what the hindrance is right now,
the storm or the confusion or the dark
of night in your soul or your life
and circumstances, God is controlling.
He's ruling.
And maybe you need to return to Him
in your trust.
You've doubted Him.
That's what happened to Jeremiah.
We're going to learn Sunday that he had
begun to believe the lies of his own
mind and his friends, and he was wondering,
is it worth it?
Is it worth it to stay this close
to Jesus Christ?
Is it worth it to stay faithful and
lose friends?
Yes, it is.
I don't miss one friend I've lost because
of Jesus.
He is more than made up for their
relationship in my life.
It was kind of sad and frightening and
kind of heartbreaking when it first took place,
but Jesus has more than filled the void
with His faithfulness and His love.
And I've discovered I don't miss Him at
all because I've got more of Jesus.
I know Him more.
I love Him more, and I know He
loves me more.
Don't ever be afraid of that.
You see, there's the weakness of the church.
That was what was happening.
That's why there was no church to really
go to the aid of Paul.
Everybody was afraid to make a stand.
They'd begun to compromise so much to survive
that when it came right down to it,
they were afraid to make a stand for
somebody.
And so, the chief captain writes a letter
to Felix.
And notice how he tries to promote himself.
He kind of exaggerates a little bit.
Claudius Lysias, under the most excellent governor Felix,
sendeth greeting.
This man was taken of the Jews and
should have been killed of them.
Then came I with an army and rescued
him, having understood that he was a Roman.
It wasn't exactly like that.
He's trying to save his own life.
There's a riot going on, and he's ready
to beat them half to death, and he
finds out he's a Roman citizen.
He almost made a mistake.
And he's trying to save his own skin.
He really didn't care about Paul too much.
But he realized he was a Roman citizen.
But he's making it seem like, man, I
came to the rescue.
And notice how many times he says, I.
And when I would have known the cause
whereof they accused him, I brought him forth
into their counsel, whom I perceived to be
accused of questions of their law, but to
have nothing laid to his charge worthy of
death or of bonds.
And when it was told me how that
the Jews laid weight for the men, I
sent straightway to thee.
Boy, I'm a great guy, aren't I?
You know, Felix, if you're ever looking to
promote someone, I'm the one, you know.
I've been faithful here in Jerusalem.
I'm the guy that did it all.
Aren't you glad I prayed for you?
So-and-so was having trouble, and I
lent them the money.
I'm the one who helped them.
Careful.
Promotion cometh neither from the east, the west,
or the south.
I've watched people try to promote themselves by
the way they relate the events that they've
been involved in, and it just hinders.
A little exaggeration here.
Too much emphasis on me, my prayer, or
what I did to help them get to
Jesus.
And it's very, after a while, you watch
it and you say, you know, they're just
delaying what God wants to do in their
life.
They're still touching the glory.
They like self-promotion.
They like to hear their name mentioned.
They're just adding a little bit too much
to the story.
Getting too much of themselves in there instead
of just the Lord.
The Lord.
You don't have to remind somebody that you
lent the money.
I don't have to remind them that I
prayed for them.
The Lord just healed them.
Isn't that wonderful?
The Lord met their needs.
Isn't that wonderful?
No one needs to know how.
When you see what happens, we just lose
our future reward.
We've gotten the praise.
We've gone after a little bit of praise.
Well, we've got it.
Jesus said, you've got your reward.
You want praise from man?
He'll let you get away with it, but
when you're up there, see, there's nothing.
He said, do things in secret, and your
Father, which is in heaven, is the reward
of the open.
You need to pat on the back.
Down here, you'll get it, but you won't
get one up there where it really counts.
Jesus said, you've already got your reward.
You're going after the praise of man.
You want to see your name printed somewhere
or a picture in a paper or a
book and hear your name?
Okay, I'll let it happen, but you're not
going to get it from me when you
get up there where it counts.
Remember, John said, he must increase, I must
decrease.
Well, I perceived that he's accused the questions
of their law, but to have nothing laid
to his charge worthy of death or of
bonds.
And when it was told me how that
the Jews laid in wait for the man,
I sent straightway to thee and gave commandment
to his accusers also to say before thee
what they had against him.
Farewell.
He writes this real glowing report.
Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them,
took Paul, brought him by night to Antipatris,
which is about 35 miles from Jerusalem.
That's that dangerous area where all the hills
and the forests are as you leave Jerusalem
today and go down to Lod and Joppa
and Tel Aviv where the airport is.
Beautiful, beautiful area.
Very dangerous.
On the morrow, they left the horsemen to
go with him and return to the castle.
So as the sun came up the next
day, it was safe as they're going into
the plains of Sharon down toward the coast
to Caesarea where it's all flat, where there
could be no ambushes.
They knew that he didn't need all the
men, so he sent some of them back
to Jerusalem.
And so when they came to Caesarea and
delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul
also before him.
And when the governor had read the letter,
he asked of what province he was.
And when he understood that he was of
Cilicia, which was Paul's home province in Turkey.
We'll be going up near that area this
year, by the way.
We go to Ephesus.
I will hear thee, said he, when thine
accusers are also come.
And he commended him to be kept in
Herod's judgment hall.
And it's interesting, last year when we were
in Caesarea, they have begun excavation along the
beach of Caesarea, a whole new area along
the shore.
And they've uncovered a whole new area of
the government buildings.
And they believe they found the very place
where they took Paul, the judgment hall.
And so they've got it, they had it
all cordoned off, but you could see the
tile floor and we all got to look
at it.
So they might have more of it uncovered
this year when we go and visit.
But that's where they're going to take him,
to the judgment hall.
And now Paul, under the protection of the
Lord, was sent to Caesarea.
He's going to be there for about two
years.
He's going to do nothing but give his
testimony and preach the gospel to the most
important people in Jerusalem and in Rome.
Going back and forth by sea, by ships,
the main port, Caesarea.
See, again, what Satan means for evil, God
turns it around and means it for good.
He works it to the good and the
gospel just gets spread to more important people.
Now, these are individuals that Paul would never
be able to meet on his own.
You see.
But as a prisoner, as one who's a
criminal of the state or something, he's brought
into an area where important people are meeting
him now.
He's got to defend himself.
And God's going to use that.
Before it's over, people in Caesar's household get
saved.
It's amazing.
And again, God's the one who does it.
Remember that.
All He wants you to do is take
people to Jesus.
Just testify.
Introduce Jesus.
That's it.
He does the rest.
He doesn't reward you on whether they said
the sinner's prayer with you or whether they're
converted.
It's just, do you testify?
Are you sharing?
That's all He asks you to do.
He'll let someone else close the deal.
He's got it all designed.
Now, the problem is, you see, the guy
that closes the deal goes around boasting, like,
I let someone lord it.
He doesn't realize that maybe God's been conditioning
the guy for 14 years through other people's
testifying.
Circumstances.
Little coincidences.
Watching a television program.
Hearing a radio station.
Meeting a lost friend or an old friend
that's born again.
And all these things are, you know, adding
up in the person's heart as though the
day's here and all of a sudden, the
guy walks up and says, shares Christ for
all, and that's it.
He just can't take anymore.
He says, man, there's too many coincidences that
have been going on for years.
I'm ready.
And then the guy goes around and he
boasts like he did it all.
All he did is close the deal.
The Holy Spirit had been working in that
person's life for years.
And you see, some of the most powerful,
important people or influential people right now are
who you're going to meet maybe tomorrow or
next week.
They don't even know what God's going to
do in their lives yet, but it's important
that you testify and do your part because
that's the reward.
Paul, you've testified of me in Rome.
Paul didn't have success.
He didn't lead anybody to the Lord.
He didn't start a whole Bible study.
He tore the town apart.
Started another riot.
His sixth riot.
And the Lord says, be of good cheer.
You've testified of me.
Let me give you a story about perseverance
since I've been here.
A young guy showed up at the depot
some 16, 17, 18 years ago.
Just full of zeal.
This long, black hair.
Played the drums.
Skinnier than the drumstick he used.
Name was Ray Viola.
And man, could he play the drums.
And he loved Jesus.
Next thing you know, you just can't get
him out of the church.
You just can't get rid of him.
He's just in love with Jesus.
He and the kids were real little.
He and Liz.
And some of the things we got involved
with together, he was one of the first
music group we ever had.
He was the drummer.
Next thing you know, he's teaching a home
Bible study.
Next thing you know, he's an elder.
He's involved in a Sunday school.
Next thing you know, we move over here
and he's here for just a few months.
And the Bible study he was teaching up
in the city, they decide, you know, why
don't you just stay up in the city.
And so they start meeting in a pizza
hut.
Did I share this last week?
Well, you know, with a name like Viola,
you gotta start in a pizza hut.
So they're meeting in a pizza hut.
And they started out, they had about 25,
30 people.
Another year went by.
25, 30 people.
Another year went by.
And just year after year, no growth whatsoever.
He'd call on the phone.
He said, Pastor Bill, I just, you know,
maybe I'm not called to be a senior
pastor.
Maybe I ought to pray.
Maybe I ought to just maybe get together
with Jeff.
And Jeff Breed had gone up and started
a home Bible study in a certain area.
And the people were coming out or didn't
have to come out anymore.
And so Jeff Breed started his study.
And I said, well, we'll pray about it.
And so they'd pray and nothing seemed to
work.
And Ray was willing to go be the
assistant pastor with Jeff.
Jeff was willing to go be the assistant
pastor with Ray.
They just combined.
And Ray just wasn't growing.
I said, no, just, maybe it's time to
move.
He said, well, where will I move to?
I don't know.
Just start praying.
Or we'll open something up.
Next thing you know, they moved to this
convent.
It used to be a convent up on
Winton Road, I think it was.
And it's about eight or 10 years later,
still, nothing happening.
Pastor Bill, I don't know.
Maybe I'm just supposed to just cash it
in and everybody just go over to Jeff
Breed's.
No, just keep teaching.
The next thing you know, just bang.
After about 10 years, kaboom.
He had to go to two services.
Next thing you know, there's no parking at
that convent.
He has to go to three services.
Next thing you know, he's in East Rochester
and they're already at three services and still
growing in East Rochester.
But for 10 years, nothing.
But he persevered.
He was faithful.
And he did all that God asked him
to do.
He testified.
He taught.
He shared his faith and taught the people.
And man, God has blessed.
And there were times when he wondered, I
wonder if I should continue.
All he asked you to do is testify.
He has the timing.
Just be faithful.
The reward is faithfulness, no matter how difficult.
Paul didn't have any converts.
He did nothing but start a riot.
People turned against him.
Ezekiel was asked to share.
And we're getting into that book after Jeremiah,
Lamentations.
He said, Ezekiel, I want you to preach
to these people, let them know why they're
having their troubles, why they've been destroyed, why
they're in Babylon, and I want you to
tell them the truth about themselves, and they're
not going to listen to you.
What?
Not one person?
You mean the Bible says he isn't going
to grow?
No, Ezekiel.
In fact, they're going to get angry with
you.
Not one person is going to...
They're going to talk about you behind your
back.
They're going to resent you.
I want you to preach my word.
And you know he was faithful.
Our Bible wouldn't be complete.
Our faith wouldn't be enriched if it wasn't
for Ezekiel's faithfulness because it was recorded.
We've got that marvelous book filled with prophecy
and the faithfulness of God with the difficulty
of Ezekiel, but he was faithful.
As difficult as it was.
That's all God asks you to do.
Be faithful in what I've asked you to
do, and the rewards will be there.
I'll take care of all the success.
You be faithful.
That's all he asks.
Paul, be of good cheer.
You've testified of me, and you need to
go to Rome.
And Sinai's saying, after that, never again.
And man, you should...
Wait till we see how he got to
Rome.
What a cruise.
What a vacation.
Going to go see Rome.
But not the way he expected.
But Satan couldn't kill him.
Couldn't stop him.
And he can't stop you if you'll just
testify and leave everything in his hands.
Shall we stand?
I really would like to encourage you to
guard against complacency and hearts waxing cold as
we get closer to the end.
One of the things we're going to have
to battle with is complacency and our hearts
waxing cold.
Jesus specifically said that's one of the things
that will be evident at the end.
Because iniquity would abound.
Would you agree with me that iniquity seems
to be abounding in America and worldwide?
Jesus said, that's going to take place.
Children will rise up against their parents.
Their people begin to lose control of their
children.
And it's very easy to see the way
they're being educated and the way our society
is falling apart.
That is being fulfilled.
And he said, because of this the hearts
of many will wax cold.
Now, whose hearts?
People professed to be in love with Jesus
at one time.
And the next step after that automatically is
going back to the old habits.
The old attitudes.
The old lifestyle.
The old pleasures.
They'll begin to eat with the gluttons and
drink with the drunkards again.
And beat their fellow servants.
Verbal abuse.
Hostility, anger, lack of the work of the
spirit.
It's automatic.
Don't let that happen to you.
Keep your heart with all diligence, the Bible
says.
For out of it are the issues of
heart.
Now, how can I keep my heart?
By spending time with Jesus.
Spending more time with him than serving him.
Because if you don't spend time with him
and try to serve him it'll turn into
works and frustration.
You'll get tired and you'll get bored and
you'll lose interest.
If you sit with him and spend time
with him his love will continue to keep
you and you'll fall more in love with
him.
And believe me, there are times you don't
want to get away.
You don't want to start your day.
It is so wonderful getting up and spending
time with Jesus.
You don't care if the day does come.
And you catch yourself the night before wanting
to get to bed so you can get
up earlier.
You catch yourself thinking I can't wait to
get up in the morning to be with
him.
It's wonderful.
Oh, it's only a few hours and we'll
be able to get up with him again.
And besides that, you can go to bed
with him.
Don't go to bed with CNBC, Geraldo, or
no matter how juicy things are men are
watching, don't go to bed with that.
Don't make that the last thing.
Make sure you go to bed with the
Lord.
Father, we thank you and praise you that
we need not fear once we begin with
you, if we just testify and trust you.
And Lord, we thank you that you are
faithful, that the more desperate things are, the
more quick you are to be there for
us.
That you love us so much, Lord, that
when we're greatly discouraged that you'll be there
to tell us to be of good cheer,
that we are going to make it.
And so, remind us all continually, Lord, as
we wait upon you, sit with you, enjoy
fellowshipping with you each day as you fill
us afresh for those things we have to
face.
The fullness of your Holy Spirit, in Jesus'
name we pray.
Amen.