A Difficult Day

Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, one, two, three, testing, testing, testing. I think that's fine. Okay, I'll mute that here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good morning. Good morning. All right. We're going to get started today. If we want to go ahead and stand, we're going to read out a Psalm 95, and we're going to be reading verses 3 through 5. And it begins, "For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth. The heights of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land." This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. God, we thank you for those gathered here today, and we thank you for those that are watching online. We thank you for the encouragement that we can be to each other as we come together to worship you and to be reminded of your greatness and your love and your mercy and your power. Be with our service today and allow it to glorify you. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right. We're going to start today by singing, "Christ the Lord is risen today."

Christ the Lord is risen today. Alleluia. Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia. Raise your joys and triumphs high. Alleluia. And earth replied, Alleluia. It's again our glorious King. Alleluia. Where, O death, is now thy sting. Alleluia. Once he died our souls to save. Alleluia. Where's thy victory boasting grave? Alleluia. Work is done. Alleluia. For the fight, the battle won. Alleluia. Death in vain forbids him rise. Alleluia. Christ has opened paradise. Alleluia. To say something, but we want to thank Kathy. She came Friday and power washed the outside concrete part and all the tables, and everything looks brand new. So thanks, Kathy. It was super hot when she did that. So, oh, we're going to clap. Okay. So good job. All right. As we move on, we're going to go into our prayer and share time. And if you're watching online, there'll be a slide up with a phone number that you can text. If you have any prayer requests or anything you'd like to share with us, do so, and we'll share that here together. And we're going to be muted during that time. So once we get done here, we'll be back and continue in our time of worship. So if you want to remain standing, you can, or you can sit. But we're going to move on and sing Blessed Assurance.

Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine, all on a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. A face of mission, all is at rest. I, in my Savior, am happy and blessed. Watching, awaiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my song. It's my song. It's my song. This is my song. I love you. I love you. This is my song. This is my song. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

Lost are saved. Find their way. At the sound of your great name. All condemned. Feel no shame. At the sound of your great name. Every fear has no place. At the sound of your great name. The enemy, he has to leave. At the sound of your great name. Jesus, worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us. Son of God and man, who are high and lifted up. Let all the world will praise your great name. All the weak find their strength at the sound of your great name. Hungry souls receive praise at the sound of your great name. The fatherless, they find their rest at the sound of your great name. The sick are healed, and the dead are raised at the sound of your great name. Jesus, worthy is the Lamb that was laid for us. Son of God and man, who are high and lifted up, then all the world will praise your great name.

Redeemer, my Healer, Lord Almighty. My Savior, Defender, you are my King. Redeemer, my Healer, Lord Almighty. My Savior, Defender, you are my King. Jesus, worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us. Son of God and man, who are high and lifted up. And all the world will praise your great name. Your great name. Your great name.

In Hebrews, the fourth and fifth chapter, the writer of Hebrews is talking about the fact that God gives his people rest. It's something that in a tired, busy world we can appreciate. It was a promise for the Israelites. They walked through the wilderness led by God in a dry, thirsty place, depending upon the provision of God. This promise, they were going to a land where there would be all of the good things that they would want, but yet, in the midst of the good promises of God, they struggled repeatedly with faithfulness. In fact, it's the same struggle that you and I have. Even though we see God's good promises, we see how He has been good to us, we frequently struggle to be faithful to Him. The writer of Hebrews knows that, and so he seeks to warn and encourage us in Hebrews chapter 3 and chapter 4 with the rest that God has promised, this call to follow God closely.

And to those of us who are tired and maybe feeling a little weak, he gives us this encouragement. I'm going to read the last few verses of Hebrews 4. "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need." And so the writer of Hebrews writing to Christians who struggle with faithfulness after outlining the dire consequences of straying from God, he gives us this word of encouragement that you and I are not alone.

We have this picture of Jesus, the great high priest who has saved us, who has come close to us, who knows what it's like to face the struggles that we have. And he says, "Hold fast to what you have believed in." And then he will say, "Then with confidence, let us draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need." The solution to the struggle of faithfulness is to draw near to Jesus. And so as we break this bread and drink this cup this morning, one of the things that we're doing is we are holding fast to our confession that Jesus is the Son of God, that He has died in our place for our sins, He has risen again for our victory, that He is our hope. But we are also drawing near to the throne of grace,

fixing our eyes on Jesus, who gives us the mercy and the grace to help in our time of need. We're going to pray, and then we will partake together. Father in heaven, thank you that you have helped us, you have saved us, you have strengthened us, and thank you that you do not leave us to face this world on our own, that you have come close through the gift of your Son, who knows what it's like to struggle, who knows what it's like to be tired, who knows what it's like to be called to be faithful in the face of difficult tasks. And so, help us this morning to use this as an opportunity to hold fast to our belief in you, that you would use this as a time of mercy and grace for our weary souls.

Strengthen us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Jesus, at the Last Supper, is there remembering God's salvation from the slavery of Egypt. He institutes the Lord's Supper to remind us of another deliverance. The deliverance of God's people from slavery to sin. And in doing so, He will take some bread at the Passover meal, and He will say, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

And then He takes a cup, a cup designed to help God's people remember the promises of God. As they look back to how God would redeem His people out of slavery to Egypt. And Jesus calls us to look back to how He has redeemed us out of slavery to sin. He will say, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."

This morning's reading is from Acts 22. "But the next day, desiring to know the real reason why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priest and all of the council to meet. And he brought Paul down and set him before them. And looking intently at the council, Paul said, "Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day." High priest Ananias commanded those who were stood next by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. Are you sitting in judgment of me according to the law? And yet, contrary to law, you order me to be struck." Those who stood by said, "Would you revile God's high priest?" And Paul said, "I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. For it is written, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people."

Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul cried out to the council, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial." And when he said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angels, nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledged them all. Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees' parties stood up and contended sharply, "We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?" And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring Paul to the barracks.

The following night, the Lord stood by Paul and said, "Take courage, for you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome." This is the word of the Lord. Praise be to God. All right. Interesting text this morning. It begins with Paul's chains being taken off, ends with them being put back on. There is some contention. There is a really one-sided fight. There's some political wrangling, and then sort of the third riot that we see in two days. So we're going to pray and dive right into it this morning. Our prayer is that God will encourage us when it feels like everything has gone wrong all at once. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your church. We thank you for your people, and we thank you for this text this morning.

As we see Paul having a bad day, everything seems to have gone wrong. Everything seems to have been turned upside down. And so we ask in those moments that you would help us to see the truth, that you are near to us, that you know us, that we are not lost, but we are found. We are not alone, but we are together with you, and that you have work for us to do. Thank you for Jesus and for grace. It's in his name we pray. Amen. So all of us, at one point or another, have had a bad day. And bad days kind of operate a little bit on a sliding scale, right? The bad day where it just seems like you are faced with minor inconveniences. You wake up, you stub your toe, you spill your coffee.

You know, you get to work, and nothing seems to work. You get done. So that was a bad day. And it wasn't a bad day overall. Just what happened is that every turn you had sort of a minor discomfort. And that's on one end of the scale. And then on the other end of the scale, there are those bad days where it's like your legs have been knocked out from under you. Maybe it's a struggle at work or in your family. Maybe it's a telephone call from a doctor with news that you just did not expect. And it just knocks your life out from under you in that moment. And it just seems as if everything has fallen apart. And what we're going to see this morning is Paul is going to be facing a difficult day. And it's not just a minor inconvenience.

It's not just a little bit of struggle. Oh, I stubbed my toe. My car wouldn't start. You know, my work didn't go very smoothly. This is going to end in a riot where Paul is almost torn apart. And if you have to think about how angry people are to grab somebody in the middle of a sort of a formal hearing and start tearing them apart, right, that ends very, very badly. So I want us to sort of see what leads to this, because Scripture doesn't happen in a vacuum. It's very simple for us sometimes just to sort of say, "Here's the text." But we have to understand that coming into this, Paul has been struggling in Jerusalem. So I want to walk you through sort of where Paul is in what has been happening. So Paul has sort of arrived to Jerusalem, and I don't think that it was as wonderful as he thought it would be.

And so at the end of his third missionary journey, remember he's gathered up this offering for the Christians in Jerusalem, shows up and begins to tell the apostles in the church and sort of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem that all the good things that God has done, and it's one of those things where I think he's excited, he's joyful, he's coming with this offering to help the church, right? It's a picture of unity between Jews and between Gentiles. It's a picture of Christian love, right? The way the church should be. And look at the response to Paul's good news, right? The church does rejoice over this, but it literally lasts for like five words, and then it's right into the first controversy. In Acts 21:20, it says, "When they heard this, they glorified God," right?

There's the good response, and then immediately what happens? They'll say to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed? They're all zealous for the law. They're going to go on and say, there's thousands of Jewish Christians, and they all don't like you, right? They think you're a lawbreaker. So here's the reception that you get. You come. You've been sharing the gospel. Churches have been planted. People have come to Christ. You've brought this offering to help the church, and the response is, "That's great, Paul. Everybody hates you," right? That's kind of a rough place to start your visit to Jerusalem sort of emotionally and psychologically. So what happens next is the leaders of the church are trying to figure out a way to help these Christians who are struggling because they've heard all of these lies

and falsehoods about Paul, help them see the truth of who Paul is. And so they're doing a good thing, and so they make this suggestion to Paul that we have these men who are under vow, and you need to go with them, pay their way, and purify yourself. Now Paul hasn't done anything wrong. He doesn't need to go purify himself, but in Christian love to these other people, and in a great show of patience, he takes an entire week, he spends his financial resources to try to help these Christians see, right? So Paul extends grace to those who have not extended any grace to him. It's a sacrificial love for God's church. And so on the seventh day, they're in the temple, they're sort of finishing all of this up, and some Jews from Asia,

remember this is where Paul has been ministering, and they've been opposing him, and they see him in the temple, and they immediately began with lies and half-truths to stir up a riot, and before long all of Jerusalem is stirred up, and they're in the temple, and they're grabbing Paul, and they're shutting the doors to the temple, so he can't defile the place. They're dragging him out. They're beating him up, and their plan is ultimately to kill him. And in the midst of that, the Roman fortress is right next to the temple, because this was kind of a rowdy place from time to time. The soldiers are grabbing their gear. They're heading out the door. They surround Paul. They begin to drag him off back to the barracks for his own safety, and Paul, in another show of grace, says, "Let me speak to this crowd."

And so he begins to share the gospel, what God has done for him, how God has equipped him, and he gets to this one word. He says, "God sent me to the Gentiles," and the riot starts all over again. And so now there has been two riots. The first riot are part one and part two. Nobody has listened to Paul. Paul has gone out of his way to show love to all of these people. It has to be discouraging, right? You get to a place, and you're filled with joy. And I don't know if you've ever had this happen to you, where you are so excited about something, and you go to share it with someone close to you, and they're like, "Yeah, that's great," and then they just ignore you, right? They just suck the joy right out of your life.

And I feel like that's what happens to Paul as he gets to Jerusalem, shares this good news, and immediately it's like, "Sorry, nobody likes you." And then in Christian love, he sacrifices his time and his money in the midst of the temple, in the midst of lies and half-truths. They falsely accuse him. They beat him. He's now been arrested by the Romans. In a show of grace, he tries to share the gospel. A riot starts again, and now he's dragged in to this sort of uncertain Roman official who gets ready to beat the truth out of him. And Paul, thankfully, is a Roman citizen. He gets that straightened out, but now he's in chains, and this Roman official has no idea what to do with the apostle Paul, right? And just so we understand sort of what's

happening. The joy that Paul has has turned into this confrontation with some legalistic Christians, with some Jewish people who have been opposing him for years. His sermon has been rejected by the people that he preached it to, and now he faces the future with confusion and uncertainty. The last verse of chapter 22, there's a plan to get some answers. "On the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was accused by the Jews," this is the Roman official, the tribune, "He unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set them before him." So normally, this chief priests and the council, this would be the Sanhedrin, sort of the Jewish governing body, and they would meet in their own place, but I think

because it's dangerous, probably to transport Paul, and they're worried about another riot, they summon all of them there to the fortress of Antonia, and they put them there and bring Paul down, and he says, "We're going to finally get some answers. Why do they have a problem with you? What have you done? We're going to figure this out. Somebody's going to get some justice, and we're going to get some answers." And so that's exactly what he's done. So Paul's day, I think, begins in a difficult way, right? Probably hasn't got much rest. He's in chains. His trip to Jerusalem has gone quickly downhill, and his current situation, he has just been beaten by a mob the day before, put in chains by the Romans, and now everybody is looking for someone to blame. Now, this trend

will continue, but instead of seeing all the things that happened to Paul today, we're going to get a glimpse of how Paul sort of responds. And you need to understand that everything, I think, has built up in Paul almost to a breaking point, because we're going to see him maybe behave a little differently than we have and will have in the rest of the book of Acts. And this day, ultimately, will end with like 40 Jewish assassins plotting to kill Paul. In fact, they're so serious about it, they say, "We will starve to death before we don't kill him." Like, we're not going to eat until he is dead. So let's pick this up in verse 1, and we're going to see how this probably bad day in this hearing begins. So we're going to start with taking a look at Paul's attitude. And looking intently at the

council, Paul said, "Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day." So this begins in this Greek word, looking intently at the council. This is not just kind of looking, kind of studying them. The picture behind this word is he is literally staring them down, right? This is a focused, determined, there is a little bit, probably a little bit of frustration, maybe even a little bit of anger in the way that Paul is looking in the council. He's been brought in. He stands before them. They're out before him. He's probably sitting in a chair, kind of partly surrounded by these council members, and he isn't cowering. He's not fearful. In a sense, he's almost defiant, and he fixes his eyes on them, and he's kind of staring them down, and then he begins to speak, and it gets even more

different, right? Because when you stood before the Sanhedrin, or were tried by the Sanhedrin as a Jewish person, there was a proper form of address. Just like today, when you go to court, right, you refer to the judge as your honor. You don't show up to the judge. You go, "Hey, dude, let's figure this out," right? You're respectful, you speak properly, and the proper form of address to the Sanhedrin as you begin to speak to them is what Peter uses in Acts 4:8, where he says, "Rulers of the people and elders," right? So he begins to address the Sanhedrin, and he starts by saying, "Rulers of the people and elders." That was the proper address we know from history of how you were supposed to talk to this body. Look what Paul says. He says, "Brothers." Now you may look at that and say, "Well, that seems nice, right? We're all

brothers in Abraham, and we all have followed the law, and Paul here is trying to be friendly to them." The reality is that Paul distinctly is ignoring their position, right? Instead of saying, "Rulers of the people and fathers," right? You're the ruling governing body over Israel. He puts himself on the same level. So in their eyes either he has lifted himself up or as he is putting them all down. His greeting, just that very word to this group, is essentially confrontational. And then he begins to make his case. He says, "I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up until today." And what he means by that is not that he has been perfect, but he says that my conscience, informed by the Word of God, because that's what the conscience is. It's

a knowledge that sort of goes alongside, and your conscience can be good or bad depending on what you put into it. And Paul has filled his conscience with the Scriptures. And it doesn't mean that he's perfect, but it means that he has sought to live according to what he has learned from the Word of God, which means where he makes a mistake, he corrects it, right? His conscience pricks him and pulls him back. And when he's unsure of where to go, his conscience seeks to lead him in righteousness. And so Paul says, "I have not done anything wrong," right? He's proclaiming his innocence in a forceful way with how he's looking, how he's addressing them, and what he's saying. Essentially, he's saying to this group of people, "I am innocent." And his opening remarks make this high priest so very angry.

Listen to what happens in verse 2. "And the high priest Ananias," now that's different than the high priest Annas, who was when Jesus was at the trial of Jesus. So the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him in the mouth. Now, that can mean there's usually accompanied by temple guards. Maybe the striking is with a fist. But frequently what the temple guards carried were these clubs that they sort of used to maintain order. So at the very least, this is getting punched in the face. At the most, this is some guy with like a small wooden bat hitting you in the face. Now I want you to feel sort of how out of place this is, right? I've been before a judge once. It was traffic court. Been in an accident, disputing what had happened. It turned out very well

for me. But they, you know, sitting there in traffic court, they said, you know, "So and so here." He said, "Yes." You go up and you talk to the judge, and one of the things, you got to be respectful. And imagine I'm there in traffic court, and they say, "Well, what is your side of the story?" And I explain it. And they go, "Bailiff, go over and hit him in the face." Right? You'd be like, "That escalated very, very quickly." Right? That's what happens. Paul, before the ruling body of Israel, all he has said is, "I'm innocent." And they go, "Punch him in the face." Right? That seems like a disproportionate reaction. This guy, Ananias, is not a good man. He'll once be on trial in Rome for, you know, crimes against Rome. He's acquitted. According to historical records, he will take the offerings from the temple that

are supposed to be used to pay the working priests so that they can live while they serve God. Pockets him for himself. In the rebellion against Rome, the Jewish people will hunt him down and essentially beat him to death because he is such a terrible human being. You kind of get a glimpse of that here, where his opening remarks of the prosecution is just to hit a guy in the face. Now listen to what Paul says. And you have to understand, Paul has already been beaten once. This is probably not a welcome turn of events. And Paul said to him, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?" Now Paul is rightfully angry. Because in Israel, the idea was you were innocent until proven

guilty. There was no "beat you ahead of time, beat a confession out of you, and then punish you." You were allowed to present your case before punishment was handed down. In fact, according to oral tradition of the Jewish people of this day, it was said this: "He who strikes the cheek of an Israelite strikes as it were the glory of God." That if you were to strike the face of an Israelite, that was like hitting God if this was not a court-sanctioned thing. And so this is a big deal, right? This has been a protocol with the Jewish Sanhedrin for centuries. And Paul, as he's hit in the face, says, "God's going to hit you in the face." Right? Very strong, very bluntly. Then he says this: "You are a whitewashed wall." And so the picture of this is a wall that is kind of falling down and crumbling and looks terrible,

but you want to make it presentable, so you just go paint it and make it look really good cosmetically without fixing any of the structure. So some guy comes up, "That's a nice wall." Sort of leans on it, and then it tips over. That the outside looks good, but the inside is rotten. And what he says to this guy is, "God is going to hit you in the face because you just look good on the outside, but underneath it all you're a horrible, sinful, wretched person, and you call me here on account that I have violated the Word of God, and here you are violating the Word of God toward me." Paul is angry. His response is that you're a hypocrite, a terrible person. You're a lawbreaker, and you should be hit in the face rather than me. And then in verses 4 and 5 it says this,

"Those who stood by," that's the rest of this Sanhedrin, said, "Would you revile God's high priest?" And they look at Paul and says, "Why are you talking to the high priest in this manner?" And Paul said, "I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, you shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people." Right? Everybody responds, "You can't talk to the high priest that way. It's not biblical to talk to the high priest that way." And so the question has been, "Is Paul right or wrong in what he does?" And I think the answer is simply both, right? Because he's going to kind of turn it around here in a minute and say, "I understand the Scripture." Now, I think factually, Paul is right. Ananias deserves judgment. Factually, he is a whitewashed wall.

But it's not what he says, but I think it's the attitude and the demeanor of how he says it that is the problem. And Paul will respond, "I didn't know this guy was the high priest." And people will say, "Well, Paul is just kind of making an excuse here." But there's some good reasons why he might not have known this was the high priest, right? Paul's been out of town for a long time, right? There's been a new high priest since the last time he was in town. Also, people are sometimes difficult to recognize outside of a normal context, right? We saw our mailman walking through Walmart the other day, and I was like, "That guy looks really familiar." He's like, "Oh, it's our mailman," right? Now, if I see him in his mail truck, I recognize him instantly.

But walking through Walmart looking for chips, right? That's a whole different story. And so maybe it's because you're not in the Sanhedrin, you're in Roma's fortress, you've been beaten, you're not expecting the high priest himself to be there. Maybe Paul doesn't recognize him because of that. But it's also possible that Paul has bad vision. There are some texts later on in his letters that seem to indicate that Paul didn't see very well. And maybe he just hears the guy go, "Hit him in the face!" and he responds instinctively. But there's another explanation to what Paul is saying, right? He's going, "Because of his unlawful actions, I didn't recognize that anybody with this type of behavior could be a high priest." There's a chance he's being a little sarcastic. "Oh, a high priest couldn't tell by how he acted."

There could be Paul sort of adding a little bit of fuel to the fire before I think. His conscience maybe gets a little bit of the better of him, right? Sometimes with our words, we can wind people up. I remember there was a third or fourth grade, and we were getting ready to leave for the day, and you all had to line up in a certain way. And I was probably goofing off or doing something. And the second grade teacher, she was on the bus duty or the line-up duty for cars and buses. And she, you know, told me to go to the back of the line. She said, "You're at the back of the line." And so everybody starts filing out, and I start walking out with them, because she told me to go to the back of the line.

She said, "I didn't say you could leave." I said, "No, you told me to go to the back of the line. You never said anything about me not being able to walk out with my class." And she looks at me and goes, "Well, you think you're really smart, don't you?" And I looked at her, and I said, "Absolutely. I do think I'm very smart." Now, you can probably guess how that went for me. And the answer is, "Not well," right? And Paul here has been struggling during this time, right? He's been problem after problem, and here they say, "You don't know this is the high priest." And Paul says, "Well, he sure isn't acting like it," right? But then Paul will sort of quote Scripture about respecting the leaders of God's people, and what he's doing by saying that is, "I've been a little bit hasty in how I've spoken."

But I shouldn't have said that. He obviously shouldn't have done what he did. But I shouldn't have responded. I lost my temper in the way that I responded. You can see Paul is having a bad day, right? He's come into this sort of a little abrasive in how he has looked at them, how he has spoken to them. There's been this bad reaction, this verbal exchange. And here's the thing. Normally, Paul, the first thing he does is proclaim the Gospel. But that hasn't happened before this ruling body of the Jewish people. Let's pick it up in verse 6. Now, when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, so there's two groups, two parties, he cried out in the council, "Brothers, I'm a Pharisee, a son of a Pharisee. It is respect the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial."

And when he said this, the dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, no angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledged them all, and a great clamor arose. And some of the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended sharply, "We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or angel spoke to him? And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the paris. So this time it seems like Paul kind of takes a breath, and he looks around at the council. And remember, Paul was part of this council at one time. And he looks and he sees Pharisees and Sadducees, the two main religious parties.

The Pharisees sought to follow the Scripture as closely as possible. And the Pharisees believed in a resurrection. They believed in a soul. They believed in angels and demons. They believed in all of these spiritual things. The Sadducees tended to be a little more closer to Rome, a little more secular. And they didn't believe in a resurrection. This life is it. They didn't believe in angels and a soul. And Paul looks and he sees Sadducees, and he sees Pharisees, and he goes, "I know what to do." And he goes, "The only reason I'm here is because I believe in the resurrection." And the Pharisees are going, "Yes, amen." And the Sadducees are going, "Absolutely not." And then these two groups, what do they do? They begin to fight each other. And some of the group of the Pharisees, they stand up there, "We're on Paul's side. We believe."

And this escalates, right? It's like testifying before Congress. And you get up there, and whatever party you're on, you've got half Republicans, half Democrats. You go, "Oh, it's because I'm a Republican." Or, "Oh, because I'm a Democrat." And the Republicans get mad at the Democrats, and they begin to fight each other and leave you alone. But this escalates even further, right? It turns into a full-blown riot, right? And when the dissension, this argument, became violent, right? These guys are not just shouting at each other. They're not just arguing. It's not just raised voices, right? You got, you know, this side and this side. They're going to attack each other, and they've started throwing punches, right? This has turned out very differently. Paul has sort of goaded them with his words. Now the tribute is dealing with another riot, right?

So he's had a sort of a bad time since he arrived in Jerusalem. It's been a bad day, right? There's been no gospel presentation. They've just been arguing, fighting, and shouting. And it seems like the cause of the gospel hasn't been very much advanced. And in Acts 23:11, what you find is that Paul is discouraged, right? It's not gone according to plan. Have you ever made a mistake? Generally, we make sometimes dumb mistakes, and we replay them over and over in our minds, right? So usually when I'm talking to Rachel on the phone, we end our conversations with, "Alright, love you, bye." You know, I'm talking to the scheduler for ANOVA for an appointment that's upcoming in a week and a half. It's like, "Get done." It's like, "Alright, love you, bye." And then you're just replaying that in your mind.

Did I just tell this scheduler who I don't even know, like, "Hopefully they hung up. They didn't hear me. Hopefully I never have to meet them face to face," right? Just a dumb thing like that. Now here's Paul, and he's back in chains. He's back in jail. It's gotten quiet. He began to think through the day, right? And in those times, you don't ever see the good that you've done, right? We tend to see where the problems have been, where we have failed, where we have struggled. And most commentators think that Paul's struggle here is the fact that in almost every other place he stands before the rulers and councils, he recounts the gospel. But that hasn't happened here with the Sanhedrin. Instead, it's been escalation, escalation, escalation, all into violence. Part of the reason is Paul is human, like we are. You and I sometimes struggle to respond properly and rightly.

So I want you to see what God does to Paul alone in the dark of the night. The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so now you must testify in Rome." We know Paul is discouraged because God shows up to encourage him. You don't need to encourage somebody who is not discouraged. And God shows up in the dark of the night, stands next to Paul, and here is the first thing you see is that Paul is not lost. It might feel that way. You are in the middle of this Roman dungeon in the fortress of Antonia. Previously, when he has been imprisoned, members of the church knew where he was. They knew what was going on. Sometimes he was there with companions. Remember Paul in the Philippian jailer singing songs and praises to God in the midst of the night with his companions.

But here he is all by himself, and you have to feel like you are lost. Everything has happened so fast. It didn't turn out like I wanted. And here is the thing. God knows exactly where the Apostle Paul is. And in those moments of life where we feel like we are lost and maybe overwhelmed and thinking to ourselves, "Maybe I didn't do everything right." Remember that God knows exactly where you are. He knows where you are. He knows why you are there. And so God comes to Paul. But the second thing I want you to see is that Paul is not forsaken, right? It's easy to feel alone. In fact, I imagine Paul feels very alone. And notice what happens, right? It's not a voice from heaven. It's not an encouraging fruit basket from the church.

But the Lord stood beside him, right? God doesn't show up in front of him to lecture him. He doesn't just send a voice from heaven, but he shows up next to Paul, right? It's an encouraging thing. And it's a reminder to Paul that in this moment, you are not alone. You are not abandoned. You are not by yourself. And the picture for us is the same, right? There's times we feel lost. God knows where you are. There's times when you feel alone. But God stands beside you. In fact, at the end of the book of Hebrews, when the Christians were struggling with how they were going to face the troubles, whether it's persecution, maybe it's theological turmoil, maybe it's even things as simple as, "What are we going to do about buying groceries tomorrow?" The promise at the end of the book of Hebrews is that God will never leave you nor forsake you.

And so Paul gets this message that you're not lost, you're not alone, and then God says this, right? I've got a job for you. You've been working to testify to me here. Now you're going to have this job that takes you to Rome, right? And the picture here is that God is in control. Even in the midst of the chaos, even in the midst of the struggle, even in the midst of what I have to imagine is a discouraging, difficult day where nothing seems to have gone right, God says, "I am in control." And in fact, He says, "Take courage." Other translations will say this, "Be of good cheer." Right? Paul, I know you're bruised. I know you're beaten. I know that you feel like you're lost and you're alone. But be of good cheer, because you are not alone, right? You are not lost, and I have a plan for you, right?

And in the midst of our darkness and our struggle and our hurt, right, God has things for you to do. He has things for me to do. And He says to Paul, and He says to us, "Be encouraged. Be of good cheer. Because I have things for you to do." Right? It would be very easy for Paul to dwell on what had happened in the past. Right? It would be very easy to say, "Well, if I'd done this differently, if I'd said this differently, if I'd quoted this Scripture differently." God says, "You've done the work I've asked you to do, and now I have more in front of you." It's not about the past, Paul. It's about what I have laid out for you in the future. Right? The good news of the gospel is that Jesus has transformed us. Right?

He's taken the hurt and the brokenness of our past, and He's made us new, and He has laid out a new path ahead of us. What you're going to find is that Paul will come out of this jail cell. He's going to go from hearing to hearing all the way to Rome. And He's going to do so proclaiming the gospel, encouraged by the power of God and strengthened by the unity and the companionship of the church. Let's pray. Father, help us in those moments where we are discouraged, where it seems like we've had a bad day, or maybe a bad week, or just a difficult season, where it feels like maybe we look at our lives, "I should have done this differently. I should have gone this direction." Help us to see that in You there is grace, there is hope, there is a future that we are not lost, that we are not alone, but that You are in control.

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and sing our hymn of sort of encouragement and closing and invitation. And one of the things that we want to do with this is to see the greatness and the goodness of God in the midst of this. To remind ourselves of who God is, because our encouragement comes not from our strength, but from His. So we're going to go ahead and sing "Holy, Holy, Holy." Holy, Holy, Holy.

Early in the morning, a song shall rise to Thee. Holy, Holy, Holy, merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, Blessed Trinity. Holy, Holy, Holy, All the saints adore Thee. Casting down their golden crowns around the glossy sea. Cherubim and seraphim, falling down before Thee. Who was there not, and evermore shall be. Holy, Holy, Holy, Though the darkness hide, Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see. Only Thou art holy, There is none beside Thee. Perfect in power, in love and purity. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea. Merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed in thee. Sing the doxology. Father in heaven, thank you for allowing us these moments to gather together and to sing, to spend time with one another, to gather around the table, to hear your word and to study your word. Thank you for all the good that you have done for us. Encourage us this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

We pray to you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. To the only God, our Savior, through Christ Jesus our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.

Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him, above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.