1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,980 Let's pray. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:59,980 Let's pray. 3 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:29,980 Let's pray. 4 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:57,000 Testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, one, two, three, testing, testing, testing. 5 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:02,000 I think that's fine. Okay, I'll mute that here. 6 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:56,980 Thank you. 7 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:26,980 Thank you. 8 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:56,980 Thank you. 9 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:39,540 Good morning. Good morning. 10 00:17:39,540 --> 00:17:47,560 All right. We're going to get started today. If we want to go ahead and stand, we're going 11 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:56,980 to read out a Psalm 95, and we're going to be reading verses 3 through 5. 12 00:17:56,980 --> 00:18:19,980 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. 13 00:18:19,980 --> 00:18:26,960 Let's pray. God, we thank you for those gathered here today, and we thank you for those that are 14 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:44,960 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. 15 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:49,960 All right. We're going to start today by singing, "Christ the Lord is risen today." 16 00:18:56,940 --> 00:19:26,920 Christ the Lord is risen today. Alleluia. Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia. Raise your joys and triumphs high. Alleluia. 17 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:33,920 And earth replied, Alleluia. 18 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:56,900 It's again our glorious King. Alleluia. Where, O death, is now thy sting. Alleluia. 19 00:19:56,900 --> 00:20:26,880 Once he died our souls to save. Alleluia. Where's thy victory boasting grave? Alleluia. 20 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:56,860 Work is done. Alleluia. For the fight, the battle won. Alleluia. Death in vain forbids him rise. Alleluia. Christ has opened paradise. Alleluia. 21 00:20:56,860 --> 00:21:26,840 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. 22 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:56,820 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. 23 00:21:56,820 --> 00:22:26,800 Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine, all on a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. 24 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:56,780 Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. 25 00:22:56,780 --> 00:23:26,760 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. 26 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:56,740 Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. 27 00:23:56,740 --> 00:24:26,720 This is my song. It's my song. It's my song. This is my song. I love you. I love you. 28 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:56,700 This is my song. This is my song. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. 29 00:24:56,700 --> 00:25:26,680 I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. 30 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:28,680 I love you. 31 00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:58,680 Let's pray. 32 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:28,680 Let's pray. 33 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:58,680 Let's pray. 34 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:53,680 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. 35 00:32:53,680 --> 00:33:20,680 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. 36 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:43,680 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. 37 00:33:43,680 --> 00:34:08,680 All the weak find their strength at the sound of your great name. Hungry souls receive praise at the sound of your great name. 38 00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:33,680 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. 39 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:58,680 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. 40 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:27,680 Redeemer, my Healer, Lord Almighty. My Savior, Defender, you are my King. Redeemer, my Healer, Lord Almighty. My Savior, Defender, you are my King. 41 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:56,680 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. 42 00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:03,680 Your great name. 43 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:44,680 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. 44 00:36:44,680 --> 00:37:06,680 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. 45 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:17,680 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. 46 00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:32,680 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. 47 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:41,680 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. 48 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:50,680 "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. 49 00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:59,680 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. 50 00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:11,680 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." 51 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:22,680 And so the writer of Hebrews writing to Christians who struggle with faithfulness after outlining the dire consequences of straying from God, 52 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:26,680 he gives us this word of encouragement that you and I are not alone. 53 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:36,680 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. 54 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:46,680 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, 55 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:54,680 that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need." The solution to the struggle of faithfulness 56 00:38:54,680 --> 00:39:01,680 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 57 00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:08,680 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, 58 00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:16,680 He has risen again for our victory, that He is our hope. But we are also drawing near to the throne of grace, 59 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:24,680 fixing our eyes on Jesus, who gives us the mercy and the grace to help in our time of need. 60 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:27,680 We're going to pray, and then we will partake together. 61 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:34,680 Father in heaven, thank you that you have helped us, you have saved us, you have strengthened us, 62 00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:38,680 and thank you that you do not leave us to face this world on our own, 63 00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:44,680 that you have come close through the gift of your Son, who knows what it's like to struggle, 64 00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:52,680 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. 65 00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:59,680 And so, help us this morning to use this as an opportunity to hold fast to our belief in you, 66 00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:04,680 that you would use this as a time of mercy and grace for our weary souls. 67 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:09,680 Strengthen us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 68 00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:17,680 Jesus, at the Last Supper, is there remembering God's salvation from the slavery of Egypt. 69 00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:21,680 He institutes the Lord's Supper to remind us of another deliverance. 70 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:25,680 The deliverance of God's people from slavery to sin. 71 00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:31,680 And in doing so, He will take some bread at the Passover meal, and He will say, 72 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:35,680 "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 73 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:44,680 And then He takes a cup, a cup designed to help God's people remember the promises of God. 74 00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:50,680 As they look back to how God would redeem His people out of slavery to Egypt. 75 00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:57,680 And Jesus calls us to look back to how He has redeemed us out of slavery to sin. 76 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:03,680 He will say, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." 77 00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:29,680 This morning's reading is from Acts 22. 78 00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:38,680 "But the next day, desiring to know the real reason why Paul was being accused by the Jews, 79 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:50,680 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. 80 00:41:50,680 --> 00:42:06,680 And looking intently at the council, Paul said, "Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day." 81 00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:14,680 High priest Ananias commanded those who were stood next by him to strike him on the mouth. 82 00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:26,680 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? 83 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:36,680 And yet, contrary to law, you order me to be struck." Those who stood by said, "Would you revile God's high priest?" 84 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:49,680 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." 85 00:42:49,680 --> 00:43:04,680 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. 86 00:43:05,680 --> 00:43:23,680 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. 87 00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:34,680 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angels, nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledged them all. Then a great clamor arose, 88 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:47,680 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?" 89 00:43:47,680 --> 00:44:03,680 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. 90 00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:29,680 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. 91 00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:52,680 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. 92 00:44:52,680 --> 00:45:02,680 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. 93 00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:09,680 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. 94 00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:19,680 As we see Paul having a bad day, everything seems to have gone wrong. Everything seems to have been turned upside down. 95 00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:28,680 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. 96 00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:37,680 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. 97 00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:46,680 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? 98 00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:54,680 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. 99 00:45:54,680 --> 00:46:01,680 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. 100 00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:07,680 Just what happened is that every turn you had sort of a minor discomfort. And that's on one end of the scale. 101 00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:13,680 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. 102 00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:22,680 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. 103 00:46:22,680 --> 00:46:30,680 And it just knocks your life out from under you in that moment. And it just seems as if everything has fallen apart. 104 00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:38,680 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. 105 00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:45,680 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. 106 00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:55,680 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 107 00:46:55,680 --> 00:47:04,680 in the middle of a sort of a formal hearing and start tearing them apart, right, that ends very, very badly. 108 00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:10,680 So I want us to sort of see what leads to this, because Scripture doesn't happen in a vacuum. 109 00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:14,680 It's very simple for us sometimes just to sort of say, "Here's the text." 110 00:47:14,680 --> 00:47:20,680 But we have to understand that coming into this, Paul has been struggling in Jerusalem. 111 00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:25,680 So I want to walk you through sort of where Paul is in what has been happening. 112 00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:32,680 So Paul has sort of arrived to Jerusalem, and I don't think that it was as wonderful as he thought it would be. 113 00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:38,680 And so at the end of his third missionary journey, remember he's gathered up this offering for the Christians in Jerusalem, 114 00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:44,680 shows up and begins to tell the apostles in the church and sort of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem 115 00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:50,680 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, 116 00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:57,680 he's coming with this offering to help the church, right? It's a picture of unity between Jews and between Gentiles. 117 00:47:57,680 --> 00:48:01,680 It's a picture of Christian love, right? The way the church should be. 118 00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:09,680 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, 119 00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:16,680 and then it's right into the first controversy. In Acts 21:20, it says, "When they heard this, they glorified God," right? 120 00:48:16,680 --> 00:48:22,680 There's the good response, and then immediately what happens? They'll say to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands 121 00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:27,680 there are among the Jews who have believed? They're all zealous for the law. They're going to go on and say, 122 00:48:27,680 --> 00:48:32,680 there's thousands of Jewish Christians, and they all don't like you, right? They think you're a lawbreaker. 123 00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:37,680 So here's the reception that you get. You come. You've been sharing the gospel. Churches have been planted. 124 00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:42,680 People have come to Christ. You've brought this offering to help the church, and the response is, 125 00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:50,680 "That's great, Paul. Everybody hates you," right? That's kind of a rough place to start your visit to Jerusalem 126 00:48:50,680 --> 00:49:01,680 sort of emotionally and psychologically. So what happens next is the leaders of the church are trying to 127 00:49:01,680 --> 00:49:08,680 figure out a way to help these Christians who are struggling because they've heard all of these lies 128 00:49:08,680 --> 00:49:13,680 and falsehoods about Paul, help them see the truth of who Paul is. And so they're doing a good thing, 129 00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:19,680 and so they make this suggestion to Paul that we have these men who are under vow, and you need to go with them, 130 00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:26,680 pay their way, and purify yourself. Now Paul hasn't done anything wrong. He doesn't need to go purify 131 00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:33,680 himself, but in Christian love to these other people, and in a great show of patience, he takes an entire 132 00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:42,680 week, he spends his financial resources to try to help these Christians see, right? So Paul extends grace 133 00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:51,680 to those who have not extended any grace to him. It's a sacrificial love for God's church. And so on the 134 00:49:51,680 --> 00:49:55,680 seventh day, they're in the temple, they're sort of finishing all of this up, and some Jews from Asia, 135 00:49:55,680 --> 00:50:00,680 remember this is where Paul has been ministering, and they've been opposing him, and they see him in 136 00:50:00,680 --> 00:50:06,680 the temple, and they immediately began with lies and half-truths to stir up a riot, and before long 137 00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:11,680 all of Jerusalem is stirred up, and they're in the temple, and they're grabbing Paul, and they're shutting 138 00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:16,680 the doors to the temple, so he can't defile the place. They're dragging him out. They're beating 139 00:50:16,680 --> 00:50:22,680 him up, and their plan is ultimately to kill him. And in the midst of that, the Roman fortress is right 140 00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:28,680 next to the temple, because this was kind of a rowdy place from time to time. The soldiers are grabbing 141 00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:34,680 their gear. They're heading out the door. They surround Paul. They begin to drag him off back to the barracks 142 00:50:34,680 --> 00:50:40,680 for his own safety, and Paul, in another show of grace, says, "Let me speak to this crowd." 143 00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:45,680 And so he begins to share the gospel, what God has done for him, how God has equipped him, and he 144 00:50:45,680 --> 00:50:52,680 gets to this one word. He says, "God sent me to the Gentiles," and the riot starts all over again. And so 145 00:50:52,680 --> 00:50:59,680 now there has been two riots. The first riot are part one and part two. Nobody has listened to Paul. 146 00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:04,680 Paul has gone out of his way to show love to all of these people. It has to be discouraging, right? 147 00:51:04,680 --> 00:51:09,680 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, 148 00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:15,680 where you are so excited about something, and you go to share it with someone close to you, and they're like, 149 00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:21,680 "Yeah, that's great," and then they just ignore you, right? They just suck the joy right out of your life. 150 00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:26,680 And I feel like that's what happens to Paul as he gets to Jerusalem, shares this good news, and immediately 151 00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:32,680 it's like, "Sorry, nobody likes you." And then in Christian love, he sacrifices his time and his money 152 00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:38,680 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 153 00:51:38,680 --> 00:51:44,680 arrested by the Romans. In a show of grace, he tries to share the gospel. A riot starts again, and now 154 00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:51,680 he's dragged in to this sort of uncertain Roman official who gets ready to beat the truth out of him. And Paul, 155 00:51:51,680 --> 00:51:56,680 thankfully, is a Roman citizen. He gets that straightened out, but now he's in chains, and this Roman 156 00:51:56,680 --> 00:52:03,680 official has no idea what to do with the apostle Paul, right? And just so we understand sort of what's 157 00:52:03,680 --> 00:52:10,680 happening. The joy that Paul has has turned into this confrontation with some legalistic Christians, 158 00:52:10,680 --> 00:52:17,680 with some Jewish people who have been opposing him for years. His sermon has been rejected by the people 159 00:52:17,680 --> 00:52:24,680 that he preached it to, and now he faces the future with confusion and uncertainty. The last 160 00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:30,680 verse of chapter 22, there's a plan to get some answers. "On the next day, desiring to know the 161 00:52:30,680 --> 00:52:37,680 real reason why he was accused by the Jews," this is the Roman official, the tribune, "He unbound 162 00:52:37,680 --> 00:52:42,680 him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set 163 00:52:42,680 --> 00:52:46,680 them before him." So normally, this chief priests and the council, this would be the Sanhedrin, 164 00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:51,680 sort of the Jewish governing body, and they would meet in their own place, but I think 165 00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:56,680 because it's dangerous, probably to transport Paul, and they're worried about another riot, they summon 166 00:52:56,680 --> 00:53:03,680 all of them there to the fortress of Antonia, and they put them there and bring Paul down, and 167 00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:07,680 he says, "We're going to finally get some answers. Why do they have a problem with you? What 168 00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:12,680 have you done? We're going to figure this out. Somebody's going to get some justice, and we're 169 00:53:12,680 --> 00:53:20,680 going to get some answers." And so that's exactly what he's done. So Paul's day, I think, begins 170 00:53:20,680 --> 00:53:25,680 in a difficult way, right? Probably hasn't got much rest. He's in chains. His trip to Jerusalem 171 00:53:25,680 --> 00:53:32,680 has gone quickly downhill, and his current situation, he has just been beaten by a mob the day before, 172 00:53:32,680 --> 00:53:41,680 put in chains by the Romans, and now everybody is looking for someone to blame. Now, this trend 173 00:53:41,680 --> 00:53:48,680 will continue, but instead of seeing all the things that happened to Paul today, we're going 174 00:53:48,680 --> 00:53:54,680 to get a glimpse of how Paul sort of responds. And you need to understand that everything, I think, has 175 00:53:54,680 --> 00:54:00,680 built up in Paul almost to a breaking point, because we're going to see him maybe behave 176 00:54:00,680 --> 00:54:05,680 a little differently than we have and will have in the rest of the book of Acts. And 177 00:54:05,680 --> 00:54:10,680 this day, ultimately, will end with like 40 Jewish assassins plotting to kill Paul. In 178 00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:14,680 fact, they're so serious about it, they say, "We will starve to death before we don't 179 00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:20,680 kill him." Like, we're not going to eat until he is dead. So let's pick this up in 180 00:54:20,680 --> 00:54:26,680 verse 1, and we're going to see how this probably bad day in this hearing begins. So 181 00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:30,680 we're going to start with taking a look at Paul's attitude. And looking intently at the 182 00:54:30,680 --> 00:54:35,680 council, Paul said, "Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience 183 00:54:35,680 --> 00:54:40,680 up to this day." So this begins in this Greek word, looking intently at the 184 00:54:40,680 --> 00:54:45,680 council. This is not just kind of looking, kind of studying them. The picture behind 185 00:54:45,680 --> 00:54:52,680 this word is he is literally staring them down, right? This is a focused, determined, 186 00:54:52,680 --> 00:54:57,680 there is a little bit, probably a little bit of frustration, maybe even a little bit 187 00:54:57,680 --> 00:55:02,680 of anger in the way that Paul is looking in the council. He's been brought in. He 188 00:55:02,680 --> 00:55:05,680 stands before them. They're out before him. He's probably sitting in a chair, kind 189 00:55:05,680 --> 00:55:12,680 of partly surrounded by these council members, and he isn't cowering. He's not 190 00:55:12,680 --> 00:55:17,680 fearful. In a sense, he's almost defiant, and he fixes his eyes on them, and he's 191 00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:22,680 kind of staring them down, and then he begins to speak, and it gets even more 192 00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:26,680 different, right? Because when you stood before the Sanhedrin, or were tried by the 193 00:55:26,680 --> 00:55:32,680 Sanhedrin as a Jewish person, there was a proper form of address. Just 194 00:55:32,680 --> 00:55:36,680 like today, when you go to court, right, you refer to the judge as your honor. You 195 00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:40,680 don't show up to the judge. You go, "Hey, dude, let's figure this out," right? You're 196 00:55:40,680 --> 00:55:45,680 respectful, you speak properly, and the proper form of address to the Sanhedrin 197 00:55:45,680 --> 00:55:51,680 as you begin to speak to them is what Peter uses in Acts 4:8, where he says, "Rulers 198 00:55:51,680 --> 00:55:55,680 of the people and elders," right? So he begins to address the Sanhedrin, and he 199 00:55:55,680 --> 00:56:01,680 starts by saying, "Rulers of the people and elders." That was the proper address 200 00:56:01,680 --> 00:56:06,680 we know from history of how you were supposed to talk to this body. Look what 201 00:56:06,680 --> 00:56:12,680 Paul says. He says, "Brothers." Now you may look at that and say, "Well, that seems nice, right? We're all 202 00:56:12,680 --> 00:56:18,680 brothers in Abraham, and we all have followed the law, and Paul here is trying to be 203 00:56:18,680 --> 00:56:24,680 friendly to them." The reality is that Paul distinctly is ignoring their 204 00:56:24,680 --> 00:56:28,680 position, right? Instead of saying, "Rulers of the people and fathers," right? You're the 205 00:56:28,680 --> 00:56:34,680 ruling governing body over Israel. He puts himself on the same level. So in their eyes 206 00:56:34,680 --> 00:56:42,680 either he has lifted himself up or as he is putting them all down. His greeting, just that 207 00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:48,680 very word to this group, is essentially confrontational. And then he begins to make 208 00:56:48,680 --> 00:56:54,680 his case. He says, "I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up 209 00:56:54,680 --> 00:57:00,680 until today." And what he means by that is not that he has been perfect, but he says that my 210 00:57:00,680 --> 00:57:04,680 conscience, informed by the Word of God, because that's what the conscience is. It's 211 00:57:04,680 --> 00:57:10,680 a knowledge that sort of goes alongside, and your conscience can be good or bad depending 212 00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:14,680 on what you put into it. And Paul has filled his conscience with the Scriptures. 213 00:57:14,680 --> 00:57:20,680 And it doesn't mean that he's perfect, but it means that he has sought to live according to what he has learned 214 00:57:20,680 --> 00:57:26,680 from the Word of God, which means where he makes a mistake, he corrects it, right? His conscience pricks him and pulls 215 00:57:26,680 --> 00:57:32,680 him back. And when he's unsure of where to go, his conscience seeks to lead him in righteousness. And so 216 00:57:32,680 --> 00:57:40,680 Paul says, "I have not done anything wrong," right? He's proclaiming his innocence in a forceful way with how 217 00:57:40,680 --> 00:57:44,680 he's looking, how he's addressing them, and what he's saying. Essentially, he's saying to this group 218 00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:56,680 of people, "I am innocent." And his opening remarks make this high priest so very angry. 219 00:57:56,680 --> 00:58:01,680 Listen to what happens in verse 2. "And the high priest Ananias," now that's different 220 00:58:01,680 --> 00:58:07,680 than the high priest Annas, who was when Jesus was at the trial of Jesus. So the high priest 221 00:58:07,680 --> 00:58:15,680 Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him in the mouth. Now, that can mean 222 00:58:15,680 --> 00:58:20,680 there's usually accompanied by temple guards. Maybe the striking is with a fist. But frequently 223 00:58:20,680 --> 00:58:25,680 what the temple guards carried were these clubs that they sort of used to maintain order. So 224 00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:30,680 at the very least, this is getting punched in the face. At the most, this is 225 00:58:30,680 --> 00:58:36,680 some guy with like a small wooden bat hitting you in the face. Now I want you to feel 226 00:58:36,680 --> 00:58:42,680 sort of how out of place this is, right? I've been before a judge once. It was 227 00:58:42,680 --> 00:58:47,680 traffic court. Been in an accident, disputing what had happened. It turned out very well 228 00:58:47,680 --> 00:58:50,680 for me. But they, you know, sitting there in traffic court, they said, you know, "So 229 00:58:50,680 --> 00:58:54,680 and so here." He said, "Yes." You go up and you talk to the judge, and one of the 230 00:58:54,680 --> 00:58:58,680 things, you got to be respectful. And imagine I'm there in traffic court, and 231 00:58:58,680 --> 00:59:01,680 they say, "Well, what is your side of the story?" And I explain it. And they go, "Bailiff, 232 00:59:01,680 --> 00:59:05,680 go over and hit him in the face." Right? You'd be like, "That 233 00:59:05,680 --> 00:59:11,680 escalated very, very quickly." Right? That's what happens. Paul, before the ruling 234 00:59:11,680 --> 00:59:16,680 body of Israel, all he has said is, "I'm innocent." And they go, "Punch him in the 235 00:59:16,680 --> 00:59:23,680 face." Right? That seems like a disproportionate reaction. This guy, Ananias, 236 00:59:23,680 --> 00:59:30,680 is not a good man. He'll once be on trial in Rome for, you know, crimes against Rome. He's 237 00:59:30,680 --> 00:59:35,680 acquitted. According to historical records, he will take the offerings from the temple that 238 00:59:35,680 --> 00:59:40,680 are supposed to be used to pay the working priests so that they can live while they serve 239 00:59:40,680 --> 00:59:47,680 God. Pockets him for himself. In the rebellion against Rome, the Jewish people will hunt him 240 00:59:47,680 --> 00:59:52,680 down and essentially beat him to death because he is such a terrible human being. You kind 241 00:59:52,680 --> 00:59:57,680 of get a glimpse of that here, where his opening remarks of the prosecution is just 242 00:59:57,680 --> 01:00:04,680 to hit a guy in the face. Now listen to what Paul says. And you have to understand, Paul 243 01:00:04,680 --> 01:00:10,680 has already been beaten once. This is probably not a welcome turn of events. And Paul said 244 01:00:10,680 --> 01:00:16,680 to him, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. Are you sitting to judge 245 01:00:16,680 --> 01:00:21,680 me according to the law, yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?" Now Paul is 246 01:00:21,680 --> 01:00:27,680 rightfully angry. Because in Israel, the idea was you were innocent until proven 247 01:00:27,680 --> 01:00:33,680 guilty. There was no "beat you ahead of time, beat a confession out of you, and then punish you." 248 01:00:33,680 --> 01:00:37,680 You were allowed to present your case before punishment was handed down. In fact, 249 01:00:37,680 --> 01:00:44,680 according to oral tradition of the Jewish people of this day, it was said this: 250 01:00:44,680 --> 01:00:50,680 "He who strikes the cheek of an Israelite strikes as it were the 251 01:00:50,680 --> 01:00:58,680 glory of God." That if you were to strike the face of an Israelite, that was like hitting God if this 252 01:00:58,680 --> 01:01:06,680 was not a court-sanctioned thing. And so this is a big deal, right? This has been a protocol with the Jewish 253 01:01:06,680 --> 01:01:14,680 Sanhedrin for centuries. And Paul, as he's hit in the face, says, "God's going to hit you in the face." 254 01:01:14,680 --> 01:01:19,680 Right? Very strong, very bluntly. Then he says this: "You are a whitewashed wall." 255 01:01:19,680 --> 01:01:24,680 And so the picture of this is a wall that is kind of falling down and crumbling and looks terrible, 256 01:01:24,680 --> 01:01:28,680 but you want to make it presentable, so you just go paint it and make it look really good cosmetically 257 01:01:28,680 --> 01:01:32,680 without fixing any of the structure. So some guy comes up, "That's a nice wall." 258 01:01:32,680 --> 01:01:38,680 Sort of leans on it, and then it tips over. That the outside looks good, but the inside is rotten. 259 01:01:38,680 --> 01:01:44,680 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, 260 01:01:44,680 --> 01:01:52,680 but underneath it all you're a horrible, sinful, wretched person, and you call me here on account 261 01:01:52,680 --> 01:01:58,680 that I have violated the Word of God, and here you are violating the Word of God toward me." 262 01:01:58,680 --> 01:02:04,680 Paul is angry. His response is that you're a hypocrite, a terrible person. You're a lawbreaker, 263 01:02:04,680 --> 01:02:10,680 and you should be hit in the face rather than me. And then in verses 4 and 5 it says this, 264 01:02:10,680 --> 01:02:17,680 "Those who stood by," that's the rest of this Sanhedrin, said, "Would you revile God's high priest?" 265 01:02:17,680 --> 01:02:21,680 And they look at Paul and says, "Why are you talking to the high priest in this manner?" 266 01:02:21,680 --> 01:02:25,680 And Paul said, "I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, 267 01:02:25,680 --> 01:02:31,680 you shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people." Right? Everybody responds, 268 01:02:31,680 --> 01:02:36,680 "You can't talk to the high priest that way. It's not biblical to talk to the high priest that way." 269 01:02:36,680 --> 01:02:41,680 And so the question has been, "Is Paul right or wrong in what he does?" 270 01:02:41,680 --> 01:02:46,680 And I think the answer is simply both, right? Because he's going to kind of turn it around here in a minute 271 01:02:46,680 --> 01:02:51,680 and say, "I understand the Scripture." Now, I think factually, Paul is right. 272 01:02:51,680 --> 01:02:56,680 Ananias deserves judgment. Factually, he is a whitewashed wall. 273 01:02:56,680 --> 01:03:05,680 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. 274 01:03:05,680 --> 01:03:08,680 And Paul will respond, "I didn't know this guy was the high priest." 275 01:03:08,680 --> 01:03:11,680 And people will say, "Well, Paul is just kind of making an excuse here." 276 01:03:11,680 --> 01:03:15,680 But there's some good reasons why he might not have known this was the high priest, right? 277 01:03:15,680 --> 01:03:17,680 Paul's been out of town for a long time, right? 278 01:03:17,680 --> 01:03:21,680 There's been a new high priest since the last time he was in town. 279 01:03:21,680 --> 01:03:28,680 Also, people are sometimes difficult to recognize outside of a normal context, right? 280 01:03:28,680 --> 01:03:32,680 We saw our mailman walking through Walmart the other day, and I was like, "That guy looks really familiar." 281 01:03:32,680 --> 01:03:34,680 He's like, "Oh, it's our mailman," right? 282 01:03:34,680 --> 01:03:37,680 Now, if I see him in his mail truck, I recognize him instantly. 283 01:03:37,680 --> 01:03:40,680 But walking through Walmart looking for chips, right? 284 01:03:40,680 --> 01:03:42,680 That's a whole different story. 285 01:03:42,680 --> 01:03:47,680 And so maybe it's because you're not in the Sanhedrin, you're in Roma's fortress, you've been beaten, 286 01:03:47,680 --> 01:03:50,680 you're not expecting the high priest himself to be there. 287 01:03:50,680 --> 01:03:53,680 Maybe Paul doesn't recognize him because of that. 288 01:03:53,680 --> 01:03:56,680 But it's also possible that Paul has bad vision. 289 01:03:56,680 --> 01:04:01,680 There are some texts later on in his letters that seem to indicate that Paul didn't see very well. 290 01:04:01,680 --> 01:04:07,680 And maybe he just hears the guy go, "Hit him in the face!" and he responds instinctively. 291 01:04:07,680 --> 01:04:12,680 But there's another explanation to what Paul is saying, right? 292 01:04:12,680 --> 01:04:15,680 He's going, "Because of his unlawful actions, 293 01:04:15,680 --> 01:04:20,680 I didn't recognize that anybody with this type of behavior could be a high priest." 294 01:04:20,680 --> 01:04:22,680 There's a chance he's being a little sarcastic. 295 01:04:22,680 --> 01:04:25,680 "Oh, a high priest couldn't tell by how he acted." 296 01:04:25,680 --> 01:04:30,680 There could be Paul sort of adding a little bit of fuel to the fire before I think. 297 01:04:30,680 --> 01:04:36,680 His conscience maybe gets a little bit of the better of him, right? 298 01:04:36,680 --> 01:04:40,680 Sometimes with our words, we can wind people up. 299 01:04:40,680 --> 01:04:43,680 I remember there was a third or fourth grade, 300 01:04:43,680 --> 01:04:46,680 and we were getting ready to leave for the day, 301 01:04:46,680 --> 01:04:48,680 and you all had to line up in a certain way. 302 01:04:48,680 --> 01:04:50,680 And I was probably goofing off or doing something. 303 01:04:50,680 --> 01:04:54,680 And the second grade teacher, she was on the bus duty 304 01:04:54,680 --> 01:04:57,680 or the line-up duty for cars and buses. 305 01:04:57,680 --> 01:04:59,680 And she, you know, told me to go to the back of the line. 306 01:04:59,680 --> 01:05:01,680 She said, "You're at the back of the line." 307 01:05:01,680 --> 01:05:04,680 And so everybody starts filing out, and I start walking out with them, 308 01:05:04,680 --> 01:05:06,680 because she told me to go to the back of the line. 309 01:05:06,680 --> 01:05:07,680 She said, "I didn't say you could leave." 310 01:05:07,680 --> 01:05:10,680 I said, "No, you told me to go to the back of the line. 311 01:05:10,680 --> 01:05:15,680 You never said anything about me not being able to walk out with my class." 312 01:05:15,680 --> 01:05:19,680 And she looks at me and goes, "Well, you think you're really smart, don't you?" 313 01:05:19,680 --> 01:05:22,680 And I looked at her, and I said, "Absolutely. I do think I'm very smart." 314 01:05:22,680 --> 01:05:26,680 Now, you can probably guess how that went for me. 315 01:05:26,680 --> 01:05:29,680 And the answer is, "Not well," right? 316 01:05:29,680 --> 01:05:36,680 And Paul here has been struggling during this time, right? 317 01:05:36,680 --> 01:05:42,680 He's been problem after problem, and here they say, "You don't know this is the high priest." 318 01:05:42,680 --> 01:05:45,680 And Paul says, "Well, he sure isn't acting like it," right? 319 01:05:45,680 --> 01:05:54,680 But then Paul will sort of quote Scripture about respecting the leaders of God's people, 320 01:05:54,680 --> 01:06:01,680 and what he's doing by saying that is, "I've been a little bit hasty in how I've spoken." 321 01:06:01,680 --> 01:06:05,680 But I shouldn't have said that. He obviously shouldn't have done what he did. 322 01:06:05,680 --> 01:06:11,680 But I shouldn't have responded. I lost my temper in the way that I responded. 323 01:06:11,680 --> 01:06:15,680 You can see Paul is having a bad day, right? 324 01:06:15,680 --> 01:06:22,680 He's come into this sort of a little abrasive in how he has looked at them, how he has spoken to them. 325 01:06:22,680 --> 01:06:25,680 There's been this bad reaction, this verbal exchange. 326 01:06:25,680 --> 01:06:30,680 And here's the thing. Normally, Paul, the first thing he does is proclaim the Gospel. 327 01:06:30,680 --> 01:06:35,680 But that hasn't happened before this ruling body of the Jewish people. 328 01:06:35,680 --> 01:06:37,680 Let's pick it up in verse 6. 329 01:06:37,680 --> 01:06:42,680 Now, when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, 330 01:06:42,680 --> 01:06:45,680 so there's two groups, two parties, he cried out in the council, 331 01:06:45,680 --> 01:06:48,680 "Brothers, I'm a Pharisee, a son of a Pharisee. 332 01:06:48,680 --> 01:06:54,680 It is respect the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial." 333 01:06:54,680 --> 01:06:58,680 And when he said this, the dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, 334 01:06:58,680 --> 01:06:59,680 and the assembly was divided. 335 01:06:59,680 --> 01:07:04,680 For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, no angel nor spirit, 336 01:07:04,680 --> 01:07:08,680 but the Pharisees acknowledged them all, and a great clamor arose. 337 01:07:08,680 --> 01:07:11,680 And some of the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended sharply, 338 01:07:11,680 --> 01:07:13,680 "We find nothing wrong with this man. 339 01:07:13,680 --> 01:07:15,680 What if a spirit or angel spoke to him? 340 01:07:15,680 --> 01:07:20,680 And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces, 341 01:07:20,680 --> 01:07:26,680 commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the paris. 342 01:07:26,680 --> 01:07:32,680 So this time it seems like Paul kind of takes a breath, and he looks around at the council. 343 01:07:32,680 --> 01:07:35,680 And remember, Paul was part of this council at one time. 344 01:07:35,680 --> 01:07:39,680 And he looks and he sees Pharisees and Sadducees, the two main religious parties. 345 01:07:39,680 --> 01:07:44,680 The Pharisees sought to follow the Scripture as closely as possible. 346 01:07:44,680 --> 01:07:48,680 And the Pharisees believed in a resurrection. They believed in a soul. 347 01:07:48,680 --> 01:07:51,680 They believed in angels and demons. They believed in all of these spiritual things. 348 01:07:51,680 --> 01:07:56,680 The Sadducees tended to be a little more closer to Rome, a little more secular. 349 01:07:56,680 --> 01:08:01,680 And they didn't believe in a resurrection. This life is it. They didn't believe in angels and a soul. 350 01:08:01,680 --> 01:08:07,680 And Paul looks and he sees Sadducees, and he sees Pharisees, and he goes, "I know what to do." 351 01:08:07,680 --> 01:08:12,680 And he goes, "The only reason I'm here is because I believe in the resurrection." 352 01:08:12,680 --> 01:08:16,680 And the Pharisees are going, "Yes, amen." And the Sadducees are going, "Absolutely not." 353 01:08:16,680 --> 01:08:19,680 And then these two groups, what do they do? They begin to fight each other. 354 01:08:19,680 --> 01:08:24,680 And some of the group of the Pharisees, they stand up there, "We're on Paul's side. We believe." 355 01:08:24,680 --> 01:08:28,680 And this escalates, right? It's like testifying before Congress. 356 01:08:28,680 --> 01:08:33,680 And you get up there, and whatever party you're on, you've got half Republicans, half Democrats. 357 01:08:33,680 --> 01:08:36,680 You go, "Oh, it's because I'm a Republican." Or, "Oh, because I'm a Democrat." 358 01:08:36,680 --> 01:08:41,680 And the Republicans get mad at the Democrats, and they begin to fight each other and leave you alone. 359 01:08:41,680 --> 01:08:48,680 But this escalates even further, right? It turns into a full-blown riot, right? 360 01:08:48,680 --> 01:08:52,680 And when the dissension, this argument, became violent, right? 361 01:08:52,680 --> 01:08:58,680 These guys are not just shouting at each other. They're not just arguing. It's not just raised voices, right? 362 01:08:58,680 --> 01:09:06,680 You got, you know, this side and this side. They're going to attack each other, and they've started throwing punches, right? 363 01:09:06,680 --> 01:09:09,680 This has turned out very differently. 364 01:09:09,680 --> 01:09:13,680 Paul has sort of goaded them with his words. 365 01:09:13,680 --> 01:09:16,680 Now the tribute is dealing with another riot, right? 366 01:09:16,680 --> 01:09:20,680 So he's had a sort of a bad time since he arrived in Jerusalem. 367 01:09:20,680 --> 01:09:24,680 It's been a bad day, right? There's been no gospel presentation. 368 01:09:24,680 --> 01:09:27,680 They've just been arguing, fighting, and shouting. 369 01:09:27,680 --> 01:09:34,680 And it seems like the cause of the gospel hasn't been very much advanced. 370 01:09:34,680 --> 01:09:41,680 And in Acts 23:11, what you find is that Paul is discouraged, right? 371 01:09:41,680 --> 01:09:43,680 It's not gone according to plan. 372 01:09:43,680 --> 01:09:45,680 Have you ever made a mistake? 373 01:09:45,680 --> 01:09:51,680 Generally, we make sometimes dumb mistakes, and we replay them over and over in our minds, right? 374 01:09:51,680 --> 01:09:55,680 So usually when I'm talking to Rachel on the phone, we end our conversations with, "Alright, love you, bye." 375 01:09:55,680 --> 01:10:02,680 You know, I'm talking to the scheduler for ANOVA for an appointment that's upcoming in a week and a half. 376 01:10:02,680 --> 01:10:05,680 It's like, "Get done." It's like, "Alright, love you, bye." 377 01:10:05,680 --> 01:10:07,680 And then you're just replaying that in your mind. 378 01:10:07,680 --> 01:10:13,680 Did I just tell this scheduler who I don't even know, like, "Hopefully they hung up. They didn't hear me. 379 01:10:13,680 --> 01:10:16,680 Hopefully I never have to meet them face to face," right? 380 01:10:16,680 --> 01:10:18,680 Just a dumb thing like that. 381 01:10:18,680 --> 01:10:23,680 Now here's Paul, and he's back in chains. He's back in jail. 382 01:10:23,680 --> 01:10:27,680 It's gotten quiet. He began to think through the day, right? 383 01:10:27,680 --> 01:10:31,680 And in those times, you don't ever see the good that you've done, right? 384 01:10:31,680 --> 01:10:37,680 We tend to see where the problems have been, where we have failed, where we have struggled. 385 01:10:37,680 --> 01:10:46,680 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. 386 01:10:46,680 --> 01:10:57,680 But that hasn't happened here with the Sanhedrin. Instead, it's been escalation, escalation, escalation, all into violence. 387 01:10:57,680 --> 01:11:06,680 Part of the reason is Paul is human, like we are. You and I sometimes struggle to respond properly and rightly. 388 01:11:06,680 --> 01:11:12,680 So I want you to see what God does to Paul alone in the dark of the night. 389 01:11:12,680 --> 01:11:26,680 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." 390 01:11:26,680 --> 01:11:33,680 We know Paul is discouraged because God shows up to encourage him. You don't need to encourage somebody who is not discouraged. 391 01:11:33,680 --> 01:11:41,680 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. 392 01:11:41,680 --> 01:11:46,680 It might feel that way. You are in the middle of this Roman dungeon in the fortress of Antonia. 393 01:11:46,680 --> 01:11:53,680 Previously, when he has been imprisoned, members of the church knew where he was. They knew what was going on. 394 01:11:53,680 --> 01:12:01,680 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. 395 01:12:01,680 --> 01:12:09,680 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. 396 01:12:09,680 --> 01:12:12,680 And here is the thing. God knows exactly where the Apostle Paul is. 397 01:12:12,680 --> 01:12:19,680 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." 398 01:12:19,680 --> 01:12:25,680 Remember that God knows exactly where you are. He knows where you are. He knows why you are there. 399 01:12:25,680 --> 01:12:28,680 And so God comes to Paul. 400 01:12:28,680 --> 01:12:34,680 But the second thing I want you to see is that Paul is not forsaken, right? It's easy to feel alone. 401 01:12:34,680 --> 01:12:39,680 In fact, I imagine Paul feels very alone. And notice what happens, right? 402 01:12:39,680 --> 01:12:44,680 It's not a voice from heaven. It's not an encouraging fruit basket from the church. 403 01:12:44,680 --> 01:12:53,680 But the Lord stood beside him, right? God doesn't show up in front of him to lecture him. 404 01:12:53,680 --> 01:12:59,680 He doesn't just send a voice from heaven, but he shows up next to Paul, right? 405 01:12:59,680 --> 01:13:05,680 It's an encouraging thing. And it's a reminder to Paul that in this moment, you are not alone. 406 01:13:05,680 --> 01:13:08,680 You are not abandoned. You are not by yourself. 407 01:13:08,680 --> 01:13:13,680 And the picture for us is the same, right? There's times we feel lost. God knows where you are. 408 01:13:13,680 --> 01:13:19,680 There's times when you feel alone. But God stands beside you. 409 01:13:19,680 --> 01:13:25,680 In fact, at the end of the book of Hebrews, when the Christians were struggling with how they were going to face the troubles, 410 01:13:25,680 --> 01:13:30,680 whether it's persecution, maybe it's theological turmoil, maybe it's even things as simple as, 411 01:13:30,680 --> 01:13:33,680 "What are we going to do about buying groceries tomorrow?" 412 01:13:33,680 --> 01:13:39,680 The promise at the end of the book of Hebrews is that God will never leave you nor forsake you. 413 01:13:39,680 --> 01:13:46,680 And so Paul gets this message that you're not lost, you're not alone, and then God says this, right? 414 01:13:46,680 --> 01:13:51,680 I've got a job for you. You've been working to testify to me here. 415 01:13:51,680 --> 01:13:56,680 Now you're going to have this job that takes you to Rome, right? 416 01:13:56,680 --> 01:14:01,680 And the picture here is that God is in control. Even in the midst of the chaos, even in the midst of the struggle, 417 01:14:01,680 --> 01:14:08,680 even in the midst of what I have to imagine is a discouraging, difficult day where nothing seems to have gone right, 418 01:14:08,680 --> 01:14:16,680 God says, "I am in control." And in fact, He says, "Take courage." Other translations will say this, "Be of good cheer." 419 01:14:16,680 --> 01:14:24,680 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. 420 01:14:24,680 --> 01:14:31,680 But be of good cheer, because you are not alone, right? You are not lost, and I have a plan for you, right? 421 01:14:31,680 --> 01:14:37,680 And in the midst of our darkness and our struggle and our hurt, right, God has things for you to do. 422 01:14:37,680 --> 01:14:47,680 He has things for me to do. And He says to Paul, and He says to us, "Be encouraged. Be of good cheer. 423 01:14:47,680 --> 01:14:53,680 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. 424 01:14:53,680 --> 01:14:59,680 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." 425 01:14:59,680 --> 01:15:06,680 God says, "You've done the work I've asked you to do, and now I have more in front of you." 426 01:15:06,680 --> 01:15:11,680 It's not about the past, Paul. It's about what I have laid out for you in the future. Right? 427 01:15:11,680 --> 01:15:17,680 The good news of the gospel is that Jesus has transformed us. Right? 428 01:15:17,680 --> 01:15:25,680 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. 429 01:15:25,680 --> 01:15:33,680 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. 430 01:15:33,680 --> 01:15:43,680 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. 431 01:15:43,680 --> 01:15:53,680 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, 432 01:15:53,680 --> 01:15:59,680 where it feels like maybe we look at our lives, "I should have done this differently. I should have gone this direction." 433 01:15:59,680 --> 01:16:07,680 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. 434 01:16:07,680 --> 01:16:11,680 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 435 01:16:11,680 --> 01:16:19,680 We're going to stand and sing our hymn of sort of encouragement and closing and invitation. 436 01:16:19,680 --> 01:16:26,680 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. 437 01:16:26,680 --> 01:16:31,680 To remind ourselves of who God is, because our encouragement comes not from our strength, but from His. 438 01:16:31,680 --> 01:16:33,680 So we're going to go ahead and sing "Holy, Holy, Holy." 439 01:16:33,680 --> 01:16:34,680 Holy, Holy, Holy. 440 01:17:03,680 --> 01:17:33,660 Early in the morning, a song shall rise to Thee. Holy, Holy, Holy, merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, Blessed Trinity. 441 01:17:33,660 --> 01:18:03,640 Holy, Holy, Holy, All the saints adore Thee. Casting down their golden crowns around the glossy sea. Cherubim and seraphim, 442 01:18:03,640 --> 01:18:16,640 falling down before Thee. Who was there not, and evermore shall be. 443 01:18:16,640 --> 01:18:33,620 Holy, Holy, Holy, Though the darkness hide, 444 01:18:33,620 --> 01:18:43,620 Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see. 445 01:18:43,620 --> 01:19:03,600 Only Thou art holy, There is none beside Thee. Perfect in power, in love and purity. 446 01:19:03,600 --> 01:19:33,580 Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea. 447 01:19:33,580 --> 01:20:03,560 Merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed in thee. 448 01:20:03,560 --> 01:20:33,540 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. 449 01:20:33,540 --> 01:20:48,540 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. 450 01:21:03,520 --> 01:21:33,500 Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him, above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 451 01:21:33,500 --> 01:22:03,480 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 452 01:22:03,480 --> 01:22:33,460 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 453 01:22:33,460 --> 01:23:03,440 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.